Sermon Series: Sermon on the Mount

Gates, Roads and Exit Ramps

Matthew 7:13-14

PSBC
June 25, 2000

In a nutshell: Jesus is the only gate or entrance that leads to eternal life. When we enter that way, through Him, we'll find the road narrow and very different from the wide path that belongs to the world. The narrow road puts us closer to the things that matter to God. But in God's plan, we are the exit ramps for others to get off the wide road and onto the narrow road.

I. Introduction

A. Choices Illustration

Everyday, we're faced with choices. And most of the choices we make lead to consequences. One of my favorite examples comes from Chuck Swindoll's book, Strike the Original Match. He tells the story of a fellow who fell in love with an opera singer...

Illustration: He hardly knew her, since his only view of the singer was through binoculars - from the third balcony. But he was convinced he could live 'happily ever after' married to a voice like that. He scarcely noticed she was considerably older than he. Nor did he care that
she walked with a limp. Her mezzo-soprano voice would take them through whatever
might come. After a whirlwind romance and a hurry-up ceremony, they were off for
their honeymoon together. She began to prepare for their first night together. As he
watched, his chin dropped to his chest. She plucked out her glass eye and plopped it
into a container on the night stand. She pulled off her wig, ripped off her false eyelashes,
yanked out her dentures, un-strapped her artificial leg, and smiled at him as she slipped
off her glasses that hid her hearing aid. Stunned and horrified, he gasped, "For goodness
sake, sing, women, SING!

B. The Importance of Choices

Choices usually have consequences. But what the study this morning teaches is that some choices and their consequences are far more important than others.

One of those choices that has extremely important consequences concerns a series of questions:
–What am I going to do about life after death?
–If I want to go to Heaven, then what do I need to do now, to make sure I get there, later? –If I'd rather go to Hell, what must I do now, to make sure I go there, later?

Our choices of what we trust in for those answers have eternal consequences of the most important kind. That's the issue Jesus addresses in the next two verses in our study of the Sermon on the Mount...
Matthew 7:13-14
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

II. Definitions

This is such an important choice that has such eternal consequences, I want to make sure we are all on the same page, all understand the same things, and that no one leaves this room this morning unclear about what Jesus is saying here .

So, to do that, I want to define some terms that Jesus used, and make some clear distinctions about what He's addressing.

A. Gate

The first term I need to define, is the word, "gate". This term gate is a central focus of these two verses. Keep four elementary things in mind as we examine the gates in verses 13 and 14...

1. When Jesus talks about gates, He's talking about the "swinging kind" that are hinged on one side and open on the other. The Greek word here literally means the leaf or wing of a folding entrance. (picture?). He's talking about something like this...

2. The second thing to keep in mind is that gates are designed to do two things. Gates are designed to keep people out of places, and gates are designed to open, in order to let people into places.

3. The third thing to remember about gates is that you cannot enter through a gate, unless you actually open it.

In Jesus' example in these verses, it takes a decision to open the small gate. It is a conscious decision that a person has to make for themselves to leave the wide path and choose the narrow path.

However, a decision not to open the small gate means that you have decided to go through another gate, called the wide gate and continue walking on the wide path.

4. Now, one last thing about the gates. Who or what are these gates? As we'll see, the wide gate is just about anyone or anything that isn't Jesus Christ. That's why it's called "wide". But, the apostle John, in his gospel, records Jesus identifying very specifically who the narrow gate is...

John 10:9a
9 (Jesus speaking...) I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.

If you read the Bible, there can be no misunderstanding of who the Bible says the narrow gate represents. The narrow gate has a very narrow definition of who that gate is. It is Jesus (period). And the wide gate is anything or anyone other than Jesus.

B. The Roads

The second thing to define is the term, ROAD in these two verses.

The Greek word means "the way that takes you from one place to another". This kind of road that's referred to, has only one entry point and only one destination.

Illustration: On our farm, we had an old dirt road behind our warehouse. It cut right through one of our fields. And it led to only one place. At the end of that road was the creek that divided our property from our neighbor's. The reason that road was there was to take someone from the farmhouse to the irrigation pump that was permanently stationed on the bank of the creek. That old dirt road had only one entrance–behind the warehouse–and only one destination–the pump station.

That's the kind of road Jesus is taking about in these two verses.

C. Life

The third term that must be defined that's used in these two verses is the term "Life". Here, we can let Scripture define itself, by looking at a passage which uses the exact same term...

John 5:24
24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

"Life" that Jesus talks about is eternal life, not eternal death, which is the opposite of eternal life. And we'll get to that in a minute.

This is how that great evangelist, D. L. Moody defined this eternal life (front of bulletin)...

Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all-out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal; a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto his glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.

D. Destruction

Here's the final term we all must clearly know this morning. It's the term, Destruction.

The Greek term means utter and complete loss of anything and everything that is desirable –forever. That means that once a person experiences this "destruction" that's mentioned in verse 13, there is no hope of gaining anything that was destroyed, back again.

So, in the context of Jesus' teaching in these two verses, the meaning is very clear. Destruction means final, finished, over with, done, end of story for anything and everything that has the remotest chance of being desirable.

But listen to this... Destruction does not mean the end of existence. Destruction is a description of the quality of that existence. Probably the most graphic statement of this concept of destruction that I have ever heard was this... to sit forever naked in the hot sun on a pile of manure, with no end in sight and no hope for relief. That's about as graphic and accurate an illustration as I could imagine for this term "destruction".

III. 2 Gates and Two Roads

Now, with all this background and understanding, and all of us on the same page with our understanding of the terms, the question is laid before us, about this important choice regarding where you're going to go after you die.

Jesus lays before us a choice concerning the road we choose to walk down in this life. This is not a group choice. This is an individual choice. You don't make this decision as a family or as a couple, or by majority vote. You make it by yourself.

And here is the decision with eternal consequences put in very plain words....

Are you going to choose to take the one and only narrow road that leads to life. Or are you going to choose to take the very wide road which leads to destruction?

This is pretty basic stuff. This is not rocket science. This is simply a choice that leads to how and where you will spend eternity.

So you understand the decision a little more clearly, let me tell you some characteristics of the roads that make up your choice.

A. Wide and Broad

Choice number one is called the road with a wide gate and a broad surface on which to travel. Now let me point out two things about this wide-gated, broad-surfaced road:

1. Many people choose this road.

Here's the first thing –most people choose this road. Every religion, denomination, non-denomination, every official belief-system and unofficial non-belief system have representatives on this road. This road has every atheist, agnostic, pantheist, Buddhist, Satanist, and Confucius walking on it.

Illustration: A story is told of a vision John Wesley had in which he was taken to the gate of heaven where he asked, "Have you any Presbyterians here?"
"No, none," responded the angel.
Wesley was amazed. "Well, have you any Baptists?" he asked.
"None," answered the angel quickly.
Wesley grew pale. He could scarcely muster up courage to ask his next question.
"Well, then," continued the founder of Methodism, "how many Methodists have you here?"
"Not one," replied the angel. And Wesley's heart was filled with dismay. "We are unacquainted with earthly distinctions and denominations up here," explained the angel.
"Well, then whom have you here?" cried Wesley.
"Just a company of people who trust Christ and love the Lord," answered the angel quietly.
Wesley was then conducted to the regions of Hell. "Have you any Presbyterians here?" he asked.
"Yes, lots of them," responded the keeper of the gate.
Wesley was mystified.
"Have you any Baptists here?" was his next question.
"Yes," came the reply.
In fear and trembling, Wesley put his third question. "Have you any Methodists here?" he asked, almost in a whisper.
"Oh, yes, many of them," quickly responded the gatekeeper. Wesley was stunned. No Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists in heaven, and lots of them in hell. What did it mean? Remembering what was said by the angel at the gate of heaven, Wesley mustered his courage and asked, "Do you have any people here who trust Christ and love the Lord?"
"Oh, no, no!" roared the gatekeeper. "Not one. Nobody here has done that."

The wide gate and broad road is traveled by anyone who does not trust Christ and love the Lord.

2. Easy to stay there

The second thing to keep in mind about the wide and broad road is that it is an easy place to stay. You will find little tension concerning belief systems on this road. Everyone's belief system is treated with tolerance and equality. Every system is viewed as just another way to get to your final reward.

And friends, they're right. But the identity of that final reward is what counts. Jesus says, everyone who travels that wide and broad road will wind up with destruction as their final reward. None of the ways on this broad and wide road leads to "life" as Jesus meant it.

B. Small and Narrow

But Jesus contrasts this wide and broad road and gate, with a small gate and a narrow road. Let me tell you two things about it.

1. It is Exclusive

The gate is exclusive. It's small.

You see, there is only one way to get on the road that leads to this life. Here it is...

John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

That statement leaves little doubt–
–there are no multiple ways to access that narrow road.
–There are no other truths about how you get onto this road.
–And there is no other worthwhile life at the end of any road which you have to look forward to.

We are talking very exclusively here.

Illustration: About a three years ago, Muhammad Ali wrote in his autobiography: "My mother was a Baptist. She believed Jesus was the Son of God, and I don't believe that. But even though my mother had a religion different from me, I believe that on Judgment Day my mother will be in heaven. There are Jewish people who lead good lives; and when they die, I believe they're going to heaven. If you're a good Muslim, if you're a good Christian, if you're a good Jew; it doesn't matter what religion you are, if you're a good person you'll receive God's blessing."

To this, a Christian professor at an evangelical seminary wrote: "The truth is that Christianity by definition is an exclusive religion. The belief that there is one God and only one way to God stands at the center of the Christian gospel. Nowhere does the New Testament teach that there is any other way to God but through a personal commitment to Jesus as the Messiah."
(Mark Wingfield, Ali's Appeal for Tolerance is Intolerant, Western Recorder, April, 3, 1997.)

So the first thing to remember about the small gate and narrow road, is that it is exclusive–you enter it only through faith in Jesus Christ as the forgiver of your sins and the leader of your life.

2. Individually Opened

The second thing to know about the narrow road and small gate is that it must be individually opened by whoever wants to enter it. You do it by doing four simple things...

1. First, you have to admit to God that you've sinned in the past, and that you have a tendency to sin right now...

Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and that sin has consequences...

Romans 6:23
23 ...the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2. Second, you ask God to forgive you for your sin.

Romans 10:13
13 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

3. Third, you trust that what Jesus did when He died on the cross as the sacrifice for your sin, is all you need to have complete forgiveness. Jesus did it all, you have nothing to do but trust...

John 3:16
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

4. Finally, you purpose in your heart, that from this day on, with God's help, you will follow a new leader for your life–it's no longer you, or any other outside influence–it's only going to be Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

This is an individual decision, that no one can make for you–you have to make that decision for yourself!

IV. Exit Ramps

Finally, as we wrap this up let me pose a question to you who have already made this decision that leads to life. If you were on the Broad and Wide road, and you discovered that it was leading to destruction – what would you be looking for? I'll tell you what I'd be looking for – I'd be looking for an exit ramp to take me in a different direction.

Now, listen to the description of an exit ramp from the Bible...

Romans 10:14
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching (or proclaiming, or telling it) to them?

Friends, the Bible is pretty clear. You and I are God's engineering plan for exit ramps off the broad and wide way that leads to destruction. Our willingness to speak, or ask, or talk to, or influence someone who is not on the narrow road... is how God intends people to exit the broad road that leads to destruction.

Illustration: William Carey, the founder of the modern missions movement was a cobbler or shoe maker before he left England. He used to go about from village to village telling people about Jesus Christ and the narrow way.

One day a friend came to him and said, "Bill, I want to speak to you very seriously." "Well," said Carey, "What is it?" His friend said, "By your going about talking to people as you do you're neglecting your business. If you only attended to making shoes more than you do, you would have a better business and could prosper far better than you are. But as it is you are simply neglecting your business."

To which Carey replied, "Neglecting my business? My business is to extend the Kingdom of God. I only cobble shoes to pay expenses!"

Your business and mine, is to be an exit ramp to the people God puts in our path. We exist to extend the Kingdom of God. You and I–in cooperation with the Holy Spirit–are God's plan to get people off the wide road. Don't confuse your business with paying expenses. Amen.

Give invitation

Admit you're a sinner
Ask God's forgiveness
Trust in Jesus' work on the cross
Follow Jesus as your leader