Matthew 7:13-14, The Only Way to Heaven-Jesus

Transcription

1 Matthew 7:13-14, The Only Way to Heaven-Jesus Turn in your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 7. This morning we are going to address the question that most effects your eternity: How do you get to heaven? Answer: Jesus. This is the most important question that anybody will ever make regarding one s eternal destiny. Truly, life is a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away. It is like steam off a cup of coffee, nothing more, and that s life compared to eternity. Humans were created to live forever. You will live forever. Your soul is eternal. The question is where? You have only two options: hell and eternal punishment, or heaven and eternal joy. Jesus says that there is a broad way and a narrow way. Let s look at it in verse 13. Matthew 7: Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. It is undeniably true that we all make many decisions each and ever day. Life has a way of concentrating on each person a plethora of decisions that must be made every few moments. You had to decide before you got here if you would eat anything, and what? You had to decide what you would wear. You had to decide what time you would leave and most of you have already decided what you will do for lunch. Yet these things are trivial compared to your eternity. Because the truth is: this life will push us all to a place where we must decide where we ll spend eternity. Moses knew about this and he said to the people coming out of Egypt, See, I have set before you this day life and death, good and evil. Choose life that you and your offspring may live. Joshua who succeeded Moses said, Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Here in Jesus Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives an invitation. He offers two doors, two ways, two destinations. As one writer put it, it is make up your mind time on the mountain. As I thought about this make up your mind on the mountain, my mind was drawn back to what I said last week. We talked about what scholars called the Mount Everest of Jesus Sermon (The Golden Rule). And so I was once again drawn back Mount Everest. This is Everest That right there is the top of the world, 29,028 feet (That s 5 ½ miles straight up). As of this past Sunday, in the last 2 months about 400 climbers have made it to the 1

2 top of that mountain. Here s a picture of the oldest man to ever reach the top of Everest Yuichiro Miura (My-YOU-Rah) of Japan. He summited Everest on May 23, 2013 at the age of 80. Isn t that amazing! Yet, tragically this year, 5 climbers have died on Everest in just the last month. Why? Bad decisions. Individual decisions that cost five people their lives. One had a heart attack. Two others died of high altitude sickness and it s still unclear of the exact cause of the other two individual s deaths. Yet, five people entered eternity on that mountain. Where are they right now at this very moment? Quite simply, they are either in the presence of God or they are enduring unimaginable suffering in Hell. It s that simple and that s how Jesus described our choices. You see, the people who were listening to Jesus message on that mountainside had been taught that getting to heaven was a very complicated religious exercise. Jesus has been teaching that no matter how much they fasted, or how hard they prayed, or how much they gave to the poor, or how well they obeyed the Law, they would still fall short of what God required. Jesus had been pointing the people to the insufficiencies of the false religion that they had been taught. Jesus says in essence, Do you want to come to heaven, then you ve got to come through the narrow door and not the broad one? But, you might say, Come on Pastor Kevin aren t there hundreds of religions? : Yes! Over 4200 world-wide that have been cataloged as such. And so you might say, Come on! They can t all be wrong!! Yet, Jesus says they are. Why? Because He says: John 14:6 I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And here s the kicker the broad way is actually the way marked religion! Did you hear that? The broad way is marked with a sign that says (Your Religion). You see, so many people erroneously believe that broad way is the way of the world and it s a way of partying, drinking, sexual lust, materialism, etc. Now listen to me it can be that but it s ultimately a way that is masked with your form of religion. That s the point Jesus is making. Listen, we all need to keep in mind that the contrast Jesus has been making through His entire Sermon on the Mount is between false religion and that which is true religion HIM! He has been teaching and showing the difference between worship that is false and worship that is true, between divine religion and man-made religion. Remember, the religion that existed as taught by the Pharisees was not acceptable to God. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:20 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The broad way and the narrow way is not a contrast between righteousness and unrighteousness, it's a contrast between two kinds of righteousness...a righteousness that does not satisfy God, and 2

3 a righteousness that does. It s a contrast between God s way to God and man s way to God. God s way versus man s way It s really simple. Either you trust in yourself that you are righteous and you can earn your way to heaven, or you realize that there is nothing in you that s good enough to get you there and thus you need a Savior. And you see, all religions fit into the category of you can be good enough, except Christianity, which says: you can't be good enough. And that's the choice that s the two ways. And it really doesn't matter which of the false religions you pick, because it s simply man s way trying to working to God. And that won t happen. You see, church family, in all reality, there are only two religions in the world, not There is the religion of human achievement, which says that you can work your way into heaven with enough good works or religious sacrifice or there is the acknowledgement that your works are as filthy rags and there is no hope except through the sacrifice that Jesus made for you on the cross. False religion is what man does, while true religion is what God did through Jesus for man. You see, from here on out in Matthew 7 you get two options good fruit versus bad fruit; two builders, one wise, one foolish; two foundations, one rock, one sand; one stands, the other falls. And so from here on out, Jesus makes it crystal clear the choice between Him or man s religion. Now let s look in detail at what Jesus is saying: Matthew 7:13 13 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. Jesus says, Enter by the narrow gate. This is a command. It s a simple but clear command. If you want to get to God, you have to enter by this exact, narrow gate. In other words, it s not going to happen by accident. And how do you enter that gate? Through repentance, by calling on Jesus to save you. You don t get into the gate by admiring the gate (Jesus). There s a lot of people who admire Jesus, but they ve never entered the gate by receiving Him into their lives by repenting of their sins. I want to show you a picture from Everest. See the narrow way to the Summit If you want to summit that mountain, that s the way you have to do it. That s where the ropes are and that s the way it has to be done period! There is no other way. It s much like this gate... 3

4 It s narrow and it serves two purposes. It lets in and it shuts out. Like the door on Noah s ark we talked about a couple of Wednesday nights ago. God shut the door. And just as there was only one door on the ark, there is only one door to get to God. Jesus said in John chapter 10, where He described Himself as the Good Shepherd John 10:9 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Now listen how can Jesus make this claim since there are so many other religions and religious leaders? Simple. He got up from the dead and that s exactly what He said He d do. The resurrection seals the deal. And the sad fact is this: all the other ways marked Heaven end up in hell. Please understand: any deviation from the person of Jesus Christ or the work of Jesus Christ to provide salvation leads only to hell. The only way to God is Jesus and Jesus said that way is not easy Matthew 7:14 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. I think this picture describes well what Jesus is saying Jesus says it s the hard way to come to Him. You see church family, we have a culture of Easy Believism in Christendom today. Just believe a few facts about Jesus and walk an aisle, shake a preacher s hand and you re in! Not so fast! Jesus was clear only a few find Him. Take a look at verse 14 in this way 4

5 That s what it looks like to follow Jesus. Do you see that? Here s why it s hard because it requires a wholesale surrender of your life to Jesus Christ. And that s why there are so few on the road. See the picture again Do you want to know why it s so hard to come to Jesus? Because Jesus said: Matthew 16: Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. People don t want to surrender their lives. They want to do it their way. Turn with me to Luke chapter 13. Just like last week, I want to show you another perspective on this narrow gate. Here in Luke 13, Jesus was teaching about heaven to his disciples as they went from town to town and somebody asked Him how many people would be saved? Jesus answer is almost shocking. Luke 13: He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few? And he said to them, 24 Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us, then he will answer you, I do not know where you come from. Listen lost person in the room this is a serious passage of Scripture. Do you understand what Jesus is saying? Some people who don t know Jesus will actually come to a place in their lives where it is too late to be saved. The master of the house will eventually rise up and shut the door and you can t get in. You will stand outside the door and knock, but it s too late! Don t let that be you today! Some of you are prideful and you think you ve got time, but you are playing a dangerous game. Listen to me many, many people have rejected Jesus for centuries. Hell is a bottomless because of it. Look with now in Luke 14. You are in Luke 13, go down to Luke 14, verse 25. What Jesus says here is so strong and forceful that it can almost knock you over. Notice the first words GREAT CROWDS Folks, this is getting ready to change He s going to weed them out. Luke 14: Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his 5

6 own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. You now what some church growth experts would say to Jesus? Come on Jesus! What s wrong with you! You are going to drive the people away. You can t grow crowds like this! This isn t an attractive message. Come on! You should know better! You are sending people away! Just have them pray a little prayer and sign a card and you re in! No! That s now the way to Jesus. It s narrow. That way is popular and broad. Folks, we ve got to get this Easy believism out of our heads. Jesus is saying, The way to me is dying to self it s a commitment of your entire life. Listen, have you really counted the cost of what's involved here? He s asking for your whole life. He s saying you must become His slave. He s asking you to live the rest of your life doing exactly what He tells you no matter what it may cost you, even if it costs you your life. Do you understand that? Bible scholar Warren Wiersbe says this about the cost of following Jesus: Did your profession of faith in Christ cost you anything? If not, then it was not a true profession. Many people who trust Jesus Christ never leave the broad road with its appetites and associations. They have an easy Christianity that makes no demands on them. Warren Wiersbe Wiersbe is right. There are churches and preachers out there today who say: Hey, come on and join us you can come as you are and stay as you are. And don't worry about sin. We ve all got problems with sin and we don t judge we have no accountability so just live any way you like. Don't worry about your theology or if what you re doing is Biblical or not in fact, let s just reinterpret what the Scripture means to fit our deal. Church family, I want to say to you again and I know this is striking but Jesus said coming to Him is NOT easy. It's hard. You say, Why? Because, Satan is such a mighty deceiver and his minions have corrupted so many with false thinking and people are so blinded. They really believe they re on the narrow road, but they aren t. And I m going to tell you why. They want to keep their sin we ll call it baggage and try to go through the narrow way. See this picture. 6

7 You can t get through there with baggage. Are you serious!! You go down that way with nothing. You drop everything. You can t come into that narrow way of Jesus Christ until you are ready to say: I no longer want to be the person I have been. I want to change! But, most won t! They won t drop the baggage they ll just stay on the broad way because dropping all that baggage isn't easy. The rich young ruler wouldn't do it. He was very rich. He wasn't willing to let go of his money. He wasn't going to allow Jesus to be sovereign over his life! I read earlier this week about something that happened a long time ago. Many years ago in March of 1959 there was an individual who wrote an editorial article about Billy Graham after he heard him preach in a crusade in Melbourne, Australia. This is what he wrote in to the newspaper. After hearing Dr. Billy Graham on the air, viewing him on television, and reading reports and letters concerning him and his mission, and after hearing him in person, I am heartily sick of the type of religion that insists my soul needs saving...whatever that means. I have never felt that I was lost, nor do I feel that I daily wallow in the mire of sin, although his repetitive preaching insists that I do. Give me a practical religion that teaches gentleness and tolerance, that acknowledges no barriers of color or creed, that remembers the aged and teaches children of goodness and not sin. If in order to save my soul I must accept such a philosophy as I have recently heard preached, I prefer to remain forever damned, thank you. Let me show you visually what that man did. He walked right past the cross and Jesus Christ and the narrow way to God and he chose the broad way that lead to his destruction and unless something dramatically changed in his mind and heart prior to his death. And if that s the case that man is in hell today. I want to close by drawing your mind back to Mount Everest and those climbers seeking to make their way to the top It s a narrow way and you have to follow the ropes exactly on the course without deviation, otherwise you ll fall to your death. But here s the real key. Even if you summit the 7

8 mountain and make it to the top, you still might die. Why? Altitude sickness or as the climbers describe it being too long in the death zone. I told you earlier that two of the five people died of altitude sickness and one died of a heart attack. Doctors have now determined that the man who died of a heart attack likely died because of complications from altitude sickness, because he simply spent too much time in the death zone. Let me show you the last base camp before the Death Zone. Here it is Base Camp 4. The last camp before you summit, and it s at that point that you re at 8,000 meters and on the threshold of the Death Zone. See this map See the top of the screen where it says, Camp 4, 8000 metres? That s 26,247 feet above sea level? And it s at that point that you enter the Death Zone. From there it s another 2,781 feet to the top all through the Death Zone. Now understand this you can only be in the Death Zone no longer than hours depending upon your health and conditioning because the air is so thin that your body is only getting about 1/3 of the oxygen you need, even with oxygen tanks. And remember this you are right at 30,000 feet up and that s the cruising altitude for many planes. This is Eric Arnold, from the Netherlands the man who died of a suspected heart attack. He was 36 years old and was a avid triathlete. So sad. This is Maria Strydom of Austraila she started suffering altitude sickness while at Base Camp 4 and she couldn t climb any higher. This happened the day before her group, which included Eric Arnold, the man who died of the heart attack, the day before they were to summit. Unfortunately, a rescue attempt to reach Maria and get her back down to Base Camp 3 failed. 8

9 Maria died in one of these tents at Base Camp 4 about three weeks ago. She was 26 You see, church family they stayed in the Death Zone too long. And some of you here today are in the Death Zone. It s not high altitude you are dealing with It s not storms or ice or freezing temperatures it s your sin that you are choosing to carry with you and try to hope you can get through the narrow gate. You are without Jesus right now and you are in the Death Zone. And because of that fact, you are one breath away from Hell. But, thanks be to God because He sent Jesus Christ to die for you on the cross, you are just one prayer away from being able to (one day) summit heaven. Oh, don't wait too long. Don t you dare risk it and stay in the Death Zone without Jesus. Give your heart and your life to Jesus while you still have time before it s too late and you find that you waited too long and you stayed on the broad and easy way that led to your eternal destruction. Oh listen and we re done Jesus said Matthew 7: Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Be among the few and choose Jesus today! 9