Download the audio of this sermon here: The Narrow Gate by David J. Miller
The Scripture Readings
- Old Testament Lesson – Proverbs 3:1-12
- Epistle Lesson – 2 Corinthians 13:1-6
- Gospel Lesson – Matthew 7:13-29
Meditation: From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” – John 6:66-68
There are two kinds of people in this world; those who divide people into two groups and those who don’t.
Our Gospel reading this morning was the conclusion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The sermon began in Matthew chapter 5 and concludes in Matthew 7 with today’s reading. Did you notice that there were lots of twos in it? Two gates, two paths, two kinds of prophets, two kinds of fruits, two kinds of trees, two house builders, two houses, two foundations, and two ultimate destinations. What Jesus is really talking about in this conclusion is two different kinds of people with two different destinations. Today, we are going to take a closer look at these two kinds of people, their paths and their destinations.
Jesus clearly states that there are two kinds of people in this world; those who are going to heaven and those who are not. He makes this clear in verses 13 and 14 that Jim just read. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
If you look further into our Gospel reading, you’ll come to verse 21 which I consider to be the most sobering and frightening verse in the entire bible: Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Please note the Hebrew idiom of repetition here. In America, we raise our voices and gesture or, if we’re writing, put it in boldface type or all capitals to make a point. The Jewish tradition is to repeat words or phrases to emphasize a point. The point here is that there are people who don’t just call him lord, as you might call someone ‘sir,’ but emphatically call Jesus Lord. Obviously, these people would be considered Christians today since they claim Jesus as their Lord; yet Jesus says some of them will not enter heaven. And that is what is so frightening.
The gospel of Luke echoes this in chapter 6, verse 46 where Jesus says, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” He’s talking about obedience here. Basically saying, “If you believe I’m God, then treat me like it!”
What He is telling us is that true faith produces obedience, just like a good tree produces good fruit; true faith produces obedience. And what did Jesus say would happen to the tree that doesn’t produce good fruit? Verse19 reads, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
There are two kinds of people in this world, and according to Jesus, there are two kinds of Christians in this world; those who obey God and are going to heaven and those who disobey God and are going to hell. Both of these groups call Jesus “Lord”, at least outwardly, but one is on the road to destruction.
Which group are you in? What is your ultimate destination? Are you building on the sand or the rock? Are you on the narrow path or the wide way?
These may seem like strange questions to be asking a room full of people who are regular church-goers, but I believe that the greatest concentration of unsaved and unconverted people in America sit in church pews every Sunday morning; playing church and pretending to be true Christians.
So how are we to know which path we are on? My goal is for us to consider that question and hopefully have an idea of how are we to know by the end of this sermon.
In Second Corinthians 13:5, the apostle Paul writes, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.
As our children examined the money this morning, we should all examine our beliefs faithfully, diligently and with prayer while comparing what we believe to God’s Holy Word. Is your faith real, or is it counterfeit? It may look and feel like it’s worth a lot, but it might actually be worthless.
Before scanners and computers, do you know how the Treasury department used to detect counterfeit bills? They would train their people by having them intensely study real money for hours and hours at a time. They would note how it felt, how it looked, how it sounded when you crumpled it. When a counterfeit bill was slipped into the stack of real money, the examiners would quickly be able to tell that it was a fake.
So how are we to know whether or not our faith is real? By studying God’s word. There is no other way but studying God’s word. So in the spirit of self examination as Paul commanded, let’s take a closer look at these two gates and these two paths that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 7 and let’s find out which path we’re on.
The first two verses of the reading from Matthew this morning: Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
What is this narrow gate? Simply, the narrow gate is the only way to heaven, the only way to eternal life in the kingdom of God. In John 10:9, Jesus says,
“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved…” and in John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So Jesus is the narrow gate. Jesus is the only way to heaven
There is a commonality in both of these verses that points toward and going to heaven through Jesus. And I want you to imagine that this narrow gate has a sign at the top that says, “This way to heaven,” because that is what Jesus is clearly saying here. The narrow gate is the only way to heaven.
Now let’s take a look at the wide gate. I think the wide gate represents the broad, inclusive, non-restrictive doors of the world and worldly churches. Anybody can easily pass through them without leaving anything behind. In John 12:31 and again in John 16:11, Jesus calls Satan “the ruler of this world.” So Satan has power over the world and is in charge of the wide gate. And the first thing the deceiver did was to put up a sign on the gate that says the same thing as the narrow gate, “This way to heaven.”
That’s right; both gates are marked as the entrance to the path to heaven. And everyone that has gone through those gates has made a decision that they want to go to heaven. It’s not a big surprise really. I mean, if you came to a gate that said, “This way to eternal destruction and suffering” would you go through? So everybody who has passed through these gates believes they are on the road to heaven, they all claim to be Christians, but not all of them are. As a matter of fact, Jesus says most of them aren’t.
So here’s what we have so far – Two gates and two groups of people that have gone through them walking on two very different paths. Both believe themselves to be advancing heavenward, but one is gravely mistaken.
Now before I get too far here, I want to be sure that you don’t get the idea that passing through the narrow gate was necessarily the day you decided to come down front and join this church, or the day you were baptized or confirmed. Passing through the narrow gate is not that easy. Jesus said there are few who even find it.
The narrow gate represents the new birth we receive through Jesus Christ when we are saved, when we are born of the spirit. There are many similarities between this new birth and the birth from our mothers. There are four I would like to highlight this morning.
- You must go through.
- You go through alone.
- You go through naked
- You go through on your knees.
- You must go through. There is no other way. You can’t stay where you’re at forever. Jesus begins verse 13 with an imperative command to all of us; “Enter through the narrow gate.” The other gate is false; the narrow gate is the only way to heaven. Look carefully at both. If the one you have chosen was an easy entry, if you’re not living any differently than the Atheist or the Pagan down the street, it may not have been the right gate.
- You go through alone. The gate is only large enough for one person at a time. You don’t go through as a family. You don’t go through as a church, as a race, or as a nation. Each individual must make a personal decision to go through the gate. This message is especially important for our youth. Young people: You are not going to go to heaven just because your mom or your dad is a Christian. You have to believe in the God of the Bible. You have to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord. You have to learn what the bible says because people make mistakes. Check everything you hear with the Bible, because you’re not going to ride into heaven on the coattails of a preacher or your grandma or anyone else. You must go through the narrow gate, and you must go through alone.
- You go through naked. You bring nothing with you into this world and you take nothing with you when you leave. When you enter through the narrow gate, you must let go of all the vain things that charm you most, your richest gain you count as loss, you pour contempt on all your pride. You also turn away from your own self-righteousness. Remember, Jesus has done everything for you; the grace of God is free. You don’t get to heaven on any of your good works. All of your sins are forgiven by Jesus and all of your righteousness is supplied by Jesus too. All of your good works are rubbish when we’re talking about gaining entrance to the kingdom of God. Nothing in my hand I bring, only to the cross I cling. You must go through the narrow gate, you must go through alone and you must go through with no treasure or self-righteousness.
- The opening is very small – you have to go through on your knees. This means you must honestly confess your sins and repent of them. Repent means to turn away; to make a change of mind and heart. This includes all the sins that, with the world’s help, you’ve convinced yourself are not sins, even though God clearly says that they are. Here’s a partial list of sins according to the Bible: Idolatry, swearing, lying, cheating, stealing, coveting, dishonoring your parents; saying the lord’s name in vain, greed, envy, gluttony, jealousy, lust, sexual immorality (including fornication, homosexuality and adultery), hating your neighbor, divorce, slander, gossip, sorcery, sloth, drunkenness, boasting and murder. I am confident that everybody in this room falls under condemnation of at least one of those sins. I know I probably qualify for about a dozen of them. But just because you’ve committed one or more of these sins doesn’t mean that you are condemned for all eternity. I need to go into more depth on this in a moment, but for now I’ll summarize. You must go through the narrow gate, you have to go through alone, you can’t hold on to your treasure or righteousness and you can’t hold on to your sin either, not even the sins that you love.
There’s not much more I can tell you about this gate. Passing through it is the sort of thing that changes a person. If you’ve been through it, you know it. If you think you might have been through it, you probably haven’t been.
Now I need to go back and talk more about the sin and repentance I touched on before. This is a woefully under examined area of the modern day Christian’s life. Everybody sins, but taking a look at our attitude toward sin and repentance will help us determine whether or not we are on the narrow path. In keeping with our theme of twos, I would like to present you with two different kinds of sin: Unintentional and Intentional sin. Intent and response makes all the difference.
- There is a sin of “falling short” or “missing the mark.” This is also known as unintentional sin. Using the example of shooting an arrow, if the arrow falls short of the target, or misses the bull’s eye, it is a sin. Jesus hit the bull’s eye every time, and as Christians, we try to emulate Jesus, but we seldom if ever succeed. But we are doing our best to do as Jesus did. This unintentional kind of sin is common to all Christians and we commit them every day. None of us is perfect, as Jesus was, but He commanded us to follow his example. When we miss the mark or fall short, we should confess that sin immediately and sincerely ask forgiveness. This is the type of sin that those on the narrow path commit and it is marked by admission of guilt, begging for mercy, and turning away from our sin.
- There is also a sin of “willful disobedience.” This is also known as intentional sin. Using the same example, this is like turning away from the target and shooting a different one that is closer and has a bigger bull’s eye. They turn away from the target of obedience that Jesus set before them and aim at the target of sin that Satan presents. They know the difference between the targets and they know it is wrong even to aim at the other, but they do it anyway. Most who do this do so habitually and unrepentantly. That is the key. They don’t repent of these sins because they don’t consider them sins. This is the type of sin that those on the wide way commit, and it is marked by denial of guilt and repetition.
So unintentional sin is marked by admission of guilt and asking forgiveness while intentional sin is marked by denial of guilt and repetition of the sinful action. Both the Christians on the narrow path who confess and the so-called Christians on the wide way, who don’t, look alike to the untrained eye. They’re both walking a path, they both passed through gates that said, “This way to heaven,” they both have bows and arrows, they both shoot at targets. But not all of them are bound for heaven.
My friends, please, examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Is there one target that you love to shoot that isn’t God’s target? One that is close to you, near and dear to your heart, and easy to hit? When we convince ourselves that our favorite sin is not a sin, we speak lies against God; and woe to those who convince others that their sin is not a sin. First John 1: 9-10 says,
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
Our job as the people of the narrow way is to encourage our fellow travelers to join us – gently and with love whenever possible, but not by sacrificing the truth for convenience or peaceful coexistence. If your brother is in sin, tell him! Don’t make excuses for him, don’t let him continue; don’t lie to him and tell him that he’s not sinning. Don’t withhold the truth regardless of how uncomfortable it may be for both of you. If you truly love your brother or sister, it says in Matthew 18 that you must show them their error and do your best to win them back.
I have a story that illustrates the reason why some people are on the wide path. Because they don’t really trust God, they only trust themselves.
When I was a young boy of about six, my mom made me take swimming lessons. I hated going because the water was freezing cold and I was the only boy in the class. I had to learn how to dog paddle to pass this class and I just wasn’t very good.
Well, it came about that one Sunday, probably in mid-July, there was a Pairs & Spares picnic at the pond behind my grandparent’s house and I figured that if I could convince my mom that I knew how to dog paddle, she wouldn’t make me go back to that freezing cold pool with all those icky girls. So I walked out into the pond where it was about three feet deep, leaned forward and started doing the dog paddle.
From my mom’s perspective it looked like I was swimming along just fine, but under the murky water, I was walking on the bottom of the pond. And on the shore, I saw people telling my mother, “He’s really doing well!” and “Look what a good little swimmer he is.” I was sure I had them all fooled.
But there was a boy at that picnic, bigger than me, and somehow he knew I was faking it. When I got out of the water, he picked me up, carried me out to the end of the dock and threw me into about six feet of water.
As I was sailing through the air, a thought crossed my mind, “I am going to die.” Well, I popped up to the surface and looked to see who was coming to save me. Not a soul. And why should they come after me? Everyone had seen what a good little swimmer I was. Finally, I started doing what I had learned – kicking my legs and paddling like crazy with my hands.
Amazingly, I stayed pretty close to the surface and started moving toward the shore. And that boy who threw me in just stood on the dock laughing. His name was Mark, I’ll never forget that, and he was laughing at me but I wasn’t angry with him at all. Because on that day in mid-July, Mark taught me how to swim.
You see, I didn’t trust the water to hold me up; I trusted my own feet on the solid bottom of the pond. And my fear is that there may be someone here today that is doing the same thing in his or her Christian life. You look just like the real swimming Christians, but you’re just going through the motions on the surface, trusting your own footing and distrusting God to keep you afloat.
There are two kinds of people in this world. There are probably two kinds of people in this church, but I don’t seek to segregate people in this congregation into two groups. The bible is clear that judgment belongs only to Jesus and that He is the one who will say at the end of days, “Depart from me.”
If you haven’t entered through the narrow gate and if you find yourself on the wide way, I hope I’ve thrown you in the deep part of the pond today. I hope that the thought crossed your mind, “I am going to die.” The Holy Spirit was sent to us to convict us of sin now, so we will know which path we are on. If you feel convicted right now in some way, then the Spirit of God is working in you this morning. Rejoice! This is good news! Hebrews 12:6 says, “For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and chastises every child he accepts.”
On the other hand, if you feel no conviction this morning, then you are either firmly on the narrow path with your eyes wide open, or firmly on the wide way with your eyes tightly shut. There could be a narrow door right in front of you, but you would never see it.
And finally, for those who are on the narrow path I would like to leave you with these encouraging words: Because you have forsaken everything to follow Jesus, because you continue to repent and believe, even though you may slip a little from time to time, your salvation is assured. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. O what a foretaste of glory divine. Stay on the narrow path my friends, do not wander to the left or the right and you will reach God’s glorious kingdom.
