Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. 14For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it.

7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Two big questions

Do you feel like you really understand how a person can know that when they die, they will go to heaven?

One day when you stand before Jesus and he were to ask you, why should I allow you to be here in Heaven with me?

What would your answer be? Could you explain it in two sentences?

There are no more serious words for religious people to hear than these. No more serious words for people who profess Christianity than these because our Lord says there will not be a few but many who are mistaken about their future destiny. He points out in this passage the folly of empty words, and then the tragedy of empty hearts, empty words coming from empty hearts.

Is there any more sobering text of Scripture than this these?

We can understand that there are people who reject religion, reject Christianity, want nothing to do with Jesus Christ, but it’s a far more sobering and shocking thing to realize that there are many who are going to say, “Lord, Lord,” which is an open confession of some attachment to Him only to hear that they will not enter heaven.

It is clear from these texts, one’s final destiny is not determined by what you say. It is determined by what you do. It is not about profession, it is about obedience, still, it is not a works salvation.

If a person will be saved, you must confess Jesus as Lord, Romans 10:9 and 10, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. “For with the mouth confession is made unto salvation and with the heart man believes.”

But profession cannot stand alone.

The world is full of people who call Jesus Lord, who say it with emotion and passion, Lord, Lord. And yet never ever do they turn from their sin and submit to that lordship, never do they obey the will of the Father who is in heaven. The church in general, and our local church have people like this. That is why we are told in the Scripture,

2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves to see whether you’re in the faith.”

The only thing that makes you acceptable to God is a pattern of obedience to the Word of God that is the product of repentance and genuine faith in Jesus Christ and truly abandoning your life in obedience to His lordship.

Matthew 7:13 and following, Jesus here concludes the Sermon on the Mount with a threat. “Broad is the road that leads to destruction. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Those who do not do the will of the Father, he will dismiss as evildoers.

Do you believe a person can truly be saved and sure to be in heaven when they die, if you look and their life and you can find none of the things Jesus says is important to Him, are taking place in their daily life?

Two roads. The one has a wide entrance gate, and it is a broad road itself. It is not easy but broad, spacious, roomy. It has many people on it. It is a well-traveled road, but its end is destruction.

The other road has a small entrance gate. It is narrow, not hard. It is narrow, it is confined, and pressed together. There are few people on that road, but it leads to life, which is here a synonym for the kingdom.

God’s way is not spacious but confining.

There is the joy of the Lord, of course, and there is the freedom that is in Christ Jesus, freedom from sin and free to do right. On the other hand, the entrance to it and to any man who feels the oppressive weight of sin, as all Christians must, is in that sense, confining. It is a narrow and a straight road.

That is why the very first beatitude demands poverty of spirit.

God’s way cannot be established by appeal to majority opinion.

If someone then asks directly, “If everybody else is going the other way, does this mean there are only a few who are saved?” Someone asks Jesus this question specifically in Luke 13.

Luke 13:22, “Then Jesus went through the cities and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, ‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’

He said to them, ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, “Sir, open the door for us.” But he will answer, “I don’t know you or where you come from.”

Then you will say, “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” But he will reply, “I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!” There will be weeping there, and grinding of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.”

Strong words spoken to the Jews of his own day who were rejecting their own Messiah. In other words, he demands not speculation on the precise numbers of those who go in but that the person who asks the question be more concerned about entering in himself because it is a narrow way.

The narrow way cannot be pursued as long as we are motivated by a desire to please the mass of men.

The Christian way is a narrow way, it can be lonely, it’s not popular. You’re not going to be hailed as a great leader of mighty moments, certainly not in the world, not if you live righteously.

Athanasius, that great Christian defender in the fourth century, was told, “Athanasius, the whole world is against you.” He said, “Then it’s Athanasius against the whole world.”

There are also eternal prospects in view.

Do you believe the way we live our daily lives have any bearing on whether or not we go to heaven when we die?

The one road leads to destruction. Suddenly now everything is reversed. What seemed like a nice, spacious, roomy road with lots of friends has suddenly ended up in destruction. What was narrow and confining has suddenly exploded into life, the arrival of the kingdom.

There are only two ways. It’s not just a question of being for Jesus or pretty much for him but with a few reservations or for the occasion, especially on Sunday, or dead-set against him. It’s a question of either for or against. There are only two ways. Passive resistance is still on the broad way, with nonchalance and apathy.

Two gates, two ways. Two crowds, two destinies. Two trees, and now two houses. Both subjected to the same judgment. The contrast here is not between people who hear the Word of God and people who have not heard the Word of God, but between people who hear the Word of God and act upon it, and people who hear the Word of God and do not act upon it.

Those who are exposed to the truth and who obey and those who exposed to the truth do not obey. This is about obedience as over against disobedience.
This means the habits we establish now in walking the narrow way will either bless us or haunt us as long as we live, but there are only two ways.

The command to enter is expensive and demands a committed effort.

There is a feeling among some, in North American evangelism especially, that you sort of approach Christ in a way as if you’re almost doing him a favor and you receive his certified check for eternal life against which you pay in a certain amount of commitment, without overdoing it.
True salvation is coming under conviction of sin and of need, of fighting the Lord with everything that is within me and wanting my own way and drawing out and coming back and pursuing the Lord for peace and finding that the heavens and then entering in and discovering the Lord’s mercy.

“Watch out for false prophets.” Matthew 7:15

False prophets and false teachers have always been a difficult problem. They were in the Old Testament and in Jesus’ day, and there are plenty still around today.

Christians aren’t likely to be fooled by the clear outright crazy leaders, but you get a teacher who has all the marks of a Christian, who has the language of a Christian, who really seems to belong to the flock, a lovely person. They can pray, and they go to church regularly. You get a teacher like that who is a false teacher and you have problems.

Indeed, the New Testament is full of warnings against just such. Jesus himself predicts they’ll come. In Matthew, 24:11ff Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” Paul looks at his life’s ministry, and he sees how he’s founded this church and founded that church. He speaks to the Ephesian elders, and he warns them of what he knows is going to happen in their own fellowship.

Acts, 20: 29 and following, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!

Read through the epistles and you discover warning after warning after warning against false teachers within the confines of the professing flock.

By their fruit you will recognize them.

Do you believe what a person really believes will ultimately show itself in their daily life?

This is not a judgmental, heresy-hunting attitude that is being recommended. But, false teachers must be identified, and if they are not identified by their doctrine, per se, they must be identified some way.

Jesus tells us how to spot them.

He presupposes an absolute link between life and conduct. This takes much discernment, there are possibilities of good “pagans.” Then the test has to be applied with great care. One must look not only at whether or not he gives to missions or for a foreign disaster and whether or not he goes to church, but also, whenever possible, why? Why do they do those things?

Some people seem to present themselves to the evangelical world on the basis of their self-presentation of their own godliness. J.C. Ryle was correct when he said, “True men of God in the Scriptures and in the annals of church history are known not only by their great victories and their great peace but by their great struggles.”

Sometimes the truth will come out in a far more painful way. Sometimes, of course, such people are caught out.
There are the seven silly sons of Sceva in Acts 19, who get chased down the street by one particular demon, but whether or not they are caught out now, they will be caught out on that day (verse 22). “Many will say to me on that day …” The reference to that day is to the last day, the day of judgment, the day of separation.

What do these false prophets teach?

It is not stated here, but in context they appear as sheep, and this suggests they are not overtly wildly heretical. Rather, set in the context of righteousness throughout this sermon, it seems they keep quiet about the difficult, hard sayings of Jesus, as it were. They are the ones who say, “All is well; God loves you,” but never say, “Sin no more.” Everyday is a Friday.

Sometimes they are false teachers not by what they say but by what they don’t say. They sound a bit like those described in Jeremiah 8. Prophet and priest are dealing falsely, and God says, “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace …” (That is, “God’s peace is upon you. God is with us.) ‘But there is no peace.

These verses (15 to 20) are written, , not against false teachers but toward ordinary men and women to help them to discern who the false teachers are.
This is the day when pluralism prevails and everybody has a right to his own opinion,” and that is ok. Everybody has a right to his own opinion, but that doesn’t mean all opinions are right. Jesus’ answer is, “Beware of false prophets. By their fruit you will know them.” He is giving this in connection with an invitation to press on into the kingdom, so at stake is not only just the threat that is hanging over their heads but the spiritual destiny of you. “Beware of false prophets.”

What, then, characterizes the true believer?

Not loud profession but true obedience.

These people perform the will of the Father. They practice obedience, in their lives the Father’s will is done. It is not just admired and praised for its high ethical tones. It is not just debated and theologically constructed. It is not just analyzed, the Father’s will is done. This was recognized as a test for true faith in the very early church in a document called the Didache (also known as, the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles), a document dating to the beginning of the second century. In there is this statement: “But not everyone who speaks in the Spirit is a prophet, except he have the behavior of the Lord.” What the Lord is all about here is the danger of self-deception, allowing unconscious self-hypocrisy.

It’s when we sort of start going through the religious motions, when we enjoy praying and we enjoy studying the Word and we enjoy witnessing and we examine ourselves and we are walking with the Lord. Then we keep going to church, and the light begins to darken a little, and we accumulate some sins we haven’t confessed and decide to become a little more materialistic, and we want a promotion at work.

We continue going to church and we continue praying. Of course, we don’t seem to be enjoying it quite as much anymore, and we don’t pray quite as fervently and perhaps not quite as often. Sometimes I miss now. I didn’t make it to church last night because there was a good program on TV.

The whole thing somehow has become just formal. The person has lulled himself into self-hypocrisy, self-deceit.

There’s the danger. These people here are even keeping up all the outward forms. It’s not just as if they looked back on that experience way back then, but they even kept up all the outward forms and seemed to do it with a spectacular display of power, but where is their obedience? Where is that personal relationship with the Lord that is stamped by obedience and increasing conformity to him? How does Jesus see these self-diluted spiritual phonies?

“Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; away from me, you evildoers.’” The word for evildoer is quite literally you who practice lawlessness. “Away from me, you who practice lawlessness.” The key issue involved has been their disobedience. They have not been obedient, so he calls them “those who practice lawlessness.” They have not adopted to themselves the law of God revealed in Christ Jesus, so they are dismissed as practicing lawlessness.

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man.” These words insists the ethical teaching is not detached from the life of the one who gives this teaching and with whom it is congruous.

These words of his, these teachings of Jesus are really also what Jesus is. When Jesus stands and says, “I say unto you,” and gives the very high standards of God’s purity, he stands with God, The wise man not only hears these things but puts them into practice.
Shall we say Jesus is trying to frighten people into the kingdom?

The answer is yes. You see, there are many ways in which a person might be drawn to Jesus. “Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” That person might be drawn just because the rest of Christ is so utterly attractive, but some people will only see the gravity of their sin when they see it is a broad road that leads to destruction, when they see at the other end of life is hell, that the whole house is going to crash and it’s fall will be great.

“Is Jesus trying to frighten people?” When you draw a simple analogy and picture a man rushing to his neighbor’s house which is burning down, and the man is sleeping inside, and the neighbor bangs on the door and says, “Wake up! Wake up! Your house is burning!” Is he trying to frighten him out of his house? Do you see the point?

There is a hell to be shunned and a heaven to be gained. If I stand here and utter how great God is and how great His love, and forget to declare that this hell is there and it’s waiting for all those who do not know Christ Jesus, I’m not only a liar, but I’m calling Jesus a liar. He himself speaks twice as often about hell in the pages of Scripture as he does heaven.

If the resources of language are exhausted in God’s book to describe the wonders and the glories and the freedom and the beauty and the holiness and the privilege of heaven, then the resources of languages are also exhausted in trying to describe the terror and horror of hell. It’s the place of utter darkness. It’s the place where the worm doesn’t die.

People speak of going to hell because their friends are there. There are no friends in hell.

I can’t describe heaven to you except using the metaphors of Scripture, so I can’t describe hell to you except by using the metaphors of Scripture. You find them again and again and again, not only in the teaching of Jesus but throughout the New Testament.

Listen to the way it ends up in the book of Revelation in chapter 6. “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’ ”

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you to myself as a hen gathers her chickens, but you wouldn’t.” Matthew 23:37

There is this ultimate reality to be faced. There is the bar of God’s justice which does stand beyond you.

There are two ways there. There is this way, and there is that way. There is a broad way and a narrow way, but as sure as Jesus stands true, you will one day stand before the bar of God’s justice. Jesus has come to save his people from their sins. Which will be the way that you go to stand before the bar of his justice?

Examine yourself, don’t be surprised!