Title: God's Way Or The Highway
Bible Book: Matthew 7 : 13-14
Author: James Merritt
Subject: Witnessing; Salvation; Jesus, the Way
Objective:
Introduction
One of America's best known theologians tells the story of how he was talking to his five- year-old son, and he asked him two questions. First of all, he said, "Are you sure that when you die you will go to heaven?" The little boy said, "Yes, Daddy, I am." He then asked him the second question. "If you were to die tonight and God said to you, 'Why should I let you into my Heaven?' what would you answer?" His little boy didn't hesitate. He said immediately, "Because I'm dead."
Now believe it or not, that is exactly what most people think is necessary to get into Heaven. According to researcher, George Barna, when Americans were asked this question: "When you die you will not go to heaven?"--only two out of a hundred agreed. In other words, 98% of Americans believe that when they die they are going to Heaven.1
I believe that most people either don't understand what the Bible says about going to heaven, or they don't believe it. They're like some people I heard about one time who were anxious to go overseas to be missionaries. But in order to get into this particular country, they needed their visas and they didn't have them. They waited for months and months for their visas and finally asked a Christian family if they would pray that God would give them their visas. The eight-year-old boy of this family went up to his daddy and said, "What is it they need to get into this country?" He said, "They need their visa." The little boy said, "Why don't they try Master Card?"
Well you do have to have a visa to get into Heaven, and his name is Jesus. But most people don't have this visa, and they're not going to get in. That sounds very intolerant, but I am just repeating what Jesus said when He made one of the most politically incorrect statements in the history of the world: "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Mt. 7:13-14) Jesus said there are two roads you can travel in this world-one road leads to destruction, the other road leads to life.
There are two groups who travel these roads-there are the many and there are the few; there is the majority and there is the minority. Jesus Himself said the majority takes the road to destruction, while the minority takes the road to life. There is a high road that leads to heaven; there is a low road that leads to hell. The high road is narrow, the low road is broad. What I have just said to you is all you need to know as to why we ought to be a mission-minded people. It is the job of those of us on the narrow way to heaven, to lead people who are on the broad way to hell, to get on the narrow way, which is the only way that leads to the right way to heaven. You see, it is either God's way or the highway. In this instance the highway is the "die way." We have a mandate to carry out a mission, to preach a message about a Master who can take anybody to Heaven.
I. We are to Alert People to a Hellish Deception
"*wide is the gate." (v.13) There is a road that is both big and broad. It is easy to travel and it has plenty of room. The vast majority of the people in this world stay on this road and love it. Jesus pictures here a large entrance to a city that opens onto a broad boulevard. The road has a wide entrance and is spacious. It is easy to locate, easy to travel; there are no limitations as to baggage; you can take anything that you please. You don't have to leave anything behind. To stay on it, all you have to do is whatever you please; absolutely no effort is required. It is an easy road to travel. It has few rules, few requirements, and few restrictions. It is an inclusive road. The homosexual travels this road. The adulterer travels this road. The pornographer travels this road. The drunkard travels this road. The fornicator travels this road. It is an indulgent road. Anything goes and anyone is welcome. Sin is tolerated. Truth is moderated. Acceptance is elevated. It is the road most people travel. This is the road for people who believe in anything or believe in nothing. They believe that one religion is just as valuable as another. They believe that all roads lead to God, and eventually we're all going to wind up in the same place. It would shock you to know who are included in this crowd called "many." Let me give you just an abbreviated list: atheists, agnostics, humanists, Communists, Jews, Gentiles, blacks, whites; they're all on this road. But there are also some other people on this road that may surprise you: Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Mormons, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and anyone who has never been born again and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord is on this road. Jesus said this broad road "leads to destruction." Now obviously the people who are on this road do not believe that, or they would get off the road. Prov. 14:12 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."
In 1999 State Farm Insurance rated the most dangerous intersections for accidents in the United States. They determined that the most dangerous intersection in America was the corner of Beltline Road and Midway Road in Addison, Texas. At this one intersection in an affluent Dallas suburb, in one year there were 263 crashes. That averages out to five wrecks every week. Now that indeed is a dangerous intersection. But the most dangerous intersection in the universe is where Religion Avenue intersects Good Works Boulevard. Because the vast majority of this world believes that one or the other, or both, is all that is necessary to get into Heaven. Well, Jesus was giving a warning, just as I'm giving you a warning right now. You may be at the intersection of Religion Avenue and Good Works Boulevard, and you may have convinced yourself that you're going to Heaven. But if you're not on the road marked, Grace, driving in a car called, Faith, being driven by Jesus Christ, you are on the wrong road, headed away from God.
An agnostic made an appointment one time to see a pastor, and he walked into the pastor's office and said, "I have a deep philosophical question." The pastor said, "What is it?" He said, "Where is Hell?" Expecting a long theological dissertation the pastor simply said, "At the end of a Christless life." If you don't believe that, you are following the same hellish deception that appeals to most people.
II. We are to Attract People to a Heavenly Direction
"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (v.14) Now Jesus said that the gate that leads to life is "narrow." The Greek word is stenos which literally means "to groan" because of being under tremendous pressure. It was a word that was used to represent a constriction. It gives us the word stenography, which is what we call today "shorthand."
The Lord here paints a picture of a tiny gate that is easily overlooked. You have to search for it to find it. The road is also very narrow. It never broadens no matter how far or how long you travel on it. You can't bring any baggage through this gate; you've got to leave everything behind to get in.
Because the gate is so narrow, you can only get through it empty-handed. You've got to leave your pride, your prestige, and your position behind. In effect, you've got to go through this gate stark naked. You know why?
Because the gate is Jesus. You see, the question is not "What is the way to Heaven?" The question is, "Who is the way to Heaven?" Do you know what Jesus meant when He said this way is "narrow?" Well, listen to what Jesus said in John 10:9, "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved*" Listen to what Peter said in Acts 4:12, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Listen to what Paul said in 1 Tim. 2:5, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." Now this is neither politically correct nor is it very popular, but it is true nonetheless.
In fact, Jesus goes on to say that not only is the gate "narrow" but "the way is difficult." Now what did He mean by that? Well listen carefully. I'm going to say something right now that is going to sound contradictory, but it's true. You don't have to pay anything for salvation, but salvation will cost you everything that you have. You see, the reason few people enter this gate is not because the gate is too small, but people are too big. Jesus one time said that in order to enter into the kingdom of God, you must "come as a little child." When you come to God as a sinner, He receives you as a saint; but if you come to God as a saint, He will reject you as a sinner. Now I know that saying this makes me sound very narrow-minded. When I say that the gate to eternal life is Jesus, and that He is the only gate that leads to Heaven, that does sound very narrow. The reason why it does sound narrow is because it is narrow. We are being criticized more and more as Christians for being "narrow- minded." Quite frankly, that doesn't bother me because narrowness could be a great virtue.
I fly quite a bit and when a pilot is approaching an airfield there are ground lights that tell that pilot where the runway is. Now that pilot can approach that runway from 360º all the way around the horizon. He can approach that runway from any direction he wants to, but only one direction and one angled approach are the right ones. It's his business to bring that aircraft in at exactly the right direction on the right angle.
There is only one road that leads to heaven. It is a narrow road. It is a one-lane street that runs from earth to heaven. There is also a broad road, a four-lane highway that runs from earth to hell. The broad road that leads to hell intersects the narrow road that leads to heaven at just one place-at the cross of Jesus Christ, and the cross is the only exit off of the broad way that will take you to the narrow way that will take you to heaven.
III. We are to Ask People for a Holy Decision
Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate." (v.13) A gate is meant to be opened and it is meant to be entered. In order to open a gate you have got to decide to open it. You can open a gate and still not walk through it. You've got to decide to enter it. Those of us who have already opened that gate and entered that gate, are to go to others and tell them about that gate so that they too can have the opportunity to enter it for themselves.
Computers never cease to fascinate me. One of the aspects of a computer that to me is both a curse and a blessing is e-mail. I can receive an e-mail from someone and I can highlight every address I have in my address book and I can hit one little button called "forward" on my computer, and instantaneously send that e-mail to everyone on my address list.
Now it is the job of every generation to forward the gospel to the next generation, and to do it all over the world. But the big difference is you cannot forward the gospel by pushing a button. You do it by going and telling the Good News, which is simply what missions is all about; being willing to leave where you are, go where they are, tell them what they need to hear, and then give them the opportunity to make a decision to receive Jesus Christ.
Jesus said everyone is headed for one of two destinies-either eternal life or eternal death. Don't ever forget this: Destiny is determined by decision. The reason that is true is because decision determines direction, and direction determines destiny. If you decide to go the broad road you will wind up in the place called destruction. But if you decide to go the narrow road you will wind up in the place called life. But either way, you will spend eternity where you decide to spend eternity. That pretty much sums it up.
There are two gates to enter, two roads to travel, two crowds to join, two destinations to reach. But make no mistake, Jesus said there are only two gates-narrow and wide-there is no other gate. There are only two ways-easy and difficult-there is no middle way. There are only two crowds-the many and the few-there is no neutral group.
There are only two destinations-destruction and life-there is no third alternative. The number of people who travel the right road is not few because there's not enough room because God's grace has no limits and God's heaven has no boundaries. The only reason why there are few people as compared to the many, is because few people willingly make the choice to follow Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Do you remember the ancient Greek legend of the Minotaur? Let me refresh your memory. The Minotaur was a terrible monster that lived deep underground in a maze of caves and passages. Every year the Minotaur devoured young children. Somebody had to volunteer to stop it, and a young man named Theseus volunteered. He went down into the realms of darkness, took his sword, braved the beast and killed it. But there was one problem. How would he get back out of this maze? How would he take the right turns and pass through the right gates in this maze? Everyone who saw him enter into this deadly chasm was sure he would never come back. There was one person, however, who never stopped hoping. She loved Theseus and knew that he would return. She knew it because before he left she gave him a rope and to her own waist she tied the end of that rope. After he destroy the monster, all he had to do to get back through that maze was to follow the rope his loved one had given to him. It opened the right doors; it took him on the right paths; it marked the right gates and it led him to the right place.
This world is in a maze called sin. They are on the wrong road, entering the wrong gate, making the wrong turn. It is our job to give them the rope of hope, the Gospel of Jesus Christ which can put them on the highway to Heaven. Because it is God's way or the highway, and it is our job to put people on the right way. That is the mission God has given us and that is why we are all to be missionaries.
End notes
1 WWW.barna.org
