Ignorance has never buttoned the lips of the foolish; it has always loosened them.
[This sermon is one of a series entitled "Sermon on the Mount, Concentrating on the Beatitudes," which is being preached on Sunday mornings by Pastor Tim Senter. You may access previous messages from this chapter, which may be referenced in this message by clicking here.]
In opening this message, we should recognize we are moving from one concept in our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount to another. Most commentators agree that the separation at verse 13 represents a shift in proposition. We just finished a section concerning judgmentalism and judgment. There is probably no better summation than the one provided by Lloyd Jones:
“His [Jesus’] object of this sermon, as we have seen, is to bring Christian people to realize first of all their nature, their character as a people, and then to show them how they are to manifest that nature and character in their daily life. Our Lord, the Son of God, has come from heaven to earth in order to found and establish a new kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. He comes into the midst of the kingdoms of this world, and His purpose is to call out a people unto Himself from the world and to form them into a kingdom. Therefore it is essential that He should make it quite plain and clear that this kingdom He has come to establish is entirely different from anything that the world has ever known, that it is to be the kingdom of God, the kingdom of light, the kingdom of heaven. His people must realize that it is something unique and separate; so He gives them a description of it. We have been working through that description. We have looked at His general portrait of the Christian in the Beatitudes. We have listened to Him telling these people that, because they are that kind of person, the world will react to them in a particular way; it will probably dislike them and persecute them. Nevertheless they are not to segregate themselves from the world and become monks or hermits; they are to remain in society as salt and light. They are to keep society from putrefaction and from falling to pieces, and they are to be its light; that light, apart from which the world remains in a state of gross darkness.”[i]
Now our Lord tells us to apply what we have learned. This is not just, “Have you heard me?” It is instead, “Now, get on with the Lord’s business.” We should ask ourselves if we, who call ourselves intellectual, or commonsensical or just plain moral people, supposed to just hear how scripture describes the people in the Kingdom of God? Or are we supposed to act upon what we hear? Are we supposed to do something? Are we just supposed to sit here in the pews and be in church to put our time in? Or are we called to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind”(Rom 12:2)? Our hearts are supposed to exhibit “the fruit of the Spirit [which] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Gal 5:22). Christians exhibit these things because we are not “conformed to this world,” because “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Rom 12:2; Gal 5:24). We are Christlike because we are Christians. We are not Christians because we act Christlike.
Matthew 7:13-14 is our focus for today. I am very mindful of the double-mindedness of man as I read this passage. It is one thing to say, “I’ll do it my way” and actually try to do that. It is wholly another to say, “I’ll do it my way….uh what are the rules again?” This second phrase is what man always defaults to. Interesting as it may seem, as we open to this passage we are again reminded that man always has rules to follow, even if he says he does not want to live by the rules. Further, man knows he must abide by the rules to get what he wants. He knows this and believes it is true of everything – except eternal life.
The Sermon on the Mount is not about the details, but about the big picture. Being poor in spirit is not talking about every minute decision and thought you have, it is about the overall attitude toward your spirit. Mourning is not about crying every day for your decrepit soul, or for that of others; it is about a general attitude concerning the lost soul and the salvation it needs. Being meek is not describing specific instances of gentleness, but a heart growing more and more gentle and loving as it grows in the Spirit of God in becoming a Kingdom saint. This same “big picture attitude” is true for hungering and thirsting after righteousness, being pure, being merciful, and being a peacemaker. You must see that these are practical principles and guidelines that mark the changes in the heart of a Kingdom saint – that a Kingdom saint gradually exhibits these things more and more in their lives. These are practical changes that drive new principles in our lives. Principles are the minutia with respect to a livelihood of one who has a poor spirit, is mournful, meek, craves righteousness, seeks to purify the heart and is a peacemaker. Though the legalist of the day would argue the details, the true Kingdom saint just wants to emulate the Beatitudes.
As one commentator recently stated,
“Christ’s words in this sermon are designed to shake a nation, to disrupt established life patterns, to dislodge entrenched ideas, and to force people to choose between two ways of life.”[ii]
Those two ways are either submission to God or rebellion against Him. People live in society by society rules, or they do not live in society. We either submit to the laws of the land (society’s rules) or we are put in jail. We see many people in the world that think they can live life the way they want to. The attitude that “No one is going to tell me what to do” is as childish a statement as the four-year-old saying, “No!” to the parent. In both cases, once we find out there are really rules to follow to get what we desire, we usually submit to those rules. Not so with the things of God.
You would think that people who think they are smart enough to try to control every aspect of their personal destiny would figure this out. If you want groceries, you have to go to the grocery store and purchase them. To get what you want, you have to play by the rules. We do this every day in life. Even the unbeliever exercises this to a greater degree. Most people who want to drive a car to work normally go through all the steps to submit to the laws of the land. They apply for, and pass the tests to get a driver’s license. They purchase or borrow a vehicle. They drive the vehicle on the right side of the road, and obey most, if not all, of the traffic laws. Normally they will use roads, and not just drive helter-skelter over the countryside. You would not get far in a car driving through the desert and scrub brush. It is just better to follow the rules than wreck your car.
Yet, when it comes to eternal things, living in God’s kingdom, living in a world wholly different than this one, living in a world no human can control – only to God Himself does man steadfastly say, “I’ll get to Heaven in whatever fashion I desire.” The simple answer is, “No you won’t.” People are quite foolish in talking about God and the things of God when they do not know the scriptures, His plan for man or His plan for man’s redemption. Ignorance has never buttoned the lips of the foolish; it has always loosened them.
There is only one way to Heaven and it has very specific requirements. There is only one route and it has a very well established path. There is only one form or application, and it must be filled out exactly and to the letter. There is only one gate, and it is narrow.
I. Where is our entrance (Verse 13a)?
Christ is where you find the entrance. Christians enter at the narrow gate. The first word in this verse – “enter” – is an imperative. This command is issued as a directive to the Kingdom saints present before the Lord. Quite simply Jesus tells those who desire to be in Heaven with Him to enter via the narrow gate. “Enter ye in at the strait gate” is probably best translated “Enter by the narrow gate,” for the word translated “straight” more directly means “narrow.” It implies restricted or controlled access.
This passage into Heaven is immediately narrow. We cannot enter like a funnel into a wide area and then be herded into a narrower passage. We live a narrow life focused upon a specific path that leads to a unique and small gate. The path, right now, is narrow. Do not misconstrue the image as a funnel where people are put through turnstiles or something. The way begins narrow. The gate for entrance is narrow. Many are outside the gate trying to get in other ways by jumping over the fence. Many wait in the throng for their turn. Neither of these is acceptable. The gate itself is the entryway. You must get through the gate to enter.
There are problems with the world’s thoughts with respect to the entrance. Many believe that being a moral person in the world is not much different than or is even synonymous with being a Christian. It is all the difference in eternity. Morality does not get you through the gate. There is a qualification for entrance and it is not being a good person, following the golden rule (sermon here) or never breaking a law (which is impossible for any single person to do anyway, and everyone readily admits this fact).
Another aspect of worldly thinking concerning the gate is that Christianity is not a narrow life. The gate does not indicate the narrow and restricted life of the believer. There is no indication in life that it is supremely confined. Many would say the Christian life is full of liberty, living, freedom and excitement. The stronger brother can try different worldly things such as social drinking, listening to wicked music or watching movies with profanity and nakedness in them. The weaker brother cannot watch these things. Rubbish. It is the stronger that rejects these things for Christ. The stronger stays on the narrow path toward the narrow gate to enter therein. Both of these ideas fail to convey the narrow path is a dedication to Christ and to serve Him in all things. It has nothing to do with restricting activity. It is instead a focused dedication to serve God in all capacities.
There is no way to enter the gate except by believing in the gospel which is four fold:
- Recognize and admit that you are a sinner. Everyone has done one thing in life that broke God’s law. There are two ways that every living individual is permanently disqualified from heaven. First, we are born disqualified; we are born as sin filled creatures. Second, one single sin disqualifies you, any sin. (Ps 51:5; Rom 6:23; Jas 2:10).
- Because of our sins we are disqualified to enter Heaven. In order to be qualified for entrance into Heaven, an appropriate sacrifice and atonement as well as a satisfaction of God’s wrath (propitiation) must be made for your sins (Heb 9:22). That atonement, the price paid, the satisfaction of God’s wrath came through the redemption provided by Christ because He, as God, submitted to man’s torture on the cross and God’s judgment for our sins placed upon His account (Is 53:5; 1 Pet 2:24).
- We must believe that, upon submitting to death for our salvation, Christ was buried and three days later arose again, resurrected to live again, no longer slave to the grave, but free of death’s sting (1 Cor 15:4; 1 Pet 1:3-11; 3:18).
- Christ, transformed into a resurrection body, ascended into Heaven, is now at the right hand of God (Lk 20:35-36; 1 Cor 15:52).
We need to accept Christ as our personal Savior in His full glory. This is the only ticket that admits us into the narrow gate. If we do not accept Christ for who He is, change for what He wants and seek the things of His Kingdom, we show no evidence that we possess an admissions ticket to get through the narrow gate.
Many believe that this view of God is too narrow – that God would never condemn people wholesale just because they made one mistake or they do not know of the redeemer. They would say that this view is too intolerant. That it would be cruel and unfair, according to the world, to deny people entrance just because they do not accept the Redeemer’s atonement. One good thing about this is that God does not report to the world and He is not accountable to the worldly. The worldly try to define a kingdom they have no right to be in, have no real concept of and certainly have no moral justification for their entry.
II. Is there another entrance? (Verse 13b)
No. There is no other entrance into Heaven. Yes, there is another gate – but that is an entrance into eternal torment, to destruction. There are only those two choices, the narrow gate or the wide gate, no others. People are either on the narrow path, or they are not. You will not find in the scriptures any discussion that indicates a place where one works off sins – a gate in-between the wide and the narrow gates. There are two places. One is a place of pure, unmitigated and utterly agonizing torment. The other is a place of wonderful comfort. Further, between them is a gulf that is fixed where none can pass from Abraham and Lazarus to the Rich Man, and none can pass from the Rich Man to Abraham and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-35).
A key word in this part of Matthew 7:13 is the word we find translated “broad.” It indicates a pleasant, agreeable, spacious, broad opening that will permit anyone and anything to pass through. There is no entrance exam. There is no ticket checking. You can do anything you want to walk through this gate. I fashion this gate to be the same lure that Pleasure Island had for Pinocchio and the young boys. It is easy, you can do what you want; but there is a horrid consequence that awaits you.[iii]
We could call the people outside the wide gate “crowd” people. The world is full of the crowd people, blindly headed in one direction. Following the crowd has never been a good concept, and this is the case here. You do not need to go against the flow; the object is to not be in the crowd in the first place. As believers we not only shun the crowd (the people), we shun their attitudes, lifestyles, behaviors, thoughts, and everything about them. The broad gate includes all of these things in the world. It includes tolerance of deviant lifestyles such as homosexuality. The broad gate accepts people who murder the unborn. The broad gate permits people to use illegal drugs under the auspices of medicine. The broad way accepts all religions as equals. The broad way confuses the one true God of Christianity with the false demonic influence of Islam, Buddhism, Atheism and Humanism. The broad way says all Christians honor God in their own way. It says we can develop our own traditions to honor Him. The broad path says we can take the ideas of evolution and mix them with creation, or that we must harmonize the scriptures with science.
The narrow gate on the other hand only admits those who are dedicated to honoring God the way He desires and with what He has prescribed in the scriptures. Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 learned this lesson when they were consumed by fire. The broad way says we can worship God how we want, including strange fire – or in this day and age, strange music, traditions and weird super-spiritual gifts such as tongues and healings. The narrow gate only admits those who worship Him as He has directed in His word – with the utmost reverence and with nothing oriented toward this world or man’s sensationalism. Everything we do in worship is alien to the world because God is alien to the world. The broad gate leads to destruction.
The crowd goes through the wide gate to destruction because they enjoy what they do. They worship themselves, not God. The narrow gate on the other hand is a unique gate that recognizes those who are different, who worship God as God, who know that their worship is being given to an omnipotent being of unimaginable power. God has set forth His requirements for worship; it is not entertainment. We do not go to church to like what we hear and to enjoy a concert in our favorite music genre and watch a nice theatrical skit. Those who enter the wide gate worship that way and there are many who enter there.
Almost everyone says they want to get into Heaven. Many of them say they hope to get into Heaven; however, only those who have the admission ticket at the narrow gate will enter therein. The admission ticket is a forfeiture of your life for Christ in whatever form or fashion He determines you take. He only asks what He has given of Himself. The admission ticket for the narrow gate is complete dependence upon Christ for life on Earth and life eternal. Admission to the wide gate is simple. Just do nothing; live life in the world for yourself. You can do whatever you feel you desire; just enjoy whatever good or bad the world has to offer. Indiscriminant sex, drug use, Unitarian theology – just experience all the things this world has to offer and you enter the wide gate. You determine what is best, you seek God for nothing or pretend to seek Him. Worship how you want, the way you want whenever you feel you should. Listen to the music you want. Only go to church in places where you hear what you want to hear from the pulpit. None of these things seek God or the path through the narrow gate.
If you consider worship and offering things to the Lord something that you have to enjoy doing, you are sorely mistaken. Your whole life must change. Your whole heart must change. Every desire in you must change. What is in you naturally gets you through the wide gate. The soul changed with the life of Christ and the Spirit of God is your admission ticket through the narrow gate. Accept the simple, free gift of the atonement of Christ and take upon yourself all of His desires. The gift changes you. Leave the crowd at the wide gate; come to the narrow gate where few enter therein.
Jesus certainly wants all of us to enter via the narrow gate. It is His first statement – “Enter through the narrow gate.” Then we find an entire verse on the narrow gate. The greater encouragement for us is to focus on what is needed to enter the narrow gate. How do we go in that way and what is back there?
III. What does the narrow entrance lead to? (Verse 14a)
Life eternal is on the other side of the narrow gate. The narrow gate leads to a life with God instead of a death separated from God. Hearkening back to a discussion on death (sermon here) we recognize that death is a separation. We live every day on Earth in a dead state with respect to God. When we receive Christ as our Savior and the Holy Spirit indwells us, we are enlivened spiritually because God is in us. The narrow gate is the passage from life temporal to life eternal. Those on the narrow path that leads to the narrow gate live spiritually on Earth. Those on the narrow path pass through the narrow gate entering a kingdom that is spiritually alive.
The gate and path are straight and narrow for a number of reasons. First, one on the narrow path, living a life characterized by the Beatitudes, is a very narrowly focused person. They are not intolerant of anything except sin. All the positive attributes listed (poor in spirit, mournful, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart and a peacemaker) are ever growing in the life of the believer. Those behind the gate are others who embody and manifest these attributes. What is behind the gate is a kingdom whose inhabitants personify the Beatitudes and reify their existence.
One challenge the believer has is that they are still on this side of the gate while Christ is implementing the Beatitudes in their lives. We are warned: “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matt 5:11). The world outside of that narrow gate still has the crowd attempting to mingle there and pull us off the narrow path. They will do anything to deny the requirements for the narrow path and entry to the gate because they do not want to submit. The crowd will also try to convince others that submission is not required. If this does not convince believers, the crowd will vilify them, accuse them, call them intolerant, ostracize or exclude and reject them in any way they can. The crowd will do all it can to convince believers that God does not exist or that “if He is loving, He would not condemn you for this or that little sin.” Satan too will introduce things into this mix that accuse, tempt or otherwise entice you to leave the narrow path. People, things, passions and desires are Satan’s favorite ploys. In Matthew 5:11, Jesus warns of these wide path people who are trying to mingle with those on the narrow path. Those who do not subscribe to the things at the entrance to the narrow gate will not be admitted but turned away with one comment: “I never knew you” (Matt 7:23). These people will not enter into comfort with Abraham, paradise with Jesus or God’s heavenly Kingdom.
Seek Christ where He may be found and you will enter the narrow gate to paradise. Seek the ways and things of God in your life and you will take the narrow path to comfort. Seek Christ to grow the characteristics of a Kingdom saint in you, and you will find yourself admitted into the Kingdom of God. Those are the activities of a believer.
Jesus goes further than to just say there are two gates – one leads to good things, one leads to bad – follow the narrow one, for the wide one leads to destruction. In the second part of verse 14 we find another piece of information that is interesting. Who will use the narrow entrance?
IV. Who will use the narrow entrance? (Verse 14b)
Not many. There are few who will find it. People who truly want Christ in their lives, seek to change for Him, look continually at their hearts and gradually develop more and more of the Beatitudes in their lives, will enter in the narrow gate. People who break with the things of the world and seek only the things of God; who seek to use the things of the world as tools to further the will of God in life and the lives of others; who change because of Christ, will find their way through the entrance at the narrow gate. People will enter the narrow gate who seek the word of God being preached and taught in churches, fellowship with others in church, and submit to the whole counsel of God in the scriptures. People will enter the narrow gate who regularly subject themselves to and submit under a local body of Christ and do not instead seek their own freedom from the assembly. The question is, are you making the break with the world? Is your life exemplifying a change in your demeanor that always grows in Christ? Is your life more Christlike? Do you desire to be here among these saints more than out there among the worldly?
I am chancing that I may step on some toes, but the facts have to be made clear. The scripture says “narrow is the way which leadeth to life and few there be that find it.” There is a worldly trend in today’s society that says we do not have to belong to a church as a member because the scriptures do not have the word “member” in them. There are other arguments as well. They all amount to denying accountability to the saints in the assembly. These individuals do not desire accountability with anyone and will not submit to that accountability. That is a crowd oriented thought process. That is an attitude that leans toward the wide gate.
Those who will be readily accepted at the narrow gate understand that scripture requires we be accountable in many ways to one another. We are not supposed to lie to one another (Lev 19:11) or oppress one another (25:17). Christ commands that we love one another (Jn 13:34). We are to be kind and affectionate toward and to prefer one another (Rom 12:10). We are not supposed to judge one another (Rom 14:13). We are commanded to show hospitality one to another (Rom 15:7). We should admonish one another (Rom 15:14). We should serve, be forbearing and carrying one another’s burdens (Gal 5:13, 6:2; Eph 4:2). We are kind, tenderhearted and forgiving toward one another (Eph 4:32). Ultimately, we are to submit ourselves to one another in the fear of God (Eph 5:21). These are just a few one another directives we find in scripture. There is obviously a principle involved here regardless of the lack of a word we might want to see. The people who enter in the narrow gate look at the teachings in scripture and submit to those principles. An honest question is then, how can one who claims they seek the narrow gate and walk the narrow path really do so without being submitted to an assembly in membership for accountability?
As I read this passage over and over it also occurred to me that most of the time, especially in smaller settings such as this, God is bringing to this sheepfold mostly those who are on the narrow path already. This pulpit is not easy on the Christian spirit. This pulpit challenges the Christian to change every Sunday. I am convicted by the Lord to have a ministry that seeks the things in the Word of God that would guide us to change to become more Christlike, more like a Kingdom saint. Teaching you the scriptures and how to implement them in your life is a sobering responsibility. I believe this church has few people because the path is narrow. Those who dedicate themselves to Christ will come regularly and subject themselves to the teaching of the word. You hunger and thirst for righteousness, praise God. Those who may not come may not seek those things but instead seek a broader path. However, that path leads to destruction. I am not saying that this pulpit is the only one capable of guiding others to the narrow path in Lander. I am saying that popularity does not breed righteousness.
Conversely, are you just plodding along through life thinking you got it all planned out or that you’re at least “covered” because you said a prayer at one time, you claim Christ, or you have even been a devout believer all your life? Are you gathering about you the things of the world, taking upon your attitude the demeanor of the worldly and treating others with a worldly disdain for honesty, love, forgiveness, tenderheartedness and fellowship?
These are intense personal changes for some to make. We should note that they are no more challenging than the smoker that realizes in the Lord, that they must stop smoking because they are hurting the temple of God. Christian changes are deep, abiding, personal and life altering. That is what Christianity and transforming into a Kingdom saint is all about – changing us from the sin-filled rebellious creatures that we are to saints worthy of entrance through the narrow gate into God’s Kingdom.
Who will use the narrow entrance? Those who choose Christ and the things of Christ over the world and the things of the world. Who will enter God’s Kingdom? People who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. This acceptance is evinced by life changing events in a believer. Individuals turning wholesale from sin, sinful events, sin related happenings, sin-oriented activities and anything that does not therefore glorify God. People who hunger and thirst for righteousness and develop a pure heart in God. Those individuals will enter in the narrow gate.
Look at the wide gate through the prism of the Beatitudes. Wide is the gate to destruction for the haughty. Wide is the gate for the rich in spirit (as opposed to being “poor in spirit”) – those with strong wills. Wide is the gate for those who do not mourn, but instead celebrate their depravity. Wide is the gate for those who are haughty instead of meek. Those who are non-committal concerning righteousness instead of starving for it will find their way into the wide gate. The cruel find their way easily into the wide gate. Impurity marks all those who enter the wide gate as they delve into all the world’s devices to sample them. The heart of the worldly crowd is always divided between the things and devices of the world, and simply submitting to God. Which path are you on?
[i] Lloyd-Jones, D Martyn, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, One-volume edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 476-477.
[ii] Sam Horn, Kingdom Living Here and Hereafter, Integrity of Heart, The Beatitudes Part 1, Vol. 2, No. 1 Spring 1997, Northland Baptist Bible College, Dunbar, WI.
[iii] Carlo Collodi, The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1940 film produced by Walt Disney, released by RKO Radio Pictures February 7, 1940. In the movie the boys were turned into donkeys and sold.
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