Matthew 7:13-14

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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

 

Some years back we stopped at “Rock City” on Lookout Mountain in Georgia.  If you have driven around that area you know what I’m talking about:  endless “See Rock City” signs encouraging you to go to this rocky, mountain top, tourist attraction.  It was pretty neat, as far as tourist attractions go.

I remember one part of the path you take as you walk through Rock City that stands out.  They call it “Needle’s Eye.”

It is a very narrow portion of the trail that you might find a little trying if, like me, you are a bit claustrophobic.  At the time, I could get through Needle’s Eye, though I found the experience a little too close for comfort.  It’s a narrow path between two high walls of rock.  It was narrow, to say the least!

I thought of Needle’s Eye when working on our text for today, for that image is the kind of image Jesus evoked when He wanted to describe the nature of the Christian life.  This is what He said:

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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

I like John Stott’s summary of this text.  He put it like this:

…there are according to Jesus only two ways, hard and easy (there is no middle way), entered by two gates, broad and narrow (there is no other gate), trodden by two crowds, large and small (there is no neutral group), ending in two destinations, destruction and life (there is no third alternative).[1]

I am going to use those four divisions in looking at our text today:  two gates, two ways, two crowds, and two destinations.  They are the natural divisions within these words of Jesus, and each is important, communicating essential truths.

This text is a series of two’s.  It is fascinating to observe how often Scripture depicts the ultimate issues of salvation in terms of two’s.

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. (Deuteronomy 30:15)

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. (Matthew 25:31-33)

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1:13)

There is a basic dichotomy to life, a division between the things of God and the things that war against God.  This division presents itself to every human being, asking which we will choose:  life or death, forgiveness or condemnation, salvation or judgment, light or darkness?  We stand confronted by these two’s and we must make a decision.

I. Two Gates:  Narrow and Wide

The first of these two’s are the two gates.

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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

There is a narrow gate and there is a wide gate.  Interpreters often discuss what the gate is intended to be, but it would appear to be the entryway onto the two paths that lead either to salvation or destruction.  In other words, every human being is faced with the choice of going into one of two doors, or one of two gates.  Those gates ultimately lead to very different places.

But what is the narrow gate, the gate leading to life, and why is it narrow?  We find the answer to the identity of the gate in John 10:9.  There, Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”  Christ Jesus is the gate, the door.  The decision we make concerning Christ and whether or not to trust in Him will determine the direction of our lives.

Every human being stands before two gates.  One gate is the acceptance of Jesus and it leads to life.  The other gate is the rejection of Jesus and it leads to destruction.  What is telling is that Jesus says there are only two gates.  There is not a third.  In fact, in Revelation 3, Jesus expresses His contempt for third ways in general.  This is what He says to the church of Laodicea:

¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. ¹⁵ “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. ¹⁹ Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. ²¹ The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

There is no third way.  There is no via media when it comes to Jesus.  You have not “kind of” accepted Christ.  You have not “kind of” rejected Jesus.  You have either accepted him or rejected Him.  He is either Lord to you or He is not.  This morning, right now, right here, right where you are sitting, you have either accepted Christ as Lord and Savior or you have rejected Jesus.  You may tell yourself that are still in the middle.  There is no middle!  Not to have accepted Him is to have rejected Him.

It is interesting to note that people are apparently less likely to accept Christ the older they get, according to some research done some years back, anyway.

The probability of people accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior drops off dramatically after age 14, a new study by the Barna Research Group has found.  Data from a nationwide sampling of more than 4,200 young people and adults indicate that youth from ages 5 through 13 have a 32 percent probability of accepting Christ as their Savior.  Young people from the ages of 14 through 18 have a 4 percent likelihood of making that choice, while adults ages 19 and older have a 6 percent probability of doing so.[2]

Perhaps this means that the longer you go on rejecting Christ, the harder your heart gets.  Obviously, this is not a hard and fast rule.  In this very church are numbers of people who were gloriously saved later in life.  Some of the greatest heroes of the faith were saved later in life.  If you are here today and you are hearing the gospel, it is not too late for you.  So long as you have breath in you it is not too late.  You can accept Jesus this very day.

There are two gates, but they are not the same size:  one is narrow and one is wide.

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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Why is this so?  It is so because it seems that many more people reject Christ than accept Him. Even so, let no one say that the gate to glory is too narrow for them.  It is narrow, but it stands before every human being, and anybody who so desires can enter in.  If you desire to come to Jesus, you can.  If you desire to be saved, you will not find the narrow gate locked.  The key to the gate is the grace and mercy of Jesus.  We reach for the gate through the act of repentance and faith.

I have mentioned in the past how, as a kid, I went to Camp Ambassador on Lake Waccamaw in North Carolina.  While there, they gathered us all around the campfire one night where a wonderful, elderly lady who we all referred to as “Aunt Sarah” told us a story.  The story she told us was John Bunyan’s story Pilgrim’s Progress.  In the story, Christian is journeying to the Celestial City, but first, he must pass through what Bunyan called “the wicket gate.”  The wicket gate is a narrow gate, but it is the gate that opens to the path leading to eternal life.  Here is Bunyan’s description of Christian going through the narrow gate.

So, in process of time, Christian got up to the gate. Now, over the gate there was written, “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Matthew 7:7

He knocked, therefore, more than once or twice, saying,

“May I now enter here? Will he within

Open to sorry me, though I have been

An undeserving rebel? Then shall I

Not fail to sing his lasting praise on high.”

At last there came a grave person to the gate, named Goodwill, who asked who was there, and whence he came, and what he would have.

Christian: Here is a poor burdened sinner. I come from the city of Destruction, but am going to Mount Zion, that I may be delivered from the wrath to come; I would therefore, sir, since I am informed that by this gate is the way thither, know if you are willing to let me in.

Goodwill: I am willing with all my heart, said he; and with that he opened the gate.[3]

There are two gates:  one narrow and one wide.  Have you passed through the narrow gate?  Have you trusted in Christ?

II. Two Ways:  Hard and Easy

There are also two ways:  one hard and one easy.  The hard way is the way to which the narrow gate opens.  The easy way is the way to which the wide gate opens.

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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Now this is a fascinating thing for Jesus to say.  It also appears to be problematic, at first glance, because of something that Jesus said in Matthew 11.

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

What can this mean?  In our text Jesus says that “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life,” but in Matthew 11 He says, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”  Which is it?  Is the way of Jesus easy or hard?

The answer to that question is, “Yes!”  That is to say, the yoke and way of Jesus is a paradox.  It is a blissful burden.  It is a freeing enslavement.  It is a light burden, but a burden nonetheless, as Jesus acknowledges.  All of this is to say that the way of Jesus is a path of joy but also a path of laying down our lives.  The way of Christ is a way of liberation, but it is a liberation from sin that constantly pesters and hinders us.

You will perhaps recall that I have earlier spoken of the Kingdom of God as the “already/not yet” Kingdom.  That is a well-known phrase that has great explanatory power.  The Kingdom of God is “already” in that it exists, it has a King, Jesus, and it has citizens, those who have come to the Father through the Son.  But the Kingdom of God is “not yet” in that we still struggle with sin, still see through a glass dimly, and are still in the difficult process of becoming what we need to become in Christ.  It is “already” in that we have been justified, declared free and forgiven in Christ.  It is “not yet” in that we still must confess our sins as we daily struggle.

We also see the “already/not yet” Kingdom in the way the Lord spoke of His path.  It is “already” in that it is easy:  we walk with Jesus in victory and a song fills our hearts.  It is “not yet” in that it is hard:  we struggle under the temptation to abandon the path, under the burden of having to learn to think and live differently, and under the strain of being rejected by the dominant systems of the world in which we live.

Indeed, there is a sense in which following Jesus is hard.  It is hard when it is contrasted with the infinitely easier though tragically deceitful path of simply thinking what everybody else thinks, doing what everybody else does, talking like everybody else talks, and believing as everybody else lives.

Discipleship is hard, brothers and sisters, but the yoke of Jesus is still easy.  What a beautiful privilege it is to be on this narrow, hard path!  What an honor to set our feet on this way!  It requires us to lay down our lives, but we lay them at the feet of the Jesus who loves us.  The martyrs all suffered and sealed their testimony with their blood, but they did so singing praises to the Savior Who first laid down His life for them.

III. Two Crowds:  Few and Many

There are also two crowds:  one large and one small.

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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

The large crowd passes through the wide gate onto the easy path.  The small crowd passes through the narrow gate onto the hard path.  Friends, most people will reject the path of life.  That means that, in most cases, the crowd will be wrong.

I think about this when I think about our kids at school.  Kids, when you are in the classroom or the cafeteria, and that topic of religion or right-and-wrong or truth comes up, and you realize that you are the only one at the table who holds the biblical position, the true position, take heart:  Jesus said that His people would almost always be in the minority.  The church is the minority in the world.  Those who have trusted in Christ are in the minority when compared to those who have rejected Him.

I take that to mean that the majority of viewpoints that I encounter on TV will likely be false.  I take that to mean that the majority of viewpoints I read online will likely be false.  I take that to mean that our calling is to uphold the minority, rejected, despised truth of the gospel in the dominant culture of darkness that has rejected it.  Indeed, I take that to mean that it is an honor to hold up the despised truth.  It is an honor to be the only one at the lunch table who speaks up, with love but with clarity, and says, “Guys, I’m a Christian, and, as a Christian, I do not agree with what you just said.  In fact, Jesus said…”  That, friends, is an honor!

It is also a calling and a burden.  If you do not speak the truth at that table, that table will not hear the truth.  If you do not speak the truth, adults, at that dinner party, that dinner party will not hear the truth.  If you do not speak the truth at that ballgame, the people at that ballgame will not hear the truth.

Dear Christian, I plead with you:  do not grow silent before the majority.  Jesus said the majority is on the path to destruction.  The few are on the path of life.  The few have come into the Kingdom and the few must represent the interests of their King.

Let me also say that this truth should motivate us to plead with the many to come to Christ.  The point of this teaching is not that we write the many off to destruction.  The point is that we should realize the reality of how the world is, but then embrace the challenge of calling the world to Christ.

IV. Two Destinations:  Life and Destruction

Jesus finally spoke of two destinations.

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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

The two paths, the easy and the hard one, end somewhere.  There are two final destinations to life.  Jesus referred to these two destinations as “life” and “destruction.”  One path leads to eternal life and the other leads to eternal destruction.  The path leading to eternal life is the path of Jesus.  The path leading to eternal destruction, eternal death, is the path of the world without Christ.

Jesus consistently spoke of people reaching either one of two final destinations.  For instance, in Matthew 25, Jesus gave this picture of the final judgment:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Again, in Luke 14, he told a parable about a great banquet that ends in a simple division of people around two final destinations.

¹⁶ But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. ¹⁷ And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ ²⁰ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

One more example.  In Matthew 25, Jesus told a story about some virgins who go out with their lamps to meet the coming bridegroom.

¹ “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. ⁶ But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. ¹¹ Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ ¹² But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ ¹³ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Do you see Jesus’ constant allusions to two final destinations?  One path ends in life and the other in destruction.  The sheep end in eternal life and the goats end in eternal destruction.  The later-invited guests end up in the banquet hall and the originally-invited guests end up outside the hall.  The wise virgins end up at the marriage feast and the foolish virgins end up on the wrong side of the shut door.

Let us be very clear about the fact that scripture is very clear:  every human being will end up in either an eternal heaven or an eternal hell, and the determining issue in that is whether or not we trust in Jesus and accept what He has done for us.  There is a heaven and there is a hell, and every person will find themselves in one or the other.

It is becoming increasingly unfashionable to speak of hell, though the Lord Jesus spoke of it in very clear terms.  There is a place of eternal torment reserved for those who reject the salvation that will keep us from that place.  I will simply point out that it makes no sense to say that Jesus came to save us and then to deny that from which He came to save us.  It makes no sense to say that Jesus laid down His life for our sins and then to deny that there is a price for our sins that we would otherwise have to pay.  It makes no sense to say that Jesus was tormented but that, ultimately, it would not have really mattered, since we would never have faced torment ourselves.

If you abandon hell, you gut the cross of meaning.  Jesus came to save us from something.

That early pastor and preacher, John Chrysostom, once commented on the fact that people find talk about hell to be unpleasant.  This is what he said:

And I know, indeed, that there is nothing less pleasant to you than these words.  But to me nothing is more pleasant…Let us, then, continually discuss these things.  For to remember hell prevents our falling into hell.[4]

Indeed, there is a benefit to being aware of hell.  Jesus came to save us from it.  Jesus is the only thing standing between us and hell.  Would you be saved?  Would you like for your path to end in life instead of destruction?  The decision is simple:  trust in Christ.  Jesus is the narrow gate leading to the path of life.  Paul put it like this in Romans 10:

⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Have you trusted in Jesus?  Have you walked through that gate?

I pray that it is so.  I plead with you to trust in Christ today.