WHICH ROAD TO
CHOOSE?
God’s Law of the Heart (9)
Matthew 7:13-14
Penge Baptist Church
11th November 2012
Matthew 7:13-14
• “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is
the gate and broad is the road that leads to
destruction, and many enter through it. But
small is the gate and narrow the road that
leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Jesus’ teaching demands a choice
• Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a
bowl…..
• Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’
before men….
• When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites….
• When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites
do….
• No one can serve two masters…..You cannot serve
both God and Money
As did God in the Old Testament
• “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses
against you that I have set before you life and
death, blessings and curses. Now choose life,
so that you and your children may live and
that you may love the Lord your God, listen to
his voice, and hold fast to him.” (Deuteronomy
30:19-20)
Two different gates
• Enter through the narrow gate…small is the gate…
– “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will
come in and go out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9)
– Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me”(John 14:6)
• For wide is the gate…
– “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound
doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather
around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching
ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth
and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3)
– “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that
they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who
is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
Two different roads
• …broad is the road…
– The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as
they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and
pleasures, and they do not mature. (Luke 8:14)
– People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful,
proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal,
not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God. (2 Timothy 3:2-5)
• …and narrow the road…
– “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will
it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or
what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:2426)
Two different destinations
• …that leads to destruction….
– “thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)
– Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you
who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil
and his angels.’ (Matthew 25:41)
• ….that leads to life….
– “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the
full” (John 10:10)
– In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I
would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place
for you. (John 14:2)
Two different crowds
• …and many enter through it.
– “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the
Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the
day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what
would happen until the flood came and took them all away.”
(Matthew 24:37-39)
• …and only a few find it.
– 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. (Luke 13:23-24)
Who is this Jesus?
• For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for
the things done while in the body, whether good or
bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)
• “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in
and eat with him, and he with me. To him who
overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my
throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my
Father on his throne.” (Revelation 3:20-21)
The gate of heaven – our choice
• “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the
Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was
afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none
other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
(Genesis 28:16-17)
• “The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a
single pearl….On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there
will be no night there.” (Revelation 21:21,25)
• Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock
and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7)
The prayer of choice!
• Lord Jesus Christ,
• I know that I have sinned and done things that have hurt
you.
• I am willing to turn away from what is wrong in my life.
• I want to go where you lead in the future.
• Thank you for dying on the cross so that I might be
forgiven.
• Come into my life this day; Come in as my Saviour and
Lord: Come in to be with me forever.
• Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen.