Which Road Are You On? The Narrow Gate and True Faith - Sermon 17th March 2019

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If you are in the Sydney area, be sure to join us at the Heights Church at Goldstone

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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 is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing,

but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven,

but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,

and in your name drive out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?

Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you, away from me, you evildoers.

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice

is like a wise man who built his house in the rock.

The rain came down and the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against

that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice

is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that

house, and it fell with a crash.

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,

because he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law.

And i know what you're talking about when you've been away from the

country so long that you don't know what people are saying there were some people who

came over from to canada from australia

after i'd been there for about 10 years and they started to

do all these replacement words like bugs bunny and

cheese and kisses and i thought if i've been away so long that i can't even

remember what people say then i just realized that they were not actually speaking

australian they were speaking something else where no one really replaces words

like that ever in the end of life but uh yeah,

it's good to is anyone saying that kel willis i think

version of some of the gospels in australian language

very interesting to talk about now it's interesting and

it's a good segue that some of the words that we are reading today

in our in our reading going to look at it's important

that we understand what in greek they mean and so

it's not to show off my knowledge of greek because i have no knowledge of

greek all i have is a knowledge of what i read really although i've

studied it i never never ever say that

i can sit there and be a major critic

of it but it is important that we understand some of

the greek words this morning because it gives us insight into what jesus had

to say in the sermon on the mount let's pray as we look at god's word lord we

thank you lord that you are the one that teaches us and we're not the ones that

need to decide for ourselves really what it means,

but rather your spirit teaches us.

Open up our minds so that we might hear clearly what you have to say.

Help us address our heart, because these verses really address our heart.

And I pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit might convict us where needed,

transform us where needed, reassure us where needed, so that we might walk rightly before you.

And at the end of the sermon, we would get the application, Lord.

I pray this in your name. Amen.

You see plenty of self-improvement programs on TV.

I'm pretty sure that you've seen a lot of them over the time.

And some people actually think that as they listen to the Sermon on the Mount,

that that's what it is, that Jesus is just stating or proposing items for you to consider in life.

Try them out, see if any of them work for you and if they do well, then good.

If you get to the end of the sermon and you think that you just need to tweak

a few things in your life just to make it better, when then really you haven't

understood the radical nature of his sermon, it's radical.

Jesus' sermon isn't tips for

self-improvement, nor is it a few suggestions to get by better in life.

And it's not some kind of take it or leave it message.

Now, Jesus, in Matthew 17, 13 to 29, that was read for us by Brian,

is all about acknowledging Jesus as Lord.

It's about having Jesus as our authority.

He is the one who will determine who stands or who doesn't stand in judgment.

He is the one who labels the fruit of one's life, good or bad.

He alone is the one, the road in which you get to God and you travel to God.

He is the gate in which you have entry into heaven.

The last part of the sermon on the mount asks four things, I think,

of us, or three really in crunch time.

He's asking you which road are you on have

you entered through the gate will you

stand in that large judgment it's crunch time jesus doesn't permit us to merely

admire his teaching no we're challenged to bow down and worship the preacher

jesus that's what he wants for us to declare him as lord in our lives.

So he asks, which road do you travel on? Which road are you moving along?

He says, 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 is the road that

leads to life, and only a few find it.

If you're going to write a book based upon these two verses,

the title would be Cultures Collide.

Because while many in today's, in first century Judaism, first century world,

can claim exclusivity of religion, our PC world, our politically correct world

doesn't allow us to do that.

In two verses, Jesus pronounces what many today consider the most controversial,

offensive principles of the Christian faith.

People say Jesus' teaching breaches many of 21st century culturally agreed boundaries.

Don't go there. Don't travel there because it's not right that you do.

To summarize what Jesus is saying, this is what he's saying.

We are all on a road.

Every person travels their road with a faith profession. No one's neutral.

No one's neutral from the beliefs that they have. And there are only two roads and two destinations.

All roads don't lead to the same place. Jesus says about himself that he is

the only gate to the road that leads to life.

There are or is no other way. If we're going to do an illustration today,

here's the toll booth in which you enter through.

Then he says something quite confronting or ought

to be quite confronting and very disturbing for christians that

orthodox belief emotional engagement

and ministry service is no indicator of your salvation good resource for if

you want to look more deeply into the argument that emerges from these verses

you can be found in tim keller's book the reason for god particularly in in part one of that book.

And the framework for today's talk comes from Keller.

First of all, we are all on a road. We all have a faith of some kind,

whether you believe that this life has a definitive end or not,

as in whether it's eternal or not, whether you believe that there's a God or

whether you believe there is no God, or even if you believe there's a higher

power who's disconnected from you.

Disinterested entity if you like whether you believe in

a particular religion or philosophy or the catch-all secular humanism perspective

that simplifies everything by just flatlining all religions and eliminate in

religious faith really completely we are all people of faith and on a road to somewhere,

Because like it or not, your life will end. My life will end.

And then you'll be faced with the reality of a destination.

And if you think that there is no destination beyond life, or that there is

no decisive destination as in heaven and hell, it really makes no difference.

Blaise Pascal talked about that in a 16th century philosopher.

He proposed that we all wager on our faith. We all bet on our faith that we

place our faith, our trust in our beliefs that in the end, they'll pay off for us.

We all travel on a road. We might not call it a faith road, but it's not important

whether we call it that or not. We are all on a faith road.

We trust and have faith in our own beliefs, whatever they might be.

And you might say, well, I don't believe there's a God. I don't believe in religion,

so just leave me out of the argument altogether. However, whether you believe

in God or not does not stop you from living out your faith.

For example, if you believe there's no God or there's a disinterested God,

then you will live out your life by that faith decision,

whether consciously or unconsciously, based on an atheistic belief that there's

no God or agnostic belief that there's a God that's disinterested in you and your life.

If you hold to a particular religion then the decisions you make will be based

upon that religion even if you don't stringently follow that religion or you

nominally follow that religion,

meaning that you believe that it's neither here or there

whether i follow it or not that's your faith secular

humanism and some particular religious

construct that you've kind of come up with and that's

what you'll follow even if your faith has a

definitive end and as in we die and that's it and and we're not eternal don't

think that you are not on a faith road you are trusting and you're wagering

on what you believe is right and you'll wager on your life decisions.

And so Jesus says, your eternal destination is based upon your faith because there's only two roads.

While we're all traveling on a road, Jesus says, don't think that all roads

will lead to the same place.

Don't think that all roads lead to heaven. That's my paraphrase because there is only two roads.

There are only two roads and there are only two destinations.

All religions are not the same we are

not all traveling on some massive multi-faith highway

where we'll get there in the

end wherever there might be in crisis

counseling it's common for people to refuse reality they refuse to accept that

something bad has happened to them because if they enter into the understanding

the reality that that something bad has happened to them it forces them to come

face to face with the unthinkable.

And that's no doubt what people are thinking out at Christchurch right now.

People are sometimes offended by any notion of hell.

They refuse the reality of it.

How can a loving God ever have any kind of hell? And if he has some kind of

hell, how can he send people there?

You hear that all the time. So to eliminate the problem of an absolute truth,

people have just created relative truth relative to

what their faith proposes kind of a

utilitarian universalism a false

paradigm that determines that all faith roads lead to the same destination the

same place but jesus dispels that illusion that all roads lead the same place

he clearly outlines there's only two roads and only two destinations but even

if you look at it rationally.

It just doesn't work that way. It just doesn't work out rationally or logically,

that all roads lead heavenward to God, be it a small g or be it a large g.

If you look at that briefly, let's say that your religion, X,

Y, Z, has the doctrine that all roads lead to heaven.

And I say, no, Christianity believes they don't.

That Jesus says that I am the only way to heaven, that I am the only way to

God and the only way you get there to God is through him.

In fact, he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to

the Father except through me. John 14 says that.

So in effect, Jesus is saying that every other way, regardless of how sincerely

they propose it to be and how sincerely people follow it, they are sincerely wrong.

The one who holds to the beliefs of the religion X, Y, Z, would say to me as

a Christian follower of Jesus, the truth of Jesus, that you are wrong.

Or in a politically correct way, they would say, you can believe what you believe

and I can believe what I believe.

Translated, you're wrong and I'm right. Because if I believed you were right, I would follow that.

And if I believed they were right, they would follow that. And if I believe

another religion was right, I would follow that.

Everybody believes what they sincerely hold within a faith commitment, that they're right.

Can you see how ridiculous statement it is that all roads lead to the same place?

It just can't be true that all major religions claim exclusivity. They do.

And in claiming exclusivity, they believe that what they believe is right and

what the others believe is wrong. Otherwise, they'd follow that.

It's logic. It just doesn't make sense any other way. Even if somebody holds

universal utilitarianism, in other words, everything's just fine,

peachy, and we're all moulded into one, that's what they believe.

So therefore, they believe that, and they believe that someone who holds exclusivity is wrong.

You can see that, can't you? You might say, well, that's not tolerant.

Well, in some sense, you are right, it's not tolerant, and you are wrong.

While Christianity is socially and culturally and religiously tolerant, we are.

We're called to be loving.

People can follow whatever faith they want to.

We can have mosques in Sydney. We can have whatever faith building where people

want to go and worship whatever faith they want, we can have that.

We can have ethics in school.

We can have all sorts of different things. We are tolerant people. We are loving people.

People can believe whatever they would like on a social, cultural,

and religious perspective.

But theologically, we are not tolerant.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, the life, and no one comes to the Father, but through me.

Theologically, Christianity holds exclusivity.

Jesus is the only way to God and the only way to heaven.

For many, that is hard to accept that Jesus is the gate that they must enter

through him and him alone.

Going through Jesus' death and resurrection as a gate is not the same as entering

into the doorway of a church.

That's not the gate out there. It might be the gate of the morning tea,

but it's not the gate to salvation.

It's not the gate to be sincere and passionately worship in a Christian service.

That is not the way in which you enter into anything other than passionate worship.

Nor do you enter into salvation through Christian service.

You do not enter through ministry, even if it's prophetic, even if it's supernatural in a sense.

Even if it's done in the name of Jesus, you don't enter into salvation that way.

The only way that you enter into salvation is through a relationship with Jesus.

The only way you enter in salvation is by you coming to him with an understanding

that you can't enter in through any other way than what Jesus has provided through his death,

through his sacrifice on the cross,

through his resurrection from the dead, for the forgiveness of our sin.

That's the only way we can enter in.

Jesus says broad is the way, or in Greek, easy is the road that leads to destruction.

It's broad. Many are on it. not

just a few radical people following some radical religion or

some religious cult that's out there they're not the ones that are

going to destruction no it's broad and notice

the destination it is clear the

destination is destruction but narrow

or in greek heart is

the road which leads to eternal life and only

a few find it it's not narrow

because it's hidden it's not narrow because you've got to

go down and follow your gps down some particular way

particular path some particular way and fashion that you have to follow before

you actually get to see the door at all no it's narrow because it's a hard road

to travel it's easy to travel on that wide road it's easy to travel down the

highway with the lure of all that this world has to offer,

but little does the world know, those along the broad path,

that it doesn't lead to life.

Doesn't lead to eternal life, but it doesn't lead to life even now.

Blaise Pascal talked about it. It's a bit like the poker machines that we have. Do you know?

Maybe you don't. And here's might be a big, you know, information. Please don't take away.

This is the only part of today's message. they're rigged

my brother told the

programmers how much each machine needs

to pay out for a club to make a profit you will

play it you might win you will always lose broad is the gate you might have

wins where you get self some sense of satisfaction some sense of contentment

in life some sense of happiness and pleasure in it.

But you will lose because that's not what brings contentment and life.

The one that brings contentment in life is Jesus.

He made you. He knows you. He programmed you so that you would have life and

eternal life from him. He calls it abundant life.

Madonna was a woman who had gone down every road and was quoted as saying a

few years ago that I wasn't sure what I was on this earth for.

I think I was mostly concerned about getting things for myself,

more clothes, more money, more popularity, more boyfriends, and then goes on

to say, I wasn't really thinking, I was just doing.

And then I woke up and said, what am I on this earth for? people.

She's searching from another answer, from another perspective,

from a different perspective in her life, she will not find that answer.

She'll find that answer only in Jesus. It's a good question,

isn't it? What are we on this earth for?

Well, it's not to travel down a dead-end street. That's for sure that this world provides.

The road that Jesus wants us to travel on is not a dead-end street.

It's a through road. It's not aimless wandering.

It's purposeful. But Jesus' road that leads to life, is hard.

Why? Because many will say on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your

name, did we not drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles,

and then I'll tell them plainly,

I never knew you, away from me, you evildoers.

If that doesn't leave you squirming in your seat, nothing would.

Am i the one that will say lord lord am i the one that by me saying lord in

greek it's curios the same as in the old testament the word is used for yahweh lord,

you are god your beliefs your orthodoxy your teaching your your doctrine is

right jesus you are the Lord God, the Yahweh, you are the one.

And not only call him Lord, but Lord, Lord, and Lord, Lord in the Old Testament

and throughout the Bible is a sign of your emotional connection, your passion.

It's not like Mark, Mark, where dog with a hair lit, it's like Susan, Susan, Susan,

I have some breakfast. No. It's a passion that comes out.

And when it's announced twice, it's like David says, Absalom, Absalom, my son.

It's Lord, you are my Lord, an emotional connection with our Lord.

Didn't we do ministry and sacrifice and service in your name?

What happens is this, is that the sign of a Christian will be this.

They will announce intellectually that Jesus is Lord, the God of this universe.

They'll emotionally connect with him. He is their Lord, the one that follows,

the one that has their heart.

They will do service and sacrifice for him and sometimes supernatural service and sacrifice.

Life-changing, socially changing connection with Christ.

That's what will happen. That is the house that's built, the two houses, exactly the same.

The one that's a Christian, the one that's not a Christian.

Lord, their orthodoxy is right, their emotional connection is right, their service is there.

Lord, their orthodoxy is right, their emotional connection is there,

the sacrifice in ministry is there.

But Lord says to the one whose foundation is wrong, I never knew you.

That's what happens with the parable afterwards.

What's the difference between the two, the one who's an authentic Christian

and the one who's not? It's the foundation.

The foundation is this, If you look at Romans 10, 9, if you confess with your

mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from

the dead, you'll be saved.

There's a great illustration that just brings it right home to us.

And it comes from the Old Testament.

And it talks about how Saul went in and attacked the Amalekites.

And Samuel was there and he saw what happened and everything that goes on.

And God said, if you go in and attack the Amalekites, this is what I want you to do.

I want you to kill all the cattle that are there, all the sheep.

No livestock is to exist after you have overtaken them.

But what happened is Saul didn't.

He kept the livestock. And Samuel heard about that. And he knew that God gave that command to him.

And he went up to him and said, why didn't you do what the Lord wanted you to do?

In other words, why did you not do the will of the Father?

And Saul said, well, I wanted to keep them because I wanted to give sacrifice

to God. I wanted to use them for sacrifice. It'd be great.

In other words, I'm going to use them in the church service.

It's going to be fantastic.

We're going to have a barbecue at the end of it.

And Samuel said, God didn't want sacrifices. You wanted your obedience.

And in your disobedience, you kept yourself and your will.

And you didn't follow the Father's will.

It. When we become a Christian, we sacrifice our will to God.

He becomes our everything.

We long to do the Father's will, and our will is put away because he is our Lord.

And therefore we will obey him in his entirety.

That's what it means to be an authentic Christian. we have put ourselves aside.

How hard is that? For many people, they never get there.

They might say, Lord, they might emotionally connect in all sorts of ways and services.

They might go out and be on every roster under the sun and do incredible life-changing

things, but never in their heart have they said, I'm yours.

I get down off the throne and you're on it. and the will of you,

the will of the Father will be my passion in life.

Why? Because I believe that God raised you from the dead, that I was poor in spirit,

that I mourn my separation from you, that I had no righteousness of my own,

but through your death and resurrection,

and the righteousness that you have given me, the life that you have lived is

given to me, that you are satisfied with my sins, that my sins have been paid

for and you've been risen to life.

That is called grace.

That's an authentic Christian. The one who realizes, hey, when I call you Lord.

That's not really there. Forgive me. When I emotionally connect with you,

sometimes I just want that for myself.

And it's not really connecting with you, but it's just an experience that I'm having. Forgive me.

Sometimes when I do ministry, I'm not really doing it for you because it's your

delight and for your glory. Forgive me.

And Christ says, I will because you

are saved through grace not through

works and when you give

yourself totally in all its inadequacies to me and put me first on the throne

and call me lord you will be saved for many people the foundations and the wind

and the waves rocks their world?

Because when we do that, call him Lord and understand where we sit before God

and how we walk before God, that's called a personal relationship with God.

He says, I never knew you. He doesn't say I'm talking about backslidden Christians here.

No, I never knew you. You never got to a point where you gave yourself to me.

You never entered into a relationship with me.

But when you enter into a relationship with me, though the wind and the waves

blow on the same house of those who are on foundation as the ones that don't

have any foundation, in other words, they stand upon their own foundation.

When the wind and waves of this life pound against it, you will stand because

you have a relationship with me.

If you find yourself on shaky ground where the wind and the waves are getting

to you, no matter what they are, go back to your relationship with God.

Restore your relationship with him. We have an eternal relationship,

but the fellowship with him, the connection with him.

Learn how to connect with him again. That first love that you have, connect with him.

The Ephesians were talking, Ephesians kind of fit within this passage in Revelation,

that they had it all right. They had church going on, that people were there,

and yet they lost their first love.

In other words, go back and find your first love.

That relationship where you said, Jesus, you're my all, you're my everything.

I want you and nothing but you i don't want to be on the throne i want you to

be there i want to do your will for those that are christians and are like that

and have that personal relationship with god this.

This passage should just reinforce where you stand with him don't be shaken

thinking will i be the one that says lord lord you know that you walk with him

he is your lord you are his friend and He is your friend. You walk with him day by day.

For those who don't know that, it should shake you, disturb you.

As Walter McBroomen says, it should be the destabilizing presence in your life

that you'd want to renew your relationship with God, your fellowship with him,

so that you know he is your Lord and you know where you stand is only by his grace.

And for those Christians who have been shaken by the winds and waves of this

world, we rest upon the promises of God. He is a faithful God.

He is faithful to you in the past and he'll be faithful to you every day in your future.

And as you walk hand in hand with him, as you listen and learn from him,

from his word, and as you speak to

him passionately in prayer like you're speaking to the Father in heaven.

Holy is your name. Forgive us.

Teach us to thank you about what you have provided and help us to rely and trust

and not worry about our day because our heavenly Father is good. Let's pray.

Do pray that you would speak

to our heart i pray lord that in

those last days or when we

stand before you in judgment what it's talking about that

we would meet you face to face as the friend

that we have traveled this life with the lord that we have

placed upon the throne the one our brother our saviour

and we will bow down in worship because

we have seen the one that we travel with through

your spirit every day face to

face i pray lord that we

don't stand before you and wonder will you

let us in do we know you but

rather you would say well done good and faithful servant you

are a child of welcome for eternity

with me pray lord for those who are on shaky windy and it's a amazing illustration

for today who have been hit by the 60 mil of whatever of rain or whatever that

might be in your life i pray lord that we learn to trust and walk with you,

that we place you as Lord,

that the priorities in our life,

our treasures in our life would be yours and that we would not be shaken,

knowing that our eternity is set with you and our life is in your hands.

And I pray these things in your holy name. Amen.