EP 143: The Narrow Road (Matthew 7:13-14 – Sermon on the Mount Series)
Inside: There is no neutrality with Jesus – we are either on the broad road to destruction or the narrow road to life.
As we continue in our series on the Sermon on the Mount, we come to the following passage, Matthew 7:13-14 and Jesus makes it clear that there are only two roads in life; one leads to life, the narrow road to Heaven. One leads to destruction, the broad road to Hell. There is no middle ground. It’s black and white.
This view is too narrow for our society, which wants to think that all lifestyles and choices are acceptable. People think they are good, and the bible tells us – there is no one good, no not one (Romans 3:10-12).
We live in a time when the motto is, “Do whatever makes you feel good.”
People don’t like those that are narrow-minded. Still, Jesus is telling us here we need to be narrow-minded – not in the way of the self-righteous Pharisees we’ve discussed throughout our time, they added to the scriptures. They put heavy yokes and burdens on the people that the scriptures didn’t, and they may have been good rule-keepers on the outside, but Jesus has been addressing the heart.
There is a myriad of decisions we make in a lifetime. Some are more important than others, but there is not one more important than our eternal destiny.
Jesus is calling us here to determine our response to Him and His Kingdom.
Our text today comes in at the beginning of the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus knew many would be listening to his sermon and agreeing with it, praising His words, yet they would never enter into the kingdom.
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.
Matthew 7:13-14
We can’t just hear about the kingdom, agree about what we heard, and go on with our life. There is no neutrality with Jesus – we are either on the broad road to destruction or the narrow road to life.
As R. Kent Hughes stated:
“You must enter it thoughtfully and purposely. You must decide. No one else can do it for you.”
Listen to Episode 143: The Narrow Road:
Links & Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
- Sermon on the Mount Podcast Episodes
- Spotify Sermon on the Mount Playlist
- Patreon Support
- Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution by Carl S. Trueman
Show Notes:
“The way to become poor in spirit is to look at God. Look at Him; and the more we look at Him, the more hopeless shall we feel by ourselves, and in and of ourselves, and the more shall we become ‘poor in spirit’. Look at Him, keep looking at Him. Look at the saints, look at the men who have been most filled with the Spirit and used. But above all, look again at Him, and then you will have nothing to do to yourself. It will be done. You cannot truly look at Him without feeling your absolute poverty, and emptiness.”
~ Martyn Lloyd Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
“Jesus has been giving God’s standards throughout the sermon, standards that are holy and perfect and that are diametrically opposed to the self-righteous, self-sufficient, and hypocritical standards of man—typified by those of the scribes and Pharisees. He has shown what His kingdom is like and what its people are like—and are not like. Now He presents the choice of entering the kingdom or not. Here the Lord focuses on the inevitable decision that every person must make, the crossroads where he must decide on the gate he will enter and the way he will go.”
~ John MacArthur, Matthew 1-7 Commentary
“Every system of religion without relationship, every system of religion without righteousness whether it’s Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Christian Scientists, Roman Catholic Church, or liberal Protestantism or whatever it is, whatever human achievement religion where you assume that if you do fewer bad works and more good works, or certain good works, you’ll earn favor with God is a false religious system. And the people in it are deceived about their true relationship to God.”
~ John MacArthur, Matthew 1-7 Commentary
“Sometimes people ask me, “Do you think that someone who is trusting in their baptism, or their church attendance, or their church membership, or their good works, and Jesus Christ, will go to heaven?” The answer is a resounding No. You are not saved until you put both feet before the cross and come all the way to Christ. You have not entered the kingdom of God until you abandon any and all trust in any religious ritual and turn away from all your religiosity. You must acknowledge that all self-efforts are but dung. You have not come to Christ until you have said all else is nothing.”
~ Steve Lawson, Philippians for You
“There have always been but two systems of religion in the world. One is God’s system of divine accomplishment, and the other is man’s system of human achievement. One is the religion of God’s grace, and the other is the religion of men’s works. One is the religion of faith, the other is the religion of the flesh. One is the religion of the sincere heart and the internal, and the other is the religion of hypocrisy and the external. Within man’s system are thousands of religious forms and names, but they are all built on the achievements of man and the inspiration of Satan. Christianity, on the other hand, is the religion of divine accomplishment, and it stands alone.”
~ John MacArthur, Matthew 1-7 Commentary
“Leave a question like that to God; God, and God alone, knows how many are going to be saved. It is not your business or mine to discover how many are going to be saved. Our business is to strive to enter, to make certain that we are in it; and if we make certain that we are in it, one day in glory, and not until then, we shall find out how many companions we have. And it may very well be that we shall have a great surprise. But it is not our business now. Our business is to enter in, to strive to enter in, to make certain. Enter in, and you will find yourself amongst the saved, amongst those who are to be glorified, amongst all who look unto Jesus, ‘the author and finisher of our faith.'”
~ Martyn Lloyd Jones
Scripture References:
- Matthew 7:13-14
- Matthew 5:1-12
- Matthew 5:17-20
- Matthew 7:12
- John 14:6
- 1 Timothy 2:5-6
- Philippians 3:1-3
- John 17:3
- Luke 13:22-28
- Revelation 22:14
- Revelation 20:15
- Proverbs 14:12
- Psalm 23:6
- Deuteronomy 30:19
- Joshua 24:15
- Acts 2:38
- John 10:19
- 2 Corinthians 13:5
- Philippians 3:7-9
Recommended Resources:
- Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd Jones
- Sermon on the Mount The: Matthew 5-7 Expositional Commentary by James Montgomery Boice
- Matthew 1-7 MacArthur New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur
- Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Matthew by J.C. Ryle
- The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom (ESV Edition) by R. Kent Hughes
- Sermon on the Mount by Sinclair Ferguson
- The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 by Thomas Watson
- The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott
- Sermon on the Mount Teaching Series by Sinclair Ferguson at Ligonier Connect
- Logos Bible Software
- Bible Memory App
- Study Guide for Sermon on the Mount
More about our Podcast
Thankful Homemaker podcast exists to provide gospel-driven encouragement to each other in the role that the Lord has called us to as women, wives, and mothers as we talk about how God’s Word impacts every area of our lives as Christian women.