Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.“Enter in by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter in by it.Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby.
5 sermons cite this verse
… He said the population of heaven will be relatively small compared to the population of hell. Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And many are those who enter by it. But the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few. Few are those who find it. Finally, consider what Jesus taught about the necessity of personal faith. The necessity of personal faith. Jesus rejected the claim that everybody's going to heaven because of what his death accomplished for them. That's the inclusivist view. The inclusivist says, it's true that Jesus Christ's death made it possible for people to go to heaven, but his death applies to everyone. It forgave everyone's sin regardless of what they believe. No, Jesus repeatedly said, personal faith is a requirement for an eternal heaven. For example, in John 5, 24, truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life. …
… or 14th verse, 13th verse. And when we get to Matthew chapter seven, verse 13, we're gonna hear four different, they're called pericopes, little standalone statements from Jesus. He probably shared these in different places, and Matthew compiles them together, and there's a quadruple warning. Like, make sure you get this right. Don't miss this. And so we're gonna try to understand these four things that Jesus said was really important for us to know and to do when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount. He did not want us to negate the Sermon on the Mount. He wanted us to live it. And by the way, in this, he was very similar to his brother or his half-brother, James, who said, be doers of the word and not merely hearers. So in each of these closing statements, Jesus gives us two pathways. He talks about either two different kinds of people, two different kinds of foundations, two different kinds of fruit that we might bear, two different kinds of roads that we might take. Each one is making the same point in a slightly different metaphor. And he's calling us to take the narrower of the roads, to do the thing that produces good fruit, to build our lives on a good foundation, and in the end, to do the will of his heavenly father. All right. So if you have your Bible, turn to Matthew 7, 13, and listen again to these words. Jesus said, enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road …
… who will go against the flow. Matthew 7, verse 13, Jesus put it this way. Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to, say it with me, destruction. Anybody could do that. That's boring. Sleeping with whoever you want to sleep with, being cruel, being given to flights of rage and temper, substance abuse, right? Just doing whatever you feel like, yawn. That's just like everybody else who's just presented to us as being just another garden variety, doesn't have a thought for God, doesn't care about God, just wants to do what they feel. But then the bright light of Jabez is what? But the narrow road that leads to eternal life, Jesus said. And few there are who find it. Any dead fish can float downstream. It takes life and fight to swim against the current. And I believe in Jesus' name. God is raising up some teenagers who will say, in a world where you just do what you feel, I'm going to be different. …
… For this sums up the law and the prophets. 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. This is God's word. We're going to do a brief series by Jesus, sayings by Jesus on finding. And you see, though it's actually acceptable nowadays to say I'm spiritually searching, it's not acceptable to say I found. It's okay to say I'm searching for God, but to say I found God is not. Why not? because it's narrow. We see we want to search, but we're afraid to say we found it because it's narrow. Now, in this text, Jesus frontally confronts the issue of spiritual finding and the implication of narrowness. And what he does is he says all spiritual approaches basically break into two categories, two ways, two paths, two roads that can be translated any one of those ways. …
… AND, UH, I'M GOING TO BE LOOKING WITH YOU IN A FEW MOMENTS AT VERSES 13 AND 14, MATTHEW CHAPTER 7, VERSES 13 AND 14. THESE ARE VERSES THAT TALK ABOUT THE HOLY HIGHWAY. NOW WHEN YOU CAME TO CHURCH THIS MORNING, YOU CAME ON SOME KIND OF A ROAD. THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GOING TO BE THINKING ABOUT TODAY. THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF ROADS IN THE WORLD. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THERE ARE OVER MILLION MILES OF ROADWAY IN THE UNITED STATES ALONE. SOME GOOD ROAD AND SOME, HA, HA, VERY, VERY BAD ROAD. SOME DANGEROUS ROAD, BECAUSE WE HAVE PEOPLE ON OUR HIGHWAYS THAT HAVE MORE HORSE POWER THAN HORSE SENSE. AND I KNOW THAT YOU WILL AGREE WITH THAT. I WAS THINKING OF SOME ROADS THAT I'VE TRAVELED. I'VE HAD THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING IN ROME AND TRAVELING ON THE Appian Way. The apostle Paul traveled on that road. Built by the Romans, it's still in better condition than some roadways in the world today. And one of those reasons is that the Romans laid a deep foundation, and that ought to be a lesson for us. I was thinking of some roads in this area, the Natchez Trace. Begins down in Natchez, Mississippi, ends up in central Tennessee. Uh, going back to the 18th century was an old Indian trail. I was THINKING OF THE OVERLAND TRAIL BEGINNING IN ST. LOUIS AND GOING OUT TO THE FAR WEST WHERE THE STAGE COACHES WOULD TRAVEL. MANY, MANY ROADS IN THE WORLD TODAY. AFTER OUR …