Jesus' Road Map

Matthew chapter 7, we'll begin reading at verse 13 and read through the end of the chapter. Jesus, the one that we just sang of, says this. 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 he 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 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 on the rock.

The rain came down, 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 rains came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great 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.

The Lord Jesus, who spoke these words 2,000 years ago on a mountainside, died, rose again, and is alive forevermore.

Amen. And whenever his word is preached, the living Son of God draws near by his Spirit. So this morning, we are privileged to have Christ, the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, coming to us, speaking words of life.

And he's speaking to us this morning from Matthew chapter 7, and he's speaking in pictures. So get your mind imagining the pictures he's drawing.

Enter through the narrow gate. Do you see it? Do you see that 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. Now, in these two verses, our Lord Jesus is teaching us to think of life as a journey, a journey to the eternal world.

And if ever you don't want to get mixed up and take the wrong road, it's on this journey. You only go once, and you need to get it right the first time.

We're not going on a two-weeks vacation. Rather, we're heading to an eternal destination, a place where we will be a hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, a billion years from now, where we will be forever and ever.

That kind of destination is at the end of this road, at the end of our traveling. So how important is it to have a reliable map to get us to the place we want to go, to guide us on our journey, and how kind of the Lord Jesus to give us just such a map.

Now, the road map of Jesus is really quite simple. It's what we have in verses 13 and 14 of our text. There are only two roads in life. That's simple enough, isn't it?

There's a broad one, and there's a narrow one. There are only two gates to get onto each of those roads. There is a wide gate to get on the broad road, and there's a small gate to get into the narrow road.

And there are only two destinations, one at the end of each road. There is destruction, and there is life. And there are only two groups of travelers.

There are the many, and there are the few. Now, whether you realize it or not, you are on this journey. Every one of you are journeying.

Even as you sit there, you are traveling. For to live is to travel. Life is the journey. Every minute is a mile.

And right now, you're speeding down one of these two roads, heading for one of these two destinations, along with one or the other of these travelers.

And so if you care at all about your eternal destination, you'll want to know for sure the answer to these questions. Which road am I on?

Which destination am I hurrying to? Well, as we look at the road map of Jesus, I trust that these answers will become clear to us.

And as we look at the map, Jesus first describes the broad road. There's four points about the broad road. He says, For wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

Notice, firstly, the road itself. It's broad. There's lots of room. It's like a wide 12-lane highway. We don't have any of those around Bremen, but you've perhaps been to places where there are such.

It's a broad road. Wide enough to accommodate the many who are on it. Now, there's room on this road for each man to do what is right in his own eyes.

He can wander and roam around doing whatever he wants on this broad road. Here, they can gratify the cravings of their sinful desire and follow its desires and thoughts.

It's an easy path. There's no need to deny yourself. You can indulge your sinful passions. There are no restrictions, no rules on this road. Anything goes, you do whatever you want.

Now, long before Jesus was on the earth and on this mountainside teaching this, Isaiah described this road for us. He says, We all, like sheep, have gone astray.

That is from God's road, God's way. We've gone astray, all of us. Each of us, individually, have turned to his own way, to his own road.

So we all, without exception, have turned away from God's road and we're going our road. Now, notice, in Isaiah's description, he says, We each have turned to our own way.

So that means you have your way, I have my way. What they have in common is that they're not God's way. We went astray from that and we chose our way.

I liked certain sins and I chose my way for that. You have your own reasons for choosing the way that you went. But we all have gone our own way.

And there's plenty of room on the broad road for all our own ways, you see. And so the greedy and the spendthrift both find ample room on this road.

The religious and the agnostic, the conservative and the liberal, the serious and the careless, the workaholic and the alcoholic, the sexually immoral and the moralist, they're all here on the broad road.

The one thing they agree upon is not to go on God's road. For that, they have turned their backs. Now, don't get the wrong idea.

There are some very religious people on this broad road. When Jesus preached this sermon, he described some of those religious people on the broad road.

They were Pharisees. And it was widely thought if anybody is going to make it into heaven and eternal life at last, it's certainly the Pharisee. because they took their religion very seriously.

They did a lot of good deeds as men would see them. They read their Bible. They prayed a lot. They gave money to charity. They trusted, though, that their own good deeds would get them into heaven at last.

They didn't have a humble faith that trusted in Jesus alone to get them into heaven. But if you asked them, they would have told you that they were going to heaven, all the while that they were traveling the broad road that leads to destruction.

There are, on this broad road, people with selective obedience to God's law, just as the Pharisees. They picked and chose which commands they would obey.

They only obey when God's law agrees with what they want to do. So when going to church suits their schedule, they're there. But when not, they're not to be found there.

When divorce is what they want, it's what they do, regardless of what God has said about the matter. They pick and choose which commands they will obey when they want and if they want to obey.

This is the broad road. And many of them on the broad road profess that Jesus is Lord. But they don't do what he says. They call themselves Christians, but they don't forgive their brother and those who sin against them.

They hold bitter grudges against them. And they would never turn the other cheek. They'd rather have a spirit of revenge to get back at those who mistreat them.

And they don't love their enemies, but only love those who love them. These are the ways Jesus is describing these people on the broad road in this very Sermon on the Mount. Their obedience is just an outward obedience.

So as you look at their life, you don't see murder. You don't see adultery. But in their heart, there is plenty of hatred hatred and lust. They're materialists who are running after the things of this world as their priority.

It's what they seek first. Things they can see and touch and handle and enjoy with their five senses. And so God must be content to take backseat to their earthly pursuits.

Oh yes, all these are journeying through life on this broad road. It's a broad road and there's room for all these and many more that we don't have time to describe this morning.

It just can be summarized this way. Life lived my way instead of God's way. God's road? No. My road? Yes. And the broad road encompasses all of our individual roads that we've chosen.

Now something else needs to be said about the broad road. Proverbs tells us that there is a way that seems right to a man. But in the end it leads to destruction.

But we need to know this that the broad road doesn't always seem like the road that's going to destruction. It may seem like the right road. It may seem like the road that will get me to heaven.

Why does it seem right? Why does the broad road seem right? It may be because there's so many traveling on this way. I mean, can so many be so wrong? Or it may be just that it feels right.

You know, a lot of people live by feelings today. And it's their gut feeling. This is the way. And it feels right to them. Maybe it's the way they were raised. It's just the way that they've always done things.

It feels right. It seems right to them. It's habit. It's the way that fits her natural ideas and desires. So it must be the right way.

I'm being true to myself, you see, to go this way. But for all of that, it's still the broad road that leads to destruction. They may think it leads to life, but not so.

It leads to destruction. So that's the broad road. Next, Jesus talks about the gate that opens up to get you onto the broad road.

And what does it say? What does he say about the gate? Well, it is wide. And we shouldn't be surprised. If it's a broad road, you need a wide gate, as wide as the road is broad, to get onto this.

There's got to be room for all on the broad road to get through this gate. Wide is the gate.

Now, where is this gate? And how do people get onto this broad road? Well, the answer of the scriptures is that we enter through this gate when we enter into the world. In other words, we're born, every one of us, we're born onto the broad road.

Everyone enters through this gate at birth. The very first breath that you took was on the broad road. The very first step you took was on the broad road. The very first conscious decision you made was on the broad road.

The Bible says we came forth from the womb straying, wayward, with hearts that were bent on going our own way, the broad way.

Listen to what David says in Psalm 51, for surely I was sinful at birth. Sinful from the time my mother conceived me. And again, David, even from birth the wicked go astray.

From the womb they are wayward and speak lies. and that's why we never had to teach our little boys and girls to lie. We never had to teach them to deceive and be deceptive and to cheat and to be selfish and to seek their own way.

No, they hit the ground running away from God, running their own way. They have a heart that is that way, a heart that is deceptive, a heart that is self-centered and self-seeking.

And so, as we come into this world, as we're born into this world, we are born onto the broad road. We're all fallen sons of Adam and Eve.

When Adam and Eve were made by God, they were holy and upright. But then they fell and all of their offspring have been with their backs toward God going their own way.

So we were all born on the broad road, but that's not all. We were also quite content to stay on the broad road because it fit with our sinful natures.

What I thought and what I wanted and what I chose, I found it here on the broad road. And this is why the gate is so wide.

It accommodates accommodates the whole of humanity. Come through this gate and onto the broad road. So unless you've been born again, unless you've been converted by Jesus Christ, you're still on the broad road according to Jesus.

The broad road, a wide gate. Now let's look thirdly at its travelers. Speaking of this wide gate, Jesus says many enter through it.

Many. So this is the busy road. Bustling with travelers. All 12 lanes packed with cars. Traffic backed up.

Carpooling. Buses full of people. It's the popular road. It's where the crowd is to be found. It's where everyone who's with it travels on this road.

Since it suits their sinful desire so well, most are content to travel on it all their lives. And those on this road encourage others to travel on it as well.

Come with us and we'll show you a good time. Come on. Everybody's doing it. Can't be that bad. And you see then the many on this road plays into the natural desire to follow the crowd to not break with the status quo but to go along with everyone else.

Peer pressure is great on this road. No one wants to be the odd man out. All want to belong to the group and be found doing what everybody else is doing. So there are many travelers on the broad road.

Pontius Pilate was on the broad road. Even though he knew Jesus was innocent he was wanting to please the crowd and so he delivered him over to be crucified.

The rich young ruler that met Jesus and went away sad when he learned that he must part with his idol of wealth to follow Jesus. He too was on this broad road and he found that on this broad road you can serve money as your God.

It was the right road for him. Demas who loved this present world took this road. We could go on and on with the description of those who have lived and taken this broad road.

The sad thing is that some of you here this morning are on this broad road. Lastly, it's destination.

Where's everyone going on this broad road? Where's everyone in such a hurry to get to their destination? Where is it going? You see, the important question is not how many are on the road but where the road is leading.

Jesus says this broad road leads to destruction. Destruction. Whereas the narrow road leads to life. Destruction.

Life. You see, these two roads don't just wind on forever going nowhere. There's a specific destination destination at the end of each road. A place where every one of us will one day arrive.

Life doesn't just fizzle out into nothingness. There is an eternal destination awaiting all of us at the end of our journey. And the teaching of the whole Bible is clear on this that there are only two destinations.

Two eternal destinations of hell and heaven. Destruction and eternal life. There's no middle place. There's no middle ground. The fact is we're all going somewhere when we die.

What is important is where you will be when your journey of life is over. Sometimes when people die, you hear loved ones carrying on and on about how peacefully they went.

But far more important than how they went is where they went. how the apostle Paul went was not very pretty.

A Roman sword severed his head. But where he went was far better than any place on earth for he went to be with the Lord.

Others have died peacefully in their comfortable beds surrounded by loved ones. but they went to hell and they are still there and will ever be there.

You see what's important is not how we go but where we go at death. And the broad road leads to destruction. The way of the ungodly the road of the ungodly shall perish.

This road dumps all of its travelers into hell. This is the destination of all. For you see this is what our sins deserve.

This is the punishment for all who say to God no I'm going my way. Are we saying about how holy God is?

And for any of us to thumb God and say no I'm going my way what does it deserve? It deserves endless torments of hell.

No one spoke about that more than the Lord Jesus. He speaks of it in this very sermon about the fire of hell. To be thrown into hell. To have the king say to you on the day of judgment I never knew you away from me you workers of iniquity.

So we have this horrific description of a broad road being traveled by the many by all but a few a road that leads to hell.

And if we have any sense of sympathy in our hearts we would like to shout to them stop. Don't you know where you're going? Turn.

Get off this road. It's not going to heaven. It's going to well you see that's exactly what Jesus is doing here. He is coming to the end of his sermon.

He's been preaching this sermon on the mount to the masses gathered around him there that day on the mountain side. And Jesus heart is burdened with their eternal souls.

And so he doesn't just end his sermon and leave them but he presses on them the importance of being on the right road. You know a lot of people don't know where they're going.

They sincerely think the road they're traveling leads to life and it's only a split second after death that they find that the road they were on leads to destruction and eternal torment.

Even atheists who think that there is no destination that to die is to die like the animal and we're just the end. Even the atheist will suddenly discover no there is a destination we arrive at at the end of life's journey.

A real place where we will be forever. And saddest of all many don't even seem to care where the road they are on is leading.

What I mean is they're living for the present. They're living for right now. And they're careless about the future. They're not even going there. They're only thinking about now.

Now what would you think of someone who chose the road to travel on based on its size and smoothness and the number of people on it rather than its destination?

So I want to go to South Bend but you know I really like US 30. It's a broad road. There's a lot more room to travel on. You can go faster. It's smoother.

So I'm going to go down and get on US 30. And you protest but it doesn't go to South Bend. And I say that doesn't matter. It's so much nicer and smoother and I can go faster than narrow 331.

We laugh at that as foolishness but truth be told many people are choosing their road without any consideration of where it's leading.

No eternity may hang in the balance but all they're thinking about is today's pleasures. Today's ease. Getting what I want today.

Wake up. Realize which road you're on and where it's leading. That's what Jesus is saying here at the end of his sermon. Further complicating things is that the signs along the road have been changed.

Jesus' road map is quite clear isn't it? It marks the road well. This broad road leads to destruction. And so over the 12 lane highway there's this huge sign hell straight ahead.

But someone has come and changed the sign. They've pulled down many signs. They've put up false signs. Hell straight. No. Heaven straight ahead.

dead. They speak They speak lies. And so what follows our text is that Jesus knows that many false prophets are promising peace when there is no peace.

They're promising eternal life when there's really destruction. And so our Lord Jesus comes in these verses that follow our text. And he issues a sharp warning to beware of false prophets who change the signs.

Who lie. Who spread Satan's deceptions. But if that was not enough there's also much self-deception.

The fact is that people want to think that they can travel the broad road and still have eternal life at the end. People want to think that they can live life as they choose and still get into heaven at the end.

That they can have their sins in heaven too. And so Jesus also warns in the following verses against self-deception. Many will say to me in that last day of judgment, Lord, remember me?

I was that spiritual one. I was that religious guy. I was that woman that was very serious about religion. And Jesus will say, I never knew you depart from me.

Not everyone who says to me with their lips, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven. But only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Not everyone who hears my word will enter in. Only those who practice and do my word shall enter. So Jesus, you see, with great concern for the travelers that he's speaking to says, be sure you understand the map.

Be sure you understand where this broad road is going. And don't pay attention to the false prophets and their lies. And most of all, be leery about your own heart because it too is deceptive.

Beyond all things, you can only trust Jesus, the true and faithful witness. So Jesus is lovingly giving it to a straight.

Wide is the gate, broad is the road that leads to destruction. Many are entering through it. But then in contrast to the broad road, Jesus says there's another road, a narrow road that actually leads to life.

He says in verse 14, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it. Now folks, that there is even another road is pure grace.

That there is another destination besides hell and destruction for us sinners is pure mercy. And can I just remind you at this point what it costs to have this gate and this new road that leads to life built in this fallen world?

For us sinners who were born on the broad road to exit and get onto it and get to life? Do you know what it costs to build that highway? To build that entrance?

Not gold and silver, but the precious blood of God's own son. That's what we're saying. Can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me, that by your blood my sins might be forgiven so I can enter into your presence with joy and not with fear and shame?

Well, the narrow road. Let's look first at the road itself. In contrast to the Y-12 lane highway, here's a narrow single lane country road.

Now, this is the way you were meant to live. You were made for this road. Okay? It's the way of fellowship with Christ, the living Christ.

It's the way of peace with your maker, God. It's the way of deep and lasting joy in the Savior. It's the way of being forgiven all of your sins and being set free from the reigning power of sin, the narrow road.

It's the way that steers you around a thousand deceitful pitfalls that would take you to destruction all of this narrow road. It keeps us from those pitfalls.

It's the blessed way. It's the way of living under God's constant provision and protection and unfailing love. It's a supernatural life with God the Holy Spirit living inside of you.

And you say, then, John, why are not more walking on this way? If it's as good as you say it is, why are more not on it? Well, because, as Jesus says, the road is narrow.

Elsewhere in the Bible, it's called the highway of holiness. The highway of holiness. In other words, it's not like the broad road where there's plenty of room for you and all your sin to get on board.

No. This is the narrow road of repentance, of turning from your sin and putting it to death. It's the way of denying your sinful self, not satisfying sinful self.

It's the way of taking up your cross and following Jesus. Jesus is on this road, but you must deny your way in order to go his way. It's the way of obeying God's commandments.

There are rules and regulations on the narrow road, and let me tell you this, all of those rules and regulations are holy, right, and good. They are good.

So you see, the fact of the matter is that most simply don't have a heart for this way. The many don't see in Jesus a reason to say, yeah, yeah, I want to walk with Jesus through life.

I don't want to live life without him. I want to walk with him. They don't have a heart. They see no glory in Jesus, nothing that they should be attracted to him, much less deny themselves their own will and their own choices.

And so they stay on the broad way. This is the way of walking by faith, not by sight. This is the way of trusting in the Lord and not leaning on your own understanding.

This is the way of the pure in heart. This is the way of the persecuted for righteousness sake. This is the way of the peacemaker. This is the way of those who love their enemies and do good to those who insult them.

And so this narrow road has very little to attract the crowd traveling in the fast lane. The unsaved heart sees this road as too narrow, too confining.

It cramps their style of sin. I'd never be able to live with my sin on that narrow road is their decision. Oh, but the converted heart finds room to run and to kick up their heels with the freedom that Christ has given them.

To walk in his ways, to walk with him in his ways. And his commandments are not burdensome. And his yoke is not heavy but easy.

Well, that's the narrow way. Secondly, notice its destination. It leads to life. That is eternal life of heaven. We've enjoyed messages once a month on what heaven is like.

Wow, what's waiting for us at the end of this road? Eternity with Christ. Eternal pleasures at his right hand. To see him as he is. The one who bore the nails for us.

To be made like him. The funeral of our sin and of all death and sadness and sorrow. Of all temptations, none of it there. Nothing to make us cry.

A world of perfect love, perfect peace, uninterrupted joy. It all is waiting for travelers on the narrow road. The life of heaven.

And believers, we need to think more of what's waiting at the end of this narrow road. someone going to be crowned king should not be discouraged and turned back due to a few storms along the way.

Eternal bliss, reigning with Christ, awaits us. Yes, the road is narrow. Yes, it may be difficult. In fact, it might be uphill. It's often against the stream.

It's sometimes lonely, but as Matthew Henry says, one hour in heaven will make up for it all. one hour, I would dare say ten seconds, ten seconds, five seconds, just enough for your consciousness to realize where you are will make up for all the trouble you had on the narrow road in life.

The apostle says, I consider that our present sufferings are not even worth comparing to the glories that will be revealed in us. Eternal glories that far outweighs them all.

Oh, who would not travel on this road simply because it leads to life and him who is the life, Jesus Christ, and whom to know is eternal life.

Now, again, you might expect if it's that glorious of a destination, we might expect to find this would be the road with the many on it. But quite to the contrary, Jesus says, this narrow gate and of this narrow road, only a few find it.

And that's our third point. It's travelers. travelers. I just want to remind you, it's only a few. Only a few. According to Jesus, true religion is a minority religion.

It is the road less traveled. In the days of Noah, there were only eight on that road. All the rest were on the broad road and perished.

Throughout history, the people of God have been called a remnant. Not the whole roll of fabric, but just the cut off ends of humanity.

Now, Revelation tells us when you get them all together at the end of the age, they are going to be a number, a crowd that no one can number, these who are saved. They'll come from every nation, language, tribe, and people.

But in every generation, they were the few compared to the many on the broad road. Now, this road is simply not popular.

There's repenting of sin here, and that's never been fashionable with the world. So don't expect the many to join you on this road. You'll have to travel without them.

The crowd is over here on the broad road. But I want to tell you that the few that are traveling on this road, are pure gold. They are the excellent ones in whom is all my rejoicing.

These are the faithful friends who will encourage you and help you along, will warn you, will come after you when you stray off the narrow way. They will be urging you on to this narrow way.

One of these is worth a thousand over here. These are the true friends of Zion. Yes, they are few, but they are faithful. So, believer, does the world, as you're traveling this narrow, does the world call you narrow-minded?

I know it does. Well, we're on a narrow road. We should expect that they would call us that. We have a different set of values.

We have different rules. We have a different king, different laws. We should expect those on the broad road to call us narrow. but let us glory in our king and that all of his ways are righteous and good and this way, not that, leads to life.

Better to go to heaven with a few than to go to hell with many. Lastly, if you're going to get on this narrow road, you've got to enter through the gate. That's the last thing in Jesus that we want to attend to, this gate.

And what we find is it's a person. John chapter 10 and verse 9, Jesus stands and says, I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved.

So you can only get on to this narrow road by way of conversion to Jesus Christ. Remember, he said, I am the way, the truth, the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. We've got to enter through the gate who is Jesus. The gateway is Jesus. Conversion to Jesus.

The gate is small. It's a small gate opening onto a narrow road. That means you can't get in clinging to all your baggage of sin.

No, conversion to Christ calls on us to repent of sin, to repudiate sin, to throw it off and to come to Jesus, save me from my sin.

You can't get through clinging to your own imagined righteousness. Well, I'm going to try to come through the gate thinking that God ought to be proud of me. I'm pretty good. I'm better than her and him and all the rest.

No, no, you can't come hanging on to all that baggage of your own supposed righteousness. You've got to come as a poor sinner with nothing good to say for yourself, but God have mercy to me and save me for Jesus' sake.

It's a narrow gate. It's a small gate. So you can't cling to your sins, but you can't cling to your righteousness either.

So there you have it. Two gates, two roads, two destinations, two groups of travelers. Which road are you on? Which road are you traveling?

We're all traveling. We're traveling right now. And you're on one of those two roads. You are hurrying, you are hurtling through life at breakneck speed to one of these two destinations.

Which is it? Which is it? You say, well, what do I have to do to go to hell? Do you understand from the words of Jesus?

Absolutely nothing. nothing. Just do nothing. Just continue like you were born. Just go on as normal. And you will arrive at the destination of hell.

Just stay right there. Just wait. Just do nothing. And if that's not where you want to spend eternity, then you must get off the broad road and get on to the narrow road.

And it's my joy to tell you that Jesus Christ is himself present in the preaching of the word. And he is himself the exit off the broad road and the entrance onto the narrow road.

Isn't that glorious to think about? Doesn't matter how long you've traveled on the broad road. Today, August the 7th, 2016, there is a gate present.

And you may have come to church today on the broad road. You can go home on the narrow road. You just come to Jesus, just as you are as a sinner, saying, Lord, I'm done with it.

I confess I've been a rebel. I said no to you in your way, and I went my way. I'm turning around, Lord, and I'm saying, no, that's my sin. That's what I want you to save me from. Come and save me from my sin.

I'm trusting in what Jesus has done and dying on the cross for sinners and living a perfect life to give me right standing in God. You will enter the narrow road today.

You'll go out these doors right now where you're at, crying out to God, be merciful to me and save me. You'll go home on the narrow road that leads to life, eternal life.

Isn't that what you do when you're traveling? If you find that you're traveling along chatting with the family, your wife, and all of a sudden you realize, you know, I'm on the wrong road.

What do you do? You don't just say, well, I think I'll go on a few more miles. You don't do that. You get off that road and you get on the right road.

My friend, why do we make it so spiritual and so mystical? What do you do if you've seen this morning you're on the broad road that leads to destruction? My friend, you just do what you always do. You get off of it and you get on to the narrow road.

How do I do? You come to Jesus. The gates open. His arms could not be held out wider. Enter.

Enter. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Amen. Maybe somebody's saying, yeah, I've seen this morning that I'm on the broad road.

Well, my friend, you've got a choice to make this morning. You've got a choice to make. Will I continue on the broad road that leads to destruction or will I come to Christ and get on the narrow road that leads to life?

I want you to know Jesus is not indifferent about which you choose. You don't see the Lord Jesus talking to the multitudes and telling them the gospel at the end just saying, well, you all just take it or leave it.

There it is. There's the broad road leads to hell. There's the narrow road leads to heaven. It's no skin off my back. You just choose as you please. No, that's not it at all.

Did you notice his very first words in verse 13? Enter through the narrow gate. before he even starts to describe the two roads.

He can't even hold back his punchline. It's get through the narrow gate. Go through it. Don't stand around the gate.

You won't be saved by just getting close to the gate. You won't be saved by being present here this morning when the gateway is open to heaven. You've got to go through the gate and that's what Jesus is saying.

Enter through the narrow gate. Get on the narrow road. Come to me, you see. He's not apathetic about where you end up.

He's urging you. He's inviting you. He's commanding you to come. What a gracious savior to plead with sinners to get off the broad road and get on the narrow road.

You know, hundreds of years earlier, the Lord said to a disobedient people, this day. I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life, life and death, blessings and curses.

Now choose life. Do you see heaven's posture? It's not just there's life and there's death, there's the narrow and there's the broad. You all choose. Choose life.

That's the message out of heaven. And when the sun comes out of heaven, it's choose life. Enter. Come to me. Take me. Go home on the way that leads to life.

For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the sovereign Lord. Repent and live. As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.

Turn, turn from your evil ways. Why will you die? Oh, house of Israel. Now that's a question the Lord Jesus has for you who are on the broad road.

Why will you die? Why will you go to hell when heaven is waiting to receive you? When my arms are waiting to receive you? That there is a gate here this morning that could take you all the way to heaven.

Have you answered that question? Why will you die? What is it about your way that you're so loath to leave for my way? What friends, what sins, what could you ever find pleasing over here that I, your maker, could not do infinitely better?

Oh, he would scare you out of the broad road by telling you what's at the end, and then he would allure you into the narrow road by showing you what's at the end. don't continue another day, another step, another moment on the way that leads to destruction.

Turn to me and live. That's heaven's message. That's the good news. You say, well, you know, I plan to choose life someday. Oh, do you?

What day would that be? Because you don't have tomorrow. You've only got today. Don't boast about tomorrow. You don't know what a day will bring forth. You've got today.

Today is the day of salvation. The gate is open today. I remember, I remind you that the ark, the door to the ark was wide open all those years that it was being prepared. It was wide open.

And the open gate was a despised gate. But as soon as the gate was closed and the heavens let forth the rain and the foundations of the earth broke up and the water started to rise, that's when the gate became the desired gate.

No, you don't know about tomorrow. The gate may be closed, but it's open today. Get in. Get in. How many of you have played Russian roulette?

Well, you take a six-shooting handgun and it's got six chambers in it and you put one bullet into one chamber and you spin the chamber and then it comes to stop. And you put it to your temple and you pull the trigger in the hopes that you've got an empty chamber and not the one with the bullet in it.

You say, that's demonic. It is. It is. Life is God's to give and take, not mine. But some of you are playing Russian roulette with your eternity.

You're betting that you'll have tomorrow. Every day you get out of bed and go into this world without Jesus. You are betting that you've got more time.

You don't know that. You don't know, but this is the day for you to be taken from time to the judgment seat. So you get into a car and you face other cars coming at you.

They're 55 and you're 55 put together. You're speeding at 110 miles an hour and at any moment that person who's under the influence of alcohol or drugs could be in your lane.

Who's looking at her phone could be in your lane. And it'd be over. You'd be at the judgment. You'd be at destination's end. Journey over. Now the eternal destination.

Oh my friend, get into Christ. Many here have come to Jesus. not one has regretted it. Many are in hell today that are living with the regrets.

And I don't want you there. Jesus doesn't want you there. He's saying, enter, enter, get in today. It will be too much for you every day of eternity to remember that on August 7th, 2016, I was in a place where there was a gate straight out of the broad road into the narrow road.

And I said, no. I said, no. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, no one has loved us like you love us.

You laid down your life for us sinners. We all had gone astray. We turned to our own way, and the Lord laid on you our sin and punished you in our place.

And how thankful we are for that. It does indeed make our hearts sing and makes us glad. But it makes our hearts ache for those still on the broad road.

Thank you for meeting us on the broad road and giving us that invitation and urging us and commanding us to come to you. Thank you that you're willing and able to save all who come unto God through you.

save some this day, in this place and around the world, that heaven itself might rejoice. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.