What road are you on today?

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"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."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.For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. - Matthew 7: 12-14 (ESV)

Jesus is starting to wrap up His teachings from the Sermon on the Mount. He has covered so many topics which would have been controversial in His day and remain so to this day. From who inherits the kingdom of God to how much the Lord hates hypocrites. From outlining how to pray to the dangers of confusing darkness with light. This week we continue by looking at two principles we have heard of before but perhaps not truly grasped. The second deals with where we are headed and the first deals with how we are to get there. Let us work in that order today.

Beloved there are only two choices for where we are headed. There is no curtain number three for us to consider. Jesus is not Monty Hall and this is not Let's Make a Deal. There is only heaven and hell. There is only eternal joy or eternal suffering. I understand that the humanistic teachings of the day will dismiss this. They are wrong. They are making it up as they go because they, like Lucifer before them, want to be God. That is the essential definition of humanism. It is making man into God. The problem is we are a poor excuse for a god. That aside, there remains only two choices and as the song once said - if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice. Everyone will have had the opportunity to accept or reject God and they will be without excuse.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. - Romans 1: 18-25 (ESV)

Claiming to be wise the foolish men of this world deny a God who is all around them. Whose creations screams at them that there is a Creator. Yet instead of listening to those screams they invent fairy tales to put their faith in like evolution and the big bang theory. The deeper down the rabbit hole of their own creation they go the darker their hearts become. They exchange the truth about God for the lies they have concocted to avoid having the admit there is a God.

The world however are not the only ones who have become futile in their thinking. They are not the only ones who have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for mere images. Shades of a god they create. I am speaking of course about the church itself. The modern apostate church is in far more danger than the world because they have convinced themselves that their darkness is actually light. There is a prevailing misconception that many have which believe that church attendance equals salvation. That saying a three sentence prayer makes one right with God. When you ask a modern churchgoer about salvation, they will hearken back to the day they went up for altar call. It will not be a memory of the day their lives changed. That they took off the old man and put on the robe of righteousness. This is how so many will stand before Christ on the last day and be utterly confused:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' - Matthew 7: 21-23 (ESV)

Beloved these should be some of the most frightening verses for believers today. Am I saying we should be frightened? Yes! The Bible says to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, not kittens and rainbows. Look at who these people are! They are obviously churched and possibly were in some leadership capacity within the church as well. The next time you have someone in your church or on television claiming to be a prophet or prophetess - remember these verses! Did we not prophesy in Your name? The next time you see false signs and lying wonders or hear about nonsense such as glory clouds, gem stones, gold dust, angel feathers and the like - remember these verses! Did we not do mighty works in Your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Away from me! Who? You who practice lawlessness! Jesus has lamented on more than one occasion - why do you bother calling Him Lord if you refuse to do what He says? This is a word for someone today. It is time to look around us and see what road we are on.

The first choice is the broad road that leads to destruction. How can we tell if that is where we are today? The key verses give us two clues. The way is easy and the gate is wide. Let us deal with easy first. The dictionary defines easy as requiring no great effort or labor. This should not be the definition of our Christianity. People get this so confused because the acceptance of salvation is easy. It is a free gift paid for already by Jesus Christ. The Bible however does not make any claim that following Jesus somehow requires no great effort or labor. In fact it teaches the opposite:

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? - Matthew 16: 24-26 (ESV)

Sadly the answer in many churches is nothing. We give nothing in return for our very soul. They preach a gospel that costs you nothing. No cross to bear yourself. No sacrifice of your life. Absolutely nothing. In fact the gospel becomes about you. We become the star and the focus and Jesus gets Best Supporting Actor. If you are in a church where the pastor is constantly writing you into the Biblical narrative then that is a bad sign. You did not slay Goliath. You were not placed in the Lion's Den. You did not hang on an old wooden cross. The Bible is His story, not ours. It cost God everything so that the gift is free. Once accepted though it costs us everything to follow Him. We must be willing to sacrifice what we have for what He has done. In the Old Testament David once took a census he should not have and it angered the Lord who sent a plague among the people. David's prophet Gad instructed him to build an altar and make sacrifices to God on the property of someone named Araunah. Since David was the king, Araunah offered him his threshing floor for free and the animals needed for the sacrifice. David though understood what sacrifice meant:

But the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel. - 2Samuel 24: 24-25 (ESV)

I will not offer a sacrifice that costs me nothing. Yet that is what we see today all the time. People being sold a false Christianity through a false Christ that costs them nothing. The Bible tells us that when the disciples followed Jesus they left everything behind. They did not lead rock star lives either. They were constantly persecuted. All except John were martyred violently for their faith. Following Jesus cost them everything in this temporal life. Yet many preachers today cheapen it to the point where they proudly say during an altar call that it will only take a few minutes of your day. The broad way is easy beloved. It offers no resistance to the sinful heart. In fact, the model of the purpose driven church is to meet the carnality of the world where they are at. It offers them the same carnality they presently enjoy just with a pious sounding bow on it.

The second clue we are on the broad path is that the gate is wide. The path to destruction has to be broad because there are a lot of people on it. The key verses even teach that those who enter by it are many. There is a human condition that believes there is safety in numbers. That so many people cannot possibly be wrong. This thinking is contrary to what the Bible says however. People view the success of a Joel Osteen for example and wrongly assume that the 50,000 + attending his church is a sign of favor. It is not. It is a sign of the times:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, - 2Timothy 4: 3 (ESV)

Paul Washer once said that all Joel Osteen does is give the people exactly what they want and it is not God. Contrast that with preachers who stick to the whole Gospel. That is not a big "amen" ministry because people do not want to hear about picking up their cross daily. They do not want to hear about sharing in the sufferings of Christ. They want those sacrifices that cost them nothing. Doctrine? No time for that "religion." You want to know if you are on the broad path? Just look around and see how many people are skipping along next to you singing Kumbaya. The converse from the key verses today teach about being on the narrow way that leads to eternal life. The Bible teaches that few are those who find it. Do we understand that amidst the mega church mentality today? Few people find it. That is why Jesus taught that all of heaven rejoices when one sinner comes to salvation. Just one! Not stadiums filled with people.

The way is hard beloved. Not to accept the free gift of salvation but to follow Him who offers it. It is hard to deny oneself daily in such a carnal world. It is hard to love mercy when we are encased in such unmerciful flesh. It is hard to do justly with our wicked hearts ruling the day. It is hard to walk humbly before God when you have been taught to reduce God and elevate yourself. It is not easy being the peculiar one in the office. The one who doesn't swear. The one who doesn't drink. The one who doesn't engage in coarse joking. It is not easy being a light for Christ in a world that loves darkness. It is not easy being salt to a world that preserves nothing. What are the signs we are on the narrow way to life? There are precious few brothers and sisters with us. People who understand the sacrifices the Gospel requires of us. Who are genuinely offended by false teaching that leads people to hell. Not only are few on it but the way is not an easy one. It is a difficult walk to be in the world but not of it. To work in Sodom but not become enraptured by it. The way is hard because we must say no even to those elements in church many of our friends might enjoy. The big productions. The glitz and the show. The snazzy band and the accomplished speaker. It is hard to say no to that because it is so embraced by everyone else but give me what the Apostle Paul gave:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. - 1Corinthians 2: 1-5 (ESV)

Give me Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is all I need. That is where the power of God resides. You can keep your seven steps to a better you and your nonsense about me being destined to reign. Nothing but empty and vain philosophies driven by the wisdom of man. Plausible but powerless. Enticing but barren. No thank you. Give me the narrow way. If there are few around me that is a good sign. This leaves us with the first half of the key verses:

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.- Matthew 7: 12 (ESV)

How do we navigate the narrow way and ensure that we do not veer off course or end up on the broad path? Walk according to what was later dubbed, "The Golden Rule." If we would strive to treat all people as we ourselves wished to be treated then we would find ourselves fulfilling both the law and the teachings of the Prophets! The world believes in reciprocity. We give what we get. If someone treats us poorly we give it right back to them. The way God thinks however is so far above our ways. We are still to look upon that person our flesh wants to loathe and treat them not as they deserve but rather how we feel we ought to be treated. We cannot expect love if we are loveless. We cannot expect kindness of we are mean-spirited. What a radical teaching! To evaluate what people deserve not based upon them but upon us. That is actually the reason we enjoy salvation today because we sure did not deserve it.

Beloved there are only two choices. There are only two roads we can be on. Understand this very well. Right now you are on one of these roads. There is no third choice. Realize also that while God is always willing to forgive you, your life may be required of you tonight as was the case with the rich fool. Tomorrow is promised to no one. It will be a sad day for many when we all stand before Christ and then they realize they had been on the wrong road the whole time. Do not fall for the mega church mindset. Narrow is the way to life and few are those who find it.

Narrow and few.

Reverend Anthony Wade - April 27, 2015

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.