The Narrow Way
Introduction: As I was preparing this message I remembered a particular summer when I took a pastor with me to go four wheeling through the San Bois mountains. Before I left the last time I had rode through there I found a little out of the way trail that had a great view of the mountains. I couldn't wait to take my friend there to show him that great view. But As we drove along, none of the trails seemed familiar to me and the further I went the more obvious it was that I wasn't near where I thought I was. As I went back to the main road and finally got to the point where we had began. The pastor jokingly said "Well Shawn, if you can't find a trail you will make one." And I thought about how that exmplifies the American Spirit. If there isn't a trail, we will make one. I the days before Henry Ford's Model T people rode horses and wagons. All you had to follow was the way of previous travelers, who had gone to where you were going. It became a road because many people had traveled it, not because men were hired to make it. And this was the way roads were made in Biblical times.
"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 (way) road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13,14
A way is a trail that was formed by many people traveling it and when that trail had been beaten down smooth by many travelers, we called it a road. When we read that the road that leads to life is narrow, understand that it isn't because God made it narrow to keep people from finding it or choosing it, it is narrow because although many people see it and know about it they chose not to travel it because there was an easier way. How many people are lost for taking the easy way rather than the right way?
Transition: This morning I want to describe three characteristics of the Narrow Way in which Jesus tells us to travel. First, the Narrow Way is a way of affliction.
The Narrow Way is a way of affliction
Charles Spurgeon once said "The Lord gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction." The narrow way is a hard way. It is a difficult path. Not many men are willing to pick up their cross and follow Christ. Very few men put their hand to the plow and keep their eyes ahead of them. Jesus told a zealous man looking to be a disciple to go and sell all he had and come and follow him and the man went away because he could not give up his possessions. Why would anyone want to travel this narrow way in being a Christian if it seems to be filled with such affliction? Well the only reason to travel any road is to get to where you want to go.
New Christians are often surprised that their lives are not trouble free once they decide to follow Jesus.
"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange were happening to you. but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." I Peter 4:12-13
Ellicott's Bible commentary says that the term "narrow" literally means: 'pressed, or hemmed in between walls or rocks, like the pathway in a mountain gorge.'
It's been said that "only dead fish swim with the current" It is very true. Let's face it, it isn't easy to live a holy life in an unholy world. It is not easy to pursue purity in a world of profanity. It isn't easy to stand up for Christ in a world that despises him, to stand firm in the faith, amongst a world of liars, murderers and deceivers with no sense of shame for what they do.
"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." John 3:19
The narrow way is a difficult way because The shield of faith gets heavy on the battlefield, it's not easy to defend ourselves from all of those fiery temptations that are flung from Hell's bowman whose hatred for God's children is so intense he never rests in his effort to lead us down his broad way of destruction!
Although this way is a way of affliction, we are encouraged several times and in several ways, although the devil stalks about looking for someone to devour our Lord says to gain encouragement through the fact that you are not alone you have brothers and sister who are going through the same thing or much worse and reassures us in 2 Peter 5:10 that our struggles are only temporary and since he has called us to his eternal glory. He will restore and secure us. He promises us trouble in John 16:33 ". . . in this world you will have trouble.": But then he gives us this great encouragement, he says: ".. but take heart! I have overcome the world." Spurgeon once said "I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages." Anything that drives us forward in Christ and to his will no matter the difficulty is good.
Transition: We can over state the difficulty of the Narrow Way but we can never over state that the Narrow Way is a Way of Affection.
The Narrow Way is a way of affection
The life of a Christian is thoroughly and completely a life of love. We might have all seen the kid biting the coin to see if it is real on movies and TV shows. When real gold was used for coinage, you could bite into the coin and it would leave a tooth mark because pure gold yields to pressure more than other metals, so by biting it you could see if it was real. There are certain evidences that prove Christians are who they claim to be, one of which is loving one another.
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35
Brotherly love is the defining characteristic of Christians, because Love is the defining Characteristic of God. It is our own foolishness that says I must do this or that to get God to love me. We think this way because we are prone to love others based on conditions. It often seems that we love those who love us, we love those who are kind to us, we love those who agree with us, view things as we do, etc. How often have we worked for the love of others? We do what they want us to in order to make them happy so we can gain their approval. That is conditional love. The Love of God is unconditional. There simply is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make him love you less. 1 John 4:8 says "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." The Narrow way is a way of Love!
This is good medicine for our souls, because sometimes we think that God has forgotten us. We think that he cares about everyone else's pain, everyone else's situation, but for some reason you believe that he has forgotten about you. You may think that being perfect will make God love you. It may surprise you to know that the apostles were not perfect men either. At one point, Paul approved of the murder of Christians, Peter denied knowing Jesus, Thomas doubted Jesus' resurrection. And the old testament servants didn't fare any better. Moses murdered a fellow Hebrew, King David lusted after his friends wife and committed adultery with her and then essentially had him murdered to have his wife for himself, Noah was found drunk and passed out on the floor naked by his sons. If you were to accuse any of these men of God for these specific things, you would not be wrong. It should give us some comfort to know that even the most devoted disciples, were no more worthy of God's love than you or me. God is Love.
Transition: The final point I want to make this morning about the narrow way is the most important: The narrow way is the ONLY WAY.
The Narrow Way is the Only Way
I heard John McArthur once say "Everyone talking about heaven aint going there." He went on to describe how hell is full of people who admired the Bible, admired Jesus, it is full of church attendants. Hell includes those who admired the pastor and even spoke well of him. A few scriptures beyond our key verse in Matthew 7:21we read "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
There are many people who know of the story of Jesus, they know a little about the church and stories of the Bible, but mere knowledge about those things, no matter how good, can not and will not lead a man to life. Billy Sunday once said "Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” I wonder how many people have a false sense of security based on their mere knowledge of spiritual things?
You may think 'Wow Preacher you have an odd way of trying to lead people to Jesus." Well, the truth is the truth and the truth is In life, There are only two ways to travel. There is a right way and there is a wrong way, there is a way that leads to heaven and there is a way that leads to hell. You are either traveling toward God or you are traveling toward damnation. Make no mistake when your life is over, you will be reminded upon which road you decided to travel. There is good and there is evil; and even though it is not popular to say it; everyone is either on one road or the other and those roads are going in opposite directions. If you choose to ignore this truth, you are risking your own life. It is true that a seared conscience will give a man peace, at least for the vapor of time he has left anyway. Like a fish frolicking in the water completely oblivious to the fact that the current is pulling it over the falls to its doom, Hell is filled with the majority who were ignorant to their own situation and danced and partied their way to their own damnation.
The Broad way or the Narrow way: Notice that We do not read that there is some middle way, or a half way, or some other way. No. Everyone is either saints or sinners, saved or damned. lost or found. godly or ungodly. a believer or an unbeliever. Many people choose the broad way because it is the easiest way to travel, it is the way that is the most agreeable to our nature. It is a broad way; there are many sinful paths in it. It is easy to follow the crowd, to go with the flow of the worlds currrent, to love what the world loves and to despise what the world despises. No one goes down the broad way believing their destination is Hell. A few never believed there was a Hell to begin with, Most believe they were headed to heaven, imagine their sadness when they realized they were mistaken.
Conclusion: Although there are multitudes upon multitudes that are traveling down the broad road, tempting us to do the same, it never makes sense to go to hell with others, simply because they refuse to go to heaven with us. Only The way to eternal life is narrow.
Jesus said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but by me." Jn 14:6
There is only one way to eternal life. There is only one way to eternal peace. There is only one way to eternal happiness. There is only one way to eternal security. The Narrow Way IS the ONLY WAY and the ONLY WAY is through JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD!
