Which Way? Series

Mat 7:13-14

Do you know what any good preacher does when he begins to wind down his sermon? He tries to pull together everything he has already said and guide his audience to his ultimate goal of bringing them to a decision. For the Christian preacher, the decision he is leading his audience toward is a decision for Christ. A decision for God. A decision to give their lives to Jesus, be born again, and baptized into the body of Christ. All of that and everything that goes along with it! That is his mission in life. That is the goal of his ministry. To grow the kingdom of God, to build up the body of Christ he’s responsible for, and to encourage his people to grow in faith and good works. This is what the prophets of old did. This is what Jesus did, and this is what we should be doing as well.

Now, as I mentioned last week, the Lord is winding down His Sermon on the Mount. He began the process of pulling His entire message together last week when He taught us that if we desire to grow in kingdom characteristics, we are to pray for it, pray persistently for it, pray in faith for it, and to demonstrate our purpose by imitating God’s love by doing good to others. Remember? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Well today, the Lord makes an appeal to all who will hear. He calls us make a decision about becoming citizens of His kingdom. He calls us to make a decision much like Moses made to the Israelites in the wilderness when he said Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

It’s a decision similar to Joshua’s call to the people after they entered the Promised Land. Jos 24:14-15 "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! (15) And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

A decision like Elijah’s question when he asked, 1Ki 18:21 …"How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." And the decision, or choice Jeremiah was commanded by the Lord to set before the people. Jer 21:8 …'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

Our Lord’s call to us today is Mat 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. (14) Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Folks, our lives are filled with decisions, decisions of what to wear, what to eat, where to go, what to do, what to say, what to buy, who to marry, what career to pursue, and on and on. Every single day, we have decisions to make. The vast majority of our decisions are minor and take very little thought. Others are more important and we’ll have to think on them for a while—study the pros and cons, and come to a decision that’s best for us. And still others are major decisions that might involve life, death, and eternity.

This is the decision that the Lord is calling us to today. It involves life and death, and it is the most critical decision a person will ever have to make. It will not only set the course of the rest of our lives here on this earth, but it will also determine our eternal destiny. Once again, Jesus calls us to Mat 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. (14) Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The choice that the Lord is calling us to is the choice between the one or the many. The one right or the many wrongs. The one true way or the many wrong ways. My beloved brothers and sisters, there are not many roads to heaven, there is only one. Man cannot come to God through the many ways he has devised for himself, He can only come to God through the one way that God himself has provided!