Two Gates, Two Roads, Two Ways
“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. 14- For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” -Matt 7:13-14 (ESV)
Did you ever try and walk down a 2×4 lengthwise and not fall off? Then did you try a wide board, say a 2×12 or a wide post, say a 6×6. So what happened? I bet it was harder to stay on the 2×4 than on the 2×12. I would assume that to stay balanced and able to walk down the 2×4 was difficult and perhaps you fell off a few times but yet tried to get back on. How about you who have tried to walk the 2×4 but kept hurting your ankle falling off and you just couldn’t stay on?
Friends, the above is an example of the scripture text for this message found in Matt 7:13-14. The two gates and the two ways or roads. Please read it again a little slower and let the message the Lord is giving us, in this very descriptive text, of what course our lives take in our walk with Him. You see we only have two choices for there is no middle of the road or there is no being neutral in spiritual matters. You are either with Him or against Him – “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.” -Matt 12:30 (NLT)
WIDE WAY – The Easy Road
Listen to what Jesus said about the wide way – wide is the gate and easy or broad is the way that leads to destruction. Did you hear that? And then look what He says about who’s on that road – “many”! Many, folks, many choose to have an easy time of life, of serving Him but are missing the mark. They have fun and play with the things of God. Never admit they’re a sinner, never confess their sin or repent. Oh yeah, some go to church and make a good show or they go to ease their own conscience and punch the “I was there” scorecard. These would take walking on a 6×6 over the 2×4 any day despite that at the end of each of those two planks was a door that led them to eternal life – heaven for real believers and hell for the fake Christians.
In the case of the wide way the final destination is death – death in the physical and death in the spiritual with an eternal destination of hell. Examples of people that are on this path would be those that believe salvation is by works alone and/or follow the traditions of men rather than God’s word. They believe that “other’s” of/in the church can save them – mere men or mere women. They forget that the Bible says that all of us have sinned and fall short of the Glory of the Lord (Rom 3:23) – everyone: past, present and future no matter who you are. Examine also Rom 3:10. These, IMO, are just some of the ones on the broad, easy, wide road that according to Jesus will lead to destruction.
NARROW WAY – The Hard Road
Now read what the Lord says about the other choice, the other gate and way. The Lord is defining the exclusive nature of His kingdom by using the narrow road as a descriptor of its nature and requirement of entrance. It’s narrow, and the way is hard but it’s the gate to life and friends, He says “few find it“.
Few!! Let that sink in for a few moments…
That means not many will be able to stay on this road. For one reason or another, some may get on but find following Jesus to be too hard (John 6:66), too difficult and would rather jump back on the easy street of the wide or broad way. This is a fact that many are taking today and apostasy is growing faster and faster.
Following Jesus takes guts! Takes grit! Takes hard work. Takes courage and determination. Praying, fasting, reading the Bible daily, telling others the Good News of the Gospel. Counting the cost of discipleship is a daily tally – yours and mine. A daily cost to ones self; a daily sacrifice. To stay on the narrow way takes faith with true salvation. It requires a complete surrender and submission to Christ as Lord and Savior. No backing down. And it’s by grace alone. Nothing else and no one else. It’s 100% dedication, not 95 or 90 – all of you or nothing -Rom 6:13. You are all in or you are not in.
If you find yourself on the wide road (easy street) your final destination will not be fun or easy. Jesus explains several times what the result is and where it is for those that play Him, play Christianity, fake their faith. Search it out and read what He says about it.
In my opinion, Christian pastors today are hard at work widening the narrow road to make it more pleasing and easier to travel on when in fact it is not! Don’t let your pastor twist or spin this Gospel doctrine to make it sound easier or more palatable. Suggest to him to back off on the entertainment and teach the tough stuff of the Gospel. If he won’t … get out of there and find a Bible-teaching church, teaching the whole Bible.
Today is the day to let these words digest in in you and introspectively determine which road you are on. You and I have to do this every day for we can only be on one or the other. If you find yourself with one foot on the wide road and one foot on the narrow road then you are lukewarm and Jesus says He will vomit you out of His mouth – Rev 3:16.
So if you are on the wide road – get off it now! Get on the narrow road, go through the narrow gate of Jesus. And serve Him only, believe in Him only and follow His word (the Bible) only. All other methods are cheap, easy, and require little of any faith in the Lord.
So, bottom-line – which road are you on? Things are being shaken all over this planet now and IMO, it won’t be long before He comes to take His Bride, the church (the real born-again, Bible-believing, surrendered, committed, and faithful Christians and not the “pew rocks”) away in the rapture. You ready?
“Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:” -Heb 12:25-26 (KJV)
-BPWatcher, Internet Preacher and Bible Prophecy Watchman
GIVE ALMIGHTY GOD ALL THE GLORY FOR HE IS KING and HE IS LORD!