“Enter Through the Narrow Gate” | Matthew 7:13–27

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Well, hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. I'm Chris and I'm Jeff, and it's Monday. It is Monday, and we are glad to be here. If you're listening in order. If you're not listening in order, it's whatever day you're listening. Yeah. Yeah, it could be three in the morning at a gym. Yeah, on a Friday, on a Friday. And if you're at Jim at the gym working out at three in the morning on a Friday, then good for you. Good for you. Yeah, I'm not going to be there at three in the morning. No, I'm barely going to be there when I have to be. We're not going to have to fight over the StairMaster at three in the morning. You know, if at one time, when I was going to the gym at La Fitness, I used to tell my wife, I said, you know, if you time it just right, everybody there looks like they're there because they're prescribed to be there by a doctor. That's the time. That's the time I like to go. I should go to the gym. You're dying, right. I go there because it makes me feel better about myself and the time. So, hey, we're going to dive into saying that Jesus made because we're in the middle of a series. What if Jesus had his own podcast and he had turns out he had a bunch of famous sayings. He did a lot of people like him. Yeah, well he's famous for a reason, Jeff. Yeah. But before we get into that, we have a segment by Desiree, who has put together Stump the pastor every time I hear stump the pastor, I want to like when I hear stump, I want to bang something stump. I don't know why why, I don't know, thinking of like a jingle or something. Okay, stump the past. Okay, I don't know, don't, don't, don't, yeah something. But here's the question written in by Alice m Hi Alice M. She says, if all sins are equal before God, why do humans rank them so intensely? Wow, that's a great question, because very thoughtful, you know. And by the way, we've said this a lot of times on stage or talking one on one with people. We say that just one sin makes you a sinner, yeah, right, one line makes you a liar. All sins are equal, All sins have the same price, All sins separate us from God. So in that sense it is correct. All sins are equal in the sight of God in terms of eternity and punishment. Right, not punishment but eternity. Yeah, well those meaning salvation punishment yea. Yeah, from a salvation standpoint. So the premise all sins are equal comes from the Book of James was It three where he says, if you've broken any part of the law, you've broken the whole law. So that's where the premise would come from. And that is a true statement in that if you're trying to keep the law in order to go to heaven, if you break any part of it, guess what, you don't get to go. Whether it's murdering somebody or telling a white lie, you're right that you broke the law. You've broken all the law. But when it. Comes to sins themselves, it's not entirely a true premise to say all sins are equal. God differentiates between sins. Jesus differentiated even on Earth between sins. Do you remember when Jesus was going through his trials, and he mentions, and the judgment will be greater for this one. Remember, he says that the one who actually announced his execution pilot, so Jesus acknowledges this. But God says in the Book of Proverbs, he mentions, he mentions all these sins. But then he said, there's seven that I hate that are detestable to me. Literally the word abomination. There's about seven or eight more through the Old Testament that God mentions that are abominations to him, And the word abomination could have been translated it makes me want to vomit. Right, So those are and I think it's because of the consequences they have significant. Paul talks about sins within our body and sins outside of our body. So there are differentiations and sin. So when it comes to going to heaven, every sin that we commit separates us from God. It equally separates us. Right, But the consequences of sins are they vary right. Well, even even from a human standpoint as well. That's right, right, the humans, the human consequences, the physical consequences, those kinds of things, and then the things that will bring sudden judgment from God. Versus the things that God tends to be more gracious towards. Yeah. Yeah, so I think that's it's a great question, and it's kind of a nuanced answer, don't you there's a little bit of a nuance. Yeah. Well, I mean the question is based on the premise of understanding that, like, all sins are equal. That phrase, it's it's sort of like semantics. It's like, what are you meaning when you say that? Right? Because they are equal in terms of separating us from God, and God sees them as all of them offensive in terms of, like, you know, disqualifying humans from God's holy presence, and you know, also all of them are you know, just as offensive to a sinless God, I believe, But in terms of yeah, you're right, consequences, God expresses emotion against certain sins more intensely than he does others. And well, even in the Old Testament, some things God would say, Okay, you did this wrong thing against your neighbor. You need to go make it right. Restitution right then, there were some restitution with interest, right then, there were some death penalty right right. All of those were sins, but some just required, hey, you need to go make it right. Some say some of the consequences where you'd make it right and give a little kicker, because you know what you did was wrong, and so a lot of it had to do with intent or with the cost of the other person that you sinned against, where God would would do this thing. So let me give you a few verses that would help on this. James two ten is where we get the verse that talks about if you've broken any part of the law, you've broken the whole law. So that's the premise of all sins are equal. But for instance, Proverbs six sixteen through nineteen is where God says, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that rushed to do evil, a false witness, and somebody who sows discord among brethren. Those things just makes God sick. Right, that's he refers those things in a different way than he refers to say, you know, stealing a tutsi roll from the seven to eleven, right, right, it's he does that's not in there. It's not in there. Okay, I've double checked it, right, John nineteen eleven. I have seven things, yay, eight things. Those are your stole rolls from the Yeah, John nineteen eleven is where Jesus mentions the one who handed me over to you. He's talking about the one who handed me over, talking about the Pharisees and the priests. They're going to see greater judgment Kyphas specifically, and then Jesus mentions, I forgot about this. When Jesus mentions how some towns would be judged more harshly than Sodom. Remember in Matthew chapter eleven, so he talks about Sidon and those and he also speaks of varying degrees of punishment in Luke chapter twelve, verses forty seven and forty eight, depending on what a person knew, right to whom much is given much as he required. Yeah, so. I think that the truth is much more nuanced than just the flat statement. But I think humans rank sins because this is the second half of a question. Humans rank sins differently because of the external consequences. Usually, Yeah, when. You have a murderer or somebody committed genocide or a rapist or something, we would say there's an extra level of hell for you, right, And it's because of the extreme external consequences on somebody else, and it was a willful act. Right. We look at those that way. And God often also ascribes significant consequences to extreme internal decisions. You knew what was right, and you extremely chose to do the wrong thing, and so God measures it both the external and the internal, and we don't always see it that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree, and I think that that's our time on the segment. But I definitely think it's a great question because it can be misunderstood. It could be definitely misunderstood for people when you hear, for instance, a pastor or somebody say, hey, all sins are equal in the sight of God, and they're meaning that context, the context of. Well, even the smallest sin would have required the greatest sacrifice that Jesus gave. Yeah, I had to give his life. For it, right, right, Yeah, all sins qualify us for being sinners. Yes, they're equal in that sense. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, wow, all right, way, great question, And that was pretty intense we start off. Yeah, and guess what, Just like sins are small and big, just like they are narrow and wide, I have another thing that's narrow and wide today to talk about Jesus, and they're called gates. Yes, if you're new to the podcast, one of our goals has been to have the worst possible transition. Yes, yes, so good job, Chris. Thank you, it was horrible. Thank you. Well. We are in Matthew chapter seven, which, by the way, Chris, Matthew chapter five, six, and seven are. Called the Sermon. On the Mountain. And this is the longest message that Jesus preaches, And so we're gonna read Versus and perhaps the most important thirteen twenty seven. It's significant. He says you can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to Hell is broad, and its gait is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. Beware of false prophets who come disguise as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. You can pick. Grapes from thorn, you can, or can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles. A good tree produces good fruit. A bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will the Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day. Many will say to me, Lord Lord, we prophesied in your name and cats out demons in your name. Perfore many miracles in your name. But I will reply, I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws. Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise. Like a person who builds a house on a solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the flood waters rise, and the wind beats against that house, it won't collapse because it's built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and does not obey it, it's foolish, like the person who builds a house on sand, and when the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. You want to that last there's a lot, Yes, sure I might as well. When Jesus had finished these sayings, and crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law. Yeah. You know what's interesting is that, you know, because we're not going chronologically anymore. I'm not I've not used my chronological Bible. I just grabbed any Bible off my desk, and I did this last week to the quest study Bible. But it's been n I v oh yeah and uh. And so it's it's so different to read a different version right as you're reading it. Uh, because you said the Highway to Hell, and it says for the for why does the gate and broad? Where did you? Where does your sayway to Hell's verse thirteen enter through the narrow gate? For why is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction? That's what mine says? Yes, right, but your says how to Hell and anyway? As soon as you said that, I thought, is there not a single human being at least our age that did not hear in the mine? Ah? Yeah, so anyway, let's get that out of the way. Sorry, brod broad is that gate? Right? But let's talk. About we have we have three massive uh object lessons. Right. We have narrow and wide gates, we have fruit bearing different trees bearing different types of fruit, and then we have building house on solid versus shaky foundations. So we have four minutes per topic. There you go, there you go. Let's go for it, all right, So okay, so wide versus narrow gates. So oftentimes a city would be built with walls protected around it. I mean every major city just about had this. And everybody knows that there are certain gates that you would walk through personally like humans, and then there are certain gates that you could take animals through. And then there were certain gates that were wider, built wider for commerce. Right, they were like the main gates, and depending on where you were approaching the city and depending on what you had to do, were your choices. Now, Jerusalem, how many gates? Did Jerusalem have a bunch? Like seventy or something? There were a bunch, Yeah, there were. A bunch and at one time, and so there was definitely a lot of different gates. I don't think there were seventy. I don't know. But anyway, but you know, when he talks about gates, everybody definitely understood that, right because you know, gates were just as popular back then as they are now. Even when Jesus talked about Sheep and Shepherd member, he talked about the gates, and Jesus actually said at one point that he was the gate. Right. So anyway, so yeah, why why is the gate to hell narrows the gate to heaven? And then he goes on and says that there will be many people that said, whoa, whoa, whoa? God, what do you mean I've I've I've been a person who's gone around and done great things in your name? And God will actually say one of the most sad phrases in the Bible, right, depart from me for I never knew you. And it's like, what are you talking about? Are there going to be people that get to heaven and they think they're gonna be in heaven and yet God's going to say, no, you didn't, you didn't make it. I mean, this is a pretty sobering passage. Yeah, so what would you say about that? So the wide gate is. I think can be summed up with the idea that all religions lead to God. Right. How many times have you heard that? Oh? I think as long as you're religious, as long as you sincere. Yeah, as long as you have a sincere religious belief, all religions lead to God. Yeah. Let everybody believe what they want to believe. You do you? Yeah? In John fourteen, Jesus said, I'm the Way, the Way, the Truth, right, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So Jesus is saying, I am that narrow gait. There aren't multiple ways to God. There's only one way to God. And that's what he's saying. So what did Jesus do for us? Jesus paid the price that we could not pay. The wages of our sin is death, but the free gift of God. Is eternal life. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, God demonstrates his love toward us in this while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So the only way anybody gets to Heaven is by recognizing they're a sinner in need of a savior, and they trust His grace and mercy to forgive their sins. Because of the sacrifice Jesus paid on the cross, shedding his blood and rising again in the third day. Right, there is no other path, There is no other way. That's it. So there will be people who go Jesus. I was a big fan. I had a bumper sticker, I wore a cross. I even sometimes asked you to help me out right, And Jesus is like, yeah, but you never accepted my gift. You never placed your faith in trust in me as your savior because you're a sinner. Yeah, there are ways to miss salvation. Number One, you know about God, just like you're referring to. Yeah, I was around the things of God. I said, I was a champion of God. But yet you didn't completely embrace, understand, or accept and trust the Lord as your personal savior, understanding that that's the way to heaven or like you said before, which is claiming to be quote unquote religious but ignoring the Jesus part. Right, there's a lot of religions that world religions out there where they would not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. It recognize Jesus as a good man or a good prophet equivalent to Moses or something like that. And by the way, I always feel like I have to say this too, because I have to assume out of the you know, thousands of listeners that listen to us a month, if somebody's out there and they don't understand that part of it, Like, Hey, isn't that a narrow claim Jesus is saying that, you know, it's very narrow minded. Well, I mean, it's a narrow way to heaven through Jesus only, and it's not every religion. But in terms of being inclusive, it's actually it's very wide, right, because only in Christianity are all three of these things true. Everybody's invited, everybody can get into heaven, and everybody is. Get in the same way. Yeah, I can get in the exact same way. Yeah, right, So everybody can make it. Everybody's invited and everybody can get in the exact same way. That's only true in Christianity. The invitation of Jesus is open for every person. So therefore it's the most inclusive invitation to heaven that exists out there. Right. So this section from thirteen to well we read all the way to twenty nine gives four examples of the choices that we have to make in our lives. Right, So, there's the narrow gate or the broad road. Which one are you going to take? Right, there's the good tree or the bad tree. What kind of fruit are you going to produce? There's the true discipleship or the false discipleship. What kind of commitment are you going to make? Right? Are you going to follow Jesus or not? And then there's the solid foundation or the shaky foundation? What are you building your life on? Right? So it's interesting how Jesus would do that. Sometimes you don't really as I read it, I didn't naturally pick up on it right. Oh, he gave us a whole sequence of choices here. But there's this great note in the life Affication of Study Bible. The highlight of that went, oh that is fabulous. It's true. It was one of Jesus' teaching styles. It's this or that, this or that, and he'd give you the best solution or the consequences of not going the best solution right in every way. But I've always thought it was interesting, let's talk about the good tree versus the bad tree, because this sounds a little judgmental. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. What it seems a little judgmental, Like you're measuring people by what they do. And there's good stuff and bad stuff, which means there's good people and bad people. And didn't Jesus say don't judge other people? As a matter of fact, It's interesting he starts chapter seven with that verse. We didn't read it, but chapter seven, verse one says judge not others, or do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Right, So people would say, gee, it seems a little judge mental to even be paying attention. To the fruit on other people. Yeah, but Jesus is saying, you know, those things that are publican out in the open. If somebody shows you who they are, believe them. Yeah. If if they're doing good, well then they're probably good people. If they're doing bad, they're probably bad people. That's it, or at least the kind of people you shouldn't be hanging out with. Yeah, that's the kind of people you want to build your life around. Yeah. There's no hint of judging here, no, none at all. This is observation, yes, right, that's all it is. And he's saying, he's saying, like a bad tree is going to produce bad fruit. A good tree is gonna produce good fruit, and a bad tree doesn't produce good fruit, and a good tree doesn't produce bad fruit. Right. It reminds me of a Kung Fu panda where where he says where Uguay says, you know, but you shall get a peach, knotted apple or orange, right, because it's like if you plant a peach tree, you're gonna get peaches. That's right, Right, that's just the way it is. And so it's just the way Jesus is describing it here. And so it's just pure observation. He said, like what's inside is going to come outside, and and and that's how you're going to know somebody, which Jesus even supports later. Right, You're going to be known by your fruit, is what he says. And in that first verse that I read a minute ago, judge, not that you be not judged. He's talking about we're not God. We can't judge whether somebody's going to heaven or not. Right, that's a totally different thing. Yeah, right, that's that's. A whole can of worms, isn't it, right, Because he's really saying, don't judge outsiders, But as Christians we are actually challenged at times to actually judge insiders in love, right, so you know, you know, we're allowed to sharpen each other, approach each other, challenge each other. And somebody would say, well, that's judging, Well, no, it's not. It's it's it's actually getting in somebody else's business in a loving way, to be woven together in accountability and friendship and relationship in such a way to where people's lives aren't you do you it's your business, not my business, your faith not my faith. It's it's it's faith isn't designed that way. It's designed to do community with each other, people with others rather. And then lastly, Jesus says, anyone who hears my teachings and follows its wise, Yep. It's like a person who builds on a on a foundation of rock and somebody who hears my words but doesn't do them. So both hear the words, both know what Jesus says. One does them, builds on a rock, the other doesn't do them, builds on his whole life on sand. The storm is coming for both of them. One stands, the other fails. Right, don't build your house on seeing kings those shore yep. And they're good. It's one of my favorite analogies that Jesus uses. Or you're building your life because you're building your life. The decisions that you make every single day is you're building a life and you have to have you have to be, you have to have. This world view of Christ is the foundation and Jesus way is the foundation. Oftentimes what we want is we want Jesus to bless what we're doing instead of doing what. Jesus said he'd bless yep. Right, And that that's where the confusion comes from and where a lot of times our lives collapse. If instead we would do what Jesus said he would bless, we have really strong probabilities that our life is going to be strong. Yeah. And just the visual aid for anybody who's in construction, you know, you know, Jesus called himself actually the cornerstone. Right. There's a there's a prophecy in the Old Testament? Was it Isaiah? What was it? Where it actually talks about the cornerstone and Jesus refers to himself, and everybody in construction knows the cornerstone has to be a perfect ninety degree angle, right, because you start with the cornerstone and you build the everything around that, and it's the chief stone of the entire building. If the cornerstone is not perfect, then the whole house will eventually crumble because it'll be imperfect foundation. So Jesus refers to himself that way. And so it's just such an unbelievable picture to to to build in. And could you imagine building a million dollar mansion without the proper foundation, and then all of a sudden the storm comes and all of a sudden, this a whole mansion crashes. And then you look at you look at people's lives, and that's the foot that's the picture, isn't it right? Right? Do you ever see like a mud slide with it where the whole where a whole house just goes Yes, yeah, and it's just like, Holy Christmas, I mean, that's that's really the devastation Jesus is talking about. Entire lives can be built on on, you know, things that aren't worth building upon, and and in the end it just comes crashing down. Right. It's powerful stuff. Because you got to build your house upon the rock, rock rock, You've got to build your foundation on the solid's fine, okay, so and when the storms of life may. Blow, I don't know it what I don't know that song. The Peace of God You'll always know. Really I didn't. I'm thrilled. That was fab fabulous. All right, wey, that's our time and we will see you tomorrow hopefully on the Bible guys. H m hm m m