March 23 2014 Steve Rahter Mattew 7 13-29

Sunday March 23rdMatthew 7:13-29Billy Graham told of a time early in his ministry when he arrived in a small town to preach. Wanting to mail a letter, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy told him, Billy Graham thanked him and said, "If you will come to church tonight, I will tell you how you can get to Heaven." The little boy thought about it for a moment and said, "No, thank you, sir, I don’t think I will be there.”Billy Graham was surprised and asked “Why not?”The boy replied, “How are you going to tell me how to get to heaven when you don’t even know how to get to the post office!"In this second half of Matthew chapter 7 Jesus makes several significant statements about how to get to heaven. The first one is found in verses 13 and 14:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.It’s very popular in our culture today to say that all roads, all religions, eventually lead to heaven.The spiritual journey is often pictured as a mountain, with heaven on top of the mountain, and every religion finding its own unique path up the mountain, but with all of the paths ending up at the same destination. The basic philosophy is that "If all roads ultimately lead to the same place it makes no real difference which road we take."But what does the bible say about the path to heaven?The key to entering heaven is being RESTORED to a right relationship with God. Sin has separated us from God and the only way that our fellowship with God can be restored is for that sin to be removed. Does any other religion provide for the forgiveness of my sins?2nd Corinthians 5:21 says "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ"Philippians 3:9 says "Now that I belong to Christ, I am right with God, and this being right does not come from following the law. It comes from God through faith. God uses my faith in Christ to make me right with him" Acts 4:12 says "There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them"And of course Jesus said in John 14:6“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”Of course some people question whether God is fair in allowing such a narrow gate and a narrow road.Is it wrong for God to be so specific about the path to salvation?Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”It’s not as though God WANTS people to choose the path that leads to destruction!1st Timothy 2:4 says "This is good and pleases God our Savior, for he wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth"So why don’t more people choose the narrow gate? Maybe, as Jesus says, they can’t find it. If you can’t find something it may be because you’re looking in the wrong place or looking for the wrong thing! If people are looking to fulfill their own selfish desires, they won’t necessarily be looking towards a path that requires sacrifice; that requires laying down my life and picking up my cross each day! The simple reality is that the way of the cross is hard.In Acts 14:22 the Apostle Paul says that ““Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” As Jesus now goes on to warn about “false prophets” He may be including teachers who deny that the way of Christ is narrow and requires sacrifice.15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.20 So then, you will know them by their fruits.The bible quite often uses the analogy of sheep to represent those who follow after Jesus and the analogy of wolves to represent those who would mislead or devour the flock:In Matthew 10:16 Jesus gave this warning to His disciples, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Ezekiel 22:27 says this about false religious leaders, “Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravaging the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.”Paul also warned in Acts 20:29 “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.”What does Jesus mean when He says that these wolves will be wearing sheep’s clothing? He is saying that the WORDS of the false prophets may be attractive or appealing and might even seem biblical. The only way to find out for sure whether you’re encountering a fellow sheep or a wolf is to look at their fruits. If they are truly of God then we should see evidence of the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23:“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”Here are some of the false fruits that are mentioned in the New Testament:1.   Controversial doctrines:1st Timothy 1:3  “As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.”  2. Creating division:1 Timothy 6:3-5 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.3.  Weakening other’s faith:2nd Timothy 2:18 describes “men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.”4.  Destructive heresies2nd Peter 2:1 says, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”When Jesus uses the example of fruit trees, He is making it clear that His followers won’t be identified by the words from their lips but by the evidence of their actions. He goes on to amplify this point in verses 21-2321 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’Those tend to be seen as scary verses because we all call Jesus Lord. And here is Jesus saying “Not everyone who calls Me Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven”! In fact, the doubling of a person’s name, like saying “Lord, Lord”, was considered an expression of intimacy. Jesus is clearly saying that claims of intimacy don’t make the difference; good works don’t make the difference; even miraculous works don’t make the difference; only doing the will of the Father makes the difference between those who SAY they are believers and those who really are. 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”If you tie this analogy back to the two roads, it’s essentially the same point; one road leads to destruction and one foundation leads to destruction. One path leads to life and one foundation can survive the storms!Jesus IS the path, and Jesus IS the solid rock that can keep us safe through the storms of life.When the people heard these teachings, they knew this was radically different from all of the other teaching they had ever heard.28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.The scribes and the Pharisees taught by quoting from what previous teachers had said, using that as their source of authority. Jesus taught directly from His own authority. He didn’t need to quote from anyone else.If we recognize that Jesus is the only true authority concerning who gets into heaven and how they get there, then we must accept the reality that there is no such thing as “all roads lead up the same mountain”. In fact, Jesus narrows the choices down to 2 roads, 2 gates, 2 kinds of trees, and 2 types of foundations to build your house on. There aren’t 10 paths, or 5 paths, or even 3 paths; there are only two. You’re either headed in the right direction or the wrong direction. The wonderful thing about God’s grace is that He is continually trying to put us back on the one and only path that leads to him!In the 1929 Rose Bowl game, Georgia Tech was playing the University of California. In the first half a University of California player named Roy Riegals recovered a fumble. But in his confusion he ran in the wrong direction. In fact, he ran 65 yards in the wrong direction, until one of his teammates caught up to him and tackled him just short of their own end zone! During half-time everyone wondered what the U of C coach would do. Would he bench Roy for the rest of the game? As the men sat in the locker room, Roy was in the corner, his face in his hands, crying like a baby. Finally the coach looked at the team and said, "Men, the same team that played the first half will start the second half...and that includes you Roy." The players on both teams would tell you that they’d never seen a man play football with as much intensity as Roy Riegals did in that second half!Many of us have spent many years running in the wrong direction, but God gives us the same chance as that coach gave to Roy – get back in the game and turn things around in the right direction! And we should take that opportunity and play out the rest of our lives with PASSION, and INTENSITY, and APPRECIATION for the second chance we’ve been given, because there’s more at stake for us than the outcome of a football game. Our eternal destiny was changed because God made a way for us to have a second chance!