 Before us is Matthew chapter 7. We're going to be looking today at verses 13 and 14. And it's a passage that is bringing us to a place in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is actually giving an invitation. A lot of people say to themselves, you know, where are invitations found in Scripture? Are there really invitations there? Well, of course, there are. You know, you have many invitations all the way from the book of Genesis. If you were to read the book of Genesis and you were to begin in chapter 1, go to chapter 2, and by the time you get to chapter 3, you're going to see how things begin to pan out for the human family. And at a certain point, Adam and Eve partake in the forbidden fruit, and then you see God's voice as he's crying out in that garden. Adam, where are you? That is an invitation. At first, you might not think so, but when you look at it, you see its context, and you look at the meaning of the words in the original language. The words are really a cry from God, a cry that is a broken hearted cry of a father who is asking Adam in that you have, and you take it into context what has happened, you have listened to the voice of the deceiver, you have partaken in that which I have forbidden. Where has it gotten you? And Adam, what I am asking you now isn't simply where you are in terms of your location or proximity, what I am asking is where are you spiritually now? Adam, where are you is what God asks us to this day. He is still asking that question to you, and to me, where are you? Where do you stand with me? And so that was God's opportunity, he took that opportunity to give an invitation to Adam so that Adam could say to him, I have sinned and I need forgiveness. That was his opportunity to actually confess, and that's what the Lord was calling him to do. It wasn't that God didn't know where he was, it wasn't a game of cosmic hide and seek where the Lord says, Adam, where are you? I can't see, you can't find you, you know, you're behind that fig leaf, you know, that fig leaf is a great high, I can't even tell it to you. No, it wasn't one of those things, it was where are you? Now that you have sinned, and we can begin this message today by asking ourselves that same question. Where were you before you came to Christ? What was going on in your life before you heard the invitation? What was it like to be lost? Do you remember? Some of us have been in the Lord for so long that we forget what it was like before we gave our hearts to Christ. How lonely we were, how lost we were, how forsaken we felt, what misery we were living in, what sorrow of heart or with emptiness. We may have had it all, we might have had money, we might have had some kind of fame, we might have had the education, we might have had everything we thought we were supposed to have, but we were still empty. The question is still asked, where are you? Now in every minister, in every minister's bag of ministry equipment, there is a place for invitations. Jesus has been speaking here in Matthew, chapters 5, 6, now into chapter 7, and he's been laying out certain basic things of what we call the Sermon on the Mount. He's been speaking to people, he sat as a rabbinic authority there, and he began to proceed in giving to them the wondrous words concerning the kingdom of God, how to enter in and the things required of the one who is a citizen of heaven, and he's been sharing, concerning these things, also contrasting in this sermon man's religious hypocrisy, and he's using as an example man's religious hypocrisy, he's using the scribes and the Pharisees to illustrate man's standards of righteousness and how you can get proud in yourself to think that you have achieved certain things by refraining from doing certain things and doing other things that are prescribed to you by religious authorities. He speaks concerning scribes, he speaks concerning Pharisees. Now when you read your Bibles, and those of you who perhaps are new at reading your Bible, you will see the word scribe, you'll see the word Pharisee, you also see the words Herodians, you'll see Sadducees. These were all individuals during the time of Christ who had certain kinds of authority that were religious. The Sadducees, when you read concerning the Sadducees, the Sadducees were Jews who were very liberal in their beliefs. They didn't believe in angels, or spirits, or anything like that. They didn't believe in the resurrection. They were very liberal in the way they looked at God's Word. Then you had the scribes. The scribes could describe a religious authority. It's like a legal expert, somebody who knows the law of Moses, and so you could have scribes who were Sadducees, as well as scribes who were Pharisees. But they were the legal experts, the PhDs, if you will. The ones that you would ask theological questions to. And then you had the Herodians. Herodians were basically a political camp, and you'll see them mentioned. They had the zealous, they were the same stripe. And you had the Pharisees. The Pharisees were small in number. They weren't multitudes. Very often you might think Pharisees, oh, they were all Pharisees. No. They numbered around 5, 6,000 or so. Most of their activity was around the city of Jerusalem. But they were small in number, but tremendous in their influence. And because they had such tremendous influence, Jesus speaks concerning them quite often in the gospels. And so he'll say scribes and Pharisees, he puts them together because the scribes he's speaking of are more than likely Phariseic scribes. And he speaks concerning their hypocrisy. So the scribes and the Pharisees were known for being hypocrites. Their religion was theatrical. It was all show. Hypocrisy, the word hypocrisy is really from a Greek root word that speaks concerning the masks that the actor would wear. The hypocrite was the actor. He had the mask of sorrow or tragedy. He had the mask of joy. And he would put that mask on when he was playing a part. And that's where we get the word hypocrisy from because you're just wearing a mask. You're masking what you really are. And that's why Jesus would refer to them as hypocrites. And he spoke concerning them and he said, listen, the things that you're doing is theatrical righteousness. You like to pray. You like to give. You like to fast. To be seen by men. That's the reason you're doing it. That's called hypocrisy. And later on in Matthew 23, verse five, he will speak concerning them in this way. He says, all their works they do to be seen by men. Religious or theatrical hypocrisy. Theatrical religiosity. They appear outwardly to be righteous. But they were simply acting the part of being righteous. I've seen these actors, some Hollywood actors and television actors, and they play the parts. They play a part. I could go all the way back to some of you. This is ancient history for you, younger ones. You may not get this unless you saw reruns. But there used to be a program called Happy Days. It's still on. I mean, it'll be on forever, I guess, until Jesus comes and saves us from it. But there was a guy called the Fonz. Anybody know who Fonz is? The Fonz, remember the Fonz? Oh, you know that guy? Fonz. And he played a tough guy. He played this tough guy. You know, he had his leather jacket and his collar was all, you know, up and this and that. He acted all bad. He used the Fonz. But in reality, he couldn't scare a chicken. In reality, he didn't have it. He was acting. He acted the part. He acted tough. That was his role. But that wasn't him. A lot of times we get confused. We see the actor and we think that's real. I mean, there was this, the true story here. There were these two soap opera stars years ago who had a soap opera wedding. They're just stars in a soap opera. And they started receiving, these actors, received wedding gifts. People were sending them wedding gifts as if they really got married. Listen, we can be convinced to the point where we actually will go so far as to think that's really them. That's really what they did. Well, that's what hypocrisy is. That's what Jesus is talking about. All the works they do to be seen by men. And that's what he's referring to in Matthew 23, 28. He says, even so, you outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Now, on one hand, God's standards are thoroughly opposed to the hypocrisy of men. God's desire is for us to have a new way of living. And this new way of living is produced by grace and faith. Righteous behavior. Behavior that really reveals that we're in right standing with God. Righteous behavior springs from the grace of God that has changed our lives. When Paul was writing to a man by the name of Titus, a pastor on the island of Crete, he writes in Titus chapter 2 verses 11 and 12 concerning the grace of God. And Paul said, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness in worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. So we deny ungodliness, we deny worldly lust, and we live in a different way, soberly, righteously, and godly. Soberly, righteously, and godly is in contrast to ungodliness, and so a person who comes to faith in Christ is a person who's going to reflect that not just by saying, I have a relationship with God through Jesus, by actually living that way. This new life is a result of being vitally, relationally connected to Jesus Christ. That's what he said in John 15 verse 5, when he said, I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in me, I in him bears much fruit, for, he says, without me, you can do nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. Again, Jesus has been illustrating the difference between the genuine believer and the one who only says they're a believer. He's gotten to the point in his message now where those who are listening must make a decision concerning him. Now, he's already been leading them in that direction. Look for a moment at verse 24 of chapter 6. Remember this? He had said in Matthew 6 verse 24, no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You can't do both simultaneously. You cannot be a vegetarian and a meat eater at the same time. It doesn't work, even if you make your vegetables to look like steaks. You cannot be both at one time. We know that. You cannot be both at the same time. You have to choose who you are going to serve. And that's what he's doing already. He's been laying the foundation. Whenever you give a message that is intended to be an evangelistic message, intended to bring the listener to faith in Christ, there will be a point where you give an invitation. There will be a point. Every message that I give from this pulpit is bringing you not only to instruct you in what the Bible says, so we can all grow and follow God, but there are those who are in the congregation that day who have to be brought to a point of decision. Teaching the word of God is a way of appealing to the mind to encourage them to receive information. That's teaching. You're presenting to a person an appeal to learn. That's teaching. You're provoking to learn. But preaching is when you're appealing to the will. You're giving information and appealing to a decision. Jesus is doing both here. He's giving instruction concerning the kingdom of God, but he's already laid the foundation for an invitation by saying you cannot serve God and Mammon. You can't serve the world and God simultaneously. You're going to have one Lord, and Jesus already has stated that, which one is it going to be? So now he's bringing us to the point of making a decision, and that's what he's saying when he says enter in. That is his invitation. He's encouraging us to know that. You have to make a decision which path you're going to commit to. The question is, whom will you serve? In John 8.34, Jesus said it like this. He said, truly, truly I sin to you. Whoever commits sin is a servant of sin. Whoever habitually commits sin. Whoever has sin as a way of life, you are a slave. That's what he's saying. You see, when you're born again, you have made a decision. The decision that you've made is to have a new master. It's not that you are now going to try to follow Jesus in your own strength. It's that God now gives to you the strength to follow him because you've been born again. Now there are those who speak concerning born again. I've had them say it before where they'll say, well, born again, that's a term you born againers have coined. You guys like to talk about that. I'm a Christian. I'm a traditional believer in Christ. I don't have to be born again. You made that. People will say that. Maybe you haven't heard that I have. People will say that. You born againers. You have used the term born again. It became such a big word during the Jesus movement that there were commercials that were actually being made at that time. Even to this day, I still find traces of that kind of mentality in some commercials about being born again. I still hear the phrase born again used in commercials often because it's something that's part of our society. People will say, oh, you've born againers. Well, we didn't make that up. That isn't something I coined. It isn't something that came out of our time. It's what Jesus said. You need to be born again to see or to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus spoke about being born from above. See, when you're born here naturally, you're born with a carnal flesh nature, a sinful nature. You are by nature an enemy of God. God wants to reconcile you to himself. He does that through Christ and the gospel when you embrace Jesus. As you've received that gospel, then you receive the Holy Spirit who dwells within you. When you confess your sin, you become the temple of the spirit of God and you have a new life. That's what we see in the gospel as it's presented to us. Being born again speaks of receiving an entirely new nature. With this new nature comes new desires. The logical thing that relates to that is that sin is no longer your way of life. Living in sin is no longer an option because sin and sinfulness, yes, you continue to sin. Yes, you're going to sin in word and thought indeed because we're not perfect this side of heaven. Of course, that's an obvious, but it is not your way of life. There's a difference. Before you came to Christ, you may have had a testimony of being whatever you were. I was a young man. My testimony was drinking and drugs and things that related to that. People knew that. I was even introduced as a guy who introduced people to drugs. That's how I was introduced. They'd say, oh, this is David. He turned me on to marijuana for the first time. That's how I was introduced because that's what I was known for. That was my reputation, but that was then. That is not now. When you get saved, you have a new reputation, a new way of life. You're no longer habitually in sin. Do you sin? Yes, of course. Do you sin as a way of life? Is that how you're known? No, we're known now as those who have walked away from that lifestyle and we're growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 John, in chapter 3, verse 9, John writes it like this. He said, those who have been born into God's family, do not sin. Do not sin as a way of life because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning because they've been born of God. You get saved. You were an alcoholic. You say, God has given me new taste buds. I don't have a desire for that. The old wine has passed away. The new wine has filled my soul. It's very true that you might go with some friends and your friends might say, you want a beer? You want the last? And you say, I really not into that anymore. Well, you can't drink one? Well, if I wanted to, I could. Are you afraid? No, I'm not afraid. What are you saying I'm afraid of drinking? No, of course I'm not afraid. I just don't want to. I've got new taste buds. Oh, come on, man. Just one beer. That happened to me. That happened to me. I was known for liking to drink. I'm sharing a friend of mine named Art, Art Pacias. And Art says, Dave, come on, man, you can have one beer. What's the matter? Why can't you? I don't want one. Why don't you just drink one? So I, okay, give me a glass of beer. And I'm sitting there with them and I'm tasting it and I'm saying, you know, this isn't my life. This is not what I want. And that's what happens. It's not that you can't do something. You say, you don't want to do something. I've got a new life, new taste, something better. Who needs that? But if that stays my life, if I continue in that with no changes at all, with no new taste buds, if you will, good chance. I haven't really understood the grace of God. You see, we can live an entirely new life because of what Jesus has done in our faith in Him. And we are different. It's like what Paul says in Romans 13 verses 12 through 14. When the apostle Paul writes in Romans 13, 12 through 14, the night is almost gone. The day of salvation will soon be here. So don't live in darkness. Get rid of your evil deeds. Shed them like dirty clothes. Clothe yourselves with the armor of right living as those who live in the light. We should be decent and true in everything we do so that everyone can approve of our behavior. Don't participate in wild parties and getting drunk or in adultery and immoral living or in fighting and jealousy. But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you and don't think of ways to indulge your evil desires. So we remember that we make choices concerning our lives. And the question that Jesus would be asking that is being asked of us is very simply, who will you yield yourself up in service? Throughout the Bible, man is called to choose their master. You can choose. You can choose to follow the Lord. You can yield to his direction. But you can also choose to reject him and follow a different path. It's like what you see in the book of Joshua in the Old Testament chapter 24 verse 15 where it says, if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods your forefathers serve beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you're living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Choose this day whom you will serve. You see that in the old as well as the new. In 1st Kings 1821, Elijah went before the people and said, how long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him. How long are you going to be indecisive? Notice he says, you have a choice between God and what is not God. Make your choice. So we can decide. We can decide whether we recognize Christ as our Savior and Lord or if we reject him. But you need to remember as you make this decision, keep this in mind. Either way, in your decision, your decision seals your eternity. It is not lightweight. It is not inconsequential. When you make a decision to follow Christ, then follow him. But if you make a decision to reject him, get all you can out of this lifetime because there is nothing waiting for you that is pleasant at all. Might as well just go live to sin in the hilt because that is the best you are going to have. This earth right now will be your heaven. But there are things that are waiting for you in Christ that are so beyond anything you can imagine. Your mind cannot even fathom. You cannot even grasp. We cannot grasp the things that are awaiting us. God is revealing them a little bit at a time like the sun that is just beginning to rise. You see a little of the light but eventually it will be full and you will know even as you are known. Or you can go out there and you can play in whatever false promise Satan gives to you and think that it is the best. It is like C.S. Lewis once said. It is like a child that cannot fathom what it would be like to go to the beach. It has never been to the beach. The best he can do is open up a fire hydrant and let the water run into the gutter and play in that. For him that is his beach. Well there are a whole lot of people today who play in the gutter and think it is the beach. When God is saying no you don't have a clue. You don't understand what I have prepared for you. You have delighted in things that are inconsequential. So Jesus gives to us a choice. And that is what he is doing here. He is inviting his hearers to follow him. He is giving his invitation. And in giving this invitation he is revealing that there are two ways that a person can go. So his invitation is enter the narrow gate because that is the only gate to heaven. So in verse 13 he says that. He says enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. There are many who go in by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. So a narrow way, a broad way each leading to different directions, opposite directions really. So as he is speaking concerning this way how would his listeners have understood? We need to know a little bit of the culture during the time of Christ. During Jesus' day there was actually a distinction between roads. There was a private road and there would be the public road. A private road was narrow. It would be only 72 inches, very often only 72 inches wide. That was a narrow path. They would understand that. A private road. But you had the open highway or the public road. The public road was a lot wider. It would be as wide as 24 feet. And so Jesus is using an illustration, something that they would understand. It would be like me saying to you you can take a two-laner or you can get on the highway and it has the high occupancy lanes and all like that. So you can take a freeway or you can take a two-laner. Well that's kind of how they would have understood it. Either there's a broad way with a lot of traffic or there's the narrow way and that's the point he's making. The narrow way has less traffic. The broad way will have more traffic. And so there are a few people who go in the narrow way because most people want to take the wider road. So he's implying that there's a decision that needs to be made. But the decision just isn't where I'm going to go for whatever. It's my direction in life. He's saying two paths are set before you. Choose which one you're going to travel. He speaks of one as being narrow. That word narrow in the original language speaks of demanding. It's strenuous. It's torturous. But the other is called broad. But the broad way leads to destruction. So Jesus is saying, take the narrow path. Go to that gate. In other words, the way of the cross is difficult. The way of the cross is afflicted and cramped. It isn't easy to be a Christian. Is it? It really isn't. It really isn't. I had a guy. His name was Gus. I used to work with him years ago before. I was full-time in the staff position as a pastor. And we were speaking on one occasion. And I was sharing with him concerning faith in Christ. He was on the job. It was at lunch. I had time to talk to him. And I shared with him about the Lord. And he just nodded. He wasn't really interested. But I used to share with people. Anyway, interested or not, they needed to know. So I shared with Gus. I still remember sharing with him. And I did it more than once. And then one day, I was in the office after hours. And Gus walked in. And he said this to me. He said, well, you're a Christian. You took the easy way. And I said, do you really think that? You think being a Christian is the easy way? I said, no, it's not. No, I took the difficult way. Guys, you understand what I'm going to say? Gus didn't. It's easier for me at that time, especially as a young man. It would have been easier for me going through times of stress to go out and drown my sorrow with some whiskey or some beer or some wine. It would have been a lot easier to just, you know what, man? I'm not going to put up with this. I need something to drink. You know? Or, you know, doctor says, Dave, you've got glaucoma. And I say, well, you know what, medicinal marijuana, man? I mean, smoke some dope, do it legally. I don't have to move to Colorado. Right? I mean, it's easier, right? And you can justify that. There are some who would use that as an excuse and all. But it is not the easy path. And I told Gus, I said, listen, man, I said, I didn't choose the easy path. I said, it's a lot easier for me to get angry than it is for me to withhold my temper. It's a lot easier for me to do things of the flesh because that's natural for me to do than it is for me to do the things that please God. The Christian life is a life of death. It's a cramped path. It's not easy. It's difficult, but it's rewarding because where I end up is where I want to go. And the things that I go through, yeah, they're tough times. And yes, you know, I'm not a bearer to complain about life because life to me has been, God has been good to me in life. But I've learned a lot of lessons going through things that I would not have chosen for myself. I promise you that. I've learned a lot of lessons going through things that had God said, oh, I want you to learn this lesson. And this is how you're going to learn it. I just said, you know, that's one of those lessons somebody else can learn. I don't want to go through that. But guess what? As I've gone through the things I've learned, and I've gone through these things for over 40, almost 45 years now, I can tell you, I can tell you standing before you with all honesty that I've learned so many wonderful, compassionate things, so many things of God that I would never have wanted to learn in the way I learned them. But I've learned them. And I'm grateful for those lessons. I'm grateful for those lessons. I gave a message many years ago out of 2 Corinthians 12. I called the message, the glory of the thorn. The glory of the thorn. That's how the apostle Paul said that God had sent a messenger of Satan to buffet him. And he referred to him as a thorn in the flesh. Three times, he said, I asked God, please remove it from me. And God didn't. And God said, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. Therefore, I will glory in my weaknesses so that God's strength might be more evident. That's Christianity. We don't ask for the easy way out, guys, because we know that whatever we go through, God is with us. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I know that comfort because he didn't say you're going to stay in the valley. He said you're walking through it. So that means Calvary Chapel Chino Valley is aptly named. We're in the valley right now. But you're just passing through. God will teach you lessons in that way that you will learn no other way. And instead of kicking against the prods, allow God to move. As I've shared with you before, I went in to get my appendix removed. They put me under. I woke up when the doctor said to the nurse, I came out of the anesthesia. When the doctor said to the nurse, scalpel, I saw him put the scalpel in my abdomen and slice it. And I fainted. What was the wisest thing for me to do in the midst of that operation? Remain still and let the doctor operate. Any sudden movement, I could have been gravely injured. And the spirit of the Lord taught me a long time ago when I'm operating and you're on that table, don't be jumping off. Don't be moving. Because I'm removing something from you that'll kill you if it's not removed. If you learn that, you're going to go far in the kingdom of God. You will. You'll say, Lord, you are the faithful physician. You are the spiritual surgeon. You're removing what doesn't belong so that I'll be more like you than have your way, oh Lord, have your way. Jesus is making it very clear that entering into the kingdom, it's not the easy way. It's simply the best way. The way of the cross is difficult. Now in Luke 9.23, Jesus said it like this. He said, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross daily and follow me. If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross daily and follow me. So when he says, if anyone, that would mean that his invitation is for anyone and everyone. In other words, it's an open invitation to all who would hear him. That would include us today. Any who hear this, if anyone, it's like what Isaiah chapter 45-22, where God says, look to me, be saved, all you ends of the earth. God's desire is for all men to be saved, to come to a knowledge of the truth. And so if you want to be a follower of Christ, the invitation is for everyone, not to just a select group, but if anyone. And then secondly, he says, if anyone desires, so there's got to be an internal desire within you, something within you that draws you to them. You see, not everybody wants to have a relationship with Christ. They can come to church just like this. They can hear messages just like this. They can do what I used to do if it's a seasonal kind of thing. It's Christmas or it's Easter. Maybe we ought to go to church. So they do, and they listen to the message because after all, they call themselves a Christian. I call myself a Christian. I ought to be in church in those days, especially Easter. It's a celebration of the resurrection of Christ. But did I live as if he really was resurrected? And my Lord and Savior, of course not. It was just religion. That's what you did. So he says, if anyone desires, there's got to be an inside desire. Do you have that? Is that something inside of you? I want to. I want him. You know, Jesus on one occasion, it's recorded in Matthew 23, verse 37, on one occasion is speaking to the city of Jerusalem. And he says to the city, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones, those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. You didn't come to me. If anyone desires to come after me, let them deny himself, pick up his cross daily and follow me habitually. Do you want to follow Christ? He is saying, yes, pick up your cross, seek him first, deny yourself, follow him, seek his will. No longer live to please yourself. Ask God daily. Lord, help me to be obedient to you. Why would I do that? Well, the fact is this path in verse 13 that leads to destruction is filled with many travelers. There are many who go in by it. Well, we know that, don't we? The overwhelming majority of Americans, and this is tragic and very sad, but the overwhelming majority of Americans are not saved. I've read so many statistics that say, oh, 83% or more of Americans are Christians. You begin to ask the questions, and who's committing all the crimes? Who are all the people incarcerated? Those are all born-again people. It's just ridiculous. There are numbers of people who simply, if you ask them, what are you, they'll say they're Christians. When I went into the army, I didn't know anybody, not that they don't exist. There are, of course, people who didn't put anything on their dog tags, but they asked us a religious affiliation, and they gave us a whole list. They didn't have Calvary Chapel on it because they didn't recognize Calvary Chapel at that time. They said, listen, if you die, they're going to give you a funeral, and they're going to have somebody who will give the tradition of your particular faith. They're going to give the funeral as it pertains to that tradition. I didn't know what to call myself, so I call myself a disciple of Christ. I didn't know that was a denomination, but that's what I saw myself as being. I'm a disciple. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. No, I didn't know if I'd gotten killed. Some disciple of Christ would have come and given my funeral, or they'd have done it in that way. It didn't really matter. I'm with the Lord. But most people will put something there on their dog tags. At least at that time, they would put whatever Baptist, Episcopalian, Anglican, Catholic, whatever. Most people, even to this day, if asked, are you or are you not a Christian? Over 80% of those who are surveyed will say they are, but are they really? No, the fact is Jesus said there are very few who find this path. There aren't that many. There are more people going on the broad way to destruction than entering into that narrow gate into heaven. He says it in verse 14. Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Many take the path that is more to their own liking. Remember, there are only two religions on the face of the earth. Immediately somebody says, oh no, I beg to differ. There are hundreds and hundreds, thousands of religious faiths. The Bible doesn't teach that. You might find that interesting. The Bible teaches there are two. There's God's, which is the true religion, and there's everything else that fits under one category, and that is the false. There's God's, and there's the false. So you can speak about anything you want. You want to talk about Muslims. You want to talk about Hinduism. You want to talk about Buddhists. You can speak about all of them if you want. The Lord Jesus isn't differentiating and saying, oh yeah, those are true religions. No, he would say those are false. What you have is the true path, which is Christ. Few go into it. And then the broad way, many who find it. And that's what he'd speak about. You see Proverbs 16.25 says there's a way that seems right to a man, but the end there are the ways of death. A disciple will truly love the Lord and submit to Jesus and obey His commands, and they do that no matter what the cost. When Jesus was calling his first disciples, it's found in Matthew 4.18 through 22. We see him calling them to submit and follow him. It says in Matthew 4.18, Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew, his brother casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen. He said to them, follow me, I will make you fishers of men. Immediately, they immediately left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. He called them and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. It's interesting how the Lord called these men as they were mending their nets. They were fishers of just, you know, there were fishermen catching fish there in the Sea of Galilee, but the nets needed to be mended after being used. It's interesting how that word is used there. And he said they were mending their nets because he's now calling them to be fishers of men. And the word mending there is also a word that is used later in Paul's writings for equipping, equipping the saints for works of service. And the picture you have when Jesus is calling them is you've mended nets. Now it's time to mend lives. You've mended your net when you've caught fish, but you are now fishers of men. You will catch them live and you will mend their lives. That's what the gospel does. The gospel of Jesus Christ mends broken lives. And those who bring that gospel and give it are those whom God uses to draw people to life in him so that their lives might be mended also. These men were called while they were in business. They were successful. They had financial security, personal identity, family relationships, and they left it all to follow him because that's what you do. That's the narrow path and it's difficult. J. Dwight Pentecost said this kind of action is what separates a curious person from a disciple. Those who are only curious are interested in the teachings of Christ, his wisdom, his knowledge. They're going to listen to the message and yet they fail to commit themselves to him. Albert Einstein said that you can't read the Bible without seeing the immensity of Jesus Christ in the gospels. But as far as we know, Albert Einstein never committed himself to follow Jesus Christ. You see the churches filled with those who are simply curious about religion, they can even be curious about Christ. They're interested in learning things about him, but they haven't committed their life to him. They're willing to be informed, they're not willing to forsake. We need to remember that simply listening doesn't make you a disciple. If I sleep in my garage tonight, I don't wake up a Ford. That doesn't happen. You have to do more than listen, you submit. It's interesting what John said in 1 John 2, verse 4, when he said, He who says, I know him and doesn't keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. For the curious intellectual stimulation is their desire, but it doesn't result in their salvation. And there are consequences for rejecting salvation. Here you go. Some people will say, everybody goes to heaven. Everybody goes to heaven. All you got to do is be a good boy or a good girl, go to heaven. But the Bible says there's none good, no, not one. There's not one righteous person on the face of the earth. The Bible says I'll have sin and fall short of the glory of God. The Bible says we all have sinned. We've all committed sin and we are by nature sinners. We sin because by nature we're sinners. So Jesus Christ came in order to save us from our sin and ultimate destruction. There are consequences for rejecting Jesus Christ. Not all people go to heaven. I've seen it. You have too. You've all watched the news at one point or another and some well-known celebrity has died. And this person, I've seen it many times, especially with people who were in a rock scene or a celebrity in Hollywood and all. And their lifestyle was known for being debauched. I mean they were into partying and drinking and drugs in the whole nine yards. And then they have an excerpt from the funeral and somebody is saying, well, you know, right now they're partying in heaven. You know, they're looking down at us right now from heaven. And you'll hear that all the time. Because the common belief today, the common wisdom today is all that is required to go to heaven is all you need to do is die. And everybody goes. There are very few people that anyone would even admit are not going to go to heaven. Everybody goes to heaven. Oh, they may say, well, Hitler wouldn't go to heaven. No, he won't go to heaven. And they may have a list of people who have been known to be extremely evil. Well, no, that person won't go to heaven and that person won't go to heaven. But everybody else will. Grandma's going to go to heaven and my kids will go to heaven and my dad will go to heaven. You know, they weren't good and never went to church. They weren't church type people, but they were good people. Well, Jesus would differ with you on that one. He said, no, there's two paths. Either you go in his, which is the life, or you follow the other, which is, he said, destruction. Now, people who believe that don't realize the cost of holding such things. You know, by rejecting Christ, it results in judgment. Hebrews 11 25, speaking of Moses, says that Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. He would rather go and suffer along with this people than to become the next Pharaoh. He would have been the most powerful man had he been placed in that position as Pharaoh. He would have been the most powerful man in the area and in his time. He was going to, he was in line to be the most powerful king. He could have embraced that. He could have, Moses could have been, could potentially have become a Pharaoh, but he lived a certain amount of years and he ultimately died. And then he would have gone into judgment. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to be the ruler of the greatest empire of his day. Why? Well, because he would have lived to be 120. He would have died and then he'd have gone into judgment. But he chose not to do that. He chose to follow God by faith. He listened to what God had to say and he beholds the face of God even to this day now. And so we make choices. You see, if I follow the Lord, I enter into the kingdom. If I reject, I have destruction awaiting me. And that's what the Lord says here in verse 14. Narrow is the gate. Difficult is the way which leads the life. There are few who find it. In verse 13 he says that is the way that leads to destruction. The word destruction is ruin. It speaks of exclusion from salvation. By not choosing Christ, they are choosing destruction. By not making a choice, you have made a choice. That's how it works. By not making a choice, you have made a choice. And by not choosing life, you choose destruction. In Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15, John writes it like this. He said, I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, there was found no place for them. I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. Books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them and they were judged. Each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death and he closes with these ominous words. Anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That's destruction. That's what's awaiting those who reject Christ, the lake of fire. Not heaven, but judgment. How do I enter this narrow gate? Well Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me. In John 10 verse 9 he said, I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. In Acts 4 12 salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. That's the invitation. Jesus has been speaking to this multitude given what we call the Sermon on the Mount. He has told him you cannot serve two masters and now he gives the ultimatum. He says, make a decision. Which one is it going to be? Is it going to be the narrow way that enters into life or the broad path that takes you to destruction? That invitation was given not just to those who were at that time listening but it continues to be given through the ages to this day. Which will it be? Choose this day. Who are you going to serve? Is it going to be the Lord or is it going to be Ba'al the enemy? You can't serve both for no man can serve two masters. You're going to hold the one, reject the other, cling to one, follow the other, but you can't do both. You can't do both. That is such a powerful thing to contemplate but I believe that God is asking that question to us right now and there are some in this room who are being asked by the Spirit of God. Which path will you take? I pray that you choose Jesus.