I said a few weeks ago that if you wanted to disciple a new believer that Matthew 5-7 would be a good place to start. Consider all that Jesus addresses, after all. He tells us what characterizes the person who is truly blessed (5:1-16), the place Scripture should have in our lives (5:17-20), what our hearts and actions should look like (5:21-48), why we shouldn’t do good works in order to be seen by men (6:1-18), why we should store up treasure in heaven and not on earth (6:19-24), why we shouldn’t worry (6:25-34), and then calls us to difficult, complex obedience while pointing us to the glorious truth that he’ll hear and answer our prayers when we cry out to him as we long to obey him and love our neighbors as ourselves (7:1-12). But perhaps no other section of this sermon strikes me as necessary for a new believer to hear as the conclusion to Jesus’ sermon, Matthew 7:13-29.
I mean, as I walked through this text this week and began to summarize each section with a statement, I thought to myself, “This is such a crucial message for believers to get at the beginning of their lives as Christians.” Now, by saying this, I’m not suggesting that this isn’t a crucial text containing crucial truths for believers who have walked with the Lord for a long time. Rather, I am attempting to say that this text, which is Jesus’ conclusion to his sermon, contains truths that are crucial for us to get as early in our Christian walk as possible and never forget, returning to them again and again so that we might not lose hold of these important truths.
The basic truth of Jesus’ conclusion is this: there is only one path in this life that will lead to eternal life and that path is characterized by obedience to all that Jesus commands. Let me try to show you now why I think that’s the main point we should gather from this text by looking at what Jesus is saying section by section. First, we see that Jesus insists that:
Jesus opens this concluding section of his sermon by saying, “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. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (vv. 13-14).
Jesus makes it clear; there is only one path that leads to eternal life. In fact, he says that there are only two paths period. There is the one path that leads to eternal life. And every other road, no matter how different each is from another, is simply the one path that leads to destruction. The only path that leads to eternal life is the path whereby you bow your knee to Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins and trusting in the crucified and risen Lord, and walk in obedience to him. That’s it. And if the world says that it is arrogant of Christians to say that bowing the knee to Jesus Christ is the only to eternal life, then our response is that we’re merely saying what Jesus himself has said. We didn’t come up with it. We’re simply declaring to others what he has said.
And this path that leads to eternal life is narrow, hard, and traveled by few. This is one reason why I said at the beginning of the sermon that this is such a helpful text for the new believer. We need to make clear up front that follow Christ is difficult. If you want the applause of man, then you can’t be a follower of Christ, for there are few on the path to life. If you want a life of ease, then you can’t be a follower of Christ, for it is a path of hardship. By that we don’t simply mean that as followers of Christ we will suffer disease and death like everyone else, as true as that is. We mean that in addition to that, we’re inviting into our lives persecution. We’re inviting ridicule, hatred, and persecution when we say that sex is only honorable when it is between one man and one woman in marriage, or that every human being is made in the image of God and therefore valuable, or that there is a place of eternal punishment called hell that will be the eternal destiny of everyone who refuses to bow the knee in faith to Christ. The way is narrow, hard, and few are on it. But, it alone leads to eternal life.
On the other hand, there are many on the other path, its gate is wide, and its way is easy. There are indeed many versions of the easier path. I want to make clear to you this morning that you can walk through life in a way that the world will applaud. The cultural majority will exalt you, and you can get the praise of man. And you’ll find many, many others alongside of you on that path. But don’t be deceived. That road leads to destruction.
This is very much like what we saw in the book of Revelation. In this life, if you trust in and obey Jesus Christ, you’ll bear the wrath of Satan and those under his sway in full force, but you’ll never see the wrath of the Lamb. Or, you can walk through life in disobedience to Jesus Christ, and you’ll avoid the wrath of Satan and those under his sway, but you will indeed bear the wrath of the Lamb. And you do not want to see the wrath of the Lamb.
This is where Jesus starts. There is only one road that leads to eternal life, a narrow, hard, lightly traveled road of faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ. And if you feel that this news is overwhelming and challenging, then know that it gets even more challenging, for Jesus reminds us in verses 15-20 that:
Jesus says in verse 15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Now, the point he’s making by giving this exhortation to beware of false prophets, right after mentioning the two paths, is that there will be many who will deny what Jesus just said in verses 13-14, telling you that it’s okay to go down the destructive path. They’ll say things like, “God would never condemn the great multitude of people who don’t trust in Jesus to hell,” and “The words of Jesus aren’t meant to be obeyed literally,” or “Jesus would want you to do what makes you happy,” or “You better get on board with where the majority of the culture is if you really want to make an impact in this world,” or a hundred other things. And Jesus says that we must beware of them.
He also acknowledges that these false teachers who will deny Jesus’ clear words in verses 13-14 and tell you it’s okay to go down the path that leads to destruction will come to you in sheep’s clothing. That is, they won’t appear like evil and wicked people. They’ll probably be people who are nice, kind, considerate, service-oriented, etc. In fact, they may be nicer, kinder, more considerate, and better servants than many believers you know. But don’t be deceived, when they’re telling you not to believe what Jesus says we must believe and not to obey what Jesus says we must obey, they are false prophets and ravenous wolves.
But how will we be able to identify them? Well, in addition to them providing this teaching that denies what Christ clearly says, they will ultimately reveal that they are “inwardly . . . ravenous wolves,” as Jesus calls them, by bearing fruit in their lives that reveal their wickedness. That is, eventually, no matter how much like sheep they appear, they will show themselves by their deeds to be wolves.
Jesus shows this by changing metaphors from sheep and wolves to healthy and diseased trees. He says, “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits” (vv.15-20).
A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. So, though they might disguise being bad trees for a while, eventually it’ll show. They may say that their desire too is to obey the Lord and serve him, even as they encourage you to go down the path of destruction with them, but eventually, when it clear that Christ stands against what they want, they will rebel against him in obvious ways.
So, not only is the path to eternal life narrow, hard, and little traveled, but there will also be false prophets, telling us that it is okay not to trust and obey Christ. And yet there’s more that makes following Christ challenging:
That is, in addition to the difficultly of following Christ when the cultural majority is against you and false prophets are telling you to change paths, you’ll find some around you who say they’re Christians, who say they want to obey Christ, who even can point to experiences they’ve had and good works they’ve done in Jesus’ name who are not really Christians.
Jesus tells us this in verses 21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
This does make following even more challenging, and I’m sure we’ve all experienced this. We may all have known people who loudly professed faith in Christ, did many good works in his name, had experiences that seem to be even beyond our own, and yet now are looking more like the false prophets described in verses 15-20 than to be genuine believers. And Jesus here has told us ahead of time that this indeed will happen. Not everyone who professes faith in Christ will show themselves to be a true believer.
Then what marks a true believer? The answer is obedience to Christ. It is continue repentance in the face of sin, continued faith in the crucified and risen Lord, and continued obedience to what he says we must believe and must do.
This means that when someone makes a profession of faith, that’s just what it is: a profession of faith. The rest of their lives will show whether that profession was accurate or not because genuine faith will show itself in obedience to Christ.
Now, just to make sure this is clear, the Scripture does not teach that we enter the kingdom and gain eternal life on the basis of our obedience. In fact, Paul tells us in Galatians 3:10-14 that if you rely on your good works as your hope for eternal life, then you’re cursed by God. That is, you’ll be damned. And the reason is that God demands absolutely perfect obedience, which no man outside of the God-man, Jesus Christ, can do. This is why our only hope for salvation is to repent and place our faith in Jesus Christ, whose perfect obedience is credited to us, and who bore the curse for our disobedience as we died on the cross, was buried, and was raised from the dead on the third day. That’s the gospel message.
However, one who comes to Christ by faith, is saved, and then is indwelt by the Holy Spirit will indeed be characterized by obedience. We’ll not obey perfectly, of course, but our heart will be turned toward obedience, and when we disobey the Lord and recognize it, we will be marked by repentance in the face of our sin.
Thus, there is one path that leads to life, but there will be many false prophets telling you it’s okay to lead that path and some who seem to be walking alongside of you, professing faith in Christ, who will eventually show themselves not to be believers at all.
What then should be our response to this difficult teaching of Christ? Here’s my conclusion (and Christ’s) in light of everything Jesus has said:
Jesus ends his sermon with another illustration. He declares, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (vv. 24-27).
The illustration is pretty clear. A house built on a rock will stand, even when the rains come, the wind blows, and the flood rises. But a house built on sand may look just as good on the outside, but eventually rain, wind, and a rising tide will show its instability and wash it away. You and I want to be people who will be found standing, not only in this life but in the next. But who or what is being symbolized in the wise man who built the house upon the rock? Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
That is, Jesus is making clear to us what the path that leads to eternal life looks like. It looks like hearing what Jesus commands and obeying him. It’s as simple as that. He is, after all, the Lord. In fact, the sermon ends with the note that the crowds were astonished at Jesus’s teaching “for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (vv. 28-29).
The scribes would teach by quoting others or saying, “It is said.” Jesus says, “I say to you.” Why? Because he is the Lord. He is God the Son incarnate. He speaks therefore with authority. And as his followers we must understand that on the narrow path there is no room for us to exalt our opinions against his. There is no room for us to say to Jesus, “I hear what you command, but I want to do something else. I hear what you say we must believe and teach, but I want to believe and teach something else.” We cannot have goals that are not in line with his goals for us. He is the Lord, and he must be obeyed as the Lord.
Now, I know that some of you hear this morning are new believers. Take this clear teaching of Scripture to heart. Everything Christ said is true and must be believed. Many of you students are about to leave here for anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks, and you’re going into a setting where there will be many who profess to know the Lord and don’t know him, many who are false prophets. For some of you this hatred, ridicule, and persecution is not theoretical, but very real. And you’ll feel the weight of carrying the cross more than you’ve known over these last few months. But in those moments, remember the glory of the gospel of Christ, and return to these words of Christ in Matthew 7:13-29.
If indeed we obey Jesus as the Lord, it will be hard. We will be inviting hatred, ridicule, and persecution. It may be lonely. The majority will say we’re deceived fools. It may be that we are tempted for our knees to buckle as false teachers will tell us it’s okay to do what Jesus forbids or to avoid doing what he clearly commands. We may feel our knees grow even weaker as those who once looked to be walking so strongly beside us fall away. But the call from our Lord is to take up our cross and follow him. And if we do, placing our faith in the crucified and risen Lord and obeying him, then though the path is narrow, hard, and lonely, it will lead to life. And for eternity we will have no regrets for obeying our Lord. Therefore, let us even now declare our faith in and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ as we come to the table. Amen.