Christ is the narrow road that leads to life. But what is the broad road that leads to destruction? Pretty long.
Believers, when Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
- He was talking to Jews who were all about obeying the law of Moses and saw even the well-behaved and honest among the Gentiles as unclean. The verse is a part of the Sermon on the Mount which begins with Matthew 5:
1 "One day Jesus saw a vast crowd of people gathering to hear Him, so He went up the slope of a hill and sat down. With His followers and disciples spread over the hillside, 2 Jesus began to teach them:
3 “What wealth is offered to you when you feel your spiritual poverty! For there is no charge to enter the realm of heaven’s kingdom."
Jesus was teaching religious people who wanted to "enter the realm of heaven's kingdom." These were not people who took the issue of sin lightly. They came to hear Jesus. Like many who profess Christ today, the way to enter that seemed right to them was through the Law of Moses that they religiously tried to obey in order to attain righteousness and enter heaven. Many of them could not understand that "there is no charge to enter the realm of heaven's kingdom."
Believer, let's not be found ignorant of our spiritual poverty. Let's not be found counting our spiritual richness in trying to obey the law, doing good things and paying tithe; many churchgoers consider these things as the charge to enter heaven when there is no charge.
When the religious people in the time of the early church were given the message of Christ (Righteousness by faith and not by works,) many of them rejected it because the message of Christ says in Romans 3:
"and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."
But many religious people of that time could not understand that "we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law." The way to enter that seemed right to them was "obey the Ten Commandments and do the works of the law of Moses to get right with God or perish," much like many in the church today who think that it is because of their power to obey the Ten Commandments, tithe payment and their human effort at attaining godliness that they have righteousness and influence with God.
But Romans 3:20 tells us the result of all efforts at trying to obey the law in a bid to "enter" the kingdom of God- "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."
Also see Galatians 5:4- "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."
Bear in mind that law-keeping is anything one does by human effort in order to be godly or enjoy God's blessings. Isaiah 64:6 says of these righteousnesses that proceed from self aka self-righteousness:
"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."
See the Good News Translation: "All of us have been sinful; even our best actions are filthy through and through..."
Also see Galatians 3:10- "But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under His curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”"
Those who try to keep the law to get right with God and thus enter heaven are under the curse; the one doing so has to "obey all the commands" and no one can, hence the curse. No wonder Satan, through his seemingly holy ministers on the pulpit, places emphasis on what YOU must do in order to be godly (be like God) and not what Christ has done. Same way Eve was deceived into believing that she could be like God by human effort. The tree that she and Adam ate of is a picture of the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil. See this in Romans 7:8 (MSG)-
"Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me..."
Satan is still seducing people today to do the seemingly good thing of obeying the law in order to be godly. But the letter kills. The law does not understand "I did my best so God will see that I have tried and consider me." It's keep all or be cursed and die and no one can keep all. The law condemns all those who are trying to get right with God by doing what it says. All have sinned and the wages of sin is death. We were all doomed for this death. Hence John 3:
"16 God loved the world this way: He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not die but will have eternal life. 17 God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. 18 Those who believe in Him won’t be condemned. But those who don’t believe are already condemned because they don’t believe in God’s only Son."
Understand what it means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. See Romans 10-
"9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
The key to right believing is, by grace, understanding the verse: "believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead." Why did God raise our Saviour Jesus Christ from the dead? See this in Romans 4:25-
"Who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous."
The TPT puts it this way: "Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!"
Believing Jesus is believing that in Him, we have total forgiveness of sins and everlasting righteousness as a gift from God and apart from works. With Christ as our righteousness, no one and nothing we do or don't do can snatch us away from the Hand of our Abba Father in Christ. It is an everlasting righteousness that is apart from works. Nothing can undo this gift to the believer because we did not earn it by our righteous works. Not even acts of sin can undo our right-standing with God in Christ. Matthew 1:21 says of Christ-
"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Let's take our blessed brains to church. How can a Saviour who came to save us from our sins use those very sins that He came to save us from as an excuse for not saving us and even punish us for the sins that He came to save us from? This is akin to the Great Physician refusing to treat His own beloved but sick child because his child is sick. Christ is Saviour to the uttermost. The one who believes in Him does not continue to live in sin. He saves us from our sins. This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour.
But many people feel that they have the power to obey God's law. Law and Grace do not mix. The law does not understand "I will do my best and God will see that I have really tried and consider me." Our best can never be good enough, "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Romans 3:20.
The law condemns everyone who tries to obey it in order to be righteous/godly- this in itself is THE EVIDENCE of rejecting God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ. This is the broad road that leads to destruction and many churchgoers are on it. Stress, sickness, opression, depression, lack are all "death begun." No wonder we still see many who profess Christ fearful of the devil's works and rushing from pillar to post to break generational and other curses that Christ hung on the cross to redeem us from according to Galatians 3:13. For such, it's always from one frying pan of problems to another, more things to do and more laws to keep in order to be free. There is no free indeed here. The path grows darker. But see Proverbs 18 for you when you have Christ as your righteousness:
"But the path of the righteous is like the bright morning light, growing brighter and brighter until full day."
The righteous here is not those who are trying to obey the law to get right with and are thus cut off from Christ according to Galatians 5:4; the righteous are those who are made righteous by Christ's obedience (Romans 5:19.)
Believer, see Proverbs 14:12- "There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death."
See the TLB version: "Before every man there lies a wide and pleasant road he thinks is right, but it ends in death."
Many in the church are suffering unnecessary destructions in their lives because they are trying to obey the law to get right with God and enjoy the blessing of Abraham. This way seems right according to common sense, but this is to reject the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have. This is curse ground. Like the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3, many are holding on to their own efforts at attaining righteousness, rejecting Christ's and have locked Jesus outside as He stands at the door knocking to be let inside the church!
Believers, Christ was speaking to religious Jews when He said: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
The people who are on both the narrow and broad roads already desire to "enter." They are not "worldly sinners" who have no heart for God and don't even go to church and don't want to hear the word of God. They are people who do not want to live in sin. They came to hear Jesus speak, just like many in the church today who come to hear the word! How we enter is the issue. Law-keeping to get right with God is the broad road that leads to destruction and many in the church are on it. The letter kills. This way is the one that was written of in Proverbs 14:12- "There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death."
By grace, let's not be found here. This is how we are made right with God: Romans 5:19-
"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."
Christ paid it all- the price of our right-standing before God and salvation from all earthly ills, physical death and the second death. This is grace- undeserved, unmerited, unearned favour. The law is not of faith and "without faith it is impossible to please God."
But Grace, personified by our Saviour Jesus Christ, is not a license to sin. Grace saves from sins. See Matt. 1:21- "She will give birth to a Son and you will name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
By grace, perish the thought that "other people" love to wallow in their sins. I believe that most are looking for the Way out.
Telling sinners to "stop sinning and obey the law, or else God will punish you and Satan will catch you" is akin to telling a convicted criminal to free himself from prison death row. Even if he manages to escape this prison of sin by his own effort at obeying the law, Satan who uses the law to condemn those who are under it will hunt him down with accusations, catch him and place him under harsher conditions, because his escape was illegal.
Sin is a prison and sinners need a Saviour, not more laws to add to the ones that are already crushing them as they struggle to comply. Only the payment of the sinner's death will suffice for the law. Christ came to redeem/ransom/buy back sinners from this prison of sin. See Titus 2:14-
"He gave Himself for us. He did this by buying us with His blood and making us free from all sin. He gave Himself so His people could be clean and want to do good."
Even those who enjoy their acts of sin, e.g porn addiction and overeating/overdrinking are held captive by it and would like to be free. But law-keeping and self-determination (human effort at obedience) cannot save. The letter kills. Telling such to "stop sinning or else punishment" is pointless. Many have been trying hard to stop long before they heard accusations and messages of condemnation from the pulpit. According to Romans 6:14, under law is where sin has dominion. See Isaiah 30:15-
"God, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel: “Your salvation requires you to turn back to Me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves. Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on Me— The very thing you’ve been unwilling to do."
The more one tries to be godly by human effort at obedience, the more sin strengthens its grip over the life of that one.
BUT CHRIST (GRACE PERSONIFIED) SAVES FROM SINS.
Isaiah 64:6 says: "We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight." All of our law-keeping and good works done to get right with God to get His blessing are an abomination to Him. Only that freely-given righteousness which proceeds from the obedience of Christ will suffice for God the Righteous. Anything else leads to destruction. The letter kills.
Christ (Grace Himself) is the narrow road that leads to life. Law-keeping to get right with God is the broad road that leads to destruction.
Forsaking all "menstrual rag" righteousnesses that proceed from self (aka self-righteousness) and receiving God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ is the narrow way that leads to life. See Romans 5:17-
"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."
Not only do we have life (live in triumph over death) through Christ's finished work, we get to live in triumph over sin too. This is the Good News. Christ did it all.
Believe Right and you will Live Right.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
- He was talking to Jews who were all about obeying the law of Moses and saw even the well-behaved and honest among the Gentiles as unclean. The verse is a part of the Sermon on the Mount which begins with Matthew 5:
1 "One day Jesus saw a vast crowd of people gathering to hear Him, so He went up the slope of a hill and sat down. With His followers and disciples spread over the hillside, 2 Jesus began to teach them:
3 “What wealth is offered to you when you feel your spiritual poverty! For there is no charge to enter the realm of heaven’s kingdom."
Jesus was teaching religious people who wanted to "enter the realm of heaven's kingdom." These were not people who took the issue of sin lightly. They came to hear Jesus. Like many who profess Christ today, the way to enter that seemed right to them was through the Law of Moses that they religiously tried to obey in order to attain righteousness and enter heaven. Many of them could not understand that "there is no charge to enter the realm of heaven's kingdom."
Believer, let's not be found ignorant of our spiritual poverty. Let's not be found counting our spiritual richness in trying to obey the law, doing good things and paying tithe; many churchgoers consider these things as the charge to enter heaven when there is no charge.
When the religious people in the time of the early church were given the message of Christ (Righteousness by faith and not by works,) many of them rejected it because the message of Christ says in Romans 3:
"and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."
But many religious people of that time could not understand that "we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law." The way to enter that seemed right to them was "obey the Ten Commandments and do the works of the law of Moses to get right with God or perish," much like many in the church today who think that it is because of their power to obey the Ten Commandments, tithe payment and their human effort at attaining godliness that they have righteousness and influence with God.
But Romans 3:20 tells us the result of all efforts at trying to obey the law in a bid to "enter" the kingdom of God- "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."
Also see Galatians 5:4- "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."
Bear in mind that law-keeping is anything one does by human effort in order to be godly or enjoy God's blessings. Isaiah 64:6 says of these righteousnesses that proceed from self aka self-righteousness:
"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."
See the Good News Translation: "All of us have been sinful; even our best actions are filthy through and through..."
Also see Galatians 3:10- "But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under His curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”"
Those who try to keep the law to get right with God and thus enter heaven are under the curse; the one doing so has to "obey all the commands" and no one can, hence the curse. No wonder Satan, through his seemingly holy ministers on the pulpit, places emphasis on what YOU must do in order to be godly (be like God) and not what Christ has done. Same way Eve was deceived into believing that she could be like God by human effort. The tree that she and Adam ate of is a picture of the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil. See this in Romans 7:8 (MSG)-
"Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me..."
Satan is still seducing people today to do the seemingly good thing of obeying the law in order to be godly. But the letter kills. The law does not understand "I did my best so God will see that I have tried and consider me." It's keep all or be cursed and die and no one can keep all. The law condemns all those who are trying to get right with God by doing what it says. All have sinned and the wages of sin is death. We were all doomed for this death. Hence John 3:
"16 God loved the world this way: He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not die but will have eternal life. 17 God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. 18 Those who believe in Him won’t be condemned. But those who don’t believe are already condemned because they don’t believe in God’s only Son."
Understand what it means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. See Romans 10-
"9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
The key to right believing is, by grace, understanding the verse: "believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead." Why did God raise our Saviour Jesus Christ from the dead? See this in Romans 4:25-
"Who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous."
The TPT puts it this way: "Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!"
Believing Jesus is believing that in Him, we have total forgiveness of sins and everlasting righteousness as a gift from God and apart from works. With Christ as our righteousness, no one and nothing we do or don't do can snatch us away from the Hand of our Abba Father in Christ. It is an everlasting righteousness that is apart from works. Nothing can undo this gift to the believer because we did not earn it by our righteous works. Not even acts of sin can undo our right-standing with God in Christ. Matthew 1:21 says of Christ-
"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Let's take our blessed brains to church. How can a Saviour who came to save us from our sins use those very sins that He came to save us from as an excuse for not saving us and even punish us for the sins that He came to save us from? This is akin to the Great Physician refusing to treat His own beloved but sick child because his child is sick. Christ is Saviour to the uttermost. The one who believes in Him does not continue to live in sin. He saves us from our sins. This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour.
But many people feel that they have the power to obey God's law. Law and Grace do not mix. The law does not understand "I will do my best and God will see that I have really tried and consider me." Our best can never be good enough, "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Romans 3:20.
The law condemns everyone who tries to obey it in order to be righteous/godly- this in itself is THE EVIDENCE of rejecting God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ. This is the broad road that leads to destruction and many churchgoers are on it. Stress, sickness, opression, depression, lack are all "death begun." No wonder we still see many who profess Christ fearful of the devil's works and rushing from pillar to post to break generational and other curses that Christ hung on the cross to redeem us from according to Galatians 3:13. For such, it's always from one frying pan of problems to another, more things to do and more laws to keep in order to be free. There is no free indeed here. The path grows darker. But see Proverbs 18 for you when you have Christ as your righteousness:
"But the path of the righteous is like the bright morning light, growing brighter and brighter until full day."
The righteous here is not those who are trying to obey the law to get right with and are thus cut off from Christ according to Galatians 5:4; the righteous are those who are made righteous by Christ's obedience (Romans 5:19.)
Believer, see Proverbs 14:12- "There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death."
See the TLB version: "Before every man there lies a wide and pleasant road he thinks is right, but it ends in death."
Many in the church are suffering unnecessary destructions in their lives because they are trying to obey the law to get right with God and enjoy the blessing of Abraham. This way seems right according to common sense, but this is to reject the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have. This is curse ground. Like the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3, many are holding on to their own efforts at attaining righteousness, rejecting Christ's and have locked Jesus outside as He stands at the door knocking to be let inside the church!
Believers, Christ was speaking to religious Jews when He said: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
The people who are on both the narrow and broad roads already desire to "enter." They are not "worldly sinners" who have no heart for God and don't even go to church and don't want to hear the word of God. They are people who do not want to live in sin. They came to hear Jesus speak, just like many in the church today who come to hear the word! How we enter is the issue. Law-keeping to get right with God is the broad road that leads to destruction and many in the church are on it. The letter kills. This way is the one that was written of in Proverbs 14:12- "There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death."
By grace, let's not be found here. This is how we are made right with God: Romans 5:19-
"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."
Christ paid it all- the price of our right-standing before God and salvation from all earthly ills, physical death and the second death. This is grace- undeserved, unmerited, unearned favour. The law is not of faith and "without faith it is impossible to please God."
But Grace, personified by our Saviour Jesus Christ, is not a license to sin. Grace saves from sins. See Matt. 1:21- "She will give birth to a Son and you will name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
By grace, perish the thought that "other people" love to wallow in their sins. I believe that most are looking for the Way out.
Telling sinners to "stop sinning and obey the law, or else God will punish you and Satan will catch you" is akin to telling a convicted criminal to free himself from prison death row. Even if he manages to escape this prison of sin by his own effort at obeying the law, Satan who uses the law to condemn those who are under it will hunt him down with accusations, catch him and place him under harsher conditions, because his escape was illegal.
Sin is a prison and sinners need a Saviour, not more laws to add to the ones that are already crushing them as they struggle to comply. Only the payment of the sinner's death will suffice for the law. Christ came to redeem/ransom/buy back sinners from this prison of sin. See Titus 2:14-
"He gave Himself for us. He did this by buying us with His blood and making us free from all sin. He gave Himself so His people could be clean and want to do good."
Even those who enjoy their acts of sin, e.g porn addiction and overeating/overdrinking are held captive by it and would like to be free. But law-keeping and self-determination (human effort at obedience) cannot save. The letter kills. Telling such to "stop sinning or else punishment" is pointless. Many have been trying hard to stop long before they heard accusations and messages of condemnation from the pulpit. According to Romans 6:14, under law is where sin has dominion. See Isaiah 30:15-
"God, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel: “Your salvation requires you to turn back to Me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves. Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on Me— The very thing you’ve been unwilling to do."
The more one tries to be godly by human effort at obedience, the more sin strengthens its grip over the life of that one.
BUT CHRIST (GRACE PERSONIFIED) SAVES FROM SINS.
Isaiah 64:6 says: "We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight." All of our law-keeping and good works done to get right with God to get His blessing are an abomination to Him. Only that freely-given righteousness which proceeds from the obedience of Christ will suffice for God the Righteous. Anything else leads to destruction. The letter kills.
Christ (Grace Himself) is the narrow road that leads to life. Law-keeping to get right with God is the broad road that leads to destruction.
Forsaking all "menstrual rag" righteousnesses that proceed from self (aka self-righteousness) and receiving God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ is the narrow way that leads to life. See Romans 5:17-
"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."
Not only do we have life (live in triumph over death) through Christ's finished work, we get to live in triumph over sin too. This is the Good News. Christ did it all.
Believe Right and you will Live Right.
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