Choosing the Narrow Path: Embracing Grace and Freedom

Enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it this is God's word. [00:00:39]

Jesus is saying the broad way is the way to narrowness and the narrow way is the way to spaciousness what he's actually saying is is the thing that looks superficially very spacious leads into suffocating deadly narrowness and the thing that superficially looks incredibly narrow is the thing that it leads to eventually incredible vastness and breadth and freedom. [00:03:43]

Most people when they when you read about the broad way in the narrow way say well what are those two ways that's where they lead but what are they what does it mean to be on the broader what does it mean to be on the narrow way and it's normal for people to say because it is possible and sometimes the translations talk about the broad and easy way and the narrow and hard way. [00:05:10]

Jesus is not contrasting bad people with good people both of these groups take care of the poor both of these groups pray all the time both of these groups obey the 10 commandments and both these groups have obey the golden rule but they do it for utterly different reasons now this is frightening isn't it the people on the Broadway are doing all the same things but for a completely different reason. [00:09:22]

There's two ways in one way you're using God to get things in the other way you're using things to love God in the one way you're trying to save yourself everything you're doing you're doing in order to say see now God will have to hear me now God will have to bless me but in the other way what do you have well if you look at verse 14 you'll see it's very interesting. [00:09:56]

Christianity says be saved and then out of that live a good life in other words other religions say first the road then the gate other religions say the way is hard but you can take the gate you can get into salvation you have to be fast you have to be hard you have to fight your way in but Christianity says no you enter the gate now why because there was one who fought our fight. [00:10:45]

The broad way are the people who who always think that their sins are not as bad as the other person sinned the broad way the people who feel superior to the people who oppose them that's the reason why liberals and conservatives are on the broad way because the Liberals say the real problem are the Conservatives and the Conservatives say the real problems are the Liberals but the people on the narrow way say the real problem is me I'm a sinner. [00:11:24]

If you believe that the only way I can be saved is through Jesus that's narrow right but it's the only way to believe in grace it's only if you believe you're saved by grace you have to be somebody else fought and won the gate for me that's why I can just enter Jesus doesn't say hard is the way but you can enter the gate he says you enter the gate first and then you live your life. [00:12:26]

When you say I'm broad-minded that's a certain kind of narrowness but it's a different kind of narrowness Christians know that there's a narrowness about the gospel we know we struggle with we hate it we get upset about it but you see the opposite side is also narrow but they don't know we're narrow and listen a proud person who knows he or she is proud is not all that proud but a proud person who doesn't know he or she is proud is incredibly proud. [00:13:26]

If you're on the Broadway every event every incident in your life every incident in your day is fighting for your very life if somebody Rob's you of your reputation that's the only reputation you've got you're not sure that God loves you you're not sure he's your father you're not sure that he loves and accepts you can't if you believe you're winning the gate with your good deeds. [00:14:29]

When a Christian who has been willing to be narrow enough to say I'm saved by grace someone else has won the gate for me when someone comes along and takes something from you but you know he loves you in heaven you know what he means what you mean to him you know what he's done for you you know what you look like to him you know what's in store for you. [00:15:43]

If salvation is a matter of relationship if salvation is who you're living for who you're doing this for whether I'm doing this for myself to get God to do good things for me or whether I'm just simply doing this to love God because I know he saved me who you're doing it for then that is an absolute difference and on judgement day you're going to be judged as to whether you've made that choice or not. [00:17:38]