The following 50 minute video is a sermon on Matthew 7:13–27. Dr. John MacArthur goes into great detail expounding this passage; he titled it An Appeal to Charismatic Pretenders. He postulated that those described by Christ as traveling in the broad way; those whom He never knew…were believers who acted just like present day Charismatics.
If you have never heard a sermon on this very significant passage of scripture; or if you have never heard him preach it, then please listen; it is a very detailed, excellent exposition of this passage.
Below the video, important points are listed for review.
Jesus uses a series of contrasts between two things to make His points, including: two gates; two ways; two destinies; two crowds; two trees; two fruits; two behaviors; two builders; two foundations; and two houses. In all of these contrasts, there is a true and a false. It is a grave matter to find the true amid all the false.
MacArthur summarizes those two ways as the (false) way of human achievement and the (true) way of divine accomplishment. This distinction covers all religions, as all but Christianity are ways of human achievement.
The Narrow Gate:
- John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. [Jesus is the narrow gate]
- Difficult to find because false prophets lure professed believers away from it; One must know the Word to walk in it via repentance and obedience (the Bible makes it a constricted way) turning from all that is formerly loved: people, things, self-love, selfishness…One must trust God for all spiritual provisions
- Many strive to enter in the narrow gate but cannot because they won’t let go of their own life; their friends; their things; their sins…all the objects they love in their lives; even though these are all temporal and the narrow way promises eternal life.
The Narrow Way:
- Must enter alone; demands repentance and self-denial (it is hard because leaving one’s loved sins is hard); must sell all to buy Christ: Mat 13:45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. Mat 13:46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
- Must enter naked: without self-righteousness; without achievements…with nothing but your sin (see, categories, Beatitude Life posts)
The Broad Gate:
- No constrictions: may bring sin; all your friends; your pride; desires…no doctrinal constrictions; may interpret Bible loosely, making up your own doctrines, styles of worship…
The Broad Way:
- Walkers seek health; healing; wealth, pleasure and other positive feelings… happiness; may make empty professions; may indulge in immoral behaviors, materialism, greed; may seek personal fulfilment, positive self-esteem…
- May bring all of your friends; may party, seek fun, comfort…
Final Judgment as experienced by each (seen in the verses on foundations):
- Those of the narrow way are not destroyed in judgment because their trust (foundation) has been in Christ, the Rock; they walked the beatitude way wherein they acknowledged their spiritual bankruptcy, mourned their sins, were meeked, hungered for His righteousness as found in His word…that is, they trusted in His righteousness, not their own; and submitted to His Spirit to be conformed to His image
- Those of the broad way were destroyed in the judgment because they sought feelings; were swept up with the conduct of the crowd; took shortcuts; took the expedient way; did not search their souls via self-examination and repentance; kept their pride, selfishness, lustfulness…; never experienced a sense of sinfulness; never knew holiness (only happiness / pleasure, sentimentality); did not strive after Christ, but sought self-satisfaction; did not live a repentant lifestyle, but a selfish one wherein they believed they could please God via their own ways because they did not believe scripture: Mat 15:8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Mat 15:9 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.'”
How can one know if he / she is deceived (in the broad way)?
- Does your sense of belonging come from your group? (not from your relationship with Christ) (yes = fail)
- Do you have any interest in self-examination? (no = fail)
- Are you engulfed in external activities? (yes = fail)
- Do you seek feelings, blessings, experiences, healings, angels, and not Christ? (Christ is found in the Word) (yes = fail)
- Do you have an indifference to sound Biblical doctrine? (yes = fail)
- Are you overindulgent in the name of grace? (yes = fail)
- Do you read scripture, pray Biblically, take the Lord’s supper (no = fail)
If you failed most questions, then you may be able to get off the broad way by starting self-examination; asking God to lead you to the narrow way; asking God for the gift of repentance….
Mat 7:8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) begins with the beatitudes, those are a description of Jesus’ kingdom citizens. Poverty of spirit is the entrance point, that is the understanding that you are spiritually bankrupt and must rely completely upon God for the righteousness you need to enter into His kingdom, and to begin walking the narrow way wherein you are a slave of Christ; not a slave to sin/self as all are in Adam (see, categories, Beatitude Life posts).
It is the Holy Spirit that works the beatitude attitudes into the life of a believer via tribulation; in fact, it is tribulation, affliction, personal failure…that bring one to the point in his life that he can see he is spiritually bankrupt as in Luke 18, the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee (see, categories, Justification, Justification by Faith post — 15 minute video and analysis).
Psa 119:18 Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in Your instructions.
Psa 119:34 Give me understanding and I will obey Your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart.
Psa 119:35 Make me walk along the path of Your commands, for that is where my happiness is found.
Psa 119:36 Give me an eagerness for Your laws rather than a love for money!