Time to Choose Pt 1

And read verse 11 with me. Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in god for I shall yet praise him the help of my countenance and my god Lord, I do. Thank you that we can't hope in you And father right now it seems like we really need to be able to hope in you And so lord continue to do your work in our hearts and in our lives father do your work in this body this morning

Lord, I ask that your holy spirit would fall on this place that we would see you more clearly That we would understand your heart for us and lord that as we are confronted with decisions of life Choosing which path we're going to take lord that we would choose life And we just thank you father in jesus name. Amen You may be seated And as you're doing so if you would open up to the gospel of matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 We spent a good amount of time In the sermon on the mount I went back to look to See how long we've been in there and and by the time we finish at the end of this month We'll have been in the sermon on the mount for three months. So, uh, yay us. Hopefully we've learned a lot Uh in the in the sermon on the mount

I know it's been a good time of study for me And I always hope that a good time of study for me reflects in the fact that you Have learned as well But today what we do is we come to uh a time of choosing matter of fact The title of this next series that we're going to go through in the sermon on the mount is going to Going to be called a time to choose this is going to be part one of it today um Jesus like most good teachers Presents the truth presents the principles But then eventually calls each of us to a place where we have to choose what we're going to do with what we've heard The truth can be presented to us and we can Mentally assess the fact. Yes, that is true and we can be completely okay with the truth that we've heard

But until we make a decision of what we're going to do with that truth And it just sits there on the table much like a beautiful meal that's been presented and prepared It won't do us any good until we actually make a choice of what we're going to do with that meal And that's exactly what jesus brings his apostles to and the disciples to those that are listening to this sermon He brings them to a place of choice It's interesting to go through the scripture and look at times when god calls people to choose because really from the very beginning of time Choice is exactly what god laid before humanity He laid a choice before adam and eve as to whether or not they would obey him or whether or not they would disobey him

When you move into uh, the uh, the pentateuch with The book of deuteronomy we see moses after he's led the children of israel through the wilderness right before they go into the promised land He tells him he said a choice is laid before you now between blessing and cursing living and dying. You should choose life Joshua with the children of israel after he was about to die They were in the land and they needed to finish taking the land Joshua told them choose this day whom you're going to serve as for me in my house We're going to serve the lord and so this aspect of Us deciding what we're going to do with the truth that's been exposed to us is throughout scripture

And so it's no different with what jesus does after he's presented the principles of the kingdom of god What will we now do with the principles of the kingdom of god? and so As we move into verses 13 through 29 of the book of or of the matthew chapter 7 I think that there's four choices that are laid out before us They're going to be four statements that jesus makes but i'm going to pose them as four choices that are laid out before us Four questions the first question is what path will you choose That's the one we're going to cover today The second question is who will you listen to The third question is what will your life say And then the fourth question that we'll answer is How will you build your house?

But today we want to look at the choice of what path are you going to take? And so we pick up in verse 13 of chapter 7 And it says This Enter through the narrow gate For the gate is wide And the way is broad That leads to destruction And there are many who enter through it For the gate is small And the way is narrow That leads to life And there are few who find it It's a short section of scripture that we're given Just two verses And in the process of these two verses I try to decide all week how long am I going to go How far am I going to go into this particular section What all of this is going to mean to me All exactly ties together And I almost fought against just doing these two verses Because they're two very hard verses

That present a very hard choice that each of us has to make But they're two verses that have meant a lot to me In my life and in my ministry As a matter of fact, early on in my ministry Down here in Arc City as the youth pastor I did a sermon on the narrow road And it meant so much to me in my own life That that's what I called our youth group That we had here at Arc City Called it the narrow road Because I feel like that's what we're calling it Called to follow as believers in Jesus Christ And so as we look, we're going to see that First of all, he presents to us the truth That we're to enter through the narrow gate And then he's going to compare and contrast Both the broad gate and the broad way And then the narrow gate and the narrow way

And so let's first of all look at this truth That he presents to us He says enter through the narrow gate The word narrow means straight or narrow Which is why often times people say You should follow the straight and narrow The Greek word for narrow is straight or narrow The root of the Greek word that's used there Is the word stenos That may sound familiar to you Because we get a couple of words from that In the English language We get first of all the word stenography Which is what they do as court reporters But then we also get the word stenosis Which is a narrowing Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of the spine Many have heard of that particular issue That people deal with And the idea is given It's very clear as far as it's translated here

That there's a narrowing Of the narrow gate That we're to enter Now any commentator that you read Is going to talk to you about the fact That there's a debate that takes place here When Jesus says enter through the narrow gate Is he talking about salvation Or is he talking about our walk after salvation But you know how I usually view these things When two different Bible teachers Who I trust greatly And both are pursuing the truth of God And can support their idea biblically Give two different thoughts on something I say Then there's probably an aspect of both of them That can be applied to our lives Of what's presented here And I think that when it says Enter through the narrow gate I think first of all It is talking about salvation

It's talking about salvation Because do you remember what Jesus Referred to himself as in the book of John Jesus said I am the door of the sheep We could substitute that word door For the word gate I am the gate of the sheep And the idea was this There was a fold that the sheep Would come into at night And it was a short one It was a short wall That the sheep would enter into And then there would be one opening Where you could go in and out As far as sheep were concerned And the one that would lay at the door Of that sheep fold Would be the shepherd Because he would want to make sure That A only sheep came in He would know if any sheep came out But he would also know That anyone that came in any other way Was not a sheep And so when it tells us

Enter through the narrow gate We can think Well that obviously speaks of salvation Because we know that there's only one way to salvation And that's through Jesus Christ So he says enter through the narrow gate But then we go on in the gospel of John And we think about the fact That how does Jesus refer to himself You remember the conversation he had with Thomas Thomas said show us the father And Jesus said have I been with you so long That you don't know what the father looks like If you've seen him you've seen me And he says well tell us where you're going And he says the way I go you know And you already know the way And Thomas said well tell us where you're going And Jesus said unto him Lord what are you talking about And Jesus said I am the way

And the truth and the life No one comes to the father except through me So it also speaks of the walk that we have Which is only through Jesus Christ Our walk of sanctification is a path That runs through Jesus Christ And so when he says enter through the narrow gate He's speaking both of salvation Because there's only one way to truth And that's through Jesus Christ But he's also talking about sanctification And that's only one way to walk And that's with Jesus Christ Because he is the way And so as we look at what Jesus presents here We realize something We realize that this gate is very restrictive in nature Because he refers to it as narrow Now there's a lot of things people will refer to you as And that we would be willing to accept

They might consider you to be a little bit stingy And we'd probably be okay with that Because it just means that I'm really careful with my money They might consider you to be a little bit hard But that's okay It just means that I have standards that I live up to They may refer to you as all kinds of things But the minute somebody really wants to get underneath of our skin They'll refer to us as narrow-minded And all of a sudden now That's the worst thing we can say about anybody Because referring to someone as narrow-minded Means that you have no open opinion about anything And all of a sudden that starts to get under our skin just a little bit Why? Because the world views narrow-mindedness In the absolute most awful way

We're just a bunch of narrow-minded Christians Now listen I believe that we should be open-minded But only as open-minded as the word of God allows us to be You see, open-minded, I believe, means that we should respect everybody and their opinions But just because I respect you And I respect your opinion Doesn't mean that it's right Doesn't mean that your opinion is true It just means I respect the fact that you are created in the image of God And you have an opinion And you've got the IQ level more than a garbage can And that's okay We can disagree on some things But it doesn't mean That in my open-mindedness I think that everything that you say is true And so we as Christians oftentimes are called to be very narrow-minded

Because it refers to a restrictive way But not only is it restrictive in the fact that it's considered narrow Because there's only one way But it's restrictive because it's a small gate Meaning not many things are allowed through Meaning that if I'm going to enter that gate All of the things that I carry with me I must leave behind In other words It requires complete Serious behind They require leaving behind my self-righteousness They require leaving behind my self-security They require leaving behind my pride And they require me coming in simply as me Broken In need of a savior Completely destitute of my own ability Completely destitute of my own goodness Simply as me Standing before the Father That's what it requires for me to come to Him He says

Enter through the narrow gate Well as I said He goes on to describe both the broad and the narrow way He says For the gate is wide And the way is broad That leads to destruction And there are many who enter through it He now begins to describe this broad way And as we look at this broad way I want you to notice how he describes it First of all he says The gate is wide That word wide Literally means flat and spread out The idea is given to us here That anything is allowed Now I believe that what he's referring to When he says that the way The gate is broad That leads to destruction What he's referring to is the world's idea of salvation See the world's idea of salvation is this The world's idea of salvation is that all ways lead to God

You see you can follow any religion that you want to Because after all Aren't we all just simply worshipping the same God Aren't we all just worshipping the same thing I realize that yours goes by a different name than mine does Yours is called by a different name than mine But aren't we all really just ultimately seeking the same thing That's what the world has to say Matter of fact the world would say As long as you at least believe that there is a God That you're good enough As long as you believe that Jesus exists You're good enough Well you know what's kind of interesting Is that Jesus says Even the demons believe And they shudder But they're still Wait for it Demons It doesn't matter if they're demons or not

It doesn't matter if they're demons or not It doesn't matter if you intellectually assent to the fact that Jesus exists Demonic beings believe that Jesus exists That doesn't mean that you fit into the category of salvation You see the world views salvation in this really wide way Because they like to view the word of God in a very wide way Why do they like to do that? Because that means That I can believe whatever I want to And still make it to heaven And if I believe what I want to It also means I get to act however I want to Because I've just created my own God With my own standards And it's one thing When the rest of the world believes that About salvation Because that's what the rest of the world thinks About salvation

But do you know what's really tragic? Is when that sort of thinking Creeps into the church And do you know what's been happening since the early 1900s? That sort of thinking Has been creeping into the church Let me give you an example Of one of the individuals where this has happened And it's one of the people Many of you know who Billy Graham is Billy Graham is one of the most well-known evangelists Of the modern era Billy Graham used to be in ministry With a guy by the name of Charles Templeton Perhaps you've not heard that name And if you have You know exactly where I'm going with this Charles Templeton was considered to be Probably an even greater evangelist Than Billy Graham was A much more powerful speaker And Charles Templeton and Billy Graham

Actually did an event together A Youth for Christ event together In which a lot of people Came to know Jesus But after World War II Charles Templeton began to expand his thinking And the way that he began to expand his thinking Is he began reading some of the ideas Of higher criticism Can we really believe that God created the world In six days? Six literal days? Can we really believe that there was a worldwide flood? Can we really believe that Jonah was swallowed by some large fish And then vomited up onto a shore?

I mean it's really hard to believe, isn't it? Aren't all of the stories of the Bible A little bit extra fantastic? And if all of those things are true That God maybe didn't really create the world in six days That maybe God never really flooded the earth And maybe all of those stories in the Bible Are just a little too fantastic Well then maybe salvation through Jesus Is a little too narrow-minded? Maybe the idea is that There's lots of ways that lead to God And how dare we tell people That there's only one way to salvation And that's through Jesus Christ Can't we be a little bit more open-minded?

Than that? You see that's actually what Charles Templeton began to believe And as a matter of fact There's a famous conversation that took place Between he and Billy Graham Where he said How can you really believe all those things of the Bible? And Billy said Because I believe them by faith And I've made my decision And they're absolutely true And Charles Templeton said So have I And I don't believe And not only did Charles Templeton End up allowing himself to Give in to a broader perspective As far as his idea of salvation was concerned He ultimately became an agnostic Now there's a great movie It's just called Billy And it kind of tells the story of Billy Graham In the early years And it really chronicles a little bit

Of this conversation that took place Between Billy Graham and Charles Templeton Actually the story of Billy Graham Is told from the perspective of Charles Templeton You won't find it in any video stores But if you go look for it It's a great movie And I highly recommend that you watch it Well I showed a group of students this movie And as I showed them this movie And it really refers to Charles Templeton And shows him in a bed Giving this A hospital bed towards the end of his life I believe the interview took place in 1996 Shows him at the end of his life I thought I wonder whatever happened to Charles Templeton I wonder if he ever got saved So I went to the old Google machine And I looked up Did Charles Templeton ever repent?

And you know what the answer is? No As a matter of fact At the end of that interview It's told I believe it was Lee Strobel that did this interview If I remember correctly At the end of this interview He started talking about Jesus Started referring to Jesus As one of the greatest men he'd ever read about And how he at one time Had had a relationship with Jesus And he asked him So what do you do with Jesus now? And he said I sure do miss him And that was the last cognitive interview he ever gave You see my friends When we begin to view salvation in that way When the church begins to view it in that way When the church begins to present salvation in that way That's the ultimate end That's the ultimate end of what begins to happen You see The path is

The gate is broad It's spacious It's flat There's room for every belief that you want to On the broad path And what I'm concerned about right now Is yes the world Because I expect the world to have a broad path But what I'm really concerned about is the church Because I don't expect the church to have a broad path But I guarantee you right now In churches across the country This is not being taught And I'm not saying I'm a whole lot better than them I'm saying I can only tell you what it says in the Bible Because Jesus will only let me say what's in the Bible And across the country right now There are churches who are teaching That we need to be open minded Open doors Open minds Open hearts And you know what Jesus says You're right

You can be open minded But you can't be open minded Just know That path leads to destruction So first of all Why must we follow the narrow gate Because the gate is wide That leads to destruction Second of all it says That the way is broad The way is broad Now again this is the idea Of what the world thinks of in life Of how we live our lives We live our lives in a very broad way The word broad here literally means spacious I like to call it a broad way I like the idea of it being spacious Because it presents for us I think What's truly considered Because what do we all want more of in our houses Space What do we all want more of in our cars Space What do we need more of everywhere we go Space Why do we need so much more space

Because we have so many more things You ever notice that I remember the biggest house I lived in ever Quite a few years ago I remember thinking We've got two living rooms We only have furniture to fill One living room And my wife and I just looked at each other And we're like Let's just enjoy the fact that there's two living rooms And we can't even fill both of them You know what we did We filled them And then we moved into a house that was bigger And you know what we thought Oh look all this space You know what we're doing today How can we get rid of more stuff Right But the path is spacious Why is the path so spacious Because according to the world There's room for every bit of sin That you want in your life That you want in your life

There's room for all of the corruption You could ever imagine As far as they're concerned There's room for every indulgence of the flesh Which is why what at one time Was considered to be somewhat scandalous Is now considered to be a choice My wife showed me an Instagram video the other day And on this Instagram video What it showed Is a teacher Who now has a reindeer And this reindeer I can't remember the name of the stupid reindeer Sorry I don't always think reindeer are stupid This one was It was like Ruthie the reindeer Or it probably wasn't even Ruthie Because of what I'm about to tell you But this reindeer Basically taught inclusivity It said you know what the reindeer's been teaching us The reindeer's been teaching us about pronouns

Now this is a K5 teacher I want you to know The reindeer's been teaching us about pronouns You know what we learned about this reindeer We learned that this reindeer Doesn't want to be referred to as he or she They want to be referred to as them or they Because on the broad path There's room for everything There's room for every type of indulgence That you want There's not only room for that type of indulgence Indulgence of the flesh where that's concerned There's room for indulgence of the flesh For where we all kind of like And that's gluttony There's room for indulgence of the flesh For things like hate and anger There's room for indulgence of the flesh For things like vengeance There's room for indulgence of the flesh In things like materialism

There's room for indulgence of the flesh In anything that you want Because the path is broad And I can carry it on my own as much stuff with me as I want to. I can carry all the baggage with me that I want to. And listen, it's one thing when we hear about it in the world. It's another thing when it happens in the church. Because while we may all have heard the thing about the pronouns and gone,

again, what's in your life? You see, what kind of baggage do you have in your life? How has the path gotten a little bit broad in your life where you thought, there's a little bit of room for this. There's a little bit of room to take this with me on this broad path. After all, isn't it a little bit too narrow-minded to think that I can't also indulge in this?

You see, when it comes to the path being broad, the church, unfortunately, looks just like. Gate is wide and the way is broad. But I want you to take note of this next part, because where does it lead to? It says it leads to destruction. It leads to probably no better picture of what that word destruction means when we think of ruin or loss than to take a look at any news story from yesterday. Because when you look at the

things that took place in Kentucky and in Illinois and in other places throughout the Midwest and Southeast, you see exactly what's meant by that word destruction. Now listen, I had no way, shape, or form. I had no way, shape, or form. I had no way, shape, or form. I had no way, shape, or form. I had no way, shape, or form. I had no way, shape, or form. I had no way, shape, or form. I had no way, shape, or form.

I want to say that what happened there is because of sin. I don't know those people. What I am saying is that's a good picture of what sin does to our lives, that when we follow the broad path, it leads to destruction. And as we look at this word ruin or loss, according to Vine's expository dictionary, it speaks to three things. Number one, it speaks to physical ruin or loss.

I don't know if I put those up there. Yeah, I did. Physical ruin or loss. What do I mean by that? Well, we all know that sin has a physical effect on our lives. We see it in the world today. We see the fact that sin has a physical effect on the lives of people. It has a physical effect on us because it causes things like depression and anxiety, multiple personalities,

all those kinds of things. Now, I'm not saying every time somebody gets depressed or has anxiety, it's because of sin, but I am saying when you sin, you will always get depressed. When you sin, there will always be anxiety because that's what happens. It's not natural to us. That's not what God called us to. We have to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And when we do,

we all know what happens when we suppress things. We get depressed. And so it has a physical effect because it affects us in the aspect of our mental well-being. But it also has a physical effect in that we know that there's physical effects of sin. Do you know what anger does to your body? Anger begins to change the way that you look. Do you know what bitterness does to your body? It begins to change the way that

you look. Do you know what sexual sin does to the body? It causes diseases. Why does that happen? Well, we can't judge people, Ryan. Yeah, pretty much we can because we know how some of those things spread, and they spread through sin. Now, is there forgiveness and healing for them? Absolutely. Am I any better than them? Absolutely not. By the grace of God, I stand here the way that I am. But we can't change the fact that that's a physical

effect of sin. What do alcohol and drugs do to our bodies? I've done funerals that prove what they do to our bodies. I'm doing a funeral this week. To prove what it does to our bodies. Sin has a physical effect on our life because it brings about physical ruin and loss. But not only does it bring about physical ruin and loss, it brings about spiritual ruin and loss. It brings about spiritual ruin and loss.

Listen, you show me a believer in Jesus Christ that was walking strong with Jesus, that now begins to follow a broad path and believes in a broad gate, and I will show you someone who is spiritually shipwrecked. If you don't believe me, ask Charles Templeton. That's called spiritual shipwreck. Are they still saved? I don't know. Do I believe that once you belong to Jesus, you always belong to Jesus? Yes. But if your life is

more reflective of sin than it is of Jesus, I question whether or not you're really saved because it spiritually shipwrecks our lives. Remember what Paul said, beware of Hymenaeus because he's been shipwrecked. That's what sin does to us. Spiritually, it destroys our lives. And I know believers. I know believers who at one time had a strong walk with Jesus Christ, and they started following a broad

path in their life, and now their life is marked by spiritual shipwreck. They hate it. They hate themselves because of it, and they're having to be restored from it. But it brings about spiritual ruin and loss in our lives. And then, of course, the third thing it does is it brings about eternal ruin and loss. Look over at the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 5. If you can't get there in time,

that's fine. Just write it down. Galatians chapter 5. I want you to look at verses 19 through 21.

It says this, Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. We need to understand that for the world that is around us right now, that is on that broad path where their lives are marked by all of those things, we need to understand that the end of that broad path is eternal destruction. Eternal destruction. And that's a pretty scary thought. I've been paying attention to the things happening in

the world. We just talked about it yesterday at men's study or at men's breakfast. We were talking about all the things that are happening in the world, and sometimes you just get kind of overwhelmed. And you can find yourself just wanting to withdraw and saying, okay, Jesus, come back now, because I don't want to deal with this anymore. But I'm reminded of what Jesus told us

in the book of Acts. It wasn't really us. It was his apostles. But I think we're included in this thought as well. Right before he ascended into heaven, they said, so are you going to set up the kingdom now? And he goes, hey, listen, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has set in motion. You should go. And wait in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit. And then you will be witnesses of me

in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. We may be asking ourselves the same question right now. Lord, are you coming back now? I think he has the same message for us now. It's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has set into motion. You go and be witnesses of me. Because the end is eternal destruction for the

those that are on this broad path. Whether that's people who call themselves Christians that have decided that they can live a broad path. Is there eternal destruction for them? Only between, that's between them and God. I don't know where their heart really is. But you know what? I don't want that question to be asked. I don't want anybody to go, so you think he was saved? Hard to tell

from the way he lived his life. What a terrible ending. But we know for sure that those of the world, that's their end. And that brings a heaviness to our hearts. He says, why should we enter through the narrow gate? Because broad is the way. The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. I want you to look at the last part of this warning about the broad path. It says, and there are many who enter

through it. There are many who enter through it. What does that tell us? Well, it tells us first of all that it's very popular. You will find that the broad path is the most popular path that you can follow. It will win you the most friends, at least allegedly speaking. It will gain you the most companions. It will be the one that will get you the least amount of criticism. It will be the one

that will cause you the least amount of issues, at least in a temporary sort of a sense, because it's very popular. And quite frankly, because it's popular, the second thing that we take note of the fact that many that are find it, is that it's also easily justifiable. After all, it's not just teenagers who say, hey, everybody's a broad path. It's not just teenagers who say, hey, everybody's a broad path.

It's not just teenagers who say, hey, everybody's doing it. Right? Those words may not come out of your mouth, but they'll go through your mind, because after all, we're too mature for that, right? I would never say everybody's doing it, and yet sometimes it can be the hard attitude that we live with. He says, enter through the narrow gate, because wide is the gate, and broad

is the path that leads to destruction, and there's all kinds of people on it. Well, let's get just a little bit happier about things, shall we? He says, for the gate is small, and the way is narrow, and the way is narrow, and the way is narrow, and the way is narrow. It leads to life, and there are few who find it. He then begins to describe this narrow path. He

says, the gate is small. The word small there literally means narrow. It gives the indication in the Greek that this door is not easy to find. Now, this does not mean that salvation is hard to find, but it does mean that you kind of have to be looking for it, because you know why a lot of people aren't finding salvation right now? Because they're not looking for it. They're not looking

for any way to be saved, because quite frankly, they're not looking for it. They're not looking for it. They're pretty content walking this broad path that they have no idea is leading them to destruction. He gives us the indication that it's a hard gate to find, but it also tells us that there's only one way to salvation, and that's through Jesus, and again, that's very, very narrow-minded. It's a very narrow-minded thought. It flies completely in the face of what the rest

of the world says. The rest of the world says, every path is going to lead you the right direction, and Jesus says, no, it won't. Only one will lead you to salvation, and that's through me. After all, Jesus didn't come to die so that he could organize things in a social sort of way, so that he could make us better people. He came to die so that he could set us free from our sins.

Therefore, to think that there's other ways to God than through that would be to say, well, then why did you come do that whole dying thing? Because if there were other ways, why'd you do that? After all, remember what Jesus prayed in the garden? Lord, if there's any other way, we could substitute the word gate. Lord, if there's any other way, we could substitute the

word gate. Lord, if there's any other way, we could substitute the word gate. Lord, if there's any other gate, then let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. He says, the gate is small. It's very narrow. There's not room for all of my stuff to enter through there. There's not room for all of my baggage to enter through, and there's not room

for me to look for other ways. There's that one small, narrow gate that unless I'm looking for it, I'll never find it. It's kind of like that thing that you're searching for in your house that when you weren't looking for it, you couldn't find it anywhere, and then finally you go, okay, I'm going to really decide I'm going to look for this thing. And you look and you go, it was right there the whole time. How did I miss it that entire time?

How has it been sitting right there in front of me and I didn't even see it? Because it was a narrow gate. He says, the gate is narrow, but then notice what he says. He says, the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life. Now's where things get a little bit interesting, because it's easy for us to ascend to the fact that the gate is small. We can believe that Jesus is the only way. But then we come to this next word.

This next word that he gives us is he says, the way is narrow. The word narrow can be translated as compressed, difficult, or hard. See what I mean? It gets happier. Right? We get happier when we get to the narrow road. He says, this way, this path that you're going to follow is compressed, and it's difficult, and it's hard. What does he mean by that? Well,

first of all, he means it's compressed. In other words, it's very small. There's not room for all of the indulgences of the flesh. As a matter of fact, I view it like this. I view it as a road that gets a little bit narrower the longer that you walk with Jesus. Have you ever realized that? You know, when you first start walking with Jesus, you think, my God,

God took everything from me. I've got nothing left to lose. I've got nothing left to give up. I've given up all of my sin. And then all of a sudden, you realize that God ain't even gotten started yet. Because all of those outward sins that you thought were going to be so hard to get rid of, those were nothing compared to what's going on on the inside. And the longer you walk

with Jesus, the more it's like, hey, that's one more thing that needs to go. Well, that's one more thing that there's really not room for. That's one more thing I really can't have in my life. I remember when I was a teenager, I just started walking with Jesus, really walking with Jesus. And there was a movie. It was one of those 90s movies that's always borderline PG-13 sort of a movie. And I didn't have a strong

conviction about it because I had just come out of walking in the world. So I didn't think too much about it. And I remember talking to somebody who was older in the faith, not a lot older in the faith, but older in the faith than me. And they had kids. And they said, oh my gosh, that movie was absolute trash. I couldn't believe all the things that were in it. Me and my buddy looked at each other and were

like, I didn't think it was that bad. Well, now I've gone back and watched it again. And I'm like, I know exactly what he was talking about. Because all of a sudden you look and you go, man, the things I didn't think were as big of a deal when I first started walking with Jesus, because I was not quite sanctified in that way yet. My path was still a little too broad. All of a sudden Jesus

said, there's not room for that any longer. There's not room for those indulgences of the flesh. And I just keep seeing other areas of life that I didn't know about. And I just keep seeing other areas of my life where Jesus says, there's not room for that on this path. You're going to have to get rid of that because there's not room on this flight. There's not room on this path for all

of those things because this is not the broad path. This is the compressed. I think about pro athletes. And I love sports. I love watching sports. I love the stories behind sports. I'm so sad that the Olympics are in China this year because I have a feeling we're going to end up pulling out, which maybe we probably should. But that being said, I love watching stories about

Olympians. I think that's maybe as much fun as it is watching them compete, because it's fun to see average people who have a skill in their life that in order to hone that skill and develop that skill, they have to, first of all, enter through a narrow gate and say, that's the one thing I'm going to commit my life to. And then they have to walk a narrow path because in order to do that, there are certain things in their life that have to go. I think it's kind of interesting that there's two sports that are mentioned in the Bible, both the sports of wrestling and running, not only do I think it's interesting because those are my sports. I'm not saying I'm holier

because of that, but I'm not saying I'm not. Anyway, not only because those are my sports, but when you think about those sports, those are some of the most dedicated sports, really, when you think about it. A football player can eat pretty much what he wants to on a decently consistent basis because girth is okay when you're a football player. But when you're a wrestler, you have to discipline every aspect of your life, not only every aspect of your life, because you can't give in to the other. You have to discipline every aspect of your life,

not only to the indulgences of the world, because wrestling requires so much of you physically that you must shave off everything that would cause you to hurt in any way, shape, or form, because anything that you put in your body that's garbage absolutely shows when you're on the mat. But also, you usually have to make some sort of a weight, and you have to make a dedication to do that, meaning you have to cut off certain areas of your life and be very disciplined. I love listening to the stories of some of these athletes. And some of these athletes tell stories of how they get up so early in the morning, and they don't go out with their friends at night,

not even on the weekends, because they know they've got to get up early the next morning to train. I remember my favorite post-match interview was with a wrestler by the name of Kale Sanderson. Kale Sanderson's one of my wrestling heroes. Four-time NCAA champion, undefeated, and then went on to win the Olympics, and now he's an epic coach. I disagree with his theology, but as a man,

I love to listen to him. And I remember his post-match interview after he won the Olympics. You know what they said? What do you want to do? He goes, I'm going to go drink pop. And I remember thinking, you know why? Because he had to give up pop. You know what I don't like to do? That, right? He probably gave up brownies, too. This is why I'm not an Olympic wrestler. There's a lot of reasons why I'm not an

Olympic wrestler, but that's one of them. You know why? Because he had to choose to walk a narrow path, because he had to be compressed in order for him to be the best in the sport. And if that's true in a sport, how much more so is it in our spiritual? Why? Because you see, we're not competing for a temporary crown. We're competing for an eternal one. And so it means compressed. But you know what else it means? It also means hard and difficult.

What does he mean by that? Well, it speaks to persecution. You see, when Jesus was talking to these disciples, he said, listen, you need to understand something. The way is narrow. There's going to be difficulty in your walk. I love that Jesus didn't try to paint a walk with him as sunshine and roses. I think we do such a disservice, and we absolutely strip the gospel of its teeth when we present the

gospel as a way to have a better life. The gospel is not a way for us to have a better life. The gospel is a way for us to have life. Is it going to be hard on topside of this earth? Yes. But it has eternal rewards that can't be measured. He says, the path is narrow. There's going to have to be a narrow path. There's going to have to be a narrow path. There's going to have to be a narrow

focus, and there's going to be pressures from without, but it's totally worth it. Why? Because this path leads to life. This path leads to life. The word life here, every now and then I'm looking for some deep meaning in a word. I can't wait to look this up in the Greek. It's going to blow my mind when it says. You know what the word life here means? To be animated or alive. Mind blown,

right? I did not see that coming. And I thought, surely there's something deeper than that. And then it's like God goes, why? Because that's real life. You see, when he says they will have life, what he means is they will actually be alive. What does he mean when he says that there will be real life? Well, first of all, it means that there will be real life on this side of eternity.

There will be real life on this side of eternity. That means that as I walk with Jesus here, there's real life because my life will not be held down by the sins of this world. My life will not be held down by the bitterness and the rage and the anger of this world. My life will not be marked, physically speaking, by the consequences of the sins of this world. And that's real life.

You see, the world is telling us right now that the way to really be alive is to go live your best life. Whatever that is for you, indulge yourself and live your best life because that's how you'll really be alive. But do you know what the Bible says about living that way? That's the way to live in bondage. And so as I enter through the narrow gate and I follow that

narrow path, I all of a sudden begin to have real life. Yesterday while I was studying and thinking about these things, I took a little break and I hadn't really looked at the news for the day and every now and then I like to ruin my day by watching the news. And so I go on to Fox News on my computer and I'm scrolling and I see this story. And I thought, that's kind of an interesting story.

The story of a girl. Who gave the eulogy at her father's funeral. Her father was a police officer that had been killed in the line of duty. He showed up to a domestic abuse scene and the husband turned a gun on him and shot him. And then after he shot him, there was an altercation. The gunman was injured as well. But the police officer father eventually ended up dying. Now the rest of the

world that would follow a broad path would say that what this girl should do is have a heart of vengeance poured out on this guy that killed her dad. But you see this girl is going to show us that she chose a much different path. Now that's kind of the setup for this video. But the other part of the setup is this. There should be Kleenex under all the rows. So just be ready for that. Go ahead.

I have heard all the stories you can think of, but I've always had such a hard time with how the suspect is dealt with. Not that I didn't think there should be justice served, but my heart always ached for those who don't know Jesus. There are actions being a reflection of that. I was always told that I would feel differently if it happened to me. But as it's

happened to my own father, I think I still feel the same. There has been anger, sadness, grief, and confusion. And part of me wishes I could despise the man who did this to my father. But I can't get any part of my heart to hate him. All that I can find is myself hoping that I will never see him again. I am like a expression of loving and praying for this man to truly know Jesus. I thought that this might change if the man

continued to live, but when I heard the news that he was in stable condition, part of me was relieved. My prayer is that someday down the road, I'd get to spend some time with the man who shot my father. Not to scream at him. Not to yell at him. Not to scold him. Not to scold him. Not to scold me. Not to scold me. Not to scold me. him, simply to tell him about Jesus. I've spent the past few days thinking about what it was like

for my daddy to lay lifeless in the flesh, but full of life with our Father in heaven. I wonder what it was like to reunite with his father, to see his other officers who fell in the line of duty, but mostly to sit at the right hand of Jesus. I can imagine it's a much better place than here. There are plenty stories of his time spent as an officer. You see, that girl

is walking a narrow path. That girl walked through a narrow gate, and because of that, she's full of life. You see, she could have stood up there and talked about how much she hated the man that shot her father, how much bitterness, how much rage, how much vengeance she had towards that guy. It would have been completely justified as far as the rest of the world.

The world was concerned. We would have all said, we completely understand, and we support you in that, but that's not what she stood up there and said. She stood up there and said, I just want him to know Jesus. Why? Because she's walked through a narrow gate, and she's now walking a very narrow path, a narrow path where there's not room for bitterness, a narrow path where there's not room

for anger, a narrow path where she can't indulge every thought of the flesh. But a path where her one goal in life is to not only know Jesus for herself, but to make him known, even if it means to the man who killed her father. And may I say, that's what real life looks like, because that's someone who is living life on earth through the Father. He says, the way is narrow, the gate is narrow, but it leads to life. Not only life on this earth,

but of course, eternal life. Because eternal life is the reward. Go with me one more place in Scripture. Go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And I want you to look down at verse 16. 2 Corinthians 4, 16. It says, Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight

of glory. Far beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. It's the path that leads to life, because where we're ultimately getting to is eternal life. The things we see around us now, those things that we might think that we would

enjoy on the way, are eternal. But the things that we see around us now, are eternal. And we see them on a broad path. Those are all temporary. The pain and the difficulty, the persecution, the rough times we go through now, hey, they're temporary. What Jesus has to offer us, that's eternal. And then, of course, he says, and there are a few who find it, we need to understand something. When you walk this narrow path, it will not be popular.

As a matter of fact, the more you walk the narrow path, the fewer people will go with you. It's kind of like climbing a mountain. Everybody starts off at the base of the mountain, not very many people end up at the top. Because the closer you get to Jesus, the smaller the crowd gets. And so I want to close with a little bit of a challenge, because that's what we're supposed

to do as teachers. What path are you on? That's the question I have for you. What path are you on right now? What path is your life following? Maybe I could ask it a different way. What is your life identified by? Is your life identified by the things of the world? In other words, is your life identified by the fact that you're someone who loses their temper really easily? Is your life identified by

the fact that you're a believer, but you're still completely okay with letting out long sentences of profanity? Is your life identified more by the beer that you drink or the cocktail that you drink than it is with Jesus? Because if that's the case, then I have to ask, what path are you on? What path are you on? What is your life identified by? And as I ask that question of what path your

life is on, there's only two things that go along with it. If you're viewing life from this broad way, then it's time to enter through the narrow gate. Because you can tell yourself all that you want to, that every road leads to God. You can tell yourself any lie that you want to, and I'll respect you for that, but you'll still be wrong. Because every path does not lead to God. There is

only one that leads to God. And that's the question I have for you. Is your life identified by the all the rest of them lead to destruction? And it's time to enter through the narrow gate. It's time to decide that there is one way to salvation, and that is through Jesus Christ and him only. And if your path has been pretty broad, as a believer in Jesus Christ, if you have

started allowing a little extra baggage to come along with you, if the path has gotten broad in the way that you view things, and now your life is being more identified with that list of the things of the flesh that I listed there in the book of Galatians than it is with the things of Jesus, then it's time to start unpacking. It's time to start shedding some things of the world and get back on the narrow path. Because it really is as easy as that. You see, Jesus wouldn't tell us this if there wasn't a way to be made right. And as we see those areas of our life where the path has

gotten too broad, it's time to start confessing those things to Jesus and then, listen, shedding them, getting rid of the things that are going to hold you back, getting rid of the things that are going to keep you from knowing Jesus. We're told in the book of Hebrews, and I'll close with this, we're told in the book of Hebrews chapter 12, therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside the weight, that speaks of the not necessarily sinful things, but the things keeping us from knowing Jesus, let us lay aside the weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us, looking unto Jesus,

the author and the finisher of our faith. It's time to start laying aside the weight, and it's time to start laying aside the sin, and it's time to start looking squarely at Jesus and pursuing him wholeheartedly. Amen? Let's all stand. It's hard to be challenged by the word. I had a hard time being challenged with it this week, and as a matter of fact, it hurt a little bit this week to be

challenged by it, because it's hard to be challenged by the word. It's hard to see those areas of our lives exposed, but oh what joy there is when our lives are exposed, and we can finally walk in the light. Father, we come before you, and I just want to lift up everyone that's here this morning, and Lord, I pray that if there are hearts that don't know you, that today would be the day that they say, no more following a lot of other paths. I'm going to follow Jesus. Lord, if there's those whose lives have been marked by sin,

and it's time to start laying aside the weight, and let us lay aside the weight, and let us get back on that narrow path. It's time to start laying aside the weight and the sin that is so easily ensnaring. I pray that you would fill them with the grace to be able to do so. Lord, be with us as we go out from here. Be with us as we move into another week of celebrating the birth of

Jesus, celebrating the hope that we have in Christ, and we just pray these things, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

We have only one life, and it soon will pass, and only what's done for Christ will last. Jesus, you can use me, Lord. Bitches and houses and cars and lands will all pass away, but my life will stand. Jesus, you can use me. And it soon Christ will last. Jesus, you can use me. Houses and cars will pass away, and only what's done for Christ will last. Jesus, you can use me.

God bless you all. Have a good week.