Friday, July 15, 2011

Jesus' Sermon On The Mountainside: Wrong Gate

Jesus’ warnings begin with two gates,
"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many." (Matthew 7:13)
God the Father will become the of each person who believes in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Narrow Gate.

Watch out for the wrong gate, it won't lead you into the kingdom of heaven, it will lead you to destruction.

Jesus is saying, "Make the right decisions because it will affect the whole rest of your life."

We all have a bias for sin, inherited from Adam, we all have the tendency to act out that sin, every day. Those who come to Christ for forgiveness in this life will never have to face judgment, they entered the narrow gate of Jesus. Those who reject Jesus Christ as savior from sin and Lord of life will be judged for all their sin, including the sin of unbelief.

There are only two gates, there’s no neutral zone. Not deciding is really deciding to enter through the broad gate.
"For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matthew 7:14)
The word “narrow” in the first quote does mean “narrow.” But in the second quote “narrow” means “tribulation.”

The way of discipleship is narrow, restricting, because it is the way of persecution and opposition

Entrance into the kingdom of heaven is through this narrow gate, under the strict authority of Jesus, through persecution and tribulation.

Jesus says there is no way to the Father but through Him. When you want to begin a new phase of your life with the Lord, as a Christian, you want to go deeper, a new level of a life of faith, then it will mean denying yourself and taking up your cross to follow Jesus.

* Living out the Gospel is the narrow way.

* Being permissive is the broad way.

It's hard to obey Jesus' teachings; it's easy to be permissive and tell people what they like to hear, and indulge their wants.

As parents, you know what that kind of parenting leads to. The Bible says "The Lord corrects the people He loves and disciplines those He calls His own."

The Bible continues this teaching by saying "Be patient when you are being corrected! This is how God treats His children. Don't all parents correct their children? God corrects all of His children, and if He doesn't correct you, then you don't really belong to Him."

Jesus pointed out that any one of us earthly parents, as flawed as we are, feed our children with good food and; we don't give them what is bad for them, or dangerous for them.

Scripture teaches that "Our human fathers correct us for a short time, and they do it as they think best. But God corrects us for our own good, because He wants us to be holy, as He is. It is never fun to be corrected. In fact, at the time it is always painful. But if we learn to obey by being corrected, we will do right and live at peace."

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