SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/1/2021 10:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 Intro to Matthew 7:13-14
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt 7:13-14
Message of the verses: “13 “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. 14 “For the gate is small
and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
We
are done looking at verses from the Old Testament and New Testament that refer
to the choice that God gives to men and will move onto more of an introduction
to these verses in the Sermon on the Mount.
It seems to me that Jesus is bringing His sermon to a climax and this is
the most important part of the sermon as it speaks of a person’s choice as to
whether he will enter into God’s Kingdom or spend eternity in Hell. And that is the choice that Jesus is talking
about in these verses. As for the others
we have already looked at they were just previews to what Jesus is talking
about here.
The
Sermon on the Mount cannot be simply admired and praised for its ethics, for it
truths will bless those who will accept the King; however it will stand in
judgment over those who refuse the King.
MacArthur adds “The one who admires God’s way but does not accept it is
under greater judgment, because he acknowledges that he knows the truth.” This statements causes me to want to talk
about the different judgments or punishments found in hell. The person who has been exposed so much to
the gospel, and yet turns his back on it will receive greater punishment in
hell than say the one who has not heard the gospel plainly spoken to him. It seems that many want to talk about the
poor heather in darkest Africa or someplace like that saying that because he has
never heard the gospel then how can he receive hell? The answer to that question is what Paul
speaks of in the book of Romans saying that all one has to do is to look up at
the stars or watch plants grow and then they will understand that there had to
be a Creator to make all of this happens so if that persons who sees this “light”
and desires to see more light then God will send more light to that person,
after all God can certainly do that. It
is my conclusion that the one who spent three years with our Lord on earth has
seen and rejected the most light any person can see, and therefore will see the
most punishment in hell.
Now
back to the Sermon on the Mount as we must understand that this sermon does not
just apply to the millennial kingdom as some would say, but it certainly
applies to the Kingdom of God that we live in right now that started with the
Church age found in the 2nd chapter of Acts. We certainly have a King, and our King is
ruling from heaven, and our King will return to gather up His kingdom in what
is known as the rapture of the church, and then our King will come back to
reign on this earth for 1000 years after He stops a war that is just about to
destroy the earth.
Now
the truths that Jesus is teaching in this sermon are truths whose essence God
teaches in the Old Testament and throughout the New Testament as we have talked
about, for they are truths for God’s people of every age, and the decision
about the ‘gate’ and the ‘way’ as seen in our verses has always been a now decision.
MacArthur
writes “The contrast Jesus makes is not between religion and irreligion, or
between the higher religions and the lower ones. Nor is it a contrast between nice and upright
people and vile and degraded ones. It is
a contrast between divine righteousness and human righteousness, all of which
is unrighteousness. It is a contrast
between divine revelation and human religion, between divine truth and human falsehood,
between trusting in God and trusting in self.
It is the contrast between God’s grace and man’s works.” As we look at this quote we can see that this
has been the theme of this entire sermon as Jesus has compared what is right
with what the scribes and the Pharisees were touting, which was certainly
wrong. So in thinking about this we can see that there has always been two
systems of religion in the world. One is
God’s system of divine accomplishment, and the other is man’s system of human
achievement. There is one of God’s grace
because that is the only way that man can ever see God, and the other the
religion of men’s works. When a person
who knows the truth is talking to a person about the grace of God and how to
become a believer they will frequently ask that person how he expects to get
into heaven. The answer that is most
given is “I am a good person, and I believe that my good works have been
greater than my bad ones. Wrong
answer! The correct answer is that I was
born a sinner and for that reason I sin.
I cannot do anything on my own to be able to enter the Kingdom of
God. I know that Jesus came to earth to
take my sins upon Him as He was dying on the cross, and therefore He will
exchange my sins for His righteousness if I accept what He has done for me. John MacArthur quotes Charles Spurgeon who
said “You and your sins must separate or you and your God will never come
together. No one sin may you keep; they
must all be given up, they must be brought out like Canaanite kings from the
cave and be hanged up on the sun.”
MacArthur
concludes: “From here through the rest
of the sermon (vv. 13-27) Jesus repeatedly points out two things: the necessity of choosing whether to follow
God or not, and the fact that the choices are two and only two. There are two gates, the narrow and the wide;
two ways, the narrow and the broad; two destinations, life and destruction; two
groups, the few and the many; two kinds of trees, the good and the bad, which
prodice two kinds of gruit, the good and the bad; two kinds of people who profess
faith in Jesus Christ, the sincere and the false; two kinds of builders, the
wise and the foolish; two foundations, the rock and the sand; and two houses,
the secure and the insecure. In all
preaching there must be the demand for a verdict. Jesus makes the choice crystal clear.
“In
verses 13-14 Jesus deals with the first four of those contrasts: the two gates, the two ways, the two
destinations, and the two groups.”
2/1/2021 11:39 AM
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