Two Groups (Matt. 7:13-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/9/2021 10:44 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  “Two Groups”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 7:13-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (NLT). 

 

            Now as people are going into the two gates, traveling down the two ways, and then heading for the two destinations we find two groups of people.  Who are these two groups?  Those who go through the wide gate as they travel the way that is broad toward the destination of destruction, and according to Jesus there will be many who take this route.  The many will include pagans along with nominal Christians, atheists and religionists, there will also be theists and humanists, there will be Jews along with Gentiles also every person from every age, background, persuasion, and also circumstances who has not come to the saving obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            As we look further into Matthew’s gospel we will see that in the day of judgment many of those we just mentioned will claim to be followers of Christ, however “many will desire to enter and will not be able” as Jesus warns, “Once the head of the house gets up and suts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’  Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’, and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers’ (Luke 13:24-27).  “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matt. 7:22-23).  Now these particular ones that Jesus is addressing here who are excluded will not be those that we wrote about in the highlighted part of the first paragraph but these are nominal Christians who professed to know and to trust Christ but who refused to come to Him on His terms, that is through His gate and by His way.

 

            Now we want to talk about those who went through the narrow gate, and the narrow way, as that group is destined for life, but are according to Jesus are “few in number.”  Luke 12:32 states “"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”  MacArthur writes “The word He used for ‘little’ was mikros from which we get our prefix micro, meaning something small.  ‘Many are called, but few are chosen,’ He says in another place (Matt. 22:14).”

 

            I suppose a good question to ask is “Why are there few in number to go through the narrow gate or too small to accommodate more?  Even though the gate is narrow there is limit to the number who could go through that gate, if they go through in God’s way, in repentance for their sins and in trust in Jesus Christ to same them as that is the most important thing in every person’s life.  In John 3:36 we read the following which is quoted from John the Baptist:  “"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.’”  John is saying there are only two kinds of people in this world, those who are saved, and those who are lost.  We can’t say that the number is so small because there is not enough room in heaven to accommodate more either.  The Bible teaches that God’s grace is boundless, and heaven’s dwellings are limitless.  Some may think that the number is so small because God desires that most people perish.  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

 

            MacArthur writes “A letter written to a Melbourne, Australia, daily newspaper expresses clearly the attitude of a person on the broad road to destruction:”

 

“After hearing Dr. Bill Graham on the air, viewing him on television and reading reports and letters concerning him and his mission, I am heartily sick of the type of religion that insists my soul (and everyone else’s) needs saving—whatever that means.  I have never felt that I was lost.  Nor do I feel that I daily wallow in the mire of sin, although repetitive preaching insists that I do.

      “Give me a practical religion that teaches gentleness and tolerance, that acknowledges no barriers of color or creed, that remembers the aged and teaches children of goodness and not sin.

      “In order to save my soul I must accept such a philosophy as I have recently heard preached, I prefer to remain forever damned.”

 

            MacArthur concludes “Every person who will come to Jesus Christ can come to Jesus Christ.  ‘All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out,’ Jesus assures us.  ‘For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day’ (John 6:37, 40).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is nothing better in my life than to realize that Jesus Christ saved me on the 26^th of January of 1974.  Knowing this makes everything else better.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to continue to pray for revival, as this has to be something that is a work of the Holy Spirit in a similar way that He works in the lives of people to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

 

2/9/2021 11:27 AM