The Scriptures make it quite clear that all people will end up in one of two places and/or states for all eternity. The very fact that one of those places is a place where there is an endless and unmitigated torment should give people some pause to think about where they will spend eternity. But even more, when the Scriptures speak of how many people will be deceived and how few will enter into eternity, one would think that the major issue of life would be given to the search after truth and God. Then again, we are told that there are two roads that people are on. One is a broad road and the other is a narrow road. These two roads do not describe the condition of all the people in the world, but all those who think that they are on the road to heaven. There are also two corresponding gates that people enter and one of those is broad and one of those is narrow. Oh how this should wake the sleeping religious people awake!
Matthew 7:13 “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.
The words of Jesus do not say that nice people are on the narrow way and are the few that will find their way to life. He did not tell the people that the greatest evangelists would be among those on the narrow way. He did not say that the best people and the most religious people would be on the narrow path and so enter into eternity. We must recall that among His listeners were some very religious and very moral people, and in the broader scope of His ministry Jesus spoke very sternly to and about them (the scribes and the Pharisees). What is it about the human soul that makes it think that the hard things of Scripture are always about other people?
This text of Scripture should burn its way into our hearts and faithful men of God (preachers and teachers) should burn this text into the souls of others. There are many who will enter through the wide gate and there are few who will find the narrow gate, yet only the narrow gate is the gate to life. Instead of these brutal and pointed words about reality, in our day men tickle the ears of people and do the devil’s work of getting them to pray the so-called sinner’s prayer or to walk an aisle. The religious way today is to make things easy for people and to be sweet and winsome in order not to run them off, but all that does is run off those who are under conviction and help deceive others who are on the broad road. It is to set up a broad gate for people who think they are on the road to heaven and instead are on the road that leads to eternal damnation.
Perhaps the real problem is that there are a vast number of ministers who are not convinced beyond the shallows of the brain that there is an eternity where people will spend and that there is indeed a narrow and a broad gate and road. The devil has quite an easy way today in deceiving people as he has so many happy and willing helpers. They can range from the well-dressed ministers on television to the silky tongue ministers at the local level. These men are not just the ignorant man from the woods somewhere, these are men who are heads of denominations and perhaps highly thought of. We have become too civil, too winsome, and too concerned for our positions to preach a devil’s hell and the fact that the churches may be filled with unconverted people. We have ministers and chaplains who think it is their job to comfort people and make them feel good rather than to awaken them to the reality that the flames of hell are licking at their feet.
We have many in the ministry who will preach long and involved expositional sermons, yet those are without any warnings of eternity and any real teaching of Christ and His Gospel. We have many programs that focus on all sorts of degrees, but where are classed on how to help people be awakened to their lost and damnable condition? We have men who will teach lengthy classes in schools and churches on all sorts of subjects, but nothing is brought to bear upon the conscience of the people that they are teaching. It is far easier to teach about things than it is to bring the Word of God to bear upon the consciences of the people.
It is also far easier to get a people educated about the doctrines of the Church than it is to get them awakened to their lost condition. It is far easier to get people to see the truth of justification by faith alone than it is to get them to see just how lost they are and how impossible it is for them to obtain faith in their own strength. So we go on in our day reading and teaching the words of Jesus about the wide and the narrow gate and path and in reality we are ignoring those solemn and searching words. The Church as a whole is guilty of giving potions to people that helps them doze as they continue on the wide road to eternal damnation. Shall we pray (er, sleep)? It is too easy to say words that we may think of as prayer as we lull ourselves to sleep while ourselves and others are on the wide road.
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