This is the last section of the Sermon on the Mount. Aaron Thompson preached on this passage last week at the Mill Run Campus, and for those of you who missed it, please listen to it here.
His sermon was rich and deep, and you will be blessed and challenged by this message. Listen here.
For today's Bible Blast, let's look closely at verses 13-14:
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
I've always read this to be very negative: watch out, there's only one way to salvation, and if you miss it, you're out of luck. It's narrow and tricky and hard to find this gate, and once you find it, you better not veer off the path, or you will be doomed.
But is that what Jesus is saying here? Yes, the way to salvation is through the narrow gate. It's not through the 'self-fulfillment,' it's all about your happiness, do what feels good - it's not that kind of gate. It's narrow, yes, and you have to give up your right to be in control, but oh my, when you find that gate, and when you enter - what joy awaits.
Perhaps the gate is narrow because I have to go in by myself. It's my decision to give my life to Jesus. I can't just go to church, go with the flow, follow the rules. I need to enter through the narrow gate, and when I give my life to Jesus, what does he do? He gives me eternal life. Psalm 18:19 says it well:
He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
Yes, the gate is narrow, but the 'spacious place' of life with Jesus is a life of forgiveness and joy.
A note of caution: once we enter through the narrow gate, once we give our life to Jesus, then we're set, right? No more problems? No, my friend, no. We will veer off the path - sometimes daily - and we'll need to set our sights on Jesus again and again. But he welcomes us back, freely, and his grace abounds.
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