Matthew 7:13 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 7:13

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(Synoptics: Matthew 7:13-14) From here to the end of the sermon Christ urges his hearers to make sure of their place in the kingdom of heaven. In context, this illustration was applied to the Jews. Even the first words would have been surprising – ‘enter in’ – for the need to enter in was not part of the thinking of a Jewish man or woman. Were they not already under God’s favour? What more did they need? They were faced with two gates, two paths. One was the path of nominalism, continuing to believe they had standing before God because they were descended from Abraham and kept the outward requirements of the law. The other path starts with a realisation that external obedience is not enough, that God looks on the heart, that each one needs a personal relationship with God, that there is another kingdom, a spiritual kingdom which must be individually entered by the new birth. It begins with conviction of sin, a realisation of being lost, and it leads to repentance and trust in Christ for salvation. People will always try to enter by a false way. Both ways claim to lead into the kingdom, but there is a false way, a false entrance, and false teachers. We tend to slightly misuse this passage for evangelism. In our day we make it a choice between faith and unbelief, between serving this world and serving Christ. We validly understand it this way, because we are in a different society and often today the broad way is represented by materialism and atheism. But there are still some societies in which the broad way is a religious way, and the Christian faith is nothing more than nominalism. The broad way leads to destruction. It is easy to get on it; it is the highway you are on automatically without thinking about it. When we say, ‘I want pleasure, lust, riches’, these are the things that men and women naturally want. Many live as if they were higher animals, just here by chance, an accident of evolution.Christ is pointing out the tremendous diversity between the only two lifestyles open to us. We say, that is to over simply the situation, but he reduces all to just two. These two gates lead to different paths, and go in different directions, and lead to different destinations. The broad way includes all man-made religions, all human philosophies, all ways of life opposed to God.

Application

The broad road is easy to get onto. Nobody is required to give anything up to get onto this way; it has signs on the gate which welcomes all. It is also a way that holds out the promise of many pleasures in life, in fact all that anyone could want.

Are you inside or outside, a true Christian or a deluded person? It is possible to worship, loosely believe, and have no hold on God, to be a hypocrite who has never entered in. The kindest thing that can be done is to throw you down into a state of anxiety about your eternal future. It is terrible to be deceived and deluded, to have no communion with God, no hope for eternity.

People say, ‘So what? It has nothing to do with me’, but why be indifferent about the biggest things? Time is going by; this life is a journey. A few years ago you were a child; now you have a much more fixed views about life. You are drawing nearer to that day of account. Every day is one more that is deeply entrenched in either a life that leads to hell, or in one that gives more and more evidence of the truth of God. Some regular churchgoers may enjoy the message, but don’t seem to fear the consequences of living and dying without God. They go to worship services month after month but never truly engage with the Lord. You have picked the most important area of life to exercise your indifference.

Many see a very wide gate and prefer it. They say, ‘I hear some who make the way seem so narrow – give up so much. But I have heard another message – I can keep some of my habits, my self-determination. I can do what I want in the broad area of life.’ The broad gate is back in another form today. You don’t have to give up your rock music and your worldly lifestyle. You can carry on with these things and still have Christ as your Saviour. This may lead to a broad meadow but it is skirting round the kingdom of heaven.

It must not trouble us that in becoming Christ’s disciples, we are in the minority. We do not determine the truth by a vote; we do not get to heaven by following the crowd. ‘How can the way which so many others choose be wrong? All my companions are here, those with whom I share the same beliefs and attitudes to life. These are the ones I turn to when I am in trouble, and these understand the way I think and have the same values.’ If you go with the majority and if you only feel comfortable going with the crowd you can never follow Christ. The world is in rebellion against God. If you learn truth from what the majority believe, you will never get to heaven, says the Lord. Why should I take another step along this road when every step brings me closer to a place I cannot possibly wish to go? If I seriously faced up to this, I would stop and say, there is no profit in my life. Is there a better way? How can I get on it?

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Matthew 7:13 Commentary and Bible Study