If you'd like to follow along,
we're gonna be in Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven. Gonna read two verses. Verses
13 and 14. Matthew seven, verse 14. Enter
ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it. I'm gonna give you three points
today. Maybe six, but three. Well, it's because of this. This
is my title, Paul. Two Gates, Two Ways, and Two
Ends. That's my title. It should be
a very familiar passage of scripture because these are the words of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. And what he
is speaking of here is the entry, the way, and the end results
of the entries and the ways. And he's speaking of the way
of destruction and the way of everlasting life. That's the
end. Or if you prefer, the destination.
And here's the thing. Very clearly, by the words of
Christ, these are exact opposites. They're exact opposites. I'm
not going to keep you too long. But I wanna start with two gates. First of all, the wide gate.
The funny thing about this, no one is told to enter at the wide
gate. You wanna know why? No one has
to be. No one has to be told to enter
the wide gate. He starts off this passage, enter
ye in at the straight gate. And then he tells us about the
wide gate. Because here's the thing about the wide gate, it's
easy. It's, and here's a word, it's
natural. It's natural, oh my. No one has
to be told to enter that wide gate. My dad used to have this
saying, and in a lot of ways it's true. Nothing easy is worthwhile. But here's the thing, the wide
gate is easy. It's wide. It'll allow anyone
to pass through. I mean, you've actually, we've actually read both verses
to you, so you know it's not true here. The white gate's not
good. It's not good. And the truth
of God, here's the point, the truth of God is not natural. to the natural man. Because here's the thing you
might want to ponder. If your entry into religion was
easy, you might want to make your calling an election sure. And that's just the fact of it,
folks. That's the wide gate. Now the straight gate. And I
looked it up. actually literally translates
as narrow, narrow gate. You've got wide and you've got
straight. And that's the two differences
there. But here's the thing, at the very beginning of the
verse 13, enter ye in at the straight gate. We are told to
enter in at the straight gate. And more than that, actually
if you wanna know the truth of it, these are the words of Christ,
we are commanded to enter in at the straight gate. Enter ye
in at the straight gate. The straight gate. Well, John 10 and nine, Christ
said this. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The entrance to the straight
gate is the same as the entrance to the door. It's by him. It's by him. It's not by you.
Although you'll do it. It's by him. Why? Because he
does it. He does it. Excuse me. He is the door of the sheep.
He is the only entrance into the straight gate. And it's by
him that we enter in. By him. Oh my. Because I'm gonna tell you something. The sons of God, the daughters
of God, are only those who have been born of God. Those who have been born from
above. This is the point. You have to be born from above
to see the kingdom of God. You have to be born of the water
and the spirit to what? Enter. And that's what this is
saying. Enter ye in. You're not gonna
enter in by yourself. You're gonna enter in by him
or you're not gonna enter in. And that's the truth of it. Jesus
Christ is the straight gate. He is the door of the sheep. He is the entrance, the entrance. Oh my. And here's the facts,
folks. There is a wide gate and there
is a straight gate. Now these two different gates
are the entrances to two different ways. First way to consider is
the broad way. Guess what? The broad way is
the easy way. It's nice, and it's wide at the
gate, and it's wide on through. It's a broad way. I'm gonna tell
you what. It's an easy gate to enter, and
it's an easy way to travel. To travel. Because that's what
the I'm going to call it not an allegory,
but that's what the example is here. Where it says it's a Broadway,
you look at the meaning of that, it says it's a road. It's not
a track. It's not a cart track. It's not
a trail. It's a wide road. Oh my, it's
a wide road. I'm going to tell you something.
It's like a big four-lane highway, big multi-lane highway going
that way. and it's easy to get on, and
it's easy to travel, and you can only go in one direction.
You have to go with the flow of traffic. You're not gonna
be able to turn around. Mm-mm, no. And like I said, the
Broadway's fast. It's easy to get swept up and
pushed down the road. And I'm gonna tell you something,
folks. Our Lord Jesus Christ is talking about religion here. This broad way is religion. Because he's talking about the
end of it. Get to that. That's the way this is. Understand? It's a wide gate. It's a broad
way. I'm going to tell you something,
folks. There's plenty of room for everybody on it. And it doesn't matter your religion.
There's room for Buddhists on there. There's room for Baptists.
There's room for Methodists, there's room for Episcopals.
There's room for the Church of Christ, as they call it, Campbellite,
as Earl used to call it. There's room for the Campbellites,
and there's room for the Mormons. It's wide. It's broad. And it's, again, natural. Natural. And here's the thing. that way
seems right to a man. Proverbs 14 and 12 put it this
way. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Oh, I'm gonna tell you something,
folks. I used to be on that broad road. Didn't care. wasn't paying that close attention.
But you understand, I knew people who were on that road and maybe
still are, I don't know. But they were very, very happy
going that way in the Broadway. It's easy. It's natural. It seems
right. Because here's the thing. Walter,
this has got to be right. Everybody's going this way. Free will's gotta be right, because
everybody preaches it. Or the vast majority do. There
are a few who don't. It seems natural, seemeth right
to a man. But the ends thereof are the
ways of death. The second way is the narrow
way. It's a straight gate and a narrow way. Listen folks, the
narrow way is not the easy way. Because I'm gonna tell you something,
looking back on it now, the narrow way seems to contradict what
I used to think. No, actually, the narrow way
does contradict what I used to think. The narrow way is the way, the
true way. You know how Paul says people
preach another gospel, which is not another, but that don't
stop them from preaching it. You understand? I was listening
to Earl on the way up here on Isaiah 53, and he was talking
about, he was talking about liars, and he's named by hadn't thought
of for a long time, Jimmy Swaggart, Reverend Ike of all people. Now
some of you people may not remember Reverend Ike, but I do. Reverend Ike was a prosperity
gospel before they called it the prosperity gospel. He had
four Cadillacs. And Earl said the reason he's
got four Cadillacs is you said in your money and you don't have
no Cadillac. But he's got four. I'm saying
something, that's part of the broad way. That's part of the
broad way. The natural man does not understand
the narrow way. I'm gonna tell you something
because the only people who can understand the narrow way or
see the narrow way or beyond the narrow way are those that
have entered by Christ through that straight gate. No one else
can, no one else can. Oh, only those who came through
the straight gate follow the narrow way. And Jesus Christ said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. The narrow way is Jesus Christ. The straight gate is Jesus Christ. And you don't enter but by him,
you don't continue on the narrow way except by him. John 10 and verse 27 put it this
way. He said this, Christ said this,
my sheep hear my voice. Oh, I love this part. And I know
them. I know them. He knows us. And because I know them and they
hear my voice, they follow me. He's the way. He's the way. This is the narrow way. He's
the narrow way. And now there are two different
ways, two different gates. And guess what, folks? There's
two different destinations. The first end, I will call this,
is destruction. Because that's the way it says
it in the scripture here. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate and broad is the way, what? That leadeth
to destruction. And many there be which go in
thereat. Oh my. The wide gate with the
broad way leads to destruction. Now, if you look at that word,
tells you the end of this wide and broad way. Word means to
perish, to die. It actually means also perdition,
perdition. That's pretty good. Actually,
it's pretty bad, but it's pretty true. What did it say? There's
a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death. That's what it says in Proverbs,
two different places. Mm, my. That's the destruction written
of here, spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ. The end hereof is death. Death. To perish, to die. to perdition, to perdition. Oh my. And this gate, this way,
seemed right to a man. Oh my. And it seems right to
a man, here's the thing, unto destruction. I remember years
and years ago, Henry Mahan preached a message on false faith and
true faith. You know one of the things that
scared me that he said in that message? He said, false faith
can persevere. Do you ever think about that?
Not the same way as the perseverance of the saints. But false faith
can persevere. Christ said, he told them some
that are gonna come see him after it's over. And he's gonna look,
they're gonna look at him and say, Lord, haven't we done many
wonderful things? We cast out devils in your name. We perform miracles in your name. And Jesus Christ looks at him
and says, he doesn't tell them, no you didn't, you lying things.
Maybe they did. He said, depart from me ye that
what? Work iniquity. Work iniquity,
not just work, work iniquity. What? Using the name of Jesus
is iniquity? Yes, it is for a lot of preachers,
because they're lying about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's iniquity. And then he says, I never knew
you. And those are the four most terrible
words you don't ever want to hear come from our Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, I never knew you. Their false face persevered. This is the broad road unto destruction. If they knew there was destruction
at the end, they wouldn't go that way. But here's the thing. Without the revelation of Jesus
Christ, none of us knew. None of us knew. The Wide Gate
and the Broadway, I'm gonna tell you something, I mentioned it
earlier, denominations don't count, whether it's Baptist,
Methodist, Mormon, et cetera, whatever, right? Because I'll
tell you this, the Broadway is truly ecumenical. I like that word in this context. It don't matter, because you're
on the Broadway, and that's where you're going. whether you know
it or not. And it says, actually the wide
gate and the broad way are truly an ecumenical destruction. Revelations 20 verse 14 says
this, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. What's
it say? This is the second death, right? What's the next verse? And whosoever
was not found written in the book of life. was cast into the
lake of fire. Let me tell you something folks,
there is an end to the broad way and it's destruction, it's
death, it's perdition. That's the end of the broad way
and many there be that go that way. Oh my. Now the second end of
the straight gate and the narrow way is this, life. I like that. You understand? The opposite of destruction is
life. Is life. Oh, that's good. That's
good. And let me tell you a secret. Well, it's not a secret. It's
just most people don't know it. The only source of life is our
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
The life, the life. Oh, I like that, I do. Oh my,
he told us this in his own words. He said, I am the life. We say,
I am the bread of life. I am the resurrection and the
life. Oh, that's good too. I'll tell
you something. What? He's a resurrection and he gives
life. Who? to those dead in trespasses
and in sins. Here's the thing, folks. Every
one of us was on the Broadway at one time. Every one of us didn't know Christ
at one time. Saul of Tarsus was consenting
unto the death of Stephen. He held the cloaks while they
went to stone him. Oh, my. I never did anything that bad.
Yes, I did. Yes, I did. There's no such thing
as a good sin or a not so bad sin. When you're on the Broadway,
you're headed for destruction. And I'm gonna tell you something,
the only thing that can halt that way to destruction that
you are on, you were on, is for Jesus Christ, what? bringing
in many sons unto glory. He's the straight gate. And what'd
he say? You didn't choose me. I chose
you. And that's the truth, whether
those on the Broadway realize it or not. There's only one way
off the Broadway, and that's the straight gate and the narrow
way. My Because straight is the gate
and narrows away which leadeth unto what life life And what
here it is folks few there be That find it It's there But we
won't choose him You didn't choose me You understand, Walter pointed
this out one day when he was mentioning this from the pulpit,
and it just kind of struck me and it stuck there, which is
a good thing, because here it is. He doesn't say, you didn't
choose me until I chose you. That's the way a lot of people
want to put it. No, no, no. He said, you didn't choose me.
Period. But I chose you. Oh, I like that. I like that. He gives life, he's
the resurrection and the life. And he gives life to those who
are dead in trespasses and in sins, but on the broad way. John 10, 28, and he says, and
I give unto them what? Eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Oh, I like that. You understand, that's what eternal
life means. If he gives you eternal life, you shall never perish. What? No destruction. No death. No perdition. Oh, I like that. I like that. Never perish. Well, perpetual
life, Paul. Perpetual life. And here's the
thing, he has the power. This one who is the gate, he's
the door, he's the way, the truth, and the life, this one has the
power to give eternal life. He was speaking to the father
in John 17 verse two. He says this, as thou hast given
him power over all flesh. What? Those on the broad way
and those on the narrow way. He has power over all flesh.
That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
him. You didn't choose me, I chose
you. Oh, I like that. I like that. He is the straight
gate. He is the narrow way. And he
is life. Life. And I tell folks, to some,
You gotta emphasize that, it's in there. Few there be that find
it. And the only way you're gonna
find it is if he brings you. He brings in many sons of the
glory. He goes out, he picks up his lost sheep. It was already
his sheep before he started looking for it. It's his sheep. And he
picks it up and he puts it on his shoulder and he carries it
back where? with his other sheep, takes them
home, puts them in the flock. And you know what? There's rejoicing
in heaven when that happens. Oh my, that's something else.
I'm gonna tell you something, that few there be that find it
are as many as the Father gave to him. That's who it is. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
life and he gives eternal life. I'll say, he gives life, and
that life is eternal. That's why sometimes, you know,
when you're talking about the broad way and the narrow way,
well, the broad way has an end. The narrow way has a destination,
and that destination is to be with Christ. Oh, I like that,
I like that. Eternal life. This is life eternal,
that they know what? You, God, the Father, and Jesus
Christ, whom he sent. Oh, I like that. There's no end
to that destination. John 6, 44 says this. No man,
and here it is again, no man can come to me, except the Father
which hath sent me draw him, and I, Oh, I like this. It ain't you, folks. And I, Jesus
Christ said this, and I will raise him up at the last day. Of his kingdom, there is no end.
Of his people, those in Christ, there is no end. There's a destination. We're gonna be with him. We're
gonna see him as he is. We're going to see not through
a glass darkly or like this. We're going to see him face to
face. We're going to see him as he is. And we're going to
be astounded by the first part of what we knew and the part
that we don't know. Because you understand there's
so much we don't know about him. Oh my. He said, I will bring in many
sons unto glory. And he brings them in through
the straight gate, by the narrow way, unto life, unto life. Oh, I love that destination.
I think that's the greatest destination there is. But let's be clear. There's only two gates, two ways,
and two ends. Two destinations. There's only
the gate of Jesus Christ, the way, who is Christ Jesus, and
the destination, eternal life in Christ Jesus. And the wide
gate, the broad way, and the destination of that is death
and destruction. There is only in Christ or without
Christ. That's two. In Christ or without
Christ. Believers or unbelievers lost
or found Eternal life or eternal death
That's all there is polar opposites total opposites So my question today is this
With whom? Do you want to spend eternity? These are the opposites proclaimed
here by the Lord Jesus Christ. Wide or straight gate, broad
or narrow way, destruction or life. It's not, let's be clear, it's
not what's the difference between the two opposites, it's who is
the difference between the two opposites. You understand there
are people who would fight you, I'd rather fight you than believe
this Christ who did make the choice. Who does make the choice. Who brings about his choice. Oh my. They'll fight you over
being plucked out of his hand. People are crazy. I used to be
that way. I'd argue at a drop of a hat. Ain't no sense arguing about
Jesus Christ. Just say the truth. Let the devil take the lie. Preach
the truth and leave the lying to other folks. Because that's the question.
Who maketh thee to differ? And if it's not Christ, it's
yourself. It's yourself. And if it's yourself,
you're still on the broad way. You're on the broad way. Jesus
Christ saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. But he didn't stop there. He
said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Now you want the deeper meaning
of that? I'll give it to you. The deep,
oh my, yeah, deep theological meaning of that. No man comes
to the Father but by Jesus Christ. That's it. That's the deeper
meaning. No man comes to the Father but
by him. He didn't say through me. He
said by me. There's lots of people saying,
oh, you know, Jesus made salvation possible. Then they changed it. Jesus has made salvation available. And there was a third one, but
I can't think of it right now. But no, Jesus Christ saved his
people from their sin. Call his name Jesus. Why? For
he shall save his people from their sins. And he did. And he is, and he shall. I'm gonna tell you something,
folks. The end of the straight gate, the narrow way, is eternal
life in Christ Jesus. Oh, I like that. See, here it
is. We enter the straight gate by
him. We walk the narrow way by him
and in him. And He gives us eternal life,
which is in Him. And if that's who you want, the
just God and the Savior, the one who paid the price that we
could pay, the one who gives to us what we couldn't get on
our own. Oh my, come to Him. Come to Him. His arm is not short, but it
cannot save. Come to Christ. This Christ. The Christ. Because here it is. Do you want to be with Him? Do you want to be in Him? I hope you do, because he's the
gate, he's the way, and he's the life. Oh, I like that. And no man comes to the Father
but by him. William Gadsby wrote a song. Jesus is the way to God. Jesus is the way to bliss in
This way the church has trod down from Adam's day to this
Jesus is the living way all beside to ruin lead They are safe and
only they who are one in Christ their head He's he's the game He's the way,
and he's the life. There is no other. But folks, there are two gates,
there are two ways, and there are two destinations. And that's the truth of it. Where
are you? And where do you want to be? Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this. Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom you
sent to us, you sent for us, and you put us in him. Lord, thank you. For without him, we're lost. In him, we are saved. Oh Lord, help us to lay hold
of him. We know he has a hold of us,
but help us to lay a hold of him and rejoice in the salvation
you have given. Rejoice in the son that was given,
the child that was born, but Lord, the son that was given.
Give us this day, thankfulness for thee. In Christ's name we
pray, amen.