WHAT IS THE WIDE ROAD AND ITS RULERS?

WHAT IS THE WIDE GATE / ROAD AND ITS  RULERS?

What is the wide gate /road and its rulers?

                

  Mathew 7:13 -14

  John 10 :7 -9

Wide gate is a term used by Jesus to describe" the .way to hell"

Gate represents enterance to the ::-

        1, to the wall of the city

        2,  A place , At own

        3,  temple and a prison etc.

Hell is also having a gate.

In the passage we read today,the word , the wide and broad, the small gate and narrow road will be exam examined ined to:

Know what they stand for and how to move on the right road to avoid hell (praise God).

                      DISCUSSION

A,   WHAT IS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF             WIDE GATE?

1,  Matthew 7:13-14 ::-  wide gate and broad road that leads to destruction( it is easy to walk on it)

       

 Why Are The Road Leading To                      Destruction?

Because the gate and road that leads to eternal life are small and narrow.

John 10 : 7-9 says ::- Jesus is the narrow road and gate , anyone that comes that comes through the narrow road and gate will be saved.

Because jesus is the gate to God's salvation to us.

In contrast::- the wide gate and broad road leads to destruction

Luke 13 :24 is saying , " Do your best to go through the narrow door.

Doing our best means bearing fruits in Jesus Christ. We are suppose to know that we cannot be able to go through the narrow way on our own we need that grace ( salvation) that was released by Jesus Christ.

The height of our spiritual level ,its not because of our work(it was an undeserved thing)

So if we must see somebody on the wide road ,pray not to point finger at him. We must be able to balance Paul's(Grace ) and peter (works) sermons.

2,   Matthew 5 21 -26 ::- those that take part in sin are candidates of the wide gate and road.

               Why is that so?

Jesus said, if you are taking part in these (murder ,Anger , insult , etc)

That you are at risk of going to hell.

You are plying on the broad way, and herding toward the wide gate.

1 john 3 : 15bsays ::- whoever hates his brother, sister etc is a murderer, and murderers have no eternal life ( if we know,we are moving on high way let's check and address our condition)

John talks about talks about Jesus' teachings on hate and anger(Matthew 5:21-23).

Murder is a great sin but but Anger is a great sin too, Anger keeps us from developing a spirit pleasing to God .

Proverbs 25 :8-10 ::- further study on the topic of murder and hate, sexual immorality(we are asked to flee it) covetousness (idoplatary), insult (curse).

3,   Romans 8 :13 ::- those that live by the        flesh are on the wide road 

The question then is ,

 HOW ARE WE LIVING BY THE FLESH?

Galatians 6:8 ::- "if we sow in the field of our fleshy desires ,we will reap Death.

        taking part in the things that are                  sinful e.g womanizing ,drunkenness ,     theft etc

       .Reaping what we sow is a natural                phenomenon

We can't sow corn and reap water melon,it is not right .

When we sow gossip ,we will reap lack of friendship

If we live to please our selfish desires , we will reap sorrow and evil.

And if we live to please God , we will harvest joy and everlasting g life

What kind of seed are you sowing?

B,   WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE EXPRESSION " THE NARROW GATE"?

1,  Acts 4 :12 ::- the narrow gate is the name of jesus.

                      Why?

Because salvation is found in no name but the name of Jesus.

There's no name to call,for deliverance but his name.

John 14: 6 says " I am the way, the truth and life , no one comes to the father except through me .

Jesus says he is the only way to the father

Some say the way is too narrow , in reality, it is not , the only thing is to  accept  it and is all for a start.

Jesus is our path to the father

2.  Luke 13 :24 ::- the narrow gate is the gate we are to make effort to enter.

Finding salvation requires concentrated effort.

Obviously we cannot save ourselves .

There's no way we can work our salvation through good work.

HOW THEN ARE WE GOING TO PUT EFFORT TO ENTER?

The efforts we are to give are :-

    1, Earnestly desire to know God

    2,  Deli gently follow Jesus ,whatever               the cost,

Let us not delay efforts , because the chance will not last forever.

3,  John 10:9  ::- the narrow gate is Jesus

Jesus himself said , I am the gate (narrow gate) ,whoever enters through me will be saved.

Jesus is the gate to Gods salvation to us

He offers access ,safety and security

Some people are not happy, that Jesus is Gate to access God

                     WHY ARE THEY NOT HAPPY?

Because they feel it is too hard to pass through the narrow door or gate.

Is it hard? No,cause Jesus had done everything alrwady on the cross

C,   WHY IS THE ROAD TO HELL WIDE?

1,   Ezekiel 18:23 ::-Because they live the way they want.

HOW DO WE LIVE THE WAY WE WANT?

.the bible refers to doing what we want as wickedness (sin)

.God never takes pleasure in the death of wicked people

.But he also diseases perfect justice especially when we die in our sin.

.His perfect love causes him to be merciful

Only to those that recognize their sin and turn back to him .

PSALMS 147 :11

" But he takes pleasure in those who hon our him, in those who trust in his constant love."

2,   2 Timothy 4:3-4 ::- Because people will not listen to sound doctrines but will follow their own desires.

      What are sounds doctrines?

Sound means healthy to our physical, spiritual life.

Doctrines means teachings or belief that are taught  by the church gotten from the bible (marriage ,life , faith , God , judgment ,eternity).

They are teachings that are pulled from the word of God .

The people that will not put up with sound do trines are on the wide road.

The people that gather  around teachers that will tell them what they want to hear.

Those that turn away their ears from the truth to myth.

We are to be careful ,false teachings  can be found in many churches today.

    Let our desire s be for the unadulterated wrd of God.

3,   john 1:12 ::- those that did not believe they are on the wide road.

The road is wide because they did not believe.

             To believe means what? 

It means welcoming Jesus as our personal lord and Saviour, we are born of the spirit or reborn spirit wise a n receive life from God.

Through faith in God , this new  birth  changes us inside out .

Rearranging our(1) Character - attitutes

                             (2) Desires -wants                                                            ,needs 

                             (3)Motives -thinking

Have we ask Jesus to make a new person out in us? Or we have are just tagging along as Christians .

                        CONCLUSION

Gate in the natural ,are something we enter through .

It is also like that in the spiritual .

Everybody has gate to his spirit, soul and body

Let's check we are allowing into them.

Accept Jesus and do his will is choosing the right  and narrow road

While rejecting him and his will ,then doing our own will is choosing the wide gate .I pray that God will help us to do the right thing in Jesus name.(Amen)

Further study ::- Deuteronomy 30:19