Which Road Are You On?
- Scriptures: Matthew 7:13-14; Proverbs 16:25
- “An Easier Way?”
Transcript
Kerry Duke: Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you’ve learned with others.
As long as there have been people, there have been roads. Even before asphalt, there were dirt trails and then gravel roads. And some ancient Roman roads can still be seen to this day. They’re a very important part of life. What on earth would we do without highways? We depend on them to get to work, to go to the store, to the school, to church, to the doctor, and any other place that we want to go.
Today there are so many roads that it gets confusing and we have to have computers to tell us how to get there. Life is a road. It’s leading somewhere. I wonder if people think about this. With each moment that passes, we’re moving farther down that road. We’re getting closer to the end. Even Christians need to think about this.
The Bible says that it’s high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. That’s Romans 13, verse 11. Life is a short trip. As a matter of fact, it’s briefer than an afternoon drive. James chapter 4 verse 14 says, “What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”
But unlike the maze of roads that we drive on, the choice of roads in life is simple. There are only two. Now these roads are very different. The road is different. The people are different. The place that they’re leading to is very different. When you see all the traffic on the roads today, think about life itself.
People are going somewhere. Some are in a hurry, just like they are on the highways. Some take their time. But every accountable person is on one of these two roads. And unlike some roads, these roads are clearly marked. They’re very different. They’re as different as a four-lane interstate is from a one lane bridge.
And Jesus talks about these two roads in Matthew chapter 7. In the King James version of Matthew 7, beginning in verse 13, Jesus said, “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.”
The New King James Version in Matthew chapter 7 says, “Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way, which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Now, in the first place, Jesus talks about the broad road, the way of the world. The entrance to that road is through a gate. This one is very wide. He says this gate is wide open. There’s plenty of room. There’s no waiting line. You take as many as you want to with you. You can take your friends, your family, and just step in. Now this is what it’s like to enter the road to destruction.
It’s quick and easy to get on. Just follow the crowd. It looks inviting. It looks exciting. Some people are drawn to what we would call a buzz or a movement, action or a stir. People are drawn to crowds. This is where people are most of the time. They see other people gathered around and they don’t even know what they’re there for, but it gets their attention.
And this is the lure of the world. So many people seem to enjoy it, and it can have a pull on you. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 2, verses 15 through 17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
And Christians are going to be tempted to get back on this road. In Matthew chapter 13, verse 22 Jesus said that some are “choked with the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.” That happened to Demas, who had been a faithful worker with the apostle Paul. He was a faithful man of God for a time, but in second Timothy chapter four, verse 10, Paul said toward the end of his life that Demas had “forsaken him, having loved this present world.”
Demas, a fellow worker with the Apostle Paul, who had been a faithful servant of God, saw all the people on this broad road, and he saw the gate wide open, and he went right [into it. This road is broad. It’s a broad way of life. It’s a broad road for broad-minded people. And people do just about anything and everything on this road.
They believe just about in anything or everything. Some people on it believe in God, but they don’t obey him. Other people believe in different kinds of gods. Some people believe in no god, but they’re all on this broad road. There are people of different religions on this road. Some are Jews. Some are Muslims. Some are Hindus. Some are Buddhists. There are all kinds of different beliefs. Some people are evolutionists. Some people are atheists. Some people are hypocrites. Some people are false prophets or follow false prophets. Other people are idolaters. Some are in witchcraft and sorcery and all kinds of superstition.
There are also many different kinds of styles of life on this road. There are lazy people on this road. There are greedy people on this road. There are liars, thieves, adulterers, drunks, homosexuals, and other people. Then there are some people that are, relatively speaking, decent people. They’re just not religious. They just don’t serve God. They’ll be kind to their neighbor. But they’re on this broad road because they don’t want to disagree with anybody. They want to get along with as many people as they possibly can. And then there are backsliders on this road, like we mentioned, people like Demas in the first century.
The motto on this road is basically Judges 21 verse 25. “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” That’s what people do on this broad road that leads to destruction. There’s no real judging on this road. There are no real absolutes. Everybody’s right and nobody’s wrong. Now this is why it takes little effort to go this way.
You just go with the flow. And this way, it’s all about diversity. It’s [00:07:00] all about acceptance. It’s all about tolerance. It’s all about coexistence. And many people, he says, travel this road. Notice what He says: “Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”
So you won’t be lonely there. There’ll be lots of people who feel the same way and do the same thing. There will be many people on the broad road that will agree with you. They’ll tell you that you’re right, no matter what you’re doing, because they’re in sin just like you are. You’ll have lots of company if you travel on the broad way.
Now, most people have always traveled the wrong road. In Exodus chapter 23, verse 2, Moses warned, “Do not follow a multitude to do evil.” The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 33, “Be not deceived, evil companionships corrupt good morals.”
Now notice the word “many” here in Matthew chapter 7. He says many go on this broad way that leads to destruction. And then notice down in verse 21 and 22, He said, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and in your name cast out demons and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice iniquity” or lawlessness. In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus is talking to the disciples about all the calamities that would take place before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Listen to what he warned them about in Matthew chapter 24 verses four and five.
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ and will deceive many.” In John chapter six, after Jesus had worked miracles and these people had benefited from the miracle of the loaves and the fish, they followed Him across the sea and found Him.
And after Jesus had spoken to them some words that they didn’t want to hear—in other words, after He had stepped on their toes–here’s what the Bible says in John 6, verse 66: “From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.”
And here’s another passage that shows that many people go down this broad and wide way. It’s found in second Peter, chapter two. In 2 Peter chapter 2, Peter is talking about false prophets and the people that follow them.
And I want you to notice that he talks about the fact that there are many people that listen to false teachers. 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 1. “And there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly (or privily, the King James says) bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”
So, he talks about these false teachers and how they operate in verse 1. He says, there are false teachers. He said they have always been here and always will be here. And he said, the way that they work is not to be up front with people, but they deceive people. They work in secret and they bring in their heresies, their false doctrines, not by being above board, but by being secretive about it.
And so the Bible says in verse two, “And many”—not a few, not some, but he says, “And many will follow their destructive ways. Now, this has happened for thousands of years, and it’s not a new thing today. In 1 John 2, verse 18, here’s what the Bible says: “Little children, it is the last hour or the last time. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now, many antichrists have come. He talks about the fact that there are many of these antichrists. And that was almost 2000 years ago. In first John chapter four, verse one, he said, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Now let’s go back to Matthew chapter seven and verse 13 and look again at what Jesus said. He said, “Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go in by it.” Now people on this broad road are lost. This means that most people are lost. Most people are headed for hell. Most people don’t even think about what they’re doing.
They don’t think about why they’re doing it. They don’t think about where they’re going. All they think about is what’s next. What then? They’re only looking for something in their life that they can plan for, a goal that they have, something that they want to do, and they’re blinded. In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the Bible says “the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not,” and they are blinded willingly, not against their will. They’re blinded because of their choice. They made a decision to go through that gate. They made a choice to be on that road, and they can make a choice to get off of that road. Now, this is why we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to call them, to invite them, to plead with them, to get off that road that leads to destruction.
Let’s talk about the destruction here for just a few minutes. This road has a destination. It has an end. This road that Jesus calls the wide and broad way leads to destruction. It’s not just going off of a cliff or off of a bridge. That would be bad enough. It’s not running into a tree or a semi or an overpass.
No, those are horrible things in a physical sense. But this destruction is much worse. This is everlasting punishment in hell. In Matthew chapter 25, verse 41, the Bible says, “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” In Matthew, chapter 25, verse 46, Jesus said, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.”
In 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, beginning in verse 6, Paul said, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense (that is, to repay) tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus Shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels; in flaming fire taking vengeance on them who know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.”
In Matthew, chapter 10, verse 28, Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” In Matthew, chapter 13, beginning in verse 49, Jesus said, “So it will be. At the end of the world, the angels will come forth and separate the wicked from among the just and cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” That’s] the broad way. That’s the wide gate. Most people are going down that, and it’s a sad fact, and it is a sobering fact, but it is true, folks, that most people are lost. Most people will be in hell for all of eternity, and that, again, is their choice. Now, let’s look at what Jesus says about the other road.
This is the narrow road. It has a narrow gate to it. He calls it the narrow gate. It is the narrow way. This gate is straight, the King James says. It’s narrow. It’s not wide like the other one. You have to watch closer, you have to pay attention, you have to watch your steps to get in. With the other one, you can laugh, you can look off, you can just play around, you can just drift into this wide and broad way.
But to get into this narrow road, you have to look. You have to keep your eye focused. Jesus said “enter” because this one, the right one, takes some effort. In Luke chapter 13, verse 24, Jesus said to “strive.” Make the effort to enter in at the straight gate. You have to choose, and you have to choose with all your heart.
Now this is what we find with people who became Christians in the first century. The eunuch was reading his Bible in Acts chapter eight, and then Philip came to him and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” And he said how can I accept some man should guide me? He went up into the chariot with him.
And the Bible says in Acts chapter eight, verse 35 and 36, that he began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. Then the Ethiopian eunuch asked the question, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? And Philip said to the eunuch, If you believe with all your heart, you may. He commanded the chariot to stand still.” And Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water and he baptized him. He learned about this narrow way and he went in. The same thing happened in Acts chapter 16. The Bible tells us the story in verses 30 through 34 of the Philippian jailer. After that earthquake got his attention, and the Bible says that he was trembling in fear because he thought that the prisoners had escaped, he came out to Paul and Silas, and he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, and your house. And they took him the same hour of the night, and they taught him the word of the Lord.” And that was because the Bible says in Romans 10 verse 17, that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord.” He needed to understand what he was doing and why he was doing it.
And when he did, then the Bible says he was baptized that very hour of the night. He saw the gate open and he walked in. The same thing happened in Acts chapter two, when Peter preached on Pentecost day. The Bible says that they were pricked in their heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do? And then Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Verse 41 says, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”
If you want to see an example of people walking on the wrong road and choosing to get on the right road, look at Acts chapter 18. In Acts chapter 18, Paul goes to the city of Corinth, which was an extremely wicked place. But when they heard Paul preaching, the Bible says that many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized.
And you talk about being on the wrong road and getting on the right road. You talk about changing roads. These Corinthians did that in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 through 11. Paul said that some of those Corinthians had been drunks, idolaters, fornicators, adulterers, extortioners, and even homosexuals, but he said that they changed.
They repented of their sins, and when they were baptized, their sins were washed away. And if you want to see another good example of people changing these courses, not just changing lanes, but changing roads, look at what Paul said about the church at Ephesus. Here’s what he said about those Christians in that city.
In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1, he said, “And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world”—that is, according to the way, according to the road of this world, you walked in it “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience; among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as others”—just as other people on that broad and wide way. When it says they were by nature children of wrath, that simply means that was second nature to them. They had sinned so long that it is, as we would say, like their second nature.
But a person can make an exit. He can get off of that road. And he can get on the right road. The right road is narrow. It’s straight. It is narrow in contrast to the wide gate and the broad way. The word narrow comes from a word which means compressed or confined. The New King James says difficult. That may not be the best translation, but the idea here is that there are just a few people that are going to get on this road because it does take some deciding.
It does take some willpower. Now that doesn’t mean that everything on this road is hard. As a matter of fact, it’s not hard to understand. Now, there are some people on the broad way, as a matter of fact, there are probably many people on the broad way, that will shout to you and say, “Oh, it’s too hard to get on that straight and narrow way. It’s too hard to understand because so many people understand the Bible differently.” But the Bible says in Mark chapter 12 verse 37 that “the common people heard Jesus gladly.” If the Bible and especially if the teaching of Jesus is that hard to understand, then why does the Bible say that the common people heard him gladly?
And here’s something else to think about. When you’re on that road, you have to carry a burden. But that burden, Jesus says, is light. He said that in Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30. “Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For my burden is easy, and my yoke is light.” So, yes, if you travel down this narrow pathway, this good and right way, you will have to shoulder your load. Jesus said in John 16:33, “In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” In second Timothy chapter three, verse 12, Paul said, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
Now this way that we’re talking about is not an open-ended, broad-minded way. There’s only one way. This narrow road teaches that there is only one way. There are not two, there are not four, there are not a hundred. In John chapter 14, verse six, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.”
In Acts chapter 4 verse 12, Peter and John said, “There is salvation in no other, for there is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby we must be saved.” There’s only one message, there’s only one true guide on this one real true road to heaven. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Galatians 1 verse 6, Paul said, “I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But if we or an angel from heaven preach unto you any other gospel than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”
In first Timothy chapter one, verse three, Paul urged Timothy to stay in Ephesus so that he might charge some that they teach “no other doctrine.” There are not many doctrines on this road. Now there are many teachings. There are many beliefs or many doctrines on the broad way, but there is only one doctrine on this right way, and that is the New Testament.
That is the word of God, the inspired word of the Holy Spirit. And I realized that people talk about different ways. You hear people talking about there being different paths or different roads to heaven. But the Bible says that Jesus tells us there is only one. “I am the way.” People get confused about this because they’re not looking for the right way.
In Proverbs chapter 16, verse 25, the Bible says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. You say, well, how do you know that just because a man is looking for the right way or the right road that he’s going to find it?” Because Jesus made that promise in John 7 verse 17. He said, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.” Now the expression “will do” simply means if any man wants to do His will. If any man desires to do his will, if any man wishes to do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine.
Remember that Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.” Matthew chapter 7 verses 7 through 11. Remember that Jesus said also in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5 verse 6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
So anyone can get off of the wrong road and get on this right road, this narrow way, because every man has free will. The Bible says, “If any man will, let him take of the water of life freely” (Revelation chapter 22 verse 17). But the fact is, few people travel this road, and that has always been true of mankind.
When the flood came, the Bible says in 1 Peter 3:21 that eight souls were saved by water. Out of all the people on earth, eight people believed God and entered the ark. When the Israelites first came to the border of the promised land in Numbers 13 and 14, only two really trusted in what God said: Joshua and Caleb.
Elijah the prophet, being one man of God, stood against 450 false prophets. So God’s people have always been in the minority. Sometimes it gets lonely. Sometimes you don’t see a lot of people that follow the Bible and are sincere about it. But even though Jesus says there are few on this road, this road is the one that leads to life, the other road leads to destruction. This road leads to life, and that is life in heaven. This is what Jesus was talking about earlier in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, verse 12, when He said, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” That’s the end. That’s the goal.
Paul said in Philippians one, verse 23, that being in that place with Christ is far better. Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 4 that it is an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” That’s the end of the narrow way. It’s just the opposite of the broad and wide way that leads to destruction.
So, this passage in Matthew chapter 7 verse 13 and 14 clarifies a few things and it denies some of the beliefs that people have about the afterlife. There are some people that believe that everybody will be saved. They call it the idea of universalism or universal salvation. That cannot be true. The Bible not only says that not everybody will be saved, it says that most people will be lost and that by their own choice, Jesus said many will go to destruction.
At the same time, this passage denies that most people will be saved. The idea of universal salvation says that everybody is going to be saved, and I’m saying that there are a lot of people who may not believe in universalism, but they do believe that almost everybody’s going to be saved. They may say, “Well, I believe that people like Jack the Ripper and Adolf Hitler and people like that are going to hell. But I don’t believe that most people are going to hell. I believe that most people, as long as they’re decent people, as long as they believe in something, as long as they’re sincere about their religion, then they’re going to go to heaven.”
And when you think about it, that is just the reverse of what Jesus said. That’s just the opposite of what we’ve looked at today. In Matthew 7, verse 13, Jesus said many will go to destruction. That’s hell. And few will find the way that leads to eternal life. That’s heaven. So Jesus is warning us here not to follow the crowd. He is telling us not to go by numbers. And there are some people that do that in religion.
As a matter of fact, there are many people that do that. They learn about a preacher on the internet that has hundreds of thousands of followers, or they hear about a megachurch movement that has 20 or 30 thousand people in it, and they say, “Well, they must be doing something right.” That’s not the kind of reasoning that Jesus tells us to follow.
Jesus said be careful because many people will go down that broad and wide way, and few will be the ones that find eternal life. And if people want to ridicule that and call it old fashioned, then that’s fine. Because here’s what the Bible says about that in Jeremiah 6, verse 16. “Thus says the Lord, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is and walk in it, then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it.”
Let us strive for the straight and the narrow way that leads to eternal life. Thank you for listening to my God and my neighbor. Stay connected with our podcast on our website and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Tennessee Bible College, providing Christian education since 1975 in Cookeville, Tennessee offers undergraduate and graduate programs. Study at your level, aim higher, and get in touch with us today.