You are responsible for your own destiny
Matthew 7:13-20
First admonition: 13 "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Second admonition: 15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
The test: 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
I. INTRODUCTION
Social creatures
Man is a social animal. By social, I do NOT mean “nice” or “pleasant” (though some people can be quite nice and socialble), but that we have strong social connections to each other, we form communities, and everything about us is influenced by other people. Think of the many ways that this happens:
- Our parents and families teach us about life and society directly and by example
- Our teachers and friends in school influence us (often in opposite directions)
- Advertisements, fashion designers, Hollywood/sports stars, political polls, etc.
This is more than peer pressure, though it includes that. Peer pressure is generally intentional, but even if someone is not trying to influence us, they still will. This happens in society in general, and it happens in situations where we consider someone an authority. Since Jesus is going to deal with each of these phenomena in today’s passage I would like to illustrate both, and just this week I have seen interesting examples of both.
A hilarious example of the first one was a video that someone shared this week on Facebook showing an experiment that was done in a dentist waiting room – you may have seen it. An unsuspecting young woman came into the office to wait for her appointment and the experiment began. A bell was rung and all of the other people in the room (who were in on the joke) stood up for a short time and then sat down. The girl looked at the others but they did not act as if anything was wrong. By the second or third time that the cycle was repeated she had joined the others, perfectly mimicking their activity. After a while each person was called into the office and she was left alone, but she still continued to stand up and sit down when the bell rang. Now began phase two of the experiment. As new (unsuspecting) people came into the room they also ended up mimicking her behavior, even though she did not know why the original people were doing it. One asked her why she was doing it and she honestly replied that those before her had been doing it. When she was finally called in to see the dentist, the newcomers ALL continued to perform the behavior, even though nobody knew why.
For a current example of false teachers we need look no further than a “do it yourself” YouTube video that some malicious prankster posted that claimed that the new IPhone’s lack of a headphone jack (which was an intentional design change) was a mistake in manufacturing. In great detail this realistic video showed how to take a hand drill to a certain spot on the case of the phone to “fix” this problem and expose the hidden headphone jack. Evidently the video was well done and convinced many people to drill holes in their new expensive phones, ruining them.
This phenomenon and related behaviors is often referred to as “social proof”. We are often unaware how many of our opinions and views of the universe are influenced by the perception that “this is what everyone believes” or “this is how everybody behaves”. People will tend to obey pedestrian rules until one jaywalker gives everybody else “permission” to run across the street by doing so. A group of angry people become a dangerous mob when one person throws the rock that breaks the window or hurts someone. If you pull out from behind someone on the freeway who has driven for miles at exactly five MPH under the speed limit, they will often unconsciously match your speed up to ten MPH OVER the speed limit as you try to pass them.
The behavior of an entire crowd is often under the control of the first individual who responds to a stimulus. For instance, if someone has a heart attack and falls unconscious to the ground in the middle of a busy city sidewalk, the first person to pass the body has a huge influence over the rest of the crowd. If they stop to help, others will be more likely to help and a group will form to provide assistance to the fallen person. If the first person ignores the fallen person, averting their eyes and speeding up to get by quickly, the following people receive implicit “permission” to do the same and will be much more likely to leave the unfortunate person dying on the sidewalk.
Question: If one person had thrown a stone after Jesus’ challenge in John 8, what would have been the outcome? But what happened? Jesus understood well how mobs function and his challenge was very wise. It was addressed to the person who would throw the first stone: “[John 8:7 ESV] And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." He did not need to address any other person, only that potential “first” person. And what was the response? “[John 8:9 ESV] But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.” Note that the oldest (and wisest and perhaps least hot-headed) did the action first. Only after that did the younger ones follow the behavior, dropping their stones and giving up.
In the opposite direction we see the crown that had been lauding Jesus as their King change their tune when they heard the Chief Priests crying “Crucify Him!” Soon the entire crowd was following suit.
We are social creatures, we humans. And we will always tend to follow the crowd, UNLESS WE MAKE A PRINCIPLED DECISION NOT TO. Over and over through history we see societies go from peaceful and loving to inhuman and barbaric and filled with mass-murder. Usually it is a select few truly “evil” people who are leading the society down the wrong path but it is not long before the “average Joe” is ready to kill his neighbor or burn down the city, because it is VERY HARD to go against the flow. Even the so-called “rebels” in our society act like their favorite music star and dress EXACTLY like all of the other “rebels”. So much for individuality! In fact, there is usually no more conformist crowd than a group of “rebels”.
Social creatures
So as Jesus is coming to the end of this magnificent “Sermon on the Mount” He is going to now bring it to a VERY FINE POINT. He has pointed out that all of our ideas of what constitutes a “good person” are extremely deficient, and that we are all in need of a Savior if we want to avoid the wrath of God. He has demolished almost all of the types of excuses that self-reliant and self-righteous humankind raises against the claims of God against us, like “I’m a good person, I am nice to my friends (but look out you enemies)” (love your enemies, endure abuse in love), “The Bible is obsolete” (not one jot or tittle, etc.), “I keep the Ten Commandments” (you don’t even understand what they mean, there is morality behind them that shows you as guilty), “Ask anyone and they will say I am a good guy – my public works are awesome!” (hypocrite – God is your only audience and He is not happy), “I am self sufficient” (seek his kingdom and his righteousness, He does the rest), “I’m better than that guy” (don’t judge others, look at yourself), and “I don’t need anyone, besides God doesn’t care” (ASK, SEEK, KNOCK, God WILL answer!)
Now he deals with two of the most pernicious excuses of all. Why are they the most dangerous? Because they are passive. The others are excuses that we come up with, but these two are what happen when we don’t even bother to think about it. There is a joke that goes like this: One person asks another “What is worse, ignorance and apathy?”. The second answers “I don’t know and I don’t care.” But the one thing that we should care about is our soul! Jesus himself said this haunting question:
Mark 8:36 [ESV] “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”
Yet the great majority of humanity goes through life assuming that “it will all work out”. “Maybe I’ll look into religion some day.” “Maybe there’s a God, but I’m not sure, so I am just gonna live my life and not worry about it.” My question to them is – is there ANY other area of life that you would treat that way? “Yeah, this plan may or may not be poisonous, so I’ll go ahead and eat it.” “Yeah, my boss didn’t explicitly say that I needed to show up at work every single day did he?” “No need to fill out job applications or learn a trade – I’m sure someone will just give me money, right? I just can’t believe that life would be so unfair as to require me to work for a living.” In all these cases the answer is of course not! But for some reason, the state and destiny of our eternal soul is something that we don’t care about. It’s just too much thought – it would require research – it would require us to make a choice. It’s TOO HARD. Jesus says, “ASK, SEEK, KNOCK”.
Jesus saves his strongest warnings for the end of his sermon, and though our modern society is making a huge deal about being “non-binary” right now, Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount with FOUR BINARY CHOICES:
- Narrow and Broad gates and roads (13-14)
- True and False prophets (15-20)
- True and False disciples (21-23) and
- Wise and Foolish builders (24-27)
Let’s look at the first one:
IIA. Don’t Follow the Crowd (13-14)
Matthew 7:13-14 ESV 13 "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Jesus gives us an imperative command: “Enter”. MacArthur points out that the word is in an aorist imperative tense which demands a definite and specific action. I think that this is what we were “asking, seeking, and knocking” about in verse 7. Before we go any further, I want to make one thing extremely clear. Jesus puts the entire human responsibility for your salvation on YOU. Yes, He does all of the work of our redemption, and yes, He is sovereign in all things. But in his sovereign choice He commands, through the Son, that you need to actually care about the state of your own soul. What will you do? Will you just sit through your entire life doing nothing about it, hoping that someone else will do it for you? Seriously, why should someone care about whether you go to heaven if you can’t be bothered to even ask about it? But if you DO care, coming to the Savior in repentance and need, He will answer, He will be found, He will open the door!
There is a short list of common parental sayings that we have all heard. When we were kids we vowed that we would never use them on our kids, and when we became parents WE USED EVERY ONE OF THEM. Admit it! Things like “If you keep making that face, it’ll freeze that way.”, “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” (my personal vowed one), “Because I said so, that’s why!”, “When you have kids, I hope they’re just like you.”, “As long as you’re under my roof, you live by my rules.” But perhaps the most celebrated one is: “If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” (How many people here answered that question “yes” at least once just to be a smart-alec? How many regretted doing that?) This is said in response to “but all my friends are doing it!” Well, Jesus basically uses this one in the following verses:
The problem is this. We think that we can actually talk to our heavenly Father and tell Him “but everyone else is doing it!”. As the saying goes, there is safety in numbers. We know that misery loves company, but that is not the only thing that loves company. SIN loves company also, and nothing covers a guilty conscience than finding someone else doing the same thing as us. But this excuse will be rejected. God is not judging us by how well we follow the crowd, and He never adjusts his holiness or righteousness to match whatever “new morality” that we invent for ourselves, now matter how popular it is with us.
To all this, Jesus tells us that there are only two choices – not thousands, not hundreds, not even three. There is not a group of ten good ways and ten bad ways. Just one good way and one bad one. The typical human response to this is “but that’s narrow!”. Interestingly, Jesus agrees with that. Evidently the way is narrow by nature and by design. Not only is the right way (and gate) narrow, it is also hard and it is difficult to find. But that is the road that leads to life. In contrast, the way and gate that leads to destruction is wide, popular, easy going, and simple to find.
The gate is narrow, or small. Commentators liken it to a turnstile. We enter with no works of our own, no baggage, completely naked. MacArthur says “The narrow gate means that those who enter do so stripped of all they posess, rather than adding Jesus to their accumulated treasures. Salvation is the exchange of all that we are for all that he is. And as He did for Job, the Lord will give back much more.” After Jesus had spoken to the rich young ruler and the young man had gone away sad, preferring to keep his self-righteousness (and his money) the following interchange happened between Jesus and his disciples:
Mark 10:23-27 [NASB] 23 And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God kingdom of God kingdom of God
Many people have made the incorrect inference here from Jesus’ lament and have come to the conclusion that poor people are more likely to go to heaven and that rich people are somehow more evil people. But Jesus was not talking about poor people here – he was lamenting the specific case that he had just dealt with. This is just one example of the type of thing that shields people from true repentance. Even if we are not rich, we tend to think that if something bad happens to someone in this life it must be because they did something wrong. In our own lives, if we are healthy and well-to-do we tend to think that we are pretty good people and not to care about our souls. What Jesus said is true about everybody – even me and you. It is harder for ANYBODY to enter then kingdom of God
John 14:6 [ESV] Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This sounds like a pretty tiny gate to me! In contrast to this, the gate leading to destruction is wide, or flat. It is as wide as the street – it is not really a gate at all. It takes no effort, no sacrifice.
But not only is the gate to life small, the way is hard. The word hard is the Greek word thlibō, which is used for the crushing of grapes. It speaks of pressure. This does not mean that we get to heaven by doing works. But the easy way that leads to destruction is the natural way – it is the default path. It is a wide downward moving escalator and if we do not look for the path to life we will all inexorably end up at the default destination.
So there are two gates and two paths with two destinations. Ours is to choose. Ours is to ask. Ours is to seek. Ours is to knock.
Perhaps the most perplexing part of Jesus’ teaching here is the idea that there are a lot of people on the way to destruction and very few on the narrow path. There is perhaps no clearer teaching in scripture that we must not live in some blind hope that we can ignore our extreme peril if we do not come to Christ for salvation. Jesus is very clear that the majority of the human race is headed for destruction. We should not get too much into ratios and numbers. Jesus is building his church. Even in Revelation we read of huge multitudes being saved. But Jesus’ plea here is “but you – please care about your own spiritual state. Don’t be like the crowds. They are headed for destruction, but the path is ready for you if you will but seek it out. Don’t sit there, fat dumb and happy until it is too late. Ultimately you will be the one to choose hell, but that choice is a passive one. Don’t wait.
One more thought: A popular meme for years (and for many hundreds of years before there was an internet) goes like this: “When I die I want to go to hell, because that's where all my friends are.” When Jesus described hell he called it the “outer darkness”, and spoke of pain and regret. He spoke of it as irreversible. Paul describes it as suffering “the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,” [2Thess 1:9 ESV] There will be no parties, no re-unions there – that will be reserved for heaven.
IIB Don’t Follow Bad Teachers (15)
The next warning from Jesus is in verse 15:
Matthew 7:15 ESV "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
The entire Bible contains constant warnings to guard against false teachers and false prophets – people who (as God says through Moses) “ presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods”. As we ask, seek, and knock, and enter the narrow way it is not just the general crowds that will lead us down the wrong path. It was God who appointed prophets and teachers in the Old Testament times and who appointed Apostles, prophets, preachers and teachers in the New Testament also. Those people are necessary for our spiritual well-being and are ordained in their ministry by God, but that does not absolve us from responsibility for discernment on our part. They fulfill a purpose by speaking to us in God’s name and giving to us the good things of God to build us up. But Jesus warned us that not only would there be false prophets but even false Christs!
Matthew 24:24-25 [ESV] 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.
The danger is twofold – it is dangerous to handle the word of God flippantly as we see when James warns us [James 3:1 ESV] “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” But most of the responsibility is on the listeners. Paul told the Galatians that even if Paul himself came and preached a different Christ to them they should consider him accursed. When Paul gave the gospel to the Jews at Berea Luke writes “[Act 17:11 ESV] Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” None of us are going to be excused by the Lord if we say “but that’s what my pastor told me”. The problem is that false teachers look like sheep. Or they look like shepherds, who traditionally wore outfits made of wool (sheep’s clothing). Either way it is going to take more than a “yep, he looks like a pastor”. How can we test to see if we are being led by a false prophet to the wide way toward destruction? By PAYING ATTENTION!
The word translated “beware” at the beginning of verse 15 is the Greek word prosechō, which means to attend to, to turn the mind to, to be attentive, to apply one’s self to, to devote thought and effort to. This is not passive listening with a dumb smile on your face and spending the rest of your time saying “my teacher says” or “my pastor says” to every question and as the answer to every argument. I can’t speak for pastor Glen but I imagine that he would be as horrified as I was if I heard someone quoting me as an authority. My goal in teaching (and in my occasional preaching) is to bring you to God and be strong in the word in your own right. Why? Paul expressed it this way to Timothy:
1 Timothy 1:3b-7 [NASB] 3 … remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, 4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. 5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.
IIC The Test (16-20)
So how do we tell a good shepherd from a bad one – a true prophet from a false one? Paul gives the standard in the rest of this passage:
Matthew 7:16-20 [ESV] 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
The standard of true or false prophets is their fruit. Fruit is the product of the plant – the reason that a farmer plants a crop in the first place. Remember that Jesus compared the kingdom to a field where a farmer (representing God) had planted wheat but where an enemy (representing the devil) had gone and sown tares among the wheat. The problem is that tares and wheat plants look pretty much the same. When harvest time approached, however, the differences between the plants became evident – wheat plants produced wheat and tares did not – and the tares ended up in the fire and the wheat was harvested and provided benefit to the farmer.
In the same way, a false prophet does not produce the fruit that a true prophet does. Jesus described himself as the Good Shepherd in John chapter 10 and contrasted the true shepherd with the false one. The true shepherd cared for and knew the sheep and the sheep knew him. The false shepherd snuck in over the wall to rob and steal and kill. In the New Testament the following characteristics of false teachers & prophets include:
- They lead people astray, secretly bringing in destructive heresies (2 Peter 1)
- They can even use signs and wonders to try to lead people astray (Matt 24)
- They deny the Master who bought them (2 Peter 1)
- They deny biblical doctrines about Christ including his humanity and resurrection (1 John 4)
- The world listens to them (1 John 4)
- They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ but are not servants of righteousness but enslave people in sin (2 Cor 11)
- They bring in legalism in contradiction to our liberty in Christ (Gal 2)
- They preach a different Christ (Gal 1)
- They follow sensuality (2 Peter 1)
- They do not abide in Christ’s teaching (2 John)
- They pervert the grace of God into sensuality, love money, feed themselves, divide the church, grumble, boast, show favoritism, seek their own advantage, indulge in sexual immorality, and “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude)
- They are lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, unholy, slanderous, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, and who evidently often go after weaker women in the church for sensual purposes.
The thing about false teachers/preachers is that they would have no power unless people listen to them uncritically and let them in. John warns us not to take them in and give them a platform. But the reality is as Paul warned Timothy
2 Timothy 4:3-4 [ESV] 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
IIC STRIVE! – The Responsibility is YOURS (Luke 13:24)
So the upshot of all of this is: the responsibility for your soul – for your eternal destiny – is yours. Many, many people stay for their whole lives on the wide road that leads to destruction. Jesus’ warning was very clear. This road is the default road of all humanity. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Jesus told Nicodemus
John 3:17-19 [ESV] 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
To those who think that this seems wrong – that surely this does not mean what it seems to say we can turn to the book of Luke where Jesus also spoke about entering by the narrow door. There, however, it was in answer to that very question. A person came up to Jesus and specifically asked Him "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" [13:23] to which Jesus replied this way:
Luke 13:24-30 [ESV] 24 "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' 26 Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' 27 But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!' 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God kingdom of God
In verse 24 Jesus changes his wording slightly from what He had said in the SOTM. There he said “Enter” as an imperative. Here in Luke He was more emphatic, where the main verb is here translated “Strive” to enter. Strive is the Greek word agōnizomai, which means to contend with zeal, to struggle. It was used of those who competed in gymnastic games or entered a contest and is the word from which we get the English word “agonize”. (Think of the opening to the ABC Wide World of Sports back in the 70’s with the words of Jim McKay – “the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition”). Jesus’ message is clear – Please Care about Your Salvation! It is literally the most important thing in your life!
III Conclusion
Jesus is drawing his masterful sermon to a close. He has shaken up the crowd by attacking their false sense of security caused by their self-righteousness. He will spend the next three years comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. We need to do the same – the stakes are too high to do otherwise. And yet, with every warning there is always the presentation of a loving Father who is reaching out with the solution. With every crushing blow to their false security the ultimate eternal security of salvation is offered freely.
Here at the end two destinies are compared. Two paths, two gates, two destinies. There are two types of prophets with two types of fruit. Next week we will see two types of professions and two responses to Jesus’ message.
But in these verses we have seen clearly that the most deadly thing we can do is to not care. To be ignorant and apathetic is the ultimate personal disaster. One from which there is no escape. But Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost. Can we do anything but to reach up to take the hand that is offered to us?
Or is it just not worth our time? That is a tragedy indeed.
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