The choice to follow Jesus is inescapable.  

1) We all have one choice to make. (vs. 13-14) Jesus tells us that we have one choice with two possibilities.  We are natural consumers in our culture – we want more than one possibility and we want more than once choice.  And this is a major struggle that people have with Christianity - Jesus’ claim that the only way to eternal life is through Him and Him alone.  It’s called the exclusivity of the gospel.  There is only one way to heaven. It’s through Jesus Christ.  There are not multiple ways to God.  There is only one narrow gate.

These verses live in complete opposition to the message of our culture.  What I am teaching is not popular with culture – and that’s okay because it’s Jesus’ teaching, not mine.  Right now, we have moved into an “individual truth” as a culture.  It hasn’t always been that way.  Our culture has moved from “multiple truths” to “my truth”.  Truth has gone from several possible truths to as many truths as there are people.  That means the claim of Christianity becomes increasingly radical as our culture continues to shift.  The reason that people struggle with the exclusivity of the gospel is that people want to be their own god and determine their own truth.  At the core, is the arrogance that we know better than God.   Give God glory that He provided a way to life instead of complaining about the way to life.

As Jesus is saying these verses, think of the image of Jesus standing at the crossroads of these two paths.  Jesus is saying, “Come, follow Me. Let’s go through the narrow gate.”  But people look at the wide road and say, “But look at how much room is over there!”  “Look at all the option of morality, the options of permissiveness, and the lack of control of my thoughts or conduct.”  “And look at how tight that gate is over there, I can barely squeeze through.”  Jesus says, “Yes, it’s narrow because I want to shed you of everything that is holding you back. Where you are going; you only need Me.”  The people respond, “But the road is so wide.”  Jesus says, “Stop looking at the road and start looking at the destination.”  When your eyes are focused on eternal life with Jesus, the road no longer becomes the concern. 

2) Watch out for the influencers. (vs. 15-23)   Just because someone talks of Jesus, doesn’t mean they know Jesus.  There are those who use the gospel for their personal gain.  And in doing so they point people to the broad path to hell.  Here are three quick ways to identify false teachers:

• What does their life produce? Look at verses 16 -19.  This is the one can you see from a distance.  What is the outcome of how they live their life and what they say?  Is it Christ or something else?
• What do they do? Look at verse 20.  The closer you get to someone, the more you will see the little actions of their life.  Do their actions point people to Christ?
• What matters most them? Look at verses 21-23.  These false teachers did things in the name of Jesus without personally knowing Jesus.  This third test is the hardest way to identify a false teacher because it requires proximity.  You don’t really get to know someone until you spend significant time with them.  Technology makes it hard to get in proximity to people.  But as you spend time with people, you will see what matters most to them.

The closer you get to a teacher of God’s Word, the louder God’s grace should ring.

3) The choice is yours and yours alone. (vs. 24-27) We see the picture of two men building homes.  What can we deduce about these two houses?  If someone walked upon these houses when they were complete, that person may not notice anything drastically different about the houses.  They were very similar in size and structure.  They were placed in the same location.  They were pretty much identical houses. 

What was the difference?  The foundation.  Right now, your spiritual foundation may not seem like it matters.  But down the road, it’s the only thing that matters.  You can’t accept the teachings of Jesus and ignore Jesus, the Teacher.  You can dismiss it and not think about it, but you are making a decision about Jesus if you do.  Most people think, “I’ll worry about that later.”  That’s an eternal decision that has eternal ramifications.

4) Jesus is the real deal. (vs. 28-29) Jesus’ teaching didn’t stop with His words.  The crowds knew there was something different about Jesus.  He taught with authority. And it was different than the religious teachers.  Jesus is the authority. The crowds recognized it.  They saw that He is the real deal.  Jesus is the real teacher.  Jesus is the real Christ.  The real Savior.  The real Judge.  The real Lord.  The real Life.  The real Light.  The real Bread.  The real Shepherd.  The real Love.  Jesus is God.

But what did the crowds do?  We don’t know. All we know is that they were amazed.  But amazement does nothing to save your soul.  Mere astonishment of Christ does not gain you one foot into heaven.  Don’t stop at the astonishment of Jesus.  Your astonishment must lead to surrender.

Surrender to Jesus!

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