Two Gates

Matthew 7:13-14

“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. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

I encourage you to take your Bibles. We’re going to turn to again, Matthew chapter seven, as we continue and return to our series, the upside down life, the sermon on the Mount, the greatest summary of Jesus’ teaching, we have. Ever recorded, uh, here in Matthew chapter five through seven, we’re going to be looking at two verses this morning.

Um, and they’re found in Matthew chapter seven, verse 13 and 14, and I’m going to go ahead and read those

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 for the gate is narrow. And the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few let’s pray, Lord, thank you for all these many weeks, we’ve already spent studying this passage of scripture.

Thank you God. For the convicting work of the spirit that you’ve done continue to do, as we reflect on. This portrayal of what life is designed to look like. And the reminder is we look at it just that we can’t begin to live this way apart from Christ. Thank you Lord, for the encouragements, we’ve found already to just want to walk with you and lean into you and just the joy of being able to do life with you and live it out.

As it’s seen in this passage, Lord. Now, as you challenge us to enter in to this life, I pray that you would speak to each of us wherever we are on our journey of life in Jesus name. Amen.

We come to the crescendo moment in the sermon on the Mount. Really Jesus has been presenting a variety of things. Quickly, give a snapshot of those. There are three different directions that Jesus points us in the sermon on the Mount one, preeminently perhaps is outward. He is continually working to remind us that those that are citizens of his kingdom are individuals that are to have a unique lifestyle toward others.

He talks about anger and he actually says he quotes the commandment murder. And he says, actually the spirit of murder is manifested. Whenever you are angry. He talks about lust as being the spirit of adultery. He talks about how we are to be truth tellers, how we are to not retaliate, but rather to forgive how we are to show love for our enemies, how we’re not to be condemning others with a judging.

As if we were God to be living by the golden rule, these are just some of the qualities he’s talking about, about what it means to live out the Jesus life. Then he talks about an inward focus and here he talks in chapter six, as he focuses on three different, uh, very serious spiritual activities, but he says even these can be in, it can be a destructive in your spiritual life.

If you are not doing the hard work of inner examination, he talks about inward motivation for things like, uh, giving to the needy, praying fast. In the beatitudes, you continually causes us to look inside. He says we’re to be people that recognize our poverty of spirit, our desperate need for God we’re to be people that are mourning, mourning over our sin and, and our need of God and what li live out when we are not leaning into God.

He said this outward look, he said, this inward look. And of course he has the upward look as in chapter six. And then in chapter seven, he talks about that. The propensity, we have to make money, our treasure, rather than God, that money becomes what we depend on and trust in and define ourselves by. And it’s where we find our security.

And he speaks towards that. He speaks towards the need of replacing. With trust. He speaks about continually asking and depending on God, in chapter seven in the passages, just before this one, all these things have been things he’s talking about. And now he comes here in chapter seven, verse 13 and 14.

He’s concluding his sermon in the next number of verses. And as he’s doing so he prevents people with a choice. He presents the choice using three different metaphors. He presents them and he says, there’s two gates. There’s two trees. There’s two house foundations. And he says, there’s two gates, which we’ll look at this morning.

And he’s talking about the entrance to kingdom living. He says there’s two trees. And one gives the evidence of kingdom living. One gives the evidence. Of something else. He says, there’s two house, house foundations. And he, and he says, here’s the energy for living the life that I’m offering. You, you can, you can build your house on the rock or you can build your house on something else.

But really he’s coming to us with an invitation to enter in to the, through these three metaphors, to this kingdom life that he is offering to us in Matthew chapter five through seven, he’s saying to us in these verses verse 13 and 14, if you want to be a part of my kingdom, you have to enter into it.

You have to go through the gate in the teaching ministry of Jesus is interesting. How many times he uses the word entering into the kingdom? Let me just. Three quick ones, mark chapter nine, verse 47. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It’s better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell in mark chapter 10, verse 15, he says, truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God.

Like a little child shall not enter into it in Matthew chapter five, verse 20 here in the sermon on the Mount for, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. He’s talking here in this passage about how do we get into the kingdom?

How do we become a member? How do, how do we enter into this, this life that you’re talking about? The upside down life, which seems quite frankly impossible. And quite frankly, it is impossible. Only Jesus Christ can live this life, but he is offering to us as kingdom dwellers, as individuals that are citizens of this kingdom to live that life through us.

So how do you get in? Well, that’s what he’s talking about and what are the choices that are involved. And so he presents to gates and again, to read our passage, this is what he says 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 for the gate is narrow.

And the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few on a race, an answer, three simple questions there where each one is by comparison. As we look at the two gates where the gates lead. Um, I can’t remember what other questions off the top of my head. I gotta cheat ahead. Um, where do the gates lead?

Uh, we’ll, we’ll see it when we get there. Um, all right. Where do the gates lead? First one leads to destroy. He says, take the narrow gate. And then he says, because the gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction of this word. Destruction is just about as heavy sounding heavy as it is heavy sounding.

The word actually is, is used in a couple of passages, actually choose a number of passages. But two I’d mentioned second, Peter, three, seven. He says the heavens and earth are stored up until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly in Romans 9 22. He says people who reject God’s salvation are vessels of.

Prepared for destruction. There’s a heavy new Testament term. It is a heavy new Testament concept. He is talking about that, which the Bible describes as the eternal separation from God. It is, it is called eternal death. It is still actually, we are still existing. We are living in that sense, but an individual that is in this state, he’s talking about of destruction is eternally alive, separated from God.

And so it’s actually called an eternal death in the scripture. It’s what we call hell. It is the place. Um, real though, as I’ve shared before, I don’t think the picture depicted from symbolic language in the Bible is, is necessarily accurate that we draw. I don’t think hell is primarily, I don’t think the focus of it is, is a fiery fomenting.

Uh, I think the idea is of a barren wasteland, the picture, and in scripture of this destruction is a place of sorrow and emptiness. The word destruction here is actually the word waste it’s used of the disciples. And they say to Jesus, they say to him, one time, Jesus has this woman come. And she anoints him with this, this, this, um, wealthy, uh, expensive exquisite ointment.

And they say it’s worth 300. Denarii well, it doesn’t mean a whole lot until you know that the denari was one day’s wages. This is most of a year’s salary went into this one anointing and the boys are sitting there going, why was this wasted like this? I mean, we’ve got to solve this stuff and, and given money to the.

Jesus rebukes them because he sees the heart behind the action. But the idea is that is the word it is. And they say, why was that? What that ointment wasted like that the concept he’s talking about this eternal state of separation from God is basically saying it is life that is lived eternally, not the way it was designed to be used.

It is wasted. It is in that sense, lost if you will. It is this sense of destructiveness. He is referring to hell is real separation from God is real life after death is real. And he is saying there is a path, a gate that leads there, but he says, there’s another gate as well. And he says this gate, the narrow gate leads to life.

So what is he referring to when he says we’re at where this leads? Well, Romans chapter 6, 23 says the wages of sin is death. What we’ve we’ve earned, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. Our Lord, the idea is that life begins at the moment of entering the narrow gate. The reference to life is actually saying, this is an entrance into life, as it is designed to be, this is real life.

It is life that is eternal. It continues forever, but it is not only life that is, is about the future because he says, the moment you pass through this gate, you experience. Life. And Jesus said, I’ve come to bring life. And it is life that you would live. He says, I’ve come to bring life. And that abundantly in others, it isn’t just, it’s a bus ticket to heaven.

Now you get life rather than eternal death. He says, I’ve come to give you life. And when you pass through this gate, you experience yes, the guarantee of eternal life forever, but you also begin life. You start life, as it is designed to be lived.

What does that look like? Matthew chapter five through seven is a great place to start. There begins to be a power to forgive instead of retaliating to begins to be a capacity, to, to trust in God, rather than other things. For our definition of who we are and where our security can come, the responses to people, the compassion towards it can begin through the power of Christ.

The life that we experience is the life of Christ that he enters our lives and begins by his grace to live his life. And the more we allow him to do so, the more he manifests this abundancy of life that he talks about, but he says here’s where the two paths lead death, continual separation from God that continues forever.

The other gate narrower gate leads to life eternal life, but it isn’t just a bus ticket. It’s actually the beginning of a life experience. It’s interesting that John, John Piper has a book that I think, and I was interested as I was rereading it again recently, how he refers to some of these very passages about, um, destructiveness and waste.

Uh, being in that term, the book is called don’t waste your life. He’s talking particularly to believers, and he’s saying we can live as if we are headed towards destruction. We can, we can not imbibe in our lives, the abundancy of life that we are destined for. And if we do we’re, we’re living as if life is wasted, it won’t be wasted eternally, but he says don’t waste.

It don’t live as if you are headed towards destruction towards wasteland. I think it’s an appropriate perspective. Jesus is saying you don’t have to, if you’ve enter the narrow gate, or if you choose by God’s grace to enter the narrow gate. What you find on the other side is life who the gates draw.

That’s my second question. And I couldn’t remember many and few for the gate is wide, and the way is easy. That leads to destruction. Verse 13 tells us, and those who enter by it are many. It’s a picture of, of the main gate into the city of Jerusalem. And that’s how it was. And of course the city was much larger than that, but that’s just some of the existing walls, but big gay people go through the main gate.

Most people look to find their lives, invest their lives, to prepare for life, to come life, to come through the wide gate, the big gate, the main gate, if you will, they go with the flow and the flow, Jesus says leads. Towards this gate. This is where they’re looking to find life. This is where they look to, to find eternal life.

Now you may say, well, that seems like two very different statements. I disagree. Here’s why I think the same modus operandi that we have as fallen people, as people who have been scarred by sin to generate energy for our lives is what we expect to be the same methodology we use to experience eternal life.

Here’s what I mean. If you listen to marketing advertisers, slogans will regularly come out in trying to get people to, to buy in things like, just do it. If you look at philosophies, they argue for it. Secularism, humanism, hedonism, and everything else will basically say it’s. It’s up to you. It’s about you figure it out.

Religious systems, every religion in the world, except biblical Christianity could be defined by this word. Do it’s what you have to do for some, it might be stronger on you must do benevolent behavior. Some of it might be higher on you must do personal sacrifice. You must do devotional practices. People are measured as worthy based on their own works that they, they are viewed as accepted by God from the same playing field that we use to measure ourselves in our lives.

I’ll come back to this in a minute. Then he says, so he says, this is what most people do. And this is where most people are going. They think it’s about them because that’s how they’re valuing every other part of their lives. But he says there are the few relatively speaking in world civilization. The choose the narrow gate.

And he says it this way for the narrow gate in verse 14 is narrow. And the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few. So here’s the question, of course. Why do few find it? Because the foundational drive of our hearts, all of us is to self life. Self-centeredness self absorption.

Self-sufficiency self reliance. Only God convinced, convince you that you don’t have the goods. Our entire lives are lived trying to, to measure up in parts of our lives. And so when we say, I need to find God, I need to get to God. We just naturally default to the same methodology. What am I going to do?

How do I, how can I measure up? What can I.

But then we’re told that Christianity, biblical Christianity, and I would argue the narrow gate says it is not about do it’s about done. He did it. There’s someone that did it now. Now that sounds wonderful until you have to embrace the fact of why he did it. He did it because we are utterly incapable of doing it ourselves, that we are broken sinful, corrupt, needy people, and that we cannot do what is necessary to earn God’s acceptance.

Now this, that starts to get a little unpalatable, you know, and say, Hey. Here’s this broad gate, you know, you can go in and you do. If you have to do all these things and you have to measure up and you have to, but, but if you do enough good things to outweigh the bad things, you know, that’s, that’s how we do it, right.

Or you can go to this narrow gate and here’s the slogan for the narrow gate and ran all here who are broken. Self-centered held deserving. Wicked people will sign me up. No, we don’t want to go there. Naturally. We say, I, I know I’m a doer, my whole life. I’m trying to measure. I’m trying to compare it. I don’t want to be around people that are better than me, because I don’t like that.

You know that mathematical thing. I want to be a, I don’t want to be a grid. I want to be a spiritually greater than, because God’s looking for spiritually greater than engine. That’s what the gate’s all about. So, but to go to that gate now, utterly helpless. Hell deserve it. Come on. That’s why Jesus says in John chapter six, verse 44, no one can come to the father.

He says, no one can come to me. Jesus is speaking. Unless the father who sent me draws him. Now, this statement is amazing because the word that he uses there is fishermen talk. The word draw is actually the word that is usually used in the gospels to talk about a net that the fishermen throw and they draw in with the catch of fish.

Now I’m not a fisherman, but I’ve watched finding Nemo. And in finding Nemo, if you remember the scene, there’s a scene towards the end where we’re Dory is caught in a thing. And, and there, I think it’s. Yeah, so that, and it’s pulling the big crane is pulling the fish net up and, and Nimo gets the idea with his dad.

And he says, did everybody flipping their fins that way away from the boat? And you remember, they’re trying to get escape, trying to get away. Right? So all the fishers are in, they get it in and we’re all happy except for the fishermen whose net gets broken in, their crane gets broken. But the idea is the fish don’t want to get in the boat.

Jesus says, no fish are jumping into the boat saying, sign me up. Deserving. Hell yeah, just by nature, we don’t do that. But he says some, do some, do some go the narrow gate, some recognize it’s not do it’s done. He did it for me. And he says, they’re the ones that my father has drawn. What that says to us, just like Ephesians two, eight and nine for by grace.

Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It’s the gift of God. Well, what’s the gift of God. The, that is talking about even our faith. It’s saying those who do, and if you have gone through the narrow gate, if you have said, I embrace the fact that I can do nothing to deserve God’s favor and acceptance, that I am deserving of eternal separation, that, that I am a broken corrupt sinner, but I realized Jesus died for me.

Then God has enabled you to see that in his grace, he has drawn you. And he says, it’s narrow because we don’t naturally want to go. This is not the natural choice we would make. And if, if, if God has been allowing you through his spirit to, to come to a place in your life and you say, I don’t, I don’t really know all this Jesus stuff.

I mean, I know some stories and, and, and, and, uh, but I, I don’t, I don’t know. I mean, I’m just trying to find God, but if you’re sensing, but I, I don’t know what to do with my sin. I do see my unit. I mean, I know you are being funny mark about saying who’s going to sign up, but there’s a part of me that would sign up because I’m sensing my sin.

And I am sensing that, that, that I’m corrupt in ways I never saw before. And then I want to say to you, God’s at work in you, God is mercifully enabling you to understand through his spirit, your need of Christ. He is by his grace drawing you toward that narrow gate, because in ourselves we don’t go. All right.

What are the gates entail? There’s an easy way. There’s a hard way now on first swing. Well, once you really start climbing into this passage and reading commentaries and stuff, you find out this there’s a little bit of a naughty question here, and here’s the question he talks about, uh, the gate, but he also talks about the way which means road.

And he says, you know, there’s a narrow gate and the road is hard. And the question is, which comes first. I mean, is it a road leading to the gate or is it a road that results from the gate? And here’s why it’s a little hard if it’s a road leading to the gate. That means that that, uh, it’s about me somehow performing in order to get through the gate.

We don’t believe that jives with anything in the new Testament. We believe it’s all of grace. On the other hand, he makes this statement and he says, the road is hard. That leads to life or life is through the gate. Right? So, so mark, which is it that the, the, uh, the road or the gate and the answer is yes. I don’t believe Jesus is trying to distinguish these things.

I think he, what he’s saying is when you embrace life, when you come to become a member of, of God’s kingdom and his child, and, and, and enter into life, there’s a road, there’s a gate he’s picturing that he says is narrower. There’s even a part of it. He says that is harder. So let’s think about that. He says here, first of all, it’s a, the wide gate is an easier way now.

Why is it easy? I believe because it makes sense to us. It’s about me deciding to suck it up and get better. It’s me choosing a religion that says to me, do more measure up, you know, checklists, these things give enough to the church, be faithful, do whatever it is. And, and you’ll get in. That’s how we do life, right?

I mean, how do I get in shape? I work harder. How do I get more sales? I make more calls. I get out there, do it. How do I get better grades or study more hopefully, but how do we do it? I trust in me. My effort, my discipline, myself adjustments, these the, the, the Broadway makes sense. It’s life to us. It’s how we do life.

But Jesus says it leads to destruction because you can’t do it. You can’t work yourself out spiritually enough. You can’t be benevolent enough. You sin is that serious that it can only be taken care of by someone else doing it for you, God, the son himself. And because it is done, it is available to people that say, you know what?

That gate, I go to load it up with all my righteousness and deeds that gate. I walk in like this. I got nothing. I got nothing except one thing he did it all it’s done. So why is it hard? Cause he says the narrow road is hard to two ways. I think it’s a hard door to embrace Matthew 19. Jesus talks about this and Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.

Again, I tell you it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished saying who then can be saved. But Jesus looked at them and said with man, this is impossible with gods. All things are possible.

He says wealthy people are used to being self-sufficient. Many wealthy people are there because they are, they are doers. They’ve trusted in that. They’ve leaned on that. And he says that becomes an impediment because they just think, well, T T you know, to earn life must be, I just gotta follow my, my life modus operandi,

but they really do have to come with the shocking realization. I am not the good person I thought I was, or at least I thought I could become, I really am a sinner. I really do deserve hell. I really can’t do anything to make up for my, my sinful actions. I really am utterly without hope, unless there is a savior

who has done it. But he says the more self-sufficient you have been, if you have leaned into your brilliance with a brilliant intellect and have always succeeded, if you have leaned into your money, cause you’ve always have money, you’ve never felt the insecurity and, and the, and the scare and the, and the insufficiency, he said, it’s harder.

It’s harder to say. You mean, when you say empty hands, you mean empty hands. So it’s harder to come by this. I say the same. And as people, all the time through the years, I say the easiest thing I ever did was receive Jesus Christ as my savior. The hardest thing I ever did was to receive Jesus Christ as my savior.

It’s completely easy. I get it. The gospel, he died for me. It’s all about him. It’s done. But what I had to embrace about me was not so fun. It was hard. But the second thing I think has evolved here is not only, it’s a hard door to embrace. It’s a hard road to embrace the word hard here is fascinating to me.

It actually is the word that means squeezed or pressed. And now he’s talking about the road that’s involved with this, this door when you’re associated with the narrow way. He says, here’s the road that you are now on. As you are a part of that doorway, the word hard or squeezed or pressed it’s used in a number of new Testament pastures, almost all of them translated by the word, afflicted or suffering.

Just a couple of examples. Paul’s second Corinthians four passage in verse eight. We are afflicted on every side, but not. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Hebrews 1137 talking about believers. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated.

He says, when you enter the narrow path, the narrow door, when you embrace Christ and receive life, you are also entering a lifestyle. That’s pressed. That’s hard. He said, you want to live out Matthew five through seven, really forgiving your enemies. Really? When they smack you in the face, let them do it again.

And again, he says, you really want to embrace this lifestyle. You’re going to find it. It, it presses you. It feels affliction because the narrow gate is associated with the hard road. I’ve been divorced inning in second, Timothy for awhile now, cop writing it out and meditating on it. Paul whole his whole message to Timothy.

And this is the last letter Paul ever road, this young preacher boy that he’s discipled. He’s talking about the affliction and the suffering and, and encouraging him to stay at, stay the course. But he says an interesting thing in the book. He says he refers to, uh, a handful of times other believers that have been with him that have either chosen to embrace his suffering, which he only gives one example.

And then he gives it a number of examples of people that have left that they, and he makes this striking statement. And I want to, even though I’m going to another passage, this is where I want to land at the end here. He uses this phrase. He says they were. He says, in one case, this is the refrain shamed of Christ.

In another case, he says, they’re ashamed of me. In another case, he says there they’re ashamed of my chains. And Paul said, I actually am. When he was in Rome, he was bound in chains. And apparently these believers came to him and they looked and they thought, this looks terrible. I mean, this is what we signed on for.

I mean, this is our hero. This is our, the guy starting their churches, looking at music. He’s an absolute cast out criminal in the Roman empire. We didn’t sign on for this kind of humiliation and. And he says they’re ashamed. And I really was curious to know what does the word ashamed of mean? And I noted that in Hebrews 11, 16, I think that’s there.

He was loving. Uh, okay. I went backwards, Hebrews two 11. It’s talking about Jesus. He is not ashamed to call them brothers in Hebrews 11, 16. God is not ashamed to be called their God. He’s talking about us. What ashamed mean? Here’s the definition that is used. It means they’re not worth the effort. They’re not worthy to be associated with.

We’re embarrassed by what God is saying in Hebrews 11, God is God considers you worth the effort to call himself your God. He consider. Jesus says that they’re worthy to, to be associated with, I call them brothers. This is what I think, as I try to pull this together, Polish. And then how it ties with Matthew chapter seven, Jesus is saying, you’re going to feel pressed.

Is it worth it? Is he worth it? Or are we responding with some degree of embarrassment that man, I don’t die. Yeah. I’m grateful I enter the narrow gate. And, but, but this stuff of, of, of, you know, I, I mean, Paul was in chains. I mean, I don’t want to be associated with, uh, with criminal activity. And how will people look at me?

How long to check my job, how would affect my job? If people think I’m hyper religious, you know, if they know I’m a Jesus guy, Jesus girl. Now on the one hand, everybody suffers, right? I mean, everybody suffers. There’s nobody in this room. There’s nobody in this town. There’s nobody on this planet that doesn’t face.

Everybody has kids get illnesses. They have their kids come home crying from school because they were rejected by other things in every parent suffers. Your spouse hurts you. Your finances are stressful. You have relation issues with family members. You have a hard neighbor, a coworker, who’s a jerk.

Everybody has stuff like that. So what’s Jesus. Meaning when he says w when you, when you become a member of my kingdom, when, when you embrace me, you’re going to be hard pressed. I mean, isn’t everybody, hard-pressed Jesus. I mean, everybody’s got stuff. I think he means we will suffer in the same way. Jesus does.

It doesn’t mean that every time I lose a sale, I think it’s because of. No, and it may not have anything to do with you losing sales, but there is the sense that as I am identifying with Christ, I know there is an opposition to me. I know there is an enemy. I know there is a, there is a force and a darkness that is coming my way, and I believe it would be intellectual dishonesty for me to not say to you, if you have not ever received Christ as your savior to say, you’re coming to Jesus is not an invitation to say, come to Jesus.

And you’ll never have problems. You’ll find suffering that you have not experienced before,

but he’s forfeit a beautiful song we sing. Is he worthy? He is. And I would say, I don’t mean you’re going to, oh no. Now that I’m come a Christian, I’m going to lose my job. Or, oh, now G mark is saying Monday morning, I got to go in. I started putting tracks out. You know, I got to start wearing a Jesus shirt.

You know, I’m not saying any of that. I mean the Lord, man, I don’t know, but, but I’m not. But what I am seeing is you wholeheartedly walk with Jesus. There will be hard stuff that wouldn’t be there. If you didn’t, there will be hard stuff that some of you are not experiencing because you have gone through the narrow gate, but you’re not really living as a person destined to life.

You’re living as a person destined to destruction. You may not be by God’s grace, but you’re wasting the life that you could be. As one destined to life. And you will find that even as you hear the story and you think, how did I miss it, man? I see this Christian. I, I look at a guy like Paul and he’s in chains.

And how can anybody be happy? How can anybody, I mean, I don’t want that. Nobody. Well, nobody does. However, I will guarantee you if we had Paul here today and Paul and we said, Paul, come on up here, brother.

What was it like having those chains with Christ? What was it like having those brothers that rejected you a guarantee? He would say something like this, you know what? I thank God for the chains. I thank God for the people that reject me. I got to know things about Jesus. I never knew. Jesus was more to me than he had ever been because he took me and he made himself known to me in places.

I had never known him in before he is worth it. But the invitation is this. He says we can go our default mode, which is the broad way. It’s natural to us. It’s about me. I do, I do I do it. Do I get it? I got it. You know, all, we can go the neuro and say he did it because he did it. I joyfully embrace him as my savior as my Lord, as my king and realize that just like the father once said in Romans eight, he, that did not spare his own son.

How will he not with him freely, give you everything.

So we come at the end of this, this study and we’re confronted with an invitation to say, yeah, I, I do acknowledge sin. Self-centeredness I acknowledge that I need Jesus, that if he didn’t do it, I would never be able to earn my way to a relationship with God. If you believe that if you’re embracing that you do, because God is at work in your life, we are do people until the spirit convicts us and changes us.

I invite you this morning to embrace Christ as your savior, you will never, never regret it. I also invite you who are here that by grades. Great. God’s grace. He said I have gone through the narrow. But I’m doing everything I can to live like a person that’s, that’s destined for destruction. I don’t live any different.

I don’t make any choices. I mean, I come to church. I’m here today. I mean, come on, mark. Thank you. I’m glad you’re here, but, but your life is not permeated with passion for Christ. Well, I want to honestly say that you’re missing out on life

and John Piper’s words, you wasting it because he calls us to live sometimes the hard road, but you’ll look back at every part of that heart journey. And you’ll say I wouldn’t trade what I experienced from Christ for anything, including avoiding the. We’re going to close our service in a minute, the worship team’s going to come and just lead us in the song I surrender.

And I’d like to, I’d like to pray, Lord, we come to you this morning.

God, the invitation to grace is so astonishing. Thank you Lord, for drawing us fish, kicking our way out of the boat. Lord, thank you for inviting us to live for you and in you Lord for any that are here. That need to say aye. Aye, sir. May it be now I pray in Jesus name.