Daily Devotional For Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Can you believe we have already arrived at “Hump Day” – Wednesday? We are making our way through the most famous sermon ever – Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount. It is found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. We have finished looking at Matthew chapters 5 & 6. Currently we have come to Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. (14) For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (NASB).
As Jesus has been making His way through His sermon, it has been building to verses 13-14. These 2 verses detail how we come to God and that is on His terms, not ours. We are sinners living in a fallen world and doomed to damnation without Christ. There are no exceptions to this. Our culture and even some people claim to be Christians say, “Well, all roads lead to heaven.” Jesus says just the opposite here. Only one road leads to heaven and all other roads lead to hell.
Throughout this sermon, we have seen Jesus give teaching that runs totally counterculture and against any self-righteous, self-sufficient, self-centered and hypocritical standards as seen exemplified by the religious leaders. God is holy and perfect and we are to seek His kingdom first, not our kingdom. In verses 13-14, Jesus makes it clear only one way leads to God, to salvation, to sanctification and to heaven. Every person has to make this decision and there are no exceptions. You have to decide on the gate you will enter and the way you will go.
Every day we make all kinds of decisions – what to wear to work or school, what to eat, what to buy, whom to see, what to do at our job, etc. Many of these decisions are trivial and insignificant in comparison to those which are life-changing. The most important decision anyone will ever have to make is about who Jesus Christ is to them. The second most important question then is: how will you go about seeking His kingdom and His righteousness. First, a decision about our eternal destiny and second, a decision about how we will mature in that decision. The bottom line question all have to answer is this: Who is Jesus to you?
Former atheist and now Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis tackles this issue in his book:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the devil of hell! You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, God: or else a madman or something worse. . . You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to do that” (Source: C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 40-41).
C.S. Lewis’ point is when it comes to Jesus, you have to decide if He was a lunatic, a liar or the Lord He claims to be. Jesus could be a lunatic and a liar or a lying lunatic, or He was God in human flesh and thus the Lord He claimed to be. Many people like to say that Christianity is the only true faith. I take issue with that. In Jesus’ days, the religious leaders said that Judaism was the only true faith. True faith and genuine salvation is not in a system, but in a Savior. It is not in a program, but in a Person – Jesus Christ.
Therefore in our very educated and enlightened era, that rules out Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, and any other founder of any religious system. Jesus made claims that cannot be ignored or overlooked. When Moses was in the wilderness with the Hebrews, he said this to them in Deuteronomy 30:19-20:
- “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, (20) by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them” (NASB).
- After Israel come into the Promised Land, Joshua said to the people this in Joshua 24:13-15, “I (God) gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’ (14) “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. (15) If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (NASB).
- On Mount Carmel, the prophet Elijah said to the Israelites this in 1 Kings 18:21, “Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word” (NASB).
- God used the prophet Jeremiah to say this to the Jews in Jeremiah 21:8, “You shall also say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death” (NASB).
- Jesus said this to His disciples and to us today in John 6:65-69, “And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” (66) As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. (67) So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” (68) Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. (69) We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God” (NASB).
British poet John Oxenham wrote (Source: https://allpoetry.com/The-Ways):
To every man there openeth
A Way, and Ways, and a Way.
And the High Soul climbs the Highway,
And the Low Soul gropes the Low,
And in between, on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth
A Highway, and a Low.
And every man decideth
The Way his soul shall go.
The Sermon On The Mount cannot be liked or accepted merely on its call to a high moral ethic. As Jesus wraps His sermon up, His call is not to good moral ethical living, but to godly redeemed living that is constantly transforming more into the character of Jesus Christ. There is a danger and a warning here. Anyone who acknowledges Jesus as Lord and His teachings as truth but ignores Him or His teaching is under a greater judgment.
Jesus calls us to choose between the only one right and true way or the limitless wrong and false ways. British pastor and author John Stott writes this: “Jesus cuts across our easy-going syncretism” (John Stott, Christian CounterCulture, p. 193). If you do not know, “syncretism” is a merging or syncing of multiple religions – pulling from each their best to suit one’s own opinion. There are not many roads to heaven, but one. There are not many good religions, but only one. Man cannot come to God in any of the ways that man himself devises, but only in the one way that God Himself has provided.
Questions To Consider
- It is easy to assume that if you are reading this devotional, you accept the claims of Christ as Lord, not a lunatic or liar. Why do you think so many others who have been exposed to the Gospel still see Jesus either as a lunatic or a liar? What could you share with them that would add insight to them for why you see Jesus as Lord?
- Is there any part of your own walk with Christ that incorporates “syncretism?” If you say, “NO,” do you still think the best good people or family or friends who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will still go to heaven? If not, what should that mean to you and why?
- Jesus said that the gate to God, to heaven and salvation is small and narrow. What does that mean to you?
- What do you think of C.S. Lewis’ quote above? How could you use this to help others who may think Jesus was a lunatic or a liar?
Scripture To Meditate On: John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, `I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, please convict me to live out that people do die and go to hell. I know not all roads or religions lead to heaven or salvation. Please help me not to be guilty of syncretism, but instead, let me be known for believing Your truth and living it out in my life. Please use me to share You with others. Thank You that the gate is small and narrow. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly