Want to Know God?

First Baptist Church, Pleasant Grove

Jesus is a genius. While on earth, one of the ways He demonstrated His brilliance was His ability to masterfully communicate God’s truth. Whether He was on the banks of a Galilean shoreline, standing in a local synagogue or speaking atop a Jerusalem mountainside, it seems that His impromptu sermons always left the crowds amazed. As He comes to the conclusion of His most infamous sermon, Jesus issues an invitation.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes all of life as two roads. These roads have gates that lead to different destinations. Ironically both claim the same promise — Heaven This Way. It is not that one path claims to lead to heaven and the other path claims to lead to hell. While both roads claim to lead to heaven only one road truly delivers on the promise. Most people want to go to heaven. In a recent ABC News Poll it was reported that 9 out of 10 Americans believe there is a God and 85 percent of Americans believe they will go to heaven when they die. Most people today believe either of these roads will end in heaven, but there will be a rude awakening for the masses of humanity.

Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus compared two ways of righteousness and concludes that one form of righteousness is really no righteousness at all. One form of righteousness claims we can do more good than bad thereby tipping the scales in our favor. The other claims we are spiritually bankrupt before God. Jesus says the phony form of righteousness can be described as a wide gate and a broad road filled with many people who don’t realize their attempts to gain heaven are futile. The other form of righteousness is portrayed as a narrow gate along a narrow road that only a few people are able to find. The invitation of Jesus is a call to abandon the way of the world. He issues the invitation when He says, “Enter through the narrow gate.” Elsewhere Jesus says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved.” Fortunately it is not too late for a few more weary travelers to change lanes. Will you journey with Jesus unto eternal life?