No Way; Way!
Notes
Transcript
Driving Directions
Driving Directions
Think of the last time that you either gave or received driving directions. With GPS and navigation at the fingertips, is is becoming more rare. but sometimes you are looking for something that isn’t on a map.
Here in the South, we tend to measure distance in time: Drive about 5 minutes down the road.
We give landmarks by what use to be there. Turn right where the Sears use to be.....
And we tend to give commentary on the points of interest along the way.
Demo’s Bar B Q :Slaw and beans.
But inevitably we are going to utter the phrase that kills directions more than raid kills bugs.
“you can’t miss it.”
When I hear someone say that, I know that I’m going to miss it.
When you say, “you can’t miss it.” It plant’s a seed that you don’t have to look that hard, it’s easy, relax. Any we become complacent.
Sermon on the mount
Sermon on the mount
Jesus doesn’t make that error.
13 “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.
There are only two ways you can go.
There are only two ways you can go.
19 “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,
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.
The light switch is either on, or off. There is no in between.
There are many areas in life where there is grey.
Law of non-contradiction.
If a proposition is true, then the opposite of that proposition cannot also be true.
Law of the excluded middle.
If a proposition is true, and the opposite if false, then there cannot be any other option for either to be partially true or partially false.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
The Way
The Way
Few find it: Since Jesus said this, there are people that claim that they are the only ones to have found the way.
If you ask Church of Christ member if they are the only ones going to heaven, they may surprise you and tell you no, but then turn around and explain that only members of the church that belongs to Christ, (His Church) are the only ones going to heaven. But they will then tell you that they believe that they are the only ones that are only ones that hold to what Christ’s church is supposed to be.
Don’t get me wrong, I know several COC members that are great people and believe them to have a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Catholics will tell you they are the only ones to have found the way.
We all want to count ourselves as part of the few.
Welcome to Broadway
If you go up to most modern buildings, there is little doubt at to which door you should go to.
There is an architectural term call “Celebrated Entrance Way”
See, You want visitors to feel welcome. You don’t want people to be confused. You want to guide them into the main entrance.
I have three doors to my house. Front door, garage door, back door.
The front door is at the end of the driveway, If you come to my house, there is no doubt which door you are supposed to come to. If someone goes by my front door, around the side of my house, through the fence, onto the porch, and comes to the back door, you are not likely to be welcomed in the same manner that you would at the front door. If I walked out of my bedroom into the kitchen and was someone standing at my back door. I wold be weird.
The way to destruction has a celebrated entrance way. It’s the way everybody else is going. It is comfortable, and easy. It is the way that feels right. It is what comes naturally.
The wide gate is our default.
How do you find the narrow way?
How do you find the narrow way?
We know Jesus is the way, but what does that mean?
You have to know the password:
Lord and Savior:
Jesus as Savior:
Savior:
10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
But some leave our the Lord part:
They want Jesus on their own terms. They want diet Jesus.
They want the cheapest and most convenient Hell insurance policy they can get.
6 “Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.
7 “Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out.
If you want Buffet Christianity, you will not last.
6 months, 16 years, you will walk away from Christ. That faith will be withered or chocked out.
You either take all of Christ, or get none of him.
Lord:
15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
But if only Lord, or partially Lord
If you recognize him as Lord, but don’t see your need for a savior, you are lost.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Jesus + something doesn’t equal salvation.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Lord and Savior
Lord and Savior
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.