The Bible describes two types of people in the world: The saved and the lost. In speaking of these two types of people, Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14,
“Enter in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leads unto life, and few are they that find it.”
Jesus was not one to mince His words when it came to telling people the truth, especially when it came to speaking of the condition of one’s soul. In these two verses alone He makes it abundantly clear that the condition of mankind is a lost one. We are told in Isaiah 59:2 that our sins have separated us from God. This includes everybody, for Paul wrote in Romans 3:23, “ . . . for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. . . .”
There is much to be gleaned from these words from our Savior found in Matthew 7, but one thing that seems to me to grow keener and clearer the older I get is just how much sorrow and just how much grief must have afflicted the Lord when he uttered these horrible, tragic words some two thousand years ago! Here He was (and is and will forever be) the Creator and the Sustainer of the entire cosmos (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16), the One Who is above all thrones, principalities and powers, the One Who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8), the One Who is the Redeemer of all the Earth (Job 19:25; Isaiah 41:14), the beginning and the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18), the One Who stretched forth the very heavens from horizon to horizon and the One Who formed us in the womb (Isaiah 44:24), the One Who loved us so much that He left the glory and riches of Heaven to come to this lowly plain of existence and humble Himself to live His life as an unassuming servant (Philippians 2:7). He was (and is and will forever be) the King of kings and Lord of lords, the only Potentate there ever was (or is or ever will be) (1 Timothy 6:15) Who suffered Himself to be beaten, and to be scourged, and to be afflicted for our sins and nailed to the cross of Calvary as a common outcast and criminal. But no mere ordinary man was He, for He was literally “God with us”. This same Person had to tell us, the children whom He loved so very dearly, that in spite of all that He has done for us and continues to do for us, we will, for the most part as a people, continue to reject Him as our Savior and god to our own utter destruction! I can only imagine how hard He must have fought back to keep the tears from flowing and streaming from His eyes and down His face when He spoke these words.
May you choose this day to reject Him no longer!
“Enter in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leads unto life, and few are they that find it.”
Jesus was not one to mince His words when it came to telling people the truth, especially when it came to speaking of the condition of one’s soul. In these two verses alone He makes it abundantly clear that the condition of mankind is a lost one. We are told in Isaiah 59:2 that our sins have separated us from God. This includes everybody, for Paul wrote in Romans 3:23, “ . . . for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. . . .”
There is much to be gleaned from these words from our Savior found in Matthew 7, but one thing that seems to me to grow keener and clearer the older I get is just how much sorrow and just how much grief must have afflicted the Lord when he uttered these horrible, tragic words some two thousand years ago! Here He was (and is and will forever be) the Creator and the Sustainer of the entire cosmos (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16), the One Who is above all thrones, principalities and powers, the One Who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8), the One Who is the Redeemer of all the Earth (Job 19:25; Isaiah 41:14), the beginning and the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18), the One Who stretched forth the very heavens from horizon to horizon and the One Who formed us in the womb (Isaiah 44:24), the One Who loved us so much that He left the glory and riches of Heaven to come to this lowly plain of existence and humble Himself to live His life as an unassuming servant (Philippians 2:7). He was (and is and will forever be) the King of kings and Lord of lords, the only Potentate there ever was (or is or ever will be) (1 Timothy 6:15) Who suffered Himself to be beaten, and to be scourged, and to be afflicted for our sins and nailed to the cross of Calvary as a common outcast and criminal. But no mere ordinary man was He, for He was literally “God with us”. This same Person had to tell us, the children whom He loved so very dearly, that in spite of all that He has done for us and continues to do for us, we will, for the most part as a people, continue to reject Him as our Savior and god to our own utter destruction! I can only imagine how hard He must have fought back to keep the tears from flowing and streaming from His eyes and down His face when He spoke these words.
May you choose this day to reject Him no longer!
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