TREASURY OF SERMONS
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Broad Way? Narrow Way?
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Life BPC, 10.30am Service, 4 Feb 2001)
Text: Matt 7:13-14
If you stand at any junction along Orchard Road,
you will notice this is the busiest part of Singapore. Hundreds and
hundreds of pedestrians, of every colour and creed, are on the go,
going in every direction—north, east, south, west.
From Jesus’ point of view there are only two
kinds of people. There are those that are travelling along a
broadway through a wide gate, but it leads to destruction. Their
destination is Hell.
Fortunately, there is a small group who comes by
a small and narrow gate along a small and narrow way which leads to
life. Their destination is Heaven.
Not all who come to Church this morning are on
the narrow way which leads to heaven. If you come here for reasons
other than worshipping God with your whole heart, you are in danger
of straying into the broadway, especially if you are here through
your parents’ pressure. You are here, but your spirit is out there.
You are wishing the Church Service will not end 5 minutes overtime.
Talking of the way that is broad, we have an
illustration from one so named, the most famous street that runs
through the whole of New York City. Rightly it is called the
Broadway. I had walked on the Broadway when a student in the United
States.
It is the most famous street because it is the
longest in the world. It is 150 miles long stretching from Manhattan
to Albany, on the Hudson River. It has hundreds of side streets. At
42nd street is Times Square where all the theatres are. At the 116th
Street is the famous Columbia University. At the 173rd is the first
skyscraper church in the city. At Wall Street it runs through the
financial heart of the nation.
But that which most attracts the attention of
the passers-by is Times Square, the theatre area. Here are the vices
openly advertised and displayed, X-rated films, peep shows, hidden
brothels on the side streets. Sex, sex, sex is the theme of the
flesh capital. Today, you may not be at Broadway, Times Square but
if you are addicted to the sins of the flesh, to smoking, drinking,
womanising, homosexuality, drug taking, gambling, blue films,
pornography through website, you are travelling on the highway to
destruction.
Please do not say I am pretending to be a
hellfire preacher, counting me out of date. Today there are many
preachers who say hellfire is a thing of the past. They only preach
the love of God that somehow He will not punish sinners forever.
This is a lie from Satan.
Jesus tells the experience of the rich man and
the beggar. The beggar went to Heaven to be with Abraham but the
rich man woke up in Hades, in the flames of hellfire. There was no
getting out for that man.
Jesus further affirms three times in Mark 9:43-48 that the hellfire
shall never be quenched and the worms will never die.
But Jesus invites you to get out of your
Broadway and join the small crowd entering in by the narrow gate and
walking by the narrow way. (Only 17% Singaporeans are Christians,
including Roman Catholics, and many are Christians in name). The
narrow way leads to life and its final destination is Heaven.
Jesus reiterates to those who desire to become
His disciples, with His offer of salvation. It is free for your
asking. Have you asked Jesus to save you? Have you received Him into
your heart?
But there is a price to pay. In Matt 16:24-26,
Jesus says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?"
Here are a few simple tests if you are following
Christ:
(1) If you have accepted Christ as your Saviour,
you must gladly obey Him. He says, "He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned"
(Mk 16:16). Have you confessed Christ in baptism? If you delay for
reasons known to yourself, you are disobeying Him. "Whosoever
therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also
before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me
before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in
heaven" (Matt 10:32-33). The first Christian Roman Emperor
Constantine the Great delayed his baptism until his deathbed
thinking that would wash away all his sins. The truth is baptism
secures forgiveness from time of baptism to the very end of your
life. But some "big men" might delay baptism out of pride.
(2) Travelling on the narrow way we will keep to
the rules Jesus prescribes for our journey. We will want to learn
them from His Word the Bible. Do you possess a Bible and do you read
a portion of it everyday? To help the beginner, our Church publishes
what is known as the RPG notes. By reading the Bible and praying to
the Lord for guidance, we will grow day by day in our spiritual
life. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. If you read more than 3
chapters a day you will cover it in one year.
(3) Do you come to Church faithfully every
Lord’s Day as it is commanded in Heb 10:25, "Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching"? Coming to Church is first priority. Missing Church is
missing the blessing of the whole week.
(4) Do you join the Church every Tuesday night
to pray? We have half-hour Bible study, half-hour testimonies,
half-hour prayer. A hundred come each week and they have been
blessed. "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (Jas 4:8).
If you come with a worshipful heart, how will God not listen to your
prayers? Church prayer meetings are not our own invention but
patterned after the Acts of the Apostles. Those who say they pray at
home are like scattered charcoal. As the scattered charcoal turns
black, so they end up dozing off.
(5) Be an active church member by further
joining one of the many Fellowships of Life Church, from Young Teens
Fellowship to Men’s Fellowship. Joining one of the groups on Mission
trip is a great strengthening of those who labour afar off. Not only
in next-door Malaysia but also nearby Batam and Bintan Islands of
Indonesia. Those who came along with me to Myanmar brought blessings
to the people there also. Or, you may teach a Sunday school class to
help out.
(6) God delights in the support you give for the
running of the Church, the Bible College, and our missions to a
dozen countries. God is so gracious as to count us His partners. We
should be thrilled that He takes note of our contributions as He
promises also to bless us.
(7) Last but not least is the giving of your
life to full-time service. This is in answer to Jesus’ challenge to
his disciples to take up the cross and follow Him. Recently a sister
offered to use her nursing ability to serve the Lord in Africa. The
giving of her life is a great undertaking as stated by William
Burns, yea, the greatest decision for her future. She surely
deserves our support.
If you are not saved you are travelling on the
Broadway. If you are saved, you will walk with Jesus, serving Him
gladly along life’s narrow way. On which way are you?
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow
is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it"
(Matt 7:13-14).
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