Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: I have for you today a gift I'm going to share, explain, dive in, interpret, apply one of the most powerful teachings that Yeshua ever gave.
If you're a disciple of Yeshua, this should be of some interest to you, because it's teaching for disciples. It's actually more than a teaching. What Yeshua says in these sections of scripture is a directive. It's an order. It's a command. Do this and this happens. Don't do this and this happens, and it ain't good. What happens when you don't.
I think it's incredibly well known, this passage, this teaching. I also think it's incredibly misunderstood and misapplied. And finally, it's a bit scary. And who doesn't like to add a little fear into their Bible study, right?
Little fear of God. Of course, I'm going to tell you how to apply it, which, of course, you likely already know. But the question when it comes to application is always the same. Anyone remember the cartoon Gi Joe?
Famous, famous quote from Gi Joe. After teaching a lesson, now you know, and that's it. Knowing is half the battle.
The other half is actually bigger.
The doing is actually the bigger part.
Knowing is great and being inspired to do better. So I hope that today and next week, maybe you'll be, every week, you'll be inspired to do better.
That's my promise.
That's what I want to deliver to you, to dive into the gospels, which actually, we are a messianic jewish synagogue, but we don't do that a lot.
We always apply Yeshua and his teachings, and we connect them to Torah. But really, to take something from the gospels, it's just we do it sometimes, and this is one of those times to give you this perspective and prophecy, practical application from the words of our messiah, master, teacher, Rabbi Yeshua. The title of the message, you might. Well, it might have given away what passage it is that I'm talking about. When we see enter through the narrow gate, just imagine that you see enter on there somewhere. Enter the narrow gate.
So are you interested in that? What I'm promising to deliver to you? My dad is interested, and that's all that matters.
I just want to make you proud, daddy, but I need your input. So it's important that you're. It's important that you're engaged in the room online, on YouTube, whatever. If YouTube is working, hopefully it is. But I need you to help me with what you know. Okay. Matthew 713. Matad Yahuwah.
The new american standard says, 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. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted. That leads to life, and there are few who find it. You familiar with the text? Right.
ESV says it's slightly different. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide, the way is easy.
That leads to destruction. And those who enter it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard. That leads to life, and those who find it are few. Now it's your turn. For you few questions.
What is. You can just shout it out. It doesn't, and no one's going to hold you accountable for right or wrong answers. What is the general context of what he's talking about? What is the overarching idea behind this phrase? Behind this teaching? Behind this idea? What's the general concept? Anyone?
Eternal life, way to heaven, striving to enter into what?
[00:04:52] Speaker B: Messianic age.
Messianic age.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Messianic age. Good.
I thought maybe he was talking about how to construct a road or make a living or something, but the suggestion here is that he's talking about. Now, realize, when I use the phrase go to heaven, I know that the phrase go to heaven is not a real thing. We're not going to heaven. Heaven's coming here. But I use that and equate that with salvation because people know the phrase go to heaven. It means salvation. What we mean is the kingdom of heaven comes here and meets us. Right. Okay, so that's a thing.
Who would agree that he's pointing toward eternal life, salvation, that kind of idea. Okay, good. I want to ask another potential thing that is suggested is that entering through the narrow gate actually means the acknowledgement, the acceptance of doing hard things for Jesus like that, taking a stand, declaring your faith in him against all the world, knowing that no one's going to like you because he said it to you. Actually, if they hated me, they'll hate you. Right? That's a narrow gate, because who wants to do that? Anyone in favor of that idea? It could be there. Is it speaking to discipleship?
Which you could say is what I just said. But I'm saying, like, do we need to do is he's saying, you need to do more acts of service, take care of more orphans and widows, feed more poor, do more charity, and that's hard work, and no one wants to do it. So if you go into that gate, is that anyone ever heard that? Is that a possibility that we're talking about? Like discipleship okay, well, I feel like the general consensus I can go with.
We've read it a lot. We've heard it a lot. There's a lot of teachings. It's talking about life. There's things. But let's look at what we absolutely know from what this text says. Okay, here we go. We need to, first of all, enter through the narrow gate. Check. Got that?
Enter what I asked you, like, on the other side of a gate, there's something there that we're entering in. And the kingdom, eternal life. Salvation was suggested here.
We know that there's another gate, right? There's a wide gate. We also know that it's a very popular gate because many people go through that gate. And when you go through it, on the other side of it, what does he say? There's a road, there's a way. And what kind of road is it? Hard or easy?
It's an easy road. If you go through the wide gate, we know from the text. Put it up for me, if you would. 713. And following.
We go through the wide gate. There's an easy road. But where does the easy road lead?
Destruction, it says.
That doesn't sound like that easy of a road.
That's a big word. Okay. But it does seem like now we're getting somewhere toward figuring this out, because that seems very salvationy, doesn't it? That seems like we're talking about. I mean, destruction can only mean one thing, right? He's saying, if you don't enter the narrow gate and many don't, you will be destroyed.
That's what destruction means. So then if we overlay later christian theology onto this, we can step one forward and say, that means you're going to go to hell and you're going to burn forever in eternal torment, which, just as a side note, is actually not destruction. That's actually eternal life. You're just in a really bad place. So that's sort of a mix up in thinking, isn't it? Anyway, we won't do that. We already did some of that kind of seems like he's talking about making the decision to accept Jesus into your heart and escape destruction.
Because here's what else we think. We know there is a narrow gate, which by definition would be kind of hard to get into.
It's not wide.
And the road there, once you enter that narrow gate and get yourself in, what's the road like on the other side of that? Hard.
It's not an easy road, but where does it lead life?
There are definitely martyrs who could argue that their faith in Jesus has cost them everything. For many people, it's more like, you know what? I got persecuted at the grocery store today because I wore a shirt that said, I love Jesus.
That's not persecution. That's not the hard road. I just want to let you know.
But nevertheless, we know from Yeshua's words that it leads to life. So, once again, contrasted with destruction, this seems very salvation y. And one could say, and many have said, and given this interpretation, you come in through me, Yeshua, the narrow gate.
Walk this hard road of following me, and you'll have eternal life.
Straightforward.
There's a problem, as there always is. There's always something to talk about.
Actually, there are a lot of, let's say, difficulties, not problems with making it mean exactly that. We also know through the narrow gate, down the hard road leads to life. But few find it.
Few find it.
So if that is a story of salvation, more than a few have found it.
There are 2.6 billion followers of Jesus at this point in world history.
That's a lot more than a few people who have found salvation in Jesus, isn't it? I mean, it's the biggest religion in the world.
31.2% of the global population have found salvation.
Now, I am not suggesting that the text has nothing to do with the world to come or salvation, because it does. I believe it does. But I also believe that Yeshua is saying something much, much bigger than that. And so incredibly important for you, and you, and you. Who in here professes their allegiance to Yeshua as the messiah, who is that in this room?
Then it's important to all of you. If you raise your hand online, same thing.
Now, I have put you in a bad place because I've given you a certain little section of scripture.
And if I give you a certain little section of scripture and ask you to talk about overarching themes of that section, what is missing?
Context.
Context. Context when reading the Bible is like using gps with half the map gone.
In other words, you will get somewhere, but it's not the place that the author actually intended you to go.
It's somewhere else. And people do this all the time. You cannot read the Bible and derive ideas. Context without, I mean, concepts without context. So, in order to understand the depth of what's being said here, let's consider the context just of chapter seven. What is happening, by the way, in Matthew five seven, what is Yeshua doing? What's he teaching? It's the sermon on the mount. Okay, so just in seven, let me give you a little context for what's being taught in seven. First of all, seven one. Judge not that you not be judged for the judgment you pronounce against one will be used against you. Seven five. You hypocrite. First, take the log out of your own eye. This is what I call Planck eye syndrome. That's in 7712. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and prophets. What's that called?
The golden rule. 717. Every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. What does that mean? It means if you're a disciple, it should look like it. This is the context surrounding 713, where all of a sudden we're suggesting that he starts talking about eternal life.
That's not everything in chapter seven, but it's a good sampling. Then there's the very troubling, I promise you, a little bit of apprehension and some fear and some scary stuff. Here it is. This should scare people. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day, many will say to me, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works in your name? And I will declare to them, then, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Okay, we're still on the road, by the way, to figuring out the narrow gate stuff. I haven't gone off on a different direction. Are you with me? Okay, good.
We have to take note of something. You workers of lawlessness. What does that mean? The Greek is ah, or anomia, which means apart from the law. If Yeshua, who is talking to at this point, a large group of Jews, because multiple times he criticizes the Gentiles in the sermon on the mount, he's talking to Jews. If he says workers of lawlessness, what do you think they might deduce that he means by that?
People who ignore and do not follow the law, which is the Torah?
Anomia. Anomia.
For Yeshua's audience, Jewish. The central component would be Torah, in which we would live in accordance with.
But these people did all kinds of Jesus kind of stuff.
Prophesy, cast out demons, mighty works. And yet, apparently, they, too, are going where? Through the wide gate to destruction.
I never knew you get away from, like.
And yet they're followers of Yeshua.
Now we have a discovery.
We've made a discovery here.
This must mean that the narrow gate has more to do than just salvation.
It has to be more than an acknowledgement of Jesus. It has to be more.
Might I be so bold as to say it has to be more than saying a prayer, accepting Jesus into your heart.
The narrow gate. It's got to be more than that.
In context.
These people, whether they are the false prophets that he's talking about in the verses, just before some people say, well, he's talking to the false prophets, or is it a broader reference? That's the sort of scary part. Why didn't Jesus acknowledge them?
Well, again, if we keep reading to the end of the chapter for context, we're going to find and actually the conclusion of the sermon on, on the mount. It ends in chapter seven, verse 24. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. Good to know. There's something specific here. Very specific. Here's these words of mine.
And does them remember Gi Joe?
Here.
Here means, I know. I heard you, I acknowledged you, I recognized you.
Do is something different. It's action for those who hear and do. And Yeshua has specific things in mind that people should do these. I never knew you folks apparently did not do the specific things that he had in mind. Great. He says, if you hear and do. Okay.
Huh? Easy. Hear. If you hear and do.
Stop.
Does this trigger any other biblical memory for anyone from a story that may have happened a long, long time ago? Hear and do. Do and hear. Hear and do. Do and hear.
Does that phrase ring any bells? There is a connection here.
It's not in that order, but I think that there's a reason that Yeshua says hear and do.
Anyone recognize the connection? I'm going to give you one more chance. We're in. Matthew, what's that?
Very good, Rachel.
Matthew 724. Let's go back to Exodus 24/7 Moses wrote down all the words of Hashem, then rose up. Early in the morning, he built an altar below the mountain along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He then sent out young men of B'nai Yisrael, who sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings of oxen to Hashem. Then Moses took half the blood, he put it on basins, and on the other half he poured out against the Altar. He took the scroll of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people.
He took the scroll of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. Again, they said, all that Adonai has said, we will do and obey. The Hebrew says, nah say vanishma.
It says obey. In Hebrew, it means will do it and hear it.
Do you see a connection here?
I hope you do. It's the same english words that I'm saying. Jesus said.
Jesus said, hear and do. Israel acknowledged and said, we'll do and hear.
These were the terms of a relationship for Israel. If you wanted to be in the Club, if you wanted to be part of the Chosen People, if you wanted the Relationship, you had to agree to the terms, and it wasn't enough to just hear them, you had to do them.
This week's Torah portion, as a matter of fact, Bechukotai.
It is about what? Blessings and curses. It's about doing and not doing. It's about. And I want you to just pause and notice these flowers, which are. You may have been wondering, what in the world is up with these flowers?
Life and death.
It's in the Torah portion this week that when you don't do, it leads to destruction. Because if you read through Bechukotai and you read all the curses that come after, it is a horrendous bit of destruction.
So at Sinai, after hearing the scroll of the covenant and clearly hearing some of the terms of relationship, Israel says, we'll do and obey. We'll do. And the nishma here.
So back to the sermon on the mount.
Yeshua has just poured out. I mean, the people have just received.
Where, by the way, was Moses when he received the instructions that he then shared out to people? He was on the mount, a different mount, but that's where he was. Yeshua has now just issued, basically, a recapitulation of Torah through the sermon on the mount.
Actually, he's enhanced it. He's made it more difficult, a harder road.
Oh, my goodness.
You know, the. You've heard it said, and I tell you stuff, right? You heard this.
Hold on to your hats, Peter. It's harder than that.
What does he say? What does he talk about? He has just laid the terms of being his disciple, fulfilling the law. Matthew 517 20. I didn't come to abolish it. I came to fulfill it. I came to fill it full. I came to tell you how to do it.
He emphasizes that righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. Did anyone happen to see Darren's five minute Torah this week or read it? It was like, we have no conversation about the things that I'm going to talk about, or he is, and I'm finished. This message, I'm sending it on to him, and I watch this thing. I'm like, wow. Wow.
That was what our favorite waiter on our cruise did. No matter what happened, anytime. What did you do today? We went, wow.
So now Kelly and I are constantly walking around going, wow.
But right now you ought to be saying, wow.
God called Israel at Sinai to live by a higher code than the nations that surrounded them. Yeshua now calls all of his disciples to live by a higher code than those that surround them, regardless of who they were. Pharisees, sadducees, it doesn't matter.
Anger building on the commandment. You shall not murder. He says, even anger and insults toward others are subject to judgment. Reconciliation is actually prioritized. Adultery and lust. He expands on that. You can't even look divorce. He tightens the regulations there. Oaths. He encourages people. Says, don't make oaths. Just say what you mean and let it be. Let your yes be yes.
Retaliation. Transforming innocence. Eye for an eye. Although that has to do with finances. But he advocates for non retaliation. He advocates for being a peacemaker. Love for enemies. He commands you to love your enemies. Giving to the needy. Prayer, sincere private prayer. Don't do it like they do it. Fasting. Don't do it like they do it. Treasures in heaven. He warns against storing up anything on this earth, instead doing treasures in heaven. And he gives you, in case I just have to remind you of this, he actually gives a commandment not to worry. Who worried this week, you workers of lawlessness?
I worried this week. But when I read this and I'm refreshing my memory and I see Yeshua saying, don't worry, that's a commandment from Messiah.
Don't worry. He says it. The flowers. God takes care of all that. Then we go into Matthew seven, and I already gave you those things, right? Don't judge, don't plank eye your brother. Treat people the way you want to be treated. All of these things. The golden rule. It's a Torah class, my friends, that he's giving these people.
These are my terms, my disciples, they do all of this. Now, ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for this?
This is what it means to enter the narrow gate.
Wow.
Not only to acknowledge, not only to say, yeshua is Messiah.
I have my wonka heaven golden ticket stamped.
But to do, to live, to walk the narrow road. Therefore, anyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Unlike the workers of lawlessness. Anomia, apart from without the Torah, I never knew you. You did some good things. You did some fine things. You know what? They were religious things. Remember our message last week? The contradiction of religion, doing things that look great on the outside, but on the inside, your dead man's bones.
You can't just do what you want to do.
He gave you instructions to live by.
They're very ancient. He didn't come up with them.
The narrow gate, he says, is my teaching, my example, my instruction. And you know something? According to Yeshua's own words, those he never knew, those who don't obey it, they're not the exception to the rule. They're the majority. Why? Because, he said, few find it.
That should shake you in your boots or sandals, because it's hot in Georgia.
How narrow is the gate and how difficult is the way that leads to life? And those who find it are few. In other words, I want to tell you, give you a word, those who find it are exceptional.
And I mean the exception to the rule who choose to really do it. They are the exception to the norm. They are, we could say, peculiar, which actually takes us right back to God's description of Israel in the Torah, when they choose to live by the commandments. The King James translates segula. Segulot, treasured possession. King James translates that as peculiar. Okay, I say exceptional. Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice, indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people.
Is that everyone? Is that the masses? Is that the majority? That's an exceptional group of people. Not because they are people, but because they said, we'll do it.
Segula, exceptional. And I mean only an exception to the norm. Those we can read from the text, who enter the gate, walk the road and choose to do the hard things of what he said, what they heard and doing, doing, are exceptional disciples.
They're peculiar.
Do you want to be exceptional?
Do you?
I'll tell you what that means, but I just want to say this one more thing about that, this hear and obey that Yeshua talks about. Why did he say it that way?
Why didn't he just echo the Torah? Why didn't he say to all of those who are listening, if you na se v'nishma, if you will obey and hear, why?
Well, you know, in Judaism, it's a very big deal that Israel responded that way. It is supposed to be a testimony to Israel's willingness to come into the covenant, that before even knowing what the real terms were, Israel just said, we'll do it. As a matter of fact, there's a story in the Talmud, Shabbat 88 a B. I can't remember of a Sadducee talking to Rava, who's a great sage, and he says, you know what? I'm summarizing it now. You people are idiots.
You are precocious and impetuous. Rava says, what are you talking about? Who in their right mind would agree to the terms before they even knew what the terms were? You people are silly.
And Rava responds and says, well, it's because we're so committed and because we love God so much that we agreed that we would just do it.
Did they just do it? How did that work out? Well, not long after the golden calf was built, Israel lost.
The midrash talks about, Israel received crowns at the giving of the Torah. One for one, for will obey, one will hear. God gave Israel these crowns. As soon as they built the golden calf, they lost those crowns.
Okay, but that's a big deal in Judaism, that that's how it was. It didn't go well. They built a golden calf. The whole reason Yeshua was even there on some level, was because of their horrendous behavior in Israel. Repent, repent, repent. Return to the Torah. The kingdom's coming back. Baseless hatred. That's what he was restoring. But I want you to note this, okay?
Yeshua spells it out first. I've just given you all of these things from the sermon on the mount, these little highlights, these little things that he says, chapter five through seven. Forget the chapter in verse. The sermon on the mount. He gives the details. He fills full the Torah for the people to understand what is required. And at the end of it, he says, listen, guys, if you hear it and do it, you're like a smart person. Do you see what he did right there?
It didn't work out that well when they said, we'll do it and hear it. So Yeshua, being so merciful and wonderful as a teacher, simply flips the order and says, I've given you all of it. Here's the instruction. Here's the blueprint. Do it.
And so it's all connected to Mount Sinai and the Torah. He's saying, you've heard it. Here it is. These are the things. Enter the narrow gate. If you do, there's something special. There's a restoration of things. There's a restored relationship. There's something exceptional. And the key point I want you to see eventually is, yes, that can be about what's going to happen, but it's actually about what is happening on this planet, where your feet are and where you should be walking as a disciple through the narrow gate on the hard road to the way of life.
Delitzsch translates that narrow is the entrance and constrained is the way of life. Derek Hachaim and those who find it, there are few. That way of life could be eternal, but there's so much, much more. Narrow gates, wide paths leading to destruction, hard roads leading to life. What's all that mean? Well, I want to talk to you about destruction and discipleship, and I think that would make a fantastic title for next week's message, destruction and discipleship. That should fill the seats, right?
I'm not. I'm gonna call next week the conclusion of this week, walking the hard road, because we've already talked about entering the narrow gate. Then we have to do what? We gotta walk the road. That's what we do. But I had to teach you this first because I needed you to see how important those closing words of the sermon on the Mount are for the whole story in context, to have you reconnect with just how central the idea of Yeshua as rabbi, as teacher, as practical, living as disciple on earth, how important that is for you, and not get lost in the story of the glory of heaven, but instead recognize your responsibility here on the narrow path. So next week, I'll show you the way of life and how to live up to the call of being peculiar and exceptional and full of life.
Because that's what we find.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: Shabbat Shalom please visit our website, shalommacon.org, to learn more about us. Join our live services, access other teachings, sign up for our newsletter, join our private network that will connect you with our greater community from around the world or contribute to the work of Shalom. Macon, thank you for watching, and we look forward to connecting with.
