The Bible Study Podcast, episode 421. Today, the Bible Study podcast continues the study of the book of Matthew with chapter 7.

Welcome to the Bible Study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen. This is part two of chapter 7.

We're continuing on in the study of the sermon on the Mount. The last week you may remember, we talked about judging others.

And then we also ended with ask, seek, knock. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find knock. And the door will be open to you.

Which is interesting because the very next thought, the very next thought here in Matthew,

in the Sermon on the Mount, is narrow and wide gates.

Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter

through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.

I find that very interesting that these two thoughts here are in juxtaposition,

right next to each other, that we get ask and will be given,

seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened, everyone who asks receives,

the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be open.

This very open, sort of this is all available to anyone.

If your son asks for bread, will you give him a stone? No, that's ridiculous.

And yet, Jesus is not saying, even though this is open to everyone, even though everybody

who asks will get, everybody who seeks will find, everybody who knocks it will be open,

he's saying, on the other hand, on the other hand, few will, right? Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction.

And it almost sounds like this gate is hidden. Only a few will find it. Only a few will be asking. Only a few will be seeking. Only a few will be knocking.

Only a few will find this narrow gate. When I was in Africa, I had a chance to go to the

Ngoro-Norro Crater. Fascinating place, because it was the first time I really felt like I had to be

in Africa because I could see these huge herds of wildebeests and these huge herds of

zebras. And I get the sense of this sort of herd mentality that we're all going this way.

...