On Thanksgiving Day 2012, a dense fog from the Gulf of Mexico covered southeastern Texas, reducing visibility to a few yards. The roads were busy with holiday traffic when the first cars collided outside Beaumont. In the poor visibility, vehicle after vehicle crashed into what would become a gigantic pileup. When it was over, 120 vehicles—cars, small trucks and semis—had plowed into one another. The wreckage of twisted and mangled cars—some on top of one another—stretched out over the span of a few blocks. Two people were killed and scores of others were seriously injured.
“Reduce speed in dangerous conditions” is advice drivers should never forget. It is sound advice in a spiritual sense too. All the billions of people in this world are speeding down the highway of life. Good advice for all those travelers would be to slow down and seriously consider the safety of the life-road they’re on.
The Lord Jesus spoke of two roads: the narrow road that leads to life and the broad road that leads to destruction. “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” (Matthew 7:13-1413Enter 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: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13‑14)). Every person in this world is traveling down one of these two roads.
How about slowing down on the road of life for a moment and asking yourself if you are right with God. If you haven’t repented and put your faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, then you are on the broad road that leads to destruction. At the end of their lives, people who have lived without God will end up crashing into the human wreckage of hell where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:1212But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12)). Hell is the solemn, tragic consequence for the serious action of choosing to live apart from God. It is the final destination for the unrepentant.
If you realize that you are on the broad way that leads to destruction, don’t despair! God sent His Son to be your Saviour. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:1414But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14)). He didn’t do this because men were leading decent lives and just needed a little help. He did this because all had fallen deeply into sin and otherwise did not have a chance of escaping the just condemnation of a holy God. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)). He knew their lost and ruined condition and came to save them. Through the gospel, God is reaching out to sinners and inviting them to receive His richest blessings.
Listen up! You don’t have to journey through life following the sinful crowd in front of you until you crash into a lost eternity. Christ died for you. The Creator of the universe took upon Himself the form of a servant, became a man, and gave His life for sinners. When a sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the infinite value of the sacrifice made on the cross is placed over their account, and God declares them forgiven, justified and fit for heaven. Men do not make up this way of salvation. It is far too wonderful to be the product of a human mind. God is the author of it, and He planned it before the universe was created. Although God is infinitely rich in wisdom and love, and men and women are dismally weak and poor through sin, He values each and every one of them so much that He was willing to give His Son so they can be saved.
The moment a person believes in Christ is the moment they receive the gift of eternal life. Once they receive this gift, He will never leave them but will be with them, always helping them by His grace. “Lo, I am with you alway[s], even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:2020Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:20)). By His grace, they will be enabled to live lives characterized by obedience, faith, love and truth. This is what it means to enter the narrow way, and the end of this road is heaven and all its bright joys.
Don’t continue to half-blindly follow the crowd that will end up crashing one after another in the place of sorrow and darkness. Instead, come to the Lord Jesus Christ who has shown He loves you beyond any shadow of doubt through what He has done.
A policeman who responded to the multiple-car wreckage in Texas called it a “catastrophe.” Will you avoid the far greater catastrophe of eternal punishment by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? Don’t delay, dawdle or dally with your decision. In How That Van Made It Through! you’ll be reminded of the hairbreadth that separates life and death.