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Some of you have come up to the University of Northumbria; some to the University of Newcastle. If you have just come to the University of Newcastle you will have been given a freshers' pack. In it you will have been fed lie after lie - Clinton style. There is an economy with the truth, as they say these days. You will have received a green flyer inviting you to get paralytically drunk with free night club admission and zero queuing all year - for just £35. But you were not told the whole truth. You were not told about the great damage excessive alcohol can do - both psychological, physical and social. I can think of a fellow student at the university with me. He was a Geordie. He thought it clever to get drunk. Some years later I asked how he was doing. I was told he was now very ill, hospitalized, with his brain deteriorating and his mind seriously affected. Then you will have been given the rag booklet and been told, I quote, "25 things you should have done before you leave Newcastle University". (Apart from getting drunk and (number 7) having "woken up in a part of Newcastle that you've never heard of") you are told (number 17) you "should have lost your virginity" and (number 18) "spent a night with a stranger". And to promote this decadence, you will have been provided with a condom. But don't be surprised that you weren't told that the condom failure rate in terms of contraception is 15 percent or higher; and the failure rate in terms of sexually transmitted diseases is much higher still. And don't be surprised that you weren't told that if you really want to enjoy sex throughout your life, you should wait until marriage. You weren't told that studies are now showing that people who follow the Christian sex ethic, keeping sex for marriage, actually do better in bed than those who don't! You see, truth is no longer a primary value for many in a modern university at the end of the 20th century. Now don't get me wrong. People still talk about truth. But they believe it is entirely relative. Here is the American academic Alan Bloom:

There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative ... The danger ... is not error but intolerance ... The purpose of their education is not to make them scholars but to provide them with a moral virtue - openness.

Is that you - wanting to be "open" to everything? But where will it end? As an ideal it sounds great. But what about being open to violence or death? That is the ultimate "open" experience. It is advocated now in books that you study at school and university. Take the Marquis de Sade. And you can now buy de Sade in mainstream bookshops all over the Western World. "Give in to your instincts," is de Sade's message. "If you want to sleep with a boy, a girl or an animal, do so!" There was a girl from an impeccable background with no criminal record at all. She met a man and started to be "open" to all sorts of things. She and her new boy-friend systematically immersed themselves in sado-masochistic pornography. What was the result? The "moors murders" with Myra Hindley and Ian Brady murdering a 17 year old boy with 17 blows from an axe and mutilating and torturing two small children - that is what they were charged with in court. But who was their hero? The Marquis de Sade. In the trial a passage from de Sade was read out. It included this sentence:

Doubtless we will humiliate man's pride in reducing him to the ranks of other productions of nature, but nevertheless he is merely an animal like any other, and in the eyes of Nature his death is no more important than that of a fly or an ox.

And the jury heard another of de Sade's lines: "God is a disease, a plague, a weight around a man's neck." But isn't that where the Freshers' pack logically ends - man is "no more important than ... a fly or an ox"? So get drunk, vomit everywhere, sleep with all and sundry and get diseased. Who cares? After all God is only a mere "weight around a man's neck." No! you must not be open to everything. But you must be open to the truth that is not relative. And tonight I want you to be open to the truth as Jesus teaches it. I want us to look together at the famous Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel, chapter 7 verse 13. And that my headings tonight are, first, THE CHRISTIAN WAY; and secondly, REASONS FOR SAYING "NO!" - and I am going to suggest there are two reasons, a) and b). First, THE CHRISTIAN WAY Many people say, "Oh, yes! I like the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. But I can't go along with all those Christians who are so hard and black and white. Why can't they be more loving like Jesus?" That proves they have not read the Sermon on the Mount. For it is hard and black and white. You heard in the reading of our passage that Jesus says all roads to do not lead to God and salvation. He says there is a simple choice. It is one or the other way. There is no syncretism here. There is no: "try the way of Islam, or Buddhism, or the New Age movement or something else; and if it suits you, good!" No! Jesus says there are only two roads. One of those is the right road; one is the wrong road. And only one leads to life. And Jesus teaches that he alone is the way and the truth and the life. You may not like that. But that is what he teaches. And if he is God the Son, incarnate, the one who alone in the history of the universe shows us who and what God is like, that is the hard reality. And his life, his ministry, his Resurrection and his empty tomb confirm the reality. You can deny it for all you're worth. It will not affect its truth. So let's now look more carefully at this passage - Matt 7 verse 13:

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. {14} But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

These words highlight the fundamental fact that there will always (and only) be (at the end of the day) two groups of people; two roads; two destinations and two entry points. And you have to make a choice between them. It is as simple as that. And the choice is this: do you want to drift with the many down the broad road that ends in destruction? Or do you want to make a conscious effort to find that small entrance and go with the few down the narrow road to life? I know what I want. I know what any sensible person would want. But people aren't sensible - that is the tragedy of life. I remember the beginning of term like this when I was a student. I was in the Christian Union and inviting people to a tea meeting - like some of you were invited to tea this afternoon. I knocked on the door of this fresher's room. He was on my staircase. His name was Jim. I gave him an invitation card. He was an American - from the famous military academy of West Point - a brilliant man, one of the most brilliant in the university. But he didn't come to that meeting nor any other Christian meetings in our college. Eventually we both left the university. The next thing I heard of him was that he was killed on active service in Vietnam. From that perspective, what was more important? Getting a first class degree or sorting out his relationship with God? At that very same college where I and Jim were students, only 3 or 4 years after I left, another American was a fresher; and another Christian student would have invited him to a meeting for freshers - that's for sure. His name this time was Bill: his surname was Clinton - he was Bill Clinton. I expect tomorrow he will wish he had spent his time at the university sorting out his relationship with God and sorting out what God wanted of his life. But to do that would have meant identifying with a relatively small group of Christians - the few and not the many. It would have meant going on that narrow road where certain things are right and certain things are wrong. And going on that narrow road means not only that you don't get drunk and you wait for marriage before you have sex and then you keep sex for marriage. It means you confess Christ as the only Saviour and Lord. It means you face the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross, in your place, for your sins and that he rose again and is alive forevermore. It means admitting you have done wrong. It means you ask for his forgiveness - and no one is too bad to ask (or too good not to need to ask) for forgiveness - and God will forgive you for what Christ has done on the cross. It means you receive his Holy Spirit. And it then means you put Christ first in your life. It means all that and more. That is the narrow road. And it is narrow because God puts up boundaries. These are not to repress us. They are to protect us. Tragically there were two young men killed in the Lake District this week - one came from the North East. I don't know if they were following the mountain code and keeping to the path on the map. To do that limits you. Oh! you can just wander around on the broad expanse of the fells without a care in the world. But that can lead to death and destruction. In this life you need boundaries and limits. And God says that if you want to enjoy his eternal life, you must have his boundaries and keep to his paths. And above all you must start off the right way. How do you start? It is through the "small gate". And at the end of verse 14 Jesus says, "only a few find it". It is very interesting, but Jesus doesn't mention anything about "finding" the wide gate. It is as though you don't have to bother about getting onto the broad road. You will just drift onto it. It is like going South from here. You just drift on to the A19 or the A1 - you can't help it. And going West you can't help getting on to the A69. But if you want to go on the Roman Road and see Hadrian's Wall, you have to make an effort to find it. You have to look at the map and get off that broad A69 just after Hexham. Perhaps there is someone here tonight who is searching. you are making an effort and trying to find out whether there is a God, who really Jesus is, what happens after death, if there is heaven and hell, and if so where are you going? Well, can I say, it is good you have come along tonight. Keep coming. Because over the next few weeks - in fact right up to Christmas - if you come regularly you will hear about the essentials of the Christian faith. We are going to start a new series of sermons on Sunday evenings called Knowing God. They will start on the first Sunday of October - October 4. So do come and tell your friends. Bring them along with you. And remember this: if you're asking questions and searching, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount just a few verses before our verses tonight - chapter 7 vv 7-8:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. {8} For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

But you say, "if Jesus is the truth, if the bible is God's word written, if this is the truth, why aren't there more people who believe? Why doesn't everyone follow Christ?" That brings me to my second heading. Secondly, REASONS FOR SAYING "NO!" And Jesus seems to give us two reasons. First a) look at verses 15-20 of chapter 7:

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. {16} By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? {17} Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. {18} A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. {19} Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. {20} Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

One reason why many do not follow Christ and enter by that small gate and travel that narrow road is because of "false prophets". Read Jeremiah if you want to know about "false prophets" in the bible - Jer 23.14:

among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me.

False prophets tolerate and even encourage sexual immorality - heterosexual and homosexual. But also false prophets, says Jeremiah (Jer 6:14), say:

'Peace, peace' ... when there is no peace.

And false prophets were like that in New Testament as well as Old Testament times; and they are like that today. On the one hand they encourage immorality - they say that sex before and outside marriage is sometimes permitted; they say that cohabitation is sometimes permitted; they say that gay sex is sometimes permitted. On the other hand they say "peace, peace" when there is no peace. They say, "don't take too seriously the idea that anyone is going to hell. Jesus may have said that the broad road leads to destruction. But no one can believe that sort of thing today." In addition New Testament false prophets also denied the deity and manhood of Christ. 2 Peter 2 verse 1 says:

They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them.

These people preach and teach lies. But the danger is they often seem so nice and loving. They are charming and kind and warm and gentle. Jesus says they "come to you in sheep's clothing". But he says: "don't be put off by appearances." He says these people "inwardly ... are ferocious wolves." They will destroy you and the church. So how can you tell "who's who"? Jesus says, verse 16:

By their fruit you will recognize them.

So ask: "What are they teaching - are they teaching what the apostles and the bible teach? What is their lifestyle? And what is the long term effect on the church - does it lead to growth (not any growth - but good growth) and spiritual health?" Sometimes it takes time to see their fruit. But in the end it appears. So the first reason for disbelief is false prophecy or false teaching. b) The second reason is other so called Christians. The world, and the bible, calls these people "hypocrites" - and they do a huge amount of damage. Look at verses 21-23:

Not everyone [ says Jesus] who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. {22} Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' {23} Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!

What do these people seem like? They seem very devotional - they say "Lord, Lord". And they are very charismatic people - they are into prophecy and driving out demons and performing miracles. But Jesus says they do not do "the will of my Father who is in heaven." What is God's will? The Sermon on the Mount has already shown that God isn't primarily interested in the externals of religion. They have their value, of course, but they are not to come first. And Jesus says those externals include the church-going and observances of people like the Pharisees, but also, here, it includes the devotion and charismatic activities of these people. No! God wants you first to get your heart right with him. Who tonight needs to do that? Jesus says that you may be religious, but your heart can still not be right with God. Jesus says "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3.3). And he said that to a famous religious leader - Nicodemus. Jesus says to get on that narrow road you must ask for his Holy Spirit to transform you and give you new life. And he will do that, if you admit your need and ask him. If you have never done so before, why not do that tonight? I must conclude I do so with a question? Do you want to keep off that broad road? Well, first, avoid false teachers. And the best safeguard against false teaching is the regular study of the bible with prayer for the Holy Spirit to teach you. As you neglect the bible, you will soon follow false teachers. As you read it, you will be able to avoid them. Then, secondly, be on your guard against people who externally seem good Christians but they are in fact nothing of the sort. Don't be seduced by their claims to prophecy, exorcisms and miracles or by their religious observances. Check out, using the bible, whether they are really doing "the will of [our] Father who is in heaven."