The Sermon on the Mount is now coming to its conclusion and Jesus, after teaching the character of God, the culture of God’s kingdom and the requirements of God’s children, now turns all of His teaching over to us; it is time for us to respond. The key verse throughout the entire sermon has been Matthew 5:20, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” The rest of the sermon, from that point forward was to teach us what surpassing righteousness really is; it is not simple actions and inactions but instead surpassing righteousness is the condition of our hearts, it is our character, it is what God sees within us and what we allow to remain. Surpassing righteousness is the putting away of faulty beliefs about God, prideful beliefs about ourselves and selfish beliefs about each other. Surpassing righteousness is found in the character of God and the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Surpassing righteousness is having the same mind that was in Christ Jesus in us, the mind of humility, servanthood, mercy, grace, sacrifice and redemption. Surpassing righteousness is when the invitation of the Father to the secret place is far greater than the opinion of men, the longing of the flesh or the judgment of the heart. Surpassing righteousness is ultimately the denial of self, taking up the cross and following after Jesus and as R.T. Kendall wrote, “the way of the cross means submission.” After all of this preaching and teaching, all of this talking and introspection over this past nearly 2 years, surpassing righteousness can be summed up in one word, surrender. Now, in what we can consider to be the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus moves from revealing what surpassing righteousness is to charging us to “enter” the kingdom of God. The Bible is filled with God bringing man to the point of decision. Through Moses God told Israel “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live . . .” Through Joshua He said “Choose you this day whom you will serve . . .” Through Elijah He said “If God is God serve Him . . .” Now Jesus says, in light of all that we have been taught, all that He has revealed, all that we know God to be, You “Enter by the narrow gate”. Next week we will learn about what the narrow gate and narrow way truly mean but for today we are going to concentrate on the choice that we are being brought to. The choice is not an occasion, meaning something to be done for a time. It is not an addition, something to add to life, or a subtraction, something to be taken away. The choice Jesus is asking us to make is a decision, an abandoned surrender to a way in which we have not gone before and we will not turn back from ever again. He is not asking us to invite Him in or to take a deeper look inside to see what we think, He is asking us to “come and die”; to deny ourselves, take our cross and follow; to choose life and to take off all our encumbrances, all our protective and destructive layers and to run the race that is set before us. We are being given a choice and the choice is whether or not we will make a lasting decision.