Mat 7:13 “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. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell– and great was its fall.”
There are very many in the world who are almost and yet but almost Christians…A second proof of it is that of the parable of the virgins in St. Matthew. See what a progress they make, how far they go in a profession of Christ.
People are commanded and/or urged to enter through the narrow gate. This sounds bad because no one likes to be narrow in thinking or in what they do. We think of narrow in several ways, but all of them are negative. A gate that is narrow makes it sound like one can hardly fit there and if one has a phobia of tight places, it sounds so negative. What we must think of, however, is that Jesus had His reasons for saying this and it is vital that we deal with what He said. If there is only one way and it is a narrow gate, then we must go through the narrow gate. In that case going through the narrow gate is a very positive thing.
Why are people to go through the narrow gate? It is because, Jesus said, “the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.” This is a massively weighty statement that we cannot take too seriously. The reason that people must go through the narrow gate is because of three things. One, the gate is wide that leads to destruction. Two, the way is broad that leads to destruction. Three, there are many who enter through that wide gate.
When Jesus, who was and is Truth Himself, spoke in such serious ways, we should listen and listen carefully. We should enter through the narrow gate because there is a wide gate and that gate leads to destruction. He tells us about this narrow gate because He wants to show us the right way and warn us about the false way. It is not that He was speaking of the whole world here and so we can think that the numbers are on our side, but He was speaking of those who think of themselves as on the way to heaven. In other words, of all those who think that they are on the way to heaven, the vast majority enter through the wide gate and it is the gate that leads to destruction.
This alone should strike us with a lot of weight and cause us to search the Scriptures and our own hearts. If there are vast numbers of people who think that they are going to heaven and yet they are on the road to destruction, then we have to take this into serious consideration and be concerned. If any person has not truly entered through the narrow gate, then that person is one the way to destruction whether or not s/he knows it or not. Jesus did not say that all those who are sincere are on the path that leads to life, but He said that only those who entered through the narrow gate are on the path that leads to life.
This is jolting and disturbing, but no one should just stand back and not take the words of Jesus seriously. One can imagine some saying that they walked the aisle and other saying that they have prayed the prayer. Others will say that they have the right theology. Still others will say that they are living a good life. Many in our day will say that they have believed. In the time of Jesus many believed, but were not converted. Jesus never said anything about the list of things in this paragraph being enough. We must not be deceived and we must search our hearts.
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