In our world today there is a sense, particularly since 9/11, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is getting rather fuzzy. Multi-faith religion (pluralism) and ecumenism have gotten a boost in popularity, further removing “Christian distinctives.” In this issue, we present to you a teaching from our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 7:13-23) which prophetically sets this problem in a clearer light. It is with this understanding that the Church faithful will return to these “biblical distinctives” that she may directly confront all vagueness and neutrality. Jesus Himself, toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount, teaches that indeed there will be false teachers—false religions. There will be various forms of Christianity which will introduce mixture—i.e. emotional ritual, religious formalism, legal devices, along with liberal, licentious doctrines as well—all of which obscure true faith. We pray that the treatment of this topic will inspire, strengthen, and “straighten” our course … to the glory of Christ, our risen Lord.

THE BROAD WAY … OR … THE NARROW WAY?

Jesus talks about heaven quite a lot. He talks about hell a little more. And He teaches that there are two ways to go in this life—through the strait gate onto the Narrow Way, or through the wide gate onto the Broad Way. This is found in Matthew 7:13-14 near the end of a section of Scripture commonly known as The Sermon on the Mount. It is important to recognize that the teachings throughout this sermon were ministering to people who wanted to hear from Jesus how they might better walk in true holiness. And He gave answers:

“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.”—Matt. 7:13-14

It has been said that all of life consists of man at the crossroads of decision. In every action of life we are confronted with choice. This is human reality. We can never stand still in our mind. We are constantly choosing every thought, every desire, every word to speak, etc. Herein lies the power of teaching—a teacher can introduce many thoughts into our minds. As those thoughts come across, we can choose to look at them or ignore them. We can choose to receive the teaching, or we can choose to reject it. We can choose to add to it, to color it, or do all kinds of other things with it, but we are doing something with our minds. That is the way we were created—we are constantly choosing one path or another. That is what Jesus is making clear, even in our day, in this teaching from Matthew 7.

At issue in these two verses (Matt. 7:13-14) is the state of a man’s heart. After giving all of this instruction in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is saying that where one ends up depends upon what that person chooses to do with the information received. Within a man’s heart—the seat of desire and decision-making (choice)—is where he, himself, decides whether he is going to have faith in God through a narrow gate or through a wide gate. Jesus said, “Men loved darkness rather than light.” (John 3:19) That is, men have a liking for error rather than truth. Error is self-determined and subjective. Truth is ob-jective—it is true all by itself. It does not need help, it cannot be helped, and indeed, it cannot be changed. Some prefer to believe in a god of apathy and moral indifference. But that god has no truth! Where there is no truth, there is no love. Where there is no love, there is no obedience. It is disobedience to God’s truth and His ways that makes a “wide gate” and a “broad way.”

In all cultures and all times, the minds of men have been particularly impressed with the difficulty of virtue and the ease of vice; the difficulty of religion and the ease of irreligion (no religion at all). But wisdom is draped in plain clothes, speaking solemn words, urgent and persuasive—“There is a broad way and there is a narrow way!” Yet, it was not God who made two ways; man’s sin did that. Man’s choice to disobey God closed the gate to the narrow way “which leadeth unto life,” and caused him to believe that the “narrow” way could be “broad.” Our Lord has accomplished all to reverse the terrible folly that says man can safely go down a broad road. Jesus reopened the previously closed door. At infinite cost, God sent His only begotten Son, who by life, death, and resurrection opened the way to eternity for our good and made a new, but narrow, opening. Narrow is as broad as it gets! In addition to opening the way, the Lord sends His Holy Spirit to strengthen us—as we enter in, as we walk down this path, as we persevere on this way.

All of life is made up of choices. Our lives are said to be the sum of all our choices. In other words, all of our choices are going to make us who we are. And each one of us must take responsibility for the outcome. It starts immediately upon rising in the morning. We decide when to get up, what to wear, whether to pray or not, whether to read the Bible or not, what to have for breakfast. Finally, we arrive at where we will spend our day, and then there are more choices—who to speak to, what to speak with them about, how to speak to them, what to have for lunch, how to deal with each issue of the day, etc. Then it is time to go to bed, and there are more decisions—whether to close the day in prayer or not, whether to close with a few verses of Scripture or not, whether to be honest with how the day has been and then pray, “God, I have fallen short in this area and that area. God, I do not want to do that. I repent. I confess my sin, my fault. I need Your help. I want to get these things straight in my life.”

So, we can see that all day long we make thousands of choices. And each choice has a sculpting effect upon our soul. For each of us, our choices are sculpting the outcome of our lives, shaping our relationships with others and with God, and shaping our hearts—either making them softer and more tender toward people or more hardened and indifferent to them.

The Strait Gate

A gate is an opening. It defines an entrance point. In the verses we are examining, Jesus calls us to this entrance which He describes as a strait gate. This does not mean directional in terms of right-angled or straight as opposed to crooked. It is a Greek word, stenos, which means ‘narrow’ as a result of obstacles standing close about making it hard to enter. Literally, it means strict, rigorous, difficult, and distressful. It is a hedged in, narrow entrance.

When ships are navigating through a bay or channel they carry maps of the underwater terrain, because there are some places where danger is lurking just below the water’s surface. It is possible to rip out the bottom of the ship on these hidden obstacles. Ships are also equipped with depth finders to help them avoid these dangers. When coming into what is called the strait (Strait of Gibraltar, Strait of Juan de Fuca, etc.) there is only one place where the ship can go—between the markers. Careful watch must be taken of the maps and the markers so that the ship can safely course its way through the dangers. The way is “hedged about” with obstacles, yet marked by guidelines. That is the meaning and use of this word strait in Matt. 7:14

The Hedges and Obstacles

God is a God of strong conviction for “right” and “wrong.” At the entrance to the way that leads to eternal life we are faced with the issue of repentance—a bitter cup for men and women today. The tense in which the word “repent” is written in the Bible means it is something we continue to do. We repent and we keep on repenting, staying in that place of repentance. We turn from idols and self to serve the living God and walk in His ways. And yes, this issue of repentance makes a narrow, strait, unattractive gate.

We need the exhortation of Christ’s command to “enter ye in at the strait gate”! In our modern English, it would sound something like this: “Enter at the restricted-height-and-width gate”; or, “You must enter at this narrow gate. You must repent, for the Kingdom of God has been opened for you! The Messiah has made Himself available to you! Repent!” God wants our best. He wants us to be with Him. Will we miss this opportunity for God’s best? Jesus said, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17) Though the gate be strait, yet through our Lord Jesus Christ the opening has been made clear, every obstacle has been taken out of the way, if we can receive it! The rough road has been made smooth, as John the Baptist proclaimed. The Kingdom of God has come! Now enter in! Enter in! Come on! This is the purpose of life! We must not get used to living in a ‘fallen world’ or we will die. We will be condemned already, Jesus said. (John 3:17-18)

Around this entrance, also, is the issue of faith. It humbles us to rely on somebody else, and we would rather not be humbled. Faith calls for moral effort, moral discipline and moral obligation. Natural man is not fond of that at all! But non-faith and easy-believism suits natural man very well. So to some, the gate of penitence and faith is “too narrow”.

There is the issue of self-compliance or yielding to self. This is a sweet drink. We need no persuasion at all to drink it down right away. Yet, it is an obstacle at the strait gate. A man becomes his own law, ruled by his own desires. But such a man will never enter the narrow way.

Also, there are worldly influences and personal dislikes which make the gate to eternal life very hard to find. Natural men are like sheep. They like to travel in flocks, in crowds and in peer groups, following the masses. They follow the leader and ask questions later, if ever. Dear friends, there is so much man-pleasing and consensus about all of this. Do we actually use our friends and relationships to determine whether we are right or if we meet with their standards or their approval?! This is a sport of personal justification through self-meriting deeds—how we dress, what we do, how we speak, etc.—in order to win the hearts and admiration of men. All this is accomplished through the gate of financial speculation, success, mental wit and rhyme, worldly amusements, fashionable “fun” religion, and post-modern ritual. There are multitudes who love to be accepted by the majority! They must be in the swim of it, because to stand against their own circle is hard and narrow and would appear to be condemnation of their friends. Their friends would resent it. To stand against the majority and their worldly influences shows that you are not influenced by them at all. The majority assume that you are with them, and it is unpleasant to always be explaining that you are not! Do you find that to be true in your life? Because of the way you walk in Christ, are you always having to explain why you are not following the crowd? To stand alone, or with a few, is a strait and a narrow way. Abiding in the narrow way of Christ Jesus will cause you, at times, to part with certain acquaintances, friends, neighbors, or even family members. It may even be necessary to change jobs, because you recognize the influence and potential threat of being pulled out of the way of salvation.

“If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”—Luke 14:26-27

That is a narrow road! Jesus Christ tells us so! Yet, Jesus also promised that we would never be alone. We will have company on that narrow road—the Church and, most importantly, the Lord. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is faithful and He is the true witness. There is none other. We also have the Holy Spirit of God abiding in us—the Comforter, who leads us into all the truth.

And now we may observe that the issue of consistency narrows the gate. It comes up quite often in our lives. Consistency, diligence, and perseverance go hand in hand. We see this alluded to quite often by the Apostle Paul as he uses athletic ideas such as a runner—one who runs the race steadily for the whole course. (1 Cor. 9:24-27) The runner takes upon himself a design, a goal, and a delight in running the race. He disciplines his whole life that he may put his whole heart, soul, and body into running the race—to win!—not just to be there; not just to go through a few laps to put in a show, not just to be a man who makes a plunge here and there, putting in a spurt here and there. He is someone who runs the race so as to win!

Paul also gives us this example:

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier [one under discipline, one who takes commands]. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully [according to the rules].—2 Tim. 2:3-5

Yes, we must strive to enter in at the strait gate. Diligence in the Christian life is not accomplished simply by a flood of tears today and then some heroic, faithful act tomorrow. It is a life! We do not live the Christian co-missioned life by getting aboard a vessel such as a cruise ship, finding a place among the deck chairs, taking it easy, and using some kind of “deck-chair evangelism”. We must not think that we can just leave the gambling tables yet gorge ourselves all day long because there is nothing else to do. We cannot look around at all the passengers and just take it easy until we get to the destination, feeling like somehow we are fulfilling our mission! That is not what Jesus has called us to, brethren. Deck-chair evangelism simply will not do. Our lives are a pilgrimage. We need to exert constant effort all the way. The way of Christian living is intentional! It is deliberate! It is pre-meditated—not just an animal reflex or natural reaction that requires no thinking and no care.

Remember the example of a foot race. It is running the race of being a Christian. It is putting one foot in front of the other. Overcomers are in the business of overcoming! (Rev. 12:11, 21:7) They are busy overcoming obstacles! They are lifting up their feet, avoiding this hole, that rock, and any hurdles along the way. They are staying within the lines and borders so that they might run by the rules in that narrow pathway which is so clearly marked out for each runner. Naturally, there is pressure against all men to draw them away from God. We do not have to try to leave God. The effort is to stay before Him! Easy circumstances do not bring freedom from the temptation to neglect prayer. The gate is ever strait and the way ever narrow. It is this constant opposition, this constant need for watchfulness, that tries us, is it not? A patient continuance in well-doing, a ceaseless watching and fighting the good fight of faith, sometimes taking two steps forward and then sliding back one, can weary us. It tests us. Thus, we recognize that our progress in the Lord must be with all diligence, slow and careful. (2 Peter 1:5-11) There is built-in resistance because of the flesh, because of the world, and because of devils. And this is one of the factors that makes the gate strait and the way narrow.

What are some other obstacles that might make this gate strait and restrictive? False doctrines, false religions, denominational systems, things our parents, teachers or others taught us that are groundless, near-truths (heresies)— things that come so close to being the truth yet are not. This last obstacle keeps out many people and it is not until they study to show themselves approved and learn to accurately handle the word of God (2 Tim. 2:15) that they then begin to discern the near-truth from the truth.

So we see, the strait gate, being hedged up and quite narrow has lots of obstacles, before we ever get in, making it very restrictive. All these issues are boulders set right in front of the strait gate. This modifies how we are going to go in. Notice, Jesus talks about few ever finding the strait gate, let alone entering into it. That suggests there might be some problems and difficulties in even finding the gate. There are some things in front of it, making it hard to see what is behind it.

Also, let’s think of a turnstile. When we come to a turnstile we see that as it goes around it allows only one person through at a time. And that one person cannot take their baggage. They have to leave it behind because there is no room for it in the turnstile. What are turnstiles for? They are designed to control, provide security, and to restrict baggage being brought into a place. The strait gate is like this. It is so restrictive that one must go in all alone, leaving everything else and all their possessions behind.

Surrounding this text in Matt. 7:13-14, Jesus calls saints to seek God for help. We are His Bride, His Body, the Light of Christ as witnessed to by His own Holy Spirit. He is a Holy, sanctifying Spirit. God knows His saints want to be sanctified, fully set apart to His purposes.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”—Matt. 7:7

Saints are always and ever seeking the Lord for help. The verb tense here is the present imperative—Ask! Seek! Knock! And Jesus says, “It shall be …” Most importantly, we must keep on knocking on that door as long as we can! He will open! He is faithful! But we have to start with asking. We must know what we are asking for. Then we must seek and pursue with that perseverance mentioned above. So let’s knock! Knock and knock and knock! “Open unto me, Lord!” So He will, and so He does.

“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”—Matt. 7:8

That is an activity that God has called His saints to do. Why? Notice the Lord’s engagement and insistence upon moral choice—our moral choice. Our souls have moral agency—we can make choices and God will not go around them. Faith demands choice and faith demands action. We cannot make a choice without acting upon it.

So, there is a strait, restrictive gate by which Jesus commands us to enter. Upon entering through this gate we are then on the path of spiritual refinement (we can call this sanctification) “which leadeth unto eternal life”

The Contrast

The narrow way, beyond the strait gate, continues to be as narrow and as hedged in as the gate into it. The strait gate does not open up into an oasis. The way continues to be hedged about, requiring a life of dependence and humility in receiving what we need from Christ as Lord. When we start walking in Christ, we have to receive all of our sustenance from Him. We have not been able to bring anything in with us! We must depend totally upon Him and believe His promise that there is something at the other end—eternal life! Everything, all self-sufficient baggage, must be left behind at the narrow turnstile, at the hedged in place where there were all those obstacles. (Luke 14:33) The Lord is warning His hearers that the gate of Christian discipleship is narrow and the way is difficult. (We do not often hear that preached, but that is what Jesus preached.) We do not only leave all our old baggage behind, but by God’s providence, we then put on all those things that allow us to enter in through the narrow gate. That is, Christ—His grace, His mercy, His faithfulness, His witness, His Holy Spirit. The faithful quickly find out that they can do all things through Christ Jesus who gives them strength. That indeed, our life is with a faithful Creator and we can entrust Him with it.

This life of faith, with its difficulty in overcoming, is the only life worth living. We can have an easy time of it now and eternal destruction at the end. Or, we can have a difficult time now, yet learn the ways of the Lord so that in the end we will be with our Lord Jesus—that place of eternal life. And the obedient in Christ who follow His teachings will find themselves entering into this abundant life. We will know that we are on the right way! We will acknowledge the truth as it is in Christ! We will understand the peace of God! We will know His graces and His mercies! The Lord will be our portion because we are seeking after Him, we are following after Him.

Then there is a wide gate which allows anybody to load up their donkey with all of their “stuff” and go in, taking it all with them—all of their trinkets, all of their affections, all of their affairs, cares, joys, fears, emotional mechanisms, prayerlessness, their joyless state, etc. They can walk right in without any restriction! Through the wide gate anything goes! Liberal things, religious things, legal and formalistic things, ecumenical things, whatever baggage one wants to take, they can just load it on and drag it in! All this baggage can go through because the gate is so wide! A life of self-indulgence, pleasure, and passions easily fits this broad way, but in the end it leads to destruction.

Jesus is teaching that choosing the wide gate and broad way is a failure to live out the purpose of one’s existence. What is the purpose of mankind? What is the purpose for which God placed us on earth? Man’s purpose is to serve, worship, and obey Him. This constricts life quite a bit. We can see how widely the world has moved apart from that reality. But without this purpose there is no meaning. Without meaning, there is no life. Life without meaning is death—deception lived in deep darkness. And death is the wage of all those who make spiritually uninformed decisions. Jesus, in His sermon, is declaring that all men have a destiny. Your soul and mine have a destiny! And He is letting us know that we can only choose one of two destinies. Either eternal life or everlasting destruction and misery. The narrow way leads to life eternal; the broad way leads to destruction.

Many people believe that both of these ways are equal roads to heaven. Above neither gate do they see any sign that says, “The Way to Hell.” No one would ever take that road! People think they both say, “The Way to Heaven.” Prov. 16:25 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it leads to death.” Men, when left alone and independent, can convince themselves that anything is right. But the narrow, difficult, regulated way is the only way that leads to life and that more abundantly, “and few there be that find it”.

The choice is always ours and we are always making that choice. If we choose the easy way—the broad way—we will have plenty of company. Jesus is saying to us today that this easy way is a wrong choice “and many there be that go in thereat.” Our Lord wants us to make right choices! And when we come to the end of the road—where we are, how we are, will be no accident. The sum total of our own choices will determine our destiny. So when we come to the end of the road and pull into the parking place, we will realize that we drove ourselves there!

The Gate and The Way

Jesus our Lord tells us who is both the gate and the way ...

“I am the door (the gate): by Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”—John 10:9

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father but by Me.”—John 14:6

This narrows it down very quickly. The gate and the way to eternal life is Christ Jesus alone. This means that we must dedicate our entire existence to living in His presence for His purpose. (Acts 3:19; 2 Tim. 1:9) There is no room for uncommitted professors here. We must enter in at this strait gate! We cannot just pick any door as if all paths lead to the top. That is just Buddhism and multi-faith religion. Consider the Ba’hai faith. They have a big, beautiful temple in Israel near Mt. Carmel that has nine doors to heaven. Above these doors are the names of each of the principle faiths saying that there are nine types of salvation, nine doors to God. This temple is symbolic of nine principles of faith to salvation that all lead to the same place! NOT TRUE!! This is heresy! It is the wide gate! These doors do not lead to heaven! It is just one of those absolutely devilish lies that leads the many to hell, to eternal darkness and destruction.

“There is salvation in no one else: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”—Acts 4:12

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father but by Me.” —John 14:6

Christ Jesus alone is the gate and the way! He hates mixture! Here are Jesus’ words again on this very issue, speaking to one of the seven churches …

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot [committed to one thing]. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth.”—Rev. 3:15-16

He makes it clear that those who are uncommitted to one well-spring of existence are feeding at many troughs. That mixture does not impress God. They are the first to be put out of His Body! They were inside, but He spews them out of His mouth—a most vile description. Why? Because they were not committed, they were not fixed upon the one and only Way, the only course of action. And He goes on …

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”—Rev. 3:21-22

Those are the words of Jesus Christ concerning our walk and our talk. To follow Him will require faith, discipline, endurance, commitment, and consistency. Yes, the way of Truth is very narrow

Stated Another Way

In the book of Luke we find Jesus speaking into this same issue with a slightly different twist. Most probably, He spoke this sermon quite often, with variations, depending upon the group and the setting as well as the issues that were being spoken of either before or after.

“Strive (a command) to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are.”—Luke 13:24-25

If we cannot let go of self but continue to go on in the flesh, Jesus will say to us, “I do not know you.” We must be in the Spirit, not the flesh, or we will be unable to enter. (Rom. 8:1) In Luke 13:24-25 Jesus is answering a man who asked Him, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” His answer is a clear and direct command in the present imperative tense: Strive! ... which means to labor hard at it, to endeavor, to contend earnestly with all that opposes the direction we are going. Did we ever think that our Christian walk would call us to earnestly contend for the faith once given? (Jude 3) In other words, we must make sure we enter through the narrow gate. Jesus did not mean that His atoning work on the cross requires any effort from you or me for our justification. He is saying that the narrow gate is the new birth. (Jn. 3:5) Whether we enter or not depends upon what we do with what Jesus has already done! How will we put it into action in our personal life? Salvation is by grace through faith. But then there is the faith of step-by-step staying in the race and following through—a conduct in the concourse of the Lord. We must be sanctified in consecrating our lives to Christ—to His nature, to His character, to His moral righteousness. It is toward this end that we must be earnestly striving.

Wouldn’t we rather find out earlier in our Christian walk that we are on the wrong course and do something about it (like repent!), than to get all the way down the road, pull into the parking lot, and find out we are at the wrong place!? If we believe we can take all our stuff, our character versus the character of Christ, we may seek to enter but will not be able. Our fleshly, self-baggage will be restricted at the turnstile of the strait and narrow gate. And what is some of that baggage? Again, may we suggest it is things such as formalism, law, works, emotion, sentiment, intellect, experience, mysticism, consensus, rationalism, cunning, reason, pride, self-sufficiency, and … we can just add whatever we want in there. The obstacles of unbelief and the unwillingness to forsake self as boss of our life will keep us out. We’ll say, “This is too narrow! Maybe I liked the other way better anyway.”

Two Groups … Two Choices

Throughout the Sermon on the Mount Jesus presents stark contrasts at the crossroads confronting every person. Our Lord, in His own words, presents two gates—the strait, hedged-up gate and the wide gate. He presents two ways—the narrow and the broad. He presents two destinations—eternal life and destruction. He presents two groups of travelers—the few and the many. He presents two trees—the good and the corrupt. He presents two kinds of fruit—the good and the bad. He presents two kinds of builders—the wise and the foolish. He presents two locations for laying a foundation—on the rock or on the ever-shifting sand. And He presents two kinds of houses that in the beginning looked the same, but in the end only one was left standing! The other was violently taken apart by the storm. It is impossible to miss the gravity and severity of the choices that those who want to follow Him must make.

In the portion of Scripture immediately following Matt. 7:13-14, Jesus makes a connection between belief and behavior with corresponding fruit. He mentions a good tree and a corrupt tree. In the way, there will be observable fruit—evidences and proofs of the real thing or the false thing. And then in the climax to this Sermon on the Mount Jesus declares, “I never knew you” to all those on the broad way! This further distinguishes the two groups. All the way through Jesus’ teaching there are only two groups—those who have heard and obeyed, and those who have heard and not obeyed. We are not graded on a sliding scale. Jesus has one standard. It is not “my” way or “your” way. It is His way. And if we start something, we finish it! If there is a job description, we follow it!

Jesus is preaching for a decision, not neutrality. He commanded, “Enter! … at the strait gate!” We need to remember this clearly, brethren. To properly and fully declare the Gospel is a command! Often, when we hear about communicating the Gospel, with all the slick ways and new fads of evangelism, we hear things like, “Let’s go share the Gospel!” But nowhere in the text of the Bible do we find Jesus “sharing” the Gospel. The apostles never “shared” the Gospel. No! They always commanded it! Because in the very words of Christ they had heard it commanded: “Strive to enter in! Enter in at the strait gate!” It is a commandment! It is a command from on high without equivocation. We cannot misunderstand it. It is no wonder so many were offended at Jesus! He taught that disobedience is damning! If a person hears and disobeys, it damns his soul!

“And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”—Acts 17:30-31

There is the Good News! Jesus came. Jesus died. He took upon Himself all sin and wickedness so that if we will believe on His finished work we will be raised into new life, so that we might walk uprightly in His power and in His presence.

“For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins … Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”—Heb. 10:26, 29-31

Today, brethren, on which road are you? Is there any indication in your daily walk? It is not enough just to listen to preaching about the strait gate. It is not enough just to study the structure of the gate, to measure its size, to admire what it looks like in its wisdom. No, we must enter into it! Truly, hell will be full of people who admired the Sermon on the Mount, who thought there were some noble ethics taught here and there about giving our cloak or tunic, about going the second mile, etc. But a gate serves only one purpose: that we might go in! It is the point of admission provided at a dear cost by our Lord, Savior, and King, and we must enter in. All those who refuse will pay eternally by being forever barred from the Kingdom of God. Forever! Isn’t that what drives our evangelism? Isn’t that what gives us the ideas and the momentum to go and give people the truth whom we know are standing in darkness, who are well down the road that leads to destruction? And why are they down that road? Because of spurning the infinite grace and goodness of God. It is one thing to do it in ignorance. It is quite another when we have heard the terms and yet continue on our own way. From those who have been given much, much will be required. They will have many stripes, Jesus said. (Luke 12:47)

Consider the ten virgins in Matt. 25. Again, notice the two groups: wise and foolish. The foolish were the ones who did not have the “oil of preparation”. They did not have the wherewithal to go all the way through that darkness of night. They did not have enough preparation in God’s Word to keep them confidently burning as a bright light of testimony. Because they did not prepare to go through the middle of the darkest hour, somewhere they would have a breakdown, they would need more oil. Jesus comes at midnight, the Bible says. It is a foolish thing not to work in preparation for His coming. That is part of the narrowness of this course. When the bridegroom came, those who were unprepared were unable to enter into the wedding feast and the door was SHUT! It was closed to them. It was over.

Psalm 1:6 says, “The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Perish is a word that means ‘go to hell.’

The Issue is Cost

Finally, there is the issue of C-O-S-T. Certainly, before giving anyone the gospel, we must have them count the cost. Say, “Whoa! Whoa! Count the cost! Do not enter in yet! Your whole heart will be emptied of yourself! It will be filled up with Christ! You will never have any satisfaction in the things of the world, the flesh, or the devil anymore. You can only be satisfied with the things of Christ from this point on. And if you go back and try anything else, you will fall under condemnation and guilt! You will have to come back to Christ and get it right!” First, sit down, count the cost, Jesus says. We must have a self-emptied heart. Nothing will satisfy us anymore but Jesus Christ and His ways! We must not think that enlisting is not dangerous. Like a soldier, we will be joining in a war! Shouldn’t we first learn something about the enemies, the weapons, and our own vulnerability?

In Luke 14:26-35 we can see this was a time when Jesus was walking in high popularity with His disciples. Many people were following Him. He stopped in the middle of the road, turned around, and, in command form again, said,

“If any man come to Me, and hate not His father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. [You are not on the right road.] And whosoever doth not bear his cross [death to self], and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish.”—Luke 14:26-30

If you are going to build a tower do you just grab a couple of boards, cut, and nail them any old way? No. You sit down, mark out a plan, look over your shop to see if you have enough material, check to see if you have the finances and manpower, and consider whether you have the ability to do it. You first sit down and count the cost, whether you have sufficiency to finish it, and then you proceed. Notice the consequences of neglecting this. We decide that we are going to build something unto God, to be a watchman unto God on His watchtower, and so we start, get halfway, stop, and walk away. Everyone is going to mock us because we mocked God. We never finished. And we act as if God was the problem! Are we getting an idea of the sting of eternal destruction?

“Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.”—Luke 14:31-32

This is the same principle. This man also sits down first and counts the cost. He consults whether he is able with ten thousand to meet one coming against him with twenty thousand—twice as big an army as he has! An overcoming power is coming against him. He cannot do it! So he thinks about it, desiring conditions of peace. Why? He does not want anyone to die! He does not want destruction! He wants peace! And though he desires to meet the conditions of peace, he recognizes them as costly. He is making the right decision.

“So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.”—Luke 14:33

The conditions of peace—forsaking all! We must refuse our rights and expectations, our priorities, and come to Jesus, the King of kings, who has an army at least twice as large as whatever army we have. We must sit down, count the cost, and desire the terms of peace that He will dictate! We will have no loss of life, although we must leave all of our possessions. There is wisdom in these strong words of our Messiah and King.

This is the narrow way behind the strait gate. Anything else is the broad way, brethren! Anything and everything else is The Broad Way. And the broad way leads to destruction—of our thought life, our peace, our praise, our conscience being clear and void of offense. Our conscience will be loaded with guilt and shame! There will be destruction of life, and of spirit; destruction of our faith, our love, and our hope; destruction of our character and our mind and our soul. Yea, we will lose our soul! This is the reward of following the broad way—absolute “banishment” from His presence into unutterable darkness ... into the penal fires of self-reproach and remorse, the wailing and the gnashing of teeth “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:44, 48) But to escape this destruction shall we not make every effort? And shall we not help others to make that same effort?

“Enter by 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.”—Matt. 7:13-14