Infamous second son secret agents5/25/2023 Why should it seem strange, then, that entering eternal life should be any other way than by the "narrow gate"? The narrowness consists of the restrictions, disciplines, and requirements throughout the whole area of Christian living. The velocity required to place a satellite in orbit is precisely 17,500 miles per hour. The relation of the diameter to the circumference of a circle is so "narrow" that man's mathematical vocabulary is not precise enough to define it, so it is approximated at 1 to 3.14159. Changing a chemical formula by the narrowest degree possible can profoundly alter a compound. A radio band width may be moved almost imperceptibly to tune out a dance orchestra in New York City and tune in a political rally in Southern California. Truth can be no other way than narrow, as attested in any field of knowledge whatsoever. God will keep on saving men until the "fullness" of his purpose is achieved ( Romans 11:25). The relative number of redeemed souls in any generation is not the scale by which God's success may be measured. And, of wheat, it will be remembered that Christ himself used this grain as a figure of the saved and lost in Matthew 3:12. Although salvation is obtainable and available for all who truly desire it, the plain fact is that the majority in all generations will despise it. Wheat does not grow grain all the way to the ground but only in the ear. This eternally recurring contrast between the numbers of the saved and the lost with reference to each succeeding generation should not be discouraging. ![]() The relative number of the saved and the lost is plain from this. ![]() For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it. The scribes could only repeat the regulations of Judaism, but Jesus interpreted the law with an authority that came from God ( Matthew 7:28-29).Įnter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. The scribes referred to respected teachers of the past for their authority, but Jesus spoke on his own authority. The difference between Jesus’ teaching and the teaching of the scribes was obvious to all. They are like a person who builds a house that looks solid but has no foundation, and so is destroyed when the storm of testing comes ( Matthew 7:24-27). If people hear Jesus’ teaching but do not act upon it, they are deceiving themselves and heading for disaster. They may even preach in Jesus’ name, but if they have never had a personal experience of God through faith and repentance, they too will go to the place of destruction ( Matthew 7:21-23). They think that because they attach themselves to Jesus’ followers they will enter Jesus’ kingdom. ![]() A bad tree produces bad fruit, and wrong teaching produces wrong behaviour ( Matthew 7:15-20).Īnother reason why people do not follow the narrow way is that they deceive themselves. The teachers appear to be as harmless as sheep, but actually they are as dangerous as wolves. Their teaching at first sounds reasonable, but in the end it proves to be destructive. One reason why many do not follow the narrow way is that they are deceived by those who teach their own views on how people can find meaning in life. The other is the narrow way of denying self for Jesus’ sake, which leads to life ( Matthew 7:13-14). One is the easy way of pleasing self, which most choose and which leads to destruction. But the doing to every one as we would they should do unto us, is a gate extremely strait, and very difficult, to every unregenerate mind.Ĥ5. That is certainly a gate, and a strait one too, through which every sinner must turn to God, in order to find salvation. With those who say it means repentance, and forsaking sin, I can have no controversy. of doing to every one as you would he should do unto you for this alone seems to be the strait gate which our Lord alludes to.įor wide is the gate - And very broad, ευρυχωρος, from ευρυς, broad, and χωρος, a place, a spacious roomy place, that leadeth forward, απαγουσα, into THAT destruction, εις την απωλειαν, meaning eternal misery intimating, that it is much more congenial, to the revengeful, covetous heart of fallen man, to take every advantage of another, and to enrich himself at his expense, rather than to walk according to the rule laid down before, by our blessed Lord, and that acting contrary to it is the way to everlasting misery. The words in the original are very emphatic: Enter in (to the kingdom of heaven) through THIS strait gate, δια της στενης πυλης, i.e. ![]() The public roads were allowed to be sixteen cubits broad, the private ways only four. Enter ye in at the strait gate - Our Saviour seems to allude here to the distinction between the public and private ways mentioned by the Jewish lawyers.
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