“Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it!” —Matthew 7:13–14
Jesus is the gate to righteousness and the way of righteousness! He is the entrance through which we may enter into God’s provision. He is also the only way for our access to God the Father:
“Jesus replied, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” —John 14:6
Contrary to what many believe, salvation is not obtained in a myriad of ways. There is no other way by which we are saved, except through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In preaching to the rulers, elders, and teachers of the law, Peter said:
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.” —Acts 4:12
In our verses for today, Jesus sets before us two choices. If you will, curtain A or curtain B. Clearly, the path of destruction or the path of life. There was no middle way then, there is no middle way now, and there will be no middle way in the future.
God has a way of never changing. Jesus did not come saying He wanted just a part of us.
“Then he said to them all, ‘If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.’” —Luke 9:23
We do not work to be saved, rather we work because we are saved. We do not have a right to grace but have been given the privilege of grace. This privilege makes us appreciative, humble, and desirous to serve. Grace is not something we deserve; it is a gift. The narrow way will always lead us away from ourselves and straight to Jesus. Everything in the gospel is about our Lord.
We are not to build our hopes of righteousness upon our works. As an old hymn says, “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
Paul tells us our sure foundation is Jesus!
“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done. If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward. If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” —1 Corinthians 3:10–15
Become More
“We do the works, but God works in us the doing of the works.” —Augustine
“What ultimately keeps our motives biblically prioritized and holy before God is the profound conviction that obeying God will merit us nothing. This is why Jesus tells us that, when we have done all that we should do, we are still unprofitable servants. Jesus does not nullify the value of duty in order to dissuade us from serving God, but to keep is from depending on duty to gain God’s acceptance. When we understand that our works in themselves earn us no merit with God, then the only reason to do those works is love for Him. Thus we learn to serve God not for personal gain but for His glory-not for love of self but for love of the Savior.” —Bryan Chapell
Further Reflections
“So Jesus said again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture.” —John 10:7–9
“Our nature struggles fiercely against being saved without our works and tries to deceive us with a grand illusion of our own righteousness. So we may find ourselves attracted to a life that merely appears to be righteous. Or because we know we aren’t righteous, we may be frightened by death or sin. Therefore, we must learn that we should have nothing to do with any other way of becoming righteous, except through Christ alone.” —Martin Luther