, Matthew 7:13-14(NLT) “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to Hell is broad, and it’s gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the Gateway to Life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”
Sometimes we forget that there is more than a narrow gate to get through there is also a narrow road to navigate. And you can only get to the narrow road by way of the narrow gate and conversely, if you are not on the narrow road you have not gone through the narrow gate.
Have you ever been on a river or just followed it and found where it narrows? The waves can be huge and the water swift and it is usually the deepest part of the river. The way may be narrow but it is not shallow. It is too deep for us but not for God and fortunately we cannot be on the narrow way without Him.
The Narrow Gate is obviously Jesus. A walk with God begins with Jesus because He is the Narrow Gate. Entering through that Narrow Gate is called “Justification”. Justification is being made right with God the Father through the Blood of Jesus on the Cross. We are justified because Jesus bore and paid for our sins.
The narrow road (path/way) is called sanctification. Sanctification is the path laid out for you by Justification; walking the straight and narrow it is sometimes called. Things along this “Deep Water” narrow path are what God uses to strengthen and prepare us. This is where the veils that separate us from God are torn down and on this narrow path we can be assured God is with us and guiding us through the rough waters. At the end waits Glorification, being made perfect and sinless forever and standing in person with the God for whom we live.
Legalism is trying to build your own narrow path without going through the narrow gate. You can walk a road of goodness but it goes nowhere without Jesus. There is no “Jesus and…” there is only Jesus. Our works of goodness do not save us from our sins. We must take the path Jesus laid to reach the goal of glorification.
“Inclusivism” is thinking you have entered through the Narrow Gate but trying to bring your life with you through the Gate. It is claiming salvation yet still living on the “broad road”. It is trying to bring your worldly desires with you. You must come through the Narrow Gate empty and every one who goes through the Gate of Jesus Christ is changed. The narrow way is full of the righteousness of God to the point it would drown you were not Christ there to see you through every step of the way.
When you come through the Narrow Gate you do so alone but on the other side, in the Narrow Path, lies all the fullness of life – joy unspeakable and peace beyond understanding.
The Spiritual journey of salvation begins with what we recognize at Easter; the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the Gospel (1Corinthians 15). Let go and go through the Narrow Gate.