WHY IS THE NARROW GATE SO NARROW?

If God desires for people to be saved, why didn't He make the gate wider?

That may sound like a strange question, but it is one worth asking. After all, if salvation is God's gift, why would Jesus describe the entrance to eternal life as a narrow gate?

Listen to His words.

Matthew 7:13-14: “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. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

At first glance, many people focus on the last part of Jesus' statement: "...there are few who find it." While that is certainly true, I think we often overlook the more important question.

What makes the gate so narrow?

The answer is not that God wants to keep people out. In fact, Scripture tells us that God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). The gate is narrow because God has provided only one way to enter.

The first thing that makes the gate narrow is that there is only one Savior.

John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’”

Jesus did not say He was a way among many. He said, "I am the way." Every religion, every philosophy, and every attempt to reach God apart from Christ leads to a closed gate. The narrow gate has one entrance, and His name is Jesus Christ.

Second, there is only one gospel.

Galatians 1:6-9: “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!...”

Paul leaves no room for alternatives. There are not many gospels. There is one. Every message that adds to it, subtracts from it, or changes it only makes the broad road more crowded.

Third, we must come God's way, not our own.

Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Many people stand before the narrow gate carrying their own righteousness. They believe that being a good person, attending church, giving money, or doing enough good deeds will open the door. But those things cannot save. Salvation has always been by God's grace through faith in Christ.

Fourth, Jesus calls us to repent.

Mark 1:14-15: “Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”

Repentance is not simply feeling sorry for sin. It is turning from sin and turning to Christ. The narrow gate is entered by those who are willing to leave the old life behind.

Finally, Jesus calls every disciple to surrender.

Luke 9:23: “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’”

This may be the greatest reason the gate is narrow. We cannot enter while clinging to self-rule. Pride will not fit through the gate. Self-righteousness will not fit through the gate. A heart that refuses to bow to Christ will not fit through the gate.

The narrow gate is not narrow because heaven is small.

It is not narrow because God delights in turning people away.

It is narrow because there is only one Savior, one gospel, one way of salvation, and one Lord.

The invitation is open to everyone.

But the entrance has never changed.

Jesus Christ is the narrow gate.

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“What I write is not for everyone, but what I write is meant for someone.” – Dean Butler

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