The Narrow Gate

“Enter in by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it” -Matthew 7:14

This is something I don’t think too many churches remind people of often enough. I believe most people are in the dark about one of the most important summaries in the Bible, and it shows us exactly what the future holds for us and the basic choices we have to make.

The world has gotten so comfortable with sin, and thinking they will go to heaven, because Jesus loves them. I watched a lady sin, know she was sinning, and missed the warning signs that God was showing her, yet judged the one who told her she was sinning.

Jesus has probably spent several hours on a hot hillside teaching His disciples what a true follower is, what effect they were supposed to have on the world, and what His role was in coming to earth. Jesus gave many illustrations of a godly attitude and behaviors that define His children.

There are some points I want to make:

Ask:

Before anything can take place we have to ask to be forgiven. Jesus tells us to ask, which is the simplest yet profound, “Ask, and it will be given you” -Matthew 7:7. We are all sinners, and we know we need Jesus as our Savior, and because of this we simply have to ask Jesus to save us.

Many times I have spoken to someone about Jesus and salvation and they just sit silently, or outright refuse. I naturally was upset, but I know that nothing will happen until they ask Jesus to forgive them. I have come to learn that I am just the messenger, I deliver the message but they have the choice whether to accept it or not. The most basic need is to ask. Jesus won’t turn anyone down who asks for forgiveness from a place of humility and honest awareness of a need. And no one can save us until we ask for it.

Ponder this “Does my faith extend beyond the salvation of my soul and into the rest of my life? Because saving faith is essentially no more than belief or agreement with scripture. In this regard, the only difference between saving faith and belief of the hell-bound demons, is that they don’t ask for forgiveness. They believe all the same stuff about Jesus, but chose not to accept what He offered.

Someone once said that, if I seek assurance and security from the world, I have weak faith that has not moved beyond asking for forgiveness and getting a “get out of hell free card.”

I think that the trouble is with many so called believers, is they do believe in Jesus, but we don’t believe Him. In other words, they believe on Him for the salvation of their souls, but they don’t believe Him when He says our Father in heaven will provide for us, or that we have the full power of God available to us through the Holy Spirit.

But all it takes is a little faith to ask God and it will be given. If that’s not enough, the rest of this blog post won’t apply.

Seek:

Seek and you will find God. Just because we have accepted forgiveness this doesn’t mean we know God. After we are saved we have to seek Him. Most people think after being saved or baptized think they can just stop. God will handle everything from there. But after we are saved we are to seek Him with great effort. Matthew 5: 6, 8 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

We don’t necessarily have that vital of a relationship with God, when we are saved. That is just like meeting Him. Like any other relationship, it develops over time and we are to seek Him once we are saved. Forgiveness and justification is what makes it possible to even begin a relationship with Him. Seeking requires more faith and action than just asking.

If we seek Him we will find Him, but as we will find His will if we truly seek it.

Some don’t consider who God really is, they don’t consider that we are literally His children and He wants what is best for us, and part of our inheritance is that He lives in us.

When we seek to live out faith, obey His will in our lives, rather than just take a deep breath because we are not going to hell, our faith has to increase as we see God do more in the through us. He becomes more and more real to us as we let Him take over,

If we spend even one minute a day meditating on what this means – the kind of care He had for us, and what He has empowered us to do, it would change everything. So seeking to understand in an experiential way what it really means to be a spirit powered child of God. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll find when you app,y this reality to everyday life.

Knock:

Knock and it will be opened to you. The gates of heaven will be opened. But we also have to ask for forgiveness, and seek Him through His Word and prayer, then we can knock. This means persistently pursuing righteousness and fulfill our sanctification through faith in Jesus.

We can’t just stop when we accept God’s forgiveness, we are then to seek and knock continually. We are not done when we accept salvation.

Salvation is supposed to cause us to seek and knock with all our might for the rest of our lives, knowing that we will never find it all, never have all the wisdom of God opened up to us, and never experience the entire fulfillment of heaven until our lives end.

It’s a door to God’s study room, the door to an intimate relationship with God.

After we ask, seek, and knock, Jesus invites us into a transformed life of active, daily relationship with Him. This involves shifting from seeking mercy to living in obedience, abiding in His presence, and extending His love to others.

Jesus wants us to maintain fellowship through prayer and abiding in His Word.

Persistence is rewarded and Jesus assures us that those who persistently pursue God will find Him.

Instead of seeking personal gain, focus on God’s righteousness and kingdom priorities.