| “Strive to enter in at the strait [narrow] gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). |
| When we first read this verse, it might seem a bit confusing. Isn’t salvation a free gift from God, and does God not save all those who come to Him? How then will there be many who will wish to get saved, yet will not be able, as our verse says today? |
| The problem is that many today are on the broad road that leads to destruction, and they like that road; they do not want to change. A few years ago, I visited a couple that I knew well, although I had not seen them for many years. All three of us had gone to high school together and were even in the same class all through our high school years. The husband had gone to the same university as I did, and we often spent time together. He came to gospel meetings with me and heard the gospel clearly, but to my knowledge he never got saved. |
| When I visited them again, I brought up the gospel to them, for the wife’s health was not very good. I asked her plainly where she was going if she died. Her answer was typical, “To heaven, I hope!” But when I pointed out that this was not good enough, and that the only way to be saved was to come to Christ as a sinner, and accept Him as her Savior, she did not want to hear that. She wanted to come her own way. |
| Many today lead good, morally upright lives, and some regularly “go to church,” thinking that somehow this is good enough. Later, when they face eternity, they will expect to be in heaven on the basis of living a good life, and it will be awful for them to find the Lord saying, “I know you not whence ye are” (Luke 13:25). If we wish to enter in at the narrow gate, we must come in God’s way, not in our own way. |
