"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell
you, will try to enter and will not be able to" (Luke 13:24).
There once was a man who asked our Lord Jesus Christ a very serious
question. He said to Him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be
saved?"
Who this man was we do not know. What his motive was for asking this
question we are not told. Perhaps he wished to gratify an idle
curiosity: perhaps he wanted an excuse for not seeking salvation himself.
The Holy Spirit has kept back all this from us: the name and motive of
the seeker are both hidden.
But one thing is very clear, and that is the vast importance of the
saying of our Lord to which the question gave rise. Jesus seized the
opportunity to direct the minds of all around Him to their own plain
duty. He knew the train of thought which the man's inquiry had set
moving in their hearts: He saw what was going on within them. "Make
every effort," He cries, "to enter through the narrow door." Whether
there be few saved or many, your course is clear--make every effort to
enter in. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. A day
will come when many will seek to enter in and will not be able. "Make
every effort to enter in now."
I desire to call the serious attention of all who read this paper to the
solemn lessons which this saying of the Lord Jesus is meant to teach. It
is one which deserves special remembrance in the present day. It teaches
unmistakably that mighty truth, our own personal responsibility for the
salvation of our souls. It shows the immense danger of putting off the
great business of Christianity, as so many unhappily do. On both these
points the witness of our Lord Jesus Christ in the text is clear. He,
who is the eternal God, and who spoke the words of perfect wisdom, says
to the sons of men, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door,
because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to"
(Luke 13:24).
I. Here is a "description" of the way of salvation. Jesus calls it "the
narrow door."
II. Here is a clear "command." Jesus says, "Make every effort to enter
through."
III. Here is an frightful "prophecy." Jesus says, "Many will try to
enter and will not be able to."
May the Holy Spirit apply the subject to the hearts of all into whose
hands this paper may fall! May all who read it know the way of salvation
experimentally, obey the command of the Lord practically, and be found
safe in the great day of His second coming!
I. Here is a "description" of the way of salvation--Jesus calls it "the
narrow door."
There is a door which leads to forgiveness, peace with God, and heaven.
Whosoever goes in through that door will be saved. Never, surely, was a
door more needed.
Sin is a vast mountain between man and God. How will a man climb over
it?
Sin is a high wall between man and God. How will man get through it?
Sin is a deep gulf between man and God. How will man cross over it?
God is in heaven, holy, pure, spiritual, undefiled, light without any
darkness at all, a Being who cannot bear that which is evil, or look upon
sin. Man is a poor fallen worm, crawling on earth for a few
years--sinful, corrupt, erring, defective--a being whose imagination is
only evil, and whose heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked. How will man and God be brought together? How will man ever
draw near to his Maker without fear and shame? Blessed be God, there is
a way! There is a road. There is a path. There is a door. It is the
door spoken of in the words of Christ--"the narrow door."
This door was "made for sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ." From all
eternity He covenanted and promised that He would make it. In the
fullness of time He came into the world and made it, by His own atoning
death on the cross. By that death He made satisfaction for man's sin,
paid man's debt to God, and bore man's punishment. He built a great door
at the cost of His own body and blood. He raised a ladder on earth whose
top reached to heaven. He made a door by which the chief of sinners may
enter into the holy presence of God, and not be afraid. He opened a road
by which the vilest of men, believing in Him, may draw near to God and
have peace. He cries to us, "I am the gate; whoever enters through me
will be saved" (John 10:9). "I am the way: No one comes to the Father
except through me" (John 14:6). "In Him," says Paul, "we may approach
God with freedom and confidence" (Ephesians 3:12). Thus was the door of
salvation formed.
This door is called "the narrow door," and it is not called so without
cause. It is always narrow, constricted, and difficult to pass through
to some persons, and it will be so as long as the world stands. It is
narrow to all who love sin, and are determine not to part with it. It is
narrow to all who set their affection on this world, and seek first its
pleasures and rewards. It is narrow to all who dislike trouble, and are
unwilling to take pains and make sacrifices for their souls. It is
narrow to all who like company, and want to keep in with the crowd. It
is narrow to all who are self-righteous, and think they are good people,
and deserve to be saved. To all, the great door, which Christ made, is
narrow and constricted. In vain they seek to pass through. The door
will not admit them. God is not unwilling to receive them; their sins
are not too many to be forgiven: but they are not willing to be saved
God's way. Thousands, in the last nineteen centuries, have tried to make
the doorway wider: thousands have worked and toiled to get to heaven on
their terms. But the door never alters. It is not elastic: it will not
stretch to accommodate one man more than another. It is still the narrow
door.
Narrow as this door is, it is "the only one by which men can get to
heaven." There is no side door; there is no side road; there is no gap
or low-place in the wall. All that are ever saved will be saved only by
Christ, and only by simple faith in Him--Not one will be saved by simply
repenting. Today's sorrow does not wipe off yesterday's score. Not one
will be saved by his own works. The best works that any man can do are
little better than impressive sins. Not one will be saved by his formal
regularity in the use of the outward means of grace [going to church,
reading his Bible, praying, taking the Lord's Supper, and honoring the
Lord's day]. When we have done it all, we are nothing but poor
"unprofitable servants." Oh, no! it is a mere waste of time to seek any
other road to eternal life. Men may look to the right and to the left,
and weary themselves with their own methods, but they will never find
another door. Proud men may dislike the door if they want. Depraved men
may scoff at it, and make a jest of those who use it. Lazy men may
complain that the way is hard. But men will discover no other salvation
than that of faith in the blood and righteousness of a crucified
Redeemer. There stands between us and heaven one great door: it may be
narrow; but it is the only one. We must either enter heaven by the
narrow door, or not at all.
Narrow as this door is, it is "a door always ready to open." No sinners
of any kind are forbidden to draw near: whosoever will may enter in and
be saved. There is but one condition of admission: that condition is
that you really feel your sins and desire to be saved by Christ in His
own way. Are you really aware of your guilt and vileness? Have you a
truly broken and contrite heart? Look at the door of salvation, and come
in. He that made it declares, "Whoever comes to me I will never drive
away" (John 6:37). The question to be considered is not whether you are
a great sinner or a little sinner--whether you are elect or not--whether
you are converted or not. The question is simply this, "Do you feel your
sins? Do you feel burdened and heavy-laden? Are you willing to put your
life into Christ's hand?" Then if that be the case, the door will open
to you at once. Come in this very day. Why are you standing out there?
Narrow as this door is, it is "one through which thousands have gone in
and been saved." No sinner was ever turned back, and told he was too bad
to be admitted, if he came really sick of his sins. Thousands of all
sorts have been received, cleansed, washed, forgiven, clothed, and made
heirs of eternal life. Some of them seemed very unlikely to be admitted:
you and I might have thought they were too bad to be saved. But He that
built the door did not refuse them. As soon as they knocked, He gave
orders that they should be let in.
Manasseh, King of Judah, went up to this door. None could have been
worse than he up to that time. He had despised his good father
Hezekiah's example and advice. He had bowed down to idols. He had
filled Jerusalem with bloodshed and cruelty. He had slain his own
children. But as soon as his eyes were opened to his sins, and he fled
to the door for forgiveness, the door flew wide open and he was saved.
Saul the Pharisee went up to this door. He had been a blasphemer of
Christ, and a persecutor of Christ's people. He had labored hard to stop
the progress of the Gospel. But as soon as his heart was touched, and he
found out his own guilt and fled to the door for forgiveness, at once the
door flew wide open, and he was saved.
Many of the Jews who crucified our Lord went up to this door. They had
been grievous sinners indeed. They had refused and rejected their own
Messiah. They had delivered Him to Pilate, and pleaded that He might be
slain. They had desired Barabbas to be let go, and the Son of God to be
crucified. But in the day when they were convicted in their heart by
Peter's preaching, they fled to the door for forgiveness, and at once the
door flew open, and they were saved.
The jailer at Philippi went up to this door. He had been a cruel, hard,
godless man. He had done all in his power to ill-treat Paul and his
companion. He had thrust them into the inner prison, and locked their
feet in the stocks. But when his conscience was aroused by the
earthquake, and his mind enlightened by Paul's teaching of the Word of
God, he fled to the door for forgiveness, and at once the door flew open,
and he was saved.
But why would I need to stop short in Bible examples? Why should I not
say that multitudes have gone to "the narrow door" since the days of the
Apostles, and have entered in by it and been saved? Thousands of all
ranks, classes, and ages--educated and uneducated, rich and poor, old and
young--have tried the door and found it ready to open--have gone through
it and found peace for their souls. Yes: thousands of persons yet living
have proven the effectiveness of the door, and found it the way to real
happiness. Noblemen and commoners, merchants and bankers, soldiers and
sailors, farmers and tradesmen, laborers and workmen, are still upon
earth, who have found the narrow door to be "a way of pleasantness and a
path of peace." They have not brought up an evil report of what they
found inside the door. They have found Christ's yoke to be easy, and His
burden to be light. Their only regret has been that so few enter in, and
that they themselves did not enter in before.
This is the door which I want every one to enter, into whose hand this
paper may fall. I don't want you merely to go to church, but to go with
heart and soul to the door of life. I don't want you merely to believe
there is such a door, and to think it a good thing, but to enter by faith
and be saved.
Think "what a privilege" it is to have a door at all. The angels who did
not remain faithful to God, fell, never to rise again. To them there was
no door of escape opened. Millions of pagans have never heard of any way
to eternal life. What would they have given, if they could only have
heard one plain sermon about Christ? The Jews in Old Testament times saw
only the door dimly and far away. "The way into the Most Holy Place had
not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still
standing" (Hebrews 9:8). You have the door set plainly before you: you
have Christ and full salvation offered to you, without money and without
price. You never need to be at a loss which way to turn. Oh, consider
what a mercy this is! Beware that you do not despise the door and perish
in unbelief. Better a thousand times not to know of the door than to
know of it and yet remain outside. How will you escape if you neglect so
great a salvation?
Think what a thankful man you ought to be if you have really gone in at
the narrow door. To be a pardoned, forgiven, justified soul--to be ready
for sickness, death, judgment and eternity--to always be provided for in
both worlds--surely this is a matter for daily praise. True Christians
ought to be more full of thanksgivings than they are. I fear that few
sufficiently remember what they were by nature, and what debtors they
are to grace. A heathen remarked that singing hymns of praise was one
special mark of the early Christians. It would be good for Christians in
the present day, if they knew more of this frame of mind. It is no
evidence of a healthy state of soul when there is much complaining and
little praise. It is an amazing mercy that there is any door of
salvation at all; but it is a still greater mercy when we are taught to
enter in by it and be saved.
II. In the second place, here is a plain "command." Jesus says to us,
"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door."
There is often much to be learned in a single word of Scripture. The
words of our Lord Jesus in particular, are always full of matter for
thought. Here is a word which is a striking example of what I mean. Let
us see what the great Teacher would have us gather out of the words "Make
every effort."
"Make every effort" teaches that a man must use means diligently, if he
would have his soul saved. There are means which God has appointed to
help man in his efforts to approach Him. There are ways in which a man
must walk, if he desires to be found by Christ. Public Worship, reading