Introduction. When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6), He was revealing that the path back to God could only be found by listening to Him and submitting to His authority. The gospel is now “a new and living way which He consecrated for us.” (Heb. 10:20). Jesus also said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out” (Jn. 10:9). As both “the door” and “the way,” Jesus now holds “the key of David,” and is “He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens” (Rev. 3:7). In prophecy, this “new way He consecrated for us” is called “a highway,” “a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.” With a loving Savior as both door and way, “Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray.” (Isa. 35:8).
A Powerful Warning. Although these truths have been revealed to comfort and assure us, Jesus warned that even with all His power, “the way He consecrated for us” is a “difficult way.” Even though Jesus is the door, holds the key of David and can open and no one shuts, it is still a “narrow gate.”
A Powerful Warning. Although these truths have been revealed to comfort and assure us, Jesus warned that even with all His power, “the way He consecrated for us” is a “difficult way.” Even though Jesus is the door, holds the key of David and can open and no one shuts, it is still a “narrow gate.”
- "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Mt. 7:13-14)
The danger is within us. The gate is not narrow because Jesus made it that way! It is narrow because what Jesus’ demanded is more than most people are willing to give. Jesus made baptism an integral part of the gate (Mt 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15-16)! It is now a narrow gate because most churches and religious people today have ignored Jesus and created other doors. As Israel before them, “not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." (Rom. 10:3). Jesus never made “accept Christ as your personal savior” a part of the door, but it is a larger gate for many than the one Jesus gave. With so many other choices, His command, “he who believes and is baptized” is unheeded, disregarded, and thus narrow.
Jesus’ way is one of denial. “Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’” (Mt. 16:24). When we compare this to what most people are hearing in churches today we see why His path is a “difficult way” that few will find. For multitudes of believers, “once saved always saved” has turned the “grace of God” into “sensuality” “a license for immorality” or "lewdness” (Jude 4). Jesus did not die on the cross and consecrate a new way for His people so they could be taught such things.
Paul compared Israel’s passing through the Red Sea to our baptism into Christ. Both were gates leading to God. After Israel entered the gate, God led them to Sinai and gave them His law to guide them to His path. Yet of the 603,550 men that left Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb found their way into the Promised Land. The rest were “overthrown in the wilderness.” (1Cor. 10:1-11).
God did not fail them - they failed God! Although God had promised to lead them to the Promised Land, their own conduct led God to say: “none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land.” Later God said: “Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" (Heb. 3:10-11; Num. 32:11-12).
This was a powerful event in the history of God’s people. It “became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.” “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." (1Cor. 10:6,11). Since “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” we must make the proper applications of this admonition.
The real problem was lust for things God revealed to be evil. They could not stay on the path to life because these desires and cravings were stronger than their desire to enter the Promised Land. These lusts made God’s way seem narrow and confining. They sought a path to keep their lusts. They never found it. No matter how clear God made the path leading to life, they would not walk in it, because it was not where they wanted to go. When God told Israel to “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it.” (Jer. 6:16) “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3)
If we do not destroy our lusts, we too will fall. All must “put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts," and stop “not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance” (Eph. 4:22; 1Pet. 1:14-16). If we don’t control them, “the time will come when” we can no longer “endure the sound doctrine,” and begin to seek “teachers after their own lusts,” and “turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.” (2Tim. 4:3-4).
Conclusion. Jesus is the way, the door, and holds the key of David. When He opens no one can shut, and if we abide in His word, we will know the truth and be made free. By His power even a fool cannot stray from the path! Yet the consequences of freewill remain. Jesus’ warning of a narrow gate and difficult way manifest His concern about our choices. No one can snatch us from His hand, but we can leave of our own freewill. Here is God’s counsel:
"Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard." (Heb. 4:1-2)
"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." (1Cor. 10:12)
Jesus’ way is one of denial. “Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’” (Mt. 16:24). When we compare this to what most people are hearing in churches today we see why His path is a “difficult way” that few will find. For multitudes of believers, “once saved always saved” has turned the “grace of God” into “sensuality” “a license for immorality” or "lewdness” (Jude 4). Jesus did not die on the cross and consecrate a new way for His people so they could be taught such things.
Paul compared Israel’s passing through the Red Sea to our baptism into Christ. Both were gates leading to God. After Israel entered the gate, God led them to Sinai and gave them His law to guide them to His path. Yet of the 603,550 men that left Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb found their way into the Promised Land. The rest were “overthrown in the wilderness.” (1Cor. 10:1-11).
God did not fail them - they failed God! Although God had promised to lead them to the Promised Land, their own conduct led God to say: “none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land.” Later God said: “Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" (Heb. 3:10-11; Num. 32:11-12).
This was a powerful event in the history of God’s people. It “became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.” “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." (1Cor. 10:6,11). Since “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” we must make the proper applications of this admonition.
The real problem was lust for things God revealed to be evil. They could not stay on the path to life because these desires and cravings were stronger than their desire to enter the Promised Land. These lusts made God’s way seem narrow and confining. They sought a path to keep their lusts. They never found it. No matter how clear God made the path leading to life, they would not walk in it, because it was not where they wanted to go. When God told Israel to “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it.” (Jer. 6:16) “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3)
If we do not destroy our lusts, we too will fall. All must “put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts," and stop “not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance” (Eph. 4:22; 1Pet. 1:14-16). If we don’t control them, “the time will come when” we can no longer “endure the sound doctrine,” and begin to seek “teachers after their own lusts,” and “turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.” (2Tim. 4:3-4).
Conclusion. Jesus is the way, the door, and holds the key of David. When He opens no one can shut, and if we abide in His word, we will know the truth and be made free. By His power even a fool cannot stray from the path! Yet the consequences of freewill remain. Jesus’ warning of a narrow gate and difficult way manifest His concern about our choices. No one can snatch us from His hand, but we can leave of our own freewill. Here is God’s counsel:
"Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard." (Heb. 4:1-2)
"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." (1Cor. 10:12)