“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7: 13-14). Our text is part of the sermon that Christ preached on the Mount. That sermon begins with the fifth chapter and ends with the seventh chapter of Matthew. There was a great multitude in that audience. His own disciples were there, and many others who were still in a state of nature. Christ gave the first part of his sermon to his disciples, calling them several times blessed — “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” etc. After addressing his own disciples, he began to speak to the unconverted, the great majority of whom composed his hearers. He did not neglect in his preaching those in a state of sin and misery, and thus set a good example before ministers of the gospel, who are to preach not only to the Lord’s people but to others also.
Let us take up our subject thus:
1. The Gate.
The gate is Christ. “I am the door.” “I am the way.” It is, “A Strait Gate.” How is Christ “A Strait Gate?” (1) Negatively: he is not strait in his power to save. “He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.” He is not strait in his invitations to sinners. “Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth.” “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” All to whom the message of salvation comes are invited to him. (2) Positively: (1) Because all who enter in by him must leave their sins outside the gate. “Let the wicked forsake his ways.” Although Jesus saves his people, he saves them, not in their sins but from their sins. (2) Because he will not admit any who will not leave outside his own righteousness. He will admit the sinner but not his filthy rags — self righteousness. The gate is so strait that that cannot enter in by it. Many would give up the practice of sin in order to be saved, but would not renounce their own righteousness, and be indebted entirely to Christ for salvation. Such will find the gate too narrow for them when it is too late. They shall find themselves shut out from God and from heaven. The strait gate is the door of entrance to the narrow way. Christ is the gate, and if we would enter that gate we must be “born again.” The gate is so strait that no unregenerate man can enter in thereat. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” Christ is the door to that kingdom, and, if we would enter the kingdom of glory in the other world, we must enter the kingdom of grace in this world. When a soul believes in Christ, he enters in the way that leads to everlasting life in heaven. That way is a “narrow way.” It is hedged on both sides by the law of God. The believer, though delivered from the law as a covenant of works, is not delivered from it as a rule of life. “Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end, give me understanding and I shall keep thy law” (Ps. 119: 33, 34). It is a narrow way and it is a strait way — “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7: 12). The way that leads to death or destruction in the world of eternity is a broad way. It is also a crooked way. It is not the same course of sin that all in this way practise and follow. Some follow one course, others another. But they are all in the same broad way, and though the way winds hither and thither in innumerable zig-zag directions, to suit the various inclinations of the great multitudes that throng it, they shall meet together at the end, for at all the terminuses there is destruction. Christ knew this and warns sinners of the danger. The broad way is downhill, and is easy to travel for those who walk after the flesh, and for those who take up the form of religion but deny its power. It is not only the irreligious that are found in the way — many professors of religion are found therein. It is like a river running downwards which carries along its course the dead flesh without a struggle on their part. All in the broad way are spiritually dead, and they are easily carried along with the current of the river. And when any are quickened by the spirit, they begin like living fish to struggle against the stream. There are many in the broad way. By nature all the fallen human race are in it. Christ’s flock is a “little flock.” Satan’s flock is a large one — very large. Some people boast of having a majority, so may Satan; as yet he has the majority of men in the world. He is their father, they are his children; he is their master, they are his servants. Those in the broad way say, Satan is not our father; God is our father. So said the Jews, but Christ said to them, “Ye are of your father the devil.” And we know that what he said is true. It is not what you, that are in the broad way, may say about yourselves that is true, but what Christ says about you. You will never leave the broad way till you first come to realise that you are in it. May the Lord open your eyes to see where you are, sinner, before it is too late! All who are now in the narrow way that leads to life were convinced that they were by nature on the broad way that leads to destruction. They believed this, and then they began to strive to enter in at the strait gate. They by grace entered in, and they pity with all their heart their fellow sinners who are still in the broad way from which they themselves had been taken by him who “came to seek, and to save that which was lost.” They are entirely indebted to Jesus Christ for this merciful translation. O, the blessed Jesus! Let all that is in me be stirred up to praise his holy name, and let my tongue be as the pen of a ready writer to recommend him to my fellow sinners!
2. The Exhortation.
The exhortation is addressed to sinners who are still in the broad way that leads to destruction. It is a part of Christ’s sermon on the mount when multitudes gathered to hear him. His own disciples were there, but the great majority of the audience were in a state of sin and wrath, and to the latter he addresses this exhortation. It may be objected, how can sinners in a state of nature strive to enter in? Christ addresses them as rational and responsible creatures, and they are bound, at the risk of perishing forever, if they neglect this duty, to strive that they may be saved. “Secret things belong unto the Lord,” revealed things belong unto us and to our children. This is a revealed duty, and is pressed on us by Christ. He says, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate.” You cannot extricate yourself from the duty he enjoins. You may neglect it, but it is still a bounden duty, and if you are saved you will strive to enter in. Do you ask, how am I to strive that I may be saved? What means to use, what efforts to put forth in the use of the means? In striving for obtaining any good thing we need in this world, there are means to be used, and if these means are neglected that good cannot be obtained. In like manner in striving to be saved, there are means that must be used, or you cannot possibly be saved. These means are not the devices of men, but the ordinances of God. He gave you the Bible, which reveals that all have sinned, and have come short of his glory. And you are one of this all that have sinned, and the Bible also reveals that Christ came, “to seek and to save that which was lost.” If you would strive to enter in, search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of us as sinners, and of Christ as the saviour. We have no warrant to believe that any who neglect to read and search the word of God, as the great means of salvation can be saved. Prayer is another means of salvation. “Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you,” is one of the exhortations of the saviour with respect to the duty of prayer. If you neglect the means of grace, you cannot enter in at the strait gate. The sacraments — Baptism and the Lord’s Supper — are means of grace; but they are not essential to your entering in at the strait gate. They are outward symbols and seals of the covenant of grace, but you may enter into God’s favour although you had not been baptised or been a communicant. These are then the means you are to use if you would be saved. The way you are to use them is to strive. This is Christ’s exhortation, “Strive to enter in.” It indicates the manner in which you are to use the means prescribed in the word of God. To strive is not to engage in the duty in a careless and indifferent manner, not to be half-hearted in your endeavours to enter in. It is to use all diligence, to exhaust all your energy, like those running in the race that they might obtain the crown at the end. It is to be in agony, like a dying man striving to retain life. The importance of the matter at stake — the salvation of your precious soul — calls for the utmost endeavour on your part for striving that you may enter in at the strait gate — that you may believe in Christ, and be found in him not having your own righteousness. But you may object: Can I strive with success without God working in me by his spirit — changing me from a state of nature to a state of grace? No, but it is not what God will work by his spirit in all that are saved that Christ speaks of, but your duty, and the duty of every sinner to whom the Gospel comes. God, and He alone, can effect the change that is necessary to salvation, but that does not exempt you or me or any other sinner from our own duty. You fail in your striving if you do not earnestly, and in God’s way, pray that he may be pleased to give you his holy spirit to convince you of your sin and lost condition by nature, and so to change you as that you will indeed enter in at the strait gate. You will never enter in without this change, but this calls you to strive the more that he may work it in you. It is God’s part to bless the means of grace, but it is our duty to make diligent use of the means.
(to be continued)