The Narrow Door

Thursday, August 04, 2011, 6:53 a.m. – The song, “In That Day,” was playing in my mind when I awoke this morning. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Luke 13:1-9, 22-30:

Repent or Perish
1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

The Narrow Door
22 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

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My Understanding: In Matthew 7, it is recorded that Jesus spoke about the narrow and wide gates: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Jesus continued by stating that, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” And, a little further on down in Matthew 7, it is recorded that Jesus also said that everyone who hears his words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock, but everyone who hears his words and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The wise man’s house stood against the storms of life because it had its foundation on the Rock, Jesus Christ, but the foolish man’s house fell with a great crash.

Luke 13 follows a similar theme in recording the teachings of Jesus. In this passage, it is recorded that Jesus stressed the importance of repentance, i.e. turning from sin and from our old lives of living according to our fleshly desires and turning in the opposite direction to walk in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ. We have all sinned. No one is better than another. Unless we repent of our sins and turn to walk in obedience to Jesus Christ, we will perish, i.e. we will spend eternity in hell.

Jesus has given all of us ample opportunity to repent of our sins and to turn to walk in faith and obedience to him. Yet, many are still outside of faith in Jesus Christ. And, many profess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and yet have never repented, perhaps because they have believed a lie that says that repentance and obedience are not necessary for salvation. There is still time, but none of us knows how much time. One day Jesus will return, and the door to heaven will be shut, and those who refused to repent and obey, or who felt they were not required to repent and obey, will be shut out of heaven forever.

So why is the door to heaven a “narrow” door which few find? What is this “narrow” door? The “narrow” door is our passageway to heaven. Jesus provided the way for us to be with God forever in heaven when he died on the cross for our sins so that we could free from the penalty of sin (eternity in hell) and we could be free from the daily control of sin over our lives. We enter that door through faith in Jesus Christ, so that is the first requirement, and truly the only requirement, if understood correctly.

So, what does it mean to have faith in Jesus Christ? According to these two passages of scripture and Jesus’ own words, as well as according to the whole of the New Testament, faith in Jesus Christ means repenting of our sin, bearing good fruit for the gospel of Jesus Christ in how we live each day, doing the will of God in our lives, and hearing the words of God and putting them into practice (obedience) in our daily lives. Jesus said that if any man would come after him, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Christ. So, it means death to self on a daily basis, and it means following Jesus Christ wherever he leads us daily. It means offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, forsaking conformity to the world and its pattern for our lives, and instead being transformed into Christ’s likeness by the renewing of our minds. This is why it is called a “narrow” door, and this is why few enter it.

Many today are trying to make the door to heaven wide so that many can enter, but this is false teaching and is not supported scripturally. If someone is telling you that you don’t have to repent and you don’t have to obey God and that God is pleased with you no matter what you do, it is a lie! These two passages alone refute that idea. In the day of our salvation, God’s wrath (anger) is turned away from us and we are granted entry into his eternal kingdom, and he is our salvation and we have much to thank and praise him for. Yet, make certain that you are entering the narrow door (the only door) to heaven, so that one day you will not hear, “I don’t know you. Depart from me,” but you will hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter my kingdom!”

In That Day / An Original Work / May 21, 2011

Based off of Isaiah 12

In that day you will say: “I will praise You, Lord.
I know You were angry; anger’s turned away.
God is my salvation; I’ll trust; not afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, my strength; the Lord, Lord, my song;
He is my salvation; Lord, my comforter.”
With joy you’ll draw water from salvation’s wells.

In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord.
Call on His holy name; make Him known today.
Proclaim: He’s exalted. Tell what He has done.
Sing, for He is glorious; make this known to all.
Shout aloud; sing for joy, people of Zion;
Great is the Holy One, who among us dwells.”

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs/home/songs/in-that-day