THE GATE IS STILL NARROW

Matt.7.13 – 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 which go in thereat:
Matt.7.14 – Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Brethren, it’s hard to say, but I have to remind us of this bitter truth – the gate of heaven is still narrow, and few are they that find it .

Notice the word find . If you can find it, that means you can lose it.

The knowledge of how narrow the gate is will inform your approach to life and things of life.

Naked we came, naked we will go. What is the need for material nonsense. The things we press to make name with here on earth don’t matter in heaven. What then is the need for your pursuit? Jesus gave us an explicit pattern we must stick to regardless of conditions and circumstances prevalent in your day.

Today so many Believers who once upheld chore and core Christian values have today started dropping those values for feeble and worldly oriented values. They have found the language that is strange to Christianity. They marry as the world marries, they celebrate as the world does. You cheat in every endeavour and call it being smart? You forget that narrow is still the way and strait is still the gate which Jesus perfectly demonstrated.

The word still should inform every right thinking follower of Christ that Advent and emergence ICT and cultural exploration do not alter the standard and quality of our Faith of Christ in us.

Dictionary meaning of the word still is this “Having the same stated quality continuously from a past time”.

Backsliding is a process of compromising the same stated qualities that has not changed from the past time. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever but in your heart, lust has damaged those values that ought to still be continued in every aspect of life. You are simply playing hypocrisy.

We will look at the concept of the topic from few points:
1. The command .
In John 14, while Jesus Christ was addressing salient issues with His disciples, it came to a point that He had to be very categorical in addressing the various ways many had presumably believed before His Advent. He said I AM THE WAY… no one comes to the Father EXCEPT by me. In the parlance of the world, they will say that the statement is “end of discussion”. Your options, opinions, intelligent ideas etc are irrelevant. In military, they would say obey the last order. Dear Reader, Jesus Christ is commanding and still commands us to enter ye in at the strait gate. Jesus Christ was very commandeer. He was not begging or seeking your opinion on which gate to enter rather as the Commander of Heavenly Father’s Army, we take orders from Him. Because no one comes to the Father except by Him. Jesus was very particular when He commanded us to enter in. So many heresies have come up these days. Some argue you can’t meet Jesus Christ except through “His mother”. Hmmm. Some contend it must be through one ange or the other. To avoid all these, He was very particular or in other word He was very specific.

2. The specifics
Let us look at the instruction again. Matt.7:13. “Enter ye in at the gate:…” Did you see the definite article as highlighted in bold? It is not just a gate but the gate. Jesus Christ was very specific to avoid any form of confusion. Dear Reader, you have no molecule of excuse about the way to eternity! No sir! You are inescapably inexcusable! God in His infinite mercy commanded us in many infallible proofs and by the Holy Ghost when He spoke audibly in the Public Ministry of Jesus Christ when a Voice came from Heaven saying “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him or listen to Him”.

God was very specific about what He needs or wants from everyone. So what excuse do you have when you indulge in your own lust? You see, the gate is not just as the world thinks or feels, rather the gate has the nature of God. You can say that the gate Jesus Christ commanded us to go through must never have attributes of human traditions, cultural antecedents, philosophical ideologies and human logics. No sir! The gate which Jesus Christ commanded us to enter in has attribute of God Himself.

3. The attributes.

When we talk about attribute of God, even Satan knows it! He demands righteousness in all that we do. This is the reason Jesus Christ emphatically stated that strait is the gate. Another simple meaning is that the gate is righteous. Let us subsume or swap the word righteous in that text and see how it reads. Matt.7:13a “Enter ye in at righteous gate:…”

We have seen that the attribute here is that you must be righteous! Hebrews 12:14 commands us to follow peace and holiness with all human being for without which no eyes can see the LORD!

We have no argument and we don’t need it at all. It is enough that Jesus Christ died and rose again, validating His Words and all that He had commanded. Why wouldn’t you understand and apply it daily in your activities that His commands are still STRAIT? That His specific is very STRAIT? And His attribute is still STRAIT?

You must also note that when Jesus Christ emphasized that few there be that find it, it means you can as well lose it. Ask yourself if you have lost the savour or flavour of your first and once Believed values?

You must take personal responsibility to find it and as well take personal responsibility to retain it as well. There are those who lost their salvation along the line simply because they didn’t take responsibility to remain in the strait way.

May the Lord impress it so hardly on your heart and in your heart that the gate of heaven is not just narrow but righteous!

Remember, the gate is still narrow. It does not widen with days, weeks, months or years.