Thought about it a lot back in 1977. Where? First, it was while surfing with my coach, Randy Zieglar, in Dana Point. And then some more in Costa Mesa (there was a hippie band called Country Faith singing about it). So I took the skinnier of the two routes before me, and now I simply want to continue on that same route all the way Home.
It's a way better option.
So, who else chose the better route to take? Paul did. Newton did. Spurgeon did. Wiersbe did.
I am on His good way. I am not yet what I ought to be. I am not what I long to be, nor what I shall be when I see Christ face to face. But this much is certain: by grace, I am no longer what I once was in the world—and that is everything.
"Then He was seen by James, then by all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely (prematurely, traumatically) born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least [worthy] of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I [at one time] fiercely oppressed and violently persecuted the church of God. But by the [remarkable] grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not without effect. In fact, I worked harder than all of the apostles, though it was not I, but the grace of God [His unmerited favor and blessing which was] with me. So whether it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed and trusted in and relied on with confidence." 1 Corinthians 15:7-11 amp
"In God’s world, for those who are in earnest.. there is no failure. No work truly done, no word earnestly spoken, no sacrifice freely made, was ever made in vain." ~ F.W. Robertson
God has one way, not two. We have chosen His living Word (vv. 1–19). Jesus is alive, and His one gospel message is true! Witnesses who saw Him have passed along their testimony to us. When you trust Him, you receive resurrection life too, eternal life (John 5:24); death can hold you no more.
Jesus died and was raised so you would join Him.
Only One Way, But The Bible Shows Us Solid Proofs Of The Believer’s Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1–34)
A. Historical proof (15:1–11).
The Corinthians did not doubt the resurrection of Christ, so Paul began right there in his argument for the physical resurrection of the human body. The resurrection of Christ is an historic fact proved by the message of the Gospel, the testimony of witnesses and the conversion p 466 of Paul himself. If there were no resurrection, there would be no salvation, for a dead Savior can save nobody! “Now,” argues Paul, “I know that you Corinthians believe in the resurrection of Christ, otherwise your faith is empty (vain). Christ was a man, and now He has a resurrection body. If He has a glorified body in heaven, why should we believers not have one also?” This is another aspect of the believer’s union with Christ: because He has been glorified, we shall also be glorified one day.
B. Personal proof (vv. 12–19).
Paul points to the Corinthians’ own personal experience. He had preached the Gospel to them, they had believed, and their lives had been transformed (6:9–11). But if the dead rise not, then Christ is dead, and that Gospel was a lie! Their faith was vain, and they were still in their sins! The Christian faith is good only if a person lives; there is no hope after death.
C. Doctrinal proof (vv. 20–28).
Here Paul deals with the Bible doctrine of “the two Adams.” (He uses this argument also in Rom. 5.) It was through the first Adam’s sin that death came into the world; but through the Last Adam (Christ), death has been conquered. Christ is the firstfruits; that is, He is the first of a great harvest that is yet to come. Christ is God’s “Last Adam,” and He will reverse the wrong that the first Adam brought into this world. When Christ comes, the dead in Christ will be raised (v. 23 and 1 Thes. 4:13–18). Jesus will finally put all things under His feet, including death. In other words, to deny the resurrection of the dead is to deny the future kingdom of Christ. If believers are “dead and gone,” then God’s promise for the future is null and void.
D. Practical proof (vv. 29–34).
Paul mentions several practices in daily life that prove the resurrection of the body. For one thing, the Corinthians were “baptizing for the dead.” There is some disagreement over what this means. Were they baptizing living people on behalf of saints who had died before being baptized (which is not likely), or were they baptizing new converts to take the place of those who had died (which is likely)? In any event, the church at Corinth was still practicing baptism, and baptism is a symbol of death, burial, and resurrection. (New Testament scholars generally agree that the early church baptized p 467 by immersion.) The ordinance has no meaning if there is no resurrection of the dead. In vv. 30–32, Paul cites the many dangers in his ministry, and says in effect, “Surely it is foolish for me to risk my life daily if there is no resurrection!” In v. 32 he argues, “If there is no resurrection, then we ought to eat, drink, and be merry! Enjoy life while we can!” It is easy to see that these practical points make sense. “Shame on you!” he concludes in v. 34. “You ought to have this knowledge!”
When Paul wrote, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10), he is not celebrating self-acceptance; he is confessing divine intervention. Just one verse earlier, he calls himself “the least of the apostles,” not out of false humility, but because he never forgot that he once hunted the very church he now served (Acts 9). He carried the memory of his sin, not as a chain, but as a backdrop against which grace would shine brighter.
This is the great contrast of the gospel: not self-reinvention, but God’s mercy invading a ruined life. Paul knew what every honest believer must eventually admit—apart from Christ, we bring nothing but need. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15). Yet that same man, once a persecutor, now preaches Christ with unrelenting zeal. Why? Grace.
Grace is not a sentimental idea; it is the decisive power of God acting on behalf of the undeserving. It is not earned, improved upon, or repaid. “If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works” (Romans 11:6). Salvation is a gift (Ephesians 2:8–9), but it is never inactive. The same grace that saves also strengthens, reshapes, and sends.
Paul says something striking: “I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Here is the mystery rightly held together—real effort, yet no self-glory. The Christian life is not passive, but neither is it self-powered. We labor, but grace fuels the labor. We strive, but grace steadies the hands. As Paul says elsewhere, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
There is a quiet but crucial balance here. We do not drift into holiness; we pursue it. “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” Paul writes, “for it is God who works in you” (Philippians 2:12–13). God works in—therefore we work out. Grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.
So when we say, “I am what I am,” we are not excusing sin or settling for mediocrity. We are testifying to transformation. We are saying: whatever I am now that is good, true, or enduring—God did it. Whatever strength I have to press on—God supplies it. Whatever hope I carry for the future—God secured it.
A humble believer lives in this tension: deeply aware of remaining sin, yet confidently resting in sufficient grace. Like a craftsman restoring a broken instrument, God does not discard us—He tunes us, reshapes us, and teaches us to sing again. And the song we sing is not about us; it is about Him.
John Newton was once a slave trader, but then he repented and became a pastor. He said: “I am not what I ought to be… but by the grace of God, I am what I am.”
And Charles Spurgeon adds: “Grace does not make us proud; it lays us in the dust, and there it lifts us up.”
“Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”
This is the Christian’s identity—not self-made, but grace-shaped. Not finished, but faithfully being formed. And the right response is not pride, but perseverance; not boasting, but worship.
So press on. Fight sin. Serve Christ. Love people. Not to become something in your own strength, but because, by grace, you already are His—and His grace is not in vain.
I wasn't just left there all lonely at the crossroads—it leads us to a choice. You can choose to ask God to assist. God can help you to rightly reason it through.
Jesus did not describe the Christian life as broad, easy, or popular. He spoke with sobering clarity: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction… but the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life” (Matthew 7:13–14).
Grace brings us conviction of sin, to repentance by His love, brings us to reach out to, to believe in Christ—but Christ Himself is the gate. Not one option among many, but the only way (John 14:6). To follow Him is to leave the crowded road of self, sin, and cultural approval, and step onto a path that is often lonely, costly, and resisted. Yet it is the only road that ends in life.
The narrow way is not narrow because God is unwilling to save, but because true salvation requires repentance, surrender, and faith in Christ alone. It cuts against pride. It confronts sin. It demands the whole heart. But it also leads to something infinitely greater—eternal life with God.
As Jesus said, “Strive to enter through the narrow door” (Luke 13:24). This striving is not earning salvation, but pressing past complacency, rejecting false assurance, and clinging to Christ with a living, active faith.
Few find it—not because it is hidden, but because many will not humble themselves to enter it.
So fitting, huh:
- Matthew 7:13–14 — The narrow gate and the hard way that leads to life
- John 10:9 — “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.”
- John 14:6 — “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
- Luke 13:24 — “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” (Ya don't have to wrestle with the Door)
- Acts 4:12 — “There is salvation in no one else…”
- Hebrews 12:14 — “Strive.. for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
- John Bunyan: “The way of the cross is narrow, but it is the only way that leads to heaven.”
- A. W. Tozer: “The true Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
- Leonard Ravenhill: “The path to holiness is a narrow road, and few there be that find it because few are willing to pay the price.”
- Jonathan Edwards: “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.”
The narrow gate is not merely a doctrine—it is a decision. And it is made daily.
So choose Christ. Enter the narrow gate. Walk the hard road. For though it costs everything, it leads to life everlasting—and to Him.
“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.” ― John Newton
The Narrow Gate And Why So Few Find It.
Few want to let go of their own way, their pride, their hardness of heart, their inner rebellion against authority. Some have false fears that they will miss out on what's good for them. Get an honest reckoning with Matthew 7:13–14 and the love behind it
The Question That Won't Go Away
Does it seem to you that more people are walking toward hell than toward heaven? Is that some preacher's exaggeration? What did God say? It is the testimony of Jesus Christ Himself. And the fact that it still shocks us says something about how carefully we have been trained to avoid hard truths.
"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." Matthew 7:13–14
No footnote could soften those words. No cultural context dissolves them. Jesus, the one Person who knows the destination of every human soul, said plainly: many are going to destruction. Few are finding life. And He said it not to frighten us into paralysis, but to wake us from a comfortable sleep before it is too late to change roads.
The road to hell is paved with seemingly good plans of things we want to do first before deciding on the best thing for us -- turning from sin and letting Christ in to rule without rival.
Many sincere people are on that road. Sincerity, goodness by human measure, religious feeling, moral effort — none of it is the gate. Jesus is. That distinction is not cruelty. It is the most merciful thing God could have told us while there is still time to turn.
Is This the Goodness of God?
Some read Matthew 7:13–14 and conclude that God is stingy with salvation — that He has drawn the door so narrow on purpose to keep most people out. That reading gets the text exactly backward.
Three verses earlier, in the same sermon, Jesus said this:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7–8
Everyone. Not a select few. Not the educated, the moral, the church-raised. Everyone who asks. God is not hoarding heaven. He threw the invitation open to the whole world when He gave His Son:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16
The gate is smaller and the way in is narrow in one sense only: it has a specific name. That name is Jesus Christ. It's not narrower than Him. Come as you are.. willing to be changed from the inside out. To become more you than you've ever been before. Not some lame anamorphic clone.
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"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
The "wide gate" requires nothing in particular — not repentance, not surrender, not faith in anyone specific. It welcomes every religion, every human effort, every spiritual experiment. It is the most tolerant gate imaginable. And it leads straight to ruin. The narrow gate demands one thing: come to God through His Son. Not because God wants fewer people in heaven, but because there is only one cure for sin, and His name is Jesus.
"The gospel is not a secret to be hoarded but a story to be told." — Billy Graham
Why Sin Closed Every Other Road
To understand why there is only one gate, you have to understand why any gate exists at all. We did not arrive at a fork in the road with a full set of options. We arrived having already chosen against God. Sin did not merely wound us — it cut the road to God completely.
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned."
Romans 5:12
"As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.'"
Romans 3:10–11
Compared to the holiness of God, all human righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). God is not being selective. He is being honest about what sin costs and what justice requires. He cannot simply look away from our rebellion, any more than a just judge can look away from a proven crime. Mercy without justice is not virtue — it is compromise. God is both merciful and just, and He resolved that tension at staggering cost to Himself.
"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed."
Isaiah 53:5
No one deserves a second chance. We all earned the broad road. But God, rich in mercy, built the narrow one anyway and paid for it Himself (Romans 5:6–8). Without the blood of Jesus covering our sin, we stand guilty before the God we rejected, without excuse (Romans 1:20).
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." — Jesus Christ, Luke 5:31–32
Why Do Most People Choose The Wide Road?
Jesus did not soften the cost of the narrow road. He described it plainly as hard. It runs through self-denial, through the death of pride, through hardship and unpopular conviction. Following Him requires crucifying the flesh (Galatians 2:20; 5:24), living by faith when sight fails (2 Corinthians 5:7), enduring trials with patience (James 1:2–3), and keeping yourself unstained from the world's values (James 1:27; Romans 12:1–2).
When Jesus Himself laid out that cost plainly, many of His own followers turned back (John 6:66). That was not a failure of His communication. It was a revelation of the human heart. We gravitate toward comfort. We prefer a god we designed to the God who designed us.
Satan knows this. He has not built the highway to destruction with obvious evil. He has paved it with comfort, with the logic of self-fulfillment, with the flattery of moral relativism, with religion that demands nothing and offers everything. The broad road is well-lit, well-populated, and well-defended by respectable opinion. Most people never question it because most people around them are on it.
"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." Proverbs 14:12
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." Luke 9:23–24
The narrow gate is not hidden. It is simply ignored, because the price posted on it — self-surrender — is one most people are unwilling to pay.
"The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world." — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
People are either lost or saved. They are either on the path to life or on the path to ultimate destruction.
Two Roads: A Picture Worth Pausing Over
Two roads diverge in a wood. A traveler must choose. He cannot take both, and way leads on to way — once committed, turning back becomes less and less possible.
Frost was writing about life choices, not theology. But his image lands with quiet force here. The narrow road is less traveled. It always has been. It always will be. And for those who take it, it makes all the difference — not merely in this life, but in eternity.
The difference is not poetic. It is the difference between life and destruction, between the presence of God forever and the absence of God forever. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because the people would not come (Matthew 23:37). He declared the road narrow with sorrow, not with cold indifference. There is no satisfaction in God over the loss of a soul. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). The narrow road exists because He loved us enough to build it, even when it cost Him everything.
No One Wanders In by Accident
No one stumbles through the narrow gate by accident. It requires a decision — not a feeling, not a religious tradition, not a moral résumé. Jesus made the urgency clear when someone asked Him directly how many would be saved:
"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 13:23–24
Many will want the benefits — peace, eternal life, heaven — without the surrender that opens the door. They will try to negotiate terms. They will point to religious activity, moral achievement, good intentions. And the door will be shut. Not because God is cruel, but because they never actually came to Him on His terms: through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9).
But here is the promise that stands alongside the warning: God does not hide the narrow road from those who genuinely want to find it.
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13
All who seek it with honest hearts will find it. Not by accident. Not by religious momentum. But by genuine, humble seeking — the kind that says, "I cannot save myself, I need what only Jesus provides." That is the confession of every soul who has ever walked through that narrow gate. It is the most freeing sentence a human being can speak.
"I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be in another world. But still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am." — John Newton
Here's A Question That Matters Now
Jesus did not preach Matthew 7:13–14 to produce despair. He preached it to produce decision. The statistics of eternity are not meant to paralyze you — they are meant to awaken you, and through you, to awaken others. The question is not primarily about the masses. It is personal:
Which road are you currently on?
Not which road did you start towards. Not which road do you intend to find eventually and get on? Which road are you on right now, here today, with the one life you have been given?
The narrow gate is still open for a while. It has only one name over the doorframe: Jesus.
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
If you have already come through that one gate — then you perhaps know someone who hasn't. Go get em. Invite them. Pray and go pick them up for this. The sorrow Jesus carried when He spoke these words belongs to us now. The Church (us, real believers) does not exist to make peace with the broad road. We exist to stand at the narrow gate and call people on in with a sense of urgency because that is valid, with Christ's love, and with the truth that cost God His Son.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
Why do so many reject Christ—and why is the way to life described as narrow?
Jesus commanded: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."
