Why is His Way narrow and only a few find it? Matthew 7:13-14

WILL OF THE FATHER:

Matt 7:21 Jesus said; Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
(NOTE: Who will enter heaven? Anyone that does the will of my Father.')

HOW WE DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER:

John 6:40 Jesus said; This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which "seeth the Son, and believeth on him" may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
(NOTE: The will of the Father is: Place your belief/Faith in Jesus sin atoning work/sacrifice. Found in the death (sins required wage paid), burial (proof Christ died) & resurrection (The Father's receipt, payment received & accepted)

The gate is narrow. Jesus said: " I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.: (John 10:9) This goes back to the Hebrew letter that today is our letter D. This represents the door. At the time the Torah was written they were living in tents and the door represented the doorway into & out of the tent. Jesus is the Son (Ben) of God and He has control in the Father's Name what goes in and out or through the door of the tent. This is like the bouncer in a bar and they have the authority who goes in the door and who is thrown out of the bar and so who goes out of the door. At the first passover the door post had to be covered with blood. Then the death angel would pass over that dwelling and not harm those who entered in through that door.

I am not so sure there is ever a time when we do not have to go the extra mile. We have to give more so that people can clearly see that got what they are entitled to receive. Those who do not give more to go above and beyond are taking a chance on being judged for not giving enough. I did repair work and I always did more. I always went above and beyond. This impressed people that with me they got good quality and more than they paid for.

Hello MessageOfTheCross, Jesus told the folks in Matt 7:22 (who "thought" that they were Christians) that their works (that they claimed to do in His Name) were sinful because they did not know Him, and because He did not know them.

How can anyone obey God/know what His will is if they do not know Him

MessageOfTheCross said:

What is the will of the Father?

Click to expand...

First & foremost, that we believe in/come to saving faith in His Son .. e.g. John 6:28-29, because until that happens we cannot know or do His will (because we do not know Him) .. e.g. 1 Corinthians 2:14.

~Deut

Judges1318 has given the answer
john 8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
john 8:34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

john 14:23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

you can see
the way is very clear by those that follow Jesus teaching
and you may say that is works but it is not

acts 15:8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.
9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

it is God that purified the hearts so that you may walk in them

so if you say you have faith show me your works. Why, because these works came by the father
as Judges1318 did a good job showing

Hello again MessageOfTheCross, the Lord told the folks who were standing in the Judgement before Him that He ~NEVER~ knew them. How could He say such a thing about someone who had come to saving faith in Him, someone who is His very own child

As you said, the folks in v22 "thought" that they were Christians, but according to the Lord Jesus, they never were, because He ~never~ knew them (so, sadly, they were either lying or deceived or both). One way or the other, believers they were not/never were.

~Deut

John 6:29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

God's will is that we carry on the same work that he is doing.

If someone does not have a personal relationship with Jesus (does not "know" Him), they are not/never were believers!


True believers always enter into sanctification (it is only CINO/Christians In Name Only .. cf Matt 7:22/Matt 13:37-39 who do not), as God promises to sanctify all of us who are His, as well see us all safely through this life to be with Him in Glory (as the Lord tells us plainly, "I lose nothing") .. e.g. John 5:24, 6:37-40, 10:27-28; Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 5:13; Jude 24-25.

~Deut

John 6:53 - "Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood (i.e., the Cross, i.e., The Finished Work), you have no life in you," (presents the demand that caused "many of His Disciples to go back, and walk no more with Him" [John 6:66]. It does the same presently! This Verse tells us the degree of believing that is required; it refers to the Cross being the total Object of one's belief; failing that, there is no Life in you.)

John 6:66 - From that time many of His Disciples went back, and walk no more with Him.

Remember, the memory of the wicked will not be remembered! They thought because they Believed in Jesus and did works in His name they were saved.

In the Eyes of God the Believer who’s Faith trust in Christ and His Righteous Work at Calvary is being obedient to the Faith. The Church of Ephesus was doing good things and deeds, however, God wasn’t in these works. Therefore, they had fallen from the obedient from Gods Eyes.

“4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against you (something is wrong, despite their zeal), because you have left your first love (not “lost” your first love, but rather “left” your first love; it refers to a departure from the Cross, and is so serious that it will lead the Church to ruin unless Repentance is forthcoming).”

“5 Remember therefore from where you are fallen (this means they fell from Grace, which means they had stopped depending on Christ and the Cross [Gal. 5:4]), and repent, and do the first works (go back to the Cross); or else I will come unto you quickly, and will remove your candlestick out of his place, except you repent. (Christ is the Source of the Light, but the Cross is the means. They are to come back to the Cross, or else the Light will be removed.)” Revelation 2:4-5

Pastor Curtis/JSM

Because they thought by their works they can merit a place in heaven. We can merit nothing, we have to understand the sermon on the mountain, blessed are the poor in spirit, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. You ain't poor in spirit of you think you are working up a heaven savings and loan account, nor do you hunger and thirst for righteousness is you think you abound in it by deeds of your own labour.

John 6:40 - For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

I read this passage only as applied to man through the ages, not as one limited people of a certain time. It is a new idea to me, I'll pray about it and thank you. Makes perfect sense.

But if you are jabbing at people who think that a true Christian is one who desires to follow in Christ's way of living, I can't agree. I think we are told the narrow way is to live as Christ told us to in the best way we can. It is like Paul said that he does what he does not want to do. But His desire was to follow Christ's way of living without sin.

"not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2Peter3:9) God is not willing that any should perish. I wonder though, does everyone need to repent. Why would God create a situation where everyone would need to repent? We are told that everyone is written in the Book of life and people who perish in their sin have to have their name blotted out of the book of life.

You're welcome. I was not suggesting that its application is only limited to the Jews of Jesus' time. However, too often this passage is used by narrow-minded Christians to demean or dismiss other Christians, which in my view is both hermeneutically and morally wrong.

I wasn't jabbing as you suggest; Christians are indeed called to a narrow path.