Jesus said you have to put his words into practice. Faith in God; love for one another; and belief in Jesus as your Savior.How should we strive to enter through the narrow gate?
That's the whole problem with many people as they fail to ';let go and let God'; Jesus made it clear that we can't save ourselves by our works and that the only way to eternal life with him is by trusting in Him. Many will seek to enter into life everlasting by various means however we are also told in Scripture that we are justified totally by faith and our works have nothing to do with the Lord's ';salvation package'; He gives us. The real problem for many is as the Scriptures tell us, ';Many will stumble at the simplicity in Christ'; and the true saved believer becomes one only because he/she trusted in Christ and at that point, the Holy Spirit indwells the new believer who then becomes ';sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption'; (Ephesians 4:30) You see, many can't grasp the simplicity of the Gospel and it can take some time for certain people to learn to accept what the Lord has already done for them rather than try and apply works for their eternal security and believe me, that can take some striving with many. Note also that ';The righteousness of God is upon all and to all who will believe'; (Romans 3:22). In other words, we are totally righteous in the mind and sight of God as He simply gives us His righteousness at the point when we first trust Christ. Any one at all who is ';clothed in the righteousness of God'; is now totally free to look forward to eternal life as their sin problem has already been dealt with and can never again come into condemnation as all our sins being past, present, and future are forgiven at the point of belief. Paul tells us to ';work out you salvation with fear and trembling'; What he is effectively saying here is consider and reason it out in your own mind as to what makes the greatest sense from the Lord's perspective. We are to reason it out from the Scriptures for ourselves. We also note in the Scriptures that we are told over and over again that we are justified totally by faith plus nothing, minus nothing. Note here particularly in 1 John 5:13 ';These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.'; Many will learn this the hard way as after striving they will eventually come to terms with the fact that there is nothing left for them to do except believe. John chapter 3 covers a conversation between the Lord and Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews and a devout keeper of the law. He thought his place in heaven was assured because he lived a ';righteous life'; however, Jesus changed Nicodemus' mind when He said those words with which every Christian is familiar; ';Ye must be born again'; The very key here is that as we all entered this world spiritually dead and separated from the Lord because of our ';condition'; which we all inherited from Adam, then the Bible tells us that we were all condemned. people end up in hell not because of what they did but rather because of what they are (spiritually dead and separated from God because of this condition) This is why our ';good works'; cannot save us as our works simply do not address the problem that sends people to hell in the first place. ';Many will strive to enter therein but few that be that find it'; I hope this has thrown some light on your question. God Bless!
Tithing and keeping Sabbath are two things that come to mind.
13Enter 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:
14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
(Matthew 7:13-14)
Although holiness is definitely an essential part of our Christian walk, I think this Scripture is referring to something different. It deals with ';entrance'; into eternal life. We enter into eternal life by being born again.
I have counted at LEAST 5 different and contradictory basic ';plans of salvation'; being taught in the various denominations that bear the name, ';Christian,'; in this day and age. We cannot all be right, and ';There is a way which *seemeth* right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death'; (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).
Sadly, many people take this lightly, casually assuming that their way is ';right'; without studying to show themselves approved unto God (2 Timothy 2:15). Such pride and complacency is tragic when it comes to this all important issue of how to ';be saved.';
Apostolic Believer in One God, JESUS
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