Are You Listening?

What did Jesus mean by those who go through the narrow door? The best way to answer that question is to look at the people that Jesus specifically said were saved. Zacchaeus was one. He was a tax collector who cheated people. But Jesus came to His house, and Zacchaeus repented of his sins and promised to restore all that he stole. Jesus said Zacchaeus was saved (Luke 19.9). Another time a sinful woman came and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. He knew she had committed many sins, but she was sorry for them, and she looked to Jesus for mercy. Jesus told her that her sins were forgiven and that she was saved (Luke 7.48 & 50). In the Gospel of John, Jesus simply says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” (John 10.9).

So the narrow door is the door of repentance and faith in Jesus, who went to Jerusalem to die on the cross and to save all who would believe in Him. Jesus said that we have to “strive” to pass through that door. The word “strive” in the original language means “to agonize.” But this isn’t so much of a physical agony as it is a spiritual one. It is humiliating to admit of your sins. But Jesus called us to be humble. More than that, it is degrading to admit that you need to be saved. But Jesus promises that only those who come to that point in their lives will be saved. That is why He said, “The last will be first, and the first last.” The very essence of salvation is that it is God’s work, and we have to let Him do it.

3. The Application

So what difference does this teaching that God calls me to repent of my sins and believe in Jesus for my salvation make in my life today?

Some years ago I was at a large church meeting in Germany, and I was talking to some German pastors. I told them that I was from America, and that I was a Lutheran pastor as well. Do you know what they asked me? They asked, “Are you one of those narrow-minded Lutherans or one of those broad-minded Lutherans?” I said, “I’m a pastor in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.” That definitely raised their eyebrows as they all said together “Ahhhh, narrow-minded...” Our church is thought by some to be “narrow-minded.” But if you really look at what Jesus taught, you can’t help but be narrow-minded in some ways. I don’t mean that we should deny anything that is true. But at the same time Jesus never taught that we should just believe anything and everything that comes along.

First of all, this narrow door of salvation is very important to us personally. At times we may wonder whether we are saved. Often, at the point of death, Satan tempts people to question their salvation. But at those times we need to remember the simple, narrow door. The prophet Joel said, “Whoever calls upon the name of the LORD will be saved” (2.32).

There are many today who say that the way of salvation is very broad and open to anyone no matter what they believe as long as they try to be good. But trying to be good does nothing about the problem of sin. It may sound good, but it isn’t. Jesus urges us in many places not to be deceived by this. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17.3). It is because of this simple narrow door that people from all nations, from the East, the West, the North and the South will be saved. People that reject this and hold to a broader view of salvation are like the ones who said to Jesus, "You taught in our streets." They may have heard some of Jesus' teachings, but they picked and chose those teachings that were acceptable to them. They didn't really listen, repent, and believe.