The Narrow Gate And The Strait Way
THE NARROW GATE AND THE STRAIT WAY
The verses read in the gospel of Matthew mention two kinds of gates and two kinds of way. Each of us is on one way or the other; we are indeed on the way which leads to destruction or on the way which leads to life. It is easy to enter the way which leads to destruction, for the door is wide and the way is broad. Young people in particular can find it easy to follow their companions. But if you find that it is easy to join yourself to those with whom you are in contact, it is good that you stop a little and consider on which way you are found. Indeed, the gate that leads into the path of life is a narrow gate, that is to say that it is not very easy to go through. It is therefore of the very highest importance that you examine in what sort of way you are found.
I have read the passage which speaks of Naaman to show the nature of the narrow gate, and the incident of the blind man to show the nature of the strait way. But as I have said, it is of the very highest importance that each consider well on which way they are found. It is the Lord Himself who is speaking in the gospel of Matthew. He says, “Enter in through the narrow gate”, and goes on to speak of the wide gate and the broad way. He says, “many are they who enter in through it”. It is solemn to see so many people following the way that leads to destruction. If I go with the crowd carefree, it is very probably that I am in the way that leads to destruction, because it is said of the path that leads to life, “they are few who find it”. It is therefore important that each considers on what path he is found, for God does not desire that any should perish; on the contrary, He desires that all should be saved, and in Jesus He has provided the Saviour we need, so that by faith in Him we can find ourselves in the path that leads to life. If therefore someone finds himself in the way of destruction, in that very moment, just at the point when he finds himself in such a way, there is a narrow gate that allows him to leave it and enter the way that leads to life. That is the end of each preaching of the glad tidings, to show that whoever is found in the broad way, which leads to destruction, that there is at exactly the point where they are found, a narrow gate by which one can enter the path which leads to life. Many of those who are here have taken this path, if you were to ask them if they have any reason to regret it, they will say: No, we regret nothing. It is said in the Scriptures that “the path of the righteous is as a shining light, going on and brightening until the day be fully come”. That is the character of the way in which the glad tidings invite you to be found.
In Naaman, we see a commendable man of whom God speaks in good terms, for God is infinitely kind, and if something good can be say about whoever, God said it. Thus, it is said that Naaman was a great man before his master, and that he was considered a man by whom God was served to deliver the Syrians, a strong and valiant man. God says all this in his favour. I repeat, if something can perhaps be said in favour of someone, God will say it; He will not pass over it in silence, but he will no more neglect the truth on other points; so also at the end of the phrase we see the whole truth exposed: “but a leper”. Now no leper can find himself in the presence of God. Leprosy in the Scriptures is a figure of a sinful person and no sinner can find himself in the presence of God, at least if he does not confess his need of a Saviour. You can come into the presence of God like that, and God will take account of you. The Lord speaks in the gospel of two men who went up to the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee and he recounted to God all the good that he had done, what a good life he had led, while the other was a publican, a sinner, who did not even dare to lift his eyes toward heaven. He acknowledged by his attitude that he had no right to stand in the presence of God, and he smote upon his breast saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner”. This is the kind of language that God likes to hear. In the last chapter of the prophet Hosea, God says to His people by means of the prophet to take with them words. God takes account of what we say. It is said, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned”. For God in His grace shows the suited words. In many places, the Scriptures suggest the kind of words that are suitable so that a sinner can enter into a relationship with God. We read the history of a young man who, going away into a country a long way off, had dissipated all his wealth and had become impoverished. Nobody would give to him. Then he comes to himself and says, “I will rise up and go to my father, and I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee; I am no longer worthy to be called thy son”. Such is the kind of language that God loves to hear. We read that the father saw him when he was still a long way off, he had compassion on him; he ran and fell upon him and covered him with kisses. The Lord Himself gives us such a picture so that we have right thoughts about God! And whoever feels their need to have to do with God can be assured that such is the God they will find.
Thus therefore, Naaman was leprous, and he went to the prophet Elisha. In fact, he went first to the king but it is useless to go to someone who is not able. Neither the pope nor a priest can do anything about your sins. One has to go to someone who is able. Naaman went first to someone who could do nothing, but then he goes to someone it was necessary to meet. Elisha sends him a message: “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times … and thou shalt be clean”. Where we began to read, it is said that Naaman became in a rage. It was all already settled in his thinking about what might happen to make Naaman bigger than ever. He certainly intended to keep what distinguished him and at the same time to be free of his leprosy. But this is not how God gives His blessing. Saul of Tarsus was also a man with considerable natural advantages, and when one reads what he says in chapter 3 of the epistle to the Philippians, one sees that by the light of Christ, he has been led to consider all these things as filth. He did not want to save anything which could glorify him because he had understood that God’s end in the glad tidings is that man should receive life in Christ and be established before God in Christ, according to all the moral excellencies of Jesus. Now there is no mixture to be made in this regard with whatever distinctions we may have according to nature. He had said to Naaman to go and wash in the Jordan, and he asks the question, why in the Jordan and not in the Abanah or the Pharpar? Because the Jordan was the river which Elijah had crossed before going up to heaven. The Jordan speaks of that into which Jesus entered before going up to heaven. The Lord Jesus is now at the right hand of God, and because He is above, He is announced as Saviour. However, before He had taken that place at the right hand of God, He has descended into death and we are to know all that could signify for Him, understanding what are the “wages of sin” and the Saviour bore all that was due to our sins. The believer can speak thus; but he who has not appropriated the work of Christ by faith cannot use such language. The evangelist says, “Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures”, so that for those who believe every question of their sins has been settled once and for all and for always. Not only did He die for our sins, but He has been buried. This signifies that before God the death of Jesus represents the death of all those who place their confidence in Him, because He died for them. Thus, we have the right to appropriate this death for ourselves. By the fact that He has been buried, every question of our sins has been settled and removed from before God for ever.
Now there is a glorified Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is found at the right hand of God, and whoever turns to Him with faith and repentance receives the pardon for sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Life is assured to us in Christ in the presence of God, where a Man is found entirely for God’s pleasure. That is the reason for which Naaman had to go down into the Jordan. That also is the reason for which no other river could take its place. Naaman had to identify himself with the place where he who had gone into heaven had been found; and if in the obedience of faith, you identify yourself in your mind and in your heart with the place into which Christ has entered, that is to say death and burial, you will find not only that the matter of your sins is settled forever, but also that all that you are in the flesh is gone from before God forever. Nothing is more glorious than to be established before God in the life of Christ. You have life in a heavenly Man, you are made suited for heaven. In truth, you belong to heaven, as the Lord said to His disciples, “Your names are written in the heavens”.
However, Naaman did not want to take this way and he was on the point of missing the blessing. If there is anyone here who has not already turned to Christ, who has not already received the pardon for their sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, I can say to you that this blessing is put at your door even now in the preaching. But if you refuse it, if you do not seize the present occasion, nobody can know what will happen to you. Naaman was on the point of refusing. “He turned and went away”, it is said, “in a rage”. His servants then drew near to him. How good God is! He had been pleased at the beginning to make use of a little maid in Naaman’s house, she had announced the glad tidings to him, not in an official way, and through her God was pleased to put everything in motion for Naaman’s blessing. How the servants draw near to Naaman. They speak to him with respect and wisdom, and then it is said that “he went down and plunged himself seven times in the Jordan … And his flesh became again as the flesh of a little child, and he was clean”. Notice this: it is not the great man Naaman without his leprosy, not at all. The Lord says, “Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom of the heavens”. There is the narrow gate, true repentance towards God. One does not retain one’s personal importance, one does not retain what may accredit us, for one recognises without reserve not only the fact that one is guilty, that one has committed many sins, but also that one is a sinner. It is your nature, and God has had to say to it in the death of Christ and put an end to it. Then He gives to those who believe the life of Christ. I hope that all those who are present here have gone through the narrow gate; it leads to the narrow way, because the way of the believer must agree with the point where it begins spiritually.
In the passage that we have read in the gospel of Luke, we find an illustration of the narrow way. If you consider the previous paragraph, you will read in verses 31 and following that the Lord called the twelve to Him and said to them: “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written of the Son of man by the prophets shall be accomplished; for he shall be delivered up to the nations, and shall be mocked, and insulted, and spit upon. And when they have scourged him they will kill him; and on the third day he will rise again”. You could say, It is not an attractive way. It is the way Christ has known as rejected down here. If you desire to be faithful to your Saviour, you must be ready to identify yourself with the rejection of Christ and with His reproach. But you can do this in the light of His resurrection and His glorification to the right hand of God, so that Paul in writing to Timothy says: “Remember Jesus Christ raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, according to my glad tidings”. You must keep Christ before your heart, as being raised from among the dead and seated at the right hand of God. He is “of the seed of David”, that is to say that He is coming in His kingdom. It had been said of the son of David that His kingdom would have no end. The glorious day of our Lord Jesus Christ is now near, and we must accept the way of rejection and reproach down here in the light of the day of glory which is on the point of appearing.
Then we read of this blind man who was healed. He contributed nothing but was dependent on what he was given. Although he could not see, he understood that something was happening; he asked what it was, and they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. The Lord has never passed this way again. If this blind man had not gained from the opportunity he had to seize the blessing, for all we know he would have missed it for ever. This shows how it is important to receive the glad tidings and to turn to Christ when He is presented by God by means of the preaching or in any other way. The blind man cried out: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”. Some would have silenced him, but he cried so much the more; then Jesus stopped. Think of the Creator of heaven and earth stopping at the cry of a poor blind beggar! This shows how God takes an interest in human souls. Just the cry of a poor blind beggar made Jesus stop; now Jesus is the One who has created the heavens and the earth, He who upholds all things by the word of His power. Nevertheless, He stops for a poor beggar who calls to Him. Jesus says to the man: “What wilt thou that I shall do for thee?” He replies, “Lord, that I may see”. It is possible that there are some young persons here who know the Lord as their Saviour while not seeing clearly what the way of a Christian must be. It is very important to confess Jesus as Lord, in doing this that we begin to understand that one has part in the reproach of the Christ. It is a great honour. Do not think that you should turn away from it. We read that Moses had “esteemed the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt”. Above all that the world today could offer Moses, he would say: I prefer the reproach of the Christ to all that the world can give me. The blind man desired therefore that his eyes should be opened, and they were opened; then as a result of this fact, he followed Jesus, glorifying God; and it is added that “all the people when they saw it gave praise to God”. The man is no longer a beggar; from now on he is a contributor: he contributes to the service of the blessed God, and finds other people who do the same. This is what happens if you identify yourself fully with a rejected Christ. You will see that the Lord will give you to be identified also with those who are faithful to His name, who are happy to have a place outside the world and who are full in the light of His glory above. In such a position, they have part with others in the holy service of God. It is what is pursued in the assembly, and it is with the assembly that the Lord would see you identify all those who come to Him. It is a great privilege to have a part in the assembly, which is the only sphere of salvation in the world. The Lord desires that you should find your place in a living way, not as a beggar who can only receive what others give him, but as a true contributor.
May God bless the word!
VALENCE
3rd November 1957
From Paroles d’Édification Mutuelle
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