This is a chapter from J.C. Ryle's classic book Practical Religion.
SELF-EXERTION
"Strive to enter in at the narrow door: many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able." Luke 13:24
There was once a man who asked our Lord Jesus Christ a very deep question: "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" Jesus seized the opportunity to direct the minds of all around Him to their own plain duty. "Strive," He cries, "to enter in at the narrow door!" Whether there be few or many saved, your course is clear: strive to enter. Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation. A day will come when many seek to enter in, but will not be able. Strive to enter in now.
This text from Luke's Gospel deserves special remembrance in our present day. It teaches unmistakably about our personal responsibility for the salvation of our souls. It shows the immense danger of putting off the great business of religion, as so many unhappily do. Here is: 1. A description of the way of salvation: Jesus calls it "the narrow door." 2. A plain command: "strive to enter in." 3. A solemn prophecy: "many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." May all who read this know the way of salvation experientially, obey the command of the Lord practically, and be found safe on the great day of His second coming.
1. A description of the way of salvation: Jesus calls it "the narrow door." There is a door or gate that leads to pardon, peace with God, and heaven. Whoever goes in by that door will be saved. Never was such a door more needed because sin is such a vast mountain between man and God. How shall a man climb over it? God is in heaven, holy, pure, spiritual, undefiled, light without any darkness at all (1 John 1:5), a Being who cannot bear that which is evil. Man is a poor, fallen worm crawling on earth for a few years—sinful, corrupt, erring, defective; a being whose imagination is only evil (Genesis 6:5), and whose heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). How shall man ever draw near to his Maker without fear and shame? Blessed be God, there is a way! It is the door spoken of in the words of Christ.
This door was made for sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ. From all eternity He committed that He would make it. In "the fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4) He came into the world and made that door by His own atoning death on the cross. By His death and resurrection He made satisfaction for man's sin, paid man's debt to God, and bore man's punishment. He built a great gate at the cost of His own body and blood. Jesus calls out to us, "I am the door. By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved" (John 10:9). "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). "By Him," says Paul, "we have boldness and access with confidence" (Ephesians 3:12).
Jesus describes this door as narrow (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:13-14). It is narrow to all who love sin and are determined not to part with it. It is narrow to all who set their affection on this world and seek first its pleasures and rewards. It is narrow to all who dislike trouble and are unwilling to take pains and make sacrifices for their souls. It is narrow to all who like company and want to keep in with the crowd. It is narrow to all who are self-righteous and think they are good people who deserve to be saved. God is not unwilling to receive them; their sins are not too many to be forgiven, but they are not willing to be saved in God's way. The door never alters. It is not elastic: it will not stretch to accommodate one more than another. It is narrow.
As narrow as this door is, it is the only one by which men and women can get to heaven. There is no side gate. All who will be saved are saved only by Christ and simple faith in Him. Although this door is narrow, it is always ready to open. No sinners of any kind are forbidden to draw near: whoever will believe in Christ may enter in and be saved (John 3:16). There is but one condition of admission: that you really feel your sins and desire to be saved by Christ on His own terms. Do you have a broken and contrite heart? Behold the gate of salvation and come in! He who made it declares, "Whoever comes to Me I will never cast out" (John 6:37).
As narrow as this gate is, it is one through which multitudes have gone in and been saved. No sinner was ever turned back and told he was too bad to be admitted if he came really sick of his sins. Thousands of all sorts have been received, cleansed, washed, pardoned, clothes, and made heirs of eternal life. Some of them seemed very unlikely to be admitted. You and I might have thought they were too bad to be saved. But He who built the door did not refuse them. As soon as they knocked, He gave orders that they should be let in.
King Manasseh went up to this gate. None could have been worse than he. He had despised his godly father Hezekiah's example and advice. He had bowed down to idols and filled Jerusalem with bloodshed and cruelty, even to the point of killing his own children. But as soon as his eyes were opened to his sins and he fled to God for pardon, the gate flew wide open and he was saved. The same can be said for Jewish people who called for Christ's crucifixion (Acts 2), Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9), and the Philippian jailer (Acts 16).
But why stop short in Bible examples? Think of the multitudes who have gone through the narrow door since the days of the apostles. Thousands of all ranks, classes, and ages—educated and uneducated, rich and poor, old and young—have tried the door and found it ready to open, also finding peace for their souls and real happiness. They have found Christ's yoke to be easy and His burden to be light. Their only regrets have been that so few enter in and that they themselves did not enter in before.
Think of what a privilege it is to have a gate at all. You have the gate set plainly before you: you have Christ and full salvation offered to you. Consider what a mercy this is! Beware that you do not despise the gate and perish in unbelief. Better a thousand times not to know of the gate than to know of it and yet wait outside. How will you escape if you "neglect such a great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3).
Think of what a thankful person you ought to be if you have really gone in through the narrow door. To be a pardoned, forgiven, justified soul—to be ready for sickness, death, judgment, and eternity—and to be always provided for in both worlds: surely this is a matter for daily praise! Singing songs of praise has long been a special mark of Christians. It is no mark of a healthy state of mind when there is much complaining and little praise. Always remember it is an amazing mercy that there is any door of salvation at all, but still a greater mercy when we are taught to enter by it and be saved.
2. Here is a plain command: Jesus says to us, "Strive to enter in at the narrow door." Jesus always chose His words with care. Strive speaks of diligent effort. Things like public worship, reading the Bible and hearing the Gospel preached stand in the middle between man and God. No one can change his own heart or make him or herself in the least degree acceptable to God, but if a person could do nothing but sit still, Christ never would have said strive.
Strive teaches that man is a free agent and will be dealt with by God as a responsible being. The Lord does not tell us to wait, wish, feel, hope, and desire. He says, "Strive!" He also says to sinners, "Come, repent, believe, labor, ask, seek, knock." The Scriptures clearly teach that our salvation, from first to last, is entirely of God, but I see with no less plainness that our ruin, if we end up lost, is wholly and entirely of ourselves. Sinners are always addressed as accountable and responsible. No better proof is there than strive.
Strive teaches that a man must expect many adversaries and a hard battle if he would have his soul saved. There are no "gains without pains" in spiritual things any more than in temporal. That roaring lion, the devil, will never let a soul escape from him without a struggle (1 Peter 5:8). What great and good thing was ever done without trouble? What does not grow without plowing and sowing? Riches are not obtained without care and attention; success in life is not won without hardships and toil. Heaven, above all, is not to be reached without the cross and the battle. The violent take the Kingdom "by force" (Matthew 11:12). A man and woman must strive.
Strive teaches that laziness in religion is a great sin. It is a breach of a plain commandment. "Sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4). What shall be said of the man who neglects his soul and makes no effort to enter the narrow door? He is disobeying Christ, who says, "Strive" but he sits still. All outside the door are in danger of being lost forever. There is but a step between them and death. The Lord Jesus Himself experienced the uncertainty of life and the shortness of time, so He encouraged sinners to take heed that they not be too late.
Strive raises solemn thoughts in my mind. It condemns the ways and practices of many who profess and call themselves Christians. Most of them never swear, lie, steal, murder, or commit adultery, but neither can it be said that they ever strive to be saved. What shall I say about those who are irregular about public worship on Sundays or who come only as a matter of form without heart or care? How about those who seldom or never read God's Word, the Bible? What of those who never really pray? Is that striving? I write to readers of common sense. Let them judge what I say.
I am not writing from hearsay. I speak what I have seen in decades of ministry experience. I have seen how true are our Lord's words about the narrow way. I have discovered how few there are who strive to be saved. Earnestness about temporal matters is common enough: striving over money, business, politics, trade, science, fine arts, amusements, rent, wages, labor, and land. But I see few who take pains about their souls.
I am not surprised by all this. I read in the Bible that it is only what I am to expect. The Parable of the Great Banquet is an exact picture of things I have seen with my own eyes since I became a minister. I find, as my Lord and Savior tells me, that "men make excuses." One had his piece of land to see, another his oxen to test, and a third had his family hindrances. But all that does not prevent my feeling deeply grieved for the souls of men and women, that they should have eternal life so close to them, yet be lost because they will not strive to enter in and be saved.
Do not suppose it needs some great sin to bring you to the pit of destruction. You have only to sit still and do nothing, and you will find yourself there at last. Never give way to the idea that you are taking too much trouble about your spiritual condition, and that there is no need for such carefulness. Settle it rather in your mind that "in all labor there is profit" (Proverbs 14:23), and that no labor is as profitable as that bestowed on the soul. It should be a maxim among Christians that the more they do for their religion, the more their religion will do for them. Beware of shortening your prayers, Bible reading, and communion with God. Do not give way to a thoughtless, lazy manner of engaging in public worship, but be intentional, thoughtful, and cheerful. Whatever you do for God, do it with all your heart, mind, and strength. In other things be moderate and dread extremes. In matters of the soul, however, fear moderation as you would fear a pandemic. Do not care what others think of you. Let it be enough for you that your Master says strive.
3. The solemn prophecy the Lord Jesus delivers: "Many will seek to enter in, but will not be able." When shall this be? At what period will the door of salvation be shut forever? When shall "striving" to enter be of no more use? These are serious questions. The door is now ready to open to all kinds of sinners, but a day comes when it shall open no more.
The time foretold by our Lord is that of His own second coming to judge the world. The patience of God will at last have an end. The throne of grace will at length be taken down and the throne of judgment set in its place. The day of reckoning with a sin-laden world will finally begin. That is when Jesus's solemn prophecy will be fulfilled: "many will seek to enter in, but will not be able."
All prophecies of Scripture that have been fulfilled up to now have been fulfilled to the very letter. They seemed to many unlikely, improbable, and even impossible up to the very time of their accomplishment. Not one of them has ever failed. The promises of good things have come to pass in spite of difficulties that seemed insuperable. Sarah the wife of Abraham had a son when she was very old, the Israelites were brought out of bondage in Egypt and planted in the promised land, the Jews were redeemed from captivity in Babylon after the prophesied 70 years and enabled to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple, and the Lord Jesus was born of a virgin, lived, ministered, was betrayed, crucified, resurrected, and ascended precisely as Scripture foretold.
The predictions of judgment on powerful cities and nations have come to pass, thought at the time they were first spoken they seemed incredible. Egypt is nothing compared to what it once was; Edom is a wilderness; Nineveh, that "exceedingly great city," became a desolation; Babylon is a dry land and a wilderness; the Jewish people were scattered over the whole earth for centuries, yet remained intact as a people group and became a nation again in modern times.
The prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ on which I press your attention shall be fulfilled in a similar manner. A time is coming when seeking God shall be useless. Remember that! When Christ returns, "many will seek to enter in, but will not be able." This will not happen to a few: it shall be the miserable end of a vast crowd.
Knowledge shall come to many too late. They shall see at last the value of the immortal soul and the happiness of having it saved. They shall finally understand their own sinfulness and God's holiness, and the glorious nature of the Gospel of Christ. They shall comprehend at last why faithful Christians spoke to them so earnestly and so long to be converted.
Repentance shall come to many too late. They shall discover their own exceeding wickedness and be thoroughly ashamed of their past folly. They shall be full of bitter regret and piercing sorrows. The remembrance of their lives will be grievous to them; the burden of their guilt will seem intolerable.
Faith shall come to many too late. They will no longer be able to deny that there is a God, a devil, a heaven, and a hell. Skepticism and unbelief will be laid aside forever, as will scoffing and jesting. They will see with their own eyes and feel in their own bodies that the things of which ministers and others spoke were not cunningly devised fables, but great and real truths. They will find out at their own expense that evangelical religion was not fanatical, but the one thing needful.
What are the dear things now? Gold, silver, precious stones, currency, mines, lands, houses, transportation, food, drink, clothing, and the like. These are the things that are thought valuable. These are the things that command a ready market, things you can never get below a certain price.
What are the cheap things now? The knowledge of God, the free salvation of the Gospel, the favor of Christ, the grace of the Holy Spirit, the privilege of being God's son or daughter, the title to eternal life, the right to the tree of life, the promises of an incorruptible inheritance. They are offered "without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1), freely and gratuitously. Whoever will may take his portion. Sadly, there is little appreciation and demand for these things.
But a day is coming when the value of everything shall be altered. Multitudes will care nothing for the things they once lived for, and will desire nothing so much as the things they once despised. The favor of the rich and influential will be remembered no more in longing for the favor of the King of kings. Hell is a truth known too late. Let these words from Wisdom personified motivate you now when it is not too late: "Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices" (Proverbs 1:24-31).
Some of you reading this may think the Christian faith is distasteful and not like the practice that the Gospel of Christ requires. You think us extreme when we urge you to repent and be converted. You think we ask too much to come out from the world, take up the cross, and follow Christ. But take notice that once day you will confess that we were right and you were wrong. Many of you reading this love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Take comfort looking forward. You have to bear hard words, unkind insinuations, and sometimes open persecution. You will see those who laugh at you now because you read the Bible, pray, and love Christ in a very different state of mind. They will come to you as the foolish virgins came to the wise, saying, "Give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out" (Matthew 25:8). Confess Christ boldly before the world. Show your colors and do not be ashamed of your Master. Time is short; eternity hastens on. The cross is only for a little while; the crown is forever.
Now let me offer to everyone who reads this parting words of application. You have seen the picture of the way of salvation: it is a narrow door. You have heard the command of the King: "strive to enter in." You also know His future warning: "many will seek to enter in, but will not be able."
A. Have you entered in the narrow door or not? I am not asking whether you have heard of it and believe there is a door, or that you admire it and hope one day to go in. Have you gone up to it, knocked at it, been admitted, and are now inside?
If you are not inside, what good is your religion? You are not pardoned and forgiven. You are not reconciled to God. You are not born again and being sanctified throughout this life. If you die as you are, "you will die in your sins" (John 8:24) and face eternal judgment. Think: your life "is like a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes" (James 4:13-17). A few more years and you are gone. Your place in the world will soon be filled up, your house will be occupied by another, but your soul will be lost to all eternity. The door of salvation is open to you now. God invites you. Jesus Christ offers to save you. Are you willing to be saved?
B. Enter in without delay. Tell me, if you can, of anyone whoever entered in the narrow door and was afterwards sorry. I know of none. The footsteps on the threshold of that door are all one way. All have found it a good thing to serve Christ and have never regretted taking up His cross. Make a beginning this very day. Go to that merciful and mighty Savior in prayer, pouring out your heart and mind before Him. Confess to Him your guilt, wickedness, and sin. Keep nothing back. Tell Him you cast yourself and all your soul's affairs wholly in His hands, and ask Him to save you according to His promise and put His Holy Spirit within you.
C. Tell others of the blessings that come from entering the narrow door. All converted people are to be missionaries, not all to foreign lands, but to all around them. When Andrew was converted, he found his brother Simon (later called Peter) and said to him, "We have found the Messiah (which means Christ)! And he brought him to Jesus" (John 1:41-42). When Philip entered the narrow door, he found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote about, Jesus of Nazareth." Nathanael said dismissively, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip replied, "Come and see." Nathanael did and soon entered the narrow door himself (John 1:43-51). When the Samaritan woman was converted, "she left behind her water jar and went into the city, saying to the men, 'Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?'" (John 4:28-29). When Saul the Pharisee was converted, "Immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, 'He is the Son of God'" (Acts 9:20).
The great door of salvation is still ready to open, but the hour approaches when it will be closed forever. Let us, as Jesus said, do God's work while it is day since "night is coming, when no one can work" (John 9:4). Let us tell our relatives and friends that we have proved the way of life and found it pleasant, that we have tasted the bread of life and found it good. Let us watch carefully for opportunities to speak with them. Let us tell them of the narrow door and urge them to "strive to enter in." Who can tell what a word "spoken in season" (Proverbs 15:23; Colossians 4:5-6) may do? It may be the turning point in some man or woman's history.
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