01.18.2026 Sunday Sermon – Rev. Jeungbok Lee
Scripture: Matthew 7:13–14; Luke 13:22–27
Title: Enter Through the Narrow Gate and Walk the Narrow Way
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Matthew 7:13–14
Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But the gate is narrow and the road is constricted that leads to life, and few find it.
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Luke 13:22–27
Jesus went through towns and villages, teaching as He made His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’
But He will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
But He will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from Me, all you evildoers!’”
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Jesus taught His disciples the character and ethics that the people of God’s kingdom must possess, beginning with the Beatitudes in chapter 5. These teachings come to a conclusion in what we heard last week: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
Now, beginning in Matthew 7:13, we enter the concluding section, which asks those who have heard these teachings what kind of life they will choose to live.
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1. As people who have received salvation, God’s people must enter through the narrow gate and walk the narrow way according to God’s will.
1.1) Jesus presents two kinds of lives and their outcomes to God’s people.
One is to enter through the narrow gate and walk the narrow and constricted road that leads to life. The other is to enter through the wide gate and walk the broad road that leads to destruction.
There is an important truth that helps God’s people decide as soon as possible which path to choose.
We can make this choice only while we are living in this world. After our life ends and we die, there is no more opportunity. Likewise, if our Lord returns to this earth before we die, there will be no further opportunity either. That is why this present moment is such a critical moment of decision for us.
There is a public service slogan that says, “A moment’s choice determines ten years.” This phrase has often been used to encourage wearing seatbelts, preventing drunk driving, quitting smoking, or purchasing insurance. It left a strong impression and helped many people make firm decisions.
Borrowing that slogan, we might say, “A moment’s choice determines eternity.”
Which one will you choose to live by?
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1.2) This is the end of the lives of those who chose the wide gate and walked the broad road.
This is clearly shown in Luke 13:25–27:
> “Once the owner of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’
But He will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
But He will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from Me, all you evildoers!’”
The teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are difficult and demanding for us to practice on our own. Loving our enemies and responding without judgment but with love are prime examples. That is why Jesus taught His disciples that if they ask God for grace—if they pray—God will give them the strength to live this way.
Therefore, for God’s people to enter through the narrow gate and walk the narrow and constricted road, they must receive power from God through prayer.
In contrast, those who choose the wide gate and walk the broad road have no reason to ask God for help. This is because the broad road is a path people walk for themselves. It is also popular, and one can walk it together with many others.
However, the end of those who walked the broad road will be that they are recognized by the Lord as strangers. This is because they did not follow God’s will but walked the road they desired. Those who commit evil by refusing to walk according to God’s will will ultimately be driven away from God, the source of life. In other words, they will face destruction.
Here, the “gate” is a metaphor for one’s direction in life and one’s values. God’s people who have received salvation are those who live with God’s kingdom and righteousness as their highest priority.
By contrast, the wide gate symbolizes placing oneself at the center of one’s values and attitudes.
Therefore, those who enter through the wide gate and walk the broad road are people who live with themselves as king. That means they have no relationship with Jesus Christ, the true King.
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2. Let us now consider how God’s saved people are to walk the narrow and constricted road.
2.1) They do not chase after the world’s popularity and trends.
About twenty years ago, shortly after I came to the United States, a waitress I worked with at a restaurant gave me a women’s Gucci wallet she no longer used because she was moving. Although it was a Gucci wallet, it was not large enough to hold personal checks at the time, so it wasn’t very practical. She didn’t give it to me expecting me to use it; she simply said it was a luxury brand and suggested I have it.
Since I couldn’t really use it, I gave it to my five-year-old daughter. She used it to store stickers and play money. A few years later, I cleaned the wallet and sent it to a family member in Korea as a birthday gift. My daughter didn’t even notice that it was gone.
But the person who received it was very pleased and later said, “I took that wallet to a gathering, and my friends envied me.”
Even if that wallet is popular among people, God’s people should use it the way my daughter did. We must not be like those who find joy and satisfaction in the value the world places on luxury brands. Seeking satisfaction in such things means we are walking on the broad road.
Therefore, God’s people who desire to enter through the narrow gate and walk the constricted road must not live according to the way the world finds joy and fulfillment.
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2.2) God’s people who enter through the narrow gate and walk the constricted road must crucify their old selves.
The old self can be summarized as a heart corrupted by sin that desires to place “me” at the center of everything. That is why God’s people must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24). Everything that seeks to put oneself at the center and desires praise must be nailed to the cross.
Thus, walking this narrow and constricted road—found by few—means crucifying the self-centered old nature every single day.
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2.3) To continue walking the narrow road, one must examine oneself through the Word of truth to see whether one is truly on the narrow path.
Those who wish to enter through the narrow gate and walk the narrow road must continually meditate on the Word of truth. This is because the ways of the world are filled with darkness and contain no truth that leads to eternal life. Therefore, there is always the danger of straying from the narrow road.
God’s people who desire to walk the narrow road must constantly examine, through the Word of truth, whether the path they are on truly pleases God.
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
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2.4) Entering through the narrow gate and walking the narrow road is not about arriving at the destination quickly. Rather, the process of walking the narrow road is what matters most.
Saying that the process is important means making good choices moment by moment and obeying God’s will that pleases Him. Therefore, a person whose goal is to achieve things quickly cannot walk the narrow road.
When a church places primary importance on achieving goals, it becomes highly likely that it will walk the broad road. Setting numerical goals for evangelism, fixing budget amounts, and planning building projects can begin to resemble the strategies of secular corporations.
The church I attended during my university years had an overwhelming number of reports. The church set goals such as having all members read through the Bible once a year and having each member evangelize ten people. In the first week of each year, the church distributed sheets listing members’ names to leaders of every district, as well as to youth and student ministries. These sheets included every category: how many chapters of Scripture each person read each week, what offerings they gave (tithes, thank offerings, Sunday offerings), and whom they evangelized and where those people lived.
Once a month, during leadership meetings, the weekly spiritual records of all members were reviewed. Leaders who were not diligent were severely reprimanded by the pastor. Under the banner of evangelism and spiritual growth, members were constantly pushed toward the goal of church growth. This produced little joy.
Of course, members who genuinely experienced joy in the Word read far more Scripture than what the church required and evangelized joyfully.
Even if it seems slower, helping believers read Scripture, pray, and evangelize voluntarily with joy is what truly leads them to walk the narrow road.
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3. Finally, there are those who consider themselves people of true faith but are actually walking the broad road.
3.1) The Pharisees and scribes were those who entered through the wide gate and walked the broad road.
Outwardly, they were diligent in religious life, yet they opposed Jesus. At the same time, they were confident that they were God’s people. Tragically, they were not walking the narrow road of God’s people but the broad road.
Their faith was a form of outward, hypocritical piety. As a result, most people mistakenly believed they were entering through the narrow gate and walking the narrow road. But in God’s eyes, they were walking through the wide gate on the broad road. Jesus strongly rebuked them, calling them a brood of vipers.
They received such harsh rebuke because their faith emphasized rules and outward appearances in order to gain praise from people. They prayed loudly in public places as if they were deeply moved by God’s grace, simply to be seen. Their acts of charity were also done openly to receive recognition. Their giving was likely greater and more frequent than that of others. Such hypocritical faith is a representative example of entering through the wide gate and walking the broad road.
This is something that even zealous church members must be careful about. It is easy to mistake such outward religiosity for “walking the narrow road.” It wears a mask of piety that looks very different from the obvious broad road of unbelievers. Yet in reality, it is still the broad road that leads to destruction.
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3.2) Some mistakenly believe they are walking the narrow road simply because they ate and drank before Jesus and heard His teaching in the streets.
That is why they protested Jesus’ words by saying they ate and drank in His presence and heard His teaching publicly. They assumed that merely watching and listening to Jesus meant they were walking the narrow road. But they only listened; they did not practice His words. Entering through the narrow gate and walking the narrow road means putting the Word into practice.
Luke 13:26–27
> “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
But He will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from Me, all you evildoers!’”
Jesus rebuked and drove away these spectators of faith, declaring that He had no relationship with them and calling them evildoers.
Unlike the Pharisees and scribes, who were hostile toward Jesus and devoted to their hypocrisy, these spectators were favorable toward Him. However, merely observing where the Word is proclaimed and eating before the Lord does not prove that one is a child of God walking the narrow road. Like the Pharisees and scribes, they too were evildoers walking the broad road.
Therefore, it is clear that merely observing the teaching of the Lord does not qualify one as a saved child of God walking the narrow road.
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3.3) The phrase “Strive to enter through the narrow gate” can easily be misunderstood.
Some interpret “enter through the narrow gate” as a basis for achieving salvation through human effort and therefore strive to enter the narrow gate in order to be saved. However, our effort to enter the narrow gate is not the condition for salvation. This phrase describes the intense and earnest life of those who have already been saved.
Salvation has been proclaimed to all people by God’s grace. Yet receiving salvation by accepting God’s grace requires completely surrendering oneself and believing only in Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior. Salvation is like a narrow gate: those who do not lay down their self-centered righteousness and entrust themselves fully to Jesus cannot enter it.
In other words, striving to enter through the narrow gate means a posture of faith that relies not on one’s own merit but clings solely to Jesus Christ as the only gate.
Therefore, anyone who desires to enter through the narrow gate, walk the narrow road, and receive life must begin with a confident confession that Jesus Christ is their Savior. The evidence of that confession is walking through the narrow gate and along the narrow road.
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4. Conclusion
The evidence that God’s saved people have truly received salvation is that they enter through the narrow gate and walk the narrow and constricted road. However, we must remember that the hardship of walking the narrow road does not grant salvation.
Those who walk the narrow and constricted road reveal that they already possess the eternal life God has graciously provided. Therefore, as God’s people, we must examine ourselves daily to see whether the path we are walking is truly the narrow road God has commanded us to walk.
Before you go to sleep tonight, I encourage you to reflect on whether you walked the narrow, cross-bearing road that pleases God today. May you be filled with joy as one who possesses eternal life in the end. I bless you in the name of the Lord.
Let us pray. (End)