The Narrow Gate | Jordan D. Waage | April 26, 2026

FA Admin: Welcome to the Faith Alive Sermon Podcast. This is a replay of this past Sunday's message. Whether you missed it, want to hear it again, or share it with a friend, we're glad you're here. This sermon is by Jordan D. Waggy, lead pastor at Faith Alive Church. I love it. I love it. The Lord showed me that this past Wednesday. The holiness of God. Remembering the holiness of God. Remembering the reverence that we should have. That healthy fear that we have of the Lord. Not because he's scary, but because he's just and he's righteous and he's amazing. Guess I should get to my notes here. I guess I should preach. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Have you noticed then in this time and in this world there's a great dividing line? It's a dividing line for all of humanity. And there are two separate directions, there are two separate gates, there are two separate paths for us to follow. But there's also two destinations. And without the holy reverence of God, without remembering the beauty and the holiness of the Lord, we will find ourselves on the wrong side of Jesus gives us the most sobering of realities. In his holy scripture in Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, he says this. If you don't have your Bibles with you, it'll be on the screen. It says, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it, but small is the gate. And narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. The first thing that we need to understand is that the narrow gate is not a concept, it is a person, and his name is Jesus. Can I tell you here this morning that if you do not have a relationship with Jesus, we are going to give you an opportunity to give your life to Jesus at the end of the service here today. But I want you to keep this in mind: that He is the gate to eternity. He is the gate to eternity. Glory. Isn't it amazing that the Lord loved us so much that He provided a place for us to live with Him? I mean, think about that. He loved us so much that He wanted us with Him forever. Forever. He loved us that much. Jesus says in John chapter 14 and verse 6, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I don't know how much more explicit you can get that Jesus is the gate to glory. But he does further clarify. Of course he does. In John chapter 10 and verse 9, he says, I am the gate. Whoever comes, whoever enters through me will be saved. Listen, I want you to know that culture is loud. The voices around us can be loud. And they tell us that all roads lead to the good place. The world wants you to believe that you're in charge of your own life. You should be. This is your life. Grab it, hold it, seize it. Then no matter what God you choose, you'll eventually be saved and reconciled with the Lord. Can I tell you today that if you are under that belief or you had been taught that, it is without a doubt unbiblical. It is unbiblical. There is only one way. There is only one truth. There is only one life. And his name is Jesus. But the road is narrow. The road is narrow. Now I know that this doesn't seem like an encouragement, but it is, I promise you. The road is narrow. And it's narrow because it's exclusive. Not exclusive in invitation. All are welcome to come into the glory of God. All are welcome, but exclusive in access only through Jesus Christ. See, many try to earn their way to glory. Many try to earn their way to heaven. Good works, religion, self-effort, spirituality without a surrendered spirit. Can I tell you that if somebody in your life, whether it's at your workplace, whether it's in your family, asks if you are religious, say no and say, I follow Jesus. I am a Christ follower. The narrow gate requires repentance. See, sometimes we don't want to say sorry. See, sometimes we don't want to ask for forgiveness because we like what's going on in our lives. But we need to humble ourselves before the Lord. Repentance, surrender, faith in Christ alone. Anybody been on a flight recently? Couple of you? You know when you get up to the TSA pre check or the the when you go through the gate I don't fly a ton, but when you get up to the gate and they said, Okay, sir, take your belt off, take your watches off, take your jewelry off, take your shoes off, take you know, whatever, it's like by the time you're done, it's like, what am I wearing, right? And know what's interesting is that you cannot go through that gate with all the things that you have on your body. And in the very same way, when you come to the narrow gate, when you come to Jesus, the things that you have been shouldering, the pride that you've been experiencing does not fit. Self-righteousness does not fit. Sin that you refuse to let go does not fit. Fit. See, the gate is narrow because you do not come to it or enter it on your own accord, but only through Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus says after he speaks to the narrow gate, he talks about the wide road. He says, Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. Кинай, жінок, сей, ви недопрайфор. We need to pray that people encounter Jesus because he is the only way to life. We need to pray that the world sees him for how we see them in this place. He see him in this place. We need to cry out and ask for God to intercede. See, the road is broad because it requires nothing. No accountability, no repentance, no surrender, no transformation, no nothing. See what's amazing about when you give your life to Jesus is that you are not the same person as you were before you said yes to him. You are completely transformed. You are washed clean. Isn't that amazing? He forgives you of your past, of your stumbling blocks. Of the things that tripped you up. See, what's so interesting about the broad world is that you can believe whatever you want, you can live however you want, you can define truth however you want. We talked about this when we talked about false prophets. When they are sharing a skewed truth of God's word, we have to be discerning in that. But can we be honest? That road, that broad road is appealing. We want to do what we want to do. We don't want to be told what to do. We want to live it out the way that we want to live it out. We want to do what we want to do. We want to live it on our own terms. And this is how I lived my life for a long, long time. When I was fourteen, fifteen years old, I had a traveling minister come into our church, it was at a Sunday night service, and he came up to me, he laid hands on my head, one hand on my head, one hand on my shoulder, and he said, You're going to be a leader in the church. You know what I said? No thanks. I said, no, thanks. A few years later, that same evangelist came back, laid his hand on my head, a hand on my shoulder, and said, you're gonna be a leader in the church. And I said, no. Couple years later, a different traveling minister came, laid hands on my head, hands on my shoulder, and said, You're gonna be a leader in a church. And I said, No, thanks. He did it again the next year, and on the third year, he laid a hand on my head, a hand on my shoulder, and said, You're gonna be a leader in the church, and the Lord is showing me and saying through me, I hope you get it by now. You remember that? And I finally did. I finally got to the point where I said yes to Jesus. I finally said yes to his calling on my life. See, this is gonna sound hilarious, but I thought I was supposed to be an actor. True story. Literally. I got an agent in everything. I'm serious. I'm serious. I'm dead serious. I got an agent in everything. I thought the Lord was gonna use me to change Hollywood. He still can, let me just say that. He still can. Yeah. ⁓ I'm not done praying that prayer, right? Praise God. But I really thought that that was the avenue that he was calling me to. Lo and behold, he was calling me to pastor a church. Two completely different things. See, the Lord pursues us. Man, I'm so glad that He didn't give up on me. Even when I said no thanks, even when I said thanks, but ⁓ I'd rather not because I wanted to live my own way. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. You know, Jesus says many choose the broad road, and only few find the narrow way. And I want you to understand that when he speaks to the few, it's not an insignificant number. See, John the Revelator records this in Revelation chapter 7. He says, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count. From every nation, every tribe, every people, and every language. Standing before the throne and before the Lamb. And there they cried out in a loud voice Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne. Listen to me. I want you to know that we serve a God who is in heaven and a God that is among us today. And he sits and he's seated at the right hand of the Father. His name is Jesus, and he loves you. He loves you. He wants the best for you, and he's calling you to something. Calling, don't get it mixed up, does not mean pastoral ministry. God has put a calling in each and every one of our lives. Something to glorify Him in what we do. Here's the danger of the broad road is that it feels good. It's popular, it's comfortable, and this is the thing that gets us the most is that it's culturally approved. When people see that we are living in our own accord, when we are living the way that we want to live, it says, That's the way to do it. See, you control your own life, you are your own God. You know what it is about that is that that's the very definition of the Church of Satan. Did you know that? That you are your own God, you control your own life. But see, we're standing here today saying, Lord, I surrender to you. Because you know so much more. Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts, your ways are higher than our ways. I don't know how to do this life without Jesus. I don't know about you guys, but I don't know how to do this without him. And I'm so glad that he's with us, that he's moving in us. I tell you this morning. Can I tell you this morning that when we live the way we want to live, when we refuse to surrender, it leads to destruction. It's the wide road. It's the broad road. Jesus gives another insight in Luke chapter 13. He says, make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Another translation says, strive to enter. The Greek word for that is ⁓ ogesemai. Ogesamai. It means to struggle, to strain, to compete, to fight with intensity. I like that. To fight with intensity. I want to be clear here is that salvation does not come through your work. Or your striving, it does not come from that. Ephesians is too Ephesians two is clear on that. It is by grace that you have been saved through faith. You cannot earn your way to heaven, you cannot earn your way to the narrow gate, but you need to, with all that you have, strive, fight, and compete for the faith. We have to. We are in a constant battle with ourselves. We struggle to enter the narrow gate because of it. We struggle with our pride. We struggle with self-righteousness. We struggle with ⁓ sin in our lives. We struggle with entering the narrow gate. We struggle with cultural pressure. We struggle with spiritual oppression. And these are valid struggles in our lives that we deal with. Yes? We struggle with these things and they are hard to tame. But can I tell you that the finish line is worth it? The hard work, the difficulty, the persecution, it's all worth it because there comes a day when we will see our Lord seated at the right hand of the Father, cloaked in glory, and with a loud, booming voice, he will say, Well done, my good and faithful servant. This path to life, it's intentional. God has set it up this way. No one just stumbles into the narrow gate. We need to choose Jesus each and every day. We have to choose to commit to his teaching. We have to choose to read his holy word. We have to choose to pray and commune with him each and every day. We need to choose him, commit to him, decide. That we will follow him. So let me ask you a very sobering question here this morning. What road are you on? If you took an inventory of your life right now, would your life would you say with absolute certainty that you are on the narrow road, that you are entering the narrow gate? I want you to internalize that even right now. Be vulnerable with yourself. Can I tell you that you can't fool God? Be vulnerable with yourself. Examine your life honestly. Am I where I need to be? Listen, I'm preaching to myself as well. You know that I shared it last week. I said, Lord, am I reflecting you in the best way? That's been something that's tugging at my heart. In every interaction or discussion, am I reflecting you the way that I should be? Bottom line is that there are two roads. There are two paths. Two ways. One easy, one popular, one culturally approved, one that's and one that's narrow. One that's costly, one that's intentional, one that takes work, one that leads to destruction, and the other leads to life. Would you bow your heads with me today? If you're in this house I said it at the beginning but If you want to make the greatest decision of your life, I'm gonna allow you guys to do that in just a moment here. I'm gonna give you an opportunity to do that rather. If you're in this place, maybe you're online and you want to know Jesus, we see you. God sees you. So if you're in your living room, if you're in this church, if you're watching on your phone in your car while you drive, don't do that. You can listen. But if you're here You want to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Man, maybe you're in a spot right now in your life that you just feel that you need to get right with him again. You knew him at one point and you feel that you've fallen away. I'm gonna give you an opportunity. Just a moment. But I want to set it up right here. Choose the narrow gate. Enter the narrow gate. So if you're in this place, if you're online, whatever, I just want you to lift your hand right now. Say, yes, I want to know you, Jesus. I want to know you, Jesus. Yes. Thank you, Lord. You see that? Yes. Be bold. Be bold. Be low. Lift your hand high. Lift your hand high. The Lord sees you. The Lord sees you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Praise God. Praise God. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I want you all to pray this prayer after me. This is without a doubt the most important prayer that you will ever pray. Say, Dear Jesus, I love you. I ask that you would be the Lord of my life. I believe that you died on a cross for me, and I believe that you rose again three days later. I ask that you would forgive me of my sin. Wash me clean. And it's in your name. The name of Jesus, I pray these things. Amen. Thanks for listening to the Faith Alive podcast. If this message encouraged you, be sure to share it with someone who needs it. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a message. We'll see you next time.

Matthew 7:13 John 14 · chapter mention John 10 · chapter mention Revelation 7 · chapter mention Luke 13 · chapter mention