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It is said that the question proposed in the text, "Lord, are there few that be saved?" — or, as the words stand in the original, "are the saved few?" — was at the time of Christ's ministry upon earth vehemently debated in the schools of the Jewish doctors; and therefore, when the speaker now referred it to the Lord Jesus, it was either for the confirmation of a judgment already formed, or from conscious incompetency to form any judgment of his own aright. While, however, the inquiry is that of an individual, more curious, it may be, about the future destiny of others than concerned about his own, the Lord addresses the answer to the whole company of the disciples. It was one who said to Him, "are the saved few?" — it was to many that tie said, severally as well as collectively, "Strive," each of you, "to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, but shall not be able."

I. First, then, THERE IS AN END PROPOSED, WHICH IS SALVATION. "Lord," one said unto Him, "are there few that be saved?" But the Lord not only, as we have observed, addressed His reply to all, but He adapted it to what the question ought to have been, rather than to what it was. It should have been, "What must I do to be saved?"

II. And THE MEANS OF ATTAINING TO SALVATION, which form the second point proposed for our consideration, are comprehended and condensed by our Lord in one single emphatic word — "Strive" — ye who would be saved — "strive to enter in at the strait gate." This word "strive' is indeed in the original most significant and impressive. It implies the concentration of all the energies, faculties, and powers of the understanding and the hear in one great object, which must be attained at any cost; it supposes the exertion of every member, the straining of every nerve, the union of body and soul putting forth all their vigour and determined to succeed Or to perish. The Lord has Himself expressed the same idea elsewhere, in language striking and impressive. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." The general meaning of this must certainly be, if it is to have any meaning at all, that in the concerns of the soul we are to be in earnest. We are not to take counsel with flesh and blood; we are not to compromise principle for pleasure, or to oscillate between interest and duty. There stands the gate; strait it is; and strait it ever will be; all the skill and all the subtlety of man cannot extend it by a span, or widen it by a hair-breadth. The gate of eternal life is as God has fixed it from the beginning, and as He will maintain it to the end. But, my dear brethren, while it is a strait or narrow gate, blessed be God, it is also an open gate. If all earth cannot widen it, all hell cannot close it; open it is, open it stands, night and day, and the voice of mercy is ever heard to issue from within — "I am the Door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." What is it, then, you will ask, to strive, as the Lord enjoins? and against whom, or against what, is the strife to be maintained? To this I answer, generally and primarily, the strife is against the flesh, with its affections, appetites, and lusts.

III. This, then, is the reason — to be considered in the third and last place — WHY WE ARE TO BE PROMPT, AS WELL AS EARNEST, IN THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE MEANS, THAT WE MAY NOT BE DISAPPOINTED OF THE END. A day will come, when "many shall seek to enter in, but will not be able." And why will they not be able? Because "light came into the world, and they loved darkness rather than light"; because they were laden with incumbrances which they would not lay aside, and fettered by chains which they would not even attempt to burst; because they "troubled and vexed His Holy Spirit, until that He was turned to be their enemy, and fought against them." They would not when they could; and when at length the error of their perverseness is made clear by dread experience as the sun at noon-day — when the death-bed comes, which is "the detector of the heart" — they cannot when they would.

(T. Dale, M. A.)

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KJV: Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

WEB: "Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.