Talking about salvation, Jesus said there was a gate through which to enter and a path to walk in (Mt.7:13,14). They are both so narrow that only a few are going to be saved and the majority are going to miss them! Note that those who finally get destroyed also pass through a gate and walk along a path, possibly assuming that they are safe! Many of them have entered through a gate by a definite act, but sadly it is not the gate that leads to salvation. Jesus described this false gate as a broad gate. So, what we need to make sure for our own life is the gate we enter through is the right one.
It depends on how we read the Bible. If we treat each verse in the Bible as self-sufficient, stand-alone truths we can go wrong many times because actually many verses contain certain truths only partially and in order to understand the truth fully we need to combine them with verses from other parts of the Bible.
"Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Ro.10:13). While this is true, it doesn't mean that all we have to do to be saved is to call on the name of the Lord. This tells us one part of the nature of the Lord who wants all men to be saved (1Ti.2:4). But this alone would tend to make the gate too wide! "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Ac.16:31). While this describes the main ingredient of the response we need to have on our side, this too is 'broad', not mentioning the full aspect of what we need to do. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Ro.10:9). Because one important element is still missing in this statement, this too can make the gate broad by itself.
What is the message that Jesus preached? "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt.4:17). This was the same message that John the baptiser came with and which Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost (Mt.3:2;Ac.2:38). This repentance is implied in 'believing in Jesus' because if we know Jesus as One who came to save us from our sins, believing in Him would include our acknowledging ourselves as sinners before Him and believing in as our Saviour from sins. So all the verses we quoted above describing the way to be saved must be understood only along with this part of the truth.
The way of salvation is narrow because very few people are willing to see themselves as sinners and to see that they need to repent. If repentance from sin is not a part of salvation that is preached, it makes the gate so very wide that it becomes possible for practically everyone to walk in. Actually many have walked through this gate and assumed that they are now saved!
Did we have any marks showing we have repented when we came to 'believe' in Jesus (Mt.3:8)? These marks include a godly sorrow over our sins and an earnest desire to change our ways (2Co.7:10,11). Do make sure that you enter through the genuine, narrow gate and find true salvation.