Few Enter Heaven, Will You?

Matthew 7:13-14 (NLT)

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.

14  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Millions claim to be Christians, but are they really, Biblically, personally following Jesus?

How many will end in eternal hell? MOST people go on the easy way that ends in eternal damnation in hell. Just simply do what you want, follow your dreams, and believe in yourself. Millions and millions will be eternally separated from God.

How many will end in eternal life with Jesus? Notice Jesus was clear only the people who enter the narrow gate go to heaven. This means those who think they deserve heaven and even if they truly believe they are Christians must be verifed by one criteria, have they entered through the narrow gate? The very narrow gate that takes every Christian on a very difficult life only a FEW ever find.

But why do so few find the narrow gate?

The Lord Jesus immediately points to false preachers for the reason that so few will find heaven. False preachers are deceived about the narrow gate and the wide gate. They really think they are going to heaven. They have wolf-like evil hearts and are not really Christians. In spite of their sincere beliefs their actions are not good. Their evil hearts expose them. Their actions reveal them to be really traveling down the wide road to hell.

Actions always expose an evil heart. Never trust what a person says until you see the fruit of their lives.

What can a preacher do to block people from entering heaven? How do some try to widen the narrow gate to heaven?

Jude 1:4 (NLT)

I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Some add to the gospel Jesus and the apostles preached 2000 years ago. And Jude reveals the deceived people who do this are inside the “church”. Not just those we call themselves preachers, but many who are in all appearance accepted by the church as Christians, are ungodly, not godly. Wolves not sheep.

Their message contradicts the words of Jesus. They try to widen the gate to let their loved ones and friends to be falsely assured that they all get to heaven. They make excuses for sin and stretch grace to mean constant forgiveness in spite of the absence of repentance. As the Amplified Bible reveals of the depth of the Greek, “pervert the grace (the spiritual blessing and favor) of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality, and disown and deny our sole Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”

This is not the gospel message of the Bible. Let’s look closely at Jesus’ words.

Matthew 7:21-23 (NLT)

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22  On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23  But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

Let’s examine Judas Iscariot’s story to prove this terrible evidence of false believers.

Judas Iscariot followed Jesus. He was one of the inner circle of apostles who was trained by Jesus. He preached (prophesied) the gospel, cast out demons, and performed miracles in Jesus name.

Matthew 10:5-8 (NLT)
⁵  Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans,
⁶  but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep.
⁷  Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
⁸  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!

In spite of Judas being able to look like the other apostles, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothes. Unlike the others, he did not “actually do the will of my Father“. Jesus never knew him spiritually like the other apostles because he was one of the many “who break God’s laws” and ended in hell.

He so hid it that only Jesus knew his secret sin. When Jesus exposed a traitor would sell him out, none pointed to Judas because he was such a hypocrite. No, they did not know his secret. Only many years later was John able to explain, “But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him… Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.” John 12:4-6 (NLT)

Even though many, many, many will boldly run to Jesus at Judgment Day calling Jesus their Lord, they will be stunned to find they were deceived because they never stopped doing their will, but kept disobeying God. The haunting truth is the local churches of our day are full of wolves in sheep’s clothes.

Also to understand the magnitude of the issue in our day is shocking. Remember Barna Research found:

30% of Americans claim to be born again

90% of those say the Word of God does not influence how they live their lives

10% of all the people in the U.S. who say they are Christians actually follow Jesus

Also, LifeWay revealed:
64% of all American Evangelicals think everyone goes to heaven
48% of Evangelicals agreed that God accepts all kinds of worship
77% of people who claim to be followers of Jesus say they want to grow and mature in their faith but 20% actively obey and are involved in some form of discipleship activity.

ChristianMingle found: 89% of self-identified Christian singles are having sex or will have sex before marriage which is clearly against the will of God.

Again most church attendees prove their talk does not match their actions. And also remember Jesus states our actions are what identify us. (Matthew 7:15-16,20)

Because there is such ignorance surrounding what it really means to be a born-again Christian, we are challenged to ask ourselves Are we really, Biblically, personally following Jesus?