#1 Few Actually End Up In Heaven

#1 Few Actually End Up In Heaven
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Few Enter Heaven, Will You?

In Matthew 7:13 and 14 (New Living Translation) Jesus taught His followers,

“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.

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

Jesus Christ is God! The second person of the Triune God. He came to earth 2000 years ago and revealed His Good News to mankind. He died for our crimes, was buried and resurrected from the dead. He offers forgiveness to everyone who accepts His sacrifice and follows Him. Millions claim to be Christians, but are they really, Biblically, personally following Jesus?

How many will end in eternal hell? According to Jesus, MOST people go on the easy way that ends in eternal damnation in hell. The gospel of the world is 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 verified 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.

In Matthew 7:15 to 20 (New Living Translation) Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”

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 (from the NLT) says,

“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.”

As we just read, 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 who 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 given to us in the Bible. 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. And the Amplified Bible reveals the depth of the Greek by saying, “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).”

Jude makes it clear, this is not the gospel message of the Bible. So next let’s look more closely at Jesus’ words.

Matthew 7:21 to 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.  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.’  But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

Let’s take a look at 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 prophesied, in other words preached the gospel, cast out demons, and performed miracles in Jesus name.

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

So you see, 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 announced 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 to 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.

 

When you see the magnitude of this issue in our day you will be shocked. Here is what 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 Research 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 only 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. (See Matthew 7:15,16,and 20)

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

Next: #2 Everyone is born with an evil heart