There Are Not That Many Christians

Matthew 7:21–23 (ESV*)

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

A simple truth not much spoken of in modern churches is the small number of people who will actually make it to Heaven. In fact, the number may be so small that those missing after the Rapture can be easily explained away.

This is an uncomfortable truth that most do not want to hear as it will cause anxiety over their eternal state, and well it should. Most pastors do not want to speak of it as it is counterproductive to "church membership building". And yet, churches today are totally ineffective at anything other than building membership and raising money! This is mostly due to pews full of sinful people.

Jesus also said in Matthew 7, a few verses up:

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Let's take a closer look at this; what is Jesus telling us?

Quite simply He is stating that "many" will not make it into Heaven, even though they proclaim Him to be Lord, and even perform miracles in His name? How can this be? How can those who appear to be His not be? This answer to this is simple and is found in Philippians 2 where the Apostle Paul says:

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As this scripture verse tells us, the name of Jesus has been exalted by God the Father so that everything is subject to His name. This is how those who cast out demons in His name may still miss Heaven. It is not by our salvation that God performs miracles, but by the power of His exalted Son's Name alone.

Note that the last part of verse 11 ties back to Matthew 7:21: everything is for the Father's glory even those things done outside His Will. No action taken on earth in the name of Jesus is outside the Father's Glory but may be outside His Will.

The true Christian is led by the Holy Spirit and is performing the Will of the Father, not their own will. Note what Jesus told the seventy-two in Luke 10:

17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (serpents & scorpions are various demons, refer to Genesis 3:15 and Romans 16:20)

When the seventy-two who were sent to tell of Jesus returned, they were happy that they were able to cast out demons in Jesus' name. Jesus replies that He was there when Satan and his angelic followers fell, and that this authority comes from and by Him. Jesus then tells them that instead, to rejoice that their "names are written in Heaven".

Add to this that most people gloss over scriptures such as Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6:9–10, Galatians 5:19–21, and Ephesians 5:5 that explicitly state that those who participate in many sins have no place in the Kingdom of God. The true Christian seeks not to commit these sins and as Paul says in Philippians 2:12 "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling".

This "fear and trembling" is missing in most churches and Christian lives; to be afraid to sin and to tremble at the thought of God the Father being unhappy with us is an untaught and unheard concept in most churches today.

James, the brother of Jesus, tells us this in James 2:

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

We see from this verse that true Faith brings about the works of the Spirit. If there are no works, or the works are ones that are listed in Paul's writings as sins, then there is great doubt that the person is truly a Christian.

This is a hard truth for both professing Christians and those who love professing Christians. Just because someone goes to church, sits in a pew, and calls Jesus Lord does not make them a Christian. In fact, many are not.

Christians are those who are broken up over their sins, reborn of the Spirit, fearing to fail God, begging His forgiveness, trembling at the thought of offending Him, and doing His Will which are acts of love and kindness as led by the Holy Spirit.

Anything less, any easy path, will result in you hearing the words ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

*Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.