Heaven: It's Not for Everyone

Heaven Is Not For Everyone

The general assumption in America seems to be that everyone will go to Heaven when they die. Some profess to not care where they go, even if it’s Hell. Still others insist this life is it, and death ends everything.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, said all should strive to enter into Heaven. Yet, amazingly, He also said that many would want to enter but would be denied access!

And Jesus said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
How can it be many will want to be saved, and yet will be rejected? Three reasons…because:

1. Many do not realize the “narrow gate” is Jesus Himself. He stated in John 10:9: “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” The “narrow” description points to trust in Him alone for salvation, nothing else. This same truth is repeated by Christ in John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Only Christ’s blood can remove our sin in the Father’s sight.

2. Many will not strive to enter in until it is too late. Jesus pointed this out when He said, “When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from.”

God’s timetable for this world is right on schedule and will soon culminate in the return of Christ. It will be too late then to seek salvation. The Bible consistently urges all sinners to flee from the wrath to come…now! Flee to the arms of Jesus, who bore the penalty for our sins and has risen again to give us a sure hope of Heaven here and now. The door (Jesus) is open now but will close at any moment.

3. Many will strive to enter in the wrong way. Instead of trusting Jesus Christ, they will trust their own understanding of things. Or perhaps they will trust their church, their philosophy, or their own self-righteousness. Of these Christ says they are not only denied access to Heaven, they have also been “workers of iniquity”! This because everyone is a preacher/teacher by influencing others. To teach others to trust something or someone other than the Son of God for salvation, is to be antichrist, intentionally or unintentionally.

Jesus described the reactions of those excluded from His Kingdom at the last day when the door is closed.

"then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. 29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God."

Anyone not trusting Jesus Christ as the Son of God, His atoning death, and bodily resurrection will be “thrust out of the Kingdom”. Some will weep bitter tears of regret while others will gnash their teeth in frustration that their assumptions about spiritual matters were so wrong. God’s truth will prevail and His Son will be exalted in all the earth. If you are not saved (in right relationship with God through Christ) the Bible urges you to realize today is the day of salvation. You can believe on Christ and receive eternal life here and now.

The Bible plainly states; “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” Romans 10:9-13

Call on Christ today and be saved today… as no one is promised tomorrow.

Except for the Romans passage, all other scripture references are from Luke 13 (NKJV)