The Failure of Evangelicalism

Let’s look at Matthew 7.

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. 14For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

 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.

In America, I would venture to say that most people profess to be Christians.  Most people would say they believe in God and Jesus.  But if we look at these verses, we know that so many of them are lying.  Not a popular truth, but truth nonetheless.  According to verse 21, its not whether or not you profess to know Christ, but whether or not you do the will of the Father.  Most of these people who profess simply have no works to undergird their so-called faith, and as it says in James, “faith without works is dead.”

Jesus said that “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”  We see an illustration of this in verses 21-23 where people are standing before God, people that professed to be Christians during their lifetime, and He says “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”  But God knows His sheep and they know His voice and follow Him (John 10)

We live in an age of easy believe-ism, where the entire gospel message is shrunken down into “four spiritual laws” or the “abc’s of the gospel” as some kind of method to produce more conversions.  Pastors and teachers who teach this will be under greater condemnation for preaching this false gospel.  And as if this wasn’t enough, the majority of Evangelicals have labeled those who actually believe Scriptural truth about God’s sovereign grace as heretics and fatalists!  There is so much resistance to the truth because so many people that call themselves Christians allow God to be sovereign over everything except their salvation.

This literally breaks my heart.   I humbly realize that without the Holy Spirit changing my heart of stone to a heart of flesh and regenerating my sinful mind I would be just like the people I’m talking about.  I would still be resistant to the truth.  And to be honest, I can think of no real reason why God would have chosen me except for His Glory.  I bring nothing substantial to the table at all.  I am a wretched sinner in desperate need of God’s sustaining grace every day.

I encourage everyone reading this to not be blinded by traditions, but to search out what the Bible actually says about God’s freedom to choose and love those whom He wants to, namely His people, the true Israel (see Romans 9).  Examine your faith according to Scripture to see if it measures up- the book of 1 John is filled with tests that only a true Christian can pass.  As it says in this verse above, “you will know them by their fruits.”