Sin—Not Allowed in Heaven

One night at the juvenile hall, I was talking to the boys about sin:  “We are all sinners. The one thing not allowed in heaven is sin. So everywhere we go, everyone we see up and down the street, EVERYONE is going to spend eternity in hell—IF they don’t have a Savior—and there is only One.

Roger asked, “How can you say that?”

Me: “It’s because I believe the Bible, which tells us in Romans 3:23 that ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’”
Roger: “That only tells us we’re sinners.  So what?”

Me:  “Romans 6:23 tells us ‘the wages of sin is death…”

Roger: “Okay, so we’re all gonna die.  But…hell?”

“Yes, Roger, hell.  Revelation 21:8 is clear on the subject. Moreover, Jesus believed in hell. He spoke more about hell than He did heaven. The Bible tells us the only person who never sinned was Jesus Christ. He was tempted, yet He refused to sin. Why was that?  It’s because a sinless life was God’s requirement to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin. That is the reason Jesus came to live on this earth in the first place—to purchase our salvation.”

Roger: “Why would He do that?”

Me: “It’s because He loves us, Roger, and wanted to save us from hell!  Jesus lived a sacrificial life and then died on the cross to pay— not for His sin— but for yours and for mine.  Such love!  Think about it— He had all the temptations in life that we all have— yet He did not give into temptation even once. Do you think that would be difficult?”

All the boys quietly nodded in agreement.

• For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.   Luke 19:10          
• For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way,  just as we are—yet he did not sin.     Hebrews 4:15                                                                                                                             
• For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.    John 3:17-18                                                                                
• But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death.     Revelation 21:8
• SONG:  JOHN 3:16-18