How Big Does Your Sin Make You Feel?

Every single person on the planet is going to spend forever somewhere. The Bible tells us there are two options: Heaven or hell. Going to heaven is not based on “good karma.” It is not based on the Muslim view of doing more good than bad. It’s based on one thing alone: your relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is why the thief on the cross could be promised: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

Even though he had made a mess of his life, as he hung there dying, he clearly confessed his faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. He didn’t say, “Hey, I know I got in trouble with the law here at the end of my life, but I want you to know, Jesus, I really was a good person.” The thief simply asked for mercy, and Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Among those who would agree that we’re going to be in either heaven or hell are many people who, according to Jesus, will be very surprised that they’re going to hell. Jesus said:

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’ Matthew 7:22-23

If you encountered someone who was able to prophesy (that is, speak forth the word of God) and they were able to perform miracles and cast out demons, wouldn’t you say, “That person is definitely going to heaven. I’m not sure about myself sometimes, because I haven’t done all the things I know I should do, but that guy is going to heaven.”

Jesus says, “No, there will be bunches of people like that to whom I will say, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’”

“I don’t know, Pastor, you’re making me nervous. I was doing well up until now. You always have a knack for making me feel worse. Is that your ministry?”

I sometimes tell people, “Barnabas was the son of encouragement. I am Barnacle, the son of discouragement.”

Dr. Gerstner, a famous preacher of a previous generation, was approached at the door after he had preached—probably on the exceeding sinfulness of sin—by a woman who said, “Dr. Gerstner, you made me feel about this big,” holding her thumb and forefinger about half an inch apart.

He looked at her and said in his extremely deep and gravelly voice, “Madam, that is too big.”

Folks, none of us deserve to go to heaven. Fritz Ridenour in his book, How to be a Christian Without Being Religious—a wonderful study of the book of Romans—points out that God doesn’t grade on the curve. You and I don’t get into heaven based on a comparison to Osama bin Laden or Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin or Pol Pot or some other notorious sinner.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23

Then, how can a person be saved?

It’s only through Jesus Christ. It’s only through his sacrifice on the cross. He died on the cross to pay for our sins. He rose from the dead as conqueror over death and hell. He is our only hope. Our only hope! If you have hope in anything else, you’re not on your way to heaven.