This blog is part of a series where I try to answer your questions about the Christian faith. I’m Pastor Chris Mullis. I’ve been a pastor for 2 decades--thinking about the mysteries of God, the Bible, and the Christian faith.
So in this series, I’ll do my best to answer your questions and share something that will help you grow and be fruitful.
Post your questions in the comments and I’ll try to answer them in an upcoming blog.
You can also click this link to my YouTube channel if you want to watch a video about this.
In this blog, I want to answer the question: Are there any particular sins that are so bad they will definitely keep you out of heaven? So let’s get into it.
I get asked questions like this a lot. And recently, I was asked: “Do you think practicing homosexuals are going to Heaven?” It’s a sincere question from a person I know to be very caring. But the real question is much broader. Why limited the sin to gays and lesbians?
What about people who sin in other ways? What about: Murders? People who commit suicide? Blasphemers? Is there any sin that is so bad it will exclude you from Heaven forever?
The truth is, all sins exclude you from the Kingdom of Heaven. Even seemingly small sins. Have you ever lied? Have you ever said to your wife or girlfriend, “No, honey! Those pants do not make your butt look big.” when they actually do? Have you ever taken a pen or paperclip that didn’t really belong to you? That’s stealing. And even tiny infractions like these are sins big enough compared to God’s gloriously perfect standard to disqualify you from the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Word of God tells us in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” And James 2:10 says, “For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.” And Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So what we find in the Bible is that absolutely no one is able to go to heaven unless God somehow graciously overlooks their sin through Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says, “9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Any sin can keep you out of Heaven. But God can cleanse you of any sin and make you holy. We are made right with God when we repent of our sin and seek to live a new life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 6:15 says, “Since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.”
We shouldn’t keep living in sin after we repent and start following Jesus. God’s Holy Spirit empowers us to live a new and holy life. We need to respond to the Spirit’s power and choose to live in ways that honor God. We need to repent of our sin and live right the best we can according to the Holy Spirit’s enabling power.
But wait! Doesn’t the Bible say there’s an unforgivable sin?
There is no unforgivable sin except this: Rejecting Jesus Christ. That is the only sin that cannot be forgiven. And even if you rejected Christ last year, but this year realize it was a mistake, you can put your faith in Jesus today and be saved.
And so, no mater what you’ve done, even if no one else can forgive, God can and He will if you trust Jesus and follow Him as Lord.
But wait a minute! What about people who persist in sinning even after Jesus saves them? What about the gay person who contiues to practice homosexuality? What about the alcoholic that keeps drinking? What about the adulterer who keeps cheating? What about....
Ok. Here’s my advice. It is very dangerous to continue to sin after you repent and follow Jesus as Lord doing stuff you know you shouldn’t. It abuses the mercy and grace of God. It damages the reputation of God and His people and can even keep others from following Jesus. Willful sin destroys our world, hurts people, damages your community, and sometimes abuses the people you care about most. Furthermore, continuing to sin when you know better keeps you enslaved when God wants you to be free.
As to whether and to what degree a person’s willful sin may keep them out of the Kingdom of Heaven: Only God can be the final judge. God knows and understands things in a sinner's heart we can’t imagine. So who am I to say what will be the final destination of a person’s soul? I don’t know and neither does anyone else. I do know that the power of some sins can be notoriously difficult to break. Alcoholics and addicts sometimes struggle their whole lives with very limited success staying sober, but that doesn’t disqualify them from heaven. God knows their struggles in ways I will never understand. And God is a righteous Judge Who always knows when to dispense justice and when to show mercy.
I do know this. There’s no better place for a sinner to be than in a church where people come to encounter Jesus, the Savior who came to save sinners. So I’ll leave you with this inspirational post I found on Facebook last week:
You’re a drug addict but came to church on Sunday…. You can sit with me, you’re right where you need to be.
You’re divorced and the last church you attended condemned you for it…. You can sit me, you’re right where you need to be.
You’ve had an abortion and it’s slowly eating away at your heart but you came to church on Sunday…. You can sit with me, you’re right where you need to be.
You’ve been unfaithful to your spouse but came to church on Sunday…. You can sit with me, you’re right where you need to be.
People don’t come to church for you to judge them because you feel you’re better than them. People come to church because in their deepest, darkest, most painful moments, they heard a man named Jesus could save their soul and they’d like to know him.
The drunk who slept in bar isn’t a bigger sinner than you who occasionally has too much to drink at home in private.
The woman who got caught cheating on her husband isn’t a bigger sinner than you who had sex with your now husband before you were married.
The lesbian who’s been rejected by her family for her choices isn’t a bigger sinner than you who indulged in a bit of gossip at church yesterday.
There isn’t a person in this world too bad, too broken, too mean, or too damaged for Jesus to save. Romans 10:13 says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
That’s
what I believe. How about you?
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