Sin?

from Dan's Corner

Okay class, let's take a pop quiz. Which of the following sins would land you in hell faster:

A. Murdering twenty people with a garden hoe

B. Having sex with someone other than your spouse

C. Stealing a pack of gum from your local WalMart

Got your answer? Good.

Here's an exercise -- take a big pane of glass, etch the ten commandments on it, then take a hammer and break out only one of the commandments. What happens? The whole thing cracks up and comes crashing down.

In God's economy sin is sin, no matter how big (or small), what color, or where you bought it. In fact, we don't need to do anything at all! We're condemned from the get-go simply by being a member of the human race. When Adam chomped into that forbidden fruit he voided all our tickets for that cruise to paradise.

But the good news is that no sin is too big, bad or complicated to exclude the sinner from God's forgiveness. Jesus' sacrifice covered it all.

I've heard people say that "the things they've done are just too awful," or "their lives have been lived just too badly to expect forgiveness." NOT! That's a lie from hell that's been passed around for centuries.

Remember Jeffrey Dahmer -- the guy from Milwaukee who killed a bunch of people and then practiced cannibalism on them? They found body parts in his refrigerator. Yow! We say, "What a ghoul." Know where he is now? He made the manifest on that cruise to paradise. He was convicted of his crimes, sure. He went to prison where, before he was murdered by another con, he accepted Jesus as his Savior. He repented and was, as the Book says, "washed whiter than snow." What he did was certainly a shocking series of crimes. By society's standards he got what he deserved. By God's standard he got grace.

On February 3, 1998, Karla Faye Tucker was executed in Texas. She killed two people with a pickax. Yow! We say, "That's unimaginable." She became a believer in prison. God forgave her. By society's standards she got what she deserved. By God's standard she got grace.

My mom told me that when she was a little girl she once stole a pack of Black Jack gum from the dime store. (When her mother found out, she marched her two miles in the snow to pay for it -- things were different then.) My mom is a believer. By God's standard she'll get grace.

I remember a song Petra did a few years ago. . . "I'm an innocent man -- underneath the Blood." That's the only place we're innocent, regardless of what we've done.


	Sin? from Dan's Corner Okay class, let's take a pop quiz. Which of the following sins would land you in hell faster: A. Murdering twenty people with a garden hoe B. Having sex with someone other than your spouse C. Stealing a pack of gum from your local WalMart Got your answer? Good. Here's an exercise -- take a big pane of glass, etch the ten commandments on it, then take a hammer and break out only one of the commandments. What happens? The whole thing cracks up and comes crashing down. In God's economy sin is sin, no matter how big (or small), what color, or where you bought it. In fact, we don't need to do anything at all! We're condemned from the get-go simply by being a member of the human race. When Adam chomped into that forbidden fruit he voided all our tickets for that cruise to paradise. But the good news is that no sin is too big, bad or complicated to exclude the sinner from God's forgiveness. Jesus' sacrifice covered it all. I've heard people say that "the things they've done are just too awful," or "their lives have been lived just too badly to expect forgiveness." NOT! That's a lie from hell that's been passed around for centuries. Remember Jeffrey Dahmer -- the guy from Milwaukee who killed a bunch of people and then practiced cannibalism on them? They found body parts in his refrigerator. Yow! We say, "What a ghoul." Know where he is now? He made the manifest on that cruise to paradise. He was convicted of his crimes, sure. He went to prison where, before he was murdered by another con, he accepted Jesus as his Savior. He repented and was, as the Book says, "washed whiter than snow." What he did was certainly a shocking series of crimes. By society's standards he got what he deserved. By God's standard he got grace. On February 3, 1998, Karla Faye Tucker was executed in Texas. She killed two people with a pickax. Yow! We say, "That's unimaginable." She became a believer in prison. God forgave her. By society's standards she got what she deserved. By God's standard she got grace. My mom told me that when she was a little girl she once stole a pack of Black Jack gum from the dime store. (When her mother found out, she marched her two miles in the snow to pay for it -- things were different then.) My mom is a believer. By God's standard she'll get grace. I remember a song Petra did a few years ago. . . "I'm an innocent man -- underneath the Blood." That's the only place we're innocent, regardless of what we've done. Contact Us