By Brother Chuck

You're not fit for the Kingdom of God! Way, way, waaaaaay too much sin! You can't go into heaven as saturated in sin as you are. You're soaking in sin! Sin has no place in heaven and it won't be tolerated there. Heaven is holy. God is holy. You're not holy. You're "Unfit for Heaven." Can you handle that eternal truth?

The Jewish chief priests, scribes, and the Pharisees in Jesus' time were all "Unfit for Heaven." These were the theologians of the day. One would have surely thought they'd qualify for heaven. They were well versed in scripture, and they preached far and wide. Yet, they were all "Unfit for Heaven." Why? Because like you, they were saturated in sin, and they weren't worthy of heaven. And neither are you, or me. In fact, no one is. There's not one solitary person, born on this earth, worthy of heaven, because we've all sinned, and we're all polluted with that sin. Except Jesus! He came from heaven. He lived as a man. He never sinned. Nope! Never! Not even once. He was "...tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin" (Hebrews 4:15 NIV).

Can you handle the truth? Let me show you. I don't care if you call yourself a Catholic, a Protestant, a Lutheran, an Anglican, a Pentecostal, a Baptist, or you just call yourself a Christian, or any other religionist for that matter. If you're not "born again," as Jesus declared one must be in His conversation with Nicodemus, (John 3:1-21), then you're not going to heaven, and you need to face up to the fact that you're "Unfit for Heaven!"

*NOTE: You can watch a video of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus at the bottom of this page.

What does "born again" mean? Our hearts are rebellious toward God. Born again means to invite the Holy Spirit to transform our rebellious hearts into contrite, submissive, and obedient hearts that love God, and have a desire for His holiness within us. To be born again, literally means to be born from above, or born of God. Jesus said it to a religious leader. He said it to a person more religious than you, me, and probably anyone reading this article. He said it to Nicodemus, a professor of theology, a Pharisee, and a member of the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish ruling council of the day; this same council would eventually hang Jesus on a cross.

He said, "Nicodemus, you must be born again (John 3:7)." "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)

Can you handle the truth? As Jack Nicholson said in the classic scene from "A Few Good Men", "You can't handle the truth!." Most of us can't. We want to believe that we're good people and a good God would never throw us into hell. Well, if hell is where you end up, don't blame God. You threw yourself into hell by your rebellion and rejection of the Truth.

Jessup: I'll answer the question. You want answers?

Kaffee: I think I'm entitled!

Jessup: You want answers?!

Kaffee: I want the truth!

Jessup: You can't handle the truth!

Friends, I think you're entitled to the truth. Can you handle the truth? I think you can and I want to give it to you straight. You're "Unfit for Heaven."

"...We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved?... When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags." (Isaiah 64:5-6 NLT)

We will never convince God that we're good people deserving of heaven based on the good deeds we have done in this life. Our self-righteous deeds and good works are nothing but "filthy rags" in God's sight. There's no sin in heaven! God is holy and pure, and we cannot come into His presence as long as we are polluted by sin. To enter heaven, one must be clothed in Christ. When God looks upon a sinner, He doesn't see righteous deeds, He sees filthy rags. Listen to how The Message puts it:

"...We've sinned and kept at it so long! Is there any hope for us? Can we be saved? We're all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags. ..." -The Message

That's us, friends. That's what our sinful lives look like in the sight of God, regardless of how much good we think we've done. Have you quit sinning, or do you just go on sinning and sinning day after day? Our best efforts are "grease-stained rags" because we just go on sinning. And because of our sin, God has given you and me the death sentence. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23) It's payday folks! It's time to pay up for your miserable sinful life. Death is what you've earned.

"I believe that a great number of people are going to die and go to hell because they're counting on their religiosity in the church instead of their relationship with Jesus to get them to heaven. They give lip service to repentance and faith, but they've never been born again." -Adrian Rogers

Do you think you're sinful enough for God to be justified in sentencing you to death? Or do you think that you're a good enough person and should go to heaven? Most people believe that. You probably help people in need, or give to charities, and you probably haven't murdered anyone. Right? I mean, no big sins. Just little sins. Many of you make the same mistake, you think God is just like us. That He has our moral standard. So you think you're a good person? You probably do your best to be good. But have you been good enough? Let me ask you a question. How many lies have you told in your life. Well, if you're like everyone else, you can't count them all. Lying is sin.

God gave us the Ten Commandments to live by. Jesus never broke any of them. Yet, by your admission of lying, you broke #9 of the Ten Commandments. Have you ever stolen anything, even just a small piece of candy as a child? If you're being honest, you probably answered yes to that question as well. Stealing is breaking #8 of the Ten Commandments. Have you ever used God's name in vain? I'm sure you answered yes. Do you love your mom and dad? Would you use their name as a cuss word? Of course not. Because that would be dishonoring them. Yet you haven't honored the God that gave you a mother, the God who gave you life. You've used His name in vain and dishonored him. There's a name for that. It's called blasphemy. Now you've broken #3 of the Ten Commandments.

Does this test seem fair to you? God's standards are very high. I'm giving you the standard that God's going to use when He judges you on judgment day. Jesus said if you look with lust at a man or woman, you've committed adultery in your heart. Have you ever looked with lust? Most of us have. That's breaking #7 of the Ten Commandments. Have you ever hated anyone? You probably answered yes to that question as well. We all have at one time or another. The Bible says, "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer." (1 John 3:15). Those are God's words, not mine. Now you've broken #6, you're a murder, in your heart. I hope you're getting a better understanding of just how high God's standards really are. We only covered five of the Ten Commandments and you broke all five. What about the other five? Look them over. It could be your guilty of breaking all ten.

Now let me sum this up for you. I'm not judging you. This is to judge yourself. You've admitted that you're a liar. You've told me that you're a thief, a blasphemer, an adulterer and a murderer at heart. That's how God sees you. These are God's standards, not mine, not yours, but God's standards. So if God judges you by the Ten Commandments on judgment day are you going to be innocent or guilty. Guilty of course; guilty as charged. Heaven or hell? It's hell. So as you can see. You're "Unfit for Heaven." You're polluted with sin. But, you're not different from anyone else. We're all "Unfit for Heaven." We're all polluted with sin.

So how do we make ourselves fit for heaven? Good works? Nope. You already learned that your good works are filthy rags to God. So how does one become fit for heaven? "You must be born again." Jesus said (John 3:3,7). For a sinful man to come into the presence of holy God he must be clothed in the holiness of Christ.

"Imagine. A perfect, holy God who receives sinners into his presence. How, you ask, how can this be? How can we in our imperfection, dare approach a holy God? We have the right to enter his presence because we have been clothed in Christ. Apart from Christ, God is inaccessible. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. The only way to the father is through me" (John 14:6)." -Max Lucado

Do you know what God did for guilty sinners like you, and me, so we wouldn't have to go to hell? He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross. Not because He committed any sins, He was sinless. But to cover your "filthy rag" sins.

That is why we need Jesus! Only He can give us amnesty and pardon us for our sins. Only He can give us the holy righteousness and purification that we need to enter into the holy presence of God in heaven. He came from heaven to be the final and complete sacrifice for our sins. We were given the death sentence, but Jesus died in our place. Do you know what His final words were as He died on the cross? He said, "It is finished." then He died. (John 19:30 NIV)

Why did He say, "It is finished"? Because you and I broke God's law, the Ten Commandments and Jesus paid the debt. When He said, "It is finished", He meant the debt had been paid. Even though we're guilty of serious crimes before God and worthy of death, Jesus paid the debt for us through His death and resurrection.

There's two things you have to do to find everlasting life in heaven. One, you have to repent of your sins. That means to be sorry for your sins, and turn away from them, and the second thing is, you have to place your trust in Jesus; put your faith in Him. That's all you have to do to make yourself fit for heaven.

Now don't go trying to save yourself on judgment day by thinking you're a good person, because you're not. You're a sinner, just like the rest of us. Stop trusting yourself for your salvation, and start trusting the Savior. The moment you do that, you have God's promise, that He'll forgive every sin you've ever committed, even those secret sins, that no one knew about, but God saw. In an instant, He'll wash away all your "filthy rag" sins, not because you're good, but because God is good, and rich in mercy. Now, don't wait! Go visit my page, How to Know God → and be born again. Everything you need to know is right there on that page.

Suggested Reading: Be Good for Goodness Sake →

Living Waters Presents

Are You a Good Person?

Watch Jesus' Conversation with Nicodemus

"You Must be Born Again!"

Third Day - Born Again (With lyrics)

Do you know how to become a Christian? Do you know how to go to heaven? Let's get this matter settled once and for all! Visit my page HOW TO KNOW GOD →