So many times, I hear people speak out of ignorance and say, “Oh man, she sleeps with 3 guys every week… she’s going to hell man.” Or you might hear, “He gets drunk like every weekend at parties… I hope he has fun in hell.” People tend to assume, as I once did, that sins are what send a person to hell.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Sins are disgusting and offensive in God’s eyes. There’s nothing more detestable to God than sin. Habakkuk 1:13 says that God can’t even lookat evil. So, I don’t want you to misunderstand me. When you sleep around or get drunk, God is sickened by your actions.

But, these actions aren’t what send you to hell.

So, you’re probably asking, “Well Blake, if it isn’t sins that send people to hell, then what is it?” And that’s a great question. I mean, there are verses like 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that have a long list of different types of sinners that won’t go to heaven. So, what is that sends you to hell?

You see, it isn’t sins that send us to hell… it’s sin.

“Blake… seriously. Those are the same thing… one’s just plural and the other one isn’t.” And if that’s what you’re thinking, then let me make this more clear. These two words make a world of difference.

Sins are actions. When you lust, you commit sins. When you’re full of greed, you commit sins. When you hate others, you commit sins. Sins are what we do. Just like earlier, people said other people were going to hell because of their sins.

Now, sin is something totally different. Sin is a nature, a state of being, an attitude. You see, when Adam sinned (an action), he brought sin (a nature) into the world. And now, as sons and daughters of Adam, we’ve inherited this nature from him. This nature is an attitude of rebellion against God.

Romans 5:12 puts it best “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”. Ok, notice the order of this. Sin came into the world, then death because of sin, and then all men die because all men have sinned.

Do you see the significance? You see, many times I think we get it twisted. I think we judge the amount someone sins and label them a “sinner” according that amount. When, in reality, we’re all sinners! Not because we’ve all sinned, but because we were all born that way. Our sinning is a sign that we are, indeed, sinners! We simply sin because we’re sinners… we’re not sinners, because we sin.

So, it’s this attitude, this nature, this state of being that sends people to hell. It’s thinking that your ways are better than God’s. It’s trying to find your own gods in everything but God Himself. Sins are simply a result of this nature. This is why one sin isn’t any more severe than another in God’s eyes. We’re all sinners. Everything we do is sin! Even our righteous acts are worthless, as Isaiah 64:6 explains. Even when we’re doing our best and even when we think we’re absolutely FLAWLESS… apart from Christ, God’s still going, “Nope… you’ve fallen short still. You’re still just a dirty sinner.” 

But, there is hope for us sinners, friends. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19) You see, trying to simply do good things to cover up for your sins is worthless. You’re still a sinner. That’d be like trying to paint up a piece of crap really nice and pretty… it’s still a piece of crap at the end of the day.

Look at Romans 5:19 again though! Through the obedience of Christ, we may be made righteous! We don’t need any more laws. Laws don’t perfect. Laws don’t transform. Jesus Christ alone justifies. And He’s offering His righteousness to you, to cover up for all of the unrighteousness within you. To free you from the nature that we were all born with. Every other way leads to death… but Christ is offering you life.

So then, when God looks at you from now on, He won’t have to turn His head away in disgust of your sin… but instead, He’ll see His perfect, spotless Son in your place. This is the good news of Jesus Christ.