Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - No Dirt Allowed - #4876

Monday, September 19, 2005

When our oldest child was born, they didn't let fathers even go into the labor room. Then when our second one was born, fathers must have gotten a little smarter - they let us go into the labor room, but not the delivery room. And by the time our third one was born, hey, fathers had really arrived - I was actively involved with the doctor in the delivery. But, of course, I couldn't just walk right into the delivery room. First, I had to do what the doctor and nurse had to do - scrub up! They made sure I washed thoroughly with disinfectant. Then they covered every part of me but my hands and my eyes and my nose - and they put a mask over my mouth, a thoroughly ugly cap on my head and this goofy smock over my clothes. My only consolation was that the doctor looked about as geeky as I did. They gave me paper booties to wear over my shoes, but I understood. They can't allow any dirt to infect that environment - you have to be clean to get in.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Dirt Allowed."

It seems like more people are thinking more these days about spiritual issues, including what happens after we take our last breath. One area of curiosity is heaven - which we can guess about if we want, or we can get our information from the One who made it, who lives there, who sets the standards for going there. Of course, that would be God. Who, in the Bible, describes heaven not as a state of mind, but as a very real, very mind-blowing place.

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Revelation 21:4 - a partial description of heaven. "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.'" And then later it says, "The great street of the city was of pure gold." Imagine what we consider the most precious substance on earth will be used for pavement in heaven! We can't begin to imagine the glory of this eternal destination.

But the last verse of Revelation 21:27 , our word for today, is a little disturbing. "Nothing impure will ever enter it," He says, "nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." God says heaven is a lot like that delivery room; no one is allowed in there who isn't clean. They would infect an environment that has to be pure. God's saying here that He can't allow anyone with sin into heaven or it won't be heaven any more.

Now, here is why that's so disturbing. Romans 3:10 in the Bible says, "There is no one righteous, not even one." Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Well, if sinners can't get into heaven, then you and I have no chance no matter how religious we are. No matter how much good we do, it just doesn't remove any of the dirt of a lifetime of choices that were "my way" instead of God's way. The scriptures show us that there will be a lot of surprised people in hell; people who thought they could get to heaven by being good enough. But their good didn't remove the sin that keeps people out of heaven.

But this verse mentions those who will enter heaven; those in the Lamb's book of life. Your name goes there when you have every sin of your life erased from God's book. Here's the only disinfectant that can do that. 1 John 1:7 says, "The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." Our only hope of being clean enough to enter heaven is what Jesus did when He died on the cross to take the death penalty that we deserved to pay for your sin. The question is, has there ever been a time when, in your heart, you've stood at Jesus' cross and said, "Lord, I'm putting my total trust in you to forgive me, to erase my sins from God's book"?

If you've never done that and you want to make Jesus your personal Rescuer from your personal sin, I want to encourage you to tell Him that right now. And I hope you'll let me know, because I want to send you a booklet I wrote about beginning your relationship with Jesus. It's called Yours For Life. It's helped a lot of people get started. I think it might help you.

We're all too dirty to enter that sin-free environment of heaven, but we can get clean. You can get clean this very day, but only Jesus can do it. If you want to go in to God's heaven, you have to get clean. And that could happen for you today.