by Robert Lillegard
When two young guys sat down in front of me at the Itasca County Fair, I didn’t know what to expect. But from their answers, I was surprised to see how similar their thinking was to mine around their age. Connor and Phillip were both “good Catholics” who thought they were much more likely to go to Heaven than Hell, even though their families’ church schedule had tapered off to Christmas and Easter. They said there should be consequences for wrongdoing. Phillip said, “If you shoot someone, you should go to jail.” But neither felt their own sins were particularly severe.
I asked the boys if they’d like to see from the Bible how they could know 100 percent they’d go to Heaven. Over many surveys I’ve heard “sure” and I’ve heard “I’m not interested.” But I admit Connor’s answer surprised me.
“That’s not true!” he said. “You can’t know that.”
“Actually you can,” I said. “I promise!”
Curious, they agreed to hear me out. I knew I would have to help break down the things they were trusting in before I could lead them to the one true hope.
I started by talking about sin. Both boys agreed they sinned, even once or twice per hour “if you count the little ones.” But they were surprised when I shared that in God’s eyes the eternal consequence of sin is the same whether it is a “big” sin like murder or a “little” sin like internal anger (Matt. 5:21-22). “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) and sin is sin! Because God is perfectly holy, one sin—even Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:12)—is enough to make us deserving of eternal separation from God in Hell.
At this point they said God would forgive sin. But I reminded them of their own answers on the survey where Phillip said if you shot someone, you should go to jail. Both boys agreed that a good judge couldn’t just let a murderer walk free. I told them the same is true of God. He cannot just forgive sin out of sheer leniency. A penalty must be paid to satisfy His justice.
I didn’t share this particular verse with them but one that captures the principle is “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps. 7:11).
The boys were agreeing with me so far. Now they turned to the last refuge of the moral soul—their own good works. They saw that their sins weren’t truly minor after all and must carry some consequence. They also saw God could not just let it go. But couldn’t they resolve to be better and allow their good deeds to outweigh their bad?
I shared with them Isaiah 64:6: “For we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.” A person covered in filth cannot clean himself off with dirty rags, and in the same way a sinner cannot cleanse himself with good works. In fact, doing more good works just makes the pile of filthy rags larger—it doesn’t make them any more useful. I asked if people could possibly clean themselves off with dirty rags.
“Not unless you clean the rags first!” Phillip said. They were catching on!
Now it was time to bring in the most important concept of all—Christ’s death in our place and His resurrection from the dead. I showed from John 3:16 how God gave His only Son but did not explain what this meant yet. I had a couple of analogies to make first.
I said, “Imagine someone hates Connor and shoots at him. But Phillip jumps in front of the bullet. Who will die?”
“Phillip will,” Connor said.
“But who was supposed to die?” I asked.
“He was,” Phillip said. Typical teenage boys—each announcing the other’s death!
“Now,” I asked, “imagine you shot a spitball at a substitute teacher, and they turn around and say ‘whoever did that will get suspended.’ Who should get suspended?”
“I should,” Phillip said.
“Now what if Connor raises his hand and says ‘I did it.’ Who will get suspended?”
“I will,” Connor said.
The Spirit of God was moving, and this was about to become very clear. Before I could explain the parallel to Christ’s death, Phillip explained it to me!
“Oh!” he said, his eyes lighting up from under his baseball cap. “I get it. Jesus is the one who should have gone to Heaven. But instead, He died on the cross to pay for our sins. So now, instead of going to Hell, we can go to Heaven.”
With his previous defenses gone, Phillip could easily see that Christ was his substitute. Connor’s eyes got wide as he saw it too. The boys now knew they weren’t good enough for Heaven, but Jesus died for them and that was enough to satisfy the justice of God (Isa. 53:11). From there it took just moments for me to clarify they could receive the gift of eternal life simply by faith in Christ and not by trying to do better or live righteously. These two guys now knew they were going to Heaven because of Jesus Christ’s finished work and God’s amazing grace.
“Thanks!” Connor said. “That was great!”
Over the last couple of years I have had many, many conversations with people who are NOT ready to believe (even to the point where I’ve been quite discouraged at times). It was so refreshing to see these two boys believe what Christ had done for them. From death to life—just another day at the fair! ■
Robert Lillegard is a graduate of the Grace Institute of Biblical Studies and enjoys regularly participating in fair ministry.