We talked about the concept of clean and unclean in the book of Leviticus, and we see the same concept rise up here.
One verse that strikes me is verse 3. God says of those who are unclean,
Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them. (Numbers 5:3)
The idea here is that God is so pure, nothing impure may come into his presence. It must be banished from his sight.
One misconception people have is that if they’re good enough, it will outweigh any bad things they may do, and God will let them into heaven.
They imagine that there’s a balance scale at the gate of heaven. They think that all they have to do is make sure that their evil deeds don’t outweigh their good ones, and God will let them in.
But the gate of heaven is not like a balance scale. It’s more like a security gate at an airport.
If you go to the airport, before you enter the plane, you must go through the security gate.
And if you have brought scissors, a knife, or even a bottle of water, you will not be allowed through the gate until these things are removed from your person.
It doesn’t matter how much you complain to the security guard about how innocent these things are, they won’t let you in.
You could say, “But look at all the good things I have in my bag. I have a gift for my grandma. I have all these nice new clothes I bought. Don’t these things outweigh the fact that I have a bottle of water in my suitcase?”
But the security guard will just look at you and say, “No. Either take it out, or you can’t go through.”
God is the same way when it comes to sin.
You can complain to him that you’ve done many good things in your life, and so you deserve to go to heaven.
But it’s not the good things that you do that keep you out of heaven, just as it’s not your gift for your grandma or your new clothes that keeps you from entering the security gate.
Rather, it’s your sin that keeps you out.
And if you try to enter heaven with sin in your heart, you will be “set outside the camp.”
You will not be allowed into heaven.
There’s only one way for your sin to be dealt with and that’s through the blood of Jesus.
Jesus died on a cross to take the punishment for your sin, and if you’ll just believe in the work that he did for you and ask for forgiveness, your sins will be washed away.
With your sins taken care of, there will then be nothing to hinder you from entering heaven’s gate.
Instead, you’ll be welcomed with open arms.
As it says in Romans 10:9,
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 