One of my all-time favorite lines from The Simpsons was when Homer complained about how expensive his Bible was. He goes on to say:

And talk about a preachy book! Everybody’s a sinner . . . except for this guy.

See the video here!

I know the writers weren’t trying to make a serious theological statement. It was just a funny line unrelated to the plot. Homer’s character is so dumb that he sometimes makes profound statements without knowing it. Upon further review, it accurately summarizes much of the Gospel message.

As Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are all sinners in the bad things we do, say and think and in the good things we should do but don’t. Romans 6:23 is the ultimate bad news / good news verse: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Death, in this context, means eternal spiritual death. We are spiritually dead until we accept the free gift God has given us and “confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead” (Romans 10:9).

When Homer refers to “this guy,” he means Jesus, of course. As Homer notes, Jesus committed no sins. He was God in flesh who lived the perfect life in our place and who took the punishment we deserved to reconcile us to Him.

Many believe that “good people” go to Heaven, but the Bible couldn’t be more clear in disagreeing with that. It only took one sin to get Adam and Eve kicked out of the original paradise on earth. And even if being 51% good would cut it with God, we are kidding ourselves to think we are achieving that mark (I know I’m nowhere close to that). If you think you are a good enough person to get into Heaven on your own, try this link.