How you answer this question could give vast amounts of insight into whether you are on the path to Heaven or on the path to Hell.  Picture the following scenario:

 

You are standing at the throne of God with the entrance to Heaven before you.  Standing next to you is Adolf Hitler.  God asks you, “Why should I let you into Heaven over him?”

 

What is your answer?

 

Do you say, “Because I am better than him Lord.  I have never murdered, I am not a racist, and I don’t want to destroy an entire race?”  Is that your answer?  If so, you are in serious trouble! 

Are you really better than Hitler?  Why?  What makes you think so?  The truth of the matter is that while you may not have murdered, YOU HAVE thought about it.  While you may not be an outright racist, YOU HAVE had racist thoughts.  While you may not act on your hatred, IT IS THERE.  Lurking in the recesses of your heart. 

 

The only reason you have not ACTED upon your sinful impulses is because of the restraining grace of God.  He put you into a family that caused you to fear disappointing your parents.  That caused you to feel shame when you did wrong.  He put you into a society that looked down upon acts of violence and debauchery.  He made you fear what they would think.  He caused you to hide your sinful desires because you were ashamed to have those around you find out.  He put you into an environment where the approval of parents, teachers, siblings, friends, community, law, and country CAUSED you to repress your desires and to ACT in ways that are approved of.  BUT THE DESIRES ARE STILL LURKING IN THE HEART.

 

If you were placed into a situation where those barriers were removed, that is, if you did NOT fear repercussions, if you did NOT care what others thought and felt no shame, if you were given a position of authority where the fear of punishment did not exist, YOU TOO would be just like Hitler. 

 

If you were educated in the same fashion, taught the same racist and evolutionary lies, than you too would end up like him.  Our sins are only restrained by the amount of fear and shame that is put on us.  Those restraints are put there by God.  In Hitler’s case, the restraints were removed, as it is in the case of all sin.  For God’s purposes, He allowed Hitler to develop his sin without fear of repercussion.  For God’s purposes He removed the restraints and raised Hitler to a position of power.  In the same situation, YOU WOULD BE NO DIFFERENT!

 

Sure, perhaps your lusts are different.  Perhaps the sinful desires that lie in your heart are sexual.  Why don’t you cheat on your spouse?  Is it not the fear of being caught?  Is it not the shame that would come with it?  Is it not the fear of the disappointment that would be shown to you?  Or the fear of being left?  But if that sin of lust lies in your heart, AND THE RESTRAINING POWERS WERE REMOVED, that is, if your spouse gave permission;  If you were somehow guaranteed secrecy, if you were promised no feelings of shame or guilt, WOULD YOU NOT PROCEED?

 

Or perhaps your lust is drunkenness.  What prevents you from being drunk all the time?  Is it not fear of losing a job?  Is it not fear of not being able to pay your bills?  If those restraints were removed, you would fulfill the lusts of your heart.

 

The point is, under the wrong circumstances, WE ALL would fall into grievous sins.  If not for the restraining power of God on our lives, the wickedness that lies in our hearts and imaginations would be brought to the surface.  There is NO SIN that is not common amongst men (1st Cor. 10:13).  It ALL lies in our hearts.  WE ALL have the capability of being the next Hitler or Bin Laden if God turned us over to our lusts.

 

The heart is DESPERATELY WICKED (Jer. 17:9)!  The thoughts of our imaginations are continually wicked (Gen. 6:5).  We are born in sin (Ps. 51:5).  We are ALL corrupt (Ps. 14:3).  NO ONE is good (Mark. 10:18).

 

So, if you stand before God, WHO SEES YOUR THOUGHTS AND IMAGINATIONS, and claim to be better than Hitler, you will NOT be granted entrance to Heaven.  Not only will your sinful heart be exposed, but your prideful hypocrisy will also be exposed!  You are NOT better.  You were GIVEN better circumstances.  You were RESTRAINED more than he.  But your heart is in the same condition.

 

Those bound for Heaven would answer that question in a much different way.  Those bound for Heaven would say, “Lord, I cannot speak for this man, but my sins have been paid for on the Cross of Calvary.  Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for my sins and rose again to justify me!  Lord, I have been born again of Your Spirit and that is why You should let me into Heaven.  Not instead of this other man, for I am just like he, except that Jesus Christ has paid for me!”

 

Repentance comes only after a knowledge of your own wickedness.  When you see the depravity of your heart and desperateness of your situation, then and only then can you understand the necessity of salvation.  It is only when you recognize your hopeless estate, only after you recognize your COMPLETE wickedness and COMPLETE inability to “earn” Heaven, that you can be saved. 

 

Once you see your hopelessness and your dire situation, you can than cry to God for help!  You can beg God for mercy.  And then, knowing the sincerity of your heart, He will send a preacher to show you what Jesus Christ did for you.  Then you will see the Door to Heaven and you will be able to give the right answer.

 

TEST YOURSELF & EXAMINE YOUR HEART  (Click this link)

 

1st Corinthians 10:13 "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

 

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

 

Genesis 6:5 "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

 

Psalms 51:5 "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."

 

Psalms 14:3 "They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

 

Mark 10:18 "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God."