Plan of Salvation

Sin Kilz

"OK, I need a volunteer," I said to the 20 or so kids seated on the grass in front of me. We'd just spent the last hour playing games with water balloons and running through sprinklers. It had been hot in Lake Village, Arkansas for the past few days so we knew a "water day" would draw the kids back out after last night's Bible school. And it did.

"What's your name?"

"Leeanne."

"Well, Leeanne as you know we've spent the last several days painting your community center and I'm
going to use some of our paint supplies to show you just how much God loves you. Can anybody read the name on this can of paint?" I held up a can of oil-based primer.

"Kilz!" All the kids seemed to shout out at once.

"That's right, this paint is called Kilz. And it stands for the sin in your life because sin kills. Leeanne, can I see your hand?" That sweet child gave me her hand and didn't move a muscle as I brushed that white oil-based primer right on the back of it.

"Now, Leeanne like this paint sin goes on easy. In fact it's kind of fun. It's can be fun disobeying our
parents and doing things we're not supposed to do. Sin can be exciting and attractive kind of like a fish going after a shiny lure. That lure looks so good and tasty that the fish swims after it opens his mouth and takes a bite. But what's inside that lure?" I asked.

"A hook," they all yelled.

"That right, soon after that fish bites down he realizes that he's hooked and no matter how hard he tries he can't get away. Because as you know sin kills."

"See, the Bible says we've all sinned (Rom. 3:23) every one us; you, me, even the pastor has sinned…but just a little bit. And because we've sinned God's word says we will die separated from God (Rom. 6:23). When we realize sin has us hooked we may try to straighten up our lives and clean our hearts. Here, Leeanne, wash off your hand in this bucket of water." Now, if you've ever tried to wash off oil-based paint
with water you know what happened to Leeanne's hand. That's right, nothing. In fact all she did was
smear the paint around to both hands. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to give you the soap. Try this." But
rubbing her hands with the soap had the same result.

"See, guys when sin has you hooked it spreads to every part of you and no matter how hard you try you can't do anything to erase the stain of sin from your lives. You can try soap and water, you can ever wear gloves to mask the stain but it will never go away and remember, sin kills. But here's the good news." I said as I pulled out a can of mineral spirits.

"The Bible says that Jesus loved us so much that even though we were covered with sin he died for us
(Rom. 5:8). But he didn't stay dead. He came back to life and he promises us that if we ask his Holy Spirit to save us that we can live forever with him in Heaven. (John 3:16) The only way to erase the stain of sin from our lives is to ask Jesus to come into our hearts and forgive us of our sins and God's word says he will do just that (I John 1:9)." Every eye was glued to Leeanne and me as I poured some of that mineral spirits onto a rag and wiped that paint right off.

I tried to look each child in the eye as I asked if they understood what I'd just explained to them. They said they did. I asked them if they wanted their hearts to be cleaned by Jesus and they said they did. That day around 20 soaking wet children prayed out loud to ask Jesus into their hearts. Many of them understood that sin kills and only the spirit of God can cleanse them from that stain of sin. Do you?

Matt Mosler is the director of Beautiful Feet, Inc. You can contact him at matt@beautifulfeetministry.com.