Every year I have the privilege of talking about biblical sexuality at a local Christian high school where many of the students have been blessed with years of prior Christ-centered education. But I’ve noticed, more now than ever before, questions like this one: The Bible says that every sin is forgiven, so doesn’t that mean that an unrepentant gay person (or unrepentant straight person) is still going to heaven if they’re Christian? 

Are you following the logic? Since every sin was taken to the cross and since trusting in Christ is the way to heaven, does it really matter how we behave sexually? Does any behavior really matter if salvation is all about Jesus?

Jude has an answer: “Ungodly people … pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 1:4). Some people pervert God’s grace and act like it is a free pass to sin, a choice that essentially denies the lordship of Jesus, that is, his right to decide how we should live.

This is not Christianity. Christianity, like Christ himself, insists on both repentance and belief (read Mark 1:15). That means repenting of whatever Jesus says is wrong and believing in what Jesus did to make us right with God. For biblical faith to exist, both truths must exist in a person’s heart.

Grace isn’t your reason to sin. It’s your best reason not to.