In truth, the Lord DOES NOT ban gays, adulterers, and fornicators from Heaven.  He longs for their presence with Him in Heaven.  We have many examples of great sinners in the Bible who were saved and went to Heaven.  Judah and Tamar, David and Bathsheba, and the woman in John 8 are just a few examples of adultery and fornication.  To be sure, their sins were grievous and clearly hurt the heart of God, but He offers forgiveness and salvation to all who will come to Him by faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior.  How thankful we are to know that “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).  No matter what we have done, we can all come to the Lord and receive His wonderful gift of salvation.  We have the words of the Lord assuring us in John 6:37 that, “…him that cometh to me I will IN NO WISE CAST OUT.”

What about those who are gay?  We read in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the SEXUALLY IMMORAL, nor idolaters, nor ADULTERERS, nor HOMOSEXUALS, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” (NASB).  What a grave warning to those who continue in sin.  Indeed, God is a loving God, but He is also a righteous God.  As such, He must punish those who reject Him and persist in living lives in opposition to His righteous standards.  We have further warnings in Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” 

Who else but a loving God would give such warnings to those living in sin?  He desires that we turn from our wicked ways and trust in Him.  Let’s consider Ezekiel 3:19-20, “Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity…Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.”  The Lord loves us all with a much greater love than we could ever imagine.  That is why He continually warns the sinner to depart from his wicked ways.  The Lord wants to save everyone…no matter what they have done.  There is no sin so great the Lord cannot forgive when we repent of our sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as savior from our sins.

We have a wonderful success story as we continue to read in 1 Corinthians 9.  After warning those living in sin that they could not enter into His kingdom while still living in their sins, we read in verse 11, “SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU; but you were WASHED, but you were SANCTIFIED, but you were JUSTIFIED in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”  Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ had washed away their sins.  Through faith in Christ, they were sanctified and justified.  Indeed, they were made new in Christ as we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  Wow!  Our past lives are completely done away with. 

I mentioned the woman caught in adultery in John, chapter 8. (I encourage you to read of this event in John 8:1-11).  After this guilty woman expressed faith in the Lord Jesus (she called him Lord in verse 11), the Lord forgave her and instructed her to cease living in this sinful lifestyle.  “And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: GO, AND SIN NO MORE.” (Verse 11).  God is creator and Lord.  He determines what is right and wrong.  Our ever-changing societal standards have never been able to settle on what is right and wrong.  Our loving and righteous God sets the standard and not only tells us what is right and what is wrong, but He will also give us a heart to do what is right and the ability to do what is right. (CC)  (731.2)