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• Illustration: Hybels was trying to decide between entering the A or B level of a racquetball tournament until an older man from the C league beat him handily.

• Nobody thinks they are operating at the lowest levels of morality (the C league).
• Few people are actively looking for a benchmark to see where they stand in terms of God's moral expectations.
• Illustration: For the rest of the sermon, Hybels paraphrases a conversation he had on a plane with a non-Christian.
• Most people believe that God wants us to live a decent life and not do anything really bad.
• Illustration: Hybels drew a vertical line on a napkin, labeling the top "God's standard of goodness." After showing where Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, and himself would rate themselves in comparison to God's standard, Hybels asks the non-Christian to rate himself against God's standard of goodness.

• Human beings have the amazing capacity to commit acts of rebellion against God and then just say, "Oops;" we think it's no big deal.
• Illustration: Hybels draws up a makeshift golf scorecard, and questions the man about various aspects of his life. He then puts an X on the scorecard representing the man's sins.
• The Bible says that every sin is a big deal in God's eyes, because he is a holy God.
• All of us deserve eternal condemnation for our sins.

• Because God is holy, he can't ignore our sin; someone had to take the hit for our shortcomings.
• When Jesus died on the cross, all of our sins were transferred over to him; he took our punishment and died in our place because he loves us.
• The Bible says that we must all make what Jesus did for the world a personal covenant between ourselves and him.
• Illustration: Hybels drew a line on the napkin and asked the man if he wanted to sign up to receive Jesus' forgiveness.

• Do you feel like your good enough to meet God's standard of perfection?
• Have you taken a moral inventory to see how many Xs are on your scorecard, really?
• If you ignore Jesus' offer of forgiveness and salvation, you will be in trouble on Judgment Day; don't let it happen to you.