One of my favorite object lessons is one I learned from my dad. It involves chemicals, which always seemed to go over well with the kids and the adults. I am preaching in my son-in-law’s church today and using this with the children. Here is the usual script I use.

Props:  Iodine & Sodium Thiosulfate crystals, clear glass of water, cross with jar lid on bottom to hold the crystals.

Today I want to share what Jesus has done for you in a way that might help you remember.

When God first made the world, it was without sin, it was pure. Do you know what pure means? It is like clean. Like this glass of water. This water is clean, it is pure, with nothing in it. I am not afraid to drink it.

(Drink some of the water)

But what if the water was not pure? What if it was dirty and polluted?

(Add iodine from bottle labeled “sin”)

Would you drink it now? I wouldn’t!

That is how sin makes us: not pure! And God was not happy with that. So He sent Jesus to help us, to make us clean again.

(Dip cross with crystals in lid into water so that it clears up.)

Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sin. He makes us pure, and wants us to live that way by having nothing to do with sin.

That is the Good News you and I have. It is the Good News we need to share with others.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank you for making us pure by dying for us. Help us to live pure lives. Amen.