The Solution (7 of 47)
Chris Walls
Romans 3:21-26
Introduction
What is the solution? In 3:21, Paul begins to explain the solution to mankind's need of salvation. Paul has devoted a tremendous amount of space to the problem of sin. We can call it the "first half of the gospel" - the fact that human beings desperately need salvation. We are guilty, we are without excuse, we need something outside of ourselves to save us from our sinfulness. There is no good work that can be done to accomplish it.
People will ask, why is the situation so hopeless? Why is it so impossible for us, on our own, to find the cure? Our sin is incurable not because of what we have done, but because who we have offended in the process, because of who we have sinned against. We have sinned against a holy God, and therefore our situation is hopeless.
Francis Schaffer put it best:
People have said to me over and over again, "But how can someone be eternally condemned for what he or she did in just seventy years, even if it was seventy years of wickedness?" The problem is not how little or how much we have sinned, but against whom we have sinned. We have sinned against an infinitely holy God who really exists. And in sinning against an infinitely holy God who really exists, our sin is infinite.
Schaffer goes on to give an illustration that I think it wonderful. At the feet of every human is an infinite chasm of guilt. Suppose we brought our little buckets of righteousness (if we could even find little buckets of righteousness!): How many finite buckets of righteousness would it take to dump into an infinite chasm of infinite guilt? It is impossible! Having once sinned against an infinite God, the chasm is infinite and nothing we can dump in this chasm can fill it up.
The point is it is hopeless. But is it hopeless? Yes it is! There is no hope in anything, positively or negatively, internally or externally, religious good works or moral good works. There ...
Chris Walls
Romans 3:21-26
Introduction
What is the solution? In 3:21, Paul begins to explain the solution to mankind's need of salvation. Paul has devoted a tremendous amount of space to the problem of sin. We can call it the "first half of the gospel" - the fact that human beings desperately need salvation. We are guilty, we are without excuse, we need something outside of ourselves to save us from our sinfulness. There is no good work that can be done to accomplish it.
People will ask, why is the situation so hopeless? Why is it so impossible for us, on our own, to find the cure? Our sin is incurable not because of what we have done, but because who we have offended in the process, because of who we have sinned against. We have sinned against a holy God, and therefore our situation is hopeless.
Francis Schaffer put it best:
People have said to me over and over again, "But how can someone be eternally condemned for what he or she did in just seventy years, even if it was seventy years of wickedness?" The problem is not how little or how much we have sinned, but against whom we have sinned. We have sinned against an infinitely holy God who really exists. And in sinning against an infinitely holy God who really exists, our sin is infinite.
Schaffer goes on to give an illustration that I think it wonderful. At the feet of every human is an infinite chasm of guilt. Suppose we brought our little buckets of righteousness (if we could even find little buckets of righteousness!): How many finite buckets of righteousness would it take to dump into an infinite chasm of infinite guilt? It is impossible! Having once sinned against an infinite God, the chasm is infinite and nothing we can dump in this chasm can fill it up.
The point is it is hopeless. But is it hopeless? Yes it is! There is no hope in anything, positively or negatively, internally or externally, religious good works or moral good works. There ...
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