If you have read these pages and find yourself seeing your own life reflected in mine, then I want to speak to you plainly. My greatest need was never to overcome addiction, repair my marriage, become a better father, or turn my life around. Those things mattered, but they were not my deepest problem. My deepest problem was that I was a sinner who had sinned against a holy God.

The same is true of every one of us. The Scriptures declare that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sin is not merely doing bad things. Sin is a heart turned away from God; a heart curved inward upon itself. It is choosing our own will over His, trusting ourselves rather than trusting Him, and living as though we have the right to determine how our lives should be lived. Our sins are not merely mistakes or poor decisions. They are acts of rebellion against the God who created us, sustains us, and rightly deserves our wholehearted love and obedience. We have rejected His authority, broken His commands, and gone our own way.

Because God is perfectly holy and perfectly just, He will not overlook sin. His justice requires that sinners be punished, and apart from Christ we remain under His righteous judgment.

And none of us can fix that problem ourselves. We cannot undo the sins we have already committed. We cannot erase our guilt by promising to do better tomorrow. We cannot balance the scales by doing enough good deeds. Our morality, religion, and our sincerity cannot make us righteous. Even if we could somehow live perfectly from this moment forward, we would still have to answer for the sins we have already committed.

That is why the gospel is such glorious news. God did for sinners what sinners could never do for themselves.

The eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ, took on human flesh and lived the life we have all failed to live. He was born without sin and lived perfectly sinless. He obeyed the Father perfectly in thought, word, and deed.  Then He willingly went to the cross, where He bore the wrath that His people deserved, so that those who trust in Him might receive the perfect righteousness they could never produce. There He suffered in the place of sinners, satisfying the justice of God through His sacrificial death. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) 

Three days later, He rose bodily from the grave, conquering sin and death forever. He who was delivered over on account of our transgressions, and was raised on account of our justification.” (Romans 4:25) He now reigns at the Father’s right hand and will one day return to judge the living and the dead.

Salvation is not earned by good works, religious devotion, sincerity, or moral improvement. It is the free gift of God’s grace, received through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Perhaps you have spent years trying to change yourself, as I did. Maybe you have made promises you could not keep, attempted to turn over a new leaf, or convinced yourself that you could become a better person if you simply tried harder.

You cannot save yourself. It is not that you merely need better habits. You need a new heart. That is precisely what God promises to give through Christ.

If the Lord is showing you your sin today, do not harden your heart. Turn from your sin and turn to Christ. Forsake every broken cistern, every false refuge and cast yourself entirely upon Him. Repentance is not promising God that you will never sin again. It is confessing your sin, turning away from it, acknowledging your guilt before God, and turning to Christ as your only hope. And faith is not merely believing that Jesus existed. It is trusting in Him; resting entirely upon who He is and what He accomplished for sinners. Trust not in your own righteousness, but in His perfect righteousness. Rest not in your own works, but in His finished work upon the cross.

The invitation of the gospel is extended to all who hear it:  “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13) Come to Christ. Not because you have made yourself worthy. Nor because you have finally cleaned yourself up. Come because He is a merciful and sufficient Savior who receives all who come to Him in repentance and faith.

If He could save a man whose heart was so deeply curved inward as mine, then no one is beyond the reach of His grace. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Come to Christ. For there is salvation in no one else. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)