So, what is the good news for the Christian? We can’t save ourselves! Solomon was the wisest man on earth and he acted the fool and worshipped idols. Samson was the strongest man on earth; he was made weak by a nag. Moses was the humblest man on earth but he lost it and didn’t honor God and struck the rock. We can’t do it. We can’t do it on our own. We will fail. That’s the good news. It’s the first part of the good news.
The good news isn’t that we get to be failures like everybody else but thankfully we got a ticket to heaven because we happen to be in a place where they told us to raise our hands if we wanted to be safe from hell. That’s not the good news. The good news is that we can be saved from ourselves. We can be saved from sin. Self and sin are all wrapped up in each other, just like love and obedience are intertwined. We need saving from self and sin, not just forgiveness of our sins. We need freedom from ourselves. We naturally choose sin. It comes easily to us. It does not come easily, naturally, to want to submit and obey. It comes naturally to want our own way and unnaturally to submit our desires to the will of God. We want to demand our own way. We need to surrender all control. If there’s a strongman that needs to be bound in our lives, it’s Self. We crucify the flesh. We are crucified with Christ. In baptism, we are buried with Christ (Col. 2:12, Romans 6:4). We need to be able to say with Paul, “I no longer live.”
How? How is that possible? None of it is possible! Good news! When people argue that it’s not possible, they’re right, except they’re leaving out the God of the impossible. How can people argue that God is not big enough, good enough, or powerful enough, loving enough, sovereign enough, wise enough, kind enough, smart enough to be able to free us from our sin? God is great! He is big enough to be able to figure out how to bring you safely home to Him along the paths of righteousness. They are the only paths to eternal dwellings. Just give Him your life, let Him take it from there.