The Bible says so: There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God’ all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness… Romans 3:10-14 There was more to the quotation, but hopefully that is enough to make the point that none of us are any good. The best of us are so far below God’s standard of moral perfection that it is difficult to conceive. Just a few verses more and the apostle would also write, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”, 3:23. And then three chapters more and he will add, “For the wages of sin is death…”, 6:23.
So, we are all sinners and because of our sin we deserve to die and be eternally separated from God. Our sin can not be undone. Regardless of how much “good” you and I may do from now on, we can never erase what spiritual and moral wrongs we have already perpetrated. Yes, we are all “perps”. Think about it. If you could do well enough to undo the wrong, then we wouldn’t need Jesus. We could just “do good” and thereby “get ourselves good” and earn our way out of damnation. But it can’t be done. No amount of righteous works will make us fit to be in the presence of Almighty God. Our irretrievable sin has earned us death. This fact, is exactly and precisely why He sent Jesus, His Son, to taste death in our place. That is what the crucifixion was all about. I can become a Christian, but will never be good enough by means of my own works. Jesus blood will cleanse me and wash away my sin, but I will still be unable to earn such a gift. All I can do is accept it on God’s terms by faith. What are His terms? They are as simple as what the Galatian churches were told: For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:26-27 That’s it in a nutshell. Put your faith in Jesus and be baptized into Him. This is the “freedom indeed” of which Jesus spoke in John 8:31-36. Freedom from sin, but also freedom from the guilt laden, spirit breaking, useless exercise of always trying to be good enough. So stop trying to be good enough. Just be faithful.