We Can’t Save Ourselves

David Riggs

“But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isa. 64:6)

Let us suppose that a plane crashes into the water with three men aboard, and there is no boat, ship, or land within hundreds of miles. One of the men is able to swim only a few hundred feet. The second can manage to stay afloat an hour or two. The third is a world champion long-distance swimmer. What is the fate of the three?

It doesn’t matter if the third is a great swimmer or not. He is in the same fate as the other two. The first will drown in twenty minutes; the second in an hour or two; and the third in fifteen hours. All three need a savior, for without one, all three will drown.

So it is with all men. Being a good moral person alone amounts to nothing more than filthy rags. We all are sinners, and without a Savior are doomed to destruction.