“None is righteous, no, not one;
[11] no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
[12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
[13] “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
[14] “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
[15] “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
[16] in their paths are ruin and misery,
[17] and the way of peace they have not known.”
[18] “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
[19] Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. [20] For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
(Romans 3:9-20 ESV)
[7] What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” [8] But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. [9] I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. [10] The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. [11] For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. [12] So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
[13] Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
(Romans 7:7-13 ESV)
So to it is with humans
We can look at people and know there is something wrong with people. It is obvious to the looking.
It is so easy to say its poverty, government, money etc. They fail to look for the true root.
When we look at the heart of the problem you realize how deep and big the problem really is.
So we turn to the catechism for our answer. What is the real problem? What causes our misery in life?
God tells us.
Paul says at one time he thought life was great. Everything was great. He thought everything was good twixt he and God. So many people think like this. They can always find someone who is worse then them. But Paul said then I saw the law. God's commands told him what and who he truly was. God's commands open our eyes and show us truth.
Knowing God's word helps us to truly know ourselves. This shows us how far we are from whom we should surely be.
We all love ourselves.
But God tells us to take our love for ourselves and out that toward others.
We are to love them like we love ourselves.
It's a hard and telling thing.
And impossible for us to do perfectly.
God calls us to it. He calls for perfection.
But his law tells us how much we can't do it.
The knowledge of what sin is....shows us how much it pervades our lives.
It shows our heart.
It shows how much we naturally hate God and our neighbours.
It makes us realize how much we need God.
We need God.
Only God can draw us out of our misery.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He came for people like me.
That's who he came for. Those who naturally hate him. He makes us realize his true love for us.
Jesus took my misery and died for me. That's what he did.
It is what God did for us.