Can our good works outweigh our bad works?

Be sure to answer to this vital question is, of course, no.

But why not?

That's a question we must all be able to answer from Scripture, and it's a question John

Piper answered from Romans chapter 14, verse 23, in his message, what is sin?

The essence and root of all sinning preached on February 2nd of this year.

The reason Paul says that whatever is not from faith is sin in Romans 14, 23, is that

faith is a receiving of Christ and God in Christ as a desperately needed Savior, a Lord with

whom we are happily compliant and a treasure that we esteem above every say, say that again.

Faith is a receiving of Christ for all that He is.

It's a receiving of Christ as a Savior I desperately need in my sin, receiving of

Him, a Lord in whom I happily comply and a treasure that satisfies my soul and I treasure

it above all other treasures in the world.

That's what faith is, therefore, whatever is not from faith is sin because Romans 1 to

3 said, the root of sin is preferring anything to God, which faith prefers God over all things.

So here I am in Knoxville, Tennessee last summer realizing, as never before, that a horrible

and glorious thing was being shown me, the horrible and glorious truth that the reason

my justification, my right standing with God cannot be founded on 99.99% grace and Christ

and 0.01% contribution of a good deed from unregenerate John Piper or regenerate John Piper

is that there are no good deeds before regeneration, none and after regeneration they're all imperfect.

So the question for the unbeliever is not, how many times have you heard people set this

up?

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