God's Rescue Plan

God’s Rescue Plan

Romans 3:10-12; Psalms 14:1-3; Colossians 1:19-20; Hebrews 10:23-25

Picture yourself lost at sea — no land in sight, tossed about by relentless waves of indifference, selfishness, and rebellion. The wind howls. The sky is dark. You grip whatever you can as each towering wave threatens to drag you under. Exhaustion sets in. Your strength fades. Shouting for help seems pointless as the storm grows fiercer. Rescue feels impossible. You are alone, powerless, and doomed unless someone greater than you reach down to save you.

And yet, as desperate as our situation is, Scripture makes it clear — the reason we cannot save ourselves is not merely because of the storms around us, but because of the sin within us. Though all creation testifies to God's invisible qualities — His eternal power and divine nature — humanity remains prone to turn away, leaving us without excuse. Though made in His image and given the gift of free will, we find that living a holy life is utterly beyond our grasp. Like Apostle Paul, we confess the painful reality: though we desire to do good, we fall short. Time and time again, the very evil we wish to avoid becomes the sin we commit. And so, Paul’s anguished cry becomes our own:

"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" (Romans 7:24)

The law — good, holy, and righteous — can expose sin but cannot save us from its grip. It is powerless, not because of any fault, but because our sinful nature renders it ineffective in producing righteousness.

But God, in His infinite mercy, did not leave us to drown in this hopeless condition. While no one seeks God on their own — for salvation begins with His drawing — He has provided a divine rescue plan. Our lifeline is not our effort, not our good intentions, nor our willpower. It is Jesus — God’s one and only Son — who willingly gave His life as a ransom for many. The cross is the place where the wages of sin that so easily entangled us were paid in full. Through Christ’s obedience, as Paul declares:

"By the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19)

And more than that:

"Our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." (Romans 6:6)

Today, we will explore the Scriptures that unfold this rescue plan in glorious detail. As we walk through the Word, let us open our hearts in gratitude and awe — for while we were once helplessly adrift, God has cast to us the life-saving gift of grace through Jesus Christ. Let us rejoice in the One who rescues, redeems, and restores! This is the rescue story we all desperately need to hear today. But before we rejoice in the rescue, we must fully grasp the seriousness of the storm we are in.

Helpless in the Storm of Sin

The severity of our condition depends greatly on how we understand free will. Let's briefly consider two very different perspectives. In the fourth century, a British monk named Pelagius argued that if humans had no free will regarding sin, they could not be held responsible for failing to live righteously. He taught that every person, like Adam at creation, is born morally neutral — fully capable of choosing good or evil. According to Pelagius, Adam's sin harmed only himself, leaving each of us with the freedom to choose whether to sin.

Augustine, however, strongly disagreed. He argued that Pelagius's view failed to do justice to the biblical teaching on both sin and grace. Scripture teaches that through Adam, all humanity inherited a sinful nature. We are not neutral — we are bent toward sin. Though we might avoid sin for a short time, eventually every person fails. No matter how hard we try, we all break God's law and fall under its penalty. As James 2:10 reminds us, "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." If we could choose to avoid sin entirely, righteousness would be possible through works — which contradicts Paul’s clear teaching in Ephesians 2:8–9 that salvation is by grace, not by works.

Yet Scripture confirms the sobering truth: the storm is not merely outside us — it rages within. We are not righteous. We do not naturally seek after God. Sin does not simply trouble us — it entangles, deceives, and enslaves. We all know what it is like to lose our temper, to envy, to speak harshly, or to put ourselves first. Sin is not just out there — it is in our hearts, every day. Without divine intervention, we are utterly powerless to break free. As Paul writes in Romans 3:10–18: