How can a man be “in the right” before God? This is the dilemma that has tormented men down through history. It caused Martin Luther to crawl on his knees up the steps of the so-called Scala Sancta in Rome, and induced monks to wear hair shirts embedded with fishhooks in an attempt to pay for their sins. To this day, it causes natives of the South Sea Islands to sacrifice chickens and sprinkle their blood to the gods. In more “civilized” countries, many settle for “going to church” or some other form of “good deeds” to placate their guilty consciences. And everywhere men try to “justify” themselves by rationalizing or excusing their evil actions. How can a man be right with God? There is only one answer: A man can be right with God only through the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ on his behalf.

– Charles Leiter