We Are All Alike

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
ROMANS 3:23
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We Are All Alike
No one can exclude himself or boast that he is better than another. All are alike before God, and all must admit that they are guilty and deserving of eternal death and damnation. In fact, all would have to remain in this state forever, without help from any creature, if God were to deal with us according to our deserts and His justice. In His boundless goodness He had compassion on us wretched beings and had to send His dear Son from heaven to relieve and help us, to take our sin and damnation upon Himself, and to make payment and reconcile God to us by sacrificing His body and blood. And God commanded that this be proclaimed throughout the world and that this Christ be made known to all men, that they should cling to Him in faith if they were to be free from sin, God's wrath, and eternal damnation, and to come into the kingdom of God, redeemed and reconciled. Thus this proclamation accomplishes two things. In the first place, it confronts all people with the fact that they are all under sin and God's wrath, and are condemned by the Law; and it demands that we acknowledge this. In the second place, it shows how we can be delivered from this and can obtain mercy from God, namely, only by accepting Christ in faith.

From Sermons on the Gospel of John, Chapters 14-16 (Luther's Works 24:342-43)