To be right with God

I remember a camper I worked with one summer, good young man who came out of a sad situation.
His mother at this point was a single mother. His father was not in the picture and the youth group at a church he attended led him to Christ and a community he longed for. His mother however, would not set foot in a church. In her words, if she set foot in the doorway of a church she'd burst into flames. The things she'd done she believed were so horrible she could never be in God's presence.

She is definitely someone to pray for.

Such guilt and feelings of alienation are impossible to live with.
Heartbreaking as the story is, it reveals a lot about her beliefs and her heart.  I wonder as to what she thinks of those in church, but what this reveals is that she believes she is unforgiveable.
She's half right, and so entirely wrong.  The Gospel offers a rather puzzling as it doesn't end there, and freeing understanding that has led pastors  Tim Keller, and Jack Miller before him said "Cheer up, you're worse than you think."

To say that God can't save you is to say that your sin is too great, and is either arrogance or ignorance and no doubt fear. To say you are heading for something doesn't mean you are destined for it.  Romans on the whole is the most systematic theology in the New Testament, as it is Paul's explaining the Gospel to a church he has not planted  So here he provides a curt and to the point explanation.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:19-28, note too Paul includes himself, and in Acts we see his hatred for the church before his conversion).   Indeed any sin, in thought word or deed no matter how small we declare it is horrific to a perfect and just God, who himself is
timeless and so likewise the penalty would be.  So as Paul notes all have sinned, and yet there is a hope. Even the Law is not intended to make us perfect, but expose a need and teach obedience.  Merit is not possible from the law, as obedience is simply required, and God gives it to point us to something else, his goodness and his plans for our salvation.

In Romans Paul answers the real question, how can anyone be saved.  It is not on what we've done or could do, it would never be enough.  Our works are tainted with sin apart from Christ, and could not truly please him neither could they undo the evil we've done, or legally make us in the right (I helped an old lady cross the street, and think of all the people I didn't kill not just the ones I did).
Rather it rests on what this infinite, just and loving God has done for us.

When Paul speaks of Christ being the propitiation, it is to say that Christ "propitiated" the wrath of God, simply put he satisfied God on the issue of punishment for our sins. Christ on the cross proclaims the finishing of his work to atone for his people and bear God's wrath when he says in the moment before he dies "it is finished."(John 19:30).Christ being the only sinless one was the only one righteous before God (Heb 7:26, 2 Cor 5:21), and the only one who could possibly take our place.

Exodus 33 shows how a holy God indeed can't dwell with a sinful people, yet we find that God justifies a people to dwell with restoring and even surpassing the original fellowship in Eden, he freely gives by his own work a future founded on a certain hope a future with no more sin, sorrow, or suffering (Revelation 21:4).

If anyone is too far gone for God, then God is far weaker than he says. When we do so may even be claiming to be a more righteous judge, even in declaring we are a better judge of our own sin.
No one's sin places them beyond God's ability to save them, to say so is either arrogance (thinking yourself a more righteous judge) or ignorance or fearfulness. But we can rest secure, he made a way.
This leads to Paul declaring how secure we are in the greatness of the riches of God's love for us (Ephesians 1:3-8)  I certainly recommend reading the whole of Ephesians, and marvel at how the Gospel provides us not only a deep sense of our sin, but a deep sense of forgiveness and belonging that nothing else can.  That salvation is possible for her, and anyone no less than it was for me.


“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

Timothy J. Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God

So cheer up, you're worse than you think.