"Naturally Lost"

"Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in His holy place?" (Psalms 24:3) Have you ever tried to swim upstream against a very strong current? It is just about impossible to get anywhere, much less not  lose distance in the process. But that is our dilemma with regards to meeting the standard that God requires for holiness; we are naturally lost when it comes to meeting His requirements, and God knows that! As a matter of fact, that is the reason that He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins; that we can be holy enough to stand along side of God as His children, and to be in His presence as spotless sheep with wool as white as snow. Only the blood of Jesus can make us holy enough to enter into the presence of God; and only the blood of Jesus can take away all of our sins. I came really close to death once when I was about fourteen or so; as a friend and I were doing something that we always loved to do in the storm drains. There was an outlet to one of the drains that always would have treated water running out of it, and was about four foot around, and was impossible to enter into because of the volume and force of the water coming out. We had discovered a manhole about 300 yards away from the mouth and would always jump down into it, and then get swept down the pipe and out the mouth; sometimes being pushed 50 feet or more out into the riverbed. One day we had jumped down the hole as we had done so many times before; but this time, when we got to the end something was different, someone had installed metal bars at the entrance, and there was no way we were getting out that way any more. We tried to make our way back to the manhole, but the current was to strong and the walls to slippery to do it alone; so we pushed against each other to wedge ourselves in the tunnel; making it back to the manhole in about two hours, after having moved about one foot at a time. If I had been alone in that pipe, I would have surely perished; and it was only because we were both strong enough to band together that we were able to make it out safe. We cannot make it to heaven on our own; there is just no way that we can achieve the holiness required to be counted worthy. But God, who knew the state of our dilemma, made a way for us to make it in; and it is only made possible by His Son bringing us in. With Him, we are saved; without Him, we are naturally lost..."Two are better than one; because they have good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up." (Ecclesiastes 4:9 & 10)