Who has means to pay off the debt of one’s own life? None have the ability or means to pay for themselves or others:
Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,that he should live on forever and never see the pit. (Psalm 49.7-9)
This is true in the absolute natural sense as well as the judicial sense. No man may, by means of his own exertion or payment, prevent his own death. The rich and poor, the strong and weak, all are marching on towards death. In the judicial sense no man may pay the debt for his own sin. There simply is not the ability to do this. Everything we touch is smudged by our own sinfulness. Therefore, everywhere we turn we exacerbate the ever-increasing eternal debt. There is no means for one to pay for “wages of sin” it is death (Rom. 6.23).
The reality of this truth forces us to not look inward for salvation. It also forbids us from looking horizontally. There is no man created who has the means to give God the cost of his life (Rom. 3.10-18). It is a sobering truth; there is no help for us within or horizontally among creation.
This reminds me of question 14 in the Heidelberg Catechism:
Q. Can there be found anywhere, one, who is a mere creature, able to satisfy for us?
A. None; for, first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man has committed; and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver others from it.
We then are forced to look up for transcendent assistance. This is why I love verse 15 of this same Psalm:
But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah
The Psalmist is certain of God’s own action for him and his salvation.
This is the way in which God has acted for his people. He has sent his own dear Son. The beloved Christ (Matt. 3.17) to be the sin-bearing, life-giving, wrath-guzzling, ransom-paying, death-defeating Savior. God crushed his Son so that he could welcome a rebel like me (Is. 53.10). He was rejected so that I may be accepted (Matt. 27.46; 5.1-2).
While our turmoil comes from within us and around us our help does not. Our help, our rescue, our redemption, comes from God in Christ. Today, let yourself look within and look around and see that there is no help. Do this so you will be reminded and refreshed by God giving Jesus, the right man on our side.