Can our good works outweigh our bad works? The short answer to this vital question is, of course, no. But why not? That's a question we must all be able to answer from Scripture. And it's a question John Piper answered from Romans 14, verse 23, in his message, "What is Sin?

The Essence and Root of All Sinning," preached on February 2nd of this year. Here's what John Piper said. The reason Paul says that whatever is not from faith is sin, in Romans 14, verse 23, is that faith is a receiving of Christ and God in Christ as a desperately needed Savior, a Lord with whom we are happily compliant, and a treasure that we esteem above everything.

I'll say that again. Faith is a receiving of Christ for all that He is. It's a receiving of Christ as a Savior I desperately need in my sin, receiving of Him a Lord in whom I happily comply, and a treasure that satisfies my soul, and I treasure it above all other treasures in the world.

That's what faith is. Therefore, whatever is not from faith is sin, because Romans 1 to 3 said, "The root of sin is preferring anything to God," which faith doesn't do. Faith prefers God over all things. So here I am in Knoxville, Tennessee last summer, realizing as never before that a horrible and glorious thing was being shown me, the horrible and glorious truth that the reason my justification, my right standing with God, cannot be founded on 99.99% grace and Christ and 0.01% contribution of a good deed from unregenerate John Piper, or regenerate John Piper is that there are no good deeds before regeneration, none.

After regeneration, they're all imperfect. So the question for the unbeliever is not, how many times have you heard people set this up? The question for the unbeliever is not, "Can I do enough good works to outweigh my bad works?" No, the question is, "Can I do one good work?" And the answer is no, which is why justification, our right standing with God, has to be not 99.99% grace and Christ, but 100% and that's the way he saved us.

By grace alone, on the basis of Christ alone, through faith alone, to the glory of God's infinite, beautiful, superior worth alone. And so I experienced as perhaps never before, a devastation and liberation and sweetness that I have been praying for you for a long time. Amen. This clip was taken from John Piper's message, "What is Sin?

The Essence and Root of All Sinning" at the 2015 Pastors Conference. The full message is on our site along with 1,200 other messages like this one from John Piper. See our sermon archive at DesiringGod.org. On Wednesdays, we like to dip into the archive to pull out a classic clip for the podcast.

And I welcome your suggestions. If you have a favorite clip from a John Piper sermon, an old one or a new one, email us the name of the sermon and if possible, the timestamp of when and where the clip occurs in the audio. And if we post your clip, we will give you credit.

Put the word "clip" in the subject line of an email and send it to AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org. And tomorrow we're going to hear from Bible Counselor Ed Welch on the topic of pornography addiction, its prevalent struggle inside the church and one Welch has helped many men face in their lives. I'm your host Tony Reiki.

I'll see you tomorrow.