# You Cant Save Yourself - Bishop Robert Barron Daily Sermons

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 29 Jun 2026, 16 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72733603/you_cant_save_yourself_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. Friends, we come to this first
[0:03] Speaker 1: Sunday of Advent to the liturgical new Year. And you
[0:07] Speaker 1: know I've said this before, but Advent a time to
[0:10] Speaker 1: get back to basics, like an athlete returning, you know,
[0:15] Speaker 1: to the kind of the basic training. Some of the
[0:18] Speaker 1: most fundamental truths of our faith are on display in
[0:21] Speaker 1: these readings, and so once again it's good for us
[0:24] Speaker 1: to enter into that space. Can I suggest you we
[0:28] Speaker 1: start with that familiar advent him. We're going to be
[0:30] Speaker 1: singing it now for the next four weeks all over
[0:32] Speaker 1: the Catholic world. It's an ancient hymn by the way,
[0:36] Speaker 1: Oh Come, Oh Come Immanuel and ransom captive Israel, that
[0:43] Speaker 1: mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. See,
[0:49] Speaker 1: until we get into the spiritual space opened up by
[0:52] Speaker 1: that hymn, we are not understanding Advent, and more to it,
[0:56] Speaker 1: we are not understanding Christianity. So again, listen, oh Come,
[1:03] Speaker 1: Oh Come Immanuel. It's a it's a creticur as a
[1:06] Speaker 1: friends say, right, it's this cry of the heart asking
[1:10] Speaker 1: Immanuel God with us to come. You see. The clear
[1:14] Speaker 1: implication is that whatever problem we have here it's not
[1:19] Speaker 1: one that we can solve. We're we're beggars. We're asking Immanuel, come,
[1:27] Speaker 1: come and do what and ransom? Captive Israel? Now, people
[1:36] Speaker 1: being captured and held for ransom. That was a common
[1:39] Speaker 1: experience in the Biblical world. People would travel sometimes long distances,
[1:44] Speaker 1: and there'd be there'd be thieves and robbers and kidnappers
[1:48] Speaker 1: who would take them to their distant country and hold
[1:51] Speaker 1: them for ransom. Now, imagine that situation. Before you know
[1:56] Speaker 1: communication and all of that, You've been captured, You've been
[2:01] Speaker 1: taken to a distant land, and now you're being in chains.
[2:05] Speaker 1: You're held captive. What can you do to save yourself?
[2:11] Speaker 1: Nothing except to cry out, come, come, someone to save me.
[2:20] Speaker 1: Maybe they've sent a message way back to your city
[2:23] Speaker 1: or your country, asking for ransom. All you can do
[2:28] Speaker 1: is beg and hope. Captive Israel that moren's in lonely exile. Here.
[2:36] Speaker 1: Think if someone held for ransom, they're exile. This very
[2:42] Speaker 1: exactly describes the spiritual space we are all in. You
[2:47] Speaker 1: want to know what the enemy of Christianity is, it's
[2:52] Speaker 1: the view that yeah, I've got problem, sure, but I
[2:55] Speaker 1: can solve them with enough psychological insight, with enough virtuous practice,
[3:02] Speaker 1: with enough social reform, if we just straighten out the
[3:05] Speaker 1: political situation, make the economy better, whatever it is, I
[3:10] Speaker 1: can save myself from my dilemma. That's an ancient ancient
[3:16] Speaker 1: heresy called Pelagianism, by the way, and like most ancient heresies,
[3:21] Speaker 1: gnosticism comes to mind, which is massively on display today.
[3:25] Speaker 1: Pelagianism is alive and well. Everyone admits they got problems.
[3:30] Speaker 1: I don't know anyone who thinks he or she's living
[3:32] Speaker 1: in complete utopia. But a lot of people up and
[3:36] Speaker 1: down the ages till the present day think I can
[3:39] Speaker 1: solve it. I can deal with this myself somehow. That view,
[3:46] Speaker 1: and Saint Augustine saw this. It was one of his
[3:48] Speaker 1: signal accomplishments. That view is the enemy of a salvation
[3:54] Speaker 1: religion like Christianity. The assumption behind Christianity is the lemma
[4:00] Speaker 1: that we're in. The problem we're in is not one
[4:03] Speaker 1: that we can solve. Rather, we need grace. We need
[4:13] Speaker 1: a power to come from outside of our dysfunction to
[4:18] Speaker 1: set it right. You know. Kuer Kagar, the great Protestant
[4:21] Speaker 1: of philosopher, got this right when he said Christians don't
[4:25] Speaker 1: look for a teacher. You know, all kinds of people
[4:28] Speaker 1: look for a teacher. Oh, a teacher that will teach
[4:30] Speaker 1: me some great spiritual truths, will straighten me out psychologically,
[4:34] Speaker 1: and then I'll be okay. No, no, Christians don't look
[4:38] Speaker 1: for a teacher. Primarily, they look for a savior. They
[4:43] Speaker 1: look for a savior. Oh come, Oh, Come Immanuel, and
[4:47] Speaker 1: ransom captive Israel. I can't save myself or ransom myself now?
[4:53] Speaker 1: Can I suggest you? Ransom and all? That is the
[4:56] Speaker 1: image the Bible uses. But I think one that we
[4:59] Speaker 1: can get our minds around very easily is addiction. Many
[5:04] Speaker 1: many of us are familiar with the phenomenon of addiction.
[5:09] Speaker 1: When you're addicted to whether it's it's alcohol, or it's
[5:12] Speaker 1: to drugs, or it's to sex or pornography, or to power.
[5:17] Speaker 1: All forms of sin are really forms of addiction. When
[5:22] Speaker 1: you're caught an addiction, what can't you do? You can't
[5:27] Speaker 1: save yourself from it? Right? Think of the twelve step programs.
[5:33] Speaker 1: Many listening to me have been through those or know
[5:36] Speaker 1: someone who has. The key move and all the twelve
[5:40] Speaker 1: step programs is to admit your powerlessness and to turn
[5:46] Speaker 1: your life over to a higher power right, that's born
[5:51] Speaker 1: of Christianity. Everybody that insight that's born of Christianity. That's
[5:55] Speaker 1: an anti Pallagian insight. If you say, look, I'm power
[6:00] Speaker 1: over this addiction. And the more I try, through my
[6:03] Speaker 1: own efforts to make it right, the worse I'm gonna
[6:07] Speaker 1: make it. No, no, oh, common manual, turn your life
[6:13] Speaker 1: over to a higher power. Only in that way are
[6:16] Speaker 1: you going to be saved? Can I share another image
[6:20] Speaker 1: with you? And I just a few weeks ago, as
[6:22] Speaker 1: I record these words, I was at a conference and
[6:24] Speaker 1: father Mike Schmidz was speaking as well, and he used
[6:27] Speaker 1: this image I thought was really good. It's to this point,
[6:31] Speaker 1: he said, imagine a young kid growing up in a
[6:33] Speaker 1: family that's like deeply dysfunctional. There's emotional violence, there's even
[6:38] Speaker 1: physical violence, you know, there's this argument, and there's depression,
[6:42] Speaker 1: and it's just an unhappy environment. But the kid notices
[6:46] Speaker 1: across the street there's a family. Mom and dad are there.
[6:52] Speaker 1: There's laughter coming from the house on the front yard,
[6:55] Speaker 1: that the kids are playing sports with each other and
[6:58] Speaker 1: with their parents. In the midst of his deep unhappiness,
[7:03] Speaker 1: he looks across the street to this very happy family
[7:07] Speaker 1: and longs longs that he might be part of that family. Well,
[7:12] Speaker 1: then one fine day, the father knocks on the door
[7:16] Speaker 1: of this kid's house. He opens the door and there's
[7:20] Speaker 1: the father of this beautiful family who says, do you
[7:24] Speaker 1: want to come live with us? That's an image if
[7:28] Speaker 1: you want for what redemption or salvation is like. See,
[7:33] Speaker 1: we human beings are in a dysfunctional family. This is
[7:39] Speaker 1: exactly what the doctrine of original sin teaches. By the way,
[7:44] Speaker 1: sin affects all of us like a poisonous atmosphere. So
[7:49] Speaker 1: there's the particular sins that we commit, that's true, But
[7:52] Speaker 1: the original sin names this environment of sin that's been
[7:58] Speaker 1: there from the beginning of a human race, and that
[8:00] Speaker 1: conditions us, infects our minds and our wills and yes
[8:05] Speaker 1: even our bodies willy nilly. But we're not out in
[8:08] Speaker 1: control of that. It's like we're born into this dysfunctional family. Come, oh,
[8:15] Speaker 1: come Immanuel and ransom captive Israel. I can't ethically operate
[8:22] Speaker 1: my way out of a dysfunctional family. No, someone's got
[8:25] Speaker 1: to come. Some grace has to come from without and
[8:31] Speaker 1: invite me to share a higher and a better life. See.
[8:35] Speaker 1: To get this principle everybody is to get Christianity. An
[8:41] Speaker 1: advent is the season where we're meant to get in
[8:43] Speaker 1: touch with our dysfunction, our deep need for grace. Only
[8:50] Speaker 1: then are we ready for the coming of Christ. See
[8:55] Speaker 1: as long as I can save myself. Well, oh yeah, Jesus,
[8:58] Speaker 1: what a great you know, ethic figure from long ago
[9:01] Speaker 1: and you know, exemplar of a good life and someone
[9:03] Speaker 1: I admire. Well, then Christmas turns rapidly into the silly,
[9:08] Speaker 1: superficial fufuu that we have in our society of Santa
[9:11] Speaker 1: Claus and you know presence and ladi da. But see, Christianity,
[9:18] Speaker 1: Christmas is all about a captive people unable to save themselves,
[9:24] Speaker 1: who are longing for the coming of the Savior. See,
[9:30] Speaker 1: until we get into that space, we're not gonna get it. Now,
[9:35] Speaker 1: let me share a couple of things from the readings
[9:37] Speaker 1: for this weekend, which are on this point. Here's from
[9:40] Speaker 1: the prophet Isaiah was our first reading. Behold, he's speaking
[9:45] Speaker 1: to the Lord. You were angry and were sinful. All
[9:48] Speaker 1: of us have become like unclean people. All our good
[9:52] Speaker 1: deeds are like polluted rags. We have all withered like leaves.
[9:56] Speaker 1: Our guild carries us away like the wind. You see, Oh,
[10:00] Speaker 1: what a pessimistic view. That's not pessimistic. That is the
[10:03] Speaker 1: realistic view of someone who's living inside of a dysfunctional family.
[10:10] Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that there's nothing good at all going
[10:13] Speaker 1: on within the human reality. That's not the case. But
[10:17] Speaker 1: he knows in his bones he can't save himself, that
[10:21] Speaker 1: even the best of his actions are affected by sin.
[10:26] Speaker 1: And so he cries out, listen to this now, from
[10:29] Speaker 1: the same passes of Isaiah, there is none who calls
[10:34] Speaker 1: upon your name, O Lord, who rouses himself to cling
[10:40] Speaker 1: to you. Now, that's a good advent attitude. What can
[10:44] Speaker 1: we do during this time? Call out his name, help me,
[10:52] Speaker 1: save me, Emmanuel, Come, Come, I can't do this myself. Now.
[11:00] Speaker 1: With that in mind, listen to Paul. See, Saint Paul
[11:04] Speaker 1: got everything I'm talking about today in his bones. It's
[11:08] Speaker 1: the heart of his teaching. Listen to Paul as he
[11:11] Speaker 1: addresses the Corinthians brothers and sisters. Grace to you and
[11:20] Speaker 1: peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[11:24] Speaker 1: Chorus is Paul's word grace. Christianity is not a religion
[11:31] Speaker 1: of karma, not a religion of self promotion or accomplishment.
[11:36] Speaker 1: It's not a Pelagian project. Christianity is a religion of grace,
[11:42] Speaker 1: free gift. See what Paul is saying, is this grace
[11:47] Speaker 1: that we need and that we long for has come
[11:51] Speaker 1: to us in Christ, Jesus our Lord. Open yourself to him,
[12:00] Speaker 1: render to him, accept him. He's the free gift of
[12:04] Speaker 1: grace to sinners. He's like that father knocking on the
[12:08] Speaker 1: door of a kid in the dysfunctional family and saying,
[12:11] Speaker 1: do you want to come live with us grace and peace.
[12:16] Speaker 1: Listen to Paul now as he unfolds this teaching, I
[12:21] Speaker 1: give thanks to my God always on your account for
[12:25] Speaker 1: the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
[12:29] Speaker 1: that in Him you were enriched in every way. It's
[12:33] Speaker 1: not the richest of my moral accomplishment. I try to
[12:38] Speaker 1: work my way out of dysfunction. It's not going to work.
[12:41] Speaker 1: But I've been graced by Christ and thereby enriched in
[12:46] Speaker 1: every way. Now one more quote here to tell you
[12:51] Speaker 1: what this looks like and feels like. Concretely, God is
[12:57] Speaker 1: faithful and by him him you were called into fellowship
[13:03] Speaker 1: with His son Jesus Christ, our Lord. So you say, okay,
[13:08] Speaker 1: I guess I get it. We're caught in a dysfunctional family.
[13:11] Speaker 1: We're in an addiction. We can't save ourselves, we can't
[13:14] Speaker 1: lift ourselves out of it. We got to say come,
[13:16] Speaker 1: I'll come and Manuel. All right, I get And then
[13:18] Speaker 1: the claim is that the grace has come. All right,
[13:21] Speaker 1: So now what do I do. Here's my answer everybody,
[13:25] Speaker 1: based on you know, forty some years of studying Christianity
[13:29] Speaker 1: and trying to live the Christian life. Here's the answer.
[13:34] Speaker 1: Go where he is and stay there. Wait. Wait, so
[13:41] Speaker 1: I'm messed up. My life's not going well. So the
[13:43] Speaker 1: answer isn't like deeper psychological insight, and it's fine, that's
[13:48] Speaker 1: fine if you can get it. The answer isn't greater
[13:51] Speaker 1: moral accomplishment. Uh, that's fine, and we can get there.
[13:56] Speaker 1: The answer is go where he is, accept him, listen again,
[14:06] Speaker 1: move into fellowship with his son. Okay, now we're in
[14:11] Speaker 1: a Christian space. The grace of Christ has come, the
[14:16] Speaker 1: word's gone out. Enter into that space, and you're going
[14:21] Speaker 1: to find Listen to me. Now, you're going to find
[14:24] Speaker 1: your whole life now transformed not through your efforts, but
[14:30] Speaker 1: by your fellowship with him. May that same mind be
[14:35] Speaker 1: in you that was in Christ, Jesus Paul says. He
[14:37] Speaker 1: also says, it's no longer I who live, it's Christ
[14:40] Speaker 1: who lives in me. Go where he is and stay
[14:43] Speaker 1: with him, and you will find now your whole life revolutionized.
[14:49] Speaker 1: You will begin to burn with that same fire that's
[14:53] Speaker 1: in him, that's called the fire of the Holy Spirit.
[14:55] Speaker 1: By the way, what's advent, it's just this time of
[15:02] Speaker 1: the realization of our captivity. That's very important. See, if
[15:08] Speaker 1: you think there's something just superficially wrong with your life,
[15:11] Speaker 1: you're not gonna get Christmas at all. It'll become la
[15:15] Speaker 1: la fufu. You have to get in touch with your
[15:21] Speaker 1: dysfunction and you're in capacity to save yourself. And then
[15:26] Speaker 1: from the depth of your being you can say, come
[15:31] Speaker 1: Immanuel and ransom captive Israel. Fall in love with Christ.
[15:37] Speaker 1: Stay in love with Christ, find fellowship with Him. That's
[15:42] Speaker 1: our salvation. And God bless you.

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