Apart from God’s sovereign grace we are guilty, corrupt sinners who cannot and will not change our hard hearts.
Apart from God, our will and works only contribute more to our debt.
Apart from God, we are children of the devil who deserve to be condemned together with him and his evil angels.
Apart from God, we can do nothing that is pleasing in his sight.
Apart from God, salvation is impossible. We are like dry bones in the midst of a valley – bones that do not and cannot live, bones with no flesh upon them, bones without the breath of life.
Yet all of God’s people do live because, in His regenerating grace, He sovereignly gives to them that life.
He says to them, “O ye dry bones, hear the world of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:4-6)
What sinners cannot do, God does.