Beggars in the old days would make a little mark on the doors that gave to them. These marks would tell other beggars, "This is a good house to knock at." Knock boldly. Christ's door is a good one to knock at. The Lord Jesus' storehouse of bread is filled with heavenly food for your soul. Bankrupt beggars are always welcome there. At Christ's door nobody is rejected. You only have misery and no merit. Real need and importunity is the key, not your self-righteousness and self-confidence. Human nature relies on its own merits. Human nature thinks it must do something, it will not yield to have it all done for it, it will not consent to be saved 'freely' by the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. Human nature persists in being saved by some doings of its own. You must believe what God says, do that which God bids, and take the free salvation which God provides. With your whole heart rely on Christ's Atonement. Your sole business sinner is trusting your soul with Christ. Lean only on Christ with all the weight your soul and all the weight of your sin. Drunkards, swearers, fornicators, unchaste, lovers of sin, come to Cross. This is the highest and best wisdom. Jesus Christ, the God-Man, came into this world where He bore our sins and was brutally beaten and crucified on our behalf, so God's wrath toward human sin could be satisfied, so our sins could be freely forgiven through simple faith in Jesus' most precious blood. Jesus is alive now - flee to Him.
Your best works are sin, your righteousness is unrighteousness. Jesus died so that lost sinners may live forever. The Incarnate God laid down His life for His enemies. Simple trust in Jesus Himself, simple faith in His Blood, simple dependence on His Righteousness. The blackest and grossest sins are doubting and rejecting Christ. Salvation is a pure gift of God, not of human works, or the result of human merit, but of free favor only, not of man, but the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Humble suppliants are saved at the Cross. You must glory only in the Righteousness of Another. Jesus died for sinners, He came to save the ungodly. You can never acquire enough merit to enter heaven, or procure the forgiveness of sin on earth.
A sinner cannot be saved by what he does, salvation is entirely in Christ. Seek earnestly after Christ, knock at His door. If you are sickened by the ugliness of your own sinfulness, flee to the Cross of Christ - look to the Lamb of God. You don't just do bad things, you are BAD, you are an evil, bent, corrupt, wicked, cursed, perverted, proud, selfish Sinner! You are a sinner, and nothing else but a sinner (I Timothy 1:15). Without Jesus Christ, your whole life is just one big Sin - just one long string of sins, one after another continually, without Jesus Christ all you do is sin. You have done infinite wrong against an infinitely good God. Your sins don't come out of nowhere, your vile thoughts and dirty ways come from own your own stinking sinfulness. Christ is the only Person that can save you from the force and power of sin within you.
You are unable to keep God's perfect requirements, you have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You have earned eternal death and curses. But God in Christ has provided free salvation for all poor sinners. Jesus obeyed the Law perfectly for you, but He received your penalty for disobeying the Law. You have disobeyed the Law, but by simple faith in Jesus, you can receive the blessing of Christ's sinless obedience. Christ became a curse for you on Calvary's Cross. Sinners are saved by works, the perfect works of Jesus Christ alone who shed His precious blood for His enemies.
There is nothing in you that can win any favor with God. You need a Savior. Listen attentively, with all your ears listen, hear the Gospel as God's word of mercy to undeserving sinners. Don't let your thoughts wander here and there, give diligent heed, enquire with eagerness. Faith is confidence towards Christ Jesus, have no confidence in yourself. Your sin is heinous, Christ's Blood is Precious. Begin to pray, true desire, believing confidence, invoke the Almighty for His heavenly mercy through Christ's Blood and Righteousness. Cry with your whole heart to God, be a suppliant for mercy, lay hold on the Cross. I am a sinner, I must have mercy from my Maker. Throw away everything to get to Christ. Human merit is the way to the Lake of Fire.
This is the most important matter. Press to Jesus at once. You have lived all your life without regard to Christ. Cherished sins, worldly and vile companions, the lust of the flesh is man's way. Faith is the great saving grace. Faith in Christ is the root of real life. The Faith that saves is a heart belief that Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, God manifest in the flesh, offered a sinless Atonement for my human sin. A simple trusting in His Blood Atonement for free salvation. Jesus is within earshot still. He will hear you now. Look to His dear wounds, trust in the Merit of His Blood. Nothing but the Blood of Jesus will kill your love of sin. The death of sin is only in the blood of JEHOVAH. Human merit is bunk.
The human heart is a triangle, the world is a circle. The world can't fit in your heart, but the Trinity can. Jesus is to be had. Rest your everlasting hope upon the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Believe Jesus both died and rose again for you. Place your entire dependence upon the Merit of His Blood, it was certified by His resurrection. The way of human works is the way to Hell. You can do nothing by your best works to merit eternal life. Fix your faith in Jesus on your best performances are but dressed-up sins. All your best works are bad. Your need to be forgiven of your best deeds. Good works do not influence the mind of God to save a sinner from Hell. Your best works are completely unacceptable.
If your trust in your righteousness at all, it will be your eternal ruin. Your best works are presumptuous sins which reject the Savior and set themselves up in His place. Jesus Christ died to save you, because you are a sinner. Your best works are imperfect. The work most pleasing to God is to believe on Christ whom God has sent to live, love, die, and rise again for ungodly sinners. There are a thousand flaws in your best works. Your best works are bad works. Your best works will destroy you, because selfishness is at the bottom of all of them since you do them that you might be saved by them.
