Human Merit vs Christ's Merit 4

Human nature loves human merit.  Self-righteous human nature wants to get some credit for its own salvation; it refuses to let Christ save completely and give Him all the glory.  Self-righteousness is a damnable thing, and if you are trusting in anything from yourself or your religion to help save you from the damning power of sin, you are presently in imminent danger of eternal damnation. Christ Jesus will have nothing to do with you, as long as you have anything to do with your self-goodness. 

If you are trusting, in any way whatsoever upon anything that you have ever done or hope to do, you are trusting in a lie. Christ will never be friends with a lie. JESUS will never help you do, what He came to do Himself. If you will take Christ's perfect work as it is, a finished work, that's well and good; but if you attempt to add to His work, Christ cannot be yours. In your natural state, you are facing a dreadful Eternity. Think of the value of your soul, think of how dreadful it will be if your soul is lost forever. Think of the extent of Eternity, think of your own frailty, think of your own sins, and what they deserve. Forsake your wicked ways, turn to Jesus Christ and live forever.  Leave your doings for Christ's doings.  Christ for me, Christ Forever!

Abandon your lusts, cast away your sinful pleasures, and worldly vanities. Don't let temporary sinful pleasures lead you into eternal destruction. Sweet sin will bring a bitter death. Leave your sinful pleasures behind, your worldly companions, and your self-righteousness too - poor sinner, look to Jesus bleeding to death on the Cross in your place. Look to, trust to, and love the Lamb of God. 

Every unbeliever without Christ is an eternal suicide waiting to happen. He is selfishly destroying his soul's only hope. Transient, unsatisfying carnal pleasures, giddy mirth, silly talk, dirty jokes, folly and the emptiness of the world just leaves you emptier every day. Sin dominates and reigns in your life. Renounce all trust in your good works. 

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.  Receive Christ Jesus spiritually into your inner being; take His forgiveness, grace and blessedness as the free gift of God. Stand as a guilty sinner having no merit, and as a rebellious sinner deserving the very reverse of mercy. Receive eternal life from the hand of Christ simply by the free love of God. Focus your eye of faith solely on Christ's Blood Atonement, only plead the merits of Immanuel, and the gate of Mercy will open wide for you.  God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth came down from Eternity to this Earth, and He loved and bled for me on Calvary; then He heard my desperate cry for mercy and saved my soul for all Eternity.

You cannot mix Christ with the creature, or the Precious Blood with the foul ditch water of your human merit and self-goodness - never, never, never. Our filthy rages can never be stitched to Christ's royal robe of Righteousness. Our falsehood, His truth; our impurity, His absolute holiness can never be one. It must be one or the other, either man's merits absolutely alone, or the unmerited favor of God through Christ Jesus Himself. Men cling their own righteousness with a death grip. You can never be saved by your own morality, honesty, and generosity. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are scriptural ordinances, but they are for believers only. You must be saved and adopted already, or the ordinances will only increase your guilt. Dream not that a water baptism from a particular religious denomination can in any way redeem you from your sins against God, or help land you in heaven. Let Christ alone save your soul. Put your soul in Christ's hands by faith, so that Christ may save you, and then after that, you should do as much as you can out of gratitude to the gracious Savior.

The Blood and Merits of Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, fully satisfy God's Righteousness and Justice, and anything else you try to do is a direct insult to the Son of God's Finished Work. You are nothing, you are utterly lost, you have no merit, you have nothing unless the Lord Jesus Christ makes you acceptable to God. The self-righteous man says, "There must be some merit in all that I do. All my perseverance in my own doings, surely this will count for something when I stand before God." Grace is the very opposite of human merit. Human merit is working, laboring to gain favor with God, but Divine Grace is receiving a Free Gift. Plead and trust only the merits of Jesus. You are vile and full of sin on your very best day. If God has mercy on you, it is wholly because of Christ's sake, for you have no merit whatsoever.  A sinner (a law-breaking criminal) can have no merit in the sight of God.  The finished work of the Lamb of God is the death-blow to all your works, and carnal trustings. God Almighty will only love you freely for Jesus' sake. Your merits can never write your name in the Lamb's book of life. A moral sinner will burn in the same Hell as an immoral sinner - Ye must be born again.

Sin hates God, you see. Every time you sin, you say, "I do not acknowledge God, forget God, I will do as I please. My body, mind and tongue are my own, and God will not rule over me. I'll live my life the way I want to live it." Every time the human heart wanders after evil, and lusts after the forbidden, it attempts to dethrone God, and to set up evil in His place. The carnal mind says, "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?  I will not have this Man to reign over me." Sin is deliberate treason against the authority of God, an assault to His person, an insult to His face. Sin is pure rebellion against your Creator. Presumptuous sin is when a man knows better, and still forsakes the good and follows after evil. Sin boasts, "I will not keep God's law." Human merit is worthless, Christ's Merit is magnificent.  Trust to Jesus, that is all.  All glory be to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who died for me!