While on a short train trip not long ago, I found myself sitting alongside a pleasant-faced young man. In the conversation between us I asked him as to the state of his soul, and whether he knew that he was saved.
His answer was, "I am a member of a church and in good standing. I was happy some years ago; but, if I must speak the truth, I scarcely know whether I am saved or not. I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I try to do my best, and I hope my sins will be forgiven."
I said, "Friend, you have failed to see a most important point. God forgives them that have done their worst. If you look at Luke 15 you will find the prodigal had not tried his best, but had done his very worst! Then when he really came to himself and confessed to his father that he had done his worst, immediately the father said, 'Bring the best robe and put it upon him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.'"
The young man looked at me with great astonishment, and said, "I never heard that before."
"Well," said I again, "if you look at Luke 7, you have there two characters in the presence of Jesus. A man who thought he had done his best, invites Jesus to dinner; and a woman, who knows she has done her worst, comes in and stands at his feet weeping.
"Now did Jesus say, Thy sins be forgiven, to the man who thought he had done his best, or to the woman who knew, she had done her worst, and by her tears owned it. How opposite were these two characters. Now notice the words of the Lord Jesus to each: He sternly rebukes the one, and He freely forgives the other."
Again the young man exclaimed, "I never heard anything like that before!"
He listened with close attention as I sought to show him how grace in the Person of the Savior had thus come down to this world to seek and to save the lost. Before we parted I trust that God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shined into his heart to give him the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
My reader, are you saved? Your case cannot be beyond such mercy as this. You may think that someday you will begin to do your best. But should you not rather take the place of having done your worst? Are you lost? Are your sins still to be forgiven? Have you rejected Christ? Have you turned a deaf ear to God's forgiveness through His blood?
You insult God if you set up your own good deeds in the place of the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. You can never be saved by head knowledge of Jesus Christ and by trying to do your best. To receive forgiveness of sins you must first own yourself to be a lost sinner. Just as the father received in forgiving love the prodigal who had done his worst, so does God receive the sinner. This is God's only way of receiving you.