"I never did anybody any harm; I have always paid my way; I have been upright in my dealings and never had any ill will toward anybody. In fact, if anybody may consider he is all right, I am the one.”
"There is no salvation for you, then!”
"What do you mean, sir?”
"I have no message of salvation for you. There is no good news for you.”
"Why not?”
"Simply because, on your own showing, you do not need it. You are, according to your own account, a righteous person. My Bible tells me expressly that `Christ did NOT come to call the righteous, but sinners.' So if you are not a sinner, Christ did not come to save you.”
"Well, I did not mean exactly to do without the work of Christ.”
"Quite so; but Rom. 5 says that 'Christ died for the UNGODLY,' for SINNERS, for His ENEMIES. If you do not own yourself to be without God, an enemy in your nature, and a sinner in practice, it is clear that you are not included in this chapter as the one for whom Christ died. It is of the greatest importance that you should see exactly those for whom He did die; but so long as you stand upon the platform of your own good works, you never can be saved.”
"What must I do, then?”
"Own that what God says about you is true! 'All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' Rom. 3:23. Take the place of a lost, ruined sinner before Him, like the publican did, saying, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner.' Then you, like him, may go down to your house justified.”