It is a serious thing for a man, whether he be young, middle-aged or old, to have a good opinion of himself to think that his conduct and character are good in the sight of God, and deserving of His approval. For if a man thinks well of himself, and considers himself a righteous person, he can lay no claim to Christ as his Savior, for Christ did not come to call the righteous.
Christ did not come to call those who think well of themselves, and who trust that God will accept them for their good works. He came to call those who are broken down under a sense of their sins—who feel they cannot make themselves better—who know that their case is so bad, that no one can give them relief, and who, therefore, in the anguish of their souls, cry to the Lord to have mercy on them.
It is right to pay one's debts, to be polite to one's neighbors, and kind to the—poor to avoid evil-speaking and evil-doing, and to acknowledge God as the author of good. All this is right in its place. But many flatter themselves that by such a course they have a good chance of acceptance with God in the day of judgment.
Now this notion, however popular it may be, is the great delusion of the enemy for man's eternal ruin. Those who cherish this notion are altogether deceived. A person may be blameless in his ways before men and amiable and devout in his disposition and not have Christ in his heart.
Morality and the keeping of the outward decencies of religion give no title to heaven. There is not one in heaven who is there on the ground of what he is in himself or of what he has done.
All those who are there are there as sinners saved by the sovereign grace of God—washed from their sins by the precious blood of Christ.
Come to the Savior then as a sinner and claim Him for your own. Admit that He came to save sinners, and that you are a sinner. Realize that you are lost, and that He came to save the lost. Then accept Him as your Savior and you will be His forever.