It is the same with us when we begin to seek the Lord. Sooner or later it needs to be made clear what are we seeking. We have to seek mercy first, but some people seek other things. Why do you come to Jesus Christ? Why are you asking him to help you? Why are you praying to him all of a sudden? ‘Oh’, says one, ‘I want happiness.’ No, don't ask for that first of all. Please don't ask for happiness, because if you come to Christ and you are converted and you become a Christian, he will give you happiness – make no mistake about that – but don't ask for that. There's something much more important than happiness. If you ask for happiness first, it implies you don't want forgiveness; you don't want to know the Lord; you don't want to be converted and love him and serve him. All you want is what he can give you.
Why do you come to Christ? Oh I've got this void within me I feel so empty within me I feel life is so meaningless and it has no purpose and sometimes I'm so down perhaps; he can fill it.’ Don't ask for that. If you come to Christ, he will fill the void, but don't ask for that. There's something much more important than that that. You must ask for the right thing. ‘Oh but I'm coming because I am worried about the afterlife. I'm getting on in years. Time is going by, and I'm realizing more and more that I haven't far to go, and I want some security beyond the grave. I want to be sure that when I die I'm going to heaven, so I want to ask for a place in heaven.’ Don't ask for that. If you come to Christ, you will receive a place in heaven; no question of that. Everybody who repents of their sin and seeks him and finds him gets a place in heaven. But don't ask for it, because the thing to ask for is this: ‘Lord have mercy upon me. Forgive my sins which have been against thee, and so offensive to thee. Forgive my sins and draw me to thyself, and embrace me. Make me thy child. Set up communion between us so that I can talk to you and hear you. O Lord, give me spiritual sight. Convert me; give me a new life, a new nature, that I may honour thee and love thee.’ That is what you ask for. You ask for that, and if you really mean it, and you acknowledge your sin and you want to find him, all the other things will come too.
‘Thy faith hath saved thee.’ When we come to God and we ask for conversion, we must have faith. That is to say, we must put our trust in Jesus Christ and him alone. Nobody was ever converted by works. That is the opposite of faith. It is impossible to earn the salvation of God. We cannot deserve it. All we can do is trust Jesus Christ and his suffering and death on Calvary, that in his love he has paid the price for us, that is what we must do. Nobody was ever converted because they were well pleasing to God, and they had a nice personality, and plenty of talents. When God looks at us he sees all the faults and the sin and the guilt, and that is what counts. We need his mercy. Put your faith in what Jesus Christ has done for needy sinners. Put your faith in his wonderful character. He has promised to save all who come to him, and he will never break his promise. Put your faith in his power. He has purchased the right to forgive you by dying and bearing away the punishment of sin for all who come to him. Put your faith in his power to change you and bless you, because it's true today: ‘Thy faith hath saved thee.’
Dr. Tom Bernardo used to have words that he put over the doors of his institutions, first of all in London then in Edinburgh and then elsewhere. And the words that he liked to put there were, ‘No destitute boy ever refused.’ The preachers loved that because it was such a perfect illustration of the Lord Jesus Christ and the way in which he never refuses anyone who comes to him as truly destitute. A preacher imagined that he was a boy here in London just not so very far from the first Bernardo's Institute, and he was a ragged boy, and he read this, ‘No destitute boy ever refused.’ This lad could at least read and he thought well that certainly applies to me. I have no home; I have no parents; I have no clothes. My clothes are in rags and tatters; I beg for food for months; I have slept under carts and under tarpaulins. I surely I am a destitute boy. If I go up to that door and hammer on that knocker, then it won’t happen that some surly servant will come and say, ‘Be off with you’, and push me off the step. No they will take me in, because that's me: I'm destitute.’ It is the same with Jesus Christ. We come to him, just like this man, and say, ‘Lord have mercy upon me.’ The Lord Jesus Christ receives sinners; the Lord Jesus Christ receives and converts and renews, pardons and forgives, all people who see themselves as spiritually destitute. If they leave behind their pride, and tear up their foolish self-confidence and self-sufficiency, and say, ‘O Lord, I am a spiritual bankrupt. I have no place in heaven, no right to go there. I am a lost sinner. I have no heavenly Father, no Saviour, no righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ will receive everyone who sees himself or herself as a destitute lost needy sinner depending only on what he has done. If you come to Christ in that spirit, he will receive you. If you repent sincerely of your sin and hand over your life to him, then, like this poor blind man, he will do it immediately. He will say, ‘Receive your sight. Receive spiritual life. Receive pardon and forgiveness and all the blessings of heaven, and you will be a true converted Christian.