…[R]epentance teaches us to acknowledge sin — that is, to acknowledge that we are all utterly lost, that from head to foot there is no good in us, that we must become altogether new and different men.

…With this repentance we overthrow... everything that is built on our good works. For all of this is constructed on an unreal and rotten foundation which is called good works or the Law, although no good work but only wicked works are there and although no one keeps the Law (as Christ says in John 7:19) but all transgress it. Accordingly the entire building, even when it is most holy and beautiful, is nothing but deceitful falsehood and hypocrisy.

Luther, Martin
cited in: Dr. Luther on Totaliter, p 3
May/June 2006. Preach the Word, Vol. 9, No. 5

A theology of the cross clings to Christ's cross alone and claims no glory for any human effort or thought because a Christian's works are God's works and purified by the blood of Christ. It seeks to make Christ the center. A theology of glory clings to the value of human thought and effort in any relationship with God. It retains a persistent tendency to move humanity into the center. Luther wrote, "He who does not know Christ does not know God hidden in suffering. Therefore he prefers works to suffering, glory to the cross, strength to weakness, wisdom to folly, and, in general, good to evil. These are the people whom the apostle calls "enemies of the cross of Christ" [Phil 3:18], for they hate the cross and suffering and love works and the glory of works. Thus they call the good of the cross evil and the evil of a deed good. God can be found only in suffering and the cross, as has already been said. Therefore the friends of the cross say that the cross is good and works are evil, for through the cross works are dethroned and the old Adam, who is especially edified by works, is crucified. It is impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his good works unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God's" (Luther's Works, Vol. 31:53).

Braun, John A.
The Gospel Is the Power God Gives Us to Do His Work, p. 97
Spring 2006. Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Vol. 103, No. 2

A Fox was boasting to a Cat of its clever devices for escaping its enemies. “I have a whole bag of tricks,” he said, “which contains a hundred ways of escaping my enemies.”

“I have only one,” said the Cat; “but I can generally manage with that.” Just at that moment they heard the cry of a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the Cat immediately scampered up a tree and hid herself in the boughs. “This is my plan,” said the Cat. “What are you going to do?” The Fox thought first of one way, then of another, and while he was debating the hounds came nearer and nearer, and at last the Fox in his confusion was caught up by the hounds and soon killed by the huntsmen. Miss Puss, who had been looking on, said: “Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon.”

Aesop - The Fox and the Cat

Comment: Man has thought of many ways to save himself, but if he cannot fulfill them properly before death comes, he will be caught and put to death. Notice how the cat was not nervous at all. Its safe way is always safe. So is the Christian’s. We simply have to place ourselves in the arms of our Lord and we will be safe.

A motorist was on trial for hitting a pedestrian. The motorist’s lawyer made this point: “Your honor, my client has been driving for over thirty years.”

To which the lawyer for the plaintiff retorted: “Your honor, if we are going to judge this case by experience, may I remind you that my client has over 55 years of walking experience.”

Comment: The thought that our good works can compensate for even just one sin is not upheld by Scripture. That's why a Savior from sin was necessary.

Therefore the workers of the Law are very rightly called ‘martyrs of the devil,’ if I may use the common expression. They earn hell by greater toil and trouble than that by which the martyrs of Christ earn heaven.

Luther, Martin. St. L. vol. 27, p.8