Degraded human nature says, "Be good as you ever can, and trust to Jesus Christ to make up the rest, It is not enough to simply trust what Christ has done, you must do sufficient good works to earn your salvation on top of what Jesus Christ did on the Cross. I prefer MY own righteousness to Christ's Righteousness." This is clean opposite of the Gospel of Christ. Self-righteousness flies in the faces of God, impugns His Gospel, insults His Son, and robs Him of His glory. No man will ever look to the Righteousness of Another while he remains satisfied with his own righteousness. A man will never renounce his self-righteousness until he truly sees his sin-full-ness. The Holy Ghost must reveal to a man that his sin is a damnable and hateful evil. Your sins are a horrible and detestable thing to God. You must loathe yourself, and flee to Christ's Atoning Blood for refuge and cleansing. None of God's goodness and mercy is deserved by you. Through Jesus' blood alone, God's mercies come to undeserving sinners.
Proud human nature boasts, "I've never wronged anybody, I've been honest in my business transactions, I've brought up my children respectably, I've always paid my bills on time, I've never disgraced my character, I'm a civil man, and don't use bad language, I go to church sometimes. If anyone is going to heaven, I should. I'm much better than most men."
The Bible says, You are a sinner, and you cannot come to God by your own righteousness. You cannot enter God's presence as you are. You are not acceptable in God's sight. The only way of entrance is if some Innocent Victim sheds its blood to pay for your sins. Only then can you enter God's presence. God needs to straighten you out. You must come to God His way. Christ died for the ungodly. Sin makes a fool out of you. Sin makes you afraid of God, and separates you from God. Sin causes you to blame others, pass the buck. An Innocent Victim shed His blood for you on Calvary's Cross. Human sin and guilt can only be taken away by the Lamb of God Himself (John 1:29). The main trouble behind all of your surface troubles is Sin Trouble. Religious performance cannot mask or cover up your sin trouble.
You can try to deny it, but the facts are the facts. We all have sinned often and miserably against a holy God. We have lived without regard to His commandments and denied His Son's love. But thanks be to God, Forgiveness is the act of mercy whereby the offended party chooses to forego the inflicting of judgment, punishment, and wrath though it is in His power to execute such. God for the sake of the shed blood of Jesus Christ has mercy on a sinner, the moment the sinner puts their faith and trust in the finished cross-work of Jesus Christ. God in mercy chooses to withhold judgment due to our sins for Jesus' sake. God delights in mercy, He wants to pardon every sinner, not even the score. Forgiveness cannot be earned, you can't be worthy of divine mercy. We are not worth forgiving, but God forgives unworthy sinners for Jesus' sake alone. God doesn't has to forgive you, but He is merciful only because of what Jesus did for us. Fear not, Christ Jesus died for sinners, you are a sinner, so Christ died for you.
Only the Blood of Christ can quieten your nagging guilty conscience. The only thing that will matter in Eternity is did you leave this life with your sins forgiven by the shed blood of God manifest in the flesh (Christ Jesus), or did you did in your sins trying to do it your own way. You need your sins forgiven as soon as possible through real faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ. Sinners today are so distracted, misled, and deceived. From your childhood up to now, you have had one great need and that is the Forgiveness of Sins (Colossians 1:14; Acts 13:38-39; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 1:7). You are perilously close to Hell. Forsake your good works and your bad works, all of them will damn you. Your soul has a death sentence on it. It's either Salvation or Damnation. It's your choice. Lord Jesus, please cleanse me from all my sin through Your Atoning Blood now.
