If 'heart purity' is the only obtainable salvation, then why did Christ die? If man had a way to save himself already, then why did Christ say that He is the Way?
This whole thing boils down to humanism, where man is in control of his own destiny,
vs
what the Bible says, where God alone has control.
I never said man could save himself apart from Jesus Christ.
This is commonly what those of your position do. You throw out false assertions or fall back onto one lined responses which totally disregard what I have already clearly stated.
Why did Christ die? The Bible tells us...
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25 Whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Rom 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Jesus Christ was a propitiatory (sin expiating) offering via which sinners could approach God for the remission of sin. The righteousness of Christ has been declared to all demonstrating that while we were yet sinners (context of those who were sinners at the time of His death) He died for us.
Furthermore the Bible states...
Tit 2:14
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Jesus gave Himself for us that we might be redeemed (set free from bondage) from all iniquity and made pure and zealous of doing the right thing. This occurs when we approach God with a true heart, in repentance and faith, seeking a cleansing of our sin...
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
...
Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
It is through this means that our consciences are washed clean whereby we can present ourselves to God confidently knowing that the shed blood of Christ effects a remission of our sin.
False teachers like Augustine present this view of God as totally sovereign over everything within the context that free will does not really exist. Thus God does all the work apart from any choices that men make. This philosophy serves to coddle people in their rebellion as they are taught to simply wait on God to effect change in them and trust in the future solution in the meantime. The truth is that God requires us to yield to His lead and through this cooperative approach His work can be done through us for we are not longer in rebellion to it taking place.
God does not subvert the human will. God offered Cain a choice.
Gen 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and
thou shalt rule over him.