If you trust in those good works to justify yourself before God, then you're trusting in something that does not meet God's holy standards. You do not understand the Gospel and why Jesus had to do for us what He did. How does one repent of good works? Stop trusting in them. That's called poor in spirit, the opposite of self righteousness. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven". Before you say it, good works are good, not bad. Trusting in them for justification is bad. See the parable of the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14).
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Both moral and immoral individuals are alienated from God and are offensive to Him. This may be counterintuitive, but moral people may be lost due to their "goodness." Why? It is often the case that goodness keeps people from God. In fact, many people avoid sin and Jesus in an attempt to become their own saviors, justifying themselves. However, the gospel is not about moralism or relativism and is equally offensive to both the moral and the irreligious. Christ calls us to repent of both our good and bad works, for we have no righteousness of our own.
Jesus disapproved of people who trusted in their own morality, as shown by His statement, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains" (John 9:41). Those who believe that God will accept them based on their goodness only understand part of the truth. Although God loves what is good, He also loves the truth. Therefore, we must confess that, in light of God's holy law, we are not good and have woefully failed to do what is pleasing to God, replacing Him with worthless self-pleasing idol substitutes, and deserve punishment for it. Those who think they have done enough to please God have not understood the seriousness of their condition. John Calvin once said, "Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty." In light of God's holiness, all individuals, even the best of us, would become undone. This was even the case with the holiest saints of the Bible, who fell at God's feet as though dead when He revealed Himself to them. God created us to enjoy and glorify Him, but humans voluntarily rebelled against Him, falling into the bondage of the self-centeredness of sin, and cannot help themselves out of it.
For clarification, no one would dare to reason that we should be content to be immoral because we cannot trust in morality. Those who are regenerated by the Spirit of God will want to obey God, and His commands are not burdensome because such persons have been born of God (1 John 5:1-4). We obey because we are saved, not in order to be saved. To those who come to faith in Jesus by the quickening grace of the Spirit (John 6:63), the commands taste like honey, as we are no longer slaves but children. As Matthew Henry once said, "When the Law of God is written on our hearts, our duty will be our delight."
A Christian is not only someone who, by the grace of God, has repented of their immorality, but, even more importantly, has repented of their morality. The more self-righteous one is, the worse it is for them. Our own merits are of no value for salvation and will damn us. Whoever relies on their own goodness for salvation will suffer complete ruin."
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"The Moral and Immoral Both Alienated from God
Both moral and immoral individuals are alienated from God and are offensive to Him. This may be counterintuitive, but moral people may be lost due to their "goodness." Why? It is often the case that goodness keeps people from God. In fact, many people avoid sin and Jesus in an attempt to become their own saviors, justifying themselves. However, the gospel is not about moralism or relativism and is equally offensive to both the moral and the irreligious. Christ calls us to repent of both our good and bad works, for we have no righteousness of our own.
Jesus disapproved of people who trusted in their own morality, as shown by His statement, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains" (John 9:41). Those who believe that God will accept them based on their goodness only understand part of the truth. Although God loves what is good, He also loves the truth. Therefore, we must confess that, in light of God's holy law, we are not good and have woefully failed to do what is pleasing to God, replacing Him with worthless self-pleasing idol substitutes, and deserve punishment for it. Those who think they have done enough to please God have not understood the seriousness of their condition. John Calvin once said, "Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty." In light of God's holiness, all individuals, even the best of us, would become undone. This was even the case with the holiest saints of the Bible, who fell at God's feet as though dead when He revealed Himself to them. God created us to enjoy and glorify Him, but humans voluntarily rebelled against Him, falling into the bondage of the self-centeredness of sin, and cannot help themselves out of it.
For clarification, no one would dare to reason that we should be content to be immoral because we cannot trust in morality. Those who are regenerated by the Spirit of God will want to obey God, and His commands are not burdensome because such persons have been born of God (1 John 5:1-4). We obey because we are saved, not in order to be saved. To those who come to faith in Jesus by the quickening grace of the Spirit (John 6:63), the commands taste like honey, as we are no longer slaves but children. As Matthew Henry once said, "When the Law of God is written on our hearts, our duty will be our delight."
A Christian is not only someone who, by the grace of God, has repented of their immorality, but, even more importantly, has repented of their morality. The more self-righteous one is, the worse it is for them. Our own merits are of no value for salvation and will damn us. Whoever relies on their own goodness for salvation will suffer complete ruin."
