You see in each and every one of us is the desperate desire to justify our own goodness. Yet, the Bible says that all of us born of Adam and Eve are sinners by nature, word and deed. We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. The kingdom of God is near. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Law undermines grace.
Spiritual merit for salvation or for fellowship with God is given by grace and maintained by the same. True Christianity is the belief-system that lives and thrives only on faith and belief in the mercy and goodness of God through Jesus Christ. Oh, I can't tell you how wonderful it has been for me to live under the grace of God for a quarter of a century. Before that, I had given up hope of ever pleasing God. I knew my heart was black with sin.