In no way do they work to make us holy as God is holy. This depravity is revealed also by the wickedness of our behavior arising from the depraved and defiled soul. Whatever the sin, there is always pollution with it. Every person born into this world is polluted by sin. But with actual sins there are degrees of pollution.
Pollution is worse when the whole person is defiled, as in the case of fornication.
Pollution is made even worse when a person throws himself into a continual course of sinning. Having a clear understanding of sin and its pollution helps us to understand more clearly the nature of holiness. Where there is no purifying whatever, no work of holiness has begun. But where purifying of sin has begun, it will be continued throughout the life of the believer. No-one by his own efforts can free himself from the pollution of sin.