Behind this objection, and also a number of related ones, lies the idea that God accepts us on the basis of our merits and achievements.  He operates a productivity bonus which goes to those who have been sincere and lived decently, The idea of "self-justification" is written deeply into all human nature in its rebellion against God.  It crops up from the beginning to the end of the Bible as the most dangerous attitude man can have towards God.

 INITIAL CHALLENGE

 "I am Interested you should say that; it shows you have put some thought and effort into these things.  Have you ever felt you could have done better?  That you have not lived up to what God Intended you to be?  I am sure that everyone of us would admit that we sometimes feel this way.  There are times when we have deliberately chosen the selfish way."

THE BIBLICAL TEACHING

 -God measures us against Jesus Christ, not against other people.  Jesus is the perfect man.  We may say "I have done as well as anybody else".  Some have got closer to God's standard than others, but all fall far short.

 -God judges thoughts as well as actions.  Matt. 5: 28 "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

 -God judges us not only by how we treated our follow human beings.  The first and great commandment is "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength," Mark 12: 30.  The first thing He looks at is whether we have given Him this pride of place in our lives.  Then secondly He looks at our obedience to the second commandment: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

 AN ILLUSTRATION

 Many people think of God as if He had a giant ledger in heaven.  Every person has a debit page and a credit page, Without any difficulty we got a lot of sins recorded on the debit side.  We feel that the aim of our efforts is to accumulate as much as possible on the credit side by good living.  Then hopefully we will end life with a credit balance and God will welcome us to Heaven.  Fallacy: We can never do enough to balance the account and even if we could, that does not atone for the wrong done.

 There is only one way out of the hopeless debt.  Christ must pay the whole and then the debit page will be wiped clean.  "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins", Matt. 26: 28.

 TURNING THE TABLES

 Refer to the Four Spiritual Laws.  Law Two explains clearly that man by his own efforts can never reach God.  Law Three shows Jesus Christ as God's provision for man's sin.