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Salvation doesn't come through what we are capable of saying or doing. Instead, it comes through accepting what God himself has already said and done in order to ensure that our unrighteousness can be replaced by his righteousness:
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by keeping the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:19-26,NIV)
With God there is no such thing as 'good enough'. Either we are perfect, or we are doomed. But the Author of Justice is also the Epitome of Mercy. He knew better than we that no mortal could ever measure up to his requirements for perfection if left to our own devices. So what we could never do, namely, bradge the chasm between our unrighteousness and his requirements for absolute righteousness, God himself bridged for us through the actions and sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ.
So we accept the salvation that God offers freely to any and all who desire it, and his own righteousness replaces our unrighteousness when he looks upon us. Now what? It would make sense that we would show our gratitude by obeying his laws and commandments. But if we had been capable of doing that, Christ's sacrifice wouldn't have been necessary in the first place.
St. Paul recognized this quirk in our nature, and wrote quite candidly of it even in his own nature:
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:14-20,NIV)
It's called 'paradoxical intention', and is so much a part of our psyche that psychologists have used it in their therapy (e.g., a person who must write a great deal as part of his work, but who develops writer's cramp after only a few minutes, might be told, "Try to get writer's cramp," in order to actually alleviate that problem). There's an old saying which goes, "The harder you try, the faster you fail." That saying is a recognition of this quirk in our nature.
So if we cannot depend on ourselves to say and do what accords with God's will, what can we do? We can depend on God himself to do the necessary 'housecleaning', quite literally reconstructing our nature so that it conforms to what he wants of us:
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:16-26,NIV)
Note that in the first paragraph of this passage we are not fighting our sinful nature; the Spirit is doing the fighting for us. It is he, not we ourselves, who conquers our sinful nature. Our job is to stay behind him as he clears the way for us (that's what 'led by the Spirit' means).
In the second paragraph we find a list of 'the acts of the sinful nature'. But note there that many of those 'acts' aren't actions, but rather the emotions which, if not 'reined in' and subdued, will lead to the commission of sinful acts. We can no more 'rein in' our own emotions than a leopard can change his spots into stripes. They're too great a part of our psyche. But what we cannot accomplish, we can trust the Spirit to accomplish for us.
And the Spirit doesn't come to us just to battle our sinful nature. With him he brings the new nature which conforms to what God wants of us. The 'laws written on the heart' are the 9 emotions which make up 'the fruit of the Spirit' in the third paragraph. They are the borders within which all our words and actions are to originate. But they are not ours; they are the Spirit's, implanted in us in order to enable us to live our lives 'in synch' with God.
There's another old saying:
Christians don't trust in their ability to hold on to God; they trust in God's ability to hold on to them.
The focus of our trust and confidence is not toward ourselves or anything that we can do. Instead it's directed toward God and what he has already done on our behalf, as well as what he continues to do for us.
God bless-
