"One of the most popular ways of sharing the gospel involves a bridge diagram, where God is on one side of a great chasm and man is on the other. Jesus Christ, then, is the bridge that makes a way for God and man to be reconciled. This is good theology. The only problem is that most people we run into, including perhaps the one you see in front of you as you brush your teeth, do not feel the need to get right with God. We can give people the bridge diagram until they are blue in the face, but if they don't see the chasm between them and God, the availability of a bridge will sound like no news, not good news." - Kevin DeYoung. The Good News We Almost Forgot. 119.

Question 62: Why can't the good we do make us right with God, or at least help make us right with Him?

Answer: Because the righteousness which can pass God's scrutiny must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law. Even the very best we do in this life is imperfect and stained with sin.

Question 63: How can you say that the good we do doesn't earn anything when God promises to reward it in this life and the next?

Answer: This reward is not earned; it is a gift of grace. 

Question 64: But doesn't this teaching make people indifferent and wicked

Answer: No. It is impossible for those grafted into Christ by true faith not to produce fruits of gratitude.