We are all sinners, and so bad that we cannot be worse. To be free from self one must come to an end of self, and have done with self-justification and self-assertion. Are you willing to stand before God as a sinner having no worth of your own? It is only then that you can receive His salvation.
Not the righteous, but sinners, Jesus came to call. They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. We need to learn what that means, and take it to heart individually. Then we can say, “Lord, save me, or I will perish.” God does not save those who are good in their own eyes but those who recognize that they are totally bad in God’s eyes.
His Word is, Justified freely by His grace (Romans 3:24)—justified by His blood. There is not one word in Scripture in favor of self-justification.
It is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10.)
The Son of man is come to save that which was lost. (Matthew 18:11.)