The simple fact of the matter is that it is human nature to believe that you are a good person. Misunderstood, perhaps, but certainly not evil. We are victims. We are products of our environments. We are products of genetics. Etc.
The Bible, however, calls us all sinners. The Bible says we must repent. Yet, even those who claim to be Christian will flat out refuse to repent. They will claim that Jesus came to do away with the Law. They will claim the Law was only for the Jews. They believe God really was winking when He said, “Thou shalt not…” They will not believe God keeps His promises.
What a shame!
When God says to “Remember the Sabbath day”, that is the first that people will forget. When Jesus said the Law will not be done away, they will claim that He made it obsolete or some other term that really means it was done away.
The Bible commands you to not be deceived (Lk 21:8; 1Co 6:9; 15:33; Gal 6:7). When you twist Scripture and lie about God’s commandments, even to yourself, you are deceiving and being deceived.
Jesus preached repentance (Mt 4:17; 11:20-21; 12:41; Mk 1:15; 2:17). The disciples preached repentance (Mk 6:12; Ac 2:38; 11:18; 17:30).
Notice even the Gentiles were called to repentance! If the Law was nullified, there is nothing to repent of! Do we really believe that God is playing games with our salvation by making us repent of breaking the Law, then saying, “OK, now you can break the same Law”? Does He hide and jump out and then yell, “Just kidding!” in spite of all the ancient nations He punished for breaking His Law?
Sinners want to keep sinning. They think they don’t need to repent in front of an all powerful, almighty and holy God. They will find a reason to disregard their sin.
I know I'm not "good". I have private access to my own thoughts. I think that the longer one is a follower of Christ – the less one has any illusions of one's inherent "goodness". It is no doubt a mercy that God does not strip away our blindness to what we are all at once. The shock would be hard to take. Think about Paul's conversion – that was tough!
The law is holy and good (Rm.7:12) but it can't of itself make anyone perfect (Heb.7: 19). It was a "tutor" that revealed sin and pointed us to Christ. (Galatians 3:19-24).
So I don't strive to keep the law by my own strength. What good is my own worked up righteousness? I strive and "work" to put down my sinful nature (a reason for fasting for example) – and I need help with that as well. But I can only look in faith to Christ for the power to actually keep his commandments through me – that is something I have no ability to do by myself.
Thankfully, we have the very righteousness of Christ "imputed" to us as a gift through faith – just as it was for Abraham. (Romans 4:22-24).
So it is true in one sense that "I" don't keep the law. It is Christ in me that fulfills it through me (and other believers) just as he did on earth – by faith. Not my righteousness, not my "love" – but his through faith. I have to "die" every day so that Christ can live in me. (Gal 2:20). No part of my "old man" will be preserved or can be "improved". It is our "new creature in Christ" that lives and will endure. It is the most incredible gift.
Is it miraculous? Yes – that's why it demands faith. Does it take time? Certainly it does. Like a vine or a well watered tree, there is a necessary growth process. Does faith bear visible fruit? Well it must or the branch will be pruned off and burned.
To unbelievers – a believer will appear to want to keep the law. For those who strive to keep the law in the letter (of themselves) – a believer will sometimes appear as a law breaker. Recall how the Pharisees who claimed to keep the law to an extreme degree constantly accused Christ of breaking it! But for a true believer – his life is now hidden in Christ (Col 3:3) where the truth really is. And he will evidence distinct and growing differences that others can see but have difficulty explaining.
A major difference believers will evidence is God's own love for one another – the very sign Christ said that would identify his followers.
So if one lives by faith – you can be sure that when sunset Friday comes, there is a special appointment to keep with the one who is the reason for our faith. A believer wants to keep divinely made appointments. And all the other laws too – not taking God's name in vain, not committing murder, not committing adultery, not stealing … all will have spiritual magnification and fulfillment in a believers life.
And a believer will also obey Christ's "new" commandment to love others. But he will accomplish that in the same way – through faith and Christ's own righteousness. The law is good – but it is not what transforms the believer.