PS 71:16 "...I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone."
Let's apply the principle of this verse to salvation. The saved sinner does not say to God:
"Lord, You must accept me, You must let me in to Your presence because I did this and I did that. I did a lot of good works and righteous deeds."
No, he knows better than that. Through the Spirit's conviction he has realized that all his righteous deeds are "filthy rags" in the eyes of God (see Isaiah 64:6), that they are unacceptable to God, and so the convicted sinner will never dare to mention what he has done in order to be accepted by God.
Through the Spirit's illumination he has realized that God accepts only the righteousness that comes from Him through faith in Christ.
Php 3:9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith
And so the saved sinner's language goes something like this:
"I dare not plead acceptance on the basis of my righteous deeds. I have none in Your sight. I will only plead acceptance on the basis of the righteousness that You gave to me when I placed my faith in Christ. He Himself is my righteousness and so it is Him that I will mention for You to accept me."
