Before you react, read this verse and my commentary on this verse
1 John 1:8-10 New International Version (NIV)
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
It means a baseline qualification for Christians is to admit their guilt of sin. And for a Christian to grow in his faith and mature, it is necessary for him to confess of persistent sin and ask the power of the Holy Spirit to change him.
It should not be an excuse for a Christian to continue sinning because of the grace of God. Those captured by grace find sin more and more bitter and obedience more sweet.
James 2:24 New International Version (NIV)
24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
Our good works authenticates our saving faith. Faith assumes work.
D. A. Carson explains:
People do not drift toward Holiness.
Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.
We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.
(For the Love of God, Volume 2, paragraphing mine)