"i want what is owed to me!" and other things that Grace will slay you for saying.

Jeremiah 4:18

18 Your ways and your deeds
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and it is bitter;
it has reached your very heart.

The worst strategy for surviving God's presence is requesting what you have earned. 
The next worst, by the by, is banking on being better than the guy next to you.

"The wages of sin is death."

Paul says this in Romans having already exhaustively proven that we are sinners. 

What do sinners do? 
They sin. 

What does sin earn? 
Death. 

Connect the dots.

We are sinners who sin. 
Sin is our wages. 
What we earn is death.
Our paycheck sucks.

You do not want what is coming to you.

This is your doom, and it is bitter;
it has reached your very heart.

You need grace.
You will not be shown grace by God.
He is too holy to pretend you aren't.

You need Jesus.

Romans 4:4-5

⁴ Now to the one who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed. ⁵ But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.

In Jesus, our wages are paid. 
He cashed the checks our hearts wrote.

By faith, Jesus' wages are transferred to our account. 
He earned godly wages and grants them to us.

This is the Great Exchange.

And all of this by faith in receiving something on your behalf already accomplished by God.