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CASE 1:"Well," says one, "this is a sermon well adapted to self-righteous persons, but I am not one." Then what are you, sir? Are you a believer in Christ? "I cannot say I am, sir." Why are you not, then? "Well, I would be, but I am afraid I may not believe in Christ." You are self-righteous, sir. God commands you to believe in Christ, and you say you are not fit. Now what does this mean but that you are wanting to make yourself fit, and this after all is the spirit of self-righteousness; you are so proud that you will not take Christ unless you think you can bring something to him—that is it.

CASE 2:"Ah! no," says one poor broken-hearted soul, "I do not think that is fair with me, for I do feel as if I would give anything, if I might hope to be saved; but oh, I am such a wretch! I am such a wretch! I cannot believe." Now, that after all is self-righteousness. Christ bids you trust him. You say, "No, I will not trust thee, Christ, because I am such-an-one and such-an-one." So, then, you are wanting to make yourself somebody, and then Jesus Christ is to do the rest. It is the same spirit of self-righteousness only in another garb. "

CASE 3:Ah!" saith one, "but if I did but feel my need enough, as you just now said, sir, then I think I would trust Christ." Self-righteousness again, you want your sense of need to save you. "Oh! but, sir, I cannot believe in Christ as I would." Self-righteousness again. Let me just utter a solemn sentence which you may masticate at your leisure. If you trust to your faith and to your repentance, you will be as much lost as if you trusted to your good works or trusted to your sins. The ground of your salvation is not faith, but Christ; it is not repentance, but Christ.

If I trust my trust of Christ, I am lost. My business is to trust Christ; to rest on him; to depend, not on what the Spirit has done in me, but what Christ did for me, when he did hang upon the tree. Now be it known unto you, that when Christ died, he took the sins of all his people upon his head, and there and then they all ceased to be. At the moment when Christ died, the sins of all his redeemed were blotted out. He did then suffer all they ought to have suffered; he paid all their debts; and their sins were actually and positively lifted that day from their shoulders to his shoulders, for "the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." And now, if you believe in Jesus, there is not a sin remaining upon you, for your sin was laid on Christ; Christ was punished for your sins before they were committed"

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I think are the most common examples of self-righteousness in the American Church

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To believe, assume, or presume that salvation is anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself -- His Person and His perfect work of redemption -- is to delude ourselves. "Jesus" means "God is our salvation", "Christ in you, the hope of glory".

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I'm not sure about these being the 'most common examples' but self righteousness abounds.

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The body of Christ [the Church], is rampant with the error of righteousness through self-effort...and it is killing the body.

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ORIGINAL: Conquered

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To believe, assume, or presume that salvation is anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself -- His Person and His perfect work of redemption -- is to delude ourselves. "Jesus" means "God is our salvation", "Christ in you, the hope of glory".

So you agree with Spurgeon when says in the above quote:

"If I trust my trust of Christ, I am lost. My business is to trust Christ; to rest on him; to depend, not on what the Spirit has done in me, but what Christ did for me, when he did hang upon the tree. "

Yes?

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If I trust my trust of Christ, I am lost. My business is to trust Christ; to rest on him; to depend, not on what the Spirit has done in me, but what Christ did for me, when he did hang upon the tree.

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This is what the reformers of the sixteenth century were getting at when they said that the gospel is outside of us. They weren't denying that the gospel changes us. They were emphasizing that our salvation and our assurance of salvation depend on what Christ did for us, not on whether our faith is strong enough, or whether our repentance is genuine enough, or whether we have reallly and truly made Jesus our Lord and Saviour, or anything else that we have contributed.