These verses are a continuation, or a sub-set of the previous question regarding standing before God to be judged (v. 15). To imagine being praised by God for our good works (v. 16) suggests self-righteousness. To imagine that we can lie before God shows our own deceitfulness (v. 17), and we must have “no deception before God” (2 Nephi 31:13). Finally, the perfect remembrance of all our guilt without the atonement covering those sins will bring us to know definitely that we have defiled God’s laws (Alma 5:18).