There are some who do not see the Love of Jesus on that cross. Some people can think only of themselves and how they can escape punishment for their sins. Some people don't want to change. They want to keep sinning; they don't care about loving other people. They have no clue about Jesus did on the cross. If they knew, they would know the power of Love and they would earnestly crave to be like him.
Works aren't going to save anyone; but the person who thinks he can offend against his neighbor and keep offending has no clue about Jesus or why he died on the cross. He has not been changed into a new creature.
Good works are valuable by themselves. If we love others, we enjoy them; but they also give us a clue about where we stand spiritually. Have we fooled ourselves into thinking we've become new creatures while there is no evidence of it? People can delude themselves the way the Pharisee did. The tax collector realized he was a sinner. It is up to each of us to see where we need to be changed, so we don't fall into the trap of spiritual arrogance.
Jesus died in vain for us if we remain unloving.
1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?