We obtain salvation by just one work; and the work which is commanded is to believe in Christ, the saviour sent of God (John 6:29). Nothing more is required to inherit eternal life than this!

John 6:27-29
27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Whilst is is written that good works are found in those who are saved (e.g. James 2:14), this repentance and striving for obedience to God’s law is caused by belief in Christ and his work; it is the proper fruit of Christ in those who are saved and not the means by which they become saved.

As Paul writes, if salvation is obtained because of the righteousness of our own good works, then Christ has died in vain (Galatians 2:21). There would be no need for Christ were it possible for man to become righteous through his own efforts.

Romans 3:
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

We are all sinners and condemned before God according to our own wickedness. None of us are ‘good enough’ to escape the eternal damnation. We must, at all costs and at all times, cling to our own possible hope of salvation, Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel – that Christ died for our sins, calling us to repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name.