And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
The evil one has raised up so many flashy avenues for pleasing the old man, designed to distract us from the leadership of The indwelling Holy Spirit of Promise God puts in the human spirit at the moment we are born from above. [For graphic illustration of the Grace process of instant Conversion, see Acts 2 and Acts 10:38-45]
And those distractions come at us from all directs, including the religious systems. And it is successful in first eroding then corroding, then rotting, as so clearly illustrated with the Episcopal church.
But one can try to work their way to eventual Salvation ... God allows one to choose, but warns us to choose wisely, not depending upon our pride-filled works to earn what God offers as His Grace not our earnings.
As exhibits of how it works, see the Day of Pentecost preaching (Acts 2) and the Holy Spirit entering those who believed the message that Jesus is Messiah, He came in the flesh and died for our sins; on the third day God raised Him up to establish the absolute validity of a new covenant with mankind, in which the believer in Jesus has his/her sins wiped from the record and God's Spirit comes to indwell the believer for the rest of their life on earth. There is a similar exhibition of the process in the House of Cornelius (Acts 10:38-45).
I'm sure the magicsteeringthem has a twist on those scenes which supports their works based religion system, but the scenes are really quite straightforward that believing in the heart is the response God honors with immediate spiritual cleansing and a new creation indwelt by His Holy Spirit.
One can try to work, strive, trudge their way to that status, but the Bible is clear that you can never achieve it while God offers Salvation on His terms in return for simply believing Jesus is The Deliverer and is the ONLY means for salvation and newness of spirit.
The Holy Spirit searches hearts during this Church Age (that's spiritual Church, not Baptist or Episcopalian or Presbyterian, or Methodist, or Roman Catholic or Pentecostal, etc. ). Where He finds a heart believing Jesus is the Savior and that heart calls out to Him for Salvation, The Holy Spirit immediately cleanses that one and leaves a spark of the Holy Spirit of Promise in the human spirit so cleansed by the blood of Jesus. That one is then in Christ, a new creation.
And yes, I read it in the BIble and THE BIBLE gets it right. Try it, you'll like it! Even Mikey likes it! Of course, one can keep striving in secret pride of self. God allows the choice. But His Word warns us not to reject so great a Salvation given by The Grace of God in Christ, for there is no other way given unto man whereby he may be saved. That Grace cannot be earned no matter how faithful one might be to a sacramental trail.