Accept and believe. The Good News Gospel as summed by Paul is; I in Christ, Christ in me. Christ came as the new Adam offering sinners a choice, either stay in the old fallen Adam which we all are by inheritance, or choose to be in the New Adam(Christ). The New Adam was able to do something the old Adam couldn’t/didn’t—obey the Law perfectly and offer Himself as a sacrifice for the penalty of sin for EVERYONE. That is the ‘I in Christ part’. His life and death are credited to us—His free gift of grace. If one accepts and believes this then the ‘Christ in me’ part begins. Our nature will begin to change as Christ takes control of our life. We will become like that ‘fruit tree’, beginning to produce ‘good fruit’ because that is what a good fruit tree does ‘naturally’. A fruit tree doesn’t produce fruit to become a fruit tree, it produces because it is what it is. Our good works will become like our breathing, done fairly much unconsciously, naturally. Works won’t save us in and of themselves but are evidence of our I in Christ, Christ in me condition. Accept and believe.
Good works won’t save us but bad works will condemn us. I’ll go with the good works.