“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, kept anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before-hand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2.8-10
Question: Will a Christian lose his salvation if he fails to do good works?
Answer: I believe the question is not a good one in light of the verse you chose. Good works or deeds will follow those who are truly committed to Christ. We should walk in them. Deeds or works are either good or evil.
Then there are many churches who have their definition of good works. To some it may be that if we are not witnessing enough and winning souls, we are not bearing fruit. If we don’t spend enough quiet time with the Lord, we are not bearing fruit. But God’s word tells us what he means by fruit. In Gal. 5:19-21 we have the works of the flesh in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit. God’s word tells us,
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Gal. 5:22-25)
In Romans 8 it says,
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
This is the kind of work God is interested in.
Jesus tells us how we can spot the moral quality of a person’s heart by the type of fruit he bears.
“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.’ (Matt. 7:18-20)
“Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.” (Mat. 12:33).
I also think there is a lot of confusion when we say a person lost his salvation. Some will say he lost it, got it back, lost it again and got it back again. I think this confuses many people, especially with the OSAS advocates. I don’t think of salvation as a revolving door. There is initial salvation, and then we are on probabtion, if you will, until final salvation.
But here is what happens. When a Christian falls away from God, back to a life of sin, they are back into a spiritually dead state (separated from God), just like the prodigal son was. If that person comes to his senses, realizing he has offended man and God and truly seeks God and repents, he can be RESTORED. ALIVE AGAIN. (Luke 15:32)
The OSAS advocates think that final salvation is a guarantee because of initial salvation, but this is not true as we see in Rom. 13:11.
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”
When a person comes to Christ in faith and repentance he is then, from that point on, in a temporal salvation. Continuing in the faith assures final salvation.
“The righteous shall live by faith,” according to Hebrews. (Heb. 10:38) Our salvation begins with faith and ends with faith, that is, if we continue in faith (Col. 1:23).
“Receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:9)
More later…
Dividingword's Blog 
The fruit of the Spirit causes us to serve one another, We feed the poor and clothe the naked and help those we are able to help.
Matthew 25:31-46
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’
Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’
Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’
These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Amen, Sam. The fruit of the Spirit will be evident in one’s life by how he treats others. Patient, kind, gentleness, goodness, longsuffering, etc..
It is important to remember that when we come to Christ we lose our life and gain it in him. We take on the mind of Christ along with His heart……Old things have past away. Christ i snow our example.
Mark 8:34-36
34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
Ephesians 2:10
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
James 2:14-26
Faith and Works
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
1 Peter 2:21-24
Christ Is Our Example
21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Amen, Ricke. Plus here is a link for those who are confused about Abraham, Paul and James: