In keeping with God's word to Adam that he would have to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, we have gotten the notion that in order to get anything we want we should have to work for it. Our parents drilled the idea home to us in our formative years, and we had chores to do as an object lesson on the subject. Experience tells us the same thing: if we want flowers or vegetables, we have to work the garden. So it is natural to assume that we must also work for our soul's salvation.
Yes, God did say that we should work for our daily bread, but He also says that we cannot work for our salvation. Consider Ephesians 2:8, 9: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." If a thing is worked for it is not a gift. That is the simplest thought here, but not the most serious thought: God will not allow us to take credit for something that only Christ could do and did do for us.
If you know yourself as I know myself you will probably agree that if we had anything to do with our salvation we would strut all over God's Heaven crowing about how wonderfully we had saved ourselves! We certainly like to get credit when credit is due. But Christ alone deserves the credit. He bore our sins in His own body upon the cross of Calvary. He laid down His life for us, after being so mercilessly nailed to that cross. He shed His blood for the remission of our sins, paying the utmost farthing of our sin debt. He bore the agony of separation from His Father, crying out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
What kind of monster would think God to be if He exacted all that from our Savior and then allowed us to set Him aside and work our own way to Heaven? No, God will never do that; your works do not count toward your salvation. Consider what Titus 3:5 tells us: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and by renewing of the Holy Ghost:" Let it sink in: God showed mercy toward us, God washed us, God regenerated us, and God renewed us. How can we dare to take any credit for our salvation when He has done it all? Let the glory be to God and to His dear Son Who loved us and gave Himself for us.