We will do good works if we are truly saved, but not do those works thinking they save us or keep us saved or whatever either... and if you ever get that twisted, you fall back into a works based salvationism, and sin and evil again...
James says that it is the evidence of our faith or the evidence that we are truly saved, but I think he would also say not that we should judge by that either, either in each other, or even in our own selves, cause we can be wrong, and are oftentimes, and a lot of time "wrong", when we try to do that, etc, and the very fact that we might try to do it, even in our hearts, could be wrong or very wrong or evil or sin also...
The desire to do good and do good works and be good will be so strong that you will not be able to resist or not do it or them, again, not that we judge however...
Cause God's judgments in those areas are usually very much more different from our a lot of the time, and for that reason, we should not... Especially not with 100% absolute certainty anyway...
And like I said, the desire to do them, or be good or whatever, will be so very strong, that you will not be able to "not to" or not do them, you'll "feel it" so strongly if you are a truly born again believer with a right heart, that you will unable to resist (it)...
God Bless!
Bless you friend, if you consider James’ tone in James 2:14-26 he is urging these brethren to do good works. He is explaining to them the importance of doing good works. If works were automatically a result of faith there would be no need for this message. Furthermore John 15:2 would be an impossibility. The Father could not cut off every branch in Christ that doesn’t bear fruit if all branches who are in Christ cannot fail to bear fruit. A person could not fail to abide in Christ if they are incapable of resisting His influence. As Paul stated we are capable of grieving the Holy Spirit. Take for example Paul’s statement in Romans 12:1-2
“
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2 NASB
How does this statement fit into the doctrines of total deprivity and irresistible grace? Paul is urging the brethren to conduct themselves in godly manner. Now if these brethren were not saved and still in their sinful nature they would be incapable of conducting themselves in a godly manner and according to what your saying, which is basically similar to irresistible grace, these brethren would be incapable of conducting themselves in an ungodly manner. Paul is indicating, as so many others do in the scriptures, that every Christian is capable of conducting themselves in an ungodly manner. Here’s another indication.
“If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
2 Timothy 2:12-13 NASB
Here Paul includes even himself as being capable of denying Christ resulting in Christ denying him. Now some will misinterpret this to say that if we are faithless Christ is faithful to save us but that is not what Paul is saying. We cannot receive salvation without faith. What Paul is saying is that Christ is faithful to do what He said He would do if we deny Him.
“But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 10:33 NASB
Now of course this means if we deny Him without repentance. Peter denied Christ 3 times and was not denied before The Father because he repented. Some will say that Peter never repented because the scriptures do not say so. But the scriptures actually do say so by his actions throughout his life afterwards. He devoted his life to serving God, bearing fruit, and loving others, even dying a martyr’s death.
We have to think about the implications of the many passages of scripture that give warning to everyone about living an ungodly lifestyle which results in not entering the kingdom of heaven.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that
anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21
Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes,
every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 3:10
This next verse is spoken to children of God who are undoubtedly saved according to Paul’s statements about them in Ephesians 2.
Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that
no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on
all who disobey him.
Ephesians 5:3-6
The faithful servant of the master is referring to a saved believer of Christ.
A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. But what if the servant is evil and thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 24:45-51
All of these verses are directed to believers. They cannot be directed to unbelievers because unbelievers will not enter heaven because of their unbelief. So even if they were capable of refraining from all these sins they would still not be capable of entering the kingdom of heaven because of their unbelief. These messages are for believers not unbelievers. The scriptures are full of warnings to believers. If irresistible grace were true then there would be no point of any warnings about how to conduct ourselves in the scriptures other than believe and have faith. These warnings would be warning believers of doing things that according to the doctrine of irresistible grace are impossible for them to do. We always have a choice.