Hearts are purified by faith. (Acts 15:9) Are you seeking salvation based on the merits of your best efforts to follow rules and guidelines/works or through faith in Christ?
You are correct about the Catholic church. Obedience to Christ does not include salvation by works (John 6:28-29)
Cambellism teaches a 5 step false plan of salvation which culminates in water baptism for salvation. So where do you attend church?
Believers
love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) The
love of God has been poured out within the hearts of believers through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5) Beloved, let us
love one another, for
love is of God; and
everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)
It's actually you who misunderstands and this is the same error that is made in Catholicism and Campbellism in an effort to "get around" verses like Titus 3:5, Ephesians 2:8,9 etc.. The end result is saved by "these" works and just not "those" works. The Bible clearly statess in Titus 3:5 that it is
not by works of righteousness which we have done, (Literally, "of works which are done in righteousness") and this passage fully refutes the false doctrine of meritorious works for salvation, yet you (just like Roman Catholics and Campbellites) try to explain it away in order to teach salvation by works. You are on very dangerous ground!
Authentic faith is not without repentance and that is not what I mean by salvation through faith in Christ alone. Those who have placed their faith (belief, trust, reliance) in Jesus Christ alone for salvation have
already repented in the process of changing their mind and choosing to place their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Acts 20:21 - testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of
repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Titus 3;5 & Ephesians 2:8-9 refers to the works of the law which was the righteousness for the Jews.
...The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.” Deuteronomy 6:24-25
The Gentiles were never given the LAW for their righteousness but received mercy and grace as a result of the DISOBEDIENCE of the Jews.
All Israel Will Be Saved
...I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Romans 11:25-32
Now, if anyone would teach a FALSE GOSPEL which disregards OBEDIENCE TO GOD as an essential part of SALVATION, disregards LOVE which according to John is "WALKING IN OBEDIENCE TO HIS COMMANDS" and that God is LOVE. (2 John 1:6, 1 John 4:8-16)
And Paul testified that LOVE is the GREATEST;
...And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
And therefore God showed His LOVE for us by sending His only begotten Son to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and to bring SALVATION to mankind. (John 3:16, 1 John 4:8-16)
"LOVE" IS THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS.
...This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because HIS OWN ACTIONS were evil and his brother’s were RIGHTEOUS. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that NO MURDERER HAS ETERNAL LIFE IN HIM. This is how we know what love is: JESUS CHRIST LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US. And WE OUGHT TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR OUR BROTHERS. 1 John 3:11-16
GRACE, MERCY, SALVATION are all the WORKS of God who is LOVE.
Is it Faith ALONE that saves?
...You see that a person is justified by what he does and NOT BY FAITH ALONE. James 2:24
...The only thing that counts is FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH LOVE. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from OBEYING THE TRUTH? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Galatians 5:6-10
...IF ANYONE TEACHES FALSE DOCTRINES and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is CONCEITED and UNDERSTANDS NOTHING. He has an unhealthy interest in CONTROVERSIES and QUARRELS ABOUT WORDS that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been ROBBED OF THE TRUTH and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 1 Timothy 6:3-5
...I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in LEADING THE GENTILES TO OBEY GOD by what I have said and done— Romans 15:18