Jesus is God, the divine Savior. As the scriptures say, whoever believes in him will receive eternal life (John 3:16).
Works (just following Jesus' teachings) do not necessarily save someone. What I'm saying is some might think it's possible that they can follow the teachings of Jesus and still deny him as one's savior.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God,
not by works, so that no one can boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9
Initial saving faith is the precursor to works. Abraham was not saved (justified righteous - Genesis 15:6) by performing works, he was performing works (later, in Genesis chapter 22) of A Godly nature because he first was saved and regenerated by faith. Works of a Godly nature are the result of our regeneration and salvation, not the cause of it. Faith by grace is the antecedent of works. It chronologically occurs first. Once the Holy Spirit indwells a believer at the point of salvation, He starts the process of Progressive Sanctification, and one of the effects of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5-7) is that of causing, or compelling a person, by a change of heart and mind and with the believer’s cooperation, to perform works of a Godly nature. James’ argument addresses that time period of a person’s life, following true salvation and regeneration, when good works are supposed to be in evidence. He is saying, “Now that you claim to be saved, we should be seeing some good works out of you. However, if these good works are not apparent, then your initial faith was probably not genuine, and you were never, either in the eyes of God, nor in the eyes of man, justified righteous.”
Justification by Faith – How believers are declared righteous by God « The Righter Report
God bless!