Truth.
Not by the merit of good deeds but by the Grace alone you get salvation. The grace of sacrifice of Christ Jesus. If deeds were a means for salvation, law would suffice and the sacrifice loses its purpose.
So should we say that good deeds have no merit? Yes indeed they have. But not more than the merit of having His Grace in us to do those good deeds.
So there is no need to equate good deeds with eternal benefits, but equate it with the norms of the Kingdom of God. Because you have got multi-folds of benefits already. Which are much more than our deeds to equate with. So, does this world not count on the equation of good and bad for all actions and consequences? And the equation of the fruit of those actions (karma)? Yes, It does. But it is not the people of the Kingdom of God because, Citizens of the kingdom of God do not operate by the standards of the world,, but the world does.
So, you can now do all the good deeds by the Grace of God, and then get its fruits freely from the world system because the world is designed only to give as per your deeds., though which also does not acknowledge the presence of the grace of God.. And your merits of good deeds are to increasing in the world, that is the Kingdom of God, which can not be stopped. But not to claim your deeds as a means for your salvation or as a means to limit all that is much more than your capacity to do good in the world by means of weak human self limited by flesh.
Yet if the world tries to stop you, persecute or destroy you the good doer, then it doing crime against its own law of equation, which is to give you the fruits of your actions based on a binary – good or bad. Therefore, now the score (in the world) is increased for you because opposing system is going against itself by going against its own law by which it operates. And nothing can stop you from expanding the kingdom of God. That is why martyrs were willing to die joyfully for Christ. . .
This is also true that no human has any strength to do Good by one’s own strength. That does not mean, any bad action is an excuse to say that there is lack of Grace which is to be blamed. A choice is given to choose the grace. And making that choice is given by God himself, therefore it can not be prohibited or hindered. If bad deeds are taking place, that means a good choice had not been made.