Is Doing The Will of God Necessary to make Heaven?

The wrong notion
Many people say having Jesus is the only requirement to making it to heaven. Well did Jesus say in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ 

Regarding the concept of Holiness as a requirement to enter the kingdom of God, there are 2 extremes. This analysis is on those who have believed and received Jesus into their hearts.

The first believe it is their Self Righteousness that will help them to go to Heaven

This category believes that they must do good things by themselves to help them go to heaven. We must understand that there is nothing we can do on our own to please God on this earth. This is why Jesus gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us in our quest to do the will of the Father. Our daily prayer therefore must be, Lord Holy Spirit, please help me to do God's Will.

The second category believes that they do not have to make any effort; Once saved Forever Saved.

This category believes they do not have to make any effort to please God because Jesus died for past, present, and future sins so even if you sin willfully, you will make it to heaven.

My pastor makes a profound statement whenever he teaches us to do the will of God as he is led by the Holy Spirit. He says, there will be 3 kinds of surprises in heaven.

1. Those you don't expect to be there but are there.

2. Those you expected to be there but did not make it.

3. You would be surprised if you did not make it.

This teaches us that the fact that we have Jesus as our Lord and Personal Saviour does not mean that if we live anyhow, we will make it to heaven. These are two scriptures that teach us how to live as Christians. Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" and Ephesians 5:18, "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit." teaches us how to live to make it to heaven.

I want to emphasize the fact that Self Righteousness will not qualify us but total surrender unto the Holy Spirit for Him to work through us to please the Father will enable us to make it to Heaven. God bless you and see you in Heaven. My pastor says, 'You have to miss Hell to make Heaven"