“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

Not everyone who says . . . but the one who does. The barrenness of this sort of faith demonstrates its real character —the faith that says but does not do is really unbelief. Jesus was not suggesting that works are meritorious for salvation, but that true faith will not fail to produce the fruit of good works.

Commentary by John MacArthur

The old spiritual said, “Everybody talkin’ ‘bout heaven ain’t goin’ there.” And that, essentially, is drawn from this passage. “Everybody talkin’ ‘bout heaven ain’t goin’ there.” How true that is.

Scripture is clear that the only way of salvation is through Jesus Christ. He is the one mediator between God and man. He is the one Savior, the world’s only Savior. No man comes to the Father – that is to God – except through Him. There is no salvation in any other than Him, Scripture makes that clear. Salvation comes through faith, and faith comes by hearing a message concerning Christ, Romans 10.

Excerpts from sermon by John MacArthur “Finding the Narrow Way to Heaven”