His word says deeds don’t get you into heaven, look what he told the rich man who said he’d followed all the tenets of the Jewish religion since a child, but would not give up his wealth and position to follow Christ.
No good deeds don’t get you to heaven. Only through the acceptance of Christ into your heart does that. Then we get the Well Done Good and Faithful Servant acknowledgement.
I don’t fear death, it is but the gateway to a new body, and sitting at the Master’s feet where we will be young again and never grow old. Enjoy. Paid in Full by the Blood of the Lamb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fyzYWDil
The first time I encountered or even heard of Born Again Christianity was in New Hampshire in 1972 when I was bringing my candidate' petitions to its Secretary of State's office. I spotted (allegedly Catholic) Maine senator Ed Muskie approaching the Capitol steps and held back in deference to Muskie as a US Senator (even if I very much disagreed with him on issues). Three young people were sitting on the state capitol steps-one young man and two young women. The women seemed quite conventional and the young man had very long but clean hair and wore a fringed buckskin jacket. At Muskie's approach, he stood and confronted him. I honestly thought the three young people were, perhaps, assassins.
I pulled back a little further as the young man asked: "Senator, do you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Like me, Muskie was obviously confused by the question and ultimately answered as I would if confronted: "I am a Roman Catholic. Of course, Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior. Who else could be?"
The Epistle of James does teach that your works are the fruit of your faith but does not teach that works are sufficient for salvation. The woman for whom I ask prayers was almost certainly not a believer, was undoubtedly a substantial sinner. OTOH she was quite generous with her time and professional talent. If I reach heaven, I will be overwhelmingly relieved. If I encounter Diane in heaven, I will not feel cheated given Matthew's rendition of the Last Judgment in which Jesus explains to those bound for heaven and those bound for hell what the reasons were for their respective destinations and those works are the reason one way or another. That may mean that those works are the fruit of their faiths and that it is the underlying faith in the sense of acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior that counts. The Bible as the word of God cannot truly contradict itself any more than God can contradict Himself.
I thoroughly agree with your third paragraph.
May God bless you and yours!