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The one thing you can’t do to get into heaven

Based on a sermon by Pastor Michael Leader, Beverly Hills Baptist Church, on Mark 10:13-31

Picture this: You’re standing before God tonight. He asks the question that matters most: “Why should I let you into heaven?”

What would you say?

Would you talk about your good works? Your church attendance? Your generous giving? Your savings account, ready to buy your way in?

Or would you simply say: “You’re my dad. Through Jesus, you adopted me. I’m home.”

When children don’t matter

In Genesis, we saw God as the perfect parent. Adam and Eve like children – innocent, naked, unashamed. Totally cared for by God.

Until they grew up the wrong way. Too fast. And separated from Him.

Now in Mark 10, we’re back to children. Because when we were children in Eden, we were innocent. In right relationship with God. That’s exactly how we need to be if we want relationship with Him today.

Here’s what happened: People brought their little ones to Jesus. Just for a moment of blessing. But the disciples? They rebuked them.

Before we judge the disciples too harshly, remember – they were products of their time. Children didn’t matter. They had no rights. They were ignored. Abused. Overlooked.

Jesus was a busy Rabbi. These kids weren’t even sick. Surely there were more important people waiting.

But Jesus was indignant.

“Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them. The kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Then He backed up His words. Took them in His arms. Put His hands on them. Blessed them.

The attitude that children don’t matter? It stinks.

The hardest truth about getting in

Here’s the verse that unlocks everything else in this chapter:

“Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Want to enter God’s kingdom? You need to receive it like a little child.

And the defining characteristic of children? Total dependence.

Children do nothing to earn their parents’ love. Their place in the family. Even their life. They’re here because of their parents’ decision – to conceive, carry, care for them.

That’s how we need to be before God. Totally dependent.

But what does that look like in real life?

The rich man’s impossible question

A man ran up to Jesus. Fell on his knees. Called Him “Good teacher.” Asked the million-dollar question:

“What must I DO to inherit eternal life?”

Sounds good, right? Wrong.

Two glaring problems with this question.

First – the word “inherit.” You can’t DO anything to inherit something. An inheritance comes simply by being someone’s child. The more you try to earn it, the more you damage your chances of receiving it.

Second – calling Jesus “good” while missing who He really is. Only God is good. This man saw Jesus as a good teacher who’d earned God’s favor through good deeds. But Jesus was good because He WAS God.

If you’re not God, you cannot be good. Not good enough for eternal life, anyway.

Jesus played along: “You know the commandments…”

The man had kept them all since childhood. And Jesus loved him for it.

Then came the test: “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Those last four words? That’s a disciple invitation. The chance to become the 13th apostle. To join the inner circle of the most important movement in history.

One small thing stood in the way.

Everything he owned.

“At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

He loved his money more than treasure in heaven. Missed becoming one of the most important people in history because of some cash he no longer has today.

The impossible standard

Jesus looked around: “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

Then the kicker: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

The disciples were stunned: “Who then can be saved?”

Here’s the uncomfortable truth – we’re all rich. Every one of us in Australia sits in the world’s wealthiest 10%. We rely on our money for everything. Food. Shelter. Security.

We’re self-made. Independent. Self-reliant.

But that’s exactly the problem.

When you think like that before God – expecting entry into heaven based on what you DO – you’ll walk away sad.

Because it’s impossible.

The only way in

“With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

The rich man asked the wrong question. He asked what he could DO to inherit eternal life. Jesus gave him an impossible task.

He should have asked: “Jesus, is there any other way?”

Here’s the secret: There’s one way to get anyone’s inheritance. Even Elon Musk’s billions.

Adoption.

If Elon adopted me, I’d legally inherit alongside his other children. Not because of what I did. Because of what he chose to do.

The rich man should have asked: “Good Teacher – and you ARE good because you’re God – what will YOU do so I can inherit eternal life?”

Jesus would have opened Isaiah 53. Shown him how He’d be pierced for our transgressions. How by His wounds, we’d be healed. How through His death, we’d become adopted children of God.

That’s what Jesus had already shown His disciples. Anyone wanting to enter the kingdom must become like a little child. Dependent. Empty-handed. Asking God to do the impossible – adopt them as His perfect children because His perfect Son died in their place.

Notice how Jesus addresses His disciples in verse 24? “Children.”

The family business

Peter spoke up: “We have left everything to follow you!”

Not boasting. Genuinely asking – Jesus, is it worth it?

Jesus didn’t hesitate: “No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age… and in the age to come, eternal life.”

What’s He promising? A new family. The church.

When you can’t afford rent, the church helps. Need a place to stay, the church opens doors. Want wise counsel or prayer, look around – there’s family everywhere.

Yes, there’ll be persecution. Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat it. But the alternative won’t give you what you’re really looking for – eternal life.

First becomes last

“Many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

So back to tonight. God asks why He should let you into heaven.

Your good works? “Not good enough. Remember that time…”

Church attendance? “Sure, but what about those idle hours?”

Financial contributions? “You didn’t give everything to the poor.”

Your savings account? God doesn’t need your money.

Or would you say: “You’re my dad. Through Jesus, you adopted me. Through His blood, you washed me clean – making me, a sinner, impossibly holy. I am your child, and Father, I’m home.”

That’s the only answer that works.

Because the one thing you can’t do to get into heaven? Anything.

The kingdom belongs to those who receive it like children. Empty-handed. Totally dependent. Ready to be adopted into the family of God.

Not because of what we do.

Because of what He’s already done.

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The first bad choice and the invitation that changes everything

Based on a sermon on Genesis 3 by Pastor Michael Leader of Beverly Hills Baptist Church

It’s the question that echoes through all of human history: Why is the world so broken?

We read the first pages of the story and see a world bursting with purpose, crafted by a God of power. A world made for our enjoyment, where a loving Father walks with his children in a garden. Everything is in harmony. We are known, we are safe, and we feel no shame.

And then, it all goes horribly, horribly wrong.

The story of how it all fell apart is found in Genesis 3. It’s a sad story, full of loss and blame. But buried in the wreckage is a stunning truth about God’s character—perhaps the most important truth of all. It’s a truth that hinges on a single choice made in a garden, and it leads directly to a new choice offered to every one of us today.

A world without shame

The story of the fall picks up where Genesis 2 leaves off: “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

This isn’t just about a lack of clothing. It’s about a lack of fear. Think of a small child, completely at ease in their own skin, running around without a care. They live in a state of perfect trust. They haven’t yet learned that the world can be a dangerous place, that people can hurt them, or that they have anything to hide. They are innocent, living in complete harmony with the ones who love and provide for them.

This was Adam and Eve. Not children, but adults living under the complete care of their Father in a world built for them. They were naked, and they were unashamed. Their intimacy with God and with each other was unbroken.

Until a new voice entered the garden.

The serpent’s ‘wisdom’

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.”

The word “crafty” here is fascinating. In other parts of the Bible, the same Hebrew word is translated as “prudent” or “shrewd”—and it’s seen as a good thing. A prudent person sees danger and avoids it. A simple or naïve person walks right into it.

The serpent wasn’t just a talking snake; it was a creature that possessed a kind of wisdom Adam and Eve lacked. It had an experienced knowledge of good and evil. They were innocent; it was not.

The serpent begins its attack with a clever question, designed to sow a seed of doubt. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

It’s a distortion, of course. But it works. It forces Eve to defend God’s rule, and in the process, she adds to it, saying they weren’t even supposed to touch the tree. The conversation has already shifted. Suddenly, God’s one boundary feels less like a loving protection and more like a restriction.

Then comes the direct lie, wrapped in a half-truth. “You will not surely die… For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The real temptation

Here is the heart of it all. The temptation wasn’t to do something inherently evil. After all, gaining wisdom and the knowledge of good and evil is something the Bible later praises. God himself has this knowledge.

The temptation was about how and when that knowledge was gained.

Satan only ever tempts us with good things, doesn’t he? But they are good things taken at the wrong time, or from the wrong source. It’s the desire for intimacy outside the commitment of marriage. It’s the hunger for success at the cost of our integrity. It’s stealing what we want now instead of waiting patiently for the Giver of all good gifts to provide.

God wasn’t holding out on Adam and Eve. But they weren’t ready for that kind of knowledge. They chose to grab for wisdom on their own terms, listening to the voice of a creature instead of their Creator. Had they trusted God and rejected the serpent, they would have learned their first, real lesson in discerning good from evil – God’s way.

Instead, they took, and they ate.

The blame game

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked.”

They grew up in an instant. But it was a traumatic, painful kind of growing up. Their innocence was shattered, replaced by shame. Their first instinct? To cover up and to hide. From each other, and from God.

It’s what we’ve all been doing ever since.

I remember when my son was little, he got into trouble at school for hitting. When I asked him about it, he spun an elaborate tale of self-defence. He wasn’t afraid of being punished again; he was already in trouble. He was afraid of the shame of admitting he’d done something wrong. The humiliation of it.

That’s the feeling that sent Adam and Eve hiding among the trees.

And then, God does the most amazing thing. He doesn’t come with a sword. He comes with a question.

“Where are you?”

He calls them out of hiding, not to crush them, but to give them a chance to come clean. Instead, the blame game begins.

“The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit,” Adam says. He points the finger at both his wife and God.

“The serpent deceived me,” Eve says, passing the blame down the line.

Excuses. Finger-pointing. A refusal to own the choice they made. What would have happened if they’d just said, “I’m sorry”? We’ll never know.

A glimmer of hope in the ruins

The consequences were devastating. A curse fell over creation. Hardship, pain, and death entered the story. They were banished from the garden. An angel with a flaming sword now guarded the way back to the tree of life. The path to eternal life, on their own terms, was closed forever.

They chose to be like God, but their choice left them looking less like him than ever before. Broken. Shameful. Afraid.

And yet. That’s not where the story ends.

Even in this moment of judgment, God reveals his greatest attribute: grace. The first death in this chapter isn’t Adam or Eve’s. It’s an animal’s.

“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”

They tried to cover their own shame with flimsy fig leaves. It wasn’t enough. So God himself provides a covering. He does for them what they could not do for themselves. It required a sacrifice. Something had to die so that they could live. It was the first, faint echo of a greater plan.

A new invitation

That first choice – to take and eat from the wrong tree – led to separation and death. It’s a choice we have all inherited, a brokenness that runs through the heart of the world.

But God wasn’t finished.

He stepped into our story as a new Adam, Jesus. At the very start of his work, he faced the same serpent and the same temptation. To take the good things of God the wrong way, to seize power without the path of suffering. Jesus said no.

And then, on his last night, he offered us a new choice. He took bread, gave thanks, and gave it to his friends. His invitation echoes through the centuries, turning the first tragic choice on its head.

“Take and eat; this is my body.”

He offered them a new tree to eat from: the tree of his own life, given for them. He offers a new covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

Coming to him is scary. It means we have to come out of hiding. We have to show up naked, with no excuses and no flimsy fig leaves. It means dropping the pride and the blame game, and simply saying, “I’m sorry. I got it wrong. I need you.”

It leaves you completely vulnerable. But you are vulnerable before the God of grace.

The God of second chances.

He invites you to take and eat again – but to choose the right tree this time. To choose him. To let him cover your shame and be your guide. To finally enjoy this world, and the next, the way you were always meant to.

He’s already done the hard part. All you have to do is stop hiding, and ask.

Will you take and eat?

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How to know you’re a Christian: a heart-check, not a checklist

It’s a question that can echo in the quiet moments. In the middle of the night. After a church service that didn’t quite connect.

Am I a Christian? Really?

It’s a deep, personal question. And it deserves a real answer.

In a world of noise, it’s easy to get confused. Maybe you grew up in the church. Maybe you try to be a good person, to help others, to do the right thing. These are good things.

But they aren’t the thing.

Being a Christian isn’t a cultural identity you inherit. It’s not a moral standard you achieve. And it’s certainly not a list of rules you follow perfectly.

It’s less a checklist, more a heart-check.

It’s a relationship. Real, life-altering, and rooted in one person: Jesus Christ.

So, how do you know? Let’s get straight to the heart of it.

The starting point: acknowledging the gap

We all feel it. That sense that something isn’t quite right. A gap between the person we want to be and the person we sometimes are. The Bible has a word for this: sin. It’s not just the big, bad things. It’s the falling short, the turning away from God’s perfect way to do things our own way.

The first step in any real journey is knowing where you stand.

A Christian has faced this reality. They’ve looked honestly at their own heart and acknowledged their need for something—or Someone—bigger than themselves to bridge that gap. They understand that on their own, they can’t make themselves right with a holy God.

It’s a moment of honesty. A moment of humility.

And it’s the place where hope begins.

The turning point: faith in action

This is the heartbeat of it all.

Christianity isn’t a self-improvement program. It’s a rescue mission. The good news—the Gospel—is that God didn’t leave us in that gap. He came to us. Jesus, God’s Son, lived a perfect life, died a death He didn’t deserve, and rose again, defeating sin and death for good.

He did the work. Our part is simply to believe it.

The Bible puts it this way: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

It’s a single, powerful step of faith. A moment of surrender. It’s trading your own efforts for His finished work. It’s turning from running your own life and asking Jesus to be the Lord of your life. The leader. The Saviour.

Have you had that moment? Have you, in the quiet of your own heart, placed your trust entirely in Him?
That’s the core of it. Everything else flows from this.

The evidence: a changed life

When this heart-change is real, it shows. Not overnight. Not perfectly. But it begins to ripple through your life.

It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being His.

Here are a few signs that your faith is alive and growing:

A new direction. You have a growing desire to please God. Reading the Bible, praying, and learning about Jesus start to feel less like chores and more like necessities. You’re not just avoiding bad things; you’re actively wanting to pursue good things.

A new battle. You become more aware of the sin in your own life—and you hate it. The struggle is real, but the difference is, now you’re fighting on God’s side. The struggle itself is evidence that something has changed.

A new love. You begin to feel a genuine love for other Christians. A pull towards community, towards God’s family, the Church. You want to be with people who are on the same journey.

A new fruit. Your life begins to show evidence of God’s Spirit at work. Things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). You won’t master them all at once, but you’ll see them start to grow. Like green shoots in spring.

What if I’m still not sure?

Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it can be part of it. The great heroes of the Bible had moments of doubt. The question is, where do you take your doubt?

Don’t let it fester in the dark. Bring it into the light.

If you’ve read this and a desire is stirring in your heart… a desire to close the gap, to trust in Jesus, to be made new… you don’t have to wait.

Talk to God. Right now. Right where you are. Tell Him you believe. Tell Him you’re sorry for doing things your own way. Ask Him to be your Lord and Saviour.

It’s a conversation that changes everything.

And if you need someone to talk to, we’re here.

You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to take the first step.

Are you ready to take it?

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Steps to becoming a follower of Jesus

Are you seeking a deeper connection with God? Do you want to experience the love, peace, and forgiveness that only Jesus Christ can offer? Becoming a Christian is a life-changing decision that can bring joy, hope, and purpose to your life. In this post, we’ll explore the simple yet profound steps to becoming a follower of Jesus Christ.

Understanding the Gospel:

Before we dive into the steps, let’s understand the core message of Christianity. The Gospel is the good news that:

  • God created us to have a relationship with Him (Genesis 1:27)
  • Sin separated us from God, but He loves us anyway (Romans 3:23, John 3:16)
  • Jesus Christ, God’s Son, died on the cross to pay for our sins and rose from the dead to give us new life (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
  • Through faith in Jesus, we can be forgiven, reconciled to God, and obtain eternal life (John 3:16, Romans 10:9-10)

Steps to Becoming a Christian:

  1. Recognise Your Need for God : Acknowledge that you’re a sinner and can’t save yourself (Romans 3:23). Understand that you need God’s forgiveness and grace.
  2. Repent of Your Sins : Turn away from your sinful ways. Surrender your life to God (Acts 2:38, 1 John 1:9).
  3. Believe in Jesus Christ : Trust that Jesus is the Son of God. He died and rose again to save you (John 3:16, Romans 10:9-10).
  4. Confess Your Faith : Openly declare your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10).
  5. Accept Christ into Your Life : Invite Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour. Accept the Holy Spirit into your life (Revelation 3:20, Ephesians 1:13-14).

Prayer of Salvation:

If you’re ready to take this step of faith, pray with me:

“Dear God, I acknowledge my sinfulness and need for Your forgiveness. I repent of my sins and surrender my life to You. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, who died and rose again to save me. I confess my faith in Him and accept Him into my life. Thank You for Your love, grace, and mercy. Amen.”

Next Steps:

  • Find a local church or community of believers to support and guide you. Why not try BHBC?
  • Read the Bible to deepen your understanding of God’s Word.
  • Pray regularly to develop a personal relationship with God.

Conclusion:

Becoming a Christian is a simple yet profound decision that can transform your life. Remember, salvation is a gift from God, and faith is the key to receiving it (Ephesians 2:8-9). If you’ve prayed the prayer of salvation, welcome to the family of God!

Extra Resources:

  • Recommended Bible verses for new believers: John 3:16, Romans 3:23, Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-9
  • Christian books for new believers: “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren, “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis
  • Online communities and forums for Christian support and discussion.
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