Five Things Jesus Did Not Say

Doing very, very well. It's good to be here and nice to be warm and inside on a rainy day. So we live in a world where technology and the different advances we have these days make it possible for concepts, for philosophies to quickly spread around the world. Concepts like ways to... and because of what the way they can spread these days, they spread like wisdom and absolute truth. It's easier than ever to get an idea validated. It's easier than ever to get a following, right? Somebody can like something or they can tweet it, they can get out to millions of people. But the contrasting truth is if we are looking for true, for absolute wisdom, that's meant to guide our lives, then the only place that we can really find it is in the Word of God. Well, if you look even in there, a lot of the core instructions by Jesus, by the Son of God. So that's the contrast that today's message is going to be shaped around. For those of you who like titles, the title of this message is Five Things Jesus Did Not Say. Five things Jesus did not say. The first thing we often hear in the world is follow your heart. Follow your heart. Apple executive Steve Jobs famously said, your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your inner voice. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. So this common counsel is shared very, very often these days, especially the youth. They're reinforced a lot in schools, saying, follow your heart. And for all of the five I'm going to share, I'll just say, there are elements of truth and wisdom to them, and I'll speak to that, but I think it's important that we put them in context. Is this a secret to success? When we follow our heart, when it's applied, what usually happens? Well, usually that's about some kind of an instant gratification for us, right? It oftentimes tends to be very impulsive, very temporary. Our heart doesn't often want to tolerate suffering required for long-term benefits. In fact, the truth is, our heart often doesn't weigh associated consequences. So what happens when ideas like this start spreading around is they start purvey, becoming pervasive, and they creep in even into church for an act of circularity along the way. It's not very sound advice. And the counsel is wrong because it's based on two wrong assumptions. First of all is that the heart of everyone is right.

The second assumption is that the heart is always full of good. Now, you can play that second one forward, that if the heart was always full of good, then it would be capable of collective benefits. But if the heart of all of us are selfish and interested in our own best interests, that plays forward in a very very dangerous way.

And both of those are, of course, false. Most people entirely mess up their lives because they follow their heart. A lot of people don't even know what they want to become, what they want to do to follow a heart. They don't know what they're wanting to follow. And some people create instability because they constantly change directions.

They change pursuits. So as we think about this heart, let's consider what the heart really is. You know where I'm going to go. Please turn to Jeremiah 17.9. It's the classic starting point on this one. But the Hebrew and Greek words translated as heart is used over 300 times in the Bible. The Greek word is cardia, cardiologist, heart doctor. So you know the source of where that word comes from. And its use carries with it the belief that the heart is the hub of our emotions, of our feelings, of our desires. The problem with following our heart is we're following our emotions, our feelings, and our desires. And the Bible affirms that the heart is not this reliable source of wisdom or truth.

Jeremiah 17.9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. See, our hearts, it abounds in contradictions, right? Our emotions and our feelings can change in an instant. It could change because of a phone call, because somebody gave us a word of criticism. Maybe somebody near here's heart was influenced because of traffic driving in the rain on the way over. And I bet most of us could give examples of times when following our heart led our hearts to mistake, led us to make mistakes, led us to do things we regret, led us to meltdowns, and you could go on and on.

Humans naturally are willing to make decisions for ourselves, right? And so that's where the challenges come in. Because we don't want to make decisions that... think about others first, if we're being driven by our own heart. We oftentimes don't want... are willing to do things that cause us pain in the long term. If in the short term it gives us pleasure. Turn to Romans 7 and verse 9. What we'll see in this verse is that Paul, a Christian hero of ours, right? A person who we aspired to have faith in, serve in the way he did, recognized that he, that we, all who say we love God, have this tendency to act in opposition to that following or by following our hearts is what we tend to do.

And so this is just, as you know, it's a very small part of Romans 7, but it says, for the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Genesis 6, 5 said that God was reflecting on our earliest forefathers, and he said, the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually. There's all sorts of absolutes in that.

Pretty straightforward. People who believe following their hearts will lead to right pursuits. The danger is that they've been deceived by Satan. That's the challenge to all of us when we follow our own natures, because we forget the powerful enemy that's really deceiving us along the way. Paul actually thought that he was serving the Lord when he was persecuting the church, right? When he was putting people in jail. Following that mantra leads to us failing because our hearts aren't right with God.

What Jesus says in contrast is, follow me. What Jesus says in contrast is, follow me. What we need to do is not trust our own hearts, but develop a close relationship with our caring shepherd and follow him. Turn to Matthew 10, verse 38. Matthew 10, verse 38. If you reflect on the phrase of Jesus saying, follow me, it was used 22 times in the New Testament over 13 unique occasions. Some of them you can remember when the disciples will call. There's multiple examples of him going and seeing somebody and saying, follow me.

During his ministry, he told his disciples, if they follow him, they will be fishers of men. That brings a bell with you. Another one, you could think of the obedient rich man who asked Jesus what else he should do. And he told him to sell all he had and follow him.

We're about to read another example here where Christ gives very direct instructions to all of us. Matthew 10, verse 38. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Those ouch verses along the way tells you the importance of it. See, the heart of the children of God can sometimes be wrong, but our Lord God is always right. Our hearts can sometimes make us sin, but our Lord is always holy and perfect. If you'll turn to Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 7. Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 7. The only way, successful way forward is through us submitting to our God, to our wise and loving and caring God, because he knows us inside and out, and he created us, and he sent his Son to save us. And that's the motivation behind all he does. Proverbs 3, in verse 6.

Proverbs 28, 26 says, He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered. So that's pretty straightforward. Next phrase, the second point the world often teaches, is be true to yourself. Be true to yourself. So what does this mean? Being true to yourself is a way that aligns with your own values and feelings, rather than the values of others. If we're living true to ourselves, then we feel confident in our identity, right? We're pursuing goals we know will lead us to our own happiness. And this approach can help us achieve physical success at times.

Also, in fairness, it's easy to look at some of these things and think they're only selfish. It doesn't have to be only selfish to be true to yourself. You can grow, you can change. If you'll turn to Matthew 16 and verse 24, what I want you to think on is this talk for how we're to live and think as our driving motivations. Can you remember any verses that match the concept of be true to yourself spoken by Jesus? I can't. Instead, Matthew 16, 24 says, then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me himself and take up his cross and follow me. So, in contrast, Jesus' teaching is that whoever wants to be his spiritual disciples must deny themselves.

The Greek verb translated deny means to say no to oneself, which I think is a great way of putting it because we all know the times we fail, even if you want to go back to what Paul wrote, is when we're saying no, we're not succeeding in saying no to ourself of what we know we should be doing. Denying oneself means far more than giving up chocolate for a month. We must say no to our natural inclinations, to take the easy life, the safe life, the selfish path, and we must say yes to Jesus Christ, which may involve suffering.

Jesus called upon those who wish to be his followers to reject our natural human inclination towards selfishness. Self-denial for the Christian means renouncing oneself as the center of our existence and recognizing Jesus Christ as our true center. That's really when you think about the contrast of all this, a lot of the all five of the phrases can be summarized in putting ourselves being the center versus putting God as the center. William Berkeley explained self-denial. He said, to deny oneself means in every moment of life to say no to self and yes to God. De-throne self and enthrone God. Obliterate self as the dominant principle of life and make God the ruling principle of life. So our goal should be to become more like Jesus in holiness and righteousness and actions. Commentary writer Matthew Poole had interesting thoughts. He describes honors, relations, life, or anything which would keep us from obedience to the will of God.

Those parts aren't bad unless they keep us from obedience, right?

Another commentary stated, I must come to the end of my own ambitions, my own goals, my own desires, my own self-way, and I must just reckon that old life of the flesh to be dead, crucified with Christ, that I might live a new life after the Spirit in Christ.

This is when we're willing to sacrifice our time or energy or our rights, our position, our reputation, our privileges, our comforts, for the sake of Christ that we exemplify what it means to deny ourselves. And that's the contrast which we don't hear spoke enough, you know, regularly as the philosophy is to live by.

We are to make ourselves not an end, but a means through which God can use us. Now, easy to say, all these things about the Bible, even understanding the Bible, is much easier than the living it, right? Where we get in trouble is because it's not easy to do. Our natural instinct is to say, I want this. I deserve this. Or, since my natural inclination is to do this, that I'm going to. Turn to Galatians 5 and verse 16 through 17. Galatians 5, 16 through 17. When we rely on our own wisdom, when we rely on our own desires instead of God's wisdom and God's desires, what we find is that life just isn't working. And also, the emptiness you see people facing throughout the world goes to the philosophies that we see preached don't satisfy. They don't fulfill in a lasting way like following God does. Galatians 5 and verse 16. I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. So, there's this great conflict that's going on in all of our lives because as Christians we no longer have to be slaves to sin. We have a different path than we could go down. As a final verse, if you'll turn to Philippians 2 verses 4 through 5. Philippians 2, 4 through 5. To deny ourself is to stop making ourselves the object of our lives and our actions and instead to make Jesus the object of our lives and our actions. And when we do that, we start to actually show more love toward others. We start caring for others in the way that Christ did. Philippians 2, 4, they'll let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others. What we heard in the sermon along the way, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. So self-denial is the basis for our fellowship. It's our basis for our success as a church and in doing this we find the joy and the love that God intended. The third point the world often teaches is believe in yourself.

Believe in yourself. So what does that mean? William Shakespeare wrote, This above all to thine own self be true. Famous phrase from Hamlet, right?

And it's very often championed. It's about having faith in your own abilities. It means believing that you can do something that it's within your ability to achieve. Again, like the others, the philosophy has elements of truth and veracity to it. When you believe in yourself, you can overcome self-doubt. You can have confidence to take actions. You can get things done. There's a lot of studies that say when you have higher self-efficacy, you have more success in areas like academic performances or stopping smoking. There's a lot of things that, you know, a positive mental outlet leads towards success. If you can believe, you can't achieve.

But there are two big challenges with this concept. First of all is that none of us have infinite potential to believe in. Well, that limits relying on that entirely.

We all have so many more limitations and flaws that we can't fully believe in. And the second part is success is never all up to us or is rarely all up to us. So that means to believe in myself means I have to also believe in you getting to what I'm believing in myself about. And we can all look back at a world of broken promises, right? There's a lot of things we have people tell us, trust me, we'll be there. Or, trust me, if you take this medication, you're going to feel better. And we don't feel better. In contrast, Jesus said, believe in me.

Believe in me. Turn to John 11 verses 25 through 26. John 11, 25 through 26. So we're stepping into the story of Jesus talking to Martha after her brother Lazarus had died. That's the context we're stepping into. John 11 verse 25. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? There's this concept that fish got to swim, birds got to fly, believers got to believe. Do you believe what you believe? And you may look at me and say, Dan, that's a silly question. Why wouldn't I believe something I claim to believe? Well, my challenge, the reason I say this, is because I believe there are many people in our world. There are many people in our church who do not truly believe what they say they believe. If you look and you pull Americans, 70% of Americans believe in God and Jesus as the son, as his son. So I think we can all comfortably recognize that just because someone says they believe in Christ doesn't actually mean they believe the right things about Jesus and then obey him accordingly. And we all fall short in this area. To believe in Jesus is not just to believe with our heads, but to receive him in our hearts and to have him live through us. We all have much opportunity here. If you'll turn to Colossians 1, verse 15 to 22. Colossians 1, verses 15 through 22. This is probably an area you've read.

I would argue, as I was reflecting on, that this is probably one of the greatest passages describing who Jesus is. So if you want to understand what we should believe in, let's find it here. And I hope this matches what you claim to believe in your heart about Jesus Christ. Colossians 1 and verse 15. Visible God, the firstborn overall creation. So the first truth we learn is that Jesus is God. We, as humans, are created in the image of God. We have flaws which prevent us from perfectly reflecting that image. Jesus is the image of God. That means that when we look at Jesus, we're seeing a perfect reflection of who God is. The reason that so is because Jesus was God living in the flesh. He wasn't first coming, you know, he didn't first exist in a manger. He had been around from the beginning. And when his disciples looked into his eyes, they were looking into the very eyes of God. They were, that's what they were able to see. Verse 16. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth. Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him. So the next truth we must believe is that Jesus is the creator of all things. John 1.3, well known, says all things were created through him and apart from him nothing was created. So you think about the beautiful sunsets. Many of you when we're looking at the feast pictures had just gorgeous pictures that you all put up.

Mountain peaks, stunning vistas, all of those were created by Jesus. Who created you and me?

But I want you to look closely at the last three words of that verse because they're very, very telling. Not only are all things created including you, all things are not only created by Jesus, but we are created for Jesus.

That's a very different way of looking at the world and I would argue many of us, because of our selfishness, because of focusing on self, lose that picture.

Sometimes we make the mistake of believing that God created the world for us to enjoy. God created our spouse for us. There's even sometimes where we're tempted to think that Jesus exists for our benefit. The opposite is true. The reason the world exists, the reason you and I exist, is simply for the pleasure and purpose of God.

Until we find our purpose and our meaning in Him, then we're wasting our time. Our purpose and meaning and our worth comes from the fact that Jesus created us to be part of His family. That's what God intended from the start. That's the whole purpose. And the only way we can find true fulfillment in this world is if we do what we were created to do and glorify God.

That's the contrast. To believe in Jesus is to believe that Jesus is God and that He's the creator. Let's keep going. Verse 17. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. That word consist can also be sustained, held together. So the next truth revealed about Jesus for us to believe is that Jesus is the sustainer of all things. The sustainer. That word consists literally means to prevent something from falling into complete chaos. So if you want to look at another way, is He is the glue that holds everything together.

By Jesus, everything came into existence. By Jesus, everything continues to exist. And that's humbling, right? That means that the only reason we're sitting here today is because God wants you here. God doesn't need us. God doesn't need anything. He is perfectly complete in and of Himself. Yet in His kindness and His love, He continues to hold things together so that more people, so that you, so that me, will have the opportunity to come to know Him personally and to become part of His family. That's the big picture. That's what this is all about. To believe in Jesus is to believe that He is God, that He is the Creator, that He is the Sustainer of all things. Let's continue. Verse 18, and He is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence. So the next truth we must believe is that Jesus is the head of the church.

Jesus is the head of the church. Throughout the New Testament, the church is described as the body of Christ, and every member of the body has a different role in fulfilling the mission of the church, which is to glorify Christ. So if you and I are a part of the church, if we belong in that way, then we have a role to play, to make the church of God all that it is supposed to be, and all it's designed for. Being the church God intends isn't just this matter of doing what we think is best. That's the five things Jesus didn't say. That's the selfish view of this world.

To be the church God wants us to be, we need to fully submit to the will of Christ.

And again, in here you see the example of Christ as the head. The word head means that Jesus is the sole authority and source of power of the church. He is the only one who determines what we should do and how we should do it, because we are His body, the church. I mean, you can imagine, I can't even, I'm not good enough to figure out what it'd be like if parts of your body were just randomly decided, my elbow and my knee decided it would do whatever I wanted to do. I'd fall over and look pretty silly.

But that's, it can't work that way. In order for us to be His church, we have to individually submit ourselves to His will. Which, of course, then gets all the hard questions, right? Is Jesus looking and find areas that we fall short there? But that's the lessons of what really matters.

So let's continue. To believe in Jesus, to believe that He is God, that He is the creator, that He's the sustainer of all things, that He is the head of the church. Let's go on to the next one, starting in verse 19. For it please the Father that in Him all the fullness...

He is reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above approach in His sight. So finally, you and I, we should believe that Jesus is our reconciler with God. Jesus is our reconciler with God. This term, reconcile, means to restore a friendship or fellowship after a period of hostility and separation. We all know we're at one time hostile relationship with God because we're sinners. That's separated us. But through the life and the sacrifice of Christ, our hostility with God has come to an end. It's that contrast, right? The important contrast that apart from Jesus, we're enemies of God, but in Christ we can become sons and daughters of God. That's the big picture. Following Jesus up involves utter and complete awe and submission to the only one who's worthy of it. And that's important because I think we can get ourselves mixed up. Sometimes we can get this thought in our mind that we're saved from sin simply because of something we decided to do, an action we decided to make, authentic self, doing things that bring you happiness, that bring you joy. And the concept is often phrased to help somebody think about what their truth is this way. It says, if money, if time, if excuses or the opinion of others wasn't an issue, if you are simply yourself, what would you be doing with your time? Again, that's there's us. Because when we strive to live authentically to our truth, we tend to do things that bring us joy. But like all these other points, there's good and there's bad, right?

We don't want to lose our identity. We don't want to just be cattle and follow social whims. So in those ways, what this we need to decide to take control of our lives and not base our life success on public opinion. But of course, there's also huge holes to this approach. If you'll turn to John 18 verses 33 through 38. John 18 33 through 38. So let's talk about the concept. An implicit worldview linked to this is that what is true for you doesn't have to be true for you, doesn't have to be true for you, right? So if that's the case, we then link to another prevailing myth, which is closely linked to it. It says it with just as long as you have faith. If you believe in something with enough faith, then that's all that matters. Leave your truth. John 18 verse 33. And I guess I'll put in contrast to what Jesus said, so we'll read it as we go forward. Jesus said, I am the truth. Contrasted Jesus said, I am the truth. John 18 verse 33. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Are you speaking for yourself about this? Or did others tell you this concerning me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate therefore said, Are you a king, then? Jesus answered, You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. And Pilate said to him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no fault in him. So Jesus clearly said that everyone on the side of truth listens to me. You'll turn back a few chapters to John 8 in verse 31 through 32. We'll see another familiar phrase of his. John 8, 31 and 32. It says, Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciple indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So what is truth? If you look up in the dictionary, two common definitions you find. First of all, genuineness or veracity. And the second is something that conforms to reality or fact. That which is in accordance to what was, what has been, what must be. So let's evaluate both of those. Truth is veracity. It's historically validated truth that Jesus lived, that he was resurrected. There's probably more written about him in detail, including his words and validations that he said these things than most anyone in history along the way. If you go back that far in history. For the second item, we see validation for that in John 14.6, where he validated the second definition of truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That's John 14.6. So Jesus did not say, I will lead you to the truth. He did not say that I am one of the many truths. He said, he is the ultimate reality. He is the truth. He is the root of what is, what was, and what is to come. He's the origin, the framework that everything we see around us connects to. So in the beginning, he was God, and he is still God, responsible for all that is taking place to fulfill the plans that the Christ the Father had from the start of expanding their family.

All meaning and ultimate reality about everything we know flows from him. Okay, so how does that connect to us? Well, the truth is we're sinners, right? The truth is we're separated from God. We're unable to get to God on our own because we're not good enough, because we've sinned, we've made mistakes, and because of our sins, there was a penalty to be paid, right? This is what we review every Holy Day season. God in his mercy and his grace, and because of his love, made the way. God paid the price for us by sending his son the perfect Lamb of God to cleanse our sins. Christ then gave us a path as a direct result for us to have an opportunity to spend eternity with him as part of his family. Pilate asked what is truth? Jesus Christ is truth.

But unfortunately, today, the truth is corrupted, it's altered, and it's modified to suit a world collectively striving to live their own truth. It's the contrast that is Satan's deception that takes place. All sorts of things are done on earth to establish lies as truth and to destabilize truth. It can be purchased, truth can be, it can be out of reach to those who might be poor or needy or not have the power. But in contrast, Jesus told his disciples that they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. Because the truth in today is eternal. It doesn't change with the season. It doesn't change over thousands of years. And the kingdom of God is going to be a kingdom of truth. All that half lies and deceit that we've come to get used to along the way are going to vanish. They're going to be destroyed. And each of us will one day stand before God and we're going to give account for what we did with the truth taught to us in the Word of God. The fifth point the world often teaches is as long as you're happy, as long as you're happy, often we tell our children or our friends that, you know, it really doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that you didn't end up being a successful lawyer. It didn't matter. It doesn't matter. You didn't find your partner in marriage. The most important thing is that you're happy.

It's a relief. Or is it? Well, if the goal is to be constantly happy, then you're most certainly going to fail. Do you know how to be happy all the time? I don't. So, if a sense of failing is a given with this goal, then why do we teach it to our children and to others along the way we say it so often? Now, again, I'd say there is elements of truth to all of this, right? I mean, my dad was constantly talking about a positive mental attitude. And a lot of times I think with this point, the concept is that we must do what we find inspiring and interesting to do. Because we know when people do this, then whether they're doing jobs or hobbies or educating with things they like, then they're more prone to have a positive feeling and have more success. So, again, elements of truth to all of these. But play this forward. Say you do achieve your deepest goal and you find this great happiness. Is that the most important thing? Well, that's the contrast. Because even then you won't be happy every single minute of the day, year in and year out. So, we need to figure out what is a better feeling than just feeling good. In contrast, Jesus said, what will it profit a man if he gain the world and he lose his soul?

His contrast is what will it profit a man if he gain the world and lose his soul?

The story is told of this rich farmer whose fields were just amazingly fruitful and productive, so much that he had to tear down his barns and build new ones and fill them to the full.

And he felt like he could sit back, that he could relax, that he could take life easy, eat, drink, be merry. But Jesus clarified the end of the story, saying, God said to him, you fool, this night your soul will be required of you. So, there's two very sharply different contrasting philosophies that are taking place here. One, full of ways of dying is execution style death. And with that perspective of his upcoming death in mind, he's talking to a crowd and he's talking to his disciples. Mark 834. When he had called the people to himself, with his disciples also, he said to them, whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his honor what we read in Matthew earlier. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and my worst and sinful generation of him, the Son of Man, also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

So, what Jesus is talking about is the cost of discipleship, right?

Jesus makes a heavy demand. He tells his followers, you and I, that we need to die. If people are going to accept Jesus as Savior, then they need to know that the new life in Christ means death to the old self. That's what's told to us. Another one of those things is not difficult to understand, much more difficult to do. Compare it to running a marathon. The hard part is not understanding that you need to run that long distance. The hard part is doing it.

That's the most important step. Our ultimate decision is between gaining what the world has to offer or gaining spiritual life. So let's do a quick contrast, right? What can be gained without Christ? Well, without Christ, we can focus on ourselves, on our reputation, and it's possible to make this great name for yourself. It's not guaranteed, but it's possible. You could build a name on earth that could be remembered long after you're gone. We all know famous names of politicians, of celebrities, of artists, musicians, scientists. If you really gain fame, pleasure, and riches, it's also critical that you think about what you lose when you choose what the world offers. You lose your soul. You would hear, you fool, this night your soul was required of you. We know without Christ, we'll ultimately be cast into the lake of fire. So what is gained in Christ? In Christ, you gain salvation. And all the true riches that everyone who gives their life to God have possible. Things we can't even wrap our heads around, actually. But, you know, eternal time with no more suffering, glorified bodies, amazing power, able to spend time at the throne of God. We talked about being around people that inspire us in this life. Imagine being able to sit around the throne of God and be inspired by every word and thought and action. What you gain in Christ is more than future riches also. It's peace now on earth. Because we see what matters versus the other five philosophies we've talked about. So if you put these alternatives on the scale, on one side is all that the world has to offer. On the other is all the riches in Christ. See, gaining the whole world would not outweigh your soul, would not outweigh all that God offers. All the riches of the world can't do that. You may have heard this story along the way about Sandy McIntyre. I don't know if you ever heard that one. But he found a mine, and he sold it for $25 to buy some liquor. He bought alcohol, he got drunk, and that mine later produced gold worth $250 million. But I can guarantee you it's far more tragic to exchange our souls for what the world offers than what Sandy McIntyre did. So hopefully today you found interest in a comparison because there are phrases we hear all the time. And so today I contrasted five things Jesus did not say with five things Jesus did say. He did not say, follow your heart, but did say, follow me. He did not say, be true to yourself, but he did say, whoever wants to be my disciples must deny himself. He did not say, believe in yourself, but did say, believe in me. He did not say, live your truth, but he said, I am the truth. And he did not say, as long as you are happy. But he did say, what will it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his soul?

See, the truth is it will be costly to follow Jesus Christ. That's reality. But if you consider the cost of rejecting Christ, then we realize, as a poor bargain, I'd much rather follow Christ for what the opportunities present themselves. Always be willing to give up what we cannot keep to gain at Christ's return spiritual glory, which we will keep for eternity.