Hi everyone, it's Scott. You know, decisions have consequences. Good decisions usually have good consequences. Bad decisions usually have bad consequences. And really bad decisions can have awful, horrible, even fatal consequences. Now if you're fortunate or you're lucky, you might have somebody with you that will warn you before you make a bad decision or a really bad decision. Someone in your life that will let you know to stop think again before you make a bad or really bad decision. Or in the case of, let's say, weather services or other types of services where they let you know what is coming so that you can make a good decision about what's about to come your way. But the decision is yours to make, and you'll either enjoy the consequences of a good decision, or you'll suffer the consequences of a bad decision. In this review, we're gonna hear from Jesus give us warning after warning after warning about what is coming in our future. And like a close friend, he's going to advise us of the bad, the awful, and the horrible consequences if we make a bad decision. Let's now hear what Jesus said about not following him. Okay, we're going to take a quick look at what Jesus said about not following him. In the Gospels, I was able to find roughly 30 locations where Jesus was talking about the impact of not following him. I've listed them all on the slide at the end of this video. We are not going to go through all 30 of them, but we are going to go through some of them to get a good sense of what Jesus is saying about not following him. You can use the slide at the end of the video for your own studies, for your own continued studies in this most important topic. So with that, why don't we get ourselves started? We're going to start here in Matthew chapter 12 in verse 33. Jesus says, either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person, out of the good treasure, brings forth good. The evil person, out of his evil treasure, brings forth evil. I tell you, on the Day of Judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. So we talked in the park about what is coming our way, and Jesus here is making it clear what is coming our way. We have judgment coming our way, all of us, and we need to make good decisions, very good decisions here and now, to prepare for that day, for that eventuality, for that truth. So, let's move on to the next one. He says here in Matthew chapter 12, Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. But he answered them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Noah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. So he is making it clear that there is a day of judgment that's on its way in the future for us. Next, in Matthew chapter 18, he says, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world for the temptations of sin. For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptations come. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands and two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes and be thrown into hellfire. So here he's saying point blank that there is a judgment coming and we will be accountable for all of our activities, all of our sins here in this life. Next, in Matthew chapter 19, it says, and behold, a man came up to him saying, teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? And he said to him, why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments. And he said to him, which ones? Jesus said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, all these I have kept, what do I still lack? Jesus said to him, if you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. In this exchange with this rich young man, Jesus got to the heart of his issue. On the outside, he was taking care of the law, he was fulfilling the law, he was doing all the things that was told to him he needed to do. But the issue was in his heart. He loved his riches and he was unwilling to give them up, even when the Messiah, the Son of God, is instructing him to do so, to let go of all of his riches and come follow me, come follow Jesus. And he was unwilling to do that because his riches had such a hold on his heart. This is very instructive for all of us. If there's anything that is holding us back from following Jesus, we need to let go of that to do so and to follow him with our whole heart. Next, in Mark chapter 16, verse 15, it says, and he said to them, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. So there is a very direct word from the Lord Jesus that if we do not believe in him, we will be condemned. So the decisions that we were talking about and the consequences of decisions that we talked about at the park, Right here, whoever does not believe will be condemned. So we need to make good decisions here. Next, Luke chapter 12. It says, someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, man, who made me judge or arbiter over you? And he said to them, take care. Be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable, saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you. the things you have prepared whose will they be so is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God so again we talked about the rich young ruler rich young man and here we are another rich man and and God is saying look You love your riches, you love the plenty that you have. Your life is being required of you this very night. Now, who is gonna receive all of this that you've done? And he says here, so it is, so is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. Next, in Luke chapter 12, it says, he also said to the crowds, when you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, a shower is coming, and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, there will be scorching heat, and it happens. You hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and sky. But why do you not know how to interpret the present time? And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny. Jesus here is telling us to interpret the time. The time that we have right now is a time of grace, where if we believe in the Lord Jesus now, there will be no judgment upon us if we place our hope and our trust in him now. If we fail to do that, then there will be consequences. And he's calling us all out, calling us all hypocrites. So we know how to look at the sky and see what's coming in the sky, but we don't have, we're not interpreting properly the sign of the times, the present time. And the present time that we have right now is a time for us to believe in and put our faith in the Lord Jesus. So I pray that we all do that. And then he says down here with regard to the accuser, he's saying that we have an accuser. Right now we have an accuser, we have someone that has accused us of wrongdoing and that we ought to make, we ought to make peace with that person unless we go before the judge and the judge throws us into jail and he says here, you will never get out until you've paid the very last penny. So the ability to make peace with God now, by Jesus, by believing in Jesus, by following Jesus, putting our faith in him, will keep us from the judge. It will make peace with our accuser and we will not be thrown into prison. Next, in Luke chapter 13, it says, there were some present At that very time, who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices? And he answered them, Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? No, I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. For those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Clear instruction from Jesus as to what he expects from us. He wants us to repent and come and believe in him, put our faith in him. In Luke chapter 16, Verse 13, it says, no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. I'll leave that right there. We cannot serve God and money straight from the mouth of Jesus. So let's serve God and set money aside. Let's not serve money, let's serve God. Amen? Amen. Next, in Luke chapter 18, it says, he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. So let's humble ourselves and make our way to Jesus and ask for mercy and forgiveness of our sins. Next, Luke chapter 19. It says, as they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling 10 of his servants, he gave them 10 minas and said to them, engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came to him, saying, Lord, your mina has made 10 minas more. And he said to him, well done, good servant. Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities. And the second came saying, Lord, your Mina has made five Minas. And he said to him, and you are to be over five cities. And then another came saying, Lord, here is your Mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief. For I was afraid of you because you are a severe man. You take what you do not deposit and reap what you did not sow. And he said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank? And at my coming, I might have collected it with interest. And he said to those who stood by, take the mina from him and give it to him who has the 10 minas. And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minas. I tell you that everyone who has, more will be given. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. Very severe words here, very severe words. The primary statement here is from those people, those citizens of his who said, we do not want this man to reign over us. And clearly the third servant was one of those people. And he says, I tell you that everyone who has more will be given, but from the one who has not, Even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who do not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. Very severe. Next, in Luke chapter 20, it says, and in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. I highlighted this because the scribes did not follow Jesus. They resisted him all along the way. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes, they were always hounding him throughout his ministry. And he's saying here that they will receive a greater condemnation because of all that they love, the honor that they love among the people. Jesus is saying, no, don't honor Don't hold up in our hearts the honor of men and women and people. Don't do that. Look for the honor that comes from God. Next, in John chapter three, it says, whoever believes in him, meaning himself, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. We talked about an accuser and making peace with our accuser. Jesus is saying here, whoever does not believe is condemned already. We have an accuser, the accuser is God himself, accusing us for sinning against him. And Jesus is saying that we have the opportunity to make peace with God, and that through the light that he's bringing to us himself, we have the opportunity to be reconciled with God. And he's saying here that people aren't coming to him. Why? Because people love darkness rather than light. It's a love of darkness instead of a love of light. We are not to love darkness. We are to love light. And so he's making it clear to us that we need to shun the darkness and walk towards his marvelous light himself. Next, John chapter 5. He says, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. And it is they, the scriptures, that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. Why is that? Why do we do that? We need to stop that. He goes on, I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? How is that? Amen. He's making it clear that we refuse to come to him we may have life. And he said earlier that we refuse to because we love darkness. We need to set darkness aside and go to him who is the light. Next, John chapter 8. It says, So he said to them again, I am going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. where I am going, you cannot come. So the Jews said, will he kill himself since he said, where I am going, you cannot come? He said to them, you are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. So they said to him, who are you? And Jesus said to them, just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true and I declare to the world what I have heard from him. How much more clear can Jesus be? For unless we believe that he is who he is, we will die in our sins. Next, in John chapter eight, He says, I know that you are the offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my words find no place in you. I speak of what I've seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God, and I'm here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil. and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not from God, you are not of God. We need to renounce, if the devil is our father, We need to renounce that relationship and run, run ourselves to Jesus Christ himself to save us from that awful, wicked, destructive, lying spirit. We have to run to Jesus. Next, in John chapter 12, it says, if anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge. The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment, what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me. So the very words that Jesus has spoken is going to judge us. Next, and finally, in John chapter 15, it says, if anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. This has been a very sobering review of what Jesus said about not following him. Jesus, like a good friend and a counselor and an advisor, is next to us telling us exactly what is going to come of those who do not follow him, who make a very, very bad decision in this life and the impact that it will have on our next life. There is a slide at the end of this video that you can review all of these scriptures and additional ones. Again, we didn't look at all of them. We took a sampling of them, right around half. Use those scriptures, use the ones that we've gone through and the ones that are on that slide as the warning that they are. Warning after warning after warning, Jesus is warning us here of what is to come if we do not believe in him. Let's go back out to the park and wrap things up. So some quick questions before we close out this important review. The first one is, just how bad are the consequences of not following Jesus, of making a decision not to follow Jesus? I think the answer there is that they are fatal and they are eternal. There's no coming back from the really bad decision of not following Jesus. Next question, does Jesus make any accommodations for other ways to come to God? The answer is no. Jesus makes no accommodation for other ways to God. It is his way or it is no way. Third question, did Jesus do anything to prove to us that he was telling the truth, that we can trust what he was saying? That answer is yes. He was nailed to a cross and he died on that cross. They put him in a tomb. And three days later, he came back to life and came out of that tomb alive. And he is alive today. So yes, he did something quite remarkable. No one else has ever done it before. in order for us to know that he was telling the truth. Last and final question, what can a person do to avoid the warnings that Jesus brought to us in this review? The answer is to make a good decision and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of our sins, and to put all of our faith in the risen Lord Jesus. Then receive all of the blessed consequences of making that great decision. I pray that you do. God bless you as you do, and then spend the rest of your life following Jesus. God bless you, friend. Until next time, bye now.