So the question that I doubt you have an answer to is how much money is enough for you? How much is enough? When will you know it's enough? We need to come asking God to give our, to set our attention on these words here that Jesus spoke. Because if these words are true, then the things you own, the treasures you have, the wealth you possess, could be a hazard to your eternal life. And you don't want that. It's really interesting, you know, we are such a privileged people. We live, thank God, in a time unlike the world has ever seen. I've shared this with you before. I mean, even those of us who we wouldn't consider very rich or wealthy, you know, we still have, you still have closets full of clothes you don't wear. And garages full of stuff you don't use. And pantries full of food you may not get to eating. As I've shared with you before, You don't have needs. You don't even have wants. You have Amazon Prime and Walmart delivery. This is a wonderful thing, by the way. I'm not trying to bash on this because Really, it's truly, we are so privileged, and this is a wonderful thing, and the world has not seen this historically. And even today, currently, most of the world does not live on this level of possession and wealth. But the thing that you have to understand is, when we tie all this together, when we look at the stuff, and the money, and the food, and the trappings, and the houses, and the lands, and the possessions, and the 401Ks, and the Roth IRAs, and all those things put together, the great danger is that you could be given onto a false sense of security when it comes to these things. false sense of refuge and hope when it comes to this stuff as Anyone will tell you except maybe The the Pharaohs who were mummified they didn't know it at the time, but they learned you cannot take this with you when you what? It's the truth. It is the truth. You can't do it. I And Jesus wanted his disciples when he walked the earth in his day and you today to understand that the more you accumulate in this life, the more wealth you have, it is not automatically a help for you. In fact, it's more likely a spiritual hindrance. More than likely, it becomes a spiritual hindrance to you. And it was in the case with this rich young man who came to Jesus, asking for eternal life. And when Jesus showed him the way, sell off everything you have, give it to the poor, and come and follow me, Jesus or stuff became his option. And what did he choose in sorrow? He chose his stuff. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. So we're coming on part two of this, or really part three of this sermon series on the rich young men, young man. Jesus does what he has been doing. He does some sort of public ministry before the eyes of the disciples, and then he pulls them away to conference them so they could digest what happened and Jesus could give them a direct teaching and application of eternal truth. And as I shared with you last week, The main thing I want you to know about this whole section is that a man who treasures earthly riches is a man who cannot follow Jesus and go to heaven. It's not necessarily a man or a woman. I could say a man or a woman, but as I mentioned, this was about the rich young man, so he's the example. It's not so much a man who has earthly riches. It's a man who treasures them, delights in them. covets after them, finds satisfaction and security in them. For that one, for that man, for that woman, you cannot follow Jesus and go to heaven. And last time, if you would remember, the big thing, the point that I camped out on was that this, when it comes to following Jesus, remember, Jesus says these two words, follow me. This is the way to eternal life. To obey this commandment means that God will win heaven for you if you follow Jesus. But following Jesus first and foremost, primarily, you could say first and last, is about treasuring Jesus above all. Being satisfied in Jesus, exalting in Jesus, finding that when it comes to Jesus, there are no competitors in this world, there are no competitors in heaven, there are no competitors on earth. Jesus is your all-glorious, all-sufficient treasure. Nothing compares with Him. God says in Isaiah 42, I am the Lord and my glory I will not share with another. And really, this is a principle that Jesus has been bringing up all throughout His earthly ministry. Remember, there are only two ways. It's Christ and everything else. Two trees, the good tree, the bad tree. Two destinations, the destination of heaven, the destination of hell. Two builders, the one who builds his life on Christ's words, and the one who builds his life on worldly wisdom. Two masters, God or money. Those are the only ways. There's no competition when it comes to Christ. You either serve Christ or you serve something else. So, following Jesus first and foremost is about being one to Him, being taken up in Him, being in love with Him, being captivated by Him, treasuring Him, being satisfied in Him. Leads me to the second point today about following Jesus. The second point is this, following Jesus is impossible while depending on earthly riches instead of Jesus. He wants his disciples to know that money and earthly treasure is not dependable. Let me say a word about the nature of earthly riches because I don't want you to think in the very negative term about wealth and riches on earth. Because there is kind of a strong and passionate teaching that declares that rich people, if you're rich, you're automatically going to hell. Like, God hates the rich and he's going to punish the rich just because they're rich. That's not true at all when it comes to scripture. Jesus did, when he was incarnate, when he was on the earth, he chose the life of poverty. He became poor for your sakes so that you could become rich in him. And money was a topic that he talked about more than any other subject. Two topics, more than any other subject. First was money, second was hell. Those two go together. But he did not despise wealthy men and women. You may think as you read this, Jesus says, again, I tell you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. right it's with great difficulty a rich person enters the kingdom of god this is the same principle by the way it's with difficulty and then it's easier for a camel um these this is what what uh would be known in jesus day as what a rabbinic exaggeration or a rabbinic hyperbole He's not saying that it's just really hard for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. He's saying, take a camel, that's the biggest animal in Palestine, wherever you look, that was the biggest animal in Palestine, and try and squeeze it through a sewing needle, the eye of a sewing needle. How possible is that? It's impossible. Now you might read that statement and just say, well, there it goes. That means all the rich, boom, their lot is cast. They cannot go to heaven. That's it. It's impossible. And that's ultimately ripping it out of context and not seeing what Jesus is meaning here. He's saying you cannot depend on riches. Because if you think about it just in this way, I asked the question, how much money is enough? Well, when it comes to rich people, it's all comparative, right? I mean, think about it. Think about what it takes to be qualified in someone's mind as being rich for Hebron, Maryland. What does it mean to be rich for Hebron, Maryland, right? And then say, what does it mean to be rich in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, right? It's all relative. But then it's even more tricky to think about because if I were to tell you that just by owning a cell phone, and a computer, and a car, and a house, that puts you in the top 2-3% of all the wealthy people in the world. That's pretty rich. That means we're all doomed, right? We don't stand a chance. Just by owning those things. Now, some of y'all have self-driving cars. I don't know if you have those or not. That would mean, whoa, I'm preaching to people and we all don't stand a chance. Let me tell you a little about, just a little survey here of riches in the Bible and money in the Bible. Down through the Old Testament, you'll see that before there was ever one sin in the whole world, ever, no sin had ever been committed. God created the earth and he put gold and jewels and precious stones into the ground of the earth. He did that. He gave Abraham riches. He gave Jacob riches. He gave Job riches twice. David, Solomon, Josiah, Hezekiah, all became very rich at the hand of God. Proverbs, the book of Proverbs teaches that steady plotting and hard work, it's a truism, it's not true in every case, but steady plotting and hard work yield a rich supply of wealth for generations. Jesus, when he was on the earth, yes, he came among the poor, but guess where he found faith? He found faith in the wealthy centurion, likely probably the wealthiest man in all of that region around Nazareth and Cana and all that period. and all that region. Wealthy women serve Jesus and finance the disciples in ministry. Peter preached in Cornelius's house, who was a centurion in Caesarea, and that rich man's entire family came to faith. Paul preached to Lydia, who was a wealthy merchant in Philippi. All of this is to say that God does not hate rich people. Jesus did not withhold the keys to the kingdom from rich people simply because they're rich. Money, people listen, money is not evil, okay? It's not evil. It's not good either, but it's not evil. Money is neither moral nor immoral. It's what we say amoral. If I put a stack of 20s on that chair next to Brother Bill here, an inch thick, that was like three feet high, and everybody could see it, you might really want it, I don't know. But if I was right there, and I was preaching, and I was saying, repent, come to Christ, leave your sins, money could never do any of that stuff. Become righteous, become holy, money could never do any of that stuff. Money is amoral. Money is not the problem. What's the problem? You. You're the problem. Money's not the problem, it's you. It's within us. It's in the person who has that craving. Remember what 1 Timothy 6.10 says. The love of money is the what? Root of all kinds of evils. So you say, well, what does that love mean? What does it mean to love money? Well, Paul answers that in the very next sentence. He says it is through this craving, this craving that some have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. It's the craving of money. Why do we crave money? What are the reasons we crave money? And so I want to give a couple reasons to watch out for the craving of money and why this is so ruinous. Money, for one, it causes you to depend on money. Money, for cravers, becomes a master. When you put your treasure and your sights and your hope on money and riches and possessions, what happens? A whole range of emotions and feelings and attachments come and go with it, right? You begin to feel validated by your money or invalidated by your loss of it or lack of it. You gain anxiety about money. You take comfort in money. You try and look at money as your source of peace. Money becomes the goal, the focus, the worry, or the ambition of your life. And it is true that when you do have many things, you do have many things, and your wealth is, you could say your wealth is healthy. and you're sitting on a pile or you've got it stored up and all those things. It is true that the cares or the trials of life don't afflict you as severely. The rich don't experience the hardships, the poor experience. It's just the truth. And what does that do? It causes a false sense of security. The rich have access to better medicine, better health, better resources, better food, all of that. The rich have access to better comforts. I thought about this this past week, you know, in the changing of the seasons, I finally had to admit to myself, I have allergies. And I know that's, I'm not complaining, but I, and I know that's not a, that's not nearly as a health crisis as some of you face, but I've never had to think, I just hadn't really come to that point of thinking, man, I'm just susceptible to the seasons changing. Just makes me feel crummy. Just makes you long for feeling better. Well, people, when you're in that condition of wealth and riches, you just don't think you need better. The thing you think you need better is more money. You don't think you need a better life, a more fulfilling life, a more soul-satisfying life. You may not even think you need a savior, and that's the big difference, that's the big trouble, that false sense of security, that you are your own savior. Money causes you to trust in yourself, or the love of money. And Jesus says, no, you can't depend on money for those things. Because if you do depend on money for those things, you won't depend on Him. You'll be serving another master, following another Lord. If you're looking for money to that which gives you life, remember as I said last time, you're looking to an idol. You're looking to something only God can provide. Second thing I want you to think about when it comes to money is riches are the natural way that humans estimate themselves and one another. If you were to meet a person new in this church and they look very normal, you talk to them, you have a wonderful conversation, you go home and you find out that you were just talking with a billionaire, you begin to think a little bit differently. It has that way, money and possessions and wealth has a way of making you view others or yourself differently. You tend to think something about that person yourself. And truly, this is the case. It doesn't matter how you make money. It could be given to you, inherited, your wealth, your possessions, your properties. It could be something you won. It could be a lottery winning. It could be hard work. It could be compound interest. Whatever it is, the more money you have, there's this great temptation to view yourself, to view others a little differently. to view more of yourself and less of others. Just remember that whoever has the most money is not the best off. It's whoever has God's grace is the best off. Look at this rich young man. He had lots of possessions. Great were his possessions. Gospel Luke says this young man was extremely rich. Who was better off? Him or the disciples who had left everything to follow Jesus? As a pastor, I know that historically in the church there's a common plague in many churches where it's people with money who think they can steer the church, the big givers. You don't want to offend the big givers because they are the steers of the church. They think of themselves that way. Certainly, I'm so thankful for all the gifts of anyone who gives, but if if it is the case that you feel like you could steer God's family by your wealth, may it never be. Paul, Peter would say, let your gold and silver perish with you. GK Chesterton said the rules of the church favor the poor, and sadly the drift of the church favors the rich. Can't be that way. Can't be that way. The third part here I want you to see about earthly riches is that earthly riches tend to go hand in hand with self-righteousness. Look at this man. He was self-righteous. You know, he believed he had achieved every commandment He had all this money and all these possessions and the disciples to viewed this young man as righteous in the eyes of In the eyes of the Jewish culture if you were a Jewish person you were favored with possessions people believe oh that must be a measure of God's favor upon you God's approval of you and And I think this is very tempting for wealthy people, is that people believe that there's no, there's no grief between them and God. There's no struggle in their heart because money, wealth, possessions is God's proof of their righteousness in his sight. It's not the case. I want to prove this to you with a look at Luke 16, verses 13-15. Jesus said these words. He said, No servant can serve two masters, for 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. The Pharisees who were lovers of money, the Pharisees were the self-righteous religious leaders of the day. The Pharisees who were lovers of money heard all these things and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. of the wealthy religious zealots proving that He's righteous in the sight of others and flashing His wealth to show, look, God has approved of me. He has accepted me. Christ finds that abominable. I want to summarize these statements by putting these riches in with all the other teachings of Jesus. And let me just say, all of us, every one of us, should examine and evaluate our hearts towards money. It should be the case. It's a necessity. It is. It is truly a necessity. We have to use it. We have to save it. We have to spend it. All of these things we have to provide. And God blesses us by His own hand. He takes good care of His people. It's just part of life, but we have to examine our hearts, our attitudes towards it, our dependability, our dependence on money and wealth. Everyone should examine. Everyone, you should examine your attitude towards money right now. As some are thinking, you know what, if I had more money, I'd be more faithful in the church. I'd be a better servant. If I just had a little more, I'd be more available. I'd be whatever. You could say that. If I had more money, I'd be more useful. If I had more money, I'd be more happy. And I just want you to remember the basic principle that Jesus holds out. What does he say? He who is faithful with a little will be entrusted with what? Much. You will know how faithful you will be one day with how faithful you are being when? Now. You're scraping by, you're scrapping, whatever it is, hey, you be faithful with what you have. Trust God to take care of the rest later on down the road. Don't covet tomorrow. Be faithful with today. But Jesus says something shocking here. He says this issue of worldly wealth could be the scandal that ruins your soul. It could be the scandal. If money is causing you worry, if it's causing you pride, if it's causing you to covet, if it's giving you a false sense of security, if it's causing you to feel righteous about yourself, to look down on others, If it's distracting you from following Jesus, hear me clearly, hear Jesus clearly, get rid of it. That sounds extreme. But Jesus says, sell your possessions, give to the poor. Remember what Jesus said about all the other issues. Remember what he says. If your right hand causes you to sin, do what? If your right eye causes you to sin, do what? This is great liturgy, by the way. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your right eye causes you to sin, cut it out, because it's better for you to enter heaven maimed than enter into hell with hands and eyes that cause your sin and cause you to be there. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Jesus asks. It is better for you to walk into heaven with nothing but faith than to trip over your property into hell. This past week I watched with my son, a television remake of the famous Treasure Island. You guys have read the book Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson. And the TV remake took some liberty and really villainized this character named Squire Trelawney. In the book, he's really noble. In the movie, they turn him into a greedy financer of this treasure hunt. He's greedier than anyone in the whole show. He's greedier than the buccaneers and their mutinies and their stabbing and killing one another for treasure. He's greedier than anyone else. And at the end, when Jim Hawkins and Captain Smollett begin traveling back to Britain with all the treasure on the ship, Jim Hawkins sees that this treasure is a curse. It has caused men to drive It has driven men into insanity, into money lust, into killing, into plundering, into doing all sorts of crazy evils, just like 1 Timothy 6.10 says. And so Jim Hawkins begins throwing the treasure overboard, just right into the ocean. It's shallow water at the time, but just throwing it in the ocean. Squire Trelawney, who is by far the wealthiest person on the whole voyage, has that lust, that craving for money. You know what he does? He jumps right over the starboard side of the ship into the water, chasing down the treasure to the ocean floor. And you know time is running out, air is expiring in his lungs and inside his body, and he's stuffing treasure into his pockets as he's drowning. And he tries at the last moment to kick up from the ground to come and get some air, and his foot gets snagged in the treasure, and he drowns. while everyone else gives up the treasure so that they can make it safely home. That's a powerful picture. He already had all the money in the world and wanted more. Do not let that be you. Let the money sink away, let the treasure sink away so that you can fly free to God and to follow Christ without these hindrances that keep you from being faithful to Him, that keep you from being distracted from His glory, that keep you from being loving and concerned from others, that keep you being Keep you from being loving and concerned for your family as an excuse for making that extra buck, extra dollar. That keep you from giving to missions and giving to the church. That keep you from investing in that which will never fade away. Let those things go. If all they are is storing up treasures on earth, but you store up treasures where? In heaven. In heaven. Third, I want you to see that following Jesus is a gift of God's grace. His disciples were greatly astonished at Jesus' teaching. They saw in this man, the rich young ruler, a sure choice for heaven. His good deeds and his wealth had to make him God's first pick for heaven. I mean, surely that had to be the case. If his great keeping of the commandments and his wealth wasn't proof that he was God's number one choice, then what could it be? What they were asking was, who has the power to be saved? Who has the power to obey the call to follow Jesus? Who is able, Jesus, to treasure you above great wealth and riches? Who can do it? And Jesus' answer? No one, actually. It can't be done. It can't be done. In sin, our nature is just what? It goes after things that are natural. It goes after things that perish. Only God can prove the worth of Christ to a human in sin. That's why I provided this 2 Corinthians 4 passage here. It's that God is the one by His Spirit who must open your eyes to see. that Jesus Christ is the treasure worth selling everything and going after. That Jesus Christ is the infinitely valuable one. He is the pearl of great price. Only the Spirit can give you eyes to see that. Men and women are blind to the beauty of Christ apart from the work of God in their lives. It's by the light that comes from heaven that shines into your eyes. to give you that vision of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So what is your task then? If you are blind, if you can't see the work and worth of Christ, you must know this, that Jesus is the One who purchased your obedience. You have to hear the Gospel again, that Jesus is the One who purchased your obedience when He died on the cross. And when He was resurrected, He's the One who made the way for you to have new and everlasting life. And He's the one who gives His Spirit so that you can be born again. Your task is to ask God to send the Spirit and say, Spirit, Holy Spirit, would you make me see with eyes of faith? Say to the Spirit, I want to behold all the worth and beauty of Jesus. I want to come to Jesus. I want to go with Jesus. Say, Spirit, come down upon me and wake my soul up to the worth of Jesus. This is all God's grace. It's all God's grace. It's all God's grace. Fourth and last, here it is, following Jesus, will never... Take this down. I want you to hear this as you go from here today. Following Jesus will never make anyone a loser. Do you hear me? No man is a loser, no woman is a loser who follows Jesus Christ. Peter raises a question, and Jesus doesn't despise it. Sometimes I wonder why Jesus didn't slap these men sometimes. See, Jesus, we have left everything to follow You. What will we get? What will become of us? What will we have? You know, Jesus is not impressed when the rich flaunt their riches in front of Him. He's not impressed. But neither is He impressed when people flash their voluntary poverty in front of Him. He's not impressed by that at all either. But Jesus doesn't despise this. In fact, he receives this question and deals with it gently, making incredible promises. And let me just tell you this, these are promises that only God can make. Man cannot deliver on this promise. What politician can deliver on this promise? What celebrity, what rich man, what rich woman, who can make this kind of promise? There is none. It is only God alone, God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. So Jesus says, here it is, there are actually great rewards. Rewards that you can't even fathom right now. Rewards that you can only lay hold of right now by faith, and then one day your faith will be turned aside, and you shall own them fully. For the disciples, And this is kind of an interesting passage here. They will be rulers over judges over all God's household in the new heavens in the new earth. Now. There's a few interpretations on this, but I want to I want to land on one and share it with you, and I think it'll make sense. What does Jesus mean here when he says there will be your rule from 12 thrones? Over the 12 tribes of Israel. Well, I believe what he is saying is just what I said, that in the new heavens and the new earth, when the earth is renewed and heaven and earth are joined as one and Jesus dwells with his people personally on the earth, on this new earth. These 12 disciples, minus Judah, plus Paul, and however it works with Matthias. Anyway, these 12 disciples will be the leaders, will be near to Jesus, will be with Him. They will be the leaders, the fathers of the household of God. Why do I say this? This has already begun to happen, actually. It has already begun to happen. These 12 men, minus Judas, and then plus one more Paul, became the judges of the church in the New Covenant. They become the judges of the New Covenant people of God, the new Israel. Like the Old Testament writers, who were the prophets, these men become the apostles who wrote the book that's called the New Testament. The New Testament. And the New Testament is what? It is the standard, the rule, the judge for the church. The Israel of God, as Paul would say in Galatians. Ephesians 2.19-20 says the church, the whole church, being built up on the foundation of the prophets, meaning the Old Testament, and the apostles, meaning the New Testament, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone. What I mean by this is they have already begun to be the judges in the fact that they've written the New Testament for us. the guides. And in the new heavens and the new earth where Christ will finally dwell with his people. These first disciples will be leading everyone to Jesus still. Not out of sin, since we'll all be together, but they will be there as leaders. Don't quite know how beyond that. But the next rewards Jesus extends out in general to every true disciple. He says this. and everyone who has left houses are brothers or sisters. Everyone who loses for Christ's name's sake will be rewarded 100-fold. As Jim Elliott said, the missionary to South America, he said, he is no fool to lose what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Did you hear that? Whatever you lose for the sake of Christ's name, Whether it's popularity, wealth, possessions, even human relationships, dear human relationships, whatever you lose will be repaid 100-fold. People, let your lives ride upon this principle. You have to receive it and trust in this principle by faith. Why faith? Because you can't see this perfectly yet. You can't see this yet. You can see money going out from your accounts. You can see houses burned. You can see people die. All those things. You could see all that. You may not be able to see. Your reward, your heavenly reward yet. That's why it's called faith. We take Christ at His Word to look to things that are unseen. You will receive. That's what Jesus says. You will receive. Not you might receive. It's you what? Will. It's a guarantee. That's the plan of God for you. Should you lose status, favor, money, possessions, even precious relationships in your pursuit of Christ, you will never finally lack. You will never lose. You cannot ever lose. And I think, just as I wrap up here, I think Jesus has already begun to give tokens of this reward. Even on the earth today, these little guarantees. Because Jesus says, when you follow Him, if you leave behind whatever it is you leave behind to follow Him, He begins to reward it. And that first happens when you come into the church, right? It first happens when you join a church, when you become joined to a local body of believers. And your heart is joined to people with different gifts and different callings. And some people are younger than you. And some people are your same age. And some people are older than you. And some people are your brothers and your sisters and your moms and your dads. And so whatever you lose in this life, you begin to be grafted into an eternal family that is visible today even as we look upon each other. We are looking at a visible manifestation of an eternal reality where we will be with all the family of God. But today it's here among souls that Christ has redeemed. People, God gives this to you. It's a token to say, look, there's going to be a day when you are going to receive a family that is as numerous as the stars in the sky. Not only that, it's the houses and lands. Where does this come in? Well, you just think as we go and evangelize and we share the gospel and missions goes forth and carries the cross of Christ out to the world, guess what happens? People get saved. Neighborhoods turn to Christ. Cities turn to Christ. Heaven will turn to Christ. The world will turn to Christ. Nations will turn to Christ. And then one day, all the nations will be glad, Psalm says. God's name will be great from the rising of the sun to its setting. We don't see that now today. But just look, there is no place in the world that you can't stand as a Christian and say, well, let me put it to you this way. Everywhere you go as a Christian, every part of dirt you stand on on this earth, every part of land, one day will be yours. Do you know that? Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the what? The earth. It's all God's. He's going to give it to His children. He's going to give it to everybody. But here's the thing. All these things, they're not even the greatest gift. As lovely as you people are, as awesome as it is to think about inheriting a world of glory with God and His people, there is yet one more promise that you have to take. Do you know what it is? It's right here. This is it. Right here. We'll receive a hundredfold and we'll inherit Eternal life. That's it. That's it. Eternal life, y'all. Eternal life. What costs you today isn't all that expensive when you think about eternal life. What you give up, what you forsake, what you run from today so that you might go with Christ Jesus. Let me tell you something. Learn it from Jesus. You will gain an imperishable inheritance. And that is an eternal life with this one here who uttered these words. who does not withhold a good thing from any of God's children. Because God, who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with us graciously give us all things? You see, He's given us Jesus. Jesus is the gift of God. Jesus is the gift of God that brings us into salvation through our belief in him. He is the gift of God that holds us in salvation as we follow him. He is the gift of God that is our salvation when we shall be with him and see him as he is on that day, either when you die or when he comes again. He is the eternally satisfying great reward. He is eternal life. You might be thinking, I'm sure there's a catch to this, right? I'm sure there's some sort of loophole out of this. Is there, you know, you said, You've said that you've got to leave your possessions, leave your stuff and follow Jesus. Is there kind of like an easier way of thinking about this? You know, Jesus says anyone who does not hate his mother and father and hate even his own life cannot come after me and be my disciple. If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. And you might be thinking. Well, does he really mean that? Does he really mean these words? Like, are you really telling me, Pastor, that when it comes down to it, it's Christ or other things, and there's not any wiggle room? And it might be pretty costly. It might cost me favor with my family. It might cost me riches. It might cost me these things. It might cost me everything to follow Jesus. Let me tell you something. You have made the exactly right assessment of what Jesus says when he says, follow me. That is it, to follow Jesus, to see him as the treasure, to see him as the one who died for you, to see him as the one who is Lord of all because he was resurrected from the grave, and to know that whatever you lose, Following Jesus is worth it. It is eternally worth it. Christ will not share his glory with another. He will not share his glory with your bank account, people. I'm just telling you. He's not going to share his glory with your garage full of antiques. He's not going to share His glory with your dear relationships who picket your Christianity and who don't want you to go all in with Jesus because you'll be too churchy or whatever. He's not going to share His glory with those people. Don't give it to those things. Give glory to Christ. He alone is worth it. Let's pray.