In Jason Dohm's sermon, 'A Terrible Price To Pay,' the message centers on the spiritual dangers of valuing material wealth over a relationship with Jesus. Dohm contrasts last week's idea that possessing Jesus is worth any earthly loss with this week's warning that having everything but Jesus makes one spiritually impoverished. He discusses the biblical notion of 'woe,' referring to grief and condemnation for those who trust in their riches rather than God. Through various biblical passages and parables, Dohm highlights the difficulty of maintaining faith and humility when wealth becomes a substitute for trust in God. The sermon warns of the ease with which material abundance can lead one to forget God and neglect spiritual needs. Dohm underscores the importance of prioritizing spiritual wealth over material gain, and the eternal consequences of failing to do so. The sermon calls for self-examination about what individuals truly value and serve in their lives.

The title of the message today is, A Terrible Price to Pay. This is really sermon number two of our sermon series of The Price to Pay. Last week's title was, A Small Price to Pay. It was the price that is often required to follow Jesus. So paying that price doesn't buy you a spot with Jesus.

I'm not saying you do that in order to be saved, but I am saying when you're saved, often then following Jesus, there are costs to following Jesus. Anyone who's walked with Jesus for a while knows that often there are prices to be paid in different categories of life. Might be a financial price to pay, might be a relationship price to pay. And that these hardships encountered while following Jesus are not a small price to pay in an absolute sense, meaning we're not being asked to deny that they're real hardships and that sometimes in an absolute sense they are a high price to pay, but they're a small price to pay in a relative sense, compared with what you gain. So if you just look at the price, you might say, what a high price to pay.

But if you take a few steps back and you look at the big picture and you see what you gain for the price that's paid, you'll say, oh that's no price at all. So the big truth from last week's text was that if everything else is stripped away but you have Jesus you are actually rich if your hardships happen in Christ united to the Lord Jesus by faith so that your losses are quote for this son of man's sake that was the actual language of the text then your losses are not even worthy to be compared with all that you've gained in possessing Jesus and all that comes with belonging to Jesus. So in that sense it's a small price to pay, not even worthy to be compared with possessing Jesus and all that comes with belonging to Him. This week's text is the exact mirror image. So if we look on the other side of that coin, what do we see?

The big truth is that if you have everything else But don't have Jesus, you are actually very poor. So, last week, if I have nothing else but I have Jesus, I'm rich. This week, if I have everything else but I don't have Jesus, I'm terribly, terribly poor. And I've paid a terrible price to have everything else, but in having everything else have given up possessing Jesus. This is sort of the second half of what Jesus is teaching here.

Both sides of the coin, a mirror image of one another. Let's ask God to help us. God, Jesus, you are setting before us in these verses your tremendous worth. Not said explicitly, but it has to mean this. If it's true that if everything else is stripped away but I have you, I'm actually rich.

And if it's true that if I have everything else but I don't possess you I'm actually poor it must mean that you are of infinite worth infinite value and I pray that our hearts would grab hold of that truth today and would never let it go that our lives would be shaped by that. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, the first part of our text this week is About being rich without Jesus look at verse 24 being rich without Jesus Jesus says But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." Now what exactly does woe mean? Have you used that in a conversation in the last decade?

Janet says she has. That must have been directed at me at some point. Rings a bell. Woe to you who are rich. What does woe mean?

It is an interjection, so now we're thinking exclamation point, an interjection, think exclamation mark, of grief or condemnation. It's something that you should grieve over or that signals your condemnation. Jesus is actually, we're going to encounter it I think three times in this text, woe to you are rich, woe to you who are full, woe to you when all men speak of you. So we'll encounter it three times. Jesus is saying of these things, you are headed for grief and condemnation.

You are headed to grieving, and you are headed to condemnation. You are on a path that takes you to grief and condemnation if what Jesus is saying describes you. What's wrong with having significant material resources? What's wrong with being rich? At least two things.

First, number one, human Nature is such that it is incredibly hard to have riches without trusting in them. This is the first thing that's wrong with riches, biblically speaking. It is incredibly hard. Human nature is such, the stuff that you're made of is such, that it is incredibly hard to have riches without trusting in those riches. It's hard to say it more clearly than Proverbs 18 verses 10 through 11.

Just listen to this. Proverbs 18 verses 10 through 11. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own esteem." So you have the contrast.

The righteous, the righteous say, the Lord is a strong tower and they run to Him and they're safe in their strong tower, the Lord. The rich man says, wealth is my strong city. My wealth is like a high wall. It shields me from every danger. And it feels to the wealthy man like his riches shield him from every danger.

God warns the Israelites about this danger as He's bringing them into a land flowing with milk and honey." He says, I'm bringing you into a land of abundance, but be careful. Listen to this. This is Deuteronomy 6 verses 10 through 12. Listen to Deuteronomy 6 verses 10 through 12. So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things which you did not fill, you now wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant.

When you have eaten and are full, then beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage." God brought these slaves out of Egypt and a house of bondage and he brought them into a land of abundance. Beautiful cities. They didn't build those cities. Vineyards, olive trees, they didn't plant any of that. Houses full of good things.

They didn't even build those houses. They didn't fill those houses with the good things. But he said, Be careful. Beware. Lest you forget the Lord.

Riches can make you forget the Lord you start thinking it was me It was me Riches can make you drowsy can make you forgetful And remember Luke chapter 5 verse 31 We were just there not long ago. Luke chapter 5 verse 31. Jesus said, those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. He's not talking about physical health and a physical physician. He's talking about a spiritual sense that something is terribly wrong with me so that you go for help in your desperate need.

Those who feel a desperate spiritual need go to Christ to heal them of their spiritual disease. It is very, very difficult to convince a rich person that they're in desperate need. It is almost impossible to convince a rich person that they're in desperate need. Everything seems to them to be easy to acquire. Everything seems to them to be at their fingertips.

If they need it, they just buy it. They just get it because they have resources for it, but that doesn't work in every category. What will you do about your soul? Will you pay money for your soul to redeem your soul. That's why in Matthew 19, Jesus says this, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a very large thing to pass through a very small thing than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. The disciples are shocked by this and they say, Who then can be saved? Why do they say that? Because we tend to think the rich have their act together.

That's why they're rich, because they have their act together. And the rich are enjoying God's favor. If they weren't enjoying God's favor, why would they be rich? But both of those things can be terribly wrong, meaning riches is no sign that you actually have your act together, at least not in the spiritual category. It might mean that you're good at business.

It could mean that. But riches are not an automatic sign of the favor of God. Riches actually can be a sign of God's curse upon you. The disciples ask who then can be saved and what does Jesus say? With men this is impossible, But with God all things are possible.

So that's the number one thing that is dangerous about riches. Human nature is such that it is incredibly hard to have riches without serving them. It's hard to have them without trusting them, and it's hard to have them without serving them. So it's hard to get them, and it's hard to have them without serving them. Some people have riches because They gave everything to get them, and now they're serving them.

Jesus says this in Matthew 6, Listen to Jesus in Matthew 6, 19-21, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, Where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So If you have riches, it's hard not to treasure them, and when you treasure them, they have your heart. You thought that they would serve you, but you end up serving them. It's reversed.

Then a couple of verses later in verse 24, Jesus says this, no one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he would be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." What is mammon? Material possessions, material treasures, material riches. You cannot serve God and material treasures.

Jesus, we haven't gotten to them yet, but we're coming to them in Luke, Jesus gives us two parables in the upcoming chapters that throw so much light on what he's teaching here. The first is in Luke 12. Turn to Luke 12. Luke 12. I'm going to read this first parable that throws light on today's text.

Luke 12. Follow along as I read Luke 12 13 through 21. My uninspired heading in my Bible says, the parable of the rich fool. Then one from the crowd said to him, to Jesus, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But Jesus said to him, man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you." And he said to them, "'Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.'" Then he spoke a parable to them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.

And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops? So he said, I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build greater and there I will store all my crops and my goods and I will say to my soul soul you have many goods laid up for many years Take your ease eat drink and be merry But God said to him fool This night your soul would be required of you Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." This rich man who had a bumper crop knows exactly what he's going to do. He's going to pull down the old inadequate barns that won't hold all the abundance that's come his way, and he's going to build bigger barns, and then he'll say to his soul, soul take your ease, eat drink and be merry.

All these things have come my way for me, and He lays up treasure for Himself, and He's not rich toward God. He thought those goods, those riches, would serve Him, but really He's serving them and He's not rich towards God. It cost Him His soul. His soul was required of him that night. In the book of James, James says, you do not have because you do not ask.

You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. James says, you don't have because you don't ask, and when you ask, you're asking for all the wrong reasons that when you get what you ask for, you just spend it on you. You spend it on your own pleasures. The second parable that I think sheds so much light on today's text is in Luke 16. So just turn a couple of pages further.

Follow along as I read Luke 16 verses 19 through 31. Luke 16, 19 through 31. There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. To fare sumptuously is to live in luxury, to have the best of everything in abundance. There was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's stable.

Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. Being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame.

But Abraham said, son remember that in your lifetime you received your good things. Likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented. Besides all this, between us and you there is a great goal fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us." Then he said, I beg you therefore, Father, that you would send them to my Father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment. Abraham said to him, they have Moses and the prophets.

Let them hear them. And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though One rise from the dead. Think of how ironic that is that Jesus rose from the dead and people still don't believe in him So I think about the reversal that happens in the world in Physical life on planet Earth. There was a rich man living with all the best of everything, everything at his fingertips.

There was a beggar at his door whose life was full of hardship and misery. It's clear from the context that the beggar was a repentant man who trusted God, and so when he died, he went to paradise. And when the rich man died, he never got around to repenting. And I do want to say it that way. He might, we don't know, but he doesn't have to have been an openly blasphemous man.

It's enough that you just never get around to repenting. That's plenty to cause your sins to cling to you, to never be separated from all the things that you think, all the things that you say, all the things that you do that are unworthy of being an image bearer of God. That's all it takes is never getting around to repenting of these things. Our text says, but woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Rich, you rich without Jesus, you've gotten all the comfort that you're going to get for all eternity.

You got it in this life. In this parable in Luke 16, Abraham says, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things. All the good you're ever going to get you've already received in this lifetime. So the scriptures give us many warnings about the dangers of having a lot of money. It's dangerous to have a lot of money.

It can put you to sleep so that you never get around to repenting because you never feel desperate. Because It seems to you like your riches are like a high wall, a strong city that will protect you from everything. It will not. At the core, The key danger is that the pursuit of riches and having riches is the master and not Jesus. This is the core of the danger.

The pursuit of riches, chasing them, desiring them, coveting them, exhausting yourselves to get them, and then having them is the Master and not Jesus. But Jesus asks this question, What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? So let's take riches to the nth degree. And for the sake of argument, give you the whole world. What does it profit if you've gained the whole world, but you lose your soul for your life which is a vapor which comes and goes and will barely be remembered by you in eternity, comes and goes, and you had the whole world.

But in eternity, you wish that someone would come and put a drop of water on your tongue, because you're in torments, and the torments will never end. What a terrible, terrible price you would have paid. So, from last week, if you are poor for Jesus' sake, you're actually rich. The Kingdom of God is yours, has a present possession and an eternal possession But if you are rich, but rich without Jesus you are actually terribly terribly poor Next Full without Jesus What does it mean to be full without Jesus? Look at the beginning of verse 25.

We're back in Luke chapter 6, the beginning of verse 25. Woe to you who are full. So Jesus is telling you there's a path that goes to grief and condemnation. If this describes you, woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. From last week, if you are hungry for Jesus' sake, if you are hungry as a disciple of Jesus, you're actually rich.

You shall be filled. But this week, if you are full, but full without Jesus, you are actually terribly, terribly poor. You can see that this is very closely related to the danger of riches, so I won't say nearly as much under this heading. But listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3, 18-20. So this is the Apostle Paul.

The letter he writes to the Philippians, Philippians 3 verses 18 through 20, Paul says, For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who set their mind on earthly things, for our citizenship is in heaven." So here Paul is bringing forward two states. He's contrasting those whose citizenship is in heaven. They set their mind on heaven, where Christ is. They're preoccupied with spiritual things and they actually take up the cross and follow Jesus and their God is God. That makes sense.

Their God is God. That's a good God to have. The real God. And he's contrasting them with the citizens of earth. Now, I've been a believer for a long time.

I live on earth, but my citizenship isn't here. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, your citizenship has been transferred to His kingdom. He's the king of it, and it's His kingdom, and that's where your citizenship resides. But if your citizenship is on earth, then you're actually an enemy to the cross. You will not take it and follow Jesus.

Your God is not God, your God is your belly. You can't see above eye level. So the citizen of heaven, his eyes are in heaven where Christ is. The citizen of earth sets his mind or her mind on earthly things. These citizens can't bear the cross because their mind is on earthly things and their God is their belly.

They worship a full belly. Now you can actually take that out of the literal sense of that and take that across categories like pursuing Earthly things in different categories, but it can be as simple as like you'll trade valuable things just to be full, just to have your belly full. It's sort of the most pathetic thing in the category. You must be full. Oh friends, Imagine trading all that is gained in being united to Jesus by faith, the joys and comforts in this life and in the life to come, and trading all that just for a full belly.

Full belly. What kind of madman would do that? What kind of insane woman would do that? Please tell me none of us would do that. But our Bibles tell us from very early on that people do that all the time.

They trade everything for almost nothing. In Genesis 25, Esau agrees to sell his birthright to Jacob for bread and stew. You say, you fool! People are doing that every day all around you! Only worse!

They're trading having Jesus as a possession and all that comes with being in Christ for practically nothing. For little more than a full belly. Friends, when you make an idol out of being full now, You pick the category, but earthly things, being full now. No crosses, no losses, I must be full now. A terrible, terrible hunger is coming.

You're full now, but it won't last long, and A terrible, terrible hunger is coming. You're full now, but it won't last long. And a terrible, terrible hunger is coming. Next, laughing without Jesus. Laughing without Jesus.

Second half of verse 25, woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. I see there are four woes, actually not three. I said the wrong number. Mourn and weep. Listen to Ecclesiastes 7.

There it is. Ecclesiastes 7 verses 2 through 5. Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men, and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. What does the author of Ecclesiastes say? It's better for you to go to a funeral than to go to a party. Why is it better to go to a funeral than to go to a party? How could that possibly be true?

Because it's almost impossible to go to the funeral and not think this thought. One day I'll be in that box. I think that every time I go to a funeral. One day it'll be my funeral and it'll be my dead body in that box and my loved ones who are around weeping because my time on earth is over, my life is over. It's so sobering to go to a funeral and think about your funeral somewhere out in the future.

I read a chapter this week and J.C. Ryle says The tree that the shovel that will dig your grave is probably already growing. So we're going to dig your grave with a shovel. The tree that that shovel will be made out of is somewhere now. It's in a forest somewhere right now.

You don't know the day, but the shovel is already made for your funeral. Thoughts like that help you. They help you to gain a heart of wisdom. They help you to not just go through life laughing all the way. Ha ha ha.

Laughing all the way. Here's what Matthew Henry says, Here is a woe to them that laugh now, that always have a disposition to be merry, and always something to make merry with, that no other joy than that which is carnal and sensual, and no other use of this world's good than purely to indulge that carnal sensual joy that banishes sorrow? Even godly sorrow from their minds? There's a carnal sensual joy, a yucking it up that banishes worldly sorrow that would send you to Christ for mercy. You can laugh all the way.

Even godly sorrow from their minds and are always entertaining themselves with the laughter of the fool Woe unto such For it is but now for a little time that they laugh They shall mourn and weep shortly shall mourn and weep eternally in a world where there is nothing but weeping and wailing, endless, heaseless, and remedy-less." What a terrifying thought that you laugh now but it's for such a short time but then you'll mourn and weep in a land where there's nothing but mourning and weeping. Eternally. Nothing but weeping and wailing, endless, easeless, remedy-less. Terrifying thought. From last week, if you weep now for Jesus' sake, if you weep as a disciple of Jesus, you are actually rich.

You shall laugh, your joy is coming. But this week, if you laugh now but laugh without Jesus, you are actually terribly, terribly poor. You shall mourn and weep. Finally, appreciated without Jesus. Appreciated without Jesus.

Look at verse 26. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. What does Paul tell us to do in Ephesians 4.15? Anybody know? I wouldn't have known.

Ephesians 4.15, Paul tells us to speak the truth in love. So, speak the truth lovingly, yes, but love enough to speak what is true, even when it's a hard truth, Even when it's a truth that will be despised, but it needs to be heard. What did the false prophets do? They said peace, peace when there is no peace. The false prophets are called out for that in Jeremiah 6, 14, and Jeremiah 8, verse 11, and Ezekiel 13, verse 10.

Peace, peace, say the false prophets, but there's no peace. What kind of love is that? Everybody loves the false prophets. Why? Because they tell you just what you want to hear.

Ah, peace. I knew it. I knew all would be well. Things are right between you and God, but someone will tell you things will be well, all is well, and you love them for saying it. The false prophets tell you just what you want to hear no more no less all that you want to hear and only what you want to hear in Isaiah 30 verse 10 The people tell the so-called prophets Do not prophesy to us write things Speak to us smooth things and They actually say that to the prophets.

Don't prophesy to us right things. Don't tell us the truth. Say smooth things. Tell us all will be well. Say peace, peace.

Just like you can laugh all the way, you can love the false prophets all the way. They're telling you all that you want to hear. They're telling you only what you want to hear. Listen to what Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, 2 through 4. Paul writes this to Timothy, Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season.

Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching. For the day will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. My ears are itching, oh tell me something smooth. Don't tell me true things, say peace, peace. People have itching ears.

People have itching ears. People want to be spoken to according to their own desires. From last week, if they hate you and exclude you and revile you and consider you to be evil for Jesus sake you are actually rich. Your reward is great in heaven. That's just how they treated the prophets.

You'll get the reward of the prophets. But this week, if all speak well of you, but you are so widely appreciated Without Jesus, you are actually terribly, terribly poor. That's just how they treated the false prophets, and you'll have the false prophets reward. Applications I'll give you three. Number one, in the form of a question, which life will it be?

Which life will it be? Jesus says this in Matthew 10, verse 39. He who finds his life will lose it. And He who loses His life for my sake will find it." That doesn't make any sense, does it? What is He talking about?

There is life outside of Jesus and you get all you can while you live on planet Earth. But you forfeit Jesus and all that's gained in Jesus. You find that life, you You find that life, you lose it. You lose real life. But if you lose life, if you're willing to accept the implications of following Jesus and you follow Him, you gain life in Jesus, you possess Jesus, and all that comes with belonging to Jesus.

Scripture is begging us to consider the gains and losses, to set up a balance sheet and consider all that's gained when you go for the world and all you can get here, but all that's lost. And all that you gain when you possess Christ And all that comes in belonging to Him, and all that you lose, if you won't follow Him. He who finds His life will lose it. He who loses his life for Jesus' sake will find it. Number two.

This is not about the inherent morality of poverty or riches, as if it was inherently virtuous to be poor. Is there such a thing as a wicked poor person? I think so. Or inherently immoral to be rich. Is there such a thing as a rich believer in Christ?

I think so. This is about who or what you treasure and who or what you serve. That's what this has all been about last week and this week. Who or what you treasure and who or what you serve. You can tell a lot about that by what you do with your money.

So they're not disconnected at all. This isn't just figurative. No way. J.C. Ryle says this, We are not to suppose that the possession of riches and a rejoicing spirit and the good word of man are necessarily proofs that people are not Christ's disciples.

Abraham and Job were rich. David and St. Paul had their seasons of rejoicing. Timothy was one who quote, had a good report from those that were without, meaning Timothy had a good report from unbelievers. All these we know were true servants of God.

Who are the persons to whom our Lord says, Woe unto you! They are the Men who refuse to seek treasure in heaven because they love the good things of this world better, and will not give up their money if need requires for Christ's sake. They are the men who prefer the joys and so-called happiness of this world to joy and peace and believing, and will not risk the loss of the one in order to gain the other. They are those who love the praise of man more than the praise of God, and will turn their backs on Christ rather than not keep in with the world." He knew well that there were thousands of such persons among the Jews, thousands who, notwithstanding his miracles and sermons, would love the world better than him. He knew well that there would always be thousands of such in his professing church, thousands though convinced of the truth of the gospel would never give up anything for his sake.

J.C. Ryle says, there are thousands in churches who though they're convinced of the truth of the gospel will never give up anything for his sake. To all such he delivers an awful warning. Whoa, whoa unto you. This is inherently about who or what you treasure and who or what you serve and you can tell a lot about that question by what you do with your money.

Number three, finally. Those who follow Jesus put little value on what everyone else is chasing. Everyone else has to have it. They're going to the ends of the earth to get it. And the believers of Jesus think very little of it.

And they're willing to accept hardships that everyone else is running away from. Again, J.C. Ryle. Poverty and hunger and sorrow and persecution are the very things which man labors to avoid." Is that not true? Let me reread it.

Poverty and hunger and sorrow and persecution are the very things which man labors to avoid. Riches and fullness and merriment and popularity are precisely the things which men are always struggling to attain. The state of life which our Lord blesses, the world cordially dislikes. The people to whom our Lord says, woe unto you, are the very people whom the world admires, praises, and imitates. This is an awful fact.

It ought to raise within us great searchings of heart. Jesus brought us to these verses to raise within us great searchings of heart. Let's search our hearts. Ask yourselves, ask yourself, is this me? Ask yourself, is this me?

Is this me? Am I happy to have poverty if it means I get to have Jesus? Am I happy to be hungry if it means I get to have Jesus? Am I happy to be hungry if it means I get to have Jesus? Am I happy to accept times of weeping if it means I get to have Jesus?

Am I okay with being hated, excluded, reviled, considered evil if it means I get to have Jesus? Or Am I hell-bent on being rich, even if it cost me Jesus? Hell-bent on being full, even if it cost me Jesus? Hell-bent on being merry, laughing all the way, if it... Even if it cost me Jesus?

Hell-bent on being thought well of, spoken well us. We should ask ourselves, which is me? Let's pray. God, save us from scholarly intellectual Save us from a scholarly, intellectual approach to these things. Pray that the punches of the text would land as needed.

May these words be a comfort to your people. May these words pierce the hearts of any who have not trusted in Christ. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.