He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Revelation 21:7-8 LSB

In today’s economy before we purchase something we are being forced to ask ourselves if it’s worth it. To determine if an item is worth it, we may consider things like am I getting a good value, do I really need it, will the benefit outweigh the cost?

Have you stopped to ask yourself about your eternal life? We pay a price to follow Jesus. Jesus, Himself, said in Matthew 16:24 if anyone wants to follow Him, they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him.

Following Jesus will require some sacrifice. It will require us denying ourselves. This means we don’t do or say anything we think. We stop and think how that will affect someone else. We stop and think about how it will affect our witness. We control our thoughts. We are told in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against God and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Jesus tells His disciplines in Matthew 10:22-24 they will be hated by all because of His name, but the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. These are the overcomers mentioned in our passage for today. We must be willing to go the distance.

We will have to let go of our deliberate sin. We are told in Hebrews 10:26 that if we go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of truth, there is no sacrifice for our sins remaining just a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

There is a price to pay for following Jesus. Now, if you are truly saved, you hardly notice the cost. Your love for the Lord makes you want to please Him. In return, you will have his guidance and protection.

Now let’s look at the cost of not following Christ. Or maybe before we do that, we should look at the rewards or advantages for not following Christ. God gives us free will. That’s great, isn’t it? We can do whatever we want. We are free to live life our way just like Frank Sinatra sang about.

We are free to skip church. We are free to party and get drunk and do whatever we please. We can treat others as we please. We can be mean and hateful if we want to. We don’t have to study our Bibles or pray. We can just live life to the fullest.

Now, if you choose the latter, I pray that you really enjoy it. Because we are all going to die at some point. And if you choose to live life here on earth your way and fail to surrender to Christ, you will face eternal torment in hell.

We mentioned what Hebrews 10:26 says about those who go on sinning deliberately can expect a terrifying judgment. Pay careful attention to what is said in today’s Scripture passage.

The cowardly refers to those who never accepted Christ for fear of what others might think of them. The unbelieving refers to those who may have adorned a church pew their whole lives but never truly believed. In 2 Timothy 3:6 it calls this holding on to a form of godliness but denying its power. This refers to those who fake Christianity.

We will pay a price here on earth for following Christ, this is true. However, the earth is passing away. This is a temporary dwelling place for us. We are just passing through.

How we live here on earth determines where we will take up permanent residency. I ask you today to carefully consider the options and weigh the costs of each. Is it more beneficial to live life your way and die and go to hell? Or would you prefer to surrender to Christ and live life bringing Him glory and honor and praise and spend eternity in heaven?

No one can decide for you. The choice is yours.

Have a great day!