The Cost of Following Christ, Part 3a

If you have your Bible, I would invite you once again to turn to Luke chapter 14. We've been studying the parables of our Lord Jesus Christ. We've entitled the series, The Searchlights for the Soul. We've done that because it's the parables of our Lord that shed light on the condition of our lives. And as we examine the word of God, we're able to see how God sees us. as we examine what he says about our lives. And I guess of all the parables that we have studied up to this point, the one that has shed more light on the condition of our lives is recorded in Luke chapter 14, verses 25, and following.

And once again, while studying this week and preparing for tonight, I've come to realize that there are many things in my life that the Lord's trying to teach me through his word. And once again, I find myself on my knees before the Lord, leaning upon him, asking him to lead and direct my life as I seek to follow his will. We serve a great God, and it's a privilege to be able to study his word and to see what he says about the condition of our lives. Over the years, there has been several things that bother me about modern evangelicalism.

But one of the things that bothers me the most is when people talk about how easy salvation is. As I think about the phrase, you know, just give your life to Christ. It's so easy. I've heard that many times in people's gospel presentation. And yet I try to match that with what the Word of the Lord says. and come to realize that salvation is anything but easy. The Bible says in Mark chapter 8, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Christ had just given his first prediction about his death, his resurrection, and that if any man would want to come after him, He'll have to deny himself, take up his cross and follow him.

If any man wants to gain his life, he's going to lose it. But if you're willing to lose your life, you'll gain it, Christ says.

And then he says, what shall a profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses his own soul? And then he says, so what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? I read those words, and I think about. modern evangelicalism when man has to give nothing in exchange for his soul. Christianity is more than an intellectual conviction. It is a personal commitment. C.S. Lewis said it well when he said these words. The Christian way is a different way. Christ says, give me all.

I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work, I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measured or half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there. I want to have the whole tree torn down. I don't want to drill the tooth or crown it or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self. All that is which you think innocent, as well as the ones you think wicked, the whole outfit.

God wants everything. We don't want to give him everything. And we think that if we just give them some things, that that's enough for salvation. But it's not. God wants everything. And so Christ says, so what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Salvation? Salvation. Salvation? Salvation. Salvation is an exchange. It's an exchange of my life for God's life. It's a surrendering of my life to God's life. It's a giving away of all that I have and all that I trust in to gain all that Christ wants to give me. And so Christ poses the question, what will you give in exchange for your soul? When you realize the value of Christ, when you realize the value of a relationship with the living God, the incomparable riches of Christ, there's nothing that holds a man back from giving his life away.

There's nothing that would hold a man back from saying, I am crucified with Christ. As Paul would say in Galatians chapter 2, verse number 20. And yet you read words like, if any man come after me, he must hate his father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, yea, even his own life, or he cannot be one of my disciples. He must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Yea, if man does not give up all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple. And we tend to think that in order for me to get saved, I need to deny myself.

In order for me to get saved, I got to hate somebody. In order for me to get saved, I got to take up my cross and carry it. That's not what Jesus says.

You see, those things are not what you do to get saved. Those things are what save people do. Does that make sense? That's the important thing. Salvation is a free gift. It's freely offered. It's by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. In fact, let me give you this analogy.

Go back to the time you were born. Do you remember that day? Try to remember that day with me. If you can't think of one of your children who are born. They were in the womb. And it came time for you to deliver. And so you go to the delivery room. And as you are delivering this child, this baby, let me ask your question.

What part did the baby play in the birth? Answer? None. None. Do you think that your child was in there with a speaker system saying, okay, now I want you to push here. No, no, don't push there. That hurts. No, I want you to push over here. Yeah, pull there. That's good. That's good, doctor. You're doing a good job. Just keep pulling. He doesn't do that. He's just sitting there. Your mother's pushing you out. She's pushing you out because she wants you out more than you to be in. And that doctor's pulling you out.

She's pushing, he's pulling. She's pushing, he's pulling. And what are you doing? Nothing. Nothing. Because you had no part in your birth. And yet you were alive from the point of conception. You translate that over to the spiritual realm. Let me ask you this question.

What part do you play in your spiritual birth? Answer, none. Because you're not even alive. You're dead spiritually, right? Dead people don't talk. Dead people don't walk. Dead people don't move. Like Lazarus. Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth. He had to qualify him by name, or everybody would have come forth, right? So he said, Lazarus, nobody else. Lazarus, you come forth. Lazarus could not walk out of the tomb unless Jesus Christ empowered him and called him to come out. because he was dead. The natural man is a dead man.

Ephesians 2 says that we're dead in our trespasses and sin, right? So you can't do anything to get saved. It's all the work of God. Christ did it this way. No man comes into the Father unless he has been drawn. Right? He has to be drawn to God. Because no man in and of himself is going to seek after God because the natural man is a dead man. Dead men don't seek anybody. Correct? That's important for us to understand. Because if God's work in salvation is all of his, it doesn't make any difference what he calls for.

Because if he calls for it, he'll make sure he accomplish. it in your life. You got to understand that. And that's why he says these words. Over in Mark chapter 10, after talking to this rich young ruler and feeling love for this man who, by the way, was unwilling to do what God asked him to do, totally unwilling. Jesus said to his disciples, verse number 23, how hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. He doesn't say how easy it's going to be for some and how hard it's going to be for others.

He just says how hard it's going to be for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. Now, that was a very important point. You see, because the disciples believed in prosperity theology. Did you know that? The Jewish nation taught prosperity theology. You thought it was just over TBN in recent years. No, no, no, no, no. Way back when these guys believed the Jewish nation taught that riches came from God. And if you were a rich man, it was because God blessed you, and the more money you gave to the poor, and the more money you gave to God would secure you a greater place in glory.

The Jewish nation believes in prosperity theology. And the disciples believed it. And so on the heels of talking to this man who is extremely wealthy, the disciples already having a mentality that this guy has got to be going to heaven. I mean, he's giving money to the poor. He's doing all the things he needs to be doing according to the Jewish nation. I mean, this guy has got an inroad to God. And Christ comes back and says, how hard it will be for the wealthy to get into it. to the kingdom of God.

And it says in verse number 24, the disciples were amazed at his words. I'm saying, you've got to be kidding me. They're scratching their head thinking, man, I don't understand this, Jesus. I mean, you talked about your death and resurrection, you talked about your cross and all that kind of stuff, and then we're believing about how wealthy these guys are and how they're going to get to heaven. Now you're telling us it's too hard for these guys to get there. And Jesus said, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.

Jesus never said it was easy to get into the kingdom of God. He said it was hard to get there. So why are we telling people, you know what? This is so easy. Just pray. Pray. Ask Jesus to come into your life. Show me a place in the Bible where it says you've got to pray to ask Jesus to come into your heart. There's no place in the Bible says that.

But we think that if we say this prayer or we sign this card or or we do the right thing and jump through the right hoops, man, we're going to be saved. And Christ says how hard it's going to be to get into the kingdom of God.

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now, that's pretty self-explanatory, right? It doesn't take a five beta capita to interpret that verse. How hard it is for a camel, how hard it is for you to go through an eye of a needle, let's only camel to go through the eye of a needle. And then it says this. And they were even more astonished. Now they were completely flabbergasted. Now they were completely out of kilter. Now they were completely lost.

And then it says, or they said, then who can be saved? Who? Looking upon them, Jesus said, with men, it is what? impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. Who can be saved? With man, you can't do it. It's all about God. All things are possible with God. You see, if that's the case, does it make any difference to what Jesus calls for? No. Because if he calls for you to do it. something he will accomplish that work in you because it is god who is at work both the will and to do of his good pleasure in your life philippians 213 right that's what the bible says so god's at work salvation is god's work not man's work salvation is about what god does not about what you do so important to understand that so important for us to grasp that It was Kent Hughes in his commentary on Luke who said these words, following Christ requires everything.

There are no exceptions. No one has ever become a disciple of Christ and lived a life of ease. You can search the writings of the Apostolic Church, and you will find no exception. You can check out every writing and personal vignette during the first 400 years of the church, and you will find no disciple longing.

or lounging on a bed of constant comfort. The same is true of the Dark Ages and their Renaissance and the Reformation and the 500 years of intervening history. Discipleship calls for sacrifice. So why is it different today? Why is the gospel presented different today? Why is the cross of Christ proclaimed differently today than it was during the times of Jesus. A.W. Tozer in his book, The Pursuit of God and the Pursuit of Man, answers that question when he says these words. The cross where Jesus died became also the cross where the Apostle Paul died.

The loss, the rejection, the shame belong both to Christ and to all who were in very truth, His. The cross that saves them also slays them. And anything short of this is a pseudo-faith and not true faith at all. But what are we to say when the great majority of our evangelical leaders walk not as crucified men, but as those who accept the world as its own value, or at its own value, rejecting only its grosser elements. How can we face him who was crucified and slain when we see his followers accepted and praised?

Yet they preach the cross and protest loudly that they are true believers. Are there then two crosses? And did Paul mean one thing and they another? I fear that is so that there are two crosses. the old cross and the new. Remembering my own deep imperfections, I would think and speak with charity of all who take upon them the worthy name by which we Christians are called. But if I see a right, the cross of popular evangelism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is rather a new bright ornament upon the bosom of self-assured and carnal Christianity whose hands are indeed the hands of Abel, but whose voice is.

is the voice of Cain. The old cross slum in. The new cross entertains man. The old cross condemned. The new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh. The new cross encourages it. The old cross brought tears and blood. The new cross brings laughter. The flesh smiling and confident preaches and sings about the cross. Before the cross it bows and toward it points with carefully stage histeronics. But upon that cross, it will not die. And the reproach of that cross, it stubbornly refuses to bear.

He goes on to say that the greatest present need among us as Christians is for there to come a prophet, to dash the stones at the foot of the mountain and call the church out to repentance and to judgment. He's right. He's right. That's what Peter said. If judgment's going to begin, it's going to begin in the house of God. And so we see that in the scriptures, Jesus never said. How easy. it is to follow him. On the contrary, he said it is so hard to come to the kingdom because there's nothing you can do to get there.

I have to do it. I have to draw you. I have to save you. I have to grant you the faith. I have to grant you the gift to believe. I have to grant you the gift then you will be able to do exactly what I've asked you to do. And that's why he calls this crowd in Luke 14, amidst all their curiosity about Christ and all of his credentials and all of the miracles that he has performed to count the cost. And he begins with those infamous words in Luke chapter 14, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brother and sister, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

And we talk about the fact that this man, who comes to Christ, must be willing to serve him alone. He must be willing to serve Jesus Christ alone. He is the priority. He is the number one in your life, not your family.

not those closest to you because you are entering into a relationship with the living God and there is no relationship on earth that is nearly as important as the one you have with the creator of the universe and if you enter into a relationship with the living God that relationship must be the priority in your life you must serve me before you serve anybody else Stephen Alford has written a book entitled Not I, but Christ, and he explains this verse this way. As he gives an illustration about a young lady who was finishing school, she was sent to college by her wealthy parents.

And there she learned science, art, dancing, and many other things. And one night she went to an evangelistic meeting, and at the close of the service, she accepted Christ as her own personal savior. She gave her heart to Christ, yielded it to him, and decided she would dedicate her life to her life to, missionary service. She wrote home to her father and told him of her decision. He went into a rage and wrote to her immediately saying, get on the next plane and come home. She obeyed and returned to her home.

As her father met her, he said, I did not send you to school to get religion. This is all right for poor folk and half wits, but not for a child of your stratum of life. You will have to get this religion out of your head. If by tomorrow morning you have not decided to give up this foolish notion of religion, you may pack your suitcase and leave this home. She went to her room with a heavy heart. It would mean loss of love, culture, money, prestige. On her knee, she fought it out. The next morning she packed her suitcase.

Before leaving, she stepped over to the piano in the living room and started to play and sing these words. words, Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow thee, destitute, despised, forsaken, thou from hence my all must be. Perish every fond ambition, all I've sought and hoped and known, yet how rich is my condition, God in heaven, are still my own. She arose, and with tears streaming down her face turned toward the door. Before she could open it, her father stepped out from behind the curtain, where he had been listening to her playing, and with emotion said, wait, I did not know that Jesus Christ meant as much to you as that.

I did not know that you were willing to give up, father, mother, home, and prestige, Just for Jesus. Daughter, forgive me. I must be beside myself. If such a great love can take hold of your heart, there must be something in it. Sit down here and tell me how I can be a Christian. That's what Jesus means in Luke chapter 14, verse number 26. He's the priority. He's the one you serve. He's the one you live for. He's the one you long for. It's all about Jesus Christ. You serve Him. You stand for Him.

Christ said in Matthew 10, that if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my father who is in heaven. But if you will not confess me before men, neither will I confess you before my father who is in heaven. The mark of a believer is the very fact that he confesses Jesus as Lord. You stand for Him. You stand strong for him because Jesus Christ empowers you to do that. And Christ wants you to stand strong for him. Christ wants us to stay at the cross. Where are you? Let's pray. I'm