The Cost of Following Christ, Part 3b

If you have your Bible, I would invite you once again to turn to Luke chapter 14. 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 is the number one in your life, not your family.

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. The mark of a believer is the very fact that he confesses Jesus is 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. Not only that, you're willing to suffer for him. He says, these words, verse 27, whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Not are you willing to serve him, not are you willing to stand for him, but you are willing to suffer for him. No matter what, because he is your Lord. That's why Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Christ said in Luke chapter 9, that the carrying of one's cross is to be a daily experience, Meaning that we are to die to our reputation, die to our riches, die to our rights, die to our reason. You see, we as Christians adore the cradle. We await the coming of Christ, but abhor the cross. of Christ.

That's not the way it's supposed to be. Oh, we should adore the cradle because that's where Christ was born. We should anticipate and await this coming. But to be ashamed and to pour the cross, no. We should applaud the cross. We should acclaim the cross of Jesus Christ. Our Lord, the cross has always been the message of salvation and will always be the method of salvation. Because Jesus Christ came to die on a cross. Not only are we to be willing to serve God and willing to stand for God and willing to suffer for God, but be willing to surrender all to God.

For he would say in verse number 33 of Luke 14, so therefore no one of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. To surrender everything to him. It's all his anyway, right? We hold on to our possessions as if we own them, the Bible says that God owns everything.

So what are you surrendering? His stuff, right? It's his. We think it's ours. And yet we can sing in church that we surrender all, but unwilling to do what God asks. So Christ says, this is what it's about.

It's like joining the army. You ever been in the army? The entrance is to the army is free. But the very next day you wake up, all hell breaks loose in your bunker. That's the army. Christianity is free. But when you follow the Lord Jesus Christ and give your life to him, you will bear the reproach of Christ. You will be treated as he himself. was treated. He promises that. If they hated me, they will hate you. Right? You see, there's a problem. There's a problem. If as a Christian, you're not hated by the world.

There's a problem, isn't there? Over the years, my wife and I have had many opportunities to talk to people about Jesus Christ. And one of the things we've always looked forward to every year is baseball season. Because every year during baseball season, we meet a different couple that we have the opportunity to have into our home and share Jesus Christ with. You know what we kind of realize? We kind of realize that people like us. They really do. I'm a likable kind of guy. I'm a nice guy. Look at me.

I am a nice guy. People like being around me. they really do they like it when I coach their boys they like me until I begin to talk to them about Jesus Christ and you know what they no longer like me anymore they avoid me they don't want to be around me they don't want to talk to me anymore they don't like me anymore I like them but they don't like me. We've had people who have professed Christianity and even come to our church right here in this building and came for weeks and even months until, until, the subject of Christianity became the main focus of our relationship.

They no longer came. They no longer wanted to be a part of our church, be involved in that relationship. Now, those people don't hate me. They don't despise me. But they don't want to talk to me. I haven't offended him or tried to offend them. I've just talked to them about Jesus Christ. My wife and I have moved into a new neighborhood. The people in our new neighborhood like us. We even took one couple out to dinner. just to get to know them. They live across the street. And so we took them to dinner, to talk to them about their lives and our lives.

Today, they still like us. But as my wife and I prayed this morning together, for the Lord to give us that right opportunity to talk to them about their eternal destiny, It'll be interesting to see what happens. You see, because the only way they can avoid us is to move. We're not moving. So it'll be interesting to see what happens over the next several months. All these people have moved into our home. It's interesting to note the people who move into your neighborhood. Do you know that most of them are not even married?

These live together. It'll be interesting to see. see what happens in the weeks and months ahead as we talk to them about Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. If any man come after me, let me deny himself.

Take him his cross and follow me. That was the gospel message. That is the gospel message. It's never changed. from the biblical standpoint. Unfortunately, it's changed in many people's presentation. So Jesus, this was all, by the way, the introduction to the parable. But lo and behold, tonight we will get into the instruction of the parable. We're finally going to get to the parable.

It's a very interesting one because, Christ now is going to challenge his hearers. Listen to what he says. First 28.

For which one of you when he wants to build the tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he is enough to complete it?

Otherwise when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king and battle will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with 10,000 men to encounter the one coming against him with 20,000, or else while the other is still far away, he sent a delegation and asks terms of peace.

Two parables. Excuse me, one parable, two points. It's the parable of the building. It's the parable of the battle. And there are two prominent questions that Christ asks. The parable about the building is the question, can you finish? And the question about the parable of the battle is, can you face the battle? Can you finish the building? Can you face the battle? battle. In other words, what man is going to sit down and begin to build a building without first calculating the cost, without first considering the cost.

Christ is saying, I want you to think about what you're doing. You see, we sometimes are so quick to get people to make a decision, we need to say, you know what, you've got to think about what you're doing here. Are you sure you want to do this? They might say, oh, I am sure I want to do it. You say, are you sure you want to do this? You say, are you sure you want to do this? this. Do you know what this means? This is what Jesus says.

Do you understand this? Because they need to count the cost. Because the cost is everything. And so he says, this man goes out to build the tower. Which man is going to go out and build this tower? We don't know what kind of tower is. We don't know if it's a watch tower for the man to climb up in and be able to watch over all of his livestock, his animals, and his farming land and see if people are coming in to steal his crops or still his animal. We don't know that. We don't know if it's a tower that he'll live in temporarily until he's able to build his house.

We don't know. It's just a tower. He's going to build. And he goes out to build this tower and, oh, lo and behold, he can't finish it. He becomes a laughingstock of the community. Look at the guy, he went to go build a house and he doesn't even have enough money to finish his house.

What a fool. What an idiot. How can he do that? The guy's an imbecile. And Jesus says, he counts costs first, right?

Because in Christianity, there is no quitting. You don't say, well, I quit. I'm too tired. I don't want to run the race anymore. I'm stopping. Because if you do, you become what? The laughing stop. You see, Christ says, you've got to be a lot.

count the cost because people in my kingdom, listen, always finish. Always. You see, the ones that don't finish prove themselves not to be two followers of him, right? We talked about that in the parable of soul in the soils. There were many who got on the Jesus bandwagon. There were many who said, oh yeah, man, this is great. I'm with you, Jesus. And then all of a sudden, persecution comes and affliction comes, and the Bible says, they fall away.

They have no root. They bear no fruit. There are many people who, because of the deceitfulness of riches, are choked out. That's the weed soil. And after a while, they fall away. They were on the bandwagon, but they didn't finish. They didn't count the cost, you see? You see, one of the ways that we get people around or get around having people fall derelict to Christianity is to get them to count the cost. It was John Stott who said these words. He said, let me find it here.

he says about this verse in Luke 1428. He says, the Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict half-built towers. The ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ's warning and undertake to follow him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so.

The result is the great scandal of Christendom today, so-called nominal Christianity. In countries to which Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent but thin veneer of Christianity. They have allowed themselves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respectable, but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great soft cushion. It protects them from the hard and pleasantness of life, while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience.

No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism. Oh, he's so right. He's so right. Because you see, Jesus is concerned that if you don't count the cost, you're going to be getting into something that really you don't have the foggiest idea in what you're getting yourself into. And he goes, I demand everything. So count the cost. And that's why the Bible says these words in the epistle of John, because John would hear the words of Jesus in Luke 14.

He would write these words in 1 John, chapter 2. Children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrist have arisen. From this we know that it is. it is the last hour. There are many people who are anti-Christ, not the, quote, Antichrist, capital A, but they are against Christ. That's how we know it's the last hour, he says. And how do we know they're Antichrist? This is how you know. They went out from us, but they were not really of us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us.

But they went out in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us. They left. They defrock the faith. They turned their back on God. Where'd they go? Well, we know they didn't want to follow Christ, so they went someplace else. Christ says, listen, count the cost, because my people finish what they set out to do.

Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith, right? It's about people who had true saving faith, right? Did they quit? No. Did they want to quit? I'm sure they did. Were there times they wish they could quit? I'm sure there were. Are there times you want to quit? Yes, there are. Are there the times you wish you could back out? Absolutely. But you don't. You know why you don't? Because God empowers you to live his life. That's why. You see, if it was up to you, you'd quit. right you'd step out of the race but god says no you keep going you keep going because i am going to empower you to do so you see god's people persevere to the end that's why paul would say in second before what i have finished the race it's over i am being poured out like a like a drink offering that was the last aspect of the sacrifice he says my whole life has been a sacrifice And now it's finally over.

And I have finished. I finished the race, Timothy. Oh, I have fought the fight, Timothy. I've been there, Timothy. I want you to be there with me, Timothy. I've been there. Was Paul ever discouraged? Yes, he was. Did he have hard times? Yes, he did. Was Paul a man that ever wanted to quit? I'm sure he was. But did he quit? No. Did he persevere? Yes. Did he keep on going, yes. Not because he was a great guy. Not because he was a great athlete, but because God empowered him to do what he called him to do.

Listen, if God called you to do something, he will empower you to accomplish it. That's how God works. I think God's going to ask you to do something that he himself never did or he's not going to give you the ability to do? No, if he asked you to leave your father and mother, guess what he did? He left this father in heaven, right? If he asks you to be ridiculed for him, was he not ridiculed? Sure he was. He never asked you to do anything that he himself never, never did. Listen to Jeremiah 32. This is the promise of God about the new covenant people.

God says this, verse number 40, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good.

And I will put the fear of me in their heart so that they will not turn away from me. There it is. God says I will put my fear in them so that they will never turn away from me.

My people finish what they've been called to do. Are there times that they wish they could quit? Yes. Are there times they are discouraged? You bet. are there times they wish it was over yes but by the power of almighty god they persevered to the end because that's god's promise to his people the second parable the parable of the battle he says consider a little different because the first man had a choice didn't he whether to build the house or not build the house but this guy doesn't have a choice he's a king and there's going to be a battle And what king, he says, first of all, would not sit down and take counsel, whether he is strong enough with 10,000 men to account of the one coming against him, with 20,000.

See, the point being is that this man doesn't have a choice. This guy is in the battle. And the point of the parable of the battle is, can you face the battle? Count the cost. Why? Because you see, the Christian life is a battle. It's a warfare. It's a battle against Satan because he is against us. He's like the roaring, lying, going around, seeking whom he can devour. It's a battle of our own flesh because 1st Peter 2.11 says that our own flesh wars against the soul. It's a battle of the world because the world's against us.

The world hates me. The world's going to hate you. And you've got the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, all those things waging war against you. And when you enter the spiritual realm, when you enter the kingdom of God, you must be willing to face the battle all the way to the finish. You've got to count the cost. So Christ says, are you willing to do that?

Are you willing to consider what this actually means for you, for your family, for your future? Christ says the foe is formidable.

There is no neutrality here. And isn't this what Christ has been saying all along? If you go back to Luke chapter 13, he says, in verse number three.

This is what you've got to do. You've got to be reconciled to God. You've got to repent. You've got to perish. In verse number five, he says, you've got to repent or you're going to perish. And so he says down in verse number 22, when people ask him, Lord, are there just a few who are being saved? He says, strive to enter by the narrow door. Agonyzmy, agonize, work with all you got to get in because it's a battle all the way. It's a battle to get in because Satan is fighting to keep you out. He doesn't want you to follow Christ.

He doesn't want you to give you light to Christ. Over in Luke chapter 16, it says this. The law of the prophets, verse number 16, were proclaimed until John, since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preaching. And everyone is forcing his way into it. That's why Jesus said, it is hard to enter the kingdom of heaven, because you've got to strive. You have to agonize. You got to force your way into it. Why? Because all hell is against you from becoming a Christian. And Christ says, you've got to count the cost.

You've got to be willing to face the battle. You've got to be willing to finish the building. You've got to be willing to complete it all the way to the end. Because this isn't just a one-time thing. It is a lifelong commitment to serving Christ. We've heard the song. so many times. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. The emblem of suffering and shame. I love that old cross were the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. Oh, that old rugged cross so despised by the world has a wondrous attraction for me.

For the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark cavalry. The old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine a wondrous beauty I see for twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me to the old rugged cross I will ever be true its shame and reproach gladly bare then he'll call me some day to my home far away where his glory forever I'll share so I'll cherish the old rugged cross To my trophies at last I lay down, I will cling to the old record cross and exchange it someday for a crown.

Oh, we love to sing about the cross. Christ wants us to stay at the cross. Where are you? Let's pray. Thank you.