Count the Cost, Part 3

Let's pray together. Father, we're grateful once again for the opportunity to study your word and we're blessed to be able to open and hear what you have to say. Lead us and guide us today, Lord, that we might know exactly how it is we would glorify you through our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you have your Bible with you, it would be Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14 as we once again embark on a passage of scripture that is so pivotal to understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

For years we have been going through this gospel, realizing that on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter, James, and John were able to understand more about the coming of the Messiah and the greatness of his glory, out of the heavens came these words, this is my beloved son, listen to him. And we've had the privilege of listening to Jesus speak to us through his word. In fact, whenever you open God's word, he speaks to you through the words that he has already spoken through the prophets of old.

And so when we read the word of God, we hear the voice of God because these are the inspired words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so, in fact, even in our own text, Luke 14, 25 to 35, it concludes with these words, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And every once in a while Jesus throws that phrase in because he wants to punctuate the fact that you need to be listening. You need to hear what I'm saying, you need to understand what I'm trying to get at because it's pivotal to your eternal destiny.

It's all about the gospel and realizing our response to what we hear the gospel say. And Jesus has gathered a multitude of people around him, talking to them about what it means to be a follower of him, what it means to be a disciple of his. Saying, if any man come after me and hate not his father, mother, brother, sister, yea, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. If any man come after me and does not deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, he cannot be my disciple. And then later down in verse number 33, if anyone comes after me and does not give up all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple.

He wants people to understand what it means to be a learner, to be a follower, to be a Christian. He wants you to understand what it means to be one of his own followers. And you hear those words and you realize that what Jesus said is so hard. Why is everything he says so hard? And in today's modern vernacular, we make it so easy. You ever notice that?

That's so easy to become a Christian. All you gotta do is pray after me. All you gotta do is just go down front and the pastor will pray with you. All you gotta do is say you love Jesus. All you gotta do, we make it so easy. And Jesus made it so hard. How come we've changed everything? Why have we diluted the gospel? That somehow we might gain more people to be a part of what it is we're doing. Before we dive into Luke 14, go back with me if you would to Mark's gospel, the 8th chapter. Mark chapter 8, we covered this last time because it was the first prediction about the cross.

We told you, remember Mark 8, Mark 9, Mark 10. There were three predictions about the cross. One, the necessity of the cross in Mark 8. Mark 9, the certainty of the cross. Mark 10, the severity of the cross. But each time there was a prediction about the cross, he always talked about the victory of the cross because he would rise again the third day.

But the disciples seemed to miss that. But you'll notice that in Mark chapter 8, when Jesus is up in Caesarea Philippi and he asks the question, who do men say that I am?

And Peter blurts out, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Peter was right. Christ says, don't tell them that.

Instead, tell them that the Messiah must suffer and that he must die. Peter takes him aside, rebukes him. Christ says, get thee behind me, Satan.

That's the context. Notice what Jesus says in verse 34. And he summoned the multitude with his disciples. So he summons the multitude again to come to him. Now, what is the multitude? How many is that? We don't know. We know that in Luke 14, there are all kinds of multitudes. There are thousands of people following him toward the end of his ministry. Mark 8 is a little earlier on in his ministry. So he summons the disciples with the multitude and says, If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his own soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? That's the gospel. What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? You see, in today's approach to evangelism, we're not asking people to give up anything. We're not asking them to exchange anything. But in the gospel, there's an exchange. There's a transaction that takes place.

I exchange my life for his life. I exchange my will for his will. I exchange my ambitions for his ambitions. I exchange my dreams for his dreams. I exchange my mission for his mission. I am crucified with Christ. That's what Paul says. I am crucified with Christ. I have died to self. I have died to self-interest. I have died to self-centeredness. I have died to me to be all that God wants me to be. That's the exchange. And Jesus makes it so hard. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? C.S.

Lewis said it this way, 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. I've come to kill it. No 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 down. I don't want to drill the truth or crown the tooth or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self. All the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked.

I want the whole outfit. That's Christ. I want everything. I don't want a part of you. I want all of you. I don't want half of you. I want every bit of you, 100% of you. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Is there anything that you'd rather hold on to than Christ? If so, salvation has escaped you. Because if you decide to gain your life today, you'll lose it tomorrow. But if you're willing to lose your life today, you'll gain it for eternity. Because you'll have my life. You see, once you realize the incomparable riches of Christ, there's nothing you won't give to receive all that Christ has to give.

That's why when you present the gospel, you present man's condition, his lost state. That he might understand he is in desperate need of a Savior. That if he doesn't come to that Savior, that he doesn't submit himself to the Lordship of Christ, then he cannot obtain eternal life. And that's exactly what Jesus is saying. So you go to Luke 14. And he says, If any man come after me in hate, not his father, mother, brother, sister, yes, even his own life. You gotta hate your own life. If you're not willing to take up your cross and die for me, if you're not willing to give up all that you have for me, then you can't be one of mine.

You just can't. And so, people say, Okay, is this something I have to do to get saved? The answer is no. This is what saved people do. Because that is their attitude. And Jesus addresses the attitude of the person's heart. His willingness to surrender everything for the sake of salvation. And the sake of the gospel. Salvation is a free gift. The Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8, 9, For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God.

The Bible says in Titus 3, 5, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, it's by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Spirit of God that a man is saved.

The Bible also says in Romans 6, 23, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But let me illustrate to you this way.

Go back with me, if you would, to the day you were born. Can you go back there with me just for a second?

Go back with me to the delivery room. Or maybe you were born at home, I don't know. Wherever you were born, the delivery room, your mom's bedroom, the bathtub, maybe in some car someplace because you couldn't get to the hospital, I don't know. Just go back with me, if you would, to the day of your birth. Do you remember that day? Do you remember being in the womb of your mother? Do you remember that when you were born, there were no cell phones in the womb by which you could text directions to the doctor as to what to do next.

You couldn't call your mother. You couldn't call the doctor. You couldn't do anything. You were in the womb. And mom is pushing, and the doctor's pulling. She's pushing, he's pulling. She wants you out. She's doing all she can to get you out of there. She's grunting. She's grinding. She's pushing. She's getting you out. And you're not in there saying, Oh, don't push there. Oh, oh, don't push there. That hurts. You're not saying anything. You're just being pushed and being pulled out of the womb. Because when you go back to your physical birth, you had nothing to do with your delivery.

You had nothing to do with your conception. Although you were alive, you did nothing when it came to conception and delivery. Same thing is true spiritually. When you're born again, Jesus does all the work. He does all the work. Why? The Bible says that we are dead in our trespasses and sin.

Dead people don't talk. Dead people don't walk. Dead people don't breathe. Dead people don't move. They're dead. Although they're alive in their bodies, they're dead spiritually. They can't do anything. So that's why Jesus said in John 6, 44, No man comes unto me unless the Father draws him. Right? Why? Because there's none who seeks after God. No, not one. So the only way you and I can ever seek after God, the only way you and I can ever believe in God, is if the Lord God draws us to Himself and grants us the gift to believe, grants us the gift to repent, and grants us the gift of faith.

Because they're all gifts. Salvation is a free gift. Everything involved in salvation is a gift. And so therefore, when it comes to your spiritual birth, Jesus did everything. Here's the point. If Jesus is involved in your salvation, and Jesus is the one who does all the work, whatever He calls for is up to Him. And He will accomplish it. Because He does all the work. Whatever He calls for. So whatever He says, If any man come unto me, hate not his father, mother, brother, sister, yea, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

If any man come unto me, and deny not himself, take up his cross and follow me, he can't be one of mine. If he don't give up all your possessions, you can't be my disciple. It doesn't make a difference what Jesus calls for, because if He calls for it, He will accomplish it in those who believe. Because He's granted them the gift to believe. See that? That's important to understand that. It's important to realize that what Jesus calls for, He accomplished it. Philippians 2.13. Why? It's Christ who is at work in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Right? Being confident of this very thing. Philippians 1.6. That He who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion. He is the one who began the work. He is the one who will complete the work. Because it's a spiritual work, and spiritual work is only accomplished through spiritual means. That is, through God Himself, who rules in your life. Turn with me to Mark chapter 10 for a moment.

Mark chapter 10. Verse 17. And as he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him, and knelt before him, and began asking him, Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. He said to him, Teacher, I've kept all these things from my youth up. And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him, and said to him, One thing you lack.

Go and sell all you possess, and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. Same thing Jesus said in Luke 14. But at these words his face fell, and he went away grieved, for he was one who owned much property. Verse 23. And Jesus looking around said to his disciples, How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. And disciples were amazed at his words. Jesus said, How hard it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. Now there's a lot of things surrounding this whole story, and this encounter with this man, because he came to Christ with a felt need.

He didn't come to Christ with a fallen need. And whenever you come to Christ with a felt need, you're never going to be saved. You've got to come with a fallen need. Right? And so Christ addressed the fact that he violated commandment number one.

You had another God. There's something more important to you. Your possessions. If there's something more important to you than Christ, you can't get saved. You just can't. That's what he said. I didn't say that, he said it. So he says, How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. And disciples were amazed. Why were the disciples amazed? Because the disciples believed in a health and wealth prosperity gospel. Did you know that? Way before TBN was ever TBN on television. The disciples were prosperity preachers.

Because in Judaism, the belief was, if you're rich, you've got lots of money, God has blessed you. And the more money you have, and the more money you give, grants you a greater opportunity in the kingdom of heaven. That's what Judaism taught. Jesus comes and says to the disciples and this multitude who are with him, How hard is it for the wealthy to get saved? They're like, really? We thought he already was saved. We thought he already was in the kingdom. We thought he already gave entry into the kingdom.

Why? Because they believed in a health and wealth prosperity gospel. They thought this guy was already in. Then Jesus says, oh no.

Let me tell you how hard it is for this guy to get in. They were amazed. Now listen to this. But Jesus answered again and said to them, Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. Can we stop for one moment making it easy for people to get saved? Can we just stop for one moment and stop saying, you know what? It's so easy to become a Christian. Jesus never said that. He said how hard it is for anybody to get in. He didn't say it's easy for some and hard for others. He just said it's hard across the board.

Why? Why? Then it says, these words, 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. Now there's all kinds of debate about this verse. Folks, the verse means what it says it means. Okay? For those of you who have been to Israel with me, we walked down off the Temple Mount and our guide tells us that this little entryway into the Temple Mount is what Jesus was saying when he talked about the eye of the needle. It was the eye of the doorway going to the Temple Mount.

He's totally wrong. Jesus said what he meant to say. Can a camel go through the eye of a needle? The answer is no. Can a man go through the eye of a needle? The answer is no. You can't get to heaven on your own. That's the point. You can't get there on your own. It's impossible to get there. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. In other words, if you're trusting your riches, if you're trusting your possessions, if you have another God other than the one true God, you can't get to heaven.

You just can't get there. Next verse. And they were even, what? More astonished. Why? Because it had been ingrained in their thinking that God blesses the wealthy and curses the poor. And if you're wealthy, you're blessed by God and you're going to the kingdom of God. And Jesus just debunked that whole idea. Oh, on the contrary. It's impossible for someone who trusts in something other than me to get into my kingdom. You just can't get there. And they were absolutely astonished. And then they said, then who can be saved?

If this guy can't go, who's going? And Jesus said, with men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. Now listen, even though Peter and the disciples had a hard time grasping this, notice the very next verse.

It says, Peter began to say to him, Behold, we have left what? Everything. And followed you. See, even though in his mind he understood the health, wealth, prosperity gospel, and he had a hard time grasping what Jesus said, his lifestyle evidenced he had left it all, his father, his financial future, his fishing nets, to follow Jesus Christ, hook, line, and sinker, no pun intended. That's what he did. And see, he even modeled that. See? So Jesus comes along and says, How hard it is to get saved. In a modern evangelicalism, we say, It's so easy to get saved.

It's so simple. Come on down. Say a prayer. It's okay. Walk an aisle. Shed a few tears. You're good to go. Sign a card. We make it so easy for people. Why is it we're not making it hard for people to get saved? Jesus did. So hard. And this is at the end of his ministry. In Luke 14, he's got less than a few months to go before he dies. He understands the essence of what it means to be saved. It was Kent Hughes in his commentary on Luke 14 who says this, Discipleship 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 every writing and personal vignette during the first 400 years of the church and you will find no disciple lounging on a bed of constant comfort.

The same is true of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance and the Reformation. In the 500 years of intervening history, discipleship calls for complete and total sacrifice. That's salvation. Some people say, Well, why is it then? Why is it then there's so much discrepancy between the message that Jesus preached and the message that we preach? Well, one man, A.W. Tozer, sums it up very, very well. Let me explain to you what he says.

Years ago, I got a little devotional book called The Pursuit of God and the Pursuit of Man. And in there, it goes through 30 days with The Pursuit of God and 30 days with The Pursuit of Man. And in there, he makes a distinction between the old cross and the new cross. In other words, the way Jesus said it and the way we say it. This is what he says. The cross where Jesus died became also the cross where his apostles died. The loss, the rejection, the shame belong both to Christ and to all who are in very truth are 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 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 and the new. If I see it right, the cross of popular evangelicalism 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 the voice of Cain. The old cross slew men. The new cross entertains men. 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. But the new cross, it brings laughter. The flesh, smiley and confident, preaches and sings about the cross. Before the cross it bows and toward the cross it points with carefully staged histrionics. But upon that cross it will not die and the reproach of that cross it stubbornly refuses to bear. I well know how many smooth arguments can be marshaled in support of the new cross. Does not the new cross win converts and make many followers and so carry the advantage of numerical success?

Should we not adjust ourselves to the changing times? Have we not heard the new slogan, new days, new ways? And who but someone very old and very conservative would insist upon death as the appointed way to life? And who today is interested in a gloomy mysticism that would sentence its flesh to a cross and recommend self-effacing humility as a virtue actually to be practiced by modern Christians? These are the arguments along with many more flippant still which are brought forward to give an appearance of wisdom to the hollow and meaningless cross of popular Christianity.

Doubtless there are many whose eyes are open to the tragedy of our times. But why are they so silent when their testimony is so sorely needed? In the name of Christ men have made void the cross of Christ. Men have fashioned a golden cross with a graven tool and before they sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play in their blindness they have substituted the work of their own hands for the working of God's power. Perhaps our greatest present need may be the coming of a prophet to dash the stones at the foot of the mountain and call the church out to repentance or judgment.

Folks, that's powerful. He put his finger right on the problem. The old cross and the new cross. Folks, the new cross doesn't save anybody. Only the old cross does. The new cross is about making man feel good about himself. The old cross is about, as Ezekiel said, loathing yourself. When's the last time you heard a sermon on loathing yourself? God said it this way. Book of Ezekiel. Chapter 20, verse number 43. And there you will remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you have done.

Then you will know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for my name's sake. Not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord God. God does not see you or save you until you have loathed yourself. It says nothing about loving yourself but loathing yourselves. And so when you come to Luke chapter 14 and Jesus is speaking to the people, thousands of them, what does he do? He just simply looks to them and says very clearly, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And that's why he goes into this long dissertation about calculating exactly what you're doing. You must understand that the decision you're making is a life-altering decision. Nothing will be the same for you ever again. So he gives that whole parable about counting the cost and the man about to build the building and the man going to war. Understand the cost involved. So Christ gave the command. You must be willing to serve only me.

You must be willing to stand only for me. You must be willing to suffer only for me. And you must be willing to surrender everything for me or you cannot be one of mine. He goes right to the heart of everything. Are you willing to serve me no matter what? I need to be the priority of your life. Is Christ your priority? Is he number one?

I must be the one you are loyal to. Nobody else. I must be the one that governs all that you do. Everything is subject to me. I am Lord. I am master. You are servant. You are slave. You are giving your life to me. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Jesus said, Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. I was having a conversation this past week with somebody who talked to me about the rapture of the church. And they said to me, How do you think it's going to play out with all that's going to happen on the world, in the world when the church is raptured?

I said, Well, let me say it to you this way. You're not going to like what I'm going to say, but let me say it to you this way.

Jesus said, forget about what I'm going to say. Jesus said, narrows the way, straightens the gate, and few there be that find it. Then Jesus said, of all those who find the gate, of the few that find it, even fewer are going to get in. That's Luke 13. I don't think it's going to be that big a deal when the rapture happens, because there ain't that many who are truly born again. I don't think it's going to be that big of an effect. People say, Well, you read anywhere in Scripture where it makes an effect in the world?

Planes go down, cars crash, people are all up in arms, all these thousands and millions of people that are gone. Really? Few there be that find it, and of the few that find it, even fewer are being saved. Can we just do what Jesus says and stop speculating about what we think is going to happen and just go back to the text and just deal with what Jesus says?

See, that's the problem in the church. We want to speculate about the end times. We want to speculate about salvation. We want to speculate about the gospel presentation. Instead of just saying it the way Jesus said it, if we just stick to the text and do what Jesus says, the majority of our questions will be clearly revealed to us without hardly any effort because Jesus has spoken on the issue.

How hard it is for people to enter the kingdom of God. Stephen Ophir wrote a book a while back called Not I, but Christ. In it he gives an illustration dealing specifically with Luke 14. And if any man came after me and is not willing to hate his father, mother, brother, sister, remember it's a comparative term, right? It's a term of preference. It's not that you literally hate your mother or father because we're commanded to love our mother and father. We're commanded to love our wives. We're commanded to love our children.

It's a term of preference that your love for God is so, so over the top that the love you have for others looks like hate because you are so committed to Christ. He's the priority. He's the preferred one. So whenever it comes time to make a decision it makes no difference what my wife says, what my husband says, what my children says. It's all what God says because he's the priority.

So if God says that, I must do what God says. He's the priority. Stephen Ophir says a girl was sent to a finishing school by her wealthy parents. There she learned science, art, dancing, and many other things. And one night she went to an evangelistic meeting. At the close of the service she accepted Christ as her own personal Savior. She gave her heart to Christ. She yielded to Him and decided that she would dedicate 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. That is all right for poor folk and halfwits, but not for a child in your stratum of life. You will have to get this religion out of your head. If by tomorrow 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 knees 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. 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 and 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 Luke 14 verses 25 and 26.

Lived out in an individual who preferred Christ over everything else and everyone else. Because that's the attitude of people who have given everything to Jesus. They love Christ so much they will do whatever he says because they are his and he is theirs. Let me pray with you.

Father God, thank you for today and the opportunity we have to study your word. Truly Lord, you are a great God and worthy to be praised. May we be the people of Luke 14 who are so committed to follow you. So committed to serve you. So committed that Lord we will do everything and anything you ask us to do. So in love with Christ that everything else pales in comparison to our walk with you. That we as the young girl in the story was a testimony to her father. May we be a testimony to those around about us.

Because Jesus is our Lord. In your name we pray. Amen.