Count the Cost, Part 5

I choose Jesus. I wonder if you've chosen him today. The only way you can choose him is if he chooses you first.

And that's a great thing because what Jesus says in Luke chapter 14, you'd wonder if anybody would choose to follow him based on what he says.

And yet there are people who follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior because they understand exactly what he says and who he is. You read Luke chapter 14, you begin to wonder why is it that Jesus stops everybody in their tracks? Why is it he puts the brake on his invitation? He tells them to hold on. Wait a minute. Before you make a decision, before you follow me, understand the cost involved. Understand exactly everything that it entails. And I want you to count that cost. I want you to calculate that cost.

I want you to come to grips with the decision you're about to make because it is a life altering decision. This decision is the most important decision you will ever make. You need to really think long and hard before you make it. We don't treat evangelism that way in the church today. We lay out the gospel to somebody and say, do you want to give your life to Jesus? They say, yeah. We say, okay, pray this prayer. That's not what Jesus did. He said, are you sure this is what you want to do? Have you calculated the cost in all that's involved?

Do you realize the severity of the decision in all that it entails? You must truly come to grips with everything that I have said. Christ wants people who are committed to following him all the way to the very end without reservation. And so he begins by explaining to them everything that it entails so that no one's caught off guard. Salvation truly is a free gift. It's by grace through faith in Christ alone. And yet it costs you everything. It's like joining the army. It doesn't cost anything to join the army.

You want to enlist, just sign up and enlist. But once you're in the army, everything changes. You go to war, you find yourself on the battlefield, you find yourself in situations that are very difficult, hard, life-threatening. Christianity, Christ offers is a free gift of eternal life. And yet once you're in, it costs everything. Do you understand that? We can say, I choose Jesus. But before you choose him, understand everything that's involved. And that's what Jesus says in Luke 14.

If you got your Bible, hopefully you're there. Let's read it together. Luke 14 verse 25. Now great multitudes are going along with him and he turned and said to them, 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. 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 has 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 in 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 said to the delegation and asked terms of peace. So therefore, no one of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Therefore, salt is good and but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Christ says, when you're going to follow me, it's going to cost you.

It's going to cost you greatly. You must understand that. He's not giving conditions for salvation. He's going to the heart attitude and talking about the character of those who have received the free gift of salvation. This is what they look like. You can examine yourself today and say, is this what I look like? Is this who I am? Because if it's not, you must ask yourself, did you count the cost and did you choose in a worthy manner the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord? Christ spells out for them the cost of following him.

I find it interesting that when the crowds are gathering around him that Jesus doesn't say to them, you know, does some of you here have marital difficulties? Let me talk to you about your marital difficulties.

Jesus never said that. Some of you a little depressed today. Let me talk to you about your depression.

You got some, some, uh, uh, some identity issues going on. Let me help you with your identity. Let me help you with your relationships.

Some of you may be, might be financially distressed. Let me help you with your finances. Jesus doesn't do that. Jesus goes right to the heart of a man, right to the depraved nature of a man and attacks all of his idols because we have erected so many idols in our lives. He goes directly to the heart of man's idolatry because we all have affection and affirmation and ambition for one or more things in our lives. And it's usually not God. So he attacks it. And he, he, he sees this crowd and that's all of their curiosity.

And remember they are curious because not for the message that he spoke, but because of the miracles that he performed, they were still following him. He was an amazing individual. He was God in the flesh. They didn't recognize him as such, but they saw his miracles and their curiosity was piqued. And even toward the end of his ministry, they were still following him. And even on that day of the triumphal entry, we talked about this last Sunday, that, that they were all around him because of the miracles that he performed.

They were looking for another miracle, another show of power to overthrow Rome that he might set up his kingdom, but he didn't do what they wanted him to do. And when they didn't do what they, when they, he didn't do what they wanted him to do, they crucified him. So many times we want Jesus to do for us what we want him to do. And that's always the wrong place to be. And so they, they gathered around and Christ amidst all the curiosity gives some commands. We send them up for you. The last four weeks we've been together by saying to you that you must serve me and me only.

You must stand for me and me only. You must suffer for me and me only. You must surrender everything to me and me only. You must be willing to do this. Are you willing? Some might say, yes, I'm willing. Count the cost. Count the cost. Don't be so quick to jump on the Jesus bandwagon. Count the cost. Do you realize what's involved here? When was the last time you talked to somebody about Jesus Christ and you laid out all the objective facts? This is Jesus Christ. This is who he is. This is what he did.

He was born of a virgin. This is Christ. This is the Messiah of Israel. This is God in the flesh. And he was raised and he, he lived a sinless life and he, he died as a sinless man, but he died for your sins as a substitute on the cross. He rose again the third day.

He's coming back again. He's ascended up into glory. He sits at the right hand of God, the father. Do you believe that? And someone says, yeah, I believe that. Okay. Now what are you going to do? Well, pray a prayer. Really? No. Count the cost. Do you understand what that means? You understand that you, that Christ is Lord of your life. He takes over your life. He rules your life. He's in control of your life. He will govern everything that you do. He will take care of everything that you have, but he's in complete control of your life.

Do you understand that? Do you understand that once you give your life to Christ, you might be called on to suffer for him. You might be called on to give everything you have away. You might be called on to be at odds against your family, those close. Do you understand that before you give your life to Christ, you need to understand this. When was the last time you said that to somebody? Probably we didn't because you wanted to get that convert. You wanted to get that person to, to pray a prayer.

You wanted to go back and say, Hey, oh, so many people gave their life to Jesus this weekend. Really? Did they count the cost of what it meant to be saved? You see, we must go back to the text and we must reevaluate church ministry today and how we do it. Not just at Christ Community Church, but all around the world. Because I think that for the most part we've done it wrong. Now God overrides all that. I understand that because faith comes by hearing and hearing by a word about the Christ. I understand all that.

And yet people need to understand what's involved. That's what Jesus did. When you come to me, you must love me so much. Be so committed to me that the love you have for others looks like hate. It's a word of preference. We've talked about this. Matthew 10 sums it up by saying, he who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. You can't love somebody more than Jesus and come to Jesus. You can't love something else more than Jesus and be a part of his kingdom. He demands everything.

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. Not half your mind, half your strength, half your heart. All of it. You must serve me. And that conveys your priority. You must stand for me. That's in Matthew 10. You must confess me before men because that confirms your loyalty. You confess me before men. You must be willing to suffer for me. That clarifies your identity. Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Galatians 2.20. Galatians 6 says, I am crucified to the world.

I'm dead to the world. He said in Philippians 1.21, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. He said in Philippians 1.29, it's been granted to you for Christ's sake, not only to believe on his name, but to suffer for his sake. And in 1st Thessalonians 3, he told those in Thessalonica, don't you know that we have been ordained for this suffering by Christ? It's part of the plan. It's part of Christianity. Christ says, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you.

And then he says, so too, not one of you can be my disciples unless you sell all your possessions. You're willing to surrender everything to me. It's a matter of stewardship. You come to me, you owe nothing. You owe nothing. You are a steward of everything that you have because what I have given you, I have given you and you don't own it, but you are a steward of it. And if I say, you got to be willing to give it all away. You can have those possessions, those things that you have as more important to me or to you than me.

I must be the most important person in your life. I must be the most important possession of your life. If I'm not, then don't come to me. This is what I want from you. Are you willing to do that? That's what Christ says.

And he spells it out for us that we might come to grips with the reality of saving grace. And then he gave the instruction. He sums it up by two simple parables. One deals with the building and one deals with the battle. And he asked the question, can you finish the building? Can you face the battle? And this is how he illustrates counting the cost. He says very simply for which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down.

Then in verse 31, or what King, when he sets out to meet another King in battle will not first sit down and take counsel.

Listen, building a building is important. Going to battles important. And you first of all sit down and you calculate whether or not you can finish the battle or finish the building and face the battle before you ever endeavor to take on the task.

Certainly your eternal destiny is more important than building the building or going to battle, right? Sure it is. Why is it the most important thing that you do? You don't consider if you're going to change careers. Do you consider the cost of changing careers? If you're going to buy a house, do you consider the cost of buying a house before you sign the papers? No one just says, Hey, you want to buy a house? Sure. I'll buy one here. Sign right here. Okay. I'll sign right here. And next thing the mortgage comes to you say, well, I didn't mean no one's going to cost that much.

And then he says, well, you got also got to pay for insurance. What insurance too? Oh, then you got to pay your property taxes. Oh, hold on. I can't pay property taxes. I can't do all that. No one sits down and just signs the papers. Okay. I'll buy a house. You got to calculate whether or not you can make the payments, whether or not you can take care of everything in that house before you purchase it. Your eternal destiny is more important than buying a house or buying a car or getting married or having kids or changing careers.

So sit down and think it through. Count the cost before you just jump on the Jesus bandwagon. Why? Because if you don't count the cost, you get in, you realize this more than you bargained for. Then what happens? You prove that your decision was a fraud. You prove that what you did was a superficial temporary delusion. And see, we forget that. We forget that. That's why he says, which one of you, you're going to build a building. So first calculate the cost, because if he's not able to finish it now, we don't know what kind of building this is, what kind of tower this is, whether it's a watchtower to oversee his fields, whether it's a watchtower to oversee his flock.

We don't know. It's irrelevant. It's just, you're going to sit down and you're going to build a building, but you can't finish it. You run out of material. You run out of money. You economy goes bad. You can't finish it. In the near East, in this time, in a shame culture, if you can't finish what you say you're going to do, you are shamed. You're embarrassed. You become the laughingstock of the village. What a joke. Here's a guy who thought he was going to build this building. He didn't have enough money to begin with.

Didn't have enough workers. Didn't have enough material. He set out to do it. He couldn't finish it. What a joke. What a joke. You know, at first calculate the cost.

People in the audience probably thinking, yeah, of course, we're not morons here, Jesus. Of course, we're going to calculate the cost. Because he says, the people in my kingdom, listen carefully, are finishers. They're not quitters. People in Christianity finish because Christ is at work in them, both the will and to do of his good pleasure. They are finishers. People don't come into the kingdom and say, you know what? I'm not going to run the race anymore. I quit. They don't do that. If they do, they prove themselves not true believers from the beginning.

People who come into the kingdom of God, they finish. They go all the way. Are there times they have a hard time finishing? Yes. Are there times that maybe they want to quit? Yes. But do they quit? No. Because the spirit of God is at work in them. The spirit of God is energizing them and the spirit of God won't let them quit. He won't. That's why the perseverance of the saints is so crucial. But it was John Stott who wrote about this in his book on Christianity. When he said these words, he said, 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 unpleasantness 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. He's right. There are so many people who have jumped on the Jesus bandwagon. And you go back to the parable of the sower in the soil, the most crucial parable that Jesus ever gave, because it talks about how the word of God is spread in the kingdom age, the age in which we live in, how the majority of people in that parable jump on the Jesus bandwagon. They just get on it. They don't count the cost. They just get on the Jesus bandwagon and they receive the word of the text says with joy.

Oh, this is great. And what they do is that when the desires of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word of God, they fall away. Or because the sun beats down upon them, the persecution is so strong that they fall away. They have no root. They can't dig that root down deeper and get the supply they need from the Lord God because there's no root to dig down deeper. They were superficial, delusional people who jumped on the Jesus bandwagon without ever counting the cost of what was involved.

And Jesus warns against that, that the majority of people in the kingdom age will hear the word. They'll receive it with joy, but when push comes to shove, they won't stay. They won't finish. They won't commit. They won't be faithful. Why? Because they're superficial. They're superficial. John said this way, 1 John 2, verse 18. 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 the last hour. Antichrist, big A, is coming soon.

But in the meantime, there are little antichrists, people who are against Christ. And how do we know who they are? He says in verse number 19, 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 went out from us. They defrocked the faith. They turned their back on the Lord Jesus. They weren't committed to staying through the process. They weren't committed to persevering to the very end.

They couldn't handle the heat, so they had to get out of the church. They couldn't handle the pressure, so they leave Christ behind. They were not able to finish because they couldn't handle the conflict. There are many antichrists. That's how we know the hour is among us. There are so many people who say they're for Christ, but in reality are against Christ. And they prove that by saying, you know what? I don't want to walk with Jesus anymore. I don't want to do what Jesus says anymore.

I don't want to go to church anymore. I'm done. The problem in today's day and age, in John's day, there was only one church in the city. In today's day and age, there are so many different churches that someone can leave a church and go to another church that doesn't really preach the gospel, never really hold you accountable to anything, and you can feel really comfortable there and fit right in. And people think, well, they're still saved because they're going to another church. Really? Really?

You have to understand what the Bible says about true commitment and true Christianity, genuine faith, genuine saving faith, and what that means.

And Jesus wants people to understand the truth about the gospel. Remember over in Colossians chapter one, Paul said these words, and although, verse 21, you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach, if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast. He's going to present you blameless if indeed you continue. In other words, there is a perseverance that's manifested in the true believer that has staying power.

He never turns his back on God. He never defrocks the faith. He always stands true for his God. Are there times of intermittent failure? Yes, there is. Is there times in which we commit intermittent sin? Yes, there is. But it's not long lasting. It's not forever. It's not final. And it's not full. It's temporary. And this person stays. Hebrews 11, hall of faith. It records the lives of people who at times, did they want to quit? Probably so. Did they feel like it wasn't worth it? Probably so. They had less than you and I have when it comes to understanding the gospel of Christ and the truth that's there.

But they stayed. They continued on. They wouldn't back down. Did they fail? Yeah, they did. They failed miserably sometimes, but they never stayed in a failed condition. They will repent because the spirit of God works in the lives of his people. The spirit of God is at work in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do you think that a person who has God's spirit in dwelling in him can live in sin over long, prolonged periods of times? The answer is no, because nowhere in scripture is that recorded.

Nowhere. Not once. People are turned back. The spirit of God turns them back to follow him and to serve him because he's at work in your life. What's the promise of the new covenant? Listen to these words, Jeremiah 32, 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 hearts so that they will not turn away from me. That's the new covenant promise. They will not turn away from me. They will stay with me because they have counted the cost.

They have entrusted themselves to me. They believe in me and I've committed myself to them and they will stay with me. They will turn away. That's the promise of the new covenant. Christ says, which one of you who's going to build a tower, a building is going to begin unless he knows he can finish.

You're going to be a follower of mine. You better know you can finish. If you can't, don't come. You know, it's almost as if it's threatening. Jesus is almost threatening them, isn't he? And his words, you know, his words aren't really sweet words either. You ever notice that about Jesus?

They aren't just really comforting, sweet, kind. Oh, you know, come on in. You guys love Jesus. I love you. It's not about that. It's almost as if he purposely tries to turn people away. He doesn't want them to have this superficial delusion of temporary belief. Like that's enough. He doesn't want that. He wants them to understand the cost. So he goes to another parable. He says very simply, what king when he sets out to meet another king in 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 sends a delegation and asks terms of peace. I mean, you've only got a few thousand men. The guy outnumbers you two to one. Are you going to go to war? Think it through. Calculate the odds. Think it through. Because you see, when you enter to the kingdom of God, the battle is formidable. It's huge. You fight against the world, right? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. You fight against your own soul, 1 Peter 2 11. The lust that waged war against your soul, Peter says.

You wage war against Satan. He goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. You got to make sure you're able to face the battle because the battle in Christianity is so severe. It is so harsh at times. You can't afford not to know Christ as Lord and Savior. You don't know him. You quit. You back away from the battle. Christ says, think of a king who's going to war.

He wants to know what his odds are. He wants to take counsel to make sure he makes the right decision, the right choice. See, Jesus spoke about this often, didn't he? He spoke about it in Luke chapter 13 when he said these words, or verse 23 of chapter 13. And someone said to him, Lord, are there just a few being saved? He said to them, strive to enter by the narrow door, agonizami. That's a word of work, hard labor, warfare, strive to enter. Why? Because it's a battle to get into the kingdom. Why is it such a battle to get into the kingdom?

Because Satan is against you. Your flesh is against you. Society's against you. The world's against you. Everything's against you. Strive to enter. The word he uses, agonizami, is such a strong word. And then over in chapter 16, Luke chapter 16, this is what he says. Luke chapter 16, Christ says these words, verse 16, the law and the prophets were proclaimed unto John.

Since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached and everyone is forcing his way into it. Really? Forcing his way into it? Are those the words we hear today? Hey, you want to come to Jesus? Strive to enter. You want to come to Jesus? Force your way into the kingdom. We don't say that, but that's exactly what Jesus said because they're involved in battle. It's a warfare. You got to be able to face the battle. It's formidable. It's everywhere because if they're against me, they're against you, and it will be a battle.

There'll be a battle in your family. That's why you got to be willing to hate your father, hate your mother, hate your brother, sister. Yes, even your own life. Why? Because I've got to be the priority. You've got to be willing to give your life away because it's going to clarify your identity. You've got to be the kind of person that's going to stand for me, confess my name before others and not be ashamed and back away. You've got to be the kind of person that surrenders everything that he has, if need be, for the sake of the kingdom and its glory.

If not, don't come. Don't come. I dare say I have yet to hear one evangelist preach that message in a stadium in Southern California or anyplace else. Don't come. In other words, come, come, come, come. Jesus says, don't come.

He puts the brakes on. Think about this. Are you sure this is what you want to do? Now, here's the good news. If the Spirit of God is at work in that life, in that person's life, they are going to come no matter what. They will weigh the cost and they will find the cost worth it. And that's how you know you don't get superficial converts. They weigh the cost, they find the cost worth it, and they come. We know. We understand. We get it. I'm willing. That's what I want to do. You see, it all depends, I guess, on the cause and who it is you're serving.

You know, if I worked at Burger King, if you work at Burger King, please don't take offense at this, but if you worked at Burger King and you worked, you know, an eight-hour shift every day, you went home, retired, went to bed, your boss called you up in the middle of the night and said, you know, you got to come back in. You say, what for? Well, you know, we need some help with cleanup crew and, you know, we just need you to come in and help do some things around the around the restaurant floor.

So get your clothes on, shower up, come back in. You're less likely to come back in. I'm not going to do that. I worked all day. I'm done working. I worked my eight hours. I put in my time. You let somebody else do that. You work for the President of the United States. He calls you at 2 a.m. in the morning, says you need to come in. We got some things we got to discuss. What do you do? You don't say, what for? I'm too tired. I'm not coming in. No, what do you do? You get up, you get dressed, you go to the White House.

Why? Because the person you serve, right? The person you serve, you're serving the President of the country. He beckons you, you come, you go. Folks, you're serving the King of kings and Lord of lords. He beckons you, you go. He calls you, you go. He says, you do this, you do it because he's the king. He's the king. And Jesus has said, he says, I need you to count the cost. Would it be that in our evangelism efforts? We get people to count the cost. So people don't jump on the Jesus bandwagon. It's tough for us because we want to see people pray a prayer.

We want to see them give their life to Christ. We want to be happy that we got used to some way somehow in someone's life. But like John Stott said, that Christianity is, has a field full of wreckage of lost souls who jumped on the bandwagon at one time. They weren't able to finish. Now, let's look at the implications.

If we will finish Luke 14 and go to Luke 15 next week. Yeah, we're flying through the Luke gospel. Therefore, salt is good. But even if salt has become tasteless with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Here are the implications. How does this tie in? What does this have to do with counting the cost? What does this have to do with serving God only and surrendering everything to God and suffering for God and standing for?

What does the salt illustration have to do with anything? Salt is good. And people in the crowd say, we know that. Salt is valuable. It was the most valuable commodity in the land of Israel. Why? You heard what used to say that, you know, a soldier, is he worth his salt? You know, why? Because sometimes soldiers were paid in salt. Salt is that great preserver. We understand that salt is good because it preserves. And in a day where there was no refrigeration, what do you do to preserve meat? Salt.

It's a great preserver. In fact, that's what salt does. That's why it's so valuable. It's used as preservation. And that's why salt is so good. But then he says something really strange. He says, but even if salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? In other words, how can salt become salt less? Salt is salt. And by salt's own nature, it's undiminished because of its purpose. If it would lose its saltiness, it wouldn't be salt. Because salt is used for preservation. It's the nature and character of salt is by nature something that preserves.

If it loses its saltiness, it's fit for nothing. But salt by its own nature doesn't lose its saltiness. Oh, unless you're in the land of Israel. And you know that one of the main drawing portions for salt was the Dead Sea. And the Dead Sea salt was contaminated by a chemical called gypsum. And once that gypsum, if it wasn't processed correctly, then that salt from the Dead Sea would lose its taste, would lose its saltiness, and would become worthless. But you didn't know that, did you? And so Jesus is saying, salt is good.

No, it's so good. And we know that Jesus said, ye are the salt of the earth, right? Jesus says, oh, by the way, in Jewish history, the Old Testament, salt was used to confirm promises and was a mark of loyalty.

If you read about it in the covenants and the promises of God in the book of Leviticus, it was used to demonstrate my loyalty to God and to others. And Christ says, here's the deal.

Salt is good. I want you to become salt. I want you to be the salt of the earth because I want to change everything about you. I want to change you into a person of preservation, where you preserve the purity and the holiness of the kingdom of God in this world. Salt is good. It's really good. And yet, if salt loses its saltiness, or it becomes tasteless, if by some reason you become contaminated with some form of spiritual gypsum and you can't remain loyal to me, you are of no use to me. You're not even fit for the manure pile, but thrown out.

That phrase thrown out is used over and over again of being thrown out into the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus concludes a sermon by saying, look, I want you to count the cost. If you count the cost and you find the cost worth everything, you come to me. You will be the salt of the earth. You'll be used in a great and mighty way for the kingdom, my kingdom in all of its glory. But if you don't count the cost and you're contaminated by some kind of spiritual gypsum, what's going to happen?

It's going to fall by the wayside and you won't be able to finish what you set out to do. And you are of no use to me. You're not even fit for dunghill. Now, how do you like that for a way to end a sermon by a pastor? That's what Jesus did. And then he says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Are you listening? Are you listening to what I'm saying? Are you listening to what I'm saying about the characteristic of those in the kingdom, what they're willing to do for the king? Are you willing to do that?

Have you counted the cost of everything involved in kingdom living? Have you done that? If you have and you decide, yes, you will become the salt of the earth. But you don't count the cost. And you just jump on the bandwagon and you become tasteless. You become useless. If you become useless, you're of no use to me. You're of no good to me. You will be thrown out. And that's a term of absolute. You're done and I'm done with you. If you have ears, listen to what I'm saying. That's how he concludes a sermon.

I mean, what he said, what, took three, four minutes to read at most, right? We spent five weeks on it. Just to come to grips with what he's saying to a whole slew of people. But isn't it interesting how chapter 15 begins? Look what it says. Now, all the tax gatherers and the sinners were coming near him to what? To listen.

They were coming to listen. They had a need. They recognized their need. They wanted to hear what Jesus had to say. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the Levites, the leaders of Israel, they were just angry that he even associated with sinners. But Jesus is serious about what he says. May we learn to listen to the words of Jesus. And I ask you today, where are you? Is it characteristic of your lifestyle to serve Jesus and Jesus only above husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister? Are you so committed to Christ that you, your love for him looks like hate to those closest to you?

Are you characterized by a person who will, who's willing to stand for Jesus? Are you a person who's willing to suffer for him and surrender everything to him? Are there times where self dominates our life? Yes, there is. I'm not trying to picture a Christianity of perfectionism because none of us are perfect. Is there a time where family will dominate your decision-making process? Yes, there's that time. Is there a time where yourself rises above and you want to do for you and not do for God? Yes, there's times for that too.

There's times for that. Are there times where you just don't want to stand and speak for Christ? Yeah, that happens. But those momentary and temporary lapses do not invalidate a heart committed to Christ because a heart that's indwelt by the spirit of God will turn back to him and follow him and serve him. It will do that. See, there are times when there are lapses in our lives that if we were honest, every one of us would be ashamed of. Every one of us. That's why the study of David on Wednesday night is so good.

He's the king of Israel. There are some lapses in his life that boy, even I'm ashamed of. Just even read. He had to live them. And yet God is so good. God is so good because God has given us the spirit to convict us of our sin, to bring us back to him. If you're here today, never give your life to Christ, your account of the cost of what it includes. Have you weighed everything? Are you sure you want to give your life to Christ? It's the best of all lives, but you got to weigh the cost. If you're here, you need to listen to what Jesus said, because he's the one who said it.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. You need to listen. I trust that you have. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today in all that you do. For truly Lord, you are a great God and worthy to be praised. I pray for every man and woman, boy and girl in this room today, that Lord their lives would have been weighed in the balance, weighed in light of your word and come to realize the cost of giving your life to Christ is completely worth it. May we be able to sing, I choose Jesus because he first chose me.

No matter what it costs, I will choose him. I want to follow him and serve him with all of my heart. May that be our prayer this day in Jesus name. Amen.