Family, if you would take your copy of God's Word and stand as we open to the gospel according to Luke, Luke chapter nine, we will give attention to the reading of God's Word as we continue our study through the gospel according to Luke. And we will begin to read in verse 57 and read down to the end of the chapter there, verse number 62. And so you can follow with me as I begin to read there, Luke chapter nine, verse number 57. And this is the word of God, it reads as follows. And they were going along the road and someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. To another he said, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. And this morning I'm preaching on this subject, the tragedy of almost, almost following Jesus. And you may be seated, if you would pray with me at this time. Father, we do love you and praise you and thank you for the privilege of worship and the opportunity now to continue to worship through your word. We ask that you would encourage us and strengthen us. We ask, oh God, that you would help us, that you would give us light of truth shining through the pages of your word, that your word would speak directly to us, and that it would confront us, that it would build us up in the faith, that it would confirm our faith, but that it would also be a means of awakening those who have yet to come to faith in Jesus Christ. We pray that today unbelievers would be confronted with sin. that they would be called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. This is our prayer, O God, now we ask that You would allow us the privilege of once again drawing near to Your throne in worship, in spirit, and in the truth of Your Word. We ask all of this in Christ's name. Amen. One of the most tragic stories in all of Scripture, and the most tragic scenes in all of the Gospels, in my estimation, is the account of the rich young ruler. And we find that account there in Mark's Gospel, chapter number 10. We find this young rich man coming to Jesus with a question, and then what we see happen after that is striking. I want to read to you this account here from Mark chapter 10, verses 17 through 22. Listen to these words. And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, what must 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. And he said to him, teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, you lack one thing. Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Now when you hear that, you must hear that with a great tone of tragedy. In this entire section that we're looking at, in fact, that we're coming now to the very end of in Luke chapter 9, we find the key theme is really this. It is focused on following Jesus. Following Jesus. And as we looked last time in the previous text together, we were able to see that Although the apostles were following Jesus, there were others that were quite clear in their rejection of Jesus. And we saw the Samaritans saying they had no room for Jesus there. They were not willing to care for Jesus and the apostles as they were making their way to Jerusalem. This is the section in Luke's gospel as we've been now working our way verse by verse, line by line, all the way up through chapter nine where we see this hinge where now Jesus is setting his face and fixing his face towards Jerusalem. And yet at the very same time as we see that Jesus is fixing his face towards Jerusalem, he's also making sure that he presses the necessity of following Jesus. So when the crowds would grow and they would assemble, Jesus would be consistently saying, follow me. And He would be calling His apostles to Him, and He would be calling those from the crowds to come. And we see that emphasized even here in this section as we come to the close of Luke chapter number 9. Now the first thing that we must be reminded of is what happened earlier in Luke chapter nine, and that's specifically put forth in verse 23. This is a key section here that drives home really the emphasis of following Jesus, where Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. There's the word there, follow me. And so the Christian life is a life of following in the footsteps of Jesus. All throughout the Gospels we see this illustrated. In John chapter 1 verse 43 we see that divine call that it says, the next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and he said to him, follow me. In John 10, 27, we see the emphasis of the church following Jesus as He says there, My sheep hear My voice, I know them and they follow Me. In John 12, verse 26, we see the servant's call. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Again, we see this emphasis in John 13, verse 26. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus answered him, Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterwards. So we see this emphasis of not only in this life, but also in eternity. The emphasis is that we, as God's people, would be following after Jesus. But in Luke chapter nine, this entire chapter that really emphasizes this idea of following Jesus, in verse 23, when he says, come after me, anyone that would come after me, let him deny himself." This word deny means to refuse or to put aside the very things that might be of necessity for you. And we live in a world of self-love and self-pity, and we live in a world that demands personal rights and privileges. In fact, we are in many ways a pampered people. And as we look back at this text and we're mindful of what it means to follow Jesus, when I preached on verse 23, I talked about the life and the ministry of the missionary that we know as Adoniram Judson. And as we think about the fact that he left his homeland and he went to Burma in 1813 at age 24, and we think that he spent 38 years there until his death at 61. His wife Anne was 23 when she accompanied him onto the ship, and she died an early death. He translated their dictionary, translated their Bible, preached the gospel, and turned Burma upside down with the gospel. But here's the point, it doesn't matter if you're a missionary to a foreign land, to a foreign people, to an unreached people, or whether you're a homeschool mother, or a retired grandfather, or a college student, or a mechanic, or a young business professional, or an information technology technician, or whatever you are, wherever you find yourself in life, you must be willing to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus. The cross is an instrument of suffering and shame. It was this torture device, this idea of death by cross was invented by the Persians, practiced by people like the Egyptians, but perfected by the Romans. The art of crucifixion was that of massive pain and shame. It would involve humiliation, it would involve great pain and agony, and it would involve being rejected publicly, scandalously rejected on the side of the road. And yet Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. It's a life of obedience to Christ and devotion to Christ. That's what following after Jesus looks like. In other words, that means that we have to be willing to walk the Calvary road. We have to be willing to endure hatred for the sake of Christ, and pain for the sake of Christ, even persecution and trial for the sake of Christ. Matthew 10, 21 and 22, brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents, and have them put to death. and you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved." You see in John chapter 16 verse 2, we see that language of, they will put you out of the synagogues, indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God. This is a warning. that Jesus would give to his followers. Notice in Romans 8, 16, and 17, we see this idea of if we are fellow heirs with Christ, provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Suffer with Christ, glorified with Christ. This is the theme of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In Philippians 1 verse 29, for it has been granted to you, notice that, it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe, have faith in Him, but also suffer for His sake. 2 Timothy 1.8, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel. How? In the flesh? No. By the power of God. You see, this doesn't sound like the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel, right? You know why? Because it's not the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. This is the true gospel. And the true gospel sounds different, looks different, than this false gospel of the health, wealth, and prosperity pampered gospel. We must be willing to be rejected and despised and suffer pain and be isolated and mocked for following Jesus. And so the key to this section in Luke's gospel is that of following Jesus. Interestingly enough, if you just look at the ministry of Jesus, you will see Nazareth rejected Jesus when he preached there in the synagogue, ran him outside of town and tried to cast him off of the cliff to his death. Judea rejects him in John chapter 5 verse 18. Galilee cast him out in John chapter six, verse 66. Gadara begs him to leave the district altogether. And what happened in Samaria just recently in the previous context, they said, we don't have room for Jesus and the apostles here. And so the theme of rejecting Jesus will become more and more consistent as Jesus fixes his face towards the city, the city that kills the prophets. And as he takes one step in the direction of Jerusalem and continues to make sure that he is there on that divine calendar so that he would die at the appointed hour for the sins of his people, This idea, this theme of rejecting Jesus will be more and more prevalent as we continue to turn the pages in our study of Luke. But in this text, in verses 57 to 62, we see examples of failing to follow Jesus. Really, in many ways, we might say, we don't know the full end story to all of these examples here before us. But they're set forth as examples so that we can see that we should not fail to follow through in actually following after Christ. Notice the example number one that's given to us in verses 57 to 58, this idea of the failure to count the cost. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." It's extremely important for us as we consider what it means to follow Jesus for us to actually count the cost. We have to. In other words, when Jesus says, follow me, this is not just pie in the sky, this is not just some sort of pathway to health, wealth, and prosperity, some sort of pathway to being pampered in the name of Jesus. No, following after Jesus will be costly. And there was a constant buzz around Jesus. Miracles and signs and wonders were being performed. People were flocking to Jesus, not only to hear his preaching, but to just get a glimpse of his power, his power to cast out demons, his power to speak to wind and waves and angry storms would obey him. Paralyzed men would stand up and walk. The Pharisees offended by Jesus' audacity to say, your sins be forgiven you. I mean, there was a constant buzz always around Jesus' ministry, and that's the problem here, is that this man is perhaps looking at all of that buzz, he's looking at all of the drama around Jesus, and he says, I want to be a part of that. But he speaks before he counts the cost. And when he speaks up and he says, I'll follow you wherever you go, Jesus says, oh yeah, really? Well, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. In other words, have you really counted the cost? Have you? You see, even foxes have holes where they can rest, where they can escape the elements, where they can find refuge and safety from predators. Even birds of the air have nests where they can find refuge from predators, where they can eat, where they can sleep. But Jesus didn't have any place to call home, no place to lay his head, and so this man apparently had not counted the cost. And what we must understand, church, today is that all throughout evangelicalism, there's been this idea, this common idea to just follow Jesus is an easy thing. That's why some churches, I kid you not, this is no joke at all, have turned entire baptistries into fire trucks where they'll have fancy lights and all sorts of things to attract children to want to come down and tell the preacher, I want to jump into that pool too. But you see, we need to think earnestly what it means to actually follow in the footsteps of Jesus. And if you call yourself a Christian here today, think about what it means to step out in obedience and to follow Christ, the very Christ that they hated, the very Christ that the world crucified, the very Christ that the world rejects. We need to ask ourselves the question, have we considered the cost? We need to do away with this idea of easy believism, this idea of just following after Jesus is an easy thing, not so fast. Remember back in our study to chapter number five, when Jesus is calling his apostles, and in verse 11 it says, and when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. This is Peter, James, and John. They left everything. and followed him. In other words, they were being called to walk away from everything, to walk away from their nets, to walk away from their boats, to walk away from their fish, to walk away from their business, to walk away from the security of their trade that would have provided for them, and Jesus says to these men, I want you to follow me, and so when they get their boats to land, they just left it all and they followed Jesus. In Luke 14, 33, so therefore, anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. In other words, to follow Jesus doesn't mean that every single person in this room is going to have to go to some place like Burma. Most of you in this room will not be called to a place like that. Most of you in this room will be called to this very city or the surrounding metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia, where you will daily lay down your life for Christ, but you might not be a missionary, you might not be called to be a pastor, you might not be called to be a vocational evangelist, but you have to be willing to renounce everything to follow after Christ, because it might cost you everything to follow Jesus. It's gonna cost you time, it's gonna cost you finances, it's gonna cost you friends and family, it's gonna cost you potentially everything to follow after Jesus. You must be willing to count the cost. And so, hear me well, if you're in this room today and you have yet to come to Christ, you have yet to bow to Jesus, to call upon the Lord for salvation, I want you to, But what you will not hear from this pulpit is some sort of little easy believism little message to try to just prompt you to walk down to the front and repeat a little magical prayer in Jesus' name, whereby then I can put my hand on your head and call you a Christian. That's not the road of Christianity. I want you to follow Christ, but I want you to do so understanding that it's gonna cost you. Right up front. Just being clear, it's gonna cost you to follow Jesus. You say, well, it hasn't cost me anything. Well, then you haven't truly followed Jesus. Example two. Failure to prioritize Christ above all. Look at verses 59 and 60. To another he said, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Now in the first example, there was a man apparently from the crowds that were following Jesus, and there were always crowds following Jesus, that looked and said, I wanna be in the middle of all of that. And so he said, I'll follow you wherever you go. And then Jesus, of course, addressed him and talked about counting the cost. Here, Jesus looks at a man and tells him to follow me. And when Jesus said that, the man immediately said, well, Lord, let me first Go bury my father." Now, when we read that, we need to be mindful of the fact that the responsibility of burying a parent or specifically a father was something of great responsibility. It was considered to be something that was noble in the culture. of the Jewish people. According to the rabbis, that providing a decent burial for your father was to take precedence over almost everything else. It was really in many ways seen as the final act of honoring your parents, or the final act of honoring and respecting your father. In fact, if you look at Genesis chapter 25, Abraham was buried by Isaac and Ishmael. And you go to Genesis 35 and you see when Isaac breathed his last that his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. And then when Jacob came to the end of his life, Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and then prepared him for burial. So burying a father is a noble thing. It's an honorable thing. But the problem is, in this culture, a person wouldn't have a dead father at home for a long period of time where he would be out in the community and just be hanging out and listening to Jesus preach or something happening in the community where he could then go at some other point and bury his father. No, when a father would die, they would immediately set in motion the practice and the preparation for burial. It was a swift process. So it's very likely that what's implied here is that this man is saying to Jesus, I need some more time to wait until my father dies so that then I can honor him with a proper burial. And that's why Jesus responds the way he does. And he says, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." What we must see is that there's a relational cost to following Jesus. We must honor Christ above and beyond all other relationships. Consider the words in Matthew 10, verses 34 to 39. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. That's the point. Yes, it's proper to honor your parents. It's proper to honor your children. It's proper to love your family members. even to the point of giving them a proper burial. But what is necessary, and this is what Jesus was capable of doing, something that you and I are incapable of doing, was perceiving the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. And so, Jesus is very clear here that in order to follow Christ, in order to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, every other relationship must be beneath Jesus. Must be, it must be. And then there's a third example. Failure to immediately follow Jesus. Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. And Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Notice the language, but let me first. Let me first. In other words, I'll follow you, just not right now. I have some other things that I need to take care of. I have some other things in my home that need to be addressed. Let me first say farewell to those at my home. Now, interestingly enough, it sounds a lot like what we find with Elisha in 1 Kings 19, does it not? Elijah comes along and casts his cloak on him, and he says, well, first I need to go kiss my mother and father, and then I'll come, and he says, by all means, go. And so then he goes and he does what? He burns his plow and he slaughters all of the oxen, he has a feast, and then, and then he said farewell to his farming and he went and he followed after Elijah. You see, but the interesting thing is is that Jesus apparently Capable of doing what we can't do man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart remember back to Luke chapter number five when a paralyzed man was brought to Jesus on a bed and Jesus said your sins be forgiven you but all of the Religious elites in the room took issue with it and in verse 22. It says when Jesus perceived their thoughts That's an interesting statement, is it not? Jesus could perceive their thoughts. I mean, every time I get up to preach a sermon, I'm just grateful as I look out at the congregation that I'm not capable of perceiving the thoughts of the people. It's just a wonderful, freeing thing. I can just preach and just not worry about those things and leave those things to the Lord. But Jesus can perceive thoughts and the intentions of the heart. And so in this case, in fact, in all three examples here, you might say it just seems odd. I mean, it's not like an unreasonable request. I need to go bury my father. He should be allowed to go bury his father. or I need to go take care of some things at home, he should be allowed to go take care of the affairs at home. But you see, Jesus can see the heart. He understands the intentions of the heart. Unlike Elisha, that was willing to go and slaughter his oxen, burn his plow, have the feast, and then say farewell to the farming, and then follow after the prophet Elijah, apparently this individual wasn't willing to do that. And so Jesus' statement is talking about the urgency of immediately following after Christ. And so, this is the point, is that we can't procrastinate. Even if you're in this room today, and you have yet to follow Jesus, and you say, well, I wanna follow Jesus at some point, but you know, I've got a lot of things to take care of. I've got a lot of life to live. I've got a lot of things to do. I don't really have time to follow Jesus. Now, one of these days, I intend to follow Jesus, though. I just wanna warn you that procrastination is a noose around your neck. Be very cautious with this. I recently saw a large Nike advertisement, and you know what it said? I mean, it's a massive thing. You know what it said? It said this, yesterday you said tomorrow. Now, that's a subtle way of saying you need to come in here and buy some running shoes and some workout apparel, and you need to get busy because you keep saying tomorrow. How many of you have watched a good college football game recently where you've just been angry, not at so much the players, but the coaching staff, for their inability to manage the clock appropriately and call timeouts when they should call timeouts to save time so that it would give their team an opportunity to actually win the game? Now some of you are looking at me like, I have no idea what you're talking, I don't watch that stuff. But here's the point, it doesn't matter if we're talking about Nike advertisements and the need to resist procrastination or college football games and the lack of clock management. But here's the point, far worse than a college football game that squandered or the procrastination of actually exercising and pursuing good health is this idea of thinking that there will be another day for me to actually follow Jesus. Another opportunity will be granted to me. Another time, another day, another hour, another sermon, just one more. And that's exactly what the devil wants you to think. is that God actually owes you one more. You don't have time for Jesus? Okay, okay, fine, Jesus is gonna tell you. That's fine, just let me know when is a good time for me to actually make a demand upon your life. But that's not the way it works. The time to follow Jesus is immediately. Today is the day of salvation. In fact, when Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached on December 4th, 1864, the title of his sermon when he went into the pulpit that Lord's Day was Now. And this is what he continued to say all throughout his sermon. Some of my hearers who listened to me last year and in the years that are past are now, now in hell. In fact, he said the word now some 188 times in that one sermon, continuing to repeat and say, today is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time, not tomorrow. In fact, he would go on and say Spurgeon was known to say this often, is that tomorrow is the devil's day. He always wants you to say tomorrow. Jonathan Edwards, the great preacher, when he preached his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, said it this way in his sermon, the bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart and strains the bow. And it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood." Now that's all imagery, talking about the fact that it is God who controls the very moment of your death, and when God says, that's it, that's it, and there will be no post-mortem salvation opportunities granted to anyone who falls into the hands of an angry God. Thomas Shepard. An influential Puritan minister often emphasized the need to immediately follow Christ and to resist procrastination. He said it this way, delay in seeking God is a great sin. delay keeps the soul off from duty and prepares it for sin. Satan does his best to keep the soul at a distance from all holy duties and services, or if he cannot do that, to keep the soul from looking after a speedy execution of them. In other words, just wait another day, another moment, another opportunity, just keep waiting, just keep waiting, Don't do it today. Don't bow to Christ today. John Owen, the great Puritan theologian and pastor, stressed the need to immediately follow Christ by saying this, quote, delay in coming to Christ is the most irrational and destructive folly. Men may by a thousand excuses put off the work of conversion, but they will find none for not having done it when they come to die." You need to come to Christ. If you're in this room today and you have yet to bow to Christ, I just ask you to supply me with one good reason for waiting. If Jesus is calling, you come. John Bunyan illustrates this well in his book, The Pilgrim's Progress, as Christian had heard the good news and had been pointed away from the city of destruction to the celestial city and he was leaving. He could hear the screams of his family and friends in the city of destruction begging him to stay because, by the way, misery always loves company. And so what do you find in the pilgrim's progress? You see Christian, finally he just, he couldn't take it anymore, so what does he do? He sticks his fingers in his ears. And then he runs on, away from the city of destruction, so that he couldn't hear their screams and their pleas for him to stay. And he was crying out, life, life, eternal life. And perhaps there's someone in this very room today that's in that very place where you've been putting off following Jesus, delaying following Jesus, and your friends want you to stay in the sinful comforts of the city of destruction where your soul will be destroyed forever. And you need to run to Christ. And you need to immediately go to Christ. Because as Jesus said, if any man puts his hand to the plow and looks back, He's not worthy of the kingdom of God. Think about a farmer trying to plow a straight row. How can a farmer plow a straight row if he's plowing in this direction and looking in that direction? It's not gonna work. So you have to part with your old life. You have to turn from your old ways. You have to repent of your sin. You have to embrace Jesus Christ and see him as the treasure that's greater than everything that this world has to offer, even if the world could offer you everything, and it will never offer you everything. Only some things. You have to see that following Christ is necessary. So what is the dominant lesson to be learned in this entire section? It's that of following Jesus. We need Christ. And we can't delay. We have to count the cost. We have to prioritize Christ as above and beyond all. And we have to immediately, immediately, Come to Him. Meaning that if you're in this room today and you're outside of Jesus, don't think that God owes you another sermon like this. You're here not by accident, but on a divine appointment. Under the hearing of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This Jesus who set His face and fixed His face towards Jerusalem, went all the way to Jerusalem. All the way to the cross. He bore the sins of all of his people, every last one of them on that Roman cross, rejected and despised by men. And he was crucified in a shameful fashion, experiencing the pain and the rejection and the agony of that moment. Where even in the dying moments, he was looking up to the Father, crying out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? It's one thing for Samaria, one thing for Gadara, one thing for Judea. But my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? All of the sins of all of his people placed upon him. And in that dying moment, justice was satisfied in the rich, red, royal, redemptive blood of Jesus Christ, the son of the living God. So don't be a fool. Thomas Watson once said it this way, what fools are they who for a drop of pleasure drink a sea of wrath? Jesus suffered the wrath in your place, or you will suffer under the wrath of God for all of time and for all of eternity. I urge you, under the hearing of the gospel, turn to Christ. Proverbs 27 verse 1 says, Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. So the good news is this, the greatest news in the history of the world is that the ruling, reigning, glorious Savior who died on the cross and was put to death in the flesh and buried in a borrowed tomb was resurrected on the third day and then he preached for 40 days before he ascended to the right hand of the Father and sat down in a place of honor and superiority and sovereignty. where right now he's ruling and reigning. And one of these days Christ will come for his people. So you need to turn to this Christ, this ruling, sovereign, loving, triumphant, transcendent, merciful Savior who even this morning, listen to me, even this morning, this glorious Christ is still calling for people to follow me. Follow me. Follow me. And if you're in this room and you have yet to follow Christ, I urge you to heed the call of Jesus and follow Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever, young, old, or middle-aged, the red, the yellow, the black, the white, the rich, the poor, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." You say, well, when should I call upon the name of the Lord to be saved? Right now. Right now. Turn to Christ and follow Him. Let us pray together.