Thank you so much for that. Good morning once again, brethren. Please remain standing with me. If you have your Bibles, please turn to the Gospel of Luke. We will be in Luke. Chapter 14, we'll be looking at verses 25 through 35. If you've had a chance to look at the bulletin, you've noticed that the title is The Cost of Following Christ. And I can't think of any other better verses to go over than these here. Luke 14, 25 through 35, and God's word reads, Now large crowds were 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 a 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 consider 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 for terms of peace. So then none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Therefore, salt is good, 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." Let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father. As we go and study these verses, we just ask that you empower us by your spirit, that we may study it with conviction, that we may analyze our own lives in accordance to the life of your Son, Father. Convict us of any sin that we may not even be aware of, that we may bring it to you for the forgiveness that is only found in your Son, Jesus Christ, Father. Be with me, be with my tongue, that I will speak only your truth, Father. We love you. We pray this in your son's name. Amen. You may be seated. Pretty difficult passage. I think if you first glance at it for the first time. This is a topic that's been in my heart for a little while and I have an opportunity now to share it with you and so I hope that we are all blessed together by it. You know, it has been said that our journey in walking with our Lord is most of the time very difficult. We're not promised a happy life in accordance to what the world considers to be happiness. As a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul would testify to that, right? He really faced persecution just about at every single corner. We are actually promised persecution because of the one in which we are following. This is a hard sell for those who are lingering in the faith, for those who have come through those doors sometimes and doors all around the world to listen to the gospel. This is a hard sell that if you become a follower of Christ, you will face and you will have persecution. The Christian life is a constant denial of self, a constant denial of self. This is considered to be the battle that we fight on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, it's what the scripture tells us. It's the battle between the flesh and the spirits. Paul talks about this quite often. Christianity, in a sense, is often mocked by the world. We're seen as foolish individuals. Opposition is at every corner for those of us who are living by our faith. So why do we continue in our journey with Christ? After all that, why do we do it? Because He is worthy of all of it. He is worthy of all of it and much, much more. For the true follower of Christ, we understand that this world is not our home. As servants of Christ, we are not greater than our own master. We must realize that. We bear these things because our minds and souls have been reconciled and no longer are we fixated on the things of this fading world. Much more, we are fixated on Christ and the things that are eternal. This world is passing away. We understand that. What's here today will be gone tomorrow. We understand that our time here is like a blinking of an eye compared to the eternity with our Creator. We have counted the cost of our citizenship. We have counted the cost in our citizenship we understand is not of this world. We are now, by the mercy of Christ, simply passing by until we reach our glorious destination. And so that's what we will be talking about today, is to count the cost of following the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look at your outline, we'll take a look at, we'll break this off into three sections. Verses 25 through 27 will be the condition. 28 through 32 is what I see the clarification or the explanation of this condition. Verses 33 and 35 is the condemnation. And so as we look immediately into verse 25 of chapter 14, and Luke says, now large crowds were going along with him, and he turned and said to them this, right, large crowds. As a matter of fact, here, large crowds could be also stated as many large crowds. There was a multitude of crowds that were all around him, continuing to follow him wherever he was, wherever he was going. large crowds Now most westernized churches, you know now salivate at the scene of a large crowd. They love the large crowd But in the case of our Lord This wasn't he was never concerned about the size of the crowd as a matter of fact The one thing that he was mainly concerned with was the heart of the true believer Turn with me to the Gospel of John and we'll see an example of this in John chapter 6. There is something that our Lord did quite often. As many churches would love large crowds, our Lord did something very different. As a matter of fact, it appeared that every time there was a large crowd gathering, he would put up these barriers, right? Because he was not concerned about how large the crowd was. And we see another example here in John chapter six. Let's take a look at verses 48. 48 to 68. It's a large portion, but I think it puts a greater perspective on what we're going to be talking about today and an example of what these barriers look like when these large crowds would gather. This is what our Lord would do. And in the context, he is saying, I am the bread of life. Verse 48, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that no one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, I live because of the Father. So he who eats me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever. These things he said in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, they said, this is a difficult statement, who can listen to it? But Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, said to them, does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they are, or who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he was saying for this reason, I have said to you, No one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father. As a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away also? Do you? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. You have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus answered them, did I myself not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is the devil? These are some harsh words, but if you are a true follower of Christ, you will respond to them. As a matter of fact, we see very clearly that some who were walking with him, this was such a difficult statement that the scripture says they withdrew. They could no longer listen to this. As a matter of fact, it could even be said that they were there just to get a handout, right? Here's a man who's feeding everyone. I'd like to get some of that as well. As a matter of fact, this is a great example of our Lord caring for the hearts of the individuals. But yet, no matter how difficult this was, we had some who said, who are we going to go to? Who? We've left everything behind. You have the words of eternal life. And I don't know about you, but can you relate to that in a sense that every time you open up the scriptures and you go in there and you maybe see something that is probably, you've seen it for the first time, it's hard to grasp, but you say, I don't know what all this means, and I may not even be able to translate this properly, but I trust your word. I trust your word because you, this is the word, these are the words of eternal life. You know, the American church has appeared to appease to the large crowds instead of determining who the real followers of Christ are. You know, we find that true followers of Christ have responded to a true proclamation of the glorious gospel. As a matter of fact, understanding the gospel consists of these things. It's a constant self-denial, cross-bearing, counting the cost, surrendering to Christ. We must understand that He, if we have professed our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, He is not only Savior, He is Lord. He is Lord. We must surrender to Him. These things, unfortunately, sound foreign to the westernized church, to the American church, because this is not the way that they proclaim the gospel. Steve Lawson puts it this way. It says, following Jesus is a journey that comes at a high price. This is not a relationship to be entered into lightly. This decision requires the commitment of our entire life to Jesus Christ. Coming to Christ takes priority over every other pursuit in life. It necessitates the submission of our wills to him as we surrender to his lordship. His path requires our sacrifice and at times even our suffering for him To be sure jesus will not follow us We are called to follow him. We are called to follow him if you go back with me to luke 14 We see that what is the condition of following him? Verses 26 and 27. Our Lord says 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 You know, the Lord does not sugarcoat this at all whatsoever You know, these words are pretty harsh, but they are intended to do one thing They are intended to awaken those who are spiritually dead and to even capture the attention of those who are lethargic in a sense But we also look at this and we must know that this is a hyperbole, right? A hyperbole is an exaggerated statement to make a point. And we see this in other parts of scripture, right? If your eye causes you to sin, Pluck it out. Does he actually mean to pluck it out? Of course not, right? It's a hyperbole. It's an exaggerated statement to make a point. But also here, the phrase, his own, right? It says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, and goes on the list, mother, wife, children, so on and so forth, and then he says, and even his own life, His own, this phrase is used in the text, and in this text, speaks to the natural priority and normal affection for one's own family. Naturally, another word that your eye will easily gravitate to is the word hate, right? You can't blow right past this. You probably go straight to hate. Does this contradict other passages in scripture that command us to honor our parents? For example, in Exodus 20, verse 12, or husbands to love your wives in Ephesians 5, 25, or how about wives to love your husbands in Titus 2, 4? How about parents to love your children, Ephesians 6, 4? No, it doesn't contradict that whatsoever. To give you an example, we see this type of hyperbole. We're very familiar with this as our pastor is going through the book of Romans. We see in Romans 9.13, Jacob I love, but Esau I hated. Proper explanation of this is that God simply preferred Jacob and his promise was going to go through Jacob. It wasn't that he had this animosity against Esau. We also see this in Genesis 29.31. where the text tells us that Leah was unloved by Jacob, if you guys remember that text. Now does Jacob, does that mean that Jacob, actually the proper Hebrew translation there is literally hate. Matter of fact, it would say Leah was hated by Jacob, but does it actually mean hated? The Hebrew translation actually indicates that. Some translations have it as unloved. Now this does not mean that Jacob despised or had animosity against Leah, but if we understand the text and we know the context, he preferred who? Rachel, right? It's a simply preferring something else. Something else and that should bring a little bit of light into our text here, right? So how do we translate it here such harsh words? I know that it could be harsh for those that maybe don't have the discernment quite yet The proper way to translate it here is because the lord ought to be first place in a priority above all things all other things in comparison to christ are to be looked at as a lesser love. As a lesser love. We understand passages that tell us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. We can see the gap between our love for Christ and other things. When we properly have the love for Christ and we have a love for other things, one thing should happen. We should see that gap. between all other things and our Savior and our Lord. That should be evident in our lives. But in this too, he talks about if he doesn't hate his own mother, father, husband, so on and so forth. Another thing that the gospel does here is at times it does create tension, right? It creates tension within the family. And we see that, turn with me to the gospel of Matthew. Matthew 10. 34 through 39. He says, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth and did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. And he who has found his life will lose it. And he who has lost his life for my sake will find it. We're not worthy if we put other things in priority over Christ. We're not. I mean, who could say such a statement? God can say such a statement. Because we know that according to scripture, Jesus Christ is God and the incarnate God. And so we see these texts and it brings some clarity for us One thing is we must hate even our own life coming to Christ means to forsake everything that we've once loved to forsake everything and Fleeing to the one that is able to save not just your mind, but your soul Turn with me and I want us to even go a little bit further go back with me to Luke. I Find this very interesting if you go to Luke 17 I 32 and 33. This is very similar language. Luke 17, 32 and 33, he says, remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Why is that so significant, to remember Lot's wife? Interesting, but let's go ahead and turn to Genesis 19 and get a glimpse of what this looks like. If you guys are familiar with this account, it'll be in Genesis 19, 15 through 26. And really, what is going on in the context here? Well, judgment has fallen upon Sodom. It's just a matter of time. And so, we take a look at verse 20. Actually, if we backtrack just a little bit, it says, And the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to me. And if not, I will know." Then the man turned away from there and went towards Sodom while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. And then you see in the later verses that Abraham is almost pleading with the Lord that he may not bring judgment to Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Because Lot is there. His own family members are there. And we now, that brings us to chapter 19 and verse 15. After the angels have now arrived at Lot's place to rescue Lot's family, we are now brought to verse 15. It says, when morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him. And they brought him out and they put him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, escape for your life. Do not look behind you. Don't miss that. do not look behind you and do not stay anywhere in the valley escape to the mountains or you will be swept away but lot said to them oh no my lords now behold your servant has found favor in your sight and you have magnified your loving kindness which you have shown me by saving my life But I cannot escape to the mountains for the disaster will overtake me and I will die Now behold his this town is near enough to flee to flee to and it is small. Please. Let me escape there Is it not small? That my life may be saved He said he said to him behold. I grant you this request also not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken Hurry escape there for I cannot do anything until you arrive there Therefore the name of the town was called Zohar the Sun had risen over the earth When Lot came to Zohar then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground but his wife from behind him did what She looked back and she became a pillar of salt. She looked back. Evidently, she must have had a great attachment to Sodom, right? There was something about Sodom that she could not leave behind and it even caused her to stop and look back at that old life. She turns back to look because, in a sense, her heart was probably in Sodom. You know, failing to cling to the Lord who was in the process of preserving her life, she could not help herself but to look back, but to look back. And what happens, judgment fell upon her as well. She became a pillar of salt. Friend, do not look back. Do not look back that life that you once had is nothing compared to your new life in Christ It's absolutely nothing as a matter of fact, we see a little bit of a glimpse of this in Philippians by the Apostle Paul Turn with me to Philippians, please Philippians chapter 3 I think Paul did this fairly well. He didn't look back, right? He didn't look back. He was a completely transformed man, and he pressed forward towards the goal, and we see that in Philippians chapter three, verse seven, it says, but whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of who? for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, Derived from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith that I may know him and The power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being conformed to his death in order that I may attain the resurrection From the dead. This is the proper view of our old life We count all those things as loss to the surpassing riches of knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Now what happens when we turn into a life that is is worthy of following Christ This is a type of sacrificial life. This type of sacrificial life will bring forth evidently. It's going to bring forth persecution This is why the Lord states whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple What is what is cross signify here? I've heard many sayings Unfortunately in the world, you know, this is your bit your cross to bear And I'd never want to compare those little petty things to the cross of Christ. With all due respect, the cross here means death. It means a literal death. To pick up your own cross is, are you willing to even die for the Lord? Willing to die for Christ is an understanding of how precious salvation truly is. If you're willing to go to the cross, I mean Peter did this and he did it upside down because he thought it was unworthy to be crucified the same way as his Lord And so we look forward to that if we need be to die for our Lord I mean That's why we see many stories in the Reformation Many of them sung praises and were praying at the time because they counted worthy to die for our Lord, of course Turn back with me to the Gospel of Luke And yes, we're probably going to be going over many scriptures today. And Luke 9, 23. Again, very similar language. This is prior to our main text in Luke 14, in Luke 9, 23, he says, and he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory, in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. This is a life of constant self-denial. It's willing to obey Christ, to suffer and to even die for him. And I want you, don't miss this here. He says, in verse 23, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross, when? Daily. This isn't a one-time event. This isn't a one-time event in the past where you check, you put a check mark in which, okay, I already took care of that. No, this is a daily sacrifice for the Lord. Every single day, we must do this on a daily basis. If you go back to chapter 14 in Luke, of our main text, don't miss this. And in verse 26 and 27, he starts with these words, if anyone, in verse 26. In verse 27, he says, whoever. He says, anyone and whoever. This invitation is extended to everyone. It was a message for all to hear, no matter how hard the message was and still is now, it is a message for everyone, for everyone. This call is to exchange your heavy load of sin and place it upon the Lord. and his finished work on the cross, so that you may take up his yoke, which is light and is full of grace. That is what this call is all about. The Lord is the one who issues the call. He's the Lord, he's master, he's the sovereign king over all things. The Lord is the one who issues the call, and therefore he is the one who sets the terms. He's the one that says the terms it's his call his terms You know, you do not you do not make your own conditions when you come to christ. You don't get to cut your own deal with christ There is no negotiating. There's no give or take i'll do this if you do that The terms are to be accepted or refused but they are never to be altered to be to fit your needs this specific call is from our Lord. And so therefore, those are His terms. Those are His terms. In Luke 9, back to Luke 9, take a look at a passage. Again, this is a sacrificial life that we now live for the Lord. This is in Luke 9, 57 through 62. So as they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And he said to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. But he said to him, allow the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. Another also said, I will follow you Lord, but first permit me to say goodbye to those at my home. But Jesus said to him, no one after putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. They're not fit for the kingdom of God. Once you put your hand towards, to the plow, there's no looking back. No looking back at all, whatsoever. I find this interesting if you take a look at verse 60, sorry, 59, where one says, one says, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. Uh, his father wasn't dead, by the way. I hope you guys understand that. Which makes this more unfortunate. In a sense, this is, this is, uh, according to custom, the phrase actually goes, I must, I must bury my father. And that's a phrase used when somebody is looking for their inheritance. That's what's going on here. He first wanted to get his before he follows the Lord Brethren, this is a permanent decision and it's immediate. It's a permanent decision a Christian Cannot go on second-guessing whether they made the correct decision and if you do Unfortunately, it may be because you may have believed in vain. You may have believed in vain and back to Luke 14 Let's take a look at the next verses in 28, 29, all the way through 32. This is the clarification as you guys are turning there. So what does this mean? What does this look like? How is it that one can count the cost for following Christ? Well, he gives us an example of this. 28, he says, for which one of you, when he wants to build a 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 consider 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 for terms of peace. He's given us an example of two people. One, a builder who's getting ready to build a tower, who unfortunately is very foolish because he thought he had all he needed before he started to build and then realized he didn't have enough. That is somebody who failed to count the cost But then he gives us an example of a king with logic, right? With logic. And he talks about how a king who has 10,000 men is about to go against another king who has 20,000. Logic kicks in, he must understand, yeah, I'm going to lose this battle. There's no doubt about it. After surveying the weaponry and all the men that he may have or may not have, taking a look at the terrain, all the resources, a logical person will sit down and say, this may not be a good idea. Right? This may not be a good idea. That is the logic that he's given us here. You cannot be half-hearted when it comes to Christ. You cannot have one foot in the church and have the other foot in the world. It is a full commitment to Christ. Scripture tells us that this is a double-minded man, right? And we see that in the book of James. Turn with me to James. In James 1, This is a double-minded man. James 1, 6 through 7. says, but he must ask in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought to not expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. You may not see it here, but he's talking about an unbeliever. This is an unbeliever. How do I know this? Because if you go on to chapter four in the very same book, in the book of James, James 4, eight through 10, he says this. He says, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Is that of a believer? No, that's an unbeliever. Verse nine, be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. This is what repentance looks like. Ten, humble yourself in the presence of the Lord, and He will what? He will exalt you. This is a double-minded man. This is actually an unbeliever. You know, these are the individuals who are, in a sense, in the church, lingering in the faith, whether they want to commit, do they not want to commit. This is a double-minded man. In a sense, they're already an unbeliever. They're an unbeliever. Let me read to you something that I came across from Basic Christianity. I can't think of the author, and I couldn't find the author. It's actually found in a John MacArthur commentary. But I felt that this is a great description in the status of the church here in America, and I want to read this to you now. It says, The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers, the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ's warning and undertake to follow him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. The result is the great scandal of Christendom today, so-called nominal Christianity. In countries to which Christian civilizations have 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. The religion is great, is a great soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life while changing its place and its shape to suit their convenience. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism. This is what happens when we have false converts who have failed to count the cost of following the Lord Jesus Christ. In a sense, the world sees them as those who have professed Christ, they think they're Christians, and then they live on like the world, and then they give a bad name to Christianity. That's exactly what happens. This is the product of that. An example that I see here, another one according to scripture, turn with me to Matthew 19. You guys are familiar with this text. The rich young ruler. Matthew 19, 16 through 26. And someone came to him and said, teacher, what good things shall I do that I may obtain eternal life? And he said to him, why are you asking me about what is good? There's only one who is good, but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments. Then he said to him, which ones? And Jesus said, you shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, all these things I have kept. What am I still lacking? Jesus said to him, if you wish to come to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, 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. When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, then who can be saved? That's a great question. Verse 26, in looking at them, Jesus said to them, with people, when it comes to salvation, this is what? It's impossible. But with God, all things are possible. This is a great example from the rich young ruler. For one thing, we can say about the rich young ruler that he at least counted the cost. For him, his riches was more glorious, unfortunately, than the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he leaves crying. His riches, unfortunately, were more glorious to him than the Lord himself, who was face to face with him. You know, in verse 16, it says, And someone came to him and said, Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life? How many churches now would love to hear that? and respond to that immediately. Somebody who comes down the aisle, I wanna have eternal life. Great, welcome to the family. Pray this prayer and you will be forgiven. Is that the way our Lord did it? Absolutely not. What does he do? He takes him straight to the law and crushes him under the law and he exposes really what's his true God. His true God was his own riches rather than the Lord who is literally standing face to face with him. You know, go back with me to Luke. Luke 14. That wasn't planned. You know, as we continue to talk about counting the cost, I can't help but to think of, you know, the Olympics are coming up. And men have those individuals given their life for that, right? They've sacrificed a lot of hanging out with family and friends and partying and this and that because they have been completely committed to achieving well, to doing well, and really the ultimate goal is a gold medal, really. And as Paul says, they do it for something that's perishable. how much more should it be important for us to count the cost of those things that are eternal right those things that are truly matter for the treasures that are laid up in heaven for us back in luke 14 As we talk about the battle of these two kings, we clearly see that one has 10,000, the other has 20. In a sense, one is lesser, the other one's greater. The other one does not, one does not stand a chance against the other one. One, unfortunately, has to come to the realization through his logic that it's going to take an unconditional surrender to the other king. It's unconditional, he must surrender. And in a sense, that's really what you're faced with now. You have been the king of your own life. You're the king of your own life. You're now face to face with the king of king and the Lord of lords. Either you go on in your own kingdom and you will reap what you sow. And if you don't surrender to the one true king, there will be nothing left but judgment upon your head. That's the only thing. And so I ask that you use the logic that what you've used now can get you nowhere in eternal life. Eternal life can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Salvation is only found in the Lord. We have all fallen short, and we have all broken every single one of the commandments before the Lord, and there's one thing that we deserve. That's eternal judgment in hell, forever and ever. A lot of the times we like to compare ourselves, and as we share the gospel, we compare ourselves to other individuals. This happens all the time. Well, at least I didn't do this. And for some reason, Hitler always comes up, right? At least I'm not Hitler, right? Well, friend, it won't matter because you're comparing yourself to the wrong person. You're comparing yourself to another fallen individual when you yourself are fallen. You ought to be comparing yourself to the perfect righteousness, righteousness in the holiness of the Creator, God Almighty. And if we, in a sense, we will stand condemned. But there's a way out. The way out is through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that while we were yet still sinners and enemies of God, God, so gracious and merciful, sent forth his son to die in our place for all those who come to believe upon him. And he did that completely at the cross. Atoning for the sins of all sinners who come to believe upon him He died rose again on the third day and is now at the right hand of the father He is now risen and he is a resurrected Lord if you put your faith and trust upon him Because he has risen you will you too will rise and you will have eternal life Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for that or all the only thing that will be left is condemnation There's nothing else We must surrender to the king or we or you will be the king of your own kingdom until the true king is before you Luke 14 and closing 33 to 35 This is the condemnation So then none of you can be my disciple who does not give up his own possessions. 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. Those who are unwilling to lose their lives and gain it in Christ will stand condemned. You know, there is no other option. The only option is the awaiting wrath of God. And as the text says here, the reason why I've titled this last portion Condemnation is because he clearly says here in verse 35, It is useless either for soil or for the manure pile. And it will, what? It will be thrown out. It will be thrown out. Now this analogy of salt is, this is not the first time that our Lord uses this. He uses this many times in the Gospels. Salt is good. The analogy here is tied to the usefulness salt in the world. As a matter of fact, we also see this in Matthew 5 13 and Mark 9 50. What's salt good for besides taste, right? It tastes good. We always add it on our food. Salt is good for taste, but more importantly, especially in these times, it acted as a preservative. It acted as a preservative. Being a follower of Christ, now follow with me here, being a follower of Christ means that you have a two things continually working in you, and that is the Word of God and that is the Spirit of God. Those things should be working in the true convert and the true follower of Christ. These two are vital for the Christian life and enables the believer to act as a preservative in this society. That's how we act as a preservative. That's how this is compared to salt. In a sense, the believer, this true believer, is extremely useful. Extremely useful. Another way to look at it is the Church, by the power of the Spirit in His Word, working in the believer, acts as that preservative, that restraint against the evil produced in this world. Right? That's why the Church exists, so that we may bring people to Christ, and their hearts will be changed. That's how you have this restraint, and you're able to preserve the wickedness of this world. The person who has made a profession of faith and allegiance to Christ, but fails to be useful, in a sense, is utterly useless, right? It is utterly, utterly useless. The Lord's illustration of the salt losing its taste and becoming tasteless, in a sense, what He is saying here, if you take a look at verse 34, therefore the salt is good, but even if the salt has become tasteless, With what will it be seasoned with what he's saying here is he doesn't want temporary disciples This is a disciple from beginning all the way to the end This is the enduring race all the way to the end now I have to stop and say this that we're only saved by grace alone and by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone But we still have the responsibility to respond to the gospel and to walk in newness of life with our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a strong rebuke. People who are, in a sense, tasteless when it comes to this, the proper question should be, do they really know the Lord? If there's no fruit that's being produced from that profession of faith, maybe they don't know the Lord. Maybe they don't. An example I think about is in Revelation turn with me to the book of Revelation You're familiar with this text Revelation 3 14 To 19 This is in the context of the seven letters to the seven churches. And there's a specific church here, the Church of Laodicea. Let's read this text together, Revelation 3, 14 through 19. It says, To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God says this, Know your deeds that you are neither hot neither cold nor hot I wish that you were cold or hot right if you were cold It'd be refreshing if it was hot it'd be soothing. It'd be useful Verse 16 so because you are lukewarm and either hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth Because you say I am rich and I have become wealthy and have need of nothing and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked? How's that for self-esteem? Verse 18, I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and the eye solved to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, therefore be zealous and what? and repent, and repent. Verse 16 says, I will spit you out of my mouth. That's actually a nicer translation. It's actually, I will vomit you out of my mouth. That's really the picture that we see here. This is a strong rebuke for professing Christians who are really just professing Christians. They're really doing nothing for the kingdom, and yet they're asking them to repent, because maybe they really don't have true salvation. Maybe that's just it. You know, these parts of scripture speak to those who perhaps may have made a confession of faith but have not bared the necessary fruit of that. This is perhaps because they have not truly counted the cost of following the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me quickly as we get ready to close to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10 through 31. This is a text that is sobering, especially for Christians who perhaps have hung out around other Christians. I'm talking about this is a text perhaps for professing Christians who have hung out around other Christians who have seen the work of the Spirit, seen the fruit of other Christians, but maybe they don't have fruit themselves. Maybe it could be perhaps that you have just come to the edge of salvation and have not counted the cost and committed and surrendered your life to the Lord. And so Hebrews 10, 26 through 31 tells us this in regards to such individuals. It says, for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. What does that say? That means, If you've walked through the doors of the church, and you've heard the glorious gospel that is able to save your soul, and you turn right back around and not respond to that gospel, friend, there is nothing outside, out in the world, not in this world, and this, and another universe, and another galaxy that will save you ever again, because you've turned away from the glorious gospel. And so here it says, for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much Severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as Unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace For we know him who said vengeance is mine. I will repay and again the Lord will judge his people It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the Living God It is a terrifying thing. There is a way out. The Lord Jesus Christ is the way out And let me ask you this. Have you counted the cost of following the Lord Jesus Christ? If he has, if you've counted the cost and you're walking faithfully, friend, it's not because of your own doing, it's because the Lord has called you. The Lord has called you, you have simply responded, salvation belongs to him. And if he has called you, you've counted the cost, friend, the Lord will sustain you until the very end. That's right. Heavenly Father, we come before you grateful for your word. We're grateful that you use us in spite of us, Father. And I know at times we fall because the battle of the flesh and the Spirit rages on between our own body. And in a sense, we need to heed more to the Spirit. Salvation only belongs to you, Father. We understand that. But help us be useful Christians that we may bring your name glory, Father, in all things. We just want your name to be highly exalted. We want people to come to Christ. Please hear our prayers and we pray this in your son's name. Amen.