The scripture reading for today is Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter one, beginning in verse 18. Verses 18 through 30. We're going to be considering, again, some of the scriptures in the Gospel of Luke. which speak to the issue of the cost of following Christ. And that's what Paul is talking about here as well in his own experience. Philippians 1. beginning at verse 18. Yes, and I will rejoice, for though that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. Of course, he's in prison. As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed But that with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign of them for their destruction. but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. That is the word of God and we want to receive it as such as Paul describes the battle and the conflict that we experience in following the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's ask the Lord's blessing then as we come to the gospel of Luke once again. Father, Here is this gospel that you've given to us through your servant that you inspired to write it, Luke, the physician. We pray, Father, that you would powerfully speak to us, that your spirit would quicken and enliven these words and that you would grant us faith to believe them. to recognize that these are your words, and that this book that we hold in our hands, this Bible, is an amazing thing that we take for granted, that here is a book written and given to us by our Creator. And we pray, Father, then that you would speak to us now, that you'd give us the ability to understand, that you would convict us of the truth of these words and encourage us where we can be encouraged and rebuke us where we need to be rebuked. And we pray this all in Christ's name, amen. Well, yes, we've been looking at selections from the Gospel of Luke, and specifically in this series, we're looking at this subject that we've given the title of, the free gift that costs everything. The free gift of the Gospel. And yet it costs everything. And so we'll be reading from Luke 12 here in a moment, but we will be specifically focusing in on Luke 14, verses 25 to 33. So here is this subject once again, as Paul put it, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. That narrow way that's difficult is fraught with many tribulations. There's no detour. There's no easy route. This is going to be true of every real Christian, everyone that genuinely belongs to Christ. We're going to experience many tribulations as we travel to the kingdom of God. Many people begin with what looks like genuine faith, genuine zeal for following Christ. and we're glad of that when we see someone claiming to follow Christ, but Jesus warned us to be wise, and particularly that we be wise, that we not be one of these kind of people. Here it is, Matthew 13, the parable, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word, hears the gospel, right, and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. And so what we're considering this morning is this matter of counting the cost. See, a person like that, you've probably seen examples of this or whatever, somebody just seems to instantly believe the gospel and they're joyful and they're all pumped up. But really oftentimes it seems like it's too good to be true and sure enough, it is too good then to be true. We have to count the cost if we're gonna persevere in following Christ. Yes, salvation in Christ is free. but it's going to cost us everything. Listen to Luke chapter 12, beginning in verse 49. I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled. I have a baptism to be baptized with, of course he's talking about the cross, and how great is my distress until it's accomplished. Do you think that I've come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on, in one house, there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. By the way, if you get time this week and you remember, compare that verse 53 with Micah chapter seven, verse six, where you will find very much a parallel passage there. And then ask yourself, what was Micah talking about when he used those words? And what does that tell us about the era in which we live now. Compare those two and see what you find out. Well, you see here then that the person who insists that, you know, the Christian life, it's so wonderful. It's, you see it on church sign, you know, the church where everybody loves everybody. Yeah, right. You like to be a fly on the wall, listening in in the kitchen and see what happens, you know. Everybody loves one another here. It's one of peace. It's family and friends, and we find out what? That's a dream world that contradicts Jesus' own warnings. It's not just in the church. You see it in the, oh, think of, the hippie movement, right? Love and peace and flowers. I wonder how many people got killed at, what was the big hippie gathering? Out in the field. Yeah, right. See, I wonder what really went on there, right? Oh, they got along. I'm sure that love and peace then reigned there. You see, Jesus, though, says that He came, he, the Prince of Peace, came into this world not to bring peace, but to divide. It's his word that divides, it's the gospel that divides. In fact, Jesus warns us that to be spoken well of by everybody is a sure sign that that person is not at peace with God, is not spoken well of. with God, beware when all men speak well of you. Well, you see this matter of counting the cost. The gospel brings division. So follow along as I read from Luke 14, starting at verse 25. Now great crowds accompanied 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 bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he's laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king going out to encounter another king in war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he's able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has, all that he has cannot be my disciple. What do you suppose was the result? Remember when we heard Robert Godfrey, he was talking about John chapter six. And well, here's the passage. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well? And that's the passage where Godfrey said that this ought to be known as the church shrinkage chapter. and that he mentioned how we hear all kinds of talk about church growth conferences and so on, but whoever had a church shrinkage problem. You know, I remember our first church up in the mountains in Montana. And I didn't realize it at the time. I was just new and as a pastor and so on. And I hadn't really been that soundly taught theologically. But I can remember in retrospect, we were there for about eight years. And in retrospect, at times there would be, even up there in the mountains, there could be as many as 100 people packed into the old log community hall with a moose head on the wall and so on. And we had all kinds of trouble. It was just trouble all the time, right? I loved living there. But the church was not fun. And I remember after we left, thinking back and thinking, you know, what needed to happen in that church was about everybody except about five people needed to leave. And then we could start over again. Because there was only probably, as I can see, about five. evidenced than being born again. Well, there needs to be some more church shrinkage conferences, and it's the word of God that will cause that shrinkage. It'll result in those that God's calling to himself being saved, but it will also drive away then the wicked and the counterfeit. And so over and over you see Jesus doing this. And then he, you know, most of the crowd in John 6 left him. And then he's not done yet. He turns to the disciples. Are you going to take off too? Go ahead. This is your chance. Think of this. Luke 14 and verse 25 begins. Now great crowds accompanied him. And he turned and said to them, now, it doesn't just say crowds accompanied him. It says great crowds. He had before fed And that may well have been just speaking of the men that were there. There's different accounts of that, different estimations. But when Luke tells us great crowds accompanied him, he means huge crowds. This was a big deal. And when we look at that verse, great crowds accompanied him. And he turned and said to them, I looked at that verse and I thought of, You know, these names that are known to us now, John Bunyan, J.C. Ryle, Lloyd-Jones, and others, you know how they would just, let's slow down and think about this carefully. Great crowds accompanied him. William Hendrickson, in his commentary on Luke, says, on his way to Jerusalem through Perea, huge crowds are following Jesus, and all at once, He turns to them and addresses them. And he tells them that devotion to himself must be so wholehearted that even attachment to parents and to the other members of one's family must not be allowed to stand in the way. So here's these kind of try to envision it in your mind. huge, massive crowd following him. And all of, you know, it's like circus, like a party. And all of a sudden he turns around, and I don't know whether silence came over the crowd or what happened, but he tells them words that are intentionally meant to thin them out. That's what he's doing, you see. He spins, he spins and he tells them, and I think there'd probably be some shock on some of the faces. You heard R.C. Sproul, we saw him in a video, what, was it two Sundays ago? When he was addressing a pastor's conference and there was a whole bunch of pastors there. And he told them, just because you're ordained and you're a pastor of a church, there's no guarantee that you're saved. And there's probably, it's likely that numbers of you that are here right now are not born again. And at that point, I don't know why they did it, but at that point the camera swung from Sproul and onto the crowd. Now, unless my imagination is running away, not everybody there was happy with what they just heard. Well, it could be a similar deal. Jesus turns and he tells them, and it's like he's raining on the parade. You know, this is a, what? What are you talking about? You ever think about what was going on in these people's heads? Why were these huge crowds following Christ? Eventually Christ would die essentially alone on the cross, but here are these huge crowds. Maybe they'd heard of his miracles. Maybe they've heard of his feeding the 5,000. Remember, even in connection with the 5,000, when he fed them, then it's like the next day, here they come again. And here he comes again, and he tells them, you're just coming for the bread. You just want me to give you lunch again. That's your motivation. You need to be seeking true bread. the manna from above. Think of it, don't you think that it would be a pretty good model for us to follow? for a pastor, for preaching, but for any Christian, any church member in discipling their children, in teaching a Sunday school class, or in presenting the gospel to the unsaved, don't you think it would be a pretty good idea to imitate Jesus? Should not our preaching and teaching in local churches be characterized by a great similarity to Jesus preaching. But it's not. In so many cases today, it's not. Just think of it. Let's just imagine, let's say, every seat in here is full. That'll take some imagination. Let's say every seat is full and everybody's having a good time singing all the hymns and so forth. And then the message, you know, all of a sudden the message as it begins is something like Jesus had, you know. You know, most of you people here today, I hope that's not true, any of you, but if it is, let the Holy Spirit do the work on your heart. But most of you people are here for the wrong motives. That's the kind of thing he would do to this whole crowd. Most of you are here for wrong motives. You just want a free lunch. You're just here for the excitement and for the party. You're just here because you wanna hear things that'll make you feel good. But in fact, most of you are headed for hell, and if you don't repent. See, those are the kinds of things that the apostles preached, that Jesus preached, that John the Baptist preached. And the majority hated them then, But here's this huge crowd following Jesus. Matthew Henry says about them, here was a mixed multitude like that which went out with Israel out of Egypt. Such we must expect there will always be in the church, that is, in the visible local church. And it will therefore be necessary that ministers should carefully separate between the precious and the vile. Well, how do you do that? Does the minister stand up and say, you're saved, you're not saved? You do it by preaching the gospel. You preach God's word, and it's the word then that does the works. The presence of great crowds, as we see in scripture, more often is an indication of superficial faith. that will never last. And it's the duty of Christ's people, particularly his ministers, to do what Christ consistently did. 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, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple, so go home." Right? That's what he is saying. Here's these huge crowds and Jesus is reigning. on their parade. What's he doing? He's confronting them with the cost, you see. And his words are shocking. You're all coming to me, but if you're not willing to pay the price of following me, go home now. Jesus does not permit people to remain under the delusion that they belong to him when in fact they don't. He doesn't permit that, and it shouldn't be permitted. I was reading about the revival, the time of the revival back in the, was it like 1740, somewhere there, Jonathan Edwards' time, and so on, and how the norm in the church, which the Puritans were, fighting against, but the norm in the church that was in this country then at that time is that if a person had been baptized, and generally it was everybody baptized as an infant, you couldn't even hold public office if you weren't a member of the established church and so forth. But if they'd been baptized, and they had memorized the creeds and catechisms and so on, and they knew them, gave proper answers, then they were to be, and they weren't living in open scandalous sin, then they were to be admitted to communion and not be refused it. But what they were missing was, you must be born again. You must be born again. And as a result, the majority of people were under this delusion that they were saved, that everything was okay, when in fact, they weren't saved. And they didn't know him at all. And that's why God, in his mercy then, you see, he effected that great revival that lasted for, what, eight years or so, and swept through. This is when Whitfield and Edwards and the Wesleys and everybody, even in this country, are preaching. People, the author of the book I was reading, said people would come to the realization that they weren't born again. And they would begin to get angry and upset that all these years had gone by and nobody told them, you must be born again. And they would get fearful, they would realize, I've been on the verge, I've been this far from hell all that time, and nobody told me, and it was only God and his mercy that I'm not in hell, that he continued to give me time. Jesus does not permit people to remain under the delusion that they belong to him when they do not. The Christian life in the church is not a show, it's not a circus. It's not something to come to for entertainment. It is serious, serious business. Matthew 11, as they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John, about John the Baptist. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? See, he's driving at their motives. He's exposing them. What'd you go out? Why'd you go out to see John? A reed shaken by the wind and that's all? What'd you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. You could go see them there. What then did you go out to see, a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there's risen no one greater than John the Baptist, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. But he keeps going. Look at how Jesus keeps going here. But to what shall I compare this generation? What shall I compare you to? He's telling the crowds. What are you guys like? It's like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling their playmates, we played the flute for you and you didn't dance. We sang a dirge and you didn't mourn. For John came neither eating or drinking and they say, he is a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners, yet wisdom is justified by our deeds. Well, the point there is, see what Jesus is doing, even if we don't understand all the nuances there, what he's doing, he's telling the people, these crowds that came after him, you guys, you're fickle, you're like, We just met pliable in Pilgrim's Progress. You guys are pliable. You'll go this way, and then you complain about that. Then you'll go this way, and nothing satisfies you. Jesus is always, when it comes to phonies, when it comes to hypocrites, creeping in, pretending to be Christian and so forth. Jesus is abrasive. That's a good word. He is abrasive. He purposely rubs them the wrong way. He rubs against the grain. And his purpose then is not only a pronouncement of judgment and warning, but it's also loving. to tell somebody who's headed for hell that they're headed for hell. And there's nothing loving about letting people like that remain under their delusion. Someday when we get to heaven, maybe we'll meet some of the people that Jesus rubbed the wrong way. and got their attention. But this is how Jesus dealt with crowds who regarded him as a mere celebrity, or with the kingdom of God as a circus, a party to go to for entertainment. What we see here in Jesus' words, the cost to consider, friends and family. 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. I will not have him. He will never see the kingdom of God. Now, what does Jesus mean by this? We know that Jesus doesn't mean, in order to follow me, in order to be my disciple, You must actively hate your father and mother and all your friends. That's the kind of thing that a lot of cults do, right? It's like, come on, you join this cult, you're done. You have to absolutely renounce everything behind you and all the people there and your family will never see you again and this kind of a thing. But what's Jesus doing? If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother." Jesus often used shocking words to get attention. That's what he's doing here. They're true. He wants to jolt people to attention. You know, born into this world in sin, we are deaf and blind, and I mean, What does it take to get our attention? And Jesus would often use these jolting words for this reason that caused counterfeits to stumble. I mean, I would think that this crowd that had been following when he turns and tells them this stopped dead in their tracks and the smiles went off of their face. What did he say? Did I hear him right? What is he talking about here? What does he mean by hate? If you look at the parallel in Matthew 10, you'll see it there. There it's worded this way. 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. That's what he means by hate father and mother. It means that you, when it comes to our ultimate love, it is to be directed and given to Jesus, not to any other person. And that's what he means by that term, hate. The world hates Christ. And when we follow him, when we're born again and become his new creations, guess what? They see Christ in us and the world is gonna hate us because the world hates Christ. And often, this can't be pounded home enough to us, often that hatred comes from family and friends. And at that time, We've got a choice to make. Who is going to receive our ultimate allegiance, Christ or the closest of my earthly relationships? And anybody that doesn't count that cost in advance is never really making an informed decision to follow Christ. And so he lays it out. for us. Myriads of people who claim to be Christians, when it comes right down to it, they are not going to leave the city of destruction. And they're not going to do it because their allegiance, their ultimate allegiance isn't to Christ, even though they mouth faith in him. We've already seen Jesus say that if we're not willing to take up our cross and deny ourselves, hate our own life, we'll never make it. We will never persevere to the end. Now let me insert this. In all of this emphasis we're making here on the cost of following Christ, the question, I mean, if you're honest and you think about it, is it worth it? That's what people are, well, is it really worth it? And sometimes I think even Christians can have some doubts here. So listen to a couple of scriptures on this very point. Matthew 19, then Peter said in reply, see, look, he's talking to Jesus, we've left everything and followed you, and they had. What then will we have? There's nothing sinful about asking that question. What will we have? And Jesus said to him, truly I say to you, in the new world, the new creation, the new heavens and earth, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And he's talking to the disciples. And everyone, everyone, who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. It doesn't mean that in order to have that heavenly reward, you've got to leave all those people. What it does mean is that whenever following Christ, obeying Christ, trusting in Christ requires that we choose for Him and follow Him, and we don't yield to the opposing forces of anyone, then we must make the right choice. Again, Romans 8, Paul says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that's to be revealed to us. And Paul had been given a little bit of a glimpse. of that third heaven, of that new creation then to come. And what he's telling us here, he says, look it, I'm telling you this, you gotta believe this. I don't care how intense the suffering for Christ in this present world is for anyone, I guarantee you, on the day when you depart this life, and you open your eyes in glory, you will say, what trouble? What suffering? Because there's nothing that can be comparable to it. Whenever I read that verse, I think of the movie Jeremiah Johnson, right? Jeremiah Johnson. It is a crime if you haven't watched Jeremiah Johnson. But, you know, he's talking about, here he is in the mountains and he's lost everything. Rogue Indians had killed his wife and adopted son, burned up his, everything, everything was gone. And he's up in the mountains in the snow, the wintertime, up high. And he sits down. He meets up with this old-timer trapper that he knew. And they're talking. And the old-timer, he's saying, summer's a long time coming here, up this high. And then he tells Jeremiah Johnson, You've come a long way, pilgrim. Because he was a putz when he first started out, you know. You've come a long way, pilgrim. And he mentions that, you know, you've seen a lot of trouble, to put it mildly. And Jeremiah Johnson responds, huh? What trouble? And what he means by that is for him, it might have been misdirected, but for him, having experienced this life up in the mountains as he is, it was worth it. Well, something similar only far better is going to happen. Nobody, no Christian is ever going to have regrets. when we're with the Lord. It's impossible. It will not happen. You'll never look back and say, oh man, man, I wish I hadn't lost that, you know, or that relationship. Paul says, I counted all, but all is lost. All is lost for the richness of knowing Christ. So we've got to count the cost. Remember, we read this this morning from Pilgrim's Progress, this is great. So I saw in my dream that the man, Christian, began to run out of the city of destruction. He had not run far from his own door, but his wife and children, perceiving it, began to cry after him to return. But the man put his fingers in his ears and ran on crying, life, life, eternal life. So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the middle of the plain. That's as good and concise of a description of what Jesus is talking about in regard to hating father, mother. If you're not willing to do that, you can't be my disciples. Don't buy into this lie. You know, it's a lie. It is a lie when people lay this on you. It's like, but they're your family. But it's your sister. But it's your dad, right? If they're standing in the way of us obeying Christ's command and following him, nothing else is to interfere. We must follow Christ. And most people who claim to be Christians aren't willing to pay the price, right? Listen to this. This is from J.C. Ryle. The demand which our Lord makes upon us here is particularly stringent and heart-searching, yet it is a wise and necessary one. Experience shows, both in the church at home and in the mission field abroad, that the greatest foes to a man's soul are sometimes those of his own house. It sometimes happens that the greatest hindrance in the way of an awakened conscience is the opposition of relatives and friends. Ungodly fathers cannot bear to see their sons taking up new views of religion. Worldly mothers are vexed to see their daughters unwilling to enter into the gaieties of the world. A collision of opinion takes place frequently as soon as saving grace enters into a family. And then comes the time when the true Christian must remember the spirit of our Lord's words in this passage. He must be willing to offend his family rather than to offend Christ. The line of duty in such cases is doubtless very painful. It is a heavy cross to disagree with those we love and especially about spiritual things. But if this cross is laid upon us, then we must remember that firmness and decision are true kindness. See, Christian, when he's running out of City of Destruction, and he's plugging his ears so he can't hear his wife and kids trying to get him to come back, he is showing them, Ryle says, he is showing them true kindness. Because how is it kindness to yield to people who want to stop us from following Christ, how is it kindness to go back to them and we can all go to hell together? How is that kindness, you see? It can never be true love to relatives to do wrong in order to please them. And best of all, firmness accompanied by gentleness and consistency in the long run of life often brings its own reward. Thousands of Christians will bless God at that last day that they had relatives and friends who chose to displease them rather than Christ. That very firmness was the first thing that made them think seriously and led finally to the conversion of their souls. The Lord told Jeremiah, Jeremiah, they must come to you. you must not go to them, right? That's exactly what he was talking about. And then Jesus turns to the two illustrations of the humiliation of starting, but not finishing. You've started projects before that you didn't finish. So have I. I've got lots of books laying around that I've started to read, but that I didn't finish. We knew some people once back in Montana who, well, they were just sluggards, you know, there's no real way to put it. But they had got some property and they started to build a, the guy was actually a very skilled carpenter, and they had started to build a log house. That's what lots and lots of people have back there. You cut down different kinds of logs and lodge poles or whatever and peel the bark off of them and build the log house. So they had started, and they got the walls up, I don't know, eight feet or so around and put in that much work. And then there it sat. And they lived in a plywood shack next door. And they never finished the house. And every year, the logs rotted. more and more and more. And what do you suppose the people in the community thought? Idiots, right? You know, humiliation, it's the humiliation of starting but not finishing. And that's what Jesus is addressing here. Which of you desiring to build a tower doesn't first sit down and count the cost? What king going out to encounter another king in war? He's going to deliberate. Can I conquer? You know, I got 10,000 soldiers. He's got 20,000. Maybe it would be better to come talk about terms of peace right now rather than being a fool and lose the conflict. Those who fail to count the cost before beginning are fools in the end, you see. Now we should note here, and again in this talk of the cost of following Christ, salvation is a free gift, but when we're born again, right, if I'm going to place my faith in Christ and believe in Him and God be merciful to me, the sinner, and he changes me, and he gives me a new heart, and I become a new Christian. What Jesus is telling us in all these passages is, here's what you're in for. Salvation is a free gift, but here's what you're in for. Are you sure you wanna follow me? Because this is what it's gonna be like. This is how, this is gonna be your experience in this fallen world. If you are a Christian, you see, then that's why we say salvation is a free gift and costs then everything. Once again, listen, in fact, we'll close with this passage from J.C. Ryle, once again. We learn from this passage that those who are thinking of following Christ should be warned to count the cost. Just think this through now carefully. Are people today, and for the past decades, in the ministry of most churches and evangelists and so forth, the Gospels presented, are people being told right up front, here's the cost. Here's what it's going to cost. What we are seeing and hearing more and more with more and more frequency today is, oh, we don't, we're not going to talk about the cost. Jesus paid the cost. So we're not going to talk about the cost. You know, I, you mean, you might have to be willing to be hated by the world. Do you be unpopular? What of all this unpleasantness? Now it's just, Come to Jesus, he'll forgive your sins, and everything is okay. It'll go further than that. It will also be, if you're a genuine Christian, and following Christ results in you being alienated from your earthly family, or results in the world being upset with you, you've done something wrong. Churches will tell you that, you see. Well, here's J.C. Ryle again. We learn from this passage that those who are thinking of following Christ should be warned to count the cost. This is a lesson which was intended for the multitudes who followed our Lord without thought and consideration and was enforced by his examples drawn from building and from war. It's a lesson which will be found useful in every age of the church. It costs something to be a true Christian. Let that never be forgotten. To be a mere nominal Christian, Christian in name only, and to go to church is cheap and easy work. But to hear Christ's voice and follow Christ and believe in Christ and confess Christ requires much self-denial. It will cost us our sins and our self-righteousness and our ease and our worldliness. You remember Bunyan, I said a couple weeks ago, I think, that John Bunyan, in that process of the Lord convicting him of his sin, it was like he heard a voice at one point, or this thought came into his head, and I may not get it exactly right, but you can keep your sin and go to hell, or you can turn from your sin and go to heaven. And that's what Jesus is telling this crowd here, you see. All must be given up. We must fight an enemy who comes against us with 20,000 followers. We must build a tower in troublesome times. Our Lord Jesus Christ would have us thoroughly understand this. He bids us count the cost. Why did our Lord use such language? Did he wish to discourage men from becoming his disciples? Did he mean to make the gate of life appear more narrow than it is? It's not difficult to find an answer to these questions. Our Lord spoke as he did to prevent men, prevent people from following him superficially and inconsiderately, from mere fleshly feeling or temporary excitement. who in time of temptation would fall away. He knew that nothing does so much harm to the cause of true religion, true Christianity, as backsliding, and that nothing causes so much backsliding as enlisting disciples without letting them know the cost of what they take in hand. Jesus had no desire to swell the number of his followers by admitting soldiers who would fail in the hour of need. For this reason, he raises a warning voice. That paragraph ought to be slapped up on the wall of local churches. Jesus had no desire to swell the number of his followers by lowering the standards, you see. He bids all who think of taking up service with him to count the cost before they begin. Well would it be for the church and the world if the ministers of Christ would always remember their master's conduct in this passage. Often, far too often, people are built up in self-deception and encouraged to think that they're converted when in reality they're not converted at all. Feelings are supposed to be faith. Mere convictions are supposed to be grace. These things ought not to be so. By all means, let us encourage the first beginnings of religion in a soul. But never let us urge people forward without telling them what true Christianity entails. Never let us hide from them the battle and the toil. Let us say to them, come with us, but let us also say, count the cost. And there's good old J.C. Ryle. This section in Luke 14 ends, salt is good. It's good to be salty. It's good to make a start at following Christ. But if salt has lost its taste, How shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It's thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Count the cost so that you remain salty, a good seasoning then that is approved by God. Father, we thank you for these encouragements and warnings We thank you that you enable us to persevere in following you. We pray, Lord, that you would give us confidence to know that we are doing right, even though we might have the accusations of people around us, acquaintances and so forth, telling us that we're going a wrong direction. that we're being foolish, that we're being cruel to them by putting Christ before anything else. Father, we pray that you would protect us from those deceptions, that you would encourage us then and enable us to persevere in walking in that narrow way which leads to life, and we pray this all in Christ's name, amen.