Let's turn to Luke 14 again. We preached the whole sermon last week about taking up our cross daily. And in Revelation, you don't have to turn to Revelation 12, it talks about the devil is a dragon in Revelation 12. And in first Peter, it talks about the devil is like a roaring lion. It's good to have these images and it helps us understand what we're up against as to the power of the cross to overcome the dragon. and to overcome the roaring lion. Now, the word for witness, which I think probably many of you already know this, you know, in Acts chapter 1 verse 8, it says, as a believer, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you. So when you are born again, And you're converted, you're regenerated, and you become born into the family of God. The Holy Spirit takes up residence within us. Our body becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. And the word for witness, it says, you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost part of the earth. By the way, if we get the cross right, we'll get the witnessing right also. And we'll get the missionary endeavors right. If we don't get the cross right, we don't get anything right. Now, the word for witness is the word for martyr. If you look at the Greek word, it's the word for martyr. I actually looked it up in Vine's word studies and it talked about witnessing, realizing death is at stake. Now death and witnessing and martyrdom, every one of us should be prepared if we're going to overcome the dragon. Every one of us will only overcome the dragon in three ways. It's given to us in Revelation 12. Number one, by the blood of the lamb. The blood of the lamb. We're talking about his redemption. We're talking about his crucifixion. We're talking about his finished work on Calvary's cross. So we're talking back to the cross from the very first thing he says in Revelation 12. We're back to the cross. The blood of the lamb and then the word of our testimony, which is not being ashamed to confess Christ before men. How do we overcome this dragon? How do we overcome the powers of darkness? By not being afraid to confess Christ before men. To be identified with Christ publicly in whatever situation we're in. Never ashamed to be identified with Christ in any situation we're in. Amen. Never ashamed to be identified with Christ. Never cowering down Even if somebody's saying, you know, you're going to lose your life if you don't back down from Jesus Christ. Well, there have been plenty of people down through church history that have lost their life as a martyr for Christ, not willing to back down. Amen. Now that's physical death. That's physical death. But this daily dying, daily dying is connected with, in a spiritual sense, we're always daily dying. We should be willing to physically die for Christ, but daily, moment by moment, minute by minute. Listen, if you're daily dying moment by moment, minute by minute, then death's no big thing anymore. You're constantly dying. I quoted a scripture last Sunday in 2 Corinthians 4, we are always delivered unto death. Constantly in life, we are always delivered unto death. Dying with Christ, I am crucified with Christ, reckoning myself to be dead indeed to sin. Identifying with the cross of Christ, that's already a reality in my life. I'm not trying to make it a reality. It's already a reality. I reckon myself to be dead indeed. I am crucified with Christ. If you don't start there, and you try to build the tower, you won't be able to build the tower, you'll phase out. If you don't understand the cross, you'll phase out and you won't be able to have the tower finished. So that's why we're leading up to how do we build that tower and make sure we're able to persevere in building the tower. We overcome the dragon by the blood of the lamb, by the word of our testimony, and by loving not our lives unto death. The Bible tells us in Hebrews that people are living in captivity their whole lifetime because of a fear of death. That's what it says in Hebrews. It talks about the incarnation of Christ. By the way, it's great to preach on Hebrews in the Christmas season, that Hebrews 2 chapter. The incarnation of our Lord Jesus coming into the world to overcome, to defeat the power of sin, to defeat the power of death. Amen. Amen. And amen. There is no fear in death for the believer. None, absolutely none. We've already, we've already gone through the portal. We died. When did we die? We died when Christ died and we have everlasting life. When do we have it? We're not waiting to get it at the judgment seat. When do we have everlasting life? If you have Christ, you have life. What kind of life do you have? Everlasting life. Now being in a church building won't do it for you. Being a church member won't do it for you. Going through the rituals and all the rites and the ceremonies of a church religious thing won't do it for you. You got to have Christ in you. Amen. Dead, buried. resurrected, ascended, exalted, now seated at the right hand of God. And listen, we're seated there with him. We're seated there with him. There's nothing to be afraid of. Absolutely nothing to be afraid of. We are seated with the one who has all authority. All authority in heaven, and on earth. Can you find better security than that? Now I want to read a quote from Alexander McLaren, and by the way, a lot of people have heard about Matthew Henry and his commentaries, which I highly recommend Matthew Henry also, but Alexander McLaren, if you're looking for a commentary on the whole Bible, actually you can get this on eSword, it's free on eSword, his commentaries. All you gotta do is download Esort onto your computer. I have used Alexander McLaren in my ministry in the same way I've used Matthew Henry in my ministry. To me, it's like sometimes you have to read pages and pages and pages to get to some substance. When you read these men, you're getting substance on every paragraph. There's something solid, something substantial. Alexander McLaren, the books that I've got that I bought, that I've been using, the covers are coming off. Matter of fact, one of them got repaired, just one, and Warren Burgess did it. I don't know if Judas remembers it or not. He repaired one of those for me. Listen to this quote. He's talking about daily dying, and he's saying there's, yes, to be a martyr for Christ is a possibility, but he's saying we need to understand the daily dying also. The true losing of life is the slaying of self. And that has to be done day by day, not once for all, in some supreme act of surrender at the end or in some initial act of submission at the beginning. Until we take our last breath on planet Earth, we need to make sure that self is slain. We ourselves have to take the knife into our own hands and strike, and that not once, but ever right on through our whole career, through our whole journey in this life. For by natural disposition, we are all inclined to make our own selves, to be our own center and our own aims, the object of our trust and our own law. And if that's the way we're living, we are dead while we're living. There is no life. You can exist in this world, but if you're gonna have life in this world, you gotta be dying to self. to have life in it. Jesus said, I came that you might have life. There's plenty of people existing in this world, but that doesn't mean they got life. You got to have Christ and you got to be dying so that Christ can live through you to have life. I came that you might have life and that you might have it in what manner? Abundant life. Abundant life. We're not talking about barely making it. We're not talking about barely keeping our head above water. Our Savior always leads us in triumph. He always leads us in triumph. I don't care what the circumstances are. He's a wonderful Savior. Wonderful Savior. All right, I've got to get off of this. I want to talk about the crowds. The crowds. Nobody that's ever read the Gospels know that Jesus attracted crowds. I mean, everybody knows it. Everywhere that Jesus went, he had crowds. But let me tell you something. Don't measure spiritual success by the numbers. Numbers are important. I'm not devaluing numbers. The Lord said in John 15, He said, I've ordained you to bring forth fruit. What kind of fruit? Fruit that remains. Just because you got lots of numbers doesn't mean you've got fruit that remains in the numbers. Some people could actually have said when the Lord addressed the crowds, which he did on multiple occasions, Luke 14 is not the only occasion. In the beginning of his ministry in John chapter two, it says many believed on him. John chapter two, many multitudes believed on him. The very next verse says Jesus didn't believe on them. Why didn't he believe? It's the same word. Pistouo, I think the King James translates it two different words, but it's the same word in the Greek language. Many believed on him, but then it says he did not believe on them. Pistouo. because he knew what was in the heart. That's what it says in the scripture in John 2. He knew what was in the heart of every person. And you can make a profession of Christ and still not possess Christ. You can be religious and even be quoting the name of Christ On Judgment Day, many will say, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we cast out demons in your name? Didn't we do many wonderful works in your name? That sounded like somebody, you know, is identifying with his name properly. But what does the Lord say? He's going to say to many people on Judgment Day, depart from me. I never knew you. You never had a relationship with me. You had religion, but you was as lost as you could be. Eternal life is knowing Christ. Eternal life is not keeping the rituals of any religion. Eternal life is having Christ living within you. Amen? Having Christ living within you. You go to all the religions of the world, they got all this different setup. You know, this is what you do, this is what you do, this is what you do. Listen, the work is finished! The work is finished! It's finished! It's finished! There's nothing that mankind can do to save himself. If there was something we could do to save ourselves, Jesus didn't have to come into this world to start with. The work is finished. Don't ever think you've got to add to something that Christ has done. It's finished. We reckon to be true what's already done. By faith we lay hold on what is true based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. And that's when we live in the reality of His life. We die, we recognize death to self so that Christ can live His glorious resurrected life through us. Now, not only in John 2, right here in Luke 14, He's thinning the crowds out. The Lord's not interested in quantity. He's interested in quality. And by the way, when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ as believers, just because we got quantity of works doesn't mean there's quality to the works. Because it says we're either building as a believer with gold, silver, and precious stones, or we're building as a believer with wood, hay, and stubble. And so a lot of what we consider to be having eternal value, it's going to be burned up at the judgment seat of Christ. It's not the quantity of the works, it's the quality. The fire, in 1 Corinthians 3, the fire will test every man's work. Judgment day. Judgment seat of Christ. The fire will test every man's work, not how much it is, but what sort it is. Let me just mention, everybody understands 1 Corinthians 13. I'm doing preaching right now. You know what he says in 1 Corinthians 13? It could all be wood, hay, and stubble. Though I speak with the tongue of an eloquent, charismatic, personality, charming, just pile up the list. Though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, if it's not coming from a sincere heart of genuine love, It's noise. It's nothing. There's no fruit to it. There'll be no lasting fruit come to anybody's life if self is being exalted. You can't preach right. You can't live right. You can't do anything right without dying to self. Daily. Minute by minute. Moment by moment. So the Lord was thinning the crowds John chapter 6 and this is a Lord's Supper day we're getting getting ready to have the Lord's Supper together and in John chapter 6 The Lord said he was talking about all the different theological finished work, propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, all the things that he has accomplished. It's not listed in that terminology in John 6, but what he does say in John, he's talking about his redemption. He's talking about his crucifixion. He's talking about, he says this, unless you eat my flesh and drink what? Drink my blood. He's talking about, you got to understand the cross. It was about the bread. John 6 is about the bread. He said, do you think that bread came from Moses back there in the wilderness? And for 40 years, 2 million Israelites was sustained by Moses providing that bread. He said that bread came from heaven. That bread came from God and nobody would have survived as far as the needs of their body if God hadn't provided that bread in the same way nobody can survive spiritually in their soul without the bread of Jesus Christ, the living bread. You gotta eat the bread of His life. Not just when you first get saved. You gotta eat the bread of His life every day. You can't be strong in your soul without feeding upon Jesus Christ. It's impossible. You've got to feed upon him. And that's what the Lord's Supper represents. Do this in remembrance of me. When you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you're remembering what you should be doing every minute. every moment of every day. It's a reminder, it's a constant reminder of the secret of the Christ's life. It's not just something we do once a month. It's reminding us what we need to do every day. We don't just partake of the Lord's life once a month. We have to partake of the Lord's. It reminds me of those guys in that Russian For years, I've thought about those guys in that Russian sub. It was all over the news. It was all over the world news. The Russian sub went down. I don't remember how many sailors there were in there. I think it was about 100 or so in there. They were down in the bottom, and they knew they needed oxygen. The sailors knew it. Everybody in the world knew it. You can't live without oxygen. You didn't have to tell those sailors, hey, you need to get focused on this. You didn't have to say, listen, you need to count the hours, count the minutes, count the moments, because you only got so much oxygen in this sub, and when that oxygen runs out, you will not be able to live. They knew it. I've tried to picture in my mind what it must have been like. And that's hoping that somehow, some way, somebody could bring some oxygen to us. Listen, the Lord Jesus has brought the oxygen. He's brought it. There is no other source of spiritual life. There is no other source of spiritual oxygen. How often do we breathe? Well, you know, we don't just do it once a day or twice a day or Once a month, how often do we breathe? Without constantly drawing a breath of oxygen, we don't live. How often do we need to draw upon the Lord's life? Same way. Constantly abiding, constantly abiding, constantly abiding. The moment I stop abiding in Him, the ugly self within will be... Call it what you want to call it. I call it a monster. He's ugly. He's terrible. And don't ever think you're just talking about somebody somewhere. You say, well, I'm sure to see self in somebody else. Listen, there are no temptation taking you, but such as is common to... We all got the same ugly monster within us. And it doesn't take much for the old man to come out and cry to thee. The Holy Spirit's grieved. That's why the Lord is sifting the crowds. He's sifting the crowds. In John 6, He said, if you don't drink my blood and eat my flesh, you have no part with me. Went on to say you don't have everlasting life. In John 6, 6, 6, now you ought to be able to remember that reference. 6, 6, 6, we're talking about the mark of the beast in Revelation. In John 6, 6, 6, It says many of his disciples walked no more with him. They weren't disciples to start with. And when the cross was clearly presented, they wanted no part of it. And if you don't embrace the cross, you cannot follow Christ. There's nothing optional about it. Either come to the cross and follow Christ to the cross or you will not be following the Jesus of the Bible. Amen. You will not be following the Jesus of the Bible. Let's pray together. and I'd like to prepare us for the Lord's Supper together. We're gonna sing one hymn, but I'd like to pray before we sing. Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there's a cross for everyone. There's a cross for me. Father, may we joyfully embrace the cross. We're not talking about Your son for the joy that was set before him. For others gain, Lord, may we embrace the cross for others gain the way you did and self be emptied, be emptied of self. May we not embrace the cross for our own gain. The joy of others gain. I pray as we partake of the Lord's Supper together that you would teach us what it means from what you ordained through the Lord's Supper to daily die with you. And not just once a month remember the history of your crucifixion, but remember what it means for us our whole journey through this life, that if we don't constantly embrace the cross and die to self, then the ugly monster of the flesh will manifest himself and there'll be no witness of Christ. As a matter of fact, it will damage your name, will damage your reputation. Lord, please have mercy upon us. Please forgive us. Please, I ask your mercy upon us. Please forgive us. May the blood of Jesus Christ keep on cleansing us from our sin. When we've been more concerned about our own name. Then we are about your name. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.