Well, if you have your Bibles this morning, I would like to invite you to take them and turn with me to the Gospel of Luke this morning. The Gospel of Luke in chapter number 9. As we stand together, Luke chapter 9, verse 57. If you would, remember our pastor and his family in your prayers. as the pastor had a busy weekend preaching at our couples retreat and what a blessed time that was there and went home to some sickness there in the house. And so if you would just pray that God would heal them, strengthen them and also spiritually encourage them through this time, I know he and his family would greatly appreciate that. Luke chapter nine and beginning in verse number 57. The Word of God says, And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee. but let me first go bid them farewell which are at my home, at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Join me in prayer. Father, we now come to your holy and perfect word. We come with rejoicing. Knowing it is a message about our Savior, primarily from beginning to end, how you and your grace, your love, and your mercy have redeemed sinful men, and you've called us out of darkness into your marvelous life, and you've given us eternal life through the Son, through your Son. And you have instructed us through your word Father, we now ask for understanding. We ask that the power of God might be present with us this hour. We ask that you would fill us with the knowledge of your will and that we would humbly submit to the truths of your word. For those among us who do not know Christ, I pray today would be the day of their salvation. I pray that through your Holy Spirit, you would quicken them, you would awaken them, that you would grant them faith and repentance so that they might truly say that the Lord is good. He is a gracious God. And for those who do know you, Father, I do pray that you would sanctify them, that you would grow them in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and that they would examine their heart and by the truths of these words, so that we might seek you first and your kingdom. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. At the outset of this message, I want to remind you of the Apostle Paul's words to young Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter number three, in which Paul, under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, proclaims that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And every time we go to the pages of God's holy word, we must remember these truths. And number one, that all of scripture has been given divinely by almighty God. May we never come to a place where we treat the Word of God casually or irreverently. May we never come to a place where we are Christians who just, after church, throw the Bible on the dashboard and it just soaks in the sun or the clouds, depending on where you are, and you don't touch it until the next Lord's Day. No, my friends, you and I are holding that which is more precious than silver, more costly than gold. And we must understand that men and women have given their life's blood so that you and I can know the will of God through His Word. Paul tells Timothy, remember this young preacher boy, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It is God breathed, God through his divine will, through his Holy Spirit, moved upon holy men of old so that you might know God. This word is profitable. It's helpful, it's advantageous to teach you about God, to teach you about your own heart. It's profitable to reprove you, to show you what is wrong in your life. And it's profitable to correct that which is wrong and then to lead you in the pathway of righteousness for His name's sake. So, again, at the outset of the message, if we can truly understand what God wants us to understand when we go to His Word, it will be of great help. God has breathed out His Word, has made it profitable so that the preacher might be built up and being built up that he might seek others to build up others. And this is Paul's message to Timothy. And having said that, having already read our text, I want you to know that it has been my prayer this morning. As one preacher puts it, that God through his word would poke your eye regarding some truths that we need to hear. in 2016. I'm convinced that Luke chapter number 9 verses 57 through 62 declare three vital truths from the lips of Jesus for not only those who would follow Christ but also for those who are following Christ. And the text provides us with three separate individuals, three different responses of Christ, and in these three responses, three truths for those who follow Christ. And the first truth that God wishes for us to understand through the lips of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is this. Those who follow Christ must be willing to die to their comfort. Those who follow Christ must be willing to die to their own comfort. Now this may be a hard pill to swallow in 2016 because most professing Christians and churches are proclaiming a message of comfortable Christianity. A Burger King Christianity that says have it your own way. But Jesus declares with this first individual who comes to Him that those who follow Him must die to their own comfort. See it there in verse 57. And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. It's interesting that this man comes and proclaims with his mouth that Jesus is indeed Lord, Master. He is, in a sense, submitting himself to the authority of Jesus Christ already, and why he does so, the text doesn't tell us. Perhaps he has heard through the multitude that Jesus, this one who proclaims to be the promised Messiah, has come and he is preaching with authority. He is performing miracles, allowing the blind to see and the deaf to hear, the lame to walk and the dead to rise. And hearing such a message, he is now going to approach this one named Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. And perhaps he is convinced that this could be the Messiah, the Son of God. And so he calls Him Lord. Out of honor, out of respect, Lord. And he says, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. Now in our modern day context, boy, this is the perfect time to cease on this opportunity. lead him in a prayer, baptize him, let him join the church, and give him a ministry. Jesus doesn't do that, does he? This man proclaims, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest, wherever you're going. I am resolved to follow you despite the cost. He is coming as a volunteer. And again, the Bible doesn't tell us any more about this man. And perhaps he thought that Jesus, this Jew, the King of kings that he's heard, is going to set up a physical kingdom, and he wants to be a part of this great kingdom that Jesus has come forth to set up. Could be that his mind was twisted and he was focused on the physical rather than the spiritual. And Jesus, knowing the hearts and minds of all men, It says, wait. Do you see the foxes? Do you see the birds? Consider them for a second. Listen, they have their home. They have their comforts, but the son of man has come and he has not even a place to lay his head. I wonder if some of the disciples scratched their heads and said, Jesus, what are you doing? Why are you turning away this man? Here he's coming as a volunteer. Here he's willing to sacrifice everything that he has to follow you. Give him a t-shirt and let him join the team. Jesus wants us to understand that Christ did not come to make men comfortable. Christ came to save rebellious, sinful men from their sin. And when He saves them and transforms them by His grace and by His power, all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. And what does this message hit upon in our day? It hits upon the very prosperity gospel that we hear proclaimed through the radio and the TV and through the books. And we declare at West Side Baptist Church by the authority of God's word that that is a false gospel. And Benny Hinn and all these TV evangelists proclaiming that if you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will live in a five-bedroom house with two Mercedes-Benz, and you will live perfectly in peace and in comfort for the rest of your life here. It's wrong. It's false. Jesus did not come to this earth to make you comfortable. Jesus did not come to this earth to make you rich. physically, oh, but he makes us rich spiritually. Whereas we were poor beggars in our sin, in our sinful condition by the cross and through the work of Jesus Christ, we become rich spiritually. Yes, we are rich spiritually, but he does not promise a penny to our bank account. So he wants this man to understand, this man is resolved to follow Christ, and Jesus says, you need to understand something first. The Son of Man has not come to make you comfortable. The Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man, he's not living in a mansion. He's not driving around a yacht on the Sea of Galilee. No, He's doing the will of His Father, and He's putting others before His own. And so he wants this man to consider the cost, consider the cost of following Christ. We must not be fooled to think that if we follow Christ, it will be without difficulty, without trial, and without heartache. And perhaps you are one of those of the parable of the seed, where you receive the good news of the gospel, and as you have received it, Intellectually, perhaps, you have gone forward, you say, wait a second, this is not what I signed up for. I thought receiving Jesus was like the cherry on the whipped cream life. I thought Jesus was gonna take away all my heartaches and trials and tribulations. And then as the parable tells us, they receive the word, and then persecutions comes, trials comes, and then they're gone. What is the scripture teaching us? To follow Christ comes with a high cost. Some only follow Christ because it's comfortable. Because their family follows Christ. Because they don't want to be persecuted by others. They follow Christ because they can make known their own name. They can show forth and display their own talents. And so they use Christ as a way of declaring themselves. The gospel call is not a call to comfort. It's a call to die to self. What did Jesus say? If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up the cross, and follow me. deny self, take up the cross. Do you know what the cross signifies? Death. There he is. Die to self. Take up your cross. And then follow me. I want you to see secondly here in our text, Those who follow Christ must be willing to die to their comfort. Secondly, those who follow Christ must be willing to die to their excuses. Verse 59, and he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. And Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. Now this is interesting. And Jesus now says to another, follow me. It doesn't say that one came voluntarily to Jesus and perhaps there was a crowd. And again, knowing the hearts and minds of all men, he points his finger and he says, you follow me. And his response is positive. Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but suffer me first to go and bury my father. I have some needs here on earth that I need to take care of first before I am to follow you. Before I surrender my whole heart to my soul in following you and to obeying God's will, there are some preeminent things that I need to take care of. And it seems like Christ's response is very harsh, doesn't it? I mean, place yourself in this context. Here you are. You're the one pointed to, follow me. But you have a father at home who's dying. There's only so much time that you have to talk with him. There's only so much time to reminisce about the days of your growing up with him. And Jesus says, let the dead bury their dead. Think about that. He's saying, I am more important than your father. Yes, that may be a legitimate thing, but if you are to follow me, you are to put me first before your family. before the things of this life. And so we find the scripture saying that those who follow Christ must be willing to die to their excuses. And this was simply an excuse to why he could not follow Christ right there, right then, despite the cost. This may be you, perhaps you are lost today, and Jesus is calling you through His Word and by His Spirit. Come, follow Me, spiritually, in your heart, by faith. Trust in Me. Forsake the world, forsake the things of this life, and follow Me, yield to Me, obey My Word, repent of sin, and believe the Gospel. And you have excuses why you cannot. And I have heard many, and let me give you a few. Some would proclaim that they cannot follow Christ because they do not have enough faith to follow Christ. But Jesus says, if you have faith as the grain of a mustard seed, you shall be saved. You see, Jesus is not focusing on your faith that saves. God, through His Word, is declaring that it is God's power and grace that saves, not your faith. And it's when we look in our own heart and we begin to contemplate, can God receive, yes, this weak faith that I have? Well, by the authority of God's Word, we declare that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. whether this faith is weak or not, you look to Christ and you are saved. You say, I don't have enough faith. My faith is faltering. You cast yourself on the goodness of God to save and he will save you. You say, I've wronged God too many times. I'm too sinful to come and follow Christ. I'm too sinful to be saved. And I declare to you, Paul's words, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And Paul says, of whom I am chief. And I think we use this as an excuse to keep us back from a saving knowledge of Christ. I'm too sinful to be saved. God doesn't want me. I've wronged Him too many times. I've committed adultery. I've lusted thousands of times. I've blasphemed His holy name. How could He save me? And we have it from the lips of Paul. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. And I think God through his infinite wisdom has chosen Paul to declare these words so that we can look at it, the life testimony of Paul and see, here's a man who was religious. Here's a man who was a Jew. Here's a man who was persecuting Christians in the name of God and God forgave him. and God gave him a new heart, and God gave him a new nature, you must put aside that excuse and see that if you humble yourself in the sight of God, if you come to God with a broken and contrite spirit, yes, being deeply affected by your sins, that you are unworthy of God to save you, but if you go to him, the Bible says, you will be saved. Another excuse that I have heard is, I've tried. I have tried to go to God and I have received nothing. I have tried to believe, I have tried to repent and nothing seems to happen. All remains the same. Well, have you tried to seek God with all of your heart? For Jeremiah tells us that if you seek God and you seek Him with all the heart, you will find Him. See, sometimes we try to seek God, we seek Christ, but yet our hearts still truly attached to this world. We want Christ and the world. We want Christ and the things of this life. We want Christ and sin. But have you truly sought God with an understanding that God in His wrath and in His justice could condemn you for your sin at any moment? And you've come You've sought Him and yet no answer. You said, I've tried, I'm giving up. I'll go to church, I'll hear the preacher, but I don't think I can ever be saved. Do not limit the grace and power of God. That's exactly what you're doing. And do you believe that Christ is able to go to his father on your behalf and plead your name as the great high priest? Do you believe Christ who was there in the creation of count, who spoke all things into existence, let there be light and there was light. This same God is able to speak to your soul. Let there be life. If you believe, you too can be saved. And I've heard the excuse, well, I don't think I'm one of God's chosen, one of God's elect. Show me anywhere in scripture where Jesus pushes away others because of this excuse. And I think Satan uses this to keep men back from a saving knowledge of Christ. You are not called to decide if you are one of God's chosen or not. If you repent of your sin and believe the gospel, you are chosen. So turn from your sin and believe, for the scripture says, whosoever believeth in him shall be saved, male or female, young or old, sinful, seeking to be righteous. He has come for you, so believe. Election is for Christians, not for non-Christians. Election is for those who proclaim, if God be for us, who shall be against us? He loved me, his grace upon my heart, and I am saved, holy of that grace. But it's not for you, dear unbeliever. You are called to believe the gospel and to turn to him by faith. Do not use this as an excuse. Jesus says in John chapter six, all who come to me, he will in no wise cast out. Let that be a dagger to your excuse, I cannot come. You come, he will not cast out. And Christians, those who do follow Christ, we make up excuses to why we cannot continue to follow Christ, don't we? Yes, I know God commands me to read, study, meditate, and to share His word. Yes, I know the scriptures tell me in Hebrews not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together. Yes, I know that the scriptures would declare for me to pray and to seek His face. Yes, I know that I am to love my spouse and to sacrifice myself for my spouse. Yes, I know that I am to live a holy and righteous, a godly life, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, so that we might be a bright and a burning light in this community. Yes, I know these things here, but excuse, excuse, excuse, excuse. And Jesus wants us to die to our excuses. And the word of God is so, so good. And we read of one Moses, don't we? God reveals himself to Moses and says, Moses, I have a command for you. Moses, I want you to go to Pharaoh and I want you to lead my people out of Egypt. And what does Moses do? He is fearful. He is trembling. He's hearing the voice of God. He is seeing a bush burning, but not consumed. He is standing upon holy ground. And no, it must not be hard on Moses. If we experienced what Moses experienced, if we heard what Moses heard, we might reply just the same. And Moses says, Lord, I don't know. I think you've got the wrong guy. I can't speak. Who am I to go against Pharaoh, the king, and to lead your people out of such bondage? I cannot do it. And in one sense, yes, Moses is right. He can't do it. He is not called to do it himself. He's called to rely upon the right hand of God, the power and strength of God, so that he is just used as an instrument to do God's will. Moses obeys. He is first aware of his own inadequacies, isn't he? I cannot do it. I'm of uncircumcised lips. Lord, why me? Why me? And yet he yields, he submits. And we do the same with our excuses. I cannot, I'm not smart enough. I've got other things going on, other more important things. Family comes first. And we give reasons to why we cannot submit to the word of God, to the will of God. Jesus wants us to die to our excuses. Let me give you another illustration. Little David, young lad David. They're an old group, an army of Israel. Goliath is blaspheming the name of the Lord. Through God's providence, David's father sends David on a journey with some food for his brothers. And everybody's a sissy. And David's delivery boy comes up and say, hey guys, how's it going? What's going on? How are things? Then he hears this one Goliath. blaspheming the name of his God. And I can imagine David looking around at these mighty warriors, those whom he has looked up to for years, and he's looking around with their swords and their spears and their helmets, and he's looking at them and he's looking at Goliath, and he's understanding, don't you understand what they're doing to our God? Is our God not mighty? Do something. And David doesn't make an excuse. And David says, I will go in the name of my God. I've only got a sling and some stones, but I'm going to go by faith, trusting in him that God will show forth his mighty power and deliver us from these Philistines. He could have made an excuse, right? He could have took the rocks and drew a picture in the sand and practiced slinging his stones at the trees nearby. And said, you know, these others aren't going either. Maybe I shouldn't go. Are you listening? Do we do that? Well, they're not. They've skipped church three times last month. God doesn't want us to compare ourselves amongst ourselves. That's not wise. God wants us to submit to his word and compare ourselves with the word of God and to quit making excuses. Those who follow Christ must be willing to die to their comfort. Those who follow Christ must be willing to die to their excuses. And thirdly, those who follow Christ must be willing to die to their desires. 61. And another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee. Here's another volunteer. Here's one that proclaims Jesus as Lord. Lord, I will follow Thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at my home, at my house. And Jesus said unto them, No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Why didn't Jesus allow him to go back and do so? Because he knew, if he goes back, he may be persuaded not to return. He wants us to die to our own desires. Jesus, yes, I will follow you, but my desire is to first go home, to have a little party, hug and kiss everyone there, and then come. Jesus says no. seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." The third man is resolved to follow. And Jesus responds by saying, if you put your hands to the plow, this parable, this farming term, put your hands to the plow You're not to look back at the world. You're not to look back at your own desires. You're to keep your heart and your mind, your eyes focused and fixed upon the author and the finisher of your faith, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. You're not to be distracted. You are to give your whole heart to Christ and to his will. And I could take you to many texts which tell us of this important truth. That if any man loves his father or mother, his brother, sons, daughters, more than Christ, Christ said, is not worthy of me. We are to love Christ and Christ alone, first and foremost. Interesting here in our text, two times family is involved. Let me first go bury my father. Well, then let me first go home and then say goodbye. Interesting how Jesus ties in the home here. And I'm gonna press here, I'm gonna poke your eye. I poke your eye so that you can see more clearly. Well, I love Westside and I rejoice that Westside is a family of families. And I rejoice when I see all the children sitting in here learning about the things of the Lord. I rejoice that we see that this is a church that's vibrant and we delight in children and in growing the church one way or another. Now listen, I do sometimes hear the excuse, well, we've got other family things going on. And you come in for counseling and we hear about the trials and the heartaches and as loving shepherds, we want to help you. And we may ask, tell me about your devotional life. Tell me how much time you've been in the word praying and seeking God's face. I know it's hard. And we want to be a help to you, but tell us, please, tell us. Have you been going through the scriptures this year? Are you reading at all? Well, no. Well, why? Well, I'm just busy. Work, family. We haven't seen you for a while. You're a member, right? Yeah. I haven't seen you at church for some time. Are you okay? Is everything all right? Can we do anything for you? Yeah, we've got a lot of family things going on. And we can be fooled to think that family comes before Christ. Now, God did institute the family before the church. You could use that. But God never, never, never in his word instituted the family to trump the church. Now, are you listening? Don't misunderstand me. He never said, okay, now here's the church. But remember, the family is first instituted so you can forsake the church for your family. And the family are to be in the church, worshiping together, serving together. We're not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of such is. for barbecues and for hobbies and for hiking and backpacking and all the other things that you can think of. We are as a family to come together on the Lord's day and to hear his word and to submit ourselves to the teaching of Christ's words. And it's interesting here in the pages of the gospel of Luke and through the words of Christ, where in two instances, they want to go to their family and Jesus says, no, I am to be first. And I think families crumble when Jesus isn't first, and family can become an idol. Now, if you leave here saying, well, Pastor Casey hates the family, you've totally misunderstood. But are you listening? Let's consider the text. And I know we have excuses. I'm tired, listen. Pastor Houston's watching on the live stream. There could be times he and I could stand up here and say, you know what? We're tired too. There are times when our flesh does not want to wake up on a Sunday morning and step in the pulpit and plead with men. We are to do the will of God. In our times of being tired, in our times of having great energy, we are to submit to the will of God. But I want you to see here in the text, what is it that Jesus is hitting at? Here it is, are you ready? Verses 59 and verses 61. What is the heart that Jesus is hitting at? 59, Jesus' response, or no, the man's words. He says, suffer me first. 61. Another said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first. Do you know the heart of our problem is? It's ourselves. We have a spirit of me first Christianity rather than Christ first Christianity. And Jesus is trying to Speak to your heart through the pages of this text, that we have the nature, even if we are saved, we have this battle going on, the flesh and the spirit. And as we seek to follow Christ, we want to put ourselves before him, me first. And Jesus is calling us to die to ourselves. John says in John chapter 3, He must increase and I must decrease. Beloved, Christianity is not about us. It's about Christ. And when we think it's about us, we will fall and we will stumble. We will not be filled with hope and joy and peace. It will be a miserable pilgrimage. But yet if we keep our hearts and our minds focused and fixed upon Jesus Christ, our lives will be filled with hope and joy and peace, and we will lovingly follow Him whithersoever He will lead us. And listen, if Christ has your heart, you will follow Him whether it's comfortable or not. If Christ indeed has your heart, you will follow Him despite the cost. Because if Christ has your heart, and if you have Christ as your Lord and Savior, you possess all things. You possess the greatest thing in this life. And I want you to consider Christ. Who is it that's speaking here? Christ. Who is it that's teaching us here this morning on this morning of this Lord's Day? Christ. Consider Christ. Christ did not come to earth because it was comfortable. He humbled himself. He became obedient even unto the death of the cross. He knew all things, and knowing that He would be rejected, knowing that He would be disbelieved, knowing that He would be spit upon, knowing that He would be doubted, knowing that He would be crucified, knowing that He would be misquoted, He came out of love for you. You did not have a pillow for His head. And He came for you, so that you might be spiritually rich. And Christ did not give excuses to why he could not suffer and bear the wrath of God for sinful man. No, out of love and mercy and compassion, he came to save that which was lost. He did not make excuses and he did not put his own desire before yours. He came to save you and to draw you so that you might worship him. so that you might know the joy of God. He put others before himself. And as Christians, those who possess Christ, we are living manifestations of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says in Galatians 2, verse 20, it's not I that live, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and he gave himself for me. Thus, I should die to my own comfort, my own excuses, and my own desires. My father-in-law always says, if it's important to you, you will do it. If it's important to you, you will follow Christ, you will obey his word. And even if that means he sends you to the Middle East to be a light for his name, even if it means to become uncomfortable and to sacrifice perhaps your time, your money, your energy, your efforts for the sake of the gospel. And one day we will all stand before the Lord and give an account. Can you imagine that day? And what would we do? We stand before God and we give an account As a way of a parable, he says, well, why didn't you obey me in this regard? Why didn't you witness? Why didn't you children obey your parents? Why didn't you, and fill in the blank, and you give excuse after excuse after excuse after excuse. Do you think God's just gonna say, oh, you know, I can see, yeah, you were really tired, and you didn't have, a lot of money to give to the needs of missionaries and to the work of Christ on earth. And yeah, you know, you're right. And I can see why you would not do that. Or I can see why you would do that. Do you think he's gonna do that? And just accept your excuse after excuse, after excuse, after your excuse. I say that so that we might live in the light of the coming judgment. I wonder what would happen if a church, if Christians would live in the light of the coming day of judgment. We must all give an account. We're one day gonna give an account. There are Christians today in China and in the Middle East who are meeting underground. They spend hours at the feet of Christ and they love this book. And they don't have comfortable chairs. They don't have fans over their heads, keeping them nice and cool. And they're meeting together, singing, rejoicing, singing praises to God because they have a heart for God. And they're not going to allow excuses to keep them back. And some even willfully kneel down upon their knees and accept the blow of a sword for the sake of Christ. Listen, my friends, if we are to see revival in our nation, we must stop making excuses. And sometimes I'm tempted to pray, yes, Lord, send a Hillary Clinton into the presidency, send a worse than Hillary Clinton into the presidency so that we can be refined, so that we can know the true state of Christianity in the New Testament. I'm sometimes tempted to pray that. Awaken us, Lord, by your Holy Spirit. We are so far removed from the Christianity that we hear preached every Lord's Day in the book of Acts. We have it so good, and yet we say, me first, me first. I want you to resolve today to throw away your comfort, to throw away your excuses, and to throw away your own desires. I want you, with the men and women of Hebrews chapter 11, to say, for me and my house, we are going to serve the Lord, despite whether it's comfortable or not, despite whether we want to or not. If it's in the word of God and we know we ought to do it, we are going to do it by the grace and power of God. And we're going to allow those of yesteryears to encourage us and to persuade us to go with our whole hearts into this next generation, praying that God would send down His Holy Spirit, and that God would awaken Christians, and that we would see towns converted for the sake of His name. And we will remember a John Bunyan, who was told that you must have a license to preach. And he says, no, I am commanded by the authority of God to preach and I'm not going to submit myself to such a cause. And he leaving his children, one of whom was a blind daughter, willfully sat in jail. because he would not submit to the authority of man. And that we would remember of William Tyndale who worked hours after hours after hours translating the scriptures so that we can have it in the English language and was then burned at the stake so even the plow boy could be sitting under the messages of God and His Word. and that we might remember a Jim Elliot who would go to Ecuador and would be speared trying to reach the Indians for Christ, that we would remember even the Apostle Peter who was crucified upside down for the sake of Christ. No excuses. Dying to comfort. Beloved, we have much, much to work on. And where does it come from? It comes out of a heart that loves Christ. You can seek to do it all externally. It won't be worth a thing. And again, those Christians are meeting elsewhere, suffering persecution because they love Christ. They know how much Christ loves them. They're constrained, like Paul was, When are we gonna awaken to these things? We gotta stop playing church. Churchianity. We truly need to sit down and humble ourselves and seek God and examine our own hearts and say, now how can we be a living sacrifice for He who was a sacrifice for us? Three people came to Christ. Two said, I will follow thee. And Jesus says, follow me. And in the essence, he wants us to see, we must deny ourselves, take up the cross, if we are to be his disciples. Now, if you're here today without Christ, know that Christ has come for you. If you will turn to Him and trust in Him, if you will by faith receive His gospel, you will be saved. Turn to Him. If you know Christ, the cost in following Him, you have to sit down and count the cost. Are you willing? I pray that you will be resolved, no longer to linger. I pray as we sung this morning, you will trust and obey. And did you notice in that song, where he sends, we will go. What he says we will do, where he sends we will go, never fear, only trust and obey. That's what Christ wants us to do, to trust and obey. Would you join me in prayer as we stand together? Father, We come pleading for your forgiveness. Lord, we have not loved you as we ought. We have not followed you with our whole hearts as we ought. Wash us, Lord, cleanse us, sanctify us, help us. Give us your strength, give us your grace so that we might do so. I pray that the church family, those who are here, would be filled with your love. That they would consider this text and the words of Christ. And may we die to ourselves. May we die to the Spirit that says, me first. Oh Lord, I pray that You would draw the lost unto Yourself, I pray, that You would work mightily in the hearts of those who do know You. And we desire, Lord, in this place, to proclaim with the psalmist, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name, give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy true sake. So set our souls afire, Lord, for your holy word. Burn it deep within us. Let thy voice be heard. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.