Thank you for listening to our Emanuel Baptist Church podcast sermon series by Pastor Sean Cole. Emanuel exists to display God's glory, declare God's gospel, and to disciple for God's great commission. If you have any questions about this message or would like more information about our church, you can visit our website at www.ebc-online.org. Now here's Pastor Sean. you can open your Bibles to Luke chapter 9. Roger are the house lights all the way up or is it just... there we go. I know you want to be able to see your Bibles. Now, you're going to think I'm a little strange this morning, the way that I begin this message, but when I was a kid, I used to play with a little green toy with a guy with big eyes. Does anybody know who that is? It's Gumby. Gumby and his little dog Pokey. Now, if you ever had a Gumby toy, Gumby was bendable, he was flexible, he was pliable. Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about. Gumby. Now, I use the term pliable when you think about Gumby. Now, many of you know that I'm a huge fan of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. You may have either read the book or seen the movie, but it's the story of a man named Christian. And Christian reads his Bible and gets alarmed that there's impending judgment coming and he does not have a relationship with Christ. And so a man named Evangelist tells Christian to flee the wrath to come and to go through the wicked gate and to find salvation. And so Christian leaves his wife and kids and begins running towards the wicked gate. And on his way, he comes across two men, and they have weird names. The men's names were Obstinate and Pliable. Now, Pliable really liked what Christian had to say about heaven. Pliable liked to hear stories about the streets of gold. Pliable liked to hear about a place where there would be no more tears. And so he was very interested in this place called heaven. And so he began to follow Christian on the journey. And Christian had this huge burden on his back that represented the sin in his life. Pliable did not have a burden on his back. He was not aware of the sin in his life. They weren't paying attention and they fell into this miry swamp, this bog, called the Slough of Despond. and they begin to sink. And Christian begins to sink even faster because of his burden of sin. And Pliable gets really mad at Christian. And I'm going to kind of paraphrase Pliable, but Pliable begins to yell at Christian and he basically says something like this, this is not what you promised me. I thought this was going to be an easy path to heaven. I didn't think there were going to be any trials. This is not what you promised me. If I get out of this swamp, I'm gone. I'm out of here. And so eventually, pliable gets himself out, and he's all polluted, he's all yucky, and John Bunyan writes this, he went back and Christians saw him no more. He didn't continue upon the path of heaven. Pliable had no true salvation. He didn't count the cost of following Jesus. And when things began to get difficult, and when he began to suffer, and when he began to experience discomfort, he says, this is not what I signed up for. And he bailed, and he went back home. He lived up to his name, Pliable. He was easily bendable to go back. Now eventually a man named Help comes and gets Christian out of the swamp and you can read the rest of the story for yourself. Pliable wanted the benefits of heaven without counting the cost of following Jesus, taking up his cross and denying himself. Now why do I bring up Gumby and pliable? It's like this is a weird way to start a sermon, Pastor Sean, because we're going to see three men in this passage of scripture who are pliable, who are fickle. So let's read together. I know I was gone last week. And I thank Pastor Andrew for preaching from Joshua but we're going to pick up in the Gospel of Luke where we've been traveling for a very long time now and we're finally going to get to the end of chapter 9. It's been a very long chapter but let's read it together. Luke chapter 9 starting with verse 51. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? but he turned and rebuked them and they went on to another village. And as they were going along the road, someone said to him, I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. To another he said, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bear their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Yet another said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. And this starts a new section in the gospel of Luke. leading all the way to Jerusalem and the crucifixion. His ministry in Galilee is winding down. Jesus has spent time in Galilee, but now it says the days drew near for him to be taken up. Now that's a very interesting word. It's the only time this word shows up here in the New Testament. And it really means the ascension. the time when Jesus would be taken back up to heaven. So when you think about the ascension is really the culmination of Jesus's ultimate ministry. So he's gonna go to the cross, he's gonna die on the cross, he's gonna rise again, he's gonna appear to over 500 people for 40 days, and then he's going to go back to heaven. He's going to be taken up. If you remember back on the Mount of Transfiguration, When Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah, remember in verse 31, they were talking about his departure, his exodus, if you remember. So the time of Jesus' exodus, the time of Jesus' departure has come for him to go to the cross, rise again, appear to witnesses, and then ascend back up to heaven. But before that happens, you see a singular focus mission of our Savior. Notice what verse 51 says. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. He set his face. Some translation says he resolutely set out He had a determination. He had a laser sharp vision. He was resolved to go to Jerusalem. Now, in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah the prophet 700 years before Jesus is born prophesies about the servant of the Lord, talking about Jesus as the Messiah, the servant of the Lord. And there's a prophecy of what the servant of the Lord would do that kind of describes this attitude of Jesus. In Isaiah 50 verse 7, This is the servant of the Lord, a prophecy about the Messiah. Jesus set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem. Now what's flint? Flint's a hard rock. It's sometimes used in the Bible to describe a toughness, or more of a unwavering determination. Jesus had an unwavering determination, a rock hard determination to go to Jerusalem, to set his face toward Jerusalem. Matthew Henry says it this way, Christ went on his work as mediator with unshaken constancy and undaunted resolution. He had an undaunted resolution to go to Jerusalem. Now let's ask the question, what would await Jesus in Jerusalem? Well, we just have to go back in the text, go back to chapter nine where we're at, look at verse 22. Jesus said, So we need to understand what's going on here in the Gospel of Luke. From this point forward, everything's leading us to the cross. What awaits Jesus in Jerusalem? where he would go and it says he must suffer many things. He will not only suffer the persecution, the beating, the scourging, the betrayal, the trial, but he would also experience God's justice while he hangs on that cross bearing our sin and the weight of our guilt. Listen to what else Isaiah says in that same passage of scripture that points to the cross. Isaiah 50 verse 6, I gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. Jesus said his face like a flint towards Jerusalem. unwavering determination to go and face the cross. He did not waver. He did not flinch. In no way was Jesus ever a victim of circumstance. He was in charge every step of the way. He was sovereign. As a matter of fact, Jesus says in John 10, 18, no one takes it from me, talking about his life. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it up again. This charge I've received from my Father. So we're charting a new course here in the Gospel of Luke that's leading us towards Jerusalem. But before they get to Jerusalem, they've got to go through Samaria. Now Jesus and his disciples are in the northern part of Israel up by Caesarea Philippi and to get down to Jerusalem they have to travel through a Samaritan territory. I don't have time to go into all the history but there was a bad history between the Israelites and the Samaritans for hundreds of years even before Christ was born. And so there was just kind of some, you remember the woman at the well in John chapter four? John says that the Samaritans don't have dealings with the Jews. And so we find out here that verse 52, he sent messengers ahead of him, went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him, to really find a place for Jesus to stay, to make preparations where Jesus would stay. Verse 53, but the people did not receive him because his face was set towards Jerusalem. At this point in time, that Samaritan village rejected Jesus. Now you remember a few weeks ago, I know it's a long time ago, when John, the disciple, was upset that there was this rogue exorcist guy that was running around casting out demons and he got really upset and said, Jesus, we tried to stop him, Well, he and his brother are known as the Sons of Thunder. And what do they do? Verse 54, when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? In Mark 3, verse 17, James and John, son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder. How would you like your name to be, Sons of Thunder? Now what I thought was interesting here as I was reading this, if you read the text carefully, read it very carefully, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down? They thought they had the power. Jesus, just tell us and we'll rain fire down on this village. They're probably thinking about what happened back in the Old Testament with Elijah. Elijah the prophet's trying to be captured by one of Israel's wicked kings, Ahaziah. And Ahaziah sends the captain of the army to capture Elijah in 2 Kings 1. And here's what happens. 2 Kings 1, 11 and 12. Again, the king sent to him another captain of 50 men with his 50. He answered and said to him, O man of God, this is the king's order. Come down quickly. But Elijah answered them, if I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50. Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50. So they're probably thinking, hey, we'll be like Elijah in the Old Testament. We'll call fire down to burn this village. Jesus, just give us the sign and we'll call down fire. And what does Jesus do? Yeah, go for it, guys. No, that's not what he says. Verse 55, he turned and he rebuked them. Rebuked them sharply. The original language, it's a really strong rebuke. In a way, Jesus is saying, now listen, guys. My ministry right now is one of preaching and teaching and healing and casting out demons. We're not gonna do things by violence. We're not gonna do things by force. We're not gonna do things by power politics. As a matter of fact, my path and your path is one of suffering, one of weakness, one of serving. We're not gonna call fire down from heaven. But let me just remind you, there will be a day when Jesus will come in fire. Not here in Luke at this point in time, but on that final day. Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 1, 7-10. To grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire. inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who believed because our testimony to you was believed. Times not now for fire, James and John, that'll happen at the end of the age. The times now is for us to set our face to Jerusalem. And so Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem and if Jesus is going to Jerusalem his followers are going to follow him to Jerusalem. And so his followers need to know exactly what they're signing up for. Look at verse 23, we looked at this a few weeks ago, he said, If you're going to follow Jesus to the cross you need to know what you're signing up for. It's kind of like a young kid that's excited to sign up for the military. He enlists in the Army, the Air Force, and he's really excited because he gets to have the camaraderie of being around a bunch of new people. He gets the room and board, you know, kind of paid for. He gets to wear that awesome uniform that makes the girls' hearts melt when he walks into a room, you know, a man in uniform. He gets all excited that he gets to be in the military. And then all of a sudden, They have to go to war and their battalion gets called up and they got to go into the thick of the battle. And he says to his comrades, this is not what I signed up for. I signed up to be in the army, not to go to war. You signed up to be in the army, which means that there's a possibility that you're going to go to war. This isn't what I signed up for. I don't want to fight in a war. I just want to be in the military. Well, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus encounters three people who illustrate what I call a fickle faith. A fickle faith, a pliable faith, a bendable faith. Now, we need to remember in context, let's not forget, the parable of the soils that Jesus told earlier back in chapter 8. So let me just remind you, let's go back to chapter 8 for a moment. Jesus tells us in verses 13 and 14 about the second and the third soils. So in Luke chapter 8 verse 13, the ones on the rock are those who when they hear the word receive it with joy, but these have no root. They believe for a while and in a time of testing fall away. As for what fell among the thorns, there are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they're choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. You see, the second soil, the rocky soil, that person received the gospel with joy, but when trials came, they said, this is not what I signed up for. I didn't sign up for a life of trials and persecution. That's not what I signed up for. The third soil that fell among the thorns, Basically the cares of life choked out the word and it's the same type of thing. This is not what I signed up for. So both of these show an initial evidence of following Jesus, an initial excitement. Initial commitment, but yet, like pliable in the pilgrim's progress, when they get into the slough of despond, when they get into trials, they say, this is not what I signed up for. I'm bailing and going back home. Forget this Christianity business. So, let's explore these three examples of fickle faith. The faultiness of fickle faith. Here's the first. Some are eagerly confident to follow Jesus without counting the cost of suffering. They're eagerly confident to follow Jesus but they don't count the cost of suffering. So let's look at this first man, verse 57. As they were going along the road someone said to him, I'll follow you wherever you go. Now what I find interesting here is that Jesus does not call this man out. He comes forward out of the blue and volunteers himself. He takes the initiative. He takes the initiative to kind of jump out of the crowd and say, I'll follow you, Jesus. Now, that should give us pause for a moment because God's always the one that takes the initiative here. This man had zeal without knowledge. Notice what he says. I'll follow you wherever you go, Jesus. I'm excited to follow you wherever you go, Jesus. Wherever you go, I'll follow you. Now, remember, Peter later makes this bold statement, makes the same statement. Remember later on, we'll get to this eventually, who knows when. Luke 22, 33-34, Peter said to him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. And Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me. Peter was really resolute in his ability to go with Jesus. Wherever you go, Jesus, I'll go over to prison. I'll go to death. And you know what happened? A little girl by a fire basically scared Peter to death. And so he began cussing and said, I don't know Jesus and denied Jesus three times. You see, this first person has great self-confidence and their ability to follow Jesus, but they don't consider the cost or the suffering. They're great at making bold resolutions, very confident in their resolve to follow Jesus. There's no prayer here for Jesus to give him help. There's no weakness or prayer. There's just this boldness in my ability. Remember the father a few weeks ago whose son was epileptic and was being tormented by a demon? Remember what that father said? I don't know if I believe Jesus. Help my unbelief. I'm weak in my faith here. This guy's not weak in his faith. He's bold. He's confident. He's very sure that he'll follow Jesus wherever Jesus goes. And Jesus knows his heart, and what does he say? Oh, really? Verse 58. You know, when a fox goes out and basically terrorizes the hens or goes into a vineyard, he has a den he can go back and sleep in. You know, when birds fly around all day, they can go back to a nest and they can sleep in, but me, the son of man, I have no place to go back and lay my head. Now, does this mean Jesus was always homeless all the time? No, but what it means is, is if you're gonna follow Jesus, it means that you need to embrace suffering, sacrifice, persecution, self-denial. Think about how Jesus' life started. There was no room for him at the inn. Even when he began his life, he had to be born in a stable. They had just rejected him here in Samaria. There was no place for him to lay his head. Jesus's entire earthly life, all the way up until his death, was one of rejection, suffering, and oftentimes persecution and loneliness. Here's what Charles Spurgeon said. What will you have to share if you follow Christ? You'll have to follow a friendless man without a home and often with no one to understand him. If you take him to be your leader, you'll have to travel over a rough road. Oh, may none of you ever profess Christianity for the sake of what you can get. If you take Jesus as your savior, you're going to travel a rough road. This was read earlier during our time of prayer, 2 Timothy 2.3. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. The life of a Christian is one of suffering. It's one of warfare. It's one of a battle. Now, we need to be very honest with people up front on the front end when we tell them about Christ. Now we don't need to discourage people from coming to faith, but we need to be very honest and say, here's what you're signing up for, because a lot of people were sold a bill of goods. They were told if you trust in Jesus, you'll never have any problems, you'll be debt free, you'll have your miracle, you'll have this victory all the time, you'll live in this anointing, you'll have all these things, and then when things go bad, when they suffer, they're like, this is not what I signed up for, you sold me a bill of goods. And so Jesus here, and we should not discourage people from following him, but Jesus is being very realistic. He's giving him a dose of reality. If you trust in Christ as Savior, you're enlisting as a soldier into warfare. You're going to go to battle every day with the world, the flesh, and the devil. The unholy Trinity is going to come at you every day. And that's what you're signing up for. So that's why Jesus warns him here. You see, to follow Christ means you give up on your ability to be all that for Jesus. You think you're all sold out. You think that you can do it. You think that you have this great faith, I'll follow you Jesus wherever you go. You know what Jesus really wants from you? Salvation is not, hey, I'm all that for Jesus. Salvation is, I'm a beggar and I'm just holding out my empty hands to receive only what Jesus can give me. That's what faith is. Faith is, I'm a beggar, I have nothing to offer Jesus. I'm just giving you empty hands. I don't trust in my ability. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty weak. I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus says, are you sure about that? Because you need to know what you're signing up for. You're signing up for warfare. You're signing up for suffering. Okay, let's look at the second guy. Secondly, some are hesitant to follow Jesus because of the pressing matters in life. Some are hesitant to follow Jesus for the pressing matters in life. Now it's interesting in the second man, this second guy doesn't come up to Jesus and volunteer. Jesus calls him out. Verse 59, to another he said, follow me. Jesus said, follow me. I'm pointing to you, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Let me first go and bury my father. Jesus, I really want to follow you, but let me do something first. I got to take care of some things first before I follow you. Now, this is putting off trust in Jesus for pressing matters in life. Now, this is a big deal. Because in that ancient Jewish culture, you did need to give a proper burial to your father and you needed to make sure that you properly honored a person that was dead as a good son would pay respects to his father. But here's the deal. We probably guess here that the man's father was not dead yet. Because according to Jewish tradition, a dead body had to be buried within 24 hours. and if the body was dead it was still in the home and you would be there with your immediate family mourning over it until it was buried. So probably it's more of a hypothetical here, maybe his dad was sick, hadn't really died yet, but Jesus's response almost sounds shockingly cold-hearted. Now what did Jesus say to him? Verse 60, Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go on proclaiming the kingdom of God. Let the dead bury their own dead. Now what does he mean by that? This is what Jesus is saying. Let the spiritually dead non-Christians who are funeral directors and grave diggers and maybe even your immediate family take care of those issues. There are fine non-Christians that can do a good burial. You need to proclaim the kingdom of God. Now is Jesus saying don't be a good son and don't bury your father? Is that what he's saying? No, it's an illustration here. The man was hesitant to follow Jesus because of family. This is going to get into a touchy subject. We want to promote healthy families. We want there to be godly husbands, godly wives, godly children, healthy marriages, strong marriages, godly marriages. We want healthy families at Emmanuel. The Bible tells us that. But let me just give you one warning. If any relationship takes priority over Jesus, you've become an idolater. If you put your husband over Jesus, you put your wife over Jesus, you put your children over Jesus, Jesus is to have the first place. So this man's hesitant because of family obligations. The first man was really bold, was really eager, he didn't count the cost. The second man's hesitant. Let me take care of some things back home first. Okay, let's look at the third man. Some, here's the third, some are reluctant to follow Christ by making a clean break from their past. Some are reluctant to follow Christ by making a clean break from their past. Now, the third man, like the first, comes up to Jesus and says, takes the initiative, verse 61, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those who are at my home. Jesus, I'm going to follow you, but here's a qualification. I need to go take care of some things first. My dad's not dead or dying. I just want to go home and say goodbye to my family and friends. I want to go back home and kind of put my affairs in order before I leave. It's indecision. Because here's what would happen. What would happen if that man goes back home and his family starts crying, don't go, please don't go. Stay. They would persuade him, they would beckon him to stay. He may be tempted not to follow Jesus when he got back to where it was comfortable with his family. Maybe his family would cry a lot of tears. Here's the thing, he's trying to break off with his past life little by little by degrees as opposed to making a clean break and following Jesus. Jesus didn't say, hey, I'll go home and tell my family about Jesus. I'll go home and tell my family about you. I'll go home and preach the gospel to my family. Then I'll come. He just said, no, I want to go home and say goodbye. Now, again, this goes back to the Old Testament. Elijah with a J and Elisha with an SH, OK? So Elijah was the first prophet. Elisha was his apprentice. But here's what happens. If you go back and read 1 Kings 19, 19 through 21, So he departed from there and found Elisha. This is Elijah. He found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with 12 yokes of oxen in front of him. And he was with the 12th. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And as he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, he said, let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you. Sound familiar? Let me go home and say goodbye to my mom and dad, then I'll follow you. And he said to him, go back again for what have I done to you? And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him." Here's the thing. In the Old Testament, Elijah gave permission for Elijah to go home and say goodbye to his family. But do you notice what Elisha does? He burns his livelihood. He burns his plow and he burns his oxen as a definitive way of saying, I'm done with farming. I'm done with my livelihood. I'm never going back to that. I'm following Elijah. He made a clean break with his past. So this third man, wants to follow Jesus, but he wants to set the conditions. Jesus, I'll follow you when it's convenient. Let me go back home and take care of some issues first, then I'll get around to following you. But this man doesn't understand that Jesus is the Lord, and Jesus is the one who makes the demands, and Jesus is the one who calls the shots, and you really can't manipulate Jesus and tell him how he's going to be Lord. And so Jesus says this to him, verse 62, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. I'm not a farmer, many of you are, but I can just imagine if you're farming on these nice big equipments, you know, Andy teaches farming. Some of you guys tell me about these machines that are like wonderfully awesome, but if you look back the whole time, what are you doing? Now maybe you're on GPS and it's going the way you're supposed to go and you can just, back then though, there's no GPS, there's none of that stuff on there. If you look back the whole time, what are you doing? Your rows are like zigzaggy, you're not making good rows, you're not being a good farmer. Because what are you doing? You're always looking back. This man was looking back. You know there's another person in the Bible who looked back and it didn't go well for her. You remember Lot's wife? In Genesis 19, Lot and his family live in Sodom and Gomorrah, a city of wickedness. And the angel comes to Lot and says, the Lord's going to destroy the city, you better get out of here quickly. And as you leave this city, whatever you do, don't look back. Keep your eyes towards the hills, follow the Lord, get out as fast as you can, don't look back. Because here's the issue. They had become comfortable in Sodom. Sodom was their home. Sodom was their culture. Sodom and Gomorrah was who they were. And so if they were to look back, they were looking back to that comfort. So what does Lot's wife do? Genesis 19.26, but Lot's wife behind him looked back and she became a pillar of salt. She looked back. Later on in Luke, Jesus comments on Lot's wife. Jesus himself in Luke 17, 32-33, remember Lot's wife, Jesus himself, remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. You see, in all three of these events, these men showed a fickle faith. I'm eager to follow you, Jesus, wherever you go, but I'm not going to count the cost. I'm a little hesitant to go Jesus, because I got some really big issues in my life. Jesus, I want to follow you, but let me first take care of some things. It's not a faith that was directed at immediate following Christ. But I want you to notice three issues related to these three men. Hopefully you caught it. For the first man, the issue was his possessions. A place to lay his head. property, possessions. For the second man, it was his family, giving his dad a proper burial. For the third man, it was basically his livelihood, his comfort, the comforts of home. So here's the thing. Here's the difficulty of following Jesus. When you trust in Christ alone, his lordship may come into direct conflict with three of the most major things that each of us deal with in our lives. Our money and possessions, our families, and the comforts of our job and home. And when you trust in Jesus, he may come in and rearrange those priorities. If you put money and possessions above Jesus, you've given into idolatry. If you put family relationships above Jesus, you've given into idolatry. If you put the comfort of home and your job above Jesus, you've given into idolatry. In other words, when Christ calls you He calls you to come and die to yourself and to die to anything that you would place above or before Him alone. Colossians 1.18 says this, He is the head, Jesus. He's the head of the body, the church. He's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. Did you catch that? In everything he might be preeminent. Well, Sean, what's the Greek word for preeminent? It's very easy. It's the Greek word first. In everything, Jesus is to be first, preeminent, to have the superior status. I want you to listen again to the words of Spurgeon. If Christ not be first with you, Christ is nothing to you. You cannot have him to play with. You must surrender your whole life to him and make him the first and last object of your life's ambition if you will have him at all. That's a tall order. How in the world can we absolutely surrender everything to Jesus and follow him wherever he goes and have this single focused passion for Christ? Well, here's the good news of the gospel. Jesus did what you and I could never do. You know, Jesus was the only one that was sold out for Jesus. Jesus is the only one that resolutely went to the cross. Jesus is the only one that surrendered totally to the will of the Father. Jesus is the only one that was committed all the way to the very end. Jesus is the only one that was truly, totally, radically sold out for God. He's the only one that's ever done that perfectly, devoted to his father. He's the only one who had complete and utter wholehearted devotion. So what does that mean for us? We could never emulate that type of radical devotion that Jesus had. But what we can do is we can say, Jesus, because of what you did for me, In your life, with your face resolutely set towards Jerusalem, and in your death, dying on the cross, what I can do is I can rest in and receive what you did for me by faith. I can reach out with the empty hands of a beggar and say, Jesus, I may not have this radical faith, but one thing I can do is I can trust in you with empty hands of faith, and Jesus is the one that sustains us. Jesus is the one that loves us, that encourages us. And so as we come to the end of chapter nine, we're reminded that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem with one sole purpose, to obey the will of his father, to die a cruel death, and to rise again. And he turns to all of us that would follow him and say, if you're gonna follow me, you need to die to self. Take up your cross daily and follow me. And the only way we can do that is by God's grace and power in our lives that gives us the ability to serve and follow him. And so there's that old song. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided. Good, you're singing it. To follow Jesus. What's the word? No turning back. Let's pray. Lord, for many of us in this room, there may be an idol that we have made above you. It may be money and possessions. It may be a family relationship or any type of relationship. It may be the comforts of home or the comforts of our job. And the thing is, Lord, these aren't bad things. These are good things. We need money, we love our families, and we need a job, and we need the comforts of home. These aren't bad things. But Lord, when our hearts are drawn away from you to be consumed with these things and we put them in the place of you, you're no longer first. And Paul said in that passage, in everything, Jesus, you would be preeminent. You would be first. So Lord, help us to look deep in our hearts this morning and see what idols we may have. And help us to confess that. Help us to ask you, Jesus, to root out those idols and help us to have a renewed focus upon you. Help us to not be hesitant, help us not to be indecisive, help us not to say, well, first let me get these things done and then I'll follow you. Lord, help us to have an immediate obedience. We need your grace, we need your mercy. We know we can't do this on our own strength, we know that we're weak and we're helpless, but thankfully, Jesus, If it was up to us, we'd fail every day, but it's up to you. And because of your great power and your sovereign grip on our lives, we know that we can face whatever comes our way because you're our treasure, you're our Savior, you're our source of power. So thank you, Jesus, for protecting us, for loving us, for holding us in the palm of your hand, gripping us that no one can take us out. Help us to leave this place today. Singing that song, I've decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. And we ask this in the strong name of our Savior. Amen, amen.