In your Bibles this morning, Luke chapter 9, the last few verses of this long chapter, we're in verse number 57, and we've been preaching for a long time in Luke chapter 9, and what wonderful text. You begin here in verse 57 with me, and I'll give you a little hint as I begin to read what's going on here. You're going to watch Jesus have an encounter with three different people. Three different people with good intentions, three different people who actually admit that they want to follow Jesus. Three different people who ultimately, because they're distracted by the things of the world, distracted by the flesh, distracted by personal ambition, we're going to watch three people who have a desire to serve the Lord and follow Jesus. We're going to see them kind of fall off the pages of Scripture and miss out on the great blessing it is to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, a faithful servant of the Lord. I want you to follow along as we read this together. Beginning in verse number 57, the Bible 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 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. I remember many, many years ago as a young person reading this passage of scripture, I remember thinking, what does it kind of mean what Jesus had to say? I'm going to give you a little note. If you read the words of Jesus and you think that's kind of mean, you're wrong. It's not mean at all. And if you think it's kind of mean, then you've got to back up and think, I might be looking at this the wrong way. Now, this is an interesting passage of scripture, and it's not the easiest one to interpret and understand, but it's very, very powerful for all of us to get it and get it very well. I think you'll see it as we look at the text together this morning. The first person that we meet, we meet a certain man in verse number 57. And it's interesting because this man says to the Lord, Jesus, he says, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. I think that's wonderful. And certainly his motive is great. is God in the flesh, and so Jesus knows the thoughts and intents of that man's heart. And so Jesus, when he says, I'll follow you whithersoever thou goest, Jesus has this wonderful God ability to kind of put his finger right on the nerve the thing that was keeping this man from actually following the Lord the way that he ought to. And so Jesus says something that is kind of interesting. He says this man, he says, foxes have holes. Where do foxes live? Holes. According to the Word of God, foxes live in holes. He says foxes have holes. Birds have nests. But the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." You know what Jesus identified? He identified that this man was wanting to follow Jesus because he thought there was probably a good opportunity to kind of have a comfortable position with the Lord and be one of his followers and one of the chiefs perhaps in his armies that were to come if there were such a thing. And Jesus said, I want you to know something. You should follow me, but don't follow me because you think it's going to be a life of ease and comfort. And the Bible just moves on. That man, as far as we know, he never followed, never served the Lord. He was distracted and his opportunity passed. He wanted to serve the Lord, but he was distracted and his opportunity passed. The next person that Jesus encounters, we see in verse 59, he said unto another, follow me. And the guy says, okay, I'm willing to follow you, but, verse 59 you see it, but he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Now I remember reading this and I thought, my, did Jesus not want him to go to his own dad's funeral? Now what you've got to understand is to bury his father, what that meant was he wanted to, his dad hadn't died yet, his opportunity hadn't come yet, his inheritance hadn't come to pass, he was wanting Jesus to kind of let him get through a life period. He's like, you know, Dad's not dead yet. I've not inherited the farm. I've not inherited the estate. I'm not in charge yet. But when I get in charge and when I get on top of things and when Dad is gone and I'm the man, then when that happens, I'll follow you. But Jesus says in verse 60, Let the dead bury the dead. What's that mean? He said, look, if you want to live for the things of the world, you want to live for things that don't last forever, let the dead bury the dead and follow me. He says that's not the right answer. To put off serving the Lord is to not serve the Lord. He says, let the dead bury the dead, and Jesus moves on into our knowledge. Person number two never really follows the Lord. He never really becomes a follower of Christ and experiences the riches and blessing of having a heart that's dedicated to serving Jesus. Then we meet the third person, who the Bible says about the third person. Verse 61, and another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but. Have you ever told the Lord, I'll follow you, but? Not the right way to go about this, just so you know. The preacher's getting ready to preach on that. He said, Lord, I will follow thee, but. Let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home, at my house." Now, look, if you're a missionary going to a foreign field, God's not telling you that, okay, go to the foreign field, but don't go to the house and tell mom and dad about it. You're going to be in big trouble with the preacher if you don't do that. But the emphasis and the point here is not a single instance, not a moment, not kiss the family goodbye and go serve the Lord. The emphasis here is he has a home, he has a house, he has a life. He says, when I've had a chance to live life, after that, Lord, I'll be glad to serve you. In every instance, in all three instances, we see people who have a motive and a desire. It's probably sincere to follow the Lord, to live for Jesus and see what God has for their lives. But in each instance, there's an excuse. In each instance, there is a distraction. In each instance, there's something that comes before following Jesus. And God's Word tells us that following Jesus is not something that you do as an addendum, as an addition to your schedule. The Bible says that following Jesus is something that you do first. And when you follow Jesus first, He says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then all these things shall be added unto you. I want to tell you something. It pays to serve the Lord. It's wonderful serving the Lord. And the lie that the devil sells and tells us all is that if you serve the Lord, you'll never be able to enjoy life. That is not true. I'll tell you what happens. If you decide that you want to live life and lead life and lead God to a place second, third, fourth or last, You're going to find out there and then is where you miss out on what God really has for your life. God wants to be first. You know why God wants to be first? Because he is a cosmic killjoy and he wants to ruin your life and you not have any fun. That's not true. God wants to be first in your life because as your creator, he knows exactly what you need. And He wants to bless you. He wants your life to matter for eternity. He wants you to have peace and joy. He wants you to have what only He can provide. I want you to read the last verse with me. It's a long introduction, maybe a long message, I don't know, we'll see. Verse 62, And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. What's he say? The last person says, I'll follow you, but first let me live my life for a time. Let me go back to the house, to my family. Let me put them first and then I'll follow you. And Jesus says something that I think we can see. No man having put his hand to the plow. And looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. I want to preach this morning, probably should title the message, Plow. Keep plowing. Plow. You can understand the picture here that Jesus says. He says, what I think you should do An illustration, a visual of what following Jesus looks like is there's a job to be done, there's work to accomplish, and you can imagine grabbing hold of a plow being pulled by a horse. The one I've got in my hands right now is a one-bottom plow pulled by a really good-looking horse. I'm holding the plow, I've begun to plow, and the Bible says that when you've begun to plow, you've begun to do the work of the Lord. You've begun to follow Jesus. He says, don't look back. Don't look back. Keep plowing. Plow, plow, plow. I'm going to tell you what the devil wants to tell you. He wants you to get discouraged because When you started following Jesus, you didn't get everything that you had on your Jesus Christmas list immediately. And you've had to deal with some difficult things throughout this. And the devil wants to tell you, hey, look, this ain't working. Look back. Let go of the plow. Quit doing the work of God. But God says, plow, plow, plow. I beg of you, don't quit. Plow. Let's talk about plowing. God's people need to be plowing. We need to be plowing for the glory of God. And we need to plow. Serving the Lord because serving the Lord, number one, is more important than personal comfort. Following Jesus is more important than personal comfort. Let's go back to person number one because they're not going to plow. They're not going to do the work of the Lord. They're not going to give their lives to serving Jesus. They're going to kind of just kind of be normal. I want to serve the Lord, but they're not willing to do what it takes to serve the Lord by putting Jesus first. The first person, the reason they're not going to serve Jesus first is because they're concerned of personal comfort. It's kind of fun because a certain man comes to Jesus and he says, I'll follow thee with us wherever thou goest, and Jesus reminds him of something. Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but I don't have a place to lay my head. If you're following me because you want personal comfort, you want personal wealth, you want some personal advantage, I want you to know something, that is a poor motive to serve the Lord. How many of you could testify in your heart that trying to please the Lord with your life has paid off and it's been good for you. And the room could raise its hand because doing God's will and doing things God's way, it really is the right, smart way to do things. It's good. But I'm going to tell you, you should not determine to follow Jesus because you think following Jesus is always going to be comfortable because it's not. I'm certain that the times in my life where my heart is hurt the most have produced the greatest fruit in my Christian life. I'm thankful for that. I don't love it when it's happening, but I'm thankful for that. And following Jesus is not always comfortable, but it's always right. And this first person, he says, whoa, if I'm not going to get a house, or a job, or a title, or a position, or some prestige, or some personal benefit and personal comfort out of this thing, I don't know if I'm going to follow. He says, I'll follow you wherever you go. And then you've got to think, I don't know if I'm going to be able to get what I want out of this. Let me tell you something, if you're determined to please the Lord with your life and take what God wants for you to have, you will find out that what God wants for you is really what you want for you and God's plan for your life is awesome. sought the Lord for personal comfort, and when he realized that personal comfort was not going to come his way, you know what he did? He let go of the plow. He looked back. There's no doubt there's a life of regrets. We deal with lots of people. We're around lots of folks who have broken hearts. There's tough seasons in life, are there not? I remember I've never said a word about this, this is the first time other than this morning, the early service, but I remember as a kid, it was a season where things were really, really tough, and God was always really good to me. It was a season where things were really tough, and things were really upside down, and life was rough at the moment. And I remember sitting by myself, I was at school, and I had a quiet moment there, and I was singing, and I was not having a pity party at all. As a matter of fact, the Lord was encouraging me. But I remember sitting by myself, I thought to myself, I look back over a month and I thought, I don't remember a day over the course of the last month that I didn't cry. I thought, huh, it's been a month. I've not had a day in a month that I didn't have something to cry about. Now I want you to know, I'm not a crybaby. You cut off my finger, I'm not going to cry about that. But my heart breaks. We carry burdens and we're tender-hearted. And I was just thinking about the last several weeks in our church and our community. And I thought, wow, I don't know that I remember a day. I normally do my crying when no one's looking. Occasionally I can't stand it up here in front of you and melt just a little bit and I try to suck it up. You know something I learned as a child, as a kid, those seasons where There seems to be a lot to break your heart, a lot to cause you pain. Those seasons are the seasons that God does His greatest work in your heart. Those are the seasons that God prepares you for the days that are ahead. Those are the seasons that God strengthens your resolve. Those are the seasons that you get to see and witness firsthand the grace and peace Joy that only God can give and bring. Those are the seasons that you can look back and praise the Lord for because you know that God during that time prepared you for the days that are ahead and could use you in other people's lives. Those are the seasons. And you're in a season like that today. And I want you to know Because it's tough. Because it's hard plowing. Because it's hard to hang on. Because you're tempted to look back. I don't want to challenge you. Plow! Just keep plowing. Keep serving. Keep trusting. Look forward. And trust the Lord. Obey Him. You'll find it's right. We have no evidence that person one in our story ever followed the Lord. Don't let personal comfort keep you from plowing for Jesus. Number two, the second person. He was motivated by personal ambition. Now look at what the scripture says in verse 59. He said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. He said, look, don't fall prey to that. Let the dead bury their dead. And the man, what did he want? He said, let me live this section, this period of my life until I've inherited what is mine to inherit. And when dad is dead and gone and I'm the king on the plantation, let me serve you then. What was he wanting to do? this person was wanting to do, he had the same idea that lots of us have had at different stages and phases of our life. Perhaps you're there now. We have this idea that, well, you know, I'm a teenager, and I'm going to be a teenager, and while I'm a teenager, I'm going to live it up, and I'm going to do what I want to do, and I'm going to sow my wild oats, and I'm going to be a teenager, and while I'm a teenager, I'm going to be a teenager. But I'll tell you what, I want to follow Jesus, When I'm not a teenager anymore, when I go to college, I'm going to get real serious about serving the Lord. I'm going to get real serious about doing the right thing. And then the college student says, hey, look, I'm in college. I'm going to live like a college student. I'm going to live it up. I'm going to do my thing. And I'm in college now, so I'm going to be a college student, but I'm going to tell you something. When I get out of college and I start my career, I'm going to follow the Lord. You start your career, man, it's so busy. The only time I have is Sunday morning. I mean, surely the Lord understands that I don't have time to go to church. Let me tell you something, as far as I'm concerned, I don't have time not to go to church and to be encouraged by God's people and be motivated to do the right thing. You're in your career and you say, I'm going to live for Jesus. But the career stage comes and the career stage goes and you don't have time for God then either. And while you're in your career stage, you know what? When I retire, I'm going to get involved in a church somewhere. I'm going to do something for the glory of God. One, you may not live to be able to retire. But if you do, I'm going to tell you something. The devil will give you an excuse then too. I'm too old. Too old to be effective. You know, I've not been in church all these years, in people at the church. You know, them hypocrites at the church are. They'll look down their self-righteous noses at me. Because I never went to church when I was a teenager, career person, college student. Now that I'm retired, I can't go now, it's too late. I'm just saying all that to let you know that the devil's going to give you an excuse at every stage and age of your life. When is the right time to start serving the Lord? Today. Right now. right now. And so the Lord sends this message. He says, you need to plow. You need to grab a hold of the plow and don't look back and serve Jesus and make God a priority and put Him first in your life and don't be fooled or distracted by personal ambition like man number two. Person number three. The third person was distracted by living life. And I want you to know that it's better to follow Jesus than to live life. Scripture says in verse number 61, another said, Lord, I will follow thee. But let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. What does he want to do? Now look, there's nothing wrong with going home and telling everybody bye. But that's not what he wanted. He wanted to go home. He wanted to live life. He wanted to live life and then add Jesus. As a matter of fact, I think that we can see really plainly the emphasis. Verse 61, he says, Lord, I will follow Thee, but let me first. Go bid them farewell." Do you see the words, me first? Me first. Look at the Bible, it says in verse 59, but he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. I'm going to tell you something that the Bible highlights as the problem we have. Me first. Me first. Me first. Me first. Me first. Me first. This is an old stat, but do you know what the word of the year was in 2013? Selfie. Selfie. Now, I promise, don't you go anywhere and say that the preacher was preaching against selfies, because I take them too. I like a selfie every now and then. I mean, they look good. I'm just kidding. We take selfies as family. Selfie. I'm not saying anything wrong with a selfie picture, but I will tell you this, there is something bad wrong with being selfish. And we're so prone to be self-centered. We want our will so much that we're willing to reject God's will, which is better. And the end result is we miss out on what God wants for our lives. You see, following Jesus is so much better than just living life. You know what God wants us to do? He says it like this. He says, having put his hand to the plow. What does God want you to do? God says, I want you just to grab hold of the plow and serve me, follow me, work for me. Do what I've called you to do. Do what I've saved you to do. Put me first. Let self play second fiddle. Let self be second place. Let self take a back seat to God's will. Stop excusing poor church attendance. Stop excusing your failure to have a devotional life with the Lord. Stop allowing life to be your excuse for not doing what is right. Stop using life as your excuse to justify your lying and your sinful behavior. Stop using life and your ambitions and your goals as excuses to sin. and grab hold of the plow and plow and trust the Lord and know that God's perfect will for your life is just that, perfect. You see, we want to do our own thing, our own way because like these three people we've met in our text this morning, they had ambitions, they had desires and they were willing to let those things distract them from serving Jesus. What does God want us to do? He wants us to plow. Just grab a hoe, serve the Lord, do what you know is right, and with God's help, watch what God can do when you surrender your will and your life to Him. We have this idea that Doing God's will is some impossible thing to find and do, but I'm going to tell you, knowing and doing God's will is so simple. How do I know? How can I, preacher, how can I be that kind of Christian that is plowing for God and gets God's best? How can I be that person? I'm going to tell you. It starts right now. You say, Lord, with your help today, I'm going to do what right and when I mess up I'm gonna confess my sin and know that you forgive me and I'm gonna try again and then tomorrow what do you do tomorrow Lord the best I know how today I'm gonna live for you and when I mess up I'm gonna repent and I'm gonna try again and I'm gonna trust your forgiveness and the next day Lord I'm gonna do my best do what's right say no to sin say yes to you The next day, I think you get the picture, right? Finding and doing the will of God is just simply attempting to obey Him, keeping short accounts and living for Jesus day by day. You're going to find out when you follow Jesus, Jesus' way and Jesus' will is best. Don't be discouraged. Keep plowing. Don't look back. Keep plowing. God has a work to do in our hearts and lives and we can trust Him with it.