 And the title of our sermon this morning is Count the Costs, our primary text, Luke chapter 14, verses 25 through 33. Welcome back to our study of the essentials. One sermon, one hour, one subject, essential to the growth and maturity of the Christian. As we've worked through this series, this essential series, particularly as we work through the redemptive plans and purposes of God the Father, the person in work of our great redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and then the application of that redemptive work by the operation of the Spirit, I have been absolutely blessed, blessed by thinking on these things, blessed by considering the majesty, the beauty, the wisdom, love, mercy and grace that is manifested to us in the gospel. I pray you've been blessed by the same thing. It is a wonder to consider what God has done for us in Christ. Our salvation is an absolute unmitigated marvel and we are grateful to the Lord for all that he has done for us. Now just think with me for a moment, think with me for a moment. We are fallen, sinful, undeserving, stiff-necked, rebellious sinners deserving of hell. We were rightly and justly headed to eternal torment. And yet our God righteous in all his ways, gracious in all his works, determined to set his love upon us in Jesus Christ. Rich in mercy, abounding in grace, that he might be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent forth his only begotten Son as a propitiation by his blood, demonstrating his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, that we through faith in him might be justified, that we might be reconciled to God, that we might have peace with God. And even as we were dead in our trespasses and sins, he made us alive together with Christ, uniting us together with his Son, seeding us together in heavenly places, granting as a free gift of his grace that we should turn from our sin, put our faith and trust in him. And he has forgiven us of all our sin. He set us free from the guilt of sin, set us free from bondage to sin, imputed to us the spotless righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He adopted us as heirs of Christ, joint heirs of Christ, and even now works effectually in those who believe by an operation of his spirit who indwells us, preserving us through his grace, such that nothing and no one will ever separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And he who did not spare his own son, but rather delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? And we one day, brothers and sisters, be glorified. We'll enter into an eternal rest glorified in him. The gospel is unspeakably sweet. Is it not? Immeasurably sweet. Jesus Christ is immeasurably precious. And we should be the most humbled, the most grateful, the most loving people on the planet bar none. Now you can catch a glimpse of that sweetness, the treasure that is the gospel, the treasure that is the Lord Jesus Christ. You can catch a glimpse of all that in the Lord himself calling sinners to come to him that they might have life in the gospel invitations of Jesus Christ. Listen, come to me, the Lord says. Come to me, all you who labor in our heavy laden and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me. I am gentle, lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, my burn is light. Listen to the Lord, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger. He who believes in me shall never thirst. The one who comes to me, Jesus Christ says, I will by no means cast out. The spirit and the bride say, come. The spirit and the bride say, come. Let him who hears say, come. Let him who thirst, come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. It's precious, isn't it? Sweet to the believer. To turn from sin, to turn from our wickedness, to turn from all our rebellion, to turn from all that filth, all that dirt, to be pulled out of the gutter and brought to Christ living water, bread from God, life, clean, fresh air, right? It's the wonder of it. And yet for all that truth, and it is true, glorious, blessed, there is another side to the Lord's preaching with respect to the gospel. There's another side to the Lord's preaching with respect to the gospel. It's a side of his preaching that you seldom hear in churches today. It's fallen out of favor. It's fallen out of favor in evangelical services and evangelical churches today where Jesus Christ, God exists only to serve you and I. God, Jesus Christ exists to serve man, to meet our felt needs. This other side of his preaching most seem even embarrassed to mention it. Wouldn't dare mention it in a church service. Wouldn't dare preach it or teach it as if it darkens or clouds the grace by which we've been saved as if it pollutes or perverts the simplicity of faith by which we are to believe. They avoid it in the Bible like they'd avoid a stranger in a dark alley. You just don't go down there. And in doing so, they misrepresent the Lord's calls to salvation and they compromise the gospel. The Lord never does this. The Lord never does this. The Lord doesn't avoid the hard truths. The Lord doesn't avoid telling us what we need to hear. The Lord doesn't do that. No matter how much the masses despise it, no matter that many who presumed to follow him would turn and follow him no more, the Lord unashamedly calls sinners to count the cost of being his disciple. Consider these words of the Lord himself. Luke chapter nine, verse 23, then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me for whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Luke chapter nine, verse 57, listen. Now what happened is they journeyed on the road that someone said to him, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus said to him, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. He said to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. Another also said, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me go and bid them farewell who are at my house. But Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Consider Luke chapter 13, verse 23, then one to said to him, Lord, are there few who are saved? He said to them, strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many I say to you, many I say to you, we'll seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord open for us. And he will answer and say to you, I do not know you where you are from. And you will begin to say, we ate, we drank in your presence. You taught in our streets. But he will say, I tell you, I do not know you where you are from. Depart from me all you workers of iniquity. Consider Luke chapter 14, verse 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Luke chapter 14, verse 33, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. It's simply a representative list from one book in the Bible. And not all of that one book. This doesn't sound like salvation by grace through faith to many. To many, this sounds like salvation by works. Now remember, I've simply read to you the words of Jesus Christ himself straight from the Bible. I didn't write that in your Bible. Be sure, be sure. Our salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from works of the law. In other words, it's not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. Every aspect of our salvation from the father's decree in eternity, his election in eternity, to the glorification at the resurrection of the dead in his return to the work of the triune God it is all the triune God alone. But there is a cost to following Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ says so himself. Well, there you go again. Confusing salvation with discipleship, they would say. Jesus is talking about discipleship. Now of course he's talking about discipleship. He's also talking about a call to salvation. What is a Christian if not a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? You can't divorce being a Christian from being a disciple. A disciple is a Christian. If a Christian is a disciple, as if you could be a Christian now and be a disciple later, it simply doesn't work that way. A disciple is one who responds to the call of Jesus to come and to follow me. A disciple is a learning follower of Jesus Christ. And of course there's a cost. Of course there's a cost to following Christ. Consider with me. Following Jesus Christ will cost you your sin. Whatever it is, you must set it down. That's repentance. Turn from your sin. A Christian must repent. It'll cost you your sin. Following Jesus Christ will cost you your worldly desires. Whoever would be a friend of this world makes himself an enemy of God. Following Jesus Christ will cost you the love of this world. If you were of this world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of this world, Jesus says, but I chose you out of this world. Therefore the world hates you. Following Christ is gonna cost you the love of this world. Following Jesus Christ may cost you the love of your family. Jesus says father will be divided against son. Son will be divided against father. Mother against daughter. Daughter against mother. Mother-in-law against her. Daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Our enemy approaches and we have towers to build. Count the cost. Count the cost. It will be difficult to be a Christian. Lord doesn't shy away or avoid that hard truth. He wants to prepare us for that hard truth. And so he tells us, I thought it was a free gift. It is a free gift. It will be difficult to be a Christian. It is a free gift and it's going to cost you. When Jesus Christ refers to the high cost of following him, Lord isn't referring to the basis of our salvation or the ground, the foundation upon which we are saved. Jesus Christ has paid that cost to the full. He has drank the cup in your place to the dregs. He paid that cost by shedding his own blood on the cross and that payment has been made in full. But the Lord will not hide from his people the battle that then ensues. He will prepare them for it. On the night that the Lord, in which the Lord was betrayed, he was walking with his disciples to get them any. And he warned them. He said to them, they will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things I have told you that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. The Lord is going to prepare his disciples. Once them to be prepared, think ahead to understand, to know what is coming. The disciples certainly couldn't blame Jesus Christ for not warning them of the difficult ministry that lie ahead for them. Count the cost, count the cost. You remember the blessedness of the gift, right? We're to remember the blessedness of the gift. We've been forgiven of our sin. We have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I am counted righteous in him. We've been justified, reconciled, adopted into the household of God. And we have glory to look forward to. But receiving the gift, receiving the blessedness of that gift doesn't end with merely receiving. Receiving the gift means giving. Receiving the gift means giving up. It means losing something in return. It's like finding a great treasure hidden in a field. Consider with me, right? A great treasure hidden in a field, as the Lord says. And for joy over that treasure, what does the man do? He goes and sells all that he has. He gives up all that he has so that he can buy the field. It's like finding a pearl of great price. And for joy over that pearl, a man goes and sells all that he has to buy it. Nothing in this world matters more than Jesus Christ. Nothing in this world matters more than your soul. Nothing in this world matters more than being with him in eternity. Salvation in Jesus Christ is a free gift, but it's a free gift that will cost you everything. Give it all up, take the free gift and give it all up. Consider with me the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke chapter 14. Beginning in verse 25, the Lord shows us that following Jesus Christ will require, one, an incomparable love, two, an unreserved devotion, and three, an uncompromised commitment. Following Jesus Christ will cost you something, right? It will require an incomparable love, an unreserved devotion, and an uncompromised commitment. In Luke chapter 14, beginning in verse 25, the Lord is passing through cities and villages on his way to Jerusalem, and he's teaching and preaching as he goes. In verse 25, great multitudes went with him. Multitudes swarmed around the Lord Jesus Christ, not just the 12, but as Jesus Christ was teaching and preaching, great multitudes began to follow him. And he turned to the multitudes and he said to them, every head bowed, every eye closed, repeat this prayer silently as I say it aloud. Did he do that? No, he didn't do that. This was the ideal opportunity to do that. It's not what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Jesus Christ would have never bought into the stupid traditions of men. And that's what that is. This would have been the ideal time to lead him in the prayer, get him to say the prayer, Jesus. If there were any such thing, but there isn't any such thing, that is a figment of man's imagination. It's not what happens here. He turns to the great multitudes who went with him. He turns to them, looks him in the eye, so to speak, and he says to them, verse 26, if anyone presumes to follow after me, not unlike the vast crowds that follow him today, he calls them to an incomparable love. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Now that statement was meant to shock. It would have been shocking. It would have been astonishing. It was meant to make them to make us think. Do you want to follow me? He says to the masses, to the multitudes, right? Most ordinary men today are just pleased to punch with themselves that they have such a following, right, that masses and multitudes. I remember hearing one standing in the pulpit and saying, I've been called by God to lead great numbers of people. That's what he said. I've been called by God to lead a massive, a big church, a mega church. I'm called to be a mega church pastor. That's what he said. This is to make us think. The Lord turns to them and says, do you want to follow me? Do you want to follow me? Do you want to be my disciple? Then you must love me above all. Then you must love me with incomparable love. If anyone comes to me, that's terminology used to express the initial determinations of faith, right, the initial determinations of our faith. When we turn from sin to put our faith in Jesus Christ, we say to ourselves, if that faith is genuine, you say to yourself, I want to follow Jesus Christ. I want him and not my sin. I want to follow him at all costs. If anyone comes to me, anyone who would profess to be a follower of Jesus Christ should heed the warning. Faith says, I trust Jesus Christ. I want to follow him. And that faith of its genuine loves with an incomparable love. Honoring your father and mother is commanded in the law, isn't it? We're to love our neighbor as ourselves. Certainly that would include love for our family. Paul commands husbands to love your wives, not to hate your wives. Wives should love their husbands. Hating father, mother, wife, children, brother, sisters is a Jewish or Hebrew figure of speech. It's a way of expressing a supreme preference. Or a superlative priority. Same thought is expressed by Jesus in Matthew chapter 10, verse 37, where the Lord says, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Luke chapter 14, verse 26, is communicating the very same truth. It's an incomparable love. It's a supreme love, a preeminent love, a love that bears no rivals. The issue that Jesus Christ is raising here has to do with the affections, with a heart. It's a matter of the heart. Unless your affections for the Lord Jesus Christ reign supreme, the Lord says you cannot be my disciple. Doesn't matter how sincere you believe you were when you prayed that prayer, you walked an aisle or you got baptized or you went to Mass or you did whatever you did. All of that is a sham. If your affection for the Lord Jesus Christ does not reign supreme in your heart, you cannot be his disciple. Unless your affections for Christ reign supreme, even over the affections that you have for those closest to you, mother, father, wife, children, brothers, sisters, you cannot be his disciple. Unless your affections for Christ reign supreme, even over your own life also, you cannot be his disciples. You see, it's an incomparable love. The Lord raises the standard even higher at the end of verse 26. No longer living for myself. I'm no longer entitled to live for myself. No longer entitled to put my interests above his interests. His interests, his cause reign supreme. I esteem him more highly than I esteem my own life. I love him more than I love me. Someone can say, it's easy to say, right? For people to confess, profess that they love Jesus Christ above all. I love Jesus Christ more than anything. But what happens? What happens when the claims of mother, father, the claims of wife and children, the claims of brothers and sisters collide with the claims that Jesus Christ has made on your life? What happens when those interests collide with the claims that Jesus Christ has made on those who had presumed to be his disciples? What happens when something you really want? What happens when your own self-interest collides with what he has commanded or called you to do? What happens? Do you walk away from Christ because your husband is sick and tired of you going to that church? Do you disobey the Lord in order to please mother, father, wife, children, brothers and sisters? Do you refuse the Lord? Because you love the leisurely life that you live. I'm a follower of Lord Jesus Christ because I'll work up whatever gumption is necessary to make it a church on Sunday morning for an hour, but I'll do nothing else to serve him. I like my leisure. I don't like to be inconvenienced. It's the story of nominal Christianity today. That's the life of the carnal Christian. You see, it's a matter of the affections. The problem resides in the heart. It's a matter of incomparable love. Now, who's the author of that love in our hearts? Did you drum that up yourself? No. You know, I read the Bible and I'm so smart. I figured out that Jesus Christ was worthy of all. Jesus Christ is worthy of that kind of love, but that kind of love is not generated in the heart of sinful fallen man. That kind of love is generated by the spirit of God in the heart of one who has been born again in him, given a new heart, a new nature, and now is worked upon by the Holy Spirit. That incomparable love is a fruit of the spirit. You must be willing to offend anyone else rather than offending the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, you cannot be his disciple. How many times have you gone to someone right and say to them, in love for you and in love for the Lord, I'd rather risk offending you than not talk to you about what I'm about to talk to you about, right? We're to love him supremely, whom Peter says, having not seen we love. At the end of the day, Jesus Christ isn't looking for crowds. Jesus Christ is looking for genuine disciples. In one day, there will be a crowd of them. We can't water this down, can we? There's no way to water this down. Just read the text. We must love him above all or we cannot be his disciple. Count the cost. This incomparable love fuels an unreserved devotion. Look at verse 27. The Lord continues now to press the crowd. He continues to press the multitudes. He says in verse 27, whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. One said that he didn't call for a makeover. He demanded a takeover. He demands a takeover. The whoever of verse 27 is not unlikely, anyone of verse 26. All those who would set their minds to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, all those who would set out to follow Christ in faith must consider this fact. Bear your cross and come after me, otherwise you cannot be his disciple. Well, what does it mean to bear your own cross? What does that mean? Well, this wouldn't have been unfamiliar to anyone living in the Roman Empire in the first century. They saw many bear their own cross. Crucifixion at that time was commonplace. Criminals who were found guilty, condemned to die by the Romans. Romans couldn't crucify Roman citizens. They crucified other citizens. Those who were found guilty, condemned to die. The government determined to put to death by means of crucifixion. Those criminals were required to carry their own cross to the place of their execution. We see the Lord Jesus Christ do the very same thing. The meaning would have been very clear to the crowd as Jesus spoke to them. Jesus says you must bear your cross and come after me. In other words, you are to take up the instrument of your own execution. You become the walking dead, dead indeed to self, dead indeed to sin alive to Christ in him, right? You take up the instrument of your own execution, you die to self, die to self-righteousness, die to self-will, die to sin, die to the world and identified with him in his death, raised to walk in newness of life. Jesus said, Luke chapter nine, verse 23, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. That's what bearing your cross is, itself denial. Let him deny himself, let him take up his cross daily and follow me for whoever desires to save his life. That which you presume to imagine is your own when it doesn't belong to you. It's been given to you by God. It's been given to you by God with a purpose that you are to glorify him with all that you say, think, do, right? You're to glorify God with your life. That life was given to you. You're not your own, you were created by him. You were purposed to glorify God. That life that you believe that you think that you imagine is your own, you are to set it down. Take up the instrument of self-denial, the instrument of self-execution, the instrument of putting to death self-righteousness, self-will, selfishness, dying to sin, dying to this world. Whoever desires to save that for himself, save that life for himself, will lose it. There will come a time when you will lose it. It will slip from your grip. But whoever loses his life for my sake, Jesus says, will save it. What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost? You see, there's not only a cost to following Christ, there is an immeasurably higher cost to rejecting him. As you bear your own cross, Jesus Christ says, Luke chapter 14, come after me. Bear your own cross and come after me. Notice the object of faith there is the person, the very person of Lord Jesus Christ, come after me. To come after him means to follow where he leads. To come after him means to submit to his authority. Following after Christ means to heed what he says, to do what he does, to obey what he commands, to live as he instructs, to learn what he teaches, to love what he loves, to hate what he hates. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. First John chapter two, verse six. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Our devotion to him, do you see? Our devotion to him is to be an unreserved devotion. It's to be an unconstrained devotion, holding nothing back, reserving nothing back. It's an unconstrained commitment. It's all or nothing, all or nothing. Otherwise, you cannot be his disciple. Disciple is the word mathetes in the Greek. It refers to someone who is submitted to his teaching. That's what a disciple is, isn't it? A disciple is submitted to his teaching. A disciple is someone who is following Jesus Christ as a Lord. A disciple is someone who is heeding the words of his master and obeying his commands. A disciple then is a genuine believer and a genuine believer is a disciple. Disciple is a learning follower, one who upholds Jesus Christ as primary, preeminent. Everything else in this world is no better than a distant second, do you see? And that is an even remotely burdensome to the one who loves him with an incomparable love. It begins in the heart, it begins with the affections. When you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, when God by his spirit in grace and mercy causes you to come alive from being dead in sins and trespasses. When he gives you a new heart, that new heart, that new nature, that life within you loves the Lord Jesus Christ. It is exuding, overflowing with love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ becomes exceedingly precious. Where before it's like, eh, right? Am I not speaking the truth? Everything changes, right? He who once I was indifferent toward now becomes everything to me. He lays hold of you in grace and in mercy, in love. And so the one with that incomparable love planted within the soil of his heart is then devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, when the Lord saved me, I was in a false church under a false gospel, hearing false teaching. My whole life was false. I presumed that I was a Christian, I was not. And yet when the Lord saved me, although I was biblically illiterate, didn't know anything, this is what I knew. I'm a sinner. Jesus Christ died to save sinners of whom I am chief and I want him. I don't want my sin anymore. I don't want this life anymore. I want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to please him with my life. Didn't know much, but I knew that. That's, it's the fruit of a new heart. We can't do that work in ourselves. It's a work of God Almighty by his Spirit to change a heart that way. It's an incomparable love and it's an incomparable privilege to devote ourselves to him, isn't it? Well, an incomparable love and that unreserved devotion must be followed up with an uncompromised commitment. An uncompromised commitment. The Lord in Luke 14, speaking to the multitudes, continues to set an exceedingly high standard. It's an exceedingly high standard. The picture here with this is that the Lord will not warrant cool or competing affections. The Lord will not warrant half-hearted devotion. The Lord will not warrant a waning commitment, a fair weather friend. Salvation is free. It's an unmerited offer of grace, but discipleship will cost you. It will cost you. The Lord illustrates this by use of a parable, two parables in our text, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That's what a parable is. And the parable meant not merely to tell or explain truth, but to show us what truth looks like, right? To show us what truth looks like. In verse 28, the Lord shows us the commitment level required of a genuine Christian. There are two parables used here by the Lord and the two parables are related in Luke chapter 14. And what the Lord communicates to these two parables is just a reflection of divine wisdom, right? It's astonishing, it's fascinating, it's beautiful. What the Lord communicates through the use of these two parables is one positive point and one negative point. One positive, one negative, consider with me. The first parable that we'll look at communicates that it will cost you everything to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. It will cost you everything to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The second parable communicates that it will cost you everything if you do not follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see? The first parable, it'll cost you everything to follow him. The second parable, it will cost you everything if you do not follow him. And the Lord again speaking to the multitudes. Look at verse 28. For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost whether he has enough to finish it? Now the purpose for building a tower was defensive, most often defensive, protective. The word is most often used for a watch tower where you set up guards on the watch tower to watch for invading armies, watch for invading enemies, right? To defend yourself against an enemy, to see an enemy coming. The tower would have been large and would have been costly. We saw that in the book of Judges on Sunday night when they, the town put themselves in the tower. The population of the town retreated into the tower to avoid attack from a bimilek, right? This would have been a large tower. It would have been costly to build. And if it's going to adequately serve the purpose for which it is built, it's going to take a lot of effort. Going to take much time, much energy, many resources. Think of the self-denial involved in building a tower like that. Think of the singular focus that is required to get that tower built. This would have been a massive undertaking. And anyone who had set out to complete that project needs to consider the commitment level, the commitment of time, effort, energy, resources necessary to get the job done. Verse 29, lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it then begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish. In other words, what you start, you need to finish. What you start, you need to be prepared to finish. You must finish. If you don't finish then all you've done, all that work, all that time, all that energy, all those resources, if you don't finish it's all been a waste. And others standing aside do what that justly calls for, which is mock. You set out to build in vain without the commitment necessary to finish the job. You did not have the commitment level required to see the project through to completion. You did not count the cost, do you see? This builder, verse 28, the one who builds the tower represents those who set out to follow Jesus Christ, the multitudes in Luke chapter 14. It represents those who set out to follow Jesus Christ but those who do not persevere to the end. It's representing those who don't persevere. Not unlike the parable of the sower in Matthew chapter 13. At the parable of the sower, this plant springs up, the seed is sown, the plant springs up but having no root, these plants only endure for a while. When tribulation, when some difficulty, some adversity, some offense, some problem, some conflict, when persecution arises because of the word, this one stumbles, this one stumbles. Because of the cares of the world or the deceitfulness of riches, I'm just too busy. I can't make it, can't be involved, can't be there. The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. What a fool, what a fool. All who see it begin to mock him. This man began to build, was not able to finish. What a fool, did you not consider the cost? Did you not think ahead of time of what it would take? Did you not consider what was needed, what was necessary? Have you not considered what we've been given in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you not considered the blessings? Have you not considered how great this salvation is? Have you not considered how worthy Lord Jesus Christ is? Have you not considered all that we've been given? Is Jesus Christ not worth it? Our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far greater weight of glory. What a fool. This is the nominal, carnal, half-hearted, so-called professing Christian, a Christian who is one in name only. It's not a genuine Christian. This one is self-deceived, self-deluded. The genuine Christian is the one who endures to the end. The genuine Christian is the one who perseveres to the end. Count the cost. Following Christ requires an uncompromised commitment. The one who puts his hand to the plow and turns back is not suitable, not a fit for the kingdom of heaven. There is no going back in the world. You're on the shore, the ships are burning in the harbor. You're not going back, right? It's a commitment, a whole, sold, whole-hearted commitment to the end for the Lord Jesus Christ, for the good of your own soul. One has said, the Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers, the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. That is the picture of Christianity in our culture today, our country today. Large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent but thin veneer of Christianity. They've allowed themselves to become someone involved, enough to be respectable, but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great soft cushion that protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism. No wonder. And as much as you think it might cost you to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, it will cost you everything if you do not follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 31. Or, this is the other perspective, all right? Another parable to teach us the other side of the consideration, the story here. What king going to make war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000 or else while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for conditions of peace. The parable tells of two kings, doesn't it? These two kings are facing an unavoidable conflict. They are headlong coming at each other, blood will be shed. Verse 31 opens with a question for the crowd, which of you would presume to be a king, right? Which one of you would be a king and act in this way, right? Which one of you would presume to be king? What king would there be among you who would race off into battle against a far greater force without first sitting down to count the cost? The first king might represent someone in the crowd with that lesser force. The second king is the one telling us this parable. The first king, verse 31, is going to make war with the other king. You would better consider what that's gonna cost you. You would better consider what that's going to cost you. Considering what it's going to cost you, I would suggest verse 32, that you sit down right now while that far greater king is still a way off, a great way off, and I exhort you to sue for peace. That would be the wise thing to do, sue for peace. Unless there is peace between you, you are an enemy of that king. Do you see? A tale of two kings. One is coming at you with a far greater force. You're not going to win. You're not going to overcome. And what king of you would go headlong off into battle, warring and raging, setting yourself against that king without considering the cost of your foolish actions, without considering what it's going to cost you to wage that war. Make sense? You're at enmity with that king. You're an enemy of that king. Enmity, according to our text, enmity often looks like half-hearted commitment. Enmity often looks like lukewarm devotion. Enmity often looks like a calloused indifference. Enmity looks like cool or indifferent affections. You see, if you are here this morning and you've not turned from living life for yourself, if you've not died in him, if you have not taken up your cross, denied yourself, if you are not following him with a love that is incomparable, if you are not following him with a devotion that is unreserved and undivided, if you're not following him with a commitment that is uncompromising, then the Lord Jesus Christ through this text is warning you, as he did those in the multitude that day, you are warring against the king. And notice, notice, it's not just you that is warring against that king. That king has his forces arrayed against you. That king is coming to war against you. Do you see? It's not just that you're an enemy of God. You are an enemy to God. God is your enemy. Do you see? Count the cost, count the cost. The Bible teaches us that we're to give up all to be his disciple. We're to turn from our sin, we're to trust in Jesus Christ alone, and we're to give up our very lives to follow after him, who promises to do us nothing but good all our days, and will one day glorify us, right? We're to follow after him in the heart of a Christian, that is dust on the scales for him, for Jesus Christ, and all that he promises, all that he gives. But if you've not turned to him in faith, if you've not repented of your sins, if you continue to presume to rule and reign over your own life, if you will presume to gratify yourself in your own lusts and in your own passions and in your own carnal vain pursuits, then you will give up everything at the last day. You'll be raised in dishonor and turned over to destruction to suffer eternal fire for eternity, forever, torments, objects of God's wrath. That I would implore you is far too great a cost. Consider now that cost and sue for peace. Pursue peace, the Lord concludes this teaching to the multitude. I can imagine in that crowd a stunned silence. Verse 33, the Lord concludes, so likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. I've been over the years just absolutely stunned, absolutely amazed at how clear the word of God is, how clear, straightforward, direct, unmistakable the word of God is, and how hard of hearing and death of ear most people are. It can't be any clearer if it would work to walk up and shake someone by the lapels and say, you know, figure it out, understand what the Lord is saying. But they have Moses and the prophets and they will not heed them. They will not heed, yet one is raised from the dead. Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. What does it look like to forsake all that you have? To find Christ as superlative, preeminent, crisis to reign. Salvation is wondrously free, wondrously free. Christ obeys the law on our behalf. Christ goes to the cross on our behalf. Christ dies there on our behalf. Christ bears the wrath of God upon himself on the tree on our behalf. Christ Jesus lived for us, granting us his righteousness. Christ Jesus dies for us, propitiating the wrath of God. It costs us nothing for the Lord Jesus Christ to have saved us. He paid that all. He paid the entire price. Even the faith by which we believe is a gift of God's grace. However, having been bought at a price, we are not our own. And it will cost you everything to follow him. And praise God. I rejoice to give it up. The cost is worth it, isn't it? Jesus Christ is worth it. And let me submit to you that it costs far more to be half-hearted in this life. It costs you far more to be a nominal, professing so-called Christian. It costs you far more to continue to lay hold of or keep your grip tight around your own life, your own self-interest. Follow Jesus Christ, amen, and live. All praise, honor, glory, blessing, might, and dominion. Be to the King. Let's pray. Take a few moments now and go before the Lord and consider where you are with him. If you're here today, you are not genuinely converted. I implore you, on behalf of God, be reconciled to him. Sue for peace. Brothers and sisters, rejoice in your salvation and let's labor in his cause, giving up all for him. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I pray now that if there are those here who have not been saved or have not turned to Christ in faith, that you would in grace and mercy by your spirit work in them so that they might see the folly of their rejection and that they would, in faith, sue for peace. And I pray, Lord, for my brothers and sisters here, Lord, that we would see the high cost that was paid for our redemption and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we would gladly rejoice to give all and service to him. The love of Christ compels us and help us to see, Lord, and to apprehend ahold of that truth that we might love you with an incomparable love, that we might serve you with an unreserved devotion and that, Lord, our commitment to you would be non-negotiable, uncompromising. It's for your glory and with gratitude in our hearts that we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.