 So the second let's see someone is I believe passing out Logan is passing out copies of the counting the cost lesson Which we're going to look at this morning It's the second in our series of essentials classes Which would you know the outline still for for essential starts with the gospel? We did that last week counting the cost and then Salvation conversion sanctification Assurance discipleship evangelism small groups the church Church membership unity and separation church discipline and Then cessation and spiritual gifts, but there's a sense in which this subject of counting the cost is just always part of our Christian lives Situations present themselves as we're making our way through this world that Require us to Make judgments and and consider What's at stake and and our faithfulness So if you would turn with me to Luke 14, we'll look at verses 25 to 35 the first part of this lesson is is about counting the cost and then the Second part is what what is the actual cost of discipleship? So Luke 14 25 to 35 Now great crowds accompanied him and he turned and said to them if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own Father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters Yes, and even his own life. He cannot be my disciple Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost Whether he has enough to complete it Otherwise when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish all who see it began to mock him saying This man began to build and was not able to finish Or what king going out to encounter another king in war will not sit down First and deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000 And if not While the other is yet a great way off. He sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace So therefore any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple Salt is good But if salt has lost its taste how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away He who has ears to hear let him hear So we have in this passage in particular in verses 27 To 32 parables about actually counting the cost a process that and each one of us has Gone through on some level when we first heard the gospel and began to consider What what demands the gospel was making on us in terms of how we live But before that section on the tower and the Army that's coming. There are Conditions of discipleship There are actually three Two before and one after so who can Tell me what those three conditions of discipleship are we're in Luke 14 25 to 35 Rise and shine If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters Yes, and even his own life. He cannot be my disciple Okay So that's one of them, right? And then verse 33 so then none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions Okay, and in verse 27 anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me so those three things so hate His father and mother his wife and children his brothers and sisters and even his own life. What does that mean? How do we do that brawlio that means that you love the Lord with all your heart mind so in strength and he's above everything You follow him. You obey his word and faith and obedience So you love him above all else and if that means Preaching the gospel to your family and it causes a division you continue to follow Christ and trust Christ And you love him more than anything else you love him more than yourself Than your own life your own possessions and you give up all for him Thank you, so it's not a a literal hate Past Michael Yeah, I wanted to share a passage that that shows So that shows that that is true that hatred of life and family is equivalent to Superior love for Christ over Life and family and it's in Matthew chapter 10. It's a parallel passage beginning in Verse 34 Matthew 10 34 do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth I have not come to bring peace but a sword For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law Against her mother-in-law and a person's enemies will be those of his own household Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and whoever loves son or daughter more than me Is not worthy of me and whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it So it's a relative it's in a relative sense, you know, I I can think of people who you know have have Responded to the gospel With repentant faith and it has come at the cost of a wife, you know relationships with parents Friends, you know if it doesn't happen that way to you will praise God, but the issue is that When it does when you have these choices those challenges these difficulties Your commitment always first is to Christ The the verse 27 anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple what is What what does God have in mind there in that passage so in those days across one thing and that was death And so you need to be willing to die Yeah, take up who does not carry his cross and follow me So Commitment all the way up to and including Giving your physical life for the cause of Christ and to follow me Is an obedience issue following me and so You know when we think about sort of christened them today and What Christianity often looks like I Mean we're radicals because we go out and knock on doors We're radicals because we are Confronting people with the gospel We're radicals because we want to get together during the week and Pray together and hold each other accountable and study God's work Yeah You know the the question in my mind when I when I'm told that that that is radical is you know if you are as a follower of Christ Willing to die for Christ Why would you not be able willing to get out of bed and go knock on someone's door or? You know make time on Wednesday night to spend some time with people in your Community in your church But these these things are too demanding for for many And then the last one or the third one in the same way in verse 33 in the same way any of you who does not give up Everything he has cannot be my disciple So who can tell me what what's in mind there? And I can almost see Claudia it means to Leave everything that Was important to you in the past material things anything that It was important to you in the past in order to follow Christ Does it mean that you have to give up literally physically Everything I guess the things that For you to be Yes Willingness to do that right you may not actually have to part with everything Calvin addresses this this issue. Well, he said It would be absurd to insist on a literal interpretation of the phrase as if no man Were a disciple of Christ till he threw into the sea all that he possessed Divorced his wife and bathed farewell to his children Such idle dreams led foolish people to adopt a monastic life as if those who intend to come to Christ must leave off humanity Yet no man truly forsakes all that he possesses till he is prepared at every instance at every instance to leave all Prepare to leave all gives himself free and unconstrained to the Lord and rising above every hindrance pursues his calling Thus the true self-denial which the Lord demands from his followers does not consist so much in outward conduct as in the affections So that everyone must employ the time which is passing over him without allowing the objects which he directs by his hands To hold a place in his heart So the issue is a willingness to give up everything a Change of affections what what what is what what's important to you and what will be first to you Will it be your financial security your comfortable lifestyle When the demands of Christ intrude on those things you go. What are you gonna choose? Pete the simplified it just means Christ's primary everything else is secondary Amen That is you know, that's easier said than done, right? I mean we're Constantly, but we're we're drawn by the world every practically every waking moment. There's a pull To make everything else first as opposed to making Christ first So, you know for the Unbeliever who is wrestling with you know, what do I do? You know, I've heard the gospel and it's going to mean that You know, I don't go to Catholic Church with mom and I don't go to happy hour with the office and I You know the list could go on and on those are things that those are sort of the easy sort of Easy things to clip off, but the affections becomes a deeper issue Lee Here you go Well, see you've got to look at it from God's viewpoint look at what all he gave up You see And that that's where I answer some people, you know, they say well, they don't call for all that Then I go back through what God gave up, you know all these years. He's been smelling the stench of sin He's still been blessing us You know both believer and unbeliever, you know rain Sunshine, you know Think about what he gave up Think about the commitment he's making sort of takes the Whole idea of cheap grace Out of the equation to think about what Christ has done what Christ has done. I mean just in the flesh I'm I read about The crucifixion that is not an easy death. It normally takes three days to die up there Three days and like with his way they had the His hands stretched out and you know, like they said put it through the hand That's not where it went down through here nerves in there in order for him to catch a breath He'd have to pull up on that And while he's sitting there with the ridicule of Everybody there and all the sins of the world on him and he asked you to give up Everything look at what he did for you Amen Brawlio There's a text in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 14 That says for the love of Christ controls us having concluded this that one died for all Therefore all died and he died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves But for him who died and rose again on their behalf And I think what Lee was saying this text describes that if the love of Christ really controls us it's because We see that he died in our place for the payment of our sins and he rose again to secure that and To count the cost of discipleship is to consider this love of God for us in Christ and Why not live for him wholeheartedly? You know the other so yes, what Christ has done for us incomprehensible and really in some ways But you know the other issue is you know when you talk about the cost of discipleship No matter what the cost of discipleship is it is not even in the same realm of Consideration as the cost of not following Christ the cost of not following Christ. I mean think of you know an eternity in torment Where well your entire being is consumed with the The relief that you might get from a single drop of water For all of eternity so But still when when When you come to the gospel and you come to the cross and and you're we are these simple very limited Beings and and you start thinking about Well, how am I going to do this you know I think of 1st Corinthians 6 9 Which we often will read to someone We're witnessing to Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who practice Homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God and Such were some of you, but you were washed you were sanctified You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God So you you come to the cross and you you like I well, you know This is how I live and I can't live this way anymore if I'm going to follow Christ That's the kind of thinking and the kind of process that this text is calling us to which is a You know a very different sort of call to salvation then What You know passes for the gospel in many churches where You know, I'm going to stir you up into an emotional frenzy and then I'm going to play a You know Sweet song and and I'm going to stand down here and wait for a half an hour or till you walk down this aisle It you know looking for that quick decision The issue here is that don't you can't come to faith and Is in just sort of an emotional and quick decision. This is something that you need to think through and and so that's what is being addressed in in this passage and in particular and You know from verse Verses 28 to 32 There's in 28 for which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost Whether he has enough to complete it Otherwise when he is laid a foundation and is not able to finish all we see it begin to mock Mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish You know there there there was so there's a sense in which you know at the beginning of your your Understanding of the gospel You know you have to Consider what what you're being called to But It's also true that you may have been a Christian for many years and You're still building this tower right you haven't finished yet There are more trials and more challenges and more tests ahead for you Spurgeon addressed that and I'm In a sermon I want to read you part of what he said Do you not think that there are a great many towers of that kind about in our day? I mean unfinished Christian characters persons who profess to be followers of Christ but are not They just exhibit To you their own shortcomings There are people with good intentions who did make some attempts to follow Jesus But since it involved too much self-denial They were not able to go that length so they turned back and walked no more with him They began to build a tower but never finished it May God and his mercy prevent you and me from Becoming a laughing stock to all eternity I believe in that last great day And forever those persons who knew enough about the gospel to wish to be Christians And who were somewhat actuated by right motives, but yet who never went so far As to give up their hearts to christ Will stand forth as monuments of their own folly and even the demons in hell will point at them and say These men began to build and were not able to finish Such persons will be unable to answer that contemptuous sneer If you have conscious conscious Conscience enough to begin to follow christ even reason itself requires you to go to the whole length If you know that it is right for you to do so, why do you not go through with it? If you are sufficiently convinced of its rightness to go as far as you do Why not still go farther? God grant that you may Better never begin to build than to commence without having counted the cost And then to find that you have not sufficient to finish Pete You know, I think that goes to verse 27 Back in their day they faced persecution and Commitment that they were to have was in the face of possibly dying Because of their belief And he was telling them that they need to stay fast stand fast And do not sway Do not give in and worship idols just to stay alive But it also means for people in our in our position that we are to continue on doing His work until we die Okay, and and and uh The the difference between the two is that they could face immediate death which sometimes happens with us But most of the times we just you know live on until old age and but if we're supposed to maintain christ first until we die Thank you. Yes you know this This world that we live in here, uh, this this society this culture Really it really is easy street For us, you know, we were just given every freedom every opportunity Us in particular in this room Given the true gospel Given this stewardship um, you know, we don't it's not like we walk out here and you know Are about to get our heads chopped off because we're christians Um, but you know, what do we do with that? You know, what do we do with that freedom and that opportunity and You know Are you living for yourself? You know and the pleasures of this world or are you living for christ? when you're In a in a trial and some great difficulty comes upon you, you know, I mean there's a there we are we're all In some sense crisis christians, right? We We really get down and start praying when Times are tough. That's not the way we should be living In the in the Called to giving this morning first peter four seven, uh, you know, peter's calling on people to Think and pray And and and reminding them that you know the end is near and and so Um, you know, that's how we need to live. That's how we need to think we need to we need to consider that um, every moment of the day We are walking With christ here right beside us and you know, how would that make you live differently? What would you do with your time with your? resources with your money with your thoughts What would you do differently and how how would you live if If you lived sort of with that kind of consciousness Well, he is right here with you And so, you know, you've got you've got to think that way um the other the other Parable here what king going out to encounter another king and war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able With 10 000 to meet him who comes against him with 20 000 And if not while the other is yet a great way off he sends a delegation and ask Asks for terms of peace That's a little different than the first one right the first one There's no impending disaster right? um, you're You butchess you're called to count the cost This one is different. You know this there's a crisis and Matthew Henry in his commentary on this passage said Note first those that persist in sin make war against god the most unnatural Unjustifiable war they rebel against their lawful sovereign whose government is perfectly just and good Secondly the proudest and most daring center is no equal match for god The disproportion of strength is much greater than here supposed between 10 000 and 20 000 Do we provoke the lord the jealousy? Are we stronger than he? No, surely who knows the power of his anger In consideration of this it is our interest to make peace with him We do not send to desire Conditions of peace they are offered to us and are Unexceptionable and highly to our advantage Let us acquaint ourselves with them and be at peace Do this in time while the other is yet a great way off For delays in such a case are highly dangerous and make after applications difficult Why would you do war with god? You know both of those parables I think really forces to As as you're as when you hear the gospel and when you're confronted with The call to repent and you start doing this inventory And you think to yourself well how I mean this is how I've lived all this time How am I going to live like that? instead There This this repentance that is working by the spirit of god in you um Should bring you at some point to understand that You cannot do this on your own You cannot build this tower on your own you cannot Win the war against that oncoming 20 000 soldiers on your own you you And so you cry out to god And you say god help me Give me the strength give me the ability give me the will give me the desire Make it possible for me He says he will If you come to him that way so So you've you've got to count the cost um As you then when you're walking with christ you're you know in the In the battle that you know that's when the battle begins um I remember we were brawling and I were talking to a young man weekend before last and You know that point came up. It's like You know Once you commit yourself to follow christ Now that's when The battle begins um You know up to that point You've loved your sin and it's easy And that's really what we're we're going to look at in these other verses in the time that's left um Look at Matthew 10 16 to 39 Persecution will come Let's start with 17 Be on your guard against men they will hand you over to local councils and flog you in their synagogues On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles But when they arrest you do not worry about what to say or how to say it At that time you will be given what to say for it will not be you speaking but the spirit of your father speaking through you Brother will betray brother to death and the father his child children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved When you are persecuted in one place flee to another I tell you the truth. You will not finish going through the cities of israel before the son of man comes A student is not above his teacher Nor a servant above his master It is enough for the students to be like his teacher and the servant like his master If the head of the house has been called bielzebub how much more the members of its household Well, let's stop there and and just look at you know what what You know price is saying What god is telling all of us What what what was facing these disciples what's facing all disciples um is persecution And if you are experiencing no persecution of any kind for your faith Then it's you know there's a question about whether you have faith genuine faith um, your faith is going to cause you to live differently than the world It's going to cause you to speak um to act And and if that doesn't get some kind of reaction from the world toward you in some way Then you're either aren't speaking or you're not acting Or something something's not quite right It's in verses 17 to 20 There will be what we're being told is religious persecution and and government persecution Who's experienced government persecution for their faith? here Want to share with us like what that looked like? so um There there have been a number of times where I've been preaching the gospel out at a park a public park exercising my my right to a freedom of speech and preaching the gospel and having the police come and um, tell you to stop the man that you stop um Give you trespassing warrant trespass warrant. So um very little But um, that wasn't my mom or dad persecuting me, you know those were authorities How about um religious persecution? Has anyone experienced that from a religious authority of some sort? Ben Well, I'm certain that everyone has a similar story because I mean we've all Been at a different church or another but um essentially the one of the one of the churches that that we When me and Brenda were initially converted We were at and we were serving and doing as much as we could but After we learned More about the word of God and more about what sound preaching sounded like and realize what that was We took the time to um write out a very lengthy uh Letter to this church to point out everything it was doing unbiblically thinking we were doing it at service um But uh within I think a couple hours of reading through that letter to them Essentially they just ushered us out of the church being very very faithful to this church. I mean they were shocked as they had nothing on us Because we we love God and we love the people there and we served But yet when we spoke the truth to them and just you know line after line verse after verse They did not like that and they just ushered us out the front door I've heard other stories like that from you know people who have Left false churches. I wasn't shown the door in my case, but um I guess I didn't stay around long enough for them to do that um so You don't go out and seek The persecution right and that's not the point but If you aren't experiencing any of any kind then You must not be doing much part of the What follows here um In this passage is At that time you will be given what to say You know those are opportunities for you to to be witnesses um So you go out and you preach the gospel on the street um knock on door and somebody yells at you or um Stand up for what's right in a false church and get shown the door all of those are There there are also opportunities for you to you know stand up for the truth and and that's Part of the cost of discipleship, right? I mean if you're if your goal is for everyone to love you and um When friends and influence people As Dale Carnegie says, um, you know following Christ is probably not the Thing for you um Going on in verse 26, so do not be afraid of them There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known What I tell you in the dark speak in the daylight what is whispered in your ear proclaim From the roofs Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell Are not two sparrows sold for a penny yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will Of your father and even the very hairs of your head are all numbered So don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows You know what we when we are thinking about the cost of discipleship when things are difficult, um, when our Courage is tested um, what we're What we're being reminded of here is that Our our eternity is really what we need to keep in mind and it will be glorious it will be So far exceeding in wonder and Blessing any sort of difficulty you may have um in this life that you know the think With an eternal perspective keep eternity in mind don't get all wrapped up in whatever the difficulty at the moment is Um, um, I was reading it just this weekend about Steven Like in this passage it says a disciple is not above his teacher Nor a servant above his master It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher And then what I was reading about is that Steven Was really like christ because at the end when they stoned him um Jesus said you know forgive them so they know not what they do But Steven said lord don't hold this to their charge So persecution is going to come And our job is to try to be like, you know, like Jesus was which is really hard to do And we have to work on it every day But when you think about persecution you really have to think about Steven because he was just like Jesus in that respect Yes I'm reminded of Philippians 129 I think it is um You know, it's been granted To us not only to believe but to suffer For his sake It it's a privilege persecution for the sake of christ is Is a privilege that's um You know, it's not fun But there is a sense in which it We should experience it with a degree of joy Just to know that we have been counted worthy To suffer for his sake Yeah, you know what you just said is very important because it doesn't feel like that when it happens um There's strong temptation to wear that rejection and persecution as a badge of shame Rather than really what it is a badge of honor. So we have to Preach we have to believe that like the word of god tells us Blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake, right? And we have to by faith believe we have to receive that truth by faith and let that truth Be the lens through which we estimate our suffering um We say badge of shame. What what do you mean exactly? How do you like um, so so There's a temptation to be ashamed When you suffer for righteousness sake, um, if somebody persecutes you it doesn't feel good It doesn't say if you don't have those passages in your mind and taking your thoughts captive and bringing your thoughts Into subjection to the word of jesus christ. There's a strong temptation to feel um that rejection to to be grieved to be sad to To believe the lie of the world that says You know what you're doing is wrong and Unloving and inappropriate and unacceptable and worthless and so Believers can Not believe the truth at times and believe the lie and um be shaken in there. Yep. Be shaken in their faith and doubt and Shut their mouth You know and not speak or or not just try to Slide under the surface and get off the radar in a sense and those are temptations That come from our own flesh That those are lies that come from the pit of hell And we need to take truths like the passage of scripture that you just read and the passage of scripture that I just that I just quoted and believe them and let them Be the lens through which we estimate our our suffering and Then when we do that we will have a brave heart, you know like the the disciples who left um Solomon's porch rejoicing that they were counted worthy for suffering In the name of Jesus Christ. I just wanted to say that because It's one thing to hear what you're saying And a whole another thing to believe what you're saying And when the suffering comes and when persecution comes and rejection comes and your family abandoning you and your mother and your father Not wanting anything to do With you because of the name of Christ and because you have committed to walk in the way everlasting You have to hold on to those truths and preach those truths to yourself constantly You know, I think as you were talking about that There's there's subtle ways and which that happens to us over over years of following Christ and You know that the the last part of luke the saltiness issue I mean, what's it What's in mind there is You you follow Christ for 10 years 15 years and You know the rejection that you experience over the years From all of these people all of these sources, you know, and maybe it's that You know, I've witnessed to 5,000 people and only two got saved. What's the point? You this sort of thinking can dull you and it can make you No longer salty You your your eyes need to be on Christ Honoring Christ being faithful to Christ And and all of this other stuff, you know, it just comes with that But don't you know, don't Don't be discouraged by it. Don't be don't be dulled. Don't be Don't become apathetic and lethargic about your, you know, your faithfulness That said this is you know, this is one reason Uh why it's a good thing for You know this whole class to to consider counting the cost because you know Most of you in here are not at the beginning of your christian life. You're you're some years into it and You need to get saltier not Less salty Let's look at Luke 9 23 to 25 And the two minutes that we have left and he said to all If anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me For whoever would save his life will lose it But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself You know, it's the worst imaginable thing Um that you would come to the end of your life and you don't know when that's going to be um And You know just have a feeling of Um, I could have done so much more I could have You know this I spent my time doing this when I could have spent it glorifying christ Um, don't don't waste your life Uh Don't pursue gaining the whole world Uh, this is this is a vapor. You know, this is the passing Moment in time Um But I wanted to read you one thing about um It's an I think it's an anonymous Uh, quote, let me see if I can find it about Denying yourself Suppose you have been neglected Or unforgiven You sting with the hurt of the insults from such an oversight But your heart is happy because you have been counted worthy to suffer for christ That is what dying to self is about When your wishes are crossed your advice disregarded your opinions ridiculed And yet you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or try to defend yourself You are practicing dying to yourself When you lovingly and patiently stand face to face with folly and spiritual insensitivity And endure it as jesus did you have died to self When you are content with any food money clothing climate society Solitude or interruption by the will of god you have died to self When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation record your own good works or desire Commendation from others you are dying to self When you can honestly rejoice with a brother who has prospered and had his needs met And never feel any envy though your needs are greater and still unmet You have practiced dying to self When you can receive correction and reproof from one a blessed stature than yourself and humbly admit He's right with no resentment or rebellion in your heart. You have died to self Are you dead yet? Let's pray Father in heaven, thank you for this These words this encouragement Help us to honor you in the ways that that we live and to Just remember the Great cost At which you purchased us In jesus name amen