 Today we're looking at Luke chapter 14. We're gonna look at verses 25 through 35 as we continue our verse by verse study. So let's begin looking together here in Luke 14 at verse 25. We'll read to verse 27 and we'll get into our study. I chose to entitle it simply the call no turning back and you'll see why in just a moment. Luke writes in chapter 14, verse 25. Now great multitudes went with him and he turned and said to them, 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. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He's about to finish the task that he has been sent to complete. He's about to yield up his life. He's gonna die on the cross. Earlier as we had been looking in this gospel, we saw in chapter 12, verse 50, how Jesus had said, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how I am distressed until it is accomplished. And that baptism that he was speaking of is his crucifixion. And so he had this desire to go and accomplish the will of the father by laying down his life for us. And he's on his way now to the city of Jerusalem in order that he might accomplish that task, in order that he might receive that baptism that he was to be baptized with. And as he's on his way going to Jerusalem, notice with me how the scripture says great multitudes went with him. Now when it says great multitudes went with him, went with him, speaks of them traveling with him. There are great multitudes who are traveling alongside of Jesus Christ and accompanying him as he's on his way now down south to go up to the city of Jerusalem. And what is happening is multitudes are now more and more massing towards him. His fame has continued growing and more and more people are attaching themselves to him. More and more people are listening to him. This has become a fairly common occurrence and Luke has been outlining this for us all through his gospel, especially after Jesus began his ministry. You'll see that Luke several times speaks concerning the fact that multitudes of people are now attracted to him. Remember back in chapter five verse 15 how he had said there that Jesus's fame grew and great multitudes came to hear him. Or in chapter eight verse four where he said a large crowd was gathering, people were coming to Jesus from town after town. In chapter nine verse 11 he said the crowds followed him. And so what we have now is a great amount of people following after Jesus Christ crowds multitudes that are following him and there's a multitude of them who've attached themselves to him as he's making his way to the city of Jerusalem. And so what we see here is how Jesus responds to multitudes, how he responds to crowds. How does Jesus Christ respond to those whom today would be called potential converts or seekers? How did he respond to those who are following after him, who are traveling alongside of him? What you would expect if you were a person today who was subscribing to certain church growth methodologies to ensure that you had a large group of people following you, what you would expect to do is to bless them or perhaps to say something that would encourage them to continue following after him. But instead of doing that we're gonna notice that Jesus actually challenges them. He actually does that because he wants them to know that there's a cost exacted when you follow after him and become what is called a disciple. Now it's interesting to note that in the Bible in the New Testament the word Christian as it pertains to us is only used two times. That's interesting to me. It's used once in the book of Acts chapter 26 verse 28 when Herod the Gripper is speaking to the apostle Paul and says to Paul, you almost persuade me to become a Christian. And when he said you almost persuade me to become a Christian, that was in a mocking way. In essence he was saying to Paul at that time, listen are you thinking that you can convert me? Because to be called a Christian wasn't really something that you were to, in that day and age, it was really not something that was flattering to be called. As a matter of fact it was something they used in order to be a put down. The word Christian means little Christ and that's what the people would say about people like you and me. They would say, oh here comes those little Christ and so it was really derogatory. It wasn't something complimentary. And so it's mentioned in the book of Acts in chapter 26 28. It's also mentioned in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 16 where the apostle Peter says if anyone suffers as a Christian. And so that's the only two places you find the word Christian noted in the New Testament and I find that interesting. The word Christians plural is only used one time and the word believer in reference to us is only used twice. But the word disciple or the plural disciples is used around 272 times in the New Testament. 29 times in the singular, 243 times in the plural. And the word disciple is the most common way of speaking about a follower of Jesus Christ. And so what Jesus is doing here is he's actually laying out the cost of being a disciple, the cost of being a follower of Christ. He has a multitude of people, people that he could turn around and perhaps flatter to such a degree that they might want to embrace him and follow after him. But how does he respond to those who are seekers will say or potential converts. These are not people who are committed to him so much as interested in what he has to say and all. And so what he's doing here is he's gonna call them to become disciples. Now a disciple is a learner, a person who attaches himself to a mentor, a teacher over a lifetime. And there's no way that the Jews recognized you as a part-time disciple. Nowhere were you a part-time follower of any rabbi or any great instructor. You were a fully committed individual if you were gonna be called a disciple. And so what God is doing when he calls us to be disciples is for us to permanently follow him. In other words, we don't just give him an opportunity to prove himself to us. We don't give him a shot. Okay, God show yourself and I may choose to follow you. That's not how it works in the New Testament. It's a call. It's a call to pursuit. And it's a call for us to follow him with no turning back. Without just going for a few strides and then saying, oh, I've had it. No, it's a call for us to permanently follow him without looking back. And so as we look at this, Jesus begins to speak concerning what it means to be a disciple. Notice verse 26. He says, if anyone comes to me, that word comes, if anyone attaches himself to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, just in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Well, when he says, if you don't hate your mom and your dad, your wife or your children, I guess everybody is a disciple at least once in their life. When you think about it, if it was literal, if it was literal, and some people take that literally. What is he speaking about here when he says, if you don't hate your father and your mother, your wife and your children? Well, what he's saying is he's bringing a contrast. He's contrasting your devotion and commitment and love. You are committed to your mom and your dad. You're committed to your wife or your husband. You're committed to your children. You're committed to your family. You're committed to your own life. But in contrast, you should hate in the sense of loving less to a lesser degree those things when it comes to your relationship with God. So what he's saying here is I'm calling you to a full-on commitment, to have a master passion, to have a total love for me, a total love for the things of God and for me. That's what he's calling you to. He's saying, listen, if you wanna come after me, if you wanna attach yourself to me, if you wanna be a disciple, then you need to have no rival thrones. You need to have no false gods before me. You need to have no rabbis or mentors of teachers or anything like that that will in any way eclipse my influence in your life. If you're gonna be my follower, and this is a pretty heavy thing when you think about it, if you're gonna be a Christian, you have to put Jesus Christ first before everything else. Before mom and dad, before your wife and your children, before brothers and sisters, before your job, before your hobbies, before everything. That's what Jesus Christ says being a Christian is that now you can understand why many people don't wanna be a Christian because they actually do count the cost. They actually do say, listen, I have no desire to pursue after God more than I'm pursuing after this car. I have no desire to pursue after God more than I'm pursuing this relationship. I'm certainly not gonna put my kids behind God. Those kids come first in my life. My wife comes first in my life. My parents come first in my life. And so Jesus is saying, listen, if you're gonna be one of my followers, I have to be your master passion. I have to be the person that you love more than anybody else in your entire life. When Marie and I, Marie who's now my wife, of course, but when Marie and I first began to date and we began to have a relationship that was going beyond us just being friends, it was moving towards an engagement, moving towards marriage, you know. I can still remember and I was a new Christian, by the way, when Marie and I got together. You know, you hear the stories of how I was teaching a Bible study and all, but the fact is as I was three and a half years old in the Lord when I was teaching that Bible study, I was a young believer. It wasn't like I was somebody who'd been teaching for years and I was learning as I was teaching. I was going to college and learning as I was teaching and I was still a young man and all and there's Marie who comes to the Bible study and all and we begin to date. And as we begin to date, we realize that this is a relationship that's gonna go beyond a boyfriend and girlfriend that we eventually just break up and move on to somebody else. This is gonna be something for a lifetime. And I remember on one occasion we were together and we were speaking and we were opening our hearts to one another and I remember saying to her, I want you to know something and it's very important for us to really believe this together. And I said to her this, I said, Marie, before there was you, there was Jesus. And if you should choose one day to no longer be with me, there is still Jesus. You come behind him and you always will and you need to understand that. And I need to come behind your love and devotion for him too. We cannot put that other person in the place of Christ but before there was you, there was Jesus. And after you're gone, there will still be Jesus. And that's how it works. And we have, I believe, a pretty strong and pretty solid marriage. And it's because it's built on the love of the Lord and proper priorities and we first are Christians and we're husband and wife. Years ago I was in San Luis Obispo and I was on a pier out there and there was a guy who was doing some fishing, actually he was trapping some crabs and I walked up to him with a friend of mine. His name was Baxter. I don't remember his first name. I think it was John. But his last name was Baxter. And as I walked up to him, he was pulling out these crabs in his trap and he says, what are you guys doing? Just visiting and he was around my age and I looked at him and I said, we're just standing here on the pier looking at the wonders and the beauty of the creation of God. And I had just been saved. I'd been saved maybe a month or two. And I said, we're just blowing our mind on the wonders and the creation of God. He says, oh, you're a Christian, huh? And I said, yeah, I'm a Christian. He says, so am I. And he started visiting. Before you know it, he invites us to come over to eat and so we went and ate some of those crabs that he caught and turns out he was a musician and he was gonna be playing at a church in San Luis Obispo and he asked if we wanted to come and while he did the concert for a youth group and as we had gotten to know each other a little bit that day, he asked me how I got and saved. I mentioned I had been at the Hollywood Palladium on December 27th and he had said, you know what? I played. I played. I was one of the musicians who played at that concert, that Jesus people concert that you were at. And it was really kind of cool. I said, well, bless the Lord. I said, well, I was one of the guys who got up and gave their heart to the Lord and it was really cool and I had a great time with him but as we were there at this particular youth group, you know, he had really made an impression on me and his wife was seated next to me and I turned to her and I said, you know, I have a love for your brother. And I said, oh man, forgive me. I know that's not your brother. I meant your husband, I'm sorry. And she started to laugh and she says, you know, and I'll never forget this. She said, he is my brother. We are brother and sister in Christ first and I see him as my husband. She had her priorities set. I'm worshiping Jesus Christ and we worship him together. Well, that's what Christ calls us to guys. That's what it means to be a Christian. They have him as your top priority in your life. If there's a clash between loyalties, a loyalty to others or a loyalty to him, he is simply saying our love for him must prevail. And our own lives are to be regarded as less important than our relationship with him. And so what this is is a call. It's a call to complete devotion. It's a call to unswerving loyalty to Jesus Christ. And so when he says, 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. And so these people who are attaching themselves to him are now realizing that he's not saying, oh, just come along with me. It's cool. He's actually challenging them. Then he goes on in verse 27 and says, and whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Now to a Jew, the cross represented terrible pain, cruelty, humiliation, and death. The cross is a Roman form of capital punishment. It was greatly feared by the Jewish population. And so he's saying here, abandon yourself to my lordship, no matter what the cost. You see, for believers, we know that this cross, the cross is not just a piece of costume jewelry. When we see a cross, it symbolizes what Jesus did for us. It reminds us that he died for us. And so carrying your own cross represents being willing to die to self in order to follow him. During that time, convicted criminals carry their own crosses to the place of execution under duress. We carry our cross voluntarily. We count the cost. We consider it worth paying on a daily basis. And we follow him wherever our path may lead, even when it becomes difficult because it's worth it. Because the Lord has given to us a cross to bear. And we pick it up even as Jesus said in Luke chapter nine on a daily basis. And we carry that as a habit of a disciple because we know that there's nothing more valuable to have than a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Every believer knows that. There's nothing more valuable than having peace with God, the fruit of the spirit in your life, the power of the Holy Spirit, his word and a variety of things that come through just being with him, the hope of heaven and all that he gives to us. There's nothing more valuable to us than that. It's a relationship with God. Paul in Philippians chapter three verses seven and eight said it this way. He said, what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. What at one time was considered gain, I consider loss. Those things that other people saw as advantages, I see them as disadvantage, but they think are valuable, I consider to be rubbish, rubbish because he says the excellence of the knowledge of Christ surpasses anything else that I've ever had. Now I ask myself, can I make that statement? Do I have the ability at this point in my life after following the Lord, as long as I have, do I have the ability to say everything that I have is rubbish in comparison to the excellence and knowledge of Jesus Christ? And I would like to say yes, but I have to say no. I have to say I'm still growing in that. I'd like to be able to be in the place that Paul was, but I know that I am moving in that direction and that's what Christ has called us to do. So he says you have to count the cost, you have to be aware of the things. You need to follow after me. You see, if you're not willing to do so, it disqualifies you from following Jesus Christ. It disqualifies you from being his disciple. That's what he says. He says whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. If you're not willing to carry the instrument of your own death, if you're not willing to say I'm gonna die to self in order that I might live unto Christ, then you really haven't counted the cost and don't understand, he's saying, what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Now, he doesn't intend to build his kingdom on impetuous decisions to follow him. What he desires us to do is consider very carefully the cost that we're about to pay. And so he says in 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, lest after he's laid the foundation is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying this man began to build and was not able to finish. And so he gives us a picture now, he's gonna give illustrations. And the first one is related to a man building a tower. Now notice how he simply says, which of you intending to build a tower? He doesn't say what kind of tower it is. He doesn't say if it's a watch tower or a storage tower or if it's a place that you're planning on living in, it's simply a tower. But whatever kind of tower it is, one thing is necessary and he makes that clear, you make sure you can complete it. You see, he expects people to count the cost before they claim to be his followers. It's easy, it's easy to call yourself a Christian when times are good. It's easy when things are going okay, or when someone's surveying you and saying, what is your religious belief? It's easy to say I'm a Christian. But the Christian life has certain demands, demands that we need to consider. We need to be fully committed to him and we need to make sure that when we count that cost that we come to the point where we say, Lord, whatever the cost may be, I have considered it and I'm willing to pay that cost. And I wanna be fully committed to that. It's been said half-hearted people never complete tasks. Jesus does not intend to build his kingdom on impulsive people. You see, discipleship's no small thing and should not be lightly committed to. Building a new life is like building that tower. Building a new life requires complete commitment. It's like when you're building a magnificent structure, it takes time and it exacts a cost. And any reasonable person when building something takes time to count the cost. In other words, he simply makes sure he has the capital to finish the project. Now, I want you to notice something here. Jesus doesn't say, do not build a tower. He does say, before you begin, make sure you count the cost. In other words, think it through before you tell me you're gonna follow me. In Matthew chapter eight, verses 19 and 20, Matthew writes, a certain scribe came and said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his hand. You know, a bird can go to its nest and a fox has a place to sleep. But tonight I'm gonna be sleeping out in the open on the ground. Is that the kind of life that you really want? Are you willing to be committed to me to go wherever I go, to do whatever I say, and to live at a less perhaps advantageous place than you are right now? Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to be fully committed to me, to the degree that the things that you have in this world today pale in comparison to what you'll receive by simply being a follower of mine? Are you able to do that? You see, Jesus wants people to follow after him. That's why he came. He tells us later in Luke 19, 10 that the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. But he at the same time wants us who profess to be his to be aware of the cost that's involved. He had said in Matthew chapter 10, verse 22, you'll be hated by all for my name's sake. And that's a large cost. That's a heavy price to pay. You have to be willing to say, well, Lord, for your sake, I'll give everything else up in order that I might just have you, just to have a relationship with you. Like Paul would say, for me, Christ is to live. You know, my whole purpose is Jesus Christ. My whole life relates to him. That's Christianity. Sounds radical, even as I say it, but it is. When I got saved as a 20-year-old, I heard the gospel. I pondered what a decision like that would cost me and came to the conclusion that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. And so at the age of 20, I decided that I wanted to be a follower of Jesus Christ and I was gonna do whatever he wanted me to do. Of course, didn't know the adventure in front of me. Didn't know exactly where it would take me and all of that. I simply said to him, whatever you want from me, that I will do it. It's kind of like that missionary, that young woman who was a missionary who had a piece of paper that she used to carry with her. And one of her friends asked her a question about that paper finally. They said, what is that paper that I see you folding and looking at and closing up every once in a while? They were on the mission field together and all. What is that paper? And the young missionary said, well, this is my contract with God. And he said, your contract with God? Yeah, that's my contract with God. And he says, do you mind if I look at it? And she said, if you'd like, because he thought that she had written down some agreements, if you do this, I'll do that. And so she hands him the piece of paper and he opens it up and it's just a blank piece of paper. Because ultimately she was simply saying, wherever you say go, I will go. Whatever you say to do, I will do. When you say stop, I will stop. When you say move, I will move. It's all up to you. And that was her heart. That's what disciples do. We follow the spirit, we love the Lord, and we're willing to do whatever is necessary. But we count the cost. We realize that there is something to be exacted as we follow after Jesus Christ. And so he's saying, do you have what it takes to begin to continue and to complete the task? And the answer is, no, not on my own, I don't. I have the will, I want to do that. The will is with me, but the ability to perform that which I desire is not. Even as the apostle Paul would say, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I have a need for help. Do I desire? Absolutely. You have made me willing to be willing, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do according to his good purpose. So I have a desire to do that that you have placed within me, you see. And so the only way that we can actually follow after him is through his grace, his mercy, through his compassion, by just yielding in faith to him and trusting him and knowing that it's God who actually works in us. What my part in all of this is, is thinking through, am I willing to follow Jesus Christ? And the answer is, yes, I am. I want to follow the Lord. Are you willing to pursue me wherever I go? Yes, I am. Are you willing to pay the price? You're gonna build a magnificent structure. Your life is gonna be changed and it's like a building program that continues on and on until the day that I finally just bring you home. Are you willing for that? Well, yes, I am as long as you go with me. It's like when Moses was told to go and minister and he says, I won't go unless you go with me. You see, I'm not going this alone. I'm not doing this on my own. I do this in conjunction with the power of the Holy Spirit. I do this by the grace of God. You live the Christian life, which is an impossible life to live, by the power of God. God gives us commands, but he also gives us the ability to perform that which he commands. He never gives to us something we can't do without him. You see, Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing. But Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So there's that awareness that, no, I can't complete this journey. I cannot count this cost and actually pay it without your help. But if you go with me, I will do it. In Philippians in chapter one, verse six, Paul said it this way. The apostle Paul said, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. And so when you begin to follow him, he empowers you. But notice what he says in verse 29. After asking whether or not you have enough to finish it, he says in verse 29, unless after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him. I was in Greece in 1975, August of 1975, when I was one year old. I'll wait for you. I was 25. I celebrated my 25th birthday in a place like this. In the south of Greece. And while I was there in Greece, we were in a village. And in this small village, a friend of mine who is his Greek and we were visiting his family, my friend Nicky had a cousin named George. And George gave us a tour of the town and he took us also to the outskirts. And as we're going through the outskirts, there was a shell of a house. And as we drove by, he said to us and he laughed. He said, that's the laughing stock of our neighborhood. That's how he was putting it. He said, that's the laughing stock of our neighborhood. He said, that man started building his house and didn't have enough money to finish it. That's exactly what Jesus Christ is talking about. Exactly. He said the whole town thinks he was ridiculous because he started a project, made a big deal about it and never finished it. And when you drove by, there was this structure. It was a good size house. It was made out of brick, as I recall. And you go buy it, but it was empty. It never had been completed. That's what Jesus is talking about. He's saying, there are gonna be people if you begin this journey and turn away who will actually mock you. And they're gonna say, oh, I thought you were Christian. You know, I've seen that. I've lived long enough to have seen that in people who have, I've had friends of mine who at one time had claimed to be Christian who walked away from the Lord and then others would say concerning them. I thought they were a Christian, whatever happened to them. I've had people say that to me many times. You know, I tell you, when I got saved, I was in a Volkswagen van and we had gone to the Hollywood Palladium and it was filled. There were probably whatever it would take to fill up a van. So we got to figure there probably were about eight or nine of us. And I can tell you that out of the eight or nine of us who went together to the Hollywood Palladium, all of us claiming to be Jesus freaks. Actually, I wasn't claiming to be one. I was just a captive of the freaks. They had kidnapped me and taken me. I really didn't want to go, but to my surprise, that's where the Lord saved me. But as we went, there were about eight of us or nine of us in this Volkswagen van as I remember. And out of that eight or nine, I only know one who's following the Lord to this day. Only one. Out of the eight or nine of us, there was my friend George who stood up with me when I got saved and he serves in Morningstar Christian Fellowship in Whittier and he writes me emails every December 27th saying, bless the Lord, you got saved. It's your spiritual birthday and he's still a very dear friend to me, but the rest are not following the Lord at all. As a matter of fact, you might find this interesting. I've said this before, but I'm certain you haven't heard this because it was years ago. I was sharing how I have a friend of mine, the guy who actually kidnapped me and you know my story, I don't have to go into it, but he's the guy who walked up to the door of my car as I had turned my car on and I was supposed to go to this meeting, this Miranatha concert and I had told my friends I don't want to go maybe some other time. Well my friend Bill is the guy who was driving the Volkswagen and Bill is the one who climbed out of the Volkswagen van and had knocked on my window and said, we prayed and God said you have to go with us or turn your car off because you're coming and so that's how I turned the car off and I thought well if God says I have to go I better go and I went with them and that's how I got saved. It was at Bill's house that we used to go and I've mentioned this to you recently. We used to go to his house after going to Calvary Chapel Coast to Mason for the Bible study, it was Bill's house that we would go back to and we would have fellowship. It was his house where I actually encountered people who prayed around a table and Bill was the one who gave the prayer that really impressed me like he knew God and he was the one who took me to buy my first Bible and Bill and I went into the military together on the buddy system, I got drafted and he got drafted and so we went in together and went in in the military buddy system and went through basic training together. It was Bill who was my friend from the time we were five years old who had been very instrumental in me coming to Christ. Bill went into the military, he went off to Germany, I went to North Carolina, didn't run across each other for the time that we were in the service. He got out, I got out, he ultimately went to school, became a police officer in Los Angeles and became a lieutenant, was involved undercover in a variety of other things and I hadn't heard from him for some time. He called me up a few years ago now and he said, David, I listen to you sometimes on the radio and I have a question I wanna ask you and he had been listening to me on the radio and a long story made sure I could really make this a long story but I'll make it short. Finally, he and I one day were talking and he happened to hear the K-wave radio program and I mentioned Bill and I mentioned the story of how I got saved and the details kinda like what I'm doing right now and he said to me, you know, David, I gotta tell you something, I have to tell you something, when you talk about the Bible studies and all of that, I have to tell you, I don't remember anything like that. I don't remember any of it. Bill walked away from the Lord when he went into the military and did his time in Germany. Bill went right back to the world and to this day does not remember anything about his influence in my life, the things that we used to do, the things at the church, he doesn't think about it, hasn't thought about it, isn't interested in thinking about it. And Bill was a person that was used by the Lord to bring me to Christ. I find that an amazing thing. He didn't even know the Lord and yet he made sure that I did. Now isn't that amazing? It really amazes me. And so he's one of those people that somebody can say, I remember, well, Jesus is saying here, after he's laid the foundation, is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him. There are people in the Bible who had every appearance of being a follower of Christ. The greatest example you have is Judas and this is an individual who is one of the 12 and yet he's an individual who ultimately had no faith in Christ and went out and committed suicide. There's one by the name of Demus. Demus who was reported by the apostle Paul as being a fellow worker with him in the gospel. Yet the last time you hear anything about Demus, he has departed from me having loved this present world and has gone to Thessalonica. Demus, Judas, there are many people who at one point said, oh yes, I'm gonna be a follower of Christ, but they didn't continue. And so they say in verse 29, they begin to mock him saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. And so John, in second John, verse eight says, look to yourselves that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. He goes on in verse 31. He says, or what king going to make war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he's able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000 or else while the other is still a great ways off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. And so if you're gonna be a disciple, it means entering into spiritual conflict and he intends for us to be spiritual warriors. He expects us to have a certain spiritual aggressiveness against the enemy. It's kind of like what it says in Matthew 11, verse 12, where Jesus said from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. In other words, the kingdom is vigorously pressing it's out forward and people are forcefully entering in. These are not passive individuals. These are people who are moving in with exertion. They have energy that they're exerting that they might enter in. They're pressing into the kingdom of God. Kind of like what he said in Matthew 7, 13 and 14 when he said enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate, broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it. And so we are to press in. We're to have an aggression for the things of God moving in aggressively. So he's saying before you join my army you need to understand you're gonna enter into full-time combat. So don't take your enemy lightly. Be aware of the fact that if you're gonna follow after me you're gonna have an enemy he's called Satan he's gonna go after you to try and destroy you. Peter tells us that he's like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He's an enemy and he desires to destroy. And so he's saying you need to be aware of the fact that you're entering into conflict and you have an enemy that has great power so do not underestimate him. Sometimes I've seen these people on what is called Christian TV and they're calling Satan names and they're acting most foolishly sometimes and they strut around and I've seen this I've been around for a while then and I've seen this and I shudder because the Bible makes it clear that Satan though we do not worship him we certainly understand he's extremely powerful and to mock him and all is just unwise. In second Peter chapter two verses 10 through 12 Peter speaking of ignorant men and false teachers says they're bold and arrogant. These men are not afraid to slander celestial beings yet even angels although they are stronger and more powerful do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord but these men blaspheme and matters they don't understand. We need to understand that the enemy has tremendous power. Now he's not saying again that people ought not to follow him because of the demands what he is saying is count the cost before you enter into this battle. The kingdom is made up of spiritual warriors and we are to be undistracted. Oh God knows that that's absolutely true. To be a follower of Christ means that you enter into warfare and sometimes you may be thinking am I ever gonna get a respite am I gonna get R and R ever and I believe that the Lord gives us opportunities to rest in him but the enemy is going to have an ongoing onslaught. He doesn't give up. He doesn't stop. He continues moving and continues moving against you. I've shared this with you before some military veterans perhaps learned this. It's just a basic thing that you learn in basic training when they issued us our weapon. They gave to us M16s took us out on a firing range. They gave to us a variety of targets that we were supposed to sight and fire upon and some of the targets were 75 meters away some 150 some 300 meters just basic things just learning how to fire a weapon. And my drill sergeant asked the question of us. He said which one of those targets do you take out first and one of the guys said well I take out the closest target that makes sense to me but you know what he said our drill sergeant said you never take out the closest target take out the hardest one. You take the hardest one out first and you work your way down to the easiest. That's a military principle I've never forgotten. Who does the enemy take out? The backslider, the lukewarm guy or the guy who gets up the woman who gets up and does her devotions. The one who is serving the Lord the one who prays and seeks God the one who wants to serve. Who do you think the enemy wants to take out? Who do you think he wants to destroy? The person who never wants to talk about the Lord because they're too busy trying to do something else or the person who's saying I'm gonna live for Jesus Christ. Have you discovered that sometimes your life gets tough? Have you ever thought that maybe it's because you're following the Lord and the enemy is aware of that and wants to take you out? Have you realized that yet? Because that's what's happening and you wanna know what happens sometimes? You start saying I'm gonna get up and do my devotions and I'm gonna learn to pray, I'm gonna learn to serve. You start doing it for a week, the enemy comes slap, slap, slap and you say I'm giving up, who needs this? And that's what happens. It's the truth, isn't it? It's the truth. Oh, here we go. Have you ever, have you ever? This happens to me all the time. Happened today twice. It happens all the time. It's real fresh with me. Have you ever said something like we need to pray and the phone rings? Right when you said that. That happened twice today, twice today. I went into the bedroom before I was leaving and I told Marie we should pray about this and I'm holding her hands and we're praying and as we're praying, ring, ring, ring, there goes the phone. It happens all the time, all the time. Whenever I'm trying to get closer to the Lord, the enemy is aware of that. So you're becoming a harder target. Who's he gonna take out? He's gonna try and take out you. If you're studying the Word of God, if you're praying and doing the things that you love Jesus Christ, walking in His grace, He is going to come after you. There's no doubt about it. He doesn't pursue the guy who's saying, I'm a Christian right now who's at a bar. He's not even after him because that guy right now is a great testimony for him. He doesn't want that guy to get right with the Lord. He doesn't want him walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. He doesn't want him to have a testimony. He doesn't want that. He leaves him alone. He leaves him alone. It's you. When you say, you know what, I'm tired of being lukewarm. I wanna be on fire for you, Lord. And you begin to do those basic things because you love Him guaranteed the enemy begins to work against you. And so that's the way it works and that's how it is. And so what do we do? Well, we endure hardship even as Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter two, verse three, like a good soldier because we know who has enlisted us into his army and therefore we want to please him. But he's saying consider this because it's gonna be tough. In verse 33, so likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. Again, I don't want half-hearted commitment. When I got married to Marie, my wife when she made her vows to me didn't say I'll love you on Sunday and Wednesday but the rest of the time is for me and the boys. Now I want her to have a full on 100% commitment to me. And when you get married, you don't go in saying this is a trial marriage. If it didn't work, well, all marriage is a trial but I'll talk about that on Sunday. No, you don't say this is a trial marriage. You say this is it, this is it. There's no turning back. You know, when we arrived to the shore, we burned our boats and we're moving on in because we're not turning back. We're gonna follow the Lord forever together. When I got married, my vows were to God and to Marie in front of witnesses but my vow was my oath was I promised in front of witnesses, this woman, I promised God that I would stay with her for the rest of my life. And I have to tell you, I was sweating bullets because there were three girls that were watching me make that vow that I could be taken out that day. That's the truth. And as I was there, I was looking at, and Marie knows this, I'm not saying anything that she'd be ashamed of me saying, there were three girls there that I could have been taken out. And as I was looking, and they were pretty by the way, and I was thinking, this is for life. Full commitment. Best decision I've ever made. I say that truthfully. Best decision I ever made. The blessings have been beyond expectation but I didn't say I'll marry you until somebody better comes along. I said, before Jesus Christ and these witnesses, I will love you for the rest of my life and that's a promise to God and to you. That's marriage. When you have kids, you better be committed to them because you can't put them back once they're out. They don't go back. You better be committed to being a mama and a dad because they don't go away. They stay forever. But your commitment is to be the best parent you can be. There are commitments that you make and oaths that you make that are temporary. When I went into the military, I took a temporary oath. I said, as long as I serve in the army for the six years until I get my honorable discharge, I will abide by this oath and I did for six years. But once the sixth year was over, I received my honorable discharge and I was discharged from my oath. I can renounce my citizenship. I can go to another country and become an expatriate and I can say, I no longer am an American. I am now going to be a citizen of this. I can do that. But when it comes to a relationship with God, I don't renounce my oath. When it comes to a commitment to God, it's forever. And that's what Jesus is speaking about. And so we make this decision to pursue him forever. And finally, in verse 34, he says, salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dung hill. But men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. So finally, he uses salt, a picture of salt to portray believers. And salt has characteristics that make it a good likeness for the church. For example, salt is white, therefore it can represent purity. So for us to have influence, we have to have purity. That's why Ephesians five, three and four says, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. So one, white, it represents purity, the church is pure. Second, salt provides flavor because it's a substance that permeates and therefore we exert influence. We permeate, we permeate our culture in religious thought, in literature, in morals, in education, in philosophy, in music, drama, law, athletics, politics, the media, every element of life should be pervasively touched by Christians. Third, salt prevents the spread of corruption. It was used as a preservative for meat. It affects that which is not yet corrupt. It provides a foundation, in other words, for goodness to be expressed. That's what the church is to do. There was an old saying, there's a saying during the time of Christ that's an ancient saying to us now, and that was a saying, he's worth his salt. The reason it was called that way, he was worth his salt is because salt was so valuable in this way, it would be used as currency. It was actually that valuable. If you had salt, it was something that you could use as money. And so there's a value to us. And so Jesus is saying, listen, the salt has a purpose, it's to influence, it's to provide flavor, it's to retard decay, it's to do these things, that's what you're to do. But if you lose your flavor, how shall it, speaking of the world, be seasoned? How can the world be seasoned if the salt has lost its saltiness? What happens? Well, it loses value and therefore it's just thrown out. If you want to be trampled on by people, walked on by them, all you need to do is compromise. It's all you need to do, compromise. And they will walk all over you. If you become contaminated, and if you compromise, and you lose your testimony, you've lost your influence. Now, one of the great things about God, though, is even when that has happened, God has a way of restoring you. When I was in the military and I back slid, influenced a young man incorrectly. His name was Troy, Troy Morgan, 17 years old. He came into my company and I was 20 at that time, and he was 17, and I talked to him, and he said, oh, you're a Christian. He said, you know, my mama was praying, she's a Christian, was praying that I would encounter a Christian so that they could kind of take care of me. He was only 17 years old. And I said, well, that's good, you know? But I back slid, and I back slid right in front of him. And I repented and never told him anything, never said anything, but I repented after I had back slid, and I went through the rest of my time in the service knowing that I had stumbled this young man because man, did it ever stumble him. And I got out of the military. Eventually, Marie and I met, got married. We had my baby, Corinne, and I had this job that I was able to make long-distance phone calls. And I called up the town that he was from, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and I called information. And I said, do you have the phone number for so-and-so gave his full name? And they did. And I said, could I have it, please? And they gave it to me. And I prayed and I called and I said to the person who answered the phone, is this Troy Morgan? The answer was yes, it is. I said, Troy, may I ask you a question? Were you in the military? Did you serve with the 82nd Airborne? He goes, yes. I said, do you remember a guy named David Rosales? He goes, yeah, I remember him. I said, well, that's me. I said, and Troy, for several years now, I have been burdened with the fact that I backslid in front of you and I stumbled you. I said, and I'm calling you up to ask you to forgive me for what I did. And he laughs. He says, Dave, he says, of course, I don't ever think about that, haven't thought about that. I said, you don't, but I do. You may not remember, but I have. And I just need to hear you say, I forgive you. Can you forgive me for what I did? And he said, yeah, I surely can. And from there, I shared with him what the Lord had been doing in my life and how God had blessed me and spent that time on the phone with him for just a few minutes and shared with him about the goodness of Christ and encouraged him to be his follower and was able to hang up. You know, God has a way of restoring you when you fall. He does. You see, I don't wanna be contaminated. I don't wanna be a compromiser. I wanna follow him with all of my heart. And that's what Jesus said, isn't it? He said, follow me, no turning back. Pursue me, count the cost, but it's worth it.