Turn back again to where we read
earlier in Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. You know, if you ask the question
in our day, Are you a Christian? Or are you a member of the church? Or are you in religion? The answer in most cases would
be yes. And I'm sure that that word or
that title of Christian has many definitions and it means many
things to many people. I don't ask it anymore. I just
don't ask it anymore. Because I'm in search of Christ's
disciples. I'm looking for some that our
Lord describes as His disciples. What is a disciple? Well, a disciple,
by definition of the word, is a learner. A disciple is a follower. And if you think of the word
itself, which is close akin to discipline, it speaks of one
who is under the discipline, one who has been brought and
has submitted to the discipline of Jesus Christ. And the only way that we could
ever conclude as to whether or not we are one of Christ's disciples
is to examine ourselves as to whether we bear any of the characteristics
of a disciple as distinguished by Christ himself. And as we do, there is something
that we always must remember. And that is, even though Christ
gives these characteristics and distinctions, they are not conditions
for discipleship. They are never at any time a
condition for being a child of God, but he gives these things
as the manifestations of discipleship. They are the manifestations of
those who are the children of God. Because Christ and Him crucified,
His glorious person, And his successful work is and always
has been the only ground of salvation. And in that sense, everything
was accomplished by him. But what we find is that the
Lord Jesus Himself often distinguishes between those who are mere professors,
professors of faith in Him, and those who are true disciples,
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what are the characteristics
of a genuine disciple according to him. If you look back here
at our text where Joe read those first fourteen verses, after
he had said what he said to them on that occasion, the Bible here
says that a man spoke up in verse 15. And it says, And when one
of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said
unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom
of God. And our Lord, in response to
that, And in showing, as he often did, the real and true spiritual
meaning of what is said and taught, he begins to speak these words
a kind of parable in verse 16. Then said he unto him, A certain
man made a great supper, and bade many, and sent his servant
at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all
things are now ready." That is a good summation of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Come ye hungry, come ye thirsty,
for all things are now made ready. We do not come as a kind of a
covered dish, or as some say, a potluck dinner to this supper. We come as those invited by a
king, yea, commanded by a king, and this king in the riches of
his grace and in the wealth of his mercy in his Son has made
all things ready. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I bought
a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee,
have me excused. You notice how courteous they
are? And yet in their courtesy is
hidden this rejection of this king? And another said, I have
bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them, I pray thee,
have me excused. And another said, I have married
a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and
showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed,
and the haught, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant,
Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come
in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none
of those men which were bidden, or invited, shall taste of my
supper." And when our Lord gave them this parable, these three
responses to the invitation of this king to his great supper,
verse 25 says, "...and there went great multitudes with him,
and he turned and said unto them." In other words, when he said
that, they kind of all in one accord, a great multitude of
people with that as he went on his way, they followed after
him. But the Bible says here in verse
25 that he turned. He stopped and he turned and
he faced that great multitude of people that were following
him. And what he says, he speaks clearly
and plainly concerning all who would follow him. In other words,
he makes known to them this is not simply following after any
man or any ideal or any group or any goal. This has to do with
being a disciple, a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And my friend, I'd say this this
morning. That being a disciple of Jesus
Christ is not like working for somebody. It's not like being
a part of any organization. It's not like following the doctrine
or the theories or the notions of any other person in this world. It is being a disciple of the
Son of God. And as He turned and spoke to
them on this occasion, and spoke to them concerning this matter
of discipleship, how did He characterize the disciples, or the followers,
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, to our surprise, and to
anything that is contrary to the natural mind and heart, the
very first thing he does is he characterizes his disciples as
those who have a kind of hating. Look at that next verse, verse
26. If any man come to me, he's talking
about any person. If any man come to me, and hate
not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren,
and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."
Now if you remember Israel, They were constantly saying to Moses,
just tell us exactly what God wants us to do and we'll do it. And to that, the response of
Moses was this. He said, you cannot serve the
Lord. Why? He knew that what they were
of themselves, He knew that no matter what was told them or
commanded them, that apart from the grace and mercy of God, they
nor anyone else could ever of themselves serve the Lord God. Why? Because the problem is in
us. And what kind of hatred – now
think about this. What kind of hatred does a holy
God command? What kind of hatred can be required
by God who does not speak at any time contrary to His law,
or contrary to His word, or contrary to His very character? Here is
God who at one place says, honor thy father and mother, love all
of these, and now here He speaks of father and mother and wife
and husband and children and brothers and sisters and even
one's own life, the very things that are nearest and dearest
to us. What does He mean? He means that
they are all, right down to our own very life and existence,
they are all to be hated comparatively. They are every one, whether they
be one or the other, they are not to be preferred to Christ
or loved more. than Christ. And I'm going to
tell you this right now. I'm as sure as I can be that
in the life of every disciple, this will be an issue at one
time or another and to one degree or another that you will face,
that you will be tried in, and what is shown in that trial is
whether or not We are really Christ's disciples. David, if you look back in II
Samuel 6, I believe it is, David, when he had made so many mistakes
but was finally able of God by His grace to bring the Ark of
the Covenant back to Jerusalem and to that tabernacle that he
had set up for that. With joy, he worshiped the Lord. And with joy, he sacrificed to
God all that God required. He joined the people in that
place, worshiping God and honoring God. So much so that he gave
all the people, after it was over, food and drink and everything. And he, just in an ephod like
the priests were, he danced among the people and rejoiced. But his wife, his wife, who considered herself
of something better than the people because her husband was
the king. When she saw him down there worshiping
and rejoicing and praising God and thanking God and identifying
with the people of God when he came home, she said, you shamed yourself
today. You're out there jumping up and
down, acting like one of the vain fellows in the eyes of the
king's servants and the king's maiden. You're out there acting
as if you're just as low and just as base and just as in need
of God as any other person in your whole kingdom. That would throw cold water on
your worship, wouldn't it? David said, let me tell you something.
If you think that was something, I'll be even more vile, I'll
be even more low, as I thank God who in His mercy raised me
up to be His king in the place of your very Father. And you'll not stop me. You'll
not hinder me from worshiping the God who is the God of my
salvation. You see, our Lord says in Matthew
10, He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy
of me. And he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me." Now, we can just play in our
minds all these little games if we want to, and we can say,
oh, I love Christ more than any of these things. Do we? Old John Gill said of these things
and these ones, he said, these are to be neglected and forsaken
and turned from with indignation and resentment when they stand
in the way of the honor and interest of Christ and dissuade His service. He said, if you don't hate father
and mother and sister and brother and husband and wife, children,
all these things, family, friends, even your own life more than
me, you can't be my disciple. Why? Because disciples are jealous
for the honor of God. They're jealous for the name.
and the glory and honor of God. When Christ was there in John
chapter 2, in the very early days of His public ministry,
and He went into the temple and He saw the money changers sitting
there, He made up a cord for a whip and He chased them out
of the temple and He turned over the table. That had been the day somebody
would say, well, he certainly don't act like a Christian. He's
the Son of God. And they saw Him. The disciples
saw Him. They said they remembered what
the prophet said of Him. They remembered that the prophet
said that the Messiah would say, the zeal of my Father's house
hath eaten me up. There were a whole lot of people
there that claimed to believe on God. They claimed to be worshipping
God. They were in the temple. But
it didn't matter what went on in the temple. It didn't matter
what was said in the temple. It didn't matter who was denied
in the temple. But it did to Christ. Why? Because of a relationship. He
said, this is my Father's house. I was blessed to have an earthly
father, but I only have one heavenly father. There'll come a day when
every family tie, all the notions and stupidity that is borne out
in what men say and what they sing about when they get to heaven
seeing mama or daddy or doing this thing with that child or
this with that husband or this with that wife, that foolish
nothing. that the Bible plainly contradicts, to just be one family. And he said the least relationship
in heaven will be greater than the greatest relationship on
earth. And this means that it is to
be ready to part with the dearest relations, the closest friends,
our greatest enjoyments of life, or even life itself, should Christ
require it. In other words, if we're forced
to choose between the two. You ever think about that? What
would it come to if it comes to a situation like a friend
of mine in Kentucky faced one day when his wife told him, said,
if you go to church today, I won't be here when you get home. That'd be pretty tough with him. You know what he told her? He
said, now you've got me in a corner. You've left me no choice. I've
got to go now. Somebody said, well, I know it
must have turned out good. It did. When he got home, she
wasn't there. But the Lord has blessed him. The last time I saw him, he had
a big smile on his face, and he's still sitting there worshiping
God. That's what it may come to. It
may not be husband or wife. It may not be child. It may not
be mother or father. Maybe your closest friend, your
neighbor, doesn't it? You see, not only that, but we
have this hatred of all that is opposed to the gospel of God. Hatred of all that is in opposition
to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the gospel of grace. We hate all that reeks of works
and man's glory. I want to read you two verses
out of Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is that psalm that
every verse, it's a long psalm, but every verse has something
to do with the Word of God, with the gospel. Well, Psalm 119 and
verse 104. Here's what the psalmist says,
"...though your, through your precepts, That's one of these words throughout
all this psalm that has to do with the Word of God. And he
says, through your precepts I get understanding. There's no true understanding
outside of it. You know that there's no true
understanding outside of this book. He says, through your precepts
I get understanding, therefore, I hate every false way. I don't just view what somebody
believes that's contrary to the Word and Gospel of Christ. I
don't just view it as their faith or their opinion or their religion. He said, I hate every false way.
Look down at verse 128 of Psalm 119. He says, therefore, I esteem
all your precepts concerning all things to be right. I know what people say. They
say, well, you know, you people think you're right and everybody
else is wrong, don't you? No. We know that God is right
and everybody else is wrong. I esteem all your precepts concerning
all things to be right, and I hate every false way, hate every sermon, hate every
book, hate every article, hate every comment, hate everything
that is a denial of the truth of the Word of God. my own child, or my own good
friend, or my own mother, my own brother, my own whoever it
is. This is what the Lord says, to
the law and to the testimony. That's what Luke called this
gospel. He called it the testimony of God. To the law and to the
testimony. It doesn't matter who they are
or what they are to me. If they speak not according to
this Word, it is because there is no light in them. It doesn't mean I don't love them.
It doesn't mean I wouldn't do most anything for them. But it does mean there's no light
in them. And I could never help them or
myself by pretending that there is. And I never would ever be
able to do anything for them except to tell them the truth
as it is in Jesus Christ and pray that God would reveal Him
in them. All right? Here's a second thing. He characterized them also by
what He calls cross-bearing. Verse 27, And whosoever doth
not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. This is what he says in Matthew
10. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me,
is not worthy of me. What does that mean? Well, it means that every disciple
shares in the reproach of Christ willingly for His glory. You know, you hear people talk
about, they talk about the cross they've got to bear. What is
it? Oh, it's this affliction I've got, this bad pain in my
back, these bad pains, that's my cross. No, it isn't. The cross of a believer, the
cross that he's talking about, us taking up, has to do with
the reproach and persecution that comes from identifying with
the true Christ. I can remember so well reading
such verses as this and others where Christ said, you know,
men will hate you and despise you and all this if you're my
disciple. I can remember reading those things and I'd say, well,
that was the way it was in the Lord's day. Here I am, I'm a preacher and
everybody seems to like me pretty good and all that kind of stuff
and that surely had to do, something to do with that day. It's not
that way anymore. Oh, yes, it is. Because from
the very day, almost, that God revealed the gospel of His grace
to me and taught me something about Himself and His Son and
my sin and the way He saves sinners, as we say, it was on. It's on. And He said, if we do
not take up our cross and come after him, we cannot be his disciples."
Do you remember what Christ says in John 17 concerning these very
disciples? He said, Bob, I've given them
thy word, and the world has hated them. The Word of God? I've given them
the Word of God, and they've gone forth and sounded out and
bore witness to the Word of God, and the world's hated them. What do they do now? Well, this
is not received very well. This is not the way to win friends
and influence people. This upsets people, so what we
need to do is kind of back off from what we're saying. We don't
want to be identified with those who truly preach the gospel of
Jesus Christ that gives Him all the glory, that declares to men
everything that He says, and therefore find themselves outcasts
in this world. I'll find me some place where
I can just, I'll just worship God without the reproach. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter
4. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 12. Peter says, Wherefore Jesus also,
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered
without or outside the gate." Now, you think about this. Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, from that city that was the very city
that bore his name, the city of God, the city of God's peace, He wasn't even crucified in it.
He's cast out so bad, Tim, that they took Him outside the city
to the worst place, the place that identified the worst of
the criminals, and they crucified Him there. But now listen. Wherefore Jesus also, that He
might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without
the gate, let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing
his reproach. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come." That means if you worship Christ,
if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, if you Believe and bear
witness to the testimony, the gospel of Jesus Christ. There will be reproach. There
will be persecution. You'll be cast out of social
circles and circles of friends and all these things. Because this is the suffering
of believers. It's believing and identifying
with and promoting this gospel of the cross in the midst of
this world and especially among the religious of this world. You remember when Elijah stood
up on Mount Carmel? He's one fellow, and there was
a total of 800 preachers, you might say, who were on the other
side. And he simply said this, he said,
if God be God, you follow Him, and if Baal be God, you follow
Him. Look at how he follows in verse
28 of Luke 14. He says, for which of you, intending
to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counts the cost,
whether he have sufficient to finish it." He said, this isn't just something
you start. If you don't like it, you back out of. He said,
no. He said, which of you, if you're going to build a building,
you don't stop first and do a cost analysis, you might say, to see
if you've got the funds to finish it. less happily after he hath laid
the foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold it
begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build,
and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war
against another king, sitteth not down first, and consults
whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against
him with twenty thousand, or else, while the other is yet
a great way off, he sendeth an ambassadge, and desires conditions
of peace." This is a war. Isn't that what
Paul called it? A warfare? Endure hardness as good soldiers
of Jesus Christ. He said, don't suffer these things
because of your obnoxious personalities and your hardness and such as
that, but simply because of a testimony of the truth. Turn over to Hebrews 13. Rather,
Hebrews 11. Look down at verse 7. By faith, Noah Now, just think
of Noah, what you know and I know you know about Noah. Do you think Noah was popular
in your day, in his day? Do you think his preaching, the
Bible says Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Do you think
his preaching was popular? Never had a convert outside of
his family. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared
an ark to the saving of his house by which he condemned the world." What we believe which is salvation by God's grace
in Jesus Christ alone through his person and his death. That
condemns the world. That condemns every person who
believes they're saved and on their way to heaven because of
something that they do or something that they feel or something that
someone's told them. Look at that last statement,
"...and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." All right, look back at Luke
14, because he characterizes these disciples also in their
forsaking. Look here in verse 33, "...so
likewise, Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh
not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." Everything. All that he hath. Now, some have less than others.
It doesn't matter who you are, all that you have is all that
you have. What does that mean? Does that
mean that you go and you sell all your property, sell all your
stuff and sell your house and you go move and live in a monastery
or something like that? That's not what it means at all.
But it does have to do with possessions and your goals and your pleasures
and your social circles. You see, what it means is that
we regard all things that we have as His. I know how we like to talk. We
like to talk about my. You know that's one of the first
things that a little baby learns how to say in dealing with their
toys and their little playmates. That's my. God says all things are my. And you know, isn't it amazing
how that this generation in which we live, this nation in which
we live, that everybody is so concerned about their rights
and what belongs to them. Most of them in the last couple
of years don't have so much that belongs to them. Isn't that true? We got all this
in stock, we got all this in bonds, we got all this in the
bank, and all of a sudden one day they didn't have near so
much. Somebody had a song, I'll never
forget, it came to my mind recently, it said something like this,
it said, some folks said that Wall Street fell, but we were
so poor we couldn't tell. And if you have nothing and all
things belong to your King and Savior, you're still in good
shape. We regard all things as His,
forsaking all those things if He require it, if He in His providence
bring it, knowing that we shall not be forsaken. forsaking all, knowing that in
these things we've really not forsaken anything. Our Lord said, that hath forsaken houses, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children,
or lands for my namesake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting
life. Did you hear that? I didn't say
that. Christ said that. You cannot
lose anything for Christ's sake without Him restoring unto you
a hundredfold. And that means we realize who
our true family is, which is all who are joint heirs with
Jesus Christ, who have the same Heavenly Father and those brethren
redeemed by the blood of Christ. You got somebody in the family
who won't hardly even speak to you because you leave the gospel? You've got some friends that
just now, they don't have anything to do. That's kind of tough,
isn't it? But the truth is, the Lord never
takes anything away from anybody for His namesake, that He doesn't
restore much more. He characterizes them also in
this way, as continuing. Turn over to John chapter 8. Look down at verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if you continue in my word, Then are
you my disciples indeed." See, it's not how a person begins,
it's how they end. We were talking the other night
after the service, I believe it was, about the Lord has established this
local assembly now for almost 30 years. And I can look back over the
years and I can see some people who were like, they were like
bright rockets that took off. Oh, they loved the gospel, they
were interested in the gospel, could articulate the gospel and
do anything for Christ. No sacrifice to being. They were
just like a rocket that fired up into space, so bright and
brilliant. But as time went by, The light
got dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. And then one day they were found
with no interest in the gospel. No interest in being here. No
interest in carrying on the work of Christ. No thrill or joy to
assemble. No delight to establish the gospel
or send out the gospel or hear the gospel. They were like that word, that
seed that fell on the stony ground. Cares and troubles and all arise
and they're gone. Christ said, my sheep hear my
voice and I know them and they follow me. How long do they follow
Christ? All the way into glory. Who are they? Who are these wrapped
up in those white robes? These are they that follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goes. He gives many warnings. He said,
remember Lot's wife. She came out of Sodom. She turned
back. Why? Because her heart was in
Sodom. That's what she loved. He gives warnings with Judas. Paul warns, he said, Demas, have
forsaken me, having loved this present world. He said, he that continues in
my word, believe in my word, in obedience to my word, worshiping
me according to my word, following me according to my word, He that
endureth to the end shall be saved." It won't be his endurance
that causes him to be saved, but the very fact that God has
saved him enables him to endure to the end. John said in another place, he
said, there are some who went out from us, but they were not
of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. God help us not to be among those
who turn back, but believe to the saving of our souls. Because our Lord said, no man
having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the
kingdom of God. And here's one more last characteristic
that Christ characterizes his disciples by. Turn over to John
13. John 13, look down at verse 35. He says, By this shall all men
know that you are my disciples. If you have love, one to another. You know, this is not that love
that he commands such as when he says, love your enemies, love
those that despitefully use you. That's not what he's talking
about here. This is that love which is born
out of a spiritual relationship. He says, in another place, it
is love for the brethren. Love for the brethren. Now, I know we all don't love
like we ought to. But I believe, I believe that I can say that I
love this group better than some that are my
own blood, dear kin. And I love them. But I love God's people better,
because I'm going to love them for eternity, because they're Christ's disciples. Love that has been personified
in Christ, which never varied. Love that thought no sacrifice
was too great. Old Arthur Pink said of this,
he said, Love is the badge of Christian discipleship. It is
not knowledge, nor orthodoxy, nor fleshly activities, but supremely
love which identifies a follower of Jesus Christ. He said, By this all men shall
know you are my disciple. Why? Because you love one another. Love not only in words, but in
deeds. He said that's a characteristic
of a disciple. And like I said, none of these
things are the ground upon which we're the Lord's people. But
they are the very marks, the very characteristics of what
Christ says is his disciple. It is to love him, it is to follow
him, it is to commit our great and highest allegiance to him,
and to have loyalty to him above all. And by the way, it's to be a
true Christian. Because the name Christian, the
title Christian, first came to be used as a name
and a title of contempt by those who hated Christ and
hated the Word of Christ. and therefore the people of Christ.
They were first called Christians at Antioch. What's a Christian? Follower of Christ. Am I? Are you? When a Christ disciple If you look back at Luke chapter
14, that 34th verse, all this is
connected. It isn't just random hopping
back and forth. He says, salt is good. You know that the people of God
are likened to salt in this world. What does salt do? It has a preserving effect. But if the salt have lost his
savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? For it is neither fit for the
land, nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out. Have like we used to have a lot.
Reach for that box of salt, and it's been in the cabin a long
time. The humidity's so bad, you know, you didn't have air
conditioning, and you touch it, and you say, gosh, what this
won't do, you know. Taste it, doesn't even have any
taste. What good is it? Just throw it out. Men cast it out. See, this isn't talking about
God casting somebody out, but as far as anybody among men thinking
there's anything to it. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. The Lord's disciples have ears
to hear. He's giving them ears. And though they never do any
of these things like they ought or want to, these are the things that characterize
Christ's disciples. I pray that we are found among
them. Our Father, this day we give
You thanks And Lord, as we read these verses this morning, we
pray for more grace, more mercy, more faith. We pray that You would help us,
that we might be true to You, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ,
disciples. under his discipline, learners,
those who identify with his name, who desire his glory, who thank
him for their salvation. We pray and we ask that you would
use your word as it pleases you, for we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen.