All right, let's turn in our
Bibles now to the book of Proverbs chapter 20. Proverbs chapter
20. Verse 18, Proverbs 20 verse 18. Every purpose
is established by counsel. and with good advice, make war. Now, the heart and meaning of
this scripture is this. Before one commits himself to
a course of action, he'd be wise to weigh all the probable consequences
by taking heed to good counsel or good steerage, is the word. Counsel from wise and experienced
men, yeah, I think that's a good idea. Take some counsel from
somebody that's been there. There's no doubt about this. especially are we advised to
take heed to the counsel from the Lord God of Heaven. Here's good counsel right here.
This is good counsel. This is some good advice. We pray that the Spirit of God
give us some counsel. Blessed by the Spirit of God
to our hearts. And secondly, with good advice, or if there be confrontation, let it be according to God's
advice, God's Word. Is there a war going on? Yeah. Yeah. Listen to 1 Timothy
6.12. Fight the good fight of faith.
This life, according to the Scriptures, this life of faith for a believer
is said to be a warfare. Let's listen to 2 Timothy 2,
3, and 4. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him
who hath chosen him to be a soldier. The life of faith is referred
to in the Scriptures as being a war, a battle, a fight. And concerning this fight, look
at 2 Corinthians 6, 14 to 18. Now listen to the good advice.
Now here's some good advice. 2 Corinthians. 6, verse 14-18. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. Now I'm going to show you in
a few minutes. He's talking about ultimately trying to be in a
spirit of worship or place of worship. where unbelievers are. That's why you've heard me say,
if somebody says to you and you want them to come, don't ever
tell them, look, I'll tell you what, you come here and then
I'll go to where you are. Don't do that. Don't do that. Now listen
to this scripture right here. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? What part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them. I will be their God, they shall
be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you.
You shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord, Almighty. So, here's the advice. It's a battle that's going on.
And concerning the battle between a lie and the truth, the Lord
said, don't be yoked with them. Don't do it. Come out from among
them. Be separate. So, I used to tell my kids, I've
told you this before. Something would come up, and
this is what I'd tell them. Choose your battles wisely. You may have to really make an
issue over something. Make sure if you're going to
make an issue over something, make sure it's worth making an
issue. If you're going to have a conflict.
Believers are not at war with believers. We're not at war with
each other. But we are at war according to
these scriptures. Fight the good fight. You know,
as soldiers of Christ, you've been called to fight this good
fight. Paul said, I fought a good fight. There's a battle. So we're at
war, listen, with everything that opposes the God we serve. That opposes the gospel we preach.
Everything that opposes the eternal good of our souls. We're at war
with it. We're just not with them. We're
just not with somebody that doesn't love the God we love. That doesn't
preach the gospel we preach. So this truth was gloriously
set forth. I want you to take your Bible,
just turn to Luke 14. This truth was gloriously set
forth by the Lord. Turn to Luke 14. I'm going to
start for a look at a few verses here. A group of people was following
The Lord. He was following the Lord. And
I'm going to start in verse 25 here in a second. But they were
following the Lord. And the Lord gave them some good
counsel. Now let's listen to what the
Lord said. And from this passage of Scripture
in Luke 14. I want to show the Lord's revelation of what's being
taught in Proverbs 20, verse 18, where it says, Every purpose
is established by counsel, and with good advice make war. Luke 14 and verse 25, And there
went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them,
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 hear the Lord obviously knew
the hearts of those that followed Him. There was a group of people,
and they were following the Lord. And He knew the purpose. He knew
what every one of them was thinking. Whatever it was, it's not stated,
but the purpose for their following, whatever it was. They'd seen
Him feed 5,000 people. Maybe they raised the dead. But they followed Him. They were
following Him for some reason. And the Lord turned to them. And He answered openly, Scripture
reveals it, He answered outwardly what they were thinking. And
this is what He said, If any man come to Me. Now there's a purpose where every
purpose is established by counsel. Now there's a purpose. Any man
come to me, but listen to the counsel of the Lord, and hate
not his father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters,
his own life. He cannot, he cannot be my disciple. Now here's, he has brought this
issue of discipleship to the absolute forefront. I mean, he's
laid the groundwork on what, you know, if you're following
me, and he said, you hear my word considering your actions. If a man or woman purposes to
follow me, count the cost. Count the cost. That's what he's
saying. Followers of the Lord Jesus Christ,
according to the Lord's words. And this is not just a frivolous
statement that he made. This is God Almighty. Any man
will come after me. He's telling them something. And this is what I'm... I'm a
voice. I'm just relating what the Lord
has said. According to the words of our
Lord. The followers of the Lord Jesus Christ must be willing,
if need be, to give up anything or everything for Christ's sake. This is just the way it is. It's going to cost a man everything. When the Lord calls out one of
his precious sheep out of darkness, this is one of the things that
I've, I think I've learned this. I think I have. I want to know
this. This is what I tell them. It's
going to cost everything. It'll cost you everything. Everything. Now, when our Lord said, he that come
after me, If he doesn't hate. Now let me qualify that word
right there. The Lord was not insinuating
that hatred for our mama, daddy, sister, brethren, our own life. He's not insinuating that there
is an absolute inherent hatred or despising. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. But what
he was saying is that if a man or woman desires to be his disciple,
they must be found. And the Spirit of God makes a
man or woman to be this way. They have a heart. They do have
a heart. I mean, it's just the Spirit
of God, it is God that worketh in you both to will and do of
His good pleasure. But here's what a believer will
have a heart to do. If need be, they will be found
willing to neglect, to disregard, or to take no notice of another's
wishes or demands. upon them if those wishes or
desires are found to be conflicting with the will of the Lord. Let
me give you an example. If someone comes to you and they
say, whoever it is, you know, mom and daddy, wife, husband,
kids, whatever. I want to go and I want to hear
this person over here. I want to start going and listening.
And you know good and well what they're preaching is not the
gospel of God's grace. You know what you're going to
do? I'll tell you what a believer will do. He won't go. Why won't
he go? Because he's going to hear the
message of God's sovereign grace. That's what he's going to hear.
Does that mean that he absolutely despises that person? He hates that? No, but he disregards. He'll disregard or he'll neglect
or forsake their will for the Lord's will. The gospel, the
gospel, the gospel is the power of God and salvation. We're taught
and fed by the truth as it is in Christ. And you're not going
to hear. You won't hear. So they were
following Him, and the Lord told them, if any man follow Me and
hate not, not willing to neglect or disregard, he cannot be My
disciple. You cannot be. Look at Luke. Just turn back a few pages, Luke
9. Luke chapter 9, verse 57. verses following there, 9-57. It came to pass, Luke 9-57, that
as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will
follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And the Lord gave him some counsel
here. He said, Foxes have holes and
birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where
to lay his head." Here's what he just told him. If God pleases,
it may be for you that the comforts of this life that many people
are able to enjoy, you may not have that. Now I'm not saying
that you won't. I'm not saying anybody won't
have a nice warm place, but what if God does send you to Mexico,
like he sent Walter and Betty? What if he does? What if you
do? I mean, there were a lot of folks
that told Walter and Betty, don't you love your kids? Walter, don't
you love your wife? You're going to leave Houston,
Texas, and you're going to go around these heathens? I asked Walter one day, Walter,
what would cause a man to do that? What would cause a man
to leave an engineering job in Houston and quit and go to Mexico? He said, when something becomes
more important to you than what you're doing right now, you'll
do it. I said, okay. Verse 59, he said to another,
follow me. He said, Lord, suffer me first
to go and bury my father. And Jesus said unto him, Let
the dead bury the dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God. Now, one writer said something
concerning that. He said it was not necessarily
that the man had a father that had just died. He said the insinuation
there is that his father may have been you know, older or
something like that. And he said, I tell you what,
I'm going to go take care of him until he dies. And whenever
I'm done with that, he said, then I'll follow you. I'll follow
you when I'm done with that. Another said, Lord, I will follow
thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home,
at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man,
having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the
kingdom of God. Let me, I'm not willing to let
go of all these family ties just yet. I'll follow you whenever
I get all this other stuff done. The Lord says no man that's put
his hand to the plow and looks back is fit. for the kingdom of God. Every
purpose is established by counsel. A man or woman said, I'm going
to follow the Lord. I'm going to walk after Him.
I'm going to follow Christ. The Lord said, it will cost you
everything. It will cost everything. Follow
me. Allegiance to Christ. contradicts
our natural desires when we're providentially placed in a situation
where a decision's got to be made between following Christ
and bowing to the wishes of those that we truly love. I came up, I came up, I've told
you this a hundred thousand times, almost. I came up in false religion. And when the Lord was pleased
to reveal Christ to me, I had friends, I had family. I had
those in my own family. I mean, all of a sudden, I hit
a brick wall. And what I believed absolutely
contradicted what I had formerly professed. And what I was saying
is, if what I'm believing and preaching is so, what you're
believing is wrong. That's what I was saying. And
they knew it. They knew it. And let me ask you this. Did I hate them in the sense
of hating them? No, I loved them. I loved them. You got anybody in your family
that a situation like this And the Lord has revealed Himself
to you, and now what's happened is, this is the way you are with
them now. When it comes to this thing of
the Gospel. And you love them. And you pray
for them. You pray, God have mercy on them.
But if it's going to come between what they want you to do and
what you know the Lord taught you, let me tell you what you're
going to do. If you're one of the Lord, I'll
tell you, you're going to choose to displease those that believe
contrary rather than forsake Him who died
for your sins. The Spirit of God has given you
a new heart and a new purpose to follow Christ. And it's been
established on God's Word and God's counsel. You've been taught
from above. Back in Luke 14 verse 27, He
said, Whosoever does not bear His cross and come after Me cannot
be My disciple. Now naturally speaking, I'm not
speaking to people that don't have feelings, I'm talking to
us. And we have a tender feeling. I'm telling you, we would consider
it, and we do consider it, a heavy cross. Now you listen to what
I'm saying. I know this. I'm telling you
something that I know and you know. It is a heavy cross to
disagree with those that we love. That is not a joyful thing to
me. I'm so glad I can make you mad.
It's not it at all. It's a burden. It's a cross.
But that cross of faithfulness and discipleship was prepared
for those that Almighty God everlastingly loved in Christ. That cross was
appointed to you by divine love and only by the grace of God
do you accept it. You are choosing in heart to
come after Christ and joyfully you accept the reproach of others
rather than refuse Him. You're just not going to do it.
You're not going to do it. Why? Because God is going to keep
you. That's the only reason you'll do it. It's not naturally speaking.
The Spirit of God is giving God's people a heart to bow to His
Word. Yes, it's a cross to be born,
but by grace, you love it. You love it. Your heart grieves
for those that you love and you wouldn't change it for anything.
He bore His cross for us, His people, laid down His life, shed
His blood in redeeming us from sin, Satan, self, and we thankfully
bear our cross, bowing in submission to the leadership of God's Spirit,
joyfully resting as we submit to the Lord Jesus Christ as He
leads and directs. And I'll tell you this, According
to the Scripture in Revelation chapter 5, when the Lamb took
that book out of the hand of Him that sits on the throne,
it said the four and twenty elders, the entire glorified Church of
Christ, they fell down, bowed down, casting their crowns before
Him, said, Lord, You're worth it. You're worth it. It was all
worth it. You go through this life and
the Scripture says you'll be hated of all men. For my name's
sake." You say, it's worth it. He was despised and rejected,
and you will be too, the Lord said. And a believer said, it's
worth it. It's worth it. Do you have pleasure in the battle? No, it's a burden. It's a burden.
It's a war. It's a battle. But I tell you
what, you wouldn't give it up for anything. Verse 28. He gives an example. He says, now listen, here's the
wisdom of God teaching by example. He said, Which of you, intending
to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the
cost, whether ye have sufficient to finish it? Lest, happily,
after ye have laid the foundation, not able to finish it, all that
behold Behold, it began to mock him, saying, This man began to
build, and was not able to finish it. Or what king, going to make
war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth,
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 send an ambage, and desireth conditions of peace. He says, Does one Without counsel, without thought,
you start building a tower. You start building something
and you don't sit down and talk to the plumbers and electricians
and the roofers. I tell you what, we're just going
to go out here and just start forming it up. I'm going to just lay
a foundation. We're going to build us a house.
7,500 square feet, 9,000 square feet,
1,500 square feet. How big you going to build it?
Oh, I don't know. I decide whenever we get there. Who doesn't sit down and count
the cost? Find out, can I afford that? Am I willing, am I willing to
do whatever it takes to make this happen, whatever it's going
to cost? Which king decides, gets up one morning and says,
you know what, I'm going to start a war today? How many you got? I don't really know. How strong is your enemy? Not
sure. I think I got 10,000. I think
he's got 20,000. But I think I can take him. What
makes you think so? doesn't count the cost. And I know that that's what the
Lord said because in verse 33 He said so likewise. Just like
anybody in this world that goes to battle against somebody else
or starts building a tower or something like that and he doesn't
sit down and Figure out, are you willing to do this? Is this
what you want to do? Are you sure? Have you counted
the cost? Likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. The world and all
that it offers for his sake. the family and all their temporal
company for his sake. All of the self-seeking pleasure
of this world. If you're not willing to give
up, I'm not saying that you will. I'm not saying you will. I'm
not saying, does that mean that you're going to go out and clean
out all your accounts, you know, and sell all your land and do
it? No, I'm not saying that at all. But I'm telling you this,
if providentially, you're put in a situation where you have
to, for the sake of Christ, and I don't even know how to give
you an example. I don't know. But I can tell you this, anyone
that is found not willing, your kids, you love them? Yeah. You know whose they are? They're the Lord's. He said all souls are mine. What
if He takes one? What if He takes your wife? What
if He takes your husband? What if He does take your money?
What if He does? You have a heart that would bow
and say, Lord, like Job, I came into this world naked. That's
the way I'm going out. The Lord gives, the Lord takes
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job's wife says, won't
you just cuss God and die? He said, you're just talking
like a foolish woman. It's the Lord's. It's the Lord's. This is everything we've got
here. This is the Lord. What if He
takes my health? What if He takes yours? What
if He does? I pray that I have a heart to
say, Lord, whatever it costs. I pray I do. I pray I do. But I tell you what, I think
I have more sense to say, Lord, You decide the case whether or
not I do. I don't have sense enough to know if I do. But Lord,
You do. And Lord, if you've given me
a heart to do that, keep me, help me. I'm destitute of any
power in myself to lay one stone upon the building of faithfulness
to the Lord. I'm impotently helpless to wield
a sword against the enemy of my soul. I must be found in Him. Brethren, in closing, Count the
cost. Count the cost. Count the cost. We don't possess the sufficiency
to please God. The tower of God acceptance must
be laid upon the foundation stone which God himself lays. The Lord Jesus Christ, the fortress,
the haven of rest of my soul, the city of refuge. Let us, by
the grace of God, take good counsel. Every purpose is established. You say, I want to follow Christ. I want to follow Christ. I want
to be faithful, and we found faithful. Don't be found with excuses.
Lord, help me to be found without excuses for faithfulness. Every purpose is established
by counsel. And the purpose of a believer
to follow Christ has been placed within your heart in regenerating
grace. The Lord's given you counsel
to do that. And with good advice, make war. We're in a battle, a spiritual
battle, that we're not in ourselves sufficient. to wage. But you hear the advice of the
Savior, the Savior himself. Fight the good fight of faith. Put on the helmet of salvation.
Lord, you saved me. Put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Lord, I don't have any righteousness in myself. I want to follow you. Lord, I'll stand before God excepted
only in your righteousness. Have your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace. Let me walk as it becometh
the gospel. Lord, let me be found faithful,
faithful. Take the sword, which is the
word of God. If you're going to make a statement,
if you're going to stand on it, stand on what God has to say.
And may the Lord bless these words to our heart for Christ's
sake. Amen.