May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together tonight as we consider his word. Let's turn to the Gospel
of Luke, chapter 9, and read in the last verse, verse 62. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 9,
and reading the last verse, verse 62. And Jesus said unto him,
No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Some of the words of the Lord
Jesus are very striking and indeed are very solemn and are very
searching. And this is one of the statements
which is very important for us to consider and to check whether
it applies to our own selves. Because the final statement is
that if such a person is found like this, they are not fit for
the kingdom of God. That means they are not a fit
person to arrive safely in heaven at last to enjoy glory for ever
and ever. And so, such a statement is not
something which is insignificant. It is very important and it must
therefore be relevant to all of us to consider the words of
the Saviour. Now, we might ask, well, what
was that in response to? Well, it was in response to what
a person requested. And that was a request in answer
to what the Lord Jesus had spoken. Jesus said, He said, And as it
came to pass, that as they went in their way, a certain man said
unto the Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. Now that was a very committed
statement, wasn't it? There were no conditions attached.
He just simply said that he would follow the Lord withersoever
he went. Whatever condition, whatever
situation. The Lord then answered it in
this way, just to give him a little indication that it wasn't easy. Jesus said, foxes have holes
and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where
to lay his head. So, if this person was prepared
to follow the Lord withersoever he went, the Lord clearly points
out to him, it won't be an easy ride. It will be very uncomfortable. And a situation like that, which
really is hard to think of, isn't it? In our day, in our materialistic
world, to think of not having anywhere to lay down our head
at night. Sometimes when I go to bed, in
fact quite often when I go to bed, perhaps mostly when I go
to bed, as I lie down I think of the wonderful comfort that
I have, and to think of what the Saviour did not have. And I hope it makes me doubly
thankful for the wonderful comfort that I enjoy. Because here the
Saviour says that he had nowhere to lay his head. And so, if we're
mindful, I'm not saying anything against this man. This man spoke
from his heart, I believe, and may we speak from our heart,
and may we be so powerfully influenced by the Spirit of God that we
are willing to say, I will follow thee with us wherever thou goest,
wherever place, wherever thou may be, be willing to follow
the Lord, however poor the situation may be, how difficult the situation
may be. And then he said unto another,
follow me." This time the Lord spoke and said, follow me. But
this man said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. We would think that was a very
lawful request, surely, for somebody to go and to bury their father. But the Lord responds, let the
dead, that means the spiritually dead, bury their dead. but go thou and preach the kingdom
of God." It's far more needful and necessary to go and preach
the kingdom of God than to bury the dead. So that's another statement
which is very hard perhaps for us to appreciate, the sacrifice
that entails of being a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is, without any doubt,
sacrifice. But the blessing is, that in
that sacrifice, we have the answer with good conscience, because
we are not pleasing ourselves, we are doing the will of our
God. and how important that is to
notice in this material age in which we live, that our hearts
may be more determined to follow a despised and crucified man,
whatever the cost. And therefore to be able to put
first things first, And the first things first are to follow the
Lord. And so another came and said,
again there are no names given, it's not necessary, just the
Lord speaking to people that came. Another said, I will follow
thee. But then he qualified it. He
qualified it. I will follow thee, but let me
first go, bid them farewell, which are at home at my house."
And again we would, I think, on the surface think that wasn't
an unreasonable request, was it? He desired to follow, but he
wanted first of all to do something himself. And that was the statement
that was made. And the Lord's response was,
in his 62nd verse, No man, having put his hand to the plough and
looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God. So we've had
three simple illustrations of those things which we might think
would be very legal and quite satisfactory to be able to do
in our path of following the Lord. But in each instance, the
Lord really directs us to the truth that it is more important
to us to follow the Lord fully, rather than to turn to excuse
ourselves and to carry out things which may appear to be lawful
to our natural understanding, but do not equate to a true and
centred following of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not speaking
my own words when I speak these things tonight. This is the Word
of God. And how many people today set it a note and discount it
as an irrelevant situation. How many people go about doing
their own pleasure, pleasing themselves rather than pleasing
the Lord God. They are not willing really to,
as the Word of God tells us, to mortify our flesh. What does that mean? It means
to put it to death. That means not to please ourselves,
please our fleshly instincts. And the word encourages us to
mortify the deeds for the flesh. So we can immediately recognize
that to be a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ is costly
in our natural lives. I believe it always has been,
and I believe it always will be. And if our religion doesn't
cost us anything, surely we have to examine it and see whether
it agrees with the Word of God, or whether our religion is just
pleasing ourselves, and just having a name to live, and yet
are spiritually dead. It's a very searching thought,
isn't it? There are many people today who
are just in that category, who in fact are spiritually dead,
and yet they are, in their own eyes, carrying out a satisfactory
religion, and would consider that they are following the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, how terrible it will be
when they come to die and think they're going to enter into glory
and the Lord says, I never knew you. Depart from me into everlasting
burnings. Those who have come and said,
Lord, we did this in thy name and we did that. But you see, they did it for
their own gratification. There was pride in their actions. It wasn't doing it for the honour
and glory of God. So the important question is
to examine ourselves and to see how we are following the Lord
Jesus Christ. We don't want to be amongst those
who are described in this verse, no man having put his hand to
the plough. And it doesn't say, and going
back, it says and looking back. It's a very slight thing, isn't
it? That means, as we may have left perhaps our old life, our
natural life and all the pleasures there, And we have been given
that grace to follow the Lord Jesus, and yet, in our heart,
there's that looking back to those pleasures which we were
engaged in, and which we perhaps enjoyed. And now, there's that
looking back. It's not a going back, it's a
looking back. We have that example, don't we,
in the word of God, of that person that looked back You can remember
who it was. It was Lot's wife. Remember, Lot was brought out
of Sodom and Gomorrah, those evil places. And he came out
with his wife and his two daughters. His sons-in-law didn't want to
know. They were too involved. in the pleasures of Sodom and
Gomorrah. That when Lot urged them to come out, no, they disregarded
his requests and remained there. And Lot was told to flee for
his life and not to look back. Not to look back. And what happened
as they began to enter into Zohar, a little town that God had agreed
he could escape to, Lot's wife looked back and she became a
pillar of salt. The Lord Jesus Christ, he refers
to that and he says, remember Lot's wife. And you and I my
friends are to remember Lot's wife. The example it sets to
us, a very solemn example, that we're not to look back. And here
the Lord emphasises this statement. And Jesus said, no man, there's
no exceptions. No exceptions. Don't think you
have a secret exception. Don't think you have a pass to
do anything like this. No man, having put his hands
in the plough and looking back, is fit. for the Kingdom of God. Well I expect we can recognise
the illustration of a person ploughing. Different in those
days to what it is now, but nonetheless we still know what it is. It
was when a person had a plough and he used to usually plough
one furrow and he would usually have probably two oxen drawing
the plough. And clearly he had to concentrate
on what he was doing. so that all the ground was turned
over, that he was able to guide the oxen in a straight line and
to follow pharaoh upon pharaoh. And therefore, he should not
take his eyes off the pharaoh that he was following and he
should not look back to where he'd come from. He had to look
forward and keep his mind attentive onto that which was before him. And he might have been tempted
to look back to see what a lovely straight furrow he'd ploughed. But no, he's told to not look
back. So we are not to look back. We
are to press on. Press toward the mark that is
set before us in the Gospel. That's what the Apostle Paul
said when he wrote to the Philippians. You may remember the request
in that chapter when he desired to know the Lord Jesus Christ
more and more, and how he counted all things but dung and dross
for the excellency and the knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord. I suppose as we think of these
things, if we're honest, we have to realise that we've come far
short in our spiritual lives today. of here what the Apostle
so avidly was concerned about. What was his great concern? To
know Christ and Him crucified. Everything else was by comparison
totally irrelevant. Today, how often the opposite
is true. How we seem to serve the law
with so little possible. How seldom it is that we give
our heart and soul to the Lord, to our best times, to the Lord. What do we do? We put the things
of God on a back burner and bring other things to the fore. Well,
the Apostle tells us and the Apostle sets before us and shows
us his desire. That third chapter begins with
these words, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Now, we
can't rejoice in the Lord, honestly, can we? Unless we're a true follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot afford to be a hypocrite
and pretend something when it's not true. Here the Apostle tells
us, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. He says, to write
the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous, but
for you it is safe. He wanted to write these things
to the Philippian church and we should remember the Philippian
church was a church which was blessed. Remember the cry was
to come over to Macedonia that they might preach the gospel
to them and it was that desire that Paul and Silas listened
to, that cry and they went over and preached, and for that privilege
they were imprisoned and beaten. It wasn't easy, was it? Come
back, Christianity is not easy. And so the Apostle tells us this,
and having then given a list of the statements, counting everything
doubtless, but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. Yea, doubtless, there was no
doubt about it. in the Apostle's life. I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. How do we answer that tonight?
What do we say to that? Is the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord so much more important than anything
else? Oh, my friends, may we desire
to follow such an exhortation. Well, we could go on, but we've
come to that verse which we were speaking about. The Apostle then
says, I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. There was a pressing forward.
There wasn't a looking back. There was a pressing forward.
Nor would that be our concern. To be found pressing forward,
pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling. It's a high calling of God, it's
not a low calling. Bless God for that. It's a high
calling. Do we esteem it as such? As a
high calling? Or do we consider it a low calling? And if it's a low calling, we'll
be looking back. If it's a low calling, we'll
be going back. But oh, it might be a high calling. Oh, bless
God, it might be so. And so he says, Let us therefore,
as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye
be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Let us not be otherwise minded. These words are very powerful,
aren't they? They're very hard-hitting, aren't they? They don't leave
us on the sidelines, do they? Wondering what the Apostle is
really aiming at. He's aiming at our hearts. My
friends, may that arrow go home into our hearts so that we are
truly concerned to be a true follower. So the Apostle says,
Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk
so as ye have us for an example. What a great blessing to be able
to lay himself down as an example of a true follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But he also says, For many walk,
of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Now, in
truth, you and I are either an enemy of the cross of Christ,
or we are a true follower. It comes as simple as that. To be a true follower or to be
an enemy. And if we are an enemy, the Apostle
says, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and
whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. Wow, oh how it perhaps cuts our
hearts to think that perhaps we are those who are minding
earthly things. They perish, they vanish away. And he goes on, for our conversation
is in heaven. For whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. This describes, as it now is,
a true Christian, a healthy Christian, a lively Christian, a fruitful
Christian, whose conversation is heavenly. Heavenly. The things of God. Oh, how wonderful
it is and how wonderful it will be if we are moved by the Spirit
of God to be so concerned to have heavenly conversation, that
the reaction of our souls is to this end. For our conversation
is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what the Apostle Paul
said when he wrote to Titus, that short letter to Titus, and
towards the end of the second chapter, he tells us, he says,
teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. And he gives a
wonderful reason, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort,
and rebuke with all authority, let no man despise thee." Now,
the apostle then says, look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself." Surely these verses
are in wonderful agreement, aren't they? Wonderful blessing to realise
that the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself, himself, so that we
might possess the gift of eternal life and be found a true follower
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. That He might redeem
us from all iniquity, all sin, pay the price for our sin as
He gave His life and died upon that cross and the redemption
price The ransom price for our freedom was his most precious
blood. Oh, wonderful is it not to think
of these things and to realise that if we are among these people,
we are enumerated a peculiar people. A peculiar people. How true that is. We shouldn't
think therefore that we are that we are people that everybody
looks up to as a wonderful kind of person who knows everything
to know there is in this world. No, we should declare plainly
that we are seeking a better country. Here we have no abiding
city. For we seek one to come. And that there should be in our
life the clear evidence of that in our conversation. And this
world is not our rest, it's not our home. Indeed it is polluted. This world is a polluted place. It's not a place that the children
of God want to live in forever and ever. No, there's many things
in this poor world to cast us down. that we might be found
looking forward as the apostle was. Not looking back, looking
forward to that inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and which fadeth
not away, which is reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through grace under salvation, ready to be
revealed in the last time. Oh, what a blessing it is. to
be amongst those. These are surely the true people
of God. Now it's very easy for us to
lower the standard. It's very easy for us to say,
well of course, these things are not really important. Why
are they recorded? Why are they spoken by the Saviour
himself? Why are they given to us through
the writings of the apostles, inspired by God? They are set
forward to us as the standard. This is God's standard. Sometimes we put the devil's
standard instead of God's standard. I suppose today, godliness is
at a low ebb. True Christianity is at a low
ebb. Men and women, boys and girls, lovers of pleasure, rather
than lovers of God. The keeping of the Lord's Day
has been eliminated. People are lovers of pleasure,
they want to please themselves on the Lord's Day. It's not a
day set apart for worship of the Lord God. People just do
as they want, do as they please. And yet we realise that keeping
of the Lord's Day goes back right through the Ten Commandments
and right back to creation. And we have been given it for
our benefit, for our natural benefit and for our spiritual
benefit. Lord that we may indeed be concerned
that on the Lord's Day we may receive spiritual food, Indeed,
not only on the Lord's Day, but every day may we be spiritually
lively. We may not come, go home tonight
and think, well, I can now take off my religious coats today
and I put it on next Sunday. No, we want our religion to be
24 hours a day and 7 days a week. We want to live our Christian
life in accordance with the Word of God. And not to make the excuses,
the Lord here specifically points out the wrongness of allowing
things to come in to separate us from being a wholehearted
follower of the Word of God. And Jesus said, unto him no man
having put his hands on the plough, and looking back, is fit for
the Kingdom of God. Now I would hope tonight, if
I was to ask you, do you want to be fit for the Kingdom of
God, that you would answer and say, well of course I do. I hope
that would be the real desire of your heart, that you want
to be fit for the Kingdom of God. We don't want to be unfitted,
do we? In fact, be sure of this, there
is no one in glory who is unfitted. You may remember the Lord Jesus
in that parable of the wedding feast. He came and he found one
who did not have on the wedding garment. And he said, how did you come
in? without that wedding garment, and he was speechless. He didn't
have anything to say. Friends, we don't want to come
to the end of our journey and not have on the wedding garment. We don't want to come to the
end of our journey and find that our religion has just been of
the flesh, just been peripheral, just been on the outside. We
have no reality in our heart. Surely our desire should be that
we are not deceived and that we are fit for the Kingdom of
God. And perhaps our prayer might
be that if we have been deceived, that we may be undeceived and
that the Lord would give us a true and a right religion. I believe
the true believer is always concerned that you might have a right religion
and not being deceived. And we will not be upset if people
question our position. We will be thankful that perhaps
people are concerned about our spiritual life and may question
us about it. Because it's a blessing then
to come down to that day when we stand before the Lord and
we find that we are fit. Now, how are we fit? We are not
fit in ourselves. The hymn writer says, all the
fitness we require is to feel our need of Him. He goes on to
say, this He gives you. Well, do we feel tonight our
need of the Saviour? Is that our cry? Give me Christ
or else I die. If that comes from our heart,
we won't be looking back. We'll be looking to the Saviour.
We'll be all ears, all concentration to hear the good news that we
are one of those for whom He has shed His blood. One of those
who behold Him as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. One of those who desire greater
union and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. To know in
our hearts that these things are true. They are not indeed
of the flesh, but they come from the wonderful outworking of the
Spirit of God. In the Acts of the Apostles,
the 8th chapter, we have an account of two characters. One person is called Simon, and
he was also referred to as Simon the Sorcerer. Now, he thought
he could purchase the gift of the Holy Spirit with money. And he came and said, give me
also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the
Holy Ghost. And Peter said, thy money perish
with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God
may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither heart nor lot
in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of
God." Now note that, his heart wasn't right. In the same account,
same chapter rather, we read the account of Philip and the
eunuch. Remember that the eunuch was
returning from Jerusalem and sat in his chariot reading and
Philip had been commanded by God to arise and go to this place
and he ran and joined himself to the chariot and he found that
the eunuch was reading the 53rd of Isaiah. And he said to him,
understandings thou what thou readest? And the eunuch replied,
how can I except some man should guide me? He desired Philip that
he would come up and sit beside him. And the place where he was
reading was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a lamb before his shearer is done, so he opened not his
mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away, and
who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the
earth. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee,
of whom speaketh the prophet this, of himself or of some other
man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus well
what a blessed sermon it must have been and as they went on
their way they came unto a certain water and the eunuch said see
here is water what does hinder me to be baptized and Philip
said if thou believest with all thine heart see here's the difference
Thou mayest." And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Well, my friends, may you and
I be blessed with that humble belief to be able to say from
our heart, not just our head, it's the effect of the work of
the Spirit of God on our heart, I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. What happened? He was baptised.
What happened? This man went on his way rejoicing. What rejoicing it is to be a
true follower of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to be
able to acknowledge the work of the Spirit in our heart. It wasn't a great long testimony,
was it? didn't recall many anecdotes or many occasions. No, the Spirit
of God had gone home to his heart and he's able to just declare
that simple statement, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. My friends, if you and I can
say that from our heart, We are one of those who are walking,
one of those who are following this despised and crucified man. And we are looking to Jesus alone. The eunuch was looking to Jesus
alone. There was spoken to him by the Apostle of what the Jesus,
the great glorious Son of God suffered, that 53rd of Isaiah.
speaks of the sufferings of Christ. My friends, that's what drew
the eunuch. The thing that the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus, that he was reading about, had endured the curse
for him. That he suffered on Calvary's
cross and shed his precious blood. That's what moved the eunuch
to believe on the Son of God. Well, we're faced tonight with
this statement. No man, having put his hands
on the plough, no man truly desiring to be a true follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ, looks back. Or may we be those who look forward,
those who go forward, and realise the solemn statement the Lord
makes. No man having put his hand to
the plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God. The eunuch was fit for the Kingdom
of God. May you and I find that we are
fit for the Kingdom of God. Amen.