If you'll take your Bibles and
turn back with me to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8,
be looking at verses 18 through 27 this morning. The title of the message is,
A Word to the Followers of Christ. A Word to the Followers of Christ. Scripture says in verse 18, Now
when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment
to depart unto the other side. And so the first thing we see
is a commandment given, a commandment. There was a great multitude of
people following the Lord Jesus Christ after he had performed
many miracles. many things, He had healed many
people, and He had a great crowd following Him, and He commands
His disciples to depart for the other side, to get in a boat
and leave the multitudes. We must ask the question then,
why would the Lord leave the multitude? Here it says a multitude
surrounded him, followed him. Why would he leave behind this
multitude? Because this is opposite. This
is opposite of how religious tricksters operate. This is completely
opposite of how the world thinks religion ought to be. When someone would get a great
group of people, it's not likely that they would just depart and
leave that group of people. Well, they would think, well,
man, look at this. We've got a great crowd. That
must be a blessing. Well, the Lord had a great crowd
and didn't think it at all a blessing, left them, turned and went away
from them. This is because the Lord Jesus
was never one to trick men into service for Him. He was one that
was never to provide gimmicks so that men would follow Him
or believe on Him. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
knows His sheep. He knows who His sheep are. He knows all those that the Father
gave Him. from eternity. And He knows this,
that all that the Father gave Him will come to Him. The Lord Jesus had great confidence
in His ministry. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
anywhere, He was following the will of His Father and He knew
who were those that would believe on Him and who were not His. He knew this. And so we who are
called to preach the gospel should follow the example of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We must faithfully, continually
preach the gospel of God's free grace in Christ regardless of
multitudes or few. It doesn't matter We preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ to sinners. I preach to you your need of
a Savior. This morning I am preaching to
hopeless, helpless sinners. This is to whom we are to preach
the gospel, to sinners in need of a Savior. We preach the hopeless
and helpless condition of man without apology. Because it's
true that all men by nature are dead in trespasses and sins. That no man can come to God except
the Father. Nobody can come to Christ except
the Father which has sent Christ, draw Him. There is no way for
a man to be saved except God does it. We preach the holiness
and justice of God, that God's justice must be satisfied against
every sin. every sin. Therefore, we preach that God
in grace sent His Son to accomplish this salvation. We preach Jesus
who has obtained both righteousness and atonement for sin. And so
we say, sinners come, not to me, but to Christ. We point men
to Jesus Christ. We say, Believe on Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, forgiven, pardoned, not by works of righteousness
which you have done, not by your merit. We say, Go to Christ without
your merit. Go to Christ because He has commanded
sinners to come. David said, Lord, thou said to
me, seek my face. Therefore I seek your face. I
seek your face because you command me to. Jesus said believe on
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And we say believe. Trust Christ. Don't trust religious
ceremony or exercises, but trust Christ alone and be saved by
the grace of God alone. Behold the free and abundant
salvation that's in Christ alone. I don't know how many of y'all
get junk mail, but I do. And man, I don't know how many
times everybody's trying to send me something for free. They must
be making a killing at it or they wouldn't be sending it.
They must be having somebody applying for this free stuff.
Now a man will do anything for something that's free, won't
he? Except salvation. Man is always inclined to try
to do something for salvation when God says, Behold, Christ! Free salvation. And so this morning I ask you,
will you come to Christ? Will you be a disciple of Christ? Will you believe and follow Him?
Will you come freely, forsaking your thoughts and your ways?
forsaking your sin, will you be a disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Then I say, come freely and find
free mercy. Is there any other kind but free
mercy? If it's not free, it's not mercy. It's works. And so we say, come freely and
find mercy. You sinners, find mercy. and
find it only in Jesus Christ. But if I'm to be faithful to
your souls, if I'm to be a faithful preacher of the gospel, then
I must tell you, as Jesus did his disciples, you who believe
must depart from the multitude. If you would follow Christ, you
must obey the commandment to depart and leave this world Jesus told his disciples get
in the boat we're leaving these people behind and his disciples obeyed and
went with him If you are to be a disciple, you who would be
a disciple, I tell you this morning, count the cost. Count the cost
of what it means to be a believer in Jesus Christ. Go to Matthew
chapter 6. Flip over. Matthew chapter 6,
verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon the earth. where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through nor steal. Why? For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also." If we are to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe from the heart. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. With the heart. It begins with
the heart. And if we are to believe in Christ,
our treasure, all the value that we have is laid up in Him. In Him. And we have left the treasure
of this world to moth and rust. We've left it. And we don't desire
it anymore. To come to Christ is to forsake
all and follow Him. To come to Christ is to forsake
your thoughts of self-righteousness and submit to His Word. It is
to forsake all your ways of sin. and to believe absolutely and
totally, wholly, on Jesus Christ alone and nothing else. To believe on Jesus Christ is
to forsake this world, its pleasures, its comforts, all for the sake
of Jesus Christ and His gospel. You go back to your text, Look at verse 19. Jesus gave commandment to depart
to the other side, and a certain scribe came and said unto him,
Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. What we have here
is a self-willed disciple. We have a self-willed disciple. Remember the scripture says that
many are called but few are chosen. This morning I am calling to
the many. I'm saying believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but
I know this. Many of you will try in your
own will and your own self-determination to follow Christ. You will fail. You will fail. This is a self-willed
disciple. In other words, Jesus did not
call this man. This man came up, and out of
his own determination, he said to Jesus, I will go with you
wherever you go. Wherever you go. That sounds
good, doesn't it? That sounds like a good confession. And this man was a scribe. This
man was a religious man. He was a teacher of the people.
A well-respected man. And surely, he would have been
a great asset to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sure that's what
he thought. I'm sure I can add to this little
group here. I'm sure that I can, by my own
prestige and by my own abilities, I can make this group something.
I tell you what, if you've come to Jesus Christ thinking you're
going to add anything to Him, you've come self-willed. You've
come with a self-importance. And I'm sure the disciples thought
this guy would have been good, don't you? There he was. He was
a scribe. He was a religious leader. And
he said he wanted to follow Jesus. And I'm sure the disciples said,
man, we've got somebody important now with us. He's going to add
to us. His determination seemed to be
so strong. And he hold Jesus in high regard.
He even called Him Master. He even called Jesus Master. But the Lord's answer reveals
the heart of this man. Look at Jesus' answer to him.
Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, the birds of the
air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his
head. Friends, be sure of this, Jesus
is not fooled by your fancy words. Jesus is not influenced and He
is not impressed by the position, wealth, or influence, for He
is no respecter of persons. Therefore, our Lord, knowing
this man's heart, tells this man the truth. He says, the foxes have holes. In other words, the foxes, they've
got a place to go when it rains. The birds of the air, they have
nests. They have families. They have
people. But the Son of Man hath nowhere
to lay His head. He said, if you're going to follow
Me, you're going to suffer the loss of everything. to follow me will cost you everything. Our Lord did that to the rich
man, that rich young ruler, you remember him, that came to the
Lord so proud. Lord, what must I do to inherit
eternal life? And he says, well, you know the
law. And he said, yeah, what does
it say? Well, love the Lord your God
with all your heart, strength, soul, and mind, and love your
neighbor as yourself. And Jesus said, OK, if you want
to earn salvation, do that. And the young man said, well,
I've done that all from my youth up. And Jesus said, one thing
you lack. sell all your riches, give it
to the poor, and follow me." And that man went away sorrowful.
Why? He had great riches. He was covetousness. He had covetousness
in his heart, and he was holding on to the things of this world.
He said, yeah, I love God, but I love these too. And Jesus said,
you can't have both. You can't serve God and mammon. And that's what Jesus is telling
this scribe here. And notice this, this is the
first time that the Lord uses the term Son of Man. That's important. This is the first time the Lord
called Himself the Son of Man. And He used that title very often
after this. It's important because He confesses
that His life was to be a life of suffering. A life of suffering. Jesus said,
the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. To serve. Jesus came to serve. Not to be served, but to serve. And give His life a ransom for
many. The Creator of all things became
a man. He became a man. and was tempted
in all points as we are, yet without sin. He was not tempted
to sin. He was not attracted to sin.
But I'll tell you, He endured all the weaknesses of our flesh.
In just a minute, we'll read that the Lord was so tired that
when a storm was overflowing the ship, He was asleep. That
didn't even wake Him up. He was asleep. He was tired.
He suffered hunger. He suffered in the elements of
the world as a man. He suffered all the weaknesses
of a man. He who was rich for our sakes
became poor. In other words, Jesus gave all
to be our Savior. He gave Himself. He gave Himself to every weakness
we endure. And Jesus tells us who would
follow Him, if we are to follow our Savior and come after Him
as He was willing to forsake all for us, even so, we who believe
on Him must be willing to forsake all things for Him. Jesus warns us, He warns us our blessing and
rewards of following Him are not earthly. Do you suppose that believing
in Jesus Christ is going to make this life better for you? Do you suppose that everything
is going to flower and bloom and everything is going to be
roses and just wonderful? Now I believe in Jesus, everything
is going to be wonderful now. My family is going to love me,
my job is going to be glorious and wonderful and everything
I plan is going to happen. Is that your experience? That's
not mine. That was not the apostles experience.
And I tell you this, it was not the Lord's experience. He suffered.
As a son of man, He suffered. And so if you are going to follow
Christ, if you will believe, if you will be His disciple,
I warn you, you will suffer. You will suffer. Most of you know that's my sales
pitch. That's my sales pitch right there. You will suffer.
Believe on Christ! He suffered, you'll suffer. And secondly, notice this other
disciple, verse 21. And another of his disciples
said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Hmm. This disciple was different
than the first. If you go to Luke chapter 9 and
verse 59, you'll see that the Lord Jesus actually called this
disciple. This disciple didn't volunteer.
This disciple was called. Jesus said to this disciple,
you follow me. You follow me. Preach the gospel. You follow me and preach the
gospel. But this disciple had a request.
of his Lord. He was a disciple, he was called,
but he had a request. He said, Lord, suffer me first. Before I follow you, let me do
this first. Let me go and bury my father. Now this disciple, his request
seems sincere, doesn't it? It seems like a reasonable request. His father's dying, and this
disciple is called to the Lord to go and preach the gospel,
but he's got an important thing here. His dad is sick. He wants to go and spend just
the last few months or a year or whatever it is with his dad
and bury his father, and then he says, I'll follow you. Then
I'll come after you. Seems like a good request. But
notice the Lord's answer. Jesus said unto him, follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead. Does this answer seem harsh to
you? If we would be honest, most likely
it does. Most likely it seems harsh of our Lord to say that.
We all have parents, and we all love our parents, and we all
love our family. And if they're suffering, we
want to be there. We want to, you know, help them in any way
we can. It seems harsh. Do you suppose that the Lord
was insincere about this or cruel? Well, we know that not to be
true. We who know the Lord know that
He understands our suffering. We know that the Lord knew this
man's heart. We know that the Lord knew this
man's family and the sickness of his father. The Lord knew
these things. He was not surprised by this. But what seemed to be a concern
was actually a sin. This man put his father first. He said, Lord, suffer me first to go bury my father. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, friends, must be declared by His disciples. There is no
greater priority than following the Lord in faith and obedience. There is no greater priority
for the believer. Listen to what the Lord says
of you who believe. You, His disciples. He said,
ye are my witnesses. Ye are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. And if we are to follow Christ
by faith, everything and everyone must not be put above Him. Would you follow Christ? Because
to believe and follow Christ is to put Him first in everything. In everything. To follow Christ by faith is
to forsake all things for His sake. Well, how can we do this? How is it that this man was able
to forsake his dying father to follow the Lord Jesus Christ?
How is it that you would be able to forsake your job, your family,
your life, for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ? How could
you do that? Flip over to Romans 12. Romans 12, notice what Paul says. He says,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to
this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God." How is it that you can forsake everything and
follow Christ? You must consider Him. You must consider His mercy
toward you. Consider God's love for you. Consider God's election of grace
for you. Consider what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done for you. And is it then not reasonable
for us to give up all these things for Him? Is it just not reasonable? For us who follow Christ, it's
just reasonable to give up everything, to leave everything and follow
Him and obey His commands. Think of what Christ has laid
down for us, His life. He says, is there any sorrow
like unto my sorrow? You that pass by, is it not anything
to you? When you behold the cross of
Christ, is it not anything to you who pass by? He says, is
there any, have you suffered anything like I've suffered?
You know we haven't. And if we give up anything for
the cause of Christ, it's nothing compared to what He has done
for us. Nothing. Believer, are you weary? Are you faint in the way? Are
you troubled and grieved by the loss of your friends and family? By the possessions of this world
for Christ's sake? Are you grieved? The Apostle
says, be not weary in well-doing. To give up this world is reasonable. It's reasonable for us who have
the mind of Christ. It's reasonable. And so as we're
doing these things, as we're following our Savior, don't be
weary in well-doing. For in due time we shall reap
if we faint not." Don't be weary in the work of
the gospel. I'll tell you, if anybody knows
weariness, it's your pastor. Preachers of the gospel understand
what it is to be weary of the work. We become weary. But yet we faint not because
we consider Christ. We consider His gospel above
everything else. And you who believe in Christ
should do so as well. Consider the gospel above everything
else. Be steadfast in the liberty wherewith
you are called. Paul says to us that we're not
to fret, but to consider Him who endured such contradiction
of sinners against Himself. Be not weary and faint in your
minds. Jesus does not call us to understand
his providence. He didn't tell this disciple
why. He just told him to do it. He
said, you let the dead bury their dead. You follow me. Remember
what Peter, when he was told what death he would glorify God,
he told him how he would die. And what did he say? Well, what
about this guy? What about John? And he said,
you don't worry about John. Follow thou me. Not everyone of God's people
are called to give up everything. I know that you and I have not
been called to give up everything, but we should be willing to give
up everything. for the cause of Christ. This
disciple was not allowed to go back to his father to bury his
father. But you remember that Gadarean,
that demoniac from Gadarea, he wanted to follow the Lord and
the Lord said no. You go home and tell your friends what great
things God has done for you. You see there was a difference
there. This is just reasonable for us
to offer our bodies. Not philosophically. This is
not some academic exercise I'm talking about. This is literal
suffering. This is where the rubber meets
the road in Christianity. You who believe on Christ will
suffer. If you've not suffered yet, wait.
It's coming. We who believe have suffered,
and we will suffer for the cause of Christ. For thy sakes we are
killed all the day long. How highly do you think of yourself? We think of ourselves pretty
highly. If any man thinketh he knoweth
anything, he knoweth nothing as he ought to know. Friends,
we should account ourselves as sheep for the slaughter. It's just reasonable to let the
dead bury their dead. It's just reasonable to give
ourselves to the gospel, reasonable to give ourselves to each other,
and the furtherance of Jesus Christ where God has placed us. Now there are many members in
the church. There's one body, one church. We have other brethren from another
local assembly visiting us this morning, but we're part of the
same body. We're all of the same body. But as a body has many members,
so the church and everyone in the church has a function, a
gift that God has given them to do. Now don't ask me what
your gift is. I don't know. Seek God's face
about that and then when you find out, do that with all your
heart as unto the Lord. Whatever gift of grace God has
given you, Give yourself to that work for the glory of God. He says in Romans 12, also in
verse 11, be not slothful in business. He's not talking about
your earthly job. He's talking about the business
of worship, the business of praise, the business of serving God and
following Christ. Be not slothful in faith. Be
not slothful in love, in hope, in worship, in prayer, or witness.
Let us be gladly, let us gladly suffer the loss of all things
for Christ's sake. Sinner, are you desiring to follow
Christ now? Does this sound appealing? It does if you're a sinner in
need of mercy. It sounds very appealing. And lastly, let's see the picture. The Lord not only gives us two
examples here, one that was called and another that was self-willed,
but He gives us an example, a picture, when they enter into the ship.
Look at verse 23. And when He was entered into the ship, His
disciples, what did they do? What did they do? They followed
Him. His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great
tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with
the waves. But he was asleep. And his disciples
came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish." This
is a picture of everyone of the experience of everyone who follows
Christ. Jesus commanded His disciples
to get in the boat and cross over. Even so, has Jesus commanded
us to come to Him and follow Him, to come to Him by faith,
and He will carry us over into heaven's shore. He has promised
us. We who believe in Christ, do
we doubt His promise? He said He would. Was there any doubt that Jesus
was going to make it to this other side? Do you suppose that
there was any doubt? No. He told them to get in. He told them we're going to the
other side. And even so, He has told us who
believe on Him, He will bring us to Himself. He will make us.
He says, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will no doubt come again and receive you unto
Myself. that where I am you may be also."
Is that not His promise? It's His promise. To who? To everyone who is in Him. To everyone who is in Him. Now it's one thing to stand on
the shore It's one of those things that say that man who was a scribe,
he said, I will follow you, Lord. And he said, OK, give up everything
you got and get in the boat. And the guy standing there on
the shore, and he said, Lord, I love you. Lord, waving as they
left, I love you. I'm going to follow you wherever
you go. Standing there, never got in
the boat. Some of you say, well, I believe
in Jesus, and I'm going to follow Him. But you're standing on the
shore. You're worshiping with your lips,
but your heart is far from Him. If you say, I believe in Jesus
and do not follow Him, then you, friend, your faith is empty. It's vain. His disciples actually
got in. if it's raining outside and that
door right there I tell you I'm standing in the rain and I'm
describing the door to you and I'm saying oh look at this beautiful
door inside there's warmth inside there's you can get dry you can
find shelter inside the door but I'm standing outside the
door what do you think of me? I'm a fool I should be inside
telling you to come in What good am I on the outside telling you
to come in? No. I believe in Christ and I have
come to Christ and I tell you to come to Christ. I have followed
Christ. Now I tell you, follow Christ. Come with me. Come with us as
we follow Christ. And we can sing, oh how I love
Jesus, but if you've not obeyed Him, it's just lip service. James
says, Faith without works is dead. Jesus said, Not everyone that
saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father. What is the will of the
Father? It is to rest completely on Jesus Christ. That's the will
of the Father. It is to rest completely on Christ. It is to
follow Him, no matter what it takes. It is to forsake all and
believe on Him. Notice what happened when they
got in the boat. There arose a great tempest. When a believer
follows Christ, there will always be a great storm that comes. When you tell others of your
faith in Christ, they say, well, that's good. That's great. I tell people I believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and they say, well, that's good. But what happens when you actually
start following Him? When you start forsaking your
family and your friends for the gospel, when you don't run with
them anymore in excess like you used to run, what's going to
happen? You're going to run into trouble.
You're going to run into trouble. When we obey Jesus Christ above
our family and friends and our pleasures and all this world,
it's then the waves begin to be contrary to us. When we forsake
our husbands, our wives, our children, and our own health
and life for the gospel, people will think you have gone mad. I won't forget this. A man, preacher
of the gospel, he was a young man when he believed and he had
this older man that was kinda like his mentor and that man
did not say one thing to that young preacher until he came
to Christ now that young man he did all sorts of evil things
and that old man didn't say one thing about his evil deeds but
when he came to Christ he said this hey son you need to be careful
not to go too far Don't go too far in that religion. Now you
can believe in Jesus, just don't go too far in it. Oh no. Oh no. Friends, go as far as
you can. Give yourself to Christ. Completely, wholly, absolutely. in every way, shape, and form. This world will think you've
gone mad. Jesus said, I've come not to bring peace but a sword.
Is that not true of you and your family relations concerning this
gospel? It's true of mine. There are
certain family members that do not want to have anything to
do with me. They don't want to have anything to do with me. Why? Because I preach Christ
and Him crucified. I preach a successful Savior
and they don't want to hear anything about it. When you believe in Christ, I'll
tell you there's going to be division. And you don't even
have to try. You don't even have to try. Let
me ask you who confess Christ as your King, what will you put
above Him? Who will you put above Him? We who follow Christ, the answer
is the same. We put nobody and nothing above
our Savior. He is our first love. His gospel is our life and priority. How many have professed faith
in Christ only to turn back because the way is too hard? Does that
sound too hard to you? Does this way sound too difficult? Not for us. Why? Where else are we going to go?
To whom else will you go? That's what the apostle said
when Jesus turned to his disciples and said, will you go away also?
And Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words
of eternal life. I don't understand it. I don't
understand everything fully, but I know this. I know you and
I follow you. I believe in you. And we who
believe gladly give up everything for his gospel and his church.
There is nothing we would withhold from him. If you are not willing to leave
all and follow Christ, then your faith is not just weak, it's
dead. It's dead. Well, notice this, His disciples
were fearful in the storm. His disciples, they were afraid
and they awoke Him saying, Lord save us, we perish. Friends, our trials have a purpose,
and that is to humble us. Do you not suppose these disciples,
being in that boat, could have said, well, look at us. We actually
got in. Look at those people over there
on the shore. The Lord left them and He took us. Isn't that something? I must be really important. My
faith must be great. I've given up all for the Lord
Jesus Christ. I must be so... Then what happens? Trouble comes and we cower down
like little children. The littlest wave begins to beat
on our ship and we cower down. And we see how small our faith
is. How small. God knew that storm
was coming. Christ knew that storm would
be there. He sent it. And I'll tell you all your troubles
He sent. You who follow Him, your troubles are sent by Him
to humble you. And here our Lord's rebuke, why
are you so fearful? Are you fearful? Why is it you're so fearful? Is the Lord not with you? Is He going to leave you? No. But the Lord gets up anyway,
and He says, Peace, be still. Is that not your experience in
your following Christ? It is. It's my experience. I
know this, there are many times He said, Peace, be still, to
my circumstance. But then there are times He says,
peace be still in my heart. Either way, He still delivers
us from all our troubles. Our Lord is in charge of all
our troubles. And He will deliver us. Believe
Him. Trust Him. Follow Him, and He will bring you to the
other side. May God give you grace to follow
Him, to believe Him, and forsake everything for Him.