Please turn with me in your Bibles
to the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 9. I want to begin by reading some
verses to you this morning. beginning in verse 57. And it came to pass that as they
went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow
thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes
have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of
man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another,
follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the
dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God. And another also 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. The first thing that I want you
to notice this morning is the resolve of this man in
verse 57. He says to the Lord Jesus Christ,
I will follow you wherever you go. I'm sure of this, and that is
that God's elect His people, those he brings to be true believers
in Christ, believers in the Lamb, they are all followers of Christ. And this is the description that
we find that John gives of them when he sees them in that heavenly
vision in heaven. He inquires who this group is. And the answer is, these are
they which were not defiled with women, That is, they did not
follow those spiritual harlots of which Babylon, the great harlot,
is the chief. For they are virgins, and these
are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. These were redeemed from men,
being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. These are they that follow the
Lord Jesus Christ wherever He goes. But I want us to make no mistake
about this. It is not without difficulty. It is not without a price and
a cost. And when I say that, when I make
that observation, I'm not in any way saying that salvation
costs anything. We're bidden to come to Christ
without money and without price. The salvation of God in Christ,
salvation from our sins is all of grace. The unmerited favor of God. And all our redemption was accomplished
by Christ and him alone. He paid all the sin debt of his
people. All we receive from him in salvation,
we receive freely. We receive it in its entirety
as a gift. He says, it's not in any way
of works. That is, it's not of anything
that we do, lest any man should boast. But I will assure you of something. And that is all who identify
with the true Jesus. all who believe his gospel, and
all who would ascribe all the glory to him alone, to them there
is a cost. Hold your place and turn over
some pages to Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. In verse 16, listen to what Christ
says. 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's the gospel. All things
are made ready by the Lord Jesus Christ. We proclaim his finished
work. And they all, with one consent,
began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have
bought a piece of ground. And I must nees go and see it,
I pray thee, have me excused. 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 halt 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 shall taste of my supper. But notice what happens. 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. and whosoever doth not bear his
cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to
build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counts the cost? whether he have sufficient to
finish it. Less happily after he hath laid
the foundation and is not able to finish it, 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 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 sendeth an ambassage and desireth conditions
of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be
of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my
disciple. Now, when we read such words
as these, we ought to immediately notice something. And that is
that the Lord Jesus Christ is not like most preachers today. He does not paint a rosy picture. And neither does he hold back
the truth of what will be faced by all who truly follow him. If you look back at our text
there in Luke chapter 9, this man resolves and said that
he would follow the Lord Jesus Christ wherever he went. But I'm afraid that that is not
always the case. In other words, human resolve
cannot bring about what the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about. And we make rash statements and
commitments and professions without, as he says, counting the cost. So often, you know, the Bible
speaks of the Lord's people as being soldiers, that is, involved
in a warfare. But too often, preachers are
like recruiting officers. In other words, they say what
these recruiting officers say. such as this, join the Navy and
see the world. I have a niece that joined the
Navy, and she has not seen the world. As a matter of fact, she's
not seen the ocean since she left here. But she's landlocked
on an Air Force base in Oklahoma and will likely be there all
her tour. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is not recruiting in this way. He is calling forth disciples
or followers who would follow him And so when this man makes
the statement that he does, the Lord Jesus Christ responds
truthfully and so accurately. You see, in that first part,
of verse 58, he reminds him of what his own situation was as
pertaining to the things of this life. He said, the foxes have holes,
and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath
not where to lay his head. If you're looking for creature
comfort, If you're looking for the health and wealth gospel,
if you're looking for a life of ease and such things as false
prophets offer, just look at me. And then he turns at that point
in verse 59 and he says to another man, follow me. He calls this man to follow him. But immediately, that man, it
says in this text and other texts, he began to offer up excuses
and reasons as to why he couldn't. It wasn't that he didn't intend
to later. It wasn't that he didn't have
plans maybe at some point to follow him, but he would not
and he could not at that moment because he had first to bury
his father. That's a pretty noble thing I
would say, wouldn't you? But our Lord, he responds to
that with something that we ought to stop and think about. It says
that he said unto him, let the dead bury the dead. And what he means there is that
these mundane things of this world and life that men and women
count as so important and so vital things that they must do. He said the spiritually dead
can do those things. all the activities of benevolent
works, all the things that involve men and women in this life, all
the organizations for charity and such as these things, good
as they might be in themselves. Those who do not know Christ,
those who are spiritually dead, can do them as well. He said, let the dead bury the
dead. Because only those that he has
made spiritually alive can engage in this business of following
the Lord Jesus Christ so as to proclaim and to bear fully and
truthfully the message of his gospel. And then there is another man.
There is another man, and he responds in this way. He says,
Lord, I will follow thee, but I have a momentary and temporary
delay. I will follow thee, but let me
first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. I need to run home a minute and
say my goodbyes. No, there's an urgency in this. And then Jesus replies and says
this, no man, having put his hand to the plow and looking
back, I remember those old farmers who plowed the fields with the
plow. There was one thing that they
always had as a rule, and that is you cannot look back and plow
a straight furrow. You have to have an objective. You have to have a point to look
to and to follow. And so he says, no man, having
put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the
kingdom of God. But how could we read these passages,
and more that we'll look at, how could we read such passages
and not see where the problem will come from? What is the difficulty? What
will be the hindrance and the problem to all these who resolve
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Did you notice there's always
a mention of family and friends and natural relationships and
friendships in this world? and especially those who are
involved in false religions, which, by the way, most are. Most are. But you see, we not
only confess Christ publicly when we confess him in water
baptism, Not just in that way, though that is the first and
essential way that we do, but our whole life is to be an identifying
with Christ and his gospel and his people in this world. It is a continual confession
of Christ. You see, we don't just start
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. One step does not make the journey. We don't just start to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ, we're to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over in Matthew's gospel,
in Matthew chapter 10, and listen to what he says in Matthew chapter
10 in verse 32. Matthew 10 and verse 32, he says,
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess
also before my Father which is in heaven. Is it just to say, I believe
in Jesus, or I believe there's a God? When we confess the Lord Jesus
Christ and when we confess God as he is, we confess the things
that the Bible says about him. But whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. He says, think not that I am
come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I came to set a man at variance
against his father. and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and
a man's foes shall be they of his own household." In other words, division. Somebody
said, oh, this can't be right. It causes division. If it doesn't,
it isn't right. Paul says and writes, there must
needs be heresies or divisions among us that they which are
true might be made manifest. But he continues. 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. And he that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth
his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake
shall find it. He that receiveth me receiveth
you, receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that
sent me. And he that receiveth a prophet
in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and
he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous
man shall receive a righteous man's reward, and whosoever shall
give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water
only in the name of a disciple. Verily I say unto you, he shall
in no wise lose his reward. Where will the division come? Where will the enemies of Christ,
and therefore the enemies of all who follow Christ, where
will they be found? They'll be found in their own
families. They'll be found amongst our
own friends. They'll be found among all these
around us. And the Lord Jesus Christ tells
us that we have need to be prepared for such things. Why? Because the gospel divides. That's right. The gospel is perfect. The gospel will bring forth the
true people of God. He says that he will set them
apart or make them manifest through his word. Paul said it's like this. He
says, the gospel that I preach is a savor of life. a fragrance
of life unto some, but he said it's also a fragrance
of death unto death to others. In other words, when the true
gospel of the free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. When the truth is proclaimed,
it is a sweet fragrance to God's people. Oh, but he said it's a fragrance
of death unto death to others. And when Paul preached, it says,
as it does in Acts a number of times, when he preached this
gospel, wherever the place was, in different areas and such,
to different people, it says, and some believed, and some believed not. But as many as were ordained
unto eternal life, they believed. They believed. In other words,
when he's talking about the cost, he's talking about the fact that
believing the truth as it is in Christ Jesus and following
Him, it will cost you the favor It will cost you certain approval
of men. It may cost you, it will cost
you socially. It will cost you advantage. Because the natural man that
is everyone apart from the grace of God, All of us, as we come
forth into this world with this nature of sin, all of us, by
nature, are enmity toward God. What does that mean? It means
simply that, by nature, every person born of Adam, by nature,
they hate God. And they are the first ones,
I'm sad to say, to say that for sure they love God rather than
hate God, but they love the God of their imagination. They love
the God of their religious tradition. They love the God that is the
one proclaimed by false prophets, but not the God of the Bible. You say, how do you know they
don't believe that God? Because when you read from this
book and preach from this book who he says he is, they don't
like it. When you tell men and women what
he says is true about him and what he does, they defy it. When we identify God as the God
who predestinates, that is, he marks all things off beforehand. He predestinated who he would
save. when we identify Him as the God
of unconditional election, which He identifies Himself as in Ephesians
1, as having chosen a people in Christ before the world began. When we say what He says, which
is that he works all things after the counsel of his own will. In other words, when we declare
him to be the sovereign God that he is, When we declare him as
the one who will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom
he will, he hardens. When we say he'll be gracious
to whom, he'll be gracious and simply repeat what he says. You lose favor quick. When you tell men what He says
in the fact that He does not love every person, when you proclaim
the truth that He didn't die for every single person, when
we declare that the Holy Spirit is not trying to save everybody, men hate Him. And that's why
repentance. True repentance doesn't have
so much to do with all these little things you view as sin. It's described in this way. It
is repentance toward God. Toward God as He is. And when you tell men and women
that justification is absolutely totally free and not even dependent
or conditioned on faith, when they hear that the only righteousness
a sinner will ever have is one that's imputed to them, one outside
of themselves. You see, it's going to cost you
your righteousness. That little garment you know
you've worked on all your life from the time you were in the
first, being taught by mom and daddy or the Sunday school or
whatever it is, all these things that we kind of put together
all our lives as a garment to wear to be accepted by God. You have his coat. which is described as the garment
of salvation. When you have His covering, which
is the very righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, it's going
to cost you yours. When they hear that there's only
one free will in the universe, it just shows you how stupid
we are by nature. We'll cling to something like
free will, just like we'll cling to a lot of things that we want
to be true, but that doesn't make it true. You see, there can only be one
free will in this universe. And it's going to cost us our
will, because the one will, the one free will in this universe
determining all things, and especially salvation, is the will of God. When we narrow things like the
Bible does and we say there's only one way of salvation, there's
only one truth, there's only one life, there's only one mediator
between God and men, and it doesn't matter how many saints the Pope
claims to make. Mother Teresa. She'll be no help to you, or
to me, or to any other sinner, because she's just a sinner herself. Oh, you ought not talk about
that, preacher. Why do we not expose the lie? You see, to follow Christ is
to be of the truth. It's to say, to judge, you say
you're judging. Well, the Bible says judge righteous
judgment. How can such as we are judge
righteous judgment? Judge based according to this
book. That's right. When they hear there's just one
hope, that there's just one baptism, there's just one spirit, there's
just one Lord, there's just one faith. They not only don't want anything
to do with Him, but now they want less to do with you if you
follow Him. Some people, when the Lord first
begins to reveal the truth to them, they entertain these notions
that, well, it won't be this way, it won't be that way, and
so we'll do this. Oh, no. You see, it doesn't matter who
they are. It doesn't matter if it's the wife or the husband
in your bosom. It doesn't matter if it's the
child or the mother or the father, your best friend, whoever it
is. Just trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Just follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it's when we begin to identify
with Him and we begin to identify with His truth and when we begin
to identify with His people that the real pressure is put on. All the pressure will be put
on. That's why Christ said, count
the cost. All those offerings of worldly
logic All those misquoted Bible verses,
misinterpreted Bible passages, all the tug of human feelings
in love. Don't you love me? One man's
wife said, you love that church more than you love me, or you
love Jesus more than you love me. Well, yes. You see, these things do not
mean that we don't love these individuals. It just means, in
comparison to Christ, in comparison to His truth, we love Him. And all the feelings of human
love and all the pressure of friendships, I told you the other
night I began reading Pilgrim's Progress again. Well, one of
the things in the very opening first part is when Pilgrim determines
and the evangelist tells him that the city he lives in and
is a part of is doomed to destruction. And he begins to flee out of
that city. His wife and his children, it
says, and his neighbors and his friends and all these people,
they tried to get him to stay. But Bunyan said he fled out of
that city. with his fingers plunged in his
ears, crying, life, life, eternal life. He fled toward that celestial
city. Amos is used of God to ask this
question. He said, can two walk together
except they be agreed? You see, disciples follow the
teaching of the teacher. They're under the discipline
of the teacher, and soldiers are under the command of the
general or the king, and servants are under the control and command
of the master. Our Lord said, if any man serve
me, let him follow me, and where I am there shall also my servant
be. If any man serve me, him will
my Father honor. The world won't honor you. As
a matter of fact, that's the cost, the world's honor. It'll
cost you that. If you live for somebody to brag
on you and pat you on the back and promote you and do all these
things, if you follow Christ, it's going to cost you that. But he said the Father will. The Father will. And when God's people follow
Him, they follow Him by following the teaching of those He taught,
those apostles. He taught them, enabled them,
and empowered them, and He sent them forth with this gospel.
And you know what He said? He said, He that hears you, hears
me. That's what I want to do. I want
to hear what those he sent have to say to me about me, about
God. I don't view this as some kind
of an opinion that Paul wrote or any of the other writers of
scripture. It says that these things holy men spake or that
is separated men spake as they were moved of the spirit of God. As a matter of fact, if our discussions
are not based on this book, I don't have anything to say to you anyway,
really. If this is not the standard, if this is not the objective
standard that God has given, how could we ever know? But those
that follow Christ, they'll not follow the false prophet. You won't follow a man that lies
about God. A man that lies about the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said they'll not hear
the voice of a stranger. Paul said, be ye followers of
me, even as I'm a follower of Christ. What does that mean? Follow me only as far, but as
far as I follow Christ. I'd say that to you. I'd say
that to everybody that hears me. Follow me only as far as
I follow Christ as He sets forth the truth about Him and all things
in His Word. That's why the Bible tells us
to try the spirits to see if they be of God. How do we try
them? How do we test these who proclaim
to speak for God? By His Word. And if you remember from that
passage there in Revelation 14, when they followed the Lamb with
us, soever he goeth, of all places to read of the Lord Jesus Christ
spoken of in that way, that ought to tell us something. Who'd they
follow? They followed the Lamb. And that means that they did
not simply follow somebody named Jesus in some mystical way, some
unidentifiable way, or some humanistic way, or philosophical way. They followed Him in His character
as a Redeemer. They followed him through a gospel
that speaks of sacrifice and substitution, the message that
John the Baptist proclaimed when he said, Behold, the Lamb of
God that takes away sin. They followed him through the
message of Christ crucified. They believe what it says in
Revelation when it says that His people's names were written
in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world.
That He offered Himself in their place and for their sins as a
Lamb without spot and without blemish. Turn over to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 is that great chapter
about faith. And so he says, now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen, for by it the elders, those Old Testament saints, believers. By it the elders obtained a good
report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear." Now listen,
he begins to describe some of them. He says, by faith, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. God accepted his sacrifice. Not because of who he was, but
because of what his sacrifice represented, which was the Lord
Jesus Christ. What happened to him? His brother
rose up and killed him. His brother rose up and killed
him. And Christ said that to the disciples.
He said, there'll be a time when men will take you and they will
cast you out and they will kill you and think that they did God
a favor. Then the next one is Noah. Says,
by faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not as yet seen,
moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.
Well, what happened? The whole world condemned him. Everybody on the face of this
earth at that time, with the exception of Noah and his family,
every one of them died in the flood. Then it talks about Abraham.
Abraham, father of the faithful. What happened to Abraham? The
first thing that happened to Abraham was that God called him
while he was in the land of Ur, the Chaldees, out of the household,
having a father who was an idol maker. He called him and made
him a nomad who wandered this earth from place to place wherein
God led him. But everywhere he went, He worshipped
God. It says he built an altar and
he called upon the name of the Lord. And there's Jacob and Isaac,
all these individuals we read through these verses. Moses,
look at Moses, it says, by faith Moses, when he was come to years,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. You talk about a life, humanly
speaking, of honor and provision and exaltation. Esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect
unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, Not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. Left all that. Why? Because he saw it for what it
was. God showed it to him for what it was. Nothing in the light
of eternity. What shall it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? And here are all these individuals,
such as Gideon, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. But look
at verse 33. Who through faith subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of
the sword, out of weakness were made strong, wax valiant in fight,
turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their
dead raised to the life again, and others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. I don't think I really have understood
that until this, yesterday. In other words, in the face of
those who were trying to get them to renounce faith in Christ
and to believe on something else, they would be given their life.
They would be given life from this death that they were now
appointed to. But they chose a better resurrection. The resurrection, if they died
for the cause of Christ, he's going to raise them up unto everlasting
life. And others had a trial of cruel
mockings and scourging, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment.
They were stoned. They were sawn asunder, were
tempted, were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. That sounds like a pitiful lot,
doesn't it? Does that sound like the victorious
Christian life, as they say? But you look at that next verse.
Of whom the world was not worthy. And they wandered in deserts
and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. These
all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they without us should not be made perfect." In other words,
they did all that by faith and followed God even before Christ
came. even before Christ came. But where are they now? You say, well, they might have
lived to be 100 years old, or maybe 120, or maybe older. Maybe like Methuselah, 969 years,
wasn't it? But it's already been 2,000 years
since this was written. Where have they been for the
last 2,000 years? They've been in God's presence.
They've been enjoying His favor. They've been experiencing all
the glory of heaven. They're like I, they're like was said of Lazarus when the
rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus with a drop of water
to cool his tongue. Abraham said to him, Remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things and likewise
Lazarus evil things. But now But now he is comforted,
and thou art tormented. He's comforted for eternity,
you're being tormented for eternity. What about Paul? What did it cost him? everything. He's Dr. Paul. He's a recognized
leader in religion. He's a moral man. He's a pillar
in the community. He's honored by all, esteemed
highly by all his peers. Until one day, on the road to
Damascus, he met the Lord Jesus Christ. When he writes in Philippians
3, and he talks about all that he had, he said, but I counted
it loss. Nothing. that I may win Christ and be
found in Him." Here are all these preachers
in our day flying their jet planes, driving their limousines, and
faring sumptuously, living in mansions. Well, there were no religious leaders in Paul's day
that lived to that degree of luxury. But even to those in his day,
he said, are they ministers of Christ? He said, I speak as a
fool. I more. in labors more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths
oft of the Jews. Five times received I forty stripes,
save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered
shipwreck. A night and a day I have been
in the deep. in journeyings often, in perils
of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false
brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." And he said, and on top of all
that, That which came to him daily,
the care of all the churches. That was what following Christ
was for him. And so when he writes to young
Timothy, he gives him this instruction.
He said, don't be ashamed of me, the Lord's apostle. And you endure hardness as a
good soldier of Jesus Christ. You won't be stationed in some
gloriously luxurious barrack somewhere in this service. You'll be out there preaching.
Enduring the same things that Paul did, and it's the same with
all the Lord's people. Peter said, if any man suffer
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify
God on this behalf. You say, well, I'll lose the
favor of somebody. I'll lose the favor of my family
and friends. Let me ask you this. Do you think
that Paul's family and friends would have been better off had
he stayed in that false religion? That's a notion that the devil
puts in the minds of so many, a notion that somehow, Hell will
be better for their people if they're there with them. But it'll just make it more of
a hell. More of a hell. Christ said in John 10, as the
Good Shepherd, He said, My sheep hear My voice, and they follow
Me. That's how if we may know if
somebody has truly heard the voice, is if they follow Christ. Somebody said one time that faith,
F-A-I-T-H, stood for this. It doesn't stand for this, but
it does seem to mean this. Forsaking all, I take Him. Him. You see, they follow the gospel
when the Spirit of God brings it to their hearts in power.
When the Lord began to show me the truth, I couldn't believe
anything else. I'll admit it at first, I tried
not to believe What at that time I found was obviously written
in this book. It's like somebody gives you
a new Bible overnight. Surely this isn't what it's been
saying all, this is what it's been saying all along. Salvations
of the Lord. Salvation is all by grace. If I'm saved, it's because God
in His sovereign grace determined to show mercy on me and be gracious
to me. It's not by anything that I do
or anything that I maintain. Whenever the Lord called Matthew,
he had a fat job. It says he sat at the seat of
custom and he gathered that tax money in, of which he skimmed
a good bit off. He lost his job, but he gained Christ. Those fishermen, Peter, James,
and John, He called them, follow me. Later on they'd say, Lord,
we've left all for you. That wasn't exactly a good comparison. They left a lousy job. It doesn't matter. He says, follow me. Follow me. And when we follow him, we leave
a lot of old things like old professions of religion and old
religious experiences and all old hopes of salvation by works
and all those old baptism and repentances of sorts. But he said, follow me. Follow me, count the cost, but
follow me. Hebrews 6, it says, we desire
that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope until the end, that you be not slothful, but
followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. Followers of that which is good. See, following the Lord Jesus
Christ, following free, full, and eternal salvation in Him
may lead us like it did Daniel through a den of lions, or like it did those three Hebrew
men through a fiery furnace. But if the Lord leads us, He's
always there with us. He always leads His people. He's
always with His people. And He always leads them safely
home. Just look at Revelation 14.4.
Where are they? They followed the Lamb right
into glory. the old hymn we sing that says, God leads his people
along. It says, some through the waters,
some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through
the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us song. in the night season and all the
day long. The Lord's leading me through great sorrow. But I know where I'm at. I know where I'm headed. I've experienced some of the
cost of discipleship. There may be a lot more to experience,
I don't know. It's no rose garden. But it's the way of salvation. It's the way of righteousness. And though there is a cost of
following Christ, it has nothing to add to my salvation because it's a gift. through
the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you this day. Lead us, be with us, watch over
us, provide for us, cause us to follow you. because he that endureth to the
end shall be saved. Help us to be followers of the great shepherd and thereby
give witness and testimony that we are his sheep and have heard
his voice. Help us to follow with your people.
Identify with such who are despised by this world, but at the same
time the world is not worthy of. We thank you for them. We thank you for our Savior.
We thank you that you made yourself our Savior God. And we pray in
Christ's name, amen.