Turn back to Matthew chapter
8. Matthew chapter 8. I titled this message, The Truth About Following Christ. The Truth About Following Christ. We will see this as we go along
here. In this day, following Christ is made to look,
they try to make it look glamorous. They try to make it look exciting,
appealing. It's like the commercials on
the military. You've seen these commercials,
haven't you? Be all you can be, the military
says. Army of one. The few, the proud,
the Marines. But after most of them join up,
it's different. It's different. It's different. Our Lord does not do that. Our Lord warns. He warns of the
hardships and the sacrifices to be made if you and I are going
to follow Him. That's what He does. He warns
of the hardships and the absolute commitment that's required if
we are to follow Him. He says, count the cost. He says,
you're going to build a building. He said, the first thing you
want to do is sit down If you are going to go to war, because
this is a warfare, if you are going to go to war, sit down
and see if you have enough men to fight the battle and win it.
He says, count the cost. Our Lord does not fool anyone
in order to get them to follow Him. He tells them the truth. He tells the truth. Listen to these scriptures. Strive. Strive to enter in. Strive to
do that. Here's another one. If they hated
me, they will hate you also. All men, he says, all men will
speak evil of you for my namesake. You will not be popular. You
will not be loved. You will not be thought well
of. They'll think evil of you. He
said if they call the master of the house Beelzebub, what
are they going to call you? He doesn't paint this beautiful
picture of what it is to follow him in this world. He doesn't
do that. He says there's a cross to bear.
We have a cross. Now when you think of a cross,
You think of suffering. Think of shame. You don't think,
you do not think of ease and entertainment. Not in a cross. He says you have a cross to bear. That's why it says over in, look
over in Matthew 16. Well, look in Matthew chapter 10. 10
in verse 38. Let me go back to verse 34. Think
not that I have come to send peace on earth. I came not to
send peace, but a sword. For I have come 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. The
gospel will do that. What he's saying, and Frank touched
on it this morning, the gospel will separate the sheep from
the goats. That's what he's saying. The gospel will separate the
sheep from the goats. And a man's foes shall be they
of his own house. You sure you want to follow me?
You sure you want to follow this gospel? The gospel now. I'm talking about the gospel
of God. He that loves father and mother more than me is not
worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after
me is not worthy of me. He that finds his life shall
lose it. He that loses his life for my sake shall find it. He
said, that's what it is to follow me. This is it. Count the cost. Now I want us to look here in
this chapter, see what it is to follow Christ, the truth about
following Christ. Now, verse 18, the Lord does
something unheard of. He leaves the multitude. He leaves
popularity. He leaves the crowd that right
now is applauding him. They are just taken up with him.
They've seen his miracles. They've heard his messages. This
man speaks with authority, not like the scribes. But he leaves
this multitude. He leaves popularity. He does
not court the approval of men. He came to save sinners. And
there are two demonics across the sea there that need Him,
and He's going to go save them and leave this multitude. Well,
there's enough people here to save. Why do you need to go over
there? Because those over there are His. He's going to go over
there and save them. Everywhere He went, He went on
the trail of His sheep. And He saved this one, and He
saved this one, and leave the multitude. Today's religion would
look at that and say, whoa, what an opportunity he left. No, he
didn't leave opportunity. He was going to save his sheep.
And it said two demonics over there, over in the land of the
ghetto, Gergesen. I'm going to have to learn how
to say that one. Gergesen or something like that. But there
was two men over there he was going to go save. And it was
going to cause a lot of trouble, even to his disciples getting
there. But that's all right. Trouble doesn't mean God's not
in it. Just because it's hard doesn't mean God's not in it. So our Lord leaves. He leaves
popularity here. And He gave commandment. Here's
the King. Here's the Lord. He gave commandment
to His disciples to get in this ship and they're going to go
to the other side. And they did so. They did so. But while they
were going toward this ship on the sea there, Galilee, going
toward the ship, It says a certain scribe, for the most part, the scribes
hated him. He was despised by the scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees,
the religion of that day, the religious leaders of that day,
hated him, despised him. But a certain scribe evidently
heard him preach and no doubt saw some of these miracles. And
he was really impressed. He was really impressed with
the Lord. Now a scribe, at this time, I was looking this up in
the Bible dictionary I have, at this time a scribe was usually
a person of upper class, a person of some wealth, a person of some
importance, some notoriety. And a scribe was someone learned,
had an education. And a scribe was an interpreter
of the law. Their interpretation of the law
usually became more important than the law itself. That's how
it got so messed up. They started taking their interpretation
of it and took it instead of the law. And so this scribe came to him,
well influential, learned, an interpreter of the law, well
educated. In fact, for one to interpret
the law ascribed. You know, they would start at
the age of 14. I was reading this. You talk about going to
college for four years. At the age of 14, they graduated at
the age of 40. 26 years they would spend sitting
at the feet, I called it, of Gamaliel, learning from this
teacher until they were 40 years old. And I thought, in four years
of college, They think they have an education. And that's how
long they would sit and learn. 26 years they'd do this. And
they felt they knew something. They felt by the time they graduated,
I know something here. You know, you don't have to tell
me anything. I know it. That's who came. That's who came. Now, notice here, he comes to
Christ and he's respectful. This man is to be commended.
He shows some respect. He calls him master. None of
the others call him that. Not genuinely. This man was genuinely
called him master. He shows respect here. He was
impressed with him. And he's zeal. He's zealous. He said, I will follow thee whithersoever
thou goest. You might want to find out where
he's going. If you're going to follow somebody wherever they
go, I'll follow you wherever you go. You might want to find
out where they're going. This man really didn't know where
the Lord, he did not know where the Lord was going. He didn't
know the Lord was going to the cross. He didn't know all the shame and
stuff that was going to happen. He said, I'll follow you. It's
just blind zeal is what it is. Blind zeal. I'll follow you wherever
you go. He was impressed with him. And then he was determined. He said, I will. I like it better
what that leper said, Lord, if you will. He said, Lord, help
me follow you. Lord, enable me to follow you.
Lord, enable... Lord... No, he came there and
said, he was brassy. He was brassy. He came and he
said, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. He was spiritually
ignorant. Even though he studied much,
he was spiritually ignorant. He did not understand the hardship.
and the self-denial that it would take to follow him whithersoever
he goes. The healing, the popularity,
they were all very exciting. But that's going to be over with.
That's just what he's seeing. That's the outward. He was impressed
with this outward form of miracles and stuff that was going on. But he hadn't counted the cost
yet because he didn't know it. He did not know it. And our Lord
was not impressed with him. Our Lord didn't turn and say,
here's a scribe, a learned man wanting to follow us. I mean,
he was not impressed with him. He knew the ignorance of this
man. He knew it. Now, the master, our Lord is
truthful with him. You want to follow me? You sure
you want to follow me, whether it's wherever I go? You know,
the animals have a better place to sleep tonight than I have.
He said the foxes have holes to go to tonight. They have their
own den. And the birds of the air have nests that they've made.
They have that certain tree that they will fly to tonight. But
the Son of Man has no particular place to lay his head tonight.
I might sleep here tonight. Tomorrow it will be someplace
else. I may stay with Lazarus the next night and then somebody
else the next night. Then we would sleep out. Sleep
out in the open, under the open heavens. You sure you want to
follow me? You sure you want to leave that
comfortable home? You sure you want to leave that
comfortable family? He's honest, isn't he? Tell the truth what
it is to follow him. He said, I don't even have a
pillow. I don't even own a pillow. He who made all of this as a
man owned none of it. Owned none of it. I have no place. The son of man has no place to
lay his head. Do you want to follow one who
has despised and rejected men? Do you want to follow one whose
gospel is generally hated by the multitude? See, that same
multitude later cried, Crucify Him. You see, it looks good now. But this same multitude is going
to turn on Him. And our Lord is not going to fool this young
man, this scribe. He's not going to fool him. You sure you want to do that?
Don't let this popularity fool you right now. Don't do it. Soon
they will hate me without a cause. And they'll hate you also. If
you stand for the gospel, if you tell the truth, I promise
you this world and this religious world will hate you for it. If
you're bold enough to stand and tell it, they'll hate you for
it. That's what our Lord is telling
this man. Are you sure you want to do this? Are you willing to
lose your life for my sake? Everyone who follows Christ must
lose themselves. You have to lose yourself. He
that finds his life shall lose it. The Lord would not fool anyone
to get a following. Not at all. I think he's telling
this man, go home and think about it. Go home and think about it. Is the disciple above his master? No. No. And you can expect the
same treatment he got. You can expect the same treatment
that I'm going to receive. Our Lord will have nothing but
real disciples out now, totally sold out and committed to Him. That's what it is. Is Christ
worth losing friends over? The friends we've grown up with,
is He worth losing friends? I'm talking about earthly friends,
worldly friends. Is He worth losing? Is He worth
giving up a job for and moving to where the gospel is preached?
Is He worth that? Is he worth losing a spouse or
children, forsaking you? When a Jew confessed Christ,
they paid the price. They paid the price. They were
cut off from the family. Is Christ worth following to
death? Is he worth dying for? That's what it takes. That's what it says. We must bear reproach for Christ's
sake. Is Christ, in other words, is
Christ worth the price? That's why he's saying this,
young man, and to everyone else who would follow him. Weigh it in the balance. Weigh
it in the balance. And then another disciple comes
to him. He said, Lord, let me go home
and bury my father. And another version that says
take care of him until he dies. Now our Lord is not cold. You
know that. He's not cold and indifferent. But what he's sending forth here
is a truth. It's this. Christ is to have the preeminence
over all. He's to have the preeminence
over all things. He is saying to this disciple,
you follow me. I am to have the preeminence
over all, over family, over all situations. He says, you follow
me. The disciple does not pick his
place of time or service. It doesn't do it. He says, follow
me. Follow me. That's what he said to Abraham. Abraham? Abraham was an old man. He says,
pack up your bags, leave your father's house, leave your home,
leave where you grew up, leave your business, whatever was going
on. You pack up and follow me. to a land I will show you." Abraham
didn't know where he was going, but he followed God. He followed. That's what the Lord is saying
here. God never changes, does he? Follow me. He's to have the
preeminence over all things. Christ comes before all. That's
why he's telling this disciple. That's why he's telling us. He
comes before all. And then we see something here
of the cost. The disciples whom he commanded to get in the ship,
he commanded them to get in the ship, not harshly. He said, get in the ship. He
didn't say, please get in the ship. Would you please get in
the ship? Would you go? No, he said, get
in the ship. And they did what he said. I have no doubt he said it to
them graciously and kindly, but he said, get in the ship, get
it ready. And they did exactly what they
were told to do. They got in the ship and they
followed him. They followed him. And while
they followed him, trouble came. Trouble. Real trouble came. Their lives
were in trouble. See, these were experienced fishermen.
They knew how to handle a boat. They could handle this one. Not
this one. The storm was too big. The storm
was too great. And they were in trouble. Their
lives were in trouble. But not danger of losing it.
They thought they were in danger of losing their life. No, they
weren't. The Lord knew that. He was asleep. All things are
well. Doesn't this show the calmness
of God? We look at a world that is to
the natural eye, looks chaotic, doesn't it? It does. You go in
the Middle East, you look at all that goes on, and you look
at this hurricane coming, it just looks chaotic. But the Lord
is quietly sitting on the throne, ruling and reigning. While He
laid there in that boat asleep, He was still controlling the
storm. God and man. That storm wasn't whipped up
by the devil. He had his way in the whirlwind
and in the storm. He providentially brought that
storm to reveal something in those men. Their lack of faith. Their lack of faith. They trusted
him in the miracles and all those things. Well, things were going
great. But when the storm arose, that revealed who they were.
who they are. That's what reveals who we are
is when the storm rises. When that storm surge comes ashore,
that reveals who we are. Well, they entered a ship, and
they followed him. And following him does not exempt
us from troubles. It does not exempt us from the
storms of life. We'll have to endure hardships,
losses, and crosses for Christ's sake. have to, have to. Stephen was stoned to death. Over here in Hebrews 11, in Hebrews chapter 11, let me read
you a couple of verses. Constantly following him. In
verse 36, others had trial of cruel mockings, scourgings,
yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with a sword. They wondered about
in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and
tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered
in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of theirs."
These are God's children. I know, I'll read that, I know
I've had it easy. As far as my life, you know,
it's no comparison, absolutely. It's a shame, I mean, I'm ashamed
to even compare anything I've ever gone through to this. I
mean, Saul of Sunder? Slain with the edge of the sword?
Wandering about in sheepskins? Not having any real clothing
to wear? goat skins, wandering in deserts
and mountains. That's God's children. All this came upon them because
they followed Him. They followed Him. This is our ancestry here in
the faith. These are our forefathers. People
like to run their family tree. Well, right here it is. This
is our spiritual family tree right here. That's how they were
treated, for following Him. So it does not exempt us from
trials. Now this storm, as I said, arose
by the providence of God. And it revealed this little faith. Little faith. You know, even though we say
we don't have the faith we ought to have, I still think we have
more than what we do have. We still think we have more than
what we really do have. I guarantee you they didn't realize how little
their faith was until this storm rose. It only takes certain situations.
I've learned this. It only takes certain situations
to bring out what's in us or what's not in us. It just takes
a certain situation to do it. And faith must be proven. And
sometimes it has to be proven by a great tempest. It says a
great tempest arose. Great tempest. Someone said, well, that was
by the force of nature. They were just dealing with the
forces of nature, like this hurricane coming up right now. That's just
the forces of nature. Spurgeon said this, the forces
of nature have no power except they be carried out by divine
force. There was a divine force behind
that. It's going to reveal some things. It's going to reveal
a lack of faith. But before I get to that, what
is our comfort? What is our comfort at these
times? It's just this, Christ is with us. What was the comfort they had?
What was the only hope they had? Christ was in that boat. The
Lord Himself was in that boat with them. He was in that boat. That's the confirmation. He was
in the boat and in the storm with them. No one can perish. No one can perish who has Christ
in them. It's not possible. It was not
possible for Noah to perish in the ark. Outside the ark, everything
perished. In the ark, Noah's safe. And
all those animals, his family, all are safe in the ark. These
men were safe in this boat because the Lord is in the boat with
them. He's in it with them. Now notice
here, when they come to him, they do come to him with reverence.
They said, Lord, Lord, As fearful as they were, they
still showed reverence for Him. They said, Lord, Lord. And they recognized their need
of Him. Lord, save us, we perish. Oh, if you could get sinners
to this place. God has to get them to this. I can't. This is
the place God must bring sinners to. Lord, save me or I'll perish.
Save me or I'll perish. If the Lord doesn't save us,
we will perish in our sins. Lord, they said, Lord. And they
said it. Although, you know, they said it loud enough to be
heard over that storm. You know how loud that storm
was going on, the wind and the waves. And they cried loud enough
to wake him and say, Lord, save us or we perish. We want to die
right here, Lord, if you don't do something. And here's the Lord's response.
This whole storm is for this right here. for this right here. Why are you fearful? Why are
you fearful? What are you afraid of? Why are you so fearful? Oh, ye of little faith. The first
thing the Lord rebukes. Here's this storm raging. These
men are crying out, Lord save us, we're going to perish, we're
going to die, right? We're going to drown. If you don't wake up
and Lord save us, do something. They did go to the right person.
They did go to the one who could save. And the first thing he
rebukes is not the wind and the waves. It's their little faith. It's their little faith. It's their mistrust of his care
of them. In another gospel it says, carest
thou not that we perish. What do you think he's doing
here? Why do you think he came? Why do you think God Almighty
came into this world and took upon him bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh? Why do you think God Almighty
allowed himself to be made sin, the Son of God? Why do you think
he went to the cross? Because he cares. Because he
cares. Yes, he cares. Yes, he cares. The first thing he had to rebuke
was their mistrust of him. The wind and the waves, now listen
here, the wind and the waves, this storm, are far less troublesome,
far less troublesome, than our unbelief and fear. Far less troublesome. How is it? How is it that we
doubt His love? Was Calvary not enough? Was Calvary not enough? Was dying for our sins not enough? How could I? I'm talking to myself
here. How could I doubt His care and love for me? When I look
at Calvary and I see that he took the wrath of God, the incomprehensible
wrath of God for my sins was taken out on him, how can I doubt
and mistrust his love and care of me? What more proof do we need than
what he gave when he gave his life? Greater love hath no man
than this. that a man lay down his life
for his friends. If Christ has bid us to follow Him, if He has
bid us to follow Him, I assure you He'll keep us. He'll keep us. The storms will
come. He'll keep us. Do we doubt His power to save
us from all things? Oh, He says, Oh, here's the problem. Here's the real problem. Oh,
why are you so fearful? Those wins in wage are not the
problem. It's that little faith. Little faith. You know what little
faith does? Little faith causes great fear. It causes great fear
because it mistrusts Him. Oh, the question here is why?
Why? Have I ever failed you? I thought
about this. I sat down and worked on this.
Have I ever failed you? Why are you so fearful? Have I ever not supplied your
need? Have I ever left you alone? Have
I? Have I ever ceased to be God? Has my blood and righteousness
lost its power? Why, why, why are you so fearful? Why? And the cause is found in
us, little faith. Little faith. Little minds do
little things, yet make great mistakes. They make great mistakes. There
is never, ever, ever, ever a reason for little faith. There's never,
ever, ever a time when we should be fearful that the Lord is not
going to save us. Never. And here's His mercy. After He rebuked the real problem,
after He took care of the real problem, then He arose like the
mighty conqueror that He is. And He spoke to that wind and
that sea. And this has had to be astounding
to those men. He spoke to the wind and the
sea and he said, be calm. And immediately, you see this
hurricane right now whipping up, it's up to category three,
category four. What if in a second that thing
stopped? I mean that fast, just stopped.
That's what they saw. It just stopped that fast. It's
like when He said to that leper, be thou clean, immediately. He
said the leper said, left him. This is our Lord. This is our
God. And this is encouraging. He arose and He rebuked the winds
and the sea. And there was what? A great calm. He didn't just settle down little
by little. He didn't start dwindling down, you know, Like hurricanes,
when they hit land, they start losing their power. It just takes
them about two or three days to fizzle out. No, this was a
great calm immediately. And the Lord can give a great
calm to our hearts immediately if we just trust Him. Oh, ye
of little faith. Why are you so fearful? After addressing the real problem,
He arose. and commanded the wind and the
sea to be still. He took care of the problem.
You know, what are problems? We go through problems, we're
going through problems, we're going to go through problems,
but with just a word He can calm it. Just a word. You see, He
exposed their little faith, so the lessons learned, and now
it's over. And that's the way trials are. When the lesson is
learned, it will be over. He'll calm it down until we need
to learn the next lesson, which usually is not long. It's not
long. All things are controlled by
Him who was asleep in the boat. Oh, He's truly the Master and
Lord, whether men and women believe it or not. He's the Lord. He's
the controller of all things. And it says there was a great
calm. Only Christ can truly give real rest. He can only give real rest and
peace to the troubled heart and mind. He can do it. He can do it. When sin raises
its ugly head, This old nature rises up in rebellion. Turn to Christ. And I'm talking
to believers. I'm talking to people because
you know and I know we still have this sinful flesh. And there's
times it raises its ugly head. That's about every day. Well, the best remedy is turn
to Him. Who can judge peace, be still.
He can calm the doubt. He can quiet it down with just
a word. When we are fixed on Him, when
we are fixed on Him, then we enjoy a great calm in here. That's where you want it. That's
where you want it. In the heart. Let me just give
you just a few things here briefly. Or what makes faith grow? I don't want little faith. Little
faith saves. But I don't want little faith.
I want to believe God like God ought to be believed. Don't you?
He ought to be believed fully. Fully. Study the Word. You can never know God. You cannot
know Christ apart from His Word. I'll tell you, this book is so
rich. It's full of him. Read the Word and pray. Pray
the Lord to give you light and understanding. Pray the Lord
to speak to your heart through His Word. And then be often under
the preaching of the Gospel. I'm not telling you anything
new ever. But we need to be reminded. That's why we have the Lord's
Table. All the time. Do this in remembrance of me.
We're forgetful people. Be often under the preaching
of the gospel. Be given to meditation upon Him. Be given to it. And surround yourself with those
stronger than you. Surround yourself with them. I'll tell you what, that's everyone.
That's all of God's children. You look at them and say, they're
stronger than I am. Study to know more of Him. Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me. They said, what manner of
man is this? And as time went on, they found
out. As time rolled by, they found
out more of him. And Paul, after knowing Christ
and all these, he said, I want to know him more. I want to know
more of him. It's a good question. What manner
of man is this? Well, it's the God man. It's
not an ordinary man. Not just a good man. This is
God. That's what manner of man He
is. He's a gracious man. What manner of man is this gracious
man? He lies to show mercy. He's a righteous man. He knew
no sin. And He's the only man that can
save us. They turn to the right one. Lord, save us, we perish. Every sinner, if I wish I could
just get that to every sinner. Just call upon Him. I told this
to someone not too long ago talking about the Gospel. They were talking
about a prayer they were repeating. I said, how about just save me? I said, how about just save me? That's all. Lord, save me. Peter
said Peter was drowning. He was about ready to go down.
And one of the shortest prayers there is, but one of the best.
Lord, save me! There's no complication in that,
is there? More theology in it than most
people understand. Aloha. Save me. Following Christ will never be
easy. I'm talking about following the
Christ, not another Jesus. Paul said he'll come preaching
another Jesus. I'm talking about following the Christ of God. It will never
be easy, but it will end well. It won't be easy, but it will
be a while. Okay, Mark.