I'd like for you to take your
Bibles this morning and turn with me to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8. We'll be looking at verses 18
through 22. Matthew chapter 8 verse 18. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he
gave commandment to depart unto the other side. And a certain scribe came and
said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou
goest. Jesus saith unto him, The foxes
have holes. And the birds of the air have
nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And another of his disciples
said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, follow
me, and let the dead bury their dead. Now the lesson this morning
is about crossing to the other side. He saw that great multitude
of people. Does that strike anybody as unusual? That he saw a great multitude,
all around him, people. Just wall to wall people, far
as you can see. Great multitudes is how he describes
it. And rather than Dealing with
that multitude, He gives commandment to leave, to depart. That just seems totally contrary
to human reasoning to me. And so I begin to look at this
thing with this in mind, this crossing to the other side, this
commandment to depart. Now the believer's life is a
crossing over to the other side. That's what it is. His whole
life. is a crossing over to the other
side. Born in a cursed world and of
a condemned race, we who have received the heavenly call. That's
how men become believers. They're called of God. That's
what Christ was doing there, calling to Himself His own. We've looked to Christ. We found
mercy and grace and pardon and peace. And as He told those Pharisees
over in John 10, verse 27, My sheep hear My voice. There were
some in that place where Christ came who heard His voice. And listen to what He says after
that. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them. That's what
brought Him to that place. His sheep. And he said, I know
them, and now listen, and they follow me. That's how you know
who Christ's sheep are. They follow Him. And it's His
voice that awakens dead sinners by the gospel. His voice, not
mine. Not somebody famous. Not the
fact that... This man was of great fame and
all of those things. That's not what brought him to
life. It was the voice of Christ. The voice of Christ. He said,
there's coming a day, and now is. We're in that day, he said.
When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. And those who truly hear and
truly live are followers of Christ. They're His disciples. You remember
over in John, where He began to teach about His flesh, eating
His flesh, and drinking His blood, and the multitude turned and
departed from Him. And then He turned to the twelve,
and He said, Will you go also? And they said, To whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. They follow Him.
They follow Him. Now in our text it says, when
the Lord saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment
to depart to the other side. And we can only speculate about
what He saw in that multitude that called for His command to
depart. I think it might have been partly
because of why they gathered. It was the novelty of His person
and His fame that went out as a great healer, miracle worker. No doubt the fame of someone
like that, if there was somebody in our day that could raise the
dead, could just command that a leper be clean and he would
be clean. Who could just tell like the
centurion, just go on home, he's well, he's healed. I think if there was somebody
like that in our day, I think his fame would spread like wildfire.
Don't you? And we'd probably all want to
go out and see. Wouldn't we? And that's what
brought that multitude out there. And there were some who came
there to examine Him and see if He might fit their imaginary
ideas of the coming Christ. Some of them were there for that
reason. They had this list, this imaginary list, and they'd go
down that list. He had to be born of the tribe
of Judah, and He had to do this, and He had to do that. He had
to be this, He had to be that. and he would fit the coming Redeemer. And then some were there probably
to find fault and expose this radical man, that's how they
saw him, this radical, who was drawing attention to himself
and away from their godless ceremonialism. I think there were some there
for that reason. And still others, because of
multitude, just simply has a drawing power. We want to see what all
the fuss is about. And then some, no doubt, were
there to benefit by the miracles. I don't know. Some writers say
there was a couple of times when he crossed this lake, and there's
different accounts of it. But on one occasion, when he
got to the other side, the multitude came the following day around
and met with him over there, and he told them, he said, you
didn't come over here because you saw the miracles and believed.
You come over here because you ate the loaves and was filled.
You were just there for the benefits. For whatever the reason, the
commandment was to leave and depart to the other side. Now
in this world, there's truth and error. There's that which
is real and that which is pretended. There's places where the Gospels
preached and rejoiced in and needed, and there's places where
multitudes gather to feed their superstitious minds and hearts,
desiring only the benefits of religion. without the suffering
of the cross. And our walk in this world is
wholly dependent upon the direction and will of God. We have no idea
where to go or what to do. How do we? Where will we go? I remember the first time ever
seeing any truth in the Word of God. any truth. I saw in there the absolute sovereignty
of God. It was stated so clearly, and
I saw it, and I was amazed by it, absolutely amazed by it. And I ran back to the church
that I was attending and showed them that verse of Scripture,
and I was excited about it, and I thought, well, boy, they're
going to rejoice with me over this. And I went back there,
and man, did I find the opposite was true. And then I began to
see a few other things in there and I go inquire about those
things and nobody seemed to have any interest in them. And most
of them had a superstitious ignorance of it to where it was
like something evil. Just don't bring that thing.
It's like walking under a stepladder or breaking a mirror. It was
some kind of superstitious evil to them. Don't do that. Don't
do that. Don't even look at that. And I remember in myself hungering
for somebody to go to that could tell me what these things said. Somebody that could feed my soul.
It became obvious to me that those people had never submitted
to the Word of God. I want to know what God said
on this matter. And then I remember finding that
place up in Ashland, Kentucky 30 some years ago. Having given the command to cross
over, the Lord is now approached by three different men. All three
have something to say about this will of God in departing to the
other side. Now here's the command. Depart. Here's who commanded. This is
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Him who has made unto
us wisdom. No mistakes in Him. No accidents
in Him. Everything He does, He worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. No question
about His commands. His commands are true and His
commands are good. And His commands are for your
good. And they're not for evil to any
man. What He commands is to be obeyed. And it's to be obeyed for those
reasons. But hearing the command, there's
three men who approach Christ here. Two of them are accounted
for here in Matthew and one of them in the book of Luke. But
they're recorded here and then over in Luke chapter 9. And I'd
like for us to look at these three men and make some applications
to ourselves and those to whom we minister. Now the first to
respond to this command was a scribe. He was a scribe. This was a religious
man. This was a man who transcribed
the scriptures. He was a man of authority, a
man of learning, and he was a zealous man. He came with no idea of
what it meant to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
had no idea at all. He jumped up first without thinking,
without reason, without anything. He just said, wherever you go,
I'll go. He was zealous, he was willing,
he was excited, but none of those things were fueled with understanding. He knew nothing about the lifelong
giving of himself to Christ. This is what it takes to be a
follower of Christ. It is to give yourself. Now if
you give yourself, you give everything else. It's to give yourself to
Him. Now listen to the Scriptures.
Matthew 16, verse 24. Then said Jesus unto His disciples,
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself. He is not going to consider anything
that has to do with himself. Let him deny himself. Take up his cross. and follow
me. There is no following Christ
without self-sacrifice. I know some folks who are trying
to live a kind of dual life in this work. One in the church
and one at home around your family and friends. The Lord replied
to that zealous scribe. He ran down there and he said,
I'll go. Wherever you go, I'll go. Now that reveals to me an
ignorance right off the bat of who it was he was talking to
and why he came into this world. You know, Peter said basically
the same thing, didn't he? When the Lord told him that they
were all going to forsake him, he said, they might. That's what
we say all the time, ain't it? They might. Yeah, you will too. You will too. But some men try to live kind
of a dual life, one in the church, one at home around your family
and friends. And the Lord replied to that zealous scribe. He said,
the foxes have holes. The old fox, just an old furry
beast. He got a hole to live in. Got
a hole. And those birds that you see
up here flying around, those birds are there. They've got
nests they go to. But the Son of Man hath nowhere
to lay His head. Are you ready to go there? Huh? Are you ready to go? Are you ready to jump up and
say, Whithersoever thou goest, I'll go. Are you ready to go
there? Are you ready to put yourself into God's hands and rely on
Him as your leader and daily provider alone? Are you ready at His command
to depart or stay? Are you ready to go there? This
man thought he was until the Lord told him what that involved.
Would I know what a servant is? Then let me have the mind of
Christ. Isn't that what Paul teaches
over in Philippians? Have the mind of Christ who made
Himself of no reputation. took on Him the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled Himself and become obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Son of Man, submitted Himself in full trust to the providence
and daily care of His Father. He owned no land, no house, No
closet full of clothes, no pantry full of food, no savings account,
no 401K. He didn't have anything. And
he wanted for nothing. Huh? He wanted for nothing. He gave himself to the will of
God as an obedient servant. Now, I don't have any unreasonable
expectations here this morning. I don't expect anyone, including
myself, to give themselves unto the pure perfection demonstrated
here in Christ. You're not going to do it. You
can't do it. You can't do it. But I do see Him and set Him
before you as the pattern. Would I know what that is? See,
this man was ignorant of what that is. Would I know what that
is? Then let me look at Him. Let me look at Him and let me
strive for that. Let me strive for that. Don't
let me come and say, I'll be your equal. You go, I'll go. No. Let me just look at Him as
that pure and perfect pattern, and then let me strive for that
perfection out of a love for Christ. In Matthew 10, verse
39, the Lord said to His disciples, He that findeth His life, findeth
His life. There are some who have found
that glitch. They found that treasure. They found that thing that appeals
to them. They found that life in this
world. They found that association or
whatever it is that binds them to a place. They found that. And he said, he that findeth
his life shall lose it. He is going to lose it. And he
that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." That is, that
spiritual life and that eternal life. So the first to respond
to His command to depart was ignorant of what following Christ
was all about. He didn't understand it. And
he didn't understand what kind of a sacrifice it required. Now, I will tell you this, I
don't care how much you sacrifice for Christ, He'll return that
a hundredfold. Isn't that what He said? He'll
return it to you. You can't out-give Him. You can't
out-sacrifice Him. He'll see to everything. Our
Lord Jesus Christ wanted for nothing. He had nothing, but
He wanted for nothing. The Lord supplied everything
He needed. Everything. Now, this second
man that came to the Lord with things, he came there with these
things, these necessary things, he thought, that he believes
need to be taken care of. Matthew 8, verse 21. Lord, suffer me first to go and
bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, follow
me. Now remember, all of these are
reactions to his command to depart. He didn't explain himself. God
doesn't have to explain himself. He's God. He's God. He's demonstrated His
love for us and His calling for us. In His death on the cross
for us. In His constant intercession
and glory for us. He's demonstrated. We have no
reason to question His will. And His will was for them to
depart. It's clear. No gray areas, right? But these
fellas, they came and they had things to say. They responded
to that command. And here's the second response.
He said in Matthew 8, 21, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury
my father. But Jesus said unto him, follow
me, and let the dead bury their dead. Now about half of the commentators
say that this man's father was old and about to die, that he
hadn't died yet. And so that his request was to
go home and let him take care of his father who was about to
die until he died and he took care of his burial and took care
of those necessary things for the family. The other half say
that he was already dead and that all he requested was to
go home and bury his father. And they all gave reasons why
that had to be so. But in the light of what Christ
is teaching here, I hardly think it makes any difference. Does it? Doesn't really make
any difference. This was a close relationship
and a heart-rending separation that was demanded of this man. Either way you want to look at
it. This was a heart-rending separation for him. He had a
close relationship to his father. Now if you will, turn with me
to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew 10. Look down here at verse 34. Think
not that I am come to send peace on earth. I am not come to send
peace, but a sword. For I am 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. And
a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Now, lots
of times we think about foes and we think about people who
vehemently disagree with us on our doctrine or upon our basis
of worship. and what it is we believe, and
what it is we preach, and so on. That's how we think. When
he's talking about a family member, we're thinking about one who's
vehemently opposed to this. But I don't think that's the
heart of what he's teaching here. They're not always your foes
because they disagree with your doctrine. Sometimes they are
your foes being deceived by Satan because of their strong affection
that interferes with following the will of God. Was that too
long of a sentence? I apologize if it was. Sometimes
Satan uses those natural affections that we have in this world to
prevent us from doing what we know is the will of God. That's
a little more understandable. Watch this next verse and I'll
tell you why I say that. He that loveth. You see that? That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about these strong affections that we have. 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. Do you remember
Mary and I think it was a couple of his brothers and sisters,
or maybe just his sisters, I can't remember the account too clear,
but they came to somewhere where Christ was, and they were out
at the door, and they told him, said, go get our son in there
and tell him his mother and sisters are out here. And he said, you
go back and ask this, who is my mother, who is my sister? Those earthly relationships are
not to be compared with the Spirit. than they're not to take precedence
over the spiritual. Now, my friend, I don't hate
my family. I don't wish them ill. Not at
all. I only wish them good. But my
family and yours and my closest relatives and yours and my brothers
and sisters and yours are dead in trespasses and sins. They're
dead. That's what the Lord told us,
man. Let the dead bury their dead. That relationship does
not take precedence over the will of God. But we want to take
these earthly relationships and especially these strong affections
that we have for family members. And Satan knows that. He uses
that. And this man, and you'll find
this account and the next one that we're about to get into,
you're going to find both of these things where these guys
use the word first. Let me first go bury my father. Let me first go say goodbye to
my family. No. Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness. And then these other things will
be taken care of. If you're truly a follower of
Christ, you've told your relatives the truth. You've told them the
truth. And most of them have rejected
it, laughed at the scorn, and have no interest in it whatsoever.
And yet we want to put that carnal relationship and our desires
to be with them above what clearly revealed to us to be the will
of God. I guarantee you this, you cannot
serve the Lord and follow Him fully and maintain any kind of
carnal relationship with your family. I guarantee you it's
not going to happen. You're going to forsake one or
the other. One or the other. And while we love our families
and we care for them and we pray for them, we're never to let
them stand between us and what we know to be the clear will
of God. I've got relatives sometimes
that come to visit. What would you think if some
morning I called down here and said, you know, my brother comes
to visit. I ain't seen him in three or four years. I think
we'll just cancel service this morning. Huh? Y'all be looking
for another pastor. He's lost his mind. And yet we
do that so often, even with the little things that we know to
be the revealed will of God. If these relationships become
the determining factors for where I live and where I worship and
where I go to serve God in the ministry, one of two things is
going to come to pass. One of two things. He is either
going to give your heart completely over to your family and those
things where your treasure seems to be. Or He's going to take
those things that you so treasure and you so love, and He's going
to move them out of the way. One or the other. One or the
other is going to happen. I've seen this happen so often.
Here's what the Lord said, let the dead bury their dead. And
then thirdly, over in Luke chapter 9, turn over there for just a
second. Luke 9, verse 61. Here's the third man. When you get home after a while,
you can read those earlier verses so that you know I'm not pulling
this out of context. He mentions those other two also
there in this account in Luke. Another also said, Lord, I'll
follow Thee, but let me first go bid them farewell which are
at home in 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." Now this man was a man whose
duty seemed clear in his head, but not in his heart. He knew
what to do in his mind, John. He knew not to disagree with
Christ. He knew what to do. He knew exactly what he needed
to do, but he wouldn't do it because his heart wasn't in it.
He said, let me go back here first. Let me go do this first. Now over in 2 Corinthians 5,
in verse 14, it said, For the love of Christ constraineth us,
because we thus judge, or rightly understand, that if one died
for all, then we're all dead. That is, when Christ died, all
for whom He died, died with Him. Died in Him. And dying with Him,
they also died to sin and self. They are His. They are one with
Him. And He died for all, verse 15, 2 Corinthians 5, and He died
for all that they which live. should henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again. Henceforth know
we no man after the flesh. And this knowing has to do with
our estimates or surmisings of men, judging them by whatever
means we have available. But now with this new and spiritual
light, we don't see others as they appear to be in this world,
but we perceive them in the spiritual light which Christ has given
us. And we perceive them with spiritual eyes in the light of
the redemption of Christ. And all our worldly associations
are changed because of this inward work of grace. And all of our
perceptions of men are no longer determined by how they dress
and how they look and what nationality they are and whether or not they
are related to it. Verse 17, Therefore if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature. He's been awakened from the dead.
He's not dead anymore. He doesn't read things and see
things and think of things under those old principles and that
law of a fallen nature. He's been raised from the dead.
He has spiritual eyes, spiritual goals, spiritual understanding. He's not what he was. And if
he goes back to what he was, and he goes back to those old
values, he's going back. He's turning back. You know,
the example that he gives here is the old plowman with a mule.
He got a mule out here and an ox out here, whatever it is,
and he got this old single-bottom plow, and he's out there. Believe
me, I wasn't raised as a farmer, and Dad bought a farm and bought
an old tractor, and he put me on it, and the first time I tried
to plow, it looked like this. Because I didn't understand what
he was talking about. I was more concerned with the
plow. I kept looking back at the plow
and looking And then when I got to the other end, I looked, and
that's the way it looked, all the way across that field. You
set your eye on where it is you're going, and you don't take your
eye off of it. When a man's eyes are fashioned
to Christ, that's the direction he goes. He don't go back. He don't go sideways. He goes
this direction. He's got his eye on Christ. And
if he's constantly looking back, he said he's not fit. for the
kingdom of God. He's not been made meat to be
a partaker of this inheritance. He's still looking back. He's
still making judgment. Do this, okay, but I've got to
incorporate this in. No, that's not in it at all.
Do this. And the man who sees Christ and
understands Christ and learns Christ and is rooted and grounded
in Christ, he understands that Christ has already made preparations
to bury my Father. He's already made preparations
to do those things that I worry about. And He's a lot more able
to do it than I am. But He's called me to do this.
So let me do this. Let me do this. Crossing over. Our whole life is a crossing
over. And we can just go on and on
and on in the Scriptures of things and instances where Christ talks
to His disciples about this very thing. Follow me. Follow me. We've got nowhere else to follow.
We don't have anybody else. He's got the words of eternal
life. We don't know where to go. We just strike out on our
own. Well, you'll find yourself lost
if you do that. Let's follow Him. Our Father,
we thank You for these many examples, pictures, things that You have
for us in the Scriptures preserved for us to teach us. Now, Father,
let's look at these things this morning, not just as stories,
not just as words to fill in the hour, but apply these things
to our hearts and make them a part of our lives, for Christ's sake.
Amen.