Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 14? Now three times in this passage of
scripture I would like to read the Lord speaks of something
that would cause someone to not be able to be his disciple. If
this takes place, that person cannot be my disciple three times. So let's read this passage of
scripture together. And there went great multitudes
with him. That must have been exciting.
You'd like to see great multitudes here, wouldn't you? And there
were great multitudes with the Lord. And I can imagine it being
somewhat of a circus environment, excitement and so on. And he
turned and said unto them, these multitudes, if any man come to
me and hate not, his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, in 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 counteth
the cost, whether he hath sufficient to finish it? Lest, happily,
after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it,
all that beheld it began to mock him, saying, This man began to
build, and was not able to finish. Now count the cost. Is this something
you want to do? Hate your own life? Hate everybody
else? Take up your cross and follow
me. Count the cost. Verse 31. Or what king, going to make war
against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth
whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against
him with 20,000? Or else, while the other is yet
a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage and desireth conditions
of peace. Now, if I've got 10,000 and an
army of 20,000 is coming after me, I know what I'm going to
do. I don't want to fight. I'm looking for conditions of
peace. What would those be? Verse 33, so likewise, whosoever
he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath. He cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt
have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? If it's
lost its saltiness, it's neither fit for the land nor yet for
the dunghill, but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. What about these great multitudes
following the Lord at this time? I'm not sure that they're much
different than that crowd in John chapter six who were following
with the Lord, but when they heard certain teaching, they
went back and walked no more with him. Now these crowds were
following the Lord and he turned around and looked upon them and
said, if any man come to me, that's what I want to do. Right
now, in my heart, I want to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever
that means. I want to come to Him. I want
to bow down before Him. I want to touch the hem of His
garment. I want to come to Him. This is
what true spiritual motion is. It's not something physical.
The Lord said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
that is precisely what I want to do. I want to come to Him.
I want to feel His embrace. I want Him to say to me, I am
thy salvation. I want Him to kiss me with the
kisses of His mouth. I want to know He loves me. I
want to know I belong to Him. I want assurance from him. Now,
you could say, well, I know you're a Christian, and you know how
much assurance that'd give me? Zero. The only way I have any
peace is if he lets me know I'm one of his. I want to come to
him. Now, the Lord turned around and
looked at these people and said, if any man come to and hate not. Now, let me pause for a moment. Coming to Christ is a hard thing
to do. In one sense, it's the most simple
act in the world. And in one sense, it's the hardest
act in the world. Matter of fact, it's impossible
for the natural man. The Lord did say, no man can
come to me, except it were given him of my father, except my father
draw him. So I realize in one sense it's
simple, it's believing. In another sense it's so hard.
You'll have Satan opposing you, you'll have other people opposing
you, and you'll have yourself opposing you, the greatest enemy
of all. There's nothing easy about following
Christ and there's nothing easy about being his disciple. Now,
in our text, there are three cannot be my disciples. If a
man doesn't hate his mother and father and wife and children
and sisters and brothers and his own life also, if he doesn't
hate, he cannot be a disciple of Christ. If I don't do what
he says here, I can't be a disciple. And then he says, if a man doesn't
take up his cross, he can't be his disciple. For me to be a
true out-and-out disciple of Christ, I must take up my cross. And I can't be his disciple if
I do not do that. And for me to be his disciple,
I have to forsake everything that I have. That's a tall order, isn't it?
It's impossible apart from the grace of God. Now, if I don't
do these three things, I may have some form of religion, but
I'm not a true disciple. The Lord said, if you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. I want to be one of those
people, don't you? I want to be someone who he would describe
as my disciple indeed. Now, Most religious people, I
believe, would be real excited about these great multitudes.
I would. I think, well, the Lord's blessing having all these multitudes. But you know, the Lord turns
around and he doesn't do anything to try to keep them, does he?
As a matter of fact, he says some very difficult things. If
you want to come after me, listen very carefully. The first thing
you're going to have to do, look what he says in chapter 14, verse
26, if any man come to me, And hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea,
in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Now what does
the Lord mean by that? The word hate is used, same word,
but it's used in three different senses in the scripture. First,
there's the evil. way it's used, where you're malicious
and you have some kind of vicious attitude towards somebody and
wish them ill. Perhaps you're jealous of them
and you hate them. It's an unjustified animosity
toward others. Now that, there's nothing good
about that. That's wicked. You know that. The Lord is not
telling us to have that attitude toward our loved ones, that we're
to hate them and be vicious toward them. There is a good kind of
hatred. Ye that love the Lord, what?
Hate evil. David put it this way in Psalm
139. He said, Do not I hate them that
hate thee? Am I not grieved with them that
rise up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Now
that is the testimony of the man after God's own heart. Now
this is not the malicious kind of hating where I just spoke
of, but there's a good kind of hating. Ye that love the Lord
hate evil. And then there is the hatred
of disregard. It's used for preference of one
thing over another. To love someone or something
so much that others are treated with disregard in comparison
to that one who is the object of your love. Now this is what
the Lord is talking about here. We are to love mom and dad, aren't
we? We're to love our wives and our
husbands. If you're a believer, you better. I mean, that's a
command. We're to love our children. We're
to love our brothers and sisters. But if the claims of Christ and
the claims of our other close relationships come into collision,
the claims of the relatives and the loved ones must give way.
And that's what that means. I love Lynn. I hope it never comes to the
place where something she wants would cause me to walk in disobedience
to Christ. But if it does, I would have
to reject what she wanted and go the way of Christ. Now, every
one of you that have believing spouses, this is interesting,
every one of you that have believing spouses, you want your spouse
to love Christ more than you want them to love you, don't
you? You really do. That's what you desire. That's
what you want more than anything else. Now, I was thinking about
this. I want Lynn to love Christ more than anybody, including
me. Now, I don't want her to love Rich more than me. No, I
want her to love me the best in that sense. But as far as
her relationship with Christ, I want her to love Christ more
than me. And I want to love Christ more than her. And if any man
lets his relative, his loved one, keep him from coming to
Christ, There's trouble. And that's what our Lord is speaking
of. You know, it always bothers me a lot when somebody's relative
dies. They didn't believe the gospel,
and they want to put them in heaven. We change the truth in
order to save our relatives. Now, that's not right. That's
loving mother or father or brother or sister more than the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, let God be true and every man a liar.
Amen? Amen. It's love to Christ that will
cause you to love your loved ones even more. And it's love
to Christ that will cause you to disregard any if they come
into conflict with your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Obedience
to Christ comes first. And if I don't obey this precept,
I cannot, that's what the Lord said, I cannot be his disciple. And I love the way he said we're
called upon to hate our own life also, can our own life. disregard,
be willing to die for Christ, to deny self, to take up our
cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I love where Paul said,
I don't count my life dear to myself that I might finish my
course with joy and the ministry which I've received of the Lord
Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Now if any
man is going to come after Christ, he's going to be called upon
to hate. That means to treat with disregard,
doesn't it? any person in comparison to Him. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and this is what is so glorious, the Lord Jesus Christ is more
real to me than any person is. He's more real to me than my
wife is. He's more real to me than my daughter is. Yeah, I
spend more time thinking about Him. And I, oh, I want to come
to Him. And I don't want to be somebody
who loves husband, wife, mother, daughter, child, brother, and
sisters more than him. No, I want to follow him. Now, if I'm going to come to
him, I can't be his disciple unless I do that. Now look in
verse 27. Here's the second cannot be my
disciple. You all want to come after me?
Well, listen to this. Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and
come after me, cannot be my disciple." Now cross bearing, what a difficult
thing to think about. You couldn't help but you read
this and I think of the Lord bearing his cross up Calvary's
mountain. holding that cross, ended up
falling beneath the load. He was so tired, so emaciated,
so beaten up already. Him carrying the cross for my
salvation. Now what is this thing of me
bearing the cross? Now if I'm going to be his disciple,
I'm going to have to pick up this cross. Remember the Lord
said, anybody that will come after me, let him deny himself.
Take up his cross daily and follow me. Now the cross is not some
kind of burden I have, and somebody says, this is the cross in my
life. Well, I got all kinds of trials and afflictions and burdens
in my life, and you do too. Every one of us do. Man that's
born of woman is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. That's
what the scripture says. And we have all kinds of unpleasant
and difficult things and things that even rip our heart out that
are difficult, but that has nothing to do with bearing the cross.
Bearing the cross, now listen to me, the cross. The cross is
the whole counsel of God. I love that statement. I'm going
to say it again. I like the way it sounds. The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the whole counsel of God. Christ is the lamb slain from
the very foundation of the world before there was ever a sinner.
He was slain before time began. That's so glorious. That's so
mysterious. But you know that that was the
subject of heaven then, in eternity past, and in eternity future. What are they going to be singing
of? Worthy to the Lamb that was slain. Now the cross of Christ
is the whole counsel of God. It's a manifestation of who He
is. You and I cannot know God apart from the cross of Christ.
That's the truth, isn't it? All of God's attributes, who
He is, His holiness is displayed. His righteousness is displayed.
His justice is displayed. His wisdom is displayed. His
power is displayed. Everything that God is, is displayed
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, so glorious. Only God could come up with the cross.
Only God could execute what the cross accomplishes. Paul said,
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not
with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made of none
effect. I want to preach the cross and
its naked simplicity. For the preaching of the cross
is then to perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved. It's the power of God. You know,
the cross is the very power of God. We preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are being saved, Christ, the wisdom and
the power of God. In the cross, I see the wisdom
of God, His wisdom that makes it so He can remain perfectly
true to who He is, and yet save somebody as vile and sinful and
weak and worthless as me. Isn't that glorious? Only God
could do that. I see the power of God in putting
away my sin. I see the power of God in making
me to be conformed to the image of His Son. And this message
of the cross is not loved by the natural man. And if I stand
for the message of the cross, and this is what He's talking
about when He's talking about taking up your cross, bearing your cross. He's talking about confessing
Him before men. Where men won't have any love
for you because of what you believe regarding the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But oh, If I don't take up my cross, and this is
what I want to do, don't you? Would it be a privilege to you,
the Lord giving you grace, if the Lord let you die for the
cross, the truth of the cross? You got put on trial. If you
believe that, you're gonna be put to death. Put me to death
then by the grace of God. That's the way every believer
feels. Every believer's a martyr willing
to die by the grace of God. for the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if someone is ashamed of the cross, if they won't confess
Christ before men, they can't be his disciple. He said, whosoever
is ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the son of man be
ashamed when he comes in his kingdom. No, we want to confess
Christ and confess his cross. Don't you love the truth of the
cross? I'm not just talking about the
wooden emblem. I'm talking about what Christ accomplished when
he died on Calvary Street. We take up that cross daily to
follow him. We deny ourselves, take up our
cross, and follow him. Now he says in verse 28 of our
text, for which of you Now he talks about these very difficult
things. Hating yourself, hating your life, taking up your cross,
nothing easy about that. He's not trying to trick people
into following him. He's giving them the worst right
off the bat, isn't he? He's telling them the most difficult things.
And then he says in verse 28, for which of you intending to
build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether
he hath sufficient to finish it? Would it not be crazy to
start building without having any idea how much it's going
to cost? And let's say you had $50,000 and all you get is the
foundation laid and that's it. People would say, what a fool.
What a fool that you didn't count the cost. And our Lord is saying,
count the cost. Verse 29, unless happily after
he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all
the beholding began to mock him, saying, this man began to build
and he was not able to finish. And I can see that deserves being
mocked, doesn't it? Verse 31, or what king, going
to make war against another king, saith not down first and consulteth
whether he be able with 10,000 to beat him that cometh against
him with 20,000. Now let me say this. If I'm not
following Christ, God's my enemy. He's against me. If God's my
enemy, is this a war I can win? No, no. I see an ambassage for
conditions of peace. How can you be at peace with
me? And you know, when I was writing
my notes, when I thought about that, what a question, how can
God be at peace with me? I thought, well, the only thing
to do is surrender. And I thought, that might sound good, but the
only thing that gives me peace is faith in Christ, believing
the gospel, believing that he is everything in my salvation.
You see, the command of the gospel is believe. It's not surrender.
Somebody says you need to surrender everything. That's not what the
Bible says. It says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved. Now, you ever believe the gospel? Everything's
going to be okay. It's all going to get worked
out one way or the other, but that is the command of the gospel.
I'm Cindy. How can I have peace? Christ died for sinners, and
the evidence that he died for one is that they believe on him.
You believe the gospel. Okay, I believe. I believe. I'm resting
in him. That's the condition for peace. Verse 32, or else while the other
is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage and desires conditions
of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be
of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, He cannot be my
disciple. Now what does that mean? That's
a verse of scripture that has always more troubled me. Forsakes
all you have? What do you do when you do that?
Does that mean you make it your determination to never sin again? That's a good determination.
These things write I unto you that you sin not, but have you
done? Have you done? Does that mean
if you forsake all your sin, you quit sinning and quit and
then put up all your property for sale and give it all away
like the Lord told the rich young ruler, sell all you have and
give to the poor and you have treasures in heaven, come follow
me. What is this thing of forsaking all that you have? Because if
I don't do it, I won't be saved. Now the word here means more
than anything else, to renounce. To renounce. Let me show you
exactly what this means in Philippians chapter 3. Would you turn with
me there? Verse 4, the Ramah also have
confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in flesh, I more. Circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee,
concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness
which is in the law, blameless. This is all the stuff I had.
But what things were gained in me, those things that I counted
on the plus column, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. that I might know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Mark Benton, when
you were baptized, I remember you saying what I want to do
when I'm baptized. I don't want to just go under
the water and come out. I'm saying I renounce everything
I believed before this. And that's what it means to confess
Christ. You renounce. You look at it
as nothing more than done. All the stuff that you thought
was good, you put it in the negative column. You think it's wrong.
You forsake all for Him. And you know, isn't it wonderful
to just be His? You've forsaken. You've renounced.
You're not your own. I'm His. I'm His servant. I'm
the son of His handmaid. I'm His. I don't care about anything
else. You know, if I have Him and I
don't have anything else, I have everything. And if I have everything
else and I don't have Him, I have nothing. Oh, we renounce all. And oh, what a glorious thing
it is to just be in Him. I love that. He's my Savior.
He's my husband. He's my Lord. We love Him. And it's, you know,
Paul said, I've suffered the loss of everything and cannot
be done. I despise being around somebody
that talks about what they've given up for Christ. Oh, done? That's not much of a loss. And
that's what Paul called it, isn't it? You know, being his, whatever he does with me, just
fine. If he prospers me, if he humiliates me, if he It's all
fine as long as I'm his. I don't care what he does. I
really don't. I don't care what he does. If
he does it, it's great. And I don't need an explanation.
I trust him. We truly pray thy kingdom come,
thy will be done. That's our desire. Isn't it wonderful
to just be Christ? That's it. He's my Lord. I've been bought with a price,
I'm not my own. Verse 34, salt, and this is part
of, I think it's a reference to someone who does not hate
all things, who does not take up his cross. who does not forsake
all. Salt is good. When's the last time you tried
to eat a baked potato without salt? I love baked potatoes, love them.
I love to triple up on the sour cream. I love baked potatoes. Without salt, they're utterly
tasteless. Salt is good. I like salt on
my food. Salt is good. Salt's got a lot
of good things about it. Salt is a preservative. Salt
has medicinal powers. You put it in a wound and somehow
it cleanses. Salt reacts to things. It melts ice, melts hard heart. Salt's good, isn't it? Salt is
good. Salt makes things taste better.
You know, the Lord said to his disciples, you are the salt of
the earth. You are the salt of the earth.
Salt is good. I think of the Lord said, adore
and make beautiful the doctrine of God our savior in all things.
What makes more beautiful the doctrine of grace than graciousness? Merciful, forgiving. You're the salt of the earth.
Make things taste better. Salt is a preservative. God does
what he does for the church. I love thinking about this. You
know, all of history, everything that takes place can only be
interpreted in light of what God's doing for the glory of
his son. And the reason this earth is still going on is because
God's elect are still here. And when the last of the elect
dies, it's over. God's going to wrap this thing
up. But all of history is interpreted in light of what God is doing
for his church. You know, people think they're
so important and they don't realize they're just scaffolding for
the Lord to do his purpose. Salt is used for healing. Salt
is good and how healing the gospel is. How much does it heal you,
in your heart, in your spirit, when you're enabled to believe
that you are without sin before God? That you're wholly unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight? That you're complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that you need nothing? You're complete in Him? that everything's working together
for your good, even the bad stuff, the stuff that hadn't happened
yet, it's all working for your good and for His glory. And He
that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him also freely give us? That's so therapeutic. That's healing. There's such
healing in the Gospel. I'm complete in Christ. All the
pressure's gone. Salt is a healing thing, and
salt melts the ice of a hard heart. You're the salt of the
earth. Good taste, preservative, melt
stuff, salt is good. But look what he says, salt is
good. But if the salt has lost its savor, if it's lost its saltiness,
Wherewith shall it be seasoned? What good is it? It's neither
fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it
out. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Now what is the Lord talking about this salt that
loses its seasoning? Well, I'm gonna have to say that
I don't altogether know. I know it doesn't sound good.
I know that Have you ever felt like you're
salt that's lost its saltiness yourself? Like you're not fit
for anything but the dunghill? Have you ever felt that about
yourself? I bet you have. I bet every believer has. Can
a believer truly lose their saltiness? No, not really, but boy, they
can look like it. We can feel like it. We can see
others who seem to be that way. But I don't really think that's
what the Lord is speaking of. I think he's speaking of that
person who apostatizes, who will not comply with the terms of
hating his father, his mother, and so on, with bearing his cross
and following the Lord Jesus Christ, with forsaking all for
his sake, that person who will not comply with the terms has
lost their saltiness. There's nothing to them. They're
not fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill. And like I
said, I know there have been times where every believer has
felt that way about themselves. At least I have. At least I have.
And I'd say you have too. But our Lord is speaking of those
who will not be his disciples. Now he says, he that hath ears
to hear. What a blessing it is to have ears to hear. I don't,
to me, there's nothing that scares me more than when I hear the
gospel and I don't hear. That's scary, I think. Has the Lord withdrawn his hand
from me? Has he left me? Has he removed
himself from me? What a blessing it is to have
ears to hear when I hear the gospel and I know the Lord's
speaking to me. And I believe the gospel. There's
nothing like being enabled by the Holy Spirit to hear the gospel. He that hath ears to hear, Let
Him hear. Now may the Lord give you and
I the grace to come to Him and remember in coming to Him, remember
this hatred that's involved, carrying this cross that's involved,
and forsaking all And if we don't do it, we cannot be his disciples. We're salt that's lost its savor,
that's good for nothing. May the Lord deliver us from
that, because you know as well as I do, that's what we'll be,
apart from the grace of God.