Three Would-be Disciples 09/17/2023

To people this is how we should live in the light of everything that Paul has has written

Romans 12 Romans chapter 12

I Appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice

Holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind

That by testing you may discern. What is the will of God? What is good and acceptable and perfect?

For by the grace given me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think

But to think with sober judgment each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned

For as in one body we have many members and the members do not all have the same function

So we though many are one body in Christ and individually members one of another having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us let us use them if prophecy in proportion to our faith if Service in our serving the one who teaches in his teaching the one who exhorts in his exhortation the one who contributes in generosity

The one who leads with zeal the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness

Let love be genuine Abhor what is evil hold fast to what is good?

Love one another with brotherly affection Outdo one another in showing honor

Do not be slothful and zeal be fervent in spirit serve the

Lord Rejoice and hope be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer

Contribute to the needs of the Saints and seek to show hospitality Bless those who persecute you

Bless and do not curse them Rejoice with those who rejoice weep with those who weep

Live in harmony with one another Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly

Never be wise in your own sight Repay, no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all if Possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all

Beloved never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written Vengeance is mine.

I will repay says the Lord To the contrary if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him something to drink

For by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good

Let's pray Lord God as we

Reflect upon this passage We see our great need for Christ Lord we can't accomplish any of those things without a regenerated heart

And Lord, we thank you that you have changed us that you have breathed life into us

That you have enabled us to respond to your truth and Lord We pray that we would put these things into practice

We pray Lord that our love would be genuine that we would abhor what is evil

We pray Lord that we would not be overcome by evil, but that we would overcome evil with good

Lord give us wisdom and how we work through these things in our lives and Lord as we continue to worship you through the preaching of the word

We pray that we would hear your word that we would understand it and that we would apply it

We pray that you would give Lars clarity as he works through this passage. We pray that we

That he would lift up your word We pray that it would be heard and that lives would be changed.

We thank you Lord for the preaching of your word We thank you for the Spirit who enables us to understand it and we pray

Lord that we would live Responsibly with these truths. Thank you Lord in Jesus name.

Amen Just a reminder to use it.

You know the prayer cards that are available It's very helpful to receive these and I can have them throughout the week

Reminder about prayer meeting on Wednesday evening at six o 'clock. We'll have it this week, even though we'll be

Working with the Apple Festival to remind us of your your needs your concerns

Let's see Robert Maria, you're leaving soon for South America, aren't you? Robert Maria, when are you leaving this

Thursday? I thought so how long you can be gone Okay Mindful of mark two, you know, we've all had our flood issues this week

But not only is he in charge of the water treatment plant in Fitchburg recently

He was put in charge of all the storm drains in Fitchburg. I imagine you had a busy week. I Suspect Well, here we are in Luke chapter 9 we'll finish this chapter today

Lord willing When We were in Luke's gospel last

Lord's Day, we considered the onset of our Lord's journey to Jerusalem Luke 9 51 and 52 read now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up That he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and he sent messengers before his face and from this point onward in Luke's gospel

Luke gives great attention to the imminence of our Lord's impending betrayal suffering and death

But then being raised the third day But Luke sets forth another emphasis in this lengthy travel narrative

Luke records an emphasis on the nature necessity of discipleship to Jesus Christ The Lord had told his disciples that just as he was resolved to do his father's will

Which was to suffer and die in Jerusalem. So to his followers Must be willing to deny themselves

Surrender their lives and follow him in this same course and we had also

Indicated last time that through this travel narrative Luke imposes a sense of urgency now

This is a narrative matter in the way. He tells the story There's a sense of urgency that is conveyed

To his readers That they should embrace with regard to their own lives.

We must act immediately and Resolve to follow Jesus Christ fully having been bidden by Jesus to follow him.

That's what a disciple is and does In The story that unfolds in these following chapters

Luke shows at the time was short The window of opportunity was closing upon the nation of Israel The judgment of God upon Israel would follow which of course occurred in 80 70

It's destruction by the Roman armies Well Luke conveys a sense of limited opportunity

One must respond to Jesus immediately This impetus is to make a decisive and complete commitment to follow him follow

Jesus as a condition of discipleship We had read in Luke 9 these important words that that our salvation is contingent upon being the disciple of Jesus Christ and So there we read now it happened as they journeyed on the road that that someone said to him

Lord I will follow you wherever you go and Jesus said to him foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the

Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head And then he said to another follow me, but he said

Lord. Let me first go and bury my father Jesus said to him let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God Another also said

Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid them. Farewell who were in my house But Jesus said to him

No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God and so right at the outset of this journey to Jerusalem Jesus presses the matter of Discipleship what constitutes true discipleship upon those who would follow him?

And the major theme in the verses we just read is actually the cost of discipleship

And we've emphasized many times that the Word of God sets forth discipleship to Jesus as the course of life

Of one with true saving faith only true disciples of Jesus Christ are promised and assured of salvation

If you're not a disciple of Jesus Christ, you're not a Christian We Considered the words earlier by our

Lord in Luke 9 23 He said to them all if anyone desires to come after me Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Why? Well for whoever desires to save his life will lose it But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it for what?

Prophet is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him The Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in his father's and the holy angels

It's clear from the scriptures if you fail or refuse to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ You will lose your life.

That is you lose your soul You'll be damned lost forever For having lived for yourself rather than for him who alone can save your soul

Discipleship is the nature of the Christian life True believers in Jesus Christ are disciples of Jesus Christ The disciples were first called

Christians at Antioch We should not think that becoming a disciple is becoming some kind of special mature

Christian No becoming a disciple is to become a Christian Every true

Christian is a true disciple of Jesus Christ The outcome for each of us is either eternal life with Christ and his people in a glorious new heavens and new earth or eternal damnation in a

Christless hell We must be disciples of Christ The cost of discipleship is an essential message of the

New Testament. And this must be our message in today's world It was brought forth in the last century by the

Lutheran Martha Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I pulled his book off the shelf the other night the cost of discipleship

He was the one who coined the term back in the 30s cheap grace The first words of his book were these cheap grace is the deadly enemy of the church

We are fighting today for costly grace and that's what his book was about Basically the kind of message that we're giving today

He was writing for the churches that promised salvation to anyone who believed on Jesus but who failed to teach their people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ The teaching that you can have

Jesus as your Savior, but not yet. Your Lord is cheap. Grace is not saving grace and This of course is a false gospel proclaimed by much

Christendom Now as we speak about these matters We are aware of how unsettling this can be for a young Christian or perhaps for a struggling older Christian As we consider and emphasize the full commitment of discipleship to Jesus as the way of life the way of salvation

Not the basis of salvation. That's Christ and his obedience But discipleship is the nature of the

Christian life. It's the course the way that leads to our full and final Salvation.

It's the life of faith Following Jesus as our Lord And although there are some if not many among Christian Professing Christians who have a holy fear and healthy doubts about their true spiritual standing before the

Lord I want to attempt to mollify those that may be troubled mollify the fears of the sincere, but perhaps troubled believer in Jesus Christ When many of us came to faith in Jesus Christ we did so fully and sincerely

But we were rather ignorant of what that entailed We believed in Jesus Christ the

Lord as our only way of salvation. We sincerely Desires and willing to live for him from the moment we believed

We showed forth this faith and commitment in our baptism as the Lord commanded us But at that time even though we believed in the

Lord alone for salvation we did not know we could not have known What a life of faith and commitment to Jesus Christ would involve

Perhaps you were in a church that did little to teach and impress upon you the nature and implications of true discipleship

You just weren't taught and so you lived in ignorance and perhaps with a measure of error

Respecting how the Lord would have you live After all you were told salvation is free having cost you nothing for Jesus paid it all and all to him and only to him you owe

But as you grew in your faith Your understanding of the Word of God you've come to understand and realize that although my salvation is freely given to me

It will cost me everything I have Even everything

I am that's what it means to deny yourself You Learn that there is a cost to discipleship as you learn what your

Lord would have you believe and do you acquiesce you yield to him Perhaps you do so after initial resistance or failure to him

But do his grace working in you he brings you to your senses and you submit and follow him And so you might conclude well,

I never knew these things I Had no idea that this would be set before me, but I see that it's true

For this is what the Word of God declares And so as I trust him to give me sanctifying grace

I purpose to order my life according to this light He's now given me and I hope that's the attitude of each and every one of us in The passage before us today.

Our Lord Jesus is pressing the cost of discipleship to his heroes The Lord began his journey to Jerusalem where he was destined to be rejected to suffer and die

But be raised the third day and some desired to follow him But they did not know the fate that awaited

Jesus had they known that he would be opposed by all the leaders of religious

Judaism and Had they known their own fate if they were to follow him. They might have been less

Desirous and jealous a little less eager to enlist and be numbered among his disciples But our

Lord would set them straight in contrast to say many evangelists today Who present only that which might be received by their heroes desirable benefits for believing on Jesus Jesus made known the cost of following him

He did not have as many converts as many modern -day evangelists But he did not lose any who were truly his except the son of perdition

Judas Iscariot who betrayed him And let's recognize that during his early ministry

It would have been relatively easy to follow Jesus and did the desire to be his disciple

These were the glory days of his followers Their master was healing every diseased person delivering every demon -possessed soul that came to him

Jesus was immensely popular. Jesus was the man of the hour among the religious leaders, but certainly by the people

He was an easy one and a desirable one to follow Well here before us in Luke 9

We have three men three would -be followers would -be disciples of Jesus and our

Lord dealt faithfully with each one In order to probe his true spiritual condition

These three Let's first consider what these three men had in common

First they all expressed a desire to follow him Now this is implied in the second case, but I think it's a legitimate

Implication they were believers in him. I put that believers in quotations.

They desired to become his disciples They were not unwilling men Who had no desire to know the

Lord Jesus each of them had a measure of faith And I put that in quotation marks each of them had a measure of faith in Jesus Now it was a faith that was not grounded on much knowledge.

But nevertheless they were believers in a measure and Yet we see that the kind of faith which they had was not the kind that characterizes true disciples and Again, only true disciples of Jesus have salvation

Luke 9 23 declares it They alone will share in the life and glory that is through Jesus Christ Each one of these men had a measure of faith, but whether or not they had saving faith was quite another matter

We should always remember there is a kind of faith that one may possess that will not save Nominal Christianity is a scourge at the times

This deficient faith may in some ways be regarded as great faith even to the extent of moving mountains according to Paul Yet as great as that faith appears it will not result in salvation

If I have faith that I could move mountains and have not loved I am nothing It will count as nothing

People can have faith though did not be saving faith Only Upon those who have true faith in the

Son of God does the Father grant salvation from his damnation of them due to their sin

They only disciples of Jesus received the gift of eternal life true faith

That is saving faith is that which believes on Christ and his work which leads one

Leads him to follow Christ in obedience Saving faith continues to lead a person to follow

Christ in faith and obedience throughout life In other words true saving faith moves one to persevere in faith

Following Jesus Christ throughout life. God promises no salvation to the temporary believer

Well, secondly also what was common to all these three the Lord dealt with all of them directly

Calling them to full discipleship all three of them They were willing to follow him at least at the present or so seen by their profession

But would they be willing to follow him fully without reservation and without giving up at some point along the way

They really did not know what their commitment would cost them They did not know the difficulty that they would face

But the Lord knew what was ahead for himself and for his disciples He did not need people to begin to follow him who would later abandon him

And so he made sure at the outset that only fully dedicated followers would be received into his ranks

Again, how different were his methods from our methods today? Why we would never discourage a volunteer, but it appears that Jesus did everything he could to discourage them

We Tend to offer an easy path present the glowing promises to swell our numbers and Jesus made it seem to be an impossible feat to become one of his followers

Our Lord never refused anybody who came to him who sought to be accepted by him Those with broken and contrite hearts and his own words, of course encouraged that he that cometh unto me

I will no wise in no wise cast out On the other hand as urgent once wrote he did not shovel in his followers indiscriminately

He did not accept anybody and everybody in order to increase his numbers He knew how to shut the door as well as open it wrote

Spurgeon He knew how to warn and discourage the pretentious and accept only the penitent those who truly repented of sin

He was ready with an open heart and hand to receive the needy, but he was also faithful to the self -deceived

Those who profess to have what was really not their True faith and resolve to follow and obey him regardless of the cost or the consequences

That's what a true disciple is and is like but again how different we are today

When we offer Jesus we're concerned about offending people or discouraging people in any way at all

And so the common approach is this Withhold the hard sayings and present the promises that will engender and gather gain a crowd

But we must deal with souls the way the Lord Jesus did We have to be faithful We must exercise judgment and not count as converts as everybody simply because they say

I believe I believe I assure you I believe in Jesus Christ If one is not willing to follow

Jesus obey Jesus as his master mark it down. He's not a believer in Jesus Christ Regardless of what he tells you and so we must watch and try and test lest we assist self -deception and be servants of Satan Bolstering the delusions of state mistaken men and women

And that's not an easy task in today's world, frankly And then thirdly there seemed to be a deficiency common to all three of them there's no mention or hint here of some vital things which should characterize true disciples of Jesus Christ a sense of personal sin a repentant spirit a sense of humility

Particularly with the first one There's no expression of their need for a Savior But when the

Lord deals with people these things become quite evident The seed of the gospel brings to vital life only where there's been a deep plowing of one's heart

Revealing one's sin and need for forgiveness The house which God builds is only built on a foundation that has been securely and deeply set

The Savior heals the soul only after the wound has been deeply probed and cleansed of all corruption.

He doesn't heal the sickness of his people lightly The one with true saving faith must be keenly aware personal sin

There must be a sense not just I'm a sinner like everybody's a sinner. It seems to satisfy

Many when they're preaching so -called gospel, are you sinner? Well, yeah, I'm a sinner as anyone would acknowledge

But it's quite different when the person comes to sense my sin my guilt my condemnation before God I Must know of my need for a

Savior. I must know and believe that Jesus is my Savior He's my

Lord and that self -awareness will lead one to abandon all and follow him regardless of obstacles or consequences

And So the Lord spoke to each of these men seeking to reveal to each one his own deficiency and He knew precisely in each case where the weakness was

And so we considered what was common to them all let's now consider what was unique to each one Each one to seem to seem to have a specific deficiency

And so we might describe them as follows first We refer to him as the resolver

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road that someone said to him Lord I will follow you wherever you go and Jesus said to him foxes have holes birds of the air have nest but the

Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head Well, let's consider the spiritual condition of this man

This man was resolved to follow the Lord. He said to Jesus Lord I will follow you wherever you go

And so this man the resolver was resolved to make a commitment to the Lord we might say

If we use modern language, we would say he was willing to make a decision for Christ a commitment for Christ He would give his heart to Jesus Just ask him to do so and he'll resolve so to do do it readily

Why we would never throw a roadblock before someone like him would we? Clearly he's a prospect for the kingdom, but our

Lord did didn't he? This man by professing his desire to follow

Jesus would be regarded in these days as a true convert to Christ He was a believer and There would be no doubt about this man for not only did he believe but he believed enough to be willing to follow

Jesus Surely this is a genuine inheritor of the kingdom who could doubt it the

Lord did Again how different were his ways of dealing with souls in our ways

Matthew's account tells us this man was a scribe a teacher of the law. This was not an ignorant man

He knew the Scriptures And he must have been convinced that Jesus was the

Messiah, although he probably had a faulty concept of the nature of Jesus as the

Messiah But he knew the Scriptures But sadly, he really didn't know himself nor did he know what following Jesus would entail

Well many in the heat of emotion make commitments to Jesus The invitation system is designed for that to get people to make decisions emotional

Appeals and draws and people will make commitments all day long I've been in big

Crusades over the years been involved as a worker in the altar Where the first first stands are the first him all you workers come down the aisle and that primes the crowd

If they see a bunch of people walking then they'll join in and come down to I mean it was all psychological all manipulative

They say I believe I will follow him I look there you that I will They're so resolved to do so that they'll make it as public as you like they'll sign a commitment form stand up tell you their conversion

Coming forward in a meeting anywhere in any way they're willing to make known their resolve and we frequently encourage that sort of thing as I just described in evangelistic meetings and We're not saying that we should not do so, although we certainly should not manipulate people

Psychologically, but just because someone claims to be a Christian doesn't make him a true Christian Well, let's consider this man's faith in Jesus verse 58

We can say this man gave his heart to Jesus. I will follow you wherever you go

Surely this man was a true disciple of Jesus But the Lord basically says not so fast our

Lord knew immediately the problem with this man He had all too much confidence

I Will follow you This man knew the scriptures.

He was a teacher of the law of Moses, but he did not know much about himself And he come with a tear in his eye broken and humble just as willing but with less confidence in himself

He might have been received differently There is not the attitude Lord I'm willing but I am unable to follow you unless you hold me up and teach me in the way that wasn't his attitude

Or Lord, I'm willing to follow you, but I realize I'm not worried that he'd be received into your ranks

But will will you allow me to follow you just the same that wasn't his attitude No, it seemed to be rather an announcement that he makes here

Jesus here I am I'm resolved I will follow you wherever you go.

I'm a scribe. I have great understanding. I have much to offer. I Even I will follow you wherever you go.

I've made up my mind to do this and I'm man enough for the task I'm a strong -minded person and able to carry out what

I resolve to do. I will follow you really Again just because someone resolved to follow the

Lord Jesus doesn't make him a Christian One Must be born again, of course, and that's not in your power to do that's something that God has to do for you

God must place a new heart within you. You need the Spirit of God to guide you instruct you and empower you

Your resolve really is meaningless in and of itself Charles Spurgeon and he gave a sermon of which much of this is based frankly

Entitled fickle followers on these three disciples would be

He said of the one who resolves go write your resolve on water Can't you picture that going down and writing with your finger your resolve on water and then return tomorrow and read the phrase you inscribed

And when you've done that then trust in your own determinations Go and say that you'll pluck the moon out of her orbit or stop the

Sun in its blaze at midday And when you've done those things then you can so control your own self as to be ever faithful to the

Lord without his help the resolver And so how do you deal with a person who seems to exhibit this kind of presumptive shallow belief this notion that says, of course

He will accept me. Certainly I'm able and I will follow him Well, he needed to hear the cost of Christianity Jesus said to him

Foxes have holes birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head We do people of misservice if we

Represent Christianity as a solution to all their problems, and that's the common appeal given among many evangelicals

Or that somehow becoming a Christian will resolve all your conflicts Becoming a

Christian will end one major conflict the one we had with God and he with us And obviously our lives will not be experiencing the kinds of things that some people encounter or fighting against God In order to live in their sin for he is fighting against them

But when you enlist on his side new conflicts begin to arise which you have never encountered before You begin to wage a never -ending battle against sin within and you deal with and endure through conflicts with non -christians

As you're seeking to order your life according to his will and so to become a disciple of Jesus In that day you would of course experience conflict with unbelieving official

Judaism It meant a for forfeiture of comfort and exclusion from one's own family even alienation from the community

They put you out of the synagogue if you believed on Jesus I Will follow you wherever you go said the man and the

Lord responded in effect Are you are you aware the full consequences of your resolve? Are you willing to follow me believe and obey me if it means you're forfeiting your comfortable home your secure position as a scribe

If it results in deprivation rejection suffering, will you continue to have that resolve?

I Wonder how many would come forward in our evangelistic Crusades if the cost of Christianity were presented to would -be followers of Jesus That's how he dealt with them

And so what is the cost of Christianity? Well, essentially the Lord said life will be tough if you follow me

You will have to follow a friendless man who has no place he can really call home At nighttime when families are gathered together in their homes and even foxes go to their dens

Birds have nest to return to you'll have no place No wealth will be gained if you follow me

You'll not be extended sympathy or kindness by others people will not open their home to you

Those who now know you will desert you those who now admire you will abhor you

Those of your own house will regard you as an enemy. Will you follow me then?

But that doesn't sound like the kind of appeal made at invitation time That's what we need to hear if you're a disciple of Jesus Christ, you'll be asked to do things by family friends

Employers that you cannot do. Is that not right Tracy? this week or next week

Because your Lord tells you to do otherwise and then your refusal to go along will cost you

Yes, there's a crown to be gained for every child of God just as a Lord received his crown when he rose from the grave

And was bidden by the father to sit down on his throne But there was first a cross to be endured and a crown of thorns to be worn

Before he was seated on the throne in heaven to wear the crown of glory and it's the same with you and me

Paul could say we must through many hardships enter the kingdom of God. The life of a

Christian is one of hardship We in America have been spared largely in the last couple hundred years

But that may be changing But many when they discover there's a cross to bear a crown of thorns to wear they'll forgo the ground of glory

For it costs too much But this is the only path to eternal life faith obedient faith persevering faith no matter the consequences

It'll take you places that you you can't possibly perceive

The resolver well a second man came to the Lord Jesus he was different from the first we can might describe him as the qualifier

He yeah, he'd follow Jesus, but he'd makes him he'd qualify that discipleship

Then he said to another follow me, but he said Lord, let me first go bury my father Jesus said to him let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God That's pretty direct

Now this man was greatly blessed of the Lord this man was more advantaged than the first the first announced to Jesus His willingness to follow him, but the second was asked by Jesus himself

Follow me. The first man was enlisting. The second man was being drafted What a great privilege it is for a person to have the call of God on his life

When we speak of God's call, we're not saying he hears an audible voice, of course But that voice of God that calling of God could not be more clear if it were audible

The words are made real to the soul Christ has singled out me and is bidding me to follow him.

I Must believe on him. I must follow him. I hear him calling me. It's an impression upon the soul

You know, God is dealing with your soul and every true child of God hears a call from God at different degrees and levels, of course, but He may not recognize it at the time for what it is

This call is often referred to in Scripture for you see your calling brethren Paul is writing to everybody in the church of Corinth that was a

Christian Not many wise according to flesh not many mighty not many noble are called

God has chosen the foolish things of the world Put to shame the wise

God has chosen the weak things of the world to put shame the things that are mighty Base things of the world things which are despised

God has chosen elect The things which are not to bring to nothing the things are that no flesh should glory or have any basis of taking the credit for their salvation

That's your calling you see your calling Second Thessalonians, therefore we also pray always for you that our

God would count you worthy of this calling He Calls us, you know in his mercy and grace to come on to him

But then we got to live up to this calling as he enables us by his grace To live worthy of this calling fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power

In 2nd Peter 1 10 and 11 Therefore brethren be even more diligent to make your calling in election

Sure, be certain God has called you to salvation is what Peter is saying And the way you make your calling election sure is by looking at the evidence of saving grace in your life

Sanctifying grace. I love God. I love Jesus Christ. I love his word. I love his people.

I love righteousness I hate sin. I love his word That's how you make your calling election certain to yourself

These things are not natural. They're supernatural Something that God has put in your soul wasn't there before Make your calling election sure

Abraham heard the call of God when he was an idolater living in the Chaldean city of Ur and he responded by following God to the land of promise

He became a pilgrim on a journey The call of God requires a response

Just as Abraham left his former life the call of God to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is a call to walk away from Your former life that had been characterized by ignorance of God resistance of God rebellion against God Abraham walked away from his idolatry and we are to walk away from the gods.

We formerly served mainly self This call of God to faith is described as a heavenly calling

Because it comes from God Hebrews 3 1 When one knows that he has heard the call of God it becomes a basis of hope the hope of his calling

It's one thing to call on Jesus. That's fine. And well, it's better to know that God has called you

That'll give you hope This calling also results in an aspiration to live a holy life according to second

Thessalonians 1 However, there are some who are called of the

Lord very clearly who never received salvation in other words There's an illumination that God provides

Unconverted people where they come to understand and see these things quite clearly and God's calling them, but they don't respond

It was a general call of the gospel, but it was not an effectual call that converts them a

General call of the gospel extended to them the call of the gospel to any and all that they may come to Jesus Christ for salvation

Of course we extend that call right now, aren't we to everyone anyone here you can come to Christ for salvation through him alone and The Lord may be telling you, you know, maybe you came here as a non -christian, but the

Lord is telling you that's true You can come to Christ for salvation he's calling generally

And so it's a call in which the sinner is graciously bidden to come to Christ and he knows it

He knows that God is calling him It's not just a call of the preacher But it's a call by the

Blessed Holy Spirit who's illuminated you to the truth That's in Jesus Christ of the great privilege and opportunity before you

The One who's called of God must not fail to heed continually to this call For if he does he can be certain if he refuses to heed to this call.

He may be certain he'll receive the wrath of God The one who hears the call of God to salvation and refuses

Will be under much greater degrees of wrath on the day of judgment than the one who never heard

The writer to the Hebrews these were Jewish Christians professing

Christians who were being tempted to abandon Jesus Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard.

He's talking about the gospel He's talking about New Testament people hearing the word of Christ Lest we drift away

Don't don't allow yourself to drift away and then he reasons if under the

Old Testament Mosaic law people got what they deserve when they broke a commandment It's much worse for us today under this gospel

Period for if the Word of God spoken through angels proved steadfast much of the law was given to Moses through angels

Every transgression and disobedience received a just reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at first began to be spoken by the

Lord Speaking of his earthly ministry confirmed to us by those who heard him speaking of the

Apostles God also buried witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles gifts of the

Holy Spirit according to his own will How can we escape if we neglect this great? privilege an

Opportunity that's extended to us in another passage of exhortation the writer said therefore is the

Holy Spirit says Today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion speaking about Israel refusing to enter the promised land because of their lack of faith in The day of trial in the wilderness when your father's tested me proved me saw my work 40 years

Therefore I was angry with that generation. They do always go astray in their hearts. They've not known my way

So I swore in my wrath. They shall not enter my rest If you hear the call of God to become a disciple of Jesus Christ and you refuse

It's like though. It's like refusing to enter into the promised land the heavenly

Cain and the heavenly rest Beware brethren lest there be any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living

God But rather exhort one another daily while it's called today. Why lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin?

Sin is deceitful And unless you deal with it, it'll harden your heart So the ones he described as falling under God's anger judgment were those

Israelites who had been delivered from bondage in Egypt under Moses only to later rebel against God through their unbelief and Refusal to continue to follow

God and we are like them if we fail and refuse to follow Jesus Christ and repentance and faith

And so there's great privilege to the one who hears the call of God, but there's also great responsibility Well, what would he do though?

We might ask he might forthrightly refuse or he might postpone his response until the voice is no longer heard

Or he may respond is this man did This man would follow

Jesus but on his terms he said to Jesus Lord, let me first go and bury my father

He would qualify his faith and obedience and so there was something more important in pressing on this man than following Jesus and It seemed that he made such a reasonable request.

He desired to bury his father. Why isn't that a good thing? Doesn't that seem like a reasonable request it would seem so After all to bury one's father was an important task.

It was regarded as the supreme way you honor your father to fulfill the fifth commandment

This seemed to be the man this this seemed to the man as a Legitimate reason to postpone obedience to Jesus is directed to him

Surely he could not be expected to follow the master's directive if it meant ignoring this other important matter

But the Lord responded to him very directly Let the dead bury their own dead you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

I Think that's one of the hardest Sayings of our Lord Jesus in the Gospels Of course, he say let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead you go preach the kingdom of God And so how do you deal with a person who seems to want to set aside the clear commandment of God and he feels?

Himself fully justified in doing so you don't allow any excuse presented as a basis to set aside the commandment of God There's nothing more important than believing following Jesus Christ as his disciple

You reaffirm the word of instruction in very clear strong terms Now again this response of Jesus seems all too harsh it shocks the sensibilities of most of us perhaps and It must have been it must have done.

So to this would -be follower Some see this as being so insensitive a response that they try and interpret it in another way to diminish its harshness

Well, some say that the man was really asking to care for his dying father you know prolonged as His father is old and dying and after he gets done and after he dies

Well, then I'll bury him and then I'll follow you They're trying to lessen The seriousness and the suddenness of Jesus's command

It diminishes the severity of his words But if the man was asking to care for his dying father

Wouldn't he ask if he could would he ask if he could first bury his father before following Jesus?

He doesn't ask to let me care care for my father till he died, but let me bury my father first that describes someone who's gonna care for his ailing father

It's best to leave the text as it stands and then try and deal with the difficulty as best we can The Lord Jesus told this man that others could bury his dead father.

He must go preach the kingdom of God The duty of following Jesus takes precedence over all other concerns and If the

Lord would not accept this man's reason for failing or refusing to respond to his call He'll not accept your excuse either or your delay

Willie Do it if you hear him calling you to follow him in faith and obedience do it.

Don't hesitate Don't procrastinate do it Well, I don't know pastor it sure seems incentive to me

But remember the Lord had a sense of urgency about preaching the kingdom of God That others listening to him did not know

He was on his way to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die If the judgment upon the people in the land was before them for rejecting their promised

Messiah to follow Jesus now is most urgent most important more so than any other matter of life and So if we have a problem reconciling what

Jesus said it's because we too don't recognize the sense of urgency pressed upon him

And we mentioned earlier how Luke uses his travel narrative to give a sense of urgency to his readers to compel them to act

I Want to give you a crude illustration, but I think that it illustrates What's going on?

Suppose you and I were walking along a road to go to the funeral of my father who had just died And my heart's filled with grief no other thing is more important to me than my grief and test before me

I must bury my father but as we're walking we pass near a river and As we do you hear the screams of a person drowning?

And you see it wants at your daughter who's drowning and is desperately calling for help

So you begin to run to her aid Calling me to help you rescue her and now suppose

I were to respond to you Let me first go and bury my father then I'll come to help you Absurd yes, but that's what we have here in Luke 9 our

Lord was on his final journey to Jerusalem where he was about to be rejected by men Suffering died.

He knew the entire nation his beloved nation would soon be under God's wrath for having rejected him

This was the last time he was coming through this area They must hear the news of salvation you go preach the kingdom of God Nothing, not even burying one's father was more urgent more pressing more important Jesus was filled with concern with a sense of urgency and he was attempting to draft

Proclaimers of his message that were going out before him as he journeyed to Jerusalem but this principle abides for us

You cannot follow him on your terms You cannot qualify your discipleship

You cannot pick and choose what you determine is important leave the rest undone and claim to be his

If you hear and know the command of God you must do it. He's the Lord. You're his follower

You must follow his directives and that's what saving faith is. That's what fit saving faith looks like Well, I don't want to but I'm gonna do it anyway, that's what he wants me to do

It might not be pleasant. It might be very hard, but there's really not an option. It's clear what he has before me

Spurgeon I made reference to his sermon fickle followers. Well, here's a Here he applied this to himself in his own ministry

But with regard to what this man said about burying his father if there was some force in it to our ear

The Savior who knew everything saw that there was no force in it He said there are other people to bury your father, but I've called you now to come and follow me

Nobody else can do that for you, but the burial of your father can be done by others whom

I have never called And who know nothing about the divine life. Let the dead bury the dead, you know, let the spiritually dead bury the physical dead

Then Spurgeon wrote this you'd be surprised if I were to read to you letters Which I receive about different things which the writers say

I ought to do or couldn't do Of course, I ought to take a side in politics and appear at the next political meeting

Of course, I shall not because there are plenty of dead people to bury dead politics. They may go and do it

My business is to preach the gospel Someone then says you should take up special social questions

There are plenty of dead people to handle social question. Let them handle them if they like that work

My business is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ Then it said you ought to provide amusements for the people

I think about today's ministry models Ought I there are plenty of fools to do that without my going into competition with them

My business is to preach the gospel When a man is once called by Christ, he may say of a great many things

Well, they are very proper very proper indeed for others who attend to dead people need bearing and ought to be buried

It's a pity that there should be any difficulty about there being buried, but there are enough dead people to bury them

They're not enough living people one living ones to preach the gospel There are not enough to follow

Christ. Follow me said Christ I must be first and as those other things there are other people who can properly attend to them

It's more in their line the dead know where the graves are the dead know all about funerals

Follow me and let the dead bury their dead Well the third man

We might call the quitter Another also said Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are in my at my house

But Jesus said to him no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God This is an interesting fellow

Consider a spiritual condition. He like the first would follow the Lord but on his terms

This man like the first volunteered I will follow you Lord And he was like the first to he

He was resolved to follow the Lord But sadly, he was all also all too confident in himself and his ability

As with the first there's no mention by him of a sense of personal sin guilt or humility

But he was also like the second man for he would qualify his discipleship Let me first go back and say goodbye to my family

But the Lord said no For this man to have done that would have been as a man plowing who kept looking back turning back

He would not be fit for the kingdom of heaven The NIV has the words of our

Lord reading that a man is who is plowing who keeps looking back and not fit for service in the kingdom of God And some may think therefore that he's not speaking about discipleship in terms of whether or not a man has salvation

But whether or not he'll be productive or successful in his work or service for the kingdom But this is to lessen the words in the demand of our

Lord Here is a man who willing to follow Jesus, but it's apparent by our Lord's response.

This man was not fully committed to do so he voiced the same resolve as the first man, but it must have

Not been with the same intensity or the same degree of commitment. His loyalties were divided

He'd follow the Lord, but while doing so his heart would be divided with other matters

He would follow the Lord But not fully committed to following him. He would do so to a degree but would fail to do so completely and This was revealed to our

Lord by the man's response first permit me to say goodbye to those at home Now there's nothing wrong in and of itself to returning and say goodbye to one's family there's an

Old Testament precedent for it Elisha wanted to follow in Elijah and Elijah permitted

Elisha to return to to to To say goodbye to his family before he left

But the Lord must have known that if this man went home to say goodbye, he would probably never

Have left home Perhaps his parents and family would have persuaded him to remain at home

Urging him don't become overzealous about this thing You get into a cult don't get caught up in that There's people here that have heard that from their parents

Now it really doesn't say the man quit following or would quit but I've called him the quitter

Perhaps it would be better to call him the potential quitter or a waffler He was waffling in his commitment to follow

Jesus. That might be More suited. He was like a double -minded man that James speaks about As such he could not expect anything from the

Lord James 1 verse 7 and 8 If you're a true disciple of Jesus Christ, you must be fully committed to being so You must

It must take precedence over you to be his disciple That's your calling.

This is your preeminent concern which governs all of life and You know, perhaps a word of explanation is needful by saying this

We're not trying to describe service in the kingdom as religious duties in contrast to so -called secular things

There are people particularly Christian wives and mothers I have found who think that serving as a disciple of Jesus is only done when you're out passing tracks or going door -to -door reading your

Bible Or going to some kind of meeting with other Christians But their duties and concerns of the family seem to limit them and consume them that they feel guilty

That they're not able to do more things for the church and for others and that's not what we're suggesting at all

What we're saying is that regardless of whatever you do whether you're at home or in the workplace

You're a fully committed first as a disciple of Jesus Christ You purpose to consider to act and react in a manner befitting and circumscribed by the scriptures as a disciple is to live and so what whether you do it seems to you to be ordinary mundane

Mundane do it to the glory of God Whatever it is As Paul wrote whether you eat or drink even the most mundane mundane things, whatever you do do all to the glory of God You do it for Jesus sake the problem with this man is

That he would in one situation do what was right, but apparently in another he'd compromise this is what was meant by looking back

He couldn't plow a straight furrow just so many ruts in the field

Now the true disciple is committed to the kingdom whether he's at home Or on the job.

His Christianity is not a change of clothes, which he puts on for a day and then takes him off But he's committed fully wherever he finds himself to live as Christ would have him live

Maybe years ago going into the home of a one of the church members. This was in Sacramento. It was 40 years ago and He was a

Christian not all that faithful frankly and We were talking about the things of Christ and whatnot and we we we changed subject we started talking about baseball or something like that the

San Francisco Giants playing I think it was and He he forgot who he was talking to and all of a sudden he went into sports talk with the foul language and everything

And after about three sentences, he realized he was talking to the pastor and all of a sudden he changed his language again and You know, that's how some people are their

Christianity is shaped by who they're with and And so they'll talk as a Christian when they're with you as a

Christian But when they're when they're with the crowd, they'll be just like them, too we need to be disciples of Christ wherever we are and We ought to be mindful of that Well again, the

Lord dealt with this man. No one having put his hand to the plow looking back is fit for the kingdom of God We must get full attention and commitment to this work to produce a straight furrow

We must be fully committed to the kingdom of God and so it is with the one who follows the

Lord Yes, our attention will be diverted to other things can't help but live that way

But not so as to bring reproach to the Lord or to our profession We do things in a biblical manner as the

Lord is looking on and leading us. We do it as unto the Lord You're not working to serve your employer your manager you're serving

Christ And that and so you're just as faithful and diligent when you're alone as as when that Manager is working next to you.

It matters not because you're serving Jesus Christ Well, let's conclude so we see these three would -be disciples

We Really don't know whether these three responded to our Lord and doesn't say whether or not they adhered to him

It's not disclosed. We don't know whether or not the first was willing to suffer hardship following Jesus Whether or not the second was willing to be fully committed to obey

Christ Regardless of what other matters called him or whether the third would be fully committed to his task and continue it

How they responded is really not clear But how they were to respond is very clear and The Lord has left these words for you and me today to challenge and confront us to the end that we might follow him fully and lasting late and This is what we want for each of us that every man woman teenager child here

Will say I am for Christ. I Commit in faith enabled by his grace to live for him regardless of what is required

Regardless of the cost of doing so as he enables me May each of us say

I'm committed to this matter and by his grace I'll not be diverted or deterred with all my desire all my strength

I'll plow this course straight ahead toward the end of the field and This is the description of a simple but sincere convert to Jesus Christ.

Nothing more. Nothing less He's come in simple faith to Christ. He's put away a self -directed life

Having laid aside self -righteousness and worldliness having turned from self indulgent sins

Of the flesh in mind and has come to Christ who alone can make sinful men to be his true

Disciples and this is what it is to be a Christian according to the scriptures

There there there are a few of them around than many Think I suspect may the

Lord help us be faithful. Amen Thank you father for your word and the directness

Lord. Jesus of your dealing with souls and Help us to take these matters to heart

Help us to be responsive to your call our God Jesus Christ is

Lord. We see that give us grace that we might live accordingly We humble ourselves before you afresh

Confess you Jesus as Lord and Savior Guide us help us empower to live for you our

God throughout this this coming week For we pray these things father in Jesus name.