Is It Worthwhile to Be a Christian? (02/22/1996)

That's okay, that's good right there. That'll work. Okay young people, we're very glad that you all got to come, even from long distances in some cases, glad that you're here to be with us tonight.

It's been a special time, I've enjoyed it. I haven't had a place to bring my wife on a date.

She's dead. So glad all of you came. And it's my privilege at this time to introduce to you our speaker for this evening,

Dr. Rocky Freeman. He's my mentor in the faith. I got called a priest in 1984.

And I had known Dr. Freeman before that when I first got saved. He was the first preacher that I heard preach after I got saved.

And he made the word of God come alive to me. He wants to stop over the white bed.

Everybody look up here. Okay, but Dr.

Freeman was the first preacher of the word of God that I heard preach after I got saved.

And for the first time in my life I realized how wonderful the Bible was when

I heard this man preach. He's preached in every nation in the world. He's been all over the world preaching.

And a little bit, about three or four months before I was saved, he came to Mahea and did a meeting there.

And that was supposed to be a fairly short meeting, but it turned into about a 14 day meeting if I remember correctly.

And there were over a hundred teenagers saved at that evangelistic meeting. And so he has a heart for young people and I'm just thrilled to have him be with us.

Dr. Freeman, thank you. The longer

I live, the more I learn. And one thing that I have learned,

I've picked up on it when you stand and speak to people, especially when they've eaten, is I just tell myself to step up, speak up, and shut up.

And you'll get an applause on the ladder about as quick as you will on anything else. I don't want to preach you a sermon, you've had enough of them.

But I would not be fair to myself and I would not be fair to my God if I didn't take opportunity at least to share some truths with you that I think you need to hear.

Wherever you travel, it doesn't make any difference. Human nature is the same.

I don't care whether you're in India, Zambia, Nigeria, Canada, Europe, human nature is always the same.

We say, well, you don't understand. And I always like to ask, what makes you think

I don't understand? And there are two critical ages with young people, our children.

One of them is six years of age. At six years of age, children have every question in the world.

There is no scientist, there is no one that can answer all the questions that a six -year -old has.

The other critical age is 16, they've got all the answers. And I'm not saying that to be critical,

I'm just saying it astounds me when people have never even been out of the state of Texas and they know everything about the world.

They've never even been out of the city in which they live and they know everything. Because they've gone to school, sat under a teacher in some school somewhere, and they've graduated high school, all of a sudden they are authorities on everything.

But it does not matter how much education one has. There are questions that people still have about life.

It doesn't make any difference. And I just want you to think with me very briefly about this particular thought.

Is the Christian life worthwhile? And I make that question everywhere I go and I challenge college students,

I challenge people in the scientific field, I challenge lawyers, I challenge doctors, I challenge...

It doesn't make any difference. If you can convince me from fact, not what you think, not what you feel, not what you believe, not what you think about it, but if you can show me some objective evidence that the

Christian life is not worthwhile, I will burn my Bible and I will never speak the name of Jesus Christ again as long as I live.

Now I've been saying that for a long time and I've yet to have anybody come up and even say, I can do it. They won't even talk about it.

They don't even want to challenge you on it. They just want to sit around and talk about it. They want to talk about it. Well, when you start talking about the

Christian life, there are three questions that always come up. Inevitably, it does so. The first one is very simple.

The first question is, is the Christian life possible? Now, I'm talking about the Christian life and I'm not talking about church life.

There's a difference. You see, wherever I've gone, I have found multitudes of adult Christians. I'll let me rephrase that.

An abundance of people sitting in churches who call themselves Christians, yet when I take what they say and the way they live and put it in the

Bible, I can't find that as Christianity. On the other hand, and so I believe many of them aren't

Christians. And on the other hand, I find people who claim to be Christians, but yet if you watch them and listen to them, their life isn't much different than a real nice person downtown.

There are people that you know yourself who live a good, strong, moral life. I mean, they're not bad people. They're not into drugs.

They don't go around robbing stores. No, they're not Christians. But they're good people.

And yet you take their life and compare it to many people who say they aren't Christians and there won't be any difference. They will not be any difference.

That's why they will say to you, well, I don't go down to that church because I know so -and -so who does go down there. And they throw that at you and me.

But whenever I say the first question is whether the Christian life is possible, it is a question that's mingled with desire and doubt.

You see, a person starts thinking about that. Well, is the Christian life possible? So what they're saying is maybe I have a desire that I might want to investigate the

Christian life. But there's some doubt in my mind whether it's possible to live that kind of a life. It's very difficult.

And so they have that. Now, the moment a person comes out of conviction that it's possible, if a person just says it's possible, they go to the next question.

And the next question is, is the Christian life necessary? If it's possible, is it necessary? Why do I have to be a

Christian? I hear that every day. My phone rings off the hook. And I'll be talking to somebody and they'll say, well, why do

I have to be that? Or, why do I have to believe that? Or, why do you say that?

Or, why do they say that? Or, where does the Bible say that? Well, I know the Bible says that, but.

I know that's what God says, but. I know that's the way it ought to be, but. And when they say but, that means they've done found them a way out.

They think they've found them a way out. Now, the question is if the life that now is, the life that you now live is less than life if it is without God.

I don't care how good you think it is. The life that you now live, if it is less than life, it's less than what life ought to be.

No matter how good your life could be, it is still less than what God wanted to be if it's a life lived without God.

And may I say this to you? The life that is to come and the life that now is are one.

You know, death does not change your essential character. See, a lot of people think, well, I'll do okay, and I'll stumble along and do what

I want to here. Well, when I get up there, things will change. No, no. Your essential character stays the same. See, you are now preparing for up there.

And so, what I'm simply saying to you, if you and I can come to the fact that it's necessary, if a godly life is necessary here, then it's going to correlate that there's a life up there.

There's a life beyond. Now, I understand the now generation. I understand that young people don't think past tomorrow.

I understand that. But I will promise you, if you look across the street, it will remind you that there is.

It's just across the street. And I promise you, and I say this everywhere I go, within two years, somebody you know will be dead.

In two years. Somebody that you know that's kind of close to you will be dead within two years. You mark it down.

But see, that don't ever happen to you. I told you, Pastor was talking about this group in Mahea. We had a meeting scheduled,

First Baptist in Mahea. It was scheduled to go Sunday to Wednesday, and we went 14 days. 14 days.

And I had a young man. He's a teenager. He'd drive me all over town. We'd catch kids. Catch them running. They began to say, come here, they'd run.

They'd try to run away from us. And these kids began to pray. And listen, they made a list of about 115 young people, and God saved them in alphabetical order.

They had them in alphabetical order. And so we'd come down to this kid and say, hey, you're next. He said, man, I ain't coming down there.

I ain't coming there. He said, you're next. Sure enough, here he comes. He don't know why he came. But one of the things I'd tell him, we were driving down the street.

I'll never forget it. There was some boys running down the street. I'd say, hey, come here. And he'd stop, and he'd say, I don't want to talk to you guys. And I just had a 17 -year -old boy with me.

He said, come here, I want to talk to you. So he introduced me to him, you know. And I said, let me ask you a question. Where are you going?

He said, I'm going down there. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. Where are you going when you die? He said, oh, man,

I don't think about that. I said, listen, you know where the funeral home is? He said, yeah. Go down to that funeral home and tell that guy you want to lay in a casket.

Just tell him you'd like to lay down in one. He said, man, are you crazy? I said, no, because you're going to get in one one day.

You're going to get in one one day. Why not just go down and try it on and see what it's like? Because you're going in there, and one of these days, if God doesn't send his son, if Jesus doesn't come back home, you and I all are going to go.

So what I'm simply saying is the life that you now live indicates to us that there is a life to come.

But I'm not so concerned about is the Christian life possible, because I know it is. And I'm not so concerned about is it necessary, because I know that's true.

But there's another question that always comes up, and it's simple. People say, well, listen, I know about the Christian life, but why can't

I be content with something that's less than that? Why do I have to just stay up here?

Why do I have this, this, this? Why can't I just get partway, and that'd be good enough?

So they come up with this question, is the Christian life worthwhile? Is it worthwhile?

See, now Peter, you remember Simon Peter? What's the first thing that comes to your mind when I say Simon Peter? Go ahead and tell me, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

Does anything come to your mind? Simon Peter in the Bible, let me try to get it. Let me clarify what

I'm talking about. Simon Peter in the New Testament. Most people think he denied the

Lord. That's what he's known for. He made a mistake in his life. But Peter was human, and Peter always made things right.

You know, Peter came to the Lord in Matthew chapter 19, and he said, Lord, I mean, here's a man who comes to his Lord. He comes to Jesus Christ.

He says, Lord, we've left everything we have. Now what are we going to get out of it? Now, see, you and I, we think that, we don't say it, but he's honest.

See, he was honest. And Jesus just in fact said, look, don't worry about now, but whenever you have followed me into the life that's to come, you're going to sit on the throne, and you're going to judge the twelve tribes of Israel on this earth.

Boy, I mean, that turned Peter on. But let me ask you a question. Is the Christian life worthwhile? Now, to answer that question, there are two things you have to deal with.

If we say, is the Christian life worthwhile? First of all, the cost of the life. The cost of the life, and the second is the value.

Cost and value. Cost ratio. You know, that's what it is. What are we going to get out of it? What's it going to cost me? What am I going to get out of it?

And people talk about that all the time. And so what I'm saying is, the person who's saying, is the Christian life worthwhile?

They are thinking of cost, and they're thinking of the value, and they're trying to find a balance between the two. That's what that person's thinking about.

And there's nothing wrong with that. That's honest. There's nothing wrong with saying, is the Christian life worthwhile?

You're not a robot. You're not some kind of a mechanical monster walking around the earth. You've got a mind, you've got emotions, you've got wanderings, you've got musings, you've got meditations, you've got concentration, you've got intelligence.

God wants you to do this. God never bypasses your mind. He says, come now, let's reason together, saith the

Lord. Think on these things. Use your mind. He says so. Somebody says to me, is it worthwhile?

I'm excited about that when they say, is it worthwhile? Because I can discuss that with them. I can discuss that with them.

Now, I want you to see very clearly with me tonight, I want you to see with me very clearly the cost and the value.

Now let me start out with you. I begin with the cost, and I want to say, and I want you to hear me very clearly. No matter who you are, no matter what's going on in your mind,

I want you to know that the Christian life is extremely costly. If you don't know what cost is, then don't think that you can get baptized and join a church and be alright with God.

It won't work. It will not work. Jesus Christ made it perfectly clear from his teachings, and you'd be very suspicious of any preacher or any teacher that tells you the

Christian life is simple and the Christian life is easy, because if you've tried it, you know that's not true.

It is not simple, and it is not easy. And anybody that tells you that, you'd be suspicious of what that person is trying to get you to do or where they're trying to lead you.

I challenge any person to make that assertion in my presence based upon what Jesus Christ himself taught.

It's impossible for them to do so. There is nothing more remarkable in the ministry of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, when he was on this earth, than the fact that he forever repelled people from him.

He didn't draw them to him. He was constantly pushing them away from him. He was constantly repelling them away from his very presence.

How? By the very severity of his words. See, what we want is a sweet little baby Jesus. That's what we want to talk about.

Sweet little baby Jesus. We got a little boy in a manger, but that is not the son of the living God. He could have called 10 ,000 angels from heaven and swept everyone into hell instantly if he wanted to do so.

He walks on the water. He causes the sea to cease. He causes the winds and the storms to stop.

He raises the dead. He causes the blind to see and the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.

That is Jesus Christ. He's not some little sweet little Jesus boy that gets you a Christmas present every year.

That's not him at all. That's the figment of people's imagination. And so Jesus is very severe.

Listen, people crowded him everywhere he went. You've read about it. Haven't you read about it? People crowded him everywhere he went. Well, what happened when they crowded around him?

As they crowded around him, he turned upon them and he hurled words at them that were astounding, they were stunning, they were appalling, and they were so severe that it scattered them like shade before the wind.

They turned around and left him. Even some of his own left him because it was too strong.

From the beginning of his ministry to the very end, he insisted on this fact that the Christian life is extremely costly.

And I make my appeal this evening to you wholly based upon his words. Not what some preacher says, not what some book says, not what some church teaches, but based wholly upon the words of Jesus Christ because ultimately that's what you and I are responsible for.

You're not responsible for what I say and I'm not responsible for what you say. We are both responsible for what he says.

So let me just talk a minute. What does the Bible say? What does Jesus Christ say about the cost of the Christian life?

Well, there's an interesting chapter that if you ever read something, read Luke chapter 14 if you want to know how much it costs to be a

Christian. Three times in that chapter, Jesus Christ turns and tells the people that they cannot be his disciples.

Now if I were to go to any church, I can go to any Christian church in this city, I can go to any

Christian church in this state, in this country, and I can say how many of you are disciples of Jesus Christ and 95 -98 % of the people will stand on their feet when 95 -98 % of them are not disciples of Jesus Christ.

They are not. Now he says you cannot be my disciple three times. Now let me put the connecting words to it.

Here's what he said, the first one. Watch this. If any man comes to me and hates not his own father and his mother and his wife and his children and his brethren and his sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

You hear what he said? Now there's another, he steps up to another, he says, whosoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, he cannot be my disciple.

Third one, whosoever he be of you that renounces not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.

Now if you've never read those words or heard them before, if they've never come across your mind, and if you and I had not been so busy trying to lower the

Christian standards to meet our own little whim, those words would startle you and I promise you, you'd have a hard time sleeping tonight if you hadn't already lowered the standards in your mind and thinking that you are a disciple of Christ and that you're just as right with God as anyone else is whenever you know your conscience will condemn you.

Your conscience will convince you and your conscience will condemn you and sometimes if we ask the person that we sit around and if they're real honest, they'll tell us.

They'll tell us, that's why we don't ask them. That's why we don't ask them. We look in the mirror and say, mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?

And if we lie to ourselves, we say, you baby, you baby. And we know we lie. We like all of that. We like all of that.

Well, let me just do this with you. Look at him. He says, except a man hates the nearest and dearest thing to him.

That's strange. See, because God is love. He is. But that's all we hear.

But God's more than that. He is more than that. He is love. But there are conditions upon which you get love.

People that beat you with a ball bat, you don't love them. Well, we can't slight him and despise him and do things to him and expect that we're going to experience his love simply because he loved the world and died for it.

You don't experience that love, do you? No, unless you condemn him. He says, except a person hates the nearest and dearest, he cannot be my disciple.

Except a person takes his own cross, he cannot be. Except a person renounces all he has, he cannot be. A three -fold word, very quickly.

Very quickly. He says, if any man comes to me and hates not his father, his mother, his wife, his children, brother and sister, yea, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

What's he talking about? Hating. By that he meant that if a person is to follow him, he must put him absolutely first in his life.

If you're going to follow, listen, let me share something with you young people. I make no apology for this. If you are not going to put

Jesus Christ first in your life, would you do me a favor? And would you do God a favor? And would you do Jesus a favor?

And would you do yourself a favor? Don't tell anybody you're a Christian. That's right. Just keep it to yourself if you're not going to put him first.

Because what you'll do in 15 minutes, you'll do more damage than if there's another one of these sweet young people trying to live for Jesus a lifetime to undo what you and I could do in just a few minutes of time by doing something wrong.

You and I need to understand what he's talking about. Listen to me carefully. He's simply saying that if a person is going to live the

Christian life, we submit ourselves to his absolute mastership. He becomes our master. It's like a master on a ship.

Two years before the mast, if you don't do it, they strap you to it and they lash you. We make him master of our life.

And he said that if the love of a father, a mother, a wife, or children, a brother, sisters, boyfriend, girlfriend, your own life, it doesn't make a difference.

If at any moment or any circumstance, if a love for them comes in conflict with your loyalty to Jesus Christ, then you crucify that love and you walk away from it.

You never love anybody more than you love him. If not, you're going to be a Christian. He's first.

You say, well, I'm a Christian. No, you're not. You may be saved, but you're not a

Christian. See, there's a difference. Christian is Christ I -A -N. That's a diminutive suffix

I like to say. That means it's in the English language. I -A -N is a diminutive suffix. It means lesser than or like unto.

So when you say you're a Christian, if I say I'm a Christian, that means I'm like him. I'm not as good as he, I'm less than he, but I'm like him.

I'm like him. That makes a big, big difference. It makes a tremendous difference. And supreme, it's the most appalling claim that anybody ever put on a human being to say, if you don't hate the dearest person to you in comparison to the love you have for me, then you can't be my disciple.

There's nothing to be said to a human being that's more striking than that is. And what he demanded of people to do for him, he did for people.

What he demanded, he did. He that loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. One day, Jesus said, I have ministry.

And they came to him and said, behold, your mother is outside and your brothers, and they want to speak to you. And Jesus turned and looked and said, who is my mother?

Who is my brother? He that does the will of God. You know what he's saying? There's a relationship that is higher than your human relationship.

I can name you young people as well as you can name them yourself. I don't have to tell you this. I can name you young people right now whose lives are destroyed and ruined because they played a game with guns.

I just had a young man just got out of a mental institution. He's been on drugs. Police have got him. And they just, we flew him from Colorado to Tennessee.

And another friend of mine, I flew up there for a meeting. We sat there and counseled that boy from 8 o 'clock in the morning to 11 o 'clock at night for two days trying to get his life straightened out.

Satan and demons had him so hard they just had his life ravaged. You know why? Why? He'd been in church all of his life. He used to witness and hand out tracts, read his

Bible every day and pray every day. But he decided he could hang around people who said they were Christians but who didn't live the

Christian life. And it almost destroyed him. It almost destroyed him physically as well as spiritually and mentally.

And yet we think that we can do that and we can get away with it. And all I'm saying to young people is that Jesus Christ did that.

What he meant was that there is an affinity that's far higher than human relationships. And it's a spiritual relationship to those of the will of God.

I've had difficulty with my family. I've had difficulty with people that I really like. But the people that I can depend upon, the people that I know that love me in spite of what

I am, they love me in spite of how I act, are my Christian friends. And I'm very careful who

I call a Christian friend. I have a lot of Christian associates and a lot of Christian relationships.

I have a lot of Christian people I'm friendly with, but they are not friends. Because I don't trust them anymore than I trust some people that love me.

Why? Because you can't. You can't. Now, a person has to make their relationship to Christ the supreme thing in life.

If you allow love for father, mother, if you allow love for brother, sister, if you allow love for yourself, if you allow love for your boyfriend, girlfriend, if you allow love for a schoolmate, it doesn't make a difference who you allow love for.

To conflict with the loyalty of Christ, Jesus says you cannot be my disciple. So just mark it down. So we have to make a choice.

He says if there's any conflict like that, you cannot be my disciple if you don't put me first. You've got to put me first in everything.

Now that's hard. That is hard. It's always been hard for me. It's hard today. And I ought to be better at it than you.

I've been at it longer than you. I should be better at it. I should be a lot further along than you are.

But I promise you, it's still hard for me. It's hard every day. Why? Because Satan and the world and everything, all hell itself is hurled against you to try to keep you from making that kind of commitment.

Everything around us is made and built to draw us away from that kind of a commitment.

And yet that's where the contention is. But he said a second thing. He said whosoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

After the stern words in which he demanded that a man should love him before father, mother, brother, sister.

Let me ask you a question. Now you're sitting in a church tonight. You're sitting here at a youth banquet. For whatever reason you came, let me ask you.

Who do you love more than anyone else in this world? Be careful. Be careful.

Most of us have to think, don't we, before we can say God. Most of us wouldn't think to say

Jesus Christ. We'd say well my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister, maybe my husband, my wife, my fiancee, my boyfriend, my girlfriend.

And there's nothing wrong with loving those. They just can't be first. Not for a Christian. They cannot be first as far as a

Christian is concerned. And so Jesus talks about that. He says this. He began to explain, and I was going to read you verses 28 -33, but let me just paraphrase it for you in Luke 14.

He says what king, or he says what man goes and sets out, verse 28 -33. He said what man would go out to what cost, would go out and start to build a building, but first of all didn't understand why they had enough money to finish that building off.

I mean this church is building a new building. Other churches are building a new building. They know the future and they look out and say now can we finish that building.

Why? Because people will see you didn't finish it and they'll mock God. Well where's God? You mean God can't help you do that?

You said he could. You said it was God doing it and all this stuff. He said which one of you going out, what man or king would go out to fight another king and he's only got 10 ,000 men and they got 20 ,000.

Who wouldn't send somebody out there to find out if he could take them or not? That's what he's saying. Or send an ambassador to try to make peace with them.

Then he goes and he says so likewise. Therefore. So likewise. Therefore. He said you ask me what my terms are?

You want to be a Christian? Why my terms are so severe? He said I'll tell you. I've come into this world for building and battle.

That's what he came into this world for. To build his church and to battle the forces of evil. He said that's what it's all about.

And I have to have men and women and young people who come after me, who are willing to take up their crosses and follow me.

Men and women and young people who will not grow faint, they'll not get tired, they'll not get weary of following me, and they'll not be embarrassed or ashamed to follow me as the love of God until the building work is done.

He said that's what I've come into this world for. Well what's he talking about? The first thing you have to look at is the devotions of disciples must be so supreme that all of the loves are put into second place.

That's hard. It's hard. Because constantly our humanity and our emotions are constantly pulling at us.

Because we meet people that we really love. We really love them. And for whatever we just do.

And sometimes they slip into that first place. And the second thing is the one ambition of a disciple of Jesus Christ has to be for Jesus for his building and his battle.

And there has to be the crucifixion or pushing aside of any thought, of any thought in the life of a disciple to put themselves up first.

What do I get out of this? I mean I want to be first. Most people are in what I call the P's. Popularity, prestige, preeminence, and power.

That's what everybody wants. And yet Jesus Christ said no. Everybody got self esteem.

Self esteem. Build up your self esteem. Build up your self esteem. Jesus says die to self. Forget yourself.

The biggest problem is yourself. I've said this a thousand times over. Do you know this is the first generation that's being taught to love itself?

You never have to teach people to love themselves because they will. They'll love themselves. Why? All you got to do is read the newspaper.

They found a little baby laying out in a basket. They found another baby laying out in an alley somewhere. People think about that enough.

Found another one flushed down the toilet. Some boy gets some girl pregnant.

He rolls on off somewhere. He's gone. They had one on television on one of those stupid talk shows. I was surfing through and I caught it.

Here's a kid on there. He done got nine children. Eighteen years old. Ain't got a job.

He's running around having children. He got eight girls who's got children and they got to raise them. What's he doing?

He's having a ball. But I'll tell you what, as one guy said, there's payday Sunday. What goes around will come around.

You can bank on it. And it may not be here. It might be here. The first time that kid gets leukemia, you know what he's going to say?

God, why me? First time he gets cancer, God, why me? First time he gets crippled in a car accident,

God, why me? And his parents, you know, they always put the picture on the paper. It's always with a suit and tie and he's always a wonderful son of a school class.

Oh, he's always a wonderful boy scout. He's always wonderful. Guy went out and shot six people but he was a wonderful kid. They always put that joke out in front of us.

But God sees through all that facade. God looks at your heart. He looks at my heart.

And he knows whatever thoughts you think. God keeps records of every thought. He keeps records of all those things.

So what am I saying to you? I'm simply saying to you, young people, as long as I seek place for myself, as long as I'm trying to lift myself, as long as I'm pushing myself,

I can never be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Never. And I don't care who else says they are.

They cannot be. They cannot be. In order to be a disciple of Christ, there has to be an absolute loyalty to him. A total devotion to him.

There must be such a denying of self that there can be no seeking of any place for oneself.

If a person's going to live the Christian life, they have to lay all their treasure at the feet of the Lord. I just jotted this down because it means a lot to me.

I have to recognize that what I am, I am for Christ. And what I do, I do for Christ.

And what I have, I just hold for Christ. It's his. It's his.

My car is his. My home is his. My dogs are his. My clothes are his.

Because he gives them to me. He holds your breath in his hands. All God's got to do is shut your breath off once.

And if you stop breathing one beat, you're dead. That's how close you are to meeting

God. Just one breath. And it don't take much to shut my breath off. Listen, I know people, somebody said, boo, and scared them, they died.

Had a heart attack, died. It don't take much. It doesn't take much. You go flying down here and listen, you pull through a stop sign, you do everything right.

You stop, pull out, here comes some clown down there, bam, gone. That's right. Picked up the paper today, 4 -1.

Listen, some guy and his wife and a little baby going to a funeral, driving way down south.

They come up, some guy drunk. He had his, listen, four times illegal drinking. His was .41 and the legal limit is .1.

And he comes across and hits them. Kills that mother and kills that little baby and the dead is in intensive care.

Listen, they were doing everything right. They weren't doing anything wrong. Some other fool do something wrong. That's how, listen, it's dangerous out there.

And you take a chance. But wandering through life thinking it's never going to happen to me. All that one has has to be renounced.

Those are the terms of being a disciple according to Jesus Christ. Now you can say to me and I've had people say to me, well there don't seem to be many people like that anymore.

There don't seem to be many like that anymore. And the ones that I know that used to be that way, they're not as sincere, they're not as intense about it.

And I ask you the question, why? I'll tell you why. Because we have lowered the standards of being a

Christian and what a Christian is so far. We've lowered it so far. And what we have to do is get back to the ideal.

And I've made a determination with God that whenever I speak to churches, when I speak to any group, I want them to know that the

Christian life is strenuous, the Christian life is severe, and the Christian life is costly.

And wherever people are taught that, listen, churches always grow. That's amazing. It is amazing.

You'd think, well who wants to get in on that? Maybe they want to get in on some heart, but they don't. That's what the heart builder is for.

God draws people. Listen, it's a costly business to be a Christian. And you can call yourself a

Christian and you can sing hymns in church every Sunday. You can call yourself a Christian and you can give money to the collection plate every

Sunday. You can call yourself a Christian and you can drift through this world. You can call yourself a

Christian and never do one thing for God or humanity. But that doesn't make you one because you call yourself one.

It just doesn't. You say, well I'm saved. You say, no, no, no. A person can be saved and not live for God for a while.

For a while. If you and I are going to be Christians, men, women, and young people, in the profound meaning of that word,

I want you to know that there's blood in the water. Where there's no pain, there's no gain, they say. Where there's no pain, there's usually no gain with God and no gain with the

Christian life. And there's cost in that water. Jesus says, no man, having put his hand to the plow, looks back.

If he does, he's not fit for the kingdom of God. Jesus never gave a backward look. He furrowed straight ahead.

He plowed his furrow straight ahead right in to ultimate victory. And that's the cost of the

Christian life. Now, let me just close it by saying this. If that's the cost, what's the value? The cost is denial of yourself.

Now, by telling you that you will gain, how am I going to give you the value of the Christian life? How would you influence somebody?

Oh, if you become a Christian, you'll get this. I have preachers do it all the time. I work for preachers that do it.

I go in there and say, oh, if you'll become a Christian, you'll get this. Listen, am I going to influence you and give you the value?

How am I going to answer the question, is the Christian life worthwhile? By telling you what you're going to gain as a

Christian? No. No way. You will gain. You will gain.

But Jesus put it another way. He said, what would it cost a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? If you want the personal question, let me ask you this.

You ask, is the Christian life worthwhile? Let me ask you one. Is the ungodly life worthwhile? Is your drugs, sex, music, is that worthwhile?

Where does that take you? Is that worthwhile out there? Compare that to the Christian life.

People want to put Christianity down, they don't have anything bad on them. Certainly they don't. I want to show you the value, not the gain that comes to you personally.

It took me a long time to realize what other people gain when you become a Christian and when you live with God.

First of all, Christ gains. He gains three things. Jesus Christ gains a friend if you live with him.

He gains a friend. He also gains a witness. He gains a witness. And he also gains a servant, a friend.

What's a friend mean to you and me? Three things at least, doesn't it? First of all, there's identity of interest.

Friends are interested in the same things. We don't, I mean, somebody's not interested in what we're interested in, we don't hang out with them long.

They're interested in the same thing. There's a unity of purpose. They have kind of the same goals, the same purpose. And also there's a harmony of methods.

They kind of do things alike. They do things alike. That's what a friend is. And Jesus gains a friend.

Christ will have a friend where you live if you live with him. He'll have a friend where you work. He'll have a friend where you go to school.

And he'll have someone whose purposes are his purposes. He'll have someone whose methods are his methods. That's what

Christ gains whenever you live with him. But the world gains more than that. It gains this.

Wherever you go, you'll be a perpetual antagonist. Wherever you go, let me explain what that is.

Wherever you go, you will be something they will see that's in opposition to the way they live when they live under God.

You go to any church, you go to any youth group, yours will be no different. You've got some young people who try to live for God as best they can.

They try to live for God. You've got others who want to act like they live for God and they play the game. And everybody knows they play the game, but nobody wants to tell them they play the game because they don't want to run them off.

But they think they're getting away with it. They think that nobody knows. Well, let me share it with you.

Usually everybody knows you better than you ever know yourself. I don't care if they don't know me.

Why? Because I'm not looking for all that stuff. I'm not looking for what they see. Not at all.

I just don't look for it. And yet the world gains that. And listen, the things that are contrary to the will of God, a

Christian just stands against it. They just do. What am I saying? You become a fighter, but you fight against the right things.

You fight against those things that what? You cannot be a Christian and be a person of peace. All is peace.

Peace in the world. I hear people praying for peace. You're not going to be in peace in this world until Jesus comes. You can't have peace where Satan's loose.

It's foolishness. But you'd have peace in your heart, you'd have peace in your home, you'd have peace in a church, you'd have peace in a community.

There's no reason our country couldn't. But the Bible never says the world's going to have peace. The Bible says the weapons of our warfare are not carnage, they're real war in which we're involved.

And if you become a Christian, you're going to fight against everything that hurts your brother and sister in Christ. You're going to be concerned about what hurts your friend.

You're going to be concerned about what spoils their life. You're going to be concerned and fight against that which is a trap for them that they may not see.

Why? Because the thing that spoils your brother and sister in Christ hurts the heart of your heavenly Father. When you say a

Christian young man or woman or a Christian adult who's struggling and they're making mistakes in their Christian life,

I guarantee you and I need to assist them and help them, encourage them and stand with them against that. Why? Because it hurts your heavenly

Father's heart to see that happen in their life. But what do we do? We usually kind of, you know, we like to get involved with it.

It's good. Just a matter of whether we've got gall enough to do it or not. The world will gain something else.

The world gains someone who's full of sympathy for people who are scattered, hurting, distressed, devastated and their lives are being destroyed.

No person who walks with Christ would ever sit down and ridicule and throw someone away. I had a young pastor tell me the other day, somebody, a young boy at his church, he's 18 years of age and he's now been charged with molestation of a minor and also he's been charged with sex with a minor because the girl was 14.

Her brother was there. And he came to the pastor and told the pastor what happened. He's been arrested, he's been charged, the grand jury's about to come down on him tonight.

And the boy's daddy called him and said, Pastor, has my son been able to talk to you? And he said,

Yes, he has. He's come by and I know everything. And the pastor said that, he told me, he said,

I wasn't there. He said, I just told him, well, don't worry, sir. He said, I'm not going to hang him out to dry. And I said, what did you mean by that?

And I knew what he meant. I said, brother, let me share something. This is young, I mean, he kind of looks up to me a little way.

We have a good relationship. And I said, you as a Christian and especially as a pastor should never have those words in your vocabulary.

I don't care who they are or what they've done. You never hang one out to dry. You never throw away somebody.

You get in there and you help him and you walk with him and you tell him you may not can change what's going to happen to him, but you're going to be with him with him.

And when he goes to prison, you'll be standing there when he walks in the door and you'll come and visit him and you'll write him and you'll pray for him.

You never throw somebody away. No one you throw away. God didn't throw you away when he ought to have.

God didn't get a big deal when he got you. What do you think God got a big deal when he got us? Look at us sitting here.

What do you think God needs you and me for? God doesn't. He's got angels doing his work.

He don't need me and you. They never rebel against him. Not in the Lord. They do everything he wants.

You and I rebel. Snakes are more obedient than we are. They just do whatever comes natural to them.

And what I'm saying to you young people is this. There are thousands of people. This does not appeal to them and I recognize some of you. It doesn't appeal to you either.

And if you had known that I was going to be saying this to you, you may have chosen not to come. I know that. I'm not a fool.

I've been around a long time. I know how it is. I know how I am. But let me just share this with you. I affirm you.

I tell you to be a Christian, it costs. It is costly to be a

Christian. It really is. But I declare to you that the value far outweighs the cost. It has been hard for me.

I have struggled. I have stumbled. I have faltered along the way. I have wound up in situations.

How did I get over here? And I said, God, if you would get me out of this, Lord, I would. And he said,

God, so wonderful. Many times he did. Many times he did. He got me out unscathed.

I got out clean. No consequences. And all of a sudden, I mean, it wouldn't be long. I'd be back. He said, God, how did I get over here? And I said, here

I am again. I'm not going in. I promised God I would never want to get out of here. And sometimes God says, well, now you've got to have some consequences of what happened.

We're going to put a little pressure on you now. God don't reach down with a bolt of light and jerk you out of it. God said, you want to go to prison, go.

You want to get pregnant, go. You think God will magically make that little baby disappear? I've got news for you.

It don't work that way. Well, he said he loved me. Oh, my soul.

I wish I had a dime every time I heard that one. If I had a dime every time I heard that, I'd buy a course of care and attention.

That's the famous line. Isn't it amazing? People lie to us and we know they're lying and we still listen. Isn't that amazing?

Hey, man, you're the man. You're the man. We know he's lying because he done told somebody else they're the man. It's just what's going on at the time.

I understand that. I understand that. Listen to me carefully. Is it worthwhile? It is always worthwhile to do something for God.

It is always worthwhile to do something for your friends. It is always worthwhile to do something for your brother and sister in Christ.

It is always worthwhile to help somebody that needs help. I don't care who they are. I had a little poem that I was going to read you, but I don't want to read it to you.

I just listen. I want to say to you, I want to do everything in my power to build what

God wants to build. And I'm willing to fight whatever battle. And your pastor knows that most of my life,

I stand alone. I stand alone. I go to churches and I speak in churches and three days later, the pastor won't even talk to me.

Father, because I'm having to say things he should have been saying for 15 years to his people. And yet my phone rings up to the concept of people.

The concept of people for me. Let me just close with an illustration of my name.

Moses. And I use him because you're familiar with him. Let me tell you something about Moses. In Deuteronomy 10 .17,

Moses says, You are the God of all gods. You are the Lord of all lords.

And you are a mighty God. And then he goes on to use the word, and he says, And you are an awesome God. Now you can talk to any young person here.

I guarantee you if I talk to you, what do you say? Oh man, he's awesome. Oh you see that big car, I see a Lamborghini swinging around the road.

Man, that's awesome. We go to the rock singers, we go to rock concerts. Oh man, awesome.

Garth Brooks, awesome. He used to say Michael Jackson, awesome, but you changed that now, ain't you?

You see what Lisa Marie just said, huh? You got some of these records? You have one of these? Bad, huh?

Bad, do a little move on, huh? What did Lisa Marie say? Lisa Marie, you know what she said?

She said he's more comfortable around a 10 year old boy than he is with me. Huh, that's your hero. I guarantee you some of you was awesome.

And then we'll go to sports heroes. Oh, Leon Led, awesome. Troy, awesome.

And Michael Jordan, probably the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. When he goes soaring through there, and he rams that thing down and dumps it all over the house, awesome.

Let me tell you something, God can dump the earth. You want to dump something,

God can dump the earth. God can dump the sun. God can dump the moon. That's awesome.

You don't know the word awesome. You've applied a meaning to the word awesome that is not true.

They are not awesome because the word awesome means awe -inspiring with reverence and fear.

That's what the word awesome means. Satan's deceiving us. He's got us floating around, awesome.

Oh man, she's awesome. And then you'll find you another one.

You ain't gonna marry her. Do you know what the mathematical probability of somebody marrying the first person they love?

It does happen, but do you know that it's really rare? We usually love two or three people before God leads us to that one that we ought to marry.

Sometimes you do, but it's not near as often as we think. And so we say, oh man, she's awesome. He says, let me show you what awesome is.

See, awesome is in your mind. Because you go down to the beach and you see somebody, whoa,

I thought that was awesome. There's awesome. But now wait a minute, you just said that was awesome.

You can't have two. You can't have two awesome. But let me share something.

God is awesome. He hurled this universe into existence with less effort than you can lift a fist.

All things consist in Jesus Christ. Nothing was made that was not made by him and for him.

And God created a body for himself. And he came in Bethlehem.

That was God in flesh. And he lived a perfect life. He had a mother.

He had brothers, sisters. He went up on a cross.

He went up on a cross and spit up the mouth, beard plucked out, his back an open gaping wound.

Why? He was perfect. Why did he go up there? Because you and I have problems.

We've got sins. All have sins on the shore of the glory of God. And we have a

God that's awesome. And he made a plan that if any person would accept what

Jesus Christ did on that cross 2 ,000 years ago, if I would accept that as my payment and I would come to him and I don't have to say these words, but if I'd say,

Lord, Lord God, I have no question in my mind I've got sin. I know I have. And God, I'm tired of fighting it.

And if you'll just forgive me of that sin, I know that you'll cleanse me of that sin. And I now want

Jesus Christ to be in my heart. Then from that point on, I have to put forth strenuous effort and discipline to be the

Christian that God wants me to be. And if you're not, he says, you will not be my disciple. The great tragedy that I see as I travel about, no matter where I go, young and old alike,

I find thousands upon thousands of people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.

And their lives are sadly, tragically lacking. They are not happy, they are miserable, and they would walk away from it all if they weren't afraid of God's example.

Some of them wish they had never even entered inside of a church. I don't know about you,

I know about some of you because I know some of you, but I don't live until I really learn.

And I haven't hit, I don't bat a thousand, I'm better than I was. Nobody bats a thousand because then you'd be perfect.

And only Jesus is perfect. But I can get better today than I was last week.

I can get better every year. And the more I walk with God, the further it seems

I'm away from it. And it seems like I just battle every day.

Lord, it's another battle. But the wonderful thing is when I get up in the morning, I know that God's working my life out.

He's planned it all. All I've got to do is choose what He's already chosen. And God bless you.

And I go to sleep at night and I sleep well. I have a clear conscience. I don't sit around and worry about this.

I don't worry about whether God's going to zap me or not. I don't say, Lord, if I should die before I wake and pray to the

Lord before I wake, I know He is. I know He is. I know

He is. And I just want God to use me to influence some man, some woman, or some young person to walk with God.

And so I make it in the same here. If you, if you, any one of you, want to be a disciple, you've got to love

Him more than you love anyone else. You've got to acknowledge everything that you have and recognize that everything you are and everything you have and everything you will ever be belongs to Him.