Are You Sure You Want To Follow Jesus? - [Matthew 8:18-22]

Evangelism is so easy, isn't it? The ABCs of evangelism.

Admit you're a sinner, believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, confess in your heart that He's Lord and you're saved, right?

It's easy. Memberships these days that require dues, that require anything from members, going down the tank.

When you evangelize someone and you say it's super easy to believe, and just bow your head and pray after me,

Lord, I know I'm a sinner, Lord, I know I'm a sinner, I believe that your Son is the only God and He died on the cross, was raised from the dead,

I believe that, and I confess that He's Lord, I confess that He's Lord. You're a Christian. My response to that would be, you are?

I am? If there was a grade for Jesus' style evangelism, most

Bible schools would give Him an F. Let's open our

Bibles to Matthew 8 and find out why. There is a cost to follow

Christ Jesus. There's a cost. Of course,

God makes you willing, but sometimes we evangelize so poorly, one man said, that even the non -elect don't have enough sense to reject it.

The call to discipleship, the call to following Christ Jesus, is humanly impossible, but it is still there.

Christ gives the necessity of wholeheartedness in following Him. Simply believing

Him as a great preacher, or a wonderful teacher, or a wonder worker, isn't going to do.

There is a cost to following Jesus. And of course, when you see Christ as precious, when you see

Christ as a wonderful, precious Savior, well, that makes it all the easier.

But today we're going to look at Matthew 8, verses 18 -22, the cost of following Jesus.

What happens in evangelicalism, when one train, the locomotive is coming full blast, and it's the

American Dream, but on the same tracks, there's another locomotive coming, and it's called the

Cross of Christ. One of them has got to get off the track.

One of them has to die. When I grew up, there was a lot of cigarette commercials actually on TV and radio.

I think they've had to stop a lot of that. It was Virginia Slims. You come a long way, baby, and you could have it all.

In Luther's day, there was the theology of the cross, self -sacrifice, self -denial, cross before crown, butting heads with the theology of glory.

Oh yeah, the cross is fine, but it's glory first. I wonder what

Jesus would do. I wonder how He would evangelize. Talk about an evangelism explosion.

It's exploding all our ideas about evangelism. Christ proclaiming the cost to follow

Him. Have you lost anything for your belief in Christ Jesus?

Have you lost anything? What has it cost you to follow Christ Jesus? Have you lost home, spouse, children, a loved one?

What does it cost? It doesn't cost very much for Christians in America. Oh, it's going to, but right now, there doesn't seem to be a large cost for most people.

Some, yes, but not all. A cursory look at church history tells me

James the Apostle, killed by Herod. That's Biblical Acts 12. Peter, according to Eusebius, crucified head downward.

The Apostle Andrew hanged on an olive tree. These are all according to tradition. Thomas thrust through with pine spears, tormented with red -hot plates, and then burned alive.

One wouldn't do. You'd have to do many of them. Philip, remember he said, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.

Tortured, then crucified. Matthew, the tax collector, beheaded at Nadavar.

Nathanael, or Bartholomew, skinned alive, then crucified. James the

Lesser, beaten to death with a fuller's club. Simon the

Zealot, crucified by the governor of Syria. Thaddeus, beaten to death by pagans with sticks, pagan priests.

Matthias, according to Eusebius, one kind of execution wasn't enough, so they hung him on a cross and then stoned him.

The Apostle John, of course, exiled to Patmos. Some traditions say that he was thrown into boiling oil, but not killed, although scarred for the rest of his life.

And Paul, of course, met his death, according to tradition, by being beheaded by Nero. What have you lost?

Well, let's look at our passage today, Matthew 8, verses 18 through 22, and Jesus is showing his credentials.

These are the credentials of the great king. Jesus has authority over leprosy. Jesus has authority over sickness.

He has authority over paralysis. He has authority soon over the ocean and the waters and the sea.

He has authority over demons and he has authority over people.

He's got authority over you. How do we know this is the Messiah? Well, he has authority over everything and everyone.

And Jesus here is going to deal with a couple people who are running to him for the theology of glory, for what's in my life now, and they are going to be confronted with the words of Christ Jesus.

Karl Truman says, God achieves his intended purposes by doing the exact opposite of what humans might expect.

The supreme example of this is the cross itself. God triumphs over sin and evil by allowing sin and evil to apparently triumph over him.

His real strength is demonstrated, though, through apparent weakness. This was the way a theologian of the cross thought about God.

I know we want security. I know we want homes and jobs and marriages and family and pleasure and popularity and no conflict.

But Jesus calls for loyalty, dedication, self -denial, and commitment.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and his children, his brothers and sisters, he cannot be my disciple.

Let's take a look from Matthew 8, verses 18 -22. Two calls to follow Christ Jesus. Count the cost and follow at any cost.

Those are the two outline exhortations. Count the cost. Follow at any cost.

Two men coming to Jesus, wanting forgiveness, wanting to follow him. Two devastating responses from King Jesus who has power over people, not just sickness.

He is the King. And by the way, when you read this passage, if Jesus isn't God, only a lunatic, liar, false teacher would say such a thing.

No one can talk this way. If you're a mere human, this is not how we do things.

Not socially, not religiously, not culturally. This is unacceptable behavior. But if you're

Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and if you're really the Lord of Lords, this is perfectly acceptable and right behavior.

Well, the setting is found in verse 18 of Matthew 8. We're going to finish Matthew 8 as a congregation and then we'll move to Ruth.

But for today, 18, chapter 8. And when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.

And at the other side, there were these two people. Let's look at the first one, the scribe. Number one, you want to follow

Jesus? You must count the cost. This person seemed to be willing to go anywhere and Jesus said, stop, you're over -eager.

The scribe came up to him and said, Teacher, I'll follow you wherever you go. This is kind of nice.

Usually, I have to go out to evangelize, right? The Great Commission. Go therefore and make disciples.

And we want to go out. And you walk out of the church building here and it says, welcome to your mission field. And we go out.

Jesus crosses the other side and now this person comes up to him. And by the way, this is the catch of all catches.

White collar. Clerical. Backward collar. I mean, you've got a bunch of fishermen.

Blue collar. Galilean. Hayseed. Hicks. For every 30 of those fishermen, one scribe.

That would be about the right payoff. Influential. He wasn't just a lawyer. He was a scribe dealing with the law.

The oral law. Scriptures. How do I apply

Moses to life? That was the job of a scribe. So this religious perfect catch of a guy came up to Jesus.

I'll follow you wherever you go. Now think about it. Back in those days, no movies, no THX, no

Dolby, no this, no that, no internet. It would be kind of interesting to watch this Jesus guy.

Miracles. He's going to make food out of nothing soon. He heals people.

I mean, you can just see the people thronging to follow Jesus for no other reason if it was just, this is kind of interesting.

It breaks up the day in the middle of Israel, that's for sure. The crowds, the miracles, the fame, the fortune.

This guy's not stupid. The scribe knows this man Jesus has a following. It doesn't take an expert in handling written documents to realize this man needs to be investigated.

Now you think it's a courteous way he talks to him. Look at the passage. Teacher, I'll follow you wherever you go.

But did you know the Gospel of Matthew never uses the word teacher when someone who's really following Jesus talks?

In other words, the Saracese, that's a new sect.

When the scribes and the Pharisees get together, they're Saracese. The Pharisees say teacher.

The scribes say teacher. The Sadducees say teacher. Herodians say teacher.

Tax collectors say teacher in Matthew. But it's never used as a form of address from somebody who really wants to follow.

And isn't that kind of just like today too? Jesus, what do you think of Jesus? He's a very good what? Teacher.

Matthew 12, it says in verse 38, I'll just read it. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him saying,

Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. Jesus answered and said, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.

Matthew 22, verse 16, it says, they sent their disciples to him along with the

Herodians saying, Teacher, we know that you're true and teach the way of God. So it's a respectful thing.

It's actually partially true, but not fully true. It's actually accurate, but not adequate.

Oh, you're just a good teacher. He is a good teacher. We've just seen that in Matthew 5, 6, and 7.

But simply teacher isn't enough. And Jesus said to him, Who talks this way?

Unless you're God, the eternal Son, cloaked with humanity, you ought not to talk this way.

Jesus said to him, Basically, I see your excitement, and I'm going to show you self -sacrifice.

You're in this for the theology of glory. I'll show you the theology of the cross. Foxes have holes.

It's not a great home, but they have a home. Not a lot of security, but it's some security. Foxes have a home.

They have some possession. It's a home. It's a hole. Birds of the air have nests.

He's already taught that birds don't have to worry about food. The Father feeds them. But the

Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. The Son of Man has nowhere to lay

His head. You want to follow Me? You see the excitement and all the crowds and all the wonder -working miracles and signs?

I want you to know, if you want to follow Me, scribe, I have no home. Every place

I go, I get run out of that place. Judea rejects Him, John 5. Galilee casts

Him out, John 6. Gadara gives Him the stiff arm and said, get out of my district,

Matthew 8. Samaria refused to give Him lodging, Luke 9. The earth won't have Him, Matthew 27.

And one man even said, even heaven forsakes Jesus, Matthew 27, on the cross. You want the action, and I'm going to give you self -denial.

You want the goods, and I'm going to give you self -sacrifice. You want all the glory first, and I'm going to give you the cross.

You don't know what you're asking for. And of course, Jesus knew His heart. When I was growing up, we had yuppies and we had dinks.

Remember dinks? Double income, what? No kids. Most people know that. But if you're going to follow

Me, be willing to lose everything. Now, we know as Christians that God doesn't always require us to give everything up.

But if we had to, I mean, think about it. Jesus held possessions loosely.

Did He have a job? Did He own much? If you're going to follow

Jesus, be prepared to be a stranger in the world, not fitting in, up to and the point of being betrayed, killed, humiliated.

I watched a YouTube, not that long ago, New York City street survey, who is

Jesus? Here's what they said. He seems like a Gandhi type guy.

Another man said, Jesus is some superpower. I don't know, I believe in many. I believe in many superpowers?

I mean, I thought to myself, like some X -Men or something? Yes, there's definitely something special about Jesus.

Now you can just hear the post -modern just kind of garbage come out. The same things that are special about me and you and well, everybody.

Jesus is just a story made up by someone. Maybe could have been a real person, but not as a story says.

Another one said, I don't know, I don't know Jesus very well. And that reminds me of the scribe.

He didn't know Jesus very well. The Lord of the universe, who calls himself what here?

Take a look at the text. The Son of Man. This is Jesus' favorite self -designation.

This is what He loves to call Himself the most. And here's going to be Jesus' point.

Ask yourself what Son of Man means, and if you can get Son of Man down, you'll see the passage in the context here.

Son of Man. Where is the Son of Man from in the Old Testament? This should be in every person's

IBS class, Bible college class, Bible knowledge class. When you see

Son of Man, and you're going to see it tons of times in the New Testament, you should have a default. And you could just do this to the middle of your

Bible. I don't know how you do that to an iPad, but Daniel 7. Take a look at Daniel 7 with me, please.

Turn to Daniel 7 so you can see the passage. So then you're going to get it. That if the exalted

Jesus, the eternal Jesus, the pre -existing Jesus, who has dominion, authority, rule, sacrifices, you think you're going to get all the glory?

It doesn't make any sense at all. Daniel chapter 7. If you love

Daniel for the fiery furnace and love Daniel for the lion's den, you've got to get this down so you know the theme of Daniel, so you know the hero of Daniel.

And it's not Daniel. It's the Son of Man. What did Jesus call

Himself the most found? Right here. Daniel 7 verse 9, And as I looked, thrones were placed, and the

Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow. You can get the idea of all the holiness and the purity.

Hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames.

Its wheels were burning fire. The Judge, the

High and Exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, Isaiah 7 says. Judicial purity.

Holiness. Sounds just like Revelation 1. His eyes were like a flame of fire.

What's going around this Ancient of Days? Verse 10, And a stream of fire, a river of fire issued, came out from before Him.

A thousand thousand served Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.

The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. God's splendor.

God's judgment on sin. These books were opened to judge the little horn.

And I looked then, because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking, He's still vomiting forth blasphemies.

As I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.

As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season at a time. And here comes the verse.

Log it in your mind. This is the reference that Jesus had in mind.

This particular passage, the first reference of Messiah as the Son of Man.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a

Son of Man. Here's the eternal Son, Jesus Christ.

He came to the ancient of days, and was presented before Him. And then what does the text say?

And to Him was given dominion and glory, and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, languages should serve

Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

The Son of Man, who has dominion, stoops low and sacrifices Himself, and denies

Himself. And you come along, scribe, and you want everything? You want the action? You want glory?

You want exaltation? I mean, think about how crazy this is with the hyper -charismatic movement now.

Come to Jesus, and you get health and wealth. The Jesus of the Bible is the One who is the eternal

Son, the Son of Man. And He stoops low, and He sacrifices, and He's humiliated, and He's lowly.

And you want to be exalted? Back to Matthew 8 please.

The One who calls people, the Son of Man, to His kingdom, to His glory, to His dominion, calls people to count the cost.

To count the cost. If you're not a Christian today, I tell you, I want you to believe.

I beg you to be reconciled to God. I want you to trust in the risen Savior, Christ Jesus, who died on the cross for sinners like you.

He's coming back. He's alive. But you better count the cost. Are you sure you want to be a

Christian? Because unless forgiveness is at the highest place, Jesus is the wrong answer to your question.

But if you want forgiveness, and anything else that comes along with it, positive or negative, that's fine.

Then you need to believe and repent right now. The Son of Man.

The glorious Son of Man chooses to deny Himself, and His followers will travel the same road.

And this guy, this scribe, was too overeager. He didn't even think about it. Follow Jesus.

Okay, I'll go for what I get. But I think this is helpful for us in evangelism.

I know in our hearts we want the other person to repent and believe so badly we could taste it, especially if they're a loved one, because we don't want them to go to hell.

But salvation is humanly impossible. And so why do we try to make it humanly possible?

Our responsibility is to proclaim the truth. And the truth has high hurdles. The truth has sharp edges.

The truth has hard sayings. But when God does the work, they get saved anyway, don't they?

We don't have to cut the corners. Count the cost. That's why there are some people, it says in Luke 8, they believe for a little while and then go away.

They should have counted the cost earlier. Count the cost. Number two, follow at any cost.

If the first guy was too fast, too quick, too overeager, this person is too slow, not zealous enough, not fast enough.

Follow at any cost. Another of the disciples said,

Matthew 8, 21, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Now, unless you're

Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the Son of Man, the Son of God, these next words are frankly stupid.

But if you are the eternal Son, this goes perfectly with his claims.

And Jesus said to him, follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead. If Jesus isn't the eternal

God, this is rude. This is not how you talk to people who have just lost a loved one. Go to Matthew 10, if you would, while I'm thinking about it.

Matthew 10 intensifies this call to follow. Matthew 10, 34.

This is just how Jesus talks. I know you want to say to me, probably in your heart, but what about that other verse?

And what about this? And what about this verse? Well, we're not in those verses now. We're in these verses. Matthew 10, 34.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law.

And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Whoever does not take his cross and follow me, Jesus said, is not worthy of me.

Whoever finds his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Dropping everything to follow Jesus. Back to chapter 8, please. The cost of following Christ Jesus.

Now, what does it mean here, let the dead bury their own dead? Well, there's a few options that are interesting.

Option one was, the man's father just died. And if you've had a death in the family, you realize that there are many things to take care of.

And you've got the obituary to write, and you've got to go to the funeral home, and you've got to meet, and you've got to talk with the pastor, and you're already emotionally wasted and spiritually spent, and it's very, very difficult.

And so, some people think this man's father had already died, and he's in the middle of the preparation, and Jesus says, there's someone more important than your father.

It's Me. Now, that could be the case. I don't think so, though.

Other people think that the man's father had died, and what you do is you put the body in a tomb, and then about a year later, all the flesh is decomposed, and the only thing left are bones.

And then you take the bones and put them in a small box, an ossuary, and then you bury the ossuary box.

And so, the father had died, but he's not bones yet, and so I'm just waiting, and once I can get his bones and put them in the ossuary box, then

I'll follow you, Jesus. But most likely, and scholars are pretty much unanimous when it comes to this, the man's father was still alive.

The oldest son has to honor the father and has to make sure the father is taken care of. I know for our family, we've had loved ones in assisted living homes, and it's our responsibility to take care of them.

And this man is saying, you know, I'm going to postpone my following you, Jesus, because my dad's older, and when he's finally dead, then

I'll follow. And what does Jesus say? Here's what

Jesus says. If love for parents can come between you and me, you're not willing to follow me.

So he says what? Follow me and let the dead, spiritually dead people, bury their dead, the physically dead.

I'm claiming upon you as your Creator, absolute obedience, wholehearted devotion. It's a noble thing to want to take care of your family.

You're an unbeliever, or acting like one, if you won't take care of your family, 1 Timothy chapter 5. But it's more noble to follow

Christ Jesus, the King of the universe. I've got some things in my life that are a little more important first.

I'll do those, then I'll follow. And for young people, you know what? I've got to sow my oats some, then

I'll follow. I've got to get married first, then I'll follow. I've got to have some kids first, then I'll follow. I've got to make my first million, then

I'll follow. God made you, and He is staking divine claim on you.

And what does Jesus say, verse 22? It's an imperative. Follow me. Keep on following me.

Other opportunities might not come. I said to my girls last night, as I sat and read them this passage, 12 year olds die.

14 year olds die. Everybody dies. You think you're guaranteed a ripe old age of 50, 60, 70, 80?

The answer is no. Future opportunities might not come. Do you believe? You must believe.

If Jesus is some wise teacher, this is idiotic to say, but since He's the Son of God, totally following the

Son of God is not extreme. Taking care of your parents is good.

But when family obligations and social obligations trump

Christ, what was good is now bad. James Montgomery Boyce said, if I can be kept from Christ by the normal and proper love that I should have for parents, spouse, children, our siblings, how dangerous must the many other snares of this world be?

I know friends. I know family. I went to my grandmother's bedside. She's 90 -some years old.

She's now blind. At the time, she's since died. And I went to her and I talked to her about free forgiveness found in Christ Jesus.

Full and free forgiveness for those who will repent and to believe and count the cost.

For her, God could do whatever He wants on her deathbed. I don't know what happened. I sure hope

I know what happened. I'm sure hoping it happened. But the snares and the slavery of Roman Catholicism were so great that if she said, you know what, if I believe in this

Jesus, it's going to cost me with my family, cost me with my social relationships, it's going to cost me with where my mom and my dad and my grandpa and my great -grandfather, they all died in Rome, where are all they?

And she's counting the cost and then she has to say, no. And whether you're caught up in Protestant liberalism or Roman Catholicism or any other kind of ism,

Jesus, you, and if anything's in between, then you can't follow

Jesus. Social obligations, family obligations. I've got to take care of family things first.

Family's good, taught to us by God. But family as the idol, family as the creator, family as the judge and savior, no.

And Jesus says, you know, you want to take care of your dad? Let's just assume your dad's alive. The king of the universe is calling you to repent.

The king deserves nothing less. Since he's the king in Matthew, the king can say that. I'll say this, if you have to choose between you or your spouse, you better choose

Jesus. If you have to choose between your mom or Jesus, you better choose Jesus.

If you have to choose between your son and your daughter or Jesus, you better choose Jesus. And some people here have unbelieving spouses, and they've suffered.

Some have had unbelieving family members who've hurt them, and they've suffered.

But if you must choose, you must choose God, the highest allegiance.

And, of course, I know systematically you're saying, I could never do that on my own, and it'd have to be spirit -driven, and it'd have to be the grace of God given.

I believe all that. But right now, Christ's passages count the cost.

Are you sure you really want to believe because it's going to cost you? And, frankly, I don't know what's going to happen in the next 20 years, but we're going to see a cave -in in evangelicalism because of the homosexual issue, and then we'll see who really wants to count the cost.

I don't know how many of you will show up if you don't get any more deductions for your giving.

Right now, you get a giving thing at the end of the year, and you can deduct those from your taxes. If you don't get those, will you still come?

How about if they stand at the door and they say, if you are a member of this kind of church that says marriage is to be held in honor among all, man and woman, because it reflects

Christ and His church, then you're going to get taxed and fined. Will you still come? You better start counting the cost because it's here.

Turn to Matthew 13, please. I want to show you that when you see the preciousness of Christ Jesus, it makes it so much easier to count the cost.

When you see how wonderful He is, then you say, do you know what?

He's worth it. Christ is worth it. Thomas Brooks said while you're turning to Matthew 3,

Christ is a most precious commodity. He is better than rubies or costly pearls, and we must part with our gold, we must part with our old sins, our perished forever.

Christ is to be sought and bought with any pains, at any price. He is a jewel worth more than a thousand worlds.

Get Him, you get it all. Miss Him? You miss it all.

And look at our Lord teach these two wonderful little parables that I'm sure you're familiar with to talk about the value and the riches of being in His kingdom and being forgiven and worshiping the

King. That's why you were born, that's why you were made, to honor the King. Praise His name.

Verse 44 of Matthew 13. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up.

Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. It's worth every sacrifice.

Back in the old days, what did you do? You had some money. So let's just say you had $300, 300 shekels.

100 shekels, you keep on yourself. 100 shekels, you invest. And 100 shekels, you put in the

Bank of America. What's the new bank now? Sovereign got their name changed. Santana?

All right. Didn't know he owned banks. You dug a hole and hid it because if a marauder came, they're going to come to your house and they're easily going to be able to find the money.

So you hide the money. Now this guy's got a field. He doesn't have a field yet, but there's money.

This is a once -in -a -lifetime find. How do you just stumble upon money? I have a friend, he died a few years ago, but he used to have these, you don't know what those things are?

Metal detectors. I knew. Sometimes I don't know, but I knew this one. And he would go panning for gold and he would try to find places and he would find where somebody buried money on the property and he would go try to figure out how to get it.

There's a hidden treasure. Glad exchange. Look it. He goes and he sells all that he has and buys that field.

He's persuaded that it's worthwhile. He knows the precious value of it. Evaluation in his mind is, yes, it's going to cost a lot, but it's worth it.

It's a cost of following Christ Jesus, but I get forgiveness. I get reconciliation with God.

I get redemption. No longer a slave to sin. No longer working for Satan. The hope of heaven.

The joy of heaven. I found this treasure in a field and I'll sell everything.

I'll do anything to get it. That's the idea. Sacrifice. It's a once in a lifetime find. Well, so too with the pearl, verse 45.

When you realize something has tremendous worth, the cost doesn't then matter, does it?

When you think of something that has tremendous worth, forgiveness, reconciliation, giving glory to Triune God, when you know how much something is worth, then the cost isn't important.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. Oh, these were highly valued back in those days.

And upon finding one pearl of great value, a precious pearl, same kind of word used for the ointment of Mary anointing

Jesus' feet, he went and sold all that he had. It was of tremendous worth, so the cost didn't matter.

I read this week, Cleopatra's two famous pearls were valued for $400 ,000 each in the 1800s.

There's no second chance. This is a chance of a lifetime. I'll sell everything. I see the value.

Cost isn't important. F. F. Bruce said, to be a subject of Messiah's reign is so precious a privilege that a man might willingly sacrifice everything else to obtain it.

Whatever pleasures, honors, possessions, or attainments necessary, he will give them up willingly in order to secure that which is so worth much.

Every sacrifice worth it. Remember what Paul said? Whatever things were gained to me, those things

I have counted as what? Loss for the sake of Christ. When you see the value of Christ, then counting the cost, you're able to do it.

I've counted as loss all those things for the sake of Christ. I had tons of gains.

I'm Jewish. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrew. I'm circumcised on the right day. I'm in the right tribe of Benjamin. I did all these things.

It's to the law, blameless. It's to persecuting the church. I've got zealousness. But I put all those things in this accounting tab over here and said they're loss because over here, gain makes worth it that I can know

Christ Jesus my Lord. I counted all these things as loss.

That's what happens. When God begins to work on someone, you say to yourself, everything I thought that I could offer

God for Him to forgive me, it's all dung. It's all refuse. It's garbage.

I offered God, well, I was good and I didn't do as bad as the other people and I got baptized when I was a baby and I got catechized and I got irrigated and consecrated and dedicated and all these kind of things

I did. I got baptized when I was an adult. I actually got baptized three times in the name of the Father and the

Son and the Spirit. I have all these list of things. I was a missionary down to Galeana, Mexico. I went on Christian backpacking trips.

I'm a good citizen. I pay my taxes. I'm not as bad as my neighbor. Loss. That's exactly what

Paul said. Loss. Why? Because he sees the value of Christ. Now listen to these verses. I have suffered loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain

Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness, the very righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I might know

Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible

I may attain the resurrection from. Friends, have you counted the cost?

And are you willing to follow no matter what the cost? Christ is worth it.

Christ commands it. There was a pastor in Zimbabwe who

I think understood this. I am a disciple of the

Messiah. I will not let up, look back, or slow down. My past is redeemed.

My future is secure. I am done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, or popularity. I don't have the right to be first, tops, recognized, praised, or rewarded.

My face is set. My goal is sure. My road is narrow. My way is rough. My companions are few.

But my God is reliable. My mission is clear. I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, delayed, or deluded.

I will not flinch in the face of adversary nor negotiate at the table of my enemy or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I am a disciple of King Jesus. I must go until He comes, speak of all

I know of Him, and work until He stops me. And when He comes for His own, by the grace of God, He will have no problem recognizing me.

God help us do that very thing. Let's pray. Our Father, You are sovereign.

You are the King. Yet You are gracious, loving, and kind.

And when You sent Your Son on a rescue ministry, mission, He accomplished that.

It is finished, Jesus said on the cross. And You raised Him from the dead. Thank You that You care for us.

Thank You that the Lord demonstrated His love for us. And thank You that You gave us what was impossible from a human perspective, the ability to count the cost and to say no to self and to love

You above all. We know that's a work of grace in our hearts. We pray for that very same work of grace for people that are here today maybe.

Some are here, I'm sure, that do not know You. They want their own life. They want their own security.

They want their own possessions. They want their own Lordship. Father, grant them the gift of repentance.

Grant them the gift of following Your Son at all costs. And grant them that today.

Father, for the Christians here today, we're just thankful that it was only by Your sovereign, distinguishing grace that we've been able to approach

You. It's only by Your Son, the great mediator and advocate, friend of sinners.

Help us to be busy this week proclaiming the good news. The good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross and was raised from the dead.

To think He didn't die for His own sins, but for ours. To think He earned righteousness and gave to us freely.

We thank You for that. Help us to praise You this week. Help us to long for Your Son's soon return. Help us to rejoice that although once like the scribe and once like the other person, we're now children.