Count The Cost

[0:00] The Word of God is out of complacency and apathy.

[0:33] Not saying you're necessarily in that, though. This message may dislodge you from your comfort zone. Warning. This message may make you angry at the conveyor of this message.

[0:44] This message may evoke rage and resentment. This message, if you choose to act upon it, may change your life. Sometimes when I preach, I hit an earth.

[0:57] Ouch! I wonder sometimes, who am I going to offend today? Not that I set out to, believe me.

[1:10] Humanly speaking, I would prefer much rather to give you a pain-free message. But this one may prove painful for you. Yet I want to be a faithful messenger of it.

[1:23] Now, I don't like pain. People who know me, if you just talk about syringes and needles, I can feel the colour drain from my face. I'm not talking about those hypodermic needles today that doctors and nurses say to you, this will only hurt a bit.

[1:42] I'm talking about the cross today. The cross today. Spikes driven into hands and feet. People crucified had these tapered, heavy iron spikes, 15 centimetres long, driven into wrists and heels as part of the cross.

[2:06] The sustained and horrible torture process of the cross. The cruel living hell of the cross. This message could cause an offence. But I trust it is the offence of the cross.

[2:18] You may get offended, but better yet, you may die. This message could kill you this morning. It could kill your flesh. I pray it will.

[2:29] Luke 14. Luke 14. Count the cost. Count the cost. Our Lord Jesus is speaking.

[2:41] Luke 14. Verse 25 it says, And there went great multitudes unto him, with him, and he turned and said unto them, Verse 26, If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

[3:12] And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And it goes on, Verse 33, So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he have, he cannot be my disciple.

[3:32] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. Still our hearts. Speak, Lord, by your spirit. Minister, Lord, we pray as our hearts are still that our hearts be opened unto you and what you would have us to know today.

[3:46] In Jesus' name. Amen. Our Lord illustrates what he's saying in between that verse 27 and verse 33. I'll talk you about a building project.

[3:57] Of a building project. And in verse 28, he says, the first thing you do when you're considering a building project is you count the cost.

[4:07] You count the cost. You count the cost. Count the cost today. Our Lord's challenge is truly a timeless one.

[4:19] It is going to cost you something to be a disciple. And this message, I pray, is not one to be filtered or diluted but to be delivered in its full strength.

[4:33] Here he was, our Lord, with the crowds all around, multitudes walking to hear his message. And he says something that nowadays if you were to say it in some places in some churches, you'd create a church split.

[4:46] He says something very strong, something very bold, something very strong, harsh, demanding, something very heavy and hard.

[4:58] Something that the church growth gurus would say was totally inappropriate. They would be horrified. All the people that he would offend. Well, he's going to lose some people for saying such a thing.

[5:11] Thank you. Last night, I took a few minutes between the conference meetings about the second coming meetings that I attended and I walked along the beach there at Brighton.

[5:30] Just took a few minutes as we had a bit of a break. And I strolled along the beach and I thought, how can I put this message today? How can I put it across today? How can I get it across to the people today?

[5:41] As I was asking the Lord this, I saw a stone on the beach. A stone with some marked contrast, an unusual stone. A stone, black but with a white stripe in it.

[5:54] Very unusual. And this message too is one of marked contrast. Marked contrast. Striking contrast.

[6:05] Striking contrast between hatred and love. Between sacrifice and ease. Between loss and gain. Marked, striking contrast.

[6:16] And in the context of what our Lord is saying here, the context here is straight after a story He tells of the great sufferer. And of different ones making excuses. One after the other. Various excuses.

[6:28] Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. And we're still the same today. People making excuses. Excuses. I know how easy it can be to stir up people.

[6:42] I put a post into cyberspace saying, what's your excuse going to be for not attending fellowship on the Lord's Day? What's your excuse? And people get all spiritual when you say something like that and they use the usual catch crying, you don't have to go to church to be a Christian.

[7:00] We don't have to go to church. No, that's true. But it's a cop-out phrase, isn't it?

[7:11] Some people will get very touchy. Others will get, will scarcely give it a thought. Oh, that's my business. Often people will dream up some excuse as to why they cannot, but mostly it's the flesh.

[7:26] Mostly it's the flesh for some selfish reason, for convenience sake. What's your excuse today? Well, you don't need one, you're here. But, you know, what's your excuse today for not being an out-and-out Christian, for not being a disciple as our Lord expressed it here today?

[7:44] Is the something holding you back? Some excuse you would make for turning down the Lord's appeal? Or will you pay the price? Pay the price. There's some heavy demands here.

[7:55] Three heavy demands you could see here in these texts that I've just read. Will you pay the price? Now, when you go out shopping and you look in that shop window and, you know, Julie sees something just so, just nice, it just catches her eye.

[8:15] And you go into the shop and what's the first question that I ask? The ultimate question. What does it cost? What does it cost? And we like that when we go shopping, aren't we?

[8:26] And when people come into Rodney's shop, they say, how much is it? What's the price? What is the cost? The Lord Jesus says, count the cost.

[8:37] Count the cost. Verse 28. When you're prepared to build something, first, you count the cost. The first thing that you do. How much does it cost? How much does it cost to be a Christian?

[8:48] Really, it is absolutely free. Well, of course it is. Yet, there is a cost to being a disciple. Tozer said this, he said, it's become popular preaching a painless Christianity.

[9:04] Preaching a painless Christianity. A soft, effeminate, cheap, compromising, crossless, bloodless, comfortable Christianity. But that's a thin fernia of the real thing.

[9:18] It strikes me. It strikes me. Just like it struck me, this contrast in this stone. It strikes me. It strikes me how many professing Christians are utterly, utterly ineffective for the kingdom of God.

[9:32] They've been weakened and made powerless. They lack that firmness, that resolve, that steadfastness. They lack the drive. They're easily shaken.

[9:44] They're like a river that takes the course of least resistance, which we know rivers do. That's why they go all windy. They take the path of least resistance. How about you?

[9:54] What is it that drives you? What is it that drives you? Some people are driven by ambition. Some are driven by greed, by lust, by preoccupation.

[10:07] It's like some people are driven by coffee. Just mention the word coffee. Some of your ears pricked up this morning. Your ears turn in to hear that urn boiling away.

[10:20] I'll turn it down. I'll turn it down. You'll have to wait for it when you're finished today. Your ears turn in to hear that boiling urn, that boiling away. You can almost think of the aroma of the coffee beans.

[10:33] You can almost hear the pouring out of the hot water into the cup and you sense the process of percolation. You smell the flavour. Imagine the effect that it will have as it heats up your body and calms your nerves.

[10:48] Driven by coffee. Some people are like that. Now there's nothing wrong with coffee in moderation. The question is what drives you? What drives you?

[10:59] What is it that makes you hunger and thirst? Is it God and the things of God? What is it that drives you? Will the price put you off?

[11:09] There's a price tag here in Luke 14. There's a price tag here to being a disciple. What drives you? The Lord Jesus was driven. He was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness.

[11:22] Will you be driven by the Spirit? Will you pay the price? Or will you be as the dead branches that the fine dresser, the husbandman, cuts off the vine? The some that are professing Christians that are really just dead branches that our Lord will cut from the vine.

[11:41] Where are the men who will not waver? The women who will stand strong and steadfast? Friends, this is a message that cuts to the bone. A call for warriors. Wimps need not apply.

[11:55] The Lord Jesus wasn't looking for the wimps. He was looking for those who would be the disciples by His power. Will you be as those who are commended in the Word of God as pillars in the church?

[12:07] Not pillows. Pillars in the church. Pillars like the solid columns of the ancient buildings. Now we've seen some of those. You've probably seen some in your travels. Pillars standing strong some up to hundreds and hundreds of years.

[12:22] There was a strength to those pillars. They were solid. How many solid people today? Solid, rock solid, grounded, steadfast. Galatians 2 verse 9 we read on James, Cephas, or Peter, and John they seem to be pillars.

[12:38] And then on the contrasting side we see some in Genesis 49 verse 4 it says of Reuben unstable as water thou shalt not excel.

[12:51] Are you going to be a pillar or weak as water? Someone commented to me yesterday how by the strength of our church aren't people with real strength but aren't pillars of this church and I thank God for you each one of you that are pillars of the church who stand strongly for God.

[13:14] I trust all of us can be such. This doesn't have to be a limited number. it can be that all of us can be such powerful people for God.

[13:27] People who will pay the price. So I appeal to you today to hear our Lord's words. Verse 35 he says he that has ears to hear let him hear.

[13:39] It's a message to be heard to be responded to. Our Lord demands a response. The Christianity of which he speaks the discipleship he tells us of it makes demands of us.

[13:53] The call to discipleship is a strong call. It provokes hostility from some quarters. You know it's not unusual for me to receive hate calls.

[14:07] I don't particularly like that. I'm a bit of a sensitive person. I'm a sensitive new age guy really. And having these hate calls it disturbs me butters me.

[14:19] When people call our church judgmental or me in particular yet I dare not tone it down. I dare not. I would rather that you hate me than I not tell you the truth.

[14:30] I must because I love you. I must not water it down. And our Lord he says he does not ponder to the masses. He says something it's not a feel good message.

[14:43] He says this is going to be tough. It's going to be painful. And great multitudes came to him but he does not hold back. He doesn't want to give them a message that has no strength to it.

[15:01] It's a demanding message that he makes. Three extreme demands I can put to you today. Three directors. Three essentials. Now I can give you a message that's much easier.

[15:13] More palatable and could be a no demand kind of message today. So you leave here thinking well she'll be right Jack. But our Lord is very clear and uncompromising.

[15:26] It's a challenging message. He gives us a pattern here. A threefold pattern. It's very clear. It's not airy-fairy. Now we're looking at the tabernacle on the Fort Notley meetings.

[15:38] Looking at the tabernacle there was a pattern for the tabernacle. There was some very clear specifications. And our Lord gives a pattern here for the true discipleship of Christ.

[15:49] It's a template for our loyalty to Christ. There's a call to an intensity of faith and war. And if you don't like the message today then take it up with its author.

[16:01] Some contrasts. Just like the contrast in this stone. Some contrasts. Firstly, number one. Firstly, our Lord speaks of loving. Verse 26.

[16:13] Our Lord speaks effectively here of the contrast of loving and of hating. The first demand is actually for hatred. Hatred. to hate those who you love the dearest.

[16:29] How do you get your head around this one? How can you fathom this one? It's really kind of odd, isn't it? Such a message in this world where preaching predominantly is the popular candy floss, sugar coated soft gospel.

[16:44] Verse 26. Our Lord says, if any man come to me and hate not his father and his mother and life and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple.

[17:05] What a challenge. A challenge to hatred. The Lord speaks of relationship of the nearest and dearest of our loves, of our priorities I would understand this demand really as an emphasis of the intensity of that critical love that we ought to have for him.

[17:30] That critical love that we need and our love for the Lord should be so overwhelming. It should be so fundamental to trust Christ and to commit to him in some cultures means facing being cut off from your family.

[17:48] Some nations in our world today, if you stand for Christ, you're totally thrown out of your family, out of the will, out of, they don't even know your name anymore.

[18:00] You're totally crossed off any Christmas card list. you're totally forgotten and forsaken if you become a Christian.

[18:10] We know that for some of you today have experienced that, virtually experienced such a thing, when they've converted to Christ, out of heathenism, out of Islam, out of all kinds of other pagan beliefs, even just to stand for Christ when your family is a secular-minded family.

[18:28] Of course, our Lord does not mean that we hate our loved ones, but it's about an affection, it's about a decision about where we place our affections, it's a decision about where we place our love and devotion, it's a resolve of priority, of our love, of our focus, of what we love.

[18:46] What does it say? The first and greatest commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with most of thy heart. Doesn't it say that? Absolutely not.

[18:57] It says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy mind, all thy strength, everything. Love him. Love him with your awe.

[19:12] When other loves take away from that priority for God, we should be alert to that. We want a determination and resolve that loves him, who is the lover of our soul, with a love that has an intensity to it.

[19:29] And I believe that's the emphasis here that our Lord is making. Others might have other interpretations and I'm not saying that's gospel, so to speak, but it's a question of those contrasts, those contrasts, those things that we see a hatred, and it really just, it's kind of like, you know, a black piece of paper with a white dot on it, makes a contrast, it makes the white look whiter.

[19:54] it, you know, there's a contrast between one thing and another, there's the hatred, and there's the love for Christ, that's how we would understand it, our love for the Lord should be fervent and fixed, an intensity of love is called for from the disciple.

[20:08] So firstly, an intensity of loving, an intensity of loving, of loving such that other loves are seen as insignificant as it were in that contrast of that love for Christ, that intensity of loving, number one.

[20:26] And secondly, the second demand of our Lord is an intensity of living, an intensity of living. It's another contrast because he compares that life with the death of the cross.

[20:39] Our Lord speaks of living and dying. To truly live as a disciple of Christ, we must take the instrument of torture and death, the cross, and walk with it, daily, walk with it.

[20:54] The cross that our Lord carried, some surmise that the weight of that part of the cross that he carried was some 55 kilos, was not some lightweight thing. The weight of the cross he took for us and bore it to Calvary with our sin on his own body.

[21:12] The cross entails of sacrifice. Christianity is about life, but it's about dying to ourselves. It's about dying to self and sin and of rising to new life of righteousness in Christ.

[21:24] Christianity is about life, life lived to the max, life lived to the full. Yet here the Prince of life is telling us, you must die.

[21:37] You must take up the cross. Verse 27, to die the death of the cross. Verse 27, and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

[21:50] What does this mean? Some will think that carrying a cross is having some of the inconveniences of life. Someone was saying to me yesterday, in fact I said it a couple of times, because we went to a meeting on Friday and then one on Saturday, and they said, they expressed to me how it was some great hardship for me to drive my car one hour to go to church.

[22:16] It was such a hardship for me. A great hardship for me to drive to this church down south of Adelaide to spend one whole hour driving my car.

[22:27] What a hardship it was. What a cross it was. Some are thinking it's a great sacrifice to do that. A great sacrifice to attend church. Maybe it's a great sacrifice you feel to attend church once a week.

[22:39] Even that, let alone more than that. But it's not really a cross, is it? It's not a cross at all. How much time do you spend driving to work?

[22:52] Or doing many other things? sacrifice. It's no sacrifice at all. Really. A minor inconvenience is not a cross.

[23:05] We're talking about being a living sacrifice. That's what it means here. A cross. It's radical. It's radical. The most extreme form of dying and death.

[23:17] To carry a cross. To carry a cross, it means you're going to your execution. You're dead. death. Now even today, the sun, 200 million believers who live in countries where they suffer hardships for Christ, because of their faith, they face discrimination and imprisonment, beatings and torture of all kinds.

[23:39] Will you be a bearer of his cross? He says, you cannot be my disciple unless you have a cross. The cross, it means a death.

[23:49] death to your desires and ambitions, a giving up of everything, a willingness for sacrifice and suffering. The cross, it means rejection for you.

[24:00] When you're carrying a cross, it means a shame and a reproach for you. It means people will spit on you as you go by and mock you. It means your name is dragged in the mud and you're in the company of transgressors and the crooked.

[24:16] To carry the cross, it means to be rejected for your devotion to Christ. It means you risk relationships with those who do not agree.

[24:27] To carry the cross means putting God first against the advice of others. To carry the cross means risking friendships because we love people enough to tell them the truth in love.

[24:41] Mark 8.34, the Lord Jesus called the people to him and he said, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

[24:52] For whosoever will save his life will lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels the same shall save it. For what shall it profit him out?

[25:02] He shall go in the whole world and lose his own soul. Or what shall man give in exchange for his soul? God, it's a contrast again, isn't it, really?

[25:15] The Lord says, he set the example, it says of him in Luke 9.51 that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He was carrying the cross before he even laid his hands on it.

[25:29] He was carrying the cross before the foundation of the world, the land that was slain. He set his face like a flint, he set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.

[25:40] There was an intent, there was an unflinching resolve. He was resolute as he committed to the pathway of the cross before he laid his hands on the wood. There was a steadfastness there.

[25:51] There was an intensity of love our Lord showed because of the cross for us. And our Lord calls us to that same pathway. In Luke 9.23 he said to the Lord, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, daily and follow me.

[26:12] He calls upon us to take up our cross. Let him take up his cross. Now, Shirley, your cross is going to be different from mine.

[26:24] Dennis, your cross is different from my cross. But Jesus says to you, take up your cross. Take up your cross.

[26:35] Whatever he places upon you, he will give you the strength to bear it. He will give you the resolve to be steadfast with that cross. Our Lord demands a dying daily that we might live.

[26:51] It speaks of an intensity. There's that contrast again. The contrast of hating and of loving. The contrast of dying, yet of living. And thirdly, we see the intensity of leaving.

[27:06] Of leaving. In verse 33, our Lord says, so likewise, whosoever he be of you, thou forsaketh not most of the things that he hath, all that he hath.

[27:20] Whosoever he be of you, thou forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. There's that intensity there of forsaking, yet, I'll put it to you, there's a contrast here of receiving.

[27:35] What does he give us? What does he give us in exchange for our soul? You know, the world can't be compared. If you have a wealth, the riches of the whole world, yet lose your soul, what a loss it would be.

[27:49] It's a letting go, it's a surrender, it's a forsaking all, it's such that you resign as the manager of your own life, it's such that you resign as the manager of your own destiny, it's a change of ownership, forsaking all that you have.

[28:05] What a radical demand. You know, this was not some easy kind of message. It's a giving up that you might receive his abundance.

[28:18] It's a giving up, it's a radical departure. You know, last night the preacher talked about Galatians 5 verse 16, this I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

[28:31] And the sense he put it was of a step-by-step walk, one foot after the other, a step-by-step by step. It's like that familiar one in Romans 8 verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

[28:48] He goes on to walk not after the flesh but after the spirit the very same sense of it there. Romans 8 verse 1, sadly some people only have half this verse in their Bibles.

[28:59] Now that's a kind of sad thing. I know Julie and I were victims of theft lately, you know, some months back, and the police came and they, you know, the investigation squad, they came and they got their fingerprint dust and they sprinkled the fingerprint dust and they saw on the window some palm prints.

[29:22] But the thieves had had a look in the window like that and the palm prints were on the window. They're on the police database now. So when that crook ultimately, hopefully, comes to justice, they'll see, you know, your fingerprints are unique and your palm prints are unique too.

[29:41] So those palm prints that they dusted and found on the window will identify the thief. some people have half this verse missing from their Bibles.

[29:57] It misses who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Why so? I believe someone way back deleted it from the manuscript. The devil is in the business of stealing the word of God from people.

[30:11] It's like in the parable of the sower. We read of how Satan cometh and taketh away the word. That's Mark 4.15. When we report a theft we look for the fingerprints.

[30:23] We look for the evidence. Who would take such a thing out of the Bible? Who doesn't want you to walk after the Spirit? Who doesn't want you to walk not after the flesh? We need to look out for the thief.

[30:38] Some of you have been robbed. The fingerprints of the devil are all over it. When we see such a thing is happening to our Bibles. How will you walk?

[30:49] Will you walk after the Spirit or walk after the flesh? Walking after the flesh or walking after the Spirit? Will we be spiritual people? In the Bible in Galatians 5 it says that some Christians they bite and devour one another.

[31:04] I've had that happen to me. Some people have got a real appetite for munching on creatures. They bite and devour one another. They bite your head off.

[31:16] I've had some hate calls lately and I wonder wow. I wonder how can Christians well professing Christians don't love that. They bite and devour one another. Cannibals.

[31:27] How will you walk? Will you walk after the Spirit or walk after the flesh? church? I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you the truth. Verse 35 Do we trust in God?

[31:40] Do we want this extreme Christianity? Will we hear the demands to discipleship? It says that we are to pay the price. Pay the price.

[31:51] Or will we follow after the pipers and follow the lemmings to their destruction? The devil wants you to tone it down. Don't get too radical.

[32:02] We don't want you to not walk after the flesh the devil says. We don't want you to walk after the Spirit. He wants you to just coast along. But God says it's a call to discipleship.

[32:19] When we forsake all that we have we receive all that he has. That's the wonder of it. This is the contrast here. In the forsaking all that we have we receive all that he has.

[32:30] All of his great storehouse. All of the riches in glory by Christ Jesus. What did Moses do? He extend the reproach of Christ greater than the riches of the treasures of Egypt.

[32:43] Moses would have seen it all. He would have grown up in his boyhood days. Moses would have seen it all. Far more than any archaeologist would have seen with a few measly graves that they found the remains of the old bit of trinkets that the grave robbers left behind.

[33:00] Moses would have seen it all. All the treasures of Egypt. He lived in a palace from his boyhood. Yet he would rather forsake it all and follow Christ.

[33:12] Forsake it all to follow the Lord. And so friends what about us today? this is radical stuff.

[33:23] It's radical. You know how can I put it to you more strongly than this? It's an addiction which will be good for you.

[33:35] Now I see people walk into the supermarket and they well you can't see them on the shelf now but they would select a packet with a message. I want a 25 or a 35 or whatever it is and I pack it there with gross pictures and graphic warnings.

[33:53] And I wonder what it is that they decide when the man comes to the shop assistant oh I want a smoking kills one. No I would rather have smoking causes lung cancer please.

[34:07] No what about smoking causes unborn babies. Harms unborn babies. What about smoking clay clogs my arteries maybe I have that one today. Or smoking causes emphysema or smoking causes mouth and throat cancer.

[34:26] An addiction that people will not let go of without yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit. Now the Bible doesn't say thou shalt not smoke.

[34:39] But smoking is a good thing to forsake. If you're going to forsake something forsake that please. I appeal to you today choose rather an addiction that will be good for you. We read of such one in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 15.

[34:53] Now there's a warning on the packet people. There's a warning on the packet it's going to cost you but it will benefit you in an eternal dimension. 1 Corinthians 16 verse 15 it says that some they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.

[35:06] That's a good addiction to have. That's a radical addiction that is good for you. And in the Bible it says it will give you a facelift. I know Robin was talking about joy this morning and in Psalm 43 it says why aren't they cast down on my soul why aren't they disquieted within me hoping God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God.

[35:29] You know when you praise him there's a health to your face. There's a health to your countenance. It's going to do you good. You're going to get a facelift when you praise him.

[35:41] It's a good thing to have that kind of addiction. It'll do you good. Now that's not to say your life's going to be a bed of roses because it could mean the cross it could mean it could mean martyrdom for you.

[35:56] So let's not settle for a revised more palatable more comfortable version of the gospel. We need the authentic one. The authentic one. And that means going the distance in Acts 14 22 Paul says that he was exhorting the people we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

[36:15] It wasn't a kind of easy going kind of carefree pain free gospel. It was exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

[36:30] Now through history we can see men and women who have stood against all the odds. There's a man Zinzendorf and the Moravians they dedicated themselves to an ongoing prayer meeting for revival.

[36:47] We meet at Evan Roberts in the Welsh revival. He was powerfully used by God as he prayed passionately that God would purify and bend the church. How can we wind this message up today?

[37:01] I know last night the preacher said this. He said that information needs to lead to application otherwise it will end up with evaporation. Now this is information that we can choose to ignore.

[37:17] It can just evaporate out of your brain cells today and you probably won't remember it by this afternoon. We need an application. How can I apply this to my life today? How can I make this something practical that I can do?

[37:30] It's about a decision. It's about a decision to be a disciple. It's about a driving purpose. It's about what our Lord says to us of a love for him that contrasts every other love.

[37:45] It's about a devotion unto him. It's about a forsaking all that we have that we might have him.

[37:57] It's about a cross that we shoulder. it's about bearing whatever weight of ridicule and rejection they face us as a Christian.

[38:09] It's about willingness to let our body be buffeted. It's a willingness to break from the crowd, a willingness to stand to suffer persecution. In 2 Timothy 3 verse 12 it says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

[38:28] That's pretty strong words, isn't it? all means all. I don't know how you can translate it in all kinds of ways, but all means all. That's pretty clear. You can't get around that one.

[38:39] Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. How about you today? Will you be a disciple? Will you yield your life to his sovereign lordship?

[38:54] Will you be willing to pay the price, to count the cost and to pay the price? Now, please let me end by saying this. We're not saying that we work for our salvation.

[39:07] It's entirely his grace and his doing. It's entirely his cross that we receive his gift, given freely, by faith received, unworthily as we are, that we receive it today.

[39:24] He says to you, do you love me? He says to you, do you love me? As if other loves become hatred, in a sense.

[39:39] He says to you, bear your cross, and he says to you, forsake all that you have. It means really, as I would interpret it of sorts, there's a sense of sacrificing.

[39:58] There's a sense of letting go. To bear your cross, it means there may be some tough times as a Christian, maybe even ahead. You know, I can't say to you that you're going to have everything just so in your life.

[40:14] It could mean bankruptcy sin for you. It could mean some dread disease that kills you, or your loved ones.

[40:26] It could mean that you're brutally tortured and killed for your faith. That's what the cross can mean to you. It might be something much less than that.

[40:38] But it's that willingness to go to the cross, it's that willingness to love him, no matter what. It's not about having all the trappings of materialism and health and wealth and success as the world would call it.

[40:53] Nothing of the sort. It's about a cross that you bear. He calls to you, bear his cross, bear your cross, come after me and forsake all that you have such that every other thing in our lives is really insignificant and not important.

[41:10] So that, and as you forsake all that you have, you receive all that he has. What does your father have? The cattle on a thousand hills. What does your father have?

[41:21] He is the ultimate owner of everything. That is. And it's yours as his sons and daughters. You have a wealth beyond compare.

[41:35] And it's not in such material senses but it's in that eternal dimension. He time to a to!

[41:50]