Basically this is what the Lord Jesus has done. He has given us the gospel of Christ to take into the homes of people and show them what the Lord can do for them if they will accept Him.
The gospel of Christ is all that God has given to the church to reach a lost world.
But there are some who feel that this is not enough today so they have come up with some other things. Such as, EASY BELIEVISM!
What is EASY BELIEVISM?
Let me share with you three reason why this blief is un-scriptural.
(1) NEO-EVANGELISM produces false converts.
(2) NEO-EVANGELISM tells people what they want to hear instead of what God wants them to hear.
(3) NEO-EVANGELISM is dangerous because it convinces a person he is saved when IN REALITY HE IS ETERNALLY DAMNED. He is damned and does not even know it!
Look at verse 25 we read, “And there went great multitudes with him...”
Notice the words, “...great multitudes...”
But Jesus was not impressed with numbers as we are today. He knew you could have a great multitude of people and not have any among them there for the right reasons.
Listen, what makes a church a great church is a church where it is filled with Christians that have truly been born-again.
You do not have to:
• Beg them to attend church,
• Tithe,
• Pray,
• Attend Sunday school!
Why? Because they have that new nature want to do these things.
Illus: But many churches across America are having difficulty today because their membership is built on people who HAVE NEVER TRULY BEEN CONVERTED. Because of this you will find some of the meanest, most spiteful, jealous, hateful, etc., people in churches because they were allowed to join when they were not even saved.
Had Jesus been like many pastors today, He would have looked at that great multitude and said, “Who would like to be the first to join?”
But notice what the Lord did. Verse 25 says, “...and he turned, and said unto them.” He spoke to them about the cost of discipleship. He let them know that God would not put up with having just ANY PLACE in the lives of those who follow Him. He is to have FIRST PLACE IN OUR LIVES!
That does not set well with some people. They want to hear a gospel that teaches nothing and requires nothing from them except what “self” want to give.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger had a man who was a very affluent man to attend his church for about six weeks. Dr. Belger was talking to him one day and he said he would be attending another church because he felt that he preached the Word of God to strict. He went on to say, “You preach the Word of God, but I can not live up to it, so I am going to find me a church that preaches in a way that will fit my life-style. ”At least the man was honest!!!”
Jesus did not practice the neo-evangelism that is being preached today. He turned to that crowd and told them exactly what they should expect.
I. THE CONDITIONS OF DISCIPLESHIP
Look at Luke 14:26-27.
Jesus told that “great multitude” of two conditions THEY HAD TO MEET TO BE HIS DISCIPLES.
A. Domestic conditions –
Look at verse 26, we read, “If any m an 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.”
In this verse He touched on the two groups of people who we love dearly.
(1) Our family.
Many people have interpreted wrongly the meaning of this verse. We see He told His disciples that anyone who came to Him could not be His disciple unless he hated his father, mother, children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own self.
Illus: A Sunday school teacher was reading verse 26 to his class when a little boy raised his hand. He said, “Teacher, I am a Christian because I hate my brothers and sisters.”
Well, with more study we find that was not exactly what Jesus was teaching. It is the will of God that family members love each other, not hate each other!
And it is because He knows that our family members mean more to us than anyone else that He turned to that crowd and said, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters...he cannot be my disciple.”
Was the Lord teaching hate in the home? Was that what He was teaching? Of course not!
But listen, sometime a christian man might be married to a un-christian woman and she will do everything she can to keep him out of church and serving the Lord. BUT IF IT COMES TO PLEASING A WIFE OR A HUSAND OVER THE LORD JESUS WE MUST PUT THE LORD ABOUT THEM.
Why? Because no one has done for us what the Lord Jesus has done for us…NO ONE!
Notice, in that same verse He went even farther than to mention family members. What about...
2. Ourselves.
After He mentioned everyone He knew we all love, He really “put the icing on the cake” by saying if one was to be His disciple He would have to “...hate...his own life also...” Now to us that really seems to be asking a lot.
Illus: A pastor visited a teenaged girl in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. When he entered her room she was literally clawing her arms until blood was running down. The pastor asked her, “Why are you doing that?” She said, “Because I hate myself.” Now, does she qualify to be the Lord’s disciple because she hates herself? Of course not.
Again, the Lord was not teaching that we are to hate ourselves.
One must love himself before he can love others.
Most of us do not have the problem that young girl had. Most people have the problem of loving themselves too much. In fact, some people hate members of their family, but they do NOT HATE THEMSELVES.
Jesus knows OUR FAMILIES and OURSELVES mean more to us than anyone or anything else.
HE WAS NOT teaching that we are to hate our families and ourselves. He was using a figure of speech. He was teaching that our love for Him should be SO STRONG that, in comparison, OUR LOVE FOR OUR FAMILIES AND OURSELVES WOULD SEEM LIKE HATE.
Illus: Have you ever been traveling down the road at 40 or 50 mph and had someone go past you and out of sight so fast it almost seemed like a streak of lightening? Usually, when recalling the incident to a friend later you would say, “A man passed me so fast, he left me standing in the dust!” Now, were you standing still? Of course not! You were simply putting emphasis on how fast the man was going, not on how slow you were going.
Illus: Many people profess to love the Lord but they are not in church, worshipping the Lord today as the scripture teach they should do.
Week after week goes by. They wake up on Sunday and say, “Self, do you want to go to church today?” Old self says, “Well, you really should go, but you have so many things self wants to do, so do not even bother!”
Those who are truly saved by God’s marvelous grace will have a desire to show Him they love Him more than they love themselves by putting Him first in their lives.
In our text Jesus emphasizes how much we should love Him. We should love Him so much that our love for FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND EVEN OUR OWN SELVES will seem like hate in comparison.
The first condition set forth to that “great multitude” was in the area of DOMESTIC CONDITIONS. Then He tells them of...
B. Denial conditions
Look at verse 27, we read, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
Remember, that was a GREAT MULTITUDE that was following the Lord. But the Lord Jesus is not interested in CHEAP INVITATIONS and CHEAP DISCIPLESHIP.
Illus: There is a church that calls themselves THE ELEVATION CHURCH. Their primary goal is to reach numbers however they can get them. For example, one thing they do is what they call mass baptism. They will state they are going to baptize so many people and here is how they do it. Before the service ever starts the preacher get with some of the young folks who can move fast at the set time they are to run down to the front to get baptize. The purpose is that once others in the congregation see these 25 0r 50 run down the front it will cause others to join them. So has he counts down 1, 2, and 3 and these starters come running down the aisle others join in behind them.
I want to ask you something, WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ALL THIS???
Illus: Many folks have their names on church rolls today because some clever evangelist tricked them into walking the aisle of the church in a special meeting. However, a month after those folks walked the aisle, it would take the FBI to find them. They had not been truly born again. They had no desire to serve the Lord.
Illus: One evangelist, known to be neo, has written a small book on ways to get sinners to walk the aisle and make a profession of faith. The little book is filled with tricks you can use to get people to make a public profession.
God is not interested in any cheap professions made as a result of trickery so the ones giving the invitations can brag and boast about how many they baptized and suppose to have gotten saved. God is interested in sinners being saved as the Holy Spirit does His work in their hearts, convicting and convincing of sin.
Jesus turned to that crowd. He laid it on the line. He said, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” I do not know how Jesus could have made it any more simple and clearer than that!
Now, what is the “cross”? Some believe the trials that we encounter in the Christian life are the cross we bear. However, there are troubles that Christians and non-Christians all encounter.
Illus: One lady, who was very sickly, said, “Well, I do not want to complain about this sickness; it is the cross I must bear.”
We. do not understand why some people have to endure sickness while others do not, but we can rest assured that those who manifest the grace of God and give Him glory as they face severe difficulties will be richly rewarded one day.
Yes, sickness can be a severe difficulty, and there are many more, such as poverty, unemployment, having an unsaved spouse or a wayward child, etc. However these things are not the cross-bearing the Lord was speaking of in our text.
The cross Jesus spoke of had to do with “DEATH.” When Jesus died on that cross, He died FOR our sins. Now we who have been saved by His marvelous grace must die TO sin. If we are truly IN CHRIST we died to sin and took the righteousness of Christ. Paul said, Gal. 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Jesus wanted to make it clear to any who were in that crowd who might have the notion they could live in sin and be His followers that they did not need to waste His time. HIS DEATH FOR SIN WAS OUR DEATH TO SIN!
These are the two conditions Jesus said they had to meet to be one of His disciples. There was:
(1) A DOMESTIC CONDITION and
(2) (2) A DENIAL CONDITION.
Then Jesus next let them see...
II. THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP
Jesus gave two illustrations to help them understand the cost involved in following Him.
A. The cost of building.
Look at Verses 28-30, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.”
Jesus knew that among that “great multitude,” of people who were following Him that some might think they wanted to follow Him, but they had not “counted the cost.”
He wanted them to know there was a price to be paid. He paid the price for our salvation, but we pay a price for following Him!
Illus: You can travel across America and you will see many houses, shopping centers and office buildings that men have started to build, but they were never finished. The unfinished buildings stand, a stark testimony of the builder’s neglect in counting the cost before he began.
Jesus wanted the people of that day, and of today, to know that He would pay the cost of their salvation, but there was a cost in FOLLOWING HIM! He told them that cost might involve:
(1) Family,
(2) Career,
(3) Social standing,
(4) Financial sacrifice,
(5) Friends
(6) Sweethearts.
Yes, He gave the illustration of the unfinished building to show us we must “count the cost” involved in following him. Then He gave another illustration.
B. The cost of battle.
Look at verses 31-33, “Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” It is not wise to enter into a battle unless you know you can win.
Illus: Former president George Bush told of how troubled he was the night before the Persian Gulf War broke loose. He had supper with Dr. Billy Graham that evening, but he said that the whole evening his mind was on all those American boys who would be facing death face to face. His decision was a good one, and it turned out to be a great victory for our nation.
Illus: What a contrast to the Viet Nam war! We entered that war without counting the cost and lost 50,000 American soldiers.
Jesus used the BUILDING COST and BATTLE COST illustrations to show us that HE WOULD PAY THE PRICE FOR OUR SALVATION, BUT, MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT; IT WILL COST THE ONES WHO DECIDE TO FOLLOW HIM!.
Then He gave them...
III. THE CAUTION OF DISCIPLESHIP –
Some refer to conversions as “decisions.” The problem with that is that some decisions are...
A. Worthless decisions
Look at verse 33. “Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?”
A worthless decision is like worthless salt.
We all have tasted food that tasted “flat” because it was not salted. When this happens we understand the importance of salt to flavor some foods.
Jesus picked up on that idea, but He talked about WORTHLESS SALT -- salt that had lost its saltiness. Salt that has lost its flavor is worthless.
Many have decided they can live like the sinner lives. These are worthless when it comes to the service of God.
Illus: They are like the salt in the shaker on the table. It may be labeled, “Salt,” but is of no use because it adds no flavor to the food.
B. Worthless disciples
Look at verse 34. “It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
WORTHLESS DISCIPLES are of no use to the kingdom of God. Neither can they be of any value in any other area.
Conclusion:
I. THE CONDITIONS OF DISCIPLESHIP
A. Domestic conditions -- verse 26.
B. Denial conditions -- verse 27.
II. THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP
A. The cost of building -- verses 28-30
B. The cost of battle -- verses 31-32
III. THE CAUTION OF DISCIPLESHIP
A. Worthless decisions
B. Worthless disciples
