Hard to Believe: The Cost of Following Jesus

It's good to be in God's house. And last week, as you know, as we kicked off

a new series for Sunday night, just I couldn't think of a better title called Hard to Believe.

And because the gospel, I think when you see it in terms of the way that scripture

presents it, is hard to believe. It really is.

In fact, last week we left off with this. We said that Jesus said it unmistakably

and inescapably in Matthew 16, 24 and 25.

He said, if anyone desires to

come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

And so we left off with just sharing that it's not about exalting me.

It's about slaying me. It's the death of self.

In other words, you win by losing, you live by dying.

And that is the heart of the gospel.

And that's the essence of discipleship, which we're diving into.

And the passage mentioned nothing about improving your self-esteem,

being rich and successful, feeling good about yourself or having your felt needs

met, which is what so many churches

are preaching these days in order to sugarcoat,

the gospel or the truth, I should say.

And so who's right? We left with this. Is the message of Christianity self-fulfillment or self-denial?

I think we all agreed it was self-denial because it can't be both.

It's just a matter of opinion. I'll do my thing and you do yours, right?

And we'll both cruise contentedly along in separate directions.

But Christianity, the genuine gospel of Jesus Christ is not a matter of opinion.

It's a matter of truth, a matter of truth, church.

And so what you want or what I want or anybody else wants for that matter makes

no difference whatsoever.

It is what it is by God's sovereign will.

And I am thankful for that. And so we're going to talk a little bit about the

hard words of Jesus tonight. Is that okay?

You ready? I have no idea how the fans of this,

Christianity light, I guess you would say, as we referring to it last week,

reconcile their approach to religion with the teachings of Jesus,

or how they become comfortable ignoring what he said in his word.

But the only acceptable approach, I think for me and for you,

is to take our Lord at his word.

In the single source of truth for every authentic Christian.

What is that single source of truth?

The Word of God revealed in the Bible. That's it.

So let's go there. We'll be in Luke 9. In fact, you're thinking,

hey, we finished with the gospel of Luke this morning, Brother Judd.

Well, Luke 9 cuts to the core of the question of what Christianity is all about.

Because here Jesus was with his disciples shortly after miraculously feeding

a crowd of 5,000, if you remember, who had come to hear him speak with one modest

basket of loaves and fishes.

In fact, in Luke 9, 23 through 26, we read the following. It says,

Then he said to them all, If anyone desires to come after me,

that sounds familiar, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever desires to save his life will... will lose it, but whoever desires

loses his life for my sake will save it.

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost?

For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed

when he comes in his own glory and in his fathers and of the holy angels.

So church is pretty simple. Anyone who wants to come after Jesus into the kingdom

of God, anyone who wants to be a Christian has to face these three commands.

Number one, deny himself.

Number two, take up his cross daily.

And number three, what? Follow him.

Those words are hard to believe, are they not?

They're hard to believe. They're not consumer-friendly or seeker-sensitive, if you will.

Christianity light is nowhere to be found in those words.

But this is not an obscure passage. I want y'all to know this tonight,

or something different from other teachings of Jesus.

These are principles that he taught consistently and repeatedly throughout his ministry.

In other words, you could say this defined his ministry over and over again

in all different settings.

This is not news, in other words. When Martin Luther, if you remember,

launched the Protestant Reformation, you probably don't want it there,

but in 1517, by posting his 95 thesis on the door at Wittenberg,

he affirmed in the fourth thesis that salvation required,

get it, you ready? Hold on to your seat, self-hate.

He wrote that self-hate remains right up to entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

And the original Greek word, I want to share this with you tonight,

for deny, you know what it means?

It means to refuse to associate with.

The thought is this, that if you want to be Christ's disciple and receive forgiveness

and eternal life, you must refuse to associate any longer with the person you are.

You are sick of your sinful self and want nothing to do with you anymore.

And it may mean not just you, but your family.

In Matthew 10, 32, Jesus talked about confessing him as Lord and Savior.

Listen to his words. He says, therefore, whoever confesses me before men,

him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.

And then in verse 34 through 36, listen to his words. Do not think that I am

come to bring peace on earth.

I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Y'all, this is Jesus talking.

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 man's enemies will be

those of his own household.

It's not a friendly invitation, is it?

It's a warning. If you come to Christ, it may make your family worse, not better.

It may send a rift into your family, the likes of which you've never experienced before.

If you give your life to Jesus Christ, there will be an impassable gulf between

you and people who don't give their lives to him.

And it's not just true for strangers, but also for family members, right?

Creating this severe breach sometimes in those most intimate of all relationships.

Verse 37 adds these words. Listen, these are familiar words of Jesus.

It says, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

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

In other words, if you and I are not willing to pay the price of a permanent

split, possibly in your family, unless your loved ones come to Christ,

if you're not willing to pay the price of possible greater trauma,

greater conflict, greater suffering in your family, then you're not worthy to be Jesus' disciple.

You see what I'm talking about? These are hard to believe words, aren't they?

This is not stuff you hear every day coming out of people's mouths, is it?

When they're making a call for people to come to Christ. But this is the gospel.

This is what Jesus himself said. Now, I understand some people may get angry

or mad or frustrated with that and maybe take it out on the person sharing it. I don't know.

But all I can tell you is that's Jesus' words. If you have a problem with it,

you better go talk to him.

Verse 38 says, and he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not

worthy of me. Wait a minute.

In Jesus' time, people associated a cross with one thing and one thing alone.

A cross was an instrument of death. Today, we've got our crosses,

don't we? People love to wear them around their neck for jewelry and on the

bracelets and hang them on the walls for decoration.

But back then that was that would be the same thing as if you wore an electric

chair around your neck today,

pretty similar right or put an electric chair upon your house wall above your kitchen table right,

it was a symbol an instrument of death he was saying that if you're not willing

to have conflict with the world to the degree that it could cost you your life,

then jesus said you're not worthy of him, and I'm not worthy of him.

Verse 39 says, he who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

And that's the echo of Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

It's about losing your life. It's about losing my life.

It takes us back. It's not a man-centered theology.

It's a Christ-centered theology that says, I give everything to Christ,

no matter what it costs me, even if it costs me my life, gives new meaning to

the great hymn, I Surrender All, doesn't it?

A lot easier to sing those words than to live those words. But the true gospel

of scripture, this is the bedrock truth of Christianity that the Bible confirms repeatedly.

Jesus said the same thing, like I said, in many different ways.

He said it in the familiar story of the rich young ruler. Y'all remember that one in Mark 10,

Mark 10:17

verse 17, the young synagogue leader ran up to Jesus, knelt down before him

and asked, Good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

Boy, that is the ultimate setup for personal evangelism, right?

I mean, the guy ran to his feet, said, what do I need to do to get saved?

What did Jesus not tell him?

Just say this prayer after me. Did he? No.

Jesus could have said, pray this prayer or make a decision to accept me, but he didn't.

Instead, he actually confronted the young man with the reality of sin to reveal

whether or not he was convicted of his own wickedness and he was repented or

penitent over his transgression or his iniquities, right? His sin.

Jesus offered actually several of the Ten Commandments as examples of the law

of God the young man had actually broken.

Rejecting any thought of sinfulness and repentance, though, the young man actually

did what? He bragged about having obeyed the Ten Commandments all his life from his youth, right?

He thought he was a perfect candidate for eternal life, but he got a response that he didn't expect.

In verse 21, Jesus actually said, go your way, sell whatever you have and give

to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come, take up the cross.

And we know that means die to yourself and follow me.

Jesus actually exposed his self-righteousness and then uncovered his love for money.

The young ruler wanted Jesus to show him how to have eternal life, right?

But Jesus told him that the price was giving up his illusion of self-righteousness.

Recognizing himself rather as an unworthy, wretched sinner.

And y'all, that is the only way we can be saved. And he needed to be willing

to submit to Jesus, even if it meant he had to give up all his earthly possessions.

And y'all, the same call goes to us today. The same call.

He might not ask, but the requirement for eternal life is the willingness to

give it all up if he does, right?

Jesus paid it all on Calvary, our sin debt.

But now he calls us. He says, come, follow me. Take up your cross daily. Die to self.

Refuse to associate with that old self any longer and follow me.

See, the young man wouldn't do either. He wouldn't admit his sin or deny himself.

And verse 22 tells us something that's probably one of the saddest verses in the Bible.

It says this. It says, but he was sad at this word and went away sorrowful,

for he had great possessions.

And I also noticed something else. Jesus didn't go chasing out after him, did he?

What did Jesus do? He let him go.

He decided he'd hold on. This man decided he'd rather hold on to the deception

of self-righteousness and have his money and his possessions than to have Jesus.

Reminds me of that great old hymn, no? I'd rather have Jesus,

right? I mean, I want to have him.

And then silver or gold and all those things.

But he had no interest in self-denial, self-sacrifice, or submission at all.

So he was unworthy to be Jesus's disciple. And he himself, y'all,

shut the door to the kingdom of salvation.

You got to look today. I mean, the call today, I think few people realize,

even though they read the scripture, the call, it's like it gets missed.

The call to salvation, what Jesus is asking of us, right?

It's hard to believe. It truly is.

And I wonder how many people go away sorrowful today because they miss it. They miss that call.

They don't heed it. They walk away.

They walk away, and they're not willing to refuse to associate with themselves

anymore. They're not willing to lay it all down and submit it to Christ.

We all know somebody like the rich young ruler, right?

You probably met these people before, maybe have been one before.

Cocky, self-assured, impressed with his own goodness, who sees Christian salvation

as one more goal that he can achieve through performance, right?

Skill, money, or influence?

The Bible tells us that that's not how it works. The goal is the unfamiliar

one, y'all, of sorrowfully acknowledging sin, of submission and sacrifice.

If we're not willing to separate from our family, separate from the world,

separate from the material things that we possess, then Jesus isn't that valuable

to us, is he? He really isn't.

And it's an all or nothing proposition here.

It's a call to die. It truly is. And it's all, you're either all in or you're

all out. There's no halfway.

Reminds me of that old contemporary song in Christian music,

Johnny Fence Rider. Y'all probably never heard of that one.

About this guy who tried to ride the fence, you know, one foot in the world

and one foot in the church.

It's not that way. You're in the world. There's no in between.

But there's yet another example in Luke 9, 57, where Jesus was walking down

the road with some of his followers, and one of them promised,

I will follow you wherever you go.

Jesus didn't say, hey, that's great.

We're all going to the Ritz-Carlton for caviar tonight. He didn't say that, did he?

What he said in verse 58 was, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have

nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

Jesus didn't say, follow me and you'll be happy. You'll be healthy.

You'll be wealthy. You'll be prosperous and successful.

He actually said, just know this. I don't have any place to lay my head.

Kind of think Jesus can relate to the homeless. Discipleship is going to cost

you and I, whatever you have.

Jesus may call for it all. He may not call for it all, but we need to be willing to give it all.

So I just got to tell you, the true call of the gospel, don't expect comfort and ease.

The call to follow Christ is not a call to walk in a rose garden.

It's not a call to a trouble-free life. It's not a call to a better marriage or a successful job.

It's a call to die.

That's tough. That's hard to believe. But it's also a call of forgiveness,

of cleansing, of restoration, of being made right with God, right?

But look, you got to count the cost.

That's what scripture says. Count the cost.

You don't enter into this lightly when you follow Jesus. This isn't a halfway thing.

That's why we see so many people fall away.

Did you know that Billy Graham even said this himself, talking about all the

people that came forward at his crusades, there's only two of 10 were really genuine believers.

They all just came down, got caught up, and they didn't really surrender.

You can't find them in a church anywhere three weeks later.

And that's staggering statistics, but it's not surprising according to the Word.

A lot of people just want to say a prayer, boom, bang, boom, my life improves.

Got a ticket to heaven. That's not the call of the gospel. The call is to die.

Very few find that narrow way. Very few.

Many fall away because it is hard to believe.

The story continues, though, in verse 59. Then he said to another,

follow me. But he said, Lord, let me go first and bury my father.

The implication here is that his father wasn't even dead yet, by the way.

What did he mean, go first and bury? Well, did he mean to go to a funeral?

No, he wasn't saying, Jesus, my father died. Please let me go to the funeral. That wasn't it.

Did he mean, yeah, he meant to hang around until he got his inheritance and his father died.

And then he would feel secure and have enough to go follow Jesus, right?

Jesus had nothing to give him, church. So he wanted to stick around the house

until he could pack a fortune in his bag and then come after Jesus.

You know what happened with him? He disappeared too.

A third would-be follower of Jesus wanted to return home and organize this big

farewell party with his friends and family,

to say bye-bye, wish him well, to secure support for his venture,

if you will. You know what Jesus told him?

He said that those who entered his kingdom didn't go back to bring along elements of the old life.

Rather, they were like a farmer who, once he grabbed the plow,

kept looking forward so the furrow was straight.

Don't turn back, right? That's in Luke 9, 61, 62.

Jesus set the standard as total self-denial.

Luke 14, 26, a great multitude was following him and he turned and he spoke to them.

If anyone comes to me, meaning those who wanted to be his true followers and

does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers,

sisters, yes, and his own life also.

There's that self-hate Martin Luther was talking about. Oh, Luther knew what he was talking about.

Need you a little dose of Luther there tonight.

What a powerful truth. It's not salvation by good works. It's the very opposite.

Salvation through faith in Christ alone, rejecting all hope of pleasing God on our own.

Following Jesus is not about you and me, is it?

Being a Christian is not about us. It's not about our self-esteem.

It's about our being sick of our sin and our desperation for forgiveness.

It's about seeing Christ as the priceless Savior from sin and death and hell,

church, so that we willingly give up as much as it takes,

even if it costs us our families, our marriages, and whatever else we cherish and possess.

It might even cost us our lives. Jesus said, Luke 9, 24, reaffirmed it in 14,

verse 27, And whoever does not bear his cross,

that is, be willing to die, give up his life, and come after me,

cannot be my disciple.

This kind of call fends the ranks, church.

It's not popular. Jesus' words, the gospel has never been popular, the true gospel. Never.

It can't be any clearer, though, than that. I'm closing with this tonight.

If you try to hold on to you, your plan, your agenda, your success,

your self-esteem, you lose forgiveness in heaven.

That's it. But even more importantly, that's what Jesus says.