Turn to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 14. We will read from verses 25 through 35.
And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto them,
If any man cometh unto Me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doth not first sit down and count the cost, whether he have wherewith to complete it?
Lest haply, when he hath laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Or what king, as he goeth to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is 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 asketh conditions of peace.
So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.
Salt therefore is good: but if even the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill: men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
We have been considering lately this matter of commitment, and we are going to continue on it this morning.
First of all, we need to remember that commitment in the Scripture is basically a commitment to a person—not just to any person or persons, but to one person, even our Lord Jesus.
We are to be committed to Him. And our commitment to the Lord must be total and absolute, because He is the only One who is worthy of such commitment.
We are not committed to a cause, to a doctrine, or to a teaching. We are not committed to an organization, to a group, or to a fellowship. We are not committed to a form, to a person, or to persons. Our total and absolute commitment is to our God, to our Lord Jesus, and to His will.
I think this is something that we want to underline again and again and again, because this is most basic. Unless we understand that our commitment is primarily to the Lord and to His will, then our other commitments will have problems.
So just remember: when we are talking about commitment, it is our commitment to our Lord. And as we commit to Him, we are committed also to His purpose and to His will.
Last time we mentioned that our commitment is first vertical—first to the Lord. Then, out of that commitment, there is a horizontal commitment, that is, to His Body, the Body of Christ.
All other commitments—whether we are committed to a fellowship, a group, a work, a mission, or to one another—come out of our commitment to the Lord and to His Body.
If we are committed to anything other than the Lord, and that commitment does not come out of our commitment to the Lord, is not related to it, and is not subject to it, then something is basically wrong.
And this is something I hope brothers and sisters will really take to heart, because I believe that if we understand this, it will save us from much bondage and much trouble.
Now, this morning we would like to enter into this matter of the cost of commitment. Commitment is costly. Anything that does not cost us is not worth being committed to.
If we are prepared to be committed, then we must be ready to pay the cost.
Just think of our God. We mentioned at the very beginning that our God is a God of commitment. He is committed to Himself, because He cannot deny Himself. He is committed to His own purpose. Once His purpose is made, He is committed to it. He will see to it that His purpose is realized, no matter what.
He is committed to His promises. Whatever His promises may be, they are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Our God is a committed God.
And because He is so committed, see what it cost Him. He spared not His only begotten Son. It cost Him everything.
Think of our Lord Jesus. He is committed to His heavenly Father. He is committed to His Father’s will. And because of this, it cost Him His very life.
Think of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is committed to Christ, to bring all that Christ has accomplished on Calvary’s cross and make it real in us. And do you know how much it costs the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit dwells in you. But how many times have you grieved Him? How many times have you quenched Him? How many times have you made Him uncomfortable? Yet how patient He is. No matter how you resist Him, He will not leave you nor forsake you. He continues on with you. He suffers for you, and He suffers with you, until finally He is able to transform you and conform you to the image of God’s Son.
That is our God, who is committed. And can we imagine that we, by the grace of God, who are committed to Him and to His will, will be cost nothing?
But let us remember: however much the cost may be, in the final analysis, it is grace that enables us to pay the cost. It is grace that makes the burden light. It is grace that makes us despise the cost. It is grace that helps us to see that even though it may cost us much, yet it is nothing.
Why? Because it is grace. So do remember this.
You know, our Lord Jesus, at the very outset, put before those who crowded around Him the cost of discipleship. One day there was a great crowd following Him. He seemed to be very popular at that time. Lots of people were crowding around Him and following Him.
And you know, anybody on this earth, when he finds such a great multitude following him, probably will welcome them and try to do everything to please them in order to hold them, so that they will not go away.
But not our Lord. When He saw the great multitude following Him, He turned around and challenged them right away.
He said, “If anyone does not hate his father and mother, and his wife, and his brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. If anyone does not take up his cross and follow Me, he cannot be My disciple. If anyone does not forsake all and follow Me, he cannot be My disciple.”
He does not want to deceive anybody. He wants to put it right before those who seem to be following Him, telling them that if they really want to follow Him, if they really want to be committed to Him, it costs something. It costs a great deal.
Are you willing to pay the cost? Will you now sit down and count the cost? If you are not willing, do not begin.
“If anyone does not hate.” Now remember, the word hate. We do not like the word hate, because today it has a very bad connotation. But actually, the word hate in itself is not bad. Why? Because we should hate what needs to be hated, and we should love what needs to be loved.
The hate here does not have that bad connotation. It is not a natural hatred.
Now, some people have a natural hatred toward their parents. You find lots of children today who have a kind of natural aversion, even natural hatred, toward their parents. Now, this is not what the Lord is talking about.
The law says that we should honor our parents. We should obey our parents, because this is the first commandment with promise.
Nor is this natural hatred toward one’s wife or husband. Today you find husbands who hate their wives and wives who hate their husbands, but no, this is not what the Lord is talking about. Husbands should love their wives; wives should obey their husbands.
Today you find brothers and sisters fighting against each other and devouring each other. That history is ancient history, because in the second generation of mankind you find how Cain hated his brother Abel and killed him. But this is not what the Lord is talking about. That is natural hatred.
And this is not even hatred of your own self. Brothers and sisters, recently I received a letter from abroad, so you may feel more comfortable about it. A brother wrote and said that he hated his mother and he hated himself.
So I wrote him back. I said, “You should not hate your mother, and you should not hate yourself, because the Bible says everyone takes good care of his own flesh, nourishes it, and cherishes it. We should not hate our body, because this body is a temple of God.”
That natural hatred is wrong.
But the Bible does teach a divine hatred. We should hate as God hates. The Lord Jesus said, “If anyone does not hate.” It is a strong word, but it is not natural hatred.
Natural hatred should go to the cross. But there is a hate which is divine in nature—that is, we should hate as God hates.
And if our father, our mother, our brother, our sister, our wives, our husbands, or even ourselves stand in the way of our commitment to the Lord and to His will—now, our commitment to the Lord is total and absolute—and therefore, whenever any human relationship, even the dearest of human relationships in the natural, should come in against the Lord and our commitment to Him, then the only thing we can do is to hate it.
That is, we will not allow it to stand in the way of our commitment to the Lord. This is the price we have to pay.
We have to lay down our lives. We have to hate our lives and lay down our lives. We have to cut off all human relationships if they are in contradiction to the Lord and His will.
What a demand! Who in the world can make such a demand? Nobody but the Lord Jesus. Only the Lord Jesus can demand such a total commitment. Why? Because He is worthy. Because He committed Himself to us. In the same way, He laid down His life.
Commitment costs you something. As a matter of fact, if it does not cost you anything, there is no commitment there. If you are committed, it does cost you something.
One day, I read in a paper an article which said that one of the signs of a cult is that they always hide from you the cost. Now listen to this: one of the signs of a cult is that they always hide from you the cost.
They try to surround you with love and care. They try to give you all the companionship that you are looking for. They give you all the rosy promises—promises of liberty, freedom, or whatever it may be. But only after you are hooked do they tell you what they want of you.
They want not only all your possessions, but they want your soul too. Now that is a cult.
But Christ is different. Why? Because our Lord Jesus, at the very beginning, tells you how much it will cost you. He is not going to deceive you in any way. He is not trying to give you all these rosy promises without any cost.
At the very beginning, He turns around, faces you, challenges you, and says, “Now, are you ready to pay the cost?”
If you want to be committed to Me, it costs you. It costs you a great deal. Now, will that frighten you away? If you must go, go.
Not that He does not want you, not that He does not desire you, not that He does not love you and want you to be one with Him; but He does not want to deceive you. He makes it very clear at the very beginning: there is cost involved, and it costs a great deal.
We want to use Paul as our example, because I always feel that it is much better if we have an example that makes it more practical in view.
We know Paul was a committed, dedicated person. As we mentioned before, even before he knew the Lord, he was a committed, dedicated person, because he knew that without commitment and without dedication, you could not accomplish anything.
Nobody can accomplish or achieve anything in this world, whether spiritual or secular, without commitment. You cannot achieve without being committed, without dedicating yourself, putting yourself into it, and throwing yourself into it.
Now Paul, even before he knew the Lord, was a committed person—Saul the Pharisee. How he committed himself to Judaism.
He sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He learned everything about Judaism. He became a Pharisee, and he was a true Pharisee. He was not like the other Pharisees, who were hypocrites. They put on a good front, but in actuality they lived differently.
But not Saul. He said, “According to the righteousness which is in the law, I am blameless.” He was a true Pharisee. He committed himself to Judaism one hundred percent.
And because of this, he was more advanced than his contemporaries. No doubt about that. No wonder about it, because he was dedicated.
Did that cost him? Yes.
In his dedication to Judaism, in his study and in his pursuit, he had to sacrifice many things. Probably he had to sacrifice many of the fun and follies of youth. He had to spend much time doing research and meditating. But he considered it worthwhile.
Oh, a man committed to Judaism! Did he gain anything out of it?
Well, if you read Philippians 3, you know that at that time, before he met the Lord, he considered that his gain outweighed his loss. Why? Because even though he had to lose a lot in order to advance in Judaism, he was so successful in Judaism. His ambition, as it were, had been realized. He had received his compensation.
But did God get anything out of his dedication to Judaism? Nothing.
Not only did God not get anything out of his dedication; actually, he did God such a disservice. Because God’s purpose is centered upon His Son, yet Saul persecuted the followers of the Lord Jesus. But he did not know it. He was a dedicated person.
But thank God, on the road to Damascus, he was met by the risen Lord. There his course was arrested and turned around. He finally found his center.
When he met the Lord, when he knew the Lord, he rededicated himself. He committed himself completely to the Lord. What a commitment!
Dear brothers and sisters, it is very possible that we are committed to something wrong.
We may be committed to a cause which we think is right. We may be committed to a person or persons whom we consider most spiritual. We may be committed even to a group or to a fellowship which we mistakenly regard as the church. We may be committed to an organization, a system, a teaching, or a doctrine.
We may be committed to all these things, and yet have not inquired of the Lord whether these things are the result, the outflow, the development, or the extension of our commitment to Him.
In other words, instead of committing ourselves to the Lord, we find ourselves committed to people, groups, organizations, teachings, forms, and causes—to all these things.
Now, brothers and sisters, it is better, before you are committed to anything, to ask the Lord about it.
You know, Peter did the same thing. Dear Peter! In Matthew 17, you find that when Peter, the Lord Jesus, and the others were in Capernaum, a collector of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Master pay the temple tax?”
Peter said, “Yes, yes.” Why? Because as a Jew, of course, you have to pay the temple tax—half a shekel. He said yes.
So after he had committed the Lord to pay the temple tax, he went into the house, trying to tell the Lord, “Lord, I have committed You to pay the temple tax. Now give me the shekel.”
But before he opened his mouth, the Lord spoke first. He said, “Peter, let Me ask you a question.”
Peter said, “What is it?”
The Lord said, “Who pays the tax—the sons or the strangers?”
Peter said, “Of course, the strangers.”
Then the Lord said, “The sons do not need to pay the tax.”
What a blunder! But out of mercy—our God is so merciful—the Lord said, “All right, all right. Because you have committed Me to something which I should not be committed to, I will help you out. I will not only pay My temple tax, which I should not pay, but I will also pay yours. But I am not going to take it out of the pocket. You go and fish.”
Well, we say Peter was a fisherman. To send him to fish would seem to be the most natural, easy thing for Peter to do. Not at all, because Peter was a fisherman who fished with nets. He did not fish with a hook. He drew the nets.
But there he went down to fish, waiting for the fish. Now, for an impatient person like Peter, to fish with a hook was difficult. He had to sit there. The Lord wanted to teach him a lesson.
I do not know how long he sat there, hoping that a fish would come. But finally, in God’s mercy, the fish bit, and out of its mouth came a shekel to pay for him and for the Lord. Mercy!
Dear brothers and sisters, oftentimes we find ourselves committed to something to which we should never have been committed. We find ourselves committed to something contradictory to the Lord. We find ourselves committed to something that is not the development or outgrowth of our commitment to the Lord.
We find that we have committed ourselves without inquiring of the Lord. We have been too hasty. We find that our commitment to the Lord and our commitment to that which we have committed ourselves are contradictory to each other; they are in conflict with each other.
Do you find such occasions? I believe everyone must have found such occasions. Oh, if it were not for the mercy of the Lord, how could we get off? But the Lord has mercy.
And then, do you know what the Bible says? If you find yourself in that kind of situation, and when you begin to see it, go back to Proverbs. That is where you need to go. Go back to Proverbs 6.
My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbor,
If thou hast stricken thy hands for a stranger;
Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth,
Thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself,
Seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbor;
Go, humble thyself, and urge thy neighbor.
Give not sleep to thine eyes,
Nor slumber to thine eyelids.
Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter,
And as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
If you find that you have committed yourself to something to which you should not be committed, something the Lord has not commanded you to be committed to, what do you do?
Get out as quickly as possible. Deliver yourself. Do not allow yourself to sleep. Flee as a gazelle, as a deer from the hunter, and as a bird from the fowler.
And if you cannot get free, then you have only to look for the mercy of the Lord. And thank God, He is merciful.
So anyway, you find this was the situation of Saul. Saul was committed to something which was in contradiction to God. Finally, God delivered him out of such commitment and redirected his commitment to the Lord Himself. Now he had found his true direction and his true center.
Now, when Paul committed himself to the Lord and to His will, as we mentioned before, Paul was fully committed to the Lord and to His church, the Body of Christ. His commitment to the Lord was total and absolute. Nobody can doubt his commitment.
You know, even his brethren sometimes found his commitment to the Lord difficult. The first time he went to Jerusalem, three years after he was saved, they were afraid of him.
He was saved on the road to Damascus. He was with the believers in Damascus for a short period; then he went to Arabia for about three years. He came back to Damascus, and there it became too dangerous. You remember how the disciples let him down from the wall in a basket. Very humiliating.
He fled and came to Jerusalem. He wanted to have fellowship with the brothers and sisters there, but everybody was afraid of him. Why? Because his fame from three years before was still there. He was the chief persecutor of Christianity, the archenemy of the followers of Jesus.
So even though he was saved, nobody believed him. They thought it was just a trick.
But finally, that good-hearted brother Barnabas—you know, when we read the Book of Acts, sometimes we do Barnabas an injustice. We side with Paul and say, “Down with Barnabas.” But Barnabas was good-hearted and great-hearted, Barnabas the son of consolation.
Of all the thousands of believers there, only Barnabas believed Saul. He believed what Saul said. He saw in him a transformation, so he introduced him to the apostles and to the disciples.
Thank God, from that day on, Saul came in and went out with the disciples, and he began to speak with the Hellenists, especially about the Lord Jesus. Because he became so fervent, so committed, the Hellenistic Jews wanted to kill him. It became too dangerous, so the disciples in Jerusalem sent him away.
“You are too hot. You are too committed. Too dangerous. Send him away to Tarsus.”
And he was exiled there for a number of years, until that good man Barnabas again went to find him and took him to Antioch.
That was Paul. And Paul’s commitment to the Lord and to the Body of Christ was so total.
You remember when Peter came to Antioch. Peter was Paul’s senior. But Peter came to Antioch after the Jerusalem council, after the question had already been settled that the Gentiles did not need to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. They were under grace.
Peter moved freely with the Gentile believers and ate with them. Then some people came from Jerusalem, from James. When Peter saw these brothers from James, who kept the law very tightly and were very legalistic, Peter got frightened.
That was Peter. He was very brave, but he was also the most feeble person. You remember he was so brave that he cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest in the garden of Gethsemane, and a few hours later he trembled before a maid. That was Peter.
So when he saw these brothers from James coming, he thought, “What will they say about me?” Therefore, he separated himself from the Gentile believers. He would not eat with them anymore.
Now look at Paul. He was so dedicated and so committed to the truth of the gospel that, even though Peter was his senior, he withstood Peter to the face before the brothers and sisters and said, “You did something wrong.”
Would you do that? Not in a bad spirit. If you do it in a bad spirit, you will get a bad reaction. But Paul did it in a good spirit, and he got a good reaction. And you have to give credit to Peter. Peter yielded.
Fully committed.
On his way to Jerusalem for the last time, there were prophecies going around saying that bonds and afflictions were waiting for him in Jerusalem. When he came to Caesarea, the brothers and sisters loved him so much that they wept before him.
“Don’t go to Jerusalem, because bonds are waiting for you there.”
And do you know what Paul said? He said, “Brethren, why do you weep? Why do you break my heart?” He was not a hard-hearted person. He said, “Why do you break my heart? Do not do that. I am not only willing to be bound; I am willing to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Brothers and sisters, you cannot find a man more committed to the Lord than Paul.
And listen to what he said about his commitment to the Body of Christ. He was so committed to the Body of Christ that in Colossians 1:24 he said:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part in my flesh that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, which is the church.
In other words, he was willing not only to give his life to the Lord, but he was willing to give his life to the church of God. What a commitment!
In his letter to the Philippians, he said:
Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
He was willing to be poured out like a drink offering over their sacrifice and service of faith.
And when you come to 2 Timothy 4, he said, “Now the time has come. I am already being poured out.”
That is Paul. Paul was a committed Christian. He committed himself to the Lord and to His will.
Oh, brothers and sisters, how about our commitment? Are we so absolutely and totally committed to the Lord and to His will? Are we willing to pay the cost?
You know how much it cost Paul? Number one: it cost him his world.
Judaism was his world. He lived in that world. He was fully occupied with the things of that world. But his world was not a secular world; his world was a religious world.
Some people give themselves to a secular world. You see the riches, the wealth, the fame, the position of this secular world. You want to be somebody somewhere in the world.
But with Paul, he was not ambitious to get rich or become famous in the secular world, or to have power and position in the secular realm. He was not interested in that. He knew better. He was interested in the spiritual world, the religious world. So he gave himself to Judaism. Judaism was his world.
What was his very life? If you read Philippians 3, you can see it. Before he knew the Lord, what was he proud of?
Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
As touching zeal, persecuting the church;
As touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
Judaism was his world.
But in his commitment to the Lord Jesus, it cost him his whole world. He had to let Judaism go. And you know how much he suffered at the hands of that system.
It cost him his world.
Brothers and sisters, do you know how much it will cost you if you are committed to Christ? It costs you your world.
I do not know what your world is. In a spiritual sense, everybody’s world is different. Some people’s worlds are very big; other people’s worlds are very small. Probably the world of a child is just a few toys. But your world is bigger.
Or, if you are more religious-minded, then you have a religious world. I do not know what your world is, but if you are committed to Christ, make no mistake: it costs you your world.
Are you willing to give up the world for His sake?
Number two: it not only cost Paul Judaism, his world; it also cost him his life—his natural life. It cost him his natural life.
You remember the Lord Jesus said, “If you do not deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple.”
If you love your life and keep it today, you lose it. If you are willing to lose your life for My sake today, you shall have it for eternity.
And the word life there is the same word as soul. In other words, if you are committed to the Lord, it will cost you your soul-life—not just a little bit, but your soul-life.
Men are willing to give up anything but their life. This was even what Satan thought. When Satan challenged Job before God, he said that a man is willing to give up everything to preserve his life. And that is true. That is true.
But if you are committed to the Lord, it costs you your life—your soul-life.
Paul said:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
Paul had to lay down his natural life, his soul-life. No longer I. No longer what I want, what I love, what I desire, what I think, or what I go after. No longer my will. It is His will be done.
It cost him his soul-life.
Number three: it cost him not only his soul-life; it cost him his spiritual life.
Now, can you believe that? If you are committed to the Lord, it will not only cost you your natural life, but even your spiritual life. Why? Because your spiritual life is given to you not to be kept, but to be poured out.
All the grace of God, all the gifts of God that He has bestowed upon you, are not to build you up. They are for you to pour out for Him, upon Him, and upon His Body.
God is not going to give you grace and gift in order to make you a great man or woman, a spiritual giant, or a spiritual monument for people to look up to and for you to take pride in. Not at all.
He gives all His life, grace, and gifts to you so that you may be a channel for Him to be poured out to the Body—that is, His church. It costs you your spiritual life.
Paul said, “I bear in my body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in others.” Paul said, “I die daily.” Paul said, “I do not count my life as of any value, nor as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus.”
He loved when he was not loved. He told the Corinthian believers, “The more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved; but I will keep on loving you. I am not seeking anything from you. I am willing to be spent and to be spent for you.”
At the very end, all Asia left him. His greatest work was in Asia, but all Asia left him. Yet he said, “The Lord stood by me.”
It costs you your spiritual life too.
Brothers and sisters, things cost Paul so much. Did he ever regret? Did he ever try to hold back? Did he ever think that it was too much?
Not at all.
He said, “I count all things but dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.” He said, “I cannot boast of anything. If I do everything willingly, there is a reward for me. But if I do it unwillingly, a stewardship has been entrusted to me.”
Never for a moment did he regret it. Never for a moment did he hold back. Why?
Because he saw the Lord. Because he saw that the Lord was worthy. He is worthy—worthy of far more than that.
Oh, we have again sung, “If we had ten thousand hearts, if we had ten thousand lips, it would not be enough to praise His worth.”
To those who are not willing, the cost becomes a mountain. But to those who are willing, it is nothing. It is nothing.
Can we say that we sacrifice for the Lord? No. Everything is given by Him. We have not sacrificed anything. We cannot talk about cost; it is nothing.
We hope that we may have more to give, that He may cost us more. But unfortunately, that is all we have. It is nothing. Why? Because He is worthy—so worthy.
Dear brothers and sisters, in Luke 14, the Lord Jesus used two parables. He said that when a man is going to build a tower, he should first sit down and count the cost, to see whether he can lay the foundation and finish the tower.
If he cannot, do not begin. Why? Because if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish, people will laugh at him.
The Lord used another parable. He said that if a king is going to battle, he should sit down and take counsel whether he can use ten thousand to fight against one who comes with twenty thousand. If he cannot, do not fight. Send an embassy and ask for peace.
Now, what does it mean?
You know, a tower in the Scripture is a testimony. Do you remember the first tower built? The Tower of Babel. Why did they build a tower? To spread their name—a monument, a testimony.
A tower speaks of a testimony.
Now, brothers and sisters, we are all engaged in building a tower—not the Tower of Babel, but the testimony of Jesus in this world. Not to spread our name, but to spread the name of Jesus.
Paul said, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord.” We are all building our tower.
But if we are engaged in building that testimony, remember: the first thing you need to do is sit down and count the cost. It will cost you.
Do not think that it will just come down out of heaven. It will cost you—a great deal. As a matter of fact, it will cost you everything you have. Now, are you ready for it?
Suppose building a tower will take you a million dollars, and by the grace of God you have that million. But you are willing only to put in half a million. You want to keep the other half for other use.
If that is the case, do not begin, because you will not be able to finish the work. One day people will laugh at you and say, “Look, he began, but he could not finish.”
In another sense, we are all engaged in battle. It is a spiritual battle. We are fighting against our enemy. And do you know that our enemy is using all his resources? Our enemy is not withholding anything. The gates of Hades are wide open. All the evil forces are out—twenty thousand.
Now, what are you going to do?
If you are willing to spend only ten thousand soldiers to fight against the twenty thousand, do not fight. You are defeated even before you fight.
But if you are willing to give your all, the point is that the grace of God is sufficient. The Lord says, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”
There is sufficient grace for you to finish the tower. There is sufficient grace for you to win the battle. But the grace given to you, you have to spend to the fullest. Do not hold back anything for any other purpose, because you are committed to the testimony of Jesus. You are committed to the work of God.
Therefore, the Lord Jesus said, “Unless anyone is willing to forsake all, to give all, he cannot be My disciple.”
Now, if you keep back a little bit, you are in trouble. If anyone is not willing to give all, he cannot be My disciple.
I think this must have frightened most of the people away. But thank God, the Lord got what He really wanted.
So, brothers and sisters, when we are talking about this matter of commitment, do not look at it casually or carelessly, as if you can be committed and it does not cost you anything. No.
Before you are committed, sit down and count the cost. You are following Christ. You are not joining a cult. So Christ puts before you, at the very beginning, what He requires of you.
You know, when we sit down to count the cost, we will find it is too costly—no doubt. As a matter of fact, the enemy will come and blow up that molehill into a mountain.
But thank God, if you see the One who is invisible, if you see Him crucified and exalted, then that mountain is moved into the water. It sinks into the water and disappears.
So may the Lord help us. Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, we have to cry out, “Thou art worthy.” Thou hast given Thy all to us, even Thy beloved Son. And Father, Thou art not asking too much from us.
Lord, we do feel deep down in our spirit: to whom shall we go? To whom shall we be committed but to Thee?
Our Father, we do pray that Thy love will constrain us, that we may not just see how much it will cost us, but that we may see how much our Lord is worthy.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.