Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 14? We will read from verse 25 through verse 35.
And there went with Him great multitudes: 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.
Dear Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, our hearts are open to Thee. We desire to hear Thy own voice.
Lord, we are tired of hearing our own voice, of hearing people’s voices; but, Lord, we long to hear Thy voice. So we do pray that Thou wilt cleanse our hearts, our ears, our whole being, that we may be able to hear what Thou hast to say to Thy people.
Dear Lord, our heart’s desire is that Thou shouldst have the first place in our lives. We want to follow Thee. We want to be where Thou art. Lord, have mercy upon us.
We commit this time into Thy hands. We pray that Thou wilt bless this time and make it something that will continue to eternity. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
The Lord seemed to put upon my heart all this matter of counting the cost. I think, brothers and sisters, we have all counted His blessings; but have we ever counted the cost of following our Lord Jesus?
To me, I feel this is a very important thing that we must do in our Christian life. And I do look to the Lord that He will open our hearts and understanding, and make us willing to sit down and count the cost.
You know, our Lord Jesus one day was walking, and great crowds followed after Him. As you read the Scripture, you find it was not just one crowd, but great crowds—multitudes, thousands of people—following the Lord.
To our estimate, this would be the sign of success. Today we look for crowds. We measure the success or failure of a person by how many people are following him, by how many people he is able to draw. And today people try every means to court the favor of the people.
But our Lord Jesus is very different. With great crowds following Him, He turned around and said to them hard words—impossible words—as if He were driving the crowds away. Why? Because our Lord is not looking for quantity. What He looks for is quality.
He wants those who can satisfy His heart, who can fulfill His purpose—not just numbers, but reality.
When you hear what He said, you almost feel that perhaps you heard wrongly. Can One who is so loving say such unloving words?
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.
Have you heard rightly? Probably you would think there is a mistaken translation. I looked through a number of versions, and every version comes out the same. There is no mistake.
Does not the Word of God say, “Honor your parents”? And this is the first commandment with promise. Does not the Word say, “Love your wives”? Is it not the will of God that we should love our children? We should love our brothers and sisters. And is it not true that God wants us to love ourselves for His sake—not to hurt ourselves?
Now why is it that our Lord should say such opposite words?
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, He does it all. He does not require us to do anything. He has finished the work of salvation. It is grace. All He asks is that we come, believe, and receive; and it is yours. There is no condition.
But here, when our Lord Jesus is talking about discipleship, you find that He lays down impossible conditions—humanly impossible conditions.
Brothers and sisters, we are believers. We believe in Him as our personal Savior, and by believing Him, our sins are forgiven and we are given a new life. It is all free. It is grace. Nothing is required of us. We receive everything.
Now, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, do we continue to come and follow Him? If we continue to come to follow Him, then you find that our Lord Jesus has a challenge for us. He challenges us: “If you come to Me,” He says, “there is a condition you must fulfill.”
To believe, it is free. You receive life from above. There is nothing better than that. But to follow the Lord, to be a disciple, it is conditional. And only by being His disciples will the life He has given us fulfill its purpose.
Our Lord Jesus says, “If anyone”—no exception—“if anyone come to Me, and hate not.” Now, brothers and sisters, when we hear the word hate, we immediately recoil. There is a rejection in our hearts. How can we hate?
But we have to remember: hate and love are not only emotional expressions. If people do not know how to hate, they will never know how to love.
God loved sinners to the extent of giving up His only begotten Son. There is no greater love than that. And yet God hates sin.
So, brothers and sisters, the word hate or the word love in itself is neutral. It depends on whether you are able to hate what needs to be hated, or love what needs to be loved, and not do the wrong thing.
Furthermore, this matter of love or hate is also a matter of comparison. When you compare two things and you have to choose between them, then you have to make a conclusion: what to hate and what to love.
You remember how our Lord Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
In 1 John 2, we are told that if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. In other words, when we are faced with a choice, it is a time when we must make the right reaction: what to hate, what to despise, what to forsake, and what to choose, love, embrace, and follow.
So here you find our Lord Jesus in this matter of discipleship. Now, brothers and sisters, oftentimes we think that the Great Commission is evangelizing.
You remember Matthew 28? Our Lord Jesus gave the Great Commission, and it is commonly understood that the Great Commission is that the Lord wants us to go into the whole world to evangelize the world. But be careful what the Lord says. He does not say, “Evangelize.” He says, “Disciple.”
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
We are going to have a baptism immediately afterwards. But do you know what baptism means? Why be baptized? Is it not enough if I just believe? The Bible says that if you believe, you are saved. Then why should I be baptized?
Baptism is the door to discipleship. When you are baptized, you bury yourself. You come to the Lord and give yourself to Him, acknowledging Him from now on as your Lord—not only your Savior, but your Lord. And that opens the door of following Him, of obeying all that He has commanded us.
Brothers and sisters, are we following the Lord? If we are not following the Lord, why should we be here? Just believe, and you are saved. Eternity is secured. Why bother reading the Bible? Why bother praying? Why bother meeting and assembling together? Why bother following the Lord?
Is it not because you want to be a disciple of the Lord? And discipleship is His purpose. His purpose is not just saving us to fill heaven with people. No. The reason He saved us is that we may be like Him.
He wants to disciple us, to train us, to bring us to be like Him. That is His purpose. That is the reason why, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, we do not just stop, but press on. We continue to follow the Lord. Why? That we may be like Him.
But this is not a small thing. So the Lord, at the very outset, does not want us to be following Him without knowing what we are doing. He wants us to know from the very beginning the full impact of being His disciples.
He said, “Listen carefully. If anyone, any man, come to Me, and shall not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
It does not mean that our Lord Jesus wants us to hate our father and mother. No. Look at our Lord Himself—how He loved His mother. Even when He was on the cross, suffering, He did not think of Himself. He thought of His mother.
He asked His disciple John to take care of His mother. And yet, at the same time, when His mother stepped in to demand of Him something outside of the will of the heavenly Father, He said, “Woman, My hour is not yet come.”
That word woman is a dear word, not a harsh word. And yet the Lord said, in effect, “I have to wait for My Father’s time. I cannot be directed by man, even by My mother. I have to be directed by My heavenly Father.”
When His mother and His brothers came to Him, great crowds were sitting there, and they could not get to Him. So word was sent to Him: “Your mother and Your brothers are there. They want to talk to You.” Our Lord Jesus looked around and said, “Who is My mother? Who is My brother? Who is My sister?” Those who obey the Word of God.
That is it. Love and hate work together. Love when it is right to love; hate when it is right to hate.
When the Lord says you must know how to hate the dearest things to you, He means you must know how to hate your own life. These people are your life, so the Lord says, “Your own life also.” You must know how to hate yourself and whatever is dearest to you in order to follow Me.
Otherwise, when you think of yourself, when your brothers and sisters begin to think differently from what the Lord wants you to do, or when your wife or husband is standing in the way of the Lord, or your father and mother, or even yourself—what will you do?
Will you love the Lord more than anything else? Will you allow the Lord to be first? Or do you yield to those who are dearest to you, and even to your own flesh? What will you do?
You remember even in Old Testament times, when God called Abraham, He said, “Leave your own country, your own kindred, and go to where I want you to go.”
Abraham talked to his father. I believe his father would try to persuade him not to do such a foolish thing—not knowing where to go. And when Abram insisted, the father said, “All right, I will take you there.” And he took Lot too.
He complicated the initiative, and the result was that they stayed in Haran. No Word of God came to Abraham until Terah died. Then God spoke the same word to him, emphasizing, “And your father.”
Brothers and sisters, there is a choice you have to make before you follow the Lord. Otherwise, your following will be in vain. Sooner or later, you will say, “This is too hard. Who can hear it?” And many of His disciples departed.
Remember Moses. In Hebrews 11, we are told that Moses, when he was forty, had to make a choice: whether he would continue with the pleasure of sin in Egypt, or suffer with the people of God; whether he was willing to bear the reproach of Christ, or enjoy all the riches of Egypt. He had to make a choice.
Thank God, he made the right choice because he saw the unseen One.
Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord is so glorious. Oftentimes we talk about and sing about the glory of the Lord. But what is glory? Where is His glory? If He is not all, if He is not first, if He does not have the supremacy, if He does not have all in your life, then where is His glory?
The glory of God is that He is supreme. He is above all. He is worthy of it all. That is the glory of God.
The Lord is afraid that we may misunderstand what He says. Because He says, “Hate your father and mother, brother and sister, wife, husband, children, even your own life, if you want to be My disciple.” He knows us. He is afraid that we may mistakenly think that naturally we ought to hate our father and mother and so forth. No.
So He adds an explanation:
Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.
In other words, when your father and mother do not constitute a cross to you, you will love them. You shall not hate them. That is the will of God. God calls us to love our parents.
If your wife or your husband is not a crossroads with Christ—Christ goes one way and your wife or husband goes another way—if they do not constitute a cross, then you will love your husband and you will love your wife.
If your children, brothers, and sisters do not become a cross to you, then it is natural; it is of God that we shall love them with all our hearts. And if your own self is not in conflict, contradiction, or opposition with Christ, then you should love your own life and take care of your life, because this body belongs to Christ.
But when it crosses Christ, now who is to be crossed out—yourself or Christ? Think of that. This is your cross.
A cross is formed when the will of God and your will, or the will of those dearest to you, are at odds—are enemies. Then a cross is formed. Are you willing to take up your cross and follow the Lord?
A cross is something we can choose. You can take it up; you can lay it down. You can bear it, or you can bypass it. It is your choice.
So the Lord says what it really means is simply this: if you want to be His disciple, are you willing to put yourself absolutely, completely, and without any reservation into His hands—giving yourself to Him so that He is able to have a free hand to make you like Him? Is that not wonderful?
The cross is not rosy. Today people wear their cross around their neck as an ornament. But when Christ died on the cross, it was suffering.
When your flesh suffers, you want one way and the Lord asks for another way. Your flesh suffers. It is as if death. But blessed is it, because there is resurrection. No death, no resurrection. No cross, no crown.
Brothers and sisters, this is discipleship. This is the condition the Lord lays down at the very outset. He does not want us to go on following Him and then discover it is too difficult, too much, and leave.
So what does the Lord ask of us? Here you find a great crowd following Him, coming to Him. The Lord says, “This is not a matter of emotion at the moment. This is not a matter of impulse.” The Lord says, “No. This is a matter you need to consider seriously. Sit down and count the cost.”
Dear brothers and sisters, we who have been following the Lord all these years, have we ever sat down and counted the cost? This is the advice of the Lord. Do not rush into it. Do not be impulsive. Sit down.
You know, when God asked Abraham to offer his beloved son, He gave Abraham three days’ journey to think it over. He did not rush Abraham. He told Abraham very clearly, “Give Me your son, your only son, your beloved son.”
The Lord did not say, “Do it immediately.” He gave him three days’ journey to think it over. That is the Lord.
Now why is this matter so serious? Our Lord uses two illustrations. The first illustration is this: if you are building a tower, you must first sit down and count the cost, whether you are able to finish the tower.
Because if you rush into it without thinking carefully about it, you may lay the foundation and yet not be able to finish it. Everybody who sees it will mock you. You began, but you could not finish.
Now, brothers and sisters, do you know that we are building a tower? Not the Tower of Babel, but we are building a tower.
What is meant by a tower? You remember when man first showed his rebellion against God by building a tower. Why did they build a tower? They said, “We should make a name for ourselves.” A tower is connected with a name.
Now you remember Proverbs 18:10. We sing that song:
The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
The righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
The word safe can be translated “unapproachable.” The name of the Lord is a strong tower.
What are we building? Are we building the Tower of Babel to spread our own name? Or are we building the tower of God, that His name may be known throughout the world—a testimony? That is what we are living for.
Brothers and sisters, how can we spread the name of the Lord without putting ourselves completely, absolutely, and unconditionally surrendered and abandoned to Him? It takes our all.
If you want to reserve something, keep back something, you will not be able to finish it. So sit down and count the cost.
The Christian life is not only a life of testimony. It is all in the name of the Lord. The Christian life is also a warfare.
So the Lord says that if a king is going to fight against another king, and the other king comes with twenty thousand men while he is willing to give only ten thousand men—in other words, he wants to reserve something—then the Lord says it is better that you ask for terms of peace, because you will be defeated.
In order to fight that battle, you have to be willing to sacrifice your all, with no reservation. In spiritual warfare, this is what it is.
Our Lord Jesus gave His all in spiritual warfare, even His life, and He triumphed. If we do not give all, we will not be able to win the battle. We will be victims instead of victors.
Brothers and sisters, the Christian life is a serious matter. I have to ask myself again and again: Can I lay back? Can I be complacent? Can I expect an easy time if I follow the Lord? Am I ready, prepared, to pay any cost?
So our Lord concludes by saying:
So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.
He explains the two parables. You have to give your all. You cannot make any reservation for another purpose. The Lord is all, or the Lord is not Lord at all. Whatever is your own, forsake it for the Lord. That is the condition He puts before you.
He is asking the impossible. With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Brothers and sisters, do not think that we can do it. Nobody can do it.
It is only when the love of Christ constrains you that it is done. We need to see the Lord. We need to see the glory of the Lord.
Only when we see the Lord—His glory, His love, His giving all—then we are constrained to give back to Him. Oh, because it is His.
And, brothers and sisters, as you read church history, biographies of those who gave their all to the Lord, you know what they say: “Cost? You cannot talk about cost. This is nothing.”
How can you speak of cost when you think of the Lord? Nothing. He deserves it. It is all His. If He gives anything to take, blessed be the name of the Lord.
Then our Lord concludes: “Salt, then, is good.”
You remember Matthew 5: “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Who are the salt of the earth? Those who bear the character of Christ.
You have the Beatitudes first. In the Beatitudes, you see the character of Christ becoming the character of the disciples. And that character of Christ in the disciples is the salt. There is a taste—different, strong.
We who follow the Lord, who are His disciples, are the salt of the earth. We have a special taste that the world does not have.
And salt is so necessary. All the offerings must have salt in them. In other words, salt is that which preserves from corruption. Salt gives you a taste—a heavenly taste. That is what we are.
But here the salt has lost its flavor. How can salt lose its flavor? When you dilute it, dilute it, dilute it, to such an extent that it becomes saltless.
And when it is saltless, what can be done to make it seasoned? It is not proper to put it in the land. It is not proper to throw it in the dunghill. It is cast out.
Brothers and sisters, the land here speaks of the kingdom. When the kingdom shall come, are you able to reign with Christ for a thousand years? That is the land: you inherit the promised land.
What is the dunghill? The dunghill is where you throw away things. That is Hades. It is of no use, forever useless.
But, brothers and sisters, we who are believers cannot be thrown into Hades, into hell, forever useless. No. It is not proper to do that.
But neither is it proper, if we have lost our taste, to enter into the kingdom and reign with Christ. And what will happen to us at the coming of the Lord? Cast out.
The Bible says, “Cast out into outer darkness,” and there will be gnashing of teeth. In other words, you will regret that you have held back from the Lord.
But thank God, you are still saved—yet so as through fire.
Dear brothers and sisters, as our Lord has said all these things, He says, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
What the Spirit says to the churches, let him that hath an ear to hear, hear it.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, I speak with fear and trembling. Who am I to say such words? It is not me, Lord. This is Thy Word. I am only trying to convey it to Thy own people.
So, Lord, do speak to each one of us. Do not allow us to evade, nor to rush. Show us how to sit down and count the cost.
Oh, may Thy love appear to us. May Thy glory appear to us. And we, by Thy grace, may be able to do the impossible.
Here we are. Take us, Lord. In Thy precious name. Amen.