And Jesus, seeing great crowds around Him, commanded to depart to the other side.
And a scribe came up and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou mayest go.”
And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven roosting places; but the Son of Man hath not where He may lay His head.”
But another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, suffer me first to go away and bury my father.”
But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
And it came to pass, as they went in the way, one said to Him, “I will follow Thee wheresoever Thou goest, Lord.”
And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven roosting places; but the Son of Man hath not where He may lay His head.”
And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, allow me to go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus said to him, “Suffer the dead to bury their own dead; but do thou go and announce the kingdom of God.”
And another also said, “I will follow Thee, Lord; but first allow me to bid adieu to those at my house.”
But Jesus said to him, “No one having laid his hand on the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
These are they who follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for giving Thyself so totally to us. We do thank Thee for Thy amazing grace and tremendous love that Thou hast bestowed upon us.
And we, as a grateful people, do want to follow Thee. Lord, teach us how. Show us the way, that we may really follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes.
We commit this time into Thy hand. We look to Thy Spirit to quicken Thy Word to our hearts, that we may hear and obey. We give Thee all the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We would like to consider together this matter of man’s response to God’s calling—man’s response to God’s calling.
We know that the first calling of God that comes to us is when our Lord Jesus said:
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
In other words, the first call that ever comes to mankind is the call to come. The Lord has come: “Come to Me, you who labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest.”
Now, thank God, we have responded to that call. We have come, and we find truly in Christ Jesus there is the forgiveness of our sins. There is peace from above. There is a new life being given to us, and grace upon grace.
But, brothers and sisters, immediately after that first call, there is another call. And that other call is not another completely; rather, it is part of, or it is to complete, the first call. It is our Lord Jesus’ call to those who come to Him: “Follow Him.” He calls us to follow Him.
Now, brothers and sisters, we must remember: so far as God’s purpose is concerned, so far as the purpose of God’s salvation is concerned, it is more than just coming to the Lord and getting saved. It is that we who come will follow Him.
We will be His disciples. We will put ourselves under His control and allow Him to train us, allow Him to transform us, and to conform us to His own image. Now, that is God’s purpose in calling His people.
So far as God’s purpose of calling is concerned, this call to follow the Lord is not optional. It is mandatory. In other words, He wants everyone who comes to the Lord Jesus to follow the Lord Jesus.
There is no such thing as coming to the Lord and not following Him. There is no such thing as coming and receiving forgiveness from Him, and not being constrained by His love to follow Him in order to be like Him.
That is looking from God’s side. But, of course, from the human side, we find that when He calls, there are many various responses. So this morning, we would like to consider together: how do we respond to the call of our Lord to come and to follow Him?
We find in Matthew 8 a record of some people who came to the Lord, how our Lord reacted, and what happened to those who said they would follow the Lord. You also find this recorded in Luke 9—almost the same thing.
But, brothers and sisters, if you read very carefully, you find that these happened on two different occasions. In Matthew, we find that after our Lord Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, He came down from the mountain.
People were amazed at the authority He had in His Word. Then the Lord healed people, cast out demons, and did wonders. Because of that, great crowds followed Him. Great crowds were around Him, and it was on that occasion that we find Matthew 8.
But when you look at Luke 9, you find that it happened towards the end of our Lord’s ministry. In Luke 9, our Lord was going to Jerusalem, and He went to Jerusalem in order to go to the cross. It was on that way that such things happened.
Even though they seem similar, actually you will find these happened on two different occasions. Now, brothers and sisters, we know that when something seems to repeat in the Word of God—not once, but twice—God is trying to say something to us.
It shows that this is not just something that happened only once. It shows that this happens all the time. In other words, it happened at the time of our Lord Jesus more than once, probably from the beginning of our Lord’s ministry to the end of His ministry.
And I also believe that these things being recorded in the Word of God are to show us that such things happen all the time. They happen even now, even among us. So that is the reason why we want to consider carefully what happened at these two different occasions.
According to Matthew, after our Lord Jesus spoke those marvelous words in Matthew 5-7, and after He did healings and wonders in Matthew 8, a scribe came to Him.
Now, brothers and sisters, who is a scribe? What is a scribe? Probably today we do not have any idea. But we know that scribes in those days were noted for their knowledge of the Bible.
They were the people who copied the Word of God, and they were so careful in every letter of the Word. They not only copied the Word as exactly as they should, but they studied the Word. So they were noted for their knowledge of the Word of God.
A scribe came to the Lord. Why? A scribe came to the Lord and said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” What was in his mind?
Evidently, he was deeply touched by the teaching of our Lord Jesus, because our Lord Jesus taught with authority, different from the scribes and the Pharisees. So he was touched. He considered our Lord Jesus as a teacher sent from heaven, and he wanted to follow the Lord in order to learn more of the teaching.
You remember in John 3, Nicodemus—a Pharisee, a ruler—came to the Lord at night and said, “Teacher, we notice that You are different. You are a teacher from above, because no one can do such signs as You do.”
In other words, Nicodemus came to the Lord trying to learn more teaching from the Lord. They thought that by learning more teaching, they would be perfect and could enter into the kingdom of God.
So that was the motive behind the scribe. He wanted to follow the Lord, but in following, what he really wanted was simply the Lord’s teaching—a better teaching, a higher teaching, a heavenly teaching, instead of teaching on the human level.
So when this scribe came to the Lord and said, “I will follow You,” do you know what the Lord said to him?
The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have roosting places; but the Son of Man does not have a place to lay His head.
What a strange statement. A scribe came to the Lord saying, “I want to follow You wherever You go.” You would think He should welcome him. You would think He should feel honored.
But instead, our Lord Jesus said, in effect, “You do not know what following Me really means. You mean to follow Me as a teacher, that you may be taught more teaching, more doctrines, more theology, higher theology. You are totally mistaken.”
To follow Me means to follow My life—to live the way that I live. And see: the foxes have holes. The animals have their homes. They have something that they can consider as their own, their possession. They can rest.
And the birds of the heaven have roosting places. They also have a place of their own. But the Son of Man does not have a place of His own. “This is My life. This is the way I live.”
He who is equal with God did not regard that equality as something to be grasped. He emptied Himself—not of His deity, of course, but of all the glory and honor surrounding deity—in order to take the form of a man.
And being found in fashion as a man, He was obedient to the Father, even unto death, and that the death of the cross. In other words, His life is self-sacrificing.
He gave up everything in order to enrich us, to save us, to give us life. He walked the way of the cross, losing His soul-life in order to gain it eternally. This is following the Lord.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I think we need to be very clear what following the Lord really means.
We know that we who have come to the Lord must follow Him, because if we do not follow Him, we will not be transformed and be like Him. This is the only way. But oftentimes, we do not know what following Him really means.
It means denying yourself. It means losing your soul-life. It means, for the Lord’s sake and for the gospel’s sake, you are willing to lose your soul-life in order to gain it eternally.
It means self-sacrificing. It means giving up your rights. It means giving up your possessions. You possess nothing; everything is laid on the altar. It is the way of the cross. That is the way of the Lord.
And, brothers and sisters, we have no record of what happened afterwards. Whether the scribe went away sadly, just like the rich young ruler, because he felt that was not what he wanted and it was something beyond him—he did not want to do that.
Or probably, by the grace of God, his eyes were opened. He received revelation from above. He really saw what following the Lord means, and by the grace of God, he followed. We do not know.
But then, when you turn to Luke, you will find it is not exactly the same thing. Why? Because in Luke, this man came to the Lord and said, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
You see, the first one was a scribe. He called Jesus “Teacher.” In other words, he did not have the life of the Lord in him. Without the Lord’s life, trying to follow the Lord is impossible.
No one can imitate the Lord. No one can follow Him outwardly. Only those who have His life are able to follow Him inwardly.
But there in Luke, this man called out, “Lord Jesus, Lord.” Now, you know what it means. If it is not by the Holy Spirit, you cannot call Jesus Lord. This man really believed in the Lord Jesus, and he called the Lord Jesus, “Lord. I want to follow You wherever You go.”
But he also did not really know what following the Lord means. You know, our Lord Jesus never tried to hide anything from us.
Now, if we as human beings have somebody who wants to follow us, we will tell him all the good things that he will receive, and we will try to keep from him all the things that he has to give up. Not immediately—gradually, after he is hooked, then you can gradually show him what he must lose. That is the way of men.
But with our Lord Jesus, He is different. At the very outset, when people came to Him and said, “Lord, I want to follow You,” the Lord said, “Do you understand what following Me means? I will tell you.”
You know, in the Word of God, again and again the Lord Jesus said:
If you love your father and mother and brother and sister, and even your own life, more than Me, you are not worthy; you cannot be My disciple.
If you do not forsake all and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple.
If you want to be My disciple, you have to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me. Because he who gains his life will lose it; but he who loses his soul-life for My sake shall gain it eternally.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is not after crowds or popularity. The Lord is after reality.
So here you find the Lord trying to say to this man who had come to the Lord, who had received His life, “Now, are you willing to give up your own soul-life and live by My life? Give up your own way of living and live the way that I live.”
Brothers and sisters, think about that. We have a way of life. We have lived that life for years—some longer, some shorter—but we live for ourselves.
We are self-centered, self-loving, self-possessed—self.
But when we come to the Lord, the Lord says, “Now I have given you My life. From now on, how are you going to live? Are you going to live still with self at the center, everything full of self?”
Or are you going to live by My life, which is self-sacrificing, God-pleasing, doing the will of God, willing to lay down your own self?
Self is natural to the natural man. Self-possession is an instinct in natural man: “This is mine.” Even with children, when they are playing with toys, you find the child says, “This is mine.”
We want to have a resting place, and we do have one. We treasure that, and we will not let that go. This is our life.
But, brothers and sisters, now we have a new life—a heavenly life, a divine life, a life that has been demonstrated in the life of our Lord Jesus. Are we going to live by that life?
And if we do, you will find it is a different manner of life: not “my, me, mine,” but “Thou, Thee.” Not my will, but Thy will be done. Not what I love, but what Thou lovest. Not what I want, but what Thou wantest.
That is the life our Lord Jesus lived upon this earth, and He says, “Follow Me.” This is following.
Brothers and sisters, have we considered this seriously before the Lord? We find in Luke 14 that the Lord Jesus said, “If you want to follow Me, count your cost first. Sit down; count your cost. See if you are willing to give up all.”
No king can fight a battle if he reserves half of his strength to fight an enemy of full strength. No one can complete a tower if he holds back his resources and is only willing to give that much. He will only lay the foundation but cannot finish it.
The Lord said, “Count your cost.” If you are not willing to forsake all and follow Him, do not follow. You will not be able to finish.
Brothers and sisters, how many of us really understand what following the Lord means? How many of us have really sat down and counted the cost? How many of us have really seen by what life we have been living since we believed in the Lord Jesus?
Are we really living by His life, or are we still living by our own life? So the Lord tells the one who is His:
The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have roosting places; but the Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head. Are you willing to follow?
So that is the first case. And now comes the second case. You find there is a little difference in the record.
In Matthew, it says one of His disciples came to the Lord and said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go to bury my father. After I finish the business, then I will follow You.”
And then in Luke, you find it is said that the Lord said, “Follow Me.” That man responded and said, “Yes, I will follow You, but I ask permission to go and bury my father first, and then I will come.”
So, in other words, here you find a person who really had come to the Lord, a person who was really desiring to follow the Lord. He really had a heart to follow the Lord, but he had a problem.
His problem was that he had a responsibility—a human responsibility, a human duty. He had a father, and he had to bury his father first. Then he would be free to follow the Lord.
Now, evidently, the father had not died yet. But this man felt he had a responsibility to his father. It was legitimate. It was the right thing to do. So he had to fulfill his human responsibility first, and then he would be free to follow the Lord and do His bidding.
Now, that is the situation. I wonder if we have the same situation. We as human beings have responsibilities in this world. These are legitimate. These are our duties. These are expected of us to fulfill. What is wrong with that? Nothing is wrong.
And we have to fulfill our duty first, and then we are free to follow the Lord and do His work. Is that not reasonable? Is that not our condition?
But, brothers and sisters, listen to what the Lord said:
Let the dead bury their own dead. Go, and announce the kingdom of God.
“Lord, You are unreasonable. You are inhuman. How can You say such a thing? What do You mean by that: ‘Let the dead bury their own dead’?”
What is the implication? The first “dead” are the spiritually dead, who bury the second “dead,” who are physically dead. In other words, the Lord said, “It is true. This is a human duty. So far as the natural world is concerned, the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. That is it.”
But you do not see first things first. You think that human responsibility and duty must have the first place, and after this is finished, then God is second. No. The Lord said God has made Him first in all things.
Who is first? What is first in your life? Is legitimate human responsibility first? Must you finish these things before you can follow the Lord and serve Him? Or is it the Lord first—His business first?
And if you make Him first, He will not fail you in fulfilling what is needed in your responsibilities. So that is the issue, brothers and sisters.
What is the problem in our following the Lord? Are you sometimes troubled? You want to follow the Lord and do His bidding, but then you find you have so many human responsibilities to fulfill. You have to take care of these first before you are free to serve, to do His work. Is that not our problem?
What is the solution? The solution is not in these things. The solution is your heart. So far as following the Lord is concerned, you have to put the Lord first before everything.
Remember, our Lord said:
If you do not hate your father and mother, brother and sister, wife and children, and even your own life, you cannot be My disciple.
What does it mean? Does it mean that the Lord wants us to hate our father and mother? No. He wants us to love our father and mother, respect our father and mother, honor our father and mother, and take care of our father and mother.
But why does He say such a word? Because when you have father and mother, brother and sister, wife and husband, children, and even your own life—when they are in opposition to Christ—who would you choose?
Is it Christ, or is it your father and mother, brother and sister, husband and wife, parents and children, even your own life? Or is it Christ? That is the issue.
Who has the priority? Who is first? Brothers and sisters, this has to be settled.
The Lord said:
Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the kingdom of God.
It means that His business comes first.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
And then you find the third case. Here is a man, evidently one who had believed in the Lord, and he also really wanted to follow the Lord. He said, “Lord, I will follow You, but I ask Your permission to let me go back and say goodbye to all those in my house. Then I will come.”
Reasonable. What is wrong with saying goodbye, since you are going away? You remember in Old Testament times, even Elijah, when Elijah came to Elisha and put his mantle upon him, was calling him.
And Elisha said, “Let me kiss my father and mother, and I will follow you.” There was nothing wrong with that. But here it is strange. The Lord’s answer is so strange. The Lord said:
No one who has laid his hand on the plow and looked back is fit for the kingdom of God.
“My Lord, You are very hard.” But the Lord knows our heart. You know, the problem is not the outward action. Our outward action can vary, but it is the heart.
Here is a man whose heart is divided. He loved the Lord, but he also loved his family. And when these two things do not agree, then what do you do?
Remember Abraham? When he was in Ur of the Chaldeans, the God of glory appeared to him and said, “Leave your native place, your kindred, and go to where I will lead you.”
Abraham saw the glory of the Lord. He wanted to follow, but he consulted with his father, Terah. He consulted with flesh and blood, and flesh and blood said, “No. What are you doing? This is your home. This is your people. This is where you stay. Why do you go somewhere not knowing where to go? That is foolish, unreasonable. Do not do that.”
And the result was this: yes, Abraham still wanted to go. The father said, “All right, I will take you.” And you know the result. He not only took Abram and his wife, but also Lot, and he took them halfway and stayed there, never crossing the river.
Brothers and sisters, remember Paul? After the Lord revealed Himself to him on the Damascus road, he said, “I did not consult with flesh and blood.” He went to Arabia and spent two or three years restudying the Old Testament in the light of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, no one can put his hand on the plow—that is to say, if you have begun—and then look back. You cannot look back. If you look back, you are lost.
If you look back, the plow will not plow straight. In other words, the work of God will be damaged. You are not fit for the kingdom of God.
Once called, there is no escape. Never look back, brothers and sisters. Do not allow human affection. Do not allow human reasoning. Do not allow self-love. Do not allow anything to turn you around.
But set your face toward Jerusalem, as our Lord Jesus did. That is the way to follow the Lord.
And finally, what is the more excellent response to following the Lord? You know, in the Scripture I find there is one case so beautiful. It is a perfect way of response to God’s calling, and that is the apostle John.
If you remember the story, he was actually a disciple of John the Baptist. And one day, he and Andrew were standing with their master, John the Baptist, and the Lord Jesus passed by.
John the Baptist raised his voice and said:
Behold, the Lamb of God.
Immediately, his two disciples left him and followed Jesus. You know, the very announcement of the Lamb of God arrested John. “That is all hope. That is the Messiah. That is the glory.” So it arrested him.
He left everything and followed the Lord without being called to follow. He knew that “the Lamb of God” meant, “Come and follow Me.”
Brothers and sisters, do we need the Lord to call us again and again, while we still hesitate, still bargain, still reason? Or, even before He calls, do we answer? Wonderful.
He followed the Lord in life. And when you come to the end of the Gospel of John, in John 21, you remember our Lord Jesus said to Peter, “Follow Me.”
He had called Peter before to follow Him, but now He called Peter again: “Follow Me.” What did He mean? He had just told Peter, “When you are young, you go wherever you want to. But when you are old, you will be taken where you do not want to go. Follow Me.”
In other words, “You have followed Me in life. Now, follow Me in this.” And Peter followed.
But there was John. He was not called, but he followed. So Peter turned around and said, “What about this man?” The Lord said, “That is not your business. If I want him to stay until I come, what is that to you?”
It does not mean that he would not die. But it really means that he is the one who shows us so clearly what happens at the coming of the Lord.
You know, here is a man who followed the Lord before he was called, both in life and in death. Why? Because he saw the Lord. He loved the Lord. The Lord was everything to him.
Brothers and sisters, this is, to me, a perfect response to God’s calling.
So may the Lord help us, dear brothers and sisters. The way of following the Lord is very short now. The end is at hand.
This is the time that we have to be absolute toward the Lord. There is no time to play around anymore, no time to cheat ourselves.
It is time that we be earnest—real. They follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes. May the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, by Thy grace, we want to be among those who follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes. In Thy precious name, amen.