Sermon Tone Analysis

Service Notes

Team at Faithway Baptist Church this morning with Ty Pepperdine

Kids Camp tomorrow, then VBS, then we go back-to-school

Review

Before we read

Not everything necessary to salvation is in this passage.

It doesn't tell us who Christ is in this passage.

It doesn't say anything about who God is here.

It doesn't talk about salvation being by faith.

It doesn't speak directly about repentance.

It doesn't talk about putting trust in Jesus Christ.

This passage emphasizes, not the objective facts of the gospel, but the subjective attitude that must exist in the heart of the one who comes to those objective facts in a true and saving faith.

- John MacArthur

Luke 14:25-35

Luke 14:25–35 (KJV 1900)

25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out.

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Prayer

Faithway Baptist Church and out team that is serving there today.

Camp & VBS

Sermon Introduction

Remember when we read Luke 12:51 “51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?

I tell you, Nay; but rather division:”

Here's where the division will come down.

Remember we have looked at the narrow door.

We have looked at people outside of a banquet who thought being in the neighborhood would get them invited in.

We should not find this “you cannot be my disciple” language shocking but we still do.

To truly follow Jesus Christ, we must consider the cost and put Him above everything else.

Salvation is both absolutely free and yet it costs you your very life.

This sounds contradictory.

But we can understand how a gift can change a life.

Example: The bind man that Jesus heals.

Received sight.

He lost blindness, the need to beg, and so many other thing that made up his previous identity.

The gospel says everything in your life is about to change

There is a following that is not follow.

The word disciple is taking on a more significant meaning.

It means a learner or a student.

Rabbis had them.

John the Baptist had them in John 1.

It has been used to indicate a wide range of people that have been following Jesus.

Now we speak of a “true disciple”

In the book of Acts it says that the disciples were called Christians.

Acts 11:26 “26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch.

And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people.

And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

Key is to see that we are His disciples

This is about being a disciple of Jesus, not a peripheral disciple, but being one who truly belongs to Him.

Look at vs. 26,27, 33 the emphasis is “my disciple.”

I’ve met disciples of religion, I’ve met disciples of church history, I’ve met disciples of morality that are not disciples of Christ.

To truly be a believer is to truly be a disciple

The new life God imparts inevitably results in a new way of life in accord with its nature, namely growth in holiness.

Phil 1:6 “6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

The seed of the Word will bear fruit unto eternal life.

Believers will never perfectly arrive in this life Phil.

3:12 “12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”

if a person claims to be a believer, but he isn’t seeking to grow in obedience to Christ, he is fooling himself.

Horrific to think there are people alive today who will hear this Matthew 7:22-23 “22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Transition: Look at how each of these areas of focus correspond to rebutting the excuses that were just offered in the previous section of this chapter.

There is a decision to be made.

Jesus first lays out three of the costs of discipleship (26-27,33); then, He gives two parables (28-32) that make the same overall point.

We must have a hate for our family and self.

Luke 14:26 “26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

Is Jesus contradicting the Bible?

Doesn’t the Bible say that we are to love our families?

Doesn’t it say that no man ever hated his own flesh?

Show picture of my family.

Who is my favorite.

I know what I am supposed to say but it is the bearded the guy.

Jacob did not hate Leah, in the way we might use the word, he just did not love her as he did Rachel.

Gen 29:31 “31 And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.”

Devotion to Christ cannot be anything less than whole-hearted.

Jesus is saying our allegiance and love for Him must be so great that by comparison our love for our families and even for our own lives looks like hatred.

Think for a moment about all those things which a Jewish family provided for a Jew.

(1) The Jewish family provided status.

Being a Jew made one vastly superior to a Gentile.

Thus, family gave the Jews status.

(2) It was seen as their means to salvation.

Luke 3:8 “8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”

(3) The Jewish family also offered one security.

An Israelite of Jesus’ day did not measure his future security in terms of his insurance policies, or his Social Security, or even his bank account; he measured it in terms of his family.

Jesus wasn’t against the family for the reasons that He created the family but He is opposed to the idol we have made from family if we look to them for status, salvation, and security.

We must carry our own cross.

Luke 14:27 “27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”

We have seen this language before.

Luke 9:23 “23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

The original audience had no idea understanding of feeling the weight of the word “cross”

The cross was not an implement of irritation or inconvenience.

The cross was an implement of slow, tortuous death.