Luke 14:25-33: "Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 'If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, "This man began to build and was not able to finish." Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.' Let us pray.
O God in Heaven, I pray that You would help us now to see that Jesus truly is all in all, and that He might be all in all to us this hour. That we might see Him, the crucified One, lifted high, enthroned in glory, risen from the dead, the One who satisfies the hungering soul and the thirsty. I pray, Lord, You would send the Holy Spirit to fill us, strengthen us, and help us not only to hear the Word of God but to do it. And that You give me strength, Lord God, to preach in the demonstration and the spirit of power, that the wisdom of Your people will not stand in men but in the power of God. So we pray that You would work a work in the hearts of those who hear the Word of God today, that we would know that we have not met with men but with God. That we would know that it is You that is sanctifying us, it is You that is changing us more and more into the image of Your dear Son through the proclamation of Your truth and by the power of Your Spirit. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.
Well, we come to the last verse of our text that we've been looking at the last few weeks regarding the cost of discipleship. And we have considered thus far the cost of commitment, we have considered the cost of the cross that we must bear and follow Christ. But now, finally, in this text at least, we consider the cost of forsaking all that we have in order to be His disciple, or to be one who is worthy of being His disciple. And this text obviously raises a lot of questions—forsaking all that you have—which we will seek to address. But I want us to look at the case of a missionary by the name of Jim Elliot. And we'll read—I'll read a section from an article by Tim Chester who recounts the life of this man who's a fitting example of one who forsook all that he had for the sake of what God had called him to.
The case of Jim Elliot, in the words of Tim Chester: On Tuesday, the 3rd of January, 1956, Jim Elliot and four other missionaries landed on a small strip of land in the jungles of Ecuador. It was a dangerous landing, and they could not all land at once. For years, they had been dreaming and planning for this moment. Their hearts were set on reaching the Huaorani Indians with the good news of Jesus. The Huaoranis were a notoriously dangerous tribe; no one had reached them before. Some had exchanged gifts, but always the Huaoranis had attacked them. For three months, the missionaries had been regularly flying over the area, dropping gifts and shouting out greetings. When they landed, they built a hut and waited for the Huaoranis to come and find them. They knew the dangers; their wives had discussed the possibility of becoming widows. Elizabeth Elliot, the wife of Jim Elliot, says they went simply because they knew they belonged to God, because He was their Creator and their Redeemer. They had no choice but to willingly obey Him, and that meant obeying His command to take the good news to every nation. On Friday, the 6th of January, three Huaoranis—one man and two women—approached them. They exchanged greetings; the missionaries showed them rubber bands, yo-yos, and balloons, and the man was taken up in the plane. On Sunday, the 8th of January, they were due to radio in at 4:30. There was silence. When no message came, a plane was sent, then a rescue party. Four of their bodies were recovered, all lanced to death. The fifth was never found. It seems they were ambushed. All five were martyred for the sake of Christ. All were married, and four were fathers; one wife was pregnant. A three-year-old was heard to tell the new crying baby, "Never you mind. When we get to heaven, I'll show you which one is daddy."
And this is a case of a man who, with a group of missionaries, heard the call of God to go to a place that would cost them their lives. And straightaway, immediately, you would ask the question—I mean, they only lasted for less than five days there before they were martyred. Since their landing, the natural questions that arise within the mind is, was this just folly, foolishness? I mean, what did they do, really? They just arrived there and died after four days, never really got to even learn the language and communicate with the people, and all these things. Well, we let Jim Elliot answer that question. He answers it in light of this text we could say. This is what Jim Elliot said: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And in that quote is really the emphasis of this text that Jesus calls these multitudes to come after Him in such a way that they would have to forsake all and follow Him.
Now, we are not called to copy Elliot, yet his submission to God's call, no matter the cost that was before him, is what we are to copy. The question that should come to us when we look at the life and account of this is not, "When do I pack my bags to go on the mission field?" The question that we should be asking is, "If God asked the same of me, would I be willing to forsake all that I have and come after Christ in that way?" In that application, and that's something that this text challenges us, and I hope that by the end of this sermon, we might be able to answer that question with, "By God's grace, I will." By God's grace, I will. If God so called me, if God so asked me to do something that could, would cost me everything, I would hope that we would be able to answer that question, "By God's grace, I will."
And Jesus here is exactly trying to challenge that very heart of the very hearts of these people that are following Him in this way. He wants them to understand that following Me will cost you everything. That following Me means that your life is no longer your own. Not only are you to expect there to be a cross to bear in the reproach that you will receive for the name of Jesus Christ, not only are you to be committed to My cause above your earthly relationships, but you must be ready to lose all, to forsake all, whatever I might touch in your life, whatever I might call you to let go of, it must be gone.
Now, if you're a technical sort of person, perhaps up into this point throughout the series, you've been really wondering and thinking about ways in which you can commit to Christ, and yes, you know, on the family front, you may make that commitment and ruffle a few feathers here. You've been thinking about ways you can do that by still holding on to other things. Now, you've been thinking about ways in which I can obey the call to follow Christ in such a way that yes, I will be afflicted, but look, I'll be afflicted to this amount, and you kind of control the amount in which you desire to be afflicted. Maybe you're of the technical sort in which you've been scrambling in your minds up into this point to find loopholes in the commands and the demands of discipleship. Well, if that's the case, this text silences all that scrambling that goes on in our minds because Jesus makes such a general statement that covers it all. "Whoever wants to be My disciple, he must forsake all that he has." And so, whatever loopholes we look for in the system, if we could say, Jesus closes all those holes up and says, "Me first. Your life, everything belongs to Me."
Now, let's consider a little closely the costly condition of forsaking all that one has so that we can understand properly its meaning. The word "to forsake all" literally means to leave, to give up, to renounce, and that's the other ways in which it could be translated. It means to turn your back on all, and quite simply, in another way, it could be said to say goodbye to all. The word actually literally means to bid farewell. That you come to the place whereby you say goodbye to that which is yours in order that you might come after Christ and have Him. This is what the word means, but how is it meant to be understood? How is it meant to be received? What was Jesus trying to convey to these people? Was He literally and actually asking them at that very moment to go home and sell their possessions and take their clothes off their back and literally have nothing in order that they might follow Him? I don't think that's what Jesus was meaning by what He said here, but what I do believe Jesus is meaning by what He said here is that they were to be willing and ready to part with whatever they possess.
Now, allow me to elaborate on that, but let me read to you Richard Baxter on this. He says this: "A man cannot be Christ's disciple if he prefer not the kingdom of heaven before worldly interest and forsake it not all comparatively in esteem and resolution now and in act when he is called to it ." Or Charles Simeon also speaks on this: "Here the cost is plainly told us; we must forsake all, that is, forsake all comparatively in respects of affection, and absolutely whenever it stands in competition with our duty. Nor if we refuse these terms can we be His disciples. We are not indeed to cast away our possessions at all events, but so to withdraw our affections from them as to be willing to resign them whenever the retaining of them shall be inconsistent with our allegiance to Him. We must be ready to part with our reputation, our interest, our carnal ease and pleasures, our friends, our liberty, our life."
And what these two commentators suggest, I believe Jesus is meaning, and what Jesus is saying here to His disciples, is not that you, when you come after Me, you must sell everything first and then come and be My disciple. In fact, the disciples didn't even do that. They understood what Jesus was saying. Yes, they left their nets, yes, they left their boats because Jesus was calling them specifically to follow Him physically to certain places whereby they couldn't continue their trade. But after the resurrection of Jesus, we find them fishing, and there's no rebuke with regard necessarily to that. We find Paul being a tentmaker. We also find John, who was to take Mary, the mother of our Lord, into his house, which means he obviously didn't sell his house and follow after Christ. And so, what we need to understand when we consider these things is that Jesus is saying to His disciples right then and there something that they may respond to right then and there that related to their hearts and their condition of heart right then and there. And that was to have Him supremely above all, that they would be willing to part with anything if it be that the Lord will touch and ask for that area of their life.
And I'll explain this as we go on a little bit more, but this is positively exemplified in Simon Peter, Andrew, and Matthew. The Bible clearly says that they were called by Christ, they heard the word of Christ to come after Him, and immediately they left their nets and followed Him. The same was said of James and John, the sons of Zebedee. When they heard the call of Christ, it says immediately they left their boats and their father and followed after Him. And when Matthew was sitting at the tax office, there collecting money from the people, Jesus said to him, "Follow Me." And the Bible says to us, he left all, rose up, and followed Him. This was the way in which the disciples of Jesus Christ followed Him. They left the things that were dear to them because Christ had called them to follow Him and follow after Him.
This is also exemplified negatively in our passage, even here in the same context. Look what it says in Luke chapter 14, verse 16. I want you to read with me here. It says, "Then He said to him, 'A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and he sent his servant at suppertime to say to those who were invited, "Come, for all things are now ready." But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, "I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused." And another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm going to test them. I ask you to have me excused." Still another said, "I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind." The servant said, "Master, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room." Then the master said to the servant, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"
And here we have the Lord putting on a banquet whereby all things are made ready, and He invites these people to come to His banquet, but they come up with excuses. It's interesting that following this parable, Jesus goes on to knock down those excuses, doesn't He? "Whoever does not hate his father and mother, brother and sister, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." He knocks down those things that they've—I've married a wife, I cannot come to this banquet. He knocks down the idea of possessions here in this text. "I've got a group of oxen, and I need to test them before I can come," or "I bought a property, and I just can't come to this banquet to which I've been invited." Notice that the master who invited them was angry with their responses, and Jesus in this passage that we've been looking at the last few weeks essentially knocks down every excuse that keeps a person from coming to Himself. Jesus is simply telling these people that are following Him, "Listen, all things are ready, come. But when you come, understand this, that there's no excuses. You must leave it all behind and come at My call, come at My gospel call, not thinking about the world, not thinking about your possessions, not thinking about those very things that keep men from coming to the Great Supper."
And so, what the Lord is showing us here by this is negatively that they were people that were making excuses for not coming, but the disciples of Jesus did not make those excuses, did they? They left their nets, they left their fathers, they left their families, and they followed after Jesus Christ, no matter what it cost them. And what Jesus is simply telling us here is that the invitation to the Great Supper is of more value than everything that you possess. Therefore, come bearing your cross, come leaving the world behind you, come forsaking all that you have, and come and be My disciple.
This is the unwillingness of these people is displayed here, the unwillingness to put the call of Christ first. And this is exactly what Jesus is trying to deal with here. He is making a call and laying down the conditions of those who want to be His disciples, saying that if you have anything else that's first in your life, you cannot be My disciple. You are following Me in vain, or you are not truly Mine.
And this text of Scripture that we've been looking at this morning already teaches us of this forsaking of all that we have, but it gives us three important challenges whereby we learn lessons of what Jesus expects from His followers, what Jesus expects from His followers. And we've learned three lessons from just one verse here, where we're told to forsake all that we have. You know, when Jesus says to someone to forsake all that they have and come follow Him, what Jesus is wanting to tell them and challenge them with is this: that you are no longer an owner of all that you have, but you now are a steward.
What Jesus is trying to teach His disciples is that you are embarking on a new relationship with Me, where you become a servant, and I become your Master. And if I become your Master, that means I own you, and I own all that belongs to you, and you are Mine. And your responsibility is to be in the place then of a servant, whereby you manage that which is Mine, and you yourself possess nothing of your own because you are Mine. A servant gave up all his rights; he was simply the own possession and property of his master. And when Jesus is calling His disciples to follow Him, He's calling them in such a way as to forsake all that he has, is teaching him this reality that you must come to understand that you are a steward, not an owner. I own everything, you included. Therefore, if you are willing to forsake all that you have, you cannot be My disciple.
It's almost like a—if I could say—a decision of the heart, of a transfer of ownership of all that we possess into the hands of our Master, to recognize that He is Lord over all. This is a call. The call to discipleship is a call to from ownership to stewardship, to forsake all that we have. And so, we learn that from this, that when Jesus calls a man to forsake all that he has and follow Him, He's simply saying, "You possess, in the sense of owning, nothing. I own everything." And in that sense, you renounce it, you say goodbye to it, it is Mine. You step into the place of management and stewardship, and you move out of the place of ownership.
But the second challenge that we learn from this call is a challenge regarding how we view Christ. And Jesus is calling us not simply to a lifestyle; He's calling us to Himself. And He's laying a condition that touches at the possessions of a person, all the possessions, everything that they have. And what Jesus is saying is this: "I want you to be My disciple. I want you to come after Me. But if you want to come after Me, you need to realize that it will cost you everything." What Jesus is simply saying is this: when you sit down and count the cost, ask yourself this question: is all that I possess more precious to me than the Master that calls me? Is all that I possess more precious to me than the Master that calls me?
Remember, Jesus is not calling us to a lifestyle; He's not necessarily calling us to a set of rules of things to do and not to do. If that were the case, we would see no preciousness in those things. But He is calling us to follow after Him, to come after Him, to be His disciples, to be His possession. And He's simply saying to us in this case, "Therefore, forsake all that you have and follow Me," which means you must see Me as more precious than the gold that perishes, more precious than everything that is yours.
And the call to discipleship then, to forsake all that we have, is a call to come after Christ in such a way as to recognize the value of Christ over all that we possess. And this is illustrated in two parables that are back-to-back in the Gospel of Matthew. We're told in Matthew chapter number 13:44, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." And again, "the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he has found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it." What Jesus is saying in this parable is what He's saying here also in coming after Me in discipleship: Do you want Me more than all your goods? He's a man that sells all that he has and buys a field so that he can have that treasure. He's another man that sells all that he has and buys that plot of land so that he might have that pearl of great price. Sorry, that merchant to buy that pearl of great price, he sells all that he has to buy that pearl. And what Jesus is simply saying to us: Am I a treasure to you that is of more value than everything that you possess? Will you give it up for Me? Am I a pearl of great price in your sight that you might give up all that you have for Me? That you would rather part with everything that you possess and have Me, then to hold on to all that you possess and lose Me and not have Me as your Master?
And so, the challenge in coming after Jesus Christ as a disciple with the condition of forsaking all that we have speaks to us of having this attitude and understanding of the value of Him that we are coming after. And this was illustrated in the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3 verses 7 to 8. He says, "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ." Paul, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin, a man of great stature and learning, trained under Gamaliel, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, things were going well for him, relatively speaking, in relation to the world, in relation to the religious zeal that he had, and in his field of religious service. But there, on the road to Damascus, he heard the word of the Lord, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It's hard for you to kick against the goads." You know what he said? "Lord, what will You have me to do?" And in Philippians, he says, "You know what I did? I counted everything but loss that I might gain Christ. To have the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord was more valuable to that man, Saul of Tarsus, than the reputation, his ministry, then all that he had, perhaps his money, perhaps the fact that he hadn't been taking up a cross up into that point and being afflicted and persecuted and forsaken. Now, on the road to Damascus, he saw the Lord as precious. He saw the Lord as it were high and lifted up, as holy, the One calling him out of his life to Himself. And he said, 'Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee. Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shalt be.' That day he followed Christ. That day he came after Christ. That day he counted everything that he had as rubbish, or dung, as the King James says, that he might win Christ."
What does it tell us? It tells us that Christ was so precious to this man when he saw the brightness of His glory, he didn't want anything but that Savior as his own. And the call to follow Jesus Christ, to forsake all that you have, not only moves us from ownership to stewardship but causes us to come to the realization that Christ is precious, more precious than gold.
And then the third challenge that comes from this text naturally follows on to that idea of precious, and that is that those who are told to forsake all that they have and follow Christ are being called to contentment in Christ. It's not only about you being a steward instead of an owner, it's not only about us seeing Christ as precious, more precious than our possessions, but being a disciple of Jesus Christ and being called to leave all that we have in order to follow Him is to see Christ as the one who satisfies our longings and to be content with Him alone as the satisfaction of our desires. For Jesus to say something like, "Forsake all that you have and follow Me," means that what He is offering these people is far greater and may satisfy them so much deeper than that which they have been pursuing for however long that they have been pursuing those things.
The Bible speaks of the Lord in this way throughout the Gospels, especially the Gospel of John. It speaks of Jesus as the water of life, and He boldly declares what no man can declare: "If any man is thirsty, let him come unto Me and drink." He says to the woman at the well, "If you drink of this water that I give you, you shall never thirst." No man can say such things. "You drink of the water that I give you, you will never thirst." He said to those people in John chapter 6, those wannabe disciples, if we could say, He says, "If you're hungry, and you eat from Me, the bread which comes down from heaven, you'll be satisfied in such a way that you'll never hunger and you'll never thirst." He says, "If you walk in darkness, come to Me, the light of the world, and you will no longer be in darkness." He says to the church at Corinth, Paul says to the church at Corinth, that Christ is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, and he says, "Let him that glory, let him glory in the Lord." What is he saying? Christ is everything to us. He says even to them, because they're squabbling over different things, he says, "All things are yours. Why? Because you are Christ's, and Christ is God's, and you are in Him. Therefore, all things are yours." What is Paul trying to teach the church at Corinth? What is Jesus trying to teach that men and women in the world today? It's that if you come to Me, I will satisfy everything in that you will need nothing but Me.
And He does so with such a bold command to forsake all that you have and follow Me because He knows that what He gives truly satisfies. The Scripture says in Proverbs 27:20, "Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied." Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. But I tell you, in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, when your eyes are open to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, you will truly have your eyes satisfied with Him. You will never hunger, you will never thirst, you will never look on another thing as more precious because you have tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious. And He says, "As we beheld His glory, as of the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
What caused these men to lay down their nets? What caused these men to leave their father and their boats? What caused Matthew to—to leave the tax office and his profession in order to follow Christ? They saw Him, they heard Him, and John says, "That which we have seen and that which we have heard, declare we unto you, the Word of Life, the One who truly satisfies." The psalmist says it in Psalm 73, he says, "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none that I desire on earth beside You." He says, "God is the strength of my heart and He's my portion forever." You know what Asaph is saying there? He's simply saying this, that I have God, He's my portion. I'm not worried about my portion in this world. I have God, He's my portion. He satisfies. And he can say so boldly, "There's no one in heaven that I desire but You. There's nothing on earth that I desire besides You. You're the one that satisfies me."
Hallelujah, says to Him, "I have found Him whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings; through His blood, I now am saved." What Jesus is telling the disciples here is that if you come unto Me, you must learn to be content with Me, and you will prove your contentment to Me by forsaking all that you have and be My disciple.
Well, then, what is it that keeps us from forsaking all that we have? Well, one of the things, and perhaps the main thing that keeps us from coming after Christ, is a covetous spirit, which the book of Colossians says, "And covetousness, which is idolatry." Because that which we love more than Christ and hold to and are not willing to forsake for Christ is an idol in our lives. We become covetous. That's what keeps people from following after Christ. Covetousness makes us an owner, not a steward. Covetousness blinds us to the preciousness of Christ because we see the preciousness of the things that are in this world of more value than Christ. It is covetousness that also dissatisfies us.
Think of the man, King Midas, who—one of the gods in Greek mythology came to him one day, and King Midas looked after this god, and they had a good time together, as it were, and the god said, "I'm going to reward King Midas." And he asked him, "What's one wish that you want?" And King Midas said, "I wish that everything I touch turned to gold." He loved gold, and all he wanted was gold. He apparently—it's a myth—but he apparently used to put gold on himself because he just liked gold, just laying gold. And his king wanted everything that he touched to turn to gold. That's the wish that I want. And the god said, "Fine, you can have that wish. You can have whatever you touch turns to gold." And his love for gold caused him very soon after that to regret his wish because King Midas touched his furniture, and it turned to gold. He was satisfied. He touched his chair, and it turned to gold. But then he went to go eat a grape, and he touched the grape, and it turned to gold. He couldn't enjoy the grape any longer. He went to one of his finest roses in the garden and went to touch the rose, and it turned to gold, and he couldn't smell the beautiful fragrance any longer that proceeded from the rose. He started to become very fearful and thought to himself, "What have I done?" And his daughter, running to him, and he grabbed her and embraced her, and she turned into gold.
And the lesson that we learn from this is that which Ecclesiastes says to us in chapter 5, verse number 10, "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with increase." And King Midas describes the hearts of all worldlings without Jesus Christ. They pursue the treasures of this life, whether it's the acceptance of others, whether it's their family or their loved ones, or the beautiful job and car and house, and all these things. And if I just get that, I will be happy. If this problem is just ironed out, I will be fine. And we covet after that perfect life. We covet after that peace that we want in this world, in all the affairs of our life, and we lose sight of the preciousness and value of Jesus Christ, who is the only one that can satisfy our longings. He's the only one that can bring contentment into the discontent hearts. And Satan dangles the golden carrot, as it were, before the eyes of the world, and we pursue and pursue and pursue, and we lose sight of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, the question comes to us: How precious is Jesus to you? And then, if He's precious to you, is He worth it all? Can you say with the hymn writer, "I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I'd rather be His than have riches untold; I'd rather have Jesus than houses and land; Yes, I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hands than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway; I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause, I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause; I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame, I'd rather be true to His holy name. He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom, He is sweeter than honey from out the comb; He's all that my hungering spirit needs, I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead."
If you don't know Jesus Christ this morning, all things are made ready. The sufficiency of the blood of Jesus Christ has the power to cleanse the sins of all who come to that fountain for cleansing. And the King goes out to you this morning, sends His servants out, and says to come, all things are ready. The banquet is spread, the invitation is out. You say, "But I am unworthy." Yes, but He said, "Go to the maimed and to the lame and to those that are in the highways and the hedges, and you compel even those to come in." There are no excuses for why you cannot come to Jesus Christ this morning and find cleansing at the blood. There's no excuses that we can make this day for why we should not come to Him. He calls us, "Come," and He bids us die, and He tells us to forsake all that we have and come to Him. And He spreads out that banquet, and the invitation is open, and He says, "Come, come to the Savior, make no delay."
And He will wash you clean, He will forgive your sin, He will satisfy your longing soul, and He will make you complete in Him. That the accusations of the law and the condemnation that rest in your mind right now will be all gone, wiped clean by the blood of His dear Son. All things are ready, but will you come? For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whatever it is that's holding you back from coming after Christ this morning, leave it down at the altar. It was a woman; she left her water pot there, and she ran to her village and said, "Come, see a man that told me all that I ever done." She found the water of life, and she forgot that she was even getting water from the well because she saw Him.
And Christian, you maybe say, "I'm struggling in my heart. I'm battling between love for the world and love for Christ, and I'm torn, and I'm fighting as fighting is within my soul." I tell you, go look at Calvary, consider the preciousness of the blood of Jesus Christ, consider what has been done for your redemption and restore, and ask God, repent, restore, and ask God to restore your first love for Him, because He does truly satisfy. Let us pray.