Transcription
Feel like I've been gone forever. Uh, it's good to be back. Um, man.
[Applause]
Yeah, it's crazy how many things happen in one month's time, right? Nowadays, it's like you go through so much. And I was just thinking, gosh, so much has changed. Uh, you know, went through the Christmas season. We had our, our seventh kid two weeks ago. Yeah, so that was, uh, yeah. So if I fall asleep up here, you know why. Um, but man, boy, boy, my second boy. So yeah, good times, good times.
Um, and, uh, this week I was in India speaking to a bunch of pastors out there. Amazing, amazing experience. And but I've been keeping up and just listening to the messages each week that have been presented here and just been so blessed, um, by everything the guys have shared. Even La, last week, uh, yeah, amen. Last week, or actually last night, was listening to AR's message. Good job, man. I knew you could preach. You know, it's like, why does this guy never preach? I have a feeling he can preach. And, uh, it, it just, just, just been really encouraging.
But tonight, I'm, um, I'm speaking in Sacramento for a big, uh, Martin Luther King, uh, rally because of, uh, you know, at our, at our, our state's capital. And so I've been, um, yeah, praise God for you guys are in clapping today. Good.
Um, and so I, I read like 10 of Martin Luther King Jr.'s sermons this week. And I, I don't know if I'm assuming most of you know that he was a pastor. He was a preacher, right? Okay. In, in fact, I was reading one of the things he said. He says, "Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the Gospel. This was my first calling, and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually, all that I do in civil rights, I do because I consider it a part of my, my ministry. I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry. I don't plan to run for any political office. I don't plan to do anything but remain a preacher." He was a preacher of the gospel.
And I was so blessed in reading a bunch of his sermons. I don't know if you've ever read any of his sermons. Um, but I think a lot of times when we think of him, we think of that one speech, that "I Have a Dream" speech. And we don't realize he gave a lifetime, time of sermons, powerful sermons. You know, really, anyone can give a 15-minute speech. What was powerful about him was he lived out that speech 24/7. And that's the challenge. We live in a day and age when we overemphasize the sermon and how good was that message he gave. And we give no, you know, thought of, well, does his life back it up? That's right. Let me watch the way he lives because that's what gives the message power.
But as I was reading his messages, I, I saw, man, he said some things that were so unpopular, so unpopular in his day. They were right. They were biblical, but they were not popular. And I, and I thought about this, you know, I thought, okay, if I'm to follow in his footsteps, or if we are to follow in his footsteps, it doesn't mean that we preach about civil rights right now because, honestly, preaching about civil rights is popular. It wasn't back then. It is now. But back then, the gospel was popular, and it isn't now. You know, to follow in his footsteps means you, you, you lay out the things that are not popular. The words of Jesus are not popular right now.
And to take his courage, I started praying after reading his sermons and listening to some of his speech. I was just saying, God, God, give me that type of courage. God, I want that type of courage where he gave his life. He knew, he knew that this could kill me. This could be the end of it. Let me, but let me lay it out because it's true. And I just began saying, God, you know what? Give me that courage. That, because we can lose it. We can lose it when we want to be accepted by people.
In fact, let me read one more quote of his. Uh, in his message was called "Paul's Letter to the American Christians," um, that he preached in Alabama in, uh, in 1956. He said this: "There are many Christians in America who give their ultimate allegiance to man-made systems and customs. They are afraid to be different. Their great concern is to be accepted socially. They live by some such principle as this: 'Everybody is doing it, so it must be right.' For so many of you, morality is merely group consensus. And your modern sociological lingo, the mores are accepted as the right ways. You have unconsciously come to believe that right is discovered by taking a sort of Gallup poll of the majority opinion."
"How many are giving their ultimate allegiance to this way? But American Christians, I must say to you as I said to the Roman Christians years ago, 'Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.' Or as I said to the Philippian Christians, 'You are a colony of Heaven.' This means that although you live in the colony of time, your ultimate allegiance is to the, the Empire of Eternity. You have a dual citizenry. You live both in time and in eternity, both in Heaven and Earth. Therefore, your ultimate allegiance is not to the government, not to the state, not to the nation, not to any man-made institution. The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God. And if any earthly institution conflicts with God's will, it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it. You must never allow the transitory, evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God."
Wow. It's very similar to, to the words of Jesus, who in Matthew 10 says, "Don't fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." He says, don't worry about people. Don't worry about what's popular. Don't worry about how many people are going to follow you on Twitter or how many likes you get on this post. Worry about Him. See, we're citizens of two worlds, right now. We've got this earthly system down here, but we're also citizens of another kingdom. We're right now, God in heaven, sitting on his throne, is watching me. And I'm going, "Okay, you, you, you are my King. I say what you want me to say. And if, and if everyone hates it, so be it." These are people. This is this world. This is an earthly system. What do you want me to say?
I just began praying, "Oh God, give me that." I remember the early days. I remember really having that. I remember when I first started teaching, opening up the Bible and just going, "Man, this is what Jesus says. I, I, I, I, I'm sorry. You know, I don't know what you've been taught, but let me just read it word for word. I didn't write this. This is what he said." I remember after one sermon, man, at that time, our church was only like 200 people. And I remember after I was done preaching, the worship pastor came up to me and he goes, "You think anyone will be here next week?" And I go, "Man, I mean, he was on. I go, I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know." But I had to say it. It was there. He goes, "I'm not arguing with you." Said, "What was there?" "I'm just asking, do you think anyone will show up next week?" Next week, there were people sitting in the aisles. There were people crowded in front. There weren't enough chairs in that place.
And I'm not saying that's going to happen. I'm just saying, you preach the gospel and just let the chips fall where they may. You know, you just, you just lay it out. Paul told Timothy, "Look, in the last days, people aren't going to put up with sound doctrine. They'll go look for someone that'll tell them what their itching ears want to hear." And that's what I loved as I, I read about, you know, read different sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was, wow, he just laid it out. He just said it. He wasn't thinking how would this be accepted. In fact, if anything, he says, "I, I will preach this in spite of how it will be accepted." And that's what we as believers have been called to do all throughout time is just lay it out.
And so as I prayed and I said, "God, what would I say if I was 100% honest and 100% just concerned about pleasing you and saying what you want me to say?" Of everything I know of scripture, God, make me afraid of nothing. Just give me a heart of love for the people I'm about to speak to. Not a heart that wants to be accepted. Put that aside and just love people and just say what you know scripture says. And so as I prayed about that and searched scripture, and I'm usually not one to mince words anyway, but I thought, "God, what would I say?" And it would be this: I've been studying this book for over 30 years, deeply in the Greek, in the, the Hebrew and English, just over and over, trying to read through this book at least once a year because I want to know the truth. I don't want to be deceived. I don't want to count on someone else telling me what it says. Best I, and I could be wrong, I'm a human being. But I'm just saying, man, best I can understand this book and what Jesus says about following him, here's what I am most concerned about. To put it as plainly as I can, I am deeply concerned that even though you are sitting in a church building, that some of you one day will go to hell to be tormented day and night forever and ever. And by the time you figure it out, it'll be too late. That's my biggest concern.
Look, I, I don't, look, I have a couple of fears. One fear is I don't want anyone thinking they're going to heaven if they're not. That's horrible. And the most loving thing is not to just let people go and not offend them and wait till they figure it out at the end. But I also have another fear, man. I don't want people who know Jesus to feel like they don't and be worried about it and how to walk that tension. And go, "God, I don't want to just get everyone worried about their salvation." At the same time, I don't want everyone just assume that they're saved. And so you just, you just go, "I don't know how to differentiate the two." I don't, I just try to get away from myself as much as I can and just read the words of scripture and let it happen. But I, I tell you, I've been, that's what if I'm completely honest right now, that's what I care about.
I know some of you guys are struggling in your marriages, and I care. But not as much as I care about this. Some of you struggling with sickness, and I, I care. But not as much as this. Some of you are dealing with racial tension. Some of you are, are dealing with a loss of a job. And I care. But not nearly as much as I care about this. Because this is forever. Okay? This is forever. You're going to, we're all going to stand before this God, and he's going to say one of two things for you, and it lasts forever, forever. Either, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Man, come over here, man. You, you're my son. You're my daughter. Get over here forever and ever." Or, "Depart, heart for me, I never knew you."
I mean, one of the, one of the passages that caused me to get into Christian ministry was when I read, uh, Matthew 7:21, where Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of Heaven, only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven." And right before, he was talking about, man, you can tell the good tree by the good fruit. He goes, "Not everyone who just says to me, 'Lord, Lord.'" And as I read that passage, it, it showed me. It says, "In the last day, many people, many, are going to come to him and say, 'Lord, Lord, didn't I prophesy in your name? Didn't I do this? Didn't I do that?'" And it says, and he will say, "Depart from me, I never knew you." And so clearly, in that passage, there are people who are deceived. It seems from the language that they're going to get to the end and go, "What? Wait a second. I thought for sure I was getting. What are you talking about? I did this. I taught Sunday school. I hardly ever missed a day of church. I was raised in the church. They told me, 'Just come forward, pray a prayer.' Man, I did that prayer. What's going on here?"
There are many people who will think, but they're going to be deceived. That terrifies me. That scares me. And so if you want to know what I care about, and what I see in scripture, it's these passages where I go, "Man, I'm concerned." Man, what's a loving thing to do? Just kind of go, "Oh, let me give you a happy sermon today, and let's all go feel better because life is tough." No. I think about the end. Look, life is a vapor. You're here one second, and then you're gone. And so I just prayed, I go, "God, if I were honest, loving, unafraid of what anyone thought, what would I say?" I would go to some of these passages. I would go to the scripture because I'm afraid that someone lied to you and you didn't take the time to study this book for yourself, so you don't even know. I'm, I'm afraid someone told you that there's no hell anymore. That's really popular, man. When's the last time you even heard the word "hell" from a pulpit, even in church? Why? Because someone's been lying to you. They're saying, "How can a loving God punish? How could a loving God torture?" That's what our world teaches. That's the popular teaching. But I'm not here to teach what's popular. I'm here to teach what's biblical.
I'm saying, if you study the Bible, read it yourself. Don't just let someone tell you. It's done. Now, start in Genesis. You'll read about a time when God actually drowned everyone on the planet. He was grieved that he made them. It's pretty early on. You only got to go like six chapters. Now, would a loving God drown everyone on the planet, every man, woman, and child, and infant? A loving God did that. You, you'll read about a loving God who says to the Egyptians, "Hey, if you don't let my people go, I'll kill the firstborn of every household." Wait, wait. The, you'll kill? You'll send an angel to kill the firstborn of every house? Loving God? I'm not saying he's not a loving God. I'm just saying there's other parts of him. He's also a God of justice. He's a God of wrath. Read this book. And you go, "Oh, but you're quoting from Genesis. That's the way he used to be." Do I need to read the book of Revelation to you? You want to see how it ends? To know that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever?
Listen, we have a God who is a God of love. He's a God of redemption. He's a God who wants to save. I mean, that's why he sent his son. But at the same time, nowhere in this book will you see people praying a prayer to accept Jesus as their savior. You'll see people who, over and over, said, "Repent. Turn. You need to be born again. You got to start this thing all over. You got to die to yourself." That's what Jesus taught. He says, "What? But John 3:16." John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that whoever believes in him." Keep reading. John 3:36 says, "Who, who believes in the Son has life. He who does not obey, obey the Son, shall not see life, and the wrath of God abides on him." Just keep reading. Read this book. It's about those who turn to Jesus, who recognize, "Man, I've been living for myself. Man, I'm like Adam and Eve. It's like, 'Oh, that looks good. Let me get some of that. Let me pursue some of that.'" And it's like, "No, you got to stop that. You got to turn from that." And say, "Man, I used to just live thinking it was all about me." And even so many in the church still allow that type of thinking that God is here for you, so what do you need from him? And he, he'll just keep giving you and feed this self-centered mindset. No, it's about me turning from who Francis was and what he wants and saying, "No, I'm a part of another kingdom now. I've got a citizenship here now. You're my Lord. Where, where do you want me to go? What do you want me to say?" I'm just going to say, I know some people hate this. You know, I'm going to lay it out because I'm a part of a different kingdom now. I've repented. You turn from yourself and you follow Jesus.
I, I studied one time because I was getting ready for an Easter sermon. You know, Easter is that, that day where, where everyone shows up. And so you go, "Man, what do I say? What do I say?" You get a little nervous thinking, "Man, if I say the right thing, maybe they'll come twice a year." You know, like, you, you know, all this pressure of how do I keep people in the church? So I began to study, go, "Man, what did Jesus say when crowds showed up?" Man, and it was shocking. He didn't say, "Oh, so glad you're here. Come back next week. You know, we got this program, this program, this. You won't want to miss that." That, he didn't say that. He, he, he, and, and bring a friend. No. He, what he did, I started studying. I'm going, "Wow, Jesus, you said that?" See, Jesus didn't beg. That was surprising. In fact, people begged him. Said, "Can I, can I, can I follow you?" And the people would come to him, go, "Man, can I follow you?" And he's like, "Man, foxes have holes, birds have nests, but I have nowhere to lay my head. You, you sure you want to follow me? Because I'm homeless tonight. I don't know where I'm sleeping. You want to follow me?" That was Jesus. It wasn't just, "Oh, good, they showed up. You know, let's keep them there somehow." No. Jesus was honest. Jesus was so honest.
So brutally honest, in fact, this week, ear, on Monday, I, I was having, uh, or Tuesday, I don't remember. I, I was having breakfast with a friend of mine and, uh, this hedge fund guy, you know, was in, in town, just, uh, visiting. And, and he, he just, he said, as we were eating, goes, "You know, I did something the other day. I just opened my Bible and I just started reading all the letter, all the words and read. And I just read through the, the whole thing, just, I just kept turning pages, pages, pages, just reading. What did Jesus say?" Because in my Bible, he says, "All the words of Jesus are R." So I just read them all. All of them. He goes, "It doesn't take that long. Just read them all." And he goes, "I was shocked. He goes, Jesus was direct. He goes, Jesus sure did sound a lot different from preachers today." And I go, "Man, what you did, I beg people to do. I beg them, man, stop listening to everyone else and get alone with the word of God and just read it. Read it for yourself. I mean, your eternity depends on it. You're not even going to read it, man? Take some time. Understands the words of Jesus, man. If you feel like, 'Oh no, I can't read that whole book.' My eternity is not worth it? Just read the red part at least. Just start with that. Just read Jesus' words. It'll take you a couple of hours. And just go, 'Okay, everything I've been taught my whole life, how does it compare to what Jesus said?'"
Luke chapter 14 was one of those passages where there were great crowds, where there were just a ton of people following him. It says that in Luke 14:25, it says, "Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them." Okay, think about this. What if you were up here and thousands of people showed up? What would you say? See, here's what Jesus said to the crowd. First words: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." Those were his first words. Great crowds accompany him, and the first thing he can think to say is, "Hey, if anyone wants to keep following me, you're going to have to hate your father and mother, your wife, you know, your wife, your bride, you love her, huh? Your kids, you love your kids. This isn't about me helping your kids get healthy and get good grades and a good, this isn't about you. You got to be willing to hate them. How about your own life? You scared to die? You're scared to die? You're scared to lose your life to find it? You, you, you think that what I'm going to give you is going to be worse than, than I, I, you can't be my disciple."
Those were his first words. See, when we see a crowd, we want to keep the crowd. When Jesus sees a crowd, he gets skeptical and goes, "Are you sure you guys are following the right guy? Because if you want to follow me, you got to put me so far above everyone. I know your kids are cute, but I'm way up here. I'm the creator of your children. I'm the creator of you. You, you wouldn't even be breathing right now without. Do you understand what a great treasure I am?" I mean, those who get it, they'll be willing to with great joy, boy, to sell everything they have and follow me because I'm a treasure that great. So he goes, "I'm just making sure you're in the right place."
"If anyone wants to follow me, he's got to hate his father, mother, wife, kids, brother, sister, yov, his own life. Whoever doesn't carry his own cross." He goes, "Are you afraid to pick up a cross?" See, Jesus says, "I, I, I may be going up that mountain, right up there. Is there a mountain near here? Is there a hill or something?" Los Altos Hills. I may, if Jesus was here, he would say, "Hey, I'm, I might be going to Los Altos Hills this afternoon and be nailed to a cross out there and die. So unless you're willing to come with me and grab a cross and be crucified next to me," he says, "don't bother." Are you willing to pick up your cross?
See, try to change that word "cross" and pretty it up a little bit. And, well, he didn't mean cross, cross. He just meant cross like, you know, whatever, like, uh, you know, you're willing to skip lunch. No. It was, no, I need to know you're, you're with me 100%. I need to know that here I am, and here's your mama. I need to know, I need to know that I'm here, and here's your children. I need to know that, man, if I'm walking out here and carrying a cross, that you'll say, "Man, I'm go, I am not leaving your side." Man, I thought about these verses and I thought, "Man, what if Jesus said that right now?" And I just had my seventh kid. I'm crazy about my family, crazy about my wife, crazy about a lot of things. And I thought, "Well, of course, I'd follow him." Because imagine how terrifying it would be to sit here and let him go. "No, no, no, no, no. I'm, I'm coming with you. I'm coming with you. You, I will follow you. I don't care if you're, you're homeless tonight. I got to go because I don't want to be without you. You are number one." Jesus says, "Man, that's the person I want for my disciples."
And he goes on, just in case you're going, "Oh, is that really what he said?" He continues, because he says in verse 28, "Otherwise, when 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.'" What was Jesus saying here? He goes, he goes, "Look, if you're going to build a tower, don't you sit down and calculate the cost first?" And go, "Man, do I have this kind of money? Am I willing to give everything?" He goes, "Because if you start this tower," and many of us have been to other places where you saw a building half-finished, or they got so close to the end, but then they quit, and the whole thing's just a waste, and it's a mockery. You just laugh. You go, "What an idiot." And God says, "Every time you see one of those towers, you just go, 'What a fool. He started and he didn't think through the cost.'" He goes, "In the same way, I want you to think through the cost."
Now, he goes, "Before we get this thing started, because I don't want some of you raising your hand saying, 'Oh, I'll accept you as Savior. I don't have to go to hell.'" I want you. He goes, "Then pretty soon, soon after a little while, you realize what it means to follow me, and you quit." Because I don't need that. I'm not interested in that. Why would anyone build a tower halfway? Think it through. See, this is where we sometimes, maybe with good intentions, we lie. We don't tell people that there's a cost of following Jesus. And I get it. I, what I mean by good intentions is there are people you love, and you want them to follow Jesus so much. So he just says, "Come on, it's easy. All you got to do." So when the pastor says, "Pray the prayer," just pray it. And you don't tell them about the cost of following Jesus. And so what happens? They get started, and then pretty soon it's like, "This is hard. God didn't get me a job when I thought he was going to. God didn't help with my kids like I thought he was going to." Understand, there is a wicked, wicked teaching out there, especially coming from the States, that if you follow Jesus, he'll make you healthy, he'll make you wealthy, this, that's not what Jesus taught. The, the Bible is not about, "Hey, if you get Jesus, you can have, you can be healthy, you can be wealthy, you can have all this power." You, you, your life's just going to be great. No. Jesus was honest with people. He says, "No, actually, your life's going to get more difficult." You know, people begin to hate you. It's because they hated me first. John 15:26, "If they, persecute you, it's, it's because they persecuted me." I mean, no servant's going to be greater than his master. If they hated me, they're going to hate you. That's why you got to look at some people like, like Martin Luther King Jr. and go, "Wow, he was killed." Given the message, we're going to be hated. Okay? There's not a promise of making life easier. That. Read the words of Jesus. He didn't say, "Follow me, yes, you'll get a bigger house." No. He goes, "Follow me, and you might not have anywhere to sleep." Does that sound like a prosperity gospel? He goes, "No, unless you're willing to pick up the cross and, and go up that mountain with me and die with me." He goes, "You got to figure it out ahead of time. Count the cost of discipleship before you just call yourself a Christian." He goes, "You could lose your life. Your family could hate you for the things I'm asking you to do. Is it worth it to you? Figure out the cost. Don't start this thing and not finish." Jesus was honest. We're afraid to because we want, and I get that, man. I don't want people that I love rejecting Jesus. So you try to make it as easy as possible. And I don't want my kids rejecting Jesus. And I understand some of you moms, some of you dads, you want your kids to believe so bad. I get that. But the answer is not, "Well, you can just, yeah, keep smoking pot, keep sleeping with your girlfriend, you know, just pray the prayer." That's not the answer. Because sooner or later, once it gets difficult, they're going to walk away anyway. And that's why Jesus says, "How? Count the cost ahead of time." I don't want people starting off and then leaving halfway, and then we got this half-built tower. That's what a fool does. And then you go, "Well, are you sure that's what he's saying?" Read on. Verse, uh, 31, "Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000?" And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
I don't know how, how Jesus can make this any clearer. He's just saying, "Hey, if we're going to go to war, if I say, 'Hey, you guys, okay, there's a few hundred of us. I'm calling you. We're going to fight today. We're going to fight. There's a group in San Francisco, they're about twice our size, but we're just going to, we're just going to have a full-on war with them.' What do you guys think?" You, "Yeah, I'm crazy." Thank you. Um, but yeah, you would have to sit there and go, "I don't know if I want to join this guy." He says, "That's what you would do." You would sit and you'd have to think ahead of time. "We got half the people that they do. I could die in this war." He goes, "Aren't you going to sit there, especially if you're the king, especially if you're in charge of these people, aren't you going to think through, 'Man, do I want to take these people to war? We could get slaughtered out there.'" He goes, "You better think it through." And he goes, "If you don't want to fight, then go send a delegation." He says, "Hey, you know, here's a fruitcake. Let's not fight. You know, let's, let's settle this thing." He goes, "Think through what you're about to enter into. You're about to go against the world. There's a lot of them out there." He told his disciples, "I'm sending you out like sheep amongst wolves." You want to fight that fight? Think of that picture. Jesus tells his disciples, "Look, you want to follow me? There's wolves out there, and you're a sheep." Sheep, you, you, you got basically no power. I don't know about you, I've never heard of a sheep overtaking a wolf. The only way it works is if he has a good shepherd. The shepherd fights for him. And you put all your, your eggs in that basket, going, "Okay, Shepherd, you better come through." And then I'll walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and I'll see what you do with that staff and see if it really comforts me. You know, it's that picture, though, that Jesus says, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
And that's what I'm asking you today. The same thing. Jesus says, "You sure you want to do this? You sure you want to follow him? You sure you want to walk out the doors and pick up a cross? You sure you want to go out as a sheep amongst wolves? An army that's bigger than us right now, way bigger than us. We're on the unpopular side, and pretty much we always will be until the end. And the last days, it'll get even more unpopular. But you got to decide ahead of time. Do I want to fight this fight? Will I die for these?" Are these things that I had to ask myself again this week, just to reassure and go, "Man, am I still?" As I'm studying Martin Luther King Jr., I'm going, "Okay, it cost his life. Am I afraid to lose my life for this thing?" Because that's who Jesus is looking for. He goes, "If that cost is too great, and you're not ready to renounce all that you have," and it is more difficult for those of us here in Mountain View to renounce all that we have, because some of you have a lot. And Jesus says, "It's going to be real difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven." Because there to look at their plenty and go, "Gosh, see, it's easy when I'm in India and saying, 'Hey, leave this slum. I got something better.' Anything's going to be better than this." But how about Silicon Valley? "Hey, leave it all. I got something better." You willing to go walk up that hill over there with me? Ready to be made a fool of? Ready to renounce everything that you have? It, it gets harder and harder the more you have, the more relationships you have, the more possessions you have. And that's why Jesus right up front says, "Look, everything, unless you're willing to renounce it all, you cannot be my disciple."
And then here's where it got weird to me. Because I understood that first part. I understood the second part with the whole tower analogy. I understood the, the army analogy. But then after he says that, verse 34, he says, "Salt is good." Like, what? He says, "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." The more I study it, the more I got it. And I go, "Wow, that's actually the most powerful statement." See, Jesus right now is looking at a crowd going, "Man, okay, there's great crowds here, but I don't, I don't want you all. In fact, if you don't, if you're not willing to hate your father, mother, wife, kids," then I have no use for you. He goes, "Count the cost. I don't want to build a tower halfway and have you quit. There's no point in that. So think it through. Are you willing to pay the price?" He goes, "I don't want to go to war with a bunch of people that are afraid to die." I'm telling you right now, that other army is bigger. Are you willing to go to war with me? And then he closes off by saying, "Look, salt's good, right?" We all agree salt is good. Aren't you grateful? Praise God for salt. We like, "Yeah, I like salt." He goes, "But let me ask you something. If salt loses its flavor, okay? So imagine salt with no flavor. What good is it?" He says, "It's not even good to be thrown on dirt, right? Because dirt's good. Dirt makes things grow. But if you put flavorless salt all over the dirt, that's going to mess up the dirt." He says, "Even manure is good, right? We use manure. Manure is good. It fertilizes things." He goes, "So that flavorless salt, what if you put a bunch of that flavorless salt on manure? It would screw up the manure." Hey, goes, "That's how worthless it is."
Do you understand what Jesus was saying? Because, go, if you don't have that saltiness to go all the way with, you, I, you're as worthless to me as flavorless salt. He goes, "I wouldn't know what to do with you. You're not even worthy to be thrown on the ground because you'd screw up the ground. I can't even put you in a pile of manure." Like, if I had a pile of manure and you were standing in it, I'd be like, "Get off. You're ruining my manure." That's what God's saying. See, we think to ourselves, "No, you know, let's just get everyone in there. Let's just all call our." He goes, "No, no, no. God's saying, 'Look, I need disciples. I'm looking for people who follow me.'" And this is what it means to follow me. "I don't need flavorless salt. I don't need a bunch of little white pieces just kind of sitting there doing nothing. I need you to go."
Let me ask you a question. I mean, I have some salt here. Had a little packet of salt at McDonald's this morning. Don't tell my wife. I was at McDonald's. Here's salt. Let's imagine this is real salt. It is real salt. You know, McDonald's isn't going to rip you off. But let's imagine this is real salt. You got that real salt. Now let's imagine this is the other stuff that Jesus talked about, flavorless salt. It's just a bunch of white specks. Okay? So I've got this salt here. So I break open the salt. This is the real stuff. Real stuff. Okay? So you got some salt there. This is the real thing. This is the fake stuff. Now let me ask a question. Would you want, if this is all the salt you had, would you want to take the fake stuff and start pouring it on top of there? What's the point in doing this? Is there any reason to do this? No. There is a reason. So you can say, "Wow, look how big my pile is." See, that's what we do in churches. No, look, look how big our pile is. Look how huge it is. It's awesome. Look at these thousands of people that are coming. This is awesome. My pile is bigger than your pile. Your pile of what? It's not even fit for manure. It's less than that. That's what Jesus is saying. I know these words seem harsh, but read for yourself. Read the red letters. He's saying there's no point in this. That's just your little earthly thing where you want to see these big piles. And I get it. I want that too. I'd love to see it. But only if this is the real thing.
Jesus says, "Look, I don't need a bunch of people that're going to go halfway with me. That's like building a tower halfway. I don't want half people that are going to retreat once they see how big the war is." And we have this all the time in the churches. You've got people that, once life gets difficult, "Why did God do this? Why did he do that? I'm walking away from him unless he fixes this." You guys, he's saying, "We're going to war. This isn't a country club." Okay? We're the music wasn't right at church today. W-really? You guys? Jesus was clear. We're, we, we have been recruited into an army like sheep amongst wolves. Though, can you imagine if a soldier came back to his commanding officer going, "They were shooting at me!" And we in the church go, "Oh, I'm sorry. That wasn't supposed to happen. You were supposed to get..." [Laughter] "...rich." That's what we do.
And I'm saying, man, I love, love the words of Jesus. Because Jesus just said, "Look, here it is. I, the Son of God, I'm about to go on a cross. That I just left the glory of Heaven. I had angels bowing down to me. I'm sitting on my throne. I got everything under my footstool. But, you know what? Under my feet, I, I made myself nothing. I left all of that glory. I emptied myself of it. I came down here to be with you. And I'm about to be nailed to a cross to pay for all the sins of, of your, your life, of everything you, you were headed for God's punishment, his wrath. Read the book sometime. It's all over. You were headed for that. I came to save you from that. But if you want to follow me, if you want to follow me, I'll give you the power to do it. I'll put my Spirit in you. He'll give you a new nature. He'll change you from the inside out. You can put to death the deeds of your, your flesh. But you've got to turn. You got to pick up your cross, deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me. Who's with me?" That's Jesus's message. And he says, "I'm going to die for you. And I will love you like no one has ever loved you. And I will be your Shepherd, not just for a few years, but for all of eternity."
And so I'm telling you, stop being afraid of the people who could maybe kill your flesh. Wow. Scary. He goes, "I'm saying, fear the one who can destroy your body and your soul in hell." And that's my message to you guys today. If you cut me open and go, "What does Francis Chan care about? What does he see in the word of God? Don't mince words, Pastor, just throw it at us straight." I would say, "Look, I'm concerned there's some of you that have never really read this book. You just believe what someone told you, which is there is no hell. Or maybe they told you, 'Just pray this prayer,' and you never really read this. And Jesus says, 'No, follow me. Pick up your cross and follow me. Deny yourself.'" That's right. Those are words that we don't hear in our day and age. "How could God have me deny this? Deny that? If he made me this way?" Deny yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me.
And, uh, man, I, I made that decision to follow Jesus. And there are days when it is just hard. There are days when you start to lose your courage and you start going, "Man, I don't like this rejection." And you want to retreat. You got Jesus himself in the garden going, "God, is there any other way to do this?" But, "Not my will, but yours be done." And those of us, I'm just being honest with you right now, there's going to be days when you go, "God, do I have to?" Just like Jesus. "Do I have to? Is there any other way? You're telling me to stay married to her? Is there any other anything else I can do? I'll move into a slum in India, but do not make me stay married to her." There'll be days when you go, "Is there any other way?" God, "Do I have to start sharing the gospel? Can I just preach civil rights or human trafficking, other things that are popular?" I got to lay out the gospel. Is there any other way? I'm just telling you, it is hard. It is so hard to follow Jesus and to die daily and deny yourself daily.
Well, I'm a human being, okay? I have desires. And to fight those sometimes, to fight the flesh, man, there are days when I go, "God, I just want to die right now and not fight this fight anymore." But that's what I signed up for. Not my will, but but yours be done. You said, you told me you didn't lie. You told me ahead of time this was going to be hard. You told me that this was going to be a war, a full-blown war. And I'm in it with you because you died for me. And no one will love me like that. And I'm not afraid of those who can destroy my body. I'm afraid of you. You're my only fear. You're my deepest love, more than father, mother, wife, kids. And it is a wonderful relationship.
And so this morning, you're going, "You know what? I don't know that I've ever decided to follow Jesus. I sang the song. I, I, I've prayed some prayers, but I've never decided to follow Jesus. I want to give you an opportunity to do that today." You know, in that early church, when Peter gave his first sermon, they heard a message and like, "What do we need to do to be saved?" He says, "Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, and then you receive the Holy Spirit as promises for you, your children, and those who are far off." That's why here at this church, we don't just say, "Hey, uh, anything different." We just say, "You know what? You want to follow Jesus? Repent. Say, you know what? I'm ready to give up my whole life. Father, mother, wife, whatever you need. I'm done. I've seen something so beautiful. The Son of God died. I'm, I'm turning. I'm leaving it all behind. Whatever you need me to do, I'll walk out the doors and get crucified with you. Jesus, you're worth it. You're worth it. You're worth it. You don't have to make me healthy. I don't care about money. I care about you. I just want to be with you, even if it means walking up a hill and being crucified next to you. I don't want to leave your side."
And that's what it means to get baptized. It, it, it's, baptism was immersing yourself into Jesus. He, he uses the analogy of, uh, of Noah and the Ark, of how the people had to enter into the Ark to be saved from the flood. That, that's what baptism is. It's going, "Man, I'm entering into Jesus. So it's no longer I who live, but it's him who lives through me." I just want to be, I, I want, I don't want to be found in my own righteousness. I want to let go of all of that, all my achievements, everything that's all garbage, that's all done compared to knowing Christ and to be found in him. Baptized into him. He's the Ark. Going into the water is like going into the Ark. Going, "This is the thing that will save me. Nothing else." That log over there ain't going to save me. Get under that roof isn't going to save me. You know, that guy's little speedboat is not going to save me. I'm going to get in the Ark. That's the only way. And that's the idea of baptism, saying, "Jesus is it. I'm putting it all on him. If the cross isn't enough, then I'm not getting saved." It's like, I am entering into the waters of baptism because I am entering into Christ. And I'm going to fight with him. I'm going to fight with him till the end. And he's with me. I'm going to go out and make disciples. And, you know what? He'll be with me even to the end of the age. That's what it means to follow Jesus.
And if anyone else has told you different, I'm not telling you to take my word for it. I'm going to read the red letters. Just read the Bible sometime, cover to cover. This is too important to just trust someone else. Read it. But if this morning you hear the word of God, because the last thing Jesus said there was, "He who has ears, let him hear." I love that. Jesus at the end of his message. And, oh, so come on, you guys. So Sister Bessie's going to sing a song, get you all emotional. And then, you know, if you're feeling something, then come on. No. He just says, he goes, "He who has ears, let him hear." He goes, "I'm not going to beg you." Some of you are going to get it right now. You're going to hear it. You're going, "I'm giving everything up. I'm going." And others of you, you're not ready to hear it. You're looking at all the stuff you got. Go, "I'm not going to let go of that." Let me research, man. He, "ears, let him hear." And so that's our message today is, man, Jesus is so worth it. But we're not begging you. We're telling you the cost. And if you would like to give your life to Jesus today and get baptized right now, I'm going to ask you to just stand up right where you are and come forward, and we'll baptize you right now. If there's anyone like that, right on, man.
[Applause]
Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word that is so clear. God, I'm just praying for the people in this room, including myself, that if we are blinded in some way, would you open our eyes before it's too late? God, we read about you, the things you did in scripture. Lord, we read about the end in the Book of Revelation, and the bowls of wrath that are be poured out on the earth, the trumpet blasts, the seals that were broken. We read about how if anyone's name was not written in the Book of Life, he's thrown into a lake of fire. God, I want truth. We want truth. God, I just don't want anyone in this room deceived. Let them know if they're not really following you. And God, at the same time, those of us who know you, may we not doubt. May we see the evidence of the Holy Spirit every day, who's the seal of our salvation. He's the proof of our salvation. May we see the Holy Spirit living and active in our lives, the fruit of your Spirit, people who are filled with love and joy and peace and patience and kindness, gentleness, self-control. People who are given a spirit of power, love, self-control. And God, I pray for these who just came forward, who are saying they have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. God, I pray for them because I know Satan is going to lure them and try to pull them away. Show them your beauty, even right now. Thank you for Jesus. We understand the cost, and we are saying, "He is so worth it. He's worth it and more." No one has ever loved us like that. Give us courage, Lord, as we celebrate even Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend. Lord, give us courage. Thank you for a fleshly, modern-day example of not being afraid to die for what you believe in. Help us not to value, treasure anything on this earth more than you, not our possessions, not even our own children. You alone are God. We want to love you with all of our heart, all our soul, all our minds. Help us, Jesus. Thank you for your Spirit who has changed us. And God, as these enter the water of baptism, I pray that we will just see the results of your Holy Spirit falling on them, not that we're going to see fire from heaven fall on them necessarily, could, but God, may we see the results of the Holy Spirit, a life of holiness. And help us to love them deeply, love them as you've called us to do as a church. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.