The Cost of Discipleship - Presentation

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>The Cost of Discipleship - Presentation</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="c4a49a30.gif" border=0 width="329" height="419" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Discussion - The Cost of Discipleship</B></div> <bR> <div> The Spirit of Christ has led me to discuss with you today the topic of the cost of being a disciple of Christ. This is one of the least understood doctrines of the church in this hour. It is not misunderstood because the Scriptures related to it are difficult to comprehend, nor because there are few Scriptures relating to the subject. It is misunderstood because of the great difficulty of conforming oneself to the truth as spoken by Christ and the apostles, and it has therefore been obscured through neglect and distortion.</div> <bR> <div> I believe the Holy Spirit would have me to speak on this topic with you tonight because He has been leading a number of you to consider deeply this very matter, and He is urging some of you to make such decisions as will transform your lives from this time forward. The Spirit is testifying that the hour is very late, and there is no more time to hesitate. Those who would go on with Christ and attain to all that He has promised the overcomers, cannot delay any longer, for the time is already late for the sons of God to be prepared before the revelation of the time of great trouble that is soon to come upon the earth.</div> <bR> <div> The Spirit is speaking forth the message that was declared by Elijah many years ago:</div> <bR> <div> I Kings 18:21</div> <div> And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow Him...”</div> <bR> <div> This is a message that Joshua also declared:</div> <bR> <div> Joshua 24:15</div> <div> Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh...</div> <bR> <div> The church today is halted between two opinions. They do not know whether they want to serve the God who sent His Son to save them from their sins, or whether they want to pursue the idolatry and vain manner of living that is typical of American society today. What the Spirit wants to impress upon you this hour is that what passes for Christianity in the churches today is unacceptable to Him. The mediocre level of devotion, and the lip service that passes for obedience is an abomination in His sight.</div> <bR> <div> God has never sought men and women to be confessors of Christ, He has sought men and women who will be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son. God doesn’t want a portion of our lives. He wants every last part of us. God is not inviting men to become part of some Christian club where they attend meetings and provide financial support to its projects. He wants the very lives of men with nothing held back. He wants all your mind, all your will, all your might and all your strength.</div> <bR> <div> Mark 12:29-30</div> <div> “The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.  And you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'”</div> <bR> <div> According to this first, the highest and greatest of all commandments, how much of your heart does Yahweh request of you? The heart stands for your desires, the seat of all affections. Yahshua is declaring here that every affection, every desire, every love in your life must be surrendered to God.</div> <bR> <div> According to this commandment, how much of your soul does God want? The soul here stands for the will of man. This means that Yahweh demands that we surrender every part of our will to Him. We are not to set our hands to any activity that He has not initiated. We cannot decide for ourselves what our occupation will be. We cannot choose for ourselves where we will spend our lives. We cannot decide what we will spend our money on. We cannot choose for ourselves even what words we will speak. We are to be conformed to the image of Christ.</div> <bR> <div> John 5:30</div> <div> "<I>I can do nothing on My own initiative</I>. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because <I>I do not seek My own will</I>, but the will of Him who sent Me.”</div> <bR> <div> John 8:28</div> <div> [Yahshua] therefore said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and <I>I do nothing on My own initiative</I>, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”</div> <bR> <div> John 8:42</div> <div> [Yahshua] said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for <I>I have not even come on My own initiative</I>, but He sent Me.”</div> <bR> <div> John 12:49</div> <div> "For <I>I did not speak on My own initiative</I>, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak.”</div> <bR> <div> John 14:10</div> <div> "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? <I>The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative</I>, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.”</div> <bR> <div> The more you look into the words of Christ the more you can observe that being a Christian disciple requires the most radical commitment that any man can make. Yahshua always spoke to the people in absolutes. He never made suggestions. He never asked for anything in part. He said that to be a disciple of His a man must leave everything behind.</div> <bR> <div> Luke 14:25-35</div> <div> Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."</div> <bR> <div> We are too much influenced by the judgments of a fleshly and wicked church. We are tempted to think that if we get enough people coming to this Bible study group that we will in some measure be successful. But what did Christ do when He saw crowds gathering around Him? Did He try to grow them even larger? Did He say, “I thank You Father, for now I know that My ministry is successful?” No! He started separating out the true disciples from the pretenders and hangers on. He revealed that He cared more for the degree of a single man’s devotion than He cared for the number of professed devotees.</div> <bR> <div> In the same way we should never be tempted to think that we are being successful if we attract large numbers to a Bible Study such as this. We are successful only as men enter into a complete surrender to God. This is one reason I have been encouraged with this Bible Study so far. I have observed that there are a number of men wrestling with those things the Spirit has been burdening your hearts with. There are those here who are wrestling with making a radical commitment, a commitment to following Christ no matter what the cost, for He is to be valued above all other things.</div> <bR> <div> When Yahshua observed multitudes gathering around Him who wanted to be His followers. He told them what it meant to truly follow Him. He didn’t tell them that they had an option to be on the varsity group which had one set of requirements, or the junior varsity which had a lesser set of demands. He didn’t tell them that there was an A group of elite and totally committed saints and a B group of part-time devotees. He said that ALL who would follow Him had to measure up to the same standard. They ALL had to meet the same set of requirements, and Yahshua required that they give ALL FOR HIM.</div> <bR> <div> The church has become as salt that has lost its savor. It is worthless in God’s sight today. The church holds no benefit for the world, neither is it pleasing to the Father. Because the church has not surrendered ALL to Christ, it has become as a worthless thing. This is Christ’s message in the Scripture above. Yet God is calling forth a remnant to come out of the lukewarm body of Christian religion who will count the cost and follow Him wholly.</div> <bR> <div> The church has been lied to, and is under the influence of much deception that would suggest that the inheritance, reward, and future destiny of all Christians is identical, being based only upon a confession of Christ as their Savior. This error is maintained despite a multitude of Scriptures which are contrary to this notion.</div> <bR> <div> The Scriptures reveal that some Christians will have their names blotted out of the book of life, and they will be subject to the second death, which is the Lake of Fire. The Scriptures declare that it is <I><B>the overcomers </B></I>in the church who will attain to the first resurrection and who will be granted the honor of ruling and reigning with Christ for a thousand years. In Christ’s parables of the kingdom of God during the church age He declared that there are both righteous and wicked servants in the household of God. Some will receive stripes, which is to say they will be punished, while others will receive reward.</div> <bR> <div> God has warned the church through the apostles to not be deceived. Yahweh declares that He will not be mocked, and that all men will reap what they sow. If they sow to the flesh they will reap destruction. If they sow to the spirit they will reap life to the ages. The consequences have never been higher. Those who live sold out lives to Christ stand to inherit reward, power, glory and honor such as is beyond our imagination. Yet multitudes of Christians who could receive all these things will suffer loss that will be so staggering that they will respond with weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.</div> <bR> <div> The apostle Paul declares that there will be vast differences in the resurrection of the saints.</div> <bR> <div> I Corinthians 15:39-42</div> <div> All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.</div> <bR> <div> The apostle’s meaning is plain. Even as there is an observable difference in the glory of creatures of flesh, there will be distinctions of glory in the resurrection. Do you want to have the glory equivalent to a guppy when you could have the glory of man who was created in the image of God? Even as there are vast differences in the glory of the heavenly bodies so that the stars of the heaven cannot be seen while the Sun is shining in its strength, so too will there be vast differences among those who profess the name of Christ in the time of resurrection.</div> <div> What will be the basis for this distinction?</div> <bR> <div> I Peter 4:12-13</div> <div> Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice <I><U>to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy</U></I>.</div> <bR> <div> Revelation 22:12</div> <div> And, behold, I come quickly; and <I><U>My reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.</U></I></div> <bR> <div> I Corinthians 3:12-15</div> <div> Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,  each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. <I><U>If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; </U></I>but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.</div> <bR> <div> Reward will be based upon each man’s work. Your condition in the ages to come is not based upon your confession of faith in Christ. God will examine each man’s work. He will see if you waged war against the lusts of the flesh, if you stood firm against the temptation and allure of the world, and if you withstood the onslaught of the Devil. Yahweh will not be mocked. He will not grant anyone access to His presence and to His most holy things simply because they said a sinner’s prayer while all the time they lived for their own selfish desires rather than for the will of God. Be not deceived. God will not be mocked.</div> <bR> <div> The Christian should fear as the understanding dawns upon him that not only could he lose all reward, and forfeit the glory and power of the ages to come, but he can also be cast into the Lake of Fire if he resists Yahweh’s work of putting to death the works of the flesh in this life. If the Christian fails to present his body as a living sacrifice, that is as flesh to be consumed by the purifying trials of this life through the suffering of obedience, he will only delay that which none can escape. Yet if we come freely to God in this life for Him to deal with our flesh He will give us great grace as we go through the fire, and there will be reward that cannot even be compared to that which we will be asked to endure. If we should resist this work of God, we will be cast into the Lake of Fire where the grace of God is not extended, and where reward is absent.</div> <bR> <div> The apostle Paul summed his thoughts up this way:</div> <bR> <div> II Corinthians 5:10-11</div> <div> For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men...</div> <bR> <div> The church has been deceived to believe that God’s intent is simply to make a multitude of confessors of Christ who are continuing to live their self-centered lives that are indistinguishable from that of their lost neighbors. The Christians of this hour seek the same temporal pleasures and material possessions as those who are strangers to the life of Christ. Christians are amassing houses and lands and material goods in contradiction to the word of God. Christians are in love with the world despite the warning given in Scripture.</div> <bR> <div> James 4:4</div> <div> Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.</div> <bR> <div> Why does Jacob (James) call the church adulterers and adulteresses? It is because they have been espoused to Christ as pure virgins. They are to set all their affection and love upon the One who purchased them with His own blood. They are to be focused solely on the One who paid the penalty of their sin and restored them to fellowship with the Father. They are to be forever thankful that through Christ they have received the very Spirit of God which He sent to indwell the hearts of His disciples. Yet these ones who are to be devoted in purity to Christ are focused on accumulating the possessions of the earth and satisfying themselves with many pleasures. They have become adulterous in their affections.</div> <bR> <div> II Timothy 3:1-7</div> <div> But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be <I><U>lovers of self, lovers of money</U></I>, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, <I><U>ungrateful</U></I>, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, <I><U>lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God</U></I>, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For<I><U> among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.</U></I></div> <bR> <div> Even as men are compared to pure virgins espoused to Christ, Paul compares some here to “weak women, weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” How much of the church falls into this description? How many are going to their houses of worship week after week, always learning, but never arriving at the truth of the will of God for their lives? There are many men who are acting as weak women, weighed down with sins, led by their fleshly impulses, rather than walking as mature spiritual saints who were created for righteousness and holiness and truth.</div> <bR> <div> Christians today have abandoned the standard of the high calling of God for their lives. The will of God is summed up in the words:</div> <bR> <div> I Peter 1:13-19</div> <div> Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, <I><U>not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance</U></I>; but <I><U>as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy</U></I>."  <I><U>And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here </U></I><I><B><U>in fear</U></B></I>; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from<I><U> your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers</U></I>, but with <I><U>the precious blood of Christ</U></I>, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.</div> <bR> <div> There is so much in this passage that should lead those with ears to hear to tremble at the seriousness of their calling. God did not redeem us from our vain life focused upon worldly pursuits with that which was of no value. He poured out the blood of His beloved Son with the goal that we might set aside all the vain and empty things of this life and pursue Him alone, living lives that are holy, even as God Himself is holy. This Scripture states that we were redeemed from our <I><U>aimless conduct</U></I>. Yet the vast majority of the lives of Christians today is just that, aimless conduct. It is mere activity that fills up our waking hours. We are devoted to one vain pursuit after another, until our days are filled with worthless things.</div> <bR> <div> Is Yahweh not right then, to be exceedingly wrathful at those who have been bought with the blood of His Son, a gift beyond all value to estimate, who then continue to live in vanity? Such Christians, and there are multitudes of them, are treating the blood of Christ which was shed for them as if it were an unholy and common thing.</div> <bR> <div> Hebrews 10:29-31</div> <div> Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "Yahweh will judge His people."  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.</div> <bR> <div> Do you see the import of these words? The church has neglected what is written here. This is not a warning to the lost. It is a WARNING to the church. It says “Yahweh will judge HIS PEOPLE.” Who are His people? It is the church. What will He judge them for? It is because they were purchased with such an exceedingly high price, and they were given the incalculable treasure of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, yet they have continued to live vain lives. They are not striving toward holiness. They are casual in their pursuit of God’s will. They are divided in their affections. And for this they will be judged.</div> <bR> <div> The Spirit has led me to begin this presentation on a very somber note. I do not believe it is possible for me to exaggerate the seriousness of that which is at stake here. We have ALL been affected by the careless attitude that afflicts Christianity today. We have ALL been too casual in our pursuit of God’s will for us. We have ALL fallen short in our zeal to walk perfectly before God, because everything around us in the church today is full of apathy and compromise and half hearted devotion and partial commitment. The church cannot make up her mind whether she wants to serve God, or serve self, and consequently she has become a harlot.</div> <bR> <div> God will judge this harlot, and for this reason He says “Come out of her My people, that you might not participate in her sins and partake of her plagues.” If you are still struggling with coming out of a church who seems to make a good confession of Christ, but their hearts are far from God, being divided; If the members of the church are living for the world, for pleasure, and for self; If there is idolatry present that is not being exposed and removed, then come out of her! This is the command of God. You cannot remain in a lukewarm church and not be affected by the compromising spirit there.</div> <bR> <div> We see then that multitudes will forfeit tremendous reward by failing to walk soberly and with great purpose in this life. We see that many stand to endure the wrath of God for treating the blood of His Son as a common thing, and failing to show reverence for the priceless gift of the Holy Spirit. We see that those who are Christians but who continue to live for vain things and worldly pursuits will find themselves at enmity with God. God will not be mocked. Many who imagine that they will leave a life of ease and pleasure to go and be with God in heaven when they die simply because they have confessed Christ as Savior will find that because they did not treat Him also as Lord of ALL areas of their life that they will instead be cast into the Lake of Fire.</div> <bR> <div> II Peter 3:10-11</div> <div> But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness...</div> <bR> <div> It is my hope that the weight of all these Scriptures will lead you to fear God and to cry out, “God, I know I have fallen short of Your will for my life. I have treated the blood of Your Son as a common thing. I haven’t pursued your will for my life with the focus and determination that You expect. Help me God. Help me to arise out of the lukewarm spirit that has gripped the church and to live a life totally devoted to You. Help me to count the cost of being a disciple of Christ and to follow You wherever You would lead. Help me to live in victory over sin, Satan and the world.”</div> <bR> <div> The church has not communicated to you the truth about being a disciple of Christ. Yahshua never compromised. If there were even one thing that a man would not surrender to Him, Christ would not invite that man to follow Him.</div> <bR> <div> Continue to <A HREF="id612.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Cost of Discipleship Page 2"><U>Next Page</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>