Saturday, 25 March 2017

East Ridge Pres

Luke 14:28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it ?29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Are you going to be able to finish what you have started? Did you really count the cost? Did you really understand what allegiance to Jesus, what faith in Jesus, meant when you first said that you believed? There are many who never counted the cost. They didn’t know what it meant to obey Jesus and yet they prayed a prayer and said they had put their faith in Jesus. They came in to the church with the wrong idea. They didn’t know the cost. They didn’t know they had to give up everything to obey Jesus. They thought they just had to pray and believe. They thought they were trying to get forgiveness now and heaven when they died. Then they found out Jesus demands everything. v 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. You can’t come to faith in Jesus. You can’t get saved. You can’t be his disciple until you renounce all. That means you say to Jesus I give up everything I have to obey you and serve you. There is nothing I am not ready to lose or sacrifice for you. Nothing matters to me in comparison with obeying you. When I have to choose between you and anything I will choose obedience to you. When you have counted the cost and realize what it will take to be his disciple, when you realize who he is and the greatness of the salvation that he brings and the work of sanctification he wants to do, then you receive his grace. Then and only then will you be enabled to finish the work. Philippians 1: 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. if you understand what Jesus is demanding and you count the cost, then you are ready to believe in Jesus then you are ready to receive the grace that is only in Him. Then he will not only begin the work in you, but he will by his merit and his sacrifice bring it to completion. He will finish the work in you.