Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Let the Dead Bury Their Dead

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

If Jesus was a pastor, I don’t think his church would’ve grown very fast. Any leader of a movement wants to make it easy for people to enter. But Jesus acts in a completely different way. People come and say, “I want to join up,” and Jesus says, “Get back. Think.”  In Luke 9, Jesus does this because the three men clearly don’t understand what they are asking for. Therefore, if we take a look at how Jesus answers them, we’re going to learn a great deal about what it means to follow Jesus.  What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? This text shows us 1) that to follow Christ is to enter the kingdom, 2) that we need to understand the hardness of the kingdom, and 3) that we need to understand the greatness of the kingdom. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 24, 1993. Series: Hard Sayings of Jesus (1993). Scripture: Luke 9:57-60. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. This may sound strange at first, but in many ways Jesus is an upside down Savior. He came not in strength, but in weakness. He came not to gain power, but to give away power. As a teacher, then, he spoke in a way that turned people's expectations on their heads, calling people to lose their lives to gain them, to die to themselves so they can truly live. Some of his teachings can be difficult to understand

or accept. Today Tim Keller is teaching through one of the hard sayings of Jesus, showing us that while Christ's teachings aren't always easy, they provide the answers to having a meaningful life and a relationship with him. After you listen, please take a few seconds to rate and review our podcast. Your review can help others to discover our podcast and experience the hope of the gospel.

Now, here's today's teaching from Dr. Keller. I'm going to read you from Luke 9 verses 57 to 62. We're in the middle of a, we're actually near the end of a series. We're doing here morning and evening sermons on the hard sayings of Jesus, the difficult teachings of Jesus. Luke 9.57 to 62. And as they were walking by the way,

one man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head. He said to another man, follow me, but the man replied, Lord, first, let me go and bury my father. Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Still another said, I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family. Jesus replied, no one who puts his hand to the plow

and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. This is God's word. There's a sense of which Jesus doesn't seem to me if Jesus was a pastor that his church would have grown very fast. Jesus acts in a completely different way than most church leaders do. People come and say, I want to join up and Jesus says, get back. Think. He's harsh.

He sets them back on their heels. He's so different than, well, not just church leaders, but any leader of an institution, any leader of a movement, very much wants to inspire people to come and make commitments. Leaders of movements want people to be attracted. They want to make it easy for them to enter. They want to make it attractive for them to sign up and to buy, buy in.

Jesus is very different. In fact, if you really read the scripture, you will see that Jesus is all together different than anything the human race has ever produced. He's continually surprising you. When you think he's going to be harsh, when you think he's going to be stormy, he's sunny, and when you think he's gonna be stormy, he's sunny, and when you think he's gonna be sunny, he's stormy. When he comes up to the prostitutes and the pimps, he sits down and eats with them. When he sees the lepers,

when he sees the woman caught in adultery, with so many of these people, there's exquisite tenderness, but then when he comes up, not only with the religious leaders, but people who come up and say to him, I'm sold out for you, I want to live for you, I want to be with you, he's harsh, he's cold, he almost seems to be wanting to repel them. Now the reason that Jesus does this, in this case,

in these cases of these three men, is clearly because they do not understand what they are asking for. They don't understand what it means to follow Christ. And therefore, if we take a look at what Jesus answers, how he answers these three men, we're going to learn a great deal about what it means to follow Jesus. This is a very basic text, it's a very basic sermon. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? What does it mean?

Let's look. First thing we're taught by the text is Jesus is showing them that to follow Jesus, to follow Christ is to enter the kingdom. To follow Christ is to enter the kingdom. To follow Christ is to enter the kingdom. Excuse me. See, in every case, the men are talking about following. I want to follow you.

And in each case, Jesus keeps talking about the kingdom. They're talking about following Christ, and he's talking about, he's making them see, following Christ, in terms of entering, serving, proclaiming the kingdom. Why? Jesus is pointing out something that we often point out here, but let's look at it from this perspective again. That being a Christian is not simply a matter

of ethical and doctrinal improvement, but rather Jesus is saying to become a Christian to follow me is not just a quantitative thing, it's a qualitative thing. It's not simply a matter of improvement, but it's a change in status and nature. Put it this way, becoming a Christian means to cross a border.

If you're in Texas and you wanna go to Canada, how do you do it? You get in a car, let's say, or you get in an airplane, and you go for a long, long way. You may spend a great deal of time getting to the border. And yet, you may have spent, I don't know, now see, I don't know much about the dimensions, I don't know how many hundreds of miles, or even how many thousands of miles it is,

from the bottom of Texas to the border of Canada, but you can go thousands of miles and you can be standing right at the border. The fact is, all of that improvement of your location, all of that change, and it's been a massive change, all of that exertion and all of that cost has not gotten you into the kingdom at all. The fact is, before you are 100% outside of the kingdom of Canada, and now you're still 100% outside of the kingdom of Canada with all that improvement. What gets you from one kingdom into another kingdom is not tons of improvement, but one step. And Jesus, by continually telling people to follow me,

means that you're entering the kingdom. What he means is that becoming a Christian is not just a matter of doctrinal or ethical change and improvement, but it's a translation from one realm into another realm. I read recently where somebody, I was reading about a woman who was a scholar who had been a liberal Democrat and it said now she's converted into a neo-conservative Republican and he used the word convert. Well you see, I guess that's a conversion, that's a massive change but that's not what Jesus is talking about. Most people tend to think that that's what Christianity is. That it means changing your ethics, changing your lifestyle, changing your doctrine,

and of course all of that is entailed. But it's something much more radical and revolutionary than that. Following Christ means you're translated from one kingdom into another kingdom. The kingdom of God, let's remind ourselves, because a couple of weeks ago we talked about this. When we looked at the term, we looked at the teaching where Jesus says the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent bear it away.

What Jesus is teaching, not necessarily right here, but throughout the New Testament, the kingdom of God is the power of the outside world, the heavenly world, come into this world to heal it of all of its hurts. And the teaching of the New Testament, which is so radical, is that when you believe in Christ, the power of the future age and the power of the heavenly world, comes down into your life. Immediately, it's like an acorn that's planted that eventually will grow and take over.

The Bible tells us, Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God is here now through Christ, so that when you make him your Savior and your King, you cross-align, and there is an immediate change. And the power of that kingdom comes in. Now it's partial. It's only spiritual. And at this point, we are not at a place where the kingdom of God is here and it's fullness. And yet you see what it means to be a Christian is to say that the kingdom of God is at hand. It's here and yet it's coming. It's already and yet it's not yet. And we said a couple of weeks ago, there's a certain sense in which when when Old Maggie Smith, you know, went in in the Stevens-Billard movie when an old Wendy talks to Peter Pan who's grown up and is forgotten

or he came from and she says Peter the stories are true that's the gospel. What is the gospel? The gospel is the kingdom of God is real. See Peter, there is, it's true we are going to live forever in a castle, that's what a Christian believes. We are going to fly someday. We are going to wear crowns and live in a place where there's no more decay or death. There is a camelot. That's what a Christian believes.

There is a never-never land, you see. There are all these things. And there is a kingdom coming which is even greater than all the fairy tales can even convey. The minute I step over the boundary from being my own Savior and King to having Jesus be my Savior and King, the power of that future age comes into my life now and begins to change me, begins to renovate me. It's partial but it's real. It's come, it's here, and yet it's on its way. And Jesus says, therefore, do not think that following Christ is simply a matter of,

well, okay, teach me, what are the new beliefs I've got to teach? I've got to believe. What are the new doctrines I have to believe? What are the new ethics I have to do? It's not just that. There is a moment. There is a spot at which you take one step and you cross from one realm into a brand new realm. These men didn't understand that. They still saw following Christ as really pretty much like converting

from being a Democrat to Republican or Republican to Democrat. They said, I've left my own party. I'm going to follow you. Jesus says, you have no idea yet the radical nature of what it means to follow me. To follow Christ means to come into a whole new realm. It means to enter the kingdom. Secondly, now, once you understand, say, the doctrine of the kingdom of God, the kingdom

of God is something that happens to you immediately as you may Christ your Savior and King instead of yourself. And we've said the doctrine of the kingdom is that it's the power of a future age. Come into our lives now partially but not fully. That's the doctrine. And you really can't follow Christ unless you understand that. So that's the first thing. It's to follow Christ, is to enter the kingdom, but secondly and thirdly, Jesus is dealing here the first man and the last two. The first man and the second and third represent two different kinds of misunderstandings of the kingdom. That Jesus is heading off at the pass and he's saying to them,

you can't follow me until you understand the kingdom properly. The first man doesn't understand the hardness of the kingdom and the second and third men don't understand the greatness of the kingdom. The first man is precipitous. The second and third men are hesitant. The first man is an idealist. The second and third men are pragmatists, neither kind of person, can enter the kingdom because they misunderstand it. The one kind misunderstands the fact that the kingdom of here is only partially and when the kingdom of God comes into your life, it brings you into conflict with the world, and therefore many of the things that you want.

Like health and status and popularity and wealth may never come to you, nor does it have to, because the Kingdom of God doesn't consist of those things. Idealists need to be brought down to see the hardness of the Kingdom. On the other hand, the realists, the people who say, well, you know, everything is good in moderation, religion. You can't overboard with religion. You can't, there's got to be qualifications to religion. Those people don't understand the greatness of the kingdom. And those people do not understand, as Jesus points out, you must not have any conditions on your obedience or you haven't taken a step into my realm. Now I just gave you a summary.

Let's look at those two. First of all, you can't be a Christian if you're really an idealist. Idealistic people are not for the kingdom. They don't understand the kingdom. See this man comes to Jesus and he says, I will follow you wherever you go. This is completely different than the last two guys. The last two guys have qualifications, conditions. They say, I'll follow you, but first.

I'll follow you if only. The first guy doesn't do that. He says, I'll follow you wherever you go. No conditions. And the only reason that Jesus could possibly be harsh to this young man is because this young man is an idealist. You know what an idealist is? This young man is not committed to Christ, he's committed to commitment. He's not excited about Christ, he's excited about excitement. There's a kind of person that believes,

and this is an idealistic mindset, and to some degree, it's something that a lot of us, when we're young, are infected with, and then we lose it. Idealism says, if you do things right, things will work out. If you just apply these principles, if you work hard, if you do things right, things will work out. If you just apply these principles, if you work hard, if you're smart, if you do things right,

we can deal with the problems. We can make a difference. You have to realize that the doctrine of the kingdom of God has always been a tremendous temptation to idealists. Idealists love to see what Jesus Christ says. Jesus is always confronting the scribes and the Pharisees and the religious leaders, and he's always saying, the kingdom is at hand, a change is about to take place.

A radically new order is going to happen. You can't pour a new wine and old wine skins. Everything's got to change. And an idealist like this young man looks at Jesus and says, boy, Jesus appeals to a sense of the heroic. And he can't wait and he's so excited. And he says, I will follow you wherever you go.

I can't wait to be part of this great kingdom. I know that the world is gonna be set right. That's what the doctrine of the kingdom is. The doctrine of the kingdom is. The doctrine of the Kingdom is all the fairy tales are true. In fact, what the fairy tales tell you is nothing compared to the even greater reality that the Kingdom of God will bring. There will be no death, there will be no decant, there will be no sorrow. We'll put that all in just as all brokenness will be healed. That's what Jesus Christ says. the kingdom inevitably will bring about.

Well, an idealist comes and sees that and gets real excited. Jesus appeals to the heroic in the idealist, but what is Jesus say to him? Foxes have holes. Birds of the air have their nests. Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. What he's saying is, my dear young man,

look at me, I'm the embodiment of the kingdom. And do you see what's happened to me? I don't have status, I don't have human credentials, I don't have wealth, I don't have influence, I don't have a place to live. All of the things that the human mind considers success, I have none of them. And yet, I am healing people, I am changing people's lives, and I'm about to turn history upside down. Isn't that true? What is that show? He's pointing to himself and he's saying, the kingdom of heaven until I return and bring it in its fullness.

The kingdom of heaven doesn't consist in any of the things that you probably think you're going to get. Look at me. I am bringing great new movement into this world. I'm changing people's lives. I'm turning the history upside down. I don't have anything that the human kingdoms think you have to have in order to do this. I don't have a party. I don't have the media in my back pocket.

I don't have any wealth of any sort. I don't have any standing. I don't have any credentials. I don't have the right degrees. I don't have the right pedigree. I don't have any wealth of any sort, I don't have any standing, I don't have any credentials, I don't have the right degrees, I don't have the right pedigree, I don't have any of those things, because the kingdom of God doesn't consist in it. I promise you none. If you follow me, you may have none of it.

What do I promise you? I promise you peace. I promise you greatness of character. I promise you continual growth in love, and joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, and meekness, and jealous, and self-control. I promise you continual growth in love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, and meekness, and gentleness and self-control. I promise you meaning in life.

I promise you courage. I promise you the presence of God. I promise you all these things. Real glory. Stuff that will last forever. Your pedigree won't last forever. Your money will turn to dust. I will give you only things that are absolutely eternal. And look at me, he says, look at how I bring the kingdom.

I'm bringing the kingdom into people's lives through a defeat. I'm going to be beaten up. I'm going to be killed. I'm already a wanderer. You know why he's wandering? He's just trying to stay away from at least long enough from the people who are about to murder him so that he can do some teaching.

We know the only reason that he hasn't murdered by now is because remember they had to come to Judas to murder him because they didn't know his movements. Birds have their nest, foxes have their holes, but I don't have a single place to go why, because the kingdom of God tends to advance through self-denial and suffering. Are you ready for that?" he says to the young man. Do you understand?

The kingdom of God is not for idealists. It's not for people with a sense of heroic, because when you get on board, you will discover, as Paul says, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. You see that? Righteousness, joy and peace, last forever. Food and drink don't. Look at me," says on the embodiment of the kingdom, and all the things that you think are going to happen. Success. In fact, you know, Jesus, in a sense,

says, he's responding in this way. There was an editorial in the Times not too long ago that said, Abraham Lincoln promised not to abolish slavery. FDR promised to balance the budget. Johnson promised not to send American troops to Vietnam, Bush promised not to raise taxes and editorial went on and said Clinton can't possibly be any different. When you're campaigning, you paint the ideal. When you're campaigning, you've got to get people to see the positive. You've got to get them excited.

You've got to tell people, if you buy into my movement, everything will be alright. Jesus is utterly the opposite of any of that. Jesus Christ says, I'm telling you up front that none of these great things may happen to you. In fact, you may be just like me, because the kingdom of God's greatness doesn't consist in the things that you as even being tend to think will be success. Do you understand the hardness of the kingdom?

Do you understand that it's in conflict with the rest of the world? Christians above all should never ever ever ever be surprised that they're suffering. If you are, if you're shocked, I signed up. I gave my life to Christ while these troubles in my life. You're just like this guy. You know, instead of the poor pastor who came and said, oh, I'm so glad you want to join the church and be baptized, you should have gone to Jesus who says, foxes have holes and birds have their nest and the son of man doesn't have a place

to put his head. Dorothy Sayers, a great playwright, earlier part of the 20th century Christian lady, has a great little quote here. She says, it seems to me to be quite disastrous that the idea should have gotten about, that Christianity is another worldly unreal, idealistic kind of religion. On the contrary, it is fiercely and even harshly realistic. For many in our culture today, biblical Christianity is a dangerous idea, challenging some of their deepest beliefs. In her book Confronting Christianity, 12 hard questions for the world's largest religion.

Dr. Rebecca McLaughlin explores the hard questions that keep many people from considering faith in Christ. Tackling issues, including gender and sexuality, science and faith, and the problem of suffering. McLosson shows that what seems like roadblocks to faith in Jesus can become signposts to a relationship with him. Confronting Christianity is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the love of Christ

with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. If you understand the hardness of the kingdom, if you understand the nature of the kingdom, if you understand the the partiality of the kingdom, the kingdom is here but not here, you will not be an idealist. You will understand suffering. There will be a courage.

There will be a lack of naivete. Must characterize. The Christian who understands the doctrine of the kingdom. But then lastly, we said, the follow-christ means to enter the kingdom. To follow-christ means to understand the hardness of the kingdom, and the cost. But then to follow Christ means you have to understand the greatness of the kingdom.

These last two guys say, I like the follow, but first let me bury my father and mother. First let me say goodbye. Now, you know, Jesus has gotten a lot of bad PR over his answer here, because it sure looks to the casual reader that what Jesus is saying is that the man is saying my father is about to die or he just died, I want to go to the funeral and Jesus says no. You've got to come with me. Another person says all I want to do is go say goodbye to my father and mother and he says no, you've got to come with me. Now Jesus has enough hard things to deal with.

And so we better not try to give him credit for something that he really isn't saying. If you look carefully, you'll see that the people who are walking with him are people who are walking with him are people who are walking with him. These are people who are on their end to his company. They are traveling with him. Jesus had a whole pile of folks who went along with him to listen to him as he taught. And it's fairly clear from Jewish law that if this young man's father was actually about to die, he wouldn't be there with Jesus. It was the law was you had to be there at the bedside.

It's much more likely that what this man is saying is. I would like to sign on with you totally. I like to make a complete commitment to you. I like to permanently belong to you, but I better wait until my father dies. Why? Well, he might not like it. He might disown me. In other words, when I am absolutely sure that following you will not alienate my father, I'll be happy to come. Here's the third guy essentially saying the same thing. What he's really saying is, I like to follow you, but not yet. I'll be back. And Jesus looks at him and says, you've got to understand the urgency of not yet. I'll be back." And Jesus looks at him and says,

you've got to understand the urgency of the kingdom. There cannot be any conditions on your obedience. You can't say, I'll follow you, but first, you can't say, I will follow you if only you must follow me without any conditions. Now, the point, Jesus Christ cannot be known apart from absolute commitment. Now, absolute commitment is not absolute obedience. Nobody can absolutely obey. Everybody's a sinner, but absolute commitment means a willingness to abdicate the throne of your life, a willingness to take all conditions off of your allegiance to him.

Do you remember what we said? Jesus characterizes following him as entering a kingdom. You enter a kingdom by coming right up to that border, but ultimately you still have it in the kingdom at all. Even if you travel thousands of miles to get to the border, you're still 100 have it under the kingdom at all. Even if you travel thousands of miles to get to the border, you're still 100% outside of the kingdom. Unless you take that step, here's the step.

Jesus Christ cannot be your savior and your king until you take off the bud ifs. But first, the if only's. If you say, I will obey you and you have any ifs. But first, the if onlys. If you say, I will obey you and you have any ifs. If you say, I will obey you and you have any but firsts. You are still, you may be right up to the border, but you haven't stepped over it. Because as soon as you say, Lord, I will be happy to follow you,

but there's almost one thing I need from you first. Or I'll be happy to follow you, but there's almost one thing I need from you first. Or I'll be happy to follow you as long as, see I'm trying to give you every possible derivation or permutation of this. If you say, I will follow you as long as you do this. I will follow you, but first I will follow you if only. If you have any qualifications, if you have any conditions, you are just inside the border. And you are your own king. You're your own king because you are in a position to say yes or no to Jesus depending

on whether you think it's practical for you to obey. So you are still in the driver's seat. You've come right up to the border but you will not O'Ban conditionally. Instead of saying, well I'm an obedient person. I mean I try to follow Christ but I haven't gotten to the place where I'll say unconditionally in every situation without question. Maybe you think that you're a Christian and these other people are just really super Christians. No, no. That's the whole point.

That's the reason Jesus is so harsh. He says, to follow me means to make me king. To follow me means to enter the kingdom. And if there's any conditions at all, you're in your own kingdom. You see how basic this is? St. Augustine was a brilliant philosopher and he was living with a woman of mistress and he went to hear the great Ambrose of Milano preaching and he was very

convicted by Ambrose's preaching about the holiness of God and the validity that ten commandments, but Augustine loved this woman And so what he said was he put up a prayer one day and It's come down to us in history as because it's an immortal prayer. He said oh Lord make me good but not yet Very famous prayer by Senna Gustin and thousands and millions of people have prayed it since. Oh, Lord, make me good, but not yet. Lord, I want to follow you, but I'm in a career right now that, for me to advance, necessitates

me looking the other way when a lot of unethical things are happening. Oh Lord, I want to follow you, but if I really sold out, if I really decided that in every situation I have to obey you, if I have to put you first with that conditions of qualifications, I might not do very well. Oh Lord, I'd like to follow you, make me good, but not yet. Or Lord, I want to follow you, but I'm in a relationship right now. And I'm not sure the relationship fits. What Christian standards are when it comes to sexuality and who I'm supposed to marry. Oh Lord, make me good, but not yet. And what does Jesus say to this man? But the dead bury their dead.

Do you know what he's saying? He says, if anything is more important to you than me, your dead. It will kill you. Now listen, if anything is more important to you than me, it will kill you. And this is the reason why we can talk about following Christ in terms of the kingdom.

Occasionally, if you've been around Christian circles, you know that some people say, I have trusted Christ's Savior, but I'm not obeying him as Lord. you know, that some people say, I have trusted Christ's Savior, but I'm not obeying him as Lord. Now logically, that's impossible. You know why? To make Christ king and to make him Savior are the same thing. Look, if a person says, I would like to follow you, Jesus, but not if it means my career.

What you're saying is what really gives my life meaning, what really makes me feel good about myself, what really is my salvation is my career. And dear friends, whatever is your real joy, whatever is your real meaning in life is your Lord. It's impossible to say, I trust Christ for salvation, but I'm not trusting as Lord. Whatever you are trusting as your Lord is your salvation. Whatever you're trusting for your salvation is your Lord. They come and they go together. And that means whenever you say, I'll obey, but first I'll obey only if, if only. The if only, the but if is the real Lord is the real salvation and you may be right up to the boundary, but you haven't stepped over and you are 100% outside the kingdom of God. When Jesus says, let the bed, dead bear, their dead, he means anything that's more important to you than

me will kill you. It will stop the spiritual power of my kingdom from flowing into your life. Not a conclude. This means on the one hand. On the one hand, some of you are really on the outside of the kingdom, and I think you know that today. But you have a basic understanding of what Christianity means. Some of you actually believe in the doctrines, but you know you've never made this step. Some of you don't believe in the doctrines, but please, one of the, and on the front piece, I put an amazingly candid statement by Aldous Huxley, who was not a believer, but in one of his books ends and means. He makes such a candid statement about the fact that you can't consider Christ as an

intellectual issue only. He says, I have motives for not wanting the world to have meaning. Consequently, I assume that it had none and was without any difficulty able to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem that's purely academic. The philosopher is also concerned to prove that there's no valid reason why he should personally not do what he wants to do.

For myself, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation sexually and politically. Now what he's saying is simply this, you can't decide, is Jesus Lord as a purely intellectual thing. Is anybody out there who says, I don't know if you can believe the Bible, I don't know you can believe in Jesus, I've got a lot of intellectual objections to it. Alta Sucksley himself says, nobody can simply have intellectual objections. Jesus is a threat.

You cannot, in an objective way, consider whether he is really the who he said he is, because you know that if he is, you must completely submit to him. Admit your motives. Recognize the fact that you have, just like all of X-X-Lyme-ucksley says, you have tremendously strong motives to be skeptical. You've got every reason not to want to believe and to want to believe all the intellectual objections to the validity of the Christian faith. Please recognize the fact that nobody can be objective

about this. You have got to look and see what Jesus demands and you've got to recognize that being a Christian is not an intellectual thing, it's not even ultimately a moral thing, it's an intensely radically spiritual thing. Will you give him the lordship of your life? Will you therefore make him save your end King because the two have to go together? Anything that's more important than him is your salvation and your Lord. And it will kill you. Now Christians are the

last thing I want to say, my Christian friends, Christian friends, I believe that Jesus is saying here, it is possible to enter into the kingdom. You cross over the border, okay, you've crossed the border, but then Jesus says, no one who puts his hand in the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Now, most of us are not really aware of this. Jesus is using a metaphor that many of us are not familiar with. If you're actually hand plowing a field,

there's no way if you're looking back to see how straight the furrow is that you're gonna continue to go straight. And what are you saying is, if once you have said, Jesus first, after you cross that line, if you turn around and you're constantly looking back at the things that you left behind, it's going to create all kinds of pathologies. One, a friend of mine once put it this way, what makes Frankenstein a monster?

It's a lot of dead parts, all put together. And then he needs a jolt for him to have any kind of life. It's got to be completely artificial. And my friend put it this way, a lot of people, after they crossed into the kingdom of God, without realizing it, can are always unhappy because they're always saying, oh, you know, here I have signed up,

and here I have given my life to Christ, and where's all that joy and happiness that I was supposed to get? Oh, everything seems to be going wrong. Since I got into the Kingdom of God, and what you've actually done is you've taken the old things, the old idols, the old things that used to be your happiness. And instead of really letting go of them, what you said is, I want God to give me a jolt to get to my old goals. That's what it means for me to be in the kingdom. And of course, whenever I come across a Christian who is always saying, if God loves me so much, why is my career where it is? If God loves me so much, why am I single?

If God loves me so much, why hasn't this and that happened? If God loves me so much, and what you've really done, listen, these are things that everybody wants. It's okay to want to be married. It's okay to want to be professionally competent. It's okay to have one of those things. But when you find that you say,

I have Jesus, I have adoption, I have glory, I have usefulness in the kingdom, I've got the fruit of the spirit, but it's not enough because what I really want, what I really want is all these things. Well, you've actually done a son, all the dead things together and you're asking God to give you a jolt, to get to your goals, and it creates a monstrosity in your life. See, Jesus can give you a whole new life, but it can't coexist with the old one. You can't, if you put your hand to the plow, keep looking back at the things you left behind.

Lots of wife look back and turn it a stone. And if you're a real Christian, you're not gonna be turned a stone, but you're certainly gonna have a lot of hardening in the arteries if you keep looking back. Jesus Christ says, no one who loves anything more than me can keep spiritual deadness from creeping up out all over their life. But the dead bury their dead. Now, believe it or not, it's all good news.

Because there's only two options for you, only two options for you. You can either obey Jesus, which is very hard, or you can decide not to obey Jesus, which is much harder. That's the only two options you've got. You can either give your life to Him, which is very difficult, or you can not give your life to Him, which is impossible. Choose this day, whom you will serve. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you that you have given us this strong message.

We thank you that your Son does not try to recruit us the way so many other people do, giving us the campaign promises, telling us how great everything is going to be. And then later on giving us the bad news. Instead, you show us that your kingdom is not of this world and that it takes a tremendous cost in order to enter it. But then, but then you can make the feeblest and filthiest of us into dazzling radiant immortal beings pulsating and Overflowing with all of your greatness and goodness and that's what we're in for nothing less. The stories are true We are going to live forever We are going to be we're are going to have glory. We are going to drink joy. We are going to be clothed in love

Let us see. The cost of commitment is so great, and the cost of non-commitment is so much greater. Let us see that, and let us give ourselves to you, O Lord Jesus, we ask it in your name. Amen. Thank you for joining us today. If you are encouraged by today's podcast,

please rate and review it so more people can discover Thank you for joining us today. If you were encouraged by today's podcast, please rate and review it so more people can discover the hope of the gospel and thanks again for listening. This month's sermons were recorded in 1993 and 2016. The sermons and talks you hear on the gospel and life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.