In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of not letting the affairs of this life distract or disqualify believers from serving God. He encourages the audience to prioritize their love for God and the authorities He has placed in their lives. The preacher also highlights the need for repentance and a change of heart, mind, and actions in order to serve God zealously. He references Luke 10:2, where Jesus teaches about the great harvest but few laborers, and challenges the audience to reflect on why there are so few laborers. The sermon concludes with a call to leave behind worldly pursuits and follow Jesus, becoming fishers of men.

Costless Christianity, verse 1, and the anger, let me back up, and again, he says, and again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And he moved David against them to say, go number Israel and Judah. The king said to Joab, the captain of the host which was with him, go now through all of the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people that I may know the number of the people. And Joab said unto the king, now the Lord thy God, add unto the people, how many soever they be, and hundredfold, and that the eyes of my Lord the king may see it. But why doth my Lord the king delight in this thing? Y'all think Joab smelled a rat? Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. And they passed over Jordan and pitched in Eror, am I saying that right? On the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad towards Jazar. And they came to Gilead, to the land of these places that we've never been. And they came to Dan and Jan, and thank God for American city names, and to Zidon. And they came to the stronghold of Tyre, to all of the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites. And they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba. And when they had gone through all of the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days. And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king. And there were in Israel 800,000 valiant men that drew the sword. And the men of Judah were 500,000 men. And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. And now I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly." Have you all ever prayed something like that? I have. For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So David has erred and sinned grievously in the eyes of God. David has been confronted with a prophet that brings the king's sins before him. And so we see the spirit of the Lord saying, Pick your punishment, one of these three, because you're being judged for your sin. And so Gad came to David and told him and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Or that there be three days of pestilence in thy land? Now advise and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait. Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great. And let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning, even to the time appointed. And there died of the people from Dan, even to Beersheba, 70,000 men. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the angel that is, the angel that destroyed the people, it is enough. Stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of, the name there is Araniah, the Jebusite. And David spoke unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people and said, Lo, I have sinned and I have done wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father's house. And Gad came that day to David and he said unto him, go up and rear an altar into the Lord in the threshing floor of Araniah, the Jebusite. And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. And Araniah looked and saw the king and his servants coming towards him. And Araniah went out and he bowed himself before the king and on his face, he fell to the ground. And Araniah said, wherefore is my Lord the king come into his servant? And David said to buy the threshing floor to, of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord that the plague must be stayed from the people. And Araniah said unto David, let my Lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here be the oxen for burnt sacrifice and the threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Araniah as a, as a king giveth unto the king. And Araniah said unto the king, the Lord thy God accept thee. And the king, this is King David, said this back to Araniah. No, look at this. He said, nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, my God, of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings so that the Lord was entreated for the land and the plague was stayed from Israel. Let's pray. Father, give us an attentive heart. Father, give us a desire to feed upon the sincere milk of the Word that we might grow thereby. Father, I pray that we might be doers of this word, not hearers only Lord, lest the spell of deception fall upon us. Father, I pray Lord God, that the Holy Spirit will quicken these words, Lord God, that they be endued with power from on high, that I being only a spokesman will utter forth the words that are divine and impregnated with the Holy ghost and anointed power to deal with our hearts and lacks and grievances that are within. And father, that your name might come and your word might come forth and that our hearts might be delivered and that your name might be glorified. Lord, help us this morning. Help us to see Lord that there is no Christianity without cost affixed. Father, help us to see the truth of thy word and it's in your name I pray. Amen. So we see here though I read a quite lengthy discourse here from 2nd Samuel and I've done so purposely to lay the foundation for us to gain an understanding as to the reality and the depths of what was taking place in all of Israel. David was a king. David was a man. Are you with me? And don't ever let and I've told mom and dad the other day we're talking about this and I've also vented this to my wife time and again. It grieves me to the very core when they start talking about David. It says the Bible says that David is a man that was after God's own heart and then they start talking about David in his sin. Now David slept with Bathsheba. He murdered Uriah. He took a consensus of the people of Israel against the will of God which cost 70,000 lives of innocent people but he was a man after God's own heart. How dare we diminish the holiness of God by comparing that to a holy God. When it says in the Word of God that David was a man after God's own heart it means that he was a man that sought after God's heart. We cannot compare David's idiosyncrasies and failures and shortcomings to God's holiness and say that there is some type of a synonymous tie. God forbid. Our God's a holy God that is pure, that is holy, that is powerful, that is set apart, that there is no other God like him. He's a jealous God and how dare we compare fallen corrupt man, even King David, to the heart of a holy God. David was a man that sought after God's own heart. If you want to read that and interpret that correctly he was a man that loaned for the heart of God and it's there that we see the truth of that passage. David was a man. We see David in a time of challenge, a time of temptation, falling short of the mark of the glory of God and he makes a decision as a not only a leader of a nation but also a military ruler, thinking in tactics and strategy, fell prey to the arm of the flesh and we see that whenever he made this decision to take a consensus of the number of fighting men that Israel had that he fell upon the judgment seat. We see that he fell prey to the judgment of God because he violated faith in trusting God for God to be their substance, for God to be their reward, for God to be their protector, for God to watch over them and to take care of his chosen, his elect Israel and he began to take consensus and see if there was strength in the flesh to protect Israel from Israel's foes and it cost 70,000 people their lives. Isn't it amazing the decisions that we make. We think that it doesn't affect anyone but us but it affects more than us. Listen to me, if you're in the body of Christ and if you are truly converted to Jesus Christ and you're a member in particular of his his body connected together with strong sinews and and and tendons and ligaments if you're tied together the body of Christ your sin affects the whole body. I knew I wouldn't get any help on that one but it's still true. Your sin affects the whole body and we see here this and I'm not even preaching upon this but we see this here in this story about how the decisions and the sins that are committed by one can affect the many. But the point we see here is that David is beseeching the Lord. We see the prophet Gad came and confronted David. David repented before God. David threw himself upon the mercy of God. We see the 70,000 have fallen prey to the judgment of God and have lost their life and we see that God has set forth his principles and his word to establish a stay of this death angel that was taking the lives. We see God's heart grieving over the loss of life in this. David created the loss and not God. David created the loss. David set himself against the Lord and we see that the people fell prey to the judgment of God because of the decision of their leader because of the sin of their leader. The sins are passed down through the leadership through the head even on to the body and we see this visitation of God's judgment but then again we see that God has made a way of escape as he has with us through his son Jesus Christ and we see here that there was a threshing floor and there there was a command to offer sacrifices in a certain in a certain locality the land that was owned by a certain man and God said go there and erect an altar and offer a sacrifice that the plague be stayed and David goes here and we see him going to this it's Aaron Naya that was the owner of this threshing floor and Aaron Naya was willing to give away without cost to the king because of his loyalty to to the king then also out of his fervency for his Lord then he says just take it here's the oxen here's the wood here's the instruments here's the threshing floor go use it that this plague may be stayed and David says no no one must pay you for this because I cannot I cannot take something and offer it to the Lord that has not cost me something the cost of Christianity church we're living in a religious culture that's completely self-absorbed completely self-absorbed maintaining a profession of the Christian faith all the while ignoring the sacrifice that is eternally affixed to the true regenerative work of the Holy Ghost I'm not inferring that the work the work of regeneration is conditional upon a sacrifice made by its subject as in the first covenant but I am saying that a regenerate heart that has been conferred by free grace that has been inaugurated into the kingdom of God whereby all of us all of its subjects live sacrificially unto his key into its king do so by a mandate of love they do it by love the idealism my friend that the Christian life can be lived and all the while bypass the sacrificial altar finds its very roots in humanistic deism that means where we become God the deification of mortal flesh in our lives especially you know what it draws its power from deception it draws its power from deception the Word of God says in James chapter 1 verse 22 that be you therefore doers of the word not hearers only deceiving your own selves church listen to me there exists a whole doctrine that is empowered by a cultural embrace that pronounces its greatest doctrinal tenet as Christianity without cost and salvation without sacrifice it's a doctrine it's our cultural doctrine Christianity without cost salvation without sacrifice and those who embrace this very doctrine and begin to fall prey and to practice its tenets are those who attend church week after week they cooperate with the very rhythm of its pulse as long as it doesn't violate the very tenet of their doctrine which excuses them from the cost and the sacrifice of true Christianity go to church every week they'll they'll get along great with us as long as there is not some demand placed upon them that violates the doctrinal tenet of their religion that says there is no cost to their Christianity there is no sacrifice for their salvation and I am NOT ignorant I realize that salvation is a free gift of God but most of whenever you're bought you're owned as soon as any challenges proposed they deviate from their decree and they fold up their tents they excuse themselves from their company until they can find a dwelling place that meets the demands of their doctrinal criteria that's a bunch of fancy words say people will come in and try to join themselves to the body of Christ but they have their internal doctrinal doctrinal writ inside their own heart there they have a belief system the belief system beloved is a cultural Christianity that omits sacrifice that omits obedience that omits the cross that old that omits sacrifice and anything that comes that challenges them that defies that doctrine that we can't we can't sacrifice we won't allow it to cost us any truth that comes forth from the pulpit that violates their inward doctrine that they created after own image because they are nothing other than humanistic deists they will begin to break fellowship with the people of God and they're going to go out that door and they're going to begin to search and go from assembly to assembly until they find a people that can fall within the rhythms of the doctrines they've established in their own minds and hearts that worship themselves as God's humanistic deists and it comes in the name of Jesus and those who are abiding in this doctrinal delusion children are really getting with it back there thank God for children church pastors that are zealous but those who are abiding my friend within this very doctrinal delusion that we're talking about that are on that are on listening there's a difference of heart but they're not willing to break ranks from the company that they love there's sometimes their relationships formed there there are our friendships that come about to be in the truth that they're hearing from the pulpit it violates the doctrine of their heart are you with me and so what happens it breaks up unity they're here in presence they're here socially but they're not here and one with the true elect of God truthfully in with one mind of one heart of one doctrine of one Lord of one baptism of one faith there's a division in their heart they're with us in presence but they're not with us in truth and there are some people that will not break and go and find an assembly that doctrinally will agree with their their their open and avowed life of self deism so they'll stay within the body of Christ even though doctrinally in their heart they disagree and they fold their arms their eyebrows begin to drop as the challenge is made to lay down your life and a sacrifice all for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and to expand the kingdom of God and what we see as the true elect people of God are laboring for the king with a sacrificial labor laying down their life for the Lord of the kingdom bearing their crosses these very tears that are sung amongst the wheat said idly by folding their hands even being absolutely unwilling to draw to wipe away the sweat drops that come from the foreheads of the elect as they labor their labor of love and to the Lord God another tenet that they have in humanistic deism or self deism is in their doc their doctrine of delusion the people of God the elect are justified by faith and faith alone I'm going to be teaching that in the weeks to come it's going to probably be a several week series it's going to be joined on to our doctrine series I'm studying it out because I want to be prepared because it's a colossal subject in itself but they have their own doctrines we have the doctrine as the people of God the elect of God justification by faith terrors have their doctrine as justification by excuse justification by excuse and within this clause what we find is that the terrors began to justify their inactivity and their unwillingness to lift a finger to help alleviate the burden of the of the just righteous people of God by making excuses that they feel are illegitimate then they feel that they are legitimate because they have their own doctrine albeit it is a maimed and a devilish doctrine they have a doctrine begin to make they make excuses justification by excuse retorts are given such as I'm too busy in my business I've worked hard all week for man unto my own temporal gain I'm overloaded with work in the office this week and my stress level has been off the charts therefore I cannot labor for the Lord of the kingdom yet I'll support you as you labor and I'll just cheer you on and then comes the scripture in Proverbs 24 33 yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep statements are made such as this I've been dealing with children all week and I am famished in the very present moment therefore I cannot train up a child in the way that they should go but I'm willing to pay someone else to do it humanistic deism humanistic deism the excuses continue to surmount as these tears have exhausted their strength and zeal upon very the very endeavors to which the very sum of the reward finds its total return and the dividends of their own personal benefit and their own personal pleasure all the while they justify themselves by excuses of being tired or being stressed out or having expended all of their resources upon that which the payback is only temporary and the payback is only personal to them but yet the kingdom of God's call to bear our crosses and to yield our lives as living what sacrifices are wholly ignored but yet they feel justified in their disobedience because all of these excuses that they make in their heart justification by excuse all the while there are needs in the kingdom of God that are not being met and the very elect of God are shouldering burdens that are unbearable because they are burdens to be shared and not to be born alone and the tears that creep in to the house of God to the house of the Lord they seek the benefits of redemption while they seek to escape or to avoid the commitment and the sacrifice that's required of the redeemed they seek a costless Christianity that affords them the eternal bounties the very same bounties as the elect of God without the lifestyle and without the sacrifice without the labor of love to which the just are completely and wholly given their justification isn't that they work hard they labor hard but look at me but they alone they alone are the sole recipients of their labors the sole recipients know we justify our unwillingness to labor in the kingdom of God because all week we've been laboring for man and we're too tired and we're stressed out but you know what we're engaged in these other endeavors because we are the sole recipients of the reward we get a paycheck for it we get a paycheck so that we can have delights and I recognize that we all labor so we can sow to the kingdom of God I'm not talking about the righteous people of God that work hard and that continue to sow in the kingdom of God I'm talking about people that come to church will never lift a finger up to ease the burden of the true children of God because what we've worked so hard and we come into church we want to sit back and listen to a good sermon and go out being absolutely unchanged we will not do anything in the body of Christ because we have this this doctrine of self deism we will not sacrifice our lives when this excuse that we use and justify ourselves by is that we've worked hard we've worked hard and we're tired and we can't we've worked hard so that we can have more and more for ourselves in the kingdom of God is heaping up burden and burden and burden upon the true Saints of God that'll be dispersed and shared abroad but there are so many that creep in that are unwilling to lift a finger because they're engaged in so many of the temporal pursuits of this life and we excuse it well my jobs requiring more and more of me I'm sure on Judgment Day God's gonna be up the ring in his hands saying well bless your little heart we have forgotten the principles of the Word of God Jesus told his disciples drop your nets park your boats follow me leave it all behind and I'll make you a fisher of men and I'm not ignorant at all I know that that we need to labor with our hands but beloved I'm I am bringing before us that we are the people of God and God has called us to live sacrificially and that we are to offer our lives as sacrifice and to labor a labor of love for the Lord our God who has bought us and purchased us with the price and then there's so much work to be done in the kingdom of God and we set back rising our hands saying I can't I can't I'm tired I got to sleep in I've got I've got to take care of myself you know I need some rest we have so much passion and energy concerning the things that are only temporal and so little energy for the things that are eternal we expend our seven we're so committed and we're so faithful to things that that will promote us as the chief end to bless my life to give me more money to give me more spending ability so I can buy more so I can have more and then it comes time for us to lay our life down for the kingdom the call to make disciples goes out the call goes up for us to have a prayer meeting and where are the people we're justifying ourselves by excuses that we're making and we're falling into the very snare of a self deism placing ourself above the call of God above the command of God above the oracles of God above the heart of God we're putting the the blood of Christ to shame openly and I'll find justification in their own inward illicit religion even to give small amounts of their reward that they've accrued to the kingdom of which they are not true subjects but the end of it even the end of their half-hearted giving is only self justification having no heart to labor into the Lord we reward to receive or we labor to receive our reward from man and because of that we commit only a small portion as long as it doesn't cost us anything or diminish our lifestyle what I'm saying is this is that we can go out and work and work and work and work and work for man we can go out and get us a degree and we can labor and we can labor and labor and they pay us for this when it comes time for us to go and to advance the kingdom of God for us to be used of God for us to be faithful and committed and a sacrifice for the cause of Christ for the call of God for the glory of God well I'm tired well I can't I need a rest today and then what we do to justify ourselves we take some of the reward that man gives us and we'll throw it in the offering bucket so that there are conscience that is that is being dealt with will be alleviated but this is the deal but we'll only put enough in the offering to help alleviate our burdened conscience but yet it doesn't it doesn't cost us anything it doesn't it doesn't deviate our lifestyle and we still are living like kings and what we are giving is really not costing us anything we're just giving it to go to the motions and to help deal with the bruised conscience that's been caused by living disobediently to the Word of God we drop a $20 bill we drop a hundred and then just as one little thing is the money thing we do it in so many other ways it doesn't cost us anything it doesn't do anything to offset the lack that's in the body of Christ that's been caused by your delinquency in your labors for the kingdom of God I'm gonna say something I want you to let this soak in you can invest the total net sum of what is given to you as a reward from man for your labors your total financial net and it will not replace your call from Jesus Christ to lose your life I'm gonna say that once again you can invest the total sum of your reward that comes from man your total financial net your total financial worth and it will not replace the call of Jesus Christ for you to lose your life for his namesake your money in the offering plate does not replace your obedience to his call his mandate of sacrifice and surrender listen to me if today if you have illicitly put money in that offering plate I'm asking you to get with our elders and to get a return and put it back in your pocket because your 30 shekels of silver cannot replace the field of sacrifice and it does not waver you from the call of the cross your call to commitment your call to losing your life in one skosh if you have illicitly put money in the offering plate thinking that that is your service and that's the only service that you're giving I I I beg of you to get with mark to get with pastor luck to get with our elders missing in that and to get that money back out of the plate this morning because it's not doing anything for the kingdom and it's not going to do anything for you it doesn't waver our call from Jesus Christ to bear our cross daily to deny ourself to follow him to lose our life to lay our life down to so our life as a sacrifice to be the seed that falls into the ground and dies that life may come forth and bear forth beloved we are becoming rich in the inheritance of this world and loosening inheritance and the kingdom which is to come I am greatly concerned for the body of Christ at large I am greatly concerned we are justifying our actions we are justifying ourselves and well we've got to work we are living on the level that kings of nations never lived upon and we're excusing our retarded behavior in the body of Christ by the mindset of thought that we are laboring and we're so weary we just can't it is self deism it is self deism it's amazing how the gospel of Jesus Christ comes in and deals with the inordinate things that we have in us I'm not preaching at you I'm preaching to us the Bible says in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 we see that the Word of God gives us a challenge an exhortation to study the Word of God to show yourself approved unto him a workman needeth not be ashamed that it's a that's a revelation of the Word of God that comes from being before God on your face on your knees seeking the truth of God that you may go forth as a laborer in the kingdom of God and to proclaim the truth even to the nations of the earth a workman that in the in the Greek means a laborer a laborer a worker someone that has put their hand to the plow that's not looking back as Jesus Christ has commanded us Jesus says if you put your hand to the plow and look back you're not even fit for the kingdom laborers working that are wholly given unto the call of Christ listen not working for our salvation but being that we've received a gift of free grace in salvation have been saved by by God's grace unto good works laboring with the call of Christ and I'm not promoting by any means apathy and laziness in the providing for the family what I'm addressing and what I'm attacking is is that the tears that come in those that have no heart after God they'll not lift one finger to do anything for the kingdom of God and they begin to justify and excuse themselves by saying I've given so much of myself under the labor of man but the labor of man produces a reward for self every morning Monday through Friday I get up in the morning early and I go to work and I work all week long and I work hard you know why I do that was I get a paycheck for it and there's nothing wrong with that God's called us to work ever since Adam fell in the garden God has put him a yoke upon us to work we can't sit by idly and expect other people to take care of us God's called us to work that's not what I'm addressing I'm addressing people that are going so hard after work to gain more and more enterprise from man more and more net worth for man that they use that as an excuse to disqualify themselves from a life of surrender and sacrifice to labor together for the kingdom of God for the glory of Christ and we make these excuses but all it is is a hidden deceptive form of open self deism that's all it is the hyper exaltation of man the hyper exaltation of fleshly desires all guys in the banner of the Christian name but it's not Christian it's bastard it's not of God workmen that need not be ashamed rightfully dividing the word of truth under the purpose of God for the glory of God to the advancement of the kingdom of God Jesus taught his disciples in Luke chapter 10 he said this in verse 2 therefore he said unto them the harvest is truly great but the laborers are few not a new problem is it the harvest is truly great but the laborers are few pray ye therefore that the Lord of harvest would send forth laborers into the harvest laborers beloved but we must ask ourself the question why why are the laborers so few have we ever asked ourself this question the answers in Matthew chapter 7 verse 13 and 14 enter ye in the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth unto destruction and many go in thereat but straight is the gate narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few be that find it the reason that the labor the laborers are few is because the constricted way the challenge the sacrifice the commitment the dying the self the taking up your cross the putting your hand to the plow the labor of the Lord is the call of commitment is the call of losing your life and beloved being that then that the rampant national religion is an open self deism it's a humanistic deism that has entranced the multitudes my friend the call of Christ to labor to go forward in the straight in this narrow way and to lose your life and to live holy and exclusively for the glory of God it's only attractive to those that have been redeemed that have opened eyes and the anguish that I have on the inside of me church is the anguish that there are those that come in weekend and week out and they hear the gospel being preached and all they do is just amen the gospel being preached and all the while we neglect the gospel of Jesus Christ in the sacrifice that he has set before us and the cost that has been a fix that we lose our lives we begin to justify our illicit behavior our wrongful actions our inordinate desires for things of this earth and we do so saying well I'm just having to work we're laboring for man we're laboring for man but we're laboring for man for us instead of losing our life for Christ and laboring as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven the Bible says and the parable of the seed and the sower that the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches come in and they choke the word out I know people that used to be so engaged serving the king kings and the Lord of Lords and they're no longer engaged any longer they began to pursue the things of this life opportunities came along job opportunities came it required more and more and more and more to where the word has been choked out the call of the kingdom of God has been choked out a very very dear and close friend of mine that had a powerful anointing on his life had a wonderful ministry that God by his grace had raised up labored for about two years in the field of harvest and with great success and then all of a sudden an opportunity came to move to another state to make over six digits in salary and he closed down the ministry put it a religious tag on it so I'm going there to make money to fund more missionary work to fund the kingdom of God and to this day the brother has fallen away from the Lord Jesus Christ he's living wickedly in sin he went there and began to make the money within a few short weeks he was having an illicit sexual relationship with another one another woman and become drunken on alcoholic beverages and totally lost his testimony and witness and in his walked away from everything that has been of God in his life no missionaries were ever supported a big new house was purchased brand new cars were purchased more money was spent on the kids more money was spent on on self it was the good word was choked out and he became unfruitful all the good things that have been done for the glory of God or in the past years they're back in the textbooks of history no longer are they alive and thriving today in this brother's life dear friend someone very close to me I've seen it happen in this church I've seen it with people that I have have poured into their lives church listen to me it's one thing for you to join yourself to a body of believers that are laboring a labor of love before God and it's completely another thing for you to be among those laborers laboring a labor of love are you with me laboring together with them it's one thing for you to join yourself to the body and watch him work it's another thing to join yourself to the body and labor together for the Lord and the love of our God with them it's another thing it's one thing for you to attend a church that teaches and holds fast to the doctrines of sacrifice and commitment and of cross-bearing and it's wholly another thing to be committed and bearing your own cross cross and sacrificing to the Lord you see the differences our excuses of being busy and our excuses of being tired or not feeling called or illegitimate and they're reflective of our commitment to other in enterprises namely ourselves and the preservation of ourselves and it amazes me how full of strength how full of vision how full of purpose and of enthusiasm that we have to the call of commitment of enterprises that give return to our own personal increase and how intensively we will labor and how passionately we will work and how devoted we'll be towards that end even in weariness as long as it benefits us that when the call of the kingdom of God is heralded we've become too tired famished from our own labors unto our own personal gain that we cannot or that we will not respond this is not the heart of Christ it is not the anthem of the just and it is sin y'all know any churches open that would need a pastor like me let me give you the anthem of the just let me give you the anthem of the redeemed you know how to turn there if you don't mark your scriptures and research this I'm gonna go through these scriptures now I want you to listen it's like a Corinthians chapter 11 verse 21 through 30 Paul said I speak as concerning reproach as though we had been weak how be it wherein so ever at any is bold I speak foolishly I am bold also are they Hebrew so am I are they Israelites so am I are they the seed of Abraham so am I are they ministers of Christ I speak as a fool I am more in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft of the Jews five times received I 40 stripes save one thrice was I beaten with rods once I was stoned thrice I suffered shipwrecked a day and a night I've been in the deep in the journeys often in perils of water in perils of robbers in perils by my own countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils in the city in the perils of the wilderness in the perils of the sea in perils among false brethren in weakness and in painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in coldness and in nakedness beside those things that are without that which come upon me daily the care of the churches who was weak and I am NOT weak who was offended and I burn not I must needs glory but I will glory in these things which concern mine infirmities he's glorying in his sacrifice I'm laying my life down it's the call of God upon those of us that have been called by our name to be to be joined together to the precious Bride of Christ the elect of God dumb lot I'm lost in Christ I've counted all things but done for the excellency of the knowledge of our Lord Luke 962 it's the anthem of Christ Jesus said unto him no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of God John chapter 6 verse 27 labor not for the meat which perisheth but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life which of the Son of Man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed beloved we must examine our hearts and we must examine our lifestyles beloved coming to church is not a sanctified act it's the surrender to Christ that is sanctified it's a living in obedience to the one that has given us all for us that is sanctified beloved is coming to church a great thing only if you obey what you hear let me ask you what are we truly committed into what has the grace of God produced in our lives the early church fathers gave their lives for the faith what are we giving our lives for what are we yielding to and what is it costing us what sacrifices are being made to you personally what sacrifices are being made and what costs are affixed unto them what are our sacrifices under the Lord costing us how deep is our commitment to Jesus Christ and his gospel listen in comparison to our commitment to other enterprises that yield dividends to our own personal increase in gain are we losing our lives for Christ or are we gaining our lives for ourselves and the danger is in this my friend listen beloved family that you can come into this very sanctuary week in and week out listening to the challenge to commit without committing you can come in week in and week out and you can hear the challenge of committing to Christ and all the while you'll not commit you can witness other people laying their lives down and you can even cheer them onward while you yourself refuse to lay down your life you can amen you can become excited and listening to sermons such as this that challenge us on the sacrifice without even sacrificing yourself and it's all in vain if you do not relinquish your life for the Lord Jesus Christ and become a laborer in his kingdom as his dear children and it's my earnest concern my friend my family that there are some of you here that are finding your life in this earth and forfeiting your inheritance in the kingdom of God Christianity void of sacrifice and commitment is only a religion without power it is not a salvation by the grace and power of God Christianity without sacrifice and commitment is only a religion without power or any power unto salvation listen is your form leaving you empty and without any power and authority over sin any victory in your walk with Jesus Christ and we must examine that which we are truly committed unto we must examine that which we were truly committed unto beloved the the heart of this message is that God has called us into a commitment unto himself that supersedes your commitment to yourself and I think that we excuse the call to surrender and the call to sacrifice with investment that we're making with our life into earthly things that bring forth a personal investment or a personal dividend or a personal reward and that we weary ourself trying to heap up more on ourself all the while the weariness is forfeiting us from the call and the command of God we are busying ourselves and the things that will bless us and that will be to our own increase and to our own our own our own desires and the call of the kingdom of God is in to surrender and a sacrifice and to reach out and to minister and to give away and to lose your life is being pushed back and we're justifying ourselves Sam we're tired because we just work I can't work in the nursery because I've been with kids all week I can't teach the children I can't train them up in the way that they should go because I'm too engaged I'm too involved I'm too tied to the things of this life I can't go out and reach out and be a witness I can't go to the nursing homes and to pray with the elders I can't go to the streets and preach I can't walk the city and pray at night because I have all this stuff going on so I can have a better lifestyle on earth and all the while the kingdom of God's being neglected and we're being deceived Nate Saint was martyred for the Inca Indians days before his death he wrote if God would grant us the vision the word sacrifice would disappear from our lips and thoughts we would hate the things that seem now so dear to us our lives would suddenly be too short we would despise time-robbing distractions and charge the enemy with all of our energies in the name of Christ may God help us to judge ourselves by the eternities that separate the occas from a comprehension of Christmas and him who though he were rich yet for our sakes become poor so that we might through his poverty be made rich Lord God speak to my own heart and give me to know thy holy will and the joy of walking in it amen and shortly in fact only days after Nate Saint pinned this prayer he gave his life for the one that he loved a young man that laid down his life an educated young man that left everything behind and took to a small aircraft and went into a dangerous place to give his life and to live sacrificially before God and he lost his life and gained a martyr's crown and friends the call of Christ to go is as personal to you as it was to Nate Saint he's called to go his call to labor in the fields that are white and ripe unto harvest is for us as much as it was for Nate Saint who went and gave his life away you can read in this book the Fox's Book of Martyrs the lives and the accounts of those that love not their lives even unto death and obtained a better resurrection the things that we're living for worth Jesus dying for the motto of Leonard Ravenhill what are we committed to are we doing more and more so that we can have more and more all of which holds no eternal value and worth or the things of God being neglected of the burdens and the weights being put upon those true people of God that are that are living their life for the gospel that are going that are that are carrying the burdens that are weary they're still going forward and trotting out that path of righteousness and doing that which the Lord has called us unto do are we heating more and more because we're not willing to share in that burden and labor alongside them as Christ has asked us and excusing ourselves because we're engaged in the things of this world and the labors of this world and disqualifying ourself in the fight of faith are we living a costless Christianity are we living a costless Christianity which is no Christianity at all it's nothing other than self deism it's self deism to our self has become as of God I realize the weight I realize the the danger of preaching a message is this but it's the gospel it's the gospel we all by the grace of God not in the flesh but by the grace of God and God's grace is always abundantly available for those who are willing to obey the Word of God when God gives God I just can't do that because I just don't feel grace to do it God's grace always accompanies his call and his word doesn't it when God calls you to lose your life he doesn't he doesn't withhold his grace toward that end when God calls you to lay it down when God calls you to sacrifice when God calls you to labor he doesn't do so without providing adequate grace think about this so we receiving the grace of God in vain the grace is available but we're not willing to work we're not willing to invest we're not willing to sacrifice not willing to labor not willing to lay it down our lives well I went to church this week and heard a powerful message let me get you a CD beloved the question is are you gonna obey what you've heard from this pulpit today are you gonna put it back in the vault of your memory and begin to justify yourself as you have been doing under the lies and guys of the adversary and to continue in the path that you've been trotting you can hear messages like this and feel guilty not guilty enough to repent but feel guilty so I guess I'll work a stupid nursery you'll make it about two weeks but when you hear a message that that comes and brings conviction when the Spirit of God through truth through truth begins to reveal inward anomalies that need not be there and there is conviction beloved there must be repentance repentance is always a forerunner under grace it's even a grace in its own self but if you just feel a little bit guilty well pastor he really after us today hey don't quit that I'm gonna start going to church somewhere as well just go and flee join yourself to someone just like you you'll be worse than you ever been but if you sit and listen the Spirit of God deals with your heart revealing the anomalies the maladies that are inside of us the wrongs the habits that we have that are sinful all the while though we've been deceived us as to their existence and where the author and the route where they go but now God begins to reveal we become convicted when we desire to do what is honorable and pleasing in the eyes of God there must be repentance that we must get before God and there must be a change of our heart there must be a change of our mind there must be a change of our actions by the very grace of God that comes at repentance that we can labor zealously without fainting Becky you know why I'm gonna be at this pulpit to the day I die but I'm not gonna quit and find a preaching job the panhandle you know why God's called me here I know his voice he's called me here and I know his voice and I'm committed to what God has called me to do told Stacy I remember times years ago and then we had Thursday night services there'd be four people here and I've been praying and studying for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and only four people show up that had any desire to hear the Word of God you know it hurt it hurt I felt like such a failure I put those feelings aside and I preached the word God gave me I preached the word and it was difficult that God's called me to lay my life down listen to me not only for the sheep but for him for him through all the all the hardship and all the heart feelings and the evil things that have been said and the evil things that have been done I continue going forward because God's called me to a life of sacrifice and commitment cross-bearing self-denial when my flesh wanted to quit years ago I wanted to run the first heartbreak to guard my heart from feeling that pain again but it's become a repetitive thing the pain is seems like it's always there because people are constantly slicing me cutting me and I'm just trying to serve God and be obedient to the heavenly vision and call and I'm here at a hardcore commitment to Christ an unwavering sacrifice to the Lamb of God who bore my sins and as much as I love you I'm not here for you I'm here for the glory of God as much as I love you if you disappear tomorrow get mad and never come back drive by here five years from now look through these blinds hopefully we'll have some curtains in five years but I'm gonna still be here and the reason is when people that I love leave that I still remain this cause my loyalty ultimately is not to man my sacrifice is not being made for man it's a sacrifice before the Lord and that scripture does such wonderful things in me I can't offer to the Lord that which but cost me I'm glad he never showed me the fullness of the cost when he asked me to come so I might have balked but Lord said just come blindly and let me lead you from faith to faith church what are you doing with the call to a selfless abandon to a lost reputation for Christ's sake what are you doing for the glory of God what are you doing for the advance of the kingdom what are you doing for the souls of men what are you doing for the love of God what are you doing with your life what are you investing your life in the hours and the moments and the days and the minutes that you never get back how are you investing them and is your Christianity costing you and if not your Christianity's it is not a Christianity at all we must seek the Lord while yet there's time and to get God's burden in his mantle and his hope in a saving grace we're saved in the good works we're saved in the good works don't let the affairs of this life rob you love of the authority is not me the authorities this don't let the affairs of this life disqualify you from being a soldier in the army of the Living God let's stand