Back to Matthew chapter 10 where we were
reading this morning and think on this portion
of the Word of God and other portions
that are similar to it.
The Lord Jesus when he came to earth
extended his hands in worldwide invitation to men
and women to come to him and believe
on him and find eternal life in him
and he repeatedly made it clear to all
of those who listened to him that the
forgiveness of sins and life everlasting was a
free gift through faith in him.
Absolutely no conditions involved and this is as
true today as it was then.
The Savior was unwearied and still beckoning to
men and women to come to him.
But the Lord Jesus realized that the moment
he stood in front of someone, the moment
there was a face-to-face encounter with
him, some tremendous conflicts would be set in
motion.
This is true.
When the Lord Jesus comes to a person,
there are tensions set up such as is
not true in any other area of life.
For instance, a political leader can stand in
front of people and they don't necessarily get
ruffled by it.
Their deepest emotions are not necessarily stirred up
by it.
You can talk to people about politics or
about international affairs or our business or any
of those subjects and they can remain quite
calm and unmoved emotionally.
But have you ever noticed that when the
Lord Jesus Christ is introduced into a conversation
that lips become taut, the people become restless
and uneasy and fidgety?
The Lord Jesus is different, isn't he?
There's something different about him.
And he realized this.
And he realized that when the Spirit of
God began to draw a man or woman,
boy or girl, close to the Lord Jesus,
that a tremendous fight would ensue.
And our blessed Savior realized and recognized and
taught over and over again that although salvation
was free through faith in him, yet there
would be tremendous costs involved in trusting him.
And in this portion of the Word of
God, he begins to speak about some of
those costs.
You remember he said in verse 34, think
not that I am come to send peace
on the earth.
I came not to send peace, but a
sword.
Well, it almost seems strange to hear words
like this from the lips of the one
who is the Prince of Peace, doesn't it?
What did the Lord Jesus mean?
Well, let me just say this.
He didn't mean that his purpose in coming
was to send a sword.
That wasn't why he came, but he meant
that this would be the inevitable result of
his coming.
The Lord Jesus really came and offered peace
to all mankind through himself, but he realized
that just in the very act of doing
this, and when souls began to move closer
to him, that tremendous fights would be set
up, tremendous conflicts, inwardly and outwardly.
And so he said, don't think that I
came to send peace on the earth.
I came to send a sword.
And then in the next verse, he goes
on to explain exactly what he meant by
it.
He said, I am come to set a
man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in
-law against her mother-in-law, and a
man's foes shall be those of his own
household.
Now this would be the result of the
Savior coming.
Here's a family, let us say, and no
member in that family is a Christian.
They're all unsaved, and they're all in their
sins, and they're all, let us say, on
the way to hell.
And then somebody in that family hears the
voice of the Son of God and says,
this is the voice of a good shepherd.
I'm going to put my faith and trust
in him.
And that person comes back to the family
and says, you know what happened to me?
I was converted through faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
I've trusted him.
I've owned him as my own Savior and
Lord.
And I want to tell you, the moment
that that happens, the fighting begins.
Now why is that?
Why is such opposition generated by the coming
of the Savior into a home?
He said, this will be the inevitable result
of my coming into that house.
Bitterness, pressure of all kinds, and very distinct
opposition.
And you know, the bitterness that does come
in is absolutely uncanny.
I could tell you some interesting stories.
A family down in Albany, Georgia, and one
of the young men in that family has
taken to drink, and the drink has a
grip on him.
He can't break himself on the habit.
Another young man in that family, in fact,
his twin went the other way, and he
received the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
And God called him out to the land
of Turkey.
And do you know that the mother of
those twins became so enraged with the young
fellow that went to Turkey in the cause
of Christ that she notified the American ambassador
and asked him to expel her son from
the country.
Now she never asked anybody to expel her
drunken son.
That was perfectly all right, apparently.
I'd like to say to you this morning
that that son who received Christ as Savior
and moved out to the regions beyond to
spread the gospel of redeeming grace has caused
more grief to his mother than the son
who's caught in the grip of alcohol.
That's what the Lord is speaking about here.
I am come to set a man at
variance against his father and the daughter against
her mother and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law, and a man's foes
shall be those of his own household.
Again I say this, dear friend, this wasn't
the purpose of the Lord Jesus in coming.
He didn't come in order to purposely do
this, but this was the inevitable result of
his coming, and it still is today.
But then he goes on to say, he
that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me.
He that loveth son or daughter more than
me is not worthy of me either.
Now that means this, if I hear God
speaking to my heart, if I hear him
saying, McDonald, you ought to be saved, you
ought to come in all your sins, trust
the Lord Jesus, claim the power of his
blood to cleanse those sins away, and then
the conflict sets up, and parents say to
me, if you do it we'll put you
out.
And they bring all kinds of pressure to
bear on me, and I have to make
a choice between parents or the Lord Jesus
Christ.
He says, if you love your parents more
than you love me, you're not worthy of
me.
You know, people still have to make that
choice.
It's very pronounced in some countries of the
world, but it's true here in the United
States too.
And I have no doubt that God may
be speaking to hearts here in the meeting
today, and this is the thing that you're
weighing in your mind, what will they think?
What will they think?
The Lord Jesus said, if you love them
more than you love me, you're not worthy
of me.
You have to make a choice, and I
must be supreme in your affection.
When he says, he that taketh not his
cross and followeth after me is not worthy
of me.
Of course the cross was a symbol of
suffering and shame and death, and Jesus said,
really, this is the pathway that I ask
you to take, to follow me.
Well, I tell you, it's comforting.
I'm glad the Lord spoke these words.
I'm glad they're here in the pages of
Holy Writ, because otherwise people might think it
very strange.
When they start to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and when a civil war breaks
out right in their own family, there must
be something wrong.
They didn't expect it would be like this.
But you can turn to Matthew chapter 10,
and the Lord Jesus said, you're moving in
the right direction, if this is what's happening.
If this is what's happening to you, you're
really moving in the right direction.
Don't stop, and don't let any earthly ties
prevent you from coming to me.
Well, mind you, it's not only the severing
of family ties that may be involved, but
something quite as strong, and that is the
severing of religious ties.
2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14.
2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14 says,
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers?
For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
And what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
Or what part hath he that believeth with
an infidel?
And what agreement hath the temple of God
with idol?
For ye are the temple of the living
God.
As God hath said, I will dwell in
them, and walk in them, and I will
be their God, and they shall be my
people.
Wherefore, come ye out from among them, and
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch
not the unclean thing, and I will receive
you, and will be a father to you,
and ye shall be my son and daughter.
Dear friends, I'd like to tell you this
this morning, that one of the great stubborn
resistances to the gospel and the life of
a person is religious ties.
That is, the associations in which you've been
brought up.
And then you come face to face with
the Lord Jesus Christ, and it might mean
a severing of those past ties.
Not leaving one religion for another, but leaving
a religion for a person, the Christ of
God.
And I'll tell you, this brings some bitter
disputes too.
We have this in the Bible.
We have in John chapter 9, the instance
of a man who was born blind, and
he had been in a certain religion all
his life, and it hadn't done a thing
for his blind eyes.
The people would pass by and toss their
coins into his cup as they passed by,
that he was just as blind as ever.
And one day, the Lord Jesus Christ came
along.
It happened to be the Sabbath.
It happened to be Saturday.
And the Lord Jesus Christ gave sight to
that blind man, and the religious leaders were
furious.
They were absolutely furious.
They said, what right does he have to
give sight to a blind man on the
Sabbath day?
That was their pretext, that he had done
it on the Sabbath day.
And a great inquisition followed.
Why, they had this poor fellow up on
a religious trial.
What was the crime?
He had been given his sight on the
Sabbath day.
What a terrible thing to try a fellow
for.
And they called his parents in.
Well, his parents were afraid.
They didn't want to get involved in a
trouble like this, because they didn't want to
get excommunicated.
But they talked to this fellow, and the
more they talked to this fellow, the more
he witnessed to them about the Lord Jesus
Christ.
And do you know what finally they did?
They put him out.
They put him out of their fellowship.
He said, we don't want you anymore.
And that's the way it's going to be.
You don't fit here anymore, and we're through
with you.
And they cast him out.
And you know, right outside the door, somebody
was waiting for him, and his name was
Jesus.
They cast him out into the arms of
the Lord, and the Lord Jesus received him.
And I'll tell you, I'd rather be outside
the door with Christ than inside the door
without him.
And that's what he said here.
He says, wherefore come ye out from among
them, and touch not the unclean thing.
A beautiful, beautiful verse of Scripture.
Some years ago, there was a young couple
in Chicago who neither of them knew the
Lord.
Jack was of Holland background, and Charlotte was
of Polish background.
And then contact was made with them, and
Jack was fighting like a fish on the
line, and wouldn't go to any of the
meetings.
But some of the Christians persistently visited in
the home, and finally, after a year or
two, Jack finally bowed the knee to the
Lord Jesus Christ.
And my God saved his soul, and saved
his personality as well, and it was a
new life for Jack.
Well, when some of the Christians used to
go and visit with Jack, his wife would
be out in the kitchen.
She'd be out there with her sister, and
she'd be snarling, and she'd be sneering, and
she'd say, I ain't got Jack, but they'll
never get me, you know.
And she was really putting up a fight.
And one servant of the Lord used to
go to the door sometimes, and she'd come
to the door, and he'd say, Charlotte, are
you saved yet?
Oh, she'd just be so furious when he'd
say that.
And she fought, and she fought, and she
fought.
And then one time, some of the sisters
invited her out to a missionary meeting.
You never think that anybody gets saved at
a missionary meeting.
She went to the meeting, and just that
chance remark, just that casual remark, and Charlotte
trusted the Lord Jesus Christ that day.
And that set up a conflict in her
life, because her mother was there in the
same city, and she had brothers and sisters,
and they all now belonged, of course, to
the church that she used to belong to.
And the Lord began speaking to her, and
saying to her, Charlotte, if you really love
me, you'll want to tell your mother, and
your brothers, and your sisters, too.
And oh, just the thought of it made
Charlotte turn weak, because she knew exactly what
would happen.
She knew exactly how temperamental her mother was,
and she knew what kind of a scene
would go on.
And she fought it, and fought it, and
fought it in her soul.
And then one day after Jack had gone
to work, and the children were off to
school, the Lord said to her, today's the
day, Charlotte.
And she said, oh, in the strength of
the Lord, dear Charlotte, started out and down
the street.
And she said as she came near to
her mother's home, her legs turned to India
rubber.
She thought they weren't going to support her.
But the Lord gave her strength, and she
went in, and she witnessed a good confession
of Jesus Christ before her mother.
And just as expected, her mother flew into
a rage, flew into a rage, threw herself
down on the floor, and screamed and hollered
that this could never be, that her Charlotte
would never leave the church in which she
was brought up.
Charlotte said, Mother, it isn't a case of
leaving the church.
It's a case of coming to Christ and
finding salvation through him.
Well, I want to tell you, it was
a stormy day, a stormy day.
You know, shortly after that, one of Charlotte's
sisters was taken to the hospital.
That dear girl was a drug addict.
She was taken to the hospital, a terminal
case with cancer.
And Charlotte had the privilege of going to
the hospital and speaking to her sister about
the Lord Jesus before that girl went out
into eternity.
She, too, had joined the army of the
redeemed.
And that spoke to Charlotte's mother.
Although I can't say she's saved yet, God
is working in her life, and I believe
she will be yet.
So Charlotte had to sever past religious ties,
and I want to tell you, it cost
her something.
But God gave her grace, and she's a
buoyant, effervescent, vivacious Christian today.
And not only does it mean severing family
ties and religious ties, but oftentimes it means
severing social ties.
1 Peter chapter 4, verses 3 to 5.
1 Peter chapter 4, verses 3 to 5,
says, For the time past of our life
may suffice us to have wrought the will
of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness,
lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable
idolatries, wherein they think it strange that ye
run not with them to the same excessive
riot, speaking evil of you, who shall give
account to him that is ready to judge
the quick, that is, the living, and the
dead.
Now this verse of Scripture says that when
a person gets saved, he looks back over
the past life of sin and shame and
says, that's enough.
I've had enough of that, and now I'm
going to walk a new, a clean, a
pure pathway for God.
And then the friends come and say, don't
you go to such-and-such a place
anymore?
They say, no.
Christian says, no, I don't.
Don't you do such-and-such anymore now
that you're?
No, I don't do that.
They say, well, you're queer.
What ever happened to you?
You're a fanatic.
You're a religious fanatic.
They say, they speak evil of you, wherein
they think it strange, that's the way they
start, they think it's strange that you run
with them, not to the same excess of
riot.
You no longer go with them in all
their carousing, drunken parties, now that you're a
believer in the Lord Jesus name.
Kind of an odd fish is he.
And then they're not content to do that.
A life of purity exposes their lives of
shame and degradation, and it says they speak
evil of you, speaking evil of you.
But God, the Lord says here through Peter,
just remember, they're going to give a count
to him who's ready to judge the living
and the dead.
And it's a very serious thing.
Sometimes it's very difficult for young people, young
people in high school, and the social pressure
there in a high school, you know, what
those other fellows and girls would think if
I stood out for Christ.
And the Lord says, this is a cost
you've got to count.
There's a cost connected with trusting the Lord
Jesus.
You might as well face it.
He said, those who follow me, I want
them to be willing to pay the price.