You must give up everything...

The call of Christ is not for the weak of heart. His call will cost you everything. Does that bother you? Does that strike you? Have you been presented with this soft-hearted gospel that speaks only of the love of God? Make no mistake that God is love. Make no mistake that God desires a relationship with His people. But remember this, it will cost you your life. Are you prepared to give up your life for Him? He bought you in His blood and He demands that you carry your cross and die to yourself in order to live in Him. He demands your committment. He demands all that you have because what you have is not yours. He demands your life because He made the payment. He bought you out of slavery and now you have a new Master. You have a new Lord.

Have you began to build, but unable to finish? Did you count the cost of following the Lord? I submit to you that if you made the decision to follow Him and now you find the road too hard to trudge then my friend I wonder if you chose Him. The following of Christ may cost you your family, your friends, your job, it may cost you everything.

He is coming and He is not coming to play games. He is not coming that we should feel good about ourselves. He is coming to conquer what is His. He is coming to judge. But you say that is mean and a loving God would never judge. You say "my jesus will cast no one out." I say to you that you do not know Jesus and you know nothing of God. Because God is love, He must judge the wicked. Do you understand that? And just so that you may know that even the best of men is wicked in the eyes of God without the righeousness of Jesus Christ. There is nothing you can do to gain favor, no goodness in you is enough because there is no goodness in you. All goodness is in Him and we must be in Him. Does this sound crazy? Does it sound absurd? It sounds that way because it is. And it is because you can never begin to think the way God thinks. We bring God down to our earthly playing field and compare Him to what we think is right, or what the government says is it. There will be no ACLU on the day of judgement. There will be no one saying to God that He is violating civil liberties. You have no liberities, you have no right before God. Our measurement is against Him and we know nothing of His holiness. If we are guilty of one, we are guilty of all and worthy to be judged into everlasting death.

But there is hope. There is mercy. There is Grace. Its in Him and Him only. In the name of Jesus Christ. "Lift up your heads oh gates and open you ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in!" The King of Glory is at the right hand of the Father and He is there because He alone is worthy, because He alone suffered the weight of your sin and the wrath that you deserved. But you must submit to Him. You must give your life to Him. You do not want to go into that day of Judgement without Him. He has allowed a way that you can surrender, but you must follow Him. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He alone is able to carry you. No one else can.