0:12 The word on my heart has to do with the first condition of disciplehip. We can turn to Luke chapter 14 verse 26. Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and 0:31 sisters, he cannot be my disciple. If anyone comes to me does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, he cannot be my disciple." So the other two conditions listed given there are that we must hate 0:45 our own self-life and we must give up all our possessions. But uh today I want to focus on this first condition and let's think about the temptations that we face in interacting in dealing with our ungodly relatives. So we we understand that this 1:09 word that we are to hate our relatives is in comparison to our love for God. It's a statement about our relatives and it is a relative statement that in comparison to my love for God, my love for God must be so 1:27 great that compared to that my you know love for my relatives is like is like hate in comparison. And we we know that the first and foremost commandment is to love God with all our heart, with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul and with all my 1:43 strength. And if I love God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, then can I say I don't have any love left, you know, to love anybody else. How do I love my neighbor as myself or love my enemies as 2:01 commanded? And uh the answer is that we love our neighbor or other believers or even our enemies through the love of God. See, loving God does not empty us. 2:18 Loving God fills us. And uh if I'm a disciple, I must be careful that no other love replaces takes the place of love for God in my life and uh including 2:35 a fleshly attachment or a love for my relatives. So loving God with all my heart, with all my strength, with all my might is the most loving thing I can do for my family and for my relatives. Let me say 2:54 that again. Loving God with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my strength is the most loving thing I can do for my family and for my relatives. Let's take that to heart. We look at the example of Jesus who is our 3:09 example in all things. When Jesus was a baby, uh, Simeon prophesied to his mother Mary by the Holy 3:24 Spirit and he said that a sword will pierce even your own soul. So he said Jesus is being raised up for the rise and fall of many. And he said a sword will pierce even your own soul. He was talking to Mary. What is the soul? What is the sword that 3:43 pierced Mary's soul? So, we know that before Jesus commanded that a disciple must hate his father and mother in the ten commandments, we know that God commanded all of us, the Israelites, that they have to honor their father and mother. And we know 4:02 that Jesus kept that commandment. And we must all keep that commandment first that we honor our father and mother. It says in Luke chapter 2 and verse 51. After he spoke to his mother and said, "Did you not know I had to be in 4:19 my father's house or my father's business?" He continued in subjection to them. And his mother treasured all these things in her heart. So he continued in subjection to his father and mother. And uh for the 4:35 next 30 years that is how he lived. But when he was 30 we know at the wedding of Kaa Jesus said to Mary when she said to him they have no wine. He said woman what does that have to do with 4:54 us? That is a in any culture even in the most liberal cultures to turn to your mother and say woman is something that would have come as a shock to her. This son of mine who's been in subjection for me for 30 5:11 years and was Jesus being disrespectful? Was he being rebellious? No. But he was making it clear that he would only do the will of God and that was his priority. And he was, you know, cutting the 5:30 umbilical cord. And this is how Jesus lived. Later on in Matthew 12:46, we can turn there. It says, "While he was still speaking to the crowd, behold, his mother and his brothers were standing outside seeking 5:48 to speak to him." Now, we don't know whether Jesus spoke to them at that point or afterwards. We don't know. It's not written. But we know what he said. Someone came to him and said, "Look, your mother and your brothers are 6:04 standing outside seeking to speak to you." And Jesus replied to the one who was telling him and said, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" And extending his hand towards his disciples, he said, "Behold my mother and my 6:19 brothers. For whoever does the will of my father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother." So Jesus clearly prioritized his relationship with those who did the will of his father over his earthly 6:38 relationships. That was his priority. And his brother or mother may have been hurt or offended, but Jesus knew that loving the father without compromise is the most loving thing he could do for his mother, for his brothers. And that was the sword that 6:57 pierced Mary's soul. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, he talked about this sword. Matthew chapter 10:34 onwards. Do not think I came to bring 7:18 peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a person's enemies will be the members of his own 7:37 household. He who loves father or mother more than me. So we there from there we understand that it's a relative you know statement that Jesus was making. He who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he 7:51 who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Yeah. So Jesus was putting to death uh the sentimental love for his relatives that would have otherwise 8:09 hindered him from doing God's will. In Luke chapter 11, we see that a woman raised her voice and said, "Blessed be the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you." This is Luke 11 28 and 8:26 29. We can and what was this woman trying to do or trying to say? There's a there's a fleshly sentiment there. As a woman, I see this man standing there and I'm saying, "Oh, how 8:44 wonderful it would be, you know, to be your mother." Uh, and and she's pointing to that fleshly connection. And we can think much of this, our mothers. And we know that Mary's mother sacrificed so much for 9:01 Jesus. And that is true. But Jesus said, "No, on the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and follow it." So Jesus said, "Don't think that way. The real blessing is not there that 9:21 I have some fleshly connection. The real connection is in doing the will of God." So Jesus said the members of our own household would be our enemies. And at the same time, we know that Jesus cared for his household. He provided for 9:39 them as long as he was at home. He was the bread one bread winner for his family. But in terms of how he spent his time, he prioritized his disciples. He prioritized those who did the he prioritized those who did did the 9:54 will of God. And last week we saw from John 7 where his brothers came to him and they said, "Why don't you do this? Why don't you do that?" And he said no you can do whatever you like whenever you like but I am going to do the will of my 10:11 father only do the will of my father and uh even when he was dying on the cross he provided for his mother and the wonderful thing is he provided for her both physically and spiritually is he realized that his mother was a 10:29 disciple and he would not be there to look after her. And he told John, "John, behold your mother. Told Mary, behold your son." See, at the same time, we know that Jesus was not and and this incident also shows us that he was not allergic 10:49 or hostile to his relatives, you know, automatically. We know that Jesus' closest disciples were Peter, James, and John. James and John were both his first cousins, his mother's, sisters, children as best as we can understand. And he was not worried about 11:07 what anybody would think. No. Uh either this way or that way. He saw that they were spiritually minded. They had the right priorities. They were disciples of John the Baptist. They, you know, listened to him and then they heard 11:21 Jesus. He said, "Come follow me." They left everything and they followed him. And sisters, we all have made, I trust, such choices and we must continue to make such choices to hunger and thirst after 11:37 godliness and go in that direction. Paul says about Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1:5 he says I'm reminded of the sincere faith that first lived in your 11:54 grandmother unique 2 Timothy 1:5 grandmother Louis sorry and then in your mother uni and I am sure that it is in you as well 12:12 So, we know that Timothy's father was a Greek businessman. He could have chosen to be influenced by and follow in his father's footsteps or he could have looked at one of his grandfathers or one of his uncles as his role 12:28 model. But he saw something in his grandmother and then he saw something in his mother and he said that is what I want. There's a faith there. It's a precious faith. I want that. that is who I'm going to cling to. That is who I'm going 12:44 to follow as my example, as my influence, because there's a direction there. And Paul recognized that. I've been challenged and uh encouraged by the words and the example of Jonathan in the Old Testament. In this regard, it's a beautiful picture of 13:02 uh the love and devotion we must have for Jesus, Jonathan's relationship with David. We can turn to 1st Samuel chapter 23. No, sorry. 1st Samuel chap Sam Samuel chapter 20 and verse 23. And Jonathan talks 13:20 about the friendship the relationship that we have that they had between them. And he said as for the agreement of which you and I have spoken that is the friendship vow of friendship that they made said behold the Lord is between me 13:36 and you forever. Those are wonderful words. The Lord is between me and you forever. What was the attraction? Jonathan was a prince. David was a shepherd boy. What was the attraction between them? It was the Lord. Jonathan saw that 13:54 the Lord was with David and that challenged him and they spoke to each other about the Lord and they encouraged each other to fight the Lord's battles and to live for his glory in when it comes to our friendships or our 14:09 marriages. What is the attraction? What is us that draws us and keeps us together? Can we say that the Lord is between me and you forever? I can say that in relation to my marriage that he is the glue and to the 14:29 extent I I allow him to continue to be the glue what holds us together we've had a wonderful and so happy marriage and I want to continue that way to be able to say that and to consider 14:45 that in relation to all all my relationships and we know in Jonathan's case also the people of his household in this case his father became his enemy because of this position that he took and uh he went from you know number one 15:02 in the kingdom to the last place in the kingdom and similarly we may have experienced to the glory of God that we've gone from you know somewhere high in our family's esteem to somewhere very low in our family's esteem for the sake 15:16 of the Lord that's a wonderful And we see that Jonathan was very, you know, respectful, reasonable when he was speaking to Saul. He said, "Explain what harm David has done to you." You know, we can say, "Okay, Jesus 15:36 has come into my life. How has that hurt you?" Yeah. He killed Goliath, who was your greatest enemy. Jesus conquered death. Who's your greatest enemy? Saul didn't want to listen to him. But there was something that Saul realized. 15:53 He said, "See, as long as David is alive, you're not going to sit on the throne." And Jonathan had to put a sword to his own desire to sit on the throne. He said, "I don't want to sit on the throne. I just want to be next to 16:06 you. That's a wonderful place to be." We can be encouraged and learn from the example and teaching in the epistle of James. So the book of James, the epistle of James was written by Jesus's younger 16:25 brother. This is not the disciple James. U but this is Jesus's younger brother James. And we know that Jesus didn't hang around with his brothers or let his brothers influence him. But because of 16:44 his faithfulness in loving the Lord and doing the Lord's will, later the Holy Spirit opened their eyes and transformed them. And James in the book of James introduces himself. He says, "I James, a 17:03 born servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." He does not say, "I'm the brother. I was the brother. Listen to me. I spent nearly 30 years in the same house." No, the fleshly connection is 17:21 dead. But what he does say in James chapter 2 and verse one is do not hold your faith in our Lord with an attitude of personal favoritism. Do not be partial. Your faith in the Lord Jesus 17:42 Christ should not be diluted by your p personal preferences. He says don't be partial to rich people. But equally we can say don't be partial to those of your own community, your language, your social status, your talents, your interests, your 18:00 intellectual abilities or what whatever other abilities you have. Don't be partial. See, it's very understandable that it's easy for us to talk to these people first. If I come newly to church and I talk to people of my own community 18:17 because I don't understand any other languages, there's nothing wrong with that. That's fine. That's good. But I don't want to get stuck there. I want to hold my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not with an attitude of personal 18:32 favoritism, but instead verse 5, he says, "Look at those whom the Lord has chosen to be rich in faith. Fellowship with them." And that may be the poorer, more humble brothers. They may be those from another community, another place, 18:52 different social status, but be hungry for that and let the Lord be the glue or the attraction and put a sword to your fleshly desires. And then he goes on in James 4:1, he says, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is it 19:10 not your lusts that wage war in your members?" And I always thought of this verse um in relation to the lust in my own flesh in the members of my body. My eyes want to look a certain way. My tongue wants to speak a certain way. And all that is 19:25 true. That's very true. But I was thinking we can also apply it to the members of a family. What is it that causes strife and conflict in our families and even in the church? And in in verse four, he says, 19:43 "You adulteresses, that's a picture of, you know, sexual perversion. Do you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? What happens if I indulge my personal preferences, my lust? I don't put my lust to 20:01 death. I will fight. I will quarrel. There will be strife in my family and in the church." Jesus when he was speaking to Pontius Pilate he made a good confession. He said my kingdom is not of this 20:17 world. If it were my disciples would be fighting. My disciples would be fighting for power. It would be easy for Jesus. Peter was ready with his sword. He just had to give the 20:33 word. He said put away your sword. My kingdom is not of this world and I we should not allow a struggle for power to enter into our families. We can learn from bad examples 20:51 and good examples. I want to talk about this struggle for power and how it comes into our families. It's good if we can go back to the beginning and I want to talk about three related tribes. uh and these were relatives of the of 21:06 the people of Israel but they were a s source of temptation a cause of stumbling for them and talking about the Moabites the Ammonites and the Midianites. So, so we know that the Moabites and the Abonites were descended 21:22 from Lot who was Abraham's nephew who went along with him and Midian was actually a son of Abraham but not a son through Sarah and not a child of the promise. Uh he was we can look at this is Genesis 25:2 or you can just note it 21:41 down. He he was a son of Abraham from his wife Ketura that who who he married later. But for some reason the Moabites and the Medidianites you know were closely affiliated. They hung around together. They influenced each 21:57 other. Uh we can you can note this down once again. It's not so important but just in numbers 22 4 and 7 we see that you know when uh um when when Bal Balam was called to curse the sons of Israel 22:17 uh there was a king of Moab who called him but he also had the elders of the Midianites over there in Numbers 22. Balac was king of Moab at that time, but he said to the elders of Midian. So, they had some sort of a fellowship. And here's here's, you know, 22:41 what I what really, you know, pierced me to the heart. We were talking about perversions last week and how this world is entirely opposite or different from the kingdom of God. And here is a perversion that these people would practice. 22:57 We see that in scripture in many places they sacrificed their own children to appease their their deity. So their deity was uh the Moabites are called the people of Kosh. Ammonites had a deity called Milcom and these are deities of 23:12 war war gods and they promised them victory in battle. And uh the principle there is you know they're saying see if you want to win war you have to be ruthless and if somebody's weak you sacrifice him and 23:31 who are the weakest ones children they're helpless sacrifice them. This is such a perversion. But you know why are we why are we talking about this? And what's the implication for us? Brothers and sisters, whether it's a home or in a 23:51 church, if there is a power struggle, then who is it that suffers? It's the children who suffer. When papa and mama get angry and raise their voices or don't talk to each other, don't love each other, don't care for each other because there's a power 24:09 struggle. Who is it that suffers? It's the children that suffer. See, the Bible in these cases, it talks about making the children pass through the fire. And that is what we do when we allow a 24:29 power struggle to come into the family to come into the house. We make our children pass through the fire. There's a skit that we acted as part of the 50th anniversary. No, I think you some of you will remember that the children 24:45 testified, "Oh, things were so different. Now they are different." Let's take this to heart. When father and mother says this is my money, this is your money and they fight the children suffer. When children when women you know feel I have to chase 25:05 after my career otherwise I'm not equal in the power struggle the children suffer. And we can see the glorious difference in Jesus's teaching. He said you be like a little child. You don't fight. You be helpless. give up. Give up 25:25 your rights and trust your heavenly father and you'll be great in the kingdom of God and God will take care of you. Praise the Lord. This is the way. May the Lord lead us and truly lead us to repentance. And I wanted to go back to Genesis 25:46 chapter 19 and verse 30 and and see how the fight for power, you know, can be seen in other ways. It's entering into our families. This is the story of 26:11 Moab and Benami from whom the Ammonites descended and Moabites descended from Moab. And uh the word Midian actually means strife. The meaning of the word Midian means 26:29 strife. So you have fellowship between these three tribes. The word moab in Hebrew means from the father or of the father. The word benami means son of my people. My people, my kinsmen. And you can see the family connection 26:48 there. But these were children of Lord who were born through incest, perversion. How did this happen? Let's think about the application for our time and our families. It says in verse 31, the firstborn said to the younger, a father is old. There 27:07 is not a man on earth to have relations with us according to the custom of all the earth. So this was the phrase or the you know the thought that was ringing uppermost in their mind. The custom of all the earth. Oh, the custom of all the 27:22 earth and we are here and our father is old and we're missing out and uh you know what is this custom of all the earth? This is what they had seen when they were growing up in Sodom and Gomorrah. Their father had foolishly 27:38 chosen to live there. Abraham lived in a tent, you know, separate from everyone else. And our children, our teens, our youth can be taken up. These are young people. They're ready to get married. Our teens and youth can be 27:58 taken up with the customs and manners of this evil and wicked world. Young people and teens, listen to me. This is a perverted, wicked, upside down world that we live in. And Peter said, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Oh, far more true 28:17 it is today that we must be saved from this perverse generation. Don't be taken up with the customs and manners of this world. It's only through the light that we see from God that we can be saved. And then they said, "Our father 28:33 is old." And they decided they would fool their father. He was a godly man. A weak man but a godly man. He had some righteousness. But this is everywhere in today's culture. The children, the teens, the youth, they are the 28:51 heroes. And maybe you've been influenced by your friends and cousins like this. Or maybe you are influencing your friends and cousins like this. No, the old are foolish. They don't know anything. This is a powerful battle. When I was small, I have to do 29:06 what papa and mama tells me. Um pig I know they don't know they don't know the customs of this earth I know see war is not just about force direct force it's about that but it's also about lies you can't win wars 29:25 without deception lie wars are all about telling lies and uh let's just think about this situation you know in a modern context if you have godly parents You can think of them or you can think of your heavenly father. And what are these children of 29:45 lord saying? They're saying our parents a father is old. We can fool them. They're old-fashioned. But you're still living under his protection, right? It's his house. No, that's okay. We'll misuse our power. But everything that you have belongs to 30:05 him, you know, his money, his mobile phone, his device that you're using, it's okay. We don't need to tell him. We'll deceive him. We'll tell him some lies. What were you doing on the phone? Nothing. Nothing, 30:23 papa. What happened last night? Nothing happened. What happened? Nothing happened. What are you doing with your parents' stuff without their knowledge in hiders in in hiding in darkness? We're using it for 30:43 illicit pleasure, unrighteous sexual pleasure to fulfill my lust. Why? Because this is the custom of all the world. This is not some faraway story, brothers and sisters. It's happening in our homes today. But there's hope. There's a light that 31:02 shines through the darkness that pierces the heart of men. God gives grace and touches and changes lives. There's a famous quote by a smart earthly politician. He said, "Power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely." That is very true in this 31:19 world. But the good news is that the kingdom of God that is coming and is already here in our midst uh in that kingdom power belongs to God and he cannot be corrupted. I was encouraged by this verse in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 31:38 24. It's the last last verse of Ephesians. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. Yeah. God gives his grace which is his power to overcome to those who humble themselves and we can allow the 31:56 incorruptible love of the Holy Spirit to fill us and empower us and we can live in this evil world. We read in first Kingsap 11 how Solomon was led astray by his wives. And if we look at that list over there, it starts with the Moabitete and the 32:13 Ammonite. And then it goes on in verse 7. It says, "He built high places for their gods." The word of God is very clear to us. It says, "Do not be unequally yolked with unbelievers. What partnership has 32:32 righteousness and lawlessness? What fellowship has light with darkness?" And this is an area where we know we come ac under great pressure to compromise from our unconverted relatives. Even if we're already married, uh our unconverted relatives 32:51 have ways, they may not know what they are doing, but they have ways of causing strife and dispute. And we have to be those who resist that radically. Numbers 25 we see that the people of Israel began to play the harlot with the 33:08 daughters of Moab. This was the advice that Balam gave them. and one of the sons of a leader of the households of Israel. He openly brought a Midianite woman into his tent and the judgment of God started 33:32 came upon them and there was a plague and Phineas took a spear and he acted violently to stop that plague. And in numbers 25:12, we see that God says, "Behold, I give him my covenant of 33:50 peace." We may not see or think of Phineas as a peaceful man, but that is what was needed to preserve God's peace. He had to take a strong stand against the corrupting influence. And that that Israelite man 34:10 there, he may have been close to him. He may have been a senior person uh but he had to take a stand. Once again, brothers and sisters, we don't fight against flesh and blood. We wish our relatives well. We don't hate them. We love them. We have a 34:26 burden for them. We should. But again, the most loving thing I can do is to love God with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, with all my strength. And love others with the power that he gives me without any compromise. 34:42 and associate with the lowly, associate with the godly. We can look at uh Moses's instruction to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 9 and also verse 35:05 19. Similar verses, one is about the people of Moab. The other is about the people, the sons of Ammon. He said, "Don't harass them or provoke them. Don't harass them or provoke them to war. I will not give you their land. It's their land. I have 35:20 given it to them to the sons of Lot as a possession." He doesn't say Moabites Amonites. He says, "No, they're the sons of Lot." Lot was a righteous man of some sort. To some degree, he was a righteous man. And because of that, I will look 35:37 after them. We should not ever imagine that we love our godly or not our ungodly relatives more than God does. God is love. All his ways are just. God alone is the author of salvation. And you know he he permitted these 35:57 descendants of lord to defeat some giants and gain some gain some territory. We we you know we are we don't have to fight with them or harass them or if they receive any blessing to the extent they are righteous we are so 36:11 happy but we must see clearly that the there was a huge difference between the sons of Lot and the sons of Abraham and the sons of Abraham are by faith through the promise of God and we have to choose which way we want to 36:24 go. See there are so many things we can say about that difference but you know this is what came to me so clearly. Abraham is mentioned many times by Jesus and uh the sons of Abraham by faith who have the faith of Abraham have 36:39 a living connection an eternal connection a glorious connection with Jesus who's the king of kings who gives eternal life but Lord on the other hand is mentioned once in Luke 17 remember Lot's wife and sisters this should put a fear 37:00 in our hearts. We should say which way do I want to go. I want to read from Jeremiah chapter 48 some warnings 37:17 about Moab. What is the problem? What is the danger? Verse 29. says, "We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very 37:36 proud of his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, his self-exaltation." Jeremiah 48:29. I know his fury, declares the Lord, but it is futile. His idol boasts have accomplished nothing. One way or the other, the 37:58 temptation from our relatives is to be proud that we are some special people, special family. We are like this, like that, not like that. Some cast, tradition, achievement, kind of 38:17 righteousness, some superiority. Brother and sisters, whatever truth there is in that, we must be on guard because it is worth nothing compared to the righteousness that is by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We must humble 38:36 ourselves before the Lord and make him alone the reason for my boasting. And then I see in verse 11, Jeremiah 48:1, it says, "Mo has been at ease since his youth. He has also been 38:54 undisturbed like wine on its dregs. He has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile. Therefore, he retains his flavor. His aroma has not changed." See the other big danger from our unconverted or know compromising 39:14 relatives is they cling to some historical way of doing things. That's the way we've done it. That's the way we will continue to do it. We don't want to change. We don't want to allow God to turn my life upside down. I don't want to press on to 39:34 perfection. Yeah. Unless we allow the Lord to turn our world upside down, I cannot be a disciple. And we can see this exhaltation for us coming again in verse 10. Cursed be the one who does the Lord's work negligently. Cursed be the 39:48 one who restrains his sword from blood. If I want to be a disciple, the kingdom of God suffers violence and violent men take it by force. We have to put to death our fleshly lusts and cry out to God for strength to 40:07 do that. I want to end with a glorious example of someone who is of the tribe of Moab but allowed the Lord to lift her up and fulfill his plan for her. I say that she is a true daughter of Abraham. I'm speaking about 40:27 Ruth. Let's look at Galatians 3:9. I've said more than once that the children of Abraham are those who are of faith. They are the ones who are blessed with Abraham the believer. That's what it says in Galatians 3 and verse 40:46 9. Those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. See in John verse 8 there was a conversation between Jesus and the Jews and uh they were boasting they were saying we are Abraham's 41:03 children John 8:39 and uh Jesus said if you are Abraham's children then do the deeds of Abraham as it is you are seeking to kill 41:22 me a man who has told you the truth. This Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father. Recognize where this voice is coming from. Where this urge is coming from, this urge that lifts you up, that makes you proud, that makes you proud of 41:41 your heritage, that makes you violent and willing to stop anyone who tries to, you know, disrupt the way things were. And uh yeah they said we are not born of fornication you know trying to insult 41:59 Jesus. He said you are of your father the devil. You want to do the desires of your father. He does not stand in the truth. He cannot bear the truth. So these people call themselves the sons of Abraham. They were fleshly 42:13 you know in descendants of Abraham but they were like the Moabites and uh you know we can call ourselves members of CFC. The question is are we pressing on to perfection or are we glowing gloring in 42:31 some you know historical Yeah. In contrast, we can look at the life of Ruth. We see that she had a hunger to cling to the Lord. She saw something different. There 42:50 was only one person she knew from Israel. It was her mother-in-law. Brothers and sisters, this is a s daughter-in-law, mother-in-law relationship we are talking about. This can't be an fleshly, earthly, you know, connection. She was not trying to make 43:06 her mother-in-law happy. She was not trying to please her mother-in-law. mother-in-law was unhappy with her. If we look at Ruth 1 verse 18 and you look at the margin, we can turn to the book of Ruth uh and look at Ruth 1 43:24 18. When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she ceased to speak. There was a uncomfortable silence for some time because it was difficult for Naomi to imagine how will we how will we manage but Ruth was very clear she said 43:43 you can say whatever you want your god is my god this is my priority I've seen something I will not let go of it yeah and they stop talking for some time you know we might have some awkward 44:00 silences. No use talking to her like that. Praise God. I found a wonderful description of Ruth's stance in the words of Boaz in Ruth chapter 2 and verse 11 and verse 11. He 44:22 says, "I've seen how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and came to a people that you did not previously know. May the Lord reward your work and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose 44:36 refuge you have come, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge." What a wonderful phrase, you know, under whose wings I have come to seek refuge. And it says when I read this description, I remembered what it says 44:52 about Abraham in Hebrews. It says when he was called, he obeyed going out not knowing where he was going. And Ruth by faith was doing the deeds of Abraham. And she was a true 45:11 Israelite. And we know that the Lord richly blessed Ruth, you know, for that choice that he made that she made. She had a connection with Jesus. She was chosen to be in his family tree. Despite her background, brothers and sisters, whatever we've done in the 45:29 past, Lord, however it has been, we can turn to the Lord and say, "Lord, I want to lay hold of you. I want to cling to you. I want to choose those who can help me press on in in my walk with you in my direction in this direction. And we see that the Lord was 45:48 the glue, the attraction between Ruth and Boaz. He's the one who led them together. They had a deep appreciation for each other. Ruth said, "Why do you take notice of me? I'm a foreigner." Boaz said, "I know you would want to 46:05 marry, you know, a younger man, whether he's rich or poor, and you have shown kindness. May the Lord give us grace to put him first, to love with an incorruptible love." Praise God for what we heard this 46:24 morning. We heard about the conditions of true disciplehip in Luke 14:26. You can just turn there. So Jesus was mentioning the three conditions in the chapter. The first one which we heard this morning. If anyone comes to me and does 46:41 not hate his father, mother, wife, children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. So we heard that our unconverted relatives can really take us away from the Lord and the disciplehip. 47:00 what we heard in what we read in Luke 9 where Jesus says if anyone wants to follow me he should take up his cross and deny himself. But here the Lord Jesus says a straight a strong word saying you cannot be my disciple if you 47:20 do not hate your father, mother, brother, sister, your unconverted relatives. See in today's modern world for especially for teens and youth it may not be the relatives it might be the friends in the college or school or or 47:36 the colleagues who will really take us away from the lord. So the first condition for being disciplehip is that we have to hate them. The scripture says that we should never hate anyone even we have to love our enemies. But how can 47:50 the lord has said that you have to hate? The true actual meaning is that my love towards my incarnated relatives or any earthly relatives or my friends or anybody the love my love towards them should not be more than my love for Lord 48:06 Jesus Christ. That's what we that's the meaning Jesus wants his disciples that you and me to love him wholeheartedly. He wants a complete heart. He doesn't want that uh give 70% of your heart to me and rest of your heart to 48:22 others. We all know about Sadhu Sunundar Singh. He became a Christian. He came from a sick community. He committed his life to the Lord and he was so jealous for the Lord. He has committed his heart. And his father doesn't didn't 48:38 like that that he became a Christian. He tried various ways to stop him following the Lord. He tried many uh tactics in one time he even gave poison so that he will uh die or he will stop following Jesus. So but he did not succeed. 48:57 Finally one day he decided to bring a girl whom Sadhu Sundar Singh was uh deeply in love with and he was they were supposed to marry. So he brings that girl to Sadhu Sundar Singh thinking that if she speaks to him he will turn his 49:13 heart from Jesus. he will stop following the Lord. So when this girl comes and speaks to Sadhuh Sununda Singh, she says, I truly love you. I have given my heart to you. I want to marry you and I want to live with you forever. Sadhu 49:25 Sundra Singh replied, I have only one heart which I have already given to the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not have another heart to give it to you. So I cannot stop following my Lord. She was so disappointed and she left. And that was 49:39 the day that he was thrown out of his house for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of following Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, that is true disciplehip. Are we really willing to let go our unconverted relatives or our 49:54 earthly friends to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? We we are not supposed to hate them but our love towards the Lord should be more supreme when compared to uh our uh relatives. And what actually means that I love my relatives or my 50:10 friends more than Jesus? How do I know that? We see in John 14:15, it says if you love me, you will keep my commandments. So that's one mark that I love the Lord Jesus Christ more supremely. It doesn't say if you love me, you may keep my commandments. It 50:27 says if you love me, you will keep my commandments. That's one mark. If I listen to my unconverted relatives or my earthly parents who are not born again or my earthly uh worldly friends or my well-wishers, if I keep listening to 50:45 them and obey them more than God's word, more than uh words of Jesus, that truly means that I'm not a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ. And we have seen in the Old Testament many times the Lord God wants the uh men of Israel not to take 51:03 wives from foreign nations. Many situations we have seen and most of the places they have disobeyed and we see in one kings we heard about King Solomon. It's a wonderful example for us to follow. I mean learn from the mistake of 51:21 Solomon. We see Solomon who was wise king. He was appointed by God to be Israel's king after his father David. We read that same in chap verse 11 1 kings 11 verse 1 51:37 to10 in the beginning it says now king Solomon loved many many foreign women along with the daughter of pharaoh moabitete ammonite and it continues from the nations it says in verse two the lord had said concerning which the lord 51:53 had said to the sons of you shall not associate with them nor shall they associate with you for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods. But what it says about Solomon is Solomon held fast to these in love. He loved them very much. 52:08 These uh wives who were not uh they were not of God and they were from Moabet and Ammonite and other different nations. So what was the outcome? We see in verse three, we see in verse uh 4 and 9 it says verse three last part and his wives 52:26 turned his heart away. And verse four, for when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away from other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord God as the heart of David his father had been. And in verse 9 says, 52:40 "Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord." Brothers and sisters, this happened gradually. So he he he was giving heed to the voice of these wives. And we have seen in the old uh testament 52:58 many of the kings when we listen to the voice of our unconnected relatives we when we try to please them when we try to love them oh I don't want to hate them uh in in the name of honoring them I might try to please them and disobey 53:12 God's commandment slowly I will drift away from the lord they will turn my heart away from the lord especially uh young people and teen when I think oh this person is telling for my good and he or she is my well-wisher if I really 53:25 listen to them more than the voice of Jesus, my heart will be turned away from the Lord. And if you we see that the Solomon that his end was very not good. But in the other hand when we see about David, we heard about his fellowship 53:41 with Jonathan. We can see that in Psalms 101 where he says, "My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me." Maybe he would 53:56 have enjoyed that fellowship with Jonathan. That's what he says that the faithful ones will be my companions. So we should ask this question ourselves. Who are my close friends? Who are the close brothers and sisters or whom I'm 54:09 very close with? And who are my companions? Are they the faithful ones who really have a desire to please the lord? Is their motive is to be disciple of Jesus? I want to associate with such kind of brother and sister and I want to 54:22 be one among them so that I can fulfill the first commandment of disciplehip that I have to really take my Christian life seriously to love Jesus and to hate my unconverted relatives whatever it may be maybe sometimes we have to uh it 54:39 might be difficult but the Lord will help us like uh the Lord asked uh Peter do you really love me he asked three times And the third time Peter said, "Lord, you know how much I love you." If the Lord has convicted us this morning, if 54:54 the Lord has brought us certain people whom we have given first preference in our life more than Jesus, we need not condemn ourel. We can rest. We can just say Jeremiah, I think it says in 3:13, only acknowledges sin. If we just repent 55:07 and say, "Yes, Lord, I'm willing to let go all this unwanted relationship or the uh people who have taken the place of God in my life. Lord, I want to let go everything. If I really acknowledge and repent in faith, the Lord can restore 55:22 our life and he will help us and fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we can fulfill the first commandment or first condition of being disciplehip to love God above all. May the Holy Spirit help us. Amen.
