The Cost

The Cost

Luke 14:26

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple."

page 4-5 Pilgrim’s Progress

“So I saw in my dream that The Man (named Christian, for that was his name) began to run: Now he had not run far from his own door, but his wife and children perceiving it began to cry after him to return.

But the man put his fingers in his ears and ran crying:

Life! Life! Eternal Life!

So he looked not behind him but fled toward the middle of the Plain.

Geneiss 19:17

“ As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!"

Jeremiah 20:10

“I hear many whispering,

"Terror on every side!
Report him! Let's report him!"
All my friends
are waiting for me to slip, saying,
"Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we will prevail over him
and take our revenge on him."

From Pilgrim’s Progress:

The Neighbors also came out to see him run, and as he ran some mocked, others threatened, and some cried after him to return; now among those that did so, there were two that were resolved to fetch him back by force their names were Obstinate and Pliable.

Obstinate said,

“What , and leave our friends and comforts behind us!”

“Yes, said Christian, because all which you shall forsake, is not worth to be compared with a little of that that I am seeking to enjoy; and if you will go along with me, and hold it, you shall fare as I myself; for there where I go, is enough to spare; come away and prove my words.”

II Corinthians 4:18

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Romans 8:18

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

I Peter 1:4

“into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,”

Hebrews 11:16

“Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Luke 9:62

“Jesus replied,
"No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

Hebrews 9:17-21

“because a WILL is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.

This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.

When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.

He said,

"This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep."
In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies.”

Page 6 of Pilgrim’s Progress:

“I am directed by a man named Evangelist to speed to a Little Gate that is before us, where we shall receive instructions about The Way.”