Matthew chapter 8, verses 18 to 22. Same thing found in Luke chapter 9, verses 57 to 62. It has to do with Jesus saying, let the dead bury their dead, and then also saying that no one puts his hand on a plow and looks back is fit for the service in the

kingdom of God. And what Jesus is saying to those three people, two in Matthew, and then Luke adds

a third one, is that the reason people run away from the truth is because the truth exposes a sin in their life, a sin that they are unwilling to give up.

In John chapter 3, verse 19, John tells us, light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light.

Why? Because their deeds were evil. Well, all of our deeds were evil

before we came to Christ, right? Everyone who does evil, that is the continuously do evil,

hates the light, and they would not come into the light for fear that their deeds would be

exposed. So what is Jesus doing here in Matthew 8, 18 to 22,

is that he revealing the things to these people that are keeping them from being thoroughly

converted to Christ. Here in Matthew chapter 8, we see two different people with two different barriers that are keeping them from being God's men.

And the third one is in Luke.

First, it was the man's personal comfort that was keeping him from following Christ, from being a true converted to Christ.

The second one is personal wealth, and I'm going to explain both of those.

See, neither personal comfort, no personal wealth or relationships, as in the case of the third

one, are evil in themselves.

And what Jesus is saying, that if these things become the focal of life, if they become the focus of our devotion, if they become the idols in our lives, they will serve as a barrier from being thoroughly converted to Christ.

Look at the first person. He's a scribe. This scribe came and said to Jesus, I want to follow you wherever you go, I'm going to be with you.

I'm going to be your companion. Now you say, wow, isn't that wonderful? Isn't that great?

You see, church is a full of followers of Jesus. They are. But before I get to that, I want to

give you an understanding who the scribes are.

The scribes are the people who are the authority on Jewish laws.

They were closely connected with the Pharisees.

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