Now again, this applies well to those who are volunteering to engage on God’s side in the good fight of the faith, but who have never counted the cost of engaging in this warfare, and have not considered what fierce battles lie ahead. To enter this fight without the armour of God is going to lead to defeat. God is with his true people, and he will give the victory of each one of them, but the battle is against principalities and powers, and to join battle with such foes without God’s protection is foolish. This is what those who follow Christ as nominal disciples are doing. This is what many in the crowd were in danger of doing. They will end up defeated by the power of sin and temptation, and will be brought to shame for ever thinking they could succeed. Those great crowds that followed Jesus down to Jerusalem would melt away when he was arrested, and they would soon be manipulated into calling for his crucifixion.
It is a picture of all who call themselves Christians, but who have not experienced the new birth and do not have the Holy Spirit within them. This may happen because they have heard an inadequate gospel message, which has not laid sin bare, which has emphasised the benefits of the Christian life and minimised the hardships, and the sacrifice, and the cost. It may be a doctrinally incorrect message which presents Christ as our example, but not as one who makes atonement for us. It may happen because of some mass movement which sweeps up many in a wave of emotion, but does not preach Christ crucified. This crowd was hearing the teaching of the Lord, and yet they still fail to examine themselves. It is because the Lord has seen this problem that he gives this solemn warning. It is vital for each one who begins to follow Christ to count the cost. This must come right at the start of the Christian life; indeed it is part of conversion. If you want to follow Christ, you must be ready to lose parents, brothers and sisters, yes, even you own life. That may mean your physical life, but it certainly means your life in the flesh. If you do not fully put to death the old life, then the flesh will rise up again and overcome your weak commitment to the Lord. You are proposing to join the Lord’s side, but are you ready to make enemies of the world, the flesh, and the devil? Like the seed that falls among thorns, your effort will not last.
But if this is seen as a picture of the fight against God by the unbeliever, then the warning is that no one who engages in this battle can hope to succeed. It is a futile war, because you are vastly inferior to God and can never defeat him. When we are away from God, not only are we trying to build a castle on our own for our own self-exaltation and gratification, thinking we can do without God, but viewed another way we are at war with God. I don't want God. I don't want to believe in him. I want my self-determination. I want to run my own life. I will fight against him all my life. It is like mounting a war against somebody who is enormously stronger than you, someone who is going to overwhelm you.
The king in that parable made three mistakes, and if you are an unbeliever you make the same three mistakes. The king overestimates his capacity. ‘We can deal with these people. We can obliterate them. We can teach them a lesson or two and humble them and they will pay homage to us.’ And you overestimate your own strength and capacity to live without God. That's very sad. So you never seek reconciliation with him, and you never know his forgiveness. You never know his power working in your life to make you a different person and a better person, and you never have him as your teacher. You have no prospect of enjoying his heaven and his glory. What a tragic thing to do without him and to overestimate our own capacity to live without him.
Then also we are in ignorance of God. He is a just God and a holy God, and he must bring us to account. He is very powerful. In a flash he calls us at the end of our lives, and sweeps us out of time into eternity, and places us before his judgment seat. The consequences of peace with God are marvellous in this life and in eternity. The consequences of being an enemy of God are terrible. Just as we have rejected him, he will reject us.
The king seems not to research the matter and raise any intelligence about his enemy. He doesn't know his enemy's strength or weaponry. He assumes that the second king is weaker, that he has unpractised troops, that they are not ready, that they will be easily taught this lesson. So he underestimates his enemy and he doesn't know enough about them. He doesn't take the trouble to find out before he makes his decision.
A third mistake is that he doesn't consider the possible consequences. What happens if we go to war? Even if we win we are going to lose a lot of people. This will result in a lot of unrest and friction and loss of trade. And if we lose it will be terrible; we will be enslaved. Have we considered what it will mean to face the judgment of God. No secret can be kept from him. Everything will come out into the open. If you are ashamed to have your fellow man know what you have done, what will it be to have the holy God look upon your sin? How can you face eternity with God as your enemy?