Transcript
Speaker: ah Good morning church family. It's good to see you. Would you open God's Word to Luke, Gospel of Luke chapter 14 verses 15 through 24. We're going
Speaker: to talk about an invitation to the great banquet today. course talking about eternity and I would be remiss if I didn't say something to Marsha and John Miller and the loss of their daughter.
Speaker: We definitely will all miss Lisa Cantu. And we are going to celebrate her life on Tuesday at 2.30 in this room. And so you're certainly welcome to join us in that celebration.
Speaker: But I think it's symbolic of Marsha's commitment and her courage to lead us in worship to the throne of grace where now Lisa stands.
Speaker: I think Lisa was singing with us. She was praising the Lord from up there. we were praising him from down here. But we we loved her. We're going to miss her. So please do be praying for their family.
Speaker: But I want to share with you about this invitation to this banquet. Have you ever been invited to something really special? In three more weeks, Jody and I will celebrate 41 years of tasting the goodness of God in our marriage.
Speaker: On February the 14th, 1985, I made dinner reservations for Jody and I. At that time, we were just seminary students in Fort Worth, Texas.
Speaker: But I made dinner reservations for us at a French restaurant in Fort Worth. And I knew that I was in over my head when I walked in the door. I just found it in the phone book at that time. There was no internet at that time. That shows how old I am.
Speaker: But when I walked in the door, there was a guy that was, what I've learned now is called the Mater D. I didn't know what his role was. I said, yeah, we made reservation. He said, yes, we have a table waiting for you.
Speaker: And so I went over there and I noticed how elegant the tablecloth was, the cloth napkins, the gold cutlery. And I thought to myself, man, how come they put so many forks down here? You know, I mean, I'm just used to using one. But anyway, there was a bunch of forks there. They were all golden. And then the waiter comes up. He's got, I didn't know what was going on with his arm, but there was some kind of towel or something over his arm there.
Speaker: So anyway, he gives us the the menus and We're trying to decide, and I kept hearing the the music playing, and it wasn't canned music. It was actually a baby grand piano like that one over there, and I look over there, and the guy, he nods at you know, like he's playing along, you know. I thought, oh my goodness, he was playing as time goes by, and I was just amazed.
Speaker: But anyway... After we looked at the menu for a while, I knew right away, I'm beyond a seminary student's budget on this thing. I was thinking, what will I have? So anyway, I i look over at Jody's menu and I said, have you decided what you're going to have?
Speaker: And when I looked at her menu, I was shocked. There were no prices on her menu. It's only on my menu. And so anyway, what I said to her, just joking, but I said, I'm gonna just have a hamburger, what you just have? But anyway, it was it was quite a deal, but I know it was i knew it was gonna be special, but because I knew that after that, we're gonna go back to my little duplex where I had hung porch swing there that I purchased, also had to prepare it. It was unvarnished and so forth, but it was all ready. I'd written a song for her that I sang to her with my guitar. It's a wonder she said yes, because it wasn't exactly the smoothest song, but in the song, since it was Valentine's Day, it said, will you be my Valentine?
Speaker: And I'm so glad that she said yes. But it was a special night and I'll never forget that night as long as I live. But just like I invited Jody to a special meal and a sweet life of marriage together, Jesus, Jesus, he has extended to each one in this room a gracious invitation to enjoy something far more meaningful than a mere dinner or even a marriage together.
Speaker: He offers us salvation, eternal life with him. And like Jody that night, all the preparations, they've already been taken care of. porch swing in my case, the dinner, the transportation, the engagement ring, permission from her parents even, everything was taken care of. All she needed to do was trust me.
Speaker: All she needed to do was say yes when I popped the question. While Jesus was at a dinner party in the home of a Pharisee who is said in chapter 14, verse 1, to even be a ruler of the Pharisees, while he is there, one of the dinner guests makes reference to a promised banquet in heaven.
Speaker: It's recorded for us in Isaiah 25, verses 6 through 9, as a prophecy. But let's listen to Jesus' reply about that heavenly dinner party as we read through Luke 14, verses 15 to 24. Would you stand in honor of God's holy, inspired, inerrant word?
Speaker: Appreciate so much him giving this to us. It says in verse 15 of Luke 14, when one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.
Speaker: But he said to him a man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready.
Speaker: But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, I bought a field and I must go out and see it.
Speaker: Please have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.
Speaker: And another said, i have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. So the servant came and reported these things to his master.
Speaker: And then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.
Speaker: And the servant said, sir, what you commanded has been done. And still there is room. And the master said to the servant, go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in.
Speaker: That my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. Let's go to the Father in prayer. Lord, give us understanding.
Speaker: Help us to know how great your love is, that you have prepared a place in heaven for us, but also know what a great insult that it would be to just give excuses why we cannot accept your invitation.
Speaker: When we have such an incredible need, all of us are sinners. All of us are broken in this world. We needed a savior and you knew that and you sent Jesus and what a wonderful blessing he is for each one of us because his death on the cross, his resurrection makes it possible for us to attend the banquet in heaven.
Speaker: So bless us as we look at this great parable, the parable of the great feast. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. I believe that this message is going to be a blend.
Speaker: It'll be a blend of truths. And so if you're a believer here, I think there's something in this message that would motivate you and encourage you. But if you're not yet a believer, and we pray one day you will be, but if you're not yet a believer, I believe there's something in here for you.
Speaker: I believe that God will speak to you and connect with you. I believe that maybe you've never, never had an invitation or anything to resonate with you before. But I believe today it's going to be so clear. That's the reason Jesus taught in parables so that we could understand what he was talking about.
Speaker: Well, let's go to this passage and sort of break it down with just a few important truths. The first thing is the exclamation, the exclamation about salvation.
Speaker: You notice at the end of verse 15, there's an exclamation mark. You know what that is? It means that this was an exclamatory sentence.
Speaker: Exclamatory sentences are sentences that we say that with heightened energy, we're excited. You know, we have strong emotion. There's a lot of volume there, sort of like we are whenever, well, those of you from Columbus, when we're in the stadium and the Cardinals are playing, we're excited. Or maybe today with the World Cup, you picked a side between Spain and Argentina, and you know that you're not going to be silent, and you're going to be making some exclamatory remarks.
Speaker: But you know what? Here they are at this dinner, according to chapter 14, verse one they're in the home of a ruler and they're watching Jesus closely. They're watching him closely.
Speaker: And there's a reason they're watching him closely. But chapter 14, verse 14 says that Jesus had just finished up saying something about this banquet, this feast that was going to be in heaven. Let me read verse 14 because I didn't read it. He said, and you will be blessed.
Speaker: Oh, there's a word blessed. Because they cannot repay you for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. You're going to be repaid, he says.
Speaker: So that made this guy that's sitting at the table think about in heaven, the resurrection of the just, whenever we go to be with the Lord in heaven, how we're going to be there together.
Speaker: And so what the man said in verse 15 was accurate. What he said about the guests who will be there in the kingdom. But what's the problem is he's there to reject Jesus. Right?
Speaker: And so it's really strange that he would assume he's going to be there because he's not received Christ. He doesn't like Jesus. He's already turned away several of the invitations that have been given to him. You see, these men were not trusting Christ. You know what they were doing?
Speaker: They were trying to trap Christ. They were depending on the rituals and the rules and the religion. And they thought, you know what? We are not interested in a personal relationship with that man, Jesus.
Speaker: And so that's the background why Jesus is going to talk in verse 16. And he's going to begin to give a parable, it says. But he said to them, a man once gave a great banquet.
Speaker: When I saw a great banquet, I couldn't help but think about the word celebration. I believe that heaven is a celebration. Jesus tells the parable of the great feast as a way of correcting the assumptions among those who reject him, yet they assume, I'll be there.
Speaker: I'll be there in heaven one day celebrating with everybody, saying how great it is to be in heaven. So like the Pharisee exclaimed in verse 15, it will be blessed.
Speaker: It will be exciting. It will be great. What's going to be so great about it? Well, there's a few things that stood out to me too, to be specific in the first part of verse 16, a man who wants gave.
Speaker: Do you like that word give give? Do you like the word gave when it comes to God that he would give, you know, he gave you and me, he gave us life and breath.
Speaker: He gave us a planet where we can breathe. He gave us a planet where we can have water. Whether we realize it or not, all our lives, he has given and give given and given and given. And when he saw that we fall short of the glory of God, that we're never going to make it into heaven by ourselves, he gave Jesus. He gave he gave us this opportunity to trust him forever.
Speaker: Another gift. Another gift. Romans 6.23 describes salvation in this way. It says, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Speaker: I love that word give. I love the word gift. You probably know John 3.16, right? For God so loved the world that he... gave. He gave.
Speaker: That's the heart of God. He's a giver. He's a giver. But notice that this banquet also is described as a great banquet. Can you imagine? Okay, think about all the universe.
Speaker: Think about all that God has just placed on this one planet for us. Think about the beauty and all these things. So what kind of banquet would God give and he would use great to describe I'm telling you, our minds, we can't begin to wrap our minds around what it would be like.
Speaker: You know, if you're quick on the draw, you can look at Isaiah in the Old Testament, chapter 25, verse 6. But Isaiah 25, verse 6, tells us about this incredible banquet, this incredible feast.
Speaker: And here's what it says in Isaiah 25, verse 6. On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples, a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine.
Speaker: The Baptist, we'd like to take that out of there if you don't mind. But anyway, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Don't don't write me any ugly emails. Of rich food, full of barra, of aged wine, well-refined. There we go again. And he will swallow up Own this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.
Speaker: He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of his people.
Speaker: He will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, behold, this is our God. We've waited for him that he might save us.
Speaker: This is the Lord. We've waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Oh, don't miss it. Don't miss it. Don't miss what God has planned for us. Such a great place. It's described as a mountain. It's so much a higher than anything we've been around.
Speaker: Great attendance, great food, great security, great life, great joy, great God, great salvation. Just don't miss it. You won't miss it if you accept the invitation Christ has given. But he's giving the invitation because it's too good a celebration for anybody to be left out. It's too good a celebration for anybody to say, I don't want to go there. He knows how great it's going to be.
Speaker: And so that's why the third thing, you know what he did? sent out invitations. He sent out invitations. He invited many, it says. Do you know that if you were to start with verse seven of our text, going back to Luke 14, if you started verse seven and you went to the end of where we're reading in verse 24, do you know that the word invite is mentioned 11 times?
Speaker: It's kind of hard to miss. I mean, in 18 verses, you've got the word invite used 11 times.
Speaker: That's because in the Jewish culture, their custom was to invite people to a dinner two times, not just one. The first invitation that you or someone that was living during that time might receive would be an invitation to participate.
Speaker: Participate in the dinner. You are cordially invited. Please come. We would love to have you at the table. That's the first invitation, but the second invitation was different.
Speaker: The second invitation, you didn't really know exactly when it was gonna be ready. And so the second invitation said, the preparations are finished, everything's ready.
Speaker: All you gotta do is come, come on. You know, how do you know for certain you're on the guest list? How would I know for certain I'm on the guest list?
Speaker: Well, here's what it says in 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord's not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any, not wishing that any, not willing that any should perish, but that all, that all should reach repentance.
Speaker: 2 Peter 3, 9. So I can tell you that God's heart, he wants you there. He wants you there. I don't care what you've done in your life. I don't care who you are. don't care your race or if you're rich or poor, country folk, city folk. It doesn't matter.
Speaker: He wants you at that banquet. So you'll see verse 17, we go to another principle, the fourth one. The preparation. The preparation of salvation.
Speaker: Notice that he says, say to those who have been invited, come, come, for everything is now ready.
Speaker: Wow. You know, once again, if I were to go back to the Old Testament, to Isaiah, he said a lot of great things. i hope you can read Isaiah sometime, but Isaiah chapter 55 verses one through three, this is sort of a sample of what the invitation looks like.
Speaker: He says in Isaiah 55 verse one, come, come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and And he who has no money, come buy and eat.
Speaker: Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Speaker: Listen gently, diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me.
Speaker: Hear that your soul may live and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Wow.
Speaker: I think what the Lord's trying to tell us is I've already paid for everything. Everything is all ready. All you have to do is come to me. Just come to me. No wonder when it comes to the preparations that Ephesians 2, 8, 9 would say, for by grace,
Speaker: You have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It's the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast.
Speaker: Nobody's gonna be sitting at the banquet table saying, you know what? I was so good, they had to invite me here. No, there won't be any of us there. We'll all be saying, you know what? I only got here by God's grace, by his mercy.
Speaker: Jesus died for me. That's the only reason I'm here today sitting at this table. And you know what the ones around you are going to say? me too. That's exactly the same situation for me.
Speaker: But suddenly our passage, our text here takes this unexpected turn. You don't count on this happening. In verse 18 it says, but something is about to happen. You won't believe.
Speaker: But... They all alike began to make excuses. What in the world? To something this grand? To something this great?
Speaker: To something this wonderful? I mean, i don't know who in the parable this man would be, but man, if we apply that to God, it's like, why would anybody reject him? Why would anybody say, I'm sorry, thank you for the invitation, but I'm gonna have to decline.
Speaker: I've got something more important than you. Whoa. There was an evangelist from this past named Billy Sunday. He was a professional baseball player before he became a Christian evangelist. But here's what he said.
Speaker: He said, an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. So it's like, I got a reason. But then when you look at the reason inside, you say, that's not true.
Speaker: That's not true. He also went on to say, if someone is good at excuses, they're not usually good at anything else because they're not responsible, right?
Speaker: Well, the first excuse, he says, some people were saying, you know what? I have bought a field. It must go out and see it. Please have me. You bought a field without seeing it?
Speaker: You've already paid for this? i mean, that doesn't sound like a good idea. Who purchases property without even going to take a look at it? The second excuse was not a land excuse, but a labor excuse.
Speaker: Strange that this man also had purchased in advance five teams of oxen, 10 oxen without examining them.
Speaker: That's what he says. I bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. So you already bought them without examining them? I wonder if he's going to be surprised when he gets home and four were old, two were blind, and three were lame. At least he got one good one out of that bunch, you know.
Speaker: That's not a good idea to buy stuff before you take a look at it. But the third excuse, he's not buying anything. The third excuse is a love excuse. But notice that with the love excuse, this guy doesn't even use polite etiquette.
Speaker: He just simply cuts to the chase and says, I've married a wife and therefore I cannot come. There's no please excuse me. There's nothing like that. he There's no attempt at justifying. There's no polite request to be excused.
Speaker: And so there's no apology. You know, Hebrews chapter 2 verse 3 warns us and what it says is, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
Speaker: If we just kind of ignore God, pretend he's not there, pretend the invitation's not there, then He says, how are you going to escape if you neglect so great a salvation? Hebrews 2 and verse 3 and Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14 describe two different ways that we can go in life.
Speaker: But he says, the gate is wide and the way is easy. It's easy. That leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: I like what I read this week in the life application commentary series. It says that really when you think about it, all three of these excuses, they sound a lot like distractions.
Speaker: Distractions by the cares of this world and the cares of this life. So what is the host going to do? He's already cooked the food.
Speaker: He's already put up the tables and chairs. A lot of people have made this happen. And man, are there big, big sections where nobody's sitting at tables. It looks kind of desolate in there.
Speaker: And so we notice that he's frustrated about He's not happy. He's angry, it says. And so what he says to his servant is where we come in to all of you who are believers, including myself,
Speaker: But he said, you know, i want you to go and invite people. Invite Tell them to come. I don't care who they are. And he said, as a matter of fact, I want you to go, servants. Go out quickly to the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame.
Speaker: I got to thinking about those people. And I thought, well, now those people might have what could be seen as a legitimate reason why they don't want to come.
Speaker: It's not going to be an excuse when the poor man says, look, I know what they wear at these deals. I don't have anything to wear. The crippled might say, you know, when I go places, people just stare at me.
Speaker: I don't want to take the attention away from the the master of the ceremony anymore. Others would say, you know, I'm blind. And so to be honest, I feel honored that you would ask me if I try to attend, I can't find my way there, not by myself.
Speaker: And that's when the lame man would sort of interject this and said, yeah, I understand that because I have no one to take me there. I can't walk there like other people.
Speaker: So the servant faithfully declared the invitation to salvation or let's say the banquet. And it's amazing. that those people didn't have excuses. No excuses are recorded.
Speaker: They didn't even give an excuse. And maybe they could have said something, but they didn't. They didn't. But still, he goes and says, I did everything you told me to do. And I'm looking around and there's still, don't know, there's still empty tables.
Speaker: Nobody's sitting in those chairs. going to have a lot of food left over. And so what you see is an emergency situation. situation in the house the emergency is this sir what you've commanded has been done and still there's room there's still room so you know what happens the host feels a sense of urgency and the host says here's what I want you to do I want you to go out to the highways and the hedges and I want you to compel people I want you to compel people
Speaker: To come in. That my house may be filled. So just think. I mean the highways would have been. Maybe a far away. It would have been a long way for them to come.
Speaker: The hedges. Maybe they would say. Hey out here in the hedges. We just country folk. So we can't come in there. With all the city people. But they did it anyway. You know what I got a feeling they came.
Speaker: I got a feeling they came. But why would they come? There's only one reason why they come. They're hungry. Have you ever been around hungry people before?
Speaker: Have you ever seen the poor? I've seen them. I can't get out of my head. It's still there in Calcutta, India, in parts of Bangladesh, in Ethiopia.
Speaker: But you know what? When people are hungry enough and you invite them, they'll say, um want I want to go there. I want to be a part at that banquet.
Speaker: They say that this parable was the text for the last sermon ever delivered by D.L. Moody. He was a pastor in Chicago long time ago. He entitled his message simply, Excuses.
Speaker: And he gave it faithfully on November 23rd, 1899 in the Civic Auditorium in Kansas City. His biography notes that he felt sick while he was actually, he didn't feel good.
Speaker: But he went ahead and he gave it. And you know what happened? 50 people trusted Christ that night because they read this passage right here. The words of Christ came alive for them. The next day, he left Kansas City for Chicago.
Speaker: And one month later, Deal Moody died. They say it was his last message. But isn't it amazing that right until his last breath, he was still compelling people.
Speaker: Come on in. on here Come on into Christ. Perhaps we would be remiss if we didn't say anything about verse 24. Because verse 24 is the truth.
Speaker: And the truth is there is a partition around salvation separating those who accept the invitation and those who reject it. I'm going to call it the separation of salvation. Everybody's not saved.
Speaker: Because some people don't accept the invitation that was extended to them. So before someone might say, well, now that's cruel when I read verse 24 for that, for I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my, that's cruel.
Speaker: Well, before you accuse the host of being cruel, just remember whose banquet hall it was. It wasn't their banquet hall. It wasn't their food. they he had graciously invited them. He took care of paying for everything.
Speaker: He had all kinds of servants ready to serve them and wait on them. And so who waited? Who declined? And who offered? You know, whether by defiance or distraction, it's we humans.
Speaker: We are the ones who decline the gospel invitation of the Lord. Revelation 21.8 describes that partition, that separation, and that wide gulf that no one can cross.
Speaker: Revelation 21.8 says, but as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second dead.
Speaker: So why? Why? Why would they not want to come to the Lord? Have their sins forgiven. Though your sins are scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. It's the promise that the Lord makes.
Speaker: But you know, I wanted to end with Revelation 22, 17.
Speaker: Because the good news is that God is still extending the invitation today. It's so great.
Speaker: See, the last book of the Bible is Revelation. Revelation. The last chapter in the Bible is Revelation 22 that I'm about to read from. And the last invitation in the Bible is Revelation 22, 17. The spirit and the bride, they're still saying, come, come on, come on.
Speaker: And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
Speaker: Why is it without price? Because Jesus already paid it all. So I'm just thinking, wow. You know, we have to remember though, there's there's something that's a real kicker when you add other verses to this whole idea of the invitation.
Speaker: And that is, someday, someday the Lord said, we're going to slip into something called the last days. Second Thessalonians chapter one, verses five through 10 describes when Jesus comes back.
Speaker: And that that's going to be too late. You don't want to wait too late. But there's also that last day, not the last days, but the last day that we have to live.
Speaker: We don't know how long we have to live. The Bible says in Hebrews 9, 27, it is appointed for man to die once. And after that comes the judgment. We have to say, Lord, I need to make this right while you've given me life and breath, while you've given me opportunity.
Speaker: So this morning, I want to give you that opportunity. Or really, it's not me. It's really God. He wants to give you the opportunity to make it right. He wants to be reconciled to you.
Speaker: God's drawing you with these incredible arms and and his pull of love and grace and mercy. He can forgive all the other stuff.
Speaker: But the one thing, the one thing he can't forgive is this. When you say no to Jesus, there is no other way. And that's why the burden of my heart today was just to make this invitation look so good.
Speaker: And so would you stand with me? I want us to pray. want to invite our musicians if they would return. And I want to give you the opportunity to come to the Lord, the opportunity to say, I want to be there in heaven.
Speaker: I want to be at that banquet. It sounds so great. I don't want to miss it. So Jesus, he paid it all. When he died on the cross, you know what he did? He died in our place. He died in my place. See, I'm sinner. I'm just a sinner.
Speaker: Saved by grace. That's it. But I am saved because he died in my place, but also his righteousness was suddenly credited to my account.
Speaker: I didn't deserve it, but it's like all of my sin was placed on him. All of his righteousness was placed on me. And that's the way it is for every Christian in this sh room. That's what happened.
Speaker: But somebody in this room may not have had that yet. So you're you're heavy under the load of guilt and from your sins. Would you just come? Come to Jesus.
Speaker: He wants you at the table. He wants you in the family. And to be honest, so do we. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this time to look into your word. Your word is always relevant.
Speaker: It speaks in every generation, in every setting, every country, to every race, to every people. It doesn't matter even the generations, Lord, to to the young people.
Speaker: to those who are senior adults, to those in between. Lord, you love everybody. You extended a gracious invitation to all of us. But like this parable says, the truth of the matter is not everybody has accepted, received the invitation.
Speaker: So if we've been rejecting that invitation or ignoring that invitation, because there's so many other distractions in life, then help us know that that's what this time is for. We've gathered here just for that, just so they could have an opportunity to take care of it.
Speaker: So, Lord, you draw them to yourself today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
