(Luke 14:16-24)
Would you like to attend the President’s New Year
gala? You would be greatly honored to get such an invitation, wouldn’t you? A certain wealthy man had a
great wedding banquet in his house.
Perhaps his oldest son was getting married. We can imagine what joy that would have
brought to the house and they wanted to share it with their friends. The rich man wanted to make sure that
everyone remembered that great day. He
wanted to organize the biggest banquet the town had ever known. A great occasion was taking place in his
house and he wanted to make sure that he marked that great occasion with
style.
And so he sat down and planned a great banquet. Then, before the big event he sent his
servants to all his friends in town to tell them that the banquet was coming
up. “It is going to be a big banquet, the
biggest ever. Please make sure you are
free that day and will come. The master
will be very disappointed if you do not come.”
All the friends agreed that they would come.
Finally the D-day arrived. The man’s servants spent
the whole night preparing the food. Bulls
and rams and goats were slaughtered. Pilau and chapatis were all prepared in large quantities. Fresh vegetables and fruits such as bananas,
oranges, pineapples and melons were carefully prepared. Soft drinks such soda, juice etc were brought
in. Lovely flowers and buffets were very nicely laid out and the outcome was
very good. The food was very delicious and the place looked good to behold. Three
lessons that we would be wise to learn from this parable:
1.
The kingdom of
God is like a great banquet
A banquet is a place full of good things. When we read this parable we are astonished
that people turned down the opportunity to go to such a kingly banquet and made
excuses. In the normal way of things,
this would not happen. Everyone who was
invited to a banquet would come gladly because the banquet is a place full of
good things. In the same way the kingdom
of God is a place full of good things. The
kingdom of God is where we find full and free forgiveness for all our sins.
We read the invitation to the banquet, "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price.” (Isa 55:1)
The kingdom of God
is where we find eternal fellowship with God. Man was made to have
fellowship with God. When God made Adam
and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden they were completely happy not
because they had material possessions, but because they had fellowship with
God. Then sin invaded this happy scene
and brought separation between God and man.
Thankfully, Christ came to look for the wandering sheep and to bring it
back to the flock of God. Those who by
faith in Christ are in the kingdom of God have eternal fellowship with
God. They may not have any of the
world’s goods and they do not pursue the pleasures of this world, but they have
the satisfaction and joy that the world does not have.
2.
People make excuses so as
not to enter the kingdom of God
When the food was ready the servants went to those
who had originally been invited and told them, “Come, for everything is now
ready.” This parable was
originally addressed to the people of Israel, for they were the first people
whom God called into His kingdom. They,
however, turned down the invitation and rejected Christ. The invitation into the kingdom of God was
then extended to non-Israelites – i.e. to you and me! Now when we look at the excuses that were
made in this parable we see two things about them.
The excuses were
all to do with the things of this world. One man says he wants to
look at a field, another says he wants to make sure that the oxen he has bought
are able to work his field, and another says he has just got married. This is how it is always with those who are
invited to come to Christ for salvation but do not respond. Their
excuses are always to do with the things of this world. Would it be that this is true of you?
You have heard the gospel many times and you know
that Christ offers you a full and free forgiveness of all your sins. You also know that Christ commands you to
leave your sins and come to Him in faith.
But the things of this world are a great attraction to you. You know that Christ demands complete devotion
and this you are not willing to give.
You are determined to accumulate the possessions of this world and to
seek the pleasures of this world. And so
when you hear the gospel invitation you make excuses that are to do with the
things of this world. Perhaps you say,
“One day, when the time is right, I will come to Christ and be saved. Meanwhile, you want to acquire this or that
and enjoy the possession and pleasures of the world.” I urge you to remember the words of Christ, “What good will it be for a man if he gains
the whole world, yet loses his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
You notice that the
excuses made were foolish. The first man says, “I have just bought a
field, I must go and see it.” Can we
really believe that man would buy a field without first looking at it? It is really possible that the man pays a
large sum of money and gets a title deed and then afterwards goes and looks at
what he has bought? Of course not! The man who is thinking of buying a field
will go many times and look at the field before he hands over a single
shilling. The second man says, “I have
just bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on my way to try them out.” In other words what he is saying is, “I need
some oxen to work on my land and I have just paid out a large sum of money to
buy some. Now I must go and see if they
are strong enough to work on my land.”
Again, we can see the foolishness of this excuse. Is it really possible for a man to buy some
animals to work on his land without first making sure that they are strong
enough for the work? Surely he would
first bring the animals to his land for a few days to try them out and make
sure they are strong enough to work the land.
Only then he would pay the money.
Again it is a foolish excuse.
The third man says, “I have just got married, so I
cannot come.” This again is a very
strange excuse. If a man says, “I have a
funeral in the family so I cannot come,” we can understand. But the man who has just got married is
happy, he is celebrating. If someone
comes to him and invites him to a banquet he will gladly come along with his
wife because he is happy and is celebrating All the excuses that were made were
foolish because they were all things that could wait for another time. They
were also morally wrong excuses because they did not even bother to tell this
man that they will not come. Do you think anyone will admit that he is not
interested in heaven? Please brethren we live in a culture where people would
rather not disappoint others by saying ‘no’ but just disappoint by keeping
quiet which finally is more expensive. Please when you are invited to a
function say immediately that you would or would not attend.
This is how it is with those who make excuses when
they hear the gospel. The man who says,
“I will wait a few years and then I will come to Christ for salvation” is
foolish. He does not know when he will
leave this world. He may be involved in
a motor accident the very next day. He
cannot tell God, to whom we must all appear, “I really intended to get saved
one day.” God will not listen to such an
argument. God only asks one thing: “Are
you saved today?” not “did you intend to get saved one day?” Whatever excuse you make for not seeking
salvation in Christ today, you may be sure, is a foolish excuse in the sight of
God. You may think it is a valid excuse,
but one day when you stand before God your excuse will look completely
inadequate and you will even be too ashamed to say it.
3.
Salvation is
being offered to all
When the people who were originally invited did not
come, the master of the house sent out his servants into the streets to invite
all to come and enjoy the banquet.
People who we would not expect to be invited were brought in: the poor,
the crippled, the blind and the lame.
Then even after they had come in there was still room in the banquet,
and so more people from the streets came in.
This is a great reminder to us that Christ does not offer salvation to
an exclusive few; He offers it to all. Perhaps you have thought that salvation
is on offer only to those who are religious and go to church each week. so you
are wrong, Christ invites all, even those who have never been to church and
would not describe themselves as religious.
You are not exempt from this invitation, come for it.
Perhaps you think that salvation is offered to only
those who live good decent lives here on earth.
It might be that you think to yourself, “I could never get saved. Christ would never hear me if I asked Him for
forgiveness of sins, my sins have been so many.
I have been so bad there is no hope for me.” But you are wrong. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15) even the very worst
Perhaps you think that salvation is only offered to
those who were born in a Christian home.
You perhaps were born to parents who follow another religion. You have heard about people getting saved but
you have never thought this is something that you could do. You have always thought that you had to be
born in a Christian home before you could get saved. This is not true at all.
God offers free salvation in Christ to all. He offers it to you today. I am telling you that, “Still there is
room.” Millions and millions have
already accepted the offer and have been saved.
Some have left this earth and are in heaven, many are still on earth but
have a place reserved in heaven. And
still there is room. We invite you to
come today and be saved in Christ.
What must you do to get it? Perhaps this is your question.
You can see that you are a sinner and that you must be saved. You have also seen that Christ invites you to
come to Him for full and free forgiveness of all your sins. You no longer want to make excuses; you want
to take up this offer. What must you
do? God requires two things of you.
1. You must repent (Acts 20:21)
“… testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward
God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Act 20:21)
To repent means to turn from sin. It is a resolution of the mind and the will
of the heart. You must be resolved in
your mind to turn from sin and be willing in your heart to keep turning from
sin the rest of your life. As long as
you cling to sin you are unfit to come to God.
God cannot have anyone who still has a love for sin and a desire for
sin. You must come to him with a
determination to flee your sins.
2.
You must come to faith in
Christ (Acts 20:21)
You must come to Christ in the knowledge that
He alone can save you from your sins.
Many people imagine that their good works and their religious works will
be good enough to save them. Such people
will never be saved as long as they hold to such beliefs. You must come to Christ knowing that nothing
you can do will ever save you. You must
come to Him and ask Him to do all that is necessary to save you. You must ask Him to cleanse you in His blood;
you must ask Him to forgive you all your sins through His death on the cross of
Calvary. Once you have come to Him you
must live the rest of your life in the knowledge that the only reason you are a
child of God accepted and forgiven is because Christ lived and died for
you. You must never have any confidence
in your own works. You must have the righteousness of Christ if you will be
saved.
3. You must come
today
“Still there is room,” is what the servants told those who were called on the streets.
This is the same the preachers of the gospel like me will tell you. However,
what should ask is, “for how long there will be room?” How long will the gates of heaven remain open
for sinners to enter? We simply do not
know. As you listen to me here
preaching, you might be thinking, “One day in the future I will come to Christ
and be saved.” My question to you then would be, “but how do you know you have
a future at all?” One man in the Bible
thought he had a long and comfortable future only to be told, “This very night
your soul will be demanded from you” (Luke 12:20). You must wait no longer. You must come today and seek salvation in
Christ. It is foolishness to remain in
your sins while Christ offers you salvation.
“Seek the
Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
Let the
wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts;
Let him turn
to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him,
And to our
God, for He will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).
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