Coming back to our Bible study
in the book of Luke chapter 14 this morning. And we'll look
at verse 12 down to verse 15. Of Luke chapter 14, He said also
to the one who had called him, we know that being the Pharisee,
When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends,
your brethren, nor your kinsmen, nor your rich neighbors, lest
they also call thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But, he says, verse 13, when
you make a feast, when you have a great supper, call the poor,
those who are lame, those who are lame, and those who are blind. And thou shalt be blessed, for
they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed
at the resurrection of those who are justified." The resurrection
of the just. Now I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 13, when you make a
feast. A feast. Now, oftentimes when
we have dinner here, and we plan to have dinner, Lord willing,
next Sunday, and oftentimes we'll say, what a feast, what a dinner. You ladies and men, too, do such
a good job of cooking and bringing your goodies for us to eat and
to enjoy. And we do enjoy that feast. But here the Lord Jesus Christ
is talking about a gospel feast. feeding, the feeding of sinners. And that's the title of the message,
The Gospel Feast, and it is the Gospel Feast of the Lord. I want
to be called by the Lord to His table, sit at His feet, and feed
upon Him. The Gospel Feast of the Lord
Jesus Christ is prepared for sinners, the poor, the lame,
Those who were maimed. Those who were disabled. He says,
come and eat. Come. Come to dinner. All things are ready. As we read in John chapter 21,
He said to those disciples who were out fishing, and when they
came to the shore, He had the fire prepared, He had the fish
already cooking, He had the bread prepared, He said, come and dine.
All things are ready. And that's the picture of the
gospel, is it not? This is the table of grace that
I want to be called unto, and to sit at. It is the table of
His love, the table of His mercy, the table of His salvation, where
all things are prepared and provided by the Lord Himself. And He is
the one who calls us, He is the one who prepares all things for
us, and He is the one that we feed upon, for He is called Jehovah
Jireh. The Lord said, I am the bread
of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never, never thirst. Now in our story here, one man
said, after hearing what the Lord said, one man said in verse
15, who heard him said, blessed is he that shall eat meat Blessed
is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Blessed are
those who know that Christ, He is the King in His kingdom, and
that we are blessed in Him." Now that's where salvation is
found, in Him, sitting at His table of grace and feeding upon
Him. We read in Matthew 25, Then shall
the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of
my father. Blessed is that man that shall
eat bread in the kingdom of God. That's salvation. The kingdom
of God is salvation. Blessed are they. Come ye blessed
of my father and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world. Now, in our story here in Luke
14, in our continuing story, we see the Lord Jesus Christ
has been invited to the house of just not any particular Pharisee. It says here in verse one that
he was a chief Pharisee. He was a leader among the Pharisees. And this Pharisee invited the
Lord Jesus Christ to his house for dinner. And there the Lord
healed this poor man who was diseased of body. You remember
he had the dropsy, he had heart failure, he was dying, and the
Lord took him and healed him, and then set him free from the
bondage of his sin, from the bondage of his sickness. And
here we find the Lord also while he's in this same house now,
all this is going on. We find the Lord putting forth
that parable of humility, as it says there in verse 11, in
our text, for whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, that
is, those being exalted in pride and arrogancy. The Lord hates
a proud heart, but He is not unto them of a broken heart.
And he that humbleth himself, or that is humbled by the Lord's
power, shall be lifted up from sinking sand. He lifted me. Here in verse 12 and verse 13,
the Lord of glory speak directly to the man who invited him, to
the Pharisee. He said also to him that called
him. That word there, bade, simply
means called him. And he tells this self-serving
and self-righteous Pharisee, just don't invite your friends
and your family and your rich neighbors to dinner, hoping that
they will invite you to dinner likewise, hoping to receive recompense
or a reward from them or applause and recognition from them, but
rather when you make a feast, Don't neglect the poor. Don't
neglect the beggar, those who have nothing to eat. Don't neglect
those who are maimed and disabled, those who can contribute nothing,
and those who are lame, those who are crippled, and don't forget
the blind, as he says there in verse Thirteen, who cannot see. A blind man cannot see. You can beat up on him all day
long and tell him, can't you see? No, I can't see. I'm blind. Now, the Lord is not
forbidding us from eating with our family and friends and neighbors.
That's an enjoyable thing that we do. But he is teaching us
that we should be generous to others who are in need. That is, we should not neglect
those who are poor, especially those in our congregation, in
our church family. You remember in Galatians chapter
2, the Apostle Paul, when he was commanded that they should
remember the poor, Paul said, I'm eager to do that. I'm willing
to take care of the poor and to help those who are in need.
And then we read in scripture, the Lord loveth a cheerful giver.
It's a blessing to be able to give and to help people, is it
not? Every man, it says, 2 Corinthians 9, every man according as he
purposed in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of
necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. Now, I trust when you
put your gift in the offering box this morning, you gave cheerfully,
you gave willingly, you gave because you wanted to give to
support the Lord. The Lord is teaching us that
we should be generous and kind to those who are in need. How
it is more blessed to give than to receive. We should freely,
freely without expecting nothing in return, give as unto the Lord. Now, hold your place right there
and find Luke 6. Luke 6. Verse 31 of Luke 6. A lot of people call this the
golden rule. And I guess that's okay if you
won't put a title to it. As you would that men should
do unto you, do you also likewise unto them. For if you love them
which love you, what think have you? For sinners also love those
that love them. And if you do good, To them that
do good to you, what thank have you? For sinners also do the
same. And if you lend to them whom
you hope to receive, what thank ye? For sinners also lend to
sinners to receive as much again. But, look at verse 35. Love your
enemies, do good, lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward
shall be great. And you shall be the children
of the Highest. For He is kind unto the unthankful and to the
evil. He sends His rain and His sunshine
on the just and the unjust. Be ye therefore merciful as your
Father, also your Heavenly Father, He is merciful. As children of
the King, we should be merciful as well. Now, look back in our
story, Luke 14, 14. He said, Remember the poor, bless
them, and thou shalt be blessed. You see that in verse 14? Thou
shalt be blessed. For they cannot recompense thee,
for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Now, believers should be ready
to give always everything in this life. Believers should be
always ready to give away everything we have in this life. It's all
passing away. Soon, it is marked out for destruction. Don't hold on to it. Look over
here in 2 Peter 3. Don't hold on to it too tight,
the Lord may break your fingers. when He takes it away from me.
Let it go. Let it go. You see, what it says here is
2 Peter 3. But the day of the Lord will
come, verse 10, 2 Peter 3, 10, as a thief in the night, in which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall
melt with a fervent heat, the earth also, and the work therein
shall be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved. Everything you look at, everything
you touch, dissolved. The fashion of this world fadeth
away. What manner of person ought you to be in all holy conversation
and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the
day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved,
the elements shall melt with the fervent heat. Nevertheless,
we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Now, that's what he says over
here in verse 14. Thou shalt be blessed, for they
cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection
of the just. We should be ready to give everything
away because the believers reward is eternal glory with Christ. He is our reward. Abraham said to the king of Sodom,
who wanted to reward him for the battle that he had won, and
the Lord said to Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. Singular. The Apostle Paul wrote
this in Colossians 3, verse 21, Whatsoever you do, do it heartily
unto the Lord, not unto man, knowing that of the Lord you
shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the
Lord's Christ. You shall be blessed in the resurrection
of the just. You see, Christ is our reward.
He is our eternal inheritance. We have an incorruptible inheritance,
undefiled, that fades not away. Now, looking at verse 14, I want
to sound a note of caution and warning. There is a well-known
idea and a common notion and belief among religious men today
that if they do good here and perform good works here among
men, they will be rewarded hereafter with salvation and forgiveness
of sin and eternal life based upon their good deeds. Now, that's a common notion among
men, is it not? That's not what the Lord is saying
right here. Some even go so far as saying The more good works you do here
and now, the bigger mansion you'll have later, the bigger mansion
you'll have in heaven, the more rewards that you will have in
glory. And they seem to use that as
a motivation, don't they? Don't they use that as a motivation,
promise of reward? Or they'll flip the coin on that
and say, if you don't, there's a fear of punishment. The Lord
doesn't use either one of those things to motivate His people.
His people are motivated by love to Him. Now, this may sound a
little strange, but you've heard strange things here before. I
think this is one of the reasons I often time I watch the news,
and as a pastor of a church, I'm always interested in those
stories they do about different churches. And I've always watched
with interest, and I think one of the reasons that a lot of
churches get into what we call having a soup kitchen. Now again,
I'm not against those things. I'm not against feeding the poor
and helping those that are poor. But I think a lot of churches
get into having a soup kitchen thinking they are earning the
favor of God or working for a bigger reward. I've even had some, not
here, but some in this community have made suggestions to me,
well, that would be a good place to have a breakfast every morning,
have biscuits and gravy for everybody, and just open up a soup kitchen.
Now, again, I'm not opposed to those things, but what would
be the motive for doing that? Would it be that we might have
a bigger reward? We might have a bigger congregation
or bigger bank account? If that's the motive, forget
it. Forget it. It won't work. But
that's not what the Lord is teaching us here. That's not what the
Lord is teaching us here. Now listen carefully. To go on
that basis of rewards for works, what is that teaching? To go
down that road is nothing more than teaching salvation by works
and deeds of the flesh. If God's not going to save us
unless we have a soup kitchen, man, we better get in the soup
kitchen business. Let's open up some restaurants and start
feeding people. If our salvation is based upon that, let's get
busy. But salvation is by the grace
of God alone. Salvation is not by the deeds
of the flesh, not by the deeds of the law. Salvation is by the
grace of God alone. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That, not of yourself, is the
gift of God. Salvation is not by the deeds
of the law, deeds of the flesh, but rather by faith in Christ. By Him all that believe are justified
from all things, but you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. Salvation is not by the works
of the law, not by the deeds of the flesh, but by the redeeming
priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ who said, Salvation is
finished! It is done! salvation all by
the grace of God alone. Now I always quote these two
scriptures about every sermon I preach. I've already used it
in the Bible study this morning where Paul said it's God who
saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our
work but according to God's own purpose and grace given us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. And then in Titus
3 verse 5, He said, It is not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us and regenerated
us, justified by grace. Now, having said that, what specifically
is the Lord then teaching us here in these verses? It's the
same message that is taught throughout all the Word of God, that salvation
is by His grace and salvation is for sinners. When you make
a feast, and we're going to see this next week in this parable
of this great feast that the Lord makes, He said, when you
make a feast, call the poor, the lame, and the blind. So what's
he saying? He's saying that salvation is
for sinners. Look back to Luke chapter 5 for
just a moment. He's saying that salvation is
for sinners. Luke chapter 5. Remember when
he called Matthew? Luke chapter 5 verse 27. Matthew
wasn't doing anything to merit God's attention or merit God's
favor. As a matter of fact, he was stealing
from those Jewish people. He was a tax collector for the
Romans. And the Lord stepped in front
of his table and said to him, Matthew, follow me. And he left
all, rose up, and followed him. And Levi made a great feast in
his own house. And there was a great company
of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But the scribes
and the Pharisees murmured against the disciples, saying, Why do
you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? They even said one
time, Well, this man is a friend of sinners. And the Lord answering
said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician, but
those who are sick. I'm not come to call the righteous
sinners to repentance. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. Salvation is for the ungodly. Salvation is for the lost. Salvation
is for those who are the chief of sinners. The gospel feast
is for those who are in need. The call of the gospel is sent
out to those who are in need. Now, the question is this, are
you in need? Our Lord said, everyone who is
thirsty, come to the waters. Come and drink without money
and without price. Are you a thirsty sinner? Are
you a beggar? Yes, I am. The apostle Paul said,
this is the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation to
the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am cheap. When we were without strength
in due time, the Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. The call of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice this carefully. When
you make a feast, call the poor. You see that word call? Call
the poor. Now, the call of the gospel of
God is the command of the king to come and to receive salvation
as his gift. It's not just a mere invitation. We don't give what is known as
the invitation. Invite people down front to do
things. We don't do that because the
gospel is the command of God. It's the call of God with the
gospel in the power of God the Holy Spirit whereby He calls
you with the gospel. Now, several things about this
call. It is a gracious call. It is a gracious call. The Lord
said in Matthew 11, come unto me all you that labor and heavy
laden, I will give you rest. That's the gracious call of the
master to those who were burdened with guilt and sin. He said,
come to me. By me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. I am the door. It is a gracious
call. It is a irresistible call. Just as we read a moment ago,
when he stepped in front of the table of Matthew, he didn't say,
Matthew, if you would like to, and it could be a good idea that
may be profitable to you, if you would follow me, I would
do something for you. The Lord's not a beggar. He didn't
beg Matthew to follow him. He said, Matthew, follow me. He closed up his books, put away
his table, and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's a gracious
call, it's an irresistible call, it's a powerful call. You remember
in Matthew, or it's Luke 19, when the Lord was passing through
and he saw another publican up a tree? This must have been one
of the friends of Matthew. Zacchaeus was his name up that
sycamore tree. And the Lord was passing by and
the Lord looked up there and saw one of his sheep and said,
like it, make haste and come down. And he came down. This day I must abide at your
house. That is the powerful call of
God. It's also a personal call. You
remember when the Lord stood in front of the tomb of the brother
of Martha married Lazarus, who had been dead four days. And
the Lord told him, will you remove that stone? And they said, whoa,
whoa, whoa, wait a minute. He'd been in that grave four
days, and his body is rotting away, and it's going to smell
terrible. Don't take that stone off. He
said, remove the stone. And the Lord stood in front of
that dead man's grave and said, Lazarus, come forth. He didn't
say, just come forth. If he would have, everybody in
that cemetery would have come forth. But he called specifically,
personally, powerfully, the name of Lazarus come forth. He was
dead, came forth. You see, it's a powerful call.
A gracious call, a personal call, and my friend, it is a persuasive
call. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of his power. But when you make a feast, you
call. Now notice this strange guest
list. The poor, the maimed, the lame,
and the blind. Now I'm making a lot about this,
and I'm making an emphasis upon this. This is the Lord's guest
list, and these are the people, a description of the people that
He calls. They're poor. That is, they're
mercy beggars. That is, they have nothing and
are nothing, who can contribute nothing, and who can bring nothing. He calls the poor the mercy beggar. Can you take your place or find
your place before his throne as a mercy beggar? He said, come
to me, come to me, and I'll give you rest. And then he calls those
who are maimed. And that word actually can mean
a rendered disabled. That is, He calls those who are
unable to come. Unable to come to Him. You see,
they must be brought by His grace. Remember that scripture in John
6.44? He said, no man can come to me. No man has the ability
or will or want to come to me except the Father which sent
me. Draw him. We must be brought because we
have no ability. We're totally dead in sin. We only come by His call. And
the Lord makes us willing in the day of His power. And then
He goes on, He says, those who were crippled, Those who have
a limp in their walk, a limp in their talk. That is, these
men, they know themselves to be sinners. I limp all the time
because I am a guilty, vile sinner. As the Apostle said, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? And
then he mentions the blind. Those who cannot see. Now, let
me show you an interesting scripture. Do you remember this from the
book of John in our study? From John chapter 9, turn over
there. Do you remember there was a blind
man there that the Lord healed? And they asked him, well, who
made you to see? And he said, well, the Lord. The Lord made me to see. But
I want you to look at this when the Pharisees found out that
this blind man was made to see. John 9 verse 38, and he said,
Lord, I believe, this is the blind man that was healed, Lord,
I believe, I believe, and he worshiped him. And the Lord said,
verse 39, for judgment I'm coming to the world that they which
see not might see. The blind. He commanded the light
to shine. in our heart that he might shine
the light of God's presence, the light of life, that we might
see him, and that they which see might be blind. Now, you say, that's strange.
Read the next verse. And some of the Pharisees which
heard these words said unto him, Oh, are we blind? And the Lord said, if you were
blind, that is, if you were a sinner, guilty sinner, you would have
no sin. But now you say, oh, we see. Oh, we know. Oh, we the self-righteous. We see, therefore, your sin,
it remains. None are so blind who say that
they see by their own doing. Those who say we be not sinners,
that we have all the wisdom and understanding, we're not blind,
they will die on their sin. The Lord said, if you believe
not that I am, You shall die in your sin. But if you by the
grace of God know that you are a sinner, the Lord said, you
have no more sin. Now, I want to look at one other
thing here. I have just a few minutes left.
But look back at Luke 14, 14. I want to look at this last part
of verse 14. Thou shalt be recompensed or
thou shalt be blessed at the resurrection of the just. The resurrection of the just. There will be a glorious resurrection
of all those who are just, justified in Christ by the Lord's doing
and dying. Remember in Romans 4.25, He was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.
How is a sinner who is poor, lame and blind, how is he justified? Justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, hold your place there and
turn back to John one more time. John chapter 5 this time, there
will be, one day soon, when the Lord comes back again, there
will be a resurrection of the just and of the unjust. Now, in John chapter 5 verse
28. John 5, 28. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice. That includes every man who has
ever died. They shall hear his voice. Those
particles of dust that have been in the ground for thousands and
thousands of years, they shall hear his voice and shall come
forth. They that have done good, unto
the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the
resurrection of damnation." Now I have no problem with this thing
of those who have done evil, because by nature we are nothing
but sinners and full of iniquity and transgression and sin. But what is this part of those
who have done good unto the resurrection of life? Now, I know what people
think naturally, and it goes right back to that soup kitchen
thing. It goes right back to the soup
kitchen. They think if they've done enough good, that they will
be resurrected unto eternal life. The problem with that is this,
in Romans chapter 3 verse 9 and following, the scripture said
there be none good, no, not one. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They've all gone out of
the way, every one. So how can we have the resurrection
of the just unto those who have done good unto the resurrection
of eternal life? Just one way. Would you know
what that way would be? that I may win Christ and be
found in Him. He is our goodness. He is the Lord our righteousness. Do you see that? Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord would impute, imputeth, giving, imputed righteousness
without works. There is none good but one. And
that is God and those who were found in Him. Thank God there is a resurrection
of the just unto eternal life. Those who were justified in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 15 again in Luke 14, And
when one of them that sat at meat with Him heard these things,
he said to Him, Oh, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
kingdom of God. Blessed is that man who is justified
and resurrected in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, to you who believe
He is precious, to you who believe He is altogether lovely, may
God be pleased to make us to know that we are sinners, And
may God give us faith to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ.