Let us turn to God's Word, and directing you to that second
portion we were reading in Luke, the Gospel according to St. Luke,
chapter 14, and to consider something of the parable of the Great Supper. The parable of the Great Supper
recorded here in Luke 14 from verse 16 through 24. The words of the Lord Jesus then
said unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade
many, and sent his servants at suppertime to say to them which
were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they all with
one consent began to make excuse. The first said, Answer him, I
have bought a piece of ground, and I must need to go and see
it. I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I have bought
five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have
me excused. And another said, I have married
a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and
showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and the maimed,
and the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the
Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges,
and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I
say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste
of my supper. And taking really for our text,
or centering what I want to say around those five words that
we have at the end of verse 23. Compel them to come in. Compel them to come in. This particular parable is not
dissimilar to that that we also read in Matthew 22 and the opening
10 verses. There we have the parable of
the marriage of the king's son and there are certainly similarities. We know very well that that was
a parable because the opening words of Matthew 22, Jesus answered
and spake unto them again by parables. And of course, even
here we see the Lord again speaking in the form of the parable. It was a manner of address to
the people that the Lord often employed. Now what was the point
or purpose of the parables? And I think in the minds of many
people there's much misunderstanding. They think they're earthly stories
with a heavenly meaning. They think that the Lord is using
these sort of illustrations to help the general people to understand
more clearly. But really, it's the very opposite
of that. We're told in Scripture of what
the purpose and point of parabolic teaching is Matthew 13 is a chapter
that's full of a great number of parables and we do there find
some very interesting statements being made in Matthew 13 verse
10 The disciples came and said unto
the Lord, said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it is not given. What is the Lord saying here?
He's using parables because There are those, his disciples, who
will understand. It's given unto them to know
these mysteries, but these things are being concealed by parabolic
teaching from the understanding of others. Verse 13, he continues,
Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing
see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, or Isaiah. which said, By hearing ye shall
hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and
shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. So, the
parables really is a manner of teaching in which truth is concealed
from some and yet at the same time it's being revealed onto
others and here of course in this 14th chapter in Luke we
see the Lord amongst the Pharisees and the lawyers in the opening
verse he came to pass as he went into the house of one of the
chief pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day they watched
him they're always watching him always wanting to catch him in
his words or catch him in his deeds it's a Sabbath day there's
a man there sick of the drops is he going to do anything to
to heal this man they want to accuse him always of breaking
the Sabbath and then it continues the Lord is is there doubtless
at the invitation of this man and he speaks to the man in verse
12 he said to him that bade him when thou makest a dinner or
a supper call not thy friends nor thy brethren neither thy
kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors lest they also bid thee again
that a recompense be made And the Lord goes on to speak of
the need to feed the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.
And then one speaks and says, In verse 15, one of them that
sat at meat with him heard these things and said, Blessed is he
that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Having heard the words
of the Lord Jesus, the things that he said in the course of
conversation in the home of this particular chief pharisee. The man speaks of the future. the blessings that shall come
on those who are privileged to eat bread in the Kingdom of God. But then, in what follows from
verse 16, the passage that we've read, the parable of the Great
Supper, the Lord isn't speaking of the future, He's very much
speaking of the present. The language very much belongs
to the here and now. See what the Lord says. A certain
man made a great supper and bade many and sent his servants at
supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things
are now ready. Or the Lord is speaking of that
that is ready, that that belongs to thee here and now. And then he goes on to speak
of them that were bidden, who made their various excuses. Now
what is the significance here? Well the Lord is speaking of
the Jews. Now He came unto His own, He
comes to the Jews and they receive Him not. The privileges that
belonged to the Jews, they were God's ancient covenant people. He says of them, you only have
I known of all the families of the earth. And remember the language
that the Apostle uses in Romans concerning Israel, Romans 9.4,
who are Israelites. to whom pertaineth the adoption,
and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Lord, and
the service of God, and the promises, whose are the Father's, and of
whom is concerning the flesh, Christ kind, who is over all,
God blessed, for ever. Amen. Oh, what privileges were
theirs! He showeth His word unto Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt
so with any nation. As for His judgments, they have
not known them. And even in the course of His
own ministry as the Lord is exercising that ministry, He's very conscious
that it's a ministry to Israel. Here in the Gospel, Back in Matthew 15 and verse
24 he says, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. His ministry is to them. He sends
out the twelve. And what does the Lord say as
he sends out his apostles? Look at the words that we have
there in Luke chapter 10 and verses 5 and 6. These twelve
Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, Go not into the
way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter
ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Always speaking very much of
the present is the Lord here. In the parable that we are considering,
how the Gospel has come, how the Gospel has come and has come
in Israel. But how it's despised. They reject
the Saviour. They have these privileges. They
have no appreciation of what these privileges are. They all
make excuse here in the parable. One says, I have bought a piece
of ground and must need to go and see it. I pray they have
me excuse. Another, I have bought five yoke
of oxen, I go to prove them, pray they have me excused. Another
says I married a wife and therefore I cannot come. Oh he comes to
his own and they receive him not but as many as received him
to them gave him power to become the sons of God which were born
not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will
of man but of God's. or are they despised in their
privileges? And so what do we see at the
end of the parable where we find our text this evening? The Lord
says unto his servant, Go out into the highways and hedges,
and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Who are
those in the highways and the hedges? It's the Gentiles. It's
sinners of the Gentiles who are to hear this Gospel. They're not in Israel. They're
those on the highways, that's the broadways. They're those
who are separated from God. They're outside. And yet, the
Gospel is to go to such characters as these. Because all is readily as we have it there in verse
17, come all things are now ready. But turning to these words that
I said we'd consider more particularly at the end of verse 23. And compel
them to come in that my house may be filled for I say unto
you that none of those which were bidden shall taste of my
supper. Or many a corpse But few are
chosen. Those who are called, they make
their excuses. They turn their back on the gracious
invitation. But considering then these two
words in particular, as I said, I want us to consider the words,
compel them to come here. Just two words, two points really,
two headings. The word come and the word compel. and both of them are gospel words. What a remarkable word is this
word calm. It is surely one of the great
words that we find in the word of God. It is the gospel of the
grace of God. How Different is the sound of
the gospel when we make comparison with what God is saying in the
law. You remember, we have the Lord
of course back in Exodus chapter 20, you know the chapter, sure
you know the Ten Commandments, but the setting is in the previous
chapter, where they've come to the mountains of Horeb, and there
is the Mount Sinai. and God is going to come and
He's going to speak the Ten Commandments to Israel. He's entering into
covenant with His people. He has delivered them out of
the bondage that was Egypt. He's brought them into the wilderness.
He's bringing them unto Himself. He's entering into a covenant
with Israel. And now the scene is set in that
previous ninth chapter. Boundaries are put all around
the mount. The people are really told to stand back. If a man
touches the mount he is to be thrust through with the darts. This is what the law says. It
says hold back, stand back. It repulses me. God descends
in a cloud upon the mount and the people are filled with great
fear and dread. And God then comes and he speaks
the 10 words, the 10 commandments. And what do the children of Israel
do? They don't want God to speak anymore, they want Moses to be
their mediator. And so at the end of that 20th
chapter we see Moses going into the mounds. And he's there 40
days, isn't he? Receiving all the various instructions
that God gives with regards to the manner in which he is to
be worshipped. Oh, but how the law is that that holds men up
high, forbids them in a sense. But then when we come to the
Gospel, all the gracious invitations that fall from the lips of the
Lord Jesus, those words at the end of Matthew 11, come unto
me, come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn
of me, I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. Come is a great gospel word,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, says Christ.
And he that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. If they
come, He will receive them. He doesn't cast out anyone. Anyone
who comes to Him, the Lord Jesus willingly receives. He has come
to save sinners. He has come to receive sinners
unto Himself. And of course, when we come to
the very end of the Bible, you know the passage there in Revelation
22, "...the Spirit and the Bride say, Come! And let him that heareth
say, Come! And let him that is athirst say,
Come! And whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely." Oh, what a word then! is this
word come. It is pure gospel. And what does it teach us? Well, it tells us we can come
because everything is ready. Back in verse 17, come for all
things are now ready. Here's the reason why you can
come. It's all ready. There are no
works to be performed. There's nothing to be done but
simply coming to the Lord. No works. By grace are you saved,
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. The works
follow the coming. We don't work our way to the
Lord Jesus, but where there is that coming and that receiving,
there will be that evidence of the grace of God. By their fruit
ye shall know them. The good works don't go before. They follow salvation. There are no good works to be
performed. Again, that lovely verse in Titus,
Titus 3 and verse 5, not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. It's a new
birth, isn't it? The washing of regeneration,
the new birth, the work of the Holy Ghost, not by works of righteousness
which we have done. There's no works. It's all of grace. There's no preparatory works. We don't have to prepare ourselves
for coming. You might look at yourself and
say, well, am I really the right sort of character to come to
the Lord Jesus? Maybe you look at yourself and
you think, well, it's all wrong with me. I'm not the right person
to come. My sins are too great. I've sinned
too much. I've done terrible things, wicked
things. Can there be hope for such a
sinner as I am? Or then on the other hand you
might say to me, but the problem is I don't feel my sin as strongly
as I ought to feel it. I don't really know that conviction
of sin that is so necessary. I think of the lines of dear
Joseph Hart, let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness
fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is
to feel your need of him. Or do you feel the need of him?
Maybe only a little need. But you feel you want to be one
who is the Lord, you want to know the Lord. We're not to dream, you see,
of some preparation that we're to make. What do we read here in chapter
15 and verse 2? The Pharisees are ascribed Scribes
murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.
Or the Lord is pleased to receive sinners. He that cometh to me, he says,
I will in no wise cast out. There's no good work to be performed. There's no preparatory work of
any sort that we need to do. But there is a work. And there
is a work that is done, and it's the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does it say at the beginning?
A certain man made a great supper and bade many. Oh, this is the
man, you see. He has made the great supper. It's the Lord's work. It's the
Lord's work. And so, all is ready. At supper time he says to his
servants that he's to go to those who are bidden and he's to say
come, all things are now ready. You've not got to come and do
anything. All you've got to do is enter
and partake of the feast, the supper that has been all together
prepared by the host. This is what the Lord has done.
He has finished the work. or when he comes to the end of
his earthly ministry and he prays there in that 17th chapter of
John what does he say? I have glorified thee speaking
to his father and the great burden of his life was the glory of
God to do the will of him who had sent him to finish his work
I have glorified thee on the earth he says I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do and then In glorious triumph
on the cross, he utters those words, it is finished. He bows
his head, he yields up the ghost. No man is able to take his life,
he gives his life. A ransom for many. Oh, it's done. The work is finished. He has finished the transgression,
he's made an end of sin. He's made reconciliation for
iniquity. He's brought in everlasting righteousness. Again, the gospel that we have
there in Daniel 9 and verse 24. That strange book, that apocalyptic
book of Daniel, we were looking at something of it last Thursday
evening, but what a remarkable book it is, and it's full of
gospel. Daniel 9, 24. He has finished the transgression.
He has made an end of sin. He has made reconciliation for
iniquity. He has brought in everlasting
righteousness. He has sealed the vision and the prophecy.
He has anointed the most holy. Everything is done by the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. How do we come? Well, we cease
from all our own works. Cease from your own works, good
and bad. and wash your garments in My
blood." Oh, there's blood, blood to cleanse from all the filth
of sin. There's a garment. There's robes
of righteousness. There's a garment of salvation. It's all the work of the Lord. And so the invitation is come. and see how the call really is
repeated. It doesn't just come once, it
comes again and again. Verse 21, So that servant came
and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed
and the hot and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done, as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the
Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges,
and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Oh, what
a glorious fullness we see here in the Gospel. How the Lord,
as it were, sends His Word, He sends it again, and again, and
again, And we see it in that portion
that we read. In Matthew 22 verses 3 and 4, He sent forth, it says,
in the one verse, in the next, and again He sent forth. He sent
forth, and again He sent forth. Now, in the days of the Prophet,
in the days of Jeremiah, the Lord has sent unto you the prophets,
it says, rising early and sending. or he would send them, and he
would send them, and he would send them again. And there the
Lord comes, you see, it's the day of grace, but it won't always
be the day of grace. And there we have to look to
ourselves and prove ourselves, examine ourselves, and know something
of ourselves. unless with those who are procrastinating
do we put it off and put it off and put it off have me excused
another more convenient time no it's now come for all things
are now ready says the Lord all this word come I say it is such
a glorious word it's a great Gospel words. But then there's
another Gospel word here, the word compel. Compel them to come in. Now what does this mean? It means
constrain them. Necessitate this matter. You've
got to make them come. They're so stubborn, they're
so set in their sin. they must be compelled we can think of the the language of the hymn writer
John Kent you know the hymn 76 I think it is 76 effectual calling
all see the compulsion here there is a period known to God when
all his sheep, redeemed by blood, shall leave the hateful ways
of sin, turn to the fold, and enter in. The first verse, and
then the last verse. The appointed time rolls on apace,
not to propose, but called by grace, to change the heart, renew
the will, and turn the feet to Zion's hill. Oh, it's not proposals,
it's not offers, it's not proffers. It's compelling them to come
in. It's the great work of God, it's the great work of the Spirit
of God. They're so stubborn, you see.
How they keep on making their excuses. They all, it says in
verse 18, all of them, with one consent began to make excuse
how solemn it is you see excuse me we have it also in that other
portion Matthew 22 and verse 5 they made light of it Lord
you make light of the gospel they made light of it they were
careless that's literally they had no care for it They have no interest in it really.
They don't want to know about it. It doesn't mean anything
to them. What do we see here with these
people that are spoken of in the parable? Well, they're so
worldly minded, aren't they? The excuses that they make in
verses 18, 19 and 20. I have bought a piece of ground. I have bought five yoga boxes. I've married a wife. Well, there's
nothing wrong or improper about any of these activities. Of course
not. But you see, their priorities
are all wrong. That's the problem. They're loving
the things of this life too much. Love not the world. neither the
things of the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. All that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life
is not of the Father but is of the world. Remember what we read concerning
the fall of Adam and Eve when the serpent comes to Eve there
in Genesis 3 and the sixth verse and the woman you see is taken
up with the tree when the woman saw that the tree that is the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil she saw that the tree
was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes the lust
of the sight the lust of the eyes the tree to be desired to
make one wise She took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he
did eat." All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, the tree to make one
wise. You see how these elements are
there in the sin of our first parents, two-minded of the things
of this world. Oh, we look not at the things
that are seen, but at the things that are not seen. The things
that are seen are temporal. The unseen things are the eternal
things. Are we aware of that? The unseen
things. Not to be taken up with the things
of this life. Oh, there is a matter to be addressed,
you see, and this is the point of the Lord's teaching in this
parable. and sinners have to be compelled. They have to be
compelled, they are so worldly minded. But what sort of preaching
is needed? Well, the take it or leave it
gospel is of no use to these characters. The free will gospel,
to tell men that they have it within their own capacity, they
have a free will and they can make a choice. they can choose
for Jesus. Nor is a free offer gospel really
of any great use to these people. Again, it conveys that idea of
here is something on offer, you can take it, you can leave it. What is needed? There must be
compulsion. But what sort of compulsion?
Some like to speak of, you know, what they call moral persuasion.
You've got to persuade a man the Metropolitan Tabernacle way.
You know, you use evangelistic arguments. Persuasive preaching. You reason with men. Now, I know
the Apostle Paul, when he is ministering in the Acts, he will
go to the synagogue, he'll reason with the with the Jews and so
forth but Paul makes it quite clear that there's no way that
he had it in his own capacity to persuade anyone to salvation
and he was very cautious he would not use some of the techniques
of the day rhetoric there were schools of rhetoric where people
could be taught how to speak persuasively. But how does Paul
speak of his own ministry when he writes to the Corinthians?
There in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he speaks of his preaching. I, brethren, could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
babes in Christ. That's chapter 3. He's speaking
particularly there, of course, to those in the church at Corinth.
I meant to turn to chapter 2. And he says here, how he first
came to them, I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony
of God's. Verse 4, my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing, the margin gives persuadable words of man's
wisdom. but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of men, but in the power of God." And it's not just to the Corinthians,
is it? Time and again he speaks of the
manner of his ministry when he addresses the Thessalonians. There in chapter 1 of that first
epistle, verse 5, "...our gospel came not unto you in word only,
but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as
you know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes. It's not anything of himself,
it's not looking to any techniques, any persuasive arguments or any
evangelistic arguments. The guy in the second chapter
Verse 13, For this cause also we say, Thank we God, without
ceasing, because when ye receive the word of God which ye heard
of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is
in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you
that believe. All we believe in that efficacious
grace of God, that irresistible call of grace. Bear with me. What is the promise that is given
to the Lord Jesus? Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. How we feel today that gracious
power of the Lord God Himself We look to Him to work and to
work in the hearts of the sinners even as the Gospel is preached. The language of Isaiah 26.12,
Thou also has brought all our works in us, O Lord our God.
Other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us, but by
Thee only will we make mention of Thy Name. It's only by that
grace of God and we want to emphasize that truth. The sinner must be
brought to feel something of his impotence. We touched on
it really this morning, preaching from those words in Psalm 79.
Know that we have to be brought to
not just ascend to the doctrine of total depravity, but we have
to feel that doctrine. We have to feel what we are.
our sinful depravity, our total impotence, our utter inability. No man is able to persuade the
person who is brought to that experience, where he believes
the doctrine of grace, that particular doctrine, the first of the five
points, because he feels it. You see, each of those points,
and we're familiar with them, the pneumonic tuning, Remember the fourth of those
points, irresistible grace. Irresistible grace, that's the
compulsion of the Gospel. It is not the work of men, it
is the work of God. That's what it says here, the
words of the Lord Jesus in verse 17, For all things are ready. Salvation
is accomplished, but all that salvation must be sovereignly
applied. And isn't that the real prerogative
of God, the Holy Ghost? Oh, the Lord Jesus has promised
that other comforter. How we need Him, how we need
Him to take of the Word of Truth, make application to our souls.
or do we pray that the Spirit Himself might be pleased then
to own that God would come in the ministry of His own Word
that God would come by His Spirit in that Word and accomplish in
us all His goodwill and pleasure and make this blessed Gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ such a reality in each of our souls? Go out says the Lord to his servant,
go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come
in that my house may be filled. Oh, the Lord be pleasing to own
and bless his word in this place to his own glory for Christ's
sake. Amen.