Let us turn again to the Word
of God, to the passage that we read in the Book of Proverbs,
and in particular chapter 9 and verse 5. This invitation that
we have here in the Book of Proverbs in chapter 9, verse 5, where
we read, Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I
have mingled. In the book of Proverbs, chapter
9, verse 5, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I
have mingled. Who is it speaking here? Well,
as we have throughout the first nine chapters of this book of
Proverbs, really it is wisdom that is coming with these words. As we see in this chapter, wisdom
hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars, she
hath killed her beasts, she hath mingled her wines, she hath also
furnished her table, and she hath sent forth her maidens,
and she crieth upon the highest places of the city." And we see
throughout the first chapters of this book, wisdom speaking,
as you see right from the first chapter in verse 20. And there we have Wisdom crying,
it says, Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth her voice in the
streets. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings
of the city. Wisdom is speaking here. But who is it really that is
coming with these words? We know that, of course, they
are the words of God. Solomon was the human author
of this book. And, of course, he was a man
of great wisdom himself. wiser than all those who had
been before him, and one of the wisest, or perhaps we might even
say the wisest of all the kings of Israel. But when we look through
these chapters, it becomes very plain, doesn't it, that really
what is being set before us here is the word of the Lord Jesus
himself. We get a hint of that, don't we, in the previous chapter? We read chapter 8, and there
we have the words of wisdom in verse 13. And what does it say? In verse 23, sorry, it says,
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or wherever
the earth was. And in verse 22, the Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. And
of course, it reminds us of the way in which John begins his
gospel, doesn't it? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word is
there from the very outset, from before time begins. And of course,
as we read through that first chapter in John's Gospel, we
come to that verse that talks about the Word being made flesh,
and it becomes clear that John is really talking about the Lord
Jesus when he uses that expression, the Word. Well, it's just the
same here. When we read of wisdom, We are
to think of the Lord Jesus. When we read these words, we
are to see them as coming from the mouth of the Lord Jesus himself. And of course, we know that the
Lord Jesus was one who was full of wisdom. In Isaiah's prophecy, in chapter
11, he is described as that one of, and it says of him, the spirit
of the Lord shall rest upon him. the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord. The Lord Jesus was given a remarkable
pouring out of God's Spirit. Remember, we're told that the
Spirit was not given unto him by measure. It was not poured
out in a limited kind of way, but it was poured out without
measure upon him. And he's described as having this spirit of wisdom
and understanding. And you see that, don't you?
We don't have many glimpses into the childhood of the Lord Jesus,
but when we read of him in Luke chapter 2, again we have him
described as one who is full of wisdom. You remember the incident when
Jesus is 12 years old, His parents take him up to one of the feasts
at Jerusalem, and they're there for some time, it seems, and
then as they return home, they suddenly realize that Jesus is
not there with them. They had thought that he was
there in the crowd. It seems they were traveling in a group
of people, and they imagined that Jesus was somewhere in that
crowd of people that they were traveling with. But after a day's
journey, They suddenly realise that he's nowhere to be found,
and they turn back to Jerusalem to seek him. And they find him
in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing
them and asking them questions. And we're told that all that
heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers. And then right at the end of
that second chapter, Jesus returns with them to Nazareth and he
is subject unto them and we're told that Jesus increased in
wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. He was given
this remarkable spirit of wisdom and understanding. And so these
words where we have them put into the mouth of wisdom, as
I say, we are to read them as if they come from the mouth of
the Lord Jesus himself. And what kind of words are they?
Well, the first thing that we see is that they are words to
men. We see that very clearly in chapter
8, don't we? Chapter 8, verse 4, wisdom comes and says unto
you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. It's a
message that is to men. It's to you and I. It's not a
message that just comes to other people, but is a message that
comes to us. And do you remember how in the
first verses of the epistle to the Hebrews, The writer reminds
us that God, who spoke in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.
He comes as the final word of God, the final message of God,
the final prophet of God. He speaks unto men. How often
the Lord Jesus, he spoke of himself as really just a messenger, didn't
he? The words that he comes with,
he says, they're not my words, but they are the words of my
father. At the end of John chapter 3,
we read, He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for
God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him. He comes with
the words of God, the message of God, and here we have a description
of that message, don't we? And it's a message to the simple, That's what it says in verse
4, doesn't it? Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. As for
him that wanteth understanding, those who are foolish, those
who are not wise, those who are ignorant. It's a message that
comes to people like that. Whoso is simple, let him turn
in hither. And as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith
to him, Come, eat of my bread, drink of my wine, which I have
mingled, You remember how the Lord Jesus, at one time, he rejoiced
in this, didn't he? In Matthew's Gospel, in chapter
11, we have the Lord Jesus, and he speaks of John the Baptist
there in the early part of that 11th chapter. And then he speaks
of the way in which the Pharisees and the Jews were not hearing
his message. They were not receiving his message. And then towards the end of that
chapter it says, at that time Jesus answered and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed
them unto babes. It's the same kind of idea, isn't
it? The Lord Jesus is saying that God has sent a message that
is not being received by the wise and the prudent, but it
is being received and it is being heard and it is being understood
by the foolish. Who so is simple, let him turn
in hither." Those who are wise, or those who imagine that they're
wise, they will not be interested in this message of wisdom, will
they? You go to a wise man and you
offer to give him wisdom, he won't be interested, he thinks
he already has it. And this message is not really suitable for people
like that, but it is a message that is so suitable for these
people in verse four, who so is simple, let him turn in hither,
as for him that wanteth understanding. And it's a question, isn't it,
for us as we come to this word today. Are we here in verse four? How do we see ourselves? Do we
think of ourselves as simple, as foolish, as lacking understanding? Well, if we do, then this message
will be a message that appeals to us. a message that we find
attractive. It's a message for those who
need wisdom. And here is a word of invitation for them, isn't
it, in verse 5? A word of invitation. This word
that we have at the beginning of verse 5, come, isn't it a
word that is so often associated with the Gospel? You're familiar with the words
of Isaiah in the first chapter of his prophecy? And again, they
are a wonderful invitation, a wonderful word of grace. The Lord says
to that, people come now and let us reason together, saith
the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Come. And you remember how often
the Lord Jesus uses that little word. When he cries on the last
and great day of the feast, He says, if any man thirsts, let
him come unto me and drink. And he speaks to those who are
labouring and heavy laden, and he says, come unto me and I will
give you rest. It's the same idea, the same
message that we have set before us here in Proverbs. Come, eat
of my bread, drink of my wine, which I have mingled. Well, before
we come to the words in verse 5 particularly, I want to think
about bread and wine first of all, and what it means. and what
it sets before us. Bread and wine, that's the two
things that are set before us here in this fifth verse. What does it remind us of? Well,
it points us right back to the book of Genesis, doesn't it?
And to that mysterious character who suddenly pops up in chapter
14 of the book of Genesis. You remember the chapter? It's
a chapter which tells us about a great battle It was a battle
between five kings and four kings, and caught up in the battle was
Lot, who was Abraham's nephew. Lot had gone to live in Sodom,
and the king of Sodom was one of those kings who was involved
in that battle. And we read about the battle
in Genesis chapter 14, five kings fighting against four kings,
and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were defeated and all their goods
were captured and taken away and amongst those that were captured
and taken was Lot, Abram's brother's son. And Abram hears about this
and he gathers together his servants and he goes to fight to try to
rescue his nephew. And we're told that he brought
back all the goods and brought again his brother Lot and his
goods and his women and the women also and the people. And then
we have this mysterious character as I say in verse 18 of that
chapter. And we don't read of him before, and we don't read
much of him after, but we don't read anything of him after, really.
This king, whose name is Melchizedek. Melchizedek, the word Melchizedek,
it means king of righteousness. That was his name, but it was
also his title. Melchizedek, the king of righteousness, but
he was also the king of Salem. There was a city, it seems, called
Salem, and this man, Melchizedek, was the king of that city. And
that is also significant because Salem means peace, doesn't it? I suppose that's why they called
this chapel Salem when they built it. They hoped it would be a
place of peace, a place where the gospel of peace would be
preached. But here is this Melchizedek. And he comes to meet Abraham
as Abraham returns from that battle. And what does he bring
with him to give to Abraham? Well, he brings bread and wine.
As it says in Genesis 14, verse 18, Melchizedek, king of Salem,
brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the
Most High God. And he blessed him. He blesses Abraham, and
Abraham pays tithes to Melchizedek. And you remember the only, I
think the only other time that we read about Melchizedek in
the whole Bible is much later on in the book of Hebrews. And
you remember how Paul there, writing in the book of Hebrews,
he introduces this character Melchizedek. and he starts to
talk about him. There in Hebrews chapter 5 he
quotes from the book of Psalms and he quotes that verse which
is in Psalm 110 verse 4 which is talking about the Lord Jesus
and it says about him, thou art a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. And so he starts to talk about
Melchizedek and you remember we have that little chapter 6
which is almost like a bracketed section Paul starts to talk about
Melchizedek in chapter 5, and then he says, I want to tell
you more about Melchizedek, but it's going to be difficult because
they're hard things to be understood. And then in chapter 7 he comes
back to him. This Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the
Most High God, and he talks about him meeting Abraham, and he talks
about Abraham giving him tithes, and it's a long chapter and there's
quite an involved argument there. But what Paul is ultimately coming
to is this. He's saying that Jesus was not
made a priest after the order of Levi. He is made a priest
after the order of Melchizedek. But the point is that this Melchizedek,
he brings bread and wine. He's a picture of the Lord Jesus,
really. And then you can think of David. You remember how David,
towards the beginning of his reign, He wants to bring the
tabernacle to his capital city, and he wants to bring the Ark
there, and he wants to establish a place to worship God near his
capital. And we read about it in chapter
16 of the first book of Chronicles, how they brought the Ark and
put it in the midst of the tent which David had pitched for it.
And they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And what
do we read about David there? It says that when he had finished
all those things and had blessed the Lord, then it says he blessed
the people in the name of the Lord and he dealt to everyone
of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread and
a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine. It's the same things,
isn't it? Bread and wine as we have set
before us. here in the book of Proverbs,
the same two things that Melchizedek gave to Abraham and of course
the same two things that Jesus gave to his disciples during
that last Passover supper. And we still commemorate that
Passover, don't we? We still commemorate what the
Lord Jesus instituted during that last Passover, the Lord's
Supper, we call it. We come to the Lord's table And
what do we do at the Lord's table where we eat bread and we drink
wine? Eat of my bread, drink of the
wine which I have mingled. And we know what those things
represent. Caused by the bread, we have set before us the body
of the Lord Jesus. And you're familiar with the
account how Jesus As they eat of that last Passover, it says
in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break
it and gave to the disciples and said, take eat. This is my
body. This is my body. It represents
my body. It's a picture of my body. And
then he took the cup and it would have been a cup of wine. And
he gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of
it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed
for many for the remission of sins. Bread and wine is set before
his disciples in the Lord's Supper, and it speaks to us of the Lord
Jesus as the bread of life, doesn't it? I am the bread of life, he
says. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh. which I will give for the life of the world." Bread
and wine, they really represent the Gospel, don't they? When
Melchizedek came to Abraham with bread and wine, it was a picture
of the Gospel. It's a picture of the rest and
the refreshment and the nourishment that there is in the Gospel.
And when David distributes bread and wine to the people after
they bring the ark into the tabernacle, Again, it's a picture of what
Christ gives in the Gospel. And when we come to the Lord's
table and we eat that bread and we drink that wine there, it
is again a picture of the refreshment and the rest that there is in
the Gospel. And so I want to come to this
fifth verse and to think about what it tells us about the Gospel. And what we understand about
the Gospel by these words in verse 5, come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine which I have mingled. And the first thing
is this, that it is God's bread. As I say, these are the words
of the Lord Jesus. It's very much the word of God,
isn't it? And it says, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine which I have mingled. The Gospel is God's work. That's why it's called Gospel.
It's God's news, if you like. It's God's message. It comes
straight from Him. There was a parable, wasn't there,
that the Lord Jesus spoke which illustrates this. You remember
that parable of the wedding supper, when a king made a feast for
his son. And it's there in Matthew chapter 22. And it tells us that this king,
he made a feast for his son, a wedding feast. And we're told
in Luke's account of that parable that it was a great feast. But the point is that this king
made that feast himself. He didn't send out an invitation
that said, we're going to have a supper. You all need to bring
your own food with you and we'll eat it together. But the food
was all there, it was all ready. In the parable, what was the
message that was sent out by the servants? It was this message,
come, all things are ready, all things are ready, the feast is
already there, it's already prepared, it's not something that they
have to bring their own contribution to. It's not like a kind of meal
that we might sometimes organise where everyone brings their own
contribution and the food is all shared. But this food is
all ready, it's all prepared before anyone even comes to the
feast. And it is prepared by God. You remember how Solomon talks
about the work of God in the book of Ecclesiastes, how does
he describe it? He says, I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it. Nothing
can be added to it. Nor anything taken from it. And
God doeth it that men should fear before him. And that's certainly
true of the Gospel, isn't it? What do we bring to the Gospel?
What is it that we bring with us when we come to the Lord Jesus
for forgiveness and salvation? We don't bring anything. We don't
bring anything. We come empty-handed there. They're
well-known words, aren't they, in the hymn, Nothing in my hand
I bring. And we often sing the words,
but it's a hard thing to do that, isn't it? It's not an easy thing
to do that. Naturally speaking, we want to
bring something with us. We want to bring something with
us that we can hold up and say, well, I deserve. I deserve to
be blessed because of this thing that I've done or this life that
I've lived or these things that I've believed or these hymns
that I've sung. And we have to learn, don't we,
to come empty-handed, not to try and add anything to this
feast, not to bring our own bread or our own wine to it, but to
come with nothing. It is God's work. to lay out
this feast, and to set it before us. Eat of my bread, and drink
of the wine which I have mingled. That's the first thing. And then
secondly, we get the idea that this feast is a very plentiful
feast. Why do I say that? Well, I say
that because of what is in verse 3 of this chapter, and what it
says in verses 2 and 3 of the previous chapter. Here is wisdom
going forth with this message about this great feast. And where
does wisdom go? Well, chapter 8, verse 2, she
stands in the top of high places, by the way, in the places of
the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city,
at the coming in of the doors. And here in chapter 9, verse
3, It talks about her again crying on the high places of the city. What's the picture? What does
it set before us? Well, this message is not just
a message that is privately communicated to one or two people. It's not
that this feast is just sufficient for one or two extras, and wisdom
is just sending these private invitations to gather in those
one or two to eat of the feast, but the picture is of a great
feast. of a feast which is so widely
advertised, if you like, so widely spoken of in places where many
people would hear it. The top of high places, by the
way, in the places of the paths, at the gates, at the entry of
the city, these are places where people would naturally congregate,
wouldn't they? The equivalent today, I suppose,
would be going to somewhere like Trafalgar Square or Piccadilly
Circus and shouting out that there was this great feast prepared
Well, if you're going to do that, you need to be ready, don't you? You can't just pull together
a few sandwiches and then go and shout about a great feast
like that. It's a plentiful feast. It's a great supper. Again, that's
how Luke speaks of that parable. In Luke chapter 14, this man,
he makes a great supper. And that's how it's described,
a great supper. And bade many. It was not just
a few people that were going to be coming to eat of this,
but it was a great company, a great supper. It's a plentiful supply. What
does it set before us? It sets before us the fullness
that there is in the Lord Jesus. There's a hymn that talks about
that, isn't there? Hymn 1044 in Gatsby's hymn book, it says
there's a fullness. It talks about Jesus' fullness
and it says, "...water from salvation's wells, thirsty sinner come and
draw. Grace in Jesus' fullness dwells
more than men or angels know." It's a feast which is so full. There's such a sufficiency here. Eat of my bread, drink of the
wine which I have mingled. And isn't that why the Lord Jesus
is able to use that little word, whosoever? He does it so often,
doesn't he? He does it when he talks to Nicodemus
in John chapter 3. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish. He keeps repeating this little word, whosoever.
Again in chapter 6, when he's talking about himself as the
bread of life, He says, if any man eat of this bread, he shall
live forever. What does it tell us about the
Gospel? It tells us that there is a great sufficiency in it,
that there's a great fullness in it. And Jesus, when he goes with
the message of the Gospel, who does he go to? He goes to the
publicans and the sinners, doesn't he? He goes to those who men
would look down on. And the Pharisees, they criticised
him for it, didn't they? They said, well, Come with a
message of grace, if you like, but come to good people with
it. Come to people like us. Don't
go to the publicans and sinners. But Jesus says, no, my message
is for them, though they are far off, though they are like
that prodigal son who's there in the far country. He says,
they're not too far off to taste of my salvation. And so when
he leaves his disciples, what does he say? Go ye therefore
and teach all nations. He doesn't say just go to this
kind of person or that kind of person, but he says go and teach
all nations because this feast is a great supper, a plentiful
supply. That's the second thing. It's
not just a small feast. It's a great feast. It's a feast
that is spoken of in high places. at the gates, at the entry of
the city, at the coming in of the doors. It's a plentiful feast. And then,
thirdly, what's the third thing about this feast? Well, it's
free, isn't it? There's no indication that these
people are encouraged to bring anything to pay for it. It just says, come eat, come
drink. He doesn't say, well, come with
your contributions, come with whatever you can scrape together
and I'll decide whether to give you this bread and to give you
this wine. But it is free. Again, remember
the well-known words of Isaiah. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money It doesn't
say, he that hath a little bit of money or he that has a lot
of money. It says, he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat.
Ye come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Here
is a feast that is free. It doesn't have to be paid for.
It doesn't have to be bought. It's given to those who have
nothing. can't be earned, can't be paid
for. It would be an insult, really,
to try and pay for it. It would be, wouldn't it, if
you think, for example, if our king was to freely invite people
to a feast in his palace. If he was to say, well, you just
come and I'll give you bread and I'll give you wine, you don't
need to bring anything. Well, if someone was to turn
up and say, well, I'd like to make some kind of contribution if
I can, it would be an insult to him. It is an act of pride to even
try and prep to pay for this. That's not how this feast comes,
it's not how it works. You think of that other parable
that the Lord Jesus spoke. You remember that man with his
10,000 talent debt, there at the end of Matthew chapter 18. What happened to him? Well, he's
brought before his Lord and his Lord commands him to be sold. He says, well, if you can't pay,
I'm going to sell you and your wife and your children and everything
that you possess and payment will be made out of that. And
the servant falls down and worships him. And he doesn't ask her,
he doesn't really ask for what he should ask for, does he? He
says, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. He
doesn't ask for forgiveness, but he asks just for a bit more
time. We can be like that, can't we?
Have you ever prayed a prayer like that? Perhaps when you first
became conscious of your sin, Isn't it so natural for us that
we come to the Lord in our prayers and we say, well, just give me
a bit more time. I'll do better tomorrow. I'll make up for it.
That's how that servant comes. He asks for a bit more time,
but he receives far more than that, doesn't he? Because the
Lord of that servant is moved with compassion and he forgave
him the debt. He just wiped it out. That great
10,000 talent debt is just wiped away. There's nothing to pay.
There's something so free about it. Come eat of my bread, drink
of the wine which I have mingled. Again, this was what was so offensive
to the Pharisees, wasn't it? This is why they murmured when
they saw the publicans and sinners coming to eat and drink with
the Lord Jesus. This is why they criticised him
for going to the publicans and sinners with this message. Why did it upset them so much?
Well, it upset them because it put them on the same level as
the publicans, didn't it? When Jesus came and he said,
you know, this gospel is so free, it's given to those who are so
undeserving, the Pharisees said, well, that means that all of
our works aren't really worth anything. If this salvation is
to be given to the publicans and sinners just in the same
way as it's given to us, you're saying that we're the same as
they are. And that was what offended them, wasn't it? They said, well,
surely we must be better off than those publicans and sinners.
Haven't you seen the kinds of lives that we've been living?
Haven't you seen how closely we keep the traditions that our
forefathers gave us? And they said, well, surely this
must be worth something. And Jesus says, it's not worth
anything. You are exactly in the same place as the publicans
and sinners. You need the same gospel as they need. You need the same forgiveness
as they need. And because they're so proud,
they reject that message, don't they? If Jesus had come and said to
them, well, you Pharisees, you've been doing a good job of keeping
all those traditions, you carry on in that way, and God will
be pleased with you, and no doubt he'll forgive any mistakes that
there might have been, they would have loved that kind of message.
But when Jesus comes to them and says, you know, you Pharisees,
you need to be born again. Just the same as the Gentiles
do. Just the same as the publicans do. Accept a man, be born again. He cannot enter into the kingdom
of God, even if he is a Pharisee. Even if he's been brought up
in the sect of the Pharisees. Doesn't make any difference.
Accept a man, be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. And the Pharisees and the Jews, they say, well, that doesn't
seem right. They say, this is not the kind
of message that we were expecting, this is not the kind of Christ
that we hoped for. They didn't like it, it was too
free for them. You remember the parable of the
Lord Jesus spoke about the camel and the needle's eye. Why can't
the camel go through the needle's eye? Not because the camel doesn't
have enough, it's because the camel has too much. And why could the Pharisees not
receive the message that Christ came with? Not because they didn't
have enough, but because they had too much. They thought they
were wise, they thought they saw, they thought they understood.
And so this message of bread and wine for the simple, and
for those who lacked understanding, they said, well it's not for
us, not the kind of message we wanted. Too free for them. Come eat of
my bread, drink of the wine which I have mingled. And then fourthly,
and finally, it's a message of life, isn't it? Look at what
it says in verse 6. Forsake the foolish and live. This is a feast that gives life. Forsake the foolish and live
and go in the way of understanding. There is life here. Again, remember
the words of the Lord Jesus. There in John chapter 6, he's
been talking about himself as the bread of life, hasn't he?
He's just fed the 5,000 with those five loaves and two fishes. And when the people come and
ask for another miracle, another sign, he says, no, I'm not doing
that. And he turns the conversation
to the bread that has come down from heaven. I am the living
bread, he says, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst, the
bread of life, the bread that gives life. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." And
he says to the Jews when they strove among themselves, they
said, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? He said, I
say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you. This is the only
message. that gives life, the only person who gives life, the
only bread that gives life, the only wine which gives life. Here
is life for the dead. Again, how the hymn writers,
they love to sing of it like that, don't they, and to speak
of it like that. When they talk about the Gospel, how do they
describe it? Joseph Hart says that this Gospel
is strength for the weakly, health for the sickly, life for the
dead. This fountain, unsealed, stands
open for all that long to be healed, the great and the small,
life for the dead. Forsake the foolish and live
and go in the way of understanding. Come eat of my bread, drink of
the wine which I have mingled, It is God's bread. He has prepared
it. Again, remember the words in
the parable, all things are now ready, nothing to be added to
it. And when Paul preaches, what does he preach about? He preaches
about a gospel which is ready, which is complete. You look at him there in Antioch,
there in Acts chapter 13, He doesn't come to those Jews
and say, well, here's what you need to do to finish off that
salvation. He doesn't say, here's what you
need to bring to it. He just says, men and brethren,
children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth
God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. We declare unto
you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the
fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children.
Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And
by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which he
could not be justified by the law of Moses. All things are
now ready. It's a great supper. It's a finished
supper. It's God's supper. My bread,
the wine which I have mingled, there is a plentiful supply here,
a fullness in Christ. Wisdom cries on the highest places
of the city. It is plentiful, it is free.
Come eat, come drink, without money, without price. And it
is the bread of life. Forsake the foolish and live.
This is what wisdom speaks of. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
comes to speak of unto men, unto people like you and I. And to
you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple
understand wisdom, ye fools be of an understanding heart. Hear,
for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my
lips shall be right things." This is what is set before us
in the Gospel. This is what Paul set before
those Jews in Antioch. And he warned them, didn't he?
And we see how necessary that warning was Beware therefore,
he says, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the
prophets. Behold, ye despise us and wonder and perish, for
I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe,
though a man declare it unto you." And ultimately we see the
Jews murmuring, filled with envy, speaking against those things
which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. And Paul and
Barnabas have to speak very boldly to them, don't they? It was necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you. But
seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." It's all there,
isn't it? In the parable. Here is the great feast, it's
all prepared. The servant is sent at supper time to say to
them that were bidden, come, for all things are now ready.
It speaks of the message of God to the Jews by the prophets of
the Old Testament. Come, for all things are now
ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. And so the Lord sends out his
servant again into the streets and lanes of the city. Again,
it's the same idea, isn't it? The high places, the places of
the past, the gates, the entry of the city, the coming in at
the doors. The servant is sent out quickly. 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 has commanded, and yet there
is room. He comes back, he says, well,
I've gathered some together, but the house has still got some
space in it. And the Lord sends him out again,
go out again, compel them to come in, that my house may be
filled. He wants his house to be filled. Forsake the foolish and live. That was what happened to the
Gentiles, wasn't it? Through the message that the
Lord Jesus spoke. Through the message that the apostle came
with, there was a turning, a turning to God from idols into the way
of life, into the way of understanding. And there was a coming, and there
was an eating and a drinking. Whoso is simple, let him turn
in hither. As for him that wanteth understanding,
she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, drink of the wine which
I have mingled. Forsake the foolish and live."
Well, may God come to us with this same message, bring us to
this great feast which He has prepared, this plentiful feast,
this free feast, this feast of life. And may we coming eat of
this bread, drink of this wine, and know this life that is set
before us here. Forsake the foolish and live
and go in the way of understanding. May God bless His Word to us.
Amen. We're going to sing as our closing
hymn. Hymn number 1006. Tune is number
284. And here the hymn writer speaks of Christ as the wisdom of God,
doesn't he, in verse 1? And then again in verse 5. Hymn
1006, buried in shadows of the night, we lie till Christ restores
the light. Wisdom descends to heal the blind
and chase the darkness of the mind. And then in verse 5, poor
helpless worms, in thee possess grace, wisdom, power and righteousness. Thou art our mighty Lord, may
we give our whole selves, O Lord, to Thee. The hymn number 1006,
the tune number 284.