Do ask your prayers as I preached
to you this morning. After much labor in another place,
the Lord had moved me to this text of Scripture and I pray
that it would be a blessing to us. Luke chapter 14, our text
will be found in verse 16. And 17, he said, then said he,
Christ unto him, a certain man made a great supper and bade
many and sent his servants at supper time to say unto them
that were bidden, come for all things are now ready. Here in this chapter, our Lord
Jesus Christ was invited to a chief Pharisee's house to eat. It was on the Sabbath day. And
these men, these Pharisees that had invited the Lord, did not
invite Him out of faith in Him. They did not believe Him to be
the Christ. But matter of fact, in verse
1, it tells us their reason for inviting our Lord Jesus. It says,
And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the
chief Pharisees to set to eat bread on the Sabbath day, notice
this, that they watched him. They watched him. In other words,
they were looking for a excuse. They were looking for something
that he would do so that they might catch him. So that they
might accuse him of disobedience to the law of God. This is not
something new in the ministry of the Lord. Go back to Luke
chapter 6. Look at this. This is what they have done his
whole ministry. The whole ministry of the Lord
was spent with these men trying to catch him. In Luke chapter 6 and verse 6,
and it came to pass also on another Sabbath that he entered into
the synagogue and taught. And there was a man whose right
hand was withered." See, this is another picture of the gospel.
This man whose right hand was withered. What is the right hand
but that speaking of power? We by nature have the withered
power. We have no power to come to God. We have no power to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
healed this man with the withered hand. The scribes and Pharisees
watched whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day. For what
reason? That they might find an accusation
against him. Go over to verse chapter 11.
Chapter 11. in verse 53. And as he said these things unto
them, the scribes and Pharisees began to urge or criticize him
vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying
weight for him. and seeking to catch something
out of his mouth that they might accuse him. And this was no different. These men invited the Lord for
what? To trap him. To trap him. Over in Psalm 37, the Lord prophesies
of these men through the psalmist. It says in Psalm 37, 32, the
wicked watcheth the righteous. For what reason? And seeketh
to slay him. That's what they were trying
to do. They were trying to slay his character. They were trying
to feign his name for disobedience to the law. These men in Psalm
62, these are men that bless with their mouth, but curse inwardly. Believers, listen to me. I'm
warning you. If the world speaks well of you,
you should beware. If the world speaks well of your
gospel, of your Christ, then something is wrong. Remember
that the Lord the world hated Him. And He has promised us this,
it will also hate you. So when the world speaks well
of us, know this, that they are lying in wait to catch us. I've had many people come in
and pretend to love the gospel so as they might listen and catch
something. Catch something that I say. I'll
tell you this, I do make many errors. There's no doubt about
that. So if you want to catch me in
something, you might not take very long to do it. But I'll
tell you what, the Lord and His gospel, you won't catch anything
wrong with His Word. You won't catch anything wrong
with His Word. These men they blessed with their mouths, but
inwardly they cursed. These men, no doubt, saith a
man in front of him. Look what they did in verse 2.
And behold, there was a certain man before him which had the
dropsy. They put this ill man before
the Lord, knowing. Isn't this something? They knew
that the Lord Jesus Christ would heal this man. They knew he would
have compassion. And they would seek again to
catch him by healing on the Sabbath day. But I like this. The Lord asked them the question
that they were trying to catch him in. He says this, Is it lawful
to heal on the Sabbath day? And notice this, they didn't
answer. They didn't answer. Why? They wanted to catch him.
They wanted to trip him. So they didn't answer him. They
held their peace. And he took him and healed him and let him
go. And then the Lord shut their mouths with this. He said, Which
of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will
not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day? Our Lord
puts forth to these self-righteous men He puts them to silence and
heals this man. And he asked them a very simple
question, which of you would not have compassion on your donkey
or your ox that had fallen into a ditch? If your ox or your ass
had fallen into a ditch on the Sabbath day, would you not be
moved with compassion as he kicks and stirs and moans and bellows
to be pulled out of the pit? Would you not have compassion
on him? Well, of course you would. He knew they would have compassion
on their ox or their ass because those animals benefited them. Really they were having compassion
on themselves. But what was their benefit in
healing this man? See, they found no benefit in
healing this man. They found no benefit in having
compassion on this man. Matter of fact, they just used
him. They used him to try to trip up our Lord. But our Lord
puts them to silence of here. These men knew that they would
do that to their beasts. that they would have compassion
but they would not have compassion on this man the word of God tells
us in verse 6 he said that they could not answer him again to
these things I'm sure they wanted to I'm sure that they were angry
with what the Lord did I'm sure that they were angry that he
had trapped them so much that they couldn't say a word against
him I'm sure they despised him having
mercy because their lack of mercy and compassion was exposed. And
I'll tell you, even so it is with all self-righteous men who
suppose themselves to be holy by their own obedience to the
law or to traditions of men. Man by nature truly is a religious
creature. Man by nature supposes God to
be much like themselves. They suppose God to accept their
religious deeds, to accept their self-denial and their best efforts. I'll ask you, is this your thought
of God? Do you suppose God will accept
your best efforts? Your best deeds? Your obedience
to the law? Are these your things, the things
that you trust in? Well, let's see what God says
about our works, about our deeds. If you go to Romans chapter 3,
the apostle quoting the psalmist says this, Romans 3 and verse
10, as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. How often today do you think
men just suppose the gospel is something easy to be understood? Matter of fact, the Apostle Paul
in 1 Corinthians 2 calls it a mystery, a hidden mystery. People today
just suppose everybody knows the gospel, everybody knows about
the Lord Jesus Christ, everybody understands about that. Well,
God says no man understandeth. No man understandeth. There's
none that seeketh after God. Don't men today suppose that
just everybody's seeking God? God tells me in His book that
no one's seeking Him by nature. No one. They are all gone out
of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. What's the conclusion of this?
Why are you telling me this? There's none good. You're not
good. You're not righteous. I didn't say it, God said it. And what's the conclusion of
this? Verse 20 in Romans 3, Therefore by the deeds of the law, listen
to me, no flesh shall be justified in his sight. This is the conclusion
of the matter. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. Sinners. Oh sinners, see there's no salvation
in the obedience to the law. You want to know what the law
is meant for? The law is meant to do exactly what the Lord Jesus
Christ did in this Pharisees house. It is meant to shut our
mouths. That's what it's meant to do.
The law of God only exposes what we are by nature. That's what
the law does. If you expect the law to save
you, you'll be sadly mistaken. There shall no flesh by the obedience
of the law be justified in His sight. It doesn't matter how
holy men think they are. God says you're not. By nature
we are not holy. The law is meant to show our
guilt, not save our souls. Our sin is manifest by the law. You see, the law says, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy strength,
with all thy soul, with all thy might. Have you done that? We have not even come close.
Talk about missing the mark. Friends, we were not born neutral. We were born haters of God. Now you can despise that and
you can kick at that, men can curse at that, but that's just
so. That's just true according to
the Word of God. We were born dead in sins and
trespasses and were by nature haters of God even as others. We were born dead. Our hearts
and minds and souls were corrupt and full of sin from the beginning. Jesus said this in John chapter
3. People like to quote that. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. He said I came not into
the world to condemn the world but that the world through me
should be saved. He said and this is the condemnation
This is the condemnation. That light is coming to the world
and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. Now listen to what Christ said.
Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. Oh, how that destroys
all works religion. Have you done evil? Have you sinned against God?
Then Christ said, You hate the light. You hate the light. Neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be examined, reproved, and exposed. Exposed. All self-righteous men
hate the light of the gospel because it exposes them for what
they really are. Sinners. Sinners. It exposes that all their works,
all their will, all their righteous deeds are nothing but putrid,
filthy rags before the eyes of a holy God. Now here some may be so bold
as to object. Well, how do you know my heart?
Some will say, well, I love God. How dare you tell me I don't
love God? You can't see my heart. Okay,
I can't. That's true enough. But I'll tell you this, all who
love God with all their heart will also love their neighbor
as their self. Isn't that what the Lord did
to that lawyer? That lawyer, go, it's over in Luke chapter
10. Look at this in Luke chapter
10, what the Lord did to this lawyer. Luke chapter 10 and verse 25. It says, Behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? And the Lord, knowing his heart,
he said, What is written in the law? How readest thou? He answered,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor
as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast
answered right. Do this, and thou shalt live. Now notice what he did. And he,
willing to justify himself, said, Who is my neighbor? See, he knew
that no one could see his heart about his love for God. This
man was outwardly, looks good, he looks religious, he looks
obedient, everything looks good. So when he says he loves God,
people take it for granted. Okay, you love God. Looks like
you do. But what does he use? He said,
Oh, what about my neighbor? And Jesus gives him the parable
of the good Samaritan. He said, you go do that. You
love your enemies. You love your enemies and treat
them like you'd treat yourself. Let me ask you this, have you
ever hated? Has that hatred ever come up in your heart? And I
tell you, it's as evil as murder in the eyes of God. Have you ever lusted? Have you
ever coveted or wanted something that someone else had that you
didn't have? You have not loved your neighbor
as yourself. And I tell you, if you have not
loved man that you see, how do you say you can love God whom
you've not seen? It's obvious, the answer is obvious,
that we haven't loved God and we haven't loved our neighbor
as ourself. We have totally ruined and fallen. We are totally ruined
by nature and fallen. This is obvious. Does this not
shut your mouth? Shuts my mouth. The law completely exposes me
to be guilty before God. It exposes me to be all full
of sin, corrupt. Is there anyone here who has
been silenced by the law of God, who's become guilty? Well, if you have, then I have
a message of hope for you. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
shut their mouths and leave them. That's good news, isn't it? He
could have shut their mouths, turned out and walked away and
never spoken another word to them. But He did. He did speak
another word. And this is the word that He
spoke. A gospel message. Here in verse 16, He gives them
a parable. A gospel message in a parable. And it's not hard to understand.
Everyone here can understand this. He said a certain man made
a great supper. and bade many." Is that not easy
to understand? He was sitting at a supper. Everybody
could look around. This Pharisee was a chief man. He was a rich man. He had bade
many. This supper table, I imagine,
was his house was packed full of people. I imagine it was a
very expensive supper, don't you? And there the Lord Jesus
Christ was sitting and He said, I'm going to give you a parable
that you can see, that you can understand. He said, there's
a certain man And this man made a big supper,
and then what did he do? He sent his servants at suppertime
to say to them that were bidding come, for all things are now
ready. Now we know this, that this certain
man was rich because of the size and value of the supper. Look
at that. He made a great supper and bade many. Now I'll tell
you what, I can make a good steak. But I tell you what, I couldn't
make a great supper. You put my steak up against a
steak you'd probably have at Ruth Chris, you know, the real
expensive places, and there'd be no comparison. The value of
that steak would be ten times mine. And I tell you, I can make
steak for you all, but I probably couldn't make steak for much
more. You know, I'd probably invite maybe five or ten people
over to my house, but man, I can't afford much else. I can't afford
many more people. This guy was rich! The Lord was
explaining this parable that there was a certain man, he made
a supper for many, many, and he made it all ready, so nobody
had to bring anything. You know, we always ask that
when somebody invites us over to their house, what do you want
me to bring? Because we know we have limited resources. We want to help out. But this
supper that this man said, no, you don't bring anything to this
supper. It's a great supper. It's for
many. And it's all ready. Can you understand
that? Is that hard to understand that
story? Not hard to understand at all. This is the gospel. This is the gospel. The certain
man, the rich certain man is God. God. This certain man pictures God,
for God is a great God. He is a rich God. He is the creator of all things. Our God is in the heavens, the
scripture says, and hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Oh, that men would see God as
he is, sovereign, that men would bow to God. that he is the ruler
of all things, and all things move according to the counsel
of his own will. I believe we as believers in
Christ fear too much. Is that not so? Do we not fear
too much? Yeah, we do. Are we not too taken
in by the things of this world and the circumstances of time?
If we would just by God's grace see that our God is ruling over
all things and nothing happens by accident but on purpose. God is sovereign. Let all who
trust in Christ find great comfort in this truth that divine providence
is just the fulfillment of God's divine purpose. Providence is the fulfillment
of divine purpose. Our God has from eternity purposed
to save many. Just as this man purposed to
bid many, even so has our Father purposed to save many sons. Isn't that what the scripture
says? To bring many sons unto glory? Can you count the stars? I tell you there'll be more saints
in glory than there are stars in the heavens. Can you count
the sands of the sea? I tell you there'll be just as
many saints in glory. Many sons. And these sons are given names
in Scripture. They are called the elect, the
redeemed. They are the called ones. Paul says all things work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to the purpose God for whom he did foreknow he did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son That he should be
the firstborn of listen many brethren Many brethren the Lord
has made many this supper is great. I Tell you election is
great It's many These who are called are those called by God
on purpose. He purposed to save them to conform
them to the image of His Son. These are called the elect by
Jesus Christ. In Mark 13, 27, He said He would
send His angels to gather His elect from the four winds of
the earth. His elect. these are the same ones that
Jesus speaks of in John chapter 6 when he said all that the father
giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will
in no way no wise cast out behold that God has an elect
people that he has chosen in Christ, given to Christ to be
their surety, their mediator of his eternal covenant of grace
and therefore he has purposed that they be redeemed by Jesus
Christ. See that God has made a great
supper and this supper God is the certain man who made the
supper. He made it for His people. He
made it for those He has chosen, those He has redeemed, and those
He has called. But the same One who purposed
the supper also made the supper by sending His only Son. This is the supper. This is the
feast that's so great. It's of great value. Consider
the greatness of the value of this supper. The supper of salvation. Because God has an elect people
that He would save from Adam's fallen and sinful race. God who
chose us in Christ also decreed that Jesus should be our Redeemer. Our Redeemer. Therefore, Jesus
was from eternity as a lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. Consider that God, before He sent Abraham to offer His
Son, had already prepared that ram. Isn't that so? Did He not
raise that ram up for that purpose? Now that ram was born years before
that God told Abraham to go up Mount Moriah and offer His Son.
And by his faith, Abraham believed God. He said, Son, God will provide
himself a lamb. Is that not what God did? God
had already provided himself a lamb, which is Jesus Christ. O sinner, you who only deserve the wrath
of God, listen to me. God has made a feast. You who deserve only the vengeance
of God, who are unable to please God, behold, that God has made
a supper and prepared for Himself a Lamb, an offering for sin,
to satisfy His holy justice. Isn't that something that God
says, Come, I have already provided Myself a Lamb to satisfy My justice,
that you offended, You have offended the justice of God, the holiness
of God. And God says, I've provided a
sacrifice for myself so that you may come into my presence. This is why Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, was made flesh. Consider the great condescension
that He was to be made bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. Consider his great suffering,
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made of himself no reputation, but took on him
the form of a servant, and being found in the likeness, the fashion,
the nature of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." Behold the love of God,
that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. I love my son. But if I were to give my son
to you, it would do you no good. My son is a sinner just like
his father. But I tell you, God gave His
Son. He gave His Son to suffer under
the holy vengeance of God. He made His Son who was righteous. He made Him to be sin for us. And the Scripture was fulfilled,
Awake, O sword, and smite my shepherd, the man that is my
fellow. And I tell you, God poured out
His vengeance. The justice that we deserve,
God poured on His Son. Daniel says this, 70 weeks are
determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city. To do what? To finish the transgression.
To make an end of sin. To make reconciliation for the
iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness. to seal up the
vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Is this not what
Christ did? He made an end of transgression. He finished the transgression.
He made an end of sins. He reconciled us to God by His
death, by His blood. And God sealed up the book. You see, every picture in the
Old Testament points us to Jesus Christ. And I tell you, God has anointed
His Most Holy. Jesus Christ is risen from the
dead, and this shows us God was pleased with His sacrifice. Jesus says, after the justice
of God was satisfied, He said, it is finished. Is that not what it is? When
He says, come, all things are ready. Come, it is finished. Work no more. Try not to please
God by your works and your obedience. Come to God by Christ, all things
are ready. God's already accepted His Son,
already accepted His sacrifice. Come and feast on Christ by faith. This is what God is telling us
in the Gospel. Come, all things are ready. Salvation is complete. Come now
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Is this not the Gospel? This is the message of God through
the entire book. And I tell you, by the authority
of the Word of God, you should come empty. For you to bring anything would
be an insult to His sacrifice. Come empty, for all things are
ready. Don't come to Christ with any
merit of your own. Don't come with any self-righteousness
or religious exercise. O sinner, come as you are. Come
vile, come full of sin, seeking only mercy. Come and bow down at the feet
of Jesus Christ. To bring anything is to do despite
to the Spirit of grace. Hebrews 10 29 he says of much
sore punished suppose ye shall be thought worthy who hath trodden
underfoot the Son of God and had counted the blood of the
covenant wherewith he had sanctified an unholy thing and hath done
despite to the Spirit of grace friends to bring anything with
you when you come to Christ is to spit on the sacrifice of Christ. It's to say that his blood is
not enough. His blood's not enough. And I
tell you, you must come empty in that you must leave this world. When the Lord bid some, you see
this, they began to make excuses, many of them. They said, well,
I've got a plot of ground. I haven't seen it, but I've got
a plot of ground. I'm going to go look at it. I
don't want your supper. Another man said, well, I've
got some oxen I bought, but they haven't been tried yet, but I'm
going to go get them anyway. I think they're better than yours,
than your supper. One man said, I've got a wife. Friends, to come to Christ, you
must come empty of yourself, and you must leave your sin at
the door. You must leave the things of this life. Jesus,
at the end of this, tells us this, If any man come to me,
and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, and yea, his own life also. Listen to this. He cannot be
my disciple. Did you hear that? To come to this supper is to
freely come. Come freely. Come now. All is
ready. Come to Christ. Believe on Him.
But I tell you this, you cannot have Christ in this world. You cannot have Christ in your
sin. It will either be Christ or nothing
at all. You see, to come to Christ is
to bow down to Him as Lord. I pray you sinners should come.
And if you have come, when have we not stopped coming? When have
we not stopped? When do we stop feasting? Never!
Never! We feast on Him by faith daily. Daily. And you know what? I enjoy
it. I love it. It's the only hope for my soul. It's the only joy of my life.
Everything else is fleeting away. But Christ is my foundation. Christ is my hope. Christ is
my all. All's ready. And I tell you,
it's ready to be revealed, isn't it? I've not yet experienced
all that God has for me. And I won't experience it in
this world. But I tell you this, He will bring me to Himself.
He's promised. And I trust Him. I pray God blesses.