Luke chapter 14, we'll be looking
at verses 15 through 24 this evening. Luke chapter 14, verses
15 through 24. The title of the message tonight
is God's Great Supper. God's Great Supper. Before we go through this verse,
I want us to give us a little background as to what's going
on here before we come up to our text. The Lord Jesus Christ
in this place had been invited to one of the chief Pharisees'
house for supper. He was invited not because they
wished to honor Him, not because they wished to recognize Him
as Messiah. They invited Him so that they
might catch Him, so that they might trip Him up in some way
and disprove his deity or his office of the Christ. Look at
that in verse 1. And it came to pass as he went
into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread
on the Sabbath day, notice this, that they watched him. Now the
Lord of glory had come down and was eating in this man's house
and they watched him. Not that they would honor him,
not that they would glorify him, but that they would try to deceive
him or to try to trip him up. And so what happened is there
was a man in this supper who had the dropsy. The dropsy. Now, from what I understand about
the dropsy, it means a gathering of waters, is what it literally
means. But it has reference to either one of two things, and
both things are pictures seen well. One of them is a tumor. It's a tumor either in the stomach
region or one of the appendages. And it gathers water so that
that body part is disproportional to all other parts of the body.
It becomes so swollen that it's disproportionate. And it looks
deformed. This man looked deformed. Or the dropsy means an uncontrollable
diarrhea. Uncontrollable. This man had
an illness and this was not something that was occasional. This was
something that he lived with until he died. This was a debilitating
disease. And both of these things may
be true. Both of these things may be true of the dropsy. But whatever this case was, it
was a desperate case. And this man, this man had a
dire need. He had a desperate need. Now this man, whether he was
a friend of the host or whether he was sent by the Pharisees
to trip up the Lord, I don't know. It doesn't say. I prefer
to see it as they, and when they said they watched him, and then
you see this man with the dropsy, I think that they planted this
man in there. I don't think they wanted this man in there. They
were not ones to have compassion on people. Legalists never have
compassion on people. And so I'm assuming that this
man was there to trip up the Lord Jesus. But we know this,
that even the wicked works of men shall never hinder the Lord
from doing what He wills to do. Never. You see, they wanted to
trip Him up, but the Lord wanted to heal. The Lord came to that
feast not to be honored by them, but He came for this one man. He came for this one man. To
heal this man. And He did. He healed this man. And as He healed him, He silenced
these men. He silenced them. Look at that
in verse 4. And they held their peace. He
says, it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath day. And they held
their peace. And then He gave them that response that He gave
in Matthew chapter 12 about the ox in the pit. He said, you got
an ox in the pit and you won't get it out on the Sabbath day?
I know you do. What could they say? Isn't a
man better than an ox? Of course he is. And he said
to that man, you're healed, and he was healed. You see, the dropsy
is a type of sin, isn't it? It's a picture of sin. We in
the nostrils of God stink. Our good works, the Scripture
says, are as filthy rags. That's the best we can do. Not
the worst. That's the best. are as filthy
rags before God. And as Jesus healed this man
of the dropsy, I know this, Jesus heals sinners. Jesus saves sinners. Jesus forgives sin. Jesus is a God of mercy. A God of mercy. All Christ's purpose to do in
saving this man, He did. And when He purposes to give
life to a sinner, He will give life to a sinner. And who will
stay His hand or say, what doest thou? No one. When Christ wants
to save, He will save. He will save. And we who believe
on Christ, we know His saving power. We have been given forgiveness
of sins. We have been given righteousness.
We've been given eternal life. And I'll tell you this, we that
believe, we are not ashamed of His Gospel. I'll tell you what,
I bet that man who was healed of the drops, he was not ashamed.
I bet he was not ashamed of Christ. Although everyone else was. Although
everyone wanted to... That man didn't. That man didn't. He was healed. And we're not
ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And this is the purpose of the
message before us tonight, is the gospel, the gospel of Jesus
Christ. The Lord came into this place,
He healed this man, and then He began to talk about humility.
Was that not the gospel? Is that not the gospel? Humility,
abasement of man, exaltation of God. He that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that abases himself shall be exalted. Is that not the gospel? Yes.
Christ was all the time preaching the gospel to these people. And in verse 15, we have one
man who sat at meat, he heard these things, and he said, Blessed
is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. This man heard and seen everything
the Lord said. He saw everything the Lord did. And a truer statement he couldn't
make. Blessed is he who eateth bread
in the kingdom of God. Truly, if a sinner is to be saved,
he must abase himself and become unworthy of the gospel. And in
doing that, the Lord exalts him. And he heard this. And this man
was compelled to say something. And he said something that was
true. But I don't know why he said
it, do you? For the life of me, I can't figure out why he said
it. whether he said it in sincerity or whether he said it just to
make light of what the Lord says. Have you ever had that? When
you're talking about the gospel, you're talking about eternal
matters, weighty matters. And all of a sudden, somebody
says some general statement to try to make it all easy. They
try to say something in general that may be true, but they don't
even understand what they said. They're just trying to get you
to lighten up a little bit. Friends, the gospel is a very
weighty matter. It is not a light issue. It is not to be dealt with lightly. The gospel message we preach
is about a holy God. Friend, holiness is not just
something you don't do, it's something you do. God is not
only holy because He doesn't sin, God is holy because He will
punish sin. God is not passive holiness.
God is active holiness. And God will demand of every
man, woman, and child absolute perfection if he is to enter
into the Kingdom of Heaven. That's weighty. That's heavy. When we preach the gospel, we
speak of depravity, man's depravity by nature. That is a weighty
matter. Man is depraved. Man is by nature
a hater of God, a sinner by nature, a sinner by choice. He's hopeless and helpless to
save himself. And when we point men to Christ,
we are serious. Friends, I'm not playing. I point
you to Christ because He's the only hope for your soul. He's
it. There is no other hope. There
is no other gospel but Christ. He is the God of mercy, pardon,
and forgiveness. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Now, is that not a weighty matter?
Absolutely. But instead of believing, some
just want to make light, make a general statement to ease their
conscience. Well, we'll all get to heaven,
and when we get there, it'll be a blessed place. Well, that's
true. It will be a blessed place for
those who get there. For those who are there, that's
true. Let me ask you this. Are you going to be there? Will
you be there? Now, if you're there, that's
a blessed place. That's true. But are you going to be there?
Will you be at the resurrection? Will you stand forever before
God in holiness and perfection? These Jews, they thought they
were a Shueyan because they were Jews. They thought they were automatically
accepted of God because they were Jews. That's not true. And
friends, we are not automatically accepted because of who we are
or who our family is. It doesn't matter who our family
is. It doesn't matter who we are. God is not a respecter of persons. What does Christ say? What is
His purpose? What is His response to this
man? Well, He gives us His parable.
And we're going to look at it tonight. He gives us His parable.
And I want us to break this parable down into four sections. Four
sections. A great supper. A sent servant. A bidding of the guest and the
guests that are bidding. You got all those? I didn't have
nine tonight, so four, I figured it'd be a little easier on four.
Friends, this matter that we're speaking about is none other
than the gospel. First of all, a great supper. Look at this,
verse 16. Then he said unto him, A certain
man made a great supper. A great supper. This supper is the gospel which
God purposed in eternity. God made a great supper of the
gospel of Jesus Christ from all eternity. God made this supper. Ephesians 3 verse 11 says, according
to the eternal purpose. which He purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord." When was this purpose? When did God purpose to have
this supper? He purposed to have this supper in eternity. That's
when God purposed to make this supper. God in eternity, purpose,
salvation, all the completeness and fullness of grace, mercy,
pardon, righteousness, and peace with God through faith in Christ
alone. Do you not see that this message
has always been the same? The message of the gospel has
not changed from eternity. It is the same message God made
in eternity. And in time, God created all
things. God made all things. And when
He began to create, in the beginning, God. When God began to create,
what did He do? He began to reveal to us His
purpose. He created the heavens and the
earth, and the earth was without form and void. Total depravity. And darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And God said, let there be light.
And the Spirit moved on the face of the water. Is that not salvation?
Christ our light? The Spirit of God moving on our
souls? You see, God began this gospel
supper way back when He began to create the world. And through
time, He's given us a little more light. And a little more
light. You go from Genesis to Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges, Ruth. You go through all the Old Testament,
and it gets a little brighter. A little brighter, a little brighter
until Christ comes and the day dawns. God sends forth His great light.
This salvation of God was made by God. It was revealed by God.
And it was commanded of men to come. Look at this. A certain
man made a great supper and bade many. I want you to understand
this word, bade, it does not mean to invite, it means to command. Command. God made a supper and
God commanded. Friends, kings don't ask. Kings
do not ask, they demand. They demand. And God is an absolute
potentate. He is a King, and He demands,
come, I've made a supper. You better come. God commands. Before Christ came
into the world, the Lord God preparing all things, moving
all things toward the coming of Christ, who is the great supper. You know, when they had these
suppers on the Sabbath day, guess what they had for supper? Take
a wild guess. Lamb. Lamb! Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God
and He was purposed by the Father to be the Savior of men. To be the Lamb of the Feast.
And all those people who were before His coming, they looked
forward to it. They were given many precious
promises concerning this feast. Flip over to Isaiah chapter 25.
Look at this promise that those were given before Christ came. Isaiah chapter 25 and verse 6. And Scripture says, And in this
mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast
of fat things, full of marrow, of wine on the leaves, well refined. God had promised a supper. But you know those people in
the Old Testament, they never saw the fulfillment of that promise. They didn't live to see Christ
come into the world. Scripture says in Hebrews 11,
these all died in faith, not having obtained the promise. But now, at the appointed time,
God sent His servant to fulfill all that He purposed. To complete
this promise of a great supper. The salvation of God's elect
people. Friends, the gospel of God's
grace is great. It's great. And if God promised it, what
will stop it? What will stop it? God was to
send His servant and now He has. He made a great feast. A great
supper and bade many, and then, number two, he sent his servant,"
look at verse 17, "...and he sent his servant," singular,
"...at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all
things are now ready." Friends, Jesus Christ, who is
God, equal with the Father and the Spirit, in great grace was
sent as a servant. He became a servant. A servant of God. The servant
of God. The servant of God. Jesus said,
I came not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. He came to do the Father's will.
He humbled himself and became a servant." The Scripture says,
"...who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made of himself no reputation, took upon
himself the form of a servant. And being found in the fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient, even to
the death of the cross." Friends, Jesus Christ humbled
Himself so that He might, as the spotless Lamb of God, redeem
His people from their sins. This was the mission of the servant. It was to please the Father.
It was to honor God's law. It was to do away with sin by
His death on the cross. Jesus, being the servant of God,
was made an high priest of God, and as He offered Himself, as
an offering once for sin, as the Lamb of God, at suppertime,
in the last days. Suppertime is always at the end,
isn't it? It's at the end of the day. Friends, God had made
a great supper in eternity, but now is the end of time. Now is
the end of the ages. This is the dispensation of grace. Christ had been sent. Christ
had been offered. And sin has been satisfied. God's
justice has been satisfied. And sin atoned for. And Jesus
testified to all men and proved Himself to be the Messiah. He proved Himself. By fulfilling
all the Old Testament prophecies. And God made a supper of salvation.
He purposed it in Christ. And friends, Christ accomplished
it. Listen to what He says. Come, all is ready. What's lacking in this supper?
What's missing? What's missing? Christ says nothing. I've done it all. I've done all
that the Father required. I've accomplished salvation.
I have made all things ready. All that Christ lived for and
died for by the will of God, none of them will be lost. And what is God's will? If Christ
came to do God's will, what was it? This is the will of the Father
which has sent Me, that of all He hath given Me, I should lose
nothing. Why? Because He made all things
ready. All things ready. Well, how then
do these people come? If they're commanded to come
of God, how then is it that Christ brings them in? How is it that
they come in to the feast? If there's a great supper of
salvation, if Christ has made all things ready, how then are
men to come in? And this is the Father of will
which has sent me, that whosoever believeth, that seeth the Son,
and believeth on Him, I will raise him up at the last day. It is through faith in the bidding
of the gospel. That's how sinners are saved.
The bidding of the gospel. Number three. The gospel message
is not an invitation, but a command. He sent His servant and made
all things ready, by His righteousness and blood, to say to all that
are bidden, all that are purposed of God, come, for all things
are ready. This is the gospel command to
sinners. Come! God says come! Don't listen to
me. Listen to Him. He says, come. He commands men to come. His
supper is valuable. It's great. It costs Him His
Son. He says, come. Come and feast on the flesh and
blood of Christ. What does that mean? It doesn't
mean anything about the Lord's table. What that means is believe
on Jesus Christ. Rest on Him alone. To you in need of mercy. To sinners
in need of forgiveness before God come. All things are ready. All things are ready. What does that mean? That means
you don't bring anything. That's what it means. You know,
when you normally go over somebody's house, you want to bring a gift,
right? Don't bring gifts to this feast. No gifts will be accepted
at this feast. Matter of fact, if you bring
a gift, if you bring something to this feast, you'll be rejected. You'll be rejected. Remember
that man in Matthew chapter 22, when at the end of the feast
he comes in and he doesn't have a wedding garment? He brought
his own. He brought his own. And the king
comes down and says, friend, where's your wedding garment? And the man was speechless. And
the king said, bind him and cast him out into outer darkness.
Why? He brought his own righteousness.
You don't bring your own righteousness here. You don't bring your own
righteousness. Come without anything. That's
the gospel message. Come without anything. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. And number four, the guests that
were bidden. The guests that were bidden.
There are two groups of guests that are commanded to come. One
group refused and the other group was brought in. First of all,
let's look at those who refused. Verse 18 through 20. It says,
and they all, when He says, come, all things are now ready, and
they with all one's consent began to make excuse. Look at this
first excuse. I have bought a piece of ground
and I must need go and see it." The excuse of worldliness. The
excuse of worldliness. Now let me ask you this, whoever
buys a piece of land that they've never seen, he said he had to
go see it. He had to go see it. Who buys
a piece of property without seeing it? A fool. A fool buys a piece
of property without seeing it. Even so, men seek their happiness
and contentment in the things of this world are fools. Fools. Solomon said, vanity of
vanity, all is vanity. In other words, there's nothing
in happiness, there's no happiness in this world that lasts. Nothing. My dad loves old cars, I've told
you this, he loves them. But I tell you there's not one
of them now that isn't a bucket of rust. He was happy when it
was new, now it's old. And it's not happiness to go
out there and try to scrape the rust off. Nothing lasts in this world.
Yet men by nature want to cling to money and the things of this
life. They want to cling to it. They
want to hang on to it. Excuse me from the gospel. I
don't want to hear the gospel because I've got things to do.
I've got things to tend to. The second excuse was the excuse
of self-righteousness, verse 19. And the other said, I have
bought five yokel boxes And I go to prove them. What kind of person
buys an ox that's not been proven? A fool. An ox that's not been
broken is not going to plow a straight line. They're not! They're not. It has to be broken first. And friends, a man's righteousness
is never proven. It's never proven. Ask a man
who wants to work for his salvation, when is enough enough? When can he prove to anyone,
including himself, that he's done enough? The only place he'll
ever prove his righteousness is standing before God. And God
says, there is no one righteous. No, not one. God says, by the
works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. That
man's a fool. A man of self-righteousness is
a fool. Number three, the excuse of relationships. This man said
in verse 20, I have a wife. I've married a wife. I'll tell you, it is good for
people to have mates. It's good. There's nothing wrong
with it. It's good for us to have family
and friends. We like family. I love family and friends. I
love to have them over. But I'll tell you what, when
our family and our friends interfere with the gospel of Jesus Christ,
they need to be done away with. They need to be moved to the
side. Why? Christ demands this of every
one of His disciples. Look at verse 26 in chapter 14. "'If any man come to Me and hate
not his father and his mother and his wife and his children
and brethren and sister, yea, in his own life also, he cannot
be My disciple.'" What does that mean? We are to hate? No. In
comparison to the love of Christ, everything else must be put aside. If anything or anyone interferes
with the gospel of Jesus Christ, is to be put away. Is to be put away with vehement
hatred. That's how much. And I'll tell you, a lot of people
say this. Well, I've got family. I really
can't have time to go and hear the gospel. I've got to tend
to my family. I've got to take care of this.
My family's got to come first here." Go ahead. Go ahead. Christ said you can't
be His disciple. Well, the second group of people,
they're the type Second group were the type who were brought
in. Look at that in verse 21. And a servant came and showed
the Lord these things. And his master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, Go quickly, make haste into the
streets and the lanes of the city, and notice this word, and
bring. Friends, bring. This word means
to seize or arrest. To seize someone and bring them
in. Notice this, if anyone comes
in, they have to be brought. They won't come of their own
volition unless they are brought in. Unless their will is changed,
they won't come in. But these people have been arrested. They have been brought in. If salvation were left up to
us, no one would come in. But because God purposed to save
and Christ made it ready, God's house shall be full of people."
This supper will be full. Who does Christ bring in? Notice
this. He said, "...bring in hither
poor, and the maimed, and the haught, and the blind." Spiritually
bankrupt folks. People who have nothing to pay
to get into that supper. That's who God brings. God brings
the maimed, the deformed, like the man that had the dropsy.
Those are the people God brings in. The maimed who can't bring
themselves. The hawk, you remember, Mephibosheth,
how David went and fetched him because Mephibosheth couldn't
come. and the blind. Friends, these are all people
who must be brought in. These are people who can't come
in. These are the people who are not worthy to come into the
King's presence unless they're brought into the King's presence.
But friends, this is exactly who the Lord Jesus Christ brings
in. Sinners. Sinners. Jesus was not sent for the worthy.
but for the unworthy. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance." Praise God for that. He came to bring
in sinners to His feast. And every sinner, every sinner He brings in makes
no excuse for themselves. Why? They don't have one. I don't
have an excuse. I'm a sinner. That's who the Master brings
in to His great feast. God will call His elect and the
supper is not yet full. Look at this. And the servant
said, Lord, it is done. And thou hast commanded, and
yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant,
Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to
come into my house, that my house may be full. Friends, how do
I know that God's house is not yet filled? Because Christ has
not yet come back. Right now, the door is open. And the Master says, come. And when that message strikes
the heart of a sinner, he will come by the power of the Holy
Spirit into this great supper. The door is still open, therefore
we must compel men to come in. Compel them. Compel them. Paul said, I beseech you. He
said, I'm an ambassador of God. As an ambassador of God, I beseech
you. Come to Christ. Believe on Christ. Confess who you are. Confess
your need. And He'll show mercy. He shows
mercy to all who come. And all who come, We will one
day be an eternal feast for us. God has prepared the feast of
the Gospel, and this is what we fed on tonight. This is the
Gospel. This is what God's people feed
on now. One day we will have an eternal
feast together, and it will be a feast that never ends. Don't you like that? I like a
supper that I never get full of, you know? If I can eat ribeye
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I'd be very happy. But I've got
something a lot better than that waiting for me in glory. Do you? Come in. Come to the
supper. And God will save you. That's a message of hope, isn't
it? I pray God will bless you. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.