If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14, we'll be
looking at verses 7 through 11 this morning. Luke chapter 14,
verses 7 through 11. The title of the message this
morning is, A Place Taken and a Place Bidden. A Place Taken
and a Place Bidden. Now here our Lord Jesus Christ,
In this text is in the house of one of the chief Pharisees.
And as the Lord in verse 7, we can see that the Lord watched
these men. He put forth a parable unto them
which were bidden when He marked how they chose the chief rooms. These Pharisees loved the chief
places. They loved the executive boxes
of their day. They loved to move and to jockey
for position in every event. In other words, if there was
a gathering of who's who, they would always try to move in a
position of greater significance. They would try to get closer
to the person in charge so that they might bring honor to themselves. And Jesus noticed how they scrambled
around like little rats trying to get a piece of cheese. They
were out there. They wanted that best seat in
the house. And Jesus noticed this before
in Luke 11, 43. He said, Woe unto you Pharisees,
for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogue. He noticed
this before. He noticed how they loved to
do this. So the Lord here has an opportunity that he uses to
teach humility. To teach a lesson in matters
of humility. And I'll tell you, we can learn
something just from the Lord's speech. I think we can learn
something from how the Lord observed and used that in order to open
up a meaningful conversation. How many times do we engage in
meaningless conversation? How much air is actually spent
between us and other people in worthless conversation? You'll
never find the Lord in worthless conversation. How's the weather? I don't know. It is the weather. You know how the weather is just
like I do. Why do we engage in such meaningless conversation? We should rather engage in talk
of substance, in matters of importance with some weight, rather than
engage in meaningless speech. Our Lord gives these men words
of wisdom. And I'll tell you, every person
in here, even the young people can gain from this. Is it not
wonderful that even everybody in this whole building can gain
from this? Humility. Humility. When someone comes
up with arrogancy and pride, immediately I put that person
in a lower bracket. Immediately. Immediately I really
don't care what they have to say. Why? They're arrogant. Nobody wants to be around arrogant
people. Nobody. Well, you take somebody
that's humble, and I would enjoy that conversation. I would enjoy
time with someone who cares, who seems to be meek, have a
meek opinion of themselves. I would rather spend time with
that person, wouldn't you? Of course you would. And so the
Lord here puts forth a parable, a story that has a greater significance. And He says, if you're invited
to a wedding feast, don't seek the seats that are the best.
Why? Because somebody who's better
than you might come in And the person that bid him,
he may come to you and say, hey man, you need to give up that
seat because that doesn't belong to you. How shamed would that
make you feel? You sit down in the seat and
say, hey, that's not your seat. You need to go back to the back
of the room. make you feel pretty bad. You would have to have the
walk of shame. You would come all the way down
the aisle and you would be walking back in the backs of the church
instead of up in the front. I don't know, you Baptists, you
like the back of the church. I don't know. But if you were in a wedding
and you had to see a table, it says, reserved for special people,
and you think to yourself, well, I'm special. I'm special. I can sit here. And then someone
comes up and says, no, that table is not for you. You're not a
special person. You need to be seated with the
children. There's no more table, no more
room now. You have to go sit with the children at the children's
table. That would be humiliating. That
would be humiliating. But if you come down, you sit
over there with the children at first. You come into the wedding
and you sit down at the children's table and the groom comes in
and says, hey man, what are you sitting at the children's table
for? Come on up here. Come on up here and sit by us.
You would then walk the other way. You would feel honored that
you were called up. And friends, it's better to go
up than it is to come down. Isn't that right? Of course it
is. We all understand this. Believer
in Christ didn't even Paul say this to us in Romans 12, 3. He
said, For I say, though the grace given unto me, that every man
that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he
ought to think, but to think soberly according as God dealt
to every man the measure of faith. We should think of ourselves
soberly. Don't think too highly of yourself
unless you're ready to fall. Because that's exactly what you're
setting yourself up for, a fall. Humility is the wisest place,
for they that are exalted shall be abased, and they that are
abased shall be exalted." That's a good lesson in humility, isn't
it? But friends, if that's all you've
got as a lesson in social grace this morning, I feel sorry for
you. If this is all you get, if that
little bit, that's good, it's wise and you should listen to
it. But friends, that's not exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ here was teaching. That's not all
He was teaching. And I pray you study the Scriptures
this way. I pray you don't always just
take the surface But you really dig down and you find the message
of the Gospel in every place you read. I hope you seek that,
because it's there. Christ is in every passage. The message of the Gospel is
in every page of Scripture. And this is no different. The
Lord was not just talking about social graces, but He was talking
about salvation. That's what He was talking about
in this passage. He was talking about humility
of the soul of man, not just the humility of the body in a
certain wedding feast. He's talking about the grace
of God that is found only in Himself. And this morning I want
us to see four things from this text. Four things from this text
that we can see that this is the gospel. First of all, I want
us to see a wedding invitation. That's what I want to see first.
I want to see a wedding invitation. That's what's here. Second of
all, I want us to see a place that was taken. A place that was taken. Then
I want us to see a place that was bidden. A place that was
bidden. In other words, a place where
you're told to be. A place where you're told to
be. Then second of all, I want us to see that all will be in
their rightful place at the end of this wedding. At the end of
this wedding, everybody will be in their rightful place. First of all, a wedding invitation,
a wedding bidden to all. Now in a few verses down from
here, a man is going to say something, a Jewish man. He says, blessed
is he that shall eat in the kingdom of God. That sounds good, doesn't
it? But what you and I think about
that is not exactly what this man thought. The Jews had an
idea about the feast of the kingdom of God. I read this, I was absolutely
amazed at how they really thought the kingdom feast would be. They
really thought it was going to be a physical feast. They literally
thought when Christ would come, He would overthrow the Roman
government, establish a new government, all of the Pharisees would be
at the head of that government, and they would have this big
banquet. They believed that God would
raise up Leviathan from the sea and set him out as a feast. They believed that God would
take the fruit of the vine that was from the Garden of Eden and
the wine of that vine they would drink together. That's what they
thought. Now, nowhere in the Word of God did it say anything
like that, but that's what they thought. They thought, blessed
is he who partakes in that physical feast. But Jesus had something greater
in mind. Jesus explains this feast in
the parable in verse 16. Look at that in verse 16, it
says, And He said unto them, A certain man made a great supper,
and bade many, and sent his servants at suppertime to call them that
were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. This supper is
not a physical supper, it is a spiritual one. Jesus said that the eating of
His flesh and the drinking of His blood is a spiritual matter. The flesh profits nothing. The flesh profits nothing in
this. It is a spiritual matter. This is a spiritual feast, a
spiritual wedding feast. And God has sent His servants
into this world to tell men, come to the feast. Come to the
feast. All things are ready. All things
are ready. You see, the King is God. The
Bridegroom is Christ and the Bride is His Church. And His
Church will hear and come. His elect will hear and come
to this message. This supper, this divine spiritual
supper is vitally important to God. God sent His only Son into this
world to make all things ready. He sent His Son into this world
to become a man. So that deity and humanity united
together in one person. Friends, do not think that deity
possessed a body. Deity united Himself with a body
and thus became one person, the God-Man, Jesus Christ. And He did this because sin entered
into the creation by Adam, the first man. And so by Adam, Romans
tells us that sin entered into the world and death by sin, so
death passed upon all men. Look at the children. Look at
them. Why do they have no interest
in these things? They're dead. They're dead. They have no interest
because they're dead. If you have no interest in the
things of God, it is because you're dead in sin. Because you cannot have any interest
in the things of God. Not by yourself. And because sin entered by man,
it must be that man must take it away. It must be by man that
righteousness is brought back in. This is why Christ became
a man. He became a man so that sin could
be done away with. Sin could be done away with.
And Jesus Christ came to do the will of the Father. Jesus Christ
came to take away sin and establish righteousness that Adam and his
race had taken away. Friends, I come as a messenger
of God to point you to Jesus Christ and say, Behold the Lamb
of God. Behold Christ. I want you to
see Christ this morning. I don't want you to see me. I
don't want you to see anything about me. I want you to see Christ. He is the one that's made all
things ready by His sacrifice, by His obedience to God. And
friends, this man suffered as many sorrows as you could possibly
imagine. All of the sorrow that you have
ever felt, He has felt tenfold. All of the hurt you have ever
felt, He has felt it. Why? He's a man. He felt it. He felt the pain. He felt grief. He felt rejection. He felt sorrow. He became a man so that He might
be a representative man. so that he might live in the
place of all of God's elect people. And as their representative,
he lived a holy life that they could not live. And he died a
holy death they could not die. Behold, the Lamb of God, Jesus
Christ, For God hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
How can you be made the righteousness of God? Only by His substitutionary
death. Only by His sin-atoning death. Only by His righteous, holy life
imputed to your charge. That's it. And friends, God was satisfied
with His life and death. That's the message we preach.
We preach a successful Savior. Not one that made salvation possible,
but one that actually accomplished salvation. He did it! He did
it! He accomplished all that God
had sent Him to do so that we may be able to preach, all is
ready, come. All is ready. Don't bring anything.
Don't bring anything. Come and welcome to God's feast,
Jesus Christ. It's not a carnal feast, it is
a spiritual feast for the souls of men. God was satisfied in
Him. And now He is alive and well,
sitting on the throne of God, doing everything after the counsel
of His own will. That's where Jesus Christ is
this morning. He is on the throne of God. Therefore, He sends us
out, all is ready. Come to Christ. To all sinners
in need of forgiveness, all is ready. All is ready. Come to Christ and believe on
Him completely as all your salvation. Believe on His person, His work,
and He will save your soul to the uttermost. Is that not a gracious invitation?
Is that not a glorious invitation saying, all is ready come? You
know what, there's nothing thrills my heart sometimes after I labor
in the gospel during the day, but when I come home, you know,
when all things are ready. Ready for me to eat. I love that. I just get to sit down and relax. All things are ready. And that's
exactly what it is to the souls of men when they come to Christ.
They find all things were already done. Already done. Oh, that sinners would come with
nothing. You know, that's an act of God.
That is an act of God. Just as that tsunami was an act
of God, I'll tell you what, this is a greater act of God, that
a man come with nothing. Just come under the reign of
Christ and bow down. All is ready. His blood and righteousness
are enough. Believe on Him with all your
heart. For there is none other name given among men whereby
we must be saved. Behold, Jesus Christ, God's salvation. You know, Jesus said this on
the cross, it is finished. Was it finished? You bet it was
finished. It was done. All of God's people
were redeemed at that time on the cross. He had paid their
ransom price. It was done. Number two, I want us to see
a seat taken. Now that's the invitation. And
that's an invitation to every sinner, come to Christ. Come
all that's ready. Now then, I want us to see a
seat taken. When this invitation goes out,
when the gospel is preached, there will be two responses from
each one of you this morning. You will either take a seat, or you will sit in the place
bidden." That's all there is to it. You will either strive
to take the highest seat or you will sit in the lowest place.
There's no other place to go. There is no middle ground here.
You will either take the highest or you will take the lowest.
And this seat taken is the one taken as though it did not belong
to Him. Look at that in verse 8 of our
text. And when thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit
not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than
thou be bidden of him. And when he hath bade thee in
him, say to thee, Give this man place, thou wilt begin with shame
to take the lowest room. The first thing I see in this
taking of the highest seat is the high seat of excuses. The
high seat of excuses. Look down in verse 18. And this is talking about the
wedding feast after the invitation. It says, "...and they all with
one consent began to make excuses." Natural man is an excuse factory. He is an excuse factory. If there's
something he don't want to do, believe me, he will find an excuse
not to do it. He'll find an excuse. It may
not even be a good excuse, but it will be an excuse. He will
try to do something to quell his conscience so that he will
not have to do what he does not want to. This man says, I've
got a piece of ground, I've got to go see it. Who buys a piece
of ground and never sees it? What moron would buy a piece
of ground from somebody and have not seen it yet? What a bad excuse. That's a bad excuse. One says,
I bought five yoke of oxen, I have to prove them. Who buys oxen
that have not been proven? Who would want a group of oxen
that are untamed ox? I mean, you'd get no work done. And this other one says, I'm
married to a wife, I therefore cannot come. Who can't go eat
because they have a wife? What a bad excuse! Every one
of these are bad excuses. But man by nature is an excuse
factory. I'll tell you what, when the
Gospel is preached, and I say, come to Christ, everyone that
rejects Christ will have an excuse why they will not come. The young
people say, Pastor, I have to live a little. Let me go on out
there and let me see what's out there first before I come to
Christ. You know, I'm young and I have
feelings and I want to explore all these things. What a lousy
excuse. Let me go and destroy my life
before I come to Christ. Let me go and be really bad so
I can come to Christ." What a lousy excuse that is. Why would you
destroy your life when you could come to Christ now and save yourself
from much trouble? I don't understand that's a lousy
excuse. Some say, well, I've got a job,
you know, and I've got to really work. Oh man, I'm so cumbered
with labor. When I retire, surely then I
can be more faithful, I can come to Christ then, right when I
get retired. And that way, you know, I have
more convenience to do the things that God has commanded me to
do. You know, I've got to prove my office. I've got to really
get out there and work. You know, I'll do that later. Let me ask you this, how many
old people do you see coming to Christ? I'll tell you what,
I have only heard of one and it happened just recently. I
don't hear of old people coming to Christ. Why? They're already set. They're
already set. In Acts 24, verse 25, Paul reasoned
the Gospel with Felix, and he reasoned of righteousness, temperance,
and judgment to come. And Felix, he trembled at that
Gospel. He heard of the judgment of God
coming. He heard that God was righteous
and would not accept any righteousness outside of Christ. And he trembled. And he said to Paul, he said,
you come back at a more convenient time. That's not convenient for
me now. And you know what? Felix never
heard the gospel of Jesus Christ again. There was never a more
convenient time. He died in his sins. Friends, do you realize that
there is actually a point where God quit striving with men? Do
you actually understand that there is, to some men, God will
leave off preaching the gospel to them again? He said, my spirit
will not always strive with men. You remember in Romans where
He said He turned them over to a reprobate mind. Friends, I don't know what point
that is. It's different for different
people. But I know this, there is a point at which God leaves
it off. where God will not cast the pearl of His Son before a
swine. I know that. Friends, do not choose the high
place of excuse. Come to Christ now. Don't put
it off, otherwise you've set something above Jesus Christ. You've made something else your
God. And maybe God will leave off
preaching the gospel to you forever. Now that's a solemn thing. But
it is true. Number two, the high seats of
religion. Some take the high seats of religion
like these Pharisees. They hear the gospel of God's
grace in Christ, they hear of the blood of the cross, and then
they try to mix their works with it. This is the high seat of
religion. Don't take it. Don't take that
high seat of religion. These are all who believe in
free will works religion. It's subtle, isn't it? Because
they believe in the blood of Christ, don't they? They believe
in atonement and regeneration. They believe in the Holy Spirit.
They believe in God. But it's so subtle. They say,
well, yes, Jesus died. Yes, He rose again. Yes, He's
on the throne. But He cannot save without my
express permission. Unless I add my hand and my work
into the blood and righteousness of Christ, I will not come. All
is ready. Well, I don't want to go to some
place like that unless I can bring something along. Is that not pride? Is that not
arrogant? When the master of the house
said, All is ready, bring nothing. Come freely. And they say, No,
I will not come freely. I will bring my works. before
you. I will be accepted of my religion."
Some take the high seat of religion and think that Jesus has done
His part and that they must by themselves finish His work. That is the utmost arrogancy
in anyone who thinks such spits in the face of God. They have
counted the blood of Christ an unholy thing. Why? Because they
count it, it's not enough. They think that it's not enough.
They've got to add to it. They've got to add to it. Paul
says this in Galatians 3, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched
you that you should not obey the truth? Before whose eyes
Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth, crucified among you.
This I would learn of you, receive you the Spirit by works of the
Lord, by hearing of faith. Oh, you foolish Galatians! Having
begun in the Spirit, are you made perfect by the flesh? Many religious people are bewitched
and foolish to think that salvation is begun by God and finished
by themselves. Paul later says in Galatians
5.2, he said, if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Circumcision was just a part
of the law. If you add anything to Christ,
you have taken the seat that does not belong to you. You have taken a seat that does
not belong to you, and Christ will profit you nothing. Why? Because you refuse to bow
to Jesus Christ. Hear me plainly. You that think
that you could add anything to Christ, you are refusing to bow
down to Christ. Now you say you bow down all
you want to, but if you have not rejected all works and religion
as part of your salvation, you have not bowed to Christ and
you are an enemy of God. Enemy of God. God says all things are ready. Leave off religion. Leave off
your works. In foolish pride, some think
that they have somewhat to offer God. What do you have to offer
God? Better yet, what do you think
you have to offer God? What do you feel you have to offer God?
Friends, I have nothing to offer God. Not in myself, I have nothing. But I've come to the feast and
found all is ready. All has already been offered
to God by Jesus Christ. How foolish would it be a man,
you think of the wedding, I like this, you know how the bride
and groom sit up at the very front of the place and everybody
sits out there? Imagine if a man walks in and
he went up there and sat by the bride. If he went upset by my bride,
I'd be very upset. I'd be very upset. I'd tell that, help me escort
this man and find the door. Because he doesn't belong by
my bride. And yet that's exactly what false religion, worse religion
does, is it tries to take the place of Christ. It makes one
equal with Christ. His work and my work. Go hand
in hand. What you've done is you've taken
His seat. And friends, don't think you'll stay long in His
seat. Don't think you'll stay long in His seat because you
won't. You will be cast down into the pits of hell forever. All those who confess that Jesus
Christ, a freewill works religion and have not submitted themselves
to the sovereign Christ, will be cast down. Number three, a
seat-bidden. Look at this in verse 10. And
when thou art bidden, go and sit in the lowest room." Here's
the seat that Christ commands everyone that hears the gospel.
Take the lowest room. Take the lowest seat, the seat
of humility. When the gospel message is preached
in the ears of sinners, it will be an abasing, humbling, and
humiliating message. When you hear this gospel right,
it will be an abasing, humbling, and humiliating message. Man
by nature is proud and religious and thinks that because God made
him, he owes him something. But when God comes in power,
Demonstration of His Spirit, you won't see things like that.
You'll see God as light and in Him is no darkness at all. You
will see God as holy and a consuming fire. And you will see yourself
as nothing but sin. From the crown of your head to
the sole of your feet, nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. You will be like a dry twig in
the path of a burning fire. How do you think a dry twig would
feel in the path of a burning fire? That's exactly how I felt
when God exposed me for what I am. Sin. when God exposed Himself. That's what the gospel does.
It exposes us for who we are and exposes God to us for who
He is. And all that see the gospel see
their need of a Savior. And when they see their need
of a Savior, they will see that they can provide nothing that
God will accept. They will see that they have
nothing that God would want and have no right even to ask. To them the gospel says, come
and believe on Christ. To you who have seen your sin
and God's holiness, come under the shadow of His wing, and He
will shield you from the wrath of God. He is the cleft of the
rock, and God has placed His hand over us in that cleft so
that we might be able to see the glory of God. Otherwise,
you cannot see God. He is all our forgiveness and
all our hope. Therefore, hear the blood of
Jesus Christ and take your place that you are bidden of Him. Where?
The lowest seat you can find. Just when you think you've thought
the worst of your sinful nature, think again. Find a lower seat. Find a lower opinion of yourself. Don't think highly of yourself.
Friends, we are bidden at the lowest seat. At the lowest seat. Why? Verse 11, For whosoever
exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. Why seek the lowest? Because
those are the people that will be exalted. Those are the people
that will be lifted up, not the ones that exalt themselves. Who
is exalted? Someone who takes the place of
Mephibosheth. There was King David ruling over
the kingdom, and there was the son of Saul who deserved nothing
but death. And the king comes to him and
says, Fear not, I made a covenant with your father. And you come
and sit at my table." And what was his place? Where did Mephibosheth
place himself? He said, who am I that you should
look on a dead dog as I am? He took the lowest place, the
lowest place, a dog, a dog. Well, pastor, I'm not a dog. You've not taken the lowest place.
You've not seen yourself and you've not seen God if you hadn't
taken the lowest place. Well, but that Canaanite woman,
Jesus said, it's not meat for me to give the children's bread
to dogs. And she said, what? Truth, Lord.
That's exactly what I am. I'm a dog. And I need crumbs
of mercy. She took her place, didn't she?
She took the place that was assigned her at the wedding. Where was
it? The lowest place. You that would believe on Christ,
you must take the lowest place. Take the lowest place, the seat
of the humble. Have you taken this place? Because
I'll tell you this, at the end of this wedding, everybody will
be in their rightful place. Everybody will be in their rightful
place. I'll tell you, a pastor told
me of a man who thought himself to be a reprobate. He heard the
gospel for many years and rejected it, and now he feels as though
God would not have him, that God would not so much as look
on him to show him mercy. He feels as though God has reprobated
him, that God has turned His back on him and left him alone
to himself. Well, I'll tell you what, that's
a good sign, isn't it? That's a good sign. This man is taking
the lowest place, seeing he does not deserve mercy. Have you taken
the lowest place? I take my place in repentance of my sin. I take my place before Christ
knowing my sin and knowing what I am and what I deserve. And I'll tell you, that sound
of the gospel is sweet to my ears. All things are ready. What a sigh of relief. And I gladly take my lowest place. Jesus said to those who take
the lowest place, friend, go up hither. Thou shalt have worship
of them, and the presence of them that sit at meet with thee."
What a friend we have in Jesus. For all of His elect shall one
day take a higher place. Right now our place is low, isn't
it? Doesn't it seem like false religion
and everything has such a high place in this world, and we have
such a low place? Isn't it amazing how false religion
prospers so fast? I mean, you see people starting
a church and, man, they take off. I mean, you just pack with
people and loads of money just to throw it away on frivolous
things. And yet God's church is such
a low in comparison. That's okay, because one day,
they that are abased will be exalted. And they that are exalted
will be abased. Can you imagine the sad day of
a person who thinks to be ushered in the presence of Jesus to be
cast down to hell? All of their life, they worked
so hard They tried so hard to please God. They did all the
right ceremonies. They thought they did all the
right rituals. They thought they had served
enough meals on wheels. They thought they had served
enough people in the community. They thought they had been baptized
enough. They thought they had made so
many decisions for Christ that surely He'll accept them in the
final day. Not if you have not taken your
lowest place, He will not accept you. because everybody will be in
their rightful place in that day. The vessels of mercy will
be exalted and lifted up. Why? Because of their union with
Christ. He is my head and I am His body,
and where He is, I am, and where I am, He is. Is that something? That's something. Right now, my place is low. I can keep an eye on those things,
but right now, my place is humility. My place is a place of service
to God and to you. And that should be your place
if you believe in Christ. Serve God and serve each other
until that day comes. I pray this has been a blessing
to you as it has been to me to study. Let's stand and we'll
be dismissed in prayer.