Let's open our Bibles to Luke
chapter 14. Luke 14, and while you're turning
there, I'm thankful for the opportunity to be here with you this morning. Your pastor is, as you know,
just a special, special person. Anytime I've talked to Gabe,
and we've talked maybe a little more recently, a little more
often here recently, but two things are evident. One is his love for this gospel
that he preaches. You can't talk to Gabe for any
amount of time and that not ring clear, his love for the gospel,
his love for the Lord Jesus Christ. and his love for this congregation.
He truly loves this congregation. I've told you two things you
already know, haven't I? All right, Luke chapter 14, in
verse 16. Then said he unto him, a certain man made a great supper,
and he bade many. The title of the message comes
from this passage of scripture this morning, this verse, a great
supper. A certain man made a great supper. Back in Isaiah chapter 25, we
read this in verse six, in the mountain shall the Lord of hosts
make unto all people a feast. I love a good meal, don't you?
Says he's gonna make a feast, a feast of fat things, a feast
of wines on the leaves, a feast of fat things full of marrow,
of wines on the leaves well refined. You know, supper, a feast is
a time when we're nourished. It's when our bodies are nourished,
when we're fed. And when we gather together as
a people, isn't that our desire that our souls would be fed,
that the Lord would be pleased to feed us? We're fed at the
table that Almighty God has spread for his people. That's why we're
here this morning. That's why we gather together,
to be fed, to hear more of our Savior. Christ told Peter this. He gave him this command. He
said, feed my sheep. Feed them. And here in our text,
we read of a great supper. And I have six reasons that I
believe this is a, six things we should consider about why
it's a great supper. And first is this, it's great
by virtue of the one who made it. It's great by virtue of the
maker of it. David said in Psalm 23, we read
that earlier, thou preparest a table before me. God prepares
his table, he's the maker of it. He's the great God of the
scriptures, great God. Deuteronomy 10, 17, for the Lord
your God is God of gods and Lord of lords. A great God, a mighty
and a terrible, which regardeth not man, nor taketh reward. Almighty God is not influenced
by our deeds or our actions. He is King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. In Proverbs 26.10, He's the great God that formed
all things. He's sovereign in all things. He is sovereign in creation. He is sovereign in providence. And He is sovereign in salvation.
And someday, Someday we will gather around His table and we'll
worship Him without any distraction, without any concern. We'll be
completely taken up with Him and Him alone. Turn over to Revelation
chapter 19. Look at verse 17 of Revelation
19. And I saw an angel standing in
the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls
that fly in the midst of heaven, come, come and gather yourselves
together unto the supper of the great God. It's great. It's great by virtue of the one
who prepares it. Second, it's a great feast because
of the rich provision of it. This is not a potluck dinner. I'd venture to say that most
places in this town this morning where men are standing up, they're
talking about a potluck dinner, right? Cody, you sign up for
a salad and Rebecca, you sign up for rolls. It's not God doing his part and
us doing the rest. We bring something to the equation
here. We bring sin, and that's it. God, he provides this meal. It's not a meal where we go Dutch,
where one pays their part and somebody else, you know, pays
part. It's all of him. We're not paying our own way
here. Almighty God, He provides the meal. In verse 17 of Luke
14, He told His servant, say to them that were bidden, come
for listen, all things are now ready. All things. The Lord provides
this, provides this meal. Back in Genesis 22, won't you
turn there with me? Genesis chapter 22. Now here
Abraham and Isaac were walking up that mountain to offer a sacrifice
and to worship God. Look beginning at verse five. Abraham said unto the young men,
abide with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder and worship
and we'll come again to you." And Abraham, he took the wood,
the burnt offering, and he laid it upon Isaac, his son. And he took fire in his hand
and a knife, and they went both of them up together. And Isaac
spake unto Abraham, his father, and he said, my father, and he
said, here am I, my son. And he said, Isaac said this,
he said, behold, Behold the fire and the wood. But where's the lamb? Where's
the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said these words.
He said, my son, God will provide. God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. That's great provision, isn't
it? The Lord God provided himself as the Lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, He is God. The Lord will provide for Himself
a Lamb. He's the offended party in this
matter. There must be a blood sacrifice and He provides it. The Lord will provide. He'll
see to it that every one of His lost sheep are redeemed. His law honored, His justice
satisfied, His covenant fulfilled. The glory of His Son will be
accomplished. Nothing, not one thing left undone. What did we read back there in
Luke? All things, all things are ready. What did Christ declare
on the cross? It is finished, nothing left. The work of salvation is accomplished.
And when Abraham bound his son, and he laid him up on that altar,
and took forth that knife to slay him, the angel of the Lord
stopped him. Abraham, he stopped him. And
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and what did he see? Behold, a ram
caught in the thicket. Abraham took that ram and he
offered it up, a burnt offering, in the place of his son. Who
provided that ram? Almighty God did. The great provision
of it. We eat his flesh and we drink
his blood. Third, why is this a great supper? Well, look at the guests. Look
at the guests. The number of them and the nature
of them. The scriptures describe it as
a number which no man can number. A people redeemed to God by the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ out of every kindred, tongue,
people, and nation. The Lord God said, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature And
he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. Look in our text here again in
Luke, look at verse 17. He sent his servant. Verse 17, he sent his servant
and he told those that were bidden to come, but they had no interest. Did
they? Maybe they had something more
important to do. They were obviously taken up
with the things of this world because that's what we are by
nature. We read the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, those are the things
that man desires. And they begin to make excuse
in verse 18. One said, I bought some land. I've got something
pretty important to do. I bought some land. Don't have
no time for this supper. I bought some land. I gotta go
check on that. Another said, I bought some oxen. I'm gonna
go prove those oxen. Another said, I've married a
wife. Whatever the reason. Whatever
the reason. Our Lord, in John 5, he said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. So the servant
came, verse 21, and he showed his lord these things, and the
master of the house, being angry, said to the servant, go out quickly
into the streets, and into the lanes, and into the city, and
you bring them in thither. You go get them, and you bring
them to me. That's what David did, didn't
he? He said, you go down there and you get Mephibosheth. You
know, we don't read where he asked Mephibosheth if he wanted
to come up and visit. He said, you go and you fetch
him. You go get him and you bring
him back to me. And God's word and his spirit
go forth, calling out his sheep, calling them unto himself, bringing
them to himself. In 2 Thessalonians 2.13, God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. And his people, his sheep, are made willing. When? In the day of his power. And then we read about the nature
of them. The number of them and the nature of them. He said in
verse 21 of our text, he said, go out quickly into the streets
and the lanes and city and bring in hither. Who descend them after? The poor. The poor. Isn't that what we are? Poor,
helpless, needy sinners. He said, get the maimed, crippled,
like old Mephibosheth. We're all crippled, aren't we,
by the fall, by that fall. The halt, thought about this,
the halt, they can't take a first step, can they, huh? Our Lord
made the lame to walk. Go get the blind, those that
cannot see. That has to be a description
of a sinner, isn't it? Isn't that what we are by nature, the
poor, the maimed, the halt, the blind? And he said, go get them. Go get them and bring them to
me." And that's what he says of his sheep, isn't it? We read
that this morning. All that the Father hath given
me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. The Lord said, look in verse
23, he said, go into the highways and the hedges and you compel
them to come that my house may be filled. In verse 25 we read,
there was a great multitude that went with him. A great number
of poor, of maimed, of haught and blind. Aren't we thankful? Aren't we thankful that the Lord
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners? He came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Look at verse 16 again in Luke
14. A great supper. It's a great
supper by virtue of the one who made it. It's a great supper
by virtue of the rich provision of it. It's great by the number
and nature of those guests. And fourth, it's great considering
the cost of it. The cost. of this great supper
to the guests, it's free. It's free. Ho, everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come ye
buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. It's free. for the guests. But let there be no mistake,
there was a great, great price paid for it. We used to sing
a song, we haven't sung this in a while. I owed a debt I could
not pay. He paid a debt that he did not
owe. Turn with me to 1 Peter. Chapter 1, the great price that was paid
for it. 1 Peter 1, beginning at verse 18. For as much as ye know, You were
not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold
from your vain conversations received by tradition of your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, the sinless Savior. All the great,
great cost of it. the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. In Isaiah
53, we read that he was despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows. We read that he bore our griefs,
that he was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on him. and with his stripes we're healed. The Lord Almighty God laid on
the Lord Jesus Christ the iniquity of us all. How horrible must sin be that
God slew his only begotten son. But we read this, without the
shedding of blood, Blood must be shed. Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. The great cost of redemption,
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which cleanses
us, cleanses us from all sin. My fifth point, it's a great
supper because of the great joy and the pleasure of those who
attend. In Hebrews 12 verse 2, we read, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of God. He endured the cross, the shame
and humiliation of it. Why? for the joy of redeeming
his people. He considered that a joy. And you know, we can't even enter
in to the joy that awaits us. But I know this, how often do
we read of Christ healing people in his word? Or when a poor sinner
is brought to know the Savior, that we read this, they went
on their way rejoicing. That fellow that found one of
his lost sheep, we read there earlier, says he put it on his
shoulder, he brought it home, and he said, rejoice with me. Rejoice with me, for I have found
my sheep, which was lost. The joy that surrounds this supper. And in this text, in Luke 14, We read this great supper prepared
by the master. Those that were bidden but would
not come. The servant said, all things are ready, but they would
not come. They made excuses, remember that?
They said, I bought some land, some oxen. I've taken a wife. Paul reasoned
of righteousness and temperance and judgment to come. And though
Felix trembled, When he heard those things, what do we read,
huh? He said, Paul, go your way. You come back again when it's
more convenient for me. I'll call for you in a convenient
season. My friends, today, today is the
day of salvation. But this man had no need. These
folks had no need of the Savior. And those that made excuses,
the only thing I can figure is they weren't hungry. They weren't
hungry. In verse 21, it says, bring in
the poor, the halt, the maimed, the blind. I'll tell you what's
true about every one of those people. They were in need. They
had a need. Years ago, Bob you probably remember this,
Kerry used to prepare a pancake breakfast. About every Saturday
we would have a pancake breakfast at Adam and Kerry's house and
it was, It was good. It was good. The pancakes, they
were all prepared, and Kerry made this, I don't even know,
homemade pancake syrup. I mean, you just get hungry just
thinking about it. And at the same time, there was
a little renovation project going on. A fellow was putting shingles
on Adam's roof for him. The work had started early before
the pancakes, and Adam told this fella, he said, we're having
pancake breakfast. He said, you better come in and
join us. And told about the pancakes and
the homemade syrup and all that. And the fella said, nah, that's
just for your family. You all know that. Some of you
know Adam. Adam's pretty persistent. And Adam just kept telling him,
he said, he said, listen, he said, you gotta join us. Just come in for a little bit.
Enjoy some pancakes. Nah, nah, that's just for your
family. Adam said, are you sure? Are
you sure you won't come in and eat pancakes with us? And this
went on for a good while. Adam wasn't letting up. Finally, finally Dale stepped
in and he said, Chris, that was the fella's name, he called him
by name. He said, Chris, here's a question. Do you like pancakes? He said, yeah, I like pancakes.
He said, are you hungry? Well, needless to say, Chris
was sitting at the table with the rest of the family eating
pancakes. And, you know, there was an extra
person there. We thought there was an extra
person at the table, but nobody was missing a seat. And we didn't
run out of pancakes. There was room. There was room
for everybody at the table. And we were all fed. You know,
that's been over 15 years ago. And Isaac, our oldest one, he
was doing some classroom observation. Chris is now a schoolteacher.
The first thing, I believe the first thing come out of his mouth
was, Isaac, do y'all still have pancake breakfast? He enjoyed
it, didn't he? No doubt he enjoyed it. No doubt
he was fed. This supper we read of here,
It's a great supper, a great supper by virtue of the joy of
those who attend. And I'll say this, there are
those that struggle with this question, am I one of his elect? Am I his? And I believe that's true of all
of us. Isn't that true of all of us? Aren't there times we
just say, Am I His? Am I Him? Here's the question. Are you hungry? Are you hungry? Do you desire the sincere milk
of the Word? Matthew 5, chapter 6. Turn there,
turn there with me. Look at verse 6, the joy of those
who attended. Verse 6, blessed. You know what
that word means? It means happy. Happy. Who's happy? Blessed, happy are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. They shall be filled. Well, the
sixth point. Why is this a great supper? It's the sufficiency of it. Consider this. The blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. I think Tom Harding
described that one time. He said that means it gets the
job done. Probably the best way to define
that, isn't it? He said, of all that the Father
hath given me, I'll lose nothing. I won't lose one of them. And
in Luke 14, verse 23, the Lord said to the servant, go out into
the highways and the hedges and compel them to come that my house
may be filled. All those whom God has chosen,
all for whom Christ has died, all who are brought by the Spirit
of God to believe, shall be saved. There's no question about it.
They shall never perish. I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever, and I shall feast at the table spread for
me. A certain man. Any doubt about who that certain
man is? He prepared, he made a great supper. You can't help
but think of old Mephibosheth, can you? Eating continually there
at the king's table as one of the king's sons. A great supper. A great supper
by virtue of the maker of it. A great supper because of the
rich provision of it. A great supper by the number
and nature of the guest. A great supper because of the
cost of it. A great supper because of the
pleasure and joy of those who attend. And it's a great supper
because of the sufficiency of it. That's a meal, isn't it? I pray the Lord would make us
mindful of these things, of His rich provision. And let me finish,
let me finish with a word of, just a word of caution. Turn
to Deuteronomy 6. Deuteronomy 6, look at verse,
beginning with verse 10. And it shall be, when the Lord
thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he swear
unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give
thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and
houses full of all good things, which thou fillest not, and wells
digged which thou diggest not, you didn't dig these wells, vineyards
and olive trees which thou plantest not, when thou shalt have eaten
and be full. Look at verse 12, then beware.
Beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee out from the
land of Egypt and from the house of bondage. Let's not take these things for
granted. Let's be thankful for what he's,
the rich provision he's given his people. Let's not forget. It's so easy, we get caught up
and we take things for granted. But let us be thankful for this
great meal that he's prepared for us. All right, thank God
for his word. Let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this, thy word. Lord, bless it to our understanding.
Lord, take these things written in thy word and reveal them to
us. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity
to gather together, this opportunity to worship. We thank you for
the Lord Jesus Christ which you provided. Lord, we thank you
for salvation in him and him alone. Bless us to know the Savior. Bless us to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. For it's in his name we pray
and give thee thanks. Amen.