5. We begin at verse 1 in Romans
chapter 5. Now the reason I repeat these
scriptures, these people are hard of hearing, see? Make sure
they know where we are in our Bibles. I'm just kidding. Verse 1, Romans 5. Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation works or produces
patience, and patience experience and experience hope. And hope
makes not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us. For when we were still without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Now don't
miss that statement. If you ain't never been ungodly
in your own eyes, you're as lost as a goose in a snowstorm. And
so am I. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commends his love toward
us in that while we were still sinners, And if sinner ain't
your first name, you don't know who Christ is. You can't even
talk to God without going through the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ died for us. But preacher, that means He died
for everybody in the whole world. I know because that's a lie.
You know better than that. Iím sure most of us were born
believing, and I know I spent a long time in what I thought
was real religion, but it was as false as anything. God commends
His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for sinners, for us. Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement. Or you can break that word down
into three syllables, and it's at-one-ment. At-one-ment. I like either one. You just do
whatever you please. Lord, thank you for letting us
gather in this place of worship this morning. Thank you for these
wonderful choruses and songs and hymns. And thank you for
your word. Bless that passage in Romans
5 to our hearts. And we lift to you our friend
Dennis, who is preaching for us this morning. Oh, that you'd undertake with
him to bring whatever it is that you see fit to say to us, that
you would speak to us through him. Thank you for this place, this
people, this preacher, not me, but sitting over here on my right.
Lord, bless your word. enable us to hear, teach us what
the gospel is all over again. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Okay. I quit trusting preachers
if they hook up their own mics. I don't believe it's on, so we've
got to do something about it. Good morning. I was thinking about
when Doug brought that first Bible study hour. He was talking
about true God-given faith. And I remember talking to a person
in school once, and they said, oh, I have faith. I believe God
can do anything. And I said, that's not faith.
Faith is not believing God can do anything. Faith is believing
God will do everything He promised He would do. Like Abraham of
old, when God promised him that the seed of the woman, Christ,
would come through his son Isaac. And yet, God asked, God told,
God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac unto Him. And he
never questioned it. Why? Because he believed God.
He staggered not at the promises of God. That's God-given faith.
And may God give us that faith to trust His Son, to look to
Him and believe that He is, and He is able, and He is the rewarder
of him that diligently seek Him. Before I begin, let's go to our
Lord in prayer one more time. Our great God and Heavenly Father,
we thank You for giving us this time and this place to meet together
around Your Word. Lord, we confess our sin, Lord.
You know our hearts, You know our weaknesses, You know those
things that distract us even as we're here in this place,
Lord. And we pray that You would block out all distractions out of our
minds and our hearts now, Lord, and that You would speak through
us, through me, Lord, and to Your people. Lord, if the Lord
build not the house, the laborers labor in vain. Oh Lord, if you're
not here with us, if you don't give us your spirit, if you don't
give us grace, if you don't have mercy upon us, all this is in
vain. and to no avail. Lord, please meet with us. Lord,
bless this message. Bless our time together now in
our fellowship in spite of us, Lord, in spite of all our sin,
in spite of all that we are. We pray that you would meet with
us, Lord, and we're thankful for that promise that you gave
us, that where two or three are gathered together in your name,
there you are in the midst of them. Oh, Lord, we pray that
you would walk among us now and open our hearts and enable us
to receive to receive the Gospel into our hearts with gladness,
to rejoice in it, to rejoice in the finished work of our Lord
Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. Oh, we pray
all these things in His precious name and for His sake. Amen.
Open your Bibles with me this morning to Luke chapter 14. Luke
chapter 14. The title of my message this
morning is All things are now ready. Come, for all things are
now ready. And we'll begin reading in Luke
chapter 14 at verse 15. And I just have four, five, six,
couple points I want to bring out in this text. And I'll try
to be done quick and let you guys go home. Luke 14, verse
15. And when one of them that sat
at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed
is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said
he unto him, a certain man made a great supper and bade many. Now we know that Christ is here
speaking in parables. He often spoke in parables. He gave us physical explanations
of spiritual things so we might understand them. Like he did
Nicodemus. Nicodemus, you must be born again.
And here, this certain man is our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the
God-man himself. A certain man made a great supper
and bade many, and this great supper is not to be understood
as a physical feast. This Great Supper is God's great
salvation. God's great salvation to Jesus
Christ. And that's the first point I
want to bring out. That God's Great Supper is God's Son Himself. It is His gospel of free grace
to needy and poor sinners. Isaiah described this Great Supper
like this. He called it, a feast of fat things, a feast of wines
on the lees, of fat things, full of marrow, of wines on the lees,
well refined." That's Isaiah 25, verse 6. You see, there are
really only two gospels in this world. One that leaves sinners
hungry and one that fills them. One that leaves sinners hungry
and one that fills them. This gospel, the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace says to sinners, it is finished. It is finished. The law has been
satisfied. There's nothing left for you
to do. God's anger has been quenched on Calvary's cross by His Son.
There's nothing left for us to do. This is the great salvation.
The great salvation. And what makes it so great is
because it was such a great sacrifice. It was such a great sacrifice
by Jesus Christ. You know, we often think and
speak of salvation as being free. And it is. And we rejoice in
that, that God's grace is free. And it is free to sinners. But
it wasn't free for Him. it was not free for Christ. He
suffered all the wrath of God's holy fury for his people when
he bore our sins in his body on that tree. And he suffered,
I just, this is so glorious I can't even take it in that he suffered
the eternity that I should have suffered. He suffered the eternity
of all of God's people on that tree in three hours. And he satisfied
God's judgment. He satisfied God's judgment.
God is satisfied. Christ has put away our sins.
He suffered for us. There's nothing left for me to
do. And this is his great supper. It's it's his great salvation.
His great and how great the salvation is. Another thing that makes this
great supper, this great salvation so great is that it's free for
his people. It's free for his people. Like
I said, it wasn't free for him, but it's free for his people.
You know, there's a story once when Charles Spurgeon, there
was a lady in his church who asked him to come to dinner once,
and she was poor, and Charles Spurgeon knew that she was poor.
So he felt bad for her, so before coming over to her house for
dinner, he bought some food, some nice gifts and desserts,
just so, you know, just in case she didn't have enough. And when
he came through the door, she opened the door, and she took
everything he had in that bag and opened the trash can and
threw it in there. He said, it's all been prepared. It's all ready.
It's free. You don't come with anything
in your hands. What does that hymn say? Nothing in my hand
I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. God help us to not bring
anything in our hands. Nothing. Not my knowledge of
the scriptures. Not my experiences. Not my baptism. None of that. Not my church membership.
People take comfort in these things. Oh, I've been a member.
I've been faithful. So what? That doesn't mean anything to
God. Your best is sin. Your best is sin. Isaiah said,
Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in God's sight. Filthy rags
in God's sight. And Paul, Apostle Paul in Romans
said, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Isn't that what sin is? Coming short of the glory of
God? That's what sin is. Anything and everything. Anything,
just hear me. Anything and everything that
comes short of the glory of God is sin. Now what in your life
comes short of the glory of God? That's right. Everything. Everything. My best prayer is
filth. Charles Spurgeon said, my best
prayer had enough sin in it to condemn the whole world. My best
preaching is filth. My best prayer is filth. I have
nothing to offer God. My only hope is that Christ satisfied
everything that God demands of me and that I look to Him by
faith. That's my only hope, that Christ did all, that He fulfilled
all the law and the prophets and that I'm found righteous
in Him. I'm found righteous in Him so that when God looks upon
His Son, He sees me in Him and that everything that Christ did,
I did in Him. That's my only hope. I don't have no hope in
myself. I have no hope in myself. This is God's great supper, His
great salvation. And you see in our verse here,
verse 16, a certain man made a great supper. That's Christ
and He made that supper. He made that supper. What am
I trying to say? Salvation is all His work. Ought
not Christ to have suffered these things? Remember those two disciples
walking on the road to Emmaus and they were sad within themselves
and they said, oh, we thought, we thought that this Jesus of
Nazareth would have been the one to redeem Israel. And they have
so much unbelief in their heart and their mind and Christ said,
oh, oh ye fools, you foolish, foolish little children and slow
of heart to believe. That's our problem, isn't it?
Slow of heart to believe. All that the prophets have spoken,
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and enter into his
glory? He had to. He had to. This is
the only way sinners can be reconciled to the Father. Christ had to
suffer. He had, for God had made him
sin for us. Why? To what purpose? That we,
not everybody, this gospel is not for everybody. This gospel
is for sinners. Are you a sinner? For God hath made him to be sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
ought not Christ to have suffered these things and enter into His
glory." I love that word in front of glory. His glory. It's not
just, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and enter
into glory. He entered into His glory. His glory. Why? Because it's His work. When
He bowed His mighty head on Calvary's cross, what was the last thing
He said? It is finished. It is finished. Well, I've prepared
everything. Now you have to make your choice.
Isn't that the gospel that's being preached? That other gospel
that's being preached today? Oh, God's done everything He
can. Christ has done everything in His power to do. Now you have
to make what Christ did work for you. You have to make it
effectual. Well, blasphemy! He finished it. It is finished. There's nothing left for me to
do. It's finished. It's finished. It's His glory.
Why? Because it's His work. He did it all. Isn't that what
He said in Revelation? I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning
and the ending. He's the Alpha and Omega in salvation.
That's what He's saying. The beginning and the ending
and everything in between. Everything that God requires
of me is found in Christ. It's all in Christ. It's all
about Him. It's all about Him. To him, Peter
said, give all the prophets witness. This whole book is about Jesus
Christ. In the volume of the book, Christ
said, it is written of me to do thy will, O God. And you know,
Christ said the same thing to those Pharisees, to those people
who took comfort in their knowledge of the scriptures. You know,
people take comfort. Well, I've memorized the New Testament.
The Pharisees memorized the whole Old Testament in Hebrew, and
there was no one who hated Christ more. Do you believe that? That's
exactly right. Search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life. But here's where you went
wrong. These are they which testify of me. It's all about Christ. It's all about him, his sufferings,
his glory, his great supper, his great salvation, which he
finished and accomplished. He didn't try to finish it. He
finished it. He's successful. Isaiah said,
he shall not fail. That's comforting. The Jesus
that's preached in many pulpits today is a failure. Oh, He wants
to save you. Oh, He's trying to save you.
Won't you let poor Jesus into your heart? Not the Jesus of
this book. He shall not fail. He accomplished
all that the Father had set Him to do. He shall not fail. That's
why He said, it is finished. And this is this great supper.
This is this great salvation. It's Christ's work. He wrought
it for His bride, for His people. Truly, this is a great salvation.
Look at the next verse. Verse 17, And sent his servant
at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all
things are now ready. Come. Come. This is the simplicity that's
in Christ. Come, for all things are now ready. Now, I read a
lot of Comments and expositions on this passage and a lot of
writers who ought to know better Spoke of this this verse as an
invitation and that's what a lot of people preach the gospel.
God's inviting you The gospel is not an invitation. The gospel
is a declaration of Christ's finished work Christ does not
invite all men to believe on Christ. He commands them to believe
on Christ He commands them to believe on Christ. The gospel
is God's commandment And He's commanding all men, all of you
here today, come. Come, for all things are now
ready. They've been made ready by Christ. They've been made
ready by Him, by His great sacrifice. Don't the Scriptures teach, didn't
Christ say, for many are called? As you are now hearing my voice,
a general call. I call all of you right now to
come to Christ. Many are called. But few are chosen. Those few
who are chosen are those who come to Christ. Blessed is the
man, David said. This is a blessed man. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest. Psalm 65 verse 4. Blessed is
the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee.
You see, all men are responsible to come to Christ. All men. are responsible to come to Christ
and believe on him. But therein lies the difficulty.
No man is able to. No man is able to. No man can
come to me, Christ said. He's talking about ability. No
man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw
him. You must be drawn by God the Father, or else you won't
come. That's why David said, He maketh me. So many people
quote that passage and they don't even know what they're reading.
God would make people do things? Yeah! Otherwise you won't believe.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Thank God He makes
someone to believe on His Son. Because left to ourselves, none
of us would believe. We'd be there on a terrible day saying,
Crucify Him, Crucify Him. Let His blood be on us and on
our children. apart from the grace of God." And this is the message. This
is the message of God's great supper, of His great salvation.
Come. Come, for all things are now ready. We say, how do I come? How do I come? Come just as you are. Don't wait
to get... So you see, the natural mind
says, well, I'll wait to get a little better. I'll wait till the guilt
of my conscience from my sins kind of eases down, then I'll
come to Him. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest
not what a day may bring forth. Boast not thyself of tomorrow.
We're not promised our next breath. Now is the day of salvation,
the Scriptures teach. Right now. Believe on Him right
now. There's no time to waste. Believe
on Him. The time is at hand. Believe
on Christ. How do I come to Him? Come to
Him just as you are, as a poor, begging, helpless sinner. And
that's the only people who will come to Him. You see, it's always
about a need. Do you need Him? Do you need
Him? Do you need Him? Are you a sinner?
Are you a sinner? You see, faith, God-given faith,
as we heard, faith comes to Christ. Faith looks to Christ. Remember what he told Lazarus?
Lazarus, come forth. That's the picture of salvation
right there. Here we are as Lazarus, dead in a tomb. And even Mary
said, he stinketh for four days. He was dead. He was dead as dead
can be. And he comes up to this dead
person and says, Lazarus, you poor soul. You can't do anything
for yourself. Come forth. And he that was dead,
what? Chose to come forth? No, he came
forth. Why? Because the same voice who
said, let there be light and there was light said, come forth.
And Lazarus came forth. That's salvation. Christ has
to come to where we are and say, come forth. Come out of your
grave. Come out of false religion. Come out of whatever you're looking
to as the hope of your salvation before God. Come out of all that
nonsense. Come to Me. Isn't that what Christ
said in Matthew chapter 11? Come to Me all you who labor
and are heavy laden. There it is again, the need.
Are you heavy laden? Heavy laden with guilt of your
sin. Heavy laden of This law, this
holy law, the law of God that you know you can't keep. See,
the truth is we've never kept one of God's law for one moment
in our entire lives. Not once, not once. Are you burdened by this unbearable
weight of your sin and your guilt and the fact that you're a sinner
before a holy God? Come unto me, all you who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I will give you
rest. One of the most comforting facts,
one of the most comforting truths in all of scripture is that all
that cometh to me, I shall in no wise cast out. I shall in
no wise cast out. And we know, as I said before,
no man can come to him except the Father which hath sent him
draw him. And people say, well, why would God say preach the
gospel to every creature, say come to every creature knowing
that all men would be saved? And the natural response is,
well, to give them a chance. That's not the reason. It's to
leave all men without excuse on the day of judgment. It's
to leave all men without excuse. Turn to me to Proverbs 1. Proverbs
1. We'll see what God has to say
about this. Here's the response to God's
gospel, to God's free grace, to God's salvation in Jesus Christ.
Here's the natural response of the sinful man. Here's God's response to him.
Proverbs 1 verse 22. How long, ye simple ones, will
ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their scorning, and
fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words
unto you, because I have called. And ye have refused. I have stretched
out my hand, and no man regarded. But ye have set out not all my
counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at
your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh,
when your fear cometh as a desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh upon you, then
they shall call upon me. on that great and terrible day
of the Lord, then they shall call upon me, but I will not
answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me, for that they hated knowledge and did
not choose the fear of the Lord." Oh, is there a choice? There
is a choice, and God made that choice for His people. God makes
His people willing in the day of His power. See, like I said,
all men are responsible to come to Christ, but only God's people
will. Only God's people will. Why? Because it leaves all men
without excuse. The gospel is preached to all
men. Come. Come. But only God's people will come.
I've had people say to me, well, you believe that a person can't
be saved even if he wants to. You'll never hear me say something
like that. You'll never hear anyone around here say something
like that. If there's a want to in a person, God put that
want to in him. God put that want to in him. If you want your
sins forgiven, if you feel the need, if you know your guilt
before God, God put that in you. That's God's work of sovereign
grace and mercy in you. And He only does that for His
people. Nevertheless, the commandment still stands. Come, all ye who
labor and are heavy laden, come, for all things are now ready.
All men are without excuse. No man is going to be able to
stand before God on judgment day and say, well, I was an elect.
That's not going to fly. You're responsible. You are responsible. But you are unable. God, give
us grace to know, to realize that we are sinners in need of
forgiveness and that the time is at hand. See, boast not thyself
of tomorrow. Thou knowest not what a day may
bring. I might not be here tomorrow. You know, sometimes I feel like
us young people think, oh, well, we're not old yet. You don't know if you're going
to live tomorrow. You don't know if you're going to live to see
the end of this day. Boast not thyself of tomorrow. Come to
him right now. Harden not your hearts as in
the day of provocation. Come to Him. Come to Him. And
only God can give you grace to come to Him. All right, so we
got two points. The Great Supper, God's great
salvation, number one. And number two, God's message,
come. And my next point is that all
men, all men, and I spoke on this earlier, all men by nature,
make excuses. make excuses for their unbelief.
Look at the next verse. Luke 14 in our text, verse 18.
Luke chapter 14, verse 18. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. Excuses, excuses, excuses. The first said unto him, I have
bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I
pray thee have me excused. What fool buys a piece of ground
without examining it first? He's lying. He's lying. And the
next person's excuse is just as bad. And another said, verse
19, and another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and
I go to prove them. I've bought five yoke of oxen,
but I don't even know if they can pull a cart. What a liar. And I go to prove them. I pray
thee, have me excused. And this last man's excuse is
the worst of them all. He takes it to a whole other
level. Another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot
come. What will a man give in exchange
for his own soul? No relationship is worth losing
your soul over. No job is worth losing your soul
over. They all with one consent began
to make excuse. I wonder on the day of judgment
how many people, how many people would give all that they had
just for one time to be, just for one hour of hearing gospel
preaching, what would they give? What does the prophet demand,
whether he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? It's a
rhetorical question. It profits him nothing. It profits,
though a man gain the whole world. That's not just having all things,
but having power over everyone and have everything that this
world has to offer. Though he gain the whole world
and lose his own soul, it shall profit him nothing. It shall
profit you nothing. And as a wise man once said,
the only true way to tell how important things are is to ask
yourself this question. What will it mean to me in that
day? What will it mean to me in that day? God teach us that
nothing is as important as this gospel. Nothing is as important
as believing on the son of God, as looking to him by faith, as
trusting him for salvation complete. I fear for those who make excuses.
I'll put it off. I'll put it off for another day
out. Don't put it off. Don't put it off. There's nothing
more important than this gospel. There's nothing more important
than where your soul will spend eternity. You ever ask yourself
that question? Where will my soul spend eternity?
Eternity. All men by nature make excuses
for their unbelief. And as I said before, a natural
man's excuse may not be the same thing that these men have. It
might be, like I said earlier, well, how can you hold me accountable,
God? I was an elect. That's not going
to fly. You're responsible to believe.
You're responsible. You can't escape that. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
22. Matthew chapter 22. This is the parallel passage
of Luke chapter 14. Matthew Chapter 22. Look at verse
1. And Jesus answered and spake
unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven
is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son,
and we know what that is, and sent forth his servants to call
them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come.
Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which were
bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings
are killed, and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage.
Now watch this. But they made light of it. They
made light of it. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? You won't. You won't escape.
All men are without excuse. Here's this great supper, this
great salvation. And how much more inexcusable
you are if you hear the gospel. Christ taught this over and over
again. He said, Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! Woe unto thee, Chorazon!
For if the mighty works which have been done in Tyre and Siloam
had been done unto you, they would have repented. But it shall
be more tolerable in that day for them than it will be for
you. Why? Because they heard the gospel. They had the Son
of God in their presence preach the gospel to them, and they
would none of his reproof. How much more tolerable it will
be for that place who's never heard the gospel. As bad as that
still is, your judgment will be multiplied infinitely. And I'm not saying this to scare
you. This is just the truth. This is just the truth. I fear for
those who have lived under the gospel all their lives, have
heard the gospel declared week after week, again and again,
faithfully, and they just leave. They just leave. God have mercy on that soul to
leave the fountain of living waters and to go to broken cisterns.
And but for the grace of God, we would be right there with
them. We're going to be right there with them. It's only God's
preserving grace that keeps us coming. You see, this great commandment
in our text to come to Christ, it's not a one-time thing. This
is what religion teaches, that salvation is subject only to
the first initial experience of grace. That's not been my
experience. Peter said, to whom coming. It's a continual thing. This
matter of salvation, this matter of looking to Christ, of trusting
Him, of looking to Him by faith, it's something that the believer
experiences every time he hears the gospel. You see, I need to
be saved every time I need to hear the gospel, every time I
hear the gospel. I'm saved every time God speaks to me. It's not
something, oh yeah, I remember back then and experience so and
so. Salvation is experienced through the believer's life time
and time again. It's not, oh, I came to Christ, now what's
next? There's nothing next. You don't go past the cross.
You come to Christ, and then you come to Him again. And then
you come to Him again, and you keep coming to Him. You keep
coming to Him until the day you die. That's faith. That's God-given faith. That's
what it does. It continually comes to Him. It continually
looks to Him. You see, it's not, well, I prayed that prayer before.
Oh yeah, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now I'm saved,
and I'm not a sinner anymore. There's no such thing in the
kingdom of God. Paul knew his sin. Oh, wretched man that I
am. Not so-and-so, not somebody else.
Read the scriptures like that. Apply them to yourselves. That's
why we read the scriptures so often and it's like just reading
history. There's no profit from it because you're applying it
to someone else. All those Pharisees, those religious family members
I have. Apply it to yourself. Apply it. Oh, wretched man that
I am. Right now, right now as a believer
by the grace of God, oh, wretched man that I am, for when I would
do good, Evil is present with me, and I cannot do the things
that I would. To will is present with me, but
how to perform that which is good, I find not. I find not. I want to believe
God perfectly. I want to read the scriptures
and see Christ in them all the time. I want sweet and blessed
fellowship with Christ all the time. I want to love the Lord
my God with all my heart, strength, soul, and mind. But there's nothing
I find more difficult to do. God help me, but it's just so.
It's just so. And this is the believer's warfare.
This is the believer's warfare. I kind of came off my point,
but that's all right. Let's go back to our text in Luke chapter
14. Luke chapter 14. Let's look at verse 21. This
is right after those three men excuse themselves from coming
to the Great Supper. Verse 21 of Luke 14. So that
servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master
of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly
into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither
the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. Who's this gospel for? The poor,
and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. We keep seeing
this over and over. This is a reoccurring theme in
scripture. It's a need. It's a need. Are you blind? Are
you sick? What comfort can a Savior bring
to those who've never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. If you're not a sinner, what need do you have of Christ? If you can save yourself by your
sin, by your sincerity, Why do you need Christ? If you can justify
yourself by your pretended law-keeping, then Christ is dead in vain.
We saw that this morning. Christ died in vain. If you're
looking to anything you've ever done as your hope before God,
your hope of eternal life, your hope of salvation, if you're
not looking to Christ, Christ shall profit you nothing. Christ
shall profit you nothing. And this is who the gospel is
for, those who can't help themselves. I've heard it so many times,
and it just makes me sick when people say, Well, God only helps
those who help themselves. What foolishness! God only helps
those who can't help themselves. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Christ didn't come in
this world to save good people. Let the good people save themselves.
That's what he told his disciples when they said, Master, knowest
thou not that the Pharisees were offended? The Pharisees, those
good religious folk who memorized the entire Bible. Didn't you
know that they were offended? What did he say? Let them alone.
Leave them alone. Christ didn't come to save good
people. Christ came to save sinners. And this is just one of those
things that the natural mind can't comprehend. The natural
mind hates it. This is why the carnal mind is
enmity against God. It is enmity. Here's the truth. And this is a shocker to pretty
much everyone. Good people go to hell. Bad people
go to heaven. Now go learn you what that meaneth.
I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Once you learn the answer to
that question, you have learned the gospel. The gospel is for poor, blind,
helpless, and needy sinners. Isn't that what Christ said?
Father, I thank Thee. I thank Thee that Thou hast hid
these things from the wise and the prudent, and revealed them
unto babes." That's not just young children, that's newborns,
infants, sitting there crying, helpless, can't do anything for
themselves, can't provide for themselves. Lord, I need You
for everything. I am the vine, you are the branches.
Without me you can do nothing, Christ said. John 15 verse 5.
We need him for everything. We need him for everything. And
this is who the gospel is for. For those who can't help themselves.
Those who are sick. Those that be whole need not
a physician. Are you whole or are you sick? If you're whole,
you don't need Christ. You don't need the great physician.
If you're not a sinner, you don't need forgiveness. If you can
keep the law, you don't need his obedience. Are you blind? Turn with me to
John chapter 9. John chapter 9. I love what Christ says here
to these Pharisees. John's Gospel, chapter 9, verse
39. John 9, 39. And Jesus said, For
judgment I am come into this world. Here it is. that they
which see not might see, and that they which see might be
made blind. And some of the Pharisees which
were with them heard these things and said unto him, Are we blind
also? Are you kidding me? We're the
Pharisees. We interpret the scriptures.
We translate the scriptures. We're good Christians. Are we
blind also? We're Abraham's seed. We be of
Abraham's seed. Look at Christ's response in
verse 41, This gospel is not for people
who can see just fine. This gospel is not for those
who are whole. This gospel is for the blind. This gospel is
for the sick, those sick with sin, those who are totally depraved,
those who are wretched in themselves, those who have never kept one
of God's laws for one moment in their lives. And you can answer
that question in your own mind. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? All right, point five. Let's
go back to our text, Luke 14. Verse 22, And the servant said,
Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant,
Go out unto the highways and hedges, and compel them to come
in. that my house may be filled."
My next point is nothing is more important in this world than
to compel sinners to come to Christ. To compel sinners to
come to Christ. Invite people to come hear the
gospel. Invite them. There's no promise that God will
save them, but you know for a fact that they're not going to be
saved unless they hear the gospel. So bring them. Let them hear the
gospel. Compel them to come. And you see, God's people when
they're given true faith, They care for the souls of men. I
want people to believe. I've heard preachers say, well,
I'm going to preach this gospel and I don't care if anyone believes.
I do. I want you all to believe. I
want you all to trust Christ for salvation complete. Nothing is more important. Nothing
is more important than compelling sinners to come to Christ. Isn't that what he told that
demoniac after he healed him? That Gadarene in Mark chapter
5? When he said, he told the Lord,
I want to go with thee, I want to follow thee. And that's understandable.
He had just healed him. He wants to be with his Lord.
What did the Lord tell him? Go home and tell thy friends
how great things the Lord hath done for thee. You know, that's
the only reason God's people are on this earth. That's right. God's people are as saved as
they will ever be. Why are we on this earth? to
go home and tell thy friends how great things the Lord hath
done for thee. God's never left himself without a witness on
this planet. He's never left himself without a witness, and
that's our purpose in this life, to spread this gospel, to preach
this gospel to every creature in the hopes, knowing, knowing
that God will save his people, that his word shall not return
unto him void. See, this is the comfort, especially
for people who preach, that in spite of my inability to preach,
his word's not gonna return to him void. It shall accomplish
all whereunto I sent it. It shall not return unto me void,
whether it's to save somebody or condemn them. God's word is
going to accomplish exactly what he sent it to do. That's why
I used to be very distraught after I was given the opportunity
to share the gospel with some people at school. I would always
question myself and say, Lord, forgive me. I feel like I said
things I shouldn't have and didn't say things that I should have.
But here's the thing, his word's not gonna return to him void.
His word is not gonna return to him void. His word shall accomplish
exactly what he sent it to do, exactly what he sent it. What
I'm trying to say, the salvation of God's people does not depend
on us. It does not depend on us. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe, and faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God, and we are his instruments. But God does not need us. God
does not, His word shall accomplish everything where unto He sent
it. It does not depend on us. That's what's so comforting.
It doesn't depend on us. It does not depend on us. And
lastly, my last point, if someone goes to hell, they will have
no one to blame but themselves. Verse 23, and the Lord said unto
the servant, go to the highways and hedges and compel them to
come in. that my house may be filled, for I say unto you that
none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper."
None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
You know, when the scriptures say, God shall send them strong
delusion that they might believe a lie, that they might all be
damned who believe not, who receive not the love of the truth. All
God has to do to send you a strong delusion is leave you to yourself.
That's it. That's why he told those Pharisees
like we just saw, let them alone, leave them alone. That's the
greatest judgment God can give to a person or on a city, just
to leave them to themselves. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. And you won't understand, you'll never understand God's
love for Jacob or God's hate for Esau until you understand
his dealings with Jacob and Esau. What were his dealings with Jacob
and Esau? God did everything for Jacob and left Esau to himself. All I have to do to go to hell,
all God has to do for me to go to hell is to leave me to myself.
God, don't leave me to myself. God, don't leave our family members,
our brothers, our sisters, our parents, our children. Don't
leave them to themselves. They have no hope in themselves.
Lord, hedge them about. Hedge them about. Young people
here, hear me. If God leaves you to yourself,
you're going to hell. God, don't leave me to myself.
God, don't leave me to myself. And I quoted this verse earlier,
but I just want to read it. Turn with me there to Hebrews
chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. I've heard a lot of people say,
well, if God sends me to hell, He won't leave me there long
because, you know, He's a God of mercy. God's mercy is only for His people.
God's grace, God's love, God's mercy is only for His people
and His people are in Christ. Here's what God has to say to
the reprobate. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 2, For
if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression
and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall
we escape? If we neglect, so great salvation. I find it interesting that the
word used here is neglect. Neglect. It doesn't say if we
despise or hate, though that's certainly true. It says neglect. I just count it as a light thing.
I'll just put it off, like we saw earlier. I'll put it off
to another day. I'll put it off to when I need
Christ. How shall we escape if we neglect, so great salvation?
You won't. You won't. You are without excuse. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?
I don't want to end on this bad note. I want to end on a good
note. Though all men are responsible to believe on Christ and come
to Christ, and though all men are unable in themselves, God
has a people in this world whom he's loved from before the foundations
of the world, and he purposed to save them, and Christ saved
them. And all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and all that come to me I will in no
wise cast out. And at the last day in glory,
Christ is going to say, Father, behold, I and the children, all
that thou hast given me, I have lost none. Why? Because he shall
not fail. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. There is no other name given
among men under heaven whereby we must be saved. There is no
savior like Jesus Christ. Come to him. God give you the
faith to do so. Amen.