Alright, let's keep our Bibles
open there at Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14 that Brother
Joe read. I've entitled this message, Eating
Bread in the Kingdom. I took that from verse 15, as
you might surmise there, where one who said at the meal, the
meal that our Lord was having in a Pharisee's house, He said,
Blessed is he that eat bread, that shall eat bread in the kingdom
of God. Eating bread in the kingdom. Now, this parable that we're
going to study this morning follows another parable that our Lord
had spoke, that I dealt with last week. You remember, to understand
these things, to get the meaning, the main teaching, and truth
that we want to get, you have to start with the context and
understand who is speaking here, and obviously that is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the speaker. He came into
this world to save his people from their sins. He came to preach
the gospel, the good tidings of God's grace and mercy to sinners. And here he is teaching through
parables, using illustrations. Then you have to understand who
he's speaking to. Well, he's at a meal. Up here
in verse 1 it says, "...it came to pass as he went into the house
of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day
that they watched him." So he's in a house of one of the main
Pharisees, probably someone who was on the court, the Jewish
court of the Sanhedrin. This man had apparently invited
the Lord in to have a meal with him. And these meals were very,
they were very huge occasions. Now, they weren't, it wasn't
just like, you know, let's step in here and have lunch. It was
a, this was an event. And you had certain rooms that
certain people would go to, certain people of great reputation, great
honor. Maybe they were rich. Maybe they
were high in office and they would go to this certain room
and sit at the table in a certain way. And then those who were
not as well-known, not as rich, not as honored, they go to another
room. And as the Lord began to teach
here, the subject has to do with humility. Humility. But it's not just a moral lesson
on humility. Now, that's there, and I don't
want to deny that, and we'll deal with that. But the lesson
here on humility has to do with how God saves sinners, by grace
and mercy. That God saves the kind of people
that we don't honor, that we don't think a whole lot of, and
that includes me and you, if you knew the reality of the situation. If we only knew ourselves. I told you in Bible schools I
was teaching, we went over to Isaiah chapter 1, where Isaiah
uses language to describe the nation Israel in their unbelief
and idolatry and rebellion against God. Very graphically, as those
who the whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint, he said,
their wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. He speaks of
that. That's how he describes man by
nature. And I asked the class, I said,
now, if he were using literal language, if that was literal,
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores to describe our natural
state before God in our sins, what do you suppose we would
all look like? We wouldn't be able to look at ourselves, let
alone each other. But that's the description. But
you see, that's the kind of people God saves. They may be honored
among men. They may be high among men. They
may even, as the Lord said of the Pharisees, appear outwardly
righteous unto men. But before God, we're all sinners. And as I've said so many times,
there's only two types of people on this earth, sinners lost in
their sins and sinners saved by the grace of God. There's
not one of us who can or have earned salvation, and not one
of us who deserves salvation. And so the Lord used this occasion
to teach this lesson on humility and salvation to these Pharisees,
these men who considered themselves to be honorable men, to be accepted
of God, zealous in religion, men who the general population
looked up to. Even the disciples would say
of these before the Lord taught them, if they're not saved, who
can be? And the lesson is this, there's
only salvation for sinners in Christ. I don't care what office you
hold among men, or how rich you are, or what your possessions
are, you're nothing in the eyes of God in yourself. Your salvation
is wrapped up totally in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's about
His worthiness, His honor, His blood, His righteousness, and
nothing that you can bring to the table. That's what it's about. In fact, if you think you can
bring anything to the table, and that's a good description
of what this parable is teaching. If you think you can bring anything
to the table, you're forbidden to come to the table. Did you
know that? This isn't a potluck dinner.
This isn't a covered dish. Bring your own. If you try to
bring anything of yourself or your own or your works or your
goodness into the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, the
kingdom of salvation, the kingdom of grace, what you're going to
find is that the way is too narrow for you to get in. So that means
you're to come humbly. You're to come naked, and He'll
clothe you. You're to come hungry, and He'll
feed you. You're to come thirsty, and He'll give you water. Don't
bring anything. You say, well, now, I was baptized. Don't bring that in with you.
You really haven't been baptized yet. Because baptism is a confession
of something that's already done. You say, well, I made a profession
when I was 12. Don't bring that in with you
either. You say, well, I've tried to be a good person all my life.
You see, this is the kind of people that the Lord's speaking
to here in this parable. And He's talking about humility.
And he tells them, when you come in to a dinner, don't go to the
highest place, lest the host come in and say, now somebody
higher has come in to you, you've got to get up and move back,
and you're ashamed. And he closes that out in verse 11. Look at
that. He says, for whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased. What he's saying, if you get
a high place, let the master of the house give it to you.
Don't you take it for yourself. Because those who exalt himself
shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
And that's the way it is of salvation. Don't you take the high place
of a sinner saved by grace in the kingdom of God until God
puts you there. By His grace, according to His
word, according to His gospel. Because if you do, and you appear
before Him at judgment, You'll be ashamed, just like those that
he said in Matthew chapter 7, depart from me ye that work iniquity,
I never knew you. They said we've preached in the
name of the Lord. We've passed out demons. We've done many wonderful
works. As I said last time, is that
your righteousness before God? Is that your honor before God?
He said depart from me, I never knew you. You that work iniquity. You see, the only honor that
a sinner has in the kingdom of God, The only worthiness, the
only righteousness is Christ and Him crucified. Do you understand
that? That's the only honor I've got.
My honor is not standing up here behind this pulpit preaching
and being called the pastor of 13th Street Baptist Church. That's
not my honor. My honor is Christ. I must decrease. He must increase. And if we're
here to honor men or to memorialize men, we're in this thing for
the wrong reason. And we're all going to be ashamed.
You see what I'm saying? You're listening to a sinner
saved by grace. And I know some people say, well,
don't call us sinners. We're saints. Definition of a
saint. Get it. Sinner saved by grace. That's what it is. That's what
a saint is. Well, he says in verse 12, look
here, now here's an illustration of God's salvation now. He says,
Then said he also to him that bade him, when thou makest the
dinner or supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither
thy kingsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again,
and recompense be made thee. Now the idea here is don't call
those that you can get something from. That's the way we are by
nature. We only deal with those people
who can benefit us. Who can recompense us. And humility
doesn't do that. He says in verse 13, But when
thou makest a feast, call the poor, call the lame, the blind. Now these are folks who can't
help themselves. These are folks who can't do anything for you
or me. You're not going to call such
people, especially back then. Because these kind of folks here,
the poor, the lame, the lame and the blind, back then were
out in the streets begging. They didn't have Social Security
and disability and all that. They were out there begging.
So think of it as it was back then. Think about a destitute
person who can't do anything for themselves, let alone do
anything for me. That's the kind of people. Call
them, he said. And he says, and thou shalt be blessed, verse
14, for they cannot recompense thee, they can't give you anything
in return, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection
of the just. Now listen, there is a moral
lesson here, and he's teaching us that our lives as believers
ought to reflect the grace of God in humility, in charity,
in all of those things. Not in order to be saved. And
not in order to be recompensed. You know, somebody says, well,
you're trying to earn your reward in heaven. You better stop. You surprised to hear a preacher
say that? Stop trying to earn your rewards in heaven. Because
I'm going to tell you, there's only one reward in heaven, and
that's Christ and the salvation that He has earned. See, this
thing isn't about how much I can earn from God or how much I can
get out of God. Now it says here, you shall be
recompensed at the resurrection of the just. First of all, who
are the just? Sinners saved by grace. Who cannot earn anything. They're
like the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame. They can't earn
a living. They can't earn blessings from
God. You see, it's a blessing of grace. How will you be recompensed? You'll be given eternal life
and glory through Jesus Christ your Lord. That's the reward.
So this is a moral lesson, in a sense, because our lives should
reflect grace and mercy and compassion. But the main lesson is this is
how God saves sinners. This is the kind of people God
saves. People who can't save themselves. People who can't
even make one step towards Him. Totally depraved, totally dead
sinners by nature and by practice. who cannot earn or make or work
out a righteousness of their own. That's the kind he saved. That's a good illustration of
God's salvation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief, Paul is saying. When God saves Saul of Tarsus,
what moves was he making towards God? He wasn't on his way to
a prayer meeting. He wasn't on his way to help
the poor. He was on His way to destroy
Christians. And God stopped Him and saved
Him by grace. You know, that's how He saves
everybody. That's right. But now listen
to this statement in verse 15. Here's a statement concerning
God's salvation. Then one of them, verse 15, that
sat at meal with Him, heard these things. He heard all that the
Lord said. And he said unto him, Blessed
is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. That's a
good statement. Blessed is he that shall eat
bread in the kingdom of God. That word blessed is an interesting
word. Some translations translate it
happy. Happy. And I really don't like
that translation, even though it's not really that bad. But
it gives people today a wrong impression. It gives people the impression
that if you're a Christian, you're always going to be happy. And
if you're a Christian, you know better, don't you? It's not a
bed of roses. There is a happiness that's associated
with it, and that's the happiness of our eternal life and glory
in Christ. That's a joy. But the word blessed
means graced. It's the blessings of grace.
The Bible says, blessed be God. That is, we set apart and worship
God, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, not because we're so good or that we've done anything
right, but in Christ Jesus before the world began. In the Beatitudes,
blessed is the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, all of
those things. That's grace. That's what it's
all about. It's not things you earn from
God or things you deserve. And he's saying, blessed is he
that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Now, the kind of people
he's going to be talking about are the poor, the lame, the maimed,
the blind, the spiritually dead who cannot save themselves. And
this eating bread, it is a great, great type and picture of faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the bread of life. You see,
he's speaking of spiritual matters here, eating bread in the Kingdom
of God. It's a way of describing in symbol
how sinners, true sinners, feed upon Christ by faith and how
He's the bread of life for all His people. Turn over to John
chapter 6 with me. Our Lord used this illustration
to refer to himself and the salvation that he freely provides in himself. Look at John 6, look at verse
28. He had been preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And he
says in verse 28, Then said they unto him, What shall we do that
we might work the works of God? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he
hath sent." You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That means
rest in Him for the provision of all things in salvation. All
wisdom, all righteousness, all holiness, all redemption. It's
not conditioned on you. It's not conditioned on me. It's
conditioned on Christ. He fulfilled all the conditions.
I'll show you that in just a moment. Verse 30, they said, therefore
unto him, what sign showest thou then, that we may see and believe
thee? What dost thou work? Well, listen
to how he answers them in verse 31. He says, our fathers, or
they said, they continue on, then we'll see how he answers
them. He says, they said, our fathers did eat manna in the
desert. That was a sign from heaven, you see, for the Jews
in the wilderness after they had left Mount Sinai. Our fathers
did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. Now look how the Lord answers
them. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven. Now Moses represents
the law. And Moses was a man. Moses was
a sinner saved by grace. He didn't give you that bread
from heaven. You didn't get it from the law. In other words,
you didn't get it by your works. God didn't give that bread to
Israel because they were the greatest of all people and the
best of all people and that they were working hard to earn it
from Him. That's not why they got that bread. You know why
they got it? Because He chose them. Why did
He choose them? It seemed good in His sight.
That's the only answer the Bible gives you on that issue. If that
doesn't satisfy you, well then, too bad. But that's why He did
it. They weren't the greatest, the
best. As one old preacher said, they weren't the goodest of all
people. In fact, all indication says
they were the worst. You know, when he brought them
out of Egypt after the Passover, you remember, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. And he brought them out with
a great, powerful redemption. And they got on the shores of
the Red Sea. And they saw Pharaoh's army coming. What did they do?
They turned on Moses and turned on God and said, why have you
led us out here just to die? We would have been better back
in Egypt. Now, were they trying to earn
their salvation then? Well, they didn't do it. And then he led them across on
the Red Sea. The Lord opened up the Red Sea. What a great picture of the Red
Sea of the blood of Christ. That's our redemption. God leads
us into His kingdom through the Red Sea and the blood of Christ.
I love that picture. But He led them across. They
encamped at the bottom of Mount Sinai. Moses was up there 40
days and nights. And what were they doing down
there? Worshipping God? Holding prayer meetings? No. They were murmuring. They were
complaining. And finally, what did they do? They made a golden
calf and worshipped it. Now, were they trying to earn
God's favor there? Well, if they did, if that's
what they were trying to do, they failed miserably. And then
God killed a lot of them in His justice there, who would not
side with God. And then they were led out into
the desert, and God took care of them, in spite of themselves. You know that's how God saves
sinners today, in spite of ourselves? You know that's how God teaches
sinners today, by grace, in spite of ourselves? If God were to
let us go one second, we fall and to perish. It's all of grace. So he says, Moses didn't give
you that bread from heaven. Look at verse 32. But my father
giveth you that true bread from heaven, for the bread of God
is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the
world. That's his people all over the
world. That's not everyone without exception,
because everyone without exception doesn't have that bread. They
don't want that bread. And he says in verse 34, Then
said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. You see that Christ is the bread
of life. And he goes on to teach about that in the rest of John
chapter 6. That's what this man over here
is talking about in verse 15. Blessed is he that eateth bread
in the kingdom of God. Blessed is he. that feeds upon
Christ. That's not cannibalism, that's
faith in Christ. That's what we're doing. All
of you here this morning who know Christ, who are resting
in Him, that's what we're doing. We're eating bread in the kingdom
right now. Did you know that? You're feasting
upon the bread, the spiritual bread of life, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And when
I saw that statement, you know what I thought about? We've been
studying the life of David on Sunday night and Wednesday night
as a type of Christ and as an illustration of the Gospel. Eating
bread in the Kingdom of God. Eating bread at the King's table.
I thought about Mephibosheth again. You all know about Mephibosheth
in 2 Samuel 9. If you've never heard of Mephibosheth,
read 2 Samuel 9. You remember Jonathan, King Saul's
son, who made a covenant with David, the future king. And the
love of Jonathan and David towards each other as friends and as
loyal to one another. And Jonathan made provision by
covenant for his family. He said, David, you take care
of my house. If any of my descendants are
left over, you love them and take care of them. And of course,
Jonathan, he died. And later on, David looked up
and he said, is there anybody in the house of Jonathan? that
I can show mercy to, show goodness to. And there was one, his name
was Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, who was lame on his feet. He'd been dropped when he was
a baby. Picture of our fall. He was lame on his feet, couldn't
walk. He said, go fetch him. That's
the exact words the King James Version used. Go fetch him. Brother
Mahan called that fetching grace. Go fetch him. He didn't say,
now you go over and see if Mephibosheth wants to come over here. I guarantee
you, a Mephibosheth would have said no, because he was probably
afraid that David was going to kill him. He was the grandson
of King Saul, that evil king who tried to kill David. He said,
you go get him and you bring him here. And they went and got
him, they brought him here, and David fixed him up and washed
him up and put him at the king's table eating bread at the king's
table all his life. And that's the way God saves
a sinner like me and like you. He comes and He fetches us. Now,
that's what happens here. Look here. Here's the parable
of God's salvation. Verse 16. It says, "...then said
He unto him..." This is Luke 14, verse 16. "...then said He
unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade many..."
Now, that word, bade, that means didn't, bid them. It's like an
invitation. "...and he bade many." I thought
about that statement our Lord made at the end of 2 Pharaohs.
Many are called, few are chosen. Listen to what happens. It says
he sent his servant at supper time. Now the certain man is
the Lord. The servant who sent at supper
time, that's when things are ready now. In other words, he's
not saying come here and sit in a waiting room and wait until
it's done. No. He's not saying come and contribute.
It's supper time. Things are ready. It's time to
eat. And he sends his servant. The Lord sent his son into the
world. And the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate, went through
Judea preaching the gospel. The Lord sent his apostles, his
servants, out to preach the gospel. That's what he's talking about.
The Lord has his preachers today preaching the gospel. And they
sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden,
now listen to this, he says, come for all things are now ready. Now, that's a good way to describe
the gospel of God's grace. All things are now ready. In
other words, again, he's not calling on them to bring their
own food or to bring any contribution. It's all ready. Now, who made
it ready? I'll tell you exactly who made
it ready, the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary. It's all done. The gospel of God's grace does
not present salvation as a work to be done by us, or to be finished
by us, or to be completed by us, or to be made effectual by
us. It's not our faith that makes
the work of Christ on the cross effectual. It's His work on the
cross that is effectual that makes our faith to come to Him. Faith is the gift of God through
Christ. All things are ready. Redemption
has been accomplished. Righteousness has been established.
Don't bring your own. All things are ready. Salvation
is accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. Justice has been satisfied. The debt has been paid in full. You come up and say, well, let
me contribute what I can. That's an insult. to the king. That's an insult to the Savior.
That's exactly right. Could you imagine if you were
invited to somebody's house to eat? And I know a lot of you
say, well, what can I bring? They say nothing. But you bring
something anyway. That's an insult. You don't want my food? Because
you don't have the taste for it? I know some have to do it
because of physical reasons, but I'm talking about somebody
who just says, well, I'm going to bring my own. You see, all
things are ready here. All things are accomplished.
Christ did it all. It's His blood that put away
all the sins of all His sheep. It's not His blood plus your
tears. It's not His blood plus your
faith and repentance. It's His blood alone. And His
blood alone, if you ever see it, it will bring a tear. It'll
bring faith, it'll bring repentance. It's His righteousness alone
that enables God to be just to justify the ungodly. It's not
your obedience or your cooperation. If His blood and righteousness
was shed for me and you, we'll cooperate. Believe me. That's
what the Scripture teaches. It's all accomplished. All things
are ready. God will not accept our contributions
and works. Somebody puts conditions on the
center for salvation. No, sir. All things are ready.
All conditions have been met. Everything that God requires
of me has been fully accomplished and provided freely through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every bit of it. The Bible says,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Hebrews 10 and verse 14. Now it doesn't say there, for
by one offering plus what you do, he hath perfected. It doesn't
say for by one offering plus your faith or plus your works.
It says for by one offering. What offering? The offering of
the Son of God for the sins of his people. He hath perfected. That means completed. It's full. He hath perfected forever, not
just part of the time. It's not you can have it today
and lose it tomorrow. That's a false gospel. But he
hath perfected forever, it says, them that are sanctified, set
apart by God. That's what he means here. All
things are ready. Well, look at verse 18. And they
all with one consent began to make excuse. And the original
says, they all with one began to make excuse. This is man by
nature right here. All in agreement. And they have
their excuses. The first said unto him, I bought
a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee,
have me excused. Well, you're excused. That's
basically what it's saying here. You're excused. If you want to
be excused from this dinner, you can be excused. What's the
problem here? Possessions. I've got a piece
of ground. I own something. I've got to
deal with it. Well, you're certainly not going
to let it go, are you? I mean, it has to be prepared. The grass
has to be cut. The thing has to be whatever.
You've got some things you own. Excuse me. You're excused. And
then look here, verse 19, another said, I have bought five yoke
of oxen, and I go to prove or to test them. I pray they have
me excused. Well, you're excused too. What's
that? That's occupation. Possessions,
occupation. I've got a job. I've got to be
excused. You're excused. You're not going
to eat bread in the kingdom of heaven. That's what he's saying.
And then it says in verse 20, another said, I've married a
wife and therefore I cannot come. Well, apparently she wouldn't
come with him. So he said, I can't come. What's that? That's family. Family. So you've got possessions,
you've got jobs, you've got family. You know, that covers just about
everything, doesn't it? You're excused. You're excused. You see that? And all the excuses
of men will only do one thing for them. Cause them to perish. That's all they're to do. They
will not stand at judgment. At judgment, it's not going to
be said, well, what was your excuse? No. You say, well, I
had some oxen. I had to take care of them. I
had some land. My wife wouldn't come. Or my family wouldn't come. The
only thing that's going to matter in judgment is, are you in Christ,
or are you in yourself? God hath commanded all men everywhere
to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
and that he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath
raised them from the dead. Do I have a righteousness that
answers the demands of God's law and justice? That's the only
thing that will matter. If I'm in Christ, then I have that righteousness. It's not my own, it's His. He
gave it to me, and I can call it my righteousness because He
gave it to me. He took my sins. God made Him
to be sin. Christ, who knew no sin, that
I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He gave me His
righteousness. I stand in Him. And my hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, and
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name, on Christ the solid rock I stand, and all other ground
is sinking sand." But now, the excuses only show
one thing. You stand there in your sins,
and that means you'll perish. My friend, if you don't have
Christ, you have nothing. You have nothing. If you don't
have the bread of life, You have nothing. If you don't have the
water of life, nothing. If you don't have His blood and
righteousness, nothing. The grace of God. But look what
happens here. He says in verse 21, So that
servant came and showed his lord these things. And 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,
or in here, the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the
blind. Do you see that? Remember what he said back over
here in verses 12-14, when you have a dinner, go ask the poor,
and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. They can't give
you anything in return. He said, go get them. Now the
first application here, most commentators agree that he's
talking about Israel. God's sheep in Israel, God's
elect in Israel, and I agree with that. The Bible says to
the Jew first and then to the Gentile. Not to the Jew first
because they were any better, but that was God's plan and purpose
to bring his gospel through into this world. He started with the
Jews and he went to the Gentiles. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. Christ died for them. They shall
be saved. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And this is the will of him that
sent me. Of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing
but what? Raise it up again at the last minute. Who are they? Spiritually speaking, they're
the poor. They're bankrupt. They owed a debt to God's law
and justice in Adam when they fell, and they don't have a penny
to pay. They had nothing to pay. They're
the maimed, the halt, and the blind, spiritually dead. If anybody's
going to save them, they'll have to go get them, just like David
said, go fetch Mephibosheth and bring him into the king. And
that's what he says. Look at verse 22. 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 hedges, and compel them to come
in, that my house may be filled." That's the Gentiles. God's people
among the Gentiles. Notice there it says, compel
them to come in. It doesn't say bid them to come
in. You see, this is more than just an invitation here. This
compel, actually, it's like, you go get them. It's a powerful,
irresistible call of the Holy Spirit. that convinces a sinner
of his sins and convinces him of the glory and the greatness
of Christ and him crucified and risen again. You see, what he's
showing us here is that salvation is not a decision you make for
the Lord. I'm sorry. Well, somebody said,
well, don't we decide for the Lord? Yes, but that's not salvation. Salvation is a persuasion that
God brings his people to. Paul said it this way, I know
whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Now
who persuaded Paul? Huh? Somebody said Stephen did. No he didn't. He held the coats
of the men who stoned Stephen to death. Who persuaded Paul? The Lord Jesus Christ did on
the Damascus road when he put him in the dust. That's who persuaded Paul. You
know what? He's the same one who persuades
me and you, if he's pleased to do so. He persuades us. How does he persuade us? Well,
he shows me that spiritually speaking, I'm poor and maimed
and hot and blind, and I have nothing to bring to the table.
I have nothing to contribute. No goodness, no righteousness,
no payment. All I am is a sinner in need,
and just like when Hannah prayed it, it goes like this, he lifteth
the beggar off the dung heap. That's how God saves a sinner.
Cleans him up and puts a robe on him, a robe of righteousness. And he says in verse 24, he says,
For I say unto you that none of these men which were bidden
shall taste of my supper. None who were bidden, but I'm
going to tell you something, everyone who was compelled will
eat at the king's table. They'll eat bread. Now, I want
to read through some more verses here, and I'll close. But I want
to show you something, because people ask about these verses
in light of this. But keep it in its context. He
says, And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said
unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father,
and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever
doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to
build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost,
whether he hath sufficient to finish it?" In other words, if
you step into something, you take hold of something, you know
what it's going to involve. Verse 29, "...lest, haply after
he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it,
all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to
build, and was not able to finish. Or what king going to make war
against another king sitteth not down first, and consulteth
whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against
him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet
a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions
of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be
of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my
disciple." Now, most people are caught up in those first few
verses there about hate. That's what he said. If any man
come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brother, and sister, you cannot be my disciple. And they
ask, well, is the Lord teaching us to be haters there? Because
the scripture says we're to love even our enemies. And the fulfillment
of the law, love God perfectly, love your neighbor as yourself.
That's true. Well, there's no contradiction
here between this, what he's talking about in the context
of what he means, and the law. which says, love your neighbor
as yourself, and your neighbor as your worst enemy, let alone
your mother, your father, your brother, your sisters. We're
to love all without exception as ourselves. But the lesson
here, in the context, is teaching this. Anything or anyone who
stands between me and Christ, anything or anyone who stands
between you and Christ, In comparison with your love for Him, and your
need of Him, and your desire for Him, we're to hate. It's
not that we're to hate the person themselves, we're to pray for
them. But when it comes to their position, and their compelling
us, and asking us not to run to Christ, keeping us from Christ,
we're to hate that, and to hate them in that sense. Again, we
pray for them. I've got relatives who are lost
in their sins. But I'll tell you what, in comparison
with Christ and my need for Him and my love for Him, it is a
hatred. I hate anything that comes between
me and Christ. And you are too. You say, well,
that doesn't sound consistent. Well, that's too bad. You take
it as it is. That's what the Scripture says.
I'll tell you what, we're to hate anyway. David said this
in the Psalms, he said, I hate every false way. And I do. I pray that God will save sinners.
In fact, I think one of the main lessons of all these parables
is that we who are saved are to have a passion for the lost.
I mean a passion for the lost. Whether it be your unbelieving
wife or your unbelieving husband, whatever. But he's talking about
these people here and these situations as they oppose Christ. And as they assert themselves
or their ways to keep you from faith in Christ, to keep us from
worshiping Christ and resting in Him. And in that sense, we're
to hate. That's so. That's a righteous
indignation is what it is. And we don't do anything perfectly.
But we're to follow the Lord. And here's what I'm telling you,
whether it be your family, Whether it be your closest relative or
friend, whether it be your possessions or your occupation, the only
way you're going to eat bread in the kingdom of God is to run
to Christ, the bread of life. And don't let anybody get in
your way. That's what he's saying. Don't let anybody get in your
way. I don't care if you say, well, she'll make me miserable,
or he'll make me miserable. Be miserable. That's what I'm
telling you. Just be miserable. God will take
care of that situation, I guarantee you. You run to Christ. You submit
to Him and His righteousness as your only hope of salvation.
And don't let anything get in your way. And I'll tell you this
much, too. If He compels you, if He comes
and fetches you, you won't let anyone get in your way. You won't
let anything get in your way.