Luke chapter 14 and reading from 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. And he sent his servant at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse.

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. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

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. 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 into 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 suffer. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word. It has been a very eventful Sabbath day in the ministry of the Lord Jesus and his disciples.

The Lord, no doubt, had been to the local synagogue that morning and he afterwards was invited to the home of one of the chief Pharisees for a meal. And as we've read over the past few weeks, he was carefully watched by those who were present to see what his response would be, his reaction would be to a sick man who was presented to him in the gathering. And in an act of mercy, which we might well imagine was very appropriate for the Lord Jesus, he healed the man, despite the critical attitude of those present.

And he proceeded to deliver multiple spiritual lessons to this gathering. Now, it is certain that these spiritual lessons were principally designed for and directed towards the church. He was speaking in parables, and we know that parables are spiritual lessons for the Lord's people that are conveyed in a more general earthy story. And this is what the Lord used and made use of here on this occasion as well.

First he spoke in praise of modesty, showing that those who exalt themselves before God by their own works and self-righteousness will be put to shame when the humble poor are raised up by the Lord in grace. And he referred, as he was speaking, to the resurrection of the just.

This is one of the ways in which we realise that he is speaking here primarily to the church. He is speaking to believers. These lessons, let me put it like this, these lessons are for you and me. They're for the church of the Lord. And he uses this little phrase, the resurrection of the just, indicating that gospel truths and spiritual living, spiritual responsiveness, spiritual conduct was in view as he was speaking.

And he continued, secondly, to speak of caring for the poor, practising charity, being compassionate and being willing to sacrifice for those who are in need. And I think this is very interesting because we're being shown here that the Lord was establishing these principles of conduct. He wasn't directing the men and women who are spiritually attuned back to the law of Moses as their rule of life and their rule of conduct. He was establishing these principles of love and compassion and care and sacrifice and benevolence and kindness that are manifested in himself to be practiced and patterned in the Lord's people.

And finally he sets forth, it's not finally in what I've got to say, but finally as far as these parables are concerned, finally he sets forth this parable. and it's the longest of the three and it is the most elaborate of the three. And perhaps we could say that it is the most condemning of all as far as the scribes and Pharisees present are concerned. For although he was speaking to the church with respect to the ways of life, there was an edge to all of these parables which condemned the attitudes and the actions of the Pharisees themselves.

And I think it's interesting to note the heat and the passion with which the Lord speaks here. It's almost as if he has been provoked by the statement made by one of the guests. This man. who we may assume was one of those who in the earliest stages was jostling for position to get one of the highest seats.

He'd found himself a seat and he was sitting at the table and he was listening to the Lord speaking. And he appears to have been intrigued by the Lord's reference to the resurrection of the just. Now, of course, he assumed himself to be righteous in God's sight. He assumed that he was eligible to be present at this table at the resurrection of the just because of his diligent obedience to the law and his dedication to the Jewish faith. This man was basking in the happy prospect that he believed lay in store for those who would be welcomed to the great feast of God. The great feast that God would call to honour and recompense the Jews at the coming of the Messiah.

And he called out as the Lord was there present and as all these people were around the table listening to the words of the Lord. He called out in the company of all to hear, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. No doubt supposing he himself and his fellow diners would be among that gathered, that gathering. Well, the Lord could not let this error go unchallenged, which led to this final parable of this Sabbath day gathering and to the verses that we have in view today.

So as we've read, the Lord again couched these spiritual lessons in a story about a feast, a great feast. And the greatness of this feast is due to the greatness of the host, who I'm sure is intended to represent God the Father. God the Father and the many desirable blessings that he has laid up in store for his people in heaven. And the parable has, I'm also sure, many lessons embedded in it.

But I want to mention three things today, which I hope that we all will find useful. The first one is the history of revelation that is revealed in this parable. The second one I want to draw your attention to is the distinction between the general call and what's called the effectual call in the Gospel. And the third point is the liberality of God's grace. And we'll see what I mean by each of these as we come to them. But it is a full, parable with lots in it and I'm sure there's much more that we could draw attention to on another occasion. But let me just mention these three and firstly the history of revelation.

In the space of these verses the Lord gives us an overview of how the revelation of God's gospel was given first to the Jews and only afterwards to the Gentiles. And it came to the Jews first and the Lord speaks to us about the reaction it received among them generally. Now, if we're right in thinking that the father is this certain man who hosts this meal, then his servant is the Lord Jesus Christ, by which we learn that God's covenant purpose and the plan of salvation was, first of all, by Christ, communicated to the Jews insofar as they received the promises and the oracles and visitations from the sun and the testimony of the prophets. And this is how the Lord in these earliest times revealed his purposes and his plans, his covenant of grace and mercy.

And the servant's words, which perhaps we could say is a very simplified summary of this gospel revelation, simply says, come, for all things are now ready. And I think that that is a delightful way to think about the gospel and how in covenant grace the Lord speaks to his people. He simply says, and could it be simpler? Could the language be simpler? Could the theology be simpler? Could the revelation of God be more straightforward or understandable? Come. for all things are now ready. And that shows that salvation is a completed work with all those things prepared for those to whom it comes by free grace and divine goodness from God. However, the Jewish nation A people from the very earliest times, prone to idolatry and rebellion, a stiff-necked people, rejected the overtures of God.

And the excuses given in verses 18 to 20, I've bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee have me excused. I've bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them. I pray, They have me excused. I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. These excuses betray man's imagined own sufficiency. I'm sorted. I've got other things that I need to do. I've got other things that I need to be engaged in. I don't need your feast. The man that had married a wife, perhaps he had already arranged a feast of his own with his own friends coming to share with him. He didn't need the feast that God was going to do. God had promised a land to the people of Israel, a picture, a type of glory and yet here was a man who said, I've got my own land. So we can see that these examples are pictures by which we could correlate the Jews' reaction to God throughout the unfolding revelation of the Old Testament.

Though God's blessings were sent before the Jewish people throughout their history, and though that people were honoured thereby above all nations, yet they preferred to go their own way and they despised the goodness of God. Now in the parable, this refusal provoked the master of the house and he sends out his servant again to call the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind from the streets and the lanes of the city. And perhaps we might imagine or conceive that this is speaking of those individuals from amongst the Jews to whom the mercy of God came in sovereign distinguishing grace as the Lord Jesus ministered amongst them following His incarnation. those who were healed by his miracles, those who were enabled by his miraculous works, who were poor and who were maimed and who were hauled and who were blind and who were brought to a knowledge of the true identity of God in Jesus Christ through his miraculous works amongst them. And so it was that the Lord began to gather in a great number from the land of Galilee and Judea and even there in the city of Jerusalem, believers whom he called to himself.

And these people were brought, not just physically, but spiritually. hither into the family of God, brought to the table that the Lord God had prepared, brought in by the effectual grace of God the Holy Spirit. And yet, we're told, the servant finds there is room at the table of this great feast and in the house of his master.

So another call is given in verse 23. 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. And this third venture may be interpreted as the calling of the Gentiles by the Lord's disciples when he sent them out into all the world to preach the gospel.

The lesson then. To this man who was seated at the table with the Lord, the lesson to this proud religious leader, this Pharisee, was that his self-righteous presumption that he would be present at the table of God and blessed amongst those who were gathered was unfounded. The history and practices he based his hope upon were not of God's ordering but man's making. He was hoping for a place at the table of God, at the resurrection of the just. But the master's judgment was emphatic.

None of these men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. So much for the history of Revelation. Let me think of this second point now. The second lesson we can learn from this parable is the distinction between the general call and the effectual call.

There is a general call in the Gospel when it is preached. The Gospel is a declaration of what God has done in Christ for sinners, to secure and accomplish the salvation of his people, and it contains within it a welcoming invitation to the weary and heavy laden, to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness. and the Gospel shows God to be a merciful and gracious God, long-suffering and patient, willing to forgive and to save all who come to him for help, for forgiveness and for grace. And this gospel is to be preached to all men and women. We go, as did the disciples, as did the apostles, into all the world, preaching the gospel of God's free grace in Christ. This actually is one of the peculiar blessings we have with our form of preaching today, even tonight, today, this internet preaching. We make use of a worldwide web by which the gospel is declared as the waters cover the sea.

Nevertheless, as this gospel goes forth, as it is generally preached, as it is universally declared to the best of our abilities, reaching the ends of the earth, the scriptures also tell us that it is beyond the natural power of man and contrary to the inclination of man to come to God by Jesus Christ, because all are dead in sin. and incapable of responding savingly to that Gospel. That is the nature of our souls. We are dead in sin and we cannot respond naturally to the Gospel call. That is a result of the fall. That is the result of our nature in Adam.

The general call in the gospel is not an enabling call, and it leaves all to whom it comes in the condition that they are. They are inexcusable if they reject it, but it does not come with a power that enables acceptance. Jesus said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. However, he also told the Pharisees, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father. John chapter 6 verse 65.

It takes another call, it takes another work, an effectual enabling and spiritually powerful call to quicken the dead soul of a sinner and to create a new heart and to form a new creation and to initiate the new birth. This is what the Lord called, this is what the Lord taught Nicodemus It is what occurred in the life's experience of Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened. The Lord said to Nicodemus, marvel not that I say unto you, ye must be born again. And Lydia experienced that new birth, that new opening of her heart when the Apostle Paul preached the gospel to her. And it's what Paul was speaking of when he wrote to Titus in Titus 3, verse 5, where he writes, Listen, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

There's the power, there's the potency, there's where the work is done. The washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

So that's the distinction then between this general call and the effectual call. And then lastly, there's a third lesson I want to draw your attention to, and that's the liberality of God's grace. The servant told his master, yet there is room. And the master called the servant to go out again and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Now this doesn't imply force. Oh, there have been times in the history of the, well, the so-called church, not the true church of Jesus Christ, but the church that is Christendom, when they have tried to force men to convert, tried to force Christianity as a religious practice onto the heathen. There is no compulsion here in that sense. We're not talking about forcing religious affiliation onto people against their will. It doesn't imply force except that The Lord, the God, the Holy Spirit mightily makes men willing in the day of his power. It does, however, encourage you and me.

It encourages God's servants who preach and all who witness to be engaged actively in communicating the Gospel where and when we can, and urging all to come under the sound of God's Word. Because it is by the preaching of the Gospel, that's what Paul said, was the power of God unto salvation. It's through the preaching of the Word that men and women, boys and girls, are saved. Yet there is room, ought to be a watchword, for the Church, because it is true until the very last lost sheep be gathered in. And for as long as there is yet room, we shall be here in this world, ministering the gospel and preaching Christ. It is the way that Christ gathers in his people.

It's a very simple phrase, but it has a very profound meaning. There is yet room. There is yet room for you if you are not yet saved. There is yet room for those we pray for. There is yet room for your family, your friends, your neighbours. There is yet room. May the Lord give us a burden for the unsaved and remind us there is yet room until that very last seat has been filled. Amen. Amen.