Chapter 14. There it goes. Luke chapter 14. Look at verse
16 of Luke 14. Then said he unto him, a certain
man made a great supper and he bade many. That'll be our text. The title of the message is A
Great Supper. Before we begin, let's go to
our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you again for this day. Lord, how we thank you for this
opportunity to gather together, Lord, to worship you. Lord, we pray that you would
Take this in our scripture and use it to teach us of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to teach us more of the Savior. Lord, we thank
you for your mercies. We thank you for your grace.
Lord, above all things, we thank you for our Savior. We desire
to know more of him. Lord, for those of our number
who are in a time of trouble, we pray you'd comfort and strengthen,
encourage your people. Lord, in all things, teach us
to look to Thee, Lord, to rest in Thee for all things. Lord,
we thank you for our pastor, and Lord, we pray that you would
be with him as he and Janet are away from us. Lord, that you
would give them a time of rest and relaxation, and Lord, that
you would return them to us safely. And again, we pray your blessing
upon us in this hour. or bless us with your presence.
Set aside the thoughts and cares of this world. Let us see Christ. For it's in his name we pray
and give thee thanks. Amen. Again, we read here, a certain
man made a great supper. Back in Isaiah 25, we read, in
the mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all the people
A feast, a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the leaves,
of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the leaves, well
refined. We read here of a supper, and
supper is a time when our bodies are nourished. And when we gather together,
when we gather together for the preaching of the word, when we
gather together to worship, Our souls are fed. And we're fed
at the table. We read that in Psalm 23. We're
fed at the table. God sets for his people. And
I hope that's why we're here tonight, to be fed, that we would
be nourished, that he would be pleased to feed his people as
we've gathered together. Christ told Simon Peter, he said,
feed my sheep. And here in our text, we read
of a great supper. He refers to a great supper.
And I have six reasons or six things that I think we should
consider about this great supper. And the first is this. It's great
by virtue of the maker of it. He who prepared it. David said
there in Psalm 23, thou preparest a table for me. For me, God is
the maker of it and he is the great God. Over in Deuteronomy
10, 17, for the Lord your God is a God of gods and the Lord
of lords, a great God, a mighty and terrible which regardeth
not man nor taketh reward. He's not influenced by our deeds. He's not influenced by our actions
or any so-called contributions that we might make. He is King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. In Proverbs 26, he's the great
God that formed all things. He's sovereign. Simply said,
he is sovereign. He's sovereign in creation. He's
sovereign in providence, and he's sovereign in salvation.
And someday, someday we will all gather around His table as
one body and worship Him and Him alone. In Revelations chapter
19, turn over to the book of Revelation. Revelation 19. Look at verse 17, Revelation
19 and verse 17. And I saw an angel standing in
the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls
that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together
unto the supper of the great God. Second, it's a great feast. because of the rich provision
of it. This is not a potluck. Nobody
needs to sign up for roles, right? It's not God doing his part and
then man doing his. It's not a meal where, I've heard
Brady say this, we're going Dutch. you know, where you pay yours
and he pays his. That's not what this is. This
is a feast that he has prepared. We're not paying our own way. We're not contributing in any
way. The only thing we bring is sin. That's what we bring to the equation. And in verse 17, back in Luke
14, he says this, he told his servant, He said, You say to
them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. The Lord provides all. He provides it all. Back in Genesis
22, won't you turn there with me? Genesis chapter 22. Abraham and Isaac were walking
up that mountain to offer a sacrifice and to worship God. And look
beginning in verse five. Abraham said to the young men,
he said, abide with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood
of the burnt offering And he laid it upon Isaac, his son,
and he took the fire in his hand, and he took the knife, and they
went, both of them, together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham,
his father, and he said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son.
And he said, Behold the fire and the wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the lamb for a burnt
offering? And Abraham made that statement. He said, My son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. That's great provision, isn't
it? He provides the lamb. The Lord provided himself as
the lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb
of God, he is God. Almighty God, he provided himself
the lamb. And the Lord will provide himself
for a lamb. Almighty God's the offended party here. And there
must be It must be a blood sacrifice, and only one will do, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord will provide, He'll
see to it, that every one of His lost sheep will be redeemed. His law honored, His justice
satisfied, His covenant fulfilled. The glory of His Son will be
accomplished and nothing, nothing will be left undone. We read
back there in our text, All things. All things are ready. Christ said this on the cross.
He said, it's finished. The work is complete. The work
is done. And when Abraham bound his son and he laid him on that
altar and took that knife to slay his son, that angel of the
Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ stopped him. Abraham lifted up his eyes
and what did he see? He saw that ram. that ram caught
the thicket, that lamb that God had provided. And he took that
ram and he offered it up in the place of his son for a burnt
offering as a substitute in the place of his son. Why is it a
great supper? The great provision of it. We eat his flesh and we drink
his blood. Third, why is this a great supper? Consider the guests. Consider
the number of them and consider the nature of them. It's a number. How many are going
to be there? It's a number which no man can
number. A people redeemed to God by the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ out of every kindred, out of
every tongue, out of every nation and tribe under heaven. Our Lord
said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. Look at our text here. Look at
verse 17 there in Luke 14. He sent his servant at suppertime
to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are ready. But you know, they had no interest. Look there at verse 18. They
all with one consent began to make excuse. There was no interest. They were taken up with the things
of this world. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. Look at verse 18. They
began to make excuse. One said, I bought some land. I got to go check on that land.
Another one said, I've bought some oxen. I've got to go check
on those oxen. Another one said, I've married
a wife. They began to make excuses. Our Lord said in John 5, verse
40, He said, You will not come to Me that you might have life. So the servant, look at verse
21, the servant came and he showed his Lord these things. Then the
master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly. Go out quickly. This is urgent,
isn't it? Go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city and bring in hither. Bring them here. Bring them to the place just
like when, remember when David sent his servant to fetch Mephibosheth? He said, you go get him. You go fetch him and you go bring
him back to me. And that's, I believe that's
what's being said here. You go out there and you find
him and you bring him to me. And God's word and his spirit
go forth saving his sheep, calling his sheep to himself. Second
Thessalonians 2.13, God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth and his people. His sheep are made willing in
the day of His power. He said in verse 21 of our text,
He said, go out quickly in the streets, in the lanes, in the
city, and bring in, and look who He sends, look who He tells
them to go get. This is a description of a sinner,
isn't it? He said, you go find the poor,
the poor, the helpless, the needy. You go find the maimed, the crippled,
just like old Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth would have never
come out of Lodabar unless David had sent and fetched him and
brought him back. You bring the halt. The halt
can't take the first step. Our Lord, He made the lame to
walk. He said, you go get the blind,
those that cannot see. No doubt, no doubt that is a
description of a sinner. Those that can do nothing for
themselves. They're dependent upon someone,
completely dependent on someone else. And he said, you go get
them and you bring them to me. He says this of his sheep. He
says, all that the Father hath given me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Look at verse 23. The Lord said, go into the highways
and the hedges and compel them to come that my house may be
filled. And we read in verse 25, a great
multitude went with him, a great number, a great number of poor,
of maimed, of haught, of the blind. Aren't we thankful? Aren't we thankful that the Lord
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. This is who he came to save. He came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. And then look back at verse 16
again. This great supper. Great by virtue
of the maker of it. Great by the rich provision of
it. Great by the number and nature
of guests that would attend. And it's great considering the
cost of it. To the guests, no charge. It's free. Free and sovereign
grace. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come ye
buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without
price. But though it's free to the people,
It does not come without a cost. A great price was paid. We used to sing a song, I owe
the debt. Haven't heard this one. I owe
the debt. I could not pay. He paid the debt. He did not
owe. Turn with me to 1 Peter. 1 Peter
1. beginning with verse 18 of 1
Peter 1. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold
from your vain conversations, received by tradition from your
fathers, but how were you redeemed? With the precious blood of Christ. as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. Oh, the great cost of it. The
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Back in Isaiah 53, we read this,
he was despised and rejected a man, a man of sorrows. We read this, he was wounded
for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquity. The
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we're healed. The Lord laid on him, the Lord
laid on the Lord, Almighty God laid on the Lord Jesus Christ
the iniquity of us all. Oh, the great price paid for
it. without the shedding of blood.
His blood had to be shed. It had to be poured out. Without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission. The great cost
of redemption, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
cleanses us from all sin. Fifth, it's a great supper because
of the great joy and the pleasure of all those who attend. Hebrews
chapter 12, verse 2, we read, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy, the joy, what was
the joy that was set before him? He endured the cross. He despised
the shame and he sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ endured the cross, the cruel,
the cruel cross, the shame and the humiliation of it. Crucified
there between two common thieves. All the shame and humiliation. Slain by Almighty God. The sin
debt paid for. And he considered this joy to
redeem his people. And we can't even We can't even
enter in to the joy that awaits us. But I know this. How often in the Scriptures do
we read of Christ healing people in His Word? Or when a poor sinner
is brought to know the Savior, and we read, they went on their
way rejoicing. Haven't we seen that with our
own eyes? When those that we love, those
who are dear to us, those we don't know, When the Lord Jesus
Christ is revealed to them in mercy and truth, they went on
their way rejoicing. How about that fellow that found
that one lost sheep? We read that he went and he searched
till he found him. He put him on his shoulder and
he carried him home. And what did he do? He said, rejoice with me. What's the occasion? For I have
found Lost sheep. I have found my sheep, which
was lost. All the joy that surrounds this supper. And in this text
in Luke 14, we read that that great supper prepared by the
master. There were those bidden that would not come. Servants
said all things are ready, but they would not. They would not
come. They made excuses. Remember, I bought some land,
I bought some oxen, I married a wife. Paul reasoned of righteousness
and temperance and judgment to come, and though Felix was troubled
by it, he trembled, he told Paul, go thy way. Go thy way for this
time, maybe you come back a time that's more convenient. My friends,
today is the day of salvation. A convenient season, I'll call.
I'll call for thee. No need, no need of a Savior. And those that made excuses,
I can only assume this one thing. They weren't hungry. They weren't
hungry. We read, bring in the poor, the
halt, the maimed, the blind. Every one of those is someone
whose condition is one of need. And they came. They came. Years ago, Adam and Carrie would
host a pancake Saturday. And as you could imagine, we'd
just all get together and eat pancakes. But unless someone
was working or unless somebody was traveling, we were all there.
And the pancakes were prepared. Carrie made this, I don't even
know what kind of pancake syrup it was, some kind of homemade
pancake syrup. It was just delicious. But there was a fellow, Adam
had a fellow working. And he was putting, I think he
was putting a roof on the garage. And Adam had told him about these
pancakes. It was Saturday morning. And
those of you, those of you who know Adam, he can be very persistent. And he kept telling that fella.
He said, look, we're having pancake syrup. We're all going to be
in there eating. You need to come and join us. And the young man's response
was, nah, that's just for your family. That's just for your
family. And Adam just kept asking him. And he kept saying, nah,
I'll stay out here and work. That's for y'all's family. And
this went on for a pretty good while. Adam would say, are you sure?
Are you sure you don't want to come in and join us for some
pancakes? No, no, no, that's just for your family. And finally,
finally Dale stepped in. And this is what he said. He
said, Chris. He called him by name. He said, Chris, here's
the question. Do you like pancakes? Are you
hungry? And that's the Isn't that the
question? And it wasn't long before Chris
had showed up in the dining room. And I don't remember anybody
missing a seat. And I don't remember anybody
being short of a pancake. There was plenty. There was plenty. This supper was a great supper. And you know, Isaac was doing
his observation in college with this fellow. And that's been
over 15 years, at least. He still talks about that breakfast.
He still talks about that. And I'm just thinking about this. I know
there are those who are probably sitting here tonight and we struggle
with this question. Am I His? Am I one of God's elect? Am I one of His sheep? And I
think we all, if we're going to be perfectly honest, we all
struggle with that. We all struggle with that from
time to time. Why did I think that? Why did I say that? How
can I possibly be one of his? But I think the question that
we need to ask is, are you hungry? Are you hungry? Do you desire
to know him? In Matthew 5 verse 6, turn to
the book of Matthew. I promise you this, if you're
hungry for it, it's because He made you hungry. But look what's
said here in Matthew 5 verse 6, blessed. You know what that
word means? It means happy. Happy. Happy are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Got good news for they shall
be filled. Happy. The sixth point. My final point, why is it a great
supper? The sufficiency of it. Consider
this. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin. He said, of all that the Father
hath given me, I will lose nothing. Luke 14, verse 23, the Lord said
to the servant, go out into the highways and the hedges and compel
them to come that my house may be filled. There's not going
to be one empty seat. He's not going to miss one of
them. All those whom God has chosen,
all for whom Christ died, all who are brought by the Spirit
of God to believe, shall be saved. They shall never perish. I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever, and I shall feast at the table spread for
me. A certain man, he made a great
supper." You know, I can't help But think of Mephibosheth. There
he says, eating bread continually. He's never going to go hungry,
is he? Eating bread continually at the king's table as a son. Does it get any better than that?
A great supper. Great because of the maker of
it. Great because of the rich provision of it. Great because
of the number and nature of the guests. great because of the
cost of it, great the pleasure and joy of all those who attend,
and great because of the sufficiency of it. I pray the Lord would
make us mindful of these things, of His rich provision for His
people. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 6,
and we'll close. There's a warning that goes with
this. I believe a warning that goes
with this. Look at Deuteronomy 6, beginning with verse 10. And it shall be when the Lord
thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware
unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give
thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not. You
didn't build them. And houses full of all good things,
which you filled not, and wells digged, which thou diggest not,
vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantest not. When thou
shalt eat and be full, then beware. lest thou forget the Lord, which
brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house
of bondage." All right. May God be pleased to bless his
word. You're dismissed.