Our privilege is mine, an undeserved
privilege and honor. You said it, and all of us who
attempt to do this thing called preaching, who is sufficient
for these things? Who feel like Abraham's old servant,
don't we? tell about our great Master and
who is sufficient to declare His worth. Those were good hymns
to prepare us to worship. I love those hymns. Come, Thou
Almighty King, help us Thy name to sing. Gird on Your mighty
sword. Our prayer attend. Bless us. Bless us. We need to
be blessed, don't we? We need to see Christ. Those
who have never seen Him need to see Him. Those who have need
to see Him again. Go forth from this place believing
in Him more fully than when we came, don't we? That's why we're
here. When we say we preach Christ,
it's not just a slogan. That's what we do, don't we?
To know Him was to have eternal life. Those hymns were good. I enjoyed those very much. Thank
you, ladies. Charles Wesley, the writer of
that, Jesus Loved My Soul. The story of that hymn goes that
he was in his study and it was a stormy night. He had his windows
open and he went to shut the window, those
old casement windows. He went to shut his robe on and
went to shut the windows and a bird flew in out of the storm. It flew right into his robe. And he went in and sat down and
wrote down that hymn. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. Hide me, O my Savior. Hide me till the storms of life
be back. Hide me. We need to be hidden. Would you go with me to Luke's
Gospel? Or that is our Lord's Gospel
according to Luke. Luke chapter 14. Brother John and I go back a
long way now, don't we, Brother John? We're just a couple of
months apart. A dear friend, like so many here. And I cherish our friendship
and brotherhood. The Lord was attending a supper
as a Pharisee. Verse 1, it came to pass as he
went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread. on Sabbath day, but they watched
him. This Pharisee had a big supper,
many people there, and the Lord Jesus Christ was there. And at the end of this supper,
he's going to tell us about a great supper, the supper to end all
suppers. the last supper, the marriage
supper, the supper of his making. It's going to be his supper.
And the Lord is going to tell us who will be there. And if
we listen carefully, if the Lord gives us ears to hear, he'll
tell us whether or not we're going to be there or not. Brother
Scott Richardson wisely once said that You can't claim the
promise until you fit the character described in the promise. And
the Lord is going to describe the characters of those people
who are going to be at his great supper. Well, there were many
people at this supper. Apparently, there were some important
people, a bunch of somebodies. The Lord, down in verse 7, it
says, he watched them. Marked how they chose the chief
rooms. Apparently there were a bunch
of important people there, at least they thought there were,
and a bunch of somebody clamoring for the chief seat, like people
like to do. People either want to be somebody,
or be with somebody that is somebody, or tell you about somebody they
know that is somebody. Right? People are clamoring for
recognition and to be somebody. Well, that's not who's going
to be at his supper. Everybody at his supper knows
they're a bunch of nobodies. I remember hearing years ago
an old black quartet sing a song. And it went something like this,
I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who
can save anybody. We're a bunch of nobody. That's
right. The Lord looked down from heaven
to see if there were any that he'd understand and seek after
God. He said, there's none. Not one. None righteous. No,
not one. None good. No, not one. We're a bunch of
nobodies in ourselves, right? If you know yourself, and this
is what the Lord shows his people. First thing he shows them is
that they're a nobody. They're a nobody. And that makes
him all in it all, doesn't it? That makes him their everything.
I remember Brother Donnie Bell years ago showing our congregation
this. And he said, we're all a bunch
of zeros. And he said, you can put down
as many zeros as you want to and it still amounts to nothing.
How much, how many is that? It's a bunch of zeros in it.
How many is that? Go down some more. What do you got? Nothing. Nothing. Bunch of zeros. Doesn't
matter how, we're not unique, no matter what our mothers might
think. We're just, we're sons of Adam, aren't we? Sinners.
The only thing that gives a sinner any worth is to be found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We're worth nothing, worthless,
until we're in Him who is worthy. You put a one in front of it. Now
what do you got? Now what do you got? Somebody
said, what is something worth whatever a wise man is willing
to pay for? And since the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life,
shed His precious blood, God calls His people now priceless,
of whom the world is not worth much of nobody. But these people
that were at this feast, this Pharisees' supper, they thought
they were a bunch In verse 1 it says, and you know the only one
that was worth anything was there, the Lord Jesus Christ. It says
they watched him. They watched him. The Lord Jesus
Christ, God Almighty, God manifest in the flesh was sitting in this
house. You think about that. God was there, Dan. God was there. You'd think that everybody would
be clamoring to hear Him, wouldn't you? You'd think that everybody
would be hanging on His every word, wouldn't you? You'd think
they'd come to ask Him for mercy and for grace, wouldn't you?
You'd think that's why they were there. But it says, no, they
were just watching Him. And the Lord ran into this often.
The Lord said to them, you followed Me because you got your bellies
filled. He said, you followed Me because you saw the miracles,
didn't you? He didn't commit Himself to them
because He knew what was in them. And things haven't changed a
bit. Man hasn't changed. Many religious, few worshipers. Fathers seeking true worshipers,
to worship Him in spirit and truth. Those that worship God
in spirit and rejoice in God's Son, rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and put no confidence in the flesh. That's God's people.
That's true worshipers. But you won't be that way until
He shows you yourself. They came, they watched him,
they observed him, and some were probably watching him to catch
him at his word like many do. It's critical. You know, wherever
the Lord is, that's where I want to be. And he said, where two
or three are gathered in my name, that's where I am. Two or three
are gathered in my name. Yeah, I want you to see Deuteronomy
chapter 12. Go over to Deuteronomy chapter
12. The Lord Jesus Christ was in this house. God Almighty,
and most of them knew it not. But our Lord did say where two
or three are gathered, that's where I am in the midst. He really
is. He really is. And beginning in Deuteronomy
chapter 12, you look it up for yourself sometime. Just go all
the way through about chapter 17. And he says 13 times. 13 times talks about a place the
Lord had chosen to put His name back. There are a few. Verse 2, it says, You shall utterly
destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess
serving their gods on the high mountains, on the hill, every
green tree, overthrow their altars, break down their pillars, burn
their groves with fire, hew down the graven images of their god,
destroy the name of them out of that place. That's what God
says to do. Break down these idols. Destroy them. Not do so
unto the Lord your God, but unto the place which the Lord your
God shall choose. It's popular in the newspapers
in the Bible Belt on Sunday's paper to say, worship in the
place of your choice. You read that? Worship today
in the place of your choice. Well, you better worship in the
place of his choice. We better worship where God has
chosen, to put His name there. Look at it. Among all your tribes,
put His name there. He says, there you shall come.
Bring your tithes and all. Bring your little one. Bring
your family. He goes on and on to say that. Over in chapter,
I believe it is 17, He says, if it's too far for you, sell
what you have and move there. Because it's vital. Your life's at stake. Moses said,
this is not vain words, this is your life. A place where God
has chosen, a true church like this one. Can I say that? Absolutely. Without reservation, without
hesitation. Fairmont, West Virginia. Why? How do you know that, preacher?
Because Christ is preached there. The Word of Life is preached
there. I know. I've been there. I've heard it.
I've been here. I know your pastor. There are
few and far between. Do what it takes to get there,
he said. The place where God's name is there, where His glory
is there, where His person, His work is declared. Go. Go. Do what it takes. Now, go
back to our text. That's not our message, but it
is, isn't it? The place He's chosen to put
His name there. My, my. How blessed we are at
Christ if we're in a place where Christ is praying. My, my. Well, so the Lord Jesus Christ
was there. The only one who was somebody
was there. And apparently, he came for one
fellow. Doesn't surprise me. Has it you,
Brother Tom? This happened before when he
was at a Pharisee's house, didn't it? A woman came in with an alabaster
He saved that one woman. Preaching to a crowd of people,
and they brought in a guilty woman, threw her at his feet.
One woman went out of there justified. That's the way the Lord does
it. He's on the trail of his sheep. See, I didn't come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repent. I didn't come to call to somebody,
but nobody. I didn't come to save good people,
but bad people. People with dropsychs. This man
that says a certain man, verse 2, there was a certain man before
him had the dropsy. There's no polite way or nice
way to say what he had. That's a humiliating disease. You know what it is? It's incessant,
incurable diarrhea. Don't act like you've never had
it. Everybody in here has. It's humiliating. It's filthy.
It's foul. There was no cure back then.
No cure. Until you just died from it.
Sad end. This fella's filthy. Probably
even stinking. He's the only one the Lord dealt
with in mercy there. We say things like that. I'm
wretched. Filthy. We don't know that. We don't
know. Men and women don't really know what we are like in the
sight of the Holy God. They really don't know. God said
this, didn't He? They're a stench in my nostril.
Repulsive to His holy nature. But that's who He came to send.
I've got to show you that part. I've got to show you that part. Certain men. I like that. Don't
you look for certain men, certain women, the Lord. Certain men.
A certain woman had an issue of blood. That's who the Lord
came to save. Certain ones. They were chosen by Him before
the foundations of the world. Saved by a certain work. His
work. Saved by a certain Savior. Did
He save them? He most certainly did. Everyone
of them. Certainly. He came to save him. Stood before him. The rest of
them were watching him. This man, I believe, was looking
to him. There's a difference. Looking to him. Well, the Pharisees
watched him, and it says the Lord took him and healed him.
Verse 4, the Lord took him and healed him and let him go. I
bet you this fellow, like the rest of these people, were under
the bondage and captivity of these religious people, under
the traditions of the Pharisees and scribes and so forth. He
let him go. He turned him loose. Led captivity captive to himself.
Turn to blues. Oh, my. People need release,
relieving and release from religion today, don't they? Well, down
in verse 7 it says that he watched these people take these chief
rooms. In verse 8, read with me. He said, When thou art bidden
of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room,
lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him. And he
that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man pleasure,
and you begin with shame to take the lowest rung. But when thou
art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest rung, that when he
that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up
higher. Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them
that sit at meet with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself
shall be abased. And he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted. I had this happen to me one time. I went to a horse show in Roanoke,
and the only seats I could afford were the nosebleed seats. And
down there front were the box seats reserved for all the big
thoroughbred farm owners and so forth. Somebody's, you know.
They had the, and they had their, you know, had their banners everywhere,
who they were. Somebody's with them. These box
seats. Well, I kept watching and watching. The show was about
to start. Watching. There was some empty down there.
Watching. And they weren't showing up. So, I'm just going to get
me one of those good seats. You ever done that? So, I did. I went down there. And sat down
in one of those seats, and the show was about to start. One
of those stewards. You hear the whole row of dignitaries. Sir, you're going to have to
get up. And so I was shamed. You know
what was running through my mind when I was sitting there, Eric?
Everybody thinks I'm one of these thoroughbred owners. I humiliate myself. But this is more than just a
lesson in humility. The Lord's not just showing us
a lesson in humility. What He's saying is the only
people that are going to be in His heaven are those who know
they don't belong there. The Lord came in and said to
His disciples, He said, you go preach the Gospel and you go
into a house and if it's worth it, If that house is worthy,
your peace will be upon it. You preach to them. If that house
is worthy, what makes the house worthy? When everybody in there
knows they're unworthy. That's who's going to be in this
heaven. And everyone, you know why? Because everybody there
knows there's only one that's worthy. That's the song in heaven.
That's what everybody's singing in glory. Worthy is the Lamb,
aren't they? Everybody there knows they didn't
deserve to be there, and they're there on the merit, the worth
of one person. That there's one person who deserves
all glory and all honor. And so they sing to Him, to His
glory forever. And nobody's going to be there
who doesn't love his glory, who thinks they belong there." Nobody.
Nobody. That's what he's telling them.
If you will humble yourself. That shouldn't be hard, should
it? Humble ourselves? Well, it shouldn't be hard to
humble ourselves because we're not there. It shouldn't be hard. It is. It is, and the Lord has
to do it incessantly. He does it all our life. This
whole life for a believer is one long lesson in humility. Isn't it? And that's a good thing.
That's a good thing. Only the lovely. Only the lovely. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God, and He'll exalt you in due time. You know who
sits with Him in glory? You know who He raises up? Beggars
from a donkey. That's as low as you can get.
I've been there. I've shoveled a lot of manure. I really have,
and that's as low as you can get. That's who he has seated
with me right now. Well, then the Lord told about
this supper here. Let's jump down to verse 15.
One of them sat at meat with him, heard these things, and
said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom
of God. I don't know if this man knew
what he was saying. I don't know. He said it. The
Lord had him say it. And it's true. You know, I know
he didn't know what he was saying. I can say that, Brother Tom,
but I don't know the half of it. Blessed? How blessed? Job one time said, I've spoken
things too wonderful for me, things I knew not. We do that
every time we talk about the Lord, because eye hasn't really
seen, ear hasn't heard, neither have really entered into our
heart the things that God has proclaimed. We don't know how
blessed we are. Oh, blessed is he that shall
eat bread in the kingdom of God. Oh, how blessed. We don't know
how blessed. We don't know how blessed then and now. We don't
know how blessed we are now. Right now, not just then. Now,
Brother Dale, there are people feeding on husks right now. And
I know this man. I know this man. This man. I
know what they... Five course meals. Five point
meals. Time after time, don't you? You
do it, don't you? We're so well fed, aren't we? That's what he told Peter. Feed
my sheep. And God's a big dude, don't they?
Oh, how well fed we were growing up under the gospel. My, my,
my, my, my. While the world's feeding on
husks. We eat fat things and wine on the leaves time after
time, don't we? How blessed we are! We don't know the half of it.
Someday we'll know. You know that's why there's going
to be 30 minutes of silence in heaven? We're going to just be
astounded with what the Lord has prepared for them that love
Him. Astounded by looking at Him. And the thing that will
astound us the most is that we're there. How blessed, how blessed. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. Blessing, blood, and reveal it
to you. Look at my father. Oh, how blessed are those who
have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Then the Lord said
to this man, verse 16, A certain man made a great supper and bade
many. A great supper. A certain man. Who is this certain
man? This is the God-man. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is His supper. He's no mere man. He is a man. He's not a mere man. He's the
God-man. He's the God-man. A certain man
made a great supper, a vast supper, a glorious supper. It's great
because who made it? This supper is great because
it's His supper. This supper is great because
of who it's for. This is the marriage supper of
the Lamb. God Almighty made this for His
Son, His great Son. Matter of fact, God made this
whole shooting match for His Son, this whole universe for
His Son, to the praise of the glory of His Son. Didn't He?
Made everything. This great supper is great because
of who it's for. And it's great because it's His
great work of redemption that prepared it. It's His great work
of salvation. And it's a great throng of people. It has the sands of the sea and
the stars of the sky. A great throng that no man can
number. It would have been infinite mercy
if God had saved one person. If He had saved Adam and then
shut her down. But He didn't. To the great glory
of His grace, He saved a great number. A great number. It's
a great supper. In the South, You know Kentucky's not considered
South, don't you? Not Virginia. Anyway, they consider
themselves to be South. But same latitude. Anyway, in the South, supper
is the last meal of the day. Dinner is lunchtime. But supper
is the last meal. Supper. This is talking about
the last meal. This is the Last Supper, not
that one where the Lord ate with His disciples in that upper room. This is the Last Supper, an ongoing,
an eternal one. This is the Last Meal. It's a
meal. It's a supper where everybody's
feeding on something. That's what you do when you go
to a supper, don't you? You eat. What has the Lord prepared? As we say, a fat thing. Wine
on the leaves. Wine that maketh glad the heart
of man. And we eat that now. We get a taste of it now, don't
we? The Lord prepares His supper for those, for His people whom
He prepares and makes fit for this supper, that supper there.
We begin to get a taste for these things now, because it's what
we're going to be enjoying forever. Bread. Oh, but not, I don't know,
I believe we'll, We literally eat food, don't you brother Tom? But that's not what we're going
to feed on, is it? Nor do we now. Christ said, I
am the bread, the true bread. If the man eat, he'll live forever. That's who we're going to feast
on. Feast on the wine that make it flesh, the wine of His blood.
Oh my. Him that washed us from our sin
in His own blood. My, my, the sincere milk of His
Word. The half hasn't been told. All of us preachers together
can preach these messages, can't we? And still the half won't
be told. But Brother Tom, when he tells it, it's going to be
told. We're going to hear him preach. Oh, my. No man speaks
like that, man. I can't wait. Milk. Oh, my. And it's all without price, without
money, and without price. Free, free. That's who's there. Come and buy milk without money,
without price. It cost him greatly, didn't it?
You know what the main course is? And I'm not trying to be
clever here, but it's true. Lamb. Lamb. It's no coincidence there's very
little heard of that lamb today. Mostly Jews eat lamb. That's the way it's going to
be there. Lamb. Lamb. Oh, how blessed we are
if we know that you can't worship God without a lamb. How blessed
we are if we have a taste for the lamb. If you don't like lamb,
you won't be there. If you don't need a lamb, you
won't be there. But all who need a lamb. Every
man must have a lamb. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. The blood of a lamb, and that
lamb is Jesus Christ, God's lamb. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. We need a lamb. No, we need a
substitute. We need an innocent one to stand for us, a righteous
one. He was made sin for us. He who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. You need a lamb. All God's people know that. If
you can't worship God without a lamb, you can't do it. You
know, us preachers, I believe in preaching, no matter what
text we take, about every ten minutes we ought to say, Blup!
Shouldn't we? Like, was it David that brought
the ark back before he put it on the cart, did it all wrong,
you know? Ezra died, and he finally found out. Got to do it the right
way. And what was it? He took seven
paces, and they'd sacrifice a lamb. Didn't. Seven paces, sacrifice
a lamb. Seven paces, sacrifice a lamb. Lamb. God had lamb. This is the
marriage supper of the lamb. Oh, how blessed. You know, this
gospel is distasteful to most people. It really is. This bloody, old-fashioned gospel.
Oh, how blessed we are if we tasted that the Lord is gracious. That lamb was served back in
the Passover with bitter herbs, wasn't it? Always with bitter
herbs. And what makes this lamb of God,
the Lord's sacrifice, so sweet to us is the bitterness of our
sin. You take a bite and taste that
bitterness of sin, and it makes this gospel of substitution as
sweet as honey to the taste. Oh, how blessed. And if we never
lose the tasteful, over in Hebrews 4, I believe it was, verse 6,
it says, let us hold fast the confidence and rejoicing. May we never cease to rejoice
over the Lord Jesus Christ. May we never get to the point
where we say, I've had that before. Some do, don't they? We know a lot of them have. I've
heard that before. I've heard my pastor say it.
in some of the last days. Y'all have heard everything I've
had to say. Oh, man. One we never get tired of. Never
get tired of. Marriage suffers. Marriage. Marriage. Marriage made in heaven. True
marriages. A true marriage is a betrothal.
Back then, when marriages took place, the father of the son
betrothed his bride. He chose the bride. Yes, sir.
That's the way it was done. He chose the bride and betrothed
his son to her and her to him. He arranged the marriage. That's
the way it used to be done. My daughter's wedding was, that's
right, Mark. I arranged, we arranged that,
didn't we? We arranged that. No, it's true.
Marriages were betrothals back then. The father would choose
the bride for his son, and that's the way salvation is.
That's the way salvation is. God hath chosen. You see your
calling, Brethren, don't you? God hath chosen. And the bride
that the father chose for his son was not some pretty thing.
And this thing ain't for her glory. It's for his son. You know, modern theology, modern
marriages reflect modern theology, false gospel. You know that?
Modern marriages reflect the false gospel. Who do they parade
down the aisle? Huh? Well, here comes the bride. Big? No. We used to sing that
when I was a kid. Here she comes. Look at her.
And here we've got the husband over here at the side. He's just
a small part in this whole thing. He's standing over here at the
side. Poor fella. He's hoping. Oh, he's hoping that she'll say,
I do. Isn't that so? Everybody's making over her.
Look at her. Isn't she beautiful, dressed in white? That's the
way it is, isn't it? Here comes the bride over also,
and even the invitations have her name first, you know. Don't
they? That's modern religion, isn't
it? Doesn't Colossians say, not holding the head. Make more of
the bride than you do the head. That's not the marriage of God's
Son. Oh, no. No, no, no. It's all
about Him. Unto Him. He's not standing outside hoping
they'll let Him in at their hearts door. He's not the one hoping
they'll accept Him. They're all standing to the side
thankful that He accepted them, that He said in that covenant
of grace, I do. Do you take this woman, worthless
as she is, this gomer who sold herself on the auction market's
end, do you take this worthless woman
to be your lawfully wedded wife, do you? Who would want such a
thing? That's the only one that the
Lord Jesus Christ will wed. Thank God he said, I do. I will. And he did. I've often thought that perhaps
we ought to parade those brides down the aisle like that husband
will see her the next morning, in a robe, a bathrobe and curlers
and no makeup, and then ask him, do you? But seriously, people, God's
Christ, the ones like Hosea and Gomer, huh? Go marry a woman,
sold a harlot. These are the people that are
going to be in God's heaven. These are the ones who esteem
the husband. These are the ones who are so
thankful to be there and will never quit singing. We'll never
get over the amazement that He would love such a thing. We sing
that song, that thou, my God, would die for me. Who's going to be in God's heaven?
Those He chooses? Those He shows them themselves?
Those He shows them His Christ, His Lamb, His altogether lovely
Son? Those that need Him, those that
love Him, those that esteem Him, that's who's going to be there.
And only He's going to be there. Oh, my. But look at this. Verse
17, He sent His servant at suppertime to say unto them that were bidden.
Now, mind you, the word bidden is not invite. It does not mean
invite. I despise that word. Oh, no. God doesn't invite anybody. Oh
sir, kings never had a true king. A true sovereign doesn't invite
anybody. I know some well-meaning fellas that use that word, but
it ain't in the Bible. Bid means pronounce. Bid means
make the announcement. Doesn't it, Brother John? Bid. Tell them, send out the announcement,
not the invitation. You've seen his invitation. The
father and the mother of the bride would How does it go? We'd like to have the honor of
your presence at the marriage of our daughter. That's how it's
phrased, the honor of your presence. God, Eric, God doesn't tell people,
I'd sure be honored if you'd accept us. God doesn't ask anybody. No, he doesn't. Christ, he said,
if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. When Christ came, sat
on that well. Remember that? A woman came,
he said, give me to drink. He didn't ask her. She said,
because she's an Armenian, she said, why do you ask me to drink? He didn't ask her, Fred. He told
her. In a minute she's going to find
out. He doesn't ask anybody anything. He tells. This is the king of
Poland. Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus. They said, the people
said, he's going to be the guest of a sinner. I don't remember
him asking Zacchaeus to come to his house. Do you, John? I
remember him saying, Zacchaeus, come down. This day I must abide
at your house. I'm coming home with you. Thank
God. Thank God salvation is a command.
Now the scripture says, Thou hast given commandment to save
me. Aren't you glad? If you know
who you are and what you are, you're glad. that he gave commandment,
Almighty love, arrest that man. Turn him. That's the only way
we'll be turned. We will not come like these people
making excuses. We will not come unless he gives
the commandment. Look at it. Verse 17, he said,
Come, for all things are ready. I didn't leave myself enough
time. Oh, I'm the only preacher that I get twice the time. No,
I'm not going to do that. All things are ready. The preacher
of the gospel goes out with a message that all things have been done.
It's all ready. It's all ready. It's all been
done by him. It's all ready. The gospel we
preach is a full, free, final, finished work of salvation. Salvation
accomplished. Mercy for the guilty, grace for
the helpless, hope for the hopeless, righteousness for the unrighteous,
A covering for the naked, it's all been supplied. Come. Do any
of those things, and all of those things? Come. Without money,
without pride? Come. In my hands, no price I
bring. Don't bring any merit, don't bring any worth? Come.
No. Come. It's all supplied. Isn't that good news? Isn't that
good news? But they all, with one consent,
verse 18, began to make excuses. Excuses. None of them were good excuses. They all had the
same evil hearts, with one consent, all of one accord. Brother Scott,
I loved that man, didn't you? I still do. I love him. I'm thankful for him. He was talking to a fellow one
time, and the fellow was talking about one of his relatives, and
you remember this, and the fellow was saying he's a good fellow,
and he's this, and he's a good father, and he's a good worker,
and this and that and the other, and Scott said there's one problem.
He said, what's that? He said he hates God. That old man told it like it
was. And that's true. You want people to make all these
excuses? You know what their one problem
is? People that don't want anything, that are not thankful, don't
worship God, an hour a week. People that are not interested
in Jesus Christ. They hate God. That's what the
Scripture says. They love themselves. Men are
lovers of themselves. Lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God. Right? That was me. Wasn't it you? There's
every one of us until God sheds abroad His love in our hearts.
We don't want anything to do with this gospel until God makes
it delightful to us. Do it, Brother H.B. We don't
want anything to do with God until God has something to do
with us. They all with one excuse began to make excuses, or one
consent. Listen to some of these lame
excuses. Verse 18, and they still go on to say, I bought me a piece
of ground. Why aren't you coming to worship God? I bought some
dirt. Let's put it in perspective.
Why aren't you coming to worship God? Oh, I bought a piece of
dirt. Dirt? How ironic. That's all we're
going to end up with. That's what we're going to turn
into. Let me enclamor for them. Make their stake, their claim
to dirt. We've got a claim to one all
right, and it's six feet in the ground. That's when it's all
over. Six feet in the ground is what we end up with. Why would
a man give his soul in exchange for dirt? How foolish, how foolish. That's the reason the plowing
of the wicked is evil in the sight of the Lord. The very plowing,
though it's good, honest work, if man doesn't thank God that
gave him that soil, gave him that plow, gave him the ability
to do it, won't take the time to do it, it's evil in the sight
of the Lord. God doesn't require much of us.
Just give Him thanks. Worship His Son, right? Worship
His Son. That's a privilege. It's our
reasonable service. It's the delight of His people.
Lord, we need to pray, Lord, don't let me be excused. Don't
let me, Lionel, don't let me excuse myself. I'll find an excuse.
Oh, the flesh lusts against the Spirit. Don't let me be excused. We will be excused. Tell me how
many times. How many times have you thought,
I'm not going? I'm too tired, or I don't feel
like it. You better be glad us preachers
don't do this. I've been many times, haven't
I? I ain't going. Seriously, I'm not going. I'm
tired. I don't want to do this anymore.
Tom? But we'll do it anyway. And how
many times that you've come anyway, the Lord has overruled your faith,
and you've come anyway, and you're so glad you did. Lord, don't
let me make an excuse. Don't let me make an excuse.
I can find all kinds of excuses, but none of them good enough.
None of them good enough. None of them good enough. Nothing
is good enough. Nothing is worth missing Him
in. Nothing. He went on in the same passage
to say, if you don't hate your father, your mother, your sister,
your brother, your husband, your wife, your children, don't hate
them, you can't be my disciple. In other words, love Him so greatly
and so supremely that you just forsake all else. Oh, Lord, don't let me be excused.
Another one said, I've bought five yoke of oxen. I go to prove
them. That's no excuse. Job had how many camels? Fourteen
thousand? Sheep? How many? Did that stop
him? No, sir. His children weren't, and so
he worshipped on their behalf even. That's no excuse. Another one said, I'm married. I married a wife. She wants me
to take her to Walmart. You've got to be kidding me.
That's what people do, don't they? That's what we would do.
I married a woman. She doesn't love the gospel. Don't you let her let you miss
Christ. Because in heaven there's no
marriage. I love this woman, but in heaven
we're not going to be married. Right? Right? My father, I love
him. He's not going to be my father
in heaven. There's not going to be a relation, no married
or given married, no father. We're all going to be equal.
We're all going to be the bride and Christ the groom. And who's going to be there as
love? The bridegroom's voice now. Him. Supremely. That's what love is. You want
to be with your mate more than anybody else. That's salvation. That's salvation. God's people aren't looking for
excuses to not be there. They're looking for ways to get
there. Well, read on. It says that a
servant came, showed his Lord these things, and he was angry. God is angry with the wicked
every day. He says, go out quickly. Go quickly.
This message is urgent. It may not be tomorrow. We may
not have another service tomorrow. Right? We don't know what tomorrow.
It may not be a service anymore. Do you think there will be? Do you think the sun will come
up in the morning? Do you? You really do? You think
it will? He said, at a time you think
not. At a time you think not. Come quickly, Lord. This is an
urgent, go quickly. Today is the day of salvation,
right now. This is the gospel being preached tonight. Christ
is being exalted and lifted up tonight, today, young people. Well, when I get my life over
and accomplished and I get my degree, you get all of that that you
want in this Christ. He that hath the Son hath life. Go quickly. Go out in the streets,
in the lanes of the city and ask, invite. What does it say? Verse 21. Bring. Bring them in. What does that mean? It means
fetch, doesn't it? It means lay hold of them. Bring
them in. Bring them in. Bring in. Who? Who's going to
be there? The poor. Oh, the poor have the
gospel preached on. Blessed are the poor. The maimed,
the ugly, that is, the disfigured by sin, the maimed, the hawks,
that's the lame. You don't ask a lame man to come.
If he did, he couldn't if he wanted to. Ask Mephibosheth. He can't come, can he? Somebody
ought to pick him up. That's what Isaiah said, that
thou hast carried me. He said, I'll carry you all the
days of your life. To your hoary head I carry you. It's fetching grace we're talking
about. Bring him in. The blind. You
don't ask the blind man to come. He doesn't know the way. You bring him. You lead
him in a way he knew not. And the Lord, look at this, the
servant came and said, Lord, it's done. I has commanded. Yet, there's room. There's still
room. I mean, yeah, he's going to go
lower than that. Look at it. There's still room. As long as this gospel is being
preached, the door of the ark is opening. As long as this gospel
is being preached. I have high hopes, hope in our
God for our children and others because Christ hasn't come back
yet and the gospel is still being preached. As long as that gospel
is being preached, there's hope. We'd love to hear the gospel.
We'd love to know the Lord. Bring them to hear the gospel. It's our only hope. There's room. Verse 23, there's room, no vacancies. That makes sense. The Lord said
unto the servant, Go out into the highways and the hedges,
and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled, every
seat filled. Go out and compel them, the highway
and the hedges. Under a bush? How low can a fellow
be under a bush? What's that on the highway? Well,
what's that on the highway? Runaways, aren't they? Particles
out there on the highway. Runaways. It's a true story. in the early seventies, a young
boy. He grew up under fine, fine parents
that loved him. And he grew up under the Word. He grew up under the truth. And these parents that loved
him so dearly and provided for him. He had everything he could
possibly want or need. Along with the truth, the Gospel
that was able to make him wise unto salvation. And so loved
and blessed. And yet he felt oppressed. He
felt like he wanted out, like teenagers do, you know. He felt
he wanted to be his own man. Believe me, you don't want to
be your own man. You don't want to be left alone. You don't want to go out on your
own. No, no, no, no. But he did. He wanted to go out
on his own and be his own man and thought his parents were
oppressive and thought they were being cruel to him, making him
sit and listen to words of life. I'm leaving, just first opportunity,
I can't. Just as soon as I graduate, I'm
leaving. And he did. Five o'clock in the
morning, the day after he graduated from high school, five o'clock
in the morning, he put all that he had in a little backpack,
early seventies, put all he had in a little backpack on his back
and went out on the highway and stuck his thumb out. and left. I'm leaving. What's out on the
highways? Runaways, running from the truth, running from God,
running headlong into destruction. Had not God turned that young
man, he would have destroyed himself. I know, because you
know who that young man was? It was me. What's out on the highways? A
nobody, a good-for-nothing rebel, runaway, prodigal son. He ain't
worth having but God. He ain't coming. He ain't turning
around. He's headed to destruction just
as fast as he can. If God had not turned him, he
wouldn't be turned. He wouldn't come. Go out in the
highways and the hedges and compel them. You know what compel means?
My dad used to compel me to do things. What did he do? He laid hold of me, and he said,
Son, and I was compelled. I ain't going to do it. I did
it. I did it. Thank God. Oh, blessed are they
that are called to the marriage supper of thanksgiving. You know
who's with Him? The called, the chosen, and the faithful. Those
that are faithful to His glory in His heart. Nobody's nothing. The lame, the haught, the maimed,
the blind, the nobody. That's who's there. And they're
mighty glad that they are. Oh, my.