at all, it's an honor to come and preach Christ to you and brag on him, as Brother Rex said. Turn with me to Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. Now, I hesitated whether or not I should say it, but I think I'm going to say it. We're going to be looking, hopefully, Lord willing, at the first 24 verses together, and I did preach this message in four messages back home. So I'm gonna, by the Lord's grace, condense it, I pray, sufficiently so that you can hear it and rejoice in it. I think they were all spoken by our Lord at one time, one time, in the house of a Pharisee, and so they do go together. This word goes together, so let's get to it. In verse one. Verse one, our Lord entered the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, and they watched him. They watched him. And there was a reason why they were watching him, because there was a certain man there. There was a certain man there, and this man had an infirmity, a sickness, a disease in his flesh called the dropsy. And it was the Sabbath day. And that says something about what they knew of our Lord and something that we need to know is they knew he was merciful to save the sick, the unclean, the despised, and the rejected. He was merciful to them. He was very kind to those who had a great need. And that tells us something that we need to know, brethren, that we need to be kind and merciful. All we know about this man is that he was a certain man. And typically in the scriptures, when it speaks of a certain someone, typically that someone is an object of grace, of grace. And we're not told anything about what this man thought of Christ before or after the Lord healed him. And yet we are told in verse four that he took him and healed him and let him go. And there's a lot for us to draw from this. The condition of dropsy was one that you couldn't get rid of water and liquids from your body the way we normally get rid of water and liquids. And you would just swell up. Your ankles would swell up, and your calves, and your skin would get puffy. And if it was untreated, if you couldn't get rid of that water, you would die a painful death. And it pictures. what we all are by nature. It pictures the pride and the arrogance and the self-righteousness of man who swells up with pride, thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We are far too, I am, far too high of my own thoughts. And knowing better, as I should, I still see in myself that same infirmity. And if it's not for the grace of Christ, we die a miserable, painful, sorrowful death. And so this tells us something of how we are to treat others whom the Lord brings through those doors, how that we ought to seek their good. and not be so quick to judge what we see or what we think we see, but that the Lord has brought his children, he brings his sheep to the inn of his church to be ministered to. And as the article, the first article in the bulletin says, to show kindness, to be kind one to another, because we can be very cruel. We can be cruel to ourselves and we can certainly be cruel to others. So be kind, be kind. What we think of who the Lord has saved, if we believe ourselves, count ourselves among that number of the Lord's sheep, it's a reflection of whether we think the Lord has saved an unworthy sinner in saving me, or if he saved me because I've merited or earned his favor and kindness. And if you think that he saved you because of what you've done, it's gonna reflect in how we treat one another. But if we are the sinner, if we are unworthy of his grace, we're going to see our brethren as better than ourselves. And it's going to reflect in how we treat one another. So be mindful, be mindful. Our Lord said it this way in verse five, he answered them after he healed this man saying, which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day? Just be kind, be merciful. Show mercy, show others that grace, which the Lord has shown to you, and be mindful of that when speaking to others. So the context here in which our Lord gives these parables, he gives three parables here that I pray we can look at together here. And this was a house full of Pharisees. And, This can certainly be said in some places of so-called worship, a house full of Pharisees. And the Pharisees may ignore them, but to you that have the spirit of God, he's gonna make us to hear it. He's gonna show this to us because we need this. It's not a one and done kind of thing where the Lord deals with us once. He sadly has to deal with us many times. And we need to be brought back to see our need of him often. And he's faithful to do that. And so he gives us this instruction because we need to hear it. We need to hear it. Now, let me just quickly say the first parable, it describes what a new creature, a man or woman born of grace will do. when the Lord humbles them and when the Lord begins to reveal himself to them and reveals himself to them again and again. The second parable describes those who are bidden to taste and feed upon Christ. And the third parable describes those who will come when bidden. And there's a particular emphasis actually on those who will not come when bidden. So let's read the first parable in verses seven through 11. And he put forth a parable to those which were bidding when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms saying unto them, when thou art bidding unto a bidding of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidding of him. And he that bathe thee in him come and say to thee, give this man place, and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit in the lowest room, that when he that bathe 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 exalted himself shall be a base and he that humble it himself shall be exalted. Now, first, let me assure you that our Lord, who is the savior of sinners, is not telling us things whereby we may appear to be pious and holy. It's not teaching us how to be better hypocrites. This is a house full of Pharisees and they were very good at hypocrisy and putting on a show of religion. This is the savior of sinners and he's gonna tell us that which is profitable unto our soul. Our Lord is describing here a sinner who being humbled by the grace of God, and shown their sin and their need of salvation that they cannot save themselves. When the Lord is doing work, that sinner being tried because of their sin takes the lowest room. They know that they deserve hell. They deserve the eternal wrath of God. And they're being tried for their sin. And they are low in themselves by the grace and spirit and power of God. We take the lowest room. Lord, I don't even deserve to be counted among your number. We're put low. We're tried. We see what we are by the grace of God. We see our need of Christ. We see what we are in Adam. in our fallen, ruined, despicable, vile nature. He makes us to see that. And so he brings his child by his grace and power. They don't know it or understand it yet, but they go and sit in the lowest room, tried, and they finally see what they are in themselves. Now, opposite to that is the man who, hearing something, thinks, well, I can get with that, I can do that, and he does things, and he can do things, and he builds himself up, and he thinks, that place in heaven is reserved for me. That highest place, that highest room, that's where I'm going, that's the place for me. And so he goes and sits down in the high place of honor, and he looks at that poor miserable one thinking, What a shame. All they have to do is just tighten up. All they have to do is just be disciplined. Just try, just do it. Don't make excuses, just be better. And they look at the one in the lowest place with a despising. And they don't appreciate what the Lord has done for them at all because they think too highly of themselves. And there they would sit. If God leave them there, till the day of judgment. God leaves them there and they'll sit there till in the day of judgment, he that bade him and a more honorable man come and say to him, give this man. This is the place of Christ's where you're sitting. You that think you saved yourself, give this man place. And he began with shame to take the lowest room. That highest place, brethren, is where Christ sits. He is declared by God both Lord and Christ. He is the Savior. We do not save ourselves. There's nothing we can do to save ourselves. We don't even clean up ourselves or make ourselves more savable. We are entirely dependent upon the grace of God revealed to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his place of honor, not yours and it's not mine. It is his place of honor. And so that man who begins to take his place in the lowest room, that's a picture of him being carried away to hell because he was never given repentance from trusting his own works and trusting his own religion and his own form and being turned by the grace of God to trust Christ alone for all his salvation. And so the last thing he'll hear is the part from me, ye that work iniquity. And all his religious works and all his good works, those are works, nothing more than works of iniquity, works of wickedness. So this is exactly what our Lord is teaching us by this parable. He's teaching us what we need to know and what he does by grace. First he says in verse eight, when thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, go and sit down in the lowest room. And that wedding that all men are bidden to is the wedding the Lamb of God to his bride. Come and see. Come and see what the Lord has done. Come and sit down with us and see what the Lord has done for his people. Come and hear what the Savior has done. We're to bear witness of the Lord Jesus Christ to those people. To you and all that he brings in here, we are to bear witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. who He is. He is the Son of God, robed in flesh. Why did He come? Because we cannot save ourselves. We're that corrupt. And it's not just a little help that we need, we need all the help. Every bit that He gives us, we need it all, because we cannot be saved apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, both now and forever. It never changes. We never outgrow Christ. We never get to a point where we don't need him anymore and can go out on our own. We are his and he is ours forever, forever brethren. And so who he is, why he came and what he accomplished. We declare how that he sacrificed himself to the father to put away the sins of his people forever. to satisfy the law of God for us, to deliver us out of the hand of justice, to propitiate God's wrath, which was against us, he turned it against himself to put away our sin and put away the wrath of God from us forever. And he gives us his spirit, whereby we hear his word and we know this is the Lord, this is my savior, this is the Christ of God, this is the fulfillment of the promise of God made in the garden that should come, this is he, this is he that should come. Lord, have mercy on me, save me, Lord. He reveals that by his spirit and grace whereby we then confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in the heart that God hath raised him from the dead and he gives us life whereby we see him and believe him in spirit and in truth and worship him for the first time ever. All by his grace and power, he reveals that in us, brethren. And he tells us, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Bid all men. Don't decide who will hear and who won't. Don't decide for them who's going to come and who refuses and won't come. You just preach it. And you tell them, you come and sit down like the Lord feeding the 5,000. Just come and sit. And then just feed them the word. Feed them Christ. Just preach Christ because he's going to reveal them that are his, as we'll see in the other in the other parables. So our Lord is saying to all who hear the outward call of the gospel, hearing of God and of Christ, hearing of my sin and deserve judgment in hell, he says, when thou art bidding, go and sit in the lowest place. Now I know and you know that no man's gonna humble himself to that measure. But in reality, a humble man is one that is humbled by the Lord. It's his doing. It is his doing. And he does it right here in the preaching of the gospel and in hearing that word. And then he'll teach you, he'll show you that word, the reality and the truth of his word that we need to hear. He'll make us hear it in spirit and in truth, because we'll see, we'll begin to see what we are. If he's, if he's in it, if he will be gracious to us, then he'll make me to know. I hear it now, Lord. I hear it now. Like Job said, I heard of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, I hate myself, and repent in dust and ashes, because now I see, now I see. And so our Lord is addressing us who would exalt ourselves and our own minds because of our religious works, our continued coming to the church, our giving and sacrifice, and we start thinking, well, I'm doing it, and I'm something, why aren't they doing it? Why aren't they keeping up with me? And that's where the biting and the division and the devouring of one another begins, and that's where whispers are said behind other people's backs, and all it does is, it doesn't help anybody, it just rends, it tears apart, it divides, it splits, it's all works of the flesh. But he tells us that the fruits of the spirit our faith, and love, and joy, and peace, and kindness, and gentleness with one another. Because it isn't up to you and I to teach others what they need to know. That's the Lord's gracious work. And he knows how to speak to the heart. And he knows how to reveal these things in his people. You love your brethren. And you know, we sometimes think, Well, God is holy. God is holy, holy, holy. I hear that a lot. So we're supposed to preach holiness and tell people to be holy. He shows us that he's holy so that we wouldn't dare come to God thinking that we are something in ourselves by our works. He tells us and shows us his holiness that we would run to Christ who's being preached and being declared Christ crucified. It's to cause us to run to Christ. And if he may be gracious and loving and receiving us in Christ, then why do we not think that we can be loving and gracious and long-suffering and patient with our brethren in Christ? Why should we be any different than how God is our Father to us in Christ? Let us love one another. So keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's gonna humble us, he's gonna bring us low to see our need of him. Let me just give you a few examples In wrapping up this first point, this first parable here, Jacob said, I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies. Job said, behold, I am vile. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the room so that there was no room for us and what we would bring into that room. And he said, woe is me, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. When you see the Lord, when the Lord reveals himself to you in the closet, in the night hours, when you're laying on your bed or driving in the car, when he shows you what you are, he'll break you. He breaks you. And he makes us to see our need of him in a way that no man can ever do for you. Paul cried, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? This body isn't getting better. This old man isn't improving. He might be getting more clever and more tricky and more hypocritical, but he's not getting any better. The Philistines and the Jebusites and the Canaanites are still running in the land. And it's only by the grace of God that these things are subdued and put down from breaking out. And so the lowest room is taken by the sinner. You go and sit in the lowest room. These men all, these men that we call blessed, all went and sat in the lowest room. And probably more than one time, they sat in that lowest room. For our Lord says, whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. And so our Lord, our Lord does it. All right, let's go on to the next one here. The kingdom of God on earth, therefore, it's full of people. When the Lord's doing the work, it's gonna be a people full who are being humbled and taught of the Lord continually, made to know what we are, and that, of course, will have a major impact on how we come into a room and what we think of ourselves and what we think of those that we're talking to. He's gonna do it. You can't help come into a place thinking too highly of yourselves when you're made to know that you're nothing, and he's able to do that. Now, let's read the second parable, picking up in verse 12, 12 through 14 here. Then said he also to him that bade him, all right, him that bade him, when thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren. neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. So first to him that bade him, Any that would call men to Christ through the preaching of the gospel is one that bids men to come. That might be the pastor, that might be the preacher, that might even be you when you're just talking one-on-one with someone and telling them what Christ has done for you, just revealing what he's sweetly, graciously done for me, a sinner. They hear that. Sometimes that's a bidding to a supper or a dinner prepared, bidding one to feed upon Christ. Not your doctrine, not your church, not the way you do things or the way they should do things better, bidding others to feed upon Christ. Isn't he good, you that have tasted him, that the Lord is gracious? Isn't he wonderful? You know what he's done for you. Tell that to others. Don't tell them what they need to do. to fix and get right, just tell them of Christ, the savior of sinners. Tell them of what the Lord has done for you. And so that bidding is the preaching of the gospel. It's the declaration of Christ and him crucified because that's how God reveals living souls. That's how God reveals them for whom Christ gave his life and shed his blood and redeemed. He reveals it. You and I aren't gonna uncover it. We'll uncover all the wrong people. We'll think that so-and-so will love this and hear this, and they won't. And we'll think that this person won't hear this, but they will. They will. You just preach Christ and he does the revealing. He makes known them that are his through the preaching of grace. Through the preaching of grace. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that puts his trust in the Lord. in the Lord. Now I tell you, this is feeding, we're preaching Christ. And he said in John 6, 55 and 56, he said, my flesh is meat indeed. And my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. Now, To clarify this, to help us who are creatures of flesh understand this by nature, he says in verse 63 of that same chapter, it's the spirit that quickeneth. It's the spirit that gives life. It's the spirit that gives an ear for you to hear what I'm saying. The flesh profiteth nothing. Don't hear these words according to the flesh. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And what he's teaching us is that we must be made new creatures. We're not going to know the true and living God in this flesh. We must be born again. We are born naturally of the seed of Adam, and that seed is corrupt. That seed is sinful. All that seed knows and can do is understand things in the flesh. That's why there's so many churches, so-called, full of works, and doing, and beatings, and the law, and the whippings, and the strivings, and the, all of that, because that's all they know. That's all they understand. But when the Lord is gracious and gives you life in the spirit, you hear things very differently. You take that lowest room, and you don't think so highly of yourselves. You don't see good works in yourselves. All you see is, well, I did that, but I know what I was thinking in my heart, and I know that I could have done better. I know that I could have done more, and I just held back and did it instead. And all we see is the shame in ourselves and how we came up short. But thankfully the brethren see, I'm so thankful for that brother or sister and what they did. And because he's able, he's able to even take us that are just blobs of miserable flesh and still bring out fruits of the spirit to minister to his people and to bless them. And so what he's teaching here is that We would do it all wrong, right? The flesh wants to hear, well, tell me how to run my life. Tell me how to run my home. Tell me how to fix myself and to fix that person and that person over there. I want to do this and that. I want to go home with some homework. Tell me what I got to do, right? Because we just want to be in control and we think that's what we've got to do to advance the kingdom of God in the world. And so putting burdens on the brethren like that is going to bring in lots of Pharisees. Pharisees love the burdens. They want to go out and show everybody just how good they are. But these are persons who in our natural man deceived unlearned flesh that we would call our friends. These are brethren. Look at their good works. These are our kinsmen. They're just like us. These are rich neighbors full of good works and full of this world's riches that can build up the church and make a great work out of this thing. That's who we would call, and that's what Christ is saying. Don't call them. They're words of flesh, and that describes what you and I would need to do for our little G God so that he can save us. You better do this, and you better start that, and you better stop that, else you cannot be saved. That's the flesh. That is the flesh. Christ crucified declares what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for sinners, unworthy, undeserving, unable sinners who cannot fix themselves. We've tried, we've spent, we've labored, we've strove and strived in the flesh, and we tried, we competed with one another to be the best of the best, and we failed. And we failed and we couldn't figure out what's wrong with me? Why can't I ever get it right? They seem to always do things right, but I can't do it. And so we become discouraged, miserable sinners who have nothing to bring to God and think there's nothing that I can do that he should take notice of me. And surely I've done despite the spirit of grace and I am cast away forever. And the Lord will allow his people to sink to that, to see what they are in themselves. And so Christ says to the church, When thou makest a feast, when you're preparing the message, when you're preaching the message that I've given to you, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind. And what he's saying there is you preach the free, sovereign grace of God, you preach and exalt the savior of sinners who saves his people to the uttermost. You preach him such that the poor and the main and the lame and the blind come to that savior. You want to preach Christ so that the worst of sinners are the ones who are drawn to Christ, that they come to him. As our Lord said in Luke 5 31 and 32. They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And we wanna put qualifiers around that, but he didn't. He didn't. He said, I've come to call sinners. Yep, you that are sinners. And religion preaches a Jesus where sinners know I better not go in there, because I can't come to their Jesus. what it takes to satisfy that Jesus. All right, that's not the Jesus we're preaching. We're preaching the Savior of sinners. And you preach him, and what he's saying is in the calling, you preach Christ in such a way so that sinners know he's their Savior. If you need life, if you need forgiveness, if you need salvation, you come to this Savior, because he alone is the Savior of sinners. So preach Christ that the poor in spirit are bidding. You that have no righteousness, come sit with us. Come sit down here. I don't have any money. You can have all you want without price, without cost to you. You just come and sit with us and hear what the Lord has done. Call the maimed, you that are crippled with the infirmity of sin, and you can't get up and walk and do nothing or carry nothing or say anything for Christ. You come and hear the merciful savior who heals the ruined bankrupt sinner. You come and hear him. You call the lame or also called the translated the halt there, sir, you look lost. Let me come and just come here and hear of him who is the way, the truth and the life. I know you don't know how to come to God. I didn't know either until Christ revealed himself to me. Let me just tell you about the precious savior of sinners who will take you to the father and gain you an audience with him in mercy and in grace. Call the blind whose understanding is only darkness and you declare Christ who is the light of man, the light of the world. You speak of him and tell of him who saves his people, night into day, and takes that mist of confusion that we're getting in religion into a clear understanding, just a simple, clear gospel of Christ exalted and beholding him who is merciful and kind to heal a man who didn't even ask him to be healed, a man with dropsy, a man full of pride. And yet the Lord took him and healed him and let him go, set him free. Isn't that amazing, too, when you think about that? that he didn't put any shackles on that man, didn't put any constraints of the law on that man, he just let him go. Because once the Lord has done a work, you want to be with that Savior, you want to be with Christ, and you want to be where his people are. He draws you to himself without all those fleshly means and things that men think that we need. Direct sinners to the open door for sinners. As John said in Revelation 4.1, I looked and behold, A door was opened in heaven under the law, which demanded my perfect obedience. All I did, the more I gave and the more I did, that door just closed shut. And every time I thought I saw a little glimmer of light and I did more, it just shut again. Because you're not going to enter into that highest place by your works under the law. That door is opened by Christ and Christ alone. We enter in through the Lord Jesus Christ. And he ministers this gospel, this grace of his to sinners, and that's where he reveals them who are hungry and thirsting for righteousness and have nothing to give to him. But confess, Lord, I'm a sinner. Are you saying, Lord, that you would save me, a sinner, a filthy, vile, wretch like me, who thought so highly of themselves? Yes. He is the Savior. Come and sit down at the table without price and without cost to you, because Christ Jesus, our Lord, paid the cost in full. He paid it entirely by his grace and mercy, his blood, his own life for our life. Call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors. All you'll do is fill the church with hypocrites and self-righteous Pharisees. And it'll be a miserable, bitter place that way. It'll just be fighting and people complaining and talking about one another and vying for the best place among the brethren. Don't do it. It'll make for miserable bedfellows especially when the Lord is dealing with you and seeking truth in the inward parts, you won't wanna be around them, because as soon as you say what the Lord's doing for you and how he's bringing you low, they'll just tell you, don't listen to that, that's just the devil trying to discourage you and keep you down. Just believe, just believe, they'll say. And the poor sinner says, but I can't, I'm scared, I don't know what to do. I need to hear Christ, and you need to hear Christ, the Savior of sinners. He's the only one that opens that door and brings you into the presence of holy God without fear and worry. Preach the grace of God in Christ, because that will also clear the house of the self-righteous Pharisee. Nothing will drive out the Pharisee quicker than just preaching grace, because they grow tired of it. They grow tired of hearing it. And they say, that's all you preach is grace, and grace, and grace. And the lawmonger, if the Lord won't change them, they'll tire of it, and they'll take themselves out. But when you find a sinner, the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, you preach Christ. Be gracious to them, be kind, and tell them of the Savior of sinners. Don't say, well, you first need to stop doing that, and then you can seek the Lord. Let him. speak to them, let him tell them what they need to do or not do, because he's going to deliver that word effectually in their hearts. That's not for you and I to say, well, you can't come unless you do this first or you show up like this or don't just tell him to come and to hear the Savior and what he's done. And so and then just on that verse 14, thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Understand that that speaks of the first resurrection. The resurrection of the just is when our Lord raises his people, dead in trespasses and sins, to newness of life in him. And when they hear that Savior, you'll have a true brother or sister, a true yoke fellow that'll be so thankful and rejoice in that same Savior that you're rejoicing in, and they'll come and be with you forever, glad, and thankful for that Savior, you'll have a true, that's the recompense, you'll have a true brother or sister in the Lord Jesus Christ that he's raised up from the dead. Now, let me just quickly go through this third parable, because it does belong, it does go here. Verse 16. Then said he unto him, a certain man made a great supper and bade many. and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidding, come, for all things are now ready. And again, what is ready? What Christ has done. The work is complete. It's finished. It's not waiting for you to finish it up. It is ready. Christ said on the cross, it is finished. The work is done. All that was necessary to obtain eternal redemption for the people of God is finished. by the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's now sending us out to declare this message. Come, for it's ready. We may preach to you right now that through this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that we tried to do, all that we tried to do to be justified from all things by the law of Moses have been satisfied by him. Come. The spirit and the bride say, come. and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Come, for all things are now ready. And our Lord describes three persons that excuse themselves, that will not come to this Christ, this Savior, this merciful Savior who saves by grace. They will not come. He says in verse 18, And 19, 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. These men are purchasers. They are buyers of their way into heaven. The first man the ground, the land, that picture's the inheritance, right? The inheritance of the saints. Canaan pictured heavenly Canaan, the inheritance. This man had purchased his inheritance and the other was purchasing his works for his inheritance with the oxen, what he was doing. And what's insane about this is that they hadn't even seen him. They're working for an inheritance and they don't know what they're working for. They're working for death. They're doing works for an inheritance and they're working for death in the lowest place. And that last man is the same way. He said in verse 20, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. You cannot come or you will not come. All right, because Christ said you will not come to me that you might have life. We need grace. This man is married to the law for his righteousness. He's trusting what he's doing under the law. Thanks, but no thanks for that Savior. I've either got my inheritance by my works, I've either obtained my salvation by my works and what I'm doing, and I'm married to the law. I'm coming my own way, have me excused. And really what they should be praying for is Lord have mercy on me. And so the Lord said they won't come. Those who are trusting their works will not receive that inheritance, they will not sit down at the table at that feast of the marriage of the lamb in that day. And so you go out and you just preach the gospel and look and don't try and decide who is and who isn't. You just preach Christ and he'll draw in the sinners. You so preach Christ that the sinners are drawn to him for they will hear. They will hear. They will believe. And they'll be blessed, blessed yoke fellow with you. And the work that the Lord has given to you as a body in this world to preach Christ. And you'll have true brethren, true dear friends, and love one another. I pray the Lord bless that word to your hearts, brethren. Amen.