My text tonight will be Luke
chapter 14 verses 12 through 15. Before we look at that text
itself, let me remind you again of the background. It is Saturday
evening, the Jewish Sabbath day, and the Lord Jesus has been invited
to dinner by one of the leaders among the Pharisees. one of the
most zealous of the zealous law keepers among the Jews. And there's
nothing terribly unusual about this. Our Lord was frequently
invited to dinner in Pharisees' houses. But there's no indication
that I know of that he was ever invited back to one the second
time. And the reason is not hard to see. It seems like every time
our Lord opened his mouth, He undressed someone's hypocrisy. There was never another man whose
words were so penetrating, so exposing, so unmasking. When our Lord spoke, he opened
and exposed the hearts of men. Oh, I pray for grace to do that,
to expose every man's heart to himself. Scripture says the word of God
is quick, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints
and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." When our
Lord Jesus spoke, he spoke as one having authority, divine,
penetrating, omniscient authority. The Pharisees once reported of
him, never man spake like this man. We've never heard a man
talk like he does. It seems that every time our
Lord spoke in a crowd, whether it was large or small, there
was always a division because of his words. And whenever the
gospel of God's grace is preached in the power of his spirit, there's
always a division in the crowd. Our Lord says, my sheep hear
my voice. I know them and they follow me.
Those who are of the truth hear his word and obey it. Those who are not of the truth,
those who do not have ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts
to believe the things of God, do not hear his word. Our Lord
put it this way. Why do you not understand my
speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word. He that is of God, heareth God's
words. You therefore hear them not,
because you are not of God. Now the first thing our Lord
did on this occasion, at this Saturday evening dinner, was
to heal a man of the dropsy. He asked the law experts and
the Pharisees if they thought healing on the Sabbath day was
lawful. And their silence was deafening. They had nothing to
say. But their silence clearly implied
the inmost thoughts of their hearts. Come back to Luke 13
for just a moment. Verse 14. This is what their silence said.
The ruler of the synagogue said with indignation because that
Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. He said unto the people,
there are six days in which men ought to work. In them, therefore,
come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. And our Lord
responds to their silence here in Luke 14 the same way He responded
to that. Look at verse 5, Luke chapter
14. He answered them saying, which
of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into the pit and will
not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day." Again, no
answer. Just silence. But now stop and
think about this for just a moment. Here they are on their Sabbath
day having a huge feast. A huge feast. This was not just
having a family dinner on Sunday afternoon. This Pharisee threw
a feast and invited the Lord Jesus and his disciples to come.
It was a huge feast. And by their actions, they're
saying, all right now, we're doing this and this is perfectly
all right. We haven't done anything wrong.
Let alone the fact that we've involved a great deal of work
in preparing. Leave alone the fact that folks
have traveled a long ways to get here, but we're throwing
a feast. This is what we want to do. This
is what we do on Sabbath days, these rigid Pharisees. Rigid Pharisees, rigid religionists. Did you ever notice how rigid
men can be in their self-imposed religious convictions But only
conveniently, Richard. It's all right for us to throw
a party. This is what we want to do. It's all right for us
to throw a party on the Sabbath day. This is customary. It's all right for us to throw
a party on the Sabbath day. We've gone through our religious
exercise in the synagogue, and now we are resting on this Sabbath
day, having us a party. But don't you dare heal a man
who's sick on the Sabbath day. That's going to interrupt things.
That's going to disturb things. The master leaves it for these
men to draw their own conclusions. And the inference is unmistakable. The fact is religionist, legalist,
self-righteous Pharisees have a keen interest in themselves. A keen interest in their own
welfare. Now, if an ass on an ox falls into the ditch, that's
going to cost me some money. And it doesn't matter if we have
to hire 20 tow trucks to get him out. We're going to get him
out. But that's different. That costs me something. If I
want to have a party on the Sabbath day, that's different. This is
something that I enjoy doing. But when the things of God seem
to stand between them and their personal interest, they have
no difficulty at all bending the Word of God. bending the
things of God, twisting and perverting otherwise things that they would
consider to be absolutely reprehensible to accommodate their own lust. The preservation of their interest,
the preservation of their desires, the fulfillment of what they
want is the most important thing on earth to them, including the
things of God, the honor of God, the worship of God and the souls
of men. When it comes to another person's
need, whose illness, whose pain, whose
loss, whose need, whose suffering is no skin off their noses, they
are rigid, hard. Fact is, the meanest, most wicked,
Most hard-hearted, most dishonest people I have ever met in my
life are firm religious people. Firmly devoted religious people. Religious people who have no
idea who God is. Religious people described by
Paul like this, whose God is their belly. The religion, their God, is determined
totally by their own lust and their own desires. The first
lesson for us to learn from this event in our Lord's earthly life
is just this. Religion without Christ makes
many women two-fold more the child of hell than they were
before. The worst thing on this earth
can happen to somebody is get a good dose of religion without
knowing God. The worst thing on this earth
can happen to them. The first thing our Lord did
at this dinner party was to heal this poor man who had the dropsy,
and thereby exposing the hardness of his religious host. He publicly
undressed the man's hypocrisy. Not the most ingratiating thing
to do for a dinner host, but it was certainly the most gracious.
And then here's the second thing he did. It must have been even
more shocking. Our master publicly undressed
the pride of the dinner guest. Here they come in. Coming in
at every door. Walking through every gate. And
he just sits back and watches them. Observes them. He's looking for
something. How are they dressed? No. Where'd
they come from? Doesn't matter. What are their
jobs? Insignificant. I wonder what
title he holds. No concern. What he's looking
for is a display of what they love. You see, where your heart is,
that's where your treasure is. And the keen eye of omniscience
knows exactly where our treasure is. Sooner or later, either in
mercy here or in judgment hereafter, he will expose our treasure. Here is the treasure of these
men's hearts. They loved the praise of men. They love to be honored by men. They love to be recognized. Our
Lord watches them as they move through the crowd. Hello, how
are you? Good to see you. How are you
doing? It's good to see you again. And
they're working their way through the crowd up to the seat of honor
where all could see them. and applauded them, and said,
boy, now there he sits. He's somebody. Look where he's
sitting. He's somebody. He's somebody
important. And moved to the uppermost seats
of honor. And what does the Lord think
of their honor, their love of honor, their love of esteem,
their desire to be distinguished from other men? Man, that hits close to home,
doesn't it? We all like to be distinguished
mothers. The most base of our lust is
our pride, our love of honor, our love of distinction. Come
back to Luke 11, you'll see exactly what our Lord thinks of it. Luke
11, verse 43. Woe unto you, Pharisees, Damned. Are you Pharisees? Damned. How come? Because you love the uppermost
seats in the synagogues. You love for folks to salute
you, to greet you in the marketplace and say, well, hello, Reverend
Doctor. Hello, sir. Oh, it's so good to see you. I'm just honored to be able to
shake your hand. Look at chapter 20, verse 46. Now remember, our Lord's talking
about religious folks now, particularly. It applies everywhere, but He's
talking about religious folks. Not just religious folks, but
religious leaders. Not just religious leaders, but
the leaders of religious leaders. Verse 46. Beware of them. Beware
of them. Beware of them. Did you hear
that? Beware of them. Beware of the
scribes, the learned religious leaders, which desire to walk
in long robes and love greetings in the markets and the highest
seats in the synagogues and the chief rooms at feast. How come? Because these lying, hellish
creatures devour widows' houses to get what they want. They have no regard for anybody
but themselves, which devour widows' houses and for a show. Well, they're sincere. No, they're
hypocrites. Well, they really are doing the
best they can. No, they're hypocrites. Well,
they don't really mean evil. Yes, they do mean evil. For a
show. Just to make a show. They make
long prayers. And they're going to hell. The
deepest pit of hell. The sane shall receive greater
damnation. Now, you can mark this down.
These two things always go hand in hand. with loving honor, a
man who wants to be recognized. He doesn't hesitate to exploit
the weak and is quick to condemn those whom he deems less than
himself. If we crave the praise of men
and a widow's house stands in our way, we'll devour it without
a thought. But in the end, that man's own
house will collapse in the flood of God's wrath. If we pursue
the seat of honor on earth, there will be no seat for us among
the redeemed in glory. Our Lord says in Luke 14.11,
whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. Now listen to what the Lord says.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except you be converted and become as little children, poor in spirit. meek, merciful. You shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, you might think our Lord
had ruffled enough feathers for one evening. He had publicly
undressed the hypocrisy of the legalist and their pride. Our
Lord, he knew how to spoil the dinner party, but he's not done
yet. He's been talking generally to
the guest at the party, and now he turns again in verses 12,
13, and 14, and addresses the host of the party. And here he
undresses this man's motive. I mean, he does it right in front
of everybody. Right in front of everybody.
He goes right to the motive of his heart. Look at verse 12. Then said he also unto him that
bade him, when thou makest a party, makest a dinner or supper, call
not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy rich
neighbors. Look here. Look at these folks
you've called here. The only reason I'm here is because
I'm a prophet. I have a name. Folks recognize me. Otherwise,
you wouldn't have had anything to do with me. And actually brought
me here just so you could try to catch me in a trap. And these
other folks, they're your brothers, your neighbors, your rich friends,
the folks from whom you hope to derive something. Don't call these folks. lest
they also bid thee again, and recompense be made thee. Verse
13. 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. What an unusual way of talking.
Well, strange reasoning. The Lord says when you have a
lavish dinner party, don't invite your relatives and friends and
rich neighbors who can repay you, but rather invite those
from whom you can expect no gain, no advantage, no recompense of
any kind. And our Lord couldn't have been
more coarsely blunt. If He had stuck His finger right
straight in a man's face and stood before them all, He couldn't
have been any plainer. This is what He said. Now remember,
he's talking to a Pharisee, chief of the Pharisees, these fellows
who popped their suspenders and strutted their stuff and said,
we're somebody, watch us now. We pray and we tithe and we keep
the law and we're good men. Our Lord stuck his finger right
in his face and this is what he said, you sir, you hope to
go to heaven because of your goodness and there's no goodness
in you. You're motivated in all your
displays of goodness, in all your show of goodness by your
own personal interest. Everything you pretend to do
for others, you in reality do for yourself, and that shall
be your eternal ruin. Who on earth would talk like
that? Probably someone whose kingdom is not of this world.
Probably someone who understood that a thousand years on earth
are just like yesterday when it's passed. Probably someone
who knows that our life is but a vapor. It appears for a moment
and vanishes away. Someone who knows that he who
saves his life shall lose it. And he that loses his life will
save it. Now, our Lord Jesus speaks, and speaks
plainly. Because he understands and he
knows that all these things are just a show. A show put on by
a man who hopes to stand exalted by God in the day of resurrection
because of his goodness and has nothing in him but self. A show
put on by a religious man who would have all been to believe
that he is a good, righteous man, a lover of God and a lover
of men. And thereby he hopes to stand
before God honored in the last day. But he's a man after all
who loves no one and nothing but himself. Well, why did our
Lord speak like he did? What's his purpose? Why did he
do the things he did, the way he did them? Was it just merely to show up
these men? No. Was it just to expose their
condemnation? No. I hear fellas, sometimes
I hear preachers, they just want to show fellas up. They want
to tell everybody they're lost and damned and going to hell.
The only reason is just so they can say it, look good. I told
you now, you're going to hell. That wasn't our master's purpose.
Our master's purpose was far more gracious. His behavior stemmed
from a noble reason. You see, our Lord here, as always,
is teaching us things we must learn. He's teaching some folks right
here in this house some things they must learn. teaching His
disciples some things they must learn, teaching you and me some
things we must learn. Let me show you three or four
of them. The first thing to be learned from our Master here
is the fact that the Son of God came into this world to seek
and save and serve poor, needy sinners from whom He can never
receive any recompense. He says to this Pharisee, God
Almighty will honor disinterested love. That's the only love he'll honor.
Love that has no selfish motive. Love that has nothing to gain
from its object. Love that can win nothing from
the one who receives from it. Love that cannot be recompensed
at all. Our Lord Jesus came here to save
sinners who have no desire for Him, from whom He will have no gratitude
except He created. From whom he will have no love
except he give it. From whom no compensation can
be made for what he's done. Now, be sure you understand me. There is no doubt our Lord does
teach us. Indeed, the grace of God experienced
in our heart teaches us. All the scriptures teach us that
we are always to care for the poor and needy among us, particularly
those of our brethren who are poor and needy. Our Lord said
the poor shall never cease out of the land, and they give us
opportunity to display love and grace and mercy to them, to exercise
that love and grace purely because of love for Christ. And we ought
to be forward in doing it as much as we're able. Not to do
so. Turn to 1 John 3, I want you
to see something. Not to do so, not to take care
of those in need as you have the ability to do it, is to hate
them. I don't hate him. If you can
do something to help him and you don't, it's because you hate
him. You count him worthless and useless. Let's see if this is what the
book says. First John 3.14. We know that we pass from death
into life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not
his brother abideth in death. Whoso hateth his brother is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding
in him. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. Now this is what I'm talking
about. The Son of God saw our desperate
need. the desperate need of the people
from whom he gets nothing. Hereby we see, we perceive the
love of God because he laid down his life for us. And we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this
world's good, and saith his brother hath need, and shutteth up his
bowels of compassion from him, How dwelleth the love of God
in him? Now let that sting all it will.
That's just fact. As we ought to care for the poor,
so too we ought to give particular care and particular attention
to our weaker brethren. Bearing one another's burdens,
we fulfill the law of Christ. We tend, all of us do, our natural
tendency is to want to be around folks who are strong and making
it fine. That's a tendency. We ought to
give real special attention to the young believer, to the weaker
brother. Take them under your arm. Help
them along the way. Give them some time, some thoughtfulness,
some encouragement, some help. But our Lord is not here teaching
us, nor did he teach this Pharisee a lesson about moral uprightness. His aim is much higher. Like
the man described in verse 2 who had the dropsy, you and I are
poor, helpless, perishing sinners by nature. We could do nothing
to help ourselves any more than that man could. We were plagued
with a disease incurable by the hand of man. We couldn't help
ourselves and nobody around could help us. Like the man with the dropsy
with his limbs swelling, our bodies just constantly swelling
with death. When the Lord Jesus begins His
work of grace in us, it's not because we want Him. It's not because we've come to
Him. It's not because we prayed for Him to help us. By the time
we want Him, and we pray for His help, and we come to Him
in faith, He's already done His work of grace in us. There's
no indication this man with the dropsy here even looked at the
master. No indication. He was accustomed
to being abused and despised and derided by men, passed over
by men, used by men for their own advantage and nothing else.
If somebody happened to throw him a dime, he knew they were
just showing off to somebody else. No indication that he looked
to the master for anything. But the master took up the rich
Pharisee's invitation to dinner, because there's a poor man there
with the dropsy, for whom time of mercy had come. He's described
as a certain man. This certain man's in a certain
place, the place where God had ordained that his path be crossed
by the Son of God. He's there at a certain time,
on this certain Sabbath day, when this Pharisee took a notion
to invite the Son of God to his house for dinner. And he's there
for a certain purpose. Look at verse 4. This is what
the Lord did with him. He took him. Of all the people in that crowd,
the Lord Jesus walks up to this man. You fellows who love the upper
seats, always keep them. He walks up to this man and he
took him. Oh, son of God, come take somebody. He took him. And when he took him, he healed
him. And you know what he did with him when he healed him?
He let him go. He let him go. Oh, like he said
concerning Lazarus, loose him and let him go. I've come to
make the bond free. Now, the second thing that's
obvious here is the fact that in order to save such poor, needy
sinners as we are, the Son of God took the lowest place among
men. Again, humility is a gift of
grace. The grace of God humbles men.
But our Lord is not here teaching this Pharisee or the crowd in
his house, and he certainly isn't teaching us. That we are to make
ourselves humble, or at least make ourselves appear humble.
You can't make yourself humble. That ain't gonna happen. You
can put on the show. Our Lord is not here teaching
that we should make ourselves appear to be humble so that we
might be exalted and recompensed in the day of judgment. But our
Lord said to the Pharisees, now you invite those poor, lame,
maimed, and blind, and halt, and you shall be recompensed
in the judgment. Now that's exactly what he's saying. No, that's
not what he's saying. Listen carefully. You stop and
think about that. Such self-serving humility. I'm
going to humble myself. I'm going to just ignore all
the rich. I'm never even going to talk
to them anymore. Folks got money? Leave them alone. Folks got some education? That
doesn't do with them. Folks who can help me? Nothing to do with them. I'm
going to just serve the poor and devote my life to serving
the poor. I'll go into the lepers and make
myself a leper so that in the end, God will honor me. Do you really think that's what
the Master is teaching? Oh, no. No, no. No, no. Our Lord is saying to this man,
you do what no man can or will do. God will honor you. You love your neighbor as yourself. God will honor you. But no man
can do that. No, he can't. But one man did. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, made himself of no reputation. His humility is exemplary and
we ought to follow the example of it. But his humility was real humility. He voluntarily humbled himself with nothing to gain, just because
of his love for God and his love for us. Now, for that reason,
he has been exalted, and he shall be recompensed in the day of
judgment. You see, this thing of humility,
as our Lord is describing, is sort of like giving. If you give, because, you know, boy, if I
give enough, the Lord's going to, He's going to just keep giving
more to me. You give like that, and you may
get more money than you can stick in every bank in the nation,
but you're going to impoverish your soul. You haven't given
a thing. On the other hand, if you give,
Because you want to. Just because you want to. Just
because you want to. Just because you love Christ,
his gospel, his people. Just because you love men. Just
because you want to. Folks say, well, you'll never
have any of this because of that. I ain't so sure about that. I
ain't so sure about that. But I'll tell you what you will
have. Your soul's barn shall be busting over. You will enrich
your soul before God. This is our Lord's example. You
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? How that though he was
rich, yet for your sakes, just to save your worthless soul, he became poor, that you through
his poverty might be made rich. And he shall be recompensed in
the day of judgment, for he shall see of the travail of his soul
and shall be satisfied. He will have everything his soul
desires. He will have the glory of God
displayed in him, in the salvation of his people, and he shall be
satisfied. The third thing our Redeemer
teaches us here is that there shall be a resurrection day and
a judgment day. Everything our Savior did in
this world, He did with eternity before His eyes. He lived in the constant awareness
of eternity. Oh God, teach me that. Paul gives us an example. I've
quoted it several times the last few weeks. Turn over to 2 Corinthians
4. Now in this chapter, Paul describes
a life of suffering like no man I know has ever experienced from
the time God called him to the time he left this world. He was
constantly harassed, persecuted, imprisoned, beaten, slandered,
left for dead, stoned, constantly. And we whine when we get a hangnail. You forgive me if I'm real severe
on your whining. I'm screaming at myself. I'm
screaming at myself. Paul says in conclusion to this
description of his life of torment, and the only reason he's talking
about it, the only reason he said anything about it, he wouldn't even bring
it up except these false prophets and men who accused him of serving
the cause of Christ for his own gain, yet he speaks by inspiration
to defend himself of that charge. And then in verse 17 he says,
for our light affliction. What? Paul, you've been talking
about a life of affliction. A light affliction. What is a
featherweight? That's what he's talking about.
Featherweight affliction. Feather, kind of tickles your
shoulder, you want to scratch once in a while. It's not going
to break you back. A light affliction, which is but for a moment. I
can take most anything for just a minute. Most anything. Most anything. Got this shoulder all crushed,
banged up. Just shattered it a few years
ago. You're aware of it. When it first happened, I said
to Brother Greg Amquist, I said, put your foot under here. I've
got something out of the joint. Just pull that arm out. And he gave it
a little tug. I said, no, pull it. And he put his foot under
there and just laid back and pulled the thing. He said, well,
there's nothing broken. You couldn't have stood that. Yeah, I can do almost anything
with just a minute. With just a minute. No trouble. They're going to give me some
relief. Our light affliction, which is but for a minute, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at things which
are seen, but at things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal, for we know that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. But in this passage, our Lord
speaks only of the resurrection of the just. There shall be a
resurrection of the just and of the unjust, a resurrection
of life and a resurrection of damnation. He speaks that plainly.
In that great day, that last day, the general resurrection,
the dead shall hear his voice and all the dead shall be raised
before God and shall be judged by God, judged out of the books.
But he speaks here only of the resurrection of the just. How
come? Because He is that just one by
whom we are justified and by whom we shall be recompensed
of God. Children of God, live with eternity
in your eye. So living, You can live with
calm, peace in this world. There's a day coming when God's
going to set everything right. Everything. Every now and then,
when I get tired of listening to some fella Jack, and he keeps
wanting to bring up more arguments about the gospel of God's grace
and so on, And sometimes they get a little nasty. Religious people can get that
way sometimes. You know what I say to men? And I hope it's not cocky. I
hope it's not pride. I've written it in more than
one letter. And usually this is all that letter says other
than sign my name. I'll meet you at the bar of God and we'll
find out. How could you do that? How could
you do that? Because I know what God's truth
is. I know what it is. And because
I'm walking before God, trusting a substitute, who alone is my
righteousness, and I stand accepted of God in him, just as much today
as I shall in that day when God says to all who would forever
damn me, he's mine and I approve of him. The resurrection of the
just shall be that day when God gives us our just recompense. Our exact recompense. That is, He's going to give us
exactly what is demanded by law and justice, exactly what is
due for our obedience, and He's going to give it to us forever.
A preacher, how on earth can you find hope in that? Because
my obedience is an obedience performed for me. He will judge
all men out of the books, the books of God's remembrance, except
for another group. There's another group of folks
there. There's some other folks standing
there at the right hand of God who shall be judged out of another
book. It's called the book of life. And life eternal with God's smile
in God's presence shall be theirs because they fully deserve it
through Christ who is the Lord our righteousness. He's washed
us in His blood, robed us in His righteousness. He has obeyed
God's law and satisfied its last demand for every one of them
and they stand accepted of God perfect as He is perfect. There seem to have been two objects
of mercy here at this Pharisee's house. That man with the drops
said the Lord had come to heal. And then there was one other
fellow there. One other fellow there, it looks like the Lord
specifically came to seek this one sinner and find him. Looks
like the time of mercy and love had come for this one man. He
heard what the Lord said to the Pharisee. He heard what the Lord
said concerning true love, devotion, and service to the souls of men.
He heard about a recompense at the bar of God to that which
God approves of. And this was his response. Look
at verse 15. And when one of them that sat
at meat with him heard these things, he said to the master,
blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. And I agree with him. Blessed
is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Amen.