You probably have noticed that
it's been some time since I preached to you from the book of Luke.
And you may have suspected that maybe I just forgot in my old
age what I was doing, because it's been now better than six
weeks since I brought the last message to you in Luke's gospel
from Luke chapter 14, verses 1 through 6. But I haven't forgotten
what I was doing. I've been studying the rest of
this chapter these six weeks and reading carefully everything
I could get my hands on written by other men, and I'm talking
about things written by the men I consider to be faithful men. And everything I had read, I
mean everything right up to this hour that I've read, on the succeeding
verses of Luke 14, I knew just simply is not what our Lord is
teaching in this parable. It is not what he's teaching.
I want you to turn with me to Luke 14 and we'll pick up at
verse 7. You remember our Lord was in
the Pharisees house at dinner. They had a Sabbath day gathering,
and these Jews, the wealthy Jews particularly, would have huge,
huge feasts and often have them on the Sabbath day and invite
many, many guests. The more honorable, the better.
It was a who's who party. And he had healed a man that
the Pharisees had brought in on purpose. They had set a trap
for him. They wanted to catch the Son
of God in their little trap so that they could discredit him
as a prophet. They said, will this man do something on the
Sabbath day that's against the law? We'll get him. And our Lord
read their thoughts. And he said, is it lawful to
heal on the Sabbath day? Lawful to do good on the Sabbath
day? And of course, they knew they couldn't answer him. And he said, Which of you, having
an ox or an ass that falls into the ditch, wouldn't go get it
on the Sabbath day? But this man, this poor man with
the dropsy, you'd leave him suffer until your Sabbath day is over,
even if it means he dies. And that reveals something about
you. You value your ox and your ass, which cost you some money.
a whole lot more than you value this man sitting before you. And so he scorched them pretty
good. Then in verse 7, and he put forth a parable. This is
not in the strictest sense of the word a parable. The word
parable here doesn't refer to a earthly story to illustrate
a heavenly truth, but rather the word parable here means a
dark, mysterious saying. He put forth a parable, a dark
saying, to those which were bidden. When he marched, he watched them.
They'd come to this wedding feast and he watched them. They chose
out the chief's rooms or the chief's seats. They all wanted
to get right up front so he could see what was going on. Saying
unto them, when thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, bidden
to a wedding feast, 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 that come, or he that bade thee and him come and say
unto thee, Give this man place, and thou begin with shame to
take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go
and sit down in the lowest room, that when he that bade thee cometh,
he may say unto thee, friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou
have worship, the word is honor, praise, esteem, in the presence
of them that sit at meet with thee. For whosoever exalteth
himself shall be amazed. And he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. Now, everything I have read in
these last six weeks on those verses suggests that our Lord
is here teaching us good manners. He's here teaching us how to
behave in this world in a proper way. That is not the case. Absolutely is not the case. If we are to understand this
parable, we must understand it, reading it and interpreting it
in its entire context. Now I know that our Lord is not
here giving us a lesson in moral virtue and good manners for three
very obvious reasons. First, I know who he's talking
to. He's talking to a self-righteous
religious Pharisee and those like him. He's in this Pharisee's
house. And this self-righteous Pharisee
standing before the Son of God was not one he was likely to
instruct in moral virtue. This self-righteous Pharisee
was not one that he would say to him, now you go and behave
this way. You're pretty good, Joe, but
now you need to clean up your life a little bit. You need to
straighten up a little bit. It's proper that you live like
you have lived, but you need to show a little more humility. You need to be a little more
kind and sympathetic. Secondly, I know that's not what
he's doing because that which our Lord here says simply is
not true with regard to earthly things. It is not true. Some of you have done some flying.
Have you ever decided that you would sit back at the end of
the line And wait till everybody else got on that crowded plane
to see if somebody wouldn't give you their seat in first class. You'd still be waiting. I promise
you. Oh, but I'm going to be humble. I'm going to wait and take the
back seat in the corner where the fuselage bends over like
that. You can have it. OK, just be humble. That's not
what our Lord's teaching. The fact is, in this world, the
way things are in this world, I'm not saying this is the way
they ought to be, I'm saying this is the way they are. If you want
to get ahead, you've got to push your way ahead. If you want the
high seat and nobody's going to give it to you, you've got
to take it. If you're willing to settle for the lowest place,
everybody is tickled to death to accommodate your wishes. In
his Sermon on the Mount, thirdly, Our Savior teaches something
else. You remember in Matthew 6 when our Lord talks about giving
alms and fasting and praying? He said when you give alms, don't
tell anybody what you're doing. Don't let your left hand know
what your right hand does. When you fast, you hear folks, these
fellows who would have you believe they're super pious on TV, they've
been fasting and praying about this. Liar. Liar. Fake. Fake is a $3 bill. Totally fake. Inside and out.
Our Lord said when you fast, don't say a word to anybody about
it. That's between you and God. Just between you and God. When
you pray, don't stand in the street corner
and blow a trumpet and say, listen to me boys! I'm fixing to show
you how much I love God. Don't make a show. I recall years
ago I had a fellow preaching for me, he pastored the church
in front of me at lookout and right in the middle of his sermon
he decided to pray. I'm sitting up here on the platform
and he got down beside the pulpit, held on to this thing and knelt
down and lifted his hands and cried out to God. Folks, I had
folks come in, oh such a humble man. I wanted to kick his teeth
down his throat. I'm not kidding. Just a show.
Fake. Fake as it can be. No humility
in it. Just pride. Just pride. You see, godliness is not something
you show by the way you dress, the way you talk, or the way
you act with regard to putting on a show of religion. And our
Lord specifically in Matthew chapter 6 tells us, and tells
us plainly, that we must never in any way attempt to show an
ungodly world our godliness. We must never attempt to show
a world around us our spirituality or our devotion to God by any
outward action we perform. Don't do it. Don't do it. We
are to adorn the gospel of God our Savior by living properly,
seeking God's glory in this world. We're to adorn the doctrine of
God our Savior by doing what's right. But every attempt to show
spirituality is but a display of self-righteousness. Now you
mark it down. You and I, we struggle with this
thing. You have and I have. I know it.
But you think, well, I just want folks to know that I trust the
Lord. I just want folks to know that I'm a Christian. I recall years ago hearing Brother
Mahan talking to somebody. A bunch of preachers, and they
were kind of upbaiting him because they were eating dinner at a
restaurant. He started to eat before they
had any prayer. They didn't wash their hands,
you know. And these fellows thought he ought to wash his hands. And
they just talked and talked and talked. Finally, one of them
said to himself, I want the waitress to know I'm a Christian. He said,
leave her a good tip. Your praying ain't going to do
it. Now having said that, be sure you understand this, and
I say this for your benefit and for the benefit of any who hear
this tape, because people like to grab part of something and
run with it and ignore the rest. Believers, men and women, who
live for and seek the glory of God must never behave as proud
worldlings. Don't let your neighbors set
the pattern for your life. Don't live like other men live.
And this is what I mean by that. Let it ever be ours in all our
relationships and in all our conduct and in all our business
to seek the glory of our God, the good of other men, the welfare
of our brethren, of God's church and kingdom. Each truly preferring
the other to himself. Each esteeming the other better
than himself. Each submitting one to the other. Each promoting the other. Each serving the other. You remember
what our Lord taught in John 13, Bobby? He knelt down, took
a bowl of water and a towel, and washed his disciples' feet.
He said, now I've given you an example. You go do likewise. What's that mean? Well, let's
get together on the high Sundays and when we have real high communion
and we'll have a foot washing service. No, no, no. That means you do whatever you
can do to refresh and comfort and serve one another, whatever
you can do, taking the lowest place recognizing that it is
your honor and your privilege to serve our God and his people. Now turn to Philippians chapter
2 for just a minute. Hold your hands here. Clearly,
our Lord teaches us by the parable we're looking at here in Luke
14. He teaches us throughout the
scriptures, and he teaches us by his own example what we ought
to be and how we ought to live. truly as humble people before
God. One passage will suffice, Philippians
2. If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, any tenderness and compassion,
fulfill ye my joy. Now watch this. that you'd be
like-minded, of one mind, having the same love, being one in heart,
being of one accord and of one mind. And this is what I mean. This is what I mean. I'm not
talking about us all sitting down and writing out a creed
and saying this is what we believe and signing our name to it. I'm not talking
about sitting down and writing out a covenant and rules of order
and saying this is what we'll practice and we're one mind in
this. No, no, no, no, no. I'm talking
about let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Don't do anything just to suit
yourself. Nothing? I believe that's what
he said, wasn't it? Nothing. Don't do anything, just
have your way. But in lowliness of mind, let
each esteem other better than themselves. So that's tough. Not if you ever
find out what you are. Not if you ever find out what
you are. So we're all sinners, yeah? But
there sits my brother Oscar Bailey. And he's in Christ, robed with
his righteousness, washed in his blood, free of sin before
God. And when he's at his worst behavior,
let's pretend I've seen you at your worst behavior. When he's
at his worst behavior, gets upset, says something he ought not to
say, does something he ought not to do. He's a heapsight better
than what I know I am. Heaps like that. Look not every
man on his own things. Well, if I don't look at my own
things, who's going to? Your Savior, your Redeemer, your brother. Look not every man after his
own things, his name, his reputation, his property, his position. Look
not every man after his own things, but every man also on the things
of others. Let this mind be in you. This is what I'm talking about,
Paul says. Which was also in Christ Jesus. Oh, do you want
the mind of Christ? Do you want some instruction about
what godliness is all about? Do you want to hear something about
what the way of righteousness really is? Here's the mind of
Christ, who being in the form of God, that is, he is God from
eternity, the eternal God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. It wasn't something he had to
seek after. He didn't have to seek after a higher place or
higher power. He is the higher place and higher power. He didn't
have to seek after eminence. He is the eminent one. He made himself deliberately,
by his own will, made himself of no reputation. You know what
the word is? Like you take that glass of water
right there, and this is what you do with it. He emptied himself. He emptied
himself. And took upon him the form of
a servant, a slave, and was made in likeness as a
man, or as a giant step, what's the next? And being found in
fashion as a man, being found here as a man, while he walked
on this earth, he who is God, who's now assumed the form of
a man, who's now assumed the form of a servant, while he is
here this servant, being found in fashion as a man, stepped
down again. He humbled himself. And all the days of his life
became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. He took the lowest seat there
was. The lowest seat there was. He
was made to be sin for us. under the wrath of God, made
Himself to be the object of the terror of God's wrath for us. Became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted Him. He sat in yonder in glory now
because of what He did for you when He humbled Himself and served
you and your soul's interest. Now, go do likewise. Serve one another. Now back here
in Luke chapter 14, our master is teaching humility. He does
it in two ways. First, he tells those who are
bidding to a wedding to sit down in the lowest room. And then
he declares this great principle which he frequently declared.
In verse 11, whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and
he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Now that statement,
that principle is true only with regard to God's kingdom. It is
true only with regard to spiritual things. It is true only with
regard to the things of God. It is not true with regard to
things in this world. And yet this humility that our
Lord teaches is so contrary to our nature that we won't ever
attain it. People talk about humility. And
I hear folks use terms, use the language, they say, oh, he's
such a humble man. Such a humble man. And they equate
simple with humble. It's not the same thing. Or they
equate being satisfied with being poor with being humble. Not the
same thing. Or they equate weakness with
humility. Ain't the same thing. Ain't the
same thing. This is humility. Men see it as an inward thing.
It's an inward thing. Moses was the meekest man who
ever lived. And I'll guarantee you, if you
went and dug Pharaoh up out of hell and asked him how meek Moses
was, he'd say, meek? What on earth are you talking
about? That man was a terror. Meek? Moses? Abraham was humble
before God. Humble before God. But he walked
as king in the earth. recognized himself to be vile
before God, but he's exalted above all the princes of the
East. Isaiah, that mighty prophet, cries out, Behold, I am vile.
Paul, the apostle, you read his letter to the Galatians, Lynch
has been teaching on Sunday mornings. Bold, my soul. Oh, I would to
God he'd give me some of that boldness. Just bold as a lion,
untrembling, unfearful. Bold as a lion. A man who cries
out, I know that in me, in my flesh dwells no good thing. Well,
preacher, the Lord commands it. We've got to have it, but we
can never attain it. No, we will never humble ourselves
until we have been humbled by our God. You remember how Daniel
spoke to Nebuchadnezzar? Back in Daniel 4, he said, Nebuchadnezzar,
God's going to humble you. He had that dream he was troubled
by. Daniel said, now this is the meaning of the dream. God's
going to humble you. He's going to retain your throne, retain
your kingdom. He's going to set you back on the throne. But in
the meantime, he's flat going to humble you. And one night,
Nebuchadnezzar's out. Walking in his balcony in his
palace, and boy, he stretches out his chest. Nobody's around
but him. Him and God. And he says, look
at this great Babylon that I built. Oh, man. I am somebody. And immediately, his mind was
gone. He popped a cork and went bedbug
insane crazy, and for seven years, lived like an ox out in the field. until his understanding returned
to him and he said he's God and he rules and I'm nothing indeed
all the inhabitants of the earth and nothing before him and those
that walk in pride he is able to embrace And he'll either abase
you now in grace or there's a day coming when he's going to abase
you and he'll send you to hell forever. But abase you he will. Now, let us pray that God may
humble us before him. J.C. Ryle wrote, humility may
well be called the queen of Christian graces. Or what is this humility? It
is to know our sinfulness and weakness. It is to know our need
of Christ. This is the very beginning of
salvation. Salvation begins with God humbling
us. That's where it begins. with
God stripping us, with God emptying us, with God bringing us down.
Salvation begins in our experience of it with God taking that proud
Pharisee and throwing him off his horse and laying him in the
dust in the middle of nowhere with no hope except to look up
and cry, Lord! That's where it begins. It begins
with conviction. Conviction. That's a hard word for us to
understand because of all the religious nonsense that goes
on with it. It begins with God the Holy Spirit convincing David
Peterson of his sin. What is convincing? What is it? One word can describe
it. One word. Humility really is
knowledge. Not knowledge you learn from
a book. Knowledge you learn by divine revelation. By Christ
being revealed in you. Hold your hands here in Luke
and turn back to Zechariah 12. Humility is wrought in us by
the revelation of Christ to us and in us in that day when the
fountain of redemption and cleansing is opened to us. Zechariah 12,
verse 10. Are you there? The Lord God promises,
I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. He's talking about his elect.
The spirit of grace and of supplications. When God pulls out His Spirit,
it is a work of grace. And when God pulls out His Spirit,
you will bow before His throne as a suppliant for mercy and
grace. And when God pulls out His Spirit,
He says they shall look. They shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn. It's the goodness
of God that leads to repentance. It is Christ revealed in you
that causes you to mourn before God because of what you are.
And as soon as he does, look at this, chapter 13, verse 1,
Zechariah, in that day, In that day. In that day. Oh, happy day. In that day. In that day when
God pours out His Spirit on you. In that day when God causes you
to supplicate His throne, in that day when God reveals Christ
in you, in that day there shall be a fountain open to the house
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for just what I
need, for sin and uncleanness to cleanse me. That man who really
knows himself, who knows his own heart, who knows God in his
infinite majesty and holiness, who knows Christ and the price
with which he has been redeemed. That man who knows God's grace
and experience is a man humbled by the hand of God and a man
who humbles himself before God. Ever crying as John, he must
increase and I must decrease. He must increase himself and
I must decrease myself. He must be increased and I must
be decreased. He considers anything good enough
for him. And indescribably better than
he deserves. In lowliness of mind, he esteems
his brethren better than himself. Ignorance. Nothing but sheer
ignorance. Ignorance of myself. Ignorance
of God. Ignorance of Christ. Nothing
but ignorance is the cause of pride, envy, jealousy, and strife. from that miserable ignorance. May God deliver us. But again, our Lord, back here
in Luke 14, is not setting before these Pharisees a virtue that
they are to cultivate. Rather, he is exposing and rebuking
the pride of that self-righteousness and unbelief that keeps sinners
from trusting him. Look at the context in which
this parable is given. Now you remember our Lord had just healed
this poor, despised, needy soul of the dropsy on the Sabbath
day, and condemned those Pharisees who used him to bait a trap for
the Son of God. Now notice the opening word of
verse 7. Here's the problem with almost
all the commentators and men who interpret this passage. They
fail to connect the context. Look at the opening word of verse
7. What does it say? A-N-D. Huh. If I remember English grammar
correctly, that's a conjunction. And that connects verse 7 with
verse 6. It's a connecting word. And he
put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked
how they chose out the chief rooms, or the chief seats. And
then after giving the parable we read, the Lord declares to
this proud Pharisee and those he had invited to be his guests
at dinner, that true humility, true goodness, true godliness
serves those who can do nothing in return, from whom no benefit can be derived. from whom nothing can be gained.
Look at verse 12. Then, then, there's another connecting
word. He's connecting it to the parable
given in verses 7 through 11. Then he said also to him, still
in the Pharisee's house, Still talking to these Pharisees, he
said also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or
supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy
kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors. Now wait a minute. Surely the
Lord is not forbidding us having our families over for Sunday
dinner. Surely that's not what he's doing. No, that's not what
he's doing. Surely he is not forbidding us to invite our neighbors
in who say, well, man, he's a nice fella, but I can't have him in
because he's got a little more money than I do. That's not what he's doing. That's not what he's doing. He's
laying down a principle. He says, don't invite them, lest
they also bid thee come again, and a recompense be made there.
I'll invite you, and I expect you to invite me. That's the
way it commonly works, isn't it? I'll have you at my house, and you'll
have me at your house. But when thou makest a feast, call the
poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, Call those from whom you can
get nothing except what you give. That's what it says. Now watch
this. And thou shalt be blessed. For they cannot recompense thee.
For thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. The Lord is saying to this Pharisee,
if you will start to humble yourself and when you have a feast rather
than inviting your rich neighbors, you start inviting the poor and
feed them. Then after you die and you meet
God in judgment, God's going to look on you and smile and
you will have earned God's favor forever. Not on your life. Not on your life. Remember, our
Lord is not teaching men as work mongers how to earn God's favor
in the resurrection. Rather, he is teaching this man
how God Almighty dispenses his favor freely. The gospel of Christ
is likened to an invitation. An invitation to a great feast.
The Lord God, our great Savior, graciously calls poor, maimed,
lame, blind sinners from whom no compensation can be given,
from whom no recompense can be made. He calls them to His banqueting
table and gives them everything they need freely through His
blood, through his grace, through his righteousness, and has thereby
earned God's favor as our mediator. So, are you sure? There was one
man in the crowd who got it. Look at verse 15. There was one
man in the crowd who got it. One fellow in that crowd who
said, oh, he's talking about something else. He's not talking
about this man's feast. He's not talking about the feast
we went to last week. He's talking about something
else. And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these
things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in
the kingdom of God. You got it, bud. That's exactly
it. Blessed. Then the Lord continues
his instruction. Remember, he's still in the Pharisees'
house. He's still talking about how
men are to behave when they're invited to the wedding feast.
Specifically, how poor sinners must come to God's great wedding
feast. Verse 16. Then, there is another
connecting word. Then said he unto him, a certain
man made a great supper, and bade many, and sent his servants,
sent out gospel preachers at supper time, to say to them that
were bed and come, for all things are ready. Come on, come and
dine, the master calleth, come and dine. And they all with one
consent began to make excuse. The first said to him, I bought
a piece of grail, and I must needs go see it. I pray thee
have an excuse. And another said, I bought five
yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee have an excuse. And another said, I married a
wife, and therefore I cannot come. And I recall years ago,
I was just a boy. I heard my pastor, Brother Tamley
Davis, preaching on this passage. He called the message, Two Fools
and a Henpecked Husband. He said, who on earth would go
buy a piece of ground and not look at it first? Or buy five
yoke of oxen and not tithe them first? And then this one fellow,
he was a little honest. He said, I buried my wife. She
won't let me come. But they all made excuse, much like some of
you make excuse. I've got other things to do,
other fish to fry. I pray thee have me excused.
All right, you can stay away if you want to, but it will cost
you your soul forever. Verse 21, So that servant came
and showed the Lord these things, Then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city, and bring hither not the rich, those who
could buy some land, Not mighty those who have some oxen to prove. Not those who are getting along
pretty good, they've taken a wife and settled down. But go out
into the highways and hedges and bring in hither the poor
and the maimed and the haught and the blind. And so God the
Holy Spirit goes out and fetches to the feast poor, maimed, haught,
blind sinners. And the servant said, Lord, it's
done as thou hast commanded, and yet there's still plenty
to eat, plenty of room. And the Lord said to the servant,
Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them by the
might of omnipotent grace, compel them to come in that my house
may be filled. For as I say unto you that none
of those which were bitten shall taste my supper. Now go back
to verse 11. Let me wrap this up. Our Lord is here teaching us how a sinner must come to God. I didn't say how he may, this
is the way you must come to God. We must come to God, we must
come to Christ, taking the ground he gives us. Humble, worthless, doomed, damned,
helpless, naked, in need of mercy. For whosoever
exalteth himself shall be amazed, and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. Oh boy, that don't look like
it's the way it ought to be. I know it. That's just the way
God does it. This is a dark, say, this is
a mystery. A mystery that natural men and
women can never understand. A mystery that no man can understand
until he is born of God and taught of God. The natural man understandeth
not the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to
him. I'm just not that bad. I'm just
not that bad. I know. I know. I'm sure you're
not. I'm sure you're not. And I can
never convince you, you are. No, I know you're not. In your own eyes. But I'm here
to tell you, you're just that bad. And I pray God will convince
you of it. No matter what it costs. No matter
what it costs. no matter what it cost, somewhere
between here and eternity. In the natural world, the way
to get up is to get up. In the kingdom of God, the only
way up is down. He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted. In this world, the way to live is live. But in the
kingdom of God, the only way for you to live is to die. The
only way you can save your life is to lose it. In the natural
world, men find strength in their strength. In the kingdom of God,
men find out when I'm weak that I'm strong, for my strength is
Christ alone. The greatest thing God can do
for anyone you or me, our sons or daughters, is to show him
in his heart and soul the vanity, the utter vanity
of everything that from his infancy he's learned to crave. Everything. Vanity! Just vanity. And turn
his interest, his affection, his love, his concern to Christ
and the world to come. Turn to Matthew 5 in just a minute. Matthew 5. This is what our Lord is telling
us. To be full is to be into the self. To be wise is to become
a fool for Christ's sake. To be clothed is to be stripped
naked and clothed with Christ's righteousness. To reign with
God as kings in this world is to serve Christ and your brother. To be rich is to be dirt poor. That's exactly right. In all
things spiritual. Matthew 5 verse 3. Blessed are
the poor in spirit. That's not talking about those
who are poor in spirit. Everybody's poor in spirit. It's
talking about those who know they're poor in spirit. For theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn.
They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and they shall
mourn for him. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and they
shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek. Those who
come to the throne of grace, at the banqueting table of God
Almighty, and take the lowest seat, like
that poor publican in the temple, and cry, God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. For they shall inherit the earth. Now may God be pleased ever to
humble us before Him, ever to abase us, causing us
gladly to come to Him taking the lowest seat and lift us up And that day when
he comes to say to poor, abased sinners, trusting his Son, Friend,
come up higher. And so it shall be. Amen.