I sure want to be taught what
it meaneth, don't you? That's a blessing. Would you
turn with me to Luke chapter 14? Tonight, we will observe the
Lord's table together, and after the services, we'll have a get
together with Seth while he's here in town with us. You go
back when? In a week? Ten days? June 9th. And in two weeks, we will have
a church dinner together here. Luke chapter 14. I'd like to
begin reading in verse 15. And when one of them that said
it meet with him heard these things. He heard the preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He heard the truth, didn't he? Everything Christ said is the
truth. He heard the truth. When he had
heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall
eat bread in the kingdom of God. I'm sure nobody would disagree
with that, wouldn't they? Indeed, blessed is he that shall eat
bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he, the Lord Jesus
Christ, unto him, this man who made this statement that I'm
sure no one would disagree with. A certain man. Made a great supper. And bade many. And sent his servant
at suppertime to say to them that were bidden come. For all
things are now ready. And they all, with one consent, began to make
excuse. The first said unto him, I have
bought a piece of ground, and I must need to 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. Another said, I've married a
wife and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed
his 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 in hither. Not simply invite. Not simply
call to come, but you bring them in. Bring in hither the poor
and the maimed and the halt and the blind. And the servant said,
Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded. And yet. There's room. And the Lord said
unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel
them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto
you, that none of those men which were bitten shall taste of my
supper. I have entitled this message,
Compel Them to Come In. That is what I want to do this
morning, if God will be pleased to enable me. I want, by the grace of God,
both myself and you, to come in. to come in into the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, in Christ, whatever
that means, in Christ is the only place of salvation. It's the only place of safety.
It's the only place of security. John said this is the record
that God had given us. Eternal life. And this life is
where? His Son. He that hath the Son
hath life, but he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. All of God's blessing is in the
Lord Jesus Christ and there is no blessing at all outside of
Him. Do you believe that? of God's mercy is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All of God's love, His kindness,
His grace is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And outside of Christ
there is nothing but wrath, nothing but anger, nothing but the vengeance
of God. In Christ are all of God's blessings. In Christ is all of God's blessing. Outside of Christ, there's no
blessing. There's no mercy. There's no
grace. There's no acceptance. There's
no forgiveness. Now, when God sent the flood
some 4,000 years ago, there was one place of safety. Where was
that? in the ark. What happened if
you're outside of the ark? No exceptions to this rule. Outside
of the ark, everybody drowned. When God passed through the land
of Egypt to destroy the firstborn, there was one place of safety
in the house with the blood over the door. Now, there may have
been some people outside of the house who knew that there was
safety in the house, but they didn't go in. What happened to
them? They suffered the judgment of God. The only place of safety
was in the house, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there are
some of you that have never believed on Christ. That's a scary proposition. And
rather than thinking, well, I wonder here who hasn't believed on Christ,
I hope we'll have the attitude, me and you both of the disciples,
when the Lord said, one of you shall betray me, they said, is
it I? Is it I? I hope that's the way
we'll listen to this message. Is it I? Not is it so and so,
but is it I? There are some of you who have
never entered the ark, that have never entered the house
with the blood over the door. And I want, by the grace of God,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, to compel you to come Is that what not what the servant
was told to do? Look in verse 23, and the Lord
said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges
and compel them. Compel them. To come in that
word means to put constraint upon whether by threat, entreaty,
force or persuasion, compel them. To come in now understand this.
about gospel preaching, gospel preaching is not simply a presentation
of the facts of the gospel. Here it is. Take it or leave
it. That's not gospel preaching. I want you to believe. I want
you to come in to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to. Now that
doesn't mean I want you to believe like me. You know, if I'm just
trying to get you to believe like me, if I'm trying to domesticate
you so you'll be just like me, what good will it do you? Absolutely nothing. If I get
you to agree with everything I say, it won't do you any good
at all. And I'm not interested in just
getting you to agree with me. I want you and I want myself
to come in to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gospel message.
Come. Come. Come and welcome. Come just as
you are to this great feast. You see, in true preaching, there
is an appeal. There is persuasion. There is beseeching. Paul said, I beseech you by the
mercies of God. That you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. Anything else is unreasonable.
Paul said, we then as ambassadors of Christ, as though God did
beseech you. Now that to me, that's the hardest,
one of the hardest passages of scripture for me to get hold
of. God beseeching me? The holy God condescending to
beseech me, be ye reconciled to God. Don't be at odds with
Him. You be reconciled to God. Paul said, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord. We persuade men. We persuade
men. In Luke chapter 19, verses 41
and 42, we read where the Lord beheld the city, speaking of
Jerusalem. This is another one of those
scriptures that I don't understand very well, but I just look at
it and I'm amazed. He beheld the city and wept over
it. And said, if thou hadst known
even thou the things which belong to thy peace, but now they're
hid. from thine eyes. He said, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that stonest the prophets, and killest them
that are sent to thee, how oft would I have gathered together
your children as a hen doth gather her brood, and you would not. God says, Come, let us reason
together. Isn't that amazing? God says
to the sinner, come, let us reason together. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as the snow. Our Lord said,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavily burdened under
a sense of sin. and I'll give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly in
heart, oh, so approachable. You'll find rest for your souls. Oh, that God would enable me
by His Spirit to compel you to come in. Now, I want us to look
at verse 15. I think this is very interesting. And when one of them. That said
it meet with him, heard these things that he heard the gospel,
didn't he? He heard the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
wasn't sitting under error. He was sitting under the truth.
When he heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he
that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Now, who here would disagree
with that? Indeed, blessed is he that shall
eat bread in the kingdom of God. But what's that mean? What's
it mean? Now, I see a man who had sympathy
toward the things of God. But he had never come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why the Lord spoke this
parable to him. He had sympathy with the things
of God. There are people in this room
who have sympathy with the things of God. They wouldn't listen
to Arminian preaching. They wouldn't listen to free will preaching,
works preaching. They'll only listen to what they
would consider sovereign grace preaching. They have sympathy.
That's the only thing I'm going to listen to. I agree. I agree with that. I believe
that's what the Bible teaches. There's a sympathy with the things
of God, but they haven't really entered in. Such was this man. What he said was true. Blessed
is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God, but he'd never truly
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Lord speaks to him, verse
16. Then said he unto him, this man who had demonstrated this
sympathy with the things of God. He said to him, a certain man
made a great supper and bade many. Now that Certain man represents
God the Father. The Great Supper is the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that word bathe is the word
that's usually translated called. God calls all men everywhere
to repent. The great gospel call. Verse 17. And he sent his servant. at suppertime, to say to them
that were bitten, Come, for all things are now ready. Now, this servant is gospel preaching.
It's what's going on right now. And here's the message. Listen
to me real carefully. Here's the message. It's come. Not go away. Not go and do. But come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the message of the gospel
in its very nature is not an exclusive message. It doesn't
exclude people. It brings people in. You see, you're already and I'm
already by nature excluded. We were excluded in our Father
Adam. We were excluded by our own sin. But the message of the
gospel is not to keep people away. It's to bring them in. That's what the gospel does.
It brings people in. The message of the gospel is
come. Come and welcome to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come just
as you are. Come and welcome 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. Isn't that wonderful? All things, you see, are now
ready. You don't need to bring anything
with you. You know, this is not one of
those things where, like it said in the bulletin, bring a dessert
tonight. Bring a dessert. Bring a dessert. Well, I mean, I'm glad you are
because we won't have anything to eat if you don't. But in this
great feast, you don't bring a thing. You come just as you
are, for all things are now ready, prepared. In John chapter 14,
the Lord said, I go and prepare. That's the same word. I go and
prepare a place for you. All things are now finished.
There's nothing you need to bring. You don't have to bring any experience. You don't have to bring anything
from you. You just come as you are. Come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gospel call. Come. Whatever that means. Come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have to bring a thing. When He said it is finished,
all things were ready. He was manifested to take away
our sins. Did He do it? Did He do it? Absolutely. What do you need
to bring? Anything you can bring would
be an insult. All things are now ready. Come to this feast. Now verse 18. Here is the response
of every natural man to the gospel. And they all. With one consent. Began to make
excuse now they weren't going to tell this fella I don't want
to cover your face. No, they were a lot more polished. They had excuses. And they practiced
these excuses out. One said, I bought a piece of
ground and I must need to go and see it. I pray thee have
me excused. Now that's mighty foolish, isn't it? You're going
to buy a piece of ground you've never even seen? I don't know
if this fellow really bought this piece of ground. He might
have been just making up a lie. I don't know, but that's not
much of an excuse, is it? It's a frivolous excuse. These
people make frivolous excuses as to why they don't come, because
they really don't want to come. Now, this is all natural men.
This is me and you. Everybody in here, we've heard
the gospel and began to make our excuses. Verse 19, another
said, I bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them. I pray
thee, have me excused. And another said, I've married
a wife. Therefore, I cannot come. They all had these frivolous
excuses. Now, listen to this statement
real carefully. You never know how bad a man is until he hears
the gospel. He may seem like a really nice
guy, a real upstanding person, a moral person, religious person,
but you never really know what somebody is really made of until
they hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you find out.
that every one of these fellows with one consent began to make
excuse. Verse 21. So that servant came
and showed the Lord these things. They all with one consent Made
excuse. They didn't have any interest
in coming to your great feast. It was boring to them. I mean,
they heard of the great that great feast and it just didn't
seem great to them. It just wasn't that impressive. I mean, I got
better things to do. They didn't see the glory of
this great feast. It just. He comes back and tells
his master about that. And what was the master's response? 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 in hither
the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." Bring
them in. He doesn't say just invite them.
He says you bring them in. You see, the only way that this
feast is going to have anybody there is if he brings them in. Thank God he brings people in. And look at the description of
these people that he brings in. First, they're poor. They don't have a penny's worth
of merit. They have absolutely no personal
righteousness. They're poor, bankrupt, no way
of coming up with anything. And then it says they're maimed.
You know what that means? Disabled. They're unable to come
to Christ. They can't get there unless they're
brought there. They're unable to do anything. They're unable to believe. They're
unable to repent. They're unable to come. And what
does He do? The only way they're going to
get there is if they're brought in. That's the Gospel, isn't
it? And who else? The lame. Those who can't walk. The halt is the word. The halt.
The halt. Unable to walk. Halt. Halting
between two opinions. Remember what Elijah said? How
long? Halt between two opinions. You're straddling the fence.
He brings them in. The only way you'll quit halting
is to be brought in. And the blind. Who are the blind? The blind are those who can't
see why God would have anything to do with them. They can't see
why God would ever save them. They're blind to the beauty of
Christ. They're blind to their own sinfulness. They're blind.
They can't see. And what does the servant do? He brings them
in. Now here's the Gospel. The Lord
Jesus Christ, on Calvary's tree, brought these people in. He didn't just invite them. Listen,
if all the gospel is is an invitation, you're going to reject it, and
I'm going to reject it, and we'll both go to hell, if that's what
the gospel is. But it's more than that. Thank God He brings
people in by irresistible and invincible grace. You see, everybody
Christ died for, all of God's elect, every single one of them,
they must be saved. They can't be anything but saved
because they were brought in. You see, when our Lord ascended
to heaven, He brought a whole bunch with Him. Even everybody
He died for. They're all brought in. Oh, that's good news to this
sinner. He brought me in, and I know He's going to bring His
people in. They're going to come. You can just write it down. They're
going to come. Now, go back to our text. Verse 22. And the servant said, Lord, it's
done as thou hast commanded. All the poor, all the lame, all
the halt, and all the blind, they've been brought in. You know, I love the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ that actually brings people in. You might as well say this is
election in particular redemption because that's what it is. Christ
died for the elect. And he brought him in. And that
doesn't keep anybody out of the kingdom of heaven. It brings
him in. You see election, the fact that
God chose who'd be saved before the foundation of the world,
that doesn't keep anybody from being saved. It causes people
to be saved. Particular redemption, Christ's death for the elect.
It doesn't keep people out. It brings them in. The gospel
is inclusive. There's never been anybody who,
oh, I want to be saved, but I'm afraid he didn't say it. No.
It brings people in. He said, it's done exactly as
thou has commanded. All these people have been saved.
But look at this word of mercy. And yet, verse 23, verse 22,
and the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded. And yet there is room. There's room. There's room. Is it too late for me? No. There is room. Verse 23, And the LORD said unto his servant,
Go out into the highways and hedges, the places that are farthest
away, and compel Force them. Persuade them. Urge them to come in that my
house might be full. Now, I want to give you four
persuasive arguments for you to come in to the Lord Jesus
Christ, for you, yourself, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
for you to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, for you to be in Him. Now remember, the message of
the gospel does not go away. It's come. Now, here's my first
reason for you and me too, to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's my first reason. Because if I don't, I'll go to
hell. That's a good reason, isn't it?
I do not want to go to hell. And if I don't come to Christ,
I will. That's plenty enough reason right
there, isn't it? If I don't go to Christ, I'm
going to be cut off. You know, this life that we're
living right now is just a vapor. We're going to be here for a
little while and it's going to be over. I mean, some of you are young,
you've got all your life looking ahead of you. Some of you are
old and you don't have much longer, but it doesn't make any difference.
This life is still a vapor for young or old. And all that counts
is if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, are you in Him. That's
plenty enough reason, isn't it? Here's a second reason. What joy and peace you will have
if you do. Paul spoke of the joy and the
peace of believing. You'll have joy. And it's a joy
that's infinitely greater than anything this world can give
you. It's a peace that's greater than anything this world can
give you. You see, the pleasures, the pleasures of knowing Christ,
the pleasures of being found in Him are infinitely greater
than any of the pleasures this world has to offer. David said,
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to
dwell in the tents of the wicked. It's for your benefit. I like
what Moses said to Nadab. Come with us, we'll do thee good,
for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel. Here's a third
reason for you to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're promised
you'll be received if you come. Our Lord said in John chapter
6, verse 37, Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise, for
no reason whatsoever cast out. If you come, you'll be received. No exceptions to this rule. If
you come to Christ, I don't care what you think about yourself.
I don't care how bad you think you are. If you come to Christ,
you will be received. He has promised it. And I would
encourage everybody here to come. Whatever it means to come to
Christ, if you come, you'll be received. And here's a fourth
reason to come to Christ. First, because you'll go to hell
if you don't. Second, what joy and peace you'll have in believing. Third, You will be received if
you come and forth. You're plum crazy not to. It's insane. Look over in Luke
chapter 15. Verse 11, And a certain man had
two sons. And the younger of them said
to his father, Father, Give me the portion of goods that fall
to me and he divided into him his living and not many days
after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey
into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous
living. This man was having a good time.
He was enjoying life and was satisfied. And when he had spent all There
arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. What a blessed place to be. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country. I have no doubt that this is
a reference to human religion. I'm going to get this fixed.
I'm going to join myself to a citizen of that country. And what did
he do? He sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he fain would
have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat.
And no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself. There you go. He was crazy for
being out there. Plum stupid. And when He came
to Himself, He said, How many hired servants of my Father have
bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will rise and
go to my Father, and I will say unto Him, Father, I have sinned
against heaven and before Thee, and I am not even worthy to be
called Thy Son. Just make me as one of Thy hired
servants. And He rose and came to His Father. But when he was
yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and
ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. He kissed him with
many kisses. And the son said unto him, Father,
I've sinned against heaven in thy sight and am not worthy to
be called thy son. He tried to get his confession
out, but the father said to his servants, bring forth the best
robe and put it on him. and put a ring on his hand and
shoes on his feet. That best robed the righteousness
and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. That ring, the eternal
love of God, the shoes, the gospel of peace. Oh, what clothing. He didn't expect this. He said,
bring Thither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and
be merry. Let's have a party. For my son was dead and he was
alive again and was lost in his family. And they began to be
merry. You'll be received the same way. Now, the spirit of this text.
Is to compel men to come in who are making excuses. That's the
spirit of this text, isn't it? And I know what the excuses are
because I've made every one of them. I know I know where I speak. Now, what is keeping you from
the Lord Jesus Christ? What is keeping you from Him?
There are people in here who have heard. You've heard the
gospel, and you even agree with it. You wouldn't go somewhere
else. You're not going to an Armenian church. You're going
to go where you hear sovereign grace preached. You agree with
it. You have some sympathy for the things of God, yet you haven't
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what is it that's keeping
you from it? Now here's the first excuse. I'm afraid I'm not one of the
elect. I understand that fear. You see,
election is true. God chose, literally selected,
who would be saved before the foundation of the world. That's what Scripture teaches,
isn't it? according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. That's what the cross died for,
the elect. He said, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me, for
they are Thine. The election is true. It says
God is God indeed. And He gives all the glory. in
salvation. But let me say this. Election
doesn't keep people out of heaven. It surely doesn't. It brings
them in. Your responsibility is not to
figure out whether or not you're one of God's elect. Just forget
it. Your responsibility is to obey
the command of the gospel, to believe on Christ right now. Don't wait for anything. Election
doesn't keep you away from Christ. You come to him as a sinner,
needing him. Do you need the Lord Jesus Christ?
I'm not asking if you're elect. Do you need Jesus Christ? Do
you need His precious blood? Do you need His glorious righteousness?
Come on, He's for you. Here's another excuse. I can't
believe. I've tried to, but I cannot believe. Now, listen to me real carefully.
That's not looking to Christ, that's looking to your faith.
I can't believe. If I try to believe, I don't
believe. You see, you don't try to believe.
You believe something because it's true. Isn't that why you
believe? You believe something because
it's true. Do not say, I want to believe, but I can't. Is the
gospel true? Is it true? Then believe the
testimony. Faith comes from that. Believe
the testimony. Do you believe that He's able
to save you? Somebody says, I want to. Don't give me that. You either
believe that or you don't. Do you believe that He is able
to save you without your help? You can answer that. Don't say,
well, I'm trying to believe that. No, you're not. Either you do
or you don't. Do you believe He's able to save
you? My dear friends, that's what
saving faith is. believing that he is able to save. Another objection is, well, there's
there's. There's just so many inconsistent people who have
made a profession of faith, so many hypocrites in the church,
and I just. Get in line then. Get in line. That means there's hope for somebody
like you. Well, I'm afraid I won't continue. I'm afraid I won't persevere.
I'm afraid I won't hold on. I know myself and I'm just afraid
I won't continue. Well, you'll perish if you don't.
And if you do come, He'll keep you. He'll preserve you. He'll enable you. You're promised
that. Somebody says, I'm just too sinful
to come. I'm just flat out too sinful.
That won't wash either because he's already saved the chief
of sinners. Paul said, Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. He saved the worst man to ever
live. Now, my problem and your problem, the problem is not being
too sinful. The problem is being not so sinful.
That's the problem. It's not your sinfulness Keeps
you from Christ. It's your lack of sinfulness
that keeps you from Christ. It's not your sinfulness that
keeps you from Christ. It's your righteousness that
will keep you from Him. You believe that? It's so? Somebody says, well, how can
I know you're even telling the truth? Everybody's preaching. And everybody
believes they're telling the truth. And they're very sincere.
They believe they're telling the truth. How can I know that
what you're saying is the truth? You know the truth has such power
that it recommends itself and you know it's true when you hear
it. Everybody in this room knows
I'm telling the truth. You know it. You see, it's not
because I'm able to convince you. The truth itself has such
power that it recommends itself as the truth. And you know what
I'm saying is the truth. You've got a Bible. Look for
yourself. Look for yourself, but you know, you know, so that
won't wash. Somebody else says, well, I'm
afraid I'm not invited. You're the only guy for the elect. I'm
afraid I'm not invited. OK, you're commanded. Scripture
says God commandeth all men everywhere to repent, to change your mind
and believe the gospel. You're commanded to believe. I don't feel anything. You know, one of the difficult things
about being raised hearing the gospel, and I was raised hearing
the gospel, is you wait for something to happen. You wait for some kind of feeling.
You wait for some kind of experience. I need to feel something. I need
to experience something. No, you don't. Believe. That's it. Believe the gospel. It doesn't say whosoever feels
shall be saved, but whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Let me show you a little inspired
logic. Turn to Romans chapter five. Now, I want to ask you a question. If Jesus Christ, the Lord, died
for you, will you be saved? Well, you know, you will be if
he died for you. Well, How can I determine whether or not he
died for me? Who did he die for? Look at Romans chapter five,
verse six, four. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for who? The ungodly. Now here are two descriptions
of the people that Jesus Christ shed his precious blood for.
Folks who are without strength. Where do you fit in there? And ungodly. Unlike God. Altogether unlike him. In other
words, sinful. Who did Christ die for? He died
for those who are without strength. And I tell you what, I have no
spiritual strength in and of myself. I fit that bill. I fit
that description. Ungodly? Yes, that's me. Then I can conclude on the authority
of God's Word that He died for me. And I'm coming to Him. Well, I don't have any faith.
Then you come to Him for the faith. You come to Him for the
repentance. You come to Him for the new heart. You come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't. If He tells you you
can, you sure can. He said to that man with that
withered hand, stretch forth thy hand. He couldn't. It was withered. But when Christ
said, stretch it forth, He stretched it forth. Sure, you can come if He calls
you. He commands all men everywhere
to repent, to change their mind. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. You call on His name and you
will be saved. You are saved. Let's pray.