The Great Supper

[0:00] The Great Supper.

[0:13] Luke 14, verse 16. A certain man made a great supper and bade many.! This master provides a great supper, at great expense.

[0:26] Picture it. The table is spread. A banquet fit for a king. A feast of the finest food and flavours. What a great honour to be invited.

[0:38] To be an invited guest. To have your own seat at the table with your name on it. Salvation is like a great feast. Hosted by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

[0:53] Now there were some invited guests. Just like when we may invite someone to an occasion and they don't come. That was the case here.

[1:04] Not everyone who was invited came to the feast. We read on verse 17. And it says, The Master sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready.

[1:22] The Master sent his servant with the message, Come and feast! All things are now ready. No time to waste. It's the same too as God extends his offer of salvation to planet Earth.

[1:37] God's invitation goes out to many guests. Come. Bid them. Tell them. Take the message. Luke 14 verse 18.

[1:48] One guest after another just gave excuses.

[1:59] Weedy, lame excuses. I need to go and see some land. I need to test out my oxen. I've just married a wife. Excuses of pride, of business, of pleasure.

[2:14] Something else was just more important. What an insult, though, to the host. How rude. Things can get in the way for some people.

[2:26] I've bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee, have me excused. This one was also caught up with possessions.

[2:39] I must, he says. Yet, what about God's must? John 3 verse 7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

[2:52] What about thee, greatest possession? Will we sacrifice eternity for passing earthly treasures? Some refuse to accept the offer of the gospel.

[3:03] They say they're too busy. They've got other commitments, other priorities. Seeking gain or gold or pursuing pleasure. For some, the excuse is things.

[3:16] For some, the excuse is work. And another said, I've bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have me excused. Here's a man preoccupied with his business.

[3:30] I am too busy. I have something more important. Yet the Bible says, Don't work for the meat which perishes. Let's not put business interests ahead of the things of God.

[3:43] For others, the excuse is people. People get in the way. The affections and loves of others. Verse 20. And another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.

[3:58] His excuse was quite blunt. I cannot come. For him, pleasing others was more important than pleasing God. Why didn't he bring his wife with him?

[4:12] Some put their worldly affections and their social interests ahead of friendship with God. What a tragedy. God offers you a friendship that is eternal and wonderful.

[4:25] And he can be the friend of your soul. Yet some other affection takes his place. Verse 21. So that servant came and showed his lord these things.

[4:38] And 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 here the poor, the maimed, the halt, the blind.

[4:51] Imagine having a party and no one you invited shows up. No wonder this man was angry. And so too God is angry.

[5:03] Psalm 7 verse 11. God is angry with the wicked every day. It's supper time. The master extends the invitation again.

[5:15] Go out quickly. This is urgent. The invitation is now. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2. Behold, now is the accepted time.

[5:26] Behold, now is the day of salvation. Go out into the streets and lanes of the city. Bring them in.

[5:38] Bring in the poor, the needy, the sick, the crippled, the blind, the wretched, the hurting, the helpless, the hopeless, the outcast, the misfits, the rejected.

[5:51] The call goes out to the lost, to sinners far and wide. Verse 22. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

[6:05] There is still room at the cross. There is still room for a sinner. Verse 23. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

[6:23] That my house may be filled. The master of the feast wants his house literally crammed. He wants as many as will to come. Everyone is invited.

[6:34] That's how wide the heart of God is. Go further, go wider, into the country lanes and the fields. Time is running out. The master says to his servants, Bring them in.

[6:49] Seek them out. Hurry. Go out quickly. The Lord Jesus commands us to share our faith. Go as fast as you can.

[7:00] Run. Make no delay. Go after people. Look for the lost. Go into the streets. Wide and narrow. Fetch them all in here. Bring them in.

[7:12] The task is still the same. Go out. Beckon them to come to the master's house. The gospel call goes out to the far away ones, the Gentiles.

[7:25] Go out into the highways and the hedges. Go out into the highways and the hedges. Constrain them. Make them. Urge them. The message is urgent, vital. Compel them to come in.

[7:37] God here is in earnest. And so should we be. Rescue them. Pluck them. From the flames. God wants his house filled. He is not willing that any should perish.

[7:51] Verse 24. For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. There is a consequence here.

[8:02] A consequence for refusal. The ones who had rejected had lost their opportunity. Those who were originally invited aren't going to get a taste.

[8:14] Not even a bite. In the context it's talking about the unbelieving Jews. He came unto his own and his own received him not. The divine call goes out still.

[8:27] To as many as receive him. To them he gives the power, the privilege to be the sons and daughters, the children of the living God. Our Lord's message is go and tell them.

[8:40] Go and bring them. Go and compel them. God wants heaven filled but some will miss out. And they have their excuses. They have their reasons.

[8:52] Their reasons why God would take a poor second place to some other priority. Do you see here the danger of neglect? They won't even get a taste.

[9:06] Don't miss this. Don't miss out. Taste and see that the Lord is good. All things are now ready. And God sends his people on his mission. Communicating his message to come and feast.

[9:19] Come to the table. The message was extended to the Jews first. They were the first invited. Yet they refused God's invitation. A personal invitation can either be received or refused.

[9:38] So too with salvation. God extends to us his gift. A personal invitation. It's hand delivered to every human soul.

[9:51] Yet some willfully reject it still. A personal invitation calls for a personal response. What will your personal response be?

[10:03] The people's excuses reflected their values, their priorities. And it's the same for us today. We show what we count as important when we are careless about spiritual things.

[10:16] God extends his generous invitation. His undeserved grace. It's precious. It's a precious personal invitation. And the Master extends his invitation yet wider, ever wider.

[10:30] He still reaches to the uttermost. And he still saves to the uttermost. Those who come unto him. Every invited guest has a personal responsibility to receive the invitation.

[10:47] And we also, as his servants, have a personal responsibility to go out quickly and bring in the people to the great supper. Yet there is room.

[10:59] There are still places yet to be filled at the banqueting table. There's still room at the cross for you. Mercy is still extended. He beckons still.

[11:10] But one day, the day of mercy will be no longer. We have a personal privilege and an honour to be invited to dine with him.

[11:20] And also to be a part of doing the inviting of others. The Master beckons and the Master sends. Who are we to go to? The mission field is as wide as planet Earth.

[11:34] It's his feast. His house. And his desire to see his house filled. There's a pressing sense here. Compel them. Constrain them. It means to strongly urge.

[11:45] It's forceful. It's talking about using your full, all-out effort. It has the sense of insistence to overcome reluctance. God is persistent with us.

[11:57] Some talk about the perseverance of the saints. What about the perseverance of God? Surely he perseveres with us. He keeps on searching for the least and the lost.

[12:10] And he sends you and me on this mission. There is a pressing need. We're almost out of time. Compel them. Some need to be driven to Christ as their only refuge and hope.

[12:24] Just as the angels took Lot by the hand and led him out. Virtually dragging him out before that city met its doom. There is an urgency and earnestness as time is fast running out.

[12:40] It's supper time. There's still an open invitation. The door is wide open. It's a great supper. A great provision has been made.

[12:52] How tragic it would be to miss out. There's a rich smorgasbord here. I can almost smell it. All the flavours, can't you? You're invited.

[13:03] What's stopping you? There's a great supper. There's no entrance fee. There's nothing to pay. There's no human works required. Simply accept his invitation.

[13:16] But there is an expiry date on this offer. He simply says, Come for all things are now ready.

[13:27] Lay aside your excuses. Don't delay. Decide now. It's supper time. Come and dine. Every one of us has received a personal invitation, delivered by God's grace into our hand.

[13:42] It calls for a personal response. Decide now. Now, you can decide to make excuses, more excuses, or you can decide now by his drawing power and his great grace to trust Christ today for yourself.

[14:03] He has died to set you free, to pay your pressing sin debt and cancel your guilt. We're all faced with a personal responsibility. We have a responsibility to come to him and, as his messengers, to go for him and invite others while there is still room.

[14:25] As servants of the Master, we have a message to deliver. He says, Go out, far and wide. Compel them. He says, Come now. Everything is ready.

[14:36] Everyone gets an invite. It's pressing. It's urgent. The invitation is pressing. Pressing still. Today, there's still opportunity for everyone.

[14:47] Everyone can have a seat at his table. Yet one day, time shall be no more. Then the door will be closed and the everlasting feast will begin.

[14:58] One day, he's going to put a sign on the door, Full House. There is still room. There's still room at the cross for you. Come to this gospel feast.

[15:10] His salvation is free and full. It's a feast that you can be a partaker of today. The people who refused will not even get a taste of it. The cooks just dishing it up.

[15:24] Come. Come to this feast. It's ready for you. Yet some will say, I can't. I've got this and that to do to occupy myself. I'm busy. Maybe later they say, I'm just too busy.

[15:37] Some will miss out. They will not even get a taste of heaven. Have you declined your invitation? Or will you accept your invitation?

[15:48] Will you say, I'm hungry and thirsty. I want to taste and see that the Lord is good. I want to get a taste of that satisfaction that only Christ can give. That salvation that can satisfy that soul hunger.

[16:03] You can't afford to miss this. It's free to all. Come and partake of it. The feast is prepared. It's ready. Don't miss out. Or you won't even get a crumb.

[16:15] The master says, compel them. So I urge you. I want you to be saved today. To compel you. To drag you, if it be, kicking and screaming to the cross.

[16:26] May we have this precious invitation on our lips. May we be about the work of inviting others. May we communicate that sense of eternity, the terror, the danger for the damned.

[16:39] They're doomed unless they turn. And how we need to impress on them. Come to Christ. Don't put it off. Don't delay. Accept the master's call today.