201 Yuma St.

Globe, Arizona

2-15-98

Luke 111

14:15-24

Excuses

(Luke 14:15-24 NASB) And when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is everyone who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" {16} But He, (Jesus), said to him, "A certain man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; {17} and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.' {18} "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.' {19} "And another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.' {20} "And another one said, 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.' {21} "And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.' {22} "And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' {23} "And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. {24} 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited (and did not come) shall taste of my dinner.'"

The parable Christ relates is spoken in response to the statement recorded in verse twenty-one. "Blessed is everyone who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" It is likely that the person speaking was among the Jewish leaders who took for granted that he was in and part of the kingdom of God. Further he may have had in mind the Jews belief that when the Messiah came God would host a splendid feast for the members of His kingdom. At this feast there would be a great variety of meats, an abundance of fish, fowl, plenty of wine and all kinds of delicious fruit. Particularly they spoke of a large ox which they suppose to be the Behemoth referred to in the book of Job, (Job 40:15). Leviathan and his mate would also be prepared for this great feast, (Job 41:1, Ps. 74:14, 104:26, Isa. 27:1). There would be a large fowl prepared which is named Ziz. This bird and the other beasts were thought to be so incredibly large that they would feed the entire kingdom of God. Further there would be wine made from grapes grown in the Garden of Eden. "Blessed are those, say the Jews, who will eat this kingdom meal." Whether all this was in the mind of the man who made the comment we do not know. What we do know is that Christ takes this opportunity to teach some real truth about the kingdom. By this parable Jesus shows that many have been invited to the kingdom but, while offering various excuses, have refused to come.

The parable has to do with God’s willingness to save all who come to Him by faith. It has to do with the Gospel, the good news that God, in Christ, has provided all that men need for salvation. This is the great soul saving dinner to which many guests were invited. The Jews were invited first. For it was to them God came with His law and the promise of a Savior. When the Jews rejected the gracious offers and invitations of God He sent His servants to the Gentiles with the same invitation found in verse seventeen.

(Luke 14:17 NASB) . . . ."Come; for everything is ready now." The table was set with the finest food. In fact the meal consisted of Christ Jesus the Lord, the Messiah for whom the Jews claimed to be watching. I speak figuratively, of course, for this is the meaning of the parable. Christ is to be served for He is the bread of life. All who come to Him shall be satisfied to the full. Jesus said it Himself, "He that comes to Me shall never hunger, and he that believes in Me shall never thirst." "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." "He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life," (John 6:35-56). Again this is figurative language. We do not eat Christ in the literal sense as Rome says one does in the mass. Rather we partake of Him by faith. When we have taken Jesus to ourselves by faith our spiritual hunger and thirst is satisfied forever. This is the meal to which God’s servants invited the Jews. The words God’s servants have used over the years have varied but the message has remained the same, "Come for everything is ready now!"

How the invitation was framed in the Old Testament is easy to discover.

In the book of Proverbs 9:1-6 we find the following words. "Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars; {2} She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine; She has also set her table; (Here, like in our text, there is a great dinner prepared.) {3} She has sent out her maidens, (servants) she calls from the tops of the heights of the city: {4} "Whoever is naive, (The word means "open minded" in the sense of ready to hear and learn wisdom.) let him turn in here!" To him who lacks understanding she says, {5} "Come, eat of my food, And drink of the wine I have mixed. {6} "Forsake your folly and live, And proceed in the way of understanding." That is, repent of your sin and begin walking in wisdom’s way, God’s way, the way of righteousness. Is this not a gracious Gospel invitation? Yes, praise God, it is!

Hear the invitation again as worded by the prophet Isaiah. (Isaiah 55:1-7 NASB) "Ho! Every one who thirsts, COME to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. COME, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. {2} "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. {3} "INCLINE YOUR EAR AND COME TO ME. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David. {4} "Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, A leader and commander for the peoples. (David was one of the servants sent by the Master to invite the Jews to God’s provision for their souls.) . . . {6} SEEK the LORD while He may be found; CALL upon Him while He is near. {7} Let the wicked FORSAKE his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him RETURN to the LORD, And He WILL HAVE COMPASSION on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon." Can this be the Old Testament that so many believe taught a different way of salvation? Yes, beloved it is the Old Testament but there is nothing different about this Gospel as compared to the one we find in the New Testament. It is a free and gracious offer of forgiveness and salvation to all who stop trying to buy God’s favor and simply trust in His promise of forgiveness and life everlasting. Come says the prophet, God will, satisfy every longing, every hunger and every thirst your soul has ever had, "Come for everything is ready now!"

On a number of occasions the Jews, as a nation, declared they would leave their sin and return to the Lord. Many times Israel responded to the servants of God, the prophets of old, with a positive answer such as we find in Joshua 24:24. "And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and we will obey His voice." They bowed to His commands, responded to His warnings, and accepted the invitation of God with their lips. However when it was time to act on their promise they all, with the exception of a small remnant, made excuses and continued in their sin. The Jews in the New Testament were no different. God sent His servants to invite them to His life giving banquet that was now ready and they refused. They beat and killed His servants and then they murdered His Son, Jesus Christ. (John 1:11 NASB) "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him." Far from receiving Him they sought His life and at last, by God’s will, succeeded in killing the Son of God. "He is just a carpenters son," they said. "He doesn’t come from the right city," they cried. "He is a blasphemer and has joined forces with the Devil." "He came unto His own but His own, the Jews, received Him not." Excuses by the score fell from their lips, excuses not unlike those Christ sites in His parable, not unlike those used by people today.

These excuses have one thing in common and that is the bottom line, "I will not come to your banquet!" "Though everything is ready and it will cost me nothing, I will not come." "I will not eat the bread of life, Jesus Christ." "I’ve got more important things to do." I must see some land, check out my new oxen and besides my wife isn’t interested in coming, so we will not be there!" No matter how you look at it all refused to come when the dinner was ready. This is a picture of how the Jews responded to God’s gracious offer of forgiveness and life. Hear the word of the Lord from the book of Jeremiah.

(Jeremiah 6:6-19 NASB) "{6} For thus says the LORD of hosts, "Cut down her trees, And cast up a siege against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, In whose midst there is only oppression. {7} "As a well keeps its waters fresh, So she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard in her; Sickness and wounds are ever before Me. {8} "Be warned, O Jerusalem, Lest I be alienated from you; Lest I make you a desolation, A land not inhabited.". . . {10} To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed, And they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them; They have no delight in it. {11} But I am full of the wrath of the LORD: I am weary with holding it in. "Pour it out on the children in the street, And on the gathering of young men together; For both husband and wife shall be taken, The aged and the very old. {12} "And their houses shall be turned over to others, Their fields and their wives together; For I will stretch out My hand Against the inhabitants of the land," declares the LORD. . . .{16} Thus says the LORD, "Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you shall find rest for your souls. (Here is God’s invitation, "Come for everything is ready now.") But they said, 'WE WILL NOT WALK IN IT.' {17} "And I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'WE WILL NOT LISTEN.' {18} "Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. {19} "Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their plans, BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT LISTENED TO MY WORDS, And as for My law, they have REJECTED it also." This was the response of the Jews in the Old Testament, with the exception of a small remnant.

By in large they responded no differently in the New Testament prompting the Savior to lament, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! (The prophets and those sent came with the invitation to come and eat the bread of life but they would not.) How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!" (Luke 13:34 NASB) Israel rejected God’s servants and His Messiah. God, therefore, rejected them. This truth is reflected in the words of Acts 13:46 NASB. "And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you, (the Jews), first; since you repudiate it, (reject or push it away), and JUDGE YOURSELVES unworthy of eternal life, behold, WE ARE TURNING TO THE GENTILES."

This turning to the Gentiles is depicted in the second half of Christ’s parable.

(Luke 14:21-24 NASB) "And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.' {22} "And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' {23} "And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. {24} 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited (and did not come) shall taste of my dinner.'"

Here we see the invitation being extended beyond Israel, beyond the Jew to include men, women and children from every nation under the sun. "Come for the Master has prepared a great dinner, everything is ready, now." This invitation, goes out to the poor in spirit, to those who recognize their sin and grieve over it. It goes out to the crippled whose spiritual limbs are lame and who, therefore, need to be brought to the banquet hall by the servant. The invitation is extended to all who are outside the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants and promises, without hope and without God in the world, (Ephesians 2:11-13). The Master has sent his servants to compel sinners from every people, tribe and tongue on earth to come to Christ who is the only true meat and drink for the famished soul.

With such a broad and inclusive invitation J. C. Ryle writes, "There is the fullest warrant for sinners to draw near to God by Christ. The word "Come," is addressed to all without exception. Are men laboring and heavy laden? "Come unto Me," says Jesus, "and I will give you rest," (Matthew 11:28). Are men thirsting? "If any man thirst," says Jesus, "let him come unto Me and drink," (John 7:37). Are men poor and hungry? "Come," says Jesus, "buy wine and milk without money and with cost," (Isaiah 55:1). No man shall ever be able to say that he had no encouragement to seek salvation. That word of the Lord shall silence every objector, - "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out," (John 6:37). END QUOTE Brother Ryle spoke the truth. Based on the all inclusive invitation of the Gospel sinners of every kind and race must flee to Christ and are without excuse if they do not.

God’s servants did turn to the Gentiles. The people of the nations were compelled by the servants of God to repent and believe in Jesus. The apostles, evangelists, pastors, and individual Christians said, "Come for everything is ready, now." As ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through them they begged the lost to be reconciled to God by faith in Christ, (I Corinthians 5:20). "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48 NASB) That is, as many as were appointed to eternal life gladly accepted the invitation and fled to the bread of life who is Jesus Christ the Lord. Now there were many guests for the Masters dinner. In fact, millions have entered the banquet hall maybe billions have heard and accepted the invitation but still there is room. Still the Master sends out his servants with the message, "Come for everything is ready, now." Even today He sends his servants out to compel the sinner to believe in Jesus for the salvation of his soul. But still as in days gone by excuses fall from the lips of those who will not believe.

"I don’t have time for religion. I have real estate to care for. I can’t come to church I have a job that takes all my time and energy. I can’t walk with Christ for my wife or my husband are opposed to Christianity. I can’t offend them or leave them behind. If I go after Jesus and take up the practice of true religion I’ll loose my wife or husband. I cannot come, please excuse me."

What excuse do you believe will prevail with God at the judgement. He will say, "I made all the preparations. I gave my only Son Jesus to die in the place of sinners. His death accomplished the salvation of all who come to Him by faith. There was no charge. There was no work left to be done. The table was set, my servants called you, why did you not come?" What excuse will you offer so that God will say, "Oh I understand, come on in to my Heaven without Christ." I tell you there is no excuse for not coming to Christ, the Bread of Life, the only Savior of men’s souls. There is no excuse! For everything is ready and there is no charge for the dinner.

Jesus tells us what will happen to those who, for whatever reason, do not come to Him for forgiveness and eternal life. He does so in the concluding words of the parable. (Luke 14:24 NASB) 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"

Did you hear that? All who refuse God’s invitation and call to faith in Jesus will be shut out of His banquet hall. They will have no part of Christ and, therefore, no part of heaven. They will not even "taste" the good things that belong to those who came when invited. The Jews who do not come to Christ will be lost and condemned in hell forever. The Gentiles who do not trust Christ for salvation and forgiveness will be lost in Hell forever. And what of you?

Many of the Masters servants have invited you to Christ and today you hear another say, "Come for everything is ready, now." Believe, dear friend, in Jesus Christ. Believe that He is the Son of God. Trust in Him as your only hope of acceptance with God. For He is drink indeed and He is meat indeed. He alone is what your soul needs. He alone can communicate to you the perfect righteousness one needs for acceptance with God. Let nothing and no one get between you and Christ. For eternity is at stake.

Our last reference reminds us that in the end there will only be two kinds of people, the saved, by faith in Jesus, and the unsaved. (Revelation 22:14-17 NASB) "Blessed are those who wash their robes, (in the blood of Christ by faith), that they may have the RIGHT to the tree of life, and may ENTER by the gates into the city, (into heaven). {15} Outside are the dogs (This word was used to describe many kinds of unbelievers from false apostles to homosexuals.) and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. {16} "I, Jesus, have sent My angel (messenger, servant) to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star." (It is Jesus who is telling us that those washed clean by His blood will be in heaven while everyone else will be "outside the gates." Hell is the appointed dwelling place of all who are "outside," (Revelation 21:8). {17} And the Spirit and the bride say, "COME." (The Holy Spirit invites everyone though the word. Then He not only invites but effectively brings the elect from every nation under the sun to Christ for forgiveness and eternal life. The Spirit says come. (Matthew 22:14) The Church also invites the lost and indeed compels them to come to Christ for salvation.) And let the one who hears say, "COME." (From the Holy Spirit, to the Church to the individual Christian, all say to all who will listen, "Come for everything is ready, now.") And let the one who is thirsty COME; let the one who wishes TAKE THE WATER OF LIFE WITHOUT COST."

If you die without Christ and without eternal life you only have yourself to blame. For until you breath your last, the message remains the same, "Come for everything is ready, now." Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!"