Transcript

th th William Cowper who wrote that song back in the 19 century or actually in the 18 century, he was quite a person. He experienced deep, deep, dark seasons of depression where he just despaired of life yet wrote some amazing, amazing hymns. We don’t know the purposes of God but it’s interesting to see that God uses weak and feeble creatures to do great and wonderful things.

We’re in Luke 14. We continue with our third installment of “Lessons From Sunday Dinner.” The Lord has been invited to the feast, if you will, the Lord’s day. Of course, it’s their Sabbath, it’s Saturday, I know that but I use Sunday because that parallels with our Lord’s day today. Anyway, he’s been invited to the Lord’s day dinner at the home of a Pharisee and it’s already been well marked out that the Pharisees hate him, they despise him, they are maliciously working to expose him, denounce him, discredit him and ruin him in some way. Our Lord, on the other hand, has almost like a Gatling gun, boom, boom, boom, boom, unrelentingly he’s exposing and rebuking and embarrassing these Pharisees so he’s here at dinner and he keeps doing that.

This is not my sermon: let me give you a balanced thing on bringing the truth to bear in the culture. As we see Jesus bring the truth to bear in the culture, this is true of John the Baptist, true of the Apostle Paul, he pulled no punches. He was hard, clear, cutting, even calling Herod “a fox” which would have been crude and sarcastic. That’s Jesus. That’s what he did. I get so very tired of hearing these liberals take just one part of Jesus and forgetting the manly, firm and open part of Jesus. But we have to be careful when you and I bring the truth to bear against the culture, we’re not Jesus. Now, there are other times, of course, when our Lord was very meek and very lowly and very humble. Of course, he was always meek and lowly and humble and humility doesn’t mean you don’t present the truth boldly even with public rebuke. As a matter of fact, elders are commanded in the epistles to rebuke people firmly if they need it. Rebuke means to cut them; rebuke means to jar them. It’s not fun to get a rebuke. It’s fun in the sense that it brings repentance which heals your soul but the initial rebuke is not fun.

So, what are we to do when we’re to bring truth to bear in a culture, particularly a culture where if you don’t celebrate certain evils, you’re going to be called a hater and a bigot? What are we going to do? Here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to be biblically balanced. Some brothers and sisters, all they need to do and all they’re supposed to do when they are called upon in a public format to say something along those lines, simply needs to say, “These are my Christian biblical convictions. I believe that’s wrong.” And that’s fine. Amen? And we’re not going to look down on them as compromisers. “These are my Christian biblical convictions. I believe that’s wrong.” Other times, now this may be primarily the role of God-called preachers but other times other men and women may feel led to give more of a thorough biblical statement. By the way, brothers and sisters, there are some very cutting, very pointed, very offensive biblical statements about a lot of evil that’s in our world today. Amen? And when a brother or sister chooses to do that, we support them too. I can’t tell you from Scripture which one is always right to do. I do know this: you’re not to do one or the other because it’s easiest, you’re to do what God is leading you to do that’s right. One brother or sister may just say, “That’s my biblical Christian conviction. I believe that activity is wrong. It’s sinful.” Another one may exegete a text a little bit and explain some of what God says which, by the way, is going to bring the ire and the anger of many but both are proper biblical responses. So we just need to have Christian grace and support for both responses. Can I get a church Amen? Amen. We’ve had no problems, nobody’s been ugly, nobody’s been mean-spirited about anything but as your pastor I wanted to say biblically that’s where we have to be.

We’re at Sunday dinner with Jesus and the Pharisees. He’s already given two lessons and now we come to a third one which I call “Cold Unbelieving Legalism.” Cold unbelieving legalism and we see this in verses 16-24 of Luke 14. I’m reading now,

“ 16 But He said to him, ‘A 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 Another one said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.” 20 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, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.”’”

Here the Lord is at this dinner table, really a sumptuous feast of the Pharisees. They did this every week on the Sabbath and he’s giving these lessons and in this lesson, he points out some things that I want to outline for you in our message. First of all, I. Notice the misplaced priorities of respectable Jews. The misplaced priorities of respectable Jews. Now, I use the word “respectable” Jews because I believe that’s who he is primarily pointing to in the first part of this parable. Again, this is a parable, it’s a made-up story that he’s using to illustrate a truth to these Pharisees and whoever else is gathered around the table or even outside the door. Again, as he teaches this it’s going to be quite an exposure and quite a rebuke to these respectable Jews, primarily these Jewish religious authorities.

In his parable the Lord says, “A man gave a big dinner.” The man here, of course, is God the Father. It’s interesting, when God wants to represent himself as executing judgment, he often uses the symbol of a raging animal but usually when he wants to represent himself as showing loving mercy, he uses the symbol of a man, a human. So there’s this man who gave this great big dinner, a big feast. The man is God the Father, the big feast represents the gospel or you could say it represents Christ, you could even expand it and say it represents the true saved family of God. So it’s a big dinner. Why is it big? Well, it’s big because the God who prepared it is big. He doesn’t do anything small. When he does it, it is of utmost dignity and excellence. It’s big because it is a feast that is adequate for any and all who will come. It’s big because it was provided at a great price, the life and the blood his Son, Jesus Christ, provided for this feast. It’s big because it is provided for those who are totally without merit. It’s provided for the unworthy, even the most unworthy. It’s big because it is of unheard of quality and those who partake of it will experience unknown pleasures. It’s a big dinner.

It says in verse 16, “But He said to him, ‘A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many.” Who are these many? I believe it’s the Jewish nation in general but mainly the respectable Jews and I use that word as just a figure to describe those who place themselves in leadership, those who are both the religious and political or civil authorities of their nation. These Jews were all invited before the feast had been spread. They invited through the revelations given to their fathers and their prophets. Hebrews 1:1 says, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways.” God in many portions and in many ways revealed that he was coming in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem them and save them. The temple gave the portions and the ways that Christ would come. He’s the bread of heaven, that’s what the shewbread of the temple symbolized. He’s the cleansing water they would wash their hands in the laver in the temple. Of course, the altar represented all the sacrificial system and all the sacrificial system pointed to Christ, pointed to this feast. Then, of course, the priest himself was a type of Christ. The prophet who preached to Israel in the Old Testament was Jesus who preaches the truth and who is the truth. The special events God gave them, the feasts and the ceremonies, the Passover, was pointing to Christ who was the one whose blood would be applied to us and the angel would pass over our lives, the Angel of Death that is. So, on and on and on and in many portions and in many ways they’d been invited. God said, “He’s coming. He’s coming.”

In verse 17, I love that phrase, “and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’” Everything is ready now. This is what the Bible calls the fullness of time. In Galatians 4:4, the Bible says, “But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son.” The kingdom of God was set up and ready to receive citizens. Jesus has died for sinners. The Father’s wrath for sinners has been satisfied in his Son’s death. The Spirit is willing to renew and seal you and welcome you into the kingdom. 2 Corinthians 6:2, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.” Everything is ready. Song of Solomon 5:1, Song of Solomon is about lovers but it has a deeper meaning of the relationship of Christ with his bride, the church, “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, friends; Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.” That’s the picture of those who are Christ’s coming to embrace Christ in the true and rich love affair that we have with Jesus Christ, drinking deeply of his feast of grace and goodness.

So, there’s been the invitation sent, it’s already, the table’s been spread, the slaves have been told, “Go out,” there have been men who have been previously invited, “Go and tell them the feast is ready. Come in. Come on in.” Look what happens, verse 18, “But they all alike began to make excuses.” Just thinking about that phrase “all alike,” three quick thoughts. First of all, in the final analysis, all excuses for rejecting Christ are excuses that will be rejected. All excuses for rejecting Christ are excuses that will be rejected so that they’re all alike in that way certainly. Secondly, they’re all alike in that they are totally unacceptable and totally without merit. Listen friends, nothing, nothing, nothing must keep you from Christ. But that’s not the real thrust of the text, the text means to say it’s as if they all got together and sort of strategized and helped each other to say, “Well, I’ll refuse to go if you will.” That’s the way sinners are, have you noticed that? Sinners will say, “Well, I’ll do it if you’ll do it. I scratch your sin and you scratch mine.” Sinners do that. They tend to when we get in our flesh, want to help each other sin but listen, there is a self-authentication to Christ and the gospel message. Did you hear that? We don’t need to be apologists. We don’t need to be “intellectuals.” We don’t need to convince the minds of the wicked and the fallen. We need to give them the feast. There is a self- authentication to Jesus Christ and the gospel message, we just need to get it to them.

There is a universal conviction that comes to the heart of men who hear of Christ and hear of the true and faithful preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and then these men who hear it, it’s just generally true that they all alike, that’s the phrase here, they all alike try to combat this conviction and this pricking of their conscience. They’ve been doing it for 2,000 years. Wicked men have communed together to help each other neglect, reject, discount, disdain, discredit and explain away their need for Christ and the gospel message. Is that not the truth? I mean, you just share the gospel and then instantly, “Yeah but…… Yeah, but you weren’t nice. Yeah, but you weren’t loving. Yeah, but….” It’s endless. “Yeah, but you’ve got hypocrites at your church.” I know that but we’re dealing with them as fast as we can and I’m one of them sometimes. I have to repent myself and get right with God every now and then. So do you.

Jesus says at this dinner with the Pharisees, sharing this parable, “A man gave a great banquet, a great feast, he invited folks to come on in that were previously invited an they all alike began to make excuses.” Now, we can learn something from these excuses. The first man in verse 18 said, “Well, I bought a piece of land. I’ve just got to go and take care of this piece of land I’ve bought.” Concern over possessions. You’ve got to be careful with possessions. Certainly buying and investing in land is not a sinful activity, that’s not what the Lord is teaching, but it does become sinful if it interferes with the duties of knowing and following Jesus Christ. How are you doing with your possessions? Let me ask you, Sir. Let me ask you, Ma’am. You know, it doesn’t matter how much you’ve got. Some guy might have a little bit but he can be totally in idolatry over them. Another man may have great possessions and God just gives him the grace where he holds them loosely and they’re not his god. It’s not in the amount necessarily but I will say, the more you have, the more temptation there is usually. This guy said, “I’ve got this land I need to go and take care of.” A piece of land. Isn’t it interesting, he’s got just a piece of land. He takes a morsel of earth instead of a crown in an eternal kingdom. Endless pursuits of material gain will strip away your heart for Christ and for the kingdom of God.

This man’s rejection is not a scornful rejection of the invitation, it’s just more of a neglect, it’s more of an indifference. It’s indeed a commentary on the depravity of the human heart. Isn’t it a real commentary on how fallen we are that we take good blessings like land and things and we can easily let them become the thing that keeps us from treasuring and joying in Jesus Christ. “I bought a piece of land. Surely you understand. I have a pursuit here. I’m about in my business endeavors.” He says in verse 18, “Please consider me excused.” He doesn’t want to be offensive; he’s nice about it; he’s humble in tone. And like all sinners and every one of you sitting under my voice on this day who have not yet come to Christ, he’s doing what you’re doing. Here’s what he’s saying, “My situation is unique. My situation is unique and it’s special. I mean, I’ve just got an unusual situation here and that’s why I cannot bow my knee and yield my all to Christ as my Savior and Lord. Maybe later, I just have this unique situation right now.” Lie from the devil.

Well, the second one gives his excuse: his is over business. Look at verse 19, “Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’” He says, “I’ve got business going on. I’m busy. I’ve got profits to take care of.” Again, that’s good, we don’t want any slackers in the kingdom of God. We need young men that have vision and drive and initiative and build great business and empires for the glory of God. I think about men like Kraft who started Kraft cheese and I think his name was Crowell, I’m not exactly sure who started the Quaker Oat Company and J. C. Penney, men that ended up giving upwards of 90% of their entire wealth to spread the gospel. Isn’t that neat? Where are those men today? Now we’ve got the wealthiest of the world giving 90% of their income to spread filth and ungodliness and wicked philosophy. There’s nothing wrong with the wealth, nothing wrong with the business endeavors but does it keep you from Christ? Has it kept you from Christ? Again, this is a good and innocent pursuit, to advance his business but it proves to be sinful because it kept this man from yielding to Christ and coming to the banquet. He barters away heaven for brief earthly enjoyments. How often when we get what we set out to obtain, we find that it’s unsubstantial, it’s fleeting and it’s deceptive?

The third one, this is a tough one. We see a lot of this in the church today, family issues. “I would come but I’ve got an important family thing. I’m devoted to my family. I would dedicate my heart to Christ, I would yield to Christ in honor but I have some family commitments I have to take care of.” This guy in verse 20, “ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’” This is the highest sounding excuse of all. Who would dare reprove a man for devoting his energies to his family and in this case to his wife? But listen, family duties and devotion to family certainly is good and certainly it is ordained of God but it must not be in the way of our devotion to Jesus Christ. This man’s sin is not pursuing a wife, this man’s sin is prizing his wife over Christ. Let’s bring this on down to children: let’s not prize our children over Christ. Amen. Let’s not prize our grandchildren over Christ. There should be those moments, Momma, there should be those moments, Grandmomma, when you hug those babies and you kiss their cheeks and you look them in the eyes and say, “Sweetheart, I cannot tell you how much I love you but I love my Lord Jesus Christ more.” They need to hear that. They need to hear that. Don’t make our family an idol. Don’t let them come between you and Christ.

He says, “I cannot come,” and I don’t want to get too far ahead into the next sermon in Luke but look if you will ahead to Luke 14:26. Jesus sees this is a big, big issue in every generation. “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” He uses a strong word there. You talk about cutting; you talk about sounding unloving. Wow. Of course, what he’s saying is: compared to your devotion to me, you would even hate your family. He’s not saying hate your family, he’s saying compared to your heart devotion to me, you would hate your family.

The fellow said, “I cannot come.” We know in Israel in this day that they had a guideline that once you went into military service if you took a wife, you got a year off of military service to spend investing in your home and in your wife so maybe this guy’s thinking that way. He sort of blames it on someone else, doesn’t he? He’s like Adam in the Garden of Eden. God said, “Adam, what’s going on?” “The woman thou gavest me. The woman is the problem.” What he should have done is he should have come to Christ and brought his wife with him. That’s what he should have done and if she persistently refused to go, he should have gone to Christ by himself. Marriage should help toward salvation. Marriage should help toward sanctification. But so often family and marriage ruins it. Ruins it. How many of you – don’t show you’re hand, don’t give any indication, but how many of you have had dear loved ones who in some way actively worked to keep you from going on for God? Making a decision that wasn’t pleasant or happy at the time? That doesn’t mean your loved ones were evil, don’t think that way, it’s just where they were at the time. But if you had not focused on God and his truth, you would have let a family member, even a sincere family member, hold you back from what God was leading and calling you to do. It happens all the time. It’s so easy to let ourselves blame even our spouses or others for not going on for God.

Let me just say this as a practical application, I’ve been here 33 years and I think this is about 100%: a wife will come by, a husband will come by and say, “Pastor, I love you, love the church, love what we preach, love what we believe. I know you’re sound but my wife or my husband is not yet a Christian or at least they’re badly backslidden and they won’t come to church here. But they will go to church,” and they’ll name somewhere else where the gospel is weak, there are no standards, there’s just weakness in the whole ministry. Listen to me: don’t do that. If they want to love and serve God, they will love and serve God in a good church. The reason the flesh wants a weak church is so they won’t be convicted. What have you gained here, lady, if you take your husband to a church and he’s comfortable and he goes with you and then goes to hell? Because he was never preached a true gospel: the depravity of sin, the wickedness of a heart, the offensiveness before God. Moms and Dads, what are you doing if you listen to your sons and daughters who want to go to a more fun place where there’s not solid rich teaching? There’s not a faithful practice of biblical truth and standards? Don’t do that. It’s so easy. “Well, they want to do that.” Listen: you stay honorable, you stay sweet, you stay respectful in your relationship with your spouse but you can just say, “I’ve committed my life to Jesus Christ and this is the place I’m to serve him.”

So, here we have these very good and very innocent things in and of themselves: possessions, buying land, business endeavors and taking a wife. Good stuff but they become perverted things, they become wicked things in that they keep folks from coming to Christ. Now, these were the respectable Jews I think he’s talking about, the leaders of Israel he’s talking about here. Note in verse 24, if you will, of Luke 14, “For I tell you, none of those men,” I believe that’s the group we’ve just been talking about, “none of those who were previously invited,” the leadership of Israel, the respectable Jews, if you will, “none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.” They were bidden and now they’re forbidden.

Notice in verse 24, he’s not speaking about a parable anymore. He’s not talking about a man has a dinner, he says “my supper.” My supper. None of those previous invited will be welcome at my supper. Those who were expected to be first, the leadership of Israel had had all the prophets and the fathers and all the teachings, they were expected to be the first to receive Christ but yet they were the first to reject him. Note back in chapter 13:35, Jesus has already said to the nation of Israel, “Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me again until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” So the Lord has already drawn a line in the sand and shut off Israel and that’s what he’s referring to here when he says “none of these men will be invited to taste of my dinner.”

II. The feast is now extended to the Jewish outcast. The respectable Jewish nation, mainly the religious leaders, they’ve rejected Christ and now notice as he develops this parable what he says. Look at verse 21, “And the slave came back and reported this to his master.” All of these excuses and they won’t come. “Then the head of the household became angry.” Isn’t that interesting that God shows anger when men reject his Christ. “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,” now notice, “the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” First of all, this guy reported back, the slave reported back. That’s what faithful ministers do, they report to God and we will all give an account, the Scripture says, all of us in gospel ministry, we will all give an account for how we preached and how we shepherded the flock that God gave us. Then the group that he goes out to reach is interesting: it’s the poor, it’s the lame, it’s the crippled, it’s the blind.

Now, “go out at once,” he says, “get these people that are not considered respectable in Israel. Get the ones that are not in leadership. Get the ones that are not esteemed and awed over in the town square. Go out at once and get them.” You see, Jesus will not die in vain. If the respectable Jews reject him, he’ll extend his offer to others. “At once,” he says, “go. The table of grace is spread, we must find sinners and call them to the feast. Bring the poor. Bring the crippled. Bring the blind. Bring the lame.” Again, Jewish doctrine taught that if you had these ailments then you were likely cursed of God, there was sin. They would teach you that either you sinned or your parents sinned, that causes malady in your life. So, these were outcasts, they were literally in a sense separated from the congregation of Israel so in a sense they’ve going outside of “respectable” Israel to those who are the rejects, the outcasts of the community.

Jesus said, “They’re all welcome. Everyone of them.” Again, a startling rebuke to the Jew of this day. The Jewish religious authority would have thought, “You’ve got to be kidding me? We would let those who are spiritually defiled and unclean that are considered separate from the congregation of Israel? We would invite them as the royal guests at this magnificent banquet of God?” Jesus is saying, “Absolutely. Absolutely.” But please note they’re to come to the table that God has spread. They’re to come to the food that he has prepared. Let’s remind ourselves again on this Sunday morning of something I remind you very often and that is that we have no business changing the menu. God prepares the food. We have no business rearranging the table. If the present cultural preferences aren’t attracted to the true gospel and the true preaching of that gospel, then we have no right to change it. It doesn’t matter. This is God’s table. We’re to bring them to his table.

And everything is ready now the Bible says in verse 17. It’s all ready. It’s all perfect. It’s not cooked too well done. It’s not under cooked. It doesn’t need to be made relevant. We don’t need to tamper with the table or the spread, we’re to bring them to his table and encourage them to feast. That’s liberating. Today, too many are spending time in the church spreading a worldly table, filling the table with worldly food, arranging the table with worldly arrangements and then they boast about the numbers that come and dine. I believe the Father must look down from heaven in disgust and says, “That’s not my table and that’s not my food and those are not my arrangements. You’ve made a mockery of my gospel under the guise of your cleverness. You’ve deceived and misled those who came in.” Think about it: the text has already told us that God is angry at those who refuse the invitation, how much more angry is God going to be with those who deceive those who come and don’t give them the truth of God, the spread that he laid out, the table he arranged?

Verse 22, “And the slave said, We did what you commanded, we went past respectable Israel and we’ve gone to the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. We’ve done what you said,” last phrase, “and still there is room.” Still room. There is still room. That tells us three things at least. It tells us there’s a condemnation for those who are invited and refuse to come because there’s still room. It tells us that this is joyful news to those who get to hear the invitation. There’s still room. It tells us that as ministers of the gospel and faithful followers of Christ, we must continue to exhort and encourage all to come, keep inviting them in because there’s still room. There’s still room.

III The feast is going to be spread even further. He says, “Let’s expand it out to the Gentiles.” He extends the feast out to the Gentiles. Verses 23, “And the master said to the slave, If you’ve got the poor, crippled, blind and lame of Israel in and there’s still room, then go out to the highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled.” Acts 17:30, “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.” All people everywhere. Notice, what should they do? Repent. That means you give them God’s spread. That’s the kind of food God said to give them, give them the gospel that includes repentance of sin. Brothers and sisters, a gospel without repentance of sin is not a gospel. That means we give them God’s arrangement, not ours. The meaning is, obviously, we’re just supposed to go everywhere and spread this gospel.

I thought about some of the things God has allowed us to get in on and Lord knows we ought to do better but think about Grace Life Church of Dallas, Texas, the Cross Church in Pensacola, Florida, Grace Life Church of Hastings, Nebraska and Grace Life Church of Des Moines, Iowa, Grace Life Church of Richland City, Wisconsin, Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Bristol, Tennessee, Grace Life Church of Pryor, Oklahoma, Grace Life Church in Hong Kong, Grace Life Church in Asa, Peru and Grace Life Church in Tupe, Peru. And then churches that have been revitalized, some have gone through terrible seasons and have asked us to partner with them and mentor them and now help support our missions. Grace Covenant Baptist in Athens, Alabama, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois, Grace Baptist Church, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Calvary Fellowship, Mills River, North Carolina, Grace Life Church of Lake City, Florida, Great Commission Church of Olive Branch, Mississippi, Beacon of Hope Baptist Church in Wittier, North Carolina, Grace Life Church of Manila, Philippines and six other church plants out of that church and there’s more.

Why do we do this? We could be out of debt with the money we’ve done this with. Why do we do this? The Lord said, “Go out to the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in because there’s still room.” And we’ve got to keep going and we’ve got to keep going and we’ve got to keep going because there’s still room. “Pastor, there are folks in the Shoals that are lost.” Well, let’s go in the Shoals and at the same time, let’s go to Alabama, North America. And at the same time, let’s go across the seas. And at the same time, let’s go to the uttermost parts of the world. That’s basically what Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the world.” You know, I really believe we’ll give an account for this. Were we passionate about sharing his gospel and inviting folks to the feast from all over the world? Because there’s still room. He said, “My house ought to be full.” Why should his house be full? Because the more followers he has, the more churches that honor him and serve him and glorify him, the more glory he receives. There’s a massive deficit in the universe until our Lord receives all the worship and praise he deserves. That’s why we go. As John Piper said, “Missions exist because worship doesn’t.” So, everywhere there’s a people, tribe, tongue or nation that does not worship him, we must go and invite them to the feast.

And all who will come and look to him can be saved. Just two thoughts on highways and hedges. He said, “Go out to the highway.” We don’t know exactly what this means, it just means a broad way. Maybe this means the open and notorious sinner. Go out to the hardened religious legalist and say, “If you’ll repent, you can come.” Go out to the hardened drunkard and say, “If you’ll repent, you can come.” Go out to the hardened drug addict, to the hardened adulterer, to the hardened, notorious, open, filthy fornicator, to the hardened deviant homosexual. Go to all of them and tell all of them, “If you will repent, you can come.” Even the most notorious out on the highways of life, if they will come, they are welcome at the feast of God. The Jews of Israel in antiquity may have barred you from their feasts but Jesus has set a table and he invites all to come in. What a gospel. What a God. What a Savior. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been. I don’t care how dirty and foul and filthy and proud and self-consumed, if you will come bringing nothing but your filth and saying, “O Christ, save me,” you can feast at his table.

I love preaching this stuff. Highways and the hedges. He says, “Also look for those out in the hedges.” Maybe this means those neglected, remote, unreached people, those secret sinners. And God says, “From the most notorious big city sinners to the most remote outcast, all must come. The most distant and the most lowly, may come.” Then he even says, “Compel them to come. Try to win the argument.” Now, it’s not forced. There have been dark times in professing Christendom where men were compelled by civil law and punishment of that law if they didn’t convert to Christianity. That is not what the Bible teaches and that since we do believe in separation of church and state, no coercion to join the faith. That’s why I have such high esteem for the forgotten father of our country named Roger Williams who was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a band of Puritans. But the Puritans, as much as I respect and esteem them and their writings and their exegesis of Scripture is unparalleled but nevertheless, they believed in a church state and they began to require everybody in their colony to join their church and they were just compelling people by force and Roger Williams, being baptistic, said, “That’s not right. People join the church after God saves them, after they’re converted, when they’re born again, when grace has come against them and new life comes into them.” Grace life, I like that. “Grace comes in and then the new life comes in shown by repentance toward God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then they’re added to the church.”

So, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony said, “Roger, we don’t agree with you and you’re in trouble. You’re violating our laws,” so he ran off into the wilderness, what became Rhode Island. It was a wilderness. Some Indians helped him and he established a new town. He thought, “The sovereignty of God safely brought me here and has sustained me. I think I’ll call it Providence, Rhode Island.” Providence, Rhode Island was founded by a Baptist named Roger Williams, a Calvinist Baptist. The first Baptist church in America was a Calvinist Baptist church. Shout it from the housetop! Get over it, it’s true. But a soul winning, evangelistic, missions-minded Calvinist Baptist and he started a Baptist church there in Rhode Island and here’s what he said, “Not only are you not going to be compelled to come in, I won’t receive you unless you show that the gospel has changed you. We only baptize believers here. We don’t sprinkle babies.” But he did says this, “And all are welcome in Providence, Rhode Island but I will debate you in the public square with my gospel. You’ve got to be man enough, don’t be a whiny baby. You’ve got to be man enough to debate what we believe openly. We can love each other and disagree but I’m going to bring my truth and my gospel and my doctrines to bear.”

We don’t force people in, we compel them by prayer and admonition to come. Don’t get tired of enrolling lost people in your small group. Small group leader, don’t get tired of it. Don’t get tired of it. Don’t get tired of it. I know we’re on 30+ years of doing it and it does get old and you say, “Well, people aren’t interested.” Yeah, but the next one may be. The next lost man. The next lost woman. You just say, “Look, come and be a part of my men’s small group. It doesn’t obligate you to anything. It doesn’t make you a church member. We just study the Bible together. We have some cook-outs and fellowship.” Enroll them. Compel them to come in. Find those babies all over town whose Moms and Dads will say, “Yes, they can come to your vacation Bible School,” and we’re just going to pour on them the truth of Christ. What are we doing? We’re compelling them to come in. God forbid we think that the sovereignty of God somehow excludes a passionate effort to reach the lost. All must be compelled to come and dine at the Master’s table and all excuses must be resolved.

As we close this morning, as we think about going out to these remote, hidden, notorious sinners, these poor, blind, crippled and lame who are just beat on by their religious authorities that they were wicked outcasts, when they were invited to such a feast, when they were invited to such a banquet, they must have thought, “I can’t go. I can’t go. I don’t deserve to go. I can’t go. I can’t go to such a place.” Ben Dorr in his excellent commentary, listen to this would you? Listen church, “They may say to us we are homeless wretches and we’re no company for such a feast, I cannot go to that high table in my beggar’s garment. We in the dusty dreary highways have no dress for such a banquet but the Lord’s servants are to say to them, I cannot carry back to my Lord such a message. Your misery can be no hindrance. Come, such as you art. That’s the way I’m to bring you.”

All are welcome. The King of love has spread a feast for all who will come. The urgency of love excludes none except those who exclude themselves. Two phrases, one in verse 17, one in verse 22, listen: everything’s ready, still room. Everything’s ready, still room.

Let’s pray together.

O sinner, your sin can be no greater than Jeff Noblit’s sin but you are a sinner and you must at this time look to Jesus Christ. I don’t care if you’ve been genuinely saved 50 years, I command you to look to Jesus again and say, “O Christ, save this sinner. O Christ, receive this sinner. I’m just a beggar. I’m just unclean. I’m a highway man. I came from the hedges. O Christ, save this sinner. I’m unworthy. I bring nothing but my filth and my loss and my pollution but I believe Christ can save me and I want him to forgive me and change me. O God, do that work no man can do and glorify your name.” We pray this in Jesus’ name and for his sake. Amen.