Please take your Bibles and turn to Luke 14. If you're following along in the pew Bible, it's page 927. We're looking today at the parable of the great banquet, Luke 14, 1524.
When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then he told him a man was giving a large banquet and invited many. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, come, because everything is now ready. But without exception, they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, I have bought a field and I must go out and see it.
I ask you to excuse me. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I'm going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me. And another said, I just got married and therefore I'm unable to come. So the servant came back and reported these things to his master.
Then, in anger, the master of the house told his servant, go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind and lame. Master, the servant said, what you ordered has been done, and there's still room. And then the master told the servant, go out into the highways and hedges to make them come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet. May we pray?
Heavenly Father, you have given us your word that we might know the way to a right relationship with you and also how to live our lives. We pray that you would bless us by your spirit with understanding today what this means, how it applies to us, and how we need to respond. In your son's very precious name, we pray. Amen. What's the setting here?
Well, back in verse one, we learned that it was the Sabbath, and Jesus went to eat at the house of one of the leading Pharisees. And they were watching him closely. The house of a rich person, the house of a very religious person, the house of someone that was high up in government and authority.
And they're watching Jesus to see what he's going to say and how he holds his fork and however it is that he behaves. And is he going to heal somebody. But what. What we find out is Jesus sees them even more closely because he doesn't just examine them externally, but he examines what is going on in their heart. The first message that he had given them was in verse 11.
He said, Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Obviously, this group of men were not very humble, and Jesus was warning them about that. He also spoke to them about, when you invite people over to eat, don't just invite the rich and the famous that can pay you back, but instead invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind. And I just wonder if this one man is possibly feeling uncomfortable that Jesus is implying these accusations against him. So he looks for a way to change the subject to make things more convenient.
And that's where we come to verse 15. It says, when one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.
Who are the characters? Jesus goes on to share this parable. And he says he told them there was a man who was giving a large banquet, and he invited many. And at the time of the banquet, he sent his one servant to tell those who were invited come, because everything is now ready. The man in the parable is God the Father, and the one that he has sent to deliver the invitation that now is the time to come is none other than God the Son, Jesus Christ.
And in this particular situation, Jesus is speaking to a group of religious leaders of Israel. They are the many who were invited. They were the people of Israel. Three characters, one man, one servant, and many who were invited. Now what they're being invited to is a large banquet.
And so we need to stop and just think about the significance of food. How many of you today would say that food is significant in your life? How many of you ate breakfast? How many of you are already thinking about lunch and the sermon's already too long and your stomach's growling, okay, food is significant. We eat at weddings.
We eat when family get together. We eat for holidays. We eat when we don't need to eat, and we eat when we do need to eat. Eating is very significant, and it's a need that God has placed in our life because he uses eating and banquets and feasts throughout Scripture to teach us a lot about Him. If we think about the Old Testament feasts we had, the Passover feast, the Unleavened bread feast, the Feast of First Fruits, the Feast of Pentecost.
Those were all the feasts that the Israelites celebrated in the spring. But in fall, they had the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles. And at all these events, what did they enjoy? Doing, they all got together to share a meal. And all of these things were pictures of the coming Messiah.
So banquets are a special time of celebration, a fellowship around a meal. And throughout the Bible, food, meals, feasts and banquets are numerous. Let's just give some other examples. In Genesis 18, Abram had a meal with God as he was on his way to Sodom with two angels. And it was at a wedding feast that Jesus chose to perform his very first miracle.
It was at the last supper that the Passover became a new covenant celebration that we continue today. And in the book of Revelation we have the marriage supper of the lamb. There are other parables about feasts and banquets. Matthew 8, Matthew 12, Matthew 22, Luke 12, and Luke 13, food eating, feast, all of these things are significant throughout Scripture. And even if we go Back to Genesis 1, we hear about food there.
I always like to emphasize that everything that God made was good. Therefore we know his character is what it's good and part of his good character. In verse 11 in Genesis 1, God said, Let the earth produce vegetation, seed bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kind. Then in verse 29, God said, Look, I have given you every seed bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. And this will be food for you.
From the beginning, God provides food to meet the needs of his creation. And he does it in particular for man. It goes on in Genesis chapter two. Again, it's talking about food. In the very beginning of the Bible, it says that the Lord God not only provided them with things to eat, but he planted a beautiful garden in Eden in the east.
And it was there that he placed the man that he had formed. And the Lord God caused to grow out of the ground, every tree pleasing in appearance and good for what does it say, food? And the Lord took the man and he placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. God created man to need some certain things. He created man to need food.
He could have allowed us to have photosynthesis in our body and we just walk out in the sun. But he didn't do that. He made it a requirement that we eat. He also realized that man needed a home. So he provided him a place in the garden.
He knew. And he created men and women to have purpose. And so he said, you need to take care of the garden. And most importantly, he knew that Adam needed one more thing. And who was that?
Eve. He needed companionship. God met all of Adam's needs and the desire for all those needs still continues with us today. Everything about the creative order, all these needs that we have, are meant to cause us to think about God. That's why when we have a meal, we should do what we should pray and thank God for the food.
But in recognizing our need for physical food, it should make us realize that we have a need for spiritual food. Everything about the creative order is designed to point us to God. All these desires that we have are good, and they're meant to cause us to seek Him. They're meant to to cause us to sense our need for Him. They're meant to cause us to find our satisfaction in him.
Because in all these physical needs, they point us to God, who ultimately provides the true bread of life. He provides an eternal home for us, an eternal city to live in, and eternal companionship with Him. All of these things, like In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. If you ever get really hungry or you get really thirsty and you haven't been able to eat in a number of days because you're having a test, even a cracker can taste wonderful and you look forward to it because you're so hungry. Or the psalmist talks about the deer panting for water.
That's to help us to understand how we are supposed to desire God in righteousness. John 6. Jesus said, I am the bread of life, and whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Trying to point out that food, feast, banquets are all very significant in Scripture, and we don't only start out with food, but when we go to the end. In Revelation 19, we read again about the marriage feast of the Lamb.
I began reading in verse six. Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying, hallelujah. Because our Lord God, the Almighty reigns. Let us be glad, rejoice, give him glory. Because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself.
She was given fine linen to wear bright and pure. And for the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints. And then he said to me, write, blessed are those invited to the marriage. And what's the word there? Feast of the Lamb.
We have a great banquet that we are looking forward to. We find God's provision for nourishment at the beginning, at the end, and everywhere in between. The significance of food. Now let's Go back to our text and look at the invitation again. We read in verse 16, he told him a man was giving a large banquet and invited many.
And at the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited come, because everything is now ready. The people of Israel, they have known about the coming kingdom. They've known about the coming banquet for thousands of years. And now Jesus is on the scene, the Messiah, and he is delivering the message from God the Father. The kingdom is here.
It's time to celebrate the banquet. He gave them the gospel that they needed to place their faith in him, that they may be part of that banquet. Those who were invited, the children of Israel who had been invited in the past. Now the kingdom is ready. Jesus is saying, come.
He's talking to these religious leaders, but he's pointing out to them their greatest error in all of this, that they're not accepting him, they are rejecting him. Jesus is the servant who is saying that the time is here and they are to come to the banquet for which they have been invited. Let's go back to Isaiah 55 and the prophet gave this invitation. Let's see what the invitation was to. Again, it's to food.
Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water. And you, without silver, come by and eat. Otherwise you don't have anything. You can just come, it's free. Come buy wine and milk without silver and without cost.
Again, you can't purchase it. It's just there for you. Why do you spend silver on other things that are not food? And why spend your wages on what does not satisf? Because God says something better is coming.
Listen carefully to me. Eat what is good and you will enjoy the choicest foods. Pay attention. And here it is. Come to me.
Listen so that you will live. The invitation was there in the Old Testament. The Jews had it. Jesus is saying, it's time now to believe. That's what he was sent to do.
But these religious leaders, they've not accepted Jesus. And we know that he knows what was in each of their hearts. So he gives examples of three different men with. With three different excuses. And my guess is that each one of these men had these particular problems in their life, or maybe all of them.
We begin reading verse 18. But without exception, they all he's talking about all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, I have bought a field and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I'm going To try them out.
I ask you to excuse me. And another said, I just got married and therefore I'm unable to come. I like to read J. Vernon McGee's commentaries. And he made these comments. He said, it's obvious that the first man's excuse, either he's a liar or he's a fool.
Because who buys a farm without looking at it first? Have any of y' all ever done that? I mean, that's like buying swamp land in Florida without looking at it. The man was concerned about his possessions, and his possessions were keeping him from coming to the invitation. I have bought a field.
Now I have to go out and see what I paid for. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I'm going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me. This man, he's concerned about his business in life. And again, he must be really foolish, because who would buy animals without looking at them first?
Not just one, but five pairs, that's 10. Imagine buying 10 cars on eBay that you've never looked at. You pay full price, and then you go and look at them and you're stuck with them. You just wouldn't do that. But that's his excuse.
He's more concerned about his business. And then you have the man that just got married. He said, I can't come because I just got married. Well, there was a law in Israel that if a man was married, he didn't have to go to war for a year because it was going to take him a year to learn how to please his wife. That's a man's job for his first 12 months.
Learn how to please your wife. If you're not married, then that's a word of advice to you. It takes time and you have to work on it. But it doesn't say that you're supposed to miss festivals and feasts and meals. I mean, if I think about my wife, if there's an opportunity to go to a wedding of someone that we know, she is going to want to go to it, or is she going to want to stay home?
What's she going to want? She's going to want to go. She wants to be there with everybody. This man who was married, his wife would have loved to go to this feast, but he's using her as an excuse. It was his affections for his wife and things of this world that were keeping him from going to the banquet.
And so Jesus is pointing out, some of you here because of your possessions, you're not accepting invitation. Some of you are so tied up with your business. And you say, I'm too busy working to give my life to the Lord. And there are even some people that say, my affections for my family and my loved ones, I need to spend more time with them. I don't have time for the Lord.
Today the servant comes back and he reports all these things to the master. And then it says, in anger, the master of the house told his servants, imagine you've prepared a wedding banquet for your child, you've spent enormous amounts of money, you've made everything perfect. And all your closest friends tell you, well, we just decided we had other things to do today. I imagine that you would feel angry too. So the master, he says, well, if they're not going to come, then go quickly into the streets and the alleys and bring in here.
And we see this repeated phrase, bring in the poor, the maimed, the blind and the lame. Jesus is repeating the same thing that he said earlier when he told them, invite people to your house that are in this condition. And what he's telling us here is that the man, God the Father is, has love and interest in all of these people that are the, the lowest of the low, the ones that cannot give anything in return. The invitation is now expanded beyond just the people of Israel. God wants people from every nation, tribe and tongue to come and worship at his feet eternally.
The invitation is expanded, but it goes even further than that. The servant comes back and says, master, what you've ordered has been done and there's still plenty of room in the banquet of the kingdom. There's room for everyone. There is no cut off point that God says, I can't let anyone else come. So therefore the master tells him, now go out into the highways, go find the people that are hiding in the hedges.
It makes me think of the Good Samaritan story. When the man is walking along, the robbers come out of the what? The hedges. So even not only those that can't do anything, but these that are sinners, God is interested in bringing them to the banquet, make them come so that my house may be filled. God's invitation to the banquet is, has extended to all of the world.
It's not just for the people of Judah. Why is God's invitation so expanded? Let's go to John, chapter 3, verses 16 through 18 and see the reason. It says God loved the. What does it say?
The world, Everybody, everywhere, every place of all time. And he loved it in this very deep, costly way that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who it doesn't say pays or does anything, they simply believe in him, will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but he came to save the world through Him. That's why he lived among us. He died on the cross.
He was buried, and he rose from the dead so we might have part in the great banquet. Anyone who just believes in him is not condemned. But those, on the other hand, who do not believe, they're already condemned because he has not believed. In the name of the one and only Son of God, God's invitation is expanded. It goes to all the world because of his unending love and to the great expense of sending his own Son because he wants all to be present.
But not only did God send His Son to spread the invitation, but it's also our responsibility now to do the same. We have Jesus last words. In Matthew 28, he said, Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything. I have commanded you. And then before he ascended into heaven in Acts 1, he says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you.
You will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem, in Judea, outside Jerusalem, Samaria, even further out into the ends of the earth. The message that Jesus came to bring by Himself, he is now passed on to us that we might spread that to the world.
What is the invitation Today? The invitation is to accept the invitation. We go to the end of the book. In Revelation 22:17, we see that both the Spirit and the bride, that is all of us who are part of the family of God that are part of the Bride of Christ, we are all to be saying, come.
And let anyone who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty come. And let the one who desires take the water of life freely. The message is, don't let your possessions keep you from following the Lord and coming to Him. Don't let your business keep you from coming to the Lord and following Him.
Don't even let the affections that you have for your dear loved ones come between you and accepting the invitation to follow the Lord. Because there's. There's a warning that we have here that we need to heed. Jesus said, for I tell you, not one, not a single one, the people who were invited, meaning those that heard the invitation and then they didn't accept it and come. None of them will ever enjoy my banquet.
That's why it's so important that we accept the invitation.
In Matthew 25, there's another story about a wedding and a banquet. And the story is about 10 virgins that had their 10 lamps and they were supposed to be ready for the banquet. Five of them were ready and had their oil, and five of them were not ready. And again, we have the warning here that you have to make the decision in advance of the time when Jesus returns, because after that it will be too late. When they had gone to buy some, these are the five that went to buy oil.
It was while they were gone that the groom arrived. And those who were ready, the five that had their oil, they went in with him to the wedding banquet. And at that point, say it with me, what happened? The door was shut. Just like with Noah and the ark.
There came the time that the door was shut and it could not be open. And after that, the rest of the virgins came and said, master, master, open up for us. The they're crying, they're pleading, they're beating on the door. But he says, truly, I tell you, I don't know you. Therefore the warning is, be alert, because you don't know either the day or the hour.
The time is unknown. The invitation is here for all of us. Now, we are invited to come to the Lord today because there's no guarantee that you're going to make it home this afternoon. There's no guarantee even that you will make it out of this room. And if you've not accepted the invitation to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the door will be shut and it'll be too late.
So I ask you today, if you've not placed your faith in Jesus Christ, that you would speak to the Lord in your heart and say, I know that I'm a sinner. I've got this problem that I'm separated from you. I can't buy my way out of it. I can't work my way out of it. I can't pray enough.
I can't do enough good. But I realize that Jesus died on the cross. And because he paid for the penalty of my sin, all I have to do is believe that he did that and accept your gift of salvation. And if you do that today, you're heeding the warning and you're going to be ready when Jesus returns. We're going to have a time of invitation where we're singing a song.
We're all going to be standing. There are going to be some prayer team members in the back if you want to talk more about having a relationship with God following through with this invitation. Or maybe you just need to pray with someone today about a difficulty in your life or some sadness. They'll be available for you. Just make your way out while the worship team is leading us in a song.
Will you stand with me as we pray?
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the clear invitation that you have offered us throughout the centuries and the millennium. Father, we thank you that you have placed in us these desires for food and family and a home, Father, and relationships that help us to realize that we're seeking something that we can't provide for ourselves. And we thank you that you have provided these things for us daily in the way that we live physically. But you also have provided for these in a spiritual sense that's far more important. We ask that you would move in people's hearts today, Father, to draw them to faith in repentance that they might accept your invitation and be part of your family.
And for those of us, Father, that do know you as our Lord and Savior, prompt upon our hearts that we need to be active in sharing the invitation with your spirit, telling people to come that they also might share in the wedding feast of the Lamb. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.