chapter 14, verse 15. That's in the New Testament,
kind of toward the back third of your Bible,
toward the front part of the New Testament. Luke,
chapter 14, verse 15. We've been kind of touching
on some of the parables of Jesus off and on here
over the last couple of months. And this is another
one of the parables of Jesus. The parables that
Jesus told were stories that pretty much everybody
could relate to and understand. A lot of them
had to do with farming. This one has to do with
having a big party, I guess we could call it
that, a banquet. And he tells a story that's
really easy to understand, but they also have
a spiritual application. And that's what makes
Jesus so good, is he was so good at taking something
simple. and make it understandable. Sometimes
us preachers do just the opposite. Sometimes
we take something simple and make it a little
more complicated. It's not an easy thing to do.
Any of you that's ever taught or if you've ever
preached before, it's not an easy thing to do.
So when you see how beautifully that Jesus does
it, it's perfect, I guess. There's no better
way to say it. So we're going to look at one
of Jesus' parables today, and it's one that we
can understand. Hopefully we'll... We'll see
what Jesus is talking about. So let's pray, and
then we'll get started. God, we come to you.
We thank you for your good word. I thank you
for all the beautiful people that are here today.
I thank you for loving us and being good to us,
dear Lord. We thank you for Jesus Christ. We
thank you for your grace and your mercy. And
God, maybe there are some here today, and they
are really struggling. Maybe today is a sad day.
Or maybe they're depressed about something or
maybe they're just tired or whatever it may be,
dear Lord. There's a lot of things in life that
are tough. Maybe there's just good things going
on, dear Lord. Things that's got our mind occupied
and things that may draw us away from you. I
pray, God, whatever we came in here with today,
that for just a few minutes, that your Holy Spirit
would let us hear your word, would let us hear
this invitation that Jesus sends out to us today.
So I pray that you take away any fear or pride
that's within me, dear Lord, that your Holy Spirit
would be among us and that everything that is
said and done would be for your glory. In Jesus'
name I pray it. Amen. Now a little context. You
can go back and read the verses before this in
Luke chapter 14 this week. Good homework for
you. But Jesus is hanging out. He's eating with
some folks, some Pharisees, some religious folks.
And he notices something about them. Now, this
is pretty easy to notice when you read through
the scriptures. You kind of see these qualities
about these, a lot of the religious folks, a
lot of the Pharisees. They're not good qualities.
One of the qualities that Jesus noticed is missing
from them is their humility. What he sees when
they are having this big party, that everybody
wants to sit in the seat of honor. Everybody
wants to be in the spotlight. And Jesus tells
them a parable, and he says, hold up. He says,
you've got to pay attention to what you're doing.
This is not the way it should be. Those who want
to follow God, those who want to serve God, are
those who need to humble themselves. follow the
examples of Jesus Christ are those who don't
seek the position of honor, but seek the lowly
position. And he talks about that. He talks about
if somebody's having a party, if somebody's having
a feast, don't just invite people for your own
good, right? Sometimes we kind of have that mindset
in this world. I think it's natural for us to
have it. Like, I'll scratch your back, you scratch
mine. I'm going to invite all the people that
I might want a favor from to my party, and I'm
going to treat them really well, so when they
have a party, they'll invite me. So I'm going
to make sure to really take care of others so
they take care of me, and that's what Jesus says.
I'm summarizing in the verses before. But Jesus
says that's not the way it should be. You shouldn't
just do things for people because of what they
can do for you. You should just do things for
people. Because you love them. You should do
things for people because maybe there's a need
in their life and maybe you can help meet that
need. And so Jesus says, hey, you may be tempted
to go after all the rich and the famous and the
powerful people that may have some benefit to
you by inviting them to your get -together. But
Jesus says, here's the ones I want you to invite.
The poor and the maimed and the blind and those
who are really struggling. Now, Jesus turned
everything on its head, at least everything that
so many of the religious people of his day followed.
Now, the religious people of his day, like, they
were really big on sitting in the seat of honor
and dressing good and saying long prayers for
show and making a big deal about their religion.
But Jesus is so good, it reminded them, like,
hey, you've kind of missed what God really wants
you to know. And you better make sure you're
really serving God and you better make sure you're
really loving other people. And it doesn't appear
as though maybe this crowd that Jesus was talking
to was doing those things. And so he uses these
stories about a feast, about a get -together,
about a party to shift the focus and say, here's
the people that God's going to be able to take
care of. Here are the people who are going to
be in the kingdom of God, not those who make
excuses. Not those who think so highly of themselves,
but those who are completely dependent on God.
And that's a little background for the passage
we're going to look at. Luke chapter 14, verse
15. When one of those who reclined at the table
with him heard these things, he said to him,
The one who will eat bread in the kingdom of
God is blessed. Now, this person that was sitting
there with him, that's a true statement. The
one who eats bread in the kingdom of God is blessed.
Now, the kingdom of God is not just heaven. Now,
the kingdom of God is going to be our eternity
with God, but the kingdom of God is here now.
Those who trust in Jesus Christ is part of the
kingdom of God. The love and the joy and the
peace and all the things that God pours out on
us, there's just a certain happiness that comes.
when you follow Jesus Christ. I'm not saying
that every day you're just happy, happy, happy,
all is good, nothing ever goes wrong. There's
hard days, but there really is a certain sense
of peace and a certain sense of joy. To be part
of the kingdom of God means that you're living
for the king, for King Jesus. And that's the
opposite of being part of the kingdom of this
world. Now, there are lots of people who are...
In the kingdom of this world that have not followed
Jesus. But that's what being a Christian is.
You say, okay, in the world, I can just kind
of be the king of my own life and do what I want
to do when I want to do it. And that's how I'm
going to live. And there are a lot of people
who live that way. Maybe even some of you in
here or some listening online. But when we talk
about the kingdom of God, what we're talking
about is that through Jesus Christ, God has established
a kingdom that Jesus is the king. And when we
say, hey, I want to be part of that kingdom,
we're saying, I want to follow Jesus Christ as
my king. So therefore, I'm not going to do what
I want to do. I'm going to do what Jesus calls
me to do. And so we're no longer living for ourselves.
We're no longer living for the world. We are
living for Jesus. So once we put our faith in
Jesus Christ and we begin to trust in him and
listen to him and follow him, then we become
part of the kingdom of God. And there is great
blessing in the kingdom of God. And we see some
of God's blessings here in this world, praise
the Lord. We see his grace through Jesus Christ
that our sins are forgiven. Those who have trusted
in Jesus Christ, you've experienced his strength.
You've experienced his joy. You have hope. You
look around, you see bad stuff going on, but
just you still have hope because you read these
words in the scripture and you say, okay, I believe
that God is good and he keeps his promises and
I know he's with me because my life has been
so hard and he's helped me through those hardest
times and that kind of peace and that kind of
strength is found. in the kingdom of God. Now,
we'll experience God's grace and the fullness
of God's glory one day when we get to heaven
and get to be with him. But the kingdom of God
has come near through Jesus Christ, and we can
enter into the kingdom of God today. And this
guy, he says, hey, look, the one who gets to
eat bread at the table in the kingdom of God,
that dude's blessed. And he's right. It is a
blessing to be part of the kingdom of God. But
since Jesus is on the topic of having a big feast,
a big eating, he uses the opportunity to offer
an invitation. It says in verse 16, Then he told
him, A man was giving a large banquet and invited
many. At the time of the banquet, he sent his
slave to tell those who were invited, Come, because
everything is now ready. Simple, simple. The
story is set. We understand it. Anybody in here
ever hosted a big party? Probably so. I just
went to a big party for the 4th of July. It was
a big shindig. Lots of food. Lots of people are
there. And I was invited. And some of you were
invited. A lot of people were invited. And praise
the Lord, a lot of people showed up. So we understand
what it's like to have a big party and to work
hard and to invite everybody and for people to
show up. It's a lot of fun. Everybody just loving
it and hanging out. But you know what's a bummer?
And you might have had this experience too. If
you ever had a party or hosted something at your
house and you invited a bunch of folks and not
hardly anybody showed up, that's kind of a bummer.
When you've done all this work and you're so
excited and you want to feed the people and you
got all the chairs out and you got fans out so
they won't get hot, you got everything they could
possibly want to be comfortable and to be provided
for and you've worked so hard and you invite
them and nobody comes. That's kind of disheartening.
Maybe you've had that experience before. Well,
that's the experience that Jesus is setting up.
Now, of course, it's representative. It's talking
about God. It's talking about those who are invited
to come in to God's kingdom to follow Jesus Christ.
And God's prepared everything for us. And God
says, come on, I want to take care of you. Everything
is ready to go. So invitations were sent out.
Let's see what those who received the invitations
said. Verse 18, but without exception, they all
began to make excuses. The first one said to
him, I 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 am unable
to come. Now here's this great banquet that's
been prepared, and all the ones that were invited
made an excuse. Now maybe these were things they
really were going to do, or maybe it's just an
excuse. You've probably done that before. You
get invited somewhere, and you say, man, I feel
like going somewhere today. And they're like,
hey, why don't you come to the party tonight?
And you're like, well, I would, but I've got
to water flowers tonight. Or you just come up
with something. Like something that really, you
can wait. But you just, you got to say something.
You can't just say, no, I don't want to come
to your party. So you make up some excuse because
you just really don't want to go. And these people
all made some excuses. Oh, I bought some land.
I got to go see it. Well, did you look at it
before you bought it? I don't know about y 'all,
but if I'm going to buy some land, I'm probably
going to look at it before I buy it. I don't
know. Maybe you really did want to go check out
his land. Oh, I got some oxen. I want to go do
some work. Let me go try out these oxen. Let
me go get on the tractor and bush hog. Yeah,
I appreciate you inviting me to come to eat ribs
at the Fourth of July party, but I really would
like to get out here in the 100 degree heat and
work on the farm. So thanks, but no thanks. I
mean, who's going to choose to work other than
go to a party where everything is provided for
you there? And one after another, the excuses
just keep on coming. Other guy, I got married.
Well, that's a great thing, praise the Lord.
I got married. It might have been the same guy
in the past year. He might have said, well, I'd
love to come, but I got married. My wife says
I got to go out and work on the farm. Can't do
it. I could have done it when I was single, but
I can't do it when I'm married. I'm going to
tell you guys this. When you get married, you
get a lot more stuff to do. Praise the Lord.
That's a blessing. You get a lot more stuff to
do. Maybe that's what this guy will say. Maybe
all of them were lying. I don't know. Maybe they
just didn't care about the party. For whatever
reason, there was an invitation to something.
beautiful and wonderful that they didn't have
to do anything, but just go and enjoy it and
let the host take care of them and provide for
them. And every one of them made an excuse. But
don't forget what's going on here. This is God
saying, I'm sending out an invitation for people
to come into my kingdom. Would you come into
my kingdom? I have provided for you and I'll
take care of you and I'll give you all you need
if you would just come into my kingdom. That
invitation is still there for you and me today.
Jesus come onto the scene. The scripture says
the kingdom of God has come near. Guess what?
It's still near for you today. The kingdom of
God has still come near. God is still. desiring
to provide for you today, to forgive your sins,
to take care of you, to meet your needs, to strengthen
you. He still wants to do that today. But you've
got to accept the invitation. Let's see what
happens in the next verse, verse 21. So the slave
came back and reported these things to his master.
Then in anger, the master of the house told his
slave, Go out quickly into the streets and alleys
of the city and bring in here, The poor, maimed,
blind, and lame. Isn't that interesting? Of all
the people that he could say to bring in, all
right, I sent you to get the ones I wanted to
come, the ones I really wanted to invite first.
Now go get the second best people. But he doesn't
say that. He says the poor and the maimed and
the blind and the lame. Now, these are people
that really would have been completely dependent
on others probably for their survival. I mean,
when you're poor, you're poor. I mean, you struggle.
You don't have much to eat. You really are kind
of dependent on other people to help you. When
you're maimed, if you're missing a limb or something,
well, you can't work. You might not can get around
very good. When you're lame, you can't get around
very good. When you're blind, what are you going
to do other than sit and beg? We see this in
the Scripture. And the people that God says,
go get these people, are people who are totally
dependent on somebody else. And perhaps even
still today, these are the types of people who
are entering the kingdom of God. Blessed are
the poor in spirit. You know, it's great to be
blessed and to have a lot. Maybe some have more
than others, but you start getting a little bit.
You start building up some things. You start
getting some wealth. It's really hard because
it almost seems like the more money you get,
the less dependent on God you are. The more powerful
you become, the more famous you become, the less
dependent on God you are. And when we're in our
toughest times, when things are the hardest,
it seems like that's when we are the closest
to God. And the people who were asked to the
banquet first refused. They had all this worldly
stuff. They had a marriage and they had land
and they had oxen to work the land. And they
couldn't come into the presence of the banquet.
But those who were completely dependent said,
holy smokes, probably. Man, are you telling me
I can go to this feast and get everything I need?
Somebody's inviting me? And they all came. Now
Jesus had just talked about humility in the verses
before. When we get a little money, a little
power, all of a sudden we become a little proud.
Proud people can't enter the kingdom of God.
But those who humble themselves before Jesus
Christ can. So here he uses this example of these
humble folks who are completely dependent, who
are invited to the banquet. And guess what? They
come to the banquet. Now what about your heart
today? Invitation's still there for you to enter
the kingdom of God. Are you one that's proud?
Are you one that's fully yourself? Are you one
that recognizes that you are? That you are poor
and needy. Maybe you're not blind, lame, or maimed.
But it's not just about those conditions. It's
about the heart. It's about what those are representative
of. Those are representative of those who are
humble. It's the humble who recognize their need
and know that they need to be provided for. It's
those who accept the invitation. He says in the
next verse, verse 22, Master, the slave said,
what you ordered has been done and there's still
room. And the master told the slave, go out into
the highways and lanes and make them come in
so that my house may be filled. For I tell you,
not one of those men who were invited will enjoy
my banquet. All right, he sends the slave out.
Go get all the poor men blind and lame. Servant
comes back and says, I've done it. There's still
lots of room. What do I do? Go get everybody
else. Here's the invitation. If you're out there,
listen and come into my banquet. And that invitation
goes out to you and I today. It's not an invitation
to go sit down and eat a physical meal somewhere.
Although we'll be doing that again in a few weeks
for something. I'm sure we'll come up with some
reason to eat. But this invitation is not about
eating a meal. It's about entering into the kingdom
of God. And the proud resists that. But the scripture
also says that God resists the proud but gives
grace to the humble. This is the greatest invitation
you'll ever receive. The invitation is this,
is that we're sinners. We have done and said
really bad things. We have thought things. We
have done some of the darkest and deepest, most
horrible things you can ever imagine. And you
would cringe today if everybody in here knew
some of the things that you have done, some of
the things that you've thought. Every one of
us would because we're pretty evil. And we've
done some evil things. But praise the Lord that
the scripture says that God sent Jesus Christ
so that our sins could be forgiven. You don't
have to live with that pain and regret. You don't
have to let your sin just weigh you down. Jesus
offers a beautiful invitation. If you'd come
to him, if you were weary and heavy laden, and
he will give you rest. Some of you need rest
today. Some of you are afraid today. Some of
you are just worn down today. Some of you are
overcome with sin and you just don't feel like
you can overcome your temptations and your addictions.
But I want to tell you that through Jesus Christ,
through his strength, he gives you the power
to overcome. You cannot do it on your own. Some
of you today may not have any hope. You look
around and you say, man, life is tough and the
world is bad and I've got all these struggles
and I don't know what I'm going to do. Well,
I want to tell you today that there's hope in
Jesus Christ. And if you'd seek him, you'll find
a peace and a joy that you cannot imagine. And
if you seek him and if you put your trust in
him, you just continue to go back to that well
of living water. You just continue to experience
that peace and joy over and over. You have to
go back there so many times. Maybe some of you
are already a follower of Jesus Christ, but maybe
today you just need to go back to the well. Maybe
today you need to go back and you need to say,
Jesus, I'm really struggling right now. I'm really
having a hard time right now. I just need you
to help me. I want to tell you today that Jesus
invites you to do that. That you're invited to
enter into the kingdom of God and experience
the blessings of the kingdom of God. That invitation
is open for each and every one of us today. Will
you humble yourself? And accept that invitation.
It's not an invitation you want to miss. It's
not an invitation you want to pass up. At the
end of the story. It says those who were invited
first. They're not going to be entering into
the banquet. Because they refused. They missed
their opportunity. They missed their invitation.
Perhaps you've had it. Experiences in your life
where there were things you were invited to,
there were things you could have taken part of,
and you said no, you made excuses. Maybe you
regret some of those things today. It's a bummer
to pass up on a cool experience and know you
may never get to do it again. Well, it's one
thing to miss a get -together in this world and
miss a cool experience in this world because
of your excuses or because... You rejected the
invitation. But this is far more serious than
that. This is God himself. God himself through
his son who died on the cross, Jesus Christ.
It's God himself in this word saying, I invite
you to come and to be part of my kingdom. Would
you humble yourself and enter into my kingdom
today? Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank
you for your good word. I pray, dear Lord, that
you would help us to examine our hearts. Maybe
there is some pride lurking in there today. Maybe
it's hidden beneath the surface. Maybe it's front
and center, God. Maybe we know it's there and
we feel convicted. I pray, God, that you would
not allow us to fall into the trap of feeling
religious and proud in our own works and what
we can do, dear Lord. Because our works are...
Not good enough to please you, God. Our works
can never atone for our sin, but the works of
Jesus Christ can. So, dear Lord, I pray that
you'd be with any today who do not know Jesus
Christ. Maybe today they are in the middle of
a dark valley of a tough time when things are
really hard for them and they don't know where
to turn. I pray today, dear Lord, that they would
have heard through your word that they can turn
to you, that they are invited. to come into your
presence, to enter into your kingdom where everything
that they ever need will be provided for them,
dear Lord. Not that life will always be easy,
but you will always help them. Dear Lord, maybe
there are some that know you. They already know
Jesus Christ, and they just need to seek you
today. I pray that they would. I pray that they
would humble themselves before you this morning.
God, I pray that if there are any that do not
know Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit is working on
them, tugging on them today, that as we sing
this song, that they would just come forward,
dear Lord, and make that decision to follow Jesus.
Maybe even now, as I've prayed, they've repented
of their sins, dear Lord. That's what you call
us to, to repent, to turn from our sins, and
to turn to Jesus. God, maybe there are some today
that just need to pray, that need to come to
you. I pray that as we have this song of invitation,
dear Lord, if anybody's decided to to trust in
Jesus today that they would just come forward
as we sing and confess that to the whole world,
dear Lord. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.