The following message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. You know, one thing while you're opening there, I wanted to point out for you, this missions night we're having, it's really going to be very family accessible. And that might be something you might, with your younger ones, not feel like they could handle Bible study in the way we normally study the scriptures. But there's going to be tables. with presentations based on the different areas, the different cultures of our missionaries. And so I'm really looking forward to that. We're also going to have a time to be able to pray for the missionaries and just hear the word as it relates to our missions. And so I really encourage you, you may not be able to come most Wednesdays, but try and come this Wednesday. It's going to be a treat. I'm so looking forward to what our folks are throwing together. And it's just going to be a blessing. So we are on Luke chapter 14, we are picking up in verse 12. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word? He said also to the man who had invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. When one of those who reclined a table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. But he said to him, a man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready. but they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a field and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. And the servant said, sir, what you, what you commanded has been done and still there is room. The master said to the servant, go out to the highways and the hedges and compel people to come in that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. This is the reading of God's word. Please have a seat. Let's pray. Our Father, we pray that you would open your word to us. By your Holy Spirit, we pray that you would penetrate our hearts. Give us the eyes to see, the ears to hear, so that we would receive every single benefit that you have for us. And we pray especially for those who have not believed, that you would give them the ears to hear the invitation that has been made to them. Lord, spur them on to the faith they've never had, to the repentance they've never known, and we pray that you would save today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now, it is a pleasure to be back in Luke with you. These things, they start welling up and I'm grateful that I'm up here because they were welling up and I did not want to have to hold back. It's been a few weeks since we were in Luke. And so I want to remind you where we were. If you recall, Jesus had been at a wedding. Now he had been at a wedding watching something unfold that was rather unseemly. And what it was is that when the chance came to sort of sit down, everyone was attempting to get the very best seat they could. They were trying to get the seats of honor at the wedding. And so Jesus, witnessing this unseemly display, he decides that he will take this example and use it to explain something about the kingdom of God, something of the last day that is coming. Where we left off was this idea that exalting yourself will lead to God humbling you. If you seek your own glory, you won't find it. You won't find it. And in fact, God will make sure you get the opposite. On the last day, it's the proud who will be humbled. But in this amazing contrast, on that last day, if you are humble, if you are humble in Christ, you will be lifted up. See, on that last day, if you will humble yourself, God isn't just going to walk by and say, good, you're humbled. That's where you're supposed to be. He won't just leave you humbled on that last day. God himself will elevate you to a place of privileged blessing. Self-seeking will rob you of blessing. But if you are humble, God will bless you. And so on this wedding day, that was the lesson that Jesus wanted to make sure the guests heard. And they had a vivid illustration of their very own behavior to make it real to them. He wanted them to know. That those who exalt themselves will be humbled. Those who are humble will be exalted on that last day. But then he's still at the wedding and he's still teaching. And so out of that point, he sort of transitions to his next point. Now, not by making another point to the guests, but by making a point sort of specifically to the host of the wedding. That's what you got in 12 through 14. I'll read it for you one more time. He said also to the man who had invited him, When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. So Jesus turns from the guest to the host, and he makes this point about pure generosity, pure hospitality. And his point, it's simple enough. See, he's not looking around and forbidding normal social life, saying, no, no, no, don't hang out with anyone who might do something nice in return. That's not his point. His point isn't about that, but what he's trying to tell them is where the greatest reward might be found. He's trying to tell them where the greatest blessing can be found. And the greatest reward is found in blessing those who can never repay you. You see, if you get repaid, he says, well, then you've had an earthly reward and that's all you get for that. But if someone can't repay you. then God is pleased to reward you in eternity. And His reward, His reward, it is much, much better than the earthly reward you forewent. pure generosity, pure hospitality. They are ultimately heavenly minded. They are looking ahead, not to what I can get now, but to what is coming ahead. They look forward to a reward that is only found on the last day. And so it's here now that the scene begins to take shape. It takes shape because in verse 15, one of the guests has a bursting with confidence kind of response. Look at verse 15. When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. He's excited about this. Now there's this common understanding so you can get the feel of the scene. There was this common understanding of a messianic kingdom that would be like a big feast. actually they weren't wrong in that regard, but that's what this guy is referring to. He is pumped about the messianic feast to come. He's like, I can't wait to be at that feast. And it's his confidence, it's his self-assured confidence that is the springboard for Jesus's main teaching in this passage. This wedding guest, whoever he was, he is sure that he is in. He is sure that he is going to make it, that he is going to reap that blessing. And we've discussed before in past passages that this was a common Jewish perspective because the idea was that basically all of Israel is going to make it. All of Israel is going to be saved. And so this guy, he's just sort of working out that kind of worldview. Of course, I'm going to be there. It's going to be awesome. Jesus wants the question, that self-assured confidence. And so he does so. In verses 16 through 23, with a parable of a great banquet. And there's three basic parts. The master's invitation, the excuses of those who were invited, and then the master's response. We start first with the master's invitation, verses 16 and 17. But he said to him, a man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready. Again, a little dose of the culture will help here. A customary way that you would invite guests to a banquet is you would actually invite them twice. And that's not as weird as it sounds. We turn out to do things very similarly even in our time. But first there would be the invitation that lets people know that there would be a banquet taking place. And that makes enough sense, right? You want people to know that something's about to happen. The way we do that today is you might think of this like an RSVP. RSVPing to a wedding, RSVPing to a party, whatever it is, you're signaling your intent to be there. And then there is the invitation that lets people know that they should come now because everything is ready. So a two-part invitation. One, I'm going to have a banquet. You guys should come, right? And then hopefully they would say yes. Then after that, hey, everything's ready. Come on over to the banquet. It's going to be great. And so the master in this case, he has let his guests know the banquet is coming and they apparently said that they would attend. So the way our customs would work, you got the letter in the mail. You said, yes, I will be there. I want chicken or something, right? Yes, I will be there. I'm RSVPing. Yes. So then, Invitation two comes around the banquet arrives and the master sends out the customary second invitation that Second summon saying come on. Everything is ready. Come on over But instead of his guests arriving What does he get He gets excuses Verses 18 through 21 are the excuses. I Just going to show you my hand a little bit here. These are actually bad excuses. They're not even good excuses, right? Oh, I'm feeling really sick. I can't make it, right? These are bad excuses. Let's go through them one by one and I'll show you why I say that. Excuse number one, that's verse 18. I have bought a field and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. Okay, well your standard criticism of this excuse is that the field has already been bought. The field has already been got, but it's not going anywhere. Have you ever bought a field, went to go see the field, and you're like, oh no, it's gone. It's not going anywhere. Now, there is a slight chance, just to be fair, that this guy might have been required to do a post-sale inspection. There's a slight chance. That all said, I mean, usually buying a field that's not a lightning sale, is it? Get it quick before someone else gets it, right? It's not normally like that. And it's certainly not so urgent that you couldn't make time for a nice meal. No, fundamentally, this guy is just showing his priorities. He said he would come, and then he didn't. He decided that his business was more important than his commitment. He decided that his business was more important than the generosity he was to receive from the master. And so he politely asks to be excused. Excuse number two, that's verse 19. I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. All right, the criticism here is basically the criticism of the last verse. Normally, though, the important time to inspect a purchase is before you buy it. Right? So, I mean, I just picture someone going out and saying, I bought a car, but I can't do anything now. I've got to go test drive it. That seem backwards to you? When do you test drive the car? Before you buy it. When do you inspect the oxen? before you buy him. He probably already would have, he definitely should have inspected his animals before he bought them. But here we are, same kind of issue. He said he would come, and then something comes up that he values more, so he doesn't come. His oxen were more important than the master's generosity. And so he too politely asks to be excused. Now bad excuse number three, verse 20. I've married a wife. Therefore, if you're taking logic, not a good therefore. Married a wife, therefore I cannot come. Now this excuse is at least a little bit interesting. If you're familiar with the law of the Old Testament, you might be having a bell ringing because there was a provision in the law that someone, a man who is newly married or betrothed would be excused from military service and other public duties. Well, that might make a little bit of sense for military service where you could go off and get killed. It doesn't actually have anything to do with a banquet, does it? Again, we have someone who said they would come. Again, we have someone who chose not to come. Again, the Master's generosity is not valued. It is not embraced. And in the case of the third excuse, you know what even makes it worse? He doesn't even take the time to make the polite exit. Oh, please have me excused. No! Marrying a wife can't come. That's it. Doesn't even bother with the manners. You see, all these excuses, they're pretexts. That's all they are. The truth is, is that these people just did not want to come. They have found something more important to justify not keeping their commitment. They don't really value the invitation to the banquet. So they're not coming. And so on verses 21 through 23, we have the master's response. Let's pick up in the text again. So the servant came and reported these things to his master. And then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. And the servant said, sir, what you commanded has been done and still there is room The master said to the servant, go out to the highways and the hedges and compel people to come in that my house may be filled. The master's response, first, anger. Because the master feels the insult here. He feels the insult and he's angry. He tried to give people a banquet. He tried to be generous, but all these guests, what did they do? They dodged, they rejected his generosity. And so he's angry at the rejection, but his generosity is still intact. And so in that generosity, he says, fine, go get everyone else then. Go invite everyone else then. Go get the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame. And in that society, he's describing the outcasts. Go get the outcasts. I want the outcasts to share my banquet. And then the servant goes out, and he sends out the invite. And the people arrive, and the servant says to the master, master, there's still room. We brought all of the outcasts in, and there is still room. And so the master says, fine, go even farther. Go outside of the town. Go along the highways. This would be where the beggars would be found. And what you're seeing here is the type of person. It doesn't matter to the master. What he wants to do is he wants his hospitality to be extended to the fullest. And so he sends a servant out and he says, go compel them by what she means. Go urge them, urge them to come. Sure. You don't know me, but I've got a banquet for you. Come enjoy, come receive my blessings. Come receive my generosity. He wants anyone who will take him up on his invitation. He wants anyone who will respond to his invitation. So he urges the people to come. And this is where you get to Jesus's point. Verse 24, look at the text with me one more time. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. Something just happened here in the storytelling, and it's easy to miss. The master had just been talking to his one servant. You remember that, right? Been saying, so bring them in, bring them in. Well, in this last verse, it says, for I tell you all, plural. Jesus has sort of broken out of his parable. And now he's got a room just like this with people paying rapt attention. And suddenly he says, for I tell you, all of you right now, I tell you this story. It's no longer about a hypothetical host and a hypothetical banquet with hypothetical guests. No, I am looking at you. Jesus looks around the room at all the people around him and is now saying, I am the host. And you are the people who are invited. So be warned. No one who makes weak excuses to get out of coming to the invitation of the King, not a single one of you will enjoy the eternal banquet. Not one. That man cried out, blessed are those who eat bread. Jesus will now say, they will not even taste of his banquet, not to mention eat of it. And we know, because this is the reason for the scriptures, we know that Jesus isn't just talking to a room full of people at a wedding 2,000 years ago. By His Holy Spirit, He is talking to us right now. I say to you, I say to you, He is talking about God's invitation to join his family. He is talking about God's invitation to be a part of his kingdom. He is talking about God's willingness to save if you will just repent and believe. Across all time, God has been a gracious host to humanity. And he invites them to enjoy his blessings, to enjoy his generosity. And he can say, just like the host, I've done all the work. I've done all the work. All you need to do is come and enjoy my blessings. I've done all the work. All you have to do is come and enjoy my salvation. come. And just like Jesus taught the wedding host, God has invited a people who can never repay him. One of our great delusions, as we've talked about, is that we bring something helpful to the table when it comes to our salvation. But God knows better, and he tells a very different story if you're paying attention to the word. We think we are rich. God says, no, you are poor. We think we are the mighty, but he says we are the crippled and we are the lame. We think we are the ones who can see clearly. And he says, you are blind. And whether they realize it or not, the people God saves are in desperate need. And just like this gracious host, God receives any type of person if they will just take him up on his offer. He receives any type of person if they will just take him up on his offer, if they will just simply come when he invites them into his salvation. And so to the weak and to the broken, he says, come, I will make you whole. And to the filthy and to the outcast, he says, come and I will make you clean, clean like you've never been. To the notorious sinner and to the backslider alike, he says, come, I will give you new life. God invites every type of person and the invitation goes out far and it goes out wide. It goes out freely, generously, and then people across all time has been ruling themselves out. Because just like they had bad excuses, we've still got bad excuses today. The theme for the bad excuses in this parable is that they thought that they had something more important to do than their invitation to the banquet. They thought something was more important than the invitation. There's a very specific issue that Jesus is going after in this parable. And the issue here is very specifically about people who flat out turn down God's invitation to be right with him. God says, come to me, come to me, and I will give your soul rest. And people say, no. God says, I will save you from your sins. I will save you from the judgment of that last day. People say, Not interested. God says, come, come be a part of my own family. People say, I'm sorry, please have me excused. Whatever the excuse is, it always comes back to what is important. How important is it to get right with God? And how important is it what we choose instead? What you have is there is always a deflating of the importance of being right with God. And there is always an inflating of the importance of what we choose instead, always. And so how does it play out? Real world examples? I don't have time to deal with these spiritual things. I'm just too busy right now. Too busy with life, too busy with school, too busy with jobs, etc. This is what you do when you have deflated the importance of being right with God and you have inflated the importance of ordinary life. I can't even think about getting right with God. It would totally disrupt my relationships with my friends, with my spouse, with my colleagues at work. Now, every Christian, every Christian can sympathize that it is difficult to follow Christ. And it is difficult, the dynamic that Christ brings into our pre-existing relationships. We can all sympathize with that. But when you choose your relationships instead of God, you are saying that those relationships are more important than your soul. You are saying they are more important than your relationship with God. I can't accept the invitation because it would be too hard. Again, don't we sympathize with it being hard? We do, don't we? But your comfort and your convenience are not what is important. What's important is your soul. We can run down the lists. Christ would mess up my plans. Your plans are not what's important. Christ is really inconvenient. Your convenience is not what is important. I'm not ready yet. Your sense of readiness is not what is important. I'm not good enough yet. Your sense of self-worth is not what is important. Your soul is what is important. Your relationship with your creator is what is important. Your eternal well-being is what is important. And so today your God is inviting you in. He's inviting you into His kingdom. He's inviting you into His banquet. He's inviting you into His family. Embrace God's invitation. Embrace God's invitation. Seize the opportunity and take Him up on His offer. Turn away from your sins. Turn away from your life that you've been living apart from him. Don't rule yourself out. Don't reject his open hand. Trust in the good hosts who died to prepare an eternal banquet for you. Don't rule yourself out. Don't excuse yourself from salvation. Friends, on the last day, on the last day, make sure you are one of the people who is actually rejoicing in that eternal banquet in the kingdom of God. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for the hope that lies ahead for an eternal banquet in the kingdom of God. Oh, we delight to look forward to that day. But Father, we know if the people who just assumed they were in existed in those times, we know they exist in our times, and we have no doubt they exist in our family here. And so we pray that there wouldn't be a single person who can hear this sermon preached that would not embrace the invitation. We pray that every single one of them would have their hearts pricked, their hearts stirred up so that they say, I must take advantage of the offer. Lord, please give our young ones especially faith to believe. May there be none who presume, who assume that they're getting in. Lord, may they make sure they're calling today. Father, we pray that you would save. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We hope that you were edified by this message. For additional sermons as well as information on giving to the ministry of Grace Community Church, please visit us online at gracenevada.com. That's gracenevada.com.