Audio - The Invitation to the Great Supper

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The Third Sunday in Trinity
The Invitation to the Great Supper
June 21, 2009

TEXT:  (Luke 14:16-24 NKJ) Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 "and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited,`Come, for all things are now ready.' 18 "But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him,`I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.' 19 "And another said,`I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.' 20 "Still another said,`I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' 21 "So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant,`Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.' 22 "And the servant said,`Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.' 23 "Then the master said to the servant,`Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 `For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"
 
 
 
This is the parable of the great supper invitations—Jesus is in the house of one of the Pharisees—Jesus is a guest of honor for a meal—it is the Sabbath day and Jesus just healed a man with dropsy—the Pharisees considered that healing to be work and therefore a violation of the Sabbath—to teach the Pharisees, Jesus then discussed the invitation to a dinner or feast—Jesus says invite those who cannot repay you or cannot invite you back—and your repayment will come at the time of the resurrection—the sentence immediately preceding today’s text is this
 
(Luke 14:15 NKJ) Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"
 
One of the attending Pharisees offered these words as he considered sitting in heaven eating at the table of God—Jesus then spoke the parable of our text—the parable is in reference to a great feast—there is such a great feast mentioned in the prophecy of Revelation—and there is a mention of a feast in the prophecy of Isaiah
 
(Revelation 19:9 NKJ) Then he said to me, "Write:`Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God."
 
The supper of the Lamb is our salvation in heaven
 
(Isaiah 25:6-9 NKJ) And in this mountain The LORD of hosts will make for all people A feast of choice pieces, A feast of wines on the lees, Of fat things full of marrow, Of well-refined wines on the lees. 7 And He will destroy on this mountain The surface of the covering cast over all people, And the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day: "Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
 
The veil or covering in this prophecy is death—death is sin—all nations are covered with sins—and only those of the Lamb—those that know Jesus—will have that veil pulled off of them—Jesus redeemed all believers—and through Him our sins are forgiven
 
(Luke 6:37 NKJ)  "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
 
As we start our examination—we first remind ourselves that God wants all men saved—the Pharisee—the Jew—the Gentile—and the maimed or lame
 
(1 Timothy 2:3-4 NKJ) For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
 
But not all men will be saved—most men will fall into the hands of Satan—these will waver and will not be willing to make the sacrifices in this life necessary to inherit eternal life—and that is the point of this parable—God wants men saved—and they turn away from Him for various worldly reasons
 
Consider the lesson of the text—our Lord’s choice of the invitation to the supper is not by chance—supper is the evening meal—the last nourishment before going to sleep—the meal before the coming of darkness—in this case of the parable—the supper is the feeding of the Holy Gospel—the last doctrine God gave us—and the doctrine that will usher in the end of the world
 
The supper is free to those who are invited—but the man giving the supper paid a great price for it—the life of His Son—now let’s examine the invitation
 
Notice the word servant in our text is singular—one servant was sent out—and when the resurrected Christ ascended, many apostles and ministers with one Gospel message continued to offer the invitation—Jesus Christ died for your sins—believe and be saved—no matter how many men are sent out with the message—it is a single message from a single source—and it has been that way from the beginning of Jesus’ message—and will remain that way until Judgment Day—God the Father gave Jesus the words to say
 
(John 14:10 NKJ) "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
 
(1 Corinthians 2:1-10 NKJ) And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified… 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. …  10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit….
 
Those invited in the parable are the Jews—God’s chosen people—whose descendants were protected by God through the generations—and now they have no time for God—Jesus told us in Matthew’s Gospel the specifics of how we are to conduct ourselves in these types of instances
 
(Matthew 10:37-38 NKJ) "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
 
Whoever will come to this supper must love the Gospel above all things—more than their parents—more than their siblings—more than the pleasures of this world—those attending this supper do not have to give up the things of the Old Testament—but they do have to apply the Word as Jesus instructed
 
(Matthew 10:39 NKJ) "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
 
(Matthew 19:29 NKJ) "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
 
No one comes to this supper unless he comes in true faith—they have to love God above all creatures—including parents, wives, brothers, sisters, etc.—the Jews were God’s people—they received the Holy Spirit, but they refused to acknowledge Him—they chose to maintain things the way they wanted them—not the way God wanted them—the end of the sermon preached by Stephen, the first martyr, reminded the Jewish leaders of their sins through the generations—Stephen was then stoned to death
 
(Acts 7:51-54 NKJ) "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 "who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
 
It was necessary to preach to the Jews first—then the Gentiles—Jesus taught His disciples—and us—this very thing
 
(Matthew 10:5-6 NKJ) These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
 
After Jesus’ ascension into heaven—the disciples’ effort spread to include all men who would come
 
(Acts 13:46-47 NKJ) Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 "For so the Lord has commanded us:`I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.'"
 
We’ll close with a quote by a Hebrew’s Hebrew—Paul—passing along his insight into the attendees of this supper
 
(1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NKJ) For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-- 31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."
 
We are invited to the supper by the Gospel message—as the truth of the Word is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit
 
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!