Pay close attention as I read to you from God's word for it is God's word. He is the one who has given it to us. When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. Jesus replied, A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited come for everything is now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said, I have just bought a field and I must go and see it. Please excuse me. Another said, I have just bought five yoke of oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me. Still another said, I just got married so I can't come. The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry. And ordered his servant go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lane. Sir, the servant said, what you have ordered has been done, but there is still room. Then the master told his servant, go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but God likes a good dinner party. He likes to eat. He put Adam and Eve in a garden to keep it and when he made covenant with all Israel, when he redeemed them out of the land of Egypt, when they were there at Mount Zionite, the 70 elders sat in eight with the Lord. We're told in Exodus 24, our Lord Jesus instituted the Lord's supper, a picture really of a meal that we will participate in, but Revelation speaks about in chapters 20 and 21. Jesus's parable here talks about a banquet and God is the great owner, the great master, the founder of the feast. He tells us a little bit about that. The context is kind of important. It tells us in verse 15, when one of those at the table heard this, he said to Jesus. If you've been here the last couple of weeks, I'm sure you've heard about Jesus being invited to a dinner party at a prominent Pharisee's home, and he healed a man there. I wonder if it wasn't a setup, but that was Fred's area to cover, so he told you whether it was or not. But after that, Jesus starts giving a few parables. He notices people kind of claiming the best seat, and he talks about humility, about holding back, about being invited to come to the better seat, rather than humiliated by assuming the best and being asked to move back some. He gave another parable talking about how you should invite to your dinner parties, those who can't pay you back, those who are on the fringe and disadvantaged, and have nothing really that they can do to advance your wealth and importance in the community. And that's what caused this guy to speak, and whether he was speaking because there was this kind of uncomfortable sense in the air, or whether or not maybe Kenneth Bailey says that he thinks that this was just kind of the questioning that went on. Here's a traveling rabbi, and the leaders in the community are kind of questioning him, and finding out where he believes, and so the statement, how blessed are those who will eat in the kingdom, eat the feast in the kingdom of God, is really saying, so what do you think about the kingdom? And perhaps even the question, so who's going to be in? And he gets some good reason for thinking this way, there's extra biblical writing that has to do with a certain passage we read earlier in the service from Isaiah 25, where it speaks about this banquet that the Lord will throw. This is Isaiah 25, 6-8, the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain, a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with morrow, and refined aged wine. I told you, he likes a good dinner party. And on this mountain, he will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord will wipe tears away from all faces, and he will remove the reproach of his people from all the earth. You know there was an Aramaic translation that was becoming popular in the time of Jesus. Aramaic being kind of a Hebrew dialect that the people were speaking at the time, and it's called the Targon, and when you read this passage from Isaiah there, it totally changed the meeting. The Targon is kind of like one of these expanded versions, a new living translation, something like that that gives you a little added meaning to explain things. And the Targon, when it quotes this passage in Isaiah, it says, it'll be a dark time and people are going to die, and it just kind of misses the feast altogether. There's a book written in the second century called The Book of Enoch, again, extra biblical writing, but in this book, it's also spoken of this feast, and it says, yeah, there will be Gentiles there. There will be these nations, all peoples, but they're there to die, and their blood will flow, and the guests, the honored guests, will have to trench through their blood to go to the dinner. And then there was this other writing, your familiar perhaps, with the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls is called the Messianic Rule, and there's a discussion about the banquet in this book as well. And they reject the idea of what Isaiah wrote as well, and they say that there won't be any Gentiles, there won't be anyone who is unclean among them, and there will, you know, no Gentile, and no one smitten in the flesh or paralyzed in the feeder hands or lame or blind, or deaf, or dumb, will be allowed in the banquet. That's what that extra biblical writing said. So, if that guy is asking, have blessed are those who will eat in the Lord's feast in the kingdom? What kind of answer do you think they're looking for? I mean, even if that wasn't his point to say, so what do you think on this? If there's these three documents that we have that show some of the thinking of that time, it was the time where they were looking for a Messiah, but remember they were looking for a Messiah that would destroy God's enemies, especially the Roman Empire, and elevate God's people, and usher in the kingdom. That's what they're looking for. And the question comes to Jesus, or the statement is made to Jesus, and Jesus picks it up, and he begins to talk, and he gives us a parable in which he talks about it. And I'd like to make three points from that parable this morning, and then we'll finish up with some applications. So, when you get done writing all three points, don't close your bulletin, you might want to write down the applications that we look at as well. This is the first thing, when Jesus gives this story, he talks about the honor of the host being insulted. The honor of the host is insulted. He's giving a very great banquet, and the way this would work in the Middle East and ancient times, I think still happens a lot today, is you give that initial invitation. I want you to come to this banquet, it'll be whatever date, three months out, and put it on your calendar. We do that now, right? Save the date, right? We'll say, okay, it's too early to send the invitation, but put this date, because we're going to get married on this day, or this part of your, or this significant event, and there was that kind of situation given. Now, the text tells us that they all alike began to make excuses. It wasn't just one person, it was almost like a conspiracy. In fact, the text says they all as one, the word one is used in the creek. They all had excuses, and when we look at the excuses that Jesus put in the story, there's a couple of things we can say about them. First of all, it's all legitimate stuff, right? I bought a field, nothing wrong with that. I bought five-yoke of oxen, nothing wrong with that. Okay, the guy saying, I've gotten married, I can't come. He's a little bit rude just on the surface of it, even in our English Bibles, we can kind of make that out. It wasn't that he'd gotten married that day, or planned, is wedding that day. He just has romantic ideas in mind, is what the commentators would say. So it's not illegitimate stuff that they're talking about, but it's incredibly insulting. Again, in this culture, you would save the date, you would plan, and there's no refrigeration, there's no planning, and well, if there's leftovers, we can keep it in the freezer. When you gave the invitation, and the person accepted it, it was done, and the amount of food provided, the animals killed, was carefully watched and considered, depending on who was going to be there. And when we take this first excuse, I've just bought a field. You never ever bought a field side unseen. The whole negotiating of the price was what kind of land is it, how fertile is it, how much, what kind of crops is it produced in the past, and there's a long period of negotiation and walking the land and this sort of stuff, it wouldn't be done overnight, and on a big event, you just would not double book. And if for some reason I can't think of, or the commentators can't think of, you do have to settle the deal that day. You would have already gone and talked the day before saying, look, I got to tell you there's something I'm so sorry, you would affirm the relationship, you would honor and respect the host, and you would let him know at your first earliest ability to say, I can't come. You wouldn't wait until the servant says, okay, it's ready, come on. It was just rude. The next guy, same thing, the five oxen, when you bought oxen, you first worked them. If you have just one set of oxen, two oxen, they've got a pool together on the yoke, you make sure that that yoke of oxen can work together. You'd never buy two animals that hadn't been worked with together to make sure that they could pull together evenly, each one pulling its own weight and so on and so forth and working together. You would never buy five yoke of oxen untried. It's very flimsy. It's to be understood in the hearer's ear that this is a lame excuse. They're saying something like, I can't come to the party. I haven't clipped my fingernails in months and I really got to stay home and take care of them. We've already mentioned the third one. Just rude. The first two say, please consider us excuse. The third one just says, I can't come. They insult the honor of the one who has invited them. And there's a depth there. It's not just a one-on-one insult. If there's a community thing, whether it's a conspiracy or not, I don't know. But one thing is for sure, they all understand the idea of honoring the host and honor in the community and a big dinner and who's there and who's not. And for it to go out in the community that all these people had been making ridiculous excuses and not shilling up is to insult the host in the community. Jesus is getting that across to his hearers and they understand that. It is somewhat of a distasteful thing. Now, I said earlier that this host represents God and I think that's true. And I think he is talking about who will be at the dinner and as we look at this, who's the invited guest? You know who it is. I'm not going to tell you if you don't know, just come talk to me after the service. I'll fill you in on the details. But they don't go in. They all make excuses. There's something that's interesting and it has to do with the timing. When the question is asked, it's a question. When the statement is made, how blessed are those who will eat in the kingdom of God? It's seen as something in the distant future, at least in the future. We hope it's soon when the Messiah comes, but whenever it is, it's not now. And Jesus's response seems to be kind of like what we talk about when we talk about end times, at least around here. The already and not yet, right? The already we already see the kingdom of God. Jesus has taught that. If I by the finger of God cast out demons in the kingdom of God has come upon you. It's already here. And the invitation is already going forward. Come for it's ready. And while there may be a literal feast with a literal meal before us in the kingdom, I trust that there will be. I think the pictures point that way in the scriptures. There's also this very clear teaching in the scriptures that we are to come to God and taste and see that the Lord is good. We are to come to the living Word of God, like newborn bays, and long for the pure of milk of the Word. We are to be those who grow up and eat the meat of the scriptures. We are to commune with God in such a way now that reflects our community relationship with the host. And certainly the scriptures are full of calls to us, aren't they? To meditate, to read, to meditate, to let the Word of God richly dwell in you, to feed your soul. Because we know that man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word the proceeds from the mouth of God. And the Lord of the kingdom, the king of the kingdom is saying, I'm already here and you're not dining with me. And think of what Jesus says in the book of Revelation. In chapter three, he's writing the letter to the people in Philadelphia. And he talks to them as though they were estranged. And he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. Presidents, I am at the door now knocking. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and listens to me, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. That's not the future, that's now. I think there's a warning here for believers, especially the covenant believers, those who have grown up in the church, those who know well the things of God, those who have worshiped several times. Where are you in your life? Are you feeding? This convicts me how often I am so busy, so full of excuses why I can't meet with the Lord. Why, you know, I can come to worship and show up and here I am and my mouths are singing, state upon Jehovah or whatever song it is. And my mind's thinking through this person, that person, what I got to do tomorrow, this is so frustrating and so on and so forth. And when you talk to me, I've got all sorts of excuses of why this isn't right and why that isn't right and why I'm justified in this. And I wonder if Jesus is parable, doesn't at least at some way, address that in our lives and say, come, come to me. Why am I in your life? Why aren't you coming to me? Where, you know, the scripture's talking about Jesus giving us rest, the scripture's speak about Jesus being living water that flows up from within. Why? Where is it? That's where the people of God. They all alike began to make excuses. The next thing we see in this text is number two, the grace of the host is extended to others. The grace of the host is extended to others. He continues in the parable, the slave comes back and reports to his master in verse 21, 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 the cripple and the blind and the lane. Well Jesus tells us right there where he's at when it comes to Isaiah 25, doesn't he? Go out at once and bring in the disadvantaged, bring in those who are crippled, those who have nothing to offer me and return. Go out and bring the gospel to them. This is what amazes me about this particular text. It says that the host was angry and extends grace. I still got to learn on that when I got work because those two just don't go together in my mind very well. How about you? But there it is. He's angry, but not so angry that he stops loving, not so angry that he doesn't want his house for. He doesn't stop to get revenge. There will be a day and he does speak to that at the end. I won't taste my face, those who make excuses. But the initial thing he does is the initial reaction in anger is, we'll go and buy in some other people. That's a powerful word. And that's exactly what Jesus is about, isn't it? During his three years of public ministry, he's going, he's calling, he calls the religious leaders. He's eating in their home talking with them. He calls the sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the rebellious. And he says, come, come on. One more point. Sincere invitations must be persuasive. I think this is kind of interesting. Yeah, we saw that in Presbyterian church, we're part of the PCA. We hold to the Westminster Confession of Faith. We don't mind the fact that Presbyterians are known for the doctrine of predestination, among other things. But that's one of the primary things. And we say, God is sovereign over all things. He sovereignly ordains whatsoever comes to pass. We talk about it, especially in the context of predestination in terms of who's in and who's out, double predestination. God knows those who will be in his kingdom and he has set them and he has affectionately called them. And he knows who will be in hell and God raises up all things, even the wicked for the day of judgment. And we know those scriptures that point to it. But we need to keep in mind that that does not in any way invalidate the fact that God has made us to be creatures who do have volition, who do make choices, who do interact, who do live in community. We're not robots. We're not just a picture of film in a projection screen. We're humans. We're made in the image of God and we make choices. And God honors that and speaks to us that way. And not only that, but his view toward us is one of kindness and compassion. On the way, the lame, the sick, the blind, those who cannot repay, that's exactly who we are, isn't it? Spiritually blind, we don't see the things of God until he alloons our eyes, the lame, talk about lame. We are very much the lame. You know, when we read this, I don't in any way mean to disparage those with some sort of physical handicap. In fact, when I look at the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, it seems to me he brings incredible honor and dignity. He lives in a time where there's not handicap parking and handicap bathrooms and handicap accessible places to go. They're disadvantaged. Their hope is that a family member, some compassionate person will take care of them the rest of their life. They're beggars on the street for money in Jesus' day. No wonder the scripture speaks to care for them and no wonder Jesus moves toward the hurting. That's exactly who he cares for. And his love pours out even more when he says to go to the highways and the byways, go to the hedges, go outside the city. And the translation here makes him come in, compel is the NAS. It certainly not grounds for the crusades or anything like that. It's more persuasive. That's why I use the word persuasive. We're to bring the gospel in a persuasive way. I can say more about that as well. Not only persuasive. We need to know how to invite people in and we need to be a little bit persistent. We could say persistent and persuasive. Go out, go out again. That's really the third time, right? Here's my original guest list. Go out again, go out again. Compel them. Why would they need to be persuaded? Well, anyone walking by on the lanes and highways since it's come to a big banquet. Yeah. Why don't they just give you my wallet now and we can be done with it? Would be the response of the person on the highway. No, it's true. There really is a banquet. You really are invited. I can't believe it. It just does not happen. It cannot be this way. No, but it's true. That's how we're to be with the gospel. I can't believe God would save someone like me. I can't believe that God would save someone who's done what I've done. I can't believe that God and His people would accept me. No, it's true. Look at me. We would say, and whatever other persuasive arguments we come up with, I had the opportunity to share the gospel with my dad again on this trip. And there's usually in our discussion something that hinders him from receiving Christ, believing that Jesus died for our sins, that he's the only way these sorts of things. And when we talk, I'm able to answer his objections, at least to my satisfaction. And it doesn't go anywhere. This last time when we were talking and sure enough, I was giving good apologetics, good answers to his questions, correct answers, and reasonable answers, nothing. I said something to him about relationships. Because he grew up in a church and it didn't go so well for him. He could see that there were a lot of people in church who really, they were there for show, they were there for business deals, they were there for a lot of reasons, none of which seemed to him to be to worship the great God who created them. And that was his experience. And when he was in our family and they'd take us to church, we'd go to a church, we moved around a lot so we had an opportunity to visit a few different churches. He said it wouldn't be two weeks before they were after me to teach in Sunday's school or be the head of this, you know the ushers or this or that or the other thing. You know, it's like they were pushing me way beyond where I was and such. And so I just said to him, we were talking in that context and I was like, okay, I hear you. I grew up going to the churches you took me to. I agree. I saw a whole lot of not loving Jesus too. But when I talked about, but you can know him, you can have a personal relationship with him. His whole demeanor changed. His posture sitting down changed. And while he didn't come to faith yet, he couldn't argue that one. And one other thing I learned in learning, I've got so many things to learn when it comes to this. But I found that I really needed to ask the question that would seal the deal, so to speak, that would say, well, what keeps you from receiving Christ? Well, would you like to receive Christ? Would you like to have that relationship with God? That's a helpful thing. It's not anti-communistic. We are to compile, persuade, invite, persist, and asking people to come to faith. Let me give you just three points of personal application. At least it strikes me. The first one has come to Jesus for regular spiritual nourishment. He is the bread of life. He is the fountain of living waters. His spirit is to be refreshing us. We may have pain. We may have suffering. We may have frustration. But in him is joy and peace. And we should come to him and feed on him until we have joy and peace. I don't mean to say it's going to be perfect. I'm just going to be days of mourning or grief or whatever, but as a constant, as a standard, we should see his mercy at work in our lives. And if not, we're making excuses. The second thing for me is just repentance when it comes to evangelism. I have not been zealous to invite people to come to the banquet. I need to learn to develop a genuine interest in people where they are. What kind of experiences they have had? What's shaped their thinking? Learn the art of getting to know them and learn to be persuasive, not argumentative, not win the argument, but still love Christ so well that I can say, yeah, but this is really important in such a loving way that they say, I know whether they accept him or not. And then the third thing would just be faith that I would believe that God does have his elect. And he will call them to himself and I shouldn't avoid sharing the gospel. These are some of the ways we can take this word and profit from it. That's great. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are the fountain of living water, the bread of life, that you bid us come. May we, your people who have called on your name for however long, may we steady be in coming and feeding, in communing and fellowship. Oh, Jesus grant that we spend so much time with you that we don't have excuses and we don't need them. And give us, give us those blessed feet that take the gospel to others, be with the chat team but be with each one of us. May we develop the ability to show a genuine interest in others, get to know them, share our lives and share you as a natural part of our lives. And thank you that you will build your kingdom, you are building your kingdom, and thank you that you'll use us. We thank you and Jesus.