Book of Luke - Ch. 14, Vs. 1-35 (08/16/2020)

We're in chapter 14 of Luke this morning, and we'll begin at verse one.

But before we do that, let's take a moment to pray. Most gracious heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and thank you for all of our many blessings.

Thank you again for the technology that you've given us to reach out and touch one another, even though we'd be miles apart.

Thank you for all the things that you've done for us. Thank you for your son. Thank you for your scripture.

Thank you for the Holy Spirit to help us to understand the scripture. Bless us and keep us and go with us through the day and through the week and through the rest of our lives.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So, chapter 14, verse one.

And it came to pass as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the

Sabbath day, that they watched him. Now, I underlined two phrases.

The chief Pharisees, and they watched him. One doesn't just show up at the house of a chief

Pharisee to eat or for any other reason without an invitation. So we might rightly wonder why

Jesus was invited. And a second question we might consider is, what were they watching for?

John MacArthur gives us a clue. But first he says, Luke shows

Christ healing on the Sabbath more frequently than any of the other gospels.

Christ seems to have favored the Sabbath as a day for doing acts of mercy. MacArthur also notes the oddity of the guest list.

We'll get to the guest list in just a second. Evidently, the Pharisee had less than honorable motives for inviting him to a meal.

So let's look at the rest of the next verse. And behold, there was a certain man before him which had dropsy.

I had to have my brother confirm what Chuck Missler said about the oddity of the guest list.

And he confirmed it, so I feel like I'm on solid ground. So the other oddity of the guest list is this.

What was a chronically sick man doing at a meal set up for one of the chief

Pharisees and his guests? Chuck Missler first tells us the seriousness of the disease.

And then he supplies a possible reason that Jesus and the sick man were both invited.

Dropsy is an old -fashioned word for a condition of excess fluid in the tissue of the body.

I think they call it an edema, but in any case, excess fluid in the tissues of the body.

It's possibly caused by certain types of cancer, possibly liver, kidney, or heart problems.

Now, that's the seriousness of the disease. This man had been sick with that disease for quite a while, apparently.

And he was probably, Missler says, invited to the Pharisees' house as bait in a setup.

If Jesus ignored the afflicted man, he was without mercy, without compassion.

If he healed him, he was openly violating the

Sabbath and they could accuse him. Now, of course,

Jesus was aware of their intent to entrap him. So he confronts them with a question.

I'm going to add here, I sometimes use this exact technique when

I'm dealing with discipline issues at school. I'm going to ask them about what's going on for a particular student.

But before I ask the question, I warn them, just because I ask the question doesn't mean that I don't know the answer.

Well, Jesus, of course, knows the answer. And he now asked him the question.

And Jesus answering, speaking to the lawyers and the Pharisees, saying, is it lawful to heal on the

Sabbath? And he said, yes, it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath day. Now, MacArthur comments on the phrase, is it lawful?

He said he had repeatedly defended Sabbath healings. This is Jesus. And his arguments consistently silenced the naysayers.

And then he cited another passage earlier in Luke that we dealt with five or six weeks ago.

Luke six, beginning at verse six. I'm going to read it.

And as I read that passage, I'm going to make some comments along the way.

So here we go. Luke chapter six, verse six. And it came to pass on another

Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and talked. And there was a man whose right hand was withered.

And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the

Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against them.

Okay, now we probably are to the answer. It's clear in this passage, while they were watching him, they were watching him that they might find an excuse to accuse him of something, of violating the rules of the

Sabbath. And we might infer that it's for this same reason that they were watching him in chapter 14.

Continuing though with chapter six, but he knew their thoughts. And he said to the man which had the withered hand, rise up, stand forth in the midst.

And he arose and stood forth. So Jesus deliberately displays this man for everyone to see.

He calls attention to him. And now that Jesus has called attention to the man, he will ask the

Pharisee the question, a question to which of course he knows the answer.

And here's the question, worded a little bit differently than it was in 14, but essentially says the same thing.

Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing.

Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do evil, to save lives or to destroy it?

And looking round about upon them all, and I inserted this on my own and hearing no answer, he said unto the man, stretch forth thy hand.

And he did so. And his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

MacArthur goes on to say here, and he's referring back to Luke 14, not to Luke six.

Here, Luke 14, and in Luke six, he questioned the scribes about the legality of the healing on the

Sabbath beforehand. Before he healed, he questioned them about the legality of it. And still they could give no cogent reasons why they believed healing was a violation of the

Sabbath laws. And they hated him without reason.

That was my addition. They hated him without reason. Chuck Missler reminds us of this.

Jesus had already violated their Sabbath traditions on at least six prior occasions.

I'm gonna list all six of the prior occasions, and I'll read about two of them.

I'm gonna collect the first two, the demonic in Capernaum in Mark one, beginning at 21.

You may start going there. And then the second one will be

Peter's mother -in -law, also in Capernaum on the same day. And the description of that will begin in Mark one, verse 29.

But we're gonna begin at Mark one, chapter, I'm sorry, verse 21.

Mark one, chapter 21. And they went to Capernaum.

And straight away on the Sabbath, I bold faced that, on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and talked.

And they were astonished at his doctrine. For he talked as one that had authority and not as one of the scribes.

And there was in the synagogue, a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out saying, let us alone.

What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?

I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. So the demonic, the demon inside the demonic man understood who it was that he was talking to.

He was talking to the anointed one. He was talking to the Holy One of God. He was talking to the

Messiah. And he calls attention to himself. And he calls attention to Jesus.

And Jesus, verse 25, rebuked him, rebuked the demonic, saying, hold our peace and come out of him.

Well, actually he didn't rebuke the demonic. He rebuked the demon inside the demonic, saying, hold our peace and come out of him.

And when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.

Verse 27, and they were all amazed in so much that they questioned among themselves saying, what thing is this?

What new doctrine is this? For with authority commendeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.

Verse 28 says this, and immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.

Of course, that's for just a little bit later. The fame didn't spread instantly throughout all of Galilee.

It took a little time. But the next step didn't. Verse 29 picks up right away.

And forthwith, right now, just as they step out of the synagogue, and forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, remember, this is still on the

Sabbath day, they enter into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

But Simon's wife's mother, his mother -in -law, lay sick of a fever.

And Anon, they tell him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.

And immediately the fever left her. And she ministered unto them.

So those are the first two instances where Jesus healed on the Sabbath.

He also heals the impotent man in Jerusalem in John chapter five, the man with a withered hand in Mark chapter three, the woman bowed together,

Luke 13 verses 10 and 17, the woman we talked about last week.

The sixth one he talked about was the man born blind that's chronicled in John chapter nine, verses one through 14.

I'm not gonna read all of those, but I will say this. Oh, as well as the man here with dropsy in Luke 14, four.

In all of these cases, Jesus showed that he placed human need above mere external ceremonial observation of the

Sabbath. But he never did or said anything to suggest that he intended to take away from man the privileges afforded by such a day of rest.

He's not about taking away privileges. He's above, he is about placing human need above mere external ceremonial observations.

Remember, Jesus is all about reality and he's not about appearances. So now we are to verse three.

And I'm gonna reread verse three. And then tell you what they said later. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees saying, is it lawful to heal on the

Sabbath day and they held their peace. And he took him and healed him and let him go.

Now, Jesus after giving them an opportunity to object, healed the man.

And then he followed with a question to all those in attendance. So here's the question.

And he answered them saying, which of you shall have an ass or an ox and fall into a pit and will not straightway pull him out on the

Sabbath day? So the question is, is there anything, that is to say any work that the

Pharisees did approve of doing on the Sabbath? Well, one thing they could do is they could pull an animal out of a pit on the

Sabbath. If you've ever tried to do that, I'm sure brother David has because he's been in the cattle business.

That could turn out to be a significant amount of work. So apparently the amount of work necessary to accomplish the task was not the issue here.

Because, verse six, and they could not answer him again to these things.

So they couldn't answer him when he asked if it was legal. And they can't answer him now to say, if it's not legal for me to heal on the

Sabbath, why is it legal for you to pull your animal out of a pit on the

Sabbath? They knew that their objection to healing on the

Sabbath was capricious. The rules that they were following were only to give the appearance of cleanliness, not the reality of it.

So Jesus follows with a parable. Now, before I start this parable,

I'm going to make a little comment of my own. In all the times

I've read through this, I kind of read it quickly and didn't pay much attention to it. And it didn't occur to me that this was a parable dealing with salvation and God's sovereignty and the elect and the non -elect and obedience and disobedience.

This is all another story relating the sovereignty of God. Someone once told me, once you see the sovereignty of God, it pops up on every page.

Well, it hadn't popped up on this page to me until this one.

So here we go. And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms saying unto them.

Okay, before I tell you what he says, I'm going to make a comment. So Jesus watches how they choose their seats.

And he gives them this advice in the form of a parable. Here's the beginning of the parable.

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not in the highest room, lest an honorable man than thou be bidden of him.

So Jesus' first bit of advice, it's better to be told by the host, move up to a better place than it is to be told by the host, make place for a better man.

Verse nine. And he that bade thee, let me start it again at the top.

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down at the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him.

And he that bade thee and him come and say unto thee, give this man place.

For thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

Instead, when thou art bidden, go sit down at the lowest room.

That when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, friend, go up higher.

Then thou shall have worship in the presence of them that sit at meet with thee.

So if nothing happens, if you sit in the lowest room and nothing happens, the master, the host doesn't come by and tell you to move up.

If nothing happens, you are where you chose to be. And you can eat quietly and have a peaceful meal and enjoy yourself.

But if the host comes and asks you to move, he has to ask you to move to a better place.

And you'll be honored in the eyes of all the guests. And you will have a ward.

And I added this, albeit an earthly one. Now, here's the thing about it.

All the people in this parable for now were invited and came.

And they are to some degree obedient, but to another degree, they are disobedient.

And here he is saying, if you put yourself in a position where you receive your honor here, that may preclude you getting a better reward later.

Well, let's go on. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased.

And he that humbles himself shall be exalted. Now, Jesus turns his attention to the host and advises the host how to choose his guests.

So here's what he says. Then said he also to him that bade him, the host, when thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee.

So here's what he's saying. If you do that, if you invite your friends and your kinfolk and your neighbors, your rich neighbors to your event, they'll invite you to one of theirs.

And that will be your reward. It will be an earthly reward. But if you want a lasting reward, use a different method of choosing your guests.

So this is advice to the host. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

So he's saying, instead choose those who cannot reciprocate.

Then you'll have a better reward, a heavenly reward, in a better place, in the heavens, at a better time, at the judgment of the righteous.

You will have a heavenly reward. Verse 15, and when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

So at least one of the guests understood that the reward, in this case, that would be received, would be a heavenly reward, not an earthly one.

Then Jesus said unto him, he's still talking to the host, and to those of us who are listening, a certain man made a great supper and bade many.

Now, up until now, Jesus has been dealing with those who received an invitation and attended the event and received some sort of rewards.

He's actually modeling the election, the obedience or the lack of obedience, and the rewards that the believer, the elect, will gain as a result of their obedience.

Now, if they're not obedient, sometimes their rewards will only be earthly. But if they are obedient, the rewards will be greater.

So now he's gonna turn his attention to those who declined the invitation.

Now, modeling this parable, he's referring to the non -elect, those who cannot be obedient, even if they try.

Those who made their choice not to attend, and as a result of their choice are cast out.

So they're not cast out for some capricious reason.

They were cast out because they chose not to come. Verse 17, and he sent his servant, and he sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, come, for all things are now ready.

Now, remember, they were invited, but they chose not to come. In the parable, the master expects them to show up.

In the salvation experience, which the parable is modeling, the real master, Jesus, knows that they will refuse to come.

That's one difference. Verse 18, and they all with one consent began to make excuses.

The first one said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must need to go and see it.

I pray thee, have me excused. As we go through the rest of this passage, note the lameness of the excuses.

How likely is it that this guest bought a piece of land that he had not seen?

The more likely reason is that he had rather be enjoying his new bought land than attending the banquet.

So it was a choice of something he'd rather be doing. He didn't have time for the host and the banquet.

He had more important things to do. Then said another, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them.

I pray thee, have me excused. Different guest, a different possession, but the same excuse.

I'd rather be doing something else. Verse 20, and another said,

I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. Well, at least in our culture, we don't have a possession here, but we do have the same excuse.

I had rather be somewhere else doing something else than to be with you at your banquet.

That's the excuse. Verse 21, so the servant came and showed his

Lord these things. And the master of the house being angry said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind.

Now, it's hard to see here, but what Jesus is telling these

Jewish leaders, that by rejecting him, they are actually making space for the

Gentiles. Gentiles. Go to Romans 11, verse seven.

What then? Romans chapter 11, verse seven.

What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

That was difficult for me, so I translated it into a language more my style.

Individually, the Jews could still be saved. The ones that could be saved, the elect would be saved, and they have obtained it.

The rest, the non -elect, were blinded. So individually, the

Jews could be saved, but not as a group, which is what they thought. What they thought was everybody that was a child of Abraham was eligible and would be saved and would go on to the kingdom.

The only ones that were precluded from that were tax collectors, which they hated above everybody, except maybe the

Jews, maybe even more than the Jews, and those that had done some sort of heinous crime, but not as a group.

Verse eight. The rest were blinded. Accordingly, as it is written,

God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that should not see, and ears that should not hear unto this day.

I boldfaced that, and I said this.

Unto this day, that means up until now, but it doesn't mean forever, and we'll get to that in just a second.

And David said, let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them.

Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back always.

I say then, have they stumbled, this is Paul speaking now, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?

God forbid, but rather that through their fall, salvation is come upon the

Gentiles, for to provoke them, the Jews, to jealousy. Okay, so that's the reason that they stumbled and fell, to provoke, for Jesus then to give space to the

Gentiles, and to provoke the Jews to jealousy. Now go on down in Romans 11 to verse 25, and we'll pick it up, and then leave

Romans. Romans 11, verse 25.

For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the

Gentiles become in. And I bold faced that, blindness until the fullness of the

Gentiles become in. And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written.

Now, that mass salvation that I referred to earlier and said until now, but not forever, that mass salvation of the

Jews is, I believe, on the horizon, even as we speak. So here's what was written.

And so Israel shall be saved as it is written. There shall come out of Zion the

Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when

I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake.

But as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake. For gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

For as ye in times past have not believed in God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.

He's talking to the Gentiles. You used to not believe in God, but now you have obtained mercy because of their unbelief, even so have these, the

Hebrews, the Jews, now also have not believed that through your mercy, they may also obtain mercy.

For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, so that he might have mercy on them all. And that's a long way of saying everybody is unworthy of being saved.

And the ones that are saved, it's all due to the grace and mercy of God.

So back to Luke, verse 22 of chapter 14.

And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou commended, and yet there is room.

So they've gone out into the hedges, into the town, and rounded up everybody, and they haven't filled the room.

And the Lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Compel them, not compel them with the threat of force if they didn't comply, but it's more like urging them to come, begging them to come.

It's part of what we were told to do in the great commission in Matthew 28, 19 and 20.

Go ye therefore into all the world, making disciples of, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever

I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. We are commissioned to go out and spread the word, to beg them to come.

So it says, compel them to come, beg them to come, urge them to come. And then he goes on to say this, verse 24.

For I say unto you that none of these men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

There is no place in heaven for those who reject his calling. As we discussed last week, there were still great multitudes that followed him, but committed followers were becoming more and more scarce.

And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them.

Now, he's gonna begin to tell his followers of the hardships that they're going to face because of their faith.

If you think that joining the church, accepting Christ, becoming a saved person will make everything in your path rosy, you are mistaken.

There's gonna be hardships that come to you. And as time passes,

I'm fearful that the hardships are going to become more and more pronounced.

Verse 26, if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yea, even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Well, we talked about that last week also. And that comes across as reasonably severe.

He's gonna give the same message in Matthew, but with perhaps a clearer description.

So would you all turn to Matthew chapter 10, verse 38. You'll get the same, almost the same word for word description with a couple of exceptions.

Matthew 10, verse 38. He that loveth father or mother more than me, read that again.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

So it's just telling us to give the proper perspective that the love of God, the love of Jesus must come first.

And if we love Jesus, we'll love all these other people. We can't not love. We can't love

Jesus and not love our father and our mother and our son and our daughters and our wives, even our enemies.

If we love Jesus, we'll love all of them. But he says, you can't love any of those more than you love me.

Verse 27, Luke 14, verse 27. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Matthew, in chapter 10, verse 38, concludes his sentence with this.

And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.

So it's a little gentler description in Matthew than it was in Luke.

And then he goes on to say in Luke, for which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he hath sufficient to finish it.

So we're told to count the cost. Because, lest happily, after he hath laid the foundation, he is not able to finish.

And all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish.

For what king goeth to make war against another king sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with 10 ,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20 ,000.

Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassador and desireth conditions of peace.

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

And my comment to that is, the cost of being a disciple may be higher than you think.

But I can also say, whatever the cost, whatever the price, it is well worth paying.

Turn to Philippians chapter three, verse 17.

Philippians chapter three, verse 17. Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so.

For you have us as an example. He's telling them to walk like he walks and like the ones who walk like him are walking.

We have each other for examples, for samples of how it is that we should walk or conduct our life.

He goes on in verse 18 to say, for many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they're enemies of the cross of Christ.

Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly. What they're interested in are things that satisfy their body.

Whose glory is in their shame, who mine earthly things.

If your mind is entirely on earthly things or predominantly on earthly things, that's a problem.

Your predominant thoughts should not be earthly things but should be heavenly things.

Verse 20, for our conversation, our life is in heaven. From whence also we look for the

Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our vile bodies that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

So what should our main consideration be? What's the point of this parable? This parable is that we should, if we are his, we should be obedient to what he has asked us to do.

And what he has asked us to do is live as much like him as we possibly can, and he will make up the difference.

He will pay the price for our lack of obedience. To the extent that we're able to follow his commandments and be obedient, we will gain heavenly rewards.

To the extent that we can't do that, then our rewards will be burned up as hay and stubble.

But we ourselves shall be saved so as by fire.

So that parable is talking to the elect about obedience and about the rewards that they will get at the judgment if they are obedient.

And the rewards that they will squander and will be left behind on the earth if they're not obedient.

Then he goes to a whole different, I guess this is still a parable.

Verse 34, salt is good. But if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out.

Again, Matthew gives a little bit easier to understand or complete explanation.

Chapter five, verse 13. Chapter five, verse 13, Matthew. Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?

It is thence for good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

Neither do men light their candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick.

And it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your

Father which is in heaven. And then the last verse, the last phrase in the last verse of Luke 14 is, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

I think now what I will do is offer a quick prayer and then I may be able to pull up, well, let me try pulling up the comments first.

I begin to see some comments pop up and maybe, no, that's not what

I thought. I thought I was getting comments. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all your many blessings.

Protect us and keep us and go through the rest of the day with us. Lead Brother David into giving us the message that we all need to hear.

The message that's on his mind, the message that each one of you need to hear and the message that I need to hear.

The Holy Spirit knows what is best and necessary for each one of us and he will provide a way that we will see the message that he has for us.

Bless us and keep us, go with us through the rest of the day, in Jesus' name we pray.