Book of Luke - Ch. 14, Vs. 21-24 (01/25/2004)

I think we're about ready we're gonna be in Luke chapter 14 verse 21 we kind of stopped in the midst of the parable of the

Great Supper I'm looking at something

I wrote in my in my Bible years ago I guess I heard some evangelist was preaching on this passage verse 17 where it says come huh yes it is

Luke 14 21 verse 17 says come for all things are now ready and I wrote this down I guess an evangelist had

C O M E and beside each letter he had a word children old people middle -aged everyone but anyway

I like the fact that verse 17 says all things are now ready that's the finished work of Christ you see that we've been talking about on Sunday mornings and so this parable starts out that way that all things are made ready

Jesus has done everything that it takes to save his own everything is ready now let's pick it up at verse 21 so the servant came and showed his

Lord these things then the master of the house being angry said and remember what we studied last

Sunday was they were making excuses and they weren't they weren't going to come had excuses and so it says that the master was angry and he said to his servant go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind now

I thought of something when we were in Joshua this morning for Sunday school let me show you something that caught caught my eye in that lesson it has to do with this and this was after the sin of Achan when they had won the

Battle of Jericho because God fought that battle and won it and Achan had gone in and taken some things for himself and God had told them not to do that and he hid those things in his tent and so they came and they found

Achan and God revealed who it was it was Achan and they stoned him and burned him and everything that had to do with him and after all that verse 26 in Joshua chapter 7 verse 26 says and they raised over him a great heap of stones and to this day so the

Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger now when you read that story if that weren't in there you wouldn't really think of it quite that way because you're thinking well these are

God's children and one of them did wrong there's sin in the camp as they say and so they went to the

Battle of Ai the first Battle of Ai and they lost it and they had men killed and they turned and had to run from the enemy they turned their back on the enemy and Joshua you know he you could tell that bothered him when he prayed to the

Lord he said I can't you know I can't deal with the fact that Israel turned its back on the enemy that seemed to bother him more than anything and God revealed to Joshua that it was because there was sin in the camp and it needed to be dealt with properly and they did deal with it properly and you read that whole story and you come to this and it says that the

Lord was turned from the fierceness of his anger we don't think of his anger being fierce toward his own children but it is and so we see this that when he says come for all things are ready in verse 18 they all began to make excuse and we get down to verse 21 so the servant came and showed this to the

Lord and then the master of the house being angry there's that word again it doesn't use the word fierce but being angry said to his servant go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor the maimed the halt and the blind this word bring is interesting and I think important because in the

Greek language it's ice ago and it comes from the word ice which means into and the word ago which means to lead or to bring so it means to bring into but literally it is translated to introduce like to introduce something into something else so when it says bring in hither it does mean bring them in but it's like we would use the word introduce this chemical into the beaker you know how they you they talk like that in chemistry and that's the actual word so introduce into this party the poor the maimed the halt in the blind the poor this literally means a beggar revelation 317 says because thou sayest

I am rich and increased with goods and have been of nothing and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried with fire etc so he says go out and since the people we invited made excuse and it made me angry then

I want you to go out and invite the beggars those who are beggars and then the main this word literally is the crippled so think about this he's going to go out now and he's going to invite those who are begging because they don't have what they need he's going to invite invite those who are crippled these are people who are born into the world but they are not whole they're existing but they're not whole as they should be they're going to invite the halt the word halt means those who are limping so these are people who are walking but they are not walking correctly and they're going to invite the blind and now this is an interesting word to floss and the

Greek language it literally means opaque as if smoky looking if your eyes were smoky and you're looking through you could see these are people who see but they don't see clearly so they're going to invite those who have nothing the beggar they're going to invite those who were born and alive but not whole they're going to invite those who are walking but not correctly and they're going to invite those who are seeing but not seeing clearly and verse 22 says and the servant said

Lord it is done as thou has commanded and yet there is room this word room is important it's the word topos and it strongly implies a real place that has limited space limited occupancy and such as heaven it is a real place and it is limited as far as who it will hold verse 23 and the

Lord said into the servant go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled this word compel means to necessitate which doesn't really fit in our mind too well but it's from another

Greek word that means to constrain to constrain so go out and almost as if to constrain them and that they might come in now that's an interesting word and I think compel is it is a great translation of it it's a good very good translation but it's a strong word coming from the base word that means constrained to hold someone's attention and tell them the gospel remember the story about the alluded to it this morning that the seed falls on the hard path and the birds come and take it away before Jesus said that means that the person heard the gospel but before they could even think of it

Satan took it out of their heart and so as it tells us that we are to go to these people we're going to people who have nothing and this doesn't mean they can mean physical but primarily there's a strong spiritual undercurrent here it means people who think they perhaps have something but they are totally beggars they have no spiritual assets whatsoever well that's just everybody that's lost so we're supposed to go to those we're supposed to go to those who are walking but not the right way they're alive but they're not whole they're blind as if seeing but they just can't see clearly and we're supposed to constrain them and tell them the gospel compel them to come in well

Jude 22 says this and of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh for I say unto you that none of those men and now we're back in Luke I say to you none of now think about the fierceness of his anger here now for I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden the ones they invited that made them the excuses none of them shall taste of my supper now that's the anger of God's justice and his wrath coming out against those who refuse the invitation they are compelled in many ways to come in and they refuse it

Jesus said Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem if you would have come and you would not there is the responsibility of man all men stand responsible before God to answer this invitation we stand responsible for God to give the invitation let's pray together father we ask you to bless this passage of scripture in our hearts

Lord help us remember that we are called to walk a godly life before the world but we're also instructed that there will come times when we are to compel people to come in we are to grab their attention in one way or the other and see that they are listening and then to give them a clear presentation of the invitation to the wedding party and so Lord work in our hearts that we may have upon our feet the preparation of the gospel of peace help us prepare and to think about what we might say in certain circumstances and to have something that can come out of our hearts concerning the truth of what you have done dying on the cross raising from the dead and ascending in the heavenlies presenting your blood on behalf of your children help us to be able to tell that story clearly and to compel people invite them to come to the tree of life

Lord thank you for giving us the privilege of this message being ambassadors in this realm this is not our land we're just traveling through but you sent us here as ambassadors