Bible Sermons Online

THE GOSPEL INVITES SINNERS EVERYWHERE TO COME TO THE ENJOYMENT OF A HEAVENLY FEAST

* The ref. is to God: the feast is in heaven.
Proof: see v.15

1. The Bible pictures heaven as a great feast:
   1. Isaiah 25:6 ("mountain" = Jerusalem, from which the Gospel went out + where Christ was crucified).
   2. Matthew 22:2f ("dinner", "oxen"...)
   3. Revelation 2:7 ("tree of life")
   4. Revelation 2:17 ("manna")
2. In what sense will heaven be a feast?
   1. It will be a celebration: all God's people at last brought home + out of their trials.
   2. It will be a re-union (Illustration: school, etc) at which all Christians will meet happily again.
   3. It will be a time of happy sharing - all our experiences of God's grace on earth.
   4. It will be a wedding: wed to Christ.
      Illustration: Every wedding has a feast.
   5. It will be a glory-time: all will wear their heavenly clothes
      (Cp. the man who had no "wedding-garment"): perfect holiness + resplendent glory. So we read: "raised in glory" - "image of Christ".
   6. It will be a vision of God which we call "beatific" (Explain)
   7. It will be a feeding on God in Christ: "man's chief end - enjoy Him forever".
      OBSERVE: Do you not wish you were now there?

WHEN GOD'S MINISTERS GO OUT WITH THE GOSPEL INVITATION, MANY MAKE EXCUSES

* "servant" + preacher here: "all things now ready" = a full salvation ready for all who come by faith.

1. a perfect heaven
2. a perfect Saviour
3. a perfect provision

1. The instances given here:
   • "a piece of ground". "Go and see it"!
   • "five" yoke of oxen". "Prove them"!
   • "married a wife". Why not bring her?
   OBSERVE: They are all lame excuses - every minister hears lots of lame excuses.
   OBSERVE: God here shows that He expects men to search for excuses. But He is angry because there is no real excuse for rejection.
2. What lies behind the excuses?
   1. love of this world:
      But we must soon leave it anyway.
   2. sinful materialism:
      Illustration: Bunyan's "man with the muckrake".
   3. lack of interest in their own souls:
   4. neglect of the glorious Gospel:
   5. disregard for Christ's blessed death:
   6. hatred for God Who made us
   Q: If you have not come, what is your excuse? ("Too busy/too young"?)

WHEN PEOPLE REJECT THE GOSPEL, GOD BECOMES ANGRY AND HE GIVES IT TO OTHER PEOPLE

* see v. 21, 24: "NONE of those men..."

1. It is a very great sin to reject the Gospel
   1. because it is God's greatest gift
   2. because it is offered in His love to us
   3. because we desperately need its provisions
   4. because it involved Christ in great agony
   Imagine how God takes those excuses:
   1. "I am too busy for heaven".
   2. "I am more interested in money".
   3. "I prefer TV and sport to Jesus Christ".
2. I wish to show you:
   1. that this talk is very sinful
   2. that it is a kind of suicide
   3. that it makes God justly angry
   OBSERVE: Consider now your excuses.
3. If people reject Christ, God will take the Gospel away to those who want it:
   1. this is what God did to the Jews
      Proof: the Acts of the Apostles
   2. See N. Africa & Turkey today
   3. Look at Europe today.
   OBSERVE: It warns us in the UK (Cp. Africa, China, Korea, etc. today!)