Introduction:
When you see places of entertainment so full and churches so empty, how do you feel? That feeling is a mirror of your own soul. Cp. a time of revival in Wales.
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
- The Bible pictures heaven as a great feast:
- Isaiah 25:6 ("mountain" = Jerusalem, from which the Gospel went out + where Christ was crucified).
- Matthew 22:2f ("dinner", "oxen"...)
- Revelation 2:7 ("tree of life")
- Revelation 2:17 ("manna")
- In what sense will heaven be a feast?
- It will be a celebration: all God's people at last brought home + out of their trials.
- It will be a re-union (Illustration: school, etc) at which all Christians will meet happily again.
- It will be a time of happy sharing - all our experiences of God's grace on earth.
- It will be a wedding: wed to Christ.
Illustration: Every wedding has a feast. - 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". - It will be a vision of God which we call "beatific" (Explain)
- 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.
OBSERVE: God has done all- a perfect heaven
- a perfect Saviour
- a perfect provision
BUT, "all" who hear it reject it:
- 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.
- What lies behind the excuses?
- love of this world:
But we must soon leave it anyway. - sinful materialism:
Illustration: Bunyan's "man with the muckrake". - lack of interest in their own souls:
- neglect of the glorious Gospel:
- disregard for Christ's blessed death:
- 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..."
- It is a very great sin to reject the Gospel
- because it is God's greatest gift
- because it is offered in His love to us
- because we desperately need its provisions
- because it involved Christ in great agony
Imagine how God takes those excuses:- "I am too busy for heaven".
- "I am more interested in money".
- "I prefer TV and sport to Jesus Christ".
- I wish to show you:
- that this talk is very sinful
- that it is a kind of suicide
- that it makes God justly angry
OBSERVE: Consider now your excuses.
- If people reject Christ, God will take the Gospel away to those who want it:
- this is what God did to the Jews
Proof: the Acts of the Apostles - See N. Africa & Turkey today
- Look at Europe today.
OBSERVE: It warns us in the UK (Cp. Africa, China, Korea, etc. today!)
CONCLUSION
So I urge you NOW to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the feast of the Gospel.