Radio Talk given 5-9-99

Today I would like to share with you a story that Jesus told His listeners when He was on earth. It is recorded in the Gospel of Luke chapter 14:16-24. This interesting little story has a very important message which is relevant to everyone of us.

There was a well-to-do person in a certain town and he prepared an elaborate banquet. He had been in touch with numerous friends and invited them to this banquet. These friends had all agreed to come.

So when the host had everything ready for the banquet, he sent out his servant to round up the guests who had been invited. (This second invitation was the custom in those days). But when the servant got to the first guest’s home, this guest regretfully declined the invitation; saying that he had just bought a piece of land and he had to go and see it.

The servant then went to the second guest’s house, and this guest also declined the invitation with the excuse that he had just bought some oxen and he was going to try them out. He couldn’t possibly leave what he was doing half way through the business deal.

So the servant went to the third guest’s house and he also had an excuse. He had just married so he couldn’t possibly come.

When the servant had contacted all the guests and they all had their excuses for not being able to come, the servant returned to the host and told him what had happened. The host was extremely angry, especially considering that these guests had all initially said that they would come. So he sent his servant out again and told him to go into the streets and alleys and tell the beggars, the lame, the poor and the blind to come to the feast. The servant did this and when all the guests came there was still room, so the servant was sent out once again. This time he had to invite people from out of town along the highways. The host wanted all the seats full. These people accepted the invitation and so the banquet was held with a room full of guests. Now if any of the earlier invited guests planned to come late he would be turned back for lack of room.

We may be wondering what this story has to tell us today. Well friends it has a very comforting message as well as a very serious warning to all of us. In this parable of Jesus, we have to see the host of the banquet as the Lord God.

The first invited guests are the Jews, who were the nation of the Old Testament, to whom God had promised salvation. These Jews had the best opportunity to believe in Jesus and to see Jesus Christ as the Saviour, through their knowledge of the Old Testament. Yet when Jesus came to give salvation, they rejected him, they came with useless excuses for not accepting Jesus invitation to become true believers. They became deaf to the invitation God gave. The worldly and visible things were more important to them, than the promises of God.

Because these Jews’ rejected God’s invitation to salvation, the Gospel has gone out to everyone else as well. The servant, in the story, was sent out to the streets and alleys to invite the lame and blind and even the people from out of town. In other words, those who appeared the least worthy to be invited were invited to this feast.

And so because, and that’s the good news for us dear listeners, because the Jews rejected Christ’s invitation, that invitation has now gone out to everyone else as well. That includes you and me, no matter what our nationality, our skin colour, our age or our physical or mental ability. If you hear the gospel, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, you are being called by God to believe in Jesus and accept His work of salvation.

Right now dear friends, you are being called by God. God is saying to you " Sarah, John, Kyle, Ashleigh, Damian or whoever you are, if you hear the message of Jesus Christ, by listening to this radio broadcast, or by reading your Bible, then answer to this call, and through Christ accept the invitation, and then God will also be your God and you can be part of the wonderful promises that He has made to those who believe in Him.

Now let’s just think about this for a moment. Isn’t it astonishing that we are being invited by God to enjoy His gifts of salvation. After all not one of us, neither you nor me, deserves to receive these blessings from God. We all sin against God many time every day. We all, by nature, want nothing to do with Jesus Christ , and yet God still sends this invitation out to us and wants us to accept it. What an amazing fact in itself, to be called by God to salvation in Jesus Christ.

Now dear friend don’t reject this invitation God sends to you. Because if you do, it has eternal consequences. Rejecting God’s invitation, means saying no to the promises of God, it means saying no to all the wonderful things that God has promised to us if we believe in Jesus Christ’s work of salvation. Rejecting, means that we can not share in the true peace and joy which God gives to those who have accepted the invitation. Rejecting means that our sins are not forgiven us through Jesus Christ. Rejecting means that we will not spend eternal life with God on the new heaven and the new earth. Rather, rejecting means that we will spend eternity in hell, where we will daily be experiencing the wrath of God because of our sins.

Then dear friends it is not good enough to simply say "Yes I am a Christian, I have accepted the invitation" and leave it at that. After all those first guest had also accepted the first invitation. But we saw that their acceptance was not good enough. It was just a matter of words for them, but it didn’t show up in their life. When Jesus asked them to really accept His work they were much more interested in other things, they had a lot of lame excuses for not accepting the invitation. So in the end they missed out all together. The host had completely filled the house will other guests, so if these original invited guests came later, there was no room for them.

This shows us that we can’t leave our decision till later on. God invites us now and it is now that we must respond, other wise it may be too late. And if through grace in Jesus Christ we do accept this invitation of God to salvation, then our life will change. We will no longer want to come up with lame excuses, but rather we will joyfully live our whole life for Jesus Christ. In everything that we do, Jesus will become the center of our thinking. We will no longer put ourselves first, but we will put Jesus and others first, and we will be able to do this because God has promised to help us.

Then, in our relationship with others, we will always seek the well being of the other person. Then, in our business dealings we will always aim to do things correctly and fairly as God wants us to. Then, money or a holiday or whatever will no longer be the most important thing for us, but the Lord will be more important. Then we will also seek other Christian, with whom we can come together and worship the Lord, and learn more about the wonderful promises of God. Yes, then our whole life will change to show that we have received these promises.

Sure, there will be many times when we fail to do the right things, but if we confess these sins to God and ask Him to forgive us then He will do so and He will continue to receive us in favour as He has promised. Then the promises of salvation given in the invitation will still be ours to hold on to.

Another point that I would like you to note here friends is that the invitation required faith on the part of the guests. When the servant came with the message of the host: "come for everything is now ready" the invited guests saw only a man. Now when you hear the message of salvation you may see only a man as well, or not even that. It takes faith to see and hear behind the person giving the message, to see Jesus Christ, who offers salvation full and free. "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31)

Dear friends the invitation has gone out to you again today. "Come, for everything is ready - ready through the perfect work of redemption of God accomplished through Jesus Christ" Don’t reject this amazing invitation!!

D. de Vos

Last modified: September 11, 1999