At the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” But they all alike began to make excuses. – Luke 14:17-18
The invitation has been sent. Think about that phrase “all alike.” In the final analysis, all excuses for rejecting Christ are excuses that will be rejected. They are totally unacceptable and totally without merit. Listen friends, nothing must keep you from Christ.
But that’s not the real thrust of the text. It’s as if they all got together and strategized and helped each other refuse to go. That’s the way sinners are. Have you noticed that? Sinners will say, “Well, I’ll do it if you’ll do it. I’ll scratch your sin and you scratch mine.” They tend to want to help each other sin. But listen, there is a self-authentication to Christ and the gospel message. We don’t need to be intellectually convincing or personally charming! We don’t need to convince the minds of the wicked and the fallen. We need to give them the feast. It is the Holy Spirit that communicates the Gospel convincingly. Because of the Spirit there is a self-authentication to Jesus Christ and the gospel message; we just need to get it to them.
There is a universal conviction that comes to the hearts of men who hear of Christ and hear the true and faithful preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When these men hear it, it’s just generally true that they “all alike” try to combat this conviction and this pricking of their conscience. Men have been doing it for 2,000 years. Wicked men have communed together to help each other neglect, reject, discount, disdain, discredit, and explain away their need for Christ and the gospel message. Is that not the truth? I mean, you just share the gospel and almost instantly, “Yes, but you weren’t nice. Yes, but you weren’t loving. Yes, but you’ve got hypocrites at your church.” How do we combat this? We must be convinced of the sufficiency of the Gospel and the power of the Spirit. We must lovingly and boldly continue to spread the feast before them while we have breath, and God has promised to save “some.”
Older
Top
