Not Worthy of the Invitation

In the Bible, there's a story about a man who made a great supper and invited many. It was going to be a real shindig, a super-duper celebration. This man sent his servant at supper time to say to them that we're invited.

Come, for all things are now ready. This big banquet was a big deal put on by a big God. For the parable of the supper is a picture of the grace of God toward men.

But before God could send out an invitation for men and women and boys and girls to come to him and be happy in his presence through reconciliation of sinful mankind who had a poison in his blood, which was tainted at the very fountainhead of the stream back in Eden with Adam at its head. Something had to be done. Yes, sir.

Something drastic had to be done. Some great sacrifice had to be made. Some real suffering had to take place.

Some innocent party had to pay the price. Some spotless lamb had to be slain, Isaiah declares. He was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. The immortal Jesus had to step out of glory and empty himself of his glory to be born a mortal man. Jesus came into this world doing good.

Jesus healed the sick. Jesus gave sight to the blind. Jesus made the lame to leap.

Jesus fed the hungry. And Jesus brought rest to the weary. He even raised the dead to life.

But the crowd that followed him could take his blessings one moment and want to get rid of him the next if his will crosses their own. They cried away with him and nailed him to a cross. Before that invitation to that great supper could go out, something had to be done.

Something had to take place for he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. That blessed Christ who never did sin was arrested, falsely accused, and sentenced to die. He was bound and taken outside of Jerusalem where he was nailed to a cross at Calvary.

In those three hours of darkness on the cross, the Son of God was made a sacrifice for sin, becoming a curse for us. As the sky turned black, as the earth began to quake, God had to look away from his blessed Son because a thrice holy God cannot look on sin. In the ninth hour, Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? As the Son of God wrestled in agony beneath the weight of sin, oh, so God the Father could say, Come, for all things are now ready.

The great supper had a great sacrifice for sin, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus said, For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Are you a lost sinner? Do you need saving? If left to yourself, friend, where would your soul end up when you die? Jesus is the only remedy for sin.

Jesus is the only refuge for sin. The fleeting things of this world will perish, but eternity is forever. Listen.

A certain man made a great supper and bade many, and sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it.

I pray thee, have me excused. This man walks away from a great banquet to go look at some dirt. Surely he wasn't worthy of the invitation.

And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray, have me excused. This man turns away from this great supper to go look at some cattle.

Surely he isn't worthy of the invitation. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. This man rejects the invitation to this glorious banquet that could have included his lovely wife, but he declines for both of them.

Surely this man is not worthy of the invitation either. But do you know what, friend? Neither am I. I'm not worthy of the invitation. No one is.

Not me. Not you. Not nobody.

It's all of grace. But before God could send out invitations for men and women and boys and girls to come, something had to be done. There, at Calvary, when all was against him, his love flows out to a world of guilty sinners.

None are worthy of the invitation. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. That's why I'm here before you now, friends.

I should have been dead a long time ago. I've come close to death's door, and this poor preacher is extending you, that invitation, to this great supper. I'm not worthy of it, and neither are you.

The only way I'm saved is when Christ's life is laid down and applied to me. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Oh, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat.

Yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Christ came down here so we can go up there. Come, friend, for all things are now ready.

Are you weary of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? Come, lay your sin burden down at his nail-pierced feet. Put your hand to your ear and the other hand on your heart in heartfelt repentance, and hear this call to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.