Luke 14:16-20 ESV
But Jesus said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
Do you know people who continually have excuses for why they can’t obey God, and for why they can’t live holy lives, pleasing to God, and/or for why they can’t stop committing adultery against their spouses, and for why they can’t be morally pure and upright and honest and faithful? And they will use the same excuses repeatedly over and over again, ad nauseum. And it never ends. They are full of excuses, but they are absent of obedience.
One of the biggest excuses is “I didn’t know,” or “I don’t know how,” when they do know, and some of them have known a very long time, and some of them have even taught how to stop deliberate and habitual sin, and how to live godly and holy lives in obedience to the Lord. And they know what the Scriptures teach, for they have taught them, and they know how to get out of their sinful condition because they have been studying that subject a long time. So, it isn’t that they don’t know what to do. They don’t want to do what they know to do, because they don’t want to give up their sin.
And there is a litany of excuses that they will pull repeatedly, all as part of their routine to try to get out of doing what they know is right. There is always some reason, some excuse, something that happened or didn’t happen, something they can’t find, or they don’t know how to proceed, etc. etc. But these are lame excuses they create in their own minds which they feel gets them out of having to do what they don’t want to do but what they know deep down that they have to do.
But we are talking here not about menial chores around the house. We are talking here about whether or not someone is actually saved from his sins and whether or not he will spend eternity in heaven. For this invitation is to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, to leave your lives of sin behind you, and to now follow him in obedience to his ways, no longer living as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. This is an invitation to a marriage covenant with Jesus Christ as your husband.
Luke 14:21-24 ESV
“So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
And this goes along with that passage that says, “Many are called, but few are chosen,” because many have too many excuses for why they can’t answer that call of God with “Yes!”, but not in words only, but with action. For sometimes they will verbalize “Yes!” but then they don’t follow through. They don’t put that “Yes!” into action, and so it becomes meaningless. For it is not lip service to God that gets us into heaven. It is genuine God-given faith which dies with Christ to sin daily and obeys his commands, in practice.
And so where some people have the opportunity, but they let it slip through their fingers because they don’t want to surrender to God, and they don’t want to forsake their sins to follow him in obedience, others will rejoice in having the opportunity to surrender all to Jesus Christ and to walk in his ways and to do as he commands, in practice, but not necessarily in absolute perfection, but no longer living as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God.
“For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”
For “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV)
Please take this seriously. So many people today are teaching that you can just make a profession of faith in Jesus, and now all your sins are forgiven, and heaven is guaranteed you, but regardless of how you live. Jesus didn’t teach that “regardless of how you live gospel.” But is he loving and merciful and gracious and kind and forgiving? Yes! Provided we turn from our sins to follow him in obedience and we don’t continue in deliberate and habitual sin. But too many are professing faith in Christ and yet still living like hell.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Seek the Lord
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”
https://vimeo.com/379408296
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