“Yet There Is Room”

"Yet There Is Room"

(No. 3221)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1910,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
DECEMBER 21, 1862.

"And yet there is room." Luke 14:22.

I REMINDED YOU, this morning, [See Sermon #485, Volume 8–NO ROOM FOR
CHRIST IN THE INN.] that there was no room for Christ and His parents
in the inn at Bethlehem–and also that there were then other places
where, although there was no room for Christ, far inferior persons
found a welcome and entertainment. I need, this evening, to convince
you that although there are still many sinners who seem to have no room
for Christ in their hearts and lives, yet there is plenty of room for
sinners in the heart and love of Christ! And I am going to give them an
earnest, tender, affectionate invitation to come to Christ while "yet
there is room." You who have hitherto been strangers to the Grace of
God. You who, as yet, have never feasted at the Gospel Banquet, you who
have, until now, been content with this world's frothy dainties and
have never tasted that which is substantial and satisfying for time and
for eternity–to you, even to you–comes the message of our text, "yet
there is room."

I. My first question concerning the text is, WHERE IS THERE ROOM? And
the answer is, there is room in the Fountain opened for sin and for
uncleanness! There is room for you to be washed and to be made clean.
Vast multitudes have gone into that Fountain black as the thickest
night–and they have come up from the washing "whiter than snow."
Innumerable offenses have there been washed away, but the Fountain has
lost none of its cleansing power, nor will it until the last elect soul
has been washed therein, as Cowper so confidently and so truly sings–

"Dear dying Lamb, Your precious blood

Shall never lose its power

Till all the ransomed Church of God

Is saved to sin no more!" It is our joy to be able to assure you that
in that blessed bath of cleansing, "yet there is room!"

There is room, too, in that chariot of love which carries the washed
ones all the way to Heaven–that chariot of which Solomon's was a type
and of which we read, "he made the pillars thereof of silver, the
bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof
being paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem." In this chariot
there is room for millions more–and if you are washed in His precious
blood, He who is greater than Solomon will take you up and carry you on
and over the rough and rugged road of this wilderness world–and
conduct you safely to His Father's House above. You shall travel
joyously in the best of company, so enter while there is room, Sinner,
and there is room now!

There is room, too, in the Father's great family. He has adopted an
innumerable multitude of those who once were children of wrath and
servants of Satan! He has selected some of the vilest of the sons and
daughters of Adam, but they are washed, they are cleansed, they are
regenerate and they have received the seal of their adoption into the
family of God and are joyously crying, "Abba, Father!" But there is
room for millions more in that great family! Earthly fathers, as a
general rule, have no room for strangers in their home–the house is
already crowded with their own boys and girls–so they cannot receive
other people's children into their family. But there is still room in
the great Father's heart for all who will come unto Him by Jesus
Christ, His Son. All whom He has chosen unto eternal life have not yet
believed in Jesus and been "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased possession." All whom He intends to save have not yet been
brought to recognize Him as their Father and

their God, so again I say that there is still room in the great
Father's heart for all who will come unto Him by Jesus Christ, His Son!

There is room, too, in the visible Church here below. We gladly welcome
every new convert and we say to each one–

"Come in, you blessed of the Lord, Stranger nor foe are thou! We
welcome you with warm accord, Our friend, our Brother now."

"The Lord knows them that are His," but all that are the Lord's are not
yet added to His visible Church. Thousands of them stray in the paths
of sin–millions of them are as yet like jewels hidden away in the
mire, or pearls lying many fathoms deep in the caverns of the sea!
There is still room for more stars in the diadem that adorn the brows
of the Church on earth! There is still room for more golden
candlesticks to give her light. She still has room for many more
children to be dandled on her knees and to suck at her breasts–use
whatever metaphor we may, we can still say, in the words of our
text–"yet there is room."

There is room, too, in the ordinances of God's House. There is room for
you, Christian Brother or Sister, in the liquid tomb which is the
emblem of your Savior's grave! You may be buried with Him by Baptism
into death and rise from the baptistery in the likeness of His
Resurrection, therefore to walk with Him in newness of life! There is
room for you, too, at that Communion Table where, in eating bread and
drinking wine, we spiritually eat Christ's flesh and drink His blood
and so prove that He dwells in us and we dwell in Him.

There is room for you at the children's table–you will not overcrowd
us! We are not like the elder brother who was jealous because the
prodigal was welcomed back to his father's house and his father's
table. We shall have none the less enjoyment, but all the more, if you
will come and join us at the feast of love–there is abundant room for
you there.

Better, still, and more to your soul's solace, there is room for you in
Heaven! The long procession has been streaming through the gates of
pearl from the day when Abel, the protomartyr, entered the heavenly
city, until this very moment, as I am speaking to you! The last
emancipated soul has just flapped its wings for joy, left its mortal
cage behind and entered into everlasting liberty! The redeemed from
among men have been taking their appointed places before the Throne of
God, waving their palms, wearing their crowns, playing their golden
harps and singing their songs of victory! But there is still room in
Heaven for many more! There are crowns there without heads to wear them
and harps without hands to play them–and mansions without tenants to
inhabit them and streets of gold that shall have something lacking
until you have trodden them–if you are one of the Lord's own people.
There is room for multitudes whom God has cho-sen–to come to swell the
hallelujah chorus of the skies! It is very sweet even now, but it has
not yet reached its full force and grandeur–it needs to have ten
thousand times ten thousand voices added to the already mighty
choir–and then the glorious chorus shall roll up to the Throne of God
louder than the noise of many waters and as the voice of a great
thunder, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! for the Lord God
Omnipotent reigns! And He shall reign forever and ever!"

What a dreary message I would have to deliver if I had to tell you that
there was no room! Let me give you one or two illustrations. In passing
over some of the more difficult passes of the Alps, the traveler sees
small habitations by the side of the road, marked "Refuge No. 1,"
"Refuge No. 2," and so on, up to the hospice on the summit, and then
down the other side more refuges similarly marked. When a storm comes
on and the wind and snow beat into a man's face so that he cannot see
his way, and he sinks more than knee-deep in the drifts–it is a happy
circumstance for him that, perhaps a little way ahead, there is a
refuge where he and others in the same plight may find shelter till
hospitable monks come and take them to the hospice, or send them on
their way! Imagine that one dark night the snow is pouring down, the
flakes fall so thickly that you cannot see a star, the wind howls among
the Alps and the poor traveler, nearly blinded, staggers up to the door
of the refuge–but he sees outside of it a dozen or two other travelers
all clustered together, nearly frozen to death, and they say to
him–"The refuge is crammed! We can't get in, so we must perish, though
we have reached the door of the refuge but there is no room for us
inside." Ah, but I have no such bad news as that to bring to you
tonight! Crowded as you are here, this great building has scarcely room
enough to hold you–but the love of Christ is not so cramped that I
need say to you, "There is no room here." "Yet there is room." All who
are inside the refuge are but a small number compared with those who
are yet to come for, in later and brighter ages, of which this is but

the dawn, we believe that conversion work will go on far more rapidly
and that the Lord's elect will be brought to Him in much greater
numbers than in these days! Whether it will be so or not, it is our joy
to tell you that "yet there is room" in the great Gospel Refuge which
the Lord of the Way has so graciously provided for all who will enter
it!

Here is another picture. There has been a wreck out there upon the
coast. The ship has struck upon the rocks and she is fast going to
pieces. Some of the poor mariners are clinging to the mast–they have
been hanging there for hours. Heavy seas have broken over them and they
can hardly retain their hold. Some of the crew have already become
exhausted and have fallen off into the deep–and the others who are
clinging for dear life are almost frozen with cold! But look there–a
rocket goes up–they believe that they have been spotted and, after a
while, they see that a lifeboat is coming to their rescue! Perhaps the
brave men give a cheer as they row with all their might to let the pour
shipwrecked sailors know that there is help at hand. As the lifeboat
comes nearer, its captain cries, "Oh, what a lot of men! What can we do
with so many? We will take as many of you as we can, but there is not
room for all." The men are helped off the wreck, one after the other,
until they seem to fill the boat. Each man's place has two crammed into
it, but at last the captain says, "It's no use. We can't take any more.
Our boat is so full that she'll go down if we put in another man." It's
all over with those poor souls that must be left behind, for before the
gallant boat can make another trip, they must all have fallen into the
waves of the sea and been lost.

But I have no such sad tale to tell you tonight, for my Master's Gospel
Lifeboat has thus far taken in but few compared with those she will yet
take! I know not how many she will hold, but this I do know, that a
multitude which no man can number shall be found within her and, amid
songs of everlasting joy, they shall all be safely landed on the
blessed shore where rocks and tempests will never again trouble them!
The lifeboat is not yet full–there is still room in her for all who
will trust in Jesus! Poor Mariner, give up clinging to that wreck on
the rocks! Poor Sinner, give up clinging to your works and to your
sins! There is room in the Gospel Lifeboat for you and all who will put
themselves under the care of the great Captain of Salvation, our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ!

II. Now we will change our view of the subject by asking and answering
a second question, WHEN IS THERE ROOM? Lay the emphasis upon the word,
"yet," in the text. " Yet there is room." " Yet!"Ages have marched
along with solemn tramp, generations have followed generations and all
have yielded their quota to the great Church of Jesus Chr-ist–but,
"yet there is room" for millions more! There have been multitudes
passing through the valley of repentance up to the Cross of Calvary!
Multitudes beyond all human calculation have found peace and pardon in
Christ! But, for all that, "yet there is room!" A few years ago the
Churches of our land, and especially the Churches of Ireland, had a
visitation of Divine Grace when many were converted to God. And in this
Church we have had a revival that has lasted all the years of our
pastorate. We have had no special season of revival–there has been a
continual revival, practically all the time, at New Park Street, at
Exeter Hall, at the Surrey Gardens and here in this Tabernacle. The
blessed work of conversion goes on, never slowly, but quite as fast as
we can keep pace with it! The Lord is constantly adding to our numbers!
Sometimes, as on the last occasion, 74 in a single month! On another
occasion, a hundred! But we can still say, "yet there is room," and if
all the Churches in London and throughout the whole kingdom were to be
multiplied exceedingly, we feel that we could still come to our pulpits
as revival years passed over us and say, "yet there is room."

Besides, Sinner, you are getting old now. Those gray hairs tell a tale
of years that have passed. Your youth fled long ago and your early
manhood is now over–God knows how you have spent it–but you are here,
tonight, like an old barren tree, almost ready for the everlasting
burning unless Sovereign Grace shall save you even now! And I am here
to tell you that "yet there is room!" How old are you? Are you sixty?
Are you past seventy? Can you look back over 80 years? Are you getting
close to ninety? Well, even then, "yet there is room," for you and if
you had outnumbered the years of Moses, yes, and if you had lived as
long as Methuselah lived, I would still say to you, "yet there is
room!"

Think, too, of the many times that you have rejected Christ. Again and
again the invitations of the great Giver of the Gospel Feast have been
sent to you, but you have refused them all! Before I was born, some of
you old people had many loving warnings and entreaties from godly
ministers who have long since gone Home. You were not altogether
unmoved by your mother's prayers and your father's supplications, and
now, in these latter times, it has pleased God to speak to you by one
who is so much younger than you–in words that would burn if they
could, coming as they do, red-hot from a heart that is all on fire with
love to your souls! My words have often reached your ears and have
sometimes reached your consciences, too, yet the Lord knows how many
vows have been made in this House and broken at the door–how many
impressions have been made during the sermon–and obliterated before
you have reached your homes! There are some of you who will find in me
a swift witness against you at the bar of God! If you should say that
you never heard the Gospel, I will testify that you have heard it
plainly and faithfully declared time after time. I have not preached as
I wish I could, but you have always been able to understand my message!
I have not sought to find gaudy words and polished periods with which I
might tickle your ears, but in God's name, I have told you that unless
you repent and believe, you shall surely perish! And I have preached to
you the love of Jesus and pointed you to His wounds and bid you look
unto Him and live. Yet you have rejected every warning and every
invitation that I have given you up till now. But, notwithstanding
that, I am still sent to say to you, "Yet there is room–yet there is
room."

It may be that some of you have been adding sin to sin till you have
now got to such a pitch as you never dreamed that you would reach.
There is that young man over there in the gallery, who used to be at
every Prayer Meeting and used to attend one of the Bible classes and
all the services. You know, young man, to whom I am referring–that
young man did run well, but he first went astray just a little bit and
then still more–then he went from bad to worse and now he has gone to
the worst of all! Let it never be told where it may reach his father's
ears, what sin he has committed only this week! Ah, young man, if you
had been told, even a little while ago, that you would sin thus, you
would have said, as Hazael said to Elisha, "But what? Is your servant a
dog that he should do this great thing?" You would not have believed
yourself capable of falling so low as to commit the offense in which
you have now indulged! And I venture to prophesy that although you
think you have repented of it, you will return to it as the dog turns
to his own vomit and as the sow that was washed returns to her
wallowing in the mire! There are some sinners who never seem to be
satisfied till they have gone to the full limit of their tether. They
are like the waves of the sea that must keep on advancing until they
have reached their flood tide and can go no further. Yet Sinner, though
all this is so terribly true of you, though you have gone as far as you
can go in sin, "yet there is room" even for you in that cleansing
Fountain of which I spoke a few minutes ago!

Probably I am addressing some who will never see another year roll over
their heads. No, I may say that it is an absolute certainty concerning
not merely one or two, but concerning many here present! I do not know
how many out of the six or seven thousand persons now present will,
according to the ordinary rate of mortality, die within a year from
this night, but certainly a considerable number will. Therefore I am
not talking fanatical nonsense, but solid truth! There are some persons
here who will not even see another month on earth–and very many who
will never see another year. And there may be at least one here who
will not see even another day! How near this makes us feel to the
unseen world, how close to death! I have known many such cases as this.
One of the officers or members of the Church meets me as I am coming
in, and says to me, "Do you remember So-and-So?" "Yes, I think I do.
Where does he sit?" "Well, there is his seat." "Oh, yes!" I reply, "I
remember him well. What about him?" "Why," says the friend, "last
Sunday morning, as he was walking home after the service here, he was
taken ill, went straight to bed and died." Some of you know the Brother
to whom I am referring. Not long ago, another friend said to me, "Do
you know Mr. So-and-So?" "Oh, yes!" I answered, "why do you ask?"
"Well, dear Pastor," he said, "the Lord has been pleased to call her to
Himself quite suddenly." It is often thus–the stroke falls where it
was least expected and God, in a moment, calls one and another of our
friends to meet their final doom. We cannot say to any of those who
have been called away from our midst, "yet there is room," but we can
say it to you who are here!

III. I think I have dwelt long enough on that word, "yet." I want in
closing to ask another question, WHY IS

THERE ROOM?

How do we know that there is still room? Well, our text is enough to
make us sure, even if we had nothing else, but we have other reasons
for knowing, "yet there is room." And the first reason is because the
decree of election is vast and wide. Those individuals who try to
caricature our doctrinal sentiments are in the habit of saying that we
teach that God has chosen a few to be saved and left the great majority
of mankind to perish. They know that we have never said any such thing!
And they also know that no man of any standing in our denomination has
ever said any such a thing! On the contrary, we believe that God has
ordained a countless host, so numerous that no man can number it, who
shall be everlastingly saved! And we think we have some warrant for
believing that the number of the saved will vastly exceed the number of
the lost, that in all things Christ may have the preeminence.
Certainly, whatever may be our opinion upon that matter, we rejoice
that the lines of Divine Election are not narrow, that the chosen
people of God are not a mere hand-

ful–and we believe that when the time comes for the great King to make
up His jewels, it shall be found that the case contains such multitudes
of them that they shall be beyond all human calculation! It is our joy
to know that God has chosen a great host to be saved and, as they have
not all been saved yet, it is clearly proved that, "yet there is room!"

Again, we believe that Christ offered an Infinite Sacrifice for the
redemption of His people. We cannot look at His blessed Person as the
God-Man, Christ Jesus, without believing that the sufferings of such a
Substitute for sinners must have had an infinite value–so we are fully
persuaded that no limit can be set to the merit of Christ's
death–although we also believe that Christ had a definite purpose in
His death which cannot be frustrated–and that this purpose was the
salvation, not of all men–but of as many as His Father had given Him,
according to His own words, "I lay down My life for the sheep." And
according to Paul's words, "Christ loved the church and gave Himself
for it." Yet so great a Sacrifice as that of Christ could not have been
offered without a great objective in view! In fact, He told His
disciples that "the Son of Man came…to give His life a ransom for
many." We therefore believe that in the great fold wherein the Good
Shepherd preserves His blood-bought sheep, there is yet room for many
more to enter!

Further, we come to the same conclusion by considering the great design
of God in the whole of His Providential arrangements–in the permission
of the Fall and in the wondrous plan by which the Fall, itself, is made
to minister to God's Glory by being a foil, a dark background, to set
forth the brightness of the Divine Grace which delivers sinners from
eternal ruin! We believe that the objective of the Covenant of Grace
and of the plan of Redemption so amazing as that which is revealed in
the Scriptures could not have been a small one! It must be a great
multitude of redeemed souls that will satisfy Christ for the terrible
travail of soul that He endured–it cannot be an insignificant company
that will be won by His almighty hands and His holy arms, but a mighty
host who shall be the fulfillment of the Lord's eternal design and
bring to Him due honor and glory forever and ever! Therefore, also for
this reason we are persuaded that "yet there is room."

Moreover, Brothers and Sisters, when we consider the prevalence of
Jesus 'plea and the Omnipotence of the Holy Spirit's agency.When we see
the daily preparation which God makes for sending out fresh ministers
of the Gospel. When we understand that the earth is to be filled with
the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea–and because we
believe that the millennial reign of Christ will certainly begin at the
time that God has appointed–we are persuaded that there are unnumbered
millions yet to come to the Gospel Feast and, therefore, we still cry,
"yet there is room!" At that great banquet there shall not be one seat
that shall be empty at the last! God has made provision for just as
many as will come and it shall be found that the provision is
sufficient for all the guests who accept the King's invitation–that
the great eternal decision of God was not frustrated and that even the
perversity of man's wicked will, which keep him from coming to God,
shall be made, somehow or other, to reflect honor on the great Giver of
the feast! Not a chair shall be vacant at that feast and not one of the
redeemed shall be missing when the role is called at that day! We have
not yet reached that period, so we can still say, "yet there is room."

Well, Sinner, as it is true that "yet there is room," we have a word of
warning to say to you. There is room in the precious blood of Christ,
there is room at the Gospel Feast, there is room in the Church on
earth, there is room in Heaven–but if you will not occupy this room, I
must solemnly tell you that there is room for you elsewhere! Alas,
there is room in Hell!There may hardly be prisons enough for all the
criminals on earth, but there is room for them in Hell! There are
"nations that forget God." There are myriads that hate Him, there are
millions more that neglect His great Salvation, but there is room for
them all in Hell if they will not repent and believe the Gospel!
Blasphemer, there is room in Hell for you! Despiser of God's Day and of
God's Word, there is room in Hell for you! And for some of you it may
be that there are only a few more weeks or days–and then you will
enter upon your terrible heritage! Grow on, you tares, till you ripen,
and then, when you are bound up in bundles to be burned, let the
bundles be ever so big, there is room for them all in Hell! Proud
boasters, you may speak what Jude calls, "great swelling words," now,
declaring that you will fight the matter out with God, but you will
find that in Hell there is room to humble you and room to destroy you
there to all eternity! Is it not enough to make a man's heart break
even to think of such a terrible doom? Then what will it be to have to
endure it without any hope of release forever? I remind you again that
some of you will be there before long unless you repent! Oh, by the
living God, in whose name I speak to you, I do entreat you, if you love
yourselves, consider these things! For if you will not have Christ as
your Savior, you will have His wrath remaining upon you forever and
ever! If the message of God is despised by you, how shall you escape if
you neglect so great a Salvation? Sinner, are you resolved to make your
bed in Hell? Soul, have you set your heart on it? Will you tonight give
your hand to Satan and promise to be his slave forever? Stop, Man! This
may be the last time that your conscience will ever be alarmed, so I
plead with you to trust in Christ before I send you away to your homes.
Think seven times before you do reject Him this once more, lest the
slighted, grieved, almighty Spirit should depart from you and never
strive with you again!

My last thought which I pass on to every unconverted sinner, is
this–as there is room in the blood of Christ, as there is room in
Heaven, why not for me? Will not each sinner here also say, why not for
me? Soul, what does God say to you tonight? "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved." So this is what you have to do–obey
the gracious message and believe in Christ! To believe on Christ is to
trust Him and I am sure that He deserves your trust. He is God, able to
save you–and He is Man, willing to save you. He would not have died if
He had not loved sinners. He stands pleading with you tonight, blessed
be His name, and though it has been with stern words that He has spoken
to your conscience, now He asks you to trust Him and He says that if
you do, you shall be saved! Soul, will you trust Him now? I hope the
Spirit of God will lead you to say, "Yes, I will trust Jesus tonight. I
feel utterly unworthy, but then He died to save the unworthy. My heart
is very hard, but I know that He can soften it. I do not feel my need
of Him as I should feel it, but He did not tell me I was to feel my
need and make that my qualification. He said, 'Let him that is thirsty,
come. And whoever will, let him take the Water of Life freely.' I will
venture to come to Him while yet there is room."

Perhaps the black doubt comes to you, "Is there room for me?" My answer
to that question is this–you are com-mandedto believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ! It is impossible for you to do that and yet be lost! You
shall find that there is room for you, room which no one but yourself
can occupy, room in that Kingdom of which Christ says that it was
ordained for you before the foundation of the world! Your business,
Sinner, is to trust Christ just as you are, now, and just where you
are! O my Hearers, you whose souls are committed to my trust, I feel
that I must have your souls for my Master! He knows that I care for no
wages but your immortal souls! He knows that if He denies me your
souls, I shall feel that I have labored in vain and spent my strength
for nothing. This year God has blessed the Word to many, many hearts!
Hardly a day has passed without someone being blessed and not a sermon
have I preached in this Tabernacle without hearing afterwards of
conversions through it–and I sincerely trust that it may continue.
Lord, speak to hearts that have resisted You until now! Sovereign
Grace, there is nothing that can stand against You–Your goings forth
are mighty and Irresistible! You speak, and it is done, You command and
it stands fast forever! Speak, Lord, and Your servants shall hear and
this night they shall say, "We will come unto You while yet there is
room."

May God grant that many shall come to Jesus this very moment, for His
dear name's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE 14:7-24.

Verse 7. And He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when He
marked how they chose out the chief rooms. This parable was by far the
best part of the entertainment of the day!

7-9. Saying unto them, When you are bidden of any man to a wedding, sit
not down in the highest place lest a more honorable man than you is
bidden of him; and he that bade you and him comes and says to you, Give
this man place; and you begin with shame to take the lowest place. For,
of course, the next room is full, and the next, and the only vacant
seat, when the feast has begun, will probably be in the very lowest
room of the house.

10. But when you are bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place, that
when he that bade you come, he may say unto you, Friend, go up higher
Then shall you have worship in the presence of them that sit at the
meal with you. Note that our Savior was not just then talking to His
disciples, or else He would have given more spiritual reasons for His
advice. But, speaking to the people who were gathered as guests at the
Pharisee's house, He appealed to them with an argument suitable to
themselves. We may, however, extract the marrow from this bone! Let us
not covet the highest place. Let us not desire honor among men. In the
Church of God the way upward is downward. He that will do the lowest
work shall have the highest honor. Our Master washed His disciples'
feet and we are never more honored than when we are permitted to
imitate His example.

11. For whoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles
himself shall be exalted. There is a conspiracy of Heaven and earth and
Hell to put down proud men, neither good nor bad–the highest nor the
lowest can endure those who are self-exalted! But if you are willing to
take your right place, which is probably the lowest, you shall soon
find honor in the midst of your brethren!

12. Then said He also to him that bade Him, When you make a dinner or a
supper, call not your friends nor your brethren, neither your kinsmen,
nor your rich neighbor lest they also bid you again, and a recompense
is made you. Our Savior, you see, keeps to one line of instruction. It
was a feast, so He used the feast to teach another lesson. It is always
well, when men's minds are running in a certain direction, to make use
of that particular current. When a feast is uppermost in the minds of
men, it is no use starting another subject. So the Savior rides upon
the back of the banquet, making it to be His steed! Note His advice to
His host–"Try to avoid doing that for which you will be recompensed.
If you are rewarded for it, the transaction is over. But if not, then
it stands recorded in the Book of God and it will be recompensed to you
in the Great Day of Account."

13. 14. But when you make a feast, call thepoor, the maimed, the lame,
the blind: andyou shall be blessed; for they cannot recompense you: for
you shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just It should be
your ambition to have something set down to your credit "at the
resurrection of the just." If you do someone a kindness with a view to
gaining gratitude, you will probably be disappointed. And even if you
should succeed, what is the gratitude worth? You have burned your
firewood, you have seen the brief blaze, and there is an end of it. But
if you get no present return for your holy charity, so much the better
for you!

15, 16. And when one of them that sat at the meal with Him heard these
things, he said unto Him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
Kingdom of God. Then said He unto him. As if to prove what a privilege
it is to be permitted to "eat bread," there, but that the persons who
appear most likely to do so will never taste of it–and that the most
unlikely persons will be brought into it. Jesus "said unto him."

16, 17. A certain man made a great supper and bade many: and sent his
servants at supper time to say to them that

were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. [See Sermon #1354,
Volume 23–ALL THINGS ARE READY, COME.] They had accepted the
invitation, so they were pledged to be present but, in the meantime,
they had changed their minds with regard to their intended host–and
they were unwilling to grace his feast.

18. And they all with one consent began to make excuses. The first said
unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it I
pray you have me excused. Yet it was supper time and people do not
generally go to see pieces of ground at night! And if the man had
bought the land, he ought to have seen it before he bought it! People
do not generally buy land without looking at it. A bad excuse is worse
than none. [See Sermon #578, Volume 10–A bad excuse is worse than

NONE.] and this is one of those excuses which will not hold water

for a minute!

19. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to
inspect them: I pray you have me excused. He pretended that he had
bought five yoke of oxen without inspecting them and that he wanted to
inspect them after he had bought them, when, of course, he could not
cancel the bargain! A likely story! But, when men want to make an
excuse, and they have no truth to serve as the raw material, they can
always make one out of a lie!

20. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot
come. [See Sermon #2122, Volume 36–a straight talk.] This man did not
ask to be excused–he had married a wife, so

that settled the matter! Of course he could not go to the feast.

21. So that servant came and told his lord these things. Every true
servant of Christ should go to his Lord and tell him what reception his
Master's message has had. After service, we sometimes have an
enquirers' meeting, but after every sermon there ought to be a meeting
of the servant with his Lord to tell the result of the errand on which
he has been sent. Sometimes, as in this case, it will be a very painful
meeting as the servant tells how his Master's message has been despised
and His invitation rejected.

21. Then the master of the house being angry. Notice what the Lord does
even when He is angry–He invents some new way of showing mercy to men!
"The master of the house being angry."

21. Said to his servant, Go out quicklyinto thee streets andlanes
ofthee city, and bring in theepoor, and thee maimed, and the halt, and
the blind. Happy anger that explodes in blessing! The justly angry
master turns away from the bidden ones who had insulted him and sends
for those who had not hitherto been bidden, that they might come to the
feast!

22. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as you have commanded, and
yet there is room. They fetched in all the poor people, the maimed, the
halt and the blind whom they could find–it was a great gathering and a
strange gathering–yet there was still room for more guests at the
banquet!

23. 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. [See Sermon #227, Volume 5–COMPEL THEM TO COME
IN.] "Bring in highwaymen and hedge-birds, those that have no place
where to lay their heads–fetch them in by force if necessary, 'that my
house may be filled.'"

24. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall
taste of my supper. They were invited, yet they would not come. But
others shall come and fill the tables and the great feast shall be
furnished with guests! No provisions of mercy will ever be wasted. If
you who are the sons and daughters of godly parents, or you who are the
regular hearers of the Word will not have Christ, then others shall! If
you hear, but hear in vain, then the rank outsiders shall be brought in
and they shall feed upon the blessed provisions of the Infinite Mercy
of God and God shall be glorified! But terrible will be your doom when
the great Giver of the Gospel Feast says concerning you and those like
you, "None of those men which were bidden shall taste of My supper."