Some of you will remember Mr. Robbie Pyle of Cleveland. He came down to see us a number of times in the Dominican Republic, and on one occasion he brought another friend, two men, and we had a very happy time with them. And they got in the habit of saying, instead of till we meet again, every time we parted, he would say until we eat again. which I think is quite true of Mark and Palms also. And I wish we could stay with you for this coming week. I think you'll have a good week and we will be with you in spirit and in prayer. Now this morning we'll go back again to Luke's Gospel chapter fourteen and we're going to look for a few moments at the latter part of this story. Luke's Gospel, chapter fourteen, and we will read verse twenty-one. So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blinds. And the servant said, Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room. Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper. Now the anger of the host is understandable. It is righteous anger. The rejection by all those who had been invited, they all at once began to make excuses, not just the three, was a great insult to this man. And I think that we have to try and put ourselves in a small village or town. In your life, you can make arrangements, they may not work out, and perhaps not even your neighbors know about it. But if you lived in the Middle East, or if you lived in certain parts of my country, you can't do things like that. Life is too open. Everybody knows what's going on. And when this man received from those who had been invited the many, and when the friends round about had seen all the preparations, And then the rejection came from all. This man had been insulted, scorned, rejected, and dishonored in the eyes of all those in the community. It was public knowledge. It happened on what we would call the world stage. Now, that little village or town, that was their world. And this took place in a public way. Everyone knew about it. Now, the Lord Jesus does not interpret this story. I've often wondered about that. Perhaps because the lessons are so obvious, I'm sure the people around the table in the ruler of the Pharisees' home listening to these different stories, they knew what the issue was. He was talking about the great messianic banquets That's why that man burst out and said, Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus never mentioned that specifically, but he knew what he was talking about. So when it comes to the rejection, although it's not interpreted by what was happening round about the Lord Jesus in these days when he told this story, it was evident that people were being offended by him. and the most logical understanding of the rejection was that, for some reason, not told in the story, all those who had been invited, all those who had said yes, at the last moment they were offended with the master of the house. There are a number of cases that deal with the outright enemies of the Lord Jesus, the well-known adversary, but there are other cases that are very noticeable, they come from his friends. Now John the Baptist is in jail. His days are numbered. Probably John knows that. He had been raised up by God, had been prepared for a special ministry, and had great joy in stretching out his arm and looking at the Lord Jesus and saying to the people, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Now, one of the sins bothering John was the presence of the Roman army in Palestine, the presence of a man like Pilate who came in intruding in the nation of Israel and pointing to the Lord Jesus. You might think about it only in the sense of your personal sins, but there were national sins. there was shame for the nation. And John is pointing to the one who's going to take away the sin of the world and make things right again for Israel. And he had great joy in doing that, but now he's in jail. And as I mentioned, he knows his days are numbered and he hasn't seen the Lord Jesus act the way he wanted him to act. He watched him. He had heard about him, no doubt had some contact with him, but he had not seen what he was looking for. So he chose two of his disciples and he said to them, I want you to go and see him. No, I can't go, but I want you to go on my behalf. And when you come to him, I want you to ask the question, are you the coming one? or do we look for another? Now I don't know how you interpret those words. I would like to suggest that John did not have a doubt in the world that Jesus was the Messiah. I don't think he's saying maybe I've made a mistake and should be looking somewhere else. Instead, I think he's prodding the Lord Jesus. You see, when he was in jail, He heard through His own disciples that Jesus had raised again a person from the dead. Now if He had power to do that, why didn't He take by force the reins of government and set up the righteous kingdom of God? And I think by sending the messengers, He's gently prodding the Lord Jesus. What is wrong? Why don't you act? You have the power. and they come and they ask the question of the Lord Jesus now my father many years ago I heard him speaking on this subject and he paraphrased the story in a sense and he said to us I can see the Lord Jesus when the two disciples arrived saying to them well now come with me and take them by the arms and they'd walk out into the community and they would spend a day or two with the Lord Jesus and then when it was over They were together again, and he said to them, Now go and tell John the things that you have seen and heard. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. In other words, I think what John wanted... was to see the Lord Jesus deal with the national issue, bring the kingdom back in. The Lord Jesus took the disciples and they watched him and what was he doing? He was touching individuals. He was meeting the needs of men and women who had been crippled and deformed because of sin and he was healing them. And he said to the disciples of John, now you go back and tell him, what you've seen. And he ended with these words, Blessed is he who is not offended because of me. Now why would he say that? I think he would say that because in a sense John was offended. It hadn't happened the way he wanted. And he prods the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus is telling John, John is not exactly the way you think. Please don't be offended. And he told the disciples to tell John what he was doing in his ministry. It's interesting that you have that phrase, I think in the King James Version, the poor gladly heard him. And in the New King James Version, the common people heard him gladly. The people at the supper, when the Lord Jesus told this story of the great supper, they did not represent the common people. They were the leaders. After all, it was in the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, probably a member of the Sanhedrin. And all of those leaders, they had their own type of concept about the Messiah. And they took that concept and they superimposed it on the message of the Bible. Now they did that. We can do that. And every time we do that, We become blind to the message of God. We have our own idea, and we put it on top of the Bible, and we never see the message of the Bible. But the common people, they listened, they were enthusiastic. This was something they'd never heard before. And I would just pause for a moment. I come to North America regularly now, and we visit many of our friends in Canada and the United States and in the United Kingdom. And sometimes I'm embarrassed to talk about the Dominican Republic, to share what God is doing there. You feel by telling this, you're sort of indirectly saying something against the local situation. We had recently in Port-au-Planet, twenty-five people baptized all at the same time. We saw recently twenty people publicly make a commitment to the Lord Jesus, and I'm hesitant sometimes to talk about that, because here in our more sophisticated society, we have learned so much. Speaking of the North American society in general, we seem to fit more easily into the pattern of the rulers in the times of the Lord Jesus, not the common people. It was the common people that listen to them. The common people like the people in my country, they don't have very much. And what they have, they're not sure how long they can keep it. And the message of God comes and they listen and they respond. But these men with all their traditions, with all they had learned, even memorizing large portions of the Old Testament, they never saw the message about the Messiah. And when he came, they were offended. They didn't like him. He wasn't what they expected. I've mentioned before, but I'd like to pause again this morning and go back to the question of Peter. When they were up in Caesarea Philippi, the Lord Jesus asked the question, what do men say about me? And they gave the right answers. They placed him amongst the highest in the past and the present. And then the Lord Jesus made it very personal, and he said, now what do you think? And it's always embarrassing when the question comes down to the personal level, and you have to give your own opinion. Well, it was the Father in heaven who touched Peter's heart, and Peter realized this is the Messiah. I like the way Mark says so concisely that Peter answered, you are the Christ. He didn't have a doubt about it. You may wonder why immediately the Lord Jesus placed on the disciples a prohibition. And he said, now don't talk about this to anyone. The reason probably was because the term Messiah had been abused in those times. They had another idea of Messiah, a military warrior who would come with an army and throw out the Romans. And to begin talking and saying that Jesus was the Messiah, because of the idea they had, they would think he's the warrior champion who's come to defend us and bring again in the glory of ancient Israel. So he said, don't talk about that to anyone. And then on the basis of Peter's confession, the Lord Jesus began a new teaching. And he did this openly. No stories, no parable. He said, One, two, three, four. I will be suffering much. I will be rejected. I will be killed. And I will rise again from the dead. You could not put it in more simple language. Now that's when Peter was absolutely startled. Couldn't believe. that the Lord Jesus, whom he believed was the Messiah, had that concept of Messiahship. So he took a Messiah and he rebuked him. Now in Matthew, not in Mark, in Matthew you have a little bit about the rebuked. And he says, Now Lord, don't let this happen to you. But I think there was more than that involved in this. Their dreams of kingdoms and the power and authority would come crashing down if the one whom they believed was the Messiah was going to die in this ugly way. And Peter rebuked him. And then the Lord Jesus turned around and rebuked Peter. Now it's at this point that G. Campbell Morgan, whom I read when I was a young man, made the comment because both Matthew and Mark indicate after six days So you have this episode up in Caesarea Philippi, and you have the confession, then the explanation of the role of the Messiah, then you have Peter startled, he rebukes the Lord Jesus, and then the Lord Jesus rebukes Peter, and you have a confrontation, and there's nothing in the portion that indicates that Peter accepted what the Lord Jesus said. And so you have in both gospels after six days. And G. Campbell Morgan said those were six days of silence. There was no communication. They thought one way. The Lord Jesus thought the other way. And there are six days of silence. And then after the six days, the grace of the Lord Jesus, he takes Peter, James, and John up into a high mountain. And there in the high mountain he was transfigured before them. His face was like the sun. His raiment, his clothes, they were as white as the light. And these men, the three of them, saw something they'd never seen before in their life. And of course, Peter, he said, we ought to make three little tents here and just settle down and enjoy this forever. But you must remember, that at that moment of the transfiguration, there was no word came from the Lord Jesus. He doesn't speak in the moments of the transfiguration. They're looking at him in glory. And I think the Lord Jesus, without speaking, is saying to these men, Now I want you to listen to me. I've told you about the suffering. I've told you about my death. Now I'm showing you there will be glory, but the suffering comes first and then the glory. And in that great and marvelous moment, God opens the heavens, the Father, and He speaks down to those three men. Now listen to what He says. This is my beloved Son. Hear Him. Listen to what he is saying. Now I go back. He did not say anything in the Transfiguration. It's not until it's over and the disciples are on the ground, almost scared out of their life, that he said to them, Arise and do not be afraid. They've seen the glory. They heard the voice from heaven. And now comes the Lord Jesus and he does speak to them. But what is it that the Father is referring to? You have to go back and remember the message. Peter said, you're the Christ. The Lord Jesus says, and this is the role of the Messiah. He will suffer. He will die. He will rise again from the dead. They would not accept the message. Then in His grace He showed them the glory, and the Father speaks out from heaven. Now listen to what He is saying. The tragic thing is, They never did listen to him until after the resurrection. Even in Mark nine, Mark ten, you have referenced how the Lord Jesus time and again went back to the same message. And what would happen? Well, when it was over, they would talk among themselves, what does he mean, rising again from the dead, which means never for a moment did they take it in the literal sense. And then he would say it again. And then the Lord Jesus saw them murmuring and talking among themselves, and he asked them what they were talking about, and they were reluctant to tell him it was who would be the greatest in the kingdom. And then he talked again, and two of them came, and they asked for the chief positions in the kingdom. They never listened to him. It was not until he died and rose again that they understood. And in all of that, when he talked about his role, they were offended. They did not accept that. And I think when you think of the Great Supper and these who were invited and apparently spontaneously and joyfully said, yes, we will be there. He'd go right back into history. And that was Israel's answer. We want the Messiah. But when he came, they were offended and they rejected him. Now the father, the master of the house, he is angry. I'd like you to notice this morning, there's a beautiful lesson here. The energy of that anger, that indignation, is not, first of all, directed against those who refuse the invitation. Instead, you read these words, the master of the house, in verse twenty-one, the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. There will be a moment. We read about it at the end of our portion this morning, one of the most solemn phrases in the gospel, that those who had been invited will never eat of his feast. There will be judgment. But in the moment, that's not the issue. The banquet is ready. The house is open. All is prepared. And when they say no, the energy of that indignation, it moves not towards those who said no, but going out to those that never had an opportunity to say yes. And the heart of God goes out to the whole world. It's one of the beautiful plots of this story. The streets and the lanes, well, the streets, they're the main avenues, we would call them today. Of course, there would be no cars. There would be people. There would be some animals. And they would be bringing in loads of things on their backs. And so on. People would be going back and forth. I think it's the same community. Not another community. Go out into the street and the lane. Where the master's house was. Round about him. And then you have the lane. Well, there are the paths that go. in the back parts of the community, not so frequently used, and often a place where you might find some of the social outcasts of the community in places like that. The master sends the servant, first of all, back into his own community, and he's to bring in the needy people into his wonderful house and to his great banquet. And the man did that. And then he comes back and he says in verse twenty-two, Master, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room. Now, I think that's a very important phrase. And in this case, I'm going to suggest to you that you have a look back. You're looking at the streets and the lanes of the community. Now, some have come, but not enough to fill the house. It's all being done as the master said. but there's still room. So let's go back and think of Israel just for a moment and remember there were those who eventually said yes, not the majority. Listen to Luke. He talked about three thousand converts on Pentecost. He talked about five thousand men who decided for the new faith. And when you use the word men, you think of women, and as they come and listened and they accepted. Then there's a phrase in Acts five, the multitudes of men and women who believed. And then you have the phrase, the enormous increase in the number of disciples, including a great number of priests on the eve of Stephen's martyrdom. Most of them would be ordinary people, and they came from the streets and the lanes of the community. It's true that the nation rejected him. The hierarchy were offended because of him. But when the master opened his heart and went out, there were so many came in. They came from the streets and the lanes of that community. But there was still room. Now, a partially filled banquet hall. would have indicated to everybody in the community, the master has failed. He prepared a banquet for many people, and just some have come. Again, you must go back to the Middle East or come to my country. You can't do anything without everybody knowing about it. And the man had gone to all the expense and the work, and just to have it partially filled, would still be an indication you never achieved your object. And so the master once again, he turns to the servant and he tells him he's to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. That is, go out now beyond the community. Go out into that world out there and compel them to come in, the highways and the hedges. Now the servant did that. And in a sense, he's going to try and reach those who never dreamed they would ever be invited into the master's house. It's just too good to be true. I remember some years ago, a good few years ago, when our two little girls were with us, we still did not have Jim, our son, that I received a beautiful embossed invitation to attend a special dinner in the embassy of China. And I opened this up and looked at it. I said, Grace, what in all the world is this? I don't know anyone from China. I don't know the Chinese ambassador. And this beautiful invitation. And then I thought, oh, I know. It's some national holiday in China. The China I referred to is now known as Taiwan. And they probably are inviting a lot of people in for a celebration. And so I took it as a general invitation. I couldn't believe it would be some special invitation for us. And it included my wife and our two little girls. He knew about us. So I remember saying to Grace, if that's the type of occasion it, we better go down fairly early so we can find the place to park the car. There'll be so many people there. So we left a little early. And I remember we arrived near the embassy and I couldn't see any cars on the street, lots of room to park. I came right up to the embassy. There was no movement and there were no other cars anywhere. I said to Grace, read that invitation again. Maybe we have the wrong night and she opened it up. No, Jim, this is the day and this is the hour. Well, I wasn't sure what to do, but I drove the car into the embassy ground and stopped at the stairs, and a man came down and politely opened the door, and I gave him the invitation. He said, Sir, step this way, and he brought out Grace, and the children. We walked up the steps into a lovely waiting room in the embassy, and then he went to another door, and he opened it, and he presented us, Mr. and Mrs. Cochran and their two daughters, to the ambassador. and his wife. I couldn't believe it. A special invitation for us. It came out afterwards, the reason for that. But my point in this is that I never expected that. That was something too good to be true. I couldn't believe this. Well, now the master says, go out into the highways and the hedges. Believe me, no one out there ever thought they would be invited in to have a special dinner. with this man and again it's not interpreted but I think the people around the table would understand and I believe we understand this morning this is the reference to the Gentiles they didn't belong to the community they were outside and you read from the writings of Paul being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God. What does it mean? You're out on the highways and in the hedges outside the community, but the message was taken out to them. And then you have that phrase and compel them to come in. It is an awkward phrase, especially if you come from Latin America. And probably you know that when the Spaniards came, And I speak kindly. When the Spaniards came, most of those priests really represented more the King and the Queen of Spain than they did of the Pope in Rome. They were Spaniards, and they were servants of the King and Queen, and they were expanding the great Spanish Empire. And when they came into the West Indies and into the Americas, they took out their swords. and they compelled the Indians to convert. And if you did not convert, you die. There are many cases of that recorded in history. It was a very, very solemn time. It is true that some of the Spaniards were of a different mind. Bartolome de las Casas. He was a man who would write letters back to the monarchs in Spain, and he would say, we're doing this the wrong way. You don't force people into the kingdom of God at the point of a sword. You tell them about the love of God. But he was like a voice in the wilderness. And then there was a man, a beautiful man, a Jesuit priest trained in Barcelona. His name was Pedro Calaver. And he came down to Cartagena, now on the northern coast of Colombia, but in colonial times, the great slave market of the new world. And that man, when he came, someone spoke to him about the plight of the slaves. And he was touched, and he would go down to the wharf and see the slave ships come in. And he made the decision, this will be my life work. And he went on to those ships. When they arrived, he was often the first man down into the hole, and you don't want to think about that. And for years his life, he talked to them about the love of God. and he picked up the dialects of Western Africa and was a great man of God. But these were the exceptions. Generally, you convert or you die. They were compelling them to come into the kingdom of God. Surely that is not the meaning when the Lord Jesus tells this story and compel them to come in. Let's see if I can place you in the situation. We're going to take for granted this morning that you're a beggar. And out there on the highways where the hedges are, you have a little opening in the hedge, and that's where you live. Just a little, if I think of it as a shrub cave, you hope it doesn't rain too often, but that's where you have your little shelter. And you live in that opening off the highway, you're dressed in tatters. Some days have gone by, you haven't been able to get to the river for a wash, for a bath, And one day, just outside of this little opening in the hedge where you live, comes this nicely dressed servant of the master. And he looks at you, and he invites you to the master's mansion to enjoy a banquet. And I would think that perhaps your first expression would be one of dislike, even hatred you would take for granted. He's mocking me. You probably would curse him or pick up a stone and throw it at him. You know you don't believe or you don't belong in a situation like that. And you feel in your mind he's making a fool of me. And yet the master's servant, he stands there and he repeats again. You are invited into the master's house. This is simply something too good to believe. It takes you a long time to really understand that you are being invited. But here's the word. The servant was told, compel them to come. Now, however you understand the word compel, it must be consistent with the character of God. That's where the Spaniards made their mistake. So when you compel, you compel the way God will compel. Again, perhaps the Dominican Republic will help us. Down there, even if you invited a friend, as we would say in North America, for a cup of tea, he'd probably say, well, it's not really convenient right now. And what he's really saying is, I would like to make sure you mean what you're saying. So you just don't take that first answer. And you'll go on again. No, we would really like you to come up and have a cup of tea with us. And he might again make some little excuse. And finally, you might put your hand on this element. We really want you to come and you compel him lovingly to come up to your house and have some refreshment. They don't just automatically say, oh, yes, we'll go. They want to make sure that you really mean what you say. And I think of the servant as he stands outside of that hedge speaking to this man, he has to compel him. And one has written, it is not compulsion, but and insistent hospitality. There's warmth in this. You're really wanted. And you have to convince the person that you mean what you're saying. Now, I wonder about ourselves sometimes, and myself and my ministry in the Dominican Republic, how often do we present the gospel to others at something so wonderful, so great, so beautiful, that the hearers really think it's too good to be true. And I think maybe we don't do that as often as we should, but this man would come and he would talk about the master's house and the banquet, what had been prepared, and he tells you we want you to come. And this poor man listens, and I can imagine in my mind that eventually He would just take him by the elbow and say, now come along with me. I really mean this. And you might even feel reluctant, but you go invited into the master's house for the banquet. There is an incident where you have that hesitation in connection with the Lord Jesus. You remember the story of the two on the way to Emmaus, and he just filled their minds with new thoughts. And now they're not quite as unhappy and sad as they'd been before they met him. And when they come to Emmaus and to the, it'll be a small home. And they invited him in, but the Lord Jesus went on as if he was going to continue. And that's when they had depression. They really meant it. They wanted him to come in. Abide with us. It is toward evening. And the day is far spent. And he went in with them. It's part of the culture of these countries. This man, then, the servant, would compel them to come in, but compel with love, with grace, and with patience and long-suffering. And as we come to the end of the story, we have this very, very difficult phrase, for I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my stuff. The master of the house is angry. It is righteous anger, and the Bible talks about this, but it's interesting how the Bible deals with the subject of the wrath of God. First of all, let me share with you this morning that it is not what God wants to do. Martin Luther, basing his comments on that portion in Isaiah, where the reference is made to God's strange work, that's the work of punishment. And Martin Luther said, punishment and wrath and judgment, that's God's strange work. His own work is what he wants to do with love. It's to reach out and save. You come to the New Testament and you read these words from the apostles. It's his desire that all men come to salvation. So you go back and look at history. Yes, the wrath of God has come, but it's always been checked. always being stopped. The great classic illustration is the flood. Everyone should have perished, including Noah. Noah was spared not because he was such a good man or a different man. He was spared by the grace of God. The wrath should have gone the whole way. God stopped it. And eight people came through the flood. And that's how we're here today. His wrath comes, but He always holds it by. It never goes its full course. It's not what He wants to do. When you come to the book of the Revelation, then, of course, it will go its full course. I read from chapter fifteen in verse one. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having seven last plagues. For in them the wrath of God is complete. A frightening day when it will not be held back any longer. Not because he wants to do this. And you have these words in the book of the Revelation, nineteen and fifteen. Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nation. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. Now, let's go back to the story. The master invited the friends he knew and appreciated. And I would like to say love. And then they turned him down. When the feast was ready, his love was rejected. It was trampled under feet. No wonder there will be wrath. They will not eat of the banquet that has been prepared for them. Now, our opportunity today, and I would just like to raise one or two questions, what do we do with the world around about us? Do we criticize it? Are we judgmental? Are we always condemning? Listen this morning to the words of John about the Lord Jesus. He did not come to condemn the world. but that the world through him might be saved. That doesn't mean the world will not be condemned on a coming day. He didn't come for that. He came to bring the love of God into the lives of men and women, and it's come into our lives. Now we can be occupied with wrath. We can see all the shortcomings and the horrors of our society, and we can be talking about it and pointing it out and criticizing and condemning. But again, I want to remind you, the Lord Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So the alternative is to do what the master of the house did. He was angry. but he didn't want to go out right away in judgment. Instead, that energy was used to go out to those who never expected to be in the banquet hall and to invite them in. And they came in and they shared in that great banquet. And I would like to think that that passion as I grow older and my generation is passing from the scene, that the generation that follows us will pick up the passion of the heart of God, that they will move out into the new millennium that is coming, and that in that new century they will take the gospel to the peoples of the world. That is what God wants to do. The message that comes from His love is so wonderful, so great, it touches their visions. and moved by that vision, they reach out to the maimed and the blind and the poor, those who are spiritually lost and lovingly compel them to come into the kingdom of God. For John Murray, one of the great contemporary theologians, he wrote these words, the spirit of mission is quenched when we lose sight of the grandeur of the evangel. Now in our story, When the Father turns and takes all his energy, the Master of the House, to reach out to those who never thought they would be there, you have a man who is showing the grandeur of his heart, of his love. Now, if we lose that, then the spirit of missions will be quenched. And I've often thought that the church that fails to witness The church that fails to reach out to others is the church that's destined to disappear. And we've known many of them in history. They had their day, their hour of power and of glory and of witness and challenge and blessing. And then they forgot. They forgot the grandeur of the gospel, the heart of God. And what happened? The spirit of missions was quenched. And the church the local church, it disappeared. Our Father speak to us this morning, for some of us will be going back to our home churches and different places, and we pray that the story of the Great Supper will touch our hearts, that we will catch the spirit of the Master, that we'll go out like servants into the streets and the lanes, out into the highways and the hedges, and with your love and your patience compel men and women to come to the person of the Lord Jesus. And we think of those who are serving around the world. And even today, we pray that a great number will be brought into your banquet house by faith and commitment to the Lord Jesus. And we commend ourselves to you and ask for your blessing in his name. Amen.