The Gospel Supper.
LUKE xiv. 22, 23, 24.
_And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the high-ways, and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden, shall taste of my supper._
THOUGH here is a large and solemn assembly, yet I suppose you are all convinced, that you are not to live in this world always. May I not take it for granted, that even the most prophane amongst you, do in your hearts believe, what the sacred oracles have most clearly revealed, “That as it is appointed for all men once to die, so after death comes the judgment?” Yes, I know you believe, that nothing is more certain, than that we are to “appear before the judgment-seat of CHRIST, to be rewarded according to the deeds done in the body, whether they have been good, or whether they have been evil.” And, however hard the saying may seem to you at the first hearing, yet I cannot help informing you, that I am thoroughly persuaded, as many will be driven from that judgment-seat, with a “Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire,” for pursuing things in themselves lawful, out of a wrong principle, and in too intense a degree; as for drunkenness, adultery, fornication, or any other gross enormity whatsoever. Bad as the world is, blessed be GOD, there are great numbers yet left amongst us, who either through the restraints of a religious education, or self-love, and outward reputation, abstain from gross sin themselves, and look with detestation and abhorrence upon others, who indulge themselves in it. But then, through an over-eager pursuit after the things of sense and time, their souls are insensibly lulled into a spiritual slumber, and by degrees become as dead to GOD, and as deaf to all the gracious invitations of the gospel, as the most abandoned prodigals. It is remarkable, therefore, that our Saviour, knowing how desperately wicked and treacherous the heart of man was, in this, as well as other respects, after he had cautioned his disciples, and us in them, to “take heed that their hearts were not at any time overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness,” immediately adds, “and the cares (the immoderate anxious cares) of this life.” For they are of a distracting, intoxicating nature, and soon overcharge and weigh down the hearts of the children of men. To prevent or remedy this evil, our LORD, during the time of his tabernacling here below, spake many parables, but not one more pertinent, not one, in which the freeness of the gospel-call, and the frivolous pretences men frame to excuse themselves from embracing it, and the dreadful doom they incur by so doing, are more displayed, or set off in livelier colours, than that to which the words of the text refer. “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: For I say unto you, that none of those that were bidden shall taste of my supper.”
In order to have a clear view of the occasion, scope, and contents of the parable, to which these words belong, it is necessary for us to look back to the very beginning of this chapter. “And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief pharisees to eat bread, on the sabbath day, that they watched him.” The person here spoken of, as going into this Pharisee’s house, is our blessed Saviour. For as he came eating and drinking, agreeable to his character, he was free, courteous and affable to all; and therefore though it was on the sabbath-day, he accepted an invitation, and went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread, notwithstanding he knew the Pharisees were his professed enemies, and that they watched him, hoping to find some occasion to upbraid him, either for his discourse or behaviour. If the Pharisee into whose house our LORD went, was one of this stamp, his invitation bespeaks him to be a very ill man, and may serve to teach us, that much rancour and heart-enmity against JESUS CHRIST, may be concealed and cloaked under a great and blazing profession of religion. However, our Saviour was more than a match for all his enemies, and by accepting this invitation, hath warranted his ministers and disciples, to comply with the like invitations, and converse freely about the things of GOD, though those who invite them, may not have real religion at heart. For how knowest thou, O man, but thou mayest drop something, that may benefit their souls, and make them religious indeed? And supposing they should watch thee, watch thou unto prayer, whilst thou art in their company, and that same JESUS, who went into this Pharisee’s house, and was so faithful and edifying in his conversation when there, will enable thee to go and do likewise.