Luke 15:11-16

Click here for the Luke 15:11-16 PODCAST

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. ~ Luke 15:11-16

Despite the many miracles the Lord Jesus performed, the religious leaders of Israel were set on doing away with Him. This fact pulls the curtain back on the ultimate point the Lord Jesus is making in Luke 15. Yet, the Lord Jesus was set on preaching the Gospel to all who had ears to hear.

In Luke 15, the Lord Jesus tells three stories all of which result in joy. The themes of each of these stories are: Lost, Sought, Found, and Celebrated. This scenario brings joy to the heart of God.

Having considered the first two of three parables in Luke 15, today and tomorrow, we consider the third. We have seen the recovery of a lost sheep and a lost coin. And, in our text for today, is the recovery of a lost son. This story includes and identifies a new element, one that is only applicable to humans: the nature of repentance.

Repentance was mentioned in v.7,10 in this chapter, but not defined. In this story it is defined and for the first time in this story, the religious leaders actually appear. They are represented by the older brother.

The first two parables, the stories about the sheep and the coin, emphasize God as the seeker. This third story looks not so much at God, but at the human condition and response. In this parable we see the themes of: sin, repentance, recovery, and rejection.

In v.11-12 we read, "11 Jesus continued: 'There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them."

Here we are introduced to a man and his two sons. The younger of the two sons does something that one did not do in their culture: he asked for his inheritance before his dad was dead. For a son to make such a request was tantamount to saying, "Dad, I wish you were dead. You are in the way of my plans, you are a barrier. I want my freedom. And, I want my fulfillment and I want out of this family now."

According to v.12 the father, at the request of the youngest son, divided his wealth between his two sons. The word “property” describes what the family for generations had produced. There was no law in the customs of Israel that would have forbad this father from doing this. In placating to the youngest sons request, this father was giving his son freedom. The son is not breaking the law. He is demonstrating his lack of understanding of his father's heart for him.

In v.13 we read, "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living." The younger son couldn't wait to live his life as he thought. He had no investment in the father's love whatsoever. The older son is equally unloving, equally ungrateful even though he stays home. The father basically has no relationship with either son. 

In v.13, the Lord Jesus uses the word “distant” which indicates the younger son went to a distant land, a Gentile land. Going into Gentile land was considered outrageous behavior. When he got into the distant country, he there “squandered his wealth in wild living."  He literally wasted his wealth on worthless living.

This younger son represents the tax collectors and the sinners, the outcasts, those who were not religious. These run as far as they can from God because they have no love for Him and no relationship with Him. They don't want anything to do with Him and His law. This son had bought into Hedonism which is living for pleasure of all sorts.

In v.14 we read, "After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need." Desperation is an undesirable thing, yet, it serves us greatly. Desperate people do desperate things. When we get to this point we entertain the right questions. And, this is what our young friend does in this story. 

He wanted unrestrained pleasure, but his lusts led him to the lack of fulfillment and loneliness. He was actually facing death.  So, according to v.15 we read, "So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs." 

Feeding pigs isn't really a job. It is the lowest possible thing that anybody could ever do and as it turns out, it doesn't pay much. This Jewish boy did not anticipate feeding pigs in a Gentile land, yet this is where his plan led him. 

According to v.16, "He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything." He was so hungry that he was not just feeding pigs, he was trying to eat the slop that they were eating. He was longing to fill his own stomach with the carob pods that the pigs ate. Carob pods were the pulp of the bitter black berries that sometimes the pigs ate off a bush. After the molasses was extracted from the berries the pulp that was left and was thrown to the pigs. 

Sin is rebellion against God but is not rebellion so much against His law, it is more rebellion against God's heart. Sin is to run as far from God as we can with no thought of His heart for us. And, He loses nothing when we sin. His heart for us is totally for us. He has no ulterior motive. He is not out to manipulate us. His heart breaks for us when we choose wrongly. He simply wants the best for us. We rebel because we lack a clear understanding of His heart for us.

Let me close with a great quote from the late Ravi Zaccharias. “Sin will always take us farther than we want to go, keep us longer than we want to stay, and cost us more than we want to pay." Tomorrow, we will consider what happens when we have seen the Father's heart for us. This is what changes us the most, the Father's heart for us.

Luke 15:8-10

Click here for the Luke 15:8-10 PODCAST

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” ~ Luke 15:8-10

The theme of Luke 15 is the joy that a repentant sinner brings to God. Mother Teresa once wisely said, "A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love.” In addition, Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, "When the heart is full of joy, it always allows its joy to escape. It is like the fountain in the marketplace; whenever it is full it runs away in streams, and so soon as it ceases to overflow, you may be quite sure that it has ceased to be full. The only full heart is the overflowing heart.”

In today's text the Lord Jesus places the spotlight on a women who, in their culture, was not respected. In fact, in the Middle Eastern culture, it was an insult to compare a male audience to a woman. Here again, the Lord Jesus confronts the pride of the "religious leaders" and teaches us a little more about His grace-filled culture. 

This second parable in Luke 15 has the same theme as the other two: lost, sought, found, celebrated. In v.8 we read, "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?"

These first two parables of Luke 15 shows us what it means to be lost. To be lost means being out of place. Sheep belong with the flock, coins belong on the necklace, and lost sinners belong in fellowship with God. But to be lost also means being out of service. A lost sheep is of no value to the shepherd, a lost coin has no value to the owner, and a lost sinner cannot experience the enriching fulfillment God has for him in Jesus Christ.

Imagine we are in a little house in a little village in Israel. It has four walls, a low doorway, and no windows. The floors are made of dirt, and they are hard and dusty. There is a woman in this little house and she's lost one of her ten silver coins. These coins are made of just over four grams of silver. The Greeks called them a drachma, the Romans called them a denarius, worth a day's wage. 

In those days women were given a dowry by their father.  On occasion their husband would even give them a dowry, which would act as a security for their future. The women would put a hole in each coin and put them on a silver necklace which they would put around their neck. 

As the story goes, the woman loses one coin, she lights the lamp, sweeps the house, searches carefully until she finds it.  It's value to the woman energizes the search. It is more than sentimental value, it could be all she has if she were left alone.  So, she searched carefully, diligently. She reached with her broom into every corner of the house. She moved everything and looked in every crack by her light. And she kept doing this until it was found.

To be “found” means that you are back in place, back in service, and out of danger. No wonder the shepherd and the woman rejoiced and invited their friends to rejoice with them!

In v.9 we read, “And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin." Finding the lost coin motivates the woman to celebrate. Here, the word “friends,” and the word “neighbors,” are used. She calls her lady friends. Men stayed with men in that culture and women with women.  They were very close in the little village. They all knew each other. Everybody's suffering would be everybody's suffering and everybody's joy would be everybody's joy.    

In v.10 we read, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." The Lord Jesus was reaching out to obvious sinners because this is what brings joy to God. He gets no joy out of the ninety-nine self-righteous people. His joy is in the recovery of a repenting sinner, the type of people with whom these "righteous" religious leaders did not associate.  

Let's consider the words, “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God.” Where the angels are, there is joy and the angels are in the presence of God. So, there is joy in the presence of God. The joy, however, is coming, first of all from  God, He is the one in view in v.7 where we are told there is "joy in Heaven."  It's the joy of God that fills heaven.  

I find it instructive that God doesn't mind being compared to a woman. It is God in Christ who is the woman seeking the lost sinner hidden in the cracks, in the dust, in the debris of a dirty world of sin. It is God in Christ who initiated the search for us. And, God in Christ, died an awful death to redeem us back to Himself. This creates the greatest joy in God and in us, those who have been found.

Luke 15:3-7

Click here for the Luke 15:3-7 PODCAST

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:3-7

The God of the Bible, along with all of heaven, rejoices when a lost sinner recognizes his need for salvation and cries out to God for help. God, by nature, is our Savior. This is what sets Him apart from all other manufactured gods of this world. He is, by nature, kind, gracious, loving and forgiving. And, He rejoices when one sinner is brought home. 

This God, the Good Shepherd, sent His Son into this world to redeem anyone who would believe that His death paid the penalty that separated us from His Father.  

In today's text, the Lord Jesus tells a simple story about a shepherd who lost a sheep and found it and brought it home and celebrated its arrival. By the way, sheep are mentioned over four hundred times in the Bible. And over one hundred times God is likened to a shepherd.

Sheep have a tendency to go astray, and that is why they need a shepherd. The religious leaders had no problem seeing the tax-collectors and sinners as “lost sheep,” but they would not apply that image to themselves! And yet, the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, made it clear that all of us have sinned and gone astray. All of us are messed up and in need of the Shepherd Savior.

The shepherd was responsible for each sheep; if one was missing, the shepherd had to pay for it unless he could prove that it was killed by a predator. This explains why he would leave the flock with the other shepherds, go and search for the missing animal, and then rejoice when he found it. Not to find the lost sheep meant money out of his own pocket, plus the disgrace of being known as a careless shepherd.

In v.4 we read, "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?" 

The Shepherd is known for going after the one lost sheep which are not all that smart and are defenseless. This explains why the sheep wander off away from the shepherd. When the sheep wander off, they are in danger of being accosted by predators, and are in danger of falling off the cliffs, and are in danger of exhaustion and dehydration.

In fact, when sheep become afraid, they get very nervous and fearful. This causes them to lie down and die. They become so despondent and discouraged, they lie down and die if not found by the shepherd.

By leaving the ninety-nine sheep, the shepherd does not declare the other sheep as unimportant. When the shepherd goes after one sheep, it is proof that each animal is dear to Him. The Lord Jesus was not suggesting that the religious leaders were not in need of salvation, for they certainly were. 

In v.5 we read, "And when he finds it, he, with much joy, puts it on his shoulders." When the shepherd finds the seventy pound lone lost sheep, he lays it on his shoulders. The belly of the sheep was put against the back of the shepherd’s neck. The shepherd would then take the four legs, pull them around his neck and take a cord and tie the feet together. The shepherd would rejoice as he walked all the way back home.

In v.6 we read, "He goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'" The whole village would have been waiting, wondering if he would find the sheep and in what condition he would find the sheep. This is a picture of what goes on in heaven when a broken one is found by the Savior.

In v.7 we read, "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."  

This whole story is about the joy of God when a lost sinner is sought, found and recovered. One can only wonder how is it that God can be so eager to seek and save the lost, and the religious leaders of Israel, who claim to be God's representatives on earth, only despise the lost.

Why would the Lord Jesus tell these hardened religious leaders these three stories? He is still interested in reaching them. In telling these stories, the Lord Jesus is demonstrating His heart for those who have long been heartless toward Him.

Luke 15:1-2

Click here for the Luke 15:1-2 PODCAST

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” ~ Luke 15:1-2

When the lost are found, heaven rejoices! God celebrates when a sinner acknowledges his need and cries out to God for salvation. The heart of God the Father is the heart of a shepherd who is willing to go through hell to find his lost sheep.

The Pharisees lacked the practical understanding that for all of mankind Satan had removed the manhole cover. In doing so, Satan tricked us into an act of rebellion against God in the Garden which became a seemingly never ending horror story. Helplessly mankind has tumbled, aware of our failure and unable to gain control. We crashed to the bottom and helplessly stared into a dark future without God. 

When the Lord Jesus showed up on the scene, those who had figured out this quandary, well, we cried out to Him for help. And, God hears all cries from the broken for help. 

The religious leaders of Israel found no joy in even availing themselves to the lost, let alone seeing them converted to the truth. These religious leaders lacked a spiritual sense of direction because they lacked a proper understanding of mankind's separation from God. They were the worst kind of shepherds. And, in contrast to them, the Lord Jesus came demonstrating the priority of heaven in saving the lost.

In Luke 15 here, we have three parables. This is the pinnacle of the teaching of the Lord Jesus. And, these are invitations to salvation. And, these stories about salvation, about being lost, being found, and being restored is celebrated by God. 

In Luke 15:1-2 we read, "Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." 

These two verses set up the whole chapter. If, we do not understand the context of the chapter, we will conclude the wrong message the Lord Jesus is trying to teach here.

The religious leaders despised tax collectors and sinners. In Luke 5 Matthew invited the Lord Jesus to his house. And, there was a great crowd of tax collectors there. The religious leaders asked, 'Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?'"  

The religious leaders only had contempt for the tax collectors whom the religious leaders thought to be the worst of all sinners. This is why they missed the Lord Jesus as the Messiah for He prized anyone broken enough to cry out to Him for help. Despite the fact the religious leaders hadn't acted on their sinfulness quite like the greedy tax collectors, they were just as separated from God. And they did not have "ears to hear." 

There was something about the Lord Jesus that didn't push obvious sinners away from Him. He was compassionate. One passage says of Him, "He had compassion upon them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd." 

You see, the Lord Jesus saw people differently than the way we see people. We often see people as an inconvenience. The Lord Jesus saw them as an opportunity, not an inconvenience.  

It is significant that Jesus attracted sinners while the Pharisees repelled them. Lost sinners came to the Lord Jesus, not because He catered to them or compromised His message, but because He cared for them. He understood their needs and tried to help them, while the Pharisees criticized them and kept their distance. The Pharisees had a knowledge of the Old Testament law and a desire for personal purity, yet they had no love for lost souls.

Three words summarize the message of this chapter: lost, found, and rejoice. The Lord Jesus spoke these parables to address the accusations of the religious leaders. To them, it was bad enough that Jesus welcomed these outcasts and taught them, but He went so far as to eat a meal with them! They did not yet understand that the Son of Man had “come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Luke 15 makes it clear that there is one message of salvation: God welcomes and forgives repentant sinners. But these parables also reveal that there are two aspects to this salvation. There is God’s part: the shepherd seeks the lost sheep. But there is also our part in salvation, the prodigal son willingly repented and returned home. To emphasize but one aspect is to give a false view of salvation, for both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man must be taught.

The Lord Jesus is happiest when the lost are found. He rejoices because he knows what awaits those who are found. In Heaven, we will at long last, have a heart just like His. We will be separated by all that weighs us down. We will be rescued from the dungeon. And, Satan's manhole cover? Well, let's just say the Lord Jesus remedied that problem by going there for us. And, He won that battle.

Luke 14:28-35

Click here for the Luke 14:28-35 PODCAST

28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. 34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” ~ Luke 14:28-35

The Lord Jesus has been teaching about discipleship. Some believers are ok disciples, and some are great disciples. In today's text, the Lord Jesus is spelling out how the believer is made more effective in this world for the advancement of God's kingdom. 

The Lord Jesus provides three parables to explain the difficulty involved in being a disciple. The three parables are: the parable of the man building a tower, the parable about the king preparing for war, and the parable of the salt losing its flavor. 

All three parables represent the believer in the Lord Jesus. The message? The disciple must “estimate the cost” to see whether he is up to the task of being a part of the building of God's kingdom. We cannot get the job done with halfheartedness. We must count the cost, and subsequently, pay the price, if we are to be successful.  

The Lord Jesus had earlier identified His disciples as “the salt of the earth.” When we placed our trust in the Lord Jesus our effectiveness as the “salt” brought with it a great possibility. And, in that day, salt was a valued item, in fact, part of a soldier’s pay was given in salt.

Salt is a preservative, and God’s people in this world are helping to hold back the influence of evil. In addition, salt is an antiseptic that makes things cleaner. It may sting when it touches the wound, but it helps to kill infection. And, salt adds flavor. But, most of all, salt makes people thirsty. By the way we live our lives, we ought to make others thirsty for the Lord Jesus and the salvation that He alone can give.

Our modern salt is pure and does not lose its flavor, but the salt in the day of the Lord Jesus was impure and could lose its flavor. Once the saltiness was gone, there was no way to restore it, and the salt was thrown out and declared ineffective. When a disciple loses his effectiveness which comes from his dependency on the Lord Jesus, he “isn’t able to finish” and will eventually not be all that effective in advancing the kingdom of Christ in the hearts of people.

When we tell the Lord Jesus that we want to take up our cross and follow Him as His disciples, He then makes known to us exactly what it means to be His disciple. He wants no false expectancy, no illusions, no bargains. He wants to use us as stones for building His church, soldiers for battling His enemies, and salt for bettering the lives of the people of this world.

To some, the Lord Jesus says, “You cannot be My disciples,” because they will not forsake all for Him. Two times in v.29-30, the word “finish” is used. He uses the Greek word ekteleō which is a word of finality. When the preposition ek to the word teleō, we compound its intensity. Those whom God uses to advance His kingdom in this world are those who are fully committed to the mission. Not all Christians are such and, sadly, cannot be used of the Lord like this.

In v.35 we read, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."  This is His call to discipleship. To the degree that we give ourselves to the Lord will determine the degree to which we will be useful to advance the gospel in the hearts of the people in this world.

Our sins are forgiven by grace through faith. We do not earn our rightness before God. Justification is a free gift. We do not work for it. We receive it. Once we are in God's kingdom, though, we discover Christianity is not a weekend hobby. We play a role in the furtherance of His kingdom in this world. 

Imagine with me. You have toiled for years for God's kingdom and it is time for you to go to your real home. You die and when you arrive in heaven, there are not just a few, but a bunch of people who are grateful for your arrival. You see, they will be grateful to see you because you factored in on them coming to the Lord Jesus. You, partly, are responsible for them being there. 

We invest in God's kingdom through the giving of our time, our talents, and our treasures. Be sure to factor in to what God is doing in this world today, and who knows, you may factor in on many spending eternity in heaven rather than hell.

Luke 14:25-27

Click here for the Luke 14:25-27 PODCAST

25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ~ Luke 14:25-27

When the Lord Jesus left the meal at the Pharisee’s house, great crowds followed Him, but they weren't really following Him. He knew that most of those in the crowd wanted only to see miracles. The expectations of the crowds were in accordance to their definition of life, not His. 

These who were following the Lord Jesus that day didn't understand the difference between justification and sanctification. Justification is a one time event when we trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of our sin. This is our entrance into the family of God. Sanctification, on the other hand, is the process that we enter after being justified before God whereby God is changing us from the inside out. We embrace this process of sanctification more and more as we recognize this is the truth and it is worth dying for.

In fact, this is why many find themselves embracing the false teaching of earning our salvation. This is why we must understand that there is one pathway to justification which is faith in Christ alone. After we have entered into a relationship with God, we enter this process called sanctification which is the process we go through whereby God is changing our minds and our wills. We can have justification without sanctification, but we cannot have sanctification without justification. This explains why there are some Christians who seem to be deeper in their walk with the Lord.

According to v.25, the Lord Jesus turned to the crowds and began teaching on discipleship which only appeals to the justified. To be a “disciple” is to be one who attaches himself to a Rabbi in order to learn from Him. Perhaps our nearest modern equivalent is “apprentice,” one who learns by watching and by doing. The word disciple was the most common name for the followers of Jesus Christ and is used 264 times in the Gospels and the book of Acts.

The Lord Jesus clearly made a distinction between justification and sanctification. And, discipleship is synonymous with sanctification. Justification is open to all who will come to Him for justification by faith, while discipleship is for believers willing to pay a price. Justification means coming to the cross and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of our sin, while discipleship means denying self, carrying our cross and following the Lord Jesus. 

In New Testament days, at the age of five, young boys went to the local synagogue school to learn Hebrew and memorize the Torah. By the time of his bar mitzvah at age 13, a typical Jewish young man was very conversant with God’s Word having memorized the whole Old Testament.

Those young men who showed great promise in this initial phase of learning were encouraged to continue their education following their bar mitzvahs. This would entail studying the wisdom and authoritative interpretation of the Torah by the sages known as “The Rabbi.” 

After that next multi-year phase, the young men who continued to show great promise were further encouraged to extend their training by spending time (typically from ages 17-20) with a rabbi in a multi-year yeshiva experience. There they would hone their ability to interpret God’s Word as it relates to all the practical issues of daily life.

According to v.26-27, to be Christ's disciple, we must increasingly love Christ supremely, even though we will never be perfect in doing so. We must remember here that we are not earning our justification, we are experiencing His sanctification. 

The word "hate" in v.26 does not suggest positive antagonism but rather "to love less." Our love for Christ must be so strong that all other love is like hatred in comparison. In fact, we must hate our own lives and be willing to bear the cross after Him.

Being Christ's disciple demands abandonment of our priorities. We take on a completely different worldview, past, present and future.  And it all begins with an abandonment of us calling our own shots. Again, we will never be perfect at this, but to the degree that we are sanctified will be the degree that we grow in God's wisdom.  

In v.27 to “carry the cross” means to daily die to self and to live unto God and His will. The cross was a tool accomplishing a slow, agonizing death. It means death to self, to our own plans, and ambitions, and a willingness to serve Him as He directs. A cross is something we willingly accept from God as part of His will for our lives.

The word “carry,” bastazō, metaphorically means to bear a burden, to bear pain or to bear suffering. We have come to the place where we're willing to put our lives on the line, take whatever comes, even if it's death. We do this because we see that His heart is for us and He and His way is the truth.

Luke 14:15-24

Click here for the Luke 14:15-24 PODCAST

15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me. 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’” ~ Luke 14:15-24

The Lord Jesus was at a luncheon provided by a very prominent Pharisee who wanted to trap Him into healing a man on the Sabbath who was retaining a lot of fluid in the tissue of his body. 

In v.16 we read, "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.” This wealthy man invites a huge number of people to this meal. This was a huge event. 

In v.17 we read, "At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready."

In New Testament days, invited dinner guests were invited a few days before the meal but they were not told the exact hour. A host had to know how many guests were coming so he could butcher the right amount of animals and prepare a sufficient amount of food. When the day came that the feast was to begin, the host sent his servants to each of the guests to tell them the banquet was ready and they should come. Each of the guests in this parable had already agreed to attend the banquet. Instead of coming to the feast, all of the guests gave flimsy excuses for not coming.

In v.18 we read, "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me."

The first guest had to “go and see” a piece of real estate he had purchased. In that day, the purchasing of property was a long and complicated process, and the man would have had many opportunities to examine the land he was buying. And, since most banquets were held in the evening, the man had little daylight left even for a cursory look.

Then, in v.19 we read, "I bought five yoke of oxen." The second man had also made a purchase, five oxen, and he had to check out the oxen's quality. No one would purchase that many animals without first making sure they were right. 

Then, in v.20 we read, "I just got married, so I can’t come." The third guest couldn't come because he had just gotten married. Jewish weddings were never surprises, so this man knew well in advance that he was getting married. That being the case, he should not have agreed to attend the feast in the first place. Since only Jewish men were invited to banquets, the host did not expect the wife to come as well. 

In v.21 we read, "Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame." 

Having prepared a great dinner for many guests, the host did not want all that food to go to waste, so he sent his servant out to invite a crowd to His banquet hall. So, the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame, the kind of people that Jesus came to save, were invited. 

According to v.22-23, not only did the host get other people to take the places assigned to the invited guests, but he also shut the door so that those with excuses could not change their minds and come in . 

This parable had a special message for the proud Jewish people who were so sure they would enter the kingdom of God. Within a few short years, the gospel would be rejected by the Jews, by and large, and the gospel message would be presented to the Samaritans and the Gentiles.

But the message of this parable applies to all of us today. God still says, “Come, for everything is now ready!” Nothing more need be done for our salvation, for Jesus Christ finished the work of redemption when He died for us on the cross and arose from the dead. The feast has been spread, the invitation is free, and we are invited to come.

People today make the same mistake that the people in the parable made: they delay in responding to the invitation. There is certainly nothing wrong with owning a farm, examining purchases, or spending a week on a honeymoon with your wife. But if these good things keep us from enjoying the best things, then these things become bad things, for if we do not respond positively to the Gospel, we will spend eternity in Hell.

These religious leaders did not believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus because they believed they were achieving rightness before God through their good works. They actually believed that the more rules they kept, the more they were assured that they would go to heaven.

The Lord Jesus always shatters false religion's hope. He never says, "Well, we worship the same God, we're both going to be in heaven." He never says, "Well, you are a student of the Old Testament and you are a worshiping the God of Israel and you're going to get into heaven."  

He never says, "You're really good, God's going to accept this religious effort in His name as enough."  

No, the Lord Jesus confronts false religious security at every level. Anybody who lives under some kind of misguided assumption that they're headed for heaven based on their unique goodness needs to know that is not true. The claims of the Lord Jesus are to the contrary to religion. Investigate it for yourself.

You see, if the death of the Lord Jesus was not enough to procure our salvation, then no one has any hope. In fact, the formula for our salvation is: Jesus plus nothing equals everything. What He accomplished through His perfectly lived life and His death on the cross and His resurrection was enough. God, in His word, says so. See Romans 10:9-10.