I am well aware that one of the problems people have with speakers like me is that they often wonder if they are actually real human beings. I once read of a little girl who was taken to church for the first time ever. The child was struck by the solemness of the occasion. And after several moments she looked at her mother and asked, "Does the minister live here or does he just come down from heaven every Sunday?" There are those who wonder if preachers are real human beings or some kind of unidentified flying objects who just come down from heaven every Sunday.
Well, frankly, I cannot speak for other preachers but I can speak for this one and I assure you that I am a real human being. There are at least three ways I know that. One way I know that is that when it comes to temptation and doing what is right, I have the same struggles everyone here does. Very seldom do I counsel anyone in the areas of money, sex, pride, priorities, etc. that sooner or later I don’t have to follow my own advice. Very seldom do I counsel anyone who has fallen into sin in those areas that I don’t have to say, "But for the grace of God there be I."
A second reason I know that is when it comes to problems such as unexpected bills I can feel those as acutely as anyone else does. One time I was driving to Houston, Texas, for a speaking engagement in the middle of the summer. On the way down the compressor on the air conditioner on my car went out. Since I did not have time to get it fixed on the road, I therefore had to drive to Houston in 100-degree weather without an air-conditioner and get it fixed at a total cost of hundreds of dollars. Now, first of all, it was a Monday and I’ve yet to figure out why everything has to go wrong on a Monday. If the U. S. Supreme Court ever comes up with a suggestion that we change Mondays to Fridays and Fridays to Mondays I will campaign across the United States trying to get people to go for it. Furthermore, I had the understanding it would only cost $150 at the most. And it is not that I don’t like surprises but sometimes I’d rather be warned before I’m surprised. Then to add agony to grief, after getting my car fixed, on the way back to where I was speaking I got lost and therefore had to gobble down my dinner in less than 10 minutes. And that night I was scheduled to speak on the subject, "How to handle anxiety and worry." Frankly, I did not feel like speaking on anxiety or worry. I felt like speaking on how to be discouraged with 10,000 personal illustrations.
But there is a third reason I know I’m human. That is because when it comes to something I would rather not do, I am as good or better than anyone else here coming up with a good excuse. Now if you have brought your sleeping bag and can stay all day and all night, I could give you several illustrations to support that. But one of the best ones to show you how good I am at making excuses and how long I’ve been good at it is when I was a second year student in graduate school. I was very single and extremely satisfied three years before Tammy and I got married. And a classmate of mine asked if I would like a blind date to the Texas State Fair. Now the idea of a blind date did not excite me in the least because a few years earlier I had already had one of those and it was what I often refer to as a mercy mission. I just did it to get another girl off the hook. She had a blind date lined up for a girlfriend of hers and the guy did not come through and she said, "Will you get me off the hook and go out with this girl?" And although we had a delightful evening, when we came back I made a sentence in the Old Testament my theme verse when it came to dating, "Open thou my eyes that I may behold wondrous things." (Psalm 119:18). Therefore, I decided that I did not want any more blind dates.
But obviously, you cannot look at a good friend of yours and just say, "No, thank you." You need a good excuse. So I started to think of a few. I thought to myself, "Why don’t I just say, ’I never met the girl?’" But it suddenly dawned on me that that would not make a good excuse because obviously I did not know the girl. If I knew the girl it would certainly not be a blind date. So I decided that would not work. So I thought more and thought, "I know what I’ll say. I’ll simply say, "I can’t afford it." At that time you had to pay $2 apiece to get through the front gates and going through graduate school I was so poor that while everybody else was taking out the garbage, I was bringing it in. But I knew him well enough to know that if I told him I could not afford it he would just say, "That’s okay, I’ll pay your way for you." So I decided that excuse would not work either. So I thought about it some more and said, "I know what I’ll say. I’ll say I’m just plain flat out too busy and don’t have the time." But the only problem with that was that he was asking me this on a Monday and the date was not to take place until Friday. And I knew if I couldn’t get all my work done by Friday night I’d better get out of the ministry before I ever got in. Furthermore, how many guys in their right mind do you know who after working hard all week hit the books on a Friday night? So it suddenly dawned on me that I did not have a good excuse and I accepted the blind date. That night I met a girl who was both strange and wonderful. So strange that we came to a mud puddle she said to me, "If you were any kind of a man you would lay your coat across that mud puddle and let me walk across." But so wonderful that I have we have been happily married for 36 years. And I now realize that one excuse could have cost me everything that I now have.
Now if you think that’s a problem in the realm of the physical and the material, it is an even a bigger problem in the realm of the spiritual. One excuse can cost you everything. I do not know of anyone who brings that out any clearer than the person of Christ Himself. And He does it at a point when His popularity with the Pharisees is on a downhill slide. Having been invited to dinner, Christ has the nerve to tell the host who they can invite next time. He said in verse 12, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, your rich neighbors lest they also invite you back and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind." In other words, instead of inviting those who could walk in and sit down, invite those who also have legs but cannot walk. Instead of inviting those who can see find food, invite those who although they have eyes they cannot see. Instead of inviting those who could pay you for the meal, invite those who could not so much as leave a tip. The point he was making was instead of inviting those you would hope would be able to invite you invite those who even if they did invite you you’d far rather decline. And the reason He gives is "what you don’t receive from them you will receive from Me." Verse 14 says, "And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
And apparently there is one man who was so intrigued with this whole conversation that he cannot help but think what it would be like to have your feet under the same table that the Lord has His. So partially out of being intrigued and probably partially out of wanting to trick Christ and find something that they might accuse Him, verse 15 says, "Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things he said to him, ’Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.’" And at that point, Jesus Christ told a parable to explain how easy it is to lose out on the good things to which you are invited. He told a parable in which he explained that one silly excuse can cost you everything.
It says in verses 16-17, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many. And sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ’Come, for all things are now ready.’"
Now frankly, don’t be surprised about verse 16 -- "A certain man gave a great supper." He was not the first one to do that. People in that day were not unlike people in our day. They would prepare feasts and great suppers for family occasions such as a birthday, a marriage, the separation or reunion of friends, a burial, or even something to celebrate something so simple as a boy going from boyhood to manhood. And the reason verse 16 calls it a great supper is because that’s exactly what it was ƒ{ one great supper. This was a time for feasting, not for fasting. Sometimes these were so elaborate that when you arrived at a house your feet were washed, you were greeted with a kiss, your hair was anointed and you were even given a special robe to wear throughout the banquet. And everyone who was there was there by special invitation.
One time I was speaking in Georgia and my wife went with me and we were scheduled to have a meal in a woman’s home who had young daughters just prior to my speaking. No sooner did we arrive there and began to eat than the one girl looked at her mother and asked, "Mom, how soon are these people going to leave?" Well, we later found out that the mother had told her two daughters before we came that when we left they could play with their play dough but not before. Therefore, they felt that the sooner you guys get out of here, the better. What they did not realize though was that we were there by special invitation. Anyone who is at this meal is there by special invitation. That’s why verse 17 says, "And sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ’Come, for all things are now ready.’"
Now in our day when we invite someone to dinner all we do is give them the time and the place and expect them to show up 15 minutes late. But in that day it wasn’t quite that simple because there were two invitations sent out. The first invitation simply said, "You are one of the invited parties. Get everything done that you have to so that whenever the dinner is ready you can come without delay." The second invitation came several days, several weeks and sometimes several months later. It said, "The dinner is on the table. Come without delay."
And that’s what makes verse 18 so alarming. "But they all with one accord began to make excuses." First of all, these were the ones who received and accepted the first invitation and now to turn down the second one was an insult of the grossest kind. In fact, among the Arabs that was considered a declaration of war. Furthermore, verse 18 says, "They all with one accord" so apparently they all got together beforehand and decided what to say. And apparently the excuse they decided to use was "We are all just too busy and don’t have the time."
Now frankly, if you’ve had a hard day and just need some laughs, all you need to do is lean back and listen to three excuses because they are funnier than watching your favorite comedy.
Look with me at excuse number one. The first said, "I’ve bought a piece of ground and I must go and see it. I ask you, to have me excused." Now there are three things wrong with that excuse. The first thing is that nobody in their right mind would buy a field without first looking at it. Therefore, it is unlikely that he has already seen it. He just simply wants to see it again and that could wait until another time. I’ve never yet seen a field get up and run away. Secondly, if he did buy the field without seeing it, it does not change the fact that the field belongs to him. The contract is closed. But the third thing, and the funniest of all is, if you notice, verse 16 says, "A certain man gave a great supper." A supper was a meal prepared in the evening after it was dark. Now it’s extremely difficult to look at a field after dark even if you have a flashlight, especially when flashlights haven’t been invented. It is quite obvious that all he is doing is making excuses.
A number of years ago a friend of mine in Dallas along with some friends of his owned an oil well in Colorado. Now suppose I said to him, "I’d like to invite you and your wife to dinner" and he replied, "Oh, please excuse me but I’ve just bought an oil well and I have to go and see it." First of all, nobody in their right mind buys an oil well without first seeing it. Secondly, if he did, it does not change the fact that the oil well belongs to him and the contract is closed. And thirdly, it would be extremely difficult to look at an oil well after dark. It would be very obvious in a few seconds that all he is doing is making excuse.
But if you think that is something, you have not seen anything. Look at excuse number 2. Verse 19 says, "And another said, ’I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’" Now to understand that excuse you have to understand the ox because there was no animal more important in the economy of Israel than the ox. They used it for planting and for plowing and for harvesting the crop. It was the animal in which all of the ordinary operations of farming depended. They were hooked together with a yoke and used in pairs. Therefore, when you bought an ox you were buying your means of livelihood.
In light of that, let me mention three things. First, it is unthinkable that you would buy one ox without first watching him perform in the field. Would it not be embarrassing to get that critter home and then discover that he had arthritis of the legs and paralysis of the brain? Secondly, if you did buy one that way, you would certainly not buy five yoke of them that way. That is a total of ten. Thirdly, if you did, it doesn’t change the fact that the oxen belong to you. The contract is closed.
Perhaps you could identify with this excuse better if instead of thinking in terms of cattle you thought in terms of cars. There is a real sense in which cars are to people of our day as important as cattle were to people of that day. We use it to go to and from home and work, pick up the groceries and pick up the kids. Now suppose you invited a person to dinner and they said, "Oh, please excuse me but I have bought ten used cars and I have to go and drive them. Please have me excused." First, no one in their right mind would buy one used car without first driving it. Secondly, if you did buy one, you wouldn’t buy ten that way. Thirdly, if you did, it does not change the fact that the cars belong to you and you are the proud owner of ten used cars. The contract is closed.
But if you think those excuses are something, you still have not seen anything. Look with me at excuse number three. I honestly don’t know what kept the man from laughing when he said it. Verse 20 says, "Still another said, ’I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.’" Now frankly, I could spend all day on just this one excuse. But since we don’t have that kind of time may I just mention a few things? First, it could be that this man was thinking of a sentence in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 24:5) in which it said that after a man got married he was excused from military duty for one year. Apparently, they felt he had enough fighting to do at home! There was no need to go to war. But although that was an excuse from military duty, it was not an excuse from dinner invitations. Secondly, this was not a stag party. Since the host would have known he was getting married, his wife would have automatically been invited. Now in light of that, you cannot help but wonder two things. Could it be that this man, having just gotten married, is so rattled he is not even thinking of what he is saying. Someone has said that marriage is like a telephone call in the middle of the night. First there is a ring and then you wake up. Maybe this fellow just hadn’t had a chance to wake up yet. Secondly, in this day and age the parents would many times pick out the bride for their son and he never saw her until the day he married her. In this day and age the parents would many times pick out the bride for their son and he never saw her until the day he married her. Could it be that he is so disappointed with the choice they made that he just hates to be seen with her in public? One time in a community there was a farmer who everybody thought was very rich and in fact he was actually poor. One night they put a note underneath his door that said, "Put $5,000 underneath the door by tomorrow morning or we will kidnap your wife." The next morning he put a note underneath the oak tree that said, "I do not have $5,000 but I would like to accept your kind offer." Could it be that this man is so disappointed with the choice they made he just hates to be seen with her in public? Obviously, all he is doing is makes excuses.
There are three things that characterize all of these excuses. They are pointless, they are pitiful, and they are pathetic. Two of them concern things that could be done at another time. All three concern things that could still be done even if they came to dinner first. All they are doing is what verse 18 calls "making excuse." None of them had a reason. All of them had an excuse. And that one excuse cost them everything. Notice verse 21 says, "So a 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 into the city and bring to the dinner the poor, the maimed, and the lame, and the blind.’ And the servant said, ’Master, it is done as you have 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, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper.’"
But frankly, it is not the interesting points of the parable which matters as much as the interpretation of it. In verse 24 by calling the supper "My supper" Christ immediately identifies Himself as the host who is doing the inviting. He is inviting people to heaven. The first He invited were the Jewish people. But John 1:11 says, "He came to His own and His own received Him not." So He turned His ministry to the Gentiles and to those the Jews referred to as tax collectors and sinners. They were so poor bushes instead of buildings were where they lived and leftovers instead of lamb chops were what they ate. When He extended to them the kind offer of eternal life, many of them accepted His kind offer.
Now today Christ is still inviting people to heaven. The reason He can is because His Son has paid for our sin on the cross. He saved us by dying for us. If you go back in the pages of history you find the story of a woman who was carrying her baby across her back when she was trapped by a fire in the middle of a prairie. Seeing no way she could escape, she got down on her knees and with her hands scooped a hole in the soil, placed her baby in it, and stretched her body over it. When the fire spread, it killed the woman and she died in that baby’s place. She saved it by dying for it. The Bible is saying that Christ came into the world, He took your sin and my sin, placed it upon Himself, He died in our place and rose again. Therefore, God is asking us to come to Him as sinners, recognize that Christ died for us and arose and put our trust in Christ alone as our only way to heaven. The moment we do God gives us eternal life as a free gift.
Now I spend my life telling people how to get to heaven. There is nothing I enjoy more. Having done that for many years now, I find it is so easy for us to make excuses as to why we cannot come to Christ. In fact, I’ve found there are six common excuses we often tend to give.
The first one we often tend to give is: But the Bible has so many errors in it ƒ{ so many contradictions. But to this point, I’ve never had one person show me one. All we are many times doing is repeating something somebody else told us. It becomes terribly embarrassing to find out that that person never read the Bible.
Then sometimes there are those of us who say Christians are hypocrites. Now I will be the first to admit that sometimes that is true. But I would be quick to add two things. One is that for every one who does not live the life, I’ll show you two who are trying to. Furthermore, God is not asking you to trust Christians. They cannot take you to heaven. He is asking you to trust Christ and you can rest assured He was not a hypocrite because hypocrites don’t take your place on a cross.
Then sometimes we say, "But I’m already a member of a church." But to someone in your same shoes Christ said, "You must be born again." And you are born again by trusting Christ to save you, not trusting your church membership to get you to heaven.
Then sometimes we say, "But it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere." That’s not true in many other areas of life and it’s not true here either. Let’s suppose your TV set stopped working. I go in with a hammer, a hatchet and a screw driver and before long your living room is wall to wall television parts. You say to me, "I didn’t know you were TV technician." I answer saying, "I’m not. It’s the first time I’ve seen the inside of one." You say, "Well, how do you know you can fix my TV?" I say, "Because I’m sincere. I sincerely believe I can fix your TV." Sincerity won’t get your TV fixed and sincerity won’t get you to heaven. The issue is, what are you sincerely trusting in as your only way to heaven?
Then sometimes we say, "But I’m doing the best I can. I live a good life." But to you the cross of Christ ought to speak louder than it does to anybody else. Because if anything you did could get you to heaven, there was no need for Christ to die for you. For what the Bible is saying is that sin has to be punished and the punishment for sin is death. But since Jesus Christ took the punishment God can now pardon you based not on what you’ve done but based on what His Son did by dying for you.
Then sometimes we say, "I’m too busy. I don’t have time to think about this right now." But the issue is not having the time. It’s taking the time. Please bear in mind it’s a trick of Satan to get you to ponder the things that are not important and procrastinate on the things that are. So you put off the most important decision until it’s entirely too late. And until you know without a doubt that you are going to heaven, there is nothing else that matters.
What a loving God is saying is, all those are excuses. And one excuse can cost you everything. One excuse can cost you heaven. There are people separated from God forever tonight who did not have two excuses, they only had one and one excuse cost you everything. Tonight what a loving God is asking is, will you lay aside that excuse and trust Christ?
Some time ago I spoke to a man in the Air Force. He admitted to me that he did not know if he was going to heaven. So I pulled a 3x5 card from my pocket and said, "I would like you to list on that card whatever is keeping you from trusting Christ right now." He mentioned two things: "My friends, I don’t know what they’ll say. And secondly, certain things I’m going to have to give up." I knew what he meant because when I walked into the room there was a Playboy magazine laying on the night stand. I said, "Okay, now let’s talk about those two for a minute. First of all, you said your friends. Do you mean that you are going to go through life letting them make all your big decisions for you and you make your small ones?" That really irritated him. He said, "I will not do that!" I said, "If you say, ’I will not trust Christ because of my friends,’ that is exactly what you are saying. They can make all my big decisions, like where I will spend eternity, and I will make all my small ones." He said, "I will not do that. If I do not go to heaven, I want it to be my choosing, not theirs." So I said, "That’s not a good reason, is it?" he said, "No." I continued, "Secondly, you said ’Certain things I will have to give up.’ Now we’ve already talked about the fact that God is not asking you to give up anything. God is asking you to receive something. Once you’ve received eternal life God will help you to put into your life what should be there and take out what should not be there." But he knew that if he trusted Christ and grew as a Christian certain things would have to go. So, although they were not an issue they became the issue. So I took a 3x5 card and drew two circles on it. Inside one circle I wrote "heaven" and inside the other circle I wrote "women, parties, alcohol, magazines" ƒ{ all the things he had mentioned. Then I said, "Now I just want to be sure I’m clear on what you are saying. If I understand you, you are saying, I will give up this circle (heaven) for this circle." I will never forget it. He looked at me and said, "May I think for a minute?" He bowed his head to think and I bowed my head to pray for him. A few minutes later he raised his head, he said, "I’m ready." He trusted Christ and tonight is one of the happiest people it is my privilege to know because he realized something very simple. He did not have a good reason for not trusting Christ. He only had an excuse.
Tonight what a loving God is saying is, you do not have a reason for not trusting Christ. You only have an excuse. That one excuse could cost you everything. That one excuse could cost you heaven. Tonight, will you lay aside that excuse and trust Christ?
