The Greatest Mistake Series

The janitor of the First Security State Bank of Boise, Idaho, accidentally put a box of checks worth $840,000 on the wrong table. The next morning the paper shredder operator dumped the contents of the box into his machine, and cut the checks into shreds. When the mistake was discovered the bank supervisor could hardly keep from crying. The loss was a bookkeeping nightmare. Fifty employees worked in two shifts for 6 hours daily in 6 rooms plucking, matching, and pasting all those thousands of little pieces of paper back together. It was a colossal and costly mistake, but at least it was a mistake that could be corrected.

Many mistakes are far more tragic because there is no way to go back and undo them.

Two men and a young person were found dead in Death Valley. They had abandoned their car. They were strung out in a line. One was 7 miles from the car, another 14, and the last made it 17 miles from the car. Obviously, they were trying to get back to a ranch they had passed 30 miles back. Had they only known, one mile the other way there was a grove of willows and a spring. They chose the wrong way, and it was a deadly mistake. The tragedy of a deadly mistake is, you can't learn from it because there is no second chance.

On May 6, 1902 one of history's worst natural disasters killed 30,000 people all at one time. Mt. Pelee on the Island of Martinique erupted sending millions of tons of rock and boiling lava at the town of St. Piere. The authorities knew for a week it could happen, but they did not give the warning. They made the fatal mistake of thinking, if you ignore something bad it will go away. The tragedy is all the greater because it could have been prevented, but men refused to deal with the dangerous reality. There are some things you have to make decisions about, or else. Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. Our text gives us an example that applies to all men. It deals with the worst possible mistake any man can make, the mistake of saying no thanks to God. The mistake of refusing His invitation to the banquet, which means life, joy, and abundance.

It sounds crazy and unbelievable that anybody would refuse an invitation to a free banquet, but Jesus told this parable to describe what had already happened to the leaders of Israel. God had sent His Son into the world to invite them into His kingdom, and to the best banquet of life that men could ever experience, and all they did was find excuses for not responding. Can you believe that men can be so foolish and pig headed as to reject such an offer, and make up all kinds of weak excuses for not going. It was the biggest mistake of their lives, for the generous host, who had all things ready for a great feast, invited others, and in verse 24 says, "None of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet."

If all these men missed was a feast, you could call this a minor mistake, but when you realize Jesus was talking about missing the kingdom of God, and abundant, and eternal life, then you realize it was truly a major mistake. It was so big that there is no other mistake that can come close. When God invites you to a banquet, and you say I am to busy, you go on the list of history's biggest mistake makers. The banquet, of course, is God's invitation to spend eternity with Him in heaven enjoying all that His infinitely creative mind can provide for His guests. To miss out on this puts a man in a class by himself. There is no other mistake a man could make that even comes close. Playing Russian Roulette with a bullet in every chamber is not as foolish as this, for all you lose is time, but to reject God's invitation is to lose forever.

A skeptic once asked a Christian, "What if you die and discover heaven is not real?" The Christian said, "It will indeed be a terrible disappointment, but at least I have enjoyed living with the hope. But suppose when you die you discover hell is real?" The unbeliever did not respond, for it was frightening to think he could make such a tragic mistake, and miss heaven, and suffer hell, when the gift was offered him time and time again. Every time you refuse God's invitation you add to the agonizing memory which will be a part of hell, for you had your chance, but blew it. You made the mistake of holding on to your puny pearl, and you lost your crown.