God Would Have His Heaven FULL
December 27, 2006
Pastor Matt Black
Midweek Service
Luke 14:16-23
Introduction: Christ receiveth sinful men! Do you believe that? We do so little soul winning that I’m not sure that we are convinced of it. Remember when you were first saved. You knew then that God could save anyone because He saved you. But have you lost your first love? Open your Bible to Luke 14:16-23. The title of tonight’s message is “God Would Have His Heaven FULL”.
Luke 14:16-23, “Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. 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 hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 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.”
My message to you tonight is very simple. God is a merciful God, and He would have His heaven FULL. He would have His heaven filled with people. Christ came not so that men would have an opportunity to be saved, but He came to actually save them! God would bring His people into His heaven. Christ died so that this number would be secured. But it is not a small number! God would have His heaven FULL!
With all our teaching on soul winning, I have been saddened that we have comforted ourselves that we know much about evangelizing sinners, but we do very little of it.
God would have His Heaven FULL! Yet what keeps men from God’s Heaven?
I. Men’s Own Sin and Depravity keep men out of Heaven. Can I ask you a question tonight? What is it that keeps men from heaven? You say “Their own depravity! Their very own sin!” And you are right. Men are condemned because they “love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil” (John 3:19). Men are not saved because they do not want to be saved.
A. What is God’s solution to men’s sin and depravity?
Ø 1 Timothy 1:15, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief”. Christ is the answer to sin and depravity! He’s come to save the chiefest of sinners!
Ø Romans 5:20, “Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds”.
Ø Jesus Christ through His death has substituted for us, and so death has no dread to anyone who believes on Jesus! “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). “Death is swallowed up in victory” (verse 54)!
Ø Christ is come that He might “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
Ø The Bible tells us that Christ has conquered death and hell and that he is the only one able to deliver any one of us, for “he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 16:19).
B. Yet, it is not simply depravity that keeps men out of heaven. If that were the case all men would be in hell. Is it true today that many men in spite of their depravity have gone to heaven? Many millions, perhaps billions of men and women, boys and girls are at this very moment surrounding the throne of God singing with all their might at this very moment!
How have they come to get their sins taken away? Did they come to God on their own? Let’s go back to our text. We read in our text that God has “made a great supper” (verse 16). God says to them that are bidden “Come; for all things are now ready” (verse 17). Does God say it to them? This is a story of how men of all the world are reconciled to God. How do they hear that God wants their friendship—wants them at His supper table? How?
II. It is SAINTS by which God would bring Sinners to heaven.
God says “to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind” (verse 21). And yet still there was ROOM! And what does God say to the servant in verse 23? “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”
We all know and love Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Amen?
But what about verses 14-15? “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
I ask you do you have the calloused feet and the tender heart of a soul winner? Romans 10:14, “How shall they hear without a preacher?”
2 Corinthians 5:18, “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation”. He says in verses 20-21, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Do you know why God left you here on earth? Because God would have His Heaven FULL! He is glorified in the conversion of sinners. He would illumine their eyes and break their hearts! He would bring them to His table!
There will be a great number which no man can number around the throne! Look at Revelation 7:9-10. John says, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Brother in Christ, sister in the Lord, you and I cannot save anyone! Salvation is of the Lord. Yet God has ordained that saints lift up their voices as heralds! Are you lifting up your voice and warning men to flee?!
The truth is many saints are not bring men to heaven.
God says in verse 23, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”
III. In fact, in many cases, Saints are Keeping Men from Heaven.
A. First we must ask, What is a saint? A Saint is one who at one time was a sinner, but someone else compelled them to come!
B. So then, we must ask, how do saints keep men from heaven?
1. We are Lazy. We are glad to be saved, but there is no sense of urgency with others who are still in a lost condition. God has a sense of urgency. Look at verse 21 of Luke 14, “Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.”
We have more urgency for
2. We are Complaining and Critical of other saints. A critical spirit is nothing less than high treason. It is to turn on your own countrymen. It is to be a Benedict Arnold to the cause of Christ! We are in the battle together! To turn against one another is treason. All that we do ought to be bringing our brethren closer to Christ and stronger in courage to evangelize. We are in a great war! We must not fight one another! We must fight the enemy!
Horatius Bonar said that in all of our endeavors with people, we have two purposes:
Ø To edify saints
Ø To evangelize and see the conversion of sinners
He said [I quote], “If souls are not won, [and] if saints are not matured, our ministry itself” [and I might add our very LIFE] “is vain.”[1]
One reason we don’t win souls is because we do not edify saints—we are too busy criticizing them. Instead of going forth as an army against the devil and this sin-cursed world, we spend our time shooting our wounded in our churches.
We often hold others to some standard of perfection that none of us is able to live by. We would do well to judge ourselves and have broken hearts.
If we would stop looking at one another, and start looking outward at this lost world, I think all of our petty conflicts would cease. Brethren, God would have His Heaven FULL!
How else do we keep men from heaven?
3. We are Loveless Saints! We do not have the love that Jesus had for sinners. He left heaven because he “loved the world” (John 3:16). Jesus loved sinners so much that He was called “a winebibber and a publican”. He was called “a friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19).
a. Jesus and Mary. Christ Wept with those who were hurting. When Jesus saw Mary weeping for her brother Lazarus, the Bible says He “groaned in the spirit, and was troubled” (John 11:33).
b. Jesus and Jerusalem. When Christ came near Jerusalem “he beheld the city, and wept over it” (Luke 19:41). Christ was weeping over sinners. John Bunyan said of these verses and of Christ’s ministry in Jerusalem, “these Jerusalem sinners must have this offer again and again; every one of them must be offered it over and over. Christ would not take their first rejection for a denial, nor their second repulse for a denial; but he will have grace offered once, and twice, and thrice, to these Jerusalem sinners.”[2]
c. Paul and His Brethren. We read in Romans 9:2-3, “That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh”
My plea to you tonight in closing is to get hold of the heart of God for sinners! He is a merciful God!
God says in verse 23, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”
IV. Our Merciful God Would have His Heaven FULL! He says to us in our text in Luke 14:23, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled”. He commands “all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). And we are to do the same. You will not do that if you do not have a broken heart for the lost. God has poured out His love to this filthy old world through His Son, and we are to do nothing less. We learn in James 5:11, “the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
Do we have the same attitude as God does? So often we care more about money than the lost! Ray Comfort, in the teaching we will hear later tonight asks, “How many people would you witness to tonight if I were to give you a thousand dollars per person?” Would you be awake at 4AM this morning with sinners?
Conclusion: The Great Contract and Covenant that we made with Christ at our salvation is found in Mark 16:15. Jesus in His glorified body, having poured out His own blood and suffered the wrath of God for sin said something. Imagine if you were there. Look into His eyes and listen to Him speak to you. Can you imagine the tone of voice? He’s saying “I’ve died! I’ve risen! God ye! “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Men will never come to Christ on their own. There are some who glory in the depravity of man. WE OUGHT TO WEEP FOR IT!
We know that as Christ said, “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Sinners will not hear the voice of Christ except through you! Again, God says in verse 23, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”
Do sinners hear the voice of Christ from you?
Ø Isaiah 55:1, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
Ø Christ says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28).
Ø The Spirit and the Bride say Come! Christ says Come and “let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
Verse 23, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled”! God would have His table FULL!!!
Are you a soldier of the cross, or do you think you’ll get to heaven on “flowery beds of ease”?
Closing Hymn: 574 Am I a Soldier of the Cross?