Chapter V: The Invitation to the Feast

[LUKE 14.16]

OUR Lord Jesus tells us this story, with its great warning.

A certain man made a great supper, and invited a great many to come to it, and when all was ready, he sent his servants to tell the guests.

But to the astonishment of the servants, the guests all made excuses that they could not come!

One said he had bought a piece of land, and he must go to look at it. Another said he had married a wife, and therefore could not come; and another that he had bought five yoke of oxen, and he must go to prove them: till at last all of them made excuses that they could not come!

Then the master told his servants to go to the highways and bring in all the lonely and homeless, and wandering ones, and compel them to come in, that his house might be filled.

And the master of the house said very sorrowfully that none of those who had refused could taste of his supper.

And the meaning of this great feast seems to me to be like one of the glimpses of Heaven which we get in the Bible. They tell us of the joys which those who are willing to accept "God's invitation" will have for ever and ever.

I knew a little girl, years ago, who heard a sermon which changed all her life.

We were listening to a great preacher, and he was saying, "God's Holy Spirit is here, and He is asking you to come to Jesus, and be saved. The Holy Spirit seems to say, 'Yet there is room.' Let us pause in silence for a few minutes, while you answer this question: Will you come to Jesus, now?"

In the solemn silence that followed, I found my little girl's arm gently put into mine, with a little squeeze: and I guessed that all was right.

When we were going home, I whispered, "What did you answer?"

And she said softly, "I said, 'Yes.'"

Children, there comes to us a great choice to-day! Shall we accept the invitation to take the Lord Jesus into our hearts?

If we do, we shall try to please Him, and our lives here will be filled with blessing; and Eternal Life will be ours.

VI. "MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE"

JOHN 10.27

THIS is a picture of an Eastern shepherd, leading his sheep on the mountains.

He loves his sheep, he knows every one of them; he leads them, and they follow him.

He chooses the green pastures for them, and they rest beside the still waters.

He guards them from their enemies, and if any wild beast comes against them, he is ready to give his life to protect them.

If the shepherd is away, and a hired man has to take care of them, the hireling runs away if he hears the roar of a wild beast, or even if he sees a storm coming.

But our Lord Jesus says to us, "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." And Jesus wants the little lambs too, and "He carries them in His bosom."

In the 15th of Luke our Lord tells us about a shepherd who had a hundred sheep, who, when he counted them before he put them into the fold, found there was one missing.

But the shepherd would not lose his sheep for anything!

So he left his ninety-nine in the fold, and hastened away into the wilderness to find the one which was lost.

Over the rugged mountains; through the tangles and the briars; through the deep waters of the rushing stream, on he passed; and as he went, perhaps these words seemed to dwell in his very heart: "Until I find it!"

On he went, weary and worn, till at last he heard a faint cry.

Then the shepherd called, and stood listening for the answer. And again came that faint cry, and the shepherd knew that somewhere near him, his lost sheep was lying—lonely, helpless, and hopeless.

Then the shepherd saw beneath him, just at the edge of an awful precipice, the poor sheep caught in a tangled briar.

So the shepherd leaned over the abyss and stretched out his hands, and, regardless of the tearing thorns, he grasped his sheep, he disentangled the briars, and lifted it into safety.

But the sheep was so weary and faint, that it could not walk; so the tender shepherd put it on to his shoulders, and brought it home rejoicing!

And then the shepherd called his friends together, saying:

"Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!"

This is a word-picture of what our Lord Jesus is. "The Good Shepherd, Who giveth His life for the sheep!"

If we feel that we have wandered away, we can go and tell Jesus, and He will forgive us.

Or if we are in any trouble or danger, He is ever near us, to help us and guide us, and do us good.

And when the little lamb comes to Jesus, and says, "I am sorry," or the big sheep comes back and asks forgiveness, then Jesus rejoices, and says to us all: "I say unto you, That likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth."