We're turning to Luke's gospel, chapter 14 this evening. Luke's gospel, chapter 14. And we'll come in to the chapter, our reading at the verse 15. So it's Luke's gospel, chapter 14, and beginning our reading at the verse number 15. Look 14 verse 15. And when one of them that sat at meat with him, with Christ, heard these things, he said unto them, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade many. And he sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they all, with one consent, began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, I must needs go and see it, I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them, I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, And shewed his lord these things. Then the master of his house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city, and bring hither the poor and the meand, and the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done, as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 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. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. Amen. And we'll end our reading at the end of verse 24. Let's pray with the Word of God open before us in our hands or on our laps. Let's seek just the Lord again for His help. Our loving Father, we do rejoice, Father, for the gospel of redeeming grace, the opportunity, O God, to again preach the Word of God. What a privilege, what an honor to be called out of the ranks of humanity. Oh God, to be commissioned by God, to be set apart by the church, ordained by the church, to preach the everlasting gospel. Here we are, oh God, we feel our responsibility towards our fellow men, to warn them of their need of Christ. to re-embrace Jesus as he is offered to them in the gospel. Help me not to fail in my duty as a minister of the New Testament. Grant, O God, the help and the unction of God the Holy Spirit. Grant unction that we might function properly in this house and in the pulpit tonight. Grant the Spirit to take the word beyond the outer ear, to carry it right into the very soul of some individual. God, we cry that as we thought about last Lord's Day evening, that the seed of thy word, the incorruptible seed, would fall upon good ground, that it might bring forth fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirtyfold. So answer prayer, help me dear God, give clarity of mind and thought and speech, And I'll give the all praise at the end of the meeting, for I offer prayer, and through Jesus, precious and holy, wonderful name. Amen and amen. All my life, until the day that I left home on the 20th of July, 2011, I was brought up surrounded by cattle. You would hardly think that with the hands that I've got, but it's true. For almost 30 years, or over 30 years, I was brought up living on a dairy farm not too far away from here. just there at the Castle Dawson roundabout. My father worked seven days a week, 52 weeks in the year, milking about 70 Holsten Frisians twice a day. When I did eventually marry, eventually finding someone who would take me and marry and Mrs. Stewart, we lived as a married couple on a house that was situated right in the middle of Andrea's father's dairy farm. Now, the McElroys wear a much bigger outfit than the Sturts, we milk 70 cows, the McElroys, they milked over 200 cows sometimes, three times a day on a 28 point rotary parlour. Now you would have thought having been brought up in such settings, surrounded by cattle for over 34 years of my life, that I would be an expert in cattle husbandry, but you would be badly mistaken about that. All that I know about cows is that they leave their winter bedding houses in a terrible state that takes great effort with a manure fork to clean out some Saturday morning that the sun is free late sometime in the spring. I'm fully aware that there are men in this congregation that know more about cattle than I ever will. There are farmers here tonight, And they're involved in the rearing of cattle. Some are involved in the transportation of such livestock. There are others, and they once had their own milking herd, while others are involved in the handling of the final food products that come from the cattle industry. But whether it be beef, or whether it be milking cows, it takes your interest. I trust that the parable that we have read tonight will take greater interest, or you'll take greater interest in that, and in concerning the lesser things and the lesser interests that we have been speaking about. Because this parable, the parable of the Great Supper, brings to attention some cows. We're going to be thinking about those cows later on within our message. Tonight we come to the seventh. And if memory serves me, I trust, or I think, and I believe it is the last, of these messages that I've been preaching for quite a number of weeks now, messages that are suited for those within the farming industry. That is, unless some individual wants to come and tell me about a passage of scripture or some sector within the farming industry that I haven't dealt with over the last seven weeks. But I trust that God will speak to us as we think about this gospel message, a gospel message for the cattle farmer. Now I'm told that there were no people that were more accustomed to festivity than the Orientals. When celebrating the marriage nuptials of a son or daughter, the Orientals would have had festivities extending over several days. in a display of their wealth and their affluence. And this parable in Luke chapter 14 brings us to such a time of festivity. It speaks about a certain man who makes a great supper and bids many to it. Now, what the occasion is, we are not told, but regardless of what is being celebrated here, we do find a notable feast taking place within the community and within the very parable itself. There are a number of things that I want to draw your attention to. I want to focus on the host of the parable tonight, some lessons that we can learn in the gospel, praying that God by His Spirit will take His Word and apply it to your heart even tonight. The first thing that I notice about the host of this great supper, I want you to notice his provision. His provision. The Savior begins the parable by saying, a certain man made a great supper and bade many. Notice the emphasis on the greatness of the supper. It was not just a supper, but the Christ of God says that it was a great supper. I trust that there are no English people here tonight, no English men or English women. And if there are, please just erase the comment that I am about to make from your memory bank. You know, for some English people, the idea of supper is a cup of tea and a rich tea biscuit. I have an aunt who is married to an English man. Remember one time going to their house, we had traveled quite a great distance, we rang them up and said we were coming round, and they said that they were going to make us supper. Whenever we arrived, we got a cup of tea, and a rich tea biscuit, that for them was a supper. I suppose for an Englishman, a great supper would have been a cup of tea and maybe a chocolate hobnob. They would have went just a little bit further. The English don't think much of a supper time, but Northern Ireland people, we here in the province, we go to the other end of the spectrum. When you go to a person's home for supper, they not only have killed the fatted calf, but it seems to be that they've killed the entire heard just in order to try and to feed you. Well, this supper was like a Northern Ireland supper. It was a great supper. The best cuts of meat, the juiciest of fruit, the freshest of vegetables, complemented with the finest of condiments really made up this great supper. No expense was spared by the host within the parable. Doesn't matter, didn't matter how much money it cost. No expense was spared. Only the best was going to do for this time of celebration. Those who were going to be partakers of this great supper certainly didn't have to stop home or stop on their way home to the local Chinese or take away in order to try and fill them up after this great supper. No, their appetites were going to be satisfied. Regardless if the appetite was large or whether it was small, whether it would be just a piece of celery would fill an individual or whether it would be T-bone steak, it mattered not, it mattered not The appetite of the individual, every appetite from smallest to largest, was going to be satisfied by the provision laid on by the host. What gospel truths we can then already learn from this parable, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, is pictured and may well be compared to a supper, a great supper. in which the hungry soul, the soul that is spiritually hungry, the soul that is spiritually famished, the soul that is in impoverishment, that soul is fully satisfied as they come to feast at the banqueting table of the gospel. How amazed I am as I read through the scriptures of the greatness of the provision that is made for the sinner in the gospel. The greatness of the provision that God has made for us sinners in the gospel. Just think of how much mercy. Just think of how great is love. Just think of how great His grace is displayed towards sinners in the gospel. We who were ungodly, God in love, and God in mercy, and God in grace sent His own darling Son into the world. to die on the cross, to die in the tree, to suffer and to bleed and die and shed his precious blood, to give his life as a ransom for many, to offer up his soul unto God as a once and for all sacrifice for sin. Oh the mercy, oh the love, oh the greatness of it all. God so loved the world vastness of His love, His grace, and His mercy. I think of the greatness of His power that He has shown to us in the gospel, sending His Spirit into this world to convict men and women of their sin, to convict them of their wrongdoing, their transgression of His law, their defiance of His commandments and yet the power of God in the Gospel and by the Spirit of God bringing that sinner out of the deadness of their sin and bringing them to new life in Jesus Christ. Oh, the greatness of His power, the greatness of His grace, the greatness of His love, the greatness of His mercy. Think of the greatness of His wisdom. God in wisdom devised a means by which those who have been banished from his presence because a sin can be brought nigh to God and reconciled to a holy God. Oh, the wisdom of it all! No man could devise such a salvation, no man could devise such a message, and yet, oh, the greatness of his wisdom! And then think of the greatness of the provision that He has made for us in the Gospel. The flesh of Christ, our spiritual meat, His blood, the choices of wine, our family soul satisfied with all covenant mercies, all the blessings, the provisions, the banqueting table spread, all the finest before us tonight in the Gospel. We can say with Solomon or with the lady in the Song of Solomon, He brought me. into his banqueting house and his banner over us is love. Oh, every appetite spiritual I speak of, every appetite is satisfied when they sit at that table, the table of the gospel. What provision has been made for you in the gospel with such a provision then made for you at the expense of God himself? Let me ask you, have you availed yourself of such bounty offered to you in the gospel? Survey the table spread. Survey this table, the gospel table spread before you in the gospel. Look at the provisions there, sinner. The forgiveness of sin. a place in the family of God, a conscience at peace with God, quietness and assurance, forever a home in heaven. Oh, think of all the provisions laid out before you, but have you by faith partaken of that rich provision? Oh, the psalmist said, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Have you become a partaker of the great supper, the gospel supper? I notice something about this host and his provision. I notice that this provision was made for a certain people. Notice that we are told that this man bid many. He did not bid all. All were not bidden. All were not bidden, but many were. Many were bidden. A large number were bidden. And so it is in the gospel, through the outward call of the gospel, many are called to come and partake of the provision made for them in the gospel. And yet sadly, not everyone hears and not everyone responds to the outward call of God in the gospel. Maybe I speak of you. You've heard the gospel many times. You've heard the gospel invitation, calling you out of sin, and yet how have you responded to that gospel? Many have failed to reveal themselves of the provision that's in the gospel, and yet we would say that many are called and few are chosen. Few ever, ever enter in to the straight gate. Few ever walk the narrow way that leads to life and to heaven and home. Since coming here, I have bidden many. I have bidden you to come, and yet I must say that few really have ever responded to that gospel message. Few have ever bowed the knee, if you have ever repented of their sin, if you have ever received Christ in the gospel, many have left, many have rejected Christ, many have gone from the place of provision in the gospel and said that they would try and satisfy their own souls with the things of this world. I wonder, will that change for you tonight? Here you are again, Christ invites you to come in the gospel, He would have you to leave your sin. He would have you to enjoy all the blessings that are ours through Christ and through His redemptive work on the cross, all covenant blessings that He has procured and, thank God, eternally secured for the child of God, the forgiveness of sins, the pardoning of our transgressions, the adoption of us into the very family of God. Here they are tonight, spread before you at the expense of Christ Himself. But will you partake? Will you by faith come and feed that impoverished soul of yours upon the delights that God has for you in the gospel? Will you make this a night When you accept the invitation, the gospel invitation to come and be saved, it is my prayer and the prayer of your saved loved ones that this night you'll leave this house having been satisfied in Christ and having been saved from your sin. There's another thing that I notice about the host's provision, namely the completeness of the provision. All things are now ready." That was the message that the servant was to convey to the already invited guests. What the host was saying was, the work's done. There's nothing left to be done. All that is required is for you to come. You do not need to add to what I have provided because all things, he did not say most of the things are ready, the vast majority of the things are ready. He said all things are now ready. These individuals had to just come to that home empty-handed. I like that whenever people say, now, you're coming around for tea, don't be bringing anything with you. Everything's ready. You don't need to provide anything, you just come. and feast and enjoy yourself. They did not need to bring anything to complete the provision of the supper, no, rather all things were already in place. There are many people in this world and they think they need to add, they need to add to an already existing, finished work when it comes to salvation. Christ's work is not enough. And so they need to add their church attendance, They need to add their baptism, their confirmation. They need to add their charitable works, their good deeds, their financial giving. They need to add to the finished work of Christ their moral living, their good citizenship within a nation. They need to add their prayers, and their Bible reading, and their church affiliation. They think that they need to add to an already finished work, but the finished work of Christ needs no additions to it. For the Son of God has done everything that is required to save you from sin and from hell. Just imagine tomorrow you decided to take a flight to Paris, and you decided to make your way into the Louvre. Louvre Museum. You'll know that the Louvre Museum is a museum that has many great pieces of art and one of the greatest and the most renowned pieces of art is the Mona Lisa. Imagine you just stood there for a little time and you saw an individual And they came into that picture and stood before the picture, and they got themselves out some crayons that they put in their pocket. And they started to draw on the Mona Lisa. And you ask that individual, what are you doing? And that individual turned around and said, well, you know, I'm just trying to make Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece. I'm just trying to finish it off. I'm just trying to complete it. I don't think he just got it right. You would think that man, that woman, needs men in white coats to go and take that individual away. Why? Because Mona Lisa's work, or the work of Leonardo da Vinci, it's a finished work. It doesn't need any additions, certainly not the additions of some crayon or fellow tip, because the work is done. And we laugh at that. But I tell you, sinner, that's what you're doing. That's what you're doing to the cross. You're trying to make it better. How can you make it better that which is perfect? How can you finish off something that is already done, that is already finished? You cannot. So forget about your good works. And forget about your church attendance and your morality. Christ has done the work. It's an already finished work. All that you need to do is to receive it. You cannot better it. Thank God it is a perfect work, accepted by the Father, accepted by the Father to redeem men from sin, if they only but trust in Christ. Oh, the foolishness of trying to finish off an already finished work. And yet, sinner, that's what you try to do. See the folly of it. One preacher said, the readiness of everything on God's part is the argument why men should come and partake of His grace. Nothing needs to be done. Come. For all things are now ready. A complete provision for sin is to be found in the sacrifice of Christ. All that is required on your part is to rest on that sacrifice and believe to the saving of your soul. All things are now ready in the gospel. Life for your death. Forgiveness for your sins. Cleansing for your filth. Clothing for your nakedness. Joy for your sorrow. Strength for your weakness. Light for your darkness. Hope for your despair. Fullness for your emptiness. Peace for your unrest. sinner, avail yourself of the great provision secured by Jesus Christ when he died on the cross, the provision of the host. Secondly, I see his proposition, his proposition, having already bidden the guests to the great supper, the host, with all provision now in place, orders his servant at supper time to go again. say to them that we're bitten, come for all things are now ready. His proposition was simple. He desires now that his supper is furnished with guests. However, that proposition comes up against a problem. The problem being that those who were once invited, those who had been bitten, had excuses at the ready for why they were not going to come. Now the first excuse given by one guest is in relation to hectares of land. He says, I have bought a piece of ground. And verse 16, I must needs go and see it. I pray thee, have me excused. Now what this man was going to see with respect to this piece of ground at suppertime when the sun had now set, your guess is as good as mine. But this is what he offers up as an excuse. He offers this excuse for not attending this great supper. Here was a man, he was too busy expanding his acreage to concern himself about his immortal soul. Here's a man more concerned about land than he was about his sole salvation. I tell you, there's many an individual in Ulster like that. Many a person like that, like this man, too busy expanding their footprint in the world, furthering their own cause, accumulating to themselves. as much of the world's possessions as they can, all too busy, too busy to be concerned about the eternal destiny of their soul. He was concerned about acres of land. But little did that man know that there was going to come a day when the only piece of land that he was going to possess was a piece of land measuring some eight feet long, two and a half feet wide, and six feet deep, a grave. That's all he was going to have. And beyond that, he was only going to be a temporary caretaker of even that little parcel of land. Because there was going to come a day, a day at the general resurrection, when he was going to be evicted out of that land, the grave, and his body and soul reunited to stand before God at the great white throne judgment of Jesus Christ. He's concerned about acres, well, all the time. When time was going to be no more, he would have no land whatsoever to his name. Is that you tonight? Maybe I'm speaking to someone here tonight and there's a little bit of land that's going in the community and you're sort of thinking, well, could I gather up enough money to buy it? It's all very well and good in buying land, but let me ask you, Have you thought about the land that is fairer than day? Have you thought about what lies beyond the grave? Have you made preparation for God's great eternity? For you can have all the land in this world, but if you've made no provision, if you've never repented of sin, if you've never trusted in Jesus Christ, there is no home for you in heaven. The glory land has no title deeds with your name on it. You can have deeds this world and land in this world, acres, if you so care, but what about heaven? Have you a title deed to a mansion in heaven? That's what should concern you tonight. The second excuse was not to do with acres or hectares of land, it was to do with head of cattle, head of cattle. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them, I pray thee, have me excused. Ten newly purchased pedigree cows, bought to help on the farm, kept this man away from the great supper. Having got the beasts, or the beasts, as you would say, having got the beasts back to the farmyard from the livestock sale, this farmer just wanted to get them out to the field. and to prove them and to test them whether or not he had bought good pedigree and whether or not he had bought good livestock. What a lame excuse. Again, the night has fallen. What a pointless exercise to go and put 10 cows into a field and then run off into the darkness of the night. And if you know anything about cows, and I know a little bit about cows, whenever they're brought from an old farm onto your farm, they'll go to the furthest corner of the field and try and find the most dodgy a fence that they can try and get through in order to get into the next farmer's field and the next farmer's pasture. This man, if he was going to let them out into the field, was most likely not going to see them until the morning light. What a pointless exercise to prove them just at night. You see, all this man was concerned about was the commerce of this world. It was to the expense of the conversion of his soul. How tragic. And yet there are individuals in this house tonight and you're no different than this man. All you're concerned about is cows. All you're concerned about is building up a good herd of cattle. What will it be if you die without Christ? What will it be if you have the best pedigree herd in this province? What will it be if there's pictures of you on a monthly basis and the farmers I can't even remember what it is in the newsletter. There's a farmer's newspaper. What will it be if you're there? Pictures taken off you and men praise you even at the marketplace. What will it be if you die without Jesus Christ? Concern yourselves about the transactions of the world, and yet the greatest transaction that needs to occur, that great transaction between you and God, whereby you relinquish by faith your sin to Him, and He, in response to your repentance from sin, He transacts to you, He accredits to you His righteousness. Has the great transaction been done? Can you say in the words of the hymn writer, the great transaction's done? I am my Lord's and he is mine. While head of cattle may not keep you from the gospel feast, some other earthly possession may. Take that possession, sinner. Is it a tractor? Is it a beeler? Is it a farm, a car, a motorbike, a business, a house? What is it? Take that possession and take it 100 years from now. Ask yourself, what good will it be to me 100 years from now? Someone else will drive the tractor. Someone else will farm the land. And you'll be out into God's eternity. Too many take the short view when it comes to life, but I am here to encourage you to take the eternal view. Some cows, even if they are pedigree cows, will be no help when you stand before God, sir. You could have the yard filled with the most up-to-date farm machinery, and yet what will it matter if you die without a Savior, the Savior, and go to hell? What will it matter? What will it matter if you bought something from DS Logan and you went to hell? What will matter? Let me say there's other places you can buy farm machinery in case I get in trouble. But you know, what will it matter? The third excuse, not to do with hectares of land, not to do with head of cattle, but a help meet in the home. The third guest reported to the host servant that he had married a wife and therefore he could not come. Now there are two ways that you can look at that statement. Either the man was enjoying marital bliss so much that he could not go to the marriage feast. He was just enjoying being a married man. And I suppose that happens whenever you first marry. I better be careful here, better be careful. But there is always that initial excitement, that initial joy. Someone has been maybe silly enough to marry you and you're happy with respect to that. And we thank God for our wives and our husbands. We don't want to make light of it. But maybe he's just enjoying marital bliss and really had no time to go to this marriage feast or either. or else he was having marital difficulties. And his wife, when she got the invitation, she slammed the handbag down on the table and she said, we're not going. We're not going to that feast. But needless to say, there was something in his domestic life that resulted in this man forgoing the place, his place. at the supper's banqueting table. You know, many a man in Ulster would have been a Christian long ago if they had of been men. Let me repeat that again. Many a man in Ulster would have been a Christian a long time ago if they had of been a man. What I mean by that is that they allowed their spouse to come between them and the Lord. Are you such a man? And I'd find you weighing up the cost to becoming a Christian, and into that calculation you have the thought, what would my wife think? What would my wife think if I went home and I told her that I had become a Christian? Man, dear, it's time to play the man. It's time to play the man. Step out for God. Let God deal with that wife, with that husband of yours. Let God deal with him. He's able to save her. He's able to save him too. You get right with God. And who well knows, by the end of tonight, the family could be complete. What a marvel that would be. A husband saved, a wife saved, children saved, and all ready for heaven. I tell you, sinner, you'll stand before God, not with your wife. And wife, you'll not stand with your husband, but we'll all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account with respect to our own decision when it came to Christ and his so great salvation. May you not say on that day that a wife or a husband was the reason why I did not come to Christ." All previously invited guests, he turned the host's proposition down. to come and to partake of the provision laid on for them. We are told that when the master of the house heard their response that he was angry, angry. That brings me to consider his passion, his passion. The anger that the host felt was not a sinful anger. This is a righteous anger. This is a just anger, this is a right anger, because it is born out of personal offense that had come to him via these ungrateful guests. The sliding off his kind invitation by these people stirred up righteous anger within the very heart bosom, soul of this generous individual. And I tell you sinner, every time you reject the gospel, every time you disregard the gospel invitation, God's anger is stirred. with such a glorious provision made for you in the gospel, and yet the rejection of that provision made by the sinner, how else is God going to respond to such ingratitude on your part? Do you think He's going to, oh well, does it really matter? Is that how you think God's going to respond? Here He is. He offers you salvation. He offers you forgiveness of sins. He offers you pardon and peace, and you slight His invitation. I tell you, that causes anger. righteous, just anger to be stirred up in the very heart of God. One preacher put it, no wonder that God is angry with the wicked every day. So foolish as well as wicked is the conduct of the sinner. So trifling is his excuse for not repenting and turning to God that it is no wonder if God cannot look upon their conduct but with abhorrence. And I would say to every ungodly, individual every sinner every Christ rejecter don't stir up God's anger by leaving this house of worship by leaving the gospel invitation without receiving it without trusting in Christ don't stir up his anger Job 36 verse 18 because there is wrath beware lest he take thee away with a stroke then a great ransom cannot deliver thee and so tonight I warn every potential Christ rejecter in this meeting house tonight abused mercy will turn into great wrath great grace despised Is grace forfeited? Understand it. A despising of the grace of God causes that grace to be forfeited. And so the host in his righteous passion and anger makes this unalterable pronouncement, verse 24, none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." Those invited guests who had the opportunity of coming, their opportunity to partake was forever lost. By their negative response, they forfeited their right to be present at the great supper. You reject Christ tonight, and you may well forfeit your right to be at the married supper of the Lamb. Recognizing that the supper still needed to be furnished, the host instruct his servants to go out quickly to the streets, the lanes of the city, and bring him there, the poor, the blind, the maimed, the halt. Having done that, The servant informed the host that there was still room for more, and so the servant is sent out again, this time into the highways and the hedges to compel others to come in so that the house hosts might be filled. With respect to the host and his response to the rejection of others, And what he does here in the opening up of the door for others, I believe that we get to view, and this is my final point, we get to view his palanthropy. His palanthropy. Now, before you're bamboozled about that, palanthropy is simply the desire of an individual to promote the welfare of others, especially by charitable deeds. The founder of Amazon, last year is reported to have donated $2 billion to help families, homeless families, and help other individuals in low-income communities. Because of that, he is known as a philanthropist. And in this parable, and in this gathering of society's outcasts to enjoy this great supper, there is the revelation that this host is a philanthropist at heart. He desires the welfare of others. And because of that, desiring to promote the welfare of others, to the most undeserving within the community in which he lives, he extends the invitation to the poor, the meme, the halt, and to the blind, to those living in the highways and the hedges. These were the Les Miserables of the day. We're talking about the outcasts. We're talking about the untouchables. We're talking about the riffraff. Yet it was these people, people who were, as it were, below the waterline of social acceptance, that found a welcome at this great man's supper. Can you imagine how this would have gone down among the smug, self-righteous, snobbish, religious hypocrites that were listening to the Savior that day? They would have been aghast. They would have been shocked. at such a thought that such people would be found in the supper and others that were more respectable just like them would be shut out of the supper. They would have been astounded at such a thought. And yet by their rejection of Jesus Christ and his gospel they found that they were going themselves to be shut out of the kingdom of God. The Savior would say to a grouping of people that was made up of a similar makeup one day, on another occasion he said that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. The tax collector and the prostitute gets into heaven before you. Why? Because you're self-righteous. and you cannot even be brought to the place where you acknowledge that you're a sinner before God. I tell you, that's the first step to salvation, acknowledging your sinnership, that you have offended God. The Savior was simply reminding that the worst of sinners reaches heaven before those who think themselves to be the best of sinners. Do you think yourself to be the best of sinners? I tell you, the worst of sinners will get into heaven before you, if you even make it. If you even make it. Tonight, you may find yourself, or you may feel yourself to be one of lice outcasts and untouchable. And yet, as we thought about in the last Lord's day of an old year, the Lord gathers together the outcasts, and he brings them into his banqueting house, and he provides for them all they need in the gospel. As I close, let me say in these gospel days, in these gospel days I am glad to inform you that provision has been made for all kinds of sinners in the gospel. I'm pleased to tell you that God will take you in if you come to Him repenting. I'm happy to say that there's still room. There's room at the cross for you. There's room in the mercy of God for the chiefest of sinners within this house tonight. There's room in the blood-filled fountain for multitudes more who feel themselves and who feel the need to be cleansed from the filth of their God in the gospel has provided rich provision. He would have you to partake of that provision. He seeks the eternal welfare of your soul. Let me ask you, will you take advantage of all he has purchased for you by his death? All things are now ready And so while mercy's door is still open, run in, run in. Run in and be saved and be satisfied in Christ. I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. And shall go in and out and find pasture. Sinner, have done with your foolish excuses Yield to Christ this very moment. May you do so for the sake of your soul and to the glory of his name. All things are now ready. Come and welcome to Jesus. Let's bow our heads in prayer. As we do every Sunday evening, let me say that we're here to help you. I don't know what your spiritual need is. God only knows that. Maybe God has been speaking to you, and you've been troubled about spiritual things. Why not make that need known? Speak to us at the door. I'll be there. Take me by the hand and say, Preacher, I need to speak to you. These things need to be settled. I'm not concerning myself about my wife. I'm not concerning myself about my husband tonight. I'm just concerning myself about me, and about my need of Christ. And I've had all excuses, and they're all simply that. They're all silly, foolish excuses. My soul is lost. I need a Savior. Point me to Him. Oh, I'll be glad to do that. I'll be glad to help you, but you need not this preacher. All you need to do is lift your heart just now. and say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, and save me from my sin, and make me a Christian, and help me now to live the Christian life. And if such a prayer like that has been offered, well, then you make that known. will help you in the Christian life. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." We're not here to put your arm up your back. What's the point in that? Sure you'll go on for a while and then you'll go back into the world and never be real. We're not here to buttonhole you. But we're here to try and help. If I can help you, you make your need known. Oh God, our loving Father, we pray that none will stir up the anger of God. As they rise from the pew, and as they make their way downstairs or down this aisle, decide in their mind, tonight I'm going to reject him again. I'm going to spurn the offer, I'm going to reject the invitation. All may know individual do that, lest they be consumed by God wrath. He that being often reproved, and hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed. and that without remedy, speak to hearts, challenge the lost, bring glory to the Christ, for we offer these our petitions in and through Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen. God bless you.