Street Meeting, Ninth

It was surely by divine providence that the LORD's message to the public this Sabbath fell upon the fourteenth chapter of the book of Luke—that blessed account of the Great Supper. (Luke 14:15-24)

"Come, for everything is now ready."

This should strike at the very core of our conscience, and serve as a solemn trumpet blast to every servant of God, reminding us of our high duty to bid the weary and the heavy-laden to come to that Glorious Feast, which is none other than Christ Jesus Himself. Nowhere do we find in the text the Master commanding His servants to bolt the doors, that they might feast selfishly amongst themselves while the world perishes without. There is no warrant in Holy Scripture for such a closed circle. Rather, it is a summons ringing out to all creation—a pleading cry for every soul to bow before the Word of the Lord and partake of true life that only He can give. Those who have found bread, should in gratitude tell others where to find bread also.

The Call to Life

And what manner of invitation is this? It were no true supper without food. We are not beckoned to a hasty morning morsel, nor a scant repast to merely fill our bellies over. It is a Great Feast. Who but a Great God could spread such a table? It is a table laden with such bounty that a soul may dine and be filled with holy delight.

And consider the provision! What better meat could the Father prepare that would give life eternal than His own dear Son? He is the true Manna, the substance of that shadow which sustained Israel in their arid wanderings (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).

We know well the demands of this earthly body we inhabit. There is a meat that perisheth; by the sweat of our brow we labor all our days for bread that fades with the using. We eat, yet the hunger returns. But there is an inner man, a spiritual body, that also cries out for sustenance. The poor, natural man, with his darkened understanding, knows only of the bread that is baked in the oven. But God calls us to divine nourishment—to that Bread of Life of which, if a man partake, he shall never hunger, and never thirst again (John 6:35).

How prone is the human heart to err, much like that man who sat at meat with the Savior. We fancy that the chief end of religion is merely to secure our own portion of heavenly bliss—to simply "eat bread in the Kingdom of God."(Luke 14:15) But the Lord Jesus, with wisdom from on high, pulls back the curtain of our dim sight and limited understanding. He shows us that the true object is not merely our personal safety, but that Great Supper which He furnished for all mankind. My soul rests upon this thought: throughout the Word, the Shepherd is ever calling His wandering sheep. Does not the Epistle to the Hebrews open with this very glory? That God hath spoken not only through prophets but through His very own Son (Hebrews 1:1-2).

So likewise many will acknowledge there is a God, there is an afterlife, and there is Christ, yet will go no further, and be damned forever.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the true Bread sent down from the heaven. He did break the meager barley loaves to satisfy the hunger of the great multitude, yet the greater wonder is this: those few crumbs drew their virtue and their power from Him, the Fountainhead of all sustenance! He was that Bread that fed them. We mortals, with our dim eyes, look upon the world and cry out in our want, "Where are we to buy bread, that we may eat?" But the Master silences our anxious clamor with the most marvelous declaration of grace. He stands before the multitude, proclaiming:

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever."

(John 6:51)

This is the essential food for the spiritual body—not merely to sustain us for a day, but to secure our life forever.

God Sends Men To Call Men (v. 17)

Here is a marvel to consider. He commissions not the bright angels of glory to preach the Gospel. Nay, He uses earthen vessels. Even as the Blessed Son came to seek and to save that which was lost, so He sends us forth. It is not enough that I keep His commandments in the quiet of my own chamber; I must go out and teach others, that they, too, may yield their obedience to the King.

The Folly Of Prioritizing The World While Neglecting Your Malnourished Soul

How often the sacred page reminds us that many, even those who hear the Gospel, will yet refuse the blessed invitation. The excuses offered are not always dark and monstrous sins, but the very entanglements of daily life—the farm, the oxen, the domestic cares. Yet, the great peril of the soul lies not in the commission of open sin, but in the simple, terrible neglect of the Master's call to come to Him.

When shall mortal men perceive the shortness of this earthly borrowed time? The affairs of this world—they all have an end, and so too does the clock of our life run swiftly out. Man rushes headlong, striving to achieve all he may before he leaps into the dark gulf of eternity, trusting only in some frail hope that he has led a good life. What perilous folly. He spends his precious hours pursuing things that perish, and thus, when the end comes, his soul perishes into the same dreadful vanity he embraced (1 John 2:17).

Yet, the Master’s table shall not remain empty! His purpose shall be accomplished with the very outcasts: the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind. These are they that shall fill the courts of heaven! Are these not but pictures of our own wretched state? Of our spiritual blindness and lameness? I stand helpless. I can but exist, a mere creature of dust, utterly incapable of rendering the smallest fraction of good for His wondrous bounty. I can bring no price. There is but one posture left to me: utter, abject humility and simple, childlike faith. I bring nothing else.

Oh, the depth of this sovereign grace! He calls those who cannot repay, that His glory may be magnified! He delights in this Divine Exchange—giving His undeserved goodness for our native evil! He takes our darkness and gives His glorious Light; our lies for His blessed Truth; our death for His Life Eternal; and our soul’s deep hunger for His everlasting Filling!

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Isaiah 55:1-2

Let this awful truth not be forgotten! There cometh a solemn hour when the Lord shall withdraw the lamp of His mercy, and the blessed invitation, once scorned, shall pass irrevocably to another. For the soul that hath despised and spurned the Son of God, the door of salvation is shut—shut forever—and by their own terrible neglect have they bolted it fast! A fearful reckoning awaits! Their ruin is their own doing; their blood shall be upon their own head, for they willfully turned from so great a deliverance (Hebrews 2:3).

If we dare to lift our rebellious hand against the Almighty and utter a refusal to the offer of the Life-Giving Bread, where then do we get bread? Where, I ask, shall the famished soul turn for its sustenance? Is there any other storehouse that holds the Bread of Life save Him? If we are so wicked as to deliberately spurn His very offer of eternal life, how shall we endure the coldness and blackness of eternal death? Is there, I pray thee, any other fountain of life, any other path to salvation, save Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord?

For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.

Luke 14:24

Thus is the whole glorious scheme made plain.

The Eternal God issues the high summons unto Christ. He, and He alone, is the true Spring and Fount of Life. He sends forth His humble but faithful servants, poor sinners themselves, armed only with the blessed Gospel. Before the hearers is set the eternal decree: to rightfully yield to divine authority or to tragically ignore the gracious amnesty.

But the Master’s purpose cannot be frustrated. His sacred house shall be filled, yes, filled with the least, the lowly, and the scorned of this world. God will shame the wise and mighty. The last shall be first. He gathers the poor of the highways and the hedges. And in all this, from the first call to the final gathering, God, and God alone, shall be eternally and richly glorified.

The proceedings of this ninth street meeting are thus now concluded. We humbly render all thanksgiving to Him who alone enabled the labor, for truly, it was wrought solely by the undeserved grace of our blessed Master. Christ is worthy.