Making Excuses Luke 14: 15-24
The parable that is told by the Lord Jesus here in this portion
is a very simple one about people who were bidden to come to a
feast. It was commonly believed among the Jews that the establishment
of the Messianic kingdom would be followed by a great feast at
which all pious Jews would be guests. Leviathan the great monster
of the deep would be served as food indicating that the Messiah
ruled the heaven and the earth and the seas. It is probable that
when the Lord Jesus spoke about the resurrection of the just,
as he did in this passage that one of his hearers immediately
thought of the golden age to come and shouted, 'Blessed is he
that shall bread in the kingdom of God.' At that moment the sumptuous
feast arranged by the Pharisees was only a faint foreshadowing
of the matchless feast to be arranged by God and the speaker was
sure that he as a Jew, would be among the guests on that notable
occasion.
The Lord immediately told the story of the Great Supper and the
teaching of it would have been very clear to any that were assuming
that they would be at that feast.
Every important feast was announced long beforehand for the invitations
were sent to the guests sometimes weeks in advance of the actual
feast day. Thus when the invitations were accepted , the host
knew exactly how many were attending and he could make his preparations
accordingly. Then when the day of the feast finally came and when
all things were now ready the servants were sent hurrying out
to the various homes to announce that all things were now ready
and the time had now come for the guests to come as quickly as
possible to the banqueting table. To refuse at that late hour
when the preparations had already been made and the food was ready
was counted as a great insult. Among the Arabs to do such a thing
was just about the same thing as to make a declaration of War.
But I want you to see how that in this parable not only one made
this gross insult but it says And they all with one consent
began to make excuse and the parable tells us about three
particular excuses that were made. One of them had property trouble,
another had animal trouble and the third had family trouble. But
the whole thing was that they did not want to go to the great
feast.
God, has of course provided a great feast of good things for all
who come to Him. It is One thing to satisfy a physical appetite
and to deal with hunger but it is another thing to assuage the
spiritual hunger of the soul. Not only have men and women physical
needs but they have spiritual needs as well. The problem is that
while they would not think of missing their mealtime and miss
eating their physical food they are often very careless about
spiritual things. The Bible says that Man shall not live by
bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of the Lord Now God has provided a veritable feast for your
soul. By sending His own son to die on the Cross and to bear the
sin of His people he has provided a way by which the sickness
of the soul can be healed and spiritual life can be provided where
there was none. By the Cross of christ and by the Shedding of
His own precious Blood there is now a way of salvation to sinful
men and women. Men and women dead in trespasses and in sin can
find eternal life and can be given an inheritance in heaven by
Christ. The wonderful message of God is that all who will may
Come to the feast. You are given an invitation to the marriage
supper of the Lamb and all who are truly saved have that invitation
guaranteed. And not only that but the Lord has sent His messengers
out into the world to bid men and women come to the feast. In
effect every time you hear a gospel preacher you are hearing the
invitation of God to Come to his feast and to sit down at His
table. And not only will you sit at that table once but you will
be in His presence for all eternity. Now that is a wonderful invitation.
You don't need to pay anything, you do not need to bring any gifts,
you do not need to work to earn the right to be there. All has
been provided. All things are now ready and all you have to do
is by faith take what Christ has freely offered in the gospel.
The problem about the lord's invitation is that when many people
are given this wonderful opportunity they are like the people
the lord told about in this parable. They all with one consent
begin to make excuse. When you confront people with the gospel
they have all sorts of excuses. They have all sorts of reasons
to give why they should not come. I wonder what your excuse is?
I wonder what reason it is that you give to those who challenge
you about the gospel. For a few minutes this evening I want to
focus upon the subject of excuses.
I The Compulsion to make excuses
Isn't it striking to think of those words in verse 18 They
all with one consent began to make excuses. Now they all had
decided for one reason or another that they were not going to
go to this feast and they were not going to heed the invitation
but none of them wanted to just refuse point blank to go. They
felt they had to come up with some reason why they should not
go. They felt that they had to justify the fact that they were
going to refuse in some way or another. There was a compulsion
on them to make excuse. They felt in some way or another that
they had to make an excuse. And as I thought of that there were
a number of things I think we can see to be true.
The first is that they felt some obligation to the man who had
made the supper. They could see that he had a right to ask them
to this supper and that he had a right to expect their attendance.
after all the custom would have been well known to the Lord's
listeners to the parable. They would have known that in the Eastern
custom that when a person was bidden to the feast that they would
have already given some indication that they would come. When
the first invitations had gone out and when the servants of the
man had come and said "There's going to be a feast will you
come?" They had said "Yes" So the man who was giving
the invitations had to right to expect an answer when he now came
looking for their attendance. And that is part of the reason why
they made excuses. They knew that the man had a right to expect
them to come. And I would suggest to you that the reason why many
people make excuses when they are given a gospel invitation is
because they realise the lord has a right to an answer. There
are some who just refuse point blank. There are those whose conscience
is so hardened that they may even abuse the messengers who come
with the invitation but the majority of people who are confronted
with the gospel will make an excuse. Some will say " I know
I should come But.." Isn't there an recognition in there
of the fact that the Lord has a right o an answer? Is there that
within you that tells you that you should not turn an invitation
like this down? Is there an acknowledgement somewhere that the
Lord who made you and who sent His Son to die on the cross as
the propitiation for your sin deserves an answer and if you will
not come at least you should make some reason. I believe there
are those sometimes and even within the back of their minds there
is an attempt to justify their refusal in the eyes of a holy God.
Now I want you to look in your heart this evening and I want you
to ask yourself if there is any truth in what I have been saying?
You have been making excuses. You can think of those in the past
and they have brought you face to face with the gospel but you
have made excuses.
But then I believe that not only did these people realise they
were under an obligation and they had to give some reason but
they did not want to seem to totally rude. The excuse was a way
to put a gloss on it, to try and cover the refusal in a cloak
of respectability. They did not just want to come out and baldly
say, "No I am not coming." So they looked for some reason.
Some people do not want to be rude so they make excuses. But they
might not have bothered their head because when the servant went
back to his master and told him what they had said it says in
verse 21 Then the master of the house being angry He wasn't
fooled by the excuses. I want to tell you sinner God is not fooled
by your excuses. Even sometimes god's people make excuses as to
why they should not do the things they should. They have all sorts
of excuses why they should not go to the meetings. God is not
fooled by the excuses. Sinner of Christian. Never think that you
can get out of your obligations before God by making excuses.
As a minister I sometimes have to listen to excuses. I have to
listen to the most wild and wonderful reasons why people do not
do what God has said in His Word . Sometimes the preacher has
to accept what you say but remember that God looks on the heart!
And certainly as far as the sinner is concerned there is no reason
in the whole wide world that should keep you back from being a
Christian. You may be polite enough to make excuses but you are
certainly rude enough to refuse God in the first place. Tell me
is that what yo are doing today? are you making excuses. you are
trying to put a gloss on the fact that you are a Christ rejector
but you are a Christ rejector whether you like it or not.
But then there is a third reason why I believe there people were
compelled to make excuses. They felt the offer was so great that
they had to give a reason why they would not accept it. The invitation
to this feast was so wonderful that there had to be some reason
why they would not go. It could not be justified not to go without
a reason. And certainly you will never get a greater offer than
that which is given in the gospel. The gospel brings the offer
of sins forgiven and eternal life in heaven. It brings the prospect
of an eternal inheritance with God for ever. Now surely if you
are going to refuse an offer like that you need to make some reason.
Of course no reason that you give is going to be good enough but
surely you are under some obligation this evening to say why it
is that you are not saved. Why is that that you are still refusing
God. At least you should bring some reason to God. I wonder what
it is? I wonder what you could say that would justify your turning
down an offer like this. We see the compulsion to make excuses.
II The Character of the Excuses
But secondly I want you to see the Character of the excuses. Look
at the actual excuses the people made that were invited to this
great feast.
Notice that they are Plausible Excuses. In some ways we
might take a glance at them and think well these are important
matters the men have to deal with. They are not trivial matters.
They are matters of property and matters of business and matters
of family. There is no-one that is going to deny that our property
and our business and our family is important as long as those
businesses are legitimate and honest. look at the excuses. The
first had Property trouble. Look at verse 18 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. He had to go and
look at his land and tend to that. The second one had animal trouble.
Look at verse 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke
of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Of course it was vital to have a good team of oxen in those days
and notice that the man had not just bought one yoke of oxen but
five. So it was vital that he was convinced that these were going
to work well. The third said, I have married a wife, and therefore
I cannot come. You may know that in the Mosaic law a man who
was betrothed to a woman was excused military service and that
after he was married he was free from military service for a year.
So this was not something that would be counted as no excuse in
those days. In many ways we would say that he was within his rights
to refuse. So these excuses were not about trifling things. They
were about important things but at the end of the day as we will
see they were only excuses. You know sometimes when you speak
to people about the gospel they will make excuses and you have
to admit that they are substantial excuses. This man is running
a shady business. He will have to give it up if he is saved. That
woman knows her husband is opposed to the gospel. She knows it
is going to bring friction into the home if she gets saved. Perhaps
you think you have a good excuse. It is one that you always use
if you are confronted with the gospel. And there are many other
excuses beside. There are people who will not be saved because
they see too many hypocrites and they are afraid that they will
be hypocrites too. There are many many excuses and some of them
have substance but remember what the Lord Jesus said. He said
What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world
and loose his own soul In some ways however these are plausible
excuses
But then I want you to notice a striking thing about these excuses.
They are prayerful excuses. The first man said I pray
thee have me excused. That was a bad prayer. Have you ever
made a bad prayer. I have heard of people who were under conviction
of sin and they asked the Spirit of God to stop striving with
them and He did. I remember hearing the story of a young girl
under deep conviction in a meeting and she could not sleep. She
was tossing it over in her mind until eventually she got out of
bed and asked the Holy Spirit to stop striving and just like that
the conviction left her. Have you ever told God you will not be
saved. Foolish prayers are answered every bit as much as wise
ones and while the Lord is under no obligation to hear the prayer
of those who are not His children He will often answer a prayer
like that. This was a prayerful excuse I pray thee have me
excused. But it was a bad prayer
But then I want you to see that they were Paltry excuses.
They were about substantial things and significant things but
the would not stand up to examination. Look at the first one.
They man had bought a piece of ground and he needed to see it.
Well the feast would only last one day and he could see it tomorrow.
It wasn't going to be any different tomorrow than it was today.
And then we need to realise that if this man had bought land that
he had not seen before he bought it then he had done a very foolish
thing. No this was just an excuse
Then think of the second man. He wanted to try his yokes of oxen.
Well I think he should have tried them before he bought them.
what was wrong here is that he had a new novelty. He is like the
man who buys a new tractor and he wants to see what it can do.
Again it was only an excuse. And then what about the man with
the new wife. Well he was certainly being henpecked early. His
wife wouldn't let him out. Why could he not bring her with him?
Again it was only an excuse. The bottom line is this> If men
want to Come they will stop at nothing to come. If men and women
really see that without christ they perish and that they are in
danger every moment of being ushered out into a Christless eternity
there is nothing that will keep them back from Coming to Christ
and serving Christ.
There was a conference held one time in the city of Liverpool
many years ago. It was a large conference and the Mayor of Liverpool
was in the chair. The subject being discussed was why working
people would not go to Church. Many people contributed giving
reasons why the poorer people in Liverpool did not go to Church.
One said it was because they worked so hard on Saturday and they
needed a rest on Sunday. Another said it was because the preaching
was not good enough. Another said it was because the preachers
preached too long. Some said it was because they did not like
the pews or because they did not get the best seats when they
went. There was never such a host of excuses that you ever heard
in your life and it was never the fault of the people who did
not go to Church but it was always the fault of the people who
were in Church or about the Church. But after about an hour and
a half of this an old man got up who seemed to be Scottish by
his speech. He said. "There is one reason that I don't think
I have heard a word of yet. I think it is the reason for the whole
thing," People waited to see what he thought the reason was.
HE said, "What I have to say is that most of it comes from
human depravity." And that is what is wrong with people at
the end of the day. Dear friend you may say it is tt=he fault
of the Christians or the fact that there is poor preaching that
keeps you from being saved but have you ever looked in your own
black heart. You make all the excuses in the world but they are
only excuses. The man who realises the Blackness of His Sin and
that the Lord Jesus died on the cross of Calvary will fly there
with all his might for salvation. He will let noting keep Him
Back. We see the Character of the excuses. But lastly can I show
you
III The Consequence of the Excuses
What happened to the people who made excuses?
The first thing is that they incurred the wrath of the Master.
Look at verse 21, So that servant came, and shewed his lord
these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to
his servant They incurred his anger. The excuses were seen
for what they were. The Master did not accept the excuses. They
were excuses that at first sight seemed to be about substantial
things but the Master of the house could evidently see them for
what they were and he was angry. And while we say that about the
Master in the parable we can certainly say it about our Father
in heaven. He sees through the excuses. I do not know what reason
it is that you will offer as to why you are not saved but the
Lord can see through the sham. The Lord sees that unbelief and
the rejection and the hardness of your heart. And when the lord
sees that He is angry. Now the wrath of God is not something that
many preachers dwell on today. Most preachers like to dwell on
the positive aspects but they do not like to speak of God as a
God of wrath but the Word of God is very clear. Colossians 3:6
says the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
1 Thessalonians 1:10 speaks of the Lord Jesus as one who has for
his people, delivered us from the wrath to come. So there
needs to be a recognition that if you reject Christ no matter
what your reason and no matter what your excuse may be then there
is no deliverance from wrath to come. The God of heaven is angry
with those who make excuses and we see that even from this parable.
But then there is a second thing that happened to the people that
made excuses- they missed out on the blessing. The Master of the
house said in verse 24 For I say unto you, That none of those
men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. They had refused
and so they were not going to even taste it. They had been given
an invitation and an opportunity to come to the feast but their
refusal in such an ungrateful manner meant that the invitation
was withdrawn totally and finally and that now what ever blessings
there might be were not going to come to them. And let me underline
the fact that if you refuse the gospel invitation and if you greet
that gracious invitation with excuses then do not presume that
the offer will always be open. Do not think you can just come
at any time you choose. These men who made these excuses were
barred from the feast. Wouldn't it be an awful thing to be barred
from the feast of God? Wouldn't it be awful to miss out on the
blessings that God has for his people and miss out on being able
to sit at the banqueting table of God? I tell you stop making
excuses. Stop relying on those old reasons that you know are only
excuses and get right with God and get right with God NOW!