Bring in Hither

We’re going to be instructed from Lk 14:16-24 how to bring in hither people for the Friend Day on 12/8.  We must bring in hither the lost so that they can hear the gospel preached.

Notice from the text:

The man made a great supper, 16.  Jesus said in Jn 6:35, “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst”.  I’m going to preach Jesus on Friend Day.  You can’t have a better meal than that.

He invited many, 16, “bade many”.  To get someone here, you must invite many.  We get the idea that if I invite one, I’ll get one.  And then when they don’t accept, you think, “Well, I tried”.  If you are committed to have someone here with you on the 8th, you must make many invitations starting now.

Some he invited didn’t come, 18, “have me excused”.  Even when someone accepts your invitation, you can’t be sure they will be here.  People make last minute excuses.  All of these excuses in this text are lame.  None of these excuses are urgent.  They just decided not to come.

So, he invited others, 21, “bring in hither the poor”.  Don’t just invite your friends, brethren, kinsmen, and rich neighbors, that you want to come, v.12.  Invite them, yes.  But don’t invite them only.  Invite the ones you might not expect to come, but who need Jesus the most.

Yet there was still room, 22, “yet there is room”.  When we have a special gospel service planned, we should seek to have a soul in every seat.  You say, “Pastor, that will never happen”.  And that’s why it doesn’t.  You and I must have the attitude that the Lord does.  When his Son is being lifted up for lost sinners to receive, we need to be sure that there’s a full house of lost sinners to receive him. See v.23, “that my house may be filled”.

So the servant went out again, 23, “go out”.  Notice that the servant was inviting people right up to the last minute.  Auré invited Sho the night before the service.  Bayne invited the Chapa’s (sitting at the next table) the day before the service.  Go out and keep at it till the day of the service.

He compelled them to come in, 23, “compel them to come in”.  To compel is to urge forcefully or irresistibly.  To cause to do by overwhelming pressure.  This is not my personality; it’s Anne’s. But it is what the Lord told his servant to do.  So we should compel them to come in.

Only those who came ate the supper, 24, “none of those men… shall taste of my supper”.  The people who aren’t here for the service won’t hear the gospel preached.  In other words, they have to be here to receive the bread of life that day.  You don’t want them to miss it.

Conclusion: invite many, invite those you don’t expect to come, keep inviting till the 8th, be persuasive, fill this place.  The ones you don’t invite won’t hear the gospel preached that day.  That’s on you.  The ones you do invite who excuse themselves, that’s on them.  See whom you can bring in hither.