{"id":1603,"date":"2016-08-25T15:54:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T20:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=1603"},"modified":"2016-08-25T15:54:16","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T20:54:16","slug":"see-that-you-do-not-refuse-him-who-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/2016\/08\/25\/see-that-you-do-not-refuse-him-who-speaks\/","title":{"rendered":"See That You Do Not Refuse Him Who Speaks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, &#8216;Come, for everything is now ready.&#8217;\u00a0 But they all alike began to make excuses.\u201d (Luke 14:16b-18a)<\/p>\n<p>God the Father invites us to a celebration \u2013 a party, if you will. He invites us to the greatest celebration of all time: The company will be the best; the nourishment will be the most satisfying; the conversation will be the most interesting; the love will be the deepest possible.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t deserve to be invited \u2013 for we have denigrated the One who invites us. We\u2019ve spurned His invitation before. We\u2019ve chosen to spend our time and energy seeking after thrills and accomplishments and honors, or safety and protection and health \u2013 yet the thrills get old, the honors and accomplishments fade to insignificance, what we thought was safe and guarded is lost, and health deteriorates.<\/p>\n<p>Yet He invites us. He calls to us. He sent His Son to this world so that He might display His love, mercy, grace, and justice to these invitees. He has paid that high price \u2013 and now all is ready. The banquet is prepared.<\/p>\n<p>But so many refuse Him Who speaks! So many make excuses! In Jesus\u2019 story, the excuses are a newly-purchased field, a new yoke of oxen, and a new wife. What are our similar excuses today? Why do we today refuse the invitation? Here are some possibilities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cIt\u2019s all I can do to put food on the table, take care of my kids, and get too little sleep! I don\u2019t have time for that.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cMy life is great \u2013 why should I attend <i>that <\/i>banquet?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI doubt what you say about that great celebration. It can\u2019t possibly be as great as the parties I attend! Here \u2013 let me get you an invitation for one of them.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cGod the Father wouldn\u2019t want <i>me<\/i> at His party. Yes, I see the invitation \u2013 but there must be some mistake. He didn\u2019t really invite <i>me.<\/i>\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI don\u2019t like the others invited to the party. I can\u2019t associate with such people.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My friends: Don\u2019t make excuses. The invitation is genuine. God invites <i>you: <\/i>\u201cBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved\u201d (Acts 16:31). The celebration is joyful beyond imagining. Whatever you must give up to attend, whatever others may think, this is the one party you must not miss.<\/p>\n<p>For to turn down the invitation is to malign the God of the universe. To make excuses, to explain why other activities are more important than the celebration, is to claim that God is <i>not <\/i>glorious, that pleasures are <i>not <\/i>at His right hand, that wisdom and love do <i>not <\/i>dwell with Him.<\/p>\n<p>And the Inviter says, \u201cI tell you, none of those men who were invited [and made excuses for not coming] shall taste my banquet&#8221; (Luke 14:24). He <i>will <\/i>fill His banquet hall, and one day it <i>will be <\/i>the only joyous celebration, indeed, the only place of joy \u2013 but if you make excuses, if you refuse, you will be left out.<\/p>\n<p>God speaks. The Gospel goes forth. <b>\u00a0<\/b>He invites. Don\u2019t refuse Him Who speaks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, &#8216;Come,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15,16],"tags":[498,657,673,768,807,959,1332],"class_list":["post-1603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-devotions","category-evangelism-blog","tag-excuses","tag-gospel","tag-great-banquet","tag-i-cannot-come","tag-invitation","tag-luke-14","tag-respond"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hi10.in\/dgcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}