Are You Uninviting Yourself?
by David Brenneman
"But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’ ” Luke 14:16-24.
"Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.” ’ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”" Matthew 22:1-14.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. [40] Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will." Matthew 24:36-44.
Matthew 24:37 "like the days of Noah." Jesus' emphasis here is not so much on the extreme wickedness of Noah's day (Ge 6:5), but on the people's preoccupation with mundane matters of everyday life ("eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage"--v. 38), when judgment fell suddenly. They had received warnings, in the form of Noah's preaching (2Pe 2:5)-and the ark itself, which was a testimony to the judgment that was to come. But
they were unconcerned about such matters and therefore were swept away unexpectedly in the midst of their daily activities. notes from MacArthur Study Bible
Much to take in my Dear Reader but indeed much is at stake.
Daily, millions of people are at the end of their God-given opportunity to accept the gracious offer of salvation through Jesus Christ and with their physical life ending they wake up in Hell.
Make no mistake, there are trillions and trillions and trillions or more "good" people in Hell. People whom others thought very highly of, of whom those yet alive who knew them thought they deserved to go to Heaven.
The great problem with this is that our opinion does not matter concerning who is or is not worthy of Heaven. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, determined back at the cross of calvary that through salvation in no other than Jesus Christ would anyone enter into Heaven.
Excuses, excuses, excuses. We read here earlier of the excuses and their kind, that people have given and are giving as to why they never accepted the invitation to come to Christ for salvation.
There are no second chances after you die.
None.
You either turn to Jesus for salvation now or reject it and pay for your sins yourself for all eternity...regardless of how good you think you are it does not and never will factor into your accessibility to Heaven.
"And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—for He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation” 2 Corinthians 6:1-2.
My Dear Reader it grieves me deeply that people who've crossed my path rejected Jesus to the point of death and did indeed die without coming to Christ for salvation.
My prayer for those who read this message is that you would indeed stop with the excuses, the fears, the worries, of what you've been lead to believe might happen to your life and just trust Jesus to save you and believe that He's got something much greater in mind for you.
You can never know until you turn to the living hope that's found only in Christ.
You can never understand the things of God without the Spirit of God that comes to live within the hearts of those who truly believe who makes understanding possible.
Don't value whatever you are pursuing or possess or desire rob you of the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. These people in these Scriptures we read did this and are in excruciating painful torment in Hell. Not a single human being ever entered into Heaven nor ever will without saying yes to the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The choice is yours. There's only two options. Yes to Jesus and spending eternity with Him or rejecting Him and spending eternity in endless painful torment for all eternity.
The painful endless torment is testified to by Jesus Himself for all who rejected Him. It's a very real very intense thing.
Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus testified to this over and over again. Weeping people because they thought they were good enough. Thought they weren't that bad. Thought that their good deeds counted for something. But without salvation in Christ those deeds amounted to nothing.
Gnashing of teeth. Grinding teeth in rage and fury at God. Sort of is self explanatory. People so full of themselves that they reject God's judgment regardless of the fact they cannot change it.
Coming to Christ for salvation in this here this now is as simple as what's necessary for a child to understand it.
"But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:8-13.
The Father’s plan for salvation was and is infinitely simple. You just read what it is and how to obtain it. Acknowledge your sins and your need for a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Ask Him to forgive your sins and be the leader of your life.
Don't uninvite yourself.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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