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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want to talk to you about an interesting subject this morning. Turn in your Bible to the Book of Luke, Luke, chapter 14, Luke chapter 14. A few little things that he says here that shows you the difference between salvation and service so that you get what he’s talking about when he says something is free, something that costs. And look there in verse 7, verse 7. This is a little of a parable that he put forth to them. So in verse 7, in chapter 14, the Book of Luke, and he put forth a parable to those which were biden.

When he marked how they chose out the chief runes, say it unto them, When thou art biden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, Less a more honorable man than thou be biden of him. And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, give this man place and thou begin with shame to take the Lewis room.” He said, well, what did that just say? That when you go to a place, don’t go up to the head table and start setting down.

Because the one who is running the show might ask you to please make room for somebody else that he has that he feels is more important than you are. in people’s eyes there are people that they think are more important than other people. And he says, if you do that then you’re going to be ashamed when he asks you to remove. So he says, when you go into a place, just get the lowest place. And then when he moves you up to the head table, then you’ll be honored.

It’s a little simple little lesson on exalting yourself or humbling yourself. Which would you rather be exalted or humbled? Well if you exalt yourself nobody else can do it. You’ve already done it. But if you humble yourself you can be exalted. So there’s an interesting lesson here. So he says here in verse 10, but when thou art biden go and sit down in the lowest room that when And he that made the cometh, he may say unto thee, friend, go up higher.

Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that set at meet with thee. And you’ll like that better. He’s just teaching you how to see life, what you should and should not do. It’s always difficult when we think we are of such great value. people don’t appreciate who we are and don’t give us what we think we deserve and the honor, the praise, the glory. And so sometimes we’re not knowing that when you exalt yourself, you’re trying to put down or humble somebody else because you think you’re better than they are.

So the Bible teaches a certain lesson even in the Epistles about seeking others’ benefit, submitting yourself one to another, humbling yourself. Then he makes this statement in verse 11. You ought to, on the line, verse 11. Verse 11 is a very good verse. For whosoever exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted. Then said he also to him that bade him. Now remember this is a parable and some lessons to learn. When thou make us a dinner or a supper.

Called not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee. In other words, don’t do things just to get a return. No, just to get something back from somebody else. You know, I’ll give you this $500 gift, and of course you’re expecting a $500 gift back from them. We do things for people because we know they’re going to reciprocate and give it back. Something. It’s amazing how we do that even at Christmas time.

So many people well they got me a gift. I got to get them one true and You feel like if you don’t you cheap skate So we do things sometimes For people who have things In order to get something we treat rich people differently than we do poor folks because They might give me something One of the things I’ve had to fight over the years in the ministry is never to play up to anybody who has money over somebody who does not have money.

You’re supposed to look at everybody the same way. So that’s why I don’t try to dig in to find an eye on how much money you got. I don’t care how much money you got. You should have nothing to do with anything. So anyway, what he says here in verse 12, then said he also to him that bathed him, when thou make us a dinner or supper called not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and recompense me, may thee in other words, you gettin’ something back and you’re doing something for somebody just to receive something back.

And then when you don’t get it, your expectations are down and you’re gonna be disappointed. Then it makes you, well now you’re hurt. Now you hurt, so when you get hurt, you get better. And when you get better, the root of bitterness springs up and next thing you know, you call a lot of other people be better. And you’ll start saying things against those people who did not return and give you back something. Man, I did this for them, I did this for them, and I did this for them, and they didn’t do nothing.

You say, well, I would never do that. You don’t watch yourself, you will. And you’ll expect things from people and they won’t deliver. So you have a built in point of depression, discouragement, because it’s not going to happen the way you really think it should. So he ain’t done with his teaching yet. He got something else he wants to share. So he says in verse 13, but when thou makeest a feast, call the poor, the mane, the lame, and the blind.

Now why would he say that? Because they can’t repay you. Do things for those who can’t return the favor. Then you’ve done something. But if you only do things nice for some people who can repay the niceness, he says you haven’t done anything. That’s also in the book of Matthew in chapter 5. You know, not just to do things for those who can return the favor. Do things for people who can’t return the favor. He says, then you have done something, then you have done something to earn a reward.

But if your motive is wrong, it makes a difference. See there in verse 14, and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee and get this, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. You do things now, not because people can give something back to you and be nice back to you, Because you know that the Lord sees whatever you do and that God will take care of it. God will bless me and I won’t have to worry about it.

You don’t have to keep a track record. You know what you’ve done. You just trust the Lord. And then he says this in verse 15, and when one of them that said it meet with him, heard these things, he said unto him, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. So there’s a day coming where we’re going to be in the kingdom and we’ll all get to eat with the Lord. And he is the Lord.

And he is going to exalt or humble in the kingdom, upon the earth. So that’s why you serve the Lord now knowing and believing that if you humble yourself now, God is going to exalt you later, but let God do it. Now, he gives them another parable. And look what he says here. This thing about recompense, doing something for somebody without expecting anything in return. And you’ll see the things that are listed that gives you the idea, this is all for free.

You see from verse 16 down to verse 24, you could apply these scriptures in this parable as the teaching of salvation by grace. And then in verse 25 to the end of that chapter, verse 35, as the teaching concerning discipleship and what it cost. So one thing is what’s free and the other one is what cost? So there’s two things that are mentioned here in this chapter and it’s very good and it’s very clear. And it doesn’t mingle the two together.

They’re totally separate. But verse 16 says, then said he unto him a certain man made a great supper, made many, sent his servants at supper time to say to them that were biden come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground and I must need to go and see it. Well, when should you see the peace of ground after you buy it or before you buy it?

So you know it was just an excuse It wasn’t the truth and so he says there had me excused in verse 19 another said I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them or test them had me excuse Well, when should you test the oxen before you buy them or after? Of before so he’s telling a lie. It’s not the truth. It’s an excuse Sometimes a reason is simply a lie. So he also makes this statement.

In verse 20, another says, I have married a wife, therefore I cannot count. He’s the only one told the truth. He’s already in-packed. He can’t come because his wife won’t let him. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Well, maybe he didn’t tell the truth. But they’re excuses, but sometimes people do this and they make it, you know why a lot of people don’t go to Sunday school or church, they don’t want to go. Most people do what they want to do.

True? But I didn’t come because, you know, my kid had a runny nose. And the whole family has to stay home just to help that kid blow his nose. Ain’t that something? But anyway, sometimes when you’re sick, you’re sick. You can’t. But that’s not what we’re talking about. But look what he says here. In verse 21, so that servant came, showed his Lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry said to his servants, go out quickly into the streets, in the lanes of the city, bring and head of the poor, the mane, the hull, the blind, and the servants says, Lord, it is done as thou have commanded, and yet there’s still room.

And the Lord said unto the servant, go out unto the highways and the hedges, and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. So I say unto thee that none of those men which were biden shall taste of my supper. Now, there’s this rich man. He’s going to have a free meal. Is he going to cost anybody anything to come? Not going to cost him anything. It’s free. You could apply this to the nation of Israel.

But Israel didn’t want to come because he’s going to have a banquet one day. He’s going to have this feast, this wedding. And they didn’t want to come to it. And you could apply all these others to those Gentile dogs out there. And they came. And it says, still, this is what I want you to go out into the highways and the hedges compel. See, when you have the gospel and you’re to go into the highways and the hedges, try to reach everybody, well then you’re to try to compel them to come.

It doesn’t cost you anything. Something’s been provided for you. It’s free. And you see, about the sick and the maim and the lame, that goes back to the parable before this. See, the continuity of the thoughts here, they all run together. So he’s trying to teach a principle, but at the same time, treats some valuable lessons about the purpose of why Christ came into the world. And that’s wonderful and good, but there’s some people that’s not gonna be there.

Not that he doesn’t want them all to come. He wanted everybody to come. Salvation is free for everybody in the world. Everybody. Now when you get into the part on the discipleship, this is a totally different subject. But look there in verse 25. And there went great multitudes with him. He turned and suddened them because they’re following him. If any man come to me and hate not his father and his mother, wife and children, brother and sisters, yea, in his own life also, it cannot be my disciple.

So you’re talking here about something that’s, you know, Wonderful, but he’s talking about now about love. The other thing was about a free meal. Now he’s talking about, I want you to follow me. But in the following him, he does not make anybody do it. Because he, it’s serving the Lord as a voluntary thing, just like coming to the, get the free meal. Salvation is free. And it’s voluntary. It’s a choice. When it comes to serving the Lord, it’s also voluntary, and it’s also a choice.

God does not make us trust Him, and He does not make us serve Him. So when He talks about here, He wants us to follow Him. You see there in verse 28, which of you intending to build a power? intending means this is a dream or a choice or a desire that you have. You want to do something. You have a desire to do something. So when it comes to certain the Lord God wants you to because you desire to serve Him.

Because to do so without the desire it becomes drudgery. It becomes just a heavy burden. But the desire to do something carries with it the great interest and power. It gives you something to go on. You want to. When you want to do something, it’s amazing how so many other things won’t keep you from doing it if you really want to do something. But when you don’t want to do something really you don’t want to do it. least little thing you’ll begin to use any little thing as an excuse not to do it.

But you see, when you’re sold upon something, nothing can stop you. You say, this is what I’m going to do. So the build a tower. Oh, I could apply that to when you start off with certain Lord, you got to have a vision and a power is something that somebody goes up on and gets them a vision so that you can see and when you can see clearly and you know what it is that God wants you to do, it’s so much more enjoyable.

But woe to the individual who lives his life without a vision. All he sees is just what’s going on in his life right now and he doesn’t see down the road, doesn’t see how things connect, and doesn’t remember that he shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. One day that’s going to happen. And you’re going to be recompense for what you did. See the supper, that was a free meal. But there’s something else that I want you to do, and this means to humble yourself.

And God will exalt you. But for every individual to have a dream about what he wants to get done, and look in verse 28, he says, sit it not down first, first count the cost. And you see, he didn’t say that about the supper. Because see, that’s something that was already prepared and all they had to do was come and dine. Salvation has already been paid for. So it’s a free gift. It’s something all we have to do is accept it.

He just wants us to compel people, but evidently you had to tell them, hey, look, I know a guy and he’s got this big banquet prepared and he’s got all this food and just wants you to come and eat. Don’t cost you anything. And so, evidently, it was the poor, the main. Those that were whole. They’re the ones who came willingly. This is also part of the same teaching that you see where it says, a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of God because of pride.

They won’t humble themselves. There’s a lot of people the day who will not accept this free meal. I’ll buy my own. I’ll do my own thing. And they will not humble or submit themselves to something that Christ has already paid for and it’s free. They’re trying to earn their salvation because they will not submit themselves unto the righteousness of God. And Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. But now you’re talking here about service and something that’s going to cost you and serve in the Lord it does cost because you have to sometimes give up your dreams, your hopes and you have to love the Lord more than your husband or your wife or your kids because if you don’t, if they don’t want to, you won’t because they will stop you.

anything that you love more than God. There’s a lot of people that wish to have access to the Bible and to have access to the Bible, and it’s a lot of people that have access to the Bible, and it’s just a lot of things as I would have to do. And I would have to have to have faith to do so. So that I could have access to the Bible and provide others, and the Bible would be intend, desire, but maybe not count the cost because serving the Lord, discipleship, it does cost you something.

There’s a price to pay. You stay focused and you just keep plowing. Because you know that one day he is going to recompense me for anything that I paid. He’s going to pay me back. Here you see, when the person who has the dinner and invites others to come pays for it. So you’re going to be recompensed later. So we in serving the Lord, see it’s one thing if you’re hosting the dinner or you just simply invited to the dinner.

To be invited to the dinner, well, Well, it’s free. of your hosting it, it’s going to cost you. But the Lord says, we’re to reach everybody. And when you get to heaven, he’s going to reward you for what you’ve done. Now, you and I are supposed to live our lives believing that. But look what else he says here. He says, counting the cost. You ought to underline that in your Bible. And then he makes this statement whether he have sufficient to finish it.

See, it’s one thing to have enough faith to start serving the Lord. It’s another thing to have enough faith to continue serving the Lord. And it’s another thing to have enough faith to finish the fight. You started to fight. You started to run. But can you finish? Or do we let little things get under our skin and bother us to where I’m just not going to serve the Lord anymore? Or I stop. I quit. The only reason you should quit is if God tells you to.

You’re going to be offended. You’re going to be heard. People are going to come and people are going to go. But if you decided to serve the Lord because of what Christ meant to you, then you should not stop serving the Lord because Christ should still mean the same to you as when you started. If not more, as you go. True? So it’s not, I’m serve the Lord because everybody’s in favor of it.

I decided to serve the Lord. It didn’t matter when anybody else had a thought. So after all this time, I’m still going to do the same thing. Why? Because he hasn’t diminished in my eyes. The value of serving the Lord hasn’t been quenched. It’s still there. It’s still vibrant. It’s still precious. So he says here, because if you don’t finish serving the Lord, and as you use in this parable, he makes the statement less happily after he has laid the foundation is not able to finish it.

All that to behold it began to mock him, saying this man began to build and not able to finish. You started. So if you apply this to salvation, you in a heap of trouble. This isn’t talking about salvation. This is talking about service. This is talking about discipleship. He cannot be my disciple. And a disciple is a follower or a learner. See, even lost people in the Bible can be a disciple. You can be a follower or a learner of anybody.

But in service, Lord, I always remember there is a price to pay. But you know and you believe that you’re going to be recompensed for everything you’ve done. He promises that. You see there in that verse 14 of chapter 14, he says, for thou shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. You’re going to be rewarded and you’re going to be blessed and you’re going to be glad you went ahead and did what God says to do. So that’s why as As we live our life, we’re not here trying just to reach the people who can be nice to us.

Sometimes God may want you to reach the people that are not nice to you. You should be kind to anyone regardless of whether they’re kind to you. Whether they got money, they don’t have money. Are you nicer to people who have on a coat and tie than the guy that just dressed in rags on the street? In the book of James chapter 2 it condemns that. The Bible condemns that. Because when you begin to prefer one above another, the Bible says you have an evil heart.

That’s walking in the flesh, not walking in the Spirit. That’s not how Jesus saw people. God so loved the world. The world. The everybody in the world. Every individual. And yes, I believe we ought to be colored blind. It doesn’t matter what color, what nation they come from. Doesn’t matter about their religious things, we should love everybody. You and I, we should love the Catholic, the Mormon, the Muslim, the homosexual, the drunkard, the adulte. We should love all of them, no matter who they are.

It doesn’t mean we agree with their philosophy, their religion, or anything else about them. But we love them. And we try to reach them with the gospel because they are just as important in God’s eyes and to have that kind of an idea, understand Him. So you go from a person has to build a power to a person that is a king because he says here or what king going to make a war against another king Belichick said if not down first consulted whether he be able to be ten thousand to meet him that come against him with twenty thousand because if you don’t think you can finish the war did you realize that you’re going to be desiring conditions of peace in other words find a way to compromise so that you don’t have to fight So that means you have to give in to the enemy.

They win. And you wave a white flag, I surrender because serving the Lord. How many times I’ve heard of serving the Lord is just so hard, so difficult. I quit. Did you know that when you don’t take the yoke that Christ put upon you, you’re going to transfer to a yoke of iron and the yoke of iron will destroy you. It’s not because, sir, the Lord is so hard. It’s because you’re trying to do the work and the energy of the flesh instead of trusting God.

You worry about too much and worrying will destroy you. It eats at you on the inside like cancer until it eats you alive. So that’s why he says you’ve got to make some decisions. Verse 33, so likewise, whosoever he be of you, that forsake if not all that he have cannot be my disciple. In other words, you won’t be able to finish. You’ll start, but everybody can start, but not everybody’s going to finish. Because along the way, things are going to happen because you quit.

So anybody can be a disciple and start, but you won’t be able to finish the race. Satan is after every one of us. Remember, the banquet is free. Certain Lord, being a disciple is a costly adventure. It means you’ve got to pay a price. It means you’re not going to get your own way. It means God may allow you to go through every trial and tribulation to teach you everything he wants you to learn because he knows that you’ll be better off in the long run.

But his honor for his glory. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy.

There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of The Gospel Driven Man. The mailing address is free. Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address. And God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. the trumpet will sound and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.