The urgent and compelling invitation to God's great salvation, drawing parallels between the parable of the great supper in Luke 14 and Christ's personal invitation in Revelation 3. It highlights that salvation is a prepared feast, not a famine, and that the Holy Spirit, along with believers, urges sinners to come in before it is too late. The message contrasts the sinner coming in (Luke 14) with the Savior coming in (Revelation 3), stressing the importance of opening one's heart to Christ's persistent knocking. The sermon concludes with a fervent plea to accept Christ now, as the door to salvation may close, leading to eternal regret, and urges listeners to ensure they are ready for His coming.
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Luke's Gospel chapter fourteen. Luke's Gospel chapter fourteen. Verse sixteen. Luke chapter fourteen and verse sixteen. Then today unto him a certain man made a great supper and bade many and sent a servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they all, with one consent, began to make excuse.
The first is unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, I must need to go and see it. I pray they have me excused. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, I go to prove them. I pray they have me excused. Another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed his Lord these things. And the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and the maim and the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done, as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.
that my house may be filled, but I say unto you that none of those men were forbidden, so taste of my supper. Keep your place there, and let us read a verse of Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three. And we'll read that lovely verse that so often read at a gospel meeting. Revelation three and twenty. Behold, I stand at the door and not. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will talk with him and he with me. I read these two portions of the word of God to compare a contrast to verse twenty-three of Luke fourteen with verse twenty of Revelation three, and to stress that particularly the two words, come in.
And Luke fourteen, compel them to come in. That's the word, that's the invitation, the urgent invitation to the sinner. to the lost souls of the soul of these Christ come in. They were urged, they were compelled, they were impeded to come in. Everything had been provided. The feast was ready. This presents to us God's great salvation. It wasn't a famine. It wasn't a funeral. It was a feast. Coming to Christ is coming to a feast. Everything is ready. Salvation has been prepared. And the word was to the servant, of course, the type of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew's Gospel, in connection with the feast, it's plural, the servant. But here it is the singular, the servant. It is the Holy Spirit that urges and compels sinners to come in, to come to Christ.
So thank God he has, shall I say, servants under him who likewise in fellowship with the Holy Spirit urge, entreat, invite, and compel sinners to come in before it is too late. But if we're going to enter into that glory we're hearing about, we've got to enter in now into the kingdom of God, we've got to come now. They were going to meet him in the glory and be with him for eternity. So the word is, compel them to come in. And then contrast in Revelation three, it's the Savior coming in. Luke fourteen, it's the sinners coming in. And Revelation three, it's the Savior coming in. If any man hear my voice, I behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and will sup with him and he with me.
The Savior is very anxious to come into your heart tonight, beloved friend. And I wonder if you will receive him. I wonder if there will be room in your heart for him. We often sing, Room for pleasure, room for business, but for Christ to crucify, not a place that he can enter in the heart for which he dies. I speak to some of you tonight, and perhaps for many years the Lord Jesus has been entreating and knocking and pleading at your heart's door, and yet you're keeping him outside. But once again, in loving kindness and in mattress patience, he stands, he's near, he draws near, and he knocks at your heart's door tonight, and he wants to miss him, and he wants to come in, because someday it will be too late. Soon thy heart be cold and silent, and the Savior's pleading cease.
But going back to Luke fourteen, the word is, compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Now I know we cannot move beyond the work of the Holy Spirit. That is not our desire. We're very careful about that. But we would as a word, even though stone on turn, to invite, to entreat, and to urge precious souls to enter in, that is, by coming to Christ, the one who said, I am the door, by me, as any man enter in, he shall be saved, to come now to the feast, that is to God's salvation, before it is too late. For I say soon that door will close, and then the dreadful words, and no room, and no room. But tonight, thank God the door is open, and the invitation is extended.
And if you're here tonight without Christ, God invites you, and Christ invites you, and the Spirit invites you, and we invite you. And the word here is very urgent. Compel them to come in that my house may be filled. First of all, it's say to them that we're bidden. and then it's bring them in, but now it's compelled, you see. As the time draws near the deadline for that door to be shut, for ultimately that door was shut, it was compelled. And we trust tonight we shall know the compelling power of the Holy Spirit. And if some of you boys and girls and young men and women are still outside the fold, outside the feast, that is, you haven't come to Christ that you might be urged and entreated and compelled to enter in, for the day is coming, I say, when that door will be closed, We used to sing when I was a lad and it spoke to my heart.
Someone shall not. When the door is shut, shall you shall I? The Lord is coming. The Lord is coming and the door is shut. Will be shut. And it will be shut finally. One wrote the words, I saw the door. and meant to go within the room someday. I looked around and marked the ground lest I forget the way. When I returned, all was the same except anywhere before. A light had been. No light was seen, and God had closed the door. The door is going to close. Very briefly, I would suggest several reasons why we would, in the fellowship with the Holy Spirit, compel you to come in tonight because we wanted to be urgent about this matter. It could be our last gospel meeting.
It could be your last call. It could be the last invitation. You say, well, if I thought it were, if I thought it was. If I thought that I was being entreated and invited and called for the last time, I would make my decision tonight. It could be the last time. I think my other brethren who preached the gospel could tell you of case after case as we could of those who listened to the gospel and heard the voice of the Lord and were warned and entreated and urged to come to Christ, and it was their last meeting and their last opportunity, and as far as we know, a number of these dear souls went into eternity without Christ. This is why we are in such dead earnest tonight as we say. People say, well now why don't you then just get up and preach your sermon and take things easy and be calm and quiet and just give the doctrine of the gospel.
Well, we feel this thing very keenly. We feel that our souls here who may be left behind and left outside for eternity. The Lord is coming and one shall be taken and the other shall be left. What of earth? One shall be taken assured deliverance. The other a sad division shall be left of solemn doom in those pure assured deliverance and a sad division and of solemn doom. And what an awful experience to be left behind when the Lord comes, left behind for judgment, left behind for the wrath of God. Left, though God speak it often, call thee again and again, left but all is in vain.
Now which not here the heart can all is in vain. That's not because he wished it. Left to thine own self-will, left to my heart grew harder, thou wert rebellious still, left for the coming judgment, and left for the sinner's doom, and left while thy light day darkens into a solemn gloom. Left on the side of heaven, what shall I portion be weeping and waning only all through eternity. My wonder, as I look into patience tonight, could it be I am looking into the face or the faces of some who are going to be left, left outside for God's eternal doom and judgment, for the wrath of God forever and forever left. But instead of heaven, what shall my portion be weeping and waiting only all through eternity?
What an awful thing to miss heaven, friend. Let me say this lovingly and yet clingly. If you miss heaven, you will not miss hell. less for the wrath of God forever. This is why we are in earnest about this matter tonight. This is why we entreat and urge and in fellowship with the Spirit of God, we can tell you to come in. First of all, of course, the reason is very clear here because the Lord wants his house filled. That my house may be filled. Isn't that marvelous? That's why the Lord died. The Lord said to his own, I go to repair a place for you. I believe that means he was going to the cross to open heaven. That's why he could say to the dying thief, today he should not be with me in paradise. and the Lord wants to have you with them in the glory, and loved ones want you with them in the glory, and the Lord has treated, and loved ones have prayed, what an awful thing to miss heaven when Christ has died to open the way, and the Lord Jesus wants you with him for eternity.
And if you're left behind, you'll never say, the Lord didn't want me, that my house may be filled. God's house is fast, fill me, we sing, there's yet room to spare, that a seat will be vacant, but will you be there? I remember being asked to take a funeral in the city of the Second Rhode Island years ago. A dear mother had been taken. Thank God she was ready. She'd been called home to glory. Her husband was left and he too was on his way to heaven. But there were several children in that family who were not saved and most of them were married. And I was standing in a position where I could see the family in that separate room and two young men from the assembly sang a hymn.
I very rarely have heard a song at a funeral that was very solemn. Will the circle be unbroken in that Hadasua-Metland by and by when the loved ones round and gather in their home in the sky? And I watched and I saw those young couples weeping and using the handkerchief as those words penetrated their hearts in love. Will the circle be unbroken? This disturbed me again and again when I was a lad and I can truthfully say in the presence of God, never did I hear a message on the coming of the Lord before God saved me. My heart wasn't stirred and I was awakened and I went home and couldn't speak with my thought of love and going to heaven and my being left outside. Oh, I was glad that night over fifty years ago as a lad when I found Christ as my Savior when I received him at a conference meeting, a Saturday night conference meeting.
Yes, it was. That's why I like to preach the gospel to the conference. And I came to Christ. I realized I was lost and doomed and condemned and would be left behind. And I felt that night, if I didn't trust Christ, I might miss it for eternity. And when the preacher preached on that glorious text to his own self, bear our sins in his own body in the tree, I could then withstand no more when I saw my sins he bore, and I entered through the door and believed in it. And I went home that night, and I said, Thank God I'm ready. Would you like to do that to your soul? Dear boy or girl, wouldn't you like to leave this hall tonight and say, thank God I am ready. The Lord is coming and I am ready. The Lord wants you in heaven and the Lord is disappointed when sinners reject him.
He said to his own, I would but ye would not. Oh, the awfulness of realizing if you miss heaven. that the Lord Jesus wanted you there and he died to have you there and he met your need as a guilty sinner but you rejected him and though he pleaded often you refused and to realize I'm here I'm lost I'm doomed I'm outside forever not because the Lord didn't want me not because there wasn't room for me but because I deliberately rejected Christ as my Savior how can you reject Christ tonight dear soul and go out of that door with a possibility that the Lord may come this very night and your soul be left on doom and lost eternity.
I was preaching the gospel in a little hall in Bermuda one night. Perhaps some of you brethren have been to that buddy assembly. It's called the Crawl Assembly. And the little place was packed. There was no platform. There was no public, just a little table. And I think it was great to get the time, perhaps about eight thirty. And we were preaching the coming of the Lord. And sometimes preachers make a statement perhaps without realizing just how the effect of that statement in the hearts of the listeners. I said, you know, the Lord could be here before nine o'clock. And the words were hardly out of my mouth to the young man who belonged to the Church of England, twenty-six years of age, walked to the front.
And I stopped for a moment. I said, what is it, my friend? He says, I want to be saved. I didn't know what to do. There was no empty room. I said, now you sit right here in the front, and we'll get this meeting over very quickly, and we'll sit down with you. And I think in about five minutes or so, we closed the meeting and sat down with that young man, and he was really in earnest, and he wanted to be saved, and God saved him. And he's going around rightly for the Lord. But I was greatly interested as to what prompted him to leave his seat. Now, I said, what prompted you to leave your seat tonight and walk up to the front while I was speaking? He says, Mr. Rieger, You made the statement that the Lord might be here before nine o'clock. He said, I was afraid I would miss it. And I felt so ashamed.
I told him to wait five minutes. And he wanted to be saved. He thought the Lord might come before nine o'clock. He was real and God saved him. Brother Lentz had made that statement tonight. The Lord could be here before it is time to close this meeting, though we're not going to keep it over time. The Lord wants you in the glory, a dear sinner. This is why he died. This is why he shed his blood. This is why he agonized and bled and suffered in Calvary to have you for himself. Oh, the awfulness, the missing heaven. You know, I sometimes think the last sight that unconverted lost souls will have of Christ is is Christ as the Lamb, for he sits on the throne as the Lamb. And when they hear that voice depart from me, lightly, possibly, am I correct, the last sight finished will have of Christ.
Yes, he'll be judged, but it'll be the Lamb and the throne. There he sits the slightest strangers till he bears the marks of love. Oh, that I had saw this fever when I felt the spirit move. It could be the spirit of God is striving with some soul tonight. Jesus is knocking at my poor heart. We used to sing, shall I be saved tonight? If I reject him, he may depart. Shall I be saved tonight? Over and over his voice I hear, sweetie, it falls on my listening ear. Can I, shall I reject him? A friend so dear, or shall I be saved tonight? What about it down this aisle and this aisle and this aisle and this aisle? What about it? Are you going to say not tonight?
Oh, that dreadful answer, not tonight. And thou shalt hear at heaven's gate, there is no room for thee. The Lord wants his house filled. Then a second reason for confounding you is all things are now ready. If we had to ask you to do something or to bring something, we could well understand you saying, well, I can't do it. I can't pray. I have enough money to give. And I can't do anything to help my way into heaven. My friend, do you not realize there's nothing to do with it? All has been done. Christ has finished the work. Christ has taken that. Christ has satisfied God, the justice of God, and he bore the judgment of God in your account.
And all things are ready, you know, when we have a company in our home which we love, and my dear wife prepares things in the kitchen and everything is ready. It's no hardship for me to go into the living room and say to our guests, come for all things are now ready. This is not, this was not, this is not a basket lunch where you bring something with you, and God prepares part, and you bring the other part. Everything is ready. Christ has died. On the cross, he cried, it is finished. This is why we urge you to come because there's nothing to do but come and take the Lord Jesus as your own personal Savior. I remember the meetings we had down in the vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia, where we labored.
Our brother Hoffman and I used to spend a little time together in the early days in the state of Georgia, but In the year nineteen thirty-five, we pitched a tent and we kept a tent on that same lot for twenty-three weeks. Please don't ask me what I preached on for twenty-three weeks. I couldn't tell you. I know we preached on John three and sixteen every night for the first week, but the souls were drinking in the simple gospel. And as Brother Clank Pierce said, there's some places you go and it's so easy to preach, you can preach from the believer's hymn book. And souls are really anxious and really thirsty, and they were. And Brother Bob Crawford came down with me, many of you know him, for a couple of months.
And one night a lady came to the meeting, and we thanked for coming. We said, we're glad to see you. I said, what is it that brought you? Were you invited? Well, she said, Mr. Crawford came to my door the other day, and she said he spoke so well about the Lord Jesus. I thought I'd like to come and hear him. Wasn't that nice? And anyway, God began to deal with her. She was a lovely mother, wife, and neighbor and citizen, and and faithful church member and all the rest. But we were preaching about this matter of being saved and knowing you were saved and being born again and ready for heaven. And God spoke to her and God awakened her to the reality that she was not ready, that she never had an experience. She never, she never been to Christ. She wasn't saved. And one night we preached simply on that text, it is finished.
All things are ready. It is finished. She went home pondering those words and it's finished. But she had a rest this night. In the morning she went out in the backyard to feed her chickens and she got the job done and stood under the tree for it was a hot day in August. She thought, oh, how can I get rid of this burden? How can I know the assurance these men are talking about? I've already been saved and having my sins forgiven. I know I'm going to heaven. And the Spirit of God, what word shall I use? He reiterated the words of the night before into her heart and mind. It is finished. standing under the tree she thought well what am I trying to do what am I waiting for if it's finished it's finished the work is done and Christ has died and there she trusted Christ as her Savior she came because all things were ready oh so on say there's nothing for you to do but come to Christ tonight that is if you know you're lost if you don't know you're lost you can't come he only receives lost guilty sinners but if you know you're lost tonight and on the road to hell for eternity, and you fear being left behind when the Lord comes, everything is ready, the work is done, the debt is paid, and God is satisfied, and there's nothing for you to do but come.
Another reason is why we treat you as God's patience, yet there is room. Holding of the numbers that have entered in, the countless numbers that have been saved, and multitudes in various parts of the world will be saved tonight. But yet there is room. A message of God's great provision, there's room. A message, shall I say, of patience, yet there is room. But a message with a limitation, or someday thou shalt hear, there is no room for me. Thank God we don't preach tonight. There was room. That would be sad. We cannot, we dare not say there will be room tomorrow night. You say, well, I'm coming back to the gospel, meaning tomorrow night.
That's good. But tonight, dear soul, there is room. yet there is room in the lands by the Hall of Song with its fair glory, peccancy along, room, room, still room. Oh, enter, enter now. Yes, think of God's matchless patience, yet there is room. He is waiting. He's been waiting for you, dear boy and you, dear girl or man or woman, and he's waiting tonight. I wonder, are you coming home tonight? Come. Are you coming home tonight to Christ? Are you going to keep him waiting longer? You may keep them waiting one night, one meeting too long, shall I say. I miss heaven. What a tragedy. Yet there is room.
What I would compel you to come in because of the possibility here, the warning, the door will be shut. Why, that door will be shut suddenly, instantly, and finally. And I say, well, an awful thing to be so near, just outside the door, within reach of that door, and that door shut. I remember preaching the gospel in the city of Toronto on Sunday night, and we went down after the meeting to put Mr. J.M. Davies of India on the train from Montreal, and the train left at midnight. We waited with him. Finally, the call was given, and upstairs he went, and just about the midnight hour, the wire gate was shut by the guard.
And at that moment, a young couple came rushing up. and the father had a little baby in his arms. Oh, he says, open that gate. We must make that train. We must be in Montreal in the morning. The guard said, I'm sorry. I'm not allowed to open this gate. Oh, so the young man, please let us through. We'll make it. He says, well, you hear the wheels are rolling now. He says, you're just a few seconds too late. I said, dear Paul, what a tragedy for souls to be just a few seconds too late. few minutes too late too late too late will be the cry Jesus of Nazareth has passed by well you see if I thought this were the last invitation if I thought the Lord was coming tonight I'd get inside and I do it tonight you better dear soul like that young man in Bermuda he feared the Lord would come before nine o'clock we've announced meetings tomorrow we've announced the meeting in the morning when we'll have the privilege of being at the Lord's table but you know We may be gathered around the Lord in glory tomorrow morning.
Amen. And there are some of you dear souls. And you'll be left in the Atlantic or around here. And you'll know your doom is sealed. And your death's dying for hell. And the door's going to close and never be opened. And those who refuse will never fight it again. Oh, could I, could we, In fellowship with the Spirit of God, I urge some dear soul in this audience to come to Christ tonight. The Savior is waiting. Listen to those words as I close in Revelation three. Behold, I stand at the door knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in.
The Savior asks you to come in. That's your step of faith. But he waits to come into your heart. Five things I want to say about this knock and closing. It's a knock of loving desire. Lord Jesus is knocking at your heart. I'm knocking the voice of the same thing here. Do you hear him knocking tonight? Do you hear him knocking through the preaching of the Word? The working of the Holy Spirit, do you hear his voice? Do you know? Do you not realize the Lord is knocking? Someday he'll knock for the last time and he'll leave you. My heart be cold and silent and the Savior's pleading ceased. It'll be too late. I knew a dear girl. She was very careless. Her mother was a Christian.
Her mother often said with her, Oh, Mary, why not accept Christ? Why not get saved? She says, Mary, Mother, leave me alone. You're always bothering me. Why don't you quit and leave me alone? One day, very suddenly, that mother took ill, and in the day or two, she was gone. She went to heaven. I wasn't at that funeral. I couldn't go over to take it. But a friend of mine who once said it was deathbone. That dear girl, sixteen years of age, almost... literally threw herself in the body of her mother and she sobbed out mother she said if you'd only speak to me now I would listen I would hear and I would trust Christ but it was too late that voice was silent the Savior is knocking tonight whatever he should call, whatever he should not anymore, a knock of loving desire, a knock of deliverance.
If you let him in, you'll be delivered from your misery, from the power and passion of your sin and the lust of your sin. Deliver it from your fear and from the burden of your sin. It'll be a glorious deliverance. It's a knock of decision. When you come to my door and knock or ring the bell, I must make a decision either to keep you out or let you in. A decision is necessary when there is a knock. What about it tonight, dear soul? I know we can abuse those terms, decision for Christ, but what will your answer be as the Savior knocks? Are you going to open tonight? Are you going to let him in? Are you going to say, Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, as you have my heart for thee? Or will it be, on the Savior's part, a knock of disappointment?
He's knocking again tonight, and we're going out that door. The Lord will say, I will, I would, but He would not. And I close. It's a knock of death to me. What is it? It says, the Lord, if you receive me into your heart, I'll receive you into my home. If you'll let me make your heart my throne, I'll let you sit on my throne. That's the proposition here. If you let me in, I'll let you in. Now, that's it. In essence. Are you going to let Christ in tonight? Are you going to enter in? The door is open wide tonight. It might be shut. Are you going to let Christ in? His door is open. Your door is closed. Will you open your door tonight?
Say, Lord Jesus, come in. I've kept thee out so long. I've waited far too long. But Lord Jesus, just now, my doubtings, I give or. Just now I'll reject thee no more. Just now, I'll throw open the door. Lord Jesus, come into my heart. While the Spirit is pleading, while God is calling, while Christ is knocking, while God is waiting, is that a soul in this audience who will say, Lord Jesus, come in tonight. My door is open. Enter in. I will trust thee. And as he enters in, you'll enter in.
the two are meet together. But he shall come tonight. He'll let her in through the gates of God to sing redemption story. I will meet you in heaven. And the circle will not be unbroken. What about it tonight? The challenge is yours. He's waiting. He's calling. He's pleading. It could be the last. Will you let him in tonight. He knocks with an ill-cursed hand. Will you take him as your Savior? Will you yield? Will you bow? Will you come? Will you trust? that high heaven might hear that answer from your heart tonight. Yes, Lord, I'm coming tonight. Yes, Lord, my door is open. Come into my heart. I'm going to be ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Let us pray. Our Father, we have been reminded of the one who is to come, the great things that will happen. It thrills our heart to hear this blessed truth again. and our hearts are longing to be with them evermore, and our hearts cry out, expectantly, even so come Lord Jesus. What a thrill to be caught up and caught away and taken out of this world and meet our blessed Lord and ever in with him, and share his glory and sing his praise for eternity. But oh God, we think of the loved ones here tonight. We think of one long ago, who said, how can I go up with the Father and the lad be not with me?
that our sons and daughters tonight and brothers and sisters and perhaps fathers and mothers and they're not saved. We've been reminded our God of the compelling power of the Holy Spirit to tell them to come in that my house may be filled. We know our God that thy house will be filled. The Lord Jesus will have every seat filled in the glory because he died. But what a tragedy. How dreadful that there should be souls, boys and girls. Men and women in this audience who would, having been invited, yet left outside and left behind for the awful night of judgment and eternal wrath and grief. As the Lord draws near to their hearts and knocks so patiently and so tenderly with that male cursive hand, O by the answer be, come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
There is room in my heart for thee, and again we pray that high heaven might hear that silent decision tonight, those words from some heart. going upward. Christ for me. Rebuke the power of the adversary, we pray. Deliver us from levity and lightness and foolishness, our God. This is a solemn moment. May we realize it. And may work we've done for God and for eternity. Grant that real definite shall we say Holy Ghost decision shall be made by some in this audience in coming to Christ and letting Christ into their heart. Then may go home tonight the joy of the Lord in their soul, on the assurance that all is well, on their ready for his coming.
We pray this in his worthy name. Amen. Our brother Don will take over.