Part of this chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning in verse number 15, and I'll re-read just a few of the verses.
It reads in verse 15,
And when one of them that sat at me with him heard these things, he said unto him,
Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bathed many,
and sent his servants at supper time to say to them that were bidden,
Come, for all things are now ready.
Now, what I'd like to preach on this morning is being ready, being prepared.
And I'm going to show you a lot of different areas in the Bible where we should be ready and prepared.
But first of all, I'm going to show you something that God has prepared by way of introduction.
You see, this parable here is describing salvation.
He's talking about a great feast that's being made for his son, Jesus Christ.
Everyone's invited. First and foremost, he invited the Jews.
And of course, he came into his own and his own received him not.
And so they come back, the servants in the story come back to God the Father,
who that is represented by the master in the story,
and say, We invited those that you bid, and they would not come.
And he said, Go out quickly into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.
And my house being filled, the halt, the blind, the maimed, every single person that you can find.
Hey, I love the urgency about that story.
Sometimes we can get so flippant, and we can be so lackadaisical about soul winning.
God says, Going out to win souls, something needs to be done quickly.
Hey, there's a deadline.
Think about it. These men said, Well, I think I'm going to go out and do it tomorrow.
But the food's not going to be ready anymore tomorrow.
You understand what I'm saying? He made a dinner.
You can't just leave that food out for days and days.
There's a time constraint in this story saying, You've got to hurry up.
The food's going to spoil. The door is going to be shut to the wedding.
There's only a certain opportunity to get in.
We are up against a time constraint.
We don't know what a day is going to bring forth.
We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring.
And so we need to go out quickly today, quickly every day,
out in the harvest, winning souls, house to house, in the highways and hedges,
our friends, our co-workers, our loved ones.
Hey, it's urgent that we go out quickly and win souls to Christ.
But notice something about, and we're going to get more into that later in the sermon,
but notice something about this story.
Look at the end of verse 17.
It says, For all things are now ready.
You see, salvation is not a potluck, okay?
Jesus did all the cooking for salvation.
You don't need to bring your own dish, okay?
And we think of it, sometimes different religions and people who call themselves Christians
and denominations that claim the name of Christianity,
claim that the Bible is their authority for all matters of faith and practice,
but they think salvation is a potluck.
Like, you have to bring baptism.
You know, you have to bring your good works.
You have to bring your good life.
You have to bring a willingness to quit your sins.
You have to bring a willingness to live for God.
You have to turn your life over to Christ.
You have to give Him something.
And God says, no, when it comes to salvation, all things are now ready.
It's already been prepared.
It's already been paid for.
It's not going to cost you a dime.
I bought the food.
I prepared the food.
All, all things are now ready.
He just says, come, whosoever will may come and take the water of life freely.
That's what salvation is.
It's all ready.
You don't have to bring anything.
It's done.
And so God has prepared salvation ready for us.
Matthew 22, 4, you don't have to turn there,
but the same story, he says again, he sent forth other servants saying,
tell them which are bidden.
Behold, I have prepared my dinner.
My oxen and my fatlings are killed.
And all things are ready.
Come unto the marriage.
That's our message outsold him.
He says, go tell them that I did it all.
Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow.
Lord, nothing good am I were by Thy grace to claim.
I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's slain.
And so we don't have to bring any.
Our message is, you can't bring anything to the table when it comes to salvation.
When we go out and knock the doors, what are we telling them?
We're telling them that it's ready.
We're telling them that Jesus has died on the cross.
That's the gospel.
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We're telling them that you don't have to bring anything.
You don't have to pay it.
Hey, the death has already been died by Jesus Christ.
Here the oxen and fatlings are killed,
representing Jesus was killed for our salvation.
Come to the marriage.
But not only that, we ought to be ready.
Well, how should we be ready?
Turn to Romans chapter 1.
Let me show you the first way that we should be ready in our lives.
Look at Romans chapter 1 and turn to verse 15.
And while you're turning, I'll read you a different verse.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 3.15,
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always.
Did you hear that?
Be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
Look down at Romans 1.15.
The Bible reads,
So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that lives a good life.
Is that what it says?
To everyone who's baptized.
To everyone who joins the church.
To everyone who repents of their sins, and turns their life over to Christ,
and turns from drinking, and turns from fezzing.
No, my friend, he says it's to everyone that believeth.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And so it's to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Let me ask you something.
Are you ready to preach the gospel?
I hope you were here last Sunday night.
When I went in-depth, step-by-step, point-by-point,
how to win somebody to Christ, start to finish.
Hey, I hope you were here.
So that when you get that opportunity,
which by the way comes like every day almost or definitely every week.
When you get that opportunity to preach the gospel,
are you going to be ready?
Wouldn't it be terrible to have the perfect opportunity
to win somebody to Christ, just fall into your lap, and you are ready?
I mean, can you imagine?
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