H B 1-6. Healing.
C 7-11. Parable. Marriage Feast.
B 12-14. Teaching.
C 15-24. Parable. The Great Supper.
B f 1,2. Man with dropsy.
g 3. Question of the Lord.
h 4-. Inability to answer.
f -4. Man healed.
g 5. Question of the Lord.
h 6. Inability to answer.
28 A.D.
Luke 14)
1 And it came to pass, in His going into the house of one of the ruler of the Pharisees to eat bread (put for any kind of food) on a certain Sabbath, that they were engaged in watching Him. (Maliciously trying to trap Him.)
2 And, behold, there was a certain man before Him (not one of the guests) which was dropsical. (A medical term. watery edema)
3 And Jesus answering spoke to the doctors of the law and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?" (Hits them right between the eyes. They should know the answer. There is no law in god's Word that prohibits healing on the sabbath, because it is not man that heals, it is God that heals. Man's law [traditions of men, not God] - One man says you can if he's haltered, you can take him out. Another man says, no no, you can lower food down to him [isn't this work?] to keep him alive until sabbath is past and then haul him out. Which is clearer and makes more common sense, God's Word or man's word?)
4 And they held their peace. And He took hold of him, and healed him, and let him go; (Just like that, instantly.)
5 And answering to them, saying, "Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not immediately draw him up on the sabbath day?" (See Ex. 23:5, 12)
6 And they could not reply to Him as to these things. (Stubborn. They didn't want to admit it was o.k. to heal on the sabbath.)
C E 7. Occasion.
F i 8. Dehortation. Highest place.
k 9-. Humiliation.
l -9. Shame.
F i 10- Exhortation. Lowest place.
k -10-. Exaltation.
l -10. Honor.
E 11. Application.
7 And He put forth a parable to those which were invited, when He marked how they were picking out the first couches (going on before His eyes. (Putting on a show, high muckedy ducks of religion) Cp. 20:46. Matt. 23:6); saying to them.
8 "When you are invited by any man to a wedding feast, recline not down in the highest room; lest a more honorable man than you be invited of him; (This would be embarrassing)
9 And he that bade you and he come and say to you, 'Give this man place;'
and you begin with shame to take [and keep in it] the least place. (You got to sneak out of there)
10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the least place that when he that
bade you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, go up, forward higher:'
then shall you have honor (Gr. doxa = glory) in the presence of them that sit at table with you. (They are going to respect you)>
11 For whosoever exalts (honors. Satan's pride always takes the highest seat.) himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be humbled." (As Christ was humbled on the cross. Cp. 18:14 and Matt. 23:12)
B G m 12-. Occasion. Dinner or Supper.
n -12-. Guests. Dehortation.
o -12. Recompense.
G m 13-. Occasion. Feast.
n -13. Guest. Exhortation.
o 14. Recompense. Divine.
12 Then said He to him also that bade Him, "When you make a dinner or a supper, (Feast of knowledge.)
call not your friends, nor your brethren, neither your kinsmen, nor your rich neighbors; (Don't try to cull people.)
lest they also bid you again, and a recompense take place. (When such a one asks for gifts, not friends. If God gives you gifts, don't just get together with some other reverends that are already suppose to know everything and play one-upmanship. Teach it from the housetop. Make it available to everyone. You don't hold it in.)
13 But when you make a feast,
call the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind: (This is what sabbath is for. Call in people that are dumb to the Word and teach them.)
14 And you shall be happy (this is the climax); for they have not [anything to] recompense you: for you shall be recompensed in the resurrection of the just." (This is when you will receive your reward.)
Again we have the Four Ministries, as in the above parables.
The supper was made by "a certain man", and many were bidden. This bidding was the ministry of John the Baptist. It is set forth as a simple statement of a past and accomplished fact. This was the First Ministry (v. 16).
The Second Invitation was sent to those who had been already bidden by John. It was sent by "His Servant", Who was none other than the Lord Jesus Himself. His Ministry is expressed in one sentence : "Come; for all things are now ready" (v. 17). he was sent "at supper time", according to Eastern custom. But they all with one consent began to make excuse (vv. 18-20).
The Third Invitation was sent, not to those who had been already bidden, but to another class altogether. It was sent by "The Master of the House", Who has perfect right and authority to invite whom He will. He sent "quickly" : i.e. very soon after the return of the second servant; and "into the streets and lanes of the city". This was the ministry of Peter, the Twelve, and Paul.
The Fourth Invitation is yet future, as shown above in the other parables. It will be sent forth by "the Lord" (v. 23), by Him Who has all power in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18-20). This will be a ministry of compulsion, carried out in the "highways and hedges" of the wide world; and it will be effectual like the last in the preceding cases. All, in turn, receive the call, but it is the last who "hear and understand" (Matt. 13:23); who "hear and receive" (Mark 4:20); who "hear and keep" (Luke 8:15); and who "bring forth fruit". For this, special wisdom and understanding is needed, as foretold in Dan. 11:33; 12:3, 10.
Thus the present dispensation (since the destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of Israel, which took place shortly after Acts 28, has nothing to do with the Kingdom, and the proclamation of the good news connected with it is postponed and in abeyance. Meanwhile, and during this dispensation, we have :--
C H 15-20. 1st guests invited.
J p 21-. Servant. 1st report.
q -21. Other guest to be "brought in".
J p 22. Servant. 2nd report.
q 23. Other guests to be constrained.
H 24. 1st guests rejected.
H r 15,16-. Supper prepared.
s -16. Guest invited.
r 17. Supper ready.
s 18. Guests beg off.
15 And when one of them that sat at meat with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Happy is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." (Food for thought.)
16 Then said He to him, "A certain man was making a great supper,
and bade many: (Whomsoever will)
17 And sent his bondman (Yahshua the Messiah) at supper time to say to them that were bidden, 'Come; for all things are now ready.' (Opposite of the other supper.)
18 And they all from one [mind] began to beg off. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I have needs to go out [i.e. from the city] to see it: I pray you consider me excused.' (Rain-check. Always to busy when the Holy Spirit touches someone)
19 And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen (rich man), and I go forth to try them: I pray you hold me excused.' (Overlook him this time.)
20 And another said, 'I have married a wife, and on account of this I am not able to come.' (They've got to consummate their marriage - to the false Christ)
21 So that servant came, and reported to his lord these things. (They are all to busy.)
Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city (Jerusalem), and bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind.' (To lame to walk in righteousness, following the path of Christ. Spiritually blind.)
22 And the servant said, 'Lord, it is done as you did command, and still there is room.' (He owns everything and in the Kingdom room for everyone.)
23 And the lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in (compulsion necessary, because the "will" is a fallen "will", and therefore no stronger than that of our first parents when unfallen. See Ps. 14:2,3. 53: 2,3. John 5:40. Rom. 3:10-18. Man's fallen will has never been used for God, without the compulsion of Phil. 2:13), that my house may be filled. (Used of loading a ship. See 2 Pet. 3:9)
24 For I say to you, That not one of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.' " (They are not going to be there, the door will be slammed in their face. See 13:3-5)
G K M 14:25. Occasion. Concourse of people.
N 14:26-35-. Teaching.
L 14:-35. Dispensational call.
K M 15:1. Occasion. Concourse of people.
N 15:2-17:4. Teaching.
25 And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said to them, (Always take note of who He is speaking to.)
N O 26,27. Discipleship.
P 28-32. Parable.
O 35. Discipleship.
P 34,35-. Parable.
O t 26-. Alternatives.
u -26. Condition.
t 27-. Alternatives.
u -27. Condition.
26 "If any man come to Me (the case being assumed), and hate not his father (love less, your Heavenly Father comes 1st), and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, (Flesh life)
he cannot be My disciple. (Love him more than your inner wishes. See Hosea 6)
27 And whosoever does not bear his own cross (You have to be dedicated to this point), and come after Me,
cannot be My disciple.
28 For which out of you, desiring to build a tower, sits not down first, and calculates the cost (Gr, psephizo, from psephos = a pebble, with which calculations were made, worn smooth by handling over a long period of time. Trace back to Garden of Eden, Satan, father of Cain and the Kenites. Tyrus, false god), whether he have the [means] for [its] completion? (If you intend to serve God you better think about it.)
29 Lest haply, after he has laid its foundation, and is not strong enough to finish it off, all that behold it begin (as they see him nearing the end of his resources) to mock him,
30 Saying that, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish.' (See Mark 14:30,&c.)
31 Or what king, going to encounter for war against another king, sits not down first, and consults whether he be able in ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand? (Following Christ is spiritual warfare)
32 If not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy (you better know how to operate in this world), and seeks the [terms] for peace. (So you know who, what, when, were and why.)
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that takes leave of not all that himself possesses, he cannot be My disciple. (Anybody who does not put Christ 1st can forget about it.)
34 Salt is good (see Matt. 5:13. Make a difference): but if the salt have becomes tasteless, with what shall it be seasoned? (Bland teaching you cannot grow on.)
35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the manure; but men cast it outside.
He that has ears to hear, let him hear."