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4 fiiß MR wl The Heavenly Feast. “And when one of them that sat at meat with Him heard these things, he said unto him, “ Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” —Luke 14: 15. Jesus was a most marvelous teacher both in the matter and manner of his teaching. He could talk exhaustively about any subject in a short time. He was very careful not to waste words. To Him words, like thoughts, were too precious to waste in meaningless use or repetition. Men ought to learn this lesson for today. Most of us, I am afraid, waste more time than we use. There is too much time taken up in idle words. Je sus said: “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.” This does not simply mean frivolously speaking, it is a prohibition also of w T aste of -words, repetitions, and the like. What we need today almost as much as anything else is, how to value time; how to make it count for the most; how to val ue words in considering time, and make them count for the most. The “yea,” “yea” and “nay,” “nay” of Jesus would save many a precious hour, and bring to pass many needed blessings. During the first part of this feast in the house of the Pharisee Jesus was occupied in showing how strength should bless weakness. To impress the lesson He healed the man with the dropsy, and sub mitted the parable of the Highest Room at the Feast, saying, “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest haply thoy also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.” This is the obligation that strength owes to weak ness. Bread in the Kingdom of God. We turn now from this beautiful lesson to con si ler another which in addition to its own teaching will serve also to impress the one which we have just turned from. It is a lesson concerning “Bread in the kingdom of God.” Remember that Jesus is still at meat in the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees, where the beautiful lesson concerning the obligation of strength to bless weakness has just been taught. The guests must have been very much impressed with the teaching, certainly one of them was, for it is said, “One of them that sat at meat with Him heard these things, and said unto Him, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God.” It was a beautiful declaration. No wonder he felt it in his heart. The teaching concerning the “Highest Room” was so unlike anything he had been accustomed to in his life. His religion was that of the Pharisee, and about the only thing they , _ struggled for was honors. They were dreadfully afraid that they would not get their rights. The highest seat was the only one they cared anything about. Just such as this was what this man who inter rupted Jesus had been used to all his days. The teaching of Jesus had caused him to see a new ffißE- SUTOWCTX- WWW Le n G . Broughton world; it had caused him to see his brother. It had caused him to see the only real way for promotion; promotion for himself, and blessing for others. With this new truth in his mind, no wonder he should say, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Invitation and Rejection. But see now how Jesus dealt with this man whose eyes were beginning to open: Then said he unto him, “A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his 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 said unto Him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray Thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that the servant came, and showed his Lord these things. Then 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 maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast com manded, 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. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my sup per. ’ ’ The Point in the Parable. What is the main point in this old familiar para ble? Most preachers only see the graciousness of salvation, and the folly of the excuses which men make for not accepting it. Os course this is there. Salvation is a free and gracious gift, and no excuse that man can offer for rejecting it can stand the test at the last day. But this is not the supreme lesson of the parable: to get it we will have to follow him as he goes away from the feast, talking to the multitude. “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and eounteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.” The point in this parable is the necessity of ab solute renunciation of everything that comes be tween one and his Lord. In effect Jesus says to the man who wanted to eat bread in His kingdom: “Your declaration is beautiful; it is praiseworthy and blessed; but I am afraid you do not comprehend what it takes to eat bread in my kingdom. “To eat bread in my kingdom means the Renunciation of Everything That comes between Me and thee.” The invitation is free so far as the coin of this world is concerned, nevertheless it has a great price placed upon it. It demands surrender on the part of every one who will receive it. Nothing must get in the way. “If a piece of ground gets in the way, it must be put out. “If the oxen get in the way, they must be put out. “If a young wife is in the way, she must step aside. “If father, and mother, wife and children, breth- The Golden Age for April 5, 1906. ren and sisters get in the way, she must be put out. ” It makes no difference what the hindrance is, the man who will be a disciple of Jesus has got to make Him first: “Whosoever he be of you that for saketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my dis ciple.” This is high teaching, but it is the essence of dis cipleship. No man can be a disciple of Jesus -whose life does not come up to this standard. Becoming a Christian. We hear people say it is an easy thing to be a Christian. Is this true? Face the Master’s own words here; weigh them just as lightly as they can possibly be weighed, and is it easy to live the Christian life? It may.be easy to get in the church, it may be easy to stay in the church, but to be saved and live a Christian life is quite another thing. Right at the threshold of becoming a Christian we are confronted with the requirement that we lay aside everything that comes in the way of the ab solute mastery of Jesus. To most of us the will is the hardest thing for us to deny. The fact is, when we deny the will we have the victory over everything else. Discipleship is conditional upon this. Mr. Moody tells about a man, who, in one of his meetings, was very anxious to become a Christian, but refused to go into the inquiry room, saying, “If the Lord wants to save me, He will have to do it right here.” That night this same man was thrown from his carriage, and fatally wounded. The next morning Mr. Moody was sent for. When he got in the room where the poor man was dying, he said, “What can I do for you?” The man replied, “Oh, is that Mr. Moody? Please sir, take me to the inquiry room.” But, ’ said Mr. Moody, “You can be saved here. ’ ’ “No,” said he, “I made a deliberate issue with God last night; I said, His will had to bend to my will. Now I have got to go back to the inquiry room; I have got to do exactly what I said I would not do.” There was much truth in what this man said. God must control. Our wills must be mastered. Jesus Christ will never take possession of occupied terri tory. Living the Christian Life. And this is not true simply of becoming a Chris tian, it is the principle upon which we are to main tain and live the Christian life. A disciple is one who follows his Lord. No man can follow his Lord whose will is not subject to the will of his Lord. It is utterly impossible. Our wills must be dominated by Him, Sometime ago I was hunting birds with a man who had a very valuable dog. Much of the value of the dog consisted in the fact that he was perfectly obedient to the will of his master. Sometimes it would appear that the dog would go in a direction that his master did not want him to go, but a whis tle and a wave of the hand was all that was neces sary. Oh, Christians, do we all realize as thoroughly as we should that just such willing obedience to our Lord and Master is the supreme need in our lives? I am sure here is where many preachers and churches fail. They fail to get new visions of truth, and new plans for work because they fail to keep their wills upon the altar, a sacrifice unto God. Many of us fail to succeed in the operation of our plans and visions because of the same thing. Here is a plan, the gift of God. He gave it to a willing,