“Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, and the halt, and the blind... Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled.”
“Call them in”―the poor, the wretched,
Sin-stained wanderers from the fold:
Peace and pardon freely offer:
Can you weigh their worth with gold?
“Call them in”―the broken hearted,
Cowering ‘neath the brand of shame,
Speak love’s message low and tender
“‘Twas for sinners Jesus came.”
“Bring them in”―the careless scoffers,
Pleasure seekers of the earth,
Tell of God’s most gracious offer,
And of Jesus’ priceless worth.
IT is a man’s own loss if he refuses the God-sent invitation. The feast will go on without him and God’s house shall be full. The poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind will come in, compelled by the great Servant, from the streets and lanes of the city. But who are these? Again the Master-artist is at work describing those who are fit subjects for God’s grace, and who will most certainly appreciate that grace when they know their need for it. The poor cannot pay, the maimed cannot work, the halt must be brought, and the blind are helpless without a guide. Not one of them is self-sufficient, they are dependent people. Every man and woman on earth comes into this category, only some have not discovered this, and others are too proud to own it. Some boast, “I am rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing,” but to them the Lord replies, “Thou knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” It is not easy to confess the truth, it cuts clean across our natural pride, and the discovery of it is a bitter experience; but it is the way to the blessing, and it is better to confess the unpalatable truth than hug the pleasant lie.
All are poor; the Lord has described us all as “debtors, with nothing to pay.” A man’s bank balance or broad acres do not enter into this question. The millionaire is as poor before God as the man who sleeps on the Embankment with neither penny nor purse. You might be able to scatter money with the munificence of Lord Nuffield, it would be of no account at God’s door; gold cannot buy grace. A millionaire manufacturer in my native town gave a large sum of money to local charities. His Christian secretary asked him, Why? for it was an unusual move on his part. “Because I want to go to heaven as well as you” was his answer. But not such as he with his fancied ability to pay pass in to the Supper; it is the poor that are welcomed and those who think they are rich are turned empty away.
“Our poverty of soul
To God’s gate can being no toll,
Giftless we come to Him who all things gives.”
To every sinner that owns the truth God has got a perfect answer. Let a man confess his poverty, and God’s answer is, “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” Let a man confess that he has been maimed by sin, and made helpless to work for his salvation, God’s answer is, “When we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly,” and, “By grace are ye saved... not of works, lest any man should boast.” Let a man acknowledge that he is halt, without the power to walk in the ways of righteousness, God’s answer is, “Unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only-wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.” Let a man acknowledge that he is blind, God’s answer is, “To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Me (Christ).”
Why do not men understand their need of God’s grace? Why don’t they see that if they refuse His grace they must be lost forever? God gives a solemn answer to these questions. We read, “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine in unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4.
The fact is that there is a great conflict for souls being waged between Satan, the god of this world, and the great Servant who has come from heaven to compel men to come in to God’s Supper. I will tell you of the conflict for one soul, and how it ended. It was on a ferry boat, crossing the beautiful Sydney harbor, that I was introduced to a man of some standing in the shipping world of the city. He had graduated from the University and had made good in his business life, but that did not satisfy him; he had a great thirst for knowledge and was determined to know the truth as to things. In his search for truth he was attracted by Theosophy, which was in the way of being popular in his circle at that time, and for a while he was well satisfied and sure that what he held for truth could not be challenged. Satan had succeeded in blinding his eyes. One day he was seized with a sudden illness and his doctor ordered an immediate operation. Now came the test. He set about to work himself up into an ecstatic state of mind to face the ordeal; he succeeded, and this lasted until he got between the sheets in his bed at the nursing home. Then to use his own words, he “got the wind up.”
The great Servant was opening his blind eyes. He had a few hours to wait for the operation and he was in a panic; his hope had failed him, it had burst like a bubble. He asked for a Bible and began eagerly to read from the New Testament, and he had read through the four Gospels before he was called to the operating theater. There he had a strange experience. I had the story from his own lips. While under the anesthetic he thought he saw upon a black background a cross uplifted, upon which hung Jesus, the Son of God. That was not strange, seeing he had read the story of the crucifixion four times within the last few hours. What was strange was that a voice seemed to say to him repeatedly and insistently, “I am Alpha and Omega. I am Alpha and Omega.” When he recovered full consciousness he asked the nurse, “Can you tell me where the words ‘I am Alpha and Omega’ are in the Bible?” She could not, but because he seemed so anxious to find them, she said she would inquire. Now it so happened that under God’s good hand a Salvation Army Captain was visiting in another ward of that Home, and the nurse sent him to her patient. The Captain knew his Bible and found the words and preached Christ from them to the sick man. He being a graduate of Sydney University did not need to be told that Alpha and Omega were the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet; and as he pondered the words that had been so strangely impressed on his mind, the truth dawned upon his troubled soul. The great Servant had shattered his false hope, and delivered him from the blinding influence of Satan, and was leading him into the light. He understood that Christ was all; that whatever God had to say to sinful man was in and through Christ, and Him crucified. Thus was he guided into God’s Supper. He was a happy man, as happy a man as I have ever met. It was a pleasure to be with him. “My old friends call me ‘the born-again man’” he told me, and the name they gave him was a good one and suited him well. Thus does the Spirit of God work with men; first to show them their soul’s deep need of the saving grace of God, and then to gently compel them to the door of His festal hall; WHICH DOOR IS CHRIST.