The messengers went and said, don’t you see what an insult this is to the king?’ So preachers say, ‘Don’t you know what Christ is born on Calvary so that sinners can be forgiven?’ Don’t you know what blessings come to those who turn to him? Don’t you know the lengths to which the king has gone? And will you spurn him again?
In Bible times God sent prophet after prophet. Old Testament. New Testament. Do you know why the Old Testament is so big? Because it is the vast record of the tolerance and kindness of God. He warned them, appealed to them. Now the message goes on. Tell them which are bidden. See his kindness, how he reasons with us? Do you know what Christ did? He was fixed by the nails. But that was nothing. Immeasurable by compared to the invisible sufferings God put on Christ all the vile guilt of sin, layer upon layer, which we should have suffered in hell. We can’t grasp how he could do it. That is why only God could do it. His divinity sustained him. His humanity suffered it.
In spite of all the persuasive entreaties, they made light of it. One went to his farm: ‘My farm is much more important than this feast. I would rather be carrying on with my work than going to this feast. I don’t want to meet the king’s son and his bride.’ Is that your philosophy? There is nothing more foolish than to reject the Lord and his word. You just believe all this world gives you, soak it all up, live for the here and now, and for what you can possess and see. You are being very narrow.
We speak of God and your mind goes off on something else. Be careful, this is God who gives life and breath and will judge us. We hold him in contempt: the Creator who gave us this life, the one who is the only sin bearer. We may hold a lot of things in contempt – the great buildings, the objects of art. They are dead; if you wish to be supercilious about them you can be. But don’t hold God in contempt. We speak of Christ. Don’t hold him in contempt. ‘I would rather make money; I would rather increase my earthly security; I would rather pursue what I can possess in this life.’ Think of it. We have the word of God. God is saying, ‘I will wash away your sin, take you to heaven’, but we say, ‘I’m not interested in that.’ How astonishing!
It is a deliberate snub. Christ tells us what he thinks of us when we reject his love. Did you realise what God’s opinion of us is? It is not as if there is a God who doesn’t see or care? We are known to God and he is against us. We are marked people – God is not going to have this kind of conduct. Is it not amazing what things we can do? We turn him down, and yet the things we get preoccupied with! The angels must think not only that we are we insulting, but mad. ‘They rejected the gospel when they were told they are heading for a lost eternity.’ Yet we readily soak up the message of the world. We believe money makes us happy. The TV and internet pump in the propaganda of the world. We go to university and accept all we are taught. There are some good things, yes, but other things are rubbish.