Room Enough Yet
Luke xiv. 22. And yet there is room.
All may come to Christ, and be saved, who will. No man, or angel, may shut the door of hope, or bid any poor sinner go away.
We are told in the chapter which contains the text, that “a certain man made a great supper, and bade many.” At supper time, “he sent his servant to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready.” But they would not come. And what did the master of the feast do, but bid the messenger “go out immediately into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind.” He went and brought them in, and then came back and said,” Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.’’’’
TQ feast referred to, means the provision God has made in the Gospel for the salvation of men. The Messenger employed to carry the invitation at supper time, denotes his Son. The conduct of those who would not come, represents the conduct of all those who hear and reject this gracious invitation. The message to the lanes and streets of the city, denotes the carrying of the Gospel to those who had been at first overlooked. And the declaration of the Messenger, that, after these were invited and had come to the feast, there was room enough yet, was designed to show that there is yet room for all to come who will.
This is true, my friends, and a delightful truth it is. There is yet room.
1. In the first place, in God’s infinite mercy. This .s a fountain that never fails, an ocean that is always full. It is like God’s eternity and immensity, no one can measure it. It is high as heaven, deep as hell; the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. We can no more dive into ‘the heart of God, and explore the boundless depths of his infinite mercy, than we can sound eternity itself. We have no line long enough, and no sins heavy enough to do this. It has poured forth unsearchable riches, but never can they be poured out in such full measure, as that there shall not be unsearchable riches of mercy remaining. “His mercy endureth forever.” It is no marvel, that those who measure God’s mercies by their own, think that they are limited and shortened. But in nothing is short-sighted man more at fault, than in such unworthy notions of God. “He is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we can ask, or think.”
2. In the second place, there is room in the great Atonement made by the death of Christ. It is not wonderful that the sinner is afraid lest dWinQ justice should shut the door against him. The law of God, and his own conscience, naturally create and sustain this terrible fear. It is but justice, it is but equity, that he should perish. And he must have perished, but for the death of Christ, dying in the sinner’s place, and suffering the wrath of God, the just for the unjust. Justice is so entirely satisfied by this great Propitiation, that whosoever will may come. Their supper is prepared; there is bread enough, and to spare; there is wine and milk, without money and without price. None are excluded from its divinely commissioned offers; none are discouraged from accepting them; none are embarrassed; not a soul need perish, so long as there is this city of refuge. “Look unto me,” says that adorable Saviour, “and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.” He has enough for all. “Him that cometh to me,” says he, “J will in no wise cast out.”
3. There is yet room in the household of faith. Enough there are who know not Grod; the household of faith imbodies but a small part of those who will finally be saved. It is God’s purpose that this family of his Son shall be greatly increased, and hereafter fill the earth. Happy, indeed, are those who are already brought into it; for they have “a name better than that of sons and daughters.” But this divine family claims no monopoly of privileges. Those who are within, are no hindrance to those who are without. The church of God opens her doors to all who wish to enter in; her arms and her heart are extended to men of every age, and rank, and condition; nor is she ever more gratified, than when the weary and heavy-laden direct their feet to her temples, and in crowds come to her solemn feasts. She looks with interest on seamen — on those whose calling separates them so much from her holy hill; and longs for the time to come when “the abundance of the seas shall be converted unto God,” and many a wandering and houseless mariner shall sit down at her feast of mercy. She is even now sending forth her servants to compel them to come in. The “Bride” says, Come. No matter who, no matter how many; there is enough for them — enough of pardon, peace, joy, and heaven.
4. This leads me to remark, in the fourth place, there is yet room in the heavenly world. There are “many mansions” there; and other sheep that are not yet gathered that must be brought into the fold. There the ‘’ many sons;” the ‘’ nations of the saved;” the “innumerable company;” the “many who shall come from the East, and from the West, and from the North, and from the South,” are yet to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. The numbers are not yet completed; nor will the complement be made up, until myriads upon myriads more are brought home to that glorious world. Its gates are never shut, night nor day. O yes, there is a place in that upper Sanctuary for more of you — a robe of righteousness, a harp of gold, an everlasting song. There is yet room for you at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
‘’ There your seats are now prepared,
There your kingdom and reward.”
5. There is room, in the fifth place, in the opportunities and means of grace and salvation. None in Christian lands are shut out from these privileges, unless they exclude themselves. Sometimes God gives men over to a reprobate mind, and curses their very blessings, and makes them a savor of death unto death. But who shall limit the Holy One of Israel, or set bounds to his forbearance and long-suffering? There is a state of mind that solicits depression. Men sometimes get so deeply into the snares of the devil, that they come to the conclusion that their day of grace is past, and that there is nothing left for them but to despair and die. There is mercy for others, there is room for others, in Jesus and in heaven, but none for them! But who is it that says this? Has God saTd it? Has the Saviour said it? Has the Holy Spirit anywhere recorded it? No: it is the devil who says it; it is the father of lies who says it. It may be that the best and most hopeful season of repentance is gone by; the bright morning may be past, and clouds may be gathering over their evening sky. And it may be, too, that these their very fears indicate the striving of God’s Spirit, and show that their day of grace is even now most rich in promise. I would not dare to say, there is one among all the living who may not seek and find. Late repentance may not be genuine; but genuine repentance is never too late. The vilest may say. Who can tell, if there may not be hope even for me? There was for the dying thief; who can tell if not for me? Who can tell even amid the hour of great darkness, “if God will not turn, and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger?” I have known instances not a few, in which persons had supposed the door of mercy fast shut and barred against them, who actually found it wide open. And I hesitate not to say, that the most desperate transgressor this side eternal burnings, does but add to his wickedness by yielding to the temptation that he is beyond the reach of the divine forbearance. I may add, 6. In the sixth place, there is yet room, notwithstanding the multitudes who have already become partakers of this great salvation. Jews and Gentiles have been gathered in, but yet there is room. The sick and the poor, the bond and the free, the learned and the igno-ROOM ENOUGH YET.
rant, the refined and the vulgar, the moral and the immoral, men of every name and calling, on land and sea, have been gathered in; and yet there is room. The Gospel has had great success in our world; it has had free course; it has found its way to the palaces of kings, and fruits have been harvested from the highways and hedges, and from among the halt, the lame, and the blind; it has travelled almost from pole to pole, and from the rising of the sun to his going down; and yet is there room. From every generation that has been born, multitudes have come in, and God’s house has rejoiced in the accession of her numbers, strength, and graces. From the harvest of nineteen centuries, what sheaves have been brought into the garner of the great Husbandman! And yet there is room..
There is room, my friends, for you — for every one of you, without distinction and without exception. Your parents have been gathered in, but there is room for you. Your friends, your companions, have been gathered in, but there is room for you. In defiance of your sins, your temptations, your calling, your fears, your delay, there is room /or you. Jesus’ work is not done on the earth; time has not sealed up your account; even now, after so long a period of folly, the Spirit of God invites you to repent and believe the Gospel.
Our commission extends to you; it is to bring you in, whoever you are. It is to constrain, to compel you, by the power of God’s truth, by the plenitude of his love, by the tenderness of his compassion, by the bloody agonies of his cross, by the provisions of his table, by his crown of righteousness.
Can I not move you? O if you are not made of brass; if you cannot dwell with everlasting fire and inhabit eternal burnings, come while it is called to-day, and while there is room for you. What is it you are waiting for? You are needy; you are miserable and perishing sinners; what more do you need in order to feel that you have the warrant to come to Jesus? You are expressly invited: will you not come in, that his house may be filled?
We read in the Scriptures that *’ they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut!’’ There.will be no room for you then, however much you may wish to enter. “He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth,” will shut to the door, and you shall stand without and say, Lord, Lord, open to us — open to us! It will be a fearful thing then to be shut out — shut out from God — shut out from all that is holy and lovely in the universe — shut out from heaven and shut up in hell, with malignant devils and the lost spirits of wicked men — lost because they are wicked, and then the more wicked, because they are themselves to be lost and damned forever. It will do you no good to believe there is no such place as hell; this belief will not help you to escape it, nor to enter into heaven. It may, on the other hand, shut you out of heaven, and shut you up in hell forever. Rather believe there is a Saviour, and that he welcomes you to his arms and to his heart; rather believe there is such a place as heaven, and that now its doors are open, and you may enter in.