This classic Billy Graham sermon explains why some don’t answer the call from God in this 1985 sermon in Anaheim, California. 

Billy refers to John 14 and the Parable of The Great Banquet in this teaching. Jesus tells of a huge feast that was prepared by a wealthy man. He invited friends and family to the banquet, but on the day of the feast, no one arrived. Instead, he was given pathetic excuses. 

When he heard one flimsy excuse after another, the Master of the house got angry. He told his servant to go back into the streets and invite “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” Even then, there were still quite a few seats left vacant. So the Master sent his servant on another search, “Go out to the roads and the country lanes,  and make them come in so that my house will be full” (verses 22-23).

Jesus ends the parable relating God’s kingdom to the feast “not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet” (verse 24). 

What excuses are we giving to God when it comes to his invitation of salvation? Billy goes on to remind us about the incredible gift we’ve been given in Christ. But only those who accept and honor Christ will see the Kingdom of heaven one day. Some people give their lives to Christ half-heartedly. 

Others make up excuse after excuse, living a life for Christ is too hard. Or they don’t want to change their lifestyle. Still, some don’t feel the presence of God in their lives and decide he’s not real. 

Billy teaches us that the master of the house is God, and the great banquet is the kingdom. Jesus used this metaphor to explain the kingdom of heaven is near. It’s up to each of us to accept God’s invitation without excuse while we still can. 

“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet,’” Luke 14:23-24.