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I. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPEL.

1. Its readiness. Nothing for man to do but come. The feast has been preparing from the foundation of the world.

2. The gospel's abundance. Grace enough in God's heart to include all the world.

3. The condescension of the gospel. No favouritism. Absolutely free. The vilest soul is good enough to be saved.

4. The gospel's urgency. Not force, but moral earnestness.

5. The gospel's triumph. Christ's blood is not shed for nought.

II. THE RECEPTION OF THE GOSPEL.

1. The gospel finds no favourable reception from —

(1) The gospel-hardened. Every invitation rejected does but set more firmly in opposition a will already opposed to Christ. The heart grows stubborn and indifferent.

(2) The proud.

(3) The preoccupied. When Mark Antony began his famous speech with the words, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears," he well knew that he might as well toss his words to the idle winds that swept over the dead body of his friend, as address an audience who paid him no attention. In the preaching of the gospel, the very fact that people are interested in it, talking about it, working for it, heralding it far and wide, is a guarantee of its effectiveness. We must make men think about their souls. So long as their oxen, or their stores, or their wills, or their ships are in their minds, Christ cannot get in.

(4) The self-satisfied. Here is the trouble with many a man of amiability and worth. He has a pleasant home, friends he delights in, social ties, all possible comforts. He needs to see that this is Dot enough. He ought to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and at the gospel feast he might be filled.

2. The gospel is tolerably certain to find reception among —

(1)  The needy.

(2)  The neglected.

(A. P. Foster.)

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KJV: Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

WEB: But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.