WITHOUT AN EXCUSE
By George W. Sinquefield
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By George W. Sinquefield
Luke 14:16 through Luke 14:24 (KJV)
16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
These people had been invited to a feast but for some reason they did not wish to attend. So they began to make excuses. "Therefore, they all began making excuses." They had their reason for not attending but they didn't want to make it known so they had to make an excuse.
I. The Purpose Of An Excuse
What is an excuse for? We pretend that its purpose is to explain the facts, tell why we acted or failed to act after a certain fashion but the truth is that the purpose is the very opposite -- It is to conceal, to cover up, the facts.
When we wish to explain, to reveal, to uncover, we give a reason. When we wish to cover up or to conceal we offer our excuse. You were once very active in the Lord's work but not any longer. You offer some excuse but the reason is that you have grown cold, you've ceased to read your Bible and pray as you once did. You fail to attend the worship services and your excuse is that the weather was too bad, but the real reason is that you just didn't want to attend. You don't attend the evening services and your excuse is that you want your children in bed at a certain time, but the reason is that you had other things you wanted to do. You missed prayer meeting and your excuse was that you didn't feel well, but the reason was that you wanted to watch television. You were invited to a party you didn't like the one giving the party so you pleaded sickness or said you already had other plans, or would be out of town. You didn't give a reason, but you gave an excuse.
"All with one consent began to make excuses" -- they all began to lie. They wanted it understood that they were eager to attend the feast, but circumstances made it impossible. The truth was they didn't want to attend -- other things were more important to them.
"The genius of human nature is such that it can always rationalize its failure to do something it does not want to do in the first place. A classic example is the Arab who refused to lend a neighbor his rope. His excuse was that he needed it to tie his camel. When reminded that he had no camel, he replied, 'Yes, but when you do not want to lend your rope, one excuse is as good as another.'"
II. Excuses Are So Unreasonable.
One has said, "To make an excuse is to accuse one's self."
In this parable (in Luke 14) Jesus said a man made a great supper and sent out invitations, "Come for all things are now ready." The table will be set and filled with all the good food that one could ever want. Now that is some invitation -- the kind we like to receive. You're not to bring anything, just come with a good appetite. It seems that no one would turn down such an invitation unless circumstances made it impossible for him to attend.
But, you will notice that those invited all began to make excuses. You will also notice that an excuse has to be made. Each one of these had his reason for not accepting the invitation but he had to make an excuse. The excuse each one made was so pitiful, so absurd, just a plain out lie.
One man said, "I cannot come, I bought a piece of land and I am going to see it." Keep in mind that the feast was at night. Do you think he bought this land without seeing it? He said he had already bought it. We can't believe that for one minute. H would have examined it very closely before putting his money into it. He said he had to go and see it. Do you think he could see it, could examine it in the dark? We know he could not. He just made up an excuse.
Another man said that he had bought five yoke of oxen and he wanted to try them out. Do you think he would have bought them without first trying them out? That is just not the way a normal person does business. He would have tried them out before he bought them. Now just imagine him trying out ten bull yearlings he had never seen and doing it in the dark. He just didn't want to attend the supper so he just made up and excuse. He just told a big lie.
The third man said he couldn't attend because he had married a wife. That is, without a doubt, the dumbest thing we've ever heard. Whoever saw a bride that did not want to attend a big feast? I don't believe I have. This old boy was hen-pecked from the beginning of his married life, it seems.
Now for a moment let us think of how unreasonable these excuses were. "I've bought a piece of ground and I must go see it." "I've bought five yoke of oxen and I must try them out." "I've married a wife and therefore I cannot attend." Yes, these excuses were very unreasonable. They were like a lot of excuses people make today - unreasonable, silly, stupid and downright absurd.
It has always been a part of human nature, both before people are saved and after, to try to free themselves of blame. I read an incidence where a man was being fired for stealing. The judge sentenced him to sixty days. The criminal said, "Your honor, it was not I who stole that money. It was my hand and my arm that stole the money." The judge said, "Very well, I sentence your hand and your arm to sixty days in jail. If the rest of your body would like to accompany them, that will be all right."
The pastor of a certain church announced that he would never again attend a football game. When pressed for an explanation, the minister readily admitted that most of his reasons for not joining the millions in the stadium across the country each Saturday were pretty much the same excuses he always heard advanced as alibis for not attending church on Sunday. See if you agree.
III. An Excuse Is A Lie.
Dr. Vance Havner said, "Excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie."
Shakespere said, "Oftentimes excusing of a fault, doth make a fault the worse by the excuse." Notice what Gods Word says about the awful sin of lying.
Prov. 6:16 through Prov. 6:19 (KJV)
16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Prov. 12:22 (KJV)
Acts 5:3 (KJV)
Col. 3:9 (KJV)
Eph. 4:25 (KJV)
One has said, "If God were to bring judgment on the church today for lying there wouldn't be enough people left to bury the dead." What an awful indictment. It is a fact that every time we make an excuse we tell a lie and God, Who is truth is very much displeased when that happens.
Dishonesty wears many masks. It makes promises without intending to keep them. It says nothing if under charged in a checkout lane. It keeps an item gotten by mistake (a case of dishonesty giving birth to thievry). It disguises the truth to gain personal advantage. It lies to cover up wrongs. Lying undermines confidence, creates suspicion, and destroys relationships. But worst of all, it's an insult to God, who is the source of all truth.
Centuries ago, Quakers faced imprisonment and even death because in court they would refuse to swear to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God." Their moral dilemma was not only in swearing to God, but in swearing to tell the truth only in the courtroom. This, they thought, suggested that outside of the courtroom truth was an option, and therein was the problem. Telling the truth is not an option.
It would be a great day if great numbers of us would pray the prayer printed one time in a Detroit newspaper. Here is that prayer: "Almighty God, as I lie here on the sofa on this lovely Sunday morning, surrounded by the Sunday paper and half listening to one of the radio preachers, it has come to me that I have lied to Thee and to myself. I said I did not feel well enough to go to church. This was not true. I was not ambitious enough. I would have gone to the office had it been Monday morning. I would have played golf had it been Wednesday afternoon. I would have attended my luncheon club had it been at noon. I would have been able to go to the movies if it had been Friday night. But it is Sunday morning and Sunday illness covers a multitude of sins. God have mercy on me. I have lied to Thee and to myself. I was not ill -- I was lazy and indifferent."
You may need to pray a prayer of repentance. You have lied by making excuses and you need God's forgiveness. If you have failed in your Christian life and duty and you have a reason, God understands. But if you have failed for no reason and you've offered excuses you need the forgiveness of God. Ask God to forgive you and stop making excuses -- stop telling lies.
When queen Elizabeth II was to be crowned Queen of England, selected invitations were sent to certain people. On the bottom each invitation read, "All excuses ceasing." God help us to cease making excuses.
IV. No Excuse For Not Being Saved
The Bible states that no one has any excuse (or any reason for that matter) for not being saved. Here in America, Bibles are plentiful and preachers are proclaiming the gospel from pulpits of many churches and many Christians are passing out tracts which tell how a person is saved. The gospel is preached over radio and television and often from the streets of our towns. God's people are anxious and ready to tell the lost how to become a child of God. There is absolutely no reason for a lost person to remain lost. The startling truth is that the heathen has no excuse for not being right with God. This is clearly revealed in the book of Romans. Yes, the heathen who has never seen a church building, has never seen a Christian, has never heard the gospel, is without an excuse. God has given even to the heathen what we may call limited knowledge. He knows something about God. God's creation has declared both the power of God and the creation tells everyone there is a powerful and personal God who has created everything that is made. If he would accept limited knowledge of God, then God would give him further knowledge. The heathen have rejected this limited knowledge of God; thus, God says that they are without excuse. They would not retain God in their knowledge. If only they would accept the little light God gave them by His creation, so that God could give them more. They are without excuse.
George Washington Carver said, "I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune Him in."
Romans 1:20 states it very clearly:
Rom. 1:20 (KJV)
Notice how "The Living Bible" puts it. "For the truth about God is known to them instinctively; God has put this knowledge in their hearts. Since earliest times men have seen the earth and the sky and all God made, and have known of His existence and great eternal power. So they will have no excuse when they stand before God at Judgment Day." (Romans 1:19-20)
A man tells of going into a friend's house when he was a boy. There was one room he was forbidden to go in. One day while he was there, the door into that room opened and inside he saw a boy in a dreadful state of animal idiocy. He saw the mother go in and kneel by the bed and he heard her say, "I've fed you and clothed you and loved you and you've never known me."
This cannot be said about the heathen. Let the Word of God tell us.
Rom. 1:21 (KJV)
Rom. 1:24 (KJV)
Rom. 1:26 (KJV)
One of the Red Publications of 1793 said to a peasant, "We are going to pull down your churches and your steeples -- all that recalls the superstitions of past ages and all that brings to mine the idea of God." The peasant replied, "Citizen pull down the stars then."
I copied the following from a devotional booklet and would like to share it with you.
"More than 4,000 language groups exist in the world today. God, however, uses just two forms of communication to make Himself known to us. He speaks through general revelation, consisting of conscience and nature; but He also speaks through special revelation, which includes His written Word, the Bible, and the living Word, Christ.
The universe declares His great power, glory, and handiwork. It says, "It couldn't have happened by chance. There must be a higher being behind it all. And conscience witnesses to the existence of a higher standard of right and wrong. We all can hear God speak if we will listen.
Without God's special revelation, however, what we hear is incomplete. For example, ancient peoples looked at nature and worshiped gods of the sun and the moon. Today brilliant scientists probe the mysteries of nature, straining to hear a single theory to explain its complexities. But it is all to no avail. And conscience, though affirming right and wrong, says contradictory things from one culture to another.
Only the Bible and its central person, Jesus Christ, reveal the living and true God, telling us of His holiness, His love, and His redemptive purposes. Our part is to listen, learn, worship, and obey."
One night Napoleon was sailing on a vessel in the English seas. Some men on the deck of that vessel were arguing that there was no God, that they were not responsible to God, and that they did not need to be saved. While they were arguing the existence of God, Napoleon Bonaparte stepped in the midst of his soldiers and replied, "Men, if you are going to argue there is no God, you had better get rid of those stars up there. For, those stars tonight declare the glory of God and declare there is a powerful and personal God Who made all things that are made."
One pastor said and I fully agree with him. "I have people who are educated beyond their intelligence. These PhD's, who call themselves scientists, try to explain all of God's nature, without giving Him the credit. There was a man on the television who told of this camera that is going millions of miles in space taking pictures. He said, 'These pictures are going to show us where things came from and how they are made.' He did not say 'Who' made them, but 'how' they were made. I have news for them; I hold in my hand tonight a divine camera that photographed it all! I hold in my hand tonight a book that the old country people used to believe because they referred to the God of this Bible as 'my Maker'. I want to say to you tonight that God has said to the entire world with every star in the sky, every gleam of light from the sun and moon, this earth with all of its beauty, that no one has an excuse not even the heathen."
When college entrance test scores began dropping several years ago, educators were alarmed. They were concerned that the education system had let the students down, blocking them from the opportunity to get into college. Then a new theory arose. It wasn't the fault of the schools, some experts said. The problem was the tests. They said the tests were slanted against certain ethnic groups or geared for one sex over the other. The jury is still out on this issue, but it is an interesting twist to a complicated problem.
It's similar to a problem that arises in the spiritual realm. According to God's Word, there's an "entrance test" to get into heaven. Those who fail it are denied the everlasting joy and peace of living in God's presence. Instead of accepting salvation as a free gift by trusting Jesus Christ and His atoning death and resurrection. some people prefer to blame the test. They claim it isn't fair for God to allow only one way for people to get into heaven. They protest that people in other religions are just as sincere as Christians. They don't want to hear that the test is accurate -- that there is no other way to God."
John 14:6 (KJV)
Acts 4:12 (KJV)
A young man was asked why he did not wish to be a Christian. He explained that the conduct of a certain man who claimed to be a Christian caused him to feel the way he did. He was asked to write down his excuse in full and sign it. This he did. Then it was handed back to him with the words, "Take this, and when you are asked for your excuse on the day of judgment, hand this up."
If you are not a Christian, have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, I urge you to b e done with excuses and turn to Him today. You certainly have no reason to continue to reject Him.
An old man stood up in a meeting one night and said, "I have been forty two years learning three things and I want to share them with you.
Salvation is God's gift to man. Will you b faith accept Jesus and His most precious gift?
John 3:16 (KJV)
22 Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.
3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Romans 6:23
Ephesians 2:8-9
