I'm reading this morning from
the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22. Matthew 22. I hope you'll
follow along or listen carefully as I bring to you another message
from God's Word. Now, I recently performed a marriage
ceremony, and it made me think of this passage. And I read verses
1 through 3, and it says that Jesus answered and spake unto
them again by parables and said, The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son, and sent
forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding,
and they would not come." Now the Lord is speaking of the marriage
of a certain king's son, and that king is God and his son
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul in speaking of marriage
in Ephesians chapter 5 says, this is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Marriage is between
a man and a woman, a male and a female. Anything else is a
perversion, is an abomination to God Almighty. God created
man, male and female. He created the woman for the
man. And the Lord Himself married
them. He created the man Adam first and then Eve. She was specifically
created for Him. And Adam was her head. Ephesians
5 also says this, that the man is the head of the woman as Christ
is the head of the church. The reason for this is it's concerning
Christ and His church. This is a type, a symbol, an
illustration of Christ and His people, His bride, His wife.
who is the Church. Christ is called the second Adam. Just as God pre-arranged the
marriage of Eve to Adam, God created the woman for the man.
Even so, the Church, the Bride, the Wife of Christ, His people,
are elect, chosen, created of God, made of God, that is, born
of God, and by His seed, by His Word, for God's glory and for
God's Son and for her, that is, the church, the believer, is
for her salvation and eternal life and happiness. Listen to
Isaiah 43, verse 7. He said, God said, everyone that
is called by My name, that is, Son of God or Christian, He says,
I have created him. for my glory. I have formed Him. Yea, I have made Him. Born of God. Not of the will
of the flesh, not of man, but of God. Born of God. And he says in verse 10 of Isaiah
43, You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant, whom
I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand
that I am He. And before me there was no God,
neither shall there be after me. I am the Lord. There is no
Savior. I have declared, I have saved,
I have showed, and you're my witnesses." And he went on to
say in verse 21 of Isaiah 43, he said, this people, speaking
of his chosen, I have formed for myself, and they shall show
forth my praise. Just as in the days of old, the
king of England got together with the king of Spain and prearranged
the marriage of the king's son to the other king's daughter.
If they hadn't prearranged this, this marriage would not have
taken place. They were strangers and foreigners
to each other. Well, the King of kings and Lord
of lords prearranged the marriage of a people to His Son. He betrothed
a people to Himself. They were chosen by Him. Betrothed, that is chosen for
His Son. Listen to Hosea, the prophecy
Hosea chapter 2 verse 19. He said, I will betroth thee
unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in
mercy. I will even betroth thee unto
me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. Isaiah said
the same as much. In Isaiah 54 he said of a of
a woman, a forlorn woman who was forsaken for a while, but
he said, I will gather thee unto me, and he says, for your maker
is your husband. So God betrothed a people to
Him. That was Christ. That was Christ
the Son whom they were betrothed to. And Christ came for them,
lived for them, died for them, saved them, and is coming back
again for them. His bride, His church, His people,
His chosen. But now, they have to be born
in time. They have to live in this world.
They have to become sinners in time. They have to hear the Word
of Truth, the Gospel. They have to be convicted of
their sin, righteousness and judgment. That is by the Holy
Spirit. They have to repent. They have
to believe. They have to call on the Lord. They have to come
to Christ. They must confess Him in believers' baptism. But
all of that is arranged also. Thank God. Blessed be His holy
name. If not, if it wasn't arranged,
they wouldn't come. They wouldn't hear. They're deaf.
They wouldn't call. They're dumb. They wouldn't come.
They're lame. They couldn't do anything. They're
dead in trespasses and sin. But bless His holy name, He says
of some, you hath He quickened which were dead in trespasses
and sin. Bless His holy name. And as the
Lord said here, In verse 14 of our text, the theme, the truth
that's being taught here is in verse 14, many are called, but
few are chosen. Many are called, yea. Paul said,
have they not all heard the call, the pronouncement, the truth?
Yea, verily, he said, the sound has gone throughout all the earth. They've heard it. Let me read,
continue to read, it says, This king made a marriage for his
son, and he sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden
to the wedding, and they would not come." Now let me tell you
this about the word bidden. It does not mean invite. It says
bidden. Bidden, not invite. You won't
find the word invite in the Scripture. You won't find the statement
made, won't you accept Jesus, in the Scriptures. Only false
prophets say that. Kings don't invite people to
do anything. Kings give commands. God commandeth
all men everywhere to repent. He doesn't ask you. He doesn't
invite you to come. He commands you. Thus saith the
Lord. That's what kings say. He sends
His servants out. They're not beggars. They're
not inviters. They're proclaimers. They're
preachers. Thus saith the Lord. Come. But they would not come. And none will. No man can come,
Christ said, except the Father which hath sent Me. Draw them. Draw them sovereignly, powerfully. Bring them to Himself. Oh, they
can't. They're dead. We say, preacher,
what's the sense in preaching? Because God said to. And this
gives Him all the glory, you see. Not man's decision. Not
man's choice. Not man accepting Him. Salvations
of the Lord for His glory. The glory is God accepting us. God's not on trial here. We are.
God's not up for acceptance or rejection. We are. Many are called. They hear the announcement, the
pronouncement, the declaration. There's a marriage. Come. But
few are chosen. Oh, blessed is the man, David
wrote in the Psalms, whom Thou choosest and causes to approach
unto Thee. If he hadn't chosen them, they
wouldn't come. They wouldn't come. But he sent
forth his servants in verse 4. They wouldn't come. And he said,
he sent them, tell them that were bidden, behold, I have prepared
my dinner. I have killed my oxen and my
fatlings are killed and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage.
But they made light of it and went their ways. They went their
ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. They went
their ways. Luke's gospel tells of a great
supper. That's the marriage supper. One
said, I bought some land. I bought some cattle. I've married
a wife. They all with one consent. That
is, there was a consensus. They all didn't want to come.
They didn't love the son. They saw no beauty in the son. They didn't need the son. So
it is with man. He'd rather see to his dirt that
he's bought, his land, his cattle. Oh, he says, I've married a wife
and she doesn't like to come to church. My, my. Man hates
God. Man doesn't want God to reign
and rule over him. Man loves sin. Man loves self. Man loves the world. Man is dead
and trespasses in sin. He's depraved. Man's evil. Man
rejects God. No? You don't think so? Why is
it so painful for folks to come and sit and hear God's Word,
to give thanks to God just for one hour, 168 hours in a week,
and give one hour to come and sing praises to the God who clothes
them, who feeds them, who watches over them? Why? Because man hates
God. Man wants to be his own God.
Here's depravity. Here's a picture of depravity.
You put a sign up in your yard, junk for sale, junk for sale,
and people will come for miles away. come all day long to your
yard sale. Advertise on your church sign,
bluegrass music, fashion show, a big buck contest, and boy,
you'll bring them in. But advertise on your sign, we
preach Christ and Him crucified. We preach the unsearchable riches
of Christ. Does anybody want to know the
truth? Come and worship the God of truth. Anybody want to know
what God's Word is saying? And a few, just a few, will come. Well, here's the Gospel. God
said, prepared this. I have killed my sacrifice. I have done this. I have done
that. I have done it all. Salvations of the Lord. Don't
bring your works. Don't bring your decisions. Don't
bring your righteousness. Don't bring your morality. Come
as a beggar. Come as an object of mercy. Come
as one needy of grace. Come poor, wretched, miserable,
blind and naked and just receive this." But they say, no, I don't
like that. I like my ways. I like my religion
just fine. And the remnant took his servants
and entreated them spitefully and slew them. That is, the prophets,
the apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers all preached this
message of sovereign, free, eternal, saving, salvation, promise provided,
performed by God without the sinner's help. And they say,
I don't like that. And they killed them all. And
if it were lawful, they'd do the same today. Well, verse 7
says, the king was wroth You think God loves everybody? You
think again. A person in front of me and a
person behind me might say so, but it's a lie. God does not
love everybody. He's wrath. He's angry. He's going to destroy this world
full of self-righteous, truth-hating sinners. Well, here's how they
come. Here's how there's going to be a marriage. He said in
verse 8, Then said the king to his servants, The wedding is
ready. And they which were bidden were not worthy. Go into the
highways, and as many as you find bid to the marriage. Go
out into the highways and gather together as many as you find,
good and bad." You know, modern marriage, modern weddings are
like modern religion. They all make over the bride.
They all make over the bride. They say, here comes the bride.
She's married five times, but here she comes down there in
white. Isn't she lovely? Here she comes. And over to the
side is that poor groom, hoping she'll say, I do." That's not
the marriage of God's Son, God's King. In glory, all the people
are waiting on the Son. All the people are glorifying
the Son. It's not dependent on them saying,
I do. It all was settled in eternity
past when the Son said, I do and I will and they shall. And He says, go find them. Gather
them together by the gospel. For many are called, but few
are chosen." Are you one of the chosen few? What do you think
about this message? All of God's people love it because
they love God's salvation and they love His glory. Oh, I pray
that you're one of His chosen few. Until next Sunday, good
day.