I'd like to give you all a warm
welcome to our worship here this evening. Let us ask the Lord's
blessing in prayer. Let us pray. Oh, the most merciful
and gracious Lord God, we ask thy blessing upon our gathering
for worship this evening. Do make the Lord Jesus Christ
precious to us. Grant the power of thy Holy Spirit. Grant thy blessing upon our gathering. whether here in the sanctuary
or those joining with us online, do grant us to part alike from
thy sacred word. We ask through thy name, Lord
Jesus. Amen. Hymn: 587. Tune: Hagar 37 Let's us read together from the
Holy Word of God, the Gospel according to Matthew and chapter
22. If you have one of our free Bibles,
that is page 909. We'll read the whole chapter, Matthew
chapter 22. And 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. Again he sent forth
other servants, saying, tell them which are bitten, behold
I have prepared my dinner, 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, one to his farm, another to his
merchandise, and the remnant took his servants and entreated
them spitefully and slew them. But when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those
murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants,
The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways,
and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those
servants went out into the highways and gathered together, all as
many as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was
furnished with guests. And when the king came in to
see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment. And he saith unto him, Friend,
how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment, and
he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants,
bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer
darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. Then went the Pharisees and took
counsel, how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent
out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master,
we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man,
for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what
thinkest thou? Is it lawful? to give tribute
unto Caesar or not. But Jesus perceived their wickedness
and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute
money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose
is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's.
Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. When they had heard these words,
they marveled and left him, and went their way. The same day
came to him these Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection,
and asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having
no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed
unto his brother. Now there were with us seven
brethren, and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased,
and having no issue, left his wife unto his brother. Likewise
the second also, and the third unto the seventh. The last of
all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection,
whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her.
Jesus answered and said unto them, He do e'er not, knowing
the Scriptures, nor the power of God, For in the resurrection
they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels
of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection
of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you
by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead,
but of the living, And when the multitude heard this, they were
astonished at his doctrine. But when the Pharisees had heard
that he had put these Sadducees to silence, they were gathered
together. Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master,
which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment,
and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose
Son is he? They say unto him, The Son of
David. He saith unto them, How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, The Lord said unto
my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand. till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither does any man from that time forth ask
him any more questions. The Lord bless to us the reading
of his holy word and help us as we come before him in prayer. Let us pray. O Lord God of heaven and of earth,
the God of the living and not the God of the dead, Lord Thou
who art supreme in wisdom and in knowledge and in understanding,
we seek to come before Thee that we might be taught and instructed
in the way of righteousness, that thy word might be a lamp
unto our feet, a light unto our path, that we might be amongst
those that are taught of God, and great shall be the peace
of thy children. Lord, do bless us with the fear
of the Lord as we gather in thy house. Lord, thou hast permitted
us to do so, we thank thee for it. And we ask, Lord, that thou
hast blessed us while so gathered. Thou, Lord, deliver us from the
power and dominion of sin, and that we might through the Spirit
mortify the deeds of the body, that in seeking after Thee, that
we might be turning our backs upon the world, our backs upon
our sins. And Lord, Thou knowest how many
struggles may have been to be able to so turn our back on one
that our old nature loves, and to seek after those things that
are set before us. O Lord, who bless us with a deliverance
from every snare and every evil way, in spite of our many fears,
to bring us at last to be round thy throne, to be saved with
an everlasting salvation, to be delivered from every evil
way. Lord, who grant that we might
be amongst that number, that are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. O Lord, we do seek that faith
might be joined with what we hear this evening, that the word
might profit us, that we might be amongst thy gathered people,
that we might be amongst those that are the bride of Christ,
that we might be amongst those that are joined to Thee with
an everlasting union, for Thou dost never die, that union can
never be separated from. Thou hast said, because I live,
ye shall live also. O Lord, we thank Thee for Thy
word, a faithful translation in our own tongue. We pray that
we might have a real love to it, a desire for it, an appetite
for thy word, and that by thy word we might grow, and that
we might be strengthened, that we might be like Jeremiah who's
found thy words and did eat them, and they were to the joy and
rejoicing of his soul. We do thank thee for mercies
through this week thus far, and seek to commit unto thee the
week that remains, and that we might have thy blessing upon
thy day. We thank thee for the help given
to thy dear servants that ministered here last Lord's Day, and, Lord,
that thy blessing might be upon them and their ministry here
and elsewhere. We pray for the people gathered
together at this time. May each soul Be precious in
Thy sign, for Thou knowest each heart, and Thou knowest the very
thoughts and intents of our heart. O Lord, who blesses through Thy
beloved Son, grant unto us faith, grant unto us love, that constrains,
that draws, and who grant unto us the fear of the Lord, which
is the beginning of wisdom, and who bless us with that robe of
righteousness, that we might be made made to be partakers
with the saints in light, and that our trust might be solely
in thy precious sin-atoning blood, that we might look to thee for
our salvation alone. Do pray for all in affliction,
Lord, to grant thy blessing and help, and do be with them in
their weakness and those that care for them. Be with those
that are in bereavement. We thank thee with as broad a
dear brother safely home to glory in Holland. and do grant thy
blessing and help upon his dear daughter and each of those that
he was precious to. O Lord, we do commit unto the
way forward when there's that hoping to gather together for
the funeral. O Lord, do be pleased to be with
us and to be with the dear friends in Holland. We do seek, O Lord,
that Thy blessing might be to sanctify these things, remembering
those that still walk in death's dark veil. O Lord, lighten them,
bless them, and favour them, Lord, with Thy felt presence,
and their good hope through grace. And do grant that these things
might be blessed to us, for we know that one day we also must
die, whether there be any warning or not, whether there be a time
to realise that we are dying, or whether we won't even be aware. Oh Lord, do be pleased to make
us a prepared people for a prepared place. Oh Lord, we do pray that
comfort and help then for those in bereavement. I do seek to
bring before Thee our gatherings in Thy name here, that Thy blessing
might be upon us as a church and people to build us up and
to strengthen us. And we pray, Lord, for those
who receive Thy word, whether through the preached word, the
Bibles from the Bible boxes, or those requested We seek, Lord,
that where'er thy word goes forth, it might bring forth fruit to
thine honour and thy glory. Do forgive and pardon our many
sins and many iniquities. Sanctify us, make us meat for
the Master's use. Save us out of Satan's hand. Deliver us from all his deceivings,
temptations, and all his guile. You grant, Lord, that we might
be under Thy care and protection, that when the enemy comes in
like a flood, that Thou hast lifted up a standard against
him. Now, Lord, we thank Thee for
every temporal blessing and favour, and we look to Thee for that
spiritual food and blessing for the new man of grace. Lord, that
we might have evidence that we do have a new man, that we are
new creatures in Christ, that we do hunger and thirst after
righteousness, even of thine only. So Lord, do be with us,
shine in our hearts, shine upon thy word, we ask through thy
name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Hymn: 717. Tune: Credence 586. Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Matthew chapter 22, and reading
for our text part of verse 10. Reading the whole verse first. So those servants went out into
the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both
bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with gas. in the words of our text, and
gathered together all as many as they found. Throughout this
month of August we have done a series on the words gathered
together. Firstly, we looked at gathered
together in my name, and then gathered together as one man,
and then gathered together unto him. Last Thursday gathered together
praying, and then this evening gathered together all as many
as they found. Our Lord here is teaching again
in parables, an earthly story with a spiritual meaning. What is being set before us here
is the Church of God. The Church of God set before
us as the Kingdom of Heaven and as the Bride of Christ, as a
gathered people and as a people that will belong to the Lord
as his church and his bride. It is vital for us that we know
what this gathering together means, that we are part of it.
and that we are those that are not only gathered but that we
remain amongst those gathered with a warrant so to do. So I want to look firstly at the description
of the gathering which is as a wedding or as a marriage. And then on to look secondly
at those gathered, who they were and how, how were they gathered. And then lastly, the division
made amongst those that were gathered, which we read later
on in the verses following our text. There were those that were
cast down, or one particularly. But firstly, the description
of the gathering. The illustration of the Kingdom
of God, or the Church of God, being as a bride for Christ,
and the gathering as being as a wedding, flows through scripture. We think of man that was made
in the image of God and how he made them male and female and
how he brought them together and their instituted marriage. And when we think then of how
the Apostle Paul, when he writes to the Ephesians, he writes to
husbands, he writes to wives, he gives direction. He says,
submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For
the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head
of the church, and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore,
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the Church. And all the time he is bringing
the comparison between a marriage, between a man and a woman, and
Christ and his Church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones, For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. One in the Lord, we think of
that great blessing. And then we read this, this is
a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. And there's a drawing together
then, right from creation. right from man's innocency and
then making that as a type of Christ and of his church. We think of John Baptist when
he was beginning his ministry. In the third of John, we read
that he testifies and says in verse 28 that I am not the Christ
but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth
and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This My joy therefore is fulfilled. He sets himself as the friend
of the bridegroom. And there he is pointing out
Christ. He's pointing out the bridegroom
to the bride, to his church, to his people. And this is how
John describes this union, best picture ever married. When the Apostle Paul writes
to the Corinthians in his second epistle, in chapter 11, verse
2, he says to them, "'For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy,
"'for I have espoused you to one husband, "'that I may present
you as a chaste virgin to Christ.'" So as a minister of the gospel,
He's speaking to these Corinthians. He's telling them that that which
he preaches to them, he's preparing them that he may present them
to Christ. Same as what he said to the Ephesians,
with the washing of water by the word, making them made to
be partakers with the saints in light. We have another similar
parable to this one in Matthew 25, where the Lord also says
that the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which
took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. So again,
we have the bridegroom idea. And we have five foolish and
five wise virgins. We have those that were ready,
those that were not. They all had lamps. They all
slumbered and slept. They all seemed the same. But
then when the cry at midnight came that the bridegroom cometh
go ye out to meet him, then those that had not got oil in their
vessels with their lamps, their lamps had gone out. the teaching
is, they had not got grace. They had a profession of religion,
but there was no substance, there was no grace to it. It was not
owned of God. Those that were wise, they said,
we cannot give to you. And lest we have not enough ourselves. And they went away. They did
not need to be told where to go. They knew where to go. It's
the same, same similar. illustration of the kingdom and
setting forth the Lord Jesus Christ as the bridegroom and
the church as the bride. And as we would think it should
be when we come to the revelation, then we have this same theme. that is set forth in the Revelation
chapter 21, where John sees the new heaven and a new earth. For
the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, there
is no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. And how does
he see it? Prepared as a bride, adorned
for her husband. This is the picture that is set
before John, and he hears a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them and be their God. And later on in that chapter,
verse 9, there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had
the seven vials full of the last seven plagues, and talked with
me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's
wife." And that is the Church of God. And so this illustration,
this picture, this, what we have in the text as a gathering, a
gathering which is picturing the marriage, a wedding, a gathering
together. It is picturing the Church of
God being gathered together, God's people being gathered together
here and prepared to be presented to Him above as His bride. It therefore is not a unimportant
but a very important illustration and an important truth. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son, picturing
the God of heaven and earth and a marriage to be made for his
beloved son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Want to look then
secondly at those gathered and how. We read in our text, So those
servants went out into the highways and gathered together, all as
many as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was
furnished with gas. Our text is not the first, attempt
of a gathering. We read in verse 3 that the king
sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the
wedding and they would not come. Send other servants. And they made light of it. All
that excuses. And then they entreated his servants
spitefully. The picture here is the picture
of the Jews. He came unto his own. His own
received him not, but to as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God. The message first was to
his own people. His own people rejected him,
They rejected the servants, the prophets, they slew them, and
then at last they slew the Lord of life and glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. This is the picture. And when we read verse 7, we
think of what happened in 70 AD. When the king heard thereof,
he was wroth, sent forth his armies, destroyed those murderers,
and burned up their city." And Jerusalem was indeed burned up,
and the judgment of God fell upon them. But the Lord said
to the disciples that they were to preach first the kingdom unto
the Jews. The Lord said, that when he was
speaking of himself as the good shepherd, the other sheep I have
which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. In other words, one fold is the
Jews, the other is the Gentiles, and Paul speaks how he has broken
the middle wall of petition, It was between them down, and
now they are one in Christ Jesus. But the scriptures speak of when
the Jews rejected the word, the apostle says, we shake the dust
off our feet, we turn now to the Gentiles. At first, the apostles
only went forth preaching to the Jews only. but then it was
to the Gentiles. And we know in ten years after
Pentecost how Peter was so prepared and went and preached to Cornelius
and his household and the Holy Spirit fell on them and blessed
them the same as it had been to the Jews at the beginning.
And so the Word of God has not just remained with the Jews,
with Israel, but is now throughout all the world and the Lord's
commission was go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved
he that believeth not shall be damned the commission is to go
out and this is pictured here the servants went out into the
highways and gathered together all as many as they found both
bad and good And the wedding was furnished with gas. And so
you have this picture of those gathered. They are not gathered
for their goodness. And the bad, they are not rejected
for their badness. They are gathered irrespective. What a message that is! In the
outward call of the gospel, in the outward proclaiming that
there is no salvation in any other but in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and a calling of a gathering of assemblies. It's a very clear
illustration that where the gospel goes forth is not with the idea
that there shall be one Christian isolated here, and another one
there, and another one there, and they are all disjointed,
and they are all separate. No, it is a going out and is
bringing in to an assembly to be a body in which then has a
structure. It has a pastor, it has elders,
it has deacons, it has the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper,
The whole picture here is a gathering, it's not go out and convert this
one and that one, and it is all separate, no. It struck me in
reading fairly recently of Mr. Ashworth, and he had a pastorate,
he had a church, he regularly preached in, but there was one
man that was in his town, a very wicked man, very openly wicked. And Mr. Ashworth often used to
speak to him, but instead of trying to convert him, even though
he was a minister, he was trying to get him to come and hear the
gospel, come to the gathering and be under the sound of the
gospel. And he resisted it for quite
a while, and then he went. And the Lord was pleased to bless
him and convert him, which was very remarkable for all that
knew him in that town. But it struck me that that Lord's
servant, his emphasis seemed to be in the picture that we
have here, to gather in a people. We think of our Lord as he went
about the ministry, they all gathered, they all came unto
him. We think of the days of great
revivals, with Whitfield, with others, and they all gathered
to hear the preaching of the Word, and it hath pleased God
through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." I
wonder how often we speak to those about us and those that
we have conversed with in the world, and we speak persuasively
and urgently of their need to come and hear the Word of God
preached. and to come where they will hear
the word of salvation. What message do we give to those
round about us as how we would value their souls, as how we
value the means of grace? Do we give a message sometimes? Well, we think that this person
is beyond saving. It would be a waste. It would
be useless to offer them a Bible or to invite them to come to
the house of God. The word here is both bad and
good. It is not for the servant to
decide who should hear or who should come and who not. And
this then is a real picture of gathering together to the means
of grace under the preaching of the word So those that preach
here have those that they preach to. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of the Lord. And the good news of salvation,
the good news of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
is proclaimed. There is none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. It is Christ that doth
risen again that even now sitteth at the right hand of the throne
of God on high. It is God's provision for sinful
men. It is that which he came to save
his people from their sins. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only way of salvation. There is no other so-called faith,
no other so-called God, But the God, the triune God, Father,
Son and Holy Ghost and the way of salvation is set before us
in the Word of God. If faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God, it doesn't come from other men's
writings, it doesn't come from the world or other men's thoughts. It is the Word of God. We have
a more sure word of prophecy whereunto we do well to take
heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
start arise in your hearts. It's a blessed thing to be persuaded
that if ever my poor soul be saved, it is Christ must be the
way. If ever others are to be saved,
it is Christ must be the way. And that word must go forth,
must be sent forth. and that sinners be gathered
to hear the word of the Lord. Our Lord in John 6, he says,
No man can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw
him, and I will raise him up at the last day. And all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and he that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. We know of a certainty that the
people of God will come. But there is means that are used,
and God's people are called the salt of the earth, the light
of the earth. A candle, if it is under a bushel,
can't give light, is to be set on a hill. And the influence
of the people of God is to be used to gather. You think of
the mad Gadarene, when the Lord called him, healed him, converted
him, he wanted to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord
said to him, no, you go home to your friends and tell how
great things God had done for them and had mercy upon them.
He went home and he began to publish in all the city what
the Lord had done for him. This people have I formed for
myself and they shall show forth my praise. The word of the Lord
is much more effectively spread by mouth to mouth and those that
are our friends and associates in the world and those whom the
Lord has already given an opening because of family ties or because
of business or work ties or friends from the world, that we are to
speak unto them and live unto, live before them as the people
of God. If we just speak and don't live,
then we're hypocrites. If we just live and never speak,
then the people never hear the word of God or never hear the
invitation to come. and hear the word of the Lord. How many accounts there are in
the history of the Church of God where there have been those
prevailed upon by husbands, by wives, by friends to come and
to hear the word of the Lord. They've done so, they've been
blessed, they've been favoured, sometimes in ways that those
who have brought them have never imagined. One woman, she had
a husband that wouldn't go, wouldn't hear the word of God. And they
had a minister that she had a high regard for come and preach in
the church where she attended. So she prevailed upon her husband
to come and listen, and he came. But in her idea, the minister
made such a mess of his subject, and she was ashamed. She wished
she hadn't aborted. So as they started to walk home,
she started to berate and say how sorry she was, the minister
hadn't preached as she thought he should. And her husband was
quiet and she looked over to him, the tears were streaming
down his face, and the Lord had blessed the ministry to him.
How easy it is for us to perhaps pull down what God has given
and is using is very needful for us, even in the ministry.
Many times when we sit down after preaching, we felt to have failed
and not got on well, but to actually give utterance to that and to
say that could wound the very word that we've been used to
give. The Lord will not have any flesh
to exalt itself in his presence, and that which he blesses very
often will be that. which we ourselves are shamed
of. The Lord won't have the servants
to take the glory, but the glory is his own. He blesses the word,
he gives the word, the Lord gave the word, great was the company
of them that published it. The success of the word, tarry
at Jerusalem until he be endued with the power from on high The
Thessalonians, they received the word, not in word only, but
in demonstration of the spirit and of power. It is the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. It is the work of God
that changes the heart, renews the soul, turns a feet to Zion's
hill. And so those that are gathered
then, they come under the preaching of the gospel and under that
preaching, then there is a work that is done, a separating work,
a work that marks out those that are truly the people of God and
those that just are coming as a door upon its hinges and do
not really know the salvation of the Lord. This is also what
is taught here. Amongst those that were gathered
in this parable, there were some that were cast out. There were
some that did not remain in that assembly. And the Lord has told
those other parables, where the kingdom of heaven is likened
unto a field, where an enemy sowed tares in that field, and
when the weeds sprung up, the tares sprung up, The servant
said, Shall we gather the tares? No, said the Lord, lest in gathering
the tares you pull up the wheat as well, let them grow together
until the harvest. Then there'll be that separation. And so we may know in the assemblies
of the churches, the people of God, that there will be that
line that runs through a gathering, those that are the Lords and
those that are not, those that are amongst the weak but are
not the weak, those that appear to be so to outwardly men, those
that get in like Simon Magus did, baptised by Philip, but
then later, discerning Peter, realises the man does not have
the secret of the Lord at all. He is thinking that he can purchase
the gift of God, the power of the Spirit, just by money, and
just to exercise it himself. There's no part nor lot in this
matter. And so in the preaching of the
Word, there is a winnowing, a separating, a making manifest. And I want to, in looking At
the third point, look at this division that is made amongst
those that are gathered. We read from verse 11, And when
the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had
not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, Friend,
how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment, and
he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants,
bind him hand and foot, and take him away, cast him into outer
darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. I want to turn again to the Revelation,
and this time to Revelation chapter 19. We read from verse 6, And
I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering,
saying, Alleluia, For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let
us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him. And here we have
the same type again. For the marriage of the Lamb
is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. The marriage supper of the Lamb,
the wedding garment, the righteousness of the saints. We read in Jeremiah
chapter 23 verse 6, this is the name, wherewith he shall be called
the Lord and in capitals as Jehovah, our righteousness. And then we have in Chapter 33
and verse 16, this is the name wherewith she shall be called
the Lord, our righteousness. She is the Church of God. The
Church and our Lord bear the same surname, you might say,
and that is the Lord, our righteousness. This is the great dividing thing
in the Church of God. It struck me looking at this
passage, the one thing that was picked out that made one unfit,
or one that did not belong in that assembly, was because of
the wedding garment, or in what we have in Revelation, because
they did not have the righteousness of Christ. Now that righteousness
is as a robe, again portrayed when our Lord was crucified,
they parted his garments, they cast lots for his vesture. The
hymn writer says, without a scene this garment swerved, bequeathed
in everlasting love, ere time began, designed to be a royal
robe to cover thee. Thou art all pure, There is no
spot in thee or the spouse saying, I am black, but come thou. May we be clear? It is the precious
blood of Christ that puts away sin. It is the righteousness
of Christ that makes us fit to stand before God faultless. We don't come before God because
of anything we've done good or bad in this life. We come as
if our lives had been Christ's life. That His righteousness,
His works, what He did in fulfilling the law, making it honourable,
is then put on our account. And it's in that that we stand
before the throne. You know, sometimes we might
meet with someone in the chapels and we are interested to know
a bit about their past, or a little bit about where they come from. Many of us in the denomination,
we go back in our family's generations and you can say, or my parents,
they worshipped in this chapel or that chapel. Occasionally,
we come across a person who will say, well, you wouldn't know
me. My family never were brought
up in the denomination at all. I came completely from outside. So their lives is not at all,
you can't kind of piece together where they came from. And others
it might be that they'd be very ashamed to see what their past
was, what their life was. And sometimes I thought, what
would it be if we were to go to heaven? And then we were to
ask, well, Well, what was your life like? How did you live your
life? What would you do? What did you
do? How I'd be so ashamed of the
things that I'd done and said. How could I ever give an account?
But then when we're told that our righteousness is not our
own, Christ has been imputed to us. We won't have to give
an account. We point to the Lord. There is
our righteousness. This is the name, the Lord our
righteousness. And this is the dividing thing.
This is what Paul, when he wrote to the Romans, that he so desired
that they should be saved in Romans 10. And he says of his
people that they had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. And what is the point where they
had erred? It's this point of righteousness.
For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness, a soul that has nothing to plead. You think
of the Lord's parable of the Pharisee and the The publican
in the temple praying. What was the difference between
the two? Righteousness. The Pharisee thinking he had
some. All of his good works he was
setting forth before the Lord. The publican, he did not have
any righteousness. All he could plead was mercy.
And yet he went down to his house justified rather than the other.
This is the point. And when there comes those in
assemblies, there will be those that will say, Yes, I believe,
and they'll be amongst the people of God, but all the time they're
secretly trusting in their goodness. They're thinking that their charitable
works, their love, their kindness, their goodness, that's their
title to heaven. But the people of God, they're
shown their sin. They feel it, though the outside
be kept clean, they feel the filth within. And they feel ashamed,
ashamed of their thoughts and their lives and their ways. And
their only hope is in the righteousness of Christ and that their sins
are blotted out through him. Sinners can say, says the hymn
writer, and only they, how precious is the Savior. And that is what
is the dividing thing in the church of God, where Christ is
set forth. He is set forth as the sinless
one. It is His righteousness and His
alone. And where a people value that,
where they prize it, they cleave to it, that is their only hope.
There are the people of the Lord. There is the garment, the wedding
garment that is being bestowed upon them and given to them. And those that have not that,
they won't be able to stand. They're separated. from the people
of God. No, it's a strange thing, isn't
it, for us? We think, well, doesn't the Word
say, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ, and naturally we think, well, that's getting more
and more knowledgeable and more and more holy and more and more
like Christ. In one sense, it is so, there
is a growth in sanctification and holiness, we are not free
from sin here below. But you think growth in grace,
what is grace? The free unmerited favor of God. How do we value grace more? Is it by in our own esteem getting
better and better? No, it's the other way around,
be showing more and more of our sin, More and more of our need
of grace and of mercy. That's how we grow in grace.
That's why we're persuaded, if ever my poor soul be saved, tis
Christ must be the way. It's more a growing in the knowledge
of our utter dependency upon Christ to be saved. Feeling ourselves
to be sinners. Feeling ourselves to need that
great salvation that miracle of grace. Be able to say, I am
a miracle of grace. I am what I am by the grace of
God. And so here is this separation
amongst the people of God. We think of another parable our
Lord spoke which speaks of a similar type thing. many called, few
that are chosen. In Matthew 13 and we have verse
47. Again the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of
every kind which when it was full they drew to shore and sat
down and gather the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of
the world, the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from
among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. And so again, there is a separation. You know, later on, when our
Lord had risen from the dead, and the disciples, they, well,
the first time the Lord made the miracle, told them to cast
the net on the right side of the ship, and they gathered in
so much their net break, they lost some of them. But the second
time, then they were able to count them, 153 fishes. The net didn't break. And in
one sense, it's a picture of the gathering of the church during
the gospel dispensation, where there'll be some that pass as
the people of God, but are not, they're cast out, they get out
of the net. But then those that are chosen,
in Christ. Many are called, we read here,
but few are chosen. Those that are the chosen ones,
they're like those that 153, the net didn't break, they were
all gathered in. There won't be any of God's dear
children lost, there won't be any that are cast out, that are
found in the Lamb's Book of Life, that have in them the work of
God. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Those who
trust alone is in him, their eyes are upon him. Those who
have been prepared, nothing in themselves, but all in Christ,
to be his bride, his church, his fraternity, And the preparation
here below is in the assemblies, the gathering together of the
people of God under the preaching of the Word. And there, as it
were, they are sorted out as the Word is preached. There'll
be those that go out themselves. This isn't hard saying, who can
hear it? And they go out, they're separated. And others that shall remain
until the last, and then they're separated. Well, may the Lord
grant us to be gathered. May we desire to gather others
and to draw others to come and hear the word of the Lord. And may we be of those that trust
solely in Christ's righteousness alone. And that we be found at
last, not just in the church here, but in the church above. The marriage supper of the Lamb
to be his bride. for all eternity. May the Lord
bless the Word. Amen. Hymn: 197. Tune: Zoar Chapel 816. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all now and evermore. Amen.