Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22. I'd like to read the first 14
verses of this passage. Matthew 22 verse 14. 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 bidden, behold, I have prepared
my dinner. My ox and my fatlings are killed. All things are ready. Come into
the marriage. But they made light of it. 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. He sent forth his armies and
destroyed those murderers and burnt 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 guest, 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, take him away, cast him into outer
darkness, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many
are called, but few are chosen." There is a marriage. There is a bridegroom, and there
is a bride. The Scripture declares, in Hosea,
I'll read this for you, if you want to turn, it's Hosea 2, verses
19 and 20. The Scripture declares that Almighty
God the Father has given a bride to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is an eternal bride. And the Lord Jesus Himself has
eternally united Himself to His bride, to His people, in righteousness. This is a union that shall never
be dissolved. Hosea 2, 19 and 20 says, And
I will betroth thee unto Me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
Me in righteousness and judgment, in lovingkindness, in mercies.
I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness. And thou
shalt know the Lord. There's a bridegroom, the Lord
Jesus Christ. There is a bride, His elect. Now the scripture that we read
this morning out of Matthew chapter 22 declares, as the Lord declared
in a parable, that there is a wedding. A wedding that has eternally
been secured. There's going to be a wedding.
And the bride is going to be there. And all that the Father
has given Him, John 6, 37, shall come to Him. They're going to
be there. All of them. All that the Father
has given Him, He's not going to lose any of them. They're
going to be there. Now there is a declaration that
is going forth concerning this wedding. There is an open declaration. Come to the wedding. Come to
the wedding. I told the folks in Crow the
other day, often men stand and preach the gospel of God's free
grace are accused of not believing in whosoever will. And my answer
to that is, how can something that is so clearly taught in
scripture be refused? That is not what we fail to preach. We preach, whosoever will, let
him come. Don't ever let anybody tell you,
you don't believe in whosoever will. You that believe, oh yes
you do. You know, though, by the revelation of God's Spirit
that man by nature won't. He won't come. The problem is
not in the declaration to come. No man is going to stand before
God and say, you didn't call me. My friend, this morning,
hear the Word of the Lord. Matthew 22 declares, come to the marriage. Come to the marriage. You say,
where do you see that? Matthew 22.4. He sent forth other
servants, tell them what you have bidden. Behold, I have prepared
my dinner, my oxen, my fatlings are killed, and all things are
ready. Come unto the marriage. Come. The scripture declares in verse
3 that many that heard wouldn't come. Why would they not come? They don't want to. They don't
want to. Man by nature will not Oh now, if you tell a man, if
you come on your terms, men want to come on their terms. You let me have some honor, you
let me have some glory, but listen to the ones that would not come. Listen to why they wouldn't come.
Verse four, he sent forth other servants saying, tell them what
you're bidding. Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen, my fat ones are killed
and all things are ready. Here's what I'm telling you.
You don't bring anything. You ever had anybody invite you
to come over for supper and tell you to bring something? If you're
going to invite somebody for supper, fix it. Fix it. All things are ready. All things
have been prepared. There's nothing that you're going
to bring to this marriage, not to this wedding. There's no conditions
for those that are bidden to the marriage to meet. There's no conditions. No one
is excluded as to the invitation. If any man thirsts, listen to
me, if any man thirsts, if any man hungers, come to the wedding. Now the scripture declares that
God Almighty has provided a wedding. You know who the bridegroom is,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is the bride? Now I've got
one question this morning. Have I been bidden? Have I effectually
been bidden? Now you listen to the natural
response. Hear the word of the Lord. The
scripture says in Matthew 22 5, they made light of it. They made light of it. And went
their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. Over in Luke chapter 14, the
scriptures reveal that which they actually began to say. Luke 14, 16-20, He said unto them, A certain
man made a great supper, bade many, and sent his servants at
suppertime to say to them that were bitten, Come, for all things
are now ready. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. Let me ask you something. Here's the bridegroom. He is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's Christ. He's the
surety and savior of his people. Now here is the description of
his bride. She's a chosen bride. She is
a chosen bride. God chose her. She didn't choose
herself. God Almighty gave her to the
Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't give themselves first
to the Lord Jesus. He makes them willing in the
day of His power, but they did not make the first move. They
did not seek Him. He sought them first. He robes
her in His righteousness, they are not robed in their self-righteousness. He has prepared all things, they
have prepared nothing. She in herself is a hopeless,
helpless creature of God's mercy. That's the bride. Whenever the
Lord set forth in this parable that they were bidden, Verse
18 of Luke 14 says, and they all with one consent began to
make excuse. The first one said, I bought
a piece of ground. I must need go and see it. I
pray thee have me excused. Another said, I bought five yoke
of oxen. I have to go prove them. I pray
thee have me excused. Another said, I married a wife.
Therefore, I can't come. My question is this. Have I been
bitten effectually? Well, let me ask you. Have you found every excuse under
the world, under the sun, not to come? I'm just too busy. I just have too much stuff going
on. I don't have time to worship God. I bought some land, I bought
some oxen, I got married. I have no need of him. I just
don't need him. I don't need him. Listen friend, if you die not
needing him, you won't have him. You won't have him. You won't
have him. He said take them, bind them,
and cast them into outer darkness. If you find every excuse to stay
away, I've heard, I never heard Brother Scott say this, but I've
had many tell me. He said, if you have every excuse
under the sun to not worship God, the Lord will give you a
good reason to not do it. You'll have a good reason to
not do it. There's one end The Lord said
in Matthew 14, 24, I say unto you that none of those which
were bitten shall taste of my supper. But if you, by the grace of God,
back in Matthew 22, have been made to see yourself today, now
listen, listen. This earth is drawing for every
one of us to a fast close. We're going to die. Listen to
me. Listen. You can despise me, you
can despise, but don't despise what God has to say. Because
I'm telling you, we're going to leave this world. The scripture sets forth that
he told them, he said, you go out and you call the poor, and
the maimed, and the haught, and the blind, and you compel them
to come in, you bring them in. This morning, if you cannot afford
to pay, we were at the conference in Crow here the other day, yesterday,
day before yesterday, and Brother John Davis made this statement,
and I'm telling you, it hit me like a ton of bricks. He was
getting ready to play the banjo like John always does, and he
made this statement. He said, I don't know how much
I owe, but I do know this, I can't afford to pay it. Whatever it
is, I can't pay. My friend, this morning, if you
have been made to see your inability to pay. Now if you've been made
to see, now I'm telling you, if you think that you can or
have been able to do something, whatever you think it is, I walk
down the aisle I was baptized. I gave my heart to Jesus. I prayed
the sinner's prayer. I've been faithful to come. Whatever
it is, that you don't see yourself as unable to pay. But if you
cannot afford to come, if you can't afford, I can't afford
it, whatever it is, then come. Because You're rich, rich in
faith. If you cannot pay, if you're maimed and hauled and
crippled spiritually like Mephibosheth, come, you're whole. If you're blind, I don't see
the depth of my depravity. I am a sinner against God and
I do not realize how deep my rebellion goes. Come, because you see. You see. Here's my question to my heart.
Am I so? Am I that way? I'm going to let you answer that
for yourself. Let me ask you this real quick
question in closing. Do you have any other choice? There was a famine. I was reading
this the other day. It's in 2 Kings 6 and 7. I'll
just read a verse or two out of that. There was a famine in Samaria,
and the king of Syria had besieged the city. And the scripture says in 2 Kings
chapter 6, in verse 25, now let me tell you how bad it was. 2 Kings 6.25, there was a great
famine in Samaria, and behold, they besieged it until an ass's
head sold for four score pieces of silver. Mr. Gill, Mr. John Gill said, John
Gill's book was written back in the 1600s. He said that was
about 10 pounds of silver, 10 pounds of sterling. Whatever
that was back then, I have no earthly idea, but I can tell
you this, it was expensive. For an ass's head, It sold for
four score pieces of silver. And the fourth part of a cab,
I can't tell you exactly what it is, I couldn't find it, but
I can tell you this, listen to this. A fourth part of a cab
of dove's dung. So for five pieces of silver,
the closest I could find, again from Mr. Gill, he said that it
was probably the undigested fragments of grain that was found in the
dove's dung. A fourth part of that. So for five pieces of silver. There was a famine. Here's the
picture of man by nature. The scripture says concerning
that situation right there in 2 Kings chapter 7, concerning
that city in verses 3 and 4, it says there were four leprous
men at the entering in of the gate. Four leprous. Here they are, they're in Samaria,
they're at the gate. Inside Samaria is a famine. An ass's head sells for 10 pounds
of silver. The fourth part of a cab of dove's
dung sells for five pieces of silver. And these guys are lepers. And they're not even permitted
to go in. They're separated. They can't
go in. There's a famine inside and the
Syrian army's out there. And the scripture says concerning
those four lepers at the entering of the gate, they said one to
another, why sit we here until we die? If we say we enter into the city,
There's a famine in the city, and we're going to die there.
If we sit here, we're going to die too, because we're lepers. We don't have anything. Nobody
has anything to do with them. Now therefore come and let us
fall into the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we'll
live. If they kill us, we're going to die. You know what these guys needed?
Mercy. Mercy. Jeff, they didn't have
anything else. Where are we going? We're lepers. There's a famine. And these guys
are holding all the cards right here. What are we going to do? Sinner, have you been bidden
to the wedding? Let me ask you this, do you have
anything to pay? According to God's word, you
don't. You try to bring your work or your worth, and I'm telling
you, God's going to cast you out. Come as a helpless, needy
sinner, ruined in the fall. It's by the grace of God. Anybody
thinks of themselves like that. I'm telling you, your old man,
you that believe, will struggle right now with you still telling
you, you still have some worth, there's something there. And
that new man knows better. There's a war going on right
now in you. My question is, do you need him?
I'm going to read two passages of scripture and I quit. Matthew
chapter 8, Matthew 8. Two beautiful passages of scripture. concerning the attitude of one
that has effectually been bitten. Matthew 8, verse 5-10, When Jesus
was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching
him, and said, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy,
grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will
come and heal him. And the centurion answered and
said, now you listen to what he's about to say. Here's the
attitude of one that has been bidden to the master. Lord, I'm
not worthy. I'm not worthy that thou shouldest
come under my roof. Number one, I'm not worthy. But
speak the word only. Lord, there's life in your word. Lord, you have the words of life. And here's faith. And my servant
shall be healed. I'm a man under authority. I
have soldiers under me. I say to this man, go, and he
goeth to another, come, and he cometh. And my servant do this,
and he doeth it. And when the Lord Jesus, when
Jesus heard it, He marveled. And said unto him that followed,
Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. Here's the
heart of one that has been bidden, I'm not worthy. But Lord, you
speak and there's life. The second passage is in Matthew
15. 21-28, we've read this so many times. I love reading this
about this Syrophoenician woman. Here's the attitude, secondly,
of one bidden. Matthew 15-21, Then Jesus went
thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Behold,
a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto
Him. Cried unto Him. She didn't appeal to her profession,
she didn't appeal to her work, her baptism. She cried unto him
saying, have mercy on me oh Lord. Thou son of David, my daughter,
is grievously vexed with the devil. But he answered her not
a word. And his disciples came and besought
him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. But he answered
and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel." I'm going to tell you something.
If she could have gone, she'd have left right then. He just
told her, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. She's a Gentile. She's a Syrophoenician. She's not of Israel. She's a
Gentile. If she could have left, she'd
have gone. But where else was she going
to go? If you're like Peter, Lord, where are we going to go?
You've got the words of life. Where are we going to go? Let
me ask you something. Where are you going to go? Then came she
and she worshipped him. She said, Lord, help me. And he answered and said, it's
not meat to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. And if she could have left, she's
going now for sure. You're not staying now. Not after
he insulted her. Oh, but that wasn't an insult
to her. She said, truth, Lord. You're
the truth. You're the truth. I'm not leaving. Yet the dogs eat the crumbs which
fall from their master's table. And Jesus answered and said to
her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Have you been bidden? Has the
Lord called you? Has He given you a heart that
you cannot leave? I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving.
I am not leaving. You know what Job said? If you slay me, I'm going to
trust you. If you slay me, I am not leaving. My friend, come to the wedding. Forget, forget all this self-righteous,
you know, we don't have anything to offer. All things are ready. If you can come that way, He's
made you so. Lord bless these words to our
heart.