Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter
22. And we'll be looking at the parable
of the wedding feast this morning. If it had a title, I guess it
would be the wedding invitation. Wedding invitation. The scripture says, 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." The first thing we read here
is that Jesus spake to these Jews in a parable. A parable. What is that? A parable
is a physical story or tale that appears light on the surface. It's something that everyone
can understand. It is a simple story. A parable is a simple story so
that all who hear it understand the basic plot But truly, a parable, if that's
all you get, is just the story. You miss the whole point of what
Jesus is doing. He is teaching a spiritual lesson. Something much deeper than just
a surface story. Now we have stories we tell our
children. We've told our children the boy
that cried wolf. And that's a common story. You
tell them and you say the boy, he went out and he cried wolf
and the villagers came to his rescue and he laughed, he mocked
them. And then you hear he did it a
second time and they ran out there to save him and he was
laughing at them. And I remember the third time
he called and there really was a wolf. And the villagers said,
ah, you know, he's just crying wolf. And the wolf ate him. Now
that's a story we can understand, but it's sort of a parable. It tells a moral story. Jesus' parables were not just
a moral story. And if that's all you get, you
missed his point completely. Jesus is telling us of much greater
things than just morals. Just a story. A parable. This parable, it says, he said,
the kingdom of heaven is like. And then he tells the story. Kingdom of heaven is like unto
a certain king made a marriage for his son. And just before
this, Jesus told them in verse 31. He told these Jews, these
self-righteous men, He said to them that publicans and harlots
will go into the kingdom of God before you. That was astounding. That was an astounding statement. He told them by a parable. He said there was a husbandman
and he sent his He gave it to some men to watch over. And then
he sent his servants out to reap the benefits of his harvest,
and they killed his servants. They mistreated them. And the
man sent his son out there, and he said, Surely they'll accept
my son. And they killed him. Well, this
was just nothing more than what he was telling them they were
going to do. He is the Son of God, and he was sent And notice
in verse 42, he tells them, Have you never read in the Scriptures
the stone which the builders rejected? The same has become
the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing and
is marvelous in our eyes. He said, Haven't you read that?
Now they had all read that. They knew that. Therefore I say
unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given
to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. What is this
kingdom of God? What is this kingdom of heaven
that is the subject of the parable? It is the gospel message. That's what it is. Who had the
gospel message above every other nation? It was the Jews who were
given the prophets and the law. They were given the gospel. And
Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom shall be taken, the
kingdom of God shall be taken from you. Now, he didn't say
anything about salvation being taken from them. What he meant
was that the way to salvation. You see, the only way that a
man can come and enter into heaven is that he understand and believe
the gospel. So this gospel that they had,
Christ said, you've rejected it, you want nothing to do with
it, it is going to be taken from you. And what is this gospel
message? The gospel message is the stone. The stone which the builders
rejected. And Christ said, whosoever shall
fall on this stone and be broken. They shall be broken, but whomsoever
the stone shall fall, it will grind him to powder. This is
the gospel. Christ is the stone which the
builders rejected, the one that God laid for salvation. And listen, all who fall upon
Jesus Christ by faith, every one of us are
broken. You see, I'm broken. I've got
nothing to offer God. I'm a sinner. This is why he
said harlots, hookers, and politicians will go into the kingdom of God
before you. These were religious men. They were moral men. And he said,
hookers and politicians, the worst of people, he said. He
said, they'll go into the kingdom of heaven. How is it that the
sinners would come into the kingdom of God? They fall on the stone
which is Christ and are broken. We're broken to see we've got
nothing to offer God. We are sinners. The Scriptures are the great
leveler of man. I don't care about your standing,
or your race, or who you think you are. You and I are sinners. That's what God says. And only sinners. This is to
whom the Gospels preach. To sinners. Nobody else. and sinners fall on Christ and
are broken over their sin. All who come to God by Him are
broken and confess that if I'm to be saved, you have to do everything. Everything. I've got nothing
else to give. But the gospel also says, If
you will not fall on this stone and be broken, this stone will
fall on you in judgment, and it will grind
you to powder. And these Pharisees, I like this,
and when the chief priests heard this, they perceived he spake
of them. You bet he spake of them. This morning I am talking
to sinners. Make no mistake, I'm not talking
to someone else. I'm talking to you. Sinners. That's who I'm talking to. Sinners. These Pharisees perceived He
was speaking about them, but rather than being broken, they
just hardened themselves. Listen, some of you are broken.
That's God's business, that's God's doing. But when you hear
the gospel message I have for you this morning, some of you
will go out of here harder than you came in. It's one thing about
the gospel. When it's heard, it's never a
passive reaction to the hearers. There's always something it's
going to do. It's going to do something. It's
either going to harden you or it's going to save you. God's
Word is powerful. It's not the preacher who's powerful.
It's God's Word. God's Word. Now then, I want
us to see the picture here of this kingdom. Now he gives us
this parable of the kingdom of heaven, which we see is the gospel
message. The gospel, upon those that hear
it, they are broken, and they are received and saved, and others
hear it and are hardened against the gospel. Now this kingdom
of heaven is given to us in a parable. See the picture of a king. The
king is a man of great authority and he has searched all of his
kingdom and he has found a very particular bride for his son. His beloved son, he has found
a bride and now he wants all of his subjects, he commands
all of his subjects come to the wedding. I've made a marriage
for my son. Now you, my subjects, come and
honor the Son. Honor the Son, who was to be
their King. And listen, this King spared
no expense. He spared no expense. Look at
that in verse 4. He said, Tell them they're forbidden.
Behold, I have prepared my dinner My oxen and my fatlings are killed. And listen, all things are ready.
Coming to the marriage. Is that not a simple story? Here
it is. King. A king prepares a marriage
for his son. He decorates his castle with
silver and gold and all the furnishings. He said, I've prepared my dinner. I've prepared my supper. Everything's
ready. Now you servants, you go out
and you command them to come. That's what he says in verse
3. He sent forth his servants to call, to command them that
were bidden to the wedding. And listen to the response of
these people. They would not come. It would not come. And notice,
it's not just a few. None of them would come. None
of them would come. Not one or two, but none of his
guests would come. And so the king, listen, in verse
3, he bids them to come, he commands them to come, and they don't.
They refuse. Every one of them refuses to
come. So the king, again, he sends
forth his servants and he says, okay, listen, maybe they misunderstood
me. Maybe they didn't quite get it.
Maybe they're afraid. You know, I commanded them to
come to my kingdom, and they didn't come. Maybe they're just
fearful that they don't have enough to bring. You know, we
went over someone's house last night, and we were invited to
come, and he was supposed to prepare the dinner and everything.
Cheryl was in the kitchen, busy cooking. I said, why are you
cooking? He invited us to come over to
his house. Well, she felt like she needed to bring something.
We always feel that way. And so maybe these guests felt
like they needed to bring something. So the king says, okay, go back
and tell them that I've prepared my dinner. Look, they don't need
to bring me anything. They don't need to bring anything.
They just must come. That's it. They don't need to
bring anything. Everything I've already prepared. I've chosen the bride for my
son. I'm gonna have this feast and I've made my own dinner.
I've killed my own fatlings and my own oxen. They don't need
to bring one thing. So you go back and tell them
that all is ready. And so they go back and listen. With this gracious message, Verse
5, but they made light of it and went their ways, one to his
farm, another to his merchandise, and the rest took the servants
and entreated them spitefully and killed them. with such a gracious message
from their king. Come to the wedding feast. I've
made everything ready. You don't need to bring anything.
All you must do is come and enjoy, honor my son on his blessed day. And what do they do? They made
light of it. These subjects did not fear their
king. Nor did they care for his son.
These men turned their nose up at the king and said, I have
more important things to attend to. These people understood the word
of the king, but they refused. They prized the farms and businesses
of their hands, the labor of their hands, more than the honor
of the king and his son. But I'll tell you what, there's
other people who not just made light of it, they weren't just
indifferent to it, they actually took action against the king's
servants and they took them and slew them, they killed them,
the king's servants. They mocked them, they ridiculed
them, they despised them, they hated the king's servants for
telling them about this wedding feast. These others were not
only refused, but they despised the king and his son. Now, can
you imagine such a wicked people as this? Here's a king who's
so gracious, he's prepared a marriage for his son, he's invited you
as a guest. And men wouldn't come, and when
he sent and told them that, look, you don't need to bring anything,
everything's free. It's free! Come freely! And that didn't do anything.
Matter of fact, it only hardened their hearts. They made fun of
it. They made light of it. That's
no business I need to attend to. It was not as though the king
was oppressive to them or evil to them, but he was so kind as
to invite them and they mocked and rejected and killed his servants,
whose only message was to come. Is this a hard message? Is that
a hard message for anyone to understand? Come. Come. All things are ready. Who would
refuse such a gracious invitation as this from a king, no less? Not just one, but all. Now then,
is that not understandable? And the king, he got mad at those
servants and he went down and he slew them. And then he said,
look, my son has a wedding and I want you now to go into all
the slums of the earth. I want you to go out to those
people who are the most unworthy to come. And I want you to call
them. And you know what the unworthy
did? They left their little hobbles and they came. They came! And the scripture says that his
house was furnished with guests. Now there's the parable. Now
what does it mean? What does it mean? This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Behold, God is the King, Christ is the Son, and the marriage,
the bride, is the church. The church, the elect. Even the
elect of God, for the scripture says Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Notice
that this wedding feast was purposed and prepared even before the
guests were invited. You got that? Salvation was purposed
of God and prepared of God even before the invitation was given. The Scripture says that God has
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. For
what purpose? That we should be holy and without
blame before Him, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. All salvation All the
salvation of God was according to the sovereign free grace of
God who chose a people for Himself. Salvation doesn't begin with
you coming. Salvation begins in a covenant
that God made for you. before the foundation of the
world. Therefore, to accomplish this,
in order to accomplish this, the Scripture says that He purposed
us to be holy by Jesus Christ, by His Son. How then should a
sinful race, sinful people, be accepted into God? How should we be acceptable to
God? By sending His Son into the world to save them. You see
this parable here where the king says, behold, I have prepared
my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed. This is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation that God purposed,
Jesus Christ accomplished. Accomplished. You see, because man has sinned,
There is no way for you or I to ever be accepted of God. There's
nothing you can do. I know we have that good old
American attitude. There's got to be something.
Nope. Nope. Nothing you can do. Nothing. There's nothing you can do, there's
no way that your works or determination or will or religious deeds can
make you acceptable before God. Romans 3 tells us that there
is none righteous, no, not one. Not even you. Not even you. None of us. None that doeth good. And listen, there is none that
understands. When I preach the gospel, you
know God has commanded me to preach this to dead men. What
can a dead man know? Nothing. And so God asked the
prophet, can these bones live? Can these people live? You know,
Lord, only you can give life. So I preach to men who are altogether
incapable of ever seeking after God Matter of fact, the nature of
these people are a picture of us. They would not come. Man, by his own power, can never
and will never come. I can describe this to you. I
can show you the glories of God in salvation that Christ died
for sinners. But listen, you know what? By
nature, men just simply make light of it. It's not important. That's just something. If I've
got time, I'll come and listen. I'll come and hear that. But
ultimately, I've got more important things to do. How many of you
have plans after this? Many of you have plans and your
mind is so set on those plans you really don't give a hoot
about what I'm saying. That's you! You are making light of
what I'm telling you! You make light of it. You go
to your farm and your merchandise Some of you, when I preach this
gospel to you, you'll despise me. It's all right. That's what man does by nature.
He rejects and despises and hates the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore,
listen, therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. You can't work it. You can't
earn it. You can't merit it. Man is dead in sins. Man by nature
cannot please God. He cannot obey the law of God.
And yet, because God has chosen some, because God has purposed
to bring some into His kingdom, He has sent forth His Son to
make all things ready and sent forth His preachers to tell you
about it. So you may hear that God has
purposed salvation, but how can we being sinners be accepted
of God? How can I come then, seeing I
have no righteousness? Is it a matter of unworthiness
as to why you will not come? Do you feel unworthy? You are. That's just so. You are. But this is the message
that we bring to those. God commands you to repent. God
commands you as your king to come. And that causes fear. And you see yourself and you
say, I'm unworthy to come. Therefore, God has given us a
gracious message. All is ready. Everything's done. You don't need to bring one thing. You don't need to bring one thing.
Matter of fact, there's nothing you can bring that is acceptable. Yes, you're not worthy of God's
acceptance and there's nothing you can do to earn it. But the
king says, come. Isn't that enough? Wouldn't that
be enough authority to come? If the king says come, why will
you not come? If everything's ready, if salvation
is purposed and accomplished, why will you not come to Christ?
Why will you not come? This matter of salvation and
acceptance of sinners was done before the world was. It was
accomplished before you were born. It was an eternal covenant
of grace. And behold, Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, was purposed to be the representative of all His
elect. Therefore Christ came into the
world. He did so in order to provide both righteousness and
atonement for His bride. Go over to Hosea. Look over to
Hosea chapter 2. It's the one right after Daniel. hosea chapter two and listen
what god says about his church about his people he says in verse
nineteen of chapter two in hosea I will betroth thee unto me forever that's a wedding that's a that's
a that's a marriage I will betroth thee Who gave the bride to the
son? It was the king. And he says
to this bride, I will betroth thee unto me forever. I will
betroth thee unto me, listen, in righteousness, and in judgment,
and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. Behold how God betrothed
his people in righteousness. You see, He has provided righteousness
for us. You're not worthy, but He's provided
righteousness. Come to Him and He'll give you
righteousness. What about my sin? What about
God's judgment? He's also betrothed us in judgment. In other words, Jesus Christ
has taken our sins in His own body on the tree, and God punished
our sins in Him. Him. Sin is punished. And loving-kindness. He said,
I'll draw you with loving-kindness. Look at what I've done. I've
made all things ready. Everything's ready for this wedding.
Come and enjoy the feast, you, my bride. Come! Come to me. The Son of God has made all things
ready. Behold the Son of God, that God
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. Justice has been satisfied. When Christ said it is finished,
what was He saying? It is ready. All is ready. Justice
is satisfied. And to prove this to everyone,
just so you are Just so this thing is out in
the open, God raised His Son from the dead to show you that
He accepted Him. God raised Him from the dead
and set His Son on the throne of glory to show you that all
things are ready. Everything's done. Now, if all
things are ready, if salvation's accomplished, and God bids sinners
to come, unworthy sinners to come, Why will you not come? This is the gospel message. The
scripture says this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Sinners. That's who He came to
save. Sinners. Behold, God has made
all things ready. He bids the unworthy, the unrighteous
sinners to come by faith in His Son. Yet you will not. Man by nature will not. He will not forsake. This is
why you won't come. Listen. Why you won't come to
this thing that's already ready? Because you love yourself and
your sin more than the Son of God. There's no other reason. There's
no other reason. You're like these men, you love
yourself, you love your own righteousness more. Jesus said, if any man
hate not his father and his mother and his sister and his brother
and children, yea, in his own life also, listen, he cannot
be my disciple. Faith in Christ is an absolute
surrender. That's what it is. It's a complete
rejection of yourself, your righteousness, and your works. And it is a full
trust in Jesus Christ. That's what faith is. Faith is
turning from yourself to Christ. That's what it is. Surrender.
It is absolute surrender. Surely no man wants to go to
hell. If I ask that out of everybody, surely nobody wants to go to
hell. so long as he can keep his lusts and passions. So long
as you hang on to this world, you know, you don't mind going
to heaven. But as Israel refused to come
to Christ and God destroyed that nation, even so will God destroy
all who will not come to his Son. All who will not come to
this feast, you've mocked the King of glory. and God will destroy
you. Kiss the son lest he be angry
with thee. But now He's turned His servants,
not just to that nation, but to all men. And now this gospel
goes out where? To the highways. He said, go
you therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find,
bid them to come to the marriage. Is that not the commission of
the church? Go you into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. Now listen, I don't know who
God's elect are. That's why I preach to everyone.
That's why he sent me to preach to everyone. Because I know they're
out there. I just don't know who they are.
So I preach to everyone. And you know who will come? God's
elect. They'll come. They'll come. They'll
believe on him. And who are these elect? They
are the scum of the earth. He goes to the highways and the
hedges. When I read this, I think about the people under bridges
and living in cardboard boxes. Spiritually, that's exactly what
we are. Bankrupt. Without any hope. Without any refuge. God sends
his servant to these. And you know what happens to
sinners? They come. They come. And what does it say? The wedding was furnished with
guests. You know, in Revelation, I like
this. The scripture says there are
24 elders. You know how many thrones there
were? 24. Not one less and not one more. They were full. They were full. I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I shall surely, no doubt, I'll come again and receive you
unto myself." Who? God's elect. Sinners. Come, you
heavy laden of religion and law and legalism. Cast it off and
come to Christ and be free. free from sin, the power of sin,
the guilt of sin, and yes, in hope one day from the presence
of sin. That's our hope. All who come
to God by Christ, forget your dreams of self-righteousness
and false religion that's lied to you and told you you can please
God. Forget them! Cast them off and
come to Christ. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. And cry out to God and he will
save you. These guests had nothing to offer,
neither do we. And notice in this kingdom, he
said that there is both bad and good. I tell you, the most moral
mother and the greatest harlot both need the same thing, the
righteousness of Christ. The wicked politician and the
poorest serf both need the same thing, the righteousness of Christ. Now, lastly, I'm gonna show you
this. The king, in verses 11 through 12, it says, and the
king came to see the guest, and he saw that there was a man that
had not on a wedding garment. Remember, the king provided everything.
He provided even the clothes. Even the clothes for this garment.
The garments for this wedding he provided. But he goes through
and he sees this man who stands out. This man who's different
from all the rest. He has on a garment, but it's
not a wedding garment. Not one the king provided. And
he said to him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a
wedding garment? And he was speechless. And then
the king said unto his servitude, bind him hand and foot and take
him out and cast him into outer darkness and there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. What is this? This man is a picture of all
pretenders. You see, pretenders on the outside
come. But see, they come with their
own garments. They come with their own righteousness. I've told you all things are
ready. Now this garment, I'm sure this man thought this garment
of his was good. I'm sure maybe his mother made
it for him. Maybe it was made by his preacher or maybe he made
it himself. But listen, all your righteousness
that you make are filthy rags. The best things you can do, God
will account them as nothing but sin and iniquity. Isn't that what they said when
the shoe and the goats were gathered on his left hand? He said, When I was sick, you didn't visit
me. When I was in prison, you didn't
visit me. When I was hungry, you didn't feed me. And they
said, Lord, when did we not do those things for you? We always
fed you. We always took care of you. We
always worshipped you. What were they doing? They were
putting on their own garments. And Christ said, depart from
me, you that work iniquity. I never knew you. Bind him hand
and feet, and you cast him out with those who despise me. You
see, to come to Christ, We come with nothing, and he provides everything. This is the gospel message. Jesus Christ is all. He's all my righteousness. He's
all my sanctification. He's all my wisdom and He is
all my redemption. And you know who made Him those
things for me? God did. I didn't even make Him those
things for me. God made Him those things for me. He's provided everything. Oh, that God would strip you
of your self-righteousness and clothe you in the righteousness
of His blessed Son. Now why will you not come? All is ready. God blesses.