Matthew 22. We've been going
through this book for quite a while now. And we have come to this portion
in the scripture where we've mentioned it quite a few times
that this is the week of our Lord's crucifixion. That's where
we are. We're in the week of our Lord's
Crucifixion. And our Lord is going each day
to the temple to preach. Every day. All day. He's going to preach. And He's preaching in parables.
And we're about to look at the next parable that He gives. But before we look at this, I
want to point something out. These are the last messages that
our Lord gives before his death. I really want to point this out. These are our Lord's final words
to men and women before his death. A man's final words are extremely
important words. extremely important words. Now,
these are not his final words in the sense that he arose from
that death and he ever lives. And we're going to listen to
his beautiful, wonderful words for all of eternity. His people
will. But the fact that he took the
time to say these things to men and women in his final days and
his final moments leading up to his glorious death, that ought
to tell us something. As I was studying this and reading
this and just listening to it read, I thought, this is not
the same type of message that's commonly preached anymore. What
we just heard read to us It's honestly not. You don't hear
a lot of this type of message anymore. And, and I thought,
why would we get so far away from this? This is what the Lord
deemed important to tell men and women on his way to the cross,
on his way to his death. This is so important. As we look
at this today, I don't want to dismiss this as just another
parable. There are parables after parables
after parables. I don't want this to just be
another parable stuck in the middle of all the parables. Our Lord is giving us eternal
life and eternal death, critical information. I'm not saying what
we're going to look at today, God is. Jesus Christ is and it
is so critical. It is just so critical. Eternity
hangs on what he's saying right here. And I pray the Lord will cause
us to listen very seriously to this because this determines
our eternal state and I don't know. This just weighs heavily
on me. I just can't help but think about
myself. I'm a soul. I have a wife and
two children here. Those are three more souls, eternal
souls that will never end. For a soul, it never ends. A soul does not end. One of these
days, every soul is going to go back to the God who gave it.
And then God is going to do with that soul whatever God wants
to do with that soul. And that's what he's talking
about right here. But it's forever. Each one of us are forever. And I think about all of you,
and I think about all these souls sitting here. Soul, soul, soul,
soul, soul. These are souls, eternal souls.
And man, I'm telling you, this is just so important. Oh, may
God help us. Let's read these verses again
and I want to point out what is being said here from God's
point of view and what is being said here from our point of view,
okay? Matthew 22, verse one, it 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 come. Again, he sent forth other servants
saying, tell them which are bidden, 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. And when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those
murderers and burned up the city." 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 you shall find, bid to the marriage. So those
servants went out into the highways and gathered together 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. Now, I just
want to say that You know, so many people, and it's because
of so many false preachers, they stand up and they tell people,
God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. God
wants all men and women to be saved. God does not want anyone
to go to hell. And I just want to point out
that that is not what Jesus Christ said. I just want to point that
out. Nowhere in the scripture does
it say that. And we would be wise to not listen to those men
who say things that you cannot find in the Word of God because
eternity is forever. I know that sounds good. I know
that's happy and warm and fuzzy and all of that, but eternity
is eternity. Eternity is coming and eternity
is forever. And we need the truth. That's
what we need is we need the truth. This is a parable. describing
an earthly story of a king's son getting married. And our
Lord started the parable by saying, the kingdom of heaven is like. He's telling us the truth concerning
spiritual matters. He's telling us the truth concerning
God and the truth concerning man and the truth concerning
heaven and eternity and salvation. He's telling us the truth. He's
telling us the truth. And this is the truth that He's
telling us, verse 1. 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. Made a marriage for his son. In eternity past, God the Father
made a marriage for his son. That's what happened. That's
what happened. God the Father, according to
the wording of the scripture, elected a bride for his son. What that means is God the Father
specifically chose a particular bride for his son and joined
the two of them together in an eternal union. And that was God's doing. This
is God's doing. That's how the Lord started off
this parable. He said, this is God's doing. And this is how
it went. This is how God's doing went. Verse two, 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." God sent forth a call, and men
and women would not come. That's how it went, and this
is Jesus Christ speaking. He said that's how it went. A
general call went out. A general call went out. That
call has gone out, and that call still goes out. It still goes
out. Isaiah 55 verse 1 says, Ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money,
come on, buy, eat, just come, just come. That's what it's saying.
In John 7 verse 37, our Lord said, if any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink. Any man. People read in the word,
read in the scripture words like elect, election, elected, electing,
chosen, foreordained, predestinated, and they say, what do you mean?
What about if any man thirst, let him come. Revelation 22,
21 says, whosoever will, let him come. What about that? Okay,
come. The general call is there. Whosoever
will, let him come. Let him take the water of life
freely. But do you know what the Lord
Jesus Christ said? Not one soul in this flesh would come. You say, what do you mean I wouldn't
come? How do you know I wouldn't come? God said so. And to disagree with God is to
call him a liar. He said so in 1 John 1. God sent out a call and no one
came. I did not come to him. Was that a surprise to God? Was that a shocking disappointment
to God? No. In John 5, the Lord Jesus
Christ said, I know you. I know that you will not come
to me. I know that you have not the love of God in you. In John
6, he said, even if you wanted to come to me, you couldn't because
no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. No man will come. No man can
come. If we wanted to, we couldn't.
And if we could, we wouldn't want to. And it's all because
of our own rebellion and sin. You're looking at a rebellious
and sinful man by nature. God started this. God sent out
a call. and man rebelled against it.
Verse two, 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 oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready. Come
unto the marriage. Grace. Preach grace. Free grace. Tell them I have
done it all. You go out and tell them that
they don't have to do anything. Tell them it will not cost them
anything. Tell them I made all the preparations. I have done all of the providing. I killed my oxen. I killed my fatlings. I made
the sacrifice. You tell them I made the sacrifice. And you tell them the sacrifice
is finished. You tell them all things are
done and ready. Come and dine. Verse four, again,
he sent forth other servants saying, tell them which are bidden.
Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed
and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. Verse
five says, but they made light of it. That just crushes me. But for the grace of God, every
soul in this room will make light of it. But for the grace of God,
I will make light of it. That's the truth. That's the problem with all of
us. That's the problem with all men and women. We all make light
of it by nature. By nature, we make light of the
sacrifice of God. Yeah, yeah, I know He made a
sacrifice. Yeah, I understand all that,
but there's other things that I want to focus on. There's other
things. Men and women make light of the provision that the Father
made to make men and women acceptable into His presence. Our Lord is telling us right
here, judgment is coming and you're making light of it. That's
what he's telling us. And you think about it. He's
headed to the judgment as he's saying this. He's headed to the
judgment as he's saying this. He's saying, look, look at what's
going on. Judgment is coming and you're making light of it.
Don't you realize you're about to be ground to powder? That's what he just said in chapter
21. We were just there. It does not matter whether a
man or a woman is sitting in a true church or not. Well, I'm
in a true church. I know right out of the Bible.
My pastor preaches to us right out of the Bible. Whatever it
says, he preaches it. It doesn't matter whether we're
sitting in a true church or not. It does not matter. It does not
matter what our doctrine is. Any soul who makes light. The only way we're going to be
saved is if we're hearing the truth of God preached, I will
say that, but we can sit under the truth of God being preached.
And if we make light, any soul that makes light of the sacrifice
that God has provided in the person of His Son is gonna be
ground to powder. Eh, yeah, whatever. Verse 4, again, he sent forth
other servants saying, tell them what you're bidding. Behold,
I've 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. One said, well, I just, I can't
be there. I've got a farm. Yeah, we finally buckled down.
We bought a farm. I can't be there to recognize
your son and to honor your son and to show my rejoicing and
delight and respect in your son. We just got too much going on
at home. We've got responsibilities. We've
got. It'd be better for us to just
get on back to the house. Y'all go ahead, we'll see you
later. Make light of it, they make light of it. Verse five,
they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm,
another to his merchandise. I would come, but I have a store.
You know, we're open on Sunday, so. Really? Verse five, 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. And that's what man has done
to all the words and the warnings of God. You know, anytime you
stand up and declare, this is what God is saying, this is what
God is saying, the flesh says, I don't want to hear that. I
know I'm not interested in that. Don't tell me that. Man has taken
everything that God has said to him and man has made it dead
to him, just killed it. God's word, God's will, God's
glory is naturally dead to man. Our Lord said in Matthew 5, to
hate in the heart is to murder. And that's what the sinful flesh
of mankind feels naturally toward God. God says it's enmity. That's the word he uses. Hatred. I'm your enemy. That's what the
word means. For what? Christ. The gospel of Christ. Somebody says, what in the world
would make you say that? What in the world would make
you feel that way? The cross. The cross. You want to see enmity? You want
to see hatred? Look at the cross of Jesus Christ. That's what mankind feels about
the Son of God. That's what mankind, by his own
sinful nature, wants to do to the Son of God. And therefore,
this is what God is going to do for mankind. And I wrote in
my notes right here, I know this sounds hard. All right, let me take a minute here.
I understand. I know this is difficult, but I know this is true. I know it's hard and I know it's
difficult, but I know it's true. Verse 7 says, But when the king
heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies,
and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. And
if we go read 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2 Peter 3 and all of these
different places, it clearly tells us that's exactly what
he's going to do. That's what he's going to do
to this place. That's what is coming to mankind. You look all around and you see
mankind. You look on TV and you see all
these cities and these countries of people all over the world.
Mankind. Just this world is just full
of people like ants just crawling all over the world, running around,
making business, making money, doing things. That's what's coming. That's
what's about to happen to mankind. Sound like a doomsday, you know,
standing on a street corner. Was coming. God is about to bring
absolute judgment on mankind for all of his indifference and
all of his hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse eight, 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 you shall find bid to the marriage. And I'll
tell you, it is amazing that he would do
this. All right, this is, we're done
with the bad news. Here comes the amazing good news.
It is amazing that he would do this. Thank God the Lord Jesus
Christ said this is how it went. All right. Everything was ready. Everything was killed. Everything
was prepared. Everybody was bitten. Nobody
would come. The servants were killed and
slaughtered and judgment fell. But he said, I'm gonna make another
call. I'm gonna make another call. For the son's sake. For my son's sake, another call
is going to go out. Why on this earth would the father
extend another call after all that happened? Why would the
father extend another call? Here's the answer, for the son's
sake. This is all for the Son's sake.
This is all for the honor and the glory of the Son. For the sake of the Son, another
call was made, but this was not a general call. This was an effectual
call. And it wasn't to those who naturally
appear worthy of the call. It wasn't to the high society
esteemed. This call was to the gutter. Paul went out to the gutter.
He said, you go into the highways, and in another place it says,
and the hedges, the highways and the hedges. You go find some
lowlife laying there in the hedges. And you lay hold of him or her,
you lay hold of him and her, and you drag them out of there.
You drag them out of the hedges. Laying there in the gutter on
the side of the highway. You lay hold of them, you drag
them out, you clean them up, you put this wedding garment
on them, and then you tell them to come to Me. You tell them
they have been called to the marriage of the Son. You tell
them they have been called to the marriage of the Son. Verse
10. So those servants went out into
the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad
and good, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, male and female, bond
and free. They were effectually gathered. and brought. Verse 10 says, and
the wedding was furnished with guests. Our Lord is saying this
is how it went for our warning. This is how it went. But for
our comfort, for our rejoicing, for our glory, this is how it
went. He said, you go down into the
gutter, you go out into the highways and the hedges and you gather.
A party that will come and you
bring them to me. Now here's the question. Our
Lord told us about two different groups of people right here.
And what we all want to know is which one are we? Which one
are we? Which group do we fall into?
Outside of Christ, every soul falls into the first group, the
first category. In our sinful flesh, as we're
born into this world, in ourselves, every soul in this room, and
let me make sure this is clear, every soul in this room, as we
are naturally born into this world, falls into the first category. Why? It's because not one soul
in this room, not one soul in our flesh, is worthy. None of
us are worthy. What does it take for a man or
a woman to be worthy? According to the Lord Jesus Christ,
it takes a wedding garment. Verse 11 says, When the king
came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not
on a wedding garment. And he said 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. What is this
spiritual wedding garment that our Lord is telling us about?
It's a new covering. It's a covering for our rags. It's a covering to hide what
we are. It's a covering to make us what
we're not. It's a covering to hide all of
our sin and wretchedness, and it's a covering to make us righteous
and spotless and holy. That covering is Christ's own
blood and righteousness, which he covers his unworthy sinners
in. He's headed to the cross. He's
headed to the cross to bear. Our brother just told us about
the agony he was in as he bore the sins of those people. Oh,
the agony before God. He said, I'm about to be forsaken
by God because of man's sin. I'm about to be brutally beaten
and tortured so that no one can even recognize me. I'm about to die. I'm about to
be cast out. I'm about to be condemned. Oh, may we understand the seriousness
of this. We need the blood of Jesus Christ. We need the righteousness of
Jesus Christ to cover us. We need to be covered. Verse
14 says, many are called, everyone is called, but few are chosen. Chosen to what? Chosen to receive
a wedding garment. Chosen to receive a covering
of blood. Where did the blood come from?
Category one. I just want to make this clear
because this is what everybody's thinking. This is what I was
thinking. It's not that everybody else
wouldn't come to Him, but we would come to Him, so He chose
us. That's what people naturally
think. Well, they wouldn't come. I see why. I see why judgment
fell on them. That's not it at all. It's not
that they wouldn't, but we would, so yeah, He took us. That's not
it at all. In our natural sinful state,
we are category one. That's us. We would not come to him. I'm
telling you, Gabe Stoniker would not come to him that I might
have life. We rebelled against him, and
because of our sin and our rebellion, God had to pour out his punishment
on us in his wrath and his judgment. He was angry with the wicked
every day. And I'm wicked. And so are you. You know what goes through your
mind. And His wrath and judgment had
to come down on us. He had to pour it all out on
us. He had to. That's what He did to us. That's
what He did to us. But in His grace and in His mercy,
He poured it out on us in his son when he joined his son to
us. He joined his son to everything
that was owed to us and the blood that was shed for God's people. That was Christ's blood bearing
that judgment. The righteousness that was robed
onto God's people, that was Christ's righteousness in the covering
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are welcomed in. In Christ, God's people are both
categories. In Christ, God's people are both.
Outside of Christ, category one's all men and women on earth. In Christ, by His cross, by His
death, we were judged, we were punished, we were condemned.
And that's what He's telling them. This is why I'm going to
the cross. Why did Jesus Christ go to the
cross? He's telling us, because that's
what you deserved. That's what you did. That's what
was owed to you. By His cross, by His death, we
were judged, we were punished, we were condemned. And in Christ,
by His resurrection, by His life, we're welcomed in. Verse 11 says,
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 I want us to, I hope there's a center here. I hope I'm not
the only one. Clearly, you guys know I'm a
center. I've been telling you that for 30 minutes. All right,
I hope I'm not the only one. If there is another center here,
And you know, it takes God's spirit to reveal this to somebody.
But if God's spirit does come and do work, it will be revealed. I'm a sinner too. All right, I understand I don't
if I don't have a wedding garment, this thing is not just going
to end in roses and and you know, life just kind of go judgments
coming. What's going to happen to me?
I'm worried about me. I'm worried about my soul. I
agree with you. I am a sinner against God. By
His Spirit, I see what He's going to do. He's telling us clearly
what He's going to do. If anyone is worried, if anyone
needs relief, if anyone besides me, let me tell you what I just
read. Let me tell you what it doesn't
say. A man came in who didn't have on a wedding garment. And
this king said, why would you come in here without a wedding
garment? Let me tell you what it does
not say right here. It does not say that there were no more wedding
garments. It doesn't say that. It does not say that there was
no more mercy and there was no more grace. It does not say there
was no more blood, there was no more righteousness. They looked
around, they went in the closet, and it was just coat hangers.
It doesn't say that. It also doesn't say that this
man fell to his knees crying, please robe me in a wedding garment. You know what it does say? It
says he didn't say one word. He was speechless. Let's not
leave here not saying one word. Let's not leave here not saying
one word. Lord, I need a wedding garment. I need blood. I need righteousness. Even me, even me. Robe me. Put one on me. There was no cry for mercy here. Cry for mercy. It's this indifference. He's telling us about indifference.
He's telling us they just didn't even care. They heard the warning
and they just didn't even care. Lord, please let that not be
us. Please, Lord. Psalm 2 says, Kiss the son lest
he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled
a little. Kiss the son. Fall down before
the Son. Cry out to the Son of God for mercy. Blind Bartimaeus cried,
Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. If God gives you a heart to do
it, do it. God gives you a heart to do it,
do it. Oh, I need a wedding garment.
I need the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ for a wedding
garment. Do I have one? Do we have one? Do we possess one? If we do,
we'll desire one. For our Lord to give us a wedding
garment is for Him to reveal our need of a wedding garment.
If He covers us in one, He'll show us the need of one. He'll
cause us to cry out for one. Lord, I need a wedding garment.
We'll cry out, He'll give it to us, and we'll be glad. Every soul robed in Christ is
glad. Our Lord is telling us right
here that he takes beggars from the dung heap and he sets them
among princes. That's what he does and that's
who he does it for. He does it for beggars. Beggars
who have rags are given spotless robes. Beggars who have nothing
to eat, begging for crumbs in Christ with the Lord Jesus Christ,
they sit down at this fatted feast. I couldn't help but think
about, and I'm done, I'm done. But I couldn't help but think
about these wretched, poor beggars laying in the gutter on the side
of the highway. Somebody fell into the bushes, laid out in
the bushes, drug out, and they're sitting at this feast, the wedding
feast. Saying, how in the world did
we get here? And that's what all of God's
people will be saying. How in the world, considering
what we are, considering who He is, How in the world did we get here?
Many are called, few are chosen. Lord, choose us. I encourage
you to say that in your heart. Choose me. Lord, robe me, cover
me, call me, welcome me, receive me for Christ's sake. For the
Son's sake, if God has given us to Christ, He'll give us a
need for Christ, He'll give us a desire for Christ, and we'll
come to Christ. He'll say, come, and we'll come. All that the Father has given
to Christ shall come to Christ. In him or her that cometh to
Christ the Lord Jesus Christ will in no wise cast out. He'll
join himself to them. He'll be their God. They'll be
his people. And of their union there will
be no end. And I'm not going to turn. I'm
just going to end. But I was going to close with Revelation 19. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. I saw the bride coming out prepared
for her husband. And they sat down at a marriage
feast. Blessed are they that are called to the wedding feast. Blessed are they that are called.
Lord, if you will lay hold of us, call us, draw us, robe us,
we'll come. We'll be your people. We'll worship
you. We'll gather to you. All for
Christ's sake. Amen.