OK, turn back to Matthew, Chapter
22 with me. As Bonner used to say, I've got
some notes here. I hope I don't have to use them. That's the way I feel this morning. It was always a mixed crowd wherever
our Lord went, especially in the temple on Sabbath day. Everybody went to church back
then like they do now. And there was a mixed crowd,
people there for different reasons, just like people in here this
morning for different reasons. There were your critics, those
who weren't really interested. but merely critical. The Pharisees and so forth came
to just critique Christ's preaching, to just examine what he was saying. And then there were those that
were just curiosity seekers. They saw him heal people. They
saw him feed people. They got in on it, a little bit
of it. They tasted of it. And it was
a good show. They were interested. These things were interesting.
So they went. And then there were those who
were really, really desirous to hear this man speak. They
really wanted to know what he was saying. They were really
interested. They were people with real problems,
and they wanted real answers. And this appeared to be a real
man before them, who was dealing with them in reality. And it's
the same now. I've said this before. They're basically those three
types of people in here this morning, Sunday morning crowd. There's people that are here
to possibly force, been forced to come, whatever reason, compelled
to come, whether it be a young person or a wife or a husband
or a daughter or son or whoever, forced to come. And I'm just
going to sit here and just be critical, just examine what I
say and maybe shake your head on it. Maybe. And maybe somebody like that
in this morning. Then there are those here just curious or maybe
just socially religious. And I admit it feels good to
go to church on Sunday, get dressed, something about it, get dressed
up and go to church. Somehow you feel good about yourself,
don't you? That's bad. bad. But nevertheless, we'll be religious
on Sunday morning, and it's a good show anyway. It's a good show,
especially for a quarter. But then there are those who
are really interested, real people, real sinners, real
people with real problems who want real answers. And there
seems to be a man standing up here before them. It's a real
man who's not in this thing for money or whatever, or not trying
to impress anybody, but really is trying to tell the truth.
And you want to hear. You want to hear what God's Word
says. You're really interested in what God's Word says. That
if there is a God, you want to know Him. If this Bible is God's
Word, you want to know it. You want to believe it. If Christ
really came, you want to know Him. You want to believe that,
don't you? And like I said last week, and
I said it again this morning, no matter what reason you are
here, you are here. And it's not an accident. If
there is a God, and there is, I hate to use that term, if there
is, there is a God, a God, and He is God. He does things on
purpose, and you being here, me being here, is on purpose. And like we talked about earlier
this morning about the burden of this thing, the seriousness
of it, the responsibility of it. Some of you weren't here. We're accountable. You're going
to be accountable. I'm going to be accountable.
The reason it's heavy to me, the reason I dare not, woe is
unto me if I preach not the gospel. I dare not play games. I wouldn't
be in the shoes of some of these preachers. for all the money
in the world when they stand before God someday. I dare not preach anything but
what His Word says right here. Not for love or money. Not for
the love of men or money. I dare not preach anything else.
Add to it or take away from it. I dare not. Whether you believe
that or not, that's the way I feel about it. And you're here listening
to it. And you're responsible. I'm responsible
for what I'm about to say, the things I'm saying, I better tell
the truth. And you're responsible for what you hear. Now, I'm going to give you a
parable. We read it. If I don't preach, you read it
with me. His word will not return void.
It'll accomplish something. That's the burden of this thing.
His word accomplishes something. It will not return void. It actually
accomplishes something. It actually either hardens people,
adds to their condemnation, or it breaks. It saves. Now, I'm
going to give you a parable, and you've already heard it in
your hearing, in the hearing of your ears. I'm going to give
you a parable that the Lord himself told on the Lord's day. And I'm
going to tell it. Two thousand years later, here
I am telling the same story. It's full of warnings, and it's
full of promises. Now, are you going to listen? I pray, God,
I hear this. I pray you hear it. Verse 1. Now, Christ answered,
and he's talking to this Sunday morning crowd, Saturday morning
then. He said unto them, they spake unto them by parables,
stories. Now, Christ spoke in these stories, yet these weren't
mere stories. Christ. God doesn't tell little
tales. Once upon a time. Little fairy
tales. These are divinely inspired,
eternally wise stories that tell the truth of the way things really
are. But just tell it in simple terms to where we simplings can
understand it. What he's telling here is the
truth. This is the way it is. merely a story, but this is the
way it is. He spoke in parable. He said, verse 2, the kingdom
of heaven is like unto a certain king. Now here we go again. It
says John came preaching the kingdom of God. It says Christ
came preaching the kingdom of heaven. What this is, what we're doing
here is talking about the dominion of the king. We're talking about
this gospel. This word is talking about the
dominion of God Almighty. There is a king. There is a king. There is a God who reigns and
rules and controls all things, who made all things, and in whose
hands we are, and to whom we will be accountable someday.
There is a king. And he's talking about the kingdom,
the dominion of this king, a certain king. You see there? There is
a kingdom of heaven like a certain king. There's only one king.
Like I said, here we go again. Every message starts this way.
A certain king. There were many usurpers. There
used to be little kings, and today we've got a little queen.
A little queen, a little prince, he's going to be a little king
someday. He's no king. He's a usurper. He's a measly,
miserable, manly monarch. He's not the king. There's one
king. He's the king of kings. He's
the king in whose hands the heart of the kings is. There is a king. There is a God. An absolute,
ruling, reigning monarch. And we don't know much about
this because we don't have a king in our day. But there is a king. God is king. God, come thou almighty
king, the song says. Help us thy name sing. the dominion
of the king. That's what this is all about.
So this certain king, a certain king, our Lord, it says he made
a marriage for his son. This king had a son. It says a son. Evidently he had
one son. He was his only begotten, well-beloved
son. He loved this son. He was the
apple of his eye. And for the honor and the glory
and the happiness of his young prince of a son. He determined
to make a marriage for his son. He wanted to honor and glorify
his son by giving him a bride. And our king, God, he has a son. He has a son, one son, well beloved. Oh my, he's the apple of his
eye. He's really the only son, the only man ever approved of
God, the well beloved. apple of his eyes. Well, he should
be, because he's the fairest of ten thousand. He's the bride
of as many shining ones in heaven, but he's the bride in morning
stars. There's many lilies in the valley, but he's the lily
of the valley that shows his lovely head. Right? He's the
rose of Sharon. He's the only begotten, well-beloved
son of God, and God loves him above anything and everything
and everybody throughout this universe, much like you love
your children, much more than you love your children. And God,
in honor and glory and for the happiness of his son, just like
this king, determined to have a marriage for his son, to give
him a bride. a bride, and so that he would
have many children. You grandparents, your children
as children are your glory also, aren't they? I see it in your
face. I see it. But God Almighty made a marriage
for his son. He had one son. One son. He's the fair prince, the heir
to the throne, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's son. That's who he is. And for his
honor and glory, he planned this marriage." Now listen, stay with
me. Remember, I'm not just telling a story here. I'm not just being
a puppeteer here. Christ told this story. God came
down here and he told this story. Now he said, this is the way
it is. I'm going to tell you a little story so you'll remember
it. It's hard to remember otherwise. But I'm going to tell you, and
this is the way it is. God is the King. His son, whom
he loves dearly, God decreed and purposed and planned to give
him a bride, to betroth him a bride, to be married to him. All right? Now, back in olden days, kings,
powerful people, they just chose who they wanted to be their son. If they had a son, an heir to
the throne, they just chose a Say if Joe, say if Joe was king,
and there's Stephen there, his son. Stephen, if he's his only
son, he loved him dearly, honored him, wanted everybody else to
honor him, and loved this son of his. And Joe just said, I
want to give my son a bride. And he chose, he chose a woman. Joe did. Not Stephen. Joe. Looks around and there she is. She's going to be my son's bride.
Now if Joe was all powerful, it's done. Right? It's done. Back then when they betrothed
a woman to marry the son, it was done. Nobody, not that woman. Aren't you glad it's not that
way, Christine? I wonder what Joe would have
picked. I believe he would have picked
you, wouldn't you Joe? But this way it is, God betrothed,
he chose a people. Like it or not, I happen to like
it. He chose a people, a bride for his son, and it's done. You see, whatever God thinks,
he's got. Whatever God thinks, it's done. You and I make our
plans and our purposes and so forth, and we say, tomorrow I'm
going to do this. We don't know if we're going
to do it at all. God says, whatsoever he purposed,
he said, I purposed it, I'll do it. Known unto God are all
his works from the beginning, the scripture says. God in the
beginning said, I'm going to give my son a bride for his glory,
his honor, his happiness, for my glory, my honor. I'm going
to give him a bride. I choose this one, I choose that
one. You can't do that. Yes, I can. I'm king. I choose this one, I choose that
one. Now, they're my sons. Now, the marriage hasn't taken
place yet, but they were married You reckon there's any possibility
they weren't coming to be married? Weren't going to be the bride?
No possibility. They're married. That's the way it is. That's
the way the scripture says it. I love it that way. God chose the people. And I happened to be one of them.
He said, hey, you know who's elected? Who's not? Who's elected?
Who's not? I believe. Oh, if we believe, he elects
us. No! He elects us to believe. See, I'd have never believed
if he hadn't elected me. That's how I know. I'd never
chosen him if he hadn't chosen me. That's how I know. Because
there was a time I was not interested, and then there was a day I was
interested. That tells me he chose me. Don't argue about that. Just ask yourself, do you believe
that? OK? Now, it's called the marriage
supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19, verse 9, talks
about the marriage supper of the Lamb. It's true. It's not
just fairytale. The Scripture said there's going
to be a marriage supper of the Lamb, of Christ. And this preaching
of the gospel, and this whole thing, this marriage was planned
by God. He betrothed a bride. He chose
his people. It was prepared by the Son. The
Son came down here to make preparations, just like some of you ladies
would prepare for the wedding. And then the Holy Spirit, later
on, it's consummated in heaven. He brings them home to greet
the bride, and they meet together. Same thing. And this preaching
of the gospel, what I'm doing this morning, is just merely
issuing out the wedding proclamation. Here it is! There's a marriage. It's taking place. It's taking
place. A marriage. And that's all this
gospel preaching is. I'm just telling you. There's
a marriage. And whenever the true gospel, the word of truth
is preached, we tell who God is. He's the king. We tell who
we are. We're nothing. We tell who Christ
is, son of a king, the heir to the throne. All right. So this
king, verse three, this king made a marriage and he sent forth
his servants. Now, come on. His life, your life's at stake
here. This king sent forth his servants
to call them that were bidden to the wedding, to call them.
Now remember, this is a king. Kings don't invite people. I'm
not inviting anybody in here to please accept Jesus. I'm not
inviting anybody here to please believe this. I'm telling you,
you best be believing this word right here. That's the reason
I keep insisting that this is not just a fairy tale. This is
the Son of God talking here. Christ is talking here. God walked
this earth, and he uttered some words, and every one of them
were of divine, eternal consequences. We'd best be pricking up our
ears. All right? And he sent forth
his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding. And
God does not invite anybody. The name of this, the title of
this message is The King's Edict. Edict means order. Command. Kings don't invite people. I
looked up the word bidden. It's not invite. Look it up. I invite you to get you a strong,
I invite you, I do, to get you a strong concordance and look
it up. The word bidden there is not invite. Nowhere in the
scriptures will you find God inviting anybody to do anything.
Nowhere. The scripture says God commands
men everywhere to what? Repent. The Scripture says, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God. You shall. We will. Right now
or later, we will. We will worship God. Why? God
said it. The Scripture says, Kiss the
Son, lest he be angry. The Scripture says, Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved. Then say, Please? The scripture says, Now come
unto me, all you that labor and have elated. This is the difference
between a subpoena and an invitation. God Almighty, a king does not
issue invitations any more than a judge, when you're on trial,
says, Would you please come to court? We'd like to have you.
No, a judge sends a subpoena and says, You best be in court
or suffer the consequences. Right? That's what this word
is saying here. On the authority, if any man
speak, let him speak of the authority of the oracles of God. That's
what I'm doing right now. On the authority of this word right
here, God doesn't invite anybody. I'm not inviting anybody in here
this morning. I'm not saying it's a prerogative that you enjoy.
I'm not saying that it's up to you. I'm not saying that at all.
I'm saying, though, that God commands us to believe. And he
did this by sending his servant. Did you know, did God say, look
at this, listen to this. He said to Noah, Noah, would
you please build me an ark? I'd like to have a boat. I'm
thinking about saving some folks. And, uh, what do you think about
it, Noah? You think, uh, Noah, build an
ark. Now, that's not the way he said
it, but he did say it. Noah, build an ark. But, but,
but, build an ark. But it's never lame. Build an
ark. Not an invite, was it? Moses,
Moses, you slay a lamb, I'm going to kill the firstborn. But, but, you better kill him.
You better kill the lamb. I'm coming through. Abraham, come out from your people. But mom and dad aren't going
to like it, Abraham. Do we tell our children, do we
invite our children to do what we want them to do? Honey, please,
would you please mind daddy? Does Daddy say that to you, Hannah?
You know better than that. No, I don't. You know better than that. See,
that's how confused people are, isn't it? That's how confused
people are. That's the way people do treat their children. Anybody
with any sense doesn't, they say, honey, now honey, you best
be doing what Daddy says. Right? We make God out to be less than
us. We make God out to be less than a man. He can't move. He
can't do what he wants to. He can't. He tries to be more
than God. Don't you feel so sorry for him? He loves you so much. That boils
my blood what that does. Matthew, you follow me. Matthew, get up. When he came
to that man for a seat of custody, Matthew, follow me. Did he go? Get out of there now and come
on. Zacchaeus, come down. Zacchaeus,
would you please, come on. I want to be, I want to enter
into your life. I want to be your personal Savior. I want
to come eat with you. Zacchaeus, come on down. I must
come to your house today, because you're a child of Abraham. And
aren't you glad, Zacchaeus? That's me, I'm sure. Boy, I would tell you it's a
story, but I'm not. Zacchaeus come down, and all
men and women have heard this proclamation from servants of
God. Creation, he sent his servants out. Everybody here has heard
these servants anyway. Creation, the things that are
clearly seen being made by God. Like I said, only a fool. The
scripture said that. I didn't say it. The fool said,
no, God. I mean, look at, just look at your thumb. Look at the
fingerprint on your thumb. Just put your thumb on a window
and look at the fingerprint. Not one like it in all the work
of the billions of people who've lived on. Chance, luck, evolution? Come on. What a foolish notion. God! Creation. Providence? It rains
on the just as well as the unjust. You've been fed, clothed. You've
got everybody in here breathing. That's God's air. You're going
to go home and enjoy a belly full of food. That's God's food.
Where does it come from? It grows. The clothing on your back, where
does that come from? It grows. Your houses you live in, where
does that come from? That grows. Everything we have just grows.
Boy, we sure are lucky, aren't we? I'm sure glad evolution did
it. God. Only a fool would not acknowledge
that, right? Providence, everything you have.
And the Word of God, we've seen it, most have seen it and heard
it. Paul said they've heard it. They've heard it. They've heard
at least somebody, we've all heard that there's a man named
Jesus. That this, somebody says there's a God and there's a Bible.
We've all heard this. All right. All bidden. Every one of us are
bidding. This is the way we've heard these
things. That's the command. This bidding is the proclamation.
It's like me posting on the door. Boom! There it is. Now listen,
this is the thing I'm talking about and this thing I'm hearing
in the gospel. How do you suppose that over in Russia, before all
this change took place, if that totalitarian government posted
something on the board, rules, regulations, or whatever, say,
This is the way it's going to be. Well, how do you think people
would react to that? Just look at the newscasts and
all. People are huddled around. Thousands of people huddled around
looking at that one little piece of paper. What's it say? What's
it say? That's what I'm doing this morning.
And I'm not begging you. I'm telling you, we better be
listening. What's it say? What's it saying? Is it saying
to me? Is it talking to me? Is it something for me? Now,
he told them, behold, in verse 4, they were bidden, but they
would not come. They would not come. It says
over in Luke 14 that they all, with one accord, would not come.
You know, they held a poll. They held a poll. A thousand
people were interviewed. A Harris poll. A thousand people
were interviewed and were asked to exercise their free will,
whether or not they would accept or reject God. You know what
the outcome was? A thousand people rejected him. Nobody got that
joke. That's our free will. It says all of them rejected
him. Every one of us in here at one
point or another said no. Don't believe that. Right? All of them. It says they all
said I'm not coming. Thank God! I mean, thank God
that one day he said, Yes, you are! Right, Joe? Now, he sent forth some other
servants, verse 4, some other servants. Now, that was the God's
creation in Providence and so forth. He sent forth the law
and the prophets. He sent forth other servants. This king, he
said, Now you tell them! Don't ask them, don't plead with
them, don't beg and cry with them. Don't sit ten dollar bills
under the seat. You tell them. Recognize those
words? Behold! Behold your God. Behold yourselves. And behold my servant. Sound
familiar? Tell them. Behold. I have prepared
a dinner. Now listen, this is King talking
here. He's posted on the wall. I prepared a dinner. I did it. Salvation is of the Lord. He
saves. You remind him of that. He saves. He chooses. I prepared a dinner.
And he says here, my fatlings, my oxen and my fatlings are killed. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. He's the sacrifice of God. He
says God shall provide himself a lamb, right? Listen to this,
this is the gospel. God provided himself a lamb and
a sacrifice and a righteousness, and Christ was that righteousness. He was that man approved of God.
It pleased the Lord to bruise him to make him an offering for
sin. Now there remains no more sacrifice for sin. God made one
sacrifice of his Son. Not our morality, not our good
works, not our religion. Only Christ is the acceptable,
suitable sacrifice of God. And Christ was the lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. He was the substitute.
He was the sacrifice for all people that believe on him because
without shedding of blood there's no remission of sin. Christ came
in time and he actually shed his blood. He satisfied God's
justice and he went back to heaven to await the proceedings of this
marriage, the marriage of all he purchased. And the king says
here the same thing. Now all things are ready. There remaineth no more to be
done. Modern religion says you've got to do something. Modern religion
says you've got to bring something to God. You've got to be so good. You've got to be so bad. Some
people say that. You've got to repent so long.
You've got to believe so hard. You've got to do this. You've
got to quit your drink. You've got to do this. You've
got to bring it. No, it doesn't say you've got to do nothing. It says he's
got to do something for you. He says, I've prepared a dinner
and my oxen and my fatlings are killed. It's the only thing you've
got to do. Verse four is, come. That sounds too easy. Better than ain't ask. Come to
the marriage. Come. All things are ready. Aren't you glad? Ready. You mean I don't have to I don't necessarily feel religious.
There's nothing sad about feeling religious. It says this already. Come. Now I remind you now, he
doesn't invite. Come. Come to the marriage. Verse
5. But they made light of it. We will not have, I don't like
this king. Never did, never will. I won't have this man reign over
me. That's what they say. I don't like that cat. I don't
want to have him reign over it. They're saying the same thing
now. I don't like a God like that. I don't want to have a
God like that. My God's not like that. Oh yes, your God is like
that. Because your God's the God of
the Bible, and I'm just preaching what the Bible says about God.
But I don't like his food. That's what these people probably
said one by one. I don't like his food. I like my cooking better.
Cow pie stew. That's what it is. That's what
our morality and our works and our religion is. I like it better.
Veg works sandwiches. I like it better than this sufficient
effectual righteousness provided. I like it. I like what I do better.
That's what men are saying when they reject the gospel. Don't
they? And men say that today, I don't believe in this sovereign
God like that, I don't like this gospel you preach, I've got some
works, I've got some goodness, I've got some morality, and surely
there's something I can do, I just don't believe that gospel. And
they make light of what I'm saying this morning. And it says here
they went their way, verse 5, they went their way. One to his
farm, another to his merchandise. Whatever his way was, you can
be sure it's the way of all flesh, it's the way of destruction and
death. They went their way, not your way, my way. Right? Well, verse 6, and the remnant,
the rest of them, some of them, took his servants and then treated
them spitefully and slew them. And Paul said, the apostle said,
we're counted as the off-scouring of the earth. And that's what
people think about preachers. Rightfully so about most preachers,
they're wimps, they're worthless, wicked, Every foolish alliteration
you can think of, they are. They're the worst scum of the
earth, most preachers are. And they'd kill ones now today
if they could. Now, when the king heard this,
when the king heard this, he was wroth. And he sent his armies
and destroyed those murderers and burned up this city. And
there's coming a day when all flesh, all flesh will be destroyed. But the scriptures say he's going
to burn it up. That's what's going to happen. That's what's going to happen. Then he said to his servants,
now he had a couple more servants. Then he said to his servants,
now the wedding is ready. There's going to be a marriage. The wedding is ready, but they
which were bidden were not worthy. And we're not worthy. None are
worthy. All have sinned that come short of the glory of God,
right? There's nobody worthy. Why are you a believer? Why are
you a Christian? Because you're worthy? Because
you believe more than somebody else? No, nobody's worthy. Nobody's
worthy. They're not worthy. Now, the
king says this. Here it is, verse 9, "'Go ye
therefore into the highways, and as many as you find, you
bid them to the marriage.'" Now, he says this, Terry, to his son. He sent his son down here. He
says to his son, now you go. You go down there to that cesspool
of iniquity. You become a man. You go down
there and do for them, all that I've chosen, what they could
not do for themselves. You go down there and you live
the life that I demanded of them. And satisfy, justify these people. And then you go to the cross
and die for them because that's what they deserve. Die for them.
And then you come on back home and you just wait. until the
proceedings start. You do that. And the son did.
Christ came. He came. He lived. He died. Went
back to heaven. He's seated. Says he's expecting.
Waiting on his bride. That the Father gave him. Waiting
on her. And then he says to the Holy Spirit, he says, now, Holy
Spirit, you take this gospel and you take so and so and you
knock her or him right between the eyes with it. You pierce it down into their
heart and say, hey, there's something to this. Pierce that old hard
heart, that old fleshly, worldly heart. Create an interest. Convict them of their sins. Show
them who God is, who Christ is, and then you bring them. You
bring them. And they're all coming. The scripture says they're all
coming, all saved, none lost. That's what Christ said there,
John 17, 12, wasn't it? I've kept them. I've kept them
all. That's what it says. Now, you go therefore in the
highways, and as many as you shall find, bid them to the marriage.
Go into the highways, and that's literally where I was. Literally. I got many stories, but, about
my life, but I was a young teenager, 18, 19 years old. Care less about
God, the Bible, all this. And I was really interested in
cars. I was a car buff from just a boy. And one time I went to
an auction in Columbus, Ohio. I was wanting to go up there
and buy me a car off the auction block. And a couple of men in
our church owned car lots, and they were the only ones that
could buy them. Only dealers could buy cars. So they were
going to let me go with them, a couple of men in our church.
They were going to let me go, and they were going to buy me a car, whatever
one I chose. You know, I dreaded that. It
was a three-hour trip up there and a three-hour trip back. I
had to ride with one of those men up there and back. I dreaded
that. I just knew. I just knew they
was going to talk to me, try to get me saved. I just knew. I dreaded it. I thought, oh,
but I want a car. So I'll put up with anything and get me a
car, Camaro, blue Camaro, four on the floor. And sure enough, I got in the
car, and it wasn't an hour until that fella started talking to
me. And he was uncomfortable, and
the air was thick. He started talking to me. I was on the highway,
tooling down the highway. I'd rather have been listening
to Rolling Stones, but I was listening to this old boy talk
to me about Christ. And it began to break my heart. I realized I was never the same
since. Somehow, he created a spark in me. And from that day forward,
we got back. Oh, sure, I went back out on
the highway again, but it was that little word, that little
word in season that was spoke into my head on the highway.
I came to church. I listened, and bless God, one
day he spoke to me. I don't know how he gathered
me gather up from the east and the west far corner gathering
down there goodness wishes good and bad some of you in church
you've been in church a long time. See that gather together as many
as they found both bad and good some of it been moral are you
like didn't work like me a wild rebellious hippie. Some of you been in church good
you know This was my sister. I'd bring her up again. She was
always this apple of mom and daddy's eye and so good at two
shoes, you know. Everybody thought, oh, she's
got to be saved. In church every Sunday. Had to save her too. She came
weeping one day too, said, I'm a sinner. A self-righteous sinner,
but a sinner. Gathering. And bless God, you're
not going to come This is what I was saying from the beginning.
You're not going to come until he gathers you. Until he comes
and he finds you. I didn't find God. Like I said,
I took him on down the road. Zippity-doo-dah, zippity-day.
But he gathered me. I said, well, boy. Oh! Here are
the two of you coming. No further. About face. Look me in the eye. Now come. And the wedding was furnished.
That's how. People get that. If it left up
to man's free will, nobody would come. It says they all, with
one accord, with one consent, made excuses. I've heard everything.
I'm married. All kinds of excuses. I hear people's excuses. Don't tell me your excuses, please.
I understand you want me to know where you're at and so forth.
Please don't. I'm not the teacher, and I don't excuse people. Don't
tell me. Please. Tell it to God. If you're
in a good relationship with God, tell Him. Don't tell me. And He'll properly deal with
you accordingly. He'll tell you whether or not
it's a good excuse or not. All right, now look, whenever
I look right here, verse 11, this is it. And when the king
came, now this king came, the marriage was held, everybody
was gathered, everybody was supposed to be gathered, and the king
came in to survey the guests, to see the guests, he came in.
Here's this king. Ha! Got all my subjects here,
there's my son sitting on the throne, there he is. A. Point of some. Kind of. Yeah yeah. And I understand that. And you
can look at it and says that. For him. How did you come in here without
a wedding garment I had a garment on. I could say
that by one of the hospital bar. He had a some on. Probably just
a hat he had knowledge. Naked from the neck down. Had
a hat on thought he was properly clothed I know the doctrine. Of good you know. You don't have a garment on. And I say to you, listen to me,
listen to me, please. Every person in here, someone
in here, there's no doubt in my mind whatsoever. And I'm not
looking at anybody in particular because I think you're the one.
But I do want to look at every eye here. There's somebody in here, maybe
more than one, who's been coming to church a long time. I mean, you're in the gospel,
but you don't have on a wedding garment. You see, this man was
there. He looked like everybody else.
He was eating the food, probably enjoying the wine, the food,
having a big old time, enjoying the music, singing along with
the rest of it. He didn't have on a garment.
And it came when the time came for judgment. Judgment must first
begin at the house of God, the Scripture says. He said, you
don't have a God, you're not in Christ, you're just religious. How? And we said, friend, how? Lady, how can you have been here so
long? Can you have heard so many messages?
How? Before whose eyes the Lord Jesus
Christ has been so evidently set for. How can you be here
and not be in Christ? I don't understand. And look what he says. He says
he was speechless. And like I said about all the
excuses, don't. Call on God. Don't tell me, call
on God. I'm speechless right now, for
folks. Wow! How? How could you have
heard the gospel so much and yet not believe it? How? And the king said to the servants,
bind him hand and foot, cast him away, cast him in outer darkness.
You're going to meet some weeping going on. You talk about weeping. Are you trying to scare me, preacher? I'm just reading this book right
here. Weeping. You talk about weeping.
Oh, my soul. Is this people going to give
every fiber of their being to hear one more gospel message?
Let me hear that again. I forget it. And now the moral
of the story is in verse 5-14, because many are called. Everybody
in here has been called. You've heard what this book has
to say this morning. As feebly as I've presented it,
you've still heard it. According to God's Word, I'm
going to give diligence to make my calling and election sure. I ain't going to play games.
I'm going to give diligence. That's what it means by giving
diligence to make your calling and election sure. Don't play
games with this. This ain't a laughing matter. See that baby crying? Because he wants his mama. There are going to be people being
wanting their God. But he says, you calling? What if that baby's
mama never came back? Weeping and gnashing of teeth.
God said, it's going to come a day when you're going to call,
and I'm not going to hear you. He's calling right now. You say
you're making this evangelical pitch. This is just what the
Word of God says. He's calling right now. Today
is the day of salvation, right now. The gospel's being preached. I'm proclaiming there's a wedding. I want to be a bride. I believe
this. Sure, not like I want to, not
like I ought to, but I do believe it. Lord, help my unbelief. So
I'm right here. Here I am. I'm seeking. I'm giving
diligence to make my calling and election sure. I'm going
to read this book. I'm going to see what it says. I'm going
to call on this God to save me. To serve, call on me, and the
Lord shall be saved. I'm going to get in my closet. I'm going
to be in the pew in case God speaks. He might speak to me.
Because many are called. The few chosen I won't be chosen. You know how you know you're
chosen. It's just the way it's just reason it's a mystery because
you believe. Why do you believe because you're
chosen. How do you know you're not chosen you don't believe
this. You'll leave this building and say let's go honey or whoever
let's go. Where are we going to eat today.
Not show up tonight on down the road Jack. Go your way. For God's people,
they hear his voice. They know it. They come back. They come back. Diligently seeking
again. Right? Maybe I didn't hear it
very clear this morning. I'm not sure if I believed it or
not. I want to be back and make sure I believe it this time. I never preach another message. My hands are clean from the blood
of your soul. See why this is a burden? It's
called the burden of the word of the Lord. The old prophets
knew something about it. The new prophets know something
about it too, Rick. The burden of the word. I watched people
come through that door. I sat right there and watched
the person after the person after the person come through that
door. I thought, my soul, but they know God. Will they come
back through the door again? Baxter Selma preaches a dying
man to dying man. It's never to preach again. I'm
not trying to scare you. I'm not trying to influence you
one way or the other. Yes, yet I am. Because it's a
serious business. I'm serious about it. I'm serious
about you. And I pray to God, are you serious
about you? That's what I pray. Am I being faithful? Am I being
true? That's good advice. All right. OK, stand with me.