Back to the scripture we began
to look at this morning, Matthew 22. Matthew 22. Verse 1, Matthew
22 verse 1, And Jesus answered, and spake unto them again by
parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is likened to 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 here's a
very, very powerful statement. And they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants
saying, tell them what you're bidding. Behold, I have prepared
my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed
and all things are ready. and here's the king's word, here's
his command, 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 they slew them. But when
the king heard thereof, he was wroth. And he sent forth his
armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants,
the wedding is ready. but they which were bidden were
not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways,
and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into
the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both
bad and good. that is bad morally and good
morally, all kinds of people. And the wedding was furnished
with guests. Verse 11, when the king came
in to see the guests, he saw, he looked very intently, as he
looked over all of the guests that were there, and he focused
in on one man who did not have 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, many are called but you are chosen. My subject this evening is the
wedding garment. Let's ask God's blessing upon
the service again. Lord, we have opened your word
and we've had read to us a glorious psalm And now we've had read to us
a portion from the New Testament, words that came forth from the
lips of our Savior, who often spoke in parables. We ask that you would give to
us an understanding of these things that we have read. We bow to your word. We recognize
that this is the word of the living God. And Lord, may we not be like
the Jews who heard the servants of God,
they listened to the gospel, The message of Jesus Christ and
His necessary sacrifice for sin was a message in which they had
no interest. As they heard of the grace of
God, of the covenant of mercy, of the necessity of salvation
by grace, and of imputed righteousness, they had no desire to enter into
any of these things. And therefore you dealt with
them in very severe judgment. They neglected the God of salvation,
and they would not believe on Him whom you sent, Father, into
this world. Let us this evening, all of us,
learn from the serious errors of these people. In everlasting loving kindness,
according to your redemptive purpose, you sent your Son. This is the Son of your love. your everlasting only begotten
Son, one likened to yourself, who robed his deity in human
flesh. He came into this world, though
he was rejected by men, yet he was accepted by you, and
you accepted his sacrifice for sin. Lord, give us grace that we would
receive this blessed Savior, that we would believe Him, and
that we would rejoice in Christ and His finished work of redemption. May we not be like these people
who were filled with self-righteousness, Oh God, empty us of any thoughts
of spiritual self-worth. Empty us of any idea of salvation
by works or by ceremony, by rituals, or by keeping any laws, be they
man's laws or God's laws. That's not the way of salvation.
O God, open our hearts, teach us of Christ, the necessity of
His sacrifice, the success of His sacrifice, and may we be
brought to honor Him, to believe Him, who is the darling and blessed
Son of God. Give to all of us the hearing
ear and the believing heart. Do it, Lord, if You will, for
Your glory. And we'll give You thanksgiving
for Jesus' sake. Amen. Now, in order to set the
stage for this parable, I want to actually back up to the 21st
chapter. and then go forward. As we get
to Matthew chapter 21, our Lord Jesus, He's going into Jerusalem. He has already said to His disciples
that He had to go to Jerusalem. You remember back in Matthew
chapter 16, when Peter had made that great declaration, thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And our Savior said,
flesh and blood didn't teach you that, but my Father which
is in heaven revealed that to you. And there was a blessed
declaration of the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. He's the Son
of God. But right after that, our Lord
told His disciples, He said, I must needs go to Jerusalem. It's just a few days before this
happened, before these words were spoken here in Matthew 22. He said, the Son of Man must
needs go to Jerusalem. and there he'll suffer many things
at the hands of the chief priest, and he'll be put to death, but
he'll rise again on the third day. He also then said the virtually
identical thing to them in Matthew chapter 20. He said, we're going
up to Jerusalem. I've got to suffer. I've got
to die. Isn't it amazing that the disciples
Though they listened to the Savior for three years, though they
sat at His feet and learned tremendous amounts of knowledge from Him,
yet they still didn't comprehend the necessity of His death. If
I didn't know our own nature, it would baffle me. Because back
there in Matthew chapter 16, when our Lord told them that
he was going to Jerusalem to suffer, that's when Peter took
him aside and said, you can't go to Jerusalem. What is this
talk about death? I don't want to hear that kind
of talk anymore. And our Lord, he severely rebuked
him. And it reminds us that even people
who have been under the sound of the truth for years, they're
still learning. These men, did they love the
Savior? Well, sure they loved the Savior.
All of them except for Judas. They loved the Master. They believed
Him. They looked to Him. But they
still had a lot of ignorance. They still had a lot of foolish
ideas. And the Lord Jesus, though he
rebuked Peter and the rest of the disciples, he bore patiently
with their ignorance. In fact, back in Matthew 20,
when he announced to them again, he was going to Jerusalem, they
went on walking toward Jerusalem and they were grumbling about
something. And he asked me, he said, what
are you talking about? I said, well, who's going to
be greatest in the kingdom? And you just want to say to these
men, what in the world? You're walking with the master,
you're listening to him, you're listening to his teaching. Aren't
you getting what he's saying? But I fear that oftentimes we
don't get what he's saying. It is just a fact that all of
the people of God, when it comes to the spiritual things, we do
have to be taught. We've got to be taught to the
spirit. We're kind of slow learners, I guess you'd say, when it comes
to spiritual things. Our Lord, He's on His way to
Jerusalem, and of course in Matthew chapter 21, it's Monday, and
He makes His way into Jerusalem. This is the fulfillment of Zechariah
chapter 9 and verse 9, when He enters in riding on a donkey.
into the city. You say, well, they say it's
Sunday. Well, that's what religionists
say, but this is not Palm Sunday. It's Monday. It's Monday. If
you kind of look at things a little closer, you'll find out that
he entered into Jerusalem on Monday. And a great number of
people were there to escort him into the city. After all, this
is the time of Passover. There are three great feasts
during the year, Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles
that all the males, 12 years old and above, had to attend.
And there were upwards, they say, Josephus says 260,000 people
came into Jerusalem at this time of the year. This is the big
one, this is the Passover feast, instituted back in the book of
Exodus. And our Lord Jesus, He is entering
into Jerusalem because this is the time He's going to die. This is His, they call it the
Passion Week. This is Monday. Tuesday's gonna
go into the temple and teach. And Wednesday, He's gonna begin
to set forth these parables, including the parable that I
read to you from the 22nd chapter of Matthew. And then Thursday
he's going to spend the day teaching his disciples. And he'll be with
them all day Thursday and Thursday night. And then he's going to
go into the garden and there he's gonna pray in the garden
of Gethsemane. And then he's going to be arrested
early Friday morning. He's gonna be crucified Friday.
This is the week of his death. This is a week that everything's
been pointing to. You see, this is the event of
all events. This is what God ordained from
before the world began. And it's the reason He even made
the world. He made this earth on which our
Lord Jesus would be crucified. And He would redeem a people
unto Himself. This is the event of all events.
All eternity past. Look to this event. And all eternity
future looks back to this event. This is the most vital time in
the history of mankind. God's Son, He's going to Jerusalem. And He's going to die outside
the gates of the city. He's going to be hung on a tree
and He's going to die there in fulfillment of the Old Testament.
So our Lord makes His way into Jerusalem, and as He makes His
way into Jerusalem, people begin to say things like this. Look
at verse 9 of chapter 21. The multitudes that went before
and that followed, they cried out, Hosanna to the Son of David. Chapter 21, verse 9. Hosanna,
be propitious. That's the word, be merciful.
Literally, oh, save us. Oh, deliver us. You say, well,
that really sounds good. That sounds good. Well, He's
the only one who can save us spiritually, but I'm fully persuaded
these people still wanted an earthly salvation. They wanted
a rescue from Rome. But that's what they were saying,
blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna
in the highest. And when He comes into Jerusalem,
all the city was moved saying, who is this? See those Hosannas,
they shouted Hosannas so loud that that thundered throughout
the city all the way to the temple. And there's some fellows in the
temple, the chief priests, the Pharisees, the rulers of Israel,
They heard that. What is this Hosanna business? Be merciful, be propitious. Deliver us. And the city comes
to life. Who is this? Look at that man
riding on the back of that donkey. Look at all those thousands of
people who have flocked around. Who is this? If they'd been listening, they
would have known. But they didn't know him. The religious leaders didn't
know him. They're the ones who read the
Bible. They're the ones who studied the scriptures. They're the ones
who paid attention to all that the prophets wrote. Who is this? If they'd had any spiritual understanding,
they would see that this is the one who's fulfilling Old Testament
prophecies and Old Testament pictures and promises. Who is
this? Well, this is the Son of God. Who is this? This is the Son
of Man. The multitude said, verse 11,
This is Jesus. This is Jesus. He's the prophet
of Nazareth of Galilee. Then the next day, Tuesday, verse
12, he goes into the temple. And he proceeds to drive out
everybody who sold and bought and all the money changers. He just drove them out. He said
in verse 13, it's written, my house shall be called the house
of prayer. You've made it a den of thieves. And then all of a
sudden here come the sick people to him. Look at verse 13. They
said, verse 14, and the blind and the lame came to him in the
temple. He healed them all. You know, there never was anybody
who came to this great healer, the Lord Jesus, there was never
anybody who came to him for healing that he turned away. He healed
them all. Merciful. And then verse 15, when the chief
priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, And they
heard the children crying in the temple, Hosanna to the Son
of David, be propitious, be merciful, deliver us, save us. They were
sore displeased. They were upset. Why would you call on this man
to save you? He's just a man. We know his
mother and his daddy and his brothers and sisters. He didn't
even go to any of our schools. He didn't go to our theological
seminaries. He didn't sit at the feet of
any of our rabbis. He's a self-taught fool. He's
just a Galilean. He doesn't know anything. Sword is pleased. And the Lord Jesus said to them,
do you hear what these say? And Jesus said to them, yea,
have you never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
thou hast perfected praise? And verse 17, he left them. You're talking about judgment.
He left them. He left them. After all that
they had listened to, after all they had heard, after all they
had observed, after all the miracles that he performed, they still
turned thumbs down on Jesus of Nazareth. And he just walks away
and leaves them in their self-righteousness, in their religion, in their ritualism,
in all their ceremonies. You keep your laws. You go on
observing your Sabbath day. Here I am, I'm the Sabbath walking
among you. I'm the one who gives rest to
poor sinners. You go on observing your laws
and observing your ceremonies. He left them. He left them. And he goes to Bethany, spend
a little time with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Spend some time
with folks who loved Him, who believed Him, who worshiped Him,
who needed Him and needed His grace. You know where the Lord will
be found? Among those who need Him. Those who need Him. But you see, most people are
like those of Laodicea. We're rich. We're increased with
goods. We have need of nothing. We'll
need you. We'll need you. Well, in the morning, the next
day, he goes to the city and he's
hungry. He sees a fig tree. He came to
it and found nothing their own but leaves. Fig trees are unique
in the fact that even before the leaves come, the fruit begins
to form and then the leaf follows. But he sees a fig tree that's
got lots of leaves but has no figs on it. And he cursed it. Verse 19, he
said, let no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever. And presently
the fig tree withered away. You see, the fig tree is like
the Jewish nation. After all he had done for them,
after all he had taught them, after all the preaching, after
God sending them all the prophets and the word of God, all the
scripture, all the sacrifices, all the offerings, after all
he did for them, there's no fruit. No fruit of the Spirit. There's
no love for Christ Jesus. There's no joy in Him and who
He is. There's no faith. There's no
peace. He cursed the fig tree, just
like He cursed them. And He says in verse 22, and all
things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing you shall
receive. He says that to His people. Now
we get to verse 23, and then he comes to the temple again.
And here are the enemies of the gospel. Oh, they're always wanting
to spar with him verbally. They think they can handle him.
They consider him to be untaught and unlettered, while they were
greatly skilled in the scriptures. And that which they were absolutely
blind to was that the One who stood before them is God incarnate. He is the living Word. Come down
from heaven. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. And they dared to stand toe to
toe with Him and think that they could match wits with Him. They're
a bunch of fools. He's full of grace and full of
wisdom and full of knowledge. And they wouldn't listen to what
he had to say. Rather than shut their mouths
and open their ears, they shut their ears and opened their mouths. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes,
don't be rash with your mouth. You come into the house of God,
let your words be few. God's in heaven, you're on earth.
Shut your mouth and listen to God. Unfortunately, people won't
do that. They won't listen to God. In our day, people won't listen
to God. They grew up in Sunday school
and they learned John 3.16. All of a sudden, they're theologians
now. They know all there is to know. You can't teach them anything. Man alive, I wish I could find
some people who'd be willing to shut their mouths and open
their ears if God would open their ears. Maybe they'd learn
something. These guys are always mouthing
off with the Lord Jesus. No wonder they never learned
anything. They're busy talking. They loved
the sound of their voices and they hated the sound of his voice,
the voice of him who can raise the dead. with his voice. God help us to listen to him. So the issue arose about authority. Verse 23, when he was coming
to the temple, Wednesday now, the chief priests and the elders
of the people came unto him as he was teaching. They said, by
what authority, by what power Do you do these things? Who gave
you this authority? Who gave you this power? The
issue is authority. Jesus answered and said unto
them, I'll also ask you one thing, which if you'll tell me, I in
likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
The baptism of John, which these people would not submit to. The
baptism of John, he says, when was it? From heaven or men? Now the baptism of John was a
baptism in which people acknowledged their sinfulness, acknowledged
they needed the grace of God, and confessed their own sinfulness
in the need of the grace of God, believing the Lord in the waters
of baptism. Well, these religious fools,
they're not gonna do that. But they were smart enough to
know this. Verse 25, the baptism of John,
whence was it, from heaven or amen? They reasoned among themselves,
saying, now if we shall say, well, it's from heaven, then
he's gonna say to us, well, why didn't you believe him? What
was the message of John the Baptist? Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. Why didn't you believe him? But if we shall say of men, we fear the people, for all hold
John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus and said,
well, we just can't tell. And he said unto them, neither
tell I you by what authority I do these things. And then he begins to set forth
the first of three parables, which are generally identified
as judgmental parables. The first one is a parable of
two boys, two sons. Now each of these is intended
to set before them, hidden from their understanding, of course,
because he spoke in parables so that they really wouldn't
get what he was saying. He told these stories in order
to set before them and to set before us this evening that these
people who profess to know God and who looked good outwardly
to the outward eye, to the outward view, were within rotten to the
core. And he's going to expose them.
He says, verse eight, but what think ye? Can you imagine, here's
all these chief priests and elders and scribes, all these religious
big wheels. got their robes on, you know,
if as today have their backward collars standing out from everybody
else. And here they are, and he says,
well, what do you think? A certain man had two sons. He
came to the first and said, son, go work today in my vineyard. And he answered and said, I will
not. But afterward, he repented and
went. He came to the second, and he
said, likewise, and he answered and said, I go, sir, and went
not. And then he asked him, whither
of the two did the will of his father? And they said unto him,
well, the first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily
I say unto you, the publicans and the harlots will go into
the kingdom of God before you folks will. Here's all these religious leaders,
teachers, preachers, rabbis, educators in the theology schools,
the seminaries, and he says to them, I'm gonna tell you something,
the publicans and the harlots will go into the kingdom of God
before you will. Boy, you know that stung then. Oh. So, well, the Lord, He needs
to take a course on how to win friends and influence people,
doesn't He? He's just telling the truth. We're not trying to win friends
and influence people. We're trying to honor God. Trying
to glorify the Son of God. I'm trying to be honest with
people. You're no good, you're no good, and I'm no good. He's
good. He's good. And what he says is
the truth. There is no salvation except
in Jesus Christ. You go ahead and try to keep
your laws and keep your religious rituals and all of that sort
of thing, and go ahead and perish in your rebellion against God.
But as for me, by the grace of God, God having opened my ears
and opened my heart, I'm going to heed what He has to say and
seek His will. Look what he says in verse 32.
He said, John came to you in the way of righteousness. You
didn't believe him. But the publicans and the harlots
believed him. And ye, when ye had seen it,
ye repented not afterward that ye might believe him." You heard
John the Baptist preach. They did hear him. They didn't
hear him in the temple because he didn't preach in the temple.
They didn't hear him in a synagogue because he didn't preach in a
synagogue. He preached out in the wilderness. And even these
religious folks said, we're going to go out there and listen. That's
a powerful preacher out there is what we hear. And they went
out, but they didn't believe what He was preaching. They didn't
look to the Lamb of God. They had no interest in a Redeemer.
While they had studied since they were in early Sunday school
in Judaism, they had studied about Emmanuel coming. And Emmanuel
was there, and John the Baptist said, He's here, He's here, He's
come. They weren't interested. Our Lord looked them right in
the eyes and said, let me tell you something. The publicans
and the harlots going into the kingdom of God before you will. And then in verse 33, he gave
another parable. The word another means another
of the exact same kind. Same kind of parable. Same thing,
the same theme. He is exposing these guys for
their false religion. He said there was a certain householder.
He planted a vineyard, he hedged it round about, he digged a wine
press in it, he built a tower, he let it out to husbandmen,
he went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit
drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandman that they might
receive the fruits of it. The husbandman took his servants,
they beat one, killed another, and stoned another. It's like
in the Old Testament, the Lord sent his preachers, sent his
prophets, and he has a right to expect fruit for their labor. But rather than receive those
men and bow to the authority that God gave them and understand
they were spokesmen for God, they rejected them and they killed
them like Isaiah sought him asunder. They killed another, stoned another. Verse 36, again, he sent other
servants more than the first and they did the same to them
likewise. Our Lord even accused these religious
folks. He said, which of the prophets
did your forefathers not kill? Verse 37, but last of all, He
sent unto them His Son, saying, They'll reverence My Son. God
sent His Son. God sent all those prophets,
all those preachers, all those sin offerings, All those sacrifices
which could not put away sin, but pointed to the Lamb of God
whose death would. God sent His Son. But when the
husbandmen saw the Son, they said among themselves, this is
the heir. Come on, let's kill him. Let's
seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, they cast
him out of the vineyard, they killed him. When the Lord, therefore,
of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
And these religious leaders said, well, he'll miserably destroy
those wicked men, and he'll let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen,
which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. They didn't
realize they was denouncing themselves. And verse 42, Jesus said unto
them, and this is the passage Brandon read to us, did you never
read in the scripture? And that must have stung them,
because they read the scriptures every day. Did 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 it is marvelous. in our eyes, the stone, the rock,
the rock standing right in front of Him. God sent Him. Build all
your hope upon Him. He's the only solid foundation. Verse 43, therefore I send you
the kingdom of God's going to be taken from you. You've had
all these privileges. and it's gonna be given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. You see, Israel is like
a barren fig tree, bore no fruit. God's gonna take the gospel away
from him, which he did. Send it to the Gentiles to fulfill
God's eternal purpose of salvation. Verse 44, whosoever shall fall
on this stone shall be broken. Fall on him, fall on him. But you won't fall on him, he'll
fall on you and grind you to powder. When the
chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived
he was talking about them. And they would have laid hands
on him to kill him then, but they feared the multitude because
the multitude took him for a prophet. That leads us into the third
parable. And this, and I said this this
morning, it's all about honoring the king's son. That's what this
parable is about. It's what the Jews refused to
do. And I say the Jews as a whole.
Now there was a remnant according to the election of grace who
believed, whom God saved. But by and large, the nation
of Israel, the nation of Israel, they had no desire to listen
to Jesus Christ. They wanted to kill him. They
finally did kill him. But that was in the purpose of
God. So he again spoke to them in parables. He said, the kingdom
of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for
his son. He was going to honor his son. God's purpose from old eternity
is one. Now we don't read about the purposes
of God, but the purpose of God, the purpose of God is one. It's to exalt and honor His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Get that, it'll open up the whole
Bible to you. God's all about honoring His
Son. And there's scores of churches,
and I'm using that word churches quite liberally, There are scores
of churches, even today, where Jesus Christ the Lord was not
honored, He was not magnified, He was not glorified, His gospel
wasn't preached, there's no word about substitution, nothing about
His blood, nothing about His righteousness, only such talk
as do good for others and all kind of stuff like that. They're
not honoring the Son of God. Whatever we do in here, it must
be this. Honor God's Son. Otherwise, God
needs to shut this place down. The best thing that ever happened
to these so-called churches around here is God just shut the doors. They're not honoring the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, it's some good people that
they mean well. They've been lied to. They don't
know who God is. They're being led to feel sorry
for God. They're being led to feel sorry
for the Lord Jesus. They don't see Him as the successful
Savior, the Sovereign, who does His will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of men, and none can stay His hand
or say unto Him, What doest Thou? They don't see Him that way.
They see Him as needy. They see Him as frustrated. They
see Him as defeated. That's not the Jesus Christ of
the Bible. God's all about honoring His
Son. He must have the preeminence, and He does have the preeminence
in all the Word of God. So, verse 3. Or verse 2, the
kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king which made
a marriage for his son. The marriage is first of all,
His deity to humanity. There's the marriage. There's
the union. You see, these people, they should
have been celebrating, they should have been filled with jubilation
that God has come down here. He has wed Himself to humanity,
that He's made Himself the God-Man. Great without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. I didn't believe that. It's about
honoring him. It's about the marriage of deity
with humanity and the marriage of this God-man to a group of
people that God gave him before the world began. God put us in
Christ Jesus. He joined us in union. We're one with Him. That's a
union that will never be dissolved. There should be joy and celebration. God has joined Himself to humanity
and He's taken unto Himself a people that He loves with an everlasting
love. And He saves them by His blood
and by His grace. Oh, that ought to make people
happy. No, not these folks. Not these folks. Verse 3, he
sent forth his servants to call them. They were bidding to the
web, come and rejoice. Come to the gospel feast. But
they wouldn't come. Our Lord said in John 5, 40,
and ye will not come to me that you might have life. So he sent
other servants. Verse 4, saying, Tell them which
were bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner. Watch it, my oxen,
my fatlings are killed. All things are ready, come to
the marriage. The oxen and the fatlings were
killed in the Old Testament, all pointing to Jesus Christ.
Now that's done with. Now the Savior has come. Now
the Passover lamb is here. And he's going to give his life. And as a result of the grace
of God and the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus, there's
a grand and glorious gospel feast. And don't bring a thing to it. Because the King has provided
everything. Well, surely I need to bring
a covered dish to this feast. My grandma's recipe, I'm going
to bring that. No, don't do that. Don't do that. The King has provided for everything. And you see, this is the salvation
that the natural man just can't stomach. And it's all of grace. and all of God. Everything's ready. Come to the
marriage. Come and celebrate. Come and
rejoice. Come and feast. It's a feast
of as Isaiah says, fat things. Verse five, but they made light
of it. They went their ways. One to
his farm, another to his merchandise. Other things. The king said,
honor my son. Well, I just don't have time.
I got some work I got to do. But here's the summons of the
king. Honor my son. Well, I'm just too busy. Too
busy. Too busy to listen to the edict
of the king? The king says, honor my son.
Well, I've got a lot of irons in the fire. I'm sure the king
will understand. King's going to deal with you. Verse six. The remnant took his
servants and treated them spitefully and killed them. When the king
heard thereof, he was mad. He sent forth his armies. He
destroyed those murderers. He burned up their city. That's
what's going to happen to Jerusalem. A few short years from when this
took place, about 40 years later, In 70 AD, Roman General Titus
came in and he tore Jerusalem all to pieces. There wasn't even
one stone left standing upon another stone. And hundreds of
thousands of Jews were slaughtered. And he tells his servants, the
wedding is ready. The wedding is ready. but they which were bidden weren't
worthy. They're unworthy of this gospel
feast. They'd rather pull their self-righteous
robes that are rags tightly to themselves rather than say, take
this from me and give me the righteousness of Christ. They're
not worthy of this. So go ye, verse nine, go ye therefore
into the highways, and as many as you shall find, bid them come
to the marriage. And so those servants went out,
they went out into the highways, they gathered together, all as
many as they found, both good, both bad and good, morally bad
and morally good, and the wedding was furnished. You see, the unbelief
of some in no way affects the purpose of God. The wedding is
going to be furnished. Now, you may not be there. You
may not join in the celebration. You may not have a part in the
festivities. You may not feast at the banquet
of mercy, the banquet of grace, but some will. Some will. Verse 11, when the king came
in to see the guests, he saw a man who stood out from
everybody else because he didn't have on a wedding garment. He said to him, friend, how'd
you come in here not having a wedding garment? And the man is speechless. Speechless. Literally, the word
is muzzled. He just couldn't say anything. What
are you going to say before the king? Why didn't you hear my gospel? Why wouldn't you honor my son? Didn't I send you a Bible? Yes. Didn't I send you a preacher?
Yes. Weren't there others around you
who were listening and believing? Yes. Well, how dare you come before
me without a wedding garment? What are you going to say? When you stand before a holy
God, You'll be muzzled. And the king said to the servants,
bind him hand and foot, take him away, cast him into outer
darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. That's what happened to all those
Jewish leaders cast out of God's sight. But the wedding was furnished
with people who believed. And verse 14 tells us the reason
that they believed. Many are called, a lot of people
are called, general call of the gospel, but few are chosen. And this is what our Lord Jesus
does. He goes back to the very origin
of our salvation. Here's the reason why some people
believe. Here's the reason why some people
love to hear the grace of God. Here's the reason why some people
are delighted with the truth that salvation is of the Lord.
Because they were chosen. They were chosen. And I tell
you, if you believe tonight, you believe this glorious gospel
of Christ, and you come to the gospel table, and you feast,
and you eat, and it's so satisfying to you, so refreshing, and you
can celebrate, and you're just filled with jubilation, the fact
that Christ joined Himself to our nature, and that He would
choose you unto salvation, and that you would believe this wonderful
gospel. is to be traced to God's sovereign
grace. That's it. I don't care what
anybody else says. Let them fuss and yell and scream
and argue. I know better. And anybody who's
been saved by the grace of God, they know better than to think
that we had something to do with this. It's all of God's. Salvation is of the Lord. Bless
His holy name. Thankful He didn't pass us by
with His grace. Well, let's pray. Thank You, Father, for Your free
and sovereign grace. The only difference between us
and those who perish in hell is the grace of God given to
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. We owe everything
to you, O Lord. The gospel feast is of your preparation. The garment that we wear, the
garment of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, is the robe
that you gave us. The robe that He merited and
established for us by His obedience unto death, even the death of
the cross. We're nothing without Him. But
in Him we have all things. In Him we have a seat at the
table. In Him we feast on the glorious
gospel of redeeming grace. And our hearts are filled with
joy and jubilation. We celebrate. The union of divinity
with humanity. Jesus Christ, the God of glory,
joined Himself to our flesh and He's joined Himself to a people
more numerous than the stars of the sky and the sand on the
seashore. A people chosen unto salvation
in grace. A people who are loved of the
Lord, redeemed by blood, washed in that blood, and robed in the
garments of salvation. Thank you, Lord, for saving us,
for redeeming us. We give you the glory and the
praise and the honor. Thank you for the day we've had
of worship. For Jesus' sake, we thank you.