All right, let's go back to that
passage, Matthew 22, and let's study God's Word and worship
our Savior in His Word this morning. We're going to be talking about
the parable of the marriage feast. As you follow along, as Brother
Joe read in this passage, this is about a marriage feast, a
king. decided to give a certain king,
it says, made a marriage for his son. Now, this parable is
the third parable in a trilogy of parables that show several
things. One thing is the history of God's
dealings with Israel under the Old Covenant, as well as the
unbelief and the rebellion of the nation, the majority of the
nation. in those days, up to the day
of Jesus Christ, when the Savior came into this world. Scripture
says in John chapter 1, verse 11, He came into His own, and
His own received Him not. Most commentators will add this
word to that. They'll say He came into His
own nation. And that's true. And His own nation received Him
not. But that is a good description
of mankind by nature. Even His sheep did not receive
Him. until he brought them into the
boat. You didn't receive him. I didn't
receive him. By nature, none of us would if left to ourselves,
and we'll see that later on. I know men don't like for you
to say things like that, but truth is truth whether we like
it or not. And like the Apostle Paul told
the church at Galatia when they were moved away from the gospel
of God's grace in Christ and he issued forth the admonitions
that needed to be given. He said, am I your enemy? Because
I tell you the truth. Now, truth is truth. And it's
truth whether we believe it or not. And it's truth whether we
understand it or not. Now, that's so. So just keep
that in mind here. Well, up to the day of Jesus
Christ here, but also, he shows us why God cast off the nation
Israel. and sent the gospel to the Gentiles. And that's a good thing that
came out of a bad thing. That's exactly what that is.
Now, that shouldn't surprise us who are Christians. The Bible
teaches plainly that God overrules, sovereignly controls all things
for the good of His people and for His own glory. And if you
don't believe that, then don't ever quote Romans 8, 28 again. All things work together for
good to them that are the called of God, children of God, who
love God, who are the called according to His purpose. Do you know why all things work
together for good? It's because God's working all
things together for good. I mean, they're not just all
working together as if faith or chance or something out there
beyond Beyond us, you're just causing things to fall in place,
as the Muslims say, kismet. That's not what it is at all.
It's God, the sovereign God, working all things. There may
be many things in this truth and these truths, even in this
parable, that are difficult for us to understand. But this was
God's purpose from eternity, in His working all things according
to the counsel of His own will. In all of this, this was all
prophesied. Do you know everything about
this? About the rejection of the nation Israel of the prophets,
the Word of God, the Gospel, and even their rejection of the
Son of God incarnate when He comes. That was all prophesied
and predetermined by God in a way, His way for His glory to get
the Gospel to the Gentiles. Look back at Matthew 13. When
the disciples asked him to tell, tell us why you're speaking in
parables. And you remember there in Matthew
13, verse 11. Listen to this. He answered and said unto them,
and incidentally realize now, realize now that when you go
to scriptures like this, if you want to argue, realize that you're
not arguing with me. You're arguing with the Lord.
I didn't write this. I didn't write the Bible. I think
most of you knew that anyway. But here it is. He says, He answered
and said unto them, Because it is given, it's a gift unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But to them
it's not given. And he says in verse 12, For
whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more
abundance. But whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away,
even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in
parables, because they seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Esaias, or Isaiah, which saith, By hearing you shall
hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and
shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross," that means it's grown hard. And their ears are dull
of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
should understand with their heart, and should be converted,
and I should heal them." And he says, but blessed are your
eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear. Now, you can look
at scriptures like that, and you can take them one of two
ways. You can say, well, God is just a fortune teller. And
we know that's not true. In other words, God just looks
down, and He sees what's going to happen, He's just as subjected
to that as you are, or I am. Well, that's not the God of the
Bible. He's not a fortune teller. He doesn't have a crystal ball
that he looks in to see the future. God determines the future. Now, he does. He's in control,
folks. I had a fellow tell me one time,
he said, I don't believe in that predestination stuff. I said,
well, you don't believe the book of Revelation? He said, well,
I believe every word of it. I said, well, do you believe
those are things that might happen if, or those are things that
are going to happen no matter what? He said, I believe there
are things that are going to happen no matter what. And I
said, that's predestination. He said, well, I don't understand
that. I said, well, join the club.
Because that's God. That's God's business, you see.
You say, well, that doesn't sound fair. How does God hold men accountable?
He does. And responsible. You've got a
mind. You're listening to what I'm
saying. You have choices to make. We know if left to ourselves
what our choice will be. But God be merciful to me, the
sinner. And that's all we can do. Test
our poor souls at the feet of Christ and beg for mercy. And
I can tell you this from his words. He has never, ever turned
one mercy beggar away, and He never will. And you want to know
why? Because that's the gift that's
given. That's the product of His grace.
Well, this was all prophesied. Look back at Matthew 22 here
now. This was God's way. God's ways are just, and they're
right, and they're fair. Even if we don't understand it,
we may not see it as such. Let me tell you something now.
Fallen sinful man doesn't know what justice and fairness is.
Only God does. And whatever he does is just,
it's right, it's fair. Paul dealt with that in Romans
9, and it's the only place in the Bible you're going to find
any explanation at all on it. Where he says, who art thou,
O man, to argue against God? You just can't do it. You're
not on that level. I'm not on that level. None of
us are. So we read the Scriptures. We see things that cannot jive
in our finite minds. And what do we do? Well, we'll
either take it and make a false denial, make a false God, or
we'll just submit to it and beg for mercy. And that's what a
sinner saved by grace does. Well, he tells us here God holds
all who reject him responsible and accountable. And he reveals
that the cause of eternal damnation is unbelief. That's what he says. Now, as a nation, the gospel
was first preached and revealed to Israel in the types and shadows
of the Law of Moses, the Old Covenant. That law was a schoolmaster
to lead sinners to Christ. Then Christ himself came and
preached the gospel to the lost chief of the house of Israel.
And yet all this nation, with all its privileges, all of its
temporal blessings, despised and rejected the gospel of God's
grace in Christ. Now Gentiles, that doesn't mean
we're off the hook, because we were right there with them in
our rejection of the Messiah. Well, up until the time of A.D. 70, that nation existed, and
then God sent the Roman army into Jerusalem and destroyed
the temple, destroyed the city, and destroyed essentially that
nation. And it was for their unbelief.
Now, this parable speaks about that. And then at the end of
the parable, it brings it down and applies it to everybody who
rejects Christ. We see the destruction of Israel
for their rejection. Well, what does that mean to
me? Well, that means this, basically. If I don't have Christ, if I
reject Him, if I don't submit to Him and His blood and righteousness
is my whole salvation, then I'll be destroyed too. That's what
it means. He that believeth not. shall
be damned." Now let's look at the parable. Here it starts out,
verse 1, and incidentally, you might just recall back up in
the last two verses of the prior chapter, you remember what was
happening here. He told them two parables, talked
about the two sons, and then he told the parable of the wicked
fine dressers, and that all represented Israel who treated the prophets
badly, killed the prophets, and who rejected the Son of God.
And it says in verse 45 of the prior chapter, it says, when
the chief priest and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived
that he spoke of them. You know, somebody said, are
you talking about me? Brother Mahan said one time, a lady,
I think it was, said, were you talking, were you preaching at
me? And he said, were you here? So if you're here today, I'm
talking, you may not be here, but if you're here today, I'm
talking to you, OK? I'm talking to you. I'm talking
to myself. I preach it to myself, you know. It's not just you,
you, you, you know, on this thing. So he says in verse 46, but when
they sought to lay hands on him, that means they wanted to kill
him. Doesn't mean they want to pat him on the back. They wanted
to kill him. And it says they feared the multitude because
they took him for a prophet. So right then he goes into another
parable. You'd think he'd want to run.
But he goes into another parable. And it's really like the ultimate
parable that brings them in as well as all men by nature guilty
before God and in need of salvation by grace. And so he says, and
Jesus answered and spoke unto them by parables, again by parables. And here's what he said. Now
look at verse two here. He says, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to a certain king which made a marriage for his
son. There's a marriage for the son of a king. And this is the
key to the whole parable. And what's happening here is
this king is giving a marriage feast for his son, and his whole
purpose is this one thing. It's to honor the son. He's going to honor the son.
He's going to honor his son. And it says here, a certain king,
not just any king. This king is representative of
God the Father. And of course, then his son is
the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the Son
of God. So the Father giving a marriage
feast, a marriage to honor the Son. Now, my friend, let me tell
you something. This is one of the main issues
of this prayer. This is teaching what salvation and life here
on earth for a believer and life in eternity is all about. It's all about honoring the Son. That's the key. Unlocks the whole
door. Christ said, I'm the door. Here's
the key. Honor the Son. Whatever your view of religion,
whatever your view of salvation, whatever your view of obedience,
whatever your view of worship, whatever your view of anything,
if it does not honor the Son, this King is displeased. That's
right. and there's no salvation. So
this is to honor the Son. That's what it's all about. That's
why he said in John chapter 5, I'm putting all things, all judgment
into the hands of the Son that all men may honor the Son. That's
why he said in Philippians chapter 2, he's given a name which is
above every name so that every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The song of the redeemed
is related in Revelation chapter 5. Worthy is the Lamb. No man
was worthy to open the book, except the Lamb that was slain,
honored the Son, the crucified Son, the buried, the resurrected
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew 25, verse 6, when
the wedding is portrayed there, you know what they said? Behold,
the bridegroom cometh. Now, girls, when we perform a
wedding here, we play, here comes the bride. But not this one. This one's different. Actually,
the bride's in the background. Behold, here comes the groom. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. This is going to honor the son.
That's what this marriage piece is all about. Whereas in our
weddings, all attention is on the bride. And it should be. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not
trying to change weddings now. I'm not getting into that. The
groom, the only way you know who the groom is, he's the first
one on this side. But here, here comes the groom. That he, Colossians 1, that in
all things, he might have the what? Preeminence. John the Baptist
spoke it well. I'm not even worthy to untie
his shoes. I'm not the Messiah. He is. I
can baptize you back here with water, but he baptizes with the
power of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. He can save a sinner.
I can't. He must increase. I must decrease. That's the issue. Honor the Son. So that my thoughts of salvation,
if I claim to be a saved sinner, my thoughts of salvation and
my hope of salvation doesn't honor the Son, it's a false hope. That's why we sing, My hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, and
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. There's no honor for anything
else or anyone else, just Christ and Him crucified. That's why
we sing that in times like these, in all times. Isn't that right? Be very sure that your anchor
holds and grips the solid rock, that it honors the Son. That's
what the King is going to do. God the Father said, this is
my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Follow
Him. Rest in Him. Trust in Him. His
blood, His precious blood, incorruptible blood, His righteousness, that's
the only thing. And then look at verse 3 now.
Now, in verses 3 through 6, we have an invitation rejected.
Here's the king. He's going to honor his son with
his marriage feast. Look at what it says. Look at
verse 3. And he sent forth his servants to call them that were
bidden to the wedding. And here's a good phrase that
describes the depravity of man. And they would not come. That's man left to himself. Right
there. That's you and me left to ourselves.
we will not do it." Somebody says, well, I did it. Well, if you did, if you really
did, it wasn't of your own. It wasn't of your own will, was
it? You're no better than the ones who would not come by nature.
That's depravity. That's depravity right there.
That's sin. His servants here are his ministers,
like his prophets under the old covenant, his preachers. The
call, the invitation here, bid them, call them that were bidden.
That's the general call of the gospel preached to every creature.
You know, the gospel goes out. We've already seen in the parable
of the sower and the seed how the gospel goes out and it's
received in many different ways. Some ignore it. Some receive
it for a little while. Then when persecution comes,
they leave it. Some receive it for a little while and rejoice.
And then they get caught off in the affairs of the world.
They get distracted. And then there's what we call
the good ground hearer. That's the ones who are better
than everybody else, isn't it? No, sir. No, that's the ones
whom God has done his work of sovereign grace in their heart.
And plow that ground by conviction, showing them their sinfulness
and their need of mercy and grace. that causes them to look to Christ
and to Him alone. That's a product of God's grace.
But men, if left to ourselves, we will not come. Revelation
22, 17 says, The Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him
that heareth say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and
whosoever will. Let him take the water of life
freely. That's right. Anybody who wants it can have
it. Did you know that? Whosoever will. Somebody said,
we don't believe whosoever will. Oh, yes, I do. The problem is,
is that by nature all men are whosoever wants. They will not
come. They will not come. You see,
what's the problem? Men by nature are not willing.
They want salvation, but their own way. They want salvation,
but not God's way. They're not thirsty. He said,
blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,
they'll be filled. Are you hunger and thirst after
righteousness? Whose righteousness? Are you
trying to establish one of your own? That's deadly. Hunger and
thirst after Christ. That's what that's talking about.
Men by nature want some honor, some glory for themselves. But
you see, this marriage here is all about the Son. This is all
about Christ. This is not about you. It's not
about me. It's about Christ. If I have Christ, I have it all.
And then look at verse 4. He says, And again he sent forth
other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden. Behold,
I have prepared my dinner, my oxen, my fatlings are killed,
and all things are ready. See that? All things are ready
coming to the marriage. Back then, at a marriage feast,
everything was provided for the guest. Nobody brought anything.
Even the garment they would wear. There was a wedding garment that
the father provided. And they were not expected to
bring anything. In fact, if they did bring anything, it would
be an insult to the house. An insult to the father, an insult
to the groom. That's what it was. And here's
what he's saying. He says, I've prepared my dinner.
This is the work of the father and the son. It's already prepared. That's what salvation is by grace.
It's not what you have to do and what you have to bring. It's
what God has done and what he brings in Christ. He said, it's all things are
ready. This is what salvation is by grace. Everything that
God requires of me is already prepared and already ready in
Christ. He prepared it. He worked it.
Listen, He's my wisdom, He's my righteousness, He's my holiness,
and He's my redemption. Salvation's not conditioned on
me. It's not conditioned on you.
It's conditioned on Christ, and He fulfilled all conditions,
all requirements, all stipulations. Even so, in the gospel of Christ,
there's a proclamation of all things, all things prepared,
the table's ready, it's set. If you bring your own works,
you bring your own ways, it's an insult to the glory of God
and His Son. That's why, that's what keeps
men and women out of the kingdom of heaven. They want to bring
in their own works, their own experiences, their own goodness,
their own righteousness. God won't have it. You see, He's
already prepared it all. It's already established. It's
already in the Son. You know, if you have Christ,
you have it all. Why would you want to bring anything else?
They're telling the story of a baby that they found in the
back street of an alley. And he was dirty. He's filthy. He was hungry. He was cold. What did that baby need? Well,
he needed to be washed. He needed to be cleaned up. He
needed to be fed. He needed clothing. You know,
that baby really only needed one thing. A mother. If he had
a loving mother, he'd be washed. He'd be warm. He'd be clothed. And that's with us. We need all
those things, but if we have Christ, We have them all. We are washed, if we have Him,
washed in His blood. We're fed, and our thirst is
quenched, if we have Him. He's the bread of life. He's
the water of life. And we're clothed. We have His
garment of righteousness to keep us warm, if we have Christ. He
that spared not his own Son, how shall he not with Him also,
freely, unconditionally, without cause or cost, give us all things? Get ready. Look at verse 5. He says, 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. Now usually when
you see that word remnant in the Scriptures, it's talking
about a remnant of grace. But here it's not. It's talking
about how different people respond to the gospel. Just like in the
parable of the seed and the sower. Some made light of it. That means
they ignored it. That means they just didn't think
it was worth listening to. It's just not worth it. That's
not important. And then others went their way
to their farm. They had jobs they had to go
to. And that's not a bad thing to
go to your job. But don't neglect the most important
thing. And to their merchandise, to
their stores. And then what was left over? They were so angry,
they got mad, and they wanted to kill. They slew the preachers,
the prophets. Christ said they persecuted the
prophets. Israel made light of, ignored, and even persecuted
the prophets. Rejection of Christ can take many forms. Sometimes
it's just walking away unaffected. Sometimes it goes to the point
of anger, to the point of murder. Look at verse 7, now here's the
punishment of all who reject Christ. Verse 7, it says, But
when the king heard thereof, he was wroth, he was angry, and
he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and
burned up their city. Now I believe, and I believe
you can prove it historically and scripturally, that this is
a direct reference to the destruction of Israel in A.D. 70. The end
of the 70th week of Daniel, that Daniel prophesied that. And God
sent that army. It was the Roman army. They're
His army because they're in God's hands. They were instruments
of His justice unbeknownst to them. Yes, they were wicked and
idolatrous. But God even used them. Just
like He used Cyrus back in the Old Testament to deliver Israel
from Babylon. And He destroyed them. They got
what they deserved. Now, somebody says, well, I hope
I get what I deserve. I hope you don't. And I hope
I don't. If God gives any of us what we
deserve or what we've earned, where are we? We're going to
be destroyed. That's why we need grace. But
look at verse 8. He says, Then saith he to his
servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were
not worthy. Now, you know what false religion
does with that verse, don't you? They go to town on that one.
Who's worthy and who's unworthy? Well, he's already given us the
key to understand that. We know that none of us are worthy
in ourselves. Now, that's so. There's none
good, no, not one. None that doeth righteousness,
none righteous, no, not one. What is the key to worthiness?
Look back up in verse 2. The kingdom of heaven is likened
to a certain king which made a marriage for his son. What makes a sinner worthy? He
honors his son. That's our worthiness. The Son,
Christ, is worthy. My worthiness is not my own. It's Christ and Him crucified.
My worthiness is His blood to cleanse me, His righteousness
to clothe me. You see that? That's the glory
of God. I don't have any worthiness for
salvation. I don't have worthiness to do
anything but Christ. And if I don't preach Christ
to you, then I'm an unworthy preacher. And you're listening
to an unworthy message. In other words, unworthy, you
know what unworthy means? Pardon my French, but it ain't
worth nothing. That's what it means, unworthy,
worthless. You see, our only worthiness
is Christ. And these men don't want to honor
the Son. A sinner who's being convinced
of sin and his need of mercy, what's he going to do? He's going
to honor the Son, our Mercy Seeker. So don't forget the key that
unlocks the door here. See, that's what people do. They'll
go in there and read a verse and say, well, there it shows
it. I must be worthy. My soul. We're not worthy of
anything. We're worthless. Our only worthiness
before God is in Christ and Him crucified. So it says here in
verse 9, now here comes other guests invited. He says, go ye
therefore into the highways And as many as you shall find did
to the marriage," that refers to the calling of the Gentiles.
In other words, this is how the gospel went out. The gospel is
the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to
the Gentiles. Now, God had a people and has
a people among the Jews, but He has a people among the Gentiles.
But it was the general majority rejection of that nation by which
God overruled it and sent the gospel out to the Gentiles. And
so he says, Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as
you shall find, bid to the marriage. But I want you to notice here
in verse 10, it says, So those servants went out into the highways,
and gathered together all as many as they found. Now, did
you notice here what happened? Don't let this slip by you. The
servants went out into the highways, and it says, and gathered together
as many as they found. They gathered them. And the picture
here is not men who are better than the others responding positively
because they have some goodness in them. The picture here is
people being brought in by the power of God. That's what it
is. Brought in by the grace of God.
Gathered together. And look here, it says, as many
as they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was furnished
with guests. Bad and good. What he's teaching us here is
this. You say, well, both bad and good. He's bringing both
bad and good. The Bible says there's none good,
no, not one. Don't forget that. The Bible,
in essence, says that among men fallen in Adam, by nature, all
are bad. Even the best are the bad. They're
just better at being bad or better at appearing to be something
other than bad. But all bad. What's he talking
about here? He's talking about how men see
things. You see, there's none good, no not one, but you know
there's some who appear unto men to be good, religious. Christ
said this of the Pharisees, he said, outwardly you appear righteous
unto men. And when he talks about that,
he's going back to the same thing he said. to the Pharisees in
the earlier two parables, he said, the publicans and the harlots
will get into heaven before you. They'll get into the kingdom
before you. Those who are brought to repentance. But look here,
verse 10, the wedding was furnished with guests. The wedding was
what? It was furnished with guests. The purpose of God in salvation
does not depend upon man. And though the Jews rejected
God's Son, He had a remnant, according to the election of
grace, who gladly, by His grace, embraced Him. And although many
refused to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, every chosen, redeemed,
and regenerated sinner in the world, every one purposed by
God from eternity to be saved, shall be saved by Him, and shall
believe on Him." And I'm telling you, that's what the Bible teaches.
Now, how would you account for all this? Somebody says, well,
surely the ones who responded positively to the car better
than the ones who did not, who refused. Well, if that's so,
then don't speak to me of salvation by grace. God saves those who
are better than us. Well, we know that's not so.
We'll bring it down to its final point. All right, here it is.
Verse 11. Here's an intruder expelled.
Now, here's the issue of this parable. Here's what you need
to take out the doors today in your thoughts, in your mind. You can wrassle with God's sovereignty,
man's responsibility, until you're blue in the face. Come to me.
There's only three choices you've got there, and I'll tell you
all about them. Two of them deny God. The only right way, again,
is just fall at His feet and beg for mercy. But here's what
you take away from me. Everything's furnished in this
marriage feast, even the garment, the wedding garment. What garment
are you wearing? What garment am I wearing? Now,
look here. Look at verse 11. He says, When the king came in
to see the guest, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment. Now, do I have on the wedding
garment? That's what I need to know. That's what you need to
know. Do you have on the wedding garment? Verse 12, He saith unto
him, Friend, how camest thou in? How did you get in here? That's what he said. Not having
a wedding garment. And the man was speechless. Now,
if you don't have the wedding garment, it's going to stop your
mouth. Paul wrote about that in Romans 3.19. The law brings
in all men guilty before God, that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world guilty. You see, if you don't have on
the wedding garment, you cannot defend that. You cannot defend
it. You say, well, but I was baptized.
It doesn't matter. You don't have on a wedding garment. I joined the church. It doesn't
matter. I was moral. It doesn't matter. You don't have on the wedding
garment. I prayed a lot. I read my Bible. Went to Sunday
school. Got a pin. Look. He didn't say,
do you have your Sunday school pin on? He says, you don't have
a wedding garment on. What is the wedding garment?
Well, look here. He says in verse 13, Then said
the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him
away, and cast him in outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. That's the consequence of not having the wedding garment
on. What is this wedding garment?
Well, everything in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, points
to this wedding garment being the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, imputed, accounted, charged to a sinner. That's what
it is. I opened our service this morning
by reading Isaiah 61, verse 10, where he says, I will
greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. For he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth herself with her jewels." You know that whole chapter is
a prophecy of the coming of Christ and Him finishing His work on
the cross to save us from our sins? Christ told the Pharisees in
Matthew chapter 5, or He told the people in Matthew chapter
5 and verse 20 of the Pharisees, He said, I say unto you that
except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Turn to Romans chapter 9 with
me. And I could show you many, many
more scriptures on this, but I'll I know my time's about over,
and I want to conclude. I want you to go out of here
knowing exactly what that garment is and what it's not. That garment,
I heard a man on television, a woman, asking a question about
that parable and said, what is that wedding garment? And he
said, it's the righteous works of the saints here on earth.
Oh, no. Oh, no. If you're trying to weave
your own robe of righteousness to wear before God at judgment,
my friend, you'll be like a wedding guest that has no garment. Isaiah
64 says, Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God. I need one better than I can
ever weave together. I need one that has been weaved
together and worked out by the Son of God incarnate Himself,
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord of Righteousness. And this is what
this is all about. Look at Romans chapter 9, look
at verse 30. He says, What shall we say then,
that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of
faith? Now, notice he doesn't say there
the righteousness, which is faith. Some people say, well, God realizes
that we cannot make up what he requires. We can't do what holiness
and righteousness. So he will receive us on a lesser
ground, such as faith, believing. No, sir. He will receive a sinner
on the ground of the righteousness, which is our faith. Now, what
is that? Look at verse 31. He says, but
Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, they
were trying to be righteous by their works of the law, hath
not attained to the law of righteousness, the doctrine of righteousness.
Why? Verse 32. Because they sought
it not by faith. Yes, for to seek righteousness
by faith. But they didn't seek it by faith,
but as it were, by the works of the law. Now, here's my question. What is it to seek righteousness
by faith? Look at it. For they stumbled
at that stumbling stone." Now, who's that? That's a stumbling
stone back in the Old Testament prophecy of Christ. He's the
rock. He's the chief cornerstone. He's
the tridestone. He's the foundation stone, Isaiah
28, 16, and other passages. They stumbled at the stumbling
stone as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion, that's the church,
a stumbling stone and rock of offense. And whosoever believeth
on him, theirs are righteousness him. That Christ shall not be
ashamed. I now go on. This proves it.
Verse 1 of chapter 10. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God. They're religious now,
but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
Now, this righteousness of God, that's the garment we need. What
is that? Verse 4. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. You see, my believing doesn't
make me righteous. Christ is my righteousness. He's
my garment, my wedding garment. I'm washed in His blood and clothed
in His righteousness, and that's what I believe. Believing is
just an evidence that He is my righteousness. He's the object
of my faith. He's the end. That's the finishing
of the law. Now, back in Matthew 22, He closes
with this. He says in verse 14, For many
are called, but few are chosen. What does that mean? It means
this. It means it lays it all down
to its source, the sovereign purpose and power of God. There are many called. You hear
the gospel. You who are here today, you hear
what I'm saying. Somebody says, well, am I chosen?
A lot of people would rather that verse read, many are called,
but few have chosen. That's not what it says. It says
many are called, but few are chosen. Am I chosen? Is that
an issue? Yeah. How do you know? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That's it. Put on that wedding garment.
Put on Christ. That's what Galatians 3 says.
Those who have been baptized into Christ, united with Him,
placed in Him, they put on Christ. They believe on Him. They submit
to Him. They know, I have no righteousness
before God but Christ and Him crucified. My hope is built on
him. And that's the wedding garment
that we're to wear. All right. Let's sing hymn number
196 as our closing hymn. Blessed be the fountain. 196.