Let's look in the Bible with
me this morning to Matthew 22. Matthew 22. Read these 14 verses. Jesus answered and spake unto
them again by parables. Now he started the parable actually
in verse 28 of chapter 21. And it says there in verse 33
of chapter 21, here another parable. And the Pharisees understood
that he was speaking of them, the Jews. And Jesus answered
and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom
of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for
his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden
to the wedding, and they would not come. Again he sent forth
other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, behold,
I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed,
and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. But they
made light of it, went their ways, one to his farm, another
to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants,
and entreated them spitefully, and 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 you 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, and the wedding
was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to
see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment. And he saith unto him, Friend,
how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And
he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants,
bind him hand and foot, and take him away. cast him into outer
darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many
are called, but few are chosen. Look back here with me then in
Matthew 22. My subject this morning is the
wedding garment, the wedding garment. And our Lord Jesus Christ
spake in parables. Often, often, often spake in
parables. In fact, all of Matthew 13 is
just nothing but parables. Lots of parables. And a parable
is taking earthly things and using earthly things as illustrations
in order to convey a spiritual truth spiritual truth and often
he would use earthly things to teach us of spiritual things
like consider the lilies and then two sparrows when they go
to the ground are they not worth more than you so he often used
things that we understood so clearly and here he is he's using
a parable here and And he's often spake at parables, and the only
people who understand the parables was his people. But if you're
going to understand a parable, you need to see the analogy between
what he's saying and for the things that he's using. And he's
using truths often concerning the subject of the kingdom of
God, God's blessed kingdom. Now, a lot of people are waiting
for a kingdom to come. God has a kingdom on this earth
right now. He has a kingdom on this earth and he's the king
over a multitude of people on this earth that no man can number. I'm a subject of the king's kingdom. I belong to the kingdom of God.
I'm subject to a king. I'm subject to his word. I'm
subject to his will. I'm subject to his power, subject
to his wisdom, subject to him. He's the king. He's the ruler. He's the blessed one who has
a kingdom. No wonder he says, when we pray,
pray, thy kingdom come on earth. On earth. And may you will be
done on earth, even as it is in heaven. Way people obey you
in heaven, will you send your kingdom and cause your kingdom
to grow on earth. And may we do on earth what you,
the saints do in glory. But now here in this particular
parable, we have first, we have a king. A king, it says there
in verse two, the kingdom of heaven is like under a certain
king, which made a marriage for his son. The king is God the
father. The son is our Lord Jesus Christ. And he prepared a marriage for
his son. And that shows us the relationship
between the Lord Jesus Christ and his people. The union that
we have with our Lord Jesus Christ and his people. He even uses
marriage as an illustration to show how that we're bone of his
bone and flesh of his flesh. and that the only reason we have
marriage on this earth is to set forth what an intimate relationship
we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I and my Father are
one and you're one with us. We're one with Jesus Christ in
every way possible to be one with him. And then fourthly,
the servants He said he has sent forth his servants. The servants
are the apostles and preachers of the gospel that he sends forth. And the first people that's represented
in this parable is the Jews. The Jews, look in verse three,
and he sent forth his servants to call them that were bidding
to the wedding and they would not come. Again, he sent forth
other servants saying to them that were bidding. Already told. Behold, I've prepared my dinner.
My oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready. Come
unto the marriage. But they made light of it. Went
their ways. One to his farm, another to his
merchandise. And the remnant, the rest of
them, took his service and treated them spitefully. Despised them. Hated them. Slew them. And the
king, when he was wroth, he sent forth his armies and destroyed
them. And that's the same parable he
uses over here in Matthew 21. Look back up in verse 43 here
of Matthew 21. Therefore I say unto you, the
kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given unto a nation,
bringing forth the fruits thereof. What nations he talking about?
The Gentile people, Greek people, people like us. And he's going
to walk away if he's going to leave the Jews. And verse 45,
And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables,
they perceived that he spake of them. And they would have
laid salt to lay hands on him, but they feared the multitudes,
for they took him for a prophet. They already despised him. So
if they're going to despise him, you imagine how they treat his
people. And then you have the calling
of the Gentiles. Look what he says in verse nine
here of Matthew 22. Trying to set this thing up as
to who's who in this parable. Go you therefore into the highways
and as many as you shall find bid to the marriage. And oh,
listen, that's what he does. And then the wedding is furnished.
Look in verse 10. So those servants went out into
the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both
bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests." God's
gonna have people at His wedding feast. He's gonna have a multitude
of great... It was furnished. It was furnished. Everything was taken up. And
we have in this parable, as we do all the parables of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the gospel of grace. Now, no parable is perfect. No type is perfect. And this
parable isn't perfect, but it's got enough in it that I believe
we can learn some things for it. First of all, look what the
king provided. Look what he says here in verse
four. And again, he sent forth other service saying, tell them
which are bidden. Behold, I've prepared my dinner. My dinner, this is my feast.
I prepared this feast. Somebody else didn't do it, I
did it. This is God the Father talking here. And look what he
says, my oxen, my fatlings are killed. All things are ready. All everything's ready. There's
nothing lacking at this feast. Nothing lacking at the marriage
of his son. Nothing lacking compared to what
we need in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, it's my, I've prepared
the dinner. I've done it. And every, all
things. And he said, all things are ready. So come. You see,
the providing of the feast was entirely of his own doing. He called them my oxen, my fatlings. And look over here in Romans
8.32 with me. This is what I'm talking about.
This is what God's talking about here. It's what our Lord Jesus
Christ is talking about. Romans 8.32. God provided. The providing of the feast was
entirely His own. We don't bring anything to it.
Don't bring absolutely nothing. I mean, it's all ready. The table's
set. The food's on the table. Everything's
been slain. Everything's been prepared, all
things are ready. And look what he said here now
in Romans 8 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, Oh, this is what he prepared.
He that spared not his own son. What did he not spare him from?
He didn't spare him from Satan, didn't spare him from man, didn't
spare him from sin, didn't spare him from death, didn't spare
him from wrath, didn't spare him from justice, didn't spare
him from the cross. He did not spare his son. And oh, look what it says here.
But delivered him up, delivered him up. Here he is. Take it. And how shall he not turn around
and freely give us just like at that wedding? All things are
now ready. God provided himself a lamb.
And this provision was so great it included all things, all things. Let me show you something when
he talks about all things over in 1 Corinthians 3. Let me show
you when he talks about all things. Look what he says here. 1 Corinthians
3, when he talks about all things. 1 Corinthians 3, look what he says
here in verse 21. 1 Corinthians 3, 21. He said, therefore let no man
glory in men. Don't glory in preachers or apostles. Don't glory in, you know, they're
setting Paul and Apollos and Cephas and all of them. I like
Paul better than I do Apollos. And I like this one better than
I like that one better. He said don't glory in men. Don't
glory in men's gifts or abilities because all things are yours.
God called Paul for you. God called Apollos for you. God
called Cephas or Simon Peter for you. All the preachers are
for you. Huh? And everything, all things are
for you. And they all belong to you. Paul
belonged to us. And oh, we rejoice in what God
blessed him with. Our apologies. And the world,
this world is made for us. And God uses wicked men to feed
us? You think believers bake all
the bread? You think believers Raise all
the cattle? You think believers raise all
the hogs? All the wheat? All the corn? No! You think all
believers build airplanes? Trains? No! But everything in
this world God made and made the world for us. For us. And look what else he goes on
to say. Life. Oh, I give life. Our life belongs
to you. I have it and it's yours. And
death. You know what death is? It's
for you. Even death is for you. Death is for what? To take us
into the presence of God. To take us from this place to
the next place. We're strangers here. We're aliens
here. And even death is for us. all
didn't you know it's not and look what he says and things
present everything that's presence for you are things to come all
are yours and listen to this now and you're christ You belong to Christ. So there's nothing could possibly... We're more than conquerors through
Him. We always triumph through Him. And you are Christ. And
listen to this. And Christ is God's. That's why I said everything
belongs to you. Everything belongs to you. Everything in this world
is for you. It's yours. And oh, look what
he goes back over here in Matthew 22. And oh, what a great, great
feast. And we can bless the Lord for
what's provided for us in our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, all
things are ready. All things. What are all the
things? All the love that's in Christ. All the grace that's in Christ,
all the power, all the wisdom, all the righteousness, all the
holiness, all we need is found in our Lord Jesus Christ. And
in coming to the feast, and in coming to our Lord Jesus Christ,
you know what you find? You find yourself sitting at
the king's table. You find yourself provided for
by the King. You find yourself having a place
in the presence of the King. And you'll find yourself at the
marriage supper of the Lamb one of these days. You'll find rest,
you'll find shelter, you'll find satisfaction, and you'll find
fellowship in Him. And now look what else happened
now. Back over here in Matthew 22. And he says there in verse
four, in the last line of the verse, four words, and this is
a proclamation, come unto the marriage. He didn't say, would
you please come? I'd like for you to come. I'm
begging you to come. I don't know what I'll do if
you don't come. There'll be empty places at the table if you don't."
That's not what he said. He said, come. And you know what?
That's what he said. You send forth the service and
tell them to come. Tell them to come. And come unto
the marriage. And the proclamation, and it's
a proclamation. It's not a debate. It's not an
invitation. The invitation, if there is an
invitation that's given, it's in the gospel. When our Lord
Jesus Christ says, come unto me all you that labor and are
heavy laden, there's qualifications even to come unto Him. He says,
come unto me all you that are weak and heavy laden, all of
you that have a burden. all of you that none of you that
don't have any rest said come to me and i'll give you rest
and come to me and you'll find rest come to me and that burden
will be taken come to me and that heaviness will be taken
off of you and that's what he said and he says come unto the
wedding come unto the marriage and it's for all he says go out
into the highways and hedges and tell them to come And that's
what we do every time we preach calm. And look what he said down
in verse 10 here. So these servants went out into
the highways. They went out wherever they could
find people. And they gathered together all
as many as they found. Both bad and good. And the wedding
was furnished. When it says all bad and good,
that means the gospel. The gospel does not take notice
of our character. God does not look at men the
way we look at men. Some men, you know, He said,
here are the good and the bad. God don't look, He's no respective
person. He ain't looking at you good.
He ain't looking at you bad. He's looking for people and it's
people that's in Christ and will come to Christ. And God's no
respective person. It says, together as many as. As many as they found. And that's
what we're after. We're after God's sheep. We're
after the Lord's people. We're after sinners. We're after
people to come to a supper. We're after people to come to
a feast. To come to a place where there's
grace, mercy, peace, righteousness, acceptance with God. And all,
whether it's the vilest or the virtuous, all are carried. called to the same way to the
same marriage. And all, listen, and here's how
people react. You know how most people react
to the message? How they react to the gospel?
The servants went, look what it says. He said, go to the servants
in verse three. He sent forth his servants, sent
forth his preachers, sent forth the apostles to call them that
were bidden to the wedding. They were asked to come. They
were bidden to come to this wedding. These were people that were invited.
And look what the first thing it says about them, they would
not. They would not. They would not. Our Lord says,
you will not come to me that you might have life. You won't
do it. You will not come to me. And
then look what it says down here in verse five. But they made
light of it. They sent the servants again.
Tell them everything's ready. The dinner's ready. The oxen's
on the table. The fatlings are killed. All
things are ready. Come unto the marriage. But they
made light of it. Made light of it. I read to you,
we as tonight, we're Solomon. I mean, Hezekiah sent out a message
to everybody. Said we're going to have the
first Passover that we haven't had in years and years and years
and years. And he sent out a message. We're
going to have a Passover. We're going to, we're going to
slay the lambs. We're going to do what God told
us. We're going to have a Passover. And he sent out posts to all
over Israel. And you know what it says in
2nd Chronicles 30 and verse 10? It says, and some of them laughed
them to scorn and run them off. Made light of it. And that's
what they say they make light of. You talk about make light
of a lot of things, but don't make light of God. Don't make
light of the gospel. Don't make light of your need
of Christ. Don't make light of your sin.
Don't make light of how desperately lost you are. Don't make light
of what a condition you are before God. Don't ever make light of
any of the things of God. And oh, listen, and now say they
made light of it. And then it says here, and they
went their ways. They went their ways. They wasn't
interested in what God had, or what that table had, or what
that feast was, and all the preparation that went into it. All the love
and care that went into it. They didn't care. And they went
their ways. And look what else it says here.
One to his farm. God don't care if you have a
farm. They don't care if you have merchandise. But when you walk away from the
gospel for those things, when you walk away from the gospel
and refuse the gospel, and you'd rather do the things of the world
and care for the things of the world, you're in trouble. To make light
of it and say, well, listen, I've got things. There's a place
over there where it says, In Luke 14, it's the same thing
here. And it says, you know, one went
to his farm and one said, I can't come. I've married a wife. Another said, I can't come. I
bought five yoke of oxen. Another says, well, I've got
to go take care of my farm. And I call that three fools and
a henpecked husband. And that's the way people are.
They're fools. A man's a fool that'll walk away
from the gospel after he's heard it. that would rather have anything
than Christ, but they will. They will. And that's why he
said he sent his servants to tell them. That's why God calls
preachers for us, to tell them. To tell them, I married a wife.
That's a, what an awful excuse to, what a horrible thing to
keep away from Christ with. What reasons do people
give for not coming here in the gospel? I've got to go here,
I've got to go there, I've got to do this, I've got to do that,
my kid's over here, my kid's involved in that, my children's
over here, my husband's over there, my wife's over here, and
I've got this to go, I've got that to go, and I've got all
these places to go and things to do. And one of these days,
you'll go one of these days and you'll draw your last breath
and God won't be anywhere near you. That's a frightening thing
to think of. Oh, look what else it says about
them. And then in verse 6 it says, look what this, and the
rest of them that was left that they were bidden, they took his
servants. And what'd they do? They treated
them spitefully. Well, who in the world you are
to preach to me? Who in the world you think you're better than
me? No, no, there's not a child of God think they're better than
anybody else. They know that the only difference in them is
God made it to be different. The only reason that we're any
different from anybody else is God made us to differ. May God
make you to differ. If we know anything at all, God
had to be the one to teach it to us. But oh, they treat preachers
bad and they treated his servants spitefully. Spitefully. But oh, look what happens now.
Look what happens. Their reaction to the message.
They wouldn't come. They all went their ways, made
light of it. But look down verse 11. There was an inspection. God's
doing the inspection. What he said in verse 11. And
when the king came in to see the guest, the king came in to see the guest.
You see back up in verse 10, it says, and the wedding was
furnished with guests. So the king came in to look at
the guests. Huh? Oh, all who come to the
marriage feast, to the wedding, they expect to see the king.
They expect to see the person who told them to come to the
wedding. That's who they expect to see. And the wedding was furnished. And I tell you what, his eyes
run to and fro. And He comes to see, to welcome
all those who have believed His Word through His service. And
let me show you something over here in Psalm 139. Look at this. This is something that's a comfort
to the Lord's people. That's a great, great comfort
to the Lord's people. And look what it says here in
verse 7. Psalm 139, 7. This is a great blessing to the
Lord's people. But it won't be a blessing to
nobody else but them. David said here, said, Oh Lord,
thou hast searched me and known me. You know my down setting
and my uprising in verse one and two. You understand my thoughts
afar off. You got my path wrapped around
and my lying down and you're acquainted with all my ways.
And said, that's what you know. He said, everything there is
about me, you know, you understand everything about me. You searched
me and know me. And he says, where shall I free, flee? Where
shall I go from thy spirit? Where can I go where you're not?
Where shall I flee from your presence? Where can I go where
you're not? If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the
other, if I take the wings of the morning, I go way up there
in the morning. Or I dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.
I go in over the boat and I go way out in the ocean. Even thy
hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
surely the darkness shall cover me, God can't see in the dark. Even the night shall be light
about me, even when the night comes around, it'll be just like
light to you. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and
light are both alike to thee. In other words, there's no place
you can go where God ain't. Maurice Montgomery's daddy, Hubert,
told him, Maurice went off to the Air Force, young, young man. And his daddy told him, he says,
son, no matter where you go, God's there too, you know. Wherever
you go, God's there too. If you go to the Philippines,
God's there too. Wherever you go, God's gonna
be, and you remember that. Whatever you do, God's watching
you. Whatever you think, God hears it. Whatever goes through
your mind, God's listening. And you say, well, it's dark.
Day and night, just like to Him. Just like to Him. And He comes
to see the guests, back over in verse 22, chapter 22. He came
to those guests and those believed His word. And our Lord reveals
Himself to His own. to those who, when the preachers
go out and they say, come, and they say, oh yes, I'd love to
come. Oh my, what a feast, oh, I'd love to come. And oh, I'll
tell you what, and they rejoiced seeing the king, or they dreaded
one or the other. That's why our Lord Jesus told
Martha, said, didn't I tell you when she said, oh Lord, if you
had been here, my brother had not died? And he said, Martha,
didn't I tell you if thou wouldst believe, thou wouldst see the
glory of God? you just believe you see the
glory of God and then not only did he inspect but look what
he saw look what he detected in verse 11 and when the king
came in to see the guest he knows all everybody that's there he
saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment he saw a
man which had not on a wedding garment Oh, there was only one. And that
wedding is furnished. There's only one man. But that
all-seeing eye of the king saw him. Saw him. Looked at him. And the man was conspicuous,
not for what he had, but for what he didn't have. He didn't
have a wedding garment. You know, all of y'all been to
weddings, and all the bridesmaids wear the same dresses, and the
groomsmen and all that, the best men, they all dress alike. And
he said, that's the way it is in the king's presence. Everybody's
got to be dressed just alike. Got to have on the same clothes. Got to have on a wedding garment.
And this wedding garment was part of the king's provision.
When you come to the wedding, he has a garment that you put
on. And there's a garment that the king provides for you and
the king puts it on you. Well, this fella come in and
he just walked on through and he said, oh, I don't need that
garment. My clothes are just fine. I look just, I look fine
with what I got on. What do I need that garment for?
My clothes are clean. I'm dressed nice enough for anybody. I can be in the presence of the
king with what I got on. But oh my, when he went through
there and there, he didn't take that wedding garment? You see,
beloved, it's not merely enough that we believe the gospel. We must have what that wedding
garment represents. And you know what that wedding
garment represents? It represents the righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the only righteousness
that there is that God will accept in His only presence. You gotta
have a righteousness that He provides, a garment that He puts
on you. It's like the prodigal, when
he come in, he said, take the best robe and put it on him. Put it on him. And I tell you,
mingling with God's people doesn't make us fit to meet the King. Being among God's people, that
don't make you fit to be with the King. That doesn't make you
fit to be with the King. Coming in among the Lord's people
and feeling comfortable about them without a wedding garment
on, that's a dangerous place to be. And just being mingling
among God's people and being around the Lord's people, that
don't make you fit to meet the King. And I'll tell you what, The service
never detected him. The service never saw that he,
they didn't know that he didn't have a wedding garment on. Those
fellas that went out and told him to come, they didn't know
he didn't have a wedding garment on. They didn't know that Judas
was the betrayer. They didn't know. And that's
why, and you know, and we, they, we don't, we don't know. But oh my. You won't escape the
eye of him who sees everything. Look what he says in verse 12.
Look how he addresses this man. Oh, you're talking about a merciful,
gracious Lord we have. And he saith unto him, friend.
First thing he said to him, friend. Friend. How did you, how come
you in here? How camest thou in here not having
a wedding garment? Friend, you called him a friend.
You know, there was another man. Look over here in Matthew 26
that he called a friend. Matthew 26 and verse 49. There's another man he called
a friend. Look in verse 47 with me, Matthew
26, 47. And while he yet spake, he's
out in the garden of Gethsemane. Lo, Judas, one of the twelve,
came with him, and a great multitude with swords and staves from the
chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed
him gave them a sign, said, this is the sign that you'll see,
saying, whomsoever I shall kiss, that same as he, hold him fast. And forthwith, this is Judas,
he came to Jesus and said, hail, master, and kissed him. And look what our Lord said to
him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou gone? Then they came and laid hands
on Jesus and took him away. That's the same thing that they're
saying here. How camest thou here without a wedding garment?
Everybody else has got them. You ought to be conspicuous.
It ought to be conspicuous to you that you're in here without
one. You ought to understand that you're not dressed like
the rest of the people here. You ought to understand that
there's a feast here and you don't have on what it takes to
make the king accept you, to be accepted in the beloved. But
he doesn't take him by the throat. He doesn't grab him and throw
him out. Listen to what he does. He uses tender, compassionate
language, but at the same time, he is faithful and just, and
he'll treat everyone as they justly deserve. And he says,
friend, how came us down here having not a wedding garment?
Now, let me tell you something. It wasn't the king's fault that
he refused the wedding garment. It wasn't the servant's fault
that he thought his garments were sufficient enough for the
king's fault that he thought his garments were sufficient
enough, that they look good enough. He brought them Himself. He come
in with His own garments on Him. What's wrong with them? Well,
I'll show you in Romans 10. I'll show you what's wrong with
them. You know what? Amos said this, while you're
turning to Romans 10. Amos said, you know, I gave you
cleanness of teeth. I sent famine. I sent storms. I sent enemies among you. And
for all that, you never turn to me. And you know what he says
now? Prepare to meet thy God. I've said, I've done everything. I've said famine. I said fatness. I said storms. I said sunshine. I said light, I said darkness,
I said everything that you could possibly do for people. I did
it for you and you still did not listen to anything I... When
I sent you famine, did it make you turn to me? No. When I sent
you beautiful sunshine and health, did it make you turn to me? No. When I sent you sickness, did
it make you turn to me? No. When I sent storms, did it
make you turn to me? No. When I sent enemies among
you, did it make you turn to me? No. He said, well, I'll tell
you what you got now. Prepare to meet thy God. Prepare to meet thy God. Look
what he said in Romans 10. Paul's talking here and he says,
this is what we're talking about. All things are yours. This is
for us. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. I want to see my people
saved. I want to see sinners saved.
For I bear them record. I mean, I can go on record right
before God Himself that these people, these Jews, these religious
people, they have a zeal of God. But that zeal is not according
to knowledge. It's not according to... They're
ignorant of what? Well, they're ignorant of God's
righteousness. They're ignorant of the righteousness that God
demands and the righteousness God gives. How do you know they're
ignorant of it? They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. They came into the wedding with
their own clothes on. They came into the wedding without
a wedding garment. They come with their own righteousness. Establish it. And they say, you know, people
honestly think. And preachers is what's caused
this and by nature. This is man by nature. Man by
nature think he will be acceptable to God when he gets to the end
of his life. He's an Armenian by nature. He's self-righteous
by nature. He's proud by nature. And some way, somehow, they think
that they're going to go through life and they're not going to
bother anybody, they're going to mind their own business, they're
going to do the best they can, and that will make them accepted
of God in the end. And that's what the Jews thought.
Well, we've got our own righteousness. We've labored hard for it. We've
kept the law. We've fasted. We've prayed. We've tied. We've been going
to the synagogue every Saturday, every Sabbath from the time we
was babies. And Paul said, Oh, listen, but
you're so ignorant. You're so ignorant. What are
you ignorant of? God. What are you ignorant about?
God. That he demands righteousness and righteousness from the day
you're born to the day you leave this world. And where are you
going to get that righteousness? You can't have it in yourself.
And they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.
What is the righteousness of God? Here it is. For Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. Not to the fellow that does.
It don't say anything about doing there, does it? You know what
it says? To everyone that believes. Everybody
went into that kingdom. Everybody went to that feast.
That king said, here's a wedding garment. Oh boy, this is wonderful,
this is wonderful. And the one fellow went in there
and said, I don't need that. And oh, listen. And he brought
them, I brought them myself, that's what he said. The wedding
garment represents anything which is indispensable to a Christian.
That's what's indispensable to us as believers. is the wedding
garment, absolutely indispensable. But that heart that hasn't been
renewed by the Spirit of God is unwilling to believe it, accept
it, rejoice in it, and be clothed in it. And by not wearing a wedding
garment, you know what this man said? He said, I don't care what
the king wants. I don't care what the king wants. I don't have to be loyal to him.
I don't have to wear his garments. Mine's good enough for anybody.
But look what happens now, verse 12. And he saith unto him, Friend,
how camest thou in here, not having a wedding garment? Look
what he said. And he was speechless. Speechless. Speechless. And ain't that's what happened
to every believer in this building today, that when God got through
with us taught us the gospel of his free grace in Christ,
he made us speechless. We didn't have anything else
to say about ourselves, did we? Uh-uh. We agreed with him. Here
he was self-condemned before the court, before the king, of
which there was no appeal. He's speechless, absolutely speechless. What's he going to say? What's
he going to say? Huh? He may have been standing
there talking to everybody, making fine speeches, having a wonderful
time, but when the king came in and said, you don't have a
wedding garment on. His mouth shut up just like that.
Stopped his mouth just like that. And I'll tell you something,
nobody jumped up and started saying, well, wait a minute,
wait a minute, wait a minute. Nobody's jumped up to try to
plead his cause. Nobody jumped up and said, well,
You know, Lord, he's ignorant. The service told him. And all
the rest of the guests, they're speechless too. What are they
going to say in his defense? What are they going to say in
his defense? And I'll tell you something else
that said here he's speechless. You know what he didn't say? He didn't
say, well, listen, you got a wedding garment? Oh, please give me one
of them wedding garments. He never said that. He doesn't
ask for mercy. He doesn't ask for a wedding
garment. His case is absolutely hopeless now. His refuge of lies
are swept away. His hiding place is exposed.
Then look what happens to him in verse 13. This is tough. This is tough. Then said the king to his servants, You know, it says, we shall judge
the world. Bind him hand and foot. Bind him hand and foot. Take him away. Take him away. Take him away. And cast him, throw him, cast
him into outer darkness. And there's just nothing but
weeping And fellas just grinding their teeth, grinding their teeth,
grinding their teeth. The man who despises the king's
garments, this fella never tasted one bite of that feast that was
prepared. Think of everything that was taken from him. Everything
that was taken from him. Everything that ever hope he
had was gone. Ever thought about himself, gone. Where'd they say, where'd you
say put him at? Into outer darkness. Outer darkness. Outer darkness. Man's born in the darkness of
sin and depravity. Send him into the darkness of
hopeless despair. the darkness of a godless, godless
world. One moment he's there with all
the fellow guests, one moment he's there talking, and the next
he's in outer darkness. Instead of being at the feast,
he's the place where everybody's crying. He's at the place where
everybody's teeth are grinding. What an awful place to be. Wedding
garment. All over a wedding garment. Feast
was ready. God prepared it. Grace is on the table. Righteousness
on the table. Love is on the table. Mercy is
on the table. Justice on the table. Hope, love,
mercy, kindness, tenderness, long-suffering, compassion, holiness,
Everything that was needed was on that table. And that fellow
said, don't need it, don't need it. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, I pray that you'd be pleased to take this
message, these words of Christ, these words of our Lord Jesus
himself, the words of God, cause them to find a lodging place
in the heart, in the mind, in the soul. Father, if the Holy Spirit don't
take the things of Christ and show them to us, we'll never
see them. So, O Holy Spirit, take the things
of Christ, take these words, cause them to bring forth fruit,
cause it to bring forth fruit. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen.