Turn back to Matthew chapter
22, the title of the message, The King Honors His Son. The King honors his son. We have before us a parable of
a king that is going to honor his son. And this is the heart of this
parable. Don't miss this or you'll miss
the whole parable. The whole parable is this. The
son is going to be honored in a marriage feast and the king
is going to do this. If we miss this, we miss the
purpose of the Bible. The whole purpose of the Word
of God is to honor the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that which is first and foremost
in our preaching this morning, tonight, is to honor the Son. Our purpose for being here this
morning in this service is to honor the Son. We have to be clear on this one
point, or we miss it all. It's for the honor of the Son. God is not trying to get men
saved so that they will miss hell and go to heaven. All that
the Father is doing, all that is going on, all whom He shall
save, is for the glory and honor of His Son. That's what it's
for. and saving sinners. That's for the honor of His Son.
We are forgiven. Why? Our sakes? It doesn't say that, does it?
We are forgiven for Christ's sake. For the honor and glory
of Christ, we are forgiven. So the purpose of this parable,
this message, this service, is for the honor of the Son. And
Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and he
said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which
made a marriage for his son. Now, our Lord could have spoken
to them in such language that would have held them spellbound.
He could have done that. However, when he came in the
flesh, He spoke in such simple language that even children could
understand it. He would take a simple parable,
an earthly illustration to give a heavenly truth. He spoke so
simply. And if he spoke that way, how
much more should I speak that way? To just use simple Bible
language in preaching the gospel. Now in verse 2, he says, the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage
for his son. As I have already said, the purpose
of this is to honor his son. Listen to this scripture, John
5, 23, that all men should honor the son even as they honor the
father. He that honoreth not the son
on earth not the Father which hath sent him." This is the purpose
of it. Colossians chapter 1 verses 16
and 17. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him. This world, this
earth, was not created for me and you. It was created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. All things are held together
right now. The universe, this world, is
held together by the Son of God, by His power. And there are many
other scriptures. that tell us and prove to us
that all things are for the honor of the Son. And the Word of God
is very clear on this matter of the honoring of Christ, even
as we would honor the Father. He's going to be honored as our
Redeemer. He's going to be honored as the Mediator. He's going to
be honored as the King Priest. He's going to be honored as all
in all. all in all. Now, how's he going to honor
the Son? How's the King going to honor the Son? Well, it says
here, by marriage. By marriage and by marriage feast.
He's going to give a feast in honor of His Son. And He calls
many to this feast. And as in all marriages, there's
a covenant. And in this covenant, It's a
covenant of grace. It's a covenant of mercy. And
then in all marriages, there is a union. Two shall be made what? One flesh.
Well, in this marriage, the nature of the son is going to be taken
in union to the nature of the bride. There's going to be one.
We are going to be made one with the son. become bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh, and we are going to be born of the Spirit. There's a real union between
Christ and His bride, a real union. And the time has come
for the Son to receive His rightful honor in this marriage arranged
by His Father. This is a prearranged marriage. The bride was chosen by the Father. And so the father. Which is the one the king represents
here, he sent forth his servants. To call them that were bidden
to the wedding. And they would not come. He sent out his servants, the
king sends out his servants with a message. An invitation, if
you would. You know, if you're going to
have a wedding in the family, you you send out invitations
to people to come to the wedding. In honor of your son or daughter,
in our case. But in this case, it's in the
honor of the son. And so he sends this out. You know, but listen,
when the king sends out an invitation, that's a command. Now, see, if
I send out an invitation, it is an invitation. And if you
don't come, there's really not going to be any consequences.
I might be a little I might be a little upset about it, but
that's all right. I don't put food on your table.
So you can get over that and I can get over it. But when the
King of Glory, when God Almighty sends out an invitation, that
invitation is a command throughout the kingdom to come to this wedding
feast, to come to this place. Think about this. A royal invitation
sent out to come to the palace. and honor the son to feast at
the king's table of mercy. And they would not. Now, what
would you do if you were the king and you're going to honor
your son? And the ones you sent the invitations
out to the command out to and not one of them. You know, as we as we read, not
one of them showed up. Not one of them came. Not a one. The Jews had the gospel
preached to them first, but the Jewish nation as a whole rejected
him. He came into his own and his
own received him not. And by doing this, they showed
their disloyalty to the king. They professed to know God, but
they didn't know him. And they proved it right here. They professed to love God, but
they didn't love him. They proved it right here. This
is a spirit of treason. This is the heir. This is the
son. This is the one who's going to
reign. This is the one who who is the heir of all things. Come,
he says, come and honor my son. And they would not. Didn't say
they could not. They would not. They would not. Everyone who perishes under the
wrath of God is everyone who would not. They would not come
and honor the Son. They would not have anything
to do with Him. When we read this, I know we,
I know our thoughts is how stupid? No, really, how stupid? Not to show up and honor the
king's son? We have 365 days in a year that
we can visit the farm? That we can have our business
open? Because you'll see that one went to the farm and the
other went to the merchandise. 365 days in a year! But they could not spare one
day to honor the son. How sad. That is human depravity,
not one day to honor the one who gives them breath, life,
everything they have, everything we have has been given to us
by the Lord of glory, by the Lord Jesus Christ. His reign falls on the just and
the unjust and cannot take one day, not even one day to come
and honor the Son, show up at the feast. And it is just that
too. It's a feast. They are invited
to a feast. But they would not. Now apply
this to all those who refuse to bow to Christ and give Him
the glory due to His name, even in this day, even in our day. Every time the gospel is preached, every time it's preached, Men
are bidden to honor the Son, to believe on the Son. And not
to do this, not to do this will bring the wrath of the King.
And rightfully so. Rightfully so. Wouldn't you agree?
Well, you know you agree. You think, man, those people
must be nuts. And yet people sit under the
gospel week after week. The gospel goes out, the call
goes out, and they would not. Have nothing to do with it. Nothing
to do with it. They would not. Christ said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. You will
not. And the reason is men love darkness
rather than light. They love darkness rather than
the sun. They love their temporal things more than they love eternal
things. But note the graciousness of
the king. Again, He sent forth other servants. It's like back
in the last parable. They slew one, mistreated the
others, and He sent them other servants. He sent forth other
servants saying, tell them which are bidden. Oh, the long-suffering. The long-suffering of God amazes
me and as I get older, as I grow older, That is one of the attributes,
you know, your love of God, the grace of God. And I tell you,
the long-suffering of God amazes me. It amazes me how in the world
he puts up with this. How does he put up with such
ingratitude? How does he put up with such indifference? Man,
the long-suffering of God is just astounding to me how he
even puts up with me. But he sends forth other servants.
He sends forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidding,
Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed. The lamb is slain. The sacrifice
has been offered. The blood has been shed. Come! That's why he's saying, Come!
All things are ready. Come. So he says, all things
are ready. Come unto the marriage. But I
got something else better to do. I had something planned today.
You know, we've all done that. You ever been invited somewhere
and you just had something else better you wanted to do? Well, at least
to you it was better. Well, this was done here to the
king's son. First he sent his prophets to
Israel. This is speaking to Israel, but
it applies to all. It applies to us all. Then he
sent his apostles, and they would not. Our Lord said this, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee together, but you
would not. How often has a call gone out,
but you would not. You would not. I have prepared. Who prepared this? I, personally,
the King. I have prepared. This is a dinner
prepared by God. This is a feast. A feast of grace,
a feast of mercy, a feast on Christ. He's the portion we feast
on. And He's been provided. God will
provide Himself a lamb. He provided all of it. You don't
have to bring anything but an appetite. Oh, everyone is thirsty. Come ye to the waters. Freely. Freely, he says, I give. I prepared
it. The whole work of salvation is
of God. The feast is all on Him. The feast is all on Him. Wouldn't
you ladies enjoy it if we had a conference and we came here
and the feast was already done? Wouldn't you enjoy that? You
didn't have to clean up anything or bring anything. Just show
up. Show up. That's what God says. The whole
work of salvation is on me. The feast is on me. When the
kings of old, when they were going to honor
their son, a lot of times they'd conquer another little country
and they'd give it to the son or give the spoils to the son.
Boy, they'd tax the people more. That's how they'd honor the Son.
They'd even tax the people more and give it to the Son. But here,
the whole expense is totally on His shoulders. This feast is all prepared by
Him. And He says, come and dine. That's
all He says to do, come and dine. And honor My Son with your presence.
Your presence, your praises. But they made light of it. He's speaking of that Jewish
nation. They were given the sacrifices, the tithes, the pictures, the
oracles, the word of God. But they made light of it. Christ came in the fullness of
time. And the end is this world. And the first people that he
came to was that Jewish nation. The first ones he called was
that Jewish nation. The gospel was first preached
to them. And then to us. And they made light of it. And
they went their ways. One to his farm, another to his
merchandise. They made light of it. I don't
want to go to that wedding. I don't want to go to that feast. They made excuses not to come.
Note how worldly. Notice how worldly. they became. They went their ways. One to
his farm. Who owns that farm? Who really
owns that farm? Who really owns that business?
Who really owns your house, your car, your family? Who really owns it? The king. The king owns it. And another
went to his merchandise. They didn't have time for their
king or his son. Just as people today do not have
time to come to the worship service and to honor the Son. It's an inconvenience for them
to come and honor the Son. And the remnant, that is the
Pharisees here and the scribes, the remnant took His servants
and treated them spitefully and slew them. Can you imagine going
out and inviting someone to a feast and you lose your head over it?
There's human depravity. King of glory has sent out this
call, this call to come to this feast of grace and mercy and
love and honor His Son and they slew them. They killed them. They hated the message so much
they killed the messengers. All the apostles Except John
was martyred. Killed him. Men hate, men hate
a feast of free grace. Now, naturally, naturally, men
hate a feast of free grace and free salvation. They hate it. They hate that, and they hate
the king's son, refusing to give them honor. But when the king heard thereof,
you see, here is the stupidity. They refused the king. The king
is what? The sovereign. He's not a president
here. We're talking about a king who's
a sovereign over a nation. And all those in his kingdom
are his subjects. Well, all in this world are his
subjects. They're subject to the son. And so they angered
the king and he was wroth with them and and he sent forth his
armies all belong to him. You know, he raised Cyrus up
and that army, you know, you read through history and the
great the accomplishments of Cyrus and then how they went
into Babylon and destroyed them and the Jews were set free. That
army didn't know God, but God knew that army was his. You know, in Egypt, he called
forth what, the locusts? That's an army. He called forth
an army of locusts. He called forth whatever army
he chooses to call forth to execute his judgment. And here he calls
forth the Romans. So just go back and read history.
After Christ ascended on high, he called those Romans, Titus,
I believe it was, went in there and wiped that place out. They
didn't even become a nation, wasn't even recognized as a nation
until 1967 or something like that. All those years, just wiped
them out. Oh, the king, when he heard thereof,
he was angry, just like you and I would be angry. Just like you
and I would be angry. And he sent his army to destroy
those murderers and burn up their city. Then said he to his servants,
now he's going to send out an effectual call. He said he sent
this call out which proves men left to themselves will never
come. I mean, how many times do you have to prove something?
He sent this call out and it's evident, it proves that no man,
no woman left to themselves will come. Every last one of us will
not. But he's going to send out an
effectual call in 8 and 9. Then saith he to his servants,
that is the apostles and pastors and teachers now. The wedding
is ready. It's ready. The wedding is ready.
We're going to shut down the wedding? Is God not going to be, is the
son of God not going to be glorified? Is he not going to be honored?
Is the king going to let that happen? Would you let it happen
if you had the power not to let it happen? Oh, the wedding's
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. In Acts 13, verse 46, it says
this, Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, you
Jews, But seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." They were bidden to come. They turned thumbs down on it. Note how free the call is. Go
ye therefore into the highways, as many as ye shall find, bid
them to the Mary. It doesn't say a word about bringing
anything, does it? It doesn't say a word about bringing
a thing. Sinners of all rank, of all conditions, are bid to
come to this Feast of the King's Son. You know, when a king sends
out, just say an earthly king, if he sends out an invitation
that he's going to have a feast, he's going to put on this feast,
He's going to honor his son. I'm sure the beggars in town
are not going to get that invitation. The harlots, the street walkers
are not going to get that invitation. They're not going to go to their
place. They're not going to go to the
leper colony and tell the lepers, come to the feast. That's not
going to happen. But when the King of Glory sends
out a command in the kingdom to come, He goes through the
highways and the hedges and he bids the beggars and the harlots
and the publicans and sinners to come. Come one, come all.
Well, do you know what you're... I started saying you know what
you're sitting beside of, but you're the one. I'm the one. We are the ones. We're sitting
beside of beggars and every... I'll tell you what. There's every
sin known to man that goes through these hearts of ours. It's a
cesspool of sin. It's a cesspool of sin. And he
said, bid them to come to the marriage. These people, these
poor people, these beggars, these harlots, these publicans, they
never expected to have such an invitation. They never expected
to have such a call from the king. That's usually just reserved
for those who are up here, the upper echelon. That's what that's
reserved for. But a beggar? I tell you what,
when a beggar got a... I bet he went and showed it to
his family. Look, I got an invitation from the king. Well, who are
you? I'm nobody. But I got an invitation. I'm
going to the palace. I'm going... If you got one just
from the president, if you voted for this one, if you got one
from the president, you'd be showing it to everybody, wouldn't
you? You'd be showing it to everybody. If you didn't vote for him and
said that, you wouldn't be so happy. That's just the way we
are. You'd just throw it in the trash,
no matter who's in there. But if you got one from the president,
you'd be showing it. You'd be showing it. Well, these
beggars and these harlots, these publicans and these sinners,
they got a call from the king. Come to the feast. You come to
the feast. And those servants went out into
the highways and gathered together all as many as they found. They
didn't sort through them. They didn't sort through these
bad apples. All as many as they found. And
my soul, look what they found here. Look what they found you. Found you. Found me. as many
as they found, both bad and good." Those who think they were good. In other words, when I read that,
I thought, bad, you've got the harlots. And the good, you know,
Apostle Paul said, concerning the law, I'm blameless. At one time, Paul, as a Pharisee,
thought that he was good. He thought he was good. He's
a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He's touching the law blameless.
Oh, as many as you find, he says, both bad and good. And the wedding
was furnished with guests. There's not an empty seat. Not
an empty one. The service did as they were
commanded and the wedding was furnished with guests. The son's
going to be honored. But when the king came in to
see the guests, always tears among the wheat. Always. He saw
there a man which had not on a wedding garment. You see, when
you came in, these were bidden to the feast. And when they came
into the feast, they were given a garment to put on. Everyone
had the same garment on. Everyone had the same garment
on. I read to you Revelation 19,
white linen, which is the righteousness of the saints, which is the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a dress code in heaven.
There is a dress code and it's the righteousness of God's Son. And so the king comes in. He
comes in and there's a guest there. And he does not have on this
wedding garment. Can you imagine that? Here's
a whole sea of just people with white linen on and there's a
guy in a His own rags. Ivory dress. But he's in his
own... I mean, he's gonna stick out like a sore thumb. The first
thing, when the king walked in, the first thing he saw was that
terror. That poser. That's what he was,
a poser. He walks in and he sees this
man. Now why is this man here? Why
is this man here? Well, first of all, I think he's
here for a free meal. Someone, some one time was talking
to me. I mean, it's not been too long. They was talking to
me about being at a conference. And they was talking about, man,
the food, you wouldn't believe the food we had and the feast
it was. Not one word was said about a
message. Not one word said about a message. The boy is talking
about that food he's put on. He might have been there for
a free meal, social contact. Social contact. Self-preservation. He knew the
king was angry. The king was rough. So he went
there because he didn't want to go to hell, he wanted to go
to heaven. And they said it's what you're supposed to do. So
he was trying to go through the motions of it. But he was not
there, and this is important, he was not there for the son. He was not there to honor the
Son. He had a lot of other reasons. People get up on Sunday mornings,
and they go to these services for many different reasons. But
God's people go for the honor of His Son. They go to honor
His Son, to hear from His Son, and to be instructed by the Son. Well, He saith unto him, and
this is amazing, Friend. Friend, how can you? Why? Why did you come here? Why
did you come in here? Have you not on the wedding garments?
You know, you knew what was required. I'm sure that was in the invitation
that was in the call. That was in the message that
I sent to you. You know what was required and
you know that it was provided. And yet when you walked in here,
you refused the righteousness of my son. The wedding garment. You rebel. He's a rebel. And yet he called
him friend. And I thought about that. And
I thought, you know, the execution of judgment. The Scripture says
He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God takes no pleasure
in hell. He takes no pleasure in the torment
of the wicked. Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Oh, how
often would I have gathered you together, but you would not.
And He says here, Friend, why did you come here? It was plainly
stated in the message that was sent to you. That the robe, the dress would
be provided, used to put it on, to receive. When I read over here in Revelation
19, let me go back over here a minute. Listen, I'll wind this
down. Revelation 19, let's go back
over there for a minute. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready." How did she do that? How did
she do that? She received the righteousness
of her bridegroom. She didn't provide it, she received
it. This hypocrite, this terror came
in. He said, no thank you, I've got
my own. I have my own. Well, then said the king to the
servants, bind him hand and foot, take him away, cast him into
outer darkness. And that's all those who perish.
They'll never see another glimmer of light. I can't imagine that. Outer darkness. There shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. Unleashed hatred. Poor men. How long suffering has the king
been? How plain was the call? How plain
was the message? How plain is this parable? It's
such a simple parable. How deserve the punishment? How
deserve the punishment? And then he said, for many are
called, but few are chosen. Many were called, responsible,
responsible for their attitude toward that call, the way they
handled it. Many refused it. Even at the
feast, all were not chosen. However, those with the wedding
garment on, that feast That feast was filled
with guests with the wedding garment of the sun on, the righteousness
of Christ. And every one of them were chosen
to be there. He sent out a call which shows
that no one will come. Then he sends out an effectual
call and they come. Those who are effectually called
come. And they all have on this wedding garment. If not, if not for this chosen,
No one would be there. No one would be there. But memory says they would not.
They would not. Everyone who perishes will perish
because they would not. And everyone who comes, comes
because He chose them. He's going to have a feast. The
son's going to be honored and the place is going to be filled
with guests. He's going to see to it. He said, I have made all
things ready. And he's going to see to it that
the son of God, his son, is honored. He's going to be honored.