This parable spoken by our Lord
has to do with a feast. Feasting was big in Bible times,
both the Old Testament and New Testament. Some of us are still
pretty fond of it. Feasting. But especially a big occasion
was a wedding feast. Some of you have read about it
probably, sometimes lasting for as much as a week or ten days.
celebrating a marriage. And then, in this particular
case, it's not just a feast and not just a wedding feast, but
it's a royal wedding feast. It is a king's son here that
is being married. And of course, the king here
is God Himself. The wedding for the king's son
is God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the bride is the
church, the redeemed, the Lord's people. And the first part of
this passage that's read involves the refusal of those initially
invited to this wedding feast. Their refusal was open and blatant
in verse 5 says that they made light of it. In other words,
they said we got other things to do. They made light of it
and went their ways. And just to refuse the invitation
was not enough. Verse 6 says that they took his
servants and had treated them spitefully
and slew them. They not only rejected the invitation,
despised the message, but slew the messengers. Now we don't
need to put this totally out in the future. This is the case
all the time. They slew God's messengers, the
prophets, before Christ came. They slew Him when He came. They still slay his servants
today. There are a lot more ways to
slay a man than just killing him. The hatred of this world
toward God's message and God's gospel and God's Son has not
changed. And in many ways, God's people
and God's servants are slain in every generation. But in the
latter part of this parable, in the latter part of the passage
that we heard read in our hearing. There's another picture that's
given. While in the first part men refuse the invitation, beginning
in verse 11 we find one who accepted the invitation, but he accepted
it on his own terms. And the title of our message
this morning is Speechless in the King's Presence. Speechless. in the King's presence. Sometimes
we all will hear something or learn something and make such
an impression on our minds, it's so shocking, so arresting. We
find ourselves speechless. We say, I don't know what to
say. I can't respond with a single word. Well, I assure you this
morning, there are many, very, very many religious folk, not
just around the world, not just in the United States, not just
in North Carolina, not just in Henderson County, but in every
church claiming to be a gospel church, a Christian family and
body. There are very, very many religious
folks, very diligent, very conservative often. that when called from
this life to meet the Lord in the presence of the King will
be absolutely speechless. Speechless in the presence of
the King. And the reason will be having
not come God's way. Speechless. Now let's read these
four verses again, or five verses again. No women lived with it. Four verses again. I'm learning
to count all over again. Verse 11. And when the king came in to
see the guest, he saw there was a man which had not on a wedding
garment. He saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not
having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. See there, speechless in the
presence of the king. Then said the king to the servants,
bind him hand and foot, take him away, cast him into outer
darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth for many are called, but few are chosen. Verse 12, not having a wedding
garment. What is the wedding garment?
The wedding garment is simply the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Job 29.14, I put on righteousness
and it clothed me. Psalm 132.9, let thy priest be
clothed with righteousness. This above all else was the heart's
desire of the Apostle Paul. Philippians 3.9, that I may be
found in him, in Christ. not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." The prophet
Isaiah contrasted this or made the comparison
with our righteousness. Isaiah 64, 6, we are all as an
unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The very
best we can do is nothing more than a pile of stinking, discarded
leper's bandages. That's what is meant by the filthy
rags Isaiah is talking about. What is the wedding garment?
Revelation 19, 7 and 8. Let us be glad and rejoice. Give
honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. See, here's
this wedding feast again. And his wife hath made herself
ready, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in
fine linen, clean and white. Here's the wedding garment. For
the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. This fine linen, the
wedding garments, does not indicate the righteousness of saints.
It does not suggest the righteousness of saints. But the scripture
said it is the righteousness of saints, the righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in this parable, we've already
said the king is God himself. It's for the king's son. our
Redeemer Jesus Christ. Those who were invited and refused
the invitation initially and in the setting of this text was
the nation of Israel, the chief priest, the scribes, the Pharisees,
the Jewish nation in general. But really it speaks of all Christ rejecting humanity. The
attitude of the world today is exactly the same as it was in
Christ's day. Verse five, they made light of
the invitation and went their way. No time for God. And in the minds and hearts of
people, no need for God, no heart for God. But this man we read
about beginning in verse 11, whom the king sees and addresses
in verse 12, he's of a different sort. He is not one who refused
the invitation. He came. He is not one who contended he
had something better to do. No, he's here. He came. But the single charge against
him, and I emphasize that, the single charge. There's not two
charges. There's not three. He didn't do a bunch of things
wrong. No. A single charge. What was it? The king asked him,
how is it? Why is it that you would be found
here in this company of guests at the wedding feast of my son
without a wedding garment? Not only does this man feel he's
worthy to be here, he feels he has the right to come dressed
in his own righteousness. Turn with me a moment to the
Old Testament, the book of Deuteronomy, chapter nine. Deuteronomy, chapter
nine, I want to read you three verses. Deuteronomy, chapter
nine. I'm glad to hear those pages
finally. I first thought nobody had a Bible. Y'all please don't
quit bringing your Bible to church. I mean, this is, this is the
textbook, huh? Deuteronomy 9, the Lord is addressing
the Israelites concerning their attitude upon entering Canaan. Look what he says here in verse
four of Deuteronomy 9. Speak not thou in thine heart,
after that the Lord thy God had cast them out from before thee,
saying, For by righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to
possess this land. But for the wickedness of these
nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. The Lord says, Don't you say,
We're here because we're so good. Because of our righteousness
God has given us this. And the Canaanites, he's driven
out because they're so evil and so wicked. God said, don't you
say that. Don't say that. And then he says,
verse 5, not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine
heart dost thou go to possess the land. That's not why I'm
giving it to you. No. But for the wickedness of
these nations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before
thee. that he may perform the word which the Lord swear unto
thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore,
that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess
it for thy righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people."
It comes natural for you to think God blesses you because you behave. God blesses you a million times
more than you deserve when you don't behave. See, we're looking
at it all wrong. To earn God's blessings is not
the motivation for following Christ. Oh, no. Oh, no. So this makes the point here. And the man in our text, he feels
like he's invited to this wedding feast because of who he is, his
own worth. and he feels like they're lucky
I've decided to come. They're lucky I've decided to
exercise my free will and come. If I'm willing to say yes and
come, that king's not going to tell me what I can wear. I'll
dress as I please. See? That's the worst crime any
person Anytime, anywhere, that's the most awful thing to be guilty
of. Why? It is the requirement of
the king. You do not appear in the presence
of the king dressed in any outfit of your choosing, but of his
choosing. You do not appear in the presence
of the king looking like yourself. You must appear in the presence
of the king looking like his son. He had chosen this garment,
had the maid all to look alike. Just imagine this scene now.
Kings did not come into the feast until all the guests had arrived
and were seated in their places. Then the king would make his
grand entrance. into the feast before all the
guests. For the king to come in any earlier
would have taken away from the dignity and honor of who he was,
the king. So he's the last to come in.
And as the king enters the banquet hall, he has a mind picture of
what he's supposed to see. He has predetermined, yea predestined, what his eyes
should behold upon making his entrance. The many guests will
all be wearing the same garments, a garment designed by him, ordered by him, paid for by him,
and provided by him. Custom was, as the guests arrived
one by one, they'd be greeted at the door by the king's servants.
And by the door hung a specific number of wedding garments that
had been made and prepared just for this occasion, all identical. There would not be one too many,
and there would not be one short. The exact number. Each guest
as they arrived would submit to the servants placing this
robe or wedding garment upon them and then they would go on
into the feast. But this one man had rejected
the wedding garment. He was convinced that his own
choice of garment was better than the king's choice. So when the king entered Immediately
it was obvious. This man's appearance stook out
like a sore thumb. And the king addresses him immediately. His inappropriate outfit is not
allowed. The king addresses him as friend. Verse 12, he's not saying to
the man, you're my friend. but it's a polite address. I provided the proper garment.
You reject my wishes, my hospitality. You take the liberty to think
you can appear as you please in my presence and so dishonor
my son as to think you can please me in yourself apart from him. You have the audacity to wear
a garment that draws attention to you rather than to my son. And the man is asked a question,
how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? What are you doing here dressed
like this? What is your excuse? Then the verse says, the end
of verse 12, and he was speechless. There is no excuse. No excuse is necessary because
none are acceptable. That's what our God says to anyone,
to you, I, anyone else who appears in his presence. without being
clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It's amazing to me in this part
of the country where so many have heard the truth of the gospel. Many of you sitting here have
heard it most all your life. And we know it so clearly that
Christ alone is our acceptance with God. His shed blood, His
righteousness is the only way. And yet, if you go out here today
and ask a hundred people, what is your hope of heaven?
What makes you think when you die that you have a hope of going
to heaven? And there's no telling what all
you'll hear. You'll hear things like, well, I'm a good person. I try to treat people right. And on and on and on and on the
list goes. No, none of that is the issue. None of that is the
issue. When this man looked around at
the other guest, he saw that everyone was dressed the same
except him. You know what he thought? by being different. He never
thought of himself as the single inferior one. He thought of himself as the
single superior one. He thought what he could do for
himself was better than what the king would do for everybody. It's a clear picture. It's a
clear picture. And no doubt his His garment was very impressive,
clean, probably in costly, beautiful. But it was his own garment. That's
what was wrong with it. It did not belong to the king.
It was not the king's provision. You cannot appear in the presence
of the king in your own outfit. Oh, no. There is no mention of any other
requirement to be acceptable to the king. Only this matter
of having on the wedding garment, the righteousness of Christ. It does not require all your
religious performance. Does not require what all you
think you must do. what all you think you must feel.
I want to tell you, we're in a part of the country, they call
it the Bible Belt. I don't know why I don't believe
the Bible around here a bit more than they do in the heart of
Africa. We've been exposed to everything under the sun. It's
what you do. It's what you feel. It's how
high you jump. It's how you act. It's whether
you do this or don't do that. Everybody has a good list and
a bad list. some little legal standard. The king does not require
what you think you must do, think you must say. He requires only
what he provides, that you put on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the wedding garment, the
righteousness of Christ. It's not that you try to impress
him or anyone else. With what you are, oh no, the
King will never approve of what you are. The only approval is the wedding
garment. What his son is, the perfect
righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is not difficult at all.
Men make it difficult. Paul said to the church at Corinth,
2 Corinthians, He said, I fear for you guys. He said, I fear
you'll miss it. I fear you'll miss Christ and
the forgiveness and the rest and the peace and the joy and
the acceptance with God. He said, I fear you guys will
miss it. Not through the difficulty of it, but through the simplicity
of it. Christ made it simple. Men make
it hard. Oh, yes. I hear people say, well,
I'm doing the best I can to get to heaven. Nothing wrong with
doing the best you can. You ought to. But you won't get
to heaven because you do the best you can. Huh? When you ignore
the wedding garment. God's provision of the righteousness
of his son. When you ignore him. to do your
best instead of embracing him. God will damn you for that. Count
on it. Count on it. That's what was
so awful about this. All the wedding garments just
to like represented who the son is. The glory for the glory of
the son. This fellow said, no, my part
here is not going to be about him. It's going to be about me. I mean, I'm going to have a robe
and crown and walk the streets of gold and we get into these
4,000 silly old mountain religious songs we've got, you know, about
heaven all being about us. No, it's about Christ. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
forever and ever. You know, when we realize just
how great this provision is, and yet people reject it. We
cannot fall out with God for rejecting such people forever.
No. People say, well, I just can't
believe in a God that would put anybody in hell. Well, you sure
can't believe in much of a God then, because by nature Everlast
one of us come here and lived and would still be living, determined
to go to hell, had not God intervened, changed our hearts. He's made
the difference. He's made the difference. Oh,
how precious the words of Isaiah 61 10, 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. What is that garment
of salvation? It's the perfect righteousness
of His dear Son. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. It's not my robe, it's His. It's
not my righteousness, it's His. God's invitation this morning
is not, come dressed with the best you can do. No. It's come
dressed with the best I can do. what I've given you, my son. Now, verse 13 reveals there is
no mercy given to such a person as this. There is no mercy given
to such bold and deliberate rejection of God's way. The fig leaf aprons
won't do in the king's presence. Oh, no. Then said the king to the servants.
Bind him hand and foot. There's three things in this
verse. One, the binding. Bind him hand and foot. Oh, that awful binding. People
act like today to follow Christ is binding. And to live in sin is liberating.
No, they've got it just backwards. Following Christ is liberating. Such rest. People ask me every
day or two, how do you survive? At least once a week, how do
you deal with all you have to deal with? All with the lives
of other people and with the church and with people that hate
your guts and accusations and people, how do you deal with
all that? I rest. I have on the wedding garment.
I have on the wedding garment. Not something I've done, but
what he's given, what he's provided in the presence of the King. The binding. Then the casting. Bind him hand and foot. Cast
him into outer darkness. This little phrase, outer darkness.
It occurs only in the Gospel of Matthew, and it's three times. Chapter eight here in chapter
22, and then again in chapter 25. And it speaks of the darkness
of eternal damnation without God, which is the lot of every
sinner without Christ. The little epistle of Jude calls
it the blackness of darkness forever. The binding, bind him
hand and foot. The casting, cast him into outer
darkness. And then the suffering, there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Tears are abundant. Weeping. There'll be no joy. There'll be no joke telling. There'll be no making fun of
religion. There'll be no mocking of God. Weeping. and gnashing of teeth. The word
for gnashing there means to bite or grit the teeth. It speaks
of the pain, the torment, the agony of hell. And it's forever. And then verse 14 sums up the
whole story. For many are called, but few
are chosen. Many are called. The general
call of the gospel goes forth. We're commanded to preach the
gospel to every creature. And to this general call, all
men are responsible to respond positively, responsible to repent
and believe. But can I say that by this general
call, none do repent and believe? None do respond positively. It goes in one ear and out the
other. By nature, men have no ear to
hear what the Spirit says. Many times I've heard the gospel
preached presented so gloriously. My heart was so moved. And then
to see folk walk away as if it were nothing. And I ask, how
can they be so unconcerned and so ignoring of this? Well, they are. They are. Many
are called. But the many say no. It's not for me. I'm not interested. But then, thank God, there is
an effectual call. Few are chosen. Chosen from the
beginning to salvation. Not appointed to wrath, Paul
said, but appointed to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the crowd, Paul said
in Ephesians 1, 4, chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. This is the crowd, John 17, Christ
prayed for those whom thou hast given me. I pray for them. Verse 9, he said, I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me out of the
world. The effectual call. Few are chosen. And it's not like we're accused
of. People accuse us of preaching
this. It's not that God knocks people over the head with a ball
bat and drags them into the kingdom against their will. That's not
it at all. No. But rather these chosen. are
those whom God predetermined before the world was that in
His time, in the day of His power, He would break that will. He
would change that heart. He would cause you to see your
helplessness and hopelessness without God. It's the goodness
of God that bringeth thee to repentance, leadeth thee to repentance.
and to believe Christ. It quickens to life, and with life
comes thirst and appetite. Not appetite for sin, but appetite
for the Savior, for the saving virtue of God's dear Son. Appetite
to know and make sure and rest and rejoice in the fact that
I have on the wedding garment. Many dear troubled hearts say,
Oh, if I could, but know that I'm among God's elect. Well,
can I say to you, if you're not, you will not be much concerned
about it. You'll be able to just forget
this and go on your way. Like the crowd in verse five,
you'll make light of the whole matter and go on to hell. The true and earnest desire to
be God's child abides only in the hearts of God's child. The strong desire not to appear
ashamed and not to appear speechless in the presence of the King will
bring you to submit to the King's requirement and to say, it's
not what I think. It's not what I want. It's not
what I see. It's not what I feel. It's not what I do. It's what
the King says. The King's big on the wedding
garment. Nothing else will do. And he
provides it. He provides it. The righteousness
of Christ imputed to us. Paul said in Romans 5, he calls
it the gift of righteousness. The gift. Oh yes. Righteousness of Christ is the
key to everlasting life. The only right answer. May God
be merciful to each of us here today. Bring us to let go of
our own ideas and our own pursuits of what it'll take to appear
acceptable before the King. May God the Holy Ghost Give us
light and longing to cling to Christ alone. God gave up on flesh in the Garden
of Eden, and you hadn't given up on it yet. You still think,
I can do this, I can do that, I can do better, and make God
smile. No. No. cannot happen. When man failed, God started
back then painting pictures of His Son, His righteousness, His
redemption. That's what the entire Old Testament
is. God painting pictures of His Son. That's what history
is. His story. That's history. And
the New Testament is the clear presentation of His Son. It's God's proclamation of what
He thinks of His Son and what He thinks of you and I as sinners. I want to appear in the presence
of the King, not just in that day, but in this day. And every
day appear in the presence of the King Not in what I am, but in what
he is. Perfect in righteousness. We sing the old song often. My faith has found a resting
place. Not in device or creed. I trust the ever living one. His
wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. It's enough. And then we sing
that other old song. Jesus Christ is made to me. All
I need. All I need. He alone is all my
plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness,
and power. Holiness forevermore My redemption
full and sure Full and sure he is all I need. Oh this morning
may the Lord help us To seek him to make sure You
have on the wedding garment That you be not found speechless In
the presence of the King And we're all going to appear in
the presence of the King. Let's stand together.