In Matthew chapter 22, which
we'll not turn there at the moment, turning to Luke 14, in Matthew
chapter 22, there the parable is the parable of the wedding
feast or the wedding supper. And here in chapter 14 of the
Gospel of Luke is a parable having to do with a certain man making
a great supper and inviting many, inviting many. So these are not
the exact same parables, though they have certain similarities. So we'll take this reading in
Luke chapter 14 as a background to the one in chapter 22. Luke chapter 14 beginning with
the 16th verse. Then said he unto him, our Lord
speaking to the man in whose house he is guest when he gives
the previous parable about the ambitious guest. Then said our
Lord unto him, and here's the actual parable, A certain man
made a great supper and invited or bade many, and sent his servant
at suppertime to say to them that were invited or bidden,
Come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one
consent began to make excuse. We all have Ph.D.s when it comes
to making excuses. And this is infinitely multiplied
an infinite time when it comes to spiritual things in regard
to the soul. They all with one consent began
to make excuse. Now don't overlook this truth. that if all that the gospel is,
is an invitation, if it waits on the sinner to positively respond
to the invitation, there will be nobody of the human race in
eternal glory. They all, without exception,
began to make excuses. And we're in that same boat.
This is mankind. This is human nature. The first said unto him, I have
bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I
pray you have me excused. Another said, I have bought five
yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray you have me excused."
And another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. I believe it is in the second
chapter of 1 John that all of the categories that men use to
make excuses in regard to divine and spiritual things and the
eternal welfare of their souls, it speaks of the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And every
excuse falls somewhere in those three categories and are represented
in this parable in these three excuses. Verse 21, So that servant
came and showed his Lord these things. Then the master of the
house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into
the streets and lanes of the city. No longer is it merely
an invitation. The command to the servant is,
Bring in here. Bring them. in here, the poor,
the maimed, the haught, that is the lame, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done as you have commanded, and yet there is room. And the
Lord said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges. Here is a stronger word. This
is not invitation Nor is it the command to bring, rather it is
the word compel. Don't take no for an answer,
compel them to come in that my house may be filled. For I say
unto you that none of those men which were invited shall taste
of my supper. And that supper is none other
than the marriage supper of the Lamb. Matthew chapter 22, this one begins at the very first
of the chapter, verse 1. Here it is a marriage feast or
a wedding feast. And as far as it picturing for
us the gospel of Christ, it is the triune God, Father, Son and
Holy Ghost who are here giving freely, giving a marriage
feast for the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride, the church. So
here is indeed a gospel feast in this 22nd chapter of Matthew. Let us begin reading at verse
1, and then we'll come back and work on this parable just a little
bit and some related statements that are found throughout the
Scriptures. Now, what I'm really after is
to still be working on what we were looking at last Sunday,
particularly last Sunday morning, which was Psalm 89, 16, part
2. that in thy righteousness shall
they be exalted." So we had to talk about the righteousness
of God in Christ and in the gospel. And in that righteousness, these
persons are said to be clothed. And here is a picture of that
in this parable to which we had reference. And then the third
thing having to do with that righteousness in which these
people are robed, It says they shall be exalted, and this exaltation
is to eternal glory. So here Jesus answered this carping
on the part of the Pharisees and scribes who in verse 45,
if they could have, would have taken Him. But there is one thing
about false religion that is always true, and that is that
it is governed by popular opinion. It says they feared the multitude
because they took Jesus to be a prophet. And Jesus answered
and spoke unto them again. We're not changing locations.
We're not changing days. We're in the same setting that
ended the twenty-first chapter. Jesus answered and spoke unto
them again by parables and said, The kingdom of heaven The kingdom
of God, the kingdom of Christ, the gospel kingdom is like unto
a certain king which made a marriage for his son. What a wonderful
statement. The eternal triune God not only
made a marriage for Christ, but He makes a marriage feast for
His Son. This arranged marriage took place
in the covenant in old eternity. That bride was given to Christ
before time ever was, before there was ever a human being
born in this world. 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 or invited to
the wedding, and they would not come. Does this sound familiar? We just read something very similar
to this in Luke chapter 14. Again, He sent forth other servants. Look at this closely now. This
is a lot different than what we read in Luke chapter 14. In this second sending forth
other servants in verse 4, again, He sent forth other servants,
saying, Tell them which are bidden," or invited, "'Behold, I have
prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed,
and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage.'" This is not a supper where you
bring part of the food, everything is provided. And in the gospel
of God's grace, God in grace gives to the poor sinner everything
that His law and justice demands of him, everything, everything. You cannot bring repentance unless
God gives it to you, neither can I. You cannot bring faith
unless God bestows it. And if He bestows it and gives
it, you can't help but bring it. He sends forth other servants
announcing to them that all things are ready. The marriage feast
has arrived. Come unto the marriage. But they
made light of it and went their ways. one to his farm and another
to his merchandise. Now, preacher, I thought it was
going to be different. Yes, and we're about to learn that in
verse 6. And the remnant, the rest, the
ones who could not occupy themselves with possessions, with things. The rest, those that were left,
took His servants and entreated them spitefully and killed them. Now listen carefully. The true gospel of the living
Christ No man is neutral in regard to that gospel. Nobody. You cannot hear it with impunity. You cannot hear it except God
give you a heart to love it, or your old heart will despise
it and hate it. Now, I'm talking about the gospel
of this book. I'm not talking about the one
that you hear in today's religion. That's a false gospel. And the
reason it's false is because men have meticulously changed
it to take the offense out of it so that man by nature can
embrace it and receive it. But this gospel is different.
They took His servants. entreated them spitefully and
killed them. But when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth, angry, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed
those murderers and burned up their city. And as far as the city of those
who are here in Matthew 22, the despisers of our Lord Jesus Christ,
It would indeed be the scribes and Pharisees among the Jews.
The events of verse 7 literally took place in some thirty-some
odd years from the time that these words were spoken in regard
to this parable. Sent forth His armies. But I thought it was the Roman
army. Yeah, but that's God's army. They do what He lets them
do, and He used them. "...destroyed those murderers
and burned up their city. Then said He to His servants,
The wedding is ready, but they which were invited were not worthy. Go you therefore into the highways,
and as many as you shall find, bid invite 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 said to him, Friend, how
did you come in here not having a wedding garment? And the man
was speechless. Then said the king to the servants,
Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer
darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. All right, we come back now to
this parable in Matthew 22. We might borrow one or two things
from Luke chapter 14 in order to establish the application
of these words to ourselves. Now what we have to find out
is this. What do these words mean to you
and me in terms of the gospel of Christ. Do we have anything to do with
this marriage feast? Can it be said of us that we've
been invited to this marriage? So we have to look at some things
now in regard to this wedding feast. First of all, it is a
gospel The triune God has indeed, and in fact, arranged a marriage
for God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That marriage has to
do with a bride that is called the Church. But before the Lord
Jesus can take human beings out of this world and make them His
spiritual body, the Church, He must become like them. He must, first of all, marry
our nature in order for His church to be made up of fallen sons
and daughters of Adam, raised by divine grace and power to
life and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me show you a verse
of Scripture if you'd like to turn. If you don't, that won't
bother me. Hebrews chapter 2, I think I
can find that verse, underscore one more time the significance
of this grand and glorious truth that we call the incarnation
of Christ. God became incarnate in Christ. That is, He took on Himself human
nature, our flesh. And he must do so in such a way
as not to incur the poison of sin in our nature with which
all of us are born, and therefore we are born sinners. Verse 16
of Hebrews chapter 2, For verily, truly, amen, he took
not on him the nature of angels, Well, did the angels not fall?
Oh yes, they fell. But no Savior was ever covenanted
in a covenant of redemption for fallen angels. What happened
to the fallen angels? They are bound in everlasting
chains until the judgment of the last day. He took not on
Himself the nature of angels. What would it have meant if He
had? It would have meant they would
have a Savior and a Redeemer. And the fallen sons and daughters
of Adam could only perish forever and ever and ever. But truly,
He took not on Himself the nature of angels. Well, what nature
did Christ take on Himself? But He took on Him the seed of
Abraham. So this marriage, this wedding
feast, must involve, first of all, God becoming a man in the
glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which two natures
are perfectly joined in just one person, the nature of God
and the perfect human nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence,
we call Him frequently the God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. So this
marriage, then, is first of all a marriage between our Lord Jesus
Christ and human nature. And in the Person of the Son
of God, the Lord Jesus now becomes our glorious Head, the Head of
His Body, the Church, our glorious Husband, our Brother, our Friend,
our Savior, our Lord, our King. And now there's a marriage in
regard to His church. And here's how that marriage
feast operates. These are the things that pertain
to this glorious event. It has to do with sending out
invitations. We know all about that, don't
we? This gospel feast that is to be celebrated between Christ
and His church can only truly be fully consummated in eternal
glory. And yet it is in this world and
in this life that those who are made partakers of Christ are
actually united and joined to Him in saving faith. So it is
then the union of a people of the human nature that is united
and joined to our Lord Jesus Christ who wears the same nature. The second thing that we would
emphasize today, having to do with this perfect righteousness
with which all of God's children are clothed, the second thing
is this. In this feast, in both of these
parables, Matthew 22 and Luke 14, in both of these feasts,
and without any doubt whatsoever in the saving grace of God in
Christ, The King provides everything! Everything. You can't bring anything with
you when you come to this gospel feast. Truthfully, we don't have anything
to bring except our sin. The king provides a feast for
the hungry and a covering, a wedding garment,
for the naked. So if I'm not hungry and if I
don't see myself a naked sinner without any goodness of my own,
no righteousness none whatsoever, everything I've ever done is
nothing but sin. Whether it was in the church
or in the bar downtown, nothing but sin. Nothing but sin. If I had to grade the two, I'd
put the sins in church above the sins in the bar, frankly.
We don't have any trouble seeing that as sin. We have trouble
seeing self-righteousness as sin. That's what's going on in
Matthew 22 and Luke 14. This is the encounter that brings
such reproaches upon our Lord Jesus Christ from the proud religious
Jews, the Scribes, and the Pharisees. At this feast, God provides everything. And that provision is made for
us through God's grace in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the third thing that we point out in this parable is in verse
11. And that is that there's a man
present who doesn't have on a wedding garment. Now these wedding garments
must have been passed out to the persons entering this feast
at the door. This man comes to this celebration
to honor the king's son and his marriage, and yet he has the
audacity to refuse the special garment that the king provides
For all of those who celebrate this feast and this marriage,
this man then comes dressed in clothes of his own making. He
has, as it were in gospel terms, a righteousness of his own making. And he dares to flaunt this in
the face of God Almighty in preference to wearing a garment of perfect
righteousness earned and merited by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
there's only one man in the parable that doesn't have a wedding garment,
but he's simply a representative man of all the persons who've
ever come into the courts of God's house, into a place of
worship where Christ is preached, who've come to hear the gospel
of His saving grace in Christ, and who have brought for themselves
a covering of their own making. This man is indeed a representative
of a great many others. Here's the fourth thing about
this parable. The real question has to do with
this, whether or not you and I have ever been to this wedding
feast with this wedding garment on. Now that, my friend, is a
question worth our deliberate and careful consideration, whether
we have indeed or in fact been invited, compelled to come in
to this wedding feast in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so the alternate question is, when I came, was I clothed in
this wedding garment? And if I've ever been to this
feast, That's where I am right now, sitting at the gospel feast,
and I'm either wearing my own righteousness or the imputed
righteousness of Christ. There is no in-between. You can't
have this sorry, polluted mess that is a mixture of part the
righteousness of Christ and part mine. They will not mix. You remember Deuteronomy, I think
it's 22 verse 11, that says to the children of Israel, you shall
not make a garment out of two kinds of material. And the two
suggested in that passage that they might consider doing so
was wool and linen. Don't make a garment out of wool
and linen. Why not? Only for one reason. Not that
it wasn't a good idea. Not that you couldn't do it.
Not that it might not be comfortable. No. Because it is a picture of
the perfect righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
is everywhere insisted in the Scripture as being the righteousness
of the saints, that pure white linen of which the Word of God
speaks in many places. Let's turn to a Scripture in
Revelation chapter 3, if you will please, which is the last
part of the seven letters to the churches in the Revelation. And this will help underscore
for us, at least to some degree, why it is that we have trouble
realizing that we are spiritually naked before God. That we have
no covering No righteousness whatsoever. The third chapter of the book
of Revelation, the letter proper, the last letter in the seven
letters, begins at verse 14. But in verse 17, Revelation 3,
here are the Savior's words Now listen to a congregation of believers
who profess to be His. They profess to be believers. Are we believers? Are we the
real kind or the professed kind? But here is, at least at this
point in time, A congregation from which the Lord Jesus has
not yet removed the candlestick, the messenger of the gospel of
His grace. But in this letter, this church,
these persons, this congregation is in such sad, reprehensible
condition that they are sick, sick now unto death. and do not
know it. On the contrary, they think themselves
doing splendidly, thank you very much. It's one thing to be sick
and to know it. Oh, but to think I'm well when
I'm dying of disease, spiritual disease. To think I'm righteous when I'm
not. Verse 17, Revelation 3, Because
you say. Now, our Lord, in His revelation
to John the Apostle, reveals these things about the Laodicean
church. Now, I know everybody's brother
thinks that all these seven churches represent different church ages.
That may or may not be true. You can't prove it from the Scriptures.
I've held such a position before, but because I held it, it didn't
make it right. And I seriously question it at this point in
my life, but it's not important. What is important is this. This
is a real church, and this is a real letter from the Lord Jesus
to that congregation. And I think in our generation, How many churches are of this
nature? And what about this one? Because
you say, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,
so I'll wear my own garment, thank you very much. I don't
need yours. And yet, I don't know. I know
not. that I am wretched and miserable
and poor and blind and naked." Wretched, miserable, poor, blind,
naked. Well, just how poor are we? How
wretched are we? How blind are we? We cannot do the simplest thing
that pleases God outside the precious blood and
perfect righteousness of the Son of God. I were reading and
hearing read the Word of God in this place this day. must
be cleansed in the blood of Christ before it can be accepted. The
simplest spiritual duty whatsoever, no matter what it is, the least,
we are incapable of if God does not minister grace to our souls
through our Lord Jesus Christ. You talk about coming to this
feast with your own garment on. That will never do. Never do. You don't know that you're wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel you to buy
of me gold, tried in the fire, that you may be rich. Here it
is, and white raiment. That's that wedding garment.
This is the righteousness of Christ. White raiment that you
may be clothed. and that the shame of your nakedness
does not appear. And anoint your eyes with eyesalve
that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent."
So the question still remains, have we been to this marriage
feast, this gospel feast? Now I think if we have, we must
know it. We've taken off the filthy robe
of our own righteousness and put on the perfect, everlasting
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't need someone
else to tell you if that be the case. Surely, surely we must
know it. Ah, did you hang on to Revelation?
I bet not. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah 61, this garment, this wedding garment,
the absence of which incurred the wrath of God the Father in
regard to the honor of God the Son, this garment is nothing
short of the righteousness of Christ. And in that parable and
in reality, this feast that is called the gospel feast, that
doesn't have steak and chicken and barbecue and all that kind
of stuff. No, but it has grace and mercy for poor sinners. This feast that is on this table
must be all of God's providing. And so what is the feast of believers. What does the Scripture teach
us? That we are to eat. We'll get that in just a second.
If you found Isaiah, I was simply trying to get ahead of you, but
Isaiah 61, let's see, in verse number 10, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, For He has
clothed me with the garments of salvation." The garments of
salvation. He has covered me with the robe
of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself
with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Now this book everywhere speaks
of this blessed righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. It
shows it to us in tight picture, shadow, prophecy, as well as
precept and just outright declarations. It says it through the prophets,
through the Psalms, through the books of Moses. Everywhere you
look in our Bibles, this message is found. But the question remains,
I'm turning back now to the Gospel accounts, and if you'll turn
this time to the Gospel of John, I'm trying to find the end of
the row, if you know what that means. And if some of you don't
ever have any experience of working with crops that were planted
in rows, it means I'm trying to find the conclusion, the end,
John chapter 6, John chapter 6. Now we've found out that there
is such a thing as a gospel wedding feast. It is a celebration of
the marriage of our Lord Jesus Christ, first of all with our
nature, and then with His people, the church. He could not marry
the church lest he first marry her nature, her human nature. Second thing we learn, that to
be at this feast we must be clothed in the perfect righteousness
that God provides in His Son in that gospel that is all of
free grace, all of it. We don't contribute not one stitch,
not one thread, not a one, nothing, nothing at all. But the next
thing is this, what is the food on this table? What is this food that our souls
must have or we perish? What is this food? Did you find John 6? Let me pick
up at verse 48. Here's one of those famous I
am statements of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am that bread of life. Is that a hint what this food
is? Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am
the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is what? Is My flesh. which I will give for the life
of the world." The Jews, therefore, strove among themselves saying,
How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
you. Whoso eats my flesh and drinks
my blood," watch this, "...has eternal life, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks
my blood dwells in me, and I in him." Now listen, try to make
this as simple as this dumb mind of mine can possibly make it. John chapter 6, when it's talking
about the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, it ain't talking
about the Lord's table or the elements that lie on it. It's
not talking about the unleavened bread and the wine. Neither is
it speaking of our taking physically into our bodies anything whatsoever
that is supposed to be or miraculously transformed into being the body
and blood of Christ. When this book tells us that
the gospel feast has two foods on that table, it is the body
and blood of the Lord Jesus. It is telling me that in order
for my soul to live before God, in order for me to be seated
at the marriage supper of the Lamb, it means that my soul lives,
hangs, is held up, sustained by the life and death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is His body, His living that
provides for me a perfect righteousness and it is in His death and shedding
of His blood that our sins are put away and we are atoned perfectly
between God and ourselves forever and ever through that rich atonement
of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must have Christ And
it must be all Christ because we don't have anything else.
And if it's not all Him, if He's not everything, then we're in
sad shape. We're just as well to be over
yonder in Iraq with those crazy al-Sadr Muslims holed up in those
shrines and we'd be in the same place unless Christ is everything. And I declare to you that the
religion of 2004 in the United States of America, Christ ain't
much. He ain't much. If you don't believe
it, listen to what preachers are saying. They'll tell you
what you should do. They won't tell you what Christ
has done. They'll put you to doing. And that, my friend, is a false
gospel. And if you believe it, if you follow it, you'll perish. The gospel of God's grace is
that Christ has finished the work that the Father gave Him
to do. It's done. Salvation's done. Have you been to this feast? Oh, I hope you were at it today,
and I hope I am as well.