Would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 22? While you're turning there, we will observe the Lord's
table tonight together. And I'm going to be looking at
Romans chapter 14 verse 9 on the reason for His death. The reason for His death. I've entitled this morning's
message, What is the Wedding Garment? Now, the king had a protocol
that had to be observed. What's the one thing you needed
to be in this wedding? The wedding garment. And this wedding garment was
not something you came up with. It was something that was given
to you at the door. Everybody would look the same
with this wedding garment. And when the king comes in to
look at everybody, remember this is a feast for his son. And he
wants to see who's there to honor his son. And when he looks within,
He spies there a man without a wedding garment. He saw it. Friend, what are you doing here? How'd
you get in without a wedding garment? And the scripture says
the man was speechless. I imagine for the first time
in his life speechless. He saw the obvious excuselessness
of him being there without a wedding garment. He saw the enormity
of his guilt and he was rendered speechless. He could not come
up with an excuse as to why he was there without a wedding garment. And look at the king's response
in verse 13, then said the king to the servants, bind him. That's
a strong language. Bind him, hand and foot, take
him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth in remorse for many are called, but few
are chosen. It's an interesting way to end
this parable. Many are called, but you are
chosen. Look in verse 1, and Jesus answered and spake
unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven
is like, and that ought to catch our attention. Our Lord is telling
us what the true kingdom of heaven is like, what its nature is,
and we ought to be listening very carefully to see what he
says. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which
made a marriage for his son. I think it's interesting that
most people misread This, they read it, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to the king that made a marriage for his creatures,
for their happiness, for their well-being. He made this marriage
feast for men. But it doesn't say that, does
it? It says he made this marriage
for his son. Great significance to that. My
dear friend, this isn't about you. This isn't about me. This is not about my happiness,
my well-being. This is about the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why God does what he does,
everything he does. He does for the glory of His
Son. Are you on board? Do you believe the glory of Christ
to be the issue of all issues? And that nothing is important
in comparison with the glory of Jesus Christ the Lord. Are you on board? Where are you
with this? This is why God does what he
does. I can tell you right now, God
does what he does for the glory of his dear son. Verse three, and he sent forth
his servants to call them that were bidden. And that word bidden
is actually called, it's the same word for call. call them
that were called to the wedding. And you can be sure that there
is no wedding like this wedding, because it's about the honor
of the king's son. And what an honor to be called
to this royal wedding. If you were called to a royal
wedding, you would feel honored, wouldn't you? You would feel
it's a great privilege to be called. And what a privilege
to be called to this royal wedding in honor of the son. To not come would demonstrate
disdain for the king and for his son. Now this call was not
something you could just say, well, I don't think I want to.
It was not something, it was a summons. It wasn't an invitation. It was a summons, come to the
wedding to celebrate and to honor my dear son and his glory. And what was their response? Verse three, and they would not
come. They had no desire to be there,
showing their contempt for the king and his son. They would not come. It was not their will to come. Now, me and you have a will. Here's the problem with our will.
It's chained to an evil nature. There is no such thing as free
will. You got a will, all right, but
it's chained to an evil nature. Now, somebody may think, well,
how can God hold me responsible for what I do if I have an evil
nature? I mean, I can't change my nature.
How can I be held responsible? Well, let someone murder your
child and say, it's my nature to murder children. I can't help
it. I shouldn't be held responsible. You won't think that, will you?
No. Throw them in prison and throw away the key. That would
be your response. These men, because of their wickedness,
that's all you can call it. The will of man is bent to evil,
bent to disdain for the Son of God, and they would not come. And my dear friends, that's their
crime. You don't feel sorry for them about that. That's their
crime. They would not come. Now, if you invite or even summon
or call someone to your house for a great supper, And they
say, I don't want to come to your house. How would you respond? I know how I'd respond. You're
not invited anymore. If you don't want to come to
my house, stay away. I would be offended. I would be insulted. Here in
my graciousness, I want you to come. And you say, I don't want
to come to your house. I don't want to be there. Okay,
stay away. That's the way I would respond.
But look at the graciousness, the magnanimous graciousness
of this great king. Like I said, I would have said,
don't come in. But look what he did in verse
four. Again, he sent forth other servants. And this time he makes
it even more attractive than the first time. He sent forth
other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, which
are called. Behold, I have prepared my dinner,
my oxen, and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding. Come to the marriage. Come to
this feast with all things prepared. Now, this is unheard of among
humans. I mean, if I asked you to come,
you'd say, I don't want to come to your house. You know the way
you'd respond, the same way I would. But here, the king, in his graciousness,
sends other servants and even makes it more attractive. All
things are now ready. Now, in this, we have the elements
of true gospel preaching. There are two things that are
essential to true gospel preaching. And if those things are not there,
the gospel is not there. Now let's see if we can see what
they are. Look once again in verse four. Again, he sent forth
other servants, saying, this was their message, tell them
which are bidden or called. Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed
and all things are ready. There is nothing for you to do. There's nothing for you to bring.
All things are now ready. Now, the gospel is an announcement
of something that has already been done. Now, do you hear that? The gospel is an announcement. of something that has already
been done. Not do, but done. Now listen real carefully. Christ
Jesus came into this world, the Son of God was made flesh 2,000
years ago. He came into this world. And you know what he did? He
kept God's law perfectly. He never sinned. Everything God requires of a
man, he performed. You know what happened after
that? He was nailed to a cross. He who never sinned was nailed
to a cross. And he bled and died. Now, why? Never forget, there's only one
reason for death. Sin. No other reason. The sins
of God's elect became his sin. He became guilty of it. He died
under the wrath of God as a sin-bearing substitute, and he put away that
sin. We just heard about it, sung
about it. Cast our sins behind us back
into the depths of the seas. They're gone. They're gone. And when he was raised from the
dead, God said by that, I am satisfied with what he did and
everybody he did it for. And my dear friend, there is
nothing for you to do or bring. His salvation is utterly complete
and utterly free. There's nothing you need to provide. The writer to the Hebrews said
in Hebrews 10, 18, where the remission of these is. There's
no more offering for sin. Don't you dare try to bring one.
Don't you do that. He's already accomplished everything. That's the message of the gospel.
It's an announcement of something that has already been done. The wedding garment is provided
for you. There's nothing you need to do
to make yourself fit. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. Do you have that? This he gives
you, even the need, tis the Spirit's rising beam. The message of the gospel is
it is finished. There is nothing for you to do. How does that sound to you? There is nothing for you to bring.
Here's how bad it is. For whom He did foreknow, them
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom
He called, them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. Already done. for you to do. Now, the first element of gospel
preaching is its announcement of something that's already done.
You can just quit thinking about what you need to do. Just quit
thinking about it. And here's the next element of
gospel preaching. Come. Come unto the marriage. Come right now unto the marriage
feast. Don't wait till you get better.
Don't put it off. Come right now to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now let me tell you something
about faith. Coming to Christ and faith in Christ is the precise
same thing. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Coming to Christ and believing
on Christ is the precise same thing. All that the Father giveth
me what shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Now this thing of faith It's
always in the right this second right now. What do I mean by
that? You know that faith you had five
minutes ago? You're not infallibly sure if
it was even real. You know that faith you intend
on exercising in five minutes? You don't even know if you'll
be alive in five minutes. is always in the present. Who are you looking to right
now? If you've got to look back for
assurance, it's a false assurance. If you've got to look into the
future to what you plan on doing, it's false. Right now, come to
the marriage. Come to the wedding feast. This is the time to believe.
They said to the Lord, what must we do that we might work the
works of God? And I love his answer. This is
the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. Why do I come to Christ? Because he said, come to me.
That's a good enough reason isn't it? Do you need any other reason?
He said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. He's got the power to do that.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Now I come to Christ,
which is believing on Christ, because he told me to. Let me
tell you another reason why I come to Christ. I come to Christ because
I need to. I need thee, precious Jesus,
for I am full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty, my
heart is dead within. I need the cleansing fountain
where I can always flee. The blood of Christ, most precious,
the sinner's perfect plea. I come because I need to. I also come to Christ because
it's not like I have any other options. I don't have anywhere
else to go. I can't go back to the law. I can't go to my works.
The only place I had to go is the Lord Jesus Christ for my
salvation. Come to the marriage. Don't wait for anything. Don't
wait to become something. Don't look back to something
that you did in the past, even 10 seconds. Right now, believe
that Christ is all that's needed. Trust Him to make you perfect
before God. Come to the wedding. Somebody says, is he calling
me? Well, listen to the scripture. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. You in that group? Sure you are. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. So you just said there wasn't
any such thing as free will. I never said anything about free
will, did it? But it did say whosoever will. Do you want to
be saved by Christ? Take the water of life freely. Now back to our text. There's
the gospel. It's an announcement of things
that are already done. And it's the command, come to
the marriage. come to Christ. Verse five, but they made light of it and went
their ways. One to his farm, another to his
merchandise. They neglected it. They were
apathetic toward it and they went their ways to their various
pursuits. They had things to do. They had
things that were more important. So they So they're contempt for
the king, they're contempt for his son by making light of this
and going their ways. Verse 6, and the remnant took
his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them. How evil! How evil! for the king to send his servants
to say, come to the wedding, and they put him to death for
it. How evil. Now here we have the two responses
to the gospel. One making light of it, an apathetic
response, just no, and the other, rage and hatred putting to death,
that one who brings the message. I don't know which one's worse,
do you? Making light of it, or becoming so angry you kill people
over it. I think they're equally bad, but they're the two responses
to the gospel. Verse 7, But when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth, of course he was, and he sent forth his armies,
and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Could we expect anything else?
Verse 8, Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready. I'm still going to have a wedding
feast and it's going to be full. The wedding is ready and they
that were bitten or called, that's what it is in the original, called,
they which were called were not worthy. I'm still going to have
a wedding feast to honor my son. And those that were called were
not worthy. Best example I can think of that
is if you were intending to forgive somebody and you said to them,
I forgive you. And they said, I don't want your
forgiveness. I don't need to be forgiven.
You can take it back. I don't want it. What would your response
be? Well, okay, I'll take it back.
They're not worthy. They're not worthy. And that's
the way the king, he's called them to this glorious feast. They made light of it. They put
to death those who announced it. And he said, they're not
worthy. They're not going to be at my
feast, but I'm still going to have a feast for my son, for
his honor and for his glory. Verse nine, go ye therefore into
the highways and as many as you shall find. bid to the marriage. And this word bid, once again,
is not invite. This is summon. Summon. You know, I was driving down
Pasadena Drive and I saw a sheriff the other day get out of his
car and go to the house. He was given the summons. I thought,
boy, I'd hate to have a job like that. But it's not You're not invited
when you're given a summons. You're commanded, be there. Be
there. And this man went out and gave
this summons to everybody. Bid them, summon them, whoever
you find. He doesn't give anything for
whoever you find. Bid them to the marriage. I'm going to have
a marriage for my son and for his honor and for his glory and
it's going to be filled up. 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. Good people, bad people, moral
people, immoral people, religious people, irreligious people, As
we would say, you know that all men by nature are evil, I know
that. So when we look at the good, he's just talking about
the people. You know people, they're good people, as far as
people goes. They're nice, they're kind. You
know people that are just worthless, no good, that you don't even
want to be around. Bring them all in. Bring them all in. Good
and bad. Doesn't matter what they're like.
Bring them in to my feast. It's going to be full. I'm going
to honor and glorify my son. Bring them in. And that's exactly
what they did. They brought everybody they found
in to the wedding feast. So the wedding was furnished
with guests. God's going to have people. Christ
is going to be honored. And heaven is going to be full
of everybody that he brought in. Verse 11, And when the king came in to
see the guests... Now, if there was a wedding feast
for your son, for his honor, and you knew it was all about
him, you'd want to come in and see who was there, wouldn't you?
You'd spot it out. I know who's... I see who's here
for the honor of my son. I see here who's for the glory
of my son. You'd want to see. Well, the
king wanted to see. He came in and he looked out
over the crowd that was there for his wedding feast for his
son to honor his son. He comes in and looks at the
guests. I can just picture this. He's
beaming for his son. He's glad to see these people
here for the honor of his son. That's their purpose. And he
looks in at the guests, but look what it says in verse 11. And
he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. Now, in those Eastern Oriental
weddings, a wedding garment was provided. Everybody would have
the same thing on, this wedding garment. And remember, they had
gone out into the highways and brought these people in, both
bad and good, they were brought straight in to the wedding feast.
And they didn't have time to get themselves up, but no problem. The king has provided a wedding
garment for everybody who's there to be wearing. And this is for
the honor of his son. And the king all of a sudden
sees this one without a wedding garment. He sees. You know I can't see if you have
the wedding garment on. And you can't see if I have the wedding
garment on. But the king sees. God sees. He knows. Verse 12, And he said unto him,
Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment. You see, the one protocol of
the king was the wedding garment of his providing. He gives it. You don't buy it. You don't sell
it. You don't make it. There it is. And somehow this
guy climbed in some other way without the wedding garment.
And what does the Lord say about that one who climbs in some other
way? The same as a thief and a robber. Now what is this wedding
garment that the king could spot if you didn't have? What is this
wedding garment? What does it represent? It represents
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's not your personal righteousness.
It's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Turn to Isaiah 61. I want you to look at a few scriptures. Verse 10, Isaiah 61. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom
decketh herself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with jewels. Turn with me to Romans chapter
4. Romans chapter 4, beginning in verse 3. Now to him that worketh,
Romans 4, to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of
grace, but of debt. If salvation is by works in any
way, that means when God saved you, He was paying you what He
owed you. He had to respond to what you did. But to him that
worketh not, But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now what a blessing for God to
impute. righteousness to you without
your works. What could be better than that?
Nothing. This righteousness, this robe
of righteousness is the righteousness of Christ. Turn to Revelation
chapter 19, verse 8. Verse 7, Let us be glad, and
rejoice, and give honor to him, Revelation 19, 7. For the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready,
and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. What's the righteousness of saints?
the righteousness of Christ. Their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord. Surely, shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness, and in the Lord have I strength.
Now this is the Lord's righteousness. That man came in in a garment
of his own making. And if you come in with a garment
of your own making, you are demonstrating your contempt for the king and
your low opinion of him and the high opinion you have of your
own covering. Now, the only way you honor the
father is by giving all the honor to his son. Now, when we're speaking of his
righteousness We're speaking of His righteousness imputed
and His righteousness imparted. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul said, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me. Now, I have Christ's righteousness
imputed to me, and that's not just some kind of legal document.
That means His righteousness is my righteousness, my personal
righteousness before God. I stand before God with the very
righteousness of God. That's what Paul wanted, wasn't
it? Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. I stand before God in the very
righteousness of Christ. His righteousness imputed to
me and His righteousness imparted to me. You see, I live, but it's
not I, it's Christ living in me. I mean, the faith I have
is my faith. I know whose faith it is, it's
Him in me. Him given to me. I don't give any credit to myself
at all. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter 3. Let me verify this in Scriptures. Verse 20, For everyone that doeth
evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his
deeds should be reproved or exposed. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds might be manifest, that they're
wrought in God." You know, I'm not afraid to bring my very faith
to the light because I know it's his faith. It's his righteousness. When Adam sinned, his Sin was charged to me, and when
I was born, I took on his evil DNA. His evil nature was imparted
to me. When Christ lived, His righteousness
is imputed to me, and His glorious nature, partakers of the divine
nature, being born of the Spirit, is imparted to me in the new
birth. But whatever it is, it's Christ's
righteousness. David said in Psalm 71 16, I've
made mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. Why, David? Because there's only
one righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now this is the wedding garment. The righteousness of Christ. Back to our text, Matthew 22. And he saith unto him, Friend,
How came a stallion hither not having a wedding garment? And
he was speechless. I don't have any doubt in the
past he boasted about his works and his free will and the things
that he's done and the things that he intended on doing. Oh,
he had some powerful testimony before the world. So we thought. But now he sees the enormity
of this crime. daring to come into the king's
presence without the wedding garment. And for the first time,
he is speechless. Verse 13, then said the king
to the servants, bind him hand and foot. and take him away and
cast him into outer darkness, oh, the darkness of an eternal
hell. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth, remorse, regret, for many are called." There was a whole slew of people
who were called to this marriage. Many are called, but few are chosen. Now these words are so plain. The only people there who have
the wedding garment on are the people that God chose. He ends up with divine election. And that's the security of it
all. You see, God's going to have a wedding feast for His
Son, for His glory, and His honor. And it's going to be full of
people. But know this, about every single one of these people,
they're there because God chose them. Many are called, few are,
it's the same word, elected. elected. I love election. It glorifies God. It tells that
He's in control and it's a reminder to us that salvation is by grace. You can't preach the gospel and
not preach election any more than you can preach the gospel
and not preach the blood of Christ. I'll tell you who loves election,
the elect. Every single one of them loves
election. They know they wouldn't be saved with no election. And
this is the way the Lord ends up this parable. It's not the
way men would end it up, I don't guess, but who cares? It's the
way the Lord ends it up. Many are called, few are chosen. Election never kept anybody out
of heaven. There's not going to be anybody
saying, oh, I want to be saved, but I'm not elect, you won't
let me. No. You come, you'll be received. You will. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would be pleased to take your word and bless it. Lord, we ask that each one of
us, for Christ's sake, might be clothed with the wedding garment,
the garment of your providing. Lord, we wouldn't dare, by your
grace, we wouldn't dare come on our own, but clothed in him. Glorify yourself. Give us the
grace to believe your gospel. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.