Good evening. I'd like to, tonight,
return to Matthew, chapter 22. Before I start reading, I'd like
to introduce it by way of asking you, what if you were given the
opportunity, if three people in this room, if I told you one
week from today, were given the opportunity to ask the Lord a
question, what would it be? Is it something that you're going
to be speaking not only for yourself, but you're going to be speaking
for everyone that is in this room, what would those questions
be? You don't know who it is beforehand.
So it's something that obviously you'd have to think about, or
is it something that you would just decide what the question
would be at the moment when you were called upon to ask the question?
What would you think about it, long and hard, realizing what
you would be asking and to whom you would be asking it? and the
gravity of that, knowing that He's the Lord and we're speaking
unto Him. So what I'd like us to look at
here are what a few men who did have the opportunity to ask the
Lord a question, what they asked Him. So first, let's look in
verse 15 of Matthew 22. Then went the Pharisees and took
counsel how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent
out to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master,
we know thou art true, and teach us the way of God in truth. Neither
carest thou for any man, for they really set him up in high
regard, for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore,
what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? And now go down to verse 23.
The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say there is
no resurrection, and asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, If
a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry this
wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now they are with
us seven brethren. And the first, when he had married
a wife, deceased, and having no issue, left his wife unto
his brother. Likewise, the second also, and
the third unto the seventh. And last of all, the woman died
also. Therefore, in the resurrection,
whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her."
And now in verse 35. When the Pharisees had heard
that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered
together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question,
tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the greatest commandment
in the law? This is the best that men can
do. They've asked him about taxes and money, about a woman with
seven dead husbands, and about which is the greatest commandment,
all of which they have to keep anyway. These are some of the
most pointless questions these men could have asked our master.
And I had to ask myself, is this what troubles my soul? Is this
what is on my heart and would cause me to want to ask the Lord,
to what I could inquire of Him, to know, to be able to speak
to God Himself, to ask Him a question. This is what they wanted to know?
No. This is not what they wanted
to know, and it didn't trouble them either. Their purpose is
found in their motive. They had an evil motive. In each
of these situations, they either sought to entangle him, they
sought to twist the scriptures in asking the question trying
to trap him, or they tried to tempt the Lord. So they had no
intention of actually wanting to know the answer to these questions.
They just wanted to find a way to trap the Lord. So it's all
in the motive in which they approached him. Let's read the last question
one more time. Mastered in verse 36, which is
the greatest commandment in the law? And Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments,
Hang all the law and all the prophets. So what he's saying
here, this hanging all the law and all the prophets, how you
observe what you think of these two commandments, everything
is based on this. These two things. And that everything
that's ever been said by the prophets is based on this. So that's how important and how
critical these two commandments were. To love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, soul, and spirit, and to love thy neighbor
as thyself. Then the Lord asked them a question. While the Pharisees
were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think
you of Christ? Whose Son is He? And I'll tell
you tonight that on these two questions came the entire Word
of God. From Genesis to Revelation, everything
that is in it, there's so much contained in it, but everything
sums up to this question, what think you of Christ? What think you of Christ and
whose son is he? Well, everyone here is going
to have an answer to that question. Some may have a more eloquent
way of conveying that answer than others. Well, I'm sure some
of the people across the road have an answer as well. And other
churches in town and cities and states across this nation, they
have an answer of what they think of Christ. Who's right? Because
you must admit that all the answers aren't the same. They're all
different. So, for the sake of Christian unity, shall we take
a consensus on what it is that we all do agree on, and agree
upon these things, and just decide not to talk about the things
that we don't agree on? What shall we leave out? Which
part? Well, I must confess that I'm
not really much interested in what others think of Christ,
and I'm not really interested in what you think of Christ.
I'm also not interested in what I think of Christ. Because you
see, I've been wrong before. And to get it wrong on this question
is one that has eternal consequences. And I'm not okay to wait and
see, hoping that somehow, some way, that God will figure out
a way to overlook my getting it wrong on this. What think
you of Christ? I'm only interested in what God
thinks. Why? Because He's the one that
I'm held accountable to. To know someone, wouldn't you
ask someone who knew them? What God the Father thinks of
His Christ is all that counts, not what you think or what I
think. It's what God the Father thinks. So don't you think the
Father knows better than we do? Don't you think He has a more
clear view of Christ, of His Christ? Any arguments with that? No, I suspect not. The Father
is not silent concerning these things either. If we ask Him,
what think you of Christ? What is the Father's view of
Christ? And whose son is He? He says, this is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. Here ye Him. Whose son is He? Well, the Father claims Him.
He says, He's my son. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We can't argue with that. It
says it right in the Scripture. Well, what we have to keep in
mind is the great danger of looking at just one part of Scripture
to make it true for everything else, because the one part has
to agree with all the rest of the Scripture. So we can't just
look at one part and say that it applies to everything. To
say just that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Mormons believe
that. So we have to look at what the
rest of the Word of God says to understand what that is. So
let's take it a step further. If we turn over to John chapter
10, look at a passage there. Because if we just look at scripture
to justify what we do believe, then we'll find a reason for
that justification. We're to go to the scripture
to find out what to believe. John 10, verse 22. And Jesus walked in the temple
of Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered them, I told
you, and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness in me. But you believe not, because
you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them to
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Then
the Jews took up stones again to stone him. So you see here
in John 10, we read that he's saying, I and my father are one. He and father are the same. So
turn over a few pages to John 14. In verse eight, eight and nine.
And Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the father, and it sufficeth
us. And Jesus said unto him, Have
I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known me, Philip?
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. So when he says,
Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us, he's saying,
if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. To say just that
he's the Son of God does not tell the whole truth. Jesus the
Christ is God. He's God and man. So let's get
this established before we go any further. Because this is
how He's seen of the Father. This is how the Father sees Him.
This is not just my opinion or my way of looking at it. This
is how the Father sees Him. I'd like us to spend most of
the rest of our time over in the book of Hebrews, in chapter
1. I had a hard time really kind of finding, condensing it down
to be clear in a passage. And Hebrews 1 is as clear of
a commentary on what God the Father could have said, what
His feelings are of His Son, than any passage that I found. In Hebrews 1, I'm going to go
through the first 6 or 7 verses. So we'll just start in verse
1. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in
times past unto the fathers by his prophets." So, before, in
old times, God spoke to the prophets, and then the prophets declared
the word that the father had told them, and to the people. And so, he's saying in times
past this happens, but he says now, in verse 2, "...he hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his son." And when the Lord had told Philip
in the passage we just read, you know, if you've seen Me,
you've seen the Father. So no man has seen God at any
time. But He's saying, if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father.
So all we will ever see, all we will ever know of the Father
is Jesus Christ. All we will ever speak to be
spoken of from God will come from Jesus Christ. And so, I
love that it is this way, because this offends men. This offends
men's ego. What do you mean I can't see
the Father? You know, at one point they could. The Jews really
thought themselves as something, an elite, that they, you know,
it was their chosen race. They spoke from God the Father,
and then now this was not happening. It was all coming from Jesus
Christ. They don't really think a whole lot of this guy. And
you're saying that he's the only way? He's the only Word of God
now? Many are offended because he's not what they thought. Jesus
Christ didn't feel the need to impress men with his power, because
then he would have been saying that there was some importance
in man that he needed to do it for them. He didn't look at them
as a need to impress at all. He was meek. He was lowly. The
basest of men, even sinners, could approach unto him. That
was not what the establishment at that time wanted anything
to do with, because that certainly did not put them on a high pedestal.
Or even today. And now, we find out that he's
the only communication that I'm going to ever have. If I want
to know something of God the Father, yes, it's going to have
to come through Jesus Christ. This is the same thing that Naaman
found out when he came to the house of Elisha to be cured of
his leprosy. See, Naaman was an important
general in the army of Syria, but he was a leper. And he had
me to be cleansed of that leprosy. And so he had heard, come down
to the house of Elisha, God's prophet, and wanted to be cleansed.
But Elisha sent out his servant to him. And here comes Navan
right up with his horses, with his money, with his men, all
this gifts, everything, him in a grand entrance. He's a big
important guy, and you know, if there's a big important guy
that came in town, you'd make a big deal. So he thought they'd
make a big deal about him coming all the way down there. But he
just sent out a servant. He never even got to see Elisha.
And he said, go dip in this dirty river down here. And he's just
thinking, him and his nice clothes and everything he was came down
there. You're telling me to go bathe
in this river from this person who probably would be cleaning
my horse's shoes? And this is the only guy, and
he won't even come out and meet me. He said, I thought. that
He would come out. See, the problem is, is we thought. It's not the way that we thought.
This is God's way, not our way. And that's where the problem
starts, is when we think it's our way. So it's not about what
we think, it's about what He thinks. So what else does the
Father think of Christ? Well, we read in verse 2, He
said, And He hath in this last day spoken to us by His Son,
whom, His Son, He hath appointed air of all things. So the air
is directly related. He's the Son of God. And of all
things. That means everything is His.
That means you own nothing. We don't own anything. You might
think you do, but you don't. Even the air that you breathe
right now, that belongs to Jesus Christ too. And if you have something,
it's because He lets you have it. But it's still His. So if
he's heir of all things, everything's his. I'm going to just read you
a passage out of Psalm 50, the prophetic words of our Lord.
He said, if I hungered, I wouldn't tell thee. Every beast of the
forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hills
are mine. The fowls of the mountains are
mine. And the wild beasts of the field
are mine. For the world is mine, and the
fullness thereof. So you see, when he's made heir
of all things, everything is his, and we love it that way.
But not everyone does. All things means all things,
and if it's his, cannot do with it as it pleases. What think
you of Christ? By whom, verse two, by whom also
he made the worlds. The universe, the stars, the
planets, everything, life, time, matter, everything, He made through
the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God's the author of
science, and I work in a field where I deal with scientists,
and what they find is they can find better ways of doing things,
and learn more, and publish all this stuff, but the more they
learn, really what they've learned is more complicated than what
they thought, and they don't really understand everything.
Everything, you know, and they don't know as much as what they
thought is the point. They learn more, but they realize it's a
lot bigger than what they ever thought, and they don't really
understand how complex it is to begin with. So I think it's
glorious in looking at the Lord as the author of science because
it glorifies Him so much more. And I see in discovering all
these things that it's, I mean, how much wisdom it took to create,
you know, this world that we're in. The Father used His Son to
create everything. What does the Father think of
Christ? In verse 3, I think this is, I've probably read over this
and maybe not done the justice or looked at it as long as I
should have, but this first sentence just blew me away. Who being
the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.
So He's made the brightness of His glory Jesus Christ. In Christ,
the Father determined that all praise, all glory, all honor
belong unto his Son. Most people, and when I say most
people, I mean me, live lives that are self-centered, self-focused,
and self-loving. And I think if you're honest
with yourself for a minute, you'd probably say that's true for
you too. I ask God to give me grace to
erase self and to live for Christ. where I'm Christ-centered, Christ-focused,
and Christ-loving. But He has to do that for me.
I can't choose to do that. He has to do that in me. Because
the Father sees Jesus Christ as the brightness of His glory.
What is the brightness of the glory of the Father? Well, Moses
said, show me your glory. God said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before me. Well, His glory is seen in His
capacity to save sinners. Sinners that can't save themselves.
Sinners that have nothing to entice God to do something for
them because of the good they do. Sinners that have no hope
for salvation other than it's got to be totally outside of
them. If they're going to be saved, it's not because of anything
I do, recommend, bring, or by looking at anything that concerns
me. The brightness of His glory,
the brightness of the glory of the Father is Jesus Christ. Christ
did it all from the beginning all the way to the end. He was
before the earth ever was. He completed redemption for all
those whom the Father gave Him. He said it's finished, so it's
done. Not one was lost and He did it perfectly. Before God,
not before you and I. You and I might say, oh, we did
it perfect. No. It had to be done perfect before God. Nothing
to add. There's nothing that I add to
it because then if I added to it, it would cease to be perfect.
He says he's the brightness of God's glory and he's also the
express image of his person. And so that word express kind
of stuck out at me a little bit. It's not really the way I would
use the language. And so I kind of looked in the
concordance to see a little bit about what that meant. But express
just means exact in every respect. So this is talking about a mold.
And so if you have to make something that is exact in every respect,
if he's the express image of God the Father, if you've seen
Jesus Christ, you've seen the Father. Everything God is, so
is Jesus Christ. What think you of Christ? Well,
this is what God thinks. God the Father, He's the brightness
of His glory, and He's exactly like it. The express image of
His person. So in verse 3, pick back up. What think you of Christ? And upholding all things by the
word of His power. His power in this world, power
over people, power over forces, things, power over your life,
He has to give you power just to believe. He has to give you
power just to have life. He has to give you the power
and put the life in you for you to have any spiritual life. Men hate this because nothing
is theirs and everything is His. Men have no power or authority
before him. If they have anything, it's because
he gave it to them. Pilate said, knowest thou not
that I have the power to crucify thee, or power to release thee?
That's claiming a lot. Thou couldest have no power at
all against me, except what was given thee from above. And this
is the Lord's reply to him. So he's saying, if it was given
from above, it was his power that gave it to him in the first
place. I like reading about His power. I'm going to pick back
up in verse 3. And when He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high. When He had by Himself. Anything
to add to that? By Himself? Any works? Any decision? Anything at all? It says by Himself. I don't know how much more clear
that could be. It says, He purged our sins. I'm interested in that. Gotten rid of, thereby cleansing
where they were, because it's not only where they've removed,
but He removed the stain of where they were. He purged our sins. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. This is
what He did in purging our sins. He took it away. Purged means
removed. It doesn't mean just disappear.
Because the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. All of
those whom the Father gave Him. and he became guilty for the
sin that was once mine. It no longer was the sin that
I committed, even though I did, but before the Father it became
his sin, and he became guilty for it and died, therefore paying
off the sin debt and giving me his righteousness. Once sin was
paid, Christ defeated both death and hell, and they had no more
power over him, so we must conclude the only thing that must be done
that is justice, he must be risen. And he is risen and sat down
on the right hand of the majesty that's on high. Christ by himself
purged our sin, no help from me, not even in the smallest
way, no decision, no agreement, no agreement from me. In fact,
kicking, screaming, and objecting to it, the Lord came and got
me. And he took me and he took away my sin. No decision, nothing
good to claim, by himself. You see, there's only room for
one on the throne. The throne is not a seat for
two, ever. And there's already one sat down
in it. And that's Jesus Christ. So what does God the Father think
of Christ? In verse 4 we'll pick back up.
He's made so much better than the angels. There are no angels
seated on the right hand of God. In verse 5, for unto which of
the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. Look over in verse 13.
But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Are they not
all ministry spirits? So he was made so much better
than the angels. This just speaks of his glory
and how much higher he is than these beings of the angels. He's
the Lord. He's one with the Father. And go back to verse 6 if you
would. And again, when he bringeth in
the first-forgotten into the world, and saith, Let all the
angels of God worship him." Who is the first-forgotten? The first-forgotten
just means first-born. Jesus Christ was, existed before
the world began. He was the first-born of creation,
because He was before anything was ever created. He was the
first-born having a holy nature. There was no holy nature before
Jesus Christ. Men were born dead in sin and
with an evil nature. And the only way that they'll
have a holy nature is if He births Christ in them, the new man.
He's the first born, Revelation 1-5, from the dead. Until Jesus
Christ, no one had ever returned from the dead. Not from death,
not from hell. After Jesus Christ, there shall
be no more death or hell to all those who are chosen in Him.
You see, because He's conquered both death and hell, and they
have no more power over Him anymore. And if I'm in Him, then it has
no power over me. So, in verse 6, let all the angels
worship Him, When you say, this is God the Father's commandment
to His angels, worship the Son, what think you of Christ? If
this is what the Father feels and calls His angels to do, to
worship the Son, ought we not to be doing the same? If that's
what the angels are to do, so must men. And what goes on today
in the name of worship is not this idea that you know what
goes on in other churches. And that's not worshiping Christ. It's throwing songbooks. It's
making a show of the flesh. It's glorifying men choosing. prisoner or drug addict up there
and say, you know, I've been changed. And it focuses them. It's not on Christ. The worship
of the Son is found here in Philippians 2 where it says, wherefore God
is highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things
in heaven, of things in the earth, and of things under the earth.
And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. This is what the Father thinks
of His Christ, is that every knee will bow and every tongue
will confess His name. Every soul in history will confess
this. Some with hatred and fear. They will be raised from the
dead to confess His name. Some confessing will be rejoicing
that He is Lord. May God give us both, you and
I, grace to bow in His life. Picking up in verse 7. And of
the angels, he saith, who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers
flame of fire, but unto the sun he saith, thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Two things. A throne and a kingdom
only belong to a king. His throne and his kingdom are
forever. Any king that's ever been or
lived in this world has come and gone. His family's either
died out or they've been conquered and somebody else took over.
This king and this throne, they abide forever. There's no end
to his reign. He is so great, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father calls him, O God. Do we understand that? No, but we believe it because
it says it. Jesus of Natrus is the Son of
God. He is the Christ, and He is God. God the Father calls Him God. Capital G-O-D. You know what
that means? It means He does other things.
It means that all He does is right, and it's right because
He does it. That means that He makes the
rules because He's God. This is not the beggar named
Jesus that cries when you don't accept Him and His salvation
offer. This is not the failure that died on the cross, spilling
His precious blood for your sins and you wind up in hell because
you chose not to accept Him. This is not Him. This is God.
God does not fail and God does not make offers. A prisoner of
war who's caught in the act captured, taken to trial, and condemned
and found guilty, he does not then, and sentenced to death,
he does not negotiate his release with the President. Nor does
he exert his will over the president to decide what he has decided
to let the president do. Because that's the way men are
looking at God and trying to negotiate to say, well, I'm going
to decide to accept salvation, but on these terms. I don't like
the whole election part, but they try to negotiate what parts
they want, what parts they don't. This is not the way God works.
He's God. Turn over a few pages to Revelation
6. Read a passage here. Verse 12, Revelation 6, And I
beheld, and he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was
a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of
hair, and the moon as blood. The stars of heaven fell to the
earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is
shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a
scroll, and it was rolled together, and every mountain and island
were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, the
noble people, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief
captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
free man. Nobody left out. Hid themselves in the bins and
the rocks of the mountains, and said unto the mountains and rocks,
Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth
upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For great
is the day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?
He is King of kings, He's Lord of Lords, and He is God. Not
trying to scare you, but the Christ preached today is not
God's Christ. In most places, they'll preach
this. One day He is coming. For some, He's going to be life
unto life. They're going to live with Him.
But others, He's going to be death unto death. And these are
the ones that you're reading about, the death unto death.
Go back to Hebrews where we were in chapter 1. After hearing all these things
of what the Father, this is the Father's view of His Christ. In chapter 2 verse 1, Therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and every
disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall
we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? What think you of
Christ? You've heard what the Father
thinks of Him. What think you? Will we rob Him
of His glory and salvation? Will we add to when He had by
Himself purged our sins? Will we add to that and rob Him
of that glory? Will we spill His precious blood
for all men without respect, making Him a rejected failure
and thereby a liar when He had said He had not lost one of them
that His Father had given unto them? What thank you of Christ? Whose Son is He? The entire Word
of God rests on this. your soul will hang in the balance
of the Holy One, based on what we think of Christ. If Christ
is the expressed image of His Father, and He is, ought not
our thoughts of Christ be exactly those of what God the Father
sees in Him? Whose Son He is, who knows Him,
and who hath exalted Him? The words of the Lord were, except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. I have to have a change
of mind on how God can save a sinner. Because you see, it's all of
Christ, it's all of God the Father, and it's all of the Holy Spirit.
The Father in predestinating and electing a people unto Himself
that are joined with Christ. The Father in calling me out
of my darkness, otherwise I'd never come. The Spirit in giving
you a new nature, one that believes God. and of Christ in living,
dying, and being my firstborn from the dead in New United Kingdom.
I'm content to give Christ all the credit and all the glory
in my salvation. Joshua said to the people of
Israel, choose you this day whom you will serve. You cannot serve
God in your idols. What think you of Christ? I'd
like us to close by looking at the beginning of Matthew 22,
the chapter where we read when the Lord asks the Pharisees and
the lawyer, what think you of Christ? You may think, after
all those questions, why did he lead up to asking them, what
think you of Christ? I believe it was based on this
parable that he first gave them, and then he asked them these
questions after they spoke. In verse 22. And Jesus answered and spake
unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven
is likened to a certain king, God the Father, which made a
marriage for his son, his Christ. And he sent forth his servants
to call them that were bidden unto the wedding, and they would
not come. It didn't say could not, it said
would not. He's coming to them again after
he's hearing they're saying they would not come. He sent forth
other servants saying, tell them which are big. Behold, I have
prepared my dinner, I have prepared my oxen, and my fatlings are
killed. All things are ready. Come unto the marriage. So you
see, back in the old days when a king would hold a marriage
feast, it was not just the king out of his own generosity held
his feast. He actually would tax the people.
It'd be a heavy tax, and the people would end up funding this
dinner for the king. So you can imagine how much they
thought of their king and their ruler for doing this to them.
But this king didn't do that. This king had prepared everything. And he's saying, come to the
feast, come to honor my son in this marriage. But it said they
would not. All thanks had been provided.
You don't need to bring anything. And in verse 5, But they made
light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his
merchandise. And the remnant took his servants,
and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. They had no regard
for the son, and they had no love for the father, not in the
marriage. And the father will not suffer
his son to be dishonored, since it is he that honors him. In
verse 7, But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth. And he
sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers, and burned up
their city. Then he said to his servants,
The wedding is ready. But they which were bidden were
not worthy. Go you therefore into the highways, and as many
as you shall find will bid to the marriage. So the servants
went out into the highways and gathered together as many as
they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was furnished
with guests. And when the king came in there to see the guests,
he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. So
you see, this man had a lot to say by coming not in the wedding
garment. This man had to say that what
a wedding garment that had been provided for him, this beautiful
wedding garment, he said, mine's better. I want to wear my garment. I don't want to wear those. But
that's not what everybody does here. Everybody wears the wedding
garment. He wore his own. The father already
provided the most costly, beautiful garment that has ever been made.
Free of charge. But not to the father. It costs
him his son. What you think of the son, how
you look upon all that he has provided, will directly impact
whether you are welcome to the marriage. will forcibly cast
out by the father and destroy, like this man here. Because he
said, the king said unto him, verse 12, friend, how camest
thou hither in not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Then said the king to his servants, bind him hand and foot, take
him away and cast him out into outer darkness, and there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few
are chosen. There is no middle ground, and there is no compromise. The righteousness of Christ,
which is what this wedding garment that the king provided, he provided
everything. This is the only righteousness
that there is. This is the only righteousness
that God the Father accepts. And if I'm found with my own
wedding garment, as this man, cast him out. Will you dress it up? Will you
bring your own? What thank you of Christ? My view of Christ must be as
the Father sees Him. Everything has been provided.
Bring nothing. What you and I think of Christ
determines everything. May we find our all in Him. May we find our all in Christ,
our everything. What think you of Christ?