Good evening. I'd like you tonight
to turn 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?
Or 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 at what a few men who did have the opportunity to ask the
Lord a question, what they're asking. 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. Boy, 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 his wife,
and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were 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, or 34, 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. Master, 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 of the prophets. So what he's saying
here, this hanging of 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, 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,
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 hang 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 thank you of Christ? What thank you of Christ and
whose son is he? Well, everyone here is gonna
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. 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'm well pleased. Hear 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. 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 in 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 believe not. The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
you're 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 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 the
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 a 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've found. In Hebrews 1, I'm going to go
through the first six or seven verses. So we'll just start in
verse 1. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by
his prophets." So before, in old time, God spoke to the prophets
and then the prophets declared the word that the father had
told them 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. So, 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?
Men 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. You see, Naaman was an important
general in the army of Syria, but he was a leper and he had
needed to be cleansed of that leprosy. And so he had heard
to 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 riding up
with his horses, with his money, with his men, all this gifts,
everything, him and 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 they 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, He hath in His last days spoken to us by His Son, whom,
His Son, He hath appointed heir of all things. So the heir 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 heir 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 gonna just read you
a passage out of Psalm 50. This is 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 in 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, can he not do with it as he 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 it's 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 in us seeing and discovering
all these things. I mean, how much wisdom it took to create
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 to admit it, you'd probably say
that's true for you too. And 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 you. 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, it 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 because 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 Him, the express image of
His person. So in verse three, we'll 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 it were given thee from above. And this
was 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. So I liked reading about his power. I'm gonna pick back
up in verse three. 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
were 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 for 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's 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? And in verse four, 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 five, 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 ministering
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 six if you
would. And again, when he bringeth in
the first begotten into the world and saith, let all the angels
of God worship him. Who is the first begotten? Well,
first begotten just means first born. Jesus Christ was, existed
before the world began. He was the firstborn of creation,
because he was before anything was ever created. He was the
firstborn 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 thank you
of Christ. If this is what the Father feels
and calls His angels to do, to worship the Son, ought we not
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. You know what goes on in other
churches. That's not worshipping Christ.
It's throwing song books. It's making a show of the flesh.
It's glorifying men choosing. They put an ex-prisoner or drug
addict up there and say, you know, I've been changed. It focuses
them. It's not on Christ. To worship
the Son is found here in Philippians 2 where it says, Wherefore God
has 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 this life. Pick up in verse seven. And of
the angels he saith, who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers
a 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. 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, oh God. Do we understand that? No, but we believe it because
it says it. Jesus of Nathras 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 as he pleases.
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 it. 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 and 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. In verse 12 of 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 when it is 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 dens 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 has come and who shall be able to stand?
He's 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 preach this.
One day He is coming. For some, He's going to be life
unto life. They're gonna 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.
If you go back to Hebrews, where we were, chapter one. After hearing all these things
of what the Father, this is the Father's view of His Christ.
In chapter two, verse one, 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 salvation? What think you of Christ? You've
heard what the Father thinks of Him. What think ye? 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 think 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 me united to
him. 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. Chapter 22, verse 1, And Jesus
answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, 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. Again, He's coming to them again
after his hearing. They're saying they would not
come. He sent forth other servants saying, tell them which are bidden. 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
this feast. He actually would tax the people.
It would 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 things have been provided,
you don't need to bring anything. And in verse five, 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's he that honors him. In verse seven, 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 ye therefore into the highways,
and as many as you shall find, 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 cost him his son. What you
think of the son, how you look upon all that he has provided,
will directly impact whether you are welcomed to the marriage
feast, or forcibly cast out by the father and destroyed, like
this man here. Because 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 the servants,
bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him out to
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? And
whose son is he? 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? Stop
there.