Matthew 22. And the Lord Jesus answered and
spake unto them again by parables. What is a parable? Well, a parable is an earthly
story which illustrates a spiritual truth. A parable is a story about
things here, which illustrates things there, spiritual truth. And parables are not perfect,
don't expect them to be. Parables cannot, no story, no
illustration can perfectly portray divine mysteries. A parable is
a parable, an illustration is an illustration at most. They
only help us to understand what the Holy Spirit has to reveal. So this is a parable, nothing
more. But our Lord is so good and gracious
to teach us the mysteries of his kingdom in parables and stories. It could be otherwise. He who
speaks and worlds appear who says, let there be light and
there was light, has to condescend to talk in our language. He who
thunders and mountains tremble and the earth quakes, he who
is all wisdom and all holiness and all majesty, certainly does
condescend to come down and take us to himself. as little children,
and that's what we are, and show us the things of Christ and the
things to come. Oh, that we might be willing
to listen. Oh, that we might be not only
among those who are called, but those who are chosen. My sheep hear my voice. the chosen here. I pray constantly
for the spirit of Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and learned
of Him. Scripture says, and Mary sat
at the feet of Christ and heard His word. And Martha, her sister, came
in and said, Don't you care that my sister
has left all of the preparation and the work to me? Bid her come
and help me." And the Lord looked at Mary sitting
there at his feet, hearing his word, and then he looked up at
Martha. And he said, Martha, Martha, you're anxious and troubled
about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that one
thing. To sit at my feet and hear my
word, and Martha, it'll never be taken away from her. All of
this that you're so involved in is marked for destruction, but
this will never be taken away from her. Oh, for ears to hear
and a heart to believe what he says. Well, let's look at it.
And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables,
and he said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king,
which made a marriage for his son. A certain king wanted to
honor his son. He had one son. That son was
precious to him. And the son was about to take
a bride. It's the greatest event in the
kingdom, greatest event to this king, to this son. And everybody should have been,
and the king wanted everybody to rejoice in the son's marriage
and honor the son. Well, the kingdom, we're talking
about Here, as our Lord is illustrating, is the kingdom of heaven. And
God is that certain king. And the scriptures are quite
clear on this subject, the grand and glorious purpose of God. The grand design of Almighty
God in all things, without a doubt, is to honor the Son. Do you doubt
that? I don't for a moment. Let me
show you that in John chapter 5. John chapter 5. The great purpose, design, and
will of the Father is to honor the Son, that in all things Christ
might have be free of us. John 5 verse 20. Now listen to this. For the Father loveth the Son,
and showeth him all things that he himself doeth. and he'll show
him greater works than these that you may marvel. For as the
Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the
Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judges no man.
He hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son I'm not the father which sent him." Jonathan Edwards
in his great book, The History of Redemption, sets forth several
grand designs in the history of redemption in the purpose
of God. Number one, God will one day
destroy forever God will one day put an end to everything
contrary to himself. Everything. Material, physical,
imaginative, thoughts, anything contrary to perfect holiness. That's what he's saying. And
the last enemy that'll be destroyed is death. That'll be the last,
but then they'll all be gone. Secondly, God will restore to
perfection, everything that was affected and ruined by Adam's
fall, everything, in creation, in people, in things, everything. Nevertheless, we look for a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. For the
old heavens and the old earth shall melt with a fervent heat
and be put away, and God will restore. everything to perfection
that was lost in the fall. Thirdly, an almighty God will
populate that new heaven and that new earth with a people,
a people with eternal life, a people perfectly conformed to the image
of his beloved son. By whom he did foreknow, he did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many, many brethren. And whom he predestinated, he
called. And whom he called, he justified
completely. And whom he justified, he glorified
with Christ. And they partake of the glory
which God Almighty gave to his son. For he said, The glory which
you have given me, I have given them. that they may be with me
where I am. Fourthly, but the great purpose
in all of this is to honor the Son by whom all of this was accomplished. You know this scripture, Philippians
2. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but he
made himself of no reputation and took upon him the likeness
of sinful flesh, was made in the flesh, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name,
that is the name of Jesus, every name in heaven, earth, and under
the earth, and every tongue in heaven, earth, and under the
earth, shall declare that he is Lord to the glory God the
Father. And that's the song of heaven.
If you turn to Revelation chapter 5, there are God's great desire
is to honor the Son. Look at Revelation 5 verse 13. In Revelation 5 verse 13, And
every creature which is in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth,
and in the sea, and all And all that are in them, heard I say,
blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth
on the throne and unto the Lamb forever and forever." That's
God's grand design. That's what Christ is saying
here. Made a marriage, honored the
Son. Now listen to me a moment. This
is so important. This is the very heart of this
thing right here. Christ is already glorified in his person. He said, Father,
glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. How can we add anything to that? Christ Jesus is glorified in
heaven and in earth. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The earth showeth his handiwork.
Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Scripture says in the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
was God. All things were made by him. What's this all about? The king, the father, made a
marriage to honor the son. glorify the Son. And I don't
know exactly how to say this, because it's too big for me. But in all the manifestation
of the Lord's power, and the Lord's might, and the Lord's
majesty, and the Lord's wisdom and sovereignty, there's a certain
and prominent glory that's You know what that is? That's
the heart of God. It's the glory of his love, his
grace, and his mercy. And that occurred to Moses, and
Moses prayed, Lord, show me your glory. Moses, more than any man I've
read about, saw about as much power might, majesty, wisdom,
and sovereignty as a man could see and survive, but said, Show me your glory.
And the Lord said, Moses, I'll cause all my goodness to pass
before thee. I will be gracious. I will be
gracious unto whom I'll be gracious, and I'll be merciful. to whom
I will be merciful." How shall God manifest this love and mercy
and grace? Only through the obedience and
death and compassion and mercy and love of the Son for sinners.
He'll make a marriage for his Son. Turn with me to Revelation
19, and John describes it. It's coming up. It's being made. It's being prepared. It's being
accomplished since God made the world. Revelation 19, verse 6. You've got it? We've got to have
this together. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters And
as the voice of mighty thundering sang, hallelujah, the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb of God is come. Lamb sacrifice, Lamb suffering,
Lamb death, Lamb bloodshed for sinners. The marriage of the
Lamb. And his wife, his bride, had
made herself ready for that feast and that marriage. And to her
it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white. It wasn't that way before, was
it? For the fine linen is the righteousness
of Christ. That's the saints' picture. Well,
they don't have any of their own. It's got to be here. And he saith to me, Right, blessed,
happy, holy, twice blessed are they which are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith to me, these are
the true sayings of God. This is the purpose of God. This
is the grand and glorious will of God, to reveal His grace and
His love and His mercy in Christ Jesus. I will be merciful unto
whom I will be merciful. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I read a long time ago about
how these old, ancient, bloodthirsty kings who wished to honor their
sons, the prince, one was that they would send their armies
forth to kill and to conquer some small nation. so the prince
could have his own kingdom and reign over unwilling subjects. Or the king would impose heavy
taxes on people to furnish the young prince with riches and
renown. But our God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, to honor his son
asked no dowry. seeks no gifts, requires no taxes,
requires no labor or sacrifice, requires nothing earthly to be
presented. He only requires what the Son
provided. Turn to Luke. I want you to turn
to Luke 14. Luke tells this story a little
differently from the way Matthew records it in Luke chapter 14. He talks about this man that
made the feast for his son, the marriage feast in Luke 14 verse
16. Then said he unto them, this
is the Lord speaking, a certain man made a great supper and bad
many and sent, he made the supper now, this man did, and he sent
his servants To say to them that were bidden, come for all things
are ready. You don't bring anything. You
don't provide anything. You just come for all things
are ready. I made the supper. It's my supper. It's to honor my son. But you
don't bring anything. Then look at Romans chapter 14.
It talks about this kingdom. Romans 14, this marriage. this
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what he says in Romans
14, verse 17. The kingdom of God
is not meat and drink. The kingdom of God is righteousness
in Christ. It please God that in Him should
all fullness dwell, and you're complete in Him. It's peace. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. to our Lord Jesus Christ. It's
joy in the Holy Ghost. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. You
see, go back to my text again. Go back to my text. This is a
spiritual kingdom. This is provided by the Lord
of hosts. Let's read it again. Matthew
22, verse 2. 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 to the wedding,
and they would not come. Again he sent forth other servants,
saying to them which are bidden, I have prepared my dinner." Who
prepared it? I prepared it. I go to prepare
a place for you. If I go to prepare a place, I'll
come for you. It doesn't require you to do
anything, to present anything. I prepared my dinner. My oxen
and fatlings are killed, my sacrifices are made, my lamb is died. The
bread and the wine is prepared by the broken body and the shed
blood of Christ. And he says, summing it all up,
all things are ready. All things are ready. The Father
has committed to the Son all things, all things are ready. All things. You just come. Come unto me, all you that labor
in a heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Oh, every
one that thirsteth, come to me. Out of your belly will flow rivers
of living water. Paul said God was in Christ Jesus,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing our trespasses to
us, but to Christ. So therefore be ye reconciled
to God. Be reconciled. to God. Lay down your shotgun. Surrender. I've prepared my feast. My fat
ones have been killed. Sacrifice is ready. Everything
you need to rejoice and celebrate the
honor of Christ has been provided. Well, he sent out a call. He said, many a call for your
children. He sent out a call. It takes three directions. Look
at the first one, verse 3. He sent his son, he sent his
servants to call them. The king sent his servants that
were bid to the wedding, and they wouldn't come. They wouldn't
come. Now keep in mind, this is to
honor the son. The king has one son, he's going
to honor that son. The Lord God has one son. He's
going to honor that son. And they wouldn't come. They
wouldn't come. They wouldn't honor the son. He said, I come in my Father's
name, you receive me not. Search the scriptures you think,
in them you have life. There they which testify of me,
and you won't come to me. They would not come. Now that
verse 4, verse 5 rather, here's another And they made light of it. They
heard about this marriage feast to honor the Son, and to them
it was foolishness. The preaching of the cross is
to them that are perishing foolishness. It's nonsense. They made light
of it. You heard about the feast? Yeah, but I'm not going. I don't
believe in all that. They made light of it. What else
did they do? They went their way. We turned
everyone to his own way. We're too busy. Oh, I might give
it some consideration when I get too old to do anything else,
but not now. One went to his farm, another
went to his merchandise. But that's not all. Verse 6 says
some of these people got ugly with these serpents, ugly with
these messengers, and they treated them spitefully. They couldn't
get to the king, so they kind of worked over the fellows he
sent, and they slew some of them. Well, the king heard about that
in verse 7, and he was angry. Now, think about Jerusalem. Think about that great religious
city where Christ ministered, where his gospel was preached.
And they took him, his disciples and him, and they slew him. They
put him on a cross and martyred all the disciples. And in the
year 70 A.D., The Roman general Titus came into that city and
burned it to the ground. Destroyed them all. That's right.
He sent forth his armies to destroy those murderers and burned up
their city. Burned it up. He was in the world and the world
knew him not. He came to his own and his own received him
not. But, look at verse 8. Then said he to the serpents,
the wedding is ready. Now all these calls have gone
forth and these people didn't consider it a worthy occupation
to get together and honor my son and glorify his wonderful
name. So you go out in the highways
and turn to Luke 14 again now. Luke laid this out a little more
clearly on this point here. Luke chapter 14, verse 21. Verse 20 said, they made all
these excuses. Verse 19 says, I bought five
yoke oxen, I can't come, have me excused. Another said, I married
a wife and I can't come. So the servant came and showed
the Lord, the king, these things. Luke 14, 21. Then the master
of the house became angry and said to his servant, go out into
the street. and lanes of the city, and find
the poor. They're hungry. They'll come. They'll honor the Son. Christ
said, I came to preach the gospel to the poor, the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You can find the poor and find
the lame, crippled, sin-sick, weary, haught, the
haught, the lame, the blind, Go out and find them and tell
them to come, let's honor the Son. And they'll come. They need
the Son. They need Him. They're hungry,
they're needy, they're lame, they're halt, they're blind,
they're deaf, they have a need. You go invite them and they'll
come. And so they went out. Verse 10
in Matthew 22. They went out, those servants
went out in the highways and gathered as many as they found,
the bad and the good. What's the good here? That's
religious people. Bad and good. The Lord finds
His sheep out there in the places of the world. He finds them that
are weary and hungry in the church too. Religious folks that tried
all these different professions and didn't accomplish anything.
lame and halt and bind. So the wedding was furnished
with guests. People that were so glad God
invited them. They're so glad they haven't
had a good meal in their whole lives. They've been lame and
halt and blind and crippled and without God and without hope
and without Christ in this world and the Lord singled them out
and called them and they just came over running. Willingly,
lovingly, hopefully came to them. I'll honor the son. I'll honor
the Son, won't you?" He has the words of eternal life.
We believe and are sure that he's the Christ, the Son of the
living God. Well, look at this verse now. Verse 11, And the
king came in to see the guests. And you know what? He saw there
a man which had not owned a wedding garment. You know, I read a while
ago that scripture over there in Revelation where it said the
bride had made herself ready. Let's go over there and look
at that in Revelation 19. She didn't do it, but she took
what he gave. She didn't provide her righteousness,
but he did. And she was glad to wear it because
that filthy dress she had, she had it too long to wear to a
wedding. It wouldn't be accepted. She's
glad to throw it off. Revelation 19, verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife made herself ready. What did she do? She laid aside
her filthy rags, and to her was granted that she should be raised
in fine linen, white and clean. And that fine linen is the righteousness
of Christ. Over there in Revelation 7, the
elder said, who are these that are raved in white linen? Who
are these? And he said, you know. He said,
I do. These are they that came out of great tribulation and
washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Later, Seth read
it. And in Ezekiel he said this,
You are exceedingly beautiful, the bride of the Son. And your
renown went forth for your beauty, for your beauty was perfect through
my humbleness which I put on you, saith the Lord. You came
to the feast robed in his robe. quiet and clean. And the king
looked at this fellow and he said, I said a while ago, he said,
how came you? And I read an article, the fellow
said, well, he was a thief and a robber. He slipped in the wrong
way. That's not what he's asking. He's asking you, why are you
here? Why are you here? Why did you
come here without the proper covering, without the proper
robe, without the wedding garment? This marriage This grand affair
is to honor the Son who made all things in our redemption. Why did you come here not wishing
to honor the Son? This is to honor the Son. Why
would you be here without his righteousness? Secondly, all
here have their room of holiness washed in his blood. his righteousness
performed by his obedience. Do you prefer your robe to his?
Have you come here with your robe on and you prefer that to
his? Why? And everybody here is rejoicing
in his sacrifice and his work and his redemptive, and they
all sing in the same song, unto him who loved us and washed us
from our sins in his own blood. Don't you know that song? Can you sing that song? You can't? Then why are you here? Why are
you here? For the first time in his life
he was speechless. All religionists have a lot to
say about what they did. If you'll give them five minutes,
they'll take an hour and tell you all about their experience
and their deeds and duties. But this time he had nothing
to say. Because everybody here is here to honor the son. Don't
you want to honor him? Everybody here is robed in his
precious garment. You prefer yours? Everybody here
is singing one song unto him who loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood. You don't know that song, then
why are you here? I just bind him hand and foot
and cast him out. The calls, he said, many a call. You saw these calls, didn't you?
These calls all the way, conscience, preaching, providence, This thing
wasn't done in a corner, but they refused. They flat out refused. They would not come. They went
their own way. They had too busy, too much work
to do. And they laughed at it, made
jokes about it, ridiculed it. And he's angry. But you're not
angry with the weary. He said, you go tell these folks.
They'll come. They'll come. And they did, because
they were chosen. All right, may God bless that.
Rejoicing, all hail the power of Jesus' name, number 42. Let
angels prostrate follow, bring forth the royal diadem. Let's
crown him, Lord of all.