Matthew 22. This chapter begins
in verse 1 by stating, Matthew 22, verse 1, Jesus answered and
spake unto them again by parables. Today, while preparing this message,
I thought the first thing that came to my mind when I read that
verse is how gracious the Lord is to teach us in parables and
stories. It's so wonderful and merciful
of Him to come down and speak our language. Our Lord who speaks
and worlds come into being, our Lord who thunders and mountains
tremble, our Lord who speaks and even through His messengers,
whose faces have to be hid with a veil so the people can look
on them, He who is almighty and all-wise and all-powerful and
all-holy is pleased to take us like little children on his knees
and speak of divine things, of mysterious wonders in simple
stories and simple parables. That's something to think about.
And Jesus answered and spake unto them by stories and parables. It's like you think about a a
brilliant professor who teaches and lectures in the university
on philosophy and psychology and higher mathematics, coming
home at night and taking his little four or five-year-old
boy up in his lap and reading him about the Sandman or the
Three Bears or Goldilocks or something like that, words that
he can understand. in a language that he can comprehend. And that's what we have here.
We have the Lord Jesus Christ, all-wise, all-powerful, omnipotent,
talking to you and me in the language of children in parables. The second thing I thought about
when I read verse 1, He spake unto them by parables, was this,
O that I might have a teachable that I might not come to the
conclusion and attitude that I know anything, for I really
don't know anything. And I want a spirit like that
of Mary who sat at his feet in silence and submission, in humility
and love, and willingly learned of him. I want to learn of the
Lord. I want to be taught. I want to become as a child and
sit at the feet of the Master and hear him talk about divine
things, heavenly things. And then I looked at this parable
that he is teaching here, and I found four divisions. Now there
are many more than that. Many more than that, even while
I was reading it to you tonight. I saw several more, but we don't
have time for all of them. We couldn't exhaust it in months
and months and months. But I want just a glance at four
things. The first thing I see in this
parable is the grand object of the Father. The grand object
of the Father. And I titled the message that
the Father will honor the Son. That's what it's all about. That's
what this Bible is all about. That's why we're here tonight.
That's what this message is all about. The Father is going to
honor the Son. And then secondly, I see the
method by which the Father will accomplish this purpose, this
goal. And that is, he gave a feast.
He prepared a feast. And then thirdly, I see an invitation
extended and refused. They would not come. And then
the fourth thing I see, there were some folks at this feast,
so there must have been an effectual invitation. So let's look at
those four things tonight. Number one is the grand object
of the Father. It says here, the kingdom of
heaven, verse 2, is like unto a certain king which made a marriage
for his son. Now the grand object of this
certain king was to honor his son. It may have been his Firstborn,
it might have been his only son, I do not know. But the object
of this certain king was to honor his son. And the grand object
of the Heavenly Father is to honor the Lord Jesus Christ and
to glorify his name. Let's look at three verses of
Scripture. First of all, John chapter 5, verse 23. In John chapter 5, verse 23,
the Scripture says, that all men should honor the Son, that
all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. And he that honoreth not the
Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him." That's what it's
all about. He that honoreth not the Son
cannot honor the Father. The Father has decreed that all
men should honor the Son equally and even as They honor the Father. Now Philippians 2, and here is
another verse that says the same thing. Philippians chapter 2,
verse 9 through 11. Philippians 2, verse 9 through
11. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, that's Christ, and given him a name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father." Now, Colossians. Colossians chapter 1, verse 18. And he is the head of the church,
he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
the preeminence. Now that's sufficient scripture
to show us the grand object of the Heavenly Father, that all
men should honor the Son. And God hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth
should bow before him. And in Colossians 1 he said that
in him that he might have, and in all things, he might have
the preeminence. Now then, Christ is already infinitely
glorified in his person, and always has been. All the angels
of God worship him. His glory fills the universe. His glory fills heaven. He's
already infinitely glorified in his divine purpose. person. He said in John 17, 5, Glorify
thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. Then he is already glorified
as the Creator. Go back to that verse in Colossians
a minute, and let me point out something just before that verse. Now the grand object of the Father
is to glorify the Son. He's already infinitely glorious
in His Glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was." Then he's already glorified as the Creator. Look
at verse 16, "...for by him were all things created that are in
heaven, that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.
All things were created by him and for him." So he's already
glorified in creation. Creation declares the glory of
Christ. And then thirdly, he is already
glorified in the preserver of all things. Look at verse 17
of Colossians 1. And he's before all things, and
by him all things consist. That is, he's the cornerstone
that holds it all together. He's the foundation on which
it's all laid. The Scripture says in Isaiah
9, 6, the government is on his unto us a son is given, unto
us a child is born, his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the government, the
control of all things is on his shoulders." So he's already glorified
as the preserver of all things. In him, all things consent. Now see those three things before
I go to the next one. He's already the object of the
fathers to glorify the sons. And we can't miss this, this
is so important. I know this is not what we call
evangelical preaching or evangelistic preaching, but this is important
preaching. The grand object of the Father
is to glorify the Son. And we cannot be in the program
or purpose or plan of God if we don't know anything about
this glorifying the Son. Now that's what it's all about. and he is already infinitely
glorious in his person. He said, Glorify thou me with
the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And then
he is already glorified as the creator, for all things were
made by him and for him. And he is already glorified as
the preserver of all things, for he is the cornerstone, he
is the foundation, he is the governor of all things in him,
by him, On Him all things depend. Now, but there's another way,
and there's another area in which He will be glorified, and that
is He has undertaken to be our Savior. The Father prepared for
Him a marriage feast. The Lord Jesus is going to take
unto Himself a bride. Now, our Lord had enough glory
before but in His great goodness, and in His great mercy, and in
His great love, He will magnify not only His power, but His love. Not only will He magnify His
wisdom, but His mercy as well. And not only will He magnify
His justice, but His grace as well. Turn to Ephesians 1, Ephesians
chapter 1. In the first chapter of Ephesians,
beginning with verse beginning with verse 4 in Ephesians 1. Now I've pointed out, our Lord
receives glory, infinite glory, in His divine person, in His
work as Creator, in His work as Governor or Preserver of all
things. Now then, in His work as Savior,
His grace will be glorified. Look at verse 4. According as
He hath chosen us in Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Now our Lord has glorified
His power His wisdom, His sovereignty, His justice, His holiness, but
thank God He will also glorify His grace. Look at verse 12,
that we should be to the praise of His glory. Look at verse 14,
which is the earnest of our inheritance until the purchase, until the
redemption of the purchase possession unto the praise of His glory. What great love to make his enemies
his children, he'll get glory for that. What great love to
take on himself human flesh, he gets glory for that. What
great love to endure the sufferings of human life, he'll get great
glory for that. What great love to bear the reproach
and the agony of the cross, he'll get great glory for that. What
great love to endure separation from the Father, He'll get great
glory for that. What great love to patiently
wait and call us to Himself, He'll get great glory for that. The songwriter said, He stood
at my heart's door mid sunshine and rain and patiently waited
an interest to gain. What shame that so long He entreated
in vain, He's so precious to me. There's one definite thing
that this parable teaches. It's unmistakably clear, and
that is that the grand design of redemption and all that the
Father does is for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. It's not simply to get you to
heaven. It's not simply to get souls saved. And that seems to
be the thing that's uppermost on the minds of men today, but
that's not the thing that's uppermost on the mind of the Heavenly Father.
It is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's going to be
glorified either by your redemption or He'll be glorified by your
damnation, but He's going to be glorified. And that's the
aim and goal and purpose and design of the Heavenly Father,
and that's the grand object of all things, is that Christ might
have the preeminence. And that's missing from present-day
preaching. Present-day preachers are talking
about men, they're not talking about Christ. Present-day preachers
are talking about what you ought to do for God, not what God has
done for you. Present-day preachers have their
messages directed to get some kind of response out of men.
Our messages ought to be directed to the glory of Jesus Christ
the Lord. Now the second thing, quickly.
I see in this the grand design of all things, and that's to
honor the Son. Secondly, I see the method which
the father chooses to honor the son. He said 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. And he told them, says,
tell them, I've prepared my dinner, I've prepared my oxen, my fatlings
are killed, and all things are ready, come to the feast. Come
to the feast, come to the marriage. Now watch this. When the Heavenly
Father would glorify His Son, when the Heavenly Father would
honor His Son, He does not choose the methods of men. In ancient
days, when a prince was to be honored, one of three things
would be done. In barbarian countries, the forces
of the Father, the King, would go forth to battle and kill and
conquer, and rob and steal, that the young prince, the young king,
might have unwilling subjects over which to rule. That's the
way that the barbarian kings honored their sons. They went
forth with might and power and armies and conquered little struggling
countries and put their sons over them to rule over unwilling
subjects. That's not God's way. Or secondly,
when these powerful kings would honor their sons, the young prince,
they would impose heavy taxes on the people to furnish the
prince with a country estate, or with a country home, or with
riches and much glory. They would go out into the cities,
into the streets, and they would tax the people, heavily tax the
people, in order to present great and wonderful gifts and riches
unto the young prince. Or thirdly, all of the surrounding
little kingdoms who were afraid of the mighty king, who were
afraid of the mighty monarch, would go into their treasure
houses and into their storehouses and into their resources and
dream them to present a peace offering or present some marvelous
gift, some unusual gift, to the young prince in his honor. but when the Heavenly Father
would glorify His Son, He asks no gift of you, He asks no dowry,
He seeks nothing from the people, He conquers no nation and makes
no unwilling subjects, He requires no labor, He requires no bloodshed,
but rather instead He prepares a feast for us. He prepares a feast, he prepares
eternal gifts, and instead of calling you to bring something
to the young prince in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ, he
gives you blessings, and he gives you gifts, and he prepares for
you a great and wonderful feast as only God can prepare. And
Matthew Henry described that feast with four words. He says,
number one, it's a feast of love. Not our love for God, God's love
for us. It was not our love for Him that
spread the feast, it was His love for us. It was His love
that included you, it was His love that invited you, it was
His love that received you. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us. The chief of sinners
is invited. God loves lost men and lost women. It was love that spread the feast,
it was love that took me in. The second word that Matthew
Henry uses to describe this feast which the great king of heaven
prepared in honor of his son is not only love, but laughter. A feast is for happiness. Matthew
Henry said this, I question the godliness or the truth of a religion
that makes men miserable. I question the godliness or the
truth of a religion that makes people so peculiar that other
people don't want to be around them. People were attracted to the
Lord Jesus. They sought His company. They
didn't cross over to the other side of the street when he came
by. Multitudes thronged about him, pressed him, and pushed
up against him, and sought to listen to him, and invited him
to their homes. A feast, a marriage feast, is
a time of rejoicing. It's not a time for tears. It's
not a time for unhappiness. And I question the godliness
of a religion that makes men miserable. The third word he
uses to describe this feast to which the king invites us in
honor of his son, this feast of mercy, this feast of grace,
is the word fullness. What happens at a feast? The
folks get satisfied. The thirsty are satisfied and
the hungry are filled. and the gospel feast of Jesus
Christ will fill the whole capacity of manhood, leaving nothing empty. The mind is filled and challenged
with the wisdom of God. I find, I don't know whether
you are experiencing this or not, I think you are, but I find
the more that I study the Word of God and the grace of God,
the more I am disenchanted with what we call philosophy and wisdom
of man. The mysteries of this word are
so tremendous. The wisdom of God in all things
is so tremendous that even when you get on the subjects of government
and politics and these things, they just aren't attractive.
Because they seem to be, in comparison with the wisdom of God, foolishness. Foolishness. And at this feast,
which God, this feast of grace, which God has prepared in honor
of His Son, it's a feast of fullness, how challenging it is to talk
about the things of God. The mind is filled with the wisdom
of God, and the heart is filled with the love of God. Men do
not know what love is until they come to know Christ. I'm convinced
that what people call love in the natural world is nothing
in the world but selfishness and self-pride. I don't believe
that a man without Christ loves anybody but himself. But I believe that when a person
comes to know the Lord, when he comes and partakes of this
feast of grace and this feast of mercy and honor of the Son,
he learns what it is actually to love somebody. And the heart is just filled
to overflowing. It is filled to an aching point
with sincere affection, not only for Christ, but for his beloved
people. And then the conscience is filled
with the grace of God, not filled with guilt, not filled with fear,
for love overcometh fear. Perfect love casteth out fear. And when we come to this table
spread by the hand of God and by the grace of God, the conscience,
rather than being filled with guilt, is filled with grace.
And then the life is filled with the presence of God. How sweet
like Adam to walk with God. And that brings me to the fourth
word. He says this feast, and when the king honors the son,
he doesn't invite you to bring anything but an appetite. He doesn't invite you to bring
anything but a need. He doesn't invite you to bring
anything but a desire to be ministered unto. He said, I didn't come
to be ministered unto, but to minister. And when we come to
this feast, we come to a feast which love prepared. It's not
a time for examining people and finding fault with others and
sitting in judgment upon others. It's a feast of love, and it's
a feast of happiness, and it's a feast of fullness. We just
sit and keep on eating and never are totally satisfied until we're
awake with his likeness. But constantly being filled with
the wisdom and love and grace and presence of God, and then
there's fellowship. At a feast there's always fellowship.
You can't have a feast without fellowship. And at the Feast
of Mercy we walk with God as Adam walked with God. Once we were enemies. out yonder
in the highways and the hedges. And then the Father, to honor
the Son, spread a feast and invited us to come in. And He invited
us to come right into His presence. And wherefore, brethren, we can
come boldly into the very presence of the King Himself. Oh, my! And we're invited to talk with
Him, to have—if we walk in the light, as He is in the light,
we have fellowship with Him, with the King. Now the third
thing I see in this, I see an invitation extended and refused. It says the King of Heaven, the
Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a certain King which is going
to honor His Son. That's what it's all about. He's
going to honor His Son. Christ is going to have the And
so instead of inviting people to bring things and furnish things,
he furnished everything. He prepared his dinner, everything. He said, come for all things
are ready. And then it says, they would
not come. When the multitudes heard of
the king's feast. Now think about it. When they
heard about his feast, and they heard, When they heard about
His purpose to honor His Son, and they heard, and when they
were invited to participate in it, to honor His Son, they would
not come. It doesn't say they could not
come, it says they would not come. They would not come. He said, O Jerusalem, how oft
would I have gathered you unto myself, or the hen doth gather
her brood, but you would not. In John 5, verse 40, Christ said,
You will not come to me. Why wouldn't they come? Well,
here's the reason they gave. They said, We've got more important
things to do. Look at verse 5. They made light
of the invitation, and one went to his farm. And another went
to his merchandise. And this same parable in Luke
14, verse 18 says one fellow said, Well, I'm not coming. I
bought some land, and I'm going to look at it. And another fellow
said, Well, I'm not coming. You see, I bought some oxen. I bought a yoke of oxen, and
I've got to go and try them out. And another fellow said, Well,
I'm not coming because I married a wife. And I've got to be with
her. I can't be apart from my new
wife. And those were the excuses. But
you want to know the real reason? You want to know the real reason?
The real reason was disloyalty to the King. That's the real
reason. I don't care what anybody says.
Heavenly Father has purpose to honor the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He has invited men to come to the feast. He's invited men
to come to the Savior. And they will not come. And the
real reason is disloyalty, treason against the King. Treason. By
staying away from the feast, they reveal their disloyalty. By staying away from the feast,
they reveal their indifference. By staying away from the feast,
They revealed their treason against the king. It was as much as if
they said, we care not for the king's feast, we care not for
the king's son, we will not be numbered among those who honor
his son, we proclaim a revolt against him and against his son,
we will not participate in his feast. It is the same attitude
in the Garden of Eden. Sin is no different. It started
back with Adam's rebellion against God's authority. And the same
thing is true here. And not only is it treason against
the king, and not only is it disloyalty to the king, but it's
an insult to the son. An insult to the son. The unbeliever
not only rejects Christ, but the unbeliever despises his atonement. Over in the book of Psalms, David
said, Kiss the son, kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you
perish from the way. Take all the excuses that men
offer, I've bought land, I've bought oxen, I've married a wife,
one to his farm, another to his merchandise. Take all the excuses
that men offer, and it boils down to this, it boils down to
treason against God, and an insult to the dignity of his son. The
whole kingdom, here this certain king had a son. It was marriage
time, it was feast time, and everything stopped. And he said,
I've prepared a feast for my son. Go out yonder and bid everybody
to come to the feast. And these folks out there wouldn't
come. And they gave all kinds of excuses. But it all boils
down to this, disloyalty indifference, treason, and an insult. And I'll tell you, you can take
this whole world and this whole universe and all of the history
of man and everything else and just stop it and stand it still
and boil it down to one thing. The Father had decreed that in
all things Christ might have the preeminence. And He calls
upon all men of all ages and all generations and all history
to honor His Son, to bow to His Son, to submit to His Son, to
bow to the Lordship of His Son. And they will not do it. And
the whole thing is, regardless of what excuse they offer, it's
an insult to Christ and treason against God. And that's the whole
thing. And salvation is not to believe
that Jesus Christ is my personal Savior. I have no assurance anywhere
in this Bible that He's my personal Savior. That is nothing in the world
but a cliché invented by high-pressure soul winners. And nowhere in
this Bible am I commanded to believe that Jesus Christ died
for me personally. No, sir. If I waited to find
out whether or not he died for me personally, I'd never be saved. If salvation is only to believe
that Jesus Christ died for me personally, then everybody who
believes in a general atonement is saved, because they believe
Jesus Christ died for everybody. You see what I'm saying? Salvation
is to bow to and submit to and receive Jesus Christ as Lord,
whether he saves you and takes you to heaven, or whether he
damns you and sends you to hell. Now that's so. He's Lord. The thief on the cross didn't
say, I receive Christ as my personal Savior. He said, Lord, Lord,
you're coming into a kingdom. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. And Christ said, today you'll
be with me in that kingdom. When he submitted to Christ's
Lordship, when he recognized Christ's preeminence, the blood,
the atonement, the grace, the mercy, all which is in Christ,
was his. If I bow to the King, what the
King has is mine. We get the cart before the horse.
We want the blessing, and then later on we want the Lord. But
it's not that way. bow to the Lord, and because
you bow to Him, because you're one of His subjects, and because
you're in His kingdom, you get what the kingdom gives. The invitation. The heavenly fathers go on to
the And that's where we're, I'm telling you, that's where we're
missing it, and I firmly believe, and I worry constantly about
this, I'm afraid the whole past two generations have missed it.
I think these preachers, honestly I'm saying to you, I believe
it in my heart, I think these preachers who are standing pleading
with people to come down the aisles and believe on Jesus Christ
as their personal Savior are leading people to a false hope. They're going to have to get
out here and proclaim the Lordship of Christ, the Kingship of Christ,
the preeminence of Christ, that Jesus Christ the Lord is all
and in all, that He's Lord, that He's King, that He's Master.
Whatever He does with me, He's still the King. He's still the
Lord. And I'm to come, not down to
affront, but I'm to come in my heart to submission to Him. to a reliance upon Him, to a
committal to Him, to a surrender to Him, to a reception of Him
as my Lord. That's what salvation is. It's not to come down an aisle
and say, now I'm going to heaven because I believe in Jesus. Well, the devil believes in Primbald.
And everybody today has got such a false hope and such a false
refuge, they've hidden themselves in presumption, and when a preacher
comes along and starts talking about the life of the resurrection,
the resurrected life and conformity to Christ, and a living union
with Christ and exhorts people to examine themselves, whether
you be in the faith. They get all shook up and they
say, now don't start, don't rock the boat, we're all saved. We
don't want to do an examination, it may destroy our assurance.
And if we destroy our assurance, we lose our salvation. I'll tell
you, any profession of religion that won't bear a 24-hour-a-day
examination by the Word of God is phony. That's so. And Jesus Christ is my Lord. I have come to the place by God's
grace where I have surrendered intelligently and willingly to
Him as Lord. He's Master, He's King. And whatever
He did, they talk about, I trust the finished work of Christ.
I don't, I trust Christ. His finished work won't save
me, He saves me. You see what I'm saying? Salvation's
not in a work, it's in a person. Salvation's not in a promise,
it's in a person. Salvation's not in a profession,
it's in a person. You can't walk with a creed,
you walk with a person. And that's the reason they wouldn't
come. They were disloyal to the king. They insulted the son. The king was going to proclaim
the greatness of his son. He was going to honor his son.
He was going to give preeminence to the son. He says, Come and
join me in a worship of the son. We've got time for that. We'll
go to heaven when we die now, but we ain't got time to worship
the son. But that's what it's all about
now. If you can't do that, you can't participate in the feast.
That's what it's for. It's to honor the son. And I'll
say this to you. to whom I am the pastor and,
I think, spiritual leader and teacher of the Word of God, I
got lot better hope for that man, woman, boy, and girl who
doesn't have so much cock-sureness about his place in the kingdom,
but that man or woman who says, Well, Christ is my Lord. I submit
to Him. I don't know too much about accepting
Jesus as my personal Savior, but I sure do know He's King
of kings and Lord of lords. As old Ralph used to say, He's
the boss. And I'm willing for him to be the boss. And whatever
he does with me, it'll be right. It'll be right, because he's
boss. And I sure hope in his mercy
and in his grace that he remembers me. Now the last thing, but there's
an effectual call. Turn to Luke 14, and here's a
little better description of it, definition of it. In Luke
14, I don't know whether I made It's so hard to make yourself
clear on issues like this, but I hope that I've made myself
clear on that last point. You know, I was reading Spurgeon
the other day on that, and he said this. He said, I'm not too
crazy about the song, just as I am without one plea, but that
thy blood was shed for me. He said that's a pretty good
song for people who are already saved, but he says not too good
a song for a fellow that's not saved yet because he doesn't
have any assurance that Christ's blood was shed for him. Now you
think about that a minute. Now a man who's out yonder, here's
a man, he's out yonder, he's out of the kingdom of God. He
doesn't know Christ. He's just out there wallowing
around in the gutter of sin and rebellion and unbelief. What
assurance does he have that Christ died for him? Now, some things
he knows. Number one, he knows he's a sinner.
He can know that. Number two, he can know that
Christ the Lord invites sinners, and that Christ offers mercy
to sinners. He can know that. So he can come
to Christ as a sinner, can't he? He can come to Christ as
a sinner. He can say, Lord, be merciful
to me, a sinner! He can say as the publican Lord,
let thy blood be perpetuation on the mercy seat for me, the
sinner. Can't he? He can do that. He
can take his place like the thief on the cross and say, what I'm
getting I deserve. But remember me, he can do that. And it may be that God will speak
peace to his heart. But now, whether that man outside
there, and I'm talking about in rebellion, now whether or
not he can sit out there and look up to the throne of God
or look up to Mount Calvary and say, he died for me, I don't
know. He died for somebody, I hope
he died for me. He died for sinners, if I'm a
sinner, good possibility he died for me. You see what I'm saying?
So sink or swim, I go to him. Lord, to whom shall we go? They
said, Thou hast the words of life, nobody else got them. There's
nowhere else I can find mercy. There's no other table where
I can eat, so I'm coming to you. Now, if you throw me out, I'll
just have to perish, but if you'll take me in, I'll be much obliged."
Now then, once inside, he can say, just as I am without one
plea, but that thy blood was shed for me. See that? All right. Now then, Luke 14,
verse 21, says this, So the servant came and showed the Lord these
things. And then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, That's when they wouldn't come.
He said, You go out into the streets and the lanes of the
city, and you bring in the poor and the maimed and the haught
and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it's
done, as thou hast commanded. And yet there is room, and the
Lord said, Go out into the highways and the hedges, and compel them
to come in, that my house may be filled. Now in this parable
there are three invitations given. Number one, the first invitation
is short and to the point. It says in the book of Matthew
there that a certain king made a marriage for his son and sent
forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding."
That's the first invitation. It was short and to the point.
Come to the wedding. The king has decreed and determined
and purposed that his son was going to be honored. Come to
the feast. Now, if men's hearts were right
with God, short sermons and brief invitations would be sufficient.
God is God. That's right. Obey Him. That's
right. Worship Him. That's right. Come
to the field. Good for you, I'm coming. That's
all that would be necessary. But men's hearts aren't right.
So the next invitation was extended, and it was explained. Listen.
So he sent forth some more servants. And that's the reason our sermons
are so long. We're trying to explain the gospel. We're trying
to tell men what it's all about. It ought to be this. It ought
to be sermons that could be so short and sweet. You stand up
and read the Word of God and say, God is God. And all the
people say, Amen. But the hearts of men aren't right. So we have
to go out and we have to say, now the Lord's prepared the dinner.
And we have to say, the oxen are killed, and the fat ones
are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage,
there's a white tablecloth, and there's a beautiful napkin and
there's matching glasses, and there's beautiful tableware and
silverware, and there's high-backed chairs with arms on them, there's
streets of gold, there's gates of pearl, there's walls of jasper,
there are many mansions, there are loved ones there, on and
on and on. We have to keep on explaining,
come to the feast, we proclaim, we explain, we reason with men,
and still they won't come. And then the third invitation,
and this is the effectual call, is in Luke 14.21, and the master
of the house said to the servants, We're going to have a feast.
We're going to have a feast. My son is going to have a people.
My son is going to be honored. Now you go out yonder in the
highways and the hedges, and you find some people that are
poor. They're spiritually poor. Arthur
Pink used to say, they know nothing, they are nothing, and they have
nothing. And you bring them to the feast. And you go and find
those that are haught. That means they're lame from
the fall. They can't walk. They've got to have help to get
there. Find a fellow that's got no strength, without strength,
without hope, without God, and bring him in. Go out and find
those that are maimed, mutilated by sin. Their lives are wrecked
and their lives are ruined. Their hearts are broken and grieved
over the fall. They're sinners. You bring them
to the feast. And you go out there and find
those that are blind. They can't see. They can't see. They don't have all the answers
because they hadn't even seen the problem. But you go out and
get them and you bring them in. Those who have a need, those
who are hungry, those who are lame, those who are mutilated.
And it says over there in Matthew 22, verse 10, And the wedding
was furnished with gas. The wedding was furnished with
gas. Now then, I'm working on a sermon
for Sunday. I'm thinking about verse 11,
and I'll let you go. The king came and he saw a fellow
in there that didn't have on a wedding garment. What is that
wedding garment? And the king looked at him and
said, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?
And he didn't have anything to say. And the king said, bind
him hand and foot and cast him out. Our Father, we thank Thee
for the Word. We thank Thee for these parables. We need them. We need these simple
stories in our own speech and language. We're just little children. We need to be taught. There are
so many mysteries. so many things that we just can't
understand, but we receive them by faith because they're Thy
Word. But we thank Thee for these parables and stories. We thank
Thee for Thy Word that we read this evening, and bless it to
our understanding and to our profit, and to our good, and
most of all to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us get
a right conception of the Master. Let us get a right attitude where
He's concerned. Oh God, that we might know Him
and the power of His resurrection. That we might win Christ and
be found in Him. Fill our minds and hearts and
affections and our souls with the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Teach us what it means to be
saved, to be children of God, to pass out of darkness and confusion
into the kingdom of God's dear Son, into the light of Thy glorious
presence. Day by day, from faith to faith,
through the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, reveal unto us
Thy glory, so that that this world becomes to us vanity of
vanities, so that in reality and by experience we can say,
for me to live as Christ and to die as King, that God may
be glorified in my body, in my life, or in my death. Teach us
what that means. And bless Becca. We thank Thee
she's all right. We pray Your continued healing
hand to be upon her. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.