Doug McMasters: Second Bible and go to Matthew chapter 22.
Doug McMasters: We've been going through the Gospel of Matthew for a little over two years, and we're getting into the last week of the life of Jesus and his earthly ministry.
Doug McMasters: This morning we're going to be looking at the third of three parables that Jesus gives in answer to a band of religious leaders who had demanded of Jesus an answer for what he was doing in the temple complex.
Doug McMasters: Jesus was healing and teaching, and these men came to him and said, By what authority are you doing these things?
Doug McMasters: We looked at that last week.
Doug McMasters: You glance back in chapter 21, you can see the substance of that.
Doug McMasters: Jesus brought these men into a stony stalemate by asking them a question.
Doug McMasters: John the Baptist, did he come from heaven?
Doug McMasters: Or was this coming for some other reason?
Doug McMasters: And the men refused to answer that because they knew they couldn't.
Doug McMasters: There was trouble on both sides.
Doug McMasters: And so Jesus said, if you're not going to answer that question because of the insincerity of your hearts, I'm not going to answer your question.
Doug McMasters: And that brought three stinging stories, three parables that Jesus gives, one right after the other, two of them in chapter 21, and the third one we'll look at today in chapter 22.
Doug McMasters: He gave the parable of the two sons, one who was told to go into the field and work, had refused to do so, but later repented and went, and one son who said he would go, but didn't.
Doug McMasters: And then the parable of the vineyard owner who had prepared a property, had rented it out to tenant farmers, and had come to expect the fruit at the harvest time.
Doug McMasters: And these men, instead of giving the vineyard owner the fruit, decided to harass and kill the servants of that owner and to kill the son and to try to usurp the field for themselves.
Doug McMasters: Today we're going to look at the third of this, these stinging stories that Jesus gives.
Doug McMasters: There's similarities between what we'll look at today and what we looked at last week.
Doug McMasters: I separated them because at the end of the second story, Jesus gives some substantial statements of substance, where he speaks about himself as being the rejected stone that becomes the headpiece.
Doug McMasters: And we learned some other lessons as we glanced back at these two chapters.
Doug McMasters: But today we're going to look at the third of these three stinging stories that highlights the culpability of these religious leaders and their wrong responses to God's invitation.
Doug McMasters: As we look at this, we're going to be looking at a parable.
Doug McMasters: Not every detail is to be understood in its fine points, but the overall bridging story is for us.
Doug McMasters: Let's read it together, beginning in verse 1 of chapter 22.
Doug McMasters: Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables.
Doug McMasters: Come to the wedding banquet.
Doug McMasters: But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
Doug McMasters: The king was enraged, and he sent out his troops and killed those murderers and burned down their city.
Doug McMasters: Then he told his servants, The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
Doug McMasters: Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.
Doug McMasters: So those servants went on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good.
Doug McMasters: The wedding banquet was filled with guests.
Doug McMasters: Then the king came in to see the guest, and he saw a man who was not dressed for a wedding.
Doug McMasters: So he said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?
Doug McMasters: The man was speechless.
Doug McMasters: Then the king told the attendants, tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Doug McMasters: For many are invited, but few are chosen.
Doug McMasters: First thing I want us to notice in this section of scripture, in this parable that Jesus gives, is the repeated invitations from a rejoicing royal, the repeated invitations from a rejoicing royal.
Doug McMasters: The setting here is a parable.
Doug McMasters: It's a celebration.
Doug McMasters: A king has prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
Doug McMasters: This kind of ceremony would have been a countrywide celebration.
Doug McMasters: And it probably would have lasted for several days.
Doug McMasters: I was in Jordan last June, just before the wedding of Al-Hussein bin Abdullah, who's the crown prince of Jordan, and his marriage to uh Rajwa al-Sahif took place there in a palace in Amman.
Doug McMasters: I missed it by a day.
Doug McMasters: After the wedding ceremony, the bride and the groom rode down in procession through the streets of Amman, and they reached the palace, and there they had a state banquet of 1700 people.
Doug McMasters: And the queen said about the wedding, about her son, Hussein.
Doug McMasters: She said, To our entire Jordanian family, our joy is one and the same.
Doug McMasters: She said that about the 11 million people that live in Jordan.
Doug McMasters: Hussein is your son as much as he is mine.
Doug McMasters: You are his family, and this is your celebration.
Doug McMasters: What a wonderful invite for the whole nation to feel like they were part of this wedding.
Doug McMasters: Well, this is the same sort of wedding we're reading about in this parable.
Doug McMasters: When I was in Amon, the buildings were adorned with flags and pictures of this beaming couple who were about to get married.
Doug McMasters: And on the day, people flocked into the streets, and there were large screens set out in public places where people could watch the wedding.
Doug McMasters: The Jordanians were given a two-day holiday, and the king put on free public concerts and firework displays and all sorts of things for them to rejoice together.
Doug McMasters: This is what's happening here.
Doug McMasters: It's this kind of occasion, this countrywide celebration of the king for his son.
Doug McMasters: But when we look at this parable, there's something shocking that's happened.
Doug McMasters: Not a single person has RSVP'd.
Doug McMasters: Not a single person is indicated that they would come or not come to the wedding.
Doug McMasters: Yesterday I went to a wedding planning website called thenot.com.
Doug McMasters: And I read this article.
Doug McMasters: Expect this many people to RSVP no to your wedding.
Doug McMasters: I was like, well, okay, well, how many?
Doug McMasters: And they wrote this.
Doug McMasters: They said there's no magical formula to determine exactly how many invitees will RSVP know, but it's safe to plan roughly 15% of people will decline the invitation, and more like 20 to 30% if it's a destination wedding.
Doug McMasters: Well, this king had sent out the invitations, and he didn't get 15% RSVP no, or 20 or 30% RSVP no.
Doug McMasters: He got 100% silence.
Doug McMasters: The king's son was getting married, and nobody said they would show up or not show up.
Doug McMasters: The king's son is gotten married.
Doug McMasters: And so in verse three, the king sends out servants to personally encourage the people who had been invited to come.
Doug McMasters: But nobody responds to the urgings of those servants.
Doug McMasters: They come back to the king and they come back with disappointing news.
Doug McMasters: They don't want to come.
Doug McMasters: Although one might think, well, overlooking the written invitation, well, we all do that.
Doug McMasters: I meant to answer that, right?
Doug McMasters: We've done that.
Doug McMasters: But when the servants are personally at your door and you say, I just don't want to come, what an offense that would be.
Doug McMasters: What is this king going to do?
Doug McMasters: Well, he gets other servants and he sends them back out, and he sends them back out to all the invitees again, but this time they've got the menu in their hand.
Doug McMasters: And he tells them to go and tell them the food is ready.
Doug McMasters: He's prepared prime beef.
Doug McMasters: In fact, it's A5 Wagyu.
Doug McMasters: It's fatted cattle.
Doug McMasters: And you don't have to wait for it.
Doug McMasters: It's already cooked.
Doug McMasters: You just got to come in and you can grab a plate and eat right away.
Doug McMasters: And so all the servants spread out.
Doug McMasters: They go back out again.
Doug McMasters: What do they receive?
Doug McMasters: Some responses.
Doug McMasters: Two ways of response: indifference and hostility.
Doug McMasters: Before we go any further, let's pause for a moment to kind of flesh out what Jesus is saying here.
Doug McMasters: Who are all who's the king and who's the son?
Doug McMasters: And what's the banquet?
Doug McMasters: And who are the invitees?
Doug McMasters: And who are the servants?
Doug McMasters: Well, the king is God.
Doug McMasters: The king is the central character in here.
Doug McMasters: He's the one that's doing all of these things.
Doug McMasters: He's hosting the wedding feast.
Doug McMasters: He's sending out the invitations.
Doug McMasters: He's bringing out the wave of servants and a second wave of servants.
Doug McMasters: He's the one who's had the menu planned.
Doug McMasters: He's got all of that cooked and ready.
Doug McMasters: He's opened up the banqueting hall.
Doug McMasters: He's sending out everything.
Doug McMasters: And later he sends out his troops.
Doug McMasters: In the middle of the story, we have God active.
Doug McMasters: His Son, Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: The wedding feast, the messianic banquet.
Doug McMasters: Come to the celebration of the Son of God.
Doug McMasters: The king's servants, all of those who've been out bringing gospel proclamation, invitations, prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, all of them crying out, Come, come, come, the feast is ready.
Doug McMasters: What are we to learn from this?
Doug McMasters: We learn something about the nature of God, that He's patiently and persistently inviting all the nation of Israel to come to the Messianic banquet.
Doug McMasters: He sent his servants again and again and again.
Doug McMasters: He sent John the Baptist, he sent his own son.
Doug McMasters: All of his servants have been calling out, come, come, come, the feast is ready.
Doug McMasters: Come enjoy the food.
Doug McMasters: Join in the celebration.
Doug McMasters: Rejoice with me.
Doug McMasters: God is patiently and persistently inviting the people to the messianic banquet.
Doug McMasters: God is gracious.
Doug McMasters: God is generous.
Doug McMasters: God is patient.
Doug McMasters: He's sending out word again and again and again.
Doug McMasters: But there's another element to this story.
Doug McMasters: Not just the repeated invitations of a rejoicing royal, but this the repugnant refusals from these renegade residents of this of the land.
Doug McMasters: We look at this parable and we're surprised, shocked by the response.
Doug McMasters: No RSVP, if the king sent you an invite to the banquet.
Doug McMasters: To go again?
Doug McMasters: And the servants come back and they say they just don't want to come.
Doug McMasters: The brevity of that shocks us.
Doug McMasters: But the brevity of that is replaced with the shock that the king would regather himself and send out another wave of servants and urge them to come.
Doug McMasters: And this last wave are sent with the very words of the king.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at what it says there.
Doug McMasters: Tell those who are invited, see, I've prepared my dinner.
Doug McMasters: My oxen and fatted cattle have been slaughtered.
Doug McMasters: Everything is ready.
Doug McMasters: Come to the wedding banquet.
Doug McMasters: They've got the very words of the king.
Doug McMasters: Out.
Doug McMasters: These are the king's words.
Doug McMasters: But they again reject the invitation.
Doug McMasters: And verses five and six give us the two basic types of rude rejection of these rebel residents.
Doug McMasters: The first one is just a busy indifference.
Doug McMasters: And the second is a violent indignation.
Doug McMasters: Verse 5, they paid no attention and went away.
Doug McMasters: One to his own farm, another to his business.
Doug McMasters: This first group paid no attention.
Doug McMasters: Paid no attention.
Doug McMasters: This is the king.
Doug McMasters: This is the wedding of the prince, the the one who'll take the throne soon.
Doug McMasters: This is an invitation that's been offered once and twice and three times.
Doug McMasters: This is an invitation that's filled with food you couldn't buy for yourself.
Doug McMasters: This is the finest affair.
Doug McMasters: This is a feast ready for eating.
Doug McMasters: The banquet hall is open.
Doug McMasters: Everything is ready.
Doug McMasters: Just come and eat.
Doug McMasters: And they paid no attention.
Doug McMasters: If somebody said to you, hey, I'll buy you a lunch at Ruth's Chris, how many of you are going to say no to that?
Doug McMasters: Some of you might go, Well, I kind of like uh another place.
Doug McMasters: I like Lori's better.
Doug McMasters: But no, you're gonna say, Thank you.
Doug McMasters: I'm gonna eat at Ruth's Chris.
Doug McMasters: This is better than any of those chain steakhouses.
Doug McMasters: This is the best.
Doug McMasters: They pay no attention.
Doug McMasters: Here we have people that Jesus talked about in another parable, the parable of the sower, where the cares of this life, their jobs, their family, their possessions are more important to them than God and his word.
Doug McMasters: Think about your average unbeliever today.
Doug McMasters: Put a name to that person.
Doug McMasters: They don't necessarily want church doors to close, they don't want preachers to be shut down, they just don't want their ears opened.
Doug McMasters: They just want to go about and do more important stuff than what you're talking about.
Doug McMasters: We live in a world today where people are so busy that they don't stop and listen to this generous invitation.
Doug McMasters: Good people doing good things, but careless about the good news of a generous and gracious God.
Doug McMasters: Preoccupied, so preoccupied that they have no thought about their soul.
Doug McMasters: It's like that rich man who had a huge harvest one day and said, Wow, look at this.
Doug McMasters: I can tear down my barns, I can build bigger, I'm gonna fill it up, I'm gonna quit work, I'm gonna take my ease, and I'm gonna say to myself, Eat, drink, be merry, enjoy the rest of your days.
Doug McMasters: And Jesus said, You fool, this night your soul's gonna be required of you.
Doug McMasters: What is the greatest response of humanity to a God filled with a gracious, generous invitation?
Doug McMasters: Indifference.
Doug McMasters: Just indifference.
Doug McMasters: But there's another group here, there's a hostile group.
Doug McMasters: Verse six, while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
Doug McMasters: Well, this group is anything but indifferent.
Doug McMasters: This group is out for blood.
Doug McMasters: And this these servants who have come this last time with menus in hand, they don't get to go back home.
Doug McMasters: They're dead.
Doug McMasters: They're not just ignored, they're murdered.
Doug McMasters: They seize the servants of the king, they treat them shamefully, and then they kill them.
Doug McMasters: Now, this is a parable, and this is in parables, there's always some absurd, exaggerated thing that happens, and this is it.
Doug McMasters: But is it all that absurd?
Doug McMasters: And is it all that exaggerated?
Doug McMasters: When you look at the context of what's going on here, these religious leaders who are confronting Jesus are plotting against him, trying to catch him out, are looking for ways to upset him, to bring him to trial, are conspiring about his death.
Doug McMasters: There's nothing exaggerated about this at all.
Doug McMasters: In this third parable that Jesus gives, this is where the knife goes into the third rib.
Doug McMasters: These religious leaders are these murderous rejectors.
Doug McMasters: Their monstrous behavior against these servants is one-to-one in the monstrous reaction of the Pharisees and the chief priests as they come across the son who's invited them to a wedding.
Doug McMasters: But there's a third response in this parable because the parable doesn't end with this first phase.
Doug McMasters: The parable moves into a second phase.
Doug McMasters: We'll skip some of the details for a moment, but we come to the second part of the parable where the wedding banquet is happening and it's full of people.
Doug McMasters: And now the king is coming in to mingle with the crowd and to meet them.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at verse 11.
Doug McMasters: When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who is not dressed for a wedding.
Doug McMasters: So he said to him, Friend, uh, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?
Doug McMasters: And the man was speechless.
Doug McMasters: This man is seen as somewhat of an intruder because of the way he's dressed.
Doug McMasters: What is all of this?
Doug McMasters: Well, we'll look at this in just a moment, but all the people that are in this banqueting hall that are now part of the celebration, well, they've been sort of compelled to go in.
Doug McMasters: The servants went out, another group of servants went out, and they basically said, The king wants you to come to the banquet.
Doug McMasters: And they grabbed all kinds of people, all the people that they could, and just brought them in.
Doug McMasters: They didn't wake up that day ready for a wedding.
Doug McMasters: They didn't wake up that day and sort of open up their wardrobe or open up their closets and go, I might just have to go to a wedding today.
Doug McMasters: What am I gonna wear?
Doug McMasters: I was really just gonna go down to the 7-Eleven and grab a bagel.
Doug McMasters: I'd better dress for a wedding.
Doug McMasters: I was just gonna go to LA Fitness.
Doug McMasters: Better put the gown on, might get a wedding invite.
Doug McMasters: No, these people were dressed for a regular day, they were out busy doing whatever they were doing that day, and the king's servant said, Look, buddy, we got somewhere for you to go.
Doug McMasters: You're going to a wedding today.
Doug McMasters: And so when they got to the wedding, something happened.
Doug McMasters: And this is where the dress comes in.
Doug McMasters: In the ancient world, the kings would often supply clothes to those people that they wanted to honor.
Doug McMasters: Genesis 45.
Doug McMasters: Joseph gives his brothers clothes.
Doug McMasters: He gives Benjamin more clothes.
Doug McMasters: When Naaman is asked what to do for a person the king wants to honor, he says, and Esther, have them bring a royal garment that the king himself has worn, and a horse the king himself has ridden, which has a royal crown on its head, and put the garment and the horse under the charge of one of the king's most noble officers and have them clothe the man who the king wants to honor and parade him around.
Doug McMasters: You see, what's happened here is that everybody who's been compelled from the streets has been given a new garment.
Doug McMasters: They've been given the king's garments.
Doug McMasters: The king has opened up all of his goods and he's fitted them for the occasion.
Doug McMasters: But this guest, this person, he's crashed the party.
Doug McMasters: He's thinking that what he's wearing is good enough.
Doug McMasters: I had a fun moment with that back when I worked at Grace to You.
Doug McMasters: I was serving there.
Doug McMasters: We're doing a sort of a Grace to You ministry photo, and we've got the risers there, the photographer, and everybody comes out, and we're all dressed, ready to have our picture taken.
Doug McMasters: And John MacArthur comes in, and he's, you know, he's tall.
Doug McMasters: He wouldn't be up front where Carol is, he'd be in the back where Mike and I are.
Doug McMasters: And he stands next to me, and I look at him, and he's wearing a tracksuit.
Doug McMasters: There's not one of us wearing a tracksuit, but John's wearing a tracksuit.
Doug McMasters: Well, it doesn't matter because all of us in the back, all you see is a little bit of eyeballs and hair or bald head, like I have.
Doug McMasters: And after after the photograph is taken, everybody kind of shuffles back into the building, and I'm outside.
Doug McMasters: And the only two other people that are outside are John MacArthur and Melinda MacArthur, his daughter.
Doug McMasters: And Melinda comes up to him and says, Dad, what's up with the tracksuit?
Doug McMasters: You know, we're having we're having a we're having a ministry photo here, and you're wearing a tracksuit.
Doug McMasters: And and John just goes, Uh uh, I was, I was just, I just came out of my study.
Doug McMasters: He was dressed for a comfortable spot of spending some time studying God's word, and just thought, oh man, I need to be somewhere, and just got up and went and got the photo done.
Doug McMasters: This man, however, is doing something more sinister.
Doug McMasters: He's looking around, and everybody is dressed in the king's clothes, except for him.
Doug McMasters: He's barging into the banquet, he's slurping down the caviar, he's chomping on the wagyu, he's piling his plate with the king crab legs, and the king says, Friend, he's like, Yeah, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?
Doug McMasters: Because I've I've come to honor all my guests, friend, there's a generous question.
Doug McMasters: You don't say friend unless you mean it.
Doug McMasters: And he says to them, Look, explain yourself.
Doug McMasters: Perhaps there's a good reason for this, and I'd like to hear it.
Doug McMasters: But the man doesn't say a word.
Doug McMasters: The man has refused the king's provision of the clothing, insulting the host and showing nothing but indifference and complacency and self-interest.
Doug McMasters: Because I'm dressed well enough.
Doug McMasters: Thank you very much.
Doug McMasters: I don't need your clothes.
Doug McMasters: They didn't need different clothing.
Doug McMasters: They had their own and they liked it.
Doug McMasters: But God does not accept those who think that they can enter into his presence with their own clothing.
Doug McMasters: This king had provided the feast.
Doug McMasters: This king wanted to celebrate the marriage of his son.
Doug McMasters: The invitations had gone out far and wide.
Doug McMasters: He had called everybody in, even those who were not even paying attention, the the evil and the good, no matter what they were in their in their relationship and society and their their reputation.
Doug McMasters: And he said, I'll I'll bring you in, I'll feed you, I'll honor you, I'll give you clothes of honor, join in the banquet.
Doug McMasters: And this man says, I want to eat the food, but I'm just not going to wear your clothes.
Doug McMasters: They thought they were confident in and of themselves to be where they were.
Doug McMasters: Jesus is saying, No, in this parable, that's not good enough.
Doug McMasters: Indifference, hostility, and self-righteousness will keep you out of the kingdom, will keep you out of the banquet.
Doug McMasters: Jesus said in Matthew 5, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll in no way enter into the kingdom.
Doug McMasters: They can't get in wearing their clothes, and you can't get in wearing your own clothes.
Doug McMasters: You need the clothes from the king to be accepted.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah, there's echoes of Isaiah here.
Doug McMasters: All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of God.
Doug McMasters: But in that passage we read together out of Isaiah 61, I rejoice greatly in the Lord, I exalted my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.
Doug McMasters: He's wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.
Doug McMasters: Here are people who are wearing clothes they didn't wake up to put on.
Doug McMasters: And that leads in this parable in two different places.
Doug McMasters: Not just the repeated invitations of a rejoicing royal and these repugnant refusals from rebel residents.
Doug McMasters: There's a ready retribution of a rejected king.
Doug McMasters: In the second half, the king has this man bound hand in foot and thrown into outer darkness where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Doug McMasters: In the first half, the king takes the murderers and in his rage sends out his troops and kills the murderers and burns their city.
Doug McMasters: Again, these parables tell us something about God.
Doug McMasters: Yes, God is king.
Doug McMasters: Yes, God is a sovereign ruler.
Doug McMasters: Yes, he has a gracious, generous heart.
Doug McMasters: He's inviting people to a wedding feast, the feast of his son.
Doug McMasters: And he is patient.
Doug McMasters: He sends out his invitations time and time and time again.
Doug McMasters: He is patient beyond our ability to understand patience.
Doug McMasters: But he's also holy and he's also just and he will meet out justice to those who reject his invitation to the party.
Doug McMasters: We live in a culture that gets angry about this idea to think of a God who would meet out justice.
Doug McMasters: We hate this idea of a loving God being wrathful.
Doug McMasters: C.S.
Doug McMasters: Lewis put it this way: we don't want so much a father in heaven as we want a grandfather in heaven, a senile, toothless, benevolent soul.
SPEAKER_02: But this is justice, not injustice here.
SPEAKER_02: Is God unjust in this?
Doug McMasters: The people that had murdered his servants?
Doug McMasters: Like the landowner murdered the landowner's son?
Doug McMasters: No, that's justice.
Doug McMasters: It's uncomfortable, but it's true.
Doug McMasters: And Jesus gives this side of an understanding of God just as much as he's given us the other side of God's patience and generosity and welcome and interest.
Doug McMasters: The problem is not God, the problem is our understanding of God and ourselves.
Doug McMasters: Because we don't see ourselves as God sees us.
Doug McMasters: We don't understand our sin as it is.
Doug McMasters: R.
Doug McMasters: C.
Doug McMasters: Sprohl said that our sin is not just some little thing that we do, it's cosmic treachery, it's treason at the highest level.
Doug McMasters: Because we were made to glorify and to enjoy God forever.
Doug McMasters: And every time we say no, I want to do it my way.
Doug McMasters: No, I don't think that's good for me.
Doug McMasters: What I think is good for me.
Doug McMasters: We are saying to the king, I don't want your way.
Doug McMasters: I don't want your robes.
Doug McMasters: I don't want your food.
Doug McMasters: I don't want your banquet.
Doug McMasters: I don't want your feast.
Doug McMasters: I don't want to be in your presence.
Doug McMasters: And as created beings, that is cosmic treachery.
Doug McMasters: God is patiently, persistently inviting to the messianic banquet.
Doug McMasters: But there is an end to that patience and that persistence.
Doug McMasters: But I don't want to end there because there's something else to learn here.
Doug McMasters: We have these repeated invitations, we have these repugnant rejectuals and this ready retribution.
Doug McMasters: But there's also in this story some remarkable rejoicing that's going on.
Doug McMasters: It's in the background, but you can see it there.
Doug McMasters: Look at the second half of the parable.
Doug McMasters: The banqueting hall is full.
Doug McMasters: It's not empty.
Doug McMasters: It's full of people.
Doug McMasters: And they're there filling their plates with sumptuous food.
Doug McMasters: And they're clothed in the finest of garments.
Doug McMasters: Who are these people?
Doug McMasters: And how did they get here?
Doug McMasters: Well, the parable tells us who they are and how they got here.
Doug McMasters: The people are, well, they're commoners, is who they are.
Doug McMasters: They're commoners.
Doug McMasters: The wedding last year in Jordan, there were 1,700 people at the state banquet.
Doug McMasters: There were not 11 million at the banquet.
Doug McMasters: There were 1,700 people at the banquet.
Doug McMasters: The dignitaries, the state officials, the kings and queens and princes of the lands around the world were there.
Doug McMasters: But not your average Jordanian.
Doug McMasters: The rest of Jordan, they got a couple days off.
Doug McMasters: They got a free concert.
Doug McMasters: They got a firework display, and they had some big screens that were put out, and they got to maybe see the procession go down the streets of Amman, but they weren't in the banqueting hall.
Doug McMasters: These original, these people that are here, they had never been given an invitation.
Doug McMasters: They had never had that looking at them with the menu.
Doug McMasters: They got up that morning and they were just going to go to work, or they were just going to go visit a friend, or they were just going to go to a shop, or they were just going to enjoy some recreation.
Doug McMasters: They just got up that day to go about their business.
Doug McMasters: But their day was radically changed.
Doug McMasters: They were brought into the banqueting house of the king.
Doug McMasters: They were given a plate and told to eat the food.
Doug McMasters: They were brought into a dressing room and saying, Take your clothes off and wear these instead.
Doug McMasters: And they were ushered out to the sound of music and laughter and joy as they looked at the platform and saw there the prince and his bride.
Doug McMasters: And they got to be there.
Doug McMasters: And the king comes around and says, How are you today?
Doug McMasters: Are you enjoying my food?
Doug McMasters: What do you think of this day?
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Boy, it's a lot different than I expected.
Doug McMasters: The imagery here is of this king urgently calling people to come from everywhere and to come to his banquet.
Doug McMasters: And yes, in the telling of the story, the king looks a little desperate, doesn't he?
Doug McMasters: But it's an extravagance of generosity that's here, not desperation.
Doug McMasters: He wants to display his generous extravagance to these people.
Doug McMasters: And in John the Baptist, in the invitations into the kingdom of heaven, there were tax collectors and prostitutes who repented and listened to John the Baptist.
Doug McMasters: And when Jesus came, he touched those who were sick and blind and broken, and he made them whole, and they were tax collectors, and they were sinners.
Doug McMasters: And he calls them into the banqueting hall.
Doug McMasters: And at the end of Matthew's gospel, Jesus will say, Go to all the nations of the world.
Doug McMasters: Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them everything that I've commanded you.
Doug McMasters: And I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.
Doug McMasters: People who just got up to go about a regular day found that their whole, whole world had been changed.
Doug McMasters: Carol sat there and told us exactly that, didn't she?
Doug McMasters: She got up one day full of anger and bitterness and hatred, despising a God who would let these bad things happen to her.
Doug McMasters: And by the end of the day, she is shocked to say to herself, I am a daughter of the king of heaven.
Doug McMasters: I'm forgiven.
Doug McMasters: And I don't wear my own clothes anymore, I wear his.
Doug McMasters: And I don't feast on the food that I produce for myself, I feast on the riches of his grace.
Doug McMasters: These guests woke up that day without any thought of participating in the wedding.
Doug McMasters: And the servants compelled them to come in.
Doug McMasters: Why were they there?
Doug McMasters: They were called, they were compelled, and they were chosen, and they were clothed.
Doug McMasters: That's why they were there.
Doug McMasters: This wedding feast was going to happen.
Doug McMasters: The king would have his celebration.
Doug McMasters: And if he would call and call and call again to indifferent, hostile, self-righteous people.
Doug McMasters: And if they said, no, no, no, the king was going to find people to rejoice with.
Doug McMasters: The party's going to go on, but you won't be there.
Doug McMasters: The celebration is going to happen because this king is going to have a feast.
Doug McMasters: This king is going to have a wedding.
Doug McMasters: This king is going to have a party.
Doug McMasters: This king is going to have a full banqueting hall.
Doug McMasters: And look at us.
Doug McMasters: Look at us.
Doug McMasters: From all around the world, we're here.
Doug McMasters: And as children of God in Christ Jesus, we woke up one day to find out that God had something a whole lot different for us than to simply go to work or simply meet a friend or simply go to the gym or simply shop at a store.
Doug McMasters: He woke us up so that we could eat the finest of foods and wear the best clothes and rejoice in the greatest wedding, the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Doug McMasters: And this king has clothed us all with the same garments.
Doug McMasters: And whether we're poor or rich, we don't have to walk into the banqueting hall embarrassed by our threadbare clothing or to walk around in pride at the extravagance of the expense of our wardrobe.
Doug McMasters: We wear the same clothes.
Doug McMasters: We all are there with equal footing, because there's no place for embarrassment or pride in the feast of the kingdom.
Doug McMasters: As Paul said, through faith you're all children of God in Christ.
Doug McMasters: Those you that are baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.
Doug McMasters: There's no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.
Doug McMasters: You're all one in Christ Jesus, every one of us.
Doug McMasters: Revelation 7.
Doug McMasters: I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, and they were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb.
Doug McMasters: Before we close, are you in the banqueting hall?
Doug McMasters: Are you feasting on the riches of the king?
Doug McMasters: Have you been clothed with his clothing?
Doug McMasters: Don't be indifferent.
Doug McMasters: Don't be hostile.
Doug McMasters: And don't be self-righteous.
Doug McMasters: Listen to the invitation.
Doug McMasters: It calls out to all.
Doug McMasters: Heed the call.
Doug McMasters: The bride and the spirit say, Come.
Doug McMasters: Listen to this song.
Doug McMasters: Come to the table he's prepared for you.
Doug McMasters: The bread of forgiveness and the wine of release.
Doug McMasters: Come to the table and sit down beside him.
Doug McMasters: The Savior wants you to join in the feast.
Doug McMasters: Come to the table and see in his eyes the love that the Father has spoken, and know that you're welcome, no matter your crime, though every commandment you've broken.
Doug McMasters: For he's come to love you and not to condemn.
Doug McMasters: For he offers a pardon of peace.
Doug McMasters: If you'll come to the table, you'll feel in your heart the greatest forgiveness, the greatest release.
Doug McMasters: Just come.
Doug McMasters: Let's pray.
Doug McMasters: Our Heavenly Father, we don't deserve to be at this banquet.
Doug McMasters: We don't deserve to be at the table you've prepared, to eat the bread of forgiveness and the wine of release.
Doug McMasters: To sit down beside you, to join in this feast, to look into your eyes and see love.
Doug McMasters: And to know that we're welcome, whatever our crime.
Doug McMasters: But what dangerous place it is for those who are indifferent, to those who are hostile, to those who think that they're good enough to be in.
Doug McMasters: Oh Father, awaken them, we pray.
Doug McMasters: Awaken them to the realization that there is something to pay attention to, and it's you.
Doug McMasters: That there's no reason to be hostile to a God who offers such fare, and he'll clothe you with finer clothes than you could ever put on yourself.
Doug McMasters: Awaken them, Father, we pray.
Doug McMasters: And Lord, may Christ be glorified in it all.
Doug McMasters: And we ask this in his name.
Doug McMasters: Amen.