WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:22.399 Please take your Bible with me to the Gospel of Matthew. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:25.359 If you are our guest this morning, we want to welcome you. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.559 We are working our way through Matthew's Gospel. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:32.479 This morning we begin in Matthew 22. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.039 Matthew chapter 22. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:45.039 I am not going to be able to answer all of your questions about this text this morning. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:49.759 In fact, I'm going to generate more questions than you already have. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:01:06.319 This is a passage of Scripture that could probably suffice for about four or five different sermons without repeating any content. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:14.879 So there are questions about the end times that we can't answer this morning that will be driven from this passage. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.879 There are questions about the doctrine of salvation, the doctrine of the church. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:28.799 All kinds of issues and questions that we might like to have answered that frankly we don't have time to answer this morning. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:37.840 So I would ask that you take note of those questions. 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:42.319 Maybe write them down for personal study. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:45.040 Maybe you can ask about them at another time. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:49.680 And ask that you sort of take note of them and then set them aside. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:02:00.959 And by the Spirit's help, to focus in on what Jesus want us to hear from the story he tells? 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:10.719 What does Matthew intend to communicate to the church, to the churches to which he's writing from this passage? 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.479 Now that I have your attention, I'm going to go to something that may not even seem to make sense. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:24.240 You're all familiar with the All-State Insurance Company, right? 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:27.120 You have your insurance? 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:37.840 The All-State Insurance Company has promoted itself for several years with the slogan: protect yourself from mayhem. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:39.840 Some of you watch TV, that's good. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:41.120 Or maybe not so good. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:41.520 I don't know. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:42.639 We'll see. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:45.280 Protect yourself from mayhem. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:53.599 The advertisements rely on the human tendency to protect ourselves. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:08.000 And they mimic typical disasters that occur throughout life in order to drive us to the place of uncertainty, maybe even to fear, so that we reach out to Allstate to get ourselves insured. 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:17.199 If you want to avoid the mayhem that comes from the unforeseen fiascos of life, then Allstate is there to help you. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:18.240 I cannot vouch for that. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:20.000 I've never worked with Allstate. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:34.159 One particular Allstate commercial portrays a wedding guest paying more attention at the wedding to a football game on his phone than he gives to the wedding proceedings. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:39.439 That leads to disaster at the wedding. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:48.560 Our text in Matthew's gospel is a parable by Jesus that also portrays a wedding fiasco. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:53.520 But it pictures much, much more than Mahem. 00:03:55.439 --> 00:04:04.000 It reflects self-absorbed decisions that lead to being barred from eternal joy. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:19.360 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:25.199 And he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:33.040 Again he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who were invited, See, I have prepared my dinner. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:37.199 My oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.360 Come to the wedding feast. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:51.360 But they paid no attention, and they went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:58.560 Yang King was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:05.279 And he said to his servants, The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:10.240 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:16.079 And the servants went out into the roads, and they gathered all whom they found, both good and bad. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:20.079 So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:26.319 But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:32.720 And he said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:35.759 And he was speechless. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:43.600 Then the king said to the attendants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:52.480 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:54.240 Amen. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:08.879 First we must understand that this parable is the third story that reflects the negative response to God the Father sending his Son to His people. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:13.199 You can back up and you can read those consecutive stories. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:15.519 So in that sense, nothing is different. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:30.160 This parable, though, takes what we've already covered in Matthew 21 and intensifies several elements that take responding to Jesus to another level that is completely different. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:35.439 We're going to see here in the next few moments God's rich eternal plan. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:40.720 We're going to see the unexpected rejection of that plan. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:46.639 And then the plan fulfilled in rejoicing and rejection. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:54.079 Now, as we consider these story stages, remember that it presents the divine viewpoint. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:04.319 We glimpse how people respond to God, not from our perspective, but from heaven's perspective, from the throne room of God. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:08.480 The sun, the sun inside the story never speaks. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:12.319 The groom in the story never speaks. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:16.079 The king is in the point position. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:27.759 He organizes the banquet, he directs the preparations, the invitations, the servants, the retribution for spurning his invitation, and even throwing someone out of the party. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:35.839 So as Jesus tells this story, he expresses the point of view of God the Father. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:41.680 Let's consider then first how the story lays out God's rich eternal plan. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:47.759 God's rich eternal plan is pictured as a wedding story. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:57.759 So the parable uses an everyday image to illustrate an uncommon situation. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:10.399 When we understand that this is God's perspective, we can see that the wedding illustration is the divine plan from beginning to end. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:14.079 Now the end of the plan is the clearest. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:17.759 The wedding feast is the conclusion of the plan, right? 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.480 When you plan a wedding, you get to the end. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:21.920 That's the whole goal. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:25.519 Here, the goal is to get to this wedding feast. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:32.639 But there are other aspects of the wedding plan couched and woven in the parable itself. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:37.120 For example, it's already been arranged in the past. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:40.639 For the invitations have already gone out to the guests. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:43.600 Verse 3 says, they've already been invited. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:47.279 So by this point, the wedding has been arranged. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:53.039 That is, a bride has been chosen for the groom, and that what that those two have been arranged to be married. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:57.679 Details for the wedding and the celebration have already been planned. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:03.200 The end is determined, and the event is all set in motion. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:08.000 And the conclusion would be a joyful and lavish wedding feast. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:12.080 And that's all very normal for a first century Jewish wedding. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:19.600 But Jesus uses this picture to illustrate something more than a human wedding. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:22.799 For the great king. 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:28.159 God the Father is preparing a wedding feast for his son. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:35.120 Eternity past, the Godhead determined that there would be a wedding for God the Son. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:40.320 And the Father invited guests to the celebration at the end of time. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:47.039 And that pictures then eternity, where it's begun in eternity past, and it's concluded sometime in the future. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:54.080 This pictures the will of God and how it is brought to fruition by joining in the will of God with his creation. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:10:02.639 And when the time came for the guests to go to the feast, they said, Yeah, no thanks. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:05.440 I have something better to do. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:20.879 God, the king, and the story responds with judgment. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:26.159 You can see several parallels then with the parable of the vineyard owner just before this. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:34.720 You remember how the owner sent servants to the vineyard owners to say, Hey, I, you're tenant farmers, I need my portion of the profits from this harvest. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:36.799 And they said, Yeah, no, we're not going to do that. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:39.440 And so they beat some of the servants. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:46.559 Then he sends more, and they beat them, and he sends more, and they kill them, and finally he sends the sun and they say, Let's take the sun and kill him. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:52.399 So we can observe then the plan for the wedding feast. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:59.360 It has been determined, it has been planned, it's been set in motion, and it must go on. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:02.480 This wedding feast will not be canceled. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:08.720 So new guests are compelled to come in, and they celebrate with the king and his son. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:25.200 So as we consider this story, we must remember that this parable uses a typical human set of circumstances to mirror a divine reality that encompasses eternity. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:31.120 When you read this, think of eternity. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:34.399 Because we're reading God's perspective. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:43.759 But not only do we see this as an illustration of divine wedding planning from beginning to end, we see it mirroring the actual wedding process. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:51.919 So if we read carefully, we find that two invitations are sent to the guest list. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:56.159 Verse 3 refers to those who were invited. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:00.320 They've already been extended an invitation to come. 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:07.279 You see, in those times, an invitation went out to guests when the wedding celebration was announced. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:11.360 In our time period, we might consider it like an engagement announcement. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:13.919 Except it was going to happen. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:20.559 The wedding was arranged, the marriage was arranged, and they said, There's going to be a wedding, and you are invited. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:24.559 Be ready. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:31.039 But that initial invitation didn't establish a specific date. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:45.600 Instead, it was received with honor and the expectation that you would be ready to drop everything and go to the wedding and party for two weeks with all of the guests. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:54.000 Then, when the time for the celebration arrived, another, a second invitation, would go out saying, the wedding's ready. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:54.639 We're ready. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:55.919 The feast is all prepared. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:57.039 Now's the time to come. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:12:59.600 Come, celebrate together with us. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:06.159 The invitation in this story is an incredible honor. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:09.279 Because it comes from the king. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:16.720 Not only is the invitation an honor, but you had a chance to dine on the king's food. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.879 The feast would be sumptuous. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:26.320 Therefore, turning down this invitation was disrespectful. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:31.919 For there was no significant reason to dismiss the king's invitation. 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:40.799 That meant that if you received the initial invitation, you would work to be ready whenever the final announcement arrived. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:50.399 You would work to be ready to drop everything, change your clothes, or wash your clothes, and celebrate with the father, the son, and the new bride. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:14:00.960 So the parable then mirrors a typical Middle Eastern wedding of the first century to illustrate something that is going on in heaven. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:08.080 That God is planning from eternity past that is going to be fulfilled at some point in the future. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:16.480 God's rich, eternal plan is to celebrate the union of his son, the Lamb of God, through an elegant and sumptuous feast. 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:29.120 So everyone hearing this story from the lips of Jesus, the Son, could track each step of the wedding plan. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:34.559 Only this wedding story isn't typical. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.960 By human standards, it's a fiasco. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:48.240 It's a fiasco because of sinful human beings, disrespectful and dark nature. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:52.320 We see this first in the unexpected reaction to God's plan. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:58.559 First, they they disrespectfully turn down the invitation. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:16.879 Second, they they choose to let the dark nature of sin rule in them by sinfully elevating what we might consider typically righteous activities to more significance, to greater significance than the wedding. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:22.720 Now remember, this is no ordinary wedding invite. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:26.960 This is not your, this is not your, let's see, what can we imagine here? 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:34.559 This is not your friend's cousin twice removed that you met that one time at a party ten years ago. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:38.080 And so it's okay to turn down the invitation. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:42.080 No, this this is this is the great king. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.879 It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:51.039 This is God's invitation being given. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:58.879 To turn down the celebration of God's Son publicly declares that God doesn't deserve your presence at his table. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:04.000 His food is not worthy of your consumption. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:09.440 You have better things to do than to give your time to God's celebration. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:18.320 And that is a disrespectful reaction to the king's grace of giving you an invitation. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:21.519 What does it say? 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:32.559 The king sent his servants, verse 3, to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:37.360 This is not an invitation to a funeral. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:40.240 It's an invitation to a party. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:46.240 It's a call to celebrate with joy for an extended period of time. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:51.679 And the image that we are given is of people that the king wants to have at his party. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:17:03.039 The image that we're given is that this is an invitation given to people who love their king and would be honored to be invited. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:14.319 In our world, they may have may have even taken a snapshot of their invitation and posted it on social media to show the world that they were invited to the king's party. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.720 So the king sent preparatory invitations to his chosen guest list. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:28.160 It was an invitation to be ready at the final call to the feast, but when the last call came, they would not come. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:34.559 That doesn't happen with the king. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:37.200 So there must be some problem. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:39.279 There must be some misunderstanding. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:48.400 Accepting an invitation earlier, but deciding now that you don't want to go is the utmost disrespect to the king. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:53.680 But the king's grace is greater than his people's disrespect. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:56.160 So he sends more servants. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:58.160 Verse 4. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:03.279 He sends more servants with even more details about the feast. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:07.759 The meat has been smoking and it's redder and it's tender and it's juicy. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.240 That's the men's conference for you men. 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:15.920 Come immediately and celebrate. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:20.640 Most Middle Eastern families didn't often eat meat. 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:24.720 If they did, it would be a lamb or goat. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:28.000 Oxen were for farming. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:30.480 You didn't eat your oxen. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:39.200 Fatted calves were rare and expensive, but this is all on the on the king's dime. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:41.599 No expenses have been spared, and it's ready. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:42.559 Come now. 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:49.839 But this gracious second call results in a display of the dark nature of sin ruling over humanity. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:51.119 Notice what it says. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:56.000 They paid no attention and they went off, one to his farm and another to his business. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:10.720 And as if that's not bad enough, the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:16.880 You know, we we tend we tend to categorize sins. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:21.839 Some sins are worse than others, we like to tell ourselves. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:28.799 So for instance, taking taking a life is is a greater sin than telling a little white lie. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:41.440 So we tend to view those who went to work on the farm or to work on a business proposal as less offensive to the king than those who murdered his servants. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:45.119 And in some sense, we might say that is true. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:51.839 But in reality, these are all vivid illustrations of the same sin. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:54.640 Idolatry. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:05.839 They picture refusing to worship the Lord God alone, and instead of choosing to elevate something else above him. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:20.799 I really like how Frederick Bruner writes of these kinds of situations where we give more attention to our farms, to our businesses, to our retirement, to our friends or family, to our cars or homes. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:28.079 He says, and I quote, legitimate occupations become sinister when they are pre-occupations. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:41.119 The irony of this depiction is that rejection is not made in the pursuit of something evil, but in the pursuit of something good. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:57.200 And it becomes transformed into a preoccupation that takes precedence over God's call. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:06.799 It's easy, friends, for good and righteous pursuits to become idols. 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:13.200 This is because we set ourselves above the king when he calls. 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:19.119 And we choose something else, even if it's usually good and righteous. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:21.839 And that's often what we convince ourselves of. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:24.720 This is something good, this is something positive. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:28.240 And that is no different than murder. 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:33.119 For murder is idolatry by setting oneself above God. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:40.079 It says that my desires, my needs, and my intentions are more significant than the king's command. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:51.440 The simplest, most basic human characteristics can silently become idols that draw our hearts away from the great king. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:56.880 And isn't that what Stephen recounted to the people of Israel? 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.839 He says, You started to worship idols. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:06.400 You elevated your own desires above the great king. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:14.720 Now, at this point, we are still considering those initially invited to the feast. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:21.119 So it makes the most sense to hear this as Israel's response to God's call. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:29.200 As with the previous story's vineyard tenants, Israel is the invited guest. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.559 They rejoiced at their invitation. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:38.559 They were glad and they anticipated that day, but when the final call came, they refused. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:44.720 When John the Baptist and Jesus said, the kingdom is at hand, repent, they would not hear. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:48.720 God's call was not that significant to them. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:55.680 Now no one likes to hear about consequences. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:02.640 Especially when we face the results of enjoyable choices that benefit us personally. 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:09.359 I mean, really, what's wrong with working on the farm instead of attending the king's feast? 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:12.079 God made man to work. 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:19.359 Really, the more business that I do, the more I can give to the Lord's work. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:21.839 You know your budget needs it. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:24.880 Why would there be dire circumstances? 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:29.759 Why would there be consequences that are harsh? 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:46.720 And so we might, in our thinking, be shocked to hear verse 7, where it says, the king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:49.759 Now this is this is irony at its greatest. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:24:02.400 Because if you go back to the previous parable, the story of the vineyard tenants, Jesus asked the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the chief priests a very serious question. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:11.359 He said, When those tenants refuse to give the prophets and they kill the servants and they finally kill the son, what ought the vineyard owner to do? 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:13.519 And they said, they ought to destroy them. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:21.599 So Jesus now comes back around and he says, they're going to be destroyed. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:25.920 Notice a couple of details. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:30.720 First, the city represents all those invited. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:36.720 So it is the city of the one who went to the farm, it's the city of the businessmen, it's the city of the murderers. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:39.599 It sort of encompasses all who were invited. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:42.319 Only the murderers are said to be destroyed. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:46.799 But all of them face the consequences of their choice to refuse the king's call. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:54.559 It's that God is the one doing work of destruction. 00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:58.480 King represents God. 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:15.200 Destruction is the consequence of refusing the king's call to feast at the wedding of his son. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:18.640 That seems drastic. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:24.720 Somebody declines your wedding invitation and you destroy them? 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:28.240 That's why where we started is so important, friends. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:30.799 This is not a normal wedding. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:39.519 This is a divine reality that speaks of how you are going to respond to God Himself. 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:46.240 These parables are stories. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.640 They mirror some reality. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:56.720 But they aren't meant to be exactly detailed prophecies. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:01.759 Maybe this anticipates the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:03.599 That's entirely possible. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:10.960 But we must not become distracted by a potential detail and miss the intended point. 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:15.759 Matthew intends this to be a warning. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:27.599 There are consequences to knowing the will of God, to knowing God's word, to hearing God's call and refusing it. 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:32.960 First and foremost, this is a call to salvation. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:40.559 This is a call to trust in the great King who sends his Son for you. 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:53.200 But Scripture reveals that there are consequences to refusing to hear and appropriately respond to all that God says, and that result may be shockingly disastrous. 00:26:55.039 --> 00:27:04.160 God's rich, eternal plan to celebrate his son is pictured by using a wedding feast. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:14.640 God invited his uniquely chosen people, but when the time came to respond to the call to come, the kingdom is here because the king is present. 00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:16.720 They said, Yeah, no thanks. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:18.960 We've got better things to do. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:26.480 Of course, we would not expect God's people to react in an idolatrous way. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:36.240 We would not expect church people to say, yeah, no, thanks to God, but that is the dark, sinful nature of humanity, my friends. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:41.680 That's all of us. 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:46.640 There is no one who does what is good. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:49.440 No, not one. 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:54.480 And we are all without excuse when we refuse God. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:04.960 Now we might anticipate a postponement in a typical wedding like this. 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:10.960 But this is God's eternal plan to display the riches of his grace in his son. 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:13.279 So the wedding will go on. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:21.119 In the remainder of the parable, then we observe the plan of God fulfilled in rejoicing and rejection. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:27.119 Sin and rebellion will not deter God's purpose. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:30.960 So far, this wedding has been a fiasco with Mahem. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:34.480 Not even all state could remedy this situation. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:40.240 But the main character in this story is not an insurance company. 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:47.519 The main character in this story is the God of creation with an eternal plan that will be fulfilled. 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:55.119 God turns this disaster into an even greater, more grand display of his grace. 00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:57.440 Here's how Matthew presents it. 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:02.400 Then he said to his servants, The wedding feast is ready. 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:10.640 But those that we invited were not worthy, so go into the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. 00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:29.839 Which tells you that the bad and the good somehow become worthy because those who were initially thought worthy are no longer worthy. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:34.559 And the result is the wedding hall is filled with guests. 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:46.400 So the initial guests who ought to have been worthy were found to not be worthy. 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:52.720 So often those who believe they are worthy of God's kindness and grace are the least deserving. 00:29:54.799 --> 00:30:10.720 They are now set aside, facing the consequences of their choice, and the king's servants are now ordered to go out of the city, away from the city with the rejected guests, and call anyone else they find wandering on the roads to the feast. 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:12.880 Even the bad. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:19.759 We have surviving documents from Qumran. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:23.839 If you don't know about Qumran, that's where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:40.000 We have surviving documents from the religious community at Qumran that reveal to us that the blind and the deaf and the disabled or the paralyzed were not allowed into the gatherings of God's people. 00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:41.680 They were excluded. 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:52.720 And that may be significant here because Matthew uses the word synagogue here, which is translated in the English Standard Version as gathered. 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:58.240 Those servants went out and they gathered all the good, that's normal, right? 00:30:58.960 --> 00:30:59.920 And the bad. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:03.759 And they synagogued them together. 00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:08.640 That's not supposed to happen. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:11.359 It's not the way it works. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:14.559 Except for in the king's grace. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:17.920 See, that's grace. 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:29.440 Those on the outside and not commonly accepted now receive a specific call to join the feast because of the rejection of those first invited. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:35.039 This extended call reminds us of the consequences first of rejecting the call. 00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:39.200 If you reject the call, the king says, Yeah, sorry, I'm going. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:44.240 I'm going to bring in those less worthy than you in your own eyes. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:51.599 But it also reminds us then of the mercy of this call. 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:04.799 Suggests that many responded properly to the king's expanded call to come and feast. 00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:22.559 It indicates to us that status, worldly cultural status, that a perspective of holiness, of righteousness, and even of propriety, are not a part of this call. 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:26.880 The call goes out because the wedding feast is ready. 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:28.799 Meat is coming off the grill. 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:30.559 It's time to come now. 00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:31.839 Don't delay. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:38.079 Interestingly, the feast was ready before the destruction of the city. 00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:40.319 This is some amazing meat. 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:43.200 Because it's still ready now. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:45.759 Food is hot. 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:49.839 Even today, the feast is ready. 00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:51.119 Will you come? 00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:56.559 This is the message we proclaim. 00:32:57.359 --> 00:33:02.880 God calls you to believe in his Son, Jesus the Messiah, and to come to Him now. 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:03.839 Don't delay. 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:06.240 Today is the day of salvation. 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:10.319 It matters not who you are, it matters not what you have been. 00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:12.480 It matters not what you are doing now. 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:16.480 The king's call to you is the most important call you will ever receive. 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:17.839 Will you come now? 00:33:18.880 --> 00:33:20.640 The feast is ready. 00:33:23.759 --> 00:33:35.039 What grace that God would fulfill his plan with the blind and the lame and the beggars and the infirm and the insignificant. 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:44.480 Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:56.640 The king's feast is a place of lavish celebration and rejoicing at the wedding of his son. 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:06.559 So it's so significant that God gave us a description of it, a firsthand image. 00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:11.199 He gave the Apostle John a vision of it. 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:30.639 And to him it sounded like the roar of water and thunder, and it said, crying out, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:34.719 Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory. 00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:35.599 Why? 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:42.400 Because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:48.480 It was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. 00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:50.559 Does that sound like wedding clothes? 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:54.480 For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 00:34:54.559 --> 00:35:10.800 And the angel said to me, Write this blessed, satisfied, content, happy, joyful, rejoicing are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:19.440 The grace of the King leads to rejoicing for all who accept his invitation. 00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:29.039 But there's an aspect here that we often find in the Gospel of Matthew. 00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:34.079 Matthew likes to include things that make us uncomfortable. 00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:38.639 Maybe the best word to describe them is warnings. 00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:48.480 And the warning here is a warning about the potential for self-deception. 00:35:51.840 --> 00:36:04.880 Notice in verse 11, when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:09.519 And he said to him, friend? 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:13.039 How'd you get in? 00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:16.000 Who are you? 00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:23.039 You would think there would be a response to the king. 00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:27.599 But he was speechless. 00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:34.400 Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. 00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:38.000 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:49.679 This individual seems to be, seems to not be one of the initially invited guests, for they're destroyed and their city's burning. 00:36:52.320 --> 00:37:02.880 Seems to be someone who was who was found along the roads and the byways, one of the one of the bad or good folks who heard the king's call. 00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:16.639 And this illustration declares that some will say, Lord, Lord, let's look what I did in your name, and look at them and say, get out of here. 00:37:16.719 --> 00:37:17.440 I never knew you. 00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:24.400 The image is clean clothes. 00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:27.599 It's proper attire for a wedding. 00:37:29.599 --> 00:37:41.599 Some of you may have heard the heard this explained as a garment being given to a wedding guest by the king, that that's what typically happened. 00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:43.519 We really don't have evidence for that. 00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:48.400 That was an interpretation that was first heard by the church in the 1800s. 00:37:48.639 --> 00:37:50.800 It was never never found prior to that point. 00:37:50.880 --> 00:37:53.199 So it's a very recent kind of idea. 00:37:53.840 --> 00:37:56.559 We don't have much to support that idea. 00:37:57.199 --> 00:38:13.280 But when we put this with John's vision of the actual event in Revelation 19, we see that the fine linen at the wedding, the wedding garments are described as the righteous deeds of the saints. 00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:28.800 And so we see then that righteous living, growing in holiness, being like the king, is an outward expression of those who have faith in the Lamb of God. 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:36.159 Clean clothes, wedding clothes are evidence that one has rightly responded to the king's summons. 00:38:38.480 --> 00:38:51.440 There may be some, there may be some who are booted out, so to speak, who are religious folks, who've heard the king's invitation. 00:38:52.320 --> 00:38:56.400 They've been walking on the roads and they've heard the servants say, hey, the king's calling you. 00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:57.599 Come on, come on. 00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:03.199 And they've spent their lives expecting to be at the feast, to be welcomed at the feast. 00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:11.119 There may be those who raised their hands, who prayed a prayer, who were even baptized, thinking that's their ticket to the banquet. 00:39:14.719 --> 00:39:19.280 And the reality may hit them square in the face when the heavenly bouncers kick them out. 00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:31.039 My friends, the tragedy of the wedding crasher is Matthew's way of loving us. 00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:41.039 He loves us enough to warn us to be genuine disciples. 00:39:41.920 --> 00:39:43.599 Not fake followers. 00:39:47.199 --> 00:40:03.679 A correct response to the king's invitation moves the respondent, the believer, to want to be clean before him and to live righteously because of the king's gracious invitation to the sumptuous feast. 00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:11.440 Now we know, at least if you've been part of our fellowship, we know that this is not human effort. 00:40:12.239 --> 00:40:16.480 The righteous deeds of the saints are not something that a believer does in his own power. 00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:24.400 It's the work of the Holy Spirit motivating and driving and empowering and changing us into the image of the king himself. 00:40:24.719 --> 00:40:27.280 But that can be faked for a while. 00:40:28.719 --> 00:40:33.760 And even worse, some might think that no one will notice their lack of clean clothes. 00:40:34.400 --> 00:40:45.440 They may have convinced themselves, deceived themselves, that it doesn't matter that I don't have on the right clothes, but be assured that the king will spot you if you are a fake. 00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:53.039 For many are called, but few are chosen. 00:40:56.639 --> 00:41:07.599 Here is human responsibility to respond to the call and divine sovereignty held hand in hand in tension. 00:41:10.800 --> 00:41:18.719 The invitation is in all places, on all the roads, all the byways, to all kinds of people. 00:41:20.559 --> 00:41:25.360 But those chosen to enter the feast only include some of those who hear the invitation. 00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:31.760 Jesus has already said the gate is narrow and the road is narrow, which leads to life. 00:41:33.119 --> 00:41:48.880 Many will put on the airs of being religious and of believing and having faith and following the king and having the invitation in hand, but will inevitably choose their farms and their businesses or even react in hatred and murder to the call to come. 00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:54.239 Some will think they still deserve to be included even when they murdered the servants. 00:41:56.320 --> 00:42:02.000 But only those who believe in the Son will display the righteousness of Christ and receive the grace of the King. 00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:10.960 So perhaps we should ask ourselves routinely, as Matthew Henry suggested that we do. 00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:13.840 How did I get in here? 00:42:21.519 --> 00:42:22.400 How did Mr. 00:42:22.480 --> 00:42:30.320 Newton the slave ship captain get into heaven? 00:42:32.239 --> 00:42:33.679 Amazing Chris. 00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:39.679 Maybe we should follow that up, as Matthew Henry also said. 00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:43.599 Am I wearing the right clothes for the wedding? 00:42:45.199 --> 00:42:47.280 This is nothing new to us, friends. 00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:49.840 Scriptures are full of this kind of thinking. 00:42:52.239 --> 00:42:56.320 So if you think you are standing, take heed lest you fall. 00:42:57.920 --> 00:43:08.559 See, those who are called from the various roads of life ought to be the most humble, ought to be the most ready to say, How did I get in here? 00:43:10.480 --> 00:43:16.559 They ought to be the most appreciative and the most willing to say that it was all of grace. 00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:22.000