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A Wedding Garment

 Sunday Morning, April 29, 2007

 Bob Bradley

_________________________ 

Matthew 22:1-14

 

1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

5 But they made light of it , and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them .

7 But when the king heard thereof , he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

 

We know that Jesus is speaking by parables and He did this a lot.  We know that a parable is something that you put along side of something so that you can draw a comparison from it, using earthly things to relate a spiritual message or truth.  We can say many things about a parable. 

 

Jesus is teaching us, and His people, about some things that are very important.  Sometimes when Jesus calls us to do something, we think that it is optional.  Sometimes we think that we can either do it, or not do it and the end result will be the same but that is not true. 

 

The parable here mentioned is the same thing.  The Bible says in verse 2:

 

2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

 

We know that in this story it is speaking about God the Father preparing a wedding for His Son.  The Bible goes on in the next verse:

 

3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

 

You have a son and you are preparing his wedding, making all the arrangements.  You have sent out all the invitations, and everything is fine.  When it comes time to have the wedding, no one would come.  They decided that they were not going to come.  That would embarrass you, and your son.  That would embarrass all those that are around.

 

In this story, God was preparing a wedding for His Son, Jesus Christ.  In the Old Testament, God sent the prophets to tell the nation of Israel, "Hey, I'm preparing a wedding.  This is going to take place.  You need to come."  We know they did not come.  The message went out from God many times, but when it came time for them to come; they did not come. 

 

The Bible says in verse 4:

 

4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

 

He repeatedly sent out other servants.  Everything was ready.  The dinner was cooked.   The meat was prepared.  It was time for the wedding, but he sends out the servants and the Bible says in verse 5:

 

5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

 

We know when Jesus Christ came that God the Father was preparing the wedding for His Son.  He sent out servant after servant bidding those invited to come.  They decided, for many reasons, they were not going to come.  He sends other servants and they made light of them.  They made fun of them.  They mocked them.  The Bible says that one went to his merchandise and another went to his farm.

 

What I want you to understand is that God speaks today.  God is calling today.  God is asking you and me to come to Him.  Today we have the privilege of doing that.  God speaks, invites, and calls; everything is ready.  It is as He said in this story.  Everything is ready, but they are making light of it. 

 

You can make light of it if you want to.  You can make fun of the invitation when God speaks.  When God draws you, and when He wakes you up on your bed at night and says, "Hey, you need to make things right with me."  You can make light of that if you want to, but there is going to be a day coming that you will regret that.  That happened to the nation of Israel.

 

Jesus Christ came.  He sent the invitation out.  God sent prophet after prophet and they made light of the invitation.  Jesus Christ came to Jerusalem.  He came and presented Himself as the Messiah, the King of Israel.  They made light of that.

 

6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

 

We know that they kill some of the prophets.  Not only that, but they kill Jesus Himself. 

 

The next verse says this:

 

7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

 

We think that the message of God, the invitation of God is something that we can simply reject, or accept and the result will be the same.  There is no doubt that the nation of Israel thought that.  They rejected the Son of God.  They rejected the invitation that came from Almighty God.  Forty years after they killed Him, forty years after He hung on a tree and died, Titus the Roman came to Jerusalem.  He burnt the place with fire and he tore it down.  When God says that when we reject Him that judgment is coming, count on it. 

 

This is not an optional thing.  Where we are going to eat at later may be optional.  Some may go to Wendy's.  Some may go to Golden Corral.  Some may go to Bob Evans.  Some may go to your own homes and some may not even eat.  We may have all kinds of choices.  The end-result is no matter where we eat, we get full.  When we reject Jesus Christ, the end-result is different than if we would accept Jesus Christ.  Choices make a difference.

 

We know that He spoke to the nation of Israel.  They kill Jesus Christ.  God came and sent the Romans.  Titus tore down their city.  God did not stop there.  God could have said that is fine with mankind, that’s fine with planet earth.  If my own people do not want to receive my Son, then I will just quit messing with everybody.  However, He did not do that. 

 

8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

 

In other words, everything is prepared today.  Everything is ready, but those that should have come, my own family should have come, but they did not come. 

 

9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

 

I am glad that He did that.  I am glad that He did not stop when the nation of Israel rejected Him.  I am glad that He did not just wash His hands of mankind and say, "I'm done."  God came to you and me.  We were the ones that were in the highways and byways.  He is coming to you and me.  He came to you and me. 

 

When the Pentecost came, we know that the spirit of God came.  We know that there were a hundred twenty believers that were there who were Jewish.  They started preaching the gospel.  The gospel message went to the gentiles, those that were in the highways and the byways.  God was calling them and sending them an invitation to His wedding, the wedding of His Son.  For the last 2000 years, God has been sending invitations.  God has been calling people, come to the wedding, come to the marriage.  Everything is ready.  We are going to have a wedding for my Son.  People are responding.  People are coming.  God is speaking.  God is sending invitations.  I am glad that people are still yet responding positively to the call of God.  People are coming.  Not everyone is coming, but people are coming. 

 

Can you see how gracious God is?  He just did not say that Israel has rejected me.  My own countrymen have rejected me so therefore, I will just quit.  God did not do that.  He goes to the highways and byways where he found me and He found you.  I was the one lost.  He was not lost.  I was the one beside the road.  I was the one in the highways and the byways.  I was the one that was there, and you were there.  He found you and me there.

 

He said:

 

9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

 

Isn't it great that God just didn't come to save good people.  God did not come to save righteous people.  God did not come to save people that never messed up or never sinned, but God sent His only begotten in this world to die for us, for sinners.  Those that was sick.  He said those that are well do not need a physician, but those that are sick. 

 

11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

 

You always have party crashers when you have a big dinner.  When some big event is going on, many times you will have party crashers.  People will come in that really is not a part of the family. 

 

However, the king comes in to His guests and the wedding is taking place.  He sees an individual here that is not dressed properly.  He does not have on the correct attire.  He did not come through the proper channel.  If he had come the right way then he would have had on the right garment.  The wedding was going on and the guests had certain clothes that they wore during this time. He comes in and sees this one individual without a wedding garment. 

 

There is no doubt that it would be like putting one individual in a room where everyone has a black suit on expect one guy and he has a white one on.  This guy stuck out because the king knew what he was looking for. 

 

God is calling people today to come to the wedding.  It is up to you to come.  If you think that you can be a party crasher, if you think that you can come in on your own terms, if you think that you are going to be able to do that, then you are wrong.  He sends an invitation and He wants you to respond positively.  Here comes some in that did not have on the right wedding garment. 

 

12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

 

He tells us plainly that the king asks a question how did he get in here without having a wedding garment on.  He did not come through the proper channels.  He did not come through the way that had been prepared for all the guests to come.  He came in another way.  He did not get to stay because He did not have on the proper wedding garment.

 

The Bible says:

 

13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

 

Jesus makes it very plain what is going to happen to many folks when the Lord comes to get us to take us to heaven.  There are going to be many people that are going to be in the uniform church that may belong to churches.  They may participate in all kinds of activities, but they never put on the wedding garment.  Many good people are going to spend eternity in a lake of fire simply because they did not accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.  They never allowed Him to put on them the right kind of garment.  They never allowed Him to cleanse them so that they could be righteous.  They never allowed that. 

 

When I said 'good people', there are going to be many that we can classify as 'good people,' those who are going to spend eternity in a lake of fire.  People that would not lie to you for the world, they would not lie to you for nothing.  They pay their bills.  They work hard.  They are good neighbors and they might be good husbands or good wives; they treat their children well.  They may hold positions in communities.  Those things do not make us accepted with God.  Accepting the invitation, that comes from Almighty God, makes me a candidate to go to heaven.  If I have accepted a personal invitation, and I have been born again, then that makes me a candidate to go to heaven.

 

I have met many good people.  When you ask them about coming to church, or about being born again; the conversation changes, in a second, because they do not want to hear it.  Many folks think that they are going to be able to slip in.  They think that they are going to be able to get in on their good works, but you are not going to make it. 

 

Get saved today.  Why would you want to take a chance on going to heaven on your good works?  Why would you want to take a chance and say, “I may make it, or I may not."  You can know today whether you are saved or not.  You can know today beyond any doubt, whether you are saved or not. 

 

While you have time, make things right with God. 

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