Fallen Condition Focus

We must enter into God’s Kingdom under the righteousness of Christ.

Introduction

Have you ever been invited to something so important there was no chance you

would say no to the invitation. I was thinking about this, this week.

If you recall now in Matthew we have reached Wednesday of what we call holy

week. Just a couple of days prior you may recall that Jesus had gone into the

temple and out of disgust for what he saw cleansed the temple.

Here Israel was situated on this land bridge that was centrally located between 3

comments. As travelers would come through, God’s design was that through

Israel, they would be pointed to the Lord. His Temple would welcome them into

knowing Him and worshiping.

But nothing could be further from the truth. They had perverted what had been

entrusted to them. To those they should have been ministering to, they were

exploiting for their own financial gain.

So it’s no wonder why Jesus removed them with such emotion. And I suspect they

were boiling about this all day on Tuesday. And in Chapter 21 we find them,

having licked their wounds, back at Jesus again with more questions designed to

trap him. By what authority do you do these things? Where is your degree? What

seminary gives you the right to be a teacher. And it is really this question, that

launches Jesus into a series of 3 Judgement based parables. Two of which we have

already covered, and the final one that I want to cover today, that we will call, the

parable of the wedding feast.

Trilogy of Judgement Parables

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o Parable of the Two Sons (21:28-31)

o Landowner and the vinyard (21:33-46)

o The wedding feast (22:1-14) Read Text

22:1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,

It’s very appropriate based on what we discussed earlier that Jesus would answer

their questions with a parable. A parable is a simple story, like an allegory, that

uses everyday experience to teach a deeper heavenly meaning. But more than that

these parables had a specific purpose to conceal the truth from the hard hearted

Pharisees and reveal truth to the humble would be disciples who would hear them

with open hearts.

[Mar 4:10-12 ESV] 10 And when he was alone, those around him with the

twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, "To you has

been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside

everything is in parables, 12 so that "'they may indeed see but not perceive,

and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be

forgiven.'"

So these parables are blessing are both a treasure to some and at the same time a

judgement for others. So Jesus continues to teach in parables.

22:2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who

gave a wedding feast for his son,

Jesus is very clear about what this parable is about. We don’t have to wonder. We

are talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. Understand this is not some future

state Kingdom that we might find in the book of Revelations, although it does

include that, but Jesus has the present time in mind as he talks about the Kingdom

of Heaven. He is speaking of the area of God’s rule, God’s people who are part of

his Kingdom even here on earth. As we are saved even today we are brought into

God’s Kingdom. So Jesus begins to tell a story about what it is like to be a

member of God’s Kingdom.

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And he chooses to describe this as a wedding feast. Not just a wedding feast but a

royal wedding feast. One thing I noticed when I moved to Charleston was that

weddings are a big deal here. I can’t tell you how many times I have been on an

airplane flying back home to Charleston and the plane is filled with a wedding

party coming to Charleston to get married. But it was even bigger in ancient

Jerusalem. In fact in was not uncommon for a wedding to last a week. It was an

extremely joyful time full of happiness and feast after feast. And the best part was

as a guest you didn’t have to pay.

Now in the parable we don’t just have a wedding, we have a royal wedding. And

I don’t have to tell you, that if a typical wedding was a week you can imagine the

celebration that this King would be having to honor his Son the crown Prince.

Jesus wants those listening to him to be thinking of the biggest most festive event

that they can possibly imagine multiply it by 10 and then you start to understand

what is going on here. That is the picture.

Now we get to invitation #1.

22:3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the

wedding feast, but they would not come.

Notice something interesting here, I missed it when I first read it but it is very

important. The King sends his servants to call whom? Those who were already

invited. This is very telling. This is not a cold call invitation, in fact, the King has

already provided details of the wedding. He has already sent out the guest list and

notified everyone. All the servants do is go out a remind them the time has come

to attend this most festive occasion. It’s time for the celebration to begin.

Let’s stop here and define who the character’s in the parable represent. Obviously

the King is God the Father. And the Son, is none other than Jesus Christ. But who

are the guests? Who are the ones who have already been notified of the coming of

the Messiah, and in this present day are being invited to come to him. These guests

are the nation of Israel. God’s chosen people in the Old Testament were notified to

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be on alert because the Son would be coming. He is talking about the Pharisees

and Scribes standing in his midst as he tells this parable. The have been invited by

Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, all the old Testament prophets. This verse is an exact

summary of the entire Old Testament.

“They would not come”. At this point, I want you to audibly hear the crowd

around Jesus gasp as he says these words. What do you mean they would not

come! How is this possible? They have been invited to the Royal Wedding

festivities and they refuse the King! Can you imagine!

Invitation #2

22:4 Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See,

I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been

slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast."'

What a gracious benevolent King! After the rejection and utter disrespect that the

guests have brought upon his Son, he is patient and extends grace. The King

reminds them that there is nothing you have to do. He says I have done all the

work. The preparations are made everything is finalized, all you have to do is

answer the invitation. He bidst them ones more to come.

I was reminded as I read this of Jesus’ Cry just 2 days later as he would be hangin

on the cross, “It is finished.” The work to complete salvation is was done at that

moment. He calls us to him not to add anything to what he has done, but to

simply bask in the work that has been done for us.

This King is patient. You know God is patient with us too. Many times, just like

these Jews, we have ignored God’s call to come to him. But God is patient, and

God is good. So extends another invitation to them.

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And among these second wave of servants that were sent to them was none other

than, John the Baptist, Jesus himself, All of the apostles have been sent to invite

them again to come to the wedding party.

Look how they respond to this second invitation:

22:5 & 6 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his

business,

while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed

them.

I can imagine that those hearers of this parable by now are ready to rip their robes

at the direction this story is headed. We see here two groups that respond quite

differently. Group 1 responds with indifference. They simply do not care about

the Kingdom, about the King, or about the honored Son.

We see this same response today right. Have you ever shared the gospel or shared

something spiritual with non-believers and they look at you like you have 3 eyes.

They don’t understand, they don’t care to understand, and perhaps they think

you’re a crazy person. Such was this first group.

The first group is wrapped up in the everyday things of the world, maybe it’s the

work they have at the farm, or tending to their business. They are more concerned

about the things of this world and really don’t care about anything beyond that.

The reality is that this represents much of the modern world and certainly much

of the US. Bringing honor and glory to the Son is laughable to them in

comparison to the everyday pursuits of their lives. This is the response of the

secular world.

The second group is different. We see a dramatic statement in verse 6 that they

are so enraged by the repeated invitation that they result to murdering the servants

of the king. These are the religious crowds who are so enraged by the invitation

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that they ultimately would murder the very ones who were sent to bring them the

news. John was beheaded, Jesus was nailed to a cross, and the apostles martyred.

22:7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those

murderers and burned their city.

The King was kind a gracious, but his invitation has a limit. His patience has a

limit. And now he has had enough. This is a warning to us as well. For a time,

God invites us to come to him, but if we continue to harden our hearts and reject

his invitation we too will see his wrath.

Also verse 7 we get a prophecy from the Lord himself. Notice it also say that the

“burned their city”. We know that their city is Jerusalem, so what is Jesus talking

about here?

In AD70 the city of Jerusalem would be utterly destroyed. The temple would be

destroyed. And the Jewish people would even lose their ability to maintain the

sacrificial sytem without a temple. In the destruction of this city more that 1.1 M

jews were killed and the entire city was left in ruin. As a result the Jewish people

were scattered.

Now we look at the third invitation.

22:8 Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those

invited were not worthy.

Notice that the Son will be honored. The King is not wriging his hands in concern

that nobody will be there to honor the son. In fact, all of the wedding is about the

son. Not the bride! We must be careful that we understand this about salvation.

Salvation is not centrally about you. While we do get the benefit of eternal life, of

getting to be with the God in heaven, the real focus of salvation is about bringing

honor and glory to the Son. That is what is at the root of salvation! The King will

fill the wedding hall with worthy people in order to exhault the name of the Son.

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22:9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as

many as you find.'

The King instructs them to go out where, unto the main roads. Not the backroads

full of locals, but to the main intersections where tourists, travelers, gentiles

would be passing thru.

We here the echoes here of the great commission. Go ye therefor into all nations.

We are ordered to do the same thing as we share the gospel to all those we

encounter. And we invite them to come to this wonderful wedding.

22:10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom

they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with

guests.

We notice that the servants do not discriminate when they make this third

invitation. Those who appear morally good or morally bad, they are all invited to

come to the wedding. I’m reminded of the parable of the soils where the sower

just went about slinging seed. He didn’t worry about where the seed landed he let

God sort all that out. Such is a picture of sharing the gospel. We shouldn’t think

oh man that guy looks like a bad dude, I’m not sharing the gospel with that

person.

22:11 "But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man

who had no wedding garment.

It’s almost like Jesus could have stopped the story at verse 10, but he provides for

us a very interesting plot twist at the end.

Remember these guests were just going about their everyday tasks on the road,

and they got invited to this wedding. So clearly the King made some kind of

provision for them to be appropriately dressed for the occasion. To show up to the

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vent with dirty, worn, or inappropriate clothing would surely bring dishonor to

the event and to the Son.

It’s also clear from the verse that everybody in the wedding hall has on the

garments, except for this one person.

There has been much discussion from theologians about what these wedding

garments are meant to represent. But most people agree the idea here is that the

garments represent righteousness.

[Isa 61:10 ESV] 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my

God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me

with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a

beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

This concept goes all the way back to the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve

first sinned. If you remember they tried to cover themselves but were not able to

make for themselves a suitable covering. So if you recall God killed an animal

and covered their nakedness with the skin. It was the very first picture of the one

who would come someday, and by his bloodshed would provide for us a covering

of righteousness.

Notice the King is gracious in asking why the man doesn’t have on the covering.

He gives the man an opportunity to answer for himself.

22:12 And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a

wedding garment?' And he was speechless.

The man is speechless. He doesn’t have a reason. It must be that this man by his

own will determined that he would enter the wedding party and he would do so

under his own terms. This part of the parable is pointed directly at the church.

There are echos of when Jesus said, many in that day will say to me Lord, Lord…

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and I will say depart I never knew you. Jesus warns us that there is but one way

into the wedding celebration and that is to be covered by his righteousness.

To bring our own so-called righteousness to the party is tragic mistake. The best

we have to offer is not acceptable.

[Isa 64:6 ESV] 6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our

righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our

iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

22:13 Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast

him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and

gnashing of teeth.'

There is a limit to God’s patience. The time will come when he will invite us no

more, when the time to accept the wedding garment is no longer an option.

To keep the man from resisting he is bound, he is immediately removed from the

presence of the King, and he is not allowed re-entry under any circumstances. It is

important that even those of us who find ourselves among the guests in the

wedding party that we take a look at our garments. Who’s garments are you

wearing? Are we trying to attend the wedding party on our own terms or on

God’s terms.

I love this last verse. Jesus tags it on there, and it is simply mind boggling.

22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen."

This entire parable has been about the choices of men. Choices about if they

would attend, if they would not attend. If they would dress appropriately or if

they would defy the King. Man’s will is central to the parable. And just as Jesus

has us fully understanding that, he drops in this verse. “Many are called, but few

are chosen.”

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Jesus reminds us that in all of these things God is still sovereign. It is one of the

great mysteries of Scripture. John 6:44, no one can come to me unless the Father

draws him in. God is sovereign, and if we find ourselves clothed in righteousness

in the midst of the Son, it only because his grace has been extended to open our

eyes, remove our hearts of stone, and give us a new spiritual birth. And he is

calling all today to come to Him. Let’s Pray.

Lord’s Supper:

Invite musicians and server’s to go ahead and come.

Explain, this is the response part of the service. The covering or wedding garment

that Jesus provided, was not free. His blood was spilled, his body was broken. So

today as we partake in the Lord’s supper we remember that.

You don’t have to be a member here to participate, but you do have to be a

believer in good standing with the Lord. Meaning you have no unconfessed sin or

broken fellowship with others in the congregation.

Perhaps you want to come up here and pray, or pray where you are, that’s all

okay. I’ll be standing right over here if you want to come pray with me.