The King's Banquet

Lead Vocalist (Kelly)

Welcome & Announcements (Bubba)

Good morning family!

Ask guests to fill out connect card

2 announcements:

1) Members Meeting

What to do and how to respon.

2) Recognize incoming members

Ryan & Sierra Hockaday

Chad & Christy Jackson

Cody Kennington

Roger Thompson

Luke & Emily Waite

Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Psalm 67:1-5)

Prayer of Praise (Audrey Hammond)

Let the Nations Be Glad

The Solid Rock

Prayer of Confession (Adam Hess), Failure to evangelize

Assurance of Pardon (Colossians 2:13-14)

I Want to Know You

O For A Thousand Songs to Sing

Scripture Reading (Matthew 22:1-14)

Pastoral Prayer (Bubba Jones)

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

Imagine you’ve received a special invitation from the king of England.

You have been given an all-expenses-paid trip to London where you’ll feast at the king’s table and enjoy a week touring all the best sights in the UK.

And you can bring three friends with you.

Your only assignment is to send a copy of the passports for each of your invited guests by August 30 so the travel plans can be coordinated.

So you send a text message to each of your three chosen guests. You explain the details of the trip and request a photo of their passport if they plan to attend.

The first friend you invite completely ignores your message.

Your relationship with your second friend has been strained as of late, so you’re hoping this invitation will smooth things over. But instead, that friend’s reply is dripping with sarcasm and anger.

The third friend replies immediately saying “of course I’ll come!” But when you remind this friend to send a passport photo there is no reply.

Now, if multiple attempts to invite these friends were met with the same responses, would you be right to invite other friends in their place?

Absolutely!

Why?

Because if you will not respond rightly to an invitation, it’s perfectly appropriate for that invitation to go to someone else.

Although most of us will never receive such an invitation from the king of England, we understand that principle in life. We understand the importance of responding rightly to an invitation.

And yet, for some reason, many people think differently about God.

Many people think they can ignore God’s invitations, reject His invitations, or respond wrongly to them and He still has to welcome them into His presence.

In a survey of American religious beliefs called The State of Theology, 58% of professing evangelicals agree that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. [1]

Many people think that as long as you make some sort of effort, that’s all that matters.

But the Bible clearly teaches that an invitation to God’s presence doesn’t mean we’re included in His presence.

We have to respond rightly to His invitations.

Turn to Matthew 22:1-14

It’s a Tuesday afternoon in Jerusalem, just outside the temple steps.

A few days earlier, Jesus entered the city riding on an unbroken donkey to the cheers of a massive crowd.

In a few days He’ll be led outside the city with a cross strapped to His back.

That may seem like an improbable turn of events, until you witness everything that happened on this Tuesday.

Last week we watched the beginning of Jesus’ confrontation with the religious leaders. They attempted to put His authority on trial, but in the end Jesus was the one rendering a verdict against the Pharisees.

Today that interaction continues with Jesus telling a third parable to denounce these Pharisees.

And in today’s parable we learn the Big idea for today’s sermon: that an invitation to heaven doesn’t mean you’re included in heaven.

In this parable, we will encounter Four Truths about this invitation to heaven.

My prayer is that you will not merely listen to these truths, but examine yourself to make sure that you have responded rightly to Jesus’ invitation to heaven.

1) God Graciously INVITES Us to Celebrate His Son.

Matthew 22:1-3—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, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

Last week I told you a parable is a simple word picture illuminating a profound spiritual lesson. [2]

This particular parable is a story about a king and a wedding banquet.

The king represents God the Father, the son represents Jesus, and the wedding feast represents heaven.

If it’s strange to you to think about heaven as a wedding feast, that’s because wedding feasts have changed drastically in the last 2000 years.

Today most couples spend thousands of dollars for a wedding meal that most people don’t really care about.

It’s not that the food is bad, it’s that we don’t like waiting an hour and a half for you to finish taking your pictures while we eat raw carrots and broccoli.

And most of us aren’t nearly as interested in all the traditions—like cutting the cake, the garter toss, the bouquet, and the sendoff—as you are.

All we want is a halfway decent wedding cake and the chance to go home and watch the game or scroll social media before bedtime.

But in Jesus’ day, a wedding was the highlight of all social life.

Our weddings are typically a one-day affair, but in Jesus’ day the wedding was a week-long series of meals and festivities.

And this wedding is not just any wedding. It’s a royal wedding.

A wedding like this would have been a celebration that lasted for weeks.

Guests would be invited to stay at the palace in the most luxurious accommodations, dine on the best food and drink, and enjoy the finest entertainment.

This was the ultimate celebration!!! [3]

Do you see now why the kingdom of heaven is compared to a royal wedding feast?

But don’t mishear me. Yes, heaven is like the ultimate celebration. But the focus of that celebration is Jesus!

Notice in the parable, they’re invited to celebrate the King’s Son!

That’s what heaven is. It’s the ultimate celebration for those who want to celebrate Jesus!

Revelation 19:7—Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready.

I am not saying heaven is an eternal hymn sing where we float around on clouds wearing halos and playing harps.

The Bible depicts heaven as a city, bustling with all sorts of activity. And filled with the most multi-cultural citizenship of any city ever.

And as a new earth, filled with all the majesty that makes this earth so wonderful. But without any of the sin and suffering.

But amidst all that activity and all that grandeur, at its core heaven is a celebration of Jesus.

Philippians 2:10-11 says there is coming a day when “...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Notice that the Father gets glory when His Son is celebrated!

So just like in the parable, God the Father has invited us to a celebration of His Son!

Would you be content in heaven if Jesus wasn’t there?

If you could have a world without suffering, a world without sin, a world without death, and a world with your dearest loved ones, but a world without Jesus would you be happy?

Or can you say with the hymnwriter...

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold / I'd rather be His than have riches untold

I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land / I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand

Than to be the king of a vast domain / And be held in sin's dread sway

I'd rather have Jesus than anything / This world affords today

Do you love Jesus, or only His gifts? If you will not delight in Jesus as your treasure you cannot receive Him as your Savior!

I repeat: If you will not delight in Jesus as your treasure you cannot receive Him as your Savior!

As true as that sentence is, I shudder to word it that way for this reason:

You can hear that and respond, “Alright, fine I guess I’ll treasure Jesus. Sheesh!”

But that is absolutely the wrong response!

Husbands, imagine saying to your wife something like this: “Alright, I guess I’ll be attracted to you. If I have to. It’s my duty.” That would be absolutely insulting!

In the same way, treasuring Jesus is not a duty but a delight!

Those who were invited to the royal wedding feast in Jesus’ parable were receiving the honor of a lifetime!

It would be like you receiving an all-expenses-paid invitation to the King’s coronation and all the festivities! That would be one of the greatest invitations in your life!

You would rightly think, “what did I do to deserve such an invitation?” And you wouldn’t dream of turning it down due to the incredible honor the royal family had shown you by their invitation.

In an infinitely greater way, God has invited all of you to celebrate His Son.

It is the greatest invitation you will ever receive.

And there is nothing you have done—or could ever do—to deserve that invitation.

The only right response is gratitude and joy.

As Revelation 19:9 says “. . . Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. . . .”

And yet, just like in the parable, some refuse this incredible invitation.

The guests are invited, but they will not come.

Because an invitation to heaven doesn’t mean you’re included in heaven.

So how will the king in Jesus’ parable respond?

Consider with me a second truth...

2) God Justly PUNISHES those Who Reject Him.

Even though the invited guests rejected the king, the king isn’t giving up. In love he graciously extends another invitation...

Matthew 22:4-7—“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.” ’ 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. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”

Well that escalated quickly, didn’t it?

What started as a simple wedding invitation has led to violence, murder, and a destroyed city!

What’s happening here?

Remember, Jesus is the bridegroom.

God the Father sent His beloved Son into the world, and the world should have celebrated Him.

But as John tells us in His gospel...

John 1:9-11—The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.

All throughout Matthew’s gospel we’ve watched as one person after another has rejected Jesus.

In this parable, Jesus goes into detail about how His people are rejecting Him.

Notice in verses 5-6 the two ways we reject Jesus...

A) Some reject Jesus by their indifference.

Verse 5 says some “paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business.”

These represent people who are preoccupied with other things.

Like the rich young ruler, who would rather keep his stuff than leave it all behind to follow Jesus.

Or like the many people in the crowds who loved Jesus as long as He healed their sick or gave them food. But when push came to shove they weren’t really willing to follow Him.

Are you indifferent to Jesus? Are you halfhearted? Somewhat interested but not enough to do anything radical? Do you feel good because at least you’re not antagonistic?

But notice, Jesus lumps the indifferent guests with a second group of invited guests who rejected the king’s invitation...

B) Some reject Jesus by their antagonism.

Notice verse 6 says some of the invited guests “seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.”

Certainly this would include the Pharisees who are even now plotting to kill Jesus.

I think John MacArthur makes an excellent point when he writes, “Those who are actively hostile to the gospel invariably are people involved in false religion. . . . The history of persecution of God’s people shows that the chief persecutor has been false religion.” [4]

Whether it was the Pharisees in Jesus’ day and in the book of Acts, the Roman Catholic church during the Reformation, or Islam today, those who are most antagonistic to the gospel are usually those who are most committed to false religion.

We could include in that group those who are committed to the sexual revolution today, which has morphed into a false religion with its own dogmas, creeds, and saints.

Whether you agree with MacArthur or not, what isn’t up for debate is what happens to both groups of people who reject Jesus.

Neither group will make it to the wedding feast.

In the end, whether you’re indifferent to Jesus or antagonistic to Him your destination will be the same.

If you will not respond rightly to His invitation, you will be punished.

Many scholars believe the line about “the city being burned” was at least partially fulfilled when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70.

But the ultimate fulfillment will occur on Judgment Day when all the things you’re living for will be taken away and you will be cast out into outer darkness away from the presence of Jesus.

Dear friends, we implore you to turn from your sin and trust in Jesus before that day comes!

Because an invitation to heaven doesn’t mean you’re included in heaven.

Before we move on, there’s a lesson the Christians in the room must learn here as well.

We are the servants in Jesus’ parable. It is our job to spread the good news of the Gospel and invite people to repent and believe in Jesus.

But why don’t we spread the Good News like we should? One reason is we’re afraid of rejection.

But what should Jesus’ parable teach us? That rejection should be expected!

Thankfully most of us will never be rejected the way some of these servants (and many Christians throughout history) have been rejected. Most of us will likely not die telling others the good news about Jesus.

But we ought not be surprised when people sometimes reject our invitations to trust Jesus!

And we certainly shouldn’t use potential rejection as a reason not to tell others the Good News!

Besides, even though many people do reject the Good News many others will respond rightly to it!

Consider with me a third truth from Jesus’ parable...

3) God Patiently PURSUES Undeserving People.

Even though the invited guests have killed his messengers, the king isn’t done inviting people to celebrate his son. Now he turns his attention to the unlikeliest people...

Matthew 22:8-10—Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 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.

There’s a few questions we should ask about this scene in the story.

What does it mean that the initial guests were not worthy?

The initial invitation wasn’t given because those guests were worthy.

They received an invite to the wedding feast because the king graciously invited them!

They showed their unworthiness in how they responded to the king’s invitation.

You don’t have to clean yourself up or make yourself worthy to receive the gift of heaven.

If you ask people why they should be allowed into heaven, countless will respond with some sort of answer about how they’re trying to be worthy enough to get there or that they already are worthy enough because they’re a pretty good person.

None of us are really worthy of heaven! But we prove ourselves to be unworthy of entering there if we reject God’s invitation to trust in Jesus!

What does it mean that some of the guests were bad and some good?

Jesus is simply using the terms that the Pharisees would understand.

A good person in their minds was a law-abiding citizen. Someone who lived an exemplary life. Someone who was helpful to his neighbors, someone who didn’t cheat, murder, or steal.

Bad people in their minds would’ve included tax collectors, prostitutes, robbers, murderers, and Gentiles.

Jesus has already made it clear that whether you’re morally good or morally bad, nobody deserves heaven.

He put it this way in...

Matthew 5:20—“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

So everyone who responds to the gospel—from the law-abiding citizen to the hardened criminal—is an undeserving recipient of mercy.

Just consider some of the testimonies that are included in the Members’ Meeting packets for our meeting tonight. Some of our incoming members grew up in Christian homes were they were saved at very young ages. In the world’s eyes they were “good people.”

Others were saved as adults, after years of rejecting God and living for themselves.

But none of them deserved salvation. And all of them have received mercy!

Before we move on, I want you to notice the heart of God in these verses: He wants heaven to be filled with worshippers!

God is not stingy. He is mercifully and patiently pursuing men, women, boys, and girls from every corner of the globe with the good news of Jesus!

From the call of Abram through whom “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” to the throne room in heaven where people from every tribe and language and people and nation praises the Lamb of God, this is the missionary heart of God that is all over the Bible!

Christian: you have been invited to help spread this good news!

Yes, many will reject you. But some will repent and believe!

Are you going out of your way to tell others the good news about Jesus? Why not?

Are you willing to go to the unlikely? To the outcast? The broken? The sinful? The poor? To the nations? Even those hard places where you could be persecuted for the sake of the gospel?

A recent study of American Christians indicated that while 56% of us pray for opportunities to evangelize at least once a week, less than half of us actually try to talk to unbelievers about Jesus in a given six month period. [5]

Even more troubling is another finding from The State of Theology religious survey: only 32% of professing Christians strongly agree that “it is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.” [6]

If you’re not where you want to be in this area, take heart.

One of my prayers for PBC this year has been that God would grow us in our evangelism.

But it’s not enough to merely pray that we grow in our evangelism. As one of your pastors, my responsibility is also to model faithful evangelism and teach you how to evangelize.

To help with that, we’re offering an evangelism class beginning next Sunday at 9:15 AM.

Show Evangelism class slide

If you don’t have a Sunday School class, I’d strongly encourage you to join us.

We’ll discuss what it means to evangelize, why we should evangelize, obstacles to evangelism, and much more.

During our final six weeks in the class I will take you through a course called Christianity Explained so you can see one way to tell people the good news.

Lord willing, we’ll meet in the classroom behind this piano. But honestly, I’m praying we can’t fit in there. I’m praying we have to move the class to the chapel.

Not for the sake of having a big class. But because our hearts are so moved by our missionary God that we can’t help but give ourselves to grow in our ability to tell the good news to others.

Because God has patiently pursued us, even though we were undeserving, let us patiently pursue others.

But even as we pursue them, let’s remember that an invitation to heaven doesn’t mean you’re included in heaven.

Consider with me a final truth from Jesus’ parable...

4) God Rightly DEMANDS that We Come Prepared.

Most of us would’ve ended the parable in verse 10. It’s a happy ending isn’t it? The wedding feast is filled with unlikely people gathered to celebrate. But Jesus is not interested in merely telling a good story. He wants us to respond rightly to the invitation to heaven’s banquet.

So He concludes this parable with a sad tale of one man who didn’t come prepared...

Matthew 22:11-13—But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 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.’

Once again, that escalated quickly, didn’t it?

Why is this such a big deal? So some guy arrives to the wedding without his fancy clothes on. What’s the problem? Why does this king have to kick this guy out?

Remember, the king has graciously invited all sorts of people from all sorts of places to this wedding feast.

Since everybody else is dressed appropriately, and since these guests were invited somewhat spur of the moment, we can reasonably conclude that the king didn’t merely require a wedding garment, He provided the garment. [7]

All of a sudden we begin to see this man in a different light.

He is not a poor man who was unable to come prepared.

He is a proud man who was unwilling to receive the preparations that were given him.

He wanted to receive good things from the king without showing honor to the king.

And as a result, this man too is cast out of the wedding.

In this sad conclusion to Jesus’ parable, we have a sober warning that there is yet one more way to reject Jesus.

We can reject Jesus by our indifference, we can reject Jesus by our antagonism.

Or we can reject Jesus by receiving His invitation in the wrong way.

The very fact that you are listening to my voice indicates that in one way or another you are trying to respond to Jesus.

You’re not antagonistic, or you’d be screaming and disrupting this gathering.

You’re not indifferent, or you probably wouldn’t even be here.

But maybe, just maybe, you are trying to respond to Jesus’ invitation in the wrong way.

Not everybody who responds to the wedding invitation responded rightly.

The most horrible thing I can imagine is that someone in this room would think they’re on their way to heaven only to find out on Judgment Day that you cannot come in because you did not come prepared.

So how do you come prepared?

The key is understanding what Jesus means by the wedding garment in verse 11.

Earlier I read from Revelation 19, to show you how heaven is sometimes referred to as a wedding banquet. That passage also talks about a wedding garment.

Look at it again with me...

Revelation 19:7-8—Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

What is the wedding garment that God’s people must wear?

The text says that the wedding garment is “the righteous deeds of the saints.”

When the Bible uses the word saint it doesn’t mean super-holy extra-spiritual Christian. Every Christian is a saint!

And righteous deeds is another way of saying “good works.”

So the wedding garment is the good works of God’s people.

Wait a minute! Is this teaching salvation by works?

Look again at verse 8: “it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.”

That word “granted” refers to a gift.

It’s the same root word used in...

Ephesians 2:8-10—For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift [that’s the same root word translated “granted” in Revelation 19] of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We receive our wedding garments by grace through faith.

And then, only after we have been saved by grace through faith are we able to do good works.

Not to earn God’s love but because we already have it.

This doctrine is what theologians call IMPUTATION.

Show imputation slide

On the cross, our sin was credited to Jesus’ account. That’s why He suffered. He was dying as a substitute, to pay the penalty for our sin.

As the song says, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”

But we need more than our sins to be washed away. We also need righteousness!

In the parable, it wouldn’t be enough for the guests to not show up in rags. They need to be wearing wedding garments!

When you put your faith in Jesus’, His righteousness is credited to your account.

As the song says you are “dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”

This is the only right way to come to Jesus! You must repent of your sin, put your faith in Him and Him alone. You must not trust in your own righteousness, but only in the righteousness of Christ.

So again, why should we do good works?

Why should we obey Jesus’ teaching and guard our eyes and minds from lust?

Why should we sacrificially give of our time, talent, and treasure to our local church?

Why should we faithfully gather with God’s people?

Why should we read our Bibles and pray?

Why should we tell our lost friends and neighbors the gospel?

Because our good works are the evidence that we have received Jesus’ righteousness!

Jesus ends His parable with a reminder that all of this—from beginning to end—is a gift of grace...

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

God in His grace invites many to repent and believe in Jesus.

And yet, those who respond rightly to Jesus’ invitation are few.

Throughout this parable, Jesus has been stressing our human responsibility. He’s been teaching us how to respond rightly to His invitation. But here He’s stressing divine sovereignty. He’s reminding us that God is sovereign, even over salvation.

Which is it? Is God sovereign or am I responsible? YES.

I had a professor in seminary who used to say, “If you’re a Christian, it’s all of grace. God and God alone gets the glory. But if you’re not a Christian you have nobody to blame but yourself."

An invitation to heaven doesn’t mean you’re included in heaven.

You can receive an invitation—you can be called—to trust in Jesus.

But you can reject that invitation by your indifference, or your antagonism.

Or you can respond to the invitation but in the wrong way.

What about you, friend?

Have you come to Jesus rightly? Are you trusting in His good work on the cross, or your good works? Are you dressed in His righteousness, or your own? Are you hoping to receive good things from Jesus without submitting to Jesus?

Are you bearing good fruit? Has the gift-righteousness of Christ compelled you to pursue practical righteousness in your daily life? Are you bearing good fruit in your evangelism, as you seek to tell this good news to others?

However God is calling you to respond to His Word today, I pray you will respond rightly. For His glory and for your good.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

For the Cause

Benediction (Revelation 5:12-13)