The Wedding Garment Matthew 22a Jan 26 2025

Intro & Scripture

Good morning

We are in Matt 22 this morning

The title of my sermon is “The Wedding Garment”

I get this from The Parable of the Wedding Feast that Jesus gives us

Chapter 22 starts off with this parable

Let me first start with the Scripture reading for today

Isaiah 61:10 ESV

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.

The Wedding Feast

I want us to look at this parable that begins Chapter 22

Remember - this is a continuation of the last chapter

We recently studied how Jesus cursed the fig tree -

And how the religious rulers questioned his authority

The Parable of the Two Sons -

the first said, “no,” but later obeyed his father - the 2nd said, “yes,” but later did not work in his father’s vineyard

The Parable of the Tenants -

the master planted a vineyard with a fence around it, dug a winepress, and built a lookout tower

then he leased it to tenants

as the story goes, the master goes away to another country - but he sends his servants to gather fruit from his tenants

but the tenants beat one, killed another, then stoned another

so the master sent even more servants - but the tenants did the same

finally, he sent his son - “They will respect him”

but they dragged him out of the vineyard and killed him

The religious rulers agreed that the master should put those people to death

But Jesus said, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”

And Chapter 21 ends with the chief priests and the Pharisees wanting to arrest Jesus - but they feared the crowds

And now we read this new parable -

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

Let’s get right into it

Beginning in verse 1 of Chapter 22 of Matthew

Matthew 22:1–6 ESV

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. 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.

Verse 7...

Matthew 22:7–10 ESV

The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 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.

Verse 11...

Matthew 22:11–14 ESV

“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.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

(Pray…)

That’s the Parable of the Wedding Feast

This is the continuation of Jesus giving three parables to the religious leaders

We won’t hear Jesus give another parable until Chapter 25

I believe Matthew is the only gospel account that gives this specific parable

There is a similar parable, found in Luke 14, but it is different in many ways

For one, it does not contain the part about the man who has no wedding garment

As one scholar put it: “As a skilled teacher, Jesus adapts a common plot line to different occasions.”

So Jesus used the framework of this parable, and essentially taught different parables from the same framework

This practice was not uncommon of Rabbis in that time

So, it’s not surprising to see differences in these two parable accounts

In today’s parable, Jesus is saying that the kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding feast for his son

He’s saying, here’s a story similar to the kingdom of heaven

As Jesus puts it, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to...”

This is known as a Kingdom Parable - which is a parable that reveals his kingdom

Jesus is telling a story to help us understand his kingdom

At the same time, this parable was an indictment to the Pharisees

Breaking it Down

So, a king gives a wedding feast for his son - presumably who is getting married

We are led to believe that this will be an incredible party - after-all, it’s being thrown by a king

He’s made all the arrangements - there will be wonderful food, entertainment, music, everything!

Everything has been arranged - everything is in place

This is a major party which required lots of planning

And now, it’s time to send his servants out and gather up all of his invited guests

These guests had already been invited - but when the servants come for them, they refuse!

It’s not too hard to see what Jesus is talking about

In Jewish parables, kings almost always represented God

The king is God the Father - and the son is Jesus

It doesn’t take too much imagination to see this is the wedding of Jesus and his bride, the Church

And here is this king who is looking forward to this celebration

Notice, the guests have already been invited - and the servants are trying to get them to come because the celebration is now!

if you read this story carefully, it’s actually the king himself who has made all of the preparations

So when the guests refuse, it’s an utter insult to the king, who has done all this work himself

It was a personal matter

So the king tries one more time

He sends other servants again - this time giving them the details -

“My oxen and fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready”

It’s like saying: “Come right now - I got ribeye steaks, prime rib, beef brisket that’s been smoking for 8 hours. Potatoes, salad, asparagus, beans…and a surprise for dessert”

“But it’s ready now - and you’ve already been invited”

But this still didn’t make a difference - half the invited guests ignored the servants and went off to do other things

The other half killed the servants!

How do you suppose the king felt when he heard the news?

He was furious!

Next, the king doesn’t send his servants - who does he send?

The king sends his armed forces to destroy those murderers and to burn their city

I think this was an indictment of the Jewish people, God’s chosen people, who later rejected him

I certainly don’t mean all Jewish people - but the ones who have rejected the Lord

This would certainly include the Pharisees - who thought they were honoring God, but made everything about themselves - and in the end, they rejected God’s Son

I think this parable is talking about more than just Jewish people

Today, this stands as an indictment to the world

That have heard God’s invitation in verses like John 3:16, but like fools, they say there is no God

And they’re too arrogant to humble to turn to him

Because if God created the universe, and the world and everything in it

If God created humans, who possess wonderful traits that are similar to the image of God

And if God let us walk on two legs - and give us a brain to reason and be creative, and a body to enjoy his creation

And if God gave us two ears to hear, and two eyes to see

And if he gave us stories about Adam, and Abraham, and Moses

And if he sent his prophets to teach us

And then he sent us his own Son to die for our sins because he loves us

We required redemption, so he sent his Redeemer

And right at the time we were disobedient and enemies of God - and when we didn’t deserve it, Jesus died for our sins and forgave us

Then he sent Paul and others to write letters to help us understand all of this

And then God put all of these stories in a book called the Bible - which has no mistakes, no contradictions

And we can learn, and grow close to God by reading this book

And if that’s not good enough for the unbeliever - and if you’re like one of the invited guests who turned their back on the king...

Then I don’t know what to say!!!

And btw, the king in this story never cancelled the wedding feast

People died, and the feast went on - that tells me this was an important feast!

We never upset the providence and the sovereignty of God

You can shake your fist all you want at God - but you can never change his ways

God will hold his marriage feast of the Lamb with, or without you

So the king sends his servants out a third time

This time, he said, “I don’t care who you get because the first group was not worthy! Just go out on the roads and gather anyone you can find - good or bad!”

And the servants did this until the wedding hall...was filled with guests

Translation - the wedding hall was filled with Jews and Gentiles - everyone in the whole world God has chosen to be his Church

The Wedding Garment

Now we come to the part with the man who was not wearing a wedding garment

We’re told that the king came in to look at the guests

Now, by that time, there was a lot of guests

Like a good host, he looked in after them to make sure everything was right

“Good to see you - is everything fine? Are you having a good time? Is there anything I can get for you?”

Everyone there was having a splendid time - eating and feasting fellowshipping with one another

And out of all of those people - he sees one guy who is not wearing a wedding garment

He asks him a question: “Friend, how did you get here without a wedding garment?”

But the man was speechless

So the king had him bound hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth

And Jesus ends his parable saying this: “For many are called, but few are chosen”

The Gospel has gone out into the world

There are parts of the world - mainly in America - especially in Tennessee - where the world is sick of hearing the Gospel

I would never be in favor of NOT proclaiming the Gospel - we are commanded to do so

I’m saying that this parable speaks to us - where the invited guests either ignore the servants, or kill them

If people don’t kill God’s servants here in Tenn, they certainly persecute us in various ways

The main question: Who is this man without a wedding garment? When Jesus mentions the wedding garment, what does he mean?

All week, I’ve been meditating on what the wedding garment represents

Does it represent our faith?

Does it represent our repentance?

Or, does it represent our righteousness

All week, I’ve been thinking this is about righteousness - not ours, but the righteousness Jesus gives us

But as soon as you say the garment is righteousness, then you’re saying that the wedding garment is also about faith and repentance

You can’t enter the wedding feast without being perfectly righteous

That’s a righteousness that only comes from Jesus

And you can’t have that until you’ve repented of your sins

And you can’t repent and turn to Jesus unless you have faith

We are justified by God through our faith

It’s called double imputation

Jesus takes our sins - they are imputed to him on the cross

And his righteousness is imputed to us

But it’s not good enough to have a righteousness that comes from our self-effort like the Pharisees

Philippians 3:9 (ESV)

not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Galatians 3:6 ESV

just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

One more

Romans 3:28 ESV

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

I want to give a disclaimer

I have been preaching about fruit the last couple of weeks

And about the fruit of the fig tree, and so on

Please understand - it’s not our fruit which gets us into heaven

It’s our faith in Jesus - our faith justifies us before God

Our fruit comes after we’re justified before God

Our sins our forgiven

But it’s not good enough to be void of sin - we need to be righteous

But God understands our righteousness on our own is not good enough

That’s why that man was thrown out of the wedding feast

The king recognized that this man was not wearing the righteousness of his own son

Many are called, but few are chosen

I want to give you one more passage of scripture - from Revelation

Revelation 19:7–8 ESV

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.

Don’t take this out of context - the “righteous deeds of the saints” comes only through Jesus Christ

I pray that everyone here is clothed in God’s proper wedding garment

The invitation has gone out - don’t turn your back on him

(Pray…)

Communion

(Pick one…)

Matthew 26:26–28 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke 22:19–20 ESV

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.