Are You Dressed for Success?

The Roles of the People in the Parable — Vs. 2-3

Adrian Rogers — A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

The King is a representation of God the Father.

The Son is a representation of Jesus.

The Marriage it’s speaking of here is a representation of when the Church, which is the Bride of Christ, and Christ himself being united!

And this is all going to take place at the marriage supper of the lamb when God decides to wind this thing up! The Bible says in...

Revelation 19:7-9 (KJV) — 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

You see friend, we are in what’s called the Betrothal period of this marriage as we speak. In ancient Eastern culture, once the husband had chosen himself a wife, he would get betrothed or engaged to this lady and that was his way of showing her that he was serious about marrying her. During this betrothal period, he would then go and build them a house to live in and when it was finished and ready to move into, he would return and to take his beloved fiance, they would get married and become one and then he would take her to their new home!

Oh praise God, do you see the bigger picture here? Jesus came and chose for himself a bride and that bride was the Church! He signed His intent to marry with His own blood and now he has gone to prepare a place for us and when it is finished he will return again to retrieve his bride and that union will be consummated at the marriage supper of the lamb!

Oh what a glorious day that will be when we, the Church of the living God, will be reunited with the one who has chosen us to be His bride!

Listen to me this morning friend, I’m telling you, you can’t make this stuff up! You see in these days the husband would often pay a price, called a bride price, to the brides family in order to marry her and show them he was serious and the bride or her family would give to the bridegroom whats called a dowry to show that she was serious. Do you know what the bride price was that Jesus paid? Dear friend, He gave His life! That’s how serious He was about us, His bride, the Church! And what is the price that we, the bride, the Church is supposed to pay? The only dowry price our bridegroom requires is obedience! He said in...

John 14:15 (KJV) — If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21 (KJV) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

You see, the Bible brings this even more to light in Ephesians Chapter 5. The Bible says in....

Ephesians 5:22-27 (KJV) — 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Christ is the head of the Church and we therefore are to submit to him and that submission simply means following His commandments. And notice what it says there at the end of Verse 25 and then Verses 26-27...

Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Sound familiar? Remember what Revelation said about the bride of the lamb?

Said that she’d be “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

Dear friend, right now the house is being built and all we’re waiting on is for the sounding of that trumpet; for Christ to come and get his bride! At that point we’ll be presented to the King without spot and without blemish for the Son, the bridegroom, has made us clean, Amen!

Now that we understand who the parable is about and what this marriage is for, look a the Request of the King in Verse 3.

The Request of the King — Vs. 3a

This word “bidden” here is the Greek word (kaleo) and it means to call or to invite. So the King here sends his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding. You see, in this day and time a wedding invitation was twofold in the East. A call was first given to tell the invited people to get ready for the wedding. Then a second call came when the wedding was actually ready to be performed and the feast was ready for the guests.

So the King has already sent one invitation notifying these Invitees when the wedding would be and now he’s sending his servants back around to tell them it’s time.

These servants here are representations of people just like you and I who are in charge of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. For those who have been born again, we have been tasked with the great responsibility of going out and telling people how Jesus, the one and only Son of God, has died for our sins and how that at any moment the He could return to claim his bride and that they need to be ready!

So we see the Request of the King, now let’s look at the Rejection & Refusal to the Request.

The Rejection & Refusal of the Request — Vs. 3b

The Bible says here… "and they would not come!" How many people have heard the gospel invitation today but because of the ignorance of their unbelief or the stubbornness of their pride they would not come? How many men, women, boys and girls have busted hell wide open because they would not come? Don't make the same mistake today as the people who were invited in this parable before us!

The invitation has been given and if God is dealing with your heart, come while there's still time! For the time will come when you won't be able to come! They Rejected the call and Refused to believe in the Son! Please don't make the same mistake as they did!

So, we see their Rejection & Refusal now let’s look at the Kings Remonstration.

The Remonstration — Vs. 4

The Bible says again he sent forth other servants to bid them come to the marriage. He says, “look, go tell those that were invited that the table is set and I’ve got dinner prepared!”

Now as I pondered on this section I want to share with you something that crossed my mind. Ultimately this parable is speaking about the invitation being for the Jews but since they denied the invitation, God opened it up to anyone, right?

Now, as I was thinking about this, I just kept thinking what is the significance of the bulls and fatlings and this is what came to mind. The Jews were used to using oxen and calves for sacrificial offerings, right?

What if God is saying to the Jews here, “look, you don’t have to worry about bringing anything and there’s no need for your sacrifices anymore for from this point forward they won’t be needed because I have provided myself a lamb! I have given my Son, my one and only Son, to be the perfect sacrifice, a once and for all sacrifice for all who will call upon His name!

Come unto the marriage for all things are ready!!! Maybe there’s someone joining in today with us and God is speaking to your heart and saying, “come for all things are now ready!” I’ve done all the work, I’ve provided the sacrifice, I’ve sent the invitation, now all you have to do is come!

If you feel God is saying that you today friend, don’t do what we’re about to read next but come unto the marriage today and put your trust in Jesus!

So we see the King’s Remonstration, His second attempt to draw the bidden ones to come. Now we’re going to see the Reproach and Rancor of the Invitees!

The Reproach and Rancor of the Invitees — Vs. 5-6

The Bible says they made light of it. This phrase is from the Greek word (ameleō) and it means they disregarded and neglected the second invitation as well. They brushed it off as no big deal! One decided to go to his farm and another went to check on his merchandise and then the Bible says that the “Remnant” that is the rest of the Invitees took the Kings servants and mistreated them and put them to death!

Now, there is a progression that has taken place here that I want you to pay special attention to. And the reason I want to bring this to your attention is because you may be out there today and God may be speaking to your heart and you may say, “oh, well I’m not ready to give into God’s calling today. Right now’s just not the time. I’ve got much going on for a change to be taking place in my life right now.”

And you brush off the calling of God upon your life. Listen, the Bible says in...

Hebrews 3:15 (KJV) — While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

Hebrews 3:12 (KJV) — Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

You see friend, each time you put off the call of God upon your life your heart hardens a little bit more and more. These same people when the first group of servants went around just would not come, they rejected the invitation from the King, the call of God upon their lives and now look at what they do!

The second round of servants go to these same people and now they disregard them, they mock them, they mistreat them and even kill them! Do you see the progression from one time to the next?

The reason for this progression is because each time you turn God away your heart gets a little harder and harder until it gets to the point that you don’t even feel bad about doing wrong anymore!

Dear friend, that’s why the Bible says in...

2 Corinthians 6:2b (KJV) — behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

If God is calling on you to be saved today friend, don’t put it off! For each time you reject the call of God upon your life your hardening your heart to the Holy Spirit a little more and more and if continued long enough you risk the Spirit not dealing with you at all for the Bible says in...

Genesis 6:3a (KJV) — And the LORD said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man”

That word strive it means contend or plead in it’s original language. Listen friend God has instilled withing each and every human being a measure of faith with which you can believe but at the end of the day He leaves it up to you to enact that faith and put it into action and put your trust in Him!

When He calls we are to answer! If He’s calling on you today friend, don’t put it off! Don’t harden your heart to the invitation of the King!

Now, we understand from earlier that the real moral behind this parable is the rejection of Christ from the Jews, right? You see, Jesus is using this parable to say, “look, think about all the prophets who have come before that God has sent to you to call you and look at how you treated them!”

You had Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Nathan, Isaiah & Jeremiah, Ezekiel & Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and then John the Baptist!

All these pointed to me, the Son, and you made light of them as well and some of them you even mistreated and slew!

And not only is this speaking of the prophets who came before but if you’ll remember we are those servants as well, right? This parable not only represents those who came before but the ones like Stephen, James, all the other disciples besides John and the many servants who have given their lives since for the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

So, we see the Reproach and the Rancor of the Invitees, now let’s look at the Ramifications of their Actions.

The Ramifications of their Actions — Vs. 7

The King finds out what these people have done to His servants and the Bible says He was angry and sent forth His armies and destroyed those murderers and burned their city!

Jesus appeals to the Jews in multiple ways here. First he appeals to their past in that they would remember their ancestors telling of when Nebuchadnezzer destroyed Jerusalem and then He appealed to their future. Little did they know, but in less than 40 years, Jerusalem would be destroyed just the way He describes here.

In A.D. 70, Roman General Titus surrounded Jerusalem and after months of fighting, made his way into the city and ultimately burned the city to the ground and destroyed it completely! Jewish historian Josephus tells of the sight he saw...

“As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity: passion alone was in command. Crowded together around the entrances many were trampled by their friends, many fell among the still hot and smoking ruins of the colonnades and died as miserably as the defeated. As they neared the Sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Caesar's commands and urged the men in front to throw in more firebrands. The partisans were no longer in a position to help; everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom.”

Josephus claimed that over 1 million Jews were killed during the Roman raid. Now think back to the parable and tell me this wasn’t what Jesus was talking about! This is a direct representation to the parable Jesus is telling here.

So we see the Ramifications of their Actions. Now let’s look at The King’s Roundup in Verses 8-10.

The King’s Roundup — Vs. 8-10

The King, then determined to have guests at His Son’s wedding, sends more servants out to the highways and hedges and compels them to come in! Anyone they could find, they invited to come to the marriage and the Bible says the wedding was furnished with guests! Not one seat left empty from a lack of guests!

You see friend, God’s will, will be accomplished one way or another and there is nothing man can do to thwart that! Some atheist may say I’m not going to believe in this so called God of yours. That’s fine you know why, because someone else will!

Whether you believe or not doesn’t change the fact that God is still on the throne and in charge of everything! The gospel will continue to go out and your unbelief can’t change that!

I love how the Bible says here that they gathered as many as they could, both good and bad! Listen friend, there are none so bad that they cannot be saved and none so good that need not be saved! The Good and Bad "ALIKE!" At the foot of the cross my friend it's an even playing field and oh how I praise God that we all get to heaven the same way!

You know why? Because I for sure would have fallen into that bad category! Anyone who knew me before God got a hold of me would tell you that too! I was a horrible person and like Paul many times I still find myself saying, “oh wretched man that I am who can deliver me from the body of this death?”

I thank God that Jesus Christ our Lord can Amen! Dear friend, you may be listening in this morning and feel that with your background there’s no way the God of the universe would want to save you but that’s the beauty of it!

Praise God, the dirtier you are, the more He wants you! Why? Because the bigger the sinner you are when He finds you, the better the saint you’ll be when He gets done fixing you up, Amen!

You see friend, here’s the thing…there isn’t a person on earth that can fix themselves! Oh, people try to everyday and you know what, they fail everyday! It’s not until they come to the realization that their problems can only be fixed by God that they will truly begin to see a difference take place in their lives!

So, if you’ve been holding off from answering God’s call upon your life until you get yourself fixed up, give that up today. Answer the call right now and ask Jesus to come into your heart and save you, to cleanse you and change you and dear friend if you ask him to and be earnest about it, He’ll do it and you’ll be a new creature in Him!

Old things will pass away and behold all things will be made new! You will encounter a new lease on life, a new love found in Christ, and new light shining brightly within you for all the world to see!

Make that move today friend! I assure you it’ll be the best decision you’ll ever make!

Now that we’ve looked at the King’s Roundup, next let’s look at His Review of the Guests.

A Review of the Guests — Vs. 11 & 12a

The Bible says here that the King come in to see the guests and there was a fellow which had not on a wedding garment and the King says this guest, “how did you get in here not having a wedding garment?”

You see, in ancient Eastern culture it was customary for the wealthy to provide their guests with garments for the wedding. So the reason this fellow didn’t have on a wedding garment like everyone else wasn’t because it hadn’t been provided to him or because they ran out but rather he didn’t have one on because he thought his garment was just as good as the one provided by the King!

This was a disgrace to the King. Here the King has provided all that was necessary for the wedding and yet someone comes in and feels that His provision isn’t good enough or either their provision is just as good!

Listen to me this morning friend, there’s going to be many a people miss heaven because they felt like their own garments were good enough! They feel as if they don’t’ need the precious, perfect, sacrificial blood of the perfect lamb applied to their garments!

They think their garments are as good as the one that only the King can provide and friend their demise will be the same as what’s about to happen to this fellow we see here!

Notice the Response of the Guest.

The Response of the Guest — Vs. 12b

The Bible says this guest sitting here was “speechless!” Oh dear friend there will be millions on judgment day stand speechless because they will be without excuse!

They will see face to face the perfect Lamb of God who was slain from the foundation of the world! They will see the scars in hands and the wound in his side. They will see garments of white that have been provided for all who trusted in Him and they will be without excuse!

At that dreadful moment, they will understand that nothing they could have done on their own, no amount of good works, no amount of tithes, no amount of helping out the less fortunate or the feeding of the poor could have equaled the garment of salvation provided by the King!

In an instant their eyes will be opened and they will realize that they have missed the mark but the sad reality is it will be too late to do anything about it and the same reaction we are about to see from the King here will be the one they experience on that great and dreadful day!

The Reaction of the King — Vs. 13

After no response or rebuttal from the guest, the King calls His servants and tells them to bind this unworthy guest and cast him into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!

Dear friend I adjure you this morning, if God is speaking to your heart, please come and ask Jesus to save you so that this does not become your fate as well!

You see, you can have the finest of garments this world has to offer but at the end of the day, the best this world has to offer cannot compare with the garments the King of Heaven has to offer!

Salvation comes through Jesus Christ and Him only! And I assure you this morning on the authority of God’s word that if you find yourself wearing any other garment on judgment day besides the one the He offers through His spilled blood on Calvary, you, like this fellow we’ve just talked about here will be found speechless and cast into hell!

And the saddest part of all if lost and listening today would be knowing that you sat and heard this message preached and did nothing about it!

The words of this message would haunt you for all eternity, knowing that you had an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and didn’t act upon it.

Jesus ends this parable by saying…Many are called but few are chosen!

The Result — Vs. 14

As we come to a close today I want to explain that last verse to you. Many are called. The Bible says that there won’t be one person able to stand there on judgement day with an excuse so that tells me that everyone will be called.

As the Bible said there, the invitation went out to the good and the bad! Anyone they could find was bidden to come to the wedding. You have been invited by the King of the Universe to attend this wedding!

But few are chosen. Does that mean I may not be chosen? The ones who are chosen are the ones who have put their trust in the Son. The chosen are the ones who have put their faith in the provision of the King and not themselves. The chosen are the ones who will come to the wedding!

In the parable before us there were some who would not come. Will that be you today? Will you allow the drawing of the Spirit pass you by once again? Or will you respond to the invitation today?

In the parable before us there was also the guest who had been given the garment required for the wedding but refused to wear it. Will that be you today? Are you trying to get to heaven on your own? You believe in God but not this man named Jesus?

Listen, you don’t get to the Father unless you go through the Son for the Father said, “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased…hear ye him!”

Try to enter the wedding with your own garment and you’ll be found speechless and cast out; but enter thou in with the garment of salvation stained by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and you’ll find yourself a seat at the table of the marriage supper of the Lamb!

The invitation has been given, the garment provided and now the only question that remains is this...what are you going to do with them?

The decision is yours! Are you Dressed for Success?