Matthew 22:1-14 Series- 09/06/2020
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction/ Welcome
Introduction/ Welcome
Good morning and welcome to First Community Church, where we worship God in Spirit and in Truth, one verse at a time.
We are so glad that each one of you have joined us this morning and our prayer is that God speaks to you, that you glean something today that you can practically apply into your life or that brings you comfort, hope, and peace.
Happy Labor Day!
Well here we are, headed into the fall and another summer over. Soon very soon, winter time will be upon us, provided Jesus doesn’t come back first.
Prayer
Prayer
Read Matthew 22:1-14
Read Matthew 22:1-14
Review
Review
Over the lat few weeks, we learned about the mercy, grace, and longsuffering of our God, not only with us, but with the religious leaders we have studied about.
We are in the last of the three parables that Jesus gave in response to then questioning His authority.
We have learned about what a Jewish wedding looks like and that 2 invitations were given out.
We discussed last week that when the servants came, they made light of it and went their own ways. They were careless and went to their farms and their businesses.
How have you been careless with Jesus and the gospel?
How many times when God sends you a servant or the Holy Spirit speaks to you, do you make excuses?
Not only did the religious leaders reason away Jesus, but they also used excuses, excuses, excuses all throughout history.
We can look back in the OT and witness this
But how about our own lives? Are we doing the same? Are we reasoning away Jesus and making excuses to not spend time with Him?
Are we making excuses about not starting the ministry that God continues to call us to?
Do we excuse away calling others or walking along others for the sake of sleep or something else?
What is our excuses church?
Remember, we all make time for what is most important in our lives.
The reality is that we all want the quick fix, we want the gift, but often not the giver.
We want the fruit, but we are not willing to cultivate the ground!
Our excuses are often rooted in laziness
And we allow our flesh to win, when Jesus is saying come to me.
Church, over and over in throughout the Word of God we are warned, we are exhorted, we are challenged with stories and parables that clearly depict Jesus is coming quickly.
So why do we keep putting Jesus off?
Do you have enough oil in your lamps as the day is approaching???
Read Matthew 25:1-13
Read Matthew 25:1-13
Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Who are the servants church?
Who are the servants today?
Isaiah: said to be of Jerusalem, suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two by Manasseh
Jeremiah was stoned to death
Ezekiel suffered and died a martyrs death
Zechariah was killed by Jehoash near the altar of the temple
Paul was beheaded
James was said to be thrown from the pinnacle of the temple where the devil tempted Jesus ands he lived. When he arose it is said they stoned him church
History says that Peter was crucified upside down
John the baptist was be-headed by Herod Antipas
According to Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it.
As I am speaking there was a brother or sister killed because they would not recant
Are we willing to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ?
Are we willing to die for our Lord as these men and so many more have?
“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
So Jesus again, is trying to get the attention of the religious leaders and the pilgrims that are in the temple with him as he gives this parable.
If you were giving a royal wedding feast, a feast above all feast, how would we respond if our servants were killed? Would we send more?
Would our hearts be heavy and grieved? Would we be depressed that nobody that was invited wants to come?
Imagine how God feels, when he sends his servants to give the invitation and it is rejected?
How do we feel, when we are rejected?
Lets look at the text:
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Wroth-Furious- or-ge-zo (orgizo)- to be provoked to anger, be angry, be wroth
Church, we must understand that even though God is a God of love, the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.
One side of the sword is love and the other side is judgement or discipline
Back in chapter 21, verse 43, in the prior parable, He said very similarly, “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it.
It’s going to be taken away from you” – and the word “nation” means people – “and given to a people who will appreciate it and demonstrate its fruits.”
In other words, here you have historically the casting off of Israel as a nation in the unique place a God’s called people, which they had enjoyed. Why? Because they rejected the Messiah. They rejected the Savior, and they were set apart. Set apart.
And He says, “You’re city’s going to be burned.” Boy, was that prophetic; 70 A.D. it happened. Titus Vespasian, the Roman general, came to Jerusalem, conquered the city, murdered 1,100,000 Jews, threw their bodies over the wall. Slaughtered beyond that, multiplied thousands all around Palestine.
And Josephus, who was an eyewitness to the whole thing, wrote in his history of Jewish war these words translated, “That building, the temple at Jerusalem, however, God long ago had sentenced to the flames. But now in the revolution of the time periods, the fateful day had arrived. The tenth of the month of Lous, (Av), the very day on which previously it had been burned by the king of Babylon. One of the soldiers, neither awaiting orders nor filled with horror of so dread an undertaking, but moved by some supernatural impulse, snatched a brand from the blazing timber and, hoisted up by one of his fellow soldiers, flung the fiery missile through a golden window.
“When the flame arose, a scream as poignant as the tragedy went up from the Jews now that the object which before they had guarded so closely was going to ruin. While the sanctuary was burning, neither pity for age nor respect for rank was shown. ON the contrary, children and old people, laity and priests alike were massacred. The emperor had ordered the entire city and sanctuary to be razed to the ground, except only the highest towers and that part of the wall that enclosed the city on the west.”
And that’s why today remains the western wall. The rest of the things was burned. Jesus said He – the king burned up their city. It hadn’t happened, but it would. It was prophetic in a parabolic form. Objectors to the Son, rejecters of the Son are judged in a fiery judgment. So accurate is our Lord’s statement here. What was He saying? He was saying because Israel has rejected the Messiah, God rejects them. And those who hostilely kill the Son will be severely judged by God, and their city will be burned. It was.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Church those that were not worthy were those that rejected God’s most gracious invitation.
It is the rejection of the invitation that caused their judgement, not the act of God.
When we reject the gospel invitation, it is our rejection church that causes us to be condemned.
You say why?
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Read Luke 3:7-16
Read Luke 3:7-16
So we have moved from the invitation being rejected by the religious leaders and Israel, to the rejectors punished, to the new guests that are invited.
So we see in the text at hand that God had given the invite to Israel, but because they reasoned Jesus away, and because they continued to make excuses, The Lord sent his servants out into the highways and by-ways to invite all.
This means the Gentiles church, both you and I.
This invitation now includes the drunk and the drug addict, the prostitutes, the fatherless, the widows, the orphans, the marginalized, the tax-collector, the sinner, us all...
So, the point is go everywhere and get everybody that’ll come. “Go into all the world and” – what? – “preach the Gospel and make disciples.”
And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
God who is rich in mercy will graft Israel in again, provided they do not continue in unbelief.
Right here I can picture three scriptures:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
Do you see the invitations? From the front of the Bible to the back, He is inviting us to come church!
And notice what it says, “So” – verse 10 – “the servants went out into the highways” - the crossroads, the forks in the road – “and they gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good.”
“Both bad and good? You mean you say bad people can come?”
Yeah, oh, yeah. What kind of bad and good is this? This is bad and good in terms of morality - human morality. I mean let’s face it; in life there are certain people that are bad, and certain people that are good. There are criminals and non-criminals. We’re not talking about religious things; we’re not talking about spiritual things. We’re not talking about Christians and non-Christians. It’s just general in life that there are humanly good people and humanly bad people. But when it comes to calling people into the kingdom, there’s no discriminating, is there? God isn’t going around looking for the moral people. I mean God is calling everybody, bad and good. And the thing that makes them worthy is not their inherent goodness or badness, but their willingness to accept – what? – the invitation. “And the wedding feast was furnished with guests.”
There is no partiality with God Church!!!
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Matthew-II: Chapters 16:13–28:20 (King James Version) G. The Parable of the Marriage Feast: Israel’s Rejection of God’s Great Invitation, 22:1–14
However, note the emphasis of this parable. The emphasis was not on the joy and festivity of the Marriage Feast but on a guest who came improperly dressed for the occasion. A man tried to attend the wedding without the proper clothing. He was not clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
The King entered to see the guests and upon entering, he immediately saw the man without a wedding garment.
The words to see mean to view attentively, to look carefully over, to look upon, contemplate, and inspect.
The King is inspecting to make sure everyone is ready for the celebration
No one can be allowed to detract from His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
One thing to note here is that the guests did not know that the man lacked the proper wedding garment, but the King did.
The wedding garment is the robe of righteousness that Jesus places upon us when we surrender to His Lordship and when we walk with him and talk with him
We cannot get in on our own righteousness because it is filthy rags Isaiah writes.
For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Word is true
And the text says this man stood speechless. This word means muzzled, muted, tongue tied, closed mouthed in the Greek.
HE HAD NO EXCUSE CHURCH
We will either stand before the Lord with the robe of righteousness or in a garment that does not pass
HE STOOD GUILTY OF DISRESPECT AND DISHONOR FOR WEARING THE WRONG GARMENT.
It was the religious leaders and those who followed them who had on the wrong wedding garment and as the text teaches, God had judged this man and God judged Israel.
Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
He called His servants-diakonos, and called them to bind him hand a foot.
The hands and the feet are usually body parts used by man to sin
He was bound and there was no escape church
Whatever the King says is done on the Great day of the Feast.
No man can resist or flee
He was taken away, out of the presence of His Son and the other guests
And he was cast into outer darkness
I close with that God calls many, but few are chosen:
There was God’s call to the Jews, but few responded.
There is God’s call to the Gentiles, but few are responding.
There is God’s call to all those who enter in, but not all have on the robe of righteousness.
Do have a wedding garment, are you clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ?
Are you coming to the wedding feast?
Prayer
Prayer
Announcements
Announcements
Are there any announcements?
Benediction
Benediction
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
The Lord Bless you!
Your Mission Starts Now!