Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

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Please turn in your Bibles to Matt 22…we are covering verses 1-22 today.

Last time we looked at the Parable pertaining to the Vineyard, Landowner and wicked tenant farmers.

A parable that Jesus applied to the chief priests and elders.

A parable told in response to Jesus being questioned by the Religious Leaders, “Who gave you the authority to do these things?”

This was Passover week, and Jesus was disrupting things.

He rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey…just as kings of old did in times of peace…and Jesus is the King who came in peace to bring peace between mankind and God… as Rom 5:1 states, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...”

After the Triumphal Entry, Jesus was not so peaceful when He went into the Temple and saw the ‘Bazaar of Annas.’

They turned the Temple courts into a den of thieves…charging inflated prices for “temple approved” passover lambs and to exchange Roman coins to the Temple Shekels.

Jesus overturned the money changer tables and drove everyone out.

Then the blind came to be healed and the children sang songs of praise to Him.

The temple was restored to it’s proper purpose in that moment, and the religious leaders were indignant with the Messianic praise to Jesus.

So, that’s the backdrop in Matt 21… the chief priests and elders are indignant with Jesus.

And, don’t forget what we read in John 11 last week… a very telling passages… the religious leaders revealed they feared all the people would believe in Jesus…and Rome would come and take destroy their Temple and nation.

Any political uprising would violate the “Pax Romana” (lit.

‘Roman Peace’)…if you disturbed the peace of Rome, they would disturb you.

If you get what I’m saying?

So, the Religious leaders “...plotted to put Him to death.”

John 11:53… and “...commanded, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.” John 11:57.

So, today, as we look at Matt 22, remember John 11 to understand the intentions of the religious leaders…they have evil in mind towards Jesus.

We pick up with the third of three parables Jesus told to the chief priests and elders after they questioned His authority… the religious leaders are questioning Jesus, not even realizing they are symbolically examining Jesus… just as they would a passover lamb.

The title of today’s teaching is “The Examination of the King Part 3.” A four part mini-series if you will.

There are many great truths and lessons in Chapters 21-22, but I don’t want to lose focus on the examination happening to Jesus by the Religious Leaders.

Let’s Pray!

As we go through this first parable (The Parable of the Marriage Feast)... I’m going to mention some things I discussed in great detail last week, so if you missed the message last week, check it out our our website, because there are some overlapping truths in this parable and the last.

Matt 22:1 “And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables [He’s casting a natural truth alongside a spiritual truth] and said: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king [representative of God] who arranged a marriage for his son [Jesus…who is often represented as a Bridegroom],

3 and sent out his servants [the prophets of old who pointed to Messiah... John the Baptist, calling the nation to repentance... and the Apostles preaching the Gospel.] to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they [Israel] were not willing to come.

4 Again, he sent out other servants [just like the parable last week…the ruler kept sending servants in grace… ], 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.”

’

This is a royal wedding… and the king made great effort to have a joyous celebration, and to inform all about how wonderful this celebration would be… and to make known his desire for them to attend.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

How many of you have been invited to a royal wedding?

yeah…me neither.

Can you imagine just shrugging it off?

The Gospel is pictured as a Royal invitation here.

It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity... this is not an invitation to a cake and ice cream birthday party… this is a Royal invitation sent by the King Himself to you personally.

And, if you snub the invitation, you’ll miss the feast, and get the furnace as we’ll see in V13.

And, can I say… please don’t treat the Gospel cheaply.

It’s not “fire insurance”… or a “get out of jail free” card.

It’s not cheap.

It’s a ROYAL INVITATION.

Don’t treat the Gospel casually.

V5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.

[Showing disregard & disrespect for the king.

They love the things of the world more than God.] 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.

The same happened to the servants in the previous parable, and as discussed last week…historically many prophets have been beaten and killed by the Jews.

V7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious.

[righteous anger] And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

In the last parable, he sent his son to the vineyard.

Now armies are sent and the murderers have a city he will destroy.

As discussed last week…armies of Assyria, Babylon were sent in the past… armies used to accomplish God’s judgment.

In view in this parable is the Roman army led by Titus Vespasian who in 70 A.D. literally destroyed the city of Jerusalem.

V8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

God loves Israel, but they have done a poor job at reciprocating that love.

Idolatry, rebellion, and wickedness is weaved into their history…and this unfaithfulness is why they were deemed unworthy.

But God is not done with them yet.

Revelation and other scriptures are clear on that point.

Replacement theology is an error.

The word “Worthy”... Gk. axiŏs means “of equal value, or having the weight of another thing.”

Think about Lady Justice… the statue outside court houses… blindfolded with her scales and sword.

Blindfolded symbolizing impartiality.

Scales to weigh the evidence.

A double-edged sword symbolizing authority.

Israel was placed on the scales and were found not of equal weight… they were unworthy.

In the next verse... God finds worthy guests… not because of their sterling character… they were a mix of “bad and good”… but because they accepted the invitation and His wedding garments.

V9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 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.

On highways in the 1st century traveled upright citizens, and highways were also a place for brigands and thieves.

The road from Jericho to Jerusalem was knows as “The Way of Blood” because of robbers.

You and I are pictured here.

We are the wedding guests… The church is a mix of bad and good…God is impartial…and the church is full of people with various degrees of reputation who accepted the invitation…

And, I don’t want you to get confused.

“I thought we were the Bride of Christ.”

YOU ARE! Don’t worry… this is a parable to illustrate a point to the listeners.

You’re still the Bride… you’re still getting married.

Just in this parable told to the Jews, we are pictured as guests.

A great example of why we don’t form doctrine out of parables.

I want to emphasize… the first group (Israel) was deemed unworthy for rejecting the invitation… this second group is accepted as worthy…not because of their character…but only because they accepted the invitation.

Prior to Christ, it doesn’t matter if you were upright or a thief…what’s important is that you accepted the Gospel invitation… which clothed you in His righteousness.

V11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.

12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’

And he was speechless.

It was customary, especially for a Royal Wedding, for the host to provide wedding garments to anyone who needed one…and a rag tag bunch of highwaymen would need wedding garments.

Revelation 19:8 pictures such garments…this is the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” and the bride of Christ (the Church) is “...arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, [White garments no doubt…and listen to what these garments symbolize…] ...for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

This is not THE righteous act (Justification by faith)… “righteous acts” here is plural… these are the righteous acts after you accept Jesus as Lord, not to earn salvation, but because of salvation… obedience, good works done to glorify His name, pursuing holiness, fleeing from youthful lusts, and so forth.

But, at the wedding, in Matthew, stands a man without a wedding garment… perhaps he thinks he can wear his own “robes of righteousness.”

And, in context of Jesus speaking to the religious leaders…this is exactly how they carried themselves… self-righteous attitudes.

J. Vernon McGhee said this is ‘one of the greatest parables that parallels our time.’

And, I agree... because many people think they can go to heaven on their own terms.

They are self-righteous.

Religious people think entering heaven is because of church membership… their church is THE church… and their religious rites… and attending the church Bingo… these are the things that save.

And, there are many people in the world... indifferent to religion... but believe they are going to heaven based off their humanist good works… “I’m going to heaven… I’m a good person… I do good deeds.