The Wedding Feast Parable
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Parable of the Wedding Feast
Parable of the Wedding Feast
Good morning my friends.
I want to begin this morning by encouraging you please remember to pray for each other… and if there is someone close to you that you do not know very well, get to know them, speak to them and ask them: How can I pray for you.
We believe prayer makes a difference, right? Then pour it one one another like gasoline to a fire. Pray without ceasing and pray fervently.
Today we come back to the Gospel of Matthew, and we are starting to look at chapter 22
Chapter 22 begins with Jesus teaching another parable, it is the 3rd in a series about the Master and those under him, this time a King and his citizens.
Our passage this morning is the first 14 verses, so lets look there..
1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 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.” ’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 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.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 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.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Remember, Jesus is still teaching the people and the religious leaders who are listening to Him, there in the temple complex. We are focusing on the truth that this is the last few days of His earthly existence before the cross.
So with this in mind, we are going to look at three thoughts today...
1. Invitation...
There is a good truth that we need to be reminded of my friends; Good things are meant to be shared.
Think about this, Good things are meant to be shared...
For instance; the birth of a child or grandchild, the graduation of a student. An achievement being accomplished… An of course, wedding celebrations, they are meant to be shared
The same is true in this parable.
Now without a doubt Jesus tells them this teaching has a spiritual component to it, in this matter, Jesus is teaching about the kingdom of Heaven...
The wedding of the Son, reminds us that the Son of the King is Jesus, the Father’s Son. The wedding banquet reminds us that the Scriptures teach us about the wedding supper of the Lamb.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
So with verses 1-3, we see a King has a son who is getting married, ( a picture of Jesus remember) and at such a joyous time, there should be a feast, a great meal, so the King sent his servants out inviting the guests, but sadly those guests did not come...
They refused the invitation of the King… The word refused truly carries with it the phrase, of not willing, They were not willing to come at the king’s invitation.
Wow…
The King has called and they refused...
Friends, that is a dangerous thing… to turn away from the invitation of God the father is scary… You see my friends I believe that every day our heavenly Father is issuing invitations to the world, calling the world unto salvation, to come and know Him as Savior, to save you from your sins and give you life eternal...
But people say not now, they say I don’t need it, God is fair and will let me into His Kingdom.. But that is not what the Bible says.. The Bible says no one come to the Father except through Jesus.
If you hear, feel, sense Jesus is speaking to you this morning, follow Him.
Second thought today...
2. Refusal...
In today’s world there is lots of sorrow. But I want to tell you my friends, there is nothing worse, nothing more heartbreaking than to see a person turn away from God and His call....
You see from the beginning of time, God has been issue the call to come and know Him, to come and walk with Him. To come to Him… this picture that Jesus is telling in this parable is another part of that....
Listen again to the text
2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 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.” ’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
The King, at first he is patient with the people. Sounds like God the Father, right?
Listen the King could have judged those immediately, but instead the King sent a second group of servants to invite the guests to come out and share in this important celebrations.
And look, the King even shares the dinner menu for the wedding feast… He says he has prepared his oxen and his fattened calves, the entire meal is ready… and you don’t have to bring a covered .... Wow
The King has prepared the best for those he cares about, to make sure they don’t miss this wonderful event. They are invited just like family.
Listen friends God the Father, he cares for you, he cares for this world and He has thought enough of them to send out the invitation to come and see.... Man I remembered when I heard that call… I realized I didn’t want to miss what He had prepared for me… So I went and what a blessing it has been, He saved me, changed me and has blessed me.
So even with a second invitation, they rejected the Kings invitation to come.. The Scriptures tell us that a few left and went about their own business. But the rest, they gathered the Kings servants and mistreated them and killed them...
How shameful.. you see again it is a picture of the men of God, those prophets from the Old Testament that God sent that the citizens of His Kingdom mistreated, abused and yes even killed… How very sad...
The day to day activities of life for those rural and urban people and work took priority over their relationship with the King. There was no loyalty.
Look again at verse 7 now...
7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
The King’s wrath leads to vengeance, the murderers are killed and their city burned...
Verse 7 my friends is often considered a picture of Jerusalem, they treated God’s servants and even His Son so horribly, that God allows the Romans to destroy the city of Jerusalem in AD 70....
The refused to come when the King called them to the celebration, they were to busy, they didn’t care and some even thought they could mistreat and kill the Kings servant without consequences.
Friends there are always consequences to what we do or do not do when God calls the citizens of this world to respond to His message and invitation.
A great question is this… Have you responded to God’s call?
Salvation, and what about serving. `
Now lets move to our next thought....
3. Gathering....
Without a doubt we know that God is gathering His people, God is actively gathering people into His Kingdom. God seeks to save those that are lost.
God is at work and calls us to be at work with Him because time is running out.
He is getting us ready to celebrate the wedding supper of the Lamb, the celebration of God’s redemptive victory over death, hell and the grave. Bringing us back into His presence to walk with and worship the Lord our God.
So lets go back to our text… v 8-10
8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 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.
Do you see what was said… The wedding supper is ready but those invited are not worthy, They rejected the King!
So there is a couple things happening as we walk through the reminder of the text, lets look at this first thought...
A. The Invitation is Expanded.....
Now pay attention to what is happening here, Jesus is alluding to a future action.
We have witnessed the citizens of His kingdom reject His invitation to come, so after wards the King gives orders for the servants to go and find others, out into the road ways to seek others to invite and share in this massive feast, this glorious celebration, and they did..
Listen friends the Jews are and will continue to be God’s holy people, they are the ones He chose, but they rejected God’s invitation, they couldn't see Jesus as the Messiah..
And So God has expanded his message… Listen this isn’t a new action. If you look through the Old testament, Israel, the Jews were to be a light to the Gentiles to bring them back into the household of God.
God seeks to bring his wayward children home. Remember the world is all descendants of Adam and Eve, we are all his, but some have wandered away and after hundreds of years they do not know him… But God knows them!
And so the message is to bring all His children home.
So God brought the message to the Gentiles. To those outside the household of faith, those in the roadways that the servant went to invite. God issued the call to come out and join the marriage supper of the lamb.
But there is a cost to follow Jesus, the cost is to surrender ones self, your pride, your way of life, your self and to confess your sins and call upon Him to save you, to redeem you and to give you enteral life.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
When you are saved, you are changed, you have a new home, a new Lord and a new garment.... Listen to John in the Book of Revelation, chapter 7, verses 9-10
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
So all those who attend the marriage supper of the lamb is there on an invitation, they are the citizens of the Kingdom and coming to the celebration, a new garment is seen for all those who are His
And secondly here...
B. Only His Are Welcome...
I know that sounds a little harsh, but no one can enter into the Kingdom of God apart from the Son...
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Let me take you to the Scriptures again...
Lets look at verses 11-14
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 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.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Now this last text is a little distant from the rest, a little strange in regard to all that has been said already.
The King has invited all to come and get ready for the marriage celebration.. So there is a thought here for us to see…
The King of Glory has called and is calling for mankind to come and make yourself ready, today is the day of salvation. With all the call being made, man has been given time make their ways atraight.
See everything is about get ready, make yourself ready, time is running out, when you least expect it the Kingdom will come, if you miss it you will miss a great deal and there will be no more time...
Why.... He has warned us,
The King in the text invited and gave them time to get ready for the celebration. And as the celebration is about to begin, the King went and was inspecting those present, He finds one without the wedding garment.
The wedding garment is an illusion to salvation, to have that new robe, to be justified by His grace.
This man thinks he can come in without making himself ready… yet the King has called them to be ready.
Because the man was not ready, the was cast out into judgment. Remember verse 13
13 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.’
Friends that is hell.
Jesus came, the message of God’s love has been proclaimed , the opportunity has been given for salvation and if people miss the opportunity… they will be cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Friends the call is being proclaimed, the door is still open and the Bible tells us that today is the day of salvation.
God is calling all home.
Let me stop right there and let me ask you this question, are you His child, you have asked him personally into your heart, you have been saved.
And if you haven’t, today is the time, don’t wait for the Kingdom of God will come when you least expect it. and when time runs out for you, there is way to be saved once time is out.
But what if you are His child today. Then ask your self, Am I living correctly, is there anything in your heart that is hindering you, today confess that to the Lord and be forgiven and then go and sin no more.. Live your best life.
if you need someone to pray with you, come today. lay your burdens at the feet of Jesus and let Jesus help you.
Today.. as the Kingdom of God is coming, make sure all is well, that you are ready today.....
Pray