You've Been Invited To The Feast.
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And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
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.
Intro:
Today is Homecoming Sunday. It is an exciting day for us, it is a day in which we come together, we receive first a spiritual meal, and then afterward we receive physical nourishment.
It is a time of fun and fellowship, a time of communing with God and communing with one another. We invite our former church members, we invite friends, and family members. It is an exciting event that we look forward to each year.
I believe that each of us in some way or another invited someone that we know to participate in this year’s homecoming. Yet, everyone that we invited did not come.
Unfortunately, because SOME of us forgot that we had a morning service, you wanted them to hear our guest speaker, but didn’t want them to hear your pastor (jokingly), and you wanted to keep all the food to yourself so that you can get seconds and thirds, so we invited people only to the evening service. But you missed out on a great evangelism opportunity.
Today’s message is about evangelism and invitation.
Our text this morning deals with Jesus teaching the people at the temple. While he was teaching the Bible declares that he is questioned by the leading priests and elders (Matt 21:23). He is questioned about his authority to teach the people, in which Jesus begin’s to give several discourses concerning the kingdom of God.
In the text that we have read this morning, Jesus tells of the Parable of the Great Feast.
Jesus opens by saying:
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
The truth of scripture here is that the King, sent out invitations to a great wedding feast for his son. The banquet was prepared and ready, he sends his servants to notify those who were invited but they refused to come.
A lot of hard work went into preparing for this banquet. The same can be said today, that we have had people all week, even 2 weeks in advance that have labored and worked out of love to prepare for this homecoming.
The scriptures declare in verse 4 that:
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Right now, the food has been prepared even downstairs, fried chicken, baked chicken, meatballs, mac & cheese, desserts. The King said “everything is ready.......come to the banquet.”
But the guest that he invited ignored them and went their own way the scriptures declare in verse 5.
All of this hard work that has been done and some of us didn’t invite anyone. A great evangelism opportunity and it isn’t just about today. We miss out on great evangelism opportunities because we are afraid to share our faith with others.
Many do not understand the prayer, the labor that is involved in the men of God as we prepare to minister week after week. Elder prepare for Friday, handful tune in to the services. Biblestudy conducted, half of the congregation show up, Sunday morning comes around, we get busy with other things, and now we don’t have time to come to church like we should.
Then, when we plead to you to come, you scoff at the idea of coming, and some act like they are so advanced in scripture that they feel like nothing that is taught could benefit them.
The king prepared a great feast to celebrate the son, but when the invitation went out, the bible says that some of them mocked the servants who came to bring them the invite.
They went their own ways......they did their own thing. One to work at his farm, another to their business, and in verse 6 it says the others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
This was a prophetic utterance in which Jesus tells those who are listening that the prophets and apostles represented the messengers and how they would reject the invitation to the kingdom of God, how they would reject the invite to honor the Son of God and how they would be insulted and even killed.
As a result of their actions, because they rejected the invitation, the King was furious. It’s just like the kitchen committee doing all of the hard work that they’ve done, and nobody wants to come, the cost that it took, the work that was involved, but then you reject it and it seemed that it was all for nothing.
All that Jesus Christ has done for us and we don’t want to invite anyone to the kingdom of God. All that Jesus Christ has done for us and we don’t want to show any gratitude. Jesus has given an open invitation to come.
So the bible then says the king was furious and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. Judgement came, it came because they rejected the invite, it came because they murdered the servants that came to bring them the good news and the invitation.
Many of the Jews rejected Jesus, they denied Him, even though they seen the miracles, even though they heard the teachings, they denied Him and had Him killed. Then if that wasn’t enough, they killed his disciples.
The Lord continues to tell the story:
In verse 8, he says:
Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
In Luke’s gospel on another occasion, while at dinner in the house of a chief Pharisee, Jesus told a similar story. An invite was sent out, and the people started making excuses for why they couldn’t come to the feast. One said, I just bought a field and I have to inspect it, another said “I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out”, another said “Please excuse me, I just got married, so I can’t come.”
One excuse after another.
Jesus has given an open invitation, he has given all of us an invite into the kingdom of God and there will be a great feast!
The bible declares in the book of Revelation:
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 have been invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, you have been invited into the kingdom of God! Don’t allow excuses to cause you to miss your blessings!!!! Don’t allow excuses to do the things that you want to do, to cause you to miss out on entering the kingdom of God.
You know God I would come, but I enjoying my alcohol too much, I would come God, but I don’t want to obligate myself to coming to church, I want sit at home, I want to watch the football game, I want to sleep in late. I don’t want to give up the drugs, I don’t want to give up sex outside of marriage, God I hear you, but I’ve done some research and I’d rather believe a lie than to believe the truth.
Lord I know I need to repent and be baptized, but I can’t do it today I have somewhere I need to go. Lord I know I need the Holy Ghost, but my family is waiting on me to go out to dinner and I don’t have time to tarry! I need the Holy Ghost, but I don’t want to sweat my suit out, don’t want to sweat my hair out, don’t want nobody over me saying Jesus, I’m too embarrassed to stand before the church.
IT’S TIME TO STOP MAKING EXCUSES!!! When you stand before the judgement seat of Christ, NO EXCUSE WILL STAND!!!
The Lord came to the Jews first, but only a few of them believed Him and accepted him to be the Messiah that was foretold by the prophets.
So now Jesus says that the Master was furious at the rejection he received and told his servants in Luke 14:21 “Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.”
We have a commission from God to go into the highways and hedges and compel men or people to come. To compel them to come means that you will meet some resistance, but you have to compel them. You have to tell them why they need to come. Come because God is good, come because he made a way for you to be reconciled, come because he wants to make you whole, come because he wants to deliver you, come because he wants to set you free from the bondage of sin, come because he has gone away to prepare a place for you that where he is you can be also. YOU’VE BEEN INVITED TO THE FEAST, YOU’VE BEEN INVITED TO THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB!!!
The Lord isn’t looking for people who got it together, HE’S LOOKING FOR THOSE WHO ARE WEAK, HE’S LOOKING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ISSUES, HE’S LOOKING FOR THOSE WHO NEED HELP! COME WITH YOUR ISSUES, COME WITH YOUR SINS, COME WITH YOUR ADDICTIONS, COME WITH YOUR HABITS!!!
Jesus said, COME THAT MY HOUSE MAY BE FULL!!! COME THERE’S STILL PLENTY OF ROOM! IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE THERE ARE MANY MANSIONS!!!!
In Matthew’s gospel, it is recorded that the servants went out and invited everyone they saw, good and bad. In the LORD’s house, everyone has an open invitation! All are welcomed, doesn’t matter how messed up you are, doesn’t matter how dirty you are, when come into God’s house, the LORD WILL CLEAN YOU UP, THE LORD WILL WASH YOU AND MAKE YOU NEW!!!
Close:
I want to close with Matthew 22:11.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
The king gave wedding garments to all that were invited to the feast. They had to put on these garments and be in correct attire. The garments symbolize righteousness. We have to put on the righteousness that the LORD has provided for us.
Paul says in a portion of scripture:
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
In another scripture Paul also says:
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
You can’t keep on the same outfit that you came in with. You can’t keep doing the same things that God isn’t pleased with. He has provided righteousness for you, you need to put on the new man, you need to put on Christ.
The bible says that when the king came to meet his guest, he noticed that a man wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for the wedding.
Verse 12
He asked the man “friend, how is it that you are here without wedding clothes.” but the man had no reply. I provided you with clothes, why are you still in the old stuff. I’ve provided you with righteousness, why are you still living willfully in sin? I’ve made a way for you, I’ve provided clean clothes for you that has been washed in my blood......why are you still dirty?
Unfortunately, the bible declares that the king commanded his servants to bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In which he replies “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Outside the city, in the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth will be dogs, sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie, or maketh a lie.
We have been given an invitation to attend the great feast:
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.