Archives for

KICS talks

The Parables #71

Invitation to a Royal Wedding, Pt 8.

Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14 & Revelation 19:1-9.

“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,” Matthew 22:11-14.

1. There are those who will dare to seek entrance to heaven while despising the King’s kindness.
“He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.” He would have been easy to spot in his old filthy clothes, coming in as he did from the highway. (“And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled,” Luke 14:23.)

2. There was a garment for him provided by the king
which he had rejected.
“Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?” It was the custom at such feast for the host to provide rich robes for the guests, usually white. He would have been all the more easily spotted amongst the white robes of the other guests. Notice the King speaks the language of kindness!

3. Sinners who reject the gospel will be speechless!
They have previously spoken only to the King’s servants and that is a bold,defiant and brasen fashion. But now they face the King. Oh how different that will be!! Mark 1:24, 4:39 – How silent and speechless they will be!

4. A most dreadful fate awaits the rejectors of the King’s garment.
“Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Matthew 22:13.
This is the fate of those who refuse the mercy of God set forth in the gospel.
Bound. Hell is a place of bondage.
Taken away. Hell is a place far away from heaven. There is a great gulf between the two!
Cast. How unwilling is the sinner to go to hell. They willingly ran down the road to hell but when they realise where it is they are going they would stop if they could BUT cannot!
Outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Nothing can be seen but plenty will be heard!! No light to comfort at all (little children often like a little light lit at night). No sound but the groans of your own misery!
How sad this is and it all could have been avoided!

The Parables #70

Invitation to a Royal Wedding, Pt 7.

Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14

Stream or download The Parables #70

“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,” Matthew 22:8-10.
This parable has a prophetic message. We saw last week how the Saviour was warning the leaders of Israel, to whom this parable is addressed for the ‘them’ of verse 1 is the “chief priests and Pharisees” of the previous chapter, vvs 45-46.

In verse 7, we have a forewarning of the consequences for Israel of the rejecting of the gospel. That came to pass in AD 70 when the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the nation of Israel.

Now, in verses 8-10, we have what followed that event.

I. THE GOSPEL INVITATION WAS TO BE GIVEN TO THOSE WHO BEFORE WERE NOT BIDDEN.
Remember what we noted in verse 3? “Call them that were bidden.” This referred to the Jewish people. The “children of the kingdom.” Christ said: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” Matthew 15:24. But they rejected the gospel and so: “many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom (privileged people) shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Matthew 8:11-12. (See also Matt 10:5-6.)

1. This then is a reference to God turning to the Gentiles after the Jews rejected Christ. “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,” vvs 8-9.

2. Notice how the Gentiles were described. “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,” verse 10. “Bad and good”, that is, those obviously evil and those who on the outside appear to be good, such as the Ethiopian Eunuch and Nicodemus, but are still in need of salvation from sin. “There is none that doeth good, no, not one,” Psa 14:3.

3. The wedding was furnished with guests. Verse 10. The word ‘furnished’ means ‘filled’. Acts 2:4, 4:8, 13:9. Every seat in Heaven will taken despite man’s wickedness and the devil’s scheming. God’s purpose in mercy will be accomplished. Every sheep of the Saviour’s flock He will bring safely home.
Will you be there?

The Parables #69

Invitation to a Royal Wedding – No 6.

Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14

Stream or download The Parables #69

I have been pressing upon you the need there is for you to respond to the gospel invitation on the basis of the great mercy God extends to poor, lost sinners.
He offers full salvation, pardon from sin, victory over it, peace and assurance of eternal safety and an everlasting home in glory with the Saviour and all of the redeemed.
That should be enough to persuade any person to receive Christ! But we know that many remain in their sin, even after hearing these great truths expounded repeatedly.

Indeed, is that not the case with some of you here?

However, there is another reason why you should heed the gospel.
VII. We must remember that there is wrath!
“Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee,” Job 36:18.
The devil has persuaded millions today that there is no WRATH!
The Lord Jesus said: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him,” John 3:36.
Our sins will bring the wrath of God upon our heads for all eternity if we do not seek shelter in Christ. Noah’s Ark is a picture of this salvation from judgment! There was only ONE way of escape from the coming judgment – GOD’S ARK!

It is a picture of the Lord Jesus. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” John 14:6. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” Acts 4:12.

VIII. There is a high price to pay for rejecting Christ
“But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city,” verse 7.
This judgment actually took place in AD 70. Gospel warnings are not empty threats! The Saviour is here warning “the chief priests and Pharisees,” Matthew 21:45, the very men who “persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus,” Matthew 27:20.
The Jewish nation rejected Christ. “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children,” Matthew 27:25.
In AD 70, a generation after the Saviour’s crucifixion, the judgment of God fell on their children when the Roman Army destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish state.
It was 2000 years ago but it is a lesson we must never forget for that which happened to Jerusalem will happen to the world. “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it,” Isaiah 13:9.
Please heed the warning today, boys and girls, and seek shelter in the Lord Jesus.