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The Parables #71

Invitation to a Royal Wedding, Pt 8.

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

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“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?