Jesus teaches the wedding feast parable

The Great Commission

Part 25 – Jesus Teaches the Parable of the Marriage Feast

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith – www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org

ANNOUNCEMENTS

6:00PM Evening Service at the church –

“Seminary Students will be preaching”

June 29^th – Lori Ulman

July 6^th – Lynnette Higgins

July 13^th – Walker Spriggs

July 20^th – Deacon Kurt Ulman

July 27^th – Grace Steadman

WHERE WE ARE AT

† Jesus Speaks to Zacchaeus

† Jesus Arrives in Jerusalem (Triumphal Entry)

† Jesus Cleanses the Temple (again)

† Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

† Jesus Teaches the parable of the Marriage Feast

SCRIPTURE READING

Matthew 22:1 – 14

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:

2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 "Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'

5 "But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.

6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.

9 Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.'

10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

12 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.

13 "Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."

I. THE KING PREPARED A MARRIAGE FEAST FOR HIS SON

a. This King is God the Father

b. This Son is the Lord Jesus Christ

c. The servants are the Prophets

d. To call Israel, but they refused to come

Israel rejected the prophets, and even their Messiah. By the description in this scripture, it was a deliberate rejection.

II. AGAIN THE KING SENT HIS SERVANTS

a. This time He sent the Disciples

This refers to the Disciples, and the Apostle Paul, and those in the Early Church, whose ministry was yet to come when this parable was spoken.

This is an invitation directed personally to the people of Israel; the first few Chapters of the Book of Acts speak of this.

Vs 4

'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'

Here we see a strong sense of urgency, for time is running out.

Verse 4 ends with the statement “Come to the Wedding”

This is in respect to the last invitation given to the Jews that could well have been given by the Apostle Paul in Acts Chapter 23.

b. They paid no attention to Him

In the original Greek it says they disregarded it.

c. Some went back to the fields, and back to business

They went back to “their ways” instead of the Lord’s Way.

d. The rest killed the prophets

There were those in Israel who didn’t want the Gospel; this included of all people the religious leaders.

They took the servants (Disciples) and killed them. They became martyrs.

7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

This is exactly what happened in 70 A.D., when Titus destroyed Jerusalem.

III. The King states “The Wedding Banquet is Ready!”

The plan of God is not halted…

The wedding is still going to take place, the only thing that has changed is the guest list.

a. The Banquet is ready because Jesus paid the atonement

It is ready, because as Jesus said on the cross, ‘it is complete.’

b. The King send servants once more “US”

c. ‘Go to the highways & invite everyone you find, good and bad’

We, as servants of the King, are to go to the world, and invite all we meet.

Love is how we invite them.

We are to give an invitation to the Gentiles.

This is World Evangelism.

The Gospel invitation is to be given to everyone, none are to be excluded. The scripture says to the Good and the Bad.

d. The church is the wedding hall, and the guests are good & bad

This scripture also proclaims that the “good” need salvation just as the “bad” do.

IV. THE KING WILL EXAMINE THE GUESTS IN THE WEDDING HALL

a. We are required to have on wedding clothes

The King sees someone without wedding clothes.

In essence, you have on your own clothes (self-righteousness), and have refused to dress for the occasion, you have refused my clothes (The Righteousness of Christ).

He was speechless…

He deemed his own clothes of self-righteousness good enough for the wedding; and it was fine, until the King came in, and then he was exposed and cast out.

b. If the King does not ‘see’ wedding clothes, we will be bound and cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Gehenna, the final hell for those who are judged is the end result of all self-righteousness.

CONCLUSION

MANY ARE CALLED, BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN

We are commanded by our King to seek out and invite ANYONE who will listen!

Our King has invited (or called) all, the whole world!

When the time comes, He will choose who will remain for the wedding and who will be cast out.

He will choose from those who were called. He will choose those who have received the righteousness of Christ, and put off their righteousness as dirty rags.