Sunday School
Student ministries
September 24, 1999 Matthew 22:1-14
What kind of things are you looking forward to? Students, you are probably looking forward to fall break or Thanksgiving break. Maybe some of you have something big that is going to happening in your life this week.
I would like to talk this morning about another feast that is coming soon. If you would please, turn with me to Matthew 22. Read vs.1-14.
Before we really zero in on this story, I must tell you that this is a true story. It's a true story and you, yes you, have a part.
The king has arranged a marriage for his son. Weddings are great. The wedding service is great, but we all know that we really look forward to the dinner that follows the service. So we have here a king that has prepared this wedding for his son, and he sends out his servants to tell those who were invited. Nowadays we get invitations mailed to us, but the king here sent messengers to the people to personally invite them to the wedding feast. And how did the people respond? They refused; they were not willing to come. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine preparing a wedding celebration, and then the very people who you invited won't come? Can you imagine?
But the king was persistent. Read vs.4. He gives them another chance. He must really want them to come. He is basically pleading with them to come. And how do they respond to this second chance? Read vs.5-6. This is really unbelievable. The king was being extremely nice. He gave them a second chance and some respond by blowing him off and going about their business. They had better things to do than to come and celebrate the wedding of the king's son. This was not your average wedding, mind you. It was the king's son, and the king was personally requesting the people to come. Others terrorized and killed the king's messengers. This is amazing! It is a amazing that the people could be so bold and disobedient that they would ignore their king, and worse yet mistreat and murder his messengers. How did the king respond? Read vs.7. He was furious and rightly so. He was the king for goodness sake. How could those people think they could treat the king like that? They paid for their rejection and disobedience.
Now we have a king, who has a wedding feast ready, and it's getting cold, and he has no guests. So he wisely comes up with a new plan. Read vs.8-9. The king says if those invited won't come, we will find someone else. Go out into the streets and bring back anyone you find.
The servants followed the king's command to go out and bring others back with them. It is interesting how Matthew tells us that they brought back both the bad and the good, and how the wedding hall was filled with guests.
At this point the king must have been happy. He was now filling his wedding hall with guests. I picture the king standing at the door greeting and welcoming his new friends with a smile on his face. However, there was a problem. The happiness left the king's face. Read vs.11.
In Matthew's day, the king would provide the wedding garments for his guests. You couldn't just wear any old thing. There was a proper way to dress for a wedding. And the king would give the guests their proper wedding outfits for free. Picture with me, these common people trading their dirty, worn, possibly holy clothes for the beautiful wedding outfits. With these new outfits they were somehow transformed from mere commoners to friends of the king.
The king's problems were not over, somebody chose not to wear the outfit the king gave him to wear. Somebody thought he knew better than the king did. Here's the king, going out of his way, letting the common people into the wedding feast, even giving them the proper outfits to wear, and people are still choosing to disobey. The king has had just about enough. So he confronts the rebellious person in vs.12. The king asks him how he could do such a thing, how he could be so rebellious. Like many that choose to rebel and be disobedient, this man had no response. He knew he was caught; he knew he was in trouble. Again the king had to respond to this act of blatant rebellion. Read vs.13-14.
In the beginning of this message I paused and told you all that this story was a true story and that you had a part. Let's look again at this story and I will explain the reality of this story and your part. Read vs.2. This story is about the kingdom of heaven. The king is God and his son is Jesus Christ. Read vs. 3. The king's (God's) servants were the prophets to the Jewish nation. The accounts of the prophets are found in the Old Testament. And if the servants were the prophets to the Jewish nation, we can see that those who were invited were the Jews themselves. The prophets came to them, and told them that there would be a wedding feast for His son, the Messiah (Jesus Christ). The Jews responded by either ignoring God's prophets, by mistreating the prophets, or even by killing the prophets sent by God, including John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.
So the king, God, had to punish the Jews for their rebellion. He did this by allowing the Roman army to come and kill most of the Jews living in Jerusalem, and by allowing the Romans to destroy the temple and burn the city of Jerusalem. All of this took place in 70 AD, which is a historical fact.
Now we come to the part of the story where you personally have a key role. Read vs. 8-9. The Jews were not willing to cooperate with God, so God opened the doors to everyone, the bad and the good. Anyone who heard the message was welcome to come and take part in the feast. This part in the story is happening right now. God has sent messengers out into the streets of the world to invite all who wish to come to the king's marriage dinner. I stand here before you today as one of those messengers welcoming you, all of you, the bad and the good, to come and take part in the king's marriage dinner for His son, Jesus Christ.
Continuing in the passage, the end of vs.10 takes us into the future. The king's wedding hall will be filled. There will be many there. However, before the wedding feast gets underway the king is going to see each and every guest, and those who are not covered by the provided garments will not be permitted to stay for the celebration. They will be taken away and cast into outer darkness. Which will not be a pleasant experience. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That means that there will be eternal anguish, eternal weeping, and eternal torment for those who chose to reject the covering provided by the king.
Here we all are. We are all welcome to attend God's wedding reception. When we all arrive at the doorway of the reception at our soon coming death, will you be allowed to enter? Only if you accept God's free covering. You see, God has already given us the proper attire, it is the blood of His son Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross of Calvary of all of us, the bad and the good.
In the story, the people had to recognize the fact that their garments, the way they were, was not good enough to enter. And we too, must see our garments, ourselves, as not being good enough, because we lie, we hate, we steal, because we sin. After recognizing your need, and your sin, you must choose to put on the provided, proper attire. You must make the choice to put on Jesus. If you choose to accept God's free covering, if you accept Jesus Christ as your own, like the commoners, you will be transformed into a friend of the king, a friend of God.
But if you choose to ignore God's free gift, if you choose to reject Jesus, listen closely. God will reject you at the doorway of the greatest wedding feast of all time. Not only will you be turned away, you will be taken to a place of eternal conscience torture, anguish, weeping, and regret. It's gonna be hell. And I don't want to see you go there. I want to see you accept God's free gift of Jesus Christ.
We're going to take a moment now and give every one of you the opportunity to respond to God's free gift of Jesus Christ. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. If you need to accept and receive Jesus Christ today, if you want to attend the marriage dinner but your garments are not good enough, please repeat this prayer with all your heart after me...
"Dear God, I know I'm a sinner. I know that I am not good enough. I need Jesus Christ to cover me with His blood, and to rescue me from my sin. Jesus, thank you for the forgiveness and everlasting life I now have. In Jesus name, Amen."
Continuing in prayer, Gracious and merciful Father, thank you for sending Jesus Christ to provide a way for us to be with You in heaven. Father, help each of us who are covered with Jesus' blood to celebrate this truth. In Jesus' wonderful name, Amen.