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[0:00] please take your Bibles and turn to Matthew's Gospel Matthew's Gospel chapter 22 Matthew chapter 22 if you're visiting with us the black Bible in the chair in front of you underneath that pull that out and go to the back excuse me and find page 18 they renumber the New Testament so find the New Testament Matthew's Gospel page 18 Matthew chapter 22 the parable of the marriage feast Matthew chapter 22 we'll do these first 14 verses this morning Matthew chapter 22 verses 1 through 14 let me read and answering Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man a king who made a wedding feast for his son and he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast and they were unwilling to come again he sent out other slaves saying tell those who have been invited look

[1:18] I prepared my dinner my oxen and my fattened livestock are butchered and everything is ready come to the wedding feast but paying no attention they went their own way one to his own field another to his business and the rest seizing as slaves mistreated them and killed them but the king was enraged and sending his armies he destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire verse 8 and then he said to his slaves the wedding is ready but those who were invited were not worthy therefore go to the main highways and as many as you find invite to the wedding feast and those slaves going out into the streets they gathered together all they found both evil and good and the wedding hall was filled with guests but entering in the king looked over his guests he saw a man not dressed in wedding clothes verse 12 and he said to him friend how did you enter without wedding clothes and he was silent verse 13 then the king said to the servants binding him foot in hand throw him into the farthest darkness there and that place will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are called but few chosen the average member of the United States

[3:00] Navy's SEAL Air Land Team SEALs spends over a year in a series of formal training environments all Navy SEALs must attend and graduate from their ratings 24 week A school known as Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL school a basic parachutist course and the 26 week SEAL qualification training program in the fourth week of one 24 week training program in one class 32 out of the 120 remained so under 27% stayed so over 73% dropped out this fourth week they call it hell week five and a half days of continual around the clock training with a maximum of four hours of sleep the tests include timed runs on the beach in combat boots ocean swims up to two miles running timed obstacle courses countless sit ups and push ups small boat seamen shift and live fire exercises

[4:17] I found this fascinating too since December 2015 women have been eligible to enter to become a Navy SEAL but they would undergo the same training as men and since December of 2015 as of November 2018 one woman entered into the program but she dropped out I think the third or fourth week into the program so anyone can volunteer an enlistment soldier can volunteer for this anyone but few are chosen which links us with our text many many are called few are chosen it's hard to believe the gospel which is where we come to this part and bow down and worship Jesus the Messiah the Son of God the King of Israel when Matthew's driving theme for his gospel is this call to people you understand we come to understand that the call many are called to this but few are chosen many are called few are chosen right there from verse 14 we'll look at it more in depth later statement for you many are called few are chosen many people are welcome to respond to the gospel message and trust in the Lord

[5:48] Jesus Christ but reality is only a few will truly respond to this welcome most willfully reject God's grace yet God always has a remnant here we see the great doctrine of election God elects people he calls them all come and yet only few are chosen each week we look at two consistent continual applications we talk about how we would respond towards each other in the same grace that God has given toward us and also that we speak this grace to others and you'll see this highlighted once again today from our passage because when we speak this grace to others we have to realize something when we give people the gospel many will not believe it they will reject it and we must be okay with that and at the same time we need to watch our own lives are we staying faithful to the gospel

[7:05] Christian have you become cold to the gospel have you become hard hearted to the gospel have we become complacent to the gospel truth have our hearts grown cold to the message of Jesus God will make known our true hearts so let today serve as a reminder and encouragement but also warning to serve as a reminder and encouragement and a warning it reminds us that few will trust Jesus it encourages us that some will trust Jesus and encourages us to keep trusting Jesus which also warns our own hearts to keep trusting Jesus let this encourage you to stay faithful to

[8:06] Christ let this be a warning to you as well God knows our hearts may his grace overwhelm you yes it's true outsiders will bring troubles into the church difficulties come from outside quite honestly that's my job I must protect this church from false teaching from blasphemy I must do that that's true yes yes outsiders will bring troubles into the church but even from among ourselves we can become careless lax and lazy that's what this passage deals with we point the finger and yet we should look in the mirror and point the finger we should be so amazed at God's grace towards us and display that same grace to each other here we see this third piercing parable from Jesus meant to vividly communicate that God's kingdom was ripped away from these religious leaders since they did not live lives in obedience to God and his word remember last week we looked at how they only had empty promises they refused to believe

[9:42] John which means they refused to believe Jesus these religious leaders failed to respond to God's welcome call to right living and true obedience to him which is trusting his son Jesus the Messiah so it begins come trust love believe in Christ two main parts of this parable end in judgment we'll see that in a moment as a warning not just to religious leaders but also to those who come to the wedding feast those within the faith community must focus on staying faithful themselves not merely on those from the outside so God invites people to the wedding feast but few are actually chosen to become part of the feast God calls people to trust and his son but of the ones welcome few are chosen to be saved and that's why we read from 2 Peter chapter 1 how do we make our calling his calling and choosing you by living out the gospel in our daily living in our daily lives so notice let's go through the text now first point

[11:00] God's gracious welcoming call notice verses 1 through 3 and then we'll drop down to verse 4 answering Jesus spoke to them again in parables he compared it to a king who represents God who invited people to his son's wedding feast and notice verse 3 he sent out slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast this was kind of the custom of the day to send an invitation in advance and once everything was ready then you send messengers to say okay now it's ready now come now this is the time for you to come so one cannot only accept the invitation to the feast he must actually go doesn't help you say yeah I'll be there but then you don't show up he must attend make sense I mean it would have been a magnificent awesome banquet to be invited to such a feast would have been a great honor people were very happy to receive such an invitation look verse 4 we'll look at how they were unwilling to come but notice verse 4 again he sent out other slaves saying tell those who have been invited look I prepared my dinner my oxen my fattened livestock they're butchered everything's ready come to the wedding feast

[12:24] I prepared my dinner the meats are all out even the sushi oh maybe not sushi oh don't you groan at me blasphemous man maybe there was a mistake maybe they didn't hear that all was ready so it was just gracious for the king to invite these people to the wedding feast but then he does it twice God graciously welcomes or calls people to the feast and he's calling you come come come to the wedding feast come trust Jesus God welcomes sinners you must admit you're a sinner you must admit that you need God you must admit that you're desperate and you're destitute without him you must admit that you deserve his judgment you must admit that and confess that you've sinned against him have you been rebelling against him and yet

[13:32] God welcomes you and says I know so come and I will save you and change you that's God's welcoming call and yet the reality is which is what you see from the text human rejection verse 3 the end of verse 3 and they were unwilling to come what they were unwilling they were dead set against coming to the feast this is totally unbelievable this went against the culture I mean when Jesus was speaking this parable it would have shocked his hearers it was shocking to us how could anyone not come to the wedding of their king's son why would anyone not do that this would be totally unnatural in real life no one would refuse such a request someone who's honorable it would be respectful it would be admirable it would be worthy it would be good it would be like yeah

[14:40] I want to go it would want to do something like that no doubt that this displayed the religious leaders who did not believe God and sending his prophets and ultimately rejected his son there was no true glad acceptance of God's ways which was is fully and ultimately displayed in believing his son Jesus so the slaves which depicts the prophets which you'll see that in just a moment they mistreated them these people who were they were invited they were the religious leaders they didn't want to come notice in verse 5 but pay no attention they went their own way one to his own field another to his business look at what we see here we see the the arrogant stubborn empty obstinate defiant people who were graciously invited to a wedding by mighty king and brethren that's what we see even today with people they will reject the gospel one guy told me

[15:59] Friday he's like you know that whole heaven and hell stuff that's both oh okay I didn't say anything interesting not only did they not pay any attention too busy with everyday life oh I got too much stuff going on even more amazing look at verse 6 and the rest seizing the slaves mistreated and killed them they didn't care they're too busy with their own affairs that shallow excuses and even worse they did not respect love honor or fear their king instead they seized those slaves mistreated them and killed them that's exactly what Israel did to the prophets this depicts the different responses from Israel towards Jesus with their leaders leading the way to rejecting

[17:04] Jesus Jesus their king one writer says this quote for a subject to scorn the summons to the royal feast implied disloyalty and rebellion end quote that's so true Israel by its leaders refused God's call to Jesus destruction would come we'll look at that in a second know this friends if Israel with all her knowledge of God's word with all the miracles the signs the wonders the theophanies and the Christophanies she saw would overall reject her very own Messiah what does that tell us about others I know Jews who are atheists who are agnostic I know a Jewish person who's part of Wicca he's a witch if Israel is steeped in their hardness what does that say about others and I understand

[18:18] I know there's a hardness that's come to Israel as a nation I understand that I know this is why we need God to change our hearts this is why we need God to do work in our hearts because if Israel seen all those things and they reject Jesus look when you give someone the gospel many people are called but few are chosen they will reject it we got to be okay with that we must trust God to work in people's hearts he's the one he does it we just proclaim well notice Jesus goes into the next part here in verse 7 God's righteous rejecting judgment notice the king was enraged he sent his army to destroy these murderers he burned their city he showed such amazing mercy and grace to these people invited him in the first place and then let alone just calling him twice to come he was enraged and it seems like this represents

[19:33] God's judgment against the temple and the Jerusalem establishment for rejecting his invitation no doubt Jerusalem's destruction and the temple's burning is the fulfillment of this parabolic prophecy that's exactly what happened God would judge Israel and he did but you see here starting in verse 8 God's gracious welcoming call again look at verse 8 so there's slaves the wedding's ready but those who were invited are not worthy that's the religious leaders so then the king told the slaves therefore go to the main highways as many as you find invite to the wedding feast go into the streets to invite anyone they could find the poor renegades ragamuffins the nobodies these wouldn't refuse an invitation and the hall was filled with guests which leads us to the next point human reception verse 10 and those slaves going out into the streets they gathered together all they found both evil and good and the wedding hall was filled with guests both evil and good they all came in it was filled this good and the bad at the feast it portrayed the mixed responses towards Jesus and the kingdom message and it's these ones that the religious establishment scoffed at those that the religious establishment considered to be evil and unfit for the kingdom they were the ones who were invited to the feast a definite trademark of Jesus ministry he welcomed outcasts there's not many whys not many rich not many great among you said Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 but God chose to despise things of this world the nobodies some people will receive

[21:54] Christ some people will repent and believe because God always has a remnant we just proclaim and we let God do the rest people will receive Christ they will receive Jesus they will trust Christ people you may not expect I mean look at us I hope I'm not hurting your feelings like Stephen Lawson said nobody we're a bunch of nobodies we're ragamuffins we're ruffians we are nothing special about us but there's something special about our God that he decided to choose us and show us his grace and mercy great way to end the parable right right here verse 10 actually Luke's gospel does do that not so would Jesus though Matthew wanted to throw in throw in a monkey wrench as a way to point out a major principle taught by Jesus

[23:03] Matthew gave the rest of the parable on purpose because here you see the next main point human deception verse 11 and 12 notice the king he's entering in he's gonna greet his guests observing all who were there and while he's doing this he saw a man not dressed in wedding clothes hmm he wasn't with proper wedding attire he didn't have his flower shirt on don't nod your head at me shame on you somehow in in in some way appropriate attire was made available but this man didn't act on it uh oh that's right because the king comes up he said friend an appeal how verse 12 how did you enter without wedding clothes why was he not wearing the proper wedding attire maybe he was wearing dirty clothes some say that uh the king was the one who provided the clothing but evidence for that is pretty weak so how was this made available who made this available why didn't he act on it

[24:31] I don't know I don't have any answers for you we are unsure but it truly was insulting to the king was it not it was and notice the man could not explain it says the end of verse 12 and he was speechless he was silent so the inference from the passage is this the appropriate attire was made available but he declined to wear it he didn't take action in other words he was a hypocrite he didn't belong it was just mere outward profession but not true confession that's why we titled this in verse 11 12 human deception notice

[25:32] God's righteous rejecting judgment once again verse 13 the king said to the servants binding him foot and hand throw him into the farthest darkness he was severely punished for coming to the feast inappropriately he obviously did not belong though he was invited he did not respond positively to being there which is why Jesus gives now the principle behind everything that he just said for verse 14 for the reason why it's there for what's the principle behind everything that's happened for many are called but few chosen okay so let's unpack this again and go a little bit farther the principle many are called few are chosen leaders of the religious establishment had rejected

[26:40] Jesus and his kingdom so they would be severely punished yet outcasts society's dregs did repent and enter the kingdom okay so we got that part right we get that there's verses 1 through 10 we understand that Jesus was talking about that we get that with the religious establishment their judge society's dregs they come in they come to the wedding feast okay but here in verses 11 through 13 it takes a different twist from those who seemingly responded positively to the kingdom message not all are truly obedient to the invitation some seem to respond but in reality they're nothing but a sham it speaks to those who come into the kingdom but are only hypocrites so they come they seem to obediently respond but in reality they're actually just like the religious leaders they're nothing but a sham they're not a confession not a true confession you might say well come on that's kind of far fetched

[28:13] I mean how do we see a reality of this in the new testament how do we see reality of this even with Jesus I mean did Jesus actually experience something like this oh yeah of course he did remember Judas Iscariot Judas actually healed you know that right Judas actually proclaimed the gospel you know that right and yet it was Judas that Jesus calls the son of perdition remember he outwardly responded but it wasn't true see this is why it serves as a warning to us a warning in a bad way but also in a good way for us to remain faithful to the gospel see the gospel is open to all but Jesus demands total submission it's a privilege to be saved by grace so friend take it seriously we should beware of holding loosely of holding this great salvation flippantly this parable

[29:46] God God God the king sent his servants the prophets to invite the subject Israel from this leaders they rejected they killed the prophets he sends his army he destroys their city Jerusalem others are invited the disciples other Jews Gentiles even the king the king was without a wedding garment so hypocrite so he was severely punished his garment showed he truly did not belong he was a sham the king graciously and generously invited all to his feast but to hear the call is not the same as responding to the call not all those called are chosen God calls people to come but only his own will hear his voice in Jewish teaching it says in one book quote all Israelites have a share in the world to come end quote no it's not a true statement only those who obey the Lord

[30:57] Jesus only those who obediently respond to the call display that she or he is chosen so this is the main point of the parable God always has a remnant who will truly respond to his call trouble comes not just from the outside but even from within the faith community of Christians Paul says this to the elders in Ephesus do you remember in Acts chapter 20 he meets the elders of Ephesus and he says even from among yourselves deceivers will rise up which is quite interesting that in the book of Revelation one of the churches that Jesus spoke to was the church of Ephesus and one of the things that they lost sight of was their first love may we not be complacent in our hearts becoming prideful and arrogant over God's grace toward us forgiving that it truly is a privilege and is necessary for us to love and obey

[32:17] Jesus our Messiah the Son of God the King of Israel if we become complacent to the gospel have our hearts grown cold to the message of Jesus because even from among ourselves we can just become careless lax lazy may this remind you to relish in grace to relish in Jesus many people are welcome to respond to the gospel message and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ but reality is only a few will truly respond to this welcome okay we understand that we get that but let this serve us as a reminder as an encouragement and a warning it reminds us that few will trust Jesus and encourage us that some will trust

[33:18] Jesus and warns our own hearts to keep trusting Jesus to keep loving Jesus that should encourage us as well may you be encouraged and the songs that we have set up there's three actually that we're going to sing I thought of those and chose those on purpose Lord I give you my heart come thou fount of every blessing and then may we never cease to praise you it's a purpose so we are thinking through this so it's encouraging you as you're hearing each other sing may we stay faithful to Christ and the gospel of the church may we encourage each other to do that and your job is to encourage me to do that too father thank you we are overwhelmed and astonished that you have shown us such amazing grace we are unworthy and yet thank you father by your spirit you went out into the highways and byways and you found losers like me to call us to respond regenerate in our hearts it brought the fruits of repentance and faith oh father we pray by your spirit help us help us as your people to remain faithful to this gospel help us to encourage each other to display the same grace to each other to speak this and proclaim this gospel message to those that we come in contact with and to show that same grace and mercy to each other and to encourage each other to stay faithful to

[35:38]  Christ oh help us we pray if you would as we do each Sunday I'll take these few moments of silence where you can think and ponder to fill your mind with gospel truth to relish in the gospel message and after a few moments we'll do our time of giving a way to express your worship another way to express your worship to sing and we'll pray and we'll converse with each other and pray that we have gospel words let these few moments between you and always with the mercy many let these few moments between you and both you