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Morning Message Text: Matthew 22: 1-14
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
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 So 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, the bad as well as the good, 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 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ 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 invited, but few are chosen.”
Morning Message:
I have heard push-back about the reality of hell many times over the years. It usually goes something like this, “I think ‘hell’ is just a myth. It’s just an idea that various religions dreamed up in order to scare people into following their beliefs.” Maybe I should ask all of you this morning as we start this message; Do you believe in hell?
I am a huge fan of Billy Graham’s ministry. His reply to this thinking was winsome, thoughtful and biblical. He answered this way, “Let me ask you a question: If you went to the airport and were told there was a 10 percent chance your flight was going to crash, would you get on board? No, of course not. It would be too great a gamble to risk taking that flight. “And yet that’s exactly what you’re doing with your soul. What if there is only a 10 percent chance that you’re wrong, and that hell actually does exist? Why gamble with your soul – which is exactly what you’re doing? After all, you can’t prove that hell doesn’t exist; you only hope it doesn’t.
But hell does exist; it isn’t just something religious people dreamed up. I know it because Jesus warned us about it – and Jesus spoke with the full authority of God himself. He called hell a place of “darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” As I’ve often said, not one word in the Bible about hell would ever make you want to go there, and every word in the Bible is true and beyond reproach.
In biblical times an invitation from the king would be considered both an honor and a command, but the citizens of this country refused the invitation, even though the king had described the many pleasures of the feast. Let’s be perfectly clear here. Jesus is pointing directly at the priests and pharisees, the Jewish nation and its leaders. They were rejecting God by refusing to come to the banquet to celebrate Jesus and be His heavenly bride.
Some of the Jewish nation not only ignored and scorned the king’s invitation but also reacted violently to the prophets, the messengers who were sent by God to encourage them to come. Read the Bible and see how many prophets were beaten, tortured and killed for no other reason than the fact that they stood for God’s ways and God’s plan which flew in the face of what they wanted. Not much has changed. Anyone who stands up for Jesus and publicly opposes what is clearly wrong biblically in our world is ridiculed, outcast, and sometimes killed. All over the world there are martyrs for the faith, we have even seen it in this nation.
The Jews are God’s chosen people. I say that because God does not change His mind. Even though they rejected His plan of salvation, the invitation is still available to them. God knows all things. He knew all things from the very beginning. He knew that the Jewish nation would eventually reject him, but His plan was to reveal His plan of salvation to all people through His chosen people. So now extends the invitation to the wedding feast to all of mankind, the Gentiles as we are referred to. The invitation is for everyone: the good, the bad, and the ugly. All are invited to come. Salvation is offered to every person; no one is excluded.
To be invited is one thing. All are invited because God loves all of creation, but the invitation is only a small part of what it takes to enter God’s kingdom for eternity. You must be dressed properly. On the surface that sounds very rude and condescending to look at how someone is dressed, at their outward appearance and judge them not worthy to be there. But this is key, the proper clothing was freely given to everyone. All they needed to do was ask for it. To not have on the proper clothing meant that you had rejected what the king, God, had offered as the price of being at the banquet in heaven. You see it is not enough to accept the invitation; no one would refuse the opportunity, but many refuse to accept Jesus and be clothed in His righteousness, and that’s the only way to eternal life and a seat at God’s wedding banquet.
That leaves us with quite a dilemma as people who attend church and look forward to heaven. Are you counting on the invitation? Do you think that when Jesus steps out on the clouds and calls His church home that you will be caught up in the air just because you are on the church membership rolls? My real question for you, however, is this: Why do you reject hell – and God and Jesus? The reason, I suspect, is because you want to run your own life. But that’s a dead-end road, and I urge you to stop and reconsider. God loves you, and Christ died for you. Don’t gamble with your eternal soul, but repent of your sins and give your life to Christ without delay. Don’t count on the invitation alone. In order to be chosen by God you must put on Jesus Christ, so that when God looks at you, He sees only His Son. Clothe yourself with salvation, you will never regret it for all eternity.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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