The Greatest Invitation: Answering the King's Wedding Feast

Hey, my name's Pastor Keith. I'm so glad you're here today. I know God has a word for you. It's going to be a really good word. Are you ready to receive from God today? Come on, somebody. Are you ready to receive a word from the Lord? I believe God has a good word, Sheila. Happy birthday to you yesterday. Uh, man, March is like the month all the babies were born, I think, because Happy March, too. Wow. March, like half the staff at Journey Church was born in March. So, we just celebrate all the March birthdays. Uh, so glad you're here. If you brought your Bible, let's receive a word from the Lord today. Uh, get out your Bible, hold in the air like you care because God has a really incredible word today. We want to receive it. Even if you didn't bring your Bible, you can shout word on the count of three all together. Here we go. 1 2 3. Word. We're getting into God's word so that God's word gets into us. I need you to use your imagination for

just one moment. I I want you to imagine that you are invited to the greatest event in history. Imagine it's something so big and so important that that you knew you'd have to mark the calendar. You're going to have to go out and get a new fit so that you you look appropriate. Let's just say it's the wedding of the century. All right. Let's just say you were invited by the president, a prime minister, a king. Let's just say it's so great. You get the invitation and you realize that you have work that day. So you say, "Oh man, I I would really like to go, but I'm just I'm too busy. I've got work that day. That would be absolutely ridiculous because you know that you're being invited to something so special, so spectacular that it's actually worth giving up for. And today, Jesus is going

to tell a story about just that, about a wedding unlike any others. And and he's going to tell us a story of someone who's so busy, it's not that they could not attend, it's just that they would not attend. And he's going to liken that to the kingdom of God. that there are moments in our lives that you are offered and afforded the opportunity of the kingdom. And it's not that you're not given that opportunity. It's just not it's just that we don't seize the opportunity. We don't take the opportunity. And what Jesus is going to share in this particular story today through the form of a parable, which is a fictional story that tells the truth, he compares the things of this world to the kingdom of heaven. He's going to let us know it's not that it's too far that we can't attend this event. It is not that it's something we we we can't do.

It's just something that we won't do. So just turn to your neighbor and just slap them and say, "Don't miss this. Come on. Don't miss this. Come on." Turn to someone else. Say, "Don't miss this. Don't miss this. This is the greatest invitation. Don't miss this." Hey, why don't you just preach to yourself in case there's not a neighbor nearby. Say, "Don't miss this." Preach to yourself. Because today we're stepping into one of the most intense parables of Jesus. I mean, this this is a difficult one. Not because it's hard to interpret or understand because every once in a while Jesus will say something and you're like, "Well, what does he mean by that? He's talking about seeds and he's talking about soil. What what does he mean by these things?" No, this this parable will be it will be easy to understand but difficult to put into practice.

And and and there's there's a warning with a celebration that Jesus is going to let us know. So, we're going to dive right into Matthew 22. We're not going in any chronological orders, but we're spending time understanding God's kingdom come in our lives. God wants you to know that his kingdom can come in your life. Not someday, not a better day, but the kingdom can come into your life today. You can start praying it. You can start experiencing it. His kingdom is here. It's at hand. Matthew 22, we're going to start with verse one. We're going to make our way all the way through verse 14 today. If you're able to, would you stand for the reading of God's word? I'm going to read you the entire text and then we're going to better understand what's being said here today. Matthew 22, starting with verse one. I'll give a little commentary on verse one. And again, Jesus spoke to

them in parables. He's in a sequence of parables speaking to the religious people who are right in front of him. These are the religious leaders of his days. And so when we see them, he's speaking to people that think they have it figured out. So he's going to tell this story not just to the religious, but to all who have ears to hear, saying verse two, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for a son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come again. He sent other servants, saying, "Tell those who are invited, see, I've prepared my dinner. My oxmen, my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding

feast." But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business. While the rest seized his servants, treating them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, "The wedding feast is ready, but those who are invited are not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find." And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to

him, "Friend, how do you get in here without a wedding garment?" And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, "Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and nashing of teeth. For many are called but few are chosen. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. I want us just to jump right in today because of how important this text is. Jesus tells us right away in Matthew 22 verse two what this is all about. He says the kingdom of heaven. He wants us to know about the kingdom. He he doesn't keep it a surprise. He doesn't want you to try to figure this out on your own. The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

Too many people, some of you who are here today, think that being a Christian is just a killjoy. That that following Jesus is actually giving up the stuff that you really enjoy doing so that somehow you can get a ticket into heaven. Uh some some of you have grown up in church and and listen it's church is not the kingdom. Jesus is the king and he has a way. And if you grew up in church and church was boring, the songs were boring. The place was not creative or it had that certain smell. You know that smell sort of smells like death but somehow it's in the church. Let me just tell you Jesus tells this parable so that we understand that even if you experience something in the name

of Jesus that was boring, he wants you to understand that the kingdom is something so much more. The kingdom of heaven is meant to be experienced in a form of a celebration, not a funeral. Jesus didn't liken the kingdom of heaven and say, "Hey, the kingdom of heaven is like a library. So you better come in and be quiet. You just need to be studious and study. No, no, no. He didn't say the kingdom of heaven was like a a dentist appointment. I want you to be full of anxiety and I'm going to just tell you all the wrong things that you've been doing. That's going to cost you a lot of money while you're at it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a king." So, it doesn't get any higher than that.

This is a king who's going to have a royal wedding. This is going to be a feast. This is going to be a celebration. I mean, there there is no cost that is too great. In fact, the decorations are going to be good. The food's going to be good. He's going to talk more about that in a moment. He said it's going to be so spectacular because this is a royal wedding. That's what Jesus compares the kingdom to. So that when you show up to church and you want God's kingdom in your life, you ought to have just a little bit of a step in you because you're coming to a celebration. You ought to come to something that's worthy of celebrating because you got the kingdom not somewhere but in here. You got something to celebrate because you've been forgiven. You've been given the gift of eternal life. Come on. King Jesus is inside of you. He is alive. Not just now, but forever more.

You have the power of the Holy Spirit. The same power that rose Jesus from the grave. That where you go, he goes. Here, here's the crazy thing about the kingdom that Jesus says right up front in Matthew 22:2, he he says the kingdom is like a wedding feast. So, if you really think about the kingdom in this way, there's no cost to this. You don't have to buy the ticket to get into the kingdom. In fact, the king doesn't say, "Hey, if you want to come to the wedding feast, well, then you better show up early and just help set it up, okay? This is a lot of, you know, those friends, right? If you've ever owned a pickup truck, right? You realize that everybody's your friend all of a sudden cuz I need some help moving. So, friend, could you help me move?" No, he says, "The kingdom is not

like that. You don't have to come and make the food. You don't have to come and set up the decorations. It's all yours. But here's what you do have to do. Accept the invitation. So the first scene we see today in this story that Jesus is letting us know with our imagination what the kingdom is like, he's he's just comparing this to the kingdom. You need to know this. The kingdom's invitation is lavish. Too many of us take for granted that God has invited us to the greatest celebration of all time, the kingdom. The kingdom's invitation is lavish. Do you get this? You're invited to the kingdom. And Jesus quickly says this. This is the greatest wedding of all time. And right away he says, "And the king sent his

servants, verse three, to call those who were invited to the wedding feast. These are the people you might expect to come to the wedding feast. These are the people that the king knows and they should know the king. And so he invites those who should come. But verse three says they would not come. This is meant to stimulate our understanding. In fact, this is meant to be a shocking story because it's not a true story. But Jesus is telling the truth of what's happening every single day. He says it can be yours, but you're not experiencing it. It's available, but you're not operating in it. And so again, he says in verse four, it's like this king doesn't stop. He wants us to know like I want you to experience this. So again, he sent other

servants saying, tell those who are invited. Make sure that they know that they know that they know. See, I've prepared my dinner. My oxen, my fat calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. You see, we've got to like put ourselves in the story here for a moment and understand that this is a royal wedding. I mean, royal weddings are next level. We've gotten to see in our lifetime what royal weddings can look like. I mean, there's pomp and circumstance. I mean, you know that the best designers are designing the best dresses. We know that the best of the best are invited. We know that with a royal wedding,

everybody is is is is looking to see who has been invited. Where is it? What does it look like? I have three children and and one of my three has been married. And one thing I've learned about weddings is they're a lot of work and they require a lot of money. There there's so many details from the decorations to the food. I mean I mean stuff that as a man I didn't even really know that people focused on. But you do that and in America we do it for only a few minutes at a wedding ceremony for for just a few minutes. My encouragement if you're getting married you ought to invest that moment in your marriage which will last your lifetime. But ain't nobody taking my advice.

So this king is is is is having this this this royal wedding. And we need to understand the way that weddings work in the ancient Middle East is nothing like the way that weddings work today. Uh in fact, the way that weddings work today, they're so quick. You got to go get a license and then you just quickly make some some vows that are just absolutely grand and then you go on and start this marriage, which is really difficult. In the ancient Middle East, they took it a little more seriously. an invitation would go out that there was a betrothel that there was a commitment. It was almost like a contract between a man and a woman. They were not formally married, but it was if they were married because it required a divorce contract to to break up that betrothel, but they're the they're they're like what we call engaged, but but the reality is the invitation would go out that they're going to get married. oftentimes you wouldn't have

the exact date, but in that betrotheal season it would be a moment where the the the families would come together and they would prepare. They would prepare for a feast, not for a few minutes, but weddings in the ancient Middle East would last for days, even upwards of a week. Could you imagine this? Eating great food day after day, drinking good wine day after day for upwards of a week. Uh we're talking music, dancing, we're talking laughing, celebrations. In fact, in the ancient Middle East, you we got to understand the Jewish culture loves celebration. In fact, God made a mandate that one day a week, you're to pause and have a celebration. It's called Sabbath. Sabbath is meant do not work at all. I want you just to pause and just eat good food, drink good wine, and enjoy the day.

rest. And in the Jewish language, the Hebrew is Shabbat. This This is a moment to remember God. Remember his faithfulness. Look at what God has done for you. Hey, not once a month, not a few times a year, once a week. The Jews know how to celebrate. And when you go today to places where there's Jewish communities, you see that they are people of celebration. God established feasts and holy days to remember who he is. But the one that is above all of them is a wedding feast. A wedding feast was a celebration saying this is sacred. This is designed by God. This is an image of God's love for us. And so if there's one way that they knew how to celebrate, it was a wedding celebration. And so the invitation would go out and then when all the

preparations were ready, there are many times the bride didn't even know exactly when this moment would be and the groom would come and surprise her and snatch her up and say, "It's time." It's an image of something greater that one day Jesus is going to do that with us. It's time. And so when all the food is ready, Jesus says, "This king has gotten the oxen. He's gotten a fattened cast, which tells me there's going to be a lot of good meat in heaven someday, somebody. Hey, there's going to be prime rib. If you like the hanger steak, you can get that. You want the filet minion, whatever part of the cow you want. We've got it all. Jesus says in this story that I want you to imagine what the kingdom is like, I need you to see that the kingdom is not just someday. It's ready.

It's ready. It's like the king is saying, "The food is hot and I want you to come and enjoy it right now. Let's not wait until it cools down. I don't want you to get the leftovers. I want you to have the best of the best." Look at verse four again. My oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered. Everything is ready. You see, this is the reality of the kingdom. It's it's the image of abundance. It's the image of joy of an enjoying what the king has prepared for you. This is the image of honor that God looks at you and says, "I want to give you the best, not because you did anything to get it, but I'm going to serve you with the best." Jesus says, "This is the kingdom.

It's yours." Now, in this story, we can understand that the king is God. We might even liken to the triune God. The king is the father and he's having a wedding feast for the son Jesus. And there's this invitation to the kingdom to participate in this joy to participate in this life. This is the imagery of the kingdom because that's what salvation is. Salvation is understanding that you've been set free. That you've been given eternal life, not to experience someday in eternity, but you can start experience eternal life right now. And this whole story is to let every one of us know you've been invited.

You've been invited. This is not about earning a seat. It's not about buying a seat. It's not about being born into the right family. It's about how do you respond to this invitation? And what's sobering about this story is it's really easy and Jesus warned us of this earlier in the book of Matthew. It's really easy to judge other people. But the story was not for you to be the judge of other people. It was to examine in your own heart what are you doing with the kingdom. And this is what we find in scene two of this story. The tragedy of indifference. the tragedy of indifference. Here's what I mean by this. The response to this invitation is shocking. You see, as a preacher, I can come before you and try

to be like a salesman and sell you the kingdom. It's great, guys. It's great. But when you leave here, I'm not following you everywhere you go. You have to decide what you do with it. Do you take the keys of the kingdom and operate in it, or do you keep living the same way that you came into? Because in this story, we see that the invitation is there. Jesus says, "But they paid, look at verse five, they paid no attention to it." They not only did not come to the wedding feast, they paid no attention to it. What would be so important? They went off one to his farm and another to his business. It's almost like they ignore the invitation. They know about the invitation, but they don't accept the invitation.

You know what this sounds like in our day today? I'm busy. The reason I'm not spending as much time in the Bible as I should be, I'm what? Busy. The reason I can't serve at the church like the church really needs. I'm busy. The the reason I really can't do these things is I'm just a little busy. I mean, busy is like the the buzzword of our day. And Jesus says, "This is not something new in the 2020s. This actually is the excuse of why people don't experience the fullness of the kingdom. They think that these menial tasks of the day are more important than God Almighty. And Jesus last week when we looked at a parable in Matthew chapter 13, he likened it to a treasure and a pearl.

And he says, "The kingdom is so valuable. It's worth giving up all of your past for the hope of the present and the future you have called the kingdom. It's worth surrendering it all. This is not a matter of priorities. And as I warned last week, this isn't taking the American picture of consumerism and capitalism and applying it to the kingdom of God. They're not the same. The kingdom is not a matter of priority of God first and wife second and kids third. That's not kingdom. Kingdom is Jesus over everything. Kingdom is saying, Jesus, you're the king. You have dominion over my life. I'm not going to prioritize my wife and my kids comparing them to the king. Jesus said, "If you seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be added to you." So, the priority is the kingdom over all things.

But Jesus actually warns us that we will think that our priorities have to be, "Oh, I've got to work first. I've got to take care of my house first. I've got to take care of the things that are in my life. first. So, we see we're consumed with the things of this world instead of the king's agenda. See, there's really only two kingdoms. The kingdom of this world and the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is the ways of God. And my friends, the last thing Jesus is doing when he shares this parable is he's not telling you he wants to add something to your life. So, some of us will hear about the ways of Jesus, and it's like, I've got so many things to focus on already.

I've got health goals, financial goals, relationship goals, career goals, and now you're telling me set some Jesus goals? Nope. I'm not telling you add Jesus to everything else in your life. That's not kingdom. He's not saying, I want you to add this to the busyiness of everything that you're doing. Some of us are so consumed with our own agendas, we're carrying stress and anxiety that causes diseases, causes relationship problems. It causes so much stress that we end up having to find a solution in some other way than Jesus. So really what he's trying to do is just flip upside down and say, "Do you want to know what the cure is to everything, including your work, including your family? Do you really want to know what the cure is?" You just come back to Matthew 22:2.

It's the kingdom. It's saying, "King Jesus, I I need you. King Jesus, I prioritize you. King Jesus, I want your way in my life. King Jesus, I'm going to submit this to you. King Jesus, I'm surrendering this to you." But in our world, the one thing that will stop you from the kingdom, believe it or not, is not even the devil. It's indifference. And you can you can call this whatever you will. It's distraction. I'm so busy that when I wake up, my first priority is not to align my life with God's and say, "Wow, when I was sleeping, you were not. While I was asleep and silent, you were singing over me with your love." When I didn't deserve it, I woke up with a fresh day full of new mercies, new opportunities, a God of abundance that says, "All you got to do is ask and it

will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. And if it's kingdom, what God opens, no one can shut. And what God shuts, no one can open. You see, the kingdom is is simply saying, "God, I'm going to put you in your proper place in my life." But the one thing that will stop you from encountering the power, the authority, and anointing of the King of all kings, it's just indifference. And if you're not careful, you'll hear this story and you'll stay the same. For so many today, this is our story. We're not flat out rejecting God, but we're a little too busy to receive the greatest invitation of all.

So my challenge today is don't ignore the invitation. That's why you preached to your neighbor earlier. Don't miss it. Don't miss this. Don't miss this. Don't miss this invitation. In fact, if you got your Bibles open, I would just write that in the margin just to preach to yourself so that when you come back later to this text, don't miss this invitation. You have to reread the text and say, "What is that invitation?" Oh, yeah. It's the greatest invitation of all. The writer of Hebrews soberingly says this, "How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" How shall we escape if we neglect such a salvation? Do you notice here the writer doesn't say if we reject salvation? If

but if we what? Neglect salvation. Do you know what the writer of Hebrews says regarding our salvation? He says, "I'm working out my salvation." Meaning, my friends, when you have Jesus, you don't have it all figured out. It is so good that every day you wake up and you say, "I'm saved." Okay, maybe you're not like me, but let me just tell you, you ought to have an understanding that you have been saved. And if you neglect it, the next thing you'll think is that you've got it figured out. The next thing you'll think is that King Jesus doesn't need to be your priority. If you neglect the salvation, it will be like what Jesus warns the church in Revelation chapter 2, you've abandoned your first love. Or Revelation chapter 3, you have become lukewarm and without purpose.

You think you have something, but Jesus warned the church, you don't have it. You think you understand it, but you don't. And so he flips upside down our understanding. There is a warning that some people think they have something when in reality they don't have it at all. Indifference is dangerous. Now Jesus also likens not just those that ignore it for the opportunity to work. He says there are some that are violent. Verse six, the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. What's going on here is Jesus is given an image of history that God has always been good. God has always been faithful and he has sent his servants to come share the message of his kingdom that Messiah is coming who we call Christ. He's coming. And so God

would send prophets and instead of receiving this great invitation of the prophets of old that they would persecute them like Jeremiah or like Isaiah the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 11. It's it's it's traditionally spoken that Isaiah was saw in two. He was cut in half for speaking the truth of God. So how are the servants of God received? Either with indifference or with violence, saying they have chosen death instead of life. And the reality of two kingdoms is as true today as it was in the days of Isaiah. You either choose death or you choose life. You either choose the kingdom of God or the kingdom of this world.

And as the king is betrayed, we might call this treason. He's treated as if he's like equal with the world. And the king does not just overlook this. Some of us treat God as if like, well, you know what? I can sin and I can ignore the kingdom because what is God really going to do? Let me just warn you. He's eternally perfect and absolutely knows everything. And there is a consequence to everything you do. that there there will be a response from God to how you respond to his invitation. And so we see the consequences in verse 7. The king was angry and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

You see, I I think we we often have too safe of a view of Jesus. Like somehow all the Bible stories that we share are like rated G stories or at worst PG. And then every once in a while we get to like Song of Solomon. We're like, "Okay, that's PG-13. It's not rated R because the breasts are just more like gazels and you know like but let me just tell you there there are sections of the scriptures like this parable. If this was a Hollywood movie, be not mistaken, it would be rated R. And not for nudity, not for sexual content. It would be rated R. Not even for language to be used. This would be for violence.

This would be the reality that if we're going to take them, the actors of today, to say, who is it that the king sends back to those who killed his other servants? He would probably send Jason Staithm. There's a high probability it would be Liam Niss who might make a phone call before he visits you. I would even say it would be old school like a Sylvester Salone. He'd first probably tie something on his head saying, "Yes, king. I'll take care of them for you." Or he might have sent back one who escaped. I'll be back.

That's a terrible Arnold impression. But Jesus says he is sending messengers who are going to show the wrath of the king. that he is enraged at the reality of how you have treated the gift he's so freely given. And the story doesn't stop there because this is about the kingdom. Some neglect the invitation, but the invitation is wide. And this is where I want to focus on celebration. Then we'll come back to some more rated R. The invitation goes wide. Let me just say it again. The invitation goes wide. The king does something so unexpected. Yes, he invites the best, but now he's going to invite the rest. Look at Matthew 22:9. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many.

Everyone shout many. As many as you find. The situation goes beyond the normal banquet. I want you to invite the least cities, the marginalized, those who are on the fringe. And another way that Jesus said it, to the highways and byways, I need you to go to the places that you least expect to find someone to come to. a royal wedding and go ahead and invite them. This is the kingdom. It's the greatest invitation of all and the ones that are least likely to get in actually get in. And all it really takes is you accepting the invitation. The king sends his servants to the forks in the road, to the places where the beggars are, to the places where those who are unclean and and are not even allowed to come into the city, he says, "Hey, do you want to

come in? I need you to just picture this for a moment so that you know what you're saved from. So that you understand that you who used to be in full sin can come into the presence of God. Not because of anything you've done. Not because of how clean you are. Not because of the right family that you were born into, but now he says, "I want as many as possible who will accept the invitation to experience the kingdom of God." Jesus is teaching us, you are welcome in the kingdom. This this kingdom is yours if you want it. And what's wild about this? A God that is perfectly righteous. Meaning he's never made a mistake. Eternally righteous past, present, and future. Holy, perfectly perfectly righteous.

Say says, "I want you to be with me." Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, listen to this. He says, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness," just point to your neighbor and say, "That's you. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never never, not you might, maybe if you're good enough, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus is explaining how the kingdom works. This is not about a rigorous obedience to the law. Because if that was the case, you'd never get in. The scribes and Pharisees, they look like they had it together. They wore their best church clothes better than the best church clothes. I mean, they washed their hands in the most proper way. They followed every law to the tea. And Jesus says, "Your righteousness needs to exceed their righteousness." So, what he's now saying is, "You can't do it, but he can do it for you."

So, when you believe in Jesus, he exchanges your sin for his righteousness. So, it's not even your righteousness. You have the very righteousness of God. When Peter first preached about Jesus after the church explodes with the power of the Holy Spirit, he was on his way to a prayer meeting and there was someone begging for money and this person was lame. He was on his mat and Peter said, "Listen, I'm in ministry. I've got no money." But he said, "In the name of Jesus, get up and walk." That was a pastor joke. Nobody laughed at it. Nobody got that but me. He says, "Listen, listen. I don't have any silver or gold, but what I do have, you can have is Jesus." And the man went from laying on the mat to standing up and leaping and dancing with joy. And the people were astonished. And they weren't astonished and look looking straight to Jesus. They were looking at Peter. But you know what the kingdom is?

You acknowledge that you have no power on your own. It wasn't Peter that made this man well. So Peter starts preaching. He says, "Do you guys understand the ones whom you just chanted crucify him recently? That's the one that did this." Listen to this sermon. He says, "You denied the holy and righteous one." That's Jesus. He's He's the only one that's perfectly righteous. And you instead ask for a murderer to be granted to you, referring to Barabus. And you killed the author of life. Don't you love the language of Peter? Do you know who Jesus is? Holy righteous one, the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. And to this we are a witness. Peter was there. He touched Jesus, talked with Jesus after

the resurrection. And his name, it says verse 16, by faith in his name. What's his name? Shout it out. Jesus. In his name, he has made this man strong whom you see now and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given this man this perfect health in the presence of you all. So what Peter is simply saying is every healing, every miracle, every answered prayer, your righteousness is Jesus. When you encounter the power of God, that's called kingdom. And it is all about King Jesus. It's not about those who have it figured out. If you can explain it, it's probably not kingdom because it typically comes back to Jesus, is it? It's not just reserved for the religious elite of society.

In this story, he says of those who did not accept it. He says, "Invite to the wedding feast as many as you find." May I just declare to you today, this is the kind of church we want to be. Invite as many as you find. Too many times we think church is reserved for the good. Church is reserved for those who understand what's happening. No, church is reserved for those people who think they're least likely. We call them here the long shots. That's who God goes and invites and says, "No, no, no. This actually is for you. This is for you. You've never made a mistake so big that God can't forgive. You've never messed up so badly or someone's never done something so great to you that I can't heal it in you and set you free." This is who he is. So,

who accepts the invitation? This is what's wild. He says, "You're going to get to heaven, you're going to be shocked." He says, "There's both the bad and good." Did anybody notice that? You're going to get there and that politician you didn't think would make it, your jaw hits the ground in heaven. That uncle you didn't like, that friend that betrayed you. Listen, you get the gift of eternal life and the kingdom because you've received the invitation, not because you are good enough. This is the gospel expanding and the kingdom coming. When we understand that there's not just hope for some people, there's hope for everyone. Say those three words with me. Hope for everyone. You see, this invitation is given to Israel, but

it goes beyond Israel. It's also for the Gentiles, those who are non-Jews. It's not for the qualified or the cleaned up or the religious elite of the day. It's for those that say, "Yes, I would like to receive this royal invitation and be a child of the most high." This is Isaiah 55:1 when he says says, "Come everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters. It's yours and it's not going to cost you anything. Come and drink and be satisfied." This is the invitation we read about at the end of all time in Revelation 19:9. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage of the supper of the lamb. God is still inviting. He's still allowing us to see his kingdom. And it is the greatest invitation of all. Greater than any invitation you'll ever get. More important than who you will marry, where you will work, where you

will live. This is the invitation of a lifetime. And God's not asking you just to show up and do it on your own. He's not asking you to try harder. He's not asking you to be better. He's asking you to receive the invitation he's given you. And we see that in the conclusion which is absolutely wild. In the final scene of this story, we see the missing garment. The missing garment is essential to understand that how this wedding operates. The tone shifts again. When the king came to look at the guests, he saw there was a man who had no wedding garment. You see, in the ancient Middle East, the more affluent you are, you would actually purchase wedding clothing for everyone that would participate. So, for a royal wedding, undoubtedly, you would have the best garments. And every person that came

into the wedding feast would wear the same garments. You would put on this robe that was given to you by the king. And in this story, Jesus says the wedding feast is now full. and he shows up and there's someone not wearing the wedding garment that the king would have given. And what's interesting in this story is is often translated in English, friend, why are you not wearing the wedding garment? But but in our vernacular, it would be like, buddy, what are you doing here? He he's not saying you are my friend. He's simply saying, what are you doing here? And Jesus says the man is left speechless. He knows he's guilty. Let me tell you the awe and the reverence and the wonder of God that when you come before the king, oh, you will not be asking the questions that you said here on earth.

You will not be telling him, "Why did you let my grandma die? Why did you do the things that you did?" Oh, no. You will be left speechless. This is the king coming before someone who thought they were in the kingdom, but they didn't do what the king requested. Simply put here, the only way you're going to get into heaven is by King Jesus. It will not be on any of your efforts. It will not be on anything you can do. And Jesus tells us there are people that are so close to the kingdom, they think they can do it their way and not God's way. Be not mistaken how easily this actually is. When God tells you to be obedient and then you only are partially obedient, that's no obedience at all.

This man was invited. He showed up, but he refused to do what the king told them to do. You can't decide what you're going to do that Jesus tells you to do and not do. There are a lot of people that that have this book and they only pick and choose what they want to pick and choose. No offense to the wonderful capitalistic system that we live in, but you can't have a Hobby Lobby Christianity where you you choose the comfortable, the inspiring. We don't really see a whole lot of signs at Hobby Lobby that says he was cast to the utter darkness where there was weeping and nashing of teeth. That's Jesus. And he says that's what happens to you.

That is your reality if you do not receive the robe of the king. And the robe of the king over and over in scripture represents righteousness. This is what Martin Smith talked about. We got to get off the old those ashes and receive the garment of praise, the garment of joy. As Isaiah says in 61:10, he has clothed me with the garment of salvation. In Hebrew, salvation and joy are closely related. It could be translated, he's given me joy, which is salvation. Paul said in Romans 14, the kingdom is righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. When you are saved, you have joy, and he has covered me with the robe of what? Righteousness. How has he covered you with righteousness? The

Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin." So, he was without sin. He took our sin on the cross so that in him, Jesus, we might become the righteousness of God. That's how you have the kingdom. It's Jesus. Romans 3:22, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ is for all. Shout all. For all who believe, for there is no distinction. So the righteousness is not you coming and doing things your way. The righteousness is Jesus. It's believing in Jesus. It's not enough to be near the kingdom. You've got to have the king covering you in his righteousness. That's his robe.

Because without it, you see what Jesus says in verse 13. Bind him hand and foot. Cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and nashing of teeth. without surrendering to the king, you will see the seriousness of eternity. This is your opportunity. And we have so many views of heaven and hell. And if if God is love, why would he ever send someone to hell? We see in this story very clearly. The invitation is available. You can't come up with your own universalistic view of salvation. That God is just love and he's going to let everybody in. God is love and he says you must surrender to that love. He made you. He's your creator and he is not just a creator, he is king. Jesus warned in Matthew 7 and he says it

several other times. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. What's the will of the father? Accept the invitation. Here's what the will is not. On that day, many will come to me and say, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in you and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And Jesus will say in verse 23, I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Jesus tells us there will be people who call themselves Christians who did things in the church that will be separated from God for eternity. He says something similar in Matthew chapter 25. He warns there will be a separation one day and it will not be based on what you thought was kingdom.

The will of God is that you believe in Jesus, receive his righteousness and operate in the kingdom. He tells this story so that you would not come up with your your own conclusion. And here's the sobering conclusion. The very last line, for many are called, but few are chosen. This is not God being stingy. It's God being honest. Many will hear about the invitation, but many will not respond rightly to the invitation. You can have the gift of eternal life, but you cannot have it on your own terms. You cannot say, "Well, I don't like this God, and I refuse to learn what this means." If you've ignored it, God has given you

the grace to hear this message once again and respond. This by the way is not a theology of the elect that God has chosen some to go to hell and some to go to heaven. That would be a wrong doctrine of the scripture. We see clearly in this text the invitation has been available to all. For God so loved the world. So we don't want to have a distorted view of God that he chose some people to be saved and other people not to be saved. No, he's chosen you. But will you receive the right to become a child of God? He will not force you to be in his family. So today, I ask the most sobering question I could ask in our time together. Have you received the invitation? You don't have to be good enough to get in. In fact, you might say, "I've been a bad person." I want you to know you're still welcome to receive the invitation

because today you will be clothed fully in him. Believe in Jesus. Receive his righteousness. In the seriousness of this moment, will you close your eyes before we pray together? I I I just want to say from my heart to yours, scripture like this burdens me because I recognize today that you coming to church did not save you. There are so many in America that have a view of God that they can be good enough to get into heaven. And what we see time and time again, Jesus does not want you to come up with your own conclusion. He wants you to have the real kingdom. And so today, if there's any burden on your heart that you question, you know what? I've been trying to do it on my own.

You know, I'm not sure I've really received this invitation. Well, to believe in God is just to trust with your heart to realize that you can't save yourself, but Jesus can save you. A preacher can't save you. You can't buy yourself into the salvation that Jesus offers. It's yours. It's full of peace. It's full of joy. Isaiah 61 that says we have a robe of righteousness. It says he sets the liberty. He He says set says the captives free with liberty. He takes the blind and gives them sight. today. If you want to see God clearly, all you have to do is believe in Jesus. If that's you and you want that salvation, would you just slip your hand up just as a sign of surrender right now?

Just put your hand in the air. So, maybe you've been going to church your whole life, but if you want to be certain of your salvation, th this is your moment. This is your turning point. Praise be to God. Yes. Yes. Praise God. You keep your hand up. We're going to give you a little booklet that tells you your next steps. If that's you today, just with all eyes closed, I just want you to throw your hand up like like you saying yes to the Lord. Like a good teacher saying yes. Yes. Praise God. Yes. Yes. You're never too young. You're never too old. This invitation is available to all to receive the kingdom of celebration, abundance.

Anyone else right where you are, just raise your hand. Praise be to God. Yes. Yes. He's welcoming sons and daughters into his kingdom today. It's not someday Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father who's in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Do you know that's God's promise for you is his kingdom on earth. Don't wait. So Lord, I thank you for those that raised their hands. That today there was a shift. And I pray that from this point forward, you would protect their minds and their hearts in Jesus Christ. That you love us so much that you came to do what none of us could do. You died the death that we deserve.

and you offer us the greatest gift of all, your kingdom. You offer us salvation. You offer us righteousness. You offer us joy and you offer us peace. For those that raise their hands today, I want you to pray with me because from this point forward, you're going to continue to keep praying. Praying is talking to God. You could talk to God anywhere, anytime. So, right where you are, would you would you pray these words out loud with me? Everyone who's believed, let's pray this together. Lord Jesus, I believe in you. Forgive me of my sins. You are my king. I receive your kingdom in my life here on earth as it is in heaven. Help me to follow you in Jesus name. Everyone say amen.

Amen. A man.