Chapter 22 of Matthew. This is the 30th day of December, 2012, the year of our Lord. And I guess it's a true saying. The older you get, the faster time moves. Because this year has just gone. So the older I get, the quicker the year goes by. So for Pappy, It just seems like a day to him. Old years gone. Old as he is. So I guess the older I get, the quicker they'll go. So I thank the Lord to Zion this morning for you that are here. And we'll be having the Lord's Supper after service. And we're in the 22nd chapter of Matthew. This is the marriage supper or the marriage dinner that was servants sent out to call those that were bidden to come. They would not come. This is the same as the parable of the husbandman and the parables before that. It's the pointing toward and saying the same thing, just in a different way. These parables are always pointing toward the Jews, especially the leaders of the Jews, the Sanhedrin and the elders of the Jewish religion, because of their rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. And we'll begin reading at verse 1 and read through verse 14. I may even get on into the tribute money here, where they try to trick Jesus into some... It's very evident that people did not really think that Jesus was God in the flesh, or else they would not have tried some of the foolish things that they did, trickery, to trick Him to get Him in some kind of Chapter 22 of Matthew beginning at verse 1, And Jesus entered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready, coming to the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise, And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them, spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth, and went and sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he said unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to his servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen." I think I covered most of this last week. Unless my memory fails me and it's just from my reading and studying and preaching to people out in the public, I'm pretty sure I've covered most of this on last week, but it didn't record. So those on sermon audio have been unable to hear it. And they need to, and it wouldn't hurt you to hear it again. I think some of you were falling asleep last Sunday. And some of you weren't here. So it won't hurt you to hear some of this again. This is good stuff. This is real good stuff. And everything that we read in the Scriptures is real good stuff. I want to make sure that you've gotten it, and we'll probably get on into the tribute money decision also to show their foolishness in trying to trick Jesus and catch Him in some kind of thing that will get Him in trouble. I guess one of the important things that you have to understand when you read this, because if you start looking at and trying to put it into focus. You have to remember the time that it is. Jesus Christ is on the earth. His disciples are with Him. And he tells this parable in such a way that these high priests, and I think the high priests had already left, but these Pharisees and the scribes, the elders of the city, or the elders of the Jewish religion are there, they're hearing this, and he tells it in such a way that they understand, he's talking about them, And we understand, because of our history, that we know that the Lord did send the Roman Empire in there and burned that city to the ground. Killed most of the Jews that were there. I'm talking about slaughtered them. Do you think that they have a mass killing today where they just go into a theater and kill 20 or go into a school and kill 30-something, I think they did up there. Whatever school that was. They came in and slaughtered the city. And there was hundreds of thousands of people here. And they slaughtered them. Tore the temple down, knocked one stone upon another. Destroyed the temple completely. And we understand why that is. Christian people understand that the temple had to be destroyed. Because no more would there be a building where you would go and worship God. This is the temple of God. That old temple was no more. Now the temple of God is His people. And the Spirit of God lives and dwells within you. And that is the temple of God. And so it was important for that transformation to take place. And so he tells them first to understand here that he sent out his messengers The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king which had a marriage for his son. Well of course we know that the certain king is God the Father and his son is the Lord Jesus. And the marriage is those peoples whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world and he gave them to his son and said here is your bride. Go save her. What a beautiful picture that is. It tells today a husband how to treat his wife. Now what the Bible says in Galatians 5th chapter, Husbands, love your wives like Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He provided for his bride. And we are his bride. Everyone whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life is his bride. And the angel told Joseph in Matthew 1.21, Mary will have a son. You'll call His name Jesus. He shall save His people from their sins. What a beautiful story of how God the Father, before man was ever made, schemed the plan of how His Son would save His people. Now, the other thing to remember and to think of here is the bride that God chose for His Son. Now, God's Son, the Son of the Living God, the second head in the Trinity, God the Son, perfect in all of His glory, knows everything. He is omniscient. He knows everything. He is omnipresent. He is everywhere at all times. He is God. He is the second person in the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And there is no difference in them. They all have the same power, they all have the same knowledge, they all have the same nature. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. And God the Father chose a bride for His Son. Wrote their name in the Lamb's Book of Life and gave it to His Son and said, here's your bride. Go save her. And He did. Now, in this salvation plan and this scheme that God set forth took ages before His Son come to the earth to save His people from their sins. And many, many things had to take place before the Son of God would come. And servants would go forth and proclaim like John the Baptist did. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND! REPENT! AND TURN FROM YOUR SINS! AND SERVE THE LIVING GOD! Oh, wow, John the Baptist. He came in the form of Elijah. Now, if you want to read about Elijah, go to 1 Kings, and the last several chapters of 1 Kings, and the first few chapters of 2 Kings, and you can read about Elijah. They called him a madman. Because he looked like John the Baptist as described here. He went around in leather garments and eat wild things. And he was a wild man. And he preached wildly, screaming at the top of his lungs. And people would run when they saw Elijah coming. They called him a mad man. Like they did John the Baptist. And John the Baptist come preaching the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then when he saw Jesus, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. Those servants he sent out to say there's a marriage supper and it's ready to come. Well, he was telling the Jews. Now, this was not the call of grace by God calling his people. We know that. When Jesus called His disciples, that was a call of grace. When He said, FOLLOW ME, they left all that they had and they followed Him. And He saw Matthew, the changer's table, and He told Matthew, now wait, that's right, on Matthew they found 47 verses of Just As I Am, and Jesus pleaded with Matthew, won't you please come, won't you please come Matthew, I just told you. Is that what happened? No, that's not what happened, is it? You don't find anywhere in Scripture where the same 47 verses is just as I am, the preacher standing down at the bottom saying, Won't you please come? Let me tell you something. When a person's been born from above, you don't have to stand nowhere and call him. He's coming! He's coming right in! Ask anybody. We don't sing invitations here, and we don't give invitations here. There's one thing I've learned. When a man's born from above, he's coming. He'll grab the preacher, he'll grab one of the men of the church, and he'll say, hey, I've been born from above. I need to be baptized. These witnesses right here in this church didn't tell you that. They'd come got me before and said, hey, you need to go talk to so-and-so. He's been born from above, and he wants to be baptized. You don't have to beg them to come. They'll come. That's what the scripture says. So the servants went out. This is not the call of grace by God, but this is preachers that go out and preach the gospel, inviting them to the marriage supper, because it's ready. This is John the Baptist and Jesus and the disciples going out and preaching to the Jews and they rejecting. And so he sent them forth, and behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen, and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage supper." And they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm and another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his service. That means the people that didn't go came to their farms and their merchandise. The ones that were left. The Sanhedrin. The elders. The Pharisees. And they made light of it, and the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them, as they did Stephen, as they did James, as they did all the apostles. And then he said to his servants, or said to them, the king heard of it and was wroth and sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. which happened in AD 71. You cannot run from God. You cannot run from God. He knows every thought that you have. You cannot run from God. You just cannot. If it's your time to go, you're leaving here. And if you have angered Him, you've done a terrible thing. Because God's wrath is inescapable. His grace is irresistible. When He calls you, you're coming. I guarantee you. When God calls you, like Jesus calls His apostles, You're coming. You'll leave all that you have, and you'll come to Him, weeping and begging for mercy on your soul. You'll come. And so he did. He came and destroyed the city and destroyed the temple. And he said to his servants, you remember when Jesus resurrected, no more was it just a preach to the Jews, but go ye therefore into all the world, preaching the gospel and baptizing them. saying to his servants, the wedding is ready. But they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, that means the Gentiles, before it was only the Jews. And Jesus told his apostles, don't preach to the Gentiles, just the Jews, because that's who I'm sent to. But now, that those that were unworthy, they wouldn't come. Now go into the highways, go out into the Gentiles and preach to them, and bid them to come, both good and bad. And the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. Well, now that throws a kink in the plans. Everything was going along good, and now he throws something in here and there. How did this guy get into the wedding, or the dinner, without a wedding garment on? And he said unto him, Friend, how came this now, and here they're not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away. Cast him out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Now, your modern day preachers have a problem right here explaining this because they have no idea. These easy-believe-ism, accept Jesus as your personal Savior, make a decision for Christ. Them preachers, they have a hard time with this. They don't understand. But you and I know what a wedding garment is. The Bible says that we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And with the righteousness of Christ we are clothed with. And Jesus said that when the disciples came to Him and said, hey, there's tares in the field. Mix them with the wheat. What are we going to do with them? He said, let them grow. Let them grow together. Because if you go and try to pull up the tares, you're going to pull up the wheat too. So let them grow together. That means they are heathens in the church. They are infidels. They are ungodly men. They are professors of religion that have never been born from above and they are mixed in with the church. Let them stay. Let them be there. But they don't have on the wedding garment. They do not have the righteousness of Christ clothed over them like true believers do. Because true believers, the Bible says, have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. On their court record in heaven, they've been charged with the righteousness of Christ. And as far as the Father is concerned, those people have never sinned. Because they're clothed with the righteousness of Christ, he cannot see any sin in them. But this guy doesn't have that. And he calls him friend. Why? Because he claims to be one. He is a professor of Christ. But he doesn't have the wedding garment on. You say, but how can that be? Well, look around! Churches are places that call themselves churches are filled with them. And even places where the Gospel is truly preached and the Word of God is truly preached have only professors in there mixed in with the true believers. It's one of those things that happen. And they call themselves friends. And so, he refers to him here as, Fran, how did you come in here? Having no wedding garment. And he was speechless. As they are, when they're confronted with the truth by the Master. But, not all of them will be speechless. You remember in Matthew the 7th chapter, those were not speechless. They said, My Lord! When he tells them to get out, to bind them and cast them into outer darkness. They'll say, but Lord, we prophesied in your name. We cast out devils in your name. We did many wonderful works in your name. And he'll say, depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. And so bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping, and many are called, but few are chosen. Well, what does that mean? Many are called, but few are chosen. Many are called by the ministers of the gospel. They're called to repent just like John the Baptist told them and the apostles told them, repent, turn from your sins and serve the living God. But there's only a few chosen by God. And their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Those Jesus came to save from their sins. And He does. He saves them from their sins. So don't be alarmed by many being called but few chosen. All those that God's called are chosen. But all those that the ministers of the gospel called, there's only a few that are chosen. I can't say I'm sorry because I'm not. Those that God chose, those He saves from their sins. Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. Why did the Pharisees do that? Then went the Pharisees and took counsel, in other words, they went off by themselves and they gathered amongst themselves and they said, how can we catch him? What can we do? How can we catch this guy? We believe him to be an imposter. He's not the Messiah. And besides that, He comes from mean people. I mean, common folks. He's not royalty. He's not the Son of God. We've got to get rid of Him because He's causing us all kinds of trouble. How can we do that? How can we entangle Him with His words? And they sent out unto Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying... Now, who were the Herodians? Well, take a peek, because there's thousands of ideas about who the Herodians were. Some people say these were Jewish Gentiles that were Jewish proselytes that stuck with Herod in their religious beliefs. And it doesn't appear to be so to me. Now these Herodians seem to be servants of Herod, saying, Master, we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God and truth, neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men. Hypocrites is what they were. They were saying one thing, but they didn't believe that. They didn't regard Jesus Christ as being true, nor teaching the way of God in truth, which He did. But they didn't believe that. So they were hypocrites. And they were trying to coax Him into saying something against Caesar, so they could go tell the Romans that this man is a traitor. And he calls himself the King of the Jews. And so that they could get the Romans, the Roman soldiers to sling him into prison and to kill him. Tell us therefore what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? But Jesus being the Son of God and knowing all things, but Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" Do you reckon he hurt their feelings? Oh, but a preacher don't hurt nobody's feelings. You'd be nice. Show me the tribute money. Now, tribute money was something that was given for taxes. That's what tribute money was. And it was given for taxes to the Roman Empire. Sort of like we do today. We give tribute money as our tax money. And they brought him a penny, or they brought him one of the pieces of One of the coins that was made by the Roman Empire, this was probably one of Augustus. Augustus was not in charge at this time, Tiberius was. But Augustus had many of these coins made up, and that's probably what it was. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image? superscription. And they said unto him, Caesars. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. And when they heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way." Just a little smarter than they thought. They thought he would rant and rave about, no, you ought not to give a thing to Caesar and cause him to be thrown into prison. But we're talking about God here in the flesh. We're not talking about a man, even though he was a man. He was born and married, conceived of the Holy Ghost. He was God in the flesh. He was a man, but he was God in the flesh. And they had no idea. And when they heard these words, they marveled because he was so intelligent. He was such a smart man. He could see through their little scheme and their tempting him to have him thrown into prison. And so, it was more than they could handle. They couldn't understand it, nor could they reply. And they left him and went their way. Now, we're having the Lord's Supper today, so we'll stop there and take up with the Sadducees and the resurrection, which is something that they didn't believe in. Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. Pharisees did believe in the resurrection. So we'll stop there and have the Lord's Supper.