A scripture reading this afternoon is found in the gospel according to Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22. The text is the portion that we will read, so I will not reread it. Matthew 22 verses 1 through 14. Jesus answered 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. Come unto 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 he 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, and 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 saith unto him, friend, how camest thou in hither, 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 and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. That far we read in God's holy inspired word. Beloved congregation and our Lord Jesus Christ, God calls you and he calls me to that great wedding feast. That feast for Christ and his bride. The Lord's Supper It gives us a picture of that feast. And as you examine yourselves this week, looking forward to the Lord's Supper, we'll read the form after the sermon, as you examine yourselves We ought to see these things about ourselves in the first place that we are truly needy people. We are unworthy sinners. We don't deserve to have communion with our Savior. We don't deserve to have communion with God's people. But in the second place, we must see in ourselves a faith that believes God has nevertheless provided that we would have a place of fellowship with God's people, that we would have a place especially that we would fellowship with God himself. And then to see in ourselves in the third place that we are thankful for what God has provided. The wedding hall will surely be filled There's no question God will fill his wedding hall, but if we want a place at that marriage feast, we must have something that we ourselves cannot provide for ourselves, and that is pictured in the white robes of which our parable speaks. We need the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. We need that righteousness to be imputed to us if we want to have a place at that wedding feast. This parable that Jesus spoke occurred after Jesus had cleansed the temple on that Sunday before Jesus was crucified. After Jesus cleansed the temple, the Jewish leaders questioned him. They questioned Jesus' authority. What is it that gives you the authority to do these things? And in response, Jesus told three parables. This parable is one of those parables that was directed against the Jewish leaders. The parable, not surprisingly then, gives a picture of the rejection of Jesus Christ by those Jewish leaders. But at the same time, it gives us a beautiful picture of the white robes that God himself provides us, those white robes that represent the righteousness of Christ, on which basis, on the basis of that perfect righteousness, God gives to you and to me a place at that wedding feast. So we want to see those pictures or that picture today under the theme the king's marriage feast. Let's note in the first place the king's bidding to the feast, secondly the gracious gathering to that feast, and lastly the provided clothing. The king's marriage feast. God calls He calls you and he calls me to come and enjoy that glorious marriage feast between Christ and his bride. The parable points to that feast when it refers to that great marriage, the marriage of the son of the king. And of course, the feast, as it looks forward to the marriage, is a celebration of communion. The marriage of Christ and His church, as all marriages on earth ought to reflect, that marriage of Christ and His church is not simply living under the same roof, each seeking our own self-interest. That's not marriage. A marriage is not a negotiated contract in which a husband says, I will give this much, and my wife has to give me that much in return, and the wife says, I will give this much, and my husband has to give me that much in return. That's not marriage. A marriage is about communion and fellowship. And so by using that picture, God helps us to understand something of the marriage of Christ and his people. A marriage that finds expression in selfless love. Think about the love of Jesus Christ for his church, how he gave himself for his church. That's what marriage is, husband and wife giving ourselves in selfless love. to one another. So this wedding feast of Christ and the church celebrates that communion, that covenant communion between Christ and his church. And you find then, not surprisingly, beautiful language in scripture that shows the marriage. What is that marriage all about? In Revelation chapter 19, verse 7 through 9, We read this about the marriage. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto me, write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb. That's the feast. that God calls us to, to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And you find that in the parable, the king sends out his servants in order to call them that were bidden. That's the call of the gospel. When the king sends out his servants, he sends them out to direct that call to all those in the city in the first place, that call of the gospel is a call to come to Christ and to believe in Jesus Christ for all of our salvation. To come to Christ is to believe To come to Christ is to believe all that God says concerning Jesus Christ. It is to believe what God says concerning our need of Christ. How can somebody come to Christ unless we first see our need of Christ? Nobody will come to Christ unless we first see that misery To come to Christ is to see our misery. And then in repentance to come to Christ means to believe that Christ has provided mercy to his people. That Christ is our salvation. To come to Christ is to believe then that all of our salvation is provided by Jesus Christ. And then to come to Christ is to know the thankfulness that we owe for such deliverance. Coming to Christ includes all of those things. They all go together. You can't have somebody coming to Christ without knowing our misery, and neither can you have someone thankful to Christ and thankful to God unless we see our salvation in Christ. All of those things we must know in order to live and die happily. The call to the Lord's Supper is a call for you and for me to testify of those same truths. So that when you examine yourselves this week, it is examining those truths of the gospel that are reflected and show are reflected in that picture of the marriage feast. When you come to the supper, essentially you are confessing, I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. But now thinking of that marriage feast, the call of the king, which is the call of the gospel, is not just an invitation. The king did not send his servants out to the people simply to invite them in a sense of saying to them we are having a wonderful celebration and if you have time and if you would like you are welcome to come to this glorious feast but if you don't want to that's fine that's not the call of the gospel but rather When the king sends his servants, he sends his servants on his authority. The king sends the servants to go out and command the people to come. The call comes with the authority of the king. It's not a mere invitation. It's a command. And that's evident from scripture as well, that this call is in fact a summons. It's summoning the people, commanding them to come. And so we find, for example, in Acts 17 verse 30, God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. That's the gospel call, not a mere invitation. But that's reflected in the Lord's Supper too. When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, he didn't say, if you want to partake of the Lord's Supper, that's all fine, but if you don't want to, that's okay as well. Now Jesus said this, do. Do this, that's a command. So that all who are able to examine themselves and see that we believe in Jesus Christ for all of our salvation, all are commanded to come. So we wait for young people till understanding the gospel and saying, this is what I believe. When you young people are able to examine yourselves, having gone through instruction, hearing what the gospel teaches and being able to say, yes, this is what I believe, then Christ says, this do. Don't wait till you're 30 or 40 years old But being able to examine yourselves, young people, Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me. By nature, you and I would never heed that call. By nature, apart from God's grace, we would do just like Many did in the parable. When the call would come, we would say like they did in the parable, or we would do like they did. We would refuse. Jesus says, when the servants went out, verse three, sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come. And the idea is they deliberately refused to come. They despised the idea of coming. And the text brings out the wickedness of that. It wasn't that they wanted to come, but they just didn't have time or they weren't able to come. They wanted to come, but Something kept them from coming, not at all. So we read in verses four and five, again. So after sending the servants to call them the first time, now we find that the king sends the servants out again. 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. Come unto 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. You see, they had no concern to obey the king's summons. They made light of it. Why no concern? Here the king called them to the wedding. Why were they not concerned to go to this glorious wedding feast? Because they thought they had something more important to do. They wanted to serve themselves. instead of going to that glorious wedding feast. It was all so that they could seek their own self-interests. And so you find one goes to his farm. And it's not, of course, condemning farming in any way, shape, or form. But that was his excuse. I have farm work to do. I can't come to the feast. And another went to his merchandise. He went to his business so that he could buy and sell and get gain for himself. I'm too busy with my store. I don't have time to come to the wedding feast. I don't have time for all that religious stuff. is what somebody might say today. They did not want to come because they saw that going to the wedding feast would get in the way of their own self-interests. I have places to go and things to do, I don't have time for a wedding feast. Utterly selfish. And not only did those show their utter selfishness, the others who remained, so these left one to their farm, another to their business. The others who remained who were not so busy they were able to show their hatred in another way. They despised the servants. They took his servants and treated them spitefully and slew them. But there really was no difference between those two. There was no difference between those who were selfish and those who entreated the servant spitefully. There was no difference. They both hated the king and they hated his son. That's a picture, beloved, of the wicked Jews. The picture of the Jews that hated Jesus Christ and who would not, who refused to come to the wedding feast. What's striking that Jesus, as he told this parable, at that very moment the Jews were showing their hatred of Jesus Christ. This parable was spoken after the Jews in anger questioned Jesus about what he had done in the temple. And such is our natural hatred. Natural hatred of God. The natural hatred of God's righteousness. Such is our natural hatred that apart from the grace of God, we would do the same thing. Apart from the grace of God, we would say, I will not come to the wedding feast. I have things to do to serve myself. I want nothing to do with that marriage feast of the lamb. And so by nature, the way we are apart from grace, we all deserve to be cast out of God's presence. We all deserve to be punished for our rebellion. And so you find in the parable that the king, when he hears that rejection, those who refuse to come to the wedding feast, the king sends out his armies. And those armies destroyed the dwellers in that city. A right examination of ourselves will include that truth. We will see that in ourselves, apart from the grace of God, we deserve to be cast into outer darkness. We are miserable in ourselves. And yet the marriage hall will be filled. Though there are those who reject that call, God will fill every spot in that marriage hall. And does that not emphasize the grace of God? The grace of God that gathers all of his elect and brings every single one of his elect to that marriage feast without fail? We see that reflected in the parable. The king, in spite of the fact that many rejected the call The king insisted on filling that wedding hall. So he sends his servants out into the highways, out into the countryside, to those who were deemed, in the world's eyes, less respectable, less privileged. And he tells his servants, bid as many as ye shall find Proclaim the gospel to whomever you are able without distinction of good or bad. Verse 10 speaks of that. Gather together as many as they found, both bad and good. And so is the gospel call. God says to his servants, proclaim that gospel far and wide without distinction. Some may be considered more respectable. Some will be considered in the world's eyes less respectable. Some will be considered awful in themselves, absolutely disrespectable, if that's a word. but the gospel call comes to them all. You see, it makes no difference how great our sins are when God calls to the wedding feast. He will have and commands all to come and celebrate The marriage feast of Christ and his bride. Which bride he makes beautiful. The bridegroom makes the bride beautiful. So that no one may say, but my sins are too great. How could I ever come to that marriage feast? I would like to come. But my sins are too great. The call comes to all. And the call is to come. And God is determined to fill all the spaces at his son's wedding feast. Why did the first ones refuse and why is it that others Heeded the call that was sent. Well, on the surface, we point to that first of all, on the surface, you could point to their pride and hatred. Those who received the call in their pride felt they had more important things to do. than to attend the wedding feast of the king. And indeed, that agenda, going to the wedding feast, would spoil their own agenda, would get in the way of their own agenda. And they found that burdensome. They did not want to burden themselves with such a feast to which they were called. The Jewish leaders in Jesus' day were reflected in the parable. They reacted to Jesus' call, his command to come. And so too do many today. They hear that command to come and they refuse. They will not come because it gets in the way of their own selfishness. In pride and hatred, they refuse, they reject the call to come to the wedding feast. So that on the surface, their pride and their selfishness. What about the others who did come? Well, those who did come, you could point to their attitudes in the first place. On the surface, those who did come thought to themselves, what a great privilege, the king, is inviting me to the wedding feast. How could I distract myself with all these other things? Of course, I must go to the wedding feast. And I want to commune with the king and I want to commune with the king's people. What a great privilege. What a great privilege. to be with God's people and commune with them. And especially what a great privilege to have fellowship with our God. So on the surface, where someone places their priorities will determine where and how they react to that call of the gospel. Some, it gets in the way of their selfishness, and others say, how could I not come to the feast? They see the great privilege. But the deepest reason, that's on the surface what we just pointed to, the deepest reason why any of us would heed the call to come to the wedding feast is found in God's electing and saving grace. That's the only reason we see God's grace manifested in the parable, in sending out his servants, going out into the highways, to bring in even the insignificant ones into the feast. The servants don't go out and find those who are better and say, find all those who are more worthy and bring them to the feast. That's not what the servants are commanded to do. God doesn't save those who are better. God saves sinners. God saves those who by nature were spiritually dead. That was us. Before God gave to us life, we were absolutely dead. God's grace. that flows out of his election is the deepest reason why you and I would ever come to the feast. Jesus brings that out in the end of the parable in verse 14, when he says, for many are called, but few are chosen. He's pointing to election. Few are chosen. Only those chosen by God in eternity will heed that call. And the reason we heed that call is because of the work of God himself. So that according to God's grace, God not only addresses that call to us, but He also makes that call penetrate into our hearts. And when that call, by His grace as the Holy Spirit, applies that to our hearts, then we heed the call. the irresistible grace of God. And that's brought out in the idea of the servants gathering. There's an active gathering into the wedding feast. God gathers his people. He actively works in us. and draws us to himself, so that we come to the wedding feast. That's verse 10. So the 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. You see how God draws us to himself so that we see the great privilege? And as God draws us, we are willing, we want to come to the wedding feast. Well, since it is all of grace, it must be that the king provides everything that is necessary for us to come to that wedding feast. We find that in the parable. The king apparently, although we're not told all the details, apparently the king provided wedding garments for all of the attendees. And as the king was going up and down the aisles, he came upon one man who didn't have a wedding garment. And the king asked that man, friend, how camest thou in hither without or not having a wedding garment? That implies that the king had provided all the others with a wedding garment. Somehow this one who pretended to be a friend, but was not in fact a friend, somehow he had made it in. And this man was speechless. The man did not answer the king and say, well, I tried to get a wedding garment. I knew I needed a wedding garment and I could not obtain one. That's not at all his answer. The man was speechless because he knew that he had refused the wedding garment that the king had provided at the door. As they were coming in, the king provided to all those who came, he gave them those white robes. And this man didn't think he needed one. This man liked his own clothing. And in fact, by saying or thinking to himself that his own clothing was good enough, he was saying, I don't want those robes. I don't want those wedding garments. He despised the garments that the king himself had provided That was a picture of the Jews. The Jews whom Jesus addressed in the parable thought that their own righteousness was good enough to get them into the kingdom. They thought that they could merit by their own good works an entrance into the kingdom. And many today imagine that they are good enough. to enter glory on their own merits. They're rejecting the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. They're saying, I don't need those robes. I'm good enough in myself. How did the king respond to that man? that speechless man, speechless because he had no excuse. Verse 13, the king says, bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's what it will be like for anybody who thinks to themselves, I am good enough. I can make it into that wedding feast with my own good works. Whoever has no wedding garment, whoever is not clothed with those beautiful, perfectly white robes that are provided by the king, will not be allowed into the feast. Worse, they will be cast into outer darkness, the darkness and torments of hell on the judgment day. But implied then is that God provides those wedding garments He provides just the robes we need in order to have a place at the wedding feast of Christ and his church. Those robes that point to the righteousness of Christ. Because in ourselves, beloved, we are filthy. We think that our clothing is clean. until you compare it to that perfect righteousness of Christ. We are naked in our sin and deserving God's wrath. The very best work, and we could cart out in front of others the very best work that we could imagine, and it falls so far short in zeal It's stained by wrong motives. That very best work deserves to be judged by God. We need the perfect robes of Jesus Christ washed. We need to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ so that that blood covers us over and God sees us. in Christ and sees us then as whiter than snow. But now having that righteousness, when we know that God provides those robes, Then we mustn't be ashamed to come to the wedding feast. Then if we're a guest at that wedding feast, we don't need to cower and think to ourselves, here comes the king, he's going to see that I'm not a perfect person. But rather we will have the confidence, we will say, I have the robes that he has provided, I have a place here. And so he says, to all who have those white robes, the righteousness of Christ, come to the feast. And all who have that and know that we have those perfectly white robes of Christ's righteousness, you belong at the Lord's table, that table that celebrates the marriage of Christ. and his bride then come and rejoice in that salvation amen this time we'll turn in the back of our psalters to page 91 or some of the psalters page 136 I think most of them would be page 91 to the form for the administration of the Lord's Supper. We'll read the preparatory section. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, attend to the words of the institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ as they are delivered by the Holy Apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23 through 29. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. When he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me, After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. That we may now celebrate the supper of the Lord to our comfort, It is above all things necessary, first, rightly to examine ourselves, secondly, to direct it to that end for which Christ hath ordained and instituted the same, namely to his remembrance. The true examination of ourselves consists of these three parts. First, that everyone consider by himself his sins and the curse due to him for them, to the end that he may abhor and humble himself before God, considering that the wrath of God against sin is so great that, rather than it should go unpunished, he hath punished the same in his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, with the bitter and shameful death of the cross." Let everyone examine his own heart, whether he doth believe this faithful promise of God, that all his sins are forgiven him only for the sake of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, and that the perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed and freely given him as his own, so perfectly as if he had satisfied in his own person for all his sins and fulfilled all righteousness. Thirdly, Let everyone examine his own conscience, whether he purposeth henceforth to show true thankfulness to God in his whole life, and to walk uprightly before him, as also whether he hath laid aside unfeignedly all enmity, hatred, and envy, and doth firmly resolve henceforward to walk in true love and peace with his neighbor. All those then who are thus disposed God will certainly receive in mercy and count them worthy partakers of the table of his son Jesus Christ. On the contrary those who do not feel this testimony in their hearts eat and drink judgment to themselves Therefore, we also, according to the command of Christ and the Apostle Paul, admonish all those who are defiled with the following sins to keep themselves from the table of the Lord and declare to them that they have no part in the kingdom of Christ, such as all idolaters, all those who invoke deceased saints, angels, or other creatures, all those who worship images, all enchanters, diviners, charmers, and those who confide in such enchantments, all despisers of God and of his word and of the holy sacraments, all blasphemers, all those who are given to raise discord, sex, mutiny in church or state, all perjured persons, all those who are disobedient to their parents and superiors, All murderers, contentious persons, and those who live in hatred and envy against their neighbors, all adulterers, whoremongers, drunkards, thieves, users, robbers, gamesters, covetous, and all who lead offensive lives. All these, while they continue in such sins, shall abstain from this meat, which Christ hath ordained only for the faithful, lest their judgment and condemnation be made the heavier. But this is not designed, dearly beloved brethren and sisters in the Lord, to deject the contrite hearts of the faithful, as if none might come to the supper of the Lord but those who are without sin. For we do not come to this supper to testify thereby that we are perfect and righteous in ourselves, But on the contrary, considering that we seek our life out of ourselves in Jesus Christ, we acknowledge that we lie in the midst of death. Therefore, notwithstanding we feel many infirmities and miseries in ourselves, as namely that we have not perfect faith, and that we do not give ourselves to serve God with that zeal as we are bound, but have daily to strive with the weakness of our faith and the evil lust of our flesh. Yet, since we are by the grace of the Holy Spirit sorry for these weaknesses and earnestly desire us to fight against our unbelief and to live according to all the commandments of God, Therefore we rest assured that no sin or infirmity which still remaineth against our will in us can hinder us from being received of God in mercy and from being made worthy partakers of this heavenly meat and drink. That far we read in the form, let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, We give thee thanks for our gracious salvation. We thank thee that thou hast looked upon us, miserable creatures in ourselves, and thou dost call us to the marriage feast of Christ and his bride. And thou dost provide us with that perfect righteousness that we need Father, grant to us that we may ever rejoice in thy provision of salvation and live in thankfulness for what thou hast done. Give to us grace as we examine ourselves. May we see in ourselves a true and living faith. And then. May thy people come. To the supper that doubt us provide and may we rejoice. In that gracious salvation in Jesus Christ. Bless us in this coming week. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.