Please remain standing. Children who attend Children's Church, if you would go into the back corner, and you'll be led there, and you'll be back in time before the service is over. Everybody else, let's open our Bibles. We are back in the Gospel of Matthew. So we are in Matthew chapter 22. Somebody get the lights, please. So we're in Matthew chapter 22. We're gonna read verses one through verse 14 of Matthew 22. This is God's word. And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and he 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 have prepared my dinner, my oxen and 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, treated 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 invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you can find. And those servants went out into the woods and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad. So the wedding hall was filled with guests, but when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there was a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, friend, how did 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 gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. Let's pray. Father, as we consider such a sobering parable that Jesus taught, not only the disciples, but the Pharisees and ultimately us, we pray God that you would help us to understand the significance, that we would see how important, how vitally important it is to accept you, to embrace you, and to not reject your invitation. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. How many of you have been invited to a wedding? Wedding invites. Did you feel honored to get the invite? Have you ever invited people to your own wedding or a family member's wedding? Was it difficult to trim down the invite list? Wedding invitations, they are big business in today's world. Not just the invite, but the save the date. So the pre-invitation invitation. So hey, we're getting married, it's gonna be on this day. This is not the real invitation, this is just so you don't have your schedule booked at that time. A little bit later we'll be sending a more formal invitation that'll have like an RSVP and do you want the chicken or the beef with regards to the wedding? It's not just big business though, I think it's stressful. It's hard to trim down the invitation list. You can't invite everybody, so you gotta be selective. And being selective, you know there's potential that feelings are gonna be hurt, that people are gonna be offended that they did not make the list. But since you don't have a giant venue and you don't have millions of dollars, some people are just not gonna make the cut. And I think the invitation, though, is, in some sense, a sign of the significance and importance you are to the ones who invited you. For the invitation's really a privilege, it's an honor that they have a special day coming, and they want you to participate and to be a part of their special day. Well, we have been invited to a wedding feast of the Lamb. This choice event, it's a must attend, but not everyone who gets the invite is gonna be able to stay. They must be properly clothed for this event, and that's what we're gonna consider today. Today's parable is ultimately about God's invitation and us accepting it as we put on Jesus Christ. And it's a warning to those who continue to reject him. Don't wait until it's too late. So if you're taking notes, we're gonna look at two aspects of this upcoming wedding celebration. Number one, we're gonna look at the wedding invitation. We're gonna see a gracious king who patiently endures his subjects and calls them to join him for this feast. But then secondly, we're gonna look at the wedding hall. the wedding hall, we're going to see that it's filled with attendees, but not everyone gets to stay. So let's pick up at chapter 22, verse 1, as we see the wedding invitation. As I mentioned last week for Easter, we took a time away and went to John. So I think it's important for us to set the context. to give us a brief recap of where we are in Matthew. And the previous two parables that we looked at in Matthew were just prior to this chapter. And those parables are very similar. At one point, Andy and I even had it set up where we would have preached all three parables as one cohesive unit, The overall significance is very similar, but it just felt like there was too much there to put it into one sermon. So it's going to be similar to what we talked about a couple weeks ago. There's an emphasis both in the two sons in the last sermon, where the son, one son said, hey, I'll go do the work and doesn't do it. The one said, I'm not going to go do the work, and then he does do it. And then we saw the tenants of the field, that they had been entrusted to take care of the land, The owner wanted to get some fruit from that and he ends up being rejected by the tenants. Not only rejected, his servants are killed, murdered, the son is murdered. It's really a focus on the Jews and their consistent rejection of Jesus Christ. So as we look at the wedding invitation, let's first see the king reaching out. The king reaching out. It says, and again, Jesus spoke to them in parables saying, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again, he sent other servants. What we see in this parable is really a highlighting of the patience of the king who is inviting his subjects. What we're reading would have shocked the first century listeners. Why? Because twofold. One, it would have been an amazing privilege and an honor that the king was personally inviting them to participate in his son's So that would have been the one aspect. Secondly, there would have been a shock because you don't say no to the king. That there would have been fear of consequences, grave consequences, maybe even life-altering as far as your life would be taken for saying no to the king. So this parable is so perplexing to the original reader because nobody turns down the invitation to the king. The king is overly patient with these subjects. I think we've all have probably encountered a scenario and a situation where somebody kept getting second chances. And what second chances meant were like third, fourth, fifth, sixth. There just never seemed to be consequences. I know back in the secular work days for me, I would work with coworkers that maybe would keep messing up And rather than get fired, rather than get demoted, they kept getting second chances. For some of you in school, maybe there's a student that continues to mess up, continues to have problems, and the teachers and the administration, they just keep giving the kids second and third and fourth chances. Or maybe it's in a home context where you're a child and maybe your sibling is the one that just keeps on messing up and they get so many chances and it seems unfair. This is the third invitation, listen to what he said. He sends his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast. So they had already been invited to the wedding feast, now he sends his servants to call them. So that's like the second invitation. They end up rejecting and then at verse four he sends servants again. So three invitations by the king to come to this feast and three rejections by the people to the king. But isn't that most of our stories? That God and his grace and mercy and infinite patience with you put up with you as you consistently rejected him until maybe at some point then you came to know Christ. Because I know there was years in my life in my own testimony where I kept rejecting the call of Christ. I heard it, but it just, in God's providence, my eyes had not seen it, my heart had not understood it, my mind couldn't firmly grasp it, and I kept on rejecting, and God kept on patiently pursuing me. And that's our stories. We need to realize that, we need to recognize that. Second Peter 3.8, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. So I think it's vitally important that we are aware of that, that we have an accurate representation of our history, that God was patient with you. And he's even patient now as a believer as we stumble and fall and don't always honor and don't always obey, but our story is a patient king who kept pursuing, kept on inviting us as we kept saying, no, thank you, I don't need you. How patient was God in your story? How patient is he with you today? We see not only the patience of the king, notice it highlights the plenty of the wedding feasts. He says, again, he sent other servants saying, tell those who are invited, see I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready, come to the wedding feasts. As we mentioned, going to the king's feast would have been an honor and it would have been a privilege. Revelation 19, nine, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. I mean, because the reality is the king is royalty, we're not royalty. So we're unworthy. Psalm eight, verse four, what is man that you are mindful of him? and the son's a man that you care for him, yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. And notice not only that they're privileged, notice the promises made that they are going to get to feast, the king sells the feast to them. We used to do back in the day when we were a lot smaller as a church, we would consistently do potlucks. We'd get together, people would bring dishes, And there was a couple dishes that I looked forward to. Like, I didn't even want to, now most of the time I went to the thing because I was the lead pastor, so I couldn't bail on the potluck. But Ben Bryan, he used to play, he was Ryan's backup for music. He had this bean, like this dip for like tortilla chips. We've duplicated it since he's left, my wife. But like, man, I would like, even on Sunday morning I'd be like, hey, you bring in your stuff. And there was like one week, he's like, I wasn't able to. I'm like, I went up, I'm like, we're canceling the potluck today. You can blame that guy right there. The other one was Nicole. She made the dirt pudding. And it was, I loved it. And I remember the one day I got, this sounds terrible, I got stuck talking to people, some of y'all. And I got over to the table and it was empty. Like, I licked the bowl at that point, but I was so frustrated. Like, Jesus, listen to what he's saying. The king is selling this feast. It is going to be, you're gonna have food galore. There's oxen, fat calves, slaughter, everything is ready. Come to the feast. Isn't that the reality of us in Christ? That we get to feast. Ephesians 1.3, blesses the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. I think we, one, we don't understand the current partial fulfillment of that reality in our day to day. I think we have this tendency to look at our lives as what we don't have than rather than what we do. They have a nicer car, they have a nicer house, they have more kids, they have this, they have that. And we just are constantly comparing and looking and not appreciating that we are even right now participating in the feast of the Lord as far as all the blessings that we have in Christ. But then also a looking forward, a looking ahead of what awaits us in eternity. My uncle was buried yesterday. He was a strong believer the last 10 to 15 years. and like even right now, he's getting to feast with the Lord. Now it's not the final when Christ returns in glory and everything, but when he died, he immediately, his soul went to be in the presence of the Lord and he gets to get a foretaste of the ultimate feasting with Christ. Well, do you grasp the privilege and the plenty of Jesus? Do you long for and anticipate the future and are you appreciating the presence that you have right now with Christ, so we see the kings reaching out, but then notice the subjects rejecting. Verse five, it says, 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. Notice, first of all, their contempt. Three rejections, as I said, in total to the invitation. And this parable is really, we need to understand, this is a rebuke on the Jews. Not just them only, but it's definitely a rebuke on the Jews and the religious leaders. Matthew 21, 45, the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. Ding, ding, ding, ding, you're right. He is 100% speaking about them. Notice the two responses though. There's apathy and there's aggression. The apathy is total indifference to the invite. They're busy, they got work to do, they just don't care. I remember one time I saw somebody at a store. I waved at them and they completely ignored me. And I was like, okay, they probably didn't see me. So I saw them like a day or two later. I was like, hey, I saw you at the store. I waved at you and like, I know. I was like, ouch. I was like, I just wanted you to know that I saw you. Thank you. Awkward. That, I mean, they're invited and there's this complete apathy. They're like, we're busy. I gotta go to the farm. I gotta go to business. I just don't care. And I would say that is the common response. to the gospel today. Jesus doesn't fit in the busyness of everybody's life. I've got school events, and I've got work, and I've got recreation, and I'm watching this game, and I've got this. Part of the reason, and this is not a critique of other churches, but one of the problems now where we've expanded the number of services we have as churches in the weekends for our people is it creates a culture where you fit Jesus into your schedule. Where it's like, it'll work, I can cram him in between here and here like a dentist appointment or going to get your taxes done. And so we see this apathy towards Christ, but not only apathy, we see aggression. We saw in the previous parable with the tenants, they kill the messengers, they kill the son, and once again, there's this murderous rejection. And isn't that what happened throughout the history with the Israelites? They would often kill the prophets. John 1 11 says he came to his own and his own people did not receive him, so they rejected John, they rejected Jesus, and they killed him. I think the scriptures are very clear, there's gonna be a hatred towards the church and the gospel. And we see this play itself out in this parable. It should be no surprise for us that we are not well embraced by the world. And I know you don't wanna hear that. I know we wanna have that proverbial have your cake and eat it too. We want to be faithful to the gospel and we want an unbelieving world to say we love you. Those things are just realistically apart from a time of awakening and revival will not happen. And when that happens, the world will then become repentant. So the only reason they're gonna be loving us in the church is because God is converting them and transforming their heart. Because here's the deal, an unbelieving person, at the end of the day, we are the aroma of death to them. So there is an offensiveness, there is something that just severely bothers them because their hearts are not right with Christ. And you and I are the reminder of that in their interactions with us and the church. Well, do you hold Jesus in contempt today? I'm under no assumption that everybody here has embraced Jesus. Some of you are in that state of apathy. Others, now probably less of you, have a state of aggression towards Christ because most of the time if you have the aggression towards Christ, you're not at church on a Sunday morning. Are you surprised by this opposition? But not only do we see the contempt, we see the consequences. It says the king was angry and he sent his troops and he destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Again, there's an emphasis on the ramifications for rejecting Jesus. If you remember the Tenet parable, Matthew 21, 41, he will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give them the fruits in their season. The apathy and aggression, the indifference and the hostility towards Christ in the end will result in the wrath of the king. That there is a point where the king's patience will come to an end. We see this sometimes with a pet. You'll see a dog that gets tormented again and again and again, and then at some point, that dog loses its patience, loses its cool, and then it bites an owner or a child Same is true where a bully, you'll have that bully that day in and day out keeps picking on a kid over and over and there's that point, there's that trigger where eventually the bullied kid says I'm done. And sometimes that can be catastrophic what ends up happening as a result of that. Now God isn't a dog, God isn't being bullied, but the point is and we don't like to hear this, there is a point where God's patience will run out. I mean, at the end of the day, God's patience runs out when you die, because at that point it's too late, and there will be a point in history where Christ will return in glory and it'll be all over. Luke 19.41, and this is definitely an allusion to the Jews and to Jerusalem. He drew near and he saw the city, the city that is in the parable being burnt to the ground. He wept over it saying, would that you, even you had known on this day the things that make for peace. Translation, if you had only known me and who I am. But now they are hidden from your eyes for the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. He will tear you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another. He's talking about the temple because you did not know the time of your visitation. Are you presuming the grace and mercy of God today? You assume there'll never be consequences for your actions. You presume that God is just gonna keep on being patient. You have no idea when your last breath is going to be taken. So it is a very costly assumption on your part to keep putting off something for tomorrow that most certainly should be done today. So we see the wedding invitation. King is reaching out, subject's rejecting. Let's look at the wedding hall. We start seeing the wedding invite expands, it's larger in scope, but the same problem happens. There are some who are unfit, some who are still rejecting Jesus. Well, you need to have the proper attire, verse eight. Then he said to his servants, the wedding feast is ready, but those invited were 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 good and bad and good, so the wedding hall was full. filled with guests. Notice the expanded call. The initial invite, it seemed to be to one city with the subjects. It was limited to there, but now this go around, he's saying, I want you to go out near and far and just invite everybody. It's the idea that we often see with like an open invite. My daughter graduated last year, so we did a graduation party. I was like, I know the name of that. We did a grad party, we ended up doing it at our house. It was an overwhelming thing. We had to limit how many people we invited, because we had to provide food and all of that stuff. When my son graduates next year, he's like, hey, FYI, I want an open invite. He's like, specifically with the church, he's like, you can invite everybody in the church. And I was like, that's why. He's like, it would be cool having a lot of people. I was like, plus, the more people come, I might get more, you know, He's smart. And I said, you realize I have to feed these people. He's like, it doesn't cost that much. It costs that much. But there's that open invite idea here. It's like the gospel, it's going out, it's big. I think there should be an encouragement there. We see the hall is filled. The new guest list is clearly based on what we've read in the last two chapter is implying Gentile inclusion. Matthew 21, 43, I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. Now it doesn't mean that there will be no Jews as a part of this new round of invitations, but the emphasis seems to be more global at Matthew 28. all authority on heaven and earth has been given me, the great commission, go and make disciples of what nations? All nations, Acts 1-8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Jenea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. And so we see in this parable that kind of global gospel commission. Colossians 3.11, there's neither Jew nor Greek, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all in, in all. So it doesn't mean the gospel is not relevant to the Jews. It's another rebuke on their rejection, but the end of the day that the gospel kingdom is grand and global in nature. Why are you being a witness to that? Are you ultimately the fulfillment of this call? Are you grateful that you have been invited? Because not only is it an expanded call, there's expected clothing. And he goes on to verse 10. And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw that there was a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, friend, how'd you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Notice that there was an expected clothing, an expected attire that he had to be wearing. Now it says the hall was filled with the bad and good. We need to make a distinction. What it's not saying is there were bad people and good people there. And the good people were allowed to be there. The good people were the ones that were gonna get to stay. That would be a complete distortion of everything else we read in the Gospel. Romans says there's no one who's good. No, not one. Galatians 2.6, he's talking about people being influential, and he says, from those who seemed to be influential, those I say who seemed influential added nothing to me. So it's that same line, those who seemed good were there, those who seemed bad were there. God knows the heart, but the emphasis is that there's this one person there who gets caught off guard. He doesn't have the right attire. There was a restaurant back in Canton, Ohio, the area I'm from, that we would go to sometimes for various events. It was called Bear Creek. It was a steakhouse, really good steak. But the thing I always remembered was something that was hanging. from the ceiling in Bear Creek Steakhouse, ties. If you went there with a tie, they would cut your tie off. You were not allowed, for real, I'm not even joking, it was fascinating. And 10-year-old Joe was not wearing ties, so I never lost a tie there. I wanted to wear a tie. I was like, mom, can I wear a tie so they can cut it off? We're not wasting a tie so you can experience this. Yeah, there was, because they were dressed in properly. And what he's saying here, at the end of the day, when we get to the wedding feast, we better sure have on the proper attire. And ultimately, what is that proper attire? It's Jesus Christ. It's his righteousness. Galatians 3.27, for as many of you were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Because whatever happened, we don't know how the details of the wedding feast, but it seems like when they arrived at the feast, they were given the attire, they were given the garment that they had to wear. And everybody had worn it, and for whatever reason, this gentleman said, no thanks, I don't need it, I'm good to go, I kinda like my current clothing, I am set. But then when push comes to shove and he gets put in this predicament, he's speechless because he knows I'm not dressed properly. And that's part of the reality even in the church today. Just because you were in church doesn't mean you're a part of the church, do you understand? You can be a member, and we try so hard as elders to minimize baptizing somebody that's not a believer, or having somebody, that's why we go through testimonies and we do a lot of work, but at the end of the day, Andy and the other elders and I, we do not have access to the Lamb's Book of Life. We do not get to look and see your name like, okay, he is a believer, we're good. So we're kind of putting our faith and trust ultimately in your profession of faith and in God that he's working. But the end of the day, just because you come to church, just because you're religious doesn't mean that you're a follower of Christ. You have to be clothed with Christ. Revelation 19, seven, let us rejoice and exalt and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride made herself ready. It was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. for their fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And that linen that we're wearing ultimately is Christ in and through us. It means that a believer is somebody whose life is resting in Jesus Christ. a life that also has fruit in it, a life of repentance and evidence. Not that we're saved by our works, but faith without works is dead. The Jews didn't have the works, remember? They were that fig tree we looked at a few weeks back. Had all the leaves, looked good, but once you looked beneath the leaves, there was no fruit. They were imposters. Why are you wearing his righteousness today? Are you resting in your own deeds? Do you see the need for help outside of self? So not only do we see the need for proper attire, we need to know that punishment awaits. 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 gnashing of teeth. Notice that there is a real hell he speaks of. That there is a severe consequence for the wrong attire. a severe ramification for rejecting the invitation from the king, and that is wrath and condemnation. Who here, we'll see how bold y'all are. Who here believes in UFOs? Raise your hand. Got some UFO believers. How about Bigfoot? Bigfoot. How about his cousin, Yeti? Well, according to Doritos, they both are close friends, because there's a duo Dorito commercial I saw yesterday watching a sporting event, and Bigfoot and Yeti were playing in fields. How about Flat Earth? How about the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy? How about Hell? I say that because I really believe we as professing Christians, and no attack on anybody that believes in some of those other things that I just mentioned. You do you. We put hell on par as this kind of like, It seems outdated. I mean, my God is a loving, gracious God. Would he really punish somebody for eternity in hell? Well, there is very few subjects that Jesus spoke more of in his brief time here on the earth than hell, because it's real. I mean, we need, and I know this isn't the most joyful, this isn't like the hallmark moment this morning of like joy, and we're not gonna end on the negative aspect of hell, but man, I feel compelled to press into all of you to have a very firm belief in hell and how it should impact you in your life today. Matthew 8-11, I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13-41, the son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and they will throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, that is a real place that people will really go. How that all plays itself out now for those who have already died, just as a believer goes immediately into the presence of the Lord. The unbeliever goes away from the Lord. Now how that all flushes itself out until the end and what will life look differently for the person who died yesterday as opposed to when the final consummation. I can't give you complete details, but whatever they're experiencing now is the opposite of what our believers who have died are experiencing in the presence of God. And it is awful, it is horrible, and it is, please hear this, it is real. It's real. So there is unbelievers who died in the last hour who are now separated from God for all eternity. We gotta get that on our minds, friends. It should compel us, it should grip us, it should move us. That you're gonna go to the grocery store today or out for lunch and you're gonna be amongst people that right now, if they died, this is their future trajectory. You're gonna live in neighborhoods where you're gonna look down the street and two doors down, guess what? They don't know Jesus and right now, that is where they're headed. This has got to impact us. It can't be the apathy that we see on the invitation here, because Romans 10 speaks of it, how beautiful are the feet who bring good news. And if you and I, the professing followers of Jesus Christ, are not telling the hellbound about Jesus, about their hope, then who is? Because there's gonna be a real hell. Would you believe that? Is it evident in how you live? But not only is there a real hell, there's real hope. Look at verse 14. But it says, for many are called, but few are chosen. You see, the reality is the gospel call goes out. Many a people will hear the gospel shared, but not as many will end up embracing Jesus. Matthew 7, 13, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few. Many people will reject the invitation. Some it will be apathy, some will be aggression, some will be self-sufficient. Some might even masquerade like they're accepting and embracing the call, but they're really not, as they kind of coexist in the life of the local church. And I think we could hear that, and we could be discouraged by that. So you mean to tell me as I go out and tell people about Jesus, it seems like a vast majority of the time a lot of people are gonna say no and reject. That doesn't seem too optimistic for me. But I think it comes down to that whole idea, the half cup, is the cup half full or half empty? I think a lot of times we hear stuff like this and we're looking at the cup as half empty, this is miserable, but I wanna challenge you, I wanna encourage you to look at the cup as half full, why? Because though many are called the few, there's still those that are chosen. In other words, God will redeem people. And you and I, as followers of Jesus Christ, we're part of that testimony, and praise the Lord. And it's something that he did, because the language here is electing love language. Ephesians 1.4, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. That God, here's the good news, here is the optimism, here is the cup. I wouldn't even say half full, it's pretty much fully filled. It's kind of overflowing. He's going to save and redeem a people. And you and I who follow Jesus today are a glimpse of that reality. That God's sovereign hand is going to get us into the wedding feast. Philippians says, I'm confident of this, that he who began a good work will carry it on to completion. that salvation is the gift and the work of God. And he is the one that clothes us in the righteousness of his son. The reason that we get to go to the feast, the reason we get to stay in the feast, and the reason we get to be forever at the feast is because of Jesus and God's work in our life. It's not because you're better. It's not because you're more righteous. It's not because you've done this and that. It's because we're trusting in Christ. Well, can you testify to that? Do you celebrate God's saving of you? Are you awed? by the grace and mercy of the Lord and Jesus Christ, that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. As we are about to wrap up our time and we're gonna sing Come Thou Fount, I wanna encourage you, sing it not just the words, but sing from the heart. Sing from the mind as you think through the lyrics of that song, because friends, one of the things we saw last week with the Gospel of John was Mary Magdalene. And how much was she moved by Jesus for all he had done for her? Truth be told, all of us here are Mary Magdalenes as far as what God has done to wayward sinners like us. So before seminary, I worked at a uniform laundering service. I was in management, it was a company, kind of like Cintas if you've ever heard of it, And I would have to run routes with some of my employees that I supervise. Well, one of the guy's routes had a guy that worked for Caterpillar. And we would go there weekly to his, and it was really cool. This guy was the uncle of Nick Lachey. So if you don't know who Nick Lachey is, he was a singer for a pop group that was really popular in the 90s, 98 Degrees. And he was engaged to be married to another pop star, Jessica Simpson. So when we were there the one week, he had just gotten the invitation to this wedding. So I was fascinated by it because, I mean, like it matters that two pop stars are getting married. But I wanted to hear. It was like real life National Enquirer. And he was telling me about it. And he's like, yeah, he's like, we're going to have to be shuttled. And we have to, I think, I don't remember. I almost feel like they had to sign an NDA. like non-disclosure of what happened. They weren't allowed to bring their phones. They couldn't be taking pictures, all of this stuff. It was this big thing. And then like months later, they had the wedding. I think about 350, I googled it, were able to come. So he was one of those 350. He said it was a lot of fun. It was really neat. But here was the crazy thing. He had to go back to work the next week. continue on with his life, though it was an experience that he could share. And, oh, by the way, the wedding, the marriage didn't last. Ended in divorce. It was not that big of a deal for this uncle's life. Apart from, hey, I went to a celebrity thing and it was pretty cool, I can share the stories of it, but beyond that, the impact was fleeting. Friends, we haven't been invited to a celebrity wedding that ends up in divorce, and we can just reflect and meditate on the story. No, no. We've been invited to a grand, must-attend, wedding feast to the Lamb. The impact is eternal in scope. It's life-altering. It's beyond impactful. The question is, have you accepted this invitation? Are you clothed in the right attire? Are you resting in Jesus alone for your salvation? Are you giving him the credit for your redemption? And are you longing for that day? Because what a day it's gonna be, right? You and I will never attend and no offense to anybody getting married soon, your celebration will be nothing compared to this, amen? Let's pray. Father, we come before you right now. We, one, ask for forgiveness for how often we show apathy and indifference towards you. Forgive us for even the years that maybe we rejected your calling, Thank you and praise you, we know that at the end of the day, we rest in your grace and mercy alone, so we don't have to dwell, we don't have to continue to beat ourselves up or shame ourselves for what we did or didn't do. But we thank you, we thank you that we are in Christ, we thank you for what you have accomplished. We pray for anybody here that doesn't know Jesus, that you would, Lord, draw them today to you. that though many are called, we pray that they would be one of the few that are chosen, that they would come to know Jesus and have the confidence and assurance that comes with that. And we pray that we would be a people who are more driven, more moved to tell other people about the good news that we have. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand and respond through worship.