What Are You Wearing?

Well, I just want to make sure you all know who Jiwon Rai is.

So Jiwon, who led us this morning in worship, he and his wife, Caitlin, down here yonder,

they recently came to our church.

Jiwon is from Nepal, and the way we like to think about it is we are praying for a worship leader,

and God sent one from Nepal.

But they are a dear couple. Their son Sammy is precious, and they've been staying with us for a little while.

And so Jiwon and I were riding our bikes over here this morning, and at one point Jiwon says,

looks at my tie and is like, do I need to wear a tie this morning?

And I said, no, of course not.

Have you ever been turned away from somewhere because you weren't wearing the right thing?

Or maybe you've shown up somewhere before and you realized within a second, you're like, I am so overdressed.

Or it's like, oh no, I shouldn't be wearing flip-flops.

Maybe you get, that wasn't aimed at you.

It wasn't aimed at you.

Now, if God wants to do a work, let him do the work.

But it wasn't aimed at you.

Well, maybe you get an invitation somewhere, and the first question you think of is, well, what am I going to wear to this?

Something happened in my life 22 years ago that changed how I dress.

I married Jenny.

With surprising regularity, I get a question on my way out of the house that goes something like this.

Are you really going to wear that?

We all know it's not a question.

God is at work.

Well, this morning, Jesus asks a question via a parable.

And here's the question that he asks.

There's this king in this wedding feast, and a guy walks in, and this king says to him, friend, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?

In other words, did you not know there's a dress code?

Did you not know there's a dress code to this wedding ceremony, this wedding feast?

Brothers and sisters, friends, did you not know there's a dress code to this wedding feast?

To the kingdom of heaven?

In order to enter the kingdom of heaven, there's a dress code.

Do you know what you need to put on in order to enter the kingdom of heaven?

Do you know what to wear in order to come under God's saving reign?

Well, this morning, we're going to look at a parable.

And this parable tells us how to rightly respond to the gospel invitation that God the king is making to all sinners.

And he's saying, come into this party of salvation.

So what are you wearing?

Would you open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 22, verses 1 through 14?

Matthew 22:1–14

And I'll just read through this, and then we'll talk about how we're going to proceed.

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 sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, and they would not come.

Again, he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who were invited, See, I've 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 the 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 find.

And those servants went out in the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good.

So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the 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 did you get in here without a wedding garment?

And this man was speechless.

Then the king said to the attendants, Bind him hand and foot and cast him in the outer darkness.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

For many are called, but few are chosen.

Listen, this passage is all about how we are to rightly respond to the invitation to come to the party of salvation.

And so here's how we're going to go through this morning.

We're going to, I'm just going to walk you through the parable.

So I want to make sure all of us are on the same page of what Jesus is saying here.

And then we're going to ask the question, what's the point?

What's the point of this parable?

And then we'll close by saying, what does this mean for us today here in Kenosha, 2017?

So what?

Again, this is all about how to respond to God's gracious invitation to come into the wedding feast.

So let's look at this parable.

Let's walk through it.

In 22.1 we see, and again, Jesus spoke to them.

The them are the Jewish leaders, both the religious leaders and civic leaders.

They're in the temple.

We saw this last week.

Jesus is speaking directly to these Jewish leaders.

And it's to them he's going to speak this parable.

Now remember, this is Tuesday of Passion Week.

And it turns out that Tuesday is an extremely long day for Jesus and his teaching.

So he goes back in the temple.

He teaches these three parables.

And then he's going to kind of respond to some questions of these religious leaders.

And then if that weren't enough, he leaves Jerusalem, goes to the Mount of Olives,

and he speaks what's known as the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 and 25.

It all happened on Tuesday.

And then three days later, Jesus is going to get railroaded by the Jewish leaders,

and he's going to be hanging on a Roman cross.

This parable is a third parable in a trio of parables that Jesus spoke to these leaders.

And so they are very much confrontational.

They're very much Jesus asserting his messianic authority.

And there's this one other thing I want you to be aware of.

There is this huge kind of sea change going on with Jesus right now.

Up until this point, John the Baptist was the last prophet of the old covenant.

And Jesus' coming has come to initiate a new covenant.

Do you remember in Matthew 26, just a couple days from where Jesus preaches,

he's going to be doing the Passover with his disciples,

and he's going to hold up a cup, and he's going to say,

this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

And so he's inaugurating a new covenant,

a new way in which God will relate with a new people, the church.

And so here we are on this kind of,

the old covenant is gone out,

and the new covenant is coming in,

and Jesus is bringing it in.

So all this to say, there's a lot going on.

And when we turn our attention here to this parable,

you've got to know up front, this is a rather elaborate parable.

In fact, Jesus develops this parable along three stages.

The first stage, he addresses this invitation malfunction,

verses 2 through 10.

And then he addresses this wardrobe malfunction,

in verses 11 through 13.

And then he addresses some thinking malfunction,

in verse 14.

It's his concluding statement.

So let's dig in.

Verse 2, Jesus begins the parable by saying,

the kingdom of heaven can be compared to.

And so, right out of the gate,

we've got to remember that this parable

is making a point about something.

Jesus is using the parable to teach about a reality.

The reality of the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven is God's active, saving reign

in which God is bringing people to himself

and entering into a saving, life-giving relationship

with the living God.

When you come under the saving reign of God,

you get rescued.

You're delivered from sin

and delivered into life.

The life of God in Christ.

And so, what we see here is,

Jesus is setting up this whole thing

by saying the kingdom of heaven can be compared to,

and then in verse 2,

we read what he's going to compare it to.

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king

who gave a wedding feast for his son.

The salvation is being compared to a party!

A wedding party.

And back in the day,

these wedding feasts would go on for days.

They were big deals.

But this is no ordinary wedding feast.

This is a royal wedding feast.

This is a wedding feast a king is giving for his son.

For us, this would be like a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Back in July 1981,

I'm not sure of those of you who would remember this.

Princess Diana,

Prince Charles got married.

Do you remember that?

Big deal for those of you who do.

Remember that?

That was a big deal.

And it wasn't a wedding feast,

but in St. Paul's Cathedral,

there's this video of the guests

who were there,

who were watching Diana come down that red carpet.

And those guests were the privileged invitees

of this wedding event.

Unforgettable.

It was a royal event,

and the whole world watched.

It was once in a lifetime.

And so what is going on here,

this parable of a wedding feast

thrown by a king for his son?

If we were living there,

it would be like this is the event of our lives.

The king's son is getting married,

and it's a picture of salvation.

In verse 3,

we see the king sending out his servants

to call the privileged who had been invited,

literally called,

to this wedding feast.

Now, you've got to remember,

back in the day,

they did not have cell phones.

There was no email,

no watches.

And so what would happen is,

the protocol is,

for an event like this that happened,

you're the host,

you send out invitations,

and then the day of the event,

you send out your servants to say,

hey, it's happening today.

Come on, it's ready.

Let's rock.

And so what we see going on here

is that the invitations have gone out,

the host, the king,

sends out his servants

to go invite,

to call these people to the feast.

Christ.

But the first surprise that we see is,

the privileged invitees

would not come.

They were unwilling to come.

Now, just to give you a sense already

of who the characters are in this parable,

the king, of course, is God the Father,

the son is Jesus,

the guy speaking this.

This is kind of like an autobiographical parable.

You know, he's referring to himself.

The privileged few

who are inviting to the wedding feast

are represented by the Jewish leaders,

the one Jesus is actually speaking to.

And it's them that are unwilling

to come to the party

that the king is throwing for the son.

This wedding feast is a picture of salvation,

and at the center of this feast is the son.

Jesus is at the center of our salvation.

In verse 4,

after the king gets word back

that nobody's coming,

he resends graciously,

reinvites everybody,

sends his servants back out,

and he says,

make sure you make it sound really good

what it is.

He's like,

tell them about the oxen

and the fattened calves,

tell them everything's ready,

it's going to be a blast,

tell them that it's all ready to go.

Come to the wedding feast

in honor of my son.

Make sure they all know.

What we see here is this king

wanting to share,

these people to share in his goodness.

Come into my celebration over my son.

Come into this wonderful event.

I've provided everything you need.

You just come.

Come into this.

And what's shocking is that

these people don't come.

In fact,

in verses 5 and 6,

we see descriptions

of their not coming.

In verse 5 we read,

but they paid no attention

to the servants,

and they went off,

one to his farm,

another to his business.

It's essentially saying,

you know,

I've got more,

thanks for the invitation,

I'm sure it's going to be a blast,

but really,

I need to get back to my farm.

I need to get back to my business.

That's got priority

over this once-in-a-lifetime event

thrown by the king of all.

I'm just going to say no.

And then the rest

of those invitees,

we read in verse 6,

that they treated

the servants shamefully,

even killing them.

Now that should ring

a little bell from last week

in the parable of the tenants.

In the parable of the tenants,

we have this father

who sends these servants

to the vineyard,

and those working the vineyard,

remember what they do

to the servants?

They beat them up,

they kill them,

like whatever.

And so what we have here

is a thread being Jesus

is pulling through

these parables.

And so what these servants

represent are the Old Testament prophets.

John the Baptist, of course,

was the last prophet

of the Old Covenant.

And do you remember

how he died?

He had his head removed

because he was speaking

to Herod

about the unrighteousness

of taking his brother's wife,

Herodias.

And it was John the Baptist

who was proclaiming,

repent for the kingdom

of heaven is near.

So we see these responses

and they're surprising responses.

And then in verse 7,

if you look at verse 7,

the king was angry

and he sent his troops

and destroyed those murderers

and burned their city.

their rejection

and their treatment

of the servants

kindled the king's wrath.

So in this parable,

we see God's,

this gracious invitation

as well as authoritative justice.

He sends a detachment of soldiers

who kill those people

who murdered the servants

and he sets ablaze their city.

And I don't know about you,

but when I was initially reading

about this,

I'm like, man,

that's a seriously strong reaction

for people not coming

to your party.

But it's more than that.

There's more going on here

than people refusing

a party invitation.

This is more than saying no

to a party.

This is a rejection of authority.

This is a rejection

of the authority of the king.

This is a rejection

of a gracious invitation

from the one king

to come and participate

in the events of the lifetime.

What it is,

is rebellion.

It's insurrection.

The killing of his servants.

It's an unwillingness

to live under the king's reign.

The reference Jesus makes

to the setting ablaze

of the city.

Some theologians believe

that it's an allusion

to the destruction

of Jerusalem,

which will just take place

a couple decades

from Jesus saying this

in 70 AD.

And I'm a little bit,

I'm a little bit,

I lean that way

because Jesus,

on this same day,

on the mountain of olives,

speaks of the destruction

of Jerusalem

in Matthew 24, verse 2.

Matthew 24:2

There's judgment

in the air

with these words.

And what our sense is,

the backdrop here,

is God is turning away

from the people

under the old covenant

who've refused him

over and over again.

And he's now

turning to a new people

of a new covenant

who will receive him.

But what we see

going on here

is a God who is,

a God who invites,

come to the wedding feast.

And then there are consequences

for rejecting

his invitation.

Verse 8,

the king says to his servants,

the wedding feast is ready,

but those invited

were not worthy.

Referring to all those people

who've rejected the invitation.

They were unwilling to come.

That word worthy

shows up in Matthew

a few different times.

And there's one point

where it shows up

in concentration.

Listen to Matthew chapter 10,

Matthew 10:37–38

verses 37 through 38.

Whoever loves father or mother

more than me,

this is Jesus speaking,

is not worthy of me.

And whoever loves son

or daughter more than me

is not worthy of me.

And whoever does not

take his cross

and follow me

is not worthy of me.

If you reject

the invitation of God

to come to the wedding feast

of the son,

you're not worthy of the son.

Verse 9,

after rejecting those

who were initially invited,

he says something,

another surprising thing

to his servants.

He's like,

okay,

these folks aren't going.

Let's regroup.

Here's what I want you to do.

Go, therefore,

to the main roads

and invite,

literally call,

to the wedding feast

as many as you find.

Those main roads,

those would be like

the distance road.

That's like the,

that would be like

the intersection

on 94 and 75.

Way out there.

That big intersection,

those crossroads,

the byways

and the highways.

Jesus is like,

you guys go out.

The king's saying,

you go out

and you get as many

as you're willing

to fill this,

this marriage hall

to celebrate

this wedding feast

of my son.

In verse 10,

we see the servants

go out into the roads,

into the crossroads,

and they gather

whom they found.

And what Jesus

in this parable

makes clear is

they're both

bad and good.

And what that

is getting at is

there's a mix

of guests

in the wedding hall.

They have responded.

They have come,

but it's a mix

of people

in the wedding hall.

So the king

fills the wedding hall

in verse 10

with those

who've responded

to this second invitation

to a bigger group

of people.

And by this point

in the parable,

we've had three surprises.

Surprise number one,

those who were

originally invited

refused to come.

Second,

those who refused

to come

were destroyed.

Third,

their judgment

and destruction,

their refusing,

it opens the door

to a whole new group

of people

on the crossroads

to be invited

to the wedding feast.

the first invitation

to that original group.

Think of that

as like the old covenant

established in Moses.

And this second invitation

is the new covenant,

the gospel invitation

that goes to everyone

on the planet.

The parable doesn't end

here though.

The parable continues.

So there's a second stage

of the parable

and that's in verses

11 through 13.

Verse 11,

the king comes

to the wedding hall

to survey all the guests

that his servants

have brought.

He wants to check it out.

And the part

of the parable,

this part of the parable

has some similarities

with some other parables

in Matthew,

Matthew 13.

The parable of the weeds

in the parable

of the dragnet.

And what happens

in those parables

is that there's

this big harvest

of something

and it's a mixed harvest

and as a result

there is a sifting out,

a sorting out.

And so what it looks

like is going on here

is there's a bringing together

of a mixed group

of people

and now what we're going

to see this king do

is do a little sorting out.

It happens

when the king's eyes

fall on those invited

and one stands out

because he's not wearing

a wedding garment.

Now, I'm sure you've got

an invitation before

to go somewhere.

And on those invitations,

oftentimes,

there's some instructions

for what you should wear.

For example,

you might read something

like business casual dress

requested

or formal attire

necessary

or just come as you are,

very casual.

The attire

of a first century

royal wedding feast

would be

you wear

a wedding garment.

you wear

something different

than your normal

everyday work clothes.

You've got to change

out of your sweat outfit

and you've got to change

into

some clothing

that's appropriate

for this event.

And so,

as the word went out

to invite

all of these people

from the byways

and highways

and crossways,

it would have been

understood

that to come

to a royal

wedding feast,

you've got to change

before you come in.

You've got to put

something else on.

Well,

if you didn't,

it would insult

the host.

It's like this

man at this wedding feast

is saying,

hey man,

I don't have to change

for you.

Oh,

but you know what?

Those bacon wrapped

water chestnuts,

I love them.

I'll have another one

of those,

but I'm not changing.

In verse 12,

look at what the king does.

He asks

for an explanation.

He asks

for an accounting.

He starts with

friend.

How did you get in here

without a wedding garment?

Did you not know

about the dress code?

Did you not know

that a wedding garment

is required

to enter

this wedding hall

in order to celebrate

the wedding

of my son?

And what we read

in verse 12

is that this man's

response is

he was speechless

and the original

language behind that

is he's muzzled.

He didn't have

anything to say

and it wasn't

a speechlessness

like,

oh,

I had no idea.

Mom's the word.

Not that kind

of speechlessness.

It's not the kind

of speechlessness

that comes from saying

he couldn't afford

his wedding garments.

That's not the issue here.

He was speechless

because he thought

he could skip

over the need

to change

and he didn't think

anyone would notice.

But who noticed?

The king noticed.

It's another snapshot

of judgment.

There's a requirement

to enter into the

wedding feast

of the son.

There's a requirement

to enter the kingdom

of heaven

into salvation.

What is it?

Do I have to do

good works?

Do I need to show

myself as worthy

and so live

this perfect life

and maybe

he'll let me in?

John the Baptist

and Jesus,

when they started

their public ministries,

they started preaching

the same thing.

Repent

for the kingdom

of heaven

is at hand.

Repent.

Repentance

is a kind

of change.

Repentance

is a change

of heart

from trusting

in something

that is unable

to save you.

In fact,

if you're trusting it,

it condemns you

and so you move

from trusting

in something

other than God

to trusting

in the only one

who can save you.

It shows up

in things like

from trusting

in alcohol

to make everything

just right.

You turn from that,

you repent of that

from trusting

and buying things

in order to scratch

that itch

you got inside.

That's not going

to save you.

Trusting in the next

sexual encounter,

that's not going

to fulfill your life.

You've got to turn

from trusting

in your own obedience

to God's commands

in order to make you

acceptable in God's sight.

You've got to repent

of that kind of thinking.

This man is in

the wedding hall

but he's not wearing

the right clothes.

He didn't come in right.

He didn't come in

with the right clothes,

posture of heart.

His confidence

was in something else.

His sense of calling

was somewhere else.

He wasn't there

for the wedding feast

of the Son.

In Matthew 16,

Jesus talks about this

as, hey,

if anyone would come

after me,

they need to deny themselves.

Deny yourself.

Take up your cross

and follow me.

This is another way

of talking,

hey, are you willing

to deny yourself

to be a follower

of Jesus?

Jesus?

And in verse 13,

what the king does next

is somewhat surprising.

He has his servants

bind this wrongly dressed man

and cast him out

of the wedding feast

into outer darkness

where there's weeping

and gnashing of teeth.

And we've come across

that phrase before

in the Gospel of Matthew.

And what that phrase

talks about

is the agony and pain

that takes place

in the place

of eternal judgment.

And so this is one

of those points

in this parable

where this parable

bleeds into reality.

The consequences

of trying to enter

the kingdom of heaven

without repenting.

Trying to come in

on my terms,

not the king's terms.

The consequences

of that is so severe.

Our legal system

in the United States

is broken.

I think we realize that.

Different people

are treated differently

based upon who they are.

We know that.

But still,

there is an intention

in our legal system

to make sure

a punishment

fits the crime.

So part of what

the job of a judge

is to make sure

a punishment

fits a crime,

fits an offense.

And so this morning,

let's just ask the question,

does this guy

getting kicked out

of this wedding feast

because he's wearing

the wrong clothes,

is that fitting?

Is that fair?

If the wedding garments

represent repentance,

then yes,

it is fair.

The punishment

does fit the crime.

There's more going on here

than just a wardrobe

malfunction.

It's a posture of heart.

It's a willingness

to say,

there is no way

I can get into this party

on my own.

There's nothing

I can do.

In fact,

all the things

I've done

would keep me out.

I've got to turn

from those.

Recognize those.

So if you're unwilling

to turn from your sin,

what Jesus is saying

is you're not allowed

into the wedding feast.

You must acknowledge

your sin before God

so that you can be saved.

So the second stage

of the parable

focuses on one guy

who responded

to the invitation

for anyone to come,

but he did not

respond rightly.

He came in

thinking he wouldn't

be noticed.

He came in

skipping the thought

that he needs

to actually

change his clothes.

And by doing so,

he offends

the king.

He wasn't coming in

on the king's

terms.

The king noticed.

He notices you.

He knows

your thinking.

He knows

your posture

of heart.

He knows

what you're wearing.

In both of these

stages of this parable,

we have two examples

of what keeps

people out

of the kingdom.

The first

are those who don't

even respond.

The second

is one who responds

but doesn't respond

according to God's

requirements.

Repent

for the kingdom

of heaven

is near.

And therefore,

both are excluded

from the kingdom.

They're all invited

but only a few

get in.

Which brings us

to 14.

Jesus

concluding

summary of this

parable.

He says,

for many are called

but few are chosen.

This idea

of being called

is the sense

of being invited.

And we see it

throughout the whole

parable.

Invitation

after invitation

to varying groups

of people.

Come to the wedding

feast.

Come.

Come.

Under the new covenant,

God extends

the invitation

to everyone.

Everyone

from everywhere

is welcome

to come into,

invited to come

into the party

of salvation

with Jesus

at the center

of it.

Many have been

invited.

Theologically

speaking,

this is known

as the general

call of the gospel.

The gospel

is sent out

generally.

You don't know

who's going to respond.

You proclaim it

and it goes out

to everyone

you can.

That's what we

want to do

here in this church.

We want to get

the gospel out.

We don't know

who will respond

but we want to get

it out

to every nook

and cranny

of the city.

We don't know

how people

are going to respond

and so from our

perspective,

the general call

goes out

and we're extending

the invitation

of the king

to come to the

wedding feast

of the son.

Many are called.

Many.

But few are chosen.

The few

that Jesus

is speaking about

is a subset

of the many.

Of the many

invited

to the wedding feast

only a fraction

will come in.

Only a few

will be saved.

And this should

maybe ring a bell

from Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

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.

Few.

Many are invited.

Few are chosen.

And that word chosen

gets at this sense

that these are the

legit of God.

These are the ones

God himself knows

belong to him.

We see the same word

show up in Matthew 24.

There it's used

in terms of the word

elect.

And when Jesus uses it

in Matthew 24 that way

he's talking about

those God knows

who are generally

his.

Those who belong to him.

These are the folks

that Jesus talks about

in Matthew 11

where

he has chosen

to reveal the father to

that

Jesus chooses

to do that.

In theological terms

this is getting at the

idea of

effectual call.

When the gospel

is proclaimed

those to whom

the son has chosen

to reveal the father

they will respond

in repentance

and faith.

God knows that

he has elected them

from the before

the foundation

of the world.

When the gospel

is proclaimed

to all

in general

only some

will respond

effectually.

those whom

the son

has chosen

to reveal

the father.

And so what

Jesus is saying

here is

hey

many are called

this parable

shows as many

are called

but few

are actually

chosen.

Few actually

belong

to God.

And so what

Jesus seems to be

saying here is

don't confuse

the invitation

with the response.

And for

those

Jews

who are hearing

Jesus say that

he is radically

shifting their

understanding.

You're not chosen.

You've rejected

the son.

So what is this

point of this

parable?

The point is this.

You've got to

rightly

respond

to the gracious

invitation

to the

wedding feast

of the son.

It's all

about

how

you respond.

God's

gracious

invitation

calls for

an appropriate

response.

how we respond

to the king's

invitation

matters.

The first

group

they rejected

the invitation

and they

suffered a

severe

justice

for it.

The second

group

represented by

the one

who was not

wearing

the wedding

garments.

He was

invited.

He came.

He showed

up.

But he

wasn't

wearing

the right

clothes.

He wasn't

responding

in repentance.

You think he

could get in

on his own

terms.

How you

respond to

the king's

invitation

matters.

You must

respond

rightly.

And so what

does this mean

for us today?

What does

this mean?

What is this

parable?

How does

this show

up in our

lives today?

Well here's

how.

The God

that Jesus

was referring

to in

this parable

is the

same God

today.

He's a

God who

is gracious

and is

extending

the invitation

to the

wedding feast

to everyone

today.

To you.

He's inviting

you to come

into his

celebration

of his

son.

Come.

If you

have not

responded to

the invitation

by God

himself to

come into

the kingdom

of heaven,

come into

the kingdom.

Respond.

Say yes,

I'm coming.

He's a

gracious,

wonderful God

who invites

all to

come.

But the

same God

is a God

of authority

and justice.

For those

who reject

the invitation,

he speaks

of it as

destruction,

casting into

outer darkness.

To reject

his invitation

outright or

to try to

twist it to

make it fit

your life

is met

with severe

justice.

God.

But there's

one thing

else I want

to point

you to

about this

God that

Jesus speaks

of in

this parable.

This king

is a father

who delights

in his son.

This king

is a father

who delights

in his son.

We see it in

the other

parables as

well.

The parable

of those two

sons,

there's father-son

theme.

The parable

of the tenants,

there's a father

sending his son

theme.

And here,

we have a father

delighting in

his son.

In fact,

God the father

set a plan

in place

from before

the foundation

of the world

to unite

all things

together

in his son

Jesus.

It's the

greatest party

ever.

So you've

got to remember

that the God

of this

parable

is the God

who is

reigning today.

The second

thing I want

to call you

to,

is to

honestly

examine

yourself.

To take

stock

of yourself.

It's possible

to delude

yourself

into thinking

that,

hey,

I'm in.

Maybe you're

not.

What are you

wearing?

What are you

wearing?

In 2 Corinthians

13, 5,

Paul writes

to a church,

a people

who profess

to be followers

of Jesus.

Jesus.

And he

urges them

to examine

themselves

to see

if they're

in the

faith,

to see

if they

are in

Christ,

to see

if they're

in the

kingdom.

them.

Paul were

to use

the words

of this

parable,

he's like,

hey,

are you

guys sure

you're

wearing the

right stuff?

And this

morning,

I just want

to give you

two questions

to be asking

yourself to

examine

yourself to

see if,

in fact,

you are

in the

kingdom.

Here are

the two

questions.

Question

number one,

where is

your confidence?

What does

your salvation

depend on?

If you think

that your

salvation depends

upon your

work and

actions to

get you into

the wedding

feast, you've

got the

wrong clothes

on.

Your

confidence is

not in what

you do,

it's what

the Son has

done.

Three days

from what

Jesus speaks

this parable,

he will be

hanging on a

cross and

he will be

bearing the

wrath of God

for the sins

of all those

who would

believe in

him.

That's the

work.

That's the

confidence.

you must

turn from

trusting in

yourself and

set your

heart on

Jesus.

Where's your

confidence?

What's your

calling?

Second question,

what's your

calling?

What's your

aim in life?

If your aim

is to advance

yourself,

you're wearing

the wrong

clothes.

If your aim

is Christ's

glory,

welcome to

the kingdom.

Come on

in.

What's your

confidence?

What's your

calling?

Repentance

means turning

away from

trusting in

yourself to

get into the

kingdom.

It turns away

living for

yourself.

Whoever would

follow me must

deny himself,

take up his

cross and

follow me.

take stock

of yourself.

There's one

other piece

of application

here.

And it's

secondary but

significant.

Do you

remember what

happened when

Jesus was

speaking this

parable and

that initial

group that was

invited to the

kingdom, they

rejected the

invitation?

The king

sent out the

invitation to

anyone.

We see

God's heart

to invite

anyone

into the

wedding feast

of the

son.

Here's what

that means for

us.

There are

people all

over the

city that

are waiting

on an

invitation.

and we

get to

say, hey,

do you

want to

come to

the wedding

feast?

Do you

want to

come to

the wedding

feast?

God

over all

has invited

you to

come to

the wedding

feast.

And all

you need to

do is wear

the right

clothes.

And what

those clothes

are is to

humbly

acknowledge your

need for

God.

To repent

and trust

him.

This

morning, maybe

you're realizing

that you

have been

responding to

God's gracious

invitation on

your own

terms.

Well, you

don't need to

be speechless

like the guy

that we saw

in the

parable.

To respond

rightly to

God's gracious

invitation is

to deny

yourself, take

up your

cross, and

follow Jesus.

And all

that you need

to say is,

Lord Jesus,

change me,

change me,

and welcome

me in.

Let's pray.

God in

heaven,

we do

thank you so

much that

you are a

gracious God

who warmly

invites sinners

into the

kingdom of

heaven.

God, you

part of that

invitation is a

call to

repent, to

don the right

clothes to

enter in.

God, would you

help us to see

ourselves as you

see us and to

respond rightly.

God, for those

of us who by

your mercy and

grace have come

into your kingdom,

all glory and

praise and

honor to

your name.

Jesus, we

say to you,

thank you.

Amen.