Sermon Central
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What Are You Wearing?
Contributed by Kevin Hall on Jul 16, 2012 (message contributor)
Summary: Understanding the requirements that a person must possess in order to be a part of the Kingdom of God
And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Everything that Jesus taught about God he spoke to us through Parables. And in this passage God is likened to the King whose Son was to be married, which is Jesus; the Bridegroom and we all know that the wedding banquet is the Kingdom of Heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb, the distinct offering to His people. So the King sent all his servants to go out and invite all those that were His people to the marriage banquet. So the King told his servants go out and invite and began God’s people to come to the wedding banquet.
But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.
Those who were invited to the marriage didn’t come, those that were the people of the King didn’t come. They had the invitation they were compelled by the messengers of the King, but they refused the invitation, some even made light of it. In other words they made fun of the Kings invitation, some even killed the Kings messengers for delivering the message.
When the King found out about this, the Bible says he was furious! Keep in mind though that we are talking about God. The invitation that God had given was made light of, it was ridiculed, it was made fun of, and His servants were spitefully treated and some of them murdered, and He became angry.
Church, does God get angry? Surely not, for there are many that can’t believe that a loving compassionate God gets angry! Paul said
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Then the King said to his servants…We still have the wedding, we still have the Son…and the wedding is still on. So he said “ Go out and get whosoever is willing to come, gather them up and bring them. So they went out and they gathered good people and bad people, rich people and poor people, they made no difference between them they just got everybody that they could find and said you can come to the wedding. And as we read that all of these came and it was enough.
And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
When everybody was in, and they were ready for the feast and to have the wedding, the King…keep in mind the King is God Almighty, the King comes in and he looks over all of the guests and He notices one in particular person….He notices one man..who wasn’t dressed properly. He didn’t have on the Wedding Garment!
Now in those days, when a person was invited to a wedding folks wore their best and if you belonged to the brides family you wore a purple sash and if you belonged to the groom side you wore a blue sash to identify your invitation. But if you went to a King’s wedding, the King provided a Wedding garment for everyone and you would receive it at the door and you were expected to wear it.
