Sermon Transcript
Well, take out your Bibles. We’re looking at the stories Jesus told. This morning we’re over on this one on the bottom right corner. Matthew chapter 22 is where we’re going to be today. It focuses on a party.
Now I want you to think about parties. I want you to think about some great parties that you’ve been to, celebrations, banquets, whatever they were. Maybe it’s a graduation party, you put that on the top of the party list, or It was a wedding, or it could have been any number of things. I know for me this year, one of the best parties that I was at was Ellen and Austin’s wedding and then the celebration afterwards. Ellen’s sitting there.
So that was sure fun. I thought, well, we’ll pop up a couple pictures and remember this great event, all the friends that came. So excited to again see what happened in their lives. They met in the YoPro ministry here. Uh, you know, I don’t know that they came to the ministry looking for somebody to meet.
I don’t think that was happening at all. But lo and behold, their eye caught each other somehow, I guess gradually over a period of time. You have to ask Ellen for the whole story. But ultimately they began to date in a serious relationship that moved toward a serious relationship, and they went through some pre-engagement counseling and premarital counseling, and it was all confirmed, and they said, we’re gonna do this, and they got married, and that was a lot of fun this year. A lot of family was here and friends, of course.
I don’t know if there were any party crashers, but your party was really fun. It really was a lot of fun. I mean, come on, when you get to choose from salmon or filet, I mean, man, what are you kidding? So anyway, we, we really had a great time at that one. Now I’m sure if you were to talk about some party that you’ve been to, there have probably been a lot of different ones that you’d put on that list.
This week I Googled, uh, the most expensive parties ever just to see what would come up, and I didn’t see Ellen, I didn’t see you guys on the list, but you know, it’s probably because you didn’t reveal how much you spent. I’m sure you spent a fortune on that wedding. I have no idea. But, uh, Prince William and Kate’s wedding came up on this list. And if you were to go back to 2011 and just remember— we’ll show you a couple pictures here of this wedding— but it cost about $34 million.
So the wedding and then also the after-parties after the wedding. The ceremony was amazing. The parties that followed were said to be unforgettable. One guest said it was the most magical party ever. There were fireworks, a live band, delicious food.
The party started with a lunchtime reception for 650 people, and they were at the Buckingham Palace for that. And then 300 of the couple’s closest friends and family went away for a little bit of rest before the evening party. They also changed into evening wear, and then they came back to the palace for the special party of just 300 people It began in the courtyard of the palace with a bagpipe welcome. Shortly after that, about 8 PM, everybody was ushered into the palace ballroom for dinner. The room, they said, was absolutely stunning.
There were 30 round tables with 10 people around each table. They were dressed or decorated with beautiful white flowers and candles. The main course dinner lasted for 2 hours. It was lamb filet done in 3 different ways. The trio of truffle chocolate fondant and homemade ice cream and brandy snap baskets followed.
They said it was all stunningly good. The meal then was followed by speeches where people were talking about, you know, the couple kind of reminiscing together on things that have happened, offering words of encouragement and anticipation. Around 11:30 that night, the The speeches had concluded and the guests were invited into the throne room of the palace. And there they danced, and there was a stage, and they had brought in a live band, a renowned band and singer. About 1:30, the DJs took over.
The party continued into the late hours of the night or the early hours of the next morning. About 2:30, the last dance was finally held, and it was William and Kate dancing to the Beatles song She Loves You. And they all sang, all the guests sang She Loves You to William and Kate. I kind of get in my mind, you remember that show on television or at the theater, you know. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.
So the point is, is that they had an amazing, amazing evening. In fact, it wasn’t over yet because then they were escorted out into the palace gardens, and just before 3:00 a.m., there was another spectacular firework show, and finally William and Kate said goodbye. As I was looking at that and the history of all of that, I thought to myself, man, could you imagine being invited to this? If you had been invited, would you have gone? No?
Some of you would say no? Are you kidding? I would have been there. I would have said yes. Are you kidding?
This is, this is going to be fantastic. It was an extravagant event. But what’s interesting is that there’s a future party being planned that’s going to be greater. It’s going to be more extravagant. It’s called the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And this is the party we’re going to talk about this morning, the marriage supper of the Lamb. You read about it in Revelation chapter 19, verse 9, where it says, then the angel said to me— and this is John writing— write, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. And he added, these are the true words of God. So just in case you might think this isn’t true, this is true. There are people that are going to be invited to a banquet, to a celebration with the King and with his Son.
It’s still in the planning stages right now, but when it gets here, it’s going to be extraordinary. It is going to be a royal wedding in the King’s palace. It’s a party that could last for several days. It’s a party that actually could last for several weeks. It will include food, wine, various festivities.
It’s a can’t-miss celebration. The king is putting the celebration on for his son. Who’s his son? Jesus Christ. So it’s a celebration for his son, Jesus Christ, and the bride will be there.
And who’s the bride? The bride is the church. The bride is the church. It’s those who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It’s going to be a royal occasion.
It’s going to be an ultimate occasion. Only the finest food will be there. Only good people, or the best people we’ll say, will be there. And of course, the big question will be, well then, who’s coming? Who will be at the party?
Who will be at the wedding celebration of the Lamb? And Jesus in this story we’re gonna look at this morning answers that question. Who’s going to be at this party? Now one of the things you gotta know is the context of this story because it’s Wednesday, it’s a couple of days before Jesus is going to be crucified, and there’s a lot of tension that’s been building in Jerusalem. He’s working with a group of people that has in it, in the audience, Pharisees.
So he’s been teaching these Pharisees, and these of course are people who, if anybody was in, in terms of had a relationship with God, the Pharisees were expecting that they were going to get into heaven, that they, you know, they and God, they were good. But Jesus then, in this context, tells this story, and here’s what he said. Matthew 22:1-14, Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner.
My oxen and fatted cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet. But they paid no attention, and they went off one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged.
He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, the wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you can find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.
Friend, he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are invited, but few are chosen. Now what this tells us is who’s going to be at this party, and it gives us some very important information that all of us should want to know.
First of all, it tells us those who were invited. It tells us about those who were invited. At first it was just a select group of people that were invited, a chosen group of people. It says in verse 3, he sent his servants to those who had been invited, or to those who had been chosen to come to this party. Now that’s not unusual, is it?
If you’re putting a party together, usually you have some kind of a list, especially if it’s a wedding, you have a list that you’re working with. You could choose this person or this person, whatever, but you’re ultimately gonna just choose some people and then invite them. Well, in the same way, This king chose some people that he wanted an invitation to be sent to, to tell them about the banquet and invite them to come. So this is a limited number of people who are selected to come to this banquet. Now you look back in history, who’s Jesus talking about here?
Who are the chosen ones? It was who? Say it out loud. It was who? It was the Jews.
It was the Jews. So we can go all the way back in the Old Testament scriptures and see that God chose the Jewish people. He called them his chosen people, the descendants of Abraham. They were chosen by God to be a channel through which God wanted to bless the world. But unfortunately, as it says here in the last part of verse 3, that in spite of the fact that they were chosen and they’re invited to come to this banquet, they refused to come.
And you see that played out over and over again through the stories of the Old Testament. Take the story of the Exodus, where they had been begging God for 400 years to deliver them from the bondage that they were in, from the slavery that they were in. And then God sent a deliverer. His name was Moses. And Moses said, follow me.
And, you know, they were reluctant to do that. Ultimately, they ended up following Moses. And where was God going to take his people? Do you remember? He was going to take them to the land of what?
To the land of milk and honey. He was going to take them to the Promised Land. That was his desire, his desire to take them to the Promised Land. But the problem was, is that they refused to go. When they got to the edge of the Promised Land, they said, no, we’re not going in.
So what did God do? Jesus talks about it here. It says in verse 4, then he sent some more servants and said, Tell those who have been invited, those chosen, that I’ve prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatted cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet. Now, who is he talking about?
Well, he’s talking about actually the same target audience. All right, so already the Jewish people have reflected, who have refused a relationship with God, to follow him, to come to his banquet, to enjoy a relationship. Personal way. And so what does God do? Does he just give up on his people?
No, he continues to send servants to invite them to come to this banquet. In fact, he says, you know, the dinner is on the table. It’s ready. It’s waiting for you there. Have you ever had a mom, a dad, your husband, your wife say, hey, it’s time for dinner.
Get in here. It’s time for dinner. Leave what you’re doing. It’s time for dinner. Get in here right now?
Well, the picture here is a sense of urgency. It’s there. It’s waiting for you. So God sent not only Abraham and Moses and Joshua, but he sent the judges and he sent the kings and he sent the prophets. And then we get to the time of Jesus and he sent John the Baptist and he sent Jesus himself.
And after that, the apostles. They were all sent with a personal invitation from God. God was sending messengers inviting them to come. And to celebrate his son. But they paid no attention, it says in verse 5, and they went off, one to his field and another to his business.
The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. Can you imagine this? I mean, here you are invited to the— a banquet with the king, a banquet with God himself, But you say, I’m sorry, I’ve got other things to do.
You pay no attention, or worse yet, you decide to be a part of a group of people who are going to seize his messengers and kill them. Now don’t miss this picture, because what you see here, what Jesus is painting, is how people are busy about other things instead of busy about God’s things. They’re busy about other kingdoms instead of being busy about God’s kingdom, as Dean prayed this morning. We can get so off onto other things, and it’s fascinating to me that Jesus chose to talk here about work, that these people were too busy with their work. One had to get onto the farm and the things that were happening in the farm, or The other was busy in the marketplace.
I think that’s fascinating because oftentimes it’s work that can keep us busy doing things that perhaps are substituting for what we could be doing for God. I don’t know. All I know is that there are 2 kingdoms. There is the kingdom of man and there is the kingdom of God, and God is inviting these people to enjoy the fruit of his kingdom. But they say no, and they went so far as to actually kill the inviters.
You say, is that something that has played out in history? Well, yes, it did. Do you remember? Remember the prophets, for instance? Do you remember Jeremiah?
Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet. You can go back into chapter 26 of Jeremiah and see that Jeremiah, Micah, and Uriah were living under death threats, and by the end of the chapter, Uriah is killed. Killed. And why is he killed? Because of the message of turn away from your idols and turn to God.
That message. And so he lost his life. And then you can turn into the New Testament, you could read about a guy named John the Baptist. And what we know about John the Baptist was he was a messenger sent from God. He was a prophet sent from God.
But how did the Jewish people respond to him? They rejected him. They beheaded him.
And then Jesus came and they rejected and crucified him.
And if you’re God at this point, you might be saying, why bother? I mean, you know, why bother? You know, as we look at the scriptures, what you see is that God is a gracious God and he’s a patient God. He’s forbearing, he’s long-suffering, but his patience has its limits. And we see his limits here in verse 7 where it says the king was enraged and he sent his army and he destroyed those murderers and he burned their city.
This is such a tragic ending. It didn’t have to end this way, but ultimately those who have rejected the king and rejected the invitation to be a part of the king’s banquet for his son, those who have rejected him, and in this case those who have killed The messengers will ultimately lose their lives.
The murderers will ultimately lose their lives. That’s the picture that’s being painted here. It’s interesting because just even in short course of time after the time of Jesus Christ, the Roman general Titus came in and conquered Jerusalem. It was 70 AD, and he burned the city, and he killed over a million Jews. They lost their lives.
So what does the king do? What does the king do at this point? Well, Jesus said, then, verse 8, he sent to his servants— excuse me, he said to his servants, the wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners, invite to the banquet anyone you can find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
So after the exclusive invitations went out and they were rejected, God says— or the king says, all right, we’re still going to have the party and we need to fill this place up. So get back out there and this time invite everybody, everybody, not just Jews. Invite Gentiles, non-Jews, non-religious types, moral people, immoral people, good people, bad people. He just opens up the door of invitation to everybody. You know what?
That’s why we’re actually here today, because the invitation went out past the Jews to everybody so that everybody was invited to a relationship with God and to ultimately the party that he is planning. The invitation had become wide, and that’s why we’ve had the opportunity to respond to this invitation. Now here’s what I know. I was not invited to Prince William and Kate’s wedding. Anybody here invited to that wedding, by the way?
Anybody? Looking around, I don’t see anybody that was invited to this wedding. If I had been invited, I promise you, I would have gone. I mean, are you kidding? I would have loved to have been among the thousands or among the, you know, 650 or among, especially among the 300.
I think it would have been a crazy thing to be at. Are you kidding? I would have been there, but I wasn’t invited, and I guess from what I can see, none of you were invited either, but you know what? We’ve all been invited. We’ve all been invited.
We’ve all been invited to the King of Kings party, to the King of Kings celebration, to the King of Kings banquet that he is planning right now to celebrate the marriage of the Lamb. You’re invited. Now of course, the big question is, will we be there?
And Jesus says here that those who will be there are those who say yes. They’ve said yes. They were not only invited, but they accepted God’s invitation. That makes a lot of sense, right? I mean, you gotta say yes to the invitation.
You gotta RSVP with a yes to the invitation. What we’re told is that the The hall is going to be filled with people. Verse 10, so the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. Don’t you like that picture? I love that picture.
There’s gonna be a day where this hall— and you begin to think about this, it’s probably millions— it’s going to be filled with people. What kind of people are going to be there? Good people and what? And bad people. You say bad people are going to be there?
Yes. What we’re gonna— what’s gonna happen is, is that it’s going to be filled with people who are not worthy. They were not worthy in themselves, and I think that’s part of the picture Jesus is trying to paint here. Is that to get to this party, it’s not because you’re worthy. It’s because God was gracious enough to extend an invitation.
That’s why you get to come to the party. That’s why we can be at the party. It’s because the worthy one made it possible for us to be worthy in a relationship with him. And in this relationship with Jesus Christ, we can come to the party. We get to have a place in the party.
This week I got an email from someone reminding me that I had not yet responded to a wedding invitation, a wedding that’s coming up. And so I immediately looked at it and said, you know, I totally blanked on this. I forgot about this. You ever do this? You think, okay, I gotta do that, and you put it somewhere where you’re gonna remember to do that, but then you forget to do that.
Then they send you, you know, an email reminder or whatever it was, and it was actually good that I got the email reminder. And so then I replied, said, yes, I’m gonna come to that. And I was planning to come all along. I mean, you know, it only makes sense. I mean, first of all, I love this couple, and secondly, because I did their premarital counseling.
So, you know, I really, I wanna be there. It’s not that I didn’t wanna be there, I just hadn’t replied. You know, sometimes those things, it happened that way for me. But anyways, it was a good reminder. Well, here’s an invitation that some people still haven’t responded to.
Maybe, you know, maybe it’s not come to them in a personal way and they need to be personally invited, but there’s so many people around us right now and some, if it fits in our culture like it usually, you know, how these things happen, if what’s true of our culture is true in their life right now, it could be because they’re waiting for something else better to come. Come along. Well, guess what? You’re not gonna have something else better come along. This is the kind of thing you don’t want to hesitate on.
You want to say, yes, I’m gonna be there. Who’s coming to the party? Those who are invited, those who say yes. But then there’s one more thing Jesus wants us to know. Verse 11, but when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.
Friend, he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants to tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What’s that? That’s a party crasher.
That’s an intruder. Sometimes that happens at parties, right? People try to sneak in. It was obvious this guy didn’t belong there because he was wearing the wrong clothes. In fact, it was obvious because everybody else was wearing the right clothes— white, no doubt, white garments, white clothing.
But this guy was improperly dressed, and his improper dress was in stark contrast to all of the other party guests. Now what this tells us is a little bit about a custom at that time. They would have a wedding and it wouldn’t be unusual, especially for a wedding of royalty, for the king to provide special clothes for all the guests who were coming. The clothes would be, you know, given to them in some way. And so along with the invitation came this clothing, clothing that they were to wear.
And this guy evidently had the invitation, perhaps even had the possibility of wearing the clothing, but he chose not. He chose to come in his own clothes, like that was good enough. But here’s the deal, and this is what Jesus is trying to say to us: nobody’s going to get into this party— listen— without a change of clothes.
You’re not going to be able to just come to the party because you want to just come to the party. You’ve got to have a change of clothes. And the clothes that Jesus is talking about here, the King’s talking about here, are the clothes of righteousness, the clothes of righteousness that Jesus gives to his children. You ever think about the importance of wearing the right clothes, how important it is to wear the right clothes? This is something that Ellen, who’s sitting there, doesn’t know about, but when I decided to come to the wedding and we made the appropriate response to Austin and Ellen to be a part of the party and all of that, I had to rework my schedule in order to do it.
So I flew back into town in order to be there that afternoon, came over from Oakland Airport, didn’t have a whole lot of time, and had not given much thought to what clothing what I would wear. So I basically took something that I thought, well, this, you know, this’ll be comfortable. So I wore some comfortable clothing, and it was about like this, I think something like this, and for the most part, this would be okay for most weddings, but not Austin and Ellen’s wedding. So when I walked in, I saw that basically everybody was dressed up. I mean, guys that, like Greg, he’s sitting there, I’ve never seen you wear a tie before, you had a tie on.
Everybody had a tie on. I mean, the guys, they all had ties on, they all had coats on. I had none of that. I had no tie, I had no coat on, none of that. Now you would think maybe that a pastor who’s done hundreds of weddings might know how to dress for a wedding, but I missed it on this one.
I totally missed it. So I got over here, I walk in, and I’m looking around now, and some of this is because we’ve got a whole bunch of people here from Atlanta. That changes everything, right? I don’t know if like message got out, you know, people are coming from Atlanta, suit, suit, wear a suit, you know, whatever it was. But I didn’t get that.
And so I came in and I remember saying to Bernice, let’s just go over here on the side so nobody will notice us. And we went over on the side and I really wanted at that moment to just go home and change because I felt underdressed. You ever felt underdressed? I felt completely underdressed. And so we finished the wedding, you know, and then after that I said to Bernice, I’m going home right now and I’m getting changed, okay?
Right now. So we ducked out the side door and she was like, oh, I can’t believe this. But anyway, so we went home, I got changed, and I showed up at the party reception and all of that in a nice suit and all the rest of it. And it looked like I knew what I was doing, but I was really faking everybody out. But anyway, Clothing matters.
You want to wear what’s appropriate, right? And what Jesus is saying here is that not only will those at the party be people who’ve been invited and people who have said yes, but those at the party who are coming to the party will be dressed appropriately for the occasion. They’re going to be dressed appropriately for the occasion. And if anybody thinks they’re going to get into this occasion without a change in clothes, they’re wrong. Those are people who are ultimately going to end up in darkness where they’re going to perpetually weep and be in pain in a place called hell, all because they thought they could make this thing work in and of themselves.
I love the passage that’s found in Isaiah where Isaiah says this, in Isaiah 61:10. I delight greatly in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness. You see, we can’t save ourselves.
We’re not going to be able to sneak into the party.
This is something that only God can give. Only God can give clothing of righteousness. And so Jesus wants them to understand that. And so he ends the story with, for many are invited, verse 14, but few are chosen. That’s to say, they said yes to God’s invitation.
They were invited. Many are invited. Yes, but few are chosen. That is, they said yes to God’s invitation. Just a few, just a few said yes to God’s invitation.
Just a few put on the clothes of righteousness. Just a few. The few who chose were those who were chosen. They chose God, but God chose them. That’s an interesting thing to talk about for the next 4 hours.
But the point is, is that there was an invitation that went out and they said yes to the invitation.
Have you said yes to the invitation? So there are really 2 wonderful take-home truths that I hope you’ll hold on to from this story. Number one, you are invited. You’re invited to the party. You’re invited to the celebration.
You’re invited to the banquet. So say yes. Say yes. Accept God’s invitation through Jesus Christ. Say yes.
That’s going to change everything. It’s going to change how you live now. It’s going to change how you live for eternity. For eternity. That’s going to result in you being clothed with righteousness.
I love the picture in the book of Romans where it talks about how we have an account before God, and our account Our ledger before God is filled with one sin debt after another. But in Jesus Christ, our sins are canceled, they’re forgiven, they’re taken away. And you know what God paints on our— writes onto our account at this point? He writes the word righteousness so that when people see our life, when God sees our life, he sees righteousness. We are righteous in Jesus Christ because of what Christ has done.
And how does that happen? It happens by saying yes. Yes to the invitation. And if you say yes to the invitation, it’s going to change the way that you live now, and it’s also going to change the way that you look at circumstances right now.
You may be somebody who likes to keep something on your calendar that gives you something to look forward to. I’m like that. I like to have something on my calendar I’m looking forward to, because then when times are troubled and when times are tough, I’ve still got something. You know what? In a week, I’m gonna go on vacation, or whatever it is that you’re looking forward to.
And this is the ultimate— this is the ultimate event to have on our calendar to look forward to, because it’s all going to be worth it, whatever it is that we’re going through right now. You’re invited. Say yes to the invitation. The second application here is keep on inviting. Keep on inviting others to this party, even though many will say no.
In fact, there will be more that will say no, Jesus is saying, than there will be who say yes. But that is no reason to stop inviting. Sometimes what happens is people say no and we then stop inviting. But this passage is reminding us of the importance to continue to invite even when people say no. A little over a week ago, we had a guy come to our front door, which is kind of unusual, you know, a salesperson kind of person.
And he was working for a pest control company, and so he came to the front door and he wanted to talk to us about, you know, having their company take over our pest control. We actually have a pest control problem. It’s not me, it’s insects, okay? So we have an insect problem around the house. In fact, our daughter Katie and the family stayed at our home last night, and Katie woke up in the middle of the night after having been bit twice by a spider.
So that changed the course of the evening. It may change whether she ever stays at our home again. I have no idea. So we were interested when this guy came to the door and wanted to talk to us about, you know, the company and And he was different. I mean, if you ask me, we’ve had some people come to the door, you know, this was for us a really great guy.
I mean, it was just— I don’t know if the others are great or not, but his enthusiasm and his offer, his attitude, his demeanor, I mean, even the way he combed his hair made us want to say yes. So ultimately what we did was we said yes, and we said we would say no to our company that we already have, and we would take him on and, you know, let his company, you know, help us with the pest control problem around our house. Well, in the course of, you know, signing up and doing all that, I asked him this question. I said, hey, tell me, it’s got to be really hard, you know, selling pest control in this neighborhood, in this area, in this, this city, you know, this location. Is it hard?
He said, are you kidding? Yes, it’s really hard. I said, well, tell me, how hard is it? He said, well, I’ll go to, let’s say, 100 homes, and out of 100 homes, I might get 5 sales. 5 sales, 95 nos, and, and 5 yeses.
I said, well, why do you do it? He said, because of the 5 yeses, because of people like you, because I know what it’s going to do for you, but also because I know what it’s going to do for me. Well, what’s it going to do for you? Well, I’m a senior in college, and actually this has funded my college education to date. I said, that’s great.
Why does he keep doing it? Because of the 5.
And I think what the Lord is saying to us, friends, listen, you’re gonna have a lot of people say no, but you can’t allow the nos to stop you from inviting. This is a party God wants everyone to It’s going to be an extravagant party. It is going to be the party of parties, the celebrations of celebrations. It is a must-come-to event. If we would have liked to have come to William and Kate’s wedding, hey, come on, that doesn’t even compare to the opportunity that people have to come to the wedding supper of the Lamb.
Let’s pray. Lord, thanks for this wonderful reminder this morning.
First, just because the invitation is still there for everyone that would say yes. And Lord, I pray that you would just work in our hearts so that we would respond in one of two ways. If we haven’t said yes, we would say yes. And if there’s anybody sitting here this morning that hasn’t said yes, Lord, would you just draw them to yourself? Would you work in their heart in such a way that they want to respond to the work of the Holy Spirit and say yes?
God, we pray that they would realize that they’re never going to spend an eternity with you in their own clothes. In their unrighteous clothes, but that it’s going to take a relationship through Jesus Christ and his forgiveness and his cleansing work and adopting them into your family for them to ever be at this party, for them ever to experience heaven in a relationship with you. And if they haven’t yet said yes, may they say yes right now. Now and realize in saying yes, they are saying yes in a way that’s going to have transformative value now in their life and for all eternity. And may they live with that hope and that new life in Christ.
And if we have already said yes, then, Lord, secondly, I pray that you would help us help others, that you would help us be about inviting, we would, for the thrill and the excitement of being a part of your messengers, faithfully go into this world that you’ve placed us and tell people the good news.
And in telling them the good news, even be willing to share this story of this celebration, this party, this banquet that’s going to come. And how in knowing that, there’s all the incentive of the world to say, yes, I’ll come. Lord, work through stories like this to draw people to yourself and help us be faithful to not give up in sharing those stories. May it have life-changing work in us and the people that we have the privilege of talking to. Give us opportunities even this week to represent your kingdom well.
And for we pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
