Family Worship Center - Raton, NM
This six-week series deals with six of the parables of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. Through understanding the context and audience, we can see that parables teach us Kingdom principles about compassion, faithfulness, responsibility, the generosity of God, and the importance of living kingdom lives for God.
These will take us all the way to Easter and the reason we are doing this is because as we approach this incredible time of celebrating Jesus’ victory over death, hell and the grave, we want to look at what Jesus came to reveal before the culmination of his life was brought to the table!
Where is sin located?
In the human heart.
The Book of James says that evil and sin comes from our internal desires and thoughts (James 1:14). Sin is not something that is out there in the fallen world, but something that is innately in me.
Ephesians 2:3
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Why are we wired that way??
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
This is talking about Adam’s choice to eat of the fruit he was commanded not to eat!
With that understanding, we can see that when it comes to God’s kingdom, even we are outsiders looking in. We are sinners that are not worthy. If it weren’t for Jesus… we would have no hope! But because of Jesus, We are strangers that have the opportunity to be a part of the great wedding banquet of God.
The only issue is, are we able to deal with what is in our heart?
Big Idea of the Message: The parable of the wedding banquet teaches us that God will bring in strangers to celebrate his kingdom. But there are rules to God’s kingdom that all should follow.
Matthew 22:1-14 NKJV
The Parable of the Talents presents similar characters:
Kingdom of Heaven - Jesus is directly pointing out some Kingdom understanding
The Certain King - Refers once again to Father God
The King’s Son - There is no mistake, this is Jesus, the Son of God!
The Marriage - Ultimately points to the marriage of the Lamb (Rev 19:6-9)
The Servants Sent Forth - repeats the voices speaking of Jesus coming, but also speaks to the future of the church.
The first invitation simply signifies the voices leading up to Jesus’ coming and they are turned away.
The second invitation really signifies the voices declaring Jesus’ ministry in the early church.
Destruction of the Murderers - points to the destruction of Jerusalem. Again, the acts of the Temple have not ensued since 70AD.
Third Invitation - This is the jump from the Jews to the Gentiles in the knowledge of the Kingdom
Mixture of Guests - Points towards the fact that God’s chosen people now encompass not just Israel but Jews and Gentile alike!
The Man without the Wedding Garment - We get the picture that someone was present that didn't belong. This can open up some questions, so I am going to dive deeper into this in my sermon points!
Bound and Taken Away - This doesn’t mean someone is taken to heaven then released for indecent behavior. This is speaking to the fact that there will be some who want to attend the wedding feast, but aren’t prepared for it.
Outer Darkness - again refers to the eternal separation of a life without Christ.
1) Good News, You're Invited!
(write notes below)
2) Good News, You're Chosen!
(write notes below)
3) Good News, You're Not Alone!
(Write notes below)
4) Good News, The Outfit Is Provided!
(Write notes below)
LIFE Application Point:
We will not try to have God on our own terms but will follow his wisdom in the Christian life.
Big Idea of the Message:
The parable of the wedding banquet teaches us that God will bring in strangers to celebrate his kingdom. But there are rules to God’s kingdom that all should follow.
WE talked a lot about what someone wasn’t wearing at this wedding banquet, and I simply want to clarify that which the word talks about wearing. So, what is the “wedding garment?”
---The garments of salvation (Isaiah 61:10, 52:1; Psalm 132:9,16)
---The garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3)
---The garment of righteousness (Revelation 19:7-9)
The bride makes herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb by being clothed in pure, fine and white linen of faith-righteousness.
---We are called to “put on Christ,” and this garment is provided freely for us from God the Father, the King (Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27)
---No one can attend this marriage in sloppy clothes of self righteousness! it is—by faith—salvation internally, and righteousness manifested externally.
It pictures the Jew who hung on to their old garments, dirty old robes of self-righteousness, and refused the garment God provided thought faith.
---There will be those who accept God’s invitation, but are still clothed in their own garments of self-righteousness, or, righteousness by the works fo the law.
---They have to refuse to accept the faith-righteousness that is of God, the only thing that makes the acceptable in God’s sight.
This particular man in this parable had not put on Christ.
---He was self satisfied, self-righteous, making and trusting in his own garments to be acceptable to the King and His Son.
---We refused and rejected the freely offered robe of faith-righteousness.
He was speechless. There was nothing to say. There was no excuse!
What does the word say about our Choice?
Everything is provided and it is our choice to make
How can we honor God while learning about our choice?
We accept that there are ethics in the Kingdom of God that we need learn and adhere to!
What is the kingdom perspective on our choice?
God knows what you have and if we don’t use what we have, it would be considered wicked in the eyes of our Lord.
Proverbs 4:25 ESV