Proverbs 9; Matthew 22:1-141And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 2The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:1‑14)
THE Word of God lays bare before you man, his real condition, and God’s all-sufficiency to meet it. It is everything to accredit God’s Word. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,” &c. (Heb. 11:33Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)).
The Spirit of God anticipated all the circumstances through which each of us should pass. He that saw us from the womb calculated all our need to supply it. Oh the calm quiet of the soul that believes on God, that leans on His Word and is supported by the Almighty, whose power created the world! Oh the interest with which we should approach it, we that are hastily passing the poor sea of time, making swift way into the ocean of eternity! That Word, the only light, the only beacon we have to steer by as we pass on. What are we? We all do fade as a leaf―the wind passes over us and we are gone, and our place knows us no more. Oh that God would give such power to His Word that you in weakness could look up and lay hold of it In this ninth chapter of Proverbs the Spirit puts two characters before us―wisdom and evil. Why does Wisdom cry aloud, why were they in such a condition? How came they to be simple? What is there to meet their need? At every turn we get the blessing; not a sorrow, a thought, a feeling, but the Word of God meets it. We know not how, nor the heights and depths of love, but we can believe it. He stoops to conquer us.
Turn to Matthew 22, there the gospel is presented by Christ Himself. We often forget who it is who speaks: the One who said, “The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge you at the last day”; the One who said, “Let us make man in Our image.” Oh to receive words of healing from God’s mouth, to hear Him say, “If it were not so I would have told you!” If it were not all grace and love He would have told us, He who came from heaven shining like the sun into the cold, dead heart of man, bringing the message of love and peace to poor sinners— “Come unto Me.” It could be none other than our God who could say, “Come unto Me, I know you, it was I who made you, I put you together; put your head on My bosom, I am your Maker, your Saviour―God, you are Mine; come unto Me, all ye weary ones, and I will give you rest”; and this is what they would rob you of nowadays, intellect is set up to rob man of that rest in God, but they cannot do it, man wants and must have rest in God.
We never wanted Him as much as He wants us; none would have been here to-night with happy hearts but that He would have them, and He moved their hearts to want Him. Sin ruined us, but God so loved us, and sent down the Son of His love to tell us of it. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
Years roll on, time slips from under your feet, bit by bit He will sweep away every refuge and make you see how foolish you were to put hindrances between the sweetness of His love and your souls.
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son.” Who could know it but He? The God of heaven alone could tell us of the joy of heaven. Oh to be so shut up into Christ that we cannot move, no turn without Him. Blessed necessity! Would you not be shut up to Him? All fullness is in Him, He puts us in our place in His presence, and such a place, far better than our created place had it not been lost by sin, far better to be put before God in His own righteousness. Who could tell us what heaven is, what God is, save God incarnate? There came One from heaven to tell us about a marriage. How strange a thing to us in this place of lamentation and woe, and death. Man as a flower of the field, here to-day, gone tomorrow. Go to many a hearth, many a well-remembered corner―gone, no occupant there now.
To speak of a marriage feast in such a scene of dilapidation and ruin, and a king making it, and inviting―who? Sinners, undone, hurrying into eternity. Yes, to you is offered this resting place, Christ at the door invites you in. Oh, they won’t come! He sends the message again, He opens out His whole soul, and He takes you up as part of His Bride; He undertakes all for you, every burden, every circumstance. He sends out a bill of fare: “I have prepared My dinner,” &c. “Come and sit down to it.” Is it possible such an invitation from heaven to poor sinners on earth! And the One who brought it, God from everlasting to everlasting. He came Himself with it; it is in receiving and believing Christ’s word―mark it well―that you have your place there. You got your being by His word, you get spiritual life by His quickening word. He invites, but they scorned and would not hear, they went their way, not God’s way, they balanced Time against Eternity, and threw up all. The servants were slain; He sent forth, therefore, His armies and destroyed them, and that was the close of that dispensation.
“To as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” The doors are therefore open, go into the highways, and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage. If you had all the sins of the world on your conscience the goodness of God could meet and receive you. Oh, that you may receive according to God’s grace. He has declared that salvation is ours if we believe His Word. It is God’s salvation, as many as you can find, bring in. And are not these the words of eternal life to as many as receive them to-night?
Poor sinners, in Christ’s name we bid you to the gospel feast. Boundless grace has opened the channel for every poor sinner here to float into heaven washed in the blood of the Lamb; God’s gospel coming to you in this blessed invitation. But what is your answer? Will you scorn it? Christ asked me to come― drawn by the Father, I came. I am His, and when I fold my arms and sleep in the dust, I know He will awake me at the resurrection. If any reject the invitation, their place will be filled up, not one wanting at the marriage supper. Is a soul rejecting, and Christ bidding, proclaiming you are welcome? Can you kneel before God and say―Christ met us this night, and we have refused His invitation; the door of mercy was opened and we saw over it the superscription, but we won’t read it, put it in the fire, I’m for my farm, I’m for my merchandise? Do you forget God’s Word is the savor of life unto life or of death unto death? Remember Christ has asked you to the marriage supper by the Holy Ghost. Turn not away, it is your everlasting peril if you do. If Christ has with His own lips invited you, and you have not listened, better were it for you that you had not been born.
Can you lie down quietly this night, the clock ticking by your bedside, and every hour that strikes bringing you an hour and an hour nearer to Eternity, yet say, “I’ve not accepted Christ’s invitation, I have not turned when He called”? Poor perishing sinner! God’s heart yearns over you. Oh that you may not be found not having on a wedding garment. God is for every one who can put his hand on his heart and say, “The Lord Jesus is mine.”
But oh, we find here a man that entered in without a wedding garment, without being clothed with Christ as his righteousness, without anything that marks those that come in there, the family features, that affection beaming in the eye of every child because of having been brought to cry “Abba, Father.” Here was one without a single mark, “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,” and when the King came in to see the guests, He said, “How earnest thou in hither? I see no trace of a garment washed in blood” ―he is speechless. No time then to make the excuses you would put God off with now. He was speechless. “Bind him hand and foot and take him away,” &c. “Many are called, and few chosen.”
Oh, if you are His, tell to all the tale of His unchanging love; sweet will you feel it to serve Him, ever saying, “What can I do for Him who gave Himself for me, what shall I render unto Him?”. . . J. Willans.