Latest / Reformed Thinking / The King’s Invitation, Man’s Refusal, and the Triumph of Grace (Matthew 22:1–10)

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The King’s Invitation, Man’s Refusal, and the Triumph of Grace (Matthew 22:1–10) · Reformed Thinking

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So picture this for a second. You get a wedding invitation in
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the mail. Oh sure, happens all the time.
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Right. So you get the envelope, you
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check your calendar, and you see that your schedule is just, you
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know, totally packed that weekend.
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Yeah, you've got stuff going on. Exactly.
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So you check the no box on the RSVP card, drop it back in the
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mail and go back to your day. No big deal.
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I mean, yeah, it's your weekend. You have the authority to decide
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if the event fits into your life.
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But what if? What if checking, though, wasn't
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just some social faux pas? What if it was an act of literal
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high treason? Like the kind of treason that
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would get your entire city burned to the ground?
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That is quite the escalation. It really is well welcome to
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reform thinking right out of the gate.
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Today we are dropping you, the listener, into a landscape where
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an invitation is not a polite request, it is a royal summons.
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Yeah, that distinction changes the entire playing field.
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It does, and our mission for this deep dive is to unpack a
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really staggering text. We are looking at Matthew
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chapter 22 verses one through 10.
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Such a heavy passage. Oh, for sure.
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We are analyzing A parable that puts the majestic sovereignty of
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God, the absolute rebellion of the human heart, and, well, the
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terrifying reality of divine justice on full display.
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The tension in this text is just palpable from the very first
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syllable. We have to establish right away
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that Matthew 22 is not some, you know, polite moral fable about
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how to be a good neighbor. Right, it's not a cozy bedtime
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story. Not at all, and it is certainly
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not a heartwarming story about throwing inclusive dinner
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parties. It is a severe high stakes royal
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summons from the creator of the universe which.
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Is how we need to approach it. Yeah.
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And in our discussion today, we are evaluating this text
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directly through the lens of Reformed theology.
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As Protestant Christians who adhere to the Westminster
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Confession of Faith, we are going to show how these massive
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theological categories. Things like absolute
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sovereignty. Yes, absolute sovereignty, human
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inability, unmerited grace. We want to show you that these
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ideas do not just come from thin air.
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They aren't just academic concepts invented by guys in
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dusty libraries. Precisely.
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They spring directly from the scriptural text itself.
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We are looking at a king who commands attendance, a people
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who refuse and a banquet hall that will absolutely be filled.
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So before we even get to the events of the parable itself, I
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think we have to talk about the volatile room where Jesus first
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spoke these words, because context is everything here.
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Oh 100% the room dictates the tone, right?
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Imagine a courtroom drama. The defendant is on trial for
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his life. Everyone in the room knows the
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judge is corrupt and just wants to hand down a guilty verdict.
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The fix is in basically. Yeah, the fix is in.
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But suddenly the defendant turns the tables, walks right up to
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the bench and starts reading out a detailed, undeniable list of
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the judges own crimes to the entire courtroom.
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Oh man, that is the level of tension we are dealing with
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here. Jesus is not sitting in a
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peaceful, grassy hillside with adoring fans taking notes.
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No, the Sermon on the Mount days are over at this point, right?
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He is in a very specific, highly charged environment, speaking to
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people who literally want him dead.
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That courtroom analogy captures the mood so well.
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We are looking at Tuesday of Passion Week.
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Tuesday, so just days before the cross.
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Yes, Friday is coming fast. Jesus is standing right there in
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the dusty, chaotic courts of the Jerusalem Temple.
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The atmosphere is just thick with hostility.
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You could almost cut it with a knife.
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You really can. His audience is not a group of
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neutral, curious observers. He is speaking directly to the
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chief priests and the Pharisees. The heavy hitters.
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The religious elite of the nation, these are the men who
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control the temple apparatus. And at the specific moment in
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history, they are actively plotting his judicial murder.
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Wow. This is the climactic week of
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his earthly ministry. The shadow of the cross is
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lengthening across the temple floor, you know?
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Yeah. That imagery is striking.
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And these religious leaders had turned the House of God into a
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den of thieves. But even worse than that, they
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had turned the religion of grace into this crushing man made
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system of legalistic merit. So Jesus stands before men who
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possess the Old Testament oracles.
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Yeah, the men who claim to be the guardians of the covenant.
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And he just delivers this blistering, prophetic
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indictment. So he has the attention of men
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who are conspiring to execute him.
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And how does he expose their guilt?
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He tells a story about a party. Which is wild.
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Right on the surface, that sounds almost absurd, but the
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placement of this story is devastating.
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This parable is actually the third in a sequence a trilogy of
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prophetic indictments. It's the grand finale of a very
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tense conversation. Yeah, he started with a parable
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of the two sons. Then he moved to the parable of
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the wicked tenants, and now he drops the parable of the wedding
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banquet. The progression there is
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fascinating. I want to look at that
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progression because in the previous parable about the
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wicked tenants that the focus was on violent greed.
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The tenants literally killed the vineyard owner's son because
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they wanted to steal the inheritance for themselves.
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They wanted the property and the power.
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Exactly. But here, in this third parable,
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the focus shifts to a different, equally lethal sin.
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The shift in focus is brilliant and frankly, it's terrifying.
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Well, the first two parables exposed the past disobedience
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and the present rebellion of the nation of Israel, but this third
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parable is the climactic revelation of their final
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rejection of the scatological joy of the Kingdom.
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OK, unpack that a little bit. So the wicked tenants were
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motivated by greed for an inheritance.
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They wanted the stuff. But the invited guests in this
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wedding banquet parable are characterized by apathetic
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neglect. Apathy.
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Just not caring. Right.
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The progression shows that the danger to the covenant community
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is not always violent, aggressive opposition.
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Often it is the careless neglect of the King's glory in favor of
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mundane earthly pursuits. Just going about your business,
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yeah. By placing this parable right
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after the wicked tenants, Jesus is showing that ignoring the
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King's invitation is just as treasonous as trying to steal
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his vineyard. Man, so understanding that
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historical room explains the hostility, but I think we need
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to talk about the cultural customs of the ancient Near East
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to explain the severity of the insult happening in the story.
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Yeah, the cultural background is huge here.
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Because to grasp why this apathy is so shocking to the original
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listeners, we have to look at the mechanics of how a royal
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banquet actually functioned back then.
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We are looking at the custom of the double invitation.
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Because if you do not understand this custom, the King's reaction
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later in the story seems like a massive overreaction, like he
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just loses his temper over nothing.
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It really does. But the cultural mechanics
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clarify everything. In the ancient Near East, it was
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the standard practice of royalty and even wealthy citizens to
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send two separate invitations for a major event.
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OK, two invitations. How did that work?
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The first invitation was an advance notice, essentially
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telling the guests to save the date.
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It established that a feast was coming.
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So no specific time yet, just be ready.
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Right, and the guests accepted this initial notice, securing
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their place on the guest list and signaling their loyalty to
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the host. Got it?
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Then the second invitation, which is what Jesus describes in
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verse 4, comes when everything is actively ready.
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The king sends his messengers out, saying the oxen and the
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fattened calves have been slaughtered and everything is
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ready. OK, so the food is literally on
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the table. Exactly.
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In a world without refrigeration, when you
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slaughter a fattened calf, a ticking clock starts
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immediately. Oh.
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That makes sense, you can't just put it in the fridge for
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tomorrow. No.
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The food is hot, the tables are set, and the celebration is
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actively beginning right at that second.
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So to accept the first invitation and then flatly
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reject the second invitation when the oxen are already
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slaughtered, that was not a social misstep.
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Wasn't just a scheduling conflict.
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No, it was a calculated overt act of political rebellion
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against the Crown. It communicated that the guests
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had zero respect for the King's resources or his authority.
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This brings us to a really crucial point about the original
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Greek text and how it illustrates the doctrine of
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total depravity. Let's dig into the specific
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words used here, because it's fascinating.
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The Greek really opens this up. The guests in the parable were
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called tuis cuclominus, which translates to those who are
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already in a standing state of invitation.
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Which historically refers to national Israel possessing the
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Hebrew Scriptures. Right.
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They have the first invitation. They have the prophecies, the
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law, all of it, but their response to the second
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invitation, the announcement that the Messiah has actually
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arrived, is described with the phrase ukefalon.
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That is a chilling phrase. It really is.
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It means they were not willing. When I read that, I immediately
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think about how perfectly this illustrates the Reformed
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doctrine of total depravity from the Westminster Confession.
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Yes, the will is in bondage. Totally.
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The unregenerate will is set in active opposition to spiritual
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good. It is not that they wanted to
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come, but physically could not make the trip.
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They possessed an absolute stubborn unwillingness.
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There won't was there can't. That phrase, ukeflon, locates
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the problem entirely in the corruption of the human heart.
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It's not a logistical issue. The King's invitation is
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sincere. The feast is lavish.
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The provision is complete. There is absolutely no
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deficiency in the feast itself. The food is perfect.
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Yeah, and the king is not stingy in his mercy either.
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He is sending emissaries repeatedly to call them in, but
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the guests simply will not come. They just refuse.
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And this perfectly aligns with the Westminster Confessions
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teaching that fallen humanity has completely lost all ability
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of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation.
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So they aren't neutral. Not at all.
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The rejection of the Messiah by the religious elite in the 1st
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century was not due to a lack of information.
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They had the scrolls. They knew the prophecies of
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Isaiah and Micah. The rejection was due to a
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radical, willful corruption of the heart.
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They love their own glory more than the glory of God.
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OK, wait, I hear this and I have to ask a question that I think a
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lot of modern readers would ask. Sure, lay it on me.
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Maybe they were just busy. The text specifically says they
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went off 1 to his farm, another to his business.
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Is it really that bad to prioritize your livelihood?
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That is, the natural human defense isn't?
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It I mean, we all have jobs, we all have mortgages and
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responsibilities. It sounds like they were just
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trying to make a living, manage their estates and handle the
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practical realities of life. Why is that treated as a capital
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defense? That is the specific defense the
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human mind naturally constructs, and it is the very defense this
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text destroys. We have to analyze the Greek
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term amelesantes. OK, what does that mean?
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It translates to they made light of it going to 1's edian agron,
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which means one's own field, or to 1's emporian, which means
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one's business or commerce. Those things are not
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intrinsically evil. Right, God made agriculture and
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commerce. Yeah, they are legitimate human
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endeavors instituted by God, but in this context they become
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literal idols because they are placed above the direct command
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of the King. Oh, I see.
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The sin is not that they had responsibilities.
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The sin is that they considered their own temporal affairs more
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urgent than the honor of the King's son.
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That is a huge distinction. Think about the sheer audacity
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of it. The King of the Universe issues
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a summons to a royal wedding and they just brush it off to go
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check their crop yields or balance their accounting
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ledgers. Like sorry I got to have a
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spreadsheet to update. Exactly.
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This is the essence of idolatry. It is prioritizing the created
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world over the Creator. When the King calls, making
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light of that call is a calculated insult to his
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authority. So apathy is not neutral, it is
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an act of high treason. Yes, and treason against the
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sovereign demands a response. Because this apathy doesn't just
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stay as polite disinterest, does it?
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It escalates into open violence against the King's messengers.
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It always. Does.
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And that escalation leads to the most shocking verse in the
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parable, because the apathy turns to violence.
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The King's patience gives way to justice.
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The velvet glove comes off and the iron fist comes down. 1st 6
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shows the terrifying progression of sin.
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Some of the guests simply wandered off to their farms, but
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the rest seized the King's messengers, treated them
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shamefully and killed them. Just brutal.
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It reveals the psychological truth about rebellion.
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The same sinful heart that casually neglects God's
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invitation will, when pressed or confronted, reveal a vicious
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hatred for God's messengers. They don't just ignore the
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mailman, they shoot him. Right.
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And in the historical context, these messengers represent the
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long line of Old Testament prophets whom Israel repeatedly
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resisted, mocked and killed. Like Jeremiah, Isaiah.
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Yeah. You can read Hebrews Chapter 11
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to see how brutal that history was.
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The guests hate the message because they hate the king, and
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they strike the messengers because those men bear the
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King's summons. The unbelief that hides behind a
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busy schedule eventually unmasks itself as open hostility toward
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divine authority. I look at this and realize that
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modern society loves a God who only hands out invitation.
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Oh, we. Love a tame God.
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We really do. Yeah.
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You're very comfortable with a deity who stands on the porch
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holding a tray of hors d'oeuvre, hoping we might drop by if it
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fits our schedule. A God who just wants us to have
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a nice weekend. Exactly.
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We struggle immensely with a God who sends troops.
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But think about it from the perspective of an actual
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Kingdom. If a king shrugs off the murder
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of his emissaries and the public dishonor of his own son, is he
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actually a good king? He's not.
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If a judge watches a murderer mock the court and then says no
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worries, I'm all about love, that judge is not merciful.
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That judge is corrupt. That observation strikes at the
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heart of modern sentimentality regarding the divine nature.
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Many people want to speak of divine love, but they detach
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that love from divine holiness and divine justice.
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They want the love without the law.
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Right. But biblical love is not
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indulgence. The king in this parable is
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furious, and verse 7 says he sent his troops and destroyed
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those murderers and burned their city.
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Burn their city that is severe. But this anger is not a sinful,
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out of control temper tantrum like a human might have.
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It is the necessary righteous expression of His justice.
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He is upholding the honor of his Son and vindicating his own
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righteous authority. So a good king has to punish
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treason. Absolutely.
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A ruler who excuses murder and ignores contempt for his son
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abandons the moral order of his Kingdom.
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Therefore, the judgement here is an expression of the King's
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perfect goodness. God's wrath is his settled
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opposition to evil. And this detail about burning
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the city, it is not just a colorful metaphor for Jesus to
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make a point. It is precise pre written
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history. We have to look at the
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historical fulfillment of this verse.
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Jesus is standing in Jerusalem talking to the leaders of
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Jerusalem, predicting the siege of Jerusalem in 8070.
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He's telling them their own future.
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Right. He is telling the men standing
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right in front of him exactly how their story ends.
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The historical reality is terrifying.
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God, in His sovereign Providence, used the Roman
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legions under the command of General Titus as the rod of his
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anger. To judge that specific
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generation. Yes, the generation that
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rejected his Son in 8070, just 4 decades after Jesus spoke these
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words, Jerusalem was besieged it.
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Was a horrific siege. Beyond belief.
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The historian Josephus details the absolute horrors of that
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siege. Starvation.
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Violence. Ultimately, the temple was
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destroyed, not one stone was left upon another, and the city
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was literally burned to the ground.
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Which matches the parable perfectly.
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It does. This shows us that God's Word
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has real consequences in time and space.
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The geographical reality of Jerusalem burning is the
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ultimate sign that the Kingdom was being taken away from the
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rebellious leaders. And it ties back to our
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theological framework. Yes, it ties directly back to
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the Westminster Standards regarding God's holiness.
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Divine kindness cannot be severed from divine justice.
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The destruction proves that covenant privilege.
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Like having the physical temple. Right.
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Having the temple, having the stone tablets of the law, having
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the ancestry of Abraham, none of that can shield a rebellious
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heart from righteous wrath. So the city burns, but the
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banquet hall is still empty. The food is getting cold.
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The King's decree to honor his son cannot be frustrated,
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though. The party is going to happen.
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Oh, the King will have his feast.
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Which brings the narrative to the crossroads.
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Since the original guests proved themselves unworthy through
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their rebellion, the king moves to ensure his son is still
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honored. He will not have an empty table.
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The King's purpose is absolute. In verses 8 through 10, the king
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commands his men to go to the DI Exodus tune Hodun.
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Another great Greek phrase. What does that one mean?
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It refers to the main thoroughfares or the crossroads
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where the city streets meet the country roads.
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It is the place where transients, travelers and the
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lower classes would congregate. The people who usually get
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ignored. Exactly.
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He tells them to gather both bad and good.
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The original guests are declared not worthy because their refusal
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exposed their spiritual bankruptcy.
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Now the invitation goes out to the public roads, to an ordinary
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mixed crowd of people who never ever expected to see the inside
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of a palace. Which points to the Gentiles,
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right? Yes, this represents the
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indiscriminate external call of the gospel reaching beyond the
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borders of national Israel out to the entire Gentile world.
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OK, I have to ask a theological question here, and it is one
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that trips up a lot of people when they read this text.
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Let's hear it. Does this mean God's original
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plan failed and he had to resort to Plan B because the 1st guest
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said no? Did God have to scramble to find
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a backup list? Was he caught off guard by the
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Pharisees rejection? Absolutely not, and the text
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itself firmly refutes that idea. The King's intention is never
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thwarted. OK, break that down for us.
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Let's look at a major theological divide here.
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Arminianism is a theological system that suggests human free
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will can frustrate the eternal decrees of God.
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Like God is trying to do something but humans won't let
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him. Right.
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It implies that God casts a vote for your salvation, Satan casts
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vote against it, and you cast the deciding vote.
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If that were true, the king in this parable would be at the
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mercy of the guests. RSVP cards.
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He'd just be sitting in an empty hall, feeling sad.
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Exactly. But verse 10 explicitly states
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that the wedding hall was filled.
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The hall is filled exactly as the King eternally intended.
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Human rebellion does not overthrow divine sovereignty.
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Rather, God accomplishes His design through both judgement
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and mercy. So he uses their rejection to
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open the doors wider. Yes.
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Furthermore, moralism is completely refuted here as well.
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How so? The text says the men gathered
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both the bad and the good. The guests brought in from the
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highways are not there because they possessed some native
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excellence, better manners, or moral superiority over the first
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guests. They weren't just better people.
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Not at all. Admission to this feast is based
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solely on the sovereign grace of the King.
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OK, but if God is just pulling random people off the dirt
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roads, how do we know they're actually going to stay at the
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party? What do you mean?
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Well, if total depravity means humans naturally hate the King
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and prefer their farms, won't the highway people just rebelled
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to? We need to look at Chapter 10 of
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the Westminster Confession here, which deals with effectual
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calling. Yes.
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Because how do we distinguish between the people being called
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on the highways and the people who actually sit down at the
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table and eat? That is the crucial distinction
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between the general call and the effectual hall in reformed
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theology. Let's unpack that.
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What's the general call? The general call is the external
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preaching of the Gospel. It is the Kingsman standing at
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the crossroads, shouting the invitations through a megaphone
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to absolutely everyone who passes by, bad and good alike.
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So everyone hears it. Yes, the invitation is sincere,
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broad and open to all. However, because of total
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depravity, no one will accept that general call, relying on
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their own free will. Left to themselves, they just
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keep walking. Exactly left themselves, the
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people on the highway would also prefer their dirt roads, just
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like the first guests preferred their farms.
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Therefore the effectual call is required.
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OK, so if the general call is a megaphone, what is the effectual
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call? Think of the effectual call not
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as a megaphone, but as a defibrillator.
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Oh wow. It is the internal secret work
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of the Holy Spirit taking away the heart of stone and giving a
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heart of flesh. It renews their wills and
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powerfully determines them to that which is good.
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It resurrects them. Yes, God doesn't just drag them
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into the hall against their will.
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He changes their will so that they come most freely, being
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made willing by His grace. That is beautiful.
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The hall is filled because God not only issues the external
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summons, but He also supplies the internal grace that
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guarantees attendance. So all this action, the sending
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of the invitations, the brutal judgement of the murderers, the
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gathering of outcasts from the dirt roads, it all revolves
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around a single individual who actually hasn't spoken a single
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word in the parable. Right, the focal point of the
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whole event. And that is the sun.
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We have seen the mechanics of the calling, but we must
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understand the reason for the feast.
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The entire narrative hinges on the dignity of the Sun.
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If we miss this, we completely miss the point of the text.
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Right, if we miss this, we turn Christianity into a self help
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program instead of a royal coronation.
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This is the Christ connection that sits at the very core of
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the text. This is not a parable about
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social etiquette, and it is not just about general divine
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blessings falling from the sky. It's specific.
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It is a wedding feast prepared by a king for his son.
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The honor of the Son is the central issue of the universe.
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The King is determined to glorify his Son, and everything
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that happens, the feast, the wrath, the calling of the
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Gentiles is driven by that singular purpose.
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So to refuse the feast is a personal attack on the Sun.
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Yes, to refuse the feast is not merely to decline a free meal,
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it is to insult the sun. And this isn't a new concept.
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Jesus just invented that Tuesday in the temple, right?
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Yeah. This banquet connects directly
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to the Old Covenant writings, specifically Isaiah 25, verse 6.
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Oh, the Pharisees would have known that text backward and
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forward. Right.
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This shows that the arrival of Jesus inaugurates a long-awaited
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era of joy. What does Isaiah 25 tell us?
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Isaiah 25 paints A majestic picture of the Lord of hosts,
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making for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well
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aged wine. It's the ultimate banquet.
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For centuries, the prophets anticipated a day when God would
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establish an era of covenant joy, abundance, and salvation.
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By telling this parable in the temple, Jesus is publicly
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declaring himself to be the fulfillment of that prophetic
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shadow. He's saying the wait is over.
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He is saying I am the Bridegroom, I am the
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long-awaited Messiah. The joy of the Kingdom has
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arrived in His person, and He is standing right in front of the
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Pharisees offering it to them, and they are rejecting it to
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their own destruction. We can.
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Clearly see the triple office of Christ functioning right here in
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the text too. He is prophet, priest and king.
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Yes, all three offices are visible.
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As prophet, He is standing before the Pharisees, declaring
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the absolute truth of their condition and the coming
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judgement. He is speaking the very words of
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God to a hostile crowd. And as priest, he provides the
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very basis for the feast. How so?
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Well, the text mentions the slaughtered oxen and the
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fattened calves. This detail points directly to
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the sacrificial system that Jesus will fulfill.
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We need to define two theological terms here, active
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obedience and passive obedience. OK, let's break those down.
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What is passive obedience? Passive obedience refers to
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Jesus suffering and dying on the cross to pay the penalty for our
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sins. He is the ultimate slaughtered
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sacrifice that makes the feast possible.
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He takes the punishment right. But his act of obedience refers
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to his perfect, sinless life lived in total submission to
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God's law. He didn't just die to clear our
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debt. He lived to earn perfect
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righteousness on our behalf. That is such a critical
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distinction. And it is.
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And finally, as king, he is the royal son for whom the banquet
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is held, the one who possesses the authority to command
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attendance from all nations. He fulfills every office
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perfectly. That brings up a vital piece of
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systematic theology implied in the broader context of the
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parable, especially when you look at the guests coming in
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from the highway. The street guests.
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Right. These people are coming straight
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from the dirt roads. They're dusty, they're
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impoverished. They bring absolutely nothing
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with them. So how do they get to sit at a
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royal wedding? They must be clothed in imputed
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righteousness to sit at the table.
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The concept of the wedding garment is essential here.
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The guests gathered from the crossroads are a mixed multitude
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of bad and good. They do not have royal attire
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hanging in their closets. They didn't have time to render
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the tailor. No, they were pulled right off
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the street. In ancient Near Eastern royal
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banquets. The king himself would often
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provide the proper garments for his guests because he knew
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commoners couldn't afford them. Also, the king supplies the
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dress code. Exactly.
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In theological terms, this represents the imputed
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righteousness of Christ. Imputation means taking
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something that belongs to one person and crediting it to
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someone else's account. Like a bank transfer?
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It is like having someone else's perfect credit score applied to
25:27
your bankrupt account. You cannot sit at the King's
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table dressed in the filthy rags of your own moral efforts,
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whether you consider yourself a good citizen or a bad outcast by
25:37
human standards. You need alien righteousness.
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You must be clothed entirely in the perfect act of obedience,
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the flawless righteousness that Christ accomplished.
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Admission relies entirely on His merit credited to your account.
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Knowing this theology is one thing, but the text demands a
25:53
personal reckoning. We have to move this
25:56
conversation from ancient history to the modern listeners
25:58
own life. We can't just leave it in the
26:00
1st century. Right, because the text is a
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royal summons. You cannot remain A detached
26:04
observer listening to a history lesson.
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The ancient apathy we see in the Pharisees mirrors the modern
26:10
condition perfectly. We need to apply the law gospel
26:13
paradigm here to make sense of it.
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The Law Gospel paradigm is the safest way to apply scripture
26:19
without falling into legalistic moralism.
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Let's start with the law. We begin with the first use of
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the law, which exposes sin. The law acts as a mirror,
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showing us our absolute failure to honor the King.
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The idols of the farm and business are fully active today.
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Very active. We may not be tending olive
26:37
Grove in 1st century Judea, but the principle of prioritizing
26:41
the temporal over the eternal is the defining sickness of our
26:44
age. Look at the rise of the knowns
26:46
in modern sociology that nearly 30% of the population who play
26:49
no religion whatsoever. It's a massive demographic
26:53
shift. It really is.
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And they aren't all out there actively burning down churches
26:57
or organizing violent protests against Christianity.
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The vast majority of them are just checking their stock
27:02
portfolios, scrolling through endless digital distractions,
27:05
advancing their careers. Just mowing their lawns on
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Sunday mornings. Yes, mowing their lawns,
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remaining completely apathetic to the eternal.
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They are polite, functioning members of society.
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Yet the text calls this very behavior soul destroying
27:21
idolatry. The danger of respectable sin is
27:24
a terrifying reality. Modern men and women excuse
27:27
themselves because they are not openly violent or scandalous.
27:30
They think I work hard, I provide for my family, I pay my
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taxes, I mind my own business. I'm a good person, right?
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But Jesus reveals that unbelief often wears the clothing of
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ordinary life and busy schedules.
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If your career, your bank account, or your hobbies keep
27:44
you from bowing before Christ, then those things have become
27:47
your master. They've become your farm and
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your business. Exactly.
27:51
The text strips away the false comfort of a respectable busy
27:54
life and exposes it as a deadly insult to divine grace.
27:58
Neglecting the King's summons is high treason, regardless of how
28:02
polite you are while doing it. The man who ignores the king to
28:04
go check his fields perishes just as surely as the man who
28:07
murders the messengers. But the law gospel paradigm does
28:10
not leave us crushed under the weight of the law, right?
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There is massive gospel comfort here.
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Oh, so much comfort. For the listener who feels like
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an outcast, the bad gathered from the highway, the person who
28:21
knows their life is a total mess, the text offers vast hope.
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The gospel remedy is found in the King's sovereign
28:30
determination to fill his house. If you feel the weight of your
28:34
unworthiness, if you look at your life and see the dirt of
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the highway, this parable is shouting good news to you.
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Because the king is inviting you.
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The King fills his house with those whom he summons by grace.
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Your admission does not rely on your native excellence, your
28:47
moral track record, or your social standing.
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It relies entirely on the King's mercy.
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You don't have to clean yourself up first.
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Christ receives those who come empty handed, guilty and ashamed
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because the feast has been prepared and the garments have
29:00
been provided by another. The text closes every single
29:04
door to self righteousness, but it opens the door of grace
29:08
incredibly wide for the broken. That raises a really practical
29:12
question about the corporate call.
29:15
How should the modern church respond to this?
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Who are we in the parable right now?
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That's a great question. If we are the ones who have been
29:23
brought into the feast, what is our job?
29:26
Believers today act as the messenger sent out to the
29:28
highways and the crossroads. Our task is to issue the
29:32
Sovereign Summons with urgency to everyone we find.
29:35
So we are the ones carrying the invitations.
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Now, yes, and this fundamentally refutes modern seeker sensitive
29:41
pragmatism. Many modern churches try to
29:43
change the nature of the banquet.
29:45
Oh, they try to make it more appealing.
29:47
Right. They try to make the church look
29:48
and feel exactly like the farms, the businesses and the
29:51
entertainment venues the world already loves, hoping to lure
29:54
people in with comfort coffee shops and rock concerts.
29:58
He's giving them what they already want.
29:59
But the messengers and the parable did not alter the King's
30:02
message. They did not apologize for the
30:04
King's authority. They did not try to make the
30:06
palace look like a barn to make the farmers comfortable.
30:09
They just announced the feast. They announced the feast and
30:12
issued the call. We must proclaim the Gospel
30:15
broadly and urgently, declaring the truth of sin and salvation,
30:19
trusting the Holy Spirit to accomplish the internal
30:21
effectual call, knowing with absolute certainty that the King
30:25
will fill his house. Man, we have covered massive
30:29
ground today. We have seen how a seemingly
30:32
simple story about a wedding feast reveals the total
30:35
inability of man, the terrifying justice of God, and the
30:39
triumphant sovereign grace that fills the banquet hall.
30:42
It is a powerhouse of a text. We looked at the historical
30:45
tension of Passion Week, the cultural weight of the double
30:48
invitation, the literal burning of Jerusalem in 8070, and the
30:52
beautiful reality of Christ's imputed righteousness covering
30:56
our sin. And we want to leave you, the
30:57
listener, with a forward-looking reality, because this historical
31:00
parable points directly to an impending literal future event.
31:04
The sad logical climax. Yes, the climax found in
31:07
Revelation in chapter 19. Eschatology is just the study of
31:10
last things, the final events of human history.
31:12
The Apostle John writes about the marriage supper of the Lamb.
31:15
The ultimate feast. That feast is being prepared
31:18
right now in the heavens. The King is readying the hall
31:21
for his son. You are holding the summons in
31:23
your hands through the hearing of this very text.
31:26
You've received the invitation. When that final trumpet sounds
31:29
and the reality of the King's presence shatters the illusion
31:32
of this temporal world, will you be found wearing the filthy rags
31:36
of your own apathy, or will you be seated at the table, clothed
31:40
in the flawless righteousness of the King's son?
31:43
Imagine standing in that courtroom we talked about at the
31:45
beginning. The evidence is presented, the
31:48
Ledger is open, and the absolute truth of your life is displayed
31:51
for the entire court to see. A terrifying thought.
31:54
The judge looks at the apathy, the divided.
31:56
Loyalty is the preference for the dirt of your own fields over
31:59
the glory of his Kingdom. The verdict of the law is clear.
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Guilty. But then the son steps forward,
32:06
carrying a royal garment purchase with his own blood, and
32:09
places it over your shoulders. The summons is in your hand.
32:13
The choice is not whether you will respond, It is only a
32:15
question of how the oxen are slaughtered.
32:18
The feast is ready. The king is waiting.