Matthew 22:1-14
Sunday Morning – 28 Oct 2018 10:51:49 am – Pastor James Yang

If you look at students who are good in studying, generally they are not tutored. However, they listen to what the teacher says in the class and they get good scores in the examination. However, students who are not good in studying daydream and so on.

Spiritual life is the same. There is a clear purpose and clear focus. The problem is that we swerve from the purpose and lose the focus.

In the scriptures of Matthew 22, the kingdom of heaven is spoken about. The king represents God and the people invited represents you and I. What is the thing that God looks at?

People usually make great of what they see as truly important.

When I got married, I only saw her once and on the third time, we were wed. I gave $1,300 as dowry to my wife. She then said something completely shocking. My wife in her seemingly strong voice said “Brother, what can I do with this amount of money?”

My wife is also a year and a half older than I am.

One day, I was eating in the parsonage and I was 25 years old back then. The pastor’s wife who served me the meal just came to me and said to me that I should get married. It was all arranged already who I was going to marry.

I can see that through the servant of God, God gave me the most appropriate wife.

My family however was against this as they believed I was going to a heretic church and thus I would marry a heretic wife. However, my mother, who went on strike because of this eventually came to the wedding as I told her that I would marry without her. Now, she loves our couple the most because they have received salvation and the gospel is so precious to them.

“So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22:10-11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Do you believe that you are living spiritual life well? Many of you do not, right? It could be because of many reasons such as perhaps you are lustful, or not reading the bible, etc.

But God does not care about all of this. All He cares about is whether we wear the “Wedding garment” or not in the context of Matthew 22. If Jesus was to come back again today, can you have assurance that you can go to heaven?

Last week, we shared the Word about Ruth.

“So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.”
‭‭Ruth‬ ‭2:2-3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

After Ruth’s name is the title of “the Moabitess”. This is not a good title at all. Moabites came through the incest relationship between Lot and his daughters.

Now Ruth was someone never meant to enter the land of Israel as a result of being a Moabite. But she did enter the field of Boaz. Boaz provided her with water, food, security and prosperity.

Perhaps Boaz was over 50 years old and Ruth was less than 20 years old. Is this an easy thing to do? No, it isn’t.

True love does not seek one’s own. This is Christ alone. Christ is this love because He did not seek His own benefit.

What is the reason why people leave the church? Because they find no benefit for them.

In 1 Corinthians 13, it details about love clearly.

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This is the definition of love. If you have the Love of Christ in you, then you will detest to seek your own profit. Many people claim to have received salvation and believe in Christ, but deep in their heart, they are ready to leave the church if they cannot see any benefit for themselves.

If you have been living your life with such attitude, then you should forsake it so that it can be a great benefit for you.

There is a very particular heart that God looks for.

When Ruth was in the field of Boaz, all the conditions for her to receive grace was upon Boaz. Ruth received so much grace just because of Boaz. Yet Ruth’s title is the Moabitess.

With your condition, you can never attain to the salvation of God.

One day Isaac became old and his eyes became dim. He did not know his day of death. He wanted to bless Esau and so called him and asked him to cook a savoury meal from his game that he hunts. But Jacob was told by Rebekah as to what he should do and so he listened to his mother’s voice. Jacob then entered Isaac’s room wearing the skin of the sheep and this was the only condition that Isaac saw to bless Jacob.

“or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, then he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed.”
‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭4:28‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

It matters whether the kid of the goats has blemishes or not. But God sees only one thing – Jesus Christ.

Thus in your spiritual life journey as well, it is all about what Jesus is like. If Jesus is perfect, then so are you.

How you are like does not matter as far as spiritual life is concerned. How you live spiritual life only depends on and is decided by what Jesus is like. For this reason, we say such things: “I am the world’s best pastor” or “I am the world’s best brother or sister”. God really does not care whether we are good or bad.

“If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give Him? Or what does He receive from your hand? Your wickedness affects a man such as you, And your righteousness a son of man.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭35:6-8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The truth is that Jesus has already perfected, cleansed us and sanctified us. So this means that we are now perfect. It is just that we have a different perspective to the perspective of God. If God says we are sanctified, so we are. If He says we are perfect, then so we are.

For this reason, we can say that we are the world’s best.

The king only looked at one thing about the guests – whether they wore the garments or not. He did not care whether they were evil or not.

“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God is only pleaded with Jesus. And this is the secret of Spiritual life: Keep your focus only on Jesus.

If you start a fight with someone, then it may be easy for you to say that you are evil continually. But if you are always doing good works and volunteer works, then can you say that you are evil?

Well, when God looks at us, we are only evil continually. This is why Jesus is needed.

We humans cannot decipher the difference between good and evil. Only God can — this is why God told humans not to eat of the tree of the good and evil.

The wedding garment is Jesus. If we do not wear Jesus, then we will be cast out.

There are people who are guided by the Word. There are also people who are guided by their own experiences and their own thoughts. This is very humanistic.

“So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The one man who did not wear his own garment was the one who had his own standards.

The kingdom of God is all about wearing that wedding garment that God has prepared for us. That garment is Jesus Christ.

Consider the time when Noah had finished building the ark. All kinds of clean and unclean animals walked in. The ark was filled with clean and unclean animals.

From now on, counter-attack by not looking at your situation but believe in the Words of God. So many people are tied down by their actions. They do not regard this as evil.

“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭4:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

If you have worked, then it is no longer grace any more. If our works and actions are added then this is false faith.

In the wedding hall, only the people wearing the garment could access the kingdom of God.