The King’s Honor Defended | Matthew 22:1-14

Scripture

• Matthew 22:1–14

About this sermon

Introduction: Every sin that men commit is outrageous in at least three directions. Sin is outrageous in its irreverence before the HOLINESS OF GOD. God is holy and all sin is unrighteousness — it is rebellion against that holiness. Sin is outrageous in its attack on the HONOR OF GOD. God deserves honor, respect, submission, from His creatures. Sin is a refusal to give God the honor that He is deserving of. Sin is outrageous in its ungratefulness for the GOODNESS AND KINDNESS OF GOD. Every sin ever committed was in the face of the goodness of God. In the face of God’s provision and in the face of God’s patience. Sin deserves immediate judgment. Sin deserves immediate destruction. Sin deserves an immediate answer. And yet God is often patient with sinners. God’s patience with sinners HAS HIM PROVIDING FOR PEOPLE WHO OUGHT NOT TO EXIST. And God’s good gifts to sinners, is an expression of amazing grace and undeserved love. But sin treats the goodness of God as though it is worthless. Instead of being thankful, sin is presumptuous and arrogant. Our Lord continues to give parables that demonstrate the outrageous nature of the sin of Israel’s spiritual leaders. They are WRETCHES — pronounced such by their own judgments. They are DARING WRETCHES — committing acts that deserve retribution. They are UNGRATEFUL WRETCHES — doing what they do in the face of amazing patience. Our Lord continues to expose them and warn them — with parables. What is happening at that moment regarding Israel and her leaders? What does this amazing season that began with John the Baptist and continues to this very moment with Jesus in the temple — including the response of the religious leaders to Jesus — what does it really represent? IT IS FULFILLMENT OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY. AND WHERE DOES IT ALL LEAD? What will be the outcome of this? A JUDGMENT AND MERCY DECREED BY GOD. Jesus is explaining it all THROUGH PARABLES. Christ has demonstrated the hypocritical and willful unbelief of the religious leaders through a tale of two sons. Christ has demonstrated the wicked and murderous nature of these religious leaders (but the ultimate triumph of the Messiah) through a story about a vineyard, and the application of Psalm 118. And now Jesus explains what is happening in the present, and what will happen in the future, with a story about a wedding feast. It is good to remember that these three parables were given in response to a challenge regarding Jesus’ authority. “By what authority does He do what He does?” His response through each of these parables demonstrates His authority. He assesses them, and pronounces their judgment, by means of these stories. They are meeting with the future judge of all the earth, and He is telling them where they stand in relationship to HIMSELF and to DIVINE JUSTICE at that very moment, and where they will be for all eternity if they do not repent. And he does it again, in our verses this morning, with the story of a royal wedding feast. We will examine this parable under four headings. (1) A king’s invitation dishonored (2) A king’s anger vented (3) A king’s provision extended (4) A king’s sovereignty demonstrated. • A KING’S INVITATION DISHONORED (vs.1-6) The first thing that we note is that this is a parable about the kingdom of heaven. The story Jesus tells demonstrates something about the kingdom — the kingdom may be compared to this. • THE KINGDOM COMPARED TO A KING’S WEDDING FEAST (vs.2) In this context, what are we to think of when we think of the kingdom of heaven? In this context, the kingdom speaks of the dominion of God and His Christ. The question considered in the first two rejection parables has to do with the realm of salvation. Who are truly God’s people? To whom does salvation and its blessings belong? Who has responded with obedient faith (not just words) to God’s joyful presentation of His Son and the invitation to share in the blessings of His Son? It is the realm of God’s rule, it is the realm of salvation, it is the realm of God’s Messiah, that is in view. John MacArthur — “Although they had many perverted ideas about the kingdom of heaven, because the term heaven was so often used as a substitute for the covenant name of God (Yahweh, or Jehovah), most Jews would have understood that it was synonymous with the kingdom of God and represented the realm of God’s sovereign rule. There are past, present, and future as well as temporal and eternal aspects of the kingdom, but it is not restricted to any era or period of redemptive history. It is the continuing, ongoing sphere of God’s rule by grace. In a narrower sense, the phrase is also used in Scripture to refer to God’s dominion of redemption, His divine program of gracious salvation.