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00:00:02 morning church uh today's scripture reading is taken from Matthew chap 22: 1-4 I'll be reading from the NIV Jesus spoke to them again in Parables saying the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared A Wedding Banquet for his son he sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell him to come but they refused to come then he sent some more servants and said tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner my oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready
00:00:45 come to The Wedding Banquet but they paid no attention and went off one to his field another to his business the rest sees his servants mistreated and killed them the King was enraged he sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their City then he said to his servants The Wedding Banquet is ready but those I invited did not deserve to come so go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find so the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find the bad
00:01:23 as well as the good and the wedding hall was filled with guests but when the king came in to see the guests he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes he asked how did you get in here without wedding clothes friend the man was speechless then the king told the attendants tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and nashing of teeth for many are invited but few are chosen this is the word of the Lord thank you Adam good morning good to see everyone here on a
00:02:12 Sunday those of you who haven't taken the opportunity to go for the long weekend now let's start with the word of prayer father Lord we thank you for everybody here this morning we are not here by accident we are here by Design and intention for you have your word for us in worship and in your scripture um we're going to talk about something very close to everybody's heart weddings put your hand up anybody here who never been to a wedding I'm going to look real careful like why you don't want to
00:02:48 go weddings are a great time um whether somebody's getting married or your son and daughter getting married or you're getting invited it's a time of great celebration um and and this is a an experience I don't even see a single hand up or anybody here who has not been to a wedding so when scripture is cast when God communicates to us it's cast in such a way that finds resonance in the people reading it understanding it so that when you actually use this imagery of a wedding you understand what God is
00:03:23 trying to convey to us and God is trying to convey to us the joy of a wedding let me let me put you in the context of the last few uh chapters that gone ahead so we've actually had Matthew 21 when Jesus comes triumphantly into through the Gates of Jerusalem as the Messiah very few actually recognize it it's actually the ordinary people who actually lay out the carpet in the old days if the Messiah were to come anticipate to come the leaders of the city will come out and greet him and bring him inside in a
00:04:00 triumphal procession they do that for Roman generals as well in this particular case it's ironic he doesn't come on a white stallion he comes on a mule he doesn't come and have the leaders come out but instead he's actually greeted by Ordinary People by children this is a messiah which is different and then you've got the Trilogy coming out just like the lord of rings you can only tell Truth by three stages and here the same thing we've got a Trilogy of Parables and each Parable is designed to tell us a contrast which
00:04:41 contrast the reception of Messiah if the Jews have been waiting for the Messiah to come all these centuries when he finally comes what is his reception he's actually received by the ordinary people and is not received by the leaders the two sons the par two Sons uh basically talks about two sons the father asked the son look can you go and look after the farm and he says yes but he doesn't go he talks to the other son who says no but he actually goes and this actually contrasts normal people the Unworthy Tax Collectors
00:05:20 prostitutes they receive Jesus were the leaders of the nation who say they would go never went then you've got the parable the wicked tenants and instead of paying their rent to the owner of the and the owner of the V actually is the one who dug up the land who planted the VIN y put the Hedge everything is done all you have to do is just water the plants instead they did not do that and so therefore they were kicked out and God put in place of the vineyard people with fruit not fruitless people now we
00:05:57 come to The Wedding Banquet of the son where God's fellowship with them is described in terms of a wedding banquet and yet the Jewish leaders and every else one else was invited but they refused and so Jesus ends this Parable with this very important verse for many are called but few are chosen this is possibly confusing and we're going to work through this and there are three points here one many call God invites everyone to enter into his Joy a failure to respond appropriately to the call is not released from responsibility and
00:06:38 lastly what does it mean by few are chosen let's look at many are called God invites everyone to enterance Joy so we use the wedding as an object lesson nowadays we actually have a wedding and that only lasts thank goodness only for what few hours all right four five hours in the old days the wedding lasts one week and stting enjoying thems for one week and a great object lessons and you can have biblical imagery of the final joy in God's presence cast as the Sabbath all right cast as Garden the
00:07:12 Garden of Eden cast as Wedding Banquet each of these imageries evoke certain emotions that enable us to connect with what God is trying to tell us that in his presence is great joy when you go to a wedding banquet you know the Son and the daughter who's going to get married you know the parents your friends and so therefore you're actually celebrating with a common purpose it is a great time in fact the psychologist call this effect the collective effervescence this is Emil duim who is a French
00:07:50 sociologist he described the phenomenon of collective Collective effervescence as which is when there's a sense of electricity or euphoria that vibrates through human beings as they share an experience so therefore when you go to wedding it's not about the Maran if you think it's about the sui then you're at home and you eat the sui all by yourself right I mean your $200 you I mean you can go home eat the sui the head also can eat the ear also can eat everything and then it's not about music because you can put on your
00:08:25 your iPhones and and listen to the music all by yourself or you can even dance on your own why is it that people go to the pub why is it that people go to the the the discotech and there's lights and everybody is dancing together because you got a group of people same thought same action right and then you get this effect of the collective effervescence which is excitement and unity and you know the excitement and unity you get psychologically is greater than the sum of all the parts so together you
00:08:58 actually create something which is the same thing so there are things that you can only experience in community you can't do this in Zoom try getting married on Zoom some people did it was very difficult to imagine uh so there are certain things that you can only experience in in a community and and this Collective effort vence helps people lead happier and connected and meaningful lives psychologists have proved this so and the larger the crowd the greater the Euphoria it's different from watching Manchester united through
00:09:30 the TV screen they actually been there with everybody shouting the only I hate this you know but the only uh game I ever went to was India versus Malaysia hockey we were screaming screaming screaming with 2 two you know my God it was Collective effervescence then the third goal go I better go home we lost that was the World Cup you know but the larger the crowd you notice is greater the for you can do the way then you put your hand up you know so things like all right so uh same thing happens in
00:10:05 church guys what are you doing at home what are you doing at home if you're at home on Zoom try to have Collective eff vesence T you got to come here and my claims that you you can't produce the same Collective effervescence psychologically you know for this is like going people invite you for for for wedding you go I'll zoom in try zooming in and you watch people salivate over the sui right and you can't eat together all right uh Hebrews says let us hold fast to the confession of our faith without wavering
00:10:41 for he who promis is faithful let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works how do we do that that's a collective effervescence because not neglecting to meet together as the habit of some but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day Drawing Near as you see the day Drawing Near we encourage each other in our faith by seeing each other come you know some of and then you come here to church and see oh some of the people in cares are coming they're so old they're not
00:11:09 scared to die and all the younger people where where where they at home sleeping me it encourages you that people who are faithful Saints are turning up week after week after week and and that's important that and this reflects backwards into Isaiah there a passage in Isaiah uh 256 it says on this mountain of the Lord of hosts will make for All Peoples one day we're going to have a huge wedding All Peoples a feast of rich food a feast of well- edged wine of rich food full of marrow of age wine well refined so this is the anticipated
00:11:53 consummation of the kingdom and go Jesus going to come and wrap things up and the wedding Feast is emblematic of that on on that day he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all people the veil that is over all nations he will swallow up death forever death lingers over us even as we pray for so many of our sick brothers and sisters death lingers us when we celebrate it's hard to celebrate when our people are sick but when this day comes the veil of death the veil of sickness shall be lifted
00:12:30 and we will celebrate with a clear eye and God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of his people he will take away from the all the Earth for the Lord has spoken not only take away your tears no he will take away your sin and your condemnation that is the wedding Feast he's inviting so now he invites the folk and and and he's and the kingdom of God Heaven is compared to a King who gave a wedding Feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who invited wedding but they would not
00:13:00 come now there are two stage invitation the first stage invitation traditionally they send out the invitation you get the card you say oh I'm coming RSVP right you say you're going to come ready right and then once they prepare everything right then he send other servants saying tell those who are invited see I prepared my dinner my oxen my fat calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready come to the wedding Feast the second invitation comes when they finish cooking and they finish cooking everything ready ask you to come
00:13:29 because you say you're going to come right you cook for 50 or 100 or 2,000 I already cook for 2,000 if you don't turn up problem for me right so it's an rfbb situation and then uh you can look at and and this basically tells us the character of God the loving father who invites the son to join him in the family business work in the farm The Vineyard owner who basically creates the farm digs it up plants the Vine invites everybody to come in and join and the King invites other people to share in his Joy it is a
00:14:06 royal wedding remember this the latest war o wedding in UK was Megan and Harry I think that one Crash and Burn already so now mind we talk about this one um it is great honor 2012 I remember the the great wedding of of um Char not Charles sorry I was going to say Charles and Diana but that was my time this William and and Kate and it was a great wedding you know it's a great honor to be invited to a wedding and there were lots of people there you know the kind of people there were there 40 kings and
00:14:42 queens 50 members of the royal family 60 Governor generals and prime ministers 200 members of parliament and diplomats and not only that not only that you actually see these fellows Kate Middleton's grosser Kate Middleton's shopkeeper Butcher and I think yalo is a postman ordinary people were invited to this particular wedding it was a tremendous honor to be invited imagine you're grosser you sell ice cream to William and Kate and and you actually invite you score a seat among all the great celebrities of the land you know
00:15:22 they all come and the only thing that's required is that for the men you must wear suit or morning coat and the women you must wear hat and these two wore very interesting hats came out in the newspaper right so they're a bit over the top now so therefore many a call the invitation goes out to everybody and God invites everybody here to enter into his Joy a failure responds appropriately to the call is not a release from responsibility it cool kinds of people and three kinds of inappropriate responses that are those who declined
00:16:00 the call and those who answered the call and those who declined the call because of apathy or treachery those who answered the call came on their own terms and were rejected you look at the first group they paid no attention and went off one to his farm another to his business it is very strange if you look at Luke chapter 14 which is a parallel pass uh passage it actually tells you the reasons they gave another said I have to I bought five yolk of oxen I could do go to examine them this is ridiculous do you buy oxen before
00:16:34 examining it's on the web you buy no picture at all he has to go and examine them after he has bought them which is ridiculous please excuse me and another said I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come so married your wife control you lock you at home you cannot come I mean that's ridiculous is that so these are actually lies someone said an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie and this is that so when everybody someone gives you an excuse to remember it could be a reason stuff with
00:17:08 a lie then there's treachery and and the rest seized the servants treated them shamefully and killed them now this is actually a parable and sometimes the parable has no resonance with with with uh reality because it's painted to the extreme and he's going to paint the Jewish leaders what they're going to du to his son which is Jesus all right now why do they fail to accept the invitation well Corinthians Paul writes none of the rulers of this age which includes the Jewish leers at the time understood this
00:17:44 for if they had they would not have crucified the Lord Of Glory it for is written no eye has seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him so human beings the leaders at that time could not envisage could not see did not not anticipate what God had actually God had planned a wonderful dinner for them a wonderful wedding for them but they could not see they thought the five oxen and the wife is more important than going to this marvelous Affair in fact
00:18:15 in the previous Parable the parable tenants Jesus said the stone which the builders rejected will become the Cornerstone it was the Lord's doing which is marvelous in their eyes the reason why they don't believe is because they are more focused on receiving glory for one another John 5:44 how can you believe when you receive glory for one another and do not seek the glory that comes from only God and that actually applies to us many of us dispel Bel little ignore God's invitation even to come to worship or or
00:18:49 Christian Ministry activities because we're not more interested in gaining glory for ourselves in the eyes of our colleagues generation which is many of us here now U have found bana research has found that the rate of aism has actually doubl we're moving to an age where the younger generation no longer come to the wedding feast and some of the reasons are well they're saying God allows evil or suffering in the world what kind of God is this useless all right Christians are hypocrites that's true lots of Christian
00:19:23 throw any stone every Christians is a hypocrite because you can't live up to the gospel science refutes the Bible science is King Bible is a fairy tale Injustice in the Bible they'll point to all these These are reasons why there's apathy among Generation Z and in fact there was another study by Pew research in 2018 in Europe that actually asked Europeans which the majority are Christians and how many of them actually believe that God is all loving all knowing and all powerful and only 15% 14% actually believe this the belief
00:19:57 and understanding all powerful all knowing all loving God is rapidly diminishing and people feel God is like the god of the Greeks where they Greeks the gods are the ones who have a good life and humans are the one who could offer sacrifice and become slaves and become abused by the gods right and what about the people who attend the wedding well they're there to make the king look good right it's not good if the king have a wedding nobody attend right so we thinking wow God is using us as it were
00:20:25 so therefore we're like this Tyrant or king or president where His Image is dependent on what the people give to him Ecclesiastes says so I decided this Solomon there's nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and find satisfaction in work then I realized that this Pleasures are from the hand of God for who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him God gives wisdom knowledge and joy to those who please him so if you're a kind of person who sort of settled on let's eat drink and be marry and and enjoy your career you
00:21:03 suddenly realize that these Pleasures actually the the enjoyment isn't complete because these Pleasures actually come from the hand of God the implications of being born created in the image of God is that God's glory and our good are intricately married together whatever we do for the glory of God actually is for our own good as it were the westmin confession of faith says man's Chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever the Paradox is that we are trying to disengage God's glory from our good which is why if you
00:21:43 look in the parable of the tenants the tenants have this huge Vineyard producing champagne and it's all planted tilled created owned by The Vineyard owners and when the sun comes to collect rent attendants saw the sun they said to themselves this is the air let's kill him and have his inheritance what we are doing here is very typical we separate God from his gifts we want God's gifts but we don't want God and if you look very carefully in our lives our Christianity is and possibly may be be reduced to wanting God's gifts and not
00:22:32 wanting his self Matthew 25 there's a parable which I think John will be preaching to you in a couple of weeks time and there was the tble Tells I'm not going to steal his tunder I'm just going to say these things but the terrible is basically about servants who have been given various talents and there's only one horrible servant who actually didn't do anything with his talent and you know why he didn't do anything with his talent he says he also who had received one Talent came forward and said master I knew you to be a hard
00:23:03 man reaping where you did not sow Gathering where you scattered No Seeds I was afraid I went and hid your talent the ground here give back to you what is yours here's a total misunderstanding of the character of the king you thought the king is like a Greek god who basically makes you work for his benefit and you get nothing out of in return the reason why we don't accept the invitation the reason why we don't serve the reason why we don't connect with God is because they got this false image of
00:23:33 who God is Sam storms a Pentecostal Theologian actually writes enjoying God is knowing god intellectually to admire him in his Beauty to Delight in him emotionally and to dedicate oneself to him in essence to enjoy God is to praise God for the God that he is that is a dimension of worship that God invites us in in this wedding Feast Parable it's like imagine going to climb the highest mountain in the world my most of us will never do that if you go up there what do you do you look and you're lost in the beauty of
00:24:15 the landscape you spend hours meditating taking it all in looking at the fields or do you take selfie will you take selfie you do that everywhere you go you take selfie you take wifey in fact there are five times more people who die of selfie than sh attacks that's missing the point isn't it the whole idea of of of going to the mountain is basically be lost in the beauty of God that glorifies him but that fills you with the awe admiration enjoyment contentment fulfillment it's paradoxical when you're looking out
00:25:01 rather than looking in but we keep on looking in and your rejection of God is not a release from responsibility the King was angry and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burn their City there are some of us that feel that you know if someone brings you the gospel you can accept or don't accept oh I can become neutral brothers and sisters this passage tells you there's no neutral a refusal to accept the invitation or respond appropriately is not a release from responsibility the Jewish leaders
00:25:36 rejected this and in ad70 in a passage that comes later on you will see the Romans used by God attacked Jerusalem and raised it to the ground and the blood that was that was actually spilled went up to the horses Bridal it was it was a horrible Massacre the temple whom they worshiped was destroyed lastly many are called but few are chosen this is ironic twist in the story all right uh and and the servants went to the road out in the roads and gather all whom they found both good and bad so that the wedding
00:26:17 hall was filled with so it's no longer the DAT tanri and all the people who are invited it's everybody good and bad maybe you go to prison and get a few flers out people who don't deserve it so many are called and the King came in to look at the guests see what kind of mly crew is there he saw a man who had received no who had no wedding garment and he saw him he said to him friend how do you get in without a wedding garment and he was speechless you know when someone in those days Call You Friend bad
00:26:49 news okay friend is not a good thing oh friend friend friend no King call me friend I'm very good maybe I Dan three next time no friend is a term of judgment all right so uh why was this last guy rejected is it because he didn't wear the traditional Cham or S and all that okay or did he not wear what was provided the Bible is actually silent on this so you can speculate but let me look at the two options he did not dress appropriately well here we have the servants went out and gathered all whom
00:27:25 they found good and bad if you're a beggar Road you think you go wedding garment you think you got a tuxedo hidden somewhere you probably don't have a tuxedo hidden anywhere else or you do a Cham whatever you don't have that because you call good and bad poor prostitutes uh uh the poorest of the poor uh this is Malaysia's youngest D Elvin go if you notice uh when he comes into the presence of the king to get his D ship he has to wear what this white color uniform I know that because my my colleague uh the hospital was also the
00:28:00 same time given the doctor ship and you have to wear what the king gives you right even though this only this suitc cost him about 400 ring okay the watch that he wears cost 300 200 something th 300 something, US dollar okay imagine coming into this dat ceremony and you wear this WOW hey this is not cheap bro do you know how much this cost anyone 6,000 ring Go internet buy or you can come to my house I got a few I chop chop chop ready I give you discount 3K so you you think you wear this you go
00:28:41 to the king's Palace even though it 6,000 MK you show your watch mark it doesn't get you in it has to be on the king's terms did the Jews understand at that time understand it well there are two passages one in ad90 which is basically Revelations and the other one was 74 BC with Isaiah and I think they understood because Isaiah says I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my soul will exalt in my God for he has clothed me with the garments of Salvation he has covered me with the Robes of righteousness as a bridegroom decks
00:29:13 himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and a bride adorns herself with her Jewels so Isaiah tells us there is a banquet imagery where you are actually given garments of Salvation which means the king gives you the garments you you don't bring your own all you have to do is to wear them and judgment here the king said to the attendant bind him hand and foot cast him into outer darkness in a place where there will be weeping and nashing of teeth for many are called and few are chosen which means because he did not
00:29:46 wear what was given there is Judgment there is no choice in this matter so the issue of judgment indicates that this issue is a Salvation issue so therefore he did not wear where what was provided what's a spiritual lesson here the spiritual lesson is that it's Grace and not Merit when God invites you to the wedding Feast it's not whether you got a Cham hiding at the back he gives you the cham to attend and then the word here is you will many are called a few are chosen people get stumbled by this what
00:30:21 does it mean by many are called and few are chosen I remember being invited to wedding dinners not wedding dinner Norm dinner at the Imperial uh uh Gardens or somewhere in banga so I invite a whole bunch of us to go we all went go and when you go there you know what happened must do covid test and we're thinking is this a real invitation or fake invitation because before I enter I must do covid test what if I don't do the covid test can I enter and have a or I came all the way to Banger and covid positive I had to go
00:30:55 home in a sense you get a little upset isn't it in a sense if you misread this you can get upset as well um and and if you look the word there Kalo in Greek is called called it is translated as invited invited invited or translated called and all the whole passage the emphasis is on call God calls okay and sometimes the call is used the word differently when Jesus calls Lazarus when he said these things he cried out Cried Out is Kalo called out with a loud voice Lazarus come out happens Lazarus
00:31:29 he jumps up right now the meaning of words are dependent on the author and circumstances and a context for example the word set actually has 464 different definitions in Oxford dictionary so therefore you must understand when the Bible uses the word call there are two uses One external call which is a invitation to all it's an opportunity and then there's an internal call which is something that effective effectively answered so one is calling and one is effectual calling for example the external call is a summons of the Gospel
00:32:08 the call that bids all men and women to come to God by way of repentance and Faith then there's an internal call where few are chosen the Jews demand sence the Greeks seek wisdom but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to the Jews and the Folly to the Gentiles but to those who are call both Jews and Gentiles Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God here is an internal call Romans and Those whom he predestined he also called and Those whom he uh called he also Justified and Those whom he justifi he also glorify
00:32:47 you know the word glorify is past tense it's a theological past tense as if it is actually happened whatever you called This is an effectual call and the reason why this is brought up because there are spiritual realities behind this Parable there's a Divine initiative an external call because it's a widely inclusive call there repeated call he call them twice and it's without regard to marit good bad ugly you can come and this is many are call the invitation and the love of God is all inclusive it goes to
00:33:19 everybody and then on the other hand there's human responsibility effectual call where people ignore the call or respond with violence and come on on their own terms and so therefore few are chosen there are two realities on one hand is our response and on the other hand actually his his choice his choice of us is actually reflected in our response to his go how do you know you are actually effectually called Because you responded his Divine choice is reflected in our response to his call they go in parallel John says all that
00:33:55 the father gives me will come to me effectually and whoever comes to me I will never cast out it's like opening a door when you come to the door and there's a big uh words and blazing across the door say many are called anybody can enter door one the moment you enter the the the door the door you are chosen that's how it works I remember sharing a couple of weeks ago um with Jim Louie who runs our autistic Ministry and there was a newcomer that that had joined us that day and and he was especially grateful to this newcomer
00:34:32 called Lily and the reason why he actually said that it was that it was at DC and they were having some Evangelistic meeting or something and Jim Louie was he told me he was at the bottom of the barrel he only five ring in his pocket and life had dealt him quite severe blows and he had nowhere to turn and all of a sudden a lot of people got this brochure come you're invited everyone is invited but he was the one of few who answered and that going to church changed his life many are called but few are chosen
00:35:05 we have a great program called Alpha in this church and if you look at the statistics of alpha you can see huge numbers are called isn't it but how many actually wind up the road of discipleship to know the beauty of God very few only 20 something perc right so the call is given to everybody because everybody I'm actually really grateful at first I also thought that um just for beginners who doesn't really know um about Jesus about Christ yet but then uh throughout this whole session I also realized that there's so
00:35:39 much more that I can learn and then uh in the meantime I just want to really thank all the members in my group who shared the experience I really learned a lot from them uh and it's always uh a message that I feel that you know um that maybe you know it's God telling me something through their messages and also their experiences so I'm really really grateful for that so yeah overall I had fun and I also learn a lot so yeah good job I'm a non-Christian myself I'm I'm really curious why why all the
00:36:08 Christian friends around me my girl friend that they keep talking about this uh God so I don't know who's God like uh what you guys talking about who who's the real God all different religions have their own God so then then which one is true so so uh yeah I really want to know that's why I come to join off uh really want to understand more about uh Christianity uh yeah really want to understand the god that all my Christian friends and my girlfriend are talking about uh so so the ca appears to be uh
00:36:40 interesting like more interesting than what I uh I'm expecting because initially I just thought I would just join and I maybe couldn't make it for few classes but somehow I managed to make it for all the classes um there are some really like great findings from the course uh and then and then from the course I just realized that uh the god that um all my friends are talking about is is a real uh historic like uh human he he was uh and uh what had happened uh like all the events that happened uh was actually the
00:37:16 the history so yeah it really like uh it really blew my mind so I like how the course are is really going stage by stage initially they they introduce who SC and um how how he came here uh as a human and then also all all all the members in my uh group they are really uh helpful and then they are really uh sincere uh truthful to each other they they're they're really like willing to share you know like not not like really uh forcing it and um it makes me feel like I have known them for 28 years yeah
00:37:55 because I'm 28 years old so um I really want to thank uh everyone uh that they shared their experience to me and then they they share their testimony I really benefit a lot [Music] many are called many are called few are chosen listen to a couple of chosen people you see you can come and then you allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart so Alpha is a fantastic program next one is the 14th of July make sure that not only you come you invite people because we as the ones in the Kingdom our job is to extend the
00:38:55 invitation of the king but if you look look at this fellow who came and didn't wear the wedding garment you can either come to God on his terms or we come to God in our own terms which is what the parable is trying to tell you you can't just come as you like you have to come on his terms and our terms are basically thinking our sincerity our honesty our good works our sacrifice those are the most important things for us when we come but you don't come based on that and that that's why Jesus said you know
00:39:32 in a previous Parable it is harder for a rich man to enter Heaven than a camel to pass through an eye of needle that basically impossible why because we all want to come to God on our terms and I've shared this before the richest man in the world Elon Musk and you ask him and there was an interview with Babylon B recently and I'm going to repeat the illustration I they asked him if you could do this quick solid and accept Jesus as your lord and savior personal Lord and Savior it's a quick prayer
00:40:00 these are people are very disingenuous they just want him to say the words but not come to the kingdom and he says I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly Harmony of what was ex what exists not in a God who concerns himself with the fith and actions of human beings and what Elon Musk is saying is that because he so smart yes I believe in God but my own version of God which is Spinosa which is basically a a Jewish scholar who actually created this idea that God is God that is part of the whole universe
00:40:34 this God doesn't concern himself with sin good things bad things reward punish him nothing he's just part of the earth and there's no purpose in this God that is the god that Elon mus believes in but hey if Jesus is saving people I mean I won't stand in this way sure I'll be saved why not see that's a problem with rich people they are harder for them to enter the king of God because they think because of their intellectual press their riches and their ability they can discern the things of God and the stupid
00:41:07 Christians here said yes we got it they got nothing many are called few are chosen this is a British town of Kendall when a 2005 study was conducted uh by some uh intellectuals there they looked at the people's religious beliefs and they found that the people will rapidly turn turning away from organized religion with his emphasis on fitting in an established order of things towards practices designed to accentuate and Foster individual sense of who they actually are and true enough at the end of the study years and years later on
00:41:44 they found that many people in the town of Kendall actually turned away from Christianity and Linda Woodhead the the uh Chief author of this particular study concluded religions do well and always have done well when they are subjectively convincing when you have a sense that God is working for you so you need to find a God that's working for you so you come to God on your terms if it doesn't work then you don't believe him it's like Jesus Christ all you to do is come to Christ but you take the crown
00:42:20 down because that's the Christ that we will accept all other Christ we don't want we want a Christ that fits into our culture here's a German pair of uh Pastors in Germany who preach with the Star Wars Motif we come to God on our terms finally let me challenge you this morning the wedding Feast is a wedding Feast a banquet for the sun that's a Twist in the story here it's not just a wedding Feast the wedding Feast is for the son and and it's the same son who actually celebrates the Lord's Supper which will be taking off
00:43:00 care uh taking off part of afterwards and Jesus said I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of wine I mean this wine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's Kingdom so when we actually take the Lord's supper we're actually celebrating something we're actually celebrating a victory which Jesus Christ will not taste this wine until he sits down with all of us in that final wedding feast and the final wedding Feast is cast in Revelation chapter 19 and you must understand Revelation chapter 19 cast
00:43:33 two events one event is that horrible horrible Judgment of the world where Jesus comes as a rider a Victorious Rider on a white horse and the people who have not accepted him or not taken the wedding invitation will be cast into judgment and Hell on the other high hand there is celebration Hallelujah the Lord of our God Almighty reign let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready it was granted for her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and pure it
00:44:13 is a Victory celebration when we actually come to the wedding Feast is not just a wedding Feast a v wedding Feast where we celebrate the victory of the Sun and it's a place this is a where Act wedding ceremony some years ago in Australia there were normal husband and wife were getting married and you know guess who came and Sing Ed Sharon crashed the party you know didn't get the invitation but he still came fantastic you all Ed Sharon sings In My Party do you know who's we going to singing at your party next
00:44:46 time the Lord your God is in your midst a mighty one who will save he will rejoice over you with gladness he will quiet you with his love he will exalt you with loud singing It's not Ed Sharon it's God himself who will come and sing at your wedding of his son Isaiah 552 says for you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace the mountains and the hills before you will break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands so here we have a picture of the joy of the redeem and the joy of a
00:45:31 restored creation it's as if you can see trees jumping up and down and clapping the the leaves and The Roots clapping together it's animated Isaiah is trying to paint you a picture of ultimate joy and this Joy instead of the thorn shall come up the Cypress instead of the Brier shall come up the mytle which means all the Thorns will be gone the effects of the curse of sin will be gone and this joy and it shall make a name for the Lord an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off which means the joy of the
00:46:02 redeemed and the joy of restored creation will make God's name glorified you see God is glorified when his people rejoice in him and it's a lesson to learn it was a recent election in Australia we're going to face out soon where labor versus liberal Scott Morrison one of the rare leaders who actually a Christian who attends a Pentecostal church called horiz Horizon Church and four years ago he was praying and a miracle happened at that time he praised the Lord he became Prime Minister of Australia and this
00:46:43 time going into the election he prayed too don't you think and he lost and he was invited the pastor to come up on stage and he came up on stage a bit of a tear in his eye because he lost but he said these words though the vict Tre should not blossom nor the fruit beond The Vines the produce of the olives fail and the fields yield no food the flock be cut off from the fold there shall be no hurt in the Stalls yet I will rejoice in the Lord and take joy in the god of my salvation Scott Morrison had come the place in his life
00:47:24 where Victory he experienced God and in defeat he experienced even joy that was the lesson that he had that is the lesson which God is asking us to experience this to day when job was suffering before he was suffering Satan went up to him and said look you know guy loves you because you gave him blessing ma all his 10 children beautiful wife looks like Amber H torture him well she did torture him after that when he got no money right she can't torture the FL like joining de right so at the end of that he learned
00:48:05 this lesson and job arose and to his robes and shaved his head and fell on the ground and he worship and he said naked I come from my mother's womb naked I shall return the lord gave and the Lord taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Scott Morrison job thousands of years before he learned one most important lesson through joy in the Lord comes with him not the things that he gives you one of his detractors actually said these words to him if you lay gold in the dust and the gold of ephra among
00:48:44 the stones of the torrent bed then the Lord will be your gold and your precious silver then you will delight yourself in the almighty and lift up your face to God John Piper paraphrase J this very well when he writes if God is your gold he will be your gladness if he is your treasure he will be your pleasure that is the lesson that we need to take away the experience of God whether in Victory or in defeat whether in Joy or in pain because we look forward to the ultimate Joy now we're going to First Baptist is going to have
00:49:24 a special service and I want all of you to attend and this is on the 26th of of of June which is on a Sunday afternoon and this is a prayer service for the sick and we never call this a healing service you know why fact is fact is if you pray for 100 people maybe five or six will be healed is it because God doesn't love you God's not powerful enough God can't get his act together or you can't get your act together it is not that because God wants to show you that God is going to hear your prayers
00:49:59 whether you're healed or you're still struggling and that's the experience of God he God invites you to experience God doesn't invite you just to have the victory of the healing and a lot of people come to Healing Services why because they only one healing if God doesn't heal me too bad for God I don't want him anymore God wants your heart God wants you to experience who he is you know Yen will be preaching a beautiful sermon in the next week called love the Lord your God with all your heart all Soul all
00:50:31 your mind you know the heart is the only organ of if not an organ of performance like your hands or your mouth the heart is the organ of preference It's actually an organ of Desire this is what we are called in the wedding Feast to do to enjoy the joy of God to experience it to feel it rejoice in the lord always Philippians 4 delight yourself in the Lord be glad in the Lord in your presence there's fullness of joy the Lord is my chosen portion of my cup As the deer pants for the streams so my pant my my so so my heart my soul thirst
00:51:18 for God for the Living God I will stretch out my hands to you my soul thirst for you like a parched land is that your reality or are you just there for the wedding Feast ofi uni you should be there for the joy that God gives you in sickness and in health through good times and through bad times you know um there's an illustration which um John Piper gives which was very good where he was about the 4th year of his anniversary to his wife Noel and he was thinking to himself you know why don't I go and buy 200 ring or not or US
00:52:00 dollars worth of roses red color ones and I'll go to her and uh behind my back and surprise her and says honey this is for you and she will typically say a so expensive $200 us th000 here why you stupid fell spend so much right he could say a few things well because anniversary manth I got no choice must do you like or not you Le not so good right or maybe you you say uh hey I got discount it was 500 would you be happy leling Ling be happy she get whatever she can get or would she say well he goes there
00:52:47 says look honey I bought this for you and I would like you to get into a nice dress and then we go out this evening and uh nothing would make me happy happier than to spend the evening with you nice dress dinner wherever what would she say would she say wow nothing makes you happier you all you think is about yourself is that right what makes you happy no she would be honored because if the husband finds his happiness in the joy of spending time with the wife it honors her and the same is applied to us when
00:53:33 we come to church we come because no choice of anniversary every week must come with or got discount because they got a good show or something going on or is it because you want to enjoy your time with our Lord because when you are happy when you are satisfied he is glor glorified and that's the beautiful truth about this wedding Parable that we don't understand many of us still come because we have to come when it's a duty the Lord says today to you that when a duty is Delight then your faith is true then you are
00:54:16 truly Chosen and God invites you today not to live an auster life of sacrifice of pain ask any of these fellas up here you think they're singing because they have to sing hopefully not right you can see the smiles on their faces because they find it such a privilege to serve the Lord and wild horses cannot stop them and that's what God is calling all of you today and inviting you and we here you know why because of the blood of the Lamb let's have this last song before we pray [Music] once a slave to the fear
00:55:27 and the Darkness hell within all the weight of my sin my Shame by his grace purified in redeeming sacrifice Living Hope that will spoil our f I am wash by the blood of the sun on the cross I am was by the blood of the Lamb all my guilt all my shame were his ws and his P I am one by the blood of the [Music] FL now we know who we are precious children called by God let us serve and exalt our King our heart and our minds freely offer up our lives run the race F our Gaze on him we are Washed by the
00:57:23 blood of the son on the cross we are was by the blood of the Lamb all our guilt all our shame were his SW and his pain we are wash by the blood of the Lamb [Music] [Music] we will rise as he rose for the grave no longer holds every tear will be wiped away and the Saints will be heard praising God forever more face to face with the one who save [Music] we are wased by the blood of the son on the cross we are was by the blood of the Lamb all our guilt all our shame were his W and his pain we are washed
00:59:26 by the blood of the Lamb we are by the blood of the son on the cross we are wash by the blood of the Lamb all our guilt all our shame were his wounds and his pain we are wased by the blood of the let's be seated as we meditate upon these words God has invited us today to The Wedding Banquet of his son and those who come come because we are Washed by the blood of the Lamb our sin and our shame our guilt and our pain exchange for the wonderful garments which he filled with us when God looks at us today he doesn't look at
01:00:45 us as the filthy Sinners and the people who have failed he looked at us to the lens of his son his guilt your guilt for his blood and so therefore all of you are invited to the wedding Feast the Lord's supper and before you now is the bread if you will just remove the bread from the this is the body broken for you for your shame for your pain and for your sin and if you accept this invit you accept this invitation to take this bread not on your own terms not thinking you're worshiping the god of Spinosa or
01:01:34 your own God who only exists to serve you this is the Lord God Of Heaven and Earth who commands you to come into his wonderful presence and you glorify him you know why by accepting his body expressing your faith to each other that this is my victory this is my glory and nothing puts a smile on God's face more than this so let's take this together now we come to the wine remember the words of Jesus he will not Taste of the fruit of the grape until that day when he takes it with all of us and today when he calls
01:02:38 us together to take we are now proactively anticipating our final marriage with the lamb one day as we take this we take this by faith that we will take this again when we are with him in that final time in heaven so let's drink and this is a cup not only cup of sacrifice it's a cup of Victory when we take this you know what we do at the wedding Feast what do you do when you wedding Feast so we take this we yum sing why is victory victory because of the blood of the Lamb let's just take together we're going to sing the song a
01:03:37 last time again and as a last time we sing this song we invite all of you now we're back together we got this Collective effervescence those of you who want to be prayed for maybe you want to maybe for a long time your life has been more Duty than Delight if you really can't feel coming to God in his word and praying as a delight you actually feel it's a duty you actually feel it's a drag and the invitation has come and you really feel yeah that doesn't do very much to me maybe I'm in a dark place then please Brother and Sisters in
01:04:20 Christ where all Sinners come up forward and let the elders and the leaders pray with you I don't know what's going to happen if you're sick you may be healed or you may not be healed but I can guarantee one thing that God will minister to you here today so as we sing this last song in closing please come forward there will be people up here with Arnold um Elder Richard yian Pastor Ling we want to pray with you we to pray that God's going to make a wonderful work a miracle in your life all you have to do is come forward and
01:05:02 be prayed as the song goes and we conclude once us F to the fear and the Darkness held within all the weight of my sin my Shame by his grace purifi in redeeming sacrifice Living Hope that won spil of F I am wash by the blood of the son on the cross I am wash by the blood of the Lamb all my guilt all my shame were his wounds and his pain I am wash by the blood of the Lamb there some of you coming forward some of you are heavy laden you feel a dullness in your soul this is the time where God is inviting
01:06:43 you to come forward to celebrate the blood of the [Music] Lamb Who We Are precious children called by God that deserve and exalt our king with a heart and a mind freely offer up our lives run the Race Face our G on we are was by the blood of the son on the cross we are was by the blood of the man all our guilt on our shame but his W and his pain we are Washed by the blood of the L those who are Washed by the blood of the Lamb come and be prayed for and be ministered by the Holy Spirit we invite you to come
01:08:03 forward do not let Satan hold you back have the courage leaders are standing by they're willing to pray for you Pastor Ling is there Elder yidan is there come forward don't let anything hold you back this is a time when God is going to minister to you he will rise as he rose for the grave no longer H every te will be wi every wiped away and the Saints will be heard praising God forever more face to face with the one who saes we are by the blood of the son on the cross we are by the blood of the
01:09:17 land all our all our shame for his words and his pain we are wased by the blood of the L we are wash by the blood of the son on the cross we are was by the blood of the Lamb all our guil all our shame but his and his pain we are by the blood of the hear the words of the lord The Sting of death is sin the power of sin is the law but thanks to be God be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my brothers beloved brothers be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord
01:10:38 knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain after silent meditation you are dismissed may God be with you for the rest of the week amen
