Matthew 22:1-14
⁸Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy’.
In this verse we hear a complaint concerning those that were first invited.
• The wedding is ready,
• the covenant of grace is ready to be sealed,
• a church is ready to be founded,
but they, which were invited, the Jews, to whom pertained the covenant and the promises, by which they were of old invited to the feast, they were not worthy, they were utterly unworthy.
And they had forfeited all the privileges, they were invited to.
It is not because of God, that sinners perish, but because they themselves are UNWILLING to come.
• It happened to Israel when they REFUSED TO ACCEPT Jesus;
• It happened to Israel when they were at the border of Canaan. The land of promise, the land of milk and honey, which was ready for them to enter, but because of their UNBELIEF AND MURMURING, AND CONTEMPT of that pleasant land, their carcases were left to perish in the wilderness.
• And it will happen to all those who DO NOT COME when they receive the invitation from the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 10:7-12 – ⁷Do not be IDOLATERS , as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” ⁸Nor let us act IMMORALLY, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. ⁹Nor let us TRY THE LORD, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. ¹⁰Nor GRUMBLE , as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹Now these things happened to them AS AN EXAMPLE, and they were written FOR OUR INSTRUCTION, upon whom THE ENDS OF THE AGES have come. ¹²Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.
Hebrews 3:15-19 – ¹⁵While it is said, “Today IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, as when they provoked Me.” ¹⁶For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? ¹⁷And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those WHO SINNED, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those WHO WERE DISOBEDIENT? ¹⁹So we see that they were NOT ABLE TO ENTER because of UNBELIEF.
Hebrews 4:1-3 – ¹Therefore, LET US FEAR if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have COME SHORT of it. ²For indeed we have had GOOD NEWS preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by FAITH in those who heard. ³For we who have BELIEVED enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, They shall NOT ENTER MY REST,” although His WORKS WERE FINISHED from the foundation of the world.
Make sure you ACCEPT HIS INVITATION to the wedding feast, and DON’T BE UNPREPARED like the 5 foolish virgins.
To be continued
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