Respect for God's Invitation

Well, we've come to a Pentecost weekend for this year, 2017. And of course, Pentecost is in the middle of the year, kinda. We have the Spring Holy Days, we have later the Fall Holy Days. The Pentecost is in the middle. We'd call it a Summer Holy Day. But I want to ask us, what do we need to be reminded of? There are actually numerous lessons that we can think about or talk about. The giving of the law is seemingly connected with Pentecost. Certainly the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the New Testament Church in Acts, Chapter 2.

We probably will go over that tomorrow. I don't know. I'm not planning to, but maybe some of our other speakers will. And certainly, understanding that we are represented or the first fruits were very much a part of the day of Pentecost, as you read the entire listings of the Holy Days back in Leviticus 23.

And I think we need to be reminded on this type of a Pentecost weekend. And even in light of what I mentioned about the world around us and the destructive disrespect that is not only, you know, it just seems to run rampant, but it's almost promoted. It's promoted as not even being identified as being something that would be destructive. So we need to be reminded that God wants us to have respect.

Respect for His appointed festivals. Not only the weekly Sabbath that we have every week, but the annual Sabbath that He outlines in numerous places there in the Old Testament and as we see observed in the New. So we need to have respect for God's appointed festivals. We also need to respect the fact that the Father is our sponsor.

We mentioned that last week or the week before as it was written about sponsoring people to come to the United States, Mr. Cubic's parents. And he pointed out we can be reminded that God is our sponsor. He's the one who draws us to Jesus Christ.

He's the one who allows us to be part of the Church of God. He's the one who holds out eternal life for us. So we want to respect His festivals. We want to respect that the Father is our sponsor, but we want to respect His invitation to eternal life. Because that's what we've been given. We've been given an invitation to eternal life. It's an incredible blessing to know the truth of God in this age. Obviously, in this age is when all of us are living.

It's when we happen to be born. We happen to grow up enough to be aware. And God thankfully gave us an understanding of His purpose for life. But it's a tremendous privilege to have that opportunity to know God at this time. And it's an honor to know that He does have a purpose and a plan. That He's working out a plan of salvation. But with that knowledge, it's not enough just to know, with that knowledge we have a responsibility.

So I want to go through some of the words that Jesus spoke. He actually gave a number of parables about the kingdom of God. He gave several that I want to go through today that involve an invitation. And the type of response that He expects.

And even once we understand that we've accepted that invitation, what does He want us to do? And we'll answer all of those with the sermon today. Jesus said that my words are spirit in life. And so I think the more that we bathe ourselves in what Jesus had to say. See, most people read parables and they think, well, that's an interesting story. And I'm sure many of the people who heard Jesus with the different ability that He had to tell many different parables, He said, I speak in these parables so people won't understand Him.

And He says to those who are given understanding, well, then they're going to benefit from what I have to say. And that should include all of us. So I want to start here in Matthew, Chapter 22. Matthew 22, you see a parable that Jesus spoke about a wedding festival or a wedding banquet. And it says in verse 1, once more, Jesus spoke to them in parables. Saying in verse 2, and actually He says, this particular, Matthew is recording this, that Jesus spoke this parable.

It was about the kingdom of God. It says in verse 2, the kingdom of God, or heaven, may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. And He sent His servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet. See, so obviously this is about not only a banquet, a banquet for a son, but also He's the one who deals with the invitations. He's the one who sends out early invitations and sends out later invitations, and eventually can bring everyone into a relationship with the son, should He need to achieve that if others refuse.

So it says He sent out invitations to those who He had invited to the wedding banquet. But a very sad part of verse 3, it says they wouldn't come. They resisted. They refused. They obviously didn't value the invitation. Perhaps they didn't understand the invitation. But again, in verse 4, He sent out His servants, and He says, tell those who have been invited. Look! I prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered. Everything is ready.

Come to the wedding banquet. He says I prepared, you know, some scrumptious Kansas City barbecue beef. Eric was advertising for filets earlier. I'll go with barbecue or chateaubriand. God says, in this case, Jesus was speaking this story, and He says everything is ready. And so He said, go call them again. But in verse 5, it says, they made light of it and went away. And so they not only refused to come, they dismissed the invitation. They dismissed the possibility of coming to this banquet. And it says they made light of it and went the wrong way.

And one went to His farm, another to His business. All the rest, seized the servants and mistreated them and killed them. And of course, the king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed the murderers, burned the city. He said to his slaves, the wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go, Farivor, into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet. Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all who they could find, good and bad. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

See, now that story needs to be correctly understood. And perhaps there's more to it than I understand and I want to be able to explain today. But certainly, you can see that these individuals in this story didn't appreciate the invitation. They disrespected the opportunity that they were being offered. And so one explanation clearly could be because when you back up to chapter 21 in verse 45, it says, Jesus had around him, verse 45, when the chief priest and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized he was talking about them. They recognized with many of the things that he said that he was talking about them and they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd because everyone looked at him as Jesus as a prophet. So clearly one of the explanations for this parable that we're reading would be that the house of Judah, the chief priest, the religious rulers, the Pharisees refused to acknowledge who Jesus Christ was. They looked at him as an outsider. They looked at him as being a threat to their authority. They looked at him in a very negative light and wanted to get rid of him. And so, you know, that would clearly be one of the explanations that we could give to this parable, that Jesus spoke to the house of Judah, the people who were the Pharisees of the day, and yet they refused to acknowledge Jesus as a Messiah. And so because of that, God would turn to the Gentile world.

Now, we read about this later on when we read in the book of Acts. Paul said as he went to different cities, he went to the synagogues, he went to the Jews, and he said, if you refuse, if you show you are not worthy of the kingdom of God, then we're going to the Gentiles. We're going to those that God is going to invite and call as well. So, I want to start here, but I want to point out in this parable that an invitation was offered, and they neglected it. They pushed it aside. In essence, it says one went to his farm, one went to his business, and the others mistreated the messengers.

I'd like for us to tie this together with another parable that Jesus spoke, a similar one over in the book of Luke. Luke chapter 14.

Chapter 14 of Luke records another parable.

All of these accounts of Jesus' life are remarkable whenever you think about that he walked the earth, his disciples were following him, they were watching him, they were learning from him. The centurion that was mentioned in our sermonette, he was aware of who Jesus was. He was doing a little better than most of the Pharisees. He knew he could come to Jesus and ask for healing, and he also knew he had the authority to just say the word. You don't have to go and do anything. You can just say the word, and he would be healed, and of course, his son received that healing from the Son of God.

But here in chapter 14 of Luke, we find another parable starting in verse 15. It's a parable about another dinner, a great dinner, and about some people being invited. Verse 15, one of the dinner guests on hearing this said, "...to imbless it as anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God." And so they understood that, well, Jesus often talked about the kingdom of God. He talked about what it was that his father is preparing. They had an idea that that's what he might be talking about as well. So Jesus said to him, well, and now he gives another parable, "...someone gave a great dinner and invited many." So obviously there's a similarity here. A great dinner is prepared, and many are invited. And in verse 17, at the time when the dinner, time for the dinner, he sent his servants to say to those who had been invited, again, an invitation had been extended. He said whenever the dinner was ready, he sent his servants to say to those who had been invited, come, everything is ready. But again, a very sad statement in verse 18. They all alike began to make excuses. Now let's see what kind of excuses they made. They all turned down this invitation. They all alike began to make excuses.

First said to him, well, I bought a piece of land, and I've got to go out and start farming it. I've got to go out and see it. And so in a sense, you know, you can say, and then we're going to list several excuses here. These are excuses that people can make for not respecting and appreciating an invitation from God. So this could directly apply to us. And so the first one has the job excuse. I've got to go see this land I bought. And, you know, that's my likelihood. That's my living. You know, many of you, as you came into the Church of God, ran into the same difficulty whenever you started aligning your life with the law of God. You know, most jobs don't understand. The Sabbath is a day of rest. So you have to make a realignment with your life or your job in order to honor God. And many of you, I know, over the years have dealt with that. And yet in this case, you know, this was the first excuse that a man came up with. He said, I bought a piece of land. I need to go and I need to see it. Please accept my regrets. What he was essentially saying is that my job is more important. Farming my land more important than the invitation that you were extending to your dinner.

So that would be the first excuse. In verse 18, the job excuse. Verse 19, another of the excuses was, I bought a yoke of oxen. And I'm going to try them out. Please accept my regrets. Now, in a sense, that kind of seems like a similar type of excuse, but I think you could say it another way.

You know, this man had bought these oxen, and he hoped that he had gotten a good deal, and so he needed to go try out these new possessions. See, that's what these oxen were. He hoped that they were good oxen. He hoped that he had gotten a good deal and transaction he would make. He knew that this is a new thing. See, a lot of times we can get distracted by possessions, by new possessions.

Sometimes, you know, something new, I don't have very many things that are new, you can say. Most of my clothes are old, but I like it if I actually buy a new tie. Or, you know, my wife and I have lived in the house where we are for 30 years, and our dishwasher has not worked for the last 10.

The physical dishwasher. I'm the other dishwasher, sometimes. But we got a new dishwasher a couple of years ago, or a couple of years ago. We just cannot believe how marvelous it is to have a new dishwasher. And of course, like I said, with the age of the house that we live in, you know, we've had a stove that's always been there. And it's an electric stove. I thought it's great. It works. It's got those electric burners on the top, and, you know, it's not a glass thing where I burn myself, because I can't tell what's going on there.

Pretty easy. If it's red, you figure out, don't do it. But a couple of weeks ago, the oven went kaput, and it just stopped working. And I thought, well, it's been working for 30 years, so probably a pretty good deal to have that. And eventually, we will probably fix it. Or fix it, hopefully, by getting a different oven, which isn't a terrible catastrophe. Let's see. If we focus only on possessions and new things, many of you have got fancy phones. I don't have a fancy phone. I have a phone. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I can figure out what I did turn off to make it not work.

Some of you are a lot swifter with that than I am. But there's all kinds of new stuff. There's all kinds of new possessions. Certainly today, there are more new things available. That's why they want you to go into every Best Buy or Home Depot or Lowe's or any other stores where they're trying to sell all the newest TV. It's not wrong to have a new TV or a new phone or anything. I'm not trying to say that.

I'm just saying that it appears that this man's excuse was that I've got to go try out this new set of oxen. I've got to go try out this new possession. And see, if that was more important, any kind of possession, then the invitation to come to this great dinner, well, then there's something wrong with that excuse. So there's the job excuse. There's the possession excuse. And then, finally, in verse 19, another one.

Another excuse is, I bought five... or excuse me, that's in verse 19. Verse 20 is what I want. Another one said, well, I just got married. And so I can't go. You know, he just quickly says, I've got to go and I've got to be with my wife. And, of course, you can read in the Old Testament. That was a good idea.

First year at least. Don't take them into the army. And so, you know, there was some validity to everything here. But, see this verse 20 points out an excuse that you could say would be the family excuse. See, and some of you, you know, know this and understand this probably even far better than I do. I think my wife understands this better than I do. Because 50 years ago when God offered her an invitation to know the purpose of life, you know, she was only, uh-oh, I better not give away. She was a teenage. Young teenage. And yet, whenever she would later then go off to college and she went to Ambassador College down in Big Sandy, she didn't go with the blessing of her parents.

She actually went being thrown out of the house and told to never come back. We spent years trying to recover a little bit from that. And yet, when she left, you know, she left. She went to college. She had the few clothes that she had, I don't think, in a suitcase, but in a cardboard box. She didn't have any money. And so, here she is, off to learn. And she said she could look back on that and say, why did I do that? Why? You know, it was a matter of understanding something, at least in a certain way, that you thought was important.

And so, whenever we read in this parable of Jesus, which seems to be similar, but not exactly the same as the other one, you see that the people invited, all they could do is make excuses. The job excuse, the possessions excuse, the family excuse. See, Jesus wanted them to put him, He wanted him to put in this story, in this parable, He wanted him to put this invitation to the great dinner above everything else.

And if we go ahead and read, after the excuses were made, down in verse 20 and verse 21, the slave returned and reported this to his master. And again, the owner of the house was angry, said to the slave, then go out into the streets and lanes and towns, bringing the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. And the slave said, sir, what you have ordered has been done, and there's still room. And so the master said, we'll go out into the roads and lanes and compel people to come, so that my house may be filled. To God's intent is to fulfill His purpose, not only right here and now, but into His kingdom and beyond that, into His family.

He intends to complete the development and growth of a divine family. And all of us have been invited. We don't ever want to allow, and I'm sure most of us have faced the excuses that are described here, the job, the possessions, and you could also add to that, maybe the distraction, excuse. Something else seems to be important. Something else seems to be interesting on the Sabbath.

Something else might get in the way and be a distraction to honoring God, loving God, obeying God. And of course, in verse 24, after He filled the house, He says, I'm going to tell you none of those who were invited, but who ignored the invitation, will taste my dinner. Now, that particular parable seems to be more about, don't make excuses, respect the invitation than even the prior one.

It didn't go through all the excuses in the other one. And perhaps it was simply directed to the house of Israel and Judah, and God was going to go to the Gentiles. But I think this could apply to us. Because I want to go from here. Actually, you see, if you drop down just into the next verse, as people were traveling with Jesus in verse 25, and said to Him, or He said to them, whoever comes to Me and does not hate father and mother and wife and children, brother and sister, and yes, even your own life, you cannot be My disciple.

Whoever doesn't carry his own cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple. So He followed that up with the significance of an invitation to come to a great dinner, a great banquet, a marriage to a son. See, these are descriptions that you read in other parts of the Bible as well. I want us to go back to the book of Matthew, and Matthew 22 again, because you have kind of what you could say as a sequel.

Matthew 22, we read the parable that begins in verse 1 down to verse 10, about those who were invited not being worthy. But then He goes, in a sense, into what seems to be another parable or another story. He says, when the king came in to see the guests, so it would appear these are guests who actually came, who didn't continue to make excuses, but who came and who were there in this great banquet. The king came to see the guests. He noticed a man who was there but not wearing a wedding robe, not wearing a wedding garment.

And he said to him, friend, how did you get in here? How did you get in here with these casual clothes on? How did you get in here with your Nike t-shirt and your gym shorts, which is what I wear at home all the time? How did you get in here with these clothes that are not acceptable, not being properly attired for this setting?

And of course, the man couldn't say anything. There was nothing to say. He says, well, I just came just as I am. I came just as I was. See, that's a pretty common concept of many people today. They don't really put a lot of emphasis on respect, on respect of God, on respect of His invitation. And so he was speechless, and the king said to the attendants, We'll bind him hand and foot and throw him into outer darkness, or be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And he concludes in verse 14 by saying, Many are called, but few are chosen.

And there are many people who hear some of the truth of God.

But if we're going to pursue that, if we're going to be acceptable and worthy of that calling, well, then we have to be properly attired. And, you know, it's amazing that Paul wrote about this in Romans chapter 10. Romans 10, in this chapter, he is writing about how God was dealing with Israel, and yet will eventually deal with the Gentile world, and then later even bring other Israelites back into his family, into his relationship. We went through this when we went through chapter 9 and 10 and 11. But here in chapter 10, verse 1, he says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, for them, is that they may be saved. I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened.

See, Paul could testify because he was one of them. He understood what his Judaic background was. He understood what it was to be a Pharisee. He understood how it was that they relied on themselves. He understood how that they, you know, scrupulously outlined the law over and over and over, as far as rules and laws that were way far extensive and beyond what Jesus would ever require.

He says, I testify they have a zeal for God, but, you know, they're just not enlightened. For being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God's righteousness.

See, this was Paul's description of how that, you know, the Israelites didn't understand what God was offering, and they didn't respond. And even those who would become a part of the church and that he would write to in the book of Romans, because that's who he was writing to, he was writing to people who God had called to be a part of the church and to be a part of the firstfruits. Even back 2,000 years ago, there were firstfruits at that time, just as there are firstfruits today. People who have received an invitation, people who have not made excuses and who have put Jesus Christ and God the Father first and before everything else in their lives.

And yet, we're told that we need to seek a righteousness that comes from God. Now, that's a proper type of attire. See, here in Matthew 22, we read about the king coming in and asking the man, well, why are you wearing, you know, the wrong clothes? Why are you not even, you know, you don't look like you're excited about what you've been invited to?

And he couldn't say anything. He was speechless. He said there was nothing to say except that I'm guilty. That's about all he could say, or I didn't understand the extent of it. What is it that God expects us today as individuals who accept his invitation, who choose not to make excuses and who choose to be properly clothed? What is it that he tells us? Well, there's three things that I'll mention. First of all, he tells us that we need to put on Jesus Christ. Now, we'll go through several verses here to support this, but this is talking about our spiritual development. It's talking about our growth. It's talking about how, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can be completely different. But he says we're to put on Jesus Christ. Romans 13, Romans 13, he says in verse 12, Romans 13, verse 11, Your salvation is nearer now than when you became believers. Verse 12, The night is far gone, the day is near. Let us lay aside the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.

Let us live honorably, as in the day, not in reveling, not in drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for this flesh to gratify its desire. See, now, you're going to find, as I read some of these verses, that Paul said the same thing to each of the churches. He words it a little bit differently, but it's basically saying the same thing. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to think and look at things the way Jesus does. He wants men to do that. He wants women to do that. Women need to think like Jesus, just as men need to think like Jesus.

We jump over to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3, he says in verse 27, As many as you as were baptized into Christ, you have clothed yourself with Christ, and there is no longer Jew or Greek or slave or free, no longer male or female, all, or one in Jesus Christ. And if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

See, Paul's description is just like Jesus said. He says, the cost of discipleship is, you have to forsake everything, you have to put me before everything else. And we read that back in Luke, so I won't go and read that again. But nothing should take a higher priority in our lives than becoming like Jesus Christ. The second thing we're told as far as being clothed is that we've got to put on the new man. We put on Jesus Christ, but we put on the new man as it described here in Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4, verse 17, now this I affirm and insist on, and the Lord, you must no longer live as the Gentiles live in the futility of their minds. And we can't just continue to be like others are, we can't just continue to be like we always have been. We've got to be different.

Verse 22, Ephesians 4, he says, you were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self that was corrupt and deluded by its own lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, to clothe, and verse 24, clothe yourself with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

See, again, he makes a pretty high standard. He points out that we have a ways to go, and yet that's why he's working with us now. That's why he's introduced us to the plan of salvation in this age. He's invited us to know something that is utterly incredible, and he wants us to be clothed and attired in the right way, having been invited to the wedding supper of his son. Verse 25, he says, so then put away falsehood, let everyone speak truth to their neighbor.

For we are members of one another, be angry, but don't sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. You know, that's a statement that is, it can be, and the word of God, of course, can be, like, you know, a two-edged sword. It says, you may be angry, but you better think about whether or not that anger is validated, because he says, and James, the wrath of man has nothing to do with the righteousness of God.

See, what he tells us is to solve our problems with one another, to solve our problems as husbands and wives. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Don't make room for the devil. Thieves need to give up stealing. Go ahead and work so they have to give to those who need. Verse 29, let no evil talk come out of your mouth, but only whatever is useful for building up as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. You know, he wants to change our heart, he wants to change our mind, he wants to change our tongue. That's what he's interested in. He's wanting us to be attired with the new man, clothed with that new man. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit with which you have been marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

Put away all bitterness and wrath and anger, wrestling, wrangling, slander, together with malice, and be kind to one another, be tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. See, now, Paul's description of the new man is here in Ephesians. It was back in Galatians. Here's another description in the book of Colossians. See, he was writing the same thing to each of the congregations that he ministered to. In Colossians 3, he says in verse 8, Now, you need to get rid of these things, anger and malice and wrath and slander and abusive language from your mouth. Don't lie to one another. Seeing that you have stripped off the old self of this practices, in verse 10, and you have clothed yourself with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge, according to the image of its creator. In Colossians 3, verse 11, in that renewal, there is no longer Greek or Jew, as he said, in Christ. Christ is all and in all. In verse 12, as God's chosen once, holy and beloved, clothe yourself with compassion.

Clothe yourself with kindness, clothe yourself with humility. Clothe yourself with meekness and with patience. Bear with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against another, then forgive each other. Forgive each other just as the Lord has forgiven you. You must forgive one another. Above all, clothe yourself with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. See, his description of being clothed with the new man is actually an elaboration on what it is to put on Jesus Christ, to be like Jesus Christ, and to have, you know, his nature, his mind, and we're told to seek the mind that Jesus had, and we're told to learn to look at things as he does, and certainly to have the relationship that he has with the Father, because that's what we all need.

The third thing I'll mention, as far as being clothed, we want to put on Christ, we want to put on the new man. Finally, we've got to involve ourselves in the righteous deeds of the saints. We've got to be actively doing not just the work of God, but we need to do righteous deeds. In Matthew 5, verse 16, it says that we're to be a light to the world, and says, so that they will see your good deeds and glorify the Father's in heaven. So what are they going to see? Well, they're going to see good deeds. You know, sometimes we're good at doing that. Other times we're not so good. I'm saying we, because I know it's me. Sometimes I do the right thing. Sometimes I don't. And so, here he tells us, if we look back in Titus, we went through Titus not too long ago, but there's information that we need to be reminded of. Here in Titus, Paul was telling Titus, as, you know, you are going to be teaching others, and you need to do this yourself. In verse 11 of chapter 2, Titus 2, 11, for the grace of God has appeared to all bringing salvation, training us in verse 12, to renounce impiety and worldly passion, and in this present age, to live lives that are self-controlled and upright and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ. We're not simply just to wait for Christ to return. We often pray for that, and of course he tells us to, so that's the right thing to do. But during the meantime, he wants us to be doing righteous things. He, it is, in verse 14, that gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. Zealous for good deeds. Chapter 3, verse 1, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil, of no one to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show courtesy to everyone. Again, sometimes we do this quite well. Sometimes we may not. Down in verse 8, he says, this saying is sure I desire that you insist on these things, so that those who have come to believe in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. Down in verse 14, he says, let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive. There are a lot of requirements that he tells us as far as you can say, well, these are just Christian living. Well, yes, they are, but they're what we're told that if we're going to have on the right garment, we need to be clothed with the Word of God. We need to be clothed. Sometimes we can read these things, and I think you can see the similarity that Paul puts in numerous books, because he was writing to the same people of God. They just happen to be in different cities. And yet, we can read them and maybe not remember. Sometimes we have to not only read them, but we have to write them down, and I'm not meeting cut and paste. That's what I do a lot of the time. I cut and paste, and it match things. Sometimes it helps just to write it out.

If we want to know what 1 Corinthians 13 says, it doesn't hurt to write it out. Now, that's several verses, but at least the summary of 1 Corinthians 13 should be in our mind, because that's ultimately what God expects of all of us.

So, as far as clothing ourselves properly, we want to put on Jesus Christ, we want to put on the new man, we want to involve ourselves in the righteous deeds of the saints.

Because when we get to Revelation 19, which I do want to read some of, when we get to Revelation 19, you see some things that tie together with Jesus' parables about the kingdom of God. Here in Revelation 19, you see rejoicing in heaven, you see the marriage of the Lamb has come. In verse 6, I heard what seemed to be a voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of mighty thunder peels crying out, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God and Almighty reigns, let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready. And to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure, for that fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. See, that's how we want to be prepared. We want to have thought about respecting the Father's invitation in our lives. He's called us today to do a job. We're going to proclaim the message of the kingdom of God. We're going to proclaim the message of a union between the Father and the Son, and between the Father and the Son and the children that he wants to give eternal life to.

We want to respect the Father's invitation, and we want to be attired, clothed properly, for that wedding. And so I think we, as we enter into a day here, two days, Sabbath, we can think about being drawn as a first fruit. We can think about being invited. We don't want to make excuses. We want to simply put on the attire that God shows us in His Word He wants to see. And truly, verse 9 can be applicable in our lives. The angel said to me after this statement about the marriage of the Lamb and about the bride or wife being made ready, being adorned or in fine linen as the righteous deeds of the saints, the angel said, write this down, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. See, we have the potential of being remarkably happy, remarkably blessed. And we certainly do want to fully respect the invitation that God has extended to all of us.