The Great Commission
Part 25 – The Last Passover
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith – www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
ANNOUNCEMENTS
6:00PM Evening Service at the church –
“Seminary Students will be preaching”
July 6th – Lynnette Higgins
July 13th – Walker Spriggs
July 20th – Deacon Kurt Ulman
July 27th – Grace Steadman
August 3rd – Lori Ulman
WHERE WE ARE AT
† Jesus Speaks to Zacchaeus
† Jesus Arrives in Jerusalem (Triumphal Entry)
† Jesus Cleanses the Temple (again)
† Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
† Jesus Teaches the parable of the Marriage Feast
INTRODUCTION
Matthew 22:1 – 14 Parable of The Wedding Feast
1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:
2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
I. THE KING PREPARED A MARRIAGE FEAST FOR HIS SON
a. This King is God the Father
b. This Son is the Lord Jesus Christ
c. The servants are the Prophets
d. To call Israel, but they refused to come
Israel rejected the prophets, and even their Messiah. By the description in this scripture, it was a deliberate rejection.
II. AGAIN THE KING SENT HIS SERVANTS
a. This time He sent the Disciples
This refers to the Disciples, and the Apostle Paul, and those in the Early Church, whose ministry was yet to come when this parable was spoken.
This is an invitation directed personally to the people of Israel; the first few Chapters of the Book of Acts speak of this.
Vs 4
’Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
b. They paid no attention to Him
In the original Greek it says they disregarded it.
c. Some went back to the fields, and back to business
They went back to “their ways” instead of the Lord’s Way.
d. The rest killed the prophets
There were those in Israel who didn’t want the Gospel; this included of all people the religious leaders.
They took the servants (Disciples) and killed them. They became martyrs.
7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
This is exactly what happened in 70 A.D., when Titus destroyed Jerusalem.
III. The King states “The Wedding Banquet is Ready!”
a. The King send servants once more “US”
b. ‘Go to the highways & invite everyone you find, good and bad’
We, as servants of the King, are to go to the world, and invite all we meet.
Love is how we invite them.
We are to give an invitation to the Gentiles.
This is World Evangelism.
The Gospel invitation is to be given to everyone, none are to be excluded. The scripture says to the Good and the Bad.
c. The church is the wedding hall, and the guests are good & bad
This scripture also proclaims that the “good” need salvation just as the “bad” do.
IV. THE KING WILL EXAMINE THE GUESTS IN THE WEDDING HALL
a. We are required to have on wedding clothes
Gehenna, the final hell for those who are judged is the end result of all self-righteousness.
CONCLUSION
MANY ARE CALLED, BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN
We are commanded by our King to seek out and invite ANYONE who will listen!
Our King has invited (or called) all, the whole world!
When the time comes, He will choose who will remain for the wedding and who will be cast out.
He will choose from those who were called. He will choose those who have received the righteousness of Christ, and put off their righteousness as dirty rags.
THE LAST PASSOVER
Matthew 26: 20 – 30
20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me."
22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, "Surely not I, Lord?"
23 Jesus replied, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."
25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?"
Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom."
30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
I. JESUS REFERS TO THE KING PREPARING A MARRIAGE FEAST FOR HIS SON
a. The Body of Christ is the Bride, and Jesus the Groom
b. Jewish traditional marriages teach that a contract must first be offered to the bride before a marriage can take place.
i. If the Bride accepts this contract, she would drink the wine that was placed before her in acceptance of the binding agreement.
ii. From that moment on, the bride and the groom were considered in covenant agreement. It was as if they were married. Although they were apart until the physical marriage and consummation, they were considered together, and the laws of marriage applied.
iii. While they were apart awaiting the marriage ceremony, the groom would go and prepare a place for his bride, and as soon as it was acceptable to the father, he would return for the bride. But no one knew when.
iv. When the time came, the groom would come in the night to surprise the bride, and he would come with the wedding party, blowing a trumpet before entering the house, and they would take the bride to the wedding feast.
v. At the wedding feast, they would feast for seven days, during which the bride was hidden from the rest of the guests. During that time the bride and groom were physically together, and the bride would be adorned with jewels and fine linens and silks.
vi. At the end of the seven days, the groom would being the bride out to show her in her adornments to everyone.
II. THE PASSOVER SERVED MANY PURPOSES
a. It represents the sacrifice of Christ for our sins.
b. It represents us accepting the covenantal relationship with the Lord, making us part of the Body of Christ…the Bride.
c. It represents us being covered in Christ’s righteousness, which is what the Father in heaven will see when He enters the wedding feast and looks upon the guests.
d. And it was the final step before the cross, which brought in the Kingdom.
CONCLUSION
Jesus said, “I will not drink of the fruit of this vine again, until I drink it anew with you in my Father’s Kingdom”.
This does not mean once they were all in heaven…
Jesus was talking about after the cross…three days later He would rise again, and in doing so, completing what He had set out to do…pay for sin.
In doing this, He was with the Apostles again for 40 days.
This was the beginning of the Kingdom…
The spiritual Kingdom of God had been restored, Christ won the victory, and established His Kingdom on Earth for anyone to enter and become a citizen.
To be part of this Kingdom, you simply have to be part of the Body of Christ…the Bride.
This is what communion represents.
Accepting this covenantal agreement between you and the Lord.
THE WARNING
1 Corinthians 11:29 – 31
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
If you have accepted the covenant between yourself and Christ, if you claim to be a Christian, yet live like the world, you are eating and drinking the Lord’s Judgment on yourself.
Vs. 30 says “That is WHY many among you are weak and sick…and a number of you have fallen asleep (died).”
Why? Because they claimed to be followers of Christ, but were not.
They accepted the covenant of marriage between themselves and the Lord, yet committed adultery on Him.
How? By living in sin.
But the scripture says, if we (those who have accepted this covenant of marriage with the Lord) will judge ourselves, we would not come under judgment of the Lord.
This is why we NEED to examine ourselves, to see if we have turned our hearts away from the one we have made a covenant with.
Are we living in opposition to the one whom we belong?
Are we cheating on God?
Examine your hearts today, now.
Are you living the life God expects of you, giving yourself completely to the one who gave everything for you.
He has given His all to and for us, yet we give so little of ourselves back.
