The Wedding Garment

I'd like to read a few verses from Matthew 22, starting at verse 1. And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner. My oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready.

Come to the marriage feast. But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants and treated them shamefully and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.

Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find. And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good.

So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. He said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Then the king said to the attendants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness. There men will weep and gnash their teeth, for many are called, but few chosen. We've all read books about revival, which so often describe it accurately, really, as a kind of invisible cloud which comes in over a town and just saturates everything with the atmosphere of God's presence so that everybody in the town just knows, you know, with awe and fear and trembling, that God is near.

Very often it begins in a very undramatic way, some man puts a little ad in the newspapers inviting everybody to come to prayer in a certain church at lunch hour on a certain day. A handful of people comes, the next day is double, the next day that group is double. And in a very short time, the church is just overflowing and it's happening all over the town.

And some man sitting on a bar stool, half drunk, comes to his senses and falls on his knees right there in repentance before God. Women pace the floor all night long, trying to find some kind of peace with God. Dead church services that were going simply by routine for years and years come to life as people come under fear and trembling and awe before God's presence.

The thing spreads like a like a fire, like an epidemic skips from one town over to another, and the same thing happens there. The only difficulty with these epidemic revivals is that very often, almost always, they end as quickly as they begin. They pass over like a spent storm and then everybody settles back, almost everybody, to what they were before.

And they look back on their weeks or months or perhaps even years of devotion to God as a kind of hysteria that they were into for a short time. In a similar way that the people, no doubt a good Friday, who are shouting for Jesus blood, if you had asked them, how come they're doing this one just a few days before they were calling him the son of David, would answer you by saying, we don't know what was wrong with us back then. See, but there's another kind of revival which isn't quite as flashy.

And doesn't seem to take in the whole town, always seems to bring with it all kinds of opposition and disruption. And yet, in spite of all that. It lasts in a way that the other kind of revival doesn't.

You know, it has enemies, it has critics, it has hecklers, all kinds of things seem to go wrong. And yet, in the middle of all this, the revival continues, not just for a few months and stops, but it goes on and on. For instance, the greatest revival that ever came to the nation of Israel was not when Moses swept them by the hundreds of thousands out of their Egyptian bondage.

Or when Elijah overcame the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. The greatest revival that ever came to the nation of Israel took place in such a way that there was such division and such confusion and such hostility generated against the center of this revival that they finally, as a mob, nailed him to the cross. See, but the revival didn't end with that.

It goes right on. For 50 days after our Lord's resurrection, the revival remains hidden and then it breaks out again on the day of Pentecost. Thousands of people find the Lord.

Then this is followed by more persecution. And then the persecution is followed by more life. And this thing goes on and on and on.

Now, the second kind of revival is really a fulfillment of this parable, which I read at the beginning, in which things aren't quite so clear cut. There are people who refuse their invitation and they treat the servants of the Lord spitefully and kill them. And yet, in spite of all kinds of indifference and hostility, the banquet table of the Lord is filled, the hall is full of rejoicing, joy such as people had never experienced before in all their lives.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. So we have two kinds of revival here.

One you could call the epidemic revival and the other you could call continuous revival. And the difference is simple. The epidemic revival is followed by almost total judgment.

For instance, how many of the people who came out of Egypt in Moses' epidemic revival ever got into the promised land? Joshua and Caleb out of maybe a million or more. And there will be one final epidemic revival, I believe, sweeping this earth. And I believe we'll begin in the Orient, but, you know, I can't prove it.

And we'll move out, no doubt, over Africa, up into Europe, and the United States will probably be the last place to be hit with it. Because it's so religious and so Christian, then it'll come to life. See, but that revival will be followed by night.

Cataclysmic judgment. The other kind of revival, continuous revival, the judgment doesn't follow, but takes place right in the middle of the whole thing. The king comes into the banquet hall and he finds there a man who doesn't have on a wedding garment that he was given to wear.

And he doesn't stop the whole ceremony. He doesn't end the party. He simply deals with that man.

The wedding feast goes on. Now, there are a few people here who will remember Palm Sunday of 1970. Here, Palm Sunday of 1970, a revival really broke out in this congregation that has been going on ever since.

And it was the work of God's sovereign mercy, and it was preserved by God's sovereign mercy down through these years. And has brought into it, into the flock here, a variety of people that we would never have dreamed 10 years ago we'd ever see here. Nor would we ever have dreamed 10 years ago that we would see such radical changes in people's lives.

People who are totally unstable, becoming strong in God, people who seem to be always predisposed to be depressed and sorrowful, coming into joy. All this we've been seeing, and yet there is a negative side to this revival, and we ought to look at this, too, because all the time this thing has been going on, people have been dropping off to the sides as well. And lots of people who have joy and enthusiasm and satisfaction in God wake up one day and seem to all be gone, dissipated.

What happened? You know, a month ago I knew the Lord, and now I don't even know if I ever knew him. I had such peace in my heart last year. Things were going so wonderfully.

And now what went wrong? And the first thing we usually conclude is, well, I guess the revival ended. You know, everybody's like this and it's this person's fault or it's that person's fault. You know, everything's dead.

But then somehow or other, at least the Lord opens our eyes and we look around and we see the revival hasn't ended because the truth is that over here are people who are still rejoicing in the Lord and over here are people who are still pouring into the banquet hall. So what's wrong with me? How come I don't have that sense of God's presence which once was mine? The answer is very simple. The answer is that you lost your sense of God's presence because you are no longer wearing your wedding garment.

See, when you came into the marriage feast, you put on and you were wearing the wedding garment that the Lord gave you. Or perhaps you were approaching the wedding feast with a garment and came in without it. Who knows? It doesn't make any difference.

But you at first were wearing a wedding garment. You were given one. And that wedding garment is simply the garment of God's nature.

And when you wear that garment, you find yourself able to be like Jesus, to begin to approach his likeness. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises that through these you may escape the corruption that is in the world through lust and become partakers of the divine nature. That's the wedding garment.

We can wear it if we will. See, but we have to put it on and we have to put off our old nature. Put off your old nature, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts.

The term lust used both in both descriptions and may be renewed and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new nature created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. There is no such thing as a person being incapable of putting on the wedding garment. Anybody can put it on.

It doesn't matter what your IQ is. It doesn't matter what your hang ups are, how many problems you have, you know, what your bondages may be, what you're addicted to. It doesn't matter.

You can put on a wedding garment and the wedding garment, which the Lord gives you to put on, can be described in two words which Jesus spoke and live continuously. First, it's the garment of lowliness, lowliness, not loneliness, lowliness. Our lowly, our loneliness ends when we put it on.

You know, and if you look back on your own experience, is it not true that when you came into the kingdom of God, you also at that point came down off your pedestal, gave up your pride, you know, ended up this ridiculous pretense that you were trying to live, humbled yourself before God, became poor in spirit, became a child. And it was because you finally emptied yourself of your false glory and got down where you really are and became, it's not hard for us to become lowly because that's where we belong. When you did that, when you became poor in spirit, you inherited the kingdom of God immediately and you found yourself walking in and out among the guests at the wedding feast filled with peace and joy, feeling at home for the first time really in your life.

And while you were wearing this garment of lowliness, maybe you weren't aware of it, but you were clothed in the very nature of the true and living God. Because the God who holds the stars together, if there's any word to describe what he is like, it is the word lowly. And the reason the proud can't see him is because he's lowly.

And so as long as the scientist is caught up in his pride of his knowledge or the philosopher in the pride of his knowledge or the theologian in the pride of his knowledge or whatever it may be, as long as we're proud and lifted up, we can't see God. You became lowly and you began to enjoy the comfort of his presence and the reality of his kingdom. Then one day, for some ridiculous reason, you laid aside the garment of lowliness and you put on once again the garment of pride.

Perhaps somebody offended you, you know, or mistreated you or took advantage of you or in some way got you going and you say, I've had enough and you quick put on your old garment of pride and begin to defend yourself. Your back is up. And as soon as the lowliness is gone, not only does the pride come back, but all the lusts and all the evil, ugly, vile, vicious things that were part of your old way.

And now you feel and Satan tries to make you think you're stuck in that you feel locked in. But that's not true. All you have to do is lay aside again that ridiculous garment of pride and put on the garment of lowliness, which is still within your reach.

If there's anything the spirit of God is saying to us today is put back on that lowly garment, the garment of lowliness, while you still have time. Before the king comes in to check over the wedding guests. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, you'll find rest for your souls.

The other word that describes the wedding garment is the word mercy. When you came in and you look back, is it not true that when you came into the kingdom of God, the one thing that overwhelmed you was a sense of God's rich mercy toward you. That of all things, he should receive me as I am and make me his child in the shape that I'm in.

And you found yourself then filled with an attitude in your heart of generosity and kindness and forbearance toward other people, which you knew wasn't natural to you. Just couldn't do enough for people you you put up with all kinds of things you never put up with before. And you were filled with peace, you began to realize that God requires not sacrifice, but mercy.

And you were learning that and you were practicing it. And then one day, for some strange reason, you decided to take off the garment of mercy and put back on the garment of covetousness. And maybe it began when you asked the question, what have I got out of all this here? I've been trying to follow Jesus for these months or years.

And where did it get me? And you start measuring what you got and you're back in the pit of covetousness again. You're out of the spirit of mercy and everything crashes down on you again. All your old ways, your old lusts, you know, your old habits, your ugly thoughts.

And you sink in that and then you begin to think, God forsook me. You know, he walks with other people, he puts up with their sins, but me, he forsook. But the truth is, God didn't forsake you.

You took off your wedding garment. All you have to do is put it back on again and you'll be back in the wedding feast once more. Today's the first Sunday of the month, first Sunday of the first Sunday of the month.

It's a good thing. We take communion on our knees. We break bread together on our knees.

And as we do this today, may God help us to really have an awareness of who this is we're commuting with in the bread and the wine, who we're receiving. We're receiving in this bread and wine. The eternal son who emptied himself of his glory and came down and became a servant, the lowliest human being ever to walk this earth.

May God help us as we take the bread and wine to clothe ourselves once again in the garment of lowliness and to keep that garment on when we leave here and go back home or to our apartment, wherever we go back into our Monday routine tomorrow, still have it on. Also, when we receive the bread and wine. We're communing with the incarnate mercy of God, the pearl of great price that the father gave up in order to buy us back, to redeem us and save us.

Lord, enable us to clothe ourselves once more in your mercy as we eat your body and drink your blood. Because my friend, the minute and you can do this, you put on the wedding garment which God has provided for you. The minute you do that.

You're back in the revival and you're in a revival which will go on and on until the king comes back. Let's pray. Help us to understand.

The meaning of our Lord's constant reference and call to lowliness, oh, God, our father. Again and again, he hits us with this. And enable us in a simple act of our own wills, getting our eyes off our brothers and sisters and their great sins.

That we might, by your grace, Lord God, today, each one of us here be clothed in the lowliness that you have given us and bought for us with your blood. And that we may be clothed in the mercy that you have shown us and are showing us even this day. That we may be, Lord God, by your grace, children of mercy.

Sons and daughters of the lowly king. We ask it in his name. Amen.