Many Are Called but Few Are Chosen

So we're going to continue with our series through the Gospel of Matthew, so let's turn to Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22. In Matthew 22, 1 through 14, Jesus tells the parable of the wedding feast.

And the title of this message is how he concludes the parable. So the title of the message is, Many are called, but few are chosen. Okay, many are called, but few are chosen. Some people hear this word, you know, chosen, and certain things come to mind.

Some people don't like this, but just remember, this is what Jesus said. I think there is some misunderstanding maybe about this. So I'll explain what that means in a moment. But just to better help us understand this parable a little bit, imagine you were invited to a formal black tie event.

Someone you respect, somebody who is worthy of respect, they invite you to a black tie event. I've never been invited to a black tie event, by the way, but what would you wear? Black tie, women wear whatever.

I don't know, women wear black dress, I guess. Well, what if, okay, what if someone was invited to a black tie event and they show up wearing, let's just make it real clear. Let's say they show up wearing a clown suit and like a neon green tie.

What would happen then? Well, not only would it be, you say, well, that's ridiculous, but it serves the purpose of the illustration. That would be very disrespectful towards the host, wouldn't it? Really, the person who would do that, they're just begging to get tossed out of there, right?

I think everyone would agree with that. So, just keep that in mind when we read this parable, keep that in mind towards the end, because this wedding feast, a man is invited and he gets tossed out. And some people have felt bad for the man or they think this seems unfair, but really he's in some ways begging to be thrown out.

And of course, all of this is a parable. It's meant to illustrate the kingdom of God, salvation and eternal life. So, let's read it. Matthew 22, starting in verse 1, it says,. And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, and they were not willing to come.

Again, he sent out other servants saying, Tell those who are invited. See, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fatted cattle are killed and all things are ready. Come to the wedding. But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his servants and treated them spitefully and killed them.

But when the king heard about it, he was furious and he sent out his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. And he said to his servants, The wedding is ready. But those who were invited were not worthy.

Therefore, go into the highways and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. Okay, so that's again, that's the title of the message.

Many are called, but few are chosen. Now, the first key to understanding what this parable is about, the wedding feast basically represents the kingdom of God. Okay, the wedding feast is the kingdom of God.

The king, who do you think the king is? The king is God and the king's son. Okay, it's not that hard to figure out, really. So if the wedding feast represents the kingdom of God, many are called, many are invited, but few actually show up.

And even fewer among those who show up are actually wearing the right clothing. So look at it this way. Here's the illustration. Many, many people hear the gospel. I would say the majority of people in this country, at some point in their life, they hear the good news about the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So many people hear the gospel, but few actually respond to the gospel. You know, they agree with it, they join a church, they get baptized, whatever it is. And even among those who do respond, even among those who maybe are part of a church, there's only a certain amount of those people who actually truly believe the gospel and are clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

So that's really what this parable is about. So it's symbolic for heaven, the kingdom of God, salvation. And the clothing, the Bible often talks about, you know, being clothed with, you know, white linen, clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

And that's what he's talking about here. As opposed to Isaiah 64, verse 6. Some of you know this verse, maybe you don't know the reference, but it says all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, right?

So you wouldn't show up to a wedding wearing rags or filthy rags. You would, if you were invited to an event or a wedding, you would go and you would dress up because you have respect for the host or for the couple getting married.

So I'll explain this more as we go, but that should give you some sort of idea of what we're talking about in this parable. So it's important, also important to understand this concept of being chosen, because that's the title of the message.

Few are called, right? Sorry, many are called, many are called, but few are chosen. So the chosen, who are the chosen? The chosen, yeah, the chosen refer to true believers in Christ. So again, many are called, many people hear the gospel of Christ.

Some even respond, and among those who respond, there are some who don't truly believe, but the chosen are true believers, okay? So the chosen are God's people, true believers. One way I could illustrate this, the statistics tell us that in the world today, there are about two and a half billion people on earth who claim the name of Christ, okay?

So two and a half billion Christians in the world today are all 2 .4, 2 .5 billion people. Are they all truly Christians? Are they all going to be in heaven? You tell me. I mean, I would like to think that, but I think we all know better.

So basically, the word chosen here, it's a synonym for the elect, right? Chosen means elect. The elect are the true believers in Christ who will be with God in heaven. So it's important we understand these terms, chosen and elect.

Pretty simple, we just had an election in this country, and we chose, the citizens of this country voted, and they chose leaders, right? Chose a president, chose people for Senate and Congress. So elect and chosen means the same thing.

So in the visible church today, it's just like Israel back then. It's made up of wheat and tares. So you have professing believers, and then you have true believers, the elect, the chosen are true believers.

Now, up until this point in Matthew's gospel, who have been the chosen people? Yeah, I mean, today we're talking about the church and Christians, but back then, at this point in time, the elect or the chosen, I mean, we're talking about the nation of Israel.

So the chosen people back then, and still, that's true today to a degree, because we believe there's a future for Israel. But back then, the chosen were, yeah, the Jews, Israel. So God's elect, Isaiah 45, verse 4, it calls Israel God's elect.

Not only was Jacob, or the man Israel, God's chosen man, but also the nation was chosen. So the people were chosen, you know, generally speaking. But what happens when God's chosen people, generally speaking, reject their Messiah?

Now you have a little problem, because Jesus, has he already been rejected by the nation? I mean, pretty much. He hasn't been crucified yet, but the leaders of Israel have rejected him. Most of the cities he's going to at this point in his ministry, the people are rejecting him.

So you have this problem on your hands. Now the elect people, the chosen people, have rejected their Messiah. So now what? And that's what Jesus is explaining in this parable. So the context, you think back to the sermons, if you remember them, from chapter 21, about Jesus cursing the fig tree.

Remember, the fig tree represents Israel. Jesus told the parable of the vinedressers. So that would be the scribes, Pharisees, the leaders of Israel. They were the wicked vinedressers. So now the kingdom of God, I think it was in the last chapter, Jesus said, it will be taken from you, the nation of Israel, and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

So that's what's happening. That's the context. Let's just go through these verses, and then we'll try to end with an application. Matthew 22, verse 1, just follow along.

It says,.

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables. Now some people think that Jesus told parables to make it more clear. Like he's telling people the truth, and then he throws in a parable to try to make it more clear.

You know, that's not really the reason why Jesus told parables. Why did Jesus speak in parables? Yeah, so that true believers, his disciples would understand, but that this information would be hidden from everyone else.

So actually the parables were not meant to clear things up just to anybody and everybody. Verse 2, he says, he starts the parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son.

So again, fairly simple to understand. The king represents God the Father. The son represents Jesus. Pretty much nobody I know disputes that meaning in the parable. I've only heard one person dispute this meaning.

And just allow me for a moment. I'm telling you this for a reason. There was one pastor that I heard online. He disputed that, you know, the king is God the Father and the son is Jesus. This is a man who he denied.

Basically, he denied the historic Christian faith. He left his Baptist tradition and he joined one of these modern universalist type churches. So in this church tradition, the universalist church here, they have what they call a lectionary.

So they have a calendar where certain Bible passages are pre-selected so that it's for ordained, you know, on November, second week in November. You're going to read this passage and they have a selected passage for every week of.

The year.

Well, the sermon I saw, he had this passage selected, Matthew 22, 1 through 14. So here's the thing. This pastor being a former Baptist, he knows full well what this parable is about. Like he understands the meaning.

So this passage was read and after the woman read the passage of scripture, he got up to, you know, expound upon it and give the congregation the meaning. So the parable was read and he stood up and here's what he said.

He said, this is a terrible story. He said, this is a very disturbing story. And he proceeded to mock, really mock Jesus and mock the word of God. He said, you know, my God would never do anything like this because he understood that the guy being thrown out into outer darkness.

What do you think that symbolizes? Well, he's not going to heaven. That guy will just put it that way. So he understands that he understands that not everybody is part of the kingdom of God, but in his mind, he's adopted a system where everybody is a child of God.

Everyone's saved. Everyone's going to heaven. And it's simply not true. So here's why I bring that up. Not just to tell you that story because it irked me and I just wanted to get it off my chest. Although that is part of it.

It's really ironic. It really illustrates the parable, I think, very, very well. There are people all over the world. Some of them in, they're in church. It's Sunday morning. There are people all over the world.

Some of them are in church right now. Some of them are pastors. They profess to be a Christian. They are not among God's elect. They are not one of the chosen. Now, is that because, well, God didn't choose them from the foundation of the world and they just couldn't do anything about it?

That's not really the point. That's not what we're talking about here. They're not one of God's people.

Why?

Because they don't believe. They don't believe the teachings of Jesus. And again, this one guy said that Jesus was just telling a terrible, horrible story and I have to come in to kind of save the day and spin it to where it's something positive.

So he totally rejects the Bible. There's a lot of people in the world. They are in the church. They profess Christ, just like many of the Jews, like the Pharisees. They all profess to believe in God, right?

All of the Pharisees, matter of fact, back then, they would have been seen as the most godly people in that society. The Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees, they were the ministers. They were the reverends of that day.

Did they really love God? No, they hated God. They didn't believe the Bible. They had their own traditions that trumped the word of God. And then when Jesus, the son of God, shows up, what do they do?

Well, they're in the process of betraying him, trying to get him arrested, and their plan is to put him to death. So really, that sort of illustrates the parable. Many are called, many hear the truth, a fewer number receive the truth, and even among those who say they believe it, not everybody actually believes.

So that's what the parable partly is about that, but then there's more to it. Look at verse three. So the king went out to his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, and they were not willing to come.

So who was invited to the kingdom of God originally? Jesus came unto his own, right? Who did the gospel go out to first?

The Israelites.

Yeah, Jesus came. You know, John 1, 11 and 12, Jesus came unto his own, the children of Israel, but his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name.

So it was offered, the children of Israel, the Jewish people were invited to the wedding, but most of them chose not to go. They said no to the invitation. So generally speaking, they rejected Jesus. They are the invited guests.

Look at verse four. So again, he sent out other servants. This would include the apostles saying, tell those who are invited, see, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatted cattle. They are killed and all things are ready.

Come to the wedding. So they went out again and they preached to some of the same people.

But what happened?

It says in verse five, they made light of it. So the first group just said, no, sorry, can't go, busy. The second group, it says they made light of it and they went their ways. One to his farm, another to his business.

So things are getting worse. Now they're making light of the invitation. In other words, they are showing their contempt for the king. Isn't this true that some people hear the truth about God's word and they're just kind of indifferent and they say, no, thanks.

Hey, I've heard this. No, thank you. But then there's other people who are like, are you serious? And they're more hostile. You know, they show more disrespect to the preachers and to God who really called them unto eternal life.

So things are getting worse. Now they're showing their contempt for God and for his son. But just in case the king didn't get that message of contempt, look at verse six says the rest, they seized the servants again, pointing to some of the apostles even, and they treated them what spitefully and they killed them.

So now this is just all out war. I mean, mankind is not just rebelling against God. They are killing God's ministers. And of course, we believe that 11 out of 12 of the apostles died. They were killed for their faith.

So what is the king going to do? And who's the king? God.

Okay.

What's God going to do? Look at verse seven. When the king heard about it, he was furious and he sent out his armies. He destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. Now this is still in the future.

Jesus is telling a parable of what's going to happen. And this did happen. So they're the leaders of Israel. They killed the apostles, persecuted God's people. And what did God do? Well, in 70 AD, you know what happened.

The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. God used the Roman army. They came in. They burned the city of Jerusalem. And the leaders, many of the leaders of Israel, they were killed. And the city destroyed.

So I think we see what's happening. This parable was fulfilled. But now the invited guests said, no. What are you going to do? How are you going to fill up the banquet hall? Everyone who is invited said no, or most of them said no.

How are you going to fill up the banquet hall? Okay, now we see it in verse nine. The gospel will now go out to the Gentiles, to the whole world. So the king says, therefore, go into the highways and as many as you find invite to the wedding.

So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both good and bad. I mean, they were willing to take anybody, both good and bad. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

So look at it this way. For the past 2 ,000 years, pastors, evangelists have been calling people to the wedding. Okay, by preaching the gospel, you're calling people to the wedding. And a great multitude has responded.

And these guests represent basically anyone who is connected to some type of church or they identify as a Christian in some way. But just because a person identifies as a believer, that doesn't necessarily make it.

So.

Remember, many are called, but what? Few are chosen. So there's something, have you ever heard this term? Someone will talk about a nominal Christian. Okay, a nominal Christian is someone who is a Christian in name only.

Like they identify that way, but they really have never been born again. Their heart has never really been converted to Christ. Just turn to Matthew 7. Turn back to Matthew 7 for a moment. And there are many people I've met.

Some, they identify as Christian, but yet some, when they hear the gospel preached or even with that one pastor I referenced, all he had to do was hear a parable and it kind of set him off. He's hearing the teachings of Jesus and he's angry about it.

If you ever met someone, they say they're a Christian, you read them something in the Bible and they get mad.

Like, what's that about?

You believe that the Bible is God's word, but when you read it, you get upset. I don't, I mean, there's something wrong there. Well, look at Matthew 7, verse 15, because there's a lot of people, some have been deceived by others.

I don't want to say it's not their fault, but yeah, they have been taught the wrong things. Jesus gives this warning in Matthew 7, 7, 15. He says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

What does it mean that they're in sheep's clothing? Yeah, I mean, they're pretending to be a Christian, but what are they actually?

A wolf.

That's the false prophets. So there are people who pose as sheep, they pose as even Christian pastors, but really they're a wolf and they're trying to lead people away from Christ. And they're really preaching a different Christ, a different gospel, a totally different interpretation of the Bible.

But what does Jesus say to some of these people? Some who say they're believers, but they really are not. Some of them wolves look at verse 23, Jesus says, and then I will declare to them what I never knew you depart from me.

You who practice lawlessness. Well, what's the title of the message? Many are called, but few are chosen. And I think we get a good representation of that in Matthew 7, 13 and 14. Look at this. And because remember, few, few, Jesus says in verse 13, enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction.

And there are many who go in by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life. And there are few who find it. See that number, that word again, few.

Few.

I like what Jesus says in Luke 12, 32. He says, do not fear little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the.

Kingdom.

So the elect in that verse are called what the little flock, the little flock. What does that tell you? It's the few, it's the minority, or this is the concept of the remnant. It was true in Israel. Remember in the days of Elijah, remember Elijah thought he was the only man left God, it's me and me alone.

And then God had to remind him, no, I have reserved 7 ,000 who have not bowed the knee to bail. So all of these Israelites, they would have said maybe they worship the Lord, but they worship bail as well.

And all these other gods. And that's true. Even today, there are people who would say they're Christian, but they're worshiping at temples. They're going to these other places. And really the Lord is not their God, certainly not their only God.

Now let's turn back to Matthew 22. We're almost done, but you're getting the idea of the parable. The invited guests said, no, they even killed the apostles. So the gospel went out to basically anyone who would be willing to listen.

And isn't that true? I'm willing to preach the gospel to anyone who's willing to listen. There could be a guy in prison. If he wanted to hear the gospel and, you know, invited, I'd go preach the gospel to him.

I will preach. And hopefully this is the case with you. You'll share it with anybody and everybody. But it's the minority who end up truly believing it. Look at verse 11. So the wedding hall is full of people.

It says, when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Now, some people have equated this to something like a typical party crasher. You know, he snuck in the back. He really shouldn't be there. But is that the case? No, this guy was invited. Everybody was invited.

So he's supposed to be there. But what's the problem? He's not wearing the right clothing. So because they went out and invited anyone and everyone, took them off the streets, bringing in everybody, you have to assume that the king provided wedding garments for the guests.

So this man, it's not that he forgot to put it on. He was not clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Here is a man who the picture is a man who says he believes, but he has never truly trusted in Jesus.

He is still wearing the filthy rags of his own righteousness. Okay, this man is a man who thinks he's going to heaven because he's such a great person. That's who this man is. He has never truly trusted in Jesus.

What happens to this man? And by the way, if you think that this man is being treated unfairly, some people have.

Thought that.

He's again, he's the guy with the clown suit. Okay, remember that? So this is the guy. The other people said no to the invitation. Some made light of it, but they insulted the king from afar. This guy, he's insulting the king to his face.

Okay, so this is much more serious. That's why this happens in verse 13. So the king said to his servants, bind this man, bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness. And in this place, outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So sometimes when the Bible speaks of eternal punishment, it speaks of fire. That's usually the thing that people think of first, fire. And here's the thing, fire gives off light. So a lot of people have wondered if, if hell is fire, why is it being described here as outer darkness?

How can there be fire and darkness? Well, how do you reconcile that? There's a few possibilities. There could be degrees of punishment in the afterlife. That's one possibility. Either way, whether you say it's symbolic or not, here's what the Bible says.

First John 1 5, it says, God is light, right? And believers are called to walk in the light. Here's a man who chose darkness over the light. Here's a man who chose to walk really in darkness. Here is a man who has never truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

He comes in and he essentially insults the king to his face. The king is God. God is gracious. God is so gracious. He invites anyone and everybody to his wedding feast. God, I really believe this because sometimes when you hear the word chosen in election, this brings, I'm not going to get off topic, but it brings to mind certain school of theology that says God doesn't want to save everybody.

He only chooses some people and he wants other people to go to hell. I don't believe that. I think God truly wants, God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the.

Truth.

Okay, so God invites everybody. He is gracious, but this man essentially spits in God's face. So what's the point of the parable? Many are called, few are chosen. There are people today associated with the church.

They profess Christ, but they have never truly trusted in the gospel. I am not, just to make it clear, I am not preaching this sermon. Number one, the reason I'm preaching it because that's where I am in the gospel of Matthew.

So I just, you know, next time we'll be in a different parable. So I just preach what's there. I am not preaching this to cause anyone to doubt. Okay, if you know and understand the gospel and you believe the gospel, you're, if you believe the gospel, you're saved.

Okay.

You're saved if you believe the gospel, but this is for people again, who think, well, I, you know, it's not about Jesus. That's I'm going to heaven because of my own goodness, or I give money to charity or, you know, I I'm trusting in something else other than Christ.

This is for those people, if anyone is listening, you think you're on your way to heaven because of your own goodness, your own filthy rags, as scripture puts it, you have to believe.

In Christ.

There is one way, one gospel that saves the gospel of grace. So many are called, many people have heard the gospel all over the world. I would say more than two, probably 4 billion, 5 billion people have probably heard the gospel.

2 .5 have responded in some way to it. But really it's, it's the few who have truly, truly believed. So this message is for believers. If you've trusted in Christ, you are invited to God's feast, his wedding hall, his, you're going to spend eternity with God in heaven.

You have every reason to be joyful. You have a home reserved for you in heaven because God is so gracious, but to that person who has never really put their full trust in the gospel of Christ and him crucified.

I'm just praying that today would be the day that you believe it, that today would be the day you accept it, or that today would be the day that you decide. I am going to follow Christ with my life. Let's pray.

And father, if there's anyone here wondering, well, I'm reading about the chosen or the, how do I know if I'm chosen? Well, it's very simple. The chosen are those who believe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be.

Saved.

So father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the clarity of it. We thank you for these parables and we praise you that you have hidden these truths from the proud and from those who think they are wise.

And instead you have chosen to reveal your truth to those of us who are childlike in.

Our faith.

The father, most of all, we thank you for the free gift of salvation and eternal life that is only in your son. And we do pray that if someone has never believed that today would be the day of salvation, and we ask it all in Jesus name.

Amen.