Are you ready to embark on a thought provoking journey of discovery? Curious to explore an alternative narrative that challenges the theory of evolution? What impact has the war in heaven had on our planet? And what are the implications for humanity? What can we learn from this epic battle that is unfolding between good and evil? Here is your opportunity to unlock a treasure trove of spiritual insights from the Bible that will answer these and many other pressing questions, illuminating the path to eternal life which lies just a choice away. Here is Bill Gates presenting without a wedding garment. This parable teaches us a very important Bible teaching.
And we'll start by reading Matthew 22, verses one to 14. And Jesus answered and spoke unto them again by parables, and said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son and sent forth his servants to call them that were invited to the wedding, and they would not come again. He sent forth other servants, saying, tell them which are invited.
Behold, I've prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage.
But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was angry, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.
Then he said to his servants, the wedding is ready. But they which were bidden were not worthy. Go you therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find bid to the marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.
And he said unto him, friend, how come you in here not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen.
Because we're dealing with a parable, let us make sure we understand the key components of this parable. Verse two. The king in this parable is God the father, the son.
In this parable is Jesus Christ. The reference to a marriage represents the union of humanity with divinity. The invited guests were originally the Jews, then the Gentiles, and finally modern man.
The servants in this parable were originally the twelve disciples, then the 70 disciples, and then the true disciples right through the ages down to our day. The weding garment is the righteousness of Christ, freely offered to all invited guests. Verse twelve the inspection of the invited guests represents a work of judgement.
So now that we've had the introduction, let us begin to unravel the parable. This parable illustrates the Gospel invitation and its rejection by, firstly, most of the jewish people, and then secondly, many of the gentile people. But for those who reject God's invitation, this parable brings to view a deeper insult to God and an even more dreadful punishment for the rejectors of his graceful invitation.
The king's invitation, issued via his servants, is met with insult and murder. They treated his servants with scorn, despitefully used them and then killed them. The call to the feast is a king's invitation.
It proceeds from one who has power to command. It confers high honour. Yet for many the honour is unappreciated.
The king's authority is despised, while the householder's invitation was met with indifference, the king's invitation in Matthew 22 was met with insult and murder. So let us notice the result. Matthew 22, verse seven.
But when the king heard thereof, he was angry and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. In this parable, the feast, which lasts over many days, is provided with guests, and the invitation to these wedding feasts requires a preparation. But we need to avoid confusion in this regard.
So let me explain. God has two kingdoms. The first kingdom is the kingdom of grace here on planet earth, which can be joined by coming just as we are to church.
Then we enjoy fellowship and also we can begin to get to know God better for ourselves as we delve into Bible topics. This is normally done by doing topical Bible courses. Learning God's plans for your life can be done either through Bible study paper guides, or through films on dvds or on USB hard drives.
You just cheque with your local 7th day adventist church pastor. Or you can email me your request at the following email address for USB or DVD copies. My email address is
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[email protected] this will then enable you to understand the benefits and the responsibilities of uniting with other people who are preparing to enjoy God's first kingdom of grace here on earth. Learning Bible topics will give you light, thus putting you in a position to make an intelligent decision.
As James Faust once wrote, some of our important choices have a timeline. If we delay a decision, the opportunity is gone forever. Sometimes our doubts keep us from making a choice that involves change.
Thus an opportunity may be missed. That's worth thinking about, isn't it? So once we have accepted God's teachings and want to have eternal life, we can be baptised. And this process is called justification.
And this aspect saves us from the penalty of sin. And it is the work of a simple moment, the moment we accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour and then being baptised as Jesus requires. Baptism is important.
The first stage in a baptism is where we've agreed to get into the water and be baptised, as Jesus requires. The second stage has us going right under the water for about 2 seconds, symbolising death and burial to the old ways of life. And the third stage has us rising out of the water, symbolising resurrection to a new way of life.
But my message today is not so much about that first step of being saved from the penalty of sin and then being baptised. It is about the more advanced second step of being saved from the power of sin. And this prepares for us to be able to live with God in his second kingdom of glory.
And that requires us to have on the wedding robe of Christ's righteousness. And this second process of salvation is called sanctification, and it is the work of a lifetime. So providing the wedding robe of Christ's own righteousness through the justification and sanctification stage is God's job.
Wearing that robe during the sanctification stage, which is to reflect the character of Christ in our own lives, that is our job. I mentioned earlier that God's first kingdom of grace is here on earth, but his second kingdom of glory is in the third heaven. However, no one gets to the second kingdom of glory unless they have accepted Jesus Christ as their saviour from sin.
God's second kingdom of glory is a real government in a real place called the third heaven or paradise. And once a person has made their decision to follow Jesus faithfully, so that you can become a prospective citizen of God's paradise, you're invited to take that first step by joining God's first kingdom of grace, which is the church here on earth. And once we've come to God, just as we are, God then makes us into the people that will be happy in heaven with all of the holiness that exists up there.
So here on earth is where we allow God to change us from unholy people to holy people, whilst in his kingdom of grace we cannot make ourselves holy. It is God who will do that for us, as you will see later. And then we can look forward to living eternally with a holy God and with holy angels, in a fabulous and perfect place called New Jerusalem.
The city called New Jerusalem is referred to in Revelation 21, verse two, as a city that has been prepared as a bride. As our next Bible reading in revelation 21, verse two, states and I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The city of New Jerusalem is likened symbolically as a bride, for it is a most glorious city that has been prepared so by God for its new citizens.
God's church is the actual bride who are being prepared by God as its most glorious new citizens. And those prospective new citizens have become overcomers over the sin problem through God's Holy spirit and their sanctified wills being combined. And thus they have been made ready to occupy the holy city.
And Revelation 19, verses seven to nine are interesting verses. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him for the marriage of the lamb that's a symbol of Jesus Christ, is come, and his wife has made herself ready, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.
And he said unto me, right blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb. And he said unto me, these are the true sayings of God. Further enlightenment comes when we look at the 7th day Adventist Bible commentary, volume seven, page 909.
It explains the ancient eastern custom around a marriage. The supreme moment in the ancient marriage ritual came when the bridegroom appeared to claim his bride and escort her to his home to the wedding feast. And Paul speaks of this in two corinthians eleven, verse two.
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I've espoused you to one husband that I may present you, that's the church, as a chaste virgin to Christ. So the faithful followers of God are the invited participants to the wedding banquet in heaven. The words that we just read present you are commented on by Bible scholars as follows.
As friends of the bridegroom, Paul thinks of his joy when Christ returns, and he will have the joy of presenting the corinthians to Christ. It will be a day of joy when the bride looks upon the bridegroom's face and beholds his glorious person. The corinthian church, as does this church today, makes up the congregational body, but the head of that body is Christ.
Commenting on this point, the spirit of prophecy book called education, page two, six, eight, states, very close and sacred is the relation between Christ and his church, he the bridegroom and the church, the bride, he the head and the church, the body. Connection with Christ, then, involves connection with his church. And God warns us not to defile our garments.
And he's referring to our spiritual character. And from the 7th volume of the 7th day Adventist Bible Commentary, page 985, I read, God is the husband of his church, the church is the bride, the lamb's wife. Every true believer is a part of the body of Christ.
Christ regards unfaithfulness shown to him by his people as the unfaithfulness of a wife to her husband. And from page 986, conduct befitting the bride of a king. The church is the bride, the lamb's wife.
She should keep herself pure, sanctified, holy. Never should she indulge in any foolishness, for she is the bride of a king. Yet she does not realise her exalted position.
If she understood this, she would be all glorious within. So now perhaps we can understand that the process of being made holy by God through the sanctification stage prepares its members to be entitled to be at the great wedding banquet. And this has everything to do with our presentation today.
Jesus is the bridegroom. And he said in John 14, verses two and three, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. When we realise that we are to be saved from three things, the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin, we must make sure all understand that today's message is all about being saved from the second aspect of salvation, dealing with getting victory over the power of sin indicated by the green arrow. And for this is how we get our visa for going to heaven.
And this process takes a lifetime. But the final result will be that we can live the life that God always wanted us to have. A life of unending happiness, inner peace and joy.
Now but interrupted by Satan's constant attempts at giving us the trials and tribulations of living on this earth. As desire of ages states in page two nine one, the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness. And that's my desire for everybody.
And it's God's desire. We will certainly have God's blessings for eternity without the trials of life. Once the real Jesus Christ returns with his army of angels, the second kingdom of glory which we're talking about today is in the third heaven, and there is where the banquet will be held.
None of us want to miss that first meal in heaven, for we're all invited to be there, as Matthew 20 214 says, however, for many are called, but few are chosen. What does this mean? Many are called into God's first kingdom of grace here on planet earth, but only a few are chosen to enter God's second kingdom of glory in heaven simply because many a Christian will not make the effort to reflect the character of Christ in their own lives. And the wedding garment in this parable represents the character of Christ, which God says is to be found in his saints before the door of salvation closes forever.
God who supplies this character free of charge will then count the saints who wear that character as fit guests to attend the wedding. So don't miss the important point I've been making in this parable of the wedding garment is a preparation required by all who plan to attend the feast. The apostle John, in likening the heavenly city called New Jerusalem to a bride adorned for her husband, is simply using symbolic language here.
And we can understand this symbolism when we look at the oriental and jewish custom of an engagement and then a marriage from 2000 years ago. The intended bridegroom always went away after the engagement and prepared a new home for his beloved. Now here's the point.
Christ went away to the third heaven and is preparing our new homes in a city which is called New Jerusalem. Are you excited about that? I am. And whilst Jesus is preparing our new home, we're to cooperate with God by allowing God to prepare our characters for that great banquet in heaven.
And the wedding, as I said earlier, is the union of divinity with humanity. And it is the parable of the wedding garment that teaches us how this preparation is done. So for those who neglect this preparation, ask yourself this question, are you doing the will of your heavenly Father? The man who came into the wedding without the wedding garment was not doing the will of the Father, and he was cast out, as Matthew 22, verse 13 states.
Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We have all been invited to the wedding feast by the king of kings, but we must avoid presuming on the mercy of the king, which happens when we ignore his specific requirements for entry into the heavenly banquet, as Matthew 22, verse eleven states, and when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment and he said unto him, friend, how came you in here not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What does all of this mean? The call to the feast had been given by Christ's disciples.
Our Lord had sent out the twelve apostles. And afterwards he sent out 70 disciples proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand. And this was before Jesus was crucified.
But the call was not heeded. Those who were invited to the feast did not come in. God's servants were sent out after their crucifixion.
And for three and a half years continued to extend the gospel invitation to the jewish nation. As verse four says again, he sent forth other servants, saying, tell them which are bidden, behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready.
Come unto the marriage. But the nation that claimed to be God's special people, the Jews, rejected the gospel, brought to them in the power of the Holy spirit. Except for a few, the messianic Jews, they accepted him.
But many did this rejection of the gospel in a most hateful manner. Many, both of men and women were thrust into prison. And some of the Lord's messengers, such as Stephen and James, were put to death.
Thus the jewish people sealed their rejection of God's mercy. But the result was also foreseen and foretold by Christ in the parable, verse seven. But when the king heard thereof, he was angry.
And he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. The judgement pronounced by God came upon the Jews through the roman armies in 70 AD. And culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the jewish nation.
So the first call to the jewish nation was given by Jesus, his twelve disciples, and then the 70 disciples. The second call to the jewish nation was given by his servants, who witnessed for Christ between Christ's resurrection in 31 AD and the stoning of Stephen in 34 AD. And the third call to the feast represents the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles.
The king said these words found in verses eight. Then he said to his servants, the wedding is ready. But they which were invited, that's the Jews, were not worthy.
And so Jesus instructs his followers now to go to the Gentiles. Verse nine. Go you therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find, that's the Gentiles bid to the marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was furnished with guests. It was a mixed company, some bad ones and some good ones.
Some of the bad ones could be identified easily because they had no more real regard for the giver of the feast than had the ones who rejected the two earlier calls. The class first invited, being the Jews, could not afford, they thought, to sacrifice any worldly advantage for the sake of attending the king's banquet. And of those who accepted the invitation, there were some who thought only of benefiting themselves.
They came to share the provisions of the feast, but they had no desire to honour the king. Now, Jesus was a master at using physical and visible things on the planet to draw a spiritual lesson. The parable of the wheat and the tears, the parable of the lost coin, are examples of what I'm talking about.
And the parable of the wedding garment is no different. Jesus was aware of the eastern custom when a royal wedding was about to take place. And the following true story will illustrate this nicely.
At the royal marriage of Sultan Mahmoud many years ago, every invited guest to the wedding had made expressly for them, at the expense of the sultan, I might add, a wedding garment, a golden soup for the men and a golden dress for the ladies. But inasmuch as those garments were very costly, and some of the guests might plead poverty and thus appear unsuitably clad in the guest chamber of the king, the cost was paid for at Sultan Mahmood's own expense. To each guest was presented a suit of wedding garments as a free gift.
Had any therefore appeared before this absolute sovereign without the wedding garment on, the sultan would have deemed his dignity insulted and his magnificent gifts despised. The question then, friend, how came you in here? Not having on a wedding garment, explains the speechless condition of the man in the parable. The wedding robe was ready, not at the expense of the invited one, but at the cost of the king.
The guest had simply to obey the requirements of eastern state, put on the garment, appear before the king, and do homage to him as an expression of gratitude for the king's rich gift. His refusal to comply with this reasonable custom, and presuming notwithstanding, to thrust himself into the presence of royalty, was an avowal that he denied his authority to rule over him, despised his power, and thought too lightly about the expense of gift. That true story illustrates what God has wanted to do for his beloved people as far back as the Garden of Eden.
But God would do much more than the sultan did. We read about this in Genesis three, verse 21. And unto Adam, also unto his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them.
These two gifts. Firstly, the provision of blood from a lamb as an innocent substitute ransom. And secondly, using the lamb's fleece to clothe Adam and Eve prefigured the plan of salvation right there in the Garden of Eden.
So God promised two gifts. Firstly, he would come to earth concealed in a human body, live a sinless life as a human, and then his sinless humanity would die as a ransom for repentant sinners. This was done in order to win as many as would accept his gift back to eternal life instead of eternal death.
So this was revealed to Adam and Eve through the blood sacrifice of the first innocent substitute, being the substitutionary spotless and white lamb. That act was a symbol and depicted the future substitutionary sacrifice of the innocent Jesus Christ 4000 years later. Secondly, he would also clothe them with the robe of his own righteousness that would ensure they would have a fitness for heaven.
And this fleece, clothing of the lamb provided by God himself, also symbolised the robe of Christ's own perfect righteousness, which was his perfect obedience as a human to the law of God on earth. And Christ's perfect obedience as a human on earth is firstly imputed or credited as a judicial act into the believer's account in the books of heaven. Secondly, Christ would also impart that desire to love and obey God's law into our hearts here on planet earth, if we let him.
As Hebrews ten, verse 16 says, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. So now perhaps we can understand why the guest who turned up not wearing the clothing so freely provided by the king, was bound hand and foot and cast out. As I mentioned earlier, Jesus was aware of this eastern custom when a royal wedding was about to take place, and used it as an illustration regarding how people can be saved from the power of sin concerning the first kingdom of grace here on earth.
The parable makes no sense if we think that we had to be perfect first before we can come to Jesus as a sinner needing forgiveness. Thank God that is not the case. Instead, for this first stage, we simply come as we are, and then we can be saved by Jesus from the penalty of sin once we repent.
And that only takes a moment. Having accepted Jesus as our saviour from the penalty of sin, which only takes a moment, that's when we receive the passport to go to heaven. And then we progress to seeking to be saved from the power of sin.
And this process takes a lifetime, but it will give us the visa for going to heaven. And God is the one who works on our hearts and minds so that we become victorious overcomers over sinful temptations. In this way, God makes us into a blessing to all around us, but it will never happen unless we choose to place our wills onto the side of God and allow God to do this for us.
This is how God turns us from being sinners into saints. As Leviticus 20, verse eight states, I am the Lord who makes you holy. By God doing this, we also become safe to take to the third heaven and enjoy eternal life with God and the obedient angels who are already holy.
An inspired Bible commentator mentioned as follows in Christ object lessons, page 311, only the covering which Christ himself has provided can make us meet. That means fit to appear in God's presence. This matches the story about the sultan giving appropriate garments free of charge to his invited guests.
And we will need Christ's free robe of righteousness this side of human probation closing because that robe is the visa for entry into the royal banquet in heaven. There is another lesson we can learn here. Whilst here on earth, it is proper for us to wear our best earthly, physical clothing when we come to church as a mark of respect to the universe's king of kings and lord of lords.
However, our best earthly clothes are inadequate when it comes to getting into God's second kingdom of glory. Therefore, accepting Christ's robe of righteousness and allowing him to change our characters to match his glorious character gives us the visa for entry into God's second kingdom of glory. And so, if we do not allow Christ to perfect his holy character into our lives, we're also showing that we deny Christ's authority to rule over us, and we despise his power and his gifts.
This is exactly the conclusion we got when we considered the sultan's story. This wedding garment is also a free gift, just as was the sultan's gift. So now we'll continue to draw lessons from this parable.
When the king came to view the guests, the real character of all was revealed. For every guest at the feast had been provided a wedding garment. This garment was a gift from the king.
By wearing it, the guests showed their respect to the giver of the feast. But one man was clothed in his common citizen dress. He had refused to make the preparation required by the king.
So the robe of Christ's righteousness provided for him at great cost to the king was missing. He chose not to wear what the king had provided, free of charge. Thus he insulted his lord.
Matthew 22, verse twelve in the Bible says that the king inquired as follows, and he said unto him, friend, how came you in here not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. He could answer nothing. He knew he was guilty he was self condemned.
And then verse 13 states, then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. By the king's examination of the guests at the feast is represented a work of investigative judgement.
The guests invited to the gospel feasts are those who profess to serve God, those whose names are written in God's heavenly book of life. Yet Hebrews nine, verse 27 makes it very clear, and it as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement this is a wake up call to those who teach that when we die we all go straight to heaven. That is not correct, for the rewards and or the punishments have not yet been determined by God.
Christians are to be judged to see if they have taken into their lives the character of Christ. This is because not all who profess to be christians are true disciples, and those that are not true disciples can have their names taken out of God's book of life. As revelation three, verse five in the holy Bible states, he that overcomes the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and his angels.
As I read that Bible verse, it became very clear to me that names can be taken out of God's book of life. So a decision that we can all make today is this one. Let us choose today not to presume on the mercy of God, but to have respect for his requirements, and then he can bless us all, as God says in revelation 318, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich and white raiment, that you may be clothed before Adam and Eve sinned, they were clothed with a white light, which disappeared the moment they sinned by disobeying God's instructions, and that is when they discovered they were naked.
So the righteousness that will make us fit for heaven is supplied by Christ to us. And this righteousness has an interesting feature. Christ object lessons, page 311.
This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human devising. Christ, in his humanity brought out a perfect character, and this character he offers to impart to us. This means that God has gone to great lengths to try and save us.
The Bible says in Isaiah 64, verse six, the following, for we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags. Now, we don't want anybody getting despondent over this. Christ has provided the passport which is his shed innocent blood, and he has provided the visa, his robe of righteousness, so that we can indeed be saved for eternal life.
But if you follow the theory of cheap grace, you will never get the visa. So all of this he offers to give to us free of charge. This issue is extremely important because of what the Bible says in Hebrews twelve, verse 14.
Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. As I've already said, Christ has provided all that we need to be saved. Thus, if we cooperate with him, he will help us reach this goal.
The power comes from Jesus Christ, as Hebrews twelve, verse two, says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. So now you'll be able to see why Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Bible and the promised gift of prophecy are so important to our spiritual growth and destiny. But just in case some people are feeling a little nervous about this, let me reassure you.
The Bible may hurt you with the truth, but it will never comfort you with a lie. There is to be a decided difference in the actions of committed christians to the actions of secular people who make no profession of faith. But I received excellent advice from a lady back in 1971.
She said, bill, you may think everyone here in this church has angels wings. That would be a mistake. She went on to say, keep your eyes on Jesus and not on the people.
I took her counsel very seriously and have been very glad I did. Speaking of the way of salvation, Jesus said to his disciples in John 14, verse six, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes under the Father, but by me.
So the Bible is crystal clear that the only way we get to live forever and ever is to accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour from sin. And Romans three, verse 23, tells us that we have all sinned. And because Jesus Christ was also God concealed in a human body, we have every right to trust Christ's statement.
That is because Jesus is the only human who lived a sinless life and therefore could offer himself as a ransom for all of us. And the good news is, God the Father accepted that ransom. And so, by linking our lives with Jesus Christ, we will be making the wisest decision we can make, and we won't be able to plead on being ignorant of God's plans either.
As patriarchs and prophets page 55 says in the judgement, men will not be condemned because they conscientiously believed a lie, but because they did not believe the truth, because they neglected the opportunity of learning what is truth. And it will be God's ten commandment law that God uses in the judgement, the only part of the plan of salvation, where it is recorded that God wrote his law with his own finger. Now the Bible also teaches that sin is the transgression of this very law called God's ten Commandments.
Thus God's work of sanctification in the life of the repentant sinner, and which is the work of a lifetime, should lead us from being indifferent to God's law to a stage where we should be able to say in psalm 40, verse eight, I delight to do your will, o my God. Yes, your law is within my heart. This sermon is hopefully going to help us to see the need to delight in God's law, because if we get to heaven, that is the law we'll all be loving to obey.
There let us notice what Jesus said in John 15, verse ten. I have kept my father's commandments. If Jesus as a human could keep God's commandments perfectly, so can we, when empowered by the third member of the Godhead, the Holy spirit.
And here is a beautiful promise from Christ's object. Lessons, page 312. By his perfect obedience, he that is Christ has made it possible for every human being to obey God's commandments.
When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with his heart, the will is merged in his will, the mind becomes one with his mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to him. We live his life. Notice that it said, we live his life.
It didn't say, christ lives our life. So this is what it means to be clothed with the garment of his righteousness. The combination of Christ's innocent shed blood, which gives us the passport to heaven, and the robe of Christ's perfect righteousness.
The wedding garment gives us the visa for entering heaven. These two, the passport and the visa, ensures that we will receive eternal life if we accept both the passport and the visa. And in the judgement day work, God sorts out the wheat from the chaff, in other words, the true Christian from the false Christian.
And he uses the universal law of love, which we know as the Ten Commandments, as the standard of righteousness. You see, some will accept Jesus'blood and claim that Jesus is their saviour and that they are saved. Yet they refuse to accept Jesus as their lord by accepting Christ's robe of righteousness, the wedding garment.
Thus they dishonour the very God they claim to love. But there will be many successful christians, as we shall soon see. So why is the parable of the wedding garment so important? God's objective law, called the Ten Commandments of agape love, brings harmony throughout the universe.
Because apart from planet Earth, every other populated planet rejoices and obeys God's eternal law. Revelation twelve, verse twelve tells us about the rejoicing in the other populated parts of the universe. Read it with your own eyes.
Rejoice, ye heavens, and you that dwell in them. That is plural language folk. So there are other places in the universe that are populated, and it is God who tells us that.
But then the same verse goes on to say, woe to the inhabitants of Earth, for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. That explains why we have trouble and sin and all manner of evil on this planet. Because Lucifer, who'd turned himself into a devil, had been kicked out of heaven for trying to replace God's law of love.
That explains why we have sin on planet earth, but nowhere else in the universe. And the point of difference is, as I just mentioned, the law of agape love is kept everywhere in the universe except planet Earth, which is why we have woe on earth. So what is agape love? Agape love is an unconditional love.
But that unconditional love is not to be construed as unconditional approval. So the law of unconditional agape love puts God first, others second, and ourselves last. You're going to see how this applies when we read God's holy ten commandments.
On the left, we have four commandments that relate to our relationship with God says, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
And remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And of course, that's Friday sunset. Friday to sunset, Saturday.
But how do we show our love for our fellow humans? It's the right hand table containing six commandments. Honour thy father and mother. Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not be a false witness.
Thou shalt not covet. Perhaps we can now see why society needs God's objective law, because it is the only way that we can know objectively what God defines as right and wrong. Notice also that Sunday is not a part of God's law of love, but sunset Friday to sunset Saturday is at the heart of God's law.
And obeying God's law is the way to experience true happiness. Therefore, those who desire to love and obey God's law of love will have on the wedding garment and thus have the required visa to enter paradise. But Lucifer, alias Satan, reversed God's law of agape love from God first, others second and self last, to the other way around.
Satan first, self second, others last. That is the opposite of agape love. And tragically, this is now what the world is following.
That means that those who continue to ignore God's law of love, that already governs the universe, except planet earth, will not have the required visa to enter the third heaven. So with your eternal destiny at stake, who do you choose to serve? Those who choose to follow God's law have a sense of security and a stable moral compass, and it brings an inner peace that money cannot buy. Christ's righteousness imparted to the saints enables the saints to willingly render obedience to God's law.
And that makes them loyalists, not legalists. Therefore, they are safe to be allowed to live with holy beings in God's paradise. This is one reason why the subject of the wedding garment is so important.
But there is a second reason why this is important. The group who get the victory are mentioned in the Bible, and they are called the 144,000 triumphant saints. These christian people appear just before the second coming of the true Jesus Christ, and they receive a special reward from God himself, as recorded in revelation 14, verse four.
These are the ones who follow the lamb. That's the symbol of Jesus wherever he goes. A marvellous promise.
God gives them this privileged reward because it was the 144,000 overcomers who, despite extreme pressure from the world's political and religious leaders, will prove to the unfolen angels in heaven that their former commander, Lucifer, was wrong in introducing a new and subjective law. For now they can see that Lucifer's ideas lead to anarchy and that God's government, based on this universal law of agape love, is the superior law. Those who love and obey God and his superior law are the ones who are found wearing the wedding garment.
And Jesus plans to reward not just the 144,000, but all of his faithful saints. As it says in Matthew 25, verse 21, his lord said unto him, well done, you good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things I will make you ruler over many things.
Enter into the joy of your lord. My opening comments mention that we have received an invitation to the wedding banquet. Jesus himself has promised to serve the saved saints with their first meal with him.
But before that, we'll have had a thrilling journey through space to the third heaven. This journey will be absolutely fantastic. And because we are to be given rulership, when we get there, Jesus will place a most glorious crown on our head, symbolising our new roles as God's helpers in ruling our designated area for God, just as Adam was meant to do.
Then we're going to live in a perfect home. We'll have been given crowns and harps and victory palms. We'll also enjoy perfect health.
We will have eternal life, which means that there will be no more death or pain or suffering ever again. And travel and total happiness are to be ours if we do things God's way. Did you know that the subject of the wedding garment has everything to do with Christ's second coming from Christ? Object lessons, page 69.
I read, when the character of Christ is perfectly reproduced in his people, then he will come to claim them as his own. And it is the 144,000 that reveal the character of Christ. And it is when the final last day christians have the character of Christ within them that then enables Christ to return.
What a day that will be. So having on the robe of Christ's righteousness enables Christ to return. That is why this subject of the parable of the wedding garment is so important to understand, and it is the second reason why I chose to share this message with us today.
Christ is waiting for us to reflect his character so that he can come back as the groom and get his bride. And when he comes back, I have a question for you. Can we take our laptop computers with us? No.
So what is the only thing we can take back to heaven? An inspired Bible commentator tells us in a book called Maranatha, page two, two, three. A character formed according to the divine likeness is the only treasure that we can take from this world to the next. So if a character formed according to the divine likeness is the only thing that we can take with us to heaven, what then is character? We will start to answer this question by revealing what character is not.
Firstly, our nature is not our character. We are born with a human nature that has a propensity to sin, but we are not born with a character. Character is something that is developed during our lifetime after we are born.
Mental ability and genius are not character, for these are often possessed by those who have the very opposite of a good character. Reputation is not character. Well, what then is character? True character is a quality of the soul revealing itself in the conduct.
So how then is a good character formed? Guard our senses. They influence our thoughts. Consider our thoughts carefully.
They influence our words. Consider our words carefully. They influence our actions.
Consider our habits very carefully. They determine our character. And it is our character that determines our destiny beyond the grave.
And you have the deciding vote as to what you receive. Heaven or hell? Fire. I repeat, value and protect a good character.
It will increase our influence on earth today and prepare us to receive the all important visa for paradise. Always remember that God kicked the rebellious angels out of heaven. He is not going to let unrighteous, disobedient and rebellious humans into heaven.
Therefore, we can be 100% successful when we allow God to write his law on our hearts. And giving God that permission each day will empower you and make you successful. That's how you can be successful.
My final comment answers the question, what is the connection between Christ's robe of righteousness, the ten Commandments and obedience? We will find the answer in psalm 119, verse 172. My tongue shall speak of your word, for all your commandments are righteousness. So Jesus's righteousness was found in the fact that he, as a human possessed of the Holy Spirit from his birth, obeyed all of God's ten commandments of agape love.
And when we have received the Holy Spirit in our lives, we too will reflect Christ's righteousness for our desires and life will change. And that is my prayer for us all today. May God bless us all and our loved ones today and forevermore.
Amen.
