Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, go therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ teachings through australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Pastor Warren Strawbridge.
Whenever I preach this sermon, I get a migraine. I don't know if any of you have ever had a migraine, but if you've had a migraine, you know what it's like. I preached the sermon in Levin with a migraine.
It was very difficult. So I believe that there's something that the enemy doesn't want you to hear about in this message that I'm going to give you today. And I guess you'll find out what the message is very soon.
It's the wedding garment. You may be familiar. Most adventists are familiar with the story of the wedding garment.
The message of the wedding garment is found in Matthew 22, one to 14. However, the first seven verses. And you probably will want to go there because I'm going to read it from the Bible.
The first 14 verses, but not just at the moment, but I will very soon. The first seven verses only apply to God's people in the Old Testament, but verse 18 to 14 applies to us today and so we're going to primarily concentrate on that. So the wedding garment, what's it all about? It's really about the marriage between the bride, which is Christ.
Sorry, between the groom, which is Christ, and us, which is the bride. We are the bride. So it's about the connection of humanity and divinity.
And I think one of the things that I learned through this story and through having preached the sermon was realised how important it is that humanity and divinity are connected. You know, Jesus was the perfect picture of that. You know, he was.
Not only was he man, but he was also God. At the same time, we are human, obviously, and it's only as we connected to divinity, as we're connected to God, that we are able to put on the wedding garment. If we're not connected to divinity, then we are just human.
And unfortunately, we will not find a place in God's kingdom unless we're connected to God. And that's really sad because, you know, in the adventist church we focus so much on prophecy, we focus so much on end time events, second coming. And we should do.
Absolutely, we should do that. But many times we don't focus on the gospel. We leave that up to our brothers and sisters in the Sunday churches to focus on the gospel.
While we tend to focus on other aspects, but understanding the gospel is the most important thing that we have as a Christian, whether we are a 7th day Adventist or whether we go to church on Sunday, the most important thing is that we understand the gospel and the acceptance of the gospel in our life. And so we have a picture here in the slide of Jesus putting the wedding garment on somebody, on this man in the picture. So today we're going to look about how this actually happens.
So what is the gospel? Martin Luther said that the gospel was through faith alone and grace alone through Christ alone. Pretty simple, isn't it? Faith through God's grace, through Christ. That's the gospel as Martin Luther saw it.
And I would have to agree with him that the gospel is simple, but it doesn't. Us as humans, we struggle. We struggle with the practicalities of the gospel.
In theory, we understand the gospel. I'm sure everybody here understands the gospel in theory. But do we live the gospel in our lives? And that, I believe, is the challenge.
So as we look at this parable, we see that God's people in the Old Testament were not worthy. Why? They murdered the prophets. You could almost take most of the prophets, and they were murdered by the jewish people.
And finally, they went one step further than murdering the prophets. They murdered God's own son. And so then, after the stoning of Stephen, God threw the gospel open to everybody.
You didn't need to be a jew to accept and be saved by God. You could be saved no matter what race you were. Now, it is true that before the cross, that if you were a gentile, you could still, if you were baptised and decided to become a jew, you could still then be saved.
But the jewish people, up until that time, they didn't need to be baptised. You know, in the story of the winning garment, we see that the king comes in to inspect those that are in the wedding feast, and he finds that there is a man without a garment, without the wedding garment that's been supplied. Everyone else is wearing the wedding garment, as we see here.
Jesus putting the wedding garment on. Everyone else is wearing this garment, except one man. You know, the king gives this man an opportunity to defend himself.
Why he's not wearing the wedding garment, but he says, not a word. And so Jesus, sorry, the king, asks him to be removed. But in reality, as we read the spirit of prophecy, she says that most people today are not wearing the wedding garment.
She uses the word. She doesn't say most, she uses the word many. But many means most.
So the question is, have I got the wedding garment on? And the question is, do you have the wedding garment on? You see, what would be the point in going to church every weekend believing in God if you're not wearing the wedding garment? The wedding garment is talking about making a full surrender to God. And so we need to ask ourselves, am I wearing the wedding garment? Because the wedding garment is the pure, spotless character of Christ that I must put on to be able to go to heaven. There's not one of us that are spotless in of our own ability, but humanity connected with divinity.
Through the Holy Spirit, we can put on the character of Christ the wedding garment. Some of us may have put it on at the start of our journey when we got baptised, but at some stage during our journey, we have removed it, not to continue to put it on. And so I don't know what condition spiritually you are in, but I want to challenge you today that if you are not wearing the wedding garment, that you put it on, because.
And this is not. This is not in my sermon notes, but I feel impressed to say this. Jesus is coming soon.
And I know this church has been preaching that for a long time, but when we see the things that are happening in the world that we're living in today, it's time to stop playing church. It's time to stop playing with God. It's time to get serious with God and say, it's now or never.
You know, Ellen White says that for those people that put off forming a relationship with Jesus until persecution, it will become almost impossible. She doesn't say impossible, but she said almost impossible to do this when persecution comes. So I would encourage you to put on the wedding garment.
And so, before I go any further, let's just pause and pray. Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for your son Jesus Christ. We thank you for the beautiful gospel that Jesus is at the centre of.
Father, we thank you that you can save into your holy kingdom sinners, as we surrender our lives to your son Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, I just pray that you would open the hearts and minds of each one of us today. I pray that you would speak through me.
But I pray that the words that I speak will be heard and understood by your people and your church on your holy day. I pray for. I ask this in Jesus name.
Amen. So I would encourage you, if you've got a bible, to open it to. Matthew, chapter 22, all the other verses I'm going to put up on the screen, but this one here it's always a good opportunity to get people to open their bibles and to read something from the word of God.
So I'm going to read Matthew 22 114, and I'm reading from the new King James version. 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 were invited, see, I have prepared my dinner.
My oxen and fatted cattle I killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding. But they made light of it and went their ways.
And one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his servants, 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. Then 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 those 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 servant, bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into the out of darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen by the marriage is represented the union of humanity and divinity. The wedding garment represents the character which all must possess who would be accounted fit for guests for the wedding.
Does anyone know where this wedding or this marriage feast is going to take place? It's in heaven, isn't it? That's where it's taking place. The marriage feast is going to take place in heaven, and only those that are wearing the wedding garment will be able to go to the marriage feast. So, as in this parable, as in the great supper, is the Gospel invitation.
It's open to all of us. It was rejected by the Jews and then given to the Gentiles. I mean, a jew can still be saved, but the jewish people are no longer God's chosen people.
We are all, through Christ, part of God's people. It says in many places in the New Testament, you know, in this parable, it shows that there is only one way to be saved. So what's the biggest challenge for most people? Why they don't put the wedding garment on.
You know, I believe there's two reasons. One is because they are caught up in works. They're trying to work their way to heaven.
And the other people are just not prepared to make a full surrender to God, because we see that Martin Luther said, and I agree with him, that the gospel is through faith alone, in grace alone, through Christ alone. And I wanted to just to. And by the way, I'm using Martin Luther here today.
And Martin Luther had a number of little misunderstandings that he had about the Bible. But the one reason I'm using Martin Luther is because he understood the gospel very, very well. In fact, he wrote a 95 thesis about what was wrong with what the church was teaching at the time.
And so I just have a number of quotes from Martin Luther that I'm going to use today. This is what Martin Luther said about the gospel. The gospel, then, is nothing but the preaching about Christ.
I want you to get that. If you had to say what the gospel is in one word, the gospel is Christ. That is what the gospel is.
I mean, okay, it's more to it than that. But if you wanted to say what the gospel is in one word, it is Christ. And that's what he's saying here, that Jesus was the son of God, he was the son of David, he was God and man, who by his death and resurrection, has overcome all men's sins and death and hell for us who believe in him.
One of the things that he said was this quote here, and I love it. Every week. Every week I preach justification by faith to my people, because every week they forget it.
You see, we live in a world where to get ahead in life, you have to do something. So if you want to get ahead in life, you need to get a job, you need to earn money, you save your money, you buy a house, you get a business, you do lots of different things in life. If you want to get ahead, you have to do something.
So we live in a world where doing something is very important. Except when it comes to the gospel, you can do nothing to earn the gospel. You just must accept it as a free gift and put it on and by faith.
And that's why Martin Luther said he preached every week on justification by faith, because every week people forget it. Another quote of Martin Luther said, to mix law and the gospel not only clouds the knowledge of grace, it cuts out Christ altogether. You might think he's gone one step too far in saying that.
Alan White says that the law and the gospel should be lifted equally together. But the problem with the law is that it does away with our need of Christ. And I love this one.
I just love this quote. I must listen to the gospel. It tells me not what I must do, but what Jesus Christ, the son of God, has done for me.
You see, in all other religions of the world, except Christianity, you have to do something. But in Christianity, and if you fully understand the gospel, you're accepting a gift from God. God has already done the work for us.
All we need to do is, by faith, accept the gospel that has been offered to us. But our world teaches us that we must do something. For those people that don't do anything, quite often they're considered by the world to be lazy.
They considered by the world to be useless. But when it comes to the gospel, we can do nothing to earn the gospel but to accept it. We are like the beggar, laying in the gutter with their hands out, saying, lord, I want to accept what you are offering me.
See, it does away with pride because there is nothing we can do to earn it. And the old man does not like that. The old man wants some credit.
The old sinful nature wants some credit. We can take no credit. This is probably his strongest.
And why I like this particular quote is because he's quoting from a book that converted John and Charles Wesley. Both of these men were converted after many, many years of running a church, very successfully, I might add. But they weren't converted.
And in that book, the commentary on the epistle to the Galatians, Martin Luther said, those who lapse from the gospel to the law are no better off than those who lapse from grace into idolatry. Can anyone be saved in idolatry? Absolutely not. We can only be saved by faith through grace in Christ.
You know, one corinthians. It's one of my favourite verses, probably most of the ones today, I'm using one of my favourite verses in the Bible. It says, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
That's where the power comes in the christian life. It comes through the message of the cross, which is the gospel. That's where the power of God is centred.
Well, you might ask, well, what's the purpose for the law, then? Romans 320 probably is the most clear single Bible verse that says what the purpose of the law is. It says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.
The law is to show us what sin is, that when we break the law, we are committing sin. The law can save nobody. I will go a little bit further.
The law is a picture of God's character. It's holy, just, and good. The Bible says.
And so I'm not trying to bring down the law of God. The law is important, but the law is not there to save us. The law is there to show us what sin is and to show us God's holy character.
So usually in a church, there are three groups. There are those who are legalists or perfectionists. Then there's the group of people who are not quite prepared to surrender, although they understand what they need to do, but they're not ready to make that full commitment.
And then the group that have accepted the gospel, and they are living it in their lives each and every day. How can I know if I'm a legalist as opposed to having accepted the gospel? Well, if you're a legalist, the focus will not be on Jesus. The focus will be on yourself.
And that's what happens when people are caught up in legalism. It's all about me, and it's all about, it's all about what I'm doing. It's about me.
But you see, when a person has accepted the gospel and walking, it's not about them. It's about Christ. So the focus is out, away from themselves.
But when we're legalists, the focus is on self. And, you know, there are people that are reluctant to make a full surrender because it is a big commitment to commit everything in your life to Jesus Christ. I mean, every aspect of your life, to commit that and be fully surrendered, that is a big commitment.
But for those that have done that and made that decision, the peace and the joy that comes with making that decision, it is the greatest decision that anybody can make. And how can I be so sure about that? Because I know what my life was like before I made that decision. I may have had everything I wanted in life, but I had no peace.
I had no joy. I was anxious, always worried. But when I surrendered my life to Jesus fully, I had a peace that passes understanding.
I had a joy that no matter what was happening around me, that I could live with some pretty horrible things. And so the third group is, those who were born again are fully surrendered and are walking in the spirit. So my question is, which group do you fall into.
Obviously, I don't want you to announce that to anybody at this point, but I would like you to think about which group am I in. Because like I said at the start, time for playing games with God is finished. It's time to get serious while we still have time.
So I've got some quotes here from spirit of prophecy. I better go the right way. And these are all from Christ object lessons.
Now, I don't know if you like homework here in Masterton, but I'd like to give you some homework in the book, Christ object lessons. I would encourage you, if you're not doing anything this afternoon, go to this chapter, the wedding garment, and read it, because it's very convicting about how important this subject is. Okay, so let's just read this.
But when sin entered, they, and they, being Adam and Eve, severed their connection with God. And the light that had encircled them departed naked and ashamed, they tried to supply the place of heavenly garments by sewing together fig leaves for a covering. This is what the transgressors of God's law have done.
Ever since the day of Adam and Eve's disobedience. They have sewed together fig leaves to cover their nakedness. Called by transgression, they have worn the garments of their own devising.
By works of their own, they have tried to cover their sins and make themselves acceptable with God. But this they can never do. Nothing can man devise to supply the place of his lost robe of innocence.
No fig leaf garment, no worldly citizen dress can be worn by those who sit down with Christ and the angels at the marriage supper of the lamb. That's very convicting, isn't it? Nothing we can do can make us worthy. And yet that's the natural thing for the human person to do, is to do something.
She goes on and says, the only covering which Christ himself has provided can be made, can make us meet to appear in God's presence. Read that again. Only the covering which Christ himself has provided the gospel is what she is referring to, can make us meet to appear in God's presence.
This covering, the robe of his own righteousness, Christ will put on every repenting. Believing, I counsel thee, he says, to buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human devising, not one thread.
Nothing that we can do can save us. Christ, in his humanity, wrought out a perfect character. And this character he offers to impart, to us, you know, we talk about this as christians, that Jesus lived a perfect life.
Now he wants to give that to you. He wants to give you that perfect life that he lived. And as you surrender your life to Jesus, you will be given the wedding garment.
But it's not just, I do it today and then, oh, I get to church next week and I think, oh, yeah, I haven't spent any time with the Lord or I haven't asked him into my life. He's doing it today, tomorrow, the next day and the next day and to continue to keep doing it. Many people, when they get baptised, they are fully committed.
They have made a decision to fully commit their lives to Jesus. But then this day after day of surrendering becomes a little bit challenging for them. And so they get to a point where they no longer continue to do that.
Before we can put on the heavenly garment, we must first remove our worldly dress. This is another one of my favourite. Okay.
No, sorry, we've got another. We've got another two. The man who came into the feast without wearing a garment represents the condition of many in our world today.
They profess to be christians. They lay claim to the blessings and privileges of the gospel, yet they feel no need of a transformation of character. They have never felt true repentance for sin.
They do not realise their need of Christ or exercise faith in him. They have not overcome their hereditary or cultivated tendencies to wrongdoing, yet they think that they are good enough in themselves and they rest on their own merits instead of trusting in Christ. Hearers of the word, they come to the banquet, but they have not put on the robe of Christ's righteousness.
And the last quote from Christ object lessons in this particular part says many who call themselves christians are mere human moralists, while Maurice Venden calls them behaviourists. They focus on their behaviour and it's like a yo yo. The day that everything goes smoothly and sweet, you feel like you're a good Christian.
When everything's going wrong, it's different. So the question is, am I a human moralist or a behaviourist, or am I a real Christian? Where I've accepted the gospel, they have refused the gift which alone could enable them to honour Christ by representing him to the world. The work of the Holy Spirit is to them a strange work.
They are not doers of the word. The heavenly principles that distinguish those who are one with Christ from those who are one with the world have become almost indistinguishable. The professed followers of Christ are no longer separate and peculiar people.
The line of demarcation is indistinct. The people are subordinating themselves to the world, to its practises, to its customs, its selfishness. The church has gone over to the world in transgression of the law when the world should have come over to the church in obedience to the law daily.
The church has been converted to the world. She wrote this well over 100 years ago. So how much worse is it today? You know this next verse is one of my favourite.
If it's not the favourite, for God wanted them to know that the riches of the glory of Christ are for you gentiles too. Praise the Lord. Not just for the jewish people but for us gentiles too.
And this is the secret. Do you like secrets? The secret is Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
In some ways I prefer it in the King James. But this one here makes it a little bit more simple to understand. And this is the secret.
Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. So if we want to share in Christ's glory we need him to live in us.
I want to share a bible verse now that outside John 316 I think is probably one of the best bible verses about the gospel. It probably gives you more information than John 316 because in John 316 it says that God loves the world so much that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But this bible verse tells me what my part is.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and this life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
So to be successful in the world I must trust in myself. But when it comes to the christian life I want to be successful. I don't trust in myself at all.
I trust in Jesus Christ. That's who I trust in. You know if we trust in ourselves and we think about the disciples, there were twelve.
Only one of the disciples didn't put his faith and trust in Jesus. You know, it was a long road. But one disciple refused to surrender his life to God.
I think we know which disciple that is the desire of ages says but Judas did not come to the point of surrendering himself fully to Christ. He I can't quite read what that word is. He did not give up his worldly ambition or his love of money.
While he accepted the position of a minister of Christ he did not bring himself under the divine moulding. He felt that he could retain his own judgement and opinions and has cultivated a disposition to criticise and accuse. I think it's pretty solemn when you think about that one disciple who didn't surrender his life to Jesus.
I'm not saying that the other disciples surrendered easily. They struggled with it as well. But Judas was unprepared to surrender his life, and we know what happened to him.
So whether you are under the law, you're a legalist, or whether you have yet to make a full surrender, the next step is the same. Firstly, we need to acknowledge our own condition. Then pray and ask God to live in us, to remove the sin that is in us.
Give us, and ask the Father to give us the Son to live in us, to surrender our lives to him. Christ object lessons, page 159 is very important when it comes to understanding surrender. No outward observances can take the place of simple faith and entire renunciation of self.
But no man can empty himself of self. We can only consent for Christ to accomplish the work. And, you know, that's where it becomes tricky, because even though I may have the desire to surrender, I don't actually have the ability to do that, but I must consent for God to do that work in me.
Then the language of the soul will be, Lord, take my heart, for I cannot give it. It is thy property. Keep it pure, for I cannot keep it for thee.
Save me in spite of myself. My weak, unchristlike self. Mould me, fashion me, raise me into a pure and holy atmosphere where the rich current of thy love can flow through my soul.
Is there anybody here that would like to pray that prayer? I certainly want to pray that prayer. I think one of the reasons that I find the gospel easy to accept is because I don't have. I'm not a strong person.
Some people are strong, some people can. I've got a friend that goes to church in Palmerston. That person is so strong, he can do everything himself.
I know I can't do anything myself. That's why I need God to do it for me. I remember one time my wife and I were having a disagreement about something, and I probably said something that was probably a little bit off, and she said to me, you're not good enough to be a pastor.
Nobody is good enough to be a pastor. We're all sinners. We need to realise that, that no one is good enough to get to heaven in their own self.
We're all sinners. But if we acknowledge that we're sinners, and ask God to help us because we can't do it. We might want to do it, but we just cannot do it ourselves.
We are not strong enough. You know, there's a saying, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That's true.
No one will get to heaven with good intentions. There needs to be the surrender. There needs to be this acknowledging that we can't do it, but asking God to do it in us.
But for many who profess to be his followers have an anxious, troubled heart. Because they are afraid to trust themselves with God. They do not make a complete surrender to him, for they shrink from the consequences that such a surrender may involve.
Unless they do make this surrender, they cannot find peace. They won't find eternal life either. You know, Satan says to us, if we put our full trust in God, that God will ask us to do things that we don't want to do, and that scares us.
And so sometimes we don't make that surrender. But, you know, it's like sports, people. If you start thinking about the next team you're going to play rather than the one you're playing, you're probably going to lose to the team you're playing.
You can't think that far down the road. You just say, lord, I want to surrender my life to you today. I forget about what's going to happen in the future.
Because, you see, when Jesus changes your heart, the things that he's asking you to do, you'll want to do anyway. No one will accidentally end up in heaven, just as no one ends up accidentally married. It's a conscious, fully intentional choice that we make to be a Christian.
Just coming into church does not make you a Christian. A Christian is someone who has accepted Jesus Christ. That's why it's called Christian, because we have Christ in us.
Otherwise, we are just. We would see ourselves as being a good person. But we know that Jesus said, there's nobody good.
You know, it's foolishness to trust in yourself. You know, there's a bible verse that says in Jeremiah 17 nine, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? That's why we have no right to judge anyone, because our heart is deceitfully wicked, too.
And if we are in Christ or Christ is in us, we won't want to judge people because we will be too busy loving them. You see, a legalist thinks that they have made it, and they're busy judging everyone else in the church. But a person that has accepted Christ fully wants to help those people that are struggling with whatever it might be, because this verse is so true.
The hardest is people above all things and desperately wicked and who can know it? You know, sometimes as a truck driver, I say and do things that I'm ashamed of. I know I work in a very rough business, but sometimes I end up thinking or saying things that I didn't think that I would ever be capable of. Because without Christ, we are basically desperately wicked.
And all it takes is a circumstance to happen until we find out. Oh, I thought I was better than that. You see, we might be able to fool other people, we may be able to fool ourselves, but we can't fool God.
So in love he tells us our true condition. So as we conclude today, the marriage feast is represented. The union of humanity and divinity.
We are human, and we need the Holy Spirit. Well, we need Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. If Christ is not in us, then we have no chance to make it to the wedding.
This shows us that there's only one way to be saved, and that's through Jesus Christ, through accepting the gospel. And as we said, the gospel is what it's faith alone. Through grace alone and Christ alone, we can never earn or merit salvation.
All we can do is cast ourselves at God's feet, and it saves through God's grace and mercy. Even surrender is not my work or your work. We can only consent for God to do the work in us.
You see, we just take one step at a time. We don't get ahead of ourselves. We invite the Lord into our life each, every morning and say, Lord, I consent for you to come and live in me today.
I want you to come and dwell in me. I had a little story I was going to tell, but we just basically run out of time, so I'll save that story for another time. But Jesus is calling us today.
Friends, his hands. I wrote my wife saying, I died for you, friend, I want to save you. I want to help you.
Let me come and dwell and live in your life. If you would like Jesus Christ to come and to dwell in your life today and forevermore, I would like you to demonstrate that by standing up. Let me pray for you before we finish.
Father in heaven, I want to thank you for each person that's at church today. Father, I don't know their life. I don't know what they're going through.
But you do. And no matter what they've done in the past, you still love them unconditionally. You love them.
Father, help us to love each other unconditionally. But my prayer for each person that has stood up today is, Lord, that we will all fully surrender our lives to you. That we will take that step each morning, that we will invite the Lord Jesus into our lives and into our hearts.
That by faith in him, through the grace that you have bestowed to us, that Jesus Christ will dwell in us the hope of glory. And I just pray that this will be a reality in each one of our lives today. For I ask and pray this in Jesus name.
This message was made available by the Masterton Seventh day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit mastertonsda.nz. It's been our pleasure bringing you this programme today here on 3ABN Australia radio.
