Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
In this podcast series, we dive deep into the parables, simple yet profound stories that reveal powerful spiritual truths about the kingdom of God. Each episode explores a different parable, breaking down its narrative and historical context, cultural significance, and how it continues to speak to our lives today.
Through thoughtful reflections, engaging discussions, and practical insights, we’ll uncover the hidden wisdom behind these ancient stories, showing how they challenge, inspire, and guide us in our faith and daily lives. Whether you're new to the Bible or a lifelong believer, this series will invite you to listen with fresh ears and discover the life-changing messages Jesus shared through these remarkable stories.
So tune in and find out how the parables can still shape your understanding of love, forgiveness, grace, and purpose in the modern world.
01:02
Hello everyone. Hi. to this episode talking on the parables of the kingdom. And I'm sat currently in the wonderful living room of the wonderful Malcolm Vissop, even more wonderful and glorious than his house. And it's great to be with you. Thank you for all of the work that you've put into this Malcolm and getting it ready. Very looking forward to the conversation. But for those that are listening that don't know about you.
01:32
or who you are or anything. Could you just give us a little bit about who Malcolm is? Well, half an hour if something like that. Well, I don't know. Where do you start? I've been at the community church since about, well, the early 1980s. That sounds a terribly long time ago, doesn't it? um And so, that's about me. My, yeah.
01:58
missionary background, my parents are missionaries. Do we go back that far? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where did they go? In Bolivia. Yes, up in the Andes I were when I were a lad. But my dad had a passion for scripture and I got it from him watching my dad working away in his studies sort of with all these concordances and things like, you know, the old sort of way of doing things where you had books on the shelves. And I thought I want to be like that.
02:29
And he used to go around all the churches everywhere in Spain after Bolivia. He was in Spain. The same thing. I thought want to be like that. m But when you actually come to start reading the scriptures just cold like that, just because you want to be like somebody else, it doesn't quite work, does it? Because it's dry. So I began uh sort of really, it didn't work. But I prayed. I can remember a specific time when I prayed, God.
02:59
I need to love your word. I've got to fall in love it. Please do something and and from that moment it was a specific moment and a specific prayer and God answers specifically from then um Man the scriptures really started coming alive to me um And yeah, yeah, so yeah pray pray and then God will make it live. Yeah, and he's faithful uh
03:26
So, no, it's things to me. It's that as well where I think I did a, I've done a little bit of work on the Tower of Babel. And one of the things that you see in the Tower of Babel is that in their ascent to heaven, they're trying to get revelation by themselves. Yeah. And so we, and you know, Paul is really big on this. We only receive revelation by the grace of God. Yes. And so prayer actually is the most
03:51
important thing because you can see like the technical expertise of what they're doing and all that kind of thing because they are like geniuses as they're writing but to actually see God in the scriptures it has to be given to you by God himself and so prayer is the key tool. yes which is Paul of course praying that to the Ephesians which I'm studying deeply at the moment of course that
04:18
that the Ephesians would have their eyes opened, that they would understand how much God loves them. And they would probably think, we know God loves us. But Paul say, no, I want you to really have your eyes open that you would really, really understand. uh So I'm sort of thinking, well, I want God to do that for me. I want him to sort of knock me out with it, you know? uh There's always more, isn't there? And of course, with Paul having been blind. Yes.
04:47
really means something to you. we're going to talk today about the parable of the wedding. Yes. Why did you decide that particular parable? Well, you said you were going to ask me that question and I've been desperately trying to think why because I can't remember now. They're all great, aren't they? I think to be quite honest, I think I picked it because I I haven't thought about this one in great detail before and so it was an interesting one to pick up. I think, well, what is it all about?
05:17
because it's not obviously straightforward in some aspects of it. So I was interested to pick it up and learn a bit. Excellent. So do you want to read it for us then? Yes, I will do. So we're in Matthew 22.
05:34
I happen to have it in the ESV version, is that the English standard version? So, not for any particular reason, it's just the one that happens to have come up on my iPad at this moment. Right, so the parable of the wedding feast, which is Matthew 22. And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king.
06:02
who gave a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast. But they would not come. And again he sent other servants saying, tell those who are invited, see I've prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready, come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm and another to his business. While the rest
06:32
seized his servants and treated them shamefully and killed them. The king was angry and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. And then he said to his servants, the wedding feast is ready but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.
06:58
And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. And then the king said to the attendants,
07:27
bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. Excellent. Excellent. So do you want to talk to us about the kind of immediate context of this? What's Jesus doing here? Why is he talking about this? He once talked to them about what the kingdom of heaven is like. There's another parable very similar, isn't there?
07:56
which is in Luke, where I think Jesus is actually at somebody's house. I think it was Simon, the Pharisee he was at. So it was a sort of banquet, they were talking about what the Kingdom of Heaven was like anyway. So he used a parable that's very similar to this. It may have been the same occasion to describe the Kingdom of Heaven, what it's like. And there are various other parables, think. The Kingdom of Heaven is like the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
08:26
Yeah So, yeah, that's his background. Excellent. So do you kind of want to walk us through some of the things that you spotted? Yeah, so It's an interesting one this because it's all about a wedding feast, but It doesn't actually mention the bride does it so what we're going to do is just have a look at who everybody is the actual word the wedding banquet is is the Greek word is gamos and
08:56
which is specifically about the feast. And it's not necessarily a wedding feast, although it usually was. It's sometimes used of a sort of an inauguration. So it's not necessarily wedding. One of the commentators I read uh goes back to the days when perhaps a new king would take his throne and he would
09:25
gather round a big feast and invite all the barons and whatever else around to see who was on his side or not. And it was that kind of inauguration of his new government, which is an interesting sort of aspect of it perhaps. There's an interesting side too, just to think of it, that Jesus was, they used to have a ceremony when a young man got to about 30,
09:52
when he would take over his father's business very typically and it would be a kind of feast, a banquet. This is your kind of inauguration into the family business when he was 30-ish. So it's interesting that Jesus kind of went through that, didn't he, when he was 30, as it were, taking over from his father in a way. Interesting sort of resonances there. So it could almost have been that this was in mind there, that kind of feast.
10:22
where the, because it doesn't actually say the word wedding in the Greek. oh So it could have been that kind of my son is beginning to take over the family business and this is the feast we're having for him. But we're not sure. So I think most translations take it as being the most common thing, which was a wedding banquet. So, so clearly it's the father is is laying on the banquet for his son, which we have to assume is Jesus Christ.
10:52
But there's no bride there, so we're not sure how we interpret that, but I don't think it's the church in this instance because that's the sort of different allegory, the church and the final banquet at the end of time when Christ marries the bride. So I think this is more that uh Christ is...
11:21
It's an inauguration, a marriage. It's the sort of binding together of him and his kingdom. That kind of thing. It's the taking on of his kingdom, which the originally invited guests are obviously the Jews. And they were therefore unwilling to attend this banquet that the father was laying on. This is my son in whom I'm well pleased.
11:49
This is his ministry, his messianic role, his kingdom, and the Jews were not interested in taking that on. And that makes the original servants being the sort of prophets who foretold it in the first place, and the disciples when they first were sent out by the Lord to bring the message, of course. the Jews didn't want to know, by and large.
12:20
I think it's interesting how Jesus uses everyday stories to explain deep and profound concepts of the kingdom and mysteries of the kingdom really. But for us, 2000 years later, we lose a lot. And so everyone's going like, oh, that's really interesting Jesus. And we're like, I don't understand what's going on. so it's interesting here where you've got
12:48
as I understand, you correct me if I'm wrong, with ancient weddings or even community covenantal meals like this, that there would be two invites. There would be like, Hey guys, let us know if you're going to come along to this. It's going to be roughly around this kind of time. And then there would be a second invitation saying it's ready. Come now. And if there's a rejection, particularly of the second one, it brings deep shame onto the person that's
13:18
that's given the invitation. And so that whole, you've had the prophets and now you've had Jesus with his disciples and you, the Pharisees, it's the immediate context, isn't it? Are rejecting the message of what the father is bringing. mean, can you imagine being the Pharisees feeling like, wait, are we talking about us? Yeah. And like in their hearts, there's already like,
13:46
plans, you you read straight off in verse 15, then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus. And so like, they're living it out. They're planning and plotting to kill the servants of the king. I mean, Jesus, he's quite funny, actually, I think, at the moment, because the disciples would have been like, this is so obvious, Jesus, what you're saying right now.
14:14
You do realize you've been quite offensive to them. Yes, you can see them going oh no, he's at it again. Either they're cringing or they're wanting to burst out and laugh. Yes, because they were probably round the table at this sort of uh invited guests and he's just straight in at them, isn't he? It was apparently a rabbinical tale this, similar to this, the wedding banquet was a standard sort of story that
14:43
the rabbis would tell, except it was to do mostly with the wedding garment. And the idea was that they had been, the guests had been told, get your garments ready. And then they didn't get them ready in time. It has a resonance with the oil lamps parable. So Jesus was picking up on that. So they were probably quite relaxed thinking, oh, it's this old story again. And then, oh, hang on, it's got a different spin on it here.
15:11
He's getting at us. And yeah, like you say, dear, we need to be bolder, don't we? Less, less worried about offending people. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I read a great little comment uh in a commentary, which is what you tend to find in commentaries. Just about the marriage feast, saying, look, this is the kingdom of God and
15:41
And here laid out before us is so much food. It's sort of milk for the new Christian. It's meat for the more mature. It's all the fruits of the spirit. It went on like that in very flowery language because it was quite an old commentary. But it really blessed me that the Father has just lavished this table for us, killed the fatted calf. Everything is laid on. It's a lavish thing.
16:11
You know, it's not scrimping on anything. ah And these guys said, oh, I don't think we're going to bother with that. It's terrible. um But it was a very serious thing. It's the king inviting you to this banquet. It's no wonder he had every right to be angry with them. It wasn't a trivial thing to turn down that invitation, was it? Yeah, it's not. Like, you look at our kind of modern day.
16:36
And if somebody invites you around for food and you're like, oh, I'm just a bit tired or I don't quite have the social batteries to be able to do it. But like in this context, it's so, it's covenantal, it's relationship, it's communal. There's far more of this. are together rather than individuals coming and having kind of, you're all depending on one another. And so actually to reject an invitation is to reject a covenantal love.
17:05
Yeah, we'd be like, oh, if you can come, then great. And if you can't, then don't worry about it. There's no room for that in this context because community is so much more intertwined. There's so much more power to that. And we've just quite frankly lost that in our society today. And so you're absolutely right. The rejection of the invite.
17:34
that they'd be like, what? like, we'd be like, they rejected free food. They rejected like, like, what shame is being put onto? Why would you even, how could you even conceive to reject an in-flight? Like, yes, what, what terrible thing has happened to cause a rift between these families? Yes. That's, that's what's going on. It's unfathomable that they could possibly reject it.
18:03
Verse four, says, he said, see, I prepared my dinner. That word dinner is like a lunchtime. Yeah, OK. OK. It's quite important for us because it's a different word from the marriage supper of the lamb, which is in Revelation, when it's just a different word. This is the wedding breakfast as well. OK. So I just listed down that.
18:32
the sort of three things that that cause people to not turn up to this banquet. And so and the first one is just that they kind of made light of it. They paid no attention and went off. And that's the first reason that you find for people just just sort of not turning up. They just paid no attention to it, which is astounding. Just ignored them.
19:01
And then one to his farm, his agriculture, his sort of his stuff and another to his business. Just the everyday stuff of life gets in the way sometimes, doesn't it? They're kind of interested perhaps in the gospel, but life just gets in the way for a lot of people. And, uh you know, I would if I had time, I'd get to church. It's quite easy. But, you know, I'm busy. Often it's family, isn't it? You know.
19:30
I, you know, I've got to take my grandkids to football, I can't do it on a Sunday, that kind of thing. You know, it's just the stuff of life. um And then you get the third category, which is the people that are really hostile. If you want to find them, you go on the internet and have a look at, you know, a little post about creationism or something. And, whoa, you see those. There are some hostile people out there. There are some who see these servants treating them shamefully.
20:00
and kill them, you get all three. It always makes me laugh at Sunday school when I was a kid. It was actually when we were just coming back from Bolivia, em New Zealand, em where some Sunday school speaker just talked about, he switched it around. Instead of I have bought me a cow, I have married a wife, it was I had married.
20:29
I a cow which I found hilarious and my parents thought was absolutely hilarious and I said, why are they thinking it's quite that funny? I think my parents were seeing layers of the joke in that as a kid I didn't see. I have married a wife. Right, anyway, uh those things though don't just apply sort of
20:59
For the gospel, do they? They can be a distraction for us in the kingdom from pressing on into God. The banquet's there. There's God's laid on so much for us to enjoy in his kingdom. But we can still get so distracted by the everyday life of business and family. Or we can just lose interest and just let it slip. Things that once caught our passion can just
21:28
become humdrum and we think, you know, I'm going to miss it for now. Uh, you know, just, just, too tired. Um, we can begin to slip, which is a tragedy because we miss out on the banquet that God still got prepared for us now. It's, it's quite telling as well that this is like the thing that God wants us to do is, is come to the feast. Yeah. Cause like we've talked about it already, but then
21:57
This is the beating heart of relationship. so like God's call is come into relationship with me. Just come and be with me. And you see like in scripture, don't you? Where when he calls up the elders of Israel up to the top of the mountain and he puts on a feast for them and they're so blown away. All they can do is describe the table that he stood on. And he's like, there's a blue table and then there's some feet on it. That's all that they can say. Or in Psalm 23, where it says about the feast that's been laid in the presence of my enemies.
22:27
time and time and time again, it's just all about covenant. It's all about relationship. And so like so many people can get caught up on the, I just need to go to church because that's, that's the activity that I do. No, no, no. I want you to come into relationship. And then from that place you end up doing stuff for the kingdom because it's got to come out of that. There's nothing that we can do worthy that makes us worthy of an invite. There was absolutely zilch. There's like,
22:57
But yet God comes and invites. It just blows my mind every time I think about it. But I just think it's incredible that that is what God's heart is doing. Just come, just come and eat with me. Just come and be in deep covenant. Come and breathe bread with me. Yeah. To ignore that or to call it, you know, what you, it's not like a, a competition between, oh, can I spend time with my kids? And it's a,
23:26
This is God, the creator of the universe, wanting not just to invite you, but your family into this relationship together. This isn't a kind of like, oh well, volunteering and doing stewarding and all that kind you know, it's far deeper and far more profound than that. As important as those things are. It's relationship with him. I'm thinking of the verse that says, where Jesus says, come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden.
23:54
And I will give you rest. And how often we just go around with our weariness and our heavy laden burdens. And he's just waiting for us to turn up at the banquet, tuck in and just have a good rest in his presence. Hallelujah. The king was angry and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and their city, which just just
24:24
It does emphasize what we were saying. This was really important stuff. at our peril, we forget that the wrath of God is coming on society. In the end, there is a judgment coming. There are some people who think that Matthew himself writing his gospel put this in. He was writing after the fall of Jerusalem. Oh, interesting. And that Matthew. uh
24:51
sort of put this into say, look, you see that the wrath of God came on you and he destroyed your city as a result of your rejection. That it might have been him interpolating a little bit of his sort of understanding of what the king did. I like the, even if not, it could be seen as a prophetic. Yes, certainly. I mean, Jesus undoubtedly.
25:19
prophesied it anyway. Yes. So, yeah, that's good. So where have I got to then? We're inviting the other guests. Yes, that's right. And so the other guests are invited, which, course, is the Gentiles. And and it is just extraordinary. We read Paul sort of saying, don't forget that you guys were hostile. You were
25:45
foreigners, were aliens, you were completely separate and God in his grace brought us in as you were saying, we didn't deserve this at all. We've been, Paul's very, it's urgent for him, it's important for him that we don't forget, you know, we came from nowhere being brought in and grafted into this amazing kingdom. Yeah, don't forget our roots, we were nowhere.
26:15
We were in darkness and God brought us in through his grace, which is extraordinary. We were the poor and crippled and blind and lame and the good and the bad. indeed. uh So hallelujah. So we got in on it. That's really important as well, because there is now there is is utterly no discrimination at all.
26:44
Everyone gets an invite. Yes, there is there is no thing that can prevent you from getting an invite. Yes, that's all It's the what do you choose to do? Yes invite. Yes, who so ever will may come. All right. I think that's it for that that first section then and then it goes on to This interesting little section at the end when the king came in to look at the guests and saw
27:11
there, a man who had no wedding garments. It was a common practice in those days, apparently, that the garments were supplied for the guests. Such a bizarre thing. is strange. like a wedding today, like, here's your shoes, and here's your shoes. It does sound strange. But then, for instance, if you can imagine perhaps, uh
27:40
been given a sort of cape or a caftan or something like that to go into somebody's tent. I actually saw it in a film the other day, a Japanese film where travelers had come to the palace or something, and they were just in their travelers clothes and uh they were given kimonos to put on, da da da da da, you know, I thought, that's that, you know, it's what you do. And apparently it was in Greek culture as well that after traveling, you know,
28:10
that they were, you can bathe here, you can cleanse yourselves and so on. And then here's some robes, you know. So it wasn't such a strange thing. Sounds strange to us. It does a bit. You can completely understand in that context. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is a bit. I mean, now, if, if, if Harry had gone on a long journey and came to stay at my house, I might give him a towel, but otherwise, you know, but, you can understand in a slightly different culture.
28:37
that you'd come without your suitcase, you just expect me to say, here's your robe, know, something to wear. guess the only kind of modern day equivalent I can think of now would be like if you went to a spa, maybe, and they give you slippers and they give you a robe and all that kind of thing. And that's what you have to wear going around the spa. Often you've got to pay for it. And of course here it's free to give him. Yeah. Okay. Interesting. Good. Yeah. Good. I found an
29:05
I just came across this I think in Zephaniah 1.7. Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 7. Be silent before the sovereign Lord for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice and he has consecrated those he has invited. On the day of the Lord's sacrifice I will punish the officials and the king's sons and all those clad in foreign clothes.
29:35
Interesting. that day I will punish all who avoid stepping on the threshold, who fill the temple of their gods with violence and deceit. That reference to the threshold is, you remember the god Dagon fell and as a result he didn't tread on the threshold. So it's, but it's just, this story. It's almost as if Jesus read the story and then thought there's a parable there. it is isn't it? You get it in, it's in Isaiah as well isn't it?
30:05
it out. is it 60? Yeah, 61. So this is the turn of Isaiah really when you get to Isaiah. Isaiah 40 turns through and then Isaiah 60 you've got the arise Jerusalem and all that kind of thing. And it's coming on the back of a bunch of pronouncements and curses that have been given to Jerusalem and you get all of this stuff. some things changed about Israel.
30:32
And in verse 10, we see what's changed and it's, am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord, my God, for he has dressed me oh with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. The sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him as righteous as we like a God. And so like the thing that's changed, the only thing that's changed is that God is
31:01
Provided garments. Yeah. And of course you see that coming through revelation. Yeah. That's great, isn't it? Yeah. In royal robes, I don't deserve. Yes. I live to serve your majesty. So how does that work with this particular bit then where? So I think that what we have here is a guy who sort of he's been going along to church. I suspect he's been sort of doing all the stuff.
31:32
But he's kind of never done the commitment kind of thing. I don't know whether it didn't click with him, but he's got in by a back door somehow, and he's not gone through the falling at the foot of the cross and putting on salvation. He's rejected the garments. Yes. He said, I'm going to. I like the fellowship.
31:57
because there are people like this aren't there that the club aspect of church is really important to them the friendships and that is an important part of church yeah the bit of singing and so on and the you know the good old talk on a sunday and and you know nice people and and it's really important that social aspect for some people but the bit about god's got to be lord of my monday mornings as well well that's
32:24
you know, I, but nobody knows what I do on a Monday morning. So it's nicely parked. It's out of the way. And so I look to everybody else like I'm a proper wedding guest, but, the Lord sees the heart and, and, the garment and, actually it's never clicked. And they, people like that must know that it hasn't clicked with them. Just like this guy. I like the word where it says friend. How did, how did you get in that friend?
32:53
If you look up Strong's concordance for that Greek word, one of the meanings of it is mate. I can just hear God say, oi mate! Friend, friend. It's gentle though, isn't it? Friend. I mean, it's even there. How did you get in there? It's almost offering an opportunity for us.
33:21
because it says the man had no reply and then God's judgment comes. So he's even given space for him to go, Lord, please dress me. Yeah, yeah. There's a little phrase, isn't there? They will have no excuse at the end. Yeah, very good. And so he's carried out because there can't be, you know, no matter how much love and friendship there is, there cannot be somebody in the kingdom.
33:50
who hasn't got the proper garments. It's a really clear division that you can't just depend on God's kindness and friendship. There has to be the clear I've got in because of these robes of righteousness. And so he's cast into the outer darkness. I'm always fascinated by the gnashing of teeth.
34:13
since since I was a kid, used to think what's this national teeth business? That's very strange to me. uh It still is. Have you got any great insight from the National of Teeth? It's obviously just an expression of deep frustration and anguish. But do you gnash your teeth, Harry? uh I can't admit to any National of Teeth. Yeah, it's that whole thing is referring to it's the she-all, isn't it? It's the valley that's done
34:43
the valley that's outside, was historically like the waste area. also there were sacrifices to Moloch that were done there. was the child sacrifice garden and all that kind of thing. And so there's undoubtedly references to that kind of stuff there. I will most certainly be going and doing some research on the gnashing of teeth. Maybe we could do a podcast on it. Yes.
35:10
For many are called, it says, but few are chosen, which is apparently a kind of the Roman army used to do a, right, everybody's called up. OK. But then only some were deemed fit for the actual army. So the rest would be sent home. Many are called, but few are chosen. um So I guess that's why that's in there.
35:39
um Interesting. Very interesting. So I've got five quick lessons. I think we've mentioned a couple of them anyway, but five takeaways from this then Harry. Yeah, hit me. The first, the first takeaway. It reminds us that the invitation of God is a joyous feast. And we have to remember that, uh you know, the kingdom is serious business, but
36:09
wow is it a joyous feast and and we need to be partaking of that every day and the kingdom of God is joy and so let's tuck in hey secondly it reminds us that these these guys who were invited in the first place you know the things that that they missed they missed out on God's best
36:36
Because a quite legitimate things they had businesses they had farms they had things to be doing. Yeah, they missed the best because they went for the second best. We've often got legitimate things. It's not that we're deep in sin or anything. But the second best can be a real enemy to to getting the best from God. We need to make a decision every day. If I'm going to get the highest from God, I've got to give my utmost I've got to I'm going to go for the
37:04
the total best and second best. You Revelation, don't you, with you have lost your first love. Yes. It's that kind of thing. That's it. Great. Thirdly, yeah, we've mentioned this. We didn't deserve any of this. Just to be constantly grateful. I am in this amazing kingdom with this amazing feast of God every day for me. And I don't deserve any of it. It's just...
37:32
Yeah, I so good.
37:40
The door is always open to us. This is the fourth one. Anybody can come. But we mustn't just come in and sit. know, there's stuff to be done. there is, there's garments to be put on and they're garments of righteousness. They had farms, they had things to be doing. They missed the best because they went for the second best. We've often got legitimate things. It's not.
38:10
that we're deep in sin or anything. But the second best can be a real enemy to getting the best from God. We need to make a decision every day. If I'm going to get the highest from God, I've got to give my utmost. I've got to, I'm going to go for the total best and not let second best. You Revelation, don't you, with you have lost your first love. Yes. It's that kind of thing. That's it. Great. Thirdly,
38:38
Yeah, we've mentioned this, we didn't deserve any of this. Just to be constantly grateful. I am in this amazing kingdom with this amazing feast of God every day for me, and I don't deserve any of it. It's just amazing.
39:02
The door is always open to us. This is the fourth one. Anybody can come. But we mustn't just come in and sit. There's stuff to be done. there's garments to be put on, and they're of righteousness. And more than that, there's a kingdom to be worked for.
39:31
You know, it doesn't mention it here, but we can't just sit back and tuck in and enjoy stuff. There's, there's, there's work to be done. There's, there's a race marked out for us and, uh, and tasks assigned for us. And we need to get cracking on the business of, doing God's work. There's that phrase isn't there of, um, I'm going to, I'm going to make a mess of it now, but, uh, but God loves you so much as you are.
39:59
But he loves you too much to leave you as you are. That's very good. Hallelujah. Right. And perhaps the third one is just presenting ourselves properly before the king. Right. So this garment was provided by but I guess they could have not bothered to put it on. But not that there's a sort of fashion parade.
40:29
for church and in the practical sort of way of things it doesn't matter what we wear, but it does matter spiritually how we present ourselves to the King and Not to just take it for granted and so so I think there's a bit of a lesson here when we come into this huge banquet as it were just to check Because I can have these robes on but you know, have I got a grubby face? It's sort of Just to make sure that I'm aware
40:59
When I come into his presence, that I've got clean hands and a pure heart, that I'm right, that I'm passionate, that I've got a right attitude, that I'm clothed with all those good things that I should be clothed with, em that I've, if you like, taken my dusty shoes off and left them outside, um that I'm coming into his presence with.
41:28
with the right heart is really important. Kingdom uniform almost, it? The whole, where you have the army coming and doing parade. It's not about, as you say, rightly, it's not a fashion parade or anything like that, but it's a group of people presenting themselves as ready and as appropriate for the task that's at hand. Yeah, I think that's really important. Okay, that's my five.
41:57
Malcolm, wonderful, wonderful. Thank you so much for all that you've done in there and for all of those little golden nuggets and big golden nuggets as well that you've dropped. Would you just pray for people? Yes. As we kind of close out here. Father God, we just thank you for your amazing grace. Yeah. Stuff that we never deserved that you've done for us and brought us into such an amazing kingdom. Yes. We thank you for your huge plan.
42:26
that is for the whole world, an amazing plan which you began right at the beginning of time. And amazingly Lord, you chose us before the foundation of the world. You picked us to be part of this plan right at the very beginning, before everything else. And you've chosen us and assigned us things to be doing for your kingdom now. And we pray that we'll be busy about that work by the power of your spirit in these days.
42:55
Father, I pray that you'll give us a hunger and a passion to go out and bring more people into this wedding banquet. That we'll be people hungry for your kingdom and useful in it for Jesus' sake. That they will be just packed out, Lord, because of our busyness in bringing people in. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Malcolm, and we'll see you again next time. Amen.