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The way that He spoke them two thousand years later, the words of Jesus Christ are still being read and spoken in this church tonight, dear God, and that's what I love about the Bible, that it's the Word of God, word for word, preserved in the King James Bible, and Father, I just pray that you would please just speak to our hearts tonight, and give us what we need from the message of so much, dear God, help us to prioritize and to get the most important truths for the hour, in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Matthew chapter 22, of course, begins with Jesus starting out with another parable. We're in a phase of the book of Matthew where there are several chapters in a row where Jesus is giving parables. Matthew chapter 20, 21, 22 is a lot of parables. Then in Matthew chapter 23 and 24, we're going to see two just phenomenal sermons by Jesus Christ, where He just preaches with such power, and boy, I love listening to the Bible on tape. I have the Bible on tape by Alexander Skirby, where he reads it, and Virginia knows what I'm talking about, and I think you guys both have it and listen to it, and boy, I love listening. I was just listening to the other day, Matthew 23 and 24 on the CD, and it was just so phenomenal, the way He read it with such power, He really did it justice. But this great preaching that we see from Jesus, but in Matthew 22, we see some parables and some discussion back and forth again with the Pharisees, and it's the same problem that the Pharisees always have. They don't know the Bible. That was their problem. It wasn't that they were too strict, as most people will try to teach you in the world, oh yeah, you go to that strict church, you have a bunch of Pharisees because they preach on sin. No, the Pharisees didn't know the Bible, and they were always trying to entangle Jesus in His talk, and He always answered them the same way. You don't know the Scriptures. Have you not read? What? You didn't read? What? Haven't you read in the law this? And that's the way He always answered them, and we've seen that every single week, very repetitive in the book of Matthew. And so know the Bible is the thing that we can see from that, and you won't find yourself at odds with Jesus on what you believe when you know the Bible, when you've read, is what the Bible says. I was talking to somebody today, I talked to a guy today, and he said, well, the Bible doesn't really talk much about reading the Bible. And I thought to myself, you know, he's probably right, because the Bible talks about more about hearing the Word of God and meditating on the Word of God. But then I thought, you know what, Jesus says about 20 times, haven't you read? Have you not read? So there's talking about maybe not a direct command to read the Bible, but Jesus rebuked people about 20 times in a row for not reading the Bible. So obviously it's a given that if He gives you a book, He expects you to read it. And so look at the first verse there, the Bible says, And Jesus answered and spake unto them, again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king which made a marriage for his son. Now of course in this parable that we're going to see, the king represents God the Father, and the son represents Jesus Christ. And so the Bible says in verse number 3, And sent forth his servants, that's us, to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come. 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 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 wroth. Wroth means angry, like you know the word wrath. Bible says, And the king was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find bidden to the marriage. Now let me explain to you, this parable has a few different meanings. The primary meaning that Jesus is trying to get across to them, the kingdom of heaven, he's talking about going to heaven when you die, is what he's describing here. Now he first is speaking to the Jews here, he's speaking to the Pharisees about a group of people that were invited to come to this great wedding. Now we know that that wedding is talking about at the end of the world when Jesus Christ returns, and the Bible says that we're all going to be caught up together with him. All the people that have died throughout all the years are going to be, that have been saved and born again, they're going to be resurrected from the dead. We're going to be caught up together to meet them in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, the Bible says. Now at that time when we're caught up together with him, there's going to be a great marriage, a great feast, if you will, where we're going to sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Bible calls it, and we're going to just enjoy a great time of fellowship and excitement and spending time with Jesus Christ. And the Bible calls that group that's there, the Church of the Firstborn. Now I'll tell you right now, I don't believe in this thing of the universal church. I believe in the local church that you're looking at right here. I don't believe in the invisible church, as people call it. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard of, the invisible church. Kind of a stupid word is that, and where in the world are you going to find that in the Bible? The Bible talks about the congregation in the Old Testament, and then he quotes that word, congregation, into the New Testament as church. Look at Hebrews 2.17, and then look at Psalm 66. He says, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee? You go back to that Old Testament where that was quoted. I'm sorry, I told you the wrong reference, it's in Psalm 22. Psalm 22, 22 is the reference. And then you look at Hebrews 2.17, you'll see that the word congregation, which is a people congregating together, is translated in the New Testament as church. And so the local church is what we're talking about. Now there is no universal church where every saved person is part of the church, because they're not assembled together, they're not congregated. Now one day will they be congregated? Yes. That's called the rapture. We're going to be caught up together with him in the air, then we'll be congregated with every believer who has ever lived and who is living at that time. Then we will be called, what the Bible calls in Hebrews 12, the church of the firstborn. It says the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. And so we're going to be in this great church assembly, and God calls that church the bride of Christ. That's what God calls that church that's assembled together at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And there's kind of a wedding that takes place where Jesus Christ is the groom there, and the church is the bride. Now people will talk about, and I'll tell you why they talk about this. They're trying to get us to yoke up with everybody who's saved. Every liberal Christian, everybody who's real loose on what they believe about the Bible, they want us all to just get together and hold hands and sing kumbaya, and put aside our differences and put aside our doctrine, and not be local churches. And they want to form a big network and a denomination where we're all tied together, and they don't want us to be independent Baptists, they don't want us to be local indigenous churches like God commanded. And so here's what they do. They say, well hey look, we're all part of the church. You know, they're talking about this big thing. And they say, we're all part of the bride of Christ. And they say, you know, we're all part of the bride, hey look, the bride of Christ does not exist. You say, what? Look, it doesn't exist. Think about it. Let's pretend that I were engaged, my wife and I are engaged. Okay, this is before we were married, this is before we had kids. My wife and I are engaged. Is she my bride? No, because we're not married yet. See, a woman becomes a bride on her wedding day. Here comes the bride. She's just the fiancé or whatever you want to call it. And so right now, there is no bride of Christ, because there is no church where every believer is assembled together. It doesn't exist. There are local churches like God ordained, like Jesus Christ died for, these local churches all over the world. One day we'll all be caught up and assembled together in heaven. Then there will be the church in heaven, the bride of Christ, and this great exciting time is going to come in heaven. This time that's been prepared, this great celebration, this party that God has prepared for us since the beginning of time, it's going to be a great time of rejoicing. I'm excited about it. And you ought to be excited about looking forward to the time that you get to see Jesus Christ face to face. Now, in the story, the primary application here, these people that were invited to come, I mean basically they're invited to be saved so that they can be a part of this great day. Well, those that were bidden, it's talking about the Jews, in the Old Testament. God had given them the opportunity to be saved, and he gave them the, he gave everybody the opportunity in the Old Testament. But he really had focused on this one nation, and he gave them the Bible, and he expected them to receive it, and then to be a light to the Gentiles was the goal. They were supposed to receive the Gospel, and then they were supposed to be a light to the Gentiles. But what happened? Well, it says they made light of it. In verse number five, they didn't see the value of it. They didn't see the importance of it. Then verse number six, it says the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them. That's the whole Old Testament where the Jews were constantly killing God's prophets that were sent to them. The Bible says from the blood of righteous Abel all the way to the blood of Zacharias the prophet. He said it's all been going to be required of this generation. And he was talking about all the men that they slew and the prophets that were sent to them that they killed and martyred in the name of God. Well, the king heard thereof. He was ruffed, he was angry, he sent forth his armies. He destroyed those murderers. Of course, we know the captivity is what happened there. That's where he went in and Jerusalem was burned, the temple was destroyed and so forth. And then it says, you know, they weren't worthy. And he says, what are we going to do? We've got this great wedding. Nobody's here. And he said, well, just go out into the highways and as many as you shall find bid to the wedding. And that's what they did. And they just went out. And so look, yes, there's a primary application saying, hey, the Jews rejected the gospel. Let's get it to the Gentiles. And that's the New Testament. But there's also just a spiritual application that we can apply to us right now, of course. And so here we're talking about people that are invited to salvation. People where servants of God, like me, like you, God's servants are going out inviting people or ought to be to this great wedding. What are we doing? I mean, we're going out soul winning. Like we were just talking about soul winning. We're going out knocking on a door, inviting someone to receive Jesus Christ as their savior, to receive him just as a bride receives a groom in marriage, just as a groom receives a bride. That's what we're talking about with salvation. We're talking about somebody receiving Christ by believing on Jesus Christ. And so that's our job. Soul winning, we're inviting people to come, not inviting people necessarily just to come to church, but inviting people to come to the marriage feast, inviting people to come to the wedding, inviting people to come to salvation. Now look at Romans chapter seven quickly, and I'll show you this. I don't want to spend too much time on this because there's so much in the chapter, but look at Romans seven and verse number four. The Bible reads in Romans seven, four, it's just a few books in the Bible later. Romans seven, four, wherefore, my brethren, ye also, he's talking to people that are saved, brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. He says, when you get saved, it's like you're being married to Jesus Christ so that you can bring forth fruit to God. Now let me ask something. What do you think the fruit of marriage is? If I get married and we have, and there's fruit there, obviously that's talking about our physical children. Obviously that's talking about bringing forth fruit, multiplying ourselves here, and having children. So God's saying the purpose of you being married to Christ in salvation is so that you can bring forth fruit unto God. The whole point there is so that you can have spiritual children. Think about what Paul said, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. See, he said, when I want Onesimus to Christ, it's like I gave birth to a child in the prison cell, because I've brought forth fruit in my own likeness after my own kind. See, God himself pictures the father there, and so he brings forth a son of God when somebody gets saved. And then I myself, I'm a Christian, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, so I bring forth other believers in Jesus Christ. That's the whole point. Why am I saved? You're saved to get other people saved. That's the reason why you're saved. Otherwise, the moment you get saved, God should just take you to heaven. Why would he leave you on earth? Earth's a miserable place, let's face it. He would just grab you and say, hey, you're saved? Great! Come on up to see me right now, come to heaven. But he's not going to do that. Because he says, no, I had a reason for saving you so that you could bring forth fruit unto God. He said, that's the reason I saved you, because I don't want just you to be saved, but I want you to also produce other fruit. I want you to reproduce yourself in other people. He says, that's my purpose. So if you would flip back to Matthew 22, I just want you to understand that. So here's the command to the servants. Now we're God's servants. I hope you claim to be a servant of God. I hope you want to be a servant of God. You want to serve God? Well, you say, well, I want to serve God. What does he want me to do? Because the servant is obeying their master, they're doing his bidding. Well, look what he tells you to do. Look at this. It says in verse number 9, go ye therefore into the highways and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage. He's saying, go out and just find anybody you can and invite them to be saved. And then look at verse number 10, so those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, I love this phrase, both bad and good. You see that? You see, it's not some kind of a thing where you go to heaven by how good you are. Because the Bible says here that these people were brought to salvation and they were brought to all the way to the marriage. I mean, they arrived at the marriage and some of them were bad and some of them were good. I'll tell you something, there are going to be some bad people who go to heaven. Did you know that? There are going to be some bad people who get to that marriage and you say, well, that's not fair. I don't want to be here with a bunch of bad people. Hey, look, that's because you're so prideful that you think you're so much better than the bad people. You might be one of the bad people. And so God says, look, both bad and good will be there because it's not about bad or good. It's about whether you believe on Jesus Christ, about whether you have faith. And so yes, there will be bad people that get to heaven, but the moment that they get to heaven, see, because they were created a new creature, if you were here on Sunday morning, the moment they got saved, there was the new man was born in them. The Bible calls it the inward man. He says it's a new creature in Christ, which is created in righteousness and holiness as we saw on Sunday morning. Well, the moment that they drop this flesh, this sinful body that we live in, they'll never sin again once they get to heaven. And so the bad will become in the image of Jesus Christ when they get to heaven. And so no, you don't have to worry about being around a bunch of wicked, ungodly people in heaven, but wicked, ungodly people are going to get there by the grace of God. Praise the Lord. And so God said, look, I tried to go to the good, I tried to go to the best people I could. I tried to go to the religious crowd, the Jews, the people who knew the Bible, I tried and they wouldn't come. And so God said, I'm just willing to open it up to anybody because I want this wedding to be furnished with guests. And so he says, I'll open it up to bad people, I'll open it up to good people. He says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Isn't that great? He says, I'll invite anybody. So when you go out, just invite everybody because anybody is welcome to be saved, God says. But you run into a lot of people and they say, I just don't think a loving God would send anybody to hell. Have you ever heard people say that? I just don't think a loving God would do that. And I just had somebody tell me that last week when I was on a soul wedding. And they said, you know what, that's just not a loving God that would send people to hell. And I was thinking about this chapter, thinking about the Bible study, and I was just thinking about this whole concept. And I was thinking to myself, look, look at the reaction of this king, okay. He says in verse number four, tell them what you're bidding. Behold I prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready, come unto the marriage. Here's a man who's worked hard to provide this great meal. Here's a man who's spent a lot of money, he's spent a lot of time, he's spent a lot of effort. Not only that, but there was a death of animals that had to take place. He says, my oxen and my fatlings are killed. He says, I took my animals and I killed them so that this wedding could be possible. He says, would you please come to what I've prepared for you? And they just laughed at it, they mocked it, they made light of it. And look what else. Number one, they didn't take it seriously, they're making light of it. And number two, look what they go to. It says, and they went their ways, one to his farm and the other to his merchandise. See it is living for money. You know, I'm just going to go do my own thing, go make money, go sell stuff. Hey, look, they didn't see and understand the great sacrifice that this king made. Now let's put it into reality. Think about God the Father. Think about how he butchered his own son on the cross. I have to think that if I allowed my son to be killed for you, and you made light of it, and said I don't care, I don't want anything to do with it, I don't need it. Hey, I'd be wrong as well. If I sacrificed my own son so that you could have life, when you're the one that sinned, when you're the one who's done wrong, when you're the one who sins every day, and I took my perfect son and butchered him on a cross, and he went to hell for three days and three nights, and then you say, I don't think the Bible's true anyway. I think I came from a monkey. I think that evolution's true. I think that Buddha, that fat idiot in China, I think he might have something for me. Hey, let me tell you something. If you reject the gospel, God will send you to hell. Now, I hope that everybody in the room is saved, but I'll tell you something. Those who reject the gospel will go to hell. That's why we need to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that his house may be full. See, compelling them means just beg them, almost force them, say you must come to Christ, you must be saved, because if they thumb their nose at God and say, no, I will not receive the gift of eternal life. I don't care how much you paid for it, God. I don't care if you paid for it with the blood of Jesus Christ. I don't care if you paid for it with his death and burial and resurrection. I've got my own way to heaven, God. I'm a good person. And God says, all your righteousnesses to me are as filthy rags. He says, when I compare your good life to my holiness and my righteousness, he said, it looks like a filthy rag, because I'm so much holier than you. And yet in my mercy, I want to save you and wash away all your sins and create in you a new creature, an inward man, a spiritual, righteous new creature, the you that you could never be because you're enslaved to sin. And you just refuse that gift, and you won't come to my wedding? Then you know what he's going to do? It's the same thing he did here. He says he got angry. He got mad. And he went and he killed them. He burned their city down. He says, if that's the way you're going to treat my servants, by killing them and mocking them and spitting them, if that's the way you're going to treat my son, that you're going to have the dignity to reverence my son and come to his wedding that you're invited to, he says, you're going to have to pay the consequences. And so that's what Jesus is trying to express in this story. He's trying to say, look, if you reject the invitation to come, you're going to miss your opportunity to ever come because one day you're going to breathe your last breath, or one day you're going to lose your last opportunity, and you're going to go to hell. And other people who you think are bad people, they're going to be there, and they're going to be enjoying the wedding. Now look if you would at verse number 11. And by the way, see how it says the highways and hedges? You don't work in a highway unless you're crystal, okay? Except your sister works in the highway. But hey, you don't work in the highways. Your family doesn't live in a hedge. That's like while walking down the street, going door to door, soul-winding, by the way. That's like my going up and down the street, going up the highways and hedges, preaching the gospel. That's why we do that. And that's not the only place in the Bible. Of course, the Bible talks about going from house to house in Acts 2020 and many other places. But look if you would at verse number 11. And when the king came in to see the guests. So here we've got this great crowd assembled that are both bad and good. Everybody's there. Well, there's one person there that God throws in there to teach us something. And the Bible says, and when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man that was a bad man. No, is that what it says? No? It says he came in to see the guests and saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, friend, how cameest thou in here they're not having a wedding garment? He says, what are you doing in here with the wrong garment on, the wrong clothing on? And he was speechless, the Bible says. 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 ashing of teeth. Now what was the problem here? Well, God's trying to show us something. Look, good, bad, that's not the issue. Do you have on the wedding garment? Look if you would at, and you say, what's that talking about? Look at Revelation chapter 3. This is a theme that's brought up many times in the Bible, but I'm just going to show you one verse to illustrate what we're talking about here with the wedding garment. Look at Revelation chapter 3, verse number 5. Revelation 3, 5, last book in the Bible, actually. Revelation 3, 5, the Bible reads, he that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment. It's talking about somebody who's saved. And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. You see, those that are saved have their name in the book of life, number one. And also, God says that he'll take away their filthy garments, picturing their life, their sin, their wrongdoing. And he says, I'll give you a brand new robe of righteousness. This goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, when God took Adam and Eve's fig aprons that they made, and he replaced them with the skins of the lamb that he killed for them. And that's a picture of us putting on the righteousness of Jesus Christ through salvation, getting a brand new white garment, a robe of righteousness, the Bible calls it. Now you say, well, wait a minute. It doesn't say he that's saved gets a white raiment. It says he that overcometh. What's that mean, overcometh? And you say, it says he that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment. And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Let me show you what overcoming means. First of all, let me show you all the places it says it in Revelation 2 and 3. Look at Revelation 2, 7. Just one page over. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the church is. To him, notice church-es, plural. Remember what we were talking about, that big invisible church that doesn't exist? Church-es, like this one, faithful word, Baptist church. He that overcometh, I'm sorry, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life. Remember, that's the tree that gives eternal life to those who eat of it. It was in the Garden of Eden, which is in the midst of the paradise of God, which is referring to heaven. Look at verse 11. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be heard of the second death. Of course, the Bible says, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. So he's saying, him that overcometh, he's eaten of the fruit of the tree of life. He's never going to die. He's never going to go to hell. He's going to be in heaven with me in the midst of the paradise of God. Verse number 17 says, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Talking about it again when you get to heaven. And then quickly here, let's see, I think I skipped one. I had them all marked, but here we go. Let's just skip on, because I didn't have that one marked. Back to chapter 3, look at verse number 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name. Now, you're getting the idea here that whenever it talks about somebody overcoming, it's talking about them going to heaven. So how does a person overcome? To get to heaven, flip back a few books to 1 John. Written by the same human author, obviously we know that the whole Bible is written by God. We know that the word is God, the Bible says in John 1. But nonetheless, this man John was the one who was physically used to write this down. A few books before Revelation, 1 John chapter 5. Let's find out from the same author what does it mean to overcome? How am I going to get to heaven? How am I going to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God? How am I not going to be heard of the second death? How am I going to get a new name written down on a white stone that only I know and God knows because I'm in heaven with God, watching the New Jerusalem come down, that whole big thing that's going on there? Look at verse number 4 of 1 John 5. For whatsoever is born of God, there's the born again, the new birth. For whatsoever is born of God, over cometh the world. I mean, the word over cometh is not really used in the Bible, but just a few times. And so we see here what it means in 1 John chapter 5. For whatsoever is born of God, over cometh the world. And watch this. And this is the victory that over cometh the world, even our faith. See that? So the one that's going to heaven is the one that's been born of God. And by the way, the way you get born of God, it says it by faith. And faith and believe are the exact same word. You say, I don't know, it's a little different word. OK, look at the next verse. Who is he that over cometh the world? But he that believeth. You see that? That Jesus is the son of God. And hey, go to the first verse of the chapter. You want to talk about the context? 1 John 5, 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And so we see that faith, believing on Jesus Christ for salvation, is the overcoming of this world, the overcoming of what the world tells you, the wrong things about salvation. And when you overcome that by faith and say, I'm going to believe on Jesus Christ at salvation, you get all those promises that are in Revelation 2 and 3. So back to Matthew 22. And we'll see there that the problem with this man that was in the wedding and he ends up getting thrown out into the dark is that he didn't have on the wedding garment. He was not an overcomer. He was not a believer. He did not have on the robe of righteousness. He went in there in his own clothes. He says, you know what? I'm just going to walk in here of my own accord. And see, he didn't have the wedding garment that God provides for those who are invited to the wedding, which is everybody, of course. But those who receive it, they get the wedding garment. They get the robe of righteousness. They get the new white raiment. And so you see he's cast into outer darkness. Now what I picture there is I picture a big giant hall where this is being held, a big giant, what do you call it? They have these big reception halls. That's what I'm thinking of, probably. Big giant reception hall, and you can hear inside the music, and you can hear people laughing and having a good time. The lights are all on. And I just picture this man just being thrown out into the darkness. That's what it says, into outer darkness. See, he's outside of where God's people are. He's outside of heaven. He's without the gates, the Bible says. And by the way, the Bible says, you know who's going to be outside in Revelation 22? This wasn't in my notes, but he says, whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. One lie will get you kicked out, son. That's why you've got to have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's why you've got to be born again by believing on Jesus Christ. Because your wedding garment's not going to cut it. Because whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, he says, is going to be without. That's in Revelation 22, 15, if you have time to look that up later. And so you'll see that the man's cast out in the outer darkness. He's talking about he's going to hell. He says, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He says, outside, when people can see the excitement that's going on inside. And they're outside. They're in darkness. They're gnashing their teeth in pain. They're weeping. They're crying. They're weeping. They're wailing. They're gnashing their teeth. They're in the lake of fire. They're in outer darkness. They're burning in hell. And he says, you're going to be cast out if you don't come in my way. Wear the clothing that I said to wear. And I'm not talking about your physical clothing that you wear. I'm talking about when you put on Jesus Christ's righteousness, not having mine own righteousness, which is up the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Hey, look, you can be bad or good. Make sure you've got the wedding garment on. Make sure you've believed on Jesus Christ. Make sure you've overcome. And so we'll move on from that story. For many are called, but few are chosen. He's saying, many are invited to this, but that doesn't necessarily mean that everybody's going to come. And that doesn't mean that everybody's going to believe on Jesus Christ. Everybody's invited, but not everybody's going to be there. Look at verse number 15. The Bible says, then went the Pharisees. They didn't like this parable. That's why they do this. It says, then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians saying, master, we know that thou art true and teach us the way of God and truth. Neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of man. See, they're buttering him up. They're telling him, oh, you're so great. And we know you're going to tell us the truth. And boy, the way you preach, it doesn't seem like you care what anybody thinks, Jesus. And so we know you're just going to give us a straight answer here, so let us ask you. But they're really trying to trip him up. And they say, tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou? I don't even like that question, what do you think? He doesn't think anything. I mean, he knows. He's God. What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute under Caesar or not? Now, to me, this is the saddest story in the Bible. Every time I read it, I'm just like, come on, Jesus. Tell us, no. Don't pay your taxes. And I'd just be like, yes. But every time I read it, it still says that we're supposed to pay it. But it says, tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute under Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, why tempt ye me, you hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. So he says, OK, well, show me the coin then. And they say, OK, here. They show him a coin. And he says, whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, render therefore unto Caesar's the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. You see, money is just not real high on the totem pole of God. Have you figured that out? Throughout the Bible, you'll see that the streets are paved in gold. That's how much he cares about it. And so he says, look, show me the money. It's got a picture of Caesar on it. It's got a picture of somebody who represents the world's authority versus God's authority. You've got the kingdom of God, and then you've got the kingdoms of men. You've got the kingdom of this world. He says, money is not something that's really part of the kingdom of God. Money belongs to this world. And so, look, if you owe them money, your tribute money, if they're coming and the IRS wants your money, hey, give them your money. And then give God what's due unto God. And I was thinking about this. And I heard a friend of mine preach on this. And what he's saying here is the things that belong to this world are of no interest to God. And they're not really of interest to the people of God. And I was thinking about some of the things that belong to this world that we're so interested in. Like, I think about the Hollywood movies that are playing at the theater down the street. Hey, look, why don't you just render those back to the stinking world where they came from? And why don't you render unto God the things that are God? That's you. That's your body. The Bible says, what? Know ye not that you're not your own? You're bought with a price? I'm sorry, I'm messing that up. He says, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and that you're not your own, for you're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. And so look, is our body a God's? Is our spirit God's? Then we're supposed to render that to God. You see how it says, render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar and unto God the things that are God's. Look, we ought to be giving our bodies, giving our spirits, giving our lives to Jesus Christ for him to control. And we ought to let the world keep their junk and keep their garbage. You see, I was sitting on the plane last night, flying back from Chicago. And they play the movies on the screen. And I don't watch it. I'm trying not to watch them. I'm watching the Bible that I'm reading. I got my little DVD player right here. It's the King James Bible. And so I get out my personal DVD player, and I'm studying the Bible. I'm memorizing the Bible. And you look up inevitably, right? They're bringing the drinks by, the juice, and the water, and you're going to look up. And every time I looked up, it was just some filthy scene. And I was thinking about it. And the movie was, it was X-Men. It was like a sci-fi movie. I remember he used to have the comics when I was a kid of X-Men. And this movie, X-Men, is on. Every time I look up, it's just some girl that's dressed like a hooker. It's just some girl who's stripped half naked. And it was almost like, and I wasn't watching the movie. But every time I looked up, it just seems like that's what was on the screen. And I thought to myself, you know what Hollywood movies are? They're just soft pornography. And they just throw a plot in just to make you feel like you're not watching pornography. I mean, that's all they are. They're a milder form of pornography. And it's not mild, but it's milder. And they just have pornography. And then they say, let's put in a story just so that people can have an excuse. Oh, I just really like to watch the movie because it's a good plot. But you know, the guys that are watching this movie, they're watching it because they like all the nudity. They like all the lust. And they like all the images that are on that screen. Hey, look, that's not a god. So why don't you just render it to the world where it came from? Why don't you just say, hey, stupid Hollywood. Keep your stupid garbage. Keep your pornography that's destroying America. Keep your filthy R-rated and PG-13 and PG-rated movies. Hey, keep them. And I'm going to be interested in the things that belong to God. And I'm going to render them to God. And I'm going to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Let stinking, filthy, ungodly Caesar have his money. If he wants to come and knock on my door and take my money, hey, go ahead. He's going to go to hell someday. Because we're thinking about how wicked of a man Caesar was at the time. And so he says, but the things that are God's, render them to God. And so that's what I was thinking of when I read this, is that the things of this world, I mean, the world's entertainment, the world's family, it just doesn't belong in the hand or the pocket of a Christian. We shouldn't be interested in what the world has to offer. We should be interested in what God has to offer. And I'm going to tell you something. If you think that you can, and you say, well, Pastor Anderson, you're extreme, preaching on television and movies and stuff. Hey, look, if you think that Jesus Christ would sit down with you and watch X-Men, you're crazy. If you think that Jesus Christ would sit down with you and watch the television, and watch all the girls with their low-cut shirts on, and watch all the girls that are poured into their pair of pants that just shows every shape of their body, if you think he's going to sit down and watch that with you, you're nuts. If you think he's going to sit down and watch with you these daytime shows, and Oprah Winfrey, and it seems like every lesbian that I've ever heard of has their own daytime TV show. I was walking by, they had some, I guess, Ellen DeGeneres. I call her Ellen DeGeneres because that's what she is. She's got some talk show or something. God help us. You think I care what that stinking lesbian has to say? Is she going to burn in hell, that God-hating reprobate? And you say, I don't like that kind of preaching. Well, then don't ever read the Bible yourself. Just go to some church that won't preach like that. But don't ever pick up the Bible and read it, because that's the kind of stuff that God says. God says that it's going after strange flesh. He says, they've been set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. He said, when I wanted to show an example of what hell was like, for everybody would know about it, he said, I picked a city full of queers called Sodom and Gomorrah, and I dumped out literal eternal fire, the Bible says in Jude, chapter 7. He says, I took hell fire, I took fire out of hell, and I dumped it on Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what happened, friend. And you say, oh, we ought to be tolerant. We ought to love them. Hey, look, read the Bible cover to cover and then come back and tell me that. And we'll see if you still think that. But it seems like every one of these daytime shows is some lesbian, Rosie O'Donnell, Ellen DeGeneret, some pervert. Hey, look, if you think that you can watch that stuff and be right with God, and you would invite Jesus Christ to come sit down and watch it with you, you're nuts. You think Jesus wants to sit down with you and listen to all the rock music that's on every commercial that's on TV? You think he wants to sit down with you and watch all the beer ads between your sports that you watch? No, he doesn't, friend. Because Jesus Christ said in the book of Psalms, I'll set no wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave unto me. You see, he says, I hate this garbage. Why would I set it before my eyes? Why would I let it cleave unto me? That's what happens when you see something. It stays with you. It cleaves unto you. When you hear something, it sticks with you. I learned a long time ago that things go in, but they don't go out. And so that's why you've got to be very careful what you put into your mind through your eyes and through your ears. Because it's a lot harder to get it out than it is to get it in there. And so we all have things that we'd like to get out, don't we, that have come in through the years. And so, again, things that go to the world, give that junk to the world, and give yourself to God. But notice God does also, he says, I don't care about the world, but I care about the things of God. So God's going to take care of us because we belong to God. So he loves us and cares about us. Moving on from that, the Bible says in verse number 23. Here's another showdown that Jesus has with another religious group called the Sadducees. The same day came to him the Sadducees which say that there is no resurrection. Basically, they thought that when you live and at the end of your life you die, and that's it. That's what they believe. Yet they claim to believe the Bible and the Old Testament. Now, let me explain to you something about these religious groups. I thought about what would these people be like nowadays? Who would the Sadducees be? Just to break it down to your level, you may not like this, but just to bring this down to your level, the Pharisees are like the Roman Catholics. They're all about tradition. They don't know what the Bible says. They don't care what the Bible says. They're traditions who precede the Bible. They think you have to work your way to heaven. So I would put the Pharisees would be like the modern-day Catholics. The Sadducees, they'd be like the United Methodists. The United Methodists would be the Sadducees. Because you know what? The United Methodists are so liberal, they make the Catholics look like they believe the Bible. Look, the United Methodists, that's pretty bad, right? The United Methodists, they don't even believe in the virgin birth, my friend. They don't even believe that Jesus is God. They don't believe Jesus lived a sinless life. They have a lesbian for their pastor. They don't believe anything. And that's the way the Sadducees were. I mean, as much as I hate the Pharisees, I'd rather be a Pharisee than a Sadducee. I'll tell you that right now. Because the Sadducees say there's no such thing as an angel. There's no such thing as a miracle. There's no such thing as the Resurrection. There's no heaven and hell. I mean, it's not like the United Methodists. They don't believe in anything. They just believe in a big social program. I did a fire alarm in the United Methodist Church, and I was just walking around looking at all their posters. It's all just social gospel. It's all just, oh, we're helping in the community and the Boy Scouts and this and that. Nothing about salvation, nothing about the things of God, nothing about spirituality. It's just this carnal thing where it's some kind of a, we help poor people. That's what God wants us to do. Hey, look, help poor people by giving them the gospel and giving them saved. And then God will take care of them, because then they'll be his children. And he never lets his children go hungry and die from salvation anyway. And so the Bible says in verse number 24, saying, Master, Moses said, if a man die having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. Another were with those seven brethren. And the first, when he had married a wife, deceased and having no issue, left his wife unto his brother. Likewise, the second also and the third unto the seventh. Last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her. Now look, this is so typical of people who don't believe the Bible. They come up with these stupid hypothetical situations that could never happen. OK, seven guys. The oldest brother marries a wife. He dies before he has any kids. He leaves the wife to the next one. He marries her. He dies without having any kids. It goes to the third one. All the way down to the seventh one? That's ridiculous. That's stupid. You think that could ever actually happen? There's no way. But this is what people do when they don't believe the Bible. They try to think of some goofy hypothetical, what about this? You know, you say, look, the Bible says about Jesus says, for there is none of their name under heaven whereby we must be saved. You know, the Bible says that everyone is without excuse and that everyone in this world either must confess Jesus Christ with their mouth and believe on Jesus Christ, or they'll go to hell. And that's what they say. Well, what about this guy? You know, he's in this deep, dark jungle, and they got this big story. You know, they got this big hypothetical story. And I remember, I knocked on the door. This is about five years ago. I knock on the door, soul winning. I run into a guy from India, you know, East India, right? And I'm talking to him, he's a train conductor here in America. And I'm talking to him about the gospel, and he's saying, no, there's no way, because there's these people all over the world that have never heard, well, back in India, they've never even heard of Jesus, and they don't even know who he is and stuff. And so I can't just imagine that people go to hell just because they don't believe in Jesus. And I said, are you telling me that you never heard about Jesus when you were in India? No, no, I said, come on, man. Tell me the truth. Did you hear about Jesus? He said, you know what? I didn't even know who Jesus was until I was 12 years old. And he says, and not until I was 16 did I learn like the whole story. Okay, so I wasn't until I was 16 years old that I learned the whole story and that I read part of the Bible and, you know, we learned about it in school. I'm thinking to myself, so you're trying to claim that you're from the deep, dark, furthest part of the world, and here you are hearing about Jesus when you're 12 years old that you're willing to admit to. And when you're 16, you learned everything about it. So look, yes, there are people in this world who've never heard of Jesus. And part of the problem, I'll tell you what the problem is. The Bible says in Romans chapter one, when they knew God, talking about a group of people, they glorified him not as God. And it says neither were they thankful. And so here's what happened. Back in the day, all the nations of the world heard the gospel. But I'll tell you something. Somebody said, we don't want the gospel, we don't want things out. You know, people rejected it. And what happens now, their children are suffering for it, unfortunately. And now, maybe somebody's child is in darkness somewhere in the world and they've never heard the name of Jesus because their parents rejected God. You say, well, I don't like the fact that a person would suffer for what their parents have done. Friend, that's life. Think about it. Your dad's a drunk, you're gonna suffer. If your mom's a prostitute, you're gonna have some repercussions that affect you. Is it fair? No, it's not fair. But that's the way life is. It doesn't mean that it's God's fault. And so yes, our goal is to get the gospel all around the world. Let's get it everywhere we can. But some of the dark places in this world are dark because mom and dad and great grandpa rejected Christ. They rejected the gospel. They took Jesus' servants and they treated them spitefully and slew them. And so that's why they live in a country of darkness. You know, places like Cambodia and Russia and China where they killed all the preachers, they killed all the Christians, they kicked them out. And then their children and their grandchildren are in darkness. And yeah, if they don't get saved, they'll go to hell. And it's a tragedy, my friend. But instead of us sitting around saying, it's so sad and it's not fair and God's mean, hey, why don't you go tell him? Why don't you go get the gospel to him then? You know, maybe if you get the gospel to your neighbor, you never know. He might get the gospel to some Chinese guy that's gonna bring it back to his country. Maybe if you give the gospel to the city of Tempe here, I guarantee you there's some people that are connected to people in these dark places around the world. And so if you're not willing to be a soul winner where you are, don't cry to me about some guy in some dark jungle, some hypothetical situation. Hey, be a soul winner here. Win people to Christ here and then cry about it. And then go be a soul winner some more until we get them saved. And look, and if they go to hell, it's their fault. They deserve to go to hell because they're a sinner. But if they get saved, that's even better because then God can extend mercy to them and glory to God. And so if they go to hell, it's fair. But if they don't go to hell, praise the Lord. So let's get them saved. See how simple that is? But people who don't believe that, they'll bring up hypotheticals. And I always just tell them the same thing. I say, well, you know what? I don't know about that guy, but you're hearing it right now, buddy. And you're getting the chance right now. So you need to accept it. You, you're not gonna have an excuse. And I say, I'll tell you right now, that guy, if he doesn't get saved, he's gonna go to hell. I don't care how far in the jungle he is, but that guy shouldn't even concern you. You should be worried about yourself right now. You're hearing it right now. You don't know if that guy's gonna hear it, but you know that you're hearing it right now. So you need to get saved. And so here's this hypothetical, this goofy story about this woman who's married to seven different husbands. And Jesus just explains them. He says, again, it's because you don't know the Bible. He says, you do err, in verse number 29, not knowing the scriptures. That's your problem. Nor the power of God. He says, you know what, in heaven, nobody's gonna be married anyway. He says, you don't understand the things of God. Nobody's married in heaven. And that's why the Bible, that's why we say till death us do part, because that's the end of marriage, according to God. And the Bible talks about that many times. And so he refutes their dumb argument. But then I love this, how he straightens them out. Look at this, in verse 31. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Now, tell that to all these Jehovah's Witnesses and people who think that when you die, you just sleep in the ground. No, my friend, when you die and you're saved, you're alive. God says, I'm the God of Abraham. He's right here with me. In Luke chapter 16, Abraham's talking. And he's already passed on to be with the Lord, and he's speaking. And he's with Lazarus. In Luke chapter 16. And so God is the God of the living. And when God says, I'm the God of Abraham, he's talking about a human being that's right next to him. Here's Abraham right with me. I'm the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I'm not the God of the dead. I'm not the God of a bunch of dead people. I'm the God of the living. So glad my God is not some dead Buddha somewhere. I'm so glad my God is not some dead Mohammed somewhere, some prophet that's dead. He's very dead, because he's experiencing the second death right now in hell. And so God says, I'm not the God of the dead, but I'm the God of the living. And then quickly, I'm running out of time. I want to be done in the next five minutes. But it says in verse number four. I'm sorry, verse number four, what am I doing? Verse number 35. Yeah, we're almost done. We're going all the way back to verse four. Look at verse number 35. The Bible says, then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself on these two commandments. Hang all the law on the prophets. See, God is saying, look, if you would get your love right, you'd obey the rest of the Bible. Any time you have a disobedience problem, it's a love problem. Number one, you have a problem with your love for God. And he says, that's the most important. Your love for God, your standing with God, is way more important than your standing with anybody else. And then he says, number two, love thy neighbor as thyself. And he says, on these two commandments, hang all the law on the prophets. I don't have time to turn there, but I was going to take you to Romans 13, where God says that if you keep this commandment, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, he says you're basically keeping the last five commandments. Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not covet, thou shalt not bear false witness. He says, if you love your neighbor, you wouldn't do any of those things to them. And of course, if you love God, you're not going to have any other gods before him. You're not going to make a graven image and bow down to it and say that it's God. You're not going to take God's name in vain. You're not going to forget to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. You're not going to forget to honor your father in heaven or your father and mother on this earth. And so God says, if your love is right, then you'll obey the commandments. So think about some of the commandments, OK? There's not just 10. He said it hangs all the law and the prophets. Did you see that? He didn't say, on these two commandments hangs the 10 commandments. No. He said, on these two commandments hangs all the law and the prophets. That's the whole Bible. So when the Bible says, I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting, in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, hey, that's a command of God. And you say, I just don't like God telling me how to dress, because I've dressed this way all my life. And I just strut my stuff in my tight-fitting outfits, and that's just the way I am. And I just let it all out there for everybody to see. Well, let me tell you something. You have a love problem. And your problem is that you don't love God. You say, I love God. It says right here that if you love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might, that you'll obey God's commandments. And so when you say, I went and saw X-Men. You know, it's probably some old movie. I think it came out like five years ago or something. I went and saw X-Men. Well, maybe you should love God a little more than that, than to watch a bunch of pornography wrapped up in a movie. Maybe you should love God enough to keep his commandments. See, the problem is always a love problem. You say, well, I've got to move on. I'm out of time. But anyway, the Bible says in verse 41, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, the son of David. He saith unto them, how then did David in spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? See, here he's exposing the fact that the Pharisees were not expecting the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to be actually God in the flesh. Like, they didn't understand that. They didn't understand that this Messiah was coming, which it was God. They thought it was the son of David. They thought it was a great king who was going to come and deliver them. And so look at Hebrews chapter 7, and I'll close with this. And I'll tell you, this is what's wrong with calling Mary the mother of God, as the Catholics do, in their prayer, the hail Mary, mother of God, and forgive us, and blah, blah, blah, all their garbage that they pray to Mary. I'll tell you something. This is what's wrong with calling Mary the mother of God. You see, David was the physical ancestor of Jesus Christ. But Jesus said, look, you keep calling Jesus the son of David. He says, you keep calling me the son of David. Remember last chapter, they said, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. They kept calling him the son of David, the son of David, the son of David. He says, look, let me tell you something. In the Old Testament, God wrote down where David called Jesus Christ Lord. He said, the Lord said unto my Lord. He said, if it's his son, then why is he calling him Lord? Well, he's calling him Lord because he's God. Look at Hebrews chapter 7, verse number 3. I lost my page somehow. I was on there. Hebrews 7, 3, it says, well, I know what it says. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Jesus Christ has no father. And I'll tell you something, Jesus Christ has no mother. Because Jesus Christ was God from the foundation of the world. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. And then it goes down to verse 14. It says, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory as if he only begotten of the Father. Jesus Christ is God, friend. And so when Jesus Christ came to this earth, yes, a woman physically brought him into this world. We're talking about Mary, who was a virgin at the time. And she brought forth Jesus Christ into this world. Then she went on to have eight other children, or at least seven, minimum of seven other children with her husband Joseph. And so Jesus Christ does not have a mother. God does not have a mommy that tells him what to do. And you pray to her, and she has some sway with him. No, Jesus has no father. He has no mother. He has no descent. He had no beginning of days. He has no end of life. He's the Son of God. That's what it says in Hebrews chapter 7-3. And that's why Jesus is exposing the Pharisees' fallacy, their lack of understanding of the Bible. They didn't understand that a virgin would be with child and bring forth a son whose name is Immanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. They weren't looking for God to come in the flesh. They were looking for the Son of David, some great king, some political leader. They didn't understand that God in the flesh was who they were dealing with in Jesus Christ. And that's all he's showing there. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, I thank you so much for the Bible. And God, there's so much confusion out there, so many different doctrines, so many people believe so many different things. But God, I thank you so much that we can just open the Bible and just have such clarity where it's so obvious what the truth is and where Jesus can cut through the lies of these religious leaders.