For many are called, but few are chosen.”For many are called, but few chosen.”For many are called, but few are chosen.For many are called, but few chosen.
3 sermons cite this verse
The parable is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22. Honestly, I don't like it. It's probably my least favorite of all the stories that Jesus told. The king is supposed to represent God, right? So I would hope that this king would be more welcoming. Why couldn't he just say to the guy, Friend, what happened? Did the dry cleaner lose your suit? Your luggage got lost in baggage claim? No worries. Here, have one of my robes. I've got plenty. Jesus could have told the story that way. He had told other stories like that. For example, his story about the prodigal son who dishonored his father, left home, squandered his cash, then crawls back home, humiliated and ashamed. And his father, his father who represents God, his father becomes the cover the son hadn't even wished for. His father runs out to meet him, puts his best robe on him, and throws him a party. Now that's a story. And Jesus told it. But this story Jesus tells about the wedding feast is told for a different purpose. …
Thanks be to God. See, there are some Sundays when you say that robustly, and there are some Sundays you're like, ah. This past Wednesday, needing some divine inspiration, I picked up the phone in my office, hit speed dial button number one. A tired sounding voice answered, yes. Um, God? Yes. Scott Black Johnston here, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City. I know. We've got caller ID here. Listen, I hate to bother you, God, but I've been working on this parable, the wedding banquet, Matthew 22. And to tell you the truth, I'm having a bit of trouble with it. I was wondering if you could help me out. Sure. Let's do lunch. You do lunch? Of course. Tell you what, meet me tomorrow on the Upper West Side, Jacob's Pickles, 12 noon. I've been wanting to try their cheese grits. Grits? Absolutely. Grace on a plate, my friend. Grace on a plate. I heard a low chuckle, and the line went dead. So on Thursday, I took the Crosstown bus to the west side. …
the Divine Mind as it contemplates the scene. All things are ready, there is nothing more for God to do in the work of our salvation. In order to honor the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing remains but that men believe on Him and receive His Grace! The Lord has fulfilled His promises! His Son has been Incarnate. The active life of holiness, Christ has lived. The passive obedience to the Law, Christ has rendered. If the soul needs spiritual meat, Christ is that meat. If the soul needs spiritual drink, Christ is that drink—and of both meat and drink there is good store in Him. If men, before they can come and honor Christ at the marriage feast, need washing, there is a fountain filled with blood! If they require clothing, there is a robe of matchless righteousness! If they desire adornment, there are jewels of great price. "All things are ready," nothing is lacking—nothing but hearts to receive the blessing! As the case stood in the parable, a certain number of men had been invited. It seems to be the theory of some theologians that none ought to have been invited but those who were sure to come. They hold, as we rejoice to hold, that there is an Election of Grace. In holding the Doctrines of Grace with a firm grasp, they do well, but they err when they teach that the invitation is to be restricted to the chosen, for here it is as clear as daylight that the first invitation was given to those who never were in the Election of Grace at all! They which were invited proved to be "not worthy," and yet they were invited, over and over again, honestly and in good faith. The King said they were invited, and this means that God Himself willed that the rejecters of His Grace should be invited! His servants did not do wrong in inviting them, for the king bade them do so. It has been said, "It is useless to bid sinners come to Christ who are dead and will not come." It is useless as far as we can see—useless as to the bringing of them in—but we do not know all God's ends and designs and some things, in which we see no use, may, nevertheless, be necessary to His purpose! We imagine that flowers "waste their sweetness on the desert air," but there is no wastefulness in the Great Householder's arrangements—and the Divine Economy will one day be justified! There are parts of God's plan in which we see the evident utility, and it remains for our faith to believe that all the rest will turn out to be equally filled with wisdom. The preacher of the Gospel is "a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish—to the one he is a savor of death unto death—and to the other the savor of life unto life." But he is still a sweet savor! We are still to preach the Gospel to sinners and to invite them come—invite them come even though they will not come! We are to continue to invite those who go their way to their farm and to their merchandise. Nor must we fail to call even those who despitefully use us. Far wider than the acceptance is the invitation, for, "many are called, but few are chosen." The Divine arrangement foreknew it would be so! …