Faith Walk / William Carroll
We will be talking about the word of God and how he moved in my life as I stood on his word. His signs and wonders that I have seen during the last forty years praying for my needs and the needs of others. I hope to encourage a new generation of believers to pray the word of God and to believe that He will move on their behalf. God answers prayers!
Faith Walk / William Carroll
Ep 81 Salvation is open to all Who Hearts are Right
We continue our study of Matthew, exploring chapter 22 and the Parable of the Wedding Feast—a powerful story about God's invitation to salvation and the proper response required.
• Jesus tells this parable to illustrate how the religious leaders rejected him
• The initial invited guests (representing Israel) refused to come, mistreated the messengers, and some even killed them
• The king then invites everyone—good and bad—to the wedding feast, opening salvation to all
• One man arrives without a wedding garment, representing those who want salvation without commitment
• The man is cast out, showing that entering God's kingdom requires not just attendance but transformation
• God's invitation is for everyone, regardless of past sins or current situation
• Salvation requires genuine commitment and yielding your heart to God
• The Holy Spirit guides believers through life's challenges
• Scripture contains wisdom and examples for every situation we face
• Faith has always been the foundation of relationship with God
If you'd like to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior today, pray: "Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sins. I know you paid the price on the cross for me that I might be forgiven and saved. Lord, pour your Holy Spirit out into my life to be my leader, my guide, my teacher, that I may come to know you, walk with you, and serve you in this kingdom here on earth, in Jesus's name."
Well, welcome to Faith Walk Podcast number 81. And I want to go back to Matthew. We had been studying in the Gospel of Matthew and we have reached up to chapter 22. So let's pick up your Bible, get you a cup of coffee or a cold drink and let's say our prayer. And then let's go into the word and study the word a little bit. Lord Jesus, open my eyes to see as you see, open my ears to hear what you hear, open my heart to feel what you feel and open my mouth to speak as you speak. Lord, let my hands and my feet be your hands and feet. Let them go in this earth where you cannot go to do your business, to do the will of my father, and I thank you, lord, that you place somebody in my path today to share your word in jesus's name. Amen, all right.
Speaker 1:So in matthew, chapter 22, it's the parable of the wedding feast. I'm gonna go ahead and start reading. It says in and Jesus answered and spake to them again by parables, and he said the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king which made a marriage for his son. He sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to his wedding and they would not come Again. He sent forth the other servants saying Tell them Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen, my fatlings are killed and all things are ready, coming to the marriage. But they made light of it and went about his way, one to his farm, one to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them. But when the king heard of it he was wroth and he sent forth his army and destroyed those murderers and burned up their cities. Then said to his servants so the wedding is ready, but they which were built in or were not worthy, go into all the highways, as many as you shall find, and bid them to the marriage. So they went out and they found both good and bad, and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see his guests he saw there one man who had not a wedding garment on and he said to him Friend, how come you came in here not having a wedding garment? And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants Bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called but few are chosen, all right, so let's go on, let's, let's, let's go back up to the top. So this is a parable of the wedding feast. He's talking to the jewish people here and what, what he's what he's saying, what he's saying to the jewish people. You know this.
Speaker 1:This was one of his final parables the week before he went to the cross, and he's talking to the religious leaders who rejected him, using this story that a king had provided a wedding feast for his son and the first ones invited, which would have been the Israeli likes, particularly the religious elite, refused jesus and so, uh, and then some just ignored the invitation and others mistreated the messenger. So the king opened the doors wide for anyone willing to come see what the what was happening here is. He was telling a parable of the kingdom of God that Jesus was sent to the Jews, the salvation was of the Jews. And I know today you hear all kinds of things on TikTok and all these places you know about. You know we don't, we're not beholding to the Jewish people or to Israel. But listen, god is still going to be dealing with Israel. God is never going to turn his back on Israel. He has turned his back on Israel and he has let things happen to them to turn them to him. But when, when he came to them and they rejected him and they killed him and that's what this parable is talking about how that they were going to kill him because they didn't see him as the messiah, they was looking for a king to come in.
Speaker 1:Listen, when all this happened, it was for a reason. It didn't get catch god by surprise. It opened the door for the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ, through the promise of Abraham. It opened the door for the Gentiles and all those that were not Jews to receive salvation. Alright, so in the end time, god is going to deal with Israel and they will be grafted back in into the house and the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:All right, anyway, listen, he says in this message. He says you know, go out and tell everybody to come. Anybody, good, bad, anybody. See, the message of the gospel is to anybody. It doesn't matter how much, how bad you are, how big of a sinner you are, what you've done. There is forgiveness for you if you trust the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but there's an invitation. When that invitation hits your heart and you harden your heart, you know it's going to be a while. It may never be again that you have that invitation again.
Speaker 1:So when that invitation comes, when the invitation came to the people come to the feast, they had to answer it. Well, all those that that God just went out, the king went out and the all the servants just brought people in, but there was one man. The king saw that one man and he's standing there in some months the other people and see back. Then they provided wedding garments for the visitors, for those that come to the wedding. So he had the opportunity to use it to put it on and to be a part of the feast. But he didn't, because he was living in rebellion.
Speaker 1:But he thought that he could come and he could receive something without being committed to it. You know, if you're going to receive something from God, you've got to be committed to him. You have to yield your heart to him, you have to ask him to come into your heart to be the Lord of your life and you have to learn about him through his word, through the gospel. And you have to study about him and you've got to come to know him, how he thinks, what he thinks. He says that if we would receive him, that there is a promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit that he would give unto all those who receive him. And that Holy Spirit is to lead us and to guide us and to show us the things in the scriptures and to help us walk through this life.
Speaker 1:See in the scripture anything you're going through in your life I don't care what it was we talked about oppression earlier Anything you're going through, there is something in the Bible, there are stories in the Bible that will point you to that, that will show you the oppression, that will show you whatever you're going through and it will also show you the way those people those days came out of it. You see, god has always been about faith. You know there was a lot of laws, a lot of sacrifices, a priesthood in the Old Testament, but it was always by faith. If you didn't go to the priest by faith and offer the sacrifices by faith, if you didn't go to the priest by faith and offer the sacrifices by faith, believing that God would receive that sacrifice and heal you or do whatever you needed, you know, help you through that situation, then you wouldn't receive anything and the religious sects at that time had just gotten all out of control. You know they were power hungry and greedy.
Speaker 1:But listen, god. God loves us so much that he opens the door for any of us, no matter what condition we're in, can come into the feast. We can come to the feast. We can come into the kingdom of salvation. We can come in to the presence of the Lord. Listen, we don't need nobody to go to the Lord for us. We can go straight into the Holy of Holies, but it has to be through the blood of Jesus Christ, believing that Jesus died upon the cross, that he was crucified, died and buried and risen again, and he sent the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to us to lead us, to guide us into all truth. And that's what we want. We want to be in truth.
Speaker 1:Now, listen, I don't know what you're going through today and I don't know if you've ever been, uh, had a invitation to enter into the feast, to enter into salvation, to enter to believe in that jesus Christ was the Messiah, that he is the Lord, that he is our salvation. He was the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. That's what the Bible says. But anyway, if you would like to receive him today as your Lord and savior. If you would like to say, if something's tugging on your heart, see, you can pray a prayer and nothing happened.
Speaker 1:But if it's tugging on your heart, if it's tugging on your heart and God's speaking to you right now, just say these prayers Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sins. I know you paid the price on the cross for me that I might be forgiven, that I might be saved. And, lord, pour your Holy Spirit out into my life to be my leader, my guide, my teacher. Lord, that I may come to know you, walk with you and serve you in this kingdom, here on earth, in Jesus's name. You pray that prayer. Listen, god's going to honor that prayer. It doesn't matter what you've done. God is a God of forgiveness. He'll take what you've done and he'll throw it away. As far as the east is from the west, what is as far as the east is from the west? From one nail scarred hand to the other, where Jesus was on the cross. You see, he paid that price on the cross to do away with your sins, to forgive you of your sins Until next time. God bless you.
