Deconstructing Falling Away

A pastoral note before we begin: The subject matter ahead is weighty and sensitive. Before reading further, take a moment to examine your heart. Come not with a spirit of judgment or self-righteousness, but with humility, compassion, and reverence for God’s Word. These truths are offered in love, for the redemption and restoration of every soul.

“For many are called, but few are chosen”

(Matthew 22:14 KJV)

“For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14 KJV).

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

But they paid no attention and went off, one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’

So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:2-14 NIV).

The Invitation

My hope this morning is that everyone here hears the gospel invitation. It is sent to each and every one of us, because it is not the Father’s will that a single person be excluded from His kingdom and perish in the outer darkness of hell. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 NIV).

However, not everyone wants God, and many who claim to want Him do not want Him on His terms. Those who are saved enter God’s kingdom because of their willing acceptance of His sovereign, gracious provision. Those who are lost are excluded from the kingdom because of their willing rejection of that same sovereign grace.

This statement is the conclusion to the Parable of the Wedding Feast. Jesus spoke this parable to show what the kingdom of heaven will be like when the end of the age comes. The king sends his servants out to gather the wedding guests. But those invited refuse to come, some because they are too busy with their own worldly pursuits, and some because they are hostile to the king. So the king commands his servants to go out and invite anyone they find, and many come and fill the wedding hall.

But the king sees one man without wedding clothes, and he sends him away. Jesus concludes by saying that many are called, many are invited, but only those who have been chosen and have received Christ will come. Those who try to come without the covering of the blood of Christ for their sins are inadequately clothed and will be sent into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Ears to Hear

In pastoring from coast to coast, I have had a bittersweet privilege. I have seen a great many people who hear the call of God, coming through His revelation of Himself in creation, through a God-fearing friend, through their own conscience, and through the preaching of the Word. But only the few respond, because they are the ones who are truly hearing.

Jesus said it again and again: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15). Mark records it too: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9 KJV). And Luke: “Others fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear’ ” (Luke 8:8 KJV).

The point is this: everyone has ears, but only a few are listening and responding. Not everyone who hears the gospel receives it. The many hear, but there is no interest, or there is outright antagonism toward God.

Many are called or invited into the kingdom, but none are able to come on their own. God must draw the hearts of those who come; otherwise they will not. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:44 NIV).

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior, he is a new creature, reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit; the old things, the previous moral and spiritual condition, have passed away. Behold, new things have come, because spiritual awakening brings a new life” (2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP).

The Chosen

Father God creates life, grants repentance, and gives faith. Fallen humanity is totally unable by itself to do these things which are necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven. And this is for every one of us. “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6 NASB).

Salvation is by God’s pleasure, for His glory. “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:36-39 NASB).

Read a little further: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me” (John 6:44-45 NASB).

So all of God’s chosen will be saved without exception. They will hear and respond because they have spiritual ears to hear the truth. God’s power makes this certain. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30 NASB).

How Do I Know?

Some will ask, “Pastor, how do we know if we are among the few that have ears to hear?” By responding to the call. Assurance of this certain call, this chosen call, comes from the Holy Spirit.

“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6 NIV). “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13 NIV).

If we listen with our spiritual ears and respond to the invitation, there will be fear and trembling in our souls as we recognize that it was God’s work in us that caused our salvation.

Many are called, but few are chosen. This is a difficult and sobering truth, because it explains why many will suffer eternal punishment. Out of all to whom the good news has come, only a small number will receive salvation. Many are called, meaning all those who hear the gospel. But only some, the chosen, accept the gift of salvation and are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

The few who are chosen parallels Jesus’ own forthright description in Matthew 7. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14 NIV).

The Lord Jesus Christ sees our wickedness. Whatever mask we tend to put on, He sees through it. The man at the wedding feast thought he could sit among the guests unnoticed, and he was speechless when the king spoke to him. No one will slip in without the wedding garment.

Christ is, and will be, the wonder not only of His friends but of His enemies. They admire His wisdom, but will not be guided by it. They admire His power, but will not submit to it. That is the difference between the many and the few. The many hear the invitation and admire the King. The few come, clothed in His righteousness, and sit down at His table.

The invitation has gone out to you. The banquet is ready. Do you have ears to hear?