October 17 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 22:1-14:

¹And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
²The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
³And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
⁴Again, 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.
⁵But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
⁶And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
⁷But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
⁸Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
⁹Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
¹⁰So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
¹¹And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
¹³Then 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 gnashing of teeth.
¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.

Devotional

When you fish with a net, you get all kinds of fish, good and bad. So it is in the kingdom of God. Proclaiming the Word of God is like casting a net into the sea. Of course, many will not give ear to the invitation of the gospel. Others are drawn into the net, but are not true children of God. In the parable of the tares we find tares and wheat in the same field. "The good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tsres are the children of the wicked one." In the parable of the king's son we find that the servants who were sent to the wedding "gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good. And here in the fish net were both bad and good. It is not enough to be an outward member of the church. There are even children of the kingdom that shall be cast into outer darkness; therere shall be weeping and gnashing of teath.

At harvest time, at the end of the world, God will send the reapers, his angels, who shall separate (note well, it does not say here, "the bad from the good,)" but "the wicked from among the just," that is, the righteous. We are righteous only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Only the righteous are saved. The wicked shall be cast into the "furnace of fire": there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Prayer

O God our Father, help us to realize what a serious thing it is to have Thy gospel preached unto us. May none of us be so cold and indifferent to Thy truth that he should reject Thy offer of salvation. May none of us be satisfied with the outward formalities of religion. May none of us deceive himself, being a hearer of the word only but not a doer. May we not belong to those who seek to enter into Thy kingdom and shall not be able. But may we come in faith, believing that in Christ we have righteousness and life; yea, all things necessary for our salvation. Pardon all of our sins for his sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Matt. 13:38; 22:10; 8:12; 13:49; 25:46; 13:50.

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