"MANY ARE CALLED ONES, BUT FEW CHOSEN ONES"
“MANY ARE CALLED ONES, BUT FEW CHOSEN ONES”
Matthew 20:1 - 16; Matthew 22:1 - 14
HP What is the leading thought in connection with these parables?
CAC I suggested these scriptures in connection with what we had before us this morning. A good deal that was brought before us from the epistle to the Ephesians centres around the word, “Proving what is agreeable to the Lord”, Ephesians 5:10. We prove what is agreeable to the Lord by doing it and being it. To be among the “chosen” we must be agreeable to the Lord. We have the expression in both scriptures read, “For many are called ones, but few chosen ones”. I trust that all here have a desire to be among the chosen; we have all been called but it is a serious exercise as to whether we shall all be chosen. We shall not be chosen unless we are agreeable to the Lord.
Matthew’s gospel contains many miracles and many parables. The miracles set forth what Christ is for us, but the parables are connected with what we are for Christ. It is helpful to keep that in mind. The miracles show what Christ can do for man, and they are illustrative of the ministry of the gospel, but the parables have to do with what man is for Christ, and I think they stand very much in connection with the ministry of the assembly.
HD'AC That is very interesting.
CAC Yes, I think it is an important distinction. The parables begin with that of the sower. If there is to be anything for God in man it must be put there; it must be the result of His own work. All that man is naturally is set aside; there must be the introduction of what is entirely new. I refer more especially to the parables in Matthew.
[p. 234] The parables in Luke are rather different and in keeping with the character of that gospel; they are parables of grace setting it forth on two sides. One set of parables presents the blessed grace of God to men, and another set shows the teaching of grace — how grace affects man. But that is rather a different line from Matthew. In connection with the parables in Matthew, the principle of selection has an important place; it comes out in different ways in the different parables but it runs very much through them all. If it is a question of what we are for Christ, He will not accept just anything; He is entitled to select what pleases Him; He will only choose what is agreeable to Him. Hence certain ones are selected — picked out from the rest — as being agreeable to Him. I trust we are really anxious to be chosen.
Ques What would you say are the marks of those who are chosen?
CAC There are two great thoughts in the two scriptures before us; we are called to serve the Lord and we are called to honour Him. Now the question is, How are we taking up the calling? Many take up the calling but our exercise is that we want to take it up in a way that will be agreeable to the Lord, so that we may be among those chosen. Two things come out in the two parables, the spirit in which we take up the calling, and the character in which we take it up. The wedding garment is character; a man is characterised by his garments.
HP It raises very important questions.
CAC I think so. We often think of sovereignty in connection with being chosen, and there are scriptures where choice is connected with sovereignty, but in many scriptures choice is connected with complacency and good pleasure in the person or persons chosen. For instance, where Christ is spoken of as God’s elect, it was not a sovereign choice. He was God’s elect because there was everything in Him that God could delight in. It is the same in Psalm 89, “I have exalted one chosen out of the people”, (verse 19). All the people come under God’s eye and He makes His selection: He chooses Christ as the Object delightful to His heart.
Ques You would not leave out the thought of sovereignty altogether?
CAC No, I would not wish to weaken the thought of sovereignty. It clearly has place in such a scripture as “Chosen us in him before the world’s foundation”, Ephesians 1:4, but there is the other side. If you have the choice of two things you take the thing that pleases you. God has taken Christ; He is God’s choice because of the excellence there is in Him, and it is in that selective sense the word “chosen” is used in the scriptures before us.
HP I see that the spirit that marks us is a very important point.
CAC It is the eleventh hour men who are the chosen ones.
HP All the rest made a bargain.
CAC All the rest came in as able-bodied men — men qualified to work and expecting to be paid for their work. If you come in to serve the Lord on that line you will get all the wages you earn, but you will not please the Lord; He does not like the servants who are on that line. And I may add that His ordering of things will not please you! Vintage is a very busy time, all hands are wanted; and you may depend upon it that if at such a time there are men still standing idle in the market-place at five o’clock in the afternoon, they are men who are good-for-nothing.
HD'AC And they know it.
CAC They know it. They say: “No man has hired us”. They have to own their worthlessness; no one would give them a job. But the Lord comes along and says, “Go also ye into the vineyard”. He calls them in because of His own goodness, and on that line of mercy, not on the ground of anything that they were or that they could do. This is very elementary but I am not afraid of traversing elementary ground, it is so deeply important. His choice of us is dependent upon the way in which we take up His service; if we want to be chosen we must take it up in a spirit that is agreeable to Him. That is, in the consciousness of our worthlessness and His supreme goodness. If you answer to the call in that spirit you will be chosen; it is that kind of servant He takes pleasure in.
Rem Then you will be displaced.
CAC Yes. When you have learned your own worthlessness your will is broken, and when the Lord says in l His goodness, “Go also ye into the vineyard”, His goodness subdues you to Him. We have fallen in with a good Master; no one else would have looked at us for we were absolutely worthless, but He has called us because He is so good. We are not speaking now of the grace in which He has done everything for us; that is the gospel side which comes out in the miracles. Here it is the call to serve Him, to do something for Him. It is the call of His perfect goodness.
Rem The soul becomes conscious of what a Master He is.
CAC Yes, you are overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of the One who has called you. The miracles bring out the power and the sufficiency of the blessed One to meet all the need of man, but now He says, ‘I want you to do something for Me — to serve Me so that there may be a result for My pleasure’. Labour in the vineyard results in there being wine for the Lord of the vineyard to drink — that which makes glad His heart. Do you appreciate the grace and goodness that calls you to serve such a Master so that He may have pleasure? Then you will delight in His service because of what He will get, and you [p. 237] will not be occupied with what you will get. The Lord does not say anything about payment to the eleventh hour men. He says, “Go also ye into the vineyard” (the rest of the verse is doubtful). The apostles did not make any bargain when they were called. He called them to follow and serve Him, and they left all that they might do so. They had learned their own worthlessness, for Peter may be taken as a sample of them when he said, “I am a sinful man, Lord”, Luke 5:8. But His goodness attracted them, and endeared Him to them, and they went after Him without any idea of wages. It was quite an afterthought when Peter said, “Behold, we have left all things and followed thee; what then shall happen to us?”, Matthew 19:27. They did not begin their service with that thought at all. They had found a blessed Master full of perfect goodness, and they obeyed His call with a deep sense that they deserved nothing, but of infinite goodness in Him. If you are filled with that spirit you will be chosen. If you make a bargain for so much you will get it; if you do anything for the Lord in a legal way you will get your wages. He is a righteous Master and will pay His servants for all they do, but we are speaking today of something more important to those who love Him than wages. We want to please Him; we want to be chosen.
Ques How do we learn His goodness?
CAC I think we learn His goodness first in what He has done for us. The miracles show His goodness; He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. We see Him using divine power in perfect goodness to relieve men of every pressure. We are here today as those for whom He has done great things, and now we are concerned as to what we are to be and do for Him. We are on the parable side now, which has to do with what we are for Christ. I do not think the Lord calls us to serve Him until we know in some measure how He has served us. Paul [p. 238] was an eleventh hour man. He says, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me power, that he has counted me faithful, appointing to ministry him who before was a blasphemer and persecutor, and an insolent overbearing man: ... . But the grace of our Lord surpassingly overabounded with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus”,
1 Timothy 1:12-14. That is the spirit of one who is agreeable to the Lord.
Rem There is the crown of righteousness, but he does not speak of that there.
CAC You will assuredly get your penny, but the great question is, In what spirit have you taken up your service? Have you taken it up as thinking of the goodness of your Master, and leaving the compensation entirely to Him, prizing most of all the thought of being acceptable to Him?
HP That is little thought of today.
CAC We need more exercise as to being agreeable to Him.
HP If we have not learned our own worthlessness, we should begin to learn it.
CAC If you really seek to be agreeable to the Lord He will show you your own worthlessness, but it will be in the presence of His supreme goodness.
HD'AC The man who came in for one hour received the same as he who wrought for twelve hours. How astonished he must have been at the goodness of his Lord! It may be that an immense astonishment awaits some people.
CAC Yes, and it is as if the Lord said, ‘I am giving you this not because you have done a good hour’s work, but because I am pleased with you. I am pleased with the spirit with which you came in’. I think I should like that better than wages — the thought that I had pleased Him. It is a blessed thing to be chosen because we are agreeable to Him.
If we pass on to chapter 22 the thought is different. In [p. 239] chapter 20 it is the call to serve, but in chapter 22 it is the call to honour the King’s son.
HP What is it that honours the King’s son?
CAC I think the point of the parable lies in whether one has or has not the wedding garment. Are we conscious of the fact that our great business, the whole object of our being here as called ones, is to be for the honour of Christ? The honour of Christ is paramount with God and it must be paramount with those He chooses. And a garment that is worn for the honour of Christ must be an undefiled garment.
Rem “Unspotted from the world”, James 1:27.
CAC Yes, it must be an undefiled garment. We are called into a scene where everything is for the honour of the King’s Son, and to be chosen we must be in accord with that scene. God has called us to be participators in a festivity that has only one object — the honour of Christ. God has called us to take part in a great demonstration, the object of which is the honour of Christ. To be there in a way pleasing to God involves that everything about us is in accord with the honour of Christ.
Rem We must be suited to the occasion.
Ques Is it now or by and by?
CAC It is now. There will be no man in heaven with out a wedding garment. It is now that the King surveys the guests, and the chosen ones are selected. God has called us to take part in a great demonstration which He is holding in this world for the honour of Christ, and it is for us to be exercised about being in accord with it.
Rem It is very blessed.
CAC I think it is for every heart that loves Christ.
Ques Is not the garment provided?
CAC Yes, it is provided in the sense that it is available, but each guest has to put it on, and that cannot be without exercise of conscience and movement of affections. You [p. 240] cannot have an undefiled garment except as having put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We had before us this morning the scripture, “Wake up, thou that sleepest, and arise up from among the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee”, Ephesians 5:14. In Romans we read, “It is already time that we should be aroused out of sleep”, (chapter 13: 11 - 14), and the proof that a man is awake and that Christ is shining upon him is that he puts on an entirely new garment. He puts on the Lord Jesus Christ, and makes no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. When Christ shines upon Israel in a coming day, Zion will awake and put on beautiful garments, and there shall no more come into her the uncircumcised and the unclean, Isaiah 52:1; Isaiah 60:1. When we wake up and come under the shining of Christ, the effect is that we put on a new garment — we come out here in a new character — we put on the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot do this without exercise.
HD'AC There is exercise and movement of affection. You are really called to appropriate Christ as your character.
CAC It is very much what you were saying this morning. If Christ is before you every exercise binds you more and more to Him. The very existence of the flesh with its unaltered lusts keeps you in the continual exercise of self-judgment, and as you go on with this your link with Christ is strengthened. The object of the gospel is that people may learn what Christ is for them, in order that they may go on to take up a definite position here for Him. The ministry of the gospel brings to us what Christ is for us; the ministry of the assembly unfolds what we are for Christ. Of course, here it is the kingdom character of things more. Every believer is to appear in such attire that he contributes to the honour of the King’s Son.
HP It is clearly not in heaven for you would not have a man in heaven without [p. 241] a wedding garment.
CAC No, it is not in heaven; we come now under the inspection of the King. The question is, Have we really put on the Lord Jesus Christ? If you have put Him on as your garment, then you have to keep your garment undefiled. Your exercise is that it should not be spotted by the flesh nor defiled by contact with the world.
Rem “Blessed are the perfect in the way”, Psalm 119:1.
CAC Exactly. “Let thy garments be always white”, Ecclesiastes 9:8. A man who has enlisted is not known as belonging to his corps until he puts on his regimentals. The young convert has enlisted, but he has now to appear in suitable attire, and if he is spiritually awake he will not be long before he puts it on. It is supposed that every guest is thinking of the honour of the King’s Son, and that everyone is delighted to appear in such attire as is suitable to the occasion.
HD'AC There is really no excuse for us not having on this garment for all the expense is borne by the King. Everything is provided and we have only to avail ourselves of what is provided. It is contrast to the previous chapter where God came seeking fruit. Now all is provided and therefore there is no excuse for anyone being without the garment. The man was speechless.
CAC It is a great thing to cherish in one’s heart the honour of Christ. The christian is not simply marked by good conduct — men of the world often exhibit good conduct — but the spring of everything in the christian is that he cherishes in his heart the honour of Christ, and that affects his whole deportment and all his associations; it characterizes him. If that marks us we shall be chosen. Do we test everything by suitability to the honour of Christ? Our ways, our words, our associations, are they all brought into keeping with His honour? Your garment is what characterizes you. To be covered with the robe of righteousness means that instead of being lawless, as you once [p. 242] were, you now appear as one who has come under grace and its teaching. Garments of salvation are very beautiful garments. “He beautifieth the meek with salvation”, Psalm 149:4. To wear the garments of salvation means that you are covered with moral beauty; you appear in the character of Christ.
Ques What is the difference between the wedding garment and the best robe?
CAC The wedding garment qualifies you to be a constituent part of God’s great demonstration which is entirely for the honour of Christ. The best robe is given to the prodigal that he may be perfectly suited to God, and free to enjoy the love of God in the circle to which love brings him. The best robe is for the home circle; it is for t he house but the wedding garment is what is suited to a great public occasion, God’s great demonstration in honour of Christ. How wonderful to be called to be part of such a demonstration, and to be in suitable attire because our hearts are in accord with the occasion! If we have the Spirit of Christ we shall put on Christ characteristically; “if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him”.
Rem Many of us read this in connection with the world.
CAC Well, I think the more we keep things in their proper setting the more light we shall get. If you want to preach the gospel to sinners you must tell them what Christ is for them, but if people have professed to have received that, you may apply the test of such a parable as this. It is for the conscience of any who may take the place of being among the called. You may be called and yet not chosen.
Rem We need to be alive to what we are left here for.
CAC Yes, there is nothing to discourage the youngest or feeblest believer. To put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh is simple christianity, and [p. 243] it is what every young believer wants to do. There is nothing dreadful or exacting about it. Divine grace supplies everything to start us and maintain us on that line. If we are not on that line we are not on the christian line at all. It is a continual exercise to keep our garments unspotted.
Rem It is all accomplished as we walk in the Spirit.
CAC Yes, quite so.
Rem Suppose there is failure.
CAC Well, there has been failure with every one of us. Not one of us can say that he has never defiled his garment. Every failure indicates that we have not been walking in self-judgment, and is a powerful call to us to resume in holy exercise that self judgment which we have failed to maintain. In this way we wash our robes (Revelation 22:14) and get back to Christ. The flesh does not alter one bit; it is just as bad as ever it was, but as you are held to Christ you walk in continual self judgment and give it no place. The existence of the flesh with all its evil propensities keeps up continual exercise, but as we judge it in secret with Christ, the very fact that we have the exercise strengthens our link with Christ. For instance, a man may be greatly helped in public prayer, and afterwards there may arise a feeling of vanity. Now what is he going to do with it? If he does not judge it he will fall under its power, but if he turns to the Lord in the judgment of it the very exercise strengthens his link with Christ. If you turn with abhorrence from the inward movements of the flesh they will not come out openly as spots on your garment. If you allow what is of the flesh to pass unjudged, it shows that you have got away from Christ.
HP We have to judge it in the inward springs.
CAC Yes, we have to judge it in “the inner parts of the belly”, Proverbs 20:27,30, and if we do not judge it there, it is sure to come out and defile our garments. We have to beware of giving the flesh a place. I am more afraid of [p. 244] good flesh than of bad for it is more deceptive. We have a feeling of horror when we see the flesh coming out in certain forms, but the secret of many an outbreak of evil is that there has been an allowance of flesh on what may be called its good side, and God says, as it were, ‘I will let you see what flesh really is’. May God hold us to Christ, and give us to walk in holy self judgment as to the flesh in every shape and form.
Our link with Christ is strengthened on His side by all that He ministers of sympathy, succour, grace, the knowledge of Himself and of God, and on our side it is strengthened as we go on in self judgment and confidence in Him.