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4. What 2 Root Problems can
Block our entrance into Heaven?
Do you know the 2 underlying root problems
that can keep us out of the kingdom of heaven?
These 2 “root-level” themes explain why some people reject the King’s invitation,
and why some are ultimately excluded from the wedding banquet.
This takes the message beneath individual sins and excuses: to the actual governing issues:
Whose rule do I accept?
Whose desires do I follow?
Whose likeness is being formed in me?
A careful biblical way to state it is:
Every person ultimately lives under one of two rival patterns:
self-exalting rebellion against God’s rule, or
humble faith-filled submission to the Son, and to the Father’s will.
The first pattern is seen in Satan’s rebellion to God;
The second pattern is seen in Jesus Christ’s obedience to God.
Which pattern is predominant in your own life?
We must be cautious about presenting this as though people consciously choose “Lucifer,” (aka: Satan, the Devil, the Adversary, the Accuser of the Brethren) by name.
Many who follow the pattern of rebellion, are ignorant & deceived, hurting & wounded, worldly and/or religiously sincere, they honestly don't know the difference between the two patterns.
Yet Scripture teaches that actions, loves, allegiances, and responses to Christ reveal a person’s actual spiritual fatherhood and kingdom loyalty.
Jesus said that those who reject Him, and do the devil’s works, show that they are following the devil’s pattern; those led by God’s Spirit are God’s children, and will do God's works, following the pattern God has laid out for them to follow.
1st underlying issue = Kingdom Loyalty
[ To whom are you loyal to? ]
Matthew 22 is not merely about bad manners toward a royal invitation. It is about whether people will honor the King, receive His Son, and accept the King’s authority over their lives.
The original invitees who rejected "the Call" effectively said:
“My field outranks the King’s feast.”
“My business outranks the King’s Son.”
“My own plans outrank the King’s command.”
“We will decide what matters—not the King.”
That is a loyalty problem before it becomes a behavior problem. Their sins are not random; their response exposes a heart that will not bow to the King. In other words, their actions are perfectly aligned with their loyalties. They are doing the exact natural result of their loyalties. Therefore, they will continue in them, whether they consciously or subconsciously decide to be disloyal to the King. They will follow the pattern they have learned.
This connects especially well with Jesus’ warning:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21
God is not looking for mere verbal acknowledgment—“Lord, Lord.” God is looking for actual allegiance with fidelity, and loyalty. If He is truly Lord, Jesus' Will cannot be treated as optional.
Honoring God is paramount to knowing Him, loving Him, and doing His Will (keeping his commands).
A good evangelist should suggest this:
“The wedding invitation asks more than, ‘Would you like a better future?’
It asks, ‘Will you:
honor the King,
receive His Son (as LORD), and
come under His Kingdom Rule?’”
This appeals to our deep down connected loyalties.
Instead, Many preach to an audience's feelings, and their self-centered motives (not to their loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness, and service to God).
Come to Jesus ...
and become prosperous, (He has a wonderful plan for your life)
He'll fix all your problems. (Is that what Apostles Preached?)
In short, God loves you, and has a wonderful plan for your life.
If that wonderful plan includes being: Whipped, Stoned, beheaded, Crucified (upside down), and burned alive, then, "Yes, God has a wonderful plan for your life, for these have been the plans God gave to his faithful, loyal, obedient friends. But, if the preacher is not mentioning the real life hardships involved in preaching the Gospel, then he is preaching a false, misleading, and fake Gospel message, and should not be listened to. Their goal is to get you to follow them, and not follow Jesus, so that they can make a profit off of you. See for yourself:
2 Peter 2:1-3 (KJV) 1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Two Patterns = Two Paths
Which Pattern and Path are you following?
[For a better presentation, see the Table below this section]
The contrast you are considering can be set out clearly this way:
Self-made independence:
“I will exalt myself”
Beloved Son and willing Servant
Relationship to authority
Rejects God’s throne and seeks self-rule, vs.
Submits to the Father’s will
Heart posture
Pride, self-exaltation, distrust, rebellion vs.
Humility, trust, love, obedience
Response to truth
Will not remain in truth; lies and deceives. vs.
Is the Truth and obeys the Father
Effect on others
Accusation, division, death, destruction, vs.
Service, reconciliation, life, salvation
Final outcome
Judgment and exclusion from God’s kingdom, vs
Exaltation, glory, and shared inheritance
Isaiah 14:12–15: uses the famous “I will” language: “I will ascend,” “I will exalt my throne,” and “I will be like the most High.”
In its immediate historical context the prophecy addresses the king of Babylon, though Christians have also historically seen it as echoing the pride and downfall associated with Satan. It is best to state that nuance honestly rather than make Isaiah 14 your sole proof-text for the devil’s original fall.
Philippians 2 gives the direct and clearest Christ-centered contrast. Jesus did not grasp for self-exaltation; He “made himself of no reputation,” took “the form of a servant,” humbled Himself, and “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Therefore God highly exalted Him.
A memorable contrast:
“The rebellion says, ‘I will exalt myself.’
The Son says, ‘Not my will, but thine, be done.’
One reaches upward to seize glory; the other stoops downward in humility—and the Father gives Him glory.”
2nd underlying issue: Kingdom Identity
[Whose team did you join?]
Identity: whose child, whose likeness?
The Bible sometimes speaks in sharply familial terms: children reflect the character and desires of the one they follow.
Jesus said:
“If God were your Father, ye would love me.”
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.”
—John 8:42, 44
His point is not that every unbeliever consciously worships Satan. His point is that rejection of the truth, rejection of Christ, and pursuit of the devil’s desires reveal a shared spiritual pattern: falsehood rather than truth, rebellion rather than submission, and death rather than life.
First John gives the same distinction:
“In this the children of God are manifest,
and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,
neither he that loveth not his brother.”
—1 John 3:10
Again, this must be preached with gospel tenderness. John is not teaching that a Christian never stumbles. He contrasts a life characterized by ongoing, unrepentant sin and lack of love with a life increasingly shaped by righteousness and love. The Son came “to destroy the works of the devil,” not to leave His people comfortably serving their sins (and even exalting them).
By contrast, Romans 8 teaches that those led by the Spirit of God are God’s sons and daughters, adopted into His family and made heirs with Christ—destined to be glorified together with Him.
How this fits the banquet
Now we can see that every figure in the wedding material reveals identity and loyalty.
Wedding picture
Outward situation
Root issue underneath
Those first invited
They refuse or make light of the invitation
They do not honor the King or value His Son above their own priorities
Those abusing servants
They mistreat and murder messengers
Their rebellion has hardened into hostility toward the King’s authority
The guest without a garment
He wants to remain in the hall without the required clothing
He wants kingdom privilege without receiving the King’s righteousness or rule
The foolish virgins
They expect the bridegroom but have no oil when He comes
They have religious appearance and anticipation without sustained readiness
Those saying “Lord, Lord”
They claim Christ’s name and even cite religious works
They use His title without submitting to the Father’s will
How to share this Message
The banquet is a kingdom celebration. Therefore, entry cannot be separated from allegiance to the King and the Son.
“No one is excluded merely for being poor, broken, sinful, unlearned, or formerly rebellious. The King invites people from the highways. But no one can enter while maintaining loyalty to rebellion against the King.”
A balanced doctrinal wording
“At the deepest level, rejection of the King’s invitation is a loyalty issue. We either follow the ancient pattern of pride that says, ‘I will rule myself; I will decide what is true; I will not submit to God’s authority,’ or we follow the Son, who humbled Himself and became obedient to the Father, even unto death. Satan’s rebellion is the pattern of self-exaltation; Christ’s obedience is the pattern of kingdom faithfulness. The question is not simply, ‘What label do I claim?’ but, ‘Whose voice do I trust, whose will do I follow, and whose likeness is being formed in me?’”
Then follow it with the gospel invitation:
“The good news is that nobody has to remain identified with rebellion. Christ came to destroy the devil’s works. Through repentance, faith, forgiveness, new birth, and the gift of the Spirit, rebels can become children of God, receive the wedding garment, and sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
Suggested safeguards
These will make the message more biblically precise and pastorally effective.
Do not say every sin proves someone is lost. The distinction is not between people who never fail and people who do; it is between those who repent and return to Christ versus those who settle into and defend rebellion.
Do not identify Lucifer too confidently from one passage. Use Isaiah 14 as an illustration of arrogant self-exaltation, while grounding the theological contrast firmly in explicit New Testament texts about Satan, Christ, obedience, truth, sonship, and the kingdom.
Keep Christ central. The goal is not fascination with Satan’s fall. It is to show the beauty of the Son’s humility, obedience, sacrifice, victory, and invitation.
Make identity an offer, not just a warning. The gospel does not only expose “children of disobedience”; it offers adoption. Those led by the Spirit are sons and daughters of God, heirs with Christ, and future participants in His glory.
Glory vs. Gory message:
“The gory end of rebellion begins when a heart says, ‘I will not have the King rule over me.’
The glory of salvation begins when a heart bows before the Son and says, ‘Thy will be done.’”
--Hope this has been helpful.
I pray this message will bear heavenly fruit, as it is applied and realized.
TPD
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