Come As You Are, But Be Changed

Yes, the gospel is always, come as you are, but then also come and be changed. Come as you are. It doesn’t say you’ve gotta prove yourself for a year and then come, no come, come as you are, come now, come, there’s a guest list and you’re on it, but be changed and don’t think you can come into God’s presence with your own dirty clothes, you need as we read from Zachariah, you need the robes of righteousness of another. The proper response to God’s gracious welcome is to, on one level despair, not despair of the invitation, not despair that God will welcome you, but despair of yourself. Some of us do not truly know grace and because of that we do not truly worship, because we have never really despaired. See, the riff raffs who got pulled in at the last minute should have come thinking, I do not deserve to be here. I mean where, where can somebody give me a change of clothes because I’m going to meet with the king. I can’t believe I got invited to the prince’s wedding, to the royal feast, and I need a change of clothes. We’re all invited to the wedding banquet, every last one of you in this room. The king calls you and if you come, Jesus says he will in no way cast you out when you come with faith and repentance. If you come up to the king and you say, here I am, I’ve got my garments, I’m ready, VIP coming through. If you say, why was I made a guest? I hope there’s not a mistake because I, I got an invitation to your son’s feast and I’m here and the king says there’s no mistake, a son, daughter let me help you, I want you to get out of those dirty clothes and let me give to you something clean and bright and fresh and come on in.

This clip is part of the sermon “The Wedding Banquet You Don’t Want To Miss” delivered by Dr. Kevin DeYoung at Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, NC on March 30 2025.