Book of Common Prayer

5 We are made good people and put right with God when we believe in Jesus Christ. So now we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ did.

² Because we believe, Christ has brought us to the place where God can do us good. We are in that place now. We are very happy because we have the hope that we shall see God's greatness.

³ And not only is that true, but we are very happy in our troubles, because we know that trouble makes us stronger.

⁴ When we are strong to take trouble, we prove that we believe. When we prove that we believe, we have hope.

⁵ We will not be disappointed by this hope. God has given us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has put God's love in our hearts.

⁶ We could not help ourselves. So at the right time, Christ died to save us bad people.

⁷ Almost no one would die to save even a good man. But perhaps someone would die to save a very good man.

⁸ God shows his love for us in this way: Christ died to save us while we were bad people.

⁹ The blood of Christ has now put us right with God. So even more, he will save us from God's strong anger.

¹⁰ When we were enemies, the death of his Son brought us back to God. Now that we are made right with God, it is the life of Jesus that will save us.

¹¹ Not only is that true, but it is through our Lord Jesus Christ that we can enjoy God. This is for all who have been brought back to God by him.

22 Jesus told them other stories.

² He said, `The kingdom of heaven is like this. A king made a wedding for his son.

³ The king sent his servants to call the people who had been asked to the wedding. But they would not come.

⁴ `He sent other servants to call them. He said, "Tell those who were asked to the wedding that my dinner is cooked. The cows and bullocks have been killed. Everything is ready. Come now to the wedding."

⁵ `The people did not listen, but went away. One went to his farm. One went to his business.

⁶ The others caught his servants, treated them very badly, and killed them.

⁷ `The king was very angry. He sent his soldiers to kill the men who had killed his servants. And he burned their city.

⁸ Then he said to his servants, "The wedding is ready. But those who were asked to come were not good enough.

⁹ Go out on the roads. Call all the people you find to come to the wedding."

¹⁰ `So those servants went out on the roads. They brought all the people they could find, both bad and good people. Then the room was full of people for the wedding.

¹¹ `The king came in to look at the people. He saw one man there who was not wearing the right clothes for a wedding.

¹² The king said to him, "My friend, why did you come here without putting on the right clothes for a wedding?" The man did not answer.

¹³ Then the king said to his servants, "Tie his hands and his feet. Put him in a dark place outside. People there will cry and grind [make a noise with] their teeth."

¹⁴ `Many people are asked to come, but only a few are chosen.'