The last two days have been absolutely
amazing, absolutely amazing. In 2013, five years ago, I sat
down with a man who is now President of the United States. We talked
about Grace Centers of Hope, we talked about Men of Grace,
and we talked about Franklin Graham. Three weeks ago, Eric
Trump, or it's been a little longer than that, no. Eric Trump,
the President's son, visited William Davis Women and Children's
Center. These things are not accident. This past July, I was asked to
lead the prayer in the House of Representatives in Washington,
D.C. I was given 90 seconds and told
it would not be good if I mentioned the name of Jesus Christ. a request
I did not honor. On Friday, at the inauguration
of President Trump, I heard the name of Jesus Christ invoked
five times. Five times more than I've heard
his name used in the last eight years. Yesterday, at the National
Cathedral at the prayer breakfast for the new president. His name
was used 19 times along with passages of scripture. I watched as How Great Thou Art
was sung and the First Lady wept with joy as the third stanza
rang through that great cathedral. And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died
to take away my sin. And I said, Hallelujah. Vice President Pence, visibly
shaken, brushed the tears of gratitude from his face. Last evening, I read where opponents
of the gospel have called on the president to remove Franklin
Graham's name from the pastoral list of counselors to the president
because of his open opposition to abortion, gay marriage, and
because of his singularly support of Jesus Christ, being the Messiah. And so this morning I want to
clearly declare to you where I stand as your pastor, just
in case you don't know. And to announce that from this
day forward, until you put this body in the ground, I'm going
to lift up the name of Jesus Christ And quite frankly, some of you,
I may rebuke for your lack of faithfulness to the name of Christ. Some of you, I say I am ashamed
of some of the things you have put on Facebook. Lift up his
name. He is worthy of all glory and
honor and praise. As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord. I also thought, this may be the
message, I don't know. We may not get to that. But as I contemplated what God
is doing, and I believe God is doing something, I believe we're
on the verge of something so great. When I saw 500,000 women yesterday
marching on Washington, pro-gay, pro-abortion, Anti-trump. This is not a battle over Trump.
This is not this is not a black and white battle We're in a war
here in this country and Our God has seen fit to visit us,
I believe It's a powerful thing. It's a it's a miracle has happened. I Saw dr. Martin Luther King's
Niece on Fox News this morning a very fine lady. I have met
the men of grace have had the privilege of meeting as well Talking about a book she's just
written about America returning to God and she mentioned the
name of Jesus Christ four times in that little interview and
Lifted him up This is not a black-white issue.
Dr. Carson ought to be Secretary
of HUD, an outstanding African-American man, gifted and talented. Amen? Amen. It ought to happen. But you can see the forces of
evil lining up and the opposition taking place. Those who claim to be Christian
must expect crucifixion. This is not going to be a cakewalk.
There's a war in our streets. And we must hang tough with the
gospel of Jesus Christ. And I hope you will, and I believe
you will. The Apostle Paul had a worthy
resolution in 1 Corinthians 2. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And in Galatians, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross. And as many as walk according
to this rule, the peace of God be upon them. Here are my resolution. I am resolved, God helping me,
to preach the gospel of his sovereign, invincible grace wherever I stand
behind the pulpit. I am resolved, God helping me,
to declare that salvation is of the Lord. It is of the Father's
purpose, the Son's purchase, and the Spirit's power. I am
resolved, God helping me, to clearly state that the substitutionary
death of Christ was for a chosen people, and that his sacrifice
was successful in actually accomplishing the salvation of those people.
For I am resolved, God helping me to proclaim the person and
work of Christ and be content to leave the results to the Lord.
I am resolved, God helping me to comfort the Lord's people
by reminding them that their warfare is over. The Lord Jesus
has put away their sins and brought in everlasting righteousness
for them by his work upon the cross. Our sovereign Savior will
cause all things to work together for the good of those sinners
who have been saved by his eternal purpose of grace. Six, I am resolved,
God helping me, to appoint needy sinners to the one and only Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and compel them to believe on the Lord Jesus,
and they shall be saved. I am resolved that every time
I preach, God helping me, I will lift up Christ and abase all
flesh. Dr. Christopher, who's in the
balcony, gave me this. A friend of ours read this many
years ago, and I want to read it to you this morning. Hear what history says about
Christ. More than 1900 years ago, there
was a man born contrary to the laws of life. This man lived
in poverty and was reared in obscurity. He did not travel
extensively. Only once did he cross the border
of the country in which he lived. That was during his exile and
childhood. He possessed neither wealth nor
influence. His relatives were inconspicuous
and had neither training nor formal education. In infancy,
he startled a king. In childhood, he puzzled the
doctors. In manhood, he ruled the course
of nature, walked upon the billows as if pavement, and hushed the
sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without
medicine and made no charge for his services. He never wrote
a book, yet all the libraries of the country could not hold
the books that had been written about him. He never wrote a song,
and yet he has furnished the theme for more songs than all
the songwriters combined. He never founded a college, but
all the schools put together cannot boast of having as many
students. He never marshaled an army, nor
drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun, and yet no leader ever
had more volunteers who have, under his orders, made more rebels
stack arms and surrender without a shot fired. He never practiced
psychiatry, and yet he has healed more broken hearts than all the
doctors far and near. Once each week, the wheels of
commerce cease their turning, and multitudes win their way
to worshiping assemblies to pay homage and respect to him. The names of the past proud statesmen
of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of the past
scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone.
But the name of the man abounds more and more. Though time has
spread 2,000 years between the people of this generation and
the scene of his crucifixion, yet he still loves. Herod could
not destroy him, and the grave could not hold him. He stands
upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed of
God, acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, feared by devils,
as the living personal Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. And so today, with our cameras
and our services here, we will take that message to the world.
We will do more. We will shine a brighter light
from this place. And men and women will look with
amazement at those of us who have come to know Him. Men and
women, He has conquered by His mighty grace the chiefs of sinners,
saved by the Lord Jesus. He is a mighty Savior. Less than
a year ago, I preached the message here That has somewhat gone viral. It's on Facebook. Now over 6,000
people have listened to that message, a single-mindedness
toward Christ. It is now on Sermon Audio, and
you can get a copy of it if you like. Many people have written,
and we are directing them toward Sermon Audio. Duane has put it
on there. I've been getting letters from
across the country and out of the country requesting this. There is something going on about
the Nazarene. This one who came from heaven
to save us from our sins. What an awesome savior he is. What a mighty God. And how he's using this church.
All you have to do is look around you and see the things that are
taking place that could not take place. There are no wealthy,
wealthy people sitting in here today. I don't see it. But there are sinners who've
been saved by the rich blood of Jesus Christ and has passed
from death unto life. God is doing a mighty work. All
right, this is one of those two-for-one Sundays where you get two messages,
two-for-one Sundays. You can be seated if you want
for a second. We changed things around just a little bit today.
We don't want to get real formal here. Luke 15. Bible really is a simple
book. Just has one subject. You've heard me tell the story
of being in the Rocky Mountains, and a guy was carving hound dogs
out of a little piece of two-by-four, about like that, a block. And
someone asked him, how do you do that? And he said, well, I
just cut off everything that doesn't look like a hound dog.
That's the way I read my Bible. I'm looking for Christ. I know
he's in there from cover to cover and somewhere I can see him on
every page if I look as God gives me spiritual eyesight. This is a very simple passage
today and yet I think misinterpreted and perhaps many
of you have never seen the great truth of Luke 15. I hope you see it today. In chapter
15, verses 1 and 2, then drew near
unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. Folks like you and I came to
hear Jesus. Isn't that something? Verse two says, and the Pharisees
and scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners and
eateth with them. Hallelujah. This man receiveth
sinners and he even goes to lunch with them. Today you could have lunch with
Jesus. He receiveth sinful men, even me with all my sin. What good news that is. Dr. Luke tells us in these first
two verses the significance of the three parables that follow. Lost sheep, lost coin, lost son. And I'll get to it in a moment,
but the whole jest of these three parables have to do with this
elder boy. You'll notice that the Pharisees murmured,
and then the scripture says in verse 3, and he spake this parable
unto them. He spake these parables unto
them. Unto them who? Unto those Pharisees. So these three parables are directed
toward these self-righteous religious folks. Self-righteous. If there's anything you ought
to be afraid of, it's self. And if there's anything that
you ought to know is you're no good. God demands a righteousness and
you cannot produce it. Clearly understand that. I mean,
here's the key. God came to earth because there
was no way you were ever gonna save yourself. You are never
going to earn your way to heaven. You cannot produce a perfect
righteousness. Only God can do that. And in
order for you to go to heaven, you have to have a perfect righteousness.
And of course, the Bible talks about that righteousness, which
comes from God. It is imputed. What a wonderful
word. It is accredited to your account. righteousness you didn't have
that Jesus Christ produced by his doing and dying on the tree
of the cross and then he imputed that to you and there's therefore
now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. You
stand before God without spot or blemish or any such thing. Crack cocaine is not the worst
sin Adultery, fornication is not the worst sin. Let me tell
you, dear folks, the worst sin is trying to compete with God
in this matter of producing a righteousness. God's sin is only begotten Son
into the world, that you might be made righteous. And you talk
about your righteousness. You talk about your church. These
people are always the murmurers. Some of you may be here today,
and you haven't liked what I've said already. Because you see,
I didn't point you to a church or baptismal pool or good works
or even your free will. I pointed you to a Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And without him, you will perish.
And you will stand before God in the filthy rags of your unrighteousness. Some of you are going to drown
with your nose in the air. You think you're better than
other people. You think you're better than drug addicts. Let
me tell you this, the drug addicts are catching up. I mean, there
seems to be more drug addicts than anybody else in the world. and Christ Jesus came into the
world to save them. That's an awesome thing. Thank
God we have that message, right? The world doesn't know what we're
gonna do with the heroin addiction, but I know, preach a savior.
Exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. What a sweet sound this phrase
has to it. This man receiveth sinners. That
means you. You. Say, well, here's what Jesus
said. Come unto me all ye that labor
and heavy laden, I'll rest you. Is that what he said? That's
what he said. Are you burdened? Are you heavy laden? Come to
Jesus Christ. He will receive you. Well, I'm
afraid he'll turn thumbs down on me. Why? Why do you think
that? Because I've been so wicked.
You are the very person he came to save. He won't turn thumbs
down on you. How neat it would be if somebody
just ran down the aisle right now and say, I receive him as
my Lord and Savior. I come to Christ just as I am,
without one plea, but that his blood was shed for me. O Lamb
of God, I come. The Spirit and the bride say
come. Let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let
him come. He'll not turn thumbs down on
you. This man receiveth sinners. The teaching of all three of
these stories is that mercy stretches forth her hand to misery and
that grace receives men as sinners. Christ receives them to pardon
them, to sanctify them, to make them fit for glory. For this
very purpose he came into the world. This is why he came. Get
it? Just get it? This is why he came,
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. They that
are whole need not a physician. Are you sick today? I mean, are
you so sick, sitting there, you've lusted all week for a man or
woman? Amen? You're so perverted. Just so messed up. Just so messed
up life seems to be all about yourself. That's why I said the
person you need to fear the most is yourself You think you're
good you dress yourself up. You're looking good You have
a crazy smile on your face, but on the inside You're dead and
wicked and sinful and there is no righteousness and God is not
pleased with you. I What should a person like that
do? Recognize that fact and come
running to Jesus Christ. He will receive you. He's the friend of sinners. What
a neat song, I am the friend of God. Think about that, I'm the friend
of God. This is a very light thing. But
as I watched people in Washington on TV, and I said to myself,
I met that person. I talked to that person. Think
about this. I'm the friend of God. I really
don't know those people that I was pointing out. I shook hands
with them. I don't know President Trump, but I did get to talk
to him. But think about this, being the friend of God. the
mighty creator. Ah, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners. Am I talking to you today? Is
there a sinner in this crowd? Are you a mess? You say, well,
not too bad. Yes, you are. The only people
I'm talking to today, I don't see any folks that are not a
mess. I know you. I've read the book. I know me. I've read what God has to say,
and God looks on the heart, and God knows, and you're a mess.
I would ask you this, is there someone here today with a deep
sense of sin? I mean, you've never come to
Christ. By the way, let me say this to those of you who have
come to Christ and trusted Christ, there's no use for you to be,
there's no need for you to be burdened and heavy laden today.
Enter into the rest, rejoice, everything's working for your
good. God's on your side. But do you have a sense of sin?
Do you feel yourself wicked? Do you feel yourself bad? Do
you feel yourself guilty? Do you feel yourself deserving
of God's anger? Remember this, he's a friend
of people like you. He is indeed. Does your past
bother you? You sit here and think about
your past, and you use that as an excuse not to come to Christ?
He knew you before you were formed in your mother's belly. He's
got your past covered. He's got you in the present and
the future. Amen. Come to Jesus just as you
are. Do you have recollections of
the most horrible things that you had thought or done in your
life? Come to Jesus Christ. Are there things you're ashamed
of? You sit here ashamed and you can't get them off your mind?
Come to Jesus Christ. Let go of it and come to Christ
just as you are. He receives sinners. He will
graciously receive you. Pardon you. and freely give you
eternal life. So let's look real quick at these
three parables. First of all, there is the lost
sheep. If you began with verse 4, what
man of you having a hundred sheep if he lose one of them, doth
not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after
that which is lost, until he find it." Are you lost today? I wish I could find a lost person
here today. I've got good news for all lost
people. If you are conscious of your
lostness, God has made it so. and someone is seeking you today. He's the seeking Savior. He came
into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. There were 99 safe in the fold. And he leaves the 99 and goes
after that which is lost. And I love this, until he find
it. Jesus never has gone on the hunt
without finding what he's hunting He knows where you are. He knows
you're sitting here today in the house of God He knows you
didn't want to be here But somehow or another in his power, he hymned
you up and got you here. And now that you're here, something
is happening on the inside of you. You're listening attentively
to this preacher, who's telling you of a savior who is on the
hunt. His thoughts are toward that
lost sheep. And here's what he thinks about
that lost sheep. That lost sheep is without strength.
That lost sheep is like the babe in the open field in the book
of Ezekiel, just born. Its navel has not been cut. It's
covered with blood. It's defenseless. That's you. That's you exposed to the wild
of this world, lost sheep. Jesus knows that. The lost sheep
is not thinking about the shepherd, but the shepherd is thinking
about the lost sheep. Oh, how helpless your case would
be if there were not an all-powerful seeking shepherd. Sometimes people
say to me, Pastor, you know, I like to hear you speak, but
I don't entirely agree with this grace thing about salvation totally
being of the Lord. Let me tell you, you are a dead
duck. You are a goner unless the Lord
comes to you, unless he finds you, unless he seeks you. And he's just that kind of Savior. And when he finds it, here's
what he does. When he finds you, he's not going
to say, now you're going to have to get up, you're going to have
to follow me, we're going to have to go back to the fall.
He doesn't say that. When he finds the lost sheep,
the Bible says he puts it on his shoulder. He's got big shoulders. Shoulders strong enough to take
you all the way to the father's house. Powerful seeking shepherd. He puts it on his shoulders and
he brings that lost sheep back. He brings it home. And when he
gets it home, he calls his friends and says, hey, come on, let's
have a party. Let's have a celebration. You
know the Bible says that when you, lousy, no good for nothing,
wicked, wallowing in the stables of sin, black as all hell, without
merit, when God brings you home and converts you and you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, there is shouting in heaven, there
is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner. That repents. I have found my lost sheep. It is he who lifts the sheep
out of the myriclet. Where did he find you? Then give
him glory today. Some of you he found in the crack
house. Some he found in the church house. Some he just found out
there making all kinds of money and then spending it on all kinds
of things. You were totally lost. The incarnation,
when we talk about God coming to earth, this is what it's all
about. Get it, it's simple. This is what it's all about.
And this is why you ought to receive all the glory. God has
come to earth. And that all of you who are Christians
in here, he found you. He saved you. He continues to seek that lost
sheep till he finds it. It was the shepherd who in his
death laid it upon his shoulders. It is the shepherd who in his
resurrection bore it on its way. And it was the shepherd who in
his ascension brought it home with rejoicing. Joy in heaven
over one sinner that repents. What if you come to Christ today?
Do you know that there is another place, another world, another
realm where there's going to be shouting and glory to God?
It's in heaven. Do you know we're being watched
down here? Amen. I don't know what the angels,
Abraham, Isaac, and all those folks up there say when a sinner
repents. Probably something like this. Susie just got converted. I would
have never thought that glory be to God By the way, that's not Bible
I just inserted that in there that's my own story Secondly
in the parable, there's the lost coin It's a silver coin nine
of those coins were accounted for but one was missing Oh, there's
a hidden truth in here The Lord knoweth them that are his. My
sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me and I give
unto them my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish.
All of the sheep are blood-marked. He seeks them out and calls them
through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of you here today have little
interest in what I'm saying, while others of you are most
intent on what I'm saying. You are listening with both ears. And here's what I get out of
the story of the silver coin. The Bible says that she swept
the floor. Oh, this woman, which I believe
is the church, us here today. What am I doing today? I'm sweeping
the floor. I'm not looking just for anything.
I'm looking for a lost silver coin. I'm looking for something
that's lost. Is it you? I'm preaching the
gospel of Jesus Christ, sweeping the floor. The work of the Holy
Spirit in the house today. seeking, finding you, convicting
you, convincing you, drawing you irresistibly to Jesus Christ. May the power of God fall in
this place where men and women, boys and girls come running to
Jesus Christ even this morning. Just a few observation, men and
women are like a coin, totally unconscious and totally powerless
as the Holy Spirit begins to deal with them. You had no power
when he found you. You were dead in your trespasses
and sins. You didn't want God, didn't love
God, didn't know God when you came to Grace Centers of Hope.
Didn't want to come over here on Wednesday night. Really, you
just came here, you know, life had beat you up. The devil had
won victory after victory. And there you were an ugly thing
out there in this world. And God brought you here by shutting
you up. You had nowhere else to go. You had nowhere else to
go. You couldn't even go home. Mom had given up, Dad had given
up, everybody had given up, you'd given up. Many have said to me,
I just wanted to die. And some of you tried. But oh,
what a wonder, you couldn't even kill yourself because this great
mighty God protected you, you were his, you were blood marked,
and he brought you to himself. Lost by nature, but found by
grace. Oh, unmerited favor, the grace
of God. Unconditional love that loved
you. Stop your mourning, child of God. God has loved you. Lift up your hands and give him
praise and glory for saving your soul, for making you whole, for
working in your life. You are lost, some of you. and
don't even have any consciousness of it. It's amazing to me how
lost man is by nature. I see people come through that
center every day who are lost and have no consciousness of
it. You take a 30-day run, eat the
hot dogs over there, and take off. No consciousness. Go right
back to the hogpen. Go right back to the mosque.
No consciousness. Thank God for a consciousness
that I am a sinner saved by the grace of God. She sweeps the floor, and when
she finds it, guess what? There's joy. In all three parables,
it talks about joy. Joy! I got Miss Pam a pair of earrings
for our anniversary or Christmas or something. I paid a pretty good sum for
them too. They're pretty nice. Well, Wednesday evening before
I came over for church, I went in the bathroom and laying there
on the counter was this diamond earring. I said to myself, that
looks familiar. After church, when I got home, I was gonna see whether she confessed
it. I had it right there in my pocket. I handed around a little bit,
no confession. Finally, I pulled it out and
I said, did you lose anything today? You found it! I was waiting to
see if anybody would find it. Oh, there was joy. Now, I'm telling you, if there
was joy over that little piece of rock, think about what joy
there is in heaven over a blood-bought sinner who comes to know Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior. Now lastly, the parable of the
lost boy, the prodigal son, which most of you know. You've heard
the story. Verse 12 tells of the boy's lostness
and his self-centeredness. He said to his father, give me
what I deserve. I mean, he didn't earn it. His
daddy had earned all that stuff, right? Entitlement attitude. Watch an
entitlement attitude. It's so ungodly. Just so ungodly. And this world's filled with
that entitlement attitude. Verse 13 says, he took his money
and he went to a far country, and not many days after, he left
home for a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous
living. You know what you're gonna do
with your stuff? You're gonna waste it. How many of you have
wasted? Oh, wasted, wasted. Let me tell you this, every drug
you ever bought was a waste. Every joint you ever smoked was
a waste. All of that money stuff, not
just drugs, stuff, stuff, and more stuff. Verse 14, verse 14 says, verse
14 says, and when he had spent all, that's what you're gonna
do with it. You're gonna spend it all. There arose a mighty
famine in the land. Have you been there, done that?
You spend it all. You wasted it all. Now here you
are. I'm not just talking about drug
addicts. I'm talking about some of you are so depressed. Life
has just got you down. Some of you have money and nice
houses, but you're just so depressed. You're depressed. Because the only thing that really
counts is knowing God in Christ Jesus. That's the only thing
that really counts. And the Bible says, after he
had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land. Things didn't
get better after he spent all. Are you in the land of famine?
And he began to be in want. Anybody here in want? Oh, a want. But he didn't go the right direction.
The Bible says in verse 15, he went and joined himself to a
citizen of that country. Watch who you join yourself to. You join yourself. And he joined
himself to that citizen of that foreign country. What you need
to do, some of you don't think so, but if I were you, I would
stay close to this church and close to the gospel. I would
have friends who know Christ, even though you don't. I'd ask
them, how come you're so happy? How come you're so contended?
What is it in your life that has made you so? Amen. And he joined himself to a citizen
of that country. And guess what his friend did?
He sent him into his fields to feed the hogs. You ever had any
friends who sent you to get drugs or
took your money and said, give me your money, I'll go get us
some more, and they never came back? That's who I'm talking
about. Do you hear all that laughter tonight? He sent him into the
field. The world does its best for you
and sends you to feed hogs. That's what the world will do
for you. It'll send you to feed hogs. And he would have feigned
filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat. He would
have, but he couldn't because he was a human being, he wasn't
a hog, but he would have feigned. He was so hungry, so messed up
that he thought about eating the husk that the hogs did eat.
He would have filled his belly with hog food. You ever slopped hogs? Oh, some
of you have. My dad and brother had hogs and
my brother owned a dairy. And every week he would collect
from the stores he delivered to clabbered milk that has spoiled. And also the grocery stores would
give him light bread that had molded. And he had about 50 hogs. And I remember going with him.
He had this truckload of clabbered milk and light bread. And he mixed it all together
in this huge hog trough. And then he began to call the
hogs. They loved that. But I would look at that stuff
and gag. Some of you are eating at the
hog trough. You're eating clabbered milk and moldy bread. It's no
wonder you're sick. It's no wonder you have no smile.
It's no wonder you have no life. Amen. It's no wonder. But here's what he said to himself.
The Bible says in verse 17, when he came to himself, when he came
to himself, that's right. He said, there is spare bread
in my father's house. Spare bread. Do you know the
father has spare bread? I just thought about that. How
awesome is that? Spare bread in the Father's house.
The Father's not exhausted of blessings. He hasn't passed all
the bread out yet. There's bread for you. Spare
bread in the Father's house. Come and dine, the master called
it. Come and dine, spare bread. When he came to himself, by the
way, spare bread's much better than no bread. I tell you that.
You remember the Syrophoenician woman? The Lord called her a
dog. The disciple said, send her away. She's a Syrophoenician. She was
nipping at his heels. Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy. And the disciples, the spiritual
men that they were said, send her away. And the Lord said to
her, woman, you're a dog. She said, that's okay. The puppy
dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master's table. You
call me a dog and I am. I am a sinner. I'm just asking
for some crumbs. Is that the way you feel? Would
you like a crumb today? There's spare bread in the father's
house. There's bread for you. Where
sin did abound, grace did much more abound. grace that is greater
than all our sins. He arose. Oh, I've got to hurry. He arose. He took action. That's what you ought to do too.
He confessed, I have sinned against heaven. But when he was a great
way off, verse 20 says, his father saw him. Oh, his father sees
you right now. You may be a great way off. You
say, pastor, it's already 20 after 12. Can't you get us out
of here? I've got appointments. I got
things to do. You're a great way off. But the blessing is,
but the blessing is daddy sees you. And the Bible says that the father
ran. Can you imagine that? When you're
a great way off, the father sees you. You're on your way. He's
created a hunger and thirst on the inside. He runs out to meet
this prodigal son. And the Bible says he fell on
his shoulder and he kissed him. And the verb form there is so
amazing. It says, and he kissed him, and he kissed him, and he
kissed him, and he kissed him, and he kissed him, and he kissed
him, and he kissed him. I was thinking last night when
Ms. Pam had her heart attack and
died there in our house and they took her to the hospital. They
got her over there and I never left the hospital. When she was
unconscious, I would kiss her. She didn't even know I was there. I crawled up in that hospital
bed, laid there with my arm around her. Think about God, who so
loves you. And he sees you coming home and
runs out. and embraces you and says this,
hey, take off these rags and bring the best robe and put it
on him. Put a ring on his finger. Let's
get some shoes on this boy's feet. My son, which was lost
is found. I'm gonna close real quick. There was one more boy. By the
way, there was three boys in these parables, the son of God,
the elder son and the prodigal son. That's free, I just threw
that in there and I don't have time to talk about that. But
the elder boy said, he heard music. Oh, oh, oh, oh, religious
people are the meanest people in the world. He heard music,
he didn't like music. What's going on? He came out
of the field. He'd been working hard to save himself and get
his father's approval. He came out of the field. What's
all this music? Oh, they're having a party. Your brother's come
home. What? Why would they have a party for
him? He's no good. He left. By the way, you might
take note that when the younger boy took his inheritance, the
Bible says, and the father gave to them, plural. So the elder
boy got something too. I don't know what he got, but
he's complaining. That's the type of religious
people. You know, I'll just tell you this. Religious people don't
think you addicts ought to get saved. I remember when I first came
to grace 30 years ago, Pontiac Rescue Mission, that bunch in
there said something like this. Just lock them up. Once an addict,
always an addict. You see, I don't believe that.
I don't believe that because I can go right through this crowd
and say, look who's sitting in here. Look who's sitting in here
with a smile on their face. Look who's sitting in here and
all things are working together for their good. Look at that.
Amen. He was angry. Are you angry? Are you religious,
but I've made you mad today? Or did you get glad in hearing
this? Jesus Christ is a friend of sinners. All right, let's stand and praise
our God. Come to Christ. Come now, we'll rejoice with
you. Heaven will rejoice.