Let's turn in our scriptures
to Luke chapter 15. Someone said that this is the
most beautiful short story that's ever been told. It's certainly
a remarkable story, it's a poignant story, and it's a story I might
hasten to add to you, is a story in which you are a participant. So don't think that the stories
of the Lord Jesus Christ are stories that you can look on
from afar and say that's about them. One way or another you
are in this story. All of humanity is in this story. That's why there is such power
in them because they are all encompassing stories. They speak
of our Lord and our God and they speak of man in all of this creation
through all of this time. And so it is. Extraordinary story
and the essence of the story is in verse 24. It's repeated
again in verse 32, isn't it? this my son was dead and He's
alive again. He was lost and is found And
they began to be merry The son was dead and he's alive again
in the earlier parables in this sequence of parables we have,
as we saw earlier, a picture of the great shepherd, the great
shepherd of the sheep, the great glorious shepherd who goes and
he leaves those ones in the wilderness, the ones that need no repentance,
the ones that are righteous in themselves, he leaves them and
he goes into the wilderness. He leaves the 99 in the wilderness
and he goes and he gets that sheep and he brings it and puts
it on his shoulders and he brings it home and he brings it home
rejoicing. One of my favourite verses in the scriptures in Isaiah
40 verse 11 says, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd, and
he shall gather the lambs with his arms, and what's he do? And carry them in his bosom. and shall gently lead those that
are with you. That's our shepherd. It's a glorious
picture of the shepherd, isn't it? He goes across hills and
dales. If you want to read more about
the shepherd, go and read Ezekiel chapter 34 and John chapter 10
and rejoice in the wonder of the shepherd. The story of the
lady with the lost coin, from verses eight down to 10, is the
story of the lost, the lostness of people. The coin is dead.
The coin has no hope of finding itself. The coin is found when
a light shines. When a light shines, the coin
is found. The lady took a candle and she
sweeps the house. There is in the finding of the
coin a picture of the sweeping judgments of our God and the
illumination of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we
see in these parables, we see a picture of what God does, what
He does for us and what He does in us in saving sinners. But most of all, this parable
is a picture and a parable of the Father. We have seen the
Son in His shepherding role, we've seen the Holy Spirit in
His illuminating role, but here we see the Son and the Father,
and we see the Father in a character which is quite remarkable, and
the wonder of the father's character is brought out by the depths
of the wickedness of the son. Let's read about the son. He
had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father,
give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he divided
them his living. So effectively what this young
man was saying was that I wish you were dead. I wish you were
dead so I could have what is yours and give it to me now. I want what's coming to me when
you die and I want it now. I want your stuff and I don't
want you. What a picture. What a picture
of the fall of man. What a picture of the fall of
man. Had he ever been in any need? Had this father ever withheld
anything from him which was good for him? As many have said, if you're
wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all. So these pictures,
it's just like the picture of the Good Samaritan. We have a
picture of the fall of man. And he moved to a far country. He moved as far away from his
father as he could. He had a sense of entitlement,
and now he's exercising his entitlement, isn't he? And I imagine the Pharisees
thinking there, what irresponsible father would ever allow this
to happen? What irresponsibility on the part of the father. We'd
never do that. He moved to a far country. He left and he didn't look back. Even the hired labourers in his
father's place, they were the ones that turned up every day.
You might remember the parable of those in the marketplace.
They turned up every day looking for work. I saw them in India.
They'd arrive there in the morning and they'd wait for the farmers
to come along. And if by good providence, they had someone
come and hire them, they would have enough to survive the day.
But the hired labourers in this man's field, in this good father's
field, in his care, they lacked nothing. So what was the young
fellow's problem? What was this wicked son's problem? Nike puts it all over the world,
don't they? Just do it, with a great big
tick. I'll do it my way. Ultimately
the issue is, he didn't want to be under the authority of
his father. Every one of us has gone his
own way. We did in Adam and we do in our
natures when we come forth from our mother's womb. It burns in
the heart of all of us, isn't it? I will be as God. I will make the decisions. I'll do it my way. When we met with God in the incarnation
of the Lord Jesus Christ, What was the response of human beings
to him? Let's kill him. Let's kill him. And what's the response of self-righteous
religious people now? I wouldn't have done that. I
wouldn't have done that. Let's go in your own way. You
think you're better. I think I'm better. Sin. is a horrible, horrible,
horrible disease. You see, this young entitled
man, he wanted the blessings of the Father. We want the blessings
God gives us. We want the blessings that we
believe He owes. Give me the portion of goods
that falls to me. We want the things without God. And we think God owes us. We want Our needs, and we want
our needs met. He wanted his inheritance, and
he wanted it now. He had no idea. What's the inheritance
of all of the children of Adam? What's your natural inheritance?
The wages of sin is death. The inheritance, the inheritance,
the natural inheritance is hell. The natural heart of man is to
want blessings from God without having the God of the blessings.
So what do you have, what do you have that you didn't get
from God? a far country. He went into a
far country and there he wasted. He wasted his substance with
riotous living. He wasted it. He went as far away from God as
he could get and he wasted all of his substance. Where did he
go? What's the furthest place you
can go from God in this world? The furthest place you can go
from God in this world is into a religious organization that
doesn't believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that
doesn't declare the simple things about his character and his glory.
If you read in Proverbs, you'll read about the prostitutes and
the harlots, the younger brother knew what he'd been up to, he
thought anyway. And the harlots, of course, are the harlots of
false religion, the enticing woman of Proverbs, as early chapters
of Proverbs speaks of her often. To get as far away from God as
he could. So this man, chapter 15, verse
2, this man receives sinners. This man receives sinners and
he eats with him. Religion says that we aren't
to have anything to do with a God like that. Those Pharisees were
looking on, thinking that we're not like this. In fact, the reality
is that they were. He devoured his living with harlots,
it says. False religion is people going
a-whoring after other gods. He was He was someone who is
100% responsible for his own destruction. The ruin of man
is self-destruction. He ruined, he wasted his life,
he wasted his substance. The reality is that anything
of our substance which is not used for the glory of God and
is used for the pleasure of our own flesh and to satisfy the
I will be God that lurks and pulsates in the hearts of all
of us is wasted. The only safe place to be is
at the feet and in the company and under the authority of our
God. See, Paul thought he was righteous,
but he'd wasted his living, wasn't he? That's what he says. He says
that all that religion that he did in Philippians, he said it
was done. He wasn't being polite about
his religion. And when he met the Lord on the
road to Damascus, he says, who are you? All his religion hadn't
taught him who God was at all. And he knew the book off by heart.
And he lived righteously like these Pharisees the Lord is speaking
to. He went to a far country. Everyone who goes their own way
goes a way of poverty and ruin. You see, people think, don't
they? They think that they're well, like the people in Laodicea.
They think they are well off, they think they are rich, and
they have no idea until God does a work of lightening who they
are and lightening who they are. They say they're rich and I'm
increased in goods and I have need of nothing. And knowest
not thou that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. If God allows you to stay on
that road and doesn't arrest you, that's where you'll go. You'll waste your living, waste
your substance in righteous living. But our God, our God won't let
as much as this man had his time of plenty. He has of his people, he says of Hosea. He hedges our way with thorns. Verse 14, and when he had spent
all, when it's all gone, there arose a mighty famine in that
land. What a blessed famine this is.
What a blessed stripping it is. At the time it would seem unpleasant. What a blessed stripping, what
a blessed famine. Everything taken away, he'd spent
all. He spent all and he began to
be in want. So the Lord brings storms into
the lives of his people, and he takes them again and again
and again to a place where two remarkable things happen. Like
those men in the boat, what have you brought us out here on this
sea? What have you caused this storm for? You think we're gonna
drown? What are you doing? What was
the result of them being fearful? We're gonna die, and you don't
care, and you're asleep on the back of the boat. The end result
of it is, what manner of man is this? We see something in
ourselves and what manner of man, who's this? Who is this
that can just speak a word and the winds and the waves can be
silent? Job suffered much, didn't he? To learn some remarkable things. That his righteousness was nothing.
He learned that he was vile. and he learnt that God accepts
vile people. There is a blessed famine. There is a blessed stripping. And it says that he began to
be in want. He began to be in need. It is, it is so fundamental to
saving faith and a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, that
you be in need. You be in need. That is the big
issue, isn't it? Do you need? Are you in need? You'll never come to the Lord
Jesus Christ until you need him. and you won't need him while
you have some ability and you have some righteousness and you
have some free will and you have some works. That's why those
beatitudes are remarkable, aren't they? Blessed are those that
hunger and thirst after righteousness. The blessing is in the hunger
and the thirsting, for they will be filled. The blessing's in
the need. He began to be in need. This is a great story of a movement
of a sinner, a child of God, from misery to mercy. From misery to mercy. And what
did he do? In his efforts, he went and joined
himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into
his fields to feed swine. You can imagine the Pharisees
and the Jews being absolutely horrified by this. This is as
low as a Jew can get, isn't it? He has rejected his father. He
is under the law deserving of death. And there he is in a pig
pen. There he is starving to death
amongst cursed animals. Everything he touched and everything
he did made him unclean. Unclean. Unclean. And what did the people in that
far off country do? In man-made religion, they say,
do, do, do. But in their doing, like this
man, they mock his real need. No man gave to him. No man gave
to him. Outside, of the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ and outside of fellowship with God. No man gives to you. Take it to heart, brothers and
sisters, they'll take from you. But no man gives to you." It's a lovely description, isn't
it, of this beginning of this journey home. And when he came
to himself, when he came to himself. I love that story of the Gadarene
demoniac, there he was, unable to be bound by chains and naked
and amongst the tombs. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
came, where was he found? He was found clothed and in his
right mind and sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He came to himself. And what did he want to do, the
Galilean demoniac? I just want to be with the Lord.
I want to go with you. This man, it's a picture of repentance,
isn't it? He remembered his father. How many, verse 17, how many
hired servants did my father have bread enough and to spare,
and I perish with hunger. So repentance is a change of
mind concerning God, a change of mind concerning yourself,
a change of mind concerning how God saves sinners. This man had
wanted to be as far away from his father as he possibly could
and now he wants to be back. He wanted to be back as a hired
servant. He wanted to be back as someone
who just could turn up at his father's house and get the work
for the day and to be fed and to be cared for. He did something remarkable and
true repentance does something remarkable. In verse 18 he says,
I will arise and go to my Father. Multitudes say, I will. I'll investigate what you say
about the Lord Jesus Christ. The I wills of men, the I wills
of men that are so often verbalized and not worth the paper they're
written on. This man acted, didn't he? I will arise, in verse 20
it says, I and he arose and came to his father. He came to himself,
he arose, he says I'm going back to my father. What would it have been like
for him in his father's company and in that household for the
rest of his days? Everyone that looked at him,
and especially his older brother, would have known his history. for the rest of his days in his
father's house. He'd be known as a sinner, wouldn't
he? Someone who had sinned so deeply
and grievously. He says, I don't care. I don't
care about what they say. I just want to be with them.
And he prepared a little speech, hadn't he? He prepared a little
prayer. He says, and I'll say to him, verse 18, Father, I have
sinned against heaven. and against and before thee,
and I am no longer worthy to be called thy son. Make me as
one of thy hired servants." All the way home, all the way home,
he'd practiced, hadn't he? But he'd made some remarkable
statements, hadn't he? It's remarkable, isn't it? Sin
is against God always. That's what David said in Psalm
51, isn't it? He said, against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. All sin is
sin against God. It's sin against man, but it's
sin against God. I've sinned against heaven. I've sinned against you. That's what confession of sin
is, isn't it? Confession of sin is not you
being able to tally up all your sins. You don't know them, brothers
and sisters. And as you begin to confess and
you're sinning even more, if you think you can make a tally
of them, sin is what we are, and therefore sin is what we
do, confession is to say the same. That's what the word means. It's to say the same as God about
your sin. about you. It's to agree with
God. It's to take sides with God. And here we have this glorious,
glorious picture. This one who is no more worthy
to be called a son, make me one of your hired servants. He arose
and he came to his father. That's what repentance is, isn't
it? It's a change of mind. And faith is coming to God. See, he had so many needs, this
fellow, didn't he? He needed to be fed. He needed
to be clothed. You can imagine what he smelt
like. You can imagine what he smelt like to the Jews. But he
needed someone to care about him. So the result of him running
his own life is that he ended up in a place where no one cared
about him. He was a failure. Are you a failure, brothers and
sisters? Have you ruined your own life? Have you wasted your
substance on righteous living? The essence of this story is
the wonder of the Father's reaction. The Lord repeated in verse 7
and 10, There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. There's joy in heaven. And his
father pictures that remarkable joy, isn't there? It's just one
of those wonderful pictures that almost the less that's said about
it, the better. And he arose and he came to his father, but
when he was yet a great way off, The Father saw him, don't imagine
that the Father was out there every day looking for him, but
the Father that particular day when he knew he was coming back,
the Father saw him from a great way off. and had compassion and
ran. This is the only picture in all
of the scriptures where we have any notion that God ever hurries. There's no need to hurry, but
here is a beautiful picture of the character of our God. And
what did he do to this filthy, emaciated, smelly, rebellious,
wicked son? He fell on his neck, and he kissed
him. You see, the father had already
forgiven him. The father had already accepted
him back. Repentance is a change of mind
about ourselves and a change of mind about His Father. It's a change of mind about our
abilities. It's a change of mind about the
way God deals with sinners. Religion keeps saying to us,
isn't it, that you can do, do, do, and at the end of all you're
doing, you'll be accepted of God. Salvation begins with the
complete and absolute forgiveness of sins. Salvation begins with
repentance. He's already been received. So
when that light shone, that coin was found, and when the light
shines, the light of the glorious gospel of our God shines, we
find our God and we find our Saviour to be completely and
utterly different character to what we imagined. Can you imagine
the trepidation that young man felt all his way home? What's
going to happen? What should happen? What legally
should happen? He should have been cast out,
shouldn't he? You see, in salvation, when the
light of the Gospel shines, we see the glory of the character
of God, and we see it in light of the evil and the wickedness
of our own character. And salvation for this young
man was a need, and salvation for this young man was a decision. He said, I'm just going home
to him. I'm going home. He needed to belong somewhere. What does a father do? He fell on his neck and he kissed
him. And the son said to him, the son is anxious to get out
this little speech. He's been praying it and thinking
it over to himself all the way home, hasn't he? And the father
stops him in the middle of it. He says, father, verse 29, I've
sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and I'm no more worthy
to be called your son. And the father stops him. The
father stops him. But, The Father stops him. He won't even allow for him to
get out his little speech. See, salvation, brothers and
sisters, is all about who God is and all about what God does. And it's not about us. We are the delightful and I trust
rejoicing aspects, objects of God's love and grace. There's no probation here, isn't
there? The father doesn't say, well, you'll come back and I'll
watch how you behave for the next few months or six months
or a couple of years. There's no probation. It's all
about him. What did he have to offer his
father? He had nothing to offer his father. What reward could he give his
father? Salvation is about the glory
of God. The gospel is about the revelation
of the glorious character of God. No doubt this man might have
promised to be better. He might have promised to say,
I'll never hurt you again, I'll respect you from now on in. God's
not that naive, brothers and sisters. All that he ever expects
from us, he sees perfectly in his son. See, the cause of his
love, he loves his people freely. The cause is in him. The cause
of his love is not in us. While we were yet sinners, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The just for the unjust
were slain that he might bring you to God. And look what he does. The father
said to his servants, verse 22, bring forth the best robe. Bring forth the best robe. What's that robe? That robe is
not just a robe to cover his shame. Bring forth the best robe.
That robe is the righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.
In Revelation chapter 3 and chapter 7 and chapter 19, John asks you,
what are these white robes? The white linen, fine and white,
it's the righteousnesses of the saints. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what he says to the
servants. You bring forth the best robe and you put it on him. You put it on him. Salvation
is the Father putting upon his people the best robe. Putting
upon sinners the best robe. The Father wants to make merry.
Does a story like this make you merry? See, our God delights
to show mercy. Do you delight to have mercy
shown to you? If God gives you mercy, if God
grants you mercy, if God grants you this story to be your story,
then you'll love it. You'll love the fact that he's
merciful. You bring the breast robe, and you put it on him.
And you put a ring on his hand. What's that ring? That ring's
the token of the eternal covenant. That ring says, you belong to
me. You belong to my family, and
you put it on him. You don't let him put it on himself.
That ring represents the Lord Jesus Christ. And you put shoes
on his feet, even his walk. The grace to walk in the gospel,
the grace to rejoice in the mercy and the goodness of our God. The grace to walk with a new
heart to believe, a new heart to love Him, a new heart to see
Him in a character that we hadn't imagined Him to have at all,
our Father. Put them on Him, put them on
Him, and bring the fatted calf and kill it. That's the source of all the
blessings, isn't it? Kill it. Kill it. He needs to be fed. The only
real food is the Lord Jesus Christ. He needs to have drink, and the
only drink is the Lord Jesus Christ. You eat him, John 6,
you drink my blood, and you eat my body. We take Him to be one with us
by faith. That robe is Christ, isn't it?
That ring is the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. That walk
that we have is Him. Everything that He was in want
of is given to Him and put on Him. That's what Christ, our Christ,
does. And that's what our Father does,
doesn't he? He comes to filthy sinners, and
he falls on their neck, and he kisses them. It's a remarkable picture of
the intimacy of our God in relation to His children because of the
work of His Son. Kill and let us eat and be merry. See, salvation begins with the
full, free, complete forgiveness of sins. Religion says you do,
do, do, do, do this and at the end of it you'll have salvation.
Salvation begins with sins completely and utterly forgiven. Salvation begins. with us seeing
our God in this glorious character here. Religion says, do, do,
do. Religion says, stop doing and
stop doing this. That's exactly what the pig pen
is like, isn't it? He joined himself to a citizen
of that country and he sent him in his feast to feel swine. Fame
would have filled his belly with the husks. It's just the husks.
This is the grain of the true gospel. And no man gave to him,
and look what the Father gives him. He gives him everything. He gives him everything. Lord willing, next week we might
look more closely at the elder brother. But the story of the
older brother is a story of working, isn't it? It's a story of entitlement. And it's like the religion. He
kept a record of his doing. This man had no record of doing
good. He kept a record of others not
doing. God's people look at others and
say, I'm the chief of sinners. You can esteem others better
than yourself because you know something of your own heart.
But before I close this glorious story at this party, it's remarkable
to think how it finishes, because the story is left open-ended. It's an open-ended parable. The father says in verse 32,
it's right, it's right, it's me, that we should make Mary
and be glad, for this thy brother was dead and is alive again and
is and was lost and is found. The glory of our gospel is in
the character of our God. The glory of the picture of the
prodigal son is that God will meet you on the basis that you
come to him, on which you come to him. You come like the prodigal,
dirty and filthy failure and wasted your life. God will meet
you on the terms on which you come to him. What did this man
need? everything. This man needed grace. You come to God on the basis
of your works. God will meet you there. What a glorious picture of a
father we have. What a glorious picture of a
shepherd we're given here. What a tragedy. What a tragedy. to stay away when all that bounty
in his house is there. What a tragedy to be in the presence
of merrymaking because of the character of our God and to be
miserable. May God make us all, Heavenly
Father, to come like a prodigal, never getting any better, Never
being anything other than someone in need. Never being anyone who
wants to look away to anything that you can do when you've got
such a great provider. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we
praise you for the blood, mercies and blessings that flow to your
people. And we pray, Heavenly Father,
as we think of this story, you might remind us of the context
of it and might remind us of what our dear and blessed Saviour
went on at Calvary to do for us, Heavenly Father, to bear
our sins in His own body on that tree, to take all of the filth,
the evil, of our rebellion against You, and bear it and bear the
curse of it, Heavenly Father, and bear them away forever. We praise You, Heavenly Father,
that sin can't be in two places at one time. It cannot be on
Him. and on us. We praise you, Heavenly
Father, that those sins are gone and it's right and fit for your
people, Heavenly Father, who come like a prodigal to wear
His robe and to have His ring upon our finger and to have ourselves
shod with those feet of the Gospel of Peace. Bless us, Heavenly
Father, for the sake of your dear Son, and cause us, Heavenly
Father, to, with the Father, find ourselves rejoicing with
the angels of Heaven over sinners that repent. Make us needy, our
Father. and make us to see the glory
of the wonder of your provision. For we pray in Jesus' name, our
Father, and for his glory. Amen.