beginning in verse 25 Now his elder son was in the
field And as he came and drew nigh to the house he heard music
and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked What
these things meant? And he said unto him, thy brother
is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because
he hath received him safe and sound. You ever wonder where
that phrase came from? Safe and sound. Why do we say
it that way? Because God said it that way. I like that, don't
you? And he was angry. and would not
go in. Therefore came his father out
and entreated him. And he answering said to his
father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee. Neither transgressed I at any
time thy commandment. And yet thou never gavest me
a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon
as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with
harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said
unto him, son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have
is thine. It was meat that we should make
merry and be glad. For this thy brother was dead
and is alive again and was lost. and is found. Let's pray. Thank you, our Father, for your
precious, precious word. May we see again, Lord, in your
gospel, by your grace, your goodness, your grace and love and mercy
towards sinners. May we see our own self-righteousness
and evil. And see how it is, Lord, that
you can have mercy on even a wretch such as we. And may Christ be
exalted in every word, in his precious name. Amen. His elder son, the younger son,
the prodigal, we talked about him last time. But the elder
son was in the field and it's a clear implication here that
he was in the field working. That's what he was doing out
there. He wasn't smoking a cigar. He's out there working in the
field. He's working while everybody else is having a party. He was the good one in the eyes
of the world. The prodigal is the bad seed,
the black sheep of the family. He's the one who did indeed run
away from home and take his father's money and wasted it on riotous
living and this elder son was at home all that time working
and as he put it, serving his father. And here is our very First most
important lesson in this passage of scripture Favor with the father Has nothing
to do with what we do and don't do Nothing Absolutely nothing if
it did if the behavior of the sons themselves was important
than it would have been as the elder Thought it should be. As he expected. He expected to
be the one that should be celebrated and thought that the younger
son should be shamed and censured and scolded. If their behavior
entered into the equation at all, it would have been that
way. But it had nothing to do with it. And in the Kingdom of
God, As far as our salvation, our relationship with our Heavenly
Father is concerned, what we do, what we don't do, has nothing
to do with it. And let me ask you this, are
you okay with that? This elder son was not okay with
it. This is kind of, did it remind
you of Martha and Mary a little bit? Let me read it to you again
in Luke 10.38. Now it came to pass as they went
that the Lord entered into a certain village and a certain woman named
Martha received Him into her house. And she had a sister called
Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. But
Martha was cumbered about much serving. She's out in the field
working. She was in the kitchen though. She's working. She's
getting ready a meal for the Savior. She's doing it for the
Lord. She's the good one in the eyes of the world. Oh, worthless
Mary over there, she's not pitching in at all. And Martha had a problem with
it, didn't she? She said, Lord, don't you care
that my sister has left me to serve alone? She rebuked the Lord for it. You ought to be the one telling
her to help me. I shouldn't even have to do this.
Oh my, how self-righteous we are. and wrong, desperately wrong. Bid her therefore that she help
me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou
art careful and troubled about many things. Unfortunately, they're
the wrong things. I added that part. But that's
the truth, isn't it? She's worried about the wrong
things. But one thing is needful. Mary
hath chosen that You know why she chose that Because
she saw it she knew it She knew that was more important than
anything else. How'd she know that? By the grace of God She hath chosen that good part
You know what the good part of this life is? This whole life. Everything you do and everything
about you. You know what the good part is?
Right now. She hath chosen that good part.
What is that? Sitting at the feet of the Savior. And what
did it say there? Hearing His word. And that is that good part. That
is the good part of this whole life. Because one thing is needful. And it'll never be taken away
from her. Martha seems to be the responsible,
sensible, useful one here. But she is rebuked by the Lord,
just as the elder son is rebuked by the father here in our text. Because the gospel, you see,
is not you doing what's right. Even if it's what's right. It's
not the gospel. The gospel is for the black sheep. The gospel does not condone riotous
living. The gospel is Christ saving us
from our sin, from what we are. Salvation is a relationship to
the Father, not a reward for good behavior. Do you see that
in our text? It is his love, his forgiveness,
his delighting to show mercy unto the undeserving. And I'll
tell you this, our text reveals that this elder son was just
as undeserving of all of the goodnesses and mercies of the
father as the younger son was. We see a little bit of what's
in his heart now in this text. And he was just as wretched.
He was just good at hiding it. The elder son's reaction and
his words show his heart, out of the heart proceed these things. And if he loved his brother,
he would have been glad that he was home. Don't you think?
Under any circumstances, whatever. I love my brother, I'm glad he's
home. Well, there wasn't any of that
here, was there? If he loved his father, he would have been
happy to see his father happy. What was he thinking about instead?
What was important to him instead? Himself. That's all of us by
nature now. That's from the garden until
right now as you sit there. The last part of verse 27, I
love it. Notice the way it puts it there.
The Father hath received him. He's come. And the Father hath
received him. You remember when we talked about
that, how key that is? That younger son can do all the
coming to himself he wants to. But will the Father have him?
That's the question, isn't it? Oh, our Lord Jesus says, Him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. All that the Father giveth me,
they're coming to me. And I'm not going to cast him
out. Salvation is not you accepting
Jesus. It's him accepting you. There's
so much in this text. We're not going to see all of
it today because you ain't got time. Neither do I. Because the
Father hath received him, he is safe and sound. That's the definition of safe
and sound. The Father hath received me. Safe though the worlds may crumble,
safe though the stars grow dim, under the blood of my Savior,
I'm secure in Him. And in verse 28, when it was
explained to him what was going on, he didn't even know what
was going on. What in the world is happening here? We'll talk
about that, Lord willing, in a minute. He was angry. and would not go in. He didn't
want any part of it. And think about what a joyous
occasion this is. If he loved anybody in the whole
story, he would have been, cut me a piece of that cake, you
know, here I come. No, I don't want anything to do with it.
And therefore his father came out and entreated him. Now you think about this. Well,
we have no excuse, do we? We have no excuse. If you go
to hell, you've got no excuse. You are rebellious and hateful.
You murdered God's son and still he sends forth his gospel. And
you're hearing it this morning. You're hearing it. He would not
go in. Who was he hurting by not going
in? I'm sure they regret, you know,
they regretted it. But who was he really hurting
by not going in? The prodigal was self-destructive
to leave home and to, you know, I'm going to do things my way,
you know. That was self-destructive, wasn't
it? He needed his father and he found
that out eventually. But also here this self-righteous
son, it's self-destructive. He's going to miss out on a ribeye
dinner for one thing. The fatted calf just got killed.
I want in on that, don't you? But more importantly than that,
he's destroying the relationship he has with his father. Over
what? Over what? Pride and selfishness. I'm not getting what I deserve.
This ain't fair. That's what killed us in the
Garden of Eden, isn't it? Satan said, boy, Did he really
say you're not supposed to eat this tree? This is the best tree
in the car. This is the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. He showed him it was good. It was good for
food. I'm not going in. I don't like
the way you play. I'm going to take my marbles
and go home. That's the attitude now. When your little children do
that, That's the, it's not innocent is it? It's not cute. You'll take your marbles and
go to hell is what you'll do. That's what you'll do. Pride
and selfishness. Unless God does something about
it now. We need to understand. We're gonna have to understand. It'd be a good time to teach
your children as soon as they can hear what you're saying.
You teach them that what makes something fair is not that you
like it, the outcome of it. What makes something fair is
that God did it and God said it. That's what makes it fair.
That's what makes it right. That's what makes it good. Not
how you feel about it. That has nothing to do with it. God says, and read Matthew chapter
20 about that sometime, I will do what I will with mine own.
I'll do what I will. And we say, Lord, whatever seems
good to you. That's the right attitude. It's
God's house. Now think about it. It's God's
house. It's God's fatted calf. It's God's field that you're
working. You're wearing his clothes. You're driving his car this morning
to church. You're breathing his air. The
earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. You know how much of
it's mine? None of it. You know how much of it's yours?
None of it. He gives and he takes away because
it's his. Can you still bless his name? We bless his name because of
that, not just in spite of that. I'm glad it's that way. I'm glad
that he owns everything, aren't you? Because by his grace, I
know a little something about who he is. Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter
four began to brag and be proud of the kingdom that he thought
he had built. And it says in Daniel 4.30, the king spake and
said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house
of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of
my majesty? And while the word was yet in
the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, oh,
King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken. The kingdom is
departed from thee. He's boasting about his kingdom.
Look at the kingdom I built. It's for my glory I did it. And
God said, I just took it away from you. You just don't know
it yet. I'm the one that gave it to you. I've already taken
it away. The kingdom is departed, past it. It's not even yours
anymore and you don't even know it yet. And they shall drive you from
men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen and seven times shall
pass over thee until you know. This elder son in our text needed
to know this, and so do we. Until you know that the Most
High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and he giveth it to whomsoever
he will. Who are we to tell God what to
do with his fatted calf? The Pharisees got angry because
the Lord healed on the Sabbath day. You remember what he said
to them? You're dealing with the Lord of the Sabbath now. They needed to hear that, didn't
they? So do we. It's his day. It's his everything. And he'll
do what he wants to, when he wants to, with whom he wants
to. That's what this son is rebelling
against here, first of all. To reply against God and say,
you're not doing things the right way. For Martha to rebuke the
Lord Jesus Christ and say, you need to set this right. You see
what's happening here? This ain't right. But look what the father did.
He came out and entreated him. That word means, listen to this
now. He entreated him. What does that
word entreated mean? It means to call to one side. Come over here now and let's
talk. To comfort and encourage, to
admonish and teach and instruct. That's what the Lord's doing
for you right now and for me. Come over here, come here and
let's talk. Come now and let us reason together. Now look, you may be in the hog
pen right now, I don't know. Or you may be a self-righteous,
proud churchgoer, whatever it is. All of us are both of those
by nature, every one of us. And either way, what we need
is to be taught of God. He entreated him. He said, come
over here by me. I've got something to teach you.
That's what that word means. Listen to me now. The son is saying, you're wrong.
This ain't right. You're wrong. And the father's
saying, we're going to have to talk about that. Somebody's wrong
here and it ain't me. He got to be correct. He got
to be straightened out. The Word of God is profitable
for reproof, rebuke, for instruction in righteousness. And listen, the son was angry,
but the father is kind. even though the son was angry
with him. The natural man is enmity against
God, Romans 8, 7, and is not subject to his truth, to his
word. But do you know what he says
to you? You have no interest by nature
in what God said. You're shaking your fist in his
face just like the prodigal did. That's when the When it came
right down to it, the elder son had exactly the same heart. Rebellion
against the father. The father isn't treating me
right, so I'm going to go do what I want to do. The father
isn't treating me right, so I'm not going in there. I'm not having
anything to do with this. It's enmity against God that we're
seeing here. And that's all of us by nature.
But you know what he does? Come here now and let us raise it
together. What are we going to talk about,
Lord? Your sins. Your sins. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Oh boy, are you
interested in that? Do you want to hear from God
how all your sins can be washed white? Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. Isaiah 1 18. It doesn't matter
if you're in the hog pen or if you think you're serving the
Lord. He said, I've been serving you all these years. What you
need is the precious blood of God's son to wash your sins away. That's what that publican said.
God be propitious to me on the mercy seat. I'm a sinner. You need his blood to wash away
your rebellion, to wash away your hatred from God, to wash
all your sin away. That's what we're going to talk
about. That's what God says. Come here. He calls us to his
side. How gracious he is. Don't misunderstand
me now. God's love is in Christ. It's
in Christ and nowhere else. If you die in your sins, God's
not going to be kind to you. The time for kindness is over
then. What I'm saying is this though, even though right now
you despise the God who saves whom he will, maybe you do. If
you do, the God of free electing grace, he gives his favor to
who he pleases. If you have a problem with that,
like this son had a problem with the way the father did things
in his house. The God who sent his son to redeem
sinners. He sent him to have mercy on
sinners, not the righteous. And not just give them a chance.
He killed the fatted calf for his son. He didn't say, I'm gonna
give you one more chance to do the right thing. His behavior
was never mentioned. What he did and didn't do was
never mentioned. Though you hate and rebel and
insist on your will and your works and your way, his message
to you today is this, come and I'll give you rest. He that believeth
on me shall never perish but shall have everlasting life.
He comes out still and he entreats. And nobody ever yet came to him
and he refused them. It didn't ever happen yet. The father didn't tell this son,
and boy, you know what? If he would have said to that
son, you know what, if you don't like the way I do things, there's
the road. You know what we would have said?
Hallelujah. Boy, that's the right, good enough
for him. That's right. Boy, you'd have cheered him on,
wouldn't you, in saying that? You don't like, boy, how ignorant
and rebellious and stupid. Yeah, let him hit the road. Good
enough for him. Instead he called him to his
side and spoke to him kindly. God still does that. He still
does that. Verse 29, and he answering said
to his father, lo these many years do I serve you. Neither transgressed I at any
time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that
I might make merry with my friends. His answer shows where all of
us are by nature in our self-righteous pride before God. First of all,
oh, in our self-righteousness. We keep in score, aren't we?
We keep score. Lo, these many years This is an estimation in his
mind of just how much he deserves. That's what he expresses. I'm
the one that ought to have the fatted calf killed for me. Look
what I've done. And also, though, it shows a
lack of love for his father. Lo, these many years. Religious people, they think
by what they do, they're storing up treasure in heaven. To God's
people, Christ is the treasure. That prodigal, once he came to
himself, he just said, I'm going to my father. As far as getting
by, as far as inheriting, I'm not even a son anymore. I'm not
worthy. I forfeited that. If the father
would just have me, I want to be with him. God himself is our exceeding
great reward. Really. What do I need with jewels
and mansions if I'm in the presence of my Savior? Really, honestly. Here's the difference that love
makes. Right here, this son said, lo, these many years. Listen to this verse. Genesis
29, 20, and Jacob served seven years for Rachel. And they seemed
unto him but a few days for the love he had to her. The difference between a few
days and lo these many years is love. The self-righteous son was angry
that he wasn't getting the special treatment for all his years of
service. And the prodigal said, Lord,
I just want to be one of your hired servants. I'm not worthy
to be called your son anymore. Just let me in the house. I just
want to be with you. And God is such a God. Now think
about this. God is such a God as to say to
a self-righteous Pharisee who thinks he's been serving God
all his life and comes before God saying, look at all of my
wonderful works I've done for you. He is such a God as to say
to one like that, get away from me. I never knew you. You are a worker of iniquity.
And that same God turns to a murdering, evil, wretched thief who wasted
his whole life and has come to his dying breath. With his second
to last breath, he cursed God's son. And with his last breath,
by grace, through God-given faith, he said, Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. And the Lord said to him, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise. That's the God we serve. That's
our Father. And this man in Matthew 7, who
told the Lord of all his wonderful works, that was his reason, that
was his confidence to come into the presence of God with. Look
what I've done. We tithe. We come to church every
service. We witness. We read our Bibles.
And because of all this, we're going to go to heaven when we
die. What was the blood of Christ for then? That's the way religious
man thinks by nature. Paul said in Philippians 3 that
when he was in religion, he counted all of his works as gain before
God. But now, since he met Christ,
all of that is sin. It's done, everything I've done,
everything I am. It's done that I might win Christ
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, but having
his righteousness. This elder son is on shaky ground
if God's like that. Is he not? Number one on God's
hate list is a proud look. And here this son is saying,
look what I've done for you. And you're not going to. You're
going to reward the one who sinned against you and not me. And look what he said next. Low
these many years. And then next, what I serve you. Wow. All these many years I've
been serving you. Think about that for a minute.
He's living in his father's house, sleeping in a bed provided by
his father, eating food supplied by his father, working a field
that belongs to his father. He's under the protection and
care of his father. And because there's a little
sweat rolling down his face, he thinks he's doing something
for his father? Really? We don't think right, do we,
by nature? We just don't see things the right way. We're living
in God's world. Everything we have comes from
Him. Even the strength to do anything. The mind to do anything. The will to do anything. The
ability to do anything. It comes from Him. It's Him doing
something for us. And we say, look how we're serving
you, Lord. Are you really gonna say that
to God? Am I gonna say that? We're going to have to get this
straight. Let me emphasize to us again, if you're here this
morning, that's not you doing something for God. That's because
God did something for you. He brought you here. He gave
you a hunger and a thirst for his righteousness, for his son. Or he brought you here so you'd
hear the truth. You're not going to hear it in
this world. This is God doing something for
you. If you ever do anything that can, by any wild stretch
of the imagination, be considered good, even relatively speaking,
Philippians 2.13, it is God which worketh in you both to will and
to do of his good pleasure. And you're going to boast? I'm
going to boast and say, look what I'm doing for God? That's
what this son is doing. Are we really okay, are we honestly,
now I'm asking you honestly, answer with your own heart, in
your own heart. Are you really okay with God
getting all the glory, all of it? Or do you, like this young man,
this elder son, demand recognition and expect some kind of reward
for what you've done, for what you do? And look what he said next. Neither
transgressed I at any time thy commandment. Do you believe that?
You ever known anybody like that? Yeah, me neither. Including me. But that's how we think of ourselves.
Boy, I've lived, I've done everything you ever told me to do. Not in
any sense is that true. Not in any sense. In our natural self-righteousness,
we are blind to our own sinfulness before God. Now you think about
this now. There's never been a time when
we didn't transgress God's commandment. In us dwelleth no good thing.
Our righteousness, as God says, are as filthy rags in his sight.
And we're going to say, I've kept these from my youth up.
That's what the rich young ruler. He asked the Lord, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord said, keep the law.
And he said, I've kept these from my youth up. And then the
Lord put that theory to the test, didn't he? The law says, thou
shalt love the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve,
and thou shalt have no other gods before me. The Lord said,
go sell everything that you have, and give it to the poor, and
come follow me. If you want to be perfect, that's
how it happens. You know, that ought to be the
easiest thing in the world. Just my stuff, to get rid of
my stuff and follow the Lord of glory, who gave me everything
I have anyway, that ought to be the easiest thing in the world.
You know what he said about it? A man will never do it. It's
impossible for a man to do that. Only if God intervenes and works
a miracle of grace will a man ever do such a thing. There's never been a moment That
we have not fallen short of the glory of God and yet by nature
We say I've kept these for my youth up. I've never once you
know Unbelievable in it unbelievable
Until the Lord turns on the light When the Lord turned the light
on for Job, he said, I'm going to shut up now. I've been talking
about things I don't know anything about. That's what this son is
doing. This elder son was blind to his
own condition. He's standing there dishonoring
his father, saying, I've never dishonored you. Isn't that incredible? Think
about that. He's standing there saying, you don't run things
right. Your house is a disaster. There's
inequity and unfairness and unrighteousness in your house and it's your fault.
And saying in the same speech, I've never dishonored, I've never
disobeyed you. First John 1.8, if we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. If we say we have no sin, we
sin when we said it. That's what he just did. Look what else he said. You never
gave me a kid. You never killed a fatted calf
for me. What in the world is he talking
about? Everything he ever needed. That's
what the Father said. Everything I own has been yours
since you were born. Isn't that the truth? Everything we have, we got from
Him. And we're going to accuse Him
of not giving us anything? Not doing anything for us? I
hope that by God's grace we can see ourselves here and see how
kind and gracious he is. Everything that boy ever wanted
or needed, everything that was good for
him, he had right from his father's hand, from his birth. Self-righteous religious sinners
always feel like God owes them something. Always. Adam and Eve in the garden. What
did they lack? You think about that. There they are walking
in paradise. In perfect communion with God.
Walking in paradise. What did they lack? Satan made
it look like God was mistreating them. And they bought it. They bought it. Do you know what God really owes
us? I suspect most of you do. And here we are saying, boy,
if you just treat us right. And then he said this, that I
might make Mary with my friends. If he did have what he wanted,
if he had everything and if things were his way, his father wouldn't
even be in the equation. Did you notice that? I'd make
merry with my friends. The father's cut out of that.
How revealing. How revealing. That sounds like
what the prodigal did in the beginning, doesn't it? I don't
want anything to do with my father. I'm going to go have fun with
my friends. I'm going to go out in this world. I'm going to make
some friends. I'm going to make it rain, you know, and we'll
have a good time. And the elder son reveals here
that the same thing, no matter how it looks, it looks like,
oh, bad seed, good son. The same rebellious heart was
beaten in that elder son. If you'd just give me what I
deserve, well, I could have a good time then. And you wouldn't have
anything to do with it. He'd rather been with his friends
than at his father's table, where he's been sitting all this time
at his father's table. And now the truth comes out.
He never says the word father one time. The elder son accused the younger
son of mistreating the father in verse 30. And even as he says
it, he reveals his own lack of love for his father. Remember what the Lord said in
Matthew 7, 3, why do you behold the moat that is in your brother's
eye, but consider not the beam that's in your eye? That's our
nature, isn't it? Boy, look how this evil son went
out and spent his money on the most horrible things, spent your
money and your living on the most horrible things, and you're
kind and gracious to him. How will you say to your brother,
let me pull the moat out of your eye, and behold, a beam is in
your own eye? You hypocrite. First cast out the beam out of
thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast the
mote out of thy brother's eye. That which was cause for rejoicing. And think about it. Is there
ever, is there a story in all the scripture that makes you
want to shout any more than this? Look at the, what a happy ending,
what a beautiful story. And it was infuriating to this
self-righteous wretch. It's like the Lord healing that
man with the withered hand on the Sabbath day and everybody's
rejoicing and praising God. And the Pharisees are like, wait
a minute now. This ain't right. And it says in that passage,
the Lord was angry with them. He had no idea what was happening. How can we hear the gospel of
free grace for sinners and get mad? If it wasn't for His grace, we
would be, wouldn't we? I've seen people get mad. I've seen a whole lot more people
get mad than I have get glad about that. He had no idea what was going
on. Notice the words of verse 26 there. He said, what does
this mean? He had no idea. And when it was explained to
him what was happening, he still didn't have any idea what was
going on. Because if he had, he'd have been happy. Oh, he
knew in his head. He understood it. He just didn't
like it. He didn't like it. And therefore, he had no spiritual
understanding. The most beautiful story ever
told. A story of love and grace and redemption and joy. But there
was no beauty in it for him. Not a bit. And this is because
the only thing self-righteous religious sinners hate worse
than God's law is God's free, sovereign, electing grace. There's nothing a self-righteous
sinner hates anymore than God just saving somebody just because
he's good and just because he wants to. How can you hate that? That's a good question. But I
guarantee you, There wouldn't be a soul in here that didn't
hate that. Without that grace, that free
electing sovereign grace. I've told you before, I had a
conversation with somebody, with a man about God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ. That he has mercy on the worst
of sinners. And he does it freely. That Christ died for them and
actually redeemed them. And he said to me, I don't want
anything to do with a God like that. That's what this son is
saying. I'm not going in there. I don't
want any part in it. I'm not going in there. For this
thing of just forgiving somebody completely? Just freely? He didn't do anything to deserve
it and you're going to bless him anyway? I don't want anything
to do with that. But look what the father said
now. He reminded this son that everything he had was from him. You've never lacked anything.
And that's because of me. And he reminded him of this.
It was right for me to receive and rejoice in this son coming
home. It was right for me to do that. It's his home. It's his son.
It's his to freely give now. He'll do with his own what he
will. And notice how he describes it in closing. Listen to this.
Notice how he describes what happened. You remember what happened
now. The prodigal son said, give me
my inheritance now. You're not dead yet, but you
are to me. He didn't say it in so many words, but isn't that
what he's saying? You know when you get an inheritance is when
your father dies. That son said, It ain't happening
soon enough for me. Give it to me now." And he went
as far, a far country. He went, he got as far away from
his father as he could, as his money would take him. And there was a famine. And he
came to nothing and he was in the hog pen. And he was looking
at what the hogs were eating thinking, that's starting to
look pretty good. They're eating better than me.
And then the light came on. He said, even the hired servants
in my father's house eat better than I do. What an idiot I am. How kind and gracious and loving
my father is and how I mistreated him. What a fool I am. There's
not but one thing to do. I'm going home. You know how
the father described that? He was dead. The father was dead
to him. And the father described it like
that my son was dead. But he's not dead anymore. He's
alive. You know who gives life to dead
people? Do you know anybody that can
do that? There's just one. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, as the father quickeneth whom he will, so hath he given
authority to the son to give life to whomsoever he will. My son was dead and now he's
alive. He doesn't describe it the way
we might if we read that and we didn't have the other parts
of the parable. We might say, well that son, you know, he was
an idiot at first, but you know, good for him you know he came
around no he was dead and God gave him life the only one the
one who says I kill and I make alive said unto him live and
he did and he saw and he came home and look how else he described
it He was lost. And here's what he's saying.
He was lost and I found him. Who do you think found him? He's
lost, he's found. Found by who? It's all about
the Father. This whole thing was between
the Father and the Son, wasn't it? I found him. I found him. Wait a minute. The lost sheep
was pursued by the shepherd. Now listen to this now. I'm going
to close with this thought, but think about it with me. This
is important in wrapping all these three parts together of
this parable, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal
son. The lost sheep was pursued by
the shepherd who took hold of that sheep and laid that sheep
on his shoulder and brought him home and rejoiced. And you know the way he described
that in verse seven of the text? That's a sinner repenting. Really, is that how you would
have described it? If that's all the information you had?
Sounds to me like the shepherd did everything. He did. What
has that got to do with the sin of repenting? The shepherd did
everything. That's what a sin of repenting
is. Paul said to Timothy, teach those
that oppose themselves if peradventure God will grant them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. And the coin, it was lifeless
and cold and inanimate and worthless. You can't spend a lost coin.
It was worthless until the light was shined upon it. And again
in verse 10, the Lord said, that's a sinner repenting. Really? Yep. And here we see in the last part
of the parable, a sinner repenting. Don't we? He said, wait a minute,
he changed his mind. Before he's saying the father,
I don't want nothing to do with him. Now he says, I'm going to
my father. There's a sin of repenting, and
you know how God describes that? He was dead. He was as dead as
that coin. And I shined the light on him,
I found him. Isn't that beautiful? Is that how you would describe
this prodigal coming to himself and realizing what a self-destructive
idiot he had been? Would you describe it that way?
A dead man coming to life? I would now. I would now. By God's grace, I would now.
Now that God told me what happened. And he was lost. and is found. That word found means to come
upon after searching to find a thing sought. Do you know why this prodigal
had a sudden epiphany and realized that the only thing to do was
to go home to his father? Because God said, there you are. There you are. The shepherd said,
there's my sheep. My sheep. And he brought us home. Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. In all three parts of the parable,
God gets all the glory. And that's for one simple reason.
Salvation is of the Lord. And we say this When we look
at God's salvation, you know what we say? This is the Lord's
doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Listen to the context of that
in Psalm 118.21. I will praise thee for thou hast
heard me and art become my salvation. Think about what's being said.
I'm going to praise Him because He heard me and He has become
my salvation. Who's my salvation? Next verse.
The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone
of the corner. The one who was despised and
rejected of men now gets all the glory. And the next verse
is this one. This is the Lord's doing. He's
my salvation and he's worthy of all the honor and glory. And
this is because that's the way God does things. And what do
you think about it? It's marvelous. It is marvelous
in our eyes. Psalm 118, 21 through 23. That describes our parable about
as well as anything, doesn't it? By God's grace, we're in
the house rejoicing with him. Just to be home. Did this prodigal,
what do you think he said next? Did he say, well, if that's the
way things are, have a good life. I'll see ya. Or not. Did he rebel and continue in
his hard-hearted rebellion against the father or did he say you
know what father you're right you're right I'm an idiot I'm
a fool you've given me everything I have and I'm an ungrateful
wretch thank you for all that you've done for me for all that
you are to me thank you which was it you think we're not told
You tell me, because you're Him. You're Him. And so am I. But I know who makes the difference. And you do too. Let's pray.