All right, we have Brother Darwin
Pruitt and his lovely bride, Yvonne, with us this morning
from Grace Baptist Church of Louisville, Arkansas. And we
know Brother Darwin well and we're so thankful for your willingness
to come up and preach the gospel to us. We're very thankful. And
without further delay, let's just bring you up here I pray
the Lord bless you, brother, and bless us as well. It's good to be back. I'm especially happy to see Mr. Scott here today. I know it's
been a long while. and we all missed you. I invite you to turn with me to
Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. We'll be looking
at verses 25 through 32, which are all about the other
son. Let's read these verses together.
Luke chapter 15, beginning with verse 25. Now the 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 he 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. 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
so much as a kid, just a baby goat, 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 fatty calf. And he said unto him, son, Thou
art ever with me and all that I have is thine. It was me that
we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead
and is alive again and was lost and is found. May the Lord add
his blessing to the reading of his word. I would remind you
of this that This is just a little piece of a response that our
Lord was making to the scribes and Pharisees who were murmuring
because he was down there ministering to a bunch of sinners. And they
murmured saying, he receiveth and eateth with sinners. And they were just absolutely,
if you go back and get into the original language a little bit,
which I don't normally do that when I'm preaching, it's just
more or less a waste of time, but I did want to get this across
to you, that everything they said was in utter disgust. They
didn't say this, the scripture said this man, but in the original
it just says this. They couldn't even come up with
a name for him. It's just this, Edith, with publicans
and sinners. He's just, you know, I know what
he claims and I know all, he eats with publicans and sinners.
They were just absolutely disgusted. And more or less asking why,
why. And so the Lord gives him a trilogy
of parables. He gives him the parable of the
lost sheep, which is the work of Christ. And then he gives
him the parable of the lost coin, which is the work of the Holy
Spirit. And then he gives him the parable of the lost son,
which is the prodigal. And this is the final application
of that trilogy of parables. And remember who he's talking
to. He's talking to scribes and Pharisees who were sons in name
only. They were Jews. They were sons of Abraham. They
were sons in name only. In answer to their vain accusations,
our Lord gave them three parables illustrating his work and telling
them why he was down ministering to these sinners. False religion. And this is what
it seems to me to be as I studied these things. In verses 25 through
32, they're intended to condemn the scribes and Pharisees of
that day and every generation of scribes and Pharisees up to
this day. He meant to condemn them. And
false religion, no matter what form it is, has Satan as its
father. It doesn't... You know, used
to, when I was in religion, we talked about scribes and Pharisees.
Well, we were the epitome of scribes and Pharisees, but we
didn't see it. And we talked, you know, down
our nose at these scribes and Pharisees, not realize Satan
is at the head of all false religion. And there's really only two religions
in the world, works and grace. And works religion always leaves
a man proud. When you read in the scripture
about true religion, that man is always humble. He has true humility. He's broken. He's a bankrupt sinner. But religion
leaves a man proud. He's proud. Why? Because it's
based on his works. He's proud. You know, if you
grow a garden, you're proud of your garden. You know, I did
this, I planted this, I weeded this, I worked for this, and
now I got this. That's what religion is. Works
religion always leaves a man proud. And it leaves him looking
at himself, he'll always find somebody worse to compare himself
to. There's others out there even
in religion better than him, but he won't compare himself
to them, he'll compare himself to somebody weaker, smaller. And no matter what the name they
choose to identify with, or the title they choose to take, or
profession they choose to make, it doesn't make any difference.
In Ephesians 4, 4 through 6, we're plainly told of the oneness
of true religion. There's a oneness about true
religion. Don't ever let anybody tell you
that there's no difference. There is a difference. And the
difference is all believers are one. They're one. He says in this passage, there's
one body. One body, that's the church,
the body of Christ. We're one. We're one in body. all of us members of the same
body. One spirit. Well, the spirit
told me this and he told you that. No, he didn't. There's
just one spirit. Just one spirit. And that spirit,
he gives us the revelation of Christ. Does he give it to us
differently? No. No, he describes the one true
and living God manifested in Jesus Christ. There's one spirit. Even as you're called in one
hope of your calling. What is the one hope of our calling?
Christ in you. Isn't it? I don't care who you
are, if you're a believer. I don't care if you're from New
Jersey or New Hampshire or wherever you're from. Christ in you is
the hope of glory. We're called in one hope of our
calling, and that hope is Christ. We don't have any other hope.
Take Christ out of the picture, we're gone. And there's one Lord,
the same Lord. He's Lord over His people. We're not making Him Lord, He's
already Lord. He's Lord whether you know it
or not. He's Lord. He's Lord of the dead and the
living. And then he said, there's only one faith. You got your
faith, I have mine. No, it's just one faith. One faith. Like precious faith
is what Peter called it. There's only one baptism. We won't talk about four or five,
but there's only one. Just one. One God, he said. My God wouldn't do like that.
Well, now there's only one God. Either will or he won't. One
God, and listen to this, and Father of all. There's one Father
over His children. Our Heavenly Father. He's not
this world's Father. He's the Father of His people.
Because you're sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His
Son into your heart, enabling you to cry, Abba, Father. One
father. And he's above all, now watch
this, and through all, and in you all. One father. There's a oneness. You see what
I'm saying? In true religion, there's a oneness.
And I don't care who you are, how old you are, how long you've
been in it, or if you just come in it yesterday. There's a oneness.
in this thing of true faith. And Satan doesn't care what name
you put on the sign out front. He could care less. You could
get a big long list of sovereignness and that. I grew up in the Nazarene
religion, very legalistic, proud, I saw a sign, or a name, on my
phone yesterday, and it said, Grace Baptist Church of the Nazarene. Well, that's, I mean, you talk
about a contradiction of terms. It's unbelievable. And people
put those names out on their sign. I've seen two or three
that says Grace Church, but you go in there and talk to them,
it's got nothing to do with grace. Satan don't care how you dress.
He don't care. Dress any way you want to. He
don't care what you eat. He don't care how you conduct
your services so long as you miss Christ. That's all Satan's
concerned with. As long as you miss Christ. But in the parable, he's talking
to these self-righteous Jews. Paul asked this question in Romans
3, 9, having great advantage, great advantage over the world.
They had all the prophets were Jews, or most of them. They were
Jews. God was with them. You think
of that. God was with them and preached
the gospel to them and provided men who would preach to them. They had great advantage over
the world. And Paul said, what advantage
then have we? He said, much in every way. Now
then, he said, are we better than they? Mm-mm. Why? Because I have before proved
both Jew and Gentile, they're all under sin. They're all depraved
sinners. Men and women are, some for generations,
are raised in false religion. My grandparents were raised in
the Nazarene religion. My dad raised us in the Nazarene
religion, self-righteous works religion, legalism. And growing up, I saw my dad's
devotion to that church. I saw his sincerity and commitment
to that church. And I saw it as a pattern for
me in my house, and I saw myself having a great advantage from
others, and assumed because of this advantage that I had favor
with God. Don't ever make that mistake.
You may have believing parents. That doesn't give you an advantage.
It doesn't give you, it gives you an advantage, but it doesn't
make you any better than anybody else. And the Pharisees and the scribes
here are depicted in this parable as a son, and they were a son
in name only. Ask anyone in any religion about
the Jews or Israel as a nation, and they'll tell you so fast.
They'll spit it right back at you real fast. This is God's
chosen people. They're the children of Israel.
They're the children of God, the Jews. And they were in name
only. In name only. Paul said, then
has he cut all the Jews off? He said, no, I'm a Jew. I'm a
Jew. And notice in the scriptures,
Israel is called the sons of Jacob, the children of Israel.
But we're also told in Romans 2, 28, he's not a Jew, which
is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh, but he's a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision
is that of the heart and the spirit and not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. Romans 9.6 tells us that
they're not all Israel, the nation, the elect of God, which are of
Israel, who is Jacob. Because you're Jacob's blood
kin, doesn't make you a son of God. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. The promised seed, the promised
son. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. This other son
that was out in the field was a son in name only. In name only. And you and I have children raised
under the preaching of the gospel, and they indeed have been given
a great advantage, but we're all under sin and must be brought
to Christ through the preaching of the gospel. called out of
darkness just like anybody else. Brought to our father in true
repentance and faith just like our parents were. And we're not
a son except in name only just because you live in your father's
house don't make you a son of God. Christ uses the elder son
depicting the natural sons who assumed they were God's children
by blood relation and family ties. He uses this son. Because
these guys were absolutely convinced that they were sons of God. They
were sitting in judgment on Christ whom they had judged to be an
imposter. It never dawned on them that
they might not be a son. And so he gives them these parables,
and then at the last, he applies it to them. Why are you down
there receiving them sinners and eating with them? That's
my lost sheep. That's my lost sheep. And the
coin, after much study, I saw as the work of the Holy Ghost,
they had a chain-like of coins that women wore around their
head, and sometimes around their neck, It was called a Semodai,
and it's much like our rings. It was a token of affection.
The coin she lost that she thought she knew right where it was and
she could go put her hand on it at any time was a token of
God's affection, and she lost that coin, and she lost it in
a dingy, dark house. She didn't know her house looked
like that until she started hunting that coin. And oh, what a dingy
mess that house was. She had to get a light. Well,
where's she gonna get a light? Holy Spirit of God gives her
that revelation of Christ. And with that revelation, she
begins to look, look for that token of God's affection. The son who come confessing his
sins, said, I'm not worthy to be called by son. The other son
said, I'm worthy, and he not. Well, he already said he was.
But he was. He was. And all these false sons,
all these sons who presume this favor of God, or presume that
they could win God's favor by their work, they all say the
same thing. They're all worthy. They're all worthy. Now let me
give you several things which reveal the true relationship
of the elder son to his father. I want you to see why I'm saying
this son is a son in name only. And the first thing that I see
revealed in this parable that our Lord gives to him is his
location. The father and the servants were
looking for the lost son. They were looking. These guys
weren't looking. They were in the field. They
were working. They were busy working. Busy
working trying to win God's approval. Busy working trying to do whatever
religion. I've heard them say that their
good works are sending lumber up to build a mansion for them
up in glory. They have no clue about God's
faith and what that favor entails. He wasn't in the house. He wouldn't
go in the house when he found out. He already knew what it
was all about. But everybody else was looking for him. Everybody
else ran out with the father to meet the son. They were all
on the same page. The only one that wasn't on the
page was the other son. He was out in the field. And the whole matter of the wayward
son and the father's provision for him were well known by everybody
in the house except the older son. And as he labored daily
in the field, it must have been a thorn in his flesh to hear
his father even mention the wayward son. Somebody'd say, well, he's
got a calf pinned up down there for a celebration. Well, what's
he gonna celebrate? He's gonna celebrate his lost
son. Word has come he's on his way back. Now he'd rather stay in the field
alone than attend his father's celebration of salvation. Now I'll let you make your own
application with that. A lot of people would rather
stay home. They'd rather stay in the field. And this is the
life of every Pharisee and scribe. They believe they're coming,
they're earning their father's pleasure working in the field
and despise poor sinners who are saved by grace. And then
secondly, here's another thing about this relationship of this
son to his father. The son who stayed home was in
his own eyes and by his own works a self-righteous man. He tells his father in verse
29, lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I
at any time, at any time, by commandment. You can't look yourself
in the mirror and say that, can you? let alone say it to you,
Heavenly Father. Oh, my self-righteousness, how
blinding. And my friend, our Lord commands
us to be obedient, to love one another, and care, and watch
out for those in need, and to live honest lives. But doing
what he commands us does not constitute having a righteousness
before God. Our best work is polluted enough
to send us to hell. Our best prayer we ever prayed
is polluted enough to send you to hell. Our spiritual sacrifices are
acceptable to God, Peter said, by Jesus Christ. They have to
be made acceptable. And we have nothing of our own
to offer our God or to be owed to us in return. We're just like
the prodigal. We realize what we are and what
we've done. We have nothing, nothing. The
only thing we have is this little tidbit of knowledge about our
father that even the servants in his house have bread enough
to eat and to spare. He wasn't going back there to
be a son. He had no idea that he could ever be a son to his
father again. And then thirdly, the eldest
son despised the sacrifice. You ever think about that? He
despised the sacrifice. He despised the robe and the
ring. It says in verse 28, he was angry
and would not go in. No, I am not going in. And our God has ordained the
way and means to save chosen sinners. And their heavenly father
and his angels and all his faithful servants rejoice over every prodigal
coming home in true repentance and faith. Where do they rejoice? In their father's house. Do you know that this is your
father's house? Every place where God's people
assemble in true worship is your father's house. This is my father's
house. And all his people, even his
servants, come in and rejoice in every prodigal saved by grace. All his heavenly angels, if I
read the book of Hebrews correctly, they gather when the gospel's
being preached. They have a desire to look into
those things that they have never experienced and will never experience.
Those things are just, you think about it, angels desire to look
into those things. In Hebrews 3, 6, it said, but
Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we? Where's
the house? Where's the house? Where's the
house? Whose house are we if we hold
fast the confidence, now watch this, and rejoicing? Oh, I thought
we had to mourn all the time. God, people not mourn. That son
didn't mourn. When he put that ring on his
finger, and he put that royal robe on his back, and he commanded
his servants to go kill that fatty calf, all by himself. And something interesting, too,
if you wanna go back and read this a little bit. The father
didn't say, go get the ring and see if he'll put it on. He said,
you go get the ring and put it on him. The ring has to be put
on us, we can't put it on. People say, I got saved. No, no you didn't, no you didn't. If he saves you, he'll save you,
but you ain't gonna get saved. They put the ring on him, they
put the robe on him. He was angry, he wouldn't go
in. And then fourthly, the other son was in full disagreement
with his father's affection, his father's purpose, his father's
wisdom, his father's favor, and his father's means. I don't know
anything in our day that sheds a light on unbelievers more than
their unwillingness to submit themselves to the means of God
through the preaching of the gospel. You mean I have to hear
a man to be saved? That's what God says. He said it pleased God. Now that's the only one that
needs to be pleased. Were you pleased or not? It pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
That's what God said. Now I know what men say and I
know what religion says, that's what God says. That's what God
says. Oh, they're in such disagreement.
Such disagreement. His favor, he was wasting his
favor on this prodigal. Wasting his favor. It wasn't
about the prodigal. It was about God. It was about
the Father. Christ was telling them, the
Father sent me. This salvation has a beginning
and it's with the Father. I came not to do my own will,
but the will of him that sent me. And this is my father's will,
which has sent me, that of all which he had given me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day." In his eyes, it was all wasted
on the prodigal. Well, let me ask you something.
Why did the elder son despise his father's son? It's obvious that he was a kind
and merciful father. What made this man so angry? He could not see, could not perceive
the person and work of Christ. That's why they won't go in.
They can't. They could not perceive. He's
down there eating with sinners. That's his work. That's his work. He could not see the person and
work of Christ. Sinners are made sons in Christ. Sinners have no favor of God
except in Christ. Sinners are made heirs in Christ. Sinners have the love of God
secured in them by Christ. Nothing shall be able to separate
you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The other son was a son in name
only. And then fifthly, he envied his
brother. Oh, how he envied his brother.
I did all these things and you never gave me so much as a baby
goat. But you gave that man who wasted
your living. It was your living, it wasn't
his, you gave it to him. He went down and wasted it on
harlots. You give him the fatty cash. You wasted your affection on
that boy. And like the scribes and Pharisees,
they bore the name of the son and they had all the father's
ordinances and outwardly kept all of his commandments. But
they had none of their father's blessedness, none of his mercifulness,
and none of his grace. The father said to the disgruntled
son, thou art ever with me. Who do you think gave you your
being? Huh, wasn't it the father? Yeah, there's your father. Whose
house are you living in daily? Your father's house. Who put
the food on the table? Father did. Father did. How'd you get that name? Israel. I gave it to you. You didn't
choose me, I chose you. Natural Israel had enjoyed God's
provision their whole lives and never experienced His love and
grace. And so it is in our day. They're
all allowed to continue and even flourish to accomplish God's
purpose of grace. And know this, God said this,
and it's so, and it's ever gonna be so. The elder is gonna serve
the younger. And that's what happened. The
elder. served the younger. He stood
on the outside while the younger had the ring. Boy, that was the
family crest. That was the seal. Put it on
his finger. If you got a document, they'd
pour that hot wax out, and he'd put that ring down in that way. He's the heir. And I'm out here. I'm out here. I ain't even got
a kid. He gets fatty cat. You're on
the outside looking in. Oh, may God help us never to
be on the outside looking in. But with that revelation that
he's given us, and that true faith and repentance, which are
gifts of God, oh, my soul. And I wish I had time to tell
you how far can the Father see. So he saw that son, it said a
long way, long before the son got near the house. How far can
God see? He sees eternity to eternity. Did he know the son was coming
home? That calf wouldn't have been pinned up if he didn't.
Those servants wouldn't have been ready if he didn't. Oh my
God, give you some understanding, especially me. Thank you so much. Thank you brother. Let's close
in prayer and then we'll be dismissed for about 15 minutes. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you for your grace, we thank you for your word of
comfort, of joy and gladness in our Savior Jesus Christ. We
thank you, Father, for your wisdom, for your salvation, for your
grace which you've given to us freely in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, we can't earn it in the field. We can't work for it or
accomplish it ourselves. We have no part. But Lord, you
are gracious and compassionate and merciful to whom you will
be gracious, compassionate, and merciful. Lord, we thank you
for this. We thank you for all that you've
done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, that it's a finished
work, and you have given it to us, and put it on us, and put
it in us, and blessed us richly in Christ. We thank you for your
servant. We thank you for the word. We
pray that you would bless that word to our hearts, help us to
hear it, receive it, and hear it in truth and in spirit in
our hearts. Lord, we pray that you bless
our time of fellowship here this day and we pray that you would
bless us and your servant again in the next hour to hear your
word and to rejoice in Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen.