I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
I'm speaking from Luke chapter 15 this morning, and I've entitled
this message, Which Son Are You? Now, this is probably the most
famous of all of the Lord's parables. It's the story of the prodigal
son and his elder brother. In Luke chapter 15 we read, Then
drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth
sinners, and eateth with them, and he spake this parable unto
them. Now the target audience at this
time is the scribes and Pharisees who resented the fact that Christ
received sinners and even ate with them, and he gave this specific
parable to them, and this is one parable given in three different
parts. There's the parable of the lost
sheep, there's the parable of the lost coin, and there's the
parable of the lost son. Now these three Parables in one
parable represent the work of the Son, they represent the work
of the Spirit, and they represent the work of the Father in salvation. And in all three of these parables,
we have something lost, something found, and some rejoicing that
took place. We read of the lost sheep, a
wayward sheep. going astray, and the shepherd
coming after it and bringing it back home. We read of a lost
coin, a part of a woman's wedding dowry, something that was dead
and senseless and couldn't do anything to help find it. And
the woman coming, representing the work of the Holy Spirit and
finding. Then we read of the lost son. He willfully and wickedly left
his father, asking for his inheritance early and went and spent his
money on riotous living, and him coming back to the Father.
Now, this parable was given to the Pharisees, the religious
people who objected to our Lord receiving sinners and eating
with them. And I believe that this parable probably sounded
very strange to them. Who would leave 99 sheep in the
wilderness, vulnerable to any kind of attack, to go after one
sheep? Who would do something like that?
when he thinks of this young man. Who would make a request
for their inheritance early like this? And what about this father?
Why would he give it to him in the first place? They saw very
many things in this story that they did not understand and certainly
did not approve of. But let's begin reading in verse
11 of Luke chapter 15 about this son, and his elder brother. And
I'm asking the question, which son are you? Now, beginning in
verse 11 of Luke chapter 15, we read, a certain man had two
sons. And the younger of them said
to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth
to me. Now this is what he was supposed
to get when his father died. But he says, I want my inheritance
early. What he's saying is I don't want
to have anything to do with you anymore. I want to get out of
this place. Give me the portion of goods
that has fallen to me. And he divided unto them his
living. He gave up his inheritance early. Verse 13, and not many days after,
the younger son gathered all together and took his journey
into a far country. He wanted to get away from his
father as far as he could. And he went into a far country,
and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. He squandered
all of this wealth on riotous living. He had the funds and
the money to support this immoral lifestyle, and he was enjoying
it. Wine, women, and song, a life
of riotous living. And this might have gone on months,
might have gone on a few years. Verse 14, and when he had spent
all, The time came when the money ran out. And when he spent all,
there arose a mighty famine in that land, the Lord sent it,
and he began to be in want. Now, this place that he was at
is no longer an attractive place to be. He had a lot of fun for
a long time, but there's no fun now. He's completely run out
of money. He's squandered all of his wealth.
A mighty famine hits the land, and he begins to be in want,
in need, lacking, destitute. He was in a much worse condition. Oh, he was so He began to be
in want, and he didn't realize that this state actually is the
first state of blessedness, to find out your need. He began
to be in want. Now, he didn't have any wants
before this, but now all of a sudden, he begins to be in need. I love that scripture, the whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. He healed them
that had need of healing. He began to be in need, and we
read in verse 15, so he went and joined himself to a citizen
of that country. And he sent him into the fields
to feed swine. He joined the church, and they
put him to work. That's what that citizen of that
country represents. You know, people get tired of
the life of sin and the wages of sin and the difficult difficulties
their life of sin has created for them, and so they join a
church. They get religious, and he is
put to work in the ultimate indignity for a Jew. He's sent to feed
swine, no lower, and he was made to see that in his efforts to
make his plight better, it only grew worse. Then we read in verse
16, and he fain would have filled his belly with the husks that
the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. Now, his beginning
to be in want reached its final consummation. No man gave to
him. He was perishing with hunger.
He went from what he thought was the top of the mountain down
to the bottom. He had bottomed out. Have you ever been there? He
had bottomed out. He reached the bottom. And then
we read in verse 17, and when he came to himself. I love that. When he came to himself. When
his mind was changed. I couldn't help but think of
the Gadarene demonic that we read about in Mark chapter 5,
who was so crazy, so insane. But when the Lord did something
for him, we read where he was sitting at the feet of Christ,
clothed, and in his right mind. Now, a lost man is crazy. Somebody that
believes salvation by works is insane. But he came to himself."
Now, if this is the only part of that parable we had, we would
think, well, him coming to himself is why he was saved. He turned
things around, but we forget about the first two stories,
the lost sheep going astray. and the lost coin being unable
to do anything for itself. There we see the son going after
the lost sheep. The sheep didn't seek the Savior.
The Savior sought the sheep. And the coin didn't seek the
woman. The woman sought and found the coin. And this is a result
of the work of God the Holy Spirit in him. He came to himself. When he came to himself, he said,
How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to
spare, and I perish with hunger? Now, the hired servants that
had bread enough to spare, that's the lowest form of a servant.
And his father was a wealthy and a generous man, and he took
care of the lowest servants. And he remembers that about his
father. He says, How many of the hired servants, the lowest
servants in my father's house have bread enough to spare, and
I'm perishing with hunger. He says in verse 18, I will arise
and go to my father. He has completely different thoughts
about his father. You see, his mind has been changed.
He wanted to get away from his father. Now he wants to come
to his father. And he says, I will arise and
go to my father. And I will say unto him, Father,
I've sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy
to be called by son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. Now that this young man was aware
of his sin, he said, Father, I've sinned against heaven. My
sin is against God. That's why it's so bad. And I've
sinned against thee. He confesses his sin. Now, when you confess your sin,
what you're doing is you're taking sides with God against yourself. It's all your fault. You confess
that my sin, I've ruined myself, I've ruined other, I've ruined
myself. This is all my fault. I've sinned. No excuses, no self-vindication,
no self-justification. I've sinned against heaven and
in thy sight, and I'm not worthy to be called thy son. Now this
is so important. You know, when the Lord brings
somebody to their right mind, all sense of entitlement leaves. They know they deserve nothing
from God's hand. He said, I'm not worthy to be
called thy son. You know, when I hear people arguing with the
gospel, they argue God's way of salvation. They say, how could
it be fair for God to elect some and pass by others? How could
it be fair for Christ to die only for the elect and not for
everybody? God is unjust. This is not right. How could
this be fair? I know, here's someone who's
never been humbled before God. Because if you're ever humbled
before God and see your sin, you won't be speaking like that.
You'll be speaking like this, Young man, father, I've sinned
against heaven and in thy sight, and I'm no longer worthy to be
called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. I'd be awful grateful for any
mercy you send my way. Verse 20, and he arose, and he
came to his father. How long this journey took, I
don't know, But you can imagine his reeking and emaciated frame
at this time coming back to his father. And we read in verse
20, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. And he had compassion and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him. That's the reception he
had from his father. His father saw him first. You
see, his father was looking for him. And his father knew he would
return. He knew it. And this depicts
God. God knows his erring children
will return. And he was waiting on him. And
when he came, the father saw him, and he was moved with compassion. He wasn't angry. He was moved
with compassion. And he ran to him, and he fell
on his neck, and he kissed him with many kisses, with many kisses. Oh, he was so glad to see him. So the son starts to try to put
out his speech, verse 21, and the son said unto him, Father,
I've sinned. against heaven and in thy sight,
and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. But even while
he said this, while he was speaking, the father said to the servants,
you bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring
on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted
calf and kill it and let us eat and be married. For this my son
was dead and is alive again, was lost. and is found. And they began to be merry."
Now I love to picture this in my mind. The son is trying to
make his confession, and the father says, bring forth the
best robe. Don't hand it to him, put it
on him. Now, I have no doubt that that
robe represents the garment of salvation, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the wedding garment, fine linen,
clean and white, the righteousness of the saints, which is nothing
less than the righteousness, the perfect merits of Jesus Christ. He's altogether beautiful in
this lovely robe. The ring indicates this eternal
covenant that has been made with this young man. When you give
a ring in marriage, it's because I'm gonna love you forever. I'm
never gonna leave you. A ring represents an eternal
covenant. And put the shoes on his feet.
He's not a barefoot servant, but he's my son, and I'm giving
him the grace to walk in the gospel. He's received completely. Now, what extravagant, unexpected
grace. This is a complete and an immediate
reconciliation. There's no probationary period.
This is complete forgiveness by the Father, full acceptance,
full love, complete and immediate forgiveness. And they begin to
have a party. Kill the fatted calf, there's
music, there's dancing, there's a party going on. The lost son
has been received. And how touching that is. He
ruined himself, and his father received him safe and sound,
and he received him completely. You know, God's just not like
us, is he? What a glorious God of all grace. And how he rejoiced. This my son, he was dead, and
he's alive again. He was lost, and now he's found. Let's go on reading. 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. He knew there was
a party going on. And he thought, what's this all
about? Verse 26, and he called one of the servants and asked
what these things meant. And he said unto him, thy brother
is come. A brother who'd run off a long
time ago and brought humiliation and embarrassment upon the family,
who had taken his father's money and wasted it with riotous living. Thy brother has come home. And
thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received
him safe and sound." Now, was he happy? No. Scripture says he was angry. You know, I bet this was the
first person those Pharisees could identify with. They couldn't
identify with the father receiving the son. They couldn't identify
with the son being received this way. But now, we can understand
this man. We'd be mad, too. I mean, this man makes such a
mess of things, and it's all his fault. And he's just received
with no consequences to his actions? That's not right. So he was angry,
and he would not go in. There was no rejoicing on his
part that his brother had come home. He wasn't happy. He was
angry. He perceived this as just not
being fair. You know, that is a child learns very early or
responds very early, this is not fair. This is not fair. How many children think that?
And it goes all the way through life. This is not fair. That's what the 11th hour workers,
the one hour workers and the 12 hour workers, the people that
work 12 hours, they said it's not fair. It's not right for
that one who only worked an hour to get the same thing as us.
Something's wrong with this. This picture is bad. I don't believe this. This is
not fair. How can this be? Have you ever understood justification?
You see, this boy that was received safe and sound, he was getting
exactly what he deserved because of what Christ has done for him.
You see, when you're received by the Father, yes, it's mercy,
yes, it's grace, and yes, it's justice, yes, it's righteousness. You see, when you're received
by the Father, it's because you're justified. It's because Christ
bore your sins and put them away and gave you His very own righteousness
and covered you and put the ring of His eternal covenant on your
finger and gave you grace to walk in the shoes that He's provided.
You've been saved. You've been justified. And this
man had no concept of that. He had no concept of rejoicing
in somebody being justified or forgiven freely. He was mad and
he stayed outside. He wouldn't even go in. And then we read, and therefore
came his father out and entreated him. Now, the father was merciful. The father was gracious. He said,
come on in and join. Verse 29, but 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 defired thy living
with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. Now
think about what he say. He said, I've served you these
many years. Unlike this miserable son of
yours, I've been faithful. And then he embellishes it. I
never transgressed thy commandment at any time. Does anybody believe
that? I don't believe that for a second. And look at the way
he tries to expose his brother. He points out that his brother
had devoured his father's living with harlots." Now, we don't
learn that at the first of the text. We know it was riotous
living, but we don't know what it was. But he wants to expose
this man's sin. The way he speaks of his brother,
there's no rejoicing. He's saying, where's fairness?
Where's justice? Are there no consequences to
action? Dear, I've been so faithful, I've been so good, and I've served
you like this, and you haven't given me anything. kill the fatted
calf for me. You've just left me alone. This
is not right. This is not fair. And he speaks
really disrespectfully to his father. He doesn't say father.
He says, look, look, look what I've done. Oh, there's no true
respect. You see, Pharisees always hate
free grace. You see, he wouldn't go into
the party Because he thought, I've been disrespected. I've
been wronged. I've not been treated fairly. And that's the way Pharisees
always respond to grace. They hate this thing of free
grace. What do you think of free grace? I see this man standing outside
in sullenness. He's upset. Now what scares me
about this man is I see a lot of me in him. Yes, I see myself
in that prodigal who returned. Oh, how that moves me. But I
see a lot of myself in this man. Which son are you? Really, really
the whole point of this parable is this elder brother. He's speaking
to the Pharisees and the Pharisees are the elder brother. Now, verse
30, but as soon as this thy son was come, which devoured thy
living with harlots, thou'st 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. He was lost, and now he's found. Now, I think it's very interesting
that this story is left open-ended. We don't know if the elder brother
repented and said, oh, father, you're right. I'm sorry for being
such a self-righteous jerk. I'm glad he's back, too. And
he goes into the parter. We don't know if he became so
angry that he said, I'm just parting ways with this family.
I've had it. I'm not going to have anything to do with anybody.
We're really not left. with an ending. We like the all happily ended
ever after. We love a good ending, but the
Lord doesn't give us an ending to this story. He leaves it open,
and I believe I know why. Which brother are you? Now, God is going to meet me
and he's going to meet you on the ground we want to come to
him on. If you want to come to the Father
on the ground of pure, free grace, complete forgiveness, He'll meet
you on that ground. He really will. And if you want
to come on the basis of your works, what you've done, He'll
meet you on that ground too. He'll meet you on the ground
that you want to come. Now, do you want to come like
the first son? Father, I've sinned against heaven
and in thy sight, and I'm not worthy to be called thy son. I have no rights. I have no entitlement. All I deserve is hell, and the
only hope I have is what you will do for me. You come to him
on that ground, mercy, grace. He'll meet you on that ground.
And that's the end of your story. You come to him on the ground
of what you've done, your works, your efforts, your religion,
your obedience. Come on that ground. See what
happens. He'll meet you on the ground
you want. If you want to come in your own
righteousness and in your own merits, he'll meet you on that
ground, and it's not going to be a good ending for you. Now,
how does the story end for you? I know how the story ends for
me. All I have is what this man had, sin. That's the story on
me. I've sinned. All my sin is all
my fault. And I can't come to God by way
of merit because I don't have any merit. The only hope I have
right now, I'm not talking about when I was first saved, I'm talking
about right now. The only hope I have is the free
grace of God in Christ Jesus. Now, which way do you come? This is the ending of my story.
I want him to And as I'm utterly amazed, I hear him say, bring
forth the best robe, the robe of my righteousness, and put
it on him. And put the ring of my eternal
covenant and eternal love on his finger. And give him shoes
to walk in the gospel of grace. He gives everything. And oh,
there's a party, there's joy, there's joy there. But you know,
there's no joy in salvation by works. There's just this, I've
not been treated fairly, thinking I've got something coming. May
the Lord deliver us from being this older son. And may we be
the younger one, coming in and being received of the Father
and given this extravagant, amazing grace. Now, we have this message
on DVD and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. And we'd like to invite you to
services at Todd's Road Grace Church. Our services begin this
morning at 1030, this evening at 6, and on Wednesdays at 7. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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