Go back to Luke 15 now. Thank
you, John. Thank you, Sally. You've heard
this story before. I have too, many times. I just
listened to Brother Chapman preach from this yesterday. Such a blessing. I called him, told him so. Familiar
story, but this, the song says, is my story. This is every believer's, saved
believer's story. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. That's what Amazing Grace says. That's what this story
is about. Those who were lost, and the
Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, Son, and Spirit found them. Verse
1 says, Then drew near unto Christ all the publicans and sinners
to hear Him. Pharisees came also. And they
murmured. The scribes and Pharisees murmured. They weren't sinners. They weren't
lost. They weren't dead and trespassed
in sin. These publicans and sinners, they came to hear Him. They drew
near. They wanted to hear what He said. Everyone has heard this
story. Nearly everyone has heard this
story. Paul said, Have they not all heard? Yea, verily. Who needs
this? The sinners need Him. He told
this story to tell how Christ came into the world to save sinners.
They were lost. The sheep was lost, the coin
was lost, the son was lost. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
why He told this story. The parable of the lost and found,
dead yet alive. And there's both in every crowd
in here. There are some who are still
lost and must be found. And there is one thing that finds
us all. The gospel. One thing brings
us to ourselves. The gospel. God's word. One thing. One thing needful. Because we
are lost until found. We are dead until alive. Right? And every believer in here, everyone
who's been found and brought from death unto life still needs
this, because we still at times feel like, we go out in the world,
we feel like we get a far off like this prodigal, don't we?
Get in the pit and we quite often go back to feeding on husks,
don't we? But God brings us back to hear
the gospel just like this prodigal. So we all need this desperately.
He spake this parable unto them. He spake this parable unto them.
And it was three parts. And here's the third part. Sheep,
lost sheep, they lost coin, they lost son. Verse 11. He said a
certain man had two sons. Now, all people are not God's
children. You know that, don't you? And
yet, in Isaiah 1, this whole story goes well with Isaiah 1. He said, I have brought up children
and nourished children that have rebelled against me. Though all are not his children,
some are his elect, but all are his creation. He came to his own and his own
received him not. All belong to God. He said, all
souls are mine. Every person in this room belongs
to God Almighty. It's up to Him to save them. The younger son, verse 12, the
younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of
goods that falleth to me. And the father divided unto him
and his brother his living. He did not ask him, did he? He
demanded. Give me. Father, give me. It doesn't that describe mankind. Romans 1 says he's not thankful. Unthankful, unholy, unholy, ungrateful. demanding, give me. We come forth from the womb being
a lover of ourselves, wanting things for ourselves, don't we?
Give me. You don't have to, your children come forth from
the womb saying, mine, don't they? Give me. I told you that
time I first saw Isabella do something just blatantly bad. And she didn't think I saw her,
but Sophie was sitting beside her and she just grabbed something
out of her. And man, I thought, that's... Unprovoked. Give me. Mine. I, me, and mine. Give me. Give me, give me, give me. That's
what children think parents are for. You know that? Children are so unthankful, so
ungrateful, demanding. Sad to say, this modern generation
meets their every demand to try to pacify them. They don't need
that. They need self-denied. They need to see that you don't
have everything coming to you. It's a gift. And so it is. with all mankind. We need to
understand, by the grace of God, we are what we are. And it says
that God gave to both of them His living. The Father gave to
both of them His living. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Listen to the psalm, Psalm 104.
It says, All wait upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their
meat in due season. That Thou givest them, they gather. Thou openest Thy hand, and they
are filled with good. What do we have that we have
not received? Every human being, every creature,
everything is a recipient of God's grace. It's all by grace. So we have no reason for pride,
no reason for boasting. We have every reason to be thankful,
humble, But man is not. Gimme. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Religion is worse. Religion is
worse. Make demands of God. That's what
God's for. No, no, no. So verse 13 in our
text. Not many days after the younger
son gathered it all together, took everything that the father
gave him. He didn't earn one thing. He
had no right to anything. But he took it, wasn't thankful,
and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his
substance with riotous living. He took his journey into a far
country. All human beings, young and old,
are on a journey. Journey of life. There's a way
that we all are headed. And the scripture says there's
a way that seemeth right unto men, but it always ends in destruction. There's only one way that leads
to life. Christ's the way. Every other
way, the way of the world, leads to destruction. The way of the
transgressor is hard, and it ends bad. It's the way of the
world. And this boy, this young man,
Don't know how old he was. He wanted his way. He wanted
his way. And the Scripture says, all we
like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. But God. Everyone has turned to his own
way. This boy wanted his way. He wanted his rules. He wanted
to live life the way he wanted to live life. He wanted as far
away from these rules and regulations, out from under this authority
of his parents, as far away from them as he could get. And he
did. He got as far as he could go,
until he was in a far country. And doesn't that describe us
by nature? A far off, without God, without
hope in this world. Far off. Verse 13 says, he wasted his
substance with riotous living. It does not say his brother accused
him of something, but it does not say that's what he did. But
we know he probably did. But his brother was an accuser. Nevertheless, he'd wasted his
substance. Now, he wasted more than money. Are you with me? He wasted more
than money. Although he spent all the money
he had, he wasted his heart. My son, give me thine heart,
the scripture said. No, he gave his heart, his affection,
to the things of this world. Lust of the flesh, lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life. He gave his heart, his affection. That's what he said it on. Things
be love. Listen to this. Hosea 4.11 says,
Whoredom and wine, wine and whoredom take away the heart. Meaning,
if you go after the pleasures of this flesh, you'll be just
like an animal. You won't have any heart. You'll
be addicted to these things. He wasted his heart. A heart
wasted. A mind wasted. A man wasted,
sick. Doesn't Isaiah 1 say the whole
head is sick? God was not in any of his thoughts.
The Father was not in this boy's thoughts at this time. What was
he thinking about? The world. Getting rich. Having
fun. Recreation. Party. Isn't that the story? He wasted
his body. He wasted his body. On what? Pleasures of sin that lasted
this long. Just a little while. Just brief
pleasure. He wasted his heart, his life,
his body, his soul. What will a man give in exchange
for his soul? I'll tell you. Tickets to a concert. Tickets to a ball game. A bottle
of something, a night of pleasure, he'll give
his soul away. That's foolish, isn't it? We
sang that song. Once I was foolish and sin ruled
my heart, causing my footstep from God to depart. Sin had alarmed
me, though. Like this man. Wasted his suffrage. Oh, my. My young lady, I saw
at a convenience store, and she was the rack of skin and bones.
Skeleton, you could see her bones. Her teeth were all, you know,
crystal meth. So I, that poor girl, man, I
felt so sorry. Wasted. On what? Hmm. We're a bunch of fools,
aren't we? Wasted supper. It's riotous living. That describes this world, doesn't
it? Why does a heathen rage? Religion's no better. The people
imagine a vain thing. They get religion like this fellow.
It's still riotous, isn't it? Still one big party. You know, Ephesians 2 goes perfectly
with this. I could have read Ephesians 2
as preparation for this story, couldn't I? Ephesians 1 is the
gospel. How does that start? Grace to
you and peace from God our Father. From our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
blessed be the God and Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ. According to this, He has chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children, sons of God. But then it goes on in Ephesians
2 to describe us who it was that He predestined. In time past,
you walked according to the course of this Word, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, that takes everyone captive. Among whom also we all had our
conversation or life in time past, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. That's us anyway. This is our
story. This is every saved sinner's
story. He spent it all, verse 14, when
he had spent everything. He spent everything. There arose
a mighty famine in that land. And he began to be in want. He spent it all. He wasted his
substance. Oh, the depths of sin and wretchedness
that man gets himself into. A pit of corruption, isn't it?
But oh, the depths of knowledge and the goodness of God. Where
sin did abound, and it knows no end to the pit,
the depth that it goes. Grace did much more, man. That
Psalm 106 talks about how badly we've sinned against God. And
twice it says, nevertheless, we have mercy on Him. This world, listen people, you
don't have to be on drugs and in the gutter to be lost, to
be dead. to waste your substance. You
can be up and coming. You don't have to be down and
out. You can be up and coming. I have a preacher brother, a
friend. You know him well if I call his name. His daughter
was hooked on crystal meth. His son is hooked on money. His
son has millions of dollars. And he doesn't care anything
about God or the Gospel. They're both lost. They're both
equally as lost. This girl's in a pit of corruption,
and so is his son. And it takes the same power,
the same gospel to save both. And it's God's mercy to save
one, or save both, or save neither. It's God's justice to be saved
neither. I keep telling you, trying to
give you hope for your lost children and grandchildren and spouses
and all that, And you need to hope in God's mercy. But you
need to keep this in mind. He might not save them. They don't deserve it. You didn't
deserve it. I didn't deserve it. I don't
deserve to be here. We need to keep that in mind. But never quit calling. Never
quit hoping in His mercy. But keep this in mind, if God
does not spare your lost loved one, He's just. He's just. Like Job, Job gave God all the
glory. Well, it says in our text that
there rose a famine in the land. He began to be in want of famine
in the land. You know this world is in a famine
right now. Oh, there's never been more riches. I mean, you
know, all the time, just astounded, you know, the real estate market,
you know, just astounded. The houses are selling for half
a million dollars, 600 million dollars. You can't, New York
City and Los Angeles, you can't touch an apartment 500 square
feet for less than a million dollars. Where are people getting
this money? Seriously. Money, money, money. That's Isaiah 2. There's no end
to their gold and silver. There's no end to their chariots
and their horses and their cars. This is the richest society in
the history of the world. Isn't it? You are. We all are. You got a house? You got hot water? You're rich. We got brothers and sisters in
Mexico that don't. In Africa, no. Still have dirt
floors and grass huts. Would never dream of owning an
automobile or even a little motorcycle. That's a fact. We're rich. And yet this land is in famine. What is famine? Famine is a drought. Famine is when God withholds
the rain. What does the Scripture say is the rain that comes down
from God? It's the Gospel. It's the Word. We're in a famine. Amos 8 verse
11 says, In the very last days there will be a famine, not of
bread, but of the hearing of the Word
of the Lord. People are dying. People are lost. They don't know
it. And God has withheld the Gospel. Oh, they've heard it,
but they have no need for it. like this prodigal, like the
other son. God withholds this rain, the
softening influence of His Word, the convicting influence of God's
Word on the hard heart of man. How is a hard heart softened? It's by the Word of God, by the
Gospel of Christ. And God has withheld it. What
about us? We're not in famine, are we?
We're not in darkness as others? We're so blessed as brothers
and sisters. Don't take what you're hearing
this morning for granted. There's people out there feeding
on husks. There's people out there that have no need whatsoever
for one word of God. We need to hang on every word
of God, as if our life depended on it. It does. He began to be in war. This young
man began to be in war. He wasted his substance. He spent
all that he had, and he began to be in war. He was in this
famine now, in the midst of this famine, and he began to want
something. Thank the Lord. Thank the Lord. You know, people
in this world want things that they don't know what they want.
You know that? Have you ever been that way? Just a couple
of weeks ago I was so anxious, I was so antsy, I was so, I didn't
know what was wrong with me. I couldn't get any peace within
or whatever. I was just troubled. Have you
ever felt that way? I want something, I need something,
I don't know what it is. And I came to myself. That is, God brought me to myself.
You've forgotten God. You're thinking on this world.
Your mind is being elsewhere, everywhere, your heart and everything.
That's why, and there's not going to be any peace. Ecclesiastes says, the eye is
not satisfied with seeing, and the ear with hearing, or the
mouth with tasting. People want things. They no sooner
get it, they want something else. Isn't that right? But there's
one thing, what? Needful. We want things. What God needs to create in us
is a need. For what? Not what. There's no thing. that will satisfy
your soul. Only a person. God made man in
his own image. And all Adam and Eve had before
they sinned was God. The presence of God. And sisters,
Sarah, they didn't need anything else. Now man is without God. And he
wants and wants and wants. He never is fulfilled. He is never fulfilled. His wants
are never filled. He began to be in want. That's
a good thing. Read on. So he went and he joined himself
to a citizen of that country. He began to be wanted. He wasn't
sure what he wanted. He just wanted. And so he joined
himself to a citizen of that country and sent him into his
field to feed swine. Oh, how people joined themselves
to this and that and this person and that cause and this club
and this organization, you know, political, social, recreation. I'll join this club. I'll get
involved in this cause or I'll go to this meeting and I'll get
involved in this and that and the other. This citizen that
he joined himself to was just as far off as he was. This world
is not nigh unto God. Man is not, you cannot, vain
is the help of man. If you join yourself to anyone
or anything besides Christ, you're going to remain afar off and
be in want. And you will try to get your
fill in these things, but they won't give. They won't give. I remember, you know, just being
all taken up with. People can be taken up with recreation,
you know, whatever it is, riding motorcycles, cars, horses, animals,
join clubs, get on forums, on and on, have foodies, food and
drink. God is their belly. Paul said,
crying, weeping, that God is their belly. That's all they
think about. It won't fulfill. It won't do it. God won't let
you. He sent him into the field to
feed swine. This, I've always thought, reminded
me of that story of our Lord taking the demons out of that
one possessed, and they all begged Him, don't destroy us, send us
into those pigs, those swine over there. Remember that story?
The man the Lord saved, He took the demons out of him and he
was sitting clothed at the feet of Christ, clothed and in his
right mind. Alright? But these demons that
he was possessed with that made him act like he was a Pentecostal
holiness fellow, just like that. They said, send us in these swine. What does our Lord say about
swine? He says, don't cast your pearl before swine. And the world Swine feed on what? Slop. Slop. Anything. Swine will eat
anything on you. Dump it in there. He loves it.
He'll wallow in it. That's his world, isn't it? And the Lord says a great herd
of swine. You know what that whole herd
of swine ended up doing? Run it down a steep cliff. Run
it just as fast as they could down a steep cliff into the ocean. And they all were drowned. And
the Scriptures talk about men being drowned in perdition. Swine. This world feeds on everything
but Christ. Sheep need one thing. Sheep don't
feed on slop. Sheep need grass. The sheep have
a shepherd. Swine. And he would fain, verse
16, have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did
eat, and nobody gave him anything good to eat. In other words,
nobody gave him, nobody gave him what he needed. Nobody could
fulfill his wants, his needs. Nobody. Nobody. Isn't that good? I remember I
am the prodigal. You've heard my story, but you
are too in some way or another, aren't you? You may have been
religion. You're just as lost. Just as lost. I remember, you
know, getting involved in this and that and the other, and I
remember the Lord began to put me in want. The Lord began to
work on me, and the Lord began to bring me hope to my father,
my physical, literal father, okay, who was a blessed guy.
He was a preacher of the gospel. Not knowing He's really bringing
me to Himself, the Father. He brought me home. I remember
all my friends and all. The Lord was working on me. I
began to read books. Scriptural books. The Bible. And they saw me doing this. And
they began to drop me. They wouldn't want anything more
to do with me. Why? They like husks. I wasn't getting
filled. I wasn't getting anything out
of the husks. You know, husks are the externals. Husk is the
outside of the corn. You can't get any nourishment
out of a husk. You can't live on that. You need the seed. You
know what corn is? Seed. It's the kernel. It's the meat. Christ called
Himself a corn of wheat that fell into the ground. He got
to feed on Christ. But no, religion feeds on the
externals. The flesh, not spirit. Feel good,
fleshly religion. Family fun, you know. We need
Christ. No man gave Him. Nobody gave
Him. He didn't hear any grace. He wasn't hearing any grace.
Grace is the only thing that will feed the empty soul. Grace
of God in Christ. Don't you love verse 17? He came to Himself all of a sudden. He came to himself. Meaning, he began to see himself
as he really was. He began to see what he had done
to himself and others. He began to see where he was
before he was enjoying it. Now, all of a sudden, All of
a sudden, out of the blue, yeah, that's where it came from. From heaven. Repentance. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance. And how does repentance begin?
You begin to see yourself. He came to Himself. You know
how we see ourselves? For what we really are? The mirror
of God's Word. This is a mirror, a man beholding
himself in a glass. What does this book say about
us? When you take a good look at this book, it will tell you
all about you. What you will see of yourself
is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Woe is me, I am undone. God hath given me everything,
and I have rebelled against Him. God has warned me of this world,
and I have immersed myself in it, and not given Him a thought. Woe is me. He came to Himself. He saw Himself. He had been in the hog pen for
some time now. Alright? How do you think He
smells? Johnny and Tommy Parker will
have a chicken farm. We were talking last Wednesday
night about which is worse, hog farm or chicken farm. You ever
been near either one of them? You can't get near it. Tommy
was talking with Johnny. He said, when I come home and
haven't changed my clothes, Ron says, don't come in this house. Smell bad, don't you? You know
what human beings smell like to God Almighty? That's what Psalm 14 says. They all together become filthy.
The word is stinking. And man doesn't know it. You
know, we can smell other people's body odor and we have a hard
time smelling our own. You know that? It's so. My wife's
told me that before. She's told me, you need to do
something. And I wasn't aware of it. That's
love. Isn't it? She wants people to
love me. She wants people to be around me. You need to wash. Nobody is going to want to be
around you. That's what the Holy Spirit does, Mike. That's one
of the first things He shows you. Look at yourself. Do you
smell yourself? The filth? The pollution? Wretched? Miserable? Poor? Oh, I'm rich
increasingly. I have need of nothing. I'm clean.
Are you? No. Are you not? Our Lord said you're
clean, but your feet still need washing daily. Get out in this
world. He saw himself. He smelled himself.
He began to loathe himself. Listen to this. It's a happy
turn, but we just don't have time. He said, this is what I'm
going to do. I'm going to take you from among
the heathen. Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among
the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name
and triumph in thy praise. You remember that? Save us from
the heathen. I'm going to take you from the
heathen. Gather you. Bring you in the
only. I'm going to sprinkle clean water
on you. And you'll be clean from all
your filthiness. What is that water? It's the
water of His Word. It's the water of Christ's blood. A new heart
will I give you. A new spirit will I give you.
I'm going to take away the stony heart. I'm going to put my spirit
in you, cause you to walk in my statue. How's that? Walk with
God. Come to God. Walk by faith. He said, I'll save you from all
your uncleannesses. I'll call for the corn. No more
husk, but corn. Increase it. And he said, you're
going to remember your own evil ways and your doings that were
not good, and you shall loathe yourself and your own sights. No exceptions. He came to himself. And it began once he loved himself. Now he hates himself. He hates
himself. Oh, may the Lord bring us to
ourselves. And he began to envy those that
were in his father's house, just the servants. Brothers and sisters, this is
my story. Is this anybody else's story? This is my story. I remember
envying my sister who the Lord dealt with at an early age. And
she had fellowship with my father and my mother and the people
of the church. And she had favor with them.
And I was on the outside looking in. And this was the Lord working
on me, bringing me to want and need. And I began to envy that. I want in my parents good graces. I want back. What is it? How
can I get back in their good graces? It's going to take grace. The gospel of God's grace can
break my proud heart, bring me to God, bring me to Christ, sit me down, clothe me. It's
coming up. Put me in my right mind. Give me back substance that I
wasted, a heart, a mind, a body, a soul. So he came to himself and he
said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
to spare? And I perished with hunger. He began to be hungry.
Blessed is he that is hungry. Here's what I'll do. I will arise
and go to my father. And I will say unto him, listen
to his confession. Father, I've sinned against heaven. I've sinned against God and before them. What did David
say in Psalm 51? Have mercy on me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude that attend
to mercy. Blot out my transgression. Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Have mercy. Our sins, all of them, are against
God. Sins of unthankfulness, ungratefulness,
the sin of not serving Him. They're against God. We've heard other
people though. We've heard ourselves. We've heard other people that
loved us. And he said in verse 19, look
at it, he came to himself, he said, I'm not worthy. No more
worthy. I'm not worthy to be called a
son. I remember thinking that. I remember thinking, I believe
God. I believe Christ. I'd love to
be one of these people in this church. Like my sister, knows
the Lord and all that. But no way I could be a child
of God. No way. Yes, there's a way. One way. You see, the way is the same
for my sister, who was an obedient child, as well as me, who was
a prodigal son. The way is the same for the Pharisee
as it is the publican, the harlot. It's one way. Christ. I'm not worthy of sin. And he's
practicing his speech. You pray, don't you? Don't you? I'm sure you do. If you're a
child of God, you do. If you don't, you need to. Call
on the Lord. I can't make you come. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. We need saving from day one until
the last day. Don't quit calling. Don't quit
coming. Don't quit needing this bread. But, you know, have you ever
practiced your prayers? Have you ever, you know, thought
about what you're going to pray before you pray it? Huh? You
men? Sure you have. If you're going
to pray publicly, don't you? Sure you do. Ron will admit it.
Kelly will admit it. Be honest now. Don't you? What
can I say? God, you're not heard for your
much speaking. You know, the Scripture says,
before we call, He'll answer. As soon as that heart desires
to pray, He's already heard you. That woman caught in active adultery,
she didn't say one word, sir. Not one word, sir. He heard.
The Pharisees going on and on and on talking. Don't you hear
us? No, I'm not listening to you. Well, He heard her. She
didn't say a word. He heard her. Heard the beat of her heart.
He heard every tear hit the ground. So here he comes. Here he comes. He's coming home. You know, I
stand, I stand at that window. I love to stand at that window
and watch people coming. I have a pretty good idea who's
coming. Faithful, those called, chosen,
they're faithful. They come. Pretty good idea who's
coming. I still enjoy seeing you come. I still. You know,
John and Irene, usually early, last Sunday, they waited a little
while, and I thought, well, where are they? You see, it's 45 minutes
before service. They're not here. Well, where
are they? I don't know who's coming. And
I look forward to seeing it all come. Who's coming? Look. Look
who's coming. Our Father knows who's coming.
You know that? He knows exactly who's coming.
You know why? He chose them. He calls them. Christ said, all
the Father giveth me shall come unto me. And He's waiting to
be gracious, John. And everyone He gave to Christ,
they're going to come. We don't know, don't do we? And it says here in verse 22,
verse 21, Verse 20, I'm sorry. So he arose
and came to the Father, but when he was yet a great way off, the
Father saw him. Here he comes. Not surprised? He knew he was
coming. Here he comes. In the fullness
of time, God sends forth his Son, the Gospel, and you're coming. Talking about joy when we see
somebody come that hasn't been here in a while. But the father
saw him coming. But he's not going to wait for
that son to come to him. If God waits on us to come to
him, we'll never come to him. You know what the Father did?
Look at it. Verse 20. It says, His Father had compassion
on Him. The God is a God of compassion.
And what does He do? The Father ran. Ran. What does
He do? He ran and fell on His neck. threw his arms around him and kissed him. Kissed him. Son, son. My son. My son. Do you understand? No, we don't. I don't understand. I'm preaching
things I don't fully understand. You know that? You know, for
a righteous man, one might die. For adventure, for a good man,
some would dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us.
Is this you? Is this your story? In that while
we were yet sinners. He didn't deserve to be a son.
But you know what, Tabby Jo? He was. He was a son when he
was in the gutter. He was a son when he was in the
ditch. And he's still a son and he'll
always be a son. And the father loved him when
he was in the ditch. You know why he got out of the
ditch and came to himself and came home? Because God loved
him. You know, everyone that God loves,
He brings them out. He brings them to Himself. This boy came to himself, but
really it was the father bringing him to himself. Come unto me. And he came. And the father ran
and embraced him. You know what the son's thinking,
don't you? So he tried to get out his little speech. Tried
to make his confession. Father, I've sinned against heaven,
and I'm not worthy to be called thy son. And he didn't finish
his little practice, rehearsed prayer. He didn't finish it.
When the father said, bring the best robe, Can't you see this? Can't you
smell this? This boy just got out of the
hog pen. He's got rags on him. He smells bad. Oh, but the Father
embraced him anyway. And the first thing the Father
called for was, bring the best robe. If I asked you what the
best robe was, could you tell me? Could you? It's the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. Do you know why Jesus Christ
was stripped naked on that cross? Because He was clothed in righteousness. And God made Him, stripped Him,
made Him to be sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might
be clothed, made the righteousness of God. How? In Him. Bring the best robe and do what? Offer it to him. See if he'll
take it. I want you to have this, if only
you'll accept it. Is that what he said? It's blasphemy
to say otherwise. It's blasphemy to say otherwise,
to make the gospel an offer of God. It's not an offer. Christ
made an offering to God. You say, preacher, don't I shout?
Yes, I do. Martin Luther said, if I'm not
with the loudest voice proclaiming that which the world is denying,
I'm not preaching the Gospel. Righteousness is Jesus Christ
to give, not an offer. It's God's to give. It's God's
to impute. It's God's to impart. It's God's
to give. Nobody deserves it. Nobody will
receive it. Unless God says, put it on him! But he didn't say it like that.
Put it on him. Was he glad to get it, John?
Was that naked boy in rags smelling bad, was he glad to get that
road? Were Adam and Eve glad to be covered in those skins?
Were they not glad? He hadn't felt that much warmth
and that much love and that much for in a long time. Put it on Him. Your righteousness
has been put on you, been given to you, not offered, given, imparted,
bestowed. Put it on. Bring the ring. Put
a ring on his hand. He's my son. Sign of my love. Shoes on his feet. The gospel. Shod him with the gospel of peace. There's peace with the Father.
We have peace with God. How? One way. We didn't make
it. Christ did. See, this is all
Christ did. This boy's just standing there.
He comes naked. He comes in rags. He comes stinking,
smelling, rebellious, a child of wrath, even as others. But
the Father. But God. He stands there while
the Father does it. Put the robe on him. Put the
ring on him. Put the shoes on him. Get the fatted calf. You mean there's a calf waiting
on this boy? Yep. It's being fatted, prepared for
this boy to come home. Christ is a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. Kill the fatted calf. Let us
eat. Let us eat and be merry. And the rest of this talks about
the Father being merry. The Father rejoicing. The Father
rejoicing over this son. Jeanette, you love this verse,
don't you? Zephaniah, you know where I'm going, don't you? And
Zephaniah says, saying, O daughter of Zion, be glad, rejoice with
all thine heart. The Lord thy God is in the midst
of thee. He will save thee. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He's
not going to lose one. They're coming. He will joy over
thee with singing. Can you believe, Sister Kathy,
that God Almighty gave him great pleasure Great joy. It made Him very happy to bring
you to Himself. Can you believe that? What have
you got to say about that? Praise God. See, this is all
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Bring the best robe. Well, the
story of the other son. I've got to hurry. Time's up. He came, heard music and dancing. He asked somebody, what is this?
They said, your brother's come. Your father's killed a fatted
calf. He's received him safe and sound. And he was angry he
wouldn't go in. I remember reading that before
about somebody that wouldn't go in. Our Lord said that to
the Pharisees. He said, you won't go in. And
you don't want others to go in. This is a good story of Jew and
Gentile. The younger is the Gentile. The
older is the Jew. With God in the beginning, everything
God has, the Father has, He gave to the Jews. What advantage had
the Jew? Much every way. He gave them all the oracles
and all the Word and so forth. To the Jew, Christ came. He came
of His own and they received Him not. But as many as did receive. Who did receive? The Gentile.
Paul said, I'm leaving. You've made yourself unworthy.
I'm going to the Gentile. They won't go in. And we wouldn't
have either if the gospel hadn't come. And he was angry. He said to his father, these
years I've served you, all these years, I haven't transgressed
one time. Isn't that a self-righteous person?
You try to tell a Pharisee out there, a religious person, some
Pentecostal holiness person, you're a sinner. You deserve
to be in hell. No, no, no, I don't sin anymore. I keep the law. He said, you never gave me a
kid, you never killed a calf for me. That's right. That's
exactly right. Because everyone for whom Christ
died, they're going to come as a poor, wretched sinner like
this prodigal. And they're going to make merry. And they're going
to say unworthy. And they're going to say, I haven't
kept one commandment. I haven't served you, I've served myself.
That's what they're all going to say. And here's what he said.
As soon as this thy son has come. He didn't call him his brother. Your son, like Adam in the garden,
that woman, we need broken up. You've killed a fatted calf.
He's devoured his living with harlots. You've killed a fatted
calf. He said, Son, thou art ever with me. All that I have
is thine. You have all these privileges.
You have all of this. He said, it's fitting, I love
this verse, it's fitting, it's meat, it's just fitting that
we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead
and he's alive again. He was lost. He's found. Who found him? Who found that
sheep? Shepherd did. Who found that
lost corn? The Spirit did. Why did the Son come home? The
Father had Him, drew Him. How? Chords of love. I started
to go to Hosea. How can I give you that? He said,
I'm going to draw you with chords. Chords of love. Chords of man.
Oh, may the Lord draw another one.