Now, in this parable, in Luke
chapter 15, that Brother Terry just read, we have a story of
a father and a lost son. And that's what I've entitled
the message, The Father and the Lost Son. You might be familiar
with it as the parable of the prodigal son. The word prodigal
isn't in here. That's a Latin word. It means
wayward. lost and all those things that
describe him here, that's a good word for it, but it's the parable
of the father and the son. Now, if you've ever studied the
Bible as literature, and that's popular in schools, you know,
college courses, high school courses that teach the Bible
as literature, that is, basically they teach it as like they would
any other book. It's like Aesop's Fables or whatever,
and try to glean some literary value out of it. You may have
heard that this particular story of the prodigal son described
as the greatest short story ever written. And the problem with
that is this. By itself, it is not the whole
story. The parable of the prodigal son
by itself is not the whole story. As I've preached when we began
in Luke 15, Really, what you have here is three stories that
go together. And you need to be reminded of
that. Some of you who haven't heard the other two messages
on this, or three messages, you need to understand this. Some
people will describe this as three parables that go together.
That's okay. Or one long parable with three
parts. That's okay, too. But that's
what it is. They go together. The whole story together, that
is all three stories put together, are certainly what I would describe
as the greatest story ever written, for it is the whole story of
the whole Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, it
is the story of the salvation of sinners by God's grace in
and by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this story is about.
Remember, we started off in Luke 15 there at verse 3. He told
the story of the lost sheep, the shepherd, going after and
finding his lost sheep. He had a hundred sheep, and one
sheep was lost, and he left the ninety and nine in the wilderness,
and the shepherd went forth and found his sheep. The leading
character in that story there is the shepherd. The shepherd
who goes out to find his sheep. And he finds them, and he puts
them on his shoulder, and he brings them home. That shepherd
is the Lord Jesus Christ. That part of the story speaks
of the redeeming work of Christ on the cross. And as I said,
just remember that, and I'll repeat this because it's important.
This is a lost and found parable. The sheep was lost and the shepherd
found him. The coin was lost, that's the
next one, the woman and the lost coin. She had ten coins, she
lost one, and she swept her house, turned on the light until she
found that one coin. She was determined to find that
one coin. That's a picture of regeneration by the Spirit, the
Holy Spirit being sent out by the Father and the Son to find
the sheep by the light of the Gospel. Christ told His disciples,
go ye in all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
You're going to find the lost sheep, the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, the lost sheep among the Gentiles. Christ said,
I know my sheep, they are known of mine. He said, I must bring
them in. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. And that's what the parable of the woman and the
lost coin. The woman is a symbol of the
Holy Spirit, and the light, the broom, that's the power of God
and the salvation in the preaching of the gospel. The leading character
in that story is the woman, not the coin. The coin is dead. That's
us. That's dead sinners, born dead
in trespasses and sins. And then the Spirit finds us. And then here in this part of
the story, the lost son, the father and the lost son, that
speaks of the mercy of the Father, God the Father, Abba, Father,
Papa, Papa, Romans chapter 8. who receives in mercy and grace
and compassion all whom the Son has redeemed at the cross, all
whom the Spirit brings in in the new birth, the Father will
receive joyously, compassionately, fully in every way through Christ. That's why I read that passage
in John chapter 14. This Son being received by the
Father is a picture of the Father. receiving his people through
Christ. I am the way, the truth, the
life. No man cometh unto who? The Father,
but by me. If we are going to be received
by the Father, like the prodigal son was received by the Father,
we must come through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So you
have this lost and found. Lost sheep, he was found. Lost
coin, it was found. Lost son, he was found. But understand
now, this word found and find and finding in these stories
doesn't mean location. Doesn't mean identification.
In other words, the shepherd wasn't trying to locate his sheep
and find out who they are. You see, he knew his sheep. He
knew exactly where they are. The word find there means to
go get them. That's what it means. The word
find in the lost coin means to go get it. And all you have to
do is turn on the light and sweep. And that's the way the Holy Spirit
works in the new birth. Turns on the light of truth and
sweeps away all our false refuges and leaves us with no hope but
Christ and Him crucified. And then the Holy Spirit in the
new birth gets, obtains the people of God. And it's the same way
here in this parable or this part of the story of the of the
father and the lost son. Now, you think about this. People
say this is the greatest short story ever written, and I've
told you. Altogether now, it is the greatest story ever told. The story of the salvation of
sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. You think about all the
great things that God has done, all the great things that God
is doing, and all the great things that God will do. Of all those
things, the salvation of a sinner through Christ, by God's grace
through Christ, is the greatest. I mean, it's the greatest. And
we'll see that in this passage as we go through. Look at verse
2. I'm sorry, verse 7. He says, this is when the shepherd
found the lost sheep. Listen to what he says here.
Verse 7, I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety-nine just
persons which need no repentance. And then look at verse 10. This
is after the woman found the coin. She says, likewise I say,
Christ said, likewise I say unto you there is joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Why do
you suppose there's more joy in heaven? over this one little
old sheep being found. One little old coin. You got
nine, find one. There's more joy than over the
nine that you had. And then you, as Terry read that,
the prodigal son, you remember how the elder son, he wasn't
joyous, was he? But the father said, it's only
appropriate, verse 32. Look at that. It's only neat.
That means it's only right and fitting. That's what that means.
It's only right and fitting that we should make merry. We ought
to be so merry and joyous and be glad, for this thy brother
was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found. Why,
we ought to rejoice like heaven's angels. That's funny. Why? Because
this is the greatest thing in the world. Christ redeeming. The Holy Spirit regenerating.
The Father receiving. A sinner, one who deserves nothing
but death, nothing but condemnation and hell. One who hasn't done
anything to earn salvation. One who doesn't deserve the least
of God's favor and blessing. And here the Father receives
such a one because the Son redeemed him and the Spirit regenerated
him. You see, think about that. That's
the greatest thing. Now go back and look at the context,
see. Look back at chapter 14, the last verse, verse 35, right
before Luke 15 here, the last words there, that last sentence,
where the Lord said, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And I'll tell you what, that's
what we pray for, that God will give us a hearing ear. Because
we don't have ears to hear by nature. We're spiritually deaf,
you see. Man has the physical ability
to hear, but he didn't have the spiritual ability to love and
to believe and to live by what he hears. That's what spiritual
life is, by the Spirit. So he says, "...he that hath
ears to hear, let him hear." And then in verse 1 of chapter
15 it says, "...then drew near unto him all the publicans and
sinners for to hear him." What a motley crew. That's the kind
of folks that wanted to hear the message of grace. And you
see, that's the situation today. Those who think they're already
righteous, they don't need Christ. Those who think they're already
okay, that they've done enough, they don't need to hear about
grace and mercy for sinners. We deserve better. Somebody made
a statement one time and said, I'm getting tired of hearing
how much of a sinner I am. Well, look at the kind of folks
who came to hear him. Publicans. You can only imagine
in your mind what a publican was in that day. I mean, he was
hated of all people. Despised, they were cheats and
robbers and thieves. Collecting taxes for a foreign
idolatrous government against their own people. Publicans,
those kind of people. And sinners, kind of people that
you wouldn't associate with. That's the ones who came to him.
And look at verse 2. It says, and the Pharisees, that's
the religious. That's the ones who everybody
followed and looked up to. If you wanted any moral or religious
advice, if you wanted to know how to be saved, you'd go to
them back then. The Pharisees, and let me tell
you something about the Pharisees. They didn't have horns and a
tail. I think some people have that
impression today, well, they were just these mean, uppity
religionists. Let me tell you something. They're like religious people
today. There are all kinds of them. You've got the mean ones,
you've got the kind ones. Nicodemus came to Christ by night,
humbly, saying, we know you're a prophet, son of God. Now, he
didn't believe Christ to be the Messiah. But he said, we know
you're a prophet, son of God, because nobody could do what
you do unless he was sent and empowered by God. These Pharisees
were the men who were looked up to and followed. And it says
the Pharisees and scribes, they were the lawyers. That is not
lawyers like we have today. They were those who studied the
law of Moses, interpreted and commented and wrote. And he says
these Pharisees and scribes, they murmured. That's complaining.
They complained. Next time you start complaining,
just call it murmuring. Maybe that'll put it in perspective.
And it's just saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth
with them. Not only does he receive them, he sits down and has a
meal with them. You know that's not right. See, when you sat
down back then and had a meal with somebody, that meant fellowship.
That's why when the father told him to spread the table here
for the son, he's in my fellowship. We're in communion with one another.
Just meeting and greeting. It was fellowship. And they said,
you receive such people and you eat with them. They meant it
as a criticism, but it was the truth, and thank God for that
truth. That he receives and eats with
sinners. Because if he didn't, he wouldn't receive and eat with
us. But he does. So the Pharisees refused to hear,
and in each parable, The Pharisees are represented here. The ninety
and nine left in the wilderness. The nine coins who represented
people who thought they needed no repentance. And again, who
need, as they look upon it. And the Pharisees are represented
in this parable today by the elder son. I'm going to preach
on the elder son next week. But you see, they thought they
didn't need to repent. Well, let me tell you something.
The Bible teaches this. Every one of us, Born of Adam, need
to repent. Acts 17, 30, 31, where it says,
God hath commanded all men everywhere to what? Repent. Why? Because he hath appointed a day
into which he will judge the world in righteousness, which
we don't have by ourselves, by nature and by our works, in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. In
other words, you've got to repent because you're a sinner. I've
got to repent because I'm a sinner. Only Christ is my righteousness.
I don't have any righteousness but Him. If you think you have
any righteousness but Christ, you need to repent. That means
change your mind, heart. And the only way you're going
to do that is by the Spirit of God. All men need to repent. But all by nature refuse to repent.
What keeps sinners out of the Kingdom of Heaven? Self-righteousness
and unbelief. And if any sinner believes, if
any sinner repents, I'll tell you what that is, that's a miracle
of God's grace. That's the work of God. Faith
and repentance are gifts from God. That lost coin that we studied
a couple of weeks ago, the work of the Holy Spirit in the new
birth, that's why Christ told Nicodemus, you must be born again.
or you cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, let's
look at this father and the lost son. It says here in verse 11,
he said a certain man had two sons. And now verse 12 starts
the shame of this story. Here's a shameful request. It
says, the younger of them, the son, said to his father, Father,
give me the portion of goods that falleth to me, and he divided
unto him them his living." This law, this son, does everything
shameful and dishonorable that a person could do in that culture. First of all, here's a selfish
request. You see, this is all about covetousness.
It's all about greed. It's all about what I want. It's
all about me. And he showed a total disrespect
and lack of love for his father, and a total love of self. You
know what he was actually saying here, basically? He was saying,
Father, I wish you were dead. I'd be better off dead. When
did sons get the inheritance? When Dad died. Give it to me
now. I can't wait for you to die.
And basically, that was not just saying, I can't wait for you
to die to get the money, so I just can't wait in expectation until
you're gone and I get what I want. I don't want you. I don't want
your advice. I don't want your wisdom. I don't
want your love. I want your money. That's what he's saying. The
Father lets him have his way. Could the Father have stopped
him? He could have. He could have said, I'm not giving
it to you. Do what you want. But he didn't. Now why did he
do that? I'll tell you exactly why. Now listen to me very carefully
here. You can't climb into the minds
of the characters of these parables and try to figure out their psychology.
But do you know why the Father let him have his way? It's because
this parable, this story, is an illustration that God put
in here by His Son of how God saves sinners. That's why the
Father gave him what he wanted. What he's picturing here is the
fall of man. In the Prodigal Son here, man
falling away from God. Adam fell. Adam disobeyed God
in the Garden of Eden. Adam declared his independence
from God. Satan told Eve, he said, in the
day that you eat thereof, you shall not surely die, even though
God said you would. I'm telling you, you would. Now,
you can choose to believe him or choose to believe me. And
he said, God knows that in the day that you eat thereof, you
shall be as gods. Little G-O-D-S. Knowing good
and evil. What that means is what Satan
was telling us, you can determine your own way. You don't need
God to determine and to judge good and evil. You can do it
yourself, you see. You can be independent from God. And that's what Adam was doing
when he fell. I don't need God to set my standards
and to determine my ways. I can do it. determine what's
good and what's evil, what's good for me and what's not good
for me. And that's what this prodigal son is doing here. Give
me my portion so I can go on my way. I want to be free of
you. That's the fall of man. Now, let me ask you a question.
Could God have stopped Adam from falling? Well, he had the power
to stop him, but he didn't have the will to do it. You see, the
Bible teaches us that the fall of man was strictly within the
ordaining purpose of God. Now, what kind of purpose was
that? It was the purpose to glorify Himself in the salvation of sinners
by Jesus Christ. It was set up before the world
began. Christ is called in Revelation
13 and verse 8, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
God already had a purpose in mind of a Lamb slain, that's
His Son, Christ, the Lamb of God, that He would be slain,
that He would die for the sins of His people even before Adam
fell. That Christ as the Lamb, the
sacrifice, the substitute, would bear the sins of His people before
sin was ever brought into the world. And Paul wrote in the
book of 2 Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 9, of a salvation which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. That's
in the mind and purpose of God. So man fell away from God, declared
his independence. Basically, the same as this son
here, saying, I don't care about you, God. I don't want your love. I don't want your wisdom. I want
what I want. And let me tell you something.
What I just gave you is a description of false religion. Self-righteous
works religion. Right there. Man trying to earn
his way back into God's favor. That won't work. That won't work. Look at verse 13. He says, And
not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and
took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance
with riotous living." Now, there's the shameful result of his shameful
choice. And that's a good description
of the fall of man, isn't it? Right there. He went into a far
country, far away from God. The Bible calls it alienation. Alien. Far away from God. You know, when he actually fell,
he was still in the garden, but he was still far away from God. Not geographically. You can't
get away from God geographically. He's omnipresent. A man spiritually
fell into trespasses and sins, dead, alienated from God in our
mind by wicked works, Colossians chapter 2. And like Adam, this son wanted
his freedom and independence. I want to be away from God, away
from family. It's all about self. And this
rebellious son gave up all interest in and relationship with the
family. He was dead to the Father. Look over verse 32. You know
how the Father describes the returning son? It was meet that
we should make merry and be glad. But this thy brother was dead.
That may sound strange to you because he didn't actually die.
And then, in a sense, he did die. He was dead to his father. Because when he told his father,
give me my portion and I can get out of here, he became dead
to his father. And that's the way it is with
Adam. When he found us in Adam, dead in trespasses and sins,
dead spiritually, you see, dead to the father. For as by one
man sin entered into the world, and what? Death by sin, for all
men sinned." Romans 5.12. Adam died spiritually. The process
of physical death began at that time, but spiritual death was
immediate. And therefore Adam and Eve, in
their legal fear, tried to hide from God, became ashamed of their
nakedness. They realized that they were
in God's disfavor. And what did they do? They tried
to cover their nakedness with those fig leaf aprons, which
represented man's attempts to shield himself from God's disfavor
and anger and wrath by his works. And it didn't work. You remember
what God did over in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 21? He slew animals, shed blood,
and gave them coats of skin. What's that a picture of? It's
a picture of Christ who had to die for his people. Without the
shedding of blood, there is no what? Remission of sins. God's
justice has to be satisfied. And God chose His Son to be the
substitute, the sacrifice, the sin-bearer, and He died. And
that's what was pictured in God slaying animals, shedding blood,
paying the debt to God's justice, and giving them coats of skin.
That's a picture of the righteousness of Christ that is imputed and
charged and accounted to all His people. But you see, Spiritual
death was a reality. It says here in verse 13 that
he wasted his substance. Man has wasted his substance
on this earth ever since. Everything we have. Oh, we've
made some progress, but it hasn't really improved us. It hasn't
given us salvation. It hasn't given us spiritual
life. Wasting his substance. Man's history is a history written
in blood and sin and selfishness and greed. That's not a pretty
picture. Oh, we have segments of moral stories, but basically
the whole human race is on its way out. I'm not just being a
prophet of doom. That's the result of sin. That's
the choice we made. But God, who is rich in mercy,
that's what the scripture says, there's our only hope. Romans
1 and verse 21 describes it, talks about that when they knew
God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
That's man by nature. That's what this son represents.
Look at verse 14. You see, he wasted everything.
He wasted his works. He wasted everything on himself
and not for the glory of God. He didn't live for the glory
of God. He denied and disgraced his father just like we do by
nature in our lostness. Look at verse 14. It says, When
he spent all, and there arose a mighty famine in the land,
and he began to be in want, he lacked. Now he's in need. For a little while he had everything
he wanted. Now he doesn't have anything he wants. In verse 15,
he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and
he sent him into his fields, to feed swine. Now, as you probably
well know, that would probably be the lowest job on a Jew's
mind, feeding swine, the unclean. And it says in verse 16, "...and
he would fain have filled his belly with the husk that the
swine did eat, and no man gave unto him." He got so bad off
that he would have eaten the husk, that corn, the husk. You
ever eaten any corn? I've been eating corn here in
the summer. And boy, it's good, isn't it? But I don't eat the
husk. How about you? We throw them away. Well, he
got so bad off, he would have eaten the husk after you finished
with that sweet corn. That's how bad he got. But nobody
would give him the husk. That's what he's saying there.
Think about that. Feeding on the husk of the world's
possessions, and let me tell you something else, feeding on
the husk of the world's false religion. There's a lot of husk
out there. And he would do it. You see how
he joined himself to a citizen of that country? That's man by
nature. His evil companions, either in
materialism or in immorality or in religion. works religion,
trying to earn his way to salvation. He goes, finds a religious group,
and he joins it, and then he begins to feel good about himself.
But no man will give him the husk. It will not fill you up.
You'll still be in need. You may think you're not for
a time, but the time's coming when that need will be again. Look at verse 17. It says, 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? I will rise and go to my father,
and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Make me as one of thy hired servants." Now, the first line there in
verse 17, he says, when he came to himself. Now, you know what
a lot of people do with that. Well, this fellow got wise. He
wised up. This fella came to a point where
he just was less obstinate, less rebellious. He was more pliable. He came to himself. Many say
this is free willism. You've got to come to yourself.
There's that spark of good in you and we've got to fan it till
you come to yourself. That is not what this is teaching.
Now, I want to ask you this question. Now, think about this with me
very carefully. Now, first of all, you've got
to realize this is, again, not one story in itself. There's
already been two stories told that go with it. What's happening
here in this son, this prodigal son, is the results, the fruit
of the shepherd who's already found the sheep. It's the result,
the fruit of the woman who's already found the coin. In other
words, what's happening here is the result of the redemptive
work of Christ on the cross, shedding His blood as the complete
payment for the sins of His people, His sheep. He said, I laid down
my life for the sheep. And then He said, I'm going to
bring My sheep to Me, and then My sheep are going to know Me,
and they're going to come to Me, and they're going to follow
Me. Read it in John chapter 10. You see, you can't establish
your doctrine, your belief system upon a parable. The parable is
an illustration of the doctrine, the truth, the belief system
of the Bible. So what's happening here in him
coming to himself is not just a free will decision that he
made because he's better than another person who won't come
to himself. And what I mean by that is this.
Let me ask you this. Have you ever come to your senses here?
Have you come to realize your sinfulness and your depravity
and your need for Christ? Have you come to realize that
you have no righteousness before God? In you, on you, or based
on anything you've done, that your only hope for righteousness
to be right before God, to be accepted with God, to commune
with God and have fellowship with God, to be received by the
Father, that your only hope is Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
His blood, His righteousness alone. Have you come to your
senses to see that if God at any time would give you what
you deserve or have earned, it would be eternal damnation? Because you haven't come to your
senses until you've seen that. Do you know that? Have you come
to see, like the publican in the parable in Luke 18 who beat
on his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.
I have no claim upon God's mercy and grace. I'm a sinner, and
if God would mark iniquities, I wouldn't stand. Have you come
to your senses to see that if you're saved, it's by free, sovereign
mercy and grace in Christ? Because if you haven't seen that,
you've not come to your senses. Now, if you answer, yes, yes,
I've come to my senses. Are there others who haven't
come to their senses and maybe never will? Are there other people who haven't
come to their senses? See, the prodigal here, he came
to his senses. Will you think there were some fellows around
him who didn't come to their senses and never did and died
in unbelief? Now, What made the difference
between him and them? That's my question to you. Why
did he come to his senses and somebody else didn't? Was it
because he was better than them? Well, if that's the case, then
don't talk to me of salvation by grace. It works for him. Why did he come to his senses
and another didn't? You say, well, he was less obstinate.
less rebellious, less stubborn. If that's the case, then don't
talk to me about salvation by grace. I'm going to tell you
why this man came to his senses. Because God made the difference.
That's exactly why. And that's what this book here
teaches. It's because he was chosen by God before the foundation
of the world. He was redeemed by the blood
of Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. He came to his
senses. Because the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually
discerned. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14. Christ again, John chapter
3, you must be born again or you can't come to your senses.
You can't see, that's what he meant there, understand the Kingdom
of Heaven. Except you be born again, you
cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And that's a sovereign work of
the Holy Spirit. And yet the Bible commands all men everywhere
to repent. You say, how can you jive that
in your mind? I can't, and you can't either. You just listen
to God's Word and fall at His feet and beg for mercy like this
prodigal here. Look at him. Look at verse 20.
Now, he said, I'm not worthy to be called my father's son.
That's what it means to come to your senses. I'm not worthy.
Now, let me say this before I go on now. No sinner saved by grace
will ever see himself as worthy at any time. And that includes
when we're in heaven in glory. Read Revelation chapter 5. No
man in earth and no man in heaven was worthy to open the seals
of the book. John said, I wept because of
that. But then there appeared one.
Who was he? He was the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. Who's that? That's Christ. And
what did they cry? They sang a new song, a song
of redemption, a song of grace. And what was the words of that
song? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. That's Christ. He'll always be our worthiness.
We'll never have any of our own. And the life we live for the
glory of God, it's not even us living it. It's Christ living
by His Spirit through us. We don't live independently.
You see, that's the problem with the prodigal. That's the problem
with us prodigals. We want to be independent from
God. We can't be independent from God. It's either total independence,
which is death and hell, or it's total living by the life of the
Son of God, by His Spirit. He lives through us. That's the
relationship of grace. It's not about some preacher
standing up there and giving you a list of rules to follow,
what you should do, what you don't do. That's not what it's
all about. It's about a living relationship
with Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit who drives us to
the Father, Abba Father. That's what it's about. You say,
well preacher, aren't there things we should do and shouldn't do?
Yes, but what I'm telling you is that's not what this is all
about. It's all about Christ. That's where people are missing
it today. I mean, people can give you rules and you can follow
them. You can do this and taste this and taste not that and watch
this and watch not that and walk out feeling great about yourself.
But all you're doing is feeding on the husk of false religion.
That's all you're doing. This is all about Christ. And
that's what the Father says. Hear ye Him, this is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. So here he says,
look at verse 20. And he arose and came to his
Father. The Bible tells us in John 6,
verse 44, No man can come to me except the Father which hath
sent me. Draw him, and him I will raise
up in the last day. But this fellow did. Just redeemed, regenerates. But
when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion
and ran and fell on his neck. Now that's the old Elizabethan
way of saying gave him a big hug. Fell on his neck. Gave him a big hug. That's what
that means. Embraced him. And kissed him. That's the greeting of fellowship
and love. And it says in verse 21, And
the son said unto him, Father, I sinned against heaven, and
in thy sight. In other words, my sin wasn't
just something incidental, but it was a total rebellion against
heaven. And do you know what all sin
is that? And in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called
thy son. I'm not worthy to be a child
of God. My friend, I'm not worthy today
to be a child of God. Do you know that? But you see,
I have Christ. And He is worthy. He's worthy. And I'm in Him. And He's my worthiness. That's the issue. He realizes
he has no rightful claim on the Father, totally at the Father's
mercy to do with him as he will. God be merciful to me, the sinner.
But it says here, and I love this, when he was yet a great
way off, not drawing closer, but a great
way off, and he says his father saw him and had compassion. God
saw us before we saw him. Did you know that? God's saving
us. God having compassion on us is
not a response. We're the response to His love. But God saw us before we saw
Him. Purpose from the foundation of the world, the scripture says.
Set His love upon us when we were far off, undeserving. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. God's love to us is not a response
to our love to Him. Our love to Him is a response
to His love to us. And I'll tell you something about
this story here. This fellow, this son, he left
his father. He despised his father, hated
his father. He basically said, Father, I
wish you were dead already so I could have what you got. But
the father never stopped loving the son. He never did. I tell you, you folks who have
children, they can do a lot, can't they? They can do a lot
to make you mad and angry. You want to kick them here and
kick them there and kick them out. But you never stop loving
them, unconditionally. That's what grace is all about.
And if you have the power, And the wisdom and the knowledge,
what will you do for them? Anything you can. And so will God through
his Son. Look at verse 22. He says, But
the Father said unto his servants, Bring forth the best robe. Now
here's what we have. We have a description of all
the blessings that God the Father has for his children in Christ. And he starts off, he says, Bring
forth the best robe and put it on him. What is that robe? My
friend, that's the righteousness of Christ in which all His children
are clothed. That's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That's a righteousness we didn't
deserve, haven't earned, didn't work out. It's the righteousness
that Christ worked out in His obedience unto death on the cross.
I stand before God clothed not in rags of my own making that
men admire, But I stand before God clothed in the righteousness
of His Son. I am justified in Him. I am not guilty. I am complete
and whole and right in Christ, who is my righteousness. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
Dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
Put the best robe on Him. Well, the best robe is the righteousness
of Christ. There's none better. And then
he says, put a ring on his hand. That's the ring of sonship. That's
what that means. That's a signet ring of sonship
that had the family stamp on it. And that's the authority,
the right that God gives His people who are in Christ. We're
children of God, not children of the world. We're children
of God by redemption. We're children of God by election,
by redemption, by regeneration. And then he says here, put shoes
and shoes on his feet. You know, the Bible speaks in
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 6, 15 of the whole armor of God,
and it talks about our feet being shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. The feet being shod, the shoes
on their feet means responsibility. We have a responsibility to our
Heavenly Father through the Son to live for His glory, to preach
His gospel and live for Him. And then he says in verse 23,
"...and bring hither the fatted calf." You notice the calf had
already been fatted up. You see, it's not based on the
work of the Son here, the prodigal son. It's all prepared, and He
says, kill it, and let us eat and be merry. What does that
mean? That means we're feasting at the Father's table. Blessed
are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. Feasting at His table, that means
fellowship, communion, acceptance. It means we're in His family. Reconciled, that's what it means.
Well, there's no reconciliation without restitution. You see,
before the prodigal son could come home and be received, the
lost sheep had to be found, redeemed by the blood of Christ. There's
no reconciliation without regeneration. Before the prodigal could come
home and be received, the lost coin had to be found, regenerated
by the Spirit. Think about this. He says in
verse 24, For this my son was dead, and is alive again. He fell, but he's been brought
home. He was lost and he's found. And they began to make merry. I'm going to deal with the elder
son next week, but let me just say this. No matter how much,
you know, this son, he wanted that, you know, no matter how
much we accumulate of material goods and money in this life,
no matter how much we gain fame and recognition, No matter how
much we try to work our way into God's favor and religious activity
and performances and attempts, those things will eventually
leave us, or we'll leave them in death. Either way, it's lost. Either way. The Bible says, seek
for treasures in heaven. How do we do that? Is it by seeking
to work our way into heaven or earn our blessings of heaven
by our works or our rewards in heaven as men are so fond of
saying today? Is that how we do it? No. Let me tell you exactly how to
seek and to store up treasures in heaven. Look to Christ. Seek Him and find Him. And when
you find Him, you know what you're going to find? You have it all.
You have it all, because in Him are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge, all of salvation.