Luke's Gospel, chapter 15. I love this parable, not only because the Lord Jesus
is the preacher of it. Of course, He's the preacher
of all parables. You and I don't speak in parables. The apostles
didn't even speak in parables, but the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
in parables. And it was predicted all the
way over in the New Testament that He would do that. He said,
I will speak to you in parables, in hidden sayings, things that
have been kept secret since the foundation of the world. And
here He is speaking these things. preaching these parables to you
and me. And it's a wonderful thing because
of what it relates to. This parable, it's really a four-sided
parable. Some people say it's a three-sided
parable, but it's really a four-sided parable. It begins with a shepherd
and his sheep. And then the woman lost her money
and she goes seeking it until she finds it. And then the prodigal
that left home and returns. And then the last side to that
parable is the son, the self-righteous son who stayed home. But this
parable came out of verses 1 and 2. This is the reason the Lord
preached this parable. Then drew near unto Him all the
publicans. Now, we know who these publicans
were. For the most part, they were A crooked lot of people. They were a mean, sneaking, conniving group of people that roamed and
hired to collect their taxes. Most of them was rich. Nineteenth
chapter of Luke tells us of one Zacchaeus was a rich man and
may have well gotten rich by collecting taxes. If Rome said
you collect a hundred dollars a year from each person, they
collect two, and you know who got the other hundred. They falsely
accused people, cheated them, and they were hated. They were
despised. Even the Lord Jesus categorized
them with the heathen. Let him be to you a publican
and a heathen. They were the lowest class of
scoundrels, for the most part. And the sinners, the sinners,
that included everybody else. harlots, open and profane men
and women, young and old, sinners. There was a sinner in the town.
And when the Lord said that, He knew what people... He knew
what she was. Everybody knew her. Open and
profane person. But these people, look at this
in verse 1, they drew near. They drew near. They were sinners. But here was the advantage that
they had. They knew themselves to be sinners.
You say, Bruce, how do you know that they knew themselves to
be sinners? Because they drew near. They drew near to hear
Him. Everybody is a sinner, you see,
but very few know it. But I tell you this, when a man
or a woman finds out that they're sinners, the Holy Spirit has
made them so. He has made them feel that sin,
and I'll tell you one thing, they'll start doing. They'll
start drawing you to Christ. They'll start hearing Him. I've
seen them do it. You've seen them do it. You'll start seeing them get
near where you're talking to somebody about the Lord, and
they'll be pretending to listen to somebody else, but their ear
will be bent in your direction. They want to hear what the Lord's
got to say about something. These Pharisees and these scribes
weren't like that at all. Look at them in verse 2. And
the Pharisees and the scribes, they murmured, saying, This man
receiveth sinners, and eateth with him. There you have your
Pharisees. They were sinners too, but they
didn't know it. They said, We keep the law. We
don't need a Savior. We're perfect people. We can't
even remember if we've sinned. Concerning the righteousness
of the law, we're blameless. We're blameless. And the scribes
were those fellows that copied the Scriptures. They were smart
people, boy. They were learned. They'd gone to the seminars.
They'd studied all the writings of the fathers. Smart people.
They're so smart, they could save themselves. You're pretty
smart if you can save yourself, ain't you? And when they saw
these publicans and sinners come to Christ, they murmured, they
got so upset and aggravated about it. And they said, why is your
master a friend of people like this? Why is he always hanging
out with sinners? Why is he receiving them? Why
is he fellowshipping with them? Why is it these common people
associate him with Jesus Christ? And boy, they got so aggravated
about it. So it's out of this that the Lord gives us this problem.
So if you remember that, this parable then begins to make a
lot of sense. Now here we have it. First of
all, we have in verses 4 through verse 6, we have the parable
of the shepherd losing and recovering his sheep. Now what's this first
portion of this parable about? And I hope you never get tired
of hearing about it. What's the subject of this parable? Now
somebody might say, well, it's the sheep. But it's really not,
is it? Because what's said of the sheep? Nothing. Only thing that's said
of the sheep, not what he's done, not what he's going to do, not
the power of his free will. What is it that's said of the
sheep? Just one thing. He's lost. He's lost. The first portion of this parable
is all about the shepherd. He lost his sheep. And then when
he lost his sheep, he said there that he left the 99 in the wilderness
and he goes after that sheep. And he don't quit going after
it and searching for it until he finds the sheep. See, it's
about what the shepherd is doing, not what the sheep is doing. And when he finds his sheep,
he lays the sheep on his shoulders and he's rejoicing. And he takes
the sheep back home to his family and calls all of his neighbors
together and says, Rejoice with me, for I found my sheep which
was lost. Now there's the first side of
this parable. And you and I can't come here and prove doctrine
with this, I know that, but you know we can go other places and
we can see this doctrine proved. For instance, let me say this,
John chapter 10, the Lord tells us a lot about His sheep, doesn't
He? He says, I have some sheep. And he tells us where he got
them at. In John chapter 10 verse 28 and 29, in that verse there,
he says, My Father gave those sheep to me. Where did Christ
get His sheep? They were a gift from His Father
in heaven. And he said, now they're mine.
They were His and now they're mine. And then he says this about
them. In Isaiah 53, verse 6, he says,
My sheep have gone astray. All we lack sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. He lost them, didn't he? Back
there in the garden, he lost his sheep. When Adam sinned,
all the sheep as well as the goats were in Adam. And when
Adam went astray, what happened to the sheep? They went astray
in him. You see, there's where the sheep got lost at. We're
not lost when we're born. We got lost way back on in the
garden, didn't we? That's our problem. There's where
we went astray. When we were born, we just manifested
we was already going astray. Because when we were born, we
were speaking lies. When we were born, we were children
of wrath of our very nature. Went astray from God, astray
into sin, lost sheep. Dumb, ignorant sheep up on the
mountain somewhere. Who knows where we were? But
oh, what danger we were in! Lost, astray, away from God,
out there where the wolves are, out there where the lions are,
out there on the mountains, could fall off a cliff and crush ourselves
to death. We were lost, astray, just like
dumb sheep. But the shepherd came seeking
us. Aren't you glad for that? Clarence
told us a few weeks ago, I was found of them that sought me
not. Ain't that a strange language?
I was found of them that sought me not. You know we never do
seek Him until He first finds us, do we? But I tell you this,
when He goes to seek Him for one of His lost sheep, He never
quits until He finds it. I don't know how long it takes
Him to find one of His sheep. But He says here so plainly that
He left the ninety and nine in the wilderness, in verse 4, and
goes after that which was lost until He finds it. He doesn't go seeking it. He
goes to seek it until he finds it. And he never gives up. He's
a good shepherd. He's a seeking shepherd. He's
a successful shepherd. And I tell you, if the sheep
can get themselves in a place where they can't be found, they'll
do it. They'll do it. But you see the
shepherd, he just won't give up. I mean, he's so wise. He's so
good. He's so faithful. And He loves
His sheep so much, He's already given Himself for us. And now
He says, other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. They're
those dead dog Gentiles. They're not even born yet. But
they're going to be lost. But I must bring them. And they're
going to hear My voice. And I'm going to give them life
eternal. And I love his attitude here
when he finds it. Notice this. When he finds it,
he doesn't upbraid it. He doesn't find it and whip it
and beat it back to the full. What does he do with the sheep
when he finds it? The first thing he does is reach down and pick
it up and put it around his shoulder. I love that scene you see with
these shepherds. They don't have a sheep carrying
it. You know, we pick somebody up and we slap it over. We put
them over our shoulder. That's not the way He carries
His sheep. He takes His sheep and He puts it on His shoulders.
That means He's got His sheep around His neck. And He's holding
them legs. Ain't that a safe place? Ain't
that a secure place? He holds us. He just picks us
up, little lambs. And you don't even trust us to
get back to the foal on our own. He said, I'm going to pack you.
I'm going to pack you. And there we are around His neck.
And no doubt He's rubbing us and we're rubbing up against
Him. Didn't it feel just about that way when He found you? And
didn't you find rest when He found you? And didn't you feel
so secure and so protected when He found you? On His shoulders,
on His strong shoulders, His secure shoulders, His loving
shoulders. And what's His attitude about
it all? And I would have never believed this. I thought the
Lord was so angry with me when He'd come looking for me. I tell
you, I thought, boy, He's found me and He's going to put me in
hell for sure. God hates me with all of His heart. And I would
have never believed His attitude when He found me was this if
I hadn't have read it in His Bible. What's the attitude of
the shepherd as soon as he finds his sheep? Why, he's rejoicing. You think you're happy, look
at the shepherd. He's laughing. He's singing. He's rejoicing. As soon as he
finds his sheep, all the way home, he's singing over them. I found my sheep which was lost. I never give up. I never cease
from seeking till I found him. I've found Him and I've got Him,
never to lose Him again. And on His way He goes, singing,
rejoicing over His sheep that He's found. And that's not just
a parable. Now that's what He said in the
parable. But look in verse 7. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. more than
over ninety and nine just persons who needs no repentance. That's
not a parable. He said that's what takes place
in heaven. Who is it that rejoices? Christ
rejoices, doesn't He? God rejoices. Angels rejoice. Everybody in heaven rejoices.
You rejoice. And I rejoice when He finds one
of His sheep. Here is the second side of this
problem in verse 8. Look at this. Either what woman, having ten
pieces of silver, if she loses one piece, she lights a candle
and sweeps the house and seeks diligently until she finds it.
And when she has found it, she calls her friends and her neighbors
together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece
which I lost. Likewise, there is rejoicing
in the presence of the angel. Now, this woman here became very
anxious. And you can look at this woman
as being the Holy Spirit, which probably it is, represents the
Holy Spirit. Light in a candle, which is the
Gospel. The Holy Spirit takes the preaching
of the Gospel, and through that Gospel, the Holy Spirit seeps
out that silver that was lost. Now, you know silver is not worth
anything to the Lord. It's worth something to us. See,
this parable is not to teach our Lord. It's to teach us. Silver
is necessary for you and I. Silver is something that's valuable
to us. We value it. The Lord knows that
we value silver. And He says if you have ten pieces
of silver, and you lose one of them, what are you going to do?
Well, you're going to search for that, because silver is valued
to you. And he takes his sheep now, and
he looks at them, not under the title of a sheep, but something
that's valuable to him. Something that the Holy Spirit
has lost. You know something, brothers
and sisters. You know the elect of God. are valuable to Christ. You know they are. And the reason they're valuable
to Him is because they're a gift of the Father. In and of themselves,
they're nothing. We know that. We're nothing.
But I tell you, if God has gave you to His Son, you're valuable
to His Son. His glory is wrapped up in you.
He is redeeming glory. And if He has lost you, you know
what His Holy Spirit is going to do? His Holy Spirit is going
to light this candle and the Holy Spirit is going to come
seeking for you. This light, this light is not so much for
the coin. What is the coin anyway? It has
no life to it, does it? It can't see the light. I love
this part of the parable here because it tells us who the Lord's
sheep are. They're not only dumb, they're
not only ignorant, but they're as dead as a piece of coin. Right
where we fell in Adam is where we stay. Have you moved in and
of yourself since the day of your birth, all your unconverted
life, did you move one inch towards God? Did you do anything to come
out of your sin You didn't do anything, did you? We were just
like this coin, as dead as it was. But here the Holy Spirit
comes with the light of the Gospel, and He's seeking us out. And
she's sweeping the floor, sweeping the floor, until there the coin
lays. And the Holy Spirit reaches down,
seeing by the light of the Gospel, and picks the coin up. and says,
I found it. I found it. Right where it fell. And she brings it home and calls
her friends and her neighbors together and says, come rejoice
with me. And the Lord says in verse 10,
likewise I say unto you, there's joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner that repenteth. Bringing the coin home. Bringing
the sheep home. And calling all the neighbors
together. Heaven rejoices. I don't know why you and I think
that heaven is so ignorant of what
goes on on the earth. But we think that, don't we? But you know heaven is not ignorant
of what is taking place here. You remember when the Lord Jesus
was on the Mount of Transfiguration, and His disciples saw Him, His
skin began to glow, clothes began to shine. Moses and Elijah came
down from heaven and talked with the Lord Jesus about His death. They weren't ignorant of what
was going on on this earth. The souls of departed saints
are there under the altar saying, Lord, how long? How long will
it be to the resurrection? They know what's going on on
this earth. And every time a sinner is brought
to repentance, heaven rejoices. Heaven rejoices. You rejoice.
I rejoice. The angels rejoice. The Lord
rejoices. The Holy Spirit rejoices. And
the saints of heaven rejoice. Rejoice! That's a wonderful thought,
ain't it? That's a wonderful thought. And
then the third part of this parable is this. And it's the longest
portion of this parable. And it begins here in verse 11
and really goes all the way down through the remainder of this
chapter. But as you and I look at the
prodigal son and his leaving his father's house and going
off into a foreign country and coming back. And I've heard people
preach this. And they preach it with such
free will involved in it. They forget the first portion
of this parable altogether. As we look at the prodigal son,
don't forget now, he's a sheep that has to be found. And don't
forget he's dead like this coin that has to be given life to
him. The lie has to go to him and
search him out. We can't go here to the prodigal son and preach
him as just he went out there on his own, which he did, but
then he came back on his own. Don't forget the first portion
of it. So what happened? Well, here we see in this prodigal
son, not only a dumb sheep and a dead corn, but we see what
was going on in the heart of God's elect people when they
went astray. Look at it here in verse 11. A certain man had two sons. The
younger of them said to his father, Give me the portion of goods
that falleth to me." And he divided unto them his living. And not
many days after, the younger son gathered all together and
took his journey into a far country. Give me that which is mine, and
not many days. Boy, we talk about free will.
We talk about, I want my way. Well, here's man having his way.
What are you and I, brothers and sisters by nature? Here we
get a good look at ourselves. Here's how we go astray in it.
Give me what's mine. Boy, you tell young people. They
say, boy, we want out in the world. We're tired of being under
mom and dad's authority. We want to get out on our own.
We want to do our thing. Boy, if God lets a man go, if
God lets a young person go, it's not long till they find themselves
in all kinds of trouble. Give me what's mine. And not
many days. Not many days. You know when
the angels fail? When God let them have their
way. You know when our first parents fell in the garden, when
God let them have their way. And you know when you'll fall
and when I'll fall, if God lets us have our way. Oh, if this
young man had any sense, if he had any understanding of the
dangers that's in this world, and the sin of his own heart,
he'd have said, oh, I must stay here in my father's house. This
is a safe place. If I leave here, I'm in trouble. But did he stay there? No. No. Went astray. Went down into a
far country. And what did he do when he got
down there? In verse 14. Verse 13. And took his journey into a far
country and wasted his substance. with riotous living. Wasted his substance. Ain't that what
sin is? A waste, ain't it? It's just a
waste. How often have we looked down
in the casket of a dead friend and thought to ourselves, what
a waste. What wasted years What wasted energy, what wasted talents,
what wasted labor. Sin is like a cancer, brothers
and sisters. It eats at us. It eats at us. Our affections, our will, our
understanding, our souls, our body. It just eats at us. It eats us up until finally what
happens? We're wasted. What a wasted life
that's gone. That's what happened to this
prodigal son. He wasted his life with routless living. Sinful pleasures. My way, my
will. That's a waste, ain't it? That's
a waste. A man that don't live with his
heart full of the Lord, a man that don't live knowing the Lord,
with the knowledge of Christ, his life is wasted. What good
is the pleasures of this world? What good is the sin of this
world? It's a wasted life. If a man goes through this world
and he don't know Christ, He's wasted his life. If he labors
to get all kinds of knowledge and degrees and he don't have
the knowledge of salvation, it's a wasted life. Just a waste. A waste of his body and a waste
of his soul. What was that sheep doing? Just
wasting his life. What was that coin doing? Just
wasting his time. Wasting his life. I remember
those days, don't you? Twenty-three years wasted. Wasted. Didn't know God. Didn't even
know myself. Pleasures of sin for a season. Wasted. Twenty-three years. And
there are people that waste eighty years. A hundred years. Wasted
lives. Wasted. He wasted. He wasted his subtlety with righteous
living. Thank God for verse 14. Look
at this. And when he had spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to be in want. Now I wonder where this famine
came from. It came from the Lord, didn't it? Thank God for famines. I don't pray for anybody to be
sick. I don't pray for anybody to lose
their job. I don't pray for anybody to get in trouble. But if that's
what it takes to get a person to begin to come to themselves
and to say, my soul, I'm in trouble. How many people are like the
rich man who fares sumptuously every day? They're never in trouble. They never have any trials. They
live to this world and they die unawakened. It takes the flames
of hell to open their eyes. Thank God when trouble comes.
I have a niece that my sister-in-law just called us yesterday and
said, your niece is back in the hospital again. Lost her little
five-year-old baby. Lost her kidneys. Lost another
kidney that her dad gave her. Now she's probably got cancer.
All kinds of trouble. And my hope is that the Lord
will take this trouble and turn it for her good. that she'll
begin to see how vain and how empty and how short this life
is, and begin to seek a world to come, a hope in a life that
you're after. Oh, thank God for famines, brothers
and sisters. The worst thing can happen to
man. Never get in trouble in this life. If trouble begins
to awaken you, thank God for it. But notice the first thing
that usually happens, though, is this. Look in verse 15. He went and joined himself to
a citizen of that country, and he sent him to his fields to
feed swine, and he would gladly, would fain have filled his belly
with the husk that the swine did eat. And no man gave him. Here's what men usually do. They're
like that dumb sheep. If he ever begins to realize
he's lost, he don't know which way to go to be found, does he? If that coin had any sense at
all to see the light, he didn't know what it meant. Here's how dumb this fellow was.
He said, man, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. What are you
going to do? Well, I'm going to start feeding swine. I'm going
to go start slopping the hogs. That'll do it. That'll do it.
Oh, how dumb we are. How dumb we are. I tried that. Glenn, you did too, didn't you? I tried that. Feeding the dumb
swine. I used to work when I worked
at a place I've worked at for 13 years. Just every once in
a while I'd have somebody come to me and and tell me, well,
I got baptized yesterday. I got baptized yesterday. I joined the church last weekend.
I had one fellow I was talking
to one day, and he said, listen, I've been to the seminar. I've
been to the seminar. And I said, sir, let me ask you
a question. Do you know the Lord? Do you know the Lord? He said,
no, I don't know the Lord. then you're the devil's servant. All your seminar is is feeding
the swine. All your baptism is, all your
church membership is, is just slopping the hogs. This fellow's
trouble was he went and joined himself to a citizen of this
world. It's not a citizen of this world
we need to be joined to. It's the Lord of glory we must
be joined to. We must be in Christ. That's
the only safe place to be. He went and joined himself to
a citizen of this world. And boy, he got so hungry, he
could eat the husk. He could eat that old husk that
he fed the swine. And no man gave him. No, man. See, brothers and sisters,
what we need, man can't give us. We need to be reconciled to God. Man can't do that. We need to
be cleansed from our sins. Man can't do that. We need life
eternal. Man can't give us life. We must
go home to the Father's house. That's the only place there's
life and reconciliation and rest and food and drink is in the
Father's house. Poor old Camelot's. You go to
the Camelot's and they'll take you to the baptistry for the
remission of sins. They can't do you any good. You
go to the high priest and they'll take you in their little booth.
and absolve you of your sins, supposedly. You go to the Baptist,
and they'll bring you to the altar, the mourner's bench, for
salvation. You go to the Presbyterians,
and they'll take you in the back and educate you, or send you
to the seminar. They'll educate you into the
Kingdom of God. Man can't help us, can they?
When man has done all they can do, all they can do is just like
filling a bucket full of slop. And sending us out to the old
filthy, stinking hog pen. And that's where he wound up
at. And notice here in verse 17.
You want to know what repentance is? Here it is in verse 17. And
when he came to himself. He was in a coma or something.
He just liked when a person's asleep. You ever been in surgery? You had no idea what they were
doing to you. But then you came to. That's
what happened to this man. He was just unconscious. He left
home unconscious. He wasted all of his life unconscious
of what he was doing. He went to feed the hogs, still
unconscious. And finally he says, my soul,
I'm perishing now. He's beginning to come to himself.
Do you know what repentance is? It's coming to yourself. It's
coming to the knowledge of the truth. It's being awakened to
our problem. What is my problem? I'm perishing. Where's the remedy? With God
my Father. What are you going to do? I'm
going home. What are you going to say when you get there? I've
sinned against heaven and in your sight. Ain't that repentance? That's coming to yourself. Well, in the first part of this,
it's all about the shepherd finding the sheep. In the second part,
it's all about the woman lighting the candle and fighting the corn.
But here now, it's from this prodigal's perspective. What's
going on in his heart? What's taking place in a man
who is lost, even in one of God's elect? Boy, he's found himself
in a Persian state. He's come to understand that.
And He said, My soul, if I stay here, I'll die forever. I'm going
home. Oh, don't you want to come home?
Don't you want to come home? Ain't it time to come home? Ain't
it time to get out of the hog pen? Ain't it time to get out
of the stink and the service of the devil? You're going to
perish there anyway. Ain't it time to come home? I'm
going home to my Father's house. I don't know how far it was from
this hog pen to the father's house. I imagine it was a long
way. Farther for some than it is others. And I can't imagine the thoughts
that went through this young man's mind on his way back to
the father's house. But he didn't stop until he got
there. He said, if I don't make it to
my father's house, I'm going to perish. And look in verse
20. And he arose and came to his
father. But look here at the father.
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had
compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. That's the father's attitude.
Would you have ever believed that? Would you have ever believed
that? Would you ever believe the eternal
God would have rejoiced over a repentant sinner? I'd have
never believed that. I told Glenn, Brother Glenn talked
this morning, he read that verse in John chapter 16, verse 27,
where the Lord Jesus made this wonderful statement. He says,
the Father Himself loveth you. And as Glenn read that, I thought,
my soul, here is a man that came down from heaven who knows the
heart of God. And he says, the Father Himself
loves you. I could have never believed that
if Christ, who knows the heart of the Father, hadn't told me
that. I'm overwhelmed with such a thought that God loves me. Aren't you overwhelmed with that?
And when a sinner comes and the Father sees him a long way off,
what does he do? Can you picture God the Father
running? Martin Luther used to tell this
parable to children, and he had a wonderful way of telling them.
He says, you know, kings don't run. The mighty men of this world
don't run. But here the Father is running. Here God is running. And who
is he running to? His poor lost son. And Luther says, why does he
run? While his son is a great way
off, why does he run to meet him? And this is Luther's way
of saying this, and this is the way he teaches children. He said,
the father was afraid. Well, he said, what was he afraid
of? He said, he saw his son was ready to despair. He came out
of a far country. And the devil had put in his
mind all of these awful doubts. And he said, look at you. Look
at you. You're filthy. You stink. Look at the shame that you brought
on your father. You've wasted all that he's given
you. And now you're going to come home and cast yourself on
his mercy? He'll never receive you. He'll
run you off from home. So Luther says the father saw
his son was full of doubts and anxiety. So he didn't want him
to despair and go back to the hog pen. So he runs and he falls
upon him and begins to kiss him with the kisses of his mouth.
And says, son, welcome home. Welcome home. Oh, this is one of the most wonderful
parables because it says to us how God in heaven God who is
above the heavens, condescends in tender mercies to receive
a poor sinner, and fall on his neck and kiss him, and love him,
and forgive him of all of his sins. Oh, is God such a God? Yes, and He loves it. They said,
this man receiveth sinners. The Lord Jesus said, I own it.
The Holy Spirit owns it, and my Father in Heaven owns it,
and we rejoice to do it. I have no greater joy than to
fall upon the neck of a coming sinner and kiss him. Isn't that wonderful? I need to be taught. I need to be encouraged of the
Father's love, because I am often in doubt of it. I'll be honest
with you, one of the abominations of my heart, I'm sometimes in
doubt of God's love for me. All I see is my misery. All I
see is my sin. And when I read such a parable
of God falling upon the neck of a sinner and loving him and
kissing him, oh, my heart leaps for hope and joy that He loves
me. And he started to confess. And
he got this much out. He said, Father, I've sinned
in verse 21. In thy sight I'm no more worthy
to be called your son. He's ready to say, just make
me a servant. Oh, but the father said, no, I'm not going to have
you as my servant. You're going to be my son. My son. And the
father said to the servants, bring forth the best robe. Not
just a robe now. I want the best robe. We've been saving a robe just
for Him. And it's the best one. I want you to bring it. And I
don't want you to hand it to Him and say, put it on. I want
you to put it on Him. Ain't it amazing how it just
fit Him? Oh, listen, dear soul. Jesus
Christ will just fit you. He has a robe of righteousness
that He's worked out Himself. And I'm telling you, He'll suit
you so fine. And all those old rags that you
trusted in before and thought looked pretty good, when you
see this robe, you'll say, oh, I've never seen such a beautiful
robe. And you'll rejoice in it. And you'll put it on. And you'll
wear it so proudly the rest of your life. It'll just suit you. It's the best robe. It's God's
robe. The Son of God's robe. And He
not only did that, but look at this. Put a ring on His hand. That's what a man does to his
wife when he marries her, ain't it? She's mine now. This is mine. I love her. Unbreakable, unending
love. Put shoes on his feet. He needs
shoes to walk in. And bring hither that fatty calf
that we've been reserving and kill him and let us eat and be
married. For this my son was dead. There's
that coin, ain't it? Just like the coin. and is alive
again. He was lost just like that sheep
and his family. And they began to be married.
They laughed and ate and laughed some more and ate some more.
What a time of rejoicing it was. He'd come home. He'd come home.
And then, beginning in verse 25, this is to those Pharisees
and this is to those scribes. They murmured and complained
about the Lord receiving these sinners. Well, the Lord tells
them about themselves. You're beginning in verse 25.
Now, his elder son was in the field. That's where the self-righteous
always are. If I'm earning my way to heaven, I better stay
out in the field. I better work and I better work until my fingers
are blistered, sweat is on my brow, and I've worn my clothes
out, because it's going to take a lot of work to get there. A
lot of work. That's where he was. And notice
something else about him here. Not only did he come in from
the field, but he came and drew nigh to the house and he heard
music and danced it. And he called one of the servants
and asked what these things meant. You see, self-righteous people,
they have no idea what it is to be lost. They have no idea
what it is to be found. All they know is work, work,
work, work. They don't know anything about
rest. They don't know anything about being laid across the shepherd's
shoulder. They don't know anything about
the Holy Spirit coming with this light of the gospel and rescuing
them. They don't know anything about coming and having the Father
to fall on their neck with the kisses of His mouth, and rejoice
over them that He's found them. All they know is work, work,
work. And He said unto him in verse
27, Thy brothers come, and thy fathers kill the fatty calf,
because he's received Him, say, and sound. I love it when other
people testify of things like this. See, you and I believe
when the Lord saves one of His little people, He's saved and
sound, ain't He? He's sound. He's safe. Now here, that's what these servants
believe, too. He's safe and He's sound. He
ain't going to ever leave home again, is He? And boy, the older brother, boy,
he was so happy, he said, well, let me get in on this. No, he
didn't say that, did he? Look in verse 28. And he was
angry, just like the Pharisees and the scribes, and would not
even go in to the house. Therefore his father came out
and entreated him, Son, please, he said, this is a time of rejoicing. Your brother's come home. And
he answered and said to him, Father, lo, these many years
do I serve Thee, neither transgressed I at any time Thy commandments."
Oh my! He was just as bad as the son
that went to the hog pen. He just didn't know it. Old Spurgeon
used to say, open and profane sins has slain its thousands,
but self-righteousness has slain its tens of thousands. Who can
stand and say, not one time have I transgressed your commandment?
You talk about being deceived of the devil. This man had the
devil dwelling in his heart. The devil had blinded him to
his own sin and righteousness. Not one time. Oh, no wonder they
didn't rejoice when the Savior came into this life. No wonder
they sought to kill Him and they hated Him. No wonder they didn't
love Him. They had no sin to be forgiven.
They were never lost to be found. And yet, Thou never gavest me
a kid. You never killed a goat for me
that I might make marry with my friends. See what was in his
heart? He was wanting to party too,
wasn't he? He just had it hid all this time.
But this anger finally bubbled over. I wanted to party myself. But I refrained from it. I subdued
myself. But I wanted to. In my heart,
boy, I wanted to. I remember Brother Maurice Montgomery
preached a message one time on love God and do as you will.
And boy, it stirred some people up. Some people said, if I did
as I would, I'd go back to my... Would you? What would you do
if you would? What would you do if you could? This fellow said, if I could
have, I'd have been out partying. That's where my heart was. Where's
your heart at yourself? If you could do what you really
wanted to, what would you do? Oh, I'd love my Lord with all
my heart. Wouldn't you? I'd follow Him. I'd never go astray. I'd never
use His holy name in any way except in a way of worship and
reverence. But as soon as this thy son was
come, which hath devoured thy living with heartless, you kill
for him the fatty calf. And the father said, Son, you
are ever with me, all that I have is thine. It was meet, it was
fit, it was right that we should make merry and be glad. For this
thy brother was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and
is found. May God be pleased to find one
of His today. Let's pray.