Okay, so we'll look this week
at another parable, well-known. We've looked at the Good Samaritan,
the parable of the sower last week, and I want to look at the
parable of the prodigal son this week. And this parable illustrates
how God saves a sinner, and it provides a beautiful insight
into the heart of God. That's what it's for. That's
what the scriptures are for. is to show us what God is like
and what salvation is about. Remember, that's what we're always
looking for when we come to the Scriptures. We're looking for
the truth of eternal life. This book doesn't set out to
tell us how to live, though it does that incidentally. It sets
out to show us what it is to be right with God and the basis
on which we're right with God and that basis is in Christ alone. Now, Lots of voices will echo,
oh yes, on Christ alone, but do they really mean that in their
hearts? Or do they add all sorts of things to it? You know, I
remember many years ago, saying to a man who'd been a minister
for many, many years, and he was talking about the salvation
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's in him alone, and he
was saying all those things, but you know something? He was
saving up his good works that he was going to carry into heaven.
and I said to him, that hymn that we just sang, nothing in
my hand I bring, nothing, simply to thy cross I cling, naked,
naked, not a stitch on you in terms of righteousness, naked
come to thee for dress, nothing in my hand I bring. This is what
we're looking at, salvation in Christ alone. Now, this is very
well known and I'm sure there are some of you here, like me,
maybe more than me, that have heard This parable preached on
dozens and dozens of times down many, many years. But it's always
fresh. It's always worth looking at
again. You know, this is where we get our foundational principles
from. There are three main characters
in this parable. Three main characters. There's
the father, there's the elder son, and there's the younger
son. Three characters. The father
obviously represents God. God the father. The God of all
grace. The oldest son, what does he
represent? I'll tell you what I'm convinced
he represents. He represents legalistic works religion. He's self-righteous, isn't he?
He never went away, he was always there. He never went to the far
country and wasted his life and his substance in riotous living. No, he's self-righteous. And
then there's the youngest son. Do you know who he represents?
I hope he represents me. Those that Christ, the great
physician, came to heal. Those who are lost, that he came
to seek and to save. Because he only came to seek
and to save those who are lost. And he only came to heal, as
the great physician, those who are sick. Because those who think
they're well, they've got no need of a physician. And this
older brother, he was like that. So, these are the three characters.
But I want to focus on the younger one, obviously. The younger son. And I want to see four things.
I want to see his rebellion, his realization when he was in
that far country, his return, and the reception that he got
when he returned. Four things. His rebellion, his realization,
his return, and his reception. His rebellion. Now, you know,
it wasn't just the younger son that rebelled against the father.
Both of them did. Both of them did. The older one,
at the end, you read it in the last few verses. He answering
said to his father, verse 29, Lo, these many years have I served
you, and I didn't transgress at any time your commandment,
and yet you never gave me anything like you've given him. This son
of yours has gone away, and you've killed for him the fat... You
see, he's rebelling against his father. Hates what he's done.
Doesn't like it. That's not the way it should
be. He rebelled. They both rebelled. The older
one. was self-righteous. Do you remember
I said last week or a couple of weeks ago that the parables
illustrate heavenly principles but we don't formulate our doctrine
here. And although the last couple
of verses indicate that this older son was a son in the sense
of being a son of the kingdom of God, he wasn't. This was not
a child of God. We don't formulate our doctrine
here. We use the parables to illustrate doctrinal principles.
And there's a clear doctrinal principle. There's a clear doctrinal
principle which says this. Who's righteous? There's none
righteous. No, not one. Who's sinned? How many of the population of
the world have sinned? All have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. You see, there's none righteous
in and of themselves. There's none righteous by nature.
This older one was self-righteous and he'd rebelled against his
father. But we'll focus on this younger
one. And look at verse 12. Look what he says. This certain
man had two sons. And the younger of them said
to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls
to me. Divide your will up. Divide your
wealth up between us now and give me the bit that's mine.
And he divided unto them his living. See, he did that. This
father did as his son said, as his son asked. He divided to
them his living. What was he really asking? this
younger son. He was saying, give me my freedom. Give me pleasures to enjoy and
give me them so that I don't have to do it with your hand
of restraint upon me. Give me these things so I can
do what I want to do. Give me the wherewithal to go
and have a great time because It's coming to me one of these
days eventually, so you might as well give it to me now. And
then I can be free of these shackles of your control over my life
and your supervision of my life. And I can go and do what I want. You see, this is the selfishness
of my human heart. This is personal. It's the selfishness
of my human heart and yours. We say to God, in effect, I have
a right to enjoy life. Isn't that what every young person,
you know, coming to their prime, they think the world is their
oyster, as we say. They're getting their qualifications
and doing all those sorts of things. And it all lies there
before them. And they believe this. I have a right to enjoy
life. It's mine. I'm going to make
the most of it. I'm going to eat, drink, and be merry. I'm
going to have a good time now before I get old. And of course,
when they're kind of 16, 17, Old is anything above about 35
and so it goes on. I have a right to enjoy life
and do what I want. Give me what I think I want is
what this boy is saying to his father. Give me whatever I think
I want and don't interfere in my life. And isn't that what
we all by nature say to the God who's created us and sustains
all things around us? Give me whatever I want, health,
wealth, happiness, but don't interfere in my life. Don't set
bounds for me to walk within. You see, this is the human heart.
Mark 7, 21 to 23 says this, For from within, out of the heart
of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from
within. and defile a man. It's not just
the things you do on the outside. You do those things on the outside
because of what comes from the inside. For the heart of man
is deceitful above all things, says Jeremiah, and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? And of course,
he goes on to answer the question. God knows it. God knows it inside
out. So all of us, by nature, as these
scriptures teach us, we hate God's sovereign rule. We mistrust
God to direct our lives, don't we? We think we know best. We want to go here. We want to
order things the way that we want them. We mistrust God to
direct our lives. If I don't have this experience,
I'll have missed out on something. Therefore, I must go and do this.
We just want the riches of His creation and the riches of what
He's made in us. We want a healthy, happy life
with plenty of things at our disposal. And we proudly believe
that we know best about everything. That's this boy and he's a picture
of us as we are. So, what do we do? We do what
he did. He divided to them his living.
So, the younger son got his share and not many days later, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country. He got as far away from his dad
as he could, as far away from that watchful eye as he could.
And this is what we do. We go our own way. All we, says
Isaiah 53 verse 6, all we, like sheep, have gone astray. The
Psalms say it over and over again, Psalm 58 and verse 3, the wicked. Who are the wicked? Is that talking
about wicked people in this world? Is that talking about those who
commit knife crime in London in these days in this world?
Is that talking about the fraudsters who steal money? No, it's unbelievers. It's anybody who's outside of
the Lord Jesus Christ. thinking that when it comes to
life and eternity, they're all right on their own. The wicked,
unbelieving, are estranged. When? Because they made up their
mind when they came of age. No, estranged from the womb,
from the womb. They're estranged from the womb.
They go astray speaking lies because even if they're not verbally
speaking lies to others, they're speaking lies to themselves about
God and about His truth. All go away. All go astray speaking
lies. as far away from God, from His
restraint, from His truth, from His grace as we can get. Just
read the first chapter of Romans. It talks about all men in that
way. All men have turned the truth of God into a lie and worship
the creature rather than the Creator who is God overall, blessed
forever. We go far away from Him and we
enjoy as this boy did. He went away. and there wasted
his substance with riotous living. Wasted everything he had with
riotous living and we by nature go astray. Do you remember what
it said about Moses in Hebrews 11, 25, the faith gallery? And it said where he made up
his mind to go and suffer persecution with the children of Israel to
lead them out of the land of Egypt rather than enjoy as he
could so well have done Because he was a son of Pharaoh's house.
He was brought up as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. And it
says, he chose to go with the children of Israel rather than
to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Because make no
mistake, to the fallen human heart, that which is repulsive
in the nostrils of God, that which is sin and rebellion, that
which is utterly repugnant to the God
of the universe, that to the human heart, to the fallen human
heart is pleasurable. It is the pleasures of sin for
a season. And so, he went and he lived
his life. He wasted his substance in riotous,
prodigal living. Prodigal, you look it up in the
dictionary, recklessly wasteful. You think about it, recklessly
wasteful. You know, we talk about people
who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. You
know, he just wasted it. He thought nothing of it. He
just wasted it because this was just to fuel his desire to have
a good time. And at the end of it, what did
he have to show for all of his spending of all of that money?
His father's money, his father's wealth that had been given to
him, what did he have to show for it? Answer, absolutely nothing. He came to an end of himself.
He had absolutely nothing. And so it is with us by nature.
So it is with all men and women by nature. who end up as a result
of that way of living outside of God and estranged from Christ
with no treasure in heaven. But Jesus said, seek first the
kingdom of God. Lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven. You see, that's the result of
a life without Christ, away from the household of faith, away
from God. And so, this was his rebellion.
But this is what we must realize. This is the rebellion of all
of us by nature. every single one of us. Now look
at verse 14. He'd wasted his substance with
riotous living, and when he had spent all, there arose a mighty
famine in that land, and he began to be in want. He'd spent everything,
and a famine came along. We could, without getting on
any sort of a political soapbox, say that that rings true with
the British economy at the moment, when in the good times, they
spent it all, and what have they got to show for it now? You hear
many political commentators in the newspapers saying those sorts
of things. But you know, God in providence, God in providence
brings hard times. It's quite clear in the scriptures.
He does. He rules everything. You read
the book of Revelation and there are pictured the different horses
coming along and one of them certainly is the grey horse of
economic deprivation. And he brings that grey horse
into the life of this boy. A mighty famine. in the land.
God uses trials to bring sinners down from their proud self-reliance.
Doesn't he? See how proud he was. I've got
everything I need. Off I go. He's going to fuel my attempt
to have a good time and to gratify my every desire. I've got all
that I need and he goes and he wastes it all and then guess
what happens? He doesn't just have to tighten
his belt. A severe famine comes along. It's a bad famine. It's
a severe famine. God uses trials. to bring sinners
down from their proud self-reliance. You know, He causes all things.
Again, another verse that we often quote, but He causes all
things, Romans 8, 28, all things to work together for good to
those that love God, to those who are the called according
to His purpose. And in bringing a sinner to Himself,
in bringing a child for whom Christ has lived and died to
Himself, He will often bring that one through hard times through
difficulties and so we mustn't despise the chastening of the
Lord. You know, you may have anxieties
in all sorts of situations but in it, let's look for the good
hand of God as a tender and loving Heavenly Father teaching us,
bringing us to certain realizations. Think of Job. Read the book of
Job and the trials that he went through, the terrible difficulties
that he went through. He was brought so low that God
might bring him to a clear knowledge of the truth and bless him because
that was always his intention. And all those things that happened
to Job were for his good, for his eternal good. There was a
guy about 20 years ago, a young man with the whole of life ahead
of him. His name was Tony Tindall. You
might have read the book. It's just called Tony, a little
book of about 120 pages. And it's his testimony. And he
died shortly after the book was written. God gave him cancer
when he was in the prime of his life. But in the process, that
young man who was like all young men by nature, going his own
way, far from God, off in that far country, God used that hard
time, that cancer, that thing that we all regard as utterly
tragic. And in a sense, it is utterly
tragic. And our heart goes out to anybody in that situation
But he was given that cancer and that realization of eternity
in his own life to bring him to a knowledge of Christ and
the truth. And that young man died a saved person. He knew
Christ. And he knew in that moment of
going through those trials that whatever was happening to his
body, there was a Heavenly Father who loved him and who in Christ
had saved him and had secured his place in eternity. And he
wasn't concerned. He wasn't in anguish because
he knew where he was going. You see, we have to be brought
to a realization of what we're like as we really are. You know
when Isaiah went into the temple in Isaiah chapter 6 in the year
that King Uzziah died. And he went into the temple and
he saw the Lord high and lifted up. And his train filled the
temple and he had this glorious vision of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know it was the Lord Jesus Christ because John tells us
in John's Gospel chapter 12 verse 48. And Isaiah, when he saw all
those things, Isaiah was the prophet in Israel. Isaiah was
the religious guy. He was the one with the message
from the Lord. But there was one message he needed to see.
There was one truth he needed to see. And he saw the Lord high
and lifted up. He saw Him and he cried out,
Woe is me, I am undone. For I am a man of unclean lips
and I live amongst a people of unclean lips. Woe is me. He began
to be in want and that's what happened. to this boy. When he'd
spent all there arose a mighty famine in the land and he began
to be in want." Oh, that's a good place to be when it comes to
spiritual things. To be in want. Too many people
don't need anything. They don't need a physician to
come and heal them. They don't need anything. You know the church
at Laodicea? We're rich. We're filled with
goods and every blessing. We don't need anything at all.
They had no need of anything. Oh, it's a good thing to be brought
to see that you're blind and naked and to buy from Christ
without money and without price. I salve for your eyes and so
on. I can't remember the rest of
the illusions there. But it's so good to be brought
to realize that you are in want. He began to be in want. Have you, have I ever felt spiritual
poverty? You know, you know when the bank
accounts run out. You know when the budget for the week or the
month has run out. You know when things are tight.
You know, who knows what the future will bring in our economy.
Who knows? These things come and go. And
it may be that there's some very hard times. I'm sure there are
some people experiencing very hard times at the moment. We
don't know when these things will come. But what about spiritual
poverty? Oh, to feel spiritual poverty.
To realize that in and of ourselves we have nothing, absolutely nothing
at all. He began to be in want. He began
to have this yearning that there's something wrong. He'd lost everything
that he ever had of his father's. He'd lost it all. He realized
it. There was a famine. He began
to be in want. And so, what does he do? Look
at verse 15. He went and joined himself to
a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to
feed swine, to feed pigs. a citizen of that country. You
see, what he tried to do was he tried to save himself. He
went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. Do you know
who I think this is? Do you know how I think this
is meant to picture? This citizen of that country is meant to picture
the law works preacher. The preacher of law based religion. The preacher who sends you to
work to win back favor with your father. This is what he did. If you go and work and go and
get yourself some money, then you might be able to find a way
to get back into your father's favor. And is this not what law
preaching does? What does it do? It sends those
who hear it, who've begun to feel in want, it sends them to
work to earn favor. And you know it's hard work.
It's hard work. Law work is hard work. Law work
is unrewarding work. Galatians 3.10 Cursed is everyone
who does not continue in all things written in the book of
the law to do them. It's relentless. It never lets
off. It never slackens off. It's constant. Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things to do them. And no man gave anything
to him. Look at verse 16. He would feign. He wanted to fill his belly with
the husks that the swine ate. and no man gave to him. You see,
when he had money, his father's money, then he had all of these
fair weather friends, all of these friends who, oh, they were
all there because they were all having a great time together
and this guy's really good because he's got money to spend and,
you know, he'll buy us a round of drinks and he'll feed us and
all of these other things. He's got plenty. But as soon
as he began to be in want, there was no help from former friends.
There was no help from this citizen of this country. There's no help
for anybody who follows law-based religion. There's no help from
those who preach it. You see, the human heart cries
out, what must I do to be saved? How can a man be just with God?
This is what it says in Job, chapter 9, I think it is, verse
5. How can a man be just with God? And of course, this is what
the Scriptures are all about. But do you know what Law Works
says? Do you know what this citizen of this country said? Do you
know what Law Works preachers say? What must I do to be saved? And they'll say this. They'll
mention the name of Jesus. They'll mention the fact that
he died on a cross. But then they'll say this. And
then you have to join the church. This is something you must do.
And then you must get baptized. And then you must read a certain
amount of the Bible every day. None of these things are bad
in themselves. Don't get me wrong. But they're preached in a way
which is you must do them in order to earn favor with God,
to work your way back into His favor. You must join the church
because if you don't join the church then you're outside of
His favor. You must get baptized. You must do a certain amount
of daily Bible reading. You must attend prayer meetings.
You must fast or do without things that you really want. Now there's
a good way to be right with God. You know, put your horsehair
shirt on and really suffer a bit You must tithe your money. Oh,
I haven't got any. I'm working in the fields for
this citizen of the country and I'm feeding swine. There's very
little. Oh, never mind. You must do this. You must do,
you must do. You must reform your life. You
must give up this. You must start doing that. You
mustn't go there. You must dress like this. You
mustn't dress like that. You must obey the Ten Commandments.
And then when you've done all of these things, you might have
earned a bit of favor to be back in favor with your father. anything
except trust Christ who is the end of the law for righteousness.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believes. He's the end of the law for righteousness. He's the end of law works to
earn favor with God because He is the only favor with God that
we ever need or that we must ever have because if we add anything
to Him as we saw when we looked at Galatians, we destroy that
which we seek to follow. And you see these husks, these
husks that he was feeding to the swine, the pods, you know,
just the scrapings and the pods and the peelings, that's what
he was feeding to the swine. These are the husks of law works. And they couldn't satisfy his
hunger. He wanted to fill his belly with them, the husks that
the swine ate. Nobody gave him anything. The
husks of works religion don't satisfy our souls. There's no
soul satisfying peace with God. Just turn over to Romans chapter
9 and the end of that chapter.
Romans 9 and verse 31. Because you see
Israel was trying to work. The Israelite nation was trying
to work for acceptance with God. And look what it says in verse
31. Romans 9 31. But Israel which followed after
the law of righteousness has not attained to the law. They
followed it but they haven't attained it. Why? Wherefore?
Because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works
of the law. You see, they tried to work for
it. They didn't seek that righteousness which is in Christ alone. They
stumbled at that stumbling stone. What's that stumbling stone?
As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and
a rock of a fence. That rock of ages that we sang
about earlier. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's that stumbling stone. They tried to build a religion
and a way of acceptance with God and they tripped over the
very stone which held the building together. The cornerstone, the
foundation stone, the keystone on which every other aspect of
that building was dependent. And that one is Christ. And without
him, absolutely at the core, the center, the foundation, the
building falls down. No soul satisfying peace with
God and so neither do we and so in verse 17 You see here. He came to himself When he came
to himself He said how many hired servants of my father's have
bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger The fact
that it says there he came to himself Suggests that prior to
this he'd lost himself. He'd lost his reason But he regained
his reason. And you know, if we're outside
of Christ, trying to win favour with God, trying to earn something
with God, trying to work our way back into favour with God
outside of Christ, do you know something? That is so irrational. That is so insane and mad. How could we ever possibly think
that we can do anything to be right with God on the basis of
the works that we do? we can never attain any righteousness
by our own works not at all we don't go into the presence of
God with a basket full of good works that we're proud of so
that he'll give us an extra big reward when we get there that's
not what the scriptures teach at all absolutely not no there's
only one way to come there's only one plea look what he says
He says, he's looking at the situation. The hired servants
of my Father's house have bread enough and to spare and I'm perishing
with hunger. I will arise and go because there's
a hope of a plea there and there's only one plea. Do you know what
that plea is? There's only one plea that we
make to God to find favor with Him. It's the plea of the publican
who stood at the wall praying in Jerusalem with the Pharisee.
The Pharisee was praying to God and thanking God that he wasn't
like other men defiled with sin. He wasn't tainted with sin. He
thanked God that he tithed and he fasted and he did all of these
things and he wasn't like other men. And yet, there was a poor
publican, despised. You know, the common man, the
sinful man who beat his breast because he'd seen what God was
really like. He'd seen what he was really
like and he had only one plea. Not, please do this because of
this excuse and that excuse. God, be merciful to me. sinner. And that's our only plea.
There's hope, you see. He says there's hope because
God is a God of mercy. The scriptures say God delights
in mercy. What plea have you got? How are
you going to go back to Him? What are you going to take? What
gift are you going to take? What good works are you going
to take? You haven't got any at all. There's only one plea.
He's a God who delights in mercy. Maybe He'll be merciful to me.
He's a God of free grace. And if free grace Why not for
me? Why not for me? And so, he says,
the servants in my father's house, I'm starving to death and even
the servants, not the sons. Don't get into doctrinal issues
about what is that picturing. But the picture is this. Even
the servants in my father's house have got more than enough to
eat and I'm an estranged son. I'll go back and I'll plead for
mercy and maybe he'll make me like one of these hired servants.
And they'll, I, like them, will have more than enough to eat
there." So, he's going to go back. There's hope. So, verse
18, his return. We've looked at his rebellion. We've looked at the realization,
the coming to himself. But his return, verse 18, he
says, I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and am
no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired
servants." And he arose. He resolves to return in repentance. The older son thought he had
nothing to repent of. I've always been here. I've always
been working for you. I've always done good things
for you. I've never wasted your living like this son of yours
who wasted your living with harlots. No, no. He comes back. because he's driven in repentance,
true repentance. Do you know something? Trusting
Christ is not just head knowledge. You know, we can be so right
in our doctrine, absolutely. We can be so correct in our doctrine,
but if there's no heartfelt sorrow in it, if there's no heartfelt
repentance in it, it's a sham. If there's no absolute reliance
on the mercy and grace of God alone, then it's a sham. This
is the nothing in my hand I bring that I mentioned before because
I have nothing to bring. I can only come in repentance
pleading mercy, pleading His grace. You're a God of grace
and if free grace, why not for me? So, He arises, verse 19. Verse 20, He arises and comes
to His Father. He sets off back home. I'm going
to find Him and God delights to show mercy. And He says, Come
unto Me and you won't be turned away. And He says, Come naked
seeking clothing and I will clothe you. And He says, Come hungry
seeking food and I will give food for your soul. He says,
Come mortally wounded and I will heal you. That's what we read
in John 6 right at the start. The will of the Father is that
Christ should come to save everyone that the Father gave to the Son
from before the beginning of the world. And he says every
one of them will come. And he says none of them can
come unless the Father in heaven draws him, draws him to himself. But he also says this, whoever
comes, I will in no wise cast out. And so this boy comes back.
He comes to his father. And you see, when he was yet
a great way off, his father saw him. God sees us. God sees everything about us.
He knows us from all eternity. For whom He foreknew, those He
also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. And
those He predestined, He also called. And those He called,
He justified. And those He justified, He glorified.
So you can lay anything against the charge of God's elect. For
in Christ, He's done all for them. You see, in verse 20, we
have an insight into the heart of God. You see, I said we don't
form our doctrine on the basis of the parables because they're
to illustrate principles. But here's a wonderful principle. It really is. This is looking
into the heart of God because look what he does. When he was
a long way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him. This is picturing God. He
saw him. He had compassion on this returning
son and he ran. The father ran to him and fell
on his neck and kissed him. What an insight. You know, those
of you that are parents, you know when your child first goes
off to university and he's away for a while and he's going to
come home for the weekend and he's coming on the train and
you go to the station and your heart is longing to see him because
you haven't seen him for weeks and weeks and weeks and it's
just that desire, you're just longing to embrace and say hello
again and you know this is what God is like for his children
whom he's drawing. He saw him. We're foreknown of
God. Foreknown means set aside, means
known in a special way where he chooses a people in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And seeing and knowing, he runs. Don Fortner put it like this.
He said, and it almost sounds irreverent, but it isn't because
it ought to warm your heart. It ought to make you tingle.
God Almighty jumps up from His throne and runs to greet the
object of His everlasting love. Isn't that a tremendous thought?
The sun's coming back and God Almighty sees this repentant
son coming back and jumps up from his throne and runs to greet
the object of his everlasting love. There's no hint of anger,
there's no hint of disapproval, there's just love and joy. If
we confess our sins, says John, If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He can forgive us because He
has cleansed us. That's the only reason He can
forgive us because in Christ He has cleansed us. And then
look finally, last couple of minutes at the reception, verse
22. The father said to his servants,
you see he's saying, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and in your sight and I'm no more worthy to be called your
son." And there's one of these buts that I love in the Scripture. You know they're in throughout
the epistles, but now, but then, but. He's in the middle of it
confessing his sins. I'm no more worthy to be called
your son. But the father said to his servants, bring forth
the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand. Put shoes
on his feet. And bring here the fatted calf
and kill it and let us eat and be merry. for this son of mine
was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And
they began to be merry. And every sinner returning in
repentance to God is received as a son. Would be glad to be
received as a servant, as a slave, as somebody. Just look, there's
eternity. I just want to come and be treated.
Just treat me as a slave. But do not pour out your just
wrath upon me. Just treat me as a slave. But
everyone coming is received as a son. And while he's confessing
his sins, the Father lifts him up. And even while sinners, we
read, even while sinners, this is Romans 5, Christ died for
us. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. While confessing, the Father
lifts him up. And there's not a word of anger.
There's not a word about his sins. There's not a threat of,
yeah, all right then. I'll let you back this time,
but don't you dare go doing anything like this again." Of course,
he's not going to do anything like this again. But he doesn't need
to say it. He doesn't need to say it. There's
no threat. There's no chastisement. What
does he get? Instead, there's a robe put upon
him. And what's that a picture of?
The glorious robe of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not
their own garments. None of the filthy rags of their
own righteousness is stitched on by their own efforts onto
that seamless robe of Christ. Just that seamless robe of Christ
is put upon him. A ring's put on his finger. What's
that ring about? It's a seal of the grace of God
in Christ towards him. And if you're a child of God,
if you've come like this prodigal son from your rebellion against
God, back to him seeking forgiveness, he gives you that seal. of the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity. And he puts
shoes on your feet because you still have to walk through this
world. And he puts shoes. The preparation of the Gospel
of Peace. We could allude to the whole of the armour of God
in Ephesians 6 that he equips his children with. And then verse
23. He doesn't just get a couple
of lamb chops out of the fridge. He kills the fatted calf. This
is the special calf. This is the one that's reserved
for the most special occasion. You know, the oldest son was
resentful and he said, you didn't even give me a young goat to
have a party with my friends. And now this rebel has come home
and you go and kill the best one that's saved for the best
feast. Well, so he does. You see, it's the best food,
the best food. What is this fatted calf picture?
It's Christ slain for us. That's what it is. Our continual
Merry Feast. Is this why we have to rejoice?
Rejoice and be glad. Let us rejoice for Christ has
died for the sins of His people. It's life from the dead is this.
He was dead but is alive. It's all of grace. It's not of
works. Now, remember we're trying to
establish principles of the gospel. Whatever Law Works preachers
have ever tried to tell any of us down many, many years and
they certainly have And there's some good preaching on sermon
audio if you go to the Free Grace, if you go to it via Free Grace.
But you look at some of the rest of it. I don't recommend it.
There's a complete ragbag of all sorts of works-based religion
there. But the Gospel is this, free
grace in Christ alone. Have you come to an end of yourself
like He did? Can you see the riches of grace
that are in the household of faith? Do you hear Him calling
you? Well, come, because whoever comes, he will in no wise cast
out. So knowing that, why would anybody,
staying that far country, trying to earn such a hopeless spiritual
living that leads absolutely nowhere?