Me too. Doesn't much matter what
the cause of the party is, birthday, anniversary, graduation, it just
doesn't matter. Let's have a party. If I get
a chance to go, I will. Well, I want to talk to you today
about a party. A party thrown by God Almighty. A party thrown by the triune
God in celebration of the salvation of sinners. You'll find my text
in Luke chapter 15 Verses 23 and 24. The Lord God is represented here
as speaking, the father in the parable representing him. And
he says to his servants, bring hither the fatted calf and kill
it. And let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and
is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. And
while the worship of God is the most solemn, serious business
in the world, the most blessed privilege any man or woman can
enjoy on this earth, whenever sinners meet together in the
house of God to hear the gospel, to worship him, to worship him,
trusting in his dear son, that service of worship is a celebration
of grace, redemption, and salvation. It is a feast of joy as it's
represented throughout the scriptures. Now, in order for us to grasp
what's written in this parable, we need to understand those to
whom it was originally addressed. Indeed, if you want to understand
any portion of Scripture, if you want to deal honestly with
Scripture, always seek to understand to whom is the Scripture speaking
in this particular context. Now, with that in mind, turn
back to Luke chapter 15 and verse 1. Our Lord Jesus gave this parable,
the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son,
in response to the haughty, self-righteous snobbery of religious people
who didn't know God. Look at verse one. Then drew
near to him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. What a picture that is. Here's
the Son of God, the Lord of glory, holy, immaculate, he who alone
is without sin. And gathered around him is a
whole big crowd of publicans and sinners, harlots and such
things. I never cease to be amazed at
how comfortable ungodly, sinful men and women, those who were
looked upon as the offscouring of the earth by others, those
who were the outcasts of society, outcasts by their own deeds,
yes, but outcasts nonetheless. I've never ceased to be amazed
at how comfortable sinners were in the presence of the Holy Lamb
of God. Doesn't that amaze you? I never ceased to be amazed and
how comfortable he who knew no sin is in the presence of folks
who are full of sin. That seems to be a contradiction
in human terms, in human thinking. As a matter of fact, all of us
by nature and all of us by our false religious training have
the idea that somehow kindness and compassion mercy and goodness
toward those who are themselves sinners, toward those who behave
in the most sinful manner. We have the idea that somehow
kindness and compassion is tantamount to approval and nothing could
be further from the truth. It's just kindness and compassion.
It's just mercy and goodness. Our Lord Jesus was here in the
midst of a crowd of sinners, publicans, harlots, folks that
nobody wanted anything to do with, folks that everybody would
try their best to keep their children away from, here he is! And they're all gathered around
him, just elbow to elbow. What a blessed, blessed picture. But there's another crowd here.
Look in verse two. And the Pharisees and scribes,
these good folks, Bible-thumping religious folks, Folks who could
quote scripture upside down, inside out, backwards and forwards.
Folks who memorized, memorized long passages, stood up and quoted
it and recited it. Folks who prayed three times
every day. Folks who gave tithes of everything they had. Folks
who, if anybody makes it, surely they will, kind of folks, you
know. Here they are. They murmur. They're there, but
they're kind of standing back away from the crowd, because
we don't want to get too close to them. I don't want to rub
up against his shoulder. Somebody might think I'm like
him. I don't want to get too near her. Somebody might think
I'm like her. They stood back and they kind of huddled together.
I can see them. Little groups, two or three here,
two or three there, like gossiping women. That man receives sinners and
eats with them. Something must be wrong with
him. He says he's a preacher, but he receives sinners and eats
with them. He says he's Messiah, but he
receives sinners and eats with them. Folks worship him as the
son of God, but he receives sinners and eats with them. Oh, blessed
be his name. It's so. It's so. Look at verse 3. And he spoke this parable to
them. To them. This parable was given
in response to their haughty, snobbery, and self-righteousness. Well, it is for you and me that
the Son of God receives sinners. and eats with them. If he didn't,
he wouldn't receive me. Did he not spread his table for
sinners? He couldn't feed me. Did he not
open the doors of his house to sinners? He could never accept
me. Blessed, blessed, blessed Savior
Christ is. He came down here from heaven
into this world amongst fallen, depraved sinners to seek and
save that which was lost. It is the glory of the Son of
God that he is indeed such a character as the Pharisees described. Merle,
he still receives sinners and eats with them every day. As
a matter of fact, he doesn't receive or eat with anybody else. Just sinners. Just sinners. Oh, don't take this away from
me. Not my sinnerhood. That's my
claim to mercy. That's my basis of appeal to
Him. Pardon my iniquity, O Lord, for
it is great. That's how David prayed. Now
with that glorious fact in mind, let's look at verses 23 and 24.
We've seen what sinners are in the prodigal son. haughty, rebellious,
ungodly, wasting, rioting, wretched, vile, depraved, corrupt, all
those things. That's what we are. That's what
we are. We've seen how that the sinner returning to God is received
by God in mercy and in grace. The Father sees him when he's
yet a great way off. He runs to meet him, has compassion
on him, falls on his neck and kisses him, puts a robe on his
back, shoes on his feet, a ring on his finger, and says, this
is my son. Let's rejoice and be glad. Now
then, in verses 23 and 24, our Lord Jesus shows us exactly how
it is that he eats with those sinners whom he's received. Look
at the passage he gives us here. This man receiveth sinners and
eateth with them. And let me say this one more
time. I know that this man, this God-man, does indeed receive
sinners, that he does indeed eat with sinners, because he
receives me, the very chief of sinners, and he eats with me
the most unworthy of all the objects of his matchless grace.
All right, now let me show you three or four things here. Number
one, the Lord God has furnished a table, a table spread with
fat things, rich, soul-satisfying food, and he bids us sinners
come and dine. Look at the table he spreads.
He says in verse 23, bring hither the fatty calf. Kill it, let
us eat. and be merry. This poor prodigal
in the days of his rebellion, he tried what we've all tried. Some of you still try. He tried
to fill his belly with the pleasures of sin, but found nothing to
satisfy himself. He only became more impoverished.
When that didn't work, he reformed his life and joined himself to
a religious hireling in the country and went and tried to fill his
belly with the husk of self-righteous works religion. But he found
swine's food was no better for him in the religious world than
it was in the hog pen itself. Now, he's come home to his father's
house. In his father's house, eating
at his father's table, he feeds as one of the king's sons. Here
the command is given by God himself to his servants, a command given
by our Heavenly Father to all who preach the gospel. He said,
bring hither the fatted calf and kill it. Let's see, let's
have a party. Now gospel preachers are responsible
under God always to bring forth the fatted calf for his people,
always, always. When Lindsay teaches the lesson,
what do you mean teaching his stand? When you fellows are preaching,
any of you, wherever you're preaching, to whomever you're speaking,
the theme of all biblical teaching and preaching is this fatty calf. Those who say there's more in
the scripture than Christ crucified do not understand the scripture.
What more can there be? Those who say substitution is
a doctrine to be preached much of the time do not understand
the doctrine of Scripture. It is THE doctrine of Scripture. Those who have the foolish idea
that somehow we preach the gospel of God's grace to lost men, but
then we come and preach something else to save men, do not understand
the food of our souls. We feed upon this fatted calf
for all things. The message of Holy Scripture
is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The message of this book is the
substitutionary atonement He made for sinners. That which
feeds our souls, gives us life, sustains us in life, and guides
us in life is Jesus Christ crucified. Everything. He's the totality
of the message of the book. This fatted calf, of course,
represents our Lord Jesus Christ. He makes an allusion to himself
here by alluding to the calves that were offered in sacrifice.
Sacrifices which were offered as sin offerings and peace offerings
and burnt offerings. The calf was one of the great
sacrifices made on the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. So
oftentimes when the scriptures refer to the sacrifice, it talks
about a calf or it talks about a lamb or it talks about a ram.
The speaking here is of a sacrifice, an innocent, holy sacrifice in
the prime of its life, a sacrifice without sin to whom sin has been
imputed. The Lord Jesus Christ offered
himself up freely and voluntarily in the room instead of his people
as a calf to be sacrificed upon the altar of divine justice for
us. He gave himself and made himself to be an offering and
a sacrifice to God. And the scripture tells us in
Ephesians 5 and verse 1 that he is a sweet-smelling savor,
a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savor to God. What does that
mean? As the incense burning at the
door of the temple or the tabernacle constantly arose up to God, The
Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of his blood, the merit of his
sacrifice arises up to God and God Almighty smells it and says,
I love it. I love it. It's a sweet smelling
savor. Why is that? Because this sacrifice
is a sacrifice well pleasing to God. A sacrifice effectual
for all purposes. A sacrifice that accomplished
everything intended and designed by it. A sacrifice to put away
sin, never to be repeated again. This sacrifice was once made,
and once was enough. For by this one sacrifice, Jesus
Christ has put away the sins of his people. This one sacrifice
for sin has forever satisfied the law and justice of God. It
has forever procured peace and righteousness and reconciliation
for God's elect. This one sacrifice has made atonement
for sin and expiation for all iniquity and put away every transgression
of his people. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ,
we are told, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the majesty on high. How come? Because his
work is over. There's nothing else to be done.
No doubt there is an allusion here then to the sacrifices made
in the Old Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ is here
referred to as the fatted calf, because the fatted calf is the
provision of the Father's house. Now, in the Old Testament Scriptures,
I was born, folks have been telling me this all my life, I was born
several hundred years too late. Well, in the Old Testament Scriptures,
Fat always referred to blessedness. The biggest was always considered
the best. If you read the Old Testament
Scriptures, you'll see that whenever God speaks of bounty, he speaks
of fatness. Whenever he speaks of judgment,
he speaks of leanness. And when he speaks of the fatted
calf here, and the Lord Jesus refers to himself as the fatted
calf, he's referring to himself as the best provision God Almighty
can make. The best provision that can be
set before eternity-bound sinners, the best provision for you who
are lost, the best provision for you who are saved, is Jesus
Christ crucified. We must feed upon Him. Feed only
upon Him. Feed always upon Him. Oh, I fear
for your soul if you ever tire of feeding on Him. Christ is
the best that God can give and the best we can desire. He's
the true manna, the real bread, the bread of life. Life for our
souls, sweet, savory and satisfying. This is the bread that gives
life, preserves life, nourishes life, strengthens life. This
is the bread that delights and fattens the soul. That's the
business and the privilege. It is the responsibility and
the great privilege of every gospel preacher. Every time he
speaks in God's name, every time he preaches to eternity bound
sinners to bring forth the fatted calf and kill it. What is that? To preach Jesus Christ crucified. To open the scriptures and show
you Christ. That's it. It's so simple. It's
so simple. I hope I can be understood clearly. I don't back away from, I don't
hedge, I don't shy about declaring gospel doctrine clearly, distinctly,
forcibly. That which is plainly revealed
in scripture is plainly revealed. We believe it, we bow to it,
we rejoice in it. But preaching is not defending
doctrine. Preaching is not defending denominations. Preaching is not defending churches.
Preaching is not defending a creed. Preaching is setting forth the
fatty cat. That's what it is. It's spreading
the mail. You know, Shelby fixes things. She tries all kinds of new stuff.
She spreads the table for guests. She doesn't ever try new stuff
on y'all. She tries it on me first. But she spreads the table
sumptuously. Sumptuously. Once in a while,
I'll ask her, what's in this? What's in that? Usually that's
an indication I don't like it. Usually that's what it is. But
that's sort of a subtle hint, you know, normally. And she'll
just briefly tell it. This is what's in it, this is
what's there. When it just smells good, tastes good, satisfies,
delights, I just say, thank you, thank you. And if she started
to explain to me all the details that went into fixing that thing. I don't even like to get my hands
on the chicken. But she starts telling me all
the details. It starts tasting bad. It takes away the savoriness
of it. In preaching the gospel, in preaching
the gospel, we simply, with simplicity, set forth Christ crucified to
sinners and hungry souls Feast on him and say, thank you. Isn't that right? That's what
it is. Sometimes folks say to me, you know, he's so simple
but so good. That fellow, he didn't have anything
deep, profound to say, but he was so good. That's the best
kind of preacher. That's the best it is. If he
understands what he's talking about, if he understands what
he's doing, he'll tell it to you in such a way that it'll
seem obvious to you. That's just it. Just simple.
The Apostle Paul speaks to us about this fatted calf, killing
this fatted calf in this way. It's setting forth Christ crucified,
preaching the cross, proclaiming the gospel. He says in the book
of Romans chapter one, so as much as in me is, I'm ready,
ready, sitting on ready to preach the gospel to you that are at
Rome also. How come? I'm not ashamed of it. I've got
nothing to be bashful about. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God. The power of God. Gary, that word, power, it's
the word from which we get our word dynamite. It's the very
same word. If you transliterated it, you
would transliterate it into dynamite. It's the explosive power of God. What do you do with it? Just
throw it. It'll do its work. It'll do its work. It's the power of
God to salvation to everyone that believe it. to the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. For it is written, the just shall
live by faith. We preach the gospel, and I declare
to you the righteousness of God, which I have believed, and God
gives you ears to hear and heart to believe and eyes to see. Yes,
that's it. And you believe as well. For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness.
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
he's the power of God, he's the wisdom of God. What's he saying? If you know Him, if you know
Him, preacher or hearer, if you know Him, you know He is the
power of God and He's the wisdom of God. The preaching of the
gospel is the spreading of the feast. It's the bidding and encouraging
of hungry souls to eat and feast upon Christ to the saving and
satisfying of their souls. The Father says, let us eat and
be merry. I like the quotation Gil gives
He quotes from one of the Jewish writers, he said, where there
is no mirth, or there is no mirth, rather, without eating and drinking. So when the father would throw
a party, a celebration, he says, let's eat, let's eat. If you're
going to make merry, you've got to have a feast. And the feast
is Jesus Christ crucified. Come on. Feast at the table spread
for you. Feast upon the fatty calf. Let
me show you something else here. The cause of our merriment is
God's pre-sovereign saving mercy in Christ. This is what the Holy
Spirit describes as the joy of faith, the joy of salvation,
the joy of the Lord. Verse 24, for this my son was
dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. There are many words used in
the scriptures to describe man's lost estate, to describe man's
spiritual inability, to describe man's depraved nature. Sometimes
the scripture describes the lost man as one who is blind, one
who is deaf, one who is lame, one who is haught, The scripture
describes him as sick. The scripture describes him as
dying. The scripture describes him as one beaten and left for
dead. The scripture describes him as
one cast out in the open field to the loathing of his soul.
But the scriptures in all things are pointing us to this. Man
by nature is dead. Dead. Spiritually dead. Dead as a result
of Adam's fall. dead at law, that means you got
the sentence of death on you, dead before God, without life,
alienated from the life of God, separated from God in darkness,
corrupt, defiled, impotent, dead, dead, dead, alive to all things
naturally, Paul, dead to all things spiritually, subject to
eternal death, In other words, unless God steps in and does
something for you, you're going to spend eternity in darkness,
death, alienated from God. I don't know what hell is, but
I know what it will be in reality is death. It's called the second
death. All pleasure gone, all comfort
gone, all peace gone, death. Oh, God save you from death.
Are you dead? Have you ever been dead? This
my son was dead, but now he's alive. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sin. You see, in order for the dead
to live, something has to be done to them, for them, and in
them. In order for the dead to live,
God Almighty must step in. In order for the dead to live,
God's got to stretch down from heaven with the Lord, mighty
God, with his sovereign grace, and give life in your heart and
soul. You'll never know anything about
your death until it does. Never have any taste for any
life until it does. You'll never know anything of
your impotence until he does. You'll never know anything of
your depravity until he does. The dead are past feeling. The dead know nothing. Oh, but
God comes and awakens the dead. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sins, made new creatures in Christ.
Read on. He was lost. Lost. I don't know many folks who are
lost. None of you are. Nah. If you
were, you'd be found. That's right, you're not lost.
We use terms that are, and we use them in a different way than
scriptures do. And you say, well, he's lost. No, no, he's not lost. If he is lost, he'd be looking
for some light. If he is lost, he'd be trying to find his way
home. He's not lost. You're all right. You don't need mercy.
You don't need grace. You can go to hell just like
you are and think you're doing fine. Nothing wrong with you.
Maybe, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there's somebody here who's
lost. Oh, God help me, I'm lost. You ever been lost, James? First
time I went hunting in West Virginia, where I lived up there, I used
to step out my front door, and I could go hunt anything legal
to hunt except bear, and I could hunt those that weren't legal.
I mean, we'd just step out the front door. We was in the woods.
But I was raised in the flatland. And in the flatland, you just
kind of mark the trees and path, and you go on your way, and we'd
go hunting. I'd go walk back the same way
I came. In the hills, it doesn't do any good to mark the trees.
You can't see them. I didn't know you had to count ridges
last. And I went across this ridge, went across that ridge,
went down this ravine, went across that ridge, began to get dark,
and I started to come home. I couldn't find my way home.
I could hear traffic running on the road, but I couldn't find
the road. I knew the general direction I thought where the
house was, but I couldn't find any way to get there. I was lost. And I started moving pretty fast,
just getting dark. I'm going through the woods,
going through the thicket, trying to find my way. And man, when I came
up on top of the hill, and I could see the road, and I could see
a little light, oh, what relief. Now I'm found. Well, not really,
because I found myself. I found my own way out. I wasn't
really lost. Lost man, he's one who just sits
down in despair. He's got to give up, sit here
and die. I can't go on. And the Lord God
comes with a hand of his grace and brings you out. He's found! Found by God's electing love. Found by Christ's effectual redemption. Found by the Spirit's irresistible
call. Now, I'll tell you one more thing.
And I'll quit. And they began to be married.
Who? The Father. The triune God began to be merry. The restored Son began to be
merry. All the Father's servants began
to be merry. The angels of God, the preachers
of the gospel, they all began to be merry. In verse 10 we read,
Likewise, I say unto you, there shall be joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner that repented. Indeed,
everybody in the Father's house began to be merry, except for
one old boy. And he's the one to whom the
parable was spoken in the beginning. The Pharisee, the scribe, the
good fellow, the self-righteous fellow, the fellow who never
did anything wrong. Oh, now, you know, yeah, I did
a few things, I've committed some sins, but seeing a sinner? No, I wouldn't really call myself
that. Corrupt at heart? No, no, no. That's going too
far. Vile, wretched, blind, dumb. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's
stretching it a little. Everybody else began to be merry.
Can I tell you something else? The merriment has only just begun
to get started. This merriment goes on forever. And those who get in on it here
will have it forever. And those who miss it here will
have misery forever. Oh, may God be pleased now to
fetch you home to himself. by faith in his son, and bring
the joy of his salvation into your soul by the experience of
his omnipotent grace. Amen. Let's sing a hymn together, Lindsay.