We've seen in the last few weeks,
this is one parable with three different stories in it. The
story of the lost sheep, the story of the lost coin, and here
we have the story of the prodigal. Now I think it's interesting
that our Lord's parables always irritated somebody. Every time. And this parable
certainly irritated the Pharisees and the scribes. With regard to the parable of
the lost sheep, who leaves 99 sheep in the wilderness in this
vulnerable condition where the wolves can get them and goes
after one solitary sheep? Nobody does that. Who throws
a big party over a coin? Nobody does that. And what kind
of man is going to go up to his dad before he's dead and say,
I want my inheritance now? And what kind of dad would say,
OK, here it is? Aubrey came up to me and said,
I want my inheritance now. No, you wait till I'm dead. There's something wrong with
this story. And then you think of when the
son comes back, he's just received completely, no consequences for
his actions. And I think when the Pharisees
were listening, when they heard about the elder brother, they
said, now somebody we can understand, we can relate with this fellow.
Which son are you? Verse 11 of Luke chapter 15,
and he said, a 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. I want my inheritance right now. And he divided unto
them his living. He gave them both their inheritance.
Verse 13, and not many days after the younger son gathered all
together and took his journey into a far country and there
wasted his substance with riotous living. Now the reason he went
into a far country is he wanted to get as far away from his father
as he could. He didn't want to have anything
to do with him. And the scripture says he wasted his substance
with riotous living. All he did was party. Wine, women,
and song, having a good time. This is the life, so he thought.
And he was just glad to be away from his dad. And he had the
funds to fund this kind of living, this immoral, sinful lifestyle. He wasted his substance with
riotous living. Verse 14, and when he had spent
all, Now, I don't know how long this lasted. I don't know if
it lasted a few weeks, a few months, maybe even a few years.
But he had a good time, but there was a time when the money ran
out. He completely wasted all of his
substance. It was gone. And what happened
to him? And when he had spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to be in want. Now, the Lord sent this famine, and he began to be in want, in
need. Good times are over. His sin
has ruined his life. Even if he had money, he couldn't
get anything to eat because of this famine that came in the
land. This land had lost its attractiveness. Oh, he'd enjoyed
it so much, but no more. And he begins to be in want. That word is translated destitute,
fail, lack, need, worse. He became behind. He began to
be in want. And you know, he didn't know
it at this time, but this was actually a blessing in disguise. Oh, when you begin to be in want,
and you know you can't supply what it is you want and need,
that's when you'll ask the Lord to do something for you. I love
that scripture, He healed them that had need of healing. Do you have need of healing? He began to be in want. Oh, what a blessed state. And so what did he do, verse
15, when he began to be in want? He went and joined himself to
a citizen of that country. He went and joined a church,
a citizen of that country. He joined up with a situation
that he thought would make his plight better. a citizen of that
country, and he put him to work, and he sent him into his fields
to feed swine, the ultimate indignity. In his efforts to make his plight
better, it only grew worse, a Jew feeding swine. Verse 16, and
he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the
swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. He desired to have
these husks that the swine ate, and he was giving nothing. He'd
hit the bottom now. He'd hit the bottom. He didn't
even have anything, husks, to eat. He couldn't even eat with
the swine. What had started being in want now reached its full
consummation, and he has hit the bottom. And this young man
had no one to blame but himself for the horrible state he was
in, how wicked he was in the way he treated his father, and
how wicked he was in wasting all this substance with riotous
living. He hit the bottom and he knew
it was all his fault. Verse 17, and when he came to himself, What a blessed time when he came
to himself. He recovered his senses when
he came to himself. You see, a lost man's crazy.
Isn't that so? If you believe in salvation by
works in any way, you, you're crazy. That's insane. This man came to himself. I think it was very much like
that gathering demanding. Remember how he was crazy and
wore no clothes, cut himself with stones when the Lord saved
him. He was sitting at the feet of
Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. This man is now in his
right mind. He was crazy the way he was living,
but the Lord has done something for him. He's granted him repentance
and he is now in his right mind. Lord, put me in my right mind. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
you want the Lord to control your mind and cause you to be
in a right mind, to where you can see clearly? When he came
to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my
father's had bread enough to spare, and I perished with hunger. Now, he remembers his father's
house. He starts thinking differently about his father when he came
to himself. Now these hired servants, that's the lowest form of a servant.
These kind of servants didn't even get to live on the property
of the man. They had to come in during the day. But yet his
father was so generous toward these men. He said, they have
bread enough to spare. The very worst have bread enough to spare. And here I am perishing with
hunger. Here's what I'll do, verse 18. I will arise, and go
to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I've sinned against
heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. Now I will arise and go to my
father. You know what repentance is?
If repentance is toward God, you have a different attitude
all of a sudden about God. I will rise and go to my father.
Now, he had wanted to be as far away from his father as he could,
but now he wants to return to his father. And look at his confession.
Would to God that I would do this right now, and would to
God that you would do this. Look at his confession. Father,
I've sinned against heaven, against God and
before death. I've sinned. Have you ever confessed your
sin before God? And listen to me, when you confess
your sin, you don't have an excuse. When Adam confessed his sin,
remember how he did it? The woman that you gave me, she
gave me of the fruit and I did eat. If you wouldn't have given
me this woman, this wouldn't have taken place. That's no confession
of sin. You confess your sin when you
confess your sin and it's all your fault. You can't blame God's
sovereignty. You can't blame your circumstances.
What you've done is evil and wicked, and it's all your fault. And all sense of entitlement
is gone. He said, I'm not worthy to be
called your son. All sense of God owing you anything
is gone when you confess your sin. You know, when I hear people
complain about the gospel, now listen real carefully. In the
declaration of the gospel message, it's a declaration of an absolute
sovereign God giving salvation to whom he will. That's the truth. God elected a people. Christ
died for the elect. Only they will be saved. Christ
accomplished their salvation. Now that's the truth. That's
the truth. We don't apologize for it, we
declare it. As soon as somebody says, That's not fair. How can it be fair for God to
choose one and pass by another? How can it be fair for Christ
to die for one and not die for another? How can that be fair?
There's someone who's never repented. If you ever repent, you'll know
that the only thing you deserve is hell. You know that. You believe that. You won't be
talking about all the things that are not fair on God's part.
You'll know fair for you is hell. You might not know anything else,
but you know this, if God sent you to hell, you'd be getting
exactly what you deserve, period. Amen? I'm not worthy to be called your
son. Oh, if you'd just make me as one of your hired servants,
I'd be so grateful. Verse 20. And he rose and came to his father. Now, how long this journey took,
I do not know. He came from a far country. And
you can imagine his reeking and emaciated appearance when he
comes back to his father's house But look in verse 20. But when
he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. He saw him. You know, he knew
he was going to come back. He was waiting for him. And he
saw him. I believe he knew that very day
he would come back because this represents the father. You see,
the father knows when you'll come back. He already knows. He saw Him. And what did He do?
He arose and came to His 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. Now, I want you to picture
this in your mind. His Father running toward Him,
knocking Him down in joy and happiness, and kissing Him, the
Scripture says, with many kisses. He was so glad He was back. Now, no probationary period. No holding him off. No, are you
sorry? Look what you've done. Look what
a mess you've made. No, he ran and fell on his neck and kissed
him with many kisses. And he tries to get his speech
out. Father, I've sinned, verse 21, against heaven and in thy
sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the
father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and
put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his
feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us
eat, and be merry. For this my son was dead, and
he's alive again. He was lost, and he's found. bring forth the best robe. Now that, without any question,
is a reference to the robe of Christ's righteousness. Put it
on him. Don't hand it to him and let
him put it on. You put it on him. The wedding garment, fine
linen, clean and white. Now this man who hadn't done
anything but sin, here he comes back And you can even question
him coming back. Yeah, he comes back when he runs
out of everything. And you think of him coming back the way he
does. And the father says, you bring forth the best robe and
put it on him. The robe of the righteousness
of my son. And you take a ring and you put
it on his hand. Now when a man and woman give
each other rings, what does that mean? That means they're eternally
united. I'm with you forever. That's
what I mean. And he's giving him the ring
of eternal love, eternal grace. There's never been a time when
I did not love you. And this is going to last forever. And you put shoes on his feet.
the grace to walk in my ways, the grace to walk in the gospel. He did everything for him. You
think of the generosity of this man. This is unexpected, extravagant
grace. This is complete and immediate
reconciliation. There's no probationary period
here. Full acceptance, full love, complete
and immediate forgiveness. You know, God's just not like
us, is he? That's not the way we would be. But that's the way
God is. He received him completely. This is so glorious. And I want
you to understand, I want me to understand this. The reason
God can do this, with me and with you is because of what his
son accomplished on Calvary's tree. That's the one reason. It's called justification. When
Christ died, all of the elect, their sins were paid for. They
were justified by what He did. And if I'm justified, that means
I don't have anything to be punished for. That means God doesn't have
any reason but to receive me and forgive me and embrace me
because I'm perfect in His sight. That's what Christ did on Calvary's
tree. He made it to where God can be
just like this Father and run, instead of punishing us, run
and fall on our neck and kiss us with many kisses. He says,
kill the fatted calf. We're going to have a party.
We're going to have a celebration because of what has taken place. The joy of salvation. He says in verse 23, bring hither
the fatted calf and kill it. 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. Verse 25, there's the first son. Here's the second son. And I
have no doubt that this is what this parable is all about, this
second son. Verse 25, and his elder son was
in the field, Working, no doubt. Working. And he came and drew
near to the house and he heard music and dancing. There was a party going on. There
was a celebration. Everybody was joyous. They were
having a good time. Music and dancing. The fat and
calf had been killed. And he, what's this about? What's
going on here? Verse 26, and he called one of
the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto
him, thy brother is come. You remember him, the one who
ran off and wasted all your father's money that he gave him and destroyed
it, rioting. Your brother's come home. He's
come home, your brother. You remember him. thy brothers
come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he received
him safe and sound." And that would describe every believer. Safe and sound. Verse 28, he was angry. This made him mad. Are there no consequences to
actions? Can this man go out and live like this in such a
debauched, evil way and then just come marching back in and
be received like this? This is not right. This is not
fair. There's no way that he should
be received like this. He was angry. And you know what
scares me about this man? I see so much of myself in him. That's what scares me. Instead
of celebrating and acting, not acting happy, but being happy,
being joyous that his brother's come back, he is angry. I can see him moving off in this
morose sullenness. This is not right. This is not
fair. He didn't have the same attitude
his brother had. His brother said, I'm not worthy to be called
your son. And indeed, he wasn't. But this
man thought, I am worthy. He's treating him with the same
way he... This is not fair. This is not
right. You see, Pharisees always hate
grace. Do you know that? Pharisees always
hate grace. Grace. And the reason they hate
grace is because they think they're the losers by it. See, if you're
hoping in your works, if you're hoping in your obedience, and
your efforts, and your life, and all that kind of stuff, if
that's what you're hoping in, or if you're hoping in something
you've done, the message of grace takes away what you're hoping
in. And because of grace, it counts for nothing. It doesn't
count. It's nothing. But, oh, if you
don't have anything, to recommend you to God, grace is good news,
isn't it? It's the best news you've ever
heard. Now Pharisees hate grace, and he is angry, and he wouldn't
go into the party. Verse 28, he was angry, verse
28, and he would not go in, and therefore came his father out
and entreated him. And he answering said to his
father, though these many years do I serve thee. He didn't even
call him dad. He didn't call him father. He just says, look
here, I've served you all these years so faithfully. I've served
you these many years, neither transgressed I at any time by
commandment. And yet you never gave me a kid,
a goat. You've killed for him the fatted
calf. You've never done anything like that for me. And look how
faithful I've been. He shows a lot of disrespect
to his father. He believes in earned grace,
not free grace. He believes in earned grace.
So he was very unhappy with what was taking place. I think of
the way he took an account of everything. Lo, these many years
do I serve thee. Neither transgressed I at any
time thy commandment. Now, does anybody believe that?
Does anybody believe that? The man was lying. He was lying. He transgressed his father's
commandment many times, many times. But he's trying to present
himself in this light. And then look what he says in
verse 30. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath
devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the
fatted calf. You know, Pharisees always like to point out the
sin of others. Now, we don't know that he had devoured the
living with harlots. It doesn't say that. It said
he wasted his substance with riotous living. But this man
points this out about his brother. He's devoured your living with
harlots. This is not fair for you to treat
him the way you treat me. I mean, you treat him better
than you treat me. It's not fair. You know those fellows who work
12 hours? out in the field, said, it's not fair for him to give
those one-hour workers the same wages as me. It's not fair. The man that Paul speaks of in
Romans 9, after we read these words, for the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, But
of him that calleth it was said unto her, the elder shall serve
the younger, as it's written, Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Paul said, is there unrighteousness
with God? Is God not fair in being that
way? This cry, it's not fair. That was his objection. You've made him equal with me. This is not fair. This is not
right. Verse 31 and 32. Now the ending I think is interesting. And he said unto him, Son, thou
art ever with me, and all I have is thine. Such a gracious father. It was meet, it was right, that
we should make merry and be glad. For this thy brother was dead
and is alive again, and was lost, and is found. And when we read
the conclusion of this story, we're left scratching our heads.
He left it open-ended, didn't he? What's the ending? Did the older brother say, you're
right, Dad. I've had a horrible attitude.
Would you forgive me? I'm going to go in and rejoice
with everybody else and join in the music and the dancing.
I've had a wrong attitude. Or did he say, this is crazy,
you're wrong in doing this, and this is not fair, and I'm leaving,
I've had it, I'm going somewhere else, I've had it with you. We're
not given any information about what this older brother did. The Lord leaves this story open. I'd like to have a conclusion,
wouldn't you? I'd like to know exactly what took place. But
we don't know what took place. We don't know what this elder
brother did. Now, why does the Lord leave
this story open-ended? Now, I want to say this carefully.
I want to say this reverently. I don't want anybody to misunderstand
this, but the Lord is going to let you write the ending to your
own story. Now, what do I mean by that?
Now, you know, if you hear me preach, you know I don't mean
that the ending's up to you, that your salvation is in your
hands and that you can be saved or you can be lost. It's up to
you. You know I'm not saying that. Well, what am I saying? I'm saying this. God will meet
you on the ground you come. If you want to come like the
prodigal, I've sinned against heaven and
in thy sight. And I'm not worthy to be called
your son. Make me as a hired servant. My only hope is what you make
me to be. I'm in your sovereign hands.
It's up to you. I've sinned. Oh, would to God that you make
me a hired servant. I'd be grateful for that. Like
the Syro-Venetian woman. When the Lord said, it's not
meat to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs, she said,
that's the truth, Lord. That's the truth. But the dogs
eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Now if you
come into His presence on the footing of pure, free grace,
with nothing but the confession of your sin, that's all you can
confess about, I've sinned, no excuses, it's all my fault, I've
ruined my life, I've brought myself into this, and it's all
my fault. You come into His presence like
that, you're gonna hear this. Take the best robe and put it
on Him. and put a ring on his hand and
shoes on his feet. Bring hither the fatted calf
and make merry. You come pleading nothing but His grace,
nothing but the precious blood of Christ. You come like that,
you will be received. Now if you come like this older
brother, God will meet you that way if that's the way you want
to come. If you come talking about all the stuff you've done,
all these many years I've served thee, then you start lying, neither
transgressed I at any time thy commandment, when you know you
did. You come on the footing of works, God'll meet you there. He'll
meet you on the ground you want to come. Now what ground do you
come on? Which son are you? Are you the
elder brother or are you the younger son? Now, I realize that I don't write my own story, but
I realize there's a different ending for everybody. There's
those that come like the prodigal. I've sinned. I'm not worthy. Oh, I'd be grateful if you'd
just make me a hired servant. Or you can come like the elder
brother. Are there no consequences for
his actions? Why would he be received like this after all
the things he's done? Look at all the things that I've done.
Look how I've lived. Look how I've never transgressed
your commandment. You've not done anything for me. You did
a lot more for him than you did for me. You come to God on that
ground. He'll meet you on that ground. You come to Him, Lord, Lord,
have we not preached in your name, in your name? Have we not
cast out demons in your name? Have we not done many wonderful
works? And the Lord says, then shall
I say unto them, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. If I come pleading grace, I'll
be received. If I come on the footing of something
I've done, I'll be rejected. Cain came on the footing of what
he did. Nothing but the blood of the
Lamb. Cain said, that's not fair. God
accept Abel and reject me. And he got so mad, he bashed
his brother's brains out over that and killed him because it
was not fair. You know, even in the Garden of Eden, that's
the argument the devil used with our first parents. God's not
being fair with you. He's holding out on you. If you
ate this fruit, you'd be like God. You'd know the difference
between good and evil. You'd be like God. God's holding out
on you. He's not treating you fairly. May God give me and you
the grace to see that the only thing that's fair with me is
hell. and grace is free. May God give us the grace to
be like this prodigal. I'm not saying, you know what
I'm saying, to come like he did. May the Lord enable you and I
to do just that. Let's pray together.