Okay, this morning now we're
turning once again to Luke 15. From verse 11 of Luke 15, a certain
man had two sons. From verse 11, all the way down through verse
32 to the end of the chapter, we have a story about this father
who had two sons. Now, I'm entitling the message
this morning from this portion found in Luke 15, and here is
the title of the message, Which Son Are You? Which son are you? Or which person are you? Now this part of the parable
tells us about a certain father, and that is a picture of God
our father, who had two sons. the younger son and the elder
son. Now this is a parable, the Lord
is speaking and this is the last part of that three part of that
one parable. Now I can relate to this father
because I'm a father with two sons. Jason, you can relate to
this, you are a father with those two sons. Now in this story,
the younger son seemed to be the outward wild rebel While
the elder son seemed to be, and I emphasize that word, seemed
to be, the more obedient son who never ran away from home. I guess everyone when they were
young always had an experience of, I'm going to run away from
home. You get mad at mom and dad and you think, well, I'll
just run away from home. That usually doesn't last long.
That usually ends up in a bad situation most of the time. The
younger son here pictures, it's a picture, the younger son pictures
the salvation of sinners, vile, guilty sinners being received
by the Father. Remember how this chapter starts
in Luke 15 verse 2, the Pharisees and scribes murmured at the Lord
Jesus Christ saying, this man receiveth sinners. and he eats
with them, he fellowships with them. The father willingly received
this son back into his house. The elder son represents those
self-serving, self-righteous Pharisees who murmured at the
Lord, who said, we need no repentance. Who said, look at verse 29, And
the elder son here represents those Pharisees, the self-righteous.
And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years
do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment. The self-righteous always say,
as the Pharisees did, we're not sinners. We've never sinned against
God. neither transgressed I any time
thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I
might make merry with my friends." The elder son represents those
self-serving, self-righteous Pharisees who said, we be not
sinners, who said, we need no repentance, who say, we have
never sinned against God, who are always going about to establish
a righteousness of their own doing, and have never submitted
unto the righteousness revealed in the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, of which Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Gospel
of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation. If you turn just one page in
Luke 16-15, the Lord has some very rebuking words to those
Pharisees who were covetous, who were going about to establish
their own righteousness by the things they did. And he said
to them in verse 15 of Luke 16, You are they which justify yourselves
before men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God." Now, the
title of the message today is in a form of a question, which
son are you? A self-confessed sinner who was
seeking salvation in Christ, confessing and owning our sin
and our guilt before God, pictured in that younger son? Or are you
like the elder son, like the self-righteous Pharisees seeking
to establish a righteousness by the deeds of the law? Which
son are you? One wise preacher of the past
said this. Now listen to this statement
carefully and think it over a little bit before you want to criticize. The Lord our God will meet you
on the ground of your choosing. The Lord our God will meet you
on the ground of your desire, on the ground of merit, or the
ground of mercy. Are you seeking God's favor and
blessing on the ground of merit or on the ground of mercy? Those
who come upon the ground of merit will be cast out. And I mean
by that good works. Merit, good works will be cast
out. Those who come to God upon the ground of mercy in the Lord
Jesus Christ will be received. Now, which son are you? Which
son are you? What is the ground you have chosen
to stand upon? I'm going to stand upon my works.
I'm not like that guy over there. I'm going to stand upon my works,
my good deeds. You'll hear him say, depart from
me, I never knew you. those who are blessed to stand
upon the ground that God has prepared, that foundation the
Lord Jesus Christ will hear him say, come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom of God prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Now that's the message of this
last part of this parable. In these two sons, one stayed
home and one ran off. Now let's see if I can make good
on that. This part of this parable is probably one of the best known
parables among people who are raised up in religion. Everybody
has heard a sermon on the prodigal son, especially among the free
will, what I call free will works religion. Every free will preacher
has brought a message on this passage called, and they love
to call and talk about the prodigal son. And most, what I would call
free will works preachers, put the emphasis on verse 17 and
18. And when he came to himself,
he said, how many hard servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare, and I've perished with hunger. I will arise and
go to my father, and I will say unto him, I've sinned against
heaven. and for you. Most false free
will preachers put the emphasis on the wayward son who was broke
and hungry and homeless and finally came to himself. By his will,
they say, turned himself around and they say that This young
man, by his own will, turned himself around and said, I will
rise and go to my father. And then he headed home, trying
to show that sinners turn themselves around and seek God according
to their own free will. Now, we have a will. All of us have a will. but it's
in bondage to our depraved and sinful nature. Man's will is
always self-ward and downward, never God-ward and upward. Man's will is free like free-running
water, always runs downhill, always seeks the lowest course. The whole testimony of the gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is given to show us the
sovereign mercy of God toward poor sinners and the sovereign
grace of God toward poor sinners. And remember, The first part
of this one parable, the first two parts, was about the shepherd
seeking the lost sheep, about the woman seeking the lost coin,
and then we come to the third part. You have to have the first
two parts to understand this third part in this parable. The Lord our God is called the
God of all hope, a good hope through grace we have. He's called
the Father of mercy, the God of all comfort, the God of all
grace. We know this book we call the
Bible teaches us that any salvation of any sinner is not by the will
of man, by the will of God. Not the free will of man. Now
I can make good on that. Romans 9,16 says, It is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. No man left to himself turns
himself around to seek the true and living God. Now that does
not mean that men cannot be religious. We all by nature are religious.
You go to the darkest, deepest parts of Africa and you'll find
religion. Oh, it's false religion, but
you'll find religion. The scriptures teach us that
no man can come to God Almighty except the Father which sent
Christ draws him. It takes the drawing power, the
drawing will of God that people shall be made willing in the
day of his power. No man raises himself from the
dead to give himself life. This is the work of God alone. God must turn him or he'll never
be turned. God must raise him from the dead
or we'll never have life in Christ. You hath he quickened who were
dead. We read recently in a Wednesday message from Psalm 80, where
David said, Lord, turn me, and I will be turned. As a matter
of fact, he said that three times in that same Psalm. Turn me,
Lord. O Lord God of hosts, and I shall be turned. Let's consider part three of
this parable. Remember I told you we see the
work of God the Father, the work of God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit in this one parable given in three parts. And today we
see the work of the Father receiving the Son. Now first of all, we'll
consider the younger son in verse 12 down through verse 24. Verse
12 down to verse 24, we won't go back and read all these verses.
And here we see the mercy beggar receiving the love of the Father,
and freely received by the Father." Verse 21, "...the son said to
the father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, no more
worthy to be called thy son. The father said to his servants,
bring forth the best robe, put it on him, a ring on his hand,
shoes on his feet, bring the fatted calf and kill it, let
us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive,
he was lost and is found." And they began to rejoice in the
Lord's mercy. Here is a mercy beggar receiving
mercy from God. And then the second part of this
message found in verse 25 down to verse 32, I wanted to consider
the elder son who stayed home who said, and even in a braggadocious
way, Father, I've never sinned. I've never broken a commandment.
Now, let's look at the first part. The younger son, no doubt,
was a rebel against his father. We see several things about this
young man. We see, first of all, a departure. The younger of them said to his
father, verse 12, Father, give me the portion of goods that
falleth to me. And he divided unto them his
living, his inheritance, and not many days. Don't know how
many days. This man said, I've got a pocket
full of money. Not many days after the younger
son gathered all of his belongings, all of his goods, couldn't wait
to get out from under the father's dominion, he took his journey
into a far country. How far he traveled, we don't
know. How long he stayed there is not given. And there he wasted
his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all the
rows of mighty famine in the land, he began to be in want
destitute, and he went and joined himself to a citizen, thought
that would help, of that country, and he sent him to the field
to feed the swine, the hog, and he would have feigned, filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, And no man
gave unto him." Here we see several things about this young rebellious
son. We see a departure, a departure
from the father. The young man wanted his inheritance. thought he had come unto him,
he couldn't wait to leave his father's presence, couldn't wait
to leave his father's house, and then he wasted everything
that the father had graciously, lovingly given to him, and he
wasted it on riotous living with harlots. This one statement here
is quite revealing where he says, Father, give me. Give me." And
sinners usually want things from the Father that they should not
have, and I mean by that, God the Father. They just seek Him
for the benefits and blessings, naturally speaking, not spiritual
blessings. Our Lord said, I know why you
seek Me. You did eat of the loaves and fishes and were filled. We
see here in this departure, we see the natural bent of our depraved
mind and our sinful will and our wicked heart. I'm pointing
right to myself. We are born with the same self-willed
wicked heart that wants things our way and to hell with everybody
else. That's what this young man said,
I'm going to do it my own way. And the scriptures teach that
there is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand. There's none that seek after
God. We are all together unprofitable. There is none that do us good,
no, not one. We're all by nature want nothing
to do with the sovereign rule of God our Father. We want to
do our own thing, and we want to do it our own way. We, like sheep, have all gone
astray, turning everyone to our own way, which is away from God. The psalmist or the wise man,
Solomon, said, there's a way that seems right unto men. The
end of that way is nothing but death. Secondly, this young man
found out that the way of sin is bitter and hard, bitter and
hard. He spent all he had and became
to be in want, and he found himself with a job going down to the
hog trough, feeding the hogs, and he was so hungry, perishing
with hunger, and he said, I'm just going to join with those
hogs, and I'm going to eat me some hog food, but it did not
satisfy his destitute condition. This young man found out that
the way of sin is a bitter, hard road. We read, the way of a transgressor
is hard. Soon the young man wasted and
spent all he had and was destitute. To try to remedy his situation,
he joined himself to a citizen in that far country, and he got
a job feeding the hogs, but yet it says here, look at the last
part of verse 16, and no man gave unto him. Not this citizen
who hired him. Everybody abused him. He found
no comfort. No fulfillment, he said, I perish
with hunger in the last part of verse 17. Again, this describes
every sinner out of Christ, every unbeliever who desires his own
way, It's a way of poverty, it's a way of heartache, it's a way
of famine. Sin never brings joy or happiness. There is pleasure in sin for
a season, but one day payday is coming. It describes what
we are without God, without Christ, and without hope, destitute of
any righteousness, destitute of any goodness, destitute of
salvation. Someone said sin is a hard taskmaster,
and the Scriptures teach there is no peace, saith my God, unto
the wicked. And in the end, total everlasting
destruction. That's what your own way will
lead unto. I don't want my own way. I want
His way, the way of salvation in Christ. The third thing we
see in verse 17, down through verse 19, We see this son being
awakened, awakened now. And when he came to himself,
now he has some right thoughts. He came to himself, he's thinking
now sober thoughts, right thoughts. How many hard servants of my
father's have bred enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my Father,
and will say to Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before Thee, and I am no more worthy to be called Thy
Son. Just make me a servant. I'll be happy as can be, happy
as it were, just to be Your servant in Your house." Now, this awakening
here is the work of God. This man in our story here in
this parable never would have right thought and good thought
and sobering thought about his father's house and bread in his
father's house without the awakening and quickening work of God. this
young son being awakened by God and the realization of his sorry
state in sin and perishing with hunger, and in his father's house
there is plenty, plenty of bread, even the servants have plenty
of bread left over. No sinner will ever realize his
sinful and depraved state of spiritual poverty until he is
stripped by God the Holy Spirit, awakened to conviction of his
sin against God, made known that he is a bankrupt sinner before
God, not worthy of the least of God's mercy and of his truth,
and in need of saving mercy in Christ. We call that being given
by God a repentant heart before God, a broken spirit and a contrite
heart God will not despise. We call that Holy Spirit conviction. We call that being convinced
we have sinned against God, sinned before God, and these things
are a work of God's grace. Have you ever taken your place
before the throne of Almighty God, confessing what you are? I'm not talking about what you've
done. I don't care about what you've done. I'm talking about
what we are before God. Sinners. Guilty in His sight. And Lord, when He does a work
of awakening grace in our heart, do you know what we confess?
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty before God. Let all the
world become guilty and every mouth be stopped. The fourth
thing we see about this younger son, we see the son returning
unto the father, returning back home, and the father receiving
his son back home. Now, this son never stopped being
the father's son. Even when he was out there in
rebellion and away from God, he was still the father's son.
The father still had an eye for him. The father probably got
up each day looking down that dusty road to see if he would
see that young man coming home one day. And one day he did.
We see the son returning and the father lovingly receiving
his son back home freely and fully with open arms. Look what
it says there, and the father saw him. I want to look at it, and he
wrote, verse 20, came to his father, but when he was a great
way off, his father saw him, had compassion, love, and ran
to him. fell upon his neck and kissed
him. Now here's a man that just came
from a hog trough. Probably didn't smell very good.
Probably didn't look very good. But love beareth all things.
The father still wrapped his arms around him and still freely
received him and freely loved him and received him. back into
His house. He arose and came to His Father. That's faith and repentance,
turning from self unto Christ in saving faith and confessing
to His Father. I love this confession. Verse
21, Father, I've sinned against heaven. I've sinned against God
and in Your sight I am no more worthy to be called a son or
thy son." This too is a great picture of God's love toward
His elect. He receives us freely, pardons
us fully, and receives us completely and eternally For Christ's sake. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember,
down in verse 2 of Luke 15, how the Lord begins this parable.
This man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Pharisees said this man received
sinners. and he fellowships with them."
Oh, if I can find a sinner, I've got good news for a sinner. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all the acceptation the Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Now look what the father does
here in verse 22. The father doesn't beat up on
him. The father doesn't chastise him.
The father doesn't ridicule him. The father said to his servant,
bring forth the best robe and put it on him. put a ring on
his hand, and put shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted
calf, the one we've been feeding corn all these months, and the
one we've stored up ready to be killed for the feast. Kill
that special calf, and let us eat, and let us be merry. For this my son was dead, and
is alive again. He was lost, and he's found,
and they began to be merry." Now the blessings here the Father
bestows. on this Son are typical of the
gospel blessings we have in Christ. For He has blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. Bring,
He says, there the best robe. Now whenever we read about a
robe, we think about being clothed with the garments of salvation
with the robe of righteousness. And we have in Christ a perfect
robe of salvation provided for us by Christ and He puts it on
us. And then put a ring on His finger.
We have in Christ, and that ring on His finger, that ring is a
symbol of His eternal love. We have in Christ His eternal
love. It's a love of adoption and sonship. He's loved us with an everlasting
love, therefore with love and kindness as He draws to Himself. And then He says, you bring the
shoes, and I'm sure it's the best shoes that the Father had
made to fit the Son. And our feet, the feet of believers,
are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We stand
upon the solid ground that God has provided. We stand upon Christ
and Him crucified. And then bring the fatted calf
and kill it. Now whenever we see a sacrifice
made, we think of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
is our sacrifice for our sin that cleanses us from all our
sin. And we read in Ephesians chapter
5 that the Lord's offering unto God is a sweet-smelling savor
unto the Lord our God, satisfying for all our sins. And then I love the testimony
of the father. This my son was dead, dead in
sin. And he is alive again. God has
quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. And he
was lost, lost in Adam, dead in Adam, and is found. Remember in this parable, The
lost sheep was found, the lost coin was found, and here the
son is found by the father. And they began to rejoice and
be married. The son is glad. Father, I'm
home. The father is glad. The son is
home. And they rejoice, and they're
rejoicing together. There is much joy in heaven.
Remember verse 10, Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents. We were dead in sin, now we're
made alive in Christ. We were lost in Adam, now found
by God our Savior, found in Christ. And they began to be merry, and
we rejoiced together in the Lord Jesus Christ about God saving
sinners. Now, most of the time we end
right there. What about that other son? What
about that other son? In verse 25, of Luke 15, the
elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the
house, he heard some strange noise, music, and he saw some
people out there in the yard dancing, leaping for joy, rejoicing
with the Father. And he called one of the servants
over and asked him, said, what's going on over there? What's all
this commotion about? And he said to him, thy brother.
Well, your brother's come home. Your brother's come home and
your father's killed the fatted calf because he hath received
him safe and sound. Safe and secure. Now look at verse 28. He was
angry. He was angry. What? Angry? And he would not go in. And there
his father came out and entreated him, said, what's going on? And
the answer he said to his father, he yelled, this is not fair.
This is not fair. I've served you all this time,
and you've never done this for me. And that young rebel, and
went out and spent all he had, lived with harlot and riotous
living, now he's come home and you've rejoiced, that's not fair."
Isn't that what he's saying? It's not right. These many years
do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment,
yet thou never gave me a sacrifice, a kid that I might make merry
with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was
come home, which devoured everything you gave him with harlots, and
has killed, you've killed for him the fatted calf." What do
you see in this? I'll tell you what I see. Self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. When he heard,
the elder son heard the celebration, found out what was going on,
he was angry, he was upset. The elder son, remember, represents
those self-righteous Pharisees who complained just like this
elder son. Pharisees complained and said,
this man received sinners and he eats with them. You see, the
preaching of the free and sovereign grace of God always makes the
self-righteous work mongers angry when we declare the salvation
of the grace of God alone. That's what happens when you
declare the salvation of the Lord. Those who are going about
to establish their own righteousness, they get upset. They don't like
that. They think they've got something
a little bit more coming to them. They stand upon the ground of
merit rather than mercy, and they get upset. The elder brother
said, well, it's not fair. It's not right. I've served thee. I've never broken a commandment,
never have sinned, yet this rebel, this young rebel has abused you. sinned against you, and wasted
all his money on prostitutes. And yet, you received this man
back in your house. My friend, the story is this,
salvation is for sinners, not for good folks. The Lord Jesus
Christ came not to call the righteous sinners to repentance. Now in
closing, which son are you? Which son are you? As I said to you in the beginning,
God will meet you and deal with you on the ground of your choosing,
on the ground that you desire. Merit or mercy? Merit or mercy? Are you a sinner? Are you seeking salvation by
merit? You remember those in Matthew
chapter 7 who said, Lord, we preached in Your name. Lord,
we've done these many wonderful works in Your name. We've even
cast out demons in Your name. We're standing upon our merit.
We're standing upon our works. You remember what the Lord said
to those who chose to stand upon that ground of merit and works? Remember what He said? Depart
from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. I tell you,
that ground right there, the ground of merit and works, is
damning ground. Don't go there. Don't stand there.
I beg you, don't. You'll hear the Lord say, depart
from me, I never knew you. Or, by the grace of God, are
you seeking salvation by mercy? I'm going to stand upon the ground
of mercy. Mercy, mercy in Christ. You say,
it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us. It is of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed. May God help each and every one
of us come before Him as mercy beggars before God. Now, I want
to close by having you turn and read this with me. Turn to Luke
18, verse 9. Now, we'll see this in a few
months when we get over here to Luke chapter 18, verse 9. He spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and
like that elder son, despised others. Two men went up to the
temple to pray. The one a Pharisee, merit. The one a publican, mercy. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God I thank you, I'm not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this, a publican. I fast twice in a week. I give
tithes of all that I possess." And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much his eyes to heaven, verse 13,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The one man bragged on himself
and justified himself and was condemned. The other man condemned
himself and was justified. Isn't that amazing? Look at verse
14. I tell you this man went down to his house justified. God be merciful to me the sinner. This man went down to his house
justified rather than the other. where everyone that exalted himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Now, which son are you? You're one or the other. There's
no middle ground. You're either one or the other,
lost or saved in Christ, because of Christ.