Good morning. While you're getting settled, let me introduce myself. My name is Dave DiGiusto, and I'm one of the elders here at FBC Weymouth. Pastor Jeremy is celebrating the birth of his grandchild in California this week, but will be back next week. And we will be, this morning, having a blessed time looking at God's word together in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, Luke chapter 15, but before we do that, please pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank you for seeking and saving us while we were lost sinners, for sending your son to be our substitute, to take our punishment and give us his righteousness. Please provide us with wisdom and conviction this morning as we look at one of your most powerful parables and help us to examine our own attitude towards lost sinners. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Perhaps the most blessed verse in all of scripture is in Luke chapter 19, verse 10. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. When God, through his son Jesus Christ, is seeking, he is craving, striving for, finding by reasoning, lost sinners whom he saves. That's what the Greek word for seek means. And in Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells a parable in three parts. This parable is about seeking and saving lost sinners and the resulting joy that is celebrated in heaven when just one of those lost sinners repents and believes. The first part of the parable is about the recovery of a lost sheep, a picture of a lost sinner who is helpless. And about that recovery, Jesus tells his audience in Luke 15, 7, I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance, or rather, who think they need no repentance. The second part of the parable is about the recovery of a lost coin, a lifeless object, a picture of a lost sinner who is spiritually dead. About that recovery of the lost coin, Jesus says in Luke 15.10, in the same way I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. The joy in heaven over a repentant sinner does not start with the angels. It starts with God. Matthew 18.10 says that the angels continually see the face of the Father who is in heaven. It's God's face that is expressing the joy, and then heaven responds. The celebration is for God because he sought and saved a lost sinner. Jesus tells this three-part parable in Luke chapter 15 to two groups of people. The first group is in Luke 15, 1. Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to him to listen to him. The tax collectors were considered traitors because they collected taxes for Rome, Israel's foreign oppressor, and then they inflated the tax and pocketed the difference. The sinners were all other kinds of irreligious and unrighteous people. Together, the sinners and the tax collectors are the lost. They are sinners who are spiritually sick, and they are in need of a spiritual physician, as Jesus said in Matthew 9-12. Now Israel's religious leaders, the people you would expect to be seeking the lost sinners, they were the Pharisees and scribes. But instead of going out among the spiritually sick with compassion and care, like any good physician would, the Pharisees and scribes would reject the sinners and make biting complaints about them. The Pharisees and scribes of the second group listening to Jesus tell this parable, Luke 15, 2, both the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Jesus repeatedly called the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites in Matthew 23, outwardly appearing righteous to men, but inwardly full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. It's that hypocrisy which Jesus is rebuking by telling this entire parable in Luke chapter 15. Jesus' reason for telling this parable is to teach the Pharisees and scribes a lesson These sinners you grumble about are the very people I came to save. And the reason why I save them is because it brings joy to my Father in heaven, whom you claim to know. So if God seeks lost sinners, so should the Pharisees and scribes, and so should we who are listening to this message this morning. And that brings us to our text, the third part of this parable, which starts in Luke chapter 15, verse 11. Luke chapter 15, verse 11. Please read along with me. And he, that is Jesus, said, a man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country. And there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger. I will get up and go to my father and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fattened calf Kill it and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found, and they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. And he said to him, your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound. But he became angry and was not willing to go in. And his father came out and began pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, look. For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours, and yet you have never given me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when the son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. And he said to him, son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found. Now this part of the parable is known as the parable of the lost son or the prodigal son. Prodigal means recklessly wasteful. However, this really is a parable about a father and two sons. Luke 15 verse 11, and he, Jesus said, a man had two sons. So there's a father and two sons. It's not just the prodigal son. And then the first part of verse 12 says, the younger of them, and that's the prodigal son, said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. So the prodigal son is issuing a command that he expects the father to follow. And the command is essentially saying, I don't want to wait until you die. Give me now my share of the estate. You mean more to me dead than alive. Asking for your inheritance before your father's death was unthinkable in Jewish culture, which was built on honor, especially towards fathers. And if you disrespected that honor, you would undergo punishment. But instead of punishing the son, the end of verse 12 says that the father divided his wealth between them. Wealth is a different word than estate, which was the word used earlier in verse 12. In the father's mind, he's not dividing an estate, which means raw assets with no responsibilities. Instead, the father is dividing not an estate, but his wealth. The word wealth is translated from a Greek word meaning biology or life. So what the son is really taking from the father is not just raw assets, but his share of the assets representing the family's life, its livelihood developed over many generations. And according to Deuteronomy 21, 17, the youngest son gets one-third, and the oldest son gets double that, or two-thirds. And although the command was given by the youngest son, verse 12 says that the father divided his wealth between them, or between both the prodigal son and the older son, who now both have legal title to all of the father's wealth. And then it says at the beginning of verse 13, and not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together. That means that he turned it all into cash. Without mercy, without understanding, the prodigal son demanded and liquidated his share of the father's wealth, his share of the source of livelihood for the family, likely getting not high prices, but low prices because it was rushed, not many days later, it says. And the buyers were likely other families in the village. So now the village is aware of this dishonor committed by the younger son against the father. And then the rest of verse 13 says that the younger son went on a journey into a distant country, likely Gentile land to avoid accountability. And then verse 13 continues by saying, and there he squandered his estate with loose, or literally riotous, living. Later in verse 30, it describes the riotous living as consisting of the prodigal son devouring the wealth with prostitutes. Remember, prodigal means recklessly wasteful. So far in this parable, there has been no on the spot resistance, punishment, or discipline for the prodigal son's actions. Why is that? Well, follow me. In God's eyes, sinners are free to sin. They have free will to commit any sin they want. Now when the sinners pursue those sins, God actually restrains or limits the extent of what those sins could become with what are called divine restraints or hedges. This is true for believers and non-believers. Without the restraints, the sins would become, as one commentator puts it, the grossest of sins. Listen to Hosea 2.6, talk of divine hedges. I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths." These are paths of adultery. She will pursue her lovers, but will not find them. Then she will say, I will go back to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now. So divine hedges serve to protect the sinner from greater sin, like they did to protect that woman in Hosea 2 from adultery. But when God removes those hedges, he is giving over or abandoning the sinner to the lust of his heart. Romans 1 24, therefore God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. So when God abandons man, man is left only with his heart, which Jeremiah 17.9 says, is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick. God lets the sinner go into the uninterrupted cause and effect that his sinful choices produce. Listen to these verses. Psalm 81, 11, and 12. But my people did not listen to my voice, and Israel did not obey me, so I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices. Judges 10.13, yet you have forsaken me and served other gods, therefore I will no longer deliver you. The kinds of sins resulting from abandonment or being given over are listed in Romans 1.24-31 and include the sins in this parable. sexual impurity, willful disobedience against parents, and many other acts that are unmerciful and without understanding. The wrath or the punishment that comes from the abandonment is in the ruin that comes from the sin. Listen to Proverbs 1, starting in verse 28. Matthew 15, 14 speaks of Jesus abandoning the Pharisees and scribes, the audience listening to this parable, the target of his rebuke. Let them alone, says Matthew 15, 14. They are blind guides of the blind. Now, one critically important point before we get back into our text is that God's abandonment of the sinner is not a final, eternal act of abandonment. It still is possible for an abandoned sinner to repent of his sin and be saved. Judges 16.20 says that the Lord had abandoned or departed from Samson, but Samson died a saved person, according to Hebrews 11.32. And in 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 and 10, the Apostle Paul talks to saved believers who used to be engaged in the same types of sins as those listed in Romans 1. And then the Apostle Paul says to those saved believers in the Corinthian church, such were some of you. So to summarize, man's wickedness and abandonment of God reaches a point where God abandons man, removes divine restraints, permits more wicked sin, and punishes man from the ruin that comes from the more wicked sin. but then God can call back man to himself from that calamity. In this parable, the Pharisees and scribes, who you will see being pictured in the older son later, were abandoned by God, as stated in Matthew 15, 14. And the sins of the younger son, the prodigal son, indicate that he, too, was abandoned by God. Riotous living. devouring his wealth with prostitutes, willful disobedience against his father, an unmerciful move to liquidate his father's livelihood, and then liquidating it in only a few days, seemingly without any understanding at all of its implications. Let's see how the prodigal son's recklessness continues in its downward spiral, how he will in fact endure punishment from his actions despite nothing being done earlier, and then we will look at the older son as well. Luke 15, verses 14 to 15. Now when he, the prodigal son, had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. Now verse 15 says that the prodigal son hired himself out. That means he clung to, or essentially he became a beggar. And then the citizen just wanted to get rid of the prodigal son, who was clinging to him, and gave him the task of feeding swine or pigs, which are unclean to the Jew. And then verse 16 says, and this is where he hits bottom, and he, the prodigal son, would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. This ruin being experienced by the prodigal son, which is God's wrath being poured onto him on a temporal basis, is like the ruin described in Ezekiel 33.10. Surely our sins are upon us and we are rotting away in them. Now we said that abandonment is not a final, eternal act. Listen to Hosea 5.15. I will go away and return to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. In their affliction, they will earnestly seek me. Let's see if in the affliction being experienced by the prodigal son, he earnestly seeks God. Verses 17 to 19. But when he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger. I will get up and go to my father and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. This is a critical point in the story. Verses 17 to 19 reflect a change followed by a confession of repentance, which he is resolving to deliver to his father. Anytime someone repents, you always want to test its genuineness. And then you want to watch whether the repentant sinner is bearing fruit in keeping with his repentance, like Matthew 3.8 commands. 2 Corinthians 7, verses 9 and 10 say that repentance is not merely sorrow. It is both sorrow and a change of mind. If a certain mindset plunged you into a certain sin, then without changing your mind, you will continue that sin, even if you do feel sorrow. So sorrow alone is not enough. Sorrow alone with no change of mind is of the world and produces death, says the end of 2 Corinthians 7.10. But the sorrow of the world brings about death. However, The beginning of 2 Corinthians 7.10 says critically the following, for godly sorrow produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation. The phrase godly sorrow means a grieving about your sin, and the grieving comes from God himself, which is being translated godly in the phrase godly sorrow. And then this sorrow, which is coming from God, goes on to produce a repentance, which literally means a change of mind. And then the next part of 2 Corinthians 7.10 says that the repentance, or change of mind produced, is without regret, which means that it is irrevocable. And then finally, the middle of 2 Corinthians 7.10 says that this process which is originating from God, is leading to salvation, which is translated to salvation, meaning that this entire process of repentance is going on within the realm of salvation. So the way to look at this is that when God regenerates a sinner to salvation, God is supplying the sinner with sorrow and a change of mind, and the change of mind is irrevocable. You don't go back to the mindset which plunged you into the sin. That's why we want to test the genuineness of the confession to make sure that it is of God and not the world, and then we want to look for fruit. Let's look at some examples in the Bible. Remember, we're looking for both sorrow and a change of mind. Matthew 27.3 says that Judas felt remorse, or a sorrow, about betraying Jesus. But only because he was feeling condemned, it says. There's no mention of a change of mind. His sorrow alone was of the world producing death. and his eternal death was previewed by his earthly death. And two verses later in Matthew 27, five, it says that he killed himself after feeling his sorrow. Pharaoh delivered to Moses a confession in Exodus 10, 16. I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you, said Pharaoh. This is similar to the prodigal son's confession in verse 18. Pharaoh even agreed to release the Jews from slavery. He said to Moses, go, in Exodus 12.32. But his confession produced no fruit. In fact, it was conditional. He asked for God to remove the plague in Exodus 10.17, and even to give him a blessing in Exodus 12.32. There was no change of mind. His confession was nothing more than wounded pride, a sorrow of the world that produces death. Like Judas, Pharaoh's eternal death was previewed by his earthly death while breaking his promise to let the Jews go. Psalm 136.15 says that God overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. Now let's go back and look at the prodigal son's confession in Luke 15 verses 17 to 19. Remember, we're not looking just for sorrow, but also for a change of mind. Let's start with the end of Luke 15, 18. Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. Against heaven is actually I have sinned into heaven. This sounds similar to another confession in Ezra 9, 6. Listen to this. Oh my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. So the prodigal son's confession appears to reflect strong sorrow, even self-indictment, with no conditions attached. But we need more. Then he says in Luke 15, 19, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. So now he's denying himself, claiming not to be worthy of the relationship he once had with his father. Hired men have the lowest access to his father, even lower than the father's slaves who live in the home continuously. Also, his confession appears to reflect a desire to avenge his sin, like it says in 2 Corinthians 7-11, where the prodigal son appears to want to right the wrong that he did. From a human perspective, he's making himself vulnerable, not trying to protect himself at all, appearing to want to provide restitution to his father by earning money as one of the father's hired men to pay the father back. This appears to be like the confession of the tax collector, Zacchaeus. Remember, tax collectors stole excess taxes from the Jews. Zacchaeus had an encounter with Jesus that was characterized by joy, it says in Luke 19.6. And then after that encounter, Zacchaeus' confession consisted of a resolve to give half his money to the poor and to repay his victims four times the amount of overcharged taxes. This was a confession that consisted of both sorrow and a change of mind, and Luke 19.9 says that salvation came to Zacchaeus that day. Now from a spiritual perspective, it's important for us to understand that the prodigal son could never repay God for his sin. The repayment would never end. It would last for eternity and consist of a suffering that expresses itself as wailing and gnashing of teeth in the lake of fire where the worm never dies as described in Mark 9.48 and Luke 13.28. That's how severe God's wrath is for offending God's holiness. So while repaying the father might avenge his sin against the father, it will not avenge his sin against God. However, in this confession, the prodigal son is displaying a spiritual attitude of asking for mercy, saying that I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Sinners are saved according to the mercy of God. Listen to Titus 3, 5 and 6. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. The prodigal son's attitude of seeking mercy, based on his statement that he no longer is worthy to be called his father's son, is like the plea of mercy by another tax collector in a parable told by Jesus in Luke 18.13. That other tax collector was beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Jesus said that that tax collector was declared righteous before God. Continuing with our analysis of the prodigal son's confession, the phrase, but when he came to his senses, in Luke 15, 17, is itself an indication of a change of mind. The verse starts with the contrastive word but. which represents a change, but when he came to his senses. And then the verse highlights an outcome of this change of mind. The prodigal son is showing a capacity for the first time in this parable to reason using his senses. Notice how the prodigal son reasons in Luke 15, 17, comparing his current sinful situation with something better. How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger. Reasoning through your sinful situation is biblical. Listen to Isaiah 118. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. Finally, and most importantly, listen to this verse, which describes how when sinners come to their senses, it's a sign that God himself is providing the repentance to the believer. 2 Timothy 2, starting in verse 25. if perhaps God may grant them repentance. So the repentance is coming from God, not from man. If perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. So there's strong reason to believe that the prodigal son's repentance with this planned confession is reflecting not only sorrow, but the critically important change of mind for genuine repentance. And then it bears fruit, the beginning of Luke 15, 20. So he got up and came to his father. He's returning to the father to confess his sin and to right the wrong. Turn to me and be saved, says Isaiah 45, 22. Repent and return so that your sins may be wiped away, says Acts 3, 19. His change of mind turns him to the father. Now he's a Jew, and therefore he's aware of the punishment that awaits him in the Jewish village. He did not undergo this punishment earlier because he took off to a distant country back in verse 13, but according to Jewish custom, He is to undergo severe mockery, abuse, and shame for his prior disgraceful acts. Even before his return, the village likely would have already ceremonially regarded him as being dead. But here he comes. He's not trying to protect himself at all. He's seeking to vindicate himself, like it says in 2 Corinthians 7-11. He's returning back to the village to go see his father and to receive the punishment that awaits him from the people in the village. In his mind, he's admitting his guilt and is aware that he deserves the punishment. Now, you are about to see a picture in this parable of three significant theological truths. Regeneration, the atonement, and justification. Let me explain what these mean. Regeneration is when God takes a sinner as helpless as a lost sheep and as dead as a lost coin and brings him to life. Ephesians 2, 5, he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. Atonement is Jesus Christ receiving the punishment for our sin as our substitute to satisfy God's wrath for all those who repent and believe. 1 Peter 2.24, and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by his wounds you were healed. And justification is when the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ is transferred or imputed to the sinner upon his faith alone in Jesus Christ, apart from any works of the sinner. Justification restores us to God through Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians 5.21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And Romans 5.1, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In reality, regeneration and justification occur at the same moment as repentance and faith. And for the prodigal son, he was regenerated when he came to his senses back in Luke 15, 17. Further, Jesus Christ will have performed his actual atonement on the cross just months from the time he was telling this parable. But this is a narrative being told by Jesus. Therefore, these biblical truths of regeneration, the atonement, and justification are being placed into the flow of the story. Finally, and please listen carefully, Jesus will use Jewish customs, which we will highlight for you, to fill in the picture of regeneration, atonement, and justification in this story. Watch what happens. The middle of Luke 15, 20. But while he was still a long way off, the father saw him and felt compassion for him. If the father can see the son a long way off, It likely was not a chance sighting. This father was looking for his son, seeking his return, craving a restored relationship with his son so that he, the father, could celebrate. Also, being able to see his son a long way off indicates that it's daytime and the village is bustling with activity and with people. Finally, a long way off suggests that the son hadn't yet entered the village. Why is this important? The father wants to reach his son before his son reaches the village and undergoes punishment by the people in the village. How does the father protect the son? Verse 20 says that the father felt compassion for him. Compassion comes from a root word that means abdomen. The father felt compassion or a sick feeling in his stomach when he saw the son and knew that the people in the village would unleash punishment on the son. The village in this context is a picture of hell with its eternal punishment that awaits sinners who refuse to repent. But this sinner has repented. What does the father do? Middle of verse 20, the father ran. Now the father has slaves and hired men, which means that the father is a nobleman. A Middle Eastern nobleman didn't run. The word running here is the Greek word for racing in a stadium. He sprinted is what he did. Men of rank wore long neck to toe robes at that time so that their legs did not become exposed. It was undignified to run. and it was undignified to show your legs. And doing either would bring mockery, abuse, and shame to the father by the people in the village. The father did both. In order to catch his son before entering the village, a picture of hell, the father had to hold the edge of his robe with his hands and sprint. The father is humiliating himself by running through the village with his legs showing. As a result, the mockery, abuse, and shame that awaited the son from the people in the village is shifted to the father for his humiliating act. Philippians 2.8 says that Jesus humbled himself, and Isaiah 53.4 says that he did so to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. And then when he finally gets to the son outside of the village, the end of verse 20 says that the father embraced him. Actually, it means that he fell on the neck of his son. Remember, the son would still be stinking of the ruin from his sin. And then at the end of verse 20 says, and kissed him, literally kissed him tenderly again and again. And then the son says his confession in verse 21. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But what he doesn't say is, make me one of your hired men, like he had planned to say back in verse 19. Why? because he now knows that he doesn't have to work off anything. He's just received complete forgiveness, complete reconciliation, complete mercy, and amazing grace. A broken relationship can't be fixed with money. A broken relationship can only be fixed when the offended person is willing to be reconciled. And God, the offended person, who is continually offended by the sinner is willing to be reconciled. And if the sinner will come and trust him and ask for mercy and come with a repentant heart, God will reconcile on the spot at that moment with the sinner apart from any works at all. Why? Because it brings him joy to reconcile with repentant sinners. Then verse 22. But the father said to his slaves, quickly, bring out the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand, sandals on his feet. The robe was the best robe that belonged to the innocent father, a picture of righteousness being transferred from God through Jesus Christ to the repentant son. Isaiah 61 10, he has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness. He has clothed me with garments of salvation. The ring was a signet ring for authenticating documents with the family seal, a sign of authority and security. Ephesians 1.13, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit. And the sandals were worn only by the father and son, symbolizing that the son was fully restored to his father. What a picture of regeneration, the atonement, and justification. The father tenderly and lovingly brought his repentant prodigal son back into a restored relationship with the father, as seen by the father's embrace and kisses. That's a picture of regeneration. The father substituted himself to receive the punishment due his prodigal son. That's a picture of the atonement. And the father transferred his innocence to the prodigal son by having him wear his robe, reconciled in peace, and that's a picture of justification. Why did the father seek the prodigal son? Verse 23. And bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. The son came home hungry, but the father didn't just bring out food, he brought out the fattened calf, which was used only to celebrate the most special of occasions. What was the occasion? The father's joy. That's why the father recovered the prodigal son, because it brought him joy. Verse 24, for this son of Mayan was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found, and they began to celebrate. Now the story is going to shift to the older son, who was following a false works-based religion, just like the Pharisees and scribes that he represents. Verse 25, Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. So the oldest son was totally unaware of the celebration. Why? Because he had no relationship with his father. He was working in the field, in verse 25, while the celebration was going on. And then it says in verse 26, Then the servant responds in verse 27, and he said to him, your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound. The Greek word for safe and sound translates a Hebrew word in the Old Testament that means peace and reconciliation. So the older brother has just learned that his reckless younger brother, whom he thought was ceremonially dead, is not only back home, but he is back home without punishment and already reconciled in peace to his father. How does the older brother react? The beginning of verse 28, but he became angry and was not willing to go in. In the Jewish culture, it was a grave dishonor for a child to refuse to attend a party in the father's honor. Yet, just like when the father had humiliated himself, when he ran to the younger son, the father does another stunning thing and he humiliates himself again, this time for his defiant older son. The end of verse 28. And his father came out and began pleading with him. The father is showing up again in mercy. He comes out from the party that is in his honor, and he goes into the night with everybody watching for his defiant older son. Notice the word pleading at the end of verse 28. He began pleading with him, it says. Pleading comes from a Greek verb that in its noun form means paraclete or Holy Spirit. the one who comes alongside. Bound up in this word, pleading, is to come alongside and console, strengthen, instruct, teach. The father is pleading with his older son, who is a picture of the Pharisees and scribes, like we said, compliant on the outside, working in the field, But the oldest son is also wicked on the inside, given the way that he dishonored his father. Just like the Pharisees and scribes, the oldest son is a hypocrite. Despite this hypocrisy, Jesus has the father in this parable humiliate himself in order to show mercy, compassion, and love by pleading with his older, hypocritical son. Jesus has abandoned the Pharisees, Matthew 15, 14. We saw that earlier. Yet Jesus is having the Father in this parable show pleading love and pleading grace to the older son, a picture of the Pharisees. What stunning grace, which ought to make all of us listening to this parable rethink our own attitudes towards the lost. But look at how the older son responds. the beginning of verse 29, but he answered and said to his father, look. So he's commanding the father to listen to him, and he's not even addressing the father with the title. Even the prodigal son, when he dishonored the father earlier in verse 12, he used the title of father. And then the oldest son continues in the rest of verse 29 and verse 30. Notice the word serving. This is the slave language of a works-based sinner. He's under the illusion that he has performed perfectly, yet he's dishonoring the father as he speaks. And yet you have never given me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. He doesn't realize that the celebration going on inside is for the father. It's not for his brother. But when this son of yours came who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. Here, the older brother cannot understand grace or a relationship with the father. His relationship with the father is one based only on external works, working out in the field, even with a bitter attitude, and external avoidance of sin. He makes sure to do nothing as public as sleep with prostitutes like his younger brother did. But this is where he's self-deceived. He's judging his brother for sleeping with prostitutes. Romans 2.1 says that when you judge a lawbreaker, you are condemning yourself because you are holding yourself out as being able to keep the whole law, including its finer points. And when you stumble on one of those points, says James 2.10, you become guilty of the whole law. which means that showing this judging hatred towards his younger brother is causing the older brother to break the law himself. In God's eyes, the older brother is guilty of murder. 1 John 3.15 says that everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. That's the deception of someone following a works-based religion. He thinks that sacrificial works on the outside gain favor with God and doesn't realize that he is offending God's holiness with his sin being committed on the inside. Works don't save sinners. Only a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ saves sinners. And that relationship is based upon repentance in faith. Now remember, the father earlier, in verse 28, came alongside the oldest son to plead with him. Now the father, again, is about to respond with more stunning grace. The beginning of verse 31, And he, the father, said to him, Son, This is the ninth time that the translated word son is being used in the text. The first eight times were from a more formal Greek word for son. This time, for the first time, Jesus has the father in this parable use a different Greek word for son that means my boy, my child. This Greek word speaks of grieving, compassionate love in mercy. Despite the hypocrisy, despite the disgrace, despite the absence of repentance, despite the unending fury of the older son, Jesus has the Father use a word for his older son that is more affectionate than the one used for the prodigal son, even after the prodigal son repented. The father goes on to tell the oldest son in the rest of verse 31 that, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. The son already has legal title to the assets, but is not seeing them for the life that they offer. His access to the Father is nominal only, and will remain that way as long as he rejects a relationship with his Father. Similarly, the Pharisees and scribes represented by the oldest son always had access to all of God's riches and truth, but had no desire for a real relationship with God. And then verse 32 goes back to the main theme. But we had to be merry and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found. We had to be merry. It was a requirement. God's joy forms in his face when one sinner repents and the celebration in heaven erupts. There is no stopping it. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, there are so many riches in this parable. All of the truths revolve around your grace and love, which are a wonder to us, which are marvelous to us. Thank you for seeking us and saving us. And Father, For the lost who are listening, those whose sins are out in the open, as in the case of the prodigal son, and those whose sins are mostly internal and hidden, as in the case of the older son, and everyone in between, we pray that you will have them come to their senses. Supply them, Father, with repentance of their sins and faith in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, even now at this moment. And for those of us who do know you, Father, have us show compassion to the lost like you show compassion to the lost. Convict us to be like Jesus, receiving and eating with sinners, not acting like them, not talking like them, but coming alongside them, like the Father did to the oldest son in the parable. letting our light so shine before them that they may see your good works in us and glorify you father who is in heaven in jesus name we pray amen