greatest stories ever told. Nobody spake like Jesus. Isn't that true? I mean, nobody spake like He spake. Nobody said what He said. Nobody gave truth the way He gave truth. Now, last week we looked at the best known story that Jesus ever told. We understood it. We called it Welcome Home, but it's known as the parable of the prodigal son. It's really the parable of the story of a wonderful father. A lot of times we're spending all our time on the prodigal, but really the focus of the story is on a wonderful father. We're going to see him again today because what we're going to do is we're going to see the last part of that story, which I believe is the most neglected story that Jesus ever told. I really believe it is. And we're going to see that this morning. Because the story of the prodigal son, or the wonderful father, doesn't end when the son comes home, and they kill the fatted calf, and they rejoice, and he's welcomed in, and they put a robe on his back, and shoes on his feet, and a ring on his finger. That's not where it ends. No. Verse 24 is not the end of the story. Look back at verse number 11. The Bible said, and a certain man had two sons. You're going to find verse number 25 that the younger son, the prodigal son, had an older brother. Look what he says in verse 25. Now his elder son. Did you see that? We refer to him as the elder brother. He's the older son. Now his elder son was in the field. The prodigal was in the far country. The elder son is at home in the field. And as he came and drew nigh to the house. If you don't have a Bible, the text verses are on the screen. He heard music and dancing. So there is a time of rejoicing. rejoicing in the Father's house. He hears it at a distance. He's wondering what in the world is going on at my Father's house. Look at verse 26. And he called one of the servants and asked him what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. You know that is the only place in the Bible where you see that phrase used, safe and sound. Aren't you glad when you're saved, you are safe and sound. Isn't that a blessing? Notice it goes on to say verse 28, and he was angry. He got mad and would not go in. Therefore came his father out, and entreated..." That's an Old English word. It means to plead with him. He pleaded with him, and entreated or pleaded with him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I thy commandment, excuse me, I'd any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends, but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, and thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he, this is the father, said unto him, son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine. It is meet, it's right that we should make merry, that we should rejoice and be glad for this thy brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found. What a story. What a story. You remember we learned that Jesus told this story in Bethany, and there was two groups of people in that crowd that gathered that day, and both of them had a wrong view of God and a wrong view of themselves. The publicans and sinners in that crowd, you look back in verse number one, they drew near, they're on the edge of their seat, they want to hear the precious words that are going to fall from the lips of the Son of God. I want to tell you something, Jesus never mistreated a sinner. Never did. He'll never mistreat you or me. Now listen, that doesn't mean that God is not just and one day everybody is going to meet God, right? But we're going to find that the publicans and sinners, the publicans were the tax collectors, the sinners, they were the common folk of that day, ordinary people, but the reality of it is we're all sinners, so it's people like us, alright? And they were social outcasts in that day. They thought themselves so bad that God just could not love them. There's no way that God would welcome them into His presence. On the other hand, beginning in verse number 2, there's another group there called the Pharisees and the Scribes. These are the religious leaders, alright? They saw themselves so good that God couldn't help but love them. And Jesus had a message for both of them. And it's in the last story that Jesus speaks to the hearts of the Pharisees and scribes. You see, God had something to say to them. And listen, 2,000 years this side of it, God has something to say to you and me this morning. We may not be guilty of the sins of the prodigal, but we may be guilty of the sins of the elder brother. The younger son was lost in the far country. The elder son was lost at home. Can I help us understand what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees? That nobody comes to God out of their own goodness. Nobody goes to heaven out of their own moral, upstanding well-being. Nobody goes to heaven just because they're religious or that they have experienced some type of religious activity in their lives. That doesn't save us. He was reminding them that it's not religion, it's a relationship. Throughout this story, there's relationship. Jesus did not come to give us a religion to follow. He came that we might have a relationship with the Father. And whoever we are today, if we want to go to heaven, we have to be saved. Our sins have to be forgiven. We need to come to God. And here's the good news. It doesn't matter on which side of the equation we're on. Whether we think we're so bad or we think we're so good, everybody needs to come to Jesus. Amen? And Jesus welcomes all of us equally. That's the message. That's what He's saying. But then I believe there's also an application. You see, this elder son was just as distant from the father as the younger brother. You see, not only did I believe that he has something to say to people who need Christ this morning, I believe he has something to say to people who have Christ this morning. Just as he has a message for the unsaved, he's got a message for the saved. And by the way, let me just say something. Everybody in this room that saved, there was a time in their lives at whatever age, that they were unsaved. And so we want to understand that. But he had a message for all of us today. Alright? You can be a prodigal. Now listen, I want you to tune in. You can be a prodigal and never leave the Father's house. You see, if we're not careful, every church and every Christian can find themselves afflicted with what I call the elder brother syndrome. And I want to talk to you about it this morning, and we're going to look at some truths from this to help us see if we have the elder brother syndrome, or to keep us from getting it. Amen? Remember, that's what we're after. We want God to change us. Let's pray together. Lord, we love You. Thank You for a sweet spirit today. Thank You for how You've met with us. Lord, You have a message for us. and I pray you'll speak to our hearts. Help us, Lord, to respond to you and let you work in our hearts. Help us to hear you, Lord. Help us to open our hearts and our minds. Allow the Word of God to have free course, to allow the Spirit of God to speak to us today. And then, Lord, not just to hear, but to respond. It's not the hearer, but the doer that's blessed of God. And we'll thank you for it. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You and I may be suffering from what I'm going to call the elder brother syndrome. Number one, when we're blind to our own faults and failures. Could you jot that down? When we're blind to our own faults and failures. Now, notice verse number 25. When the younger son came home from the far country, the elder son is out in the field. That's what the Bible said. His elder son, the father's elder son, the older brother, was in the field. He's coming out of the house, he hears music and dancing. Now, I don't know what he was doing. He could have been plowing, he could have been weeding, he could have been harvesting, cutting hay, herding cattle, caring and tending for sheep. I don't know what he was doing. But whatever it was, it's evening time, he's finished his day, and he's coming home for supper. The elder's son nears the house. He catches the sounds in the distance of the rejoicing that's going on in the father's house. He begins to ask. Verse number 26. He calls one of the servants, and he asks him. That word ask means to ask over and over again. He's confused. He said, what in the world is going on? Tell me what's happening. I don't know what's happening up at the father's house. And so he's asking over and over again. And then the answer comes back, verse number 27. He said to him, thy brother is come. Your father has killed the fatted calf. He's received him safe and sound. And the elder brother hears the news and instead of rejoicing and being glad and running up to join in the festivity, notice verse number 28, and he was angry. He's upset. That word angry means a deep burning. It's something that's been brewing in his heart for years. And all of a sudden, at the news that his brother has come home, he goes into a rage. And at that very moment, the elder brother, this older son, makes a simple discovery in his heart. He discovered how much he hated his brother. But I'm going to go on record and say one more thing. He didn't just hate his brother. He hated his father. Here he was, standing out in the field, shaking with anger and resentment and bitterness, not just because his younger brother had come home, but because his father would welcome him home. You see, the Pharisees had this problem. They just struggled with the fact that God would love anybody who was different from them, and welcome anybody who was different from them. And I believe that the Bible said that when Jesus began to go out and He would talk to the publicans and He would fellowship and welcome people that they wouldn't have anything to do with and they looked down on, they murmured, they become angry among themselves and they were furious at Jesus for that. Because if Jesus claimed to be of God and He's welcoming folk like that, then He really doesn't understand who God is. Oh no, wait a minute. You're going to find something out in just a moment. Jesus very well knows the Father. He knows the Father's heart and He's revealing the Father's heart to us. So He's so angry. Notice verse number 28. He would not go in. He won't even go in. And here's the problem. It gets worse. He's so caught up with his brother's sins, he's blind to his own. Look, if you would, his father is going to come out, we'll see that. Look at verse 29, And he said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment. Verse 28, Yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make mirth my friends. Look at verse 30, But as soon as this thy son, When Ammon and his brother was come, which hath devoured thy living with harvest, he's went down into the far country, he's lived a wicked life, he's wasted all of the family wealth, thou hast killed the fattest. I can't believe you would do something like that. I want you to notice there were some personal pronouns that were very prevalent in verse number 29. I, me, and mine. You say, preacher, what was the problem of this elder brother? He was filled with pride. He said, I've served you. That word, he said, I served is like to serve like a slave. I have slaved for you. Look at all I've done. Thy son. I wouldn't even call him his brother. Here's the problem with the elder brother syndrome. If we're not careful, we'll all get a little bit of Pharisee in us. And we become annoyed at sinners. And we get upset. We watch the news. We see what goes around us. We see what's going on. And then we get angry because sinners are doing what sinners do. And somehow, we're just a little touch above. Somehow God loves us just a little bit more. And the truth is this, every one of us are rotten to the core. The truth is, Jeremiah 17 verse 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Greatest deception in all the world is self-deception. And listen, if we're not guilty like this elder brother, we can become guilty of the... if we're not careful, we can become guilty of the subtle sin of spiritual pride. And let me just tell you something, Christian. God resists the proud. If we're not careful, we can get so caught up with everyone else's sin on the job, in our family, in our neighborhood, out in the community, that we'll get blind to what's in our own hearts. Let me give you a verse. Jot it down in your notes. 2 Corinthians 7, verse number 1. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, and spirit. Hey, do you know what? A person doesn't just have to be filthy on the outside, we can be filthy on the inside. This gets really uncomfortable. This is why I believe it's the most neglected story in the Bible, because as I'm studying and preparing the message, God is reaming me out. God's dealing with me. God's speaking to me. The danger of getting the elder brother syndrome, that we look out at other people and there's these outward sins, the sins of the flesh, what we see, but yet how we begin to be blind to the inward sins, the sins of the Spirit, what we can't see. And God's people, well listen, we would look down on somebody coming to church drunk. Wouldn't we? I mean, if somebody comes through those doors week after week after week, and they're drunk as they can be, we call it drunk as a skunk, and they're going back and forth, and they're shouting, and they're loud, and they're disrupting, and they're cursing, whatever, somebody would come up and say, Pastor, we've got to do something about that. But yet, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, we'll come to church, and we'll harbor things like unforgiveness, and bitterness, and anger, and resentment and jealousy and envy and on and on and on it goes. And you know what? We'll come to church and we're perfectly comfortable with it. You see, the elder brother wasn't comfortable with what the prodigal son did, but he was very much comfortable with who he was. We get the elder brother syndrome when we're comfortable with where we are spiritually. You see, the elder brother, when you looked at him, everything was right on the outside, but he was wrong on the inside. And Christian, you and I can be right on the outside, but wrong on the inside. The elder brother was a prodigal and he didn't even know it. We say we want revival. We say we want the presence of God. We say we want to see God work in our lives. But listen, judgment must begin at the house of God. It's you and I who must look in. Hey, we look at the problems in America and we can point this out and that out and the other out. Could it be that the problem in America is not out there? It can be in the church houses of America. I'm just asking. I'm just asking, are we willing to be like David and say this morning, maybe slip forward and say, search me, O God. When was the last time you opened yourself up to God? Are you just comfortable with where you're at? Oh, I know it's not comfortable. I don't think it was comfortable the day Jesus told the story. It's not comfortable today, but oh, we're living in a day if we're not careful that we as Christians can look and we can get so caught up in what others are doing around us, we are blind to what's within us. Number two, I want you to get it real quickly. If we're not careful, we get the elder brother syndrome when we fail to understand the Father's heart. We begin to see the world through our eyes rather than God's eyes. Look at verse number 28 again. I want you to look at the last part of it. Here's this son. He's angry. He won't go in. Therefore, his father... We see the wonderful father again. The Bible said, "...and therefore came his father out, and entreated..." He pleaded with him. Can I help you see the heart of God here? This father is just as loving and tender and welcoming to the elder son as he was the younger son. Do you notice that the father never went to the far country, but he did go out to the field? The elder brother, all he could see was where his brother had been and what he had done, but he didn't see where the father had brought him to. He didn't see the younger brother when he came home in his rags. He didn't see the younger brother with the smell of the hog pen. He didn't see the younger brother emaciated with hunger. He didn't see any of that. He didn't see what sin had done in his life. All he saw was the robe and the ring and the shoes and the fat. That's all he could see. And he was angry. After all his younger brother had done, that selfish demand, give me. The trip to the far country, the riotous, wicked living. How can you just forgive him? How can you just give him a robe and a ring and bring him back into the family after everything he's done? Watch this. The elder brother had been with his father all along, but failed to understand his father's heart. Here's the message. There's no one that the Father doesn't love. Jesus loves a publican as much as He does a Pharisee, right? And He loves a sinner as much as He does a scribe. But now I'm going to flip this. He loves a Pharisee as much as He does a publican. and he loves a scribe as much as he does a sinner. There's not one person that Jesus loves more than another person. There's not one person Jesus welcomes more than another person. Listen, we can't stop God from loving us and you can't make God love you more. We can't stop God from... Listen, we can't make God welcome us because God's always welcoming. Did you get that? Don't fail to understand the Father's heart. You say, well, they're just too far gone. There's nobody too far gone for God. And here's the problem. If we're not careful, we'll be saved so long we'll forget where we were, and where grace has brought us to, and we'll miss the Father's heart. We'll get angry. The other day, I'll give you an illustration. I hope I don't make anybody mad in the service. If I do, I'm asking forgiveness beforehand. But sometimes you get behind somebody that has lost their license because of alcohol or drugs, and traffic's backed up for two miles going up a two-lane highway. Does anybody feel my pain right now? And you're saying, if you forfeit your license, why should you get to ride on that and hold up traffic and everything else? And I was getting angry. Now somebody might be here and you say, well, I've got one of those things, preacher, and I hold up, listen, I love you. I do, I love you. And you love me because you know what, we can be dangerous and that can be dangerous and a whole nine yards. But at that moment I was trying to get home and I wasn't real happy, you know, and this person, you know, they didn't move over. A lot of people are very, you know, they'll see the traffic, they'll find a spot, they'll turn over, let everybody go, and then they'll go. Not this one, buddy, right in the middle, all the way up the road to Pilot Mountain. All the way up. I was his elder brother at that moment as I could possibly be. I just want to help you understand something. I want you to always remember, but for the grace of God, there go you. I remember going in the Alexander County maximum security prison. There's nothing like going in a maximum security prison. I was not there because I was guilty. I was there to preach a revival, okay? You go into that place, and I'm walking with the chaplain who's a friend. He's in heaven now. And I was walking along with him, and he began to tell me about the people that were there. And he said, you know, we hear this all the time, but for the grace of God, there go I. He said, that's really not true here. I wanted to say to him, oh, but it is true. Because you and I don't know what lurks in our deceptive, wicked hearts. And we're capable of doing anything. Don't ever forget where God found you. And don't ever forget where God's brought you to. And don't ever forget that Paul said, the greatest Christian who ever lived said, I am. He was a murderer. He was a murderer. He was a persecutor. He consented to the death of God's servant, Stephen. He was imprisoning God's people. when he was captured by grace on the road to Damascus. And God humbled that prideful Pharisee and brought him to himself. And years down the road, he would say, I am what I am by the grace of God. Oh, if we'll keep that in our minds, we'll understand the heart of the Father. I hear people say, well God's just not saving people anymore. That's not true. Maybe we're just not loving like Christians used to love. I'm going to ask a question. This is not me saying that we have a problem. I'm just asking a question. Why would God send lost people to a church where there's no love, no welcome, and no rejoicing? That's why at Calvary Baptist Church we must always be a place where there's love and where there's welcome and where there's rejoicing. That's why we want to cultivate an atmosphere where people can come into this place and understand the Father's heart. They can know His love. They can experience His welcome. They can enter into His joy. Listen, I don't want to be standing on the outside looking in. I'm not talking about compromising with sin. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about having a heart that loves people to Jesus Christ. That's what I'm talking about. Number one, we might be guilty of the elder brother syndrome when we're blind to our own faults and failures. Number two, when we fail to understand the Father's heart. Number three, when we fail to appreciate what the Father has given us. when we fail to appreciate what the Father has given us. Can we go back to verse number 29? He said, "...neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment." I've always done what you've asked me to do. Now watch this. "...Yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends." But you've killed the fatted calf for Him. He's saying, listen, look at all I've done for you, Father. Look at all these many years I've served you. I've done what you've asked me to do. I've been what you wanted me to be. Listen, you killed for Him a calf, but you didn't even give me a baby goat. Did you catch it? Did you catch it? He felt that the Father owed Him something. Can I help us understand? God doesn't owe us anything. He felt that we don't deserve anything but a place in hell. That's what we deserve. But look at verse 31. I love this. And He said unto him, Son, thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine. Wow! If we're not careful, we'll look around and get so caught up with what we don't have that we fail to appreciate what we do have. And all that God has given us. Maybe that person does drive a nicer car. Maybe they do live in a bigger house. Maybe they do have a little more financial security. But if I'm not careful, I'm going to look around at all of that. We'll look around at all of that and we'll fail to see what God's actually given us. Maybe it's a test for us to see what's really in our heart. Oh, it's uncomfortable. We say we want to be changed. Do we really? The elder brother syndrome, we see what the unsaved have, or how the unsaved lives, and we look around at that, and we think, well, boy, if I didn't give this to God, and if I didn't give to missions, and I didn't do this, look at what I'd have, and look at what I could... Sometimes we see God bless another Christian and we're bitten with the green-eyed monster of envy. God, You ain't never done that for me. God, You've given them two new cars and I'm still driving the clunker with 200,000 miles on it. God, You've done this over here, but... I remember my early years of ministry. I was in a place that was out of the way. Nobody really knew who we were. Other guys, I went to Bible college, they had nice big brick churches and they had over a hundred people. I started with eighteen. It took me ten years to get my first hundred people in the church. Ten years. Ten years of hard, hard, hard work. Never forget it. And I can remember sitting there and thinking, God, look at Your blessing. Be in a preacher's meeting and say, God, look what You're doing over there for them, and look what You're doing over there for them, and God, look over there, and God, look at me. What's the matter with me? And if we're not careful, here's what's going to happen. We'll get jealousy, and we'll get angry, and we'll get resentful, and we'll get bitter, not just at them, but if we're not careful, that can reside in our heart toward the Father. And here's what we'll say, God, You're not fair. And God wants to show us what's in our heart. You know what it reveals to us? Here's what it reveals. If we're not careful, we can get an ungrateful heart. We live in such a day of ingratitude. I was noticing yesterday, and I appreciated these parents. They were working really hard to get their kids to say thank you as people were giving them candy. And some of them did a good job. Some of them refused. They weren't going to say thank you for nothing. Now some of it might have been shyness. They were in a different place. But some of it, they just refused to do it. Now that's not going to stop us from giving candy to kids. Amen? But we live in a day of ingratitude. Can I tell you that I know Thanksgiving is around the corner and all of us preachers, we preach on Thanksgiving being thankful, but yet God tells me that that is the normal Christian life. That is, as children, we're to be a grateful people. We're to have a heart of gratitude. I just want to tell you this morning, what you have is far more. I was praying this morning for Christians in India and China and in the Middle East. That right now, they're not really caring about what car they drive, or what house they live in, or what their 401k looks like. They're just wondering if they're going to live. Or they're going to be placed in prison. And these are God's children. They might be the choicest of His children. We get the idea that sometimes us as preachers, and we maybe pastor a little larger church, that somehow we're going to be maybe up a little further up in front of the line. Let me just tell you, it might be. It might be that pastor, that house pastor in North Korea that's in a gulag. That might be the one that's going to be in the front of the line. Not somebody that gets to preach to a beautiful congregation in a wonderful church like this. Is God speaking to you this morning? Is He really? He sure is speaking to me. All that I have is Thine. Do you know what he's doing? He's helping this elder brother, this elder son, to focus on what he had instead of focusing on the one small thing that he didn't have. And Christian, if you and I will start focusing on what we do have, what God has given us, how He has blessed us. Listen, the small things we don't have in life that one day aren't going to matter. It's not. The land you live on, somebody else is going to live on it one day. You're just an interim renter. That's all you are. You say, no, I own my house, I work... You're just an interim. Somebody lived on it before you did, possibly, and if not, somebody's going to live on it after you're gone. That's just reality. It's going to fix a lot of things in our lives when we start focusing on what we have. Never lose sight of the blessings of God in your life. Ephesians 1.3, he says this, that He's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God never promised to bless us financially or physically. He never did that. He said, I'm going to bless you spiritually. I'm going to give you something better. Now thank God for His physical blessings. Thank God for His financial blessings. You'll never out-give God. I've never been able to do that. Oh, listen, I told my wife, I said, you know what? We just need to be extravagantly generous to God because when we're extravagantly generous to God, God is extravagantly generous with His blessings to us. And it's not always financial. It's watching God work in our lives. God work in our family. Letting God bless us. Oh, listen, Vince Havener got it right when he said, you understand, Jesus is all you need when He's all you have. He blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. They're plural. I'm glad God didn't just bless me one time. He blesses me again and again. I'm an heir of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Oh, the psalmist said, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Oh, listen, if we're saying amen or clapping, it ought to be right there. Bless the Lord. Maybe we need to write a blessing list. We can list our complaints. Brother Vernon has a big box called the complaint department box. If you have a complaint, he's going to make it this week. And he'll be glad to take all of your complaints. I want the blessing box, okay? Would that be alright? I don't get a lot of complaints here. We have a wonderful church, wonderful unity. I'm so blessed. I'm so blessed. I know pastors, their whole lives are being fought by their people. They're being fought by deacons, being fought by... He's so thankful. You follow and you serve and you work. God blesses. I'm so blessed to be in this place. My wife and I thank God so often that we get to pastor such wonderful people like you. I want a blessing list, don't you? I want to spend some time blessing the Lord, pouring out my soul to God, saying, God, thank you for a wife, thank you for children, thank you for this, thank you for that, thank you for the other. What are you thanking God for in your life? Oh, a heart of gratitude will keep you from getting bit by the elder brother syndrome. Can I give you the last one? You say, gladly preacher, gladly. Number four, we may have the elder brother syndrome when we would rather stay in the field than enjoy the father's house. The elder brother syndrome caused the elder brother to stay in the field and be miserable rather than to go into the father's house and have joy. Can I just quickly give this to you because I feel like I need to give an invitation to my own heart. Let me tell you what he lost. All that I have is thine." By the way, do you know that little statement there? I'll share it here in a moment. I'll get it. He lost the father's fellowship. Look at verse 31. And he said unto him, At that moment, there was no fellowship between the father and his older son. It would have been broken. Can I tell you, when you and I get the elder brother syndrome and we have an ungrateful heart, we're jealous, we're bitter, we're angry, we're resentful, we allow things to go into our lives, maybe we look down on others, maybe we get tired of having to move on a Sunday because I don't get to sit in my same seat every week or this or that or the other. Could it be that those things break our fellowship with the Father He lost fellowship. Do you realize you can be a prodigal and never, ever, ever leave home? You can just harbor things in your heart that breaks your fellowship with God. Number two, he lost his father's presence. This is not on the screen. He lost his father's presence. Look at verse 31 again. Thou art ever with me. You're with me all the time. We work together. We dine together. We fellowship together. We play together. Do you see that? You're ever with me. With me. But now, there in that field, he's distanced from his Father. There's no closeness. There's no joy. There's no presence. Can I tell you, there are churches all over America today that have the elder brother syndrome. And when you walk in that place, there's no presence of God. We don't ever want to lose the presence of God. It doesn't matter if the preacher's here. What matters is God here. I want God to be in this place. I want God to work in our lives. I want God to show up. We need to meet with God. That's what we need. Hey, you know what we're missing? We're not meeting with God like we used to. Oh, we need to meet with Him. We need to meet with Him publicly. We need to meet with Him privately. He had lost His Father's presence. Do you enjoy the presence of God? Next, he lost his father's blessing. Look what he said, "...and all that I have is thine." Do you know Amy Carmichael, who was a missionary to Africa? She heard D.O. Moody preach on that text. She heard him as he read and preached on the phrase, "...all that I have is thine." At that moment, the Holy Spirit caused that phrase to penetrate her soul like an arrow. And here's what she responded. She said, "...if I have all this for God, what have I given to Him. And in that moment, she surrendered her life to go to the mission fields. God's done so much for me! All that I have... Do you realize, dear child of God, that you are the heir to everything God has? You may not live in a mansion down here, but you've got one waiting, and you'll live in that one a whole lot longer. And here's the last thing. He lost his father's joy. Look at verse 32. 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." Have you noticed in every story Jesus told, there is rejoicing over people who come to the Father. God welcomes them when they come to Him by faith, and they trust Him, His Son, as their Savior. There's rejoicing in heaven. There's rejoicing at the Father's house. And listen, Be careful. The elder brother syndrome will cause us to lose our fellowship, and cause us to lose God's presence, and cause us to lose God's blessing, and it will cause us to lose the joy of the Father's house in our own soul. And here's what's interesting about the entire story. When Jesus ends it, you say, preacher, what is it? We don't know how it ends. It's open-ended. Here's the last part of the story. The father has went back into the father's house and the son's out in the field with a decision to make. And we don't know the decision that he made. Jesus left the entire audience in suspense. You know why He did that? Because He wanted us to make a decision. Because we'll write the ending to our own story. We'll write the ending to our own story. Maybe you're here today and you've never been saved. Maybe for the first time in your life you realize that if you died, you're not going to go to heaven. There's been a time for every person that's been saved, there's been a time in their life they came to the conclusion, if I die right now, I may not go to heaven. I went to church all of my life, and if I'd have died, I would have went to hell. I wouldn't have went to heaven until I was saved. And maybe today God's speaking to you. Can I help you understand something today? Maybe God's dealing with your heart. You know you need Him. You're not sure if you died you'd go to heaven. You don't have that 100% assurance. God wants more for your life than you can ever imagine. He wants you to know His love. He wants you to know His forgiveness. He wants you to be in His family. He does. He wants you to be saved today. Could we bow our heads and close our eyes? Could we do that? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. And in the quietness, quietness of this invitation, God is speaking to hearts right now. He's speaking to you. You'll write the ending to your own story. Do you have the assurance right now that if you died, you'd go to heaven? Do you have that? Do you have that assurance? Do you know that if you died right now, you could say, well, I hope I do or I think I will, but do you know you will? See, God says you can know it when you believed on His Son. If you're here today and you don't have the assurance of eternal life, I will not embarrass you. I will not come to where you are. I will not do that. I will not put you on display. But what I will do is pray for you and invite you to come to the Lord. Is there someone here today who would slip up your hand and say, Preacher, if I died right now, I don't know where I'd spend eternity, but I sure would like to know, would you pray for me? And you'd just slip your hand up where I could see it. I'm scanning the auditorium right now. I thank you. I see that hand. Is there another? You can put it down. Thank you. I see that hand. Is there another? Preacher, if I died right now, I don't know where I'd spend eternity, but I want to know. I want to know. I want to write the ending to my own story, and I want it to be the happy ending. I want it to be in heaven. Pray for me. Anybody else, you'd slip up your hand with these. I'm not sure if I died today I'd go to heaven. Do you know you can be saved right where you are if you'll recognize you're a sinner? that you cannot save yourself and you're willing right now to trust Jesus Christ and Him alone for salvation because He died for your sins and He rose again. If you're willing to put your faith in Jesus right now, you can by faith ask Him to save you. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You could pray a simple prayer like this. The prayer doesn't save anybody, but it voices your faith to God. I called out to the Lord. And you're calling out to the Lord for salvation and forgiveness of sins. If you'd like to do that, you could pray this simple prayer. Are you ready? You can make my prayer your prayer. Dear Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. And if I die, I won't go to heaven. But I believe You died for me. paid for my sins, and rose again. I right now ask you to save me, to forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart. Take me to heaven. Thank you.