as we look once again at the parable of the prodigal son, as it's called, as we'll see the parable of the prodigal sons. We'll be reading the whole parable in just a moment, but focusing on the latter part of it, the father's interaction with his older son. Some years ago, there was a cartoon of a little boy who was sitting on a stool in a corner. He was clearly being punished by his mom and dad. And in the cartoon, he is turning around, speaking to his parents, who are not in the cartoon, saying defiantly, I may be sitting on the outside. But I'm standing on the inside. What you see on the outside is not always what's going on on the inside. And that's where we find the older brother. On the outside, he is the dutiful, obedient son who stayed home and helped his dad. But the inside tells a different story. and events exposed who he really was. He needed the grace of God just as much as his younger brother needed the grace of God. That's what Jesus wants us to see this morning. So let's look for that as we read God's word. And before we read, let's ask his help in prayer. Father, thank you for your word. We thank you that this is the very Word of God, and it is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. We pray that you would be pleased to do that work now, that we might turn from sin and find refuge in the only name given under heaven, by which men may be saved, even the Lord Jesus Christ, and know the joy that it is to rest in him. For we ask this in Christ's name, amen. Hear now God's word, beginning in Luke 15 at verse 11. And he, Jesus, said, there was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 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 was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command. Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. And he said to him, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting. to celebrate and be glad. For this, your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found." Thus far, God's holy, inspired, fallible, and inerrant word. May he add his blessing on it. Remember, Jesus is confronted at the very beginning of this chapter by the Pharisees and the scribes, the insiders, and they are grumbling. They're grumbling against Jesus. Verse two, because the tax collectors and the sinners, the outsiders, Jesus receives them and he eats with them. And Jesus replies to them in three parables. The first two, a lost sheep and a lost coin, show the power and the pleasure of God in showing mercy to the wandering. And the third turns that round and shows us the work of grace in bringing a sinner to repentance. That's this parable, the parable of the prodigal son. And as Jesus describes the return of the younger son, the prodigal come home, we might think he is wrapping up his story in verse 24. For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate. In reality, this parable is far from over. Jesus has yet to get to his main point, and he will take eight verses to get there. Because there is another son, the older son, who we learn has run away without ever having left home. The younger son had his own way of rebelling against his father, and the older son has his own way of rebelling against his father. And you understand Jesus is speaking directly to the Pharisees and to the scribes. And the good news of this story that Jesus told on that occasion is that there is mercy held out for this son as well. So I want us to look at this older son and the father come together at the end of this story. And if we were to look for a word, a banner over this older brother, it would be rebellion. And we see his rebellion against his father in at least three lines. In the first place, he sulks. His father is merciful to his brother. And the older brother sulks. We meet the older brother, verse 25, as he is working in the field, as he did every day, dutifully for his father. And Jesus, as he tells the story, says that this older brother came and he drew near to the house. Now, since the father is holding a banquet and banquets were typically held at night, he is probably coming in at the end of the day. He has put in a full day's work and he is returning home for the night. Only this time when he comes home, he is greeted by what he normally does not see and hear. There is music and dancing. And he begins to think it's not a holiday. It's not a feast day. Dad didn't say anything about a party. What could be going on? And so he spies one of the servants. He says, come here, I've got a question for you. He asked him, verse 26, what these things meant. And the servant tells him, your brother has come. Your father has killed the fattened calf because he received him back safe and sound. This brother of yours who was long lost and written off for dead, he's come home. Nobody expected this, but he's here. And your father has killed the fattened calf. He didn't pull an old casserole out of the fridge to host the party. He went down to the butcher in Flora. He got the best cuts of meat, and he has invited the whole neighborhood to join him in celebration. And you can sense the way the servant is sharing this news that he expects the brother will be ecstatic. Your brother is home. Your father is overjoyed. And it's not how the brother responds. Verse 28, he was angry and he refused to go in. It was the hour when everyone would have known. The older brother is back from the field. He should be here any moment. And when he comes, he will rush in, he will throw his arms around his brother. But instead, big brother is outside. And his arms are crossed. And he is sulking. The news that brought joy to everyone else Even people outside the family has angered him. But then Jesus shows us that his sulk quickly turns to shame. He proceeds to shame his father. In the first place, the son refuses to go in, but look at what the father does, verse 28. His father came out and entreated him. Think about that. that the father should leave this celebration, that he should go out to a pouting son, would have shamed this man in front of his guests. Why is he leaving the party? What kind of a father lets his son treat him this way anyway, and in front of the whole neighborhood to boot? And then when the father does come out, scripture says he entreated him. He didn't speak harshly to him. He didn't curse him. He pled with him to come enter the banquet, join the festivities. How does the son reply? He says in verse 29 defiantly, look, These many years, I have served you. I have never disobeyed your command. You never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. And you can see the contempt spilling off his lips. He cannot bear to call his brother his brother. He calls him this son of yours. And then he proceeds to lecture his father. After what he did with your property, you go and kill the fattened calf for him? And you can see the sheer selfishness of the son. In these few words, I, me, mine, some five times, he is concerned with himself, his rights, his grievances. And he doesn't care that he is shaming his father, that he is treating him with utter disrespect. This is a form of what his younger brother did so long ago. But that sulking and that shaming, Jesus tells us, find a root. And that root comes in his words, words that are a window to his soul. This brother has an enslaved mindset. Why is it that he sulks and shames his father? It is because of his slavery. Look at what he says. Look, these many years I have served you. And that word that is translated served is elsewhere translated in the New Testament. I have slaved for you. I have never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. And you see the symptoms of this enslaved mindset. He is accusing his father of injustice. He says, you have dealt unjustly with my brother. You did not give him what he deserved. He deserves nothing from you. Why are you treating him this way? And then he turns around and says, and you're not dealing justly with me. You've never given me so much as a young goat. I deserve more. And he says that I have never disobeyed your command. I have done everything you've required of me. Why aren't you treating me the way I deserve? This older brother, is a bean counter. And he has drafted a long bill of grievances. And it took his younger brothers coming home for the lid to be ripped off and for all of this to be poured out. Years of frustration and anger. But there's another symptom of the enslaved mindset. not simply a sense of injustice. But look at how he views his father. Did you notice he never calls him father? There is no sense that this man is his father, no delight or pleasure that he is his father. As far as the older brother is concerned, he is a wage earner and a slave. And his father is an employer, a paymaster, and an unjust one at that. So there is the rebellion of the older brother. What does this say to us this morning? You know, Jesus is putting a question to the Pharisees and to the scribes, but because this has been preserved in Holy Scripture, it is a question that's being put to all of us. How are you on the inside today? We know how we are on the outside, but how are you on the inside? Elsewhere, Jesus said to the Pharisees, you are like whitewashed tombs. You're clean and pristine and bright on the outside and inside you are full of death and corruption. And Jesus is saying you can be moral and religious on the outside and on the inside you can be far from God. And Jesus knows even true believers can suffer this mindset from time to time. It may not prevail, but it may surface in all sorts of ways. So what are the symptoms of this disease that Jesus identifies? and we could boil it down to two questions for us. In the first place, Jesus is asking his hearers, how do you view God? What do you really think about God? Is he your gracious and heavenly father? Or in your heart of hearts, Is he to you an unjust taskmaster who has you slave for him while he doles out treasures to the undeserving and keeps from you what is really coming to you? Jesus says, do you view God that way? And then Jesus says, let me ask you a second question. How do you view yourself? a basically good and obedient person. God, I do everything you've asked me to do. I may not be perfect, but I'm certainly better than most people around me. And I deserve better than I get. And Jesus is saying, in compassion, He's saying, if this is your view of God, if this is your view of yourself, you don't understand God, you don't understand yourself. Jesus, you understand, has come into the world to save sinners, not people who are righteous. And he has come to save not only people who have left home, but people who have stayed at home. Jesus says, if you knew your heart, you would know there is not a single commandment of God you have ever fully kept for a moment. And you know that you really deserve not blessing and goodness from God, but judgment and curse from God. That's what your record deserves. And then Jesus says, let me tell you who God is. God is merciful beyond imagination. And when the grace of that God grips a sinner, he brings him into the family. He never puts them on the payroll. He brings them into his family. You will never deserve a thing from God, and this God will richly bless you according to his wisdom and for his glory, and it will surpass all expectation. And Jesus can say this because he didn't come into this world to tell people that there is a righteous God, and if you just shape up, you can be right with him. God only had one perfect son, and his name is Jesus Christ. And his obedience took him to the cross, where he willingly poured out his life for sinners who left home and for sinners who stayed at home. And you can only approach the Father. And you can approach the Father by His obedience and by His death. He gladly draws sinners and presents them to His Father. And His Father willingly receives them into the embrace of His compassion. How is it with you? Have you known that embrace? And Jesus says, if you've known that embrace, if you know yourself, if you know this God, you can't pout when you see God's goodness to others. You join the chorus of praise. So there is the older brother, rebellion. Secondly, and briefly, Jesus shows us the heart of this father. If we needed a word to put over this father, it is that he strives to reclaim his son. How does he try to reclaim his eldest son? In the first place, he pursues him. Verse 28, he came out and entreated him. His son deserves to stay in the dark. His son deserves to stay in the cold. His son deserves to stay hungry. His son is acting shamefully. The father doesn't care. He will bear the scorn and the shame of the whole party to go out to this son. And then he pleads with him. Look at what he says. Son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. Look at what he says. Every word counts. Did you notice the first word out of his lips? Son. Son. You may think of yourself as an employee. And you may think of me as an employer and not a fair one. But let me tell you the truth of the matter, you haven't understood who I am. I call you to be my son. I am your father, you are my son. And then he says in the next place, you are always with me. Here is the highest privilege of a son. He gets to be always in the presence of his father. You have constant access to me, son, and I am always with you. Do you understand the privilege that it is to be called a son of this father? And then he says, all that is mine is yours. Glorious offer I withhold nothing from you by inheritance everything is yours And then he says come now let us reason This your brother was dead and is alive he was lost and is found It's time son for the family to rejoice and Can you join in the joy of the family? So we close what it's to say to us. Here is this older son, and he is in the grip of pride. He is in the grip of entitlement. He is in the grip of self-righteousness, a legal mindset. with bitterness and with resentment and with anger to God and to those around him. What breaks that? It's not a what, it's a who. God breaks that. And he breaks that by coming and stooping and speaking and showing compassion. It is when you see this God come to you in the person of Jesus Christ, offering himself and all besides, and bidding you join in his joy and in the joy of heaven. That's when that spirit, that legal spirit is broken and is melded. These Pharisees and these tax collectors were grumbling, what did Jesus Christ do? He came to them. He spoke to them in compassion. He offered himself and all that is his in grace to sinners, even to them. How is it with you? If you are a stranger to this God, you need this mercy. You need this iron grip to be broken and only the mercy and compassion of God and Christ can do it. If you know Jesus Christ, you love Jesus Christ, but you know this spirit sits too closely to my soul than it should. What breaks that? What melts it? It is the mercy of God. We all need the same thing. We need to behold this God in Jesus Christ and the pages of scripture. We pray that God would make these truths real and gripping in your life. Wouldn't you like to know how the older brother responded? Wouldn't you like to know how the Pharisees and the scribes responded? But the story just ends. And that's on purpose. But here's what we know did happen. Many of these Pharisees continued to harden themselves in resistance in the face of this compassion. and they drove Jesus Christ to the cross. And we know early in the life of that young and fragile church, Jesus Christ himself appeared and arrested this raging persecutor, Saul of Tarsus the Pharisee, and made that persecutor a powerful preacher of grace. And you read on in the Acts of the Apostles, and we learn in chapter 15, there are Pharisees, plural, that are inhabiting the courts of Zion, the church of Jesus Christ. God did it. God does it. And he still does. And that's good news for all of us. We need that grace. More than that, we need the God of this grace. Let's pray. Our Father, how we thank you for these tender pleas and invitations that you do not deal with us and our sins and our iniquities as we deserve. And Father, whether we are that younger brother who has run away, whether we are that older brother hardened in self-righteousness, or whether we are those who sincerely trust in Jesus Christ and yet grieve that legal spirit that dogs us in so many ways, we would look to you for there is no help in the hand of man. But you are the almighty maker and redeemer. And you are kind and compassionate. And so we pray that you would do in our lives, as you would, magnify your mercy in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.