Please turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 15, as we read the entire chapter from which our meditation will be coming tonight. May we pay attention to God's precious word to us tonight. Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it. And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. And he said a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father, father give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And on many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. And no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough unto spare, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father, and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight. and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servant, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began to be merry. Now his older son, elder son, was in the field. And as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed a fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry and would not go in. Therefore came his father out and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at 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, I was killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad. For this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost. and is found. May the Lord bless his own precious word to us. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, tonight we would like to consider the parable of the two lost sons, better known as the parable of the prodigal son. This parable is not just about one son. No, it's actually about two sons. The younger and the older son, both are lost. Both are offered God's love, but their reactions to God's love are quite different. This parable shows us that we can be lost in two ways. that we can stay away of the Lord Jesus Christ in two ways. By being very, very bad or by being very, very good. By being very, very bad and one day wake up with the results of it somewhere and that you realize you're lost. or by being very, very good. But will those people, those good people, will they wake up? That's the question of this parable. We can be church people and we can be self-deceived, but One thing this parable teaches is that we will never be self-deceived without this astounding offer of God's love, having received that. That's what we will hope to consider tonight. Tonight we would like to consider then the parable of the two lost sons. Our key texts are from Luke 15. We hope to consider verses 18 and 19 and verse 29 in particular. I read those for you. With the Lord's help, then, verse 18 and 19, I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before thee, and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And verse 29, And he answered, said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. So we would like to consider this with the Lord's help under the heading Lost and Loved. We have two simple thoughts. The younger son lost and loved, the older son loved but lost. Before we go there, we would like to have a quick look at the chapter. Chapter 15 begins with an explanation of the occasion when the Lord Jesus speaks those three parables we have before us in this chapter. Verses 1 and 2 says it, And then drew nigh unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Simply put, when Jesus preaches, sinners and tax collectors gather to Jesus and they love to hear the gospel that Jesus is preaching. The gospel of free grace, the gospel of following Jesus and leaving all for Him. And that Pharisees stand by there in contempt when they see Jesus being so free with sinners around him, bringing the gospel to them and also eating with them. And they begin to murmur, they begin to mutter among themselves, look, he receives sinners and eats with them, he has fellowship with them. How can that be? That's the reaction to the Pharisees and the Lord then tells this series of parables. All three about something which is lost and found, which gives joy to the one who finds. Verses 4, the lost sheep and the shepherd. It gives joy to that shepherd. Verses 8 to 10, the lost piece of silver sought by a woman who rejoices with her neighbors. And then verses 11 to 32, we have this extended parable about a lost son and also about joy. About joy. But the real question that comes to us is, which son is really lost? The younger? The older? And notice that the Lord Jesus repeats why there is joy in heaven three times. Verse 7, a sinner returning in repentance. Verse 10, one sinner who repents. And we see it another time happening in verse 17. So first then let us pay our attention to this younger son who was lost and loved. He is returning. He was in his far country. We all know the parable that Jesus told. What a remarkable story it is. Our Savior certainly had a way to get to the heart of a problem. Let's listen and learn for a moment. Let's also listen as it were through the eyes of one who is standing by there, a moral Jew. When you think about it, that young brother set out for the world. One day he came to the father and asked his part of the inheritance and he received it. He cashed it and there he went. Now demanding one share of the inheritance before the father was dead was the same as saying, I wish you dead. The people who would listen to the Lord Jesus, Jesus's parable would have expected the father to come out and discipline this same son. So that he would be straightened out and get in line again. But that's not what happens. His father is patient, is patient and loving and he divides his portion and allows him to go. Probably, as was usual in those days, he would receive a third part of the inheritance. And the rest would go to the older brother. Normally, he would only receive an inheritance after someone died. However, there he goes, off to that very far country, seeking fortune. And there he makes friends and lives in luxury and pleasure and squanders and wastes the whole inheritance. Every moral person in the audience would be aghast when he heard first wishing his father dead and then his father not disciplining him and giving him everything and then wasting everything. This is too much. So with joy they would listen that this young son's fortune went for the worse and then he comes to the end of his money through that severe famine and the young man is condemned to look after the pigs. Good for him. That's just right. Unclean pigs for unclean persons. There he sits, with a herd of pigs, and he desires to eat those husks, kind of a pea-like fruit, that's hard and fibrous, tough, only eaten by the animals raw. Only when there was famine, then they roasted it, and then people would eat it as well. But he didn't even get anything. The Jews feeding pigs, a Jew feeding pigs, that was the worst possible humiliation. Today it would be a picture of someone, if we would put it in today's terms, there's someone who goes off to university and he takes the money of his father and he forsakes the faith and forsakes his parents and he starts to waste the money and partying and drinking and living out for his pleasure and pornography and the whole thing. And one day he finds himself, as it were, waking up in the street, wasted, with a headache, and ashamed, and ran out of money, ran out of resources, ran out of friends. And then, for lack for anything better, he needs to start taking the worst possible job. That's the modern version of this parable. But that's not the only version. Because that's not the only person. who is lost. No, this is also the picture of you tonight, my lost friend, who have not returned to the Lord in true faith and true repentance, who loves the world and loves your pleasures, who loves the things of the world, dead, distant, dissatisfied, abusing God's good gifts. Wake up to this reality. If you have not repented of your sins, you are distant from God, not willing to joyfully submit to His Father's rule like this young man didn't want either. You want to spend everything on your own desires and lust, just as the son wanted to leave and live it up. You are living on the Father's inheritance. You live using God's possessions, not for Him and for His glory, but for yourself. Everything that you have, every breath that you take is from God. Just as that younger son. You actually desire a lot, but your desires will never, never satisfy. Just as the famine came and made his younger brother desire a pig's food, you actually seek your hope and your help with other creatures. And you will find out, to your frustration perhaps, that others cannot help you with a real problem. The only help you can come when through the power of the Spirit you would repent and return to the Lord. Repent! If you're without faith tonight, without Christ's cross, faith in Christ's cross, and without repentance, then this Father tells what's wrong with you. When He reflects back when the other son comes, then you're dead, you're in a lost state. Verse 24 says it, for this my son was dead, spiritually dead and lost. You're in great danger. If you continue living far from God, wake up. This parable says, you're mad, you're insane. That's what verse 17 implies. This young man came to his senses, it says. This young man comes to his senses. That's the first part when the Holy Spirit works and illuminates our hearts. That's the first part of true repentance. And he came to himself, literally to his senses. He said, how many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare and I perish. This young man came was someone who was, as it were, mad and insane. And then suddenly he realizes it. He recovers from it. He comes to his senses. The real state of his life dawns on him. I've wasted my life. I've wasted my money. I've lived for the wrong relationships. I have not served my Father. I've not served God. I've wasted my energy. And it's all fleeting. All the pleasures were fleeting. How different could it have been if I've never gone away from the Father? If the servants of my Father are better, they are better off than me. If I had never chosen the destructive paths of sin. Suddenly he begins by the power of the Spirit, as it were. That's what God does when He awakens the sinner. He starts to see things clearly. That's what we need too. Sinner outside of God tonight, Outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Lord would enlighten your heart with the Holy Spirit, that you would see things really in proper perspective tonight. If you're distant, if you're wasting your life for your own pleasures. The second thing that we see here is that he's coming back. Read in verse 18a, that's the second part of repentance. Repentance is returning. He says, I will rise and go to my Father. This young man did not only come to his senses, realizing in sensual ways, but he actually acted upon it. He left the far country and went back to the Father, drawn by the Father's love. He could not stay far away from the Father. The distance had to be taken away. So it is with every sinner who comes to true repentance. He cannot stay far away from God in the soul of a sinner. The distance makes the person move away from sin, maybe first in reformation. But this distance needs to go. seeking to restore the lost relationship. Sinner, friend, has your dismal, your distant relationship moved you to say, I will go and I will rise and go to my Father? That's the question tonight for you. So he was coming to his senses. He was coming back. And then he starts to confess. That's the third part of true repentance. Verse 18b, And I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. He not only then comes, purposing to return, he also takes these words with him. The Bible tells us, take us word when we come to the Lord again. And he takes these words. Father, I've sinned. Have these words come out of your mouth, out of your hearts, when you have looked back and overlooked your wasted sinful lives? I've sinned against heaven, which means against God. That's first. That's first. And before Thee, literally, Father, I sinned in Your very presence. I've sinned against God. And in the very presence of God, the sinner realizes, in the very presence of God, I've been sinning. The one who knows everything, the one who is holy, the one who sees everything, the one who is everywhere. The God of the universe, I've been sinning in His very presence. Dear congregation, dear children, do we realize when we commit sins, it is in God's very own sight? And He knows them. And we cannot hide from Him. This brings this man back, as it were, with these words, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before thee in thy very holy face. The last part of true repentance that we see here pictured in the younger brother is contrition, humility, brokenness. In contrast to his former pride when he said, I need that inheritance. In this situation, he wants to give up everything. He knows he has to give up everything, every right that he thought he would have in the face of the Almighty God. That's what a sinner does. And he purposed to say, I'm no more worthy, as verse 18c says, I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. When he claimed the inheritance, he thought he deserved it. But now it's different. I'm not deserving. I'm willing to be a slave, a hired servant. What he didn't want to do before, serve his father and to be close to him, now becomes his desire, his delight. If only I could be close, if only I can serve Him with my whole heart. Do you know that? Do you know that? This kind of language is strange to us. We really, and you would claim to be a believer, then you need to re-evaluate your conversion. When the Lord works in our soul and shows us our sins and our emptiness, He also brings this humility. I don't deserve it. We don't deserve anything. Maybe it's a longer process, but the question is not, is it there perfectly? No. Is it presence? Humility? Is it there? I don't deserve it. This is how this son returned. with this in mind, with the expectation that he would become a hired servant to be a slave, and how different he found his father to be, how different what he had expected, and how different of every moral Jew who would stand around there, the moralistic Jew, had expected it to be something like, let's give him a trial period. See if He behaves, and then we will see. But no, what will we see? His Father is rejoicing. He sees Him from a distance even before He reaches His Father's home. He is seen. He is seen. And he arose and came to him, verse 20a, came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. Literally, the verse says, he stood up and he went toward his very own father. And that this father knew him was evident. He saw him from miles away. That's my Son. That's my Son. And so the Lord sees returning and repenting sinners for the first time or again. And He knows when we come to our senses and say, Lord, I have sinned. And we come back and we come in confession and contrition. The Lord hears our cries and He knows that's my Son that's the cry of a humbled one. That's the cry of a humbled one. Just as the Lord Jesus, we will find it. Lord Jesus in verse six, John six, he said, and all who come to me, I will in no wise cast out. And so we will find it again and again, or for the first time. And that is what this sinner found out. Seen from a distance, Loved with compassion, loved with compassion and his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. This son with his wasted life behind him expected the angry and demanding father who would come and put him into slavery but instead compassion, pity, running, embracing, kissing. Even before He utters a word, there is forgiveness. Forgiveness. Even before He uttered a word, the sympathy of the Father expresses itself in that running and embracing and the kissing. Welcome home. Welcome home. Sinners, this shows the amazing character of our God. When we come to our senses, when the Holy Spirit enlightens us, and we repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, and then we are accepted, fully accepted, embraced in Christ the Beloved, accepted in Him. The father is so different from what every moral Jew would expect and have thought. An ancient father, he would keep up his social status and he would have these great robes and he would not run. No, no, no. He would not run. But this father is so different. He girds his waist and does something unthinkable in the eyes of these Jews. He didn't care about a thing and what people thought about him. He just wanted to get to his son. And so the Lord, in his compassion, in his love, in his enthusiasm, takes... In this father, the enthusiasm takes it from him. And he runs and throws himself around the sinner's neck and kisses him repeatedly. What a welcome! What a welcome! How undeserved! How amazing! This beloved is the character of our amazing God who revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 34 verse 6. The Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious and long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, Forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin. Here is a picture of what that means. This is the character of our God. But that's not all. No, no. His Father is rejoicing. His Father is receiving. His Father is seeing. But now His Father is even restoring Him with honor. Now the Son starts to speak words which He had rehearsed, as it were, on the way back. He said, Father, in verse 21, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and I'm no more worthy to be called a son. But before he can finish his proposal to his father to be a servant, the father commands the servant and says, Bring me three things, the best robe and the signet ring and sandals. The best robe that was probably the father's very own robe, certainly a mark of honor. In other words, his father would say, this is my son. This is my son. Treat him as the guest of honor here in my house. And a signet ring on his finger. It was the ring that was given from father to son when the authority was transferred from father to son. What a contrast. He wanted to ask to be a slave. Instead he received sonship. Sonship. And then shoes. Slaves would go on bare feet. But he received sandals. A luxury. What a change of event. What a treatment with honor. Sinners, you who come with true repentance, returning to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Lord does. Contrary to all your expectations, He receives you as a child of God instead of a slave. Instead of a slave. And that is not all. The Lord Jesus says it in John 15, I do not call you servants, I do call you friends. And later John would say, now we are the sons of God. That's what's happening here. Adoption in the family of God. instead of being a slave. And even that is not all. The homecoming needs to be properly celebrated. And so it's celebrated with exuberance. And it's celebrated as we see that in verse 23, "...and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be married." The fatted calf was for weddings or for when people would become bar mitzvah. young sons of 12 or 13 years old, there was a very special celebration. Only for a very special celebration this cattle would be killed. It was enough to feed a whole village. What a joy! What a A feast the Lord brings when sinners repent. What a feast this Father makes. Music and ring dance was heard far and wide. This is a picture of the joy of heaven when a sinner repents. As the Lord Jesus has pointed out in verse 7 and 10 and now again. Congregation, do we understand the joy of a sinner who has wasted his life? Of whom we think, oh, do we think that is a joyful event when that person comes to repentance? If heaven rejoices about this, shouldn't we be rejoicing? Shouldn't we be better joining in? If the Lord is lavish and gracious when he's dealing with sinners, shouldn't we be lavish and gracious and welcome the worst of sinners with open arms, even if they have the signs of true repentance? Or are you not convicted yet? Convinced about that yet? Are you rather one of these who want to give people a trial period and tell them sober up? Show improvements first. I need to see. Don't you understand why the Lord seems to give such a welcome to great sinners and such lavishness? well then we better need to consider our second point because the Lord had another son also loved yet lost as lost as the younger son if not worse. So secondly, the older son loved but lost. The older son is resenting. Jesus who knows our hearts as no one else has been portraying the younger brother as the sinner, the tax collector who comes to repentance and which received this hearty reception from him. He now transitions to portray the Pharisees perspective on the whole matter. And he now transitions then to expose the heart of those who cannot rejoice when sinners come to repentance. He now comes to a person like you and me who are serious, religious, hardworking, and who seem to have our house in order, but we can lack the joy of true religion. The younger son returned home and the father threw him a feast, because he was repenting. The older son returns home, but it's quite a different story, because he doesn't come home repenting. No, instead he comes home resenting. An older son was normally used, expected to play a role by the reconciliation of the father and the son. No, he comes back and he comes back quite a different way. Not reconciling, absolutely not. Look at verse 28, and he was angry and would not come in. Actually the word signifies furious, enraged. As soon as he heard the feasting going on, he called one of his servant boys and asked what was taking place. He is suspicious. He thought, this is not kosher. This young servant boy explained that his father has killed a fetid calf because his younger brother was coming back safe and sound. Indeed, he thought, this wretched brother of mine, Received with joy. What about me? Envy flames up in his heart. And the answer of their older brother to the father reveals the real problem. Look with me at verse 29. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid, a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. Notice the disrespect in his voice, in how he speaks. He says low or look. Instead normally someone would say father, sir. No disrespect. He's basically saying three things here. I've never enjoyed our relationship. Lo, these many years do I serve Thee." He saw the service of his father as drudgery, as slavery, as everything except enjoyable. He had been slaving away, and all without true joy. And he did not enjoy being close to his father. To simply spend time with his father, as fathers and sons are supposed to do, enjoy. And here it comes to a crucial point of true religion. This older brother did not see his father as a father, but as a taskmaster which needed to be obeyed. His notion of his father was wrong. You see, the older son is also estranged of his father, yet he's physically still close to his father. But his heart is not with the father, nor with his saved brother. In verse 30, he calls him with disdain, this son of yours. And he reminds his father of all the sins that he has committed. Elder brothers of today have the same problem. They are faithful church goers, they won't miss a beat, but in their hearts of hearts they won't truly enjoy it. They lack the true love of God and their neighbor. They are leery with the fact that so many people call God Father so easily. They don't think that people who come to true faith should be so joyful and relieved. What a striking picture the Lord Jesus paints here of a Pharisee who was murmur about sinners coming back to the Lord Jesus and that he would receive them. The second thing that the older brother says is basically this. I've never enjoyed the work either. He says, neither transgressed I at any time the commandments. He spoke about service. Now he speaks about commandments. And he thinks he's doing a pretty good job. I am a good person. I'm not like those worldly persons, those sinners out there, those tax collectors. I keep the law. But what is behind this? I keep the law, but no enjoyment. Why is that? Because he looks to the Father that way, he looks to the commandments and he feels the pressure of it. I need to keep them, I need to keep them. And he feels the slavery. Why is that? Because he wants to be accepted on the basis of his works, on his merit, on what he has done. And whenever we do that, that sucks out of us all the true joy. We feel it as slavery, no enjoyment, just running around without joy. That's still the same. If you feel like that, that the only thing God desires is keeping his commandment, and then you feel this resentment about a religious thing, that resentment is building up. Do you know something about that? because that will ultimately go into lack of true joy. This, by the way, also happens when people around us start to ask all kinds of things of us, which are not commanded in the Bible. Moralistically, they say, oh, you need to do this and that, and they start to heap up burdens upon us that we cannot bear. And when you and I then want to please people rather than to please God, and we don't see through what is happening, then religion becomes drudgery too. Rather than experiencing law-keeping as an act of love to His Father and freedom as such, protection, God protects me from sins, by setting those boundaries. This older brother actually shows that he rather enjoys the world. He thinks actually while he is slaving away and tries to be that good person that he's missing out on something. That's the third thing that we see here. I've never been able to enjoy the world. Verse 29c, and yet thou never gavest me a kid. that I might make merry with my friends. You see, the younger brother went away from the father, desperately wanting to enjoy the world and the gifts of the father, rather than the relationship with the father. But here is the older son, the older brother, he stays home, in effect. He desires the very same thing, to enjoy the world. to enjoy a feast with friends and to have a little go. But the problem is his religious notions does not allow him to. So really these brothers have a lot in common. Both wanted to enjoy God's gift without a relationship to God. And the one expressed it worldly and the other one expressed it religiously. And both are lost. Both are lost. Isn't that searching? Elder brothers are known by these three characteristics. They see God as a taskmaster, they see themselves as a slave, and service of God as slavery and drudgery. Maybe you won't quite put it like that way in those terms, but deep down you feel like that. Theorized duty without beauty. But the younger brother learned something quite different. He came to know God as Father. He started to experience joy as being a son of God. He saw the service of God as an expression of wholehearted love and delight and joy. But what a contrast! For him, it became beauty with loving duty. What are we to learn? All the brothers are lost, perhaps even without realizing it. They think they are doing the right thing, but actually there is in their lives no joy. Actually, it's anger what we see here in this brother, isn't it? Anger, envy, frustration. Also with sinners around them. Do you, do I recognize the older brother in our own heart tonight? This does not necessarily mean that when we lack true joy in religion that we are automatically older brothers. For God's true children can have much older brotherliness, if I can put it like that. We can return to law-keeping and ticking boxes rather than rejoicing in God, in Christ and His finished work. But if you are one of those true older brothers, or one of those who have gone back to older brotherliness, I want you to listen how the Father deals with these people. Listen how tenderly God deals through the mouth of Christ with resenting older brothers. When you know there's anger, there's envy, or there's resentment, or there's drudgery, there's slavery. God gives them, saves people and gives joy to others. Listen to this, because the father here is training and teaching his older son. This time the Lord Jesus does not come to the Pharisees to whom he was speaking especially with those words of, you brood of vipers or white-painted sepulchers. Not this time. No, he comes wooing. Very gently. And the person of the Father, our Lord Jesus, paints this amazing picture of the Father. God's tender love and grace again. Look at what the Father does. First He comes out Himself. Away from the fist, verse 28b, therefore His Father came out. Those days, refusing to come in, would bring shame and people would start gossiping about it. But the Father here comes out, He humbles Himself and He does everything to come in. And this time not with strong words or discipline, no. He comes with cords of love, as it were. Verse 27, 28C, it says, he entreated him. He calls him out. He urgently encouraged him to come to the feast of that younger brother, to come to the feast of true salvation. And the word here is strong. He pleads with him. And the third thing that he does, he tenderly calls him, child. Verse 31, and he said unto them, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. The word he used is not son. It rather means child. He's really very affectionate with his older son. He said, my child, my child, my child, won't you come in? Won't you come in to this Feast of Salvation? And then he calls him even home. He says, Thou art ever with me. He's basically saying, this is your home. You belong here. I'm your father. Just make yourself at home. Isn't it enough that I am your father? And finally, in 50, he calls him even heir. Verse 31c, all that I have is thine. This is amazing. God wants to give everything he was really deep down desiring in his heart, but he sought it at a wrong place in idolatrous self-worship and self-righteousness. And now this father comes to us and he shows him it can only come to you on the basis of a restored relationship with me. Never on the basis of merit. All the brothers among us, look at God's amazing love. Humble yourself because in Christ, God humbles Himself and patiently and lovingly and woeingly offers us salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. He offers a right relationship with God. He's made peace through the blood of His cross. And then he comes and entreats elder brothers who have no joy in the service of God. And he comes and says, come to the Feast of Salvation and enjoy this sonship with me. And I will give you an inheritance. And come, have this right relationship, enjoy it. and enjoy then also fellowship with brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, saved sinners, once lost, now rejoicing in free and sovereign grace. Come! Come! What will you do? With such an amazing offer of love, this older brother was loved, and yet he was lost. with his offer of grace, not with God's special, if we want to be specific here and right, not with a special love of election, but with God's amazing gospel grace and woeing to come to him. But the parable does not tell whether this brother was going to be saved. It doesn't say so. It leaves it hanging. In other words, it's asking us the question, how will it be for you? How will it be for me? when we suffer of older brotherliness syndrome. If we don't take God's love and grace seriously through the Holy Spirit, we will be lost. Knowing about God's love, we will trample God's love and grace underfoot. that He has shown to us so clearly in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you're not only resenting others around you then, but ultimately you're resenting God, hating Him. Oh, that the love of God tonight, the amazing fact that God humbles himself in the Lord Jesus Christ and pleads with us, be ye reconciled with God, would break your heart that the goodness of God might lead you to repentance tonight. and that you would learn to rejoice in the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, about whom it is said that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Through Christ's cross, you can experience God as your Father, God's commandments and service as joy, and God's children as your brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. and you can learn to deal with them with patient love rather than resentment, envy, anger. It's offered to you today. Amen.