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 spoke 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 layeth 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 the 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 peace 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 not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance on righteous 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 husk 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 have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will rise and go to my father and will say unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to call thy son make me as one of thy hired servants.' And he rose 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 servants, bring forth the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand, shoes on his feet, bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his 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 the 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 treated 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, a baby goat, young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast 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 is 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." Our Father give us insight today, every single person. to see themselves in this story. Help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we have in the introduction of this chapter, we have that there were publicans and sinners that ate with the Lord Jesus. Well, that was not to be done in this culture. If you were a rabbi, if you were a very prominent person in religious circles, you would certainly not be found eating and conversing with publicans and sinners. Now we're used to this idea of Jesus eating with publicans and sinners. It's not very shocking when we read that in the Bible. But I want you to understand something, that the culture here is what we need to see and understand so that we can see what Jesus is, how He's looked upon by His own culture. He is eating with publicans and sinners. Another passage of Scripture in the Bible, Jesus said that the physician comes not to those that are well, but to those that are ill. And He speaks also in this passage of Scripture of the need of those that are the publicans and sinners. He gives three stories, and I'll quickly go over the first two. It is the stories of something, the two stories are those things that are lost, and I should say one is a coin, one is a sheep. It is kind of an introduction to the main story, and that is the son that was lost. The value goes up, doesn't it? It was first a sheep lost. It did not find itself. The shepherd went out and found it. That's very normal in this culture. That was understood. If a shepherd had a sheep that was astray, it was very wonderful that he would go and leave the 99 and go into the wilderness until he found the lost sheep. So there was that which was lost. The one that found the value on that one, that one that was lost is given. The second story was a coin. A woman lost one of her, probably a coin of her dowry. She swept the house and looked until she found it, and then she found it, she rejoiced. She called her neighbors together, and they had a wonderful time rejoicing. That's what you did, not just rejoice, but eating while you rejoiced. You see, Jesus is eating and rejoicing with sinners. that are found. And he's telling these stories to his culture that he grew up in. They understand. A shepherd would say, let's rejoice. Let's have a feast. I found my sheep. And a woman that had lost her coin would say, let's rejoice together. Let's have a time of eating and rejoicing. That wasn't too shocking to these publicans, I'm sorry, to these scribes and Pharisees. You see there's three groups here. There's the Lord Jesus. There's three parts here. There's the Lord Jesus. He's the finder. And then there are those that are the lost, and they're the ones that are being found. But in this picture we see, in this chapter, we see people looking on. It's normal their neighbors to come in and rejoice with the lost sheep and the lost coin and have a dinner. But now Jesus goes deeper. He said there was two sons of a father. And this father was approached by the youngest for him to divide his inheritance with him, for this is the time He wanted it, not the time that it should be given. I suppose you might understand that this would be very offensive to a father knowing that it was like he's treating me as if I've already died. That's when he should get the inheritance, but not before. But the culture here would understand it very much stronger. This was a sense not just to the father. But this would be an offense to all the village and all the people that lived there. There would be very few, if any, that would have any sympathy for the son in this situation that would come to his father and cause his father to divide the inheritance and give him his part. What is the inheritance? Well, the Jewish culture, the land. Back in the days when Joshua had conquered the land, the land was divided by family. It was never to be permanently sold. It was always stay in the family. It was the inheritance. It was what was passed down. When Ahab wanted a piece of land for his garden, the owner said, how can I give it up? It's in my family. And he would not sell it to Ahab, and Ahab through Jezebel, his wife, had him killed. This is the culture. You didn't turn loose of the land. This was a family matter. This was the greatest offense that you could give to a family, and especially to a father. This man, this young man, he did not carry that land off into a foreign country. You can't do that. You can't pick up the land. You had to sell it. In reading on this culture, villages took up very small spaces because the land was most important for cultivation. If you took much land, you know we are living in America, why if you can get a quarter acre for your lot, why that's great. But in that culture, villages where the streets were so narrow, they say that on their Sabbath, they could not walk and carry something out of their house into the street. So they put boards sometimes from window to window. The houses were so close together. Up on the second story they would be able to put a board and carry something over to their neighbor and not get in the street. Why the land was kept for that work of cultivating. Therefore, these villagers, they live close together. And for them, all of them were very close. And when you offended a father like this, you offended the whole village. You would not ever be welcomed back. And even if a father welcomed you, The village probably wouldn't. The culture is offended. You see, the scribes and the Pharisees are offended by Jesus eating with the publican, or yes, with the publicans and sinners. And so the story is offensive here, not so far as what I've covered. when the sun comes back, there'll be trouble. As you know the story, I'm sure, the prodigal took those things that he had turned into cash, he went out and squandered them. Now, In this culture, too, and in this word, and I'm not trying to preach somebody else's sermon. It was a whole book, so I don't have time to do that. But in this situation, went out and wasted his substance with riotous living. That is, he squandered it. He frivolously spent his money. It may have been on harlots, but the word does not imply that. It could have been that he gambled it away, but it doesn't imply that. It means that he was extravagant in his living and he wasted it. Now his brother accused him of doing it with harlots, but that's an accusation. The son that caused such shame, when he came to himself in a pig pen, here's a Jewish young man that would never have found himself even around pigs. Now he's feeding them and wishes that he could eat some of what they eat. And he's perishing with hunger. And he decides to go home. He says, my father's house has plenty of bread, even his servants. And he said, I'm going to rise and I'm going to go back to my father. And I'm going to say to my father, father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and I am no longer qualified. I'm no longer fit to be your son. Give me a position as a hired servant. Give me a job." And probably what he was saying was, let me work off my debt that I owe you for the inheritance that I squandered. We look at that and we admire that responsibility, admire that he is admitting of his sin, but to the Jewish culture here, let me tell you what he was saying. Pharaoh said to Moses in the eighth plague, after it was done, and the nation had nearly been destroyed by this time. Pharaoh said to Moses, I have sinned against Jehovah God, and I have sinned against you. Now let me tell you this, we're not as familiar with the Bible as those scribes were. When the scripture tells us here that he was going to say, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, scribes would say, yes, we heard that before. We heard Pharaoh say that to Moses. And he didn't really mean it. Are you with me? It was a familiar thing to say. even for somebody that didn't understand really what they had done. Now make me a hired servant. He made the plan, and I think it's good. I'm glad he had that plan. I'm glad he decided to take his responsibility, admit his wrongs. and then try to make up for it by hiring out as a servant, hired servant, so that that might be corrected. I have made a terrible mess of my life, but he was saying, I'm willing to do everything I can to make up for it. And so he got out of the pigpen and he headed toward the father's house. Now remember, this is a story. And this is a story told inside of a culture. And Jesus is reminding them, I think, of what he is doing. And he's reminded them of these publicans and sinners that are so looked down upon and despised. And he tells of this story. Now, I don't think anything too much is shocking yet. But now then Jesus begins to tell the rest of the story, if you want to say it that way. Here the Lord Jesus is picturing himself. Now I know there is a Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And I understand the wonderful position, God the Father. But we have in the description of that one that is to be born in the Old Testament prophets that he is called wonderful, but he is also called everlasting father, the Lord Jesus. If you put that a little differently, you could say father, the father everlasting. Or you could maybe even interpret it a little bit and say, the father of everlasting. He's the father, isn't he? Of our life, spiritually. Jesus became a man, God the Son became a man. And as a man, he had a life, he had a human life, and it was a life that would not be destroyed by sin. There was no death in him. In you and I there is death, but there is life when you come to Christ. There is the life of Christ born in you. And in that you have eternal life. So let's look at it in that way, and I want all of us to examine our salvation today. This man had a plan. I can make up for what I did. Could he? Could you make up for what you've done against God? Say these words and you'll go to heaven. You can say all the prayers you want. It doesn't make up for what you did. Then how do you get right with God? Much of Christianity has been a Christianity teaching that if you will do certain things, you can make up for what you did. And even in Baptist, it's oftentimes preached. If you'll say these words after me, you can be saved. Oh my goodness. What have we done? Now listen to this. See what it says here. When this, Son came back to make up for what he had done. The father ran and met him. You see those narrow streets in the village? The father is acting like a kid. He's shaming himself by running through that village. He's running out for his son, and he carries the shame of that. He runs to his son, and the villagers watch. He runs to his son, and his servants run along with him. And the son says to his father, after this spectacle, Do you understand? His son has made a spectacle when he sold his father's property and left home. Now his father has borne the shame to run to his son. And when the son says, father, I've sinned against heaven, and before thee, and I am no longer to be called thy son. The father stopped him. He didn't get to say, make me one of thy higher servants. He didn't get to say, let me do something for you. He didn't get to say, I'll pay you back. He didn't get to say, I'll give you my heart. My heart's filthy. My heart is not worth what he cost God. And the father didn't let him say that. Instead, the father took his shame. And he said to his servants, go, get the robe, put it on him. Put shoes on his feet, put a ring on his finger. This my son, this my son was dead and is now alive. And let me tell you what that son did. That son believed. He believed it had been done. He believed it was finished, that he was received with no work on his part. He believed in the goodness of his father and in the love of his father. It was not a love of self that he believed. It was not a goodness in his own heart of his own power and his own abilities that he believed. He believed in the father. And that was the picture of the Lord Jesus. And I remember when that happened to me. I remember when I saw myself in the pigpen of sin, and I wasn't worthy. And I didn't know how to get back to God. I didn't know how to get to God. I didn't know what to do. I wanted somebody to tell me what to do. And if somebody had told me to do something, I would have done it. Oh, I'm so glad that my father had the wisdom biblically not to tell me to do something. He said to me, what's wrong, Joe? I cried. I could not tell him. He knew I was wrong. And he knew it was my sin that had crushed me. And he knew what to say. And then after a few words, he said, Joe, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And I finally saw that Christ did it already for me. And he found me. The coin was found, the sheep was found, this son did not find himself, he was found. Were you told to do, or were you told of the one that suffered the shame? That he already did it, because he wanted to save. Did you try to please Him, or did you find and understand that He'd already did it for you? Christ did suffer the shame, didn't He? Scribes and Pharisees, you've got a religion, and their religion is pictured in the second son. He comes home and he says to a servant, what's going on? Well, your brother came home. Your father killed a fatted calf. And your son, your brother is alive. But he wouldn't go in. Do you know what the father did? Here's a party going on, all the villages there. The father had to leave the village. I'm sure in that partying, he had to leave them and go outside and deal with a rebellious son that was shaming him. And he was willing to do it. That's what Jesus is saying to the scribes and Pharisees. I'm willing to be shamed for you too. And the story ends. It doesn't tell us whether the brother came to see his father's wonder. It ends with, he's mad, but the investation is still open. Do you see what Jesus was doing with this story? And I'm trying to tell you something, this was a story that sunk deep in their conscience, because this was a story that they understood culturally. so deeply. They understood what it cost that father to be shamed for two sons. There's no excusing the prodigal, but there's no excusing the elder brother. If you're not saved You probably could never, I could never, maybe you could, maybe I don't know, but we could probably never live as outwardly at least moral high ground as those scribes and Pharisees did. But oh, how they were shaming the Father. So what do I do? Rest in the goodness of the Lord Jesus. Rest in Him. See His shame. The whole world, He was shamed before. Rest in what He did. Trust what He did for you. Was there a party going on? Who was it, just the father? Or was the village there? They were. And they were there to honor the father. Christian, what He did for you honors Him. It glorifies Him. And when you walk in that humble condition before Him, because He loved you so much, you love Him. There is a joy. and you honor the Lord Jesus. The nation of Israel had the critics, didn't they? Are you a critic? Is it easy for you to criticize others? Jesus was criticized. He was criticized because he didn't do the norm. He loved the publicans and sinners and was willing to suffer the shame so that they might be saved. He told this story to invite the publicans, I'm sorry, he told this story to invite the scribes and Pharisees to come to him. and believe, and trust Him. And the story ends, it is meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is live again, and was lost, and is found. And you want to say, See what your father is, and go in with him, and realize he's come out here, shame to come out, father to plead with a son, when you should come in and honor the father, and honor him now. I fear there's many people in churches that are not saved. And they become critics. Let me say this to you. Jesus was not for any sin. The Father was not for that prodigal's wasted life. but that father was for paying the price that his son then could be forgiven and restored. And he was for that for his other son also. Nothing you can do. If somebody told you to do something and you did it, and they said, well, now that you did that, Christ saved you. Why don't you reexamine things? Why don't you ask God to show you? But if you came to God and say, God, I don't want my old life. I don't know what to do. The Father saved you. when you saw Christ die for you. Look unto me, the Bible says, and be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. When the prodigal comes home, he realizes that the Father has done it for him. and he's saved.