The messages that I have for you this weekend are a series of exhortations designed to encourage the church in the qualities that are necessary and important, the characteristics that are important for a church to be healthy and thriving and fruitful. The message tonight is foundational because it is about something so fundamental. It is about what is the basis for our fellowship and relationship with God, with our Heavenly Father. It is fundamentally about how we relate to God, and through our relationship with God, how we therefore relate to one another in the body of the church. What kind of spirit do we have? What kind of mindset do we have? So my encouragement, if I was to summarize it, In one sentence, it would be to abide in grace, to have a strong spirit among us of grace toward one another because of the grace that we have received from the Lord. To abide in grace, or through that, ultimately, to abide in Christ, the source and the means through which our grace comes. I began reading this chapter, and I want to start by focusing on the parable of the two sons, and particularly about one aspect of it which, to me, I have always seen as the most powerful and most impactful part of this entire story that Jesus tells. He tells this parable about these two sons and their father, about the one rebellious son who went away and squandered all that he had in riotous living and rebelled and came back and was received of his father. And then the elder son who's angry because of the mercy and the grace that is shown to what to him seems like the undeserving younger brother. And the part of this that is always made the most impact on me, and I think perhaps it is what's most important about this passage, is to look and to see what is demonstrated in the Father in this parable. If you stop and think about it, it ought to be clear that the Father in the parable represents God. The Father in the parable represents our Heavenly Father. That's probably not groundbreaking to think about, but if you consider that Jesus is telling this parable in the context of the idea that God rejoices over every sinner that repents. That when a sinner is repentant and is received back in repentance to fellowship with God, there is rejoicing in heaven. And so when we look at this parable and we see how Jesus describes to the people and illustrates to them through this story, the mindset and the compassion and the love and the mercy that is demonstrated by the Father, He is teaching you, He is illustrating for you the kind of compassion and love and grace that God has for his children, even, and this is all of us, even his rebellious, sinful children who must be called back in repentance to come back to the Lord. You can think about this from another angle, perhaps especially if you're a parent, if you're a father or a mother and you have children, think about for a moment because Jesus often called the attention of parents to consider their relationship with their children as a model of God's relationship toward us. And so you can look at the parable in this way and you can consider, if you think about your children, what is the basis? of your relationship, of your child's relationship to you? What is it founded upon? Did they establish that love and that fellowship by their works? Or do you love them because they are your children? Do you love them with a love that is such that even if they were to offend you, even if they were to despise you, even if they were to rebel against you, Even if they were to rebel and then after a time they returned, do you love them with a love that when they came back to you broken and humbled, by the destruction caused by their sin and their rebellion, that you would not be overflowing with joy, that your child who was dead to you, essentially, is come back, and that fellowship's restored, and that relationship can be healed, and you would have joy, you would have rejoicing, you would have delight, and Jesus is teaching us that this is the disposition of God towards His children. So when you see the Father in this parable and you see that when His child is at a great distance coming back, this one that despised his father, this one that wanted nothing to do with his father except to take the gifts and the possessions that he had and go off and use them for his own pleasure and his own benefit. When this father saw his son at a great distance, he didn't put on the stone face. He didn't turn aside. He didn't start figuring out what his son was going to have to do in order to get back, so to speak, in his good graces. He ran to meet his son. And Jesus tells this parable. He tells it not just for the broken, despised sinners. in the congregation hearing him. But he tells it for the Pharisees and the scribes, for those that saw themselves as righteous, to express to them and to demonstrate to them how compassionate God is towards sinners. My encouragement to you this evening is to have amongst yourselves in the church a strong spirit of grace and graciousness. And one of the ways that I think about this is in avoiding what are two pitfalls that are both demonstrated in this parable and that we all, as people, are inclined to fall into at one time or another, maybe one or both of them. And those two, we could call them lawlessness and legalism. That's just one way to think about it. But when you think about lawlessness, you can look at that younger son and how he did not want to live under his father's roof. He did not want to live and abide under his father's rules and his father's commandments and his father's way of life. He wanted to squander his inheritance with harlots. That wasn't something his father condoned. It wasn't something his father taught. It wasn't the way life was lived in his father's house, but that's what he desired. He desired lawlessness. He desired to run from under what he felt at the time was a burden of the commandments and the instructions and the statutes of his father. And he ran away from it. But it is impossible, it is impossible to have a joy-filled, unified fellowship, relationship with God in a state of sin and rebellion. Those things drive a wedge in our fellowship with God. Those things turn our hearts away from God. We see from this parable that God's disposition towards his children, is one of grace and of forgiveness. So it is on our part when we rebel against God that we turn aside, that our hearts become hardened, that our consciences become seared. And that's often the way that that path of lawlessness progresses. It begins where our conscience is pricked when we sin against God, and instead of Instead of responding to that with godly sorrow that leads to repentance, we harden ourselves against it. We ignore the pricks of our conscience that God has given us. And it says that our conscience becomes seared as with a hot iron. And it took a devastation. for this son to be brought to the end of himself and realize that his sin and his rebellion, that it led him nowhere good. If you really know in your heart, if you really know in your heart that your Heavenly Father loves you like this father loves his son. And this is a parable, so it demonstrates it, but God's love for us is even so far beyond what we could even express. If you know that God loves you like that, then stop and consider. any commandment that God gives you, any instruction that he gives you, do you think he's doing that to keep you from something that would enable you to live a full and happy and joyful life? That's not the nature of God. That's not the type of relationship that God has with his children. When he instructs us, when he commands us, when he disciplines us, he does it out of love for our own good. He knows how to give good gifts to our children. On the other hand, we have to avoid the pitfall that's represented by this elder son in this parable. For lack of a better term for it, I used the term legalism. But legalism isn't so much a love of God's law, as the phrase is often used when people say legalism. What they typically mean when they say this is that a mindset where you believe that your status, your relationship with God is established by your works. Your standing with God is established by your outward show of obedience. You see this older son, he did not understand how his father could have such compassion on his undeserving younger son when there he was the whole time obediently serving his father. But you know what? He didn't know his father at all. He didn't even understand the father's joy that his son who was dead was returned to him. His son who was lost was found. He wasn't rejoicing with his father. He was bitter. He was angry. He saw living in his father's house and serving his father, he saw that as a burden to be born and not a privilege and a joy. So that's what I mean when I talk about the pitfall of legalism. And I hope to elaborate on that more in a bit. But let me call your attention to another scripture in Ephesians chapter one, because what I want to emphasize is that you would understand that your position in the family of God, your relationship to God, what is the basis of that? What is it established by? So Ephesians chapter one, let me start in the third verse. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. It's his blessing. God is everywhere here spoken of as the source, as the origin of these blessings. You know these verses well. These are familiar. He chose us. He having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. If you are a child of God, you are a child of God because it pleased God to adopt you into his family. And as his adopted son, you are fully 100% his child. And it came because it was his good pleasure to do so. There is your standing. There is your status. So be less concerned about a show, an outward show of righteousness, as if that is what is going to establish and maintain your relationship with God. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. He hath made us accepted in the beloved. There's the basis. God has accepted those that are in Jesus Christ. God has accepted you. He has made you accepted and he has brought you into his family and as part of his family, God's fatherly love toward you is the foundation, the solid foundation of your standing with Him. And if we understand that for ourselves, if we understand the forgiveness of sins, God's forgiveness of us, we don't deserve to be here. We don't deserve to be part of this family. That younger son, when he was coming back, what did he say to himself? He understood something at that point. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy to be called your son. He wasn't even worthy to be a servant, but he just wanted to find a place because he knew that to be the lowest of the low in his father's house was better than anywhere he'd been when he was out. You're not worthy, I'm not worthy. We didn't come in, we didn't get in by being worthy. We're not gonna keep our place by being worthy. We are established by the grace of God. And so when I encourage a spirit of grace, it's about the grace that we can show to one another because of the grace that we've received. Because if I stand by grace, then you stand by grace. And if I've had grace shown to me, then it shouldn't be some great difficulty for me to show grace to you, for you to show grace to me, for us to show grace to one another. Let's consider a few other scriptures that elaborate on this a little bit. Why do we obey God? Why do we, obey His commandments? Why do we live in the way that He would have us to live? If I have said, if I have asserted to you that your standing in the family of God is not purchased, it is not obtained by your works, then why? Why do we obey God? We obey God because of what He's done. Ephesians 4 verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart." You'll notice a theme, that the ways of sin, the life of sin, the life apart from God, apart from God's presence, the life like the younger son when he was in rebellion, the life he was living, it's described as darkness, blindness. There's no true light in that life, the light of wisdom and understanding. It's darkness. who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness, but ye have not so learned Christ. If so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." If you have been brought to Christ, you have been given new life in Him as a gift. And you are now called to live out that new life in accordance with the nature that God has given you. He has given you new life. And so we're exhorted here, put off the old man. When that young son came back, you think he wanted to go back out there and be eating with the pigs again? You think he wanted to make the same mistakes all over again? Put off the old man. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. And in chapter five, verse eight, it says, for we were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord? Walk as children of light, you were darkness, that was your nature, but you are light. You are like God has made you light. And so walk as children of light. Our standing, our relationship in God, our status in Him is given to us by Him freely as a gift, 100% by the power of God. And then as His children, you are called to walk in that life that you've been given. Walk in accordance with it. out of love for God. That is the motivation. Jesus said, what did he say? If you love me, keep my commandments. If God has put his love in your heart, walk in his ways. Walk in obedience with him to enjoy that fellowship, to be an encouragement to others. To be able to demonstrate the same kind of character that God has demonstrated towards you with love and with grace. If you love me, he says, keep my commandments in 1 John 1. John writes in verse 8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. You know, it's very important, I think, to have that spirit of grace in a church, in a friendship, in whatever context you're living that out. It's very important that you're honest about who you are. That we're open with each other about it. That we don't try to pretend to be something that we're not. Jesus warned about that outward show of righteousness. Don't worry so much about trying to appear unto others as being righteous. That's for the praise of men. What is important is the heart. What is important is how we truly are before God. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If you wrap your minds around this, I think it can be such a help in our relationships with one another. One of the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith is that we are sinners. Everybody's sinners. And far from being a discouragement or a problem for our relationships with one another, that doctrine is a great help. Because you realize that you as a sinner, you're going to offend, you're going to make mistakes, you're going to hurt people because of your sin, and they're going to do the same to you. And if you remember that God has had grace on you, you can show grace to others. And you won't be so surprised by it. You won't be shocked when another human being wrongs you and hurts you and does something selfish. And it won't shake, it won't shatter your worldview when even somebody that you admire or look up to does something to harm you because If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. He says, my little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. I see the purpose of emphasizing that we're all sinners isn't so that you would leave from here with the message in your mind that, well, We're just, it's just fate that we're just fated to sin. And the preacher said, it's never going to get any better. And we're just going to keep sinning against each other. And so I'm not even going to try not to sin. That's not the point at all. That's not the message at all. That's not what John is writing here. He says, I write these things to you that you sin not. Every encouragement he gives is that sin would be as far from their lives as possible. But if you sin, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. We do sin, we do fall short, but we have an advocate with the Father. We have a propitiation for our sins. We have a satisfactory sacrifice that has fully washed away the sins of God's people so that we are clean and holy before God, not because of the place we've earned, but because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And that is by which we stand. We have, He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. A couple more things to keep in mind along these lines. Qualities, practical things about having a spirit of grace among us. One is forgiveness. I've already touched upon forgiveness, but Jesus taught his disciples to pray, God forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. It is so fundamental that is part of the model prayer that Jesus gave to his disciples, that we are to pray as we're praying for God's forgiveness. We're expressing our willingness, our heartfelt commitment to forgive others their sins against us. So there's a spirit of forgiveness among us. If God has forgiven you, then forgive one another. It says, for Christ's sake, forgive one another. If you can't find it in yourself, If you can't do it for yourself or for the person you're forgiving or for the sake of the relationship, do it for the sake of Christ. Because He suffered for those sins. He bled for those sins. It may feel like the hardest thing, but think about what Christ did to be a propitiation, not just for your sins, but for the sins of those who sinned against you. So God, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Part of that model prayer. Another thing to consider, be careful in how we judge one another. There's a lot in our day and age that's said about judgment. Some people want to throw out all judgment altogether. It's really in our nature. We don't like to be judged. And we'll say, don't judge me. And some people will twist Jesus's words as if Jesus made some kind of absolute statement that we are never, ever to use any kind of judgment about anybody else and anybody's behavior. And if you read what he said, that's not what he said at all, but he did warn about being careful in how we judge, being careful in what measure we use. I can tell you, I believe for many of us, maybe all of us, our tendency is most of the time that a lot of times we're a lot more understanding of our own sins than we are the sins of others. The sins of others, we can't excuse them. We can't understand how they could do that. But then when we sin, we look at ourselves and we can find ways to justify it and to excuse it, sometimes a lot easier. Jesus wasn't saying that there's never a place for judgment. In fact, he said, judge righteous judgment. But he did warn us strongly about how we judge one another. I don't think any of us want to be a part of a community in which we just feel like we are constantly under a scrutinizing eye of judgment from everyone else around us. And I think part of that, I think part of what can breed that kind of atmosphere is when we are working so hard to present ourselves as righteous that we, in fact, present ourselves as being a lot more righteous than we actually are. Here's something to consider, to think about. Do you think that people that see you and know you, do you appear to them to be more righteous than you actually are? I think it would be better to be the other way around. It would be better to be thought less righteous than you truly are in your heart. than to appear more righteous than you really are. Jesus spoke against that hypocrisy. He said to the Pharisees, he said that outwardly they appear unto men to be righteous, but inside they were like graves, dead men's bones inside. Well, here's what Jesus says about judging. Matthew 7, judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. It's a warning. It's a warning about how we judge. that we judge righteously. Now, as we continue, we'll see. He's not saying that we never use any judgment, that we never call anybody out on their sin, that we never try to help somebody avoid the pitfalls and the destructions of sin. But what's the motivation from which you're doing that? And when you're doing that, are you using a different measure to judge them than you're willing yourself to come under? He says, why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye, a tiny speck, but considerest not thou the beam that is in thine own eye? What a picture. You're trying to see, you're trying to pick out a little speck out of your brother's eye, and the whole time you're doing that, there's a huge beam in your own eye. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote of thine own eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. There is a place for calling to repentance. There is a place for seeking, for someone spiritual to seek to restore someone who has gone astray and to help them get that moat out of their eye. But if you have a beam in your own eye, then Jesus says, first remove the beam out of your own eye. It's far more important that secretly before God, We are pure of heart and righteous. Jesus exhorted that in the way that we conduct ourselves in many different examples in the Sermon on the Mount to encourage and he says that God sees in secret. God sees everything you do. He sees your thoughts. He sees what you do when no one else can see. That's the real measure of who you are and how you're living is what God sees, not what everybody else sees. Come to a place where people expect a certain thing out of you and pretend to be so much more righteous than you are and thereby encourage a community where people are pretending to be something that they're not, but be established in grace. In other words, care a lot more about what God sees than about appearing righteous before others. Let me conclude with two final scriptures. One is from Ecclesiastes chapter seven. I just find these words to be so beautiful. Inspired by the Holy Spirit so long ago, In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider. God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. All things have I seen in the days of my vanity. There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness. Be not righteous over much, neither make thyself over wise, why shouldst thou destroy thyself? Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish, why shouldst thou die before thy time? It is good that thou shouldst take hold of this, yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand, for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all. Wisdom strengtheneth the wise, more than 10 mighty men which are in the city. For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee. For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise has cursed others. There's a lot of wisdom packed into this passage, and I don't think I even understand all of what's being said here, but I do see this. The encouragement here is that you don't seek to establish yourself in your own righteousness, but fear God. There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. There would be one. There would be one, our Lord Jesus Christ. The one man that ever walked this earth who did good and did not sin. And it is in him that our fellowship with God is established. It is by him that we are brought into the family of God and it is through him that we stand. I began by saying the encouragement is to abide in grace. And through that, really what that means is to abide in Christ. He's our dwelling place. That parable we started with, they had a home, they had a dwelling place, they had a family. The younger son, he ran away. to seek his own ways, to seek his own rebellion. The older son, he seemed to be around, but he had no true joy in his fellowship with his father. May we learn from this lesson. May we learn to abide in God, abide in Christ. In John 15.4, Jesus said to his disciples, he said, abide in me and I in you. Where is your hope? Where is the foundation of your part and status in God's family? It can only be in Christ. Where is your strength and your true heartfelt motivation to serve God? It can only be in Christ. Where is your impetus to extend grace to one another? It can only be in Christ. Abide in me, he says, and I in you, as the branch, he's using another analogy, another picture, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. Think about that. any kind of plant, an apple tree. You take a branch of that apple tree, and you snap that off of the tree, and you leave it there on the ground. It doesn't matter how hard it tries. It doesn't matter the extent of effort that it puts forth. It has no life in it. But if it's grafted into that tree, if it's rooted into the trunk from which it can draw its life, its nutrients, everything that's needed, then it will bear fruit. Abide in me, he says, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide.