Gracious Father we pray that you would come to us as you have already come to us in worship and praise that you would still our souls and quieten our minds and focus our gaze upon your word and speak to us we pray through it. that we may see both your wonderful grace and also our own deep need of it and find that need met in Jesus Christ. Hear us and teach us, we pray, for his great namesake. Amen. Please be seated. We are beginning today a short three-part series of sermons. entitled The Greatest Story Ever Told, and we're going to be studying the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Luke, and you'll find our reading today beginning on page 874 of the Pew Bible. 874 of the Pew Bible. Let us hear the Word of God. We begin to read at chapter 15 and verse 1, and then we'll read various portions throughout the chapter. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. So Jesus told them this parable, and you'll notice that that parable consists of the parable of the lost sheep in verses 3 through 7, and the story of the lost coin in verses 8 through 10, and then in verse 11, and he 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. But when he came to himself, having ended up in the pigsty, 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've 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. 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 were 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. I was browsing in one of the many airports I've been visiting in the last few days in the airport bookstore and was somewhat intrigued to find a book entitled Darcy's Story. Darcy's Story. Now that will mean something to many of you. Those of you who either endured the reading of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in old-fashioned high school English literature, or those of you who have seen either the BBC version or the recent movie version of Pride and Prejudice. Darcy is the male hero in Pride and Prejudice, whom eventually Elizabeth Bennet marries. And this, as I paused to lift it up, I didn't buy it because it didn't really look to me as though it was nearly as good as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. This was the story told from Darcy's point of view. Those of you who have read Pride and Prejudice know that Pride and Prejudice is told from Elizabeth Bennet's point of view. But the story, like almost every story, has more than one point of view, it has more than one character. Even a story that has got one major point to make will make that point by a whole series of different dimensions of storytelling. And of course, some of our Lord Jesus Christ's stories, his parables, are like that. They have, by and large, one main point to make. And it's always worth asking in a parable like the parable we call the parable of the prodigal son, what actually is the main point of this parable? But in order to make that main point, we discover that the Lord Jesus will tell the same story, as it were, through the eyes of more than one individual. And we have that, of course, magnificently in this parable that we know as the parable of the prodigal son. The story is told through the eyes of the prodigal. The story is also told through the eyes of his elder brother. And the story is also told, of course, through the eyes of the father. And we're going to look through these three sets of eyes to try and capture what this story of Jesus really means. But before we do that, just a word about parables. What is a parable? Why did Jesus tell these stories? Was it because his sermons would otherwise have been fragile and dull that he thought he would sparkle them up again by a little human interest in his preaching? By no means. He was apparently perfectly capable of preaching for a long period of time without telling any stories. So what was the reason that Jesus told parables? Well, of course, he was using them in a way as mirrors. Every parable is a mirror that Jesus holds up before our eyes and asks us, what do you see in this mirror? And he judges and assesses our spiritual condition by our ability to see the right things in the mirror. I have a friend who has been over the years a well-known Christian counselor and I remember him saying on one occasion that often when somebody comes in to see him, if a Christian comes in to see him, one of the first questions he will ask is, tell me which parable of Jesus you really don't like. And you can understand why he says that. Because if there's something in a parable, like the parable of the unjust steward or the unjust judge, if there's something in a parable that when you read it, you're irritated by it, then to that extent that parable has been a mirror that has revealed what is really in your heart. And when we look into the mirror of parables, there are essentially two people we're supposed to see. We're supposed to see ourselves in our true light. And we're supposed to be able to discover God in his true character. And we find that as we look at this particular parable through different sets of eyes that in many ways suggest to us that this is a parable that should have more than one title. It is of course the parable of the prodigal son. But it's also the parable of the elder brother. And it's also, as we're going to think for a moment this morning, it's the parable of the waiting father. And it's also a climactic parable, isn't it? So interesting that when Luke begins to write Luke chapter 15, he doesn't say Jesus told these parables. The parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son. He says he told them this parable, singular. As though this was all one great story and you can see how it builds up to a climax. Here is a shepherd who has lost one of a hundred sheep. Here is a woman who has lost one of only ten coins. And then climactically, Here is a father who has lost one of only two sons. And it is, in the words of our Lord Jesus, an amazing, wonderful display to us, first of all, of course, of the character of God. We're meant to look into the mirror of this parable and whatever else we may see about ourselves, we're going to miss the point of the parable unless we see, as it were, standing in the mirror, standing behind us in the reflection of the mirror, the glorious character of the Heavenly Father. familiar, many of us, with this parable from childhood. Is there nothing new to learn? By God's grace, even if there is nothing new to learn, there are things you and I need to learn all over again about the character of God. And for this reason, that who you are and the way you live reflects who you think God is and what kind of character you believe he has. Isn't that the case? This is where what we believe really influences how we live. The person who has no faith in God will live as somebody who has no faith in God. But the person who says, I believe in God the Father Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and in His Son, Jesus Christ the Saviour, will demonstrate by the way he or she lives, what these words really mean to him or her. In that sense, Every breath we breathe, every day we live, we exhibit to the world what our deepest conviction is about the God we confess. And Jesus is teaching us so marvelously in this amazing story how wonderful is the character of the God in whom we believe, the Heavenly Father in whom we trust. But is it so in your life? That's the question. Do you look as though you were somebody who believed in this kind of God? What kind of God is He? Well, He is obviously in the first place a God who makes generous provision. Even when the younger son comes and says, give me the share of property that belongs to me. It's evident that here is a father who has made generous provision for his son's present and for his son's future. And in a way that is even more underlined when the older brother comes along and complains that he's never had a party. And the father says to him, oh, my son, everything I have. is yours. Everything I have is yours. It's a display of the remarkable, wonderful, overwhelming generosity of God. And yet, you know, if I'm not mistaken, the Bible teaches us that this is the most common thing that we are likely to doubt. And I say that, of course, because of the opening chapters of the Bible. The first two chapters of the Bible speak powerfully of the generosity of God. He creates a world and he comes to the man and the woman and he says, I'm giving you everything I have in this world. It's all yours now. Look after it. But there is one thing I want you never to do. I want you never to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And by doing that, you will demonstrate that you both love me and honor me and that you trust everything I say. Do you remember how the serpent comes along at the beginning of Genesis chapter 3 and says, did God put you in this marvellous world, in this beautiful garden? Did he surround you with all these trees? Did he display before your eyes all this bounty and then say to you, and these are the words of Genesis 3, that you are not to eat of any of the trees in this garden. And you see what is happening there. It's not just that God's Word is being denied. It's that God's character, His fatherly generosity, is being demeaned and distorted and eventually, in their minds, destroyed so that they become incapable of believing in the sheerness of the generosity of the Heavenly Father to His children. And from that moment on, they become lame in spirit. They are able to look to God only with a distorted sense of who He is. When they look in the mirror that the serpent has held up before them, they see a Father who despises them, a Father who plays with them, a Father who is ungenerous to them. And my dear friends, the fact of the matter is that that lie of the serpent is endemic in the human heart ever since. And some of us, even as Christian believers, perhaps especially as Christian believers, struggle really to believe in the generosity of the Heavenly Father. I've known so many Christian believers who, whenever anything goes wrong in their lives, that deep instinct comes out of them. He doesn't really love me. And if this parable tells us anything, it tells us of the generous provision and love of the Heavenly Father. And the sad thing about so many of our Christian lives is that we live as though we believe the lie of the serpent, rather than basked in the sunshine, rejoiced in the glory of the gracious provision of the Heavenly Father. Now that's the first thing. The second thing is this. Not only his generous provision, but his remarkable grace. And that, of course, is seen especially when this poor boy returns from his pig pen to the father. And you can see the boy, he's actually written out his speech. Do you ever do that when you were a little boy, when you've really goofed up and you knew you had to say something? Perhaps you still do when you've got to say anything. I need to write this out. And there he was. This pilgrim on his way back with this burden on his shoulders and the burden was he had to meet his father and he's written it out. Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired slaves, anything. We'll come back to that, but what does the father do? Even as his son is looking at his little piece of paper and trying to get it into his head so he can look into his father's eyes, rather than just reading a script, he wants it to be real and from the heart. And as he sees the house, he's just looking at it for one last time and he doesn't see that his father has got his skirts up around him and the old man is running down the hill. And he's caught in his father's arms and he's just about, Father, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, make me one of your slaves. And before he can get the last words out that he's rehearsed a hundred times, the father's tears are rolling down his face and he's shouting over his shoulder, get the robe, get the ring, kill the fatted calf. This is my son who was dead and he's alive again, he was lost and he is found. What does that say to us? It says this to us, that the Heavenly Father is quick to bless those who return to Him. You remember what it was like with your earthly father? That the thing you feared when you returned was your earthly father. And you and I by nature have exactly the same disposition about the Heavenly Father. What punishment will he bring upon me when I return to him with my poor words of penitence and faith and regret and tell him I've sinned against heaven and in his sight and I'm not worthy to be called his son. Well, he will run to you. He will take you in his arms. You know, I think for some people, even for some Christian people, meeting God is the most frightening thing in the world. But when you do meet him in repentance and faith, it is the most glorious experience in all the world to be enfolded in his arms and to feel the tears of his grace upon you. his generous provision, his amazing grace, but then this third thing about our Heavenly Father, his profound joy. Now that's a note that's struck in each of these bits of the parable. What does the shepherd do when he finds his sheep? Now what would you do if you were a shepherd? Well, the dark side of you would kick the sheep home, wouldn't you? But what does this shepherd do? He picks the sheep up. And he puts the sheep on his own shoulders. And he carries the sheep home. And he says, I've found the sheep that was lost. Let's celebrate. And the woman, when she finds her coin more valuable than one sheep, she says, let's have a party and celebrate that I've found my precious coin. And what does the father do when the son, the prodigal son returns? Oh, he says, a party. Let there be music and dancing. Let there be song. Let there be laughter. Let there be joy. Dear ones, if there is joy in heaven among the angels over one sinner who is converted, do you think that the one who stands at the center of the angels is joyless? No, our God is not only an awesome God, He is awesomely joyful. You remember at the end of the book of Zephaniah, that's a stretch I know you remember at the end of the book of Zephaniah, but at the end of the book of Zephaniah, the prophet Zephaniah speaks of God singing over his children with joy. And Jesus says at the end of his ministry, everything I've said to you, I've said that my joy might be in you. Now, listen to this. If you are a joyless believer, it's because you believe in a joyless God. I'm fascinated actually by the number of Christian people I have met who are irritated by the idea of joy. And the reason is because deep down they must be irritated about the idea of a joyful God. You see how we express what we really believe about Him. And He speaks here about our Heavenly Father's profound joy, His generous provision, His amazing grace, His profound joy. And for a moment, one last thing, that's so evident in this parable, although it's never quite spelt out, that all of this is the fruit of his deep pain, isn't it? In a couple of months' time, Erskine Seminary is hosting a series of lectures one day by the Yale professor Nicholas Walterstock, who is a leading Christian thinker. Nicholas Wolterstorff, a number of years ago, lost one of his children in a climbing accident in Europe and wrote a book about the experience. And in that book, he says, now, whenever anyone wants to know who Nicholas Wolterstorff is, the one thing he needs to know is Nicholas Wolterstorff is a man who lost his son. Oh, the depth of the pain. I think about the depth of the pain of my late mother in the loss of my elder brother. Unspeakable loss. And all of this loss has been sustained in the heart of the father. This is why the joy is so great in the heart of the father, because the loss has been felt so keenly. Now why is that so significant in this story? For this reason. that in this story there are actually three sons. There's the younger son who leaves home. There's the older son who stays home. And there's the eternal son who's telling the story. And the story of that eternal son is that in some time he is going to be given up to the cross and He is going to cry out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In a sense that he has lost his father. And there is going to be an echoing cry in the heart of the Heavenly Father, surely much deeper than the cry of King David in the death of his son Absalom. Oh, Absalom, my son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. And you see, it's the story that's taking place outside of the story in Luke 15 that makes the story in Luke 15 both possible and glorious. You remember how Paul summarizes this in what seems to me one of the greatest utterances in all history. The God who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Oh, what a thing it is to stand up and say, I believe in God the Father. And He's waiting for you. He's watching for you to believe in Him as the generous provider as the God of amazing grace, as the God of profound joy, who has borne the deep pain of his own son's death to bring you home. I wonder if there's somebody here today. Perhaps you're just a visitor. And in more than one sense, you are far away from home. Oh, come home. He's waiting for you. Our Heavenly Father, how good and gracious you are. Help us so to trust you as your children, but our lives speak of your wonderful grace. And help those of us who are not sure whether we trust you or not to come and trust you fully, finally, really. that we too may experience the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and your amazing kindness. We pray it for Jesus, our Saviour's sake. Amen.