Luke 15

Luke chapter 15, please. Luke chapter 15. Just a quick disclaimer here. I'm not a pastor, not a preacher. I'm a lot like a Moses. I have a tendency to stumble over my words sometimes, so just bear with me as we get through this together. My old youth kids over here will bear witness to that. So Luke chapter 15. Just a quick bit of background. Up to this point, Jesus

has been dealing with the Pharisees and the religious leaders, the scribes, and the teachers of the law on a pretty regular basis. And a large part of chapter 14 is actually spent dealing with these people. They've been following Jesus around, giving Him a hard time, looking for opportunities to trap Jesus and discredit Him, which is obviously a futile attempt. Jesus at this particular point in time has gone out and He's starting to make His way back to Jerusalem where He's getting ready to go to the cross.

Let's start in Luke chapter 15 verse 1. It says, All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to Him, and the Pharisees and the scribes were complaining, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. So He told them, This is terrible. What man among you who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?

When he's found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep. I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don't need repentance. Okay, so at this particular moment in time, there are two groups of people that are around Jesus. Number one, the tax collectors and the sinners. We're going to group them into one

group of people here, okay? The tax collectors in Jesus' day were typically regarded as kind of low class, betrayers of the people. They would not only charge the appropriate amount of tax for whatever property people owned, but they would also tack on a bunch of extra for themselves so that they can pocket that extra money for them. And then they would give the appropriate amount to Rome and then pocket the rest.

In Matthew's case, Matthew was a Jew, was an Israelite, who was also a tax collector, so he was considered sort of a traitor to his own people. So he was regarded as a traitor to the Jews because he actually worked for the Romans, who ruled over Israel and often mistreated and enslaved Israel. And then the other part of that group there were the sinners. They were the outcasts of Israel. They were the drunkards, the

prostitutes, whatever, you know, the unlovable, the outcasts of society, okay? So that's the first group. And the second group, like I said, were the Pharisees and the scribes. These guys were the religious leaders of Israel. They were experts in the Law of Moses. These guys were real pieces of work, you know. They were huge hypocrites. And that they would impose strict rules and

laws on those they governed but would not follow those same rules and laws themselves. There was actually a headline that kind of came out of COVID that kind of describes these guys perfectly. And that headline was, I'll never forget it, it was, rules for the Pharisees, not for me. And it kind of describes these guys pretty perfectly, I think. So, in other words,

the rules are for you, not for me. You know, do as I say, not as I do kind of people. So, they were very self-righteous and they liked to make sure that people knew it. Jesus described the Pharisees as whitewashed tombs and that they were righteous on the outside, so to speak, but they were completely dead on the inside. Just as everybody else was. The Pharisees and the scribes

generally did not associate with the other group of people that we talked about. They did not associate with those that they deemed unclean or unrighteous, which included the tax collectors and the sinners. And according to David Guzik's commentary, in some cases the Pharisees would not even teach God's word to those that they considered unclean. So, I mean, the height of hypocrisy there, okay?

So, that's the Pharisees. Jesus, at this point, is hanging out with the tax collectors and sinners. He's teaching them. He's ministering to them and He's changing their lives. The Pharisees are seeing this and they are just utterly disgusted by the fact that Jesus would ever associate with these people. So, what now follows seems to kind of be directed at the Pharisees,

but in the presence and the hearing range of the tax collectors and the sinners at the same time. This parable, in this parable, Jesus is actually speaking in terms that His audience would relate to.

He's talking about sheep and shepherds. Sheep and shepherds were well-known parts of Jewish culture. If you don't know, sheep are actually dumb creatures. They have a tendency to wander off from the herd. And once lost, sheep are pretty much incapable of finding their way back to the herd and back to the protection of the shepherd. Once they're lost, they're lost.

They can't find their way back. They have no defense on their own. Without that shepherd, they're goners. So therefore, it is imperative that the shepherd go and look for that one sheep who was lost. Once the shepherd finds the sheep, notice the shepherd joyfully, joyfully puts the sheep on his shoulders and carries it on his shoulders back to the flock. So there's three things I want us to

take note of here. Number one, like I mentioned earlier, the sheep are utterly incapable of saving itself. It has zero self-defense mechanisms. Now, I don't know about you, I'm kind of a Second Amendment kind of guy. I like to make sure that yeah, that's from my brother. I like to make sure that when I'm out and about that my family is protected. I don't like

not being able to protect and defend my family. Okay? I love and I care for them deeply. And I would gladly lay down my life for them if it meant that they were protected. And any good husband and father would. Okay? Any good parent would. But when it comes to our eternal well-being, you know, other than praying for them and pointing them to Jesus, I have nothing to defend them.

I have nothing, nothing that I can do for them. When they stand before God Himself, I can do nothing. Okay? That's where Jesus comes in. That's where the Shepherd comes in. When they stand before God, that's where Jesus comes in. He's the Shepherd who saves. He's the Shepherd who restores. He's the Shepherd who cares and carries them into eternity. And He's the one

who's going to defend them in the presence of God saying, this one is mine. The second thing that we need to take note of here is the Shepherd left the 99 unprotected while he went and searched for the one lost sheep. Now, that's not necessarily the point of this whole parable. Okay? The point of this parable is that there is joy. There is joy in finding of the one lost

sheep. There is joy in the repentance and salvation of one lost sinner. Which we'll actually talk more about here in just a minute. The third thing that we need to take notice of is once the sheep is found, the Shepherd joyfully carries the sheep back. Now remember I said sheep are dumb and incapable of finding their way back to the herd. Okay? Think about what Jesus does

for us here when He's carrying us back. What a beautiful picture. What a beautiful picture of what Jesus has done for us. When He finds us lost in our sin, when He found me lost in my sin, and we decide to accept His gift of salvation and forgiveness which He joyfully took upon Himself and gladly carried our sin on the cross for us. On His shoulders when He went to the cross

for us. Guys, that's reason for celebration. Amen? Yes. I mean, that's reason for celebration. Romans chapter 5 tells us that while we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for the ungodly while we were without strength. While we, like sheep, were without strength, Christ died for us. He took that sin that was rightfully

that penalty for sin that was rightfully ours upon His shoulders and carried it to the cross for us. Okay? Verse 6 and 7 and it says, And coming home He calls His friends and neighbors together, saying to them, Rejoice with Me, because I have found My lost sheep. And I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don't need repentance.

These next two verses talk about what happens when one lost sheep is found. The shepherd comes home and he calls everyone he knows and he throws a huge party for them. Excuse me, he throws a huge party not for them, but for that one sheep that's been found and restored. Okay? And in the same way, think about this, and in the same way, when one sinner comes to repentance and salvation

in Jesus, there's a huge party in heaven. There's a huge party just for that one person in heaven. They're throwing a huge party in heaven for you. They know and fully realize the weight of what's happened. They know that another soul has been saved from the lake of fire. Another soul has been adopted into God's growing family. And just kind of a side note here, speaking of adoption here,

is that not just an awesome picture of what takes place when a sinner comes to salvation, when somebody comes to salvation in Jesus? Amen? Yeah? When an orphan child is finally adopted, that family usually throws a huge party to welcome that child, that kid into their family, to welcome that kid into the fold. To let them know that they're no longer alone by themselves, lost

and defenseless, but now that they are under the protection of that family. They are in that family whether they like it or not. They're in that family from that point forward until the day that they die. That child is now identified as a member of that family. And kind of a side note here, I don't know if there's anybody here or even online that needs to hear this, but I just kind of felt like when I was putting

this together that this needs to be said. There are so many people nowadays that have no idea who they are. They have no clue who they are. They have no idea what gender they are. They have no idea where they belong. Like sheep, they are utterly lost and have no way to defend themselves. Friends, if that's you here tonight, or if that's you watching online, there's room

in His family. There's room in the family of God. There's room in His fold for you. In Jesus, you are His child, you are His son or daughter, and in Him is your defense. And in Jesus is where you belong. Okay? So, I just wanted to throw that out there for whoever that might be for. So let's go ahead and move on here. Verse 8. For what woman who has ten silver coins,

if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her women friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost. I tell you, in the same way there is joy in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents. Excuse me.

This next parable, a woman has ten silver coins. And if one is lost, she lights a lamp and cleans the house, searching for it with the utmost care until she finds it. Because the coin is found, there is great rejoicing, and a huge party is thrown. And this is very similar to the last parable that we read, in that the overall point of the parable is that when a lost soul comes to salvation, there is great rejoicing in heaven, guys.

Alright? There is great rejoicing over that one soul's repentance and salvation there. But, to kind of take it a step further too, one thing that David Guzik's commentary points out is that if the shepherd is interested in the one out of a hundred, this woman is certainly interested in the one out of the ten. And that neither are given up as lost. That neither

are given up as lost. In both cases, the lost are continuously sought out until they are found. Okay? They are not given up on. I don't know if there is anybody here tonight that feels like they have been given up on in life, but rest assured that Jesus has not given up on you. He is still searching for you. He still wants you to come into His family, into His fold,

into His flock. Okay? He wants you. I am actually reminded of a story of when my wife and I were engaged, and we were getting ready to be married, and part of our honeymoon was going to be spent in Branson. Excuse me. And while we were there, we planned to spend a day at Silver Dollar City. So naturally, I had bought my tickets early, and they had sent them to me in the mail,

and I had them stored away in my room somewhere. And then as it started getting closer and closer to the wedding, a couple of days out, I started getting my stuff together. I got my suitcase out, got my bags all packed, and put all my clothes and my shaving stuff in there. And then I went to go find my tickets, and they were gone. I had no idea where they were at.

And so, naturally, I kind of freaked out. And I kind of did the opposite of what this parable was telling me to do here. Instead of lighting a lamp and cleaning my space, I did what a man naturally does. I started throwing stuff everywhere, just left and right, looking for stuff here and there, you know. And I never did find it. Well, not initially, anyway.

It wasn't until, I think, maybe the day before the wedding that I finally found those tickets. And at 75 bucks a pop, I didn't really want to have to buy two more. When I did find the tickets, it was only after I had eventually stopped what I was doing. I had stopped throwing stuff everywhere. I turned the light on, and I started cleaning my room. I started putting everything

where it's supposed to be. And when I finally picked up the last pile of clothes on my floor, there they were. There they were. I'll never forget that. And I may have just, I about got down on my knees and went, Thank you, Jesus. But, for those of you like, you know, maybe in high school or maybe just graduated high school, the moral of the story here for you

is to clean your room. I'm looking at you guys over here, okay? Clean your rooms. And you won't lose stuff. And when you don't lose stuff, you won't lose your business like I did, okay? So, so, but truly, once I turned the light on and started kind of cleaning that space, I eventually found what was lost. I didn't give up on it. I didn't give up on searching

for what was lost. What I had already claimed to be mine. Imagine the great relief and joy that I had when I finally did find those tickets, huh? And imagine the great joy that takes place when somebody finally comes to Jesus. Hmm? Amen? Alright. I'm going to turn you guys into some Pentecostals before the night's out. Alright. Alright, so, keeping in mind who Jesus is talking

to here, the Pharisees and the sinners and the tax collectors, I do kind of have to wonder about the Pharisees a little bit here. Alright? As I read through the Gospel accounts, as I read through the Gospels, we often see that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and the scribes, they were often very hard-hearted towards people that they deemed unclean or unrighteous or unfit to be in their presence, whatever the case there. Okay?

And they were often hard-hearted towards Jesus, as well. So, when these people actually came to repentance, I have to wonder, were they joyful? Were they joyful? When one sinner came to repentance? Were they joyful when one sinner came to salvation? Let's bring this a little bit closer to home. We all have, you know, those people in our lives that we just can't really stand to be around for very long.

You know, we can't really stand to be around them for more than 30 seconds. And I've been around long enough to have people that I can't stand to be around for 30 seconds. Okay? For whatever reason, we don't like them and we don't, we have zero desire to be around them. Okay? These are those that maybe we consider outcasts. Or those that we consider unlovable.

I have to wonder sometimes, and I'll even throw myself in this category too, I have to wonder if they were to come to repentance, if they were to come to salvation in Jesus, would we be joyful? Would we be joyful? Would I be joyful? Or would we be like Jonah when the people of Nineveh came to repentance? Now if you remember in the story of Jonah, recall that Jonah was angry

because the people of Nineveh had repented after he preached repentance, right? Okay? God called Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and preach repentance to them because their sin had come up before him. And what did Jonah do? He ran away. He ended up getting swallowed by a huge fish. Three days later, that huge fish spit him out on the beach after Jonah had finally

repented. And Jonah went and preached repentance to the city of Nineveh. But when they actually repented, what did Jonah do? He got angry. Right? He was hacked. I mean, the Bible tells us he had a nice little spot picked out on a hill up here, up above the city. He had a lawn chair, a glass of lemonade, an umbrella. He was going to watch that city burn. He was ready

to watch that place burn. He was so angry when the people of when God's wrath had relented. You know, and I have to wonder, is that me sometimes? Is that us? From time to time? If that's you, I'll include myself in that group. Pray and ask God to turn that anger and resentment into joy. You know, I'll be honest with you. You know, Pastor Ryan had preached, I think it was

last Sunday or the Sunday before last, but I think it was last Sunday. Um, that you know, if we're going to claim to have faith in Jesus, we need to be lovers of his people. I don't think he said it quite like that, but that was the general point of it. If we're going to claim to have faith and follow Jesus, we need to be lovers of his people. We need to be lovers of the lost too.

Okay? And I'll be honest with you, that hit me hard. And the reason it hit me hard is because I spent a lot of years being burned by people. You know, I was abused as a child. I was, I'd been burned by a lot of people through the years. So, you know, I'm a little shy when it comes to people sometimes. Um, and I had to, I actually had to pray and ask God like, Lord,

give me a heart for your people. Give me a heart for your people. Don't let me be angry and resentful. Help me to be joyful when these people come to salvation. So the question, the question becomes, who are you going to be in this situation? Are you going to be like the Pharisees and Jonah? Are you going to be resentful when these people that we consider outcasts come to Jesus?

Or, are we going to be like the angels who are throwing a huge party in heaven anytime somebody comes to salvation? I don't know about you, but, you know, party sounds pretty fun to me. So, um, and that question actually segues very nicely into this next section of Scripture. So this is kind of a longer section here, so bear with me. So let's start in verse

11. And it says, A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me. So he distributed the assets to them, and not many days later, excuse me, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country where he squandered his estate in foolish living. And after he had spent

everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. And then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the field to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him any. And when he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired hands have more than enough food?

And here I am, dying of hunger. I'll get up and go to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired hands. So he got up and went to his father, but while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran through

his arms around his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father told his slaves quick, Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let's celebrate with a feast, because

this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. Oh, what the heck. We'll go ahead and finish out this little section here. Verse 25. Now his older son was in the field, and as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he summoned one of the servants and asked what these things meant. Your brother is here, he told him,

and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound. Then he became angry and didn't want to go in, so his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him. Son, he said to him, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead, and is alive again. He was lost and is found." Alright, I need a drink of water after that one, excuse me.

Okay, so here we are, we have the parable of the prodigal son, or some of your headings might say the parable of the lost son. Continuing on in this theme, we come to this parable, and there are three things that we kind of, or three people that we need to pay attention to here. Number one, the father. Number two, the younger son, and number three, the older son.

Okay, and I won't talk very much about the father, because he's not necessarily the most prominent figure here, I don't think. I think really the figure that we're looking at here is the repentant son, the repentant younger son. So, verses 11-13 we see that actually let me back up, sorry, a little bit of background here that we need to understand before we get into these verses here, so in Jewish culture, when a father died, the eldest son received the largest portion of the father's estate. I think it was something like two-thirds of the father's estate, or something like that, so according to one commentary I read.

And what was left over went to the other sons, and if they didn't have any other sons, it went to the daughters, or whoever, so if the father owned a large estate, that usually meant the eldest son would be very, and I have it actually written in all caps here, very well off. Monetarily. In monetary terms. While the remaining sons received significantly less.

Now the inheritance of course could have always been something other than money, but maybe no less valuable. Okay, it could have been like property, or just some great heirloom of the family, or whatever that case may be. Alright, so with that out of the way, in these first three verses, we see something happen out of the ordinary here. We see the youngest son ask for his inheritance early.

We see the youngest son ask for his inheritance before the father's passed away. Now, according to commentary, it wasn't completely unheard of for that to happen, but more often than not, it usually happened after the father passed. In this case, we don't necessarily read where the father was even close to passing away. The scripture doesn't really give us a hint on that, but I think it's probably safe to assume that the inheritance came very prematurely.

I'm going to guess that the father was probably nowhere close to passing away, and that the son was just being selfish and he wanted his inheritance to go do what he wanted to with it. The father, in response here, gave the younger son his inheritance, and my dad had two sons, me being the oldest. I was thinking about this. Had I gone to my father, had I gone to my dad when I was like, say, maybe 18, 19 years old, just started college, and said, Dad, give me my inheritance, he probably would have smacked me and then told me to go get lost.

To be honest. Had my younger brother done the same, he probably would have laughed at him and then told him to go get lost too. But, this father here, he goes ahead and does the opposite. He goes ahead and gives the younger son his inheritance, and he says, okay, here you go. Don't spend it all in one place. Then a short time later, we see the beginning of a downward spiral

for that younger son. It says, a few days later, the younger son gathered all that he had, and he moved to a distant country where he squandered his estate in foolish living. So, in verses 14 through 16, it says, after he'd spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs, and he longed to eat his fill from the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him any. In these next three

verses, sorry, I'm trying to see what time I have here. Okay. I think we're okay. In these next three verses here, we see how far the younger son fell. It says that after he spent everything, something happened that was kind of out of his control. A severe famine hit the land, and he lost everything. Now, we don't know that if he'd been a little wiser, if he would have

lost everything, but the fact of the matter is that he squandered most of the land. He lost everything he had in foolish living, and so when a famine did hit the land, he had nothing to take care of himself with. He went to work doing something that you would normally see on an episode of Dirty Jobs. Anybody ever watch that show? Yeah. He went to work slopping the hogs.

He went to work slopping the pigs. Not to make light of the poor guy's situation, but have y'all ever seen one of those pig calling contests at the county fair? Oh my gosh, they are hilarious. If you, like, you know, imagine these farmers standing up there with a microphone and a big goofy hat on going, sweet! Here, piggy, piggy, piggy, piggy! You know, it's hilarious. It's well worth

30 seconds of your life. I highly recommend it. So, um, anyway, this guy's at the lowest point in his life, and it's all because of his own sinful decisions, his own selfish decisions, okay? Now, side note, if you want to see the effect sin can have in a person's life, just read this parable here, and then look at what's going on in the news. Look at what's going on in, say, like,

San Francisco, or Oregon, or Washington, with the homeless crisis, uh, homeless crisis. You see these people standing on the edge of the street just trying not to fall over because they're so doped up on drugs, and they're so doped up in sinful living, they've squandered everything they have in sinful and foolishness. Guys, this is this parable being played out in real life, right in front of our eyes. Okay?

This is happening real time. At his lowest point, it says in verse 16, he longed to eat the pigs' food. And it says the carab- he longed to eat carapods. Now, carapods were just, um, seed casings from a tree that people used to feed their pigs. And people wouldn't even give him that. He had nothing. And I'm- I'll try to do this the way Ryan does. Nothing. I can't do it.

Um, verse 17, it says, when he came to his senses, he said, how many of more- how many of my father's hands, uh, of my father's hired hands have more than enough food? And here I am, dying of hunger. I'll get up, go to my father, and say to him, Father, I've sinned against uh, heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your

hired hands. So he got up and went to his father, and um, I'll pause right there just for a quick second. So in these- these next few verses here, we see the younger son that- the younger son that's gonna be restored. Oh, um, hang on here. Hmm. Okay, yeah. Um, we're gonna see the younger son restored, and then we'll look at what's been going on with the eldest son this whole time, okay?

But it says the younger son finally came to his senses. And he saw that his father's servants, his father's hired hands, lived a pretty decent life. They lived a pretty decent respectable life, and there he was eating- well, begging for pig slop. With not a penny to his name. And he realized how foolish he had been, and he decided to go back to his father. He decided

it was time. But it says he came to his senses. He came to his senses. When I read this, I read this as, he finally came to the end of himself. I praise God for the day I finally came to the end of myself and realized my need for Jesus. Now, I hope if you're watching this, you know, or if you're here, or if you're watching online, that you have done the same.

But if you haven't, I hope, I pray that today is that day, that you realize your need for Jesus, that you come to the end of yourself. This young man finally came to the end of himself and realized how foolish he was, and how good and gracious his father truly was. Now when we realize how good and gracious God truly is, why wouldn't we want to come to him? Why wouldn't we want to?

Um, friends, I'll be honest with you. You know, when I look at, I look and see what's going on in this world, when I look at it through the lens of scripture, it says we don't have much time. I truly believe we are not long for this earth. Time is running out. When Jesus started his ministry, the first thing that he said was, repent, for the kingdom of heaven

is at hand. Guys, it's getting pretty close. The kingdom of heaven is getting pretty darn close. Okay? Um, reading on here, we see the young man's intentions were to come back to his father, but not necessarily as his son. He wanted to, he realized that he wasn't good enough to be his father's son anymore. He wanted to just come back as one of his father's hired servants.

Notice, however, the father's response. It says, um, while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran and threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father told his slaves, quick,

quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let's celebrate with a feast because this son of mine was dead. And is alive. He was lost and is found. So, they began to celebrate. Guys, this father was filled with compassion when he saw his younger son returning. And rather than

rejecting his son, and turning him away to the consequences of his sin, the father welcomed his son with open arms. He said, come, son, come here. Give me a hug. I've missed you. He welcomed his son home with open arms. And the son realizing and confessing his sin to his father, the father restores his son, not as a hired hand, but as his son. A couple of things I want us to take note of

here. The son never stopped being the father's son. No matter how far that son had fallen, no matter no matter how far that son had fallen, he was still his son. You know, I have five beautiful kids, five wonderful kids, and no matter how bad they mess up, they are still my kids. They are still my sons and daughters. Nothing will ever change that. Nothing. I will always

love them and welcome them home with open arms. Guys, this is, I probably use this phrase too much, but this is a beautiful picture here. This is a beautiful picture of God's grace at work. When we realize who we are and who God is in relation, when we turn from that old life and come to Jesus, He stands ready and willing to welcome us home with open arms and much joy and celebration.

Alright, let's real quick, I'll try to get through these last couple of things here real quick and then we'll get you guys out of here. Verse 25, it says now his elder son was in the field and he came near the house and he heard music and dancing. So he summoned one of the servants and asked what these things meant. Your brother is here he told him and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. Then he became angry

and didn't want to go in so his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, look, I have been slaving many years for you and I've never disobeyed your orders yet. You never gave me a young goat so I could sell and celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came who has devoured your assets with prostitutes and slaughtered you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.

Son, he said, you are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again and he was lost and is found. Let's look at the older son here. He was apparently being the responsible older brother. He was out in the field working his booty off only to return home and find a huge party

happening for his younger brother who had returned from a life of sin. Now as I read these verses I can only imagine how hacked that older brother must have been. Had he ever had a party thrown for him? No. I doubt it at least. But now they are throwing a huge party for his younger brother who has wasted half his life in sin. But there is a butt here. We need to look at a couple of things.

Excuse me. Number one, let's look at why they were throwing the party. They were throwing the party because they were celebrating repentance not sin. They were celebrating repentance not sin. The party was because the younger son had repented and returned home to the father. They weren't celebrating his lifestyle. They weren't celebrating all the things that he had done in his previous life.

They were celebrating the fact that he had repented and come home. It wasn't because they were celebrating the sin of the younger brother. There is nothing worth celebrating in sin. Now I could probably open up a whole other can of worms with that but I am pretty much out of time and I am just going to keep trucking here until we get done. There is nothing worth celebrating

in sin but repentance. Now that is something worth celebrating for. We are talking about this whole evening, right? The older son though, he is waving his self-righteousness around like a huge flag. Notice verse 29. The older son lists off all the things that he has done right through the years. And how hard he has worked. How hard he has worked. But a few things

that we need to look at here. Verse 31. What the older son failed to realize is that being the older son even being a son of his father not even necessarily the oldest everything would have belonged to him eventually anyway. He would have received an inheritance. He failed to realize he had an inheritance and he failed to realize how important he was to his father.

It says here in verse 31 he said you are always with me and everything that I have is yours. I want you to do me a favor. Imagine you are in heaven right now with your heavenly father. Are you going to be caring about anything here on earth? I hope your answer is no. If you don't know the answer is no. Being always with my heavenly father is going to be awesome.

Being in his care, love and protection for eternity is going to be more than enough for me. And side note we as Americans kind of have a tendency to kind of rely on the sweat of our brow and the strength of our backs. You know. To kind of get through life. That's kind of like the American way so to speak. But we rely on those two things to get us through life

and to build up our health, wealth and security. Okay. Guys we need to wake up and realize that all that stuff is going away at one point or another. And that in Christ Jesus we have everything that we need. We have everything that we need. Alright so the last thing that we need to look at here is how the older son waved around his self-righteousness. And all I'm going to say is this

without Jesus without Jesus anything that I've done is nothing but filthy rags. Any righteousness I've achieved on my own is filthy rags. I'm not going to try to stand before my creator and try to wave the things that I've done around because they're not going to mean anything. Not without Jesus. The father here had to celebrate and rejoice because his son was

dead but now is alive. He was lost and he's now found. Notice where the younger son's life is found. In the father. And notice where the younger son became found. In the father. Now my dad passed away in November of 2011 and I'll be honest with you there's not many days I go by that I don't think about him and I don't miss him. But imagine the great joy that I would have if my father was sitting

right here right now. If he was here with me today after having been gone for 11 years. Imagine the great joy that we're going to have when we're with our heavenly father. Imagine that. Now to close this out I have to ask you a question. This is something that the Holy Spirit laid on my heart and I have to ask this. Out of the two sons which one are you? Are you the younger son

who realized who he was and who Jesus was in relation and he finally came to repentance? He finally came to the end of himself and came to salvation? Or are you the older son who's walking around in your own self righteousness who's walking around in their own pride thinking I've got through this life on my own. I've pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. I've gotten through this life on my own.

Are you already dead in your own sin and self righteousness? Last point and then I will get you out of here. I'm sorry I kept you long. Friends as I look around at what's happening in the world through the lens of scripture like I mentioned earlier I see that we are not long for this world. Jesus is coming soon. To take his bride home with him. He's coming soon to take his bride, the church

home to be with him. And what follows that event is not something that I want to be around for and I don't want you to be around for either. If you're here tonight or if you're at home watching online or wherever watching online and you've never come to repentance. If you've never come to that saving relationship with Jesus let tonight be that night. You are never guaranteed tomorrow.

So let's if that's you let's make it happen today. It's a great day. It's a great day to come to Jesus. Amen. If you're away from Jesus at the moment today is the perfect day to come home to a loving Father who is going to welcome you with open arms and throw a huge party for you. Amen. Father thank you for the day. God I just thank you for your word. God and

it is sharp and it is powerful. Lord I just pray that that as we leave here tonight God that your Holy Spirit go with us and continue that work in our lives Lord. God I pray that God lives would be changed. God that we would be in constant connection with you. That we would be in constant communion with you as we leave here. God we love you Father and we praise

you and we thank you for all that you do for us and we pray these things in your precious and holy name. And all of God's people said Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.