How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

Introduction

Back when I was in high school and first able to drive myself to school, I’d get in my 25 year old pickup truck and turn my radio on to 88.3FM which was one of the local Springfield Christian radio stations and I’d listen to praise and worship music on the way to school each day. One day while I was driving, I heard on the radio about a new initiative called the “Drive Through Difference.” The goal was to encourage people, as they were able, to pay for another families meal while going through a drive-through in town. This was a cool ministry and it left an impact on fast food workers and the local community as a whole as believers shared the love of Jesus with their neighbors simply by generously purchasing a meal. I came across a story this week while in Indianapolis of this happening in a community in Southern Indiana a few years ago and what started with one person buying the meal for another family led to another, and another, and another… and from 8:30pm to midnight, on Father’s Day of all days, 167 meals in a row were paid for! What started with a single act of love and generosity, led to an avalanche of love and generosity.

Believers, we have a Father who loved us so much that the Bible tells us that He sent His one and only Son to die for our sins and to adopt us into His forever family. We have a generous Father. A loving Father. In our world, the role and function of the Father is under attack and greatly misunderstood. We have more absent father’s now than we can ever remember before. More passive father’s than ever before. More spiritually distracted father’s than ever before. In such a world, what must we remember? How deep the Father’s love is for us. How generous our Heavenly Father has been with us. How He calls us to love one another. Father’s, how God calls you to lead your family. To love your family. To protect your family. Over the next 2 weeks, we’re going to dive into a familiar story for many of you in the Gospel of Luke. Luke 15 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, and over the next 2 weeks we’re going to split up this parable and study this story of the Father’s Love for His Prodigals and Legalists Alike. As Tim Keller shared, perhaps a better title of this story is this: The Parable of the Lost Sons. This morning, we’re going to see God’s Love for the Younger Son and next week we’ll see God’s Love for the Older Son. Regardless of your past, your present, your history, your baggage, how many good things or how many bad things you have done, your heavenly Father has done everything necessary for you to be saved. He did that out of His love. As we study from God’s Word this morning, I pray that you and I would respond in faith to that amazing, adoptive, and awe inspiring love of our God.

Luke 15:11–24 CSB

11 He also said, “A man had two sons. 12 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. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. 14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. 15 Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 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, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

Is anyone else thankful that we serve a God who pursues us? A God who celebrates whenever the lost is found and those dead are brought to life? Church, I am incredibly thankful that we’ve been blessed to celebrate God’s generosity as a family - let’s give our God thanks for both who He is and all that He has done for us

Pray

What do we see take place in this story? To understand that, we have to back up to verse 1 as all of these 3 parables fall into the same context as Jesus is teaching and the tax collectors and sinners approach him because they acknowledged that they were sinners in need of a Savior… but there were some who didn’t quite get the memo. Verse 2 of chapter 15 tells us that there were pharisees and scribes who complained that Jesus ate with and spent time with sinners. So Jesus gives them these parables. A parable is a story that illustrates a truth often through comparison, example, analogy, hyperbole, or simile. In other words, there is a purpose behind this specific story that Jesus gives. Jesus talks about something being lost, and eventually that thing being found. Does that story of something being lost and then found ring a bell to anyone? I pray that that has been your story! But the first part of being lost is universal to all of us. Let’s dig into this passage as we first find

Rebellion (11-16)

Whenever we read this story or whenever we hear the word rebellion, our minds can tend to drift to the extremes. We’ll look at how disrespectful the younger son was to his father in a moment, but we can’t miss the point that Jesus is making as He tells this story. Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost and there was a time in all of our lives whenever that was in fact us. See, growing up as a PK and providentially being saved at a young age, I often viewed my testimony as “boring” at least when compared to others. I didn’t have a testimony like Paul did of being dramatically saved from a life of crucifying God’s people… but like Paul, I came to realize that I was saved from a life of rebellion. Church, there is no such thing as a boring testimony. We all at one point in life were rebels because Ephesians 2 tells us this

Ephesians 2:1–3 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

Romans 3:10 CSB

10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.

This is our story. We fall short. We have sinned. We are separated from the Father. We see this clearly in the life of the younger son. Look at verse 12, we see that the younger son asks the Father for his share of the inheritance that will be coming to him. This is like going to your father while he’s still alive and telling him that you want to start relating to him as if he were dead and gone just so you could collect what rightfully will one day belong to you but you want that day to be today! Not only is this disrespectful, but this is also impractical. What the son is asking for is for the father to distribute the things that he currently is using to live off of to him today. The assets that the father has are not stocks, retirement accounts, gold bars, or a bag of cash… the word for assets in verse 12 is the Greek word bios, which is literally “life.” The father distributes his life to his youngest son. When do you often see this happen? Whenever the person dies. The son is treating the father as if he were dead. He is selfish. Rude. Ungrateful. And we aren’t told why… all we see is that the son takes his newfound possessions from his father and leaves for a foreign place. Only to squander it all with reckless living. The father didn’t have to do this - he could have refused, but it as though the father knew that this was the only way his son would learn.

Do you see the rebellion in this picture? Treating his father and family as if they were dead and gone to him. Treating his possessions and riches as if they were better off in his hands rather than the hands of the father who gave them to him. Because of his rebellion, the younger son prioritized riches over relationship. Isn’t this what sin makes us do? Because we have the wrong motive, we prioritize the wrong things. I’ve heard it said before that “Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” This is the condition that we find ourselves in. A heart that is prone to wander. Prone to take life for granted. Prone to squander the grace that God gives to each of us each day by wasting it away on foolish things that cannot satisfy or provide. So many spend their whole lives living in rebellion - buying things, experiences, possessions, and relationships. But what happens whenever rock bottom comes and you’re living in rebellion? Where do you turn then?

This is what the younger son experiences. He had spent everything. A famine struck. He had nothing. The father likely gave him livestock. The livestock died. The money he received has been wasted - we’ll see the older brother accuse the younger brother of squandering his money with prostitutes. Now it’s all gone. What does he do next? He goes to work for another person in the foreign country - clearly a Gentile - as he feeds unclean pigs. Not only is he humiliated in the sense that he doesn’t have money and is now a servant, he is also humiliated in the sense that he is forced to work a field of an unclean animal. Do you see where rebellion has led this son? Mentally, he’s defeated and humiliated, physically, he’s hungry. Spiritually, he’s still in rebellion with God. Things don’t look good, do they?

Let’s really understand the depths of his depravity here in verse 16 - he longed to eat the food that the pigs ate… but his master refused. No one would give him anything. The master believed that the pigs were worth more than the life of this man. Oh how the mighty have fallen. From family, love, grace, and providence to humiliation, hunger, and hopeless. Why? Because of sinful rebellion. The man was at rock bottom… but thankfully he wasn’t there alone.

Repentance (17-19)

Thankfully, the younger son didn’t stay at rock bottom - he looked up and came to his senses. Verse 17 can be a confusing verse for some. He came to his senses - some translations say that he came to himself. Does this mean that he looked inside himself and finally mustered up enough strength and determination internally to fix things? Did he pull up his bootstraps and become his own savior? Absolutely not! Consider your purpose in this life. Do you exist for yourself? That’s what our society will tell us. You exist to boast in yourself. To celebrate yourself. To glory in self. But this isn’t what a Christian worldview tells us. We do not primarily exist for ourselves, we exist for God. God made us. God not only created us, but He created us in His own image! The most important thing for every single one of us to realize as humans is that we are made by God for God. This son came to his senses and this is a picture of repentance as we’ll see in the next few verses. We are on a rebellious path. We are living for self. But then we come to our senses. We realize the emptiness of the things this world provides. We look upward and we realize our created purpose isn’t to glory in self but to glorify our God. To stop running away and to come home. This is what the younger son does - he realizes the seriousness and silliness of his situation. He is starving but his father’s servants have more than enough food. He humbles himself and settles it in his heart to come home, but not as a son - he had lost that right because of his foolishness - instead, he settles it to beg his father for him to come back as a servant.

Do you see where this is headed, church? This man was sick of home, then he was just plain sick, then he was homesick, and he settles it in his heart to come home. Have you come to the place in your life where you came to your senses and genuinely grew homesick? Have you realized the futility of sin? The emptiness and vanity of the things this world has to offer?

Last year, Lindsey and I got really into College Softball because her cousin was a pitcher and 1B for Florida State who was playing against Oklahoma in the College World Series. Oklahoma ended up winning the championship, again, and I began to hear story after story of how Jesus Christ had changed the women on this softball team. One player shared that she won the championship as a freshman - this was her dream that she had worked so hard for for years and at as a 19 year old freshman, she had achieved her dream! She shared that it was great for that night, but then she woke up the next day feeling empty. It’s been shared before that the loneliest and emptiest feeling one can experience in life is accomplishing one’s dream… only to discover that it wasn’t the right dream. This younger son had it all… and it didn’t satisfy. It left him emptier than ever before. Sin leads to emptiness - we must turn from it! So he recognizes his need. He resolves to come home. He resigns his rights and throws himself to the mercy of his father.

Often, people come up 18 inches short of heaven. The space between their ears is what keeps them out because of the excuses they continue to make for their sin.

Oh, it’s not a big deal… everyone else does it.

Oh, it’s not a big deal… our world celebrates it.

Oh, it’s not a big deal… my heart craves it.

Oh, it’s not a big deal… I was just born this way.

Oh, it’s not a big deal… God is love and He will forgive me.

Oh, it’s not a big deal… It’s my “right” to do this.

We have a predisposition to excuse and pardon our sin. In fact, in our world we rarely call sin, sin. It’s a mistake. It’s a difference of opinion. It’s a preference. It’s an accident. It’s not a big deal. If the Bible says it, that settles it. We see that the younger son acknowledges his sin. Not only this, but he acknowledges that sin has a cost! Not only has the younger son wronged his father but the whole community. He has disrespected his family. He is not worthy to be called a son any longer because he treated his father so wrongly and as if his father were dead to him.

Friend, understand the severity of your situation today! We all, like the younger son, have gone astray. We have lived a life of rebellion - chasing after things that cannot satisfy. We have sinned not only against one another, but most importantly, against our Father. Sin has consequences. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. We must recognize our need because of our rebellion. We must resolve to come home to our Father. We must resign any part of us that says that we deserve anything other than God’s judgment and plead with God for mercy. This is the younger sons plan and this must be what we do today.

We don’t deserve God’s forgiveness. Our world loves to puff us up and tell us that we’ve earned so many good things. You’ve earned this trip, you’ve earned that cheat day, you’ve earned that relationship or car or prize. What have our actions earned us? Separation from God. Consequences. Punishment. Whose fault is this? Our own. If this is where you’re at today and you realize this for the first time, praise God because He is helping you come to your senses as only He can do. You must turn from sin. Flee from it. Come to the Father and plead for forgiveness not due to your own merit, but due to His divine mercy.

Grant Osborne, “The son knows he deserves nothing after the way he disgraced his father, but he also knows his gracious and forgiving his father is… he determines to throw himself on the mercy of his gracious father.” We must be a people who repent. Failure to do this is to celebrate rebellion against our holy, good, and sovereign God. Let’s see what happens when the son returns home

Restoration (20-24)

Have you ever done something wrong and knew you had to have a difficult conversation as a result of your decision or action? Those aren’t fun times, are they? I’ve made my fair share of mistakes over the years and have had to own them and ask for forgiveness… and in the moments leading up to those conversations your heart is pumping out of your chest a million miles per hour! You rehearse what you’re going to say and you say it over and over and over and you usually can’t sleep the night before. This is where the younger son is. He’s en route to home. He’s going over what is on his heart. His apology for his sin. His sorrow for the pain he’s caused. His ask of mercy from his father. Over and over and over with the steps that he takes… and then what happens? Before he even arrives, his father does 3 things. He sees him. He is filled with compassion for him. He runs to embrace him. He sees. He is moved internally. He moves externally. He runs towards his wayward son. He wasn’t too busy to not notice. He wasn’t too heart broken to not care. He wasn’t too prideful to not run. No, he had compassion and he ran towards his son. He was looking for his son.

In this custom, it was the older brother who should have been the one looking for his brother. We’ll dive more into this next Sunday, but the older brother abandoned his responsibility. It was the father who was looking. The father didn’t have to open his arms and welcome his son home… look at the Old Testament law in Deuteronomy 21 in such situations

Deuteronomy 21:18–21 CSB

18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn’t listen to them even after they discipline him, 19 his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. 20 They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn’t obey us. He’s a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

The father had every right to have the son punished and even killed under the Old Testament laws. Do we understand how serious our sins are? God has every right to punish us for our sins where we stand. But this isn’t what our God does. He waits. He watches. He works. Church, our God has every right to and one day will punish sin and sinners… but He embraces repentant children when they come home! Jesus shares this story to the sinners and tax collectors and the scribes and the pharisees to share with them God’s heart for the lost. He is compassionate. His arms are open wide. Contrary to what some teach, you don’t have to clean yourself up perfectly before you come running to the Father. You don’t have to have the Bible memorized. You don’t have to be freed from sin. We see in our text a story that I pray is your story - a story that begins with rebellion but it doesn’t end there. A repentant rebel who is restored by the Father. How? Through repentance. Our call today is to repent, to turn from sin, and to trust in God’s plan of salvation.

Romans 8:14–17 CSB

14 For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

This is God’s plan. To save for Himself a people, all of whom have a past. But if you’re in Christ, your past no longer defines you. You are an adopted son or daughter. See, the son says that he isn’t worthy to be called a son any longer because of his actions. Today none of us deserve this designation either because of our sin. But this is the title that God gives to us through faith in Jesus Christ. The title of son or daughter. The son is covered back up by the father… just as, in Christ, we are now clothed in Christ’s righteousness. This culminates with a celebration! Baptists, we like to throw some food parties and celebrations, don’t we?

The father calls for the fattened calf to be brought out. This was a once a decade or once a lifetime type of celebration - not your normal day. Why does it happen? The father says, “Because this son of mine was dead and is now alive. He was lost and now is found.” The father didn’t leave the son due to his rebellion. He didn’t cast him out because of his crimes and offenses. He welcomed him home. He restored him. He saved him.

Luke 15 is all about celebrating whenever the lost is found. The shepherd loses a sheep, searches, and celebrates when the sheep is found. A woman loses a coin, searches, and celebrates whenever the coin is found. The son is lost… But no one goes looking for him. How many are lost and dead in sins today who haven’t had an older brother go and look for them today? If you are saved today, this is what your command is

2 Corinthians 5:18 CSB

18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:20 CSB

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This is our task, church. And whenever someone repents from sin and is restored to God by faith, we ought to rejoice. A better name for this parable is the Prodigal God and His Lost Sons. Can I share some good news from the SBC meeting? Our IMB missionaries baptized nearly 117,000 people in 2023. In our SBC churches we celebrated nearly 227,000 baptisms this past year as well! Friends, when this happens we must rejoice because that which was dead is now alive… not because of merit but because of God’s mercy. Not due to our leadership but because of our Father’s love. As you read this story of the Father running to and welcoming his lost son back home, there’s a chance that this brings up memories of a father that you didn’t have. A leader you needed but didn’t have in your home. Or possibly this story brings about regret as you are reminded of times when you should have brought about restoration, forgiveness, and grace and failed as a father. Dad’s, here’s the message you need to hear today: You’re not perfect. You will never be a perfect father. Do you know what your God-given responsibility is? To point your family to their perfect heavenly Father. How do you do this? By prioritizing church. By reading your Bible with your kids. By participating and serving in your local church. The greatest stumbling block for a child in worship is a parent who doesn’t. Dad’s, you need Jesus. You need Jesus’ help. Your family will only flourish if you are all in on team Jesus. Not ball, not the lake, not your career, not the golf course, not the choir loft - Jesus. That’s the focus. That’s what our families need. You will fall short… but your responsibility isn’t perfect. It is to prioritize Christ. To point your family to Him. If we emphasize the wrong things as the leaders of our homes, the consequences can be eternal - the stakes are high! Let’s determine today to stand on God’s Word and share of our Heavenly Father’s love and plan of salvation.

See, Luke 15 is all about salvation. We see the WHO of salvation as it is God who saves His wayward children. We see the WHY of salvation and it’s simply due to God’s mercy as Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us. But how is this worked out? How can sinners like you and I be saved from our sin by our Heavenly Father? What must take place?

We Must See Our Need For Home

The younger son rebelled against his father because he thought he had a better plan. Isn’t this what sin is? Thinking that we know better than God and disobeying God’s Word and God’s will. The son rebelled and struggled greatly. We look in our lives and we see brokenness, emptiness, hopelessness. Friend, if that’s where you find yourself today, you must see your need for home. Things aren’t meant to be this way. There is hope. There is peace. There is grace. There is joy. You don’t have to continue living separated from the Father. Your sin brought you there, but because of Jesus, you don’t have to stay there. You must see your need for home and the hope offered by the Father.

We Must Come Home

It’s not enough to just know about home or to know how to get home. You must actually come home. The younger son remembered his father. He remembered that his father’s servants had a better situation than he currently did… but it didn’t stop there. He physically came home and was welcomed by the Father. Friends, the Father still welcomes sinners home with open arms… but you must come home. You must turn from sin and trust in Christ. What happens whenever a sinner comes home?

Luke 15:7 CSB

7 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.

We must see ourselves as the lost son and daughter that we are. We must acknowledge our sin and rebellion. We must come home. When we do, there is celebration and salvation. Come home today! If you have come home to the Father, pray that God would use you to help the thousands of younger sons who continue to live in rebellion before God in our county. Our commission is to go. Our plea is to trust in Christ. Our power is the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Our confidence is that God’s Word doesn’t return to Him void. FBC Salem, go therefore and make disciples of our neighbors and the nations and share of the Father’s Love For Us!