Luke 15:11-20a

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-If you would, please turn back to Luke 15 in your Bibles.

We started this chapter last week...

And we made our way through...

…those first two parables...

And so, we’ve come to the...

Third and Final...

By far the LONGEST...

…of the parables of chapter 15...

It begins down in verse 11...

…and continues to the end of the chapter...

And, I mentioned to you last week...

…that it is likely, the most...

Well-known..

Loved...

…of Jesus’ many parables...

But, it may also be...

…one of the most well-known stories of all time, as well.

And there seems to be two primary reasons for that (to me):

The quality of the story!

(It always makes for a good book/movie)

The comfort that it gives us...

…about the grace of God toward fallen sinners.

-Do we appreciate both of those things?

(Hopefully, the latter more than the former, right?)

-So, Lord willing, here’s what we’re going to do:

We’re going to break it up into three sermons:

1.) The rebellion and repentance of the lost son.

2.) The joyous response of the father.

3.) The bitterness of the older brother.

And that should bring us right up...

…to the week of Christmas.

-Alright, let’s jump on in.

Luke 15, beginning in Verse 11:

This is the Word of the Lord:

Luke 15:11–20 (ESV)

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.

12 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.

13 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.

14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’

20 And he arose and came to his father...

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Pray

-Let me draw your attention up to Verse 1.

And let’s be reminded of...

…what we looked at last week.

This week (in particular)...

…that context is going to be very important.

Verse 1:

Luke 15:1–2 (ESV)

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

So, responding to that complaint...

…Luke tells us:

Luke 15:3 (ESV)

3 So he told them this parable:

“this” = singular

All three stories are going to illustrate the same thesis.

What was it?

Well, Jesus had stated it twice...

…and very clearly!

After the story of the lost sheep...

…that had been found by its shepherd...

…much to his great delight, he said:

Luke 15:7 (ESV)

7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Similarly, after the story of the lost coin, he concluded:

Luke 15:10 (ESV)

10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

So, that is going to be...

...the central teaching of all three of these parables.

We need to bear that in mind...

…as we work our way through...

The much longer...

Much more intricate and complex story...

…that begins in Verse 11.

-Look at it with me.

It brings the point to a climax.

Luke 15:11 (ESV)

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.

Do you see the escalation in that?

Hard to get more heartfelt and serious than that, isn’t it?

He goes on (Verse 12):

Luke 15:12 (ESV)

12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ . . .

Now, culturally speaking...

...there’s a lot to break down in that demand.

1.) First of all, we can probably infer...

…that this younger son would have been assumed to be:

Unmarried, and thus...

Most likely under the age of 20.

(Though that isn’t absolute).

2.) We need to remember the primacy of the Older Son...

…when it came to inheritances:

(I’m intentionally omitting...

…the issue of the two wives in this text)

Deuteronomy 21:16–17 (ESV)

16 ...on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons...

17 ...he shall acknowledge the firstborn . . . by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.

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So, in this scenario...

…the man’s estate would be divided...

…into roughly three equal parts...

…with two parts going to the older son...

…and one part going to the younger...

…with the assumption that the older son...

…would be the chief administrator of the estate...

…once the father had passed away.

3.) The land couldn’t be sold in perpetuity.

This means that, the younger son...

…could only receive the value of...

…the income that it produced.

(So, his request would...

…deal a devastating blow to his father’s business)

(Basically, a 1/3 loss of income and assets)

-Now, most importantly:

4.) This request would have been...

…a grave insult to his father.

Philip Ryken explains:

For a son to make such a demand was utterly unthinkable.

It could only mean that he regarded his father with complete contempt.

When he said, “Give me my inheritance,” he was saying, in effect, “I wish you would just go ahead and die!”

Then he adds this:

No doubt the young man had despised his father for a good long time, maybe all his life.

His outrageous demand does not sound like the kind of speech that someone makes on the spur of the moment, but the kind that comes after years of disdain...

He was tired of always having his father tell him what to do. He wanted to go wherever he wanted to go and do whatever he wanted to do. — Philip Ryken

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Brethren, I would submit to you...

…that this son had been lost...

…for a very long time.

If that was his heart toward his father, then...

His father didn’t really have him...

He didn’t really have his father!

Are their some important lessons implied in that...

…regarding our own...

Cravings for autonomy...

Resistance to the will of God for our lives?

-Now, as shocking as all that was...

…this may be the most surprising thing yet:

Luke 15:12 (ESV)

12 ...And he divided his property between them.

He bears the ridicule and embarrassment...

He takes the financial hit...

And acquiesces to his demands!

(and again, let me remind you...

…of the danger of turning this...

…into an allegory)

I’m trying to dig out the depths...

…of the historical setting...

…so we can understand it...

…the way the original audience would have.

But we need to be careful...

…not to build theology from it...

That isn’t Jesus’ intention

That would contradict clear teachings elsewhere.

This is a parable!

It has one primary focus.

-Alright, look at Verse 13.

It will come as no surprise to us.

Luke 15:13 (ESV)

13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country...

So, this vindicates Ryken’s premise from before...

It shows us why he wanted the capital, without the land:

He was wanting out.

He was wanting the means...

…to get away from the authority and influence of his father.

He wanted nothing more to do...

With his father’s affairs

With his father’s authority

With his father’s will

With his father’s direction for his life.

So, he moved “far away.”

(We’ll see how far in a little while)

(But it seemed to be as far as possible)

-Now, here’s what I was saying...

…that wouldn’t surprise any of us:

Luke 15:13 (ESV)

13 ...and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

That description is why he is referred to as...

“The Prodigal Son”

We often think that...

“Prodigal” means “Rebellious”

But, that isn’t exactly the case.

The English word simply means:

Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Prodigal)

prodigal

1 wastefully extravagant.

2 lavish.

A prodigal takes what his father...

…has worked long and hard for...

…and throws it away...

…in wild and carefree living!

We would say, that he...

“partied it all away”

Down in Verse 30, the older brother...

…described it like this:

Luke 15:30 (ESV)

30 ...this son of yours . . . has devoured your property with prostitutes...

That’s a prodigal!

The New Testament writers...

…paint the picture of a prodigal...

…like this:

Peter describes it as...

1 Peter 4:3 (ESV)

3 ...living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

And in the next verse he calls it a...

1 Peter 4:4 (ESV)

4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;

Paul, similarly, uses this list of descriptors:

Titus 3:3 (ESV)

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures...

Calvin says this about Verse 13:

Christ here describes what usually happens with young men, when they are carried away by their natural disposition.

Destitute of sound judgment, and maddened by passion, they are ill fitted for governing themselves, and are not restrained by fear or shame.

It is therefore impossible but that they shall abandon themselves to every thing to which their sinful inclination prompts them, and rush on in a disgraceful course, till they are involved in shameful poverty. — Calvin

The end of such debauchery is destruction, isn’t it?

We’ve all seen it countless times over, haven’t we?

-That being the case...

…Verse 14 doesn’t surprise any of us:

Luke 15:14 (ESV)

14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

Remember that famines in the ancient world...

...were unspeakably horrific.

They left men utterly destitute...

…facing starvation, disease, and miserable death!

They were the worst of times.

They were greatly feared.

Do you see the spiritual parallels in that?

Consider this from John Gill:

Sin strips a man of all that is good and valuable;

of the image of God, of the knowledge of divine things, of natural holiness, of moral righteousness, and of strength to perform moral good;

hence man is in a wretched and miserable condition, he’s poor, and blind, and naked… — John Gill

-Verse 15 illustrates that powerfully:

Luke 15:15 (ESV)

15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

Why is that such a big deal?

Because this young man...

…was raised in a prominent Jewish family.

And the Law of Moses said:

Deuteronomy 14:8 (ESV)

8 And the pig . . . is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

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NOTHING, would be more degrading and humiliating for a Jew...

…than to be an indentured servant...

…ON A PIG FARM!!!!

He had sunk to the lowest of lows.

Do you see the irony here?

This man has come full circle...

…with what he always wanted:

To be free from his father’s way of life!

He’s living like “the nations” around him!

He’s free from the yoke of the Law...

He’s living the life of a gentile!

-But, it wasn’t what he thought it would be.

Sin didn’t deliver on its empty promises:

His unbelieving friends have all forsaken him.

He’s left destitute, empty and ashamed!

Look at Verse 16:

Luke 15:16 (ESV)

16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

Where are all his partying buddies now?

Young people, that’s what happens...

…when you no longer benefit them.

He’s forsaken, abandoned, destitute, and alone...

…in a country that really despised him all along.

Now they’re making a mockery of him...

…and he can’t do anything about it.

Again, consider this application of principle:

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Fourteen: The Joys of Salvation (Luke 15))

Sin promises freedom, but it only brings slavery (John 8:34); it promises success, but brings failure; it promises life, but “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

The boy thought he would “find himself,” but he only lost himself! When God is left out of our lives, enjoyment becomes enslavement.

-But… Look at Verse 17!

Luke 15:17 (ESV)

17 “But when he came to himself...

Meaning what?

Luke 15:17 (NASB95)

17 “But when he came to his senses...

You know what that is?

It’s the beginnings of repentance!

R.C. Sproul explains:

A person can get so caught up in a kind of activity that he doesn’t even know who he is any more.

One of the greatest abilities we have as humans is the ability to deceive ourselves, to rationalize, to make up excuses.

Some of us continue to delude ourselves, postponing that painful moment of honest self-evaluation.

But this young man woke up to the reality of what he was doing. That awakening is, of course, the most critical point in his life. — R.C. Sproul

Watch how everything began to change...

And where his thinking...

…first began to be corrected and cleared up:

Luke 15:17 (ESV)

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

What’s the biggest shift in his worldview in that?

The perspective he has of his father!

You see, his father:

Had rule, order, and discipline

Wouldn’t let him live recklessly

Restrained his evil desires

Before he saw his father...

…as a malevolent foe.

He saw him as on overbearing despot...

…who stood in the way of...

…him living the life he wanted to live.

But, now that that manner of life...

…has brought him to the very bottom...

He’s starting to think very differently...

…about his father.

He’s seeing that...

His father’s rules were for his own good

His father’s oversight was borne out of love

His father wanted the best for him all along

His father’s way was indeed the right and best and most beneficial way!

He’s seeing that his father...

…was benevolent all along.

He treats his hired servants...

…better than his friends are treating him...

…now that he has nothing to offer them!

-Guys, this is where repentance begins!

With a rethinking of our view of God!

Beginning to see him...

…for who He really is!

-But, here’s the thing...

Seeing the truth of who God really is...

Causes us to see the everything else accurately...

Including our own selves!

In fact, until we see God properly...

We CAN’T see ourselves...

…for who we really are.

The knowledge of God...

…IS the starting point of all truth.

-Look at Verse 18:

(Again, we see that...

…a change of mind...

…is always accompanied by...

…a change of actions)

Luke 15:18–19 (ESV)

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’

He thought he was better than his father before.

Now, he recognizes that...

…he would be presumptuous...

…to even return to his father...

…in the posture of a son.

He says, instead...

…I’ll appeal to his good and gracious nature...

…and ask him to make me...

…one of his slaves!

Even the slaves of his father...

…have better lives than...

…the “friends” of the men on that country!

He’s seeing everything for how it really is:

His mind has been changed...

...about his father.

His mind has been changed...

...about the fleeting pleasures of sin.

His mind has been changed...

…about his own morality.

And with that change of mind...

…comes a correction of the course of his life.

Instead of fleeing his father...

Luke 15:20 (ESV)

20 And he arose and came to his father...

Brethren, I know we need to be careful...

…to not turn this into an allegory...

…but this is such a clear illustration...

…of what gospel repentance looks like.

Remember this?

1 Peter 2:25 (ESV)

25 ...you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

It’s the same picture.

Mike McKinley makes our final application:

Luke 12–24 for You (The Younger Son)

Like the young man, the tax collectors and sinners had wandered far from “home” in their rebellion against God and his law.

But just as he had come to his senses and humbled himself, so they were repentantly seeking to be restored to their heavenly father through Jesus.

In this way we are engaged with the main tension of the parable: how will the father react?

It is all well and good for the young man to decide to head home, but it is all for nothing if his father will not take him back.

In the same way sinners can repent all they want, but the only question that matters is whether the heavenly Father is disposed to receive repentant sinners into his family.

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Is he thus disposed?

Hallelujah! Praise his name!

He is!

Go to Him!