Prodigal Son Part 2

Luke 18:20-24

I’d like to start out with a few questions before we continue in the parable of the prodigal son. Because today we are going to talk about the Father who represents God the Father and at this particular section can also represent Jesus Christ as well.

1. Has anyone ever heard about the supposed differences between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament?

2. Maybe you are sitting here today wondering about that yourself?

3. Have you heard other people use that as an excuse or an argument as to not read the Bible?

At skimming the surface of the OT, it may seem as if God in the Old Testament is grumpy, mean, fast to strike down the hammer of judgement, always giving warnings of fire and brimstone, constantly talking about ripping the nation of Israel out of their country and bringing sword and famine upon them. And then we get to the New Testament. And we Jesus who is bringing peace and is a savior. He did not come to be served but to serve. He washed his disciples’ feet. He had compassion for people, healing their sicknesses, feeding thousands of people with bread and fish.

Philippians 2:5-8 Christ Jesus, 6 who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

We see here a very humble God. And we believe that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Jesus made a shocking statement to the Pharisees in

John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him… 

Why? Because Jesus claimed to be the same God as the God who presented Himself to Moses. Jesus claimed that he was the One talking from the burning bush when He claimed to be I AM. He also claimed He was the One who talked to Abraham face to face 2000 years earlier. He is the one true and only God.

Colossians 1:19 For in Him [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And so back to this apparent difference between the old and new, some people have a problem connecting God in the Old and God in the New Testament. And where does this come from? Well, it comes from many factors. Here are a few:

1. It can come from a shallow reading or shallow understanding of the Old testament.

2. It can come from skimming the OT, looking at it roughly or loosely.

3. It can come from not deeply studying the OT.

4. It can come from reading the OT but with a lens of our life and how we think, and not through a lens of who God is and how He operates.

5. It can come from not seeing or understanding the big picture of what God is doing in the OT. The big context.

Let’s take a moment and not take my own advice and skim through the OT really quick.

But I want to show us using the OT, who God is and what He is actually like in the OT.

Malachi 3:6a For I, Yahweh, do not change. (Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever).

- Immutable – unchanging through time, unalterable.

Slide: Isaiah 1:4

Isaiah 1:11-15 (God says I have had enough of burnt offerings, I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, your offerings are worthless to me, Incense is an abomination to Me, I cannot endure your wickedness, v 14 – My soul hates your new moon festivals, v 15 - I will not listen to your prayers, your hands are full of blood.

What comes next? The hammer? No, a plea from God. Vs 16-19

Slide: Jeremiah 3:12-14

Go and call out these words toward the north and say, ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares Yahweh; ‘I will not look upon you in anger. For I am One of lovingkindness,’ declares Yahweh; ‘I will not be angry forever. 13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against Yahweh your God And have scattered your ways of harlotry to the strangers under every green tree, And you have not listened to My voice,’ declares Yahweh. 14 ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares Yahweh; ‘For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, And I will bring you to Zion.’

- (God does not want to punish Israel. All He wants is for them to repent, and He will forget everything and continue blessing them).

Slide: Numbers 14:10-12 Moses is the mouthpiece of God, saying to Israel what God wants to tell them.

- Moses then tells God if He does that, then all the nations will hear of it and know Yahweh does not keep his word, that he swore to bring them into the land of Canaan.

- God is testing Moses here; Moses is not controlling God by any means. God has a plan, and he is testing Moses to see if he still knows God and who He is.

- This is who Moses says Yahweh is:

Numbers 14:18

Slide: Joel 2:12-13 “Yet even now,” declares Yahweh, “Return to Me with all your heart And with fasting, weeping, and wailing; 13 And tear your heart and not your garments.” Now return to Yahweh your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, And relenting concerning evil.

Jonah 3:10-4:2

- God in the Old Testament is Compassionate, Jesus is compassionate.

- God is the same in the old and new testaments.

Slide: Ezekiel 18:23 Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares Lord Yahweh, “is it not that he should turn from his ways and live?

Ezekiel 18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares Lord Yahweh. “Therefore, turn back and live.”

Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!

Slide: Picture of Repentance.

- God is righteous and holy and just, and he will by no means clear the guilty. He demands holiness and righteousness. But if people don’t turn to Him, repenting of their evil ways, those things have to come forth from God.

- But God is slow to anger, warningthe people of Israel and other nations multiple times that His holy wrath, his full justice has to come forth if they continue in their evil ways. But God in his lovingkindness throughout history, old and new testament provides a way out of His holy wrath.

Slide: The length of the OT should be enough to see it right? 39 books, 929 chapters, 23,145 verses, 622,771 words. Most of them, warning Israel. Is that not a caring and loving God?

- The OT could have been 1 chapter, Israel disobeyed and wham, destroy them and move on to a different nation, see if they follow me. No. God made a covenant, God is faithful, His word will come to pass, even through the evils of Israel.

The Gospel has always been the same. Old and New Testaments.

- Repent and believe that God will save us. That’s the OT good news.

- The NT good news is repent and believe God has saved us. Christ died, defeated sin and death, resurrected and he alone saves. He is everyone’s Savior, before and after His earthly incarnation. He’s always has been and always will be a loving Savior. That’s who God is.  

- God takes great pleasure if just one person turns, repents from his way, and comes back to Him.

- Just like the prodigal son.

Slide: Luke 15:20-24

Do you remember the context? The Pharisees thinking? They were trying to use this evidence against Jesus. They were saying because He was associating with sinners, that he can’t be the Messiah. Because that’s not God in their minds. They had the wrong view of God. They completely missed it in the OT, who God is. So, Jesus adds this section about God, before talking about the elder son which represents the Pharisees. Jesus tells them who God really is. What God is really like.

Vs. 20 – now focuses on the Father. And it matches up perfectly with God in the OT.

- This suggests that the father was waiting, looking for the son to return. He saw him a long way off. This has always been the way God operates. Waiting for His people to turn and come back to Him! Ezekiel 18 Turn back, Eze. 33, turn back, turn back.

- And so, the Father eagerly waits, and boy the joy when He sees it happen. A person turning back, coming to Him.

- The father felt compassion. Knowing the son would receive shame by the village people for what he did, the father took the shame upon himself, trying to reach the boy before he entered the village.

- Middle eastern nobleman do not run. Not even a slight jog, it was shameful to do so.

- Ran – running a race – he sprinted toward the son. Which also meant he had to lift up his robe, exposing his legs, which was also shameful.

This is the point in the story where the Father is referencing Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus was the Person of the Triune Godhead that took our shame upon Himself in order to save us.

Slide: Hebrews 12:2 – despising the shame.

- The author says the joy set before Jesus was his motivation and his prize, it was the power getting Him through this situation. But 2 mammoth obstacles stood in the way. The Cross and the shame.

Today is Palm Sunday, where Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, not a horse like a king, but a suffering servant. Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane. His friends fled from him. Peter, his lead apostle, denied him, He was put on trial, they slapped him, spit in his face. They flogged him until he was unrecognizable, the guards mocked him, shoving a crown of thorns on his head, he was then nailed to a cross just outside of Jerusalem on the busiest road, fully nude, bleeding a gasping for air for hours while millions of Jews walked by mocking him calling him names, and he did all of that for you. He took all that shame, all that pain and suffering, he took on death and the full wrath of God, so that you don’t have to.

This shame that Jesus is talking about is the shame we felt as unbelievers towards God, when we were his enemies, we see how bad the prodigal son felt, we don’t have that kind of shame anymore. God separates our sins from us infinitely and we are righteous in His eyes.

- In Hebrews it says Jesus despised the same. He despised it. For what was coming, for Him to save His church, it was all worth it. The shame meant nothing to him. It had no power over him, it was all worth it.

- In the parable, the father took the shame upon himself and he didn’t care, it was all worth it, in order to save his child. 

- The cultural expectation to shame the son and make restitution was shattered by Jesus. This was unheard of.

- Notice here the unconditional grace of the father. This amazing reception of the son by the horribly offended father was solely by the grace of the father, apart from any works on the son’s part.

Vs. 21 – notice anything missing from the sons rehearsed speech?

- “make me as one of your hired men.”

- Why? Theres no need to work toward restoration. The father immediately and instantaneously forgave him and received him back as a son.

- This absolutely demolishes any false idea of works-based righteousness. Which was Jesus main point to the pharisees, they had a works-based righteousness that can’t save. The roman Catholics believe in purgatory, when you die, you go to this place to work off the rest of your sins, until you can enter heaven. That is destroying the character and nature of God, which Jesus is clearly painting a picture of here.

- Those who come in by repentance and faith directed toward God, pleading for his grace and forgiveness apart from works will receive full sonship.

Slide: When asked what the greatest doctrine in the bible is, some might say it’s the doctrine of Slide:justification. Being saved from God’s wrath. And that is a wonderful doctrine. But there is a greater, more wonderful doctrine. Only one that beats justification. Slide:Adoption.

Romans 8:15-17 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God…

- God could have saved us, justified us and given us some neat little world to inhabit by ourselves without Him, without His pleasurable glory, without His immense eternal love and joy. But that’s not who God is.

- Not only does God save us, He then immediately adopts us into his eternal family and goes even a step further and gives us all things.

Vs. 22-24

- To the audiences further shock the father:

- Immediately after forgiving his son, adopting him back in and restoring him to full sonship, the father quickly brings out the best robe, a ring, sandals and a fattened calf. 

o Robe – worn by the guest of honor, usually upper class, someone with dignity and honor, special status.

o A Ring, a symbol of authority, identity, power and wealth. Kings would give their ring to seal documents and be a messenger saying this person has the full authority of the king behind him, you mess with this person, it’s an offense against the king himself.

o Sandals were not worn by slaves, this signified the boys full restoration to sonship.

o The fattened calf was reserved for events of upmost importance, only very special occasions, such as the wedding of the firstborn son or a visit from an important person.

And The father did all of this when a little while ago, the son wanted his father dead. How amazing is God?

Slide: Ephesians 1:5 by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will

Romans 8:32 He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him [Christ] graciously give us all things?

Matthew 25:29 “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance;

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

- This all revealed to everyone how important this occasion meant to the father.

- All three of these parables show great celebrations at the recovery of lost sinners.

- The main focus of all three is not the one found, but the finder, who seeks to save the lost to reconcile, to save them, and also adopt them through His mercy, forgiveness, grace and love, from Genesis to Revelation. From eternity past to eternity future. God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

- Praise be to our God and Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Slide: I want to give a challenge to everyone. Reread the Old Testament and look at it through a lens of who God is, God’s lovingkindness, compassion, slowness to anger. With the correct view of God in mind, it will open up the Old Testament in a whole new way. And you will get to know God on such a deeper level. – (insert last section if time is available).

“Come to Him who died for sinners on the cross and invites all sinners to come to Him by faith and be saved. Come to my Master, Jesus Christ. Come, I say, for all things are now ready. Mercy is ready for you. Heaven is ready for you. Angels are ready to rejoice over you. Christ is ready to receive you. Christ will receive you gladly and welcome you among His children.” - Chapter 13 in Holiness, by J. C. Ryle

(Last section if needed) In about 5 days from now, we recognize Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified in between 2 thieves. Both of them are mocking Jesus while they themselves are nailed to crosses. Then at one moment, one of them comes to his senses and believes that Jesus is the Messiah.

If we were in Jesus’ position, with our human nature, we would say “Oh now you want to believe, you were just mocking me, what changed?

But our ways are not God’s ways. Jesus instantly forgave the thieve, forgetting and throwing away all that occurred before and then immediately offered him eternal life with Him. The man who was just hurling insults at him, Jesus justified and adopted him for eternity.