The Tale Of Two Sons (2)

REVIEW:

Chapter 15:1 “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” It was the outcast; it was the scum, the low lives who listened, believingly, upon what Jesus had to say.

Two categories: Tax Collectors & Sinners

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

When they saw Jesus associating with sinners, they drew one single conclusion: He is satanic because He hangs around Satan’s people.

Jesus is doing the work of God, which is the redemption of sinners. They see it as the work of Satan. That’s how far from God they were.

His response to their self-righteous anti-evangelism was to unmask them as very far from God, very distant from God, knowing nothing of His glory and nothing of His joy.

He explains what He’s doing in three stories.

· Vs. 3-7 “Parable of Lost Sheep” ~ A man goes, he finds the sheep, he rejoices with his friends because a sheep has value; verse 7, “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.” Heaven rejoices over one sinner’s repentance.

· Vs. 8-10 “Parable of Lost Coin”~ A woman who lost a coin. Again, that has value; she finds the coin; she calls her lady friends together: “Rejoice with me,” verse 9; I found the coin. The application, verse 10 “I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Point~ Pharisee’s are so far from God; they don’t get it. God’s joy is found in the salvation of one sinner. (Point of chapter 15)

PRODIGAL SON

Read verses 11-21

Verse 17, he says, “I’m going to die of hunger.”

This is desperation. This is the sinner: poor, destitute, hungry, hopeless, , and dying; this is desperation.

Sin is rebellion against God, and God will give you the freedom to choose your sin.

He’ll give you freedom to take your sin as far in any direction as you choose to take it.

Here is the rebellion of one who had:

· No relationship to the one who gave him life.

· No relationship to the one who held all the riches he ever could have needed all his life.

· No relationship to the one who could give him a future, as well as a present.

That’s how it is with sin. It is disdain for God’s person, God’s rule, God’s authority; God’s will, God’s goodness, God’s resources.

Sin is desire to run from God to avoid all responsibility, accountability to God.

It is to deny God any place in your life.

Dishonor God, to take all the loving gifts that are available and squander them as far away from God as you can get.

Waste your life in self-indulgent dissipation, unrestrained lust, shunning all God’s goodness.

And the question is: How is the father going to deal with somebody who is this bad? Jesus really has invented the ultimate sinner.

“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

Well, the young man was still a long way off, still outside the village. Maybe there was a gate; there was a dusty road leading to the village. While he’s a long way off, his father saw him.

Still a long way off~ The father was looking; He was watching for his son to return.

We could assume that this was a regular thing for him to look for that son.

The father was the seeker, felt compassion, and those Pharisees are saying, “How weak is this man? Can’t he ever respond in a righteous, honorable way?”

And then he did the unthinkable. He ran. Middle Eastern noblemen don’t run. It’s not just something you don’t do,

This word “ran” in the Greek is the word for sprinting in a race. This man came out of his house and sprints down the middle of town toward this son.

This is selfless.

Why is he doing this? Because he wants to get to the son before the son gets to the village.

As soon as that son enters that village, he’s going to be mocked and scorned and heaped upon with shame and ridicule. And father runs through town, takes the shame to embrace the boy before he receives the shame.

He embraced him--hugs the pig-scented rebel and kissed him.

· He should have been beaten.

· Should have had to sit there and take the shame.

What is this? I’ll tell you what it is--one word, grace. And they didn’t get it.

That is all review to catch you up in the story… I am sorry there are so many details that we do not have time this morning to go back into but let us continue in verse 22.

1. SHAMEFUL REJOICING

But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Look at verse 22, . “The father said to his slaves, “Quickly”

I love this, it shows that salvation is instantaneous; not a long process of restoration by works and ceremony--it’s an immediate thing, quickly, right now, all the privileges.

· ROBE

A wealthy family like this would have one robe, by the way, the father’s robe, and it was used for those maximum kinds of occasions of great dignity and importance. What is that? It’s the robe of dignity. He shared the full dignity of the father, the full majesty of the father.

The father is about to call for the greatest celebration that's ever occurred in that family and in that village and he's giving away the garment that he would normally wear. This is a way of saying to the son, "Everything I have is yours." ~ "The best that I have is yours.”

· RING

Put a ring on his finger. The rings weren’t just for looks; they were used to stamp in soft wax the family symbol on official documents. This is authority to act in behalf of the father. He can signify the father’s will in any document. It’s like getting the keys to the kingdom.

· SHOES

Put shoes on him. Slaves and hired men and the poor didn’t wear shoes. Shoes were for people who had responsibility. Because he is in this family he has great responsibility.

Give him dignity; give him authority; give him responsibility.

This is full son ship.

And this is precisely the kind of thing Jesus is doing with these sinners.

The Pharisees and scribes refuse to see Jesus time with sinners as the activity of God. They refuse to see it as the work of God.

But it is the work of God. It's the work of God to give everything He has to the repentant sinner immediately, not after some time gap but immediately.

And then the father in doing this essentially lays all that belongs potentially to the older son and say it's all yours.

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,”

He treats him like a prince. "You get the robe and put it on him, you take him, you clean him, treat him like a king, treat him like a prince. You put the ring on his hand. You put the sandals on his feet." It's like royalty.

The message is clear, full reconciliation, full rights, privileges, authority, honor, respect, responsibility as a son.

Many times we forget the blessing that God has bestowed upon us as his children.

GRACE TRIPMPHS OVER SIN.

Grace gives to us when we come TO Christ:

· The full dignity of God as we are clothed with his own righteousness;

· The full authority of God to act on His behalf, consistent with His revelation;

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

· The responsibility to carry on His work, in His name, in the power of His Spirit. And the Son had been given all these things lavishly,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is a completely new idea: UNDESERVED:

· Forgiveness

· Sonship

· Salvation

· Honor

· Respect

· Responsibility

You see a fully reconciled son without any restitution, without any works.

This kind of lavish love, this kind of grace bestowed upon a repenting trusting sinner is a bizarre idea in a legalistic mind.

We do this same thing don’t we? We often think that we deserve what we have and so we take if for granted don’t we?

· Think with me for a moment, when is the last time that you salvation really ‘excited’ you?

· When was the last time that the image of the cross broke your heart because of the sacrifice that was made for you?

· When was the last time the idea of ‘communicating’ with the Father was something you longed for?

verse 23 says, “And bring the fattened calf.”

Wealthy people had one calf that they kept, usually for the marriage of the older son. They used it for the best and biggest occasion; Kill the fattened calf and let’s eat and be merry. We’re going to have a party.

Remember; back to verse 7. There’s more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance; the climax of this entire chapter is seen right here; the celebration begins.

The celebration is directed at the father. It’s not directed at the son.

The son received the robe and the ring and the shoes, but the party is a party in honor of such a gracious father rejoicing over the reconciliation of the son.

It honors the father for what he has done.

· It is the father who gave him back his life.

· It is the father who made him a son.

· It is the father who restored him to blessing by merciful forgiveness and gracious love.

And the whole village comes to rejoice with this shameless father who celebrates his own grace and his own mercy.

This father has shown unheard of kindness, unheard of goodness, sacrificial love, sacrificial grace.

The son who was dead, literally the Greek says, is up and alive.

The one who was lost is found.

The son has new life, new status and new attitude. He has for the first time a real relationship with a loving, forgiving father who has made him heir of everything he possesses to whom he has been reconciled and to whom he will eagerly give his love, his service in response.

The son entrusts his life to the father and the father entrusts his resources to the son. The son is finally home. He's in the father's house. He's in the family. He has full access to all the riches of the father. And he joins with everyone in celebrating the greatness of this event.

We often talk about how exciting it is to receive salvation, which it absolutely is; but isn’t it thrilling to think of how excited God was when we placed our trust and faith in him. How excited God was when we truly repented of our sin.

verse 24 says, “For this son of mine was dead.”

Many scholars believe that in this culture the family would have actually had a funeral for the prodigal son. When he left home in rebellion he was dead to the family, but now he is alive again.

I love it, it says at the end of verse 24, "They began to be merry." Because this party never ends.

That's what heaven's all about. It's the endless celebration of the grace of a loving Father to repentant, believing sinners. That's what eternity is. Heaven's joy will never end when a sinner comes home.

The celebration over the redemption of every sinner will go on forever. And the object of the celebration will be God, God, God, God--the saving God.

God rejoices not because the world's problem of sin has been solved.

Heaven is not up there saying, "Well, we'd like to have a party up here but so much is going on that's not good, we can't really start the party until things get a lot better than they are now."

They're not up there saying, "There's so much suffering in the world, there's so much trauma, there's so much pain, there's so much disappointment, it's such a troubled world. Wow, we'd like to have a party but we just can't get on the upside of this whole problem."

No, and God doesn't hold off the party for some big event when ten-thousand people get saved in some stadium somewhere. No. The party starts when how many sinners repent? One.

The party never ends because it's a party in honor of God, not the sinner. And the more and more, day in and day out as the Lord saves people, the party is extended and extended and enriched and enriched and the angels and the redeemed saints are praising God for being such a gracious and reconciling Father.

And I guess the question to ask us is...what contribution do we make to the party?

First of all, if you're not a Christian, this is a time to receive the love of the Father who waits for you to return.

But for those of us who are Christians, are we pursuing the joy of God by doing everything we can to take this glorious gospel of forgiveness to the people we meet?

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I would venture to say this morning that many in this room are making no eternal contribution.

You get excited: You get excited over the stock market having a good day. You get excited over a business deal that was a success. You get excited about the new car, or the new home. You get excited about what people think about you… and you are sure laying out treasures on this earth… But I wonder what are you doing for eternity?

Some people never understand this. And they're religious people who don't get it. The Pharisees hated the idea that the Father treated a sinner this way.

Sunday Morning during an invitation when someone comes down to accept Christ, this church oughtta be

2. A SHAMEFUL REACTION

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

No Invitation~ Why was no invitation sent to the older son out in the field to come and celebrate?

The older son had no relationship with the Father either.

He also hated his father. He also was alienated from his father. He just stayed around the house, but he had zero relationship to his father.

That’s why he didn’t defend his father’s honor in the beginning, and he didn’t try to protect his brother for doing something as stupid as he wanted to do.

In fact, he took his part of the inheritance gladly, never defending his father's honor. He has no relationship to anybody in the family. Being out in the field is sort of a metaphor for where he was in terms of that family.

The younger son was in a far country, this guy's in a far field. But the symbolism there is they're both way off from the father. They both come home but to very different receptions.

This is in fact that first time we see the older brother.

The father knew that he did not for his brother. And he knew that he had no interest in his own joy, and so he was not a part of it. He’s out in a field.

He wasn’t working; he was just making sure people do. His father left him there till he came home at the normal time at the end of the day.

He pretends to stay in the father's house, to be dutiful, to do what the father says, to hang around, but the only reason he does is to benefit from what the father has.

He wants approval and affirmation and wealth and land and community prestige. He wants to appear religious. On the outside he upholds all the conventional modes of external honor. So he comes and he hears the music and the dancing.

SIDENOTE:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

1. The Worthless Profession

In the master said, 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’

Not everyone that professes to be a Christian, not everyone that professes to be saved, “shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

2. The worthless Works

“But, Lord, we preached and, Lord, we did many wonderful works. And, Lord, we were numbered among the people. And, Lord, we cast out devils. And, Lord, we tithed. And,

3. It was Hid Well

Secondly, they kept it up a long time. They were not silenced by men.

Nobody detected that they didn’t know Christ.

Even they didn’t detect it.

This passage is in fact a perfect picture of this older brother, he looks like he has got it all together, but reality is that he has no relationship with the Father.

The more I read the Gospels the more I realize that this is one of the Key themes that Jesus addresses over and over and over; and I really think it is a main theme that we need to address week after week after week.

One of the most bought into lies that satan uses is the lie of a self-righteous works religion. And I am convinced that there are many even here this morning who have a religion and who have tradition and who have rituals, but they have no relationship with the Father.

There are many here this morning who are hanging around the Father’s house. Who are around the things of the Father. Who hear the words of the Father; but in reality there is no relationship whatsoever.

And the truth is there are many who don’t even understand what is and what is not of God.

PARTY~By then the party has started. He summoned one of the servants. This would be village boys who were outside--you know, the young people would hang around while the adults were in having the party.

If he loved his father, if he had a relationship with the father he would have rushed into the house and said, "What's going on?" And his father would have said, "Your brother's home," and he would have embraced his father and rejoiced with tears because he knew his father loved his brother. He knew he had ached in his heart as long as he was gone, and he knew he had gone out to look for him day after day, even though he didn't know he was back...

He comes to one of the young boys; he begins inquiring what these things might be. He’s totally in the dark. He doesn’t get it. He has no part in this whole redemptive scheme.

And this boy in verse 27 says, “Your brother has come. Your father’s killed the fattened calf because he’s received him back safe and sound.”

Look at the phrase "safe and sound," Greek from which we get basically means wholeness, well-being.

But in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that word is almost always connected to Shalom which means “peace”.

Peace- Full reconciliation

Now you might think, “Wow,” and he would celebrate. No, no.

Verse 28, “He became angry.” Guess what, the Pharisees and scribes just appeared in the story. They were angry that God in Christ was embracing sinners.

He became angry, was not willing to go in.

I will not be a part of anything like that; it is shameful.

· The father is shameful;

· The son is shameful;

· The village people who are celebrating are shameful.

· This is no time to honor the father; the father is a fool. You don’t give honor to a man who is a fool.

They (The Pharisee’s) would be thinking “Finally, a sensible guy. Finally a guy who gets it. ‘We like this guy.’ This is the Pharisees’ and scribes’ guy because this is them.

Listen to me now we have this same type of thing going on in churches all across the land:

· They are singing ‘praises’ instead of hymns… I won’t be a part of that!

· They painted the cross white instead of wood grain… I’ll write a little note.

· They are going to have a ‘fall-festival’… They will know that I don’t approve.

· That man came into church and he wore a baseball cap.

· They are going to have an event and ‘sell’ tickets… I won’t attend.

· They left my birthday off the slide.

· They didn’t visit me in the hospital when I had my hangnail removed.

And just because we don’t understand something we reject it.

Listen I am all about taking a stand for what is right, but if we become legalistic we miss the point of something focusing on a minute detail.

This is the original issue, isn't it? The Pharisees said, "Look, you receive and eat with sinners. You have a banquet with sinners. How can you do that?" They didn't understand that God's joy and God in Christ, Christ's joy was in receiving repentant sinners, prodigals, , the immoral, the outcasts.

But for a legalist, that's outrageous conduct, absolutely outrageous. But what you see is he had no love for his brother. He didn't rejoice in his brother coming back, anymore than he cared when his brother left.

He had no love for his father. He didn't rejoice with his father anymore than he defended his father at the beginning when his father was hearing the request from his younger son.

This is no believer. This is no Christian. This is a typical religious hypocrite standing on the outside condemning the gracious work of salvation.

He's angry. That's the only emotion he feels. And you know what? The Pharisees and scribes think its right and they're saying, "Yeah, we're angry too, we'd be angry too. We'd feel exactly the same way. This is absolutely unacceptable conduct."

Legalists don't believe in grace.

They don't understand unmerited favor.

They don't understand free forgiveness.

They don't understand the removal of punishment.

They don't understand somebody else bearing their shame, taking their scorn. They don't get that.

HE WILL NOT GO IN

And so here is a public display of private hatred.

He'd probably done a better job of hiding his hatred than that in the past. He probably had the community believing that he was very respectful of his father, honored his father, maybe even cared for his father. And he stuck around the house. He did whatever his father wanted him to do. And everybody probably thought he had some love for his father. But here his real attitude comes out. He cannot enter into this joy because he has no love for God and he has no love for the sinners God is recovering. This is religious hypocrisy.

It's still in the world today, it's everywhere. They're all over the place. People who look like they hang around the house of God but they don't know the heart of God.

They're trying to earn their way to heaven which is the greatest deception that Satan has ever invented and it is the characteristic of every false religion on the planet.

When salvation comes only to those that are spiritually bankrupt, destitute, impoverished and fall on their faces as beggars before a God they trust will be willing to forgive them, and repent of their sins, and then they receive His lavish love and all that comes with it.

But legalists don't like that. How can you do that? How can you just do that when he didn't deserve it? It's all about what you deserve and what you earn and what you gain and how good you are.

Legalism- Getting so caught up on the outside that you neglect the inside.. MISSING THE POINT!

Hypocrites stay near the house of God.. They're religious. They're moral. They have no relationship to God. They have no desire to honor Him. They have no interest in His honor or heaven's joy. It's all about their own self-promotion thinking somehow they can earn their way into the good will of people and even God.

Jesus said about them, on the outside they're painted white, inside they stink and they're full of deadmen's bones, like rotting corpses.

Under the surface they are filled with bitterness, hatred, jealousy, anger, lust. And then as I said, the older son is likely in real life envying the prodigal.

He earns his position. He earns his reward. He earns his honor by his rigorous painful loveless obedience, performing the duties while capping his secret sin. Well the truth is, the hypocrite is lost and more profoundly lost because he spent his whole life convincing everybody he's good and it's a long ways from there to admitting you're really wretched. Whereas if you're like the prodigal and you have made it clear that you're wretched, it's a short step to admit it. Self-righteous hypocrites hate the idea of salvation by grace alone. They hate the idea of full forgiveness for repentant sinners. They will not come to that party. They will celebrate. Hypocrites are more deadly to any religious environment because they set a tone for the kind of conduct that kills spiritually and eternally.

You don't need to repent. You're good. The 99, back in verse 7, so-called righteous persons who don't need to repent, and as long as you don't need to repent like the prodigal, you can't be saved. You can't enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus came to save sinners, self-confessed, repenting sinners. Repentance is the key to everything. This son, he has no interest in that. He has no knowledge of God, no love for Him and no love for sinners.

God help us if this older son reminds us of ourselves.