Sermon Tone Analysis

Tonight I will be preaching on one of the most familiar parables in all of the Scriptures.

To be honest it was a little intimidating.

However, as I began to work through the text itself, I found it both encouraging and convicting.

I found reason for both rejoicing and repenting.

Any time we come to the Scriptures and come away having repented, been strengthened in faith and hope we ought to praise God for His grace and mercy.

So tonight, as we study the parable of the Prodigal Son I pray that we all leave here tonight repenting of sin and rejoicing in our salvation we have recieved from our Great God!

Before we jump right into the Parable of the Prodigal Son tonight, there is something important we must understand if we want to truly understand Jesus’ intent of this parable.

So the first thing we are going to consider is,

The Placement and Progression of the Parable

Parable

First we need to consider the placement, where is this parable placed in the Gospel of Luke and where is it in the flow of Jesus’ ministry.

To see this we need to back up to the beginning of Luke chapter 15.

Look with me at Luke 15:1-2

This parable of the Prodigal Son is probably the most familiar parable in all of Scripture, you have probably heard it preached countless time.

However, that doesn’t mean we should just skip over it and ignore it because we know it.

Instead we are to remember the word of God is living and active sharper than any two edged sword.

So tonight as we approach this familiar parable I pray the Lord would use the sword of His word and cut us deep that we may learn more about our own heart and run to God our heavenly Father in repentance and faith.

We first need to understand what caused Jesus to break into his parabolic teaching on the Prodigal Son.

We find our answer to that in chapter 15:1-2

We see that Jesus is in the midst of the Pharisees and scribes and they are grumbling about his fraternization with sinners.

Jesus sees this as an opportunity for telling a string of parables to straighten out the attitude of the religious leaders.

These Pharisees and scribes have a major problem and Jesus is going to teach three parables to correct the problem.

Sinclair Ferguson explains,

“Their problem was attitudinal and theological.”

In other words, they did not understand or know God, therefore their heart had not been transformed to properly display the love of God.

This attitude and statement by the Pharisees and Scribes are what sets up Jesus to begin the trilogy of parables He is about to tell.

Jesus hears and perceives this self-righteous, arrogant attitude of the religious elite of Israel and is about to teach them how He and the Father feel about their grumbling.

What Jesus does next is of course a masterful display of teaching through three parables to conceal and reveal truth.

To exhort to faithfulness and encourage in faith, but also to correct error and convict of sin.

Jesus begins with the parable of the Lost Sheep, then moves to the parable of the Lost Coin, and finishes this rebuke to the Pharisees and Scribes with the parable of the Lost Son.

This is where we find the placement of the parable of the Prodigal Son, at the end of three parables Jesus preached to the Pharisees and Scribes for one singular purpose.

Consider now the progression of these parables, this will help us further in interpreting the main point of not only the parable of the lost son, but of the lost sheep, and lost coin as well.

As you can tell by the title of each all three of these parables carry the same theme.

Something is lost,

The sheep is lost, and sought after then found by the Shepherd.

The coin is lost, and sought after and found by the woman.

The son is lost, and found by the father.

There is one more common theme that runs through all of these parables.

It is the theme of rejoicing.

Each time the thing that is lost is found what happens.

There is great joy, there is rejoicing, and celebration.

Now why did these parables start?

Because the Pharisees were grumbling that Jesus was receiving and eating with sinners.

Jesus was doing what Jesus did,

He was seeking the lost.

He was the physician looking to heal the sick.

He was in the world but not of the world.

But the Pharisees could not stand it, and they grumbled and accused Jesus of being a wine bibber and drunkard.

But listen to the heart of Jesus and God the Father regarding rejoicing at the lost being found.

Do you see what leads Jesus into this string of parables in Chapter 15.

Jesus is doing what Jesus does.

He is being in the world not of the world.

He is spending time with the sick who need a physician.

He is loving the tax collectors, sinners, the Jews and the Gentiles.

Jesus is being a friend to tax collectors and sinners.

They were all drawing near to him.

They wanted to hear him teach, they wanted to get to know this Jesus.

But then you have the Pharisees and the scribes, the spiritual elite who instead of sharing the truth of the Scriptures they knew so well, they used this as an opportunity to slander the Savior.

To complain, to grumble about Jesus association with sinners.

These spiritual hypocrites looked down upon those who didn't have the same lineage or learning as they did.

They turned their nose up and stiffened their necks toward the lost, the down and out, those who needed grace alone through Christ alone.

The

As we fly over these first two parables and then do a deeper dive into the Parable of the prodigal son, let’s examine our own hearts and attitudes and see how we respond when the lost are found, when a sinner repents, and the loving Father reconciles a rebellious son.

Luke

So we see the placement or setting of the parable.

Now let’s look at the progression of the parables.

Luke 15:24

Luke 15:

Do you hear how the people of God ought to react when sinners are saved, when the lost are found, when the blind are made to see, and when the dead are brought to life?

Jesus teaches three parable in chapter 15, The Parable of the Lost Sheep, The Parable of the Lost Coin, and then finally the Parable of the Lost Son.

There is one more theme that our partner in the gospel Voddie Baucham was helpful in pointing out.

Notice the value of the items lost continues to increase through out the parables.

One out of 100 sheep is lost = 1%

One out of 10 coins is lost = 10%

One out of 2 sons are lost = 50%.

And there is nothing more precious than a son or daughter.

These repeated parables of the lost, found, and rejoice with and escalating value continues to help us get to the main point of the parable.

So, here it is, the Main point of the parable and the sermon tonight.

“God the Father rejoices when rebellious sinners and self-righteous sons repent and are reconciled into a right relationship with Him.”

Here is how we are going to walk through this parable tonight.

We are going to draw ought 5 points of application from the Parable of the Prodigal Son that I believe you will see as we expound the truths of this very familiar yet living and active parable of Jesus.

This parable calls the lost child of God to repent and return to the Father for salvation, and also calls the self-righteous saint to repent and remember the blessing and cause of their salvation.

Here we go, the first point of application from this parable is really practical.....This parable gives us a clear warning in verses 11-16 through the illustration of the younger son to,

I. Run from Reckless Living (Vs.

11-16)

Jesus begins this story by laying out the family dynamic.

We see very simply in verse 11 that there was a father who had two sons.

The rest of the story is going to be an explanation of opposite roads these two sons take and the different attitude of these two sons.

What we can’t miss throughout the parable is the constant love of the father, the one who despite the rebellion, rejection, and all out ungratefulness that his two sons exhibit at times his love for them never fails.

His willingness to receive them when they repent never waivers.

Therefore, the father in this parable ought to draw our attention to our Father in heaven who patiently waits until the perfect time to cause us to come to our senses, see our hopeless depravity, and call us to come home to Him and receive His mercy and grace.

However, here is the first lesson we learn from the younger son.

a. Selfishness Leads to Recklessness

Do you see a them starting?

Jesus teaches three parables of something precious being lost.

Remember, the setting?

He is teaching these parables to the Pharisees and scribes who were grumbling about Jesus receiving the lost.

He is working toward the main point of the Prodigal Son, but he is going to get there by first teaching on the lost sheep and the lost coin.

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.