2016-04-17 Luke 15:11-24 Two Kinds of Prodigal (5): What God Demands, God Supplies
Notes
Transcript
TWO KINDS OF PRODIGAL (5): WHAT GOD DEMANDS, GOD SUPPLIES
(Luke 15:11-24)
April 17, 2016
Intro – (Read Lu 15:20-24). In Good Housekeeping in 1991, Oprah Winfrey
said: “I didn’t feel worth anything, and certainly not worthy of love, unless I
was accomplishing something. I suddenly realized I have never felt I could
be loved just for being.” A lot of people feel that way. No one will love me -there is no salvation for me – unless I accomplish something.
Religion teaches we must do something to earn God’s approval. But it’s a lie.
We’re like the young man who just got his plumber’s license. To celebrate he
took his young bride to Niagara Falls. He studied it for a minute and then said,
“I think I can fix this!” The truth is, he had more chance of fixing the Falls
than we do of earning our way to God. No well-intentioned human effort can
ever meet God’s standard of perfection. But there’s good news, the gospel.
What God demands, God supplies! That’s what I pray will get firmly fixed in
our minds today as we take a 3rd and final look at the father in this parable.
Jesus introduces His audience here to a heavenly Father they had never
imagined in their wildest dreams. I long for us to have the same reaction.
We’ve looked at 5 actions of this father, each showing an attribute of God. I.
He Let’s us Go (Patience). He gives us the freedom to live as tho He does not
matter, all the while hoping we will discover before it is too late that He is all
that matters! II. He longs for our return (Goodness). He is not willing that
any should perish, so He gives every chance for repentance. III. He absorbs
our shame (Mercy). What we deserve, He takes on Himself. IV. He Lavishes
us With Love (Grace). Not because we are loveable. We’re not! But He loves
us, not for what He finds in us, but for what He finds in Himself. V. He
Cleans Us Up (Forgiveness). A forgiveness that could never be earned He
freely grants to those who believe He died for them. Now 3 more great things!
VI.
God Pays Our Price (Atonement)
Beloved, there something we must understand about forgiveness. Without
payment, there is no forgiveness. Forgiveness always costs. Someone slams
into my car. I forgive him – but either he or I pay for the repair, or I suffer the
loss. A price must be paid. Someone insults my character, hits me in the face.
There’s no physical price to pay, but if I forgive, there is an emotional price to
pay. I must absorb the shame of not getting even. Forgiveness always costs.
That’s the principle. So where’s payment in this story?
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Islam claims that this boy is saved without a savior. He returns. The father
forgives. There is no cross, no suffering, no payment, and no savior.
Forgiveness is God’s prerogative and if one is good enough, God may show
mercy without any incarnation (God becoming man) or payment for sin.
But Dr. Kenneth Bailey who lived in the Middle East most of his life takes
issue. It’s all here, veiled somewhat; it’s not the main point. But look! Rather
than wait at home the father comes down to the street and humiliates himself
publicly as he races like a teenager to meet his son. An incarnation, like Jesus
coming to earth as a man. The father absorbs the humiliation that the
community would have heaped upon the son. He pays the price and bears the
shame. And, finally, everything the son receives – the robe, the sandals, the
party, his future living – must all be paid for out of the share of the father
and the elder brother. He has already squandered his share. He cannot
possibly pay for what he is receiving and will receive. Of course, in this case,
the elder brother shares only under compulsion. But not our elder brother!
Our elder brother, Jesus Christ, willingly took all our shame and paid all our
penalty by His death on the cross. God says in I Pet 2: 24 He himself bore our
sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.” Not our merit, but His wounds! Not
our works but His death. Not our penance, but His payment. Our older brother
has paid our way into the family. That’s substitutionary atonement.
Tim Keller tells the true story of two Chinese brothers who lived in SF in the
early 1900’s. The younger brother was rebellious and eventually killed a man
one night in a gambling brawl. He fled in bloodied clothing. Arriving home,
he hid his clothes, put on some clean ones and ran. But the older brother saw it
all and knew the police would be coming soon. So, he put the blood-stained
clothes on and when the police came they immediately arrested him. Being
similar height and build and looks, being brothers, the older brother was
convicted and eventually executed for the crime. But guilt plagued the
younger boy. He eventually came forward in great contrition and confessed to
authorities what had happened. But they told him, “It’s too late. The crime
has been paid for. We can’t arrest you. You’re free to go.”
Well, that’s just what our older brother has done, Beloved. He paid our price.
Charges can never be brought against believers. Rom 8:1: “There is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” No condemnation.
No judgment. No penalty. No guilt. The price has been paid by the Father
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through the Son. If you think about it, at the heart of this parable is a question.
How do you turn a God who is a “consuming fire” of holy intolerance of sin
into a loving and forgiving Father? The answer is twofold, His part and our
part. First, payment must be made to cover every violation of the Father’
holiness. Jesus did that on the cross. Second, the guilty party must leave the
far country and come to the Father – accepting the grace He freely offers.
That’s our part. Jesus has done His part. Question: have we done ours?
VII.
God Dresses Us Up (Imputation)
Did you know being forgiven is not enough to get us into heaven? It’s not.
That’s one side of a two-sided coin – no sin. The other side Jesus tells us in Mt
5:48, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” You
say, “Isn’t sins forgiven, perfect?” No. That just gets us to neutral. Innocent.
Like Adam and Eve pre-fall. Not sinners – but not righteous either because
they hadn’t been tested. Heaven requires tested righteousness. That’s the
clothing. The Father could have told his son, “I forgive you, but go bunk with
the slaves.” But He went way beyond that.
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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.” He forgave him – and
then he clothed him. A beautiful picture of imputation. You say, “Impuwhat?!” Imputation. Imputation means to attribute something to someone they
don’t deserve – credit their account. Unseen, this happens the moment one
comes to faith in Christ. All the righteousness of Christ is attributed to that
person – credited – imputed to them. And all their sin is imputed to Christ on
the cross. It’s an amazing transaction. II Cor 5:21, “For our sake he made him
to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God.” The Father imputed our sin to Him so He could justly impute His
righteousness to us. There is no greater verse in the Bible than that one.
Picture it this way. The moment we commit our life to Christ, the Father
removes the stained and rotten clothing of our own righteousness (just like the
prodigal) and replaces it with the perfection of Christ. And thus it stays
forevermore. From a judicial standpoint, we are now wearing “the
righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil 3:9).
That doesn’t mean we never sin again. We do. And that sin needs to be
confessed and forgiven. I Jn 1:9 says to believers: “If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” Does that mean we get saved and unsaved again and again?
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Not at all. As Judge, God has already removed our sin “as far as the east is
from the west.” But as family, the need for forgiveness is constant. Jesus
illustrates in John 13. He’s washing the disciples’ feet. Peter is appalled.
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Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I
do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him,
“Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him,
“The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is
completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” You see Jesus’
point. Once saved, you can’t get unsaved. You’re judicially acquitted. God as
Judge is forever gone. But God as Father remains. We need confession to
continually restore the joy of the family relationship.
But the big question is settled. Imputation clothes me forever in the
righteousness of Christ. John Stott marvelously describes imputation: “For
the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of
salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against
God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself
for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims
prerogatives that belong to God alone; God accepts penalties that belong to
man alone.” That’s the Father that Jesus knows and depicts in His parable.
Groucho Marx despised clichés. So he got a letter from his bank once that
ended with the cliché: “If I can be of any service to you, do not hesitate to call
on me.” Marx returned a letter. “Dear Sir. The best thing you can do to be of
service to me is to “borrow” some money from the account of one of your
richer clients and credit it to mine.” I don’t imagine he got that help. But we
did. If we are in Christ. The Father has removed all the sorry, grudging efforts
we ever made to ingratiate ourselves to Him along with the completely selfcentered, self-righteous, self-serving thoughts and actions that comprise our
daily lives – He’s removed those from our account. And He has replaced them
with the absolutely perfect thoughts and actions and words of our Lord and
Savior. And when He looks at us now – that’s what He sees.
Beloved, imputation guarantees that not only are sins forgiven, but now you
are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Every right thing He did is now
imputed to you. Remember the hymn: “When He shall come with trumpet
sound, / Oh, may I then in Him be found, / Clothed in His righteousness
alone, / Faultless to stand before the throne! / On Christ, the solid Rock, I
stand; / All other ground is sinking sand.” That’s imputation.
VIII. God Takes Us In (Adoption)
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Of course, the prodigal did not need to be adopted. But even as he hopes for
nothing more than slave status, his sonship is renewed. 22 But the father said to
his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe (“a robe, the foremost one” -- what
the patriarch would have worn to the party he is about to throw – he gives to
his son), and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand (the father’s signet ring
with which he stamped documents. It is a sign of authority bestowing all the
rights and privileges of sonship to this young man), and shoes on his feet.
Thus the old slave spiritual – “All God’s chillun got shoes. Only family got
shoes. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.
The calf kept ready for a very special occasion – a wedding feast or visiting
dignitary. It could feed 200. You didn’t kill the fatted calf for slaves. This
father is pulling all the stops to celebrate his repentant son. 24 For this my son
was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to
celebrate. He was dead to the father – gone and out of his life. But now here
he is, not a son returned as a slave – but a son who was lost and is now found.
What a picture of our heavenly Father. Is it hard to imagine God being this
excited about you. But He is! That’s what Jesus is doing here. He is giving us
a glimpse of the Father’s joy over every believer. There is a difference. Of
course, we are not children being renewed to family status. Rather we are
those lost from birth, turning to God and being adopted into the family of
God. Are you a believer? Well, here’s how you got there! Eph 1:5, he
predestined us for adoption as sons Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of
his will.” How did that happen? Gal 4:5, “But when the fullness of time had
come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem
those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
And what’s the result of all that? Rom 8:15-16, 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. And perhaps best of
all, Heb 2:11 tells us, For he who sanctifies (Jesus) and those who are
sanctified (believers) all have one source (God the Father). That is why he is
not ashamed to call them brothers. Before God the Father, Jesus proudly calls
you and me His brothers and sisters. Contemplate that for the next week.
Adoption. What a special relationship with the Father that implies. Most of us
have no idea the treasure we have been given in Christ. And adoption is a
major facet of that treasure. J. I. Packer in Knowing God, certainly one of the
Top 10 books of the 20th century, says this, “What is a Christian? The
question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is
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that a Christian is one who has God as Father. Our understanding of
Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption. The truth of our
adoption gives us the deepest insights that the New Testament affords into
the greatness of God's love. Were I asked to focus the New Testament
message in three words, my proposal would be adoption through
propitiation [the appeasement of God’s wrath against sin thru Christ’s
death]." How special is adoption? Can you imagine? God has stepped into the
world of fallen human beings; He has pointed His mighty finger your direction
and said, “I want you. I choose you. I adopt you. Welcome to the family.”
Conc – Let’s conclude. Jesus has shown the Father provides atonement for
sin, clothes us in the righteousness of His own Son, Jesus, and throws a
monstrous party to celebrate our becoming His children! Because we deserve
it? No. Because, like Oprah, we accomplished it? No. So why? Just because,
Beloved, “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4). It
doesn’t get any better than that, assuming we choose Him back!
David Platt, who wrote Radical, tells in Follow Me how he plays a game with
his son. He points to him across the room and yells, “I love Caleb!” and the
boy yells back, “I love Daddy!” But one day Caleb stopped laughing, looked
at his dad and said, “You really love me?” David answered, “Yeah, buddy, I
do.” Then came the dreaded question: “Why?” “Because you’re my son.” And
then another, “Why?” That caused Platt to think for a moment of all the
factors that had led he and his wife Heather to Kazakhstan; all the ups and
downs of the adoption process; the agony of wondering if they were ever
going to have children. He teared up as he thought of all that and then said to
Caleb, "You’re our son because we wanted you. And we came to get you so
that you could have a mommy and daddy."
Beloved, we can’t fix the Niagara Falls of our failures. It’s way beyond us to
do. But we can have a Father who can – if we will choose Him. Doesn’t it take
your breath away for a moment to hear God say, "I love you"? To which we, in
our sinfulness, must certainly respond, "Why?" And then to hear him answer,
"Because you're my child." To which we ask the obvious question, "Why
would I, a hopeless sinner, now be called your cherished child?" Only to
hear him say, "Because I wanted you, and I came to get you so that you
might know me as Father." Atonement. Imputation. Adoption. We can’t do
any of that. But -- What God demands, God supplies for those who choose
Him. Let’s pray.
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