Session 4 Choose Your Own Adventure

Old Testament reading this morning is found in Isaiah. We're reading from chapter 55, verses 6 and 7.

If you would please stand in honor of God's word. Seek the

Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him. To our God for he will abundantly pardon.

New Testament reading is

Romans 5, 1 through 8. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the

Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time

Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, and though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You may be seated.

This is our last preaching session in our

Bible conference. Pastor Peter LaRuffa comes to us from St.

Thomas, Kentucky. 18 years ago he came to Grace Fellowship Church in Florence and began his ministry there and is now leading the congregation in Fort Thomas.

Peter is, I love the way he communicates the Word of God.

He is certified with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors and has ministered very well in Fort Thomas.

I love Peter. He's a dear friend. I believe we met, we started talking in, what was it, 2014, 2012?

Somewhere around there. Long ago, far away, but still a dear friend.

So Peter, come and minister the Word of God to us. We're anticipating God's blessings. Well, good morning.

Good morning. It truly has been a pleasure and an honor not only to open

God's Word with you but to spend the time that we've been able to spend together in recent days.

And so I want to thank Pastor Tim and Andrew and the elders and the deacons and everybody, the deaconesses, everybody who has been so faithful to work so hard to put the conference together, to prepare meals, to make all the arrangements for Sharon Green to be ever so patient with me as long as I got in notes and slides and all the things.

I'm so, so honored and grateful to be able to have spent this time with you.

And it is bizarre for me to be standing in the pulpit with Tim in the pew.

That seems like somebody made a mistake. And so it's an honor and a privilege to be able to open up God's Word with you.

And we send you lots of love from the great state of Kentucky, from the right side of the river, from God's country, but particularly from my wife

Sarah and from my children who have spent time up here and who are very sad, very sad, truthfully a little mad, very sad, to not be with me this time.

We send you our love and our affection. We're going to be looking at Luke 15.

We're going to begin in verse 25. So if you would turn there to Luke 15, that's what we're going to be focusing on today in the final portion of this parable of the prodigal son.

Luke 15, beginning in verse 25. I'm going to read those verses. And I would ask you, if you are physically able, would you please stand in honor of the reading of God's Holy Word.

Follow along silently as I read aloud Luke 15, beginning in verse 25, which is also in your outline.

This is what the Word of God says. Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, Your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.

But he was angry and refused to go in. So his father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father,

Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours comes, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.

And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found. This is the word of the

Lord. Thanks be to God. Father in heaven, would you add your blessing to the preaching and the hearing of your word as only you can.

Lord, may none of us be here alone. May I not stand up here alone, but would you,

Holy Spirit, speak truth through me for the glory of God and for the edification of the saints, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. You may be seated. And so we are coming to the end of our time in the

Bible conference where we've taken a close look at Luke chapter 15, but specifically verses 11 and following.

And so as you'll recall, Luke 15 contains three parables, all following the same theme, lost, found, party.

Lost, found, party. And so first off, we start out with the parable of the lost sheep.

Who among you who is a shepherd, who would have 100 sheep, but lose one, who would not leave the 99 to go after the one that is straying?

99 is not enough. That's what I like to say when we're teaching our new member class and we're talking about why our church carries out something called church discipline, and that is because 99 is not enough.

While many shepherds, while many pastors, while many churches would say, you know what, we had 100 sheep, now we have almost 100 sheep, right?

It's not that big a deal. We had 100 sheep, now we have 100 -ish sheep. But God tells us as shepherds and as Christians, but particularly as shepherds, that we should leave the 99 to go after the one.

And so this parable reminds us that 99 is not enough to God, that 99 is not enough to God's people, and that a shepherd who loses his sheep and then finds his sheep comes back rejoicing to have found the sheep.

Lost, found, party. Jesus then goes on to talk about the parable of the lost coin.

What woman, having 10 silver coins, who lost one, would not sweep the house and search the house to find the one that she lost?

And when she finds it, she rejoices, tells all her friends, and says, look, I found the coin that was lost.

Lost, found, party. Luke 15 and verse 10, just so I tell you, Jesus says, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

And then as we spent time together starting out on Friday night, we spoke about the best approach to the word of God is to look for our own growth, our own edification, our own sanctification first.

Similar to how Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7 says, we are to remove the log from our own eye before we seek to remove the speck from another's eye.

I have received many artistic renditions of that point that I have with me that I've loved, of children drawing pictures of me preaching with a gigantic telephone pole, sometimes with wires, really cool, coming out of the pulpit.

It's a great illustration of my preaching, and I love it, and it also looks like I'm killing people with my eyes, which is pretty cool.

So I'm pretty excited to show my kids that. But the best way to approach God's word and the best way to come into His presence is to say,

Lord, what do you have for me? We don't want to say, here, my Lord, send him.

Here, my Lord, fix her. But here, my Lord, what do you want to do for me so that I might be a better, more obedient, more holy man, woman, boy, and girl of God?

Then we looked at the fact that the best way to approach this parable is not to look at the prodigal as, wow, there's someone out there, and somebody comes to your mind who is a prodigal daughter or a prodigal son or somebody who is far, far, far away off, and to think, wow, this would be great for them, which

I'm not saying is wrong. I'm not saying is unholy. No doubt the person you're thinking of who would read this and you hope that they would be the prodigal that returned home, that would be a joyful thing.

But we would do well, if we really want to be like the father in this story, we really want to be like that guy, the first thing we need to remember is that you're the prodigal.

You are the prodigal. For every one of us who are in Christ, for every one of us who have been saved and born from above, we were, in our own way, in a far -off country.

Each one of us, our sheep who have gone astray, each to his own way, and God in his sovereign grace and mercy and love has called each and every one of us out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

And so before we try to be like the father, which we should, we should acknowledge that each one of us has something in common with the son.

We all were once lost and were found. Those who love Christ, those who believe on Christ for salvation, have been rescued from a far country as well.

And then we looked at the fact of the extravagant love of Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of the father who welcomes back the son, saying that the father depicts

Jesus Christ, not just God in general, but God the son specifically, because the father ran towards the son in the parable, the father did so at great cost to himself, the father did so bringing about shame and reproach upon himself in the fact that men of that day, particularly men in Arab men, did not run.

Furthermore, in order to run, he would have to lift up his robe and thereby he would expose his legs, which is something that brought great shame upon people.

And so when you look at what the father is doing in the parable of the promised son, you're reminded of Jesus Christ, who was crucified for sinners like you and me.

Jesus Christ who took upon himself the guilt, but also the shame and the reproach of dying as if he were a criminal on Calvary's tree.

And we ended our time yesterday with a little bit of an impromptu singing because I wanted to sing a song.

And so I played the piano. I played on the piano. We sang grace greater than our sin.

What a joyful time we had as we reflected upon the grace that we were given.

He killed the fattened calf, which is what we are being told as for this glorious extravagant love that the father had for his son.

This was a very big deal. He was thrilled to have his son back. We saw that before.

He put a robe on him. He put a ring on his finger, shoes on his feet, and then he throws a party for him, the likes of which we can't imagine.

This was way more than an appetizer tray from Costco, although I love me a good appetizer tray from Costco.

This was way more than that. This is a big deal to kill the fattened calf. This wasn't a cookout with burgers and hot dogs.

This was the fattened calf. This was likely veal being served for anyone and everyone who would come and celebrate the homecoming of his once lost son.

And so a slab of meat would be cut and cooked in an oven and served while another slab of meat would be cut and cooked in an oven and served ongoing cooking of fresh veal meant the aroma would have never quit between the cooked meat and the cooking meat.

But here's the thing. If we look back at verse 1 in Luke chapter 15, we're reminded of whom

Jesus is speaking to. Verse 1 says, Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him.

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

So he told them this parable. We do well to remind ourselves that Jesus wasn't telling stories because it was story hour at an

Israeli library. Jesus was telling these parables for two reasons. First, he wanted to show the extravagant love that he had for sinners that was demonstrated in all three parables, lost, found, party.

That's obvious. But if that were the only reason, the end of the story would have been with the session that we had last night or yesterday, rather.

Look back at verse 24. This, my son was dead and is alive again. He is lost and is found.

And they began to celebrate. That is the perfect middle. You say, well, why middle?

Because it's not the ending of the story, is it? And that's because what started this whole thing way back in verse 1 was the

Pharisees and the scribes who were grumbling that Jesus receives sinners and eats with them.

And so Jesus' purpose in telling these stories was to show his extravagant love for sinners.

And to show how the hearers, the Pharisees, the scribes, stood in stark contrast to that love.

We've seen his love, but the Pharisees haven't yet seen themselves in the story yet.

That's one of the things we said about how to interpret parables was that it's important in parables to find yourself in the story.

Asking God, who am I most like? I like to say find the hero, find the zero, and find yourself.

Who's the hero of the story? Who's the zero of the story? And where do you fit in? Who are you most like?

Who should you be imitating? We looked at the prodigal and saw that every one of us could relate to him.

You're that guy. I'm that guy. We're all that guy. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of us like sheep have gone astray, but the

Pharisees haven't yet seen themselves in the story. The joy with which we ended our session yesterday is because we, the redeemed, understand the grace and the mercy of God.

The Pharisees were not singing grace greater than our sin. The Pharisees were not excited.

The Pharisees were not happy. The thoughts and feelings that you and I perhaps had as we looked at the extravagant love of Christ represented by the

Father in this parable, that's not what the Pharisees and scribes would have been feeling at this point.

I would suggest perhaps they were feeling confused. In Jesus' culture, the story just didn't make sense to them at all.

Wait a minute. So this guy is going to ask for his inheritance early, whereby he's essentially saying he wishes his father was dead.

Then he's going to spend that money real fast on a lot of prostitutes and reckless living. Then he's going to live in squalor.

And then he's going to come crawling back to his father and his father's going to throw a party? A party?

What in the world? They're just confused. This is not something they've ever seen or heard of. This is not how it's supposed to go.

Or they probably were also angry or maybe a little offended. That's a sentiment the Pharisees and scribes perhaps would have had.

While we think the party would have been a perfectly happy ending, the Pharisees and scribes would have thought the story didn't resolve at all.

Like, yeah, but then what? Like, after the party, when did you hurt him?

After this party, okay, then what? I'm glad we all had a good meal, but when's he going to get what's coming to him?

Where's the justice? Why hasn't the younger son paid for what he's done? Why haven't heads rolled as they should?

Or the Pharisees would have thought maybe this story that Jesus is telling is going a bit too far.

Like, hey, look behind you, bro, there's the line. Like, you crossed the line in suggesting that this is how this is supposed to be.

Listening to Jesus tell a story that was so offensive to their ears that it would have just angered them all the more.

Quite frankly, they've been let down by the father. They would have hoped the story ended with the father perhaps publicly beating the son or stoning him at the city gate, standing up for what's right and true, being obedient to the

Scriptures. But there's one more character that we haven't discussed in the parable of the prodigal son.

As you'll soon see, they can relate to like just fine.

Pick it up in verse 25. Verse 25 says,

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

And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. Now, practically speaking, the amount of time that elapsed in verse 24 specifically, if you look at chapter 15 and verse 24 where he says,

This my son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found. Then there's a period, and then there's the word and, and they began to celebrate.

In that little pause in between the period and the end was several days.

Had to be several days. Because when Jesus says and they began to celebrate, that assumes that people had been invited, right?

That assumes that preparations were made. The fattened calf was slaughtered. Musicians were booked.

It was a whole thing, right? So this couldn't just like happen. So they were excited to have, he was excited to have him home and then prepared a great feast.

So a few days would have had to have passed. I bring that up to say the fact that the older brother had no idea what was going on.

Tells us something about the state of his relationship with his family. He is there, but he is not present.

Does that make sense? He is physically there, but he doesn't have the prevalence of mine or the presence of heart to wonder or care what's going on.

I recall a time one of our neighbors stopped by our home to inform us of something that had happened to their son, who lived,

I think, near Atlanta, Georgia. And he stopped by and said, Hey, Steve, what's going on? And he said,

I just want to let you know my son was in a pretty bad car accident. And so the purpose of his stopping by my house was to say that he will be going away for a few days.

And so don't be alarmed if you don't see a car, if you don't see his car in the driveway. And also if you see another car in the driveway, be like a little alarm.

So he's letting me know that their house is going to be vacant and just that he's going to be out of town for a few days. And of course,

I said, I'll certainly do that. And said that I would definitely be praying for him and his son and his family during this very difficult time.

So I had that conversation with my neighbor, Steve. Not long after that, my son,

Jonathan, said, Hey, Dad, what did Mr. Steve want? And so I told him. Jonathan wasn't with me when

I spoke to Mr. Steve. But he was present in the home. He was aware, like, well, that's not usually.

Steve doesn't typically stop by and knock on the door. Sometimes we'll talk to each other kind of home improvement style over the fence or we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll get each other's attention and just check in with one another.

But the fact that he came, knocked on the door and stood there for a few minutes and we spoke. Jonathan just knew that that happened.

And so he was like, Hey, what, what did he want? So I told him Jonathan wasn't with me, but he was present.

Does, does, does that make sense? He was present in the home and we have a lovely home, but it's not like he was out in the east wind.

So if he's home, he's aware of like someone's at the door. And so he asked me,

Oh, what, what did Mr. Steve want? He wasn't with me, but he was present. So he asked the fact that the older brother had to ask what was going on days later, because he's asking while the party's happening.

Right. And so the younger brother comes home. The father rejoiced to see him. He says, get a rope, get a ring, get sandals, let's have a party.

And so then they take a few days to prepare the party. Then the party begins. Then the older brother asks,

Hey, what's going on? The fact that he asks after all of those days, what's going on shows a lack of presence of mind.

He's there, but he's not present at best. He's politely aloof, going about his day, completing his tests, doing his job, then going to his bed and getting up and doing his thing.

Once again, but he certainly lacked a give a care. The care for and awareness of others was not his strong suit by any stretch of the imagination.

So pick it up in verse 26. It says he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

In the Greek, the verb tense in verse 26 for called is imperfect, which implies a repeated action.

So he didn't just say, Hey, what's going on? It would have probably been, Hey, you, you. Hey, hey, come here.

What's going on? What's going on? Why is there music? What's happening? What's going on? And so it's not just an inquiry like,

Oh, behold, for a party is taking place. And lo, I don't know if that's the way you use the word lo.

And lo, I smell fresh fuel. What, pray tell, is happening? It's, Hey, what's going on?

Why is there maybe sentence records, right? Why is there a, who's even, what's happening? The Greek word for servants is actually one that would indicate that the person you were speaking to was young, likely pre -adolescent.

All the adults would probably be inside. And so here's this, you, kid, come here. What's, what's going on?

Verse 27. He said, well, your brother has come and your father's killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.

As everybody knows who hasn't been living under a rock. This is big news. Your brother's come back.

The Greek expression for safe and sound comes from the same word. We get the

English word hygiene. It speaks of, of, of wholeness, of cleansing, of, of health.

The servant boy wasn't just saying that his brother had come home and turns out he was healthy. But that there had been a radical, like a radical change for the better.

On top of all of that, his father had received him and the relationship was restored. And basically you've got to see this guy.

He's a different guy. There's been a radical change for the better. Which brings us to point number one.

If you can't celebrate God's saving grace in others, it's likely because you've never received it yourself.

If you can't celebrate God's saving grace in others, it's likely because you never received it yourself.

Verse 28 shows his response to his answer that he received.

What's going on? Well, your brother's come back and he's safe and sound and your father's killed the fattened calf.

Verse 28, but he was angry and refused to go in. If you can't celebrate

God's saving grace in others, it's likely because you don't know what it's like to have been saved.

You don't know what it's like to have received his saving grace. Or perhaps you're under the delusion that you are saved and you think that you did that yourself.

That you worked pretty hard to get to that point in your life. You've made a lot of right decisions. You read through your resume and you think, yeah, but this is kind of something like,

I'm glad God did it, but I kind of did it. God offered it, but I'm kind of a big deal and I kind of did it.

But that's not true. You'll never celebrate new life because you'll remain dead inside.

In your outline, I put Matthew 23 verses 27 and following. When Jesus says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

In Revelation chapter three and verse one, we read unto the angel of the church in Sardis, write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

The fact that the brother, the older brother isn't celebrating the return of the younger son, tells us a lot about himself, a lot about his perspective on life, a lot about what he thinks of himself and what he thinks of God, what he thinks of his father in this situation.

If we can't celebrate God's saving grace in others, it's because we likely haven't received it ourselves.

We might be doing the right things. We might be going to church. We might be singing loudly. We might be part of different ministries and serving.

We could be very active in ministry. Judas looked like a great guy for a long time, so much so that he was entrusted with the money for the 12, right?

Let's not picture the 12 walking around and 11 of them are fine, and we're like, why does that guy have a tail? He looked like any other of the 12.

He looked like any other normal religious follower of Christ, but in the end, he showed to have a very different heart.

Why was that? Because he had never received the saving sovereign grace of God. He had never truly believed.

When you contrast Judas and Peter, they have a lot in common, right? They both walked with Jesus.

They both heard him speak firsthand, face -to -face. They both watched him. They didn't hear of his miracles.

They were witnesses to his miracles. They both followed him closely. They both professed a care and love for him, and then they both fell in a major way.

They both betrayed him. Judas betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. Peter betrayed him by denying him not once, not twice, but three times.

But at the end, that's where their similarities stop, because Judas had worldly sorrow and Peter had godly sorrow.

Godly sorrow produces repentance, leading to salvation, not to be regretted, 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 10.

And so Peter weeps bitterly and comes back to Christ and is restored in his relationship and is used for great things throughout the kingdom, and Judas hangs himself from a tree, because the sorrow of the world produces death.

If you can't celebrate God's saving grace in others, it's because you've never received it yourself.

You'll never celebrate new life because you'll remain dead inside. Letter B, you'll be deluded into thinking you're better than you are, so you'll never think you need

God's grace. Pick it up in verse 28. He was angry, refused to go in.

His father came out and entreated him. Come on, you've got to come in. Come to the party. There's plenty of food.

You'll have a great time. Verse 29, he answered his father, Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command.

How many of you think that was accurate? I've never disobeyed you. I've never done wrong.

I'm always good, and we know this from... We know this both if we're parents, we know that our kids do this, but we also know that we were kids and we do this all the time.

I'm never late. I'm always doing this. I'm never, never and always should never be used. It's rarely accurate.

And so he has a deluded impression of himself. All these years, he says,

I've served you, and I never disobeyed your command, which makes me want to pause and ask you a question.

When was the last time you were wrong? When was the last time you were wrong?

There are times when I am reminded very quickly of the fact that I am a finite fallen human being, and I can remember...

Let me think. Oh, I know what it was.

This past week... See, I don't have to think back too far. This past week, I told

Sarah that I was going to do something that she really wanted me to do before I left town to come here, and I told her that I was going to do it on Wednesday, and she was like, that's fine.

And lo and behold, I allowed other things to crowd into my schedule, and what I said I was going to do,

I didn't do. Now, I love to drop the pastor card when I do that. It's like, sorry,

I didn't do what I could do, what with all this work I'm doing for Jesus and people. Which is like, sorry, not sorry.

That's more of a humblebrag. Sorry I didn't get to do what you had to do. I had to visit the sick, pray for them and all, what with me being a pastor and a man of the cloth.

But in reality, wrong was wrong. I actually didn't really want to do what I said I was going to do, which is why she invited me to do it, but I didn't really want to do it.

And so I crowded my schedule with other things that were good and right, holy and biblical, nice and stuff, so that in my mind

I could assuage myself. I did this subconsciously, I didn't do this intentionally, so that I could assuage my conscience when

I think of what I didn't do. I could think of the four fairly insignificant, but good and right and godly things I did do.

And my wife was very, she didn't even ask if I had done what she asked me to do. It really wasn't that big of a deal.

But I was convicted because I knew that I hadn't done it. And I said, hey, this was really important to you, and it was not important to me.

I should have made it important to me because it's important to you. And I'm really, really sorry.

Will you forgive me? She still hasn't answered. No, I'm kidding. She didn't.

She said she would forgive me. So I called her back. No, she said she would forgive me.

Here's my point. If you can't answer the question with specificity of the last time you were wrong, that's not a sign that you're on, like, a hot streak.

When was the last time you were wrong? Like, you know, I really don't know. It's just been that awesome lately.

Let's ask someone close to you. You should know the last time you were wrong fairly quickly.

If you don't, that's not because you're on, like, a hot streak and you're doing so great. It's because you're self -aware.

I mean, you lack self -awareness. You probably have an inappropriately high view of yourself that is inaccurate.

You're probably pretty impressed with yourself. And if you're impressed with yourself, you won't be impressed with God.

I'm not saying you have to hate yourself. I don't think that's biblical either. But if you look in the mirror and you're like, you know, like the

Fonz in Happy Days where he goes up there with a comb and he's like, what am I even doing here? I'm so hot.

So he doesn't comb his hair. He just, like, walks away. He's like, I'm the Fonz. If that's the picture you have of yourself, thinking you look into the mirror of God's word, kind of like the

Fonz, and you're just like, turns out I got it together just by being me.

If you're impressed with yourself, you won't be impressed with God. You'll think you're a self -made man, a self -made woman.

You'll start recounting your wise decisions, all your plans that have come to fruition, the wise choice you made with money, the good grades that you got when you were in school, all your amazing ways.

And you might even give God a nod because that's cool too. But it's just a nicety. You're glad he was involved, but you didn't really need his grace.

It was just like, sure, I'll take that too. You're happy to have God along for the ride as long as he rides shotgun.

People who can't celebrate the grace of God and others are deluded into thinking they're better than they are.

So they'll never think they need God's grace. They likely never had God's grace. Look again at verse 29.

Look, these many years I've served you, he says, and I never disobeyed your command. Probably not true.

Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. Letter C.

You'll be angry that God hasn't given you what you wanted for your selfish desires.

You'll notice the older brother isn't accusing the father of neglecting him. He's accusing the father of not giving him what he wants so he could do what he wanted to do.

If you lack an awareness of God's grace in your life, you'll lack gratitude for how

God's grace is provided for all you've ever needed because you'll be too focused on how you haven't gotten what you wanted.

That's what the older brother is doing here. So if you're not aware of God's grace, you'll just talk about the times that in your mind you haven't gotten what you wanted.

It's when you'll say that God hasn't answered your prayers, but in reality, he has answered your prayers. The answer was no.

But then you'll say, he doesn't call, he doesn't write, he doesn't buy me flowers. You won't think back upon the times that God has shown you grace, whether common grace or particular sovereign saving grace.

You won't be thankful. Look at verse 29. I'm going to emphasize some words to see if you can pick out which words

I'm emphasizing as I read verse 29. I have served you and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.

Instead of being hangry, hangry, you like that? He's not hangry. Instead of being, maybe he was hangry, but instead of being angry at, or vice versa, instead of being happy that the younger brother had come home, instead of celebrating that, he's like, where's my party?

I've been bad, I never went with the prostitutes and I've never disobeyed and you won't even give me a goat.

You'll be angry that God hasn't given you what you want for your selfish desires. Letter D, you'll view others according to what they've done instead of who they are.

You'll view others according to what they've done instead of who they are. Take a look at verse 30.

But when this son of yours came, there's another time we see something similar in scripture.

Genesis 3, when Adam says, the woman you gave me, this must have been messed up in shipping.

The woman you gave me, like she's broken. She did me wrong. Verse 30, when this son of yours came, not my brother, not even by his name, when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property, you killed the fattened calf for him.

And so the fact that he is related to him, and the fact that they are brothers, the fact that they are family, immaterial, irrelevant.

It's what he did, it's what he did, it's what he did, it's what he did. It's not who he is. Look what he's done.

Finally, letter E. If you can't celebrate the grace of God at work in people's lives, you'll be too bitter and angry and proud to listen to God's call to come home.

Look at verse 30. And he said to him, you picture the change in tone of voice, son, hey, son, first of all, you're always with me.

In other words, I'm not, this is not an either or, it's a both and, we are family.

Hey, hey, look at me. You're always with me, son.

And all that is mine is yours. This changes nothing.

Verse 32. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this, remember this son of yours, look at what he says, for this, what?

Your brother was dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found. And so the gentle, kind correction of a father saying, hey,

I still love you. All that I have is still yours, but he's not apologizing.

He said, but it's still fitting that we should celebrate because what has happened has been wonderful.

It's been glorious. If you can't celebrate the grace of God at work in other people's lives, you'll be too bitter and angry and proud to listen to God's call to come home.

And finally, which brings us to letter F, you'll remain an enemy of God instead of becoming his child.

The title of the sermon is Choose Your Own Adventure. How many of you remember those books?

Remember those books, Choose Your Own Adventure? You got to a certain point in a book that you were reading, we always had them in the library, but you would then choose, okay, well, if you want it to end this way, go to this page.

If you want it to end that way, go to that page. My wife loved them. I hated them. I felt incredibly lazy.

It's like the author's like, I got three good endings. I'm going to put them all in there. Let's make the reader do the work.

I'm like, really? Why don't you tell me how the story ends? My wife loved it. I did not like them personally.

Instead of the parable ending with the celebration we looked at yesterday, where it would have been completely resolved, right?

Happy ending. Who doesn't love it? Let's come home. We celebrate, sing a hymn, eat some veal.

What a great day. Instead of the parable ending with that, where it would have been completely resolved, tied up with a bow, it ends here.

It's unresolved. But look how it ends. We hear the father say what he says, but we're not told what happened afterwards.

Come on, Jesus. Been listening. Now what? But that's where it ends.

Now, I don't know about you, but for some reason in my mind, I always assumed the older son went to the party.

Right? It just makes sense. Like, hey, you're my son. Everything that I have is yours.

But look at what happened to your brother. I guess I just pictured him being like, you're right, dad.

Let's eat some veal. And walks in. Or even reluctantly like, all right, fine.

I guess you're right. I'll go in. And he goes in. That's how I pictured it when

I heard it. I know it's not in there. We probably didn't want to take up too much space, but he went in.

He went into the party. I always assumed he went in.

I think it's my desire for a happy ending. Or for a father to be able to win the heart of his son.

Or my desire to flash back to what would have been a happy ending, what we looked at yesterday, which ended up being a happy middle, but it was still happy.

It's like, maybe we can go back to there. Strike up the piano. Like, let's do it again. But the bottom line is, frustrating as it may be, we're not told what the older brother did.

And so kind of in a sense, we get to choose our own adventure. Because we don't know how the story ended.

And so we get to do this. I don't think this is wrong or ungodly. Let's remember that this parable that we're talking about never happened.

Right? It's a parable. And so none of this actually happened. It's just a story that Jesus is using to illustrate a certain point.

And so if we think through who represents what, we could probably figure out a fitting ending.

So first of all, the prodigal son represents what? You and me, right? Sinners. At first glance, we think he just represents the really wayward, the far -off sinner.

But the Bible levels the playing field for all sinners. We've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God.

So you're that guy, I'm that guy, we're all that guy. The prodigal represents all sinners. The father, we said yesterday, represents

God. But more specifically, represents God the Son, Jesus Christ. His pursuit of the younger son while he was still a long way off.

His reaching out to the older son, seeking to win his heart. Both of these imply love, which we see in God the

Father, and mercy, which we see in God the Father. But it also implies shame and reproach and humility, being willing to take it on the chin on behalf of others, which we really only see in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 53, he was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows acquainted with grief.

He was despised, and we esteemed him not. We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. The reason

Jesus added an older brother to the scene was so that the Pharisees could find themselves in the story.

The older brother represents them. Impressed by themselves, so unimpressed by God, and not in need of any of his grace because they're kind of a big deal, and they can handle it.

Looking alive and well on the outside, but absolutely dead inside. Angry, bitter, looking out for number one.

And so let's imagine for a moment the Pharisees hear this parable, which ends with the father entreating the older son to come inside and celebrate with him.

And the Pharisees say, so what happened next? How did it end?

Jesus might say to the Pharisees, it's up to you because you're that guy.

You're the older guy. Now let me read to you just a casual recollection of how the

Pharisees have treated Jesus during his earthly ministry. Luke 22 in verse 2, when the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to put him to death.

John 5 in verse 18, this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. John 7 in verse 1, he would not go about in Judea because the

Jews were seeking to kill him. John 8 in verse 37, I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me,

Jesus says. Are you seeing a pattern? John 8 in verse 40, Jesus says, but now you seek to kill me.

A man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. John 11 in verse 53, so that from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

That's what the Pharisees wanted to do. And so if they were like, how does it end?

Let me suggest to you an ending of the story that I think is fitting based on who each character, fictitious character, if Jesus made this up, who each character represents.

That he was angry and refused to go in. His father comes out and treats him.

But he's angry and he says, look, these many years I've served you have been awesome. I'm a great son,

I'm a better son, I'm an older son. I've never disobeyed your command. You've never even given me a goat. This son of yours who's been with prostitutes, this son of yours who said he wishes you were dead, this son of yours who took all that you've worked so hard for and squandered it in days on his sexual appetites, he goes, he comes back, and we throw a party for the fact that he came back?

That's what we're doing? And remember, the father says, hey, you're with me.

All that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate, this is where it ends. It's fitting to celebrate and be glad for this your brother is dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found. Here is what I think would be a fitting ending. That the older brother was enraged with his father and picked up a piece of lumber and beat him to death in front of everyone because that's what they did.

Just a few months after Jesus told this very parable in Luke 15, at their request,

God the Son, Jesus Christ, was crucified, was nailed to a piece of lumber in front of everyone.

Acts 2 and verse 23, this Jesus, you, crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

Acts 2, 36, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both

Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified. Friends, this parable is the greatest story ever told.

But with a tragically unhappy ending and an epic sequel.

Like a phenomenal sequel. Like when they did their best to do their worst, they accomplished

God's best. Does that make sense? When they did their best to do their worst, they accomplished

God's best. Jesus' death on the cross was bigger than death itself. In that he overpowered death and rose from the grave victorious.

Jesus' death is bigger than our sin and our pride and our shame and our envy. The chasm created by your sin and my sin is deep and wide.

But thanks be to Christ that what he did is bigger and wider and better than what you've done and what

I've done. Which is why we can put our faith and trust in him alone for salvation. Which is why the invitation to come home and celebrate is still open for all today.

Which is why we, as we kick off this holiest of weeks, today is Palm Sunday, that when we would look back and remember

Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem where people were screaming with joy that he had entered, but just days later would be screaming with anger and wanting him to leave.

Anger and wanting him to die. We celebrate because we know that his death was a very real death, was a propitiatory death.

It was a wrath -absorbing sacrifice. When he died on the cross, God the Father poured out the wrath and the anger that he had for every single human being who would ever believe in him and pounded him into Jesus so that he would absorb the wrath that was headed for me, for a sinner like me, for sinners like you, for all who would believe in him, so that God would not look down and overlook my guilt, but would look down and see my debt as paid in full because Jesus paid it all, and nothing new, because God is satisfied.

2 Corinthians 5, verses 20 and following says, Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

That is the gospel. That is the great exchange. It's my test paper being completely horrible and Jesus' test paper having all of perfection.

Every single answer is right and neat and wonderful. And then Jesus takes his name and puts it on the top of my test paper, takes my name, puts it on the top of his test paper, hands it in, and we all receive our grades accordingly.

And I get to wear a robe of righteousness that I never earned or never could have earned, and he took on sin and suffering and the penalty of my sin that he never deserved.

But the writer of Hebrews tells us that, but for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, so that you and I might be saved.

What about you? Find yourself in the story.

As you look at your life, you look at your love for Christ, or you look at your lack of love for Christ, who are you in the story?

Every single one of us has a need for God's sovereign, saving grace.

Every single one of us has a need for God's mercy and healing and help. Every single one of us needs something that could only be provided by God himself, and that is sovereign grace and mercy.

May God work in our hearts and in our minds to humbly remind us of who we are and what we have freely received.

And if you are not someone who is a believer, if you are not a Christian, if you've not put your hope and trust in Jesus Christ, if you look at yourself and see yourself as not the worst but kind of okay, if you are curious about Jesus, but you're still kicking the tires and you're not gonna buy, if you're sitting in this room because you lost a bet,

I don't know why you're here, but if you are here, it was my hope and my prayer that if you do not believe the gospel, that today you would see your need for a

Savior, and you would see that need as being able to be fulfilled only in Jesus Christ and Christ alone, and you would look to Christ and say, have mercy upon me, a sinner.

For whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, believes in their heart that he died for their sins and that he was raised from the grave, they will be saved.

Not they might be saved, not odds are they'll be saved, not the over -unders will be saved.

There's one name under heaven by which we can be saved, and that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I have enjoyed opening

God's word with you as we kick off this week and celebrate on Good Friday that which the world would say is horrible, that we say is so good because of what he has done for us.

And so it's my hope and prayer that we would celebrate to the glory of God our Savior's death, burial, and resurrection for his glory and our good.

Father in heaven, we are so grateful that you have done this for your glory and for our good.

We are thankful for your word and the access we have to it. We are thankful that you,

God, the Holy Spirit, indwell each and every one of us who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and will be saved.

Now I ask you to do, God, what is not hard for you and what I could never do. Lord, would you personally, individually, preach, convict, speak to, weigh upon the hearts and minds of your elect your will for them.

Lord, would you help us personally apply your truth as it was generally spoken and generally proclaimed.

Would you do the great work of personal growth, conviction, encouragement, comfort, and help that we need as we leave this place today and seek to please you.

We love you and we're grateful to be called your sons and daughters. We pray this in Jesus' good name, amen.