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LaRue Baptist Church Annual Bible Conference 2024 Lost and Found (Luke 15) Choose Your Own Adventure (Luke 15.25-32) Peter LaRuffa
Good morning.
A few announces this morning. Wednesdays is normal. There's Fox. Thursday will be middle school choir and children's choir.
Friday at 7pm will be Good Friday service and then Saturday will be Men of Faith.
Next Sunday is Easter sunrise service. That will be at 7am on the green. There's normally a fire.
We have breakfast following directly after that. I know there's been a couple men asked to make breakfast.
It is still open if you would like to bring something, feel free to bring something. Looking ahead to April, the 6th, the 13th and the 27th will be the
Men of Faith as well as 6, 8am through the 2pm will be the
Red Cross Blood Drive here. And then the 10th is the semi -annual business meeting. May 4th is the
Walk for Life. There's an insert in your bulletin if you would like to register for that and get a t -shirt. I think they walk in Marysville.
And then July 21st through the 25th will be the start of, well, the 21st will be the start of VBS going through the 25th.
Good morning. Good to see you here this morning. So guys, here's what
I hear. We're responsible for the sunrise service breakfast. So I know that should just bring everybody in.
I realize that. So you need to talk to Mike Wiseman about that.
He's the guy coordinating that. Okay. So make sure you talk to him and a bunch of you guys, make sure you talk to him because I want it to be a good breakfast too, you know.
It's usually really good when the women do it. So we're used to that. By the way, if you're not used to coming to the sunrise service, just, you know, it'd be great if you'd come.
I think you'd find it a great blessing. We, like Joe said, we meet out here around the fire and have a great time of worship together.
Then we have breakfast and it's just a really, really good time. So we're anticipating
God's blessing next week as we celebrate his resurrection.
Well, we're here to worship. This is a conclusion of our Bible conference.
Pastor Peter has just ministered the word to us Friday and Saturday. And today is the last day of that.
We're anticipating God's blessings again as he comes and ministers the word. But we're here to worship then.
So let's just take the last few moments to finish our preparations for worship. Let's pray.
Dear Lord, we just thank you again for bringing us here this Sunday. Lord, I pray as Pastor Peter preaches today,
Lord, I pray that our minds would be prepared for worship. And to sing, Lord, I pray that we would take this message and use it throughout the week,
Lord. And we pray this in your son's name. Amen. Children, stop the little ones.
God has our name. He has our name.
Because of his name. Let there someone consider your name.
May it be.
So the little ones.
He has our name.
To Jesus shall he go stand up and bring their praise.
The priest in dignity tried to send them away.
But Jesus said, Thank you, Lord. Stop the little ones.
God has our name.
He has our name. Let there someone be free.
To Jesus, our prophet, our priest, and our king.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways.
For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has given the gift of him that he might be repaid?
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.
Amen. Please stand and turn your hymnals to page 206 as we sing,
Jesus, what a friend for sinners. Jesus, what a friend for sinners.
Jesus, lover of my soul.
Friends may fail me, foes assail me.
He, my Savior, takes me home.
Father, Savior, Alleluia.
Saving, helping, keeping, loving.
He is with me to the end.
Jesus, what a strength in weakness.
Let me hide myself in him.
Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing.
He, my strength, my victory.
Father, Savior, Alleluia. Saving, helping, keeping, loving.
Jesus, what a help in sorrow.
While the billows o 'er me roll.
He is bringing me my comforter.
Jesus, what a guide and keeper
I find.
Storms about me, my Lord takes me.
He, my guide, and hears my cry.
Jesus, I do now receive him.
More than all he hath rendered, he is mine.
Alleluia, Savior, Alleluia.
The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.
Let us confess our sin to the Lord. Our thrice holy God, we are witnesses to the truth that you are pure, cannot look upon evil.
We see the wicked world around us marvel at their lack of concern for the coming judgment that will put an end to all lawbreakers.
We see you thunder your anger throughout Scripture against those who love wickedness.
O God, forgive us, though, for we can bring such zeal to the sight of the prodigal son returning to the gracious arms of our
Savior. We forget that we were once like him until the goodness, loving kindness of God our
Savior appeared, in which you saved us, not for our works and righteousness, but according to your undeserved mercy.
God, forgive us that our forgetfulness caused us not to join the feasts of our
Savior for the return of a wayward sinner. People of Christ, it is good to lament our own pride that would cause us to look at our own progress in the faith and contribute to our own efforts as we look down upon the returning sinner.
Even though the Pharisees refused to come into the feast at the returning of the sinner to the fold, this does not have to be your story.
And the answer is to remember your sin and remember the love of our God and Savior and see yourself in the story of the return runaway.
Join the feasts, for in the prodigal child you do not see a distant story, but you are reminded of yourself.
Praise God for all those who are welcome to the feasts of the Lord. Let us enter and worship God for the salvation he has given to us by celebrating the same salvation in others.
Let us come before the Lord in prayer. And from that sin nature we find an abundance of sinful thoughts, words, and deeds arise from our hearts.
Lord, we know that the salvation that you have brought us to, we know the salvation to which you have brought us and so often continue to bring before our eyes to others.
Yet, we are a people of ungrateful hearts. We are a people of lazy hearts. We are a people of little faith and we are a callous people.
We have just confessed we are forgetful of the fact that we were once the prodigal son wandering about, but that you found us.
We often become nearsighted and forget that we have been cleansed from our former sins. Then, we are not grateful when others come into the same light as we once did.
We are lazy, not wishing to put effort into our thanksgiving or at most letting it be lackluster.
We are a people of little faith, inclined to think some people too far for you to reach or, if we're being honest, too far that you even would reach them.
Lastly, we can be a callous people, sometimes hardened against a person to not seek their salvation or desire it to such a small degree in our hearts.
Lord, forgive us for our sin. In Christ, blot out our transgressions according to your steadfast love and abundant mercy.
We know that in Christ all has been paid and our sins are forgiven. This was by your grace.
But now, O Lord, by that same grace, transform us into a people more like our Savior.
Create in us pure hearts and let us hear joy and gladness, even in our own salvation and in that of others.
O, that you would prod us from laziness and complacency. Deliver us and may we honor you.
In just the same, when you deliver others, may we honor you. May we all say with David, may those who love your salvation say evermore,
God be exalted. O, that you would give us thankful hearts that we would increase in joy and thanksgiving before you.
That you would give us burdened hearts for others. Convict us, we pray, and give us hearts more contrite, not less.
That we would be more broken over our sin and not less. And that you would give us a greater hatred for our sin and a greater love for you.
Lord, we ask all these things in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen. Please stand.
Turn your hymnals to page two. We sing praise to the Lord, the Almighty. All ye who hear, now to this temple draw near.
Praise Him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, who o 'er all things so wondrously jaded,
Shelters the under His wings, gave so gently sustaining.
Praise to the
Lord, who o 'er all things so wondrously jaded,
May we see the ushers please come forward.
Father, as we come to this portion of the service, I pray that you lay it upon our hearts to be mindful of the blessings you bestow upon us.
To be thankful and to be generous with them. I pray for these funds as we take them up, that you use them to benefit your kingdom.
We pray these things in your Son's name. 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.
Let's bow together in prayer. Lord God of heaven and earth, we come to you only because Jesus gave
Himself for us. On our own we'd have no right to even speak to you, for we were objects of your wrath.
But because of your great love for us, you sent Jesus. While we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Father, we thank you for such infinite love that would send the perfect lamb to die for those who do not deserve it.
But you loved us, even though we were dead in our trespasses and sins, slaves to ourselves and to the world and to Satan.
Because of your great love for us, you were merciful and we thank you for that.
Our prayer today, Father, is that we would remember how you saved us.
That we would remember that you welcomed us openly in Jesus.
That we were the prodigal. We were the ones who were reckless with our lives.
We were the ones who disdained our Father. We were the ones who chose to live in a way that we just wanted to.
And when, by your Spirit, we came to our senses, you did not condemn us.
You did not tell us, I told you so. You did not relegate us to the margins. Instead, you welcomed us as a father who loves his children.
Father, such grace is so marvelous and so wonderful. Forgive us for being so numb to that.
Remind us again that we were the prodigal and that you welcomed home. This day,
Father, we'd also pray for Grace Bible Fellowship in Washington. We thank you for the work that you have done in that church.
We pray, Father, that you would help them as they seek to reach out to their community.
Give them fruit from that, Father. We pray, Lord, for the young families in that congregation.
We pray that they would work together as the people of God in encouraging one another and helping one another as they raise their children.
We pray, Father, you would give them much grace in that. We pray for their pastors.
We pray, Father, that you would give them wisdom. Help them to shepherd the flock with that wisdom and to shepherd it well.
Father, we thank you for this congregation. We are thankful for how you, over the years, have worked here by your spirit, through your word.
We're thankful, Father, that you have raised up a people who love you.
And we beg you that you would continue your work here. That we might know the fruits of what it is to glorify
God and enjoy him. Help us now today as we worship to give ourselves in all that is part of it.
To give ourselves to you as we worship. We thank you in Jesus' name.
Please stand once more and turn your hymnals to page 94. As we sing, Praise Him, Praise Him.
Praise Him, praise Him. Jesus, our blessed
Redeemer. Sing o 'er this wonderful love proclaimed.
Hail Him, hail Him. Highest archangels in the glory.
Strength and honor Give to His holy name.
Like a shepherd, Just on scene,
Carries good all day long. Praise Him, praise
Him. Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise
Him. Ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise
Him. Jesus, our blessed Redeemer. For our sins
He suffered and bled and died. Rock our hope of eternal salvation.
Hail Him, hail Him. Jesus, the crucified.
Sound His praises. Jesus, who bore our sorrows.
Love unbounded. Wonderful, deep, and strong.
Praise Him, praise Him. Tell of His excellent greatness.
Praise Him, praise Him. Ever in joyful song.
Redeemer. Heavenly portals, Loud with hosannas ring.
Jesus, Savior, Reigneth forever and ever.
Crown Him, crown Him. Prophet and priest and king.
Christ is coming. Over the world victorious.
Power and glory Unto the Lord belong.
Praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness.
A few 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.
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 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 chapter 15.
We're going to begin in verse 25. So if you would turn there to Luke chapter 15, that's what we're going to be focusing on today in the final portion of this parable of the prodigal son.
Luke chapter 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 chapter 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 a hundred sheep, but lose one, who would not leave the 99 to go after the one that is straying?
The 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 a hundred sheep, now we have almost a hundred sheep.
Right? It's not that big a deal. We had a hundred sheep, now we have a hundred -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 ten 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 spend 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 a 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? And 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, somebody comes to your mind who is a prodigal daughter or a prodigal son or somebody who's 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, and 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 and 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. You 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 hotdogs.
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 one in Luke chapter 15, we're reminded of whom
Jesus is speaking to. Verse one says, now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him and the
Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying this man received 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 one 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's 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? 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?
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 in 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 were slaughtered. Musicians were booked.
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 presence of mind or the presence of heart to 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? He was standing at the front door and he said, 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 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, he'd like a little walk. 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. 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 our door. Sometimes we'll talk to each other kind of home improvement style over the fence or 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 I told him,
Jonathan wasn't with me, but he was present. 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 did
Mr. Steve want? He wasn't with me, but he was present. And so he asked. The fact that the older brother and so the younger brother comes home.
The father rejoiced to see him. He says, get a robe, 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?
And the fact that he asks after all of those days, what's going on shows a lack of presence of mind that he's there, but he's not present.
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 an 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 in -crew -y 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, why is there baby sentence records, right? Why is there, who's even, what's happening?
The Greek word for servants is actually one that would indicate that the person you're speaking to was young, likely pre -adolescent.
All the adults would probably be inside. And so here's this, 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 wholeness, of cleansing, 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.
What's going on? Well, your brother's come back and he's safe and sound and your father's killed a fattened cat.
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 and 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 3, verse 1, we read, And to 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 differences, 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 29. So, verse 28, rather.
He was angry, refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him. Come on, you gotta come in. Come on, 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 your command. I've never done wrong. I'm always, 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 that 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, Sarah, 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 with all this work
I'm doing for Jesus and people. Which is like, sorry, not sorry. More of a humblebrag, sorry that 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 so I shouldn't have minded 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 and holy and biblical, nice and stuff.
So that in my mind, I could think of 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 you 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 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 a hot streak.
When was the last time you were wrong? 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 a hot streak and you're doing so great. It's because you're self -aware.
If 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.
And 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 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 has 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. And 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 and 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. 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 girl that I might celebrate with my friends.
Instead of being hangry, hangry, you like that? He's not hangry. Maybe he was hangry, but instead of being angry or vice versa, instead of being happy 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 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, the fact that they are brothers, the fact that they are family, immaterial, irrelevant.
It's what he did, it's what he did, and then 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? He's come home, we celebrate, sing a hymn, eat some veal.
What a great day. But 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.
It's like, come on, Jesus, you've 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?
Like it just makes sense. Like, hey, you're my son, everything that I have is yours, but look at what happened to your brother.
And I just kind of, 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've, that's how I pictured it when I heard it, like, you know, kind of,
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 flashback 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, 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, 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, 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, that'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 two, and the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to put him to death.
John five in verse 18, this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. John seven in verse one, he would not go about in Judea because the
Jews were seeking to kill him. John eight 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 eight and 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,
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, I've 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, 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 do we want, 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 going to 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. Would you please stand.
Turn your hymnals to page 180 as we sing, And Can It Be. Amazing love, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me. Amazing love, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me. So free, so infinite his grace,
And he himself was all his love,
And had unselfish grace.
Tis mercy on him and set free,
For all my God, if thou wilt be.
Amazing love, how fair the star for me.
All my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature's light.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I hoped the dungeon flamed with light.
I changed the law, my heart was free,
I rose before the King.
Amazing love, how can it be,
That should die for me. No condemnation now
I dread, Jesus and all in his might.
Alive in him, righteousness divine.
O I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the Christ my own.
Amazing love, should die for me.
Would you take your bulletins? Say, profess together repentance to life and salvation.
This saving repentance is a gospel grace in which those who are made aware by the
Holy Spirit of the many evils of their sin, by faith in Christ, humble themselves for it with godly sorrow, hatred of it, and self -loathing.
They pray for pardon and strength of grace and determine and endeavor by provisions of the
Spirit to live before God in a well -pleasing way in everything. You may be seated.
As we come to this table now, we're reminded exactly of what we've heard.
We're the prodigal. We're the ones who have lived recklessly in defiance of God, in defiance of all that God has called us to do.
And yet when we return, right, what does the Father do? He welcomes us. He welcomes us.
What does Jesus do? He paid for us so that the Father could welcome us.
And so that's why we come to this table now, to celebrate the fact that God, in His grace, accepts us.
Again, not because of what we've done. Not because we say, I'll do better. But instead, because we just humble ourselves and say,
God, I have no hope. Jesus is it. I often say to folks, if I stand before God and He says, why should
I let you enjoy glory? I'll say, Him, and point to Jesus.
That's all I got. That's all I need. So as we come to this table, we're here to celebrate what
Jesus has done for us. Now the scriptures have told us when we come to this table, those who have believed in Jesus and who have expressed that faith in baptism.
So those that can say that are welcome to the table. Those who say, well, I'm not welcome to the table,
I say to you, then come and talk to us about that. We want to tell you more about this
Jesus who saves us. So if you come to this table, remember, it is
Jesus who took upon Himself our guilt and our shame so that we could be acceptable to God and loved by God unreservedly.
If you would take the inserts in your bulletin, we will sing the first two verses of the communion together.
In Jesus' name, let all who come in faith find forgiveness at the cross.
So we share in His bread of life, and we drink of His sacrifice as a sign of peace.
Around the table of the King, the body of our
Savior Jesus Christ, torn for you.
He then remembered the wounds that healed, the death that brings us life, paid the price to make us one.
So we share in His bread, and we drink of His sacrifice as a sign of peace.
Around the table of the
King, the body of our
Every stain of sin shed for you to drink and remember.
We drink this cup that you'll be entering to receive the life of God.
Around the table of the King, and so with thankfulness and faith we rise to respond.
And to remember our call to follow in the steps of Christ as His body here on earth.
As we share in His suffering, we proclaim in the
Feast of Heaven. Around the table of the
King. Faithful Savior, our
Savior who took on flesh and bore the punishment that our sins demanded.
Our Savior who for the joys set before you endured the cross, despised the nation, is now seated at your right hand.
We are driven to thankfulness. Father we thank you now that by your sovereign mercy you have selected each of us and joined us all to Jesus Christ.
And it is Him we celebrate at this table. Again on that he was betrayed,
Jesus took the cup and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.
Let's stand and sing the gospel. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen. Blessed is he whose hope is in the
Lord his God. He who keeps faith forever. Who executes justice for the oppressed.
Who gives food to the hungry. Who sets the prisoners free. Who opens the eyes of the blind. Who lifts up those who are bowed down.
Who loves the righteous. Who watches over the sojourners. Who upholds the widow and the fatherless.