The Freedom of Grace (Luke 15)

Kootenai Church

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It is my pleasure now to introduce to you our guest preacher for this morning, Evan Burns.

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Evan contacted me several weeks ago and said he was gonna be here while he is in the area on a brief furlough.

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And he said, I would be willing to preach if you need that. And it providentially worked out that it was a Sunday after my wife and I were planning to go to Canada to see her family for the first time that we've been up there in four years.

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So I took him up on that, not just for that reason, but also because I want you to become familiar with Evan and his ministry and what he does, because it's my hope and intention that we will add him to our list of missionaries that our church supports here within the next year.

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Evan is a missionary in the Middle East, or has been a missionary in the Middle East, in East Asia and in Alaska.

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He trains indigenous pastors and missionaries and translates theological resources. You may remember him.

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He was here about a year ago last May, and he took a Sunday morning and preached on Elijah, the prophet

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Elijah, and that event in Elijah's life. He looks a lot like Jason Statham. He gets sometimes commented on that.

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I guess you'd call that a compliment, a complimented on that. He's the one, do you remember, speaks a number of different languages, far more languages like seven or eight or something like that.

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I told him I wasn't gonna mention it, but I asked him how fluently, and he said, probably more fluently than a lot of people in Sandpoint can speak multiple languages, which means far more fluently than people in Clark Fork can speak

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English. Evan is the author of The Missionary Theologian.

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That was the first book of his that I read, The Missionary Theologian, and this last year,

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I read Seeds and Stars, which was just recently published, and in last month's issue, or sorry, this month,

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I guess it's June's issue of the Kootenai Communicator, there is a brief review of that book that I published in that article.

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He's also the author of Ancient Gospel, Brave New World, seven different books, and one of them on the missionary life and spirituality of Adoniram Judson.

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I would commend anything that Evan has written on any of those subjects, particularly his stuff on Adoniram Judson, which is very good.

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He has a love for theology and sound doctrine and apologetics and applying those to the mission field, to missions.

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His niche is a theology of missions, which I appreciate, because typically, missions and ministries are relief -driven or compassion -driven, meaning that the emphasis of many ministries and missions overseas is simply going and doing good things for people without bringing the gospel to bear, and that's not what

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Evan is about. Evan is about taking theology, sound doctrine, and apologetics, and fighting false doctrine on the mission field and training indigenous pastors to think theologically and discerningly about missions and ministry in missions.

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We became friends two years ago. He was here a year ago and spoke, and so it is my joy and delight to introduce him to you.

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I would encourage you to sign up for his ministry newsletter out on the table in the foyer. You can look at the books, some of the books that he has written.

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He's brought those there. You can go through those there and also sign up to receive his email updates. So with that,

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I want to, it is my joy to welcome Evan Burns to share the word with us. Be here again, and I always love to be with the people of God who love the word, and there's no hiding that when

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I come visit this church and with Pastor Jim, and let's pray. Our Father, we are overwhelmed with your grace and your kindness towards us.

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Would you please remind us this morning of your great love for us in Christ, and may our hearts be enlarged to run in the way of your commandments.

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Would you open our eyes to see wonderful things in your law, in Jesus' name, amen.

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So my boys and I, we serve in Northern Thailand. I'm a seminary professor there, and that's what

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I do formally with the Thai Department of Education, but non -formally,

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I train Hill Tribes pastors and missionaries. Most of the people I work with are Burmese missionaries to Northern Thailand, and I do a variety of different theological resource development projects for the various minority language groups that don't have any resources, truly, in their languages.

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In the Thai Bible, which is kind of the standard language for many of those people, though some of them don't even speak

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Thai, they're that remote. They speak their Hill Tribe language only. So in the

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Thai Bible, though, one of the main translations, they translate justification and sanctification as the same word, which you might, if you tease that out a little bit, you can kind of imagine how much theological frustration and knots that ties up for people, because in a way, it's part of the

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Galatian controversy is smashing together, conflating justification and sanctification, and so there's a lot of issues derived from that confusion that, to be sure, will keep me busy the rest of my life.

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I mean, I hope to die in Northern Thailand someday and be buried there. I mean, there's enough work to be done.

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I'll never have a boring day. There's just so much legalism, there's so much confusion, and there's so much flattening of law in gospel, and this message

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I'm gonna preach this morning is an example of something I might go through with the

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Hill Tribes pastors or the different churches I speak in, trying to drop seeds of good news into their souls, because a lot of them, just like us,

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I mean, it's a human problem, but it's especially a problem for karmic background believers.

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They labor still under the burden of a works -righteousness system. They might be evangelical enough to say, well, we believe that we are saved by grace through faith alone in Christ alone.

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I mean, maybe, they might have that sort of verbiage. However, they go on to say, well, we maintain, keep

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God's favor with us by being good enough, which then the question is, when is enough enough?

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How do you know you've been good enough? How do you know you've achieved a righteous standing with God to maintain blessing?

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So I have a book coming out in August called Karmic Christianity, and it's the idea of helping people rest in the peace of the gospel through faith alone.

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And a lot of the problems we all face probably in our sanctification and our

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Christian growth is very karmic -like, where it's kind of a contractual, transactional relationship with the

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Lord, a kind of a tit -for -tat religion where you do this, you get this. If you don't do this, you don't get this.

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It's kind of like Job's friends. They're always counseling Job about some secret sin which caused his suffering.

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And so look for that in August. But this message on the prodigal son is something

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I would give to teach Bible study methods to pastors and to teach a theology of grace, a theology of God's electing grace and God's sustaining grace.

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So my main point, if you're listening for a main point, and if somebody were to ask you who didn't attend the service this morning and said, what was the sermon about, was the main point is this.

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Do not resist or replace God's grace. Do not resist or replace

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God's grace. And as I was thinking about this,

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I was thinking about a conversation I had 20 years ago when

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I was working in an urban setting with a ministry to male prostitutes.

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And one conversation I had with a worker, a man on the street that I was working with, his name, not his real name, but his name for this message is

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Jamie. He said he would often quote, the 1960s hit song, people everywhere just wanna be free.

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And he was one of the many men on the streets that I was sharing the gospel with, reaching out to.

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Our conversation in this instance revolved around his regrets and wrongs he had committed and the freedom he sought from his past choices.

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He explained to me that many men on the streets like him were just like him.

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They sought escape through drugs, self -discovery, self -expression, which evolved into unrestrained erotic liberty.

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And he told me one story of a lawyer from the suburbs of this city who had a secret gambling addiction.

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And he was wanting to get away from the grind of work and be carefree. So he and his colleagues would fly to Las Vegas for a weekend.

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And there one weekend, he tragically squandered all of his children's college savings, thrust him into deep suicidal emotions, guilt, regret, plagued this man.

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And in a frantic quest for financial help, he learned he could make money selling his body on the streets.

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And after returning to the city, the lawyer met up with Jamie and connected with this male prostitution network.

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And so night after night, he worked for thousands of dollars and he was able to save up for his college, his kids' college savings, but then to sedate the enslaving grief and guilt, cocaine and heroin became his weekend getaway.

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He'd fly high and crash harder. He was imprisoned to a cycle of a desire to be free, always feeling trapped.

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And Jamie would describe this cycle as slavery. He said, we all know we're guilty of bad choices for ourselves.

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And there's a lot of bad people who have done us wrong too. We're all bad. We're just trying to find freedom back to our true selves again.

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And I thought staying out of jail would be good enough, but now I'm just trying to get free from my life choices and find myself and be really free.

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And in this example, Jamie and the lawyer, they both knew something was wrong with them. Their sinful choices led them to slavery, dreadful slavery, to more bad choices.

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In their interpretation of reality, in their interpretation of reality, they were slaves to bad choices.

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They knew no peace, only fear of never ending servitude.

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They experienced the objective reality of their guilt in a broad range of emotions, but most commonly they described it as being stuck or trapped.

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But we all know as Christians, there's more to it than this. It's not just slavery to bad choices and consequences of bad choices.

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See the instinct that we're all in bondage is common to the human experience.

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It's unmistakable even in the created order. Paul says in Romans 8, 19, he says, "'For the creation waits with eager longing "'for the revealing of the sons of God, "'for the creation was subjected to futility, "'not willingly, but because of him who subjected it "'in hope that the creation itself will be set free "'from its bondage to corruption, "'to obtain the freedom of the glory "'of the children of God.'"

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See under the curse, every birth will have its death, every love story will have its heartache, every parent will have their regret, every majestic volcano has its devastating eruption, and every technological breakthrough fades into obsolescence.

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Eternity is in our hearts and we've grown for the freedom of Eden. See God made us to love goodness, truth, beauty, freedom, peace, and honor, and in bondage to sin, not bondage to bad choices, but bondage to sin, corruption, and condemnation in Adam, the human heart creates its own ideologies to follow.

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And those ideologies are typically whatever that person trusts to be the source of his perceived freedom.

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So everybody feels trapped to some degree, misdiagnosing it, calling it something else, some social sin, but truly it's bondage to Adam's condemnation and corruption, and then people are always trying to get freedom from it.

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They always provide a code to follow, a wage to merit, a condition to meet.

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People want to be free so they will do what is right in their own eyes to get themselves free.

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What might appear to be lawlessness or rebelliousness like the life that Jamie and the lawyer were living is sometimes actually just a new law in disguise.

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The Bible describes this as everybody doing what is right in their own eyes. Lawlessness is essentially everyone making innovative laws of their own.

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Therefore, they might celebrate the freedom to be sure, they are slaves though to the new laws of their supposed free will.

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For rebellious sinners, they might heed laws like this.

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For example, do this and you'll be free and happy. Don't do that or you'll be trapped and depressed.

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Move to Portland, unmask your inner self, leave your hometown and you'll be no longer confined to the way things have always been for you.

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See, the selling point or the shtick of the spirit of the age, it deals lifestyle drugs as it were for the restless heart hung over with chasing the wind.

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Saying things like, listen to your heart, follow your dreams, travel the world, imagine, be brave, choose your own identity, express yourself, believe in yourself, just be free.

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And yet, they suffer their entertaining addictions bullying them mercilessly.

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And the Holy Spirit through Paul says, do you not know that if you present yourself to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey?

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Either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.

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See, all humans, we all have an internal code to obey that supposedly guarantees freedom.

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And then, so those are the rebellious sinners and then we have religious sinners, which

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I would assume many of us might struggle with at times, we can be like Aaron's sons,

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Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10. As young priests to God, Nadab and Abihu added unauthorized fire on the altar of God, a fire that God never commanded and God struck them dead.

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The problem was not that they went against God's word, it's just that they went above and beyond God's word.

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They, in other words, they got creative, they got efficient, got casual with God's word.

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They didn't read the scriptures, they just did what they thought was best. They presumed and took

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God's and his word casually and in their lack of seriousness and sobriety and reverence, they went beyond what is written and they paid for it with their lives because God holds religious leaders to a much higher standard.

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Religious sinners like Nadab and Abihu might heed two different kinds of words, two different kinds of laws, this is just as examples.

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There's sometimes, for some of us as Christians, sometimes there's nice laws because you want to be nice.

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Maybe you're a people pleaser, maybe you're afraid of conflict and so people who like to create and follow nice laws say things like this.

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Whatever you do, just make sure people are happy. If you don't get busy at church, people will think that you're not committed to God.

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Don't be controversial with theology. Harmony is the most important thing. Focus on Jesus, not doctrine.

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Listen to what the people want, not what the Bible says. Do what works, not what's right.

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Be nice like Jesus, not argumentative like Paul. These are the innovative laws of religious sinners who justify themselves by their niceness.

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And then alternatively, there's another group. There are those people who follow right laws because they want to be in control.

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A lot of times these are like narcissists or those who lead with insecurity. They say things like this.

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Whatever you do, make sure people are obedient. If you don't get others busy at church,

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God's not gonna bless your ministry. Don't be too gracious, the truth is offensive.

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True prophets focus on truth, false prophets talk about love. God is mad at sinners and you should be too.

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Make sure people know that you're in control and these are the innovative laws of religious sinners who will justify themselves by their rightness.

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So it leads us to a gospel study of anti -grace sons.

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In the story of the prodigal son from Luke 15, the main point highlights that Jesus warmly welcomes guilty sinners, ashamed, fearful, enslaved, weakened by sin to rest in his unchanging, immutable love and lavish grace for them.

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So to start understanding the main point of the story of the prodigal son, we need to see how it fits into the preceding literary context.

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So it's not just a parable thrown in there, it comes in order of something else.

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The beginning of Luke 15 says this. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him and the

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

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Jesus receives stiff criticism for welcoming detestable sinners and even enjoying a meal with them.

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It was a hospitable act of goodwill. The next verse explains Jesus's response to the accusation from these self -righteous religious leaders.

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He says this, or he says this, so he told them this parable. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?

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So he goes on to teach three parables in a row. These parables are his response, his retort to the people who are confidently trusting in their own personal righteousness and rejecting

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Jesus's indiscriminate free offer of salvation to the guilty. He counters the self -righteous

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Jews' contention that these wicked, unrepentant Gentiles were neither good enough nor ready to receive the offer of redeeming grace.

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So he wants to explain his eagerness to search out, to rescue, and to welcome home sinners who would never be good enough.

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So the first story, it describes a shepherd who lost one sheep, and then of 100, he goes out and searches until he finds it.

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And then on finding that lost sheep, the shepherd rejoices and invites his neighbors to rejoice with him.

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The shepherd celebrated one rescued sheep, even in light of the 99 remaining.

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And then there's a second story. That's of a woman who owns 10 silver coins and loses one.

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After scouring the house and finding it, she rejoices and invites her friends to celebrate with her.

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The woman delighted in one recovered coin despite the nine remaining.

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So in both of these parables, there's a pattern. There's a literary pattern going on. Something valuable is lost.

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There's a search for it. It's found, and there's a celebration. But in the parable of the prodigal son, which comes next, something's missing.

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The pattern's broken. For those of you who know the story, you know the son is lost.

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The son is found. There's a celebration. But the pattern that's missing is there's no search party.

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This is a literary clue. You're doing Bible study methods or hermeneutics, it's a literary clue for interpreting that parable.

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It goes like this, verse 11. And he said, there was a man who had two sons.

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And the younger of them said to the father, Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.

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And he divided the property between them. So here is a patriarch of two sons. The younger son first strays in his heart while living under the benevolent rule of his father.

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This wayward son demands his share of the father's inheritance. And what does that mean?

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When is an inheritance payable in this culture? Upon the death of the father. In other words, the younger son, so self -loving that he would disgrace his father to his face in the company of the family in the village.

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He essentially says to his dad, Dad, I wish you were dead. I want your estate, your assets now.

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So guilty of high treason against the ethical code of the family legacy and against the father himself, the son becomes a stain upon the father's family's name.

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And so surging with wanderlust, the younger son, he creates his own code, his own law for the good life.

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Do enough to honor myself. I will do this through exercising my own strength in fearless, unbridled, self -made freedom.

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And he trusts that he could do enough to achieve the life that he didn't wanna wait for, the life that he always wanted.

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Verse 13, not many days later, the young son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country.

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And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need.

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So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the fields to feed pigs.

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And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything.

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So this young man is carousing anonymously in a distant country. He fritters away all his inheritance in licentious and loose living.

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He found himself trapped in his own guilty prison. And at the same time, there's a famine in the land.

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Hardship is fast on his trail. He is impoverished in a making of his own.

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He has no peace, no strength, no honor, and no escape. In verse 17, it says, he came to himself.

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He said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger.

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He had confused unrestrained autonomy with quote unquote freedom.

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The young man, he then finally comes to terms with his bondage to sin. His fear of starving to death forces him to do what?

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He takes a job on a pig farm, which is quite a humiliating position.

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He's so hungry that he asked to be fed with the food, the slop that the pigs are eating.

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Even then, the pig farmers strangely refuse to let him eat with the swine.

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This is a literary commentary on how bad his position is. His condition is so bad that they treat him worse than pigs.

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He finds himself in a state more shameful, more fearful, more trapped, more vulnerable than a pig that has been fattened for slaughter.

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In verse 18, he says, I will arise and go to my father. And I'll say to him, father,

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I have sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.

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So the young man, he remembers his father's hired servants have more than enough food to eat.

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It's this memory of his father's lavish kindness that first sparks his inclination to repent.

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It was the kindness of his father that leads him to repentance. My father's servants enjoy the blessings of his benevolent rule, but here

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I am stuck in my own self -made poverty. I am afraid,

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I'm humiliated, but there I know I can find rest. And when he had enough sense, he got out of his pigsty, he devised a plan to pacify his father's displeasure.

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He would admit his guilt, his unworthiness, and he knew that the blessings of enjoying honor and peace and freedom and strength in his father's house grew out of a right standing relationship with the father.

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He thought to himself, if I could just admit my guilt to my father, maybe he'll pardon me.

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And then if I could prove to him that I am a good enough servant and worthy of his approval, maybe then

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I could attain his blessings and maintain his favor. So he prepares himself to work for his father as a hired servant.

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The son, he perfects a perfect monologue. Every word scripted, every intonation flawless, body language all rehearsed.

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He saw himself as now a servant and not a son.

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It's like us, isn't it? Always trying to make it up to God, do better next time so that God will really be happy with us.

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In verse 20, it says he arose and he went to his father. But while he was a long way off, his father saw him, felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

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So wondering if his act will work, he draws close to the village. The son witnessed something he never would have imagined.

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While he was a long way off, the father sees him. The father had been looking out for him.

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And just as a shepherd searches out a sheep and a woman seeks out a lost coin, so the father scans the horizon, as it were, for any semblance of his returning son.

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And far away, before the son had an opportunity to admit his guilt, perform his speech, and offer his service for the father's blessings, the father surges with compassion.

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The family and neighbors likely anticipating a judicious, impartial response from this distinguished patriarch, yet he doesn't turn his back on the son.

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He doesn't walk slowly in an austere manner, seeking to kind of thumb his nose at the returning son.

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There's no dismissal. There's no reprimanding. There's no rebuke.

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There's nothing, none of it, nothing at all. It seems as though the father wishes to cast no stones.

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And then, to the embarrassment, chagrin, of anyone observing, to run that far out into the field, he would pull up his dignified robe, revealing his bare shins and running like a silly child into the distance.

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And after embracing and kissing his son, father doesn't even mention the son's odor to cover the son's embarrassment.

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The father became an embarrassment himself. And all this to woo and to welcome home a beloved sinner whom he loved so much.

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In verse 21, the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

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See, the son utters his contrived confession of rededication of a lifetime of allegiance to his father.

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However, the father with bright eyes, as it were, would say, I am merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

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I will not always chide, nor will I keep my anger forever. I will not deal with you according to your sins, nor repay you according to your iniquities.

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For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is my steadfast love for my children.

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And there, in that moment, the young man realizes he had never truly known the kindness of his father.

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Though he thought his act of rededication would gain back his father's blessings, he discovered something far richer.

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The son discovered that the father himself is his great reward. Just knowing his father alone was now enough for the son.

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It was as though the scales had fallen off his eyes. He felt born again.

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At once, he confessed his shameful guilt and rested in his father's free grace.

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And then peace did away with his fear, and the son was finally free, free indeed.

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And in verse 22, it says, but the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

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For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began to celebrate.

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And the father ordered his servants immediately to adorn his son with his own royal robe, his ring, and his shoes.

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In this royal, privileged recognition, the father imputes to the son all the rights and the privileges of a pleasing firstborn heir, which belongs to the elder brother.

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The father took away the son's guilt and clothed him in his own illustrious robe. The lavish grace that seemed like a father's failure to punish a traitor turned out to be, that lavish grace turned out to be the most famous display of his glory.

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This was an occasion for celebration. And as they come in together to the homecoming, the young man quietly contemplates, just imagine the love of his father, saying to himself, forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, and who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

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And then verse 25, now his older son was in the field, and he came out and drew near to the house, and he heard music and dancing, and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

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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.

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But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, look, these many years

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I have served you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I may celebrate with my friends.

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

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So to some, this benevolence reeked worse than the younger son's old clothes.

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The father's grace is a fragrance of life to the young son, but it is a stench of death to the father's eldest son.

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Hearing of this older son's refusal to celebrate, the father leaves his dinner guests and searches out his eldest son in the field.

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Notice, the father searches out the religious sinner, even here. Everyone noticed when the father rose and went out to plead with him to join the party, the defiant son spews out this retort for everybody to hear,

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I've been loyal all these years, doing exactly what I'm supposed to do, and surely I deserve your blessings and approval far more than my decadent brother ever can.

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I'm the rightful heir, I deserve this. You treated my younger brother better than me. And so in this, the elder brother demonstrates his own guilt of not loving and not esteeming his father more than himself.

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Just as his younger brother had done, the older brother reveals what's in his heart. He was trusting that he was good enough to earn and keep his father's blessings.

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Here's some observations about the religious sinner. Like the younger brother, the elder brother has lost any sense of sonship.

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He sees himself as a servant or a slave. All these years, I have been slaving for you, he says.

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The rebellious son went out of his father's house because of his disobedience.

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Because of his disobedience, he leaves the father's house. The religious son was out of his father's house because of his obedience.

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I've never disobeyed your orders. Like the younger brother, the elder son wants the father's stuff too, but in his own way, according to a different law, a different code.

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You never even gave me a young goat, implying I deserve this. I've done what's right. The elder brother disowns the younger brother.

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This son of yours is not a brother of mine. This son of yours, he accuses his father of playing favorites.

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Your son squandered your property with prostitutes and comes home and you killed the fattened calf for him.

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But in verse 31, he said to him, son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours.

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

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He's lost and is found. See, the father, the patriarch, he doesn't seem concerned to defend his reputation in front of his party as though they got something wrong, that they misunderstood who he really was.

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He just warmly entreats his son to return to the festivities and to enjoy the bounty.

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He reminds him, you've always been with me. I've never left you. All that I have is yours.

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It's my good pleasure to give you all my estate. You don't earn this. I give it to you.

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In other words, fear not little flock, for it is the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

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They returned to the party and both the rebellious and religious sons received an equally joyful reception.

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They both realized that they could receive and rest in the father's goodwill.

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They never heard again mention of their guilt. And they only received blessings as if they were always pleasing and righteous sons.

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As far as the East is from the West, so the father took away their guilt and all its consequences. And ultimately his name received the glory because of his immeasurable riches, of his grace and lavish kindness on his lawless and legalistic prodigal sons.

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Acknowledging the failure of the elder brother allows us to see that a person can be a so -called prodigal in two different ways.

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One, through rebellion. Give me my share of the inheritance, lost away from the home, much like a lost sheep.

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Or they can be a prodigal through obedience, self -righteous obedience.

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All these years I have slaved for you and never disobeyed your orders. Lost at home, just like a lost coin.

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Notice both the sons see themselves as not sons, as servants or slaves.

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The younger brother returns home to work as a hired slave or hired servant. The elder brother complains all these years,

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I've been your slave, I've slaved for you. In each case, the father asserts and demonstrates their sonship, emphasizing the grace of sonship.

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There's nothing they can do to earn or lose the father's love for them. This is why

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Jesus opens the three parables with the following sentiment, which one of you wouldn't go looking for that which is valuable?

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And this is the point. This is the point being driven home. This is exactly the failure of Israel's religious establishment.

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These so -called shepherds of Israel have not looked after the sheep. They have not shepherded the people with God's word like Nadab and Abihu.

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They did what was right in their own eyes. They got creative. They added to the word of God.

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They are the elder brother who failed to go after the younger brother and bring him home.

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They were the failed search party. In the Old Testament, Ezekiel proclaims harsh words from Yahweh for those shepherds who failed their duty by feeding only themselves and promised that the

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Lord himself, the Lord himself would be the one to search out and shepherd his sheep. In Ezekiel 34, seven or 34, 11 says, for thus says the

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Lord God, behold, I myself will search for my sheep and I myself will seek them out.

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I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep and I myself will make them lie down declares the

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Lord. I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strayed and I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak who then is the true elder brother who will leave the comfort and glory of his father's house to rescue sinners.

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Jesus. Jesus is the one who leaves the glory and sanctuary of his father's presence to rescue rebellious and religious prodigals like us.

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It unveils, this parable unveils the dark heart of these two different kinds of guilty sinners. The wayward son strikes out on his own seeking the good life through self -mastery, trusting in his own ability to keep his moral code.

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He did it his way. His code was a law of himself and in himself.

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His aim, to live his best life now. And the older son, he trusted in his loyalty to the father.

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He sought the good life through self -righteous obedience. His code was a law by himself and for himself.

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His aim, to obey just enough and live a life of allegiance to his father so as to achieve future approval and blessing.

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They were both in effect legalists at heart.

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The younger son is guilty of trusting in his own self -made code and the older son is guilty in trusting in a prescribed code.

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Neither trusts in grace. They both trust in their ability to keep a code. This story is not mainly about reaping what you sow, though that's there.

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It's not mainly an account warning against stingy, cold -hearted perfectionism, though that's there.

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It's not mainly about those things though. This is not a tale of a religious son versus a rebellious son, though that's there.

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It's not mainly that though. Lawlessness and legalism are not at odds.

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They're not antithetical to one another. In fact, they're more alike than they are different.

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Well, how so? What does that mean? They're more alike in that they are opposed to grace.

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They're both antithetical to grace. That's the point. The legalist seeks to avoid lawlessness by using the fear of breaking

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God's law to promote obedience and produce holiness.

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And the lawless one avoids legalism.

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People who go out of the church, they don't wanna be like those legalistic Christians. They avoid legalism and they use pleasure to spurn obedience to God's law to produce happiness.

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They are alike in that they both want to achieve the good life or blessing.

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They are similar in that they will neither, neither of them will gratefully, happily rest in God's sufficient grace.

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They're always adding on. They're always trying to achieve what grace promises. They're always trying to achieve by themselves.

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Fundamentally, this parable displays the indiscriminately searching, saving, loving grace of Jesus Christ.

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His grace is good news for the guilty who strive to do what is right in their own eyes.

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His grace is good news for all who are never good enough. The Pharisees were precisely correct in their accusation of Jesus.

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Jesus receives sinners and he still does.

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When we trust in him alone, he gives the gift of himself. He offers his righteousness and all his blessings to both the never satisfied enough, self -indulgent lawbreaker and to the never good enough, self -justifying legalist.

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Jesus welcomes all. All that you desire more, he has achieved on the cross for you.

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Trust him, turn to him, cease striving and rest in his kindness. He alone is enough for you.

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For the weary religious prodigals hearing this and those wayward rebellious prodigals who've never received the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is a

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God in heaven, rich in mercy. He loves sinners in this way because of God's eternal love for us.

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While we were yet shameful, fearful, helpless and enslaved to sin, God satisfied his wrath on Jesus Christ for our guilt and Christ rose from the dead for our justification so that for all who are united to Christ, when we heartily trust in Christ alone,

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God takes away our guilt and imputes upon us the perfect righteousness of Christ and he reconciles us to himself, establishing peace and he adopts us into his family, crowning us with the honor of his beloved firstborn son and he sets our hearts free from sin's captivity so that we can love him with all our strength and then he empowers us to walk in his spirit, in gratitude, eagerly hoping in the return of the king.

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Christ is our savior king. His is a benevolent dominion.

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This is the gospel of sovereign grace. We dare not add to it and we dare not take away from it.

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Here's my final plea for those of us who resist grace with rebellious hearts and for those of us who replace grace with religious hearts.

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If you would know the smile of God and not the scowl of God over your soul forever and eternity, do not resist or replace

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God's grace. If you would make a difference in the lives of the people you shepherd, do not resist or replace

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God's grace. If you would lay your head down at night and rest assured that God accepts and adores your service in Christ, though your best is truly never good enough, do not resist or replace

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God's grace. If you would pass on a godly legacy to your children that could last generations, do not resist or replace

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God's grace. If you would be honored as royalty in heaven and on the new earth, do not resist or replace

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God's grace. If you would know the peace that the world cannot give but only

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Christ can give that surpasses all understanding, do not resist or replace

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God's grace. And if you would die tragically this week and fly into eternity without a second chance, and if you would know the security of 10 ,000 ages of joy and rest and love and inheritance so wonderful that no earthly language can sufficiently describe it and the best part of all is that it's the truest of true stories, and if you would live happily ever after in the joy of your master, do not resist or replace

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God's grace. Our Father in heaven, how great is your love for those who fear you, and you will not always chide nor keep your anger forever.

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But as a father shows compassion upon his children, so you show compassion upon us.

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Would you please stamp these truths on our hearts, may we not resist or replace your lavish grace in Jesus Christ.