Book of Luke - Ch. 15, Vs. 1-32 (08/30/2020)

Well, welcome, everybody. It's good to see actual live people today.

And we are beginning what is our sixth month of the coronavirus and a partial shutdown.

But now we're back in church with real people. And we have people on the internet too,

I'm sure. And we are happy to see you all. Let's pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.

And thank you for all our many blessings. Bless us and keep us. Give us the message that you want to be delivered and let the people in the audience get the message that they need to receive.

We know the Holy Spirit is in control of everything. And what we do will be aligned according to His will.

Bless us and keep us. Go through all the services with us today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

We are still in Luke chapter 15. And I thought it would be wise to go back to the beginning and read the first of it and see what it was that we're dealing with.

Luke 15 verse 1. Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.

And he spake this parable unto them, saying, All right, keep in mind, it was the murmuring of the scribes and Pharisees that led to this trilogy of parables in the first place.

So keep in mind why Jesus is delivering these parables.

The first parable that he dealt with is the parable of the lost sheep. We dealt with that last Sunday. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it?

And when he had found it, he left it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

And when he cometh home, he calleth together his neighbors and friends, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost.

I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

We talked about those just people that need no repentance last week. We're not going to do that again.

Now we get to verse eight and the second parable. Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it?

And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying,

Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost. Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

So in both cases, there's not only joy on the earth, there's joy in heaven. And now we get to the third of the trilogy of parables.

The parable of the lost son. A lot of people call this the parable of the prodigal son.

I purposely didn't call it that because I'm not sure which son is the prodigal son.

You'll see as we go forward. And he said, this is

Jesus talking, a certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father,

Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

Now, before we dive into this final parable, I want to look at some things that are common to all three.

In all three parables, something or someone is lost.

In the first parable, it was a sheep. In the second parable, it was a coin. And in the third parable, it was a younger son.

The second thing they all have in common is someone is looking for whatever it was that was lost.

The shepherd was looking for the sheep. The woman was looking for the coin. And the father was looking for his younger son.

The third thing they all have in common is whatever is being looked for is found. The shepherd finds the sheep.

The woman finds the coin. And the father finds his younger son. The fourth thing they all have in common is after that which was lost is found, there is celebration coupled with joy in heaven.

The fifth thing that they all have in common is there's something or someone that's not lost.

The 99 sheep weren't lost. The nine coins were not lost. And the elder son was not lost.

Because these are not lost, no one's looking for them. And because no one's looking for them, they're never found.

And because they're not found, there's no celebration, nor is there any joy over their being found.

So now we're going to dive into the final parable. And he said a certain man had two sons.

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

And he divided unto them his living. John MacArthur said this.

That was a shocking request, tantamount to saying he wished his father were dead.

He was not entitled to any inheritance while his father still lived. Yet the father graciously fulfilled the request, giving him his full portion, which would have been one third of his entire estate, because the rights of the firstborn gave the older brother a double portion.

MacArthur says this act pictures all sinners related to God, the Father, by creation, who waste their potential privileges and refuse any relationship with him, choosing instead a life of sinful self -indulgence.

Now, I feel compelled to add this. Not all sinners. Unlike this younger son, some never come to their senses.

Some have no potential privileges to waste. Some were never truly sons of his father.

And some will never come into fellowship with him. So there are some that will never be in fellowship with God.

Remember when Jesus says, depart from me, I never knew you. Verse 13.

And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country.

And there he wasted his substance with riotous living. This sinner, this younger son, did have potential privileges to waste.

And waste them he did. It was bad enough that he wasted his substance. But there's something worse than that.

He wasted the one inelastic commodity that he had. He wasted time.

The one thing that he couldn't replace. He lost time in fellowship with his father.

Time he could never recover. But there came a time when he recovered something.

He recovered his senses. And when he did, he returned to his father to ask for forgiveness.

Only to discover that he had already been forgiven. What a loss.

As we continue through this parable, keep in mind, he could have returned at any time.

The only thing that kept him from returning to his father was his desire to do so.

Verse 14. And when he had spent all, he's in bad shape now, he doesn't have anything.

When he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine. In that land, and he began to be unwant.

Sometimes one has to hit rock bottom before they make any effort to change their life.

And that's the case here. He went from bad to worse. He had wasted all his substance.

And there he was. No money. No food. No friends.

But remember, he could have returned to his father now.

But he didn't want to. Instead, he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, the country he was staying in.

And the citizen sent him into the field to feed his swine. So rather than going to the father, returning to his father, he chose to become a servant of a citizen in the country that he was dwelling.

His job was to tend the pigs. Pigs were unclean animals.

You wonder why he made that decision. Because he wanted to.

Brother Otis always said, we always do what we want to do. I put on a little additive, if we're able to do it.

There's some things that we want to do that we can't do because we're not able. Verse 16.

And he would then have filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him.

The husk that the swine ate were probably carob pots that the pigs could eat, but humans couldn't.

Well, maybe humans could eat them, but even if they could eat them, they couldn't digest them.

In other words, the only reason he didn't eat the same food as the swine did is that he couldn't.

So he's in quite a dilemma. He couldn't eat what the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything else.

He was on the verge of starvation. Verse 17.

And when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger.

So at least now he finally understood his situation. He's on the verge of starvation.

So now he decides to call on his father for forgiveness. Now he finally wants to restore his relationship with his father, not as a son, but as a servant.

But he is in for a great surprise. Here's his plan. He says, verse 18,

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee.

So here's his defining moment. He recognizes that his behavior was wrong.

He recognizes that his father loves him. He loves his father. And he assumes his father will forgive him.

But he has no assurance that he'll be accepted back into the family. In fact, he doesn't expect to.

He expects to be accepted back as a servant. So he practices a speech.

We all do that, don't we? We've got something to say, and we practice and practice and practice. We get it down pat.

That's what this guy did. He practiced. Here's what he said. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before me, and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son.

Make me as one of thy hard servants. Well, he didn't make a big speech, but he made an important speech.

I have sinned against heaven and before thee. And I am no more worthy to be called thy son.

Make me as one of thy hard servants. So he practices speech. He makes sure that he says,

I have sinned. I have sinned against heaven, and I have sinned against you. How did he sin against heaven?

When he was rebellious to his father, he violated one of the commandments.

So he did sin against heaven and against his father.

He made sure he said, I'm not worthy to be called your son. And he made a request.

Let me be one of your servants. But the son did more than practice his speech.

He began to put his plan in action. So here's what he did.

He arose and came to his father. I stopped right there because I want to say something.

That's what he did. What did his father do? The father's in the window looking.

And as the young man approached, he eventually got to the point where the father recognized who it was that was coming.

The young man was still a long way away, but the father was looking for him, and he recognized him.

But when he was yet a great way off, the father saw him and had compassion on him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

The father saw him because they were watching for him. The son has been forgiven.

The father ran to him. That was undignified. Fell on his neck and kissed him.

The son hasn't said a word, and he's already forgiven.

You know when he was forgiven? The same time we're all forgiven. When we decide it's time for us to walk down to the front of the church and declare that we want to be forgiven.

We were forgiven when we made the decision. We were saved, justified when we made the decision to come, not when we got to the front of the church.

Okay, the son had made a speech, hadn't he? He practiced his speech. So as soon as he could disengage himself from the father enough, he starts his speech.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

But the father interrupts him. He doesn't need to hear the speech. He already knows what he will do.

But the father said unto his servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him.

Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. The father didn't wait to hear the son's speech.

The son had only begun his speech when the father began to instruct his servants, the best robe, bring him the best robe, bring him a ring.

Now, a ring for us today is a piece of jewelry. To the ancient

Jews, it was a sign of authority, a symbol of authority.

Effectually, when he presented the ring to the son, he recognized him as his son.

And then he gave him shoes for his feet. Now, before we continue with the celebration, which is going to follow,

I want to take back and take a look at, look back and take a look at the younger son and his relationship with his father.

So here are some things that I noted. And if you have other things that you have noted, also feel free to join in.

The younger son was born into a loving family with a wise, generous, and forgiving father.

So as a matter of fact, what's the elder son? He was born into the same family and the father loved him too.

The second thing that I noticed, the younger son did not appreciate his father's love.

What about the elder son? Did he appreciate the love of his father? We'll see in a minute.

The third thing, he was not willing to wait for his inheritance.

That's the younger son, but he wanted it right now. It doesn't say whether the elder son wanted the inheritance right now, but he didn't turn it down.

The fourth thing that I noticed, he squandered his wealth. But more importantly, he squandered his time with his father.

And I'm going to come back to this question a little bit later and address it better to the elder son.

How much of the elder son's time with his father did he squander?

I think he squandered it all, but we'll get to that. Eventually he comes to his senses, returns to his father to ask for forgiveness, only to find that he has already been forgiven and restored to the family as a son.

In the parable, the elder son does not. And this is just a parable. So the parable, when the parable ends, the whole story ends, this is not a real live event of something that could take place outside of the parable.

So I don't think the elder son ever asked for forgiveness. And the sixth thing

I wanted to note is even though his life was not one that we should set up as something to emulate, we should note that he was taken back into the family as a son.

The elder son, we'll talk about that later. So now we're going to come to the celebration and the elder son.

Verse 23, and bring forth and bring hither the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry, eat and be merry.

My son who was lost is now found. My son who was dead in the father's eyes was now alive.

Verse 24, for this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and they began to be merry.

Now the elder son comes on the scene. Now the elder son was in the field and as he came, he drew nigh to the house.

He heard music and dancing. John MacArthur notes that the elder son symbolized the

Pharisee. So remember I told you to keep in mind who this was written to, the

Pharisee, the elder son is who they should be looking at. The elder son, the

Pharisee is who represents them. The hypocritical religious person who stays close to the place of his father, the temple.

The Pharisees were always hanging around the temple, but has no sense of sin. I had to insert this, his sin.

He has no sense of his sin. He's perfectly aware of sin and everyone else.

He has no real love for his father, so as to share in his joy and no interest in repenting sinners.

That's what MacArthur said about the elder son. So the elder son does this.

He calls one of the servants and asks what these things meant. You see, he knows the celebration is going on, a celebration that he's not involved with.

And he's upset that he's not involved in the celebration until he finds out what the celebration is all about.

And the servant tells him this. My brother is come and my father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound.

Now you would think that maybe the elder son would have a little bit of compassion for his father, if not his brother.

But now his true feelings about his father begin to bubble up. He doesn't join in his father's joy, which he would have done if he had truly loved him.

Instead, he became angry. Verse 28, and he was angry and would not go in.

Therefore his father came out and entreated him. What did his father do?

Well, because the elder son wouldn't join the celebration, the father came out to beg him to do so.

Now that was demeaning for the father as well. The Jewish father was not used to having to beg his sons to do anything.

For a Jewish father, this was a humiliating posture. Now, how did the elder son react to his father's begging?

Verse 29, and he answering said to his father,

Lo, many years do I serve thee. Right away, we begin to see one of the reasons he's resentful.

He viewed himself as a servant, not as a son. A servant who served only for whatever material wealth he might acquire.

Not at all for the love of his father. Apparently, he didn't have any love for his father.

And then he goes on to say something that really struck me as funny. Neither transgressed

I at any time thy commandment. And my comment was, really?

There's not a single time when you transgressed any of his commandments?

He's saying, I am perfect. There's nothing that I could have done to be a better son.

You might recall the story of the rich young ruler. Now, this is not a parable.

This is a story. It will be in Luke 18, 18 when we get there. But I'm going to read it right now and make a couple of comments.

And a certain ruler asked him, saying, good master, what shall

I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good?

None is good, save one, that is God. What he's telling the rich ruler is, are you calling me

God? If you're going to call me good, you've got to recognize that I'm God. Thou knowest the commandments.

Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and mother.

Oh, is that all of the commandments? No, that's just the point at which the rich ruler chose to interrupt.

And he said, all these I have done, I have kept from my youth up.

Maybe he was afraid that the very next one he wouldn't be able to say thou. And my comment on that was, really?

Now, when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, yet lackest thou one thing.

Sell all that thou hast, distribute it unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.

And come and follow me. You see, Jesus knew that the ruler had not kept all the laws.

He didn't even claim to, he only claimed to keep the ones that Jesus had actually recited. And when he had heard this, he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How heartily shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?

That's where a lot of people get the idea that if you're rich, you can't be godly. And to be godly, you got to give up all your wealth.

He says, for it's easier for a camel to go through the eye, through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

There are commentators who say a needle's eye refers to a gate in the wall of Jerusalem that a camel could pass through only by getting down on its knees.

That is to say, humbling itself. Inferring that to get into heaven, a rich man must be humbled.

Let's go in and see how that works. Verse 26. And they that heard it said,

Who then can be saved? And Jesus answered and said, The things which are impossible.

Wait a minute. He didn't say the things that were hard. He didn't say the things that were difficult, the things that you had to get down on your knees and crawl and humble yourself to do.

He didn't say any of those things. He said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

Now, one thing that is impossible with men is acquiring salvation.

That can be done only by God. And that with no help from any man.

Not the man himself. He can't help. The pastor can't help. Your mother can't help.

Your father can't help. Your best friend can't help. Your worst enemy can't help. No one can help you acquire salvation.

That comes totally from God and nothing else. So, we're going to go back to 29 and chapter 15 of Luke and pick up.

What did he say? He said, Neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment.

And yet thou never gavest me a kid. I might have added even a kid that I might marry with my friends.

His basic question is, Why have you treated my brother better than you treat me?

You should have treated me better than my brother. After all, I am better than my brother.

I am so much better than my brother that I will not even call him my brother. I will only call him your son.

So, let's read what he says. But as soon as this son, as this thy son, this is the elder son talking to the father.

But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatty calf.

I'm going to read that again. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatty calf.

You celebrate over the return of your corrupt son, and you do not celebrate over my faithfulness to you.

He's asking the father, What kind of father are you? And the father answered.

And he said to him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

John MacArthur reminds us that the inheritance had already been distributed. Everything that the father had was literally in the elder son's possession.

All of this time that he felt like he was being a servant to his father, doing the will of his father, he was actually being a servant to his possessions.

He was doing things for his servant, for his possessions, not for his father.

And yet the elder son was begrudging even the love that the father showed the prodigal son.

The Pharisees and scribes had easy access to all the riches of God's truth.

They spent their lives dealing with Scripture and public worship, but they never really possessed any of the treasures enjoyed by the repentance center.

The father goes on to say, It was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.

Now I'm going to again remind you of some things that the two sons had.

Both were born into a loving family with wise and generous and a forgiving father.

Neither appreciated the father's love. Both got their inheritance right away.

The younger son wanted the inheritance. The elder son was willing to accept the inheritance.

The younger son squandered his wealth. At least the elder son didn't do that.

But it's interesting, he was more faithful to his wealth than he was to his father.

Both squandered the time they had with their father. The younger son, by not being there, the elder son, by not showing love and respect to his father, he had no relationship with his father.

The only relationship he had was he thought he was the servant to his father. Eventually, the younger son comes to his senses and asks his father for forgiveness.

Only to find that he has already been forgiven and restored to the family as a son. The elder son, so far as I know, he never came to his senses.

He never asked his father for forgiveness. He never received forgiveness.

And we don't want to emulate either one of these sons.

You would not want your child to emulate the son that was lost.

But some of them will be. Some of them will be lost even though they belong to him and that they will eventually come back to him.

If they belong to him, they will eventually come back to him. But they're not always in fellowship all the time.

And when they're not, when they're not in fellowship all the time, the Lord will put hardships on their lives that will force them to this point that they have to come back because he will not lose a single one of them.

So maybe if you want to emulate the prodigal son or the lost son,

I made a mistake. I didn't want to say that. The lost son, if you want to emulate the lost son, just understand you're bringing a hardship into your life.

And the longer you delay, the harder the hardship will become. After all, what he did, he squandered his wealth.

He had no friends. He had no money. He had no food. The only thing he had was access to his father, and he chose not to accept that for a long time.

Now, a few more comments about the elder son are in order here. The elder son models the

Pharisees. He, like the Pharisees, stays home, not for the love of God, not for the love of his father, but in order to profit materially.

He had the entire state. The Pharisees had the power that went along with being a

Pharisee. Even though the elder son went through the motion of serving his father, he did so resentfully.

He never sought for nor received for forgiveness, and he was always estranged from his father.

And that's the story of the two sons. The way

I define them, the lost son and the prodigal son. The lost son was lost and found.

The prodigal son, the elder son, was lost and never found.

Now, does that say that Pharisees could never be found?

Some of them were. Nicodemus was, but not the group of them.

Any questions or comments? And I went through this pretty fast.

That's the end of it for me. Yes. Well, if we're looking at the story that it's modeling, there's a chance for that person to come back.

But this is a parable, and the parable is complete in itself. When the parable ends, the parable is over.

When the parable ends, what it's modeling is not over. So if we were to say the Pharisee, which are modeled by the elder son, have a chance to come back later, then yes, and they would have been the ones that were lost and found.

But as far as the elder son in the parable goes, it never says in the parable that he came back.

It does say, all of my possessions belong to you. You got your possessions the same time the younger son got his.

He didn't turn them down. Any other questions or comments?

If not, let us pray. Most gracious heavenly Father, thank you for being with us this morning. Thank you for the story of redemption hidden in these three parables.

Thank you for providing a pathway for the lost son to be found, even for the lost

Pharisees to be found. And we give great thanks to you, and we rejoice with you while you're rejoicing in heaven with the angels.

We who are still here on the earth are rejoicing with you over every single lost one that is found, every single dead one that is brought back to life.

The Father viewed his son as dead but now alive.

Our Father viewed us as dead but now alive. Bless us and keep us.

Go through the other services today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.