I invite you to turn with me this morning to Luke chapter 15. Luke 15 as we now continue with the trilogy of parables that we find there. We've already considered the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. This morning we consider the parable of the lost son. And we're only going to consider the first part of what we would know as that section and consider the brother, Lord willing, next week. Remember that Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who are grumbling, complaining about His association with tax collectors and sinners. And in response to that, He tells these three parables. Verses 11 through 24 of chapter 15. Hear now the Word of God. Jesus continued, There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired men. So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. Let's bow together in prayer. Father, indeed, we thank You for the wonderful truths of Your most holy Word. We recognize, Lord, that Your Word means nothing to us apart from the illumination of Your Holy Spirit. And we pray for that. We pray that You would work in our hearts even at this time. That You would open our hearts, open our minds, that we might be receptive to this Your Word. That we might hear the beauty of Your saving grace. That our faith might indeed be strengthened. That our assurance might be increased in our salvation. Hear our prayer for Jesus' sake and in His name alone. Amen. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the most comforting situations in life is to receive a warm welcome and a friendly greeting when you go somewhere. It really doesn't get much better than to be received with open arms, knowing that you are wanted, knowing that you are indeed accepted by another. And although that may not always take place for us in this life with each other, yet for the believer, we can confess that our only comfort in life and in death is that we are not our own, but we belong in body and soul, in life and in death to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. We belong to Him. And we can confidently confess this because in His grace, God, for the sake of Christ's sacrifice, welcomes His children home with arms open wide. Well, again, we are reminded that Jesus, as I mentioned a moment ago, was addressing the grumbling and the complaining of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, the scribes, because of His hanging out with sinners. And with these three parables, Jesus builds a beautiful house of truth with each parable, as it were, adding another level and each one giving a more intimate look at the heart of God toward His own. With the lost sheep, we are taught that God seeks and saves His lost children through His Son, Jesus Christ. He goes after those who cannot find their way home. And in that parable, he hints that he leads his sheep back by way of repentance. And then in the parable of the lost coin, he gives a little more detailed description of the way of repentance through the agency of the church, which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and the guardian of the word preached. God restores His people by way of repentance, turning the regenerated heart in harmony with the heart of God. And in both of these first two parables, Jesus makes it clear that repentance is the cause of great rejoicing in heaven. Repentance, beloved, is evidence of the victory of the cross of Jesus. Repentance is the fruit of the Gospel. And now, with this parable before us, we reach the height of comfort as our Lord gives a beautiful portrait of leading a lost sheep home through repentance into the open arms of the Father. Beloved, we are given here a picture of the joy of our Heavenly Father's heart toward repentant sinners. We are given a picture of His readiness and His willingness to receive and restore those who turn to Him in repentance and faith. This parable of the prodigal son, as it's often been called, is considered to be the pearl of the parables, and it must be precious to us as Christians as it shows the path of each believer, including you and me, and it shows the heart of God toward each one of us who truly believes. And in this portion of the Word of God, Jesus teaches of the restoration demonstrated toward repentance. What amazing love our Heavenly Father demonstrates towards His repentant children. Now, as we read the first few verses of this parable, there might even be a number of us here who can relate somewhat to this younger son. And what I mean is that we can relate with regard to wanting to get out of the house at one time in order to set out and conquer the world. Many, maybe some of us, have been enticed by the lights of the big city, as the saying goes, and the desire to try to make it on our own. Of course, I'm not sure how many of us might have been successful with leaving home with our share of the inheritance. But for whatever reason, beloved, this younger son decides that it's time for a change. And being the younger of the two sons, this one was entitled to half of the older son's rightful share. And therefore in this case, if there were only two sons, one third of the inheritance, one third of the estate. Deuteronomy 21 verse 17 speaks of the older son receiving a double portion for he is the beginning of his, of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn is his. And from the fact that we are told that this young son set off for a distant country, it's clear that he wanted to get as far away from home and as far away from any oversight and authority as possible. He was weary of home. He didn't want to be burdened with the rules of the house. For those of you who are high school seniors, does this maybe sound familiar? As you might be thinking about going off to a distant land to college next year? You think you're old enough to get out from under the rules of the house? You see, beloved, with this son, it's clear that he was dissatisfied with the comforts and the benefits which had been provided for him by his father. And he obviously deceived himself into thinking that he could do better on his own, so he foolishly separates himself from his home, from his father. You see, the outside attraction of the world was too great to resist. He wanted independence. He desired the glamour and the glitz of the big city lights. And with his eyes focused on those bright lights, he was blinded to the potential dangers that tend to hide in the background. Now boys and girls, you know a little bit what it's like if you're in a dark room and somebody turns a flashlight on right in your face, right in your eyes. All you can see is that light. You can't even see the one who's holding the light. You cannot see the dangers hiding in the background. With his inheritance in hand, no doubt converted to cold hard cash, he sets out and he quickly follows his sense of desire. But what happens? Does he take his money to make himself money? No. Did he use it to secure his future? No. Did he invest it wisely? Absolutely not. He foolishly spent it left and right. He squandered it, the text says. And the idea behind squandered here is the opposite of gathering in. This squandering is more in line with sowing, like sowing seed. When the sower sowed seed using the broadcast method of sowing, he would take a handful of seed and just throw it out over the field. And the seed would go in every direction and it would fall where it may. And in essence, this young son did the same thing with his money, no doubt with the help of many new friends. He engaged in frivolous spending. He could have just as well gone to the top of the highest building and thrown his money out over the side. Let the wind take it. Around every corner, his hand was in his money pouch, spending as if his bag of money was like the widow's jar of oil, which never ran out. But his money bag did run out completely. You see, beloved, this is a picture of man apart from God. Already in the Garden of Eden, through the craftiness of Satan, man became proud and decided that he could do better on his own. Man wanted to be like God. Instead of living under the care of God and abiding by the rules of the Heavenly Father's house, rules which were really for the ultimate good of man, man wanted to make his own rules. You see, when Eve looked at the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and saw that it was good for food, all she saw was the glamour of the big city lights. She never saw the darkness of the cemetery. That's the world of sin. You see, the world promises grand things. It promises pleasure and many great things. And it attracts man to that world. Just as the deadly light attracts the moth into its warmth. Why? One reason. To kill it. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of that tree, in an instant they were spiritually far off away from God into that distant country of sin and death and shame. What a foolish separation. This young son represents in a general way all sinners, those separated from God by sin. He represents the tax collectors and sinners Jesus was hanging with. He represents you and me apart from God. At first, He was living on top of the world as He squandered His money on the pleasures of life and on the lusts of the flesh. For a while, you see, for a short time, His every expectation seemed to be fulfilled. Man, this is great. It doesn't get any better than this. It's exactly what I wanted. I've got friends. I've got fame. I've got money in my pocket. I make the rules. Nobody tells me what to do. I'm the captain of my own ship. The master of my own fate. But, the moment his money was gone, his new life came crashing down. Verse 14, After he had spent everything, There was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. You see, this kid didn't just suffer a minor setback and it would only be a matter of time before he'd be back on his feet again. He lost everything. He spent every last penny he had until there was nothing left. It didn't take long for the big city lights to get very dim. His cup of pleasure was empty. And the carnal lust that had burned inside of him became nothing but a pile of ashes. And his worldly friends? Listen, young people. His worldly friends, no doubt, they ran away just as soon as his money ran out. He was no longer a benefit to them. He could no longer be used to their advantage. But what a picture our Lord paints here. You see, being flat broke is bad enough, but to illustrate the depths of the misery of the world of sin, Jesus adds a famine during which work and food is hard to come by. But then, for His Jewish hearers, He adds insult to injury by saying that the only work that this young son could get was by tending pigs. The citizen probably only hired him because he was in such a desperate situation. But this was the lowest form of work for a Jew. It was completely degrading. Not to mention the fact that according to Leviticus 11, verse 7, swine were unclean and prohibited for Israelites. But this son was so miserable that he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. These pods were the seed cases of the fruit of the carob tree. Not even the fruit. Just the seed cases. Like the shell of a peanut. They were used to feed cattle as well as pigs, but also these were used as food by the poorest of the poor. I read that the Jews had a saying that when one was reduced to this, reduced to eating these pods, Then, they became repentant. And beloved, we know what that is saying, don't we? This young son hit bottom. See, all of this represents the depths of man's sin and misery, his utter depravity. This famine represents the truth of what we have apart from God. Absolutely nothing. No good thing. This pig food represents the empty, unsatisfying food offered by the world to the starving souls of men. That's especially what the world of TV feeds us with today, isn't it? Mostly trash. The deadly situation of this young son is a picture of spiritual bankruptcy. Apart from the living water and the bread of life, one is absolutely empty. Verse 14, it says, He began to be in need. This means to fall short, to lack, to be without. It's the same word that Paul uses in Romans 3.23 when he says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In sin, one is empty without, lacking the glory of God. It's not a situation where one almost has it, almost reaches that glory. Not at all. The exact opposite. Completely empty. The barrel is dry. The world of sin does not satisfy. It wants you and me to think that it satisfies, but it does not. It draws you in. It takes everything you have, leaving you empty, and it offers no help in time of need. But this desperate situation became a convicting situation for this young son. Beginning at verse 17, When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired men have food to spare? And here I am, starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired men. Beloved, in sin, one is not in his right mind. Meaning, that mind in harmony with God. That mind of Christ, which Paul speaks of. Jesus says, this young son came to his senses. In other words, he came to his right mind. He began to see and understand things clearly. And Jesus is talking about the fact that he was converted and repented, which is clear from his confession. Now, of course, we know from other portions of Scripture, especially the parable just before this one about the lost coin, that it is God who works repentance and faith in the heart of His lost children through His Word by the power of His Holy Spirit. And we need to understand that with this trio of parables, again, Jesus is building from one to the next. And therefore, in this parable, our Lord doesn't exactly tell us about the work of the Spirit regenerating this young son, but it is implied from the parable before. You see, the point of this parable is not so much the inward process of conversion, but the fact of repentance itself as well as the son's reception by the father later on. Only those born again by the power of the Spirit are brought to their right mind. And based on what we considered about repentance in the previous parable, it's clear from this confession that the Lord brought this young son to repentance and faith. He is brought to a knowledge of his desperate situation. He is brought to understand his sin and misery. As well, He acknowledges His sin and misery. He is sorry for it, and He has an earnest desire that He be relieved. But not only that, He has the hope of restoration. He confesses His unworthiness, yet as He thinks upon the love of His Father, He is given the courage to repent. You see, beloved, this young son not only represents man lost in sin, generally speaking, but he also represents specifically the elect child of God lost in sin. The love of God the Father follows His lost children. This is not His love earned by us, but it's His love given to us for the sake of His Son. In 1 John 4, verse 10, we read, And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Jesus Christ, we know, has bridged the separation of sin between God and His children. And therefore, in His love, God irresistibly draws His children home. He opens our eyes. He brings us to our senses to see the hopelessness of sin and to see the inability of the pleasures and the things of life, of this life, to bring us satisfaction and contentment. That's what the world wants us to believe, you see, that the things of this life do bring true satisfaction and contentment. The same things that the world tries to use at this time of year to make us lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. Watch the commercials. It's really kind of sadly fascinating how these commercials of buying and giving gifts tend to try to make us think that that's what makes life happy. That's what makes life all worthwhile. Those things, gift giving is great. It's wonderful. We appreciate it. But those things, two months from now, where are they going to be? Kids, where will your toys be? At the bottom of the toy barrel. Our God opens our eyes, beloved, to see that the excitement of the bright lights of sin really only blinds one to the truth of destruction, while the house of the Heavenly Father promises eternal life. Congregation, whether it's through a lack of having little or through the emptiness of having much, our Lord brings His people to see the hopelessness of life apart from the Father. He brings us to see the truth of our sin. He brings us to see the promise of a Savior. This prodigal son came to remember the peace and happiness of home. God brings His people to see that in the Father's house, there is plenty. But in sin, there is poverty. In the Father's house, there is freedom. In sin, there is only bondage. In the Father's house, there is honor. In sin, there is only shame. In the Father's house, there is love. In sin, there is only hate. And for Jesus' sake, the Father's house is a house of blessing. Where there in that house is His Word of comfort and salvation. Where there is true happiness and joy in the fellowship of the saints. Where there is peace and safety and true satisfaction for every want But even more than all of this, in the Father's house, beloved, is the Father Himself with open arms, ready and willing to receive His prodigal children. Beloved, if you understand your sin and misery and believe by grace through faith that Christ's saving sacrifice is yours, then this truth must flood your heart with joy. You see, when we consider our lives of sin, when we truly stop to consider to reflect upon our lives of sin every sin committed against the Most High Majesty of God every person or friend that we have betrayed that we have hurt or that we have gossiped about every lie that we have told every angry thought or word or deed that we have exercised against our parents or against our brothers or sisters every hurtful and murderous thought when we truly stop to reflect on our lives of sin then God brings us to know that the blood of Jesus is sufficient for it all. The blood of Jesus has satisfied for it all. And God accepts us for Jesus' sake. As we examine for a moment the complete restoration of this young son, we see, beloved, how our God has received and does receive all those who come to Him in repentance and faith, including you and me. It's the same for us all. Beginning at verse 20, So he got up and went to his father. Though while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For the son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. This son knew his unworthiness. He knew what he had forfeited. In fact, he didn't even deserve to be a servant for his father. But he also knew, as the psalmist says, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. This son had confidence in the love and mercy of his father. If he didn't, he would not have had the courage to come home. Our confidence, beloved, to come before our Heavenly Father is Jesus Christ Himself. He is our confidence. Forgiveness is only possible because of the cross, which is the perfect revelation of the love of God. And through this father in the parable, our Lord points to the willingness of God to forgive and restore his lost children. This father had been watching. Every day he looked up and down the path, and at the very first glimpse of his son, what does he do? He didn't wait for the son to come to the father's throne, as it were, his dad's chair and grovel at his feet so that he could say, I told you so. I told you this would happen. He went out to meet the son. Now we are not to understand by this that we are called to go so far and God comes the rest of the way. He meets us halfway. That's not what this parable is teaching. Not at all. This father, though, demonstrates his forgiveness and restoration even before the Son could recite His confession. While the Son's confession was sincere, it must be. By the working of the Spirit, our confession is sincere. Our Heavenly Father, beloved, came out to find us as lost children through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. He demonstrated His willingness to forgive and restore, and that while we were still sinners, while we were still running the other way, Christ died for us. Beloved God doesn't restore us because we confess. We confess because God has restored. When the Holy Spirit brings us to conversion with repentance and faith, then He gives us the assurance of. And we experience the reality of that which Jesus did long ago on the cross, that which the Father ordained from eternity, the forgiveness of all of our sins. It is God through His Holy Spirit who replaces our heart of stone with a heart of flesh, drawing us through repentance and faith to Himself and restoring the gifts of which we had been deprived. Again we read, But the Father said to His servant, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. The son gave his confession as if the father didn't even hear it. The father would think of nothing less than full restoration to sonship for this prodigal. He was the honored guest. The robe identifies him as a son of the house. The ring which symbolizes authority identifies him as an heir. And the sandals identify him as a free man since slaves wore no shoes. And the feast was a time of rejoicing, signifying a lack of nothing. And beloved, these tokens of love represent the sinner's absolution, pardon, justification, and adoption all rolled into one. And just as the high priest Joshua in Zechariah 3 had his filthy garments which represent his sin and iniquity, he had those filthy garments removed and he was clothed with rich robes. God clothes His elect children with the white robes of Christ's righteousness having removed their sin and imputing freely giving to them the righteousness of Christ. This is why Jesus left His home in glory. To become the sinless man and suffer so that our suffering might be done away with forever. So that in Christ, beloved, we no longer stand as slaves to sin, but we stand as servants of righteousness. and as children of god we are heirs heirs of god and joint heirs with christ you know what that means that means no matter what your situation in this life and we all come from different situations but no matter what your situation if you believe in the lord jesus christ you are rich you have the greatest riches you have been restored as a full child in the house of our god that's transforming that's transforming for this life preparing us for the next in sin one is lost unto eternal death but in Christ one is found unto eternal life to sit forever around the banquet table of the heavenly father and when the father embraced the son and kissed him which is a sign of forgiveness the son could no longer be hard on himself because of his sin our sorrow for sin which is indeed to be very real make no mistake about that beloved we are to be sorry a heartfelt sorrow for our sin that sorrow is to be very real but that sorrow is replaced by the joy of God's forgiveness as David says return unto me the joy of salvation is replaced by the joy of God's forgiveness because His perfect love casts out fear. Those who are forgiven and restored by God may no longer wallow in their sin. All that is is a sign of selfishness and a desire that one wants the attention on himself, but they must rejoice in the grace of the attention and the open arms of God. Congregation, as those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of God, this is, this must be our joy that our Father in heaven has willingly and completely forgiven our sins and restored us in His house forever. And for those who have not yet repented of their sins, those elect by God, to them God gives the courage through His Spirit to come to Him and find safety in the Father's house. Those lost in sin will forever suffer the cold darkness of hell. But as James 4, verse 8 says, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Those who draw near to God will be accepted with the warm embrace of the light of His everlasting presence. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we thank You for Your Word this morning. We thank You for the wonderful, the beautiful truth of Your Word and the restoration that is ours in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Again, Father, when we are brought face to face with the truth of who we are and what we are in and of ourselves and what we have, we indeed are amazed when You show to us the beauty and truth of what You have given to us in Christ Jesus. so often we take your gifts for granted, especially the gift of being your children. May we not do that, O Lord. But every day may we open our eyes to a new day and rejoice and give you thanksgiving and praise that you are our Father for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord and you call us my son, my daughter. For there is no greater comfort than to be your child. We thank you and praise you, O Lord, for that blessing. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.