we're pausing uh this morning from our um study in the book of hebrews uh and we're going to go back to the familiar a familiar parable of our lord in luke chapter 15 so i invite you to turn to luke chapter 15 like you know that um at the conference yesterday ligonier had a had a time clock up here and um they had the time you had to stop at the right time i just want you to know There's no time clock here now, and I'm going to be free. So, Luke chapter 15, this morning, we're going to begin at verse 1 and 2, and then I'm going to skip down to verse 11 and read to the end of the chapter. Beginning at verse 1, Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them so he told them this parable and now two parables three parables follow and now we're considering the third one at verse 11 and he said there was a man who had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father give me the share of property that is coming to me and he divided his property between them not many days later the younger son gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country 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 so he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his fields to feed pigs and he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything but when he came to himself he said how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread but i perish here with hunger i will arise and go to my father and will say to him father i have sinned against heaven and before you i am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 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 fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to celebrate now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house he heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant and he said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the fatted calf and because he has received him back safe and sound 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 i've served you and i've never disobeyed your command yet you never gave me a young goat that i might celebrate with my friends but when this son of yours came who has devoured your property with prostitutes. You killed the fatted calf for him. He said to him, son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found and there ends the reading of god's word today we consider this marvelous parable one of the most well-received parables of our lord the parable of the prodigal son and we have been considering in hebrews over the past months hard passages some of these warning passages in hebrews have been difficult to go through really cautioning of the dangers of apostasy that have been our real problem in the church today. Apostasy of people knowing the truth and departing from the truth and walking away from the truth. But I don't want us to miss in these studies through the book of Hebrews the great picture and the great compassions of our Heavenly Father. So I thought today that it was good. It would be helpful to stop pastorally and to consider again the great parable of the prodigal son. I recognize this is a very well-known parable and that many people will hear this and say, what more could I learn from this parable? Every time I read this parable, I seem to learn something new. Or the truth of it hits so freshly that I forget, even as a pastor, how great the compassions of our Lord are. That's what I wanted to do today and stop with you. I submit to you that this parable is not as much about the first son as it is about the father and his utter compassion for both of his sons. Both of his sons who are wayward. You see, we've not really considered the parable that way. We spend, and I'll spend a significant amount of time on the first son, but it sets up the end of this for the powerful point of the last son, the second son. Well, the parable is about the father's love for both of his sons, who have rejected him in very different ways. And that's why it's important always to come back to passages like this and never assume as a pastor that I even get it. It's good to be refreshed in these things. To understand this parable, we have to grasp the reason that Jesus gave it. We have to understand the context of this. It's very important. There was a tendency for many to, there's a tendency to immediately jump into this parable while ignoring the crucial point that is made that sets up these three parables that Jesus gives in this particular section of Luke. And you'll notice that in verse 1 of chapter 15, that now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him. and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. And then Luke adds this little statement to give you context. So that's why he's going to tell a parable now. And this is going to be a very important parable, a series of parables to respond to a very bad attitude among the Pharisees. Well, don't miss the picture. They have drawn near. Both of them have drawn near. You see why this is set up the way that it is. The tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him, and also the Pharisees and the scribes have drawn near to him. Two kinds of people have come near to him. Tax collectors, of course, were known at the time to be the worst of society. They were known as apostate Jews, traitors. Couldn't stand these guys. These are the guys that get caught up in the big corporate executive Ponzi schemes of our day. Stealing money from people. Traitors to their country and traitors to God is how they were viewed. So bad that they were left out of the census of the population. Even hated more than the heathen. And then Luke adds another little category here that he includes with them, the sinners. It seems to suggest that even those who had come together would have been the most notorious, would have been the most wicked of sinners of the day who are coming up to Jesus. This is a problem. They want to hear him. And then comes the scribes and the Pharisees. The Pharisees are here. The gatekeepers of true religion in Israel. And they criticize Jesus. They begin to speak against Jesus openly and publicly. They have no fear at all. They trash him. This guy, as they said elsewhere, sits and eats with gluttons and drunkards. And it's in this context. It's as if Jesus says, okay, you righteous ones. If you hate the fact that I have come to receive sinners. If you despise God's forbearance and long-suffering of the lost, not realizing that his goodness leads someone to repentance, then let's consider something for a minute. Does your attitude correspond with God's attitude when somebody comes and falls before me? Does the one whom you profess, think about this, the one that you hate here and that you are despising here and that you are trying to keep out of the kingdom and pushing out of the kingdom of God, does that correspond with the God of Israel's attitude? Let's see. Verse 3. So he spoke a parable to them. There are three characters in this particular parable. You see that there's three parables here of one of the lost sheep and then the parable of the lost coin and then the well-known parable of the prodigal son. And in this particular parable this morning, you'll notice here the three characters. The younger brother is obviously representative of the tax collectors and the sinners. And here, the older brother of the scribes and the Pharisees. And here, the actions of the father are representative of the compassions of God. So in verse 11, we jump into this important parable. And he said, there was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that's coming to me. And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took off. The younger son says to the father here in this parable, would you give me that little expression give me is is really important that is the relationship with his father that's the extent of the relationship with his father in some ways that's just natural to growing up right i mean my kids are always saying give me and i give i just feel like i'm a dispenser of money and everything but there's something's been captured here isn't there he's always been a taker the request is a request of freedom just give it to me and let me out the idea is coming across here that if once i've received the inheritance i can be out from this i I don't need him anymore. I can finally be free of dad. In fact, the only thing that seems to hold him to his father is the money. But don't think that that's not the case for the older son. What we're going to find out that he too is in the house for the money. He works really hard for dad. But he just hasn't had the gall to get up and run yet because he's too self-righteous. Well, here's the younger. He wants out from it all. He wants to test life. He wants to live. And so he does that very thing. We read in verse 13, not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had and he took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living, prodigal living. So he takes the inheritance of his father. He grabs the inheritance, and he journeys as far away from the Father as he possibly could. This is one sad reality of life, isn't it? Have we seen this in the kingdom of God? Look at all this blessing. Look at all this blessing. Where do I begin? Many of us were baptized. Your sign of baptism was put on you. God claimed you. Of all the nations in the earth, a people. And he's been really careful to train you in his covenant. Blessing after blessing after blessing. He's trained you in the faith. He's given you parents who love you. This isn't always the case. But I suspect that most people sitting here could say this. Filled us with all kinds of good things. You know, it's almost an axiom. It's almost common in all of our prayers today. How do our prayers go? They're pretty short. God, thank you for blessing us in so many ways. Incredibly good to us. In fact, that's what we've known. We're so used to it. Thanks doesn't come out as much as it should. the reality is is that some in the house in the kingdom of god could if they could get away from god they would run as far as they could from god and some do i mean this really is the whole story of the human race isn't it god gave us a great earth to enjoy be fruitful multiply fill the earth exercise dominion enjoy the good of my beautiful creation that I've made for you to enjoy raise families work for my glory I'll give you everything but we said no thanks Younger didn't care about his father the father was a good man in all respects this was a good man And his father, knowing the character of his son, gave it all to him. His son determined to leave and he goes. And we read that he wasted all that he had with prodigal and a moral living. That's the sense. He went out and he wasted his whole life. He wasted away his whole life. He tested all the lies of the culture. He engaged in everything that we would say, look, these are the really bad sins. I mean, how does this happen? He's engaged in drunkenness. He's engaged in drugs. He's engaged in sex. He's doing everything he shouldn't do. Oh, but it's free. And then verse 15 says, So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. What a sad irony, huh? This person, there's always somebody who's standing there who will be your next father figure. Come over here. And this person uses him. And this person abuses him. I'm going to talk about abuse. isn't it something that our whole culture is caught up in abuse you know why they're caught up in the issue of abuse is because they're being abused with people like this and this abusive and by the way the word means to glue it's it's a sense of union he has had a new union with somebody he goes and he sends him to feed with the pigs you know how offensive that was in israel he wanted to be free from his father's roof when in actuality he had everything he ever needed he had all the happiness but you know when you always have it you don't know what you have do you and wanting to experience the world he finds himself in bondage to another oh this is so common you know in my ministry what have I heard from parents and grandparents? This is the hard part of ministry. Painful cries about their children and their grandchildren who've done this. I was just sitting with a dear friend yesterday whose covenant child has done this. He's telling me all about it. I always sense the longing and the broken heart on the part of parents and the prodigal never thinks about their parents you know you think it at this point we've had thousands and thousands of years of experience to pull from and a lot of stories in the box say don't do this i mean don't do this you don't do it if you go down that path it'll burn you every time keep your heart cultivated in the word of god listen to what's being said you look at the blessing look what you have but here's the lie here's the lie of the evil one right from the garden of eden you've been raised in this restrictive environment and and in our day think of all the philosophies of our age think of all the secular ideas of our age that are pulling us this way to offer us a new home and a new community a community that's accepting that's the lie and they'll love you and they'll never condemn you i mean that was rosaria butterfield's whole point when she spoke here. The LGBT plus community was really just accepting and fed her. Do people ever think when they touch the stove every time they'll get burned? Oh, but the prodigal knows what's best for him. He knows. He's got it. Well, I read in verse 14 that after the young prodigal had squandered everything he had, a severe famine arose in the land. Huh. And he began to be in what? Sin is so sweet, you know. As Rosario said, it's like the little lion cub. You pet it, you play with it, and one day that grows into a lion, and it devours you. It's the hardest thing to watch people's lives fall apart when they've made this choice. By the way, when Paul gave the instructions on church discipline, and he said, cast them out, put them back into the realm, you realize the very thing we hate about church discipline is when they're back in the realm, things might not go well, and they might realize they need to come home. That's why we do it. Everything begins to fall apart. He's now feeding with the pigs, and to get to the point, he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate. No one gave him anything. Nobody cared about him. No one loved him. He had hit rock bottom. He's empty and he's hopeless. Searching for freedom, he has none. And the parable is pressing us with an important point right now. Right now in the heart of the parable is an important point. This young man needs what? a lot of grace. Grace or condemnation. What does he need? And in verse 17 you read, and then one day, he came to himself. A light bulb went on. What am I doing? This is what I ran to? What kind of father did I leave? I mean, his own hired servants don't even live like I'm living. I will arise. It's a great moment of the parable. And I'm going to go to my father. I'm going to say to him, I'm going to say to him, I don't know how he's going to respond. But I'm going to say, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. And I know I'm not worthy to be called your son. I am not worthy. Make me like one of your hired servants. Father, would you let me back into the house? I'll just be a doorkeeper. I just want back in. You know, at this time they had ceremonies to disown rebellious children. They were completely driven out of the family home. And if the son did come back, he would be publicly shamed and beaten. In fact, you know the Old Testament law. If a man has a stubborn son and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city of the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, Our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He's a glutton and a drunkard. Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. Yes, said the Pharisees. He has nothing left, only debt. And the pain caused by this rebellious son to his father, the shame of all of this is right in front of us. But it's worth trying to come back. What encouragement today to all of you who have wayward children, when I say pastorally. God is orchestrating the events of this life and what you see is a terrible thing happening and when they hit rock bottom are the very things he's orchestrating and maybe the very way he's bringing them back. Painful as that is. Well, when he was still a great way off, his father saw him. The son beaten and broken and covered in pig slop. is heading home. And the imagery you get here is that the father's right by the window. The father's been by the window the whole time. The father has been praying day and night. The father has been watching for his son. The father has not given up on his son. And before the son could say anything, the father bolts out of the house. Picks up his robe and he runs. and who fell on who? He fell on his son's neck. Compassion of the father to see great joy. Notice this. Great joy to see his son come home. The son couldn't even finish his thoughts before the father cries out with great joy and he throws a robe on him in a great feast and declares all in his house, listen, listen, I'm making a declaration today. My son was lost and he's come home. It's time to feast. It's time to throw a feast. What's Jesus capturing? That God himself and all the heavens rejoice when a wayward son turns and comes home. For a way of return has been provided for everyone in Christ, hasn't it? And sinners are called to come to him. And that leads us, for the last few moments here, to consider the other son. Remember what I said, he didn't have the courage to leave his father. So he stayed in the house. But it was all about the money. Don't miss that. it was a legal relationship did you notice how legal this relationship was with his father i'm a good man and i keep your commandments and he calls uh one of his servants the older brother comes up and he's in the distance he hears music and dancing and he calls one of his servants what's what's all this he is so far from his father while he's in the house he doesn't even know what's going on so goes to the servant servant says you're not going to believe this your brother has come home because he's received him safe and sound your father killed the fatted calf what a moment my father did what can you see him can you see his face can you hear the conversations in the bedroom that night can't believe what dad did now you understand the whole parable tax collectors and the sinners drew near to jesus and the pharisees and the scribes drew near and complained this man receives sinners and eats with them and we read in verse 28 that very thing he was angry and indignant and listen to this let's don't missed this he would not go in the father going down the road to the prodigal now is pictured as going out to his lost son his lost son in the house son come in to the feast how dare you how dare you give him my inheritance that's my portion He already wasted his. Did he ever love his brother to begin with? Did he ever watch by the window? Did he ever pray for him? These many years I've served you. Oh, I never disobeyed your command. You never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. I always attended church in our terms. I always sacrificed to put my kids in the Christian school. I always maintained a good life. I was never at the bars. And you just receive this guy who walked away from the church, who got on drugs, who didn't care about his kids, who wrecked his marriage, who squandered his inheritance. And now after all that, he just gets to come right in like everything's just fine. what did he miss repentance that son repented but when this son of yours came who devoured your property with prostitutes he killed the fatted calf he was angry and refused to go into the feast the father never had to plea with the younger son what a sad thing this one he kept pleading come and the father says son you're always with me and all that is mine is yours it was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this year brother was dead and is alive he was lost and he's found. Come into the feast, son. Come on. Why aren't you happy about your brother? We're so overjoyed that this sinner has come home. Isn't it right for us to have joy? Isn't this the goal? He's come home. Notice, your brother was dead. He was dead in trespasses and sins. And by God's grace, he's been made alive. He's lost and he's found. He would have perished forever in hell. Do you understand that? But he's home. Coming to the feast. Now the parable stops. It's kind of a strange way to end the parable. Because the question is, did the son come in? and that we're not told see if I were writing this and God's brilliantly wise in the way he does this is why he's doing it this way but here would be how I'd like to have it end when the older son heard this who had been in the church his whole life and it stiffened his neck to God his whole life Israel, Israel, Israel he fell on his knees and he cried out to God, Psalm 51. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And then the Father threw his arms around him, threw a coat on him, and they all went into the feast together, Jew and Gentile alike. But here's what they actually did. Finally, he sent his son to them and saying, they will respect my son. They said, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. that's what we did to God's beloved son. The point of the parable, beloved, is that God's love is great for the greatest of sinners. And he gave his son to die because the problem for all of us is that great. And it's good news to all of us. He has grace for all of us. And we should recognize in our lives how great that grace is and how much we need that grace as sons and daughters of the king. And that we will join in heaven soon, entering into Christ and receiving him. We will enter into heaven soon rejoicing with all the tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations who have entered the kingdom. Jesus says this today to all of us. Isn't this wonderful? In the day of salvation, in the day of grace, while the arms are extended, sons and daughters, come. Believe me. Trust me. Enter. Join into my feast. I am a good God to you. I will care for you. Don't go to the world. Don't be in union with anyone else. They will destroy you. They don't love you. I love you. Come. Come to me. all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest for your souls. And I will forgive all your sins. That's the best news. That's the best news to all of us who are broken because of sin and received by grace into his kingdom because of Christ. So let's thank him together today in prayer. Heavenly Father, we give you our great thanks for drawing us, all of us. We're all a mess. And we slip into self-righteousness ourselves. We're all workers in the vineyard. Some enter early and work a long time. Some come in at the last hour, at the 11th hour, and receive the same gift of eternal life. It's all of grace. We thank you, Lord, for loving us this way by giving your beloved Son to die for us. and may we hear that sweet call to us today enter enjoy rest why would we want to go taste the lie of the world we've tried it we've tested it we've all done it forgive us lord today we come and we believe we will trust you thank you for being a good heavenly father who loved us so much that you gave your son so that today we might live. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.