 It was glorious worship, right? And so we want to continue that tonight and tonight We're looking at the parable of the lost son from Luke 15 Parable of the lost son. So if you will turn with me to Luke 15 We'll read this together and then pray together the parable of the lost son from Luke 15 That parable begins in verse 11. So Luke chapter 15 verse 11 Here Christ says A certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father Give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And so he divided to them his livelihood Not many days after after the younger son gathered all together Journeyed to a far country and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living But when he had spent all there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods of the swine ate and no one gave him anything But when he came to himself he said how many of my father's hired servants have bred enough to spare and I Parish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him father I've sinned against heaven and before you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son Make me like one of your hired servants And he arose and came to his father But he was still a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him And the son said to him father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and I am no longer worthy to be called your son But the father said to his servants bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand And sandals on his feet and bring the fatted calf here and kill it and let us eat and be merry For this my son was dead and is alive again He was lost in his found and they began to be merry Now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house He heard music and dancing and so he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant And he said to him your brother has come and because he has received him safe and sound your father has killed the fatted calf But he was angry it would not go in and therefore his father came out and pleaded with him And so he answered and said to his father low these many years. I've been serving you I've never transgressed your commandment at any time and yet you never gave me a young goat that I may make merry with my friends But as soon as this son of yours came who has devoured your livelihood with harlots you killed the fatted calf for him And he said to him son you are always with me and all that I have is yours It was right that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again And was lost in his found. Let's pray together The Father in heaven Lord we praise you who worship you God is so in awe of you And your amazing grace in saving sinners You're so gracious and so good and God we are so undeserving Or that you would Save you would provide a sacrifice provider ransom. It is amazing grace And so thank you Lord that you're so gracious and so good And you don't merely Make us as hired servants Lord, but you adopt us Into your family into your kingdom and make us as sons And praise and worship you Lord for that. Thank you for the salvation you've given us in Christ And I pray that this Study tonight of this parable would Lord in bolden and flame our hearts With great joy Lord over your forgiveness your pardon is glorious plan of redemption And your great grace your great mercy And then we take joy Lord in that and I pray Lord that there's anyone here God that isn't saved They would take great warning from this They would see your graciousness and your mercy And they would see the utter futility Of living in their sin in the far country and they might turn to you and live And thank you for this time together Lord and thank you for your spirit. Thank you for your word Be with us now as we study together in Jesus name. Amen. All right This is again the parable of the lost son from Luke 15 verses 11 through 32 and Here Luke 15 This is a trilogy of parables that all basically have the same point they're making As we looked at the parable of the lost sheep in verses one through seven We have the parable of the lost coin in verses eight through ten and then now the parable of the lost son in verse Verses 11 through 32 and really a trilogy of parables that have basically the same point We saw God the son represented in the parable of the lost sheep in verses one through seven and how God the son Pursued the sheep rescued the sheep and brought the sheep back into the sheepfold We saw here we see in the parable of the lost coin beginning in verse eight The Holy Spirit represented really a similar point here and then in verses 11 through 32 We're going to see tonight the father in this chapter We see the delight the joy the rejoicing of God over one sinner who repents We see the delight the joy of the Trinity the three-in-one Godhead In saving sinners and his will of desire his heart and desiring to save sinners God's heart the father the son of the Holy Spirit rejoices to save people rejoices to see them saved to repent of their sin to put their faith in Christ and to spare them from wrath spare them from Judgment and Oftentimes when someone comes to grips with biblical theology Well for whatever reason that's difficult for people to grasp where you are in your sin the Lord God desires to save you Desires to see you come to repentance. The Lord wants to save you sometimes when people think they Engrappling in their mind with the tension between God's sovereignty and salvation and man's Responsibility sometimes they believe themselves to be reprobate or believe themselves to be Outside of the saving work of God a redemption outside of Christ grace and mercy on the cross Simply is not the God of the Bible the God of the Bible desires to save Rejoices over saving delights in saving wants to see sinners saved And so much so that in the first two parables here in verses 1 through 7 the parable of the lost sheep and in the parable of the lost coin It's God that is seen going after the lost sheep the lost coin In those parables you see God as the initiator he pursues runs after Drags back to himself lost sinners lost sheep lost coin in sovereign grace God is the initiator. We love him. Why? Because he first loved us. That's right. God is the initiator. He first loved us Romans 3 says no one seeks after God Right no one seeks after him God goes and pursues the sinner in John chapter 6 Christ says that no one comes to me unless the father who sent me draws him It's the Lord who is the initiator the Lord who is the pursuer of lost sinners And these parables the first two parables here reflect an accurate and biblical theology of that God goes and pursues the lost he came to seek and to save that which is lost But now here beginning in verse 11. We have the next parable in the trilogy This parable often titled the parable of the lost son or the the prodigal son prodigal meaning wasteful prodigal meaning reckless debauched Selfish any number of adjectives I could easily hear be titled instead of the parable of the lost son or the parable of the prodigal son It could easily be titled the parable of the delight of the father You know the parable of the joy of the father The parable of the erupting joy of God the father in saving sinners and making them a son of the kingdom The parable of the perfect joy of the forgiving father in providing grace and pardon to an undeserving son and his great delight in blessing him as a son He's a Puritan title Right and the requisite judgment of that old self-righteous son who was representative of the Pharisees, right? It's like put a Puritan title to this parable There is great joy seen in God Saving a sinner and here you see the Lord God represented by the man beginning in verse 11 who is waiting on the porch It was God in the parable of the lost sheep and God in the parable of the lost coin that Pursued the sinner but here in a slight difference here a subtle difference the prodigal of the lost son You see the father here this man representing God the father Sitting on the porch in a sense waiting on the return of his wasteful prodigal son Looking a far off if you will into the distance waiting for his son to return when he sees him coming He runs out to meet him Right his son has returned His son has come back from the far country come back from his wasteful living his prodigal life and then we see the Gracious and forgiving ways of the father in Lavishing all the blessings of sonship on his returned son In response now this parable also reflects a biblical and accurate theology Ezekiel 33 says turn turn from your evil ways for why should you die? Jeremiah 29 verse 13 and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart In second Thessalonians chapter 2 people perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved This is also accurate biblical theology. This is man's responsibility We see in the first two parables an indication of God's sovereignty and pursuing the lost sinner and here in this parable of the lost son We see the biblical theology the right theology the right understanding of man's responsibility the son Coming to his senses and turning and seeking after the father and coming back From the far country When we come to our senses We're to turn from our sin Anyone in their right mind? Anyone in their right mind Leaves their sin forsakes their sin and turns to Christ We are to step out in faith in the father and that's the father's design the father's plan. This is the father's way That he will we have faith that he will save that he will pardon he will forgive He will cleanse and he'll rejoice in doing it and he wants to do it And this is the father. This is God the father in scripture. He delights in forgiving. He delights in saving Do you believe in? Thinking through this yourself. Do you believe that God desires and wants to save you? Whatever strange reason that's not always an easy question for people to answer I've asked people that question before do you believe that right now that the Lord God right this minute In his grace and in his mercy would save you and for some people just difficult to even utter the words yes I'll submit to you. That's the basis and foundation of what genuine saving faith looks like If I go to my father, he will pardon He'll forgive to the grace and mercy of God Listening through this parable listen, you need to understand that God will save you now He will save you tonight He'll save you by a spirit through his word tonight It's just a matter of believing Turning from your sin turning from the far country and putting that faith and reliance and trust in Christ alone Where is your faith? Have faith in God's saving ways if you were outside the kingdom God will receive you He'll run down off the front porch and meet you in the way and Fall on you and embrace you and kiss your neck and lavish good gifts on you lavish gifts for a son on you who bless you as a son No rejoice over you. The word of God says that he'll by no means cast you out Doesn't matter how far away the country that you've been living in is Doesn't matter what you've done while you're there Lord God he says he promises he'll by no means cast you out if you'll just come to your senses and Turn from that. You can't stay in the far country. You've got a return He won't save you there. You've got to get out of dodge Get out of that city before it's destroyed, right? God is so gracious so good so forgiving But here in stark contrast to God the father beginning of verse 11 We see in the sons here a profile or an anatomy of rebellion We see the anatomy of rebellion here in point one beginning in verse 11 We see a profile of the rebel. We're gonna see rebellion displayed in this first section of this parable and Beginning in point one We see the profile of the rebel our story opens in verse 11 with these words a certain man had two sons As we've said the man here in our parable represents God the father represents God the father of these two sons that this Man had he had an older son and a younger son the older son as we'll see Represents one kind of rebel right and we've looked at that one kind of rebel when we looked at the parable last week Those were those this one kind of rebel were those that looked over there Well over the wall at the sinners the crowd that was gathering around Christ and they sat there and rolled their eyes Smacked their lips shook their head Disgusted that Christ would eat with sinners and tax collectors. They were self-righteous. They were Religious and lost They were self-righteous religious insiders, and they were white wash tombs full of dead men's bones. They were hypocrites That's the older son in our parable here the younger son Represents our first type of rebel type of rebel. We'll look at tonight This type of rebel is represented in the last parable by the crowd that was gathering around Christ Those who were sinners, but they had come to their scent their senses realize that they were sinners They knew who they were all right. He is here the sinner. He's the tax collector He's the outcast from the kingdom and he's an outcast because of his sin His sin is shameful and he knows it but astoundish astoundingly astonishingly amazingly as Astounding and as astonishing as his sin as rebellion was the father is gracious toward him All right, this is our first type of rebel astounding astonishing amazing rebellion and let's look at his profile looking at verse 12 here the younger of them said to his father father Give me the portion of goods that falls to me and so he divided to them his livelihood Not many days after the younger son gathered all together journeyed to a far country and they are wasted his possessions with prodigal living Right, let's look now at the marks of these rebellion the first thing that he says the younger of them the younger of his son said to his father father Give me the portion of goods that falls to me now. This was a brazen rebellious Unloving ungrateful hateful demand and we need to put ourselves in the perspective of the son saying this in the first century in context Every one listening anyone listening to his son talk to his father this way would have understood this to mean dad I wish you were dead already. I wish you were dead. Let me have what's coming to me I want away from here and I want away from you. This is what the son would have been saying to the father I want you dead and I want out. Give me what is mine? This was a pronouncement that the son had absolutely no love no concern for the dad whatsoever was completely unloving ungrateful and Wanted out wanted to be on his own And it's true, isn't it that no one can hurt you quite like the ones that you are most close to right? Imagine a son or a daughter Maybe you've had a teenage son a teenage daughter that has responded to you in this way It is hurtful it hurts have the ones that you love that ones that you are most close to React this way this son wanted his dad dead in addition. It wasn't here Give me the estate. We need to see the difference here This was give me the portion of goods that falls to me and ordinarily the firstborn son Would have gotten two-thirds of the estate as being the firstborn This younger son would have gotten a third of the estate for him Now what would have been done is that at the time of the father's death the older son the younger son would have Managed the estate that fell to them for the purpose of future generations for their family And they would have reaped the benefit of that they would have managed that estate that estate would have stayed in the Family and would have been used to provide for future generations. It's not the word that's used here It's not what he's asking when he says give me the portion of goods that falls to me He's saying listen. I don't care about the estate. I don't care about my future I don't care about my future family. I don't want the responsibility of managing anything Just give me what you owe me so I can cash it in and live for myself That's what he's asking for a year. He was Completely despising in a sense of his birthright Despising his future no concern whatsoever. He just wanted to sell out sell out and get out Sell out and use everything he could that he could get for it Completely for his own selfish desires his own selfish indulgence. He was totally and completely Totally out for number one and no one else. He could care less and this was an extreme So you understand an extreme form of disrespect an extreme form of disrespect. He Hammered the fifth commandment honor your father and mother and absolutely no regard for that commandment whatsoever This was highly dishonorable to his father highly Disonorable to his family to future generations. This was highly Disonorable to the generations that had held that property held that estate for his benefit in generations past It was just disgraceful It was shameful for him to have just given it up or wanted to give it up just to live for himself This was an extreme demonstration of being completely self-absorbed just selfish Self-indulgent self-absorbed to care less about anyone else and it's really a thing about it is described by Romans chapter 1 verse 30 backbiter's haters of God violent proud boasters inventors of evil things Disobedient to parents right undiscerning untrustworthy Unloving unforgiving you could tack in there ungrateful Unmerciful who knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death He would have certainly have known this he would have known how disgraceful how shameful how self-indulgent this was certainly children From a young age were probably taught the Old Testament Levitical law They would have understood that a disobedient rebellious unsubmissive son could have been put to death for behaving that way in Deuteronomy 21 verse 18 listen to what this says. This is the law. He would have known this if a man has a stubborn and rebellious son I know it would have questioned no one hearing this would have questioned that this was a rebellious son He has a stubborn rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and who when they have Chasen him will not heed them Then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city to the gate of his city And they shall say to the elders of his city. This son of ours is stubborn and Rebellious he will not obey our voice He is a glutton and a drunkard and then all the men of this city shall stone him to death with stones So you shall put away the evil from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear That's a fearful thing For any kid at this day and age at this point in time You don't want to dishonor your father and your mother you want to live long in the land You don't want to be stoned to death with stones, right? But certainly at this point in time in the first century it wouldn't have been uncommon for the father Who was by this act of the son was shamed and disgraced for him to then turn and Disown or disinherit his son and they might have put a son like this out and would have recognized him as dead In other words, don't recognize him anymore. It would have been dead to them He might have shamed or set up circumstances to shame the son For discipline basically for shaming the father If this was my mom she would have taken her shoe off Right should have maybe go out in the backyard and pull a switch off the tree. This was serious But the father here Didn't do that remember as we go through this the man pictures God the father the father here didn't do that Look what it says in verse 12 Says here in the younger son of them said to his father father Give me the portion of goods that falls to me and so what did the father do? He divided to them his livelihood Here the father bore the shame of his son's utter rebellion against him now a thing about it for a moment With the context and how they would have viewed this in the first century The father bearing the shame and simply doing with this rebellious Self-indulgent young man wanted would have been a shameful act in and of itself The father would have been shamed further by just bearing that at the hands of his son People in the village would have been talking they would have viewed the father's response as weak as disgraceful in and of itself here Everything that the family over generations would have accumulated a third of it is about to be tossed down the drain a Third of it is about to be completely wasted this inheritance this son his rebel in the household just wanted to vaporize with life It reminds me a little of Lazarus and the rich man right while you were alive the rich man fared sumptuously Had everything he wanted and Lazarus was begging at his gate dogs licking his sores This was on the part of this son incredible rebellion rebellion hateful despising the father despising his inheritance despising the family despising everything but in his own self It's interesting here that the the word used for inheritance give me the goods the portion of the goods that falls to me Is a word in Greek? Beos it means life Give me my life or the life that is a portion to me now So I might waste it the son is saying I want my life. And so how does the father respond? Take it It's yours You can have it. I'll give it to you and he divided to them his livelihood. He gave them gave him his life The Lord places this choice between you and I too doesn't he? Lord places this choice before you there is God's sovereignty, but there is man's Responsibility and he says to you here's your life What will you do with it? What are you going to do? Are you gonna squander it on prodigal living wasteful self-indulgent selfish living? Are you going to run off into a far country and rebel? Before every person this choice is laid at your feet the difference here between this son and you and I is That that choice has been laid before you your default position is the far country in Adam You can say with David that in sin my mother conceived me That from your first breath you were born in sin and it's Based on your rebellion in Adam. It's your default position. You're born into the far country. You've already rebelled. You've already sinned You've already squandered what the Lord would give you in blessing. You've already squandered it You've already lived in prodigal living. You've already lived in botry You've already run headlong away from the father saying I will not have this man to rule over me You've already run away from accountability. You're already there But God says to you The fact that you're in that position the fact that you've done that the fact that you have yourself in your sin Committed grave rebellion against God God turns to me says I made you you are Fearfully and wonderfully made I knit you in your mother's womb I Breathe life into you. You're my own special creation. You are blessed I'll be your God and you will be my own He says I'm good. I'm gracious. I'm supremely loving Perfect in all my ways Holy full of light full of grace abounding in mercy And I'll dwell with you forever Love you care for you Provide for you perfectly for all eternity You'll never hunger you'll never thirst You'll never want for anything, but to please me the Lord is good. Amen. That's the Lord's Desire that was the Lord's purpose just created you so that with all that the Lord has given you with all the Lord That has supplied you with the breath that he breathed into you that you would simply praise him Then glorify him worship him And you answer God You say give me my life Give me my life. I Want my own life I'll not have your yoke upon me You choose to live for yourself and you are dead in that sin And you won't ever make any other choice You have the nature we have the nature outside of Christ We have the nature of the rebellious younger son or the rebellious older son. We have that nature and With that nature We turn to the father and say I Hate you Give me what I want And we live for ourselves. We say to the father. I wish you were dead right That put this attitude of rebelliousness Put this life Put that rebellion in light of the cross and what Christ sacrificed to redeem sinful men to redeem sinners Do you see then that? Everyone everyone who lives life for themselves is a hater of God Maybe you've witnessed and you've talked to folks before and they say I don't hate God I love God, but they're living for themselves They want their life. They want their inheritance. They want that for themselves now and even in that Action saying even in their indifference even in their apathy They're haters of God despisers of good If you're outside of Christ, you've not turned from your sin And you're not living wholeheartedly for him that you're not clinging to the father Not in the far country, but you're at home You're in the house of God. You're clinging to the father for your life If you're outside of God's saving grace in Christ, you are a hard-hearted rebel You're a hater of God a despiser of God a despiser of that which is good here. We see that profile or that Portrait of this rebel in the younger son the point to here as we look at the profile now. Let's look at the practice That spills over in to practice how you live your life and we see that beginning in verse 13 in verse 13 Christ says and not many days after The younger son Gathered all together Journeyed to a far country and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living now not many days after Means he wasn't sticking around right out of this nature out of his desire to rebel out of this desire to live life for himself He wasn't sticking around he headed off as fast as he could this Now becomes out of his nature the bitter fruit of his rebellion bitter water springs up immediately Not many days after he headed out and he says that here that he gathered Everything that he had together then began his journey that word for gathered together Sonago It means that he he gathered all his possessions with him and then it you know this took a couple of days So this would have obviously meant gathering everything together and then liquidating what he had to get the cash All right, and you imagine this estate this would have taken a few days to do this Now here's where the few days comes in he would have been out right away if he could But this would have taken a few days to get this stuff together and find a buyer The buyer in buying this estate or his portion of the estate would have had to wait around for the father to die So that he could take possession of the estate So the son would have sold this at a discount Right somebody would have paid less for it because they would have to wait around and so the son in in Dispising his inheritance even more would have taken a discounted rate to get this deal made He would have sold this for cash Whoever bought it got a great deal and then it says he journeyed into a far country. He Wasn't headed into town He wasn't going to go to the local bar the local saloon the local video store He wanted to get away where there would be no one there that knew him He wanted to get as far away from any accountability as possible as far away from the father as he could He was trying to quiet maybe a guilty conscience He wanted to be able to send it up for the sake of pleasure as much as he wanted to with nobody interfering And so he got as far away from all of this as he could get he wanted to sin Unrestrained he wanted to sin Unhindered and this far country would have meant that he would have gone into a Gentile land lived in a Gentile land and squandered his inheritance even more of a disgrace even more shameful to his father a disgrace to his generations his the his family Done this in a far far away country and haven't you seen sinners do this? They get to a point where they're just tired So you know what I don't live for Christ I want to live for myself and so they just seek to escape They want out from under what they perceive as a yoke as a bondage as a hardship They just want to be able to send it up as they want to they won't listen to reason They're in major escape mode. This was the younger son He just wanted to run away from anything to do with his father anything to do with responsibility Anything to do with accountability and they just run and run and run, right? It's interesting here that he Wanted away from peering eyes wanted away from accountability wanted away from the father, but we know that God is omnipresent You can run but you can't hide There's no place that you can get away from the eyes of God your sin is Ever before his face constantly in his face He wanted no accountability. There is accountability coming David wanted to escape his sin before God and cried out hide your face for my sins and blot out all my iniquities David looking at the grace and mercy of God God I'm a sinful man hide your face for my sin blot out my iniquities He wanted to be pure wanted to be holy before God Peter cried out depart from me Lord I'm a sinful man. I Didn't want his sin here the son the younger son the rebel Doesn't want God doesn't want the father. He wants his sin. He wants to run away from God If you're in Christ, you want free from your sin more than anything because God is holy You can't run far enough away to get away from God By the way thinking about it here is we're at this point in verse 13. Where is the older son in all of this? Where's the older son the older son is probably standing off to the side with a I knew it all along stupid smirk on his face, right? reveling in the younger son's ignorance a reveling in the fact that Now he can say to the father see I told you all along. I'm the good one. I Would never do that While as in his heart he was wishing that his father was dead too just like the younger son was We'll see get to him in a moment. All right, so he gets to the far country. What does he do there? This is the practice of the rebel look at verse 13 It says and there in the far country he wasted his possessions with prodigal living basically he lived it up Lived it up and lost everything That he had a sin is only pleasurable for a season It's like the rich man again in Lazarus the rich man fared sumptuously had all his goods in this life While the beggar Lazarus had nothing Here there is however in this living. There's an ever encroaching date with destiny It is appointed for men to die once and then comes the judgment here when it says he wasted his possessions literally means scattered Scattered his wealth on wasteful living. He just spread it all over the place drinking. We know from verse 30. This included prostitutes There was a reckless wicked Depraved and debauched lifestyles Peter would say he is running in debauchery and he spent it all Wasted it all on this life. He's now Bankrupts he's got nothing left and he's fallen on hard times now Some might look at this example and say to themselves boy. Praise God. I was never like this man I've just never been that bad. I grew up in church. I did all the right things I said all the right things I acted as I should I never disobeyed my parents that willingly or that far. I've never sinned like that besides I've been a Christian since age two I Grew up in church Now you may say that but don't forget. There's a self-righteous older brother at home right the self-righteous older brother is standing back at home and just like you Just like you he doesn't see his sin He doesn't see himself as bad Just like you he sounds like the Pharisee with the tax collector in the temple Right just like you others may say to themselves. I wish my testimony was more like this So that my conversion would be more obvious So that I could see more that the Lord has saved me. What are you talking about? You would say that you want that sin that you would rather have sinned it up The reality is is that you are just like this You are just like the younger son who went off into the far country and squandered his inheritance on prodigal living on Harlets on drinking on wasteful living you are just like that There's no difference there. You need a holy perspective of your wickedness You need a more scriptural perspective of your sin. You need to put on your Scripture spectacles so that you can see more clearly Get yourself in the Bible You are bankrupt too just like this younger son your bankrupt You've spent it all and you must see your bankruptcy in order to be saved The Bible says in Matthew 5 blessed her to those who are poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven You've got to see your bankruptcy You've got to speak see your spiritual Depravity in order for you to be saved if you believe yourself in any way to be righteous you are like the older brother Just as lost All right, so back to our squanderer now. He we see his practice in verse 12 sees practice in verse 13 And now let's see the product here of the rebel. What does this rebellious lifestyle? Produce what does it end up like? verse 14 Christ says this But when he had spent all there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country And he sent him into his fields to feed swine And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate and no one gave him anything So where did this prodigal living get this guy? What was the product of this? What did it produce? Once he had spent all we see in verse 14 In addition to being bankrupt because of his actions now Circumstances prevailed on him also and there were dreaded circumstances here It says there arose a severe famine in that land now to add insult injury This severe famine came up Famine anyone listening to this parable would have understood famine to be a judgment from God And we see famine as a judgment of God throughout scripture and in biblical times these famines were dreaded and rightfully so They were serious business Famines and scriptures so bad that the children of Israel began to eat one another eat their children They had nothing to eat and they were a judgment Here in the great wisdom and grace of God though famines were also a grace and even in this we'll see This him coming to the end of his rope here is a grace of God here for the first time in verse 14 for the first time This prodigal son who had wasted his inheritance rebelled against God was beginning to be in want Was beginning to see his need was beginning to see accurately his position and this want this need this bankruptcy before God In this he was going to see more clearly his state We need to see our condition more clearly We need to see our state apart from Christ outside of Christ more clearly and at this point With this famine that comes up this judgment of God This gives us an insight into what our condition is Outside of Christ you're like the younger son or you're like the older son the period end of story The judgment of God here is to give us an insight of our condition. We are like this too these rebels Whom the Lord came to save Rebelled against his grace rebelled against his goodness and this is our condition too And let's get an example of that look back at 2nd Kings 2nd Kings chapter 6 2nd Kings chapter 6 And again, this is a picture a picture of our wretched state apart from Christ This you understand in scripture is no exaggeration. This is reality It is the reality of our state. It's a reality where we're at And 2nd Kings chapter 6 look at the condition they were in beginning in verse 24 24 outside of Christ this is This is where it's at If you think hell is going to be better than this you're mistaken This is where we're at outside of Christ look at verse 24 2nd Kings chapter 6 verse 24 And it happened after this that benedot king of Syria gathered all his army and went up in besieged Samaria And there was a great famine in Samaria and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for 80 Shekels of silver and one fourth of a cab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver That's a lot of money for nothing. All right a lot of money for nothing verse 26 Then as the king of Israel was passing by the wall a woman cried out to him saying help my lord Oh king and he said if the lord does not help you where can I find help for you? He knew the only deliverance that they would have was from God From the threshing floor or from the wine press in other words not from either place There's no food no food in the threshing floor no grain there and no grapes in the wine press It's just they're in a great famine verse 28 and the king said to her what is troubling you and she answered and just The shock of this right the shock of this This woman said to me give your son that we may eat him today And we will eat my son tomorrow And so we boiled my son and ate him and I said to her on the next day Give your son that we may eat him, but she has hidden her son Now it happened when the king heard the words of the woman that he tore his clothes And he passed by on the wall the people looked and there were underneath He had sat cloth on his body and he said God do so to me and more also if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today Principle here the point is that this is the consequence of sin This is the consequence of sin The judgment that came on Israel as a consequence for their sin was designed to Warn them to turn from their sin and turn back to the Lord. This isn't final judgment here This is the grace of God This is the grace of God and sending a famine so severe that Children of Israel were eating their kids eating their sons and daughters We have verse 32 but Elisha was sitting in his house and the elders were sitting with him and the king sent a man ahead of him But before the messenger came to him he said to the elders Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? Look when the messenger comes shut the door hold him fast at the door is not the sound of his master's feet behind him While he was still talking with them there was a messenger coming down to him and then the king said surely this calamity This calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? And Elisha said hear the word of the Lord thus says the Lord tomorrow About this time a sea of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and to see us of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria near the Lord prophesies his deliverance This hardship both hardship and the deliverance come from the gracious hand of God the hardship is the Forbearance right Romans 2 the forbearance of God that should lead to repentance That hardship is a grace of God to turn you to Christ when you get to the end of your rope When you get to a point of spiritual bankruptcy when you feel as though you can't go another step That's the grace of God to you. What are you still doing in your sin? What are you still doing in the far country turn to God and live when the Lord? Gives you difficulty in hardship turn to Christ There is a judgment coming that you don't want to and won't be able to bear and you'll bear it for all eternity This judgment these difficulties these trials should lead you to rescue Lead you to Christ point you to God Here this prodigal son began to be in want and look at what he did being in want says in verse 15 He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine He joined himself that word join there just means welded himself Connected himself. This wasn't a job He went to this guy just hung out around him trying to get food. Basically. He was a beggar He was begging this man for help as the man probably Frustrated didn't want to have anything to do with him sent him into his field to feed the swine Still didn't give him any food, right? He had to eat of the pods that he feed that he fed the swine Can it get for a Jew can it get any more degrading any more disgraceful or shameful than this? Link yourself to a Gentile and go out and herd swine Right. This was disgraceful Your sin his sin my sin our sin apart from Christ has placed us in this condition Do you see that if you're not saved here tonight? If you've not repented of your sin and put your faith and trust in Christ, this is you You're in complete disgrace. You are in a shameful rebellious condition. Do you see it? He saw it because he became to be in want. He began to be in want He started coming to grips with his condition started seeing himself for the condition that he was in Saw himself as a beggar saw himself as hooked to a Gentile feeding pigs Right saw himself for the rebel that he was and then it says here He sent him into his fields to feed swine and he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods at the swine Eight and no one gave him anything even his begging came to nothing his begging came to nothing These pods were nothing Probably not fit for a human to eat In the midst of this famine it was probably barely enough just to keep the pig alive much less him And he would have gladly filled his stomach with those pods. You see the destitute condition that this guy is in He latched onto this guy for scraps He didn't have anything. He had nothing. He had no one The pods weren't any food at all couldn't eat the pigs God here The son in this far country in this condition Would have seen and does see he comes to his senses and realizes that the father is all he's got See only hope that he has now imagined for a moment Think about what he just did to his father what he just said how he just behaved What all of his actions meant it was Supremely wicked Supremely disgraceful hateful Unloving despising his father hating his father And now his father is the only hope he's got God is our only hope You're in this condition if you're outside of Christ and God is your only hope There is salvation and no other there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved Is Christ Christ alone? Here this rebel son Remember hated his father Rebelled against him dishonored him Disrespected him was unloving unforgiving ungrateful wished. He were dead Hated his loving accountability and he hated his own responsibility He takes the blessings of the father and he completely and totally Squanders them on his own lusts He completely and totally put the father out of his mind Right put the father completely out of his mind and lived totally for himself Wanted only for himself was completely selfish completely self-absorbed completely self-indulgent feeds his flesh on nothing and As a result where did that get him great want? spiritual bankruptcy Destitute put him at the end of his rope. He was at rock bottom with no one to help No one to come to his rescue nowhere to turn facing certain death facing death If it weren't for one Right if it weren't for one there is one who will help there is one place to go and listen It's not a plan B It's not a second best It is absolutely and completely what we do not deserve for the way that we've mistreated him for the way that we've rebelled against him for the way That we've hated him and despised him and despised him simply by living for ourselves living according to our own lusts We've cast off what we see as a yoke of bondage Which is yoke is easy as yoke is light. Yoke is good. It's not a burden It is the best of any option imaginable Because of this son's utter wickedness complete and total depravity Might have been the last place he thought of Because it requires humility It requires Setting down of your wicked deplorable pride Your wicked self-righteousness you can't make any excuses the son going back home going back to his father What excuse is there for what he's done? What excuse is there for how he spoke to him? What excuse is there for how he spent his family's estate? What excuse is there for this is wicked, right? There are no excuses You can't go back with any self-righteousness You can't go back there thinking that somehow, you know, he owes me What? You know you anything look at what you've done look at how you've lived Look at how you are look at who you are He doesn't owe you anything. There's no self-righteousness here. There's no pride. There are no excuses look what happens in verse 17 The son and realizing there's only one option When it is a glorious option the son doesn't quite know it yet But it's a blessed option It's the only option and it is beautiful. It's perfect, right? verse 17 Well, he came to himself the son said How many of my father's hired servants have bred enough and to spare? You know for a hired day laborer at this point in time in the first century. They were just one step above a slave They just got labor got work for the day. It was enough work for that day and Oftentimes the man that hired them simply gave him enough to eat gave him enough to put food on the table for the family That was it so it had just been enough bread for that day, but here The graciousness right of the father in giving more Bread enough to spare Just the graciousness of the father And he knows that the son knows it When he reflects on the father Reflects on how his father was and what his life was like before he left and squandered his inheritance He knows the father. He knows the father is a good man a gracious man He knows how the father treated him when he was a son in his house And he remembers what his father was like how many of my father's hired servants have bred enough to spare and I Parish with hunger Here's what I'll do all arise. I'll go to my father and I'll say to him father I've sinned against heaven and before you I'm no longer worthy to be called your son Just make me like one of your hired servants The son comes to his senses coming to his senses He realizes his sin He knows his condition. He knows what he's done. He knows how his father is Said it before said it many times that when you're in sin, you were insane This son no question about it. He was insane to do what he did, right? Insane to continue living in the far country the way he was when he comes to his senses He realizes what he's done. He realizes what his father is like He knows his father And he does what's right. He does only what he can at this point. There is no other option And he reflects on the goodness of the father how many of my father's hired servants have bred enough to eat think about it even Thinking of doing this was incredibly bold, right? This was audacious This would have been viewed by many as a shameful act in and of itself Because of what the son had been guilty of you're gonna do what? You're gonna go where? After everything that you've done This was very audacious, but there's no other choice There's no other choice and he knew it He hoped that his father would make him a hired servant Maybe that may be not possibly in the back of his mind. He's thinking Maybe he'll take me back as a day laborer Take me back as a day laborer. I'll you know have to eat crow Maybe crawl through some broken glass, but maybe over time the graciousness of my father. I'll work myself back into the house Right Maybe over time I can make restitution. I can make right I can once again be in my father's good graces I'll just have to work it off for a while spend some time Working in the fields being a hired hand But that's not what happens here. Is it? There's no working your way back to restitution There's no working your way back into God's good graces. There's no working to earn favor There's no meritorious work that you can do at all. This is pure Grace alone and we see this in the response of the father there's no prayer that the prodigal son can say in the far country that will Put him back into right favor with God that will reconcile him to his father You can't sit in the far country and ask Jesus into his heart Now you can't sit in the far country and pray to receive Christ You can't sit in the far country. Just be baptized out there. Maybe plants the first Baptist church of the far country It's not gonna good. It's not gonna work You can't do it You cannot stay in the far country and be saved. He comes to his senses He's got to leave. There's only one place he can go and that's the only place he can go and he goes there He has to leave. This is a picture here of repentance and faith repentance and faith repentance in Seeing your condition where you are in the far country Turning around from that leaving the far country leaving that wasteful living and Returning to the father. It's a picture of repentance many think and reading through this parable that both sons were saved Here's a saved younger son who just slips into sin goes off into sin for a while and comes back now both sons here are lost We'll see that in the parable both sons are lost. You can't be a Christian and hang out wasteful living in the far country It's heathen endures to the end will be saved This is a picture of genuine repentance and genuine faith Repentance and faith here if you look at this are not meritorious. Are they? Because the son turns and repents doesn't mean that he deserves Salvation right or merits salvage. What does he deserve? He deserves what he got He deserves judgment. He deserves shame. He deserves disgrace. He deserves hell He gets what he deserves. This is not meritorious this turning this faith here isn't meritorious He thinks on the father. He knows the father. He knows that he's a gracious man and he trusts He trusts that if he goes back to his father This father would be gracious enough even to make him a hired servant just to make him a hired servant He trusts he has faith in the father the father will spare him There's no merit here. There's no boasting here. Does the son Have anything to boast in Nothing at all except for the grace of the father There's nothing to boast in here except that he knows that his father is a good man There's nothing to boast in here. There's nothing to merit and we know from scripture that the grace And the repentance and the faith are all gifts from God We know if you compare the parable of the lost son with a parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin That at the same time it is the son's responsibility To turn from his sin in the far country and head back to the father trusting in the father We also know from those other two parables that it's the father that pursues the sheep into the far country and drags his sheep back It pursues and turns over the house to find the lost coin and rejoices over finding that which was lost This is The equal truths of God's sovereignty and salvation and man's responsibility There's no boasting here except in the grace of the father the goodness of the father Against his only option identify yourself If you're here tonight, and you're not saved if you Can somehow make your way through a day in your life Believing that you're okay. You're the older son, and you're lost If you are coming to the end of yourself bankrupt over your sin the end of your rope Then maybe that's the Lord opening your eyes to your genuine true condition apart from Christ And that is the mercy and grace of Christ do the only thing that you can do turn to Christ and live Put your faith and trust Christ God wants to save you. Why will you die? And I'm telling you it can happen right now. It can happen this very minute. It can happen tonight You can come to your senses Forsake your sin turn to Christ in faith and be saved Why would you persist in the far country? hanging out with the pigs eating the slop Just turn turn to Christ and live Turn back to the father You realize it's nothing that you deserve And it's nothing that you can do that you can do and realize that you deserve judgment for all that you've done against God the turn to Christ and live if You're a Christian tonight Rejoice the Lord has even in the state that you're in wicked depraved in your sin that the Lord would be gracious And not only take you back as a hired servant Didn't do that He put a robe on you put a ring on you put sandals on your feet Killed the fatted calf and there's rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repented they've been We have a gracious heavenly father turn to Christ and be saved. I don't understand why anyone who questions that or Has difficulty with that or if you're here then Lord have mercy I would pray that you're here because you want to seek God you want to seek salvation Want to seek Christ if you're not saved? See yourself in the far country and be saved return to Christ Turn from your sin and put your faith in him Just don't persist there. What are you waiting for? There is bread to spare in the kingdom if you eat of that bread you'll never hunger again you drink of that water You'll never thirst again. Just turn to Christ and be saved. Let's pray together My father in heaven. God. Thank you for this this glorious picture in Luke 15 of how gracious merciful and good you are how destitute bankrupt and undeserving we are Lord how merciful and gracious god you are to save us I want to Welcome us back to embrace us as sons The lavish blessings on us as sons I'd praise be to your name. Thank you lord for salvation. Thank you for christ Thank you for his substitution on our behalf Thank you lord for the glories of Calvary And thank you for your pardon your forgiveness We were wicked rebels just wicked rebels Despising you haters of good living life for ourself Yet you lord in your great mercy Save us wash us clean And rejoice and repent uh rejoice over our repentance Thank you lord for this picture and thank you lord for your forgiveness and your pardon. Thank you for christ All these things we pray in his name. Amen