Hey, look, we're in a series here, we're continuing today on the parables of Jesus, and what we're doing is we're walking into these parables, a couple of them, not all of them. Where Jesus steps into people's lives in these moments, in their life, and he tells this earthly story that has a heavenly meaning that meets people right where they are. He speaks about things that they know or that they do, jobs that they have or lifestyles that they carry. And he puts into it a heavenly point like a principle or something that invites them to turn to know who he is. They've been incredible to look at and one point that we've made in every parable that we've looked at is that God's message or Jesus's message is an incredible message. But the question is, is our heart prepared to receive it? Is it in a place in our lives to where it can sink in? Or does it just bounce off of us and go away? You see, the problem is never in the message from God. The problem is always in our reception to the message.

We've looked at that every week. Well, this morning we're going to we're going to continue that and we're walking into another parable this morning. If you've got a copy of scripture, I want you to go ahead and be finding with me Luke, Chapter 15. Luke, Chapter 15. Now you've been here over the last week, and you're like Matt, we're not in Matthew this week. No, we're jumping over to Luke this week. We did 5-6 weeks over Matthew. We're going to come over to this parable in Luke Chapter 15. As you're doing that, I want to point out something to you. one of the most famous paintings in all of Christendom is this painting by Rembrandt. In the name of this painting is called The Return of the Prodigal, The Return of the Prodigal. And in this painting, when they put it up, you'll see it there it is the return of the prodigal. In this painting, you see Rembrandt giving a depiction of the prodigal son returning to the father. If you've ever studied art or had art appreciation in college, maybe this was a day you didn't sleep. You'll remember that this painting was in fact, Rembrandt's last painting to the world. It was a symbol. It was his message, and many of his biographers will tell you that this is what Rembrandt wanted people to remember. It is the fact that God is a loving father.

Here's what you might not know about this painting. This was Rembrandt's second painting of the prodigal. His first painting came about 30 years earlier than this painting. It looks like this. Actually, it is this. It is came in 1637, and it gave an incredibly other picture of this parable. You see, early in Rembrandt's life, when he thought about the prodigal, he thought of a guy who had run off into a land and he is enjoying life. He has this weird smirk on his face, and he has a lady in his lap, a drink in his hand. And what we've seen about this painting is Rembrandt actually painted his picture or his semblance on to the guy in the story he wanted to place himself in the scene. He wanted to show that in many ways he was the prodigal. He was the one that had run from God, that was away from God. Now I want you to compare these two paintings. The one on the right is the early one. The one on the left is the later one.

And I want you to see what happened in Rembrandt's life in retrospect looking at this parable. The first part of his life, he looked at himself as the son, and he saw this whole parable we're about to study through the lens of the son. But the older he got, the more wise he got. He began to see that this parable while yes, it's about the son, it's even more so about the loving father, and it's about the love and the grace and the compassion and the mercy that the father had. You see the early painting focuses on the son. The late painting, catch it right here. The focus is on the father, and there's no face in the picture except for that of the father. Well, Luke, 15, we see this parable given to us today. And this parable is really an incredible picture of every single human being's relationship with God.

Before we jump into Luke 15, we're going to start in verse eleven in just a second. Let me just introduce you to the characters in the story. first, we have the younger son is the one that we call the prodigal. A lot of times he's the one that a lot of the focus gets put on to in this picture. Second, we have the older son right. He doesn't get a lot of press and I can know why. He doesn't get a lot because most pastors, quite frankly, just run out of time and they don't have time to talk about him on the back side of his message. Good news for you guys. We got an hour and a half and we're going to make it this morning to that story. You see, when you take the younger son and the older son and you put them together, it's really a picture of all of humanity for us and we're going to see that in the story. The third person in the story is the father, the father. And I want to challenge you this morning that any time you hear the father or see the father. I just want you to replace it with our heavenly father. I want you to see it through the lens of this is our merciful father. Along with the characters in the scene, there's also a couple of things that we kind of get wrong in this parable a lot of times.

First off, a lot of times we will assign the key role in this parable to the younger son. But I want to challenge you this morning, like Rembrandt found out. I want you to assign the key role to the father. In fact, twelve times in 20 verses, you will see that the father is mentioned. Also, we get wrong in the story that a lot of us see the word prodigal, and we don't know what it really means. We think that prodigal means that you're off somewhere, you're gone somewhere, you're running somewhere or you're a runaway. Where in fact, the prodigal is just an old English word that really just means reckless, or it just means wasteful. It means reckless or wasteful. So, when we assign the word prodigal to the fact that it has to be a person, that just runs away.

It's easy for me and you to read the story and not put myself into the context, right? Why? Because we're here. We are alive. We are with the father. We are wanting to seek the father. But when we see it through the lens of recklessness, when we see it through the lens of wastefulness in our relationship with Christ, I can't think of a person that I've ever met that hasn't walked into that at some point in their lives. In fact, I want you to see today, quite frankly, that the really when you see the bigger point of this whole story, you can realize that this story is about the extravagant grace the God wants to give you. David Jeremiah said it like this, he says. As extravagant as is the younger son's spending, the extravagance of the father's love is even more. It's even more. Let's jump into the text. Here's how we do things here. If you're new, we take the text and we talk about it. That's all we know what to do. All right. Luke, Chapter 15. Let's see where it takes us. Here we go. Luke, Chapter 15, verse eleven It says this There was a man who had two sons, the younger one said to his father, "father, give me my share of the estate." Now, Jesus starts off this parable a little bit different. That is, he does, and some of the other parables. Jesus starts this parable off and he shows us exactly what Sin does in our lives.

In fact, he gives us two incredibly common elements of sin in most of our lives. Number one, I to write them down. Number one sin carries with it, number one, a desire for independence. A desire for independence. Look at the son, right? He doesn't want to be under the house of the father. He doesn't want to be in the rule of the father. He doesn't want to be in the guidance or the protection of the father. And quite frankly, the son shows us exactly what sin looks like. Have you ever noticed the word sin? It is spelt sin. The middle letter in the word sin describes it better than any other definition I've ever seen. And it's the letter I. It's the letter I, right? Because what does sin say? Sin says, I want what I want. I want my desires. I want my stuff. I want my change. I want to be noticed. I want to be ruling. I want my glory. I know what's best. And sin says if you don't see that, I will take my toys and go somewhere else.

That's what the story is showing us through the lens of the son. But not only to sin have a desire for independence. We also see that sin number two has a desire for instant gratification, instant gratification. Notice the son. What happens to the son? The son one morning wakes up and decides, I want my inheritance now. Now, look, I know how this would have gone down in my household. But it doesn't in this one, you see, the son wakes up one morning and says, I don't want to wait on my inheritance. I want what I want, and I want it now. Isn't that a commercial that's going on right now? You see, oftentimes people are oftentimes the reason people get mixed into sin so quickly is that they, quite frankly, they just don't trust God's timing. They don't trust God moving in their life, and they say things like, I want that, and I want it now, and God, if you don't come behind me and do this right now, I will step out and do what I want to do.

In fact, the writer of Hebrews, he says that the major reason and a lot of people's lives that they forfeit eternity is because of this point right here. They want what they want, and they want it now, and they don't care about the eternal ness of who they are. The writer, if he views, uses the story of Esau and his brother Jacob. And in the story, Esau is a hunter. He's out hunting, he's doing what is called to do, and he comes in from hunting. After a long trip and he's starving, literally starving to death, and his little conniving little brother, Jacob comes in with a bowl of porridge, right? Some Campbell's soup in his hand and said, Hey, if you'll sell me your birthright as the firstborn, I'll give you some of this stew. And the Bible, says in Hebrews 12:16. It shows us that he, Esau makes the worst trade of all history. He retired. He trades in his retirement, and eternity for basically nothing more than a bowl of Campbell's. Look at Hebrews 12:16. It says this is a see that no one is sexually immoral or is godless like Esau.

Watch what it says about him. For who? For a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the older son. Now that brings back some memories for some people in the room right there. Afterwards, as you know, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. You see, Esau does what so many of us have fallen short and done in our lives, right? He trades or sacrifices the eternal for the temporal. He sacrifices the knowing that I'm with the father and the father is with me, and I'm under his protection for the I want it, and I want it now. Can I say college for a lot of people? Amen. Later years of high school? Amen. But what this passage is showing us is that really and truly the giving away the eternal for the temporal never works out for us. In fact, it never really satisfies us. It never really gives us what we think that is there or the satisfaction that is inside of us. So, what do we see in the text? We see that the father is just an obstacle for the son to get what he wants and to get it now.

So really, what does he want? He wants the dad gone. He wants him gone out of his life. It's not that he hates the dad. The dad just stands for something that is in the way for what he wants. Keep going in the story the rest of verse twelve. The younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate, so we divided, so we divided the property between them. He divided the property. He took the property. What was going to be the younger sons one day he gifted to the younger son. Now we're going to see some things about the merciful father starting off with this number one. The Merciful Father loves you, catch this, when you break his heart. Do you realize that? That even in the moment you demand, even in the moment you walk away, even in the moment you stand against the loving father, the loving father still, God loves you. You know the shocking part of the story. We have to kind of go back into history a little bit to find this. The Jews that we're hearing, Jesus tell the story, which was who he was talking to in this whole chapter 15. The Jews that we're hearing is the shocking part of it is this is that they were incredibly upset when Jesus told this story because the father was not responding how a good Jewish father would have responded.

And quite frankly, probably how your father would have responded, right? You see, in Deuteronomy Chapter 21, Deuteronomy Chapter 21, you can look at it later. It gives us a clearer explanation to what should have happened to a son that was living in rebellion, living like this, living as he was the only one that is there and being ungrateful. Deuteronomy 21 tells us quite clearly that the son should have been stoned on the spot, stoned on the spot. Now you want to bring your kids into alignment. Let's go back to Deuteronomy Chapter 21, right? Let's go back to the Old Testament law for a little bit, right? The son. the son had in this moment; the father had every right to stone the son. In fact, in a lot of cases, the father wouldn't stone him, literally. But the community and the father would have had a ceremony in which the Jewish still do today called a Kezazah right?

And not a fun word. It was called a Kezazah, and it literally meant the community would get together of elders. They would look at the rebellious and ungrateful son, and they would declare that son dead to the father and dead to the community, and they would never have anything to do with that son again. That's what he should have done. That's what the law said he should have done. But watch what our father and this father in heaven does. He doesn't do that. He lets the son go. In his mercy he lets the son go. And instead of pursuing the son in anger, he opens up his hands, right? The scripture tells us. And he gives the son his inheritance. The word there used is property. He gives the son the property. It's the Greek word bios. Bios. And it means more than he just didn't shell out a couple of hundreds to him. No, he gave him the property and gave him his blessing, and he sent him off in full love, still knowing that he loved him.

You see, here's the deal when you walk away from God, does it break God's heart? Absolutely. It breaks his heart. But he still loves you. He still loves you. He's still giving you bios in life, and he wants you to come back to him. Keep reading the story. Verse 13 It says this. Not long after that, the younger son got together all that he had, and he set off to a distant country. And there he squandered. I love that word. He squandered his wealth in wild living. That's where we get the word prodigal right there. It's not his travels, it's that he is squandering. 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 out. He hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to the fields to feed pigs. He longed, the son longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. Do you know what number two, this story shows us? Number two is this the God the father loves you not only when you break his heart, but number two he loves you when you wander in the darkness. He loves you even when you're in the darkness. He loves you when you're in the far-off country. He loves you when you have turned your back on him, and you are way off. Look at the son in the story, right? It starts off so good for the son, doesn't it? So good because that's what sin does in a lot of our lives. It starts off fun, doesn't it? It starts off great, doesn't it? It starts off on a trajectory to where we're like, I have wanted this. And now I'm no longer living under the oppression of my father.

He starts off living, having all the money he has. He has no restrictions, no accountability. He's far away from the family. No one is looking at him, judging him, kind of knowing who the father is. Does this ring a bell for anybody in the house? He is living. He has all the money he wants. He's enjoying it, the parties and excitement. But when the winds change, because they always change. When the winds change, watch what happens. The money runs out. The friends run away. There’re no more couches to sleep on. There’re no more friends that are bailing you out. The hype wasn't there. And then what happens? Then comes the loneliness, and then comes the brokenness. And then comes this idea in his mind. Oh no. What now? And then the son decides to do the only thing that he can do, and that was to hire himself out to do the one thing that no Jewish kid would have ever wanted to do, and that was to feed the pigs. Now, feeding the pigs to us is pretty gross. But to them, it was just gross. It was defiling because they were unclean animals.

So now we're looking at the son and he has lived out the life. He has spent everything he's had. He is no longer befriended by anyone. Because this is the trajectory of sin in our lives. It's just not a matter of if it's a matter of when. And now he finds himself in the pigpen of life. He's dirty, he's broke. He's lonely. He's at the worst spot he's ever been in. And what happens in his life? He looks to himself, and he literally asked the same question that a lot of us have asked in our lives. What got me here? What got me to this spot? Or this question, I can't believe this happened. I don't even know who I am. I mean, look, here's my, here it is. I 100% believe there's many of us that know exactly where this kid is.

Because there's been seasons of our lives that we have ended up not literally in a pig pin, if this is a great story. Let's go eat lunch. I want to hear it. But figuratively, you have ended up in some spots in your life to where all you can do is go God, I don't know how I got here. I don't know. For you, it might not have been that you got all your inheritance all at once and spent it all. For you it might have been some sort of sexual relationship or sexual sin that now you're looking at yourself in the mirror and you're like, God, I don't know how I got here. For you, it might be some kind of addiction, pornography addiction where it might have just been this thing you kind of clicked on here and there. But now you find yourself engrossed in it and you don't know your way out. For you, It might be a drug or alcohol addiction that has got you to the point where you don't even recognize yourself anymore. For you, it may just be that you're so far in debt because of a spending addiction. We're trying to be like them addiction. You are so spiraling out of control. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you're like, I don't know how I got here and I'm so lonely. 

Listen, there are a lot of us and a lot of you listening. You are in a far-off land right now and you are thinking that nobody is with you. But what is Jesus reminding us? He's reminding us that God loves you when you wander. He loves you when you wander. The father has never stopped loving you. He hasn't. You see, you've got to watch this parable through the split screen kind of thing, right? Remember, picture in picture, it never really worked out, but it's like two things on the screen at once. You got to look at the recklessness of the Sun on this side. But on this side, you've got to look at the fact that the father never looks away from the son. He never looks away. In fact, the son doesn't even realize it, but the father is still looking, still anticipating, still draw and still thinking about him. Many of us think that God only loves us when we are quote with him. Some of you grew up in churches, that's what they taught you. That he only loves you when you are with him. Can I tell you this, he loves you when you are with him and he loves you enough when you are not with him to draw you back to him Romans 5:8 says that God demonstrates his love and this that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You know, that means that when we are the worst, when we are the farthest away, that's when he loved us.

So, when you see this, you get to see it through the lens of when we are far off, he loves us. He's looking towards us. And what a miracle of miracles that our sin doesn't cancel God's love. Number three, the love of the father loves you when you are brought home. He loves you when you're brought home. I love this next section because just it's almost as if you when you read it, the son just kind of one day ups and decides on his own like, Yeah, you know what, I'll go back. Yeah, no, I kind of flippantly, but that's not what the story is. In fact, I want to show you in the details of the text, that there's a there's an incredible there's an incredible picture of the mystery of how God draws us in this because yes, 100%, the decision to turn back to God is on the father. But yes, on this side, 100%, the father is drawing him through his longstanding character and mercy and grace and forgiveness on the side. It's the mystery of the gospel, right? We are 100% responsible to turn to God.

But on this side, God is 100% through his holy spirit in us now, drawing us back to him. So, what happens in the son? The son remembers something. It hits his mind, and he starts thinking about, man, the servants have it better than I do, much less the son's, much less the family. And look at verse 17. It's six of my favorite words in all scripture. In fact, I might even have them put on my tombstone one day. Right here. Look at this says this when he came to his senses. Maybe a question mark on mine. But here's what it is, right? Says when, Melissa is like, really? Here it is. When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am, starving to death? I will set out and I'll go back to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven, I have sinned against you, and I am no longer - that's repentance - I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. So, he got up and he went to his father. So, what did we just see? Yes, the decision to turn was on the son, but who was the one that's in control of the circumstances of our lives? God is. 

And in God's sovereignty, God is working to draw us back to him, to bring us back to him like a loving father, bringing his kids back to him. And what does God do? He puts things in our paths. He warns us. He wakes up like we talked about last week, right? He puts warnings in us all throughout life to help us see things. He puts difficulties. Do you know that God puts difficulties in your path so that you will turn back to him before you are wounded so much you don't even know which end is up? Some of you, if you look back at your life because hindsight's 20/20, isn't it? You can recount these moments in your life to where you think, man I almost died. Or I thought I was about to die.

Well, I mean, you can recall things like, man, I don't know if you know this, but the best thing that ever happened to me was getting caught. The best thing that ever happened to me was going broke, the best thing that ever happened to me was that moment my parents used to say one of their biggest prayers for me and my life is that I would get caught fast. I don't know what that says about me, but it's true. It's true, right? God places things in our lives to help us turn back to him. And in fact, sometimes catch this God puts us flat on our backs because, you know, when you're flat on your back, the only place you can look is up. God does that in our lives. So, look, it's no accident that you're here today. It wasn't a random invitation from a friend, it's the drawling of the Holy Spirit. It's the drawing of who he is to know that he is Lord, and he is merciful, and he is father, and he wants you to know that you are loved. He wants to draw you back to him, and he wants you to come to your senses and love him. That's the story. Keep going! Verse 20 gets even better, he says.

So, he got up. And he went to his father, to which in my mind, I'm like, Oh, you better get ready for this whipping. Nope, not going to happen, right? So, he got up and he went to his father, and while he was still a long way off man, that's a cool phrase right there, isn't it? While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion, and he ran to his son. He threw his arms around him, and he kissed him. Number four, God the father loves you when he runs to you and when he wraps his arms around you. Man, he loves you enough to run to you. There's a couple of words here that I want to point out in the first one, is this the word in that text, the word compassion. The word compassion is the Greek word splagchnizomai. It's one of my favorite Greek words. You know why? Because it's an onomatopoeia kind of like splash. It sounds like what it is. The word compassion here. The word splagchnizomai, it's almost like you're like, yeah. It's almost like you're yakking, right?

It's kind of gross, but that's what the word is. It literally means from the bowels, right? It's almost like a gag reflex. And what the point of the word is showing us is that when the father sees the son turn, it is a gag reflex. It is from within him. It is what is known to him, and it happens without him even thinking in the fact that he loves the son that much. You know what this says about God the father? It says that he doesn't calculate his love to you. It's his first reaction. I guarantee you one thing you put your finger down your throat right now. There's one thing that's about to happen to you. It's built into you. That's what the word splagchnizomai means, right? You got to kind of say it like that too, right? It's a gut reaction to the father. No one loves you like this. So, God's love to the son and to us, his compassionate love is a reflex love. It's a reflex love. God's love to you. It is the initial or the natural response to God's heart.

We see this all over the parables. We see this all over Jesus's life that he was filled with compassion. He was filled with grace. He was overcome with compassion. It's like the Bible is showing us that Jesus and God the father's gut reaction towards us is, no matter where we are in life, they love us. Dan Ortlund in a book I'm reading called Gentle and Lowly. It's great book. He says his is a love that cannot be held back when he sees his people in pain. Can't be held back But Matt, doesn't God have wrath? Absolutely, God has wrath, but his first response is always compassion. Always compassion. The second word is run. So, I want to point out it's compassion - splagchnizomai. There's the word run. Don't know the Greek, we don't need it. It's the word run. All right. There's nothing to it. Listen, in this time, if you've hung out in church, you've heard this before. But in this time, it was undignified for a male, adult male or female to run. It's kind of the same is true today if it's not for sport, right? I mean, if you see a guy this afternoon at the avenue, you're waiting at Ted's for lunch, running down the road like right in front of you. Either he committed a crime or someone chasing him, right? That's just how it kind of works. 

I was out here with Zander a couple of weeks ago. Some of you were here on a Wednesday night and there was a fire alarm. I mean, and it was right at the end middle school. I mean, it was like somebody kicked an ant bed of middle schoolers and they were everywhere. I mean, they were running all over this joint. And I mean, these middle schoolers, they were just running. It was like nobody was chasing them. Nobody was even with them. And I was like, Zander, do you remember the point in your life where you just quit running places? And he was like, No, man, I don't think I ever did that. But it's true, right? It's adult. People don't run. I don't. I mean me for sport. Don't get me wrong, but they just don't like, you know, let's go to lunch. I mean, we don't do that. And is the point of the story.

It's the point. It's here. It's not only it's undignified, but also the father would have had on this really heavy robe. He would have had to pick it up and showed his knees, which was undignified, and it was undignified. So, what it's showing us is that the father seems oblivious to all these things. He is so overwhelmed with compassion. He doesn't care about the social norms. He doesn't care what people are thinking. He is running to his son. His heart is fully engrossed. I've told this before. I remember I was at a Braves game; Braves playoff game and we clinched the game. You know, that means like walk off ninth inning and all of a sudden, the dude that was beside me. He was a big old dude. I don't know the dude, but he was taking up part of my chair too. You know those people. And so, we were together. He had a really good nine innings. Let's just say that and I don't know how much he spent, but he should be on the Budweiser train. All right. And he was right beside me and we clinched this game. And all of a sudden, I don't know what happened in my life and in his life at this moment, but we locked eyes. We were going crazy, and all of a sudden, we embraced I'm now talking about like Christian side hug. We embraced each other and we are jumping up and down, celebrating with each other. And I thought, I'm hugging a grown, sweaty man right now.

I don't know what is happening. That's what this word run is for the father. That's what it is for the father. He is so engrossed that it is a gut reaction. It is a natural reaction. He loves us. Keep going on in the story. Man, I shouldn't have said that. Here we go, verse 20. He ran to his son. He threw his arms around me, kissed him, the son said to his father, father I have sinned against I have sinned against you, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Pause there just for a second. You notice the poor kid didn't get to finish his speech. All right. He had prepared it. He didn't get to finished it. Verse 20 thought it was a great point. You didn't, it's cool.

Here it is. Verse 20. But the father said to his servants. Quick, bring out the best robe. Put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring out the fatted 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 in his found. So, they began to celebrate. You know what this says about the love of the father? The love God the father loves you when he gives you gifts of grace and makes you new. Man, he loves you when he gifts you with grace, he loves you when he gives you gifts and makes you new. The father does what in the story? Does he get this kid a little talking to? Does he bring him in and break out the belt or go get you a switch? No, none of that, right? What does he do? He gifts him with three things in the story that are incredible. First, what does he do?

He gives him a robe, not just a robe. He gives him the robe. It says, right. The robe would have belonged to the father. It would have been that he would have been the honorable father in the robe. It would have been the best robe. Do you know what that says about it? The now the father's given the son his own garment, so the son would be honored among the guests. Secondly, he gives him a ring, not just any ring. It would have been the families signet ring, meaning that the son is back. He is now not a slave, but he is a son now, and he can operate as a son and live as a son and do business as a son. And then third, he put Sandals on his feet. Do you know the during this time, only free people wear shoes? Slaves weren't allowed to wear shoes and especially weren't allowed to wear shoes in the house. Only sons were. In other words, God the father doesn't not only withhold the punishment that the kid deserves. What does he do? He gifts him, and he gifts us with gifts of grace. Do you realize that's the same thing the father does to us? He doesn't give us what we deserve.

He gives us gifts of grace. The most beautiful word in the English language is the word grace. It separates Christianity from all other religions and God the father not only holds that, he showers us with grace. So, when we're looking at the story, where is the punishment right? There has to be punishment. God is a just God. Who consumes the punishment in this story? The father does, right? He'd already given them all the land. Now he's given him a party out of his side of the money. Who consumes our punishment? Jesus does. You're seeing the gospel in the story now. You see in the gospel in the fact that Jesus took our sin and our shame. He took our punishment that we deserved. He lived a life that I was supposed to live, die the death that I deserved to die. And now I am able to be reinstated as a son and a daughter of his. Do you realize that at the Cross of Jesus, he took my garments of sin and he put a righteous white robe on me that's been washed clean?

Do you realize that the cross, he took my hand and he put a ring on it to give me a authority as his son or his daughter? He put Sandals on my feet. And now I can live out of the position as a free person. And now, listen, church, we can come boldly before the father God. Why? Because second Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sense to become sin so that I may become the righteousness of God. It's the gospel in the story and realize here if the God if the cross wouldn't have happened, this would've just been a great story. But because the cross happened, we're seeing the son, we're seeing the true grace giver. We're seeing ourselves in the story or realizing that God gives us gifts extravagantly. Extravagantly, there's two more things in the story that I want to show you really quickly. These are the ones that always get left off, number six. God, the father loves you when you're too proud to receive his grace. He even loves you when you're too proud to receive his grace. Say Matt, where is this going?

Look at the opposite side to the story, in which you see the older son. Real quick verse 25. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field when he came near the house. He heard music and dancing. So, he called out to one of the servants and asked him what is going on? Verse 27. Your brother has come! He replied. Your father is killed the fatted calf because he is now back safe and sound. The older brother, you might want to underline this because this is all about us. The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So, his father went out and he pleaded with him. There's that grace. But he answered his father. Look, all these years I've been slaving for you and you, and I never disobeyed your orders. Yet you gave me. Never gave me even a goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fatted calf for him. My son, the father said. You are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we have to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and now he's alive again. He was lost. And now he is found. This is powerful. You know why? Because at a glance, the older brother looks like he's the opposite of the younger brother, right? We've kind of almost been taught that before. He's the good son, right? He stayed at home, right? But there's one small detail that I don't want you to miss. Where is the older brother in the scene? He's outside the house. He's outside the house. The father has to go outside the house to get the prodigal son, and the father has to go outside the house to get the older son. 

You see, the older son and the younger son share one thing in common is that is that they want the things of the father, but they don't want the love of the father. They want the things of the father, but not the father. They just had different strategies. You see, there's really two ways that you are separated from God. Number one is that you separate yourself like the younger son and you move off into the far territory and live your life and grotesque public sin, right? That is the first way. The second way is that you stay close to the House of God and religion without really wanting God. That's the older son. You see, he had all the rules, he had all the regulations, he did all the stuff, but when it came down to it, he didn't want the father. He wanted the stuff of the father. Both were running, but catch this, in a little bit of an irony. At least the younger son was moved to repentance and see that he needed the father. You see the older brother and his pride.

He's outside the house, and I love this challenge of the story. Do you know why? Because it challenges me and you. Whether we're in a far-off land and we're living in a grotesque public sin or we're living in our pride, this is telling both of us that we got to make a decision to walk into the House of God and the love of God. Which leads me to number seven. God, the father loves you enough to give you a choice to stay outside of his love. He loves you enough. Look, this whole parable, this whole parable is an invitation. It's an invitation for you, and its invitation for me to come home to the father, but I want you to notice something in the parable, the parable, unlike many of the other parables, it never resolves itself. Do you notice that it never gives us an answer as to what the older kid does? We don't know if he stays in his pride, or we don't know if he comes into the house. But here's what we do know. We know that God's love is overflowing. God's love is never ending. We have seen that all the way through this.

But listen, God's love will never be forced upon you. It'll never be forced upon you, he's a gentleman God, that says hey, my love is present, but my love is not automatic. You have got to turn, you see. Let me just say what God wants from his heart, it's not to punish you. It's to draw you to himself. God's love is not to hold you responsible. It's to wrap his loving arms around you. God's love for you is for you to come to your senses and turn to him. God's love for you. Is the desire for you to live in his power, so the most important question that we can walk out of here asking today is this? Will you come to the father? Will you come to the father?

You say Matt, what does that mean? Well, it means two things. Number one, it might mean that you need to give your life to Jesus. That you need to ask Jesus to come into your life to take control of your heart and to become your savior and your lord. You see, that's the picture that we see in the story, right? As the son realizes the lovingness of the father and the father reinstates him as his own. I'm not talking about being a church person. I'm not talking about any of that. I'm talking this. Have you come to a point in your life where you have asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins to come into your life, and to be your Lord and savior? If you haven't, man today needs to be your day.

The father is on the front porch waiting on you. Number two. Maybe you're like the older son. Maybe today you just need to realize that you've been close to the house, but you have been in the house. And today, maybe, just maybe you need to go, God, I need you to shower me with your love. Help me, God. Step back into who you are and what you want for my life. And God here's all of me because you've already given me all of you. Yes Lord. 

So, during these next couple of minutes of invitation, just like we did last week. Man, I'm just asking this just be seared into your soul if you need to give your life to Christ today. You're like, man, I think so. I'm just not sure. What do I do, man? I'm going to be right here in the front. There’re some other counselors going to be off the side. If you're online, you can reach out on the next steps APP and just say, Hey, I want invite Christ into my life. We'll follow up back with you as soon as we can, and we just want you to know that you have a loving and compassionate father who runs to you. 

Lord Jesus. Walk with us in these next couple of seconds. Lord, we give you this time, Jesus. May we submit our hearts and lives to you as the loving father. And it's in your name. We pray. 

Amen. 

Let's stand and sing.