The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 1: Father

Episode Date: August 16, 2020

God is the good Father that lavishes His love upon His children.

Amen and amen. Hey, welcome Church of 1122, whether you're online or at one of our campuses. We're glad you're here. If you've got your Bibles, in just a couple of minutes, we'll end up in Luke Chapter 15 is where we are going. We have seven campuses all over Jacksonville and surrounding areas. Five of those are campuses kind of like San Pablo. Two of those campuses can't meet right now because we have two of our campuses in prisons at Baker Correctional and Union. Correctional. All of the guys at Baker have less than five years on their sentence, and they will be coming back to Duval County, and that was our first prison campus, and so we typically, before COVID shut everything down, we would have a couple

hundred men every Monday night worshiping together there with us, and then at Union, the average sentence at Union is a life sentence, so most of those brothers are not leaving there, and we've got about a hundred men that worshiped together with us there. COVID has hit both of those places really, really hard, and they are not allowed to meet right now. And so whether you're worshiping with us online or you're one at one of our campuses, I thought we would just take just a minute and just pray for our brothers at Union and at Baker. So would you please bow your head and join me and praying for them. A good and gracious heavenly Father, Lord, every time I walk on one of those campuses, the reality of Romans 828 is just

tangible, that you are at work in all things for the good of those that love you and are called according to your purpose and that, God, you could use even these men's incarceration to slow them down long enough that you would chase them down with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so right now, Lord, we pray for their safety. We pray for their help. God, we pray for the administrators. God, we pray for all of the workers there. And we pray that you would continue to be at work. As those two campuses can't meet together, God, we thank you for the good gift of technology. that they can worship by themselves via the service that we provide there. But, God, we pray that you would do a mighty, mighty work

and that you would heal this thing, God, so that we could gather together in your name. And we all joined together as one church over many locations and many different times and all of that. And we joined as one church to agree that, God, you will do great things, even greater things that we could ever hope or imagine. We pray this all in Jesus' name. as people said. Amen.

Grab your Bible, Luke chapter 15. As you saw in the intro there, we are going to talk about the Trinity. People have been trying to figure this out for the last 2,000 years of church history, but in three weeks, we're going to clear it all up, so I hope you'll pay attention. Now, the word Trinity is not necessarily found in the scriptures, but the idea of one God in three persons is from the very beginning to the very end, and it is key to understanding the gospel, and it's key to understanding who you are.

In fact, the Bible starts out with this idea that there's one God in three persons. In Genesis chapter 1, the Bible starts this way. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God. So you've got God creating,

and you've got the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. and we find out in John chapter one that the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, is the word, and the word was God, and the word was with God. So right here, at the very beginning of the Bible, we get this idea of one God and three persons. Now, it's not just in the old covenant, it's also in the new covenant. If you look at the baptism of Jesus in Matthew chapter 3, the Bible says this, and when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water,

and behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the Spirit of God, descending like a dove and coming to rest on him and behold a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased so God the father God the son and God the Holy Spirit are all present three in one at the baptism of Jesus and you may be asking well what does this have to do with me it has a lot to do with you that when God created us this is what God says in Genesis chapter one it says then God said let us make man in our image who is God talking to if there's only one God God. God is not confused.

He doesn't have voices in his head. The Trinity, one God and three persons, is having a conversation with himself. Let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven and over the livestock. This is why you fish and hunt. Praise God is right here in the Bible. And over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Verse 27. And so God created man in his own.

image in the image of God he created him. Male and female, he created them. So part of what it means to be an image bearer of God is that male alone does not rightly image God and female alone is not enough to image God. And when male and female get married, the Bible says the two become one. So they are distinct and yet in the covenant of marriage they are one. And the only time, the first time you get a not good in the Bible is when God says, it's not good for man to be alone.

Because as an image bearer of God, loneliness, doesn't image God. By the way, this is why we invite you all the time to do things like join a disciple group. When God said it's not good for man to be alone, it didn't just mean he needed a date or he needed a wife to tell him how to not burn down the garden. It means that you and I were wired for relationship

because God, in and of himself, is a perfectly submissive love relationship. And out of God's love for God's self, his love spills out into creation. And now here we are with the ability to give and receive love, that God is the original community and God in himself is love, both the object of God's love and the subject of God's love is God. This is why the Bible says that God is love. So there are three persons of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and yet one God.

Now, anytime anyone has ever tried to explain the Trinity to you using almost any illustration, it's usually heresy. That's just how it goes. So maybe you have heard things like the Trinity could be understood like water. Water can be a liquid form that you drink. It could be a gas form like steam or it could be a solid form like ice. So it's three different forms, but it's all H2O. And you're like, oh, that kind of makes sense.

except that is the heresy called modalism. Modalism is that God reveals himself in three separate modes and not three distinct persons. So then I've heard some people say, well, God is like the sun. So like he's a star, but there's also heat and there's also light. And that is the heresy called Arianism, which means that the Holy Spirit and Jesus

are products of the Father and not co-equal with the Father. Then I've heard sometimes people use a three-leaf clover and say the Trinity is like a three-leaf. clover that is the heresy called partialism the father and the son and the holy spirit are three parts that make up the whole kind of like the cartoon remember vultron that kind of thing now the best really the only way to talk about the trinity is to just just use some church history it's a mystery the trinity is a mystery that cannot be comprehended by human reason but it's only understood through faith and is best confessed in the words of the Athanasian Creed, which states,

we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity and unity, neither confusing the person nor dividing the substance that we are compelled by the Christian truth to confess that each distinct person is God and Lord, and that the deity of the Father of the Son and the Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, co-equal in majesty. Got it? Now, you're saying, what in the world does that have to do with me? me. I can tell you what it has to do with you. Jay I. Packer says the most important thing about you

is what you think about when you think about God. It defines everything. That the most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God. And if we can't understand Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then we'll never be able to understand who we are and how we even relate to God. If we don't understand the Trinity, we won't even understand how to pray because when we pray, we pray to the Father by the power of the Spirit in the name of Jesus. It informs how we pray. We won't understand even our own salvation because our salvation means that we are reconciled to the Father by the Atonement of the Son and that the Spirit of God dwells within us as a deposit until we reach heaven. You see, you can't rightly love God without right thoughts about Him.

And not only that, in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus primarily refers to God as Father. In fact, 189 times in the Gospels, Jesus calls God, not sovereign king, which he is, not Creator and Judge, which he is. But he calls him Father. Now, he doesn't call God Father as an illustration so that we can understand him better. He's not like, you know, God's like a dad because dads do this kind of thing. That's not what he's saying. He's saying that God is father.

And I know for a lot of folks, the moment you say that God is father, it messes a lot of people up, and the reason is because we got a lot of messed up fathers. Like the statistics on fatherlessness right now, no good. According to you, I knew Frank was going to amen there. I was hoping for that. I almost texted you to make sure you were here.

according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 19.7 million children in the U.S. That's one in four live without a father. And if you grow up without a dad, you have a four times greater risk of living in poverty. Daughters are seven times more likely to become pregnant as a teenager. Children are likely to have behavioral problems. They're more likely to face abuse and neglect. The babies of those children are twice as likely to die of infant mortality. Children are more likely to commit crimes to go to prison.

Children without a dad are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. Children that grow up without a dad in their home are two times more likely to drop out of high school. In 1960, only 6% of families were missing fathers. In 1998, it grew to 24%. Now, when you hear that, the response is we don't throw away father. We disciples those men to stand up, act like a man, and raise young boys girls underneath the loving, caring father like God intended. Amen? And so when we say that God is our father, it doesn't mean that he is a reflection of your earthly father, but he is the perfection of what it

means to be a perfect father. Some of us have said great dads, man, my dad's awesome. I love him. Not the most affectionate cat I've ever seen in my life. But even the greatest dad on the planet is still evil compared to the perfect heavenly father. Jesus says that when we pray we should say our father, that's how we should know him. Paul says that when we surrender our lives to Christ, that he gives us the spirit of his son and inside of us, we cry out Abba Father. If you don't know God the Father, then you don't know God. and so I think one of the most famous parables ever,

even if you're brand new to Bible study, you've kind of heard of this one before. In Luke chapter 15, I want to look at the parable known as the parable of the prodigal son. I think it's misnamed. We'll talk about that in a second. But what I really want to look at here is I want to look at the character and nature of God

that Jesus rolls out in this parable. So Luke chapter 15, it's going to pick up in verse 11, but to understand the parable, you've got to read it in context. And so in verses one and two, the Bible says this, now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him. Now, if you grew up in church, that doesn't land on you as heavy as it ought to. When it says tax collector, it doesn't mean you just work for the IRS

and nobody likes you. It means you extorted your own people to fund the terrorism of Rome against Israel. This is much worse than you can think. And the sinners, it doesn't mean like you're a sinner, I'm a sinner, we're all sinners, have a doctor, pepper, whatever. That's not what it means. It means like, it's like a category mostly of sexual sin. This was like prostitutes, and it was categories of people that the religious people would

look down on, and everybody would look down on these people. And these people that everybody looked down on really looked up to Jesus. What's crazy is people that were not like Jesus at all really like Jesus a lot. If you go to church a lot, you might want to check yourself on that one. Because if we are like Jesus, people that are not like Jesus at all should probably be like us. At least that's how they were in the first century. They love to gather around and hear him talk, mostly because he loved them. So you got that group, you got the center crowd in here, and the Pharisees and scribes.

They're there listening too. but they're not listening, they're grumbling saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. This is the religious people. And so in response to this, in Luke chapter 5, they asked the same question. They're like, Jesus, why do you hang out with such awful people? And he answers in Luke 5, and he's like, Pharisees, what's wrong with you? I'm like a doctor.

And the doctor doesn't come and hang out with the healthy people. The doctor comes and spends time with the sick people. By the way, this should be a picture of the church. Can you imagine walking into the ER and be like, what's all those sick people doing in here? Right. The church should be full of all kind of people, religious people and rebellious people,

and that's what was happening here. And so then Jesus, he shares three parables back to back to back. Parable of the lost sheep, he leaves the 99, goes after the one, maybe you've heard that one. The parable of the lost coin, this lady loses one of her ten coins, she turns over her whole house, She does whatever it takes to find the lost coin.

And then the last one is the parable of the lost son, or we call it the prodigal son. It's a bad name. Because in actuality, what we'll see here is there are two lost sons. One is lost in his rebellion and one is lost in his religion. One is lost in his badness and one is lost in his goodness. So really, the parable is two lost sons and one lavish father. So as we look at it, what I want to pay attention to is the character and nature of God the father. Verse 11. And Jesus said, there was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his

father, father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them, not just him, but them. This is important. First of all, this is how you know it is a Bible story, okay? Because what he's saying essentially is this. I want my inheritance now. Now, when do you typically get your inheritance when your parents die so he essentially is saying to his dad i don't i don't care about you i just want what you can do for me i want your stuff i don't want to be with you i wish you were dead to me i'll take my inheritance now now i don't know how you grew up but the way i grew up if i went to my daddy and was like daddy you dead to me how about give me what's coming to me he's the back i'm about to show you what's coming that's how they were gone in my house but that is not what happens

here. This dad divided his property, and when it says that, he would have to, he would have had to sell off a part of his estate or land and give it to the boy. Now, by the way, the older son would have gotten two-thirds of the property and the younger son would have gotten one-third. That's just how it went back then. But I need you to see that all that both of the sons have belongs to the father. That everything that we have is a bloodbought grace gift from Jesus Christ, everything. And in this moment, the younger son chooses entitlement over gratitude. He could have been very grateful to live on this estate with his dad and have room and board and food and a relationship with the dad. But instead of gratitude, he chooses entitlement

and every single one of us live on a continuum between entitlement and gratitude. And so he says, dad, I reject you. dead to me, and for his own rebellion and self-discovery, he goes after self-indulgence. Now, here's what's crazy. And the father knows it and allows it and even funds it. Why? Why? Why in the world with this dad, knowing what this boy is going to do, why in the world would

he fund this adventure? And the only reason I can come up to is this, is how can you? could the boy ever know the love of the father without some freedom and decision? Command and control never works well in relationships. And yet, the father, while he gives him what he's asking for, he doesn't keep him from the consequences of his rebellion. Again, we're looking at the character and nature of God. Verse 13, not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had.

Took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. That reckless living in the King James, it was in prodigal living. Prodigal literally means without restraint. That's where we get the phrase prodigal son. Now, we've talked about it a million times, but rebellion always feels like fun and freedom but can only lead to bondage. I mean, it always feels like fun and freedom on the front end. That sin is fun for a season. And I remember being at Southern Baptist Church growing up and they'd be like, not. And I'm like, you're not doing it right. Okay? So the problem is, is that it's not a snapshot. It's a journey. Listen, everyone of you that's struggling with alcoholism and you burn your whole life down.

It didn't start with alcoholism. It just started with a couple of drinks at a party, and you thought, I got this. And you ain't got that. Or if there was unfaithfulness in your marriage and now you're divorced and somebody else is tucking your kids in? Nobody wakes up and is like, you know what I want to do today? I'm going to get divorced. No, no, no. It started with somebody, started flirting with somebody that wasn't their spouse. And you began to think, I think I got this.

Or finances, or you're just upside down in debt? It started way back here when you were thinking, more is mine. I'm going to spend everything I have plus some on me. And that begins you down a journey like this boy thinks. Forget you, Dad, I got this. I am going to discover myself by indulging myself. And then the problem is he ends up with just himself. He squandered his property in reckless living.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. And so he went, and he hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the fields to feed pigs. Now, he's talking to a Jewish audience. You couldn't touch big. couldn't eat a pig. If you were around a pig, you were in trouble. And people were like, oh, pigs. And he was, and then check this out, this is the lowest of the low.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. You see, the reality is the lure of sin always has a hook. That there's always a gotcha. And for this boy, the gotcha is a brand new low. This is total isolation. None of his family would touch him or be around him. He couldn't go to temple anymore. I mean, he is at the lowest of the low.

And at the lowest point, pay attention to this, no one gave him anything. The father will not enable bad behavior. The father will not enable reckless living. He is not a helicopter dad. In fact, it's often the kindness of God that lets us fall flat on our back so we will get to the place in our life

where we can look up and see him. honestly the most gracious thing God could do in some of your lives is let you get caught so that so that so that you can do what the prodigal son does here and come to your senses

that's what it says verse 17 but when he came to himself the NIV says when he came to his senses he says how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread but I perish here with hunger you see what happens is when he hit rock bottom, then he doesn't look to himself anymore and say, what am I doing? He looks to his father, and he says, I think my father can help me.

And so in verse 18, he says, I will arise and go to my father. This is repentance. This is, I'm going to quit heading in the direction that led me to this place, and I'm going to turn back, and I'm going to go to my father. I will arise and go to my father. And I will say to him, Father, I have to him. Father, I have sin against heaven, and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.

How many of you? Back in the day, you know you're going to get busted. You rehearsed your apology before you got home. You ever do this one? But his apology that he's rehearsing, he's having this little conversation with himself. When I get my dad, I'm with a little Jesus in there, right? I have sin against heaven and you. Maybe he'll have some mercy on me.

But it's evident that he doesn't understand the gospel. Most people don't understand the gospel. There's a Pew Research article that came. I read it this week. Over 50% of professing Christians say that their good works will play a key role in them getting into heaven. That's just not how it works. This is what he thinks. I'll go home, make a deal with my dad. Sorry I screwed up. That's on me. Now, how about hire me out as one of your servants so that I can pay you back and I will prove to you that I'm good enough at least to be able to eat food around here? That is not how it works. You are saved by works, just not yours.

you're saved by the finished work of Christ on the cross. Ephesians 2.8 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast. Romans chapter 3 says, for by works of the law,

no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness. to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. It's not about you cleaning yourself up, quit cussing so much and drinking so much during the week, and if you can just get that under control, maybe then God would receive you.

That's not how the same words. The gospel of the cross is that every single one of us are invited into that relationship with Jesus because of what he did for us at the cross. and when we try to work for God so that we can earn his blessing and approval, what it reveals is that we don't know him. That you and I are not primarily servants to the master. You and I are primarily sons to a father. These things are fundamentally different.

Now, sons work too, for sure. They just have a different motivation. and the motivation for the son working is the relationship with the father. Not because you're trying to prove yourself, but because you know that the father loves you and you're happy to be about your father's business. These are very, very different things.

You don't clock in and clock out when you're a son. And so this is what he's thinking. Verse 20, and he arose and he came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced. and kissed him. He did five things. And please hear this. We're looking at the character and nature of the father. This is how the father feels about you. Feels, feels. Oftentimes at church, we spend

all of our time on thinking right thoughts. Doctrine is so stinking important. You can't rightly love God without right thoughts about him. Okay. You've heard me say this before. If I wrote Gretchen a love song about her beautiful red hair, she wouldn't like it. She'd be like, I think you're talking about another girl, okay? So sometimes when we say stuff that aren't, it isn't true about God, not okay. But, but I need you to see this. Jesus is trying to teach us about God the father. And when when the son returns home, he sees him. Listen to me, he sees you. Like he sees you. I know you feel alone and I know he feel like maybe you screwed up too bad. And he, and he, and he sees you. And he, and he sees you. And when he sees you, it says he felt compassion. The Greek word there is spligitsomai.

It means from the gut. That means when God sees you, then something stirs on the inside of him, and he is not disgusted by your sin. He feels compassion because you have turned and tried to walk away from him. That's very different. And so he sees him from him. And so he sees him from long ways off and he felt compassion and he ran. I've told you this before, but in the first century, man, Jewish men, especially of this stature, they didn't run. They'd wear these big old robes to show how rich they were. And apparently the dad has been, he sees him from a long ways off.

So he's been out there looking, scanning the horizon day after day after day. I don't think he was just happened to be going to the mailbox when the boys coming home. And when he sees him, he doesn't, I don't think he's calculating what. people think about him in that moment. You'd have to hike up that big old robe and show thigh. That was not okay in the first century. It's still not okay, boys, okay? Check yourself in you chubby. It's embarrassing to everybody. And then he runs. He runs. And he doesn't just run. See, if you were the boss, man, people came to you. You sat in authority and people addressed to you. and now this dad, under a covenant, by the way, that according to Deuteronomy and Leviticus says that this boy should be rightly stoned,

it was called an honor killing. In fact, in the first century, Jesus takes a well-known story. This story that he's telling, he takes a well-known story, and then he does, kind of quitting Tarantino's it and twist the end all around. It makes it his own. When he starts this story, a lot of people have heard this, but the way the story goes, If there's a son, he rejects his father, he goes off, he wastes his life, and when he comes home to grovel, they stone the boy to death. That's the way the original first century story goes. And Jesus says, not in my kingdom.

When the father sees his son from a long way off, he humiliates himself. He hikes up his robe and he runs after him, and then the Bible says that he hugs him and he kisses him. Why is he hugging him and kissing him? A part of the reason I think that he's going to wrap his arms around him is so that you can't tell. if the people do start, if the servants start stoning the boy, like the law requires, that you can't tell where the dad stops and the boy begins, and maybe he would take the beating instead of the boy. And then he kisses him. He humbles himself, he humiliates himself, and then he just kisses his boy.

Let me ask you. This is not a theology exam. Do you know the kiss of the Heavenly Father? if you've never experienced it, I'm just saying you're not doing it right. We're talking about something different here. I mean, what would you do if your boy was gone and then he came back? This is what you would do. Any decent dad would do this, and he runs to him, he wraps his arms around, and he kisses him.

My boy's 14 years old. I still kiss him. He didn't like it. When he was real little, I was putting in a car seat one time, and my dad was with me, and I gave him a big kiss. And I got in the front seat, and I was like, Daddy, did you ever kiss me? And he said, in the mouth? Just like that.

I kiss JP on the head all the time. I come in the house just kiss him on the head. And one time he's like, you know, he'll like it. He's 14. He's awesome. And I was like, boy, you need to let me kiss you on the head or I'm going to kiss you right in the lips. And you can't stop me. You can't.

Not now. One day, a couple years, you got me because, you know, we're doing this. But right now, I got you. Daddy's kiss you boys. I'm telling you. this is what this is god's heart towards you rebellious son in verse 21 and then the son said to him remember he's been practicing this thing the whole ride home father i've seen sin against heaven and before you and i am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to him look at that but the father you can look up here he's not

done with this thing yet he's not finished with the apology he's about to do the part like hey my bad and here's what I'm bringing to the table. You see, even though the boy feels like a failure, he still thinks he brings some merit, I can at least qualify as a hired servant, and the father won't even hear it. He's come home, that's enough. His theology's all jacked, but you can still come home.

And so he just cuts him off, but the father said to his servant, what's going to happen here? The word prodigal literally means, restraint. If they ever put me on a Bible committee, I'm going to call this the prodigal father, because the father is going to be the one that lavishes grace and love. The father is going to be the one that takes all that he has and he spends it without restraint, but not on himself. He spends it on loving his children. And so that's what

this dad does. Quick, bring the best robe. The best robe would have been his robe. Now the boy, Nowhere in the text does it say that after he came to his senses that he went by a holiday and express and he felt like a million bucks and then he got all cleaned up and came home. It seems to me that he just got up from the pigsty and he came home. And the dad didn't wait for him to clean himself up. The dad didn't be like, well, we may plan a party but you need to go take a shower. You know, you smell like pigs. That's not what he did.

He says, bring the best robe. It would have been his robe. And he says, put it on him. So it is a picture of imputed righteousness. when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, not only are your sins forgiven. That's like the first half, but there's a second half here, and his perfect life is credited to you.

His righteousness, his right standing before God, has been imputed, not imparted. Imparted means if I do something, then I earn that. That's not what it is. It's imputed. You didn't do anything but receive, and I give you the perfect record of my son, Jesus Christ. So when everybody sees the boy,

they don't see the pig slop, they see the righteousness, the cleanness of the Father. In fact, Colossus chapter 1 says that we used to be alienated in enemies against God, but because of Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection, that now we are presented to God as holy and blameless. From now on, when people start saying, how are you doing? I'm going to start saying holy and blameless. And they think you being arrogant and you're not being arrogant because you know it ain't your robe.

It's his robe. And he gave it to me. All right, 1122, that's our new greeting. How are you doing? Holy and blameless. All right? Because you know you're not, but he did it for you. And so he says, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand.

He is reclaiming his name. That's what's happening in this moment. It's a signet ring. When he ran off, he was on his own. And now he's going, no, no, no, no. now I am giving you my name again. You see those cool like Braveheart movies when they made like a scroll and they would wax the end and then the king would be like and put his little signet on it?

That's what this is. He's saying you have the ability to write checks from our ranch now. That's what this is. That you're my son. He puts a ring on his finger. And then it says and shoes on his feet. It's a symbol of adoption. because servants didn't get shoes.

They had to run around barefoot. Only sons got shoes. So in this moment, Jesus wants us to know that at the cross of Jesus Christ for anybody that would come home, that the Father imputes us with the righteousness of the son,

that he changes our name to his name, and he adopts us into his family. Verse 23, and bring the fattened calf. This is my favorite part, and kill it. And let us eat and celebrate. Now, I'm going to tell you, post-resurrection, we can celebrate better than they can pre-resurrection. And let me tell you why. Because if I'm throwing a party, I'm going bacon-wrapped-fil-A medium-rare.

None of those are okay in the old covenant. Can't have the blood, can't have a bacon. But when Jesus says, it is finished, that's bacon on everything, and don't cook that thing too much. Do you understand? That's what's happening here. You want some gospel meat? That's bacon-wrap filet. And again, man, that's just why you vegetarians and, you know, that whole, all y'all, and there's a bunch of you here.

We're a movement for all people. I just don't understand you, okay? Like, I don't understand, I don't understand how you, how you say, like, this is a celebratory vegetable. And somebody told me, last time I said that, they were like, no, a mushroom. You got a mushroom A mushroom is like a A mushroom is something you put on a good steak You understand what I'm saying?

That's not like a thing itself anyway I ain't got time probably And here's why this For this my son was dead and is alive He was lost and is found And they began to celebrate By the way this is why we celebrate Salvation around here

Because we want to be like Bible people You understand? Now, don't forget who's listening. Remember the crowd? There's the rebellious and the religious. And everybody's thinking about their dad right now. And all the sinners are thinking, wow, that's not how I got treated when I came home.

But you mean there's hope for me I could come home? And then the religious are thinking, no way. That's not fair. And so the rest of this, Jesus has a word for them. Now, I know you don't think yourself religious because you go to 1122. But the longer you're in any church, the more likely we are to be the older brother. And here's what happens. Verse 25.

Now, his older son was in the field. Again, this is the Pharisee, the scribe. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. This is a good party. of course you hear the music but how do you hear the dancing let's say some little tick-tock wiggle these people are getting after it you understand what I'm saying and he called one of his servants and he asked what these things mean now pay attention here the more religious you are the more you want to talk not to the father but the

people that work for him and religion will set it up that way whoa whoa whoa no no he's kind of busy, you can't talk to him, I will take the message for you. That is not how it works. Then when Christ died on the cross, Jesus says, it is finished. The curtain that separated the presence of God from the people of God. That thing was torn from the top to the bottom. And if you're an adopted son or daughter, you get to walk right into the throne room and hop up on your daddy's lap who just happens to be the king of the universe. You don't need me to get there. But not this guy, because he's religious. So he hears music, he hears dancing. He called one of the servants and he asked what these things meant, verse 27, and he said to him, your brother has come

and your father has killed the fat and calf because he has received him back safe and sound. This is good news. And you're going to see religious people always get ruffled when grace transforms lives. But he was angry and he refused to go in. Look what happens. His father came out and entreated him. His father came out and entreated him. You see, in the older brother, his selfishness and self-righteousness

causes him to reject the party because of who the father was. It's evidence that he doesn't really know his dad. He doesn't really know his dad. And listen, this has happened to you. This has happened to you. It's like Christmas dinner. And you got a bunch of, you know, you got everybody at your house. or you at nannas or whatever

and then she got mad at him and somebody's in a bedroom right you've y'all been here is my family I'm the only one yeah get over and everybody's at the table and it ain't right right everybody's at the table and it's all tense

and like oh that got real awkward and then there's somebody in the bedroom and they're like I'm not going in there that guy's a jerk I ain't even coming down and so then the dad has to go all right dads that's you okay and your son is out there and you're having a family party how do you go how do you go this is the most

convicting thing to me about this whole thing because i know how i would go i mean i would go my face would say it before i ever said it i would just you if you don't get in anybody with me right not god that's not how he goes he can treats That word means beg. That words means please. He humiliated himself when he ran after his rebellious son. Now he humiliates himself again in front of the whole party when he runs after his religious son. And he begs, and treat, please.

What are you doing? Won't you come, please? Won't you come? It's awesome in here. We got a band. We got dancing. We got food. We got filet.

Won't you come in here. We are not leaving you out. won't you please he begs and pleads and retreats. Think about this. The sovereign king of the universe who forenows and predestines and calls and sacrifices and gives law and inspires scripture, Jesus would have us believe that he comes out of heaven embarrasses himself in front of you who've been going to church your whole life and says, Don't miss the party.

Please, please, please, please, whatever you don't do, don't miss the party. I beg you, I beg you, I beg you. This is the love of the Heavenly Father. That's why it messes with me, because if my son wouldn't come to the party, I'd come out there, I'd be like, do you know what I'd do for you? You know how much this thing costs? We got catered out. I'd be like, I continue to ask, how in the world are my kids going to grow up and believe

God's not mad at them if I always am? Because that's not how this dad treats his son. As a church, I beg you, please don't be satisfied with a little bit of church attendance and some morality and miss a relationship with the Father. It's hard for church people to get saved. It is. I mean, we get a whole bunch of people that get saved at our church, and y'all are jacked up. But it's easier to get saved when you're jacked up because in the pit you look around anybody. This ain't good at all.

I need help. How about Jesus? I'll take him. But some people just sitting in your own self-righteousness don't even know you're dead. This is the older brother. It's obvious, by the way, the older brother talks to his dad that he doesn't know his dad.

He answered his father, look, these many years I've served you. I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I would celebrate with my friends. This is not a covenant rooted in relationship. This is a contract of services. I did my part, you owe me. He just calls him a commander.

Not a dad to have a relationship with. And the son is lost in his goodness. This is by definition self-righteousness, because he just declared, I kept the rules, and you never threw me a party. And I'm telling you all of us, me, I'm the worst. I work here all the time. And we can begin to compare ourselves and our own self-declared righteousness.

God, do you know what I do for you? And this guy has everything going good in his life? You know what I do for you? I've loved you. I serve you. I raise my kids in the church and you let them run off. God, I love you, I pray, I give, and you let me get sick. See, religion puffs up, we'll begin to say things like,

I never disobey you. Here's a quick little test. When you were confronted with sin, somebody else's sin, not yours, when you were confronted with someone else's sin, what do you feel, disgust or compassion? If you're like, how could they, then you kind of overhear in the Big Brother category. And then look what happens next, verse 30, he continues,

but when this son of yours, not brother of mine, religion divides man because it's all about comparison and arrogance and condemnation and when this son of yours came who has devoured your property with prostitutes you killed the fat and calf now nowhere in the beginning did it specifically mention prostitutes but let me tell you what religious people like to do religious people love to take some sin that maybe they have not participated in and draw a big bull's eye around it and say well that person can't know the father mean they can't even see the father because they're on pride. He continues his entreating.

The dad doesn't give up. This is a different kind of father, man. I wish I was like this. If I came out, you get in the house, and then he talked back to me. What would you do? Keep begging, keep pleading? This is unbelievable.

The grace of God is mind-blowing, and he said to him, son, it's translated son, the Greek word is technon, and this is not the same Greek word that's been used up in the, you know, when it says son before. It means like little boy. That's what it means. But I don't think he's saying it in a condescending way. He's not saying little boy. That's not how he's saying it at all. I think he's saying, my child, my boy, man, I raised you. Mama and I brought you home from the hospital. We held you. You were our first son, we held you in our arms, and all we wanted is you to have a relationship with you, my son, my little boy.

I remember going to your baseball games. I remember you opening your Christmas presents. I can remember a day when I would walk in the house and you would run to grab onto my neck. And now here you are, and you're a million miles away from me. Son, you are always with me. And then secondly, in all that is mine is yours. You see, God is relationship first. Stuff, blessing, all of that is secondary.

All of it is just a byproduct. And essentially, both of these sons treated their father the same way. I'm going to reject a relationship with you so that I can serve myself. And again, one with self-indulgence and one with self-righteousness. But they both were trying to use God.

And then he goes on and says, it was fitting to celebrate and be glad. For this, your brother was dead and is alive, he who was lost and is found. He's saying, I did for him what I have done for him, and I have always been here for you, not because of you, but I have done this because of who I am. I am Father.

The point of this parable, in light of us learning about the Trinity, one God and three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is this. God is the good Father. that lavishes his love upon his children. And every single one of us, by nature and nurture, reject God, all of us. And some of us reject him with our badness. And this is crazy.

And some of us reject him with our goodness. Some of us reject him by rebelling. I do what I want with who I want, when I want. And some people reject him with religion. I don't need you. I got this. I'll obey all the commandments. It's just like Adam and Eve.

When they are in the garden, they had a right relationship with God, and then sin enters the world, and they reject him with the forbidden fruit, rebellion, and then in their sin and shame, they continue to reject him with religion. They sow fig leaves together to try to cover up their sin and shame. And yet, while they were a long way off, God came down and walked through the garden and called to them by name. I just want to ask you, Have you ever said yes to the invitation of God the Father to come to the party by the blood of

His Son, Jesus Christ? That God is not just a commander and a lawgiver so that you can believe right things and do right things. That God is our father. And he's not looking for a bunch of servants. He doesn't need service. You know he needs none of our help? But God came and gave His only son.

that's right God gave his son on our behalf that we could be sons of God this is what John says in John chapter 1 John says but to all who did receive him who believed in his name

he gave the right to be children of God to all who received him who believed in his name all that means is this to everyone who understands wow, either I've been rebelling against God or I've been trying to be righteous on my own. And I have come to the place where that ain't going to work. I've got to come to my senses and return to my Heavenly Father.

And I believe, I trust that the only way to do that is because of what Christ has done for me. That when Christ died on the cross and he said, it is finished, that somehow that counted for me. that just like the father did not require the lost son to repay his debt, that the father paid the bill and in Christ Jesus on the cross God has paid our bill for every sin

for every time we've rejected God. And then we confess. And that doesn't mean that we confess all of our sin, all the things that we have done. We don't have enough time for us to remember it all, right? But what we do confess is that Jesus is Lord. And for all who would receive him, for all who would say, all right, I admit it, I'm a sinner, I need a savior. I believe that when Christ died on the cross, that counted for me.

And I confess, Father, save me. For all who would receive him, for all who would believe in his name, then we would be given the right to become children of the Most High God. Do you know the kiss of the Heavenly Father. For some of you right now at our campuses are watching online, for some of you right now for the very first time in your life, it makes sense, not because of anything that I have said, but because of what the Spirit of God is revealing inside of you. So want you come home? Want you put your faith and trust in Jesus? Or maybe you've been a Christian for a long time, but you're in a season right now where you ran off. One of the things to is that the son never, never stops being a son.

And so if you've run off for a while, won't you come home? You're not going to come back to condemnation. You're going to come back to a father that wants to celebrate your homecoming. So if you would, please bow your head, close your eyes. And if you were ready to admit, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior,

and to believe, to trust that when Christ died on the cross, that counted for me. And to confess, yes, I want to receive that invitation to eternal life. then right now, right where you are, would you just lift your hand and say, yep, that's me? I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Whether you're at one of our campuses or you're watching online, would you let us know?

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. Lord, we thank you that you are a prodigal God, that you give without restraint and you gave all. You lavishly poured out your love onto us. God, would you convict us anytime we act like either the rebellious son or the religious son? And God, would you continuously draw us into that relationship with you, our Heavenly Father? God, I pray for the dads. God, I pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit, somehow, by your grace, we would be able to reflect to our children. regardless of what the past has been, regardless of what that situation is, but we would reflect your love

to our kids, our sons and our daughters. And God, I pray that you would do a mighty, mighty work in our hearts, that regardless of what our relationships with our earthly fathers were like, that you would overcome that so that we could know you as a good, good father. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond? We pray. and you were invited like a child that has no problem walking into their mom and dad's room at 3 a.m. to ask for a glass of water, you with that kind of ridiculous boldness, can enter into the throne room of the king of kings and say, Father, I need help. So that's what we pray.

And we bring our first and our best, our ties and our offerings to our father and say, we trust you. More than anything this world has to offer. and we sing. So we're going to join our voices together and basically sing the sermon that he is a good, good father. Let's respond. Hey, everybody.

I'm Pastor Adam Flint. I'll lead our global multiplication team. We pray that God use this sermon to help you discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ and that he would do that alongside of you belonging to a healthy gospel center church

where you live. And again, I hope this message grows you and your love for Jesus Christ. Thanks for joining us.