The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Prodigal God

Episode Date: January 22, 2023

Are you ready to “come to your senses” and come home to your heavenly Father? 

Amen and amen. How we're doing, church? Doing good? You look great. You really do. Hey, two weeks ago, I declared that this year for us was going to be about life and life abundantly. And it has been a good year so far. Has it not?

I mean, come on, go Jags. I know we got a little outwaffled house last night, but we're headed in the right direction. And go dogs and go to Luke chapter 15. That's where we're going to be. Now, two weeks ago, I did say that I was hoping and praying that the dogs would beat the Christian out of TCU, and I got a couple emails on that. So let me explain. Pastor, what did you mean?

Do you know that the Bible says that God opposes the proud? Have you ever met anything more proud than a Texas Christian? Can we be honest? So next week we'll talk about the pride of life. But today we are talking about the lust of the flesh. We are in this three-week series called Life Define because the reality is that all of our lives will be defined by something. And there is what God offers us, and Jesus makes it abundantly clear in John

chapter 10 verse 10, that he has come that we may have life and have it abundantly. But there is another offer out there, and it is the offer that this world makes for us, makes to us. And at the end of the sermon on the Mount, Jesus essentially says, you've got one of two options. He says, whoever hears these words of mine and puts them into practice will be like a man that builds his house on the solid rock of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. no matter when the storms and the wind and the waves come, that you will not fall because you're built on the rock.

That's the abundant life. But there is another option. Whoever hears these words of Jesus and does not put them into practice will be like a man that builds his house on the temporary sinking sands of this world. And when the storm comes, because it's coming, that there will be a fall and great will be that fall. John says it this way in 1 John, chapter 2, he says, do not love the world. world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in

him. For all that is in the world, and then there's a little dash there. And on the other side of the dash, the Bible tells us everything this world has to offer. And there's only three things. The ESB says the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. The King James says the lusts. Say lusts. A little aggressive on the front road, but don't worry about it, okay? It's got a little more meat to it, does it not? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This is all that the world has to offer. And he says, it is not from the Father, but from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. The Bible says, do not love this world. Now, if you've been around Bible study for a while or you're like a Timmy fan, then you know that John 316 says, but God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him,

would not perish but have everlasting life. And you may be like, well, Pastor, which one is it? I mean, do we love the world or do we not love the world? Because if God loved the world, we're supposed to love the things that God loved. Well, the difference here is in John 316, the Bible is telling us that God loves the people of this world. And in 1 John 2, we are to reject the systems and values of this world.

But most often what we do is we adopt the systems and values. values of this world and reject the people of this world that don't look and think like us. We do it the exact opposite way. And so all that this world has to offer us is the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh. The pride of life is this desire to be. This is about status. This is about position. This is like likes on Instagram.

This is grown people acting like middle schoolers. Like you drive a thing and wear a thing and live in a thing, not even because you like the thing, because you are concerned about what other people think about you. And the craziest part about it is you don't think I'm talking about you right now. That's what's crazy. We'll cover that next week. Last week, Pastor Britt did a marvelous job of unpacking lust of the eyes. That's a desire to have.

That's about stuff. That's about possessions. Now, it could be cars or it could be camo. It's all the same. It's when you see a thing and you think that thing is going to do. something for you that no temporary thing in this world can do. Today we're going to talk about lust of the flesh. And when you hear those two words together, lust and flesh, your mind can immediately go to sex.

And it is sex, but it's not just that. It is this desire to feel. This is passion. This is sex. And again, it could be drugs and affair of pornography, or it could be cookies and Netflix. It's when you begin to negotiate with yourself that you deserve to feel a certain way. that I deserve this. I owe myself this.

That's why one more drink is okay. That's why taking the pill from the bottle that doesn't have your name on the prescription, you have decided it's okay for you. That's why you just try to comfort yourself with food and food and food and then you get to the end of the ice cream bin and you're no more comfortable.

This is the lust of the flesh. The question is, what is your life built on? What is your life defined by? is your life defined by Christ who came that you may have life and have it abundantly, or is it built on the sinking sands of all that this world has to offer? In Luke 15, we see a case study in someone who's chasing after this lust of the flesh. Luke chapter 15 is one of the most famous parables in all of the Bible. You probably know it as the parable of the prodigal son.

Even if you're new to Bible study, you've heard of the parable of the prodigal son, I think it's misnamed. The word prodigal means without restraint, and then the King James, it would use that word prodigal. I think we should rename it. Nobody's going to ask me, but whatever. If I ever am on a Bible translation committee, I think we should call it the prodigal father, because what we're going to see here is not just one prodigal son. We're going to see two lost sons and one lavish father pouring out his love.

Now, in order to understand this parable, you've got to get a little context here. Luke 15, 1 and 2 lays out the context. It says this. Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying this man receives sinners and eats with them. So when you see the word tax collector and sinner,

you can't think like the way we think now. These weren't tax collectors like just people that work with the IRS, so nobody likes them, okay? And if you work for the IRS, we don't like you. We love you, we have to, we're commanded to. Hope you come to Jesus and leave us alone. whatever. These are people, this isn't just like they were collecting taxes and they overcharged a little bit to pocket an extra 20. That's not what this is. That Rome was a tyrannical,

oppressive government. They ruled everything from Europe to India. And the way that they would do this is with incredible power. And so Jewish people would pay for the right to go in exact taxes from their brothers and sisters and then take that money to Rome who was crucifying the brothers and sisters and cousins and nephews of the people they were taking money from. Can you imagine that? These are who the tax collectors are, so they were hated. And when the Bible says sinners here,

it doesn't mean like you're a sinner, I'm a sinner, everybody's a sinner, no, no, no. This was like a special category of sinners. These were like prostitutes, things like that. And what's crazy is they're hanging out with Jesus. and the religious people, the Pharisees, and again, I know that you don't consider yourself religious, because you go to 1122, you know what I'm saying? There's no robes, there's no wands, nothing like that. But the longer you go to any church, the more likely you are to fall into the trap of the Pharisees

and begin to ask the question, what are those people doing here? What are those people doing here? Hey man, 1122 is a movement for those people. We're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. the rebellious people and the religious people. And I know some of you grew up around here, some of you went to high school here, and multiple times in our lobbies, you've had that moment where you're like, what are you doing here?

And they're like, I was gonna ask you the same thing, like Spider-Man, like, what, who, yeah, yeah, okay? Yeah, man. This place is a hospital for the sick, it is not a museum of the perfect. And the thing that Jesus gets in more trouble over than anything else is this, why are you hanging out with those people?

So the religious and the rebellious are all gathered around to listen to Jesus. And so he tells them this parable. But when verse 3 says this parable, it's actually three parables. The first one's called the parable of the lost sheep. And the point of the parable is that Jesus is willing to leave the 99 for the one,

and then he celebrates the one. And what you celebrate reveals what you value. This is why when these sisters come up out of the water today, we lose our ever-loving mind and we celebrate because one was lost, and now she's home. Amen. That's a really, really big deal. And then the next one is called the Parable of the Lost Coin. This woman has 10 coins.

She loses one and she turns over her entire house. She does whatever it takes and disrupts everything to find the one coin, and she believes it's worth it. Listen, this is 1122. We will do whatever it takes to reach one more. That we will make all the people that already have a seat completely uncomfortable for the one person that doesn't have a seat yet. that we'll rip the roof off so we can lower just one more person down to meet Jesus,

the parable of the lost coin. It's just who we are, man. And then the next one, again, it's often called the prodigal son. It's really the parable of the lost son. But again, like I said, there's actually two lost sons and one lavish father. But what I want to look at here is this desire of the flesh in these brothers

that lead them away from a relationship with the father. So we'll pick it up in verse 11. It says, and he said, this is Jesus telling a story, there was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the property that is coming to be.

And he divided his property between them. This is how you know it's a Jesus story. Because I don't know how you grew up, but let me tell you how I grew up. When do you get an inheritance? You get an inheritance when your daddy dies. So ultimately what the boy is saying is, Daddy, you're dead to me, give me what's coming to me.

And then the father gives it to him. Again, I don't know how you grew up, and I'm just telling you, and Dylan, if I went to Perry Martin, Jr., and said, hey, Daddy, you're dead to me, why don't you give me what's coming to me? He'd be like, boy, I'm about to show you what's coming to you. And in one fell swoop, like Indiana Jones, he was, blah, blah, blah. And there would be a whipping, okay? Now, I know some of you're like, and you didn't grow up that way, we're fully aware, all right? But I don't have time to get into that right now. This father, at the rejection of his son, divides his property between them.

He's got to sell some stuff to give his sons their inheritance before he's dead. And by the way, in the first century, the older son would have gotten two-thirds and the younger would have only gotten one-third. And the reality is, is everything that both of the sons have belongs to the father. and everything that they've ever been given was given to them by the Father, which is true of you and I also. Everything that we have, every dollar, every relationship,

every opportunity, our education, the fact that we live here, everything we have is a bloodbought grace gift from Jesus Christ himself. And every one of us live on a continuum between gratitude and entitlement. Now, you would never use the word entitlement. use words like fair or I deserve or me whatever man it's either gratitude or entitlement and this kid

pegs over to entitlement give me what's mine the younger son rejects his father for his own rebellion and self-indulgence and that's what sin is every single time we sin we essentially say forget you god I know better I got this and then here's what's crazy man the father knows exactly what he's going to do and he allows it and even funds it. I mean, that don't make you scratch your head. Why? Why would he allow this? And here's why, because God didn't create puppets and robots.

He created people in his own image. And he knows that if he requires his son to stay on his ranch and obey all the rules and he does not have a choice, then he doesn't have a son. He's just got another servant. He's not looking for servants, man. He's looking for sons. and he realizes that love is worth the risk. However, he loves him enough not to protect him

from the consequences of his decisions. Verse 13, not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country. Man, I've been teaching this for a long time, but for whatever reason this week, this little phrase here took a journey landed on me. It didn't say that he moved,

to a far country. He just took a journey. See, here's the lure of sin. You see, oftentimes, we think sin's going to be a round trip. Like, I'm just going to run out this way, dip my toe into it, but I'll be right back. But what you don't realize is that sin is a trick, sin is a trap, and sin is a one-way ticket to a place that you don't ever want to go. And the lure of sin baits you down a road and then blames you for walking down it. And it'll always cost you more than you can pay. It'll keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and it will hurt you far worse than you ever dreamed. This was not his plan. But he took a journey into a far country, and do you get what's going on here? The desire of the flesh is this desire to feel, and he

doesn't feel all the fields. He wants to feel at his dad's place, and he looks out into the far country, and the grass is greener. And he goes, that looks like fun. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. This is where the KJV uses is prodigal. That word reckless there means without restraint. Now here's the thing about rebellion. Anytime you reject authority in your life, anytime we rebel,

it always feels like fun and freedom at first, but it can only lead to death and bondage. Listen, man, sin's fun for a season. Temptation is tempting. That's the most theological accurate thing I've ever said on this stage. You don't ever write that down. And I can remember going in my little fundamentalist

Southern Baptist youth group and they'll be like, one day you're not even going to want to sin. It's not even fun. And I was like, y'all ain't doing it right. That's why I don't get along with you people here, okay? But the problem is it's a journey. It's not a snapshot. You see, every lure has a hook.

And what we tend to do is we try to look at this one moment in time, but it's not, man, it's not. It is a journey and it goes somewhere. and he went on a journey in a direction away from his father, and it led to a place. Like, if there's any of you here, and you're a raging alcoholic, and it has totally, completely consumed and devoured your life,

you didn't wait, that was not your plan. It started with one drink, one drink. And you thought, this can't be that bad. Everybody does this. I'll just take this one step, which led to another one and another one and another one, and then one day the thing that you were grabbing on to for fun, had a hold of you and it ain't fun. If somebody's ever cheated on you,

if you're divorced because of infidelity, let me tell you what never happens. Nobody wakes up one day, I'd be like, you know what I'm going to do today? Custody battle for my kids. Nope. No. It's just, it started with one flirt.

One little innocent flirt. And instead of fleeing, you took one more step and one more step, and one more step. No single person ever wakes up and says, today's the day, today's the day, I'm going to ruin my life. drug addiction nobody's like

you know what I'm just going to start at the end over here with heroin no no no man it's one step at a time in a direction and you continuously think I got this until you ain't got this it's got you I mean it's as simple if you were in

debilitating debt you realize it started with one swipe whoop like how hard was that and I get points how could this be bad whoop bad You see, this is the lust of the flesh. And the nature of human desire is to want more and want it now.

It is. It's to want more and to want it now. And the things of this world can never fully and finally satisfy. This world can only break its promises to you. And listen, this is why we spend billions of dollars on crap all the time and buy into it over and over and over and You ever have buyer's remorse? Yeah, man.

Yeah, around here we just call it the cul-de-sac of stupidity. Not because stuff is stupid, because we're stupid. We keep buying the same stuff thinking it's going to satisfy, and it won't. And marketers know this. There's a thing called focalism. Do you know there's this thing that happens in your brain that when you begin to see a thing that you think you want, then your brain will focus itself on that thing? You ever get to the place where you're going to get a new car, either new to you or a brand-new car?

and you have never seen that make and model in your entire life until the moment you decide, I want that. And then the moment you want it, they're at every red light everywhere. And you're like, is it a sign? No, it's not a sign. There's another thing that marketers know happens in the human brain. It's called impact bias.

Impact bias is when you overestimate the impact of this thing in your life, not only in intensity but longevity. You think it's going to meet your needs in a way that it cannot meet your needs. This is how Taco Bell stays live. Nobody's ever planned to go to Taco Bell. Nobody is, you don't see Taco Bell on the counter. Next Thursday, Taco Bell sit, no, man. You're probably out too late doing stuff you shouldn't do anyway,

and you're on your way home, and it's like, ooh, there's a sign, open late. And then you're like, I need this. And then you pull in, and then you see the photos. You have never unwrapped a package at Taco Bell, and it looked like the pictures of the tacos on the board of Taco Bell. You Christmas card, people, you ought to get the Taco Bell photographers to do your Christmas card. You'll look amazing. If they can do that to a Chalupa, imagine what they can do to your little family, okay?

And at 2 a.m. seems brilliant. At 9 a.m., not brilliant. This is it, man. That is the desire of the flesh. And it's funny when it's Taco Bell. It ain't funny when it's your family. It ain't funny when it's your relationship with your Heavenly Father. Let me just ask you this.

Where are you chasing after the desires of the lust of the flesh? squandering your relationship with the Lord. I mean, is it alcohol? Is it drugs? Is it an affair? Is it pornography? Because listen, you ain't got this. It's got you. Because this is what happens to him. 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 Jesus is teaching to a Jewish audience here, and the moment they said this, everybody

listening was like, what? The pigs. That would make him ceremonially unclean. That would make him isolated. This is the lowest of the low of the low. The only thing I can think of as an equivalent is imagine me having to go to Gainesville to be a water boy and bring Gatorade to Timmy. All my people would go, no, that's what they're doing here, man.

and he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. You see, the lure always has a hook. The look at that, it's always got a gotcha, and it got him. And then check this part out. And no one gave him anything. You see, the father will not enable our bad behavior. And God is not a helicopter dad.

that just swoops in and saves us from the circumstances that we put ourselves in. I look here, parents, the amount of love it requires towards someone to love them enough to pay the consequences of their sin so that they realize that they need help is one of the most difficult things in the world to do. And no one gave him anything. The Bible says in Romans chapter one that it would be God's wrath. for you if he always just rescued you from everything, but it's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Some of you are living duplicitous lives, man. You've got secrets in your life. There's

an affair, there's an addiction, there's some kind of thing, and it would be God's grace in your life for you to get busted. It would be the kindest thing that God could do to you would be to allow you to fall flat on your back so then you would realize my only option is to look up to a Heavenly Father that loves me. It is God's kindness. It is God's kindness. when we are convicted of sin because it is that conviction that draws us back to him. And here's the thing, man, this boy, he is overcome with how he wants to feel,

the desire to feel, the lust of the flesh. This is our culture, this is the water that we swim in right now. And when your life is only defined by how you feel, this is your end every single time. Because at the end of it, all you will have is you and your feelings. And when your life consists of a journey of self-discovery, bathed in self-indulgence,

then all you will end up is you and your self-centered world full of regret and disappointment. That's just where it goes. You see, you have to make a decision. Am I defined by me and my feelings, or am I defined by the sovereign king of the universe who made me? You see, either the inner psychological self is sovereign based on my personal experience

or God is sovereign based on who God. is. Either I am who I am based on how I feel about me, or I am who God says I am because it is he that created me. One leads to an abundant life, and one is a trap. This boy falls into the trap. Verse 17, but when he came to himself, the new international version says it this way, but when he came to his senses, I've been praying all week that today many of you would come to your senses. You've been chasing after all the things of this world, and you are still finding yourself wanting. And I am hoping and praying that today, today, for the very first time,

that you would hear the good news of the gospel, that he loves you, and that he's coming after you, and that you would come to your senses. That's what the boy does. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father. By the way, this is the very first time

that this boy does not look to himself for the solution. This is what theologians would call a regenerate heart. Now he's beginning to be able to look beyond himself and look back to his dad. And then he begins to come up with his apology. And I will say to him, Father, I have sin against heaven and before you, this by definition is repentance. What he is deciding now is, I'm not.

I'm not going to go my way. I'm going to turn my back on the way of this world, and I'm going to turn my face back to my 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. Now, there's a lot going on here. By the way, you ever been there?

You ever rehearsed your apology to your dad? I know many of you're like, I don't know what you're talking about. God bless you. For the rest of us, you ever done that? You're driving home. Like, I have sin against you. Maybe I throw heaven in there and heaven, you know, you're trying to work that out.

What's crazy, if you really dig into this, this kid does not understand the reality of the gospel yet. He's actually still pursuing his lust of the flesh. Now he's just going from rebel to religious, because now he's thinking, I know, maybe I can work out a contract with my dad, and I can bring some merit here, and I can at least be one of his hired servants. And the reason I want to be one of his hired servants is not a relationship with him, because I can still get my needs met because he'll take care of me better than I can take care of me. It's still a complete misunderstanding.

And let me tell you what's amazing about our good and gracious God. It's not passing a theology exam that's going to change this kid. It's an encounter with his loving Heavenly Father that changes him forever and ever and ever and ever. You can have all kind of mixed up thoughts about him, but if you'll come to him, he'll meet you right where you are and change everything about you. Now, you see, the problem is where this kid doesn't understand what's going on here is he thinks he brings merit to the situation. He thinks, okay, Dad, I'll pay you back. I will work for you long enough to be at least able to live on your property. But it doesn't work that way.

You see, you and I are not primarily servants to a master. No, no, no, no. The gospel teaches us that you and I are primarily sons to a father. And sons work for their dad. They just have a different motivation for it. You don't work in order to be accepted. Did you work because you are a son? That's what he does.

But he doesn't get the gospel. You know, most people in churches don't get the gospel. A Pew Research poll recently said over 50% of professing Christians say their good works get them into heaven. It's not true. You are saved by works. They're just not yours. You're saved by the finished work of Christ on the cross. When he says it is finished, he has done everything required.

And there's no thing that you can bring to the Lord. the equation. The only thing that you bring to the equation of your salvation is you bring the sin that requires a salvation needed. So he's going to show up. You see, it's called grace. It's unmerited favor. So in verse 20, 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 him and kissed him. look man as a dad just gets me this is okay think about this the reason that the kid left is because he's chasing the fields

and what jesus is going to share with us now is what god feels about you this is how he feels about you he does five different things here he sees you from a long way off this means he's not surprised every single day this dad while his boy was in a far off land

is scanning the horizon, just waiting for the day when his boy is going to come home. And it's important, then he sees him from a long ways off. And he feels compassion. You see, when God sees you, he feels compassion. The Greek word is splogizomai. It means from the gut. And here's why he feels that way, because he looks at you and he thinks, this is not what I had intended for you. When he sees his son covered in pig slop, and I'm sure he's lost a bunch of weight,

and he looks terrible, and he sees him over the horizon coming home. He's stirred up, not with anger, not I told you so, not of how dare you, not you have shamed my name. That's not what he comes with, man. But he feels, here's what he's, Jesus says it in John 10, I have come that you may have abundant life, and he's looking at his boy, and he's like, this is not what I had for you. I had a life of abundance for you, and you've fallen into the trap of the enemy. And he feels that way about you, too.

If the outside of your life is a wreck, that's how he feels about you. you, you got the outside all tightened up and the inside is a wreck and he has compassion for you. Let me ask you this, if you're a Jesus follower, when you encounter sin, what do you feel? Compassion or disgust? Because the Heavenly Father has the right to be disgusted and instead he feels compassion.

And then the Bible says that he ran to him. Man, there's a lot here. We don't understand the heaviness of the fact that this man ran to his boy. Middle Eastern men didn't run. That's why I don't run. Trying to be biblical. It was humiliating for a grown man

that owned property to run. I don't go run into you. You run to me. You bow down to me. I'm in charge of this place. And yet this man, the way the Bible would call it, is gird up their loins.

Part of the reason men didn't run is because they wore those big old robes and you would have to pick them up by this and tuck them into your tidy wages and take off and show all that man thigh. And it was humiliating in the first century. Boys, it's still humiliating. Get a bathing suit that gets to your knees.

Please. But he runs to him. He humiliates himself. He lowers himself and he goes after his boy. And part of the reason he runs too is he doesn't live in like a, he doesn't live in a community like a little gated neighborhood and at the end of his driveway. That's what he's looking at. No, no, no. He would have lived in community.

And at the gate on the outside of the community, that's where the elders would sit. And when he sees his son from a long ways off, he knows I've got to beat the boy to the gate. where the elders sit, because if they get him first, they're going to cast judgment on him. Because the Levittical law says that if you dishonor your father that way, that if we get our hands on you, if we feel gracious, we'll cut you off forever. But if we stick to the letter of the law, we're going to stone you to death. And the father sees him and says, I've got to beat him to the day of judgment. I've got to beat him to the gate. I've got to get through the gate and pass the people that are going to judge him so I can get to him first. and he runs.

The property owner runs. And everybody's like, what is he doing? And then the Bible says when he gets there, he hugs him, he wraps his arms around him. Why? Because he squeezes him so tight, you can't tell where the father begins and the son ends,

because maybe there's somebody ready to throw a stone because there's always people ready to throw a stone. And if they start flying, they'll hit the dad instead of the boy. Do you know this is not an original parable to Jesus? This is a common first century story, except in the original one, the boy gets stoned when he comes home. It was to teach children you don't disrespect your parents. And now Jesus, like a Tarantino movie, he starts it off and everybody's like, I've heard the end of this one, and he flips it around.

And now the dad's hiking up his robe, and he's running, and he's wrapping his arms around his boy. And then the Bible says that he kisses him. It actually doesn't say he kisses him. It actually says he covers his face and kisses. Why? Because that's what a good dad does, man. Do you know the kiss of the father? Please, please, please, don't settle

for a little church attendance and the morality, all right? You understand? Do you know the kiss of the father? Look, man, I still kiss my boy. He's 17. He don't like it. He don't like it. But I can still get him, okay?

He's a little bit taller than me now, so I put my arm around him. I'm like, boy, I can either kiss you in the head or I'm going to kiss you right in the mouth. You understand this? And look here, here's what you don't understand. One of his buddies right here is also 17. Here's what you don't understand. You're a daddy right there, okay?

God has given us this ability. I know you're an athlete and you work out, but God has given us this supernatural father skills that when you all get into a little bit, all that sausage that you call dad, it turns into steel for long enough to whip you. You understand? So that's how that works.

And I got a good dad. I got a real good dad. Not the most affectionate cat ever. I mean, one time Daddy was in town when J.P. was about this big, and I was putting him in a car seat, my kid, and I gave him a kiss. A big old kiss, and I got in the truck, and I looked at my daddy. I said, Daddy, did you ever give me a kiss?

And he went, in the mouth, just like that. Oh, no, son. Kiss your sons, dads. Straight up, man, whether they like it or not. Put him in the head like things with wrestling. I kiss him on the hat. That's what I do. Your heavenly father, no matter what you have done,

no matter how you have shamed yourself and shamed your family and disgrace the name of God, When we return to him in humility, he sees us from a long ways off. He runs to us, his wraps his arms around us, and he fills our faces with kisses. And here's what's crazy. All the feelings that the younger son was going after in the far-off place were fulfilled in the relationship with his father right at home. And then his son said to him, remember the son had been working on the apology?

Says, Father, I have sin against heaven, and before you, I am no longer worthy to have called your son, period. But the father is like, shut up. hearing it. He doesn't even listen to the contract that the boy was going to bring and put before the dad. Because for the dad, this ain't a contract. This is a covenant with his son. But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. This is a picture of salvation. This is the lavish love of the father. This is the prodigal father without restraint.

This is what he's doing. And he's not even mad at him. Why? Because this is love. Not that we love God, but God loved us and said his son as the propitiation for our sin. And propitiation means a payment that satisfies. And so if you are in Christ, when your prodigal father looks at you, he can't be dissatisfied in you because Christ satisfied the full payment for the law at the cross of Jesus Christ.

And so he says, bring my robe. the best robe because the Bible makes it clear the boy just gets up and goes home he didn't run by a Holiday Inn Express and wash all the pigs

stank off no no no no and in his filth when he shows up the dad says bring the best robe which would have been his robe it would have been a clean robe and the first thing he does

is he wraps a robe of righteousness around him this is a picture of imputed righteousness not imparted righteousness imparted means if you do your part

I'll do my part imputed means I am deciding to do this. This means when anybody looks at the boy, they don't see the pig stank that he has earned. They see the perfect righteous robe of his father. This is what happens when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. This is 2nd Corinthians 521.

God made Him who was without sin to be sin for us that we would be made the righteousness of Christ. This is what happened when he wraps that robe around him. And he says, give me my ring. And he puts a ring on his finger. This was a signet ring. This was the family ring. He is changing his.

his name, to my name again. You've always been my son. You ever see those cool like Braveheart movies when the king writes a letter and then rolls it up and puts the wax on it? It goes with the signet ring. It's like this, the only person that opens this is whoever the king said can open this. When he gives that boy the ring, he's saying, you get to write checks from this ranch now because everything I have is yours. And then he gives him shoes for his feet.

Why? Servants didn't get shoes. Only son's got shoes. And there's something going on here in the first century in biblical times that the only people that would walk around on a piece of property with shoes on means that they own the property. Remember Exodus 3? God's speaking to Moses through a burning bush and he says, take off your shoes because you're on holy ground.

Holy means set apart. Well, all kind of people encountered a holy God in the Old Testament, but Moses is the only one he told him to take the shoes off. And I think it's because he's saying, this ain't your dirt. All the dirt's mine. This isn't yours. I have dirt for you. It's called the Promise Land, and when you get to the promised land, you can put shoes back on.

What he's saying to this son is, this land is yours, because everything I have is yours, he puts shoes on him and adopts him into his family back as a son. When you put your faith in Jesus, man, when you come home to him, regardless of what you've done, this is how the Father treats you. Verse 23, and I love this. Gets better right here. And bring the fat and calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate. The church ought to be a party. The church ought to be a party.

And by the way, I don't know if we've got any ranchers here. You can't microwave a fatten calf. You can't just fatten a calf in a weekend. I didn't say people. It happens lots of weekends. Sorry, you can get real fat in one weekend. It feels like to me. Calf takes a minute.

Here's what this means, man. The dad has been preparing for this party for a long time. He ain't caught off guard, he ain't surprised. He has been fattening this calf for this moment for a very long time, and they kill the fat and calf, and they're going to eat and celebrate. And listen, you realize this, in the New Covenant, in the New Testament, we have a new and better covenant. It's better than the old covenant, because the best they could do is eat a fat calf.

You know what we get? Bacon, wrap, filet, medium rare, to the glory of God. Praise God, all right? You think about it. That's gospel meat, people. They couldn't eat bacon in the Old Testament. You know how you make bacon better? Rabbit and bacon.

That's what I'm talking about. It's true. And this is why I'm confused. like you vegetarians, I don't know what you do here. I just don't know what you do. I know many of you are vegetarian for like medicinal reasons, you know, and it's the result of the fall, so I hate it for you. But those of you that just choose it, here's where you're missing out, okay? See, there are levels of meat. There's like a hot dog, and then you can celebrate with a bacon rat filet. I don't know what you celebrate with and all you do is eat vegetables. You know what I mean? Like vegetables are just,

and festivals. And on Thursday night, somebody's like, no, pastor, it's mushrooms. Listen, a mushroom is a condiment for a decent steak. Do you understand what I'm saying? So they're going to throw a party. They're going to eat good. And here's why. Verse 24, for this, my son was dead and it's alive again. He didn't go from bad to better. It's not primarily geographical. It's primarily a condition of the heart. He was dead. Now he's alive. He was lost and is found, and they began to celebrate. Now, don't forget who's listening. Remember, you got sinners and tax collectors, and you've got scribes and Pharisees. And everybody's thinking about their dad right now. And the sinners and the tax collectors are like, really? There's hope for me? Because I tried to come

home one time, and that is not the reception I got. And then the religious people are thinking, no, that's not right. It's not fair. It's not what it says. Do you know you cannot simultaneously look down your nose at any other human being and fix your eyes on the cross of Jesus Christ? It is impossible to do. It is impossible to do. And so he's got a word for the religious folks. He says, now his older son was in the field. The older son represents the religious.

And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. Hear that, Baptist? Listen to this one. Not only are they're dancing, but they're dancing in such a way that you can hear it. What kind of dancing is that? This ain't some TikTok wiggle. This is the boot, scoot and boogie or something good. You understand?

And so the older son called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. Let me tell you a shadow of religion. It's religious people don't want to talk to the father. They want to talk to the people that work for the father instead of the father. Children talk to their father. Listen, man, you don't need me to get to God. You don't. I'm happy you let me teach the Bible and try to disciple us and be a shepherd here,

but when Jesus died on the cross, you have a direct connection to your Heavenly Father. Hey, Catholics, listen to this. It's called the priesthood of the believer. If you're a Catholic here, grew up Catholic or whatever, and you've put your faith in Jesus, guess why? You're a priest. And you're a saint.

So you can get a necklace, put your own face on it. That's cool, tell you Nana, all right? I'm telling you. It's just true, man. That when Jesus pushed up on his nail-piers feet and says, it is finished, then an earthquake cracked right through Jerusalem, and there used to be a curtain

that separated the people of God from the presence of God, and that thing was torn, not from the bottom to the top to the top, as if we worked our way to God, but from the top to the bottom because the king of the universe, who is also our Heavenly Father, says, why don't you just come on in and tell me whatever you want to need. This is why we make such a big deal about prayer at the end of these services, man. And so, the older brother is asking, what's going on here? You ever noticed to? We all get tempted and lured by one of the lures, but the lured person always has such a disson. for the other two lures. Do you ever notice that? Like the proud of life guy cannot believe that the lust of the flesh guy even has a chance. And he says to him, the servant 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 religious people will always be ruffled when grace transforms people. Man, can I tell you one of the, let me just tell you how it comes up in you. every time we celebrate the number of people who get saved around here who lift their hand and say, I surrender my life to Christ, I'll have somebody come up to me and be like, Pastor, how do you know

that they actually got saved? To which I always respond to. You want them to be saved, right? Because it sounds like you don't. Sounds like you're pretty stoked with you going to heaven as long as nobody's coming with you. That's what it sounds like. So I typically respond with, I'll tell you this, if you make it to heaven, which right now is about, it's pretty ify, If you make it to heaven, I'll introduce you to them.

That's what I say, okay? Listen, around here, we ain't just trying to get people to lift their hands for some emotion reason. No, no, man, we make disciples that make disciples and make disciples. But we want to celebrate any positive step towards an obedient call to Jesus. No matter what it is, what we want to do, man. And this guy's like, he ain't pumped. Here's why he's not pumped, verse 28. But he was angry and refused to go in.

And this next one gets to me, man. His father came out. entreated him. Here's what most people miss on this parable. He's talking to the Pharisees. And when the older brother comes, he's mad because he thinks he earned it. He thinks he brought merit to the situation. He thinks he deserves better and it's not fair for his younger brother to get a party. And how does the dad respond? The Bible says he entreats him. You know what this means? This means he begs him. Let me ask you this, dads. How would you go talk to your oldest son? Does it ever happen to you? You ever been some kind of family thing, a little bit extended family?

A couple of them get, you know, a little CNN and Fox dispute going on at the table. And then one of them leaves, slams the door. I'm not going back in that room. Not as long as she's in there, she owes me to, you know one of those things? And who's got to go get them? The dad's got to go. The mom goes to scratch your eyes out. We have to call the police, all right?

So the dad's got to go. Okay. How would you go to get your kid back to the table? I know how I'd go. you know how I would go. My face says it before I even get in the room. I'd open the door. I'd be like, what you better get,

do you understand what we do for you and how much is God? And you got no, you know what you're doing in my mom? You better get your back. That's, right? That's not the heart of the Heavenly Father. He treats him. This means he begs. Man, for 20 minutes, we sang about the majesty of God.

We sang about God being enthroned in all power, and all glory, in all worship. He was worthy of it all. And that God, who elders and these freaky angel creatures, gather around and lay down their crowns and sing, holy, holy, holy, holy is to the one who was and is to come. Holy is the Lord Almighty. That God, Jesus, would have us believe that he steps off of his throne.

And he humiliates himself in front of everybody, and he hikes up his robe, and he runs after his younger son, and then he leaves the party to come out after his holder's son, and he entreats him, he begs him, he said, what are you doing? What are you doing? This party's for you. This party is a reflection of my heart for my children, and you've always been my son. Why are you out here? This scares me to death about our church. Listen, when the rebel gets saved, and there's a pile of you in here, it's almost easier for you to get saved, because you know your life sucks, everything's broke, and we're like, how about Jesus?

You're like, I'll take it. Who is Jesus? Lord and Savior. Boom, got him. It's the church people that scare me to death, man. Because you don't think you need him. You know what you need to be saved?

You need need. And the older brother doesn't have it. And so he's begging him. Son, son, son. Listen, the almighty God who elects and forenose and predestance is on his knees to his holder's son going to want you come in the party.

Won't you come in the party? And look at how he answers. But he answered, His Father, look, these many years I have served you, and I've never disobeyed your command. Yeah, right. You have never given me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, by the way, nowhere in the story does it say anything about prostitutes. Let me tell you what religious people will do.

They love to draw bullshy out around one sin and point that one out as if it's greater than all the other ones. He says, but when the son of yours came, again, notice, not brother. of mine, this son of yours came, you killed the fat and calf for him. And the dad doesn't give up. He continues to beg and plead. He actually turns it up a notch and he says, son, and this is where a little Greek helps. The son here, it's not the same word that has been used previously in the parable. This, this word is technon. It means like, um, little boy, but he's not being demeaning at all. He's not like, look here, little boy. That's not what he's saying. He's like, he's like, son. You've always been my little boy. When me and your mama brought you home from the hospital,

man, we prayed for you and we played with you. Don't you remember all the times on the farm? And never in a million years could I ever, ever, ever dream of a day that you would reject me. I mean, I remember I'd come home from work and I'd open the door and you would come running to me, and you'd wrap your arms around me, and I would squeeze you. And I knew that. love of a Heavenly Father better because of this love. And now the fact that we're throwing a party and you're on the outside of it, it breaks my heart. He entreats him.

Little boy, my son, won't you please come in? Do you realize that's how the Heavenly Father feels about you? That's how when he sees you wrecking your life and rejecting him and running from him, whether you run from him with sex drugs and rock and roll and rebellion, or you run from him in religion and good behavior and be like, I don't need your grace because I can be good enough. it breaks the father's heart and he looks at you and says, my child, my child, my child. You were always with me and all that is mine is yours.

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. You see, the reality is the older brother's chasing after the lust of the flesh too. The younger brother was looking for satisfaction and the older brother's looking for superiority. And what they need is salvation and surrender to a relationship with their heavenly father. So let me ask you, are you ready to come home? Are you ready to come home? You have a loving father that he didn't merely run to you and expose a little leg.

He came out of heaven and dressed himself in humanity. The second person of the Trinity, God the Son, showed up on his planet. His name is Jesus, and he came on a rescue mission for you. He saw you from a long way off. and he ran to you and he ran past the judgment gate where you would get what you rightly deserve. He outran that. And for anybody that would admit it, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I'm ready to come home and believe when Christ died on the cross.

Somehow that counted for me. He wraps his arms around you. He puts his righteous robe around you. He adopts you as his brother into the very family of God. And he has compassion, nothing but love for you. and this isn't just about making your life better here on earth. It means that we are invited to a heavenly celebration with the Father forever and ever and ever. Amen.

And it's always the right time to come home. So when you come home? Maybe today for the very first time you realize this. Not because of anything I've said, but God is doing a supernatural work in your life. And in this moment, you come to yourself. You come to your senses. And you realize he actually does love me.

He does. He loved you so much that he sent his son to invite you to come home with him. I'd like to invite you to bow your heads and close your eyes. And if you were ready to do that, if you were ready for the very first time, no matter how long you'd be going to church, if you were ready for the very first time to put your faith in Jesus Christ, and right now, would you just lift your hands right where you are and say, Father, here I am, save me.

Praise it high. Father, here I am. I am ready to come home to a saving relationship with you. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. God, for those of us have been walking with you for a while, God, would you shake the spirit of the older brother off of every single one of us? May this always be a place that celebrates when your children come home.

God, may we keep our eyes fixed on you, the author and perfector of our faith, and never look down our nose at anybody else. God, would you make us aware and wise to the schemes of the enemy, the lust of the flesh, and may you just be so much more beautiful that the things of this world grow strangely dim. God, I thank you, and I praise you for the men, for the women, for the students in this very moment that are coming home. Lord, I pray that in this very moment they would feel the kiss of the father. They would feel the ring go on their finger, the shoes go on their feet, and the robe of righteousness be wrapped around them. And all of this is not because of anything that we do,

it's because what you have done on our behalf. God, we thank you and we love you. And we pray all this in Jesus' name and all God's people said. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond? This is not the time to scoot out. This is the time to celebrate.

I hope and pray that all of our neighbors all around hear what the older brother heard. That they heard singing, they heard dancing, they heard a celebration. And so we respond by how. singing, and we're going to sing about the love of God towards us, that heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss, like a dad chasing down his lost son and kissing him all over the face. And then we're going to pray, and won't you come and pray, once you come kneel before your Heavenly

Father and cast all your cares upon him because it cares for you, that we're going to bring our ties and our offerings, our first and our best, as an act of worship to say, God, we value you more than anything else. So let us sing, let us bring, let us pray. Let us respond.