It is truly a privilege to stand before you guys today. If I was born any time before the 20th century, I would never be able to get this opportunity to preach to any of you, for my voice just doesn’t vocalize enough to get to the back of the room. So I’m definitely grateful I’m born in either the 20th or the 21st century.
I would just like to thank all of you guys. Many of you guys raised me. Just a decade ago, I was in Harvest Kids. So thank you guys for raising me. It’s a privilege.
And I would just like to, I know he’s not here, but I would like to congratulate Ryan and Alyssa on their wedding, for marriage was ordained by God, decreed by God, and I thank you for their union and marriage.
Today we’ll be in the 15th chapter of Luke, and we’ll be in verses 11 through 32. This is one of the most popular parables in all of the Scriptures, the parable of the prodigal son. Prodigal just means wasteful. So if you had any curiosity of what it means, it just means wasteful.
Today this parable is connected to two shorter parables: the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. So we’ll briefly go through those, but we’ll mostly be in verses 11 through 32. But the context of all three parables is virtually the same. It can be found in the first two verses of Luke chapter 15. If you want to go down to verses 1 and 2, it says:
“Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.'”
So the context of all three parables that Jesus is about to give to the Pharisees is that they were mad at Him. The Pharisees were mad that Jesus was hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. So they complained, and now Jesus is going to give these three parables in response to them as a rebuke. He’s responding to them, but He’s going to rebuke them through these three parables.
Also, when reading this parable, we’re going to have to read this parable through an ancient Middle Eastern lens. If we don’t read it through an ancient Middle Eastern lens, some of the beauty and the life of the Scriptures may be lost.
So with that being said, please stand for the reading of the Word.
Starting at verse 11:
“And He said, ‘A man had two sons. The younger of them said to the father, “Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.” So he divided his wealth between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country. There he squandered his estate with loose living.
Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed the swine. He would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.
But when he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men.'”
So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him. He ran and embraced him and kissed him.
And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” And they began to celebrate.
Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. He said to him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.”
But he became angry and was not willing to go in, and his father came out and began pleading with him.
But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours, and yet you have never given me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.”
And he said to him, “Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.”‘”
Let’s pray.
Lord, there’s power in Your words. There’s saving power within the hearing of Your Word, sanctifying power just as well as saving power. Please save the souls who are lost in this room. Please sanctify those who are saved, Lord. Please keep us all safe and bring this Scripture to life. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
So we briefly touched that we were going to talk about the first two parables that come before the parable of the prodigal son. If you scroll down to verse 3, you’ll get to the parable of the lost sheep. In short, the parable of the lost sheep goes like this: a man who had 100 sheep lost one, and when he lost one, he went out and got the one sheep. When he found the one sheep that was lost, he carried it back on his shoulders. The point of the verse can be found in verse 7:
“I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
The point of the parable is clear that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
The next parable of the three is the parable of the lost coin, which in summary goes like this: a woman had ten coins, lost one, so she went through her house until she found it. When she found it, she called all her friends and neighbors and rejoiced over finding it. Then in verse 10, we also see the angels rejoicing as well.
So in both of these two short parables, both heaven rejoiced and earth should rejoice. Heaven always rejoices over one lost sinner who repents, and earth should be rejoicing over that. With that being said, the point of the two parables being clear, keep that in mind as we go into the parable of the prodigal son.
The Prodigal Son’s Rebellion
The story of the prodigal son begins with the father who had two sons, one older, one younger. The younger son makes a request from the father. He says, “Can I get my estate? Can I get my inheritance early?” This would have been one of the most despicable acts that culture could conceive of. You might as well have asked the father, “Father, I wish you were dead.”
But that wasn’t the most shocking thing. The most shocking thing would have come at the end of verse 12 when the father actually grants the request. The typical response of a father in those days when such a request was given would have been to beat the child, rebuke him, and send him on his way. Some people even say that they would hold a funeral for the child, for that child would be considered dead. This would be one of the most despicable things that could be conceived of in that culture. But that’s not the response. We see the father simply divides the wealth.
How the dividing of this wealth would have occurred was in those days, in a two-male sibling household, the older brother would get two-thirds of the estate. He would get a double portion according to Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 17. The younger brother would have gotten one-third of the estate. Although he only got one-third of the estate, this would have still been a big chunk of inheritance.
The father was very wealthy. You can tell from later on in the passage that the father had many servants, indicating that he had great wealth. Although it was a big estate, he begins to waste it immediately. It says that it took him a couple of days to gather his things. What the younger son was going to have to do was turn this estate that he just got into cash. In order to do this, he would have to sell it.
The Discipline of God and the Famine
There were stipulations on how this selling process would go in those days. He would be able to sell it and get cash for it, but whoever he sold it to would not be able to operate on that land until the father died. So he was only going to get pennies on the dollar for that land because the father might not die for twenty years, and whoever bought it wouldn’t be able to operate or make money off that land for twenty or thirty years.
Would somebody have bought it? Sure, because they would have bought it and it would have inflated in price over time, but he would have only gotten pennies on the dollar for it. It would be like buying a house today and being told, “Here’s the house, but you can’t live in that house or collect rent off that house for twenty or thirty years.” You’d be able to sell it, but you’d only get pennies on the dollar for it.
So the prodigal living started before he ever went off into a distant country. He goes off into a distant country, and we see that it would be Gentile country, for as we see later, he ends up feeding swine. There would be no pigs in the Jewish territories of the day. So he goes off into Gentile land. This would have been about the fifteenth loud gasp from the Pharisees. Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, and this would have been about the fifteenth loud gasp they would have had.
All of it—going into Gentile country, squandering his estate—ends up with him squandering his estate with loose living. If you can’t imagine what loose living looks like, go down to verse 30. He squanders it with prostitutes. Probably did more than squander it with prostitutes, but that was one of the things he was squandering it on.
He gathered all his stuff up, went into that distant country, squandered all he had, and then a famine struck. We often think here in America that famines are just coincidence, nature’s coincidence. That is not the case. They would not have understood it that way either. They knew that weather and patterns were controlled and altered by God for His good pleasure. The drought here in California—it was God’s doing. It was with His good pleasure to do it. All of us could agree that California deserves some divine judgment upon us.
They would have understood that the famine was not a coincidence but God’s discipline upon the sheep. God is just breaking the leg of this sheep so that he’ll have to depend upon the shoulders of the good shepherd.
Job 37:11–13 says, “Also in moisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His lightning. It changes direction, turning around by His guidance that it may do whatever He commands it on the face of the inhabited earth, whether for correction or for His world or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.” So God is in complete and total control of all weather and patterns.
God’s discipline is served to prune the bad branches off, to make us more fruitful. Although He prunes us to make us more fruitful, He’ll do that throughout all our lives. When He disciplines us directly, it is accelerating that pruning process. The pruning process, the tools He uses are sharp. To prune a tree, you must use a sharp tool. It may hurt, this discipline from God. But it is for your good. Underneath all of God’s discipline is a fountain of mercy and grace that follows.
We see this in the 32nd chapter of Genesis, a physical event that happens out in the wilderness that reveals a deeper spiritual truth. When God wrestled with Jacob all night, He wrestled with him all night. God allows him to wrestle, and at daybreak, when God had enough of Jacob’s shenanigans, He popped his hip out of socket. Then, and only then, once his hip was popped out of socket, did Jacob cling on to our Lord out in the wilderness.
King David, if you guys don’t know, King David slept with another man’s wife, and upon sleeping with another man’s wife, his son, his very own son Absalom, rose up against him and caused him much trouble. He often had times when he had to flee to caves and hide because he was fearing for his life.
But in Psalm 119:71, it says “It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”
Through all of David’s afflictions, looking back upon all his afflictions that happened to him, he said it was good, for he learned God’s statutes. God, through His discipline, is truly doing it for the good of the sheep and for His glory.
But I’m also not telling you that every little circumstance in life is God’s discipline either. Don’t go around looking for the boogeyman. I will say in my life there was only about a six-month period where I ever felt like I was disciplined by God directly, at least. But He broke me. I’ll tell you, He broke me.
When I was 19 or 20 years old, I had two sins in my life that plagued me. Every ounce of my body—I couldn’t serve the Lord with those sins. Every single time I committed either of those two sins, I was afflicted within 24 hours in some manner until, after six months of doing it, I had no desire for those two sins any longer. So God’s discipline is very near and dear to my heart. Without it, I don’t know where I would be, to be honest. So the time between the famine and the father, the prodigal didn’t learn from his discipline.
The Prodigal’s Brokenness and Repentance
After he squandered all his wealth, after he squandered—sorry, I got like hot milk—after he squandered all his wealth, a citizen of the country finds work. He decides, “No, I’m not going back to my father yet. I’m going to find work.” So he finds work with the citizen in the country, and he gets a job feeding pigs. He’s so hungry, so malnourished at this point that he looks at some of the pig slop, and it’s desirable to him. He would have gladly eaten the pig slop.
The Pharisees who are in the crowd, pigs being the most disgusting animal in all their culture, would have been appalled by such a thing. But at the end of verse 16, that was the end of Jesus painting the tragedy of this young prodigal’s life. Verse 16 is the end. Jesus paints the worst tragedy of a life He could imagine, and it ends there.
In verse 17, he comes to his senses—the young prodigal no longer a prodigal. He becomes born again. When he comes to his senses, his gaze becomes fixated upon the father and his mercies. He sees the servants in the house and all they had; he desired what they had. The gates of grace were now open to the boy. He sees the gates of grace and they were irresistible. The mercies of his father’s house were so desirable that he could do nothing but go back to his father.
The Father’s Compassionate Welcome
When he goes back to his father, the father sees him a long way off and, filled with compassion, runs toward the boy. This was supposed to be a shameful return for the young prodigal. This would have been the most shameful return imaginable. He’s returning back to his village. Everybody in the village would have been appalled by what he’d done and what he did with all his wealth. They would have been appalled by the request a long time ago. Yet, when he returns, the father embraces him and kisses him.
Not only that, ancient Middle Eastern men don’t run. In order for ancient Middle Eastern men to run, their legs would get exposed. In the exposing of their legs, that was considered very shameful in that culture. So all this shame that would have been upon the boy coming back is now upon the father, who slandered himself because he was rejoicing at his son’s return.
We see this with no greater measure than upon the cross, when Jesus Christ bore our sin and our shame for all those who believe. He died for the sheep. We’ll never fully understand what that is. I know a lot of us look at the crowns, the thorns, the nails, the flogging, the suffocation that occurs with crucifixion. But, guys, it was far worse than that. He bore the wrath of God. He bore sin. He suffered more on the cross in a matter of hours than any sinner ever will in hell.
I’ll repeat that: He suffered more on the cross in a matter of hours than any sinner ever will in hell.
Now notice the young prodigal’s heart as he returns to the father and is in the embrace of the father. He says,
“Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
He notices his unworthiness. He does not try to pay back restitution for all the sins he has committed. That would be the natural response: “Father, how can I pay you back for what I’ve done?”
But any sinner who recognizes what they’ve done and their transgressions against the father would understand that there’s nothing that you could do to pay Him back. Being a servant, just one of the hired workers, would be the right response. That should be our response today—to just be a hired worker, a servant. We can’t pay back anything to God. Our sins are far too great. So he desires the lowest place in the house—the hired worker—desiring the very lowest place in the house. That should be all of our desires.
It is my prayer today that I see none of you in heaven—for I hope all of you guys are too close to the throne for me to see. It is my prayer. Not because you guys are better than me—we’re all from the same stock of Adam—but I just hope that God works mightily in all of you in a way that is indescribable for human adjectives to come up with.
Truly humble he is, wanting to just serve the Lord. But serving the Lord, the art of serving the Lord, is a difficult task. The human heart naturally does not want to humble itself to God. But what a blessing is the heart that is totally content being a servant to a perfect Master. A perfect Master—being a servant to a perfect Master—is what a Christian would call freedom. Serving a perfect Master is what a Christian would call freedom. And, of course, that Master is God Almighty. When your affections grow to Him, serving Him becomes far easier.
Christ’s love is what has to compel us forward. It’s not our love for Christ that compels us—it is His love for us that compels us forward.
Glorifying Him is the sole purpose of the Christian. Glorifying Him is a daily task. The way in which we glorify Him will be different—each of us having different life circumstances, different spiritual gifts. God has not designed it for us to all glorify Him in the same way. That’s part of the beauty of the church: we all have different spiritual gifts unified in glorifying Christ.
Glorifying Him from the moment you lift your head off the pillow. You need to ask yourself essential questions that day, like, “How do I glorify Christ?” There should be no day that goes by that you don’t try to rejoice in that purpose. Take pride in it. For He died for you. Understand that He died for you.
It is a tough task. It is a tough task to do so. Live life like a sprint. Serve Him in a sprinting manner. Do not slow down. And you may say, “Well, if I sprint all the time, I may run out of breath in my lungs.” Well, yeah, you will. Trust in God to give you oxygen to run the race He has set before you.
You may say, “Well, Kyle, is there any time to rest? Is there any time for vacation, any time for TV shows?” I’m not condemning those things—I swear I’m not condemning those things. Our Lord Jesus Christ rejoiced and celebrated with others. He fellowshiped. He relaxed. Jesus did relax, so I’m not saying don’t relax, but it cannot be the main focus of your life. If it is the main focus of your life—what you call fellowshiping and relaxing—so that you could somehow get up the next day and glorify God, all your relaxing should simply be so that you’re energized to go glorify God again. But if all you do is relax, it is nothing less than self-indulgence and idolatry.
If you have any questions where your affections are, ask the person closest to you who you love most. If they say anything but God, reflect on that—for your lifestyle probably is not walking in accordance to His statutes.
Parents, this is really easy for you. Just go ask your little kid, “Who do I love most?” If your kid says anything other than God, reflect on that—for the example you have set is wrong. It should be easy for you. It should be your absolute one and greatest affection. If that is not evident in your life, you are not living in a life of service to the Lord.
Now the Father—our heart should be humbled toward Him—the Father provides nothing but the best. We humble ourselves and assume the lowest position in the house, but the Father gives us nothing but the best. We can expect nothing less than the best. Notice the response of the Father at the start of verse 22. It says,
“But the Father said to His slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.”
Look at what the response is—He offers more than just the crumbs off the table. I’m always reminded when I think of a humble heart of the Syrophoenician woman in Matthew 15 and Mark 7. The Syrophoenician woman was just hoping to be but a dog in the house of the Lord eating up the crumbs. Although that is our desire—to be the lowest in the house licking up the crumbs—the Lord provides us nothing but the best.
The Joy of Heaven Over One Sinner Who Repents
Everyone in the house celebrates what the Father did in that sinner. The point of the parable is made clear: no matter how far gone, the worst of all sinners, yet heaven rejoices over that one sinner who repents—no matter how far gone they are, even living the worst life imaginable.
All three of the parables’ purposes are the same. Heaven rejoices over every sinner. We should rejoice over every sinner as well. We do that at baptisms, right? We do that at baptisms.
But I’ve got to tell you guys, I find it incredibly odd that we celebrate birthdays and graduation parties as greater than a baptism. It is to my convictions that we should spend all day rejoicing over one sinner who repents. Heaven rejoices mightily. It does not say heaven rejoices mightily over a birthday. It does not say heaven rejoices mightily over a graduation party. I loved all those graduation parties I went to, by the way. The food was amazing, and I loved going to all of them and fellowshipping with you guys. I’m not saying that we should not celebrate those things—we should—but to celebrate them as greater than a baptism? I mean, come on. It is the greatest thing that ever could happen to your child. It is the greatest thing that ever happens to them.
Marriage doesn’t even come close to what being born again is. Being born again is the greatest of all gifts. Grace—there’s nothing greater. Weddings and graduations, all those things are great. But celebrating them as more than a baptism? Guys, we should celebrate all day—from the very moment we baptize them in the morning service all the way till night. We should celebrate all day, for heaven would. Shouldn’t we?
It gives us a great opportunity to fellowship, yet I feel that so often we don’t take that chance. We just glance over it. I definitely do. I glance over the baptisms and I tell them congratulations and move on with the day. But true rejoicing over a baptism—over one sinner who becomes saved—is far more than celebrating on that singular day. It is the church uniting in an effort. It is the church uniting in an effort to help grow that individual, to be a part of their sanctification as well as the day that they were first saved. The sign that a church actually cares about people coming to repentance is that they walk with them in holiness, praying for them.
You may ask, “Well, how could I be a part of somebody’s sanctification? I can’t have a deep, intimate relationship with every single person at this church, for there’s far too many of us for that to be. We can’t all have that many meaningful relationships in our life. If we have that many meaningful relationships, we have no meaningful relationships at all.” So you may ask, “How could I be a part of somebody’s sanctification within the church?”
Simply, you just have to pray for the elders and the ministry leaders who take the task of shepherding and teaching them. Pray for your elders and your ministry leaders so that they can do such a thing. Do not act like those prayers mean nothing. So many people act like prayer means nothing. But prayer is everything. The end of James 5:16 states,
“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
Trust in those words: the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Now you may say, “Well, I’m not a righteous person. How can my prayer be effective?” I’ve got to ask you—are you a righteous person because you’re righteous or because God has made you righteous through the blood? You’re simply made righteous by God, so pray, for it is powerful and effective if you believe.
Mothers and fathers, not only rejoice in your child’s salvation, you must rejoice in their growing in holiness as well. It is your God-given duty that you walk with them, grow them in holiness each and every day. Do not neglect your child from the Scriptures. You have to teach your child the Scriptures. You won’t get CPS called on you, but it is a form of neglect. It is a form of neglect not to teach your child the Scriptures.
Parents, don’t put on the rainbow-colored glasses and act like your kid’s saved if they aren’t. I know that’s a hard thing to do. Everybody wants to see the best in that child. But if your child has zero affections for God, doesn’t love God, doesn’t love His Word, doesn’t love to pray, has no affections for God whatsoever—your child is not saved. And take that seriously. If your child’s not saved, man, you should be down upon your knees, wearing the floor out. The salt of your tears should crystallize the carpet in prayer for that child. I mean seriously—you should be praying for that child.
You’ve got to ask two essential questions if your child is truly saved. First: Does my child love God? Does my child know God? Second: Does God know my child? If God knows your child, it will be evident in their life, for the Holy Spirit that lives within them will be evident in their life. He will give them affections. The Holy Spirit is far too powerful to live inside the child and not have affections for God. He’s far too powerful. So if those things aren’t evident in that child’s life, be diligent in that child’s life. Pray, help grow them in holiness.
I love teaching all you guys’ kids over on Wednesday night, but I should not be their main teacher. It should be their parent. They’ve got to hear the Word far more than twice a week. Twice a week isn’t going to cut it. This is a seven-day job. The kingdom of darkness doesn’t rest. The kingdom of light needs to look to our Lord and Savior, our Commander-in-Chief, every single day for guidance.
The Older Brother and the Heart of the Pharisee
Now on to the older brother. We haven’t talked about the older brother in the story yet. He’s the final main character of the story. For those of you who don’t know this story, the older brother is representing the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the people who were complaining to Jesus for hanging out with sinners and tax collectors back in verses 1 and 2. So the older brother is who Jesus is talking to.
It is only natural—the Pharisees had this preconceived notion that all their righteousness was within themselves. They put all their faith in their works. But what they failed to realize was that any righteousness apart from the true vine was just filthy rags before God. Any righteousness of your own without being connected to the true vine is just filthy rags before God. You have to have faith. A person is saved by faith and faith alone, which comes about by grace.
The Pharisees had no faith in God, for God was speaking to them right in front of them, and they had no idea. All their faith was in their own self-worth. So the heart of the older brother was evil, wicked.
Back to the story. Everyone was celebrating and praising God for what had happened in the younger brother’s return. The older brother heard all the music and the dancing and was wondering what it was for. One of the servants told him. He got angry and refused to go in.
This reminds me of Jonah—Jonah in chapter 4, verses 3 through 5. When all the Ninevites—120,000 Ninevites—came to repentance, all started glorifying God, Jonah said:
“Therefore now, Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life. The Lord said, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry?’ Then Jonah went out from the city, sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.”
Jonah hated the fact that the Ninevites repented. The older brother in this story hated the fact that the younger brother repented and turned toward God. The Pharisees that Jesus was talking to—they hated the fact that some of the sinners and tax collectors were repenting and turning toward God.
Back to Jonah again—I don’t think I could ever fathom a more sad verse than verse 3: “Therefore now, Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” Who says that? When somebody repents and turns toward God, and your response is, “Lord, I can’t stand this. I’d rather die than watch this.” Jonah’s the only successful missionary to ever go out, be successful, and get upset about it. His heart was joyless—just joyless—at the thought of repentance. So was the older brother.
If you had any doubt of the state of the older brother’s heart, go look at verse 29. Verse 29 says,
“But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I’ve been serving you and I’ve never neglected a command of yours, and yet you have never given me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.'”
The reason I say it that way is—what did he want a goat for? To celebrate with his friends. The younger brother was just happy to have a fattened calf with the father. The younger brother was happy just to go back to the father even if he didn’t get a fattened calf. All his affections, all his gaze was upon the father.
The older brother—he didn’t want a young goat to celebrate with the father. He wanted a young goat to go celebrate with his friends. He had no affections for the father. He obeyed his commands like the Pharisees did, but he had no love. All he wanted was the blessing of the young goat. He didn’t want to hang out with the father and eat with him. No—he didn’t love the father. Not at all. Not at all. He had no affections for the father.
Now the difference between the two has become very clear. The younger brother is the one that’s saved. From verse 17 onward in this passage, his affections were nothing but toward the father, and the older brother had none.
By now the Pharisees are probably realizing that He’s talking about them. They would have realized right about this point that heaven rejoices over them far less than over these sinners. This would have been quite the culture shock to them. But it would have been evident to them by this point that Jesus was rebuking them, if it wasn’t made clear earlier.
The father in this story is an example for all of us in the way that we should rejoice. We should truly rejoice over sinners’ repentance. God’s mercy—there is nothing like it. It’s endless. It’s boundless. The grace that He has given us—we weren’t deserving of it. I definitely wasn’t deserving of it. I know none of you guys are either. You’re all from the same stock of Adam I am. You aren’t worthy of it. I’m not worthy of it. We’ve got to recognize our unworthiness and live in gratitude that He has made us worthy. Live in gratitude that He has made you worthy.
He has opened up grace to all who believe. He died for the sheep. He dwells within us. He illuminates our eyes to the truths in the Scripture. So pray for your loved ones. Pray for your loved ones—not only that they wouldn’t be the young prodigal, for being the young prodigal is a terrible life. Never pray for your child to be the young prodigal. But even more, pray that your son never becomes the Pharisee, the older brother—and that can happen.
A Warning Against Pharisaical Pride
I remember when I was 15, 16 years old, my tendencies were much more like the Pharisee than the younger brother. When I was 15 to 16, I started growing in knowledge of the Lord. And let me tell you, all the kids at Chowchilla High heard it. In some manner, form, or fashion, they heard it. I wanted to be known as the smartest kid in the school, the most holy of holies, and the most thou of all. Inside, I was just more wretched than all of them. The rest of the Christians at the school—they weren’t trying to prove anything. Well, maybe some of them were. But I definitely was trying to prove how great I was.
Thank goodness God taught me. I remember putting all my faith in apologetics. I used to try to teach people that God was real. I had no dependence upon the gospel. I did not teach the gospel—not for a moment. I tried to convince everybody that science and Scripture don’t contradict, and I tried to go through all the things that science did and how it worked with the Scriptures. You know how many people were led to repentance over such things? Zero. Zero. So unsuccessful you couldn’t even imagine.
Despite having all these tools—I was pretty smart—I could have shared the gospel with people. People who knew nothing about the Lord were far more successful than me. The kids in the youth group are an inspiration to me, seriously. I might know more than some of them—well, probably all of them—about the Scriptures, and yet they’re better at evangelizing than me. It’s quite the mystery to me. If it wasn’t for the Scriptures, it’d be quite the mystery to me how they’re better at evangelizing than me when I have way more knowledge. I have all the tools in the tool bag. And yet they’re the ones that are able to lead so many people to church, and I’m usually not leading very many people to church.
That’ll tell you all you need to know about how Christianity works. It’s not about how knowledgeable you are. It’s all about the God who gives certain gifts to individuals. Thank God that God gives us all differently. If everybody was like me, this church would burn in fire. I’ll tell you what—I have zero administration skills. I’m thankful for all the leaders that I have on Wednesday nights that make it run. You might think I make it run, but I don’t. Without them, it would crash and burn. I have no administration skills. We wouldn’t even make it to church camp this year if it wasn’t for the ministry leaders. I’m terrible at checking in, terrible at emails and stuff that I so desperately need to check.
Call to Parents and the Church
So guys—pray. Rejoice in your child’s salvation—all aspects of it. You have the God-given duty, parents, to help them grow in holiness. Go out today, fathers—Happy Father’s Day to all of you guys. Celebrate. Have a good time—but with God’s glory in mind. No day should go by without seeking God’s glory in whatever you’re doing. Relaxing is fine—just don’t let it become self-indulgent and idolatry.
So guys, have a great day. Please pray for church camp—that is one of my one asks. This is all I have for you. It might be a little shorter than normal, but that’s all I have for you guys today.
So with that being said, let’s pray.
Dearly Father, Lord, thank You for this day. Thank You for everything, Lord. Thank You for the Word that You brought to us on this day. Thank You for salvation—all aspects of it—not just the initial salvation of us becoming born again, but our sanctification too. Lead us in that task. It is a dangerous endeavor, Lord. It is a dangerous endeavor. The kingdom of darkness is waging war against us. But You, O Lord—when we get to heaven, we’ll see the Lamb standing upon the throne, postured in triumph, for He has defeated sin and death. He has crushed the head of the serpent. We are so grateful for that.
Thank You for sending Your Son, pouring out all Your wrath upon Him, satisfying Your wrath upon Him and not us, Lord. For if we are saved, we know the gates of grace are open. The gates of hell will never shut behind us if we are Your sheep. We thank You for that blessing, Lord. Please keep us all safe and help everybody have a Happy Father’s Day. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.