The Compassion of the Father

Sermon Transcript

Well, good morning. Will you help me welcome all the brave campuses that are worshiping with us this morning? So great to worship with all of you. It's a special day of brave across our campuses. This morning we are baptizing 45 different people.

Can we praise God for them? Such an exciting time. And as we continue our worship, will you join me as we pray together? Our Father in Heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise for who you are. And we thank you for your son Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit who indwells each and every one of us who believe in you.

We pray today, Lord, as we look into your word that you would have your way with us, Lord, because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak Lord, because we want to hear you. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he says and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you? Will. Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word Amen.

Amen. So excited to be back in our series the Only God. And just to give you a little bit of review, around Christmas time we studied the person and work of Jesus Christ. And then in the last month we studied the person and work of the Holy Spirit. And today we're going to begin to look at who is the Father.

Now it's important for us to understand the trinitarian belief that the Bible spells out that the Godhead is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three distinct person of one distinct essence. There's one God in three distinct persons. And we ask, how can that be? And our answer is this.

Glory. Glory. There's no one like our God. The Father is not the Son of the Spirit, the Son is not the Father or the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father or the Son, but they are all one essence. And as we've taken a look at this co eternal Godhead that has always existed, that's responsible for everything that we see in our world, we're going to take a look at who the Father.

Now, when I say the word Father in the church, it triggers some people because of your experience with your earthly Father and you begin to think, if God is like that, then I don't want anything to do with God. But it's important for us to understand how God reveals himself as Father, because our God is an incredibly loving Father. Jesus said when he was here, he goes have you seen me? You've seen the Father. He said, I and the Father are one.

Jesus is an exact representation. He said, I only do what I see the Father doing. Jesus wanted to be with his Father all the time. He spent time praying to his Father all the time throughout his earthly ministry. He's talking to his Father all the time.

Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night he's betraying. He's talking to his Father, but he's submissive to him. He's even saying, I don't want to go through with this, but not my will for Father. But your will be done. I'll do whatever you ask of me.

And he submitted himself to the Father doesn't make him less than Jesus is as much God as the Father. The Holy Spirit is as much God as the Father and the Son. But Jesus submitted himself to the Father. So it's important for us to understand who is the Father and who is it that we are wanting to please. And what is this Father like?

2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies or compassion, and the God of all comfort. If we really understand who the Father is, we're going to learn to love the Father. And today, because of where we are with baptisms, there's a lot of different places I could have started this series. But today I'm going to talk about the compassion of the Father, the compassion of the Father, the way that the Father looks and sees the need and takes action, his incredible love that he has. And to look at this today, we're going to look in Luke chapter 15.

If you have a copy of the Scriptures would invite you to turn there this time. And the reason I Pick Luke chapter 15 is for several reasons. Number one, when there was confusion about who the Father was, this is what Jesus began to teach about his Father, his Dad, and what he was like. And not only told one story or two stories, but told three different parables to give us an idea as to who the Father was. You'll find this very, very familiar if you've been in church at all.

But it's important that we understand who our God is. I mean, Luke 6:36 says, Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. To know mercy is to know. Our father in Matthew 5:48 says, Therefore you are to be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect. He's perfect and yet he's merciful.

And there's so much we're going to teach about this topic, but today I want to talk to you about the compassion of the Father. So if you have your Bibles open to Luke chapter 15, let's take a look at the context. It says now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near him to listen to him. Both the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble, saying this man receives sinners and eats with them. So there's a lot of people coming around Jesus.

Two groups specifically identified tax collectors, sinners, tax collectors and sinners. Tax collectors extorted money from the people. They were Jewish people who extorted more taxes and then they pocketed the extra for themselves and passed the taxes on to Rome. They extorted the people. They were the least liked people in the entire community.

Tax collectors. And then there's another group of people called sinners, right? Sinners would be who? Really? Everybody.

But they're the known sinners. They're the ones that the world looks at and says if there's any such thing as a sinner, it's this group of people. And the Pharisees who were the religious leaders and the scribes that were experts in the law were having a problem that Jesus would hang out with the ill repute of the society, the tax collectors and the sinners. So they begin to grumble. They begin to say, why is it, if this religious leader Jesus claims to be God, would he hang out with people like that?

Here's an answer. What other choice did he have? I mean, the Bible declares that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every single person from the time they come out of the womb has a resume of how they made their life about themselves. That's why babies cry, that's why two year olds are selfish.

And that's why that condition doesn't change whether you're 30, 50, 70 or 90. We live a life that thinks it's about us. That's our sinful nature. We focus on who we are. And the people that had a problem with that were religious people who viewed themselves as better than those people there.

And if you look at the world and you think you're better than other people in the world, that's who Jesus is addressing because he's trying to explain to them what his dad is like. He's trying to tell them, let me explain to you who my dad is. And so that's the context. All these sinners, tax collectors, the worst of the worst, are gathering around Jesus. And the religious people are saying how could he hang out with people like that?

So Jesus not only tells one story, two stories, he tells three distinct stories here so they will understand the heart of his dad. So let's set up the context. So he told this first parable, saying, what man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together all his friends and neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which is lost.

I tell you in the same way, there'll be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. So Jesus begins to tell them a story to an agricultural society where everybody owns some animals and that was their property. He said, but suppose you have 100 sheep and one wanders off, do you not just leave the 99 and go find the 1? You wouldn't just say, well, it's just a sheep. Not when it's your property.

Not when it's something that's valuable to you. Think about your own property. We value our property. We value our belongings. We value the things that are ours.

And if we misplaced them or lost them, we wouldn't just say, ah, it's just a car. I'll get another one. You go. You go look for it. Oh, it's just a computer.

You wouldn't just go buy a new one. You go find it. You'd look for it. He says, you go look for that sheep. And when you found it, you'd put it on your shoulders, you'd bring it back.

Not only would you rejoice, you call all your friends together and said, look, this is the sheep I lost. The 99 are still here. But I found this one. Come rejoice with me. And here's what he says his dad is like.

I tell you the truth, there's more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents than over 99 righteous people that don't need to. So here's what my dad's like when he sees people turn from their sin and turn to him. There's great rejoicing in heaven. That's what my dad's like. And I'm telling you cause I know my dad.

And I'm telling you because my father and I are one. And I'm telling you because if You've seen me, you've seen my dad. So I'm telling you the truth here. That's what he's spelling out. So he tells a story about property, because everybody in that society would have understood what it meant to have a lost sheep that wandered off and found it.

So then he tells a story about a lost coin. Second parable, he says, or what woman, if she has 10 silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it. And when she's found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost. In the same way I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. So now he's told a story about property.

Now he's telling a story about something else. We care a lot about our money, our resources. A woman at that time that wasn't married, that was her only resource. She didn't have other income coming in if she only had 10 coins to her name. It's not that each coin was a penny.

It was a sum of money. And if some of it was misplaced place, she wouldn't just say, oh, well, at least I got 90%. It's like you, if you went to the bank and you realize, my goodness, they just took 10% out of my account for no reason at all, you wouldn't be like, oh, well, you would go searching for it. What happened? She sweeps the whole house.

And when she finds it, she doesn't just find the coin, she starts rejoicing. She calls her friends that she's probably told, hey, pray for me. Help me find. I found it, I have it. And Jesus said, I tell you what, you care about your property, and that's important to you, and you care about your money, and that's important to you.

Let me tell you what my dad's like in heaven. When there's one sinner that turns from their sin and turns to me and they have a relationship with my father, there's rejoicing in heaven over that. That's what my dad's like. And he's setting the stage for the story that he's about ready to tell. He's setting the stage to let people know.

Let me tell you what my dad's like. There's nobody Jesus wants to talk more about than his own father. There's nobody he wants to bring more glory to than his own father. He loves his father. He's submitted to his father.

He wants the world to know his Father. And so he begins this story, sometimes referred to as the Prodigal son. Now, just by show of hands, how many have heard this story in church before? Amen. So you'll find this story very familiar.

But let's talk about it because I think it highlights three truths that we can learn about the Father. And the first truth is this, that the Father endures until a sinner repents. The Father endures until a sinner repents. Notice the great patience that the Father has with sinners. Jesus said, and he said a man had two sons.

The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. So he divided his wealth between them. So here's the story. You have a father that has two sons. It's called the prodigal son.

But the first line of the story is, there's a father that has a man has. So it's really the story of the two sons. That's really what it's about. And you'll see that. But notice the younger son comes to his dad and asks for his inheritance early.

Here's what the younger son was saying to his dad in modern day vernacular. Dad, I hate our family and I hate you. I don't want to live in our house anymore. I'm sick and tired of your rules and everything else. And I know there's an inheritance that falls to me.

And when my older brother gets the lion's share of it, I get some of it. And because I don't like you and because I wish you were dead, I wish you'd just give me the inheritance now while I'm young and can have fun and do what I want and get the heck out of my life. Now, young people, how well do you think that would go over with your parents? Here's what happened. The father divided the estate between them.

That's what you want, I'll let you go. Why? Because the Father doesn't make you love him. The Father doesn't force you to love him because if he did, that wouldn't be love. He allows you to get to know who he is so that you want to be in a relationship with him.

So he endures with your sin. Now you might say, well, I've never done anything like that. No, you have your own track record of sin in your life for how you've rebelled against an eternal, perfect, almighty, just God, every one of us. Some have done it in ways that society would say that's awful. I can't believe you've done that.

Others of us have sinned in ways that nobody really knows about. Because our pride is so great and so strong, we kind of COVID it up. So nobody knows our greed and our selfishness and our desires for us or all those things. But here's what God does. He endures with great patience for you.

So he divides up the estate and he says, okay, son, if that's what you want. You know what? You're right. I do love you. And I have set aside an inheritance for you.

And you know what? You can have it, because all that I have is yours. And if that's what you need to know, that I love you, you go ahead and take it. And that's what he does for his son. This would have been a disgrace in the Jewish society.

Everybody would have looked at this dad and saying, what a weak man. Why would he disgrace himself by giving his son an inheritance? He should have disciplined him and told his son he had no business. But that's not the father. The father is a generous father.

So he divides the wealth between them. Notice verse 13. And not many days later. You know what that means? Just about the time he got the money, he had a plan.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country. And there he squandered his estate with loose living. Let me tell you what his son did. The son wanted the money because he had a plan all along. Here's his plan.

I'm gonna take the resources I have. I'm gonna get away from any accountability that I possibly have, and I'm gonna spend all those resources on. If you want to talk about a recipe for disaster, gather all your worldly resources for yourself to please yourself with no accountability from anyone that can tell you otherwise. You want to find yourself in a living hell, that is a great way to do it. You can be 18 and go off to college and say, mom and dad, just give me your money.

I'm going off here. Nobody's going to watch what I do. I can do whatever I want. I'm just going to live for me. And you can find yourself in a disaster.

You can be 30, you can be 80. When you have a plan that says, I want to use the worldly resources I have to please everything about me with no accountability, and nobody can tell me what to do. It is a recipe for absolute disaster. And people live in that place all the time. Some of us grow up thinking that that's just the American dream.

I want to grow up, get the right education, get the right job, get the right house, get the right money so I can do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it, it's a disaster. You will never find deep, true peace and meaning spending your life's resources on you. You weren't created for you. You weren't created to be about you. You weren't created to figure out what you could do.

You were created for something and someone far greater. You were created to have a relationship with the God of the universe. So notice what happens. He gets this idea he's gonna go off to a distant country. Well, why a distant country?

Because he wouldn't have any accountability there. I want to get far away from all these Christians that are going to hold me. I don't want to feel bad when I do wrong. I'm just going to get away. When you have a desire to get away from people that truly care about you and spend your resources on you, it's a recipe for disaster.

And notice what happens now. When he had spent everything, verse 14, a severe famine occurred in that country. And he began to be impoverished. Began to be impoverished. Now check this out.

He spent everything. So now all the estate he had, where he was thinking, I got it all, man. This is gonna last forever. That's all gone. And guess what else happened now there's a severe famine in the land.

Well, who sent the famine? Who's in control of all of the natural things that happen in the world? God is. So check this out. When you decide to live completely for yourself, not only will you be miserable, but God loves enough.

He'll design circumstances in your life to make you even feel more miserable than you already are. That's what he does. Cause he loves you. And he wants you to realize going the way you're going won't bring the lasting joy and peace that he created you for. And it says this that he began to be impoverished.

Now, it's interesting, isn't it? He already spent everything he has. Now there's a famine in the land. So even if he had money, he couldn't buy food. But he doesn't have money and he can't buy food.

And he's beginning to think maybe this isn't good. Do you know why he's beginning to think that? Because even sometimes when we're hitting rock bottom, even sometimes when life isn't working out, even sometimes when we don't have peace in our heart, here's what we think I could fix. May be Bad. But I know I can get myself out of it.

You know, I got this anger issue, but I'll work on it. You know, I got this immorality problem, but I'll fix it. You know, I got this addiction to these drugs, but I'll work myself out of it. You know, my marriage is breaking, but I know we can get this. When you start living, for you, you'll always think you can fix it.

When you can't fix it. Cause you haven't fixed it yet. And so God will design circumstances to get you to realize you can't fix it. You need me, and God loves you so much. Just listen to me.

Cause you're gonna hear this. And if you don't believe me, the Holy Spirit will convict you of it. Down the road. When you live, for you, God loves you so much. He will take you to a place where you get to a place you realize that you need him.

And he's just beginning to think this, but he thinks he's going to fix it. So notice what he does. Notice what he does. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into the fields to feed swine.

Now check this out. This probably doesn't mean much to you, but to a Jew in the first century, one of the most unclean animals in the world would be a pig. Swine. You wouldn't even want to go near swine. You don't eat swine.

You don't go around swine. Nothing like that. Now he's so desperate, he's like, I'll fix it. I'm going to hire myself out to somebody. And here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to be with the pigs. As a kid growing up, you would have been taught, you don't want to go anywhere near pigs. You're going to be unclean if you touch a pig. Don't go anywhere near him now. He's so desperate.

I don't care. I just need to make money. So I'm going to go be with the pigs and check it out. As if that's not bad enough, notice what the next verse tells us. It says, and he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating.

And no one was giving him anything to eat. Here's this guy. He grew up with his dad, having everything he needed, having all of his resources provided for. He was in the presence of his father. He decided to take from his dad, go spend it all in wild and Loose living.

Now he's out of money. Now there's a famine. He goes himself. Goes and hires himself out to feed swine. And now as he's feeding the pigs, guess what's going on.

He's watching the pigs eat pea pods. And he's not only with the pigs, he's wishing he was a pig. Because the pigs are eating better than him. If only I could be a pig. They're getting pea pods.

I mean, you talk about getting to the low of the low. Let me just tell you this. Let me tell you this. God loves you so much. He loves you so much.

He will be so patient with you and endure with you as long as you have breath to get you to realize you can't make your life any better without him. That's the message. And he will endure with great patience. With great patience. I want to tell you this because a lot of people come into church like, yeah, I don't think God could love me because of.

And you start making a list. Let me tell you something. You've never sinned too far away for God's grace not to love you back. God's grace is greater than all of your sin. Amen.

I don't care what you've done. I don't know every one of you. I don't care what it is. I know the gospel. And the gospel says, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And no matter how great your sin is, the grace of Jesus Christ is greater. That's why God sent his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for your sin, to get you to turn your life to him. And God will bear with great, great patience as long as you still have breath. He's still coming after you. He's still engineering circumstances so that you will see how good he is.

Cause that's how much he loves you. And we fight it. And we think, no, I'm gonna work my way out of it. We push against it until we get to a place where we realize it's the Father that's enduring until we repent. But let me give you a second truth.

Not only does he endure until a sinner repents, but the Father celebrates. When a sinner repents. He celebrates that. Now notice what happens now. He's feeding pigs, wishing he was a pig, jealous of what the pigs are getting to eat in their slop.

Notice verse 17. But when he came to his senses, now, he started to wake up like, wait a second. Life's not so good anymore. 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. Now he starts to think. He's like, now listen, my dad has a lot of hired men. He has a lot of slaves on the farm. All of those men, they're eating plenty.

They're eating bread. You know what? It'd be better to be a slave in my dad's house than to be free out here. Because this isn't working for me anymore. I'm looking at pigs and I'm jealous of what the pigs are eating.

My dad's hired hands back on the farm, they're getting three squares a day. They got fresh bread. You know what? They got it better than I got it. I thought I had all the freedom to do whatever I wanted.

My freedom's only got me into trouble. This isn't good. There's a better way. So he begins to think to himself, and here's what he says. He says, I will get up and go to my father and I'll say to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. Now it's obvious that this guy had gone to church because he gets a three point sermon and he thinks that's going to score him points. He's going to go to his dad, he's going to say this, dad, I've sinned against heaven. I've sinned against you.

It was wrong of me to take your money. I squandered it all. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Number two. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

Number three, make me one of your hired hands. I mean, I'll be happy if I can just eat and be part of your hired men. Make me a slave. That's good enough. Now that's not repentance.

Did you know that? Repentance is not mouthing the words to something. Repentance is not just saying, oh, I'm sorry, I got caught. Repentance is turning from where you were and turning back towards God. So he hasn't repented yet, but he's going to.

We know he's not just giving lip service because notice what he says, I will get up and go to my father. He'll say that, but notice verse 20. So he got up and came to his father. It wasn't just lip service. There's a lot of people that come to church There's a lot of people that hear the gospel, like, yeah, I probably have done some wrong.

Yeah, probably not great, you know. Yeah, probably need Jesus. That's not repentance. Repentance is when you recognize I'm dead apart from Jesus. I have no peace apart from Jesus.

I can't live any longer with Jesus. I hate the sin that I'm in. I wanna go away from that, and I wanna go all in with him. So notice what he says. I'll get up and go to my father.

So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. Now, picture this. You've just taken all your inheritance from your dad. You spent it all in wild living.

You've disappointed the family. You're living with pigs. Everything you were told not to do, you're doing. You're wishing you were a pig. And now you say, man, I've sinned against heaven, against earth.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Just make me one of your hired hands. I'm going back to dad. And you go back. And as you're going back from a long way off, you spot your dad, and he's looking for you.

What do you think is the attitude of the dad? What would you expect the dad to do? What would you expect? Now, all of you have heard the story, so I'll tell you what happens. I mean, it tells us right here in the text.

He says, so he came and gave. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. So you get the picture of while he's sinning and doing all the stuff he's doing from a long way off, from a field away, his dad is out there looking for his son, hoping one day my boy comes back. And when he sees him, he's filled with compassion. He sprints to him, which for a Jewish father to do in the first century was completely undignified.

So here, the father's willing to undignify himself again, go running towards his son. Now, time out here, if you were the son and you didn't know the scripture, what would you expect the Father to do? I mean, young people, if you treated your dad that way and you're coming home to apologize, and your dad sees you coming up the drive, and he opens the front door and starts sprinting at you, what would you think? You probably wouldn't be like, oh, dad, here, how about a hug? I mean, that's the story you're picturing, there's gonna be some sort of words or some sort of fight or why did you do this?

Or how did you disgrace our family? And keep in mind, where he's just been, he's been in the pig pen, he's got slop on him, he's got stuff under his fingernails, his face doesn't smell good. And yet when his father meets him, what's he have? Compassion. Meaning, despite anything you've done, you're my boy.

And so he throws his arms around him, hugs him, and then begins to kiss his face. That's what the Father's like. The Father bears with great patience. He endures for a long time, but then he celebrates when people repent. See, the enemy lies to us all the time.

Says man, if you try to come back to Jesus, he's going to punish you. Because all the. No. All the punishment, my friends, took place on the cross. Jesus Christ took it all.

And when you turn from your sin and you come back to God, you don't come back as a slave. You come back as a son or a daughter. Do you understand? Because notice what happens. Notice what happens.

He starts to rehearse his three point sermon. He starts to preach. Cause the son says to the dad, to his father, as he's being kissed and hugged, father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight. That's point one. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

That's point two. He's about ready to say, just make me a slave. Make me like one of your hired men. He can't even get out point three, because while his dad's hugging him and squeezing him and kissing him and showing great compassion for him, he's here's what the father says. He says this, but the father said to his slaves, he turns to those that are the hired men.

He says, quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him. And put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate. You talk about an amazing story. The son comes home.

All I want to do is just eat. All I want to do is be a slave. Friends, when you come back to the father, you don't come back as a slave. You come back as family. You're a child of the most High God.

You're welcomed back. Putting a ring on your finger symbolized that you had authority in the family. Putting a robe on means you had the place of honor at the banquet. Putting sandals on your feet. Slaves didn't have sandals.

But you're not a slave. You're my son. You have a place of honor here. And then guess what? Let's kill the fattened calf and eat.

Let's. I'm. I'm throwing a banquet in your honor. Well, what did he do to deserve the banquet? Nothing.

The Father is just so pleased that his son, who had once strayed, was now home. He couldn't contain himself. He wanted him to know, you're not a slave. You've never been a slave. You've always been my son.

I've always been looking for you. I've always been patient with you. And you're home now, and it is time to celebrate. Because this is what I've been looking for all along. That's what's going on.

I mean, you talk about a story that's powerful. This is what it is. And you need to realize whether you're visiting here for the first time, whether you come to church every single week. There must be a time in your life where you turn from your sin and come to God. And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.

That's why Jesus came. That's why he died on the cross for all your sins. That's why he rose from the dead, so that he could be the way of salvation for anyone who at any time would turn from their sin and turn to God. And when that happens, there's a party that goes on in heaven. Because why?

Because someone is now part of the family of God. None of us are born in the family of God. We like to say everybody's a child of God. No, everybody's created in the image of God, and everybody has value. But children of God are those who have repented of their sin and trusted Jesus Christ for forgiveness.

Then you become a child of God. Then you've received him, and then you become a son or you become a daughter. And in everybody's life, there has to be a time where you turn from your sin and go this way. And why does the Father say this? He said, 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, he physically wasn't dead, but spiritually he was. And the Bible says that all of us are spiritually dead when we're born. That's why Jesus said, you must be born again. There's not some magic prayer you pray.

There's not some religious Hoops you have to jump through. There must be a time in your life where you recognize your spiritual deadness apart from Christ, turn from your sin and turn to Christ. And at that moment you are given life and you are given life in his name. The Holy Spirit comes and indwells you. He regenerates you.

He makes you alive from the inside out. Your life goes from in my generation, black and white, to Technicolor, right? I mean, it's a whole new world. It's not the same. And so there's this huge party going on.

And this son has the place of honor. He has a ring signifying who he belongs to. He has sandals on his feet that he's not a slave. And they're killing the fattened calf and eating it. And all these people, all these slaves, all these hired men are working on the Father's behalf to celebrate the Son that's come home.

Can I say it one more time? So you get this, friends. When you turn from your sin and you turn to Christ, you are never a slave again. You are a son or a daughter of the king and you are part of his family. And that's what's going on here.

And there's a celebration in heaven every time that happens. If there's just one person that does that, there's this party that goes on in heaven. There's a celebration that goes on in heaven. There's overjoy that's going on. And you would think that that's where the story would end.

See, some of us have the wrong view of God. We have this view of God as this punishing mean God. Now keep in mind, God is righteous and he is holy and he is true. So if while you're on this earth, you never repent of your sin and turn to Him. He's righteous and holy and he can't have sin in his presence.

And because you've rejected the Son Jesus Christ, there is a place called hell. It is eternal destruction. It is a place of outer darkness. It is a place of loneliness and isol and pain and all of that. Why?

Because God did not create that place for you. He created it for the devil and his angels and any human being that would reject his love and say, I don't want any part of you. And he's holy, so he does that. But that's not his desire. Because God takes no delight in the death of the wicked.

The Bible teaches there's never a person that dies, no matter how wicked they've lived. Where God's like I showed you. I believe it breaks the heart of God to know that he created someone in his image that has rejected him their whole life, and that God, because of his holiness, cannot welcome them into his presence. And I believe it breaks his heart. See, the picture of God is a God of compassion that welcomes you back.

I was reading a story this week about one of Billy Graham's children, one of his daughters who had been married for 21 years. And through a series of events and some unfaithfulness in her marriage, she ended up getting divorced from her husband. And her parents kind of helped her get through that. But she always experienced a little shame because she's Billy Graham's daughter. You know, she should have known better, or all these kind of things that she was heaping on herself.

And her parents were telling her, hey, you need time to heal, and it's gonna be okay. So they encouraged her to get around some friends or people that really loved her. And so she moved near her sister in Florida, where she could attend a church and be around her sister. And it was going okay, but there was a guy that started pursuing her, and this relationship started to happen really fast. And about five weeks in, she said, I'm gonna marry this guy.

And her kids called her and said, mom, don't marry him. You don't even know anything about him. You've only known him five weeks. And her mom was in Seattle and called her, said the same thing. Dad, Billy was in Tokyo, called her and said, hey, just let us at least meet the guy.

You know, you've been through a lot. Don't make a fast decision. And she began to think, what do they know about me? They've never been divorced. They don't know how much pain I'm in.

So they got remarried. She married this guy, and she said within 24 hours, she knew she made a mistake. And within a period of weeks, they were divorced again. And the shame just came all over her. And she knew she needed her mom and dad.

So she, you know, here she is as an adult. She's driving home, back to North Carolina to be with her mom and dad, wondering what it's gonna be like to meet her mom and dad when she should have known better and she knew the right thing to do, and she didn't do it anyway. And she went ahead. Now she's been divorced twice. And she tells the story about how she finally pulled up in the driveway in Montreat, North Carolina, and she was met there by her dad, who was waiting for her.

And when she got out of the car. He just hugged her. And he said two words to her. Welcome home. And she talks about the fact she knew she had done wrong.

She knew she should feel shame. But her dad was just so loving, like, you're my daughter. No matter what you do, you'll always be my daughter. And I love you. And that, my friends, is what the heart of God looks like.

God can welcome you back in spite of your sin because of what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. And they can celebrate. And the Father celebrates. When people turn away from their sins, say, I don't want that life. I want the life of Christ.

I want him to come into my life. And he celebrates. Now, you would think the story would end there, right? It's a great story. I mean, he told three stories, for heaven's sakes.

There's a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son. And they all come back, and we're rejoicing. But the story doesn't end there. Because there's another truth that you need to understand about the Father. And that's this.

That the Father will plead until a sinner repents. The Father pleads until a sinner repents. Because notice what happens. It says. Now, the older son was in the field.

And when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. So now there's the older son. The older son's been there this whole time. He's watched his brother take the inheritance.

He's watched his brother go out and squander all the money. And he's just having a normal day. But it's not a normal day. Cause as he comes to the house, there's music and dancing. Okay, now, just a side note here.

Just so you know, that's how God celebrates. Just so you know, if you're Baptist in your background, there's music and dancing when there's a celebration, okay? So that's how the Son knows that something's going on. Cause he hears all this music and dancing. So he calls one of the servants.

He's like, what's going on? This isn't normal. We don't normally hear music and dancing at this time of day. I want to know what's happening. So the servant tells him.

And here's what he says. 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. Let me tell you what's happening. Your Brother, the one that went and squandered all his wealth, he's come home and your dad's so excited, he's killed the fattened calf.

We're going to have a huge party tonight to celebrate. By the way, he's giving him a robe, he's giving him a ring, he's giving him sandals. Aren't you excited? You would think that the older brother would be like, yes, my younger brother's come home. I've been wanting him to come back, but that's not what happens.

Notice what the brother says.

But the. But he became angry and was not willing to go in. And his father came out and began pleading with him. Now, why would the older brother be angry? Because you would think that this story of compassion is what everybody would want.

You would think that everybody would want to be loved by that, but not the older brother. Do you know why? Because the older brother thought that he was better than the younger brother. And when religious people like the Pharisees Jesus is talking to who thought they were better than the, quote, sinners, what they didn't understand is they could have close proximity to the father without having a relationship with him. And what's going on here is you have the older brother who sees his younger brother who's done horrible things.

And he is. The older brother is like, I'm awesome. My brother's horrible. Why would you ever celebrate someone like this? Here's the truth.

Listen up. Because there's a group of people in church. And when I get a chance to preach in Christian schools, I always preach this message in Christian schools. Because every Christian kid thinks they're saved just because they were born in a Christian family and they're not. If you think you're better than other people, you don't know the gospel.

If you think that there's other sinners that are worse than you, you don't know the gospel. For 18 years, the first 18 years of my life, I was the older brother. Because you see, I went to a Methodist church, but I also went to a Lutheran grade school. So I was like, doubly protected. And I knew scriptures and I knew Luther's small catechism.

And I had memorized stuff. And in my mind's eye, I was better than the people that were going out and doing this and better than the people that were doing that. And I'm pretty awesome. And I didn't care for them. Cause they didn't have their act together.

But when I was 18, things turned because I finally saw myself the way God saw me as a sinner in need of his grace. And if you don't see yourself that way, you have too much pride to enter the kingdom of heaven. And Jesus was talking to these Pharisees, these religious people that were saying, how can you hang out with sinners? And Jesus was saying, they're the only people that are here. I have no other options.

And you're one of them. But you don't see yourself that way. You see yourself as better than everybody else. You see yourself as well, I'm an American, so of course I'm going to heaven. You see yourself as.

I keep the Ten Commandments, so of course I'm going to heaven. You see yourself as. I have integrity in business, so of course I'm going to heaven. Majority of people like that think the majority of people are going to heaven. But Jesus said, enter through the narrow gate, because narrow is the road and small is the gate that lead to life and fewer on it.

But wide is the road and wide is the gate that leads to death. And many are on it. More people are going to hell than are going to heaven. And the reason being is most people don't think they need God to get to heaven. Most people think that they're just good enough to get there on their own.

And I have news for you. Apart from Jesus, there is no afterlife with God. Amen. And so he's explaining this, and the older brother is representing these Pharisees. And like, no, I don't get it.

And notice what he says. His father came out and pleaded with him, but he answered his father and said, look, look, for so many years, I've been serving you. Another way of saying that is for so many years I've been slaving and I've never neglected a command of yours. And yet you have never even given me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. You hear his voice.

I've been slaving for you. I've always obeyed your commands. I was in church every Sunday. I was a tither. I was in a cadre.

I served in the Corps. I'm better than all those people. I've been doing it right. I've kept your commands. I've been with you.

My brother's done none of those. I'm a good person, and you're not recognizing me. You've never given me anything. And that's how a lot of us view God. We view God as this tyrant.

We just have to show up in church and do the things so that God will be Pleased with us so we can live our own. That is such a false view of who God is. That's the older brother. That's the spirit of religion, of every single age. Friends, listen to me.

If you can't celebrate when somebody comes to Christ, or you begin to think, how could God love somebody like that? You hear a story about how God saved somebody on death row that did despicable things. And in your heart you're like, I would never serve a God like that. I mean, how could he let them off the hook? You don't know the gospel.

Cause you're just as bad as they are. And if you truly know the gospel, you will always celebrate anytime you see anybody come to Christ. Sometimes I'm watching those old Billy Graham Crusade reruns from, like, 1974, and everybody's wearing, like, a leisure suit with a tie that goes out to here. You're seeing these people stroll up the aisles, and I get tears in my eyes because I'm like, the gospel got into their heart. They may not even be alive anymore, but they know Jesus.

Never get tired of hearing about Jesus. The older brother did. And notice what he says. He said, but when this son of yours comes home, notice he won't say my brother. He doesn't even want to identify with him.

Dad. This son of yours, when he comes home, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him. Do you know what the older brother's saying? Dad, I don't get it. I've been here all the time.

I've obeyed every one of your orders. You know you killed that fattened calf. You know who made that calf fat? It was me. I fed that calf every day.

And you never did anything for me. I've been doing all the right things, and you don't even recognize me. Like, how come it is that I do good and my brother does bad, and you celebrate my brother. So the father's gonna answer him, and notice what he says.

And he said to him, son, you have always been with me. And all that is mine is yours. You've always been with me. Everything here could belong to you. We just don't have a relationship.

You've never viewed me as your father. You've always viewed me as this tyrant that's just there that you have to get along with. And here's what the truth is. You can have close proximity to the father and not have a relationship with him. And that's pretty dangerous.

But he says, but we had to celebrate and rejoice for this brother of yours, not my son. This brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and is now found. Son, let me tell you something. We can have the same relationship too. Everything I've always had, I've always been willing to give to you.

But you thought the way you got it is just by doing good and being good and all you're not good. I want relationship with you. You need to turn from your sin and come to me as well. But everything I have is yours. I've never withheld anything from you.

But I'm telling you this. We had to celebrate because this brother of yours, he's dead. He was in the pig pen. He's alive. He's beginning to live.

He was lost, he's now found. He's my son. I love him. But I love you too. And I want to have relationship with you too.

And it's really interesting because this is where the story ends. Like, well, how's it end? What happens? Does the brother ever go inside? Well, the story doesn't end.

It leaves it untied there. Because if you really understand this story, who Jesus was talking to is the Pharisees. He was talking to the prideful religious people that represented the older brother. And what did those prideful religious people do? They put Jesus Christ to death.

Like, as this narrative unfolds, really, here's how the story would go. So the older brother killed his father because he was mad at him. And if you have a heart that cannot celebrate the forgiveness of sin of another, you do not understand what God is willing to do for you. Friends, I'm here to tell you and persuade you and do everything I can to get you to believe that you're a sinner apart from the grace of God. That's how you're born.

And at some point in your life, you need to turn from your sin and turn to God through the person of Jesus Christ. And that is the only way of salvation. And that you must be born again. And here's the good news. No matter how far you've drifted, God loves you.

No matter how religious and prideful you are, God loves you. No matter what you believe, the Holy Spirit will still go with you and try to convince you of this. But here's the desire. The desire of the Lord is that you would leave a life of sin and come to him. Don't clean yourself up.

You can't fix yourself. You've already made a mess of things. The Father doesn't tell the Son. Hey, clean yourself up, take a shower, reject the pigs, come back. I mean, he doesn't do any of that.

Just hugs him in all of his sin and says, if you'll come to me, I'll wash you clean. And friends, that's the news for you here today. No matter who you are, no matter how far you've gone, God's not asking you to get religious. He's asking for a relationship with you. And regardless of your age, if you're 6 years old or you're 96 years old or anywhere in between, God wants a full relationship with you as you turn from your sin and turn to Christ.

And I thought this was a great way to start this series. You know why? Because today we're doing baptisms, and you're going to hear a couple stories on your campuses about people who were dead in their sins and have now been made alive by Christ. And several of us would share the exact same testimony. I was lost and now I'm found.

And Jesus did it. Notice this. I'm not asking you to pray. Some magic prayer notice. I'm not asking you to get religion notice.

I'm not asking any of that. I'm asking you, do you have a relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ? I'm not asking your faith background. I'm not asking your ethnicity. I'm not asking if you're male or female.

I'm not asking how much money you make. I'm telling you the only way to God is through the person of Jesus Christ. And here's what you need to know about our Father. He'll endure with your sin as long as you have breath. He'll continue to pursue you.

He'll celebrate your new life if you come to him. And he'll continue to plead with you until you repent. That's who our Father is. And here's the truth. You're here today, and I can tell you this with all authority.

He loves you because he created you in his image and you have value. But what makes you a child is not God's love for you. What makes you a child is when you turn from your own independence and your own sin and you turn to Christ. So here's my question for you. Here's my question.

Have you done that? Have you done that? Not going to embarrass any of you today. I'm not going to ask you to stand. I'm not going to ask you to raise a hand.

I'm not going to ask you to do anything. But between you and the Lord, right Here you can give your heart and life to Jesus Christ because he wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to change who you are from the inside out. And even if there's just one sinner that repents, I want to tell you something. There's a party that will go on in heaven with your name on some big bullets bulletin board for all that Christ has done for you.

Amen and amen.

So would you pray with me? I'm just gonna ask everybody to bow their head and close their eyes. And Father in heaven, we just thank you for the gift of your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for your incredible compassion. That Lord, even though we're dead in our sin from the time that we're born, that you're pursuing us and that you love us and that you're pleading with us.

If you're here today and you hear the Lord's voice, don't harden your heart. You say, well, how do I know I'm hearing it? Because there's something going on inside of you where you're saying, I know he's talking to me. And that's not me that's talking to you, that's Jesus. And he's telling you it's time to come home.

And if that's you here today, here's how you can pray. Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I know I've gone my own way. But I want to be done with that. I want to turn my back on my sin and I want to turn my life over to you.

Come into my life and save me. Be my Lord and Savior. And for those of you who have already been born again, who know that, be reminded of the fact of God's incredible love for you, that you're his daughter or you're his son and that nothing can change that. And that no one can snatch you out of his hand. Father, we give you praise, glory and honor.

And Lord, as we get ready to celebrate baptisms here today and here, a couple testimonies on our campuses, we give you all the praise that you're still in the business of restoring relationships and saving people through Jesus Christ. Father, thank you for your compassion. We give you all the praise and glory in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Can we give God praise this morning for his word?

Amen. Let me direct your attention to the screenshot.