Now, I direct your attention to the Word of God to the gospel of Luke chapter 15. If you would stand as I read this passage of Scripture, it is a narrative, it is a story. These are the words of Jesus speaking, listen. And Jesus said, there was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, give me the share of property that's coming to me. And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything. And 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 and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and 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. And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your 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 and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate. For this, my son was dead and his alive again. He was lost in his found and they began to celebrate. Within the reading of the word right here, this is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. We begin not just this Sunday with a couple of weeks looking at the parable here of the prodigal son, but also a look throughout the remainder of the spring and into the summer at several of the parables of Jesus. You know, Jesus reached his apex of his teaching ministry with the use of parables. Christ taught in didactic ways, as he did on the sermon of the mount. He used the attitude. He used woe and he used parable and many other ways, illustrations to teach the people. When he came to use parable, he was doing something that the rabbis were known to do. And Jesus gained a reputation and was often called a rabbi, which means teacher, even though he himself had never formally attended the rabbinic schools there in the land. When Jesus Christ used parable, as he does here, in fact there are several parables grouped together, Luke brings together three parables that have to do with being lost and then found. There are three parables of warning. There are three parables that Jesus gives during his Perian ministry. And the grouping of these parables all have some significance. The parable, literally the word means comes from two words, parah and bolay. Parah means alongside of and bolay means to cast down or to throw down. So really what you're doing with a parable is you're throwing down something alongside something that, of course, illustrates or accents are somehow further explains and helps you understand it. So it's a story. Parables can be as simple as a single simile. For example, Jesus said, the kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed, a simple simile. Or it can be quite extensive as we have here. What we have here in this particular passage are three parables that go together and we have to get the context or we really want to understand the import of this particular parable. There are three parables grouped together. And you must also know who the audience is to do, to find this you need to go to the first verse of this chapter, chapter 15. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus. To catch that, tax collectors who were the most reviled member of society and sinners, which is a broad category for people who were not so desirable. They're often called the prostitutes and the people that are of obvious center status. There was a very strict social stratification in these days, as you well know. And there were people who were manifest centers. They were obvious centers. In fact, they were just addressed as centers, as opposed to those who were separated in somehow more holy, the Hossadeem or the Pharisee. Jesus has seen to have something in him that was attractive to the centers and the publicants and the people of less repute, the obvious and manifest, the ill, the fallen, the weak, the repulsive, those who were obviously not enjoying the favor of God. And Jesus had conflicts with the Pharisees, because they represented the polar opposite of these centers. And Jesus would have conflicts over and over in his ministry with these Pharisees because of his association with these centers. The common people heard him gladly, the Scriptures say. So here we have the situation and it appears over and over in Scripture. And Jesus addresses that the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying, this man receives centers and eats with them. Must understand the context of who Jesus is telling the parable to. He's telling the parable to the Pharisees. And he is describing to them in the parables the lost. And so he brings out three parables. The first one has to do with a sheep, a sheepfold full of 100 sheep and one sheep strays. And the shepherd goes and leaves the 99 in the fold and goes to seek the one straining lost sheep. It's a loss of one percent. Most of us have experienced greater losses than that the last 90 days, haven't we? Well, a loss of one percent but nevertheless the shepherd goes to seek that which is lost. The other instance is an instance of a woman and he asked the question, which of you would be like this man who was the shepherd going and seeing the sheep? He said, oh, what woman who has ten silver coins loses one coin? That's a loss of ten percent but yet she seeks and diligently pursues, shines a light, sweeps every corner and will not relent until she has found the lost coin. You see, we're beginning to get the picture here of not just what is lost, but the picture of the one seeking the persistence, the diligence, the unrelenting pursuit of that which is lost. For all practical purposes, the Pharisees considered these sinners to be lost and their judgment was correct. These were lost people and as lost people we could shrug and say, well, it's a one percent loss, it's a ten percent loss. You could expect losses, losses are part of life, losses are what you would expect, but here we see those pursuing those owners want to seek and find and to restore and bring back. Now the parables, the third parable is the one we have in view today, the third parable moves more like an allegory. An allegory is a much more extensive use of the figure of speech. It's not just a simple story or a simple simile but instead it begins to be more developed and because of that, this particular parable has been much, much expounded over the years. There's a couple of reasons for it. One is now we're talking about people. Now we're talking about a lost soul, not a lost coin, not a lost sheet but a lost soul, a lost son. Now we're talking about a man having two sons and he loses one of them. We're talking about a 50 percent loss and when you think about the son himself, we're looking at a 100 percent loss, a total loss. And not just the inadvertent circumstance of losing a coin nor the naive straining of a sheet but we have here the deliberate rebellion and rejection of a son of his father's house. And this story because it is so extensive just is absolutely rich in every kind of gospel truth. Alfred Eddersheim, the great New Testament scholar who shed so much light on the background of the times and the life of Jesus Christ, tells us that this is an incomprehensible mind of gospel truth. In fact he calls these three parables, the parable of the lost sheet, the lost coin and the lost son, he calls them gospel parables and it is because this particular parable is so rich in gospel truth that it has been expounding. I don't know how long most of you have been going to church. I've been going to church all my life. My mom and dad are sitting down here and I think they took me to church when I was just a few weeks old and I've been in church ever since. Almost every Sunday for 60 years and Sunday school and vacation Bible school and youth camp. I've heard the story of the prodigal son, you have to, you've heard it all your life. It is a gospel story. And when Marcus signed us this particular sermon for this Sunday and I began to look at it again I thought what in the world can I say about the prodigal son story that's not already been expounded so well and so many times over and over and over. The answer to that question is nothing, I can come up with nothing new in this story. But then I remember that old song that says, tell me the old, old story and I hear that song that says those that know it best are still longing to hear it like the rest. So I just thought what are some of the little facets and the glimpses of gospel truth? Let me just suggest and I started writing and I had to stop at 15 because I knew that it was ridiculous. Just look at the little glimpses of gospel truth that we find here in this particular story alone. I know it's always a danger to take a parable and as my Bible teacher from college used to say to take a parable and make it walk on all fours that is find every little detail in there and try to make something of it but this particular parable cries out for that. And I think Jesus' brilliant service teaching, did you know the rabbis had stories very similar to this? In fact in the missionary you can find stories very similar to the parables that Jesus told but yet they take on a whole new significance in light of who was telling the story. Jesus Christ is Himself a Son who in a sense by taking on the sins of sinners became lost and rejected by His Father and He Himself as the Father exclaims at the great celebration at the last day, the joy and the rejoicing of the resurrection when He says, my Son, this My Son was dead and is alive again. Let's don't miss it. This parable teaches us the gospel. We notice a few things in there. First of all the rebellion of the younger son. This is a story that tugs at our hearts because we see in this son something that makes us want to slap his smug little face when we look at this boy who was raised in this fine home with all he needed servants around about a loving Father, a wonderful older brother, diligent and conscientious in every way and yet he felt like he could do better on his own and he rebelled against that excellent upbringing in that wonderful situation. I just can't imagine anything in the heart of the Father that would have made this son be so rebellious and yet he was. We see sin and rebellion in our heart is inexplicable and is inexcusable. The Son rebelled against his Father and rebelling against his Father, he rejected his inheritance. Basically, if you know the background and the inheritance laws, the older son received a double portion and then the younger sons would receive a portion. So if there were five sons, they would divide it into six parts. The older son would receive two parts and then the remaining sons would get an equal share. In this case, there were two sons, so the younger son would get a one-third share, one-third of the family inheritance he demanded, but it isn't just that he demanded this. It is that what he was saying when he demanded it, the inheritance always came upon the death of the Father and when he demanded his inheritance, he was saying to his Father, drop dead. I wish you were dead. I want you dead and I want life to be like it is when you're dead and that was the depths of his rejection. He took his portion of the fortune and went off into reckless living. The Bible says he squandered his fortune in reckless living. The results of his reckless living was he came to poverty. It's interesting that he came to poverty, losing his own personal wealth in riotous living the King James says and I think we know what that means. It's sex, drugs and rock and roll was what it is. That's what he did. He lived his life like that and this was a man who thought, a young man who thought he could do better in his own decision making than what was done for him back at the household. The interesting thing to me is after he lost his personal fortune, then there came a depression in the land. That's not a good time to have a recession or a famine or a depression in the land, is there? There's no way for him to recover and so the Bible says he attached himself. He literally would cleave to a man of the far country. There's just something here about cleaving to an alien, cleaving to someone who's in a far country, someone that's outside the covenant. That's the very bottom of sinful living is where you've run out of all of your good options and now you're holding to that which is unworthy and that which is unprofitable and that which is ungodly. You've staked your hopes and your claims on something that will not ever do you right. Not only was there reckless living and results of it that he had to stomach, but there's a recognition, a recognition. Scripture says that in this situation, they're in the pig pin and I like the way the King James said, he feigned would eat the husk that the swine did eat. That's just beautiful. I spent a lot of my life memorizing the King James and I hate to give it up. That's just beautiful. He feigned would eat the husk that the swine did eat. He was so hungry he would eat that awful meal that was furnished to those pigs, repulsive and illegal in Jewish society, in that death, in that mire, in that situation at his lowest point, economically, spiritually, physically he was starving to death, malnourished. The Bible says he came to himself. He came to himself. The greatest gift that God ever gives us is a little picture of ourselves. If you can ever see yourself the way you truly are, you will know that you must flee to your Savior and you must do something about it. If you ever get a glimpse of who you really are as a fallen sinner, you will not be able to sit still for a moment, there will be a holy dissatisfaction with every facet of your life and you will immediately seek restoration, redemption, reformation. You will know you've got to do better than this. He came to himself and he accepted responsibility, accepted responsibility for what his condition was. He didn't blame anyone. He realized that his condition in the pig pen was because of his own sinful behavior and he recognized that he accepted responsibility and said, I have sinned, I have sinned. A few weeks back we went through the penitential psalm of David and we noticed that that's one of the first places you've got to be before restoration, redemption, salvation comes your way. As you must recognize your sinfulness and hear this young man says, I have sinned and I have sinned against God and before my father. Notice the arrangement of those prepositions. I've sinned against God, against thee and the only how I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, the psalmist prayed and the penitent young man prayed the same prayer. And I've sinned before my father. Our sins are against God but they are in the presence of others. How embarrassing the shame and the humiliation of his sin. He must have thought about the things he said to his father, his posturing and his attitude toward his father. No doubt he remembers the face of his father when he said some of these things like, give me everything that's coming to me, give me my inheritance now. There was genuine remorse, genuine remorse and he knew that if nothing was done I will perish here with hunger. And I believe what we see in this pigpin is repentance. The recognition, the responsibility, the remorse that all leads to repentance. The Bible says, a godly sorrow leads to repentance. There's a sense in which we have to grieve and sorrow and mourn for our sinful state. And I think this is what we see here, the Lord granting, opening the eyes, quickening the spirit and granting repentance, sovereign grace and mercy at work far from home in the bottom of the pigpin. You see, grace comes to us where we are. We don't have to improve ourselves, clean ourselves up, reform ourselves, polish ourselves and then come presentable before God. The Lord finds us where we are. The woman no doubt found the coin in a dirty, dusty corner of the room that hadn't been swept in years. The sheep was on the mountain side, straining and perhaps cut and wounded and maybe even starving, maybe even having suffered the attack of an animal. And the sun was in the pit of the pigs. That's where the Lord saves us. David says, he lifted me up also out of a horrible pit out of a myrery clay. And God finds us where we are and saves us right there. Isn't that a joy to know what happens in the gospel? Well, he repented and then his spine was stiffened with resolve as he began to stand up and wipe the nasty filthy mud off of his body. He said, I will arise and go to my father and his resolution caused him to leave the foreign country, leave his employment and hit the road home and don't know how long it took him to make it home, but he was headed home. He had his face. He still had maybe the stench of the pig pan on him, but he was on his way home. And it was an anxious journey because he did not know what reception he might receive. He didn't know exactly what awaited him there, but he knew one thing. This one thing knew he was going home, no matter what. He was going home. I will arise and go to my father. Then we have the return. It says he came to his father. He made it. He got home all the way back, undoing every step that he had taken. Every step away from home was a step of rebellion, a step of arrogance, a step of egotism. A step of self-centeredness and every step back home was a step of repentance and remorse and resolve. I believe that his whole face and chest and his whole body was finally washed clean of the filth of the pig pan by the tears he shed as he went home to his father. You may have had one of opinion of the Lord when you walked away from him, but a new insight of the loving, gracious, merciful Heavenly Father will change you from the inside out. The Scripture says here that the return was met by a reception. Let me go through this quickly and run just about out of time, but the reception is the father saw him, must have been looking for him. He said he saw him when he was a far off, he must have been looking for him, and he didn't know what day he was going to return, perhaps the father was looking for him every day since he left. Don't know how long he was gone, but the father was looking. Probably just down the road, as he had seen him disappear out of sight, he was looking for his return, looking for him. He saw him, he had compassion on him, he saw him in his condition. The bowels of mercy and grace, the unfathomable grace and mercy of God was churned up within his soul. I cannot tell you about the mercies of God, they are new every morning. You have not gone far enough, you've not done anything, you've not said anything, you've not behaved in any way that makes you too far gone for the father. The father has infinite mercy and compassion and love, and the only emotion racing through the father's soul was pity and love and compassion and grace, and it made that middle-aged man kick it into high gear. He ran to meet the son, fell on him, the scripture says, he embraced him, hugged him, squeezed him so hard, didn't even give the boy hardly a chance to talk, and kissed him, literally it means covered him with kisses. He just embraced him, that's all he wanted to do was hold him. All he wanted to do was keep him, all he wanted to do was have him. He didn't care where he'd been, he'll hear the stories later if he wants to tell him. He didn't matter how far gone he was, it didn't matter how he smelled, it didn't matter how he looked, all he knew that he had his son in his embrace. And there's a reinstatement, there's a ring, there's a roll, and there's new shoes symbolizing the dignity and the authority and the status. The boy said, I'll serve as a servant. The father never saw the boy as a servant, he never would. The son is a son, that's our status before the Lord. We are sons and daughters of his, a reinstatement and a restoration made him, gave him the treatment of a son and not a servant, and then finally, there was the rejoicing. Wish I had time to camp out here, but if you'll read the scriptures carefully, both testaments, there's something about a meal with sinners. The terrible times in the scripture you'll find Jesus doesn't mind having a meal with sinners. He doesn't mind eating with sinners, that's what this table is. When we come to this table, we come to this table as sinners. We come to this table to receive grace. We come to this table to enjoy the presence of the Lord in all of his loving mercy. Anytime a sinner comes home, it's time to have a meal, it's time for rejoicing. The imagery all through scripture is that there's a banquet, there's a fatted calf, there's new wine, there's rich food, there's joy and rejoicing because the sinner has come home. There's not a banquet big enough, there's not, the Lord will outdo himself, welcoming a sinner home. There's rejoicing in heaven over each and every sinner that comes home because it's gospel. The truth is, the boy was dead. As far as the father was concerned, he was gone, he was lost, he was dead. Here's the reason we have the banquet, this, my son was dead and is alive again, that's the reason we have the banquet, the son was dead and is alive again.