SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So we're continuing this morning in our series, Joy with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I think this may be actually the last sermon in this series.
SPEAKER_00: And you saw on the on the video there leading into this that last scene.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're going to talk about today.
SPEAKER_00: What we normally call the story of the prodigal son.
SPEAKER_00: So you guys are probably familiar with that, and that's what we're going to be looking at today.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to look at how we can have joy in salvation.
SPEAKER_00: How we can have joy in salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you some of you may say, well, Pastor, I'm I'm saved, but it was a long time ago.
SPEAKER_00: And somehow or other, I don't I don't have that joy that I once had.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to tell this story.
SPEAKER_00: I probably told it before, so you know, excuse me if I have.
SPEAKER_00: I'm old and that's what happens.
SPEAKER_00: But back in the day, we used to do pick-up basketball in the small gym over here on Thursday evenings.
SPEAKER_00: And I came over uh one Thursday and was playing ball, and this guy was there that uh none of us really knew.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we introduced ourselves and stuff, and and he uh, you know, in fine Baptist fashion, we welcomed him to the game by somebody throwing an elbow onto his eye, and uh and he started bleeding.
SPEAKER_00: And and everybody's looking at each other like man, you know, he needs somebody needs to take him to the hospital and get him sewn up, and uh, and everybody's thinking, well, who's gonna do that?
SPEAKER_00: And we find out that the guy that invited him to come wasn't even there, and so he didn't know anybody in the gym.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm like, okay, I'll take him, but somebody's got to tell me how to get there because I hadn't been in Chattanooga that long.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and so I take him downtown because they didn't have anything out this way back then.
SPEAKER_00: And so we go downtown, and we do the whole emergency room thing, right?
SPEAKER_00: And uh and they they sew his eye up, and so we get in the car and I'm bringing him back to the church.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, you know, we've been together now for several hours, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you're not dying, you don't get seen in the emergency room.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're driving back up the interstate, we get about to uh the East Brainerd exit.
SPEAKER_00: And he looks at me and he goes, Hey, I got saved last week.
SPEAKER_00: He'd been waiting all night to tell me that, right?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, that is the most wonderful news I've ever heard.
SPEAKER_00: And he just, oh, and he just like somebody opened up the faucet and it just started coming out.
SPEAKER_00: And he had joy in his salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And he couldn't keep it inside.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to tell me.
SPEAKER_00: And I think some of us here today were like, well, I've been saved, but man, I don't feel like that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you feel like David did in Psalm 51, verse 12, where he says this, restore to me the joy of your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.
SPEAKER_00: So you see, David was in a very dry place, right?
SPEAKER_00: And he cried out to God, Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But look, it's a two-request verse, isn't it, right?
SPEAKER_00: What does he say?
SPEAKER_00: And grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.
SPEAKER_00: That second request tells us a lot about the first request, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, God, I need your help to sustain this because without your help, I'm, it's like the old hymn, I'm prone to wonder.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I feel it, right?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Grant me a willing spirit to sustain me because I've lost the joy and I want it back, and I don't want it to go away again.
SPEAKER_00: So, David understood.
SPEAKER_00: He understood that getting his joy back and keeping it involved walking upright with God.
SPEAKER_00: John Jesus tells us this in John chapter 15, verses 10 and 11.
SPEAKER_00: He says, This, if you keep my commands, you will remain in my law.
SPEAKER_00: Just as I have kept my father's commands and remain in his law.
SPEAKER_00: I have told you this, get this.
SPEAKER_00: I've told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to walk with me, Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to obey my commands.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to walk upright with me.
SPEAKER_00: I want to sustain you.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I want your life to be filled with the joy of your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So, where does our joy go?
SPEAKER_00: Where does it go?
SPEAKER_00: And how do we get it back?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we're going to look at this parable this morning, and I think as we look at this, we're going to see where our joy goes and how we get it back.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I think this parable applies to two groups of people.
SPEAKER_00: I think it applies to the group of people who have committed their life to Jesus Christ, who have in faith come to Christ and said, I want you to be my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: But somehow or other they've lost that joy.
SPEAKER_00: They've lost that initial feeling and that initial joy that come with that salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But I think it also applies to a second group of people, and that is the group of people who have never made that commitment to begin with.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have the joy of your salvation because you don't have salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we look at this, we're going to see how it applies to both of those groups of people.
SPEAKER_00: So what we see in our story is it's a story of two sons.
SPEAKER_00: The younger son and the older son.
SPEAKER_00: And the younger son is who we're going to focus on.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one we call the prodigal son.
SPEAKER_00: And the first thing that we're going to see about this younger son is the lure of false joy.
SPEAKER_00: The lure of false joy.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the younger son had decided in his mind that he was ready to see the world.
SPEAKER_00: And we see that, and he comes to his father and he goes, Look, I don't want to wait until you die to get my inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: I want it right now while I'm young and can enjoy it and can spend it.
SPEAKER_00: And so I would like for you to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see in Luke chapter 15, verse 13, it says, This not long after that, not long after he asked his dad for the money, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
SPEAKER_00: So there's no doubt that the son looked around and he's on the farm and he looks around and he goes, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: There's got to be more to life than raising sheep and raising goats and doing this farming thing.
SPEAKER_00: There's people out there, they're having fun and they're going to the disco and they're doing all these things, and I don't want to do those things.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to get old and realize that I missed out on stuff, right?
SPEAKER_00: So he got he was lured away by all of the promises that this world brings for you to have joy.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of promises in this world.
SPEAKER_00: If you'll do this, you'll have joy.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: John talks about it like this in 1 John.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John chapter 2, verses 15 through 17.
SPEAKER_00: He says this.
SPEAKER_00: Do not love the world or anything in the world.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.
SPEAKER_00: For everything in the world, listen, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the Father, but from the world.
SPEAKER_00: The world and his desires pass away.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever does the will of God lives forever.
SPEAKER_00: So the tug of the world and the tug of society is strong, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere you look and all the media and all the billboards and everything that you see, it's saying this.
SPEAKER_00: It's saying, hey, you need to come and you need to experience this.
SPEAKER_00: You need to try this.
SPEAKER_00: If you just had one of these things, your joy would be complete.
SPEAKER_00: This is what's going to do it for you.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's Satan's contract, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Satan's contract reads like this everything's great, man.
SPEAKER_00: And then you get to the back page and in really small print.
SPEAKER_00: It says, oh, by the way, your life is going to stink one day.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm going to take all of the joy away from you.
SPEAKER_00: And you're going to be left with nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Now, on the other hand, Jesus tells us, Come follow me.
SPEAKER_00: It's not easy.
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to be easy.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, there's not going to be that many people that choose to do this.
SPEAKER_00: But look what it says in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus doesn't mind putting the hard stuff up front because he knows what's on the end is better than anything in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: If you'll follow me, then what's in the end is it's going to outweigh anything that you have to deal with in life.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, along the way, I will give you joy, and you will experience joy in your life.
SPEAKER_00: So we saw that in David's life leading up to the verse that I shared with you.
SPEAKER_00: We know how he got there, right?
SPEAKER_00: He was up on the roof and he looked down and he saw something that, oh boy, that would be good.
SPEAKER_00: And that one led him to another one.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, I've got to cover that up, so let me commit murder.
SPEAKER_00: And so before you know it, he's committed adultery and he's committed murder.
SPEAKER_00: And he's so far away from God that he couldn't find God with a search warrant.
SPEAKER_00: And so he cries out, God, restore to me the joy of my salvation.
SPEAKER_00: James puts it like this.
SPEAKER_00: James tells us in James chapter 1, he says, this is how it happens.
SPEAKER_00: But each person is tempted when they're dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
SPEAKER_00: Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.
SPEAKER_00: And sin when it's full grown gives birth to death.
SPEAKER_00: James says, look, you look out there and you see it, and it's on the TV and it's on the billboards and it's in the magazines.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and I gotta have that.
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna make my life complete.
SPEAKER_00: And you just want it all of a sudden.
SPEAKER_00: You can't turn the switch off.
SPEAKER_00: I've got to have it.
SPEAKER_00: And then you get it.
SPEAKER_00: And then you realize that ain't what it's that ain't what it's gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: It ain't gonna do what I thought it was gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: And then you're left empty.
SPEAKER_00: And you're left empty.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this in our story.
SPEAKER_00: We see it in our story.
SPEAKER_00: The sun, it says the sun squandered his money.
SPEAKER_00: He squanders all of his money, and he don't have any money, and he doesn't have any friends, and so he takes a job feeding the pigs.
SPEAKER_00: And we see in verse 16 of Luke 15 what it says.
SPEAKER_00: It says, He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
SPEAKER_00: So we're dragged away from God by our own pride.
SPEAKER_00: And it may be, it may be some temptation that comes along, it may be some sin that you enter into, but it may just be that you're like, well, God, you're just not doing it for me.
SPEAKER_00: God, I had all these expectations of the way things were gonna be, and they're not that way.
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, I just don't know anymore about you.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna kind of walk away.
SPEAKER_00: And the scripture tells us when you walk away from God, you end up in this place right here.
SPEAKER_00: You end up alone, you end up broken, you end up destitute, you end up without joy.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see that the joy of our salvation, it goes away when we move toward the world and we move away from God.
SPEAKER_00: So, how do we get it back?
SPEAKER_00: How do we get back that joy?
SPEAKER_00: Or how do we get it for the first time if you've never been saved?
SPEAKER_00: It comes back in one word.
SPEAKER_00: And that word is repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Repentance.
SPEAKER_00: And so I've called this the paradox of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: The paradox of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's a process, and the process of repentance would seem to be anything but joyful.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It would seem to be that, because when you read, you read what David says about it in Psalm 51, 17, he says this.
SPEAKER_00: A broken and contrite heart, you God will not despise.
SPEAKER_00: So David says, look, I got to get to this place where I'm broken, where I'm contrite, where I'm at the end of everything.
SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't sound very joyful, does it?
SPEAKER_00: But I got news for you.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to experience the joy of your salvation, that's where you've got to go.
SPEAKER_00: That is the first step.
SPEAKER_00: That is the first step to the beginning of joy.
SPEAKER_00: So when I look back at my story, I see two elements of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to point out to you, there's two elements of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: And the first element I'm calling the challenge of conviction.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge of conviction.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this in verse 17 of our story.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 15, 17, it says this.
SPEAKER_00: When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare.
SPEAKER_00: And here I am, dying of hunger.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the most, here is the key phrase in this entire story.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: If you don't get anything else, get this.
SPEAKER_00: Came to his senses.
SPEAKER_00: When he finally came to his senses.
SPEAKER_00: Now what is that?
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: He came to his senses.
SPEAKER_00: It describes that moment of conviction.
SPEAKER_00: When God reaches into your life and he says, Brian, this thing that you're doing, it ain't right.
SPEAKER_00: Or this thing you're not doing, you need to do.
SPEAKER_00: It is that moment where God crystallizes it in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: When you come to your senses, when you finally have clarity and you finally see what God is trying to tell you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why do I call this the challenge of conviction?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been convicted?
SPEAKER_00: Has God ever convicted you of something?
SPEAKER_00: Then you know it's a challenge.
SPEAKER_00: I'll guarantee you, there's people sitting in this room right now, and you're wrestling with God over this thing.
SPEAKER_00: You're trying to tell him, well, this is why I do it.
SPEAKER_00: God, it's just the way I am.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all worked with a guy one time and he put in for a job and he said, I won't get it.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Because I don't work and play well with people.
SPEAKER_00: And he was right.
SPEAKER_00: He was a jerk.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, well, dude, acknowledging it, that's only half the battle, man.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of people will be like, well, you know, it's just the way I am, or it's the way I was raised, or I just think got this, or I got that, or this person did this, or this person did that.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a thousand reasons why you won't do what God is telling you to do.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why it's a challenge.
SPEAKER_00: Conviction is challenging.
SPEAKER_00: But when God brings conviction in your life, he's not bringing it there so that you can justify your actions.
SPEAKER_00: He's bringing it there so that you can admit to him, you're right, God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm coming to my senses.
SPEAKER_00: You are right, God.
SPEAKER_00: We don't always want to hear it.
SPEAKER_00: But we can't get back where we need to be until we own it.
SPEAKER_00: Until you own it.
SPEAKER_00: We used to have a counselor that worked here, and that's what she would say.
SPEAKER_00: She'd say, you need to own your own stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And that's so true.
SPEAKER_00: We so want to blame somebody else or something else or this thing or that thing.
SPEAKER_00: And the reality is when God brings conviction in your life, he's saying, I need, Brian, I need for you to own this.
SPEAKER_00: Like this.
SPEAKER_00: He's owning it.
SPEAKER_00: How long do you think it took him to get there?
SPEAKER_00: How long do you think he fed those pigs?
SPEAKER_00: How long do you think he made excuses before he finally came to his senses?
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing is this conviction, but the second thing is this the release of repentance, the release of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Look what he says in verses 18 and 19.
SPEAKER_00: He says this.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see?
SPEAKER_00: He came to his senses.
SPEAKER_00: He was convicted of what he was doing, but he didn't stop there, right?
SPEAKER_00: He entered into this repentance.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, I see what I've been doing, and I don't want to do that anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I want to do something different.
SPEAKER_00: And even if that different thing means that I become a servant instead of a son, I still want to be different.
SPEAKER_00: That's repentance.
SPEAKER_00: That's God, I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_00: God, take me back.
SPEAKER_00: God, I don't want to be this way.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to do these things.
SPEAKER_00: That's repentance.
SPEAKER_00: And you know how you get there?
SPEAKER_00: There's only one way to get to repentance.
SPEAKER_00: From conviction to repentance requires humility.
SPEAKER_00: It requires humility.
SPEAKER_00: Look what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Look, I'm going to go back to my dad and I'm going to say, Look, I've sinned against you.
SPEAKER_00: I've sinned against heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't care if I'm your son anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to be a servant.
SPEAKER_00: What does that take to do that?
SPEAKER_00: It takes this humility.
SPEAKER_00: It takes getting outside of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Giving up your pride.
SPEAKER_00: Admitting that my father is the one who can make this thing whole again.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And so I call it the release of repentance because I promise you this.
SPEAKER_00: If you're dealing with something like this today, if you will repent and be humble and contrite, you will feel this release.
SPEAKER_00: I will guarantee you, when he got to this place and he decided this thing, and he decided, I'm going back home, it was probably like a huge weight was lifted off of his shoulders.
SPEAKER_00: So, what comes after that?
SPEAKER_00: What comes after true repentance?
SPEAKER_00: I think this the joy of the Father's acceptance.
SPEAKER_00: The joy of the Father's acceptance.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus paints a picture of our Heavenly Father here that longs for our return.
SPEAKER_00: And if we come back, he's over the top, excited about seeing us come back.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to look at this and I want to see three elements in this that should fill us with joy in the context of God's acceptance of us.
SPEAKER_00: So first let's look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: It says this.
SPEAKER_00: So he got up and he went to his father.
SPEAKER_00: But while he was still the long way off, by the way, I always had this mental image that he's got, he's got to travel, I don't know, maybe days.
SPEAKER_00: And every day he's walking and he's rehearsing this in his mind, isn't he?
SPEAKER_00: We've been there.
SPEAKER_00: We've had that conversation.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: It's just like all the conversations we have in our mind.
SPEAKER_00: It never goes the way that you have it in your mind, right?
SPEAKER_00: So he got up and he went to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how in the world did he do that?
SPEAKER_00: It couldn't have been because he was looking for him.
SPEAKER_00: And he was filled with compassion for him.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I hope you get this.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you're getting this.
SPEAKER_00: And he ran to his son and he threw his arms around him and he kissed him.
SPEAKER_00: Your heavenly Father, he's looking for you, man.
SPEAKER_00: He's waiting for you.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to grab you and hold you and kiss you and sing over you.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he wants more than anything.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want anything you can bring him.
SPEAKER_00: He just wants you.
SPEAKER_00: And so he throws his arms around him.
SPEAKER_00: And so the first thing that we see here is that he's accepted through grace.
SPEAKER_00: He's accepted through grace.
SPEAKER_00: Look, the father, the son, he's got nothing.
SPEAKER_00: He's got no money.
SPEAKER_00: He's probably wearing worn-out clothes.
SPEAKER_00: He's probably dirty and ragged from walking on the road.
SPEAKER_00: He's bringing nothing into this.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the father runs to him and grabs him and hugs him.
SPEAKER_00: And why is that?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not about what he's bringing to the table.
SPEAKER_00: It's just about the fact that he's come to the table.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so his father accepts him because of grace.
SPEAKER_00: Not because of anything he's done, just because he's come.
SPEAKER_00: Paul tells us this in Ephesians 2, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not from yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: It's the gift of God.
SPEAKER_00: Grace is God's gift to us, it's an undeserved gift.
SPEAKER_00: But it's a gift.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to work for it.
SPEAKER_00: You're not checking any boxes.
SPEAKER_00: You're just coming to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm undone, and I just, I need you.
SPEAKER_00: You know that is the greatest act of worship that you can give is to come to God and say, I got nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And you got it all.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see how that?
SPEAKER_00: That's what he wants.
SPEAKER_00: So knowing that my salvation comes from God's limitless grace.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that I don't have to work for it.
SPEAKER_00: That gives me joy.
SPEAKER_00: And it should give you joy.
SPEAKER_00: But not only are we accepted through God's grace, but we read further and we find that we're celebrated in mercy.
SPEAKER_00: We're celebrated in mercy.
SPEAKER_00: We see that in verses, starting in verse 21, it says this.
SPEAKER_00: The son said to him, this is his rehearsed speech.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he's been rehearsing this ever since he left the pigs.
SPEAKER_00: The son said to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
SPEAKER_00: And the father just stops him.
SPEAKER_00: In mid-speech.
SPEAKER_00: But the father said to his servants, he's not even listening to this guy.
SPEAKER_00: But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him.
SPEAKER_00: Bring a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
SPEAKER_00: Bring the fatted calf and kill it.
SPEAKER_00: Let's have a feast and celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: For this son of mine was dead and is alive again, and he was lost and he's found.
SPEAKER_00: So they began to celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: They began to celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at this scene.
SPEAKER_00: The son, the father, runs to the sun, and the son starts to confess, Father, I've sinned against heaven and I've sinned against you.
SPEAKER_00: I've been terrible.
SPEAKER_00: I disowned you.
SPEAKER_00: I took your money.
SPEAKER_00: He's got all these things that he wants to say.
SPEAKER_00: And what does the father do?
SPEAKER_00: I think what's most important is what the father doesn't do.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say.
SPEAKER_00: Look at you, man.
SPEAKER_00: You're a mess.
SPEAKER_00: What did you do with all my money?
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you found what you were looking for out there.
SPEAKER_00: Are you proud of yourself?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say any of those things.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what I would say.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to admit that on Father's Day.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Because we all want justice.
SPEAKER_00: But not God.
SPEAKER_00: God wants mercy.
SPEAKER_00: And so what does the Father do?
SPEAKER_00: He says, You're home.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care about all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: All I care about is you, man.
SPEAKER_00: And you're here.
SPEAKER_00: And you know why?
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have a big party.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're back.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have a mercy celebration.
SPEAKER_00: Does that not fill you with joy?
SPEAKER_00: No?
SPEAKER_00: Out of all those things that you've done all your life that you could be felt guilty of, that God's gonna wipe all that out through the blood of Jesus Christ, and he's gonna welcome you into his very presence.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna put a robe on your back and a ring on your finger and a shoes on your feet, and he's gonna call you his son and his daughter.
SPEAKER_00: How can that not fill you with joy?
SPEAKER_00: So there's one last element in the story that's in there, but I think John gives it to us a little better.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in 1 John chapter 1, verses 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_00: He says this if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
SPEAKER_00: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
SPEAKER_00: That's my life first, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 1 9.
SPEAKER_00: What's he saying here?
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, we're like the Son in the story.
SPEAKER_00: We are forgiven in faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see what this says.
SPEAKER_00: It says, first of all, you're all gonna sin.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna sin, you're gonna sin, everybody sins.
SPEAKER_00: But we have a faithful Father that when we come in repentance and confess our sins to him, he forgives our sins.
SPEAKER_00: And he's faithful to forgive our sins, and he washes us clean, and he doesn't see our sins anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And he restores to us the joy of our salvation.
SPEAKER_00: So so far we've seen how we can lose the joy of our salvation, or maybe we never had it to begin with.
SPEAKER_00: And we've looked at conviction and repentance and we we see the acceptance of the Father, but the story doesn't quite end there.
SPEAKER_00: In the story, there's this older brother.
SPEAKER_00: And what we read is that the older brother, when all this is going down, he comes back from working in the field and he hears a big party going on.
SPEAKER_00: They got the music going.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're playing Beach Boys, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: And he walks up and he goes, Say, what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: And somebody says, Well, your brother's come back.
SPEAKER_00: And your dad's going on a party.
SPEAKER_00: And he is less than enthused.
SPEAKER_00: We see this in verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: It says, This the older brother became angry and refused to go in.
SPEAKER_00: So his father went out and pleaded with him.
SPEAKER_00: But he answered his father, Look, all these years I've been slaving for you, and I never disobeyed your orders.
SPEAKER_00: Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
SPEAKER_00: He's mad.
SPEAKER_00: And at first glance, it looks like he's mad at the father.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is he's not mad at the father.
SPEAKER_00: He's mad because he didn't punish his brother.
SPEAKER_00: He's mad because he let him off the hook.
SPEAKER_00: He's mad because he gave him forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: But I love what the father says.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 32, he says this.
SPEAKER_00: But we had to celebrate and be glad.
SPEAKER_00: We had to do this.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again.
SPEAKER_00: He was lost and now he's found.
SPEAKER_00: So look what the father is saying here.
SPEAKER_00: The father is saying, look, man, this ain't about his past.
SPEAKER_00: It's about his future.
SPEAKER_00: We're not celebrating what he's done.
SPEAKER_00: We're celebrating where he's going.
SPEAKER_00: Man, that's what God says to you.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God says to me.
SPEAKER_00: When we come to him and we say, God, please forgive me.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You're forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: Now go and do good.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not gonna, I'm not thinking about bad.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Other people are.
SPEAKER_00: There's always gonna be some naysayer, isn't there?
SPEAKER_00: There's always gonna be that person who wants to, oh, I don't know how he was.
SPEAKER_00: I remember how he used to do, and I remember this, and I remember that, and I remember that.
SPEAKER_00: And there's gonna be Satan.
SPEAKER_00: And Satan's gonna tell you, hey, how can God love you?
SPEAKER_00: How can God forgive you for that stuff?
SPEAKER_00: How can you be a Christian?
SPEAKER_00: How can you claim the name of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm gonna tell you.
SPEAKER_00: The beauty of this thing is that we have the joy of putting the past in the past.
SPEAKER_00: When you come to Jesus and you come back to Christ and God forgives you, you are forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: You are clean.
SPEAKER_00: And what was in the past is in the past.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm, you know, I'm not gonna say that there might not be consequences to things that you've done.
SPEAKER_00: But from God's perspective, that's done, man.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let anybody discount what God has done in reconciling you to himself through the power of Jesus' blood.
SPEAKER_00: And don't let Satan keep dredging up your past and telling you that you're not worthy and you don't deserve this because he is a liar and he is the father of lies.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture tells us this in 2 Corinthians 5.17, it says this, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: A new creation.
SPEAKER_00: The old is gone and the new is come.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about the past, it's about the future.
SPEAKER_00: And in Romans 8, verse 1, it says this.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
SPEAKER_00: You have been set free.
SPEAKER_00: Live in your freedom.
SPEAKER_00: Experience the joy of your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God wants.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God wants for us.
SPEAKER_00: I had a friend that once told me this.
SPEAKER_00: If you bring the past into the present, you destroy your future.
SPEAKER_00: Look, when you come back to God, when you come to God for the first time, when you seek forgiveness and restoration from God, He is faithful and He will do it.
SPEAKER_00: And once it is done, it is done.
SPEAKER_00: And so I ask you this morning, where are you?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you?
SPEAKER_00: Are you the son feeding the pigs?
SPEAKER_00: Have you messed up?
SPEAKER_00: Are you in the wilderness?
SPEAKER_00: Have you walked away from God?
SPEAKER_00: Have you chosen the path of the world?
SPEAKER_00: Is that why the joy is gone out of your salvation?
SPEAKER_00: Because this very day, you can wake up and come to your senses and come back to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've never done that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe as I've been talking here today, you say that's all foreign to me.
SPEAKER_00: I don't get that.
SPEAKER_00: I've never made Christ the Lord of my life.
SPEAKER_00: Today is the day.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the time.
SPEAKER_00: And the moment that you can do that.
SPEAKER_00: And you can come to your senses and come back to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible is very clear that God stands waiting with his arms open wide.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to make you his son or his daughter.
SPEAKER_00: He does.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Our Heavenly Father, God, what an incredible story.
SPEAKER_00: God, it's almost almost impossible to think that the things that we've done and the places that we've been and all of the junk that we've chased after, that God, you would take us back.
SPEAKER_00: But your word is there and it's true.
SPEAKER_00: And it's and you're faithful to your word.
SPEAKER_00: And God, you have told us that if we if we would repent, if we would confess to you our sins, if we would lean into you and put our faith in Jesus Christ and the work that He did on Calvary, God, that you would take us back, that you would clean us up, that you would give us a bright future, that you would restore the joy of our salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And God, you would restore the years that the locusts have eaten.
SPEAKER_00: God, I know in a room this size with this many people, God, there's somebody.
SPEAKER_00: They need you desperately this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, I pray that your spirit would be on them and that they would come running to you the way the Son came to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And God, that you would meet them with your arms open wide.
SPEAKER_00: The way the Father did for the Son.
SPEAKER_00: So, God, have your way this morning among us.
SPEAKER_00: I pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're gonna enter into a time of response.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what your response needs to be, but this is your time.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have pastors down front.
SPEAKER_00: If you need to pray with somebody or talk to somebody, you can do that.
SPEAKER_00: But please don't leave this place without dealing with whatever God has put on your heart this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's stand and sing.