WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:06.160 Last week we began a three-week series on Luke chapter 15. 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:12.480 A series of three stories that Jesus, the master storyteller, gives us. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:16.640 Today we're looking at what might be the most well-known of the three. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:22.960 The parable of the prodigal son, you'll find printed in your bulletin, reading God's word. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:28.079 And Jesus said, There was a man who had two sons. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:33.600 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that's coming to me. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.560 And he divided his property between them. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:46.560 Not many days later the younger son gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property and reckless living. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:53.520 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:01:01.039 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:08.159 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:15.200 But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread? 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:18.560 But I perish here with hunger. 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:25.519 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.239 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:30.799 Treat me as one of your hired servants. 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:34.560 And he arose and came to his father. 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:42.560 But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:46.560 And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:49.280 I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:02:03.120 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 fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:07.120 For this my son was dead and is alive again. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:09.280 He was lost and is found. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:11.599 And they began to celebrate. 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:17.360 Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house he heard music and dancing. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:21.520 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:28.400 And he said to them, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fat calf, because he has received him back safe and sound. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.120 But he was angry and refused to go in. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:50.400 His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, Look, these many years I've served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:03:00.000 But when his son, but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him? 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:06.639 And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:13.039 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.919 He was lost and is found. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:19.120 This is the reading of God's holy, precious word. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:21.039 Please pray with me. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.039 Father, we thank you for this story. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:29.759 We thank you for the truth in this story, behind this story. 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:33.120 The truth that we desperately need to hear today. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:39.280 So, Holy Spirit, would you open our minds to understand? 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:42.719 Would you open our hearts to receive Jesus? 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:44.560 To rest in Jesus. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.639 We pray in his name, amen. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:59.360 It is Father's Day, yes. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:02.319 And today we look at the greatest father of all. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:20.560 That's a title that's been given. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:24.720 What Jesus says is a man had two sons. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:34.079 This story is as much about the older brother as the younger brother, and it's actually as much about the father as the sons. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:38.560 Prodigal, what does that word mean? 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:41.839 Recklessly wasteful. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:45.439 We're probably more familiar with that understanding. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:47.839 Recklessly wasteful. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:50.639 You might say a wasted life. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:55.199 But this is also what prodigal can mean. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:58.800 Recklessly extravagant. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:08.639 And that may be new to some of us, and we're going to talk about what it means to be recklessly extravagant. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:13.120 Recklessly wasteful, the younger son. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:19.120 He spent until he had nothing left after getting the father's inheritance. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:39.439 This term is therefore an appropriate one for describing the father in the story as the younger son, because the father's welcome to the repentant son was rather reckless, also, because he refused to reckon or court count his sin against his son or to demand repayment. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:49.600 Jesus is showing us that the God of great expenditure, who is nothing if not prodigal toward his children, this is hard for us to take in. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:55.680 It just kind of bursts the banks of our thoughts, of our experiences. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:59.600 And yet, this is the context. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:12.560 In preparation for this sermon, I went back and reread Tim Keller's book on the prodigal son, Henry Nowen's book on the prodigal son, my notes from Ed Clowney, who taught Tim Keller this parable. 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:14.480 I just went back, I've just been diving. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:15.920 I had a good week. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:25.120 I had a good week thinking much about the extravagant love of God the Father. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:27.199 That's what we're looking at. 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:38.240 Again, in the context that we saw last week, the sinners, the people who were not religious, many of them were attracted to Jesus. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:42.160 And once again, they're here, attracted to Jesus. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.160 But as we noted last week, Jesus has another crowd with him. 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:54.480 He has the religious leaders of his day, the Pharisees and the scribes, who weren't there to learn from Jesus. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:57.120 They were there to criticize Jesus. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:01.279 And so Jesus says, I've got some stories to tell you. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:06.959 Last week we saw the story of the shepherd who had a hundred sheep. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:18.160 And 99 of them stayed in the fold, but one of those straying, wandering sheep went away, and the shepherd went after that one to bring that one back. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:27.920 As we said last week, it's crazy to leave the 99 to go after one, unless you're the one. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:31.759 If you're the one, it's not crazy. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.160 If you're the one, it'll change your life. 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:35.839 This is the gospel. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:42.720 Jesus' purpose is not to warm our hearts simply to this story, but to shatter our categories. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:54.319 This is not just some sentimental, loving story to make us feel better about Jesus, to make us feel better about our own lives. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:08:01.519 This is to shatter the categories that we have in our minds of who we think God is, who we think that we are. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:07.279 So let's look first at the prodigal son, who spurned his father's love. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:14.079 He goes to his father and he says, Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:21.040 The Greek word that's used here is really not property, it's from the Greek word bios, from which we get life. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:25.279 What he's saying is, Father, I want my life. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:31.600 I want the life that you have saved, that you have accumulated for me. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:33.759 I want you to give that to me now. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.600 This was a preposterous request. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:49.919 Ken Bailey, as we saw from last week, a theologian who spent most of his life in the Middle East, who understands the culture of the Middle East, says this. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:09:06.159 He says, for over 15 years I've been asking people of all walks of life, from Morocco to India and from Turkey to the Sudan about the implications of a son's request for his inheritance while the father is still living. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:09.600 The answer has always been emphatically the same. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.240 This is how the conversation goes. 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.600 Has anyone ever made such a request in your village? 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:16.559 Never. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:19.679 Could anyone ever make such a request? 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:21.200 Impossible. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:22.480 Why? 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:26.240 If anyone ever did that, what would happen? 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:28.080 They all said the same thing. 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.360 His father would beat him, of course. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:32.320 Why? 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:36.320 The request means he wants his father to die. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:47.039 This story is hard for us 21st century Westerners to really understand. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:51.039 We can sentimentalize this story so easily. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:54.159 Father, I don't want you. 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:57.200 I don't want you in my life. 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:59.919 What I want is what you can give me. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:02.960 I'd like you to be out of the way. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:08.000 I wish you were dead. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:17.600 Henry Nowlin, in his book on the prodigal son, says the son's leaving is therefore a much more offensive act than it seems at first reading. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:28.879 It is a heartless rejection of the home in which the son was born and nurtured, in a break with the most precious tradition carefully upheld by the larger community of which he was a part. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:37.200 When Luke writes and he left for a distant country, he indicates much more than the desire of a young man to see more of the world. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:47.279 He speaks about a drafting cutting loose from the way of living, thinking, and acting that had been handed down to him from generation to generation. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:54.320 More than disrespect, it's a betrayal of the treasured values of family and community. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:11:01.759 The distant country is the world in which everything considered holy at home is now disregarded. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:05.759 Father, I wish you were dead. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:12.399 The journey. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:25.679 Just outwardly rebel. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:31.120 I don't accept the values I've been raised in. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.440 I'm out on my own. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:36.559 I will determine who I am. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:41.600 I will live by my own values, not anybody else's. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.360 And then there's the modern cultural values. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:03.759 The traditional model and traditional cultures has always been the same. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:07.039 You find yourself by fulfilling your role in your family. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:10.720 You find your place in your tribe. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.039 You find your place in your family. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:16.080 What are your family's values? 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:19.600 Do your duty and you will be free. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:21.440 You will be fulfilled. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:27.519 Culture declares what your mission in life is. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:32.799 No, I'm preaching to 21st century Westerners. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:37.919 A lot of us were, some of us didn't grow up in that culture. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:40.399 Some of us aren't in that culture. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:42.879 We're more in the modern culture model. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.080 Listen to your own inner voice. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.960 It's very individualistic. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.879 You declare your true self. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:54.799 You determine. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:13:00.080 We're hearing it more and more and more in many ways, aren't we, in our culture? 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:04.879 Well, clearly the younger son was in the latter category. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:08.559 But look also at the suffering that he endured. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:17.840 And when he had spent everything, all that massive fortune he had accumulated, he spent it pretty quickly. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:19.759 What does prodigal mean? 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:21.279 Recklessly. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:23.440 It didn't take him long. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:27.200 It didn't take him long to be broke. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.000 He went through the money fast. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:42.720 And then very unbecoming for a Jewish boy, he finds himself, the only work that he could get was feeding pigs, which was abhorrent to the Jewish people. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:45.440 And then he couldn't even find food. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:49.840 He's now eating the pods that the pigs ate. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:52.480 He's at rock bottom. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:59.279 He began, the story says, to be in need. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:05.519 Boy, need has a way of getting our attention, doesn't it? 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:14.240 You know, you can go through life and make your way pretty well in a lot of ways until you hit rock bottom. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:21.279 If you get to the place of real need, we're ready to listen in a different way, aren't we? 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:24.000 What about the awakening, though? 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:41.039 But when he came to himself, verse 17, some translations say, but when he came to his senses, when he came to himself, when he woke up all of a sudden, he said this, I will arise and go to my father. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:44.639 Isn't that interesting that he still called him his father? 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:52.240 After he wished him dead, I think I have a father. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:56.559 I think I still have a father. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.240 I will arise and go to my father. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:03.360 And he begins rehearsing his speech as we see. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:06.320 He begins concocting his plan. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:10.720 Once again, he's going to tell his father what the father has to do. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:16.480 This is a very strong-willed individual. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:20.639 How do we see that strong will still in evidence? 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:22.799 He comes up with his own plan. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:36.799 He sees it as his only hope because he can't possibly believe that his father would be so loving, would be so forgiving, that he would welcome him back with open arms. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:38.559 He just can't believe that. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:40.080 So what's his plan? 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:46.159 Well, I'll go back and I'll say, look, I know I don't deserve to be back. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:48.720 I know I've completely blown it. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:53.919 But can you give me a job on your farm? 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:56.559 Let me just work my way back. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:01.120 Let me start making some money, pay off my debts to you. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:06.159 Eventually, maybe I can get back in your good graces. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:09.840 But that's not the gospel. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:13.519 He still had not come to repentance. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:15.120 He had this plan. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:17.440 Just give me enough time. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:19.600 I can make this work. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:22.799 Does that sound familiar? 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:26.720 That's not a good plan. 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:28.399 No. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:34.639 He will eventually dig himself out of the hole he dug. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:41.759 Henry Nowan says in his book, there is something of repentance, maybe in this confession, but it's not a true repentance. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:52.000 In the light of the immense love of a forgiving God, it is a self-serving repentance that offers the possibility of survival. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:55.360 Boy, there's a lot of depth in that quote, that thought. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:57.679 We're not going to unpack it all. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:17.440 That's what sinners who wander do, they're looking for any possibility of survival by using all of their resources that they have to put together a plan to make life work without coming to Jesus. 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:23.599 Repentance, in fact, is rising up and coming back to God. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.920 This is the prodigal son. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:33.920 I'm so much more excited to talk about the prodigal God. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:44.960 I have found as a pastor over many years, many, many, many people in the church don't seem to understand the prodigal God. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:50.319 Let's go back to the definition about recklessly, what? 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:53.440 Extravagant. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:04.720 What if the God who created you, who made you in his image, what if he was extravagantly reckless in his love for you? 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:08.720 I find most people have never even heard this concept. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:10.400 It's so radical. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.880 That's why I love to talk about it. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.559 Verse 20. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:21.839 While the son was a long way off, while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:24.000 Well, why did his father see him? 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:26.480 Because he was looking for him. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:33.359 No doubt, day by day, waiting for him to come home. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:36.079 And he felt compassion. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:41.279 And he ran and embraced his son and kissed him. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:44.880 Sign for a little Greek. 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:51.759 That word ran is used in the Greek language for a competitive foot race. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:53.359 Okay? 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:55.759 Get in your mind. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:02.319 This older father, patriarch of the family, he was a wealthy man. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:10.400 It was not dignified for him to pull up his long flowing garment and to run. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:12.319 But he wasn't doing this. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:13.119 Okay? 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.640 That's not what that word means. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:18.400 I'm not going to show you what he did. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.559 I can't do it with three knee operations. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:24.079 Think sprint. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:26.640 Think sprint. 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:30.000 He probably had not done this in decades. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:38.799 Do you know that our God is a God who sprints towards sinners? 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.480 Talk about shattering categories. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:48.880 His father doesn't give him a long lecture. 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:52.240 He says, Oh, I've been waiting for you to come back. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:53.920 Now you're going to get it. 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:58.079 Not like maybe some of us have heard. 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:00.160 I've been a pastor a long time. 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.079 I've heard a lot of family stories. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:05.519 Some of us have heard these words. 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:08.640 Some of us perhaps have said these words. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:11.839 Not our Heavenly Father. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.359 He doesn't chastise him. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:17.920 He doesn't browbeat him. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:20.000 He doesn't lecture him. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:25.599 He opens his arms after sprinting toward his son. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:31.839 This is amazing. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:34.559 And he kissed him. 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:36.960 Let's go back to the Greek. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:42.319 The English translation says, and he kissed him, but that's not what the Greek says. 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:44.559 It's in the imperfect tense. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:47.759 He kissed him again and again. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.400 That's what the footnote in the old New American Standard Version says in the footnote. 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:53.920 Again and again. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:56.640 What kind of God? 00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:58.079 Do you know this God? 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:00.319 I mean, do you really know this God? 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:04.720 Do you know this God? 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.960 There is no other God like this God. 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:12.480 The prodigal God. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:19.279 His son came back with a plan. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:21.759 Put your plans away. 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:23.440 Bury your plans. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.000 There's only one way to come to the real God. 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:28.799 Asking for forgiveness. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:30.880 Asking for mercy. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:33.519 Saying, Father, I don't deserve to be your son. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:35.279 I don't deserve to be your daughter. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:37.599 But I believe that you're a prodigal God. 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:40.160 I believe that you're an extravagant, loving God. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:47.680 And I believe that if I come back and repent and confess my sin to you, that you will take me back. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:51.920 That's the God we have to preach in our pulpits. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.480 That's the God we have to share in our neighborhoods and our families. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.680 Bring quickly the best. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.200 Robe, the ring, the shoes. 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:06.720 Only slaves, slaves didn't wear shoes back then. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:11.359 I want you to give him the best pair of shoes so he knows that he's a son in my family. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.960 I want you to give him the family signet, the family ring. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:18.720 I want you to give him the best robe. 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:26.000 Can you imagine the whiplash after being how long? 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:28.079 Months, years? 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:29.039 Away? 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:38.079 Being embraced and kissed, wearing the best robe? 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:43.119 I ask you again, do you know the real God? 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:52.480 I fear that there are many people today who are stiff arming the real God because they don't know who the real God is. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.200 They have a God in their imagination. 00:22:55.839 --> 00:23:00.000 They're projecting who God is by their maybe their own earthly father. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:01.759 That happens. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:08.079 Well, that sure doesn't describe my earthly father. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:11.440 I'm pretty sure that that's what he's like. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:12.160 No. 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:22.559 Even the best of fathers can't really convince us of this kind of love. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:25.200 Only the Holy Spirit can do that. 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:32.000 The prodigal love for this son. 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:36.480 The father says, get the fattened calf. 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:42.319 You know that calf that we've been saving for a great day of celebration and feast. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:43.839 Go get that calf. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.079 Today we're going to celebrate. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:50.960 Who does that? 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:56.480 But an extravagantly loving, merciful father. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:09.440 I want to close with an extended, some extended notes from Charles Spurgeon when he preached this sermon many years ago. 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:13.039 I think he expresses it better than I can. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:17.599 Listen to some of these thoughts that Spurgeon shared with his congregation. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:21.920 He called this sermon prodigal love for the prodigal son. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:27.599 He said, I don't know that the prodigal saw his father, but his father saw him. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:31.440 The eyes of mercy are quicker than the eyes of repentance. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:34.720 God can run where we can scarcely limp. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:38.480 And if we are limping towards him, he will run toward us. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:44.160 The more willing you are to own your sin, the more willing God is to forgive you. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:48.720 When you make a clean break of it, God will soon make a clear record of it. 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:56.960 He that was willing to use his lips for confession found that his father was willing to use his lips for kissing. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:02.000 So he poses the question: what does all this kissing mean? 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:09.519 It signifies that when sinners come to God, he gives them a loving reception and a hearty welcome. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.720 Spurgeon goes on to give seven points, but we're going to do it in about five minutes. 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:17.119 But this world, it's noteworthy. 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:18.240 Listen to this. 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.279 First of all, this much kissing means much love. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:23.759 There is no hypocrisy with God. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:26.880 He never kisses those for whom he has no love. 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:31.279 Have you ever kissed somebody you didn't want to kiss? 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:34.079 I mean, it's like, you know. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:38.000 You just didn't feel like it, but protocol. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:40.319 God never does that. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:46.079 God's never kissed anyone he did not intend and desire to kiss. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:50.480 This is the God. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:54.160 This much kissing means further much love perceived. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:26:00.240 When his father kissed him much, the poor prodigal knew, if never before, how much his father loved him. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:04.160 Secondly, this much kissing means much forgiveness. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:06.640 He says, Your sin is gone. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:09.200 You will never be mentioned more. 00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:14.559 I will never again accuse you, convict you, condemn you for that sin. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:16.640 It's been forgiven. 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:20.160 Do you know that, God? 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:28.400 I will never treat you as though you were still an unworthy, untrustworthy person. 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:36.160 There stood the prodigal overwhelmed by his father's goodness, even as he remembered his past life. 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:42.880 Spurgeon said, I pray that you may be able to say as well, I see how he kisses all my sin away. 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:45.920 And when it rises, he kisses it away again. 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:51.759 And when I think of it with shame, he gives me another kiss. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:55.920 What do you do with your shame? 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:03.759 Sometimes our shame just drives us deeper down into the pit, doesn't it? 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:09.279 That's when you need a kiss from your father. 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:24.960 When I blush over all the memories of my sin, even then he will kiss me again and again to assure me that I am truly, fully, freely forgiven. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:29.519 Thirdly, these repeated kisses mean full restoration. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:33.119 Despite all that you've done wrong, you belong to me. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:36.480 However far you have gone in, I own you. 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:40.079 Come to your father's bosom now, and he will hear your prayers. 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:44.960 Before many days are over, you will have the clearer proof that you are fully restored. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.480 You will marvel at the Lord's loving kindness to you. 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:56.480 As you now see him in the Father's house where he was received with the many kisses, he wears the son's robe, the family ring is on his finger. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:00.960 He eats no longer swine, pig food, but children's bread. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.880 This is a great story. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:19.599 This is a great story, but then we can quickly moralize this. 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:22.960 So don't ever let it happen again. 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:27.039 Don't lose your way again. 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:30.160 Don't wander off again. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:33.119 You had your chance, you came back now. 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:34.960 Tighten up. 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:39.599 That's not a prodigal God. 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:43.359 I find many Christians don't understand this. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.000 Do you think we all just wander off once? 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:49.920 Do you? 00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:56.559 How many times have you wandered off with certain sins? 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:02.240 With certain sins of pride and unbelief and self-righteousness, lust. 00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:04.000 I mean, the list goes on. 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:15.039 This God is extravagantly, lavishly full of love. 00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:18.480 It doesn't mean he condones it. 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:22.640 It's not cheap grace. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:25.599 It's real grace. 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:35.359 You see, the reality is we wander off more than we believe, but if we don't believe in this kind of prodigal God, then we don't know what to do with the sin. 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:38.480 And we lose our joy. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:40.640 We lose our love for Him. 00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:43.519 Because we think of Him in a very different way. 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:48.079 Can your heart take in the prodigal God this morning? 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:53.039 Thirdly, these kisses mean full restoration. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:55.680 Full restoration. 00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:58.799 Despite all that you've done, you belong to me, he says. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:02.640 Fourthly, this many kisses means exceeding joy. 00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:11.440 If you did not know God, how he would welcome you, how he would look at you now, and how he would bless you, surely you would come to him at once and repent. 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:13.519 Confess your sin to him. 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:16.880 Go back to him and restore your joy. 00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:20.240 What did David say after he had wandered away from God? 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:25.519 David, a man after God's own heart, what did he say after he sinned against Bathsheba, against Uriah? 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:32.240 Restore to me the joy of your salvation. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:37.039 God only knows how many Christians have lost their joy. 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:40.079 There's no real joy in their life. 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:43.519 It's a terrible thing to lose. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:51.599 Because they don't understand and don't believe in this kind of extravagant loving God that there is forgiveness. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:54.319 Come back and confess. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:58.559 Come back and repent, but come back. 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:02.559 Pick up your joy again. 00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:09.039 Put down your plans of how you're going to make Him want you back. 00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:14.720 Fifthly, these many kisses mean overflowing comfort. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:20.240 The boy might have said, Oh, my future father, I don't know what's going to happen in the future. 00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:22.880 What if I go astray again? 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:26.240 Then would come another holy kiss. 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:29.599 And his father would say, I will see to your future, son. 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:31.359 You trust me. 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:33.119 Six. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:36.240 This many kisses mean strong assurance. 00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:40.240 The father kissed his son much to make him quite certain that it was all real. 00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:50.240 His father gave him another kiss, for there was no way of convincing him that the first one was real, unless there was a second, unless there was a third. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:55.119 You know you never get just one kiss from the father. 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.880 If there lingered any doubt about the second, the father gave him another one. 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:10.160 If the first kisses were given privately when only the father and the son were present, it's quite certain that afterwards he kissed him before other people so that they could see. 00:32:10.319 --> 00:32:18.720 He kissed him much in the presence of the household, that they might also not call into question that the father loved him, that the father forgave him. 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:24.319 Lastly, number seven, this many kisses means intimate communion. 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:30.160 These many kisses likewise came before the public rejoicing. 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:39.599 Think how shamefaced the son would have been in the presence of others if, first of all, he had not been convinced of the father's love and forgiveness himself. 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:44.079 Lastly, all this was given before the meeting with the older brother. 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:46.720