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00:03 All right. Morning church. Oh, wow. That's that's a good response.
00:08 Wow. Thank you, Dr. Peter. That was uh that was very kind of you. Um
00:14 yeah, so uh as as Dr. Peter said, my name is Sam. Um uh my wife was the one
00:19 who was uh reading scripture. Her name is Salomi. By the way, Salomi is a is a
00:25 biblical name. Uh you will find two Salomies in the Bible. One of them uh is that she was one of the women at the
00:31 cross, at the foot of the cross when when all of Jesus' disciples had had deserted him except for John. Uh she was
00:38 there with uh um Jesus' mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. And she was also uh one
00:44 of the women that Jesus personally appeared to after his resurrection.
00:50 The other instance is uh and this is a completely different character but also named Salomi. She was the daughter of
00:56 Herodiius and she was the one who danced for Herod. And Herod was so pleased. He said, "Ask for anything. I I'll give you
01:02 up to half the kingdom." And she says, "Give me the head of John the Baptist."
01:08 So, uh, I'm still trying to figure out which Salomi I'm I'm dealing with here. Um,
01:17 I'm just messing. I'm alive and I'm grateful for that.
01:22 Um, I want to thank uh Dr. Peter Arnold and Uncle Lydian for uh entrusting me
01:30 with this task. Uh, it is truly a a privilege and an honor to be able to
01:36 expound the word of God uh to God's people. Um, and it's a it's a
01:41 opportunity that I delight in uh but it's an opportunity that I also take uh very seriously. In James 3, uh James
01:48 writes to the church and he says, "Not many of you should become teachers, that is Bible teachers." Uh because teachers
01:55 are judged more strictly. There's a heavier responsibility uh upon teachers.
02:02 Uh and so I I fully take that to heart and I've been preparing all month for
02:07 this. Um Luke 15, the parable of the prodigal
02:12 son is probably one of uh Jesus most
02:18 famous of all his parables. So he told many parables. This is probably the one that even people outside the church
02:23 could probably tell you the story, right? Uh Charles Dickens calls it the greatest short story ever written.
02:32 And it's called by some uh for centuries it's been called uh the gospel within
02:37 the gospel. and and this story has enough packed into it to fill up really
02:43 weeks and weeks of sermons. So, in preparation for for for this sermon, I I listened to a seven-part series uh
02:50 seven-part sermon series by Timothy Keller, a six-part sermon series by John MacArthur. Uh and I listened to all of
02:56 that twice. So, all 13 sermons, I listened to it twice, right? And I read two books on it. Um so, that there
03:04 really is a lot packed into there. Uh there are themes of let me just read it
03:09 out. There themes of rebellion, reconciliation, sin, restitution, forgiveness, bitterness, celebration,
03:15 repentance. They're really there's so much in there. It's so rich the text. But today, since we only have well,
03:22 since I'm only going to preach one sermon, I'm not going to preach all week, right? I'm going to just focus in
03:28 on one aspect, and that is the father heart of God. Who is God like? What is
03:35 this God like? that we serve, that we worship. What is he like? What is his heart like?
03:43 Uh but before we get into that, let's uh let me just kick us off in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, I want to thank
03:49 you, Lord, for this morning. I want to thank you for this uh opportunity to expound uh on your word. Father God, I
03:55 pray that you would just use me as an instrument. I pray that uh you would speak truth through me. Um and that uh
04:03 the truth that comes out of my mouth, Lord, would really change the way that we relate to you and the way that relate
04:09 we relate to one another. Lord, I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
04:14 All right. Right. Luke 15. Salomi started reading
04:22 at about verse 11. Uh we're going to start reading at verse one. By the way,
04:27 there's not going to be any scriptures up on the up on the slides today. Uh, and this is because it's actually
04:32 because I'm kind of lazy to put it put it all up there. But, uh, I want you also to see the text in your own hands,
04:40 in your own Bibles. Hard copy, soft copy, it really doesn't matter. Both are the word of God, right? Uh, I want you
04:46 to know I want you to see that this is that I I have no hidden agenda. This is the word of God. Right? So, there will
04:54 be no scriptures uh up on the PowerPoint. Uh so if you can turn to Luke 15 verse 1
05:01 that that'll give you a bit of context uh behind the story.
05:10 All right. Luke 15:1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the
05:17 Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." That is the context,
05:25 right? Jesus is eating with sinners and the Pharisees can't stand it. That is
05:30 their slogan. Jesus eats with sinners. Jesus eats with sinners. Therefore, Jesus is a sinner. That that was their
05:38 mantra, right? Uh uh but Pharisees uh they he healed people and he he casts
05:43 out demons. He does it by the power of Satan, right? That was what the Pharisees were scoffing at him about.
05:51 This guy who eats with sinners, we would never eat with sinners, right? Cuz we are holy. we're we're righteous
05:56 Pharisees. Um and so Jesus tells a string of three
06:02 stories, three parables very similar to one another in response to what the
06:08 Pharisees are saying, right? And so the first I I'll just briefly go through them. The parable of the lost sheep, the
06:14 parable of the lost coin, and finally the parable of the lost son. And there are there's a common pattern, right,
06:22 with all three stories. And the pattern is this. Something is lost. Something is found. And then there's rejoicing.
06:29 That's the that's the pattern that you'll see in all three stories. So the first the first story, right? Uh a
06:35 shepherd has 100 sheep. One goes missing. He leaves the 99 in the pen, goes out searching for the one. When he
06:42 finds it, he puts it on his back and he comes back and he calls his friends and
06:48 neighbors to celebrate. The second story is uh a woman who has
06:54 her whole life savings in 10 silver coins and she loses one. And so she lights a lamp and she sweeps the whole
07:00 house, right? Trying to find this coin. And when she finds it again, she calls her neighbors and her friends to
07:07 celebrate. And the reason is found in verse um
07:13 7 and verse 10. Let's look at verse 10. In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels
07:20 of God over one sinner who repents. Jesus is trying to illustrate what
07:25 happens in heaven when a sinner turns from their sin, repents, and turns to
07:31 God, right? Um, and finally, so now we get to the parable of the lost son.
07:39 Verse 11. Oh, uh, request. That's right. Verse 11. Jesus continued, "There was a
07:45 man who had two sons." So here we we have all the players introduced. We have the father and he has two sons, right?
07:52 All three players are introduced. Verse 12, the younger one said to his father, "Father, give me my share of the
07:58 estate." So he divided his property between them. Now
08:03 there's a lot packed into this one verse. Okay. The first is uh we have to
08:08 remember that Jesus was talking to a Middle Eastern crowd all the way back in
08:14 the first century, right? So he wasn't talking to Malaysians in the 21st century. It was first century Middle
08:21 Eastern. So a lot of the culture we don't quite understand. So a lot of the sermons and the books that I read was
08:27 explaining the culture, the Middle Eastern culture back then. Um and from
08:32 there we can understand the impact of what Jesus is saying. So we got to try and put on our middle eastern first
08:38 century glasses and understand the text as they would have understood it so that
08:44 we can understand what it means for us today. Okay. So back in the first century Middle East it was an extremely
08:51 patriarchal society. there was a lot of respect held for the elders, right? And
08:58 we sort of understand this here in uh in Asia, right? Uh uh we would I would
09:04 never call someone who is uh who's much older than me by their first name. I would never say I would never call uncle
09:10 Lydian just Lydian, right? It it would just feel wrong. It it wouldn't roll off my tongue very well. Hey, Lydian, you
09:18 know, some something goes wrong in my body, right? It has to be uncle Lydian,
09:24 auntie so and so. So we understand this in a sense, right? And here the son, the
09:29 son is saying something very serious. Father, give me my share of the estate. Give me my inheritance.
09:36 And indeed the inheritance does belong to him. But only when when the father
09:42 dies, right? When the father has passed on, then you will get your inheritance.
09:48 And because there are two sons, uh according to Jewish law, the older son gets a double portion because they are
09:54 the ones who are responsible for taking care of the family after the father is gone, right? So they get a double portion uh and everyone else gets a
10:01 single portion. So because there are two sons, the older brother gets two/3s and the younger brother gets one-third of
10:08 the estate. Okay? Um and so what he's saying here is is this. Father,
10:17 I wish you were dead. I want your inheritance now. That's what he's
10:23 saying. Father, ah, can't you just kick the bucket already? I want your stuff.
10:30 Can you believe that? What a ridiculous, what an outlandish thing to say to your
10:37 father. A lot of fathers in here. What would you
10:42 do if uh if your son or your daughter said that to you? Slap them across the face. I heard someone whispered, "Slap
10:48 them across the face." That's right. Especially here in Asia. Well, it's okay. You know, it's okay to give them a
10:54 a nice backhanded slap, right? I got the full Asian experience, right? No
10:59 discounts. My dad and my mom used to beat me, right? If I ever said this to
11:04 my dad when I was younger, I would not be able to sit for a week,
11:10 right? When I when I go to the barber, I I like to cut my hair short because I don't like cutting my hair. So, I leave
11:15 it long and then when I go, I cut it real short. And the you'll be able to see like a ball spot on the right side
11:21 of my head. It's probably a sports injury. I don't know where I got it from, but um I like to tease my parents.
11:27 I say, "You see, mom and dad, it's when you beat me." And my mom was like, my mom would be like, "No, no, we will
11:33 never hit you on the head. We only hit you on the butt and the hands. Don't Don't you dare go and say this outside
11:38 in public like now. Don't you dare. My father would say,
11:45 "Oh, did you good, didn't it? Oh, lucky I didn't hit you on the other side of the head, you know, give you a
11:52 nice nice equal haircut." Right? So, I got the full Asian experience. But you understand what I'm saying? The Middle
11:58 Eastern father is expected to slap that son across the face, pick up a whip, and
12:04 drive him out the house. That is what is expected. But he doesn't. Verse 12. So he divided
12:12 his property between them. What? He does what the son asks. And that is
12:20 even more outlandish. That is even more shameful it seems.
12:26 Um let's see how this works.
12:31 There we go. The runaway. Verse 13. Uh not long after that, the younger son got
12:37 together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth in wild living. Right? Not
12:45 long after that, the younger son got together all he had. What that means is he liquidates everything. And now back
12:52 in the day, this this inheritance is not in a in a savings account, right, like
12:57 it is today. It is they live off their wealth. It is a cluster of homes. It is land. it is animals. And so it is really
13:05 a huge blow to the family if they were to lose onethird of everything that they
13:12 owned. And now um we we we can tell that this family is quite is quite wealthy because
13:17 we know that they have servants. They have a fattened calf. They have the best robe and and their estate is quite big
13:24 because in the end you see that the the older brother can't even hear the party going on when he's out at work working
13:29 on the estate. So, they have quite a big estate. And so, I know some of you are are probably in the car sales business,
13:36 right? Some of you are in the real estate business. It's not that easy to sell a house, is it? Or a car. If I were
13:43 to sell a couple of suites, you know, you could do that in a couple of minutes. But to sell a house, that takes some time.
13:49 And so, how does the sun do it quickly? I drive a I drive a Peruv. And uh cost
13:58 price of a brand new perom is about I don't know 50k, right? 50,000 ringit. I
14:03 bet you I could sell a perdu within the next 4 hours. That's right. You know how bring the
14:11 cost price down to 10,000, right? My phone is going to be ringing
14:16 off the hook. And so that's what this boy does. He has
14:21 to sell cheap if he wants to liquidate quickly so that he can go off to a far
14:26 country and spend it on whatever he wants. Fulfill every desire, every lust, right? He's eager to get out into
14:34 gentile land where nobody knows who he is, where he can do whatever he wants. And so years and years, generation after
14:41 generation of of blood, sweat, and tears and hard work in building up this family wealth and passing it on to the next
14:48 generation, he just treats it with contempt, sells it cheap
14:55 so that he can go and do what he wants. Now, uh, back to a bit of the culture.
15:02 For such insolence that this young boy has shown, for such contempt, for such
15:08 dishonor, often the family would actually hold a funeral for their son because he has
15:16 been so disrespectful, so insolent, so insulting. They're they're essentially saying, "You're dead to me." Right? So
15:22 they would have had as he as he went off to this distant country, wherever it is, they would have had a funeral, a
15:29 symbolic funeral to say, "You are dead to me. In addition, another Jewish custom is
15:35 that if uh if a Jewish person takes their inheritance and they go off to a gentile land and they lose their
15:42 inheritance, this heart, this inheritance that has been that has been built up for years and years and generations over generations and they
15:49 lose it to the Gentiles. If that person ever dared to come back,
15:55 they would perform a ceremony called KZA, right? and they would take a huge
16:01 pot and they would crack it in front of the boy uh and they would say so and so
16:06 is cut off from our community because he has lost his inheritance to the
16:12 Gentiles. In other words, nobody would ever hire him. Nobody would ever uh help
16:19 him out, care for him. He is cut off from the community and forced to be
16:24 destitute for the rest of his life. So the younger son is taking a huge risk
16:30 actually going to gentile land with his inheritance because if he loses it, he
16:35 burns every bridge he has to come home. Now something to notice and we'll we'll
16:42 come back to this afterwards. Notice there is no older brother. The older brother is not mentioned here. Back
16:49 then, uh, when two people had an argument, there would need to be they they would never meet face to face and
16:55 sort out the argument because there would always be one winner and one loser, and so the loser would lose face,
17:00 right? And and in that shame and honor culture, that that just wasn't done. So, how do you sort out arguments? You will
17:07 always need a reconciler. Someone in between who both parties trust is fair
17:15 and they have a close relationship to both parties and they would be the reconciler. He would talk to one party
17:21 and then go to the other party and talk and then sort it out. And so the obvious
17:26 reconciler in this story is who? The older brother, right? But he is
17:32 nowhere to be seen. And we'll come back to that. Next, the repentance. A famine strikes.
17:40 Verse 14, let's read. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in
17:46 the whole country, and he began to be in need. Now, I'm pretty sure, at least for
17:54 myself, I know what a famine is, but I've never experienced it, right? I've
17:60 never experienced a fam a famine. Maybe I'm thinking maybe some of the the older
18:05 ones if I don't know if you've been through World War II, maybe you would understand or have gone through a
18:10 famine, right? But I'm pretty sure at least 99% of us have never experienced a
18:16 famine, right? And so, uh, there's a story of a famine in the Bible. Uh, you don't have to turn to it. I'll just tell
18:22 you the story. Uh, 2 Kings 6, what happened was the Assyrians laid siege on
18:28 a Jewish town. And what that means is they would they would put soldiers and chariots and surround the town so that
18:35 nothing goes in and nothing comes out. And so what would happen? The people in
18:40 the town would eat everything they have, drink everything they have, and eventually they would starve to death.
18:48 And so no soldier had to die. No soldier had to fight. They just had to wait, wait, wait until they started starving
18:56 to death and they would come out and surrender. That's what siege was. And so in the town there was a famine. There
19:03 was no food left. And 2 Kings 6 tells us the story. People were selling donkey
19:08 heads, right, to eat because there was nothing else to eat. Mothers were making bargains with other mothers. I'll tell
19:14 you what, today we'll cook my son and eat him and tomorrow we'll cook your son and eat him. Right? Yeah. That's the
19:21 desperation of people in a famine. So you see in verse 15 uh let me just read
19:27 it out first. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of the country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
19:35 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything.
19:41 He is a Jewish boy. And being Malaysians, we understand this because
19:46 it'd be it'd be quite a day the day we see a Malay go anywhere near a pig, let
19:52 alone hire himself out to feed pigs. It's just nothing. It's it's not in
19:57 their n they would never do that unless they had no other alternative.
20:05 This G Jesus has invented the ultimate sinner.
20:11 at his lowest point. That is what Jesus is trying to get across. He doesn't want
20:17 to feed the pigs. He has no other choice. And in fact,
20:22 he tries a bit of the slime, a bit of the slop that is fed to the pigs
20:28 because he has nothing else to eat.
20:34 How much does this young boy resemble us sometimes, right? Right? We think we're wiser. We
20:41 think we're smarter than God. And so we want to go our own way. And a lot of times I we we sin in the name of in the
20:50 name of happiness. Right. Right. I I need to do this because what? Because I
20:55 need to be happy. As if happiness was was the ultimate goal in life. Who came
21:00 up with that philosophy? Who says that we do need to be happy? Who said that?
21:08 Right? A lot of a lot of the time we sin for the sake of happiness. Yeah, God.
21:14 I'm uh I am married, but there's this lady and I'm really attracted to her and
21:20 we get along really well. So, you know what? I'm going to I'm going to pursue her. I'm going to get a divorce. I'm going to
21:26 pursue her. That's what I'm going to do, God, for the sake of happiness. I need this. She's my soulmate. She's the one,
21:34 right? I need to be happy, God. Oh. Oh, God. Come on. Don't don't interrupt me. I need to be with her. Okay? And that's
21:42 that's the way it is. Okay? I need to be happy. Or God, I'm a guy.
21:50 I like other guys. I'm homosexual. And there's this other guy who likes me.
21:55 You know what? God, I've been holding back enough. I'm going to pursue him.
22:00 Oh, I Oh, God. I need to be happy. Come on. Don't Don't do this. Right. You made
22:05 me like this. Right. It was you. It was you, God. I need to be happy, God.
22:13 And so, we sin in the name of happiness. God, it's been a tough week. You know, I
22:19 uh it's been stressful. And you know what I'm going to do tonight? I am going to go to the bar and
22:25 I'm going to go all out. God, that's that's that's what's going to happen. Okay. Uh come on, God. I give you
22:32 Sunday, right? Right now, that my wife is reading uh Bible stories to the kids. Just give me this night, right? This
22:38 night is mine. I need I need it to be happy, God.
22:43 Isn't that what we do sometimes? And I don't want to trivial trivialize
22:49 these sins. I know that these are real sins and real struggles faced by real
22:54 people. So I don't want to trivialize it, but that is essentially the thought process that goes through our minds,
23:01 isn't it? The boy could have had the mansion, but he went out to the pigsty. Why? For
23:10 his happiness. And so we trade in the promises of God for our own desires and
23:17 apparent happiness. You are all churchgoers, the churchgoers. The fact that you're here
23:24 today means that you know you know something about Christianity. You know something about the Bible. If not, you
23:29 wouldn't be here. And so you know the promises of God. You know them. Just
23:35 meditate on them. Recite them. I will never leave you or forsake you.
23:42 At my right hand are pleasures ever more. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not
23:48 want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me by the still waters.
23:53 His goodness restores my soul. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
23:60 For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You set a table
24:05 in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. You will keep
24:10 in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you. So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not
24:17 be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
24:22 Even to your old age and gray hairs. I am he, he who will sustain you.
24:30 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you.
24:37 You know the promises. Romans 8:28. Come on, that's a famous one.
24:43 For we know that in all things God works together for the good of those who love
24:48 him and are called according to his purposes. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, will he
24:54 not also along with him graciously give us all things.
25:00 For I'm convinced that neither height nor depth, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor future, neither nor
25:07 any powers nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God.
25:15 God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. He
25:21 who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. So do not be anxious for the peace of God which transcends
25:27 all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
25:33 You know the promises of God.
25:39 You know them. If you don't know them, Google it. We
25:44 have Google nowadays, right? List them down. Read them day after day,
25:50 day after day. Read them and see if it's any comparison to this happiness that we
25:56 so desire. You know what about happiness? You can't
26:02 serve two masters. If you want to serve happiness, go ahead and serve happiness.
26:08 But I'll tell you right here, right now, it is a path that leads to destruction. It is a path that leads to hell.
26:17 You cannot serve two masters. If you want to serve God and you want to lay hold of his promises, you take your
26:23 happiness, you nail it to a cross. You pick up that cross and you follow him.
26:29 That is what the Bible teaches us, is it not? Matthew 6:33. But seek first his kingdom
26:37 and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Seek first what? What is of first
26:44 importance? Seek first happiness. No, no, no, no, no, no. Seek first the kingdom
26:50 and his righteousness. Every decision, every action, every word in your life,
26:56 is it aligned with that? Does it advance the kingdom? Does it advance your
27:02 righteousness? That is how we should make our decisions. Not h this makes me happy,
27:10 therefore I shall. No, it advances the kingdom, therefore I shall.
27:16 It advances my righteousness, therefore I shall.
27:22 And so that's exactly what the boy does. He remembers
27:29 the goodness of his father. Verse 17 to 19. Let's read it together.
27:37 Well, I'll just read it. Um when he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my
27:43 father's hired servants have food to spare? And here I am starving to death.
27:48 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against you, against I have sinned
27:55 against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired
28:01 servants." So he got up and went to his father. He remembered in the pigsty
28:06 eating that pig slop. He remembered even the hired servants,
28:13 the lowest of the low. My father was good to them. My father gave them enough so that they
28:20 had food to spare. And here I am eating pig slop.
28:27 I'm going to go back. And look what he says. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, "Father, I've
28:32 sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son." He doesn't want to go back as a
28:38 son. He knows he's not going to be accepted back as a son. He says, "Make me like one of your hired servants. I
28:45 want to pay my debt off. I recognize my mistake. Let me pay it off." And he's
28:52 going to spend the next, I don't know, four or five decades paying this large inheritance off. And Jesus's listeners,
28:59 the Pharisees, finally something in the story makes sense to them. Aha. Yes. That is exactly
29:06 what the son should do. Indeed, he should go back and work it off until his
29:11 hands bleed. That'll teach him a lesson.
29:17 And so he I'm sure as he's walking back, he probably came on a camel, but he had to walk back because he had nothing
29:23 left, right? He's reciting. He's probably thinking how he's going to he's practicing his speech over and over and
29:30 over. Verse 20, he got up. So he got up and
29:36 went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and filled with compassion for him, he
29:43 ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.
29:50 As he goes back, he knows he's going to have to face up to his father, his brother, and the village.
29:58 And the father knows that, too. And as soon as the father sees him, and the fact that the father sees him a long way
30:03 off means what? It means the father is looking for him day in day out. The son
30:10 is not dead to the father. He might be dead to the village, but the father, nuh-uh. He's looking every day. Where is
30:18 my son? hoping that he would come back. And when he sees this scraggly boy
30:24 walking back, he recognizes the way his son walks. That's my son. And what does he do?
30:32 He runs. Now, a bit of the culture back then,
30:38 Middle Eastern patriarchs never ever ever
30:43 ran. Never. Because it is shameful. They would have to pick up their robes right
30:49 up to their knees and run. And that was shameful. You would never
30:55 see that. You are not supposed to show your legs. Boys ran, little girls ran. Patriarchs
31:03 never never ran. And look at the word. The word is interesting here. Um the
31:09 word the Greek word that's used for run here is dremon or drammon. I don't know how to pronounce it. Drammon. And it's
31:16 used to define uh to describe a foot race in a stadium. Let me read to you
31:21 the full definition. To run of persons in haste of those who run in a race
31:27 course to exert oneself, strive hard to spend one's strength in performing or attaining something in extreme peril
31:34 which requires the exertion of all one's effort to overcome. As soon as the father sees him, he knows that if he
31:39 doesn't get to him first, the village is going to get to him. The young boys in the village are going to throw stones at
31:45 him, throw rotten vegetables at him, taunt him, mock him. And so what does he do? He runs. He sprints as though a lion
31:54 was chasing him to his son so that he can get to his son before his son gets
31:60 to the village. All the commentators say this. All the sermons, all the books say this.
32:07 This running to us, you know, no, he ran. Okay. But to them he he he ran. He
32:14 sprinted to his son and he hugged and he kissed him again
32:19 and again and again. Some translations said say that he fall he fell on his neck. So he's kissing him. My son, my
32:26 son. Verse 21. Let's read it. The son said to him,
32:32 "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called
32:39 your son. Full stop. The speech that he prepared, do you
32:44 realize there's something missing? Where's the part about the hired servant?
32:51 He leaves it out because as soon as he sees the father running, as soon as his father embraces him, as soon as the
32:57 father kisses him, he knows I'm his son.
33:02 He doesn't want me back as a servant. He wants me back as his son.
33:09 And so we get to the reinstatement. Verse 22. But the father said to his
33:15 servants, "Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
33:22 Bring the fatten calf. Kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again." He
33:28 doesn't say, "Okay, son. This is what you're going to do. You're going to go home. Get the ring. Get the sandals. Get
33:33 the best robe. Oh no. He says, "Servants, get my son his sandals, get my son his
33:41 signate ring. Get my son the best robe, the one that we've been saving up for a special occasion. That's the one. Get it
33:48 for him. Put it on his back." Now, the son just stands there shocked.
33:55 The signate ring has the family crest. That means the son
34:01 can make contracts now. can trade. So you see, it's full reinstatement. No
34:08 holes bar. Full reinstatement. He He didn't say, "Okay, I'll tell you what, son. So you're going to be my son, but
34:14 the ring, you know, you've been kind of foolish with finances lately. Uh maybe we'll save the ring for a couple months,
34:20 couple years, couple decades down the line, right?" No. Immediately, even with
34:27 mud on his hands, he says, "Get the signate ring and put it on his finger."
34:32 You'll see in the photo here, uh, oh, it's kind of unclear, but you'll see that there's one slipper, one sandal
34:39 that's off, one sandal that's on. It's because servants ran around barefoot.
34:45 Sons did not. And so, the son is unsure. My son and my servant and my son and my
34:52 servant. Full reinstatement to sunship.
35:02 They kill a fatten calf. And again, all the commentators say the same thing. They didn't used to eat meat back in the
35:09 day. A lot meat was for special celebrations. And the fattened calf is
35:16 for once in a-lifetime kind of deals. weddings. In the Old Testament, there
35:21 there was a an occasion where a woman kills the fan calf. It was when Saul the king came to her house. Why? Because the
35:28 king is probably never going to come back to her house. This is a once ina-lifetime deal. Fan calf, kill it.
35:35 Let's make a meal. Full reinstatement.
35:42 And now we get to the retaliation.
35:49 The father uh sorry verse 25 to 28. Meanwhile, the older son was in the
35:56 field when he came near the house. He heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what
36:02 was going on. Your brother has come, he replied, "And your father has killed the fan calf because he has him back safe
36:08 and sound." The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. Wow, there's a lot
36:17 packed into that. Let me give you a bit of background. If there were guests in the house back then, if there were
36:24 guests in the house, all the male members of the family are expected to go in and greet the guests. Even if they
36:31 weren't going to stay, even if they had to go and work, they were supposed to greet and then go. Not doing so is a
36:37 huge insult to the guests. Sort of saying, "You're not worthy of my time."
36:42 And that is a huge insult also to the host, the father. And so the older son
36:48 knows this and he refuses to go in. And so word gets to the father, uh, oh, your
36:54 son is not coming in. What do you mean he's not coming in? Tell him to come in. Tell him to come eat some of this beef.
36:59 Tell him his brother is here. Go. And so the servant goes out. Okay.
37:04 D. Your dad wants you to come in. No, I refuse. Servant goes back. By this time
37:11 all the guests understand what's going on. It is an open challenge to the
37:16 authority of the father. And so the father is in a predicament. He can either overlook it
37:25 or he can punish the boy and everyone and that's exactly what everyone is
37:30 expecting. Slap the guy across his face, lock him up and deal with him later.
37:37 That is what is expected of a Middle Eastern patriarch. But the father knows that if he does that, there's only going
37:43 to be further estrangement, only further bitterness between the father and the
37:48 son. And he wants to have his son. He wants a son.
37:55 And so what does he do? He pays the price of reconciliation. With his head
38:01 bowed, he walks out and pleads with his son. Now this is not done. Back then and
38:08 even now older people summon the son. The the father is supposed to summon the
38:13 son and the son is supposed to come. Not the other way around. Who's ever heard of a son summoning the father? No. But
38:22 he does. He takes the humiliation and he walks out and pleads with his son.
38:29 Right now before we read verse 29, people know what's going on. And now the
38:34 guests know what's going on. You know, outside the courtyard, there are boys there, there are youths there, servants
38:40 there, and some guests. And so verse 29 is the speech that the older brother has been preparing, right, for everyone to
38:47 hear. Verse 29, but he answered his father, "Look, all these years I've been slaving
38:53 for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never even gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friend. But
38:59 when this son of yours has who has squandered your property on prostitutes comes home, you kill the fatten calf for
39:05 him. That's his speech. So a few things I want you to notice in this speech. Number one, he says this son of yours.
39:11 He doesn't say my brother, this son of yours, he's still dead to me. That is
39:19 why he was not there to be the reconciler in the first few verses. He does not care for the father. He has no
39:26 relationship for the father. He wasn't there to protect his honor. He doesn't care for his younger brother. He wasn't
39:32 there to protect his younger brother from making stupid mistakes. All he cares about is himself. All these years,
39:41 I've been slaving for you. That's the terms that he uses. I've been slaving
39:47 for you and never disobeyed your orders. So, what's he saying? Let me explain to
39:52 you. This is what the older brother really wants. He wants the father to say this. My son, you know you are right.
39:60 That boy in there has squandered my wealth on prostitutes. Someone take the best robe off him and put it on this
40:06 son. Somebody get the ring. Put it on this son. The sandals. Where are the stallions? Wear the horses. Get him the
40:13 tallest stallion. Bring it here. I want him to sit on the stallion. I want to parade him around the village. This is
40:20 my son. Faithful, felio, obedient. This is my son. I'm sorry, my son, that I
40:27 have not seen you before. The pride of this older brother, the
40:34 ego, the self-centeredness, the self-righteousness, the hypocrisy.
40:39 My goodness. And so, you know, being an older brother actually
40:48 is more devastating, more dangerous than being a younger brother because the younger brother, he understands. Yeah,
40:55 I've sinned. The older brother has no idea. He thinks he's doing what's right.
41:02 And that's the problem with selfrighteousness.
41:08 And so we talked about the younger brother, but guess what? In the church,
41:13 there are also older brothers, aren't there? People who are self-righteous,
41:19 hypocrites, right? I suffer from this as well. Older
41:25 brother idolatry. And so Sam, you're saying that it's so
41:31 hard to see if you're an older brother yourself. So what do I do? How do I know if I suffer from older brother idolatry?
41:39 Well, let me ask you, how did you feel when I was talking about the younger
41:45 brother's sins? How did you feel when I was talking about divorce, homosexuality,
41:53 alcoholism, greed, money?
41:59 How did you feel? What were you thinking in your heart? Oh, divorce. Oh, you kidding me? It says so clearly in the
42:05 Bible, God hates divorce. I would never get divorced. Oh, alcoholism. Come on. Got to be
42:11 kidding me. Who would ever get drunk? So stupid. Homosexuals. Oh my goodness. So
42:18 unnatural. What are these stupid people thinking? Is that what was in your heart? Because
42:25 if it was, maybe maybe you and I suffer from older brother
42:33 idolatry. But you see, older brothers are truly
42:39 hypocrites. You may never have had a divorce,
42:45 but you break your vows every other night, don't you?
42:51 You may never have had an an abortion. or paid for one. You know, it re it
42:57 enrages me when I see on TV, right? Uh people holding up signs, Christians holding up signs outside abortion
43:04 clinics. Let them live. Prolife, pro-life, let them live. And yet,
43:12 nobody so much as lifts a finger to help those who are going in.
43:18 They shame the young women that go in, but they don't help them at all. Yeah,
43:25 let them live. But she has no means to take care of her baby. Yeah, but it's
43:31 all right. She'll figure it out. Let them live. Babies are from God. Pro-life.
43:36 Are you kidding me?
43:42 You look down on homosexuality. Oh, so unnatural.
43:47 But I bet I bet if a young unmarried couple walks
43:53 through that door and you know they're sleeping together, you wouldn't bat an eyelid, would you? You would celebrate
43:59 it. Oh, look what a cute Christian couple. Yay. They'd be great at ministry one day,
44:05 right? But if two guys walked in hand in hand, you'd give them the stare,
44:12 wouldn't you? So you see how dangerous older brother idolatry is. It's hypocritical. Older
44:20 brothers have a masters and a PhD in compartmentalizing sin. These sins are
44:26 shameful. These sins that I'm guilty of are acceptable. But these sins, oh,
44:32 shameful. You better get your act together before you walk into my church.
44:38 Right? We compartmentalize sin. And so you can see older brother
44:44 idolatry is really no different from younger brother idolatry. Both brothers only cared for themselves.
44:51 Both brothers only cared for the father's things, not the father.
44:57 So older brothers in church look like they attend every week. They're part of a small group. They attend prayer meets,
45:04 Bible studies. They may be even serving in ministry.
45:10 But they wag their finger and they judge instead of reaching out a hand to help.
45:17 So Sam, what should we do? Uh, okay. So I'm not supposed to judge, right? All these sinners. Uh, and so, so, so what?
45:24 We're going to celebrate all this, celebrate abortion, celebrate homosexuality.
45:29 No, of course not. You treat sinners the same way Jesus treated sinners. How did he treat the
45:36 woman at the well? How did he treat the woman caught in adultery? How did he
45:41 treat Zakius? How did he treat Matthew? These are all people who are
45:47 guilty of committing these, you know, shameful sins, right? How did he treat them?
45:53 That's how you should treat them with compassion. Eat with them. Invite
46:01 them into your house. Talk to them. Listen to them. Support them. Stop
46:06 wagging your finger. Lend out a hand. Because that is exactly what Jesus did
46:12 for you, is it not?
46:18 Look at how the father responds. My son, verse 31, my son, the father said, you
46:24 are always with me. Everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours is
46:29 dead and is alive again. He was lost and now he's found. Now the normal word from
46:34 my son used in the rest of the chapter is this word huos. The Greek word huyos
46:40 in this particular instance only used once in this chapter. It's technon technon. And it's also my son but it's
46:47 my son with love, affection, compassion. So you see this father instead of
46:54 slapping the boy across the face for his insult and saying that I should apologize to him, he says, "My child, my
47:03 beloved child, everything I have is yours." But we had to celebrate your brother who was dead.
47:10 He he flips it. He doesn't say my son who was dead. He says your brother who was dead. He's your brother.
47:17 Pharisees, these sinners, actually, you should be the one reaching out to them.
47:22 Your brother who was dead is now alive. And we had to celebrate. And this story
47:27 has a beautiful ending. Look at verse 33.
47:33 Aha. There is no verse 33. Aha. It's
47:39 Jesus has left us on a cliffhanger. What's the question that we're all asking after all this time? God. Jesus,
47:46 tell us the ending. What is the question we are all asking? What did the younger uh what did the older brother do? Did he
47:53 fall down on his knees and kiss the father's feet and said, "Father, I'm so sorry for my self-righteousness.
47:59 Please bring me inside. I'm so sorry. Let me see my brother. I want to embrace
48:04 him. I want to kiss him." Does he say that? Well,
48:11 the reason there's no verse 33 is because it's a it's a rhetorical question. It's a rhetorical story, if
48:16 you will. And what Jesus is asking the Pharisees is this is why I eat with sinners. So,
48:24 what are you going to do about it? How will you respond? And he's not only
48:29 asking the Pharisees. He was asking the broader audience of his listeners and the broader audience of all of us who
48:35 would be reading this story 2,000 years from when he told it, "What are you
48:41 going to do with me?" That is what Jesus is asking.
48:52 I'm going to step away from my notes for a little bit. I'm going to try to at least
48:57 because I want to talk to you face to face, hearttohe heart. And after this we'll close.
49:03 I want to speak to two different sets of people. The first set is those who are in the body of Christ.
49:10 Those of us who are faithfully walking with our God. We need to repent
49:16 for wagging the finger for judging. The world has plenty to say, plenty of
49:21 negative things to say about Christ and Christians. And often times what they say is true. They say, "Oh, Christians
49:28 are hypocrites. Oh, they're goody two shoes. They're holy holies." Right? Often time that's true. That's
49:35 how we act. We wag the finger. We judge, roll the eyes, right? Instead of lending
49:42 out a hand and being Christlike,
49:48 we need to repent. The second group of people is those of you who are not in
49:53 the body of Christ. Those of you who have not put your faith in Jesus, you do not know the father. Some of you may be
49:60 in the church, but you're older brothers. You're serving, you're attending, you've got small groups, but
50:05 you're doing so for yourself. You're doing so for the praise of man. You're doing so so that God will bless you.
50:12 Right? And when things don't go your way, you wave your fist at God. Hey God, I attended small group. I attended
50:18 prayer meets. Why didn't you give me that promotion? Why did you allow my car to get scratched
50:26 when things don't go our way? Wave our fist at God, thinking that we are wiser
50:32 and holier than God. We need to repent of that. Older
50:39 brothers, younger brothers, you probably have 101 excuses of why you
50:47 can't come to God. You've been told all your life there are some sins that are shameful, some sins that are acceptable.
50:53 By the way, this is not in the Bible. All sins are shameful. All sins are
50:59 unacceptable. So even the people in the church, you see them, oh they're holy, holy,
51:07 I would never fit in there. I could never go in there. Every one of us who has walked through
51:12 that door has been to the pigsty and we came to Christ with pig slop on our
51:18 mouths and pig mud on our backs. I just want to I want to let you know that.
51:25 So, some of you may be struggling. Oh, God. You know that time I went on a business
51:30 trip? Yeah. I I broke my vows to my spouse. God, you know this. God, you
51:38 know that you know what God's saying? My son, my child, my daughter, I love you.
51:44 I want to forgive you. I want to love you. Jesus paid the price. There's a
51:49 robe waiting for you, sandals waiting for you, a ring waiting for you, and a fatter calf. We are ready to celebrate
51:54 your repentance. Oh my god, I'm I'm pregnant and nobody I can't tell
52:02 my family. I can't for fear of what they would think of me, for fear of what they would do to me.
52:08 My daughter, I love you. I know. I know you're pregnant. I'm the one creating
52:14 the baby in your womb right now. I want to forgive you. I want to help
52:20 you through this. Come back to me, please.
52:25 But God, I've been embezzling money from my company for years, thousands of ringit. I'm a criminal, God.
52:33 I know my son, my daughter. I know. I want to help you. I want to forgive you.
52:38 I want to help you turn your life around. Please come back.
52:44 So you have God this. God that. God I sin this. God I sin that. God excuse
52:49 this. God excuse that. Shame this. Shame that. I know my child. I know.
52:56 I knew it before you even thought about it. But guess what? 2,000 years ago, my
53:02 son Jesus came down. He lived the perfect life that you could not.
53:08 And after 30 years, he was whipped and put on a cross. And they drove three
53:13 nails through his hands and his feet. And I put on him the sin
53:19 that you were unable to bear. I put on his back your sin. Past, present,
53:24 future, acceptable, unacceptable. It's all there. And then I crushed him.
53:30 Almighty God crushed Jesus on the cross for you and me.
53:36 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. God
53:43 made him who knew no sin to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. That is the
53:51 gospel. That's the good news.
53:57 That is the good news. There's there's not a sad ending here. Your sin, your shame has been paid for. Jesus took it.
54:06 That's the gospel. And so,
54:12 I'm going to close in prayer in a minute, but after I close in prayer,
54:17 um the the the worship team is going to come up and we're going to sing a song uh in response uh a song of praise to
54:23 our God. Uh, and after we sing, we're going to be led in a time of communion by Pastor Joash. And after that, the
54:31 service will be over. Now, when the service is over, there will be elders here in the front who are ready to
54:39 lend out a hand. They're not here to wag their finger and they're not here to judge. They're here
54:46 to do what Christ did for them and to lend out a hand. It could be that you're struggling with
54:52 sin. It could be that uh uh a loved one of yours does not know Christ. It could
54:59 be just that you need prayer. It could be that you need healing. It could just be that you need a listening ear.
55:05 Whatever it is, the elders will be here for you.
55:11 And so I encourage you to come talk to them if you need to. Let me pray for us.
55:18 Heavenly Father, you are so good. You are so good to us.
55:23 Um, you took the shame, you took the pain, you took the penalty of my sin, of
55:31 our sin. You took it willingly and you took it joyfully
55:37 so that now we can be children of God. And Lord, if there's anyone in here who
55:43 is willing to turn to you, all the brothers and younger brothers alike, there's rejoicing and a fattened calf
55:48 waiting for them. Thank you God for your goodness. Thank you for who you are. We love you and we
55:55 want to glorify you in Jesus name. Amen.
