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00:00:04 good morning church thank you to Dr niik for sharing the testimony today's scripture reading will be taken from The Book of Luke chap 15: 1 to2 and after that we will go ahead to chap to sorry to verse 11 to 32 now the text collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered this man welcomes Sinners and eats with them Jesus continued there was a man who had two sons the younger one said to his father father give me my share of the
00:00:41 estate so he divided his property between them not long after that the youngest son got together all he had set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in well living after he had spent everything there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need so he went and hiired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs he longed to fill his stomach with the pots that the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything when he came to his senses he
00:01:16 said how many of my father's hired servants have food to spare and here I am starving to death I will set out and go back to my father and say to him father I have sinned against heaven and against you I am no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired servants so he got up and went to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him he ran to to his son threw his arms around him and kissed him the son said to him father I have
00:01:52 sinned against heaven and against you I am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants quick bring the best rope and put it on him put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet bring the fatten cough and kill it let's have a feast and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found so they began to celebrate meanwhile the oldest son was in the field when he came near the house he heard music and dancing so he called one of the servants
00:02:28 and asked him what was going on your brother has come he replied and your father has killed the fattened cough because he has him back safe and sound the older brother became angry and refused to go in so his father went out and pleaded with him but he answered his father look all these years I have been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders yet you have never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends but when this son of yours who has squandered your property with
00:03:00 prostitutes comes home you killed a fattened cough for him my son the father said you are always with me and everything I have is yours but we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found this is the word of the Lord thank you Adam for reading the scripture thank you so much good morning brothers and sisters shall we try again yeah good morning brothers and sisters morning good morning thank you so much um first I want to go through the U list of
00:03:42 speaker for the following week we will have Pastor palen uh next week on let God start a new work yeah followed by William who has missed his sermon earlier and uh good news for the poor yeah um on the 19th of January the following Sunday is uh W but the topic is Mystery yeah you have to come and find out the screen doesn't work okay so uh before we go to the sermon proper this morning may I ask that uh you bow your heads and pray with me ABA father as we come before you this morning we ask that father your spirit
00:04:26 know be with us and you prepare our hearts to receive the message of the prodal Sun that you're trying to deliver to us this morning Father help us to internalize it and manifest it in our life and as I bring forth your word your word Lord you know may my mouth be the vessel of your holy words you know your I ask that your spirit descend on me right here right now Father for I cannot say or do anything of significance without you so come on me Lord in Jesus name we ask amen okay so uh there's no slide okay there's
00:05:04 slide this morning um okay I see now just move it a bit all right um we are actually a couple of days shy of 2025 so I want to steal the Thunder from the next speaker to wish you blessed new year yeah a very blessed one and as we March into the new year I want to bring you a story not an ordinary story but the story of a return of a reckless wasteful and extravagant son not sure any one of you can relate to that yeah uh this timely story is not just a story about The Return of this son but it is also a profound revelation
00:05:44 of God's infinite grace and mercy which you and I cannot understand you know unless you have tasted it yeah now in our human experiences forgiveness always come with a condition isn't it yeah it's not so easy to forgive someone when someone does wrong to you you may extend forgiveness but it's always come with a kav and we struggle to forgive without getting anything back in return now this is especially true no when someone hurt you so deeply that you want to you know hurt the person in return but this
00:06:18 morning Lord Jesus Christ is painting to you and I a picture that challenges the very Foundation or understanding of what forgiveness and Grace is all about so here we will see a father who defies all societal expectations ridiculous you know welcoming back his wavered son with an Open Arms you know no question asked at all and this father's reaction is at best illogical and scandalous in human wisdom now it defies our sense of justice and fairness yet this is precisely what I'm trying to deliver to
00:06:56 you this morning what I'm trying to bring forth to you yeah through the text of Luke chapter 15 we will learn that God's infinite grace in redeeming and restoring the loss defies all logic and understanding now please open your Bible if you have one uh to chapter 15 to follow my lecture my sermon sorry yeah uh not that the if you open the Bible you understand the words better but you can check yeah against it know whatever that I'm telling you now before we proceed further yeah just now Adam read verses 1 to two that's to set
00:07:33 the context right now through this verses you will know that Jesus was tearing this Parable to the Pharisees and the scribes they are the authority religious authority of the day also political leaders of the day now Jesus uses this Parable to rebuke them because they have slandered Jesus that he has come to eat with the Sinners and the tax collectors now indeed Jesus didn't only come and eat with the rich you know he came came to eat with the Sinners and the most wavered of all now the story can be divided into
00:08:06 two parts uh for your easy consumption so part one begins with a demand yeah now now the youngest son came to the father and said to him look father no give me my share of the estate verse 12 okay yeah now how would you feel yeah brothers and sister if one of your son will come to you and ask you to divide your estate today and farm out his portion to him while you're still alive and kicking angry isn't it yeah so whatever there's welling up in your heart right now I want you to know that the the
00:08:43 audience of the first century will be feeling exactly the same yeah this is an absolutely astounding you know ridiculous demand yeah now although we are 20 centuries apart 2,000 years you know the tradition or inheritance has not changed much isn't it now the children can only get their inheritance when the old man kick the bucket now in the Jewish tradition I want you to know that if a person has two sons then the estate will be divided into three portions and 2/3 of the portion will go to the Elder Son and one third will go
00:09:16 to the younger son now I think some of the audience in our midst this morning younger son will be saying hallelujah thank God I'm not a Jew because you're entitled to have your father's inheritance now it seem Lop cider isn't it but there's a very good reason for it because the Elder son deserve it for he has to he has extra responsibility more than the younger son the Elder son is supposed to take care of the Widow mother or any widows in the line of the family who doesn't have a son now um and uh but this happens only
00:09:53 when the father kicks the Buckle like I saying so for him to ask for his inheritance while his father is still alive is akin to asking him to go die now okay period you know hence you can see that this younger son doesn't really love his father does he no right what he loves is his riches you know and his wealth The Inheritance but not the person but shockingly what is more shocking is this father's respond in verse 12b you know it is just as Preposterous and astounding and ridiculous as the demand now the text
00:10:30 say that he didn't even put out any objection instead he said uh the word said that he divided his property between them wow you know what a countercultural father he is is he out of his mind I would certainly think so yeah now no father in the first century would respond to such a ridiculous demand in fact I dare say that in this H this morning no father would also respond with such graciousness as well did you can I have a show hand no hands you know your father is pretty serious yeah now a Malayan father will only
00:11:10 respond in one way he will first give him a shing you know scold him before throwing the person out of the house and this violent blow is uh what we call coping mechanism yeah yeah this the blow will help us to diminish our love or affection you know for this ridiculous son and we hope that by doing so we can contain our heart we can reduce it so have you ever found yourself you know berating at your children because they hurt your feeling brothers and sisters does it really help yeah I suppose it does for the
00:11:44 moment to blow off some steam yeah but otherwise you will go cuckoo is but the pain will remain long after the incidents you know and you will continue to endure and suffer the agony of the heartaches now the the word property here is actually taken from the Greek word bios yeah and bios means life in English hence when you substitute the words by uh property with life verse 12b will read like this the father divided his life between them now this means that the father's life is now torn about yeah torn apart
00:12:21 or broken not physically but certainly from emotional or a relational point of view is now devastated now imagine that you have raised a loveling rais a child to only see that this person throw his life away and making by making poor choices how would you feel I take it that you feel a sense of lost heartbreak and absolute anger yeah but mixed with also you know the emotion of worry all at the same time isn't it now in addition yeah the father that would mean that uh the land that the father ow
00:13:00 means everything to him you know it is his livelihood the livelihood for his family also his identity and that also means that it is the standing his standing in the community not many land owner Among Us how many of you similarly in the first century so for this father his land is akin to his life and in order to give his son his inheritance that he asked for he would have to break apart his land and sell it and selling it along with all all the things that he has built on top of it so imagine the devastation the heartache
00:13:37 and also the humiliation the father has to endure and yet in Love Without objection he handed over what he had took a lifetime to build to this prodigal son and therefore his his unconditional infinite love compels him to give freely and unconditionally all the sons and daughters here this morning can I have a show a hand how many of you have a Earthly father like this not a single hand yeah but most importantly brothers and sisters you know when you look at this wavered and rebellious son you know can
00:14:18 you relate to him and how many of you of the young people that we have this H this morning cannot wait to leave your home so that you can leave an independent uncer an unrestricted life and in a similar way know how many of you brother and sister has drawn A Line in the Sand with our heavenly father do you find yourself demanding for God's blessings over your work over your family over your finances over your relationship but you put a no entry sign no entry Zone in many areas of our life and asking God to stay out of them
00:15:00 and if we are honors you brother and sister this morning friends and family you know we will see that we are no different from this prodigal son isn't it okay no response yeah it's all right you know uh the truth is we are all prodigal at some point yeah asking God to divide his life between us each time when you and I ask God for things but we do not want him to be in our life we don't want anything to do with him just give me what I want you know we are in essence saying that ABA father please give me my share of the
00:15:33 estate but I want you to stay out of my life yeah is a no fly zone for you don't matter in my relationship don't matter in my sins you know don't M matters in areas that you're not supposed to and in doing so in the same way we have broken the the heart of our AB father just like this prodigal son now now that he has all the money that he has you know he he the father gave him not many days later yeah it's not in the uh NIV version but in the ESV version it says not many days later that means he has already started packing the
00:16:11 moment the father say okay and he took off to a far country and the scripture didn't tell us where he was heading you know but if he was a Malaysian I suppose he would be heading for qualum or slango isn't it yeah because with a very few exception every young man and young uh woman from out station wants to come and leave and work in KL now how many of you are originally born in qualum po or slango hands up please yeah maybe about 10 hands yeah the rest of you are all prodigals yeah cuz I remember when I was young I
00:16:50 came from a very very small town no yeah there's no electricity at night we have to start a generator know to to watch TV or or to have lights and I couldn't wait to come to qualum PO yeah you see my point yeah now those who didn't raise their hands I suppose that uh your father would be prodal yeah because he's the one you know was born or who came to KL yeah before you and this prodigal son squandered every penny that he has in a wasteful foolish and extravagant way it was fun but it lasted but soon a famine came and
00:17:28 since he has no more money he was caught in great Affliction yeah imagine this economy and you have no money you know no job yeah now driven by hunger and Desperation yeah he went to work for other people in other people's Farm you know as a day laborer and if you if I'm not wrong you paid one dinari a day you know and guess what you know this is peton for him yeah petons you and his job is worth he supposed to feed the pig and for the Jew know pigs are despised you know they they they cannot stand it
00:18:00 right and uh yet in these circumstances he has no other choices because he's hungry he's desperate despite working he couldn't uh earn enough to fit himself decently and so bad that he even find himself jealous of the pig why because the pig get to eat to his heart's content but not him you know so he was and so in verse 17 yeah in his misery you know and he always takes a misery for us to you know uh think about God yeah uh this young man finally came to his senses and he realized that even the
00:18:45 wor of his father's servant has more things than him you know therefore he decided to go home and realizing that he has wronged the father so badly he D not even ask the father to take him back as a son instead he asked the father to make became one of his workers why now by doing so he could make up you know he was thinking that he could make up for all the wrongs and the mistake he has done in the past with a good deed according to verses 18 to 19 yeah well I suppose most of you will think that this
00:19:14 is an excellent plan isn't it yes or no come on human me is it a good plan good plan right because H accompanied by action you know but I want to tell you that this is precisely the Aron erronous thinking that that plag the doctrine of salvation in the Christian Community at large today now the young man thought that he could earn the Forgiveness of his father how by working by being self-reliant by being self-righteous you know if I work for you then I can repay the mistakes that I have made and this
00:19:51 is a very dangerous thinking because it replaces grace of God with works yeah and our relationship brother and sister we God is not a transactional one it's not like I scratch your back and you scratch mine you know we cannot earn forgiveness through our good behavior absolutely not and God's forgiveness of our sin is built solely on his unmerited grace and love alone period now case in point if you look at the Prosperity Gospel why do I say that because the prosperity Prosperity Gospel often presents God favor and by
00:20:30 implication God's forgiveness as something transactional yeah it teaches that wealth healing or personal success are things that we can attain or achieve through acts of faith and giving and that is preposterous yeah that's blasphemy according to the Bible in other words if I give enough if I pray enough and if I uh forgive other people then God will have to bless me and accept me if I do enough for him then he owes me and I want you to know that yes God does give and bless his people but these
00:21:09 blessings come according to his sovereignty his Sovereign Will and unmar Grace not in response to your self-righteousness and your Deeds certainly not detected by your good work and if you promote the idea that God's forgiveness of favor depends on what we do yeah then you diminish the sufficiency of Christ's work on the cross and implies that human effort must supplement the atonement yeah the complete work that Jesus has done on the cross you are making a mockery out of our Jesus Christ he doesn't need your
00:21:49 work yeah his work on the cross is complete and final it is done he say and Ephesians chapter 2 vers vers 18 uh sorry uh Ephesians chapter 2 uh vers 8 to9 made it Crystal Clear yeah it says that for it is by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourself it is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast no works and this is why it is dangerous yeah it replaces Grace with works it replaces your hope in Jesus Christ with doubt because you have to work for it and you replace Jesus Christ with
00:22:40 yourself and so with a restitution plan in mind he got out and he headed home now and verse 20 says this you know while he was a long way the father ran to him threw his arms around him and kissed him can you tell me what is wrong with this picture something wrong is the father doesn't play by the rules and logic or does he yeah now instead of teaching him a good lesson in all his excitement when he saw the sun far off the Horizon he started running towards him and this is undignified yeah even a socially
00:23:14 shameful a uh act I beg your pardon especially for a respected father more so a landowner you wouldn't see Elders Eden runs yeah okay why now in order for him to run you would have to lift up the ropes you know yeah it's very cartoonish thing when the the midle Eastern people wear rope and he would have to lift up and expose his leg improperly which is not acceptable in our culture and in addition it will show that he's impulsive in yeah now impulsivity is not a trait that is admired then and also now so to all the
00:23:55 young men and the and the boys in our midst yeah the don't run yeah you can't impress the Girl by running because it is the opposite of a wise measured and composed men okay so children runs women run young men run you know a patriarch with status and Authority doesn't run it would compromise his standing in a community and in addition I want you to know that this son not only disgrace his family yeah he also disgraced the entire Village as well so according to the law in Deuteronomy CH 21: 18-21 he should be
00:24:34 stoned to death not welcome home not embraced by the Father the law states it very clearly yeah and if the neighbor has started to Stone the son then the father would be also stoned together because he ran so quickly to him and embrace him so again yeah brothers and sisters what you are seeing here and witnessing is an extraordinary father not only he runs yeah he ran to embrace his son and threw his arm around him and kissed him and I don't remember my beloved late father ever huged me so affectionately
00:25:09 left alone kissing me when I make a mistakes you know Rotan is all you get yeah can yeah for our American friend now he would rather be caught dead in doing such a thing and to confess to you I'm so deprived of it I hug and kisses my children every day more than once a day and guess what it is extremely therapeutic and rewarding because it enhances the father and son's relationship greatly so brothers and sisters yeah my advice to you hug your children as often as possible but what is more ridiculous is
00:25:47 this while this repentant son was prepared to offer some kind of restitution and to work his way back to the family but unexpectantly the father deny him of such restitution yeah the prodal father say this no I will not let you earn your way back to sunship so Pronto yeah in verse 22 the father said to the servant you know they say quick bring the rope and put on him put it on him now I want to ask you the question whose rope is the best rope in the house anyone whose rope the father's rule yeah well this may not make any sense to
00:26:35 us in our culture but it illustrate a profound spiritual truth this morning brother and sister I cannot emphasize enough that no amount of Good Works compensation or restitution otherwise can earn God's forgiveness yeah now when God brought you into his family he imputed on you his best rope yeah the Rope of righteousness the rope that is stained with the blood of Jesus Christ know he was killed and tortured on the cross for you and me know the costliest rope in the word to God the father and so that your sin and my sin
00:27:12 will be washed clean by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ your sin yeah your filthy you and I are filthy we are made righteous and clean and pure in the eyes of our Holy Father Isaiah 61:10 and then he said you know not only put a b r on here he say put a ring on his finger and Sanders on his feet why why is it necessary it's extra verant isn't it yeah because a servant does not wear Rings a servant doesn't wear expensive ropes and Sanders a sand do the ring is a sign of sunship and despite the sinful past yeah
00:27:54 he cannot work his way back as son yeah it is unmar Grace it is free not free to the father though because he has to break his his estate you know and sell oneir of it and he has to endure the heartache it cost him a lot he costes his life his bios but it is free for the sun it is unconditional and then he brought this lost son into the house they come into the house and he ordered the servant to go and Slaughter a fat C and he joyfully through a grand party the greatest he have ever organized to
00:28:34 celebrate the written of his lost son and I want to tell you that had the father chose to be self-righteous and perhaps you know like many of us in this a Auditorium this morning then this would be a funeral it will not be a party it'll be a wake service so with this I would like to bring forth a profound truth for the first 14 verses that we have just gone through that is God's infinite grace redeems and restore the Lost relentlessly and unconditionally God's infinite grace redeems and restore the Lost
00:29:15 relentlessly and unconditionally now have you ever felt lost you know or burdened by the mistakes or the hardship of the shame or the regrets of your life and as such you are convinced that you are too broken for God to redeem to forgive and you think that God has forgotten about you and I want to tell you that I know this feeling very well you see I came from a broken family A place where love was scared and pain was abundant my parents divorce when I was little yeah has left me feeling abundant and
00:30:21 alone as an adult oh God please help I'm sorry hence I look for solace in all the wrong places thank you and I indulge in sinful Pleasures which only deepen my uh dispair and for years you know brothers and sisters I wanted True Life Like a Stranger to myself and to God and I was a delinquent a lost soul d them endlessly aimlessly in the wilderness of life and I treated people even you know for gains and you wouldn't want to be my friends my friend back then but strangely God give out God never gave out on me you know
00:31:17 some 20 years back I encountered the love of God yeah and it was a love that I could not understand a love that I do not deserve yeah I could not I couldn't comprehend because I was so broken and yet God pursue me relentlessly you know first in my um secondary education then in my University and then you know when I was working as an adult you know what I say to them please that's the dog go away you know I rejected him but he found me and he offered me forgiveness and Redemption and I went from a man who
00:31:54 chased after the world to a man preaching the word of God is morning to you and how is this even remotely Possible only by the infinite grace of God you know that defies tradition defies understanding Grace that is so far beyond our comprehension you know Grace that welcome back the worst the most wavered of Soul of Sinners back home and so brothers and sisters boys and girls what shadow of sin and shame from your past is keeping you from God at a arms length driving you further and further and further away from our loving
00:32:39 father God the Father I want to ask you can you feel the weight of God's infinite grace and love and can you feel that he's inviting you asking you to come my sons my daughters you know and and lay your burden lay your frustration lay your disappointment lay your hurts lay your pain at the foot of Jesus's cross you most important can you see that God's love is even more prodigal more ridiculous more lavish and more extravagant than any sin that you have ever committed in your life and how could the Relentless
00:33:27 pursuing Grace of our God the father so lovingly draws you to him like a child running to the Open Arms of God the Father beg a pardon in verse 25 yeah when the Elder son came um in from the field near the house you know he heard Music and Dance sing you know so curiously he asked the servant you know what's going on dude you know and the servant say to him hey your younger brother is back you know and your father slaughtered a fatten C for him in celebration and guess what immediately his blood shot from his feet to his head
00:34:15 yeah he was upset he was angry and he was Furious so he refuses to come into the party you know for he cannot forgive one his brother who has squandered the family's wealth and disgrace the family but beyond that more importantly he cannot forgive the father who is so silly and so easily and so graciously forgiven his useless brother he's upset because he didn't even get a slap on his palm you and this father this extraordinary father seeing that he refuses to come he went out to implore him in other words
00:34:55 he went out to persuade him please come in son but this good son threw a feet and lashed out on the father on at verse 29 you know he didn't even have the decency to address him as dad daddy or father or bar but coldly and disrespectfully he said look all the years I've been slaving for you and never disobey your orders and yet you have never given me even a young good so that I can celebrate with my friends joh is saying have you lost your mind old man spending so lavishly on this wavered rebellious son of yours who
00:35:32 is good for nothing now I want you to know that in the first century maybe even today you know the most expensive party ones can have is to actually slaughter a fatten Cal yeah now most family wouldn't do that because it's just so expensive and because of this the oldest son was jealous and he accuse his father for not showing him such generosity though oh though he is the good one he has been obeying all his life and so he continued to T the father to lash out at the father yeah and I I paraphrase him yeah in
00:36:11 verse 30 he say how dare you know spend such money on him who has squandered your property with the prostitutes you know but if you listen carefully and you look carefully at the words there is an underlying tone here yeah I don't I know what is your take but my take is this know look oh man why should I share two3 of my inheritance with this loser now they are squandered his yeah so the the cat is out of the back but I want to tell you that this father is so ridiculously radical instead of smacking him on the face he
00:36:48 further affirms his love for him you know look at how he responded in verse 31 he says that my son you are always with me and everything I have is yours and true to his words he is absolutely right the father is telling this good son that his loyalty and good words has not gone unnoticed and for one the father say you have access to my love and my resources at all times at 24/7 and since your younger brother has taken his one3 all I have now belongs to you my son however yeah this good son is not
00:37:29 interested in a Father's Love or keeping the family together isn't he is he no absolutely not yeah his eyes are only on his father's inheritance and the truth of the matter is this that they both the prodigal and the good son are both you know want things from their father but they both do not want anything to do with the father they don't appreciate the father they don't appreciate his love he don't they don't appreciate his presence and they don't appreciate the relationship with him they use the father as a tool for
00:38:04 their gains just like me once upon a time you know they use the father to get what they really love what do they love they love the riches the comfort and the status that the father has worked so hard for but the difference between these two sons is this yeah the younger son did it by being very very very very bad you know and the good son did it by being very very very very good and hence they are both lost the bad one was lost in his Badness and the good one was lost in his goodness and so in verse 32 yeah despite
00:38:46 his root responses the father continues to persuade him to join a party and to celebrate the return of his lost son but sadly okay the the story ended at an impul the Lord Jesus Christ is leaving you and I with a Cliff Hanger this morning why because there's no verse 32 yeah there is no happy ending to this sad story so what is the Lord Jesus Christ trying to tell you t i this morning well you contemplate this may be shocking to you yeah and may be difficult for some of you to stum up so if you're farted I ask that you
00:39:33 hold on to your seat tightly real tight because the tsunami of Truth is going to hit you in a moment it comes probably 100 ft high and you washed you away at the end it is the prodigal son that is safe and not the good son the one who is trying to be good as far as the parable is concerned it goes you know the good son is lost why because he did not respond to the father's invitation and to join the biggest and the most lavish party that the father has ever thrown one day you and I brother and sister in Christ you know
00:40:15 we'll be invited to the banquet by God the Father the most lavish one he will ever throw and sitting there you may be thinking hey this is not right the level of a self-indulgent life is saved but the man of Mor is lost how is that fair Brandon now I want you to know that God is not bound by your fairness by human fairness yeah and not to misle you most not to mislead you God is not fair all the time yeah but he is absolutely just and he's absolutely righteous and he's absolutely holy why because Roman chapter 9: 15 say
00:41:05 this you know I have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion this demonstrate that God's choices are based on his Sovereign will not human notion of fairness your work doesn't buy his forgiveness work is necessary but your work your Good Deeds doesn't buy his forgiveness but that is the truth brothers and sisters from the Bible from the word that God brief into the Holy Scripture now the good son was not lost in spite of his goodness he was lost because of his
00:41:56 goodness listen to this he say father I have never disobeyed you verse 29 you know yeah this is his self-righteousness talking yeah his selfreliance talking you know and he became angry and refused to go in in verse 28 this is his arter rejection of the father how many times God sent his people to talk to you you know and you reject his love you refuse to go into the biggest party that ever T and therefore it was not a sin that kept him from the father it was his goodness it was his pride that kept him
00:42:32 for the father it was his self-righteousness I am good so you owe me he was trying to be his own savior now FL flaner okon say in her novel wise blood he says that the way to avoid Jesus is to avoid sin and she absolutely kneed it brothers and sisters you know yeah if I love people if I'm good if I pray if I give enough and if I read my Bible from first page to the last page over and over and over again you know 10 times or 20 times or 30 times you know then God has to bless me doesn't he he has to
00:43:13 right and if you are thinking this way brothers and sisters then I'm sorry to tell you Jesus is not your savior you are your own savior if you're thinking this way just like this good son you know you're avoiding Jesus as Savior by being good by avoiding sin yeah you're trying to manipulate God you know with your perceived goodness and you'll find yourself asking God how can you let this happen to me you know be it sickness be it financial troubles you know be it relational troubles family troubles you I obey you
00:43:49 and I love you and I give and give and give you know and I serve you diligently all your morality all your Conformity and all your obedience is only a means to an end because you want God to give you what you want but the last thing you ever want is God the Father himself and Tim Kayla says this and I want you those Note Taker yeah please take down or take a photo sorry no photo no slides yeah listen to me read my lips yeah moralistic people obey God to get things gospel people obey God to get God you get
00:44:36 me so the question is which one are you now in addition when you obey God so diligently to get things from him you are likely to be angry most of the time too why because when you are living such a moralistic life you assume that God owes you so you expect God to bless you all the time right so can I have a show hand please humor me you know how many you of you can attach to the fact that your life is always hunky dory everything go according to what you want ah one hand at the back brother Hy Dory
00:45:20 live I I want to speak to you after this I want to learn the secret no absolutely no and therefore because life does not always go the way you wanted it to be you'll always be angry with God when things don't go your way so I want you to search does this describe you brothers and sisters it certainly did describe you angry when things don't go my how are you angry too despite you obeying God so faithfully and so diligently but I want I don't want you to get me wrong is it wrong to obey God no absolutely not because the Bible
00:46:10 command us to obey God John 14:15 says this if you love me Jesus say obey my commands you know but your motivation behind The Obedience must be right and if you're obeying God out of your love out your ambition out of your gratitude for the work that he has done for you so that you can go to heaven you can have eternity you know then congratulation brother and sister Jesus Christ is your lord and savior but if you obey God out of Duty in a mechanical in a joyless in a judgment and even Superior
00:46:45 manner then I'm sorry to tell you my friend that you are not loving Jesus you know what you're doing you're trying to Blackmail Jesus yes or no you're trying to blackmail him doing things for him out of joyless mechanical manner because you want to get things from so in this Parable yeah the prodigal sons represent the tax collector and a siners and good news is by extension it also corresponds to you and me who had left them once upon a time and some of us has found our way home and conversely The Good Son
00:47:29 represents you know the Pharisees and the scribes and some of us perhaps in the congregation this morning why because the Pharisee held on to their morality of their upbringing no they study and obey the scripture righteously you cannot beat them in the knowledge of the Old Testament they worship Faithfully yeah and they pray constantly but when they pray they say I'm not like that tax collected and they tie Faithfully 10% of their income and I want you to know the Pharisees also repent but they only
00:48:09 repent when they cannot meet their own moral standards you but even then their repentance is not powered by Intel chip yeah their their repentance is powered by self-centeredness yeah self- sentance to reinforce their superiority you know I'm not like the tax collector he's a sinner and to reinforce their societal standing you know I pray so well morality and also self-reliance and therefore when the Pharisees when they are done repenting what happened they remain as Pharisees and then conversely gospel
00:48:51 people who has tasted the gospel of wisdom you know they go beyond a superficial surface level of repentance they recognize even the right things that they do have to be repented for all the straight faces I'm sure many of you doesn't know what I just said the last sentence do you yes you heard me right the first time yeah we need to repent for the right things that we do why because a lot a lot of the time our right things are driven by motives that are not so right for example you may give yeah you
00:49:33 may serve and you may pray not out of love for God but in a transactional way when your when life doesn't go well you find yourself in the church more often than not yeah more regular than other times when you're happy right not all of us but some of us because you're doing this out of your desire to feel secure to show show others that you are good that you are Pious you know that you are religious or perhaps you know to earn favor from our elders you know or maybe from our pastors or to glorify
00:50:12 yourself when the gospel people repent the repentance lead them to vulnerability yeah in front of God they are transformed and they are changed you know to run from sin and to run to God that's repentance they realize that no matter how good they are how Pious they are they cannot be made right in the presence of our holy God except by the gift of redemption from the Lord Jesus Christ and so this leads us to the profound truth you for this eight verses you know that is God's infinite grace alone saves yeah not
00:50:54 moral striving or conformity and I'm certain that some of us this morning can identify with this good son can we I certainly can and I've been both so if you are a good son you are the one who always play by the rules the one who never make a big mistakes in your life and you have always been the good one at least you think you are but yet in all your goodness deep down you may find that your heart is not in the right place with God maybe you gave and you serve and even forgave but it was out of obligation I have to do so
00:51:34 because the Bible say so all the need to feel good about yourself so in what way are you liking the good Sons righteous respectable and maybe even proud of all you have achieved in life things that you think you have done right yet you are caught in the grip of self-righteousness indeed the the brothers or sisters sitting next to you with a hint of judgment like the Pharisees thinking that you're doing better than others and can you feel do you realize you how this self-righteousness is starving you from your soul keeping you
00:52:20 from the infinite grace that only God the Father can give and can offer more importantly as you listen to this story do you find yourself angry or offended because God would choose to embrace those who fall short of your moral standards and if you do brothers and sisters friends and family what does that reveal about your faith and your heart God's infinite grace alone saves not moral striving nor Conformity nor self-righteousness and in closing on a sunny day in 1986 38 years ago at the age of 20
00:53:09 something happened to me that I will never ever forget now while I was uh waiting for my stbn result out of the blue my uncle showed up you and uh against my father's will my father was still alive then you know he brought me to the front gate of my my biological mother and I haven't seen my mom for 16 years yeah not since I was taken from her at the age of four 16 years can you imagine that now while waiting for her yeah my heart was racing with so many emotions you know their excitement and yet at the same time was mixed with
00:53:47 Confusion And even a little bit of fear and I was thinking to myself you know what do I say to her when I see her how should I behave a mother that I have not seen I don't even recognize her but when she saw me guess what she ran so fast and she wrapped her arms around me and she cried and cried so much of emotion you know and on the other other hand you know she I mean I I don't know what to do it was as though that she was pouring out all the 16 years of love you know for his lost son and I barely remember her and I
00:54:32 didn't know how to respond so I was just standing there like a soldier you Frozen in time and I have no idea how to meet her at her emotional realm at that moment so long story short eventually my mother and I did develop a relationship but with the years apart it was never quite the same like a mother a son who has spent the years the days and the years together she wasn't with me in her 16 years she wasn't there to share my struggles to share my joy my tears and why she was her I wasn't there for her
00:55:11 and therefore intimacy is something that we struggle to attain even until today don't get me wrong I love my mother in my own way but amidst that love a distance lingered so what I'm trying to tell you this morning brothers and sisters friends and family human love yeah even in the best moment has limitations you know we are bound by time memories and the experiences that we share but on the contrary God's love and grace yeah is not bound by time or space it is beyond comprehension it is beyond our culture
00:55:50 it is beyond our understanding not bound by time not bound by space and not bound by our emotion or experiences and so at the age of 38 years old 20 years ago God found me the prodigal son not through some dramatic uh reunion like I the one that I had with my mother but through his quiet presence and persistency and this past 20 years I'm happy to tell you that my relationship with God has grown beyond what I could ever imagine with another human being you know because I was so broken and totally convinced there is no good
00:56:31 relationship and God feels every empty spaces in me every pain that I Endure he feels it every broken pieces in me every pain every disappointment and his love goes beyond the years that I missed it goes beyond the people who had come and left people who brought seemingly bringing Joy but disappointment at the end and it goes beyond on the wounds that linger God's grace and love transcend every barrier he heals every separation he draws us into an intimacy with him that no human relationship can
00:57:14 attain and so brothers and sisters no matter where you have been what you are facing or the weight of your past of your sin can you feel the depth of this truth that I just mentioned to you that God's infinite love is calling you to him even in your deepest Brokenness or your goodness and how might this change things for you this morning change everything and if your past is anything like mind so broken feel the Brokenness could it be in this very Brokenness in the hands of our gracious omip poent and wonderful
00:58:04 God it has cared out a place in your heart to surrender and to rest your burden to rest your disappointment and to rest your sorrow in his Embrace in his arms how am I opening your broken spaces in you to Jesus Christ brings you the healing and the security and the restoration that you always long for you spend a lifetime looking for it and never found it so God's INF finite Grace yeah in Redeeming the Lost defies logic and transcend human understanding and if you do not remember anything that I said
00:58:50 to you I want you to remember this you are never too broken for God and if you agree with this please say amen amen outside amen yeah let us pray father we want to thank you Father for this Revelation you know that your infinite grace in redeeming and restoring the loss cannot be understood so we ask that father you help us to internalize this so that our life our hearts you know will move us to action to live up and to to Manifest this uh faith in our hearts and let help us father to share with those who need it
00:59:30 and we thank you Lord in the as we March into New Year father we pray that your truth will change our life you know and we will love you more knowing that our Good Deeds cannot earn your forgiveness and your salvation and in Jesus name we ask ask all God's people say amen thank you thank church let us rise and respond to God's deep love for us How Deep The Father's Love For Us how vast beyond all meure that he should give his only son to make make a r his treasure how great the pain of stearing
01:00:39 L the father turn his face away as wounds which mother Chosen One bring men son true to [Music] Glory let sing behold behold the then upon the cross my sin upon his shoulders asham I hear my moing voice call Out Among the sters it lost my S that held him there until it was aish his d breath has brought me life I know that it is [Music] fin I will not boast in anything no gifts no part no wisdom but I will Bo in Jesus Christ his death and Resurrection why should I gain from this reward I canot give
01:03:00 answer but this I know with all my heart his wounds have paid [Music] my so this benediction yeah now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen Ephesians chapter 3 uh verse 30 20 to 21 now brother and sister as you march into the new year I want to ask that you let God's infinite grace in redeeming and restoring the loss inspires you to
01:04:02 reflect his love in your action and may you extend his compassion to the broken and to Proclaim his Mercy to the wandering and may you be strengthened by his uh spirit comforted by his love and fills with his peace in all you do and so I want to say it one more time blessed New Year to you amen yeah and those uh who are who are struggling in your heart for forgiveness those who are wondering you know you come here to fany this morning and to check out Jesus please come to the front if God has moved your heart you know because
01:04:40 our pastors and our elders will attend to you and will pray for you yeah and you feel that you are too broken to be forgiven by God please do come forward to you and I'm happy to engage you I'll be at the connect corner I'll be happy to engage you if you have any questions thank you so much and blessed New Year to all of you hallelujah thank you guys [Music] [Music] [Music]
