Today we're going to be in Luke 15, and you have probably heard a sermon or two on the passage, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and you've probably read this passage a hundred times. If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you've likely read Tim Keller's book, the Prodigal God, and you're like, I get it. I read the book. I know what this parable is about. I am with you. But I hope that nonetheless, this will be an encouragement to you. I hope that through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will receive something today that you can take home with you. If you want the shorter version, go listen to Brandon Lake's song, Daddy's DNA, and you'll be like, man, that's pretty good. But today, you get me. And if you're a guest and this is your first time, I'm sorry, you've probably listened online and on the radio and you've been like, man, this guy Ricky can preach. He can. He is one of my favorite preachers. Love his preaching. Back to our regularly scheduled programming next week. So visit again if it's your first time. You'll get the real deal next week.
Luke 15, starting in verse 11. And he, that is Jesus, said there was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into the. Into his fields to feed pigs. And he was. Was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate. And no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and he felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him. Bring a ring and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate. Now his older brother was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound. But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him. But he answered his father, look, all these years I've served you and I never disobeyed your command. Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. And he said to him, son, you're always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this. Your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.
Father. We pray, Lord, that through the preaching of your word this morning, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Lord, that you would open our ears, open our eyes, to hear from Christ, to see Christ, that you would open our minds and hearts to receive Christ, and that we would be changed by him and your word. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
So in Jordan Coughlin's song, All I Have is Christ, he writes, I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way. Sorry. If you want to hear the singing version, go listen to the first service. My voice is shot, man. Yet thought I knew the way. The sin that promised joy in life had led me to the grave. I had no hope that you would own a rebel to your will. And if you had not loved me first, I would refuse you still. And in this parable, we get a picture of that love that Jordan is talking about in the first verse here. The love that loves us first. The love that causes God to move toward us in fatherly affection. The love that causes God to do what was totally unexpected.
Today we will see God's love For us, as we turn to him, we'll see the heart of the Father for His lost children. See, this parable holds out the truth that God longs for and rejoices when his children turn back to Him. We're going to see this in three parts, okay? The love of the Father in giving us what we want, the love of the Father in welcoming us by back, and the love of the Father in calling us back to Him. These three things clearly combine and show that God longs for and rejoices when his children turn back to Him.
We're going to see that each of us, every single human, is found in this parable. Every single one of us here has rebelled against the Father in our own way, whether we're a younger son type or the older son type. Or maybe you were once a younger son and now you're an older son and your rebellion looks a little different. We are all in view here. Each one of us is found in this parable. And while this parable is an indictment against the Pharisees who were grumbling about Jesus and Him welcoming tax collectors and sinners, it goes deeper than that. You see, mankind was created for a purpose. We see a picture of that in this parable. We were created to rule on the earth, created to be sons of God. See, in Luke's genealogy, when he's talking about the genealogy of Jesus, it goes all the way back to Adam, and it says, and Seth, who was the son of Adam, who was a son of. Of God. And each of us in some way are rebel sons against the Father. And then this. This parable is. Is actually to us as well as the Pharisees, it's to us to show us the love of the Father for His sons and daughters.
6 · The pastor begins expositing Luke 15:11-12, establishing the social context of the parable as a wealthy, ruling family with both rights and obligations
So excuse me, let's get into the parable and see how God longs for and rejoices when his children turn back to him. So verse 11, the love of the Father in giving us what we want. There was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them. What a start. Kind of crazy, huh? This parable starts off with the details of this father and his family. I would say it's the tale of a royal family. This will become clear later on. But this is a wealthy, royal kind of ruling family, and it would have had certain rights that came with being part of the family, as well as certain obligations that the family had to carry out and the younger son comes to the father and he's like, I do not want those obligations. I just want the rights. I just want the goods. He wants his inheritance right now. So he goes and asks for it, and the father gives it to him. It's just shocking.
7 · The pastor uses a hypothetical modern scenario to illustrate the shocking nature of the younger son's request
So look, if you're a parent, like, sorry, imagine. Imagine this for a second. If you're not a parent, imagine you're a parent and your child comes to you and says, you know what? I don't really like you. I don't really care for you much. You know what I think is better than you? All of your stuff. Matter of fact, I wish you were dead so I could have my stuff. Now, how about you just give me my share? Give me my share. I wish you were dead. And the father gives him his share.
8 · The pastor expounds on the father's silence in response to the son's request, the division of the inheritance (noting the detail that both sons received their portions), and the younger son's departure
You know, it doesn't tell us that the father pleaded with him. It doesn't tell us that the father said, son, don't do this. This is a shameful thing. Doesn't say that. The father was like, wait, hold on, man. Maybe we'll give you a little bit of an allowance raise or something like that. No, no, no, no. Father's like, oh, okay, you want to be gone? All right, you can be gone. And the crazy thing is, it says he divided it between them. Divided it between the sons, not between himself and his son. No. He's like, okay, here's. Here's y' all share, boys. The older son would have gotten a double portion, as was the custom. So the younger son got a third of the father's wealth, and a few days later, he gathered up all of. He had, all that he had, probably sold it so that he could have some money, and then left. Because you know what? When you're traveling to a faraway land, you don't want to herd livestock the entire way. So you sell the livestock and you. You get the money because it fits in your pocket. Of course, they had pockets back then. And he goes to a far off country. So a friend of mine said that in the Talmud, the Jewish commentators used this same phrase, a far off country. For when Cain goes to the land of Nod, which. The land of Nod, our little footnote in our Bible tells us nod means nothing or nothingness. So to go to a far off country is to go to the land of nothingness, in a sense.
9 · The pastor traces the younger son's descent from squandering to destitution to slavery under a cruel master
And there he squanders his money in reckless living. So he's out of money, he's broke. And you'll find out that, well, maybe, hopefully you Won't find out. But in the party life, when you run out of money, you find out you just ran out of friends, too. Like, they abandon you like rats off of a sinking ship. And so he's got nobody and no money and no property, and he joins himself to a citizen of the country, literally. He sold himself into slavery and not to a good master. You know, in this culture, the master of slaves had certain obligations. He was supposed to be a good master. This guy wasn't. How do I know that? Because this guy was starving to death. This guy was a Jew, and he was put in charge of tending pigs, which the master would have known is just not good for a Jew. Like, it's literally, they are unclean animals in the Jewish religion. And he's like, hey, go tend the pigs, and you ain't getting no food. Sorry. And he's so hungry, and he looks at the slop and the trash that the pigs are eating, and he's like, man, that looks tasty. That looks really yummy. So not only is he doing what is shameful for a Jew to do, but he's looking at their nasty food and he's saying, man, it says he's longing to eat the pods, and no one gave him anything.
10 · The pastor pivots from the son's degradation to theological commentary on the father's earlier action
There is one person who gave him something. His father gave him something his father gave him all that was his. And he didn't keep him from leaving. You know, his father would have known that nothing but misery awaited his son in this endeavor, but he gave him the property and he let him leave anyway.
11 · The pastor applies the younger son's rebellion directly to the congregation, using inclusive language ('we all') to identify the universal human desire for autonomy from God
We're no different either, are we? We all want to go our own way and leave the father. We want to live outside of God's reign and rule over our lives. We want to be the king. We want to decide how we will live, where we will live, what kind of job we will have, what kind of life we will portray to the world outside of us. And the father would have known this isn't good. This isn't good for him.
12 · The pastor contrasts modern Western expectations of young adult independence with the ancient Near Eastern context where sons were integrated into the family business
And in our Western mindset, we almost expect these children to leave, right? It's like, hey, you just graduated high school. You're 18. You know everything there is to know about life. Move far away and go to college. What? Oh, my gosh. I mean, look, some kids are ready for that. I wasn't this young man in the ancient world. He would have been groomed to take over a spot within the family business. He wouldn't have been, like, the leader of everything that was going on. That was his older brother's position. But he would have had a position of importance. He would have been something that would have been respectable. And instead he leaves.
13 · The pastor draws the theological lesson from the father's giving: God grants humans the freedom to live without him and often blesses that rebellion with gifts that enable further flight
And his father gave his son what he wanted. And our Father gives us what we want as well. A life without him, if that's what we choose. And oftentimes he will even bless that life with things that could lead us further away from him. And he could have, like the Father, could have shortened the suffering of this son by not giving him anything. No, no, no. You want to live without me? Live without me. Live without my blessing. Live without the money that I'm going to give you to have fun with. No, no, no, no. You want to go have fun? Go have fun. Make your own way. And God could do the same with us. But he gives freely and graciously to those who oftentimes do not deserve it. See, we're all born into a state of enmity with God. We hate him. And we want to live in our own far off land, away from his rule. Jordan's Son Song continues But as I ran my hellbound race, indifferent to the cost, you looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross. See, we all run from the Father and our lives result in nothingness.
14 · The pastor uses a contemporary analogy to illustrate that while the external manifestations of our 'far country' may differ in severity (not everyone becomes a homeless drug addict), the spiritual reality is the same—everyone ends up in a place of alienation from God and unfulfilled longing
Just like this son. Each of our levels of nothing are at different levels. Of course, like, you may not end up homeless, drug addict, addicted to crack cocaine, but you might. You never know. Don't tempt that fate, please. But we all run to a place that results in us being in a far off place, far away from God, longing for something more.
15 · The pastor transitions to the second major movement of the sermon (the Father's love in welcoming us back) by directly addressing the congregation ('What about you?') and offering personal testimony
We see, God longs for and rejoices when his children turn back to him. So what about you? What about you? I know me. Look, I can often come to God and say, hey, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. When I first came to the Lord, see, I was that kind of homeless, drug addicted guy, had left my family and all of that stuff. So when I first came to the Lord, I'm like, man, how can I even be your son? You know what I've done? What? Huh? Me? Nah, that's someone else. I'm maybe like a hired hand man, you know, at least I get to eat.
16 · The pastor reads Luke 15:17-19, highlighting the phrase 'when he came to himself' as the pivot point in the younger son's story
So let's continue this story of showing how the Father rejoices when his children turn back the Father's love in welcoming us back. Verse 17. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my Father's hired servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my Father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to. To be called your son. It's crazy. Look, when the Son came to himself.
17 · The pastor exposits 'came to himself' as a picture of regeneration
You know, this is a perfect picture of the truth of what happens to all of us when we're freed from our sins. Okay? Please make no mistake. There is nothing in the world that is neutral. Jesus said it and it is 100% true. He who is not with me is what? Yes. Against me. Okay. No. Neutrality. If Jesus is God and he is. Those words are true. Nothing is neutral. Okay, so we are all born in one of two places. We are God's children or we are against God. And none of us are born God's children. So we're born in this place of enmity, of hatred, of being against God. And then by the Spirit, he comes and he frees us from our sin. He frees us from the bondage of sin, right? And once our being, our person, our will, if you will, is freed from bondage to sin, it does what it was created to do, which is turn to God in worship and love. And so you could say, in a sense, when we're freed from our sin, we come to ourselves. We come to ourselves. That is true. That was made for a purpose.
18 · The pastor continues expositing the younger son's prepared speech, using humor (British accent, scratchy throat) to illustrate the son's rehearsal and strategic planning
So this son comes to himself and he realizes he has sinned against heaven and before his Father. And he turns back to the Father and he comes up with this great speech, man. And, you know, we've all had this moment where we've got a hard conversation that we have to have with someone, right? And we're like, oh, man, like, I gotta talk to this person about this. And, you know, hey, maybe I'll start off like this and, you know, I'll say that and gotta include this. And then what if they respond this way and we all like pre game it in our heads, right? We make this plan and we come up with this. Well, that's what this son is doing here. And he likely does it in like a very posh British accent, right? Because it just, it lands on the ears much better. And so he's like, father, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Probably, you know, made sure his throat was scratchy so it sounded even better. And he likely rehearsed this speech all the way home from that far off land. He had a lot of time to just get it just right, to get it perfect.
19 · The pastor reads Luke 15:20a and begins constructing an imaginative picture of the father's daily routine
And when he's still far off, his father sees him. You know, I got this, this like, picture in my head of this old man. He gets up every morning and he makes his coffee. You heard me? Yeah. You know, you know how I know he had coffee? You know how I know they had coffee back then? Because God loves his creation and coffee is a gift from God. We will still be enjoying coffee and glory. I am quite certain. I don't have any biblical basis on that other than God loves his people and coffee is good.
20 · The pastor creates a vivid narrative illustration of the father's daily ritual: coffee, Scripture reading, gazing toward the horizon, and prayer for his son's return
So this old man gets up and he makes his coffee. He goes out on the porch and on his way out, he Grabs the Isaiah scroll, and he sits there drinking his coffee, reading his Isaiah scroll. And when he's done, he looks to the horizon, to the last place that he saw his son. And he likely prays, God, will today be the day? Will he come back today? And he longs to see the familiar silhouette break the horizon and start coming home. And this day, his prayers are answered. And he sees it. And he gets up and he runs.
21 · The pastor exposits the father's running by establishing the cultural context: an important man in the ancient Near East would never run—it violated his dignity and social status
He takes off and does once again the unthinkable. He runs. Look, this man, this man was an important man. He did not run anywhere. He had no reason to run anywhere. The meeting doesn't start without him. The people who are waiting on him, they wait until he gets there. He doesn't walk faster, he doesn't jog. He gets there when he gets there. But when he sees his son, he takes off running. The text tells us that he embraces him, the son who wishes him dead. Who wished him dead. He runs to him, probably knocked his coffee cup over and knocked the Isaiah scroll off. And servants are like, whoa, what's going on? And he gets there and he get like, literally, in the original language, it says he fell upon his neck. He just scooped his son up. This rebel son scooped him up in a bear hug and is like, you're home.
22 · The pastor exposits the father's response to the son's rehearsed speech—the father ignores it entirely and issues three symbolic commands
And the son starts a speech. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. And dad straight ignores him. Bring the best robe and put it on him. The best robe would have been the father's robe. The thing that he wore to, like, the community meetings, the thing he wore to important functions is now draped over his rebel son. Put a ring on his hand. The ring would have been a signet ring, something that is used to seal business deals, something that is used to operate and act in the authority of the family on the family's behalf. It shows full acceptance back into the family and the ability to operate under the family. In the ancient world, a ruler would have had a signet ring. And then father says, bring sandals and put them on his feet. The uncovering of the feet, often in the Bible, is a term talking about shame or your private parts being uncovered, which is a shameful thing in the ancient Near East. And so him saying to bring the sandals and put them on his feet is him saying, hey, let's cover his shame. And make no mistake about it, what this younger son did would have been shameful, would have brought shame on the family and on the family's name. And if that wasn't enough. Then the Father says, bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And then Jesus finishes by saying, and they began to celebrate.
23 · The pastor interprets the parable christologically, identifying the father in the story as an illustration of God the Father's love
You see, the Father is a living illustration of God the Father's love for his returning children. Jordan's song continues. You looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross. And I beheld God's love displayed. You suffered in my place. You bore the wrath reserved for me. Now all I know is grace. Make no mistake, this father would have suffered every day his son was not in his home. The way that this young man left would have left a painful memory for his father. And yet when the. When the boy comes home, all he receives is grace. All he receives is acceptance. All he receives is a welcome back and a reinstatement.
24 · The pastor reiterates the sermon's controlling thesis ('God longs for and rejoices when his children turn back to him') and pivots to direct personal application with the repeated question 'What about you?'
You see, God longs for and rejoices when his children turn back to him. So what about you? What about you? I know me.
25 · The pastor applies the parable to the believer's ongoing struggle with unworthiness
Look, I can often come to God and say, hey, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. When I first came to the Lord, see, I was that kind of homeless, drug addicted guy, had left my family and all of that stuff. So when I first came to the Lord, I'm like, man, how can I even be your son? You know what I've done? What? Huh? Me? Nah, that's someone else. I'm maybe like a hired hand man, you know, at least I get to eat. But I say these things nowadays. Hey, I'm no longer. I've sinned. I'm no longer worthy. Why? Because I forget that I've been clothed in the fine linen of Christ's righteousness. I come and I say, hey, just make me like one of your hired servants. Not knowing that I wear a signet ring of the family name and operate within the family's authority. I say, I've sinned against heaven and before you. Not knowing, forgetting that my shame has been covered. And I say, I'm no longer worthy. And he says, kill the fatted calf. My son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.
26 · The pastor reiterates the sermon's thesis and signals the transition to the third movement: the Father's love in calling us back
See, God longs for and rejoices when his children turn back to him. And what's keeping us from like seeing that and realizing that, let's move on and maybe we can see. So the Father's love in calling us back.
27 · The pastor reads Luke 15:25-28a, introducing the older brother's perspective
Verse 25. Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing and he Called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound. But he was angry
28 · The pastor transitions from exposition to theological commentary, using the older brother as a warning that proximity to the Father does not guarantee right relationship
you see, Even when we're near to the father, we can get it wrong. We sin and we end up in a far off place because of our own selves, not because of what God does. God doesn't move far from us. We try to move further from God, little further away. He won't see what I'm doing. Nah, he sees. He sees.
29 · The pastor exposits the older brother's mindset—resentment based on deserving—and the father's response
Or maybe we look at someone who was like the younger son and we think, man, they don't deserve that. I do. Look at me. I'm a good. I'm a good guy. That's what the older son thinks. When he hears his brother's back, he's mad. He's like, man, this party for this rebel. He only came back because he was broke, ain't got no money, ain't got no friends, decided to come back home. And he's so obstinate and will not go in that his father comes to him. His father comes and entreats him. That just means, like, to urge, to exhort, to comfort. And he came out to reassure his son of his love for him. He's like, hey, just because your brother's back doesn't change anything. I'm still here. I'm still me. You're still you. We have our relationship. This doesn't change a thing.
30 · The pastor exposits Luke 15:29 with close attention to the Greek word for 'served' (rooted in slavery) and connects back to verse 12 (the father divided the property between both sons)
And we find out about the older son in this moment. He tells us, father, these many years I've served you. But the word used here is actually rooted in slavery, slave labor. He's literally saying, these many years I've slaved for you. He sees the father not as a loving father, but as a slave driver. He sees the father as greedy and not giving. All these years, you never gave me a goat to celebrate with my friends. And the crazy thing is, at the beginning of the parable, it says what? The father divided his property between them. It was already his. It was his goat. He didn't have to ask. It's his. And he sees the father as this greedy taskmaster, and he's like, you never gave me a thing, nothing. All I wanted to do was celebrate with my friends, and you wouldn't even let me do that, you know? Look, man, if he would have just asked his dad, hey, can I invite the boys over for barbecue? His dad would have killed the goat. His dad would have barbecued the goat. His dad Would have made the boys welcome in his home. Why? Because the father is generous and giving and kind. The younger son knew that. That's why he was like, man, hey, you know what? I got nothing to lose by going and ask for my share. And so he went and asked. And dad's like, I mean, sure, I guess. All right, here's your part. And the older son did not know the father's heart. That's why he didn't go and ask. How many opportunities for fellowship, care, and fun did the older son miss out on through the years?
31 · The pastor connects the older brother's phrase 'this son of yours' to Adam's blame-shifting in Genesis 3 ('the woman you put here')
And then he goes and shows even more of his rebel heart. When this son of yours sounds a lot like Adam in the garden, doesn't it? When God comes looking for him and he's hiding and he says, oh, well, you know, I hid from you because I was naked. And God's like, who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree? I told you not to. Hey, the woman that you put here straight up, dehumanizes his wife just a few verses earlier. He's like, wow, this at last is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. Look at this amazing thing God made. And now he's like, nah, that. That woman. And the same dehumanization is happening right here. When this son of yours. He's not my brother. After what he's done, he's your son.
32 · The pastor reads Luke 15:31-32, highlighting the father's tender address ('Son'), his reassurance of the relationship's permanence ('you are always with me'), and his gentle correction (calling the younger son 'your brother' rather than accepting the older son's dehumanizing 'this son of yours')
And look at the father's response. Look at this amazing call back to him. Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this. Your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.
33 · The pastor interprets the father's statement 'all that is mine is yours' not just as legal inheritance but as a call to share the father's heart
Even now, the father is calling his older son back to him. He's calling him to have a heart like he does. He's, in a sense, saying, hey, you understand the mechanics of how to run the family business, how to run the farm, how to operate the economy here, but you have no idea what it means to care for the people that this economy provides for. You have no idea what it means to care about the people that we are taking care of through our work here. All that I have is yours. And in a legal sense, that's true. But in a broader sense, he's saying that includes the responsibilities, not just the stuff. All that I have is yours means one day you will take on the mantle of leadership of this family, and you will one day have to care and provide for all of those that I now care and provide for. And it means you got to love them. It means you got to care for Them, you got to have the same heart. Yes, even for your brother who's a rebel.
34 · The pastor reiterates the sermon's thesis and signals a major interpretive move: he is about to identify the 'true older brother' in the story, shifting from parable exposition to redemptive-historical interpretation
See, God longs for and rejoices when his children come back to him. Even those who think they don't need to. Now we get to the guts of the story, the true older brother.
35 · The pastor constructs a counter-narrative to the parable: what if the older brother had loved the father and shared his heart? He would have gone to retrieve the younger brother himself
So what do we need to take from this? We need to take the heart of the Father who went to his older son and said, son, these people need help. And the son said, my bags are already packed. I'm going to the far off land to get them. You see, we all live in a far off land, alienated from the Father. We all live in a land of nothingness. And Christ needed nothing from this land. But this land contained everyone and everything that he would redeem and reconcile to the Father. And he came and rescued us.
36 · The pastor extends the christological reading with a vivid imaginative narrative: the true older brother (Christ) sees the Father's longing, volunteers to retrieve his brother, and accomplishes the rescue
And you see, if the older brother would have known and loved his father, he would have seen that every morning he drinks his coffee, looking toward the horizon, longing for his son to return. And he would have come to the Father and said, all right, dad, Zechariah is going to be running the crew for, you know, next few weeks. I don't know how long. He might need your help. He's pretty good, but he might need your help. You're the one who trained me. You know what's going on. Where are you going, son? I'm going to go get my brother. Because I see every day you looking at the horizon, waiting for him to come back. And I hear you praying. So I'm going to go get him. I don't know when I'll be back, but I will be back when the job's done. Jesus left the Father's house to come and rescue us from our nothingness that sin had left us with. And he found us in our longing and our emptiness, and he brought us back to the Father. And when the Father would have said, bring the best robe and put it on him, Jesus would have said, no, there's no need. He's already wearing mine. Look how amazing he looks. Look at the way he's dressed, spotless white. When the Father would have said, put a ring on his finger, Jesus reply would have been, there's no need. I'm renewing my image in him every day, day by day. And when the Father would have said, put shoes on his feet, Jesus would have said, there's no need. I have covered his shame. And then Jesus walked a road covered in our tattered and dirty rags. We're wearing his spotless white robe, wearing his signet ring Wearing his shoes. And he walks to the cross where he hung, not even looking human in order to bring us back to the Father.
37 · The pastor applies the entire sermon with a series of rhetorical questions, a doxological declaration of the Father's costly love, and a final quotation from Jordan Coughlin's hymn
Do you see the Father's love? Do you see that? He gave all that he had to us in the person of Jesus, his Son. And he did it joyfully. Why? So that there would be celebration when we come back to him through Jesus work on our behalf. He did that so that on that day we could sing along with Jordan Coughlin. Now, Lord, I would be yours alone and live so all might see. The strength to follow your commands could never come from me. Oh, Father, use my ransomed life in any way you choose and let my song forever be. My only boast is, you see, God longs for and rejoices when his children turn back to him through Jesus. That's the only way to come back. And he longs for that and rejoices so much so that he would send his Son to bring us back. He, you could say in the person of Jesus. God ran to us when we were far off. And we couldn't even walk. We couldn't even crawl. Our sin had left us dead. And now, through Christ, we are alive. We were lost, far away. And now through Christ, we are found and brought back. Praise God. Praise God for that.
38 · The pastor closes with a prayer of thanksgiving and petition
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this parable. We thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you that you spared nothing, not even your son, not even the perfect, sinless, spotless one. You gave all that you had in order to bring us back, in order to give us life, in order to rejoice over us and have us rejoice in you. What grace. And Father, we pray that each day you would help us to live as those who have been brought from death to life, who have been found and brought into a home. The home of the King, the home of the Great One. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.