The Waiting Father

The Lord's Church this morning. Have a wonderful time and we pray that God will bless you mightily in Jesus' name. Let's turn to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15 in the New Testament, the third gospel by Dr. Luke chapter 15. And we're going to read from verse 11 if you want to read along with me on your Bibles or smart devices.

Luke 15 starting at verse 11. Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him, that's Jesus. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying this man receives sinners and eats with them. So he spoke this parable to them saying, What man among you have in a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it upon his shoulders rejoicing.

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say to you that likewise there will be no more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents rather than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. On what woman having 10 silver coins if she loses one coin does not light a lamp, sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it. And when she has found it, she calls her neighbors and friends together saying, Rejoice with me for I found the peace which I lost. Likewise I say to you there will be joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Then he said a certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided to them his likelihood and not many days after the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country and there wasted his possessions with prodigal or wasteful living. And when he had found it all there was a severe salmon in the land and he began to be in want and when he went to join himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him to the field to feed swine, he gladly would have filled his stomach with the pods of the swine ate. No one gave him anything.

When he had come to himself he said, "How many of my friends and my father's "hide servants have bred enough and to spare and I perish with hunger. "I will arise and go to my father. I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned "against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. "Make me like one of your hired servants." And he arose and came to his father.

And when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." But his father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe and put it on him. "Put a ring on his finger and sand it on his feet and bring the fated calf here and kill it "and let us eat and be married.

For this my son was dead and is alive again." He was lost and is found and they began to be married. Now his older son was in the field and he came and drew near to the house. He heard music and dancing so he called one of the servants and asked them what these things meant. And he said to him, "Your brother has come and because he has received him safe and sound, "your father has killed the fated calf."

But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came and pleaded with him so he answered and said to his father, "Lo, these many years I have served you. I have never transgress your commandment at any time "and you never gave me a young goat that I make merry with my friends. "But as soon as this son of yours came, you have devoured your livelihood with harlot. "You have killed the patted calf with him and he said to his son, 'You are always with me "and all that I have is yours.

It was right that we should make merry "and be glad that your brother was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.'" Amazing passage of Scripture from Luke there. "No matter how far you run, God's grace runs farther. "No matter how far you run, God's grace runs faster." You know, it's amazing in that Scripture that we just read, that we see in there that there was a sheep that was lost outside of the fold, the coin was lost into the house and the wandering son who leaves the fold is found and the wounded brother is lost in the house. See, the prodigal may not have gone that far but he was able to reach home half-starved in time of famine.

See, a far country is not necessarily a long way away geographically. But it was a long way because he was alienated, he was separated in his heart and mind. And even the older brother was separated in his heart and mind. Even the older brother was alienated in the household. What the older brother did was actually put into actuality the attitude he had.

He was angry that his brother returned home. So in one sense this parable could be better titled this, the parable of the wounded father, firstly. See there's a breakdown of son and father relationship. In Jewish wisdom it counts as the fathers, it counts as them against the premature releasing of their property. And so you wouldn't normally give your children what would come to them early.

And of course for many of us we don't receive an inheritance until a father or a mother have died. Often inheritance has to wait in law until that's happened, although you can give it early. Under certain circumstances, decisions that you make in terms of how soon you give it away and how many years you've got left to live. But it wasn't normal. We find that in Ecclesiastes too.

And yet this father here in the passage releases the youngest son's third to him. You understand in some respects why the older brother is angry. He's the firstborn. He's the one that would have the majority of the inheritance. And here his younger brother is insisting on his third.

How many of you know it isn't easy fathering the next generation? And this parable actually shows us the human fallibility of the father. He didn't get it all right, did he? He made some obvious mistakes you can see in the attitude of the older brother as well as the waywardness of the younger son. But the good news is that our earthly fathers want to do us good.

If our earthly fathers, I know some have had bad experiences of the fatherhood and our heart goes out to you today and the Father in Heaven's heart goes out to you today because it was never what God intended. But he's a father to the fatherless. He draws close to those that need him. But the earthly fathers that do us good, those that want to do good, the passages really saying to us, how much more would your Father in Heaven do good for you? If earthly fathers want to do good, how much more will our Father in Heaven want to do good to you?

So this parable tells Father-Son relationships are important. In fact, the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, where is Malachi today? Enopei, Malachi, where are you? Wave, there you are. What a wonderful middle name you've got. Malachi. This prophecy in the Old Testament, the last book of the Old Testament, is an appeal to backsliders, those that have wandered away from God.

It says in chapter 4 verse 6, "He the Father will turn the hearts of fathers to the children and the hearts of children to their fathers." Those of you that know a lot about history, remember President Abraham Lincoln, very famous in America. Donald Trump thinks he's the greatest president ever was. Many others think Abraham Lincoln was the greatest president. Abraham Lincoln once asked how he was going to treat the rebellious southerners when they finally were defeated and returned to the Union of the United States.

The interviewer expected that Lincoln would want to take real vengeance, but this is what he said. He said, "I will treat them as if they'd never been away." What an amazing presidential statement from the heart of God, just the way that God treats us when we've wandered like we've never been away. This younger son asked for his inheritance early. In that culture, he was basically saying this, in that culture at the time, he was basically saying, "Dad, I wish you were dead.

Just give me my cash." He packs his bag, he hits the road, he goes completely ghost mode on his family. Ghosting's a big thing today, isn't it? You can be ghosted in all sorts of ways, social, media, young people. Understand this perhaps better than some of us older ones, the ghosting that takes place.

The completely ignoring of you, like you never existed. What a horrible, evil practice it is. Ghosting, suddenly cutting off communication, without any explanation. It's highly prevalent today. Do you know approximately 74 to 76% of people have either ghosted or been ghosted while they're dated.

Studies show that 50% of adults admit to ghosting themselves. These are statistics. I know they can read any way you want, but it tells us something. It's particularly common among Gen Z and millennials to 84% have experienced or been involved in ghosting. This prodigal ghosts his father, his family.

Instead he takes on fake friends. Boy, is that a big subject today, fake friends, you know people that you think of friends because they're on your social media. But they don't know you, they don't like you particularly and they're ready to turn on you at a moment's notice and ghost to you. Fake friends. The prodigal has fake friends.

He's in a distant country. He's living the high life. He's in wild parties. But guess what? The money ran out. You know money does run out if you don't handle it wisely? Money management is a very biblical concept. We were doing a study on Tuesday night.

By the way, you're missing out if you're not coming to the Tuesday night Bible study, 7.30 here, where we're looking at the Ten Commandments, this amazing first session we had this week. One of the things that came out of that was this. He says, you know, we looked at coveting, which is actually the 10th commandment. We're going from 10 to 1. Anyway, the coveting.

He says, you know, how do we deal with coveting? He said, there's three things we do with our money. He says, we have a pot called give. We have a pot called save and we have a pot called live. Give is really important. We put money into the giving, giving to God, giving to worthwhile things, giving to people in need, whatever it may be.

We have a pot called give. We have a pot called save. Saving, by the way, is so essential for people that want to money manage well. Saving is important. We put money aside each month, even when you can't afford to. Put money in giving, even when you can't afford to.

Put money in saving. You might need it. And then live. The rest you've got to live on. I thought the principles were great, but we won't go into further that today, but think on it. Think on it. Give, save, live. His money rang out. The son packed his bag.

He thought, my friends have deserted me. Fake friends. People wanting to be with him because he was popular, wanting to be with him because he had money. But when all of that ran out, where did they go? They ran out too. The son had packed his bags. He'd run away from home as far as he could.

But no matter how far you run, God's grace runs faster. This massive famine hit the land. He loses everything. He ends up working in a pig pen of a gentle master. He's so hungry that he wanted to eat the pig food. To the Jews, this was like saying, "Baba Kama, cursed is the man who keeps swine."

God's Son, the Father's Son Jesus, is sent, he leaves for the world, a faraway place, to become sin for us. To dine across that the same might be fulfilled in Jerusalem, where he was cursed, is everyone who hangs on a tree. And one Peter, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He's a wonderful Father. But this could also be called number two, the parable of the waiting Father.

The Son is half-starved, he's envying the swine their food, but then it says in verse 17, he came to his senses. It's that moment when the Holy Spirit convicts your heart, it's when you realize that you've been wrong. The Holy Spirit shines a light into your soul, you cannot hide. God's light exposes the darkness. It dawns on you that you've got to do something.

The prodigal son, it dawned on him that even his dad's servants eat better than he did. What does he do? He decides to go home, to turn around and go in the other direction, to repent of his ways and turn around and go back home again. He's thinking about a speech on the way, "Dad, I've messed up. I'm not worthy to be your son.

Just make me a hired servant." By way, a hired servant was less than a slave. A slave at least was part of the family. A hired servant was literally hired in to do a job and could be got rid of at a moment's notice. "Just make me a hired servant." He was rehearsing his apology all that long way back.

But while he was still a long way away, the Father ran because no matter how far you run, God's grace runs faster. His motive to return home, it may have been because the misery he was in, probably because his conscience is alive. And he knows he has sinned and forfeited his right as a son. Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Thank you.

I'm no longer worthy, God. I'm no longer worthy, Father. In rabbinic thought, this is like the Father is saying this, Father, I have not the means or strength to come home. Will you help me? The Father writes back, Come as far as you can, my son, and I will come the rest of the way.

That's rabbinic thought. That's exactly what the Father did. He saw him a long way off and he ran to meet him. The Father never stopped looking on the horizon. He never gave up on his son and while the son was still a far away, the Father sees him. What does he do?

He runs. Do you know in Jewish culture, older men did not run. It will be completely considered, completely undignified to run. But here we see the Father doesn't care about his dignity. He gets up his skirts and he runs as fast as he can to meet his son.

He didn't care about his reputation. He cared more about his son. Father's today, what a great thought for us to consider as we, as we're sport today on Father's Day, that it's so important that we care more about our sons and daughters than we do about our reputation. Think on it. The son starts his rehearsal.

Maybe a religious apology. Dad, I'm not worthy, but here is a wonderful divine interruption. God doesn't want us to act like a slave. He wants us to live like a child of the king. And the moment we turn towards God, the moment we step forward, God runs to meet us.

It's a wonderful thought today that no matter where we are, see we can be in the house like the older brother and still look way, way off in our heart. But the moment we turn toward the Lord, turn toward the Father in heaven, He runs to meet us. The Son returned expecting to be treated as a hired servant, but the Father calls for three things straight away. He gives in the best robe around his shoulders, the garment of salvation if you like, or the robe of righteousness. This Son knew He had made a mess of things.

What does God do? He covers him with His righteousness. The Father covers him with the garment of salvation to cover his shame, to cover his dirt, to cover his past. The Son returned wearing filthy, tattered rags after living in squalor. But the robe here is a physical covering of his past mistakes, completely hiding his shame.

He gives him the ring. The ring is such an important thing. It proved that he was reestablished as a beloved member of the family. It was the family seal that he was given. It was the wearer had the power of attorney. He was able to sign documents. He was able to have authority to make decisions.

In other words, the Father trusted him again with the ring and he put sandals on his feet. Servants walked barefoot, sons wore shoes. What an amazing thing there that God doesn't just say, "Okay, come and let's see how you get on." Alright, so you've come back again. Let's say you get on for a while.

Now he comes and the robe of righteousness, he comes with the ring of authority, he comes with the sandals of sonship. Listen today, that's the way that Father God thinks about us. He's a waiting Father. If our earthly Father knows how to love children, how much more will our Father in heaven treat the pastors though it had never been to those that come to him? Number three, the parable of the wounded brother it could be called.

See this is the prodigal too. Only this prodigal never left home. He claimed perfect obedience. He felt he'd earned much from the Father. It was service rendered with little understanding of the heart of the Father. He saw his duty as a legal requirement to get what was coming to him.

In verse 29 of Luke 15, we see the brother's resentment of being forgotten. His complaint the years of upright service had been unrecognized. His impatience that the younger brother being made the hero of the hour. All of these things are features of human situation in which the Father was not altogether free of blame. Remember this Father in the picture isn't the Father in heaven.

He's a good Father in many ways, but he had flaws. He says in verse 31, 32, "Son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make Mary and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found." See, if an earthly Father expects his eldest son to forget all the other feelings in the joy of his brother's return, how much more God? I guess all of us have been around people in church at times where somebody comes to the Lord, they had an awful situation happen in their life, perhaps they've been away from God or maybe they've never known God.

They come and they sit and they make a commitment to Christ and people are glad and the people are rejoicing over this one that was lost but is now found, was blind but is now seized. There's always an elder brother somewhere that looks on with judgment and thinks well you know let improve himself. The heavenly Father isn't like that. He throws a party for every single one that gives their life to Christ, repents of their sins, turns around and says God I want to live for you. He holds a party in heaven, all of the angels of heaven joining the party for that one which was lost but is now found, the one that was blind but now sneeze.

There are two things here. First, Jesus' message was to the scribes and Pharisees as much because they were the elder brothers. For them to have a gracious attitude toward repentance sinners but also to see their own unforgiving attitude and to deal with it. The older brother needed to kneel and say, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against thee. I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

He had become cynical. He had no real sense of his sin, no realization of his merciless heart, no conviction of his bitter jealousy. He says, "This son of yours, not my brother, this son of yours." He abandons all senses of a relationship. But the father says to him, he says, "This your brother."

Reminding him that he was his brother. How we need father's heart of welcome, forgiveness, acceptance and love for everyone that comes to repentance, gives their life to Christ. To love them in on the journey of following Jesus. As we come to a close this morning, we see in this whole parable that there are three lost things. They're sheep, lost sheep, lost coin and a lost son.

They may be two lost sons. Jesus said of the sheep that was found, likewise there would be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. Of the lost coin, Jesus said likewise, I say to you there will be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner who repents. Jesus says over the lost son, it was right that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found. You see the Pharisees of the day, the older brothers of the day, they never, they didn't understand what Jesus was saying, they never heard a parable like this before.

This was the new concept to them, that God would search for people. See, for the Jew they might believe that a man could come crawling back to God in self abasement and pray for pity and he might find it. But they never had conceived that God the Father might be one that searched out for sinners. He loved them, he wanted to receive them and welcome them.