Parable of the Older Son

Well, I had to get a nap. I told the guys this this morning. I just drove in from Jackson this morning. Our two oldest children still live here in the US and our first grandson, our first grandchild grandson was born a year ago and they live in Jackson, and so I was there with them and wait until the last minute to come up here at five hour drive. And you know, I'll wear this. One of these activity trackers is fit Bit, and it was still on the East Coast time. I hadn't sing to it with my phone, so I knew I needed to get on the road at five o'clock. So, you know, something woke me up and I looked at it and it said it was four thirteen, and I'm like, oh wow. You know I had the thing said before thirty. It's cool. I'll get up. I'm fine. So I got up and I got all ready, and you know, five o'clock came and the kids were supposed to come out and say goodbye, and I picked up my phone and it said four. So I'm tired, y'all. I'm tired. What are you going to do? Then? Right? You can't go back to bed. I'm up, I'm ready. I can't leave because the kids were supposed to see me off at five. So yeah, there's that. But for the last two years, my wife and I and our seven youngest children have been in Lusaka, Zambia, the capital of Zambia, serving there at the African Christian University. Now African Christian University is a ministry of the Reform Baptist of Zambia. And back in two thousand and six, a friend of mine, Paul Washer, he told me was in two thousand and five. He said, there's a guy in Zambia that you just need to know. I mean, he's your brother from another mother. You need to know him. And he was telling Conrad and Bedway the same thing in Zambia, and so Conrad graciously extended an invitation for me to come over and preach at this annual conference that they were doing there. Now, this annual conference was something that they had been doing for several years then. But the reason they did this annual conference is because for almost twenty years they have been planting churches throughout Zambia and this was a time when a lot of those guys sort of came back and got together every year. And you know, between the pastors and church planters and you know, members of churches. We came to the conference. There were over six hundred people at the conference in two thousand and six. Last year there were over sixteen hundred at the conference. So this is a thirty year old, completely indigenous confessional sixteen eighty nine reform Baptist church planting movement, and they are starting a university. And after I came back for the first time in two thousand and six, they had this university. Wasn't even you know, in the works then, and I went and had an amazing experience there. It was it was awesome to be there and to find myself fitting so well in the work there and actually needed there. It's interesting, you know, ninety five percent of all theology books Christian books are published in English in America, and most Christians in America can't think of one Christian author or theologian whose books they feel like they need to read who's not an American. This is the center of the Christian universe, and the most influential churches in the world are here. The most influential and listened to pastors in the world are here. I'm not needed here, and so I I went and it was an amazing trip. I came back. This is in six My wife asked me, you know, how was it My oldest son and I had gone for two weeks. And I looked at her in two thousand and six and I said, I think I want to be buried there, and she said, oh, and she went with me, I think in twenty ten with a couple of the kids. And in twenty fourteen we went back and we took the seven youngest children, and then we took also my then future son in law with us as well. And it was in the middle of that trip that she walked up to me and she said, I see it, and she said, you fit here. You're needed here. It's like everything that the Lord has done in your life has suited you to be here, to be a part of this, So let's do it. That was August twenty fourteen. August twenty fifteen removed, so in August it'll be two years that we've been there. The university started. We're in our second year now. We have a gap year program for students. Right now, we're offering degrees in agriculture, business education, and theology. I went to start the seminary to start the graduate program. But right now it's all hands on deck with the university and it's more than we can say. Grace over and the fruit has been amazing. The challenges have been overwhelming at times. You know, it's like that old saying. Some days we're the windshield, some days we're the bug, right and it is. It's the time we said three to five years, and you know we could be back soon. But to be honest with you, this is the type of thing I often think about. You know, if the Lord gives me another forty years, I would have no qualms with forty years from now sitting down and looking at the fruit of what we've done at African Christian University and having that as my life's work, no conftsoever. And then, you know, on another note, since you know, you guys have asked me to talk about this, you know we're facing a challenge right now. You know, personally, I'm facing the challenge right now. This is another one of the reasons that I'm feeling like I'm feeling. But you know, a few weeks ago, I try to make this as short as possible. Just a few weeks ago, I was I was ill. I had, you know, throating fiction like a strip or something like that, and you know, went in to the doctors and they were giving me these ivy antibiotics and I had this terrible allergic reaction after you know, three days or two days of that, and I thought it was the Ivanna and the reaction was somewhere between Hitch and the nutty professor. Yeah. And but anyway, long story short, I've had chronic kidneys disease for about fifteen years. I was diagnosed in my early thirties. I had highpertension, didn't understand where it was coming from, found out that my kidneys were functioning at less than fifty percent. You know, they sent me they put me on a nation inhibitor for my blood pressure and also to protect my kidneys, and they sent me to the kidney specialists and we started having really difficult discussions about things like dialysis and transplant and all that sort of stuff. But the medication that I was on correct my blood pressure issue, my kidney issue reversed and so for fifteen years it's been wonderful. And it wasn't supposed to work like that, but it did. But the reaction that I had a few weeks ago was to the medicine that's been protecting my kidneys for fifteen years, and so I can't take it anymore or anything in its class. And you know, there's some new drugs that we're trying to control my blood pressure and to protect my kidneys. And if you know, you take a scale of one to five, and if five is being on a transplant list, if I stay around at two or three, we'll fine where we are. In fact, even better where we are, because you know, treatment is more affordable and medicine is more affordable and things like that. But if I get to a four or five, we have to leave. So so pray for us, because because I want to leave, so to pray for us. It's just not time yet, it's not like this. So I'm headed from here to Houston, and I'm gonna go see my doctor and you know, some of the folks over the next day and a half so that we can do whatever we do to have to, you know, rub some dirt on it and keep going. So all right, okay, and you don't have to put all that last part on whatever we record and stuff. All right, you have your bibles with you, open to Luke chapter fifteen. Luke chapter fifteen. Okay, Luke fifteen, And we're going to look at one of the most beloved and well known parables in the Bible commonly and I would arguerect incorrectly refer to as the parable of the prodigal Son. And you'll see why I say, incorrectly referred to as the parable of the prodigal Son in just a few moments, because his parable is not about it's not about the prodigal son. And we'll see that throughout the chapters preceding this. We've seen Jesus, for example, in chapter fourteen, he's there reclining verse one one Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. They were watching him carefully, you know. Later on fourteen twenty five, now great crowds accompanied him. So Jesus is preaching and teaching, and the Pharisees are seeing what's happening. He is oftentimes eating at the homes of prominent Pharisees, and a lot of the you know, challenges and questions that he gets comes in that context. But they're also seeing these other people who are coming to him and so in chapter fifteen, verses one and two, we get the key to understanding this beloved parable. Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. That's the key, that that's the key to all of this. The Pharisees are looking at the type of people who are coming to Jesus, and they're saying, this is a problem. They're hearing his teaching and it's mind blowing. They know that there's something about him. But the problem is the types of people with whom he is associating. This is the issue that they have. This is the problem that they have. He's associating with the wrong kind of people. So what Jesus does is he tells them three parables in succession, and all three of these parables have to be taken together in order to understand the point. And one of the reasons we miss the point in the parable, so called of the Prodigal Son, even to the point of naming it wrongly, is that we don't take the three parables together. When you do, it changes everything. So Litsten look at these three parables together, because he's telling three parables to make one point. Okay, And that's the other thing. Oftentimes, when we look at the parables, what we try to do is we try to allegorize the parables, like every element of the parable has to have some special hidden meaning. Folks, we don't allegorize parables unless Jesus tells us to so, or sows the seed some of the seed fell on this ground, some of the seed fell on that ground, and then he explains, right, well, it's ould. He's so in the word you know, this ground is this, this ground is this, Then we can allegorize. If Jesus doesn't do that, you don't do that, amen, somebody. So what we end up doing is Jesus does that in one place. So we're like, okay, well every parable must be an allegory and everything has to be you know this and that and the other. No, no, no, okay. The parables usually make one point and one point only. They're not designed for every little piece of it to have some type of individual meaning usually unless we were told that. So we see here the crux of the matter. They're grumbling because of the type of people he's eating with so parable number one, So he told him this parable, what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety nine in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he find it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I had found my sheep that was lost. Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous persons who need no repentance. It's number one. A man loses one percent of his sheep, and that's a lot. That's a big deal. He's only got one hundred, he loses one. What do you do? You leave those guys, You go get this wanderer, all right, and you put the wanderer on your shoulders. You probably hobble him, you know, while he's on your shoulders, you know, you break his little legs so he can't run away, and he has to stay on your shoulders till his legs heel and then with his legs, heel he started walking in and he used to being on your shoulders. He doesn't wonder anymore. And it's important because this is your livelihood. Right, and you leave, you lose one percent of your sheep. You're in trouble. And when you find them, what do you do? You rejoice and you go tell your friends and your neighbors. Rejoice with me because I found my sheep, right all right, now you guys are doing that's what I want. I want to see y'all doing this because this is what the Pharisees would have been doing. The ones who are mad at him because it's kind of the people he's associating with. He's like, okay, let me tell your story about this sheet. Yeah that's true. Yeah, that's true. That's right, man, you know you yep, hey man, that's right. Okay, cool, So so we're together, right, let me tell you another one. What woman having ten silver coins if she loses one coin, so now it's ten percent. We've gone from losing one percent of your wealth to losing ten percent of your wealth. 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 together her friends and neighbors, saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost. Noticed the pattern here, same thing as before. Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. So the angels in heaven rejoice like a woman finding ten percent of her wealth that she lost when a sinner repents. Huh, Just like the angels in heaven rejoice more over one sinner than they do over one sheep. Right, and again, the Pharisees are sitting there and they're listening, and he going, yeah, we get that man. Coins, you can get that coins. You you guys have all kinds of coins, right, you don't think about that? No, uh huh. This is ten percent of her wealth. It's gone. You move everything to find it, right, and then when you find it, it's like whoa you put? You know, baby, what's going on? I don't know. I'm making some gumbo, y'all. Come on, haiding lost tempercent of my coins to have found them, right, it's just makes sense. And it's nothing compared to the angels who rejoice over one sinner who repents. You're still tracking with me. Pharisees good. And he said, there was a man who had two sons, one hundred sheep, ten coins, two sons. Man had two sons, the younger of them, and Jesus, this is gonna get good here, because he tells a story with the elements that paint the picture of the younger son, and he's awful. Younger of them said, father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. Now. You only get the share of property that's coming to you when daddy dies. So the younger son goes to his father and says, oh, man, I can't wait around any longer for you to die. Just go ahead and give me my inheritance now, you ungrateful? No, 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. We don't even know what country it is. It doesn't matter. It's a far country. Throughout the history of Israel, everything was about the land of promise. Amen, Bad stuff happens when you're in a far country. You're in a far country. You're going down to Egypt, right, You're in a far country. You're in Assyria in exile. You're in a far country. You're in Babylon in exile. Okay. In the history of Israel, that's bad news, and it usually means you've sinned against God and he sent you away because you were sinful. This son is greedy and ungrateful and impatient. And then he voluntarily leads the land of Promise and goes to a far country, the kind of place that God would send you to if you were in sin and being punished. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. Not only you're in a far country, but you're living recklessly. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country. Here's another sign of God's judgment of famine. 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 field to feed pigs. Do I need to explain that one? And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. I've never seen the righteous forsaken or their sea begging bread. I mean, Jesus just took a survey of Israel's history and said one of the sons was everything that Israel has ever been on their worst day, just awful. You don't get worse. Now, here's what's interesting. This son is Jewish, this son is male. They got a problem with Jesus because you got tax collectors who worked for the Romans, sinners, women of questionable reputation. These are the kind of people that he's associating with. This young man is worse than anybody. Now, he's where, he's every he's everything that could possibly be wrong. But he's fifty percent of the man's sons. One percent of your sheep, you find it, what do you do you rejoice? Ten percent of your coins you find it? What do you do you rejoice? Now? Fifty percent of your sons. 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 that looks like repentance. Amen, a sinner who repents. By the way, by this point, your Pharisee, you've been listening and you're like, yeah, man, one of your sheep. You go yeah, mm hmm. That's how your haird is doing, right, Yep, i'mna say, you sheep, give me your coin somebody? Oh yeah, you just you you go. You know, fifty percent of your son's m by this point in the parable, they know what's coming. They absolutely know what's coming. And here's an important point. This is this is why. Here's an important point. The important point is this. We read the Bible like you read a yearbook. When you get your yearbook, what do you do. You go to the back of it. You look for your name, find the pages that you're on. You can't say amen, you want to say ouch. Right, that's how you read a yearbook. I'm looking for me, right, where am i? That's how we read the Bible too, you know where am i? And usually when we read the Bible with a hero, right, or the most sympathetic character. And so when we read this parable, usually we think about ourselves as the prodigal. That's what this is all about, right, this is about the prodigal. And you're like, yeah, that to me right there, I'm the prodigal. I was all I was odd I was with the pigs, y'all. That's my story. Yes it is your story. But you're not the prodigal, because that's not the point of the story. Remember, he's talking to the Pharisees. The prodigal is not them. The prodigal is the ones that they're mad with Jesus about. He's the wrong kind of people to be a so heating with the centers and tax collectors. So if the Pharisees are not the prodigal in this story, if you and I are not the prodigal in this story, this is a warning, then then then who are we? Maybe we're the father. Maybe we're the father figuring this story. Maybe let's let's look at that. I'm no longer a son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he rose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. No, that's not you, the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be your son. He's a repentant sinner. The father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, for my son was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate. One percent of your sheep you find it, you celebrate, and your friends celebrate with you. Ten percent of your coins, you find it, and you celebrate, and your friends celebrate with you, because they're good, godly people. And the angels rejoice more than that over one sinner who repents. This story is about one sinner who repents. Now there's a man throwing a party. We already know Heaven is throwing a bigger party. But if Jesus is telling this story to his errors, and he's not saying to them, you're the prodigal, and he's not saying to them, you're the father, and he's not saying to them, you're the servants. Now his older son, ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding. That's this is not the prodigal son. This is not the parable of the prodigal son. This is the prodigal of the elder brother. That's the point that is the point of this parable. The point of this parable is the response of the older brother period. And you get that immediately when you recognize that it is part of these three parables in succession. There's no doubt about. It 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 fat and calf, because he has received him back safe and sound. So he rejoiced with his father like the angels in heaven, because a sinner had not so much. But hm hmmm, bad word. Define right there. And then for Bud, he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered, his father, Look, these many years I have served you, I have never disobeyed your commandment. Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. None is not with you, but with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, killed the fat and calf for him. Easy for us to see the sin in other people, and it's hard for us to see it in ourselves. And at this point, heads are not noddy anymore. They're probably just bowed down because at this point people see what's going on. Yes, it's true. It's because remember verses one and two. These sinners are coming to Jesus and they're like, you're associating with the wrong kind of people. Oh, they're the wrong kind of people. Let me show you what kind of people you are. Yes, the younger brother was a sinner. He was everything that is wrong with sinners. He is greedy, he is selfish, he is impatient, he doesn't honor his father, He squanders his wealth, he leaves the covenant community, he violates the law of God. He is all of that. But he repents and he comes home. His heart is changed. The elder brother doesn't even realize that his heart is ruined. I kept the rules, and you owe me because I kept the rules. He didn't keep the rules. How dare you celebrate him and not celebrate me? Because it's all about the one who cheeps the rules. Listen to me. Parents, we raise our kids right. We catechize them, we educate them, we mentor them, We disciple them. We babe them in the word of God, and many of our children will come to faith early, and we praise God for that. Would pray that our children will never know, never, never know this life of the prodigal. But here's the deal. You pray that they don't ever know the life of the prodigal, But do you pray that they don't become an elder brother? The prodigal got saved. But the elder brother looked at everyone else out there whose life was not as pristine as his was, and he said, you owe me because I keep the rules. You owe me because I haven't done the things that are on the list of things that you don't do. You owe me because I've earned it. And if we're not careful, that's who we raise with all of our effective Christian parenting. You see so many times that kid who gives us the trouble. We're on our knees begging God, Lord, please, first, Lord, just help me to not just kill him this, if you could just do that, just do that, and then the Lord please just do something, save him, fix him. Just please, please, please, please Jesus. And we pray and we pray and we pray and we even look at him and say, why can't you be like your brother who keeps the rules all the while brewing in the compliant one is elder brother syndrome. You never pray for him unless it's to thank God for how easy this one is to raise. All the while, this brother is as lost as the other. He does not love the Father, not at all, and he thinks he is owed something. He's the one who missed the gospel. Did you hear me? He's the one who missed the gospel. And I say he does not love the father. Listen to what the father says. And he said to him, this is the father son. You number one are always with me, and number two, all of his mine is yours. Remember he divided up his property and he gave the other son his portion of the property. So now the elder son, everything else is his. So his father saying, what wait hold on? You worried about him, You worried about a calf. Number one? You had me. He's been away from me and you had me. But I see now that that wasn't enough, because you don't want me. You're just like him. You just want stuff and you want recognition. You think you're owed something, you had me, And the other thing is all this stuff is yours. All this stuff is yours, but you don't care about that. You don't care about me. He does not love the Father, He loves himself. This, this is the elder brother syndrome. The Pharisees that they thought they were everything. We keep the rules, we are the right kind of people. Why Jesus, because you're our kind of people. So why would you be with those kind of people? This is elder brother syndrome. You miss out because your heart is not turned toward God. You thought that your works, your rulekeeping, and your lawkeeping was earning you something, and that you were owed something because of it, and you missed the Father, just like the younger brother missed the Father. You thought one of you missed it and the other one didn't because you saw the outward sin of that brother. And so you look at these people who are sinning outwardly and you're like, thank God that I'm not like one of them. All the while, on the inside of you you are every bit as rotten and works righteousness has you completely blind, completely blind by grace. Are you saying through faith and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. You See, the elder brother does not even see his need for the Father's grace, for the Father's mercy. And it's right there, it's right there. It's awful. It's awful when people are out there in the far country. It's awful when people don't hear the Gospel and they live these horrible lives, and sometimes they pay a price that they'll be paying for the rest of their life because of sin that they committed in their youth. And that's awful. It's terrible, it's terrible. And there are people in this church. You could probably stand up here and testify, Oh how I wish that I knew the Lord in my younger days. Oh how I wish that I had not done things that left the spiritual scars that I still walk with every day. And if they stood up here and testified, there'd be some elder brothers out in the audience sitting there going glad, I'm not like you. And you're hovering over a hell because you think they need the Gospel, but you don't because you're good enough, because you didn't give mom and dad the trouble that the other kids did. Because you are a rule keeper. You are the compliant one, the good one, and God ohs you. And you may say, no, that's that's not me, that's not me. Okay, fine, there's some tests that we can do. There's some tests that we can do because a lot of times we can't see this in ourselves. But but but it shows up and you're like that, that's not that's not me. You know, somebody kill me my brother. No, that's not me. I wouldn't do that. Okay, how about this? How about this? I want a baby. God hasn't given me a baby. God, I serve you, I pray to you. I serve you, and you haven't given me a baby. And this young teen age relative of mine, who doesn't even want a baby, gets knocked up. Why that's not fair? Why because I've been good, so you should give me stuff. I serve you, I love you. I work hard every day and not Yahoo cheats on his wife's vile and he makes twice as much money as I do. That's not fair. I've been good. You owe me? Are you kidding me? That person got into filling the blame and I can't even get into my third choice. I've been good. That's not fair. Are you smelling what I'm stepping in? Or do I need to give you a few more This is what the elder brother syndrome looks like in real life. You get a bad report from the doctor. You're sick and there are other people in good health. That's not fair. I've been good. Why do I have to suffer with pain? Why do I have to face a shortened lifespan? Why do I have to have limitations? And these people who've been nowhere near as obedient as I have? This is what it looks like. This is what it looks like. Really, God, I homeschool my kids, I protect and shelter my kids. I catechize my kids, read the Bible to them. We have family devotions in our house. And one of my kids goes astray. That's not fair. I've been good. I deserve better. Welcome to the parable, Welcome to the parable. And here's why this is so poisonous Verse thirty two. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this. Your brother was dead and is alive, he was lost and is found. You can't even rejoice in the goodness of the gospel. You can't even rejoice in the goodness of the gospel. And here's the problem with the elder brother, Syndrome. The younger brother, he comes back and he says, listen, I'll come back as a servant. I don't deserve to be your son. I just want you. I just want home. I just want here. That's it, that's all. See, he can rejoice in the gospel, and he can rejoice in the goodness of the Father. But the other brother can't even rejoice in the goodness of the gospel. So instead of looking at his brother and saying, not only am I rejoicing in you coming home, but he should be coming to his father seeing Daddy, Daddy. I'm just reminded right now, I didn't have to go through all of that. I've been here with you the whole time, experiencing your grace and your mercy and having you to shower upon me everything. But you can't do that when you're the elder brother. You can't rejoice in the gospel and forget having any kind of a share of your salvation. Because here's what elder brother Syndrome does. Your relationship with God is broken and so every time something like that happens, you go, well, I must not I must not have been good enough. That shouldn't have happened. I've been good Well, I must not have been good enough. So instead of running to the cross, you end up running deeper and further into your worst righteousness and your legalism, and further away from the Father. And you're miserable. You're miserable because the law kills. It can never give you life, it will never satisfy you. You will never be good enough, and you will always know it deep down inside. And you'll be right there, right there in the church, listening to the gospel, right there, before the ordinary means of grace, but taking of the Lord's Supper, right there, worshiping with God's people, right there, with everything everything, everything, water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink. And you're empty and dead on the inside, because that's what the law does, and that's what works righteousness does. You can't even rejoice in the gospel. You have no relationship with the Father. And worst of all, worst of all, not only have you not experienced the work that Christ has accomplished, but you didn't even have sense enough to recognize that it is his work and it ought to be celebrated. So instead of spending your life in worship and adoration of the one who purchased righteousness for you, of the one who is righteousness for you, instead of rejoicing in the goodness of God, in the person and work of Jesus Christ, you have actually turned that inward on yourself, and you have robbed the Son of God from his praise so that you might praise your pitiful, pathetic, insufficient works. So now what some possible responses the pharisees. They sit there and they listen and they're like, yeah, man, you got one of your sheep, you go get it and then you party. Yep, one of your ten coins. You get it, and then you party, you bring everybody. Yeah, absolutely having you dsemre okay, fine, yeah, one of your two sons. As he goes, it doesn't matter how far. It doesn't matter how far he went from home. He's back. Amen, he's back. It's like, it doesn't matter how far the sheep went, he's back. Doesn't matter how hard you have to find the work to find a coin back. Your son's back. Your son's back, Your son's back. He was dead and now he's alive. He's back, and so you rejoice because he's back. But now all of a sudden, the older brother can't rejoice. And the Pharisees hear this, and they went from yep, yep to oh, oh no, no possibility number one that's me, Oh God, that's me. And you fall on your face, broken over your sin and repentant, rejoicing in the father because his children have come home, and begging him to number you among them. Amen. This is one possibility for the Pharisees, but there's another possibility. You sit there and nodding as Jesus tells the turrible, he tells the second one, he tells the third one, and as he tells the third one, you go from this to this and it's not I'm broken over my sin, it's how dare he? He has to die? And that's exactly what most of them did. He tells this story, he points out their sin, and they kill him, which means that when you look at the parable here, and this is not an allegory or even a reach if the parable if in the parable here, the Pharisees are the elder brother. The elder brother not only doesn't come to the party, he kills the father. If this is what the Pharisees did, granted, some repented. Some heard this and were cut to the quick, and they repented, But many did not. Many did not. The Lord says, twist people. The day you hear my voice, do not harden your heart. If you are the elder brother here to day, do not harden your heart. Do not harden your heart. If you have heard the voice of the Lord to day, and he has opened your eyes to see your self righteousness, your work's righteousness, your self reliance, do not walk out those doors continuing in that same vein, but you plead with God to break your heart and save you. This is not an invitation to redouble your efforts and work even harder. Because man looks on the outward appearance, and people love you. They pass by the property and they see you out work in the fields, and they go, there's that faithful son. I heard his brother squandered all his wealth. Really, yep, I already's feeding pigs. Must be breaking his daddy's heart. All the while that kid has repented and is on the long journey home, And the one who stays has murder in his heart. Toward his father. If that's you, flee to Christ. Flee from your self reliance, Flee from your legalism, flee from your man pleasing take off your mask, end your self reliance, and rejoice in the Gospel of God and the person and work of Jesus Christ, who has accomplished what you never can and who is your only hope. Finally, Mom and Dad, do not miss that quiet compliant kid. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't watch the elder brother be the elder brother, and thank God for him because he's not hard to raise. You plead with God as much for that quiet, compliant one to be saved as you do for that other one, because they both need the same thing. This is the parable of the elder brother, he who has his to here let him hear. Let's pray. Gracious God, our Father, we rejoice in your grace, We rejoice in your goodness, we rejoice in your mercy, We rejoice in your kindness, and we rejoice in your provision through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Grant by your grace that we might forsake all self reliance, that we might despise Work's righteousness. Grant by your grace, that those in this room suffering from the sin of the elder brother would have the scales removed from their eyes and would flee to Christ as their only hope. Grant this we pray in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.