Luke 15:25-32 | The Debaucherous & The Religious (Part 2) | Pastor Daniel Banna

If you turn with me again to the gospel of Luke chapter 15, we have looked, at this story a few weeks ago. We looked at the debaucherous son, the younger son, and today we'll be looking at the religious one, at the older son. The younger son came back home. The younger son came back and found his dad waiting for him with open arms. Oh, what a picture of the heart of God, our God, always waiting, waiting, loving, always ready to receive the backward son and daughter, always ready to welcome them back home.

I love this description of our heavenly father in the book of Isaiah chapter 40 verse 11. It says of him, he will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. This is the character of our heavenly father.

This is the character of the father we have in this story. He welcomed his lost son back home. He welcomed his dead son back home. He he washed him from all of his filth. He put on him brand new robe, and I have no doubt he had him sit there by him at his table.

This is my son. I'm not ashamed of him. This is my son. It's spoken of our lord Jesus in the book of Hebrews that he will not be ashamed to call us his brothers. Wow.

His brothers. The young son has brought so much shame and dishonor to his father, but his return, his confession of wrongdoing, his repentance was sufficient to restore his relationship to his father. We brought so much dishonor to our god. We brought so much shame to our god, didn't we? But when we came back when we came back, we found full forgiveness and full restoration.

In those days of our ignorance, in those days of our former rebellion unbelief, God looked away and he said, I forgive you. I forgive you. I restore you. I accept you. But this that as we see in this story of this young man, upon his return home, upon his confession, he was welcomed home.

He was not ashamed of his son. He is now seated at his table. He's cleansed from all of his filth, and he is dressed in a brand new suit. He is seated at the table. He is seated at the table.

This is a picture that we see in scripture about each one of us. Sin has left a crimson stain. Sin has polluted our life. We became so filthy, deserving God's judgment, but God, in his great mercy, passed us by and saw us as he described it in Ezekiel 16. Look at these words.

He say, I saw you wallowing in your blood. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk, and we became his. We became his own loved, cherished children, sons and daughters.

And now we can sing that song of the redeemed. Your blood has washed away my sin. Jesus, thank you. The father's wrath completely satisfied. Jesus, thank you.

Once your enemy, now seated at your table. No other table, but your table, Lord Jesus. Jesus, thank you. And the celebration in this story began as the sun returned. The celebration began.

The joy and the sound of music began. Oh, that every lost son would come back home. Or that every lost daughter will come home, you will find full and complete forgiveness. God would never remind you of the sin of the past. Never.

There's complete forgiveness. You may have hard time forgetting or forgiving yourself. Others may have hard time forgiving you or they may never forgive you. That's a fact. But God does not over does not offer partial forgiveness.

God's forgiveness is total, is full, and is complete. He forgives the repentant sinner, and he justifies those who believes in him. And if you don't know what the word justifies means, it is just simply it just simply god looks at you at you as you have never sinned before. Not just forgiveness that is justification. He will impart to you.

He will impute to you the righteousness of Christ. He would look at you as you have never sinned before. This is the grace of God. This is the love of God that he offers to every repentant sinner. Aren't you glad to be in this company of the redeemed?

And as the celebration is going on, the fattened calf is being prepared. The music is heard from afar. The older son is returning home from the field. Look at 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. What's going on? I I hear loud music.

I see people dancing. I I see food being prepared for a feast. This is not the usual thing at home. What is going on? How could I not know about it?

Why did my father throw this party? Why he did not tell me about it? All these questions, I believe, could have been in the older son's mind. What's going on? And I believe our Lord Jesus is intentionally trying to make a very important point here.

And the point is that the older son had no real relationship with his father. Other otherwise, the father would have sent a servant to call him right away from the field to kill to tell him, your brother has come home. Rush. The party is going to begin. But this older son had no real relationship with his father.

He was living under his father's roof, but he had no communion with his dad. He was working in his father's field, not because he loved his father, but because what this is what the children do. Because he wanted to appear to others as a good kid. Because soon, he will inherit his father's field. He is really investing in his own future.

The father knew very well how the eldest son feel about his younger brother. He hated him. He he was happy. He's gone, and he would he wished he would never see him again. He is so arrogant.

He is so proud. He is so so self centered. Why tell him of his brother's return? Why invite him? He'd find out.

He'd find out when he gets home from the field. The true story, the true lesson Jesus wants to give us in this parable is more about the oldest son than the youngest one. It's about the older son than the young son. Now if the younger son, as we have seen earlier in verse one, a picture of the tax collectors and sinners, then the older son is a picture of the scribes and the Pharisees in verse two. This is whom Christ is talking to.

They are the older son. This is very clear. This parable is about them. They are the older brother. Now the older brother inquires from one of the young men, what is going on here?

It's quite sad. It's quite sad that see it seemed that everyone in town knows what's going on, what's happening, but not this older brother. He is busy. Yes. He he he is busy working in the field.

He is busy milking cows and and tilling the ground. Maybe he seemed to be very diligent in his service. He he may seem to be very committed to his work, but but what about his relation to his father? Does he have the same diligence and commitment toward his father as much as to the field and to the cattle? These stories about the Pharisees, They are so seem to be devoted devoted to the law, do and don't, the traditions and regulations, but not to God.

And this can become a trap, and many Christians can fall into it. Religion, but not Christ. Devotion to the ministry more than to God. We lose sight of true worship, devotion to the Lord, communion, and fellowship with Jesus. When when we are so busy in the field of ministry, yes, milking cows and tilling ground, Serving ourselves, but not worshiping God.

Are you milking cows today and tilling grounds, or you are worshiping God and serving Jesus. What are you doing? Your younger brother returned home, the servant responded, and your dad has killed the fattened calf. The calf. The calf we have been preparing for the special occasion, your dad has killed it because your brother has come back home sound and safe.

Now I I I can imagine upon hearing this, the older son's heart froze within him. As I was thinking about this story, I thought of, of Nabal, a man mentioned in first Samuel 25, A very rich man, yet proud and arrogant, selfish, and foolish. David and his men have helped and protected Nabal's men in the time of need, but now David and his men are in need. David sent 10 men to Nabal to ask for whatever Nabal could give to David and his men at his time of need, but this foolish man did not acknowledge the goodness of David towards him. He spoke harsh words against him and dismissed his request.

He says, who is David? A servant conspiring against his master? And to make the story short, we endeavored when David heard how Nabal responded or acted with his men, he set his mind to destroy Nabal. But Nabal's wife, Abigail, heard about it. He heard what her husband did, and she knew what David would do.

She quickly prepared a generous gift to David and went to meet him. Here, a quick and wise decision spared much shedding blood on that day. Nabal had no idea what his wife did about the gift until the next day when Abigail told him what she did. And the Bible tells us upon hearing this, his heart died within him and he became as stone. Ten days later, the Bible tells us the Lord struck him and he died.

I think this older son is very much like Nabal, Like the scribes and the Pharisees of Jesus' day. Filthy rich, proud and arrogant. And as Nabal dismissed David, who would become the king of Israel, the Pharisees dismissed Jesus, Israel's Messiah. They are the older son. Now, in verse 28, we see the attitude of the older son.

But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him. The father is rejoicing at the safe return of his son. The younger son is rejoicing at the welcome and the reception of his father. The servants are rejoicing at what's happening, at the returning of the son and the joy of the father.

And the older son is angry. He is mad. Why is he angry? He hates his brother. He hates the grace of his father.

He believes the fattened calf should be his. The younger brother got already his inheritance. He deserves no calf. He deserves no welcome. He deserves no party.

But in addition to that, he is under the spirit of the law. He is self righteous. He thinks he's so good, and his father is his his brother is so bad. He's so self righteous. The eldest son duty was to welcome the guests.

The eldest son duty as the firstborn was to go in and sit by his father, but this he would not do. What does a father do? His father had to go out and entreat him. This is exactly what the Pharisees were doing. They refused to be with Jesus because he's a friend of sinners.

We don't like his company. We are not at the same level with these common people. We don't want to be seen with them. We are we are holier than they are. We are the righteous ones.

Yes. Yes. The righteous ones that Jesus spoke about in the parable of the 99 sheep and one is lost. Those self righteous that they were convinced that they needed no repentance. Those are the ones who shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces.

They neither themselves enter in nor allow those who would enter to go in. And again and again, you see the love and the humility of the father doing what no Pharisee father would do. He went out to talk to his son. We say we saw him first running toward his younger son when he was coming, embracing him and kissing him, and now he's going out to talk to his older son, to implore and plead with him, to come in, sit down at his table, and feast with him and rejoice at the coming of his brother. That's what he should be doing as a son, that he would not do that.

See how he responds to his father. His response reveals his heart. Look at verse twenty nine and thirty. But he answered his father, look. These many years, I have 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 has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. Now for the legalistic person, the words of the oldest son seem so right, so right. He tells his father, I served you for years. And the word serve you here really means I work for you as a slave for for this many years. I I have never disobeyed a command of yours.

Wow. Never? Never? He's clearly placing himself in the category of the 99 who do not need repentance. He doesn't see his sin.

He doesn't see his shortcomings. And what? You never gave me a goat to celebrate with my friends. Oh, that is heartbreaking. He never got a goat.

Wow. We should cheers for him. He never got a goat to celebrate with his friends. Now he's accusing his father of being stingy and unfair. But, yes, he didn't get a goat to celebrate.

You know why? As MacArthur John MacArthur puts it, he says, heaven never holds a party for a self righteous man. That's why you didn't get a goat, because you are self righteous, fake, religious man. That's why. But did you notice how how this man spoke to his father?

Look at his words again. I have served you. I never disobeyed you. You never gave me. I may celebrate with my friends.

In verse 30, this son of yours, not my brother, devoured your property with prostitutes. You see, he's attempting to turn his father every way possible against his son. He devoured your property. And how did he do it? He told him, with prostitutes.

Now we don't know that, by the way. That's not that's the eldest son interpretation. What we know that the youngest son wasted everything on reckless living, but we are not told of the details. It's the eldest son attempt to make his brother sin unforgivable. Dad, you cannot forgive him.

You must kick him out. He has no place in this house. Now it is possible that dying his son has wasted the money on prostitutes. It's very possible. But you see, the self righteous likes to use the harshest words against others in order to look good in comparison.

This is what he's trying to do, to make his brother look so bad and look at me, I'm so, so good. This is a commentary on this man's heart. Now the youngest son says, father, I'm sorry. I don't deserve to be your son. The older son says, I have done this and this and this, and I got nothing, but I deserve everything.

Can you see a difference? A young boy, yes, spent all his inheritance on entertainment. We know that, but now he has recognized his sin. He came back. He repented.

He threw himself on the arms of his father. What about the older son? You did not give me a go to celebrate with my friends. And I deserve it. Yes.

He might not have got a go to celebrate, but I believe he desired a party all along. His heart was always on that fattened calf. When I'm going to eat it with my friends? His far his his heart was not with his father. His heart was hard as stone.

Oh, on the surface, everything seems in order. To the eyes of man, he looked so religious. And many, even today, alike. On the outside, they look very religious. You don't party.

You dress modestly. You forbid drinking and smoking. You attend church services regularly? You memorize verses, and you read to use them as a sword against everyone who thinks differently than you? Those Pharisees were just like that.

Those religious elites were just like that. Forbidden, forbidden, forbidden. No. No. No.

We, we, we. They knew the law, but did not know the law giver. And how many today the same? They know the Bible, but they don't know the Bible giver. They know religion, but they don't know Christ.

Those religious elites, they keep the commandments on the outside, but on the inside, they were very different. Like Christ described him, they were like tombs full of dead people's bones. They define sin as the outwardly, but never the inward attitude toward God. They had no heart, no sympathy for the lost. Now when looking at Jesus, we see him often using the harshest words when talking about these religious hypocrites, the harshest words.

The response of the eldest son would be, listen, the response of every Pharisee listening to Jesus on that day. That's with the response. Anyone of them would have complained. None of them would have agreed with the father to welcome his returning son back home. Anyone would have said kick him out.

Anyone one of them would have said have no mercy on him. He does not deserve it. Anyone would have said, it's me. It's me. It's I and I who deserve it.

Anyone of them would have passed judgment and rejoicing in executing the judgment upon the young upon upon the young son and would have picked up the first stone. Woe unto you. We hear these words repeated in the word of the lord Jesus Christ. Again, the Pharisees and the scribes, woe unto you. Chapter 23 of the gospel of Matthew, That is a chapter of wuz.

This begins with giving stern warnings to the crowds and to his disciples, again, the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious men of his day. We do well, I believe, to imitate our Lord in confronting the sin of fake religion and legalism. And quite interesting, Jesus went much further than just warning his disciples and the crowds and the crowds against those hypocrites. He went after them. Just blea briefly to look at couple of verses in the scripture.

In verse 13 of Matthew 23, he tells him, but woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 15, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 16, woe to you blind guides. 17, you blind fools. 19, you blind men.

23, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. 24, you blind guides. 26, you blind Pharisees. 27, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Again, verse 29, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

These are harsh words. Look at verse 33. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Whom is Jesus speaking to? Those who hide behind religion, the Pharisees.

Now just to not talk to anyone like that, but to those Pharisees. Why drive out of the temple out of the temple with a whip of cord all of them? Why overturn the tables of the money changers? Why did he do that? The temple has become a marketplace.

You think the priests cared about the glory of God? They did not. They were profiting from this luxurious business of sale. They were getting some commission from every lamb is sold and every pigeon is sold and every shaker exchanged. Their sin was so extreme.

That's why you see Jesus reacting in this way. The zeal of God's house consumed him. This is the eldest son in this story. He is hypocrite. He is fake.

He has no affection toward his father, neither love for his brother. Everything about himself, he is selfish. He is self absorbed. You think he is obedient? He may seem behaved, good mannered, doesn't practice publicly the things we are ashamed of, but he's a pretender, just a pretender, hiding behind religion.

Maybe there is someone hearing me today is like that. You are not what people think you are. You want to appear holy. You want to be perceived as a godly man or a godly woman, but this is not who you real who you really are. You like to leave the impression that you have high standards, that you are not really like that.

Is there hope for such a person? Absolutely. Absolutely. There is hope for such a person. Do exactly what the younger son did.

Return back. Come home. Confess your sin of hypocrisy. Promise to live in obedience to God. Stop seeking man's approval.

Now, listen to the father in verse 31, and we will end with that. And he said 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. And the eldest son says, your son your son has done so and so.

And the father's response, your brother. Your brother, for this is your brother. And the parable ends abruptly. Now we like endings, don't we? We we like to read a story that has an ending.

There's no ending. There's no ending. The parable ends abruptly. Did the older brothers go in? Did he welcome his brother?

Did he honor his father in front of the guests? Jesus did not tell us. He didn't go go there. He left it to the Pharisees to decide what the older brother would do, what they would do. The younger son depended completely on his father's grace, and he found complete forgive forgiveness and acceptance.

The older son depended on his work, and he could not find a place at his father's table. But it's good to know that even until this day, the father's door is still open. The banquet is ready, and he is still appealing to everyone. Those who have indulged in sin publicly, like the debaucherous son with reckless living, and those who have high who are hiding behind religion, calling everyone to come back home. The open door the door is still open, but it will not remain open indefinitely.

Time is running out. You don't know if you're going to make it another day. You don't know if Christ is going to come in the clouds even this afternoon. Then it would be too late. No second chances then.

No purgatory then. No saint intercession will work. Nothing will work. The door will be shut, and it will be shut forever. But you know what is my guess is?

My guess is the older son did what the Pharisees did. He conspired to kill his father, and he went and he murdered him. Why I say that? Because it's what the Pharisees did exactly. They killed their messiah.

They crucified the lord. But for you and me, for anyone who's listening to me today, the door still open. God is still calling. Come home. Come home.

Every sin will be forgiven. Every sin will be forgiven. I will remember it no more. I have sent my son, Jesus, and he died for you. Let us pray.

Our god, we thank you for your heart, the loving, compassionate heart of God who welcomes always every repentant sinner, Those who have indulged in sin, in sensuality, in worldly pleasures, and those who are pretenders and fake. You forgive every sin, and, lord, we represent here the two groups. Lord, many of us were in these two groups, but we, as we have come to the foot of the cross, we found full and complete forgiveness, and we thank you, our father. We thank you for the forgiveness we have in you. We thank you for Jesus who died for us.

We thank you that the door is still open. We thank you that you're still inviting people to come in in repentance, to believe in your son, the gift of God to mankind. Lord, we give you the glory, and we praise your holy name. In the name of your son, Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Let's stand up to worship the lord together. We'll sing a song, and then we will prepare our hearts to break a bread together.