Mike Bickle emphasizes the profound truth found in Luke 15, illustrating God's heart for His people through the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. He highlights that God rejoices over us, even in our weaknesses, and desires a close relationship with us rather than a distant, transactional one. Bickle urges believers to understand that God's delight in us is not contingent on our perfection but is rooted in His love and mercy. He encourages a shift in perspective, moving from fear of rejection to confidence in God's enjoyment of us, which can radically transform our relationship with Him. Ultimately, Bickle calls for a deeper understanding of God's emotions towards us, emphasizing that He is not primarily angry or disappointed, but rather glad and delighted in our return to Him.

Luke chapter 15 Father we come to you in the name of Jesus and we thank you for who you are We thank you for your heart the way you feel about your people Holy Spirit, I ask you to reveal the heart of God to us tonight in a new way in a fresh way Jesus name Amen Well tonight I'm just going to give a quick overview of Luke chapter 15, there's three parables paragraph a here and these three parables taken together Have a profound implication for our lives. I Want to urge you to study Luke chapter 15. It's one of the most significant revelations of the heart of God in the whole of the scripture I don't know of another chapter that it surpasses Luke chapter 15 in significance in terms of revealing how God feels about his people The entire chapters on this subject. I want to encourage you to study it often even if you think you know it Teach it often Even if you think the people know it I've been teaching this passage for 30 years and I still study it from new angles and commentaries and other people's I want more insight on this most significant chapter The reason I say this because I want to alert you to the seriousness of this chapter and the importance of it It's more than a children's story Some people think oh, yeah the prodigal son I get it. No, I don't think we do. It's more than a children's story It's a life-changing revelation of God and it changes everyone who receives it and understands it my Confidence is strengthened Time and time again as I talked to the Lord abound his heart from this chapter And I asked the Holy Spirit Let me see and let me feel what God feels about me and about his people Paragraph B and these three parables Jesus revealed the personality of God It's like he opened the heart of God his emotions his personality and he says I'm going to tell you things about him That you don't fully grasp How he pursues us? How he enjoys us? The great mercy he show he shares with us, but the deep affection that he has for us He puts them all together in one chapter Jesus did the truth that he emphasized the most in these three parables the truth. He emphasized the most Was the fact that God? rejoices over us or He enjoys us while he's restoring us. I Want to say that again? The truth that Jesus emphasized most in these three parables Was the fact that God rejoices over us to rejoice over us means he enjoys us Means he smiles at us while he's changing us He delights in the people and the process But the grace of God Cole woos to his heart paragraph C Israel rightly viewed God as their transcendent creator Now what I mean by transcend it is really really powerful The word transcendent means God's power is above and beyond anything we could even imagine That's what I mean by transcendent And Israel they had a view of God's transcendent power he was great in power and Terrifying in his holiness his glorious terrifying holiness, and I mean that in the most awesome way and They were content to worship God at a distance covering their face bowing down saying you're Awesome in your power in your holiness, and we're not worthy to be in your presence. You're you're the transcendent God of power majesty, and There's great truth in that he is the transcendent God of power and majesty But Jesus said he's more than a God of great power he is that but he's also your father and You are to draw near to him not stay to distance draw near this was a new message Israel was taught to stay at a distance Jesus said I have new information draw near and have confidence Even understand he rejoices or he enjoys you look at Ephesians chapter 3 Paul the Apostle would develop this truth Ephesians 3 verse 11 and 12 The eternal purpose which he the father accomplished in Christ Jesus and Whom we have boldness and access with confidence Through him in faith now. Here's what Paul's saying God has had an eternal purpose. God's had a plan. He's been working on from eternity past Did you know that God has had a plan and you've been involved in it from his point of view and This plan he's been working on the same plan from eternity past. It's called the eternal purpose and at the very heart at the very Center of this great plan is this That weak and broken people like us Would be redeemed in such a way that we would have look at it boldness more than boldness confidence in the presence of a glorious mighty awesome God It was not enough That we would worship him as a disk at a distance The father says no I want you near and I want you with confidence in your spirit when you worship and commune with me Hebrews chapter 10 Says the same thing verse 19 with boldness Verse 22 we draw near With assurance that's the same thing as confidence When we have confidence in our spirit It changes the way we relate to God many believers They do not have confidence in their spirit in their walk with God They know God loves them sort of but if you really push them they feel more like God stamped their passport and said welcome to heaven, but don't really bother me But you're free to come into heaven because after all my son did die for you Beloved it's more than a stamped passport The purpose the eternal purpose was that we would have confidence in this age and in the age to come We would be near him With confidence. I'm not talking about over-familiarity Where we take God lightly I'm talking about we're filled with awe and the glory of God We see it But our spirit is strengthened with confidence to open our heart because we know he wants us there and he's made a salvation So glorious that he's provided for everything necessary for us to be there knowing that we're enjoyed by God over the years I've talked on this subject of God enjoying us And sometimes people are they're uncomfortable they're unsettled They go, you know, what about the Holy Awesome God I go. That's the great mystery of how the God the transcendent God of Indescribable power and might Has at the same time without any contradiction this deep compelling desire that we would draw near and we would feel Loved and enjoyed the closer we get to him paragraph D. I Believe our greatest emotional need is a human being we have many emotional needs I believe the greatest emotional need you have and everybody, you know It's the same one the the need to have the assurance That God enjoys you even in your weakness Beloved when I have a growing assurance That he's smiling at me and delights in me even while I'm growing It does something dynamic inside of me. I have seen this one truth change people Radically, it's too good to be true when they first hear it They think now come on Not the transcendent God of great glory. How could that be? That's a contradiction. He's so great He couldn't enjoy somebody as broken and weak as us But that's the glory of who he is. He's not only great in power. He's great in desire He's not only great in wisdom. He's great in affection and he doesn't ever Suspend one attribute to exercise another he never ever Suspends his mercy to show his judgment or his judgment to show his mercy. He is perfectly consistent in everything he does Every one of us were created with a longing to bid to be delighted in We were all created with a longing to be enjoyed When I meet a believer, they're struggling They either lack vision for what God for God's purpose for their life. They don't know what they're supposed to do Or they lack confidence that God enjoys them and they are shame driven and they draw back and it's like their spirit Manage is shriveled up and broken and just kind of limping and kind of whimpering around And when I look at him, I know what they need they need confidence Of how God feels about him and a division for their life that God agrees with You give them those two things and a few others Their life will get reignited I believe that the prevailing stronghold one of them Primary one of the church today is the fear of rejection. I mean in the presence of God or the trauma of shame That what we did last week last year last decade it traumatizes us the shame of it and It changes the way we carry our heart with God It's the way it changes in a negative sense how we talk to people it changes the way we view ourself I call it the trauma of shame and this stronghold It hinders our ability to enjoy God It hinders our ability to feel enjoyed by God to enjoy the word Someone says the word is boring. I know about that I felt for some years and in my early days with the Lord the word was so boring. But when I begin to understand The one who wrote the word delighted in me the word had a whole different feeling to it I was eager to understand the heart of the one that liked me so much Particularly because I was so weak and had so little to offer him paragraph II the way that we view God's emotions towards us Particularly in the hour of weakness, which is our whole life It affects the way we approach him When I understand a little bit about how God feels about me. I run to him Instead of run from him when I stumble When we understand the truth when we fail we repent and our repentance is must be sincere and genuine But we open our spirit and we run to him because we have confidence. He is the place of safety in acceptance But when we don't understand this we close our spirit and we run from him instead of to him the very thing the enemy wants The enemy wants to confuse us He wants this stronghold of rejection of the trauma of shame to fill our thinking So when we stumble we flee from the very one that has the answer to deliver our hearts It's not an accident. It's a plan of darkness most believers That I've talked to over the years When they think of God They think God is mostly mad or Mostly sad when he relates to them Beloved I have good news He is mostly glad when he relates to us and I don't mean flippant and silly Some people they think silly they think I mean when they think glad and joy they think silly or childish That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about silly I'm talking about her profound emotion of delight But most people that I've related to over the years when they think of God, they think either he's mad at them Or maybe he's not mad, but he's disappointed. He's sad He's saying well, I'm not technically mad, but I'm still disappointed in you And so they kind of walk up towards the Lord kind of you know wincing, you know Lord just give me one more chance and I'll try not to blow it again. Forgive me one more time Beloved you could throw away that concept he delights in mercy he delights in it So Mike is 7 verse 18. I don't have that on the notes, but he delights in mercy Look at Roman numeral 3. I mean 2 There's three parables we're okay. We're only gonna talk about the first two for a moment and Then give an overview of the third one We don't have time to go into any kind of detail But at least I want to stir you up as to the importance of this Oh-so-familiar chapter But I submit that as familiar as this chapter is I submit that most the church doesn't even hardly Understand the introductory principles not really not at the emotional level meaning they don't feel the power of it's what I mean This this chapter will radically change your life and it will work that way for decades and decades Again, I'm 30 plus years teaching this chapter And I'm still being moved by it afresh And I still feel like I'm at the beginning of the beginning of the implications of what this chapter means for me and the Lord I love it. It's like a treasure hunt. There is no end to this ocean of Discovery of how God feels about us Well the three parables the lost sheep the lost coin the lost son They're Speaking the same message, but with some different nuances and some different aspects Highlighted in each one that are unique to the two to one parable though. The common message is The same between the three of them the context is very important The context of which Jesus spoke this parable Luke 15 verse 1 to 3 tax collectors and Sinners were drawing near to Jesus the Pharisees and the scribes the religious leaders they murmured they were angry at this and they said this man is receiving sinners Their accusation was true. He was receiving sinners verse 3 so Knowing their anger He spoke three parables to them to address their anger And he said let me use this occasion to tell you how God feels About these sinners, but not only that secondly Let me use the occasion to tell you how God wants you to feel about these sinners He had a two-part message how God feels about him and how the people of God are to feel about them and it would to Be in unity with God's heart Now the Pharisees they were nervous And I understand it They were nervous They thought if people get too much confidence in the mercy of God, they will become reckless If they become too confident in the mercy of God They will become reckless instead of being more zealous to obey the Lord They will become more flippant about their compromise Beloved is exactly opposite the more confident The more confident we get in his mercy The more our spirit opens and the more Aggressive we've become to have more of that relationship with him who loves us. So freely They said no the people get confident they'll get careless with their sin and Jesus could come along in Luke 7 verse 47. He said no Those that are forgiven much and they know it they will love much. They will love me more if they know the truth and They will love other people more Those that are those that know they're forgiven much. They actually love much they love in Proportion in the gratitude to the measure that they feel they've been forgiven the problem with many believers They don't feel like they've been forgiven that much They don't know the truth Therefore they're They more have an attitude that they've that God's giving them a bad deal God I've been dedicated And I've been seeking you and you don't really treat me the way that you should I should be twice as anointed by now Why aren't you treating me? Right? And the answer is do you really understand how much I've forgiven you because if you did the gratitude of your spirit Would be the prevailing emotion that you have Now I must speak to young people just one mode a moment I slipped the note in here is particularly for young people, but it's for everybody Here at the end of a paragraph a I just slipped it in The enemy uses this doctrine of Jesus's love for sinners The enemy uses it and he misapplies it So I've seen many young believers trying to imitate Jesus's love for sinners and what they do is They hang out in Social settings in the name of loving sinners But they're not Celebrating sinners repenting what they're doing is participating in the sin of the sinners See how many times over the years? And so here's the rule That I encourage young people to buy into don't hang out in a social setting Where you're not willing to vocalize your faith and to vocalize your values when this when the opportunity presents itself if you're in that social setting and You can't Vocalize your faith in Jesus and your values you're in the wrong social setting to be hanging out in anyway, I just give that to you because We are called to love sinners and we're called to touch sinners and we're called to love them into the kingdom but not in a situation to where we end up sinning with them and so just be Aware, just ask yourself the question young people. Okay. I'm going to the party tonight We're going to witness Well, maybe we won't witness but we will just show the love of God so that maybe later we will witness Yeah, but you've been to the party ten times so far and you've never witnessed once And you've been drunk eight out of the ten times I Know but Jesus loves sinners. That's a complete misapplication of this glorious truth I've watched it many times for years Enough of that point. I just want to make the point turn to page two Because I care about your heart I care about your soul Don't be presumptuous with this glorious truth of Socializing with sinners because we socialize with them on God's terms not on the enemy's terms Big difference the enemy knows this verse and He knows how to twist it so that he will ensnare the people of God top of page two the first parable The parable of the lost sheep The second one is the parable of the lost coin and they're very similar So I'll just kind of highlight one of them and then you really have the main points of the second one The lost sheep verse 4 What man of you having a hundred sheep if he loses one of them? He goes this shepherd Will go after The lost one he'll leave the 99 to he'll go after the lost one. Now. Jesus is talking about himself He's the Great Shepherd. I Will come after you Until I find you I like that till he finds us You know, I told the story for years And I was younger and the Lord didn't mind it But I told the story for years I said I sought the Lord and I found him Then a few years go by and I tell that was my story. I sought the Lord and I found him and the Lord let me know he says well the truth is I Was the one searching for you? And I trapped you in a corner and I boxed you in and I hemmed you in and I ambushed you and a lot of your Options were gone and finally you chose me and now you tell the story you found me That's okay, but the truth is I found you and I hemmed you in and showed you my love and finally you said, okay, I Surrender and then you tell the story you found the Lord He doesn't mind But it's not the it's not the truest or the most full version of how you and the Lord got connected Verse 5 I Love this Two points in verse 5 when he finds this lost sheep He lays the sheep on his shoulders and he rejoices carrying the sheep back to the fold He takes this little lamb that lost his way Now when one of the sheep lose their way, why do they lose their way one of the reasons Because they're weak and they can't keep up with the flock But the problem is that when one of these little ones lose their way They don't have the strength to stay up at the pace of everyone else and they get far behind and nobody notices them Then when a little lamb like that becomes disoriented and fearful and weary They can't find their way back unless the shepherd comes after them and picks and gets them But they don't have strength to make it back to the fold So Jesus said I understand You're weary You lost your way You got further and further behind and now you're disoriented and confused You don't know the way back and if somebody told you the way you don't have the strength to return I'll find you and I will carry you myself and bring you back to the flock But here's the other part. It's even better and I will be rejoicing Each step of the way that I'm carrying you. I will be so glad That you are with me and that I'm doing this with you I Won't be angry at you. I will be glad that we connected beloved. There's no one like the Lord paragraph D Jesus said now he's talking about the heart of God father son and Holy Spirit If you want to really break it down I have this on the first page, but the the lost sheep Highlights the shepherd the ministry of Jesus the lost coin Highlights the Holy Spirit the one who shines light into the darkness and the lost son highlights the father It's father son and Holy Spirit one God and three persons with the same heart of delight over the people Jesus said when I find you I Want to know how I want you to know how I feel I Am delighting in this I'm not Exasperated. I like it. I like carrying you back. I don't just rejoice when the when you get back I carry you rejoicing each step of the way even before you get there back in the fold I am rejoicing each step of the way, you know, it's not difficult to believe that God enjoys us in heaven Like I I've talked to people over the years and some guys are troubled by this and I understand because I'm a holiness preacher I love holiness. I want people fully devoted to the Lord. So I remember talking to two holiness guys From a particular denomination. I sat down and they said I don't like this God enjoys you thing I go. I understand I Go does God enjoy people? ever Is that what do you mean I said does he ever enjoy people ever in eternity time or eternity ever Does God ever look at people and smile? said well, I Guess technically he probably does I said, okay. He smiles over people in eternity good With a resurrected body and their imperfect holiness. Yes Okay, they were a little uncomfortable, but they said okay He smiles. I mean, I mean a big smile on his face the whole way. Yeah. Yeah, okay smiles I Actually smile towards anybody before they die or is it just after they die I said Paul the Apostle The most mature man John the Apostle did Jesus if he smiles towards them when he's there in heaven What do you actually smile towards them when they're on the earth? I? Mean, they're really mature, but they're not perfect, but they're really mature He said smile. They're both looking at each other thinking this guy's tricking us. He's leading us in a trap somewhere They said I said no, I mean a full grand like wow, I enjoy this Paul and John being close with you They said okay. I Said okay What was the time when God began to smile on them? When they were one old year old in the Lord or when they were 30 years old in the Lord When does the smile break out on God's face? What's the moment of maturity when you're mature enough? He smiles And what is the moment where you're not mature enough, and he doesn't smile. He's mad or maybe not mad He's just so disappointed. He has pain when he looks at you I Said where's the where's the maturity level how mature is mature before God actually smiles? They're like leave us alone. You're annoying us right now. I Said what this really matters Because we're presenting the image of God to people we must represent him Well, we must represent him truthfully and it really matters Because if people think he's mostly mad or mostly said they will run from him. They won't run to him But my point isn't just pragmatism like isn't it's practical to think God is happy. So let's make a God that's happy No, the Bible says it clearly the lips of Jesus While This little lamb is lost Jesus is actually Smiling along the journey of recovering this little one back to the fold Beloved he doesn't just smile when you go to heaven at you. He doesn't just smile at you when you go to heaven He doesn't just smile when you're on the earth and you're so mature. You're equal to Paul the Apostle He actually enjoys you each step of the process Each step along the way I'm talking to a sincere believer now a Sincere believer he smiles over us. Let's look at the next parable It's the it's the ten coins Let's look at verse 10. You can just read that on your own Similar, although there are some distinctions Verse 10. Here's the message There's joy in the presence of angels over sinners one sinner who repents Now I've emphasized the joy which means enjoyment or Rejoicing or smiling that God actually feels delight I've already emphasized that so I won't emphasize that again But paragraph and what I want to point out is paragraph D Repentance is important many people Who emphasize the message of God's love and mercy and delight Many of them ignore the value and the necessity of repentance many that I know where they have a real positive presentation, which I like but they Have this curious Absence of the value that God puts on repentance. We must agree with God. We must come to God on God's terms But the people Who speak about repentance often don't have a smiling God? So we have a smiling God who doesn't care about repentance. That's one Hey, that's one fallacy or we have a holy God who never smiles Neither of those extremes are right He smiles But it requires repentance to the degree we have light He requires we say yes to his leadership We're still immature We still stumble but when we stumble we admit it We declare war on our sin and we repent and agree with God and we feel his smile each step of the way Knowing we're going to stumble more But when we stumble we declare war on that area of sin, and we don't try to rationalize it We can't have a message of mercy that has no repentance or a message of repentance That has no mercy or no tenderness of God both extremes are non-biblical views of God Here in verse 10. Jesus said there's great joy But there is repentance that's necessary. The two must come together for the truth to be established Let's look at top of page 3 we'll be brief on this because again, I'm just really Alerting you to it not really breaking it down in any deep way Alerting you to the value of this great chapter Verse 11 a man had two sons Verse 12 and I'll kind of give an abbreviated reading you can read it word for word yourself The younger said to the father Give me the portion of goods that falls to me. What he said is I want my inheritance two sons The father has great wealth. He says I want my inheritance now well, son You're supposed to wait till after I die before I give you the inheritance well, dad Could you hurry up and die? I Really would like the money now That's what's happening for real that's what Jesus is presenting and the the leaders of Israel understood the Scandal of a son that wanted the inheritance hurry up dad and give me my portion. I'm sorry if that means goodbye You got to go sometime I Need the money I have plans Well the Strange part of the story is the father gave the money to him Here's your ten million dollars that you get when I die, I'll give it to you ahead of time. Whoa I'm making up the ten million Verse 13 so the son took all the ten million He went to a far country He wasted it He wasted all the money I'm prodigal living now prodigal living means sinful living Why did he go to a far country it's easier to sin when you go out of town For real because there's nobody to hold you accountable That's why there's so many Disasters when people young people believers leave home and go away to college. I'm not saying it's wrong to go away to college I'm saying but it's most more more times than not. It's a disaster on their faith there's not just because the atmosphere is liberal because they're far away and nobody knows them and they get to discover what they Really have in their heart Nobody knows them That doesn't mean don't go to college far away, but it means be careful because that's where It's a lot easier to sin when you're far away There's many applications to that for another day Verse 14 when he spent all the ten million dollars He said to himself. I have to go join myself to some citizen of the country that he's living in and he went and The man hired him to go feed swine pigs now for a Jewish boy to feed pigs As his main job, that's a big conflict Because pigs were unclean animals To the nation of Israel So I said, I'm so hungry. I'm gonna go eat with the pigs. He's actually eating with the pigs. That's how desperate he gets Now paragraph a I've already said it, but I must say it again He said I want the portion I want my inheritance What he wanted Was the father's power? The father's wealth and the father's influence without any relationship with the father But that's how a lot of people are in the church today They want the power of God. They want the financial blessing They want the influence and increased ministry, but they don't want a close relationship with the father That's the spirit of the prodigal They don't all fall into the scandalous sins that this one did but it's the same spirit I Want your money and your influence without having to overly connect with you in the process Let's go down to vert paragraph B verse 15 chapter 15 verse 17 Well, then he came to himself which means he repented He said how many of my father's hired hands? They have enough food Here I am eating with the pigs while I go back home and ask dad to give me a job as a hired hand Verse 18 I'll go back to my father and I'll be straightforward with him dad. I've said I blew it I totally blew it. I admit it. I see it now. I see my heart. I see the truth Verse 19 He's rehearsing his Presentation of what he's gonna say when he meets his father He's walking all the way home going over this the apology over and over and over he says here's what I'll tell him verse 19 Verse 18 is good. I have sinned But verse 19 is really bad, but it reveals the identity that this son had which is really part of his problem in the first place He says I'll do Verse 19 if you'll forgive me in the sense of by giving me a job so I don't starve to death Here's how I'll do I'm no longer worthy To be in the family I have no grounds To be in the honor of this family Make me like one of your hired servants He goes I will be happy to be a hired servant He goes I'll work For everything I get from you the very thing that God says. No I don't want you to come back to me with repentance and promise me you will work for everything I give you That's what got you into air in the first place Get ahead of myself in the story Paragraph see This is the verse Luke 15 verse 20 that radically changed my life in my early years in college my first year of college This was about 18 years old 19 years old this radically changed my life Luke chapter 15 verse 20 five verbs Jesus is describing the father That when this Verse 20 here rose and came to his father and when this Prodigal son this lost son was still a great way off His father saw him verb one his father had compassion the second verb The father ran to him the father fell on his neck or embraced him and the father kissed him There's five things that Jesus said my father feels and does when you come back to him first The reason the father saw him because the father was watching earnestly for his son to return He knew his son would return. I Pictured the father out on the porch Every night in the big ranch house out there in the farm Looking over the horizon. He knew his son would return. Oh How precious are the eyes of love when they're watching and waiting for one to return? Not the eyes of judgment, but he's looking and he could see his son Wait the distance to send that kind of walk the son had he goes. That's my son at a distance I can see him I know him that well because with the eyes of love you pay that much attention with tenderness number two He had compassion now what we would think is Let the son get back get all cleaned up put him on three months six months of probation Then we will let him know he's on good ground father said no. I Feel compassion now. I don't feel judgment. I long for him I feel tender towards him right now Somebody else may be mad. Somebody else may be sad. I feel tender right now Number three He ran in the ancient world a father never stood up to run after a family member, but just the protocol of the day the family member would come and Bow down and respect the father. He jumps up. He breaks the protocol He comes running after the son as the sons on the property that says go what's going on? Dad's running I've never seen him run like this Am I in trouble? Is this good or this bad? He's running after him although all the workers all the family's watching going. What is happening? It's the only verse in the Bible that I know of That presents God as in a hurry and It's by the lips of Jesus that he's talking about what the father's like the father's in a hurry on one subject To put his arms around us to give us the assurance of how he feels number four He fell on his neck. He embraced him. He's not he doesn't rebuke him not told you little guy You do this one more time. No threats No rebukes. He's not disgusted. He's not angry. He hugs him He's I want to be near you. Do you understand? I want to be near you. I'm not repulsed by you I want to be near you Dad, what's going on right now? Then he kissed him Which is the sign of the full restoration of favor. There's no probation Now sometimes we'll come back to the Lord after we've sinned and we'll say Lord, here's the deal I did this in my early days a few of these like ridiculous prayers Lord, if you forgive me one more time, I Won't I won't ever do this again Don't make any foolish vows that you can't keep and a vow that says you will never sin is a vow you can't keep Forgive me one more time One more as though he was running out of fuel in his forgiveness gas tank, he's not Okay, God, let's do it this way. You forgive me and I will go put myself in spiritual probation For six months. I won't ask nothing. I won't be happy. I will be miserable I will prove to you how much I really want you to love me. The Lord says I don't want you to do that Don't put yourself on probation Don't go suffer for a while Because it's my commitment to you that I want you to see that's what's going to tenderize your heart paragraph D Now you'll notice Verse 21 Something's missing He gave the speech remember he's practicing the speech all the way home Father I've sinned that's good I'm no longer worthy. That's not good To make all it's your son except for in the sense He goes I can't deserve to be your son if it means that that's good. I I can't do anything to deserve your favor But remember in verse 19, he had one other sentence that he omits here. He said I will be a hired hand Because to be a hired hand Means he's going to keep earning what he receives from the father and through that embrace and through that kiss He said to himself I'm throwing out the I want to earn my way back to you. I'm throwing that idea away I'm not even gonna bring that up so I said and I don't deserve your favor. Those are two good right points, but I'm not gonna be a higher hand I'm gonna take everything you want to give me I will take it and I will say thank you I won't try to earn any of it. He throws that idea away top of page for This parable It's not mostly about a son who lost his inheritance This parable is first about a father who lost his son That's what this parable is about and how he plans to recover his heart That's the first message of the parable It's about a father who lost his son and how the father is going to recover and win the son's heart back The second point of the message is his response to the son and The third point is his appeal to the older brother to agree and have the same response Paragraph G Luke 15. Let's read it. The father said to the servant Bring out the best robes the best robe that was that robe was reserved for the honored guest and in the salvation language, it's called the The robe of righteousness But in the social etiquette and protocol of the day the robe was saved and reserved for the honored guest and that's the highlight point Put the family ring on his hand Put the sandals on his feet because they hired servant They didn't have sandals only the family members were guaranteed sandals sandals were a privilege in the ancient world They were for the family members not for the workers and Bring the fatted calf kill it. Let's celebrate. Let's have a party. And here it is Let's be merry, which means let's be glad. Let us rejoice. Let us celebrate this great recovery paragraph H Now the older brother now Jesus because remember how the parable started Back in verse 1 to 3 the Pharisees and Sadducees were really upset that Jesus was being kind to sinners So now he's looking at the older brother and I have no doubt he looks right at the Pharisees and tells them the story of the older brother because they are the older brother in terms of they Have that wrong response Verse 25 the older brother heard the music the dancing He wouldn't celebrate verse 28. He was angry He would not enter into the celebration and you know why the older brother is angry And doesn't enter in Because he hasn't personally Experienced the love of God because if you don't experience it in your own life You don't have an overflow for others to experience it You can't see the joy of it in the life of another when I meet an angry Christian I don't rebuke them for being angry. I try to convince them about how God feels about that. That's the cure to their anger in terms of the religious anger I mean Therefore the father came out and pleaded with him. I mean, here's this big Celebration, I mean there maybe is a hundred people gathered. The father is the host The eldest son won't come in the oldest son says I don't want to be a part of this family If you're gonna do this kind of thing, I'm gonna go over there and I'm not gonna be involved So the father has to leave all the guests and he has to go now Find the older son earlier that day. He had to go find the younger son now. He has to go get the older son The consistency of the father is clear with a different application To the younger son. It was the scandalous sin to the older son It was pride and criticism and an accusing spirit, but both of the sons were actually sinning against the family verse 29 And he said to the father These many years I've been serving you I've never sent like whoa Pretty big claim this older son. So all of his years in the family as years of servitude He had no Recognition he said I'm not getting the deal that I deserve I have served he saw his whole relationship in the family based on serving of what he could produce That's what got him into problem on the front end The elder son's identity is being exposed here by his own words I've been serving you I Haven't messed up and I deserve a better deal. He's not being motivated by gratitude of the father's love He's being angry he's angry because he didn't get the deal. He thought he earned Now most of you in the room here. That's not your problem And you think you deserve a better deal. So you're mad at God most of us. We struggle with receiving the Outrageous and I say that in the most positive sense love of God Verse 30. He said this son of yours He doesn't say my brother he goes this son of yours, that's the accusing spirit is this kid of yours You have this big celebration for it Verse 31 And he said son all that I have is yours and I'll just end with this verse 32 And it's right that we should be merry and be glad for your brother's been recovered the Holy Spirit is proclaiming through all all of Redemptive history it is right That God is glad God's not off because he's glad it is right that God is glad To give us mercy and it is right that we rejoice in other people getting mercy That is what the Spirit is saying. It is right now receive the heart and the emotions of God the Father Amen Let's stand There's some of you in this room right now You're like the prodigal son. May I don't necessarily mean you've been involved in a scandal said maybe you have that's not my point my point is When you come to the Lord, you're imagining I will repent I've sinned he says that's good I'm not worthy meaning. I can't do anything to make you make myself deserve it. That's good but you're saying I'm willing to be a hired hand and The Lord says I don't want you as a hired hand. I want you as an honored son I want you as a first-class citizen. I want you to receive who I am. I Want you to have more? Confidence and my commitment to you says the Lord then you have in your commitment to me. Let me love you. I Want to invite anyone in the room You're saying when I fail I negotiate with the Lord because I don't have this confidence. He's actually delighting over me Negotiate too much. I I bargain with him instead of just accepting it fully and deeply If you want to come forward and say I went prayer on this and I want to make a new commitment To receive who God says he is just take it at face value. I'll invite you to come forward right now Beloved this would radically change your life. I God just come and stand before the Lord. I most believers struggle with this Because there's been so much negligence of this message In so many places we cannot neglect this message this truth and he wants you just to receive it no negotiation You just receive it If those that came up first would come up to the front lines because there's a bunch of folks behind you They can't yeah, there you go. Fill the front line at first And you don't have to come up to receive this but some of you you want prayer and you just want to take a stand Before the Lord in this way now others of you in the room. This is the message for that loved one back home Don't rebuke them into repentance tell them what God's like Represent the Lord. Well now require that they repent before it's all over. Don't throw the repentance out But represent God's heart well to them Be patient Speak it many times to them Lord here we are Here we are Lord we say yes Lord We receive your indescribable mercy We receive your gladness over our life This feels too good to be true But I say yes to you Lord Now Lord release your glory the ways release the truth of this on the heart tonight the mountains in their splendor You cannot steal your heart this God Who is holy? Perfect in beauty Lord release your glory even now The stars They don't move you the waves can't undo you the mountains in their splendor You cannot steal your heart This God Who is holy? Perfect in beauty