Prodigal Grace

Turn with me to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 15. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 15. And when you found Luke 15, go ahead and stand for this morning's gospel reading.

00:00:24

All right. Notice these words as found here recorded. And. And, by the way, only found in Luke 15. This is the only place this story occurs.

00:00:35

And so here we go. And this first part is a preface, by the way. We're going to start with 15, 1, 3, and then drop down to the middle part of 11. All right. All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.

00:00:54

And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them. So Jesus told this parable. There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me. So he divided his property between them.

00:01:20

A few days later, the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country. And there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything. A severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.

00:01:50

He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired hands have bread enough to spare? But here I am dying of hunger. I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

00:02:21

Treat me like one of your hired hands. So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and before you.

00:02:48

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.

00:03:15

And they began to celebrate. Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked, what was going on. He replied, your brother has come and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound. Then he became angry and refused to go in.

00:03:43

His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, listen, for all these years I've been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command. Yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him. Then the father said to him, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

00:04:21

But we had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life. He was lost and has been found. Jesus, thank you for this parable that came out of your lips, spoken in a certain context in the first century. Lord, would you speak out of your very lips this morning to us in this room in such a pointed way that it would turn us from a wayward way back home? We pray in your name.

00:05:00

Amen. And you can be seated.

00:05:07

Well, what a story. If you've never heard the prodigal son story, which most people, once you

Transcript

Turn with me to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 15. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 15. And when you found Luke 15, go ahead and stand for this morning's gospel reading.

00:00:24

All right. Notice these words as found here recorded. And. And, by the way, only found in Luke 15. This is the only place this story occurs.

00:00:35

And so here we go. And this first part is a preface, by the way. We're going to start with 15, 1, 3, and then drop down to the middle part of 11. All right. All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.

00:00:54

And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them. So Jesus told this parable. There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me. So he divided his property between them.

00:01:20

A few days later, the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country. And there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything. A severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.

00:01:50

He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired hands have bread enough to spare? But here I am dying of hunger. I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

00:02:21

Treat me like one of your hired hands. So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and before you.

00:02:48

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.

00:03:15

And they began to celebrate. Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked, what was going on. He replied, your brother has come and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound. Then he became angry and refused to go in.

00:03:43

His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, listen, for all these years I've been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command. Yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him. Then the father said to him, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

00:04:21

But we had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life. He was lost and has been found. Jesus, thank you for this parable that came out of your lips, spoken in a certain context in the first century. Lord, would you speak out of your very lips this morning to us in this room in such a pointed way that it would turn us from a wayward way back home? We pray in your name.

00:05:00

Amen. And you can be seated.

00:05:07

Well, what a story. If you've never heard the prodigal son story, which most people, once you hear it. The good thing about Jesus stories, once you hear them once, it's pretty easy to reconstruct it in your mind, isn't it? He is the best storyteller, in fact. And of course, parables are just that, a story with a spiritual sense or meaning beyond just the story given.

00:05:32

And so Jesus specifically makes this story up for us and for his first century hearers here. But before we get to that story, I'm always intrigued by the Old Testament reading, especially during Lent. And the reason why is because you can really pick two tracks to go on. One track deals with the great themes of the Old Testament and, you know, deals with those. The second tract corresponds always to the Gospel, and we always follow or have followed the second track in the lectionary readings, all right, which means that the Old Testament in some way complements or corresponds to the New Testament.

00:06:20

But this morning, like many mornings that I come to these texts and try to bring them together, it seems difficult, doesn't it? It seems maybe disjointed, in fact. Like, what does this story have anything to do with the other one there in Joshua, you remember, which is actually a beautiful text and one that's worth just sort of putting in context a little bit. It's Joshua 5. And if you remember what Happens here is Moses has gone, as you know, and Joshua is taking over as the new leader, and he is preparing the people to go into the promised land.

00:07:00

And of course, we already can sense a little bit here, maybe of a connective tissue here, a little thread that we can pull on that might lead us to this story and making sense of it all. And that is Joshua literally means Jesus, right? So everybody, you know, Joshua and Jesus, that is the same, it's just transliterated from Hebrew to Greek, all right? And so Joshua, you may remember, means Yahweh delivers or Yahweh saves. And of course, Jesus is our savior, we say, because that's literally what his name actually means, Yahweh delivers.

00:07:42

And so even though we might sense this as disjointed, this is the new Joshua here that we're dealing with, who's telling this story. So maybe that's one, One check we've got there. Okay, cool. There's a type of Christ here with Joshua, one that is a type and not the thing itself. In other words, a copy of what is to come.

00:08:04

And we find that a lot in the Old Testament. David is a type of Christ, you understand? And so, so is Joshua here because he's leading the people from where, out of slavery, remember, out of the bondage of Egypt they're leaving behind. They've decided to follow Yahweh, and they're not looking back at Egypt. They've crossed the Red Sea.

00:08:29

Joshua was here for all of this. He did not die in the wilderness because he was one of the good spies, remember? And so they've crossed past, through the waters of baptism, so to speak, in the Red Sea. And now they have been at the plains of Moab, or the plains, the Transjordanian valley there, right before they cross over the Jordan, which is a whole other water crossing that's significant, into the Promised Land, which is some sort of picture of heaven or of God's land in that regard. Not like when people say Mississippi is God's land, okay?

00:09:05

Or Arkansas or wherever else we're talking about, actually God's land, right? And so his promised land. And remember, he is a God of promises. We, two weeks ago we looked at that and he again makes. That's why it's called, by the way, the Promised Land, right?

00:09:20

All you rewind the story all the way back to Abraham and you get God promising to dwell in this particular land and give them this land. Well, they're about to enter it here in Joshua. And so the whole Pentateuch ends in suspense, because they haven't entered the land. Well, now they're here. All right?

00:09:41

And the way they prepare as they move in, because guess what? People aren't going to leave willingly, right? So they have to prepare their army. And do you remember how they prepare the army in Joshua 5? Circumcision.

00:09:58

Now, I don't think that's how the US military prepares for battle. I don't think they get the Navy SEALs and goes, hey, guys, we're going to have a team meeting here. Stay locked and loaded. But first we're going to remove the foreskin. I don't think that's the way it happens.

00:10:14

And they would probably quit at that point, being a voluntary military. But this is exactly the scene that we get in Joshua 5. Shockingly. Trust me, I'm making it shocking because it really should shock us when we come to Joshua 5 and find out the way God wants them to prepare for battle is to have all the men that are going into battle. Circumcision.

00:10:37

What does this mean? Well, circumcision, remember, is entrance into the community of God. It's a type of baptism, you know, putting off the old, right? And so Paul even uses this as a cutting away of the old. And so they're circumcised.

00:10:54

And that is male circumcision, by the way, baptism, both male and female, thankfully. And we all get to enjoy that entrance into the faith. It is the sign of being in covenant with God. Okay. Which is a very important sign, by the way.

00:11:11

And it's put in a very important place. I don't want to get too crazy with this on Youth Sunday of all times. However, it's put there on purpose by God to say, remember the covenant. Especially there. Bear that in mind, especially in our sexually overdriven society today, just as then.

00:11:33

And so the men are circumcised, and the next thing that Joshua's going to do is he ends up bumping into the commander of the Lord's army. You remember this? And then by that point, they're ready to go into Jericho, but not with sword and spear, but rather with musical instruments, worshiping God. You see, circumcision was the duty of all Israelites, and they had not been practicing it. So God says, before you go into the land, before I give you the land.

00:12:04

Cause that's what's really happening here. It's not the taking of the land, it's the giving of the land. You must be ritually pure. So there actually are things we do to ourselves, like a Lenten fast, right? We do to ourselves, to deny ourselves, to be ritually pure so that God can then lead us to the next step.

00:12:31

That's something we should take to the bank because that's the way it happens. He asks us to do these things, we do them, and then he meets us in those things. John Wesley called this the means of grace. In other words, I want to put my grace in your life. Okay, how has that happened?

00:12:51

Through prayer, through being in a room like this, worshiping with brothers and sisters in his name, through holy communion, through baptism, and so on and so forth. This is why baptism is important. It's why the sacrament, the two sacraments we celebrate are important. All right. Now, much more could be said here, but Joshua 5 is a powerful text that should be shocking.

00:13:18

But notice what he says here today. I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt. And so that place is called Gilgal to this day because Gilgal actually means rolling away. Now just think about your sin and the death that it brings upon all of us. The one thing we know is we are all sinners in need of a Savior.

00:13:49

That is like fundamental 101 Christianity, right? All have sinned and fall short of the glory of. Of God. And therefore we must repent. We must turn to Christ for this sort of healing here that he brings.

00:14:06

It is a. And in what he does, when he applies his forgiveness, when he reconciles us in Christ, is a rolling away of our sins, a rolling away of our disgrace. And by rolling it away, he opens a new door. Just like with the stone that will be rolled away, it was closed and sealed. And once you died, up to that point in the world, no one ever came back from death.

00:14:37

No one. Not resuscitation, not talking about that. We're talking about no one came back in a glorified body ever. And so when that stone was rolled over Jesus tomb, everybody thought that was it. But it wasn't it.

00:14:53

It was rolled away on the first day of the week. And I find that fascinating because notice what happens here in this text. In Joshua 5, he says they kept the Passover in the evening of the 14th day of the month in the plains of Jericho on the day after the Passover, on that very day. That's what the text says. They ate the produce of the land and the manna stopped.

00:15:16

You know what day that was? Sunday. It's Sunday. You see, even in the Old Testament, the Old Testament's hinting to us, hey, look, Saturday. Yeah, it's the end of the week.

00:15:27

It's the day of rest. It is a Sabbath to be kept holy, etc. Etc. But Sunday is coming. And Sunday is the first day of a new week.

00:15:37

A new thing that I am doing. And when he rolls away the old, think about it. The new week begins. Your new week begins, my new week begins. That is the salvation that Jesus offers us, the forgiveness of sins.

00:15:55

What a beautiful text for us to consider in that way. But also notice the manna. You remember, manna just means, like, what is it? They basically said, what is this? And then they named it, what is this?

00:16:05

Hey, go get some of that. What is this? Because they just didn't know what it was, okay?

00:16:12

And I had this thought, and it's not very developed, so forgive me if it leads us astray. But I thought to myself, you know, the manna is then replaced with the Passover meal. And the Passover meal was celebrated right before Joshua. He gathers all his people around, they celebrate a meal together. Think about that.

00:16:33

And then they enter the Promised Land. What does Jesus do on Holy Week? He celebrates a meal, and then he moves into the Promised land by opening up a new way. No way had ever been opened up before like that. He created something new.

00:16:55

And so today, the manna and the Passover are replaced with what? The Eucharist, Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper, which we as Methodists typically celebrate once a month, if not more, on some holy days. And we will be celebrating next week. It is the meal for our journey. Just as they were to remember, so too do this in remembrance of me.

00:17:27

Jesus says, which are actually the words engraved. Thank you. I was looking for the words, thinking, do you engrave wood? But. But it says, do this in.

00:17:40

Remember, underneath the. Underneath the pyramids here. We do it to remember him and to look forward to also its replacement, who is Christ Jesus himself, who we will see face to face. Now he comes humbly in a room like this, unseen to the unfaithful eye, but seen by the faithful, seen in prayer, seen in the sacraments of baptism, of bread, of wine, of water. We can sense it.

00:18:23

We know him through these because he told us he is present in them. He has joined himself to us in these ways, in these means of grace, as it were. Which brings us to our epistle reading. Right? So there's the Joshua one.

00:18:42

Then it brings us to the Epistle. Did you remember? I know it's sometimes hard to. We're going through them so quickly. But.

00:18:47

But Lucy even noted at the very end, after she read it, what a wonderful text, right? Because it truly is. It's. It's kind of ground zero for what God's vision of man really is. If you want a biblical anthropology, this is really the place perhaps to begin.

00:19:11

Notice from now we regard no one, just from a human standpoint, but rather how as a new creation. Listen to this. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away. Maybe we could bring in the.

00:19:36

Joshua has rolled away.

00:19:41

See, everything has become new.

00:19:48

Everything in the Greek means everything.

00:19:54

Yes. There is no funky business here. No funny business, right? With. You know, sometimes people do that with.

00:20:01

With knowing Greek. No, no. Everything old has passed away. In other words, when Jesus breaks open that tomb, when he resurrects from the dead now in a glorified body, when he raises human nature up to its heights to be joined to himself, everything changes. Nothing is ever the same again from that point.

00:20:28

Just as the original creation was creatio ex nihilo, creation out of nothing, there was nothing. And then he created everything. You know, because sometimes we confuse. We say, like, y'all created this program or whatever, or I created this game. But really all we're doing is remaking things and shuffling them around.

00:20:50

If you're really looking at it, it's not a creation out of nothing. There's something. And then we make things. You know, if you want to get technical with it, is we make things, right? Like a football, okay?

00:21:01

Or something like that. But God is the creator, and that means he can take something from nothing and make it, or he can recreate. And here he says, this is a new creation. In other words, we're in a new week. You remember, how long did the other creation take?

00:21:23

It's a week, right? You know, it ends. God rests, right? And that's the creation. Boom.

00:21:29

Now we're in a new day, and we're living in the new creation. Dear brothers and sisters, now you say, well, Pastor, I don't really feel like it's a new creation. And I get that. I totally understand that. But with the trained eye of faith, with our faith looking toward Christ and being in Christ, we know there is a new creation.

00:21:57

He says as much. And everything old is going to pass away. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself. Think about this. Through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, and he's entrusted us with the message of reconciliation, like he did that.

00:22:21

That's why we're all commissioned by him. And Paul, of course, is here in Second Corinthians alluding to just that point. And so we Entreat you on behalf of Christ. Be reconciled to God. Be reconciled to God.

00:22:38

It's not how we feel that makes us reconciled with God. We ought to know by now we can't just trust our feelings. I don't ask for amens often, but could I get an amen there? How many times has our feelings misled us, you know? How many times have you approached somebody said, man, that guy's really a jerk.

00:23:01

You don't really know him, but you're like, he just looks like a jerk, though. But then when you actually get to know me, like, oh, man, I really like this guy, you know? Yeah. Our feelings, our intuitions, they are bent, broken, distorted, marred. We could list goes on.

00:23:24

It's only by faith that we can see correctly.

00:23:32

That's why when Jesus gives us his teachings, they often look upside down. You know what I mean? It's because if we could really see ourself, we're bent over and we've gotten so used to. Have you ever looked up the world, you know, upside down? It's weird, man.

00:23:48

Like, that's the floor. It just looks. But you can get used to it. You know, I played a game once where you had to invert the plane, you know, and fly upside down. And I was actually able to do it really well after a while.

00:24:01

But then when you turn back around, then you get a little confused. Could I submit that we're a little confused sometimes we're actually upside down, looking at things and think that's the way the world is supposed to be. And Christ comes in with his teachings, with his grace, and says, no, no, let me turn you back right side up. Yes, Lord, yes. He's offering not, as CS Lewis said, not just nice people, but new people.

00:24:40

Not just good people, but a new creation. God isn't just. He didn't send his son to suffer and die just to. To modify our behavior a little bit, instead, to make us new, to transform us by his grace. Which then brings us now to the crescendo, which is found here in Luke 15, the prodigal son story, as it's sometimes called, but maybe improperly called.

00:25:18

Could I submit that. Because it's really about two sons, isn't it? It's not just one son. You always get that second elder son. And could I just tell you and just be real honest, like, that's me.

00:25:33

I really am that dude, okay? Because I totally get his frustration. Does anybody else? It's like, you just gonna let this, like, where's my party, man? I've Been doing the right thing, checking off the boxes, working for the man, old dad.

00:25:49

And it feels like slavery sometimes, okay? And he's mad about it. And he refuses to go in to celebrate the debauchery, the prodigal living. Remember, prodigal just means excessive spending, just reckless spending. Just blow it all.

00:26:10

We all know people like that, right? Sometimes we're like that sometimes. It's interesting that I feel like. You ever feel like this? Like some people want to blow their life up, you know what I mean?

00:26:22

They just want to just blow it up. Just like, you know, I'm just bored. Let's just blow things up. Just change everything. Burn it all down.

00:26:31

Who cares? And that's the wayward younger son. That's why we call him the prodigal son, right? And this prodigal son basically wishes death upon his father. He said, look, I know that I have an inheritance coming.

00:26:49

I'm ready for you to die. I want it now. I want it now. And so his father obliges and gives it to him. Of course, he spends it all on reckless living.

00:26:56

And then he ends up in the pig pen. Okay, now remember, for Jews specifically, this is the most unclean sort of animal. I mean, we all think pigs are unclean, too, but they were ritually unclean. So think about, again, the Joshua story and being ritually clean. And now we're here.

00:27:16

This guy is in the lowest of the low, and he's not even able to eat the slop of hogs, okay? And he says, you know, man, my father's slaves, his servants, they have it better than I do right now, all right? I'm just going to go back and be one of his servants, because I'm not worthy anymore to be his son. And, of course, he goes back, and we finally, at this point in the story, begin to get the notion that actually, this story is not really about the prodigal son as the main character, nor as the elder son as the main character, but actually, the father is the main character here. It's kind of sneaky.

00:28:04

It's kind of sneaky, but I checked even on AI and it agrees that the father is also. It really did, though, because the commentators all look through that real quick. However it does it, right? It's the father that's the main character here. And we get this picture.

00:28:24

And you got to understand that a noble, fatherly adult male in the first century would have never ran in public like, you know, especially an older man, right? Imagine. Imagine, you know, I don't know. President Trump Running, you know, I mean, it just be a dangerous thing, right? Any older statesman, you just pick them, right?

00:28:50

If you just saw them running, not in exercise clothes, but actually in their robes, like in their suit, you'd be like, what is, what is going on? Right? There was actually an old saying that, that, that a proper man never lets his robe flow. In other words, you don't even walk fast. You know, like see people in the grocery store walking really fast.

00:29:10

No, no, don't even do. A proper person just walks, you know, with equanimity, right? But here, this father, he sees his son, what does he do? He runs. He runs a big deal.

00:29:21

That should be like shocking. He's running. His old man running for his son to recover. His son. His son that was lost now is found.

00:29:31

And of course, then he puts the robe on and the ring and he tells him to prepare the fatted calf. And they celebrate and they celebrate and he wants to celebrate. He's inviting everybody into. What is lost has been found. So what is wayward has come back home.

00:29:49

And maybe there's somebody in this room today that. This is your story. You were wayward. Like you went way out. You just burned it all down, did your thing, and then realized the bankruptcy of that kind of decision.

00:30:08

Because, you know, sin will always, always keep us longer than we wanted to stay, make us pay more than we wanted to pay. It really will. We think we know what we're doing and we get hurt every single time. And the good news is the father doesn't hold all of this against him. Doesn't say, hey, hey, before you come back, we need to work out, like, you're no longer in the wheel and stuff, right?

00:30:39

You get that? You know, you took all your money. None of this, none of this. He's happy to see his son and he welcomes him and embraces him. And of course, this, this sort of reminds us, Justin and I were talking about this, this morning, of Jonah, doesn't it?

00:30:55

And the fact that God is a surprisingly crazy forgiver, like, for us, you hurt me, you hurt my family. Something like that. It's hard for me to like, forgive, you know, we had an incident. I mean, we 20 something people in a house, we're going to get on each other's nerves, you know? And it's like, hey, tell them you're sorry because you acted like an idiot, right?

00:31:21

And it's like, give me a few minutes, you know, like, why can't we just say we were wrong? And like, hey, I'm in the wrong like, but it's all of us, isn't it? And we're like, okay, all right, I guess so. Well, here the prodigal, he comes and his father just never even mentions it again. Isn't that nice?

00:31:55

That's difficult, isn't it? Cause, you know, down the road you'll think, well, hey, remember. No, no, no, no. As far as the east is from the west.

00:32:09

I don't know. I refuse to remember this. And this is one of those tricky things with God, is he tells us he doesn't know our sin once he forgives it. Just let that sit for just a second. This is the all knowing God telling us, I don't remember what you're talking about.

00:32:32

Because he refuses to hold it against us. And then he tells us, just as I have forgiven you, you forgive others. Just as I have forgiven you, you forgive others. That's a tough one. It's impossible, in fact, without his grace, without being in Christ.

00:32:56

Listen. Without being a new creation. And that's how you know at that point it's not you any longer. You're surprised yourself that you find the willpower to forgive someone. Has anybody ever had that happen?

00:33:14

Thank God then, because it's his grace empowering you. Think about this. It's his grace letting you eat off of the promised land. Think about that.

00:33:33

But not so with the older son. He's mad about it and he ain't forgiving nobody because he's been working the whole time and he's done what is right. And when you do what's right and when you're good, good things will come. But they don't.

00:33:54

And that's a hard lesson for us that like to follow the rules, for us that think we're better than the majority of people. And this is where Jesus is going to get real serious in this parable. And I would submit this, that it teaches us actually that the older son is more in danger of hell than the younger.

00:34:22

Which is why our text begins not with the actual story, but rather all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to him. He's the Father, by the way, because Jesus says, when you've seen me, what? You've seen the Father. They say, show us the Father. You've seen me, you've seen the Father.

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And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling, saying, this fellow eats with sinners and welcomes them. So he tells the story in response, really, to all of us that are the older brothers, which is why the prodigal Son, you know, it gets said that that's the title, but really, really, you could go several different ways here. And if the younger son is wayward and comes home, the older son is inward and is lost at home. It's very interesting, the contrast here, and I know exactly what that means. It's those who are not hot and rebellious and unrighteous that you can see.

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Oh yeah, you know them. But rather it's those who are cold and proper and self righteous.

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And we need to be very careful with that sort of way. It's an inward way that we build ourselves up. And we are righteous because of what we do.

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And pretty much we think everybody else is dumb. That's a dangerous place to live. And ultimately he's living in. Think about this, living in his father's house, but he's living like a slave in his mind. That's the way he sees it.

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And I think it's because he's not been transformed. When we've been transformed, we no longer see obedience to Christ as slavery, but as a second nature. It's a transformation. You remember, like I've been saying before, when you learn to swing the bat, after all the different methods and practice, it becomes like second nature, doesn't it? And that's why St.

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Peter is going to call us to the highest calling of any human. And let me just read it here. It's so powerful. And we'll, we'll close up shop with this notice. His divine power has granted to us all things granted.

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His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, listen to Peter here. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self control and self control, with steadfastness and steadfastness, with godliness and godliness, with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love.

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For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he's blind, having forgotten, not remembered, that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will Never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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Practice these things. Lynn is a wonderful time to come to the Father. If you're wayward, it's a wonderful time. If you're inward and concerned with yourself and self righteousness, if you just don't understand grace, if you don't like it that God's a dirty forgiver that makes you mad, it's time to come to the Father and repent. His grace is lavish.

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You see, it's not the Prodigal Son per se, but it's the Prodigal Father who stravagantly spends his grace on every single one of us and we don't deserve it. Who runs for us, who comes down for us, who. Who establishes salvation in the Incarnation where human nature and the divine nature are joined in one Person. And that's the calling for all of us. Not just that God might forgive our sins, not just that God might modify our behavior, but that we may be made like Him.

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We share in his nature. Now, we're always going to be created beings, and yet we are to participate in God's very nature. He is calling every single person in this room and outside of this room to that end. That is the end of man.

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And so Jesus has provided a way for every single one of us to participate in his divine nature. Are you a new creation today? Are you just trying to be nice?

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Are you participating in the divine nature through the power of the Holy Spirit? Or are you just trying to be moral?

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If you're wayward or you're inward, both are wrong. Both are wrong. We need to return to the Father and let him transform us by his power. This is what's meant by sanctification or theosis or deification or divination. Being made like God, don't be like the two brothers.

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Instead, be the Son of the Father, just as Jesus is. And that, dear brothers and sisters, will lead you into true happiness.

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Happy holiness. It's the calling of us all. May it be so. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Total Duration 00:42:04