What do you see in the story, two kinds of sinners? And both are extreme sinners. And a father who entreats both, who offers both everything he has. And the point is, the extreme sinner falls within the purview of God's grace. Not everybody is that extreme on either end, but that's good news for all of us in between.
Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. For more than two thousand years the stories told by Jesus have fascinated everyone from children to scholars, and perhaps the most well known is the parable of the prodigal son.
Well, today John MacArthur is going to probe the depths of that story, one that is often misunderstood by even the most committed student of Scripture. Even if you know the parable, you may discover encouraging shades of meaning that you've never considered, as well as an aspect that may shock you. This lesson, The Tale of Two Sons, is part of a collection of John MacArthur's sermons that were chosen by Grace to You staff members as our favorites. we call this series John MacArthur's Most Memorable Sermon. To continue his look at The Tale of Two Sons, here's John.
The Text before us is Like so many texts, a very familiar text. Anybody who knows this story knows the story that we call the story of the prodigal son. Let's look at it. A shameful request verse Three characters, a father and two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, that's very respectful, by the way.
Give me the share of the estate that falls to me. And at this point, they would step back. That's unthinkable. The younger son is asking the father for his share of an inheritance. He's out of rank.
There's a pecking order. If he's younger, somebody's older. This is not only. Out of rank, this is disrespectful. This is selfish.
You get the estate when the father dies. This is like saying, Father, I wish you were. You're in the way. I want what's mine, and I want it now, and I'm tired of waiting. There is no precedent in Jewish society for this.
This is an absolute outrage. This is a shameful request. And shameful request leads to a shameful response.
So I want you to see what the father did. End of verse 12. And he divided his wealth between them. What? What?
The father is supposed to protect his honor. He does exactly what this. Willful, rebellious, hateful son asks. This is absurd. You're supposed to wait till he's dead, and then the younger gets one-third, the older gets two-thirds.
But not until But the estate is split. That means the older son got his two-thirds, the younger son got the one-third that was coming to him, and that launches a shameful rebellion. Verse 13, not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together. In the Greek, that simply means he turned it into cash. He goes.
On a journey into a distant country. That was the whole point. Get as far away from home as you can, far away from accountability as you can, far away from restraint as you can, far away from anybody's scrutiny as you can. Get out there where you can live exactly the way you want to live, and nobody that cares about you is going to know. Shameful rebellion?
He squandered. His estate. with loose living. Later on in the story His older brother, verse 30, points out that. He wasted a lot of it.
On prostitutes. All that was his fault. But there were some things that weren't his fault. Verse 14. when he had spent everything.
A severe famine occurred in that country. And he began to be a need. Not his fault, but that's how life is. And he becomes a beggar. Verse 15.
He went and attached an interesting Greek word here, kalao, means to glue.
So he does this. He attaches, he finds some citizen in this far country, which would be assumed to be a Gentile country. And he glues himself to this citizen. And the guy can't get rid of him.
So finally, he sent him into the field to feed swine. And it gets worse. Verse sixteen, he's out there. ostensibly to feed the pigs. Guess what?
He's longing to fill his stomach with the pods of swine were eating because nobody was giving anything to him. He is starving to death. Verse 17, he says, I'm going to die of hunger. The picture is extreme, no question. Not everybody's this bad.
But the question is How is the father going to deal with somebody who is this bad? A shameful repentance follows. Verse 17. When he came to his senses, He said. How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread?
I'm dying here of hunger. Verse 18, I will go. I'll go to my father. And I will say, Father, I have sinned. Against heaven.
And In your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Just make me as one. Of your Hired men. Boy, that's the real kind of repentance.
What a picture. What a picture. At this point, the Pharisees and the scribes are saying to themselves, well. It's exactly what that boy should do. This is the first thing that had any sense to it.
It's what he should do. And he did. Verse twenty. He got up. came toward his father.
Walk back. In his filthy Swine-smelling, stinking. Close. Trudged. Back toward The village.
But if you think there's been shameful behavior now, here is the most shameful behavior yet. Verse twenty. A shameful reconciliation. Yeah. The young man was still a long way off.
Still outside the village. His father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. And he stopped.
What did he leave out? What did he leave out of his speech? Go back to verse. Yeah. What's his last line in verse 19?
Make me one of your Hired men. But he doesn't say that. He planned to say it. But he doesn't say it because he doesn't need to say it because he doesn't have to earn back his father's love. He doesn't have to earn the reconciliation.
He gets grace. Shameful. The father is just breaching justice, righteousness, honor. And of course the Jews have never understood. The condescension.
and the suffering of God. For the love of sinners.
Well, shameful reconciliation is followed by a shameful rejoicing. Look at verse 22. This is really something Father said to his slaves: quickly, I love it, Taku and the Greek, quickly. Salvation is an instant thing, isn't it? Not a long process of Restoration by works and ceremony.
It's an instantaneous thing. Quickly, right now, all the privileges, get the best robe. A wealthy family like this would have one robe, by the way, the father's robe. And it was used for those maximum kinds of occasions of great grandeur and importance. Get the robe.
Get the best robe. This would be a beautiful embroidered robe, the best the family had worn by the father and perhaps his father, a heirloom kind of thing. Get that robe, he says, quickly. Let no time pass and put it on him. He doesn't say to this young man, now go get yourself cleaned up.
He treats him like he's a prince, he treats him like he's a king, calls all the servants together and says, Take care of him, clean him up, dress him up. He's just going to stand there while you do this to him. You're just gonna lavish him. Put the robe on him. What is that?
It's the robe of dignity. You share the full dignity of the Father. The full majesty of the Father. Put a ring on his finger. The rings weren't just for looks they were used to stamp in soft wax.
The family Symbol on official documents. This is authority. To act. in behalf of the Father. He can Signify the Father's will.
In any document. It's like getting the keys. to the kingdom. Put shoes on him. Slaves and Hired men and the poor didn't wear shoes.
Shoes were for people who had responsibility. Give him dignity. Give him authority. Give him responsibility. He has my dignity.
He has my authority. And he has a share in my responsibility. This is full sonship. My how grace triumphs over sin. Grace gives to us.
When we come. The full dignity of God. As we are clothed with his own righteousness. The full authority of God. to act on his behalf.
consistent with his revelation. And responsibility. To carry on his work in his name, in the power of his spirit. And once the sun had been Given all these things lavishly. Verse 23 says, And bring the fattened calf.
Wealthy people had one calf that they kept, usually for the marriage of the older son. But you use it for the best and biggest occasion? Kill it. That would be a Operation in itself take a little while. And by the way, they didn't flay it and put it on a big, huge spit.
I've been to some things like that where that's been the way of doing it. They chopped it into steaks and chops and everything else and cooked it in their. Bake ovens, they're bread ovens. Kill the fattened calf, and let's eat and be merry. We're gonna have a party.
Now go back to verse 7. There's more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. 99 righteous person who need no repentance. Verse 10: joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. This is that in this story.
The celebration begins.
Now, I just want to point out one thing we don't have time to develop at all, but the celebration is directed at the Father. It's not directed at the son. The son received the robe and the ring and the shoes, but the party is a party in honor of such a gracious father. Let's all eat.
Now, a calf could feed anywhere from 100 to 200. They didn't eat a lot of meat. They didn't eat meat every day. Meat was for special occasions. And this could be 100 to 200 people to dig into this thing.
They're going to do it. Verse 24 says, For this son of mine was dead. We could talk about that. God knows who his sons are, and in his wonderful providence and sovereignty, he has his times when he will raise them from death to life. This son of mine was dead and has come to life again.
He was lost and has been found. And they began to be merry. They began because the party will never end. The celebration over the redemption of every sinner will go on forever. And the object of the celebration will be God, God, God, God, the saving God.
Well, this is another outrage to the listening Pharisees and Sadducees. The whole thing is now getting beyond bizarre. It is becoming irritating. It is becoming agitating. This is like fingernails down a blackboard.
This is just too contrary and shameful. The Father is now acting stupidly, giving all of this. To the sun, and then having a celebration as if some honor had been. Earned. No characters existed like this in their world.
There weren't any sons like this. There weren't any fathers who would do this. They knew no sons like this and fathers like this. And there is their unmasking. They didn't know God.
Well, we've come to an amazing conclusion. A shameful reaction. Verse 25, we'll cover this in just a few minutes. His older son was in the field. And when he came and approached the house, by the way, wouldn't you think the older son was supposed to plan all these big events?
It was his responsibility. His father never even consulted him on it, didn't tell him about it, didn't send a messenger to get him. Why? He knew he had no relationship with him either. He hated his father also.
He was alienated from his father, also. He just stayed around the house, but he had zero relationship to his father. That's why he didn't defend his father's honor in the beginning and he didn't try to protect his brother from doing something as stupid as he wanted to do. This man played no role in anything because, though he was at the house, he had no relationship to the father. The father knew that he cared not for his brother, and he knew that he had no interest in his own joy, and so he was not a part of it.
He's out in the field, he wasn't working, he was just making sure people do. His father Left him there. Until he came home at the normal time at the end of the day. By then, the party had started. He came, approached the house, heard music and dancing, summoned one of the servants, actually Paidon boys.
This would be village boys who were outside. You know, the young people would hang around while the adults were in having the party. He comes to one of the young boys. He begins inquiring what these things might be. He's totally in the dark.
He doesn't get it. He has no part in this whole redemptive scheme. And this boy in verse 27 says, Your brother has come. Your father's killed the fattened calf. Because he's received him back safe and sound.
That little phrase, safe and sound, whole, actually is connected to shalom. He received him back, shalom. He's at peace. with his father full reconciliation. Oh, you might think, wow.
And he would celebrate. Rono. Verse 28, he became angry. Fine. Guess what?
The Pharisees and scribes just appeared in the story. This is they. They just appeared in the story. They were angry. That God in Christ was embracing sinners.
That's what ticked them off, and here they are in the story. They are, by the way, referred to earlier as the 99 who need no repentance. never seeing themselves as Sinners. He became angry, was not willing to go in. I will not be a part of anything like that.
It is shameful. The father is shameful. The son is shameful. The village people who are celebrating are shameful. This is no time to honor the father.
The father is a fool. You don't give honor to a man who's a fool. Shameful reaction. No, he had been home. Hanging around the house.
He had zero relationship to his father. He is as lost as his brother. And the Pharisees and the scribes were just as lost as the tax collectors and the sinners, just a different kind of lostness.
Some are lost in the far country, some are lost around God around the church. And you know, the truth were known, legalists like this, religious people, superficially religious people, are jealous of prodigals. Because inside they have the same lusts, but they're never fulfilled. They have the same hankering for sin and iniquity, and they are jealous and envious of those who play those out to the max and don't care what people think. They do because their approach to get the stuff.
It is to conform outwardly. And so here they are in the story. But you know, from their viewpoint, they would be saying, finally, a sensible guy. Finally, a guy who gets it. Hey, this is righteous indignation.
We like this guy. This is the Pharisees and scribes' guy because this is they. And if that's not enough shame, how about this? More shame, a shameful reply by the Father. Verse 28.
His father came out and began pleading with him. God, this is just unbelievable. Father comes down again. Picture of condescension, leaves the party, leaves the celebration where he's the guest of honor. Excuse me, folks.
I I have to go. Comes down. Into the night. Into the dark, Fines This Hypocrite. who hates him.
and begs him. to come to the party. This is another ridiculous, shameful Act. Isn't that father willing to punish any son that insults him? And by the way, He entreats him in a prolonged way.
There's no public slap, no beating. The father is begging. But the response Verse 29. He answered and said to his father, look. That's an eye roller.
You don't say that to a father, you say, Father. Father. You don't say, look. Complete disdain, complete disrespect. This is his, I wish you were dead too.
Look, for so many years I've been serving you. That's how it is with legalists. They do it. It's a duty. It's a grind.
It's bitter. I have never neglected a command of yours. Boy, there's a deception. This is like the rich young ruler who said he kept all the commandments. That's how it is with religious phonies and hypocrites.
They don't want to admit their sin. I have been grinding this service for you to get the estate that I want. I've never neglected a command. You never gave me a goat. Let alone a calf.
That I might be married with my friends. He wanted a party of his own, but not with the father and not with the brother. He had other friends. He had his own group, hypocrites hang with hypocrites. And the father?
Verse 30 says, When this son of yours came Who devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed a fattened calf for him. And the father says to him, My child. Wow. From the Pharisees' standpoint, even though they would agree with the older son having the just attitude, they can't understand a man who appears to be this weak. Slap that guy But he says, my child, not weos, that's been used eight times, the word for son.
Now it's technon. My boy, You've always been with me. All that's mine. It's always been yours. had to come and have a relationship with me.
You're never going to get it. the way you're going, you're not going to earn it that way. In verse 32. We had to be merry. We had to rejoice.
For this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found. What are we going to do? We have to celebrate. What do you see in the story? Two kinds of sinners.
The Profligate, debauched, open, immoral, irreligious sinner, and the hypocrite in the house around the church. religious, superficially moral. And both are extreme sinners. And a father Who entreats both, who offers both everything he has. And the point is, the extreme sinner falls within the purview of God's grace.
Not everybody is that extreme on either end, but that's good news for all of us in between. And why does God do this? Why does he do this? Because He rejoices. When one sinner repents, and all the holy angels and glorified saints rejoice with him.
But you know, the story doesn't have an ending. It just stops. And after you've read verse 32, you're looking for verse 33. Because what happened? What does the son say?
Come on. What did he do? It just stops. Well, how about if I write an ending? I'll do that.
The older Brother. Seeing the compassion and mercy of his Father. and desiring a reconciliation. Sins of hypocrisy. And asked his father for forgiveness.
I was embraced and kissed. and taken into the banquet. and seated at his father's table. I like that ending. I like that ending.
But I can't write the ending. The ending's already been written. That's right. Here's the ending. Upon hearing this, The older son being outraged.
at his father. picked up a piece of wood. and beat his father to death. That's the ending. It would be only a few months.
Before the Pharisees would kill him. By nailing. on wood. And they would congratulate themselves. That what they had done was an act of honor that protected their people, their nation, and their religion from one who came to shame it.
In the language of the parable, the son was striking the father with crushing, killing blows, saying, you are evil, you are shameful, you are evil.
Someone needs to end the shame and bring honor to this family, and I will do it by ridding this family of such a shameful father. And he says it as he beats him to death. That's how the story ended. And the final irony is that the father who should have beaten the son Is beaten to death by the wicked sun in the greatest act of evil ever. And they thought they were righteous.
And they didn't understand. Love. mercy and grace. Yeah. God the saving Christian.
Gracious Father. In Christ. uses that murder. as the means by which He purchases Our salvation. Let's pray.
We've covered a lot, Father. We Thank you for The richness This teaching by our precious Lord. Help us. To be gripped in our hearts by its wonders. We thank you that the worst that could be done to you became the best.
As in dying you purchased our life. Do your work in every heart, we pray. Make us grateful for such a Father. In the name of Christ, amen. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.
Today John helped you see aspects of the parable of the prodigal son that perhaps you've never considered. Our current study is titled John MacArthur's Most Memorable Sermon.
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Now for the entire Grace to U staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for making this broadcast part of your day. Be back tomorrow for a practical strategy for dealing with even those most stubborn sins. We're continuing our new study, John MacArthur's Most Memorable Sermon. With another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time.
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