And you and I, in the same way, are children of God, all of us in terms of creation, in terms of the physical. We've all been created by God. We all come under the umbrella of His providence, but some are wayward sons. And when those wayward sons come back in loving, concerned, repentance. Yeah.
He embraces them. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. It's been said, God has created each of us with a thirst that only He can quench. That's to say, we can find true joy and satisfaction only when we find our ultimate enjoyment in God.
The question is, how do you enjoy God? What practical steps can you take to cultivate deeper pleasure in your relationship with your Creator? John MacArthur unpacks that issue today from a story in the Bible that you might not expect. It's the parable of the prodigal son. Find out how that story relates to your enjoyment of the Lord as John continues his study titled Enjoying God.
Here's today's lesson. I believe Without a doubt. This is the single. greatest statement on the character of God. And it's in Luke.
Fifteen. Luke? Mm-hmm. Let me read it to you. Verse 11.
And he said. A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after that, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with.
Riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, but no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger?
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.
Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry and wouldn't go in.
Therefore came his father out and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this Thy son was come who hath devoured thy living. with harlots. Thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
And he said unto him, Son, Thou art ever with me. And all that I have is is thine. It was fitting that we should make merry and be glad. For this thy brother was dead. and is alive again.
and was lost. and is found. What a great story. Listen, people. That is not the story of a lost son.
That is the story of a loving father. And listen to me. A loving father who loved two sons. Under two different conditions. With the same love.
The very same love. Look at the story again. Verse 11. A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
Now listen. A younger son had a right to Part of the inheritance. The older son got two-thirds, and if there were only two, that would mean a third of the inheritance was his. But it was always the case that he waited until his father died and then received a third of the estate. But he wants it and he wants it now.
Which means the father in responding to his request would have to literally liquidate his estate and convert it into enough cash to give this son what he asked for. And the son got what he asked for. At the end of verse 12, he divided unto them his living. He liquidated everything he had and put it in the care of his sons. He bestowed upon them all that he possessed.
Verse thirteen. Not many days after that the younger son gathered all together. took his journey into a far country. and wasted his substance with esotas. Dissipation.
The word literally means wastefulness, excess, wild extravagance, squandering it. Doesn't tell us what he did. His dirty-minded brother assumed that he wasted it on the harlots, but he didn't have that information. That was just a slanderous statement. We don't know what he did with it, but he ruined himself by wasting it all.
And then he faced a double disaster. Verse 14, he had sped everything, and there arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to be in want. It isn't bad enough that he wasted his substance, but now there's a famine in the land. Food is at a premium. He can't get a job, and nobody's going to give him anything.
He's out of money, and the famine has hit. Food is scarce, food is high priced, nobody's giving it away, and nobody's offering jobs because there's no money for anything but food. In verse 15, he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. A Jew feeding pigs. I mean, you can't get any lower than that.
How degrading. Leviticus 11, 7 says they were unclean. What's he doing feeding them? The old saying among the Jews was, may a curse come upon the man who cares for swine. That's how low it is.
That he has stooped. He would have fain filled his belly. Verse 16 says with the husks. Literally, the word is carob pods. He would have filled his belly with the carob pods that were the food for the pigs, but nobody would give him the pig food because you couldn't eat a human, so you fed a pig because you could eat a pig.
Humans drained the resources. Pigs were the resources. Pigs are more valuable than people.
So nobody gave me anything. Verse 17, he came to himself. This illusion began to set in and he finally came to his senses. And he began to reason: How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and despair, and I am perishing with hunger? By the way, the word hired servant is most interesting.
It doesn't mean a household slave. It doesn't mean a contracted servant. It means a day laborer. He says, even the people passing down the road that my father hired for one day's work have food to eat. Even the day laborers.
Even the guys that just hook on for the spare days. Verse 18, I will arise and go to my father. And say to him, and he rehearses his little speech: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. And am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy day laborers.
Just treat me like a guy who hooks on for a day, so I have something to eat.
Now, some people have said that he had an ill-advised motive because his motive was food, but listen, it went much deeper than that. He didn't just go with a plan to say, I'm hungry. He went with a plan to say, I have what? I have sinned. I believe it's a classic confession.
I believe he really expressed the sorrow in his heart. And it wasn't the sorrow that he'd lost his fortune. And it wasn't the sorrow that he didn't have any food. He wasn't sorrowful for what he lost. He was sorrowful for what he had done.
And that's classic. Confession. When you're only sorry that you got caught, or you're only sorry that your resources are gone, that's not true repentance. When you're sorry because you've sinned against heaven, a Jewish euphemism for God because they wouldn't speak his name, when you've sinned against God and you're sorry, that's classic confession. And so he comes to his father.
Verse 20. And he arose and came to his father. I love that. Jesus didn't say he went to his home. He returned to his farm.
He came to his village. He says he went to his what? Father, it was the relationship Jesus was emphasizing, not the location. And what happened? I love this.
Here's the main character in the story. When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. and had compassion. and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. You know what happened?
The son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. And before he could even say, make me as one of your day laborers, the father set the party in motion. Save it. You wanna know what God's like? That's what God's like.
Listen. Verse 22, the father said to his servants, Oh, bring the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let's eat and be merry. For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and he's found. And they began to be merry.
That's God's attitude. That's God's attitude. Just to prove it to you, look back at verse 8. Chapter 15. When a woman having ten pieces of silver loses one piece Doesn't she light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it?
And when she's found it, she calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I found the peace which I lost. And he says, Likewise, I say unto you, There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over what? One sinner that repents, you see, that's just another illustration of the Father's joy when a sinner comes, see?
Now listen. I want to stop at the story at verse 24. I'm going to wind it up, but I want you to get these points.
Now listen. As I read this story this week, it dawned on me. Like a bullet out of the sky. That the same five truths I saw in John 5. are illustrated right here.
That Jesus is giving here the illustration for the theological statement of John 5. What was the first great truth that Jesus uttered in John 5? The Father is what? One with his son. The Father is one.
With his son. Look at verse 19. He says, I am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. That's going to be my speech.
I'm going to go and just ask to be a servant. But he gets there, and in verse 21, before he can even get it out of his mouth, The father embraces him and loves him and gets a feast going and says, this my son, verse 24. The father sees the relationship restored. He sees his dead son alive, his lost son found. And so does Jesus say in John 14, I go to prepare a place for you because in my Father's house are many dwelling places.
It doesn't say mansions in the Greek. Heaven isn't a bunch of mansions down this street and four blocks over there, and six to the right is yours. It says this: In my father's house are many rooms. I'm not living six blocks to the right and down a block, I'm living in the father's house. I'm one of his family.
That's the kind of God I have. He's one with his sons. Tremendous truth. Secondly, The father loves his son. Verse 20.
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. How do you think he saw him? You know why, son? Guess what the father had been doing since he went away? What?
Watching for it. Watching for it. The father saw him when it was a long way off, and he knew it was his son. How do you know? I'll tell you how a father knows what his son walks like.
I can look in a crowd and pick out my kids just the way their head bobs. Way they move their feet. The Father loves the Son. He saw him. He's always the initiator.
Always the initiator. He goes to find the Son. He's out there scanning the road. God is the initiator. God is the one who, in love, embraces and carries us along.
That's the kind of love he has. And so when he was a long way off, he saw him. And he didn't wait for a speech and he didn't say, well, I wonder what he's going to say when he gets here. How's he going to handle this? He doesn't wait for a speech.
He has compassion. He was moved with pity in his bowels. The Greek says his stomach began to churn and the emotion turned over in his stomach and he was feeling deeply the love of his son and he ran, old man that he was, and he ran because God is always the runner after men. He is always the initiator of salvation. And the Bible says he fell on his neck, a passionate embrace, and then it says he kissed him, and it uses a term in the Greek that means he kissed him repeatedly and fervently, just kissed him and kept on kissing him and kissing him and kissing.
That's God. See, that's God, people. People say, oh. A lady came up to me the other day and she said, oh, you know, I've sinned in my life. And she said, I'm so afraid God won't accept me.
Not the God that Jesus talked about. He'll accept you. In fact, he'll run and embrace you before you utter a word. Listen, people, that's what God's like. He makes his children one with him, and he loves his children.
There's a third thing I saw here, the same that Jesus talked about in John 5. The Father blesses. His children. And even if you're a penitent sinner who deserves nothing and you come back, what does he say? Verse 22: Bring the best robe and put it on him.
Shoes on his feet. Why the best robe? Listen to me, folks. You know what the best robe meant? That was the sign of belonging in the family.
When you wore the robe, the family robe, that was your identity. He's one of us. Shoes on his feet, what is that? Slaves went barefoot. Free men wore shoes.
Freemen wear shoes, slaves go barefoot. You put on your shoes. I've set you free. You're a son, not a slave. And he blessed him.
And then he called for the fatted calf, and he called for a feast, and he called for merriment, and they sang, and they made music, and they celebrated, and they danced. The father blesses his son. You say, but the boy didn't deserve it. That's not the point. It's the nature of the father that is the issue.
If God gave us what we deserve, we could pack up the world and just forget it. Fourthly. He gave authority to his son. You'll notice in verse 22, very quickly, he says, put a ring on his hand. This is a signet ring.
and symbolizes family authority. When anything was done officially by the family, it was sealed, and the signet ring of the family was impressed in the seal. And that was authority. If you had that ring, you could literally sign with the seal of the family. And just as God committed all authority to the Son, so marvelously, when you become a child of God, does God commit his authority to you?
You can act in his behalf. Acts 1: after the Spirit has come upon you, you shall be my witnesses. You will act in my behalf. Whoever sins you remit shall be remitted. Whoever sins you retain shall be retained.
Here are the keys to the kingdom. Go to it. You are my emissaries. You are an ambassador of Jesus Christ, Second Corinthians 5. Beloved, think of it.
God. Has made us one with Him. God has loved us. God has blessed us. God has given us authority to act in His behalf in the world and even put His Son in us so that we may manifest Christ.
Finally. We said that In John 5, Jesus said that God honored his Son. And surely we see that here, don't we? He said. At the end of verse 23.
Let us eat. And be merry. He commanded everybody to celebrate. Everybody to honor that son. That had been dead and was now alive.
You say, John, what's this story really saying in its context? Listen. Don't miss this. Jesus is talking to the Jews. Covenant-wise, they were all sons of God.
According to the Abrahamic covenant, they were children of God. Children by circumcision, children physically. But some of them were wayward sons who had gone off. And flirted with other gods and committed their spiritual adulteries. They had sinned against God.
They had been the prodigals. But when they came back to God, he embraced them. And love them. And you and I, in the same way, are children of God, all of us in terms of creation, in terms of the physical, we've all been created by God. We all come under the umbrella of His providence, but some are wayward sons.
And when those wayward sons come back in loving concerned repentance. He embraces them. But there's another alternative too. And that's the second sona. We close with this just briefly.
Now his elder son was in the field. And as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing, and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.
Now, listen, get the picture. This is the son that never went anywhere. You know who this is? The Pharisees. They hung around a temple all the time.
They hung around God's skirts, as it were, all the time. They were always involved in the religious stuff. They never drifted away. They kept the letter of the law. Look what it says down there in verse 29.
These many years have I served thee. I have never transgressed your commandment, and you never gave me any feast. You know why? Because you never knew you were a sinner. And so you have the irreligious man embraced, and the religious man turned away.
And they prove they prove the Falseness of their religion. Their whole attitude shows that their obedience was out of a grim duty, not love. The attitude of an utter lack of sympathy. They treat their brother in such a horrible way. Self-righteous Why is my father doing this for him?
He's a sinner. Remember the story of the publican? In the center. When in the corner, O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. The Pharisees said, I thank thee that I'm not like this dirty sinner.
That's the older brother.
Well, how did the father treat the older brother? Oh, I love this. Verse thirty one He said, son, Son? The Pharisees were within the purview of the Abrahamic covenant. They had received the physical seed of Abraham.
They were the recipients of the covenants and the adoptions and the promises, as Romans 9, 4, and 5 tells. They had it all there, and he says, Son, you're ever with me, and all that I have is yours. It's all yours for the taking, and you've always hung around. Oh, what a loving father. He loves even the legalist.
He loves even the Pharisee. But it was so fitting that we should make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive, was lost and found. Listen. Do you see the love of God there? See what kind of father he is?
He loved so much the one who came back. and he loved no less The one who didn't. even though he stayed around the religious things. He never knew God. and never tapped his resources.
The story never ends. It never tells what happened to the older brother. You know why? Because when Jesus preached this message, the story hadn't been told. We know how it ended.
The Pharisees cried for his blood. And if the story had run full course, the elder brother would have turned his back on his father. What is God like? Do you know what he's like? I'll tell you what he's like.
He can see in the worst center. The vilest sinner, Something glorious and magnificent. And he wants to set his affection on it, make it one with himself, love, bless, give authority to, and honor that individual. No wonder Jesus said, have faith in God. If that's the kind of God we can have faith in.
Amen? Let's pray. Thank you, Father. Thank you. For the joy That's in our hearts.
Because you ran one day And throw your arms around us. When we weren't worthy, when we didn't deserve it. But you loved us anyway. Thank you for being such a father to us. That you are to Jesus Christ.
for making us one with you, loving us Blessing us. giving us authority and honour. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.
John's current study is called Enjoying God.
Now the parable of the prodigal son that we looked at today, it's good to be reminded, as John explained, that that story is not so much about the rebellious son, but the loving father. The parable holds a memorable place in John's ministry. In fact, the only time I recall hearing an audible gasp from the congregation was when John preached on this parable. Here were some of John's thoughts on this amazing and shocking story. The parable clearly is about the Father.
because he is the hero in the parable. I think people know generally about the story of the prodigal son.
Some people think it's a story illustrating bad parenting and how to fix your parenting. It really has nothing to do with that. But it is one of the greatest of all the parables. And it particularly brings honor to our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the loving Father in the parable who forgives the repentant Son. The book that I wrote on this called The Prodigal Son was previously titled A Tale of Two Sons.
And it is A Tale of Two Sons, but that title didn't really identify with the familiar story, so we changed it to The Prodigal Son. It's the story of the prodigal that holds richer truth than. most people would ever realize. Everybody knows the story. But what they don't seem to understand is this is one of the greatest of all biblical revelations on salvation.
on forgiveness. on redemption. And it's about the Father. And two kinds of sinners the kind that will be forgiven and redeemed and the kind that will not. This is a shocking story.
As most of our Lord's parables do, this has a. Shock at the end that is the reason people gasped when I came to the end of this parable when I was preaching it. The book, The Prodigal Son, pulls you into this most famous of Jesus' parables, and it also pulls you into Middle Eastern culture and challenges your thinking, shows you. the practical implications of this story for your life. That's right, friend.
This book is an ideal complement to John's lesson today. It's also a helpful evangelism tool, a great resource to put into the hands of an unbeliever that you know. To order John's book called The Prodigal Son, contact us today. Call during our regular business hours, that's Monday through Friday, 7:30 to 4 o'clock Pacific Time, at 800-55 GRACE. or you can visit our website at any time.
gty.org. The Prodigal Son costs $12.50 and shipping is free. Order a copy for yourself and perhaps an extra to give away to a loved one. When you call 800-55 GRACE or shop online at gty.org. That's our website, gty.org.
And when you visit there, take advantage of the many ways to listen to John's verse-by-verse teaching. You can download more than 3,600 sermons free of charge in audio and transcript format. Just search by topic or a specific verse or book of the Bible. If you're not sure where to start, log on to GraceStream. That's a continual broadcast of John's teaching, beginning in Matthew and going all the way through the book of Revelation.
All of that and much more is available at gty.org.
Now for the entire Grace to U staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Join us again tomorrow as John MacArthur looks at what Scripture teaches about the holiness of God and how a proper view of God's holiness should cause you to enjoy your relationship with Him. It's another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time on grace to you.
