Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Podcast, God's Lost and Found. God's Lost and Found.

Today is going to be a little bit different. And the reason being, this is the one parable, and some people say that there's three parables in Luke 15, and I believe there's four, obviously. We talked about the lost sheep, where one out of a hundred was missing, and the shepherd went and found that one lost sheep. Then we talked about the lost silver, where there was one out of ten missing, and that lost coin was found.

And we talked about that, and there was rejoicing when the coin was found, there was rejoicing when the sheep was found. And then we talked last Sunday, all day, morning and evening, about the lost son, and how he was one out of two that was lost. And when that lost son came home, and the father was reunited again, there was rejoicing in the house. And obviously of this passage is the lost sibling.

And this is kind of, in movie terms, what you would call a subplot. This is a story within a story. And let me tell you something different about this particular passage from verse 25 to 32, and I know most of you know absolutely what we're dealing with, and if you're a little bit lost, or obviously aren't familiar with this story, this is obviously beginning earlier in chapter 15, is the story of the lost son, or the prodigal son, and the son left home, rebellious, he and his brother, the passage never mentions anything about a mother, and he decided he wanted the inheritance that was going to come to him, and left home, lived a riotous life, and sin took him down to where he had absolutely nothing, and he got his heart right, and came back home, and came back home to simply serve as a servant, instead of sit as a son.

But when he came back, the father obviously took him back in, loved him, and welcomed him, and it's a beautiful story. And there's a lot to shout about with the lost sheep, and there's a lot to shout about with the lost silver, and there's a lot to rejoice about with the lost son. But what I'm dealing with this morning, there is no joy at the end of this story. In fact, the best way I can put it, when I get done this morning, we are going to see the one item that is still sitting in God's lost sheep. Lost and found.

Everything else was lost and was found, but this is the only thing that's still lost. So it's a little bit of a different message this morning, it's not a shouting time, there's really nothing to shout about. It's not a rejoicing time, there's really not a whole lot to rejoice about in this particular passage. So I guess you would say it would be a little bit more serious this morning, but I want to ask you to do me a favor. I want to ask if you would, as we look at this passage, could you possibly, could we possibly, I guess excuse me, humble ourselves enough to think with what the preacher is preaching today and out of this passage, Lord, could it possibly be that I need to learn something out of these verses?

Could this possibly be for me? Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew nigh 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 has come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received him safe and sound.

Verse 28, and he was angry and would not go in, therefore came his father out and entreated him. You pray for me this morning as we deal with our last message in this series. Lord, we love you. Lord, I pray that you would bless your word, and Lord, I think that this particular passage is really kind of hard on all of us.

It really hits close to home. So Lord, I pray that you'd bless in Jesus' name. Amen. We've obviously seen some wonderful things in Luke 15. By the way, if you're here this morning and you know that you're saved, you are lost and found. You were lost and are now found.

But it could be that there's some obviously individuals here this morning that are still lost. You might say, well, I've been to church my whole life, or I've been to church before. And going to church doesn't save you, and being baptized doesn't save you, and coming to an altar doesn't save you.

I hope you know that. There has to be a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And there's only one way to heaven, and that's through Jesus, and there's only one way to Jesus, and that's when you repent of your sins and by faith trust Him. And so the only way to Jesus is that way, and He's the only way to God. And so that's what we have to believe in order to have salvation. But I think that oftentimes when dealing with this particular passage that we rarely mention or deal specifically with the older son.

And there's a lot of reasons for that. It's a wonderful story about the younger son that rebelled and did horrible things and came home and humbled himself and got right with the dad, and the dad was so happy. And it's just a beautiful picture of the love that the father had for this son.

And it's such a wonderful thing that by the time you build that dynamic you hate to kind of let it down with this story. But I believe the second reason a lot of times that we don't deal with this particular part is because it just hits a little too close to home for all of us. Because it is talking about the son that was at home already. And oftentimes that would basically mean you and I that are in God's house already.

We're not the ones that are out partying and, well I hope we're not. We're not the ones that are out doing all these things away from God rebellious. Obviously if you're here this morning and you're in God's house it would appear that you know what I want to be in God's house and I love the Lord and I want to be at church this morning.

And so this passage really deals with church people and it's a very difficult thing to hear. Verse 11 reminds us that this father had two sons and that both were lost. What is interesting here as you look at this story that the younger son was lost in a far country and the older son was lost in the father's house.

The younger son lived for pleasure and the older brother lived to, it seemed to maintain appearances. There are two ways that you can be lost here this morning and I want you to understand this very importantly this morning. One way to be lost is to break all the rules that you can and to live as you please. That is how the younger son was lost. You know another way that you can be lost here this morning is to keep all the rules and do what's right.

And you'd still be lost. You say preacher what in the world do you mean? You say we don't get this because we equate being good with being saved and dear friend being good does not make you saved.

Everybody agree with that this morning? If you're only being good to earn the favor of God and if you're only following the rules so to say illustration wise to try to get the blessings that God gives to those that are obedient you have missed the entire point. The primary message of this story is to those who are lost in sin and need to be saved that you can come home to the father. And the other message of this is for people that are already saved but who have a rotten attitude and a rotten spirit and you can literally be lost sitting in the father's house. This story speaks to people who are upset when God blesses someone else.

Ouch. Are you the kind of individual that seems just to get a little bit. I don't know what word I want to use. A little bit bitter resentful when somebody else gets a nicer car than you. Are we the type of individual that seems to just we just we have a hard time it's not that we're just mad we're just kind of hurt when somebody gets a nicer house or a nicer thing or more things. And it just seems that God blesses someone else. Are we the kind of individual that doesn't like to see God blessing someone else when we feel He hasn't blessed us in the same way. This story speaks to those that don't like it when prodigal sons come home because we think they deserve judgment. This story speaks to those who refuse to rejoice over what God is doing because it hasn't been done their way. This story speaks to people who are literally like the older brother who were carnal and critical and had a wrong spirit. I don't know about you this is not easy to preach and it is not easy to listen to.

There is nothing good or easy about it. But you have to understand as we dig into this very quickly this morning in verses 1 and 2 of this chapter God is preaching to the Pharisees and scribes. They were mad because Jesus was eating with the publicans and sinners and He was spending time with them and He loved them and He showed compassion to them and they didn't like that. And so as Jesus begins His message He talks about the lost sheep and the lost silver and the lost son and that dealt with all the lost people that He was eating with. But as He ends His message the final thought was specifically to the Pharisees and scribes the religious hypocrites. As we look at this passage this morning in verse 25 and if you're keeping track obviously these points will be on the screen. Number 1 this morning as we look at the lost sibling I want you to see number 1 his respectability.

The Bible says in verse 25, now his elder son was in the field and as he came and drew nigh to the house he heard music and dancing. First under this I want you to understand about his respectability. Number 1 he was a leader. He was the elder brother. He was the oldest.

He was a leader. Those of you that have siblings or I shouldn't say siblings, well even those that have siblings you know that sometimes the older one will almost take a leadership role. And sometimes when you have children that the older one and it's just an automatic thing. Now as they get older sometimes it changes but I didn't understand this dynamic. I'm an only child.

And I would read this passage about how the older son was bitter against the younger son and I would think well I just don't understand how anybody can be that way. You know how could you be mad at anything at home? Home is just wonderful. I mean I was an only child. I got all the presents at Christmas. I got all the attention. I had the best birthdays.

I mean I had to share with absolutely nobody. I had a wonderful life. And then I had three sons. And at first after we had the first one, Daniel, I understood that whole dynamic. He was an only child. I understood that and all that stuff. And then we had Hudson.

And Hudson is a wonderful young man in different things. And then we would be riding in the car somewhere as he got older and I would look at Julie. Why are they arguing? We don't argue in the cars. I never argued with anybody in the car. I was the only one in the car. I mean I went through about three months where I argued with a puppet.

You know I was going kind of. But anyway other than that all of a sudden I began to realize that when you have more than one child and you have a brother and another brother, a younger brother, and the older one and the younger brother gets on his nerves all the time and he has other things and everything. The older brother gets the younger brother. He wants that too because the older brother and he admires the older brother.

The older brother gets tired of it and before long you can't go to Walmart without war. Do I have a witness in the house? Used to be you know when you first get married or you first have one child everybody says hey you want to go out to eat? Yeah sure. People say you want to go out to eat now?

Absolutely not. I want to go home, sit with less clothes on, and let the kids do their stuff. We went out to eat last night because it was the last Saturday. Our son starts school Monday and we're going to take the you know and Kayden decides to pitch a fit and he you know he got mad at something and threw his napkin down and so I said oh I saw that attitude and I went and I went don't you do that. I mean he is literally screaming if I would have punched him he wouldn't have cried as much. I just touched him. I mean he'd have been knocked out but you know if I would have just if I just touched him and he's pitching a fit and here we are a whole table and I'm picking him up and I take him to the bathroom and every every adults looking at this kid going crazy a two-year-old they're looking at me like mm-hmm you're abusing your child over there. I'm going to tell you something this is miserable when you got a whole bunch of kids. I love them.

I love them but going and doing things is a different world nowadays. I understand now how one brother could resent the other brother. I understand it now. He was a leader. He was the oldest and so he had always probably been the one that dad said you've got to set the example and you've got to do what's right and your little brother is watching you and you've got to teach him how to do such-and-such and I can imagine there were times that dad put the boys out in the field and he looked at the older son said now you take care of your brother. I could I could see this older brother just over the years it seemed that probably the youngest and sometimes they're a little bit more spoiled the youngest one is and you know they get away with a little bit more and the oldest one there's just more pressure and more expected and all these things and I could just watch him as he's growing up as a young man it wasn't that he maybe just hated his dad and it might have been at a time that he didn't necessarily hate his brother but it just kept getting worse and worse and worse and worse and resentment would build and build and build and this young man obviously the younger son was rebellious and left home so he might have been a rebellious young man for a long time and here's the older son that always had to do things right and he's watching his rebellious brother that gets everything too and it just absolutely drove him crazy.

He was a leader. Number two I want you to see this he was a laborer. What is interesting in this story that is opposite of all the other stories when they open the stories the sheep was lost already the silver was lost the older son left home but this is the first story that we see that the object of the story was already home.

Notice what it says it says we find him first in the fields. This older brother was in the fields working he was busy doing the father's business while the younger son was out in a far country living it up this older brother was where he was supposed to be he was working in the fields he was working hard he was doing what dad had already always done he was doing exactly as you would look and appear the right thing. You see the elder brother here is a picture of what we would call the religious elite especially in the Old Testament. They kind of had a place of privilege they followed the law as it appeared and they looked outwardly godly to everyone else. Remember how we've been dealing in the book of Ephesians that one of the biggest principles was Paul was preaching that you know what you can't follow the law for salvation it's faith in Jesus Christ that earns salvation. You and I can't do something to earn our way to heaven we can't follow everything of the law and we can't follow every ten commandments and think that's going to get us to heaven you just can't do that.

But God was talking here Jesus to the Pharisees and the scribes and they followed the law that's why they didn't like him eating with the publicans and sinners because they didn't follow every area of the law. This older brother had followed all the rules he looked like he was doing right but his heart was rotten inside. He wasn't in a far country look at me but he was as lost in the father's house as his younger brother was in the far country. In fact I think he was almost lost a little bit worse because when you're lost in the father's house you have a pride about you that nothing's wrong.

We see his respectability I want you to notice secondly I want you to see his resentment. Beginning in verse 25 we find that as the younger son came home this older brother was out working in the fields. Now you got to think about this picture with me this morning while the younger son came home and the father was just making all over him give him a hug and a kiss and all this was going on and he's putting on the robe and the ring and went to go kill the fatted calf the older brother wasn't there. You know why he was working and as he comes in from a hard day at work he hears music he hears dancing he hears jubilation he hears joy and he calls the servant he said hey come here. The servant comes over he goes what's going on why is all this noise why all this dinner what's going on? And the servant says well your brother has come home and the master is rejoicing and he killed the fatted calf and buddy the Bible says what's interesting here I love this if you look at verse 25 the Bible says as he drew an eye to the house and he heard music and dancing look if you would verse 26 he called one of the servants asked him what was going on verse 27 and he said thy brother has come he's safe and sound look at verse 28 and he was angry this word angry literally in the Greek here means red faced he was going berserk the anger was literally rising from inside all the resentment all the dislike all the hatred all the bitterness that he thought he would never have to deal with again because the younger son who didn't deserve it anyway he left and it all began to come back into his life that's the way it is by the way folks I'm not going to stay in this long but when you're bitter or resentful an individual if you don't deal with it it will always come back up I want you to notice a couple things as we look at obviously verse 25 to 30 and let me go ahead and read it for the sake of time look at verse 28 he was angry he would not go in therefore it came his father out and entreated him verse 29 and he answered and said to his father lo these many years do I serve thee notice he said thee neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment and yet thou notice thou never gavest me a kid that I make merry with my friends but as soon as this thy son was come which hath devoured thy living with harlots thou hast killed for him the fatted calf I want you to notice number one I find this he did not love his younger brother you know the bible says you and I are supposed to love our brothers and sisters in Christ can I have an amen right there? what is obvious in this story is he didn't love his brother how pitiful to be in the same family to literally be blood and he didn't love his brother you and I that are saved we are part of the family of Christ how horrible it is when we don't love our brothers or sisters in Christ second thing I want you to find here is interesting he did not love the father you say well I'm sure he did he was disrespectful to the father let me tell you something that I found very interesting that he never here calls his father father he says thee thou now the father came out and called him son but in these days it was disrespectful to not call your father father that's why the younger son when he came home practicing his speech he said I will say to my father father I have sinned against thee and listen you got to understand he was showing disrespect by not calling him father and he was showing public disrespect by arguing with his father when his father came out listen to this he showed as much shame and reproach on his family by doing this to the father in public as his younger son did by what he did in private he disrespected the father and the family as much as the younger son that ran off and lived a riotous life and I'm here to tell you you can sit in church and do all the things and follow all the rules but when your hearts not right and you don't love your brothers and sisters in Christ and when you don't love them you don't love the father either I'm going to tell you that before long you bring as much reproach on the name of Christ as those that are outside doing wrong do you get now why this is such a hard message to preach and to hear he was disrespectful to the father he was resentful of his father's love for his younger brother he was self serving hateful he was condescending I want you to look if you would at verse 29 I want you to see first the resentment that we're talking about he had resentment in his motives he said lo these many years do I serve thee neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment when his dad has a celebration he refuses to go in what is interesting here is he says in verse 29 to the father many years do I serve thee that word serve in the Greek is like a slave and he's saying this all this time that I've been working here at home I did it because I feel like it's just a bunch of slavery in other words I never did this work because I love you dad I did this work because I had to isn't it interesting some people look at church the exact same way they look at the things they do for God as something that they have to do they do it out of duty instead of doing it out of love he had resentment in his motives what is interesting he did not care that his brother had come home and he did not care about that which pleased his father what is interesting here is that sometimes in a church God's will can be done and God can do certain things with people and there will be individuals that resent it and yet it was part of the father's plan you see you and I sometimes we just don't like what goes on whether it's God's will or not it's not what we wanted or it's not what we liked he saw the service to his father as slavery can I ask you something this morning do you serve here do you sing, choir, play instruments, ushers, teach in a Sunday school class, bus ministry, Awanas, upwards all the things that we have do you do it out of love to God or do you do it because you just feel like you have to do something because before long the truth will come out dear friend we need to serve God because we love him he had resentment in his motives number 2 if you'll notice in verse 30 he had resentment in his mentality he says but as soon as this thy son was come which hath devoured thy living with harlots thou hast killed for him the fatted calf now let me ask you something I find it very interesting here that phrase he says that his brother he says he's devoured thy living with harlots how would he know at this point in the story he had not yet seen his younger brother he had not talked to him and he had not talked to his father yet because he didn't even know why the party was going on inside the house and the bible says that this younger brother was in a far country they didn't have cell phones and twitter and email and all these things how do you know brother how do you know what he's done the simple truth is this young man might not have ever been with harlots and he might have we don't know but the fact was this older brother assumed and was judgmental before the first time of ever going and talking to his brother how dare us judge anybody that we've never even gone to his resentment was seen in his mentality that what was wrong with the Pharisees they kept the letter of the law outwardly but in their hearts listen to me they lusted for the very sin that they did not commit now hold on you're getting ready to learn something that really got me you know why this older brother was so mad at the younger brother because that younger brother left home and did everything that that older brother always wanted to do in his heart he always wanted to go and do those things but he was going to be entitled to two thirds of the inheritance and he was the older brother he's going to get the business and you know what he was just looking at it as slavery serving dad I'm gonna hang out and do this till dad finally dies and I'll get all my things and then all of a sudden the younger brother gets to go do everything that the older brother always wanted to do and then he comes back home gets right and gets back in with the family and it absolutely drove him crazy you know I've seen people that lived in church stayed in church did right in church and folks that's good to do but in their heart they always desired to do other things I want you to notice thirdly that we see his resentment in his methods he did not greet his father his father he publicly argued with his father he did not go and show kindness or welcome to his brother he in public disputed and argued with the boss his dad the man that was in authority he literally refused listen to me he refused to go to the biggest feast his father had ever made you see why look at me I want you to get this this older brother realized that this was probably the happiest day of his dad's life and he was jealous I've been in the fields all along you never had a party you're not thankful that I'm in the fields and my brother goes and does all this and now you have your biggest party ever and this is the best day of your life well what about me and you know what there is a little bit of each of you and me that think yeah he's got a good point isn't it come on be honest in there this kid's got a point that proves that we see things the way we see them and God sees things the way he sees them because God always looks first at the heart God bless you