Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Sermon Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.

Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina. For 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 is 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. Well 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 you know 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. 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 often times 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 often times 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.

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 see 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. 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. 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's 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 and the older brother gets tired of it and before long you can't go to Wal-Mart 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 would say 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 threw his napkin down and so I said oh I saw that attitude and I went 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 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 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 and 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 earned 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 commandment of the 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 and 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 respect ability 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 a 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 answering said to his father lo these many years do I serve thee notice he said thee neither trans regressed I at any time thy commandment and yet thou notice thou never gave us me a kid that I make make merry with my friends but as soon as this thy son was come which hath devoured thy living with harlots thou has 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 listen he was disrespectful to the father let me tell you something 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 heart's 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 and 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 to 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 two 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 has killed for him the fatted calf let me ask you something find it very interesting here that phrase he says that 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 that 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 going to 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 and 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 cool every one of us in here think 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 because God always looks first at the heart I want you to notice thirdly his reaction we're almost done this morning obviously in verses 28 31 and 32 we find first that he refused the father's plea how babyish was this guy he would not go in and here's the father celebrating that his son has come home and the father has to leave that party come outside and this kid is out there poutin like a little baby teenagers you listen to me too I'm making it I'm making enemies today so I might as well let me tell you something teenager something you don't like you just gonna do a little pout let me tell you something that's like a three-year-old time to grow up right parents right parents time to grow up this guy a grown baby is out there pout I don't like it all these things I give you the good list why this is unfair he's out there poutin the dad has to come out to him and he entreats the Bible says his older son he says and he tries to he tries to explain this is why I'm doing what I'm doing first he refused the father's plea never called him father and when his father came out and tried to approach the son he rejected him you know the Bible says God says you draw nigh to me I'll draw nigh to you but he rejected the father number two I want you to see he refused the father's promises what is interesting here the father said hey you still get all that you still get everything son you still get all the rest of the estate you know why I think one of the reasons that the older son was so mad is because the Bible says that the father divided the inheritance to both sons so that older son got two-thirds the younger son got a third we talked about that and left home and that means this when the father killed the fatted calf and spent all that money on the food that was the older brother stuff you're taking my stuff talk about selfish what's interesting here I find about this older brother listen to me I want you to get this he didn't really want the father he wanted what the father had to give him and that made him no different than the younger brother what is interesting here is this even though he didn't want the father he didn't want anyone else to have the father either I want you to notice thirdly he refused the father's passion the father tells this older brother that it was meat that they have this celebration that word meat means appropriate necessary in other words he's telling his older son listen this is something I should do this is something to celebrate that your younger brother he was lost he was gone and he's come home and he's back with a family that was something that we ought to do obviously you see here the passion that the father had for his son that was lost and by the way individuals God has a passion for lost sinners and when we begin to criticize people and we need and we begin to say well you know those we don't need to we don't need to run those buses for those people oh hold on you're refusing the father's passion thank you for listening today we hope you received a blessing from our broadcast the kirtland baptist church is located at 4520 old hollow road in kernersville north carolina you may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kerwinbaptistchurch.com enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app thank you for listening to the kerwin broadcast today god bless you