Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for a practical and biblical look at the Prodigal Son on this episode of Leading the Way Audio. Very few teachers truly understand Bible culture better than Dr. Michael Youssef. Growing up in Egypt, added to his seminary training and then years of pastoring and studying God's Word, it all comes together to allow him to bring the Bible to life.
And this message is a perfect example as he offers a deep and color-filled look at the story of the Prodigal Son. Hey, do remember that Leading the Way is listener supported. It's a global media ministry that's made possible by friends just like you. So learn ways that you can stand with Dr. Youssef. Call us, speak to a ministry representative at 866-626-4356. And online, we're at ltw.org.
Also, make sure to let Dr. Youssef know that you listen to this station. Do that later then, because right now, Dr. Youssef takes you into Luke, chapter 15, for a life-transforming message. Legalism is the elevation of man-made tradition to be on equal level as the commands of God. Some even put it above the Word of God. Legalism is that religious spirit that says that if I go to church for one hour a week, I can live like the devil for the rest of the week. Legalism is the religious spirit that says that unless you worship a certain way, unless you are baptized a certain way, unless you follow a certain liturgy, unless you do this or you do that, you're not a great Christian. Legalism is the condemning of one sin but then winking on a whole lot of sins. Legalism is the focus on those things that are not necessary for salvation and making them almost as important as the gospel itself. Listen, I grew up in legalism. I know it from the inside track. I remember the preacher would make absolutely sure that every one of us boys knew that dancing, playing cards is going to get you to hell.
And man, I used to be terrified every time I played cards. But the one thing that he would rile against is what he called the sin of the cinema. The sin of the cinema. And he would lean on the pulpit and say, where will you be and what will you do if Jesus returns and you are at the movie? God is my witness and I'm terrified of Jesus coming back before I see the ending of the movie. I tell you, my family will tell you, I really don't go to movies that often.
And I've never enjoyed that experience. Legalism messes you up. It can mislead people into thinking that you can be a great Christian if you just don't do certain things. But let me balance this.
I need to balance this. While we all understand the problems of legalism, so many of the younger Christian generation today have gone to the other extreme. And they have made grace into license.
Today, there are very few young Christians who are discerning and judging what they see, what they hear, where they go, what they read, who they associate with. And they have converted grace into license. The Bible has a word for those who turn grace into license, and it's called carnality.
It's called carnality, and that is why we need to understand the grace of God. We need to have a proper understanding of grace. We need to have proper comprehension of what grace is all about. We need to have a proper appreciation of the grace of God.
I want you to hear me rather than this one. A biblical Christian is a balanced Christian, and a balanced Christian will refrain from sin. No, not for any other reason, but because they know of the price that the Lord Jesus Christ has paid in that sin and for that sin. Because they know that only through the power of the Holy Spirit of God can they have power over that sin, that they can be victorious over sin. They know that the reason they obey the living God, the reason they obey the Word of God, the reason they obey the commandments of God is simply out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ who gave his all to redeem us. Out of reverence for him, out of respect for him, out of adoration for him.
Not by trying to buy him off. No, that's paganism. Today we conclude the series of messages the God who pursues us from Luke chapter 15. As we go into look at the attitude of the older brother, the attitude of the older brother. Remember from the very beginning of the chapter, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees who are the legalists of all legalists. He's speaking to those Pharisees who have kept all of the rituals, the outward appearances, and the interpretations of the Old Testament by gurus and rabbis and special people rather than the Word of God itself.
Oh, but while they kept all of these rituals, their heart was in the far country. Their heart was not with God and that is why the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes to this part and he in effect saying to them, Mr. Pharisee, let me tell you, you are the older brother. Mr. Pharisee, the older brother is a portrait of you. Mr. Pharisee, you are the one who kept all the external rituals and the interpretations of the Word of God, but your heart is far from God.
You are the ones who may condemn one sin but then you rationalize and justify and dignify unforgiveness and you rationalize and you dignify bitterness and envy and gossip and backbiting and the smearing of the reputation of those with whom you disagree. And most legalists in the Christian church sympathize with this older brother. In fact, I can tell you, you don't hear too many sermons on the older brother.
They always go for the younger boy and man, the rebellious boy. They will condemn the younger brother but somehow they skip this part about the older brother. Do you know why?
Do you know why? Because while the son kept the traditions, he was gritting his teeth while he attended to the outer appearances. And you see, that's why Jesus called the Pharisees sepulchres because in the biblical lands, the sepulchres are buildings and they always painted them white and they looked great from the outside but inside was nothing but dead bones and Jesus said, Pharisees, you are like sepulchres.
He said, you always make sure the cup is clean from the outside but you don't care how filthy it is on the inside. And that is the older brother in the story. He kept his heart far away from God but he stayed home. He went to church but he was sour and bitter and angry and he had a loveless heart. No wonder God hates legalism because legalism gives the impression that you can be saved or can be accepted by God by keeping the traditions and the outward appearances. Legalism is Satan's theology. Literally, legalism puts Satan in charge of a church.
I want you to hear me right on this one. The older boy's legalistic heart is manifested greatly, supremely in the fact that he could not forgive his younger repentant brother. This is about the most important. If you get nothing else out of this message, you must understand that if you want to be like your daddy, your heavenly daddy, you must forgive like your heavenly daddy. And how does your heavenly daddy forgive?
We saw in the last message. We saw how he never, never hold your confess sin against you. Now when you come and say forgive me, it's done. He does not back up your sin on a hard disk in order that he may use it in evidence in the future.
It is wiped clean. That's how your daddy forgives. And that's how you and I must forgive. When we refuse to forgive a repentant person, your relationship with your heavenly father becomes strained. And we see that clearly in the story here.
You see it very clearly. Because forgiveness is not an optional for the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgiveness is the only key that will unlock the handcuffs of hatred and bitterness and envy. Forgiveness opens closed doors to unanswered prayers. Forgiveness lines your will with the will of God. Forgiveness lines your heart with the heart of God.
And the older brother's indignation turned into rage when he heard what his father had done. You see the Pharisees could not accept the fact that the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, that the God of Moses and Elijah and Joshua would forgive a repentant Gentile. They could never accept that.
It doesn't fit into their box. And yet it's all in the Old Testament that God will open his arms wide to receive whomever, whomsoever comes. Right in the Old Testament.
Oh but they took the part out because it didn't fit their box. And the Pharisees anger toward Jesus for preaching grace turned into rage on the day we call Good Friday. And they called out, crucify him, crucify him. We don't want the God of grace. We want the God of the rituals who will accept us because we're in control, not because he is in control. Here's another very important teaching, something I don't want you to miss.
It's vitally important. In the culture of the day, in the time when Jesus was speaking to those people, it is a given for the older brother to preside over all the family's festivities. He is the host of the banquets of the family.
Godless of his personality, whether he's shy or not, whether he's extrovert or introvert, has nothing to do with it. This is part of the territory. This is part of his responsibilities. This is part of his duty. That's his job as an older brother. But in the case of this older brother, not only does he let his father down by not presiding over the family celebration, but he makes a scene outside of the house. He insults his father by not fulfilling his duties, but he creates an open rupture in the relationship with the father.
Beloved, listen to me very carefully. In the eyes of God the Father, the older boy's rebellion is just as serious as the younger boy's rebellion. God does not have a big sin and a small sin. Sin is sin in his eyes. And that's why when he redeems you, he redeems you from all your sins.
You say, Michael, where do you get this? Well, look at verse 28 of Luke 15. Look at verse 28. Jesus said the father had to leave his house and the guests and go out to entreat his older son. Now, listen to me. This is never, never, never, never, never, never done in the context of that culture.
Never. The father never goes out to entreat the son. The son is the one who would entreat the father. The father never pleads with the son.
The son pleads with the father. The father never humbles himself before the son. All but the son is the one to humble himself before his father. You see, you've got to understand, in one day, in one day, this particular father humbled himself twice in one day. He humbled himself when his younger rebellious son returned and asked for forgiveness by running, which never done. And then he does it again with his older boy who was outward appearance was okay, but inwardly his heart was far from God.
His heart was rebellious by coming out and leaving the party and leaving the house and coming out in the street in order to plead with him. What does that mean? What does that mean? It means this, please listen, that God in Christ humbled himself. That God in Christ did the unthinkable. That God in Christ did the impossible. That God in Christ did the unexpected. That God in Christ did the extraordinary. That God in Christ did what no one could fathom, the God of glory would humble himself and die on a cross in order that he may redeem sinners. He humbled himself to the death of the cross. For the Jews who were in the house under the old covenant, but their heart was far away from God. And for the Gentiles who took all of God's blessings and all of God's resources, but then they dismissed God, they ignored God.
He died for both. Those who were open rebellion and those who are in inward rebellion and only you know where you stand. The open rebellious son represents the Gentiles and the inward rebellion son represents the Jews. And that is why, you see the world at that time and their world view was divided into two segments, the entire world. There were the Jews and the Gentiles, that's all of humanity as far as they were concerned. And that is why in Christ alone, salvation can be found, whether Jew or Gentile. In Christ alone, heaven is possible. In Christ alone, redemption is a reality. And these misguided leaders and teachers and preachers and pastors and priests who tell you that all the roads are going to lead to God, all the roads will lead to heaven. They are contradicting the very words of Jesus as he and he alone humbled himself so that whomsoever will come to him will receive forgiveness. All the members of the human race, the older boy represents the Jews, the younger boy represented the rest of the world. And that is why Jesus left the ending of the story hanging up in the air.
Somebody asked me, why is this story kind of, it doesn't end, it sort of hangs in the air. That was deliberate on the part of the Lord Jesus. Because the grand finale of this story is the open arms that were stretched on that tree, we call the cross.
And they were stretched to welcome whomsoever from every tribe and every race and every nation, from every religious background, from any background and no background at all. From any age and from any and all sins. For those who think that they have sinned greatly and those who think that they have just sinned little. For those whom I have only told a white lie and those who have broken every one of the commandments. To God the Father, sin is sin. Now my beloved friends, this is a true story.
And it is. The Bible doesn't say it's a parable. Because it's a true story of God the Father, who in Jesus Christ and in Christ alone, made it possible for anyone who would come to Him be forgiven. For those who will come to Him and ask for His forgiveness to experience salvation and peace and joy and contentment and eternal life. The Father loved both boys who represented all of humanity.
He loved them both. And that is why we take the gospel to the ends of the earth. And that's why we're committed to take the gospel to the ends of the earth from this place. Because God loves sinners, whatever they might be, when they will repent and turn to Him. And so the question that I pray to God will burn in everyone's heart and mind. Not just today, but for many days and maybe for the rest of your life.
I know it's a question that is always haunting me. Am I like the older brother? Am I like the older brother?
Who stood in the way so that others were hindered from coming in. Are you just keeping the appearances? Are you just doing the minimum? Are you looking around and seeing people dying and going to hell? And you say to yourself, as long as I'm saved, I'm alright. My family's saved, I'm okay.
I don't have to worry. Now my beloved friends, we need to care for the younger brothers and sisters who are yet to come and repent and turn to the Lord. Just as we saw in the story today. Father, your word is truth and it has not changed in 2,000 years. And those arms have been stretched on the cross while they're physically no longer on that cross because the resurrection took place and you are in heaven glorified.
But the open arms continue even today. Father, there may be younger sons here today. People are like the younger boy who are in the far country and they desperately need to come to the Father. I pray in Jesus' name that they would not put it off.
They will come to you today. There are some like the older brother who are living for self and get in the Christian huddle and don't think of those in the far country. They never moved by their desperation. Oh Father, I pray that you will move our hearts, that we will respond. Among us, those who have a hard time accepting that you are in control and we are not. I pray in Jesus' name, soften those hard hearts. And Lord, we believe wherever we are, you are more than willing to welcome us in.
Are you living a life that just appears faithful? Thank you for listening to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef and this very challenging message. Got faith questions? Consider talking with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor. Look at the informative FAQ page and fill out a short contact form when you go to ltw.org slash jesus. And if you missed any part of today's Leading the Way audio, let me encourage you to visit us at ltw.org. You can watch and listen to content right there online. You can also learn about the mobile app. Also, subscribe to podcasts and more. Also, ltw.org, that's where you can learn about the global ministry of Leading the Way. This is more than a radio program. This is a worldwide movement touching lives in six continents. In fact, here, let me mention a culture-shaking podcast from Leading the Way. You are going to want to subscribe to this.
You're going to want to share it with your friends. It's called Candid Conversations with Jonathan Youssef. Dr. Jonathan Youssef, who is Dr. Michael Youssef's youngest son, serves as the director of ministries in his local church. And he is impacting so many through his passion to help families and individuals, people of all generations, navigate and reach the unique culture that we're living in right now. Jonathan shares from God's Word. And he often invites you to listen in to discussions with trusted Christian leaders, people of faith who offer tools to face the world with grace and renewed faith. Learn more. Go to ltw.org. Leading the Way is listener-supported. Dr. Michael Youssef has passionately proclaimed uncompromising truth all around the world for more than 35 years. Learn how to connect further by calling 866-626-4356 or online, ltw.org.
