Amazing Love (Part 1 of 7)

In Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells a series of stories to an audience that includes religious leaders. The parables, he tells, reveal God's amazing love for his children. But the leaders' response to Jesus' teaching revealed something else. Today on Truth for Life Weekend, Alistair Begg teaches us about the greatest barrier that stands between us and God. Well, we might say that the fifteenth chapter is at the very heart of Luke's gospel.

It really is. And what we have here from the beginning of chapter 15 through to the thirty-first verse of chapter 16 is a succession of five parables in a row. And these are set, as you will see, by glancing back at the end of chapter 14, within the context in which Jesus has been urging his listeners to pay attention to what he's saying. And Luke 14 ends with this rather pithy statement of Jesus, "'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'" And then that goes immediately to the beginning of chapter 15, where we discover who it is that was listening and who it is that would have their fingers in their ears. Remember, of course, that in the original there is no chapter break, so there is no pause, there's no heading at the beginning of chapter 15, and so immediately Luke tells us that the tax collectors and the sinners were all gathering round to hear him.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law actually were paying very scant attention to him at all. It's quite striking and very important that we understand this, because this opening paragraph sets up all of these parables which follow in this chapter. Jesus is addressing a situation in which the sinners gathered to hear him. These folks, who were ostracized and stigmatized by the religious leaders of the day, were actually the ones who were paying very, very close attention to what Jesus was saying. So those that we might think would feel that they couldn't listen or were so bad that there was no remedy for them—they're the ones who are listening. And the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, the people who like to go to the synagogue, the people who keep all the rules, the people who are always taking notes in the flyleaf of their Bible, the folks who are the religious ones, and the people to whom individuals would point as having it all together—they're the ones who just stand around muttering.

And what were they saying as they muttered? Well, they were saying, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Well, of course he does! Have you been paying attention to what he's been saying? He said, It's not the healthy that need a doctor, back in chapter 5.

It's the sick that need a doctor. I didn't come, he said on that occasion, to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to repentance. So you would anticipate that if I'm going to call sinners, I'm going to greet sinners, I'm going to reach sinners, I'm going to spend time with sinners. But this statement by these Pharisees was not an expression of their adoration. It was rather an expression of their antagonism and their condemnation. They didn't like Jesus and his program, and they hadn't really paid careful attention to his purpose. In fact, the Pharisees, as I said a moment or two ago, classed everybody who was sort of out with their immediate religious in-crowd as people of the land.

If you weren't part of their deal, then you were aliens and strangers. And if you then found yourself in that category, then you were shunned by those who knew how to conduct themselves in a religious fashion. And of course, there is an expression of religion today, which is very much like that. Some of you have come out of that background, where it would seem that what you need to be is a certain kind of person. Indeed, entry is only for those who are prepared to do this and that and the next thing and keep the rules and keep the regulations.

And there is an almost inevitable feeling of uncomfortableness as a result of being on the outside of that kind of coterie. And along comes Jesus, and he doesn't allow these regulations to interfere with his ministry. So what he is doing here is exposing the faulty thinking of the Pharisees and at the same time exposing these sinners to the wonder of God's searching love. And as we've seen already, Jesus is masterful in the way in which he tackles this. Because his approach grips the attention of the listener and appeals to their sense of reason. Suppose, he says, one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.

That's the kind of statement that immediately makes contact with the listening group. Jesus says, Let me just help you to think about this for a moment. Imagine that you've got a hundred sheep. Or, he says, for example, think about a lady who has ten coins, and she loses one of them. And the lady's in the group saying, Well, I've lost stuff before.

Whether these are ten special coins as a result of the financial element or whether it is part of a necklace, we can only wonder. What he's saying is, if there's something precious that is lost, you will notice that these individuals go at it with great care. In the case of the shepherd, it is a demanding responsibility to leave the ninety-nine in the open country, verse 4, and then go after the lost sheep until he finds it. No trouble too great for him to tackle it. No sacrifice too significant for him to go.

No suffering too great for him to endure. And when he finally pits this lamb or this sheep over his shoulders and goes home, then he calls his friends and his neighbors together, and he says, Rejoice with me, I've found my sheep. I think people say, That's a nice story. It is common interest. It engages the mind. It stirs the emotion. The people say, I understand that.

That is a lovely thing. And that Jesus makes application. Now, you see, in all of this you've got to understand that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. And as he speaks in this way, of course, in and behind all of this, he is moving inexorably towards Jerusalem. He is the one who is going out seeking to save those that are lost. And in spite of all the hardships, and in spite of all of the challenges, he keeps on. In the case of the coin, the picture is one of exacting thoroughness.

You will notice this lady, she lights a lamp, she sweeps the house, and she searches carefully till she finds it. Now, you see, he's telling a story here. He's painting a picture. He said, This is how God works. It's not that he just bumps into somebody in the mall, you know. It's not that he suddenly happened to meet you at a service. No, he is searching you out. He is sweeping through the chapters of your life. He is walking down the corridors of your days. He is searching you out with an exacting thoroughness. The lamp is lit, the search is on, the coin is found, the tea party begins, and all of the neighbors rejoice.

Mrs. Levi has found her coin. Now, the Pharisees, as well as the others, are forced to think this out. Would you ignore or despise or neglect a lost sheep?

No. Then why would you ever imagine that the Good Shepherd would take such an approach? So we have the Pharisees, dreadfully sour, and we have the angels wonderfully singing. See, the Pharisees—and all Pharisees can't stand it when the people who instead of praying on their knees have been praying on their neighbors—actually get to have a meeting with Jesus. They thought that the people that Jesus really wanted to talk to were the people who were always attending the services, and half of these people have been attending services but not in the right place.

They're down the pub all the time. Jesus says, I'd be real glad to sit and talk with you fellows for a moment or two if it's okay. Then he goes to the third story. I say, let me tell you about the one where there was a certain man and he had two sons.

Well, people's ears are perked up, you see. The lost sheep, shepherds. The lost coin, ladies. Two boys. It's a story of broken relationships.

Again, it is a story with which everyone is able to identify. There are two boys, and they're both isolated from their father, the second of which we will see when we get to verse 25, which will certainly not be this morning. And the first we're introduced to immediately here, in verse 12, he's described as the younger boy. The younger boy is isolated as a result of his open, barefaced rebellion, and his isolation is revealed in the fact that he has geographically separated himself from his father and his father's house.

The older boy is isolated from his father while still living in the house. And his separation from his father is disguised ever so thinly because of the proximity, geographically, to his dad. Now, it's a classic scenario, isn't it, in verse 12? Teenage boy rebels against his wealthy father. Everywhere I go in the country, I meet young people who have done just this.

They've done a Luke 15, 12. They said, I'm out of here. I'm gone. Now, we should notice in passing that it is quite normal for children to leave their parents. Indeed, that is the great challenge of parenting, isn't it?

To prepare our children to leave us. It's part of the responsibility. Indeed, when parents treat their adult children as if they were still children, they do themselves and their kids a great disservice. But what is happening here in this young man is not simply his expression for a normal desire for independence. It's not that he's saying to his dad, Dad, I love you, but I think it's time for me to live on my own or I love you, and I'd like to have a go at business on my own or whatever it might be.

It's not that. He is essentially making a scandalous and preposterous request. Namely, he is demanding his inheritance in advance, and in doing so, he is essentially saying to his father, I wish you were dead. If you were dead, I'd get my freedom. But you're alive, and I'm stuck. So why don't you cut me loose now and give me what's coming to me, and let me get out of here?

Now, remember what Jesus is doing is he's using a picture in order to describe the nature of men and women concerning God. Now, some of us may be lost from God living under the disguise of religion—doubtless some of us are—but others of us this morning are even surprised that we're here. And now you're in here, and you're going, I'm trapped in row four, in the middle of it all, and I can't get out.

And the way he's talking, it looks as though this goes on till about three in the afternoon. I'm stuck in here! And the reason you're so alarmed is because you did a Luke 15 12. You came to a point in your life, you said, I'm done with this. You were an altar boy. You were involved in religion. And suddenly, in your adolescent years, you said, I'm stuffed with this. I've had enough of it.

And here you are this morning. Obviously, I'm only in once. Nothing can happen to me one time.

I think you can get in and out without anything happening. You may pray, God, something does happen, because you need something to happen. Because your Father loves you with an everlasting love. He stands watching for you the way the Father does on his porch here. He's not disinterested in who you are or where you are.

He has compassion upon you—far greater than any compassion that you will ever know for your physical, earthly children. In this young man's declaration of spiritual independence, physical independence, what we have is a picture of those whose rebellion against God is open and defiant. The young man was saying, I want to live by myself, for myself. I want to be free of any rules, of any authority. I want to blot out any thoughts of the true and living God.

I do not want you to reign on the throne of my life. Now, the Bible tells us in Romans 1 that that is exactly true of men and women in general. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor did they give thanks to him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

And so, verse 12, at the end, in one sentence, the Father divided his property between them. Now, again, please note that Jesus is drawing a picture here of how human beings made in the image of God find themselves alienated from God as a result of their moral rebellion. That in the same way as this young man wants out from under his father's jurisdiction, so we by nature want out from under the jurisdiction of God. As he said, Give me my inheritance, essentially saying, I wish you were dead. So men and women today are saying, not in so many words, but essentially that of God, I wish you were dead. The young man was saying, I like the material things you can give me, I just don't like you. I want them, I just don't need him.

I want you out of my life, I don't want your involvement, and I certainly don't want your interference. Now, why did he ask for this division of property in verse 12? Well, verse 13 tells us, because he was planning on taking off.

His departure was clearly one that he had planned, and his son clearly regarded it as being permanent. He got together all that he had. He didn't leave anything behind because he wasn't coming back.

And man, when he turns his back on God, does it in that way. I'm finished with this. I'm out of here. I'm gone. I'm not coming back.

I might as well clean my whole operation out, because I will never be back. Despite the fact that all that this young man had was his father's provision—and all that you and I have, dear friend, is as a result of your father's provision—the very mind that you use to deny God is a gift from God. The very talents that make you feel that you have a future on your own to do it your way are talents that your heavenly father has given you. The family background that has provided the resources for you to get out and drive off down the street are the provision of a wonderful God. All of your provisions are God's provisions. That's why it is a tragic thing, as we're going to see, for a man or a woman to waste their substance, to squander it, because your life isn't yours to waste. God gave you your life.

He gave you life in order that you might glorify him and enjoy him forever, not so that you might turn your back on him and say, I'm done with you, I wish you were dead. Not only did he take everything, but he took it as far as he possibly could. He took it off, set off for a distant country, and there, in the distant country, he squandered his wealth in wild living.

The word which is used, again, means to scatter in various directions. He was wandering, and his wandering led to squandering. You look at people who make a vast sum of money on the lottery, and they just go wandering out into life, and within a relatively short period of time, it's all squandered and gone.

Professional football players that do exceptionally well through a relatively short career become multimillionaires, and within five years of the end of their career, are not only less prosperous than they once were, but they're just flat-out broke. That's what happened to the young man. His desires that had mastered him, the desire for freedom, the desire for independence, took him over and just gave way to disappointment. And you will notice in verse 14 that when he had spent everything—when he had spent everything—and then, let your eye go down to the bottom of verse 16. He spent everything.

Bottom of 16, no one gave him anything. And now he's down and out. The big shot came to town. The parties ensued.

He was everybody's friend. Now he has used up everything. A famine has emerged.

And it is a door of opportunity. He began to be in want. He began to be in want.

A sad but glorious moment. Lost his money, verse 14. Lost his freedom, verse 15. Lost his self-respect, verse 16.

There's doubtless someone here this morning. And what you have regarded in these recent days as a cellar door to oblivion is, in the purposes of God, a wide door to freedom, to forgiveness, and to glorious hope. Because the thing that keeps so many of us from our loving Heavenly Father is that we see no need of him. We're fine.

I mean, every so often, a doctor's report will rattle us a little bit, but by and large, we're fine. So when God in his providence brings us down to see our need, then it is a moment of opportunity. And indeed, loved one, until you and I see our need, what possible reason is there for returning to a God for his welcome? Until we see our need of a physician, why would we ever go to him? Until we see our need of a Savior, why would we ever cry out to him? And you see, the very problem with a Pharisee, the very problem with a religious person, the people who were listening on the circumference of this, they saw no need of Christ.

They saw no need of him at all. But there were some who were there. By this time, their eyes are his biggest saucers. They're getting it.

They're listening. I see what you're saying, Jesus. You're saying that when we realize that we are spiritually broke, that we can turn now and go back to our Father, and we will receive from him a welcome. That's exactly it. That we who are on the periphery of things, we who are disregarded by the religious, we who are here only once or twice a time, out of all of the synagogue services of the year, that the Father God loves us and cares for us and reaches out to us. That's exactly… Oh, whoa, whoa, come back to this.

Our time is gone. But picture him there, sitting in a pigsty. What a place for a Jewish boy! Nobody answers his calls. No replies to his emails. He needs food. He needs shoes. He needs a bath. He needs clothes. And no one gave him anything. Let me tell you something.

Nobody will give you anything that can answer the awareness of your need and longing for spiritual food and clothing. But if you are prepared to admit the predicament in which you are so clearly to be found, and if you will take a step back up on that road, then you will discover that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords has been watching for you and waiting for you, that he is ready to come down the road to meet you. And he will not meet you with a lot of recriminations and a lot of where were yous and a lot of why did yous and a lot of, I told you, you'd get yourself in a mess like this. And you go back in here, and when your mother's done with you, I'll have a word with you. You just get back up in there and get yourself cleaned up, you filthy-looking wretch, you know. Get in the back gate as well. Don't let the neighbors see you coming in here. Get in round the back. Look at you.

Exactly what I said would happen. None of that! A kiss! Shoes! A signet ring! A party!

And for all your manky, rotten, ragged jerseys, a royal robe you don't deserve to wear. Do you turn your back on this kind of God? Or are you able to stand before this kind of God and say, I don't need you? What a wonderful story! What an amazing storyteller!

What an incredible invitation! Listen. He, she, who has ears to hear. Listen. Listen. Responding to the simple call to listen.

Will you make that choice today? It's an open invitation from our message in a new series called Amazing Love. You're listening to Truth for Life weekend with Alistair Begg. If today's study has made you aware of your need for a Savior, if you'd like to know more about what that means, we want to invite you to visit truthforlife.org slash the story. There you'll find a helpful video presentation that explains God's plan of salvation. The story of salvation that's presented in this video represents the heart of our mission here at Truth for Life.

We teach the Bible so men and women can come to know, love, and trust Jesus Christ to save them from their sins, to lead them to eternal life. In addition to teaching the Bible, we also recommend books to help you become more grounded in your faith. And this is the final weekend we're offering a book that unpacks the biblical meaning of the simple word heart, a word that's used more than a thousand times in the Bible. The title of the book is With All Your Heart, Orienting Your Mind, Desires, and Will Toward Christ. The author explains that the word heart in scripture is a comprehensive term that describes our entire being, our motives, our passions, our thought processes, and our conscience.

Essentially, the heart drives what we feel, what we think, and how we act. What you'll learn when you read With All Your Heart is how to better align your thinking and actions with the will of God. It will give you principles and practical instruction for how you can use your mind and emotions to love and follow Jesus more completely. Request your copy at truthforlife.org.

Again, that's truthforlife.org. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you'll listen again next weekend as we continue this series titled Amazing Love. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.