The Prodigal

open up your Bibles um to Luke 15 open up your Bibles to Luke 15 I just want to say good morning and happy Easter to you or as I've been telling people good Easter to you um this morning and as Kelsey was praying which is my wife by the way in case you did not know that as she was praying um I feel like she kind of revealed a little bit of our cards on the table that it's been a bit of a difficult morning as as well as really just a difficult kind of weekend in just things not necessarily going how we would Envision

them to go um and so and kind of the way the weather feels outside if you will and so um I I say that because coming into this just putting my cards on the table where I'm at in in my soul my spirit my brain my mind right now um I'm I'm just struggling with the happy Easter um and and because it's just there's so much expectation kind of put on this Sunday there's so much expectation around the cultural component of Easter that really makes it difficult to just like fake it just to kind of get it out there and just say you know what

no we're going to put the smile on I mean you should have seen us trying to take a family picture at the little photo booth thing like when we were trying to get that happen I mean we're we're doing the conditional love like if you just smile I'll give you a treat like right you'll have your third donut of the morning already like if you'll just smile like if you'll just do this one thing and so it's just been it's it's just been one of those kind of couple of days and and I've been trying like just preach the gospel to yourself preach the gospel

to yourself preach the gospel to yourself and that actually is the truth like that is the truth and so what we're hoping or what I'm praying and hoping as we kind of dive into this is that it's not just like another Easter Sunday it's not just another Easter where where we come in and we put on the The Pastels and we put on our good faces and and smiles and and we go around and we happy Easter to everybody but we actually come to the truth of what it is that we are actually celebrating when we get together like what is it that makes Easter

so special and so distinct from any other day of the year like what is it and be to be honest with like Easter is the story The Greatest search and rescue mission that the world has ever known again sure when we think about Easter we think abouts we think about the bunnies we think about the Easter egg hunts we we think about the warming weather hopefully at some point we we think about all of those things the photo ops with the family and we try to make it a happy day we try to make it it a joyful day and sure all those things are

true on the surface but there's so much more to it behind the scenes that we are called to really reflect and think about but even that like when we think about the events that are around Easter when we think about Good Friday we think about the death of Jesus Christ when we think about Saturday we think about him being in the Tomb dead and then we think about Easter Sunday we think about Resurrection Resurrection Sunday we think about he rose from the grave and that's what we celebrate when it comes to Easter but again those are just facts about the event those are just facts

about the the holiday that we celebrate we don't know the the why behind it because if you don't know the why behind it then it's just another mythological story just like any other event that has occurred in history thousands of years ago it's it's another Roman mythology or Greek mythology like it sounds like another bizarre story that westers have created a holiday around and then come together as a reason to get the family involved and then celebrate something that maybe is a little bit impersonal to us because if you go to Wikipedia you can go to Wikipedia and see that it says yes Easter is

about cross it's about him then being buried and on the third day he raises from the grave like that's Pia says about it but it doesn't again explain to us why he died on the cross it doesn't explain to us why he was buried it doesn't explain to us why he rose from the grave because if you don't know the why he did those things then celebrating this holiday means nothing to us it means nothing to us so whether you've been a Christian the majority of your life or your relatively new to Christianity It's always important to do a deep dive into the two events

that all of Christianity literally hinges upon the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus everything hinges on these two realities did he die on the cross and why and did he raise from the grave and if so why well again according to Antiquity which is history Jesus really did die by way of crucifixion 2,000 years ago like that's true that happened not only do we have eyewitness testimonies in the scriptures that recall this account but there's also Jewish historians like Josephus who also uh wrote and testify that that event actually happened he died on a cross by way of pilate by way of the

Jews and the Pharisees yelling crucify him him like all of those events actually happened but why did he die why did he die and that's what we celebrated Friday night in Good Friday is that the ultimate reason why Jesus Christ died was for your justification it was for your forgiveness of sins because justification is a legal term what it means is that because you and I are considered sinners disobeyed God and I'll I'll talk about that in a moment but because we disobeyed God death is our penalty it is our punishment and and if we don't pay it or if we don't if if someone

else does not pay it for us then there will come a moment where we do answer for it we do pay it and it is an eternity in hell but Jesus Christ goes to the cross and on our behalf he dies for us in for us so that we do not have to he died in order for you to be pardoned justification is a legal term in order for you to be pardoned and free from your sins that's why Jesus dying on the cross is considered Good Friday for us it's a good event that happened for you and me for those who believe in Jesus

and then again according to Antiquity something happened on the third day after his death that it caused a ripple effect that turned into a tsunami throughout the history now either and there's so many um secular theories out there on what they believe happened on that faithful third day after Jesus's resurrection or after Jesus's death and I think one of the there's there's swo theories there's all these interesting theories as to what happened some believe Jesus just kind of passed out and after being brutally tortured and beaten and um going without food and water and and literally to the point of almost dying that he just

kind of passed out they buried him rolled the tomb away and that he kind of woke up came to his senses and then was able to have the strength and to move the tomb out of the way and then clean himself up and then appear to people as if he was resurrected from the grave that's Swoon Theory another theory was that the women since they were the first ones to the tomb were able to disarm the soldiers were able to move the stone away were able to take the body of Jesus hide it somewhere and then come back and give testimony to the apostles that

Jesus rose from the grave again not necessarily a theory that I would hang my hat on or Jesus in fact came back to life and if he came back to life why why well he came back to life if his death was for your forgiveness of sins him coming back to life is for your glorification it's him now being risen to a glorified state that is perfect holy physically perfect holy and then exalted to the right hand of of God and as the scriptures say this is him being the first born or the first fruits of the new glorified State and for us he is

doing the exact same thing if your sins have been taken care of if your sins have been pardoned and you've been forgiven then when you die it's not the final death for you you will also be risen to a new glorified State just like Jesus was on the third day he does that for us as the first fruit and this is why Romans 8:28 through3 says we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose for Those whom he forew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in

order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers For Those whom he predestined he also called and Those whom he called he also Justified and Those whom he justified he also glorified IFI now those are a lot of Christian kind of uh language or terms that are in there and I want to help you kind of understand them to understand the reason the why behind what it is that we are celebrating here today because you see the the absolute glory and beauty of God is that before time began before the earth was formed before the foundation of the world God had a purpose like

he had a purpose and he knew that there was going to be a war between between good and evil between righteousness and sin and that there would need to come a triumphant Victor in the war in order to reconcile all of it one who sacrifices his own life in order to save the many from their Sin from the enemy and from Evil he knew that all of this was going to play out and he knew that he was going to be the one to ultimately accomplish it you see in the story of David and Goliath for example Jesus plays the part of David David and

Goliath plays the part of you and me in in honestly like you and me and our sin except God playing chess and not Checkers does not enter the battle with a sword to cut sin's head off yet he will instead God uses the death of his son the death of Jesus to be the triumphant Victory if you were to kind of play it out in human history yes David beats Goliath and destroys him and kills him a picture of Jesus defeating sin ultimately but the way in which God does it in such a unique way that nobody could see coming was that he actually lets

Goliath kill David he lets sin kill Jesus he lets Satan think he won but in reality what he did was using the means of Satan sin and evil to be placed on Jesus and Jesus becoming it and then killing him God uses those means to then pour His wrath out on Jesus becoming sin so that his wrath due our sin is then satisfied in God Satan thinks he's one for a moment but then because God's Wrath is satisfied against sin three days later he resurrects and brings them back to life and then now Satan sin and evil have no power over anything that would keep

us from God because now God's Wrath is satisfied God's happy with what with the sacrifice that Jesus ultimately accomplished for us and so the Bible tells us this is the true meaning of Easter it's about the joyful glory of God in the Redemption of mankind this is the story God has been writing since the very beginning of our world again news outlets are supposed to report the news of the day they used to um they're supposed to report the news of the day well the Bible is God's news Outlet in which God is reporting to you and I the greatest news of all time the

gospel which literally means good news it's the telling of God's plan in human history in all of human history the first thing we know or we are to know about the God of the Bible is that the Bible is all about God it's all about God like when we come in here for Easter like Easter is not about you it's not about you it's about God it's all about God all of history is about God you your very existence is about God not about you it's about him that's why Genesis 1 one says in the beginning God the entire Bible all 66 books written by

more than 40 authors over the span of 1500 to 1600 years begin with God he's the central theme he's the main character he's the author he's the director he's the publisher he's the producer he's the creator of not only the Bible but the entire Earth that we know very little about and the heavens that we know even less about in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth he created everything the Bible starts with God and our world is created by imagined by brought into existence by the one and only true God it didn't happen through a big bang it didn't happen through Evolution

over time it didn't happen through chaos it happened through logos the word of God that was spoken spoken out by him and everything came into being in existence we see this in Genesis 1 and2 as it gives the creative order of God it tells us that he created the day and the night it tells us he created the expanse of the heavens and the depths of the earth it tells us he created the land and the Seas it tells us he created the Sun the moon and the stars it tells us he created man in His image after his likness and then created all of

the birds of the air and the beasts of the field and the man named them the man had authority over their dominion over them it tells us he wanted the man to not be alone and to create for him a helper so he put Adam to sleep took one of his ribs and created the woman whom Adam named Twice first woman because she was taken out of man and second Eve because she would be the mother of all the Living God looked at all that he created and he declared it very good like Genesis 1 and two is where we want to be it's where

our hearts long to be it's where creation groans to be is Genesis 1 and2 when God looks out at everything and says it's very good it's very good like that's why we have frustration like that's why we we experience what we experience over this weekend and we're like man it's just something's missing something's lacking some it's because it's not very good it's not perfect it's not as Psalm 191 says it's not the heavens declaring the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork like that's what we want because that's what God intended and created but the reality is is it's all broken and

fractured but how because you look at Genesis 1: 2 and you say if if that's how God intended it all to be then what happened what happened how on Earth did it get to Jesus the son of God being brutally murdered on a cross well I'm glad you asked you're so intuitive at some point between God creating the heavens and the Earth and then God creating Mankind and placing them in the garden we know that there was a rebellion in heaven among the Angels led by Lucifer who is also known as Satan and the devil he convinced the third of the angels to essentially take

on a coup and go against God which again I will always say this sin makes you dumb it just makes you dumb and in their sin in their Rebellion Reon against God they believed not only could they take the Throne of God but they believed that they could replace god well in a decisive victory that was not even breaking a sweat for the Lord God won and he cast out of heaven and down to earth Lucifer and the Fallen Angels now known as demons and evil spirits and they came to wander the Earth until the end of times where they will all be gathered if

they don't get to go to hell and to rule and reain there they're not the ones inflicting punishment on everybody that ends up in hell they themselves are prisoners there who are themselves being tormented and tortured and um uh reaping the the benefit of what they sowed in heaven they will be tormented and tortured but while they're here while they're here on a leash they they so hate God and they so hate the image that he Bears and the glory that is reflected that they want to destroy it in other words if they're going to hell you're going with me that's all they have that's

all they have they're they're not trying to get their like they're not trying to get back to Heaven they're not trying to work themselves out here and be like you know what maybe we can repent maybe we can uh be be better more good than bad and and figure this thing out no no no they know their end and the best thing they can do in their sin is take others with them that's all they're doing and so that why when you get to the Garden of Eden and you get Adam and Eve that's why there ends up coming in Lucifer in the form of

a serpent who comes to deceive our first mother Eve and of course Adam abdicating his responsibility also sins and they sin together and it fractures and it breaks everything you see the reality is because we were created in the image of God we are created to not only experience the glory of God but to express the glory of God like that's what makes God so beautiful and wonderful is that he shares himself with us but that he also creates Us in his likeness In His Image so that we reflect and we express the same types of love and attributes and characteristics that just make him

look amazing it's all about him but because see we sinned and we fell it stains his glory it stains His Image and no longer are we rightly reflecting him and not only did we sin but when we sinned it also fractured creation we're cursed then uh creation is cursed so it's no like when you look at the Grand Canyon and you sit back and you're you're you're viewing it with awe it's actually meant to look greater than what you're even experiencing in that moment because it's still perverted it's still fractured and this goes with everything sexuality is perverted and fractured economy is perverted and fractured

creation is perverted and fractured everything nothing is actually declaring uh the glory of God and the sky above proclaims the handiwork of him like it's all we cannot see it in the way that God actually intended it to be seen and that's why he sends this search and rescue plan to us to fix the problem sin which is Disobedience to God has to be punished and removed from Creation in order for mankind to be reconciled back to God in joyful and glad obedience to him once more and for eternity it'd be like my father putting me in a white shirt and then telling me you

can go do whatever you want just don't play in the mud pole then a deceitful serpent comes along and says but you're missing out if you play in the puddle you'll be like your father so I play in the mud and I stain the shirt well you can't stain a shirt and then just pretend that it didn't happen when your father sees you he's going to be like hey what what happened knowing very well what happened he's still going to ask you giving you the opportunity to be able to come clean to him physically and spiritually to come clean to him but something has to

happen in order to get the shirt back to being white it's got to be washed right and this is exactly what the Lord is doing with us except he's doing it with our hearts we are stained by sin and we need to be cleansed and as we observed on Friday our sin according to Romans 3 and6 deserves to be punished and put to death you and I deserve death for our Disobedience to God but more than that we deserve like honestly we deserve an eternity in hell like that's the bad news of the Bible that's what we deserve but remember this is God's story and

though that is the bad news the Gospel of Jesus which means good news of Jesus is that the story isn't all dark and gloomy it's not it's not hopeless and helpless this is not a sad song that we're singing listen Ephesians 2 1-9 says this you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of Disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and

were by Nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind like if you just stop there I mean there is nothing that will lead you into depression more than just meditating on that like if you go around and that your quiet time is just always like just reading verses like that I mean you're going to feel pretty dark pretty depressing pretty hopeless pretty helpless again it's his story he's saying continue continue reading and seeing what I am doing not what you're doing because I mean you need to see what you're doing but what you're doing is that but here's what I'm doing search and rescue

as you you are doing that but God being rich in Mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses he made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable Riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works

so that no one may boast when you come with that muddy t-shirt he doesn't say go down to the river and wash it off he doesn't say go buy some detergent he doesn't say bring what you have no he says give me your muddy shirt and he cleanses it and the way that he cleanses us now we're talking about our hearts here is by the blood shed of his son Jesus it's why Isaiah 1:18 says come now let us reason together says the Lord though your sins are like Scarlet they shall be white as snow though they are red like Crimson they shall be come

like wool the interesting thing is that he uses the blood of Jesus to literally wash away our Bloodshed of our own sin that ultimately makes us white as snow again it reconciles us back to that Genesis 1 and two this is how does the Hemm go what can wash away my sin nothing but the blood of Jesus so let me just ask you a question tell me a better story in all of human history like can you tell me a better story in all of human history like one where because all different mythologies all different religions they all have a creation narrative they all have

a creation story they all have some level of things were good things got bad and then we reconcile we fix those things we restore those things they all have that same type of narrative and then you'll eventually get to some category of Heaven some category of celestial uh City or well-being peace whatever it might be but the difference between us and all of those is that every single one of those say okay there was this beautiful thing and we messed it up and now you have to fix it you have to fix it so make sure that you're doing your best job make sure that

you're being a good person make sure that you're contributing and considering the interest of others it's it's honestly in a lot of ways it's taking the discipleship components and the characteristics of a disciple in the scriptures what we are called to be and saying if you do those things God will look at you and say Well done thy good and faith faithful servant but it completely eliminates what actually cleanses you what all religions and all other mythologies say is if you do the things yourself you will eventually become clean and what God is telling us in this wonderful story that he is writing throughout all

human history what he is communicating to you and me is that there is absolutely nothing you can do to clean yourself there is absolutely nothing you can do to take care of your death penalty and so if you were to enter into that courtroom and you're defending your case you're defending your sin and you're trying to look at the judge and you're trying to say you're pleading to the judge like hey I I I was a good person I did more good things than bad things I went to church every Sunday I I I put on the suit like I I did all the right

things he's going to say I never knew you I never knew you well how do we know him to be in the presence and relationship with a perfect God means that you have to be perfect it's why in Matthew in in the uh Sermon on the Mount what does he say be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect again if you want to be depressed just focus on that verse over and over and over again and just say wake up every single morning and say I got to be perfect today I got to be perfect today it's what our scriptures tell us I got to

be perfect I got to do this I gotta don't have those bad thoughts don't be frustrated be good be happy be joyful work it out well how can we be perfect how can we be perfect if you attempt I mean we we've had like philosophical conversations in our community groups at time like where we've asked the question do you think you could go a day without sinning and sometimes we'll be like you know someone in the group will be like I think I think you can I think you can make it and I'm be like Ed that was a sin because you just like just

put all of your you know you think you can do it that that's that's in a way prideful but here's the reality even if we were able to strive to be perfect and let's say by The Ripe old age of 72 years old you get there and you say I've gone a day without sinning I've done it I actually made it that's what our hearts want that's what we're longing for that's what we're seeking for we want Eden again because that's what we were created by there's there's a part of every single one of us because of our parents Adam and Eve there's a part

of us that knows what it was like before sin entered the world and that's why you're frustrated every single day that's why you're frustrated that's why we groan As Romans 8 says and not only do we groan but creation groans longing for the glorification of the sons of Disobedience it's longing for the sons and daughters to be reconciled to the Lord because it lifts the curse even on creation so that then you can see the mountains clearly and you can see the Grand Canyon in its Splendor and its Glory because again it's the Fingerprints of God and what his imagination has created but we're able

to then see one another redeemed without sin and beside God there's nothing more beautiful than the image of God rightly reflecting God creating you and I being able to look at one another and seeing his majesty in his Beauty I want to share with you three stories in scripture this is why I asked you to go to Luke 15 you're like dude you've not hit Luke 15 yet it's three interconnected Parables that reveal for us the heart of God when sinners like you and I repent and believe in Jesus when we understand that by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to the

scriptures alone for the glory of God alone when we understand that that there's nothing we could do to to receive this not only does it well up Joy and gladness in our hearts that he came and he died for us that he rose for us that he saved us all for his glory not only does it produce immeasurable rejoicing in us but sometimes we as Christians we just think God did it yes but he's also frustrated all right I'll save you I'll forgive you can you please stop being an idiot I'm just fed up with Humanity so I'm just going to save it real quick

and then just throw it in a corner in heaven like sometimes we have that mentality of God and maybe that's because we've had some false assumptions based on authority figures in our lives that just put up with us or that correct us but then throw us in the corner what is heart behind his story of redemption of you and me what is God doing when Jesus dies on the cross for the Forgiveness of your sins when he's buried in the Tomb when he raises three days later and when that message is applied to those who believe it to be true what is God doing I'm

going to read this for you starting in verse one the tax collectors and sinners were all Drawing Near to hear to hear him and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying this man receives Sinners and eats with them why is Jesus with them remember this is the greatest search and rescue mission ever told he came to seek and to save that which is lost he's coming to so he told them this parable what man of you having a hundred sheep if he has lost one of them does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he

finds it and when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance you see Jesus is teaching these Pharisees and religious leaders a lesson here they don't believe they need a savior they don't believe it they believe they've actually done well enough on their own and they're just waiting for a king

to come and approve of them and affirm what they have perfected in the Jewish religion and then will take his rightful throne and lead the people that he is approving of because of what they've done that's what they believe they don't need someone to come and die for them and forgive them of their sins they just want a king to come and sit on his throne while they say look what we've built and come and reap the benefits of it that's what they're after that's why they ultimately reject Jesus is because they don't believe he is fit to be their King he's not good enough

for them and so he says there will be a party like you've never seen in heaven when a sinner repents and believes in Jesus over you believing that you are good enough and don't need forgiveness but it's so true and it's still the pulse of our society and culture today we don't need Jesus we've got this we can do things our own way we can build our own lives we can build our own kingdoms and we want whatever we believe to approve of what we've established for ourselves and what we believe for ourselves and what we feel is right for ourselves and so whatever religion

affirms that and approves of that we will believe in that which at the end of the day is not believing in anything other than yourself it's believing in yourself we need a religion we need a system of belief we need a story that God is writing that actually exposes us for who truly are shows us how we are weak shows us how we are sinful shows us how we are helpless and hopeless and then also shows us how he's going to fix it for us how he's going to solve the problem for us how he's going to get us back to Genesis 1 and two

and then calls us and invites us to it that's why Romans 8 says he calls Those whom he justifies and then glorifies what's the second Parable say or what woman having 10 silver coins if she loses one coin does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it and when she has found it she calls together her friends and neighbors saying Rejoice with me for I have found the coin that I had lost just so Jesus says I tell you there is Joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents the third Parable and he said there

was a man who had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father give me the share of property that is coming to me and he divided his property between them not many days later the younger son gathered all that he had and he took a journey into a far country and there he squandered his property in Reckless living and when he had spent everything a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need so he went went and he hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his Fields pigs and

he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything I mean just think about this for a moment this son had everything because he was with his father he was living in The Inheritance that he already had and already possessed but he made a decision and said I don't need the father anymore I don't need you anymore so go ahead and give me my inheritance which is basically saying to to his dad you're dead to me I just want your stuff which is kind of like us saying to God hey God we don't need you we

just want your creation we want your stuff give it to us and so then the son gets it but then he goes and he exhausts it he spends it all and then he hires himself out as a slave and then again famine comes he spent everything that he has he realizes that like he had he he's in such a pit that he's looking at what the pigs are eating and he's saying man if only I could have some of that look at what it says but when he when he came to himself he said how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough

bread but I perish here with Hunger I will arise and I will go to my father and I will say to him father I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son treat me as one of your hired servants and so he arose and he came to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and he felt compassion and he ran and he embraced him and he kissed him and the son said to him father I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be

called your son but the father said to his servants bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost but now is found and they begin to celebrate he's still tracking with the rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents and what he's saying here is he's personalizing it to a relationship of a father and sons and he's saying I have a son who who sinned against

me but he came to his senses and he repented repentance is just coming to your senses and realizing that your way of living life is contrary to what God's design is for you and so you stop doing your way of life and you turn and you trust God's design and God's way of life you trust his good news and his message that he has for you and what's beautiful about this passage is if you remember and recall a couple of weeks ago when we talked about for those who humble themselves will Beed this is the son humbling himself he's coming not to step into the

position he used to have but he's coming back to the father and saying if you would just be willing to let me be one of your hired servants like put me on the lowest part of your community your system your family that will be good enough for me and what is what does the father do no no no no no you've come to your censes you've repented you've come and you've confessed that to me go get the robe and the Rings and we're going to celebrate and we're going to have a party he then exalts the son who repented of his sins and came back

to the father and he throws a huge party so much so that as it continues on now his older son was in the field Drew near to the house he heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked what was what were these things meant and he said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the calf because he has received him back safe and sound but the older brother was angry and refused to go in his father came out and intreated him but he answered his father look these many years I have served you and I never

disobeyed your command yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends but when this son of yours came who has devoured your property with prostitutes you killed the fatten calf for him and the father said to him son you are always with me and all that is mine is yours kind of takes you back to the garden for a moment you were with me and all that was mine was yours but it wasn't enough for you it was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this brother of yours was dead and is now alive he was lost and is

found remember who Jesus is talking to here he's talking to the Pharisees and the religious teachers and and the scribes of the day the ones who believe that they have God but they have all of God's stuff they have God's law and they're saying we have this yet you've never thrown a celebration for us he's saying because you're about my stuff you're not about me you're about the law but you're not in relationship with who the law is testifying to he's trying to show them one more time that even though the younger took everything and went and squandered it in Reckless living he's trying to

entreat the older brother and say even though you were with me you are also sinful you are also sinful he giving him an opportunity to come into the party if he would just repent of his self-righteousness you see church I don't want you to miss the point I don't want you to be like the Pharisees the scribes the religious rulers of the day or in our day the self-working the self-righteous the self-preserving the self-helping the self-exalting the self- sustaining the self-made Sinners that just could not come to their senses and see what God was offering them in the death and resurrection of Jesus the free

gift of Grace in the Forgiveness of their sins the fact that he restores their relationship with the heavenly father through this work that Jesus did for us on the cross just like the prodigal son who came to his senses come to your senses come to your senses that you you and I have fallen short we've disobeyed the one true God we've made mistakes we've hurt others we've sinned against the one true and holy God and here's the truth it would bring great rejoicing to the heart of God today for us to repent and believe that Jesus has gone to the Cross to pay your debt

to God in full that your punishment for sin is paid for death on a cross in your place as the hymn says Jesus Paid It All and therefore all to him we owe do you believe Jesus did this for you and therefore you now follow him as the Lord of your life in other words do you joyfully submit to Jesus to lead you to guide you to protect you and to conform you to the image of his son for the rest of your life because like that's what we need that's what Easter is all about like that's the true meaning of it that mean to

get some face going in here nothing would bring more rejoicing to God than stops living as their own God and instead believes in Jesus and is raised from Death To Life here's the truth sometimes we can hear that and we can think man I hope there's if there's someone in here who's never done that before I'm hoping right now and I'm praying that right now if you've never believed in Jesus as your lord and come to him and ask for the Forgiveness of your sins again he's faithful and Jus of your sins because Jesus already paid for that penalty on the cross like he will

do it he is faithful but the reality is is that repentance isn't just a one moment thing it's a daily thing this isn't being resaved every single day but when you repent it is you coming to your senses that for the rest of your life you wake up every day and you say not my will but yours be done you wake up every single day and say not my choices but yours be done you wake up every single day and say not my feelings but your rejoicing be done like I am sinful and you are a savior you are seeking and saving me every single

day until one day he actually glorifies us and resurrects us to the same type of state that Jesus is currently in but you and I are not there yet we're not there yet and so this is a daily reminder for us that when we wake up we're going to have some frustrations and we're going to have we're going to be met with some components where where we either are act like younger brother the Young brother and we go and we do some just Reckless idiotic choices and living and and we we forget who we are in Christ and then there's going to be moments where

in our identity and in our Christianity we act a little bit more like the older brother and we say well if everyone else would just stop acting like idiots things would be great and we need to repent of that as well Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost Incarnation he came in to a domain of Darkness as the light of the world to show us the way to him and he's calling us to do the exact same thing the exact same thing that every single day we Proclaim that you are the light of the world you are showing me exactly what

I need to believe and and who I need to believe in and what I need to do on a daily basis but you've also called me to take that message and share it with those around me as Luke 128 says everyone who acknowledges me before men the son of man will also acknowledge before the angels of God and if there's someone that's never received Jesus before never asked for forgiveness of sins and today you're you're wanting to do that the scriptures say acknowledge Him before others which in other words means make sure you tell somebody that hey you know what I think I'm I'm I

was one of those two brothers and I've come to my senses that I've been living life my own way and and I don't want to do that anymore I want to stop and I want to trust Jesus for the Forgiveness of my sins I want to trust him to course correct my life and help me believe in God and have Jesus be my Lord and Savior which means that I joyfully and gladly submit to his way of doing things versus my way of doing things and then the way we acknowledge Christ before others is following it up in baptism I love what acts 8:35 and

36 Philip one of the disciples is going down a road and he's um ends up meeting an Ethiopian unic and this Ethiopian unic has the scriptures open to Isaiah 53 and he's just reading through them and he's like what what am I reading and and Philip says well let me let me share that with you let me tell you what you're reading and he shares the gospel he shares the history the story of Jesus and as they're continuing down the road they come to some water and the the ethiop Ethiopian unic looks at the water and he goes hey look there's some water what keeps

me from being baptized right now again as that illustration of acknowledging God before men and at the same time the illustration that because I believe in Jesus he has washed and cleansed me and has made me white as snow he has reconciled me into a relationship with him so if you believe and have not been baptized you need to let us know so that we can Rejoice with you and God because he's rejoicing as you acknowledge Him before others and if you do believe Jesus died on the cross to forgive you of your sins we also invite you to partake of the Lord which is

this meal that we part service and it's again remembering exactly what Jesus did for us everyone knows to a degree that 2,000 years ago Jesus this religious leader was crucified on a cross but do they know why he did it and that's why we celebrate this is because he tells tells us why he did it as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:23 through 26 for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which

is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way also he took a cup after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant in my do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and you drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes he gave them this message before he went to the Cross so that when he's hanging on the cross they're able to understand that he is breaking his body and he shedding his blood for the removal and forgiveness of their sins that he's doing it for them

so that they don't have to do do it and that's what we celebrate every single week when we come to this table that again he did it so that you don't have to that's Grace that's Grace and that's the ultimate meaning of what we are celebrating here today and so I'm going to ask you to stand as a church and as we stand together if you believe that message then I invite you to come down and I invite you to get the elements and bring them back to your seat and we will partake together remembering the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross and

then rejoicing that it didn't end there that God rejoicing in that the wrath of God was satisfied in his sacrifice brings them back to life three days later so come down front grab the elements bring them back to your seat and we will partake together