The Prodigal Son - Part 2: The Father

Please take your copy of God's Word and turn to Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Having finished our exposition of the book of Acts, Luke's second account is account of the work of the risen Christ.

We're taking just a short little interlude to do some smaller expositions.

And we've come to his first account of Jesus's earthly ministry.

And a particular set of parables that he told in Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Now, like we did last week, I'm going to read the entirety of the chapter to you.

Because we want to set this parable that we most often know as the parable of the prodigal son in its proper context.

There's a great truth being communicated here.

And we don't want to miss that as we study it across these three weeks.

Last week, today, and the next as well.

Our focus for today, though, as we read the chapter and we'll come back to, is verses 20 through 24.

So, Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Before I begin reading, let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's Word to us.

It was written for His glory and for our good.

We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Luke chapter 15, beginning in verse 1 and following.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Him.

And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

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 ninety-nine 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 ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Or what woman, having ten 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 I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

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 my property that is coming to me.

And he divided his property between them.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and 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 and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

But 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 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 he arose and came to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and 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, my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

And they began to celebrate.

Now his older son was in the field.

And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

And he said to him, Your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.

But he was angry and refused to go in.

His father came out and entreated 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 fattened calf for him.

And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad.

For this, your brother was dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found.

And so, as I said, our major attention is on this parable that's most often called the parable of the prodigal son.

And there are many commentators who have a problem with that title.

Say it should rather be called the parable of the two sons.

Or the parable, as Tim Keller says, the parable of the prodigal father.

Father.

Because we can, if we only think of the younger son, we can miss the point altogether of this text.

You see, Jesus is juxtaposing the attitudes of the Pharisees and the scribes with the rejoicing of heaven over lost souls being found.

He is not in any way suggesting to the Pharisees and scribes that they themselves are righteous.

They are as desperately lost as those Gentiles and tax collectors that are gathering around Jesus.

But they don't have a perception of this.

They are the older brother.

And so, we're driving to that point, which we'll make readily and at length next week.

Last week, we focused on verses 11 through 19, the younger son, the one that we call the prodigal.

And we noted the various stages in the history of this type of sinner, this licentious sinner.

They were, as follows, number one, a desire for independence from God.

The truth of it is that we never really are independent from God, but we can seek to be independent from Him.

We can believe that we are independent from Him.

The second stage in the history of this sinner is the indulgence of self.

Investing in us.

The experience of the fleeting pleasure of sin to its end.

The third, which some people reach, and I pray you never do, is insanity of the soul.

This young man came to the place where he wanted to eat inedible food.

Food that was given to pigs.

He was brought that low in his sinfulness, in his rebellion against the Father.

And then, as the prodigal seems to, and if you have come to place believing faith in Christ,

we see on his part repentance and faith.

We see him come to himself, believing that his Father will be good to him,

and will take him back into his control and care.

This morning, we're going to focus our attention on the love of the Father for the younger son.

And today, if you're here with us, you find yourself in one of three places.

Number one, it is possible this morning that you are presently the prodigal son.

You've sought your independence from God.

You indulge yourself.

You may even be finding yourself this morning at the very end of yourself.

Maybe that's why you chose to accept an invitation to come to church.

You don't know where else to go.

You've sought out the pleasure of the world, and it has left you wanting.

My hope for you this morning, my prayer for you this week,

is that you will see with what kind of love God loves.

That you will see that God's love is offered freely and lavishly to anyone

who will come to him in repentance and faith,

and that your heart will be drawn to him.

Secondly, you may find that you are the elder brother

who we'll talk about more extensively next week.

But that's to say that you are self-righteous.

You think you've done enough good to seek God's pleasure.

You desire to obey God,

but that desire, that obedience has nothing to do with a love for him,

but is rather motivated by what you can get from him.

You think there's some promise on the other side

if you will simply obey.

You also, just like the younger son,

wish that the father was dead,

and your sin may be the worst of the two

because it is so much more deceptive.

You think you're accepted by God by your works,

and your works will come up short.

My hope for you this morning

is that you will also see your need for repentance and faith,

that you would love God in his ways to have him,

and not merely what he can give you,

that you also would fly home to your father,

that you may rejoice in his goodness to mankind.

The third position you may find yourself in this morning,

I hope that most of you, if not all,

find yourself in this place,

having been a rebel of one kind or the other,

having been the younger or been the elder son,

you have humbly returned to God,

and he has given you a place in his household.

My hope for you this morning

is that you will appreciate afresh

God's loving kindness towards you.

Beloved, it is very possible to be found in Christ,

to be justified before God

because of what Christ has done on our behalf,

and to forget it,

and to function as if.

We need to earn our way to God,

or to function as if we can live however we want,

and be accepted by him.

It's very possible to find ourself

in the proper stance with the Lord,

but not living in accordance with it.

So I hope this morning you will appreciate once again

how good the Father is to his people.

As his sons and daughters,

we would want to live in his house joyfully

and obediently.

That despite how difficult your week may have been,

that you will revel today in the fact

that you have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ,

given the authority to be a herald of God,

and you have been called a son.

So we're going to consider the love of the Father

toward the younger son.

On the front of your bulletin

is a quote by A.W. Tozer

from a book he wrote called Knowledge of the Holy,

which I commend to you.

He was a 20th century American pastor,

and he said this,

speaking of God's attributes

as they relate to his love.

Because God is self-existent,

his love had no beginning.

Because he is eternal,

his love can have no end.

Because he is infinite,

it has no limit.

Because he is holy,

it is the quintessence

of all spotless purity.

Because he is immense,

his love is an incomprehensibly vast,

bottomless, shoreless sea.

So let's get to it.

Let's consider the Father's love

toward the younger son.

The outline for this morning's text

is as follows.

Number one,

the compassion of the Father.

Number two,

the son interrupted and restored.

And number three,

the celebration of the Father

and his servants.

Number one,

the compassion of the Father.

We see this throughout

our text for today,

but predominantly,

mostly I want to look at it

in verse 20 this morning.

We see,

coming off the rest of our text

from verse 19,

the prodigal son arose

and came to his father.

Now,

it's really important

that we understand

what this young man

would have been going back to

in this particular culture.

Remember that this story

is being told

predominantly to these scribes

and Pharisees, right?

Jesus is driving this point

and he is using

shock and awe

to accomplish it, right?

Already,

these Pharisees

and scribes

would have just been

astounded

by the flagrant

disobedience

of this young man, right?

This young man

in asking for his inheritance

from his father

has said to his father,

I wish you were dead, right?

He's gone to him

and said,

just go ahead and die

so that I can have

what's coming to me, right?

He has gone off

to unclean people,

to Gentile lands.

He has spent this money

in a licentious way.

The older brother tells us

he must have heard reports

that he sent it on prostitutes.

He finds himself now destitute,

caring for unclean animals.

These scribes and Pharisees

are astounded

at the rebellion

of this young man.

So remember in this culture,

God's given instruction

in Deuteronomy chapter 21

Deuteronomy 21 · chapter mention

that if a son is rebellious,

he will not listen.

There's no bringing this son

to correction.

That the people of the town

were supposed to take the son

outside the gate

and stone him to death.

So this is the kind

of serious culture

that is looking at the story

and thinking about obedience.

Now, the instruction

of Deuteronomy 21

was very rarely,

if ever, followed

in this day,

but there would have been

a great deal of scorn

for this young man

as he comes back.

The cultural expectation.

These scribes and Pharisees

are thinking to themselves,

oh boy, here it comes.

The son's about to get it

from his father.

The cultural expectation

is that the father

would have had nothing

to do with him

until the son had sat

outside of his gate

for an extended period of time.

Weeks, even months.

Sat outside the gate.

And the job of the town folk

would have been

to ridicule him.

Would have been

to tell him

what a horrible,

disobedient son

he was.

To spit on him.

To throw rotten food at him.

And if the son would

persevere outside the gate.

If he would stay

in that spot

receiving all of this scorn.

All of this ridicule

that was due him

for his disobedience.

The father may

take him back in.

The father might

deal with him

as a hired servant.

And this is the hope

of the son, right?

He's just saying,

my father will at least

let me live on the land

and work for him.

I'll at least

have food

for my belly.

And this is what

he goes back to.

This is what he's

headed back for.

Remember

that he had a plan, right?

He had thought up

this plan.

He was going to

say this thing.

He had come to himself

and I'm going to say,

verse 18,

Father, I have sinned

against heaven

and before you.

I'm no longer worthy

to be called your son.

Treat me as one

of your hired servants.

And beyond Jesus

telling the story,

I just imagine him

rehearsing that

over and over again

in his head, right?

Waiting.

I'm going to sit

outside the gate.

I'm going to sit

outside the gate.

I'm going to sit

outside the gate.

And when I get an

audience before my father,

I'm going to say

this thing.

And we see in our text

today that he launches

into it, right?

He's got it ready

to go.

But look at what

happens instead.

And he arose

and he came

to his father.

But while he was

still a long

way off.

Now in this day,

landowners

would have had

homes in the city.

For me as a person

who currently lives

in the city of Gainesville

and really loves

being out,

I think, why?

I'd rather have a house

out on the land

someplace.

But it wasn't safe

to have a house

out on the land.

So they all had homes

in the town.

So the young man

is approaching the town

and while he's still

a long way off,

his father sees him

expectantly watching

for him.

This isn't a walk

by a window

when he happens

to see a dirty

young man

coming into town.

He is outside.

He is expectant.

And he is watching

for his son's return.

And the text says

he felt compassion.

He felt compassion.

The Greek word

used in the original text

is a lot stronger

than the thought

that comes to my mind

when I read the word

compassion.

I think of kind of

a momentary feeling

of affection.

But the Greek word

speaks of a guttural,

a visceral love

for this young man.

This is a father

who would have done

anything for his son.

Fathers in the room,

I know there's not

a lot of us,

but I think we can

in some measure

understand this,

that we would do

anything for our sons.

When Cade,

who is my oldest,

who is now seven,

was five,

I took him

and his younger brother,

Judah,

to a playground.

And there was

a family reunion

that looked like

happening nearby

and this group

of probably cousins,

they just seemed

like a family unit

playing a game together.

They were playing tag

and Cade wanted

to get in

on this game.

So he just invited

himself into it

and was just bouncing around

and playing

in this game with them.

There was the oldest

of this crew

who was probably

eight or nine

who kept saying to him,

no,

you can't play with us.

But Cade didn't hear that.

He just kept playing anyway.

Like, hey, guys, guys.

And he's running around,

running around.

And finally,

this older boy

got his attention

from on top

of the play set

and Cade's standing down

and I'm sitting over

on the little wall

as parents do,

observing.

And the young boy

got his attention

and said,

hey, kid,

you can't play with us.

And Cade looked over

at me.

I'm going to cry

thinking about it.

Cade looked over at me

and his little arms

fell like this

and his big tears

welled up in his eyes

and I just went like this.

And he came running

across the playground

and just fell into my arms.

And I wanted,

I wanted to go pinch

that kid's head off.

Right?

Which would have been

highly inappropriate

for me to do.

But gosh,

you just want to do

anything for your kids.

And that's,

that's small.

Right?

In comparison.

Right?

So,

so small

of an example.

And then just

for your sake,

um,

maybe for mine

to tell you that

not too many moments later

the kid was running

full on

and was looking

over his shoulder

and just slammed

into a pole.

And,

and to,

to my,

to my shame,

I went,

yes!

So,

right,

um,

Psalm 103,

13 says this,

as a father

shows compassion

to his children,

so the Lord

shows compassion

to those

who fear him.

Right?

So the father has,

he sees the son

from a long way off

and has this guttural

love

for him.

And what does it do?

Like,

what does it compel him

to do?

He runs

to his son.

Now,

I think,

I think for us,

21st century readers

of this,

we just,

we see a movie

play out in our mind,

the music queues up

as he sprints

to his son.

To Jesus' listeners,

they would have been

horrified

by such an action.

Now,

remember,

this father

should have scorned him

to begin with.

This father should have,

should have had nothing

to do with him.

Right?

Even seeing him

a long way off,

gone back inside

the house.

But instead,

he runs.

Okay?

So not only does it

go out to him,

but he goes out to him

with haste.

And the thing for you

to know is that

men of wealth

in this day

did not run.

They didn't run.

They never ran.

Boys and servants

ran.

Right?

So if you needed something,

you sent somebody

to run for you.

You didn't run.

It was shameful

to run

for men

in this day.

Not only

the very act

of running,

but he would have

taken his long robe,

his well-dressed robe,

and he would have had

to hike it up

to his knees

to run.

Right?

And he showed

the bottom

of his legs.

This was a thing

that slaves

had exposed,

not men

of wealth

and of honor.

So he

humbles himself

out of this

visceral love

for his son.

He humbles himself

and he runs

out

to him.

God

humbled himself.

He became

a man

and he suffered

and he died

in our stead.

Hebrews 12,

2 states

that Jesus

endured

the cross

despising

the shame.

Paul writes

in Philippians 2,

6-8

of Jesus

who though

he was in the form

of God

did not count

equality with God

a thing to be grasped

but emptied himself

by taking the form

of a servant

being born

in the likeness

of men

and being found

in human form

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient

to the point of death

even death

on a cross.

So this young

smelly

rebellious

kid

is coming home

and the father

shames himself

shames himself

to go out

and to meet him

before he makes

his way

into the town.

We'll see why

in a moment.

But he makes himself

a fool.

You have to imagine.

It's daytime

he sees him a long way off

but people are out

about in the town

they're in the marketplace

and they see him

run out

to his boy.

From our daily

Bible reading

for this past week

Mr. Doug read it to us

this morning

Genesis 22

we read of Abraham's

willingness

to sacrifice Isaac

and that sacrifice

of Isaac

being replaced

with a ram

who is a type

for Christ.

And what does he do

when he gets to him?

he doesn't run out

to him

in order to bring

to him

the condemnation

that's due to him

but he embraces him

and he kisses him.

He fell on his neck

some translations

will say

he

collapsed

onto his son

and wrapped his arms

around him

and the tense

of kissed him

means to

kiss him

repeatedly.

this compassion

is overflowing

into a great

joy

to see

his son

return.

John MacArthur

said

of this little

moment

in the story

the prodigal

came home

prepared

to kiss

his father's

feet

instead

the father

was kissing

the prodigal's

pig stinking

head.

And the father's

compassion

does not

stop there.

Secondly

let's look at

the son

interrupted

and restored

verses

21

and 22.

So what happens?

The son

launches into

his speech

just up in

verse 18

and 19

but he doesn't

get all the way

through it

and I love this

in Jesus'

telling here

he says

father I'm sitting

against heaven

and before you

I am no longer

worthy to be

called your son

and what is it

that he was going

to go on to say

treat me as one

of your hired

servants

but he gets

interrupted

I think that's

the right way

to read this

right

the conjunction

verse 22

but is in the

original text

but the father

he's in the middle

of the speech

but rather than

him getting to

finish the speech

he said

I'm not worthy

to be called

your son

what does the

father do?

He does all

of these things

to show

the son

that he

is restored

to him

as a son

he says

to his servants

bring quickly

here's the running

that's going on

right

I'm presuming

they're still

outside the town

they've yet to

walk through

the crowd

back to the house

and he sends

the servants

running

you gotta imagine

they ran after him

why is our master

running

let's run after him

to see what's going on

they send him

he sends some

of them back

to bring what?

the best robe

a ring

and shoes

these are significant

things

that this loving

father

brought to put on

his youngest

son

first the

best robe

is brought

and it's

put on him

the best robe

was an extremely

significant

article of clothing

every wealthy man

would own

an ornate robe

made of the finest

fabrics

that was reserved

for the very

most special

of events

this was a robe

that the owner

wouldn't wear

to a wedding

he was invited to

this is how special

it was

but would rather

only wear it

to the weddings

of their own

children

we don't have

anything like this

in our culture

I don't even think

most people own

like a nice tux

anymore

right

this would have been

better than that

this was in

high reserve

for very

very special

events

this robe

and it was

his robe

giving this robe

to the son

is not even

a normal honor

that a son

would receive

right

this isn't

extra special

it's a very

high honor

and what he

is doing

is he is saying

this

boy

that rebelled

against me

is restored

to the honor

of my

house

right

this is my

best

robe

and I am

putting it

on him

he belongs

to me

so as he gets

taken back

through that town

everyone can see

the son

has been

restored

psalm 5

4

also from

our reading

this week

says

for you are not

a god who

delights in

wickedness

evil

may not

dwell

with you

so

god our

father

cannot

exist with

us

in wickedness

god can

associate

with us

in our

unrighteousness

right

in our

evil deeds

in our

rebellion

so how is it

that we come

into right

relationship

with him

it's that

our sin

is imputed

to christ

as christ

died on the

cross

he took

our sin

and we're

given

his righteousness

his perfect

life is

imputed

to us

it's called

the double

imputation

right

it's this

great trade

martin luther

called it

the great

exchange

right

our sin

given to

christ

his righteousness

given

to us

and we

often speak

in terms

of being

clothed

in the

righteousness

of christ

you see

the picture

here

god comes

to us

in repentance

of faith

he comes

to us

and he

wraps us

in christ

righteousness

he says

this is

my

son

and when

he sees

us

he sees

christ

and escorts

us back

to the

house

paul writes

in 2

corinthians

5

21

for our

sake

he made

him to

be

sin

who knew

no

sin

so that

in him

we might

become

the righteousness

of god

i think this

is the best

verse that

speaks of

double

imputation

christ

and

and

charles

hodge

who

was a

19th

century

theologian

he was

the president

of

princeton

theological

seminary

back when

that meant

something

said this

of

2 corinthians

5

21

there

is probably

no

passage

in the

scriptures

in which

the

doctrine

of

justification

is more

concisely

or clearly

stated

than this

our

sins

were

here's

that word

imputed

to christ

and his

righteousness

is imputed

to us

he bore

our sins

we are

clothed

in his

righteousness

christ

bearing our

sins

did not

make him

morally

a sinner

nor does

christ's

righteousness

become

subjectively

ours

it is not

the moral

quality

of our

souls

our

sins

were the

judicial

ground

of the

sufferings

of christ

so that

they were

a satisfaction

of justice

and his

righteousness

is the

judicial

ground

of our

acceptance

with god

right

so the

prodigal

was still

the prodigal

he was

still the

son

and he

had still

done the

things he

had done

but he's

now clothed

in the

father's

robe

right

he is now

no longer

to be

scorned

right

abused

spit upon

by the

town folks

right

because he

has been

restored

as a son

but not only

that

not only

is the

best

robe

brought

to him

and put

on him

but also

a ring

now this

ring

would have

been a

signet

ring

which would

have carried

the family

crest

or seal

so that it

could be

pressed

into wax

on formal

letters

or documents

as verification

of legal

authority

probably seen

a movie

in which this

happened

right

they often

wore that

as a

ring

right

so that

they can

make that

stamp

on letters

or documents

right

so in

placing a

ring on

the finger

of his

son

the father

is not

only showing

that the

son had

restored

honor

but also

restored

authority

he's saying

once again

this young

man

is my

son

and he

speaks

on my

behalf

second

corinthians

5

20

just a

verse

before

where we

just

were

paul

says

therefore

we are

ambassadors

for christ

god

making his

appeal

through us

we implore

you on

behalf of

christ

be

reconciled

to god

so just

as we've

been clothed

in christ's

righteousness

right god

says this

is my

son

ladies you

want to

be a

son

you want

the

inheritance

that is

due you

this is

the

language

of

the

time

i am

god's

son

and i

speak

on his

behalf

we are

ambassadors

for christ

inconsistency

with his

revealed

word

as a

side

note

but not

only

the best

robe

and a

ring

but also

shoes

hired

servants

and

household

slaves

customarily

went

barefoot

masters

and their

sons

wore

shoes

right

so it's

another

status

thing

so to

have

shoes

placed

on the

son's

feet

was yet

another

gesture

another

showing

that this

young man

has been

restored

i recall

last week

that we

defined

the word

prodigal

as

licentious

or lavish

or as

the

esv

translation

of the

text

which

i use

on sunday

mornings

puts it

in verse

13

reckless

right

reckless

living

licentious

sinning

that's what

we mean

when we

talk of

the

young

son

the

prodigal

son

right

the

story's

most

often

deemed

that

this

prodigal

son

story

because

of this

excessive

rebellion

against

the

father

but

let's

not

miss

the

prodigal

nature

of the

father's

love

for his

son

his

love

is

absolutely

reckless

the

first part

of first

john

chapter

three

verse

one

john

writes

this

see

what

kind

of

love

the

father

has

given

to

us

and

some

translations

will

say

that

the

father

has

lavished

on

us

that

we

should

be

called

children

of

God

and

so

we

are

but

Jesus

tells

us

more

about

the

father's

compassion

his

great

lavish

love

for

his

son

thirdly

the

celebration

of the

father

and his

servants

the

last

two

verses

verse

23

and

24

he

says

and

bring

the

fattened

calf

and

kill

it

and

let

us

eat

and

celebrate

for

this

my

son

was

dead

and

is

alive

again

he

was

lost

and

is

found

and

they

began

to

celebrate

now

to

slaughter

the

fattened

calf

was a

big

deal

for

time

I'm

going to

save

you the

details

of

the

preparation

of

the

fattened

calf

but

this

calf

was

likely

being

prepared

as

would

have

been

the

custom

for

the

wedding

of

the

oldest

son

it's

likely

why

this

calf

is

in

reserve

being

prepared

but

this

event

happens

this

great

event

verse

24

my

son

was

dead

and is

alive

again

he was

lost

and he

is

found

and that

is the

thematically

what's

happening

in chapter

15

right

back in

verse

4

what

man

of

you

having

a

hundred

sheep

if

he's

lost

one

does

not

leave

the

ninety-nine

in the

open

country

and go

after

the

one

that

is

lost

until

he

finds

it

verse

8

or what

woman

having

ten

silver

coins

if

she

loses

one

coin

does

not

light

a

lamp

and

sweep

the

house

and

seek

diligently

until

she

finds

it

right

so

lost

things

now

found

!

they

began

to

celebrate

the

father

and

his

son

and

those

in

his

household

begin

to

celebrate

again

in the

previous

parables

verse

5

when he

has

found

it

the

sheep

he

lays

it

on

his

shoulders

rejoicing

he

comes

home

he

calls

together

his

friends

and

his

neighbors

saying

to

them

rejoice

with

me

for

I

found

my

sheep

that

was

lost

just

so

I

tell

you

there

be

more

joy

in

heaven

over

one

sinner

who

repents

and

over

ninety-nine

righteous

persons

who

need

no

repentance

and

then

verse

nine

the

woman

who

finds

the

coin

when

she

finds

it

she

calls

together

her

friends

and

neighbors

saying

rejoice

with

me

for

I

found

the

coin

that

I

had

lost

just

so

I

tell

you

there

is

joy

before

the

angels

of

God

over

one

sinner

who

repents

and

we'll

transition

next

week

into

the

response

of

the

older

son

who

if

he

loved

the

father

the

way

he

should

have

if

he

was

obedient

if

he

stuck

around

with

the

father

for

the

reason

that

he

should

have

it

would

have

been

for

the

father

himself

so

he

would

have

been

drawn

into

the

rejoicing

of

the

father

the

father

says

look

I

have

found

something

was

my

son

he's

been

restored

to

me

and

the

older

brother

would

have

gladly

joined

in

about

rejoicing

the

rejoicing

in

heaven

is

and

will

be

great

over

the

salvation

of

souls

because

it

displays

the

goodness

of

God

our

father

it

is

this