Our Heavenly Father: Seeking and Saving the Lost

The parable of the prodigal son stands in the setting of Jesus receiving tax collectors and sinners and eating with them. Jesus answers the grumbling of the scribes and Pharisees with three stories that carry the same burden: a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. The father stands at the center of the last parable, because the heart of the story is the unconditional, persistent love of the heavenly Father for sinners.

The younger son shows the condition of tax collectors and sinners. The son is totally selfish, totally self absorbed, and life is all about him and all about now. The demand for the inheritance is really a way of saying, “I wish you were dead, and I am tired of living under your authority.” The father pays a real financial price, liquidating assets and handing over what the son demands. The son takes what had been earned through sweat and toil and treats it like play money. Worse than wasting the money, the son wastes his life, because a life lived for self is a wasted life.

The far country ends in the pigpen. The son spends it all, and when the money runs out, the friends run out. The lost son winds up filthy, hungry, and living with pigs. Jesus says, “when he came to himself,” and that is where the weight falls. A person cannot be saved from sin until that person realizes he is lost. A sinner may know facts about sin without being born again, but no sinner is born again without knowing he is a sinner.

The father sees the son coming, which says the father has been looking down the road. The father runs to him, embraces him, kisses him, puts a ring on his finger, and kills the fatted calf. The father says the son was dead and is alive, lost and found. Grace does not hire the son back as a servant. Grace restores the son as a son.

The older brother shows the scribes and Pharisees. The older brother has always done the right thing, but he refuses to go in and celebrate mercy. His self righteousness keeps him outside the joy of the father. Jesus did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. If a person is righteous in his own eyes, that person has disqualified himself from salvation because he has never been lost, completely undone.

The Holy Spirit gives the divine and supernatural light. Regeneration is not something a sinner can cause. God awakens the dead soul to see not only who Jesus is, but the beauty, glory, and sheer delight of the Savior. Every soul is either lost in the pigpen, lost in the false hope of self righteousness, or a broken sinner crying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Lost sinners must come to themselves The prodigal does not begin homeward until the illusion finally breaks. The pigpen becomes mercy when it tells the truth about a wasted life, a life lived for self, and a heart that has run from the father’s authority. Salvation begins where excuses end, when the sinner sees himself as undone, hopeless, and helpless. [47:02]
• 2. The father looks down the road The father’s running love does not minimize the son’s rebellion, but it does reveal the father’s heart. The son plans to return as a hired servant, but the father answers with embrace, kiss, ring, robe, and feast. Grace restores what sin had no power to rebuild. [47:58]
• 3. Self righteousness stays outside joy The older brother is near the house but far from the father’s heart. His obedience has become a ledger, and mercy toward another sinner feels like an offense against his own record. Self righteousness can stand in the field with clean hands and still refuse the celebration of resurrection. [49:31]
• 4. Regeneration is God’s sovereign light The new birth is not something a sinner can manufacture or manage. The Holy Spirit gives a divine and supernatural light, awakening the soul not merely to facts about Jesus, but to the beauty, glory, and excellency of Christ. Until that light comes on, the soul remains in the pigpen, even if religion has made it respectable. [55:09]
• 5. Every soul fits one category The parable presses each person into one of three places: lost in the pigpen, lost in the false hope of self righteousness, or broken before God. The decisive question is not whether a person has been outwardly respectable, but whether the light has come on. The saving cry is not self defense, but “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [35:17] - Father’s Day and the Heavenly Father
• [36:17] - The Father at Center Stage
• [37:10] - Jesus Receives Sinners
• [40:01] - Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son
• [41:47] - A Sinner Must Know He Is Lost
• [42:24] - The Ungrateful Son’s Demand
• [44:00] - Wasting Money and Wasting Life
• [46:32] - The Pigpen and Coming to Himself
• [47:58] - The Father Runs to Restore
• [48:56] - The Older Brother Refuses Joy
• [51:08] - Two Sons, Two Kinds of Lostness
• [54:04] - Divine and Supernatural Light
• [59:10] - Three Categories of Souls

Bible Reading

Luke 15:11-32
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 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.'" [30:44]

Luke 15:1-2
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." [37:10]

Luke 5:32
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. [52:11]

Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. [10:30]

Observation questions

1. In Luke 15:1-2, who is drawing near to Jesus, and who is grumbling about it? What does the complaint specifically say Jesus is doing? [37:10]
2. In the parable, what details show how far the younger son fell before he turned back toward home? Think about his spending, his hunger, his work, and his condition. [46:32]
3. What does the father do when he sees the younger son returning, and what gifts or actions show that he is being received back fully? [47:55]
4. How does the older brother respond to the celebration, and what reasons does he give for staying outside? [49:33]

Interpretation questions

1. The younger son asks for his inheritance before his father dies. What does that reveal about his heart toward his father and toward his father’s authority? [43:16]
2. Jesus tells this parable in response to people who complained that he receives sinners. How do the younger brother and the older brother help explain two different ways a person can be lost? [51:08]
3. The turning point comes when the younger son “came to himself.” What does that phrase seem to mean about a sinner finally seeing the truth about himself? [47:02]
4. The father does not bring the son back as a hired servant but restores him openly as a son. What does that show about the difference between grace and mere payback? [47:58]

Application questions

1. A life lived for self is a wasted life. Where is the pull of self-centered living strongest right now—time, money, attention, comfort, pleasure, or something else? What helps expose that drift in an honest way? [45:26]
2. Sometimes the pigpen is the place where illusions finally break. Has there been a season when need, loss, or humiliation forced an honest look at the soul? What came to light in that season? [46:56]
3. The father’s heart is full of compassion for returning sinners. Is it easier in this season to believe that God would receive a broken sinner, or to assume he would only tolerate one as a servant? Why? [48:12]
4. Self-righteousness can stay near the house and still remain far from the father’s joy. What are some signs that obedience has quietly become a scoreboard, a ledger, or a claim to deserve more than others? [51:33]
5. The older brother could not rejoice over mercy shown to someone else. Is there any person whose repentance, restoration, or blessing is hard to celebrate? What may that reveal about the heart? [49:31]
6. The new birth is not something a sinner can manufacture. How has there been a difference between merely knowing facts about Jesus and seeing his beauty, glory, and worth? [55:09]
7. Every soul falls into one of three places: lost in the pigpen, lost in self-righteousness, or broken before God crying for mercy. Which danger feels most personally pressing right now, and what would honest repentance look like this week? [59:10]