First Baptist Church Dec 5, 2021

100 sheep 10 coins two sons and this story is no different but it is much more detailed and every single person this is one of the things that we can learn here is that every single person regardless of where they're from regardless of their background anything okay they are created in the image of God and therefore they have inherent dignity in value and worth each and every person the person that gets an attitude with you at walmart they are created in the image of God and they need to know that Christians love them that Christ desires to have a relationship with them so the story it begins with two sons the younger one he has it in his mind you know that he just wants to be free of his family he wants to get out he wants to get away from the family business he wants to get away from his dad away from his friends back at home away from the entire culture away from it all freddie mercury said I want to break free baby right and so this is his attitude he doesn't want to work in the family business if he could just get away from his parents young people 18 19 20 years old if I could just get away from my parents then I'll be happy

If only I had money and I know that I've got that inheritance coming to me then I'll be happy and so the son he asks for his inheritance early from his father father give me the share of the property that is coming to me and the first step for discovering Christian joy write this down if you're taking notes is recognizing rebellion it's kind of a weird first step I'll get to it in a little bit listen to the disrespect here listen to everything that this son says to his father I it is rightfully mine I want it now and I will have it now this is the veruca salt of the new testament right she wants it now and she was a bad egg this is rightfully mine and the Bible it teaches us that we have all been rebellious at one point in time or another amen okay there's like three of us that acknowledge that we've all been an open rebellion towards God amen you know we've been rc sproul he says that sin is cosmic treason against God that's what sin is and so for you and I when we read this it's not just that he's getting an attitude with his father we have to remember there is a greater sin that's happening right here in that he is dishonoring his father the fifth commandment honor your father and mother he is outright disobeying that and so the father is grieved can you imagine a son looking at his father and saying hey I kind of wish that you were dead can I have my inheritance now that's pretty much what he's saying can you imagine as a father just that feeling that you would have in your heart of your child looking at you and saying

That imagine that as mom what might you be feeling do you think that this caught the father off guard do you think they felt hurt you think that he felt betrayal do you think that maybe he saw evidence leading up to this maybe he had a sense that maybe his son didn't actually love him but he had ignored those signs for years and then here it is laid out Jesus is teaching you and I that we are all prodigals in one way or another we have all treated our heavenly father with that same kind of rebellion and disobedience at one point in time or another we were all sons of disobedience according to Ephesians we were rebellious towards God the Bible says that before salvation we were haters of God and we lived like it according to jewish law this son he was entitled to one third of his father's wealth because the oldest brother had a double portion this father he had plenty of food he had plenty of servants plenty of property and so the son probably grew up in a relatively comfortable life especially for the first century but he hated his father now look with me at verse 13 it says not many days later that means pretty much a couple days the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country and there he squandered his property in reckless living notice that this younger son he takes the money and he runs he gets out of town he receives his inheritance and instead of staying there and working with his father and living in that country and being around his culture and his friends and his family he takes the

Money and he bolts to a foreign country in a foreign land with foreign people the step number two for discovering Christian joy is recklessness you see what we're what we're talking about today is what ultimately brings us joy and really what brings Christians joy what brings people joy is salvation in Jesus Christ we're talking about the process of salvation in other words you and I we have all been reckless before the Lord before salvation this was us and if you don't know Jesus Christ then this is you like right now we are in a season of recklessness did you know that like christmas christmas can be a reckless time especially financially right and actually this word reckless it's the greek word of sotos which means to behave wastefully or unrestrained spending anyone ever made a bad financial decision at christmas yeah you've been around the block a couple of times probably you it's me this young man he squandered his inheritance why did he do it why did he eat and drink and spend this money on prostitutes and things like that was it because they didn't know the value of a dollar was because he was thoughtless was it because maybe he knew what he did was wrong and that he was guilty and so he tried to self-medicate by buying things to bring him happiness it's probably all the above to be honest with you and other things as well you're probably sitting there well it was probably this you're probably right so many times we think that happiness if I just get more get more get more than then I will be happy then I will be content you know I want us all to think of our

Lives as this empty vessel it's got a couple of beads of water in it from the last service so but I want you to think the Bible describes us as vessels and I want you to visualize your life like this okay and maybe you're like this you're here today and you feel baby a little empty okay so you decide you know what I'm gonna do something I'm gonna I'm gonna do something that makes myself happy and I want this water to represent your happiness okay what are what are some things that are temporary that bring you happiness shopping yeah let's go shopping get our get our money spending on okay what else riding a dirt bike yeah hey that makes you happy until you like break something right yeah all right what else what else come on nice and loud food yeah food good food yeah that lasts for a couple hours good food going to church yeah that makes us happy for a little bit it depends on preaching right God's people said how dare you all right all right what are some other things come on what else makes you happy God that can be taken away though vacation yeah anyone ever thought man if I could just get away and you come back worse [Laughter] what about social media yeah let me get let me get a few more likes here presents music yeah I guess my whole point is that shoes yeah or maybe even children yeah I mean your children ever brought you joy and not brought you joy

I have a relative say that he's like a dementor from harry potter that just sucks all the joy out of the room but I guess the point is that if we were to leave this here okay we left it here for a year is the water still going to be here if it's totally undisturbed next year no what's going to happen to it's going to go away yeah you know in the summertime it gets like 90 degrees in this room and so you know it's gonna this thing will probably be gone in four or five days and that's about as long as it takes for us to lose our happiness you know you think man I'm gonna go visit family and it's gonna be great at thanksgiving and then someone brings up politics and you go oh here we go sucks the joy out of the room so this young man he says you know what I'm going to I'm I'm going to spend some money on like on some great food and I'm going to get some really great friends who just think that I'm the coolest and so he just keeps on pouring these things into his life and it all goes away within a matter of days or weeks the famine comes and he finds himself in need immediately you know rebellion I'm sure they had a great couple of weeks right he probably he probably had a blast for a week and a half two weeks maybe even a month but rebellion but recklessness this sin it always takes you further than you ever expected to go it costs you more than you ever expected to pay and it will keep you longer than you ever intended to stay that's what sin does and its tendrils just wrap around you

Day in and day out and this leads to the third step for discovering Christian joy which is ruined this young man he is broke he is alone he is in a country filled with strangers and he's decided to become employed by someone to feed pigs now remember that Jesus he's he's a jewish man speaking to jewish people and so to touch pigs and to get into the slop and to be around them and even to have a job working around them was pretty much the most disgusting job on the planet I mean even the tax collectors were like that's that's pretty gross and so this man is ruined he is alone he is unhappy he is broke he is joyless he is desperate he is starving this is a sad situation for this man and he has nothing and if he continues right here if he stays in this situation he will die we don't know how long he was there but we do know that he had an epiphany moment that aha moment and for you and I we know as Christians that aha moment that moment where you went from death to life where the light comes on and as Paul says that the veil from our eyes is lifted and we can behold the glory of God and we understand our brokenness and our sinfulness and we realize the righteousness and the love of Jesus Christ towards us and it is that moment that the fourth the positive step for discovering Christian joy is repentance it's the first fruit of being born again when he comes to himself this is that moment the exact moment of salvation in verse 17 but when he came to himself that is an aramaic idiom which means repentance and notice that this guy he doesn't just

Say yeah this is a bad situation guess I'll get back to work he doesn't do that what does he do he gets up and he says I am going to return to my father I am going to change my direction and that's what repentance is it's literally turning back from the reckless rebellious living leaving the land that you once lived in and look at what the young man's confession is there in verse 17 it says 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 this is the confession of repentance I need to be saved or else I will die there's a wonderful old hymn written back in 1745 and it's called gracious Lord incline thy ear and the second and third verse go like this it says Lord deny me what thou wilt only ease me of my guilt suppliant at thy feet I lie give me Christ or else I die all unholy and unclean I am nothing else but sin on thy mercy I rely give me Christ or else I die repentance it is the dying of self and the living to God and it's the first positive step towards joy and in verse 20 it says that he arose and he came to his father there's no delay there's no farewell party or final hurrah he doesn't take time to clean himself up or anything like that he leaves them because he is dead to them and them to him this young man he probably rehearsed this apology hundreds of times on that long walk home

I mean imagine what you would do if you were to be coming back on the on this long journey and you know that what you did was absolutely wrong and you've got to make it right imagine rehearsing the apology over and over and over and over and the father is standing outside and he is looked out every morning maybe whenever he steps out just kind of checks the horizon just to see maybe that familiar outline of his son and he's looking until one day he does see that his son coming towards him world weary and hungry look what look at what the father's reaction is look at verse 20 it says but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him listen to me the father loves you he loves you he wants you to come to him as his child to return to him and step number five is restoration and so he starts reciting this apology but the father he gets up to that point where you can make me your hired servant he doesn't even get past that the father where are your shoes son oh you lost them here's some new shoes dude where's your where's your cloak you got your tunic thank goodness you're not naked he wants to do everything that he can to clothe his son in the righteousness of his of himself he gives him a ring to signify his status and he restores him as a full-blown son he was hungry and the father provided meat the son was dead and is alive

He was lost and now he's found and they celebrated that word celebrate it's the greek word euphreno which is where we get the word euphoria from and it is this kind of a celebration that is happening at the house but remember that the story is not over yet we got a whole nother son that we got to deal with remember whose Jesus's audience was if we were to say that the tax collectors and the sinners are the prodigal then who is the older son it's the pharisees right it's a word a warning even to them this is step number six rejection when you come to the Lord you can expect for religious people to reject you and sometimes we might make mistakes too even as followers of Christ amen we make mistakes too the son is working in the field and he hears this crazy party going on as of that morning he didn't know anything was going on but then he finds out that all of this huge party that he's never even heard before I mean it's just it's complete and utter joy he hears about what's going on and he finds out that's for his little brother my little brother's back like he's the one that broke dad's heart he broke my heart he's the one that basically cursed my dad and instead instead of joining in celebration he responded with hate instead of compassion there was hostility in verse 28 it says that the older brother was angry and he refused to go in he refuses to acknowledge even the prodigal son as his own brother and instead says this son of yours can you imagine how maybe the sinners around Jesus felt during this story maybe they're looking at each other going yeah I felt rejected maybe the pharisees are going man I've rejected them too the whole purpose of Christ is to reconcile God with man and man with each other if you've ever felt rejected by the church or myself let me be the first one to apologize because as Christians and this church it should be a place of love should be a place of joy it should be a place of celebration but also repentance and truth we cannot diverge from that either so you see the father he receives sinners like me and like you but he only does that when we come to him in repentance through Jesus Christ the son had approached his father and pried and said you did this to me what kind of story would be would we be left with but Jesus is using this as a positive example on how to rightly repent God he will never reject you when you come to him when you come to him in humility and you come to him broken when you come to him needy when you come to him wanting he won't reject you and as Christians it's not our job to play the wait and see game to see what this person is going to do well maybe it'll take this time I don't know I'm just going to wait and see our job is to celebrate when someone who is lost is found because the only hurdle that people should ever have in coming to Christ is Christ himself so let's do everything in our power to joyously celebrate when we see God work now the older son he was bitter he had obeyed and he had served his father really well for years and years but the son apparent apparently the father hadn't

Shown much appreciation the older son he expresses a lot of displeasure at this moment father why are you treating your son this way the son of yours and why haven't you done that for me why haven't you given me something that I might make merry with my friends and how does the father respond he does this by teaching us how to rightly rejoice that step number six is rejoicing you want to rejoice then you must know Jesus if you want something that will never be taken away from you then you need Jesus Christ the prodigal he thought if I get everything that this world has to offer then I will be happy then my cup will be full but he was wrong and I want to return to this jar it represents us in this happiness of circumstances and things and I want us to think for a moment about the things that we do have as Christians as believers that can't be taken away from us okay and so I want you to I want you to shout out different things that you have that can't be taken away salvation yeah let's put a few in there for that the Holy Spirit good answer buddy peace yeah peace that's a good one love yeah that's a good one family well we can lose family can't we what about I wrote a few down Jesus the riches of God in Christ what are some other ones hope yeah hope what else the fruit of the spirit yeah you know these are clanking a little loud so I'm I need you to shout loud the kingdom of God yeah all these

Different things we got all these things that can't be taken away from us and so God when we become adopted sons and daughters of the king he takes all these good things and he puts them right into our lives [Music] there we go and if you notice this as well like when we when we receive what God has given to us with so much joy and gladness not only does it fill our cup but it also elevates the happiness I mean look at how much God has done for us there are so many things that God has provided to you and I that brings us lasting eternal joy so let's bring this all home now okay let's talk about what this actually means and how we apply it to our lives this means that Christ is the ultimate answer for our hearts deepest desires it's we could get all these presents on christmas day and they're going to be next year's garage sale junk that's true but people they want things that last they want things like joy they want things like hope and peace and love those are only found eternally in Jesus Christ that's why he came 2000 years ago but we cannot ever come to the father unless it's through Jesus Christ and when we do that we are adopted into the family of God and called sons and daughters of the king and there is great rejoicing in heaven because the lost have become found the dead have come alive and God receives the glory head hand heart head I want you to know that God loves you and he wants you to turn away from

Sin and turn to him when you do that your life will be radically transformed he will do amazing wonderful things but we don't we don't come to Christ just so we can get love just so we can get joy and all these things that he has given to us we come to Jesus because we want the father that's why we come to Jesus we want salvation we want him alone is worthy and if you want to do that today we can we can talk about that we can talk about what it means to follow Jesus and how you can be saved and I want you to take some time this week and remind yourself of the things that God has given you that can't be taken away whether it's it's hope or joy or salvation or the Holy Spirit take time this week and remind yourself even though your happiness might go down even though things might steal those those temporary feelings that your cup is still full because of what you have been given in Christ heart I want you to believe that Christians are to celebrate when God works when we see God's mighty hand it should lead us to cheering and singing and dancing I mean what a mighty God we serve that he would that he would invite us to participate in this work let's all stand and let's praise the Lord together Lord I just thank you for each and every person that's here we thank you for your mercy and your kindness and if there's anyone here that maybe they just need to know that they know that they know they're saved or maybe there's someone that's just wrestling with feeling empty right now

God just move us to your throne move us to your throne of grace that we might have our cups filled with peace that comes from the Holy Spirit we love you in Jesus name amen [Music] no you are not alone oh come on see what your God has done Christ is born for you oh come is [Music] oh come guilty and hiding once there is no need to run see what you're God has done Christ is born for you he's the lamb [Music] his promise is [Music] his promise is peace for those who believe so come though you have nothing come he is [Music] see what your God has done Christ is born for you Christ is born for you amen God it's good amen if y'all can have a seat I've got a couple of announcements for you real quick first and foremost we've got our as of december 1st we were debt free amen and so God has been very faithful

To us starting at the beginning of the year we had 198 thousand dollars in debt and Lord saw fit to pay that off for us through you guys and through much faithfulness and so God is so faithful and we're just so glad to be able to celebrate that if you plan on celebrating with us through the catered lunch that we want to do to celebrate this next week then please sign up online you're welcome we want you there just go on to the church center app or call the church office or talk to deborah or text me or send us a message through facebook the point is that we want you there and we want to make it a big deal now we're gonna have one service next week that starts at 10 a.m right one service 10 a.m will not have child care for four and five-year-olds so pre-school workers will be able to worship with us we'll still have nursery okay but four and five-year-olds they will be in here that week and we want them to participate and I think that's good service for that so it's gonna be a great time and then we'll have a great lunch it's gonna be fantastic now we've got our cow dinner that's gonna be happening it's our last one for the rest of the year ms cindy thank you so much for doing a great job for us this past week you are awesome thank you so much we appreciate you and if you want to come and see what that's about you might be sitting there like what's cow it's church on wednesdays and so it's a wednesday night program we weren't able to start up awana because we didn't have enough volunteers and God's been very faithful in growing that group we're almost into the 40s now on wednesday night reaching children who aren't engaged in church and yet we do have them coming to church now so it's working and praise the Lord for that let's see here we also have our

Lottie moon christmas offering that's gonna be happening on december the 19th and our church goal is eleven thousand dollars and I think that we can do that it's gonna be a great time every penny that you give it goes straight to missionaries in the field and so we want to be able to bless that it's part of the cooperative program if you're not familiar with that we'll we'll talk about that at a later date when we start out at the beginning of the year but let's see here anything else that I'm thinking oh we've got wmu that's going to be doing the cookie exchange there we've got a whole list of shut-ins that every year we give a whole bunch of cookies too so if you'd like to do that be a part of that bake how many dozen cookies two dozen two or three dozen cookies that way we can be the hands and feet of Christ giving them a little bit of joy this christmas season also we're going to have a list of our shut-ins available in a list form in next week's bulletin so that way you guys can also write some cards and drop that into like a mailbox or something like that way they get a little bit of joy at christmas this time of year it's so important to remember our shut-ins because it's on their shoulders that we stand the people that have come before us we stand on their shoulders and we're thankful to the Lord for them all right I do have a video that I want to show you regarding the lottie moon christmas offering and so if we could play that we all lead busy lives but if we could just stop everything and take a bird's-eye view a little higher

There now we can see the multitask we are fueled by a shared vision to bring the name of Christ to those who have yet to hear so we move forward to extreme places corners of the world that have no access to the Gospel to train missionaries send them out together and pray that God's grace be known we help the hurting comfort the time give hope to the displaced and have seen thousands come to faith in Christ we are able to do so much more together that we were chasing this vision alone this is our common effort together so that's going to be happening on december the 19th it's going to be a fantastic day that's also a day where you're invited to come at 10 a.m to see our children give their christmas plays so it's gonna be a good day that day so church I love you can I just spend a moment just praying over you before we go all right Lord thank you for this great day that you've given to us I thank you for each and every person that's here I thank you for new faces I thank you for old faces thank you for friendly and Lord I just pray that you would just help us to go out of here filled with the joy that comes from you knowing that you alone are the author of it and I pray that with each interaction that we have that we would exude the fragrance of Christ that we might make an impact in this world that really needs it we love you in Jesus name amen