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Sunday | Be The Church | Jamey Bridges | Week 5 · Life Community Church

0:02
SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Jamie Bridges, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: All of our services are inspired and built straight from the Bible.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Let's get into this week's message recorded at Life Community Church.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
0:17
SPEAKER_01: When you maybe this is a question that you've not thought about, but I'm gonna ask this in open and honest.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: When you think of God, what do you think about?
0:30
SPEAKER_01: When you think of God, this isn't a cliche like, oh, I think he's the creator of the world.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not asking to be religious right now.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm asking you, how do you view God?
0:40
SPEAKER_01: Is he angry?
0:42
SPEAKER_01: Is he disappointed?
0:45
SPEAKER_01: Is he judgmental?
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Does he lead with an iron fist?
0:50
SPEAKER_01: Is he compassionate?
0:52
SPEAKER_01: Is he kind?
0:55
SPEAKER_01: Is he what?
0:58
SPEAKER_01: You fill in the blank.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: Because how we answer that, how we respond to that, super important.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: Well, if we're gonna do what Pastor Sean talked about last week and have this identity in Christ, then I better know the one that I was created in the image of.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: See, all of us right now, we have, if I told you to tell me about your father, tell me about your mother, zero qualms, bringing that up, whether it's good, whether it's bad, you're created and you have their DNA.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: There's part of you that looks and acts just like them.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: Yet when the Bible says in Genesis 1 that none of us should have an identity issue.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: We were made in the image of God.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: And because we're made in the image of God, we are to reflect who God is.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: So how we answer, when you think of God, what do you think about is super important in how you respond.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: Not in being the church when life is good, not in being the church when we understand everything, but in the middle of whatever it is that we're facing.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you a silly example.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: Wednesday morning, rain.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: First time it's rained in 100 years, right?
2:10
SPEAKER_01: Rain's happening, and I'm getting text messages, emails, messages.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: Will we have a game tonight?
2:15
SPEAKER_01: It's like, my God, it's eight in the morning.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: We don't play for 11 hours.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: What are we doing right now?
2:23
SPEAKER_01: But yet that's how we respond.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: Right?
2:25
SPEAKER_01: We're in the middle of something, and now we're forgetting.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: I've read the end of this book.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: Like, it's the reason Paul got to this place.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: It's like, what are you gonna do to me?
2:37
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna take my body?
2:38
SPEAKER_01: You cannot take my soul, you cannot take my spirit.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: Like, we find out real quickly when we're in the middle of something, what we actually believe.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: Right?
2:48
SPEAKER_01: And so when I ask you how you feel about God, because I believe one of the greatest struggles the church has today is that we know a lot about God, but we sometimes forget how good he is.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we sing about it.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we talk about it even.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are the crazies that even put it on a bumper sticker.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: Like we talk about it, but do we actually believe God is good when life isn't?
3:15
SPEAKER_01: Do we believe he's good when the prayer hasn't been answered?
3:19
SPEAKER_01: Do we believe he's good when we've made a mess of our lives?
3:22
SPEAKER_01: Like, do we believe he's good when someone else receives a grace that we don't think they deserve?
3:30
SPEAKER_01: See, we tend to measure God's goodness by what is happening around us instead of remembering who he is.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: And so we think if life is good, God is good.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: If marriage is good, God is good.
3:43
SPEAKER_01: Finances are good, God is good.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: Kids are behaving, God is good.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: If you're raising teenager, apparently God hasn't been good in a while.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
3:52
SPEAKER_01: But what if God's goodness is never dependent on our circumstances?
3:58
SPEAKER_01: What if God is just as good on the mountain as he is in the valleys?
4:03
SPEAKER_01: What if he is just as good when you're struggling or if you're celebrating?
4:08
SPEAKER_01: And what if God's goodness is greater than your biggest failure?
4:14
SPEAKER_01: I think these are important things for us to be the church.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: These are things that we have to talk about.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: And Luke chapter 15, perhaps a familiar passage, perhaps something you've read before.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna spend two weeks on it because I think it's that good for us to grasp what this means.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: And you might have heard it, you might have even heard the story, and probably the top of Luke 15, it says, lost coin, lost sheep, lost son.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: But really, what Luke 15 is about is about the goodness of God.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: That's what Luke 15 is about.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: And it begins with these two verses, verse 1 and 2.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: And it's describing tax collector and other notorious sinners, they came to listen to Jesus teach.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: And this made the religious leaders, the teachers of the law, complain that he was associating with such sinful people, even having a meal with them.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: So it begins with this writing, and the audiences, these people who weren't just sinners, they were notorious, which means they did it well.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: They were known for being a sinner.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: And then you had people on the other end who are also there who are complaining, and they're the religious people.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm giving us four principles on the goodness of God, and I'm only doing three this week because the last one is so good, so huge.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: And this is what we're talking about.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: Two groups of people who are listening to a story that Jesus is telling.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: And here's the picture: sinners are drawn to Jesus, religious people are offended by Jesus.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: If there's ever a moment you're offended, you're tapping into your religious side.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: Well, you don't understand what they've done.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: That's not what we're talking about.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about what they've done.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about maybe you're responding to what they've done in a very religious way, not a Jesus way.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: I think sometimes we worship Jesus, the Jesus we created, not the Bible version of Jesus.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: And we think Jesus and how he responds to people is this way when it might be this way.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus tells a story, and he's telling a story so that they understand the people who knew they were lost, they wanted to be near Jesus.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: And the people who thought they were righteous, they couldn't stand that those people were welcomed by Jesus, even eating a meal with them.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: Right?
6:48
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus tells three stories: shepherd who lost a sheep, a woman who lost a coin, and a father who had two sons and loses one.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: And all three of these stories tell about the heart of God.
7:00
SPEAKER_01: And here it is.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: Jesus cares deeply about those who are lost.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: That's what we find in these three stories.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: He cares deeply.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: It's the reason he says in Luke 15 that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, heaven stops not with perfection, not with do it better.
7:24
SPEAKER_01: It stops with one person who repents.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so what he's talking about is repentance and these truths about the goodness of God.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: We see a coin, we see a sheep, we see a crazy son.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: He actually says, No, this is all about the goodness of who God is.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at it.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: To illustrate the point, he told them this story.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: A man had two sons.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: Younger son told his father, I want my share of your estate now before you die.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: A few days later, this younger son packed all of his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money on wild living.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: In wild living.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: Jesus begins by describing a father with two sons.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Younger son approaches his father and every dad in this room.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: Like we can picture this.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: Our kid comes to us, says, Hey, I got a proposition.
8:23
SPEAKER_01: What you have is mine and I want it.
8:27
SPEAKER_01: I want it.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: Not only do I want it, I want it right now.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
8:31
SPEAKER_01: I would do not try this at home.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: And again, this is extremely humiliating and offensive for a son to do this.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: Because essentially the son is saying, Dad, I want your stuff, I don't want you.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: Dad, I want your blessing, I don't want your authority.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: Dad, I want everything you can give me, but I don't want a relationship with you.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: And before we start going, the audacity of this son, before we start going, like, I can't even believe someone would even approach such a thing.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: I think there's times where this is familiar with the church.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: I think there are times where we say, God, give me a good marriage.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: God, give me healthy kids, God, give me a successful career, God, give me financial security.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: Give me blessings, but don't tell me how to live.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: Don't you tell me what to surrender?
9:21
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me to stop doing so and so, whatever.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: We want the blessing of the Father without living under the authority of the Father.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: And notice what happens.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: The dad lets him go.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: The dad gives him what he says.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: And that doesn't mean the father approves of his decision.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: It means the father allows him to make it because the goodness of God doesn't eliminate our ability to make bad decisions.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: This is what we're seeing.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: God isn't a controlling father who forces us to love him, he invites us into a relationship.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we have to experience the emptiness of doing life on our own.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Our own way.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: Before what?
10:12
SPEAKER_01: Before we recognize the goodness of his way.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're here and you're like, I'm experiencing this emptiness.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're here and you're like, I know someone who's experiencing this emptiness.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Here's the tragedy.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: The younger son was living in the goodness of God.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: He was living in his father's house, his provision, he had protection, he had relationship, he had identity.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: But he believed freedom meant getting away from his father.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: And I wonder how many of us are making that same mistake.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: We think following Jesus is restrictive.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: Obedience is boring.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: Living holiness, I'm missing out if I live like that.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: They think surrender means losing our freedom, but the boundaries of a good father aren't designed to keep you from life.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: They're designed to protect the life he created for you to live.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: God created marriage, not man.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: God said, a man and a woman, not man.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: God said, in the bounds of marriage, I have good things for it.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: When we go outside the bounds, we make it bad.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: We make it worse.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: He's the creator.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: He set those bounds not because he's mad at you, but because he knows the price that we could, what we will go through when we step outside of those bounds is dangerous.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: Some of us are running from the very God who loves you the most.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: The son thought freedom was found by leaving his father.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: And what he eventually finds is freedom is found by returning to him.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Returning to him.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: God is good even when we make a mess.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land and he began to starve.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: But no one gave him anything.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: The younger son takes his inheritance, moves where no one knows him, wastes everything, a famine hits, the money runs out, the friends disappear, the party ends, and suddenly the Jewish man is feeding pigs.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: Again, to the hearers, this is crazy.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: This is not only humiliation, it is a it is desperation.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is so far-fetched to the people listening that they can't even fathom how someone has there ever been a moment where you said, How in the world did I get here?
13:14
SPEAKER_01: Has there ever been a moment where you're like, I said I would never do these things, and yet here I am.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: This is what's happening.
13:23
SPEAKER_01: Because this is this is a principle for life.
13:26
SPEAKER_01: Sin will always promise you more than it can deliver.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: It always will.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: It promises freedom, it produces bondage.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: It promises satisfaction, it will leave you empty.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: It promises happiness, it produces regret.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: And here's the problem with sin: it rarely shows you the consequences before you make the decision.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: Nobody advertises addiction by showing you a broken family.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: Nobody.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: Nobody advertises adultery by showing you a destroyed marriage.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: Nobody advertises greed by showing you the emptiness of a life consumed by money.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: Sin always advertises the pleasure and it hides the price.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: You don't know.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: It's not like you're saying it cost me$50.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: You're like, it could cost$50, but it could cost me my life.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: Nobody, nobody headed down that path goes, you know what?
14:21
SPEAKER_01: I think I'll take option A.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: It's not a bad consequence.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: And then probably the best seven verses in the Bible in verse 17.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: When he finally came to his senses, my God, that's what I'm praying for in November.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: Somebody come to their freaking senses.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: How stinking blind and deaf and dumb can we be up in Chicago?
14:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even playing.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: Go to Michigan.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: Go to Ohio.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: Chicago, Ohio sounds really good.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: Too much?
15:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, probably.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: Send the email.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, At home, even the hired servants had food enough to spare.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: And here I am dying of hunger.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: Listen, when he came to his sentence, here's what I need us to see.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: Repentance begins when we recognize where we really are.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: This fights the church culture, you guys, because we train ourselves to say we're fine.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: We train ourselves to say we're doing okay.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: You will never get where God wants you to be until you recognize where you really are.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: Here's the important thing for us to understand.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: He finally recognized the truth about his condition.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes the most powerful spiritual moment in your life is when you stop making excuses and start telling yourself the truth.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: Everybody else knows it.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: You're just sometimes the last one to figure it out.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: But when you start telling yourself, because you can't repent of what you refuse to acknowledge.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: You can't.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: You can't surrender what you keep defending.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: You can't experience healing while you're pretending nothing is wrong.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: Some of you, you do this by not even going to the doctor.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: Something is clearly wrong.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: You need someone to tell you that it's wrong, but your stubbornness is keeping you sick.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: So spiritually, it happens the same way.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: I don't acknowledge where I really am.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: I pretend I'm somewhere else and it's okay.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: And you push it and you push it and you push it and you go, God, where are you?
16:54
SPEAKER_01: And He's like, I've not moved.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: You've ran, and now you're on a pig style.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: Now you're living there.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: And life is not what you thought it was going to be.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: And this is where we have to ask hard questions.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: What have you been calling normal that God has been calling you to surrender?
17:15
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's bitterness.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's pride.
17:18
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're gossip.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're dishonest.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're jealous.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're addicted.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's simply that you've become spiritually comfortable.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: The first step towards repentance is not recognizing, it's recognizing where you really are by coming to your senses.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: And he says this I will go home to my father, and I'm gonna say, Father, I've sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: Please take me on as a hired servant.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: Here it is.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: The son remembers the goodness of his father, not the punishment of his father, not the anger of his father, not the disappointment.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: He remembers that even the servants that his father have are better off than he is.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Notice what he doesn't say.
18:07
SPEAKER_01: I'll wait until I get things in order.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: I'll clean myself up first, I'll find somebody to blame.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm gonna go home.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: It was the memory of his father's goodness that helped draw him home.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: See, the goodness of God doesn't excuse our sin, it invites us to leave it.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are so offended by the invitation, you miss the freedom.
18:37
SPEAKER_01: Everything he just said was shame-driven.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: It was shame-driven.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: And you can say what you want about him.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: He recognized he was in the pig sty and he did something about it.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: You know the difference sometimes of the younger son and some religious people is he's recognized it and he's doing something about it.
18:58
SPEAKER_01: We've recognized it and we've excused it.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: We've not left it.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what we do.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: Twenty years this has been lingering.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: 20 years this has been something I've been struggling with.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: It's because we've said things to ourselves that have excused the pig sty.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's not so bad here.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: Feels comfortable here.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of warm.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: That warmth is poop, you guys.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: And everybody else around you can smell you.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: But until you smell yourself, it doesn't matter.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: Until you understand I cannot do this anymore, it will never change.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: A doctor can look at you and say, if you don't make changes, you're gonna die.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: God can look at you and say, if you don't make changes, you're gonna spiritually die.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Maybe instead of saying, God, would you save so-and-so, maybe we should just say, God, would you make them come to your senses?
19:54
SPEAKER_01: Make them come to their senses.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: And here's the difference there's a difference.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: Grace doesn't say sin doesn't matter.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: Grace said sin matters so much that Jesus came to rescue us from it.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is not just a change of mind, it's a change of direction.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: It's a change of direction.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: This Greek word, it literally means that change of direction.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: It's moving towards something, not just away from something, towards a God who loves us.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: The son didn't just feel guilty in the pig pen, he got up and left it.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: That's important for us to see.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference between conviction and regret.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: Regret says, I hate what happened.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: Conviction says I need to change.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: Regret focuses on consequences.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: Repentance acknowledges the sin and moves towards God.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Paul to the Corinthian church says, for the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and it results in salvation.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: There's no regret for that kind of sorrow, but worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: This tells me that as the church, we're constantly telling God we're sorry, but staying in the pig side.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: We're constantly saying I need to change, but we're staying where we're at.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: He's saying that's that's worldly sorrow.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: We're saying sorry.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: Godly sorrow says, I'm sorry because I've sinned against you and other people.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: God first, I've sinned against you.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: I've this is what he says.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go home and say, I've sinned against heaven and you.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: So many times we focus on the people that we've we have consequences with or we've offended, and we're so consumed by what they say and what how they feel about me, all that.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: First and foremost, we've sinned against God.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: Now it's the consequence.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: He's looking at the I've i I regret this.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm repenting of it.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I'm gonna do.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: This is what it is.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to live this way.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: God change me.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: This is what this is what happened with David.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: We know he committed sin.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: We know that Nathan comes, he tells him a story, and the story happens, and and and David's like, death to that guy.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: And Nathan's like, Listen, you you are that guy.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: And in that moment where David could have said death to you, Nathan, he could have he could have killed him.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: He could have made excuses.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he could have made all these excuses.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: I was vulnerable.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: There was war happening.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: All these things.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: What is he saying in some fifty?
22:47
SPEAKER_01: I've done what is evil.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: What was the consequence of that sin?
22:56
SPEAKER_01: That's what it was.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: The husband that he committed is all these things were consequences.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: But David acknowledges he understood the grace of things wasn't against people, it was against God.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of times we're sorry because we see how it affects people.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, you think that kid meant that?
23:26
SPEAKER_01: You're better than everybody else, kid.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: If your son as a teenager comes to you and says that I'm wrestling with something, I'm struggling in this area, I need help.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna help him.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: If you catch your son doing those things, you're like, oh, we're gonna have a different conversation.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: Why are you sorry?
23:50
SPEAKER_01: You're sorry because you got caught.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: What David is talking about is yes, I got caught.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: Yes, there are consequences, but here's what happened.
23:59
SPEAKER_01: I didn't sin just against the people that I offended.
24:02
SPEAKER_01: I sinned against God's first.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: This is what he's talking about.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: It's the reason Romans 2 says, Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you?
24:16
SPEAKER_01: This doesn't mean nothing to you.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: This is so important.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: Thank God.
24:31
SPEAKER_01: You might not be patient, but God is.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: You're sitting here today because of the patience of God.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: You're sitting here today because of the kindness of God.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: You're sitting here today because God was tolerant with you.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: God gives you.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: You think God doesn't understand you, He understands you, He understands what's happened to you, He understands the things that have been thrown at you, His grace is sufficient for you because of those things.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: You don't think God is taking into consideration the things that happened?
25:05
SPEAKER_01: He's waiting for you to repent and to come home so that what we can be reconciled to the Father.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: I think this is important for us to understand.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: And I'll get into this really heavy next week.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even gonna get into it this week.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: I can't go there.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: I didn't go there in the first service either.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: Listen, we don't change our lives to earn God's love.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: We repent because God's grace is calling us back into a relationship with Him.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: This is what the religious people could not grasp.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: They could not understand that God wanted a relationship with them.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: And so what did God become?
25:42
SPEAKER_01: A checklist.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: A checklist.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: Last point.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: God is so good that he runs towards the repentance.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: So we here's what we know about God.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: We know the intent of why Jesus came was to reconcile heart to the Father.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: He's a reconciler.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: That's who God is.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: That's his nature, his character, and he wants to reconcile people to the heart of the Father.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: And we know God goes to great lengths to get our attention.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: That's how much he's kind, tolerant, and patient with us.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: We know that.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: This is the heartbeat.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: What is happening right here would have not only shocked the audience.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: The people who've already been shocked, right?
26:28
SPEAKER_01: They're already shocked that a father responded the way he did.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: They're already shocked that a Jew is feeding pigs.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: They're already shocked by everything that's happened.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: And so he tells them this part.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming, filled with compassion and love.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: He ran to his son, embraced him, he kissed him, and his son said to him, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: And then the father hushes him.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: Come on, if you've never been hushed, you don't understand.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever been talking and someone just puts that finger right there?
27:10
SPEAKER_01: I don't, you might not know this, but my mouth kind of got me in trouble as a kid.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: No amen back there to my parents, okay?
27:16
SPEAKER_01: If you've never been hushed, you don't understand.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: That finger going right in front of your mouth as you're just letting them fly like that.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: I know we can't do that to kids anymore.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we should spoil brats.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like, did he just say we should spank kids?
27:40
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: In school, too.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: I said, God is a compassionate father, no claps.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: So I said, spank kids, everybody goes nuts.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: I guess we're a spanking church.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: Verse 22.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the finest robe in the house, put it on him, get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet, kill the calf that we've been fattening.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: We must celebrate with a feast.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the most beautiful moments in all scripture.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: The son goes home, prepares the speech.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: He knows he's dishonored.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: His father, he's hoping for a job, he's hoping for leftovers, he's hoping just to survive, and something extraordinary happens.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: Again, culturally, dads don't run.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: Dads don't show legs, they're wearing a robe.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: He had to hike it up, he jetted, servants are all around going, what the heck is going on with dad?
28:48
SPEAKER_01: Right?
28:49
SPEAKER_01: Son, other son is so far in the fields, he's he doesn't even know.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: He didn't even know until the party happens.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: He has no clue.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: No clue what's happening.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: But there are people all around and he's running.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm picturing, he's on the front porch, rocking chair, nice cup of coffee in his hands, 55 degrees, sees down the driveway, and he sees his son.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: Recognize his son looked disgusting, swimming in poo, smell, and the father jetted towards him.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: Again, to the listeners, this is so far-fetched.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: We aren't told how long he's been waiting.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: We don't know how long he's watching, we just know he's filled with compassion and he runs towards the Son.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, I told you so.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, Crawl your way up here.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: We know he's moved by affection and he ran.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: Again, understand the significance, the image, the reputation that the father would get for doing what he's already done.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: He let his son go and gave him his inheritance.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: Split it two ways, which means the older brother who's still there also got his inheritance.
30:06
SPEAKER_01: Which means he had to go to people and start selling off land to give him his inheritance.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: Picture happy to go to another business guy and say, Will you buy some of my land?
30:16
SPEAKER_01: My son wants his inheritance, and so I'm gonna sell this land and give it to him and let him go.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: Understand the reputation, and now he's running to greet that dude that asked for those things.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: The father cared more about restoring his son than restoring his image.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: This is what we're seeing.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: This is the picture of the goodness of God.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: And notice, notice what the father does.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Confession, he does these things, he puts on the robe, which is what he he restored his honor.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: He restored the son, returned in his grace, the father clothed him, covered up.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: When you see the scripture says we he covers a multitude of sins, he took the robe, put it over that disgusting, smelly body, put it over him, restoring honor.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: He put on the ring, restoring belonging.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: This was a signet ring, this was a family crest, this was you're not a slave, you're not a servant, you're my son, and he puts it on him.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: Understand what's happening.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: It's not just a warm embrace, business as usual, it's restoration, reconciliation, the sandals, it restored dignity.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: How disgusting that must have been.
31:40
SPEAKER_01: This restored relationship.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: This was I don't care who you are, let's celebrate because of what?
31:47
SPEAKER_01: Verse 24.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: For the son of mine that was dead is now alive.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: He's returned.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: He was lost, but now he is found.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: He says, I don't care.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
31:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what you think about me, I don't care what you're gonna say about me, I don't care if you think I should give him a six-month probation.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: Never says that.
32:06
SPEAKER_01: If I should, if I should not bring him back to where he was, I don't care.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: I want everybody to know the son that I thought was gone is home now, and he restores him.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I want our church, LCC.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: I can't speak this for everybody.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I want us to understand repentance doesn't purchase the father's love.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: Repentance brings us back to the Father whose love we could have never earned.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: Him repenting didn't purchase it while we were still sinners.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: Christ died for us.
32:43
SPEAKER_01: But because the repentant came home, restoration, reconciliation, it happens because of that.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: Listen, here's what we need to know about the goodness of God.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: He gives us grace when we don't deserve it, he loves us when we've not earned it.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: And listen, because we're the image bearers of who God is, because we're the ones that are to reflect who God is, if it's his kindness that leads to repentance, maybe our kindness should lead to repentance.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: Maybe instead of pushing away the smelly, the stinky, the pigpin, how are we running towards them?
33:28
SPEAKER_01: Maybe instead of waiting for them to come and to say, I've done this, I've done that, maybe we need to hush them.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
33:37
SPEAKER_01: Don't care where you've been, got a pretty good picture because you stink.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: But I don't care where you've been, bring out the robe, bring out the ring.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: Put sandals on this dude's feet.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: He's been walking a long way.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: Come on, get that calf.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: We're celebrating.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: It's the reason when Jesus said, listen, if one repents, heaven stops, we celebrate.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
34:03
SPEAKER_01: God cares more about the repentant than anything else.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: Than anything else.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: Anything else.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: That's the goodness of God, you guys.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: That's the best news for every single one of us in this room.
34:20
SPEAKER_01: Because whether you're in a pig pen or you know someone in a pig pen, the response is always come home.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: Come home.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: You're not too far gone, come home.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: Chew feeding pigs, come home.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: You thought you'd never be, invitation, come on home.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: Come home.
34:39
SPEAKER_01: Could you stand with me right now?
34:46
SPEAKER_01: So sweet as we close, you take just 60 seconds.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you maybe you didn't think of someone.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you're like, I've been praying for the wrong reason.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: I've been reaching.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: Man, I've been.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: I've been doing the wrong things.
35:08
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're clothed in shame.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: God says, no, I'm restoring dignity today.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you're in this room and you're like, gosh, I made some bad decisions, and I I view God as the God who's who would never forgive what I've done.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: He just wants you to know today, it doesn't matter what you've done or where you've been, the invitation is always to come home.
35:30
SPEAKER_01: But here's what I know.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: His goodness is running after you.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: Come on, can we just can we just evaluate right now?
35:41
SPEAKER_01: I will say this over you real quick.