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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] And then turn that handle to Psalm 31. We can begin this morning, Sir, just by singing Psalm 31. He lives. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] The men's bathroom is located outside. There's a key hanging back there. It's on the opposite building on either side. It's got the gated door on there about halfway down. And please be sure to silence your cell phones for the remainder of the service if you haven't done so already. Over on the right-hand side, a Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks for making 2021 a great year. And we look forward to another great year here at Faithful Word Tucson. And also a couple of birthdays mentioned there, Mrs. Spears and Elizabeth Martinez. So I have to apologize about the donuts, kind of. I know it's New Year's and probably none of you are coming to have a donut anyway. Right? Okay. No amens on that. But I accidentally ordered half the amount I needed. And when you do the mobile order, you've got to go through the line. You can't really cut in front of everybody and then add to your order. So, you know, you snooze, you lose. I don't know, if you're boo-hooing about not getting a donut this morning, that's why it pays to get to church. That's why it says it's 10 a.m. that the donut starts. But I apologize if you didn't get one, kind of. Anyway, below that we've got the New Testament 90-Day Challenge coming up. Of course, this has already started January 1st. We're already, you know, second day into it. But it's not too late to jump on this and get after it. I've provided some reading there if you want to use that chart. But you can do it however you want. If you say, hey, I want to, you know, do it in my own way, that's fine. As long as you get the entire New Testament read within 90 days. Which is kind of a softball, folks, I'll be honest. There's other churches that are doing it in 30 days. You know, a lot of churches, a lot of people read the entire Bible in 90 days. So this is kind of just a slow pitch for everybody. If you've never been into Bible reading, this is going to be good for the kids too. Maybe some of the younger kids who haven't gotten the habit of Bible reading. But just make sure you get all of it done. You know, if you're saying, well, I don't know how to devise a plan. Well, just take how many pages are in your New Testament and divide it by 90. That's how many you've got to read. You know, that'll get you through 90 days. Math is right on that. On the back, the home school field trip to Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm is scheduled for this Friday, January 7th at 1030 a.m. So if you're planning on attending and if you haven't let anyone know yet, you need to let someone know as soon as possible because we're trying to get an idea of who's going. And again, this is open to anybody with at least one home schooling student age five and up. Families with five children or less can have one parent come along. If you have six or more children, then a second parent can accompany as well. And then below that, we're starting Operation Confiscation. I call it that because I couldn't think of a better name. If you've got a better name for this project, I am all ears. But, you know, it rhymed, so I went with Confiscation. Because we're not really confiscating Bibles. We're swapping Bibles. But Operation Swap doesn't really have the same ring to it. So we are, in a way, confiscating people's false versions. So there's a metal wastebasket just on the other side of that wall right there that is not for your typical trash. This is for very specific trash in the version of false versions of the Bible. And yes, they are trash, folks. And yes, we are going to burn them because they preach false doctrine and they corrupt God's Word. So we're going to get rid of them. But the operation here is when you're out soul winning or whenever, really, at any time, if you replace somebody's false version with a King James version, bring that false version here, sign your name in the front of it, and throw it in the metal wastebasket right there. And at the end of the year, we'll count up all the Bibles. And whoever has the most Bibles confiscated, I'm going to reward them with a leather-bound Cambridge King James version. I'm not sure which model yet. But these are very nice Bibles, these leather-bound Cambridge Bibles. So I might even have your name embossed on there as well. So I'm trying to incentivize here. Because this is something to get excited about. This is important work. When we're out winning souls, we should already be putting King James Bibles in people's hands. Or if they're already saved, they already go to church, but they don't have a King James, this is a great opportunity to put one in their hand. There's paperback Bibles back there. We'll provide the Bibles for you to give away. So it's not like you have to go buy your own Bible and then do this. We're providing everything. You just need to go and do it. And again, this is going to last throughout the entirety of the year. So we'll do this all the way through 2022. We'll count them up at the end. We'll reward the person who has the most false versions collected. And then don't forget below that we're starting a men's preaching night Tuesday, January 25th at 7 p.m. This is open to men only who are at least 18 years of age. No spectators are allowed. So if you're coming, you're coming to preach. And this will repeat every last Tuesday of every month for the rest of the year. So we've got some other upcoming events. There's the Mexico Monday tomorrow with Brother Segura. If you're planning on going there, please come speak with me after the service to let me know. That'll do it for announcements. We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we're going to preach tonight. This morning. Song number 215, we have the King down. We'll make one more song. Song number 215. Song number 215. Song number 215. Song number 215. Song number 215. Song number 215. Song number 215. Song number 215. Song number 215. Song number 215. Song number 215. At this time, we pass the order of play. As the play goes around, let's turn our bibles to Luke, chapter 15. That's Luke, chapter 15. As always, we'll read the entire chapter. Please follow along silently as we read from Luke, chapter 15. The first one about the reeds, the engineer to name all the public and his sinners from here. And the Pharisees would scribe his murmur, saying, this man received its sinners immediately. He staked his parable to them, saying, who man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, will not leave the nighting time to your willingness and go after that which was lost until he find it? When he had found it, he lay it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise the joy shall be in heaven, for it will be a sinner of repentance. One in over ninety-ninth, just personal, which needs no repentance. I have a woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, does not light a candle and sweep the house, and will see diligent until she find it. When she had found her, she calleth her friends, and her neighbors together, saying, rejoice with me, for I have found a peace which I have lost. Likewise, I say unto you, that your joy and the presence of angels, and the presence of the angel of God, are at once sinner of repentance. And he said, certain night, the two sons, the younger of them, said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that follow through me. He divided it to them as living. Now many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance to provide his living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty family in that land, and he began to be in want. He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to eat swine, and he would, and I filled his belly with the husk of a swine to eat, and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have brand enough to spare? My parents are coming. I will arise and go to my father, who will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. He arose and came to his father, and when he was yet a great weight off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, and put it on it, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fat calf, and kill it, and let the sea be barren. For this my son was dead, and his life again. He was lost and was found, and he began to be barren. Now his other son was in the field, and as he came and drew nigh to the house, hearing music and dancing, he called one of his servants and asked what these things meant. He said unto him, thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fat calf because he had received and saved himself. He was angry, and killed not the wind, and therefore came his father, and retreated. And he answered and said to his father, lo, these many years do I serve you, and have the transgressed eye at any time that command it. And yet thou never gave to me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was found, which hath devoured that living, and was heartless, and I was killed for him the fat calf, he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was me that we should make merry, and be glad. For this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost in his power. Are there, what do you have, a parable? Lord, thank you for the day, and for the opportunity to be in church, that you will be with a deacon, as he who preaches your word, but to be edified through your word, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen, so Luke chapter 15, of course, is several very familiar parables there. Probably the most familiar is the parable about the product of the sun, the two suns there. And that's the title of the sermon this morning, two suns. I just wanna kinda go through this parable, or these parables that are here, and just kinda point out a few things, and make some application as we go. But first of all, what we see in this passage is you actually see three parables. And the first two, the one of the 99 sheep, and the one that's lost, the one of the 10 pieces of silver, these kinda set up the last one, which is the most famous one, the product of the sun. And in case you're wondering, what's the product of the sun? Because that's a lot of times, a lot of times you'll hear that term used, the product of the sun. Basically, product rule is just spending money in a recklessly extravagant way. You know, that's what you see in this guy, and he goes out and he can live, he spends all his substance with what, riotous living, right? He's taking his father's inheritance, and he's just spending it recklessly. He's just partying, living up, and having riotous living, as the Bible says. It's probably just a lot of drinking, and partying, and everything that goes along with that. So that's why it was called the product of the sun, because of the way he just wastes his father's inheritance. But, you know, I won't get into it here, but we see, first of all, in verse one, it says, Then drew near unto him all the publicans and the sinners, for to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murdered, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. So the first thing I'm gonna point out is that the Pharisees are present here at this time. While Jesus is preaching and teaching these parables, you have to keep in mind who's in the company. And I'm pointing that out because, you know, a lot of people like to take the story of the product of the sun and misapply it, and make it about something that it's not about. What it's about is, it's about the Jews and the Gentiles. And a lot of times, people will take the story and make it about salvation. Now, at the end, we'll see where you can definitely make some applications about salvation. The Bible, you know, lends itself to application, but there's always a primary application. There's always a primary interpretation. And I believe that this passage about the product of the sun is primarily about the Jews and the Gentiles. And again, I get that from the fact in verse one, is you have the Pharisees, they're present. And a lot of these Pharisees, you have to remember, these people, a lot of them, not all of them were reprobated. Jesus said that they could not believe, right? Because God had blinded their minds, okay? So he's kind of making some points here to apply to the Pharisees to the Jews that were present at that time. And the first thing I'll point out about the Pharisees is that they disapprove of Jesus's company, don't they? It says in verse three, and he spake this parable as to say, man, if you have an 100 sheep, if you lose one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until you find it. So Jesus is kind of approving it here. Where he's saying, well, why do I buy the 99 and 100 sheep and one got lost? I would go looking for that one sheep because I care about them. That's why I'm here with these sinners, right? And you know, when Jesus often was eating with the publicans and with sinners and others, and they were disapproving of it. Say, verse two describes murmuring. You know, they're kind of, can you see this guy's hanging out with me? Can you believe this? And he's hanging out with these kind of people. He receives sinners and he eats with them. So you can see the type of attitude that the Pharisees had back then, that they were thinking that they were so much better than everybody else. You know, and it's the same mentality that they still kind of have today. The Jews today, they have the same mentality, better than everybody. That somehow they claim some lineage that really doesn't even exist anymore and say, well, we're God's chosen people just because we occupy a piece of dirt over in the Middle East. Obviously, you know, God favors us. Well, that's a whole other sermon right there, isn't it? Well, what we see here is this mentality, this attitude existed even back in Jesus's day where they're saying, oh, can you believe he eats with sinners? Can you believe he's sitting down and eating with these publicans? So it's this mentality, this attitude that they're having, and that's what Jesus is recruiting here in these first two passages. He's saying, look, if you had 100 sheep, if you lose one of them, then you'd not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that that was lost until they find it. And that's what the good shepherd would do. He'd go find the other sheep. And what's he saying here is that these other people, these publicans, these sinners, these Gentiles, these other people that I'm surrounding myself with are also of my flock. These are people that I have come to see and to save. And it says in verse five, and he hath found it, who layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing, and when he hath cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which is lost. I say unto you that likewise, joy shall be in the heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over 90 and nine just persons which needeth no repentance. Now, I want to point out here that these Pharisees, who Jesus is kind of correcting and is going to preach to here in a minute, is these are unsaved people, okay? These are unsaved people. And I say that if you would, we're going to be in Luke, we're going to be like all over the Gospels this morning. So just kind of keep something there in Luke all morning. I'll try not to snap your fingers or spring your thumb or anything, but we're going to read several different passages, okay? Go over to Luke chapter 16, there's one chapter in Luke chapter 16. These are unsaved people, because you have to remember that the Pharisees, these were people that justified themselves in their own sight. Now, look, that's an attribute that's not limited only to the Pharisees. That's something that we run across all the time, out solely. You ask people, how do you know you're going to heaven? Are you sure you're saved? And they'll say, yeah, I'm a pretty good person. You know, I've never killed anybody. I've never been an adultery on my spouse. You know, I've never stolen anything. And it's like, wow, I mean, what a high volume sector in the world. That's really something. But what are they doing? They're justifying themselves inside of God, saying I've never done this and I've never done that. And they take the 10 commandments and use it as a checklist and try to measure up, right? But what we find in scripture is that the law, the commandments actually condemn us. You know, Paul said I was alive once without the law, but when the law came, sin revived, and I died. He's saying I was condemned when the law came, not approved of, okay? But if you're going to Luke 16, I'll get you from Luke five, it says, the scribes and the Pharisees murmured against the disciples saying, why didn't you eat and drink the publicans and sinners? So this is a prevailing attitude that they have throughout the scripture, okay? We just read it in chapter 15, again in chapter five, where they're saying, why do you eat and drink the publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto them, they that are holy, not a physician, but they that are sick. Now is he saying, oh, you Pharisees, you're fine. You have nothing to worry about, you're whole. No, he's saying, look, you think you're so holy and righteous there's no, you have no need. I wouldn't invite it to do anything because you're justifying yourself in your own sight. They that are sick are the ones that need the physician, right? People that are willing to admit that they are not measuring up, right? That's why he says, okay, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, okay? And this is kind of a, you know, a swipe at the Pharisees when you think about it, because they weren't righteous. You know, they were not holy, but he's kind of just placating them, letting them think, you know, that, you know, what they want to think that they're better than somehow their wife got. But you have to understand that these were not sinning people, these were people that needed to repent. Because remember at the end of Luke 15, then when we left off in verse seven, he says, he says, there should be joy in heaven over one sinner that repented more than over 90 and nine just persons which need no repentance. So there's quite a few things you can learn from this passage. One, to see the attitude that the Pharisees had. And also we can see that biblical repentance is to believe on Christ, okay? And every time you kind of come across these words, repent, repentance, you kind of need to clarify this. And I'm gonna spend a little time doing it this morning. And you know, probably most everybody here understands this, but this is something that just needs to be hammered on more and more in the day that we're living in. Because there's a lot of false doctrine out there about repentance and it's been around for a long time. And it's not something that's going away. It's something that, in my opinion, has gotten worse. It's crept into many Baptist churches, independent, one of them is Baptist churches now, are getting up and saying, you have to repent of your sins to be saved. Let me just not say that that is a works-based salvation. That's what that is. They might never admit that and say, oh yeah, it's all by grace, it's all by faith. But if you don't repent of your sin, then you're not, you never got saved. Or they'll say, oh, if you get saved, then you will repent of your sin. You know, and it causes all this confusion. Look, you're either saved by grace or you're not. You know, if it's by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then there's no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Which is it? It's either grace or works. You can't have both, okay? Now, obviously, and we don't shy away from the word repent. People say, oh, you guys don't even want to talk about repentance. We don't even preach repentance. Look, we would preach repentance all the time. I'm constantly getting up to tell people, you got to repent of this sin, you got to repent of that sin, you got to get right, you got to get the sin out of your life. I'm always preaching those things. That is biblical repentance. We believe that you should repent of your sin. We just don't believe that you should repent of your sin in order to get saved. Because that is not the gospel. The gospel is salvation by grace through faith, not a works. That's the image. So, biblical repentance, again, is to believe on Christ. And these guys, these Pharisees, are people that, what, justify themselves in the sight of God. And that's the exact same thing that people that believe, that have repented of your sins believe as well. That's the exact same thing that they're doing. People that say that repent of your sins, they're just like conspiracies, because they're trying to do the same thing. They're trying to justify themselves before God. They're saying, oh, yeah, Jesus died for my sins, but I also cleaned up my life. I got the sin out of my life, I sobered up, I started going to church, as if that's some kind of merit badge to wear in front of the Holy God. God's really gonna be impressed with whatever holiness we achieve in this life. Look, we should strive to be holy. We should strive to live pure, Godly, clean lives, but, you know, at the end of the day, how does that compare to the righteousness of Christ? He doesn't even come close. He came to hold the candle to it. Luke 16, where I had to turn, look at verse 13. No man can serve two masters earlier, be it the one who loved the other, or else be beholden to the one who despised the other. Ye cannot serve God and men. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided them and said, unto them, ye are they which justify yourselves before men. I mean, Jesus just comes right out and calls them out, says, look, you're justifying yourself before men, but God knoweth your hearts. And look, these people can get up and say, you gotta repent of your sins, and preach repent of your sins, and say you gotta clean up your life all they want, and get up and talk about how they gave up this sin, and gave up that sin, and how clean and squeaky clean their life is, and they're just perfect in every way, but God knows their hearts. You know, the Bible says that the heart is desperately wicked. It's deceitful above all things who can know it. The truth is, is that no matter how much you clean up your life, and I'm all for cleaning up your life, it'll never be good enough to get you saved. Otherwise, why did Jesus die? Why didn't he have to come down here and live a perfect life, and suffer shame, and suffering on the cross? Why didn't he have to do all that if all he had to do was just clean up our life in order to go to heaven? So repenting of your sin is, I believe, justifying yourself before God. If you would, go over to Matthew, chapter 21. You see, a lot of times when people preach on the subject of repenting of their sins, they'll just turn to a passage that says repent, and just say, there you go. See, the Bible says you gotta repent of your sin, just because it uses the word repent. You always have to take the word repent in context. You can't just pull it out and add these magical words after it, of your sin, that aren't there. You know, repent of your sin is not found in the Bible. Now, it's found in the Mormon's writings. You know, we could go pull out the Purimah at a great price, or a Doctrine and Covenants, or whatever, the Book of Mormon. I'm not sure which book of lines it is, but it's in there somewhere. You know, I'm kind of going off the cuff here. Where he talks about, you wanna find repent of your sins, that's in the Mormon writings. And yet we have Baptist preachers getting up saying, you gotta repent of your sins. Like, you sound like a Mormon. You know, what's next? You gonna fly to, you gonna night a co-op with them? You know, you're preaching their prayers and you're gonna go be a god on another planet. I mean, what's next? You learn how to be trapped in chapter 21, verse 28. But what thinketh? A certain man had two sons and came to the first and said, son, go work today in my vineyard. And he answered, I will not. But afterward, he repented and went. Again, this is another passage. It's just, it's crystal clear. It's about the Jews and the Gentiles. Because remember, the Gentile nations are basically everybody that's not a Jew, right? And the man had two sons, and the man had two sons. And the man had two sons, you know, God created man. And he, you know, eventually made the nation of Israel his, to fuel their people. So you basically have two segments of people, right? You have, you know, God's chosen people, the Israelites, and you have everybody else, right? And of course, we know back then everybody else was, you know, with all the heathens, they were going, they weren't doing God's will. They weren't worshiping the God of heaven. He's saying, son, go work today in my vineyard. He said, I will not. That's the Gentiles back then. That's the, he's heed the nations saying, we're not gonna worship God in a way, we're not gonna do what God wants us to do. But eventually, he repented and went. So eventually, you know, the Gentiles do get saved. And of course, Old Testament Israel, the whole purpose was for them to be a light unto the nations, you know, through all time. That was, that was what they were supposed to be. And he says in verse 30, and he came and went to the second and said, likewise, the answer is, I go, sir, and went not. So isn't that a perfect picture of the Jews? They had, unto them were committed the oracles of God. They had the prophets and the law, and they said, oh, we're God's people, but they weren't doing his will. They were paying lip service, right? They drew nigh with their lips, but their hearts were far from him, right? So you can see how these two people picture these two groups of people in the Jews and the Gentiles. One said, I'm not gonna go, I'm not gonna do God's will, but eventually, he does it. Then he had the other group who says, oh, well, I'll do your work, Father, but they don't do it. It's just lip service. Verse 31, rather the twain of them did the will of his father. They say unto him, they said unto him, the first, Jesus saith unto them, verily, I say unto you that the publican, and again, he's preaching to the Pharisees here. I say unto you that the publicans and the harlots were in the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not. Okay? So what it, now, we're gonna slow down a bit and think about this here, okay? John came unto you in the way of righteousness, right? And ye believed him not, right? He preached, and he didn't believe. But the publicans and the harlots believed him. Is there anything in there about them giving up their sin? No, what they did is the publicans and harlots, went from not believing to believing. They heard John and said, I believe that. The public and the Pharisees were there, they didn't believe it. They rejected it. And when ye had seen it, when ye had seen what? When ye saw the publicans and the harlots believe John, ye repented not afterward. So what was the repentance that God was looking for? Because remember, this is the Pharisees. They're not publicans, they're not harlots. You know, they had other sins, of course. But the repentance that God is looking for is for them to go from not believing to believing. He repented not afterward that ye might believe him. He said that was the repentance that needed to take place. They had to go from not believing to believing. And that is what biblical repentance, when it comes to salvation, is. And it's not just a change of mind that results in a change of life. Look, if a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, they're saved, but they're not. Regardless of how they live their life afterward. You know, we don't believe, well, yeah, if they get saved and they don't do the works, then they were never saved. I don't believe that. Because again, salvation's not works. There's plenty of people that believe, that put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and never do any works after that. There's tons of them out there, there's millions. I'll say that there's way more people, way more saved Christians out there that are doing nothing for God than there are Christians who are doing something for God. I mean, the scales are like this, folks. I mean, it's just so out of balance. That's what I believe. Because salvation is simple, it's easy, okay? If you would, go over to John chapter six, John chapter six. John chapter number six, verse 28. In John 6, 28, the Bible says, "'Then said they unto him, "'What shall we do that we might work the works of God?'" That's a good question, isn't it? What do I gotta do to work the work of God? You know, and this is what man wants to do and get to heaven, don't they? Listen, and you say, well, if believing is all it takes, then why aren't so many more people saved? It's so simple. That's exactly why they're not saved, because it's so simple. Because man is so full of himself and so full of pride, he wants to work his own way to heaven. He wants to have some part in it. He doesn't wanna just trust completely that Christ did everything for him. They're saying, well, what do we gotta do to work the works of Christ? What's he saying? Jesus answered, verse 29 of that. This is the work of God. Oh, good, we're gonna get the answer. You wanna work your way to heaven, here's how you do it. This is the work of God. That you believe on him who hath sent. That's the work of God. That's what you have to do. Believe on him who may have sent, amen. Jesus Christ, that's the work that God wants on you to go to heaven, amen. Now, has God ordained that there are other works that we should walk in them? Of course. You know, we should be reading our Bibles, raising our families for God, about practicing good Christian conduct. You know, we should be spitting souls, all of that. Those are things that we should do. But what's he asked in Acts 16? What must I do to be saved? Believe on the word of Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. That's right in my house, right? Simple answer, just believe. And the paradox is, because it's so easy, so many people miss it. The fact that it's easy makes it so hard for people to get saved. But it's not God's fault, it's because man is full of himself, because man is proud. If you would, go over to Hebrews chapter six. Hebrews chapter six. You know, another passage that they'll turn to, people that want to preach this, repent of your sins, is they'll go to Acts 20, right? And they'll go to verse 21 and say, testify both to the Jews and also the Greeks, repentance towards God and faith for our Lord Jesus Christ. Now you see right there, folks, that was repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And they try to turn these into two different things. Saying, well, see, that's how you get saved. You have to repent towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. So they're separating repentance and faith into two different things. You know, and that's really bad logic, because the other thing you could do with this passage is you could separate God from our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, why do we make those two different things? Right, and that would be a heresy, wouldn't it? And you say, Brother Corbin, that's ridiculous, because there's so many other passages, there's so many verses that teach us that Jesus is God. Yeah, I know, but there's also so many other passages that teach us that salvation is like grace through faith, that it's not about repenting some of your sins. So why don't you apply that same logic to your false way of interpreting this verse while you're at it? The truth about this passage is is that the repentance towards God is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance towards God, how do you repent towards God? By believing on Him who He has sent. That is the repentance. And when I see guys choke on that, it makes me wonder if they're even saved. When I see preachers get up and you repeat them like that, you say, well, that's the same thing. It makes me wonder if they're even saved. Because the natural man who seeeth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they have foolishness unto him. And that's pretty simple. I mean, I doubt anyone in the room is struggling to make that connection there. Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. When we're looking at all these other passages and they're telling us that we repented not that we should believe on Him, that this is the Word of God that should believe, most people get that, right? Because they have the Spirit of God. And look, if we have not the Spirit of God, we are none of this. You know, if we don't have the Spirit of God, we can't hear the words of God. They'll go right over our head. Because again, a natural man who seeseth not the things of the Spirit of God. These are things that are spiritually discerned, okay? Not that it takes a whole lot of spirituality to get that. It's pretty simple. If you're in Hebrew 6, look at verse 1. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith for God. So here we do have a passage in the New Testament where he's putting repentance and works together, isn't he? And he's saying, look, repenting of dead works. All those things that, what are the dead works? All those things that people think they're doing to work their way to heaven. It's dead works, because it's not gonna get them to heaven. There's no life in them. You know, and this is a foundational doctrine, isn't it? Salvation. This is a foundation. We need to move past these things and yet so many Baptist churches, so many, you know, are stumbling at this. This doctrine has crept in and embedded itself. It's not just in the Mormon church. You know, it's not just in all these other churches. It's gotten even into independent, fundamental Baptist churches, and it's entrenched, okay? I don't know that we'll ever get this doctrine out of churches. We'll get it, it's never coming in this church. It's never been in this church, it's never been in this church so long as I'm getting behind this pulpit. This is, you know, this is something I get fired up about because, look, this is a doctrine that leads people to hell. If you're sitting there thinking, well, I'm going to heaven because I quit smoking or something, you're on your way to hell, friend. You know, you're gonna be smoking soon, in a different way. You know, and I'm being lighthearted about it, but you know, that's a reality. And look, so he's saying here that we need to repent, that the repentance from dead works and the faith for God, you know, again, these are basic things. Go over to Romans chapter three. You know, there's just so many passages that just put a veil in the coffin of works-based salvation in any shape or form that it comes in. You know, those are really the only two religions in the world. You got salvation by grace through faith and works. That's it. You know, and there's so many others that fall under this umbrella of works, aren't they? I mean, there's the Hinduism, Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, all the isms. There's so many that just fall into that category of works. And that goes all the way back to Cain and Abel, right? Because Cain brought the fruits of the ground, right? He brought his fruits and vegetables, and he made his own offering in the God. He did his own work. When God said he wanted to ban those sacrifices, which is what Abel did, right? You're there in Romans chapter three. Look at verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. How many deeds of the law are gonna justify you in the sight of God? None. And look, all the good things, all the immoral things that people claim are gonna get them into heaven, they're all the deeds of the law. I don't steal. That's the law. I don't murder. That's the law. You know, I haven't killed or raped or divorced or any of these. That's the law, friend. Those are all things, all those immoral commandments are found in the law. And the Bible's saying here that none of those things will justify you in the sight of God, not one, and yet so many people are relying on it. For by the law, he goes on and says in verse 20, is the knowledge of sin, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. So again, the righteousness of God without the law was something that the law and the prophets, you know, sought and promoted and preached. It was taught in the Old Testament, but now it's being manifested right in the body, in the person of Jesus Christ. Being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all them that believe, for there is no difference. And this is what the Jews joked on, that all these sinful nations, all these Gentile nations could just get in on the blessings of God and the promises of God by simply believing in Christ. And why was that something that they didn't like? Because again, it's in the front to their pride, the man's pride. Because, you know, the Jews, they were boasting themselves of their religion. They were working their way to heaven. Go to John chapter six, John chapter six. Look, this is something that we have to map down because it's gonna need a lot of people to help. Jesus said in Matthew seven, many will say unto you that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? Now, as you're going to John six, listen to what I'm saying. Listen to the things that people are gonna get up and try to justify themselves in sight of God. Have we not prophesied in thy name? Have we gone out and preached your name? I mean, aren't there people that go out there in the name of Jesus Christ and knock on doors and try to preach a false gospel, another gospel, which is not another? You got the Mormons that go out there, the Jehovah Witnesses, they go out. You got people stand up in churches all across this world, several times throughout the week, and get up and they preach the word of God. They claim the name of Christ. They prophesy in his name, right? And he said, is that a good thing? Does that sound good? I mean, that's what we're doing this morning. We're getting up and prophesying in the name of Christ. We go out and preach Jesus Christ, right? We don't do that to earn our way to heaven. You know, we don't go out and preach Jesus Christ because we're trying to get brownie points and die. He's saying, look, have we not prophesied that name and in thy name cast out devils? So, you know, we're probably doing with Pentecostals now at this point or something. We don't do that kind of thing here. Nobody really does. That's another sermon, right? But wouldn't you say if you had the ability, I mean, Jesus did this. Didn't he cast out devils? Didn't he prophesy in God's name? Didn't the apostles go around? Weren't they able to cast out demons? They were subject unto them? Yeah. So are these bad things that they're relying on? Well, these are good things. These are good things. He's saying, and in thy name done many wonderful works. You know, we started soup kitchens and, you know, we started a used bike recycling program for all the kids in the ghetto. You know, we did this social gospel. We bought backpacks for all the underprivileged children in the elementary schools. You know, there's just so many things that people do. Why? Because they're trying to earn their way to heaven. They're trying to justify themselves in the sight of God. Hey, look, it's not bad things that they're doing. These are all good things. I mean, I would never be down on somebody for, you know, clothing and sheltering the poor, helping out the needy. You know, but you know what? That's not gonna get them to heaven. If that's what they're preaching and saying, this is what you gotta do to heaven, I will be down on them. Because that's not Bible. And that will lead people to hell. It's like all these recovery ministries that are out there. And this is big in Tucson. These ministries that say, well, you can't tell people that they don't have to repent of their sins. Because then all these drug addicts that we got off the street are just gonna go right back and do their sin. Like, you know, what they're admitting to is that their gospel is just a scare tactic to get people to live sober. And I'm all for people being sober and cleaning up their life but not if that's what they think that's gonna get them to heaven. You feel what I'm saying? They'll say, oh, you can't tell these guys that it's just belief, it's faith only. You can't just tell them what the Bible actually says. You can't tell them they can live however they want after salvation because they'll just go back to their heroin and their dope and their meth and everything else. Yeah, but you know what? If they live a sober life and end up in hell, what can they profit from? That's right. You know, you might have, you know, you didn't give them the truth. You know, you helped them live a clean sober life all the way to hell. You know, the Bible says, give wine to them that's a strong reason that they're burning a carriage. It doesn't make any sense, folks. That's not a good way of trying to help people. We wanna preach the whole council die. And look, people should sober up. Yes, of course, people should live a certain way after they get saved. Because that's what we always get to do. We can just tell people they can live however they want. Yeah, they can, but did I ever say they're one of the remaining consequences? We preach that all the time. We get up and say, hey, look, you can go ahead and get saved and be on your way to heaven. And if you wanna go out there and run around and party and fornicate and get involved in all that sin, God will chase me. I mean, we're on so many, I'll quote Peter's quote, God chased every son in the race of heaven. Now, is there any son who can chase the pot? And if you be without chastisement, then you're bastards of that son, the Bible says. You know, if you're saved, you can count on God chasing you if you're doing wrong, if you're messing up. You know, I wish they would preach that to these guys. You know, that's what will keep them sober to these derelicts and these drug addicts. I wish they would preach that. Hey, you know what, you can preach the gospel, but if you mess up, they're not gonna chase you in this life. Don't you think that would keep people sober? Don't you think that would cause people to get right? Look, I know it does. You know, the fear of God, you know, you could put that into people without having to hold salvation out like some kind of a carrot. You can still preach the fear of God. You can still preach the judgment and the wrath of God without, you know, making salvation into some kind of work just for the sake of getting people to sober up. It's a false gospel. And it's big here in Tucson, I'm telling you. Where'd I have you go? John 6. John 6? I was in Matthew 7, right? You know, there's people listing all these great works that they're gonna do, and what does Jesus say? Oh, come on in. Oh, you did all those wonderful works. You know, I'm so proud of you, right? Now, we that work for God, we will hear those words, well done, thou good and faithful servant, right? But what does he tell these people who are relying on these works? Depart from me, I never need you. Ye that work iniquity. He just called all their wonderful works iniquity. Things that Jesus himself did, that the apostles did. He said it's iniquity because it's, you're relying on it for salvation. The Bible says all our righteousness starts with the arabics before him. That's right. Look at John 6, verse 40. You know, kind of in the same vein as John 6, 28, where I had you earlier. They asked him, you know, what do we gotta do to work the works of God? This is the work of God, you might believe on him when he has sinned. John 6, 40. And this is the will of him that sent me. So he's the same chapter, and they give it to us again. Yet everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, and they have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. You know what God wants? Is for everyone to see the Son and to believe the Son. To see him and believe God. Look, obviously we don't see Jesus today, but we can show people Jesus in the Word of God. No, he is the Word. Go to Romans, chapter 10. Romans, chapter 10, chapter 10. You know, so I'm kind of, I'm just kind of ringing that bell on repentance this morning because it's there in passage, and you know, you have a group of people called the Pharisees who are relying on their own works, their own righteousness. They're justifying themselves in the sight of God as if they're heaven. You know, and that's something that applies today. That's not something that's gone away. That's something that's been around for a long time. And it shows up in this false doctrine of repenting your sins to get saved, right? And you know, if you're still doubting, if you have any doubts about that, you know, I just challenge you to go home, get yourself a King James Bible, pull it out, and look up repentance, repent, and all its derivatives, and go through the scripture and read it. You know what you're gonna find? You know who does the most repenting in the Bible? God. God. God repents more than anybody in the Bible, and yet God is without sin, right? So you can't just say, well, every time repent is found in the Bible, it just means, you know, remorse over your sin. No, it doesn't. Because God doesn't have any sin, and he repents more than anybody. In fact, one of my favorite passages on the subject, I'll just read it to you. In Jonah, chapter three. Who can tell if God will repent and turn away? This is the King of Nineveh, right? When Jonah goes in and teaches them that God's gonna destroy the city, and they all start putting, they put ashes and sackcloth on themselves, they're putting sackcloth on the animals, you know, they're repenting, right? Of their wicked works. And he's saying, and the King is saying, who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away? So I love how it's repeating over and over again. Can you get an idea? I love how the Bible defines itself. Can you get an idea of what the word repent means? That God will turn and repent and turn away. So this is a great passage, Jonah three, nine, and 10, because it really, you know, solidifies some things for us about this doctrine of repentance. What repent means. It just means turn, it's all it means. You know, my wife was telling me she read it in some old novel, you know, from back in the 1800s or something, where people would use this word all the time, just in their common vernacular. Instead of saying, well, I turn around, or I come back, they just say I repented. You know, it used to be a lot more common. You know, it's kind of more archaic today, we don't use that. You know, you don't say, well, you know, I was going out on a QT, but then I repented. I went to the circle of pain instead, right? But that's how it was used a lot of times. And that's how God, that's how the Bible's using it here. And he said, God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, and that we perish now. Now verse 10 is the kicker. And God saw their works, the people have been in love, that they turn from their evil way. That they turn from their evil way. It says that God saw their what? Works. And what were their works? They turned from their evil way. So the Bible actually tells us that turning from your evil way, that turning from your sins, although it's a good thing to do, is works. I mean, anyone that's trying to get sin out of their life knows that that's the truth. That it takes, you know, just flips some switch and it's that easy. You have to work to get sin out of your life. You know, you want to give up smoking, and I'm just using smoking because that's, you know, just kind of a general one. You know, that's just kind of a easy one to talk about. Anyone who tries to quit smoking, that's hard to do. It's an addiction, right? And yes, it is a sin. You know, this is the temple of God. You know, we should not defile the temple of God. God wants us to take care of ourselves. And smoking, you know, I believe, is a sin. Now, will it take you to hell? Just make you smell like you've been there, right? So, but it's hard to do, isn't it? You know, getting off alcohol, hard to do. You know, trying, how about just getting rid of all the bad things? How about trying to do the right things? That takes work, Frank. So you can see how, you know, the narrator here of scripture, the Holy Spirit, you know, hit the nail on the head and said, God saw their works that they turned from their evil way. And God repented of the evil that He thought to be one of them. See, God, we've got God turning, repenting, He's calling the words, I love Jonah chapter three, verses nine and 10. It really clears up a lot of things. You're in Romans 10. And so I think that's where I had to go. Look, we don't wanna be people that justify ourselves inside of God. And probably, you know, in all likelihood, that's nobody here, you know, if you're saved. You know, you look there in Romans chapter 10, verse one, Paul said, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. And that was the Pharisees. They were zealous, but it was misplaced, right? That's what's so sad about people that are trusting in their works. You know, they're trying to live God's lives. You know what, in all honesty, a lot of them probably might even be living godlier lives than a lot of Christians, right? I mean, there's Christians that are getting divorced and living in sin and getting caught up in this sin and that sin. You have some unsaved person, you know, who's just trying to do their best and work hard. I mean, a lot of Roman Catholics are that way, aren't they? They're very traditional. You know, they have a lot of things now and they're working real hard to get their way to heaven. They have a zeal, but not according to knowledge. It's misplaced, it's unfortunate, it's sad. He says there, if they be ignorant of God's righteousness and going out to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted under the righteousness of God. And that's the problem, isn't it? When you're someone who tries to justify yourself on the other side of God, the problem with you. So what's wrong with living a godlier life? What's wrong with us doing all these wonderful works? Why are you calling it iniquity? Because when you're relying on that and have not submitted under the righteousness of God, that's the problem with you. Because Jesus came and he's the one that fulfilled the law, kept the law, he all comes short of the glory of God. And we're gonna stand out and say, well, no, my righteousness is good enough to get me ahead of it. We're wrong. If we go back to Luke chapter 15, we've gotta kinda move along here. Luke chapter 15, verse eight. It says, either that woman, so he's getting this other parable, right? He's getting a parable of the 99 shoot and the one that goes astray, and he's getting this other one, and he's setting up the next parable. These are all related. Either that woman having 10 pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, do not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligence until she find it. So of course I'm gonna come look for people that need to get saved, you know what I mean? You would do that if you lost a piece of silver, you'd go looking for it. How much more a person's soul? And when she had found it, she called her friends and her neighbors, together saying, rejoice for me, I have found the piece which I have lost. Likewise, I say unto you that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repented, and you've already cleared up what that means. And he said, a certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, give me the portion of his goods that follow to me, and he divided unto them his living. So this is where he really starts to get after them and makes the point that, basically, he's going to take away, he's going to take the kingdom from them and give them unto a nation and reinforce the fruit, bring forth the fruits thereof. Because notice he starts out in the younger of them, and that's an important detail. God doesn't, he doesn't just put these things in there because he's just trying to take up space in the Bible. It's not like they gave him a blank book and said, build this. He's giving us these details. But the reason why he's younger is because he came second, right? Just like the Gentiles, right? Before they had to go, Israel was the light on the Gentiles, but now he's forsaking Israel and going directly to the Gentiles, right? And the Gentiles came later. And the younger has come in, said to his father, father, give me the portion of the goods that follow, meaning divided unto his living. So again, the elder is the Jews, the younger, the Gentiles, and this is a consistent thing throughout the Bible. And it's something that's brought up in the New Testament. They're both called sons because of the fact that they both came from the same creator, the same father, right? That's the picture there. And we are the sons of God, what, by faith, right? So again, this parable is not about salvation. I believe this is a parable that's about the Gentiles. Now again, before we get into it in a minute, I'll be gone soon, is that of course there are parallels that can be made, you know? And I'll point it out there, and if you look there in verse 18, this is after he goes out and expends all of his father's inheritance, his pride, his living, and he's feeding the husks, right? It says there in verse 15, and he went and joined himself to sin in that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed his swine, and he would have fain had filled his belly with the husks and swine did leave, and no man gave unto him. You know, there's a whole nother sermon right there. You know, you go out and live, Ryan, to say everyone's your friend when you're Mr. Moneybags, and you got money to throw around, everyone's your friend, but when that money dries up, you know, all those pair of other friends, they go away, and no man will give unto you. Say, well, it's your problem, now you do it, buddy. You know, oh, I got some pigs you can go feed, and he's so poor that he's still thinking about eating the pig's food, and pigs will eat anything, right, and they're thinking, I'm gonna go eat the corn husks, right, and this is a whole nother sermon, and that's where sin takes you, you know, keep that in mind. But that's what we're preaching about this morning. It said in verse 17, when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have ready not to spare? And I perish from hunger. I will rise and go to my father and stand in him. I have sinned against heaven and been for thee, and am no more worthy to call thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants, and he arose and came to his father. Now, here's where we can make some application about salvation, but when he was a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, so how is he getting restored? How is he getting saved? How is he being brought into the fold, right, back in his father's house, because his father had compassion? You know, the only reason any of us is going to heaven is because God got put down, so I'll take pity on him. I'll have compassion. You know, it's the love of Christ that God has saved. Was it in our righteous deeds? You know, we're like this guy coming out of the pig pen. We've been out there rolling around in a slot of sin, and we're coming home, and God's already looking for us. You know, God's already looking for us and wanting to show us compassion, right? They ran, and it says he ran the father, right? Ran, he fell on his neck, he kissed him. He's embracing him, right? God's not about making it hard. You know, God wants people to, he wants to have that relationship, right? He wants them to be saved. He wants them to be his son, his child, okay? He'd say, well, I see that you got out of the pig pen. Why don't you take a shower, clean yourself up a little bit more, put some clothes on, get some clothes, and then we'll talk about you being my son again. I mean, but that's not a lot of people who want to paint salvation today. Well, you gotta do this, and you gotta do that, and you gotta do that. Did you have this work? No, that's not the Bible. That's not the picture I see here. God just has compassion, runs up to that smelly, stinky kid and wraps his arms around him and starts kissing him. He's just, I'm glad you're back, because God is a loving God. He makes salvation easy. It's, we're the ones that stumble on it. And the son, notice, you know, here's another application on salvation. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven. He didn't say, well, of course you're gonna have it back. I'm the greatest son you've ever had. I've come to bless you, Father, right? He's not never had this puffed up, arrogant, hottie attitude. He'd say, I have sinned against heaven in the next night, and am no more worthy of calling me my son. You know, that's the problem. That's why so many people don't get saved, because real salvation, you know, saving grace, you know, it takes humility. You have to say, even if I'm not worthy of it. You have to admit you're a sinner. First of all, to begin with, you have to admit, you know, all my righteousness are a smelty prayer. There's none good, no, not one, that we've all gone astray. We're all as an unclean thing, the Bible says. You know, but that takes a lot of humility to admit something like that, doesn't it? But that's what this guy had. You know, and his life kind of had a way of humbling him a little bit. But he's saying, look, I'm not worthy to be called your son. Right, and it reminds me of, you know, the man that went down justified, right? The publican, who couldn't even so much as lift his eyes up ahead and explode his breasts and said, God, you're merciful, you're a sinner. You know, rather than the Pharisees saying, I'm glad I'm not like this man. You know, I fast twice in a week. I give tithes of all that I have. You know, it was the guy that had some humility and was willing to commit that it wasn't worth it that went down justified. Not those that are seeking to justify themselves. But notice what happens here in the story. It goes on, it says in verse 22, but the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and choose on his feet, and bring him a pathetic calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be married. For this, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost in this boundary. And then they began to be married to the heaven part of it. You know, something good happened. Now his elder son, now again, it's the elder son, Mike, who came first, it's the Jews, okay? The elder son was in the field, so he's there doing what he's supposed to be doing. He's keeping the law, he's keeping the commandments. You know, he's trying to walk that straight and narrow. And he's, you know, he's thinking, look, I deserve to be rejoiced over, okay? And he says, he was in the field, verse 25, and as he came and drew nigh of the house, he saw and heard music and dancing, and he called one of his servants and asked them what these things meant. And he said unto them, thy brother has come, thy father hath killed the bad calf, because he had received him safe and sound. And look at his reaction. Oh, my brother's back, oh good. And this is what Jesus is getting across. The Jews are triggered by the Gentiles. That's what's taking place. Remember in the beginning of this chapter, you know, look, they murmur. He eats Republicans and sinners. They're angered by the fact that Jesus is showing compassion on the Gentiles. You know, and look, this is something that goes on to this day. You know, the Jews still hate God now, they do. They still spit when they say Jesus' name. They still write, you know, blasphemous things in the Talmud about it, things that aren't even fit to repeat about our Lord. That's why, you know, when you get all the Jewish comedians on the sitcoms, that's why they all take jabs at Jesus, don't they? They all take a jab at Jesus. You all mock God, you all mock the things of God because they're still triggered by God, by the fact that God, you know, opened his arms to lying and compassion upon the Gentiles, which is something he's always trying to do. That was the purpose of Israel, that's to be a light with the nations. But that's the same reaction that they're having. And he called one of his servants and asked him what these things meant. He read that in verse 28, and he was angry and would not go in and say, well, I'm not gonna have a part of this anymore. I'm gonna go start my own religion, you know, based on, you know, a bunch of weird traditions. He said, and would not go in, therefore, came his father out and treated him and answered and said unto his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee. You know, we've been God's people for thousands of years. You know, we've had the law, we're the ones that are, you know, the scribes, the, we've done, we've been serving you all these years. And now you're just gonna go ahead and just embrace these Gentiles, these filthy, stinky Gentile, been hanging out a bunch of swine, bunch of abominable things, yep. They weren't glad about this. You know, I heard somebody saying, I've thought about this several times, I don't know if I could say this, but they say, you know, it's a good thing I'm not God because I just let everybody I know. I mean, and you know, really, that's because we're not holy, and I'm not saying that he said that in a haughty way. It's because we're not holy, guys. We don't understand the holiness and the righteousness of God and how he's just to send people to hell. But people have that reaction, don't they? And you would think that's a natural human reaction to have some compassion in someone's life. You know, you say, oh, my brother's back. Oh, the Gentiles can get saved now, too? Oh, it's open to everybody? And it always was. I don't wanna have to, you know, explain all that for the sake of time. Hopefully we all understand that. But the point I'm making here is look at his reaction. It's not one of compassion. It's not one of mercy. He's not glad. He's angry that his father is being compassionate on somebody. And it's the same way today. And we'll see here in a minute, almost done, is that, you know, people, this has been a reaction that they've had for a long time. And it uses this illustration of two sons over and over, and it's actually really interesting. And it says in verse 20, and he's angry and he would not go in, and for his father came out and treated him, verse 29, and he answered and said to his father, oh, these many years ago I served thee, neither have transgressed I at any time if I command it. Now, do you believe that? Because I don't. And he had never, thou, gavest me a kid, and I might make marriage with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, and shall devour thy living with harvards, thou hast killed for him a fatted calf, and he sent his son, thou art ever with me. And all that I have is thine. It was neat that we should make here we be glad, for this thy brother was dead in his life again, and was lost in his time. Say, look, you're still here. And look, salvation was still open to the Jews. It wasn't like God picked one over the other. He just said, look, you can still be my son. You can still get saved, you can still go to heaven. Just, they're coming through. You know, I'm thinking they're doing it through me. We're getting rid of the sacrifices. We're getting rid of all those things. We're getting rid of the law, you know, the commandments, the ordinances, and all those things. But look, you can still be part of the family. You can still come in and rejoice with us. What's the problem here? The problem is that they want to justify themselves before God. They don't want to mistrust Christ. It's pride, it's a lack of humility, it's a lack of compassion. So again, this is a parable, you know, that's not just about salvation. It definitely makes me have a case about salvation, but it's about the Jews and the Gentiles. It's about these two sons, the elder and the younger. And this idea of two sons is something that's consistent throughout Scripture. If you would, go to Galatians four, Galatians chapter number four. You know, the Bible says in Romans nine, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. You know, just having some lineage, some genealogy, which I don't believe there's anybody that can trace their genealogy back to Abraham, especially after the Jews were scattered among all nations and intermingled with all of the nations. He's saying neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are coming for the seed. For this is the word of promise, at this time I will pump, and Sarah shall have the son. And not only this, but when Rebecca had conceived by one, even by our father, Isaac, I love how Paul, right into the Romans, calls him our father, Isaac. For that children being God have born, and that have had a good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to the lecture, might stand not of works, but of hidden at call. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob I love, but Esau have I hated. Now he's not saying that he specifically hated that person Esau, this is an allegory, this is an illustration of what he saw. You know, if you go actually read the story of Esau, Esau was blessed by God, you know, God still blessed him. But he's saying, look, you know, one line, where one person came up with promise, is of Isaac, okay? And that's supposed to represent, you know, being saved by faith, not by worship. You know, this again, we're looking at Esau and Isaac, two sons, we're looking at, you know, the product of son, and you know, the younger son, the elder, right? We could talk again, I mentioned earlier, about Abel and Cain, who came first? Right, it's Cain. You know, Cain slew his brother Abel, right? Because Abel, and the Bible says that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. And what was his righteousness? Because he brought, you know, he brought the lamb, he brought, he made the animal sacrifice, he did it the way, he did what God wanted him to do. He didn't just make up his own way to make sacrifices unto God, which he overcame when he brought the vegetables, right? He obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying as his, and by it being dead, yet speaketh. You're in Galatians 4, look at verse 22, for it is written that Abraham too had two sons. So it's just the Bible has this theme of two sons all throughout it, it's interesting. And the one by a bondmane, and the other a free woman, but he, which is Ishmael, right, who was of, excuse me, who was of the bondwomane, was born of the flesh, but he, Isaac, right, of the free woman, was by promise. Which things are in allegory? Which things are in allegory? You know, these are things that are supposed to picture something for us. So these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which generate the bondage, which is Hagar. You know, Mount Sinai, the law, you know, if you're gonna try and work your way to heaven through the law, you're gonna be, what, in bondage, right? But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all, for it is written, rejoice at thou barren the pairest not, break forth and cry now that travailest not, for the desolate hath much more children than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But then, as he was, excuse me, but as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. We're saying, look, nothing's changed. Back then, Ishmael, you know, was persecuting Isaac, right? He had these two things that were opposed. One persecuted the other. You see, it's the same way today. You know, that which is of Sinai, that which generate bondage persecutes that which is, you know, of Jerusalem, which is above, the children of God. It's the same way today. We still have the Jews that persecute the Gentiles. We still have the unsaved that persecute the saved, right? And then Paul could definitely testify to that. He's being chased from town to town by the Jews, being stoned, being beaten, being whipped, being imprisoned. Verse 30, nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Pass out the bond woman of the son, for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir of the son of the free woman, so that, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free. So what's ultimately of this parable about, of this, the prodigal son? It's about the Jews despising the Gentiles. That's what it's about. If you're there, go back to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter number 13, it says in verse 28, and there shall be weeping and gnashing teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves rust out. I mean, that's a hard preaching. I haven't even come close to that this morning. It's getting up and telling them, look, God's gonna blow you out of the independent. See, why are the Jews, why are they despising the Gentiles? Because of things like this. He's just saying, look, they're gonna come and just sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and you're gonna be thrust up. He says in verse 30, and behold, there are, behold, there are last which shall be first. Does that make sense? No, because you have the last which shall be first. The son who came second is gonna be first, and there shall be first, but shall be last. You know, the son that came first is gonna be last. Now, you know, I don't wanna be accused of being anti-Semitic this morning. You know, I'm just preaching what the Bible says, you know, when it comes to salvation and all that, because here's the thing. Jews can still be saved today. In fact, I know the Jews that are gonna be saved. Jesus finished here. They can still get saved. They can still become the children of God, or you know what? They're gonna have to abandon their false religion, just like anybody else. And why should anyone get it passed? Well, I could still, you know, rely on my other rights because I could still justify myself in being a child of God, but you can't. It's the same rule for everybody. You know, God's no respected person. You know, the real harm this morning would be if I were to get up and tell you that the Jews don't need to be saved, that they're fine, that, you know, just reassuring them, oh, you know what? You're the descendants of Abraham. You're good. You know, your genealogy's gonna get you there. The Bible tells us to avoid genealogies. Yeah, right. You know, and so that's what this parable is really about. It's about the Jews and the Gentiles, and there's a lot of application that can be made. And, you know, what we should take from it and what we can apply is the fact that, you know, people, nothing has changed today. You know, people are still out there trying to justify themselves in the sight of God. And we shouldn't have toddled them. I'm not saying we should go out and be belligerent jerks about it, but we shouldn't have walked away and say, oh, well, yeah, you're a good person. You're on your way to heaven. Oh, you're of this nationality. You know, you live a good life, isn't he okay? That's a false religion, folks. That's a false gospel. That's damnable heresy. You know, we need to let people know that, hey, you need to get saved, and your good works aren't gonna get you there. You know, that's the application that we can make this morning is that this is still a problem today of people trying to justify themselves before God. And we shouldn't let it slide, we shouldn't let this philosophy, this attitude, this doctrine of justifying yourself before God's slip into churches where people start preaching things like, oh, you gotta live a good life. You gotta repent your sin and be saved. And you don't have to repent your sin. Should you repent your sin? Absolutely, but the Bible's clear that salvation is by grace and faith. Amen. You know, it's not our own righteousness. You know, it's by his mercy that he saved us. Amen. Good Lord, again, thank you for the free gift of salvation. Thank you for the compassion that you've shown to every one of us, Lord, that know you as Savior. Lord, I pray if there's anyone here that's not saved, Lord, if they've been saved, they'd understand the simplicity that is in Christ, that, Lord, you did everything for us. All we have to do is to believe, to put our trust and faith in your death, your own resurrection. Lord, I pray you help us to preach that to a world that needs to hear it. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. Amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go this morning. Amen. Let's turn our hands to Psalm 4. Psalm 4, a way of the cross we call it. ["I Must Be Told"] I must be told, by the way of my father's womb, there's no other way but this. I shall never sign all the gates of life with the way of the cross I use. The way of the cross we told, the way of the cross we told, in the streets we go as an underpower. The way of the cross we told, I must be told on the bloodstream today, the path that will save your child, if I ever cry to the eyes of God where the soul is at home with God. The way of the cross we told, the way of the cross we told, in the streets we go as an underpower. The way of the cross we told, if I give farewell to the way of the world, to walk in a better world. For my Lord says, God, let us seek my home where he lives and the old can go. The way of the cross we told, the way of the cross we told, in the streets we go as an underpower. The way of the cross we told, the way of the cross we told, You You