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[Music]
You know, not everybody enjoys Christmas. Certainly many
in the world don't enjoy Christmas and would prefer
holidays to Christmas and secular celebrations to the real
meaning of Christmas. We know not everyone loves Christmas.
There's some people... maybe... I'm even speaking to some
people... You don't... you don't love Christmas. I mean, it's
just not... you know, it's stress-filled and... and it's
financially disabling sometimes, and... and maybe there's sadness
in your home, or maybe, you know, cousin Eddy's coming for
Christmas you just can't handle it another year! So... ah... so
you... maybe you don't love Christmas and you're kind of,
you know, sitting here with your arms folded-bah humbug! Let's
get Christmas over so we can go on with life! Well, maybe you're
going to find yourself in the story that Jesus gave us today.
It's the story of the lost sibling. The elder brother and
Jesus tells us about him beginning in verse 25. Many of
you have stopped reading at verse 24 and in some ways it
would have been nice just to have ended the story with a
celebration and the excitement of the son who had come home!
But Jesus had an additional, powerful, compelling point to
make. Verse 25: 25) And his older son was in the field. And
as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and
dancing. 26) And he called one of the servants and asked what
these things meant. (What's going on here? Why are we having
a party?) 27) And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and
your father has killed the fattened calf because he has
received him back safe and sound.' 28) But he was angry and
refused to go in. And the father came out to entreat him. Now
let's just stop right there. There are two kinds of people
away from God in this story. Two sinners... and sin is what
separates us from God, disconnects us from God. There
is the reckless, rebellious sinner. You know him as the
prodigal son. He threw away his life. He wasted everything.
He... he's irreligious, he's immoral and he's far away from
the father's house and the love of the father... the love of
God. That's one kind of person. But there's another person in
this story that is a religious sinner, a respectable sinner, a
moral sinner. The fact is that the elder brother who stayed
home... his heart was far away from the father. He never went
anywhere and yet in his heart he was separated from the love and
the joy and the fellowship of his father. And this is the
elder brother. Now by now you probably realize that Jesus was
talking specifically here to a group of people known as the
Pharisees. Remember the Pharisees at the outset of... of
this series we talked about the fact that Jesus loved lost
people, that He ate with sinners, that He... that He
partied with people that were outside the religious system of
His day, the outsiders of... of the faith. People not
particularly good. Sinners of all kinds. And this was... this
drew criticism from the religious types, from the
Pharisees, from the religious establishment. This drew heavy
criticism. This Man cavorts with sinners; this Man hangs out with
people He shouldn't be hanging out with, the outsiders. Look,
everything that Jesus did in coming to earth was to include
more and more people. A Savior was born for all people; a
Savior of the world! He didn't come just for the religious
types, or just for Jews; He came for Gentiles and... and He came
for the Romans as... as... as well as the religious. When He
was born, He was not born in Jerusalem, the son of a priest,
but rather He was born in humility in Bethlehem...
Everything about the coming of Jesus into the world...
everything about His kingdom is to say that everyone is
included; that there is no person that God does not love;
that there is no nation, no creed, no color, no kind that is
not loved by God unconditionally. The Pharisees
couldn't handle that! Now you know that, of course, if you've
been around church for a while that the Pharisees are the bad
guys of the Bible. Nobody wants to be a Pharisee. I never had
someone come into my office and confess to being a Pharisee.
[laughter] We think other people are Pharisees. You know, the
rule-keepers, the straight-edged, the hard-edged,
hard-shelled religious types who never have any fun. And we can
look around in churches... even theologically sound and
fundamentally committed churches and see Pharisees in the church.
Religious types whose hearts are far from God. But the problem is
so often we don't see ourselves in that picture, do we? But if
we look in the mirror carefully... if you look in the
mirror, you might see a Pharisee. We always have to ask
ourselves, "Is there some Pharisee in me? Do I love the
Father for the right reasons? Do I serve Him with motives that
honor Him?" Religion without God put Jesus on the cross. Moral
people cried for the blood of Jesus. And so Jesus is speaking
through the story of the elder brother to Pharisees of all
kinds. Religious sinners. People who don't see their need for
salvation. People who say, "You know, the Gospel's for someone
else, but I don't need Jesus. I'm not a murderer, I'm not a
killer, I'm not an adulterer, I don't steal too much. If I'm a
sinner, I'm a good sinner! And I... I keep the rules; I go to
church, I do what I'm supposed to do. I keep my... my nose down
at work, I... I'm a good person! Why do you tell me I need to be
saved? Why do you say I need Jesus?" Religious, respectable
people are just... without Jesus are just as far away as the
young man who went to the Far Country. What was wrong with
this guy? This... this Grinch? You know he... First of all, he
was... he was joyless. And boy, there is nothing more joyless,
more empty than religion without Jesus. Really. And this... this
fellow... this older brother... he just had no joy in his life!
He was unhappy. He... he was jealous of his brother; he was
envious of his brother; maybe even of his brother's sin. You
know, often there's a thing called projection in psychology
where people get all bent out of shape about somebody else's
behavior or misbehavior or sin: it's because they're projecting
their own behavior. He was no doubt filled with lust. As a
matter of fact, he said in speaking to his father, "This...
this son of yours has been cavorting with prostitutes!" Now
I wonder who told him that? I mean, did he make it up or was
he just projecting his own desires and his own lust and his
own sin? Maybe he just didn't have the guts to get after like
his ol' younger brother. But he was... he was joyless and it was
the party that was driving him crazy. You see, his problem was,
like the Grinch that stole Christmas, was he had a small
heart, didn't he? He had a shriveled soul. And he didn't
care about his brother. He even said, "This son of yours..."
speaking to his father. He didn't call his brother his
brother. He was a hater, including his own flesh and
blood. He refused to forgive and so he was filled with rage and
anger, and he isolated himself and he stayed away and he
wouldn't come in and celebrate. He was... he was loveless. I
wonder... I wonder if he was joyless... I wonder if he ever
prayed for his brother? I wonder at what point he quit caring
whether his brother ever came back or not? It's a good thing
that the elder brother didn't meet his younger brother on the
road or the younger brother would have never gotten home.
It's a good thing the father met him first and ran to him and
embraced him and welcomed him. He was joyless like so many
people who just go through the motions. He... he... he was
loveless. He didn't care. He cared about one thing and that
was himself. Go back... go back to the text. Chapter 15, he
said... verse 29: 29) He answered his father, "Look,
these many years I have served you and I've never disobeyed
your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might
celebrate with my friends." You see his problem? I, me, my! He's
in love with self. He's self-indulgent. He cares only
about himself. He cannot celebrate with the joy of his
father in the son who came home. He... he's working hard. He...
you know, he knew his brother did not deserve the love of his
father. He knew that his younger brother who had sinned so
violently, didn't deserve a fatted calf and a party and a
welcome. He just didn't get it. Now who could ever understand
the grace of God other than to celebrate it? He's out there
working hard; he gets nothing. He said, "You didn't even give
me a goat!" Boo-hoo. [laughter] He's feeling sorry for himself.
He's joyless; he's loveless, filled with anger and rage. His
family is... talk about dysfunctional. Separated by
sin... religious sin and rebellious sin, but sin. He was
also lifeless. He just was empty of a relationship with his
father. He was just as dead in his sin as his younger brother
in his. Without Christ regardless of our religious
expression or experience, we're dead in trespasses and sin. And
religion can't save you. You hear me? Religion can't save.
You're not saved because you're a Baptist or a Catholic or a
Buddhist or a Jew or something else! Religion cannot save! Rule
keeping will never get you into the kingdom of God. You can't
climb high enough or hard enough to get to heaven! This guy
thought he should gain the approval of his dad... his
father because he was a dutiful [clap] son, obedient [clap] son
and he worked hard, but all for the wrong reason... for himself,
and what he wanted. Not what the heavenly Father wanted. So as a
result he was... he was joyless, he was... he was loveless, he
was lifeless, and oh yeah, he was clueless. Right? He was just
clueless as to the real meaning of life. And so the father, it
says, entreated him to come into the house. And that word entreat
there is a very powerful word. It means to cajole, to beg, to
plead. Interesting, isn't it, for both sinners... the reckless
one... the rebellious one and the religious respectable one...
for both types the father went out to meet them. The father ran
to his... his reckless, rebellious son and embraced him
and welcomed him home. And now the father goes... he leaves the
party and he goes outside where this boy is, this older son, and
he begins to plead with him, beg with him, "Come on, son! You're
brother is back home. It's going to be tough. You know, he's
probably going to need rehab. He... It's going to be a long
way to fix this guy, but he's home [clap], son, and we're
celebrating that! He was dead; he's alive!" He entreats him.
But the religious restrictive son refused, in his rage, in his
resentment, to budge. And he's left standing outside the party.
Jesus really doesn't resolve this story. There's no proper
ending. We want to know what happened. Jesus just kind of
left us waiting to find out, and I believe there's a reason.
Because remember the parables are about you and me. We see
ourselves. And the entreating... the call of the Father... the
call of God for us to come in... that's our decision, that's our
choice as well. He wants you to see yourself in this story
whether you are a reckless, rebellious, immoral type or
whether you are a religious, moral type. He wants you to
decide whether you're going to come in to the party or not.
[Music]
I can't think of a better way to celebrate
Christmas than to advance the good news of Jesus Christ around
the world and that's why I'm asking you for your most
generous gift to help PowerPoint meet a big, big goal at the end
of the year, 1.7 million dollar year-end goal so that together
we can reach more people with the message of Jesus. Jesus is
the fulfillment of everything we need and your gift will help us
reach more people around the world with His love, His grace,
His power, His truth. So, to thank you for your gift I want
to send you an ESV Bible. I use the English Standard Version of
the Bible in my preaching and teaching due to it's balance,
it's accuracy, clarity, readability, and if you give
today I also want to send you a copy of LIFEBOOK, a book that I
wrote about the accuracy, the authenticity and the inerrancy
of God's word. So call the number on the screen or visit us
online at jackgraham.org to donate to our ministry and
receive your ESV Bible and LIFEBOOK and thank you for
helping proclaim the message of Christmas which is the message
of Jesus.
There's... there's no one here... there's no one
watching or listening to me right now who is not to bad that
Jesus can't save you! And there is no one here that is too good
but that you need to be saved! Everybody needs Jesus...
everybody need Jesus! You know, here at Prestonwood we welcome
prodigals home. I... I wouldn't want a church full of religious
types only, the Pharisees. Can you imagine a church full of
elder brothers? There are churches like that, you know,
who care less about lost people, who care little about the
mission of Jesus to the world! We're not... we're not here to
thin people out; we're here to welcome people home! I hope you
had a big brother. I had a big brother. [His] Name was Bob.
He's in heaven. Thirteen years older than me. And he was a
great... He encouraged me in every way. My greatest
encourager in life, outside of my wife, would be my brother.
And he was also a pastor. But when I was a little guy, 3 years
of age, I was always kind of, you know, Dennis the
Menace-doing stuff. And one day we'd picked him up at school...
my big brother who was 16... I was 3. I wanted to roll down the
window and throw something away. It was littering-I shouldn't
have been doing it. But I was going to roll down the window...
Yes, we rolled windows down in 1953. And I somehow got a hold
of the door handle and I went flying out. [The] Car's moving
about 40 miles an hour. I'm going 40-50 the other way! And
when something like that happens... I mean it was
traumatic... I really do remember it after all these
years. Everything kind of slows down and I remember thinking,
"This is taking so long for me to hit." And then I remember
landing but not that hard. I've always believed that an angel
protected me and preserved me that day. I don't know if it was
an angel unaware. But I do know there was another angel in that
car: it was my brother. My mother was driving. My brother
jumped out of the car after it, of course, came to stop and he
came running to me. And I'm bleeding a lot. I landed on my
head. (My dad always said it's a good thing you landed on your
head; you're so hard-headed! [laughter] It's the only thing
that kept you alive!) And he picked me up, my brother, and I
remember he had a beautiful new shirt on and I was crying and I
was bleeding. And my brother picked me up, told me I was
alright. I remember saying to him, "I'm bleeding on your
shirt." [He] Said, "That's okay. I can get another shirt." And
they went... took me to the hospital and I got patched up
and I'm fine except for a few scars up here. But it was my
older brother who picked me up, who took my... my blood, my
pain, my hurt and he carried me to security and safety. The
Bible says that Jesus is not ashamed to be called our
Brother! He is our Brother in humanity! One hundred percent
human, one hundred percent holy! And He's here today to say, "Let
Me carry you to the Father. Let Me take you home this
Christmas." What are you waiting for? You leave your bags behind.
You don't need your bags... all that stuff in the past. Leave it
behind. Just... just come home to Jesus. Be you religious type
or sinner whose greatest need is to see your need, or rebellious,
reckless man or woman far, far from God. Come to Jesus. This is
what Christmas is all about. Would you bow your heads with me
in prayer? The Bible says whoever calls upon the name of
the Lord Jesus will be saved. So call upon his name, pray a
prayer deep in your heart, in your soul, the part of you that
was made by God, for God to live forever. Deep down, pray this
prayer: Lord Jesus I call upon your name, I believe you came on
this earth to die on a cross, to rise again, that you love me and
gave yourself for me. I know I have sinned and broken your
commandments, but you died for my sins to forgive me. Jesus.
Call on his name, Jesus. Call on his name, Jesus, come into my
life, change me from the inside out.
[Music]
JACK: In just a few
days after the gifts are all opened and all the stuff goes in
the trash and out the door and the tree is gone, the food has
been eaten and we're all on a diet [laughs]. Well, life will
begin to start again and it will be more routine and more normal
and for believers that should be exciting as well because for
Christians every day is full of joy and peace. All the things
that we celebrate at Christmas, the love of Jesus Christ,
because we have received the greatest gift, the ultimate gift
and that gift is Jesus and the abundant life and the eternal
life, the forgiveness of our sins and the forever life that
we have in Jesus Christ. From all of us here at PowerPoint
Ministries I want to wish you and your family a very merry and
happy Christmas! I'm here with Deb, my wife, because we both
want to thank you for supporting PowerPoint, our ministry, that
we started together 24 years ago. DEB: I just want to thank
you for supporting Jack as he proclaims the gospel each week.
It's a blessing for us to hear from people from all around the
world whose lives have been changed as a result of the work
that God is doing. Because it's viewers like you who support the
program that enable us to share the gospel. JACK: And to thank
you for your gift to PowerPoint I want to send you a copy of
God's word, the Bible and a copy of LIFEBOOK which is a book that
I've written all about the Bible as to how it came into being,
how we can know and trust that it is God's word, that it's
real, that it's not the word of man but truly the word of God.
So this LIFEBOOK: the Authority, Authenticity and the Accuracy of
God's Word is yours along with a copy of God's word, it's an
English Standard Version of the Bible we want to send you, which
is what I use in the pulpit and read in my daily devotions. So
just call the number on the screen, visit us online at
JackGraham.org to give generously to this ministry and
then receive your gifts. And once again, truly we thank you
for helping us announce the good news of Christ, to advance the
gospel, to advance the gospel of Jesus until every person in the
world has an opportunity to hear, that's what Jesus told us
to do, to go into all of the world and preach the gospel
until the whole world hears and so God bless you and thank you
and merry Christmas!
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