The Point: God's grace is bigger than my sin.

Passage: Luke 15:1-2; 11-32

Scripture: Jeremiah 2:13; Proverbs 16:25

1) The Pursuit

Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-9

2) The Restoration

"The best robe in the house would have been the father's own robe, the unmistakable sign of restored standing in the family. The father is saying, "I'm not going to wait until you've paid off your debt; I'm not going to wait until you've duly groveled. You are not going to earn your way back into the family, I am going to simply take you back. I will cover your nackedness, poverty, and rags with the robes of my office and honor."" -Tim Keller

Scripture: Ephesians 1:7-8

"Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn’t mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness." -Tim Keller

Scripture Hebrews 2:10-11

"We need one who does not just go to the next country to find us but who will come all the way from heaven to earth. We need one who is willing to pay not just a finite amount of money, but, at the infinite cost of his own life to bring us into Gods family, for our debt is so much greater. Either as elder brother or as younger brothers we have rebelled against the father. We deserve alienation, isolation, and rejection. The point of the parable is that forgiveness always involves a price- someone has to pay. There was no way for the younger brother to return to the family unless the older brother bore the cost himself. Our true elder brother paid our debt, on the cross, in our place." -Tim Keller