Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate.Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat and celebrate;And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry:
3 sermons cite this verse
… hand, the signet ring that showed the authority of the father, and sandals on his feet, and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and he has been found and they begin to be merry. Now that would have been a good place to end the story, but the story doesn't end there. Because remember, if the son represents the sinner who comes back to God, the father represents the God who welcomes him home. the older brother represents the Pharisees remember this story was told for the benefit of the Pharisees the Pharisees didn't rejoice when sinners come to God they hated it and you see that in the reaction of the older brother look at verse 25 now his older son was in the field and when he came and approached the house he heard music and dancing and he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be 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 but the older brother became angry and was not willing to go in verse 28 so the father leaves the celebration and he goes outside to talk to his older son and he begins to entreat him, to beg him. He says, son, I've not mistreated you. You have two thirds of my estate. I love you as …
And being here today, it feels very much like coming home. I was baptized in that font just over there as a baby. As a child, we used to sit in the third or fourth pew back there, and I would refuse to come to the front during the family worship. Then I used to be in the kids' groups down below in the cribs, and then in the youth in the spring or a church house. And this was my church in my early 20s. and then I started training for ordination and then went with Archie and Sam down to Brighton for 13 years so to be back with Archie and Sam definitely feels like coming home and then we were in Brazil for four years and Brighton while we were there and I was married we've had got four children that very much felt like home and then Brazil really felt like home we absolutely loved our time there. And so now we're here and we can't quite work out whether we're coming home or whether we've left home or where our home is. But there is within all of us a desire for coming home. …
I shall say no more, but I would that the Holy Spirit would say this to some who are in this house, who have long been invited to come and put their trust in Jesus, but always plead as a reason for not coming that they are too guilty, or that they are too hardened, or too something or other! Strange that what one man makes a reason for coming, another makes a reason for staying away! David prayed in the Psalms, "Lord have mercy and pardon my iniquity, for it is great." "Strange argument," you will say. It is a grand one! "Lord, here is great sin and there is now something that is worthy of a great God to deal with! Here is a mountain sin, Lord, have Omnipotent Grace to remove it! Lord, here is a towering Alp of sin—let the floods of Your Grace, like Noah's flood, come 20 cubits over the top of it! I am the chief of sinners— here is room for the chief of Saviors." How strange it is that some men should make this a reason for staying away! This cruel sin of unbelief is cruel to yourselves—you have put away the comfort you might enjoy. It is cruel to Christ, for there is no pang that ever wounded Him more than that unkind, ungenerous thought that He is unwilling. Believe, believe that He never is so glad as when He is clasping His Ephraim to His breast! As when He is saying, "Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you." Trust Him! If you could see Him, you could not help it. If you could look into that dear face and into those dear eyes, once red with weeping over sinners that rejected Him, you would say, "Behold, we come to You! You have the words of eternal life! Accept us, for we rest in You alone. All our trust on You is stayed." And that done, you would find that His coming to you would be like rain on the mown grass, as the showers that water the earth and, through Him, your souls would flourish, your sackcloth would be taken away and you would be girt about with gladness and rejoice in Him, world without end! The Lord Himself bring you to this. Amen. …