The Eldest Son | Sunday Message (Pastor Jonathan Laurie)
Greg Laurie: A New Beginning
Greg Laurie
4.8 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 17 May 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
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Summary
Pastor Jonathan Laurie breaks down the story of the prodigal son by spotlighting the older brother—the one who stayed, obeyed, and still missed the father’s heart.
Notes
Luke 15:11–32 (NKJV)
Luke 15:11–24
The younger brother rejected the father, rebelled, and pursued pleasure.
The son’s request would be unheard of in the first century.
The father honors the son’s request.
Jesus is painting a picture of a father who maintains his love and endures the agony despite being rejected.
We can be like that, too. We want the gift but not the Giver of the gift.
The prodigal son hit rock bottom.
That’s when he came to himself.
The father ran to the son and kissed him.
The Robe
The Father tells his servants to bring out the best robe.
The father covered the son with his own honor.
We don’t clean our lives up and then come to God.
He cleans our lives up when we come to Him.
The Ring
The son had the righteousness of the father, and a full restoration of identity and authority to make decisions and give directives.
The Sandals
The father restored the son, saying you belong here, and you’re equipped for the road ahead.
The Feast
This was the father’s way of publicly and directly addressing any rumors or questions about his son.
Luke 15:23 (NKJV)
“And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
Luke 15:24 (NKJV)
“For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” And they began to be merry.
Read Luke 15:25–32
The father again demonstrates his love.
He pursues both sons because both sons are lost.
The Religious Brother
Luke 15:25–32
Jesus was holding up a mirror.
Read Luke 15:1–2 (NKJV)
The religious leaders that Jesus was speaking to looked down on the people Jesus came to redeem.
Luke 19:10 (NLT)
For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.
The two brothers are a picture of the two types of people in the audience, rebellious versus religious.
The Redemptive Brother
Romans 8:29 (NKJV)
Jesus is the third brother. He is the one who left heaven and came to earth to seek and to save the lost.
Jesus took our rebellion; He took our religion and everything that stood between the Father and us and absorbed it on the cross.
That’s the gospel.
That’s what Jesus did for you.
What’s it going to take?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Lorry podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. |
| 0:06.0 | I'm Greg Lorry, encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more |
| 0:11.1 | about how to become a Harvest partner, just go to Harvest.org. And today, in our time together, |
| 0:17.9 | we are continuing in our series in the book of Luke, and we're actually going to be looking at a story that is very familiar. This is the story of the prodigal son. |
| 0:26.8 | This may be familiar to you. This may not be familiar to you. But Charles Dickens, of course, |
| 0:31.6 | an amazing American author, said of the prodigal son, it is the finest short story ever written. That's what he said about |
| 0:39.2 | the parable of the prodigal son. And so I've titled this message, the eldest brother. As we look at |
| 0:46.2 | these two brothers in our text now in Luke chapter 15, we're going to see two foolish brothers, two brothers that made bad |
| 0:57.1 | decisions. And so the message title is the eldest brother, but you could subtitle it dumb and |
| 1:02.5 | dumber, because I think that's what these two brothers really reflected. So Luke chapter 15, |
| 1:07.5 | starting in verse 11. Let's read together. I'm reading out of the New King James Version. And then Jesus said, a certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to |
| 1:17.8 | his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And so he divided to them his |
| 1:24.2 | livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, |
| 1:29.3 | journey to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had |
| 1:35.6 | spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And then he went |
| 1:41.3 | and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. |
| 1:46.7 | And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, but no one gave him anything. |
| 1:52.6 | But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have bred enough and to spare? |
| 1:59.4 | And here I am perishing with hunger. I will arise and go back to my |
| 2:04.4 | father. And I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. And I am no longer |
| 2:09.6 | worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. And so he arose and he came to |
| 2:16.1 | his father. But when he was still a long way off, |
... |
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