The truth of the matter is, for a son to say that would be tantamount to saying,

Dad, I wish you were dead.

I want my freedom, I want my fulfillment, I want my inheritance now,

which is equal to saying, I wish you were dead.

Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson.

Today, John begins a series on perhaps the most famous story in the Bible.

It's the parable of the prodigal son.

And John is going to show you why this is not just a story about one son.

It's really the tale of two sons.

You know, John, in the first three decades of my life as a Christian,

I heard lots of sermons on the prodigal son, and probably our listeners have, too.

And usually those sermons boil down to lessons on how you should respond

when your children rebel or how to forgive wayward people in general.

The first time I heard you preach this series, it was eye opening and surprising.

So talk a little bit about what you learned when you studied this passage.

Well, first of all, it's not about parenting.

It's not about a delinquent son who disobeyed his parents.

The whole thing is set up by how Luke 15 begins.

And it begins with the leaders of Israel condemning Jesus for spending time with sinners.

And Jesus responds to them by saying, let me tell you some stories.

Story number one, a man had some sheep.

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