He was angry, this Pharisee, this elder brother, and he refused to go in.

There they are, standing around the supper table.

Will not sit down, will not eat, will not drink, will not rejoice, won't tell any jokes.

And his father came out.

He did the same thing for the elder brother that he did for the younger brother.

He came out and he entreated him.

You may already know this, but the story of the prodigal son isn't just about the younger brother.

A closer look shows us the father's heart for the proud elder brother too.

I'm Dan Kroover.

In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper opens Luke 15 to show how God himself

goes out and pleads with the proud to come in and to join the feast.

This message was originally delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church on Sunday evening, October 9, 1983.

Now, these two parables are told to the Pharisees who complain about Jesus eating with sinners.

Are the Pharisees in these parables?

I'm looking for them because Jesus set me up, or Luke set me up to look for them.

You see, the introduction to the parables are the Pharisees murmured saying

this man received sinners. So, see, to answer this criticism, he tells these parables. So I'm looking

for a word to the Pharisees and I'm looking for where they might be. There's more joy in heaven over one sinner

who repents than 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Now, if that refers to the Pharisees,

what is it, what do we call it? Sarcasm or irony. Now, I like Reed's suggestion.

I hadn't ever thought of that before yesterday afternoon,

that maybe what Jesus is doing in these parables

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