The Prodigal Son

8/14/22

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Sermon Transcript

Good morning. Please open your Bibles to Luke chapter 15. I always enjoy the opportunity to get to preach, even when that opportunity comes at 7:30 in the morning, as it did this morning when my phone rang. And I thought to myself after I answered that call and said I would do that I thought, “Prodigal son.”

I have preached many, many times on the prodigal son, but let me give you a warning. I had never preached a short sermon on the prodigal son, and that will be true tomorrow as well.

The parable of the prodigal son is perhaps the best known and the most popular of all the parables in the Bible. George Murray called it the most divinely tender and humanly touching story ever told on our earth. Barclay called it the greatest short story in the world. Lensky says it has no equal in all literature. It has been called the finest of Christ’s parables, filled with true feeling, painted in the most beautiful colors. It’s been called the pearl in the crown of the parables in the Bible. And Luke 15, where that parable is found, has been called the most priceless chapter in the Bible.

In Luke chapter 19, verse 10, Jesus said he had come to seek and to save that which was lost, and nowhere is that mission better illustrated than it is in Luke 15, in the parables of the lost and the found. So let’s begin our study by reading the opening verses of this parable, starting in verse one.

Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Now skip down to verse 11. And he said, a certain man had two sons, And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.” And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, but no man gave unto him.

Verse 11 introduces us at once to the three main characters in this parable. A certain man had two sons. Let’s look first at the younger of those two sons. And in looking at this parable, we need to see it through first century Jewish eyes. First century Jewish eyes, and through their eyes, the defining overriding characteristic this younger son would have been his sin. So let’s look first at the sin of this younger son. What were the sins of the younger son? Well, as with most sin, his problems began with an expression of self-will. In verse 12, the younger son says, “Father, give me! Give me!” He wanted his inheritance early. In effect, he was telling his father, “I want your money, but I don’t want you.” He was telling his father, “I wish you were dead,” what he was saying to his father. He wanted money. He wanted freedom. He wanted freedom from his father, freedom from his father’s rules. He wanted to leave, but he didn’t want to leave empty-handed.

And as bad as this would be today, in the first century, what this younger son asked for was unthinkable, unthinkable. A traditional Middle Eastern parent would have struck him across the face and driven him out of the house if he’d ever said such a thing. Surely this father will refuse him, but he does not refuse him, which is just the first of many surprising things we’re going to see in this parable. This Not thinking about the ruin he’s going to bring upon his family when he does so or the pain he’s going to cause his family His time his talents are no longer going to be used to serve his father or his father’s household instead. He’s going to just serve himself Eventually, he’s going to be serving pigs The far country to which this younger son traveled has been called the land where God is not and Selfishness is the root cause of every trip to that far country and this younger son’s trip was no exception. Selfishness always leads ultimately to separation and again this younger son was no exception. It’s been said when you separate a selfish man from a godly parent the life of sin will always result.

But the younger son had another problem didn’t he? He wasn’t just selfish he was impatient. He didn’t just want his inheritance he wanted it now. Father give me. He didn’t want to just travel to that far country someday. He wanted to go there now. This parable presents a stark contrast between the impatience of the younger son and the patience of the father. We don’t often think of impatience as a great sin. Perhaps not even a sin is all but the Bible is a lot to say on the subject of patience. The idea of a patience as a society. We moderns are not a patient and long-suffering people. As one social critic wisely noted, “Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you but not in the driver in front of you.” But patience is a fruit of the Spirit and so it must be evident in our lives. When this younger son saw his father, all he saw was somebody in his way, somebody between him and what he wanted. If we ever begin to see people as just someone in our way, then we’ve got a problem with patience. Hebrews 12:1 tells us we must all run with patience the race that is set before us. Have you ever considered the paradox in that verse? That we’re running with patience? We’re very soon going to see somebody running in this parable. Paul tells us in Romans 15:5 that God is a God of patience and we must also, we must be a people of patience.

In addition to being impatient, his younger son was also ungrateful, wasn’t he? He’d grown up in his father’s house, he’d experienced his father’s love, he had his father’s support, but he was not grateful for those blessings. Instead, he repaid his father with rejection, with rebellion, and with heartache. He didn’t care how his own family would suffer when he departed. You know, to suddenly lose one third of your wealth, That would have been a staggering loss to his family. And that one third would have been sold quickly at any price. This younger son had almost certainly cashed in his inheritance by selling his portion of the land to someone in that village. The Greek verb translated “gathered all together” in verse 13, it’s a financial term. It means it turned it all into cash. The accumulated wealth of long years and hard toil lost in a few days.

This younger son was also guilty of a wasteful extravagance. And that’s where he gets his nickname, isn’t it? The term “prodigal” means wasteful and recklessly extravagant. And that term certainly describes this younger son. Verse 13 says he wasted his substance with riotous living. Now the Bible doesn’t tell us specifically what he did. We, like the older brother in a moment, are going to be left to imagine what he did in that far country. But you know, isn’t that the genius of this parable? Isn’t that the power of this parable that it does not tell us those things? That it leaves out those details? Why? Because we’re able to fill in our own sins in that blank. What are we doing in that far country? Why did this younger son leave home? Well, no doubt he’s looking for freedom. last, he could live in unfettered joy, free from his father’s restraints. The father knew how that was going to turn out, and yet he didn’t force him to stay, did he? He let him go. I think there’s an important lesson there. We’ll consider this question again later today, but we’re going to look later at the question, "Why? Why did the father let the son go when he knew what was going to happen. This younger son sought freedom. What did he find? Bondage. In verse 13, he wastes all his money. Verse 14, famine strikes the land. In verse 15, he’s ordered by a swine owner to go out and feed the pigs. Think that was in his plan when he left home? By verse 16, he becomes so hungry he longed to eat the same food the pigs were eating. In the Jewish mind, no one could sink any lower than that. In a typical Jewish story of the time, if Jesus had just been telling kind of the typical story that the Jews told at this time, the story would have ended right there in verse 16. That’s where the parable would have ended, with the Son getting exactly what he deserved. You know what? Without Jesus, verse 16 is where the story would end for all of us. All of us. But Jesus didn’t end his story there in verse 16, did he? Let’s keep going.

Verse 17, "And when he came to himself, he said, 'How many hard servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him father I have sinned against heaven and before thee I’m no more worthy to be called your son make me one of your hired servants and he arose and came to his father finding himself in bondage what does he do does the same thing he did before he seeks freedom once again seeks freedom but this time he finds it. The phrase “when he came to himself” in verse 17 is profound. If you underline things in your Bible, that’s the one right there. Linsky says that one phrase is the heart of this parable. Berkeley commenting on that phrase says, “Beyond a doubt Jesus did not believe in total depravity.” When we are alien from God, we’re alien from ourselves. When we are with God, we are rational, right-minded, properly balanced. He came to himself. And what did he say came to himself. He said, I have sinned.

That phrase occurs three times in the New Testament, two of them right here in this parable. It’s not an easy thing to say, but it is the starting point for all repentance. I have sinned. First John 1:9-10. This younger son did not say, oh, I made a mistake in judgment. He did not say, “I was sick.” He did not say, “Look what you made me do.” He didn’t blame his parents. He didn’t blame society. He said simply, “I have sinned.” True repentance, true repentance begins when a man complains of nobody but himself. And that’s what we see here with this young boy.

After coming to himself and confessing his sins, this young son knew right where he had to go, didn’t he? Home. He had to go home. No one in that foreign country loved him. In that foreign country, no one cared for him. he knew somewhere there was a place where someone was waiting for him who loved him. He knew he had to go there. And here’s another important lesson for us. Perhaps the greatest gift we can give our children is the memory of a godly home. This young son had that memory. It served him as a guide of where to go when he found himself in that pigpen. And although we see repentance here in verse 18, I think we see an even greater repentance later when he finally meets the Father and sees his Father again. Here we see a repentance motivated by hunger. Later we’ll see a repentance motivated by love.

Did you ever think that pigpen may have been the best thing that ever happened to him? It was not until he reached rock bottom that he came to himself and decided to go home. What if he’d never reached rock bottom? What if he’d never been in that pigpen? Would he have ever gone home? Perhaps the reason some of us had never returned from that far countries that we haven’t yet found ourselves in that pigpen. This pigpen caused a big transition in his life. Look at verse 12 and verse 19. In As we mature as Christians, we undergo that same transition, don’t we? Our prayers go from “Give me” to “Make me.” As we pray, each day will be changed into the likeness of our Savior. When that young son left home with his inheritance, don’t you know he was filled with pride and self-importance as he marched off down the road? I’m sure in his new clothes he just bought with all his newfound money. where is that pride now he’d let it all go so he could return to his father the second character in this parable we need to consider is the father who was introduced to us in verse 11 along with his two sons let’s keep reading here in verse 20 but when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him and the son said unto him father I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight no more worthy to be called thy son but the father said to his servants bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it let us eat and be merry for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to be married verse 20 is one of the most beautiful verses anywhere in the Bible the father saw his son, the father ran to his son, the father kissed his son, the father saw his son.

There’s a lot of meaning in that word “saw.” This young son no doubt looked very different from when he left home, yet his father saw him, his father recognized him at once, even while he was still a great way off. The father saw who it was. The father saw where he’d come from. The father saw what he was wearing, the swineherd’s clothing. The father saw the filth upon his son’s hands and feet. The father saw the rags he was wearing. The father saw his penitent look. The father saw what he had been. The father saw what he was. The father saw what he could be. God sees us in ways we cannot understand. God looks at us as if we were made of glass. He knows all about us. Later, Jesus would tell this same audience of Pharisees that you are like whited sepulchers which appear beautiful outward but inside you’re full of dead men’s bones and uncleanness. Their outward appearance was very different from what they were in reality. We know God does not see as man see at 1 Samuel 16:7 and it is not with icy eyes that the father looked on his returning son. Verse 20 tells us he saw him and had compassion. There was no anger in his heart toward his son. It was true it was all the son’s fault but that did not come to the father’s mind. The phrase I told you so is not uttered here at least not by the father. The father The Father saw him, had compassion on him. But the Father did much more than that. Verse 20 tells us the Father ran. Ran. James 4:8 tells us if we draw near to God, God will draw near to us. Luke 15:20 says that God will run to us. There’s no delay. There’s no reproof. There’s no heaping on of guilt. There’s no quarantine period. He’s not on probation. father ran to meet him and even while the father stayed home we know he was deeply concerned about his younger son how do we know that because verse 20 says he was looking in the direction that he knew his son would return from and he saw him even while he was a great way off in verse 20 says he ran and kissed him and this isn’t just a peck on the key on the cheek the Greek is he kissed him much he kissed him earnestly kissed him fervently kissed him often What was shown by those repeated kisses? It showed the father’s great love for his son. Showed how genuine it was, how heartfelt it was. It showed how it showed that a full restoration was taking place. These were not the kisses given to a hired servant as the prodigal had intended to present himself. These were the kisses given to a son. These kisses revealed the great joy the father had. The son had been lost. He was found. He was dead. Now he was alive. The father’s heart was overflowing with gladness. He could not restrain his delight. And finally, these kisses provided comfort to the son. I’m sure that son wondered, “How am I going to be received? What’s going to happen when I get home?” But he didn’t have to wonder very long, did he? He saw his father running toward him and kissing him fervently. What comfort that must have given to that younger son.

We can learn a lot about God’s love for the lost from the description of this young son’s return. The father sees the son, the father has compassion on him, he runs to meet him, he kisses him fervently. Verse 22 says he put the best robe on him, he put his signet ring on his finger, he put shoes on his feet, he killed the fatted calf. Why did the father do these things? Why did he put his best robe on a filthy hog slopper? He did these things for one reason. He wanted the world to know the relationship had been completely restored. No doubt they would once again enjoy the beautiful father-son relationship that they had enjoyed before, before his son had left for the far country. You know, it’s not uncommon at all today. There may be people here today who have this feeling. It is not uncommon at all today for people to delay becoming a Christian because they don’t think they’re good enough yet. They think to themselves, "I don’t want to come to God as I am. Instead, I want to have a chance to kind of clean myself up and then maybe I’ll come to God when I’m a little more presentable and a little more respectable. If we leave here today with only one lesson from the parable the prodigal son, we leave with only one lesson, let it be this lesson, that no one, no one no one has ever come to God except as a filthy swineherd that’s the only way to come to God we’re all kind of came to God that way in sin steeped in sin and there’s no improvement program we can ever make to improve that problem that’s how everyone comes to God Matthew 9:13 Jesus said I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repent and Romans 3:23 remind us we’re all sinners. You know, we might wish the story ended right here in verse 24. I don’t know, particularly this morning we might wish the story ended right here in verse 24. But, and it would be a good place with his beautiful picture of forgiveness and reconciliation, a happy ending, but the story doesn’t end there in verse 24. There’s a third character we haven’t even talked about yet.

This final section of the parable, in fact, has been called the climax of the parable. To really appreciate its importance, I think we need to understand why the parable was told in the first place. Why is Jesus telling this parable? Well, verse 2 tells us Jesus told this parable in response to complaints from the Pharisees and from the scribes. This parable is directed primarily to them. When we think of a Pharisee, we think of a self-righteous hypocrite, but that wasn’t always the case. It certainly wasn’t the case in the first century. They were the most respected and revered community leaders. If anyone was one was pleasing with God it would have been the Pharisees the people thought it was shocking to think they might not be right with God if they were in trouble then what hope did any of us have yet Jesus saw the Pharisees for what they were whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones and as we study this final section of the parable we need to remember that Jesus directed this parable to them, to the Pharisees. That’s why he told it. Let’s keep going. Verse 25. "Now his elder son was in the field and as he came and drew nigh to the house he heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant and he said unto him, ‘Thy brother is come and thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received him safe and sound.’ And he was angry and would not go in. Therefore came his father out and entreated him and he answering him, said to his father, “Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgress I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted calf.” And he said unto him, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again and was lost and is found.

You know, one commentary I looked at from the 1800s, in fact, complained that to the people of his day, the homestaying son was merely a picturesque figure introduced to fill the background of the parable agreeably. And you know, I think there’s some truth in that complaint because I sometimes think we kind of ignore the older brother, that we kind of skip past the other brother, and we kind of end the parable a little early, so to speak. And why do we do that? I’m thinking it may be because we think the sins of the younger brother were so much worse. The younger son wallowed in sins of the flesh, and worse, at least for a modern reader, he failed to invest his money wisely. In contrast, the older brother, well, you know, just a little grumpy, little grumpy and you know understandably so right understandably so was that the message Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they really weren’t all that bad just a little grumpy I don’t think so you know we know Jesus never condoned any sin or minimized any sin his command to all was to go and sin no more. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sin. No one understands how horrible sin is more than Jesus does. No one has suffered more from sin than has Jesus. But, but, Jesus repeatedly met sins of the flesh with mercy while he met sins of the Spirit with a withering denunciation. He told them all to go and sin no more, but one commentary has rightly said, “Our Lord was so compassionate with those swept by the sins of passion, but oh what withering wrath, what white hot words he had for those whose sin was a willfully wrong disposition.” What am I saying? What I’m saying is that if we focus on the younger brother sins of the flesh and dismiss the elder brother sins of the spirits as just minor character flaws then we’re missing the whole point of this parable the primary point of the parable is not to keep us from being like the younger son the primary point of the parable is to keep us from being like the older brother we’re already like the younger son we’re all like the younger son we’re all in the far country without Christ we must see Jesus sin as saw sin. Perhaps when we do, we’ll discover that the sins we have treated lightly in our own lives are the sins that grieve Christ the most.

So what type of person was this elder brother? Well, he had some good points. Let’s start with the good points. He was responsible. His younger brother’s out squandering the family fortune, the older brother’s at home in the field working. Verse 25, he’d received a double portion in verse 12 and it doesn’t look like he’d squandered it he’s still there you know I bet the world looked at that situation and thought how fortunate that father is to have that older brother what a wonderful son he is particularly considering his worthless younger brother the elder son like the Pharisees had some good points but as with the Pharisees his good points were far, far outweighed by the bad points. What were the sins of the elder brother? Number one, he was bitter. Bitter. You know, I didn’t pick the scripture reading this morning, but it talked about the root of bitterness. That’s a good verse for the prodigal elder brother. His obedience was grim duty, not loving service. In verse 28, he was angry while his father was happy. He was not moved by the fact that a great weight had been lifted off his father’s shoulders. He thought only of himself. He looked on the scene with jealous eyes, with bitter eyes. The elder brother had received his inheritance when the younger brother received his. Everything left in the house now legally belonged to the older brothers. The father reminds him in verse 31, “He had nothing to lose by his younger brother’s return.” And yet he was bitter, bitter. Second, he was self-satisfied and self-righteous. The elder brother didn’t think anything was wrong for himself. Nothing about him was wrong. The problem was his father. The problem was his younger brother. Nothing wrong with that elder brother, he thought about himself. In verse 29, he tells his father he never disobeyed one of his commands. And the Pharisees said the same thing to God, didn’t they? Notice what the elder brother is told in verse 27. His father had received back the returning sinner and was now sitting down to eat with him he’s gonna eat with this worthless younger brother of mine isn’t that the exact same complaint the Pharisees had in verse 2 the third brother was the elder brother was also self-centered self-centered in verse 29 he tells his father he’d been slaving for him for many years of course I think he’d been slaving for himself but he He says, “I’ve been slaving for you.” The words “I,” “me,” “my” occur five times in verse 29. The older brother was the center of his own universe and everyone else revolved around him. Fourth, the older brother was filled with self-pity. Look at verse 30. “Could any son have had a worse father?” “Could any son have had a worse brother?” “Woe is me!” he was loveless. You know, do you ever think that perhaps the older brother is one of the reasons the younger brother left in the first place? I doubt this older brother was a joy to live with even before all this happened. You know, many a Christian has been driven back to the far country by the lovelessness of an elder brother. After all, what did this older brother do when the younger brother left home. Do you think he was upset or do you think maybe he saw it to himself? Good riddance. Do you ever wonder how this story would have ended if the elder brother had been the first to see that returning son? Six, this elder brother thought the worst and was envious of sinners. You know we generally think of the younger son is out spending his money on harlots but you know what there’s no mention of harlots until we get to the older brother in verse 30 bringing it up he’s the one that brings up the harlots we’re not told that the older brother says that how did he know you think maybe the older brother was kind of telling us what he would have done in the far country you think maybe he envied his younger brother because of all the fun he’d had out there in the far country? The older brother was also ungrateful. In verse 31, the father reminds him of what he had. He had privilege. He was a son. He had position. You’re always with me. He had possession. All that is mine is yours. And yet he was not grateful for those things, was he?

So what can we say about this elder brother? He was bitter, he was self-satisfied, he was self-righteous, he was self-centered, he was filled with self-pity, he was loveless, he thought the worst of people, he was envious of sinners, and he was ungrateful. Does that sound just like minor character flaws to you? Hardly. Hardly. I think we have before us here in this elder brother one of the worst characters ever presented in the Bible, ever. And I think that is just how Jesus wanted us to see him and for the Pharisees to see themselves. In Luke 15 we don’t have just one prodigal son, we have two prodigal sons. One left for the far country, one stayed at home. One became an alien through sins of the flesh, one became an alien through sins the spirit. One ended up eating the husk of worldliness, one ended up eating the food of a sour and sullen spirit. One shows us what outward sins do to our lives, one shows us what inward sins do to our heart. And notice how the father’s love had opposite effects on the two sons. The father’s love melted the heart of the younger son, but it hardened the heart of the older son. The same love, opposite effects. The father could not reach the son with the full life, but he readily got through to the son with the empty life.

Was there a happy ending? Did the elder brother repent? We’re not told, but the door was left open for his return as well, wasn’t it? In fact, in verse 28, we once again find the father going out to meet his son, but instead of running to meet the returning son, he goes out to meet his stubborn elder brother who is angrily sulking outside. But the father goes. The father’s statement to his elder son in verses 31 in 32 is one of the most beautiful statements anywhere in the Bible. “And He said unto him, ‘Son, thou art ever with Me. All that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad. For this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, is lost, and now he’s found.’” And although we don’t know whether the elder brother in the parable repented, we do know what happened to the real-life elder brother - the Pharisees. They would very soon be sending Judas meet Christ in the garden and not with a fervent kiss of joy but with a kiss of betrayal this parable has been called the gospel in the Gospels in the heart of the gospel but where in this beautiful picture of repentance and forgiveness do we find Jesus how can this parable be the heart of the gospel without Jesus playing a role well I think Jesus does play a role here we look a little closely to discover it.

I think Isaiah 9:6 gives us a hint about where to look. In that verse we find that one of the titles for the Messiah, a title for Christ, is the everlasting Father. Father. I think the Father in this parable does not just represent God the Father, I think it’s also God the Son, and I think to see why we need to see this parable through the in the eyes of those who originally heard it. Too often this parable I think is seen as a story about three people and nobody else. But that’s not how they would have seen it, those who originally heard it. They would not have seen it just as three people living in a great house in grand isolation on some huge tract of land. That’s not how it was. Land was very scarce. The average village was six acres. Farmers didn’t live on what they farmed. lived in the village. Why? For protection. And although this family clearly had some wealth, we shouldn’t think of them living out all alone by themselves on the Ponderosa. That’s not how it was. These events would not have occurred in a vacuum. The entire village would have known this younger son left home. This entire village would have known that he squandered his inheritance. This entire village would have now seen him returning with nothing. commentator I read had actually lived in a small Middle Eastern village. He’d been there. He’d lived there. And here’s what he said, “In a village community, everything is known immediately by everyone. Many times while talking in a village home to the members present in a room, I had been startled by an answering voice coming from another room across the narrow street.” There was no privacy. Everybody knew what had happened here. Everybody. "This younger son had exposed his family through public shame. And the young son now walked home dirty, penniless, and in disgrace. What would the villagers have done? They would have heaped scorn on him. They would have heaped ridicule on him. They would have been saying, “We told you so.” They would have been saying, “Look what happened to you. You deserve it.” That’s what they would have been saying to him. Why? To preserve the father’s honor and to also let everyone else in the village know how awful this young son was and yet what does the father do he runs to meet him and maybe one reason he ran to meet him was because the younger son was facing that scorn and derision from the people in the village that’s how the the first century people would have seen this parable and the father doesn’t just run to meet him. To really understand what’s going on, we need to know what that father would have been wearing at this time. You know they wore the robes and the garments. And to run, that father would have had to have pulled up that robe and run in a very undignified manner for someone in his position. Very undignified manner. And yet what does that father do to prevent his young son from facing that long, shameful walk alone. The father runs to meet him, runs like a teenager with no thought of his own dignity, to meet that young boy.

How do you suppose the villagers reacted to that scene? I suspect they started heaping their ridicule on the father. Look at that fool running to meet that worthless son. By leaving his home and running down that street, what was the father doing? He was taking on himself the scorn and the ridicule that would have fallen on his son. The father intentionally left the comfort and security of his home and ran down that street to take upon himself the shame and humiliation that was being heaped on his son. So is Jesus in this story? Listen as Paul answers that question. Philippians 2:5-8. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant who was made in the likeness of man, being found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself, became obedient to death, death on the cross. In this one parable we have the incarnation of Christ, we have the sacrificial atoning death of Christ, we have the gospel of Christ, we have the cross of Christ.

You know, at the beginning of our lesson we wondered why did the Father let him leave in the first place? Why did he give him his inheritance early? Why? There can be only one answer to that question and we see it here now. The answer was the great love he had for him. The father loved his son, the father knew his son, he knew his son needed to grow in wisdom and he knew his son needed to rid himself of that pride and materialism and the father was willing to give up a great deal so that his son could experience that change. You know we’ve all left home with our inheritance, we’ve all lived in that far country and like the father in this parable God has given us so much so that we can experience a great transition. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Is Jesus in this parable? Some commentaries say no, but I think we found him, haven’t we? I think that when they also look more closely, they, like Philip, will say, “We have found him,” John 1:45. God’s unspeakable gift is in every verse of this great parable.

We found Jesus in this parable, but the question today is this, have you found yourself in this parable? Are you a younger son who’s lost fellowship with the Father through sins of the flesh? Are you an elder brother who’s lost fellowship with the Father through sins of the Spirit? Or maybe you’re not a son at all because you haven’t obeyed the gospel of Christ. Have you wandered away? Are you living in that far country? If so, God is watching for your return. God is longing for your return and God will react with joy and run to meet you when when he sees you returning. But you must make a decision. You must act. The younger son’s relation with the father was not restored until after verse 8 when he said, “I will arise, I will go, I will say.” He acted! He made a decision! So must you. What must you do? That question was asked in Acts 2:37. What must we do? And the answer was given in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.” That answer has not changed. It’s the same answer today. The same answer. The gospel has not changed. The fatted calf, the shoes, the robe, the ring, all for me unworthy son, but sweeter to me the most wonderful thing, God ran to meet me. “I saw God run.” Think for a moment about how that young son felt as he walked down that road and saw his father running to meet him. Think how he felt. What a beautiful coming. What a beautiful reconciliation. The good news of the gospel is that we can all experience that. All of us. Do you want to see God run? Then come down this aisle as we stand and as we sing.