Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20231105 - Prodigal: Find Your Way Back Home - Luke 15:11-32

Transcript

#20231105 - Prodigal: Find Your Way Back Home - Luke 15:11-32 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

0:05
Welcome to the Study of God's Word, recorded live at Calvary
0:09
Church in Aurora, Co To learn more about the many resources
0:13
available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our
0:16
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
0:21
or download our free Calvary Church app.
0:25
Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
0:30
So good to be with you guys today.
0:31
Thank you for the privilege being able to stand in here.
0:34
I know anytime Pastor Ed let's anyone in the pulpit here.
0:38
It's it's a great joy for for those of us that get to bring
0:42
the word, it's a it's a sacred thing and so I'm privileged to
0:46
do it also just on behalf of the pastoral team here.
0:49
Just want to let you guys know how much we love you.
0:52
I I know that you know it. But sometimes it's just good to
0:55
hear it. Thinking about all God's done in
0:58
our midst over the past several weeks and months with Family
1:01
Fest as we just heard about and refresh conference and just
1:05
seeing the lives changed here. It's it's amazing and I'm just
1:09
privileged to to be a part of it.
1:11
I'm so thankful watching you guys worship.
1:13
I wasn't standing in the back there.
1:16
Jesus is in this place and he's alive and he's well and he's
1:20
working in our lives and so just.
1:23
Want to let you guys know as this church how much we love
1:25
you, how much we appreciate you guys.
1:27
So pray for me. This is my third service taught
1:30
once last night, once earlier. I've been fighting off this bug,
1:33
so my voice is going, so hopefully we'll make it through.
1:36
If not, we'll just put a picture of Kiki back up on the wall
1:38
again and look at that with with Kiki and the candy again.
1:41
But let's pray if you guys have your Bibles too.
1:44
We're going to look at Luke, 15, this morning.
1:46
If you don't have a Bible with you, we've got plenty of them in
1:49
the back, a bunch of paperback Bibles.
1:51
We'd love to give you one. You're welcome to to get up and
1:53
go back and get one. It's our gift to you.
1:56
We'll be at Luke 15 this morning.
1:58
So, Lord Jesus, I just again thank you for the privilege of
2:02
gathering again, Lord. And you are very aware of each
2:07
person that's come into this place this morning.
2:09
What it is that they carry with them, Lord, those that come with
2:12
great joy. Because of the goodness of God
2:17
and the grace of God in their lives, those that are coming
2:20
this morning, Lord, with sorrow, with heaviness, Lord, perhaps
2:24
even carrying guilt and shame from things that happened this
2:27
past week. But Father, your word tells us,
2:31
Lord, that is, we draw near to you, you draw near to us.
2:35
That's a promise. And So what?
2:37
We're asking, Lord, that all of this would be meaningless if you
2:40
didn't show up? And if you weren't in this place
2:42
and if you weren't going to speak to us now, so I pray,
2:45
Lord, that you would use me, that you'd anoint your word, God
2:49
again it says in your word, as the rain falls from the heaven,
2:53
and it and it falls onto the earth and accomplishes what the
2:56
rain was sent forth to do. You say that your word falls
2:59
fresh on our hearts, And it accomplishes, Lord, what you
3:02
want it to accomplish. In each one of our lives today,
3:06
Lord, we see a room full of people, but you see each
3:09
individual. Each person Lord.
3:12
And you say that your word doesn't return void.
3:15
So we are banking on you speaking to us today, as you
3:19
promise you will. Lord, your word is alive.
3:22
It's breathed by God. And so we're trusting God that
3:25
you would now speak to our hearts.
3:27
Lord, as we open up our hearts to your word, which you open up
3:30
your word to our hearts. And it's all in Jesus name that
3:34
we pray all these things today. Amen.
3:38
Alright, Luke 15, this is a very familiar passage for a lot of us
3:43
and the title of this message is Prodigal.
3:46
Find your way back home. And we call this the prodigal of
3:51
the parable son or I'm sorry, the the the parable of the
3:54
Prodigal Son. And so one thing we know is
3:57
true. We are all, all at one point
4:01
were prodigals where we ourselves had walked away from
4:04
the Lord. And I did this in the last
4:06
service. And I'm just curious by way of
4:07
hands, how many of you here were at one point a prodigal.
4:12
You walked away from the Lord. But a sense come back home
4:14
again. Would you just raise your hand?
4:16
Isn't that amazing? Look at all the stories of God's
4:19
grace in this room this morning. Amazing.
4:22
So again, as you can see, many of us were at one point
4:24
prodigals or we know a prodigal at this moment, or perhaps we
4:29
have a prodigal loved one. Maybe you're the parent right
4:32
now of a prodigal or you're the child of a prodigal.
4:35
I know many of you are are children that were raised in the
4:38
faith along with your parents. But then your parents have since
4:40
walked away from the Lord. Or maybe you've got a prodigal
4:43
husband or a prodigal wife, and you're just you're carrying that
4:47
every time you come into worship, wishing they were here
4:50
with you. Wishing they were standing by
4:52
your side, lifting their hands in worship to the Lord.
4:55
I was raised in church myself, and I was born into it.
5:00
My my dad was a pastor. I couldn't get away from it.
5:03
But then at late later point in my life, for a number of years,
5:07
I completely walked away from the faith.
5:09
Wanted nothing to do with it. I was angry at my parents.
5:12
I was angry at God, certainly out there, experiencing so many
5:16
things that the world had to offer, hoping to find fulfilment
5:20
out there. And I remember at one point it
5:23
was in high school. I was invited to go on a summer
5:26
camp to Southern California. And I went.
5:29
And the only reason I went was because I just wanted to get
5:31
away from home and I wanted to get away from my parents.
5:33
And I wanted nothing to do with with what we were actually
5:37
meeting for, which was to worship the Lord and to study
5:40
His Word together so every night.
5:43
We would be at the beach all day long, That's what I was really
5:45
there for. And then in the evening we'd
5:46
have a sanctuary and we'd be sitting in the sanctuary.
5:49
People would be worshipping. I remember sitting in the back
5:52
with a couple others and we would be making fun of everyone
5:55
in the front lifting their hands in worship.
5:56
We thought we were so cool and angry.
5:59
Couple times we left and snuck out and tried to sneak back in
6:01
before we were caught. And night after night for a
6:05
week, I remember being in there and every single night I was
6:08
getting angrier and angrier and I was just not a nice person.
6:12
And the. People I was talking to
6:14
throughout the the the week could see the anger.
6:17
And by the the final night I was just ready to leave.
6:19
I was like, I'm so done with all of this.
6:22
I was so mad, as a matter of fact, that I I didn't even come
6:26
into the sanctuary. My my one of my youth group
6:28
leaders kind of forced me. No, you got to be here, OK?
6:31
You don't have to go in, but at least sit outside of the door
6:33
here. So I sat outside the door super
6:36
angry, heard everyone worshipping.
6:40
Heard the preacher began to preach.
6:42
I wish I knew who this guy was. I would love to talk to him.
6:45
I will meet him someday, for sure in heaven.
6:48
But he began to preach, and I don't even remember going from
6:51
outside of the room to inside the sanctuary.
6:55
But at some point I was there, sitting in the seat in the back
6:58
again. But I was riveted, and I don't
7:00
even remember exactly what it was that he was preaching, other
7:03
than he was communicating the love of God.
7:07
Something that I had heard of many times.
7:10
But this was a night that God was taking my prodigal heart and
7:14
he was drawing me home, calling me home.
7:17
And I remember him giving an invitation.
7:19
And I came forward and I just began to weep.
7:22
And I was so broken, like I'd never been broken before.
7:25
But it was a sweet brokenness because as many of you that
7:28
raise your hand know this feeling just being overwhelmed
7:31
with wave upon wave of the love of God.
7:34
As a matter of fact, I remember being so overwhelmed with his
7:37
love that he could love someone like me with all the mocking
7:41
that I did, all the The Walking away from the things I knew.
7:45
But he loved me. He loved me.
7:48
And I felt at one point that the love felt like a weight.
7:51
I remember telling God, God, I can't handle any more of your
7:55
love. I feel like I'm going to be
7:56
crushed under this weight of your love.
7:58
It was so wonderful. And that was the moment for me
8:01
as a prodigal, that God really changed my life.
8:04
And he called me home, and I came home back to the Father
8:07
again that day. If you're here and you're a
8:10
prodigal, I believe that there's a word for you this morning.
8:14
And if you're here and you're the parent of a prodigal.
8:17
And I believe that God has some encouragement for you as we look
8:20
at how the perfect Heavenly Father views our prodigals.
8:27
So in Luke 15 there are three parables.
8:29
Here we see the parable of the lost sheep, we see the parable
8:34
of the lost coin. And then here we see the parable
8:38
of the lost son, or as we know it, the prodigal son.
8:42
These are all pictures of something that was lost and
8:45
found, something that was lost and was regained.
8:49
And the son in this third parable is called prodigal.
8:54
That word, prodigal is never used anywhere else in scripture
8:57
outside of of here. This is the only place we see
9:00
it. Luke 15.
9:01
It's in. It's from an old English word,
9:04
prodigal, which means to waste or to be wasteful.
9:09
And the idea is this parable of this son is a picture of a man
9:15
who wasted his life. That's the idea behind that word
9:18
parable. And because of this story that
9:22
Jesus tells here, the word parable also means and can be
9:26
defined as one who has returned after an absence, one who has
9:31
returned after an absence, or as Jesus says in verse 32 of Luke
9:35
15, one who was lost. And is found.
9:40
And so many of us here that have prodigals in our life, we are
9:44
waiting for them to return. We're waiting.
9:47
We're watching, we're hoping, we're longing to see them back
9:51
in fellowship once again with one another and back in the arms
9:55
of the Lord again. So Luke 15 begins here.
9:59
The context of this story, this parable that Jesus tells.
10:02
It says in verse one and two, Then all the tax collectors and
10:08
the sinners they drew near to him to hear him.
10:12
Jesus. And the Pharisees and the
10:15
scribes complained, saying, this man receives sinners and eats
10:20
with them. Now I am thankful that Jesus not
10:23
only receives sinners, but that he eats with us.
10:26
I just love the heart of Jesus. At this time in Jesus life he
10:31
was teaching. His public ministry had had gone
10:34
into effect. He was healing people and his
10:37
ministry was giving hope and was giving comfort to the lives of
10:41
so many people that were listening to him.
10:43
That they were believing in the teaching of who God was, Jehovah
10:47
God, and God's heart for them. And it says here specifically,
10:52
there were tax collectors who were considered the outcast in
10:55
this society and sinners, and we can just imagine what kind of
10:59
sinners would be sitting here listening to Jesus.
11:02
He was giving them hope because they weren't finding hope from
11:06
the religious community of that day and the Pharisees, it says
11:11
here in the Sadducees. They were angry because they
11:14
felt that Jesus wasn't properly representing Jehovah God to the
11:18
people. That's why they were mad.
11:21
So while they should have been excited that sinners were coming
11:24
to hear the word of God, what they were doing instead is they
11:27
were finding fault with Jesus. And they weren't happy at all
11:31
that these common people were finding hope in Jesus and in the
11:35
message Jesus preached of this Kingdom of God that was being
11:38
offered to everybody. Now, Jesus is wanting to show
11:42
here in this parable, in the story, that we're going to look
11:45
at the difference between the heart of God and the heart of
11:49
the religious community that had nothing to offer the people of
11:53
its day. As a matter of fact, earlier in
11:56
Luke Chapter 7, verse 10, Jesus told us there, and this is the
12:00
key, a key verse in understanding this parable that
12:04
we're going to look at. Luke 710 says there that there's
12:07
more joy in heaven. Over 1 Sinner who has returned
12:12
Amen that gives us their heavens perspective on a Sinner that
12:18
comes back again. And so in light of this Jesus
12:22
tells these three stories here in Luke 15 and we want to look
12:26
at this third parable beginning in verse 11.
12:28
This is the parable of the prodigal son, but it really is 3
12:32
parables in one. And if we could, we could, we
12:36
could have three Bible studies on this.
12:38
Some have called this the parable of the father's heart,
12:42
The parable of the father's heart.
12:44
It's a picture of the younger son, the younger brother, and
12:47
his father. The son, the younger son.
12:50
He left willingly home. He left in rebellion to his
12:54
father. Then later on, he comes back
12:57
broken. And it's a picture of this son
13:00
and his father with the relationship that ends up being
13:02
deeper than it ever would have been if he hadn't failed so
13:06
miserably. What a picture of grace.
13:09
And it represents to us a new start, a new beginning, a second
13:14
chance. It's a story that's been told
13:17
throughout the last 2000 years. It's a story that's told week
13:21
after week as we gather here in our lives here a forgiving God.
13:26
A God who gives another chance, a new start, a new beginning.
13:32
And so this is the parable of the Father's heart.
13:37
Some of us will call this the parable of the older brother.
13:41
And the reason is because a third of these verses are about
13:45
him, about this older brother. And of course, Jesus here is
13:48
speaking to the Pharisees and to the Sadducees through this
13:52
parable, and the older brother in this parable represents them.
13:57
And it's not really a good picture of this older brother.
14:00
And so these Pharisees are sitting here and they're
14:02
listening to Jesus as he's speaking this to them.
14:06
And then, of course, as we know, this parable, this is commonly
14:09
known, the parable of the prodigal son, the younger son,
14:14
the younger brother here, who we're going to spend most of our
14:17
time this morning focusing on. And by the way, prodigal is not
14:21
just someone who's out there, getting high out there, getting
14:25
drunk out there, partying. Because the reality is there's
14:29
plenty of prodigals that are sitting in here this morning,
14:33
and I'm one of them. As a matter of fact, as I was
14:36
looking at this this week, it really struck me that there are
14:39
times I too can be a prodigal because our heart can be at
14:44
distant from the Father's heart. And we can easily come into
14:49
church and into this building, and we can play the Christian
14:52
game and we can come and sit in church.
14:54
But meanwhile, nobody knows what's really going on in our in
14:58
our lives throughout the week, what we want to be.
15:02
And This is why we gather it was.
15:04
We want to be conformed into the image of the Father and his
15:08
heart. That's the direction that we
15:10
want to be heading in. So if you're here and you're a
15:13
note taker, I love taking notes. It helps me.
15:17
There's four things that we want to take note of in this parable
15:20
today. There's four points, and after
15:23
each point there's there's a take away that we can hold on to
15:27
and leave this place with. So four points, number one.
15:31
First point is sick of home, #2 away from home, #3 homesick.
15:38
And #4, home. Number one sick of home #2 away
15:44
from home. #3 home sick and #4 home.
15:51
So as we begin here in verse 11, then he Jesus speaking here said
15:57
a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his
16:02
father. Father, give me the portion of
16:05
goods that falls to me. Now this phrase portion of goods
16:10
seems to be a particular term that speaks of the inheritance
16:15
of the father's estate that would be given to his son.
16:19
So it says here he the father divided to them, plural there to
16:23
both of the sons his livelihood. Notice there's no argument from
16:29
the Father here. God respects your ability to
16:32
choose. He always has.
16:34
He still does today. So our first point here, as I
16:38
mentioned, our first point is sick of home.
16:40
We're going to see the prodigal is sick of home verses 11 and
16:43
12. And again, the 1st take away
16:46
point this morning is this take away #1.
16:49
Leaving home always begins in the heart.
16:54
Leaving home always begins in the heart.
17:00
Because we can, we can blame circumstances our lives for the
17:04
reason that we would leave the Lord.
17:06
But walking away from the Lord, walking away from the Father,
17:09
begins to happen first in our hearts, before it happens to
17:14
affect our lives. As a matter of fact, Proverbs
17:16
423 says it this way. All of the issues of our life
17:21
flow from our hearts. Whatever it is that you're
17:24
struggling with or you're battling, it flows from
17:28
something deeper within us. It's flowing from our hearts.
17:32
Jesus is the only one that can change our hearts.
17:35
He's the heart changer. So Jesus here begins to tell
17:39
this parable of these two sons and in this culture, this
17:43
inheritance that the son is asking for of this Father's
17:46
estate. It would work this way.
17:49
The oldest son would receive the double portion of the
17:52
inheritance. Most likely that would also
17:55
include the land so that the son could continue in the Father's
17:59
with the father's heritage and lineage and keep the business
18:02
going forward. The sons that remained in would
18:05
divide up the rest of the inheritance among one another.
18:08
So in this case, because this father had two sons, 2/3 would
18:12
go to the older brother and 1/3 would go to this younger
18:16
brother. And normally, out of respect you
18:20
would wait for the right time and then the father of his own
18:24
will, he would divide up the inheritance.
18:27
Typically this would be on his deathbed.
18:29
That's when he would do it. However, in this case.
18:33
It's backwards because we see the younger son wanting his
18:37
portion now only to go squander it, only to go waste it.
18:42
And again, take note the father here doesn't argue.
18:48
Father here doesn't try to sit and reason with his son about
18:51
this. Because of course, giving the
18:53
inheritance is not the greatest difficulty for the father here,
18:58
but there's something in the pain.
19:00
Of having a child leave. That is much more difficult for
19:04
this father, and some of us understand exactly what that
19:08
feels like If we've had a loved 1A child leave walk away from
19:14
the things that we hope to instill in their hearts from a
19:18
young age, We know the pain of that.
19:20
Some of us are carrying that this morning.
19:23
And really what this younger son wanted is he just wanted
19:26
freedom. He just wanted independence from
19:28
his father. He wanted to get out of there.
19:32
He wanted to get away from home. And we're not exactly sure the
19:35
details as to why he wanted to go.
19:37
It doesn't tell us, but we know at one point, as it's true with
19:41
every man, every woman, that it started in his heart before it
19:46
became a reality in his life. We know that he already left in
19:50
his heart before he left his home, but we can imagine some of
19:56
the reasons why he left. No doubt this younger son just
20:00
wanted to get away from his dad's authority, wanted to get
20:03
away from his dad's rules. Even though as we get to know
20:06
the father, this is a good father and the rules were set
20:08
there to protect the son. But he was interested.
20:11
He just wanted to get away. I'm sure that he wanted to get
20:14
away from his older brother as we get to know the older brother
20:17
here at the end of the parable. This older brother is harsh.
20:21
This older brother is critical. This older brother's judgmental.
20:26
It's a picture of a so-called believer that really, honestly
20:28
none of us really want to be around that kind of a person.
20:31
So I can imagine he wanted to get away from his brother.
20:34
But what Jesus is saying here is that men are like this with God.
20:41
God, I want your blessing, but I don't want to obey you.
20:47
God, I want your provision, but I'm not really interested in
20:50
your presence. God, I want yours, but I don't
20:55
want you. God, I want your wealth.
20:57
I want your riches, but I don't want your control.
21:01
I don't really care for your guidelines.
21:03
And really, God, I don't want to be like you.
21:08
And because he was asking for his father's inheritance, which
21:11
typically would be given on his father's deathbed, what he's
21:15
really saying in that is, you know what, Dad?
21:18
I just wish you were dead. And a lot of times when a
21:23
prodigal leaves their home today, they're basically saying
21:27
this to their parents. They're basically saying I don't
21:30
want you. I just want what you have, Dad,
21:35
I don't really want to be like you, Mom.
21:38
I don't really want your standards.
21:40
I don't want to hear your Bible thumping anymore.
21:43
I'm sick of your rules. I'm sick of your religion.
21:47
I was raised in this. It wasn't my choice.
21:49
It was your choice. I want to get away from this.
21:53
If this is religion, you can keep God and just let me out of
21:57
here. Because out there is freedom out
21:59
there. I can breathe out there.
22:01
I can experience life out there. I can decide what I want to
22:05
believe and I can do what I want to do.
22:07
And if you're a parent that has a kid that has said that or
22:13
something similar to you, then you know this destroys a parent,
22:18
the heartbreak of a kid that just wants us for our stuff but
22:23
doesn't want the relationship and then having that prodigal
22:28
leave leave. So maybe this younger son here,
22:33
he just had enough. Of course, the grass is always
22:36
greener on the other side, right?
22:39
And perhaps you're here and you can relate to this younger son
22:44
here. Because if we're honest,
22:46
sometimes the temptation is to think, if you follow Jesus, then
22:50
you're going to be held back from really experiencing
22:53
everything that life has to offer.
22:55
Because if you say yes to Jesus, then you're going to have to say
22:57
no to other things, living under the illusion that perhaps
23:01
there's something better out there than what we experience in
23:05
here. Some kind of unfulfilled dream,
23:08
maybe if I finally get this much money, or if I finally have this
23:14
kind of relationship, or if I can finally land this job, or
23:18
even if I could just keep getting high, then I would be
23:21
happy. That's all I want.
23:23
And the father here, he sees this in his son.
23:27
He knows that this is what his son is after.
23:30
But notice this. He gives his son what he wants.
23:34
He gives them what he wants. He knows he can't make him stay.
23:38
This is a young man at this point.
23:40
He can't keep him there. He can't force them against his
23:43
will. He knows his heart isn't there.
23:46
He knows he despises his father. And so here a broken hearted
23:51
father simply says here, here's what you want.
23:55
And you can have it. I personally, as I was looking
24:04
at this, have been thinking of so many people, as I'm sure you
24:06
have, that I know who were once walking with Jesus but have
24:10
since left. And it's so heartbreaking.
24:13
It's so hard, isn't it? I know many of the people I'm
24:17
thinking of have have left and have deconstructed their faith.
24:22
Many of them have just walked away from their faith.
24:25
Many have expressed hurt over how they've been treated in the
24:29
church, or others have have expressed disappointment that
24:33
God didn't come through the way that they hoped that God would
24:36
come through. Many of them now are out there
24:39
living in all kinds of sexual immorality, intoxication, mental
24:44
illness. Some of them are in prison right
24:46
now. I even know of a of a particular
24:49
son from a family here in this church who's out on the streets
24:52
right now. And so here is this young man.
24:58
He takes off sick of home. Which leads us now to our second
25:03
point, away from home, point #2, away from home, verses 13
25:08
through 16. And again, if you're taking
25:11
notes, our our our second take away here is this.
25:14
A life without God is a life without meaning.
25:19
A life without God is a life without meaning.
25:23
Notice what it says in verse 13. Not many days after the younger
25:28
son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country and
25:33
there wasted his possessions. It says here with prodigal
25:36
living. Now here's a couple words that
25:39
help us understand this word. Prodigal.
25:41
Here, if you've got the NIV translation of the Bible, it
25:44
says they're loose living, that he wasted his possessions with
25:48
loose living. The original King James version
25:51
of the Bible says he he wasted his possessions with riotous
25:55
living. The ESV says reckless living.
26:01
The CSB, the Christian Standard Bible says foolish living.
26:06
The New Living Translation says wild living, so that helps us
26:10
paint a little bit of a picture of what the son was doing when
26:13
he was out there. As a matter of fact, the Living
26:16
Bible paraphrase paraphrases verse 13 This Way says.
26:22
A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings
26:25
and he took a trip to a distant land and there wasted all his
26:29
money on parties and prostitutes.
26:34
And evidently this younger son has a lot of friends because he
26:38
has a lot of money. It's easy to have a lot of
26:40
people around you when you have a lot of money.
26:43
And so he goes off to a far country.
26:46
He's looking for freedom. He wants to experience life.
26:51
And it says here in verse 14. But when he had spent all, there
26:55
arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in
27:00
want. So we go out.
27:04
We experience everything our hearts say it wants.
27:07
We spend all our money, all of our energy, chasing after
27:12
whatever it is that we're being told will fulfill.
27:14
Us and will satisfy us. And then when we spend it all
27:18
and we still haven't found it, then a mighty famine sets in,
27:23
and for us that mighty famine sets in in our hearts.
27:28
And while this sun is out there spending it all.
27:32
I believe there was a father back home who was praying for
27:36
this famine. Father back at home on his knees
27:40
with tears in his eyes saying, oh God, let him run out, oh God,
27:47
let him come to the end of himself, oh God, turn him back
27:52
towards home, oh God, let him see how empty that it is out
27:57
there. Oh God, give me back my son.
28:04
Some of us are are praying. Oh God, give me back my
28:07
daughter. So verse 15, he went and joined
28:14
himself to a citizen of that country.
28:17
Notice he doesn't have any friends here that he can stay
28:21
with. When his money was gone, his
28:22
friends were gone too. And he sent him the citizen of
28:26
the city of this country, sent him into his fields to feed
28:30
swine. Literally there in the Greek it
28:33
says to slop the hogs, which sounds really gross to me,
28:36
right? To slop the hogs, verse 16.
28:40
And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that
28:43
the swine ate. And no one gave him anything.
28:49
So these pods are those leathery carob pods.
28:53
Or these empty husks that you would give to the pigs and the
28:57
sun. Here is now learning a lesson
29:00
that the grass is not always greener on the other side as we
29:04
follow his trail downward. First it says he wasted his
29:07
possessions, Then it says he spent it all.
29:10
Then it says a severe famine arose.
29:13
Then it says he began to be in want.
29:15
Then it says he was sent to feed the swine, the pigs.
29:18
Then it says he longed for the slop of the hogs that he was
29:22
slopping. Then it says nobody gave him
29:25
anything, so he wanted to be free.
29:29
It's his goal. He's in the world here that he
29:33
wanted to be free in. But he's learning that the world
29:37
is not all that he thought that it would be.
29:40
As this old preacher said, sin will always take you further
29:45
than you want to go. Cost you more than you want to
29:48
pay and keep you longer than you want to stay.
29:52
Sin will always take you farther than you want to go.
29:56
Cost you more than you want to pay, and keep you longer than
29:59
you want to stay. Sin will promise you freedom,
30:05
but then we become a slave to sin.
30:10
Sin will tell us that it will bring satisfaction, but it
30:13
leaves us empty and wasted. And wanting more, it tells us it
30:19
won't cost us much. And then we lose everything.
30:25
Broken relationships. Broken trust.
30:30
Broken reputation. Broken finances.
30:35
Broken physical and mental health.
30:39
Because it's true what it says in Hebrews 1125 that sin is
30:44
pleasurable. It does feel good.
30:48
Sin feels good. That's why we're all so bent to
30:50
sin. It's pleasurable, but it's only
30:53
pleasurable for a season. But in the end is death.
30:58
And that's what the sun is learning right now, it says here
31:02
in verse 16. He would have gladly filled his
31:04
stomach with the carob pods or these empty husks that the swine
31:08
ate, but no one gave him anything.
31:14
So he's truly, truly alone right now.
31:17
All those that he partied with, they're all gone.
31:21
And maybe today you feel this. Maybe today you're hearing you
31:24
too feel alone. Perhaps you've broken the trust
31:28
of everybody in your life. Perhaps those relationships are
31:31
long gone. Perhaps you feel abandoned like
31:35
this today. That's why it's true that a life
31:39
without God is a life without meaning.
31:43
Because it's empty. Because it always leads here
31:47
when we're away from home. Third Point today is he begins
31:54
to become homesick. We're going to see this in
31:57
verses 17 through 19. Homesick.
32:00
And our third take away for today is this, that when we come
32:05
to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God.
32:09
That's why God allows us sometimes to come to the end of
32:12
ourselves. When we come to the end of
32:14
ourselves, we come to the beginning of God.
32:17
Notice verse 17 here it says. But when he came to himself,
32:22
sitting there in the pig pen in the mud, hungry, it says here he
32:27
came to himself, your translation might say, when he
32:31
came to his senses and parents. We know this sometimes when our
32:36
kids go astray and we pray for them and then things get worse
32:41
and they don't get better. We wonder, where are you, God?
32:45
We've been praying, and it seems that things aren't moving in the
32:47
direction of our prayers. It seems like they're almost
32:49
getting worse than better. You're praying and they get
32:53
thrown out of school. You're praying and they get
32:56
fired from a job. You're praying and they get
33:00
arrested. And then we ask God, where are
33:04
you? Well, I'll tell you where God
33:08
is. God's right there with your
33:11
prodigal. And he's trying to bring your
33:15
prodigal to their senses. And we know this, that with the
33:19
Father here, there's a heartbreak, there's a heaviness
33:23
knowing that his son is out there.
33:25
And maybe again you've experienced this, the emptiness
33:29
when your kid is gone, there's a heartbreak to that.
33:32
And the father here, he had to look at the empty seats at that
33:36
table every single night and know that his son wasn't there.
33:41
He had to look at that empty bedroom every time he passed it
33:44
and wonder where his son was and what was going on.
33:48
We know this because it tells us this, that he is filled with
33:51
compassion before the Son even returns, he had compassion for
33:56
his son. This is the heart of God that
34:00
Jesus is communicating in this parable that is so different
34:04
than the heart of religion, so different than the heart of the
34:07
Pharisees and the Sadducees. But, notes that note this God is
34:12
too faithful to allow the prodigal life to be cost free.
34:17
It will always cost something, Sin.
34:18
Always cost something. And again, if you're the parent
34:22
of a prodigal or the loved one of a prodigal, maybe it's your
34:25
husband, maybe it's your wife. I just want you to know as we
34:29
look at the heart of God here, that He cares more for your
34:33
prodigal than you do, because we see His heart here for the
34:37
prodigal. So remember that as you pray,
34:40
remember that you're coming to a God.
34:42
Not that you have to convince to protect your prodigal, to
34:46
provide for your prodigal, to bring your prodigal back.
34:49
That is the heart of God for your son, for your daughter, for
34:54
your husband, for your wife. And here is this son in this
34:58
place, and he's come to the end of himself.
35:02
And here, even still, his father's missing him and longing
35:07
for his return. This is what Jesus is saying.
35:14
The sun here has squandered everything.
35:17
He is now coming to himself, coming to his senses.
35:22
And if you're trying to talk sense into your prodigal at this
35:26
season, know this that you can't talk sense until they come to
35:31
their senses. Because they've lost their
35:35
senses. That's the whole reason why
35:36
they're out there. They've lost their senses.
35:39
And that process of losing your senses is a slow process.
35:44
Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12 says this.
35:47
Watch out that our hearts are not hardened by the
35:51
deceitfulness of sin. Watch out that our hearts are
35:55
not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
35:58
Because Satan is patient, he knows that he has time.
36:03
He will work on our prodigals very, very slowly.
36:05
He's targeting our kids just as he will in our lives.
36:09
And it's nothing for Satan to take years and years and years
36:14
to wear us down. Watch out that your hearts are
36:18
not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and our
36:21
hearts can get hardened. What happens is we push off the
36:26
conviction of the Holy Spirit in regards to things in our lives.
36:30
Then we get to sensitize to the one who's there to protect us,
36:35
and we end up losing our senses. And we end up where sin always
36:42
leads every single time to the end of ourselves alone.
36:48
Hurting, regretting the choices that we've made, looking in the
36:53
mirror at the person looking back at you, going who are you?
36:56
And facing the real and the hard consequences.
37:01
Of your actions. And I hate sin.
37:06
I hate what sin does in my life. I hate when you guys come
37:09
forward and you're sharing about how sin has hurt you and what it
37:13
does to us. The heartache that it brings.
37:16
The brokenness that it brings. The confusion, the hatred, the
37:21
anger, the dysfunction in our families.
37:24
The trauma. Because sin before you know it.
37:30
Gets you to the point where you are then waking up in your own
37:34
nightmare. Sin has its hands around your
37:37
neck trying to take the oxygen out of our lungs.
37:40
And it wants to rob us of our lives.
37:43
It wants to rob us of our livelihood.
37:46
It wants to rob us of our marriages and our families.
37:52
So parents know this. It's hard to talk sins to a
37:56
prodigal. Until his senses return.
38:01
So verse 17 again says when he came to himself, to his senses,
38:07
this aha moment here he said, How many of my father's hired
38:14
servants have bred enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger?
38:20
In other words, back in my dad's house, even the servants can
38:23
have seconds and thirds. Even the servants can have a
38:26
warm blanket and a shower. Even the servants have a
38:30
respectable way to live. And here I am and I'm trying to
38:34
fill my life, my stomach, with these empty shells of what the
38:37
world is trying to fill itself with.
38:41
The younger son realizes that when we come to the end of
38:45
ourselves is when we come to the beginning of God.
38:49
And this is for us today, that everything we need is in the
38:54
Father's house. Everything.
38:57
And that's true for you today. And that's why, if you are here
39:02
and you're a prodigal, I believe that the invitation God would
39:07
give you today is to come home. You've come to the end of
39:12
yourself now. This is the beginning now of a
39:15
new place, a new relationship with God.
39:18
Everything that you wanted out there is found in the father's
39:21
house. Come home.
39:23
Come home. Verse 18 says this I will arise
39:30
and go to my father. He begins now to rehearse what
39:32
he's going to say. He says, I will say to him,
39:35
Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you and I am
39:41
no longer worthy to be called your son, make me like one of
39:46
your hired servants. So if you're here and you're
39:51
asking, well, how do I find my way back home?
39:54
Today it's very simple. You turn your heart towards home
40:00
and you say the four words that this young man here says, which
40:04
I get can be very difficult words to say.
40:08
Father, I have sinned. Father, I have sinned.
40:14
This young man is finally willing to own it.
40:16
Here. He's finally willing to say
40:19
those words. Father, I have sinned.
40:21
Nobody made me sin. I wasn't forced to sin.
40:25
I did it. I'm the one that sins.
40:28
I sinned against heaven. I sinned against people around
40:32
me and Dad. I I get it.
40:34
I'm not even worthy to be called your son at this point.
40:38
So would you make me a servant in your house?
40:43
Because he was out there homesick.
40:47
And then our 4th and final point here, point #4 is home.
40:52
Verses 20 through 24, home. And our 4th take away, take away
40:58
#4. No matter how far we wander, God
41:02
the Father will run to welcome us back.
41:06
No matter how far we wander, no matter how far from God we are,
41:11
He will run to welcome you back, says this in verse 20.
41:17
He arose and came to his father. I can imagine He took a deep
41:22
breath, rehearsed the things that he was going to say, turns
41:26
his face and his heart towards home, begins that trek back.
41:31
But notice this, When he was still a great way off, his
41:36
father saw him. Now imagine this moment.
41:41
How long had it been since its father last saw his son?
41:44
Years, perhaps? Maybe.
41:47
And now, off in the distance, he's looking.
41:52
He sees a figure coming towards him.
41:55
Father continues to look, and he looked.
41:58
As this young man got closer, the father realized, that's my
42:03
son. It's the one I've been praying
42:07
for. He's coming back.
42:10
He's beat up, certainly skinnier than when I last saw him.
42:14
Dirty. But that's my son to my son.
42:20
And by the way, only Jesus has the right to portray God
42:24
Almighty in this light. Only Jesus has the right to
42:28
display the heart of God in this way, in contrast to the
42:31
religious community. Because no Jew certainly would
42:35
have portrayed God the Father as watching from afar, filled with
42:39
compassion, running to the sitter, falling upon his neck,
42:44
receiving him and then restoring him.
42:48
Because it wasn't dignified for the patriarch to pull up his
42:52
robe and to run. It was very common for the kids
42:55
to run to the dad, but not to see the dad running towards the
42:59
kids. And yet Jesus says the father
43:03
was watching and he saw his son a great way off.
43:10
And then I love this word says he had compassion.
43:15
That's a word worth underlining. It's worth highlighting.
43:18
It's worth circling. It's worth putting stars in your
43:20
Bible. He had God had the Father had
43:23
compassion and he ran the one place in Scripture we see when
43:29
God runs. And he fell on his son's neck
43:35
and it says he kissed him. The Greek There is he
43:38
continually and tenderly kissed his Son.
43:43
See, God is not waiting for you today.
43:45
If you're a prodigal to return so that he can beat you, God's
43:49
not waiting for you to come back so he can whack you.
43:52
He is Father God. He's not the Godfather.
43:55
That's not who he is. No, what He does.
44:00
Jesus is telling us this. He runs to us.
44:06
He falls on us. He takes us in His arms.
44:12
He embraces us. He lifts our faces.
44:15
He wipes the tears from our eyes.
44:17
We have nothing to give, but he has everything we need.
44:24
And as I mentioned, I was a prodigal for years and you guys
44:27
mentioned it to all of you that raised your hands and said I was
44:30
once out there, but I have come home.
44:33
I think all of us can say to any prodigal sitting in this room
44:36
this morning that you can look and you can search and you can
44:40
try to find. But there is nothing better than
44:44
Jesus out there. You're not going to find it.
44:47
So don't let anything keep you from coming back home back to
44:52
him today, because there's nothing keeping you, no matter
44:56
what you've done or where you've gone or what what you've who
44:59
you've been with Verse 21, the Son said to him.
45:06
The Son here begins to start the speech that he had rehearsed.
45:11
Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am
45:15
no longer worthy to be called your Son.
45:17
But notice this, The son is barely getting the words out
45:20
before the father is starting to say to his servants, bring out
45:24
the best robe and put it on him. The best robe would have been a
45:27
place of honor. Perhaps it was even the father's
45:30
robe himself. He says put a ring on his hand.
45:34
This would have been a signet ring of the family, signifying
45:37
that the son is an heir again. So he's not just being forgiven,
45:42
he's being restored. Because God doesn't just forgive
45:45
forgive us. He restores us and he gives us
45:48
the great privilege it says in his word of being called the
45:51
sons and the daughters of God. And he says put sandals on his
45:56
feet, verse 23, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it,
46:01
which would have been something reserved for a great feast.
46:04
And he says, let us eat and be merry.
46:07
Let us be happy. The preacher once said Mercy
46:13
gave the prodigal son a second chance.
46:16
Grace gave him a feast. See everything that the son
46:21
wanted out there. The best robes, the best
46:25
inheritance, the best future, the best feast.
46:29
They were already at home in his dad's house.
46:35
And look, I know as we get ready to wrap up that the idea of a
46:39
father is marred in many of our lives.
46:43
Because if I were to ask everyone in this room who have
46:46
you has been abused mentally by your father or verbally by your
46:51
father, or sadly, maybe sexually by your father or emotionally by
46:57
a father who have you have been abandoned by a father, and maybe
47:02
you were raised by your mom or your grandma, or maybe you had
47:06
to play the role of a father as a teenager because that role was
47:09
missing in your home. If I were to ask you to stand,
47:13
and I'm not going to, I'm sure that so many of us would be
47:18
overwhelmed by how many in this place come from that place.
47:24
And perhaps when you hear of us talking about God as God your
47:28
Father, you wince a little bit because of the pain and the
47:32
brokenness that that word, Father means to you.
47:37
But Jesus wants you to see the Father's heart in this parable
47:41
for you today, that God the Father is the Dad that some of
47:46
us never had but always wanted. Jesus is literally putting
47:51
before you this morning, telling us he is a perfect Father.
47:57
Scripture says we can go to him and we can call God Almighty
48:01
ABBA, Dad, Father. He runs to you.
48:08
Jesus tells us when you come home to him, you have a father
48:14
that you can trust in him. Maybe you've never had that.
48:18
You have a father who won't hurt you.
48:21
You have a Father who won't disappoint you.
48:23
You have a Father who won't frustrate you, He won't
48:27
embarrass you and he won't let you down again.
48:31
You just turn to him and he runs to you.
48:36
And what will his heart be towards you when you come verse
48:42
24 For this my son was dead and is alive again.
48:48
He was lost and is found. And it says there they began to
48:55
be merry, happy. So as we close and the worship
49:00
team comes back out here, I I just wanted to say a few things
49:04
to those of you here that are parents of a prodigal or you
49:09
have a loved 1A husband again a wife that's a prodigal.
49:15
The first thing I think the Lord would say to you today is rest
49:19
in the Lord, Rest in the Lord. Jesus, says all you who are
49:23
weary and heavy laden, come to me and you will find rest.
49:28
And maybe you did everything right as a parent.
49:31
You raised them in the church. You taught them the word.
49:34
Of course you know that You weren't a perfect father.
49:36
There's no such thing as a perfect mom, a perfect dad.
49:40
But perhaps you feel like I did everything and still my kid
49:43
left. He went wayward.
49:45
He's out there. What?
49:47
I just want to remind you that even the Heavenly Father, who's
49:52
perfect, has prodigals. Everyone from Adam and Eve to
49:58
King David, down to you and to me.
50:02
Even the Heavenly Father is perfect as prodigals.
50:04
Perhaps you're here and you're the parents saying no.
50:07
I I know what I did. I know how I hurt my kid.
50:11
I know how I turned them away. Well if that's you, then all you
50:17
need to do is to make it a point today or sometime this week to
50:22
text or to call or to go have a conversation with your son or
50:26
your daughter or your husband or your wife and ask for their
50:28
forgiveness. And maybe they will and maybe
50:31
they won't forgive you. But what it does is it removes
50:34
the barrier, Removes the barrier.
50:37
Then you get to move forward in the forgiveness and the grace of
50:40
God and you don't need to carry any guilt that Jesus has already
50:44
paid for in your life. Second thing I would say is
50:48
this, parents stay true to your beliefs.
50:52
Just because you get pushed back from your child doesn't mean
50:55
that you have to back down. Hold the course, live as a good
51:00
example. Teach the word to them, stand
51:03
for what's true. Don't try to remove the
51:06
consequences of of their decisions.
51:09
Even though as parents we it's hard for us to see our kids
51:12
experiencing some of that. But the pigpen may be the exact
51:14
place where God is going to speak to them and know this.
51:19
Just because they are out there now, it doesn't mean that
51:22
they're going to be out there forever.
51:24
So stay true to your beliefs #3 Don't give up on them.
51:30
Don't give up on your prodigal. They may have hurt you, they may
51:35
have let you down time and time and time again.
51:39
But notice God never reaches the point where he gives up, where
51:42
he stops hoping, where he stops looking and waiting for their
51:47
return. So you don't stop and give up
51:50
either. Galatians 69 encourages us not
51:56
to grow weary and well doing, and the reason Paul had to say
51:59
that to the church there is because we get weary, don't we?
52:03
We get weary, so don't give up on them #4 They can escape your
52:09
presence, but they can't escape your prayers.
52:13
So keep praying for them. Even if you're not seeing God
52:18
answer your prayers immediately, He promises he will answer your
52:21
prayers eventually. God will be faithful.
52:25
God inclines his ear towards us when we pray those of you with a
52:29
broken heart, He draws near to those with a broken heart.
52:33
Your prayers might feel like they're falling from the ceiling
52:35
back down to the earth again. God hears every single one of
52:38
them. He sees each tear that falls,
52:41
his word says. Tonight in this building
52:43
downstairs in the agape room, we're going to have a prodigal
52:46
prayer meeting. It's a perfect place to come and
52:49
to pray for your husband, your wife, your son, your daughter.
52:52
We'll take about an hour. We have a young lady from this
52:56
church who was a prodigal, walked away, came back.
53:01
She's going to share her testimony tonight.
53:04
And then we're going to just get to prayer, and we're going to
53:06
pray, and we're going to see God work.
53:08
We also will give out tonight too, a sheet of 31 days of
53:13
scripture prayer for you to pray every single day for the entire
53:17
month, for your prodigal, something to help guide you with
53:20
some scriptures. And then my last point for you
53:23
as parents, always keep the door to home open.
53:28
Let them know the door will always be open, and when they do
53:32
return, don't be like the older brother grilling them about the
53:36
pigs they were hanging out with and how they spent all their
53:38
money. And do you know what you did?
53:40
And do you know how much you heard us?
53:42
But throw them a feast. Kill the fatted calf.
53:48
Celebrate the fact that they're right with God and that they're
53:51
home again. They were lost, and now they're
53:56
found. So I I felt heading into just
54:03
this weekend that a message like this from the Lord demands some
54:09
kind of a response. So here's what I'd like to just
54:14
ask. If you're here and you're a
54:15
prodigal and somehow you found your way in today, maybe you
54:19
were dragged in here today, I don't know.
54:21
But you're here. I want to say to you on behalf
54:25
of the Lord, it's time for you to come home.
54:30
Do this morning what the Son did in verse 20 when it says there
54:33
he arose and he came to his father.
54:37
If you're a prodigal, or maybe you're here and you're an
54:39
unbeliever, you've never given your heart or your life to
54:42
Jesus. Don't believe the lie that
54:45
you're too far gone, that it's too late, or that you've somehow
54:48
out sinned. The grace of God.
54:52
Everyone else may have abandoned you.
54:55
Jesus has not left you. As a matter of fact, listen, the
54:58
reason that Jesus shed His Precious blood, The reason that
55:02
Jesus came to be brutalized on a cross was so that He could
55:06
forgive us, the Bible says, and cleanse us of all of our sin.
55:15
It's really quite simple this morning.
55:18
You provide the Sinner, the broken 1, the prodigal, and He
55:24
provides the Savior. And I hope what you're hearing
55:28
this morning is the difference between empty religion and
55:33
playing church games and the heart of God the Father for you.
55:39
The Father runs to you. He wants relationship with you.
55:43
He wants your heart. You get to just say I own my sin
55:50
and I come back. There's no sin that it's so
55:56
great in your life that God's grace is not greater than.
56:03
So if you're here and you're a prodigal, this is what I want to
56:05
ask for you to do. Would you stand so that we can
56:10
pray for you? We're not going to ask you for
56:12
anything. We're not going to ask you about
56:14
your situation. We just want to pray for you.
56:16
We want everything for you. And if God brought you here this
56:20
morning and you would say I'm in that place, would you just stand
56:25
publicly here and we'll pray for you?
56:32
Is there anyone here? If you're watching online, this
56:40
is for you. You too can return.
56:44
The Lord is calling you to come home.
56:45
If you're listening right now on the radio, Grace FM.
56:49
The Lord is bidding you come home.
56:53
Don't be ashamed to stand. Listen, we're all sinners.
56:56
You saw how many prodigals were already in this place.
56:59
We raised our hands. We've been there.
57:00
We've done that. Nobody's going to look down upon
57:03
you. As a matter of fact, we're going
57:04
to celebrate you. Anyone else, welcome home, guys.
57:15
Welcome home. And then one more I know that in
57:27
this place, guys stay standing because we want to pray for you.
57:30
But I know that in this place there are many parents whose
57:34
hearts are heavy. Right now you're in that place
57:37
of looking and waiting and wandering.
57:41
Or maybe it's your husband, maybe it's your spouse.
57:43
But we want to be the church and we want to come around you and
57:46
pray for you. So if you are the parent or the
57:49
loved one of a prodigal, would you stand as well this morning?
58:09
And every person standing is a broken heart.
58:12
It's a face of someone that's not here.
58:17
It's a child or a husband or wife that we've wept for.
58:22
Hearts are broken. But I can tell you this.
58:28
The Lord will be faithful, and I do believe this, that as we pray
58:34
for our prodigals, they will return.
58:36
I can't tell you when, but I believe that they will.
58:41
There's too much in them for them to really enjoy the things
58:44
of the world. And there's no place like home.
58:49
There's no place like home. So here's what we're going to
58:52
do. As we close, Pastor Ian's going
58:55
to lead us in this song, and this is a song we can sing out
58:58
with all of our hearts. But this might be a song if
59:00
you're the loved one of a prodigal that you just need to
59:04
by faith sing and pray over your prodigal.
59:08
Today God is at work in this place.
59:11
I believe it. This is a message I believe he
59:13
had for you guys this morning. So let's close and let's let God
59:18
continue to work in our midst. Church, let's do this.
59:22
This is what the church is meant to do.
59:24
Would you guys just stand, lay hands on the people around you
59:27
and we just just pray for them. Don't ask them.
59:28
We don't need to know about their personal information or
59:31
why they stood, but let's just pray for them.
59:33
And if you feel LED afterwards to spend some time talking, you
59:37
can do that, certainly. But this is an opportunity here
59:39
for the Holy Spirit to allow the church to minister to one
59:42
another. This is what we're here for.
59:45
And if any of you guys want to come up and lay hands on our
59:46
brothers that came up here as well, that would be wonderful.
59:50
Those of you that stood that said you were prodigals, got
59:53
some homework for you, go home and read Psalm 31.
59:56
That's the Psalm that we read earlier today.
59:59
I think you're going to be encouraged by that Psalm and if
1:00:04
you want, come up and talk to a pastor at the end here because
1:00:07
we'd love to give you some things to help encourage you.
1:00:10
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
1:00:13
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
1:00:16
prayer. Call us at 87730 Grace.
1:00:21
That's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
1:00:27
entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
1:00:31
online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
1:00:36
Church app. Be blessed as You Worship Jesus
1:00:39
this week.