0:05 we open the word of God to Luke chapter
0:07 15 we're going to be doing this for
0:10 several Sunday evenings examining the
0:12 parable of the Prodigal
0:15 Son most people say well why would you
0:17 preach the parable The Prodigal Son on a
0:19 Sunday evening to a congregation
0:23 composed primarily of Believers why not
0:26 go to the mission with this well of
0:27 course the parable of the prodigal son
0:31 is a great evangelist passage no
0:32 question about that but there's much
0:36 more to it than that and all scripture
0:38 is profitable to
0:40 us and so tonight we want to talk about
0:42 the lessons of
0:45 life life is a
0:48 school life has its
0:50 dropouts you'll meet people all over
0:52 Chicago who in One Way or Another have
0:54 dropped out of
1:05 alcoholics or entertainment
1:07 addicts some of them have become
1:09 emotionally disturbed to the point where
1:11 others have to care for them and this is
1:13 always a sad
1:16 thing some do it with
1:18 activity some do it with isolation some
1:20 do it with
1:22 meanness I don't think anyone here
1:25 tonight wants to drop out of school of
1:26 course the ultimate in dropping out of
1:30 the school of life is suicide
1:32 it's rather interesting that the one
1:34 professional group in America that has
1:37 the highest rate of suicides is
1:39 psychiatrists and they are the ones who
1:41 are supposed to be helping us in the
1:44 school of life now there are three ways
1:47 you can learn in the school of life you
1:49 can learn by education I mean by that
1:52 reading books and listening to lectures
1:54 and watching movies and listening to
1:57 tapes you can learn about life through
2:00 education this is good
2:02 or you can learn about life through
2:04 example you can watch the lives of other
2:06 people and you can say I see that this
2:07 is what happened to him I don't want
2:09 that to happen to
2:11 me the Third Way of course is by
2:13 experience you have to go through it
2:16 yourself there's some things you cannot
2:18 learn except by experience you can read
2:20 books about swimming and watch movies
2:22 about swimming and even go watch the
2:25 Olympics and not know how to swim at
2:27 some point somebody has to push you in
2:29 the water you have to swallow some water
2:32 and gurgle a little bit and start
2:34 swimming this is how I learned how to
2:35 ride a
2:37 bicycle one of the neighbors was sick
2:39 and tired of seeing this kid running
2:41 around the street not knowing how to
2:43 ride a bicycle and so he put me on my
2:45 sister's bike without my sister's
2:48 permission and just gave me a
2:53 push and you either go or you drop and I
2:55 went I don't recommend you learn how to
2:57 drive an automobile that way but it it
3:00 worked for the bicycle
3:02 now when it comes to things that are
3:05 physical in the dexterity of the fingers
3:07 and the feet and the hands you have to have
3:09 have
3:10 experience but you know one of the
3:13 saddest ways to learn the lessons of Life
3:18 spiritually is to do it the way the
3:22 prodical son did the hard way it's not
3:24 necessary for a person to get
3:26 electrocuted to learn about
3:28 electricity it's not necessary for a
3:30 person to get poison poisoned to learn about
3:31 about
3:34 poison my doctor does not have to have
3:36 cancer to be able to operate on people
3:37 who do have
3:40 cancer nor is it necessary for us to
3:44 sin in order to learn some of the
3:46 lessons of life but sad to say this is
3:48 the way the prodigal
3:51 learned I want you to uh follow me as I
3:54 read Luke 15 beginning at verse 11 and
3:56 would you notice the three lessons that
3:59 this young man learned through the
4:01 difficult EXP experiences of
4:05 life and he said a certain man had two
4:07 sons and the younger of them said to his
4:10 father father give me the portion of
4:13 goods that falleth to me and he divided
4:14 unto them his
4:17 living and not many days after that the
4:19 younger son gathered all together and
4:22 took his journey into a far country and
4:25 there wasted his substance with riotous
4:28 living and when he had spent all there
4:30 arose a mighty f famine in that land and
4:33 he began to be in want and he went and
4:35 joined himself to a citizen of that
4:37 country and he sent him into his fields
4:38 to feed
4:41 swine and he would Fain have filled his
4:43 belly with the husk that the swine did
4:46 eat and no man gave unto
4:48 him and when he came to
4:52 himself he said how many of my father's
4:54 hired servants have bread enough in
4:56 Despair and I perish with
4:59 Hunger I will arise and go to my father
5:01 and will say unto him father I have
5:05 sinned against heaven and before thee
5:07 and am no more worthy to be called thy
5:11 son make me as one of thy hired servants
5:15 and he arose and came to his father but
5:17 when he was yet a great way off his
5:20 father saw him and had compassion and
5:23 ran and fell on his neck and kissed him
5:25 and the son said unto him father I have
5:28 sinned against heaven and in thy sight
5:31 and am no more worthy to be called thy
5:34 son but the father said to his servants
5:37 bring forth the best robe and put it on
5:39 him and put a ring on his hand and shoes
5:42 on his feet and bring the fatted calf
5:44 and kill it and let us eat and be merry
5:47 for this my son was dead and is alive
5:51 again he was lost and is found and they
5:54 began to be
5:57 mared now there are three lessons that
5:59 this young man learned in the school of life
6:00 life
6:04 first he learned a lesson about
6:06 Sin he learned the
6:09 meaning of
6:12 misery now none of us has to go out in
6:15 sin against the Lord to learn this
6:18 lesson about Sin we can learn it from
6:20 this book we can learn it from his
6:22 experience none of us has to go out and
6:25 practice sin to learn these lessons now
6:27 what did he learn about Sin well
6:30 basically he learned that sin is
6:33 deceitful you remember in the book of
6:36 Hebrews the warning is there lest any of
6:39 you be hardened through the
6:41 deceitfulness of
6:44 sin now sin is very deceitful for
6:47 example sin promises
6:50 life and always brings
6:54 death he learned that you see sin says
6:57 to you oh you can have pleasure and
7:01 Hebrews 11:25 says there is pleasure in
7:04 sin if there were not pleasure in sin
7:08 people wouldn't sin but you see sin
7:10 begins with pleasure and then it leads to
7:11 to
7:14 pain you remember when Jesus performed
7:16 his first miracle when he turned the
7:18 water into wine and the people drank the
7:21 wine they said to the Toastmaster of the
7:24 wedding Feast you've saved the best wine
7:28 until now for the Christian who obeys
7:32 God the Best Is Yet To Come there's
7:35 pleasure and more pleasure and more
7:37 pleasure the path of the just is is The
7:41 Shining Light that shineth more and more
7:43 under that perfect day there's fruit and
7:47 more fruit and much fruit but sin
7:50 operates just the opposite it begins
7:53 with pleasure then less pleasure then
7:56 less pleasure then no pleasure then pain
7:59 and then intense pain and then eternal etal
8:01 etal
8:04 pain and this young man learned the hard
8:07 way that sin promises life but it always
8:11 brings death the father said in verse 24
8:15 this my son was dead now I don't have to
8:17 amplify this tonight you folks know from
8:21 the word of God that sin will kill
8:24 everything in US sin will kill the
8:26 conscience sin will kill the
8:29 intelligence sin will ultimately kill
8:33 the will it paralyzes sin kills the body
8:36 sin can damn the
8:40 soul sin promises life and always brings
8:44 death what does James say lust when it
8:47 hath conceived bringeth forth sin like
8:51 the birth of a baby and sin when it is
8:54 full grown bringeth forth
8:56 death the second thing he learned about
8:59 Sin was that sin promises freedom and
9:00 always bring
9:02 slavery the boy was sick and tired of
9:05 being home he cried out for Freedom
9:06 there's something in everybody that just
9:09 cries out for freedom I don't want to be
9:11 under anybody's discipline later on
9:13 we're going to have the sad
9:16 responsibility of meeting his elder
9:19 brother I'm tempted to believe that if I
9:20 had an elder brother like that I might
9:22 have wanted to leave home too I don't
9:24 know but the Lord doesn't give this as
9:27 an excuse here's a young man who says I
9:29 don't want to be fenced in don't Fence
9:34 Me In don't tie me down I want to have
9:37 freedom many years ago PT foresight the
9:40 great congregational Theologian in Great
9:43 Britain made a magnificent statement I
9:45 have never forgotten it I didn't hear
9:47 him say it I read it in one of his books
9:49 and Dr fory
9:52 said every man's responsibility is not
9:54 to find his
9:58 freedom but to find his
10:01 master Every Man's responsibility is not
10:02 to find his
10:05 freedom but to find his master everybody
10:07 has to have a
10:10 master there must be some power that
10:14 controls our lives and the master you
10:17 choose will determine the life that you
10:19 live and this young man said I want to
10:22 be free I want to run my own life of
10:24 course this is a part of the promise
10:27 that Satan comes along with in Genesis
10:30 CH 3 Satan said to the first uh woman he
10:33 said now look why do you want to be
10:36 under the thumb of God you can be free
10:39 why if you'll partake of this fruit
10:40 you'll know the difference between good
10:44 and evil and you'll be like God that's
10:47 been the lie that Satan has foed upon
10:50 civilization ever since man can be like
10:52 God that's Romans chapter 1 they
10:55 worshiped and serve the creature rather
10:56 than the
10:59 Creator and sin always promises freedom
11:01 but brings slavery it's the worst kind
11:04 of slavery because when that slavery
11:06 first begins it seems like
11:09 Freedom doing what I want to do enjoying
11:12 what I want to enjoy but they forget
11:14 that the important thing in life is not
11:16 doing what I want to do or enjoying what
11:19 I want to enjoy but being what God wants
11:22 me to be being is far more important
11:25 than doing or
11:28 enjoying and slavery begins with a sense
11:30 of f false freedom and then it turns
11:33 into just a little bit of slavery and a
11:35 little bit more and a little bit more
11:37 until finally the person is completely
11:40 enslaved by sin this young man was out
11:44 looking for Freedom he ended up being
11:48 told what to do by the
11:51 pigs you see the pigs weren't working
11:54 for him he was working for the
11:57 pigs he discovered a third deceitful
12:00 thing about Sin Sin sin promises life
12:03 and always brings death sin promises
12:06 freedom and always brings slavery sin promises
12:07 promises
12:11 success and always brings failure now
12:14 everybody wants to be a success some
12:15 people don't know what success is but
12:17 this fell said I want to be a success I
12:19 don't want to be here at home and my
12:20 father tells me what to do and my big
12:22 brother tells me what to do if I were
12:25 just on my own I would be a great
12:28 success and sin promises success be
12:31 independent be your own
12:34 self you know what God's success formula
12:38 is if you've never memorized it memorize
12:43 it save you some trouble Matthew 25: 21
12:45 that's God's success formula where he
12:50 says well done thou good and faithful
12:52 servant thou H has been Faithful over a
12:55 few things I will make thee ruler over
12:59 many things enter thou into the joy of
13:02 of the Lord now there are three parts to
13:04 that success formula number one you
13:12 ruler number two you start with a few
13:15 things and God gives you many things if
13:17 you're faithful number three you start
13:20 with work and you end up with joy now
13:23 this is God's success formula you start
13:26 as a servant learning how to take orders
13:28 and you graduate if you're faithful to
13:31 being a ruler knowing how to give orders
13:33 you start with a few things and if
13:35 you're successful with them being
13:38 faithful God gives you many things you
13:41 start with good hard work and if you're
13:43 faithful God gives you
13:45 Joy you can see this Illustrated All
13:47 Through the Bible it was true of of
13:49 Joseph God said Joseph one day you're
13:51 going to be a king but I've got to start
13:53 you off as a servant and so he began as
13:56 a slave in Piper's household he began as
13:59 a laborer in the jail in the prison one
14:02 day God made him a ruler he started off
14:04 taking care of a few things one day God
14:06 gave him the whole land of Egypt he
14:08 started off with hard work and one day
14:09 God gave him the joy of sitting on the
14:12 throne this was true of David David
14:15 started by taking care of a few sheep he
14:16 started off as a servant he became a
14:18 ruler he started off with a few sheep he
14:20 ended up with the nation of Israel he
14:22 started off with hard work and he ended
14:25 up with joy this was true of
14:28 Nehemiah this was true of Timothy this
14:30 was true of Paul this was true of the
14:34 Apostles this is God's success formula
14:36 Now The Prodigal Son reversed that
14:39 formula sin comes to you and says start
14:40 off as a
14:42 ruler and you'll be a big wheel he
14:45 started off as somebody important where
14:47 did he end up a
14:49 servant sin says start off with
14:51 everything boy just take as much as you can
14:52 can
14:56 get where did he end up nothing lost his
14:59 shoes lost his ring that ring was a mark of
15:01 of
15:04 sunship sin says to you start off with
15:08 great joy and where do you end up
15:11 toil you see The Prodigal Son completely
15:14 reversed God's formula for Success
15:17 because sin promises success and always brings
15:18 brings
15:20 failure and alas we still have people
15:22 today who say I don't intend to start at
15:24 the bottom I'm going to start at the top
15:26 God says all right you want to start at
15:29 the top it's a long fall
15:30 I don't intend to start with a few
15:32 things I'm too important for that I want
15:34 to start with many things fine it's a big
15:35 big
15:38 loss I don't intend to work not going to
15:40 get me to get my hands dirty I'm just
15:41 going to enjoy
15:45 life you'll end up working toil
15:49 pain and so sin always promises success
15:50 and brings
15:53 failure finally sin promises that you'll
15:56 find yourself but you lose
15:58 yourself it says here he came to himself
16:00 with which means he was beside himself
16:01 he wasn't
16:04 himself uh s sin comes and says to the
16:05 young man or the young woman it doesn't
16:06 have to be young either it could be an
16:08 older person you know you really got to
16:11 find yourself get out there in the world
16:13 and live it up and really find yourself
16:15 you'll never find yourself until you express
16:21 yourself I was handed a newspaper
16:22 clipping this evening I always
16:23 appreciate it when people give me these
16:26 things because I can't read
16:29 everything uh a psychologist has
16:31 recommended that we permit teenagers to
16:32 have trial
16:35 marriages you're not married but you
16:37 live together as though you are married
16:40 this takes the pressure off of
16:43 adolescence and um if it works out fine
16:44 you can get married if it doesn't work
16:46 out well you can just forget about it oh
16:48 but that doesn't
16:50 work it's been proved over and over
16:52 again I'm surprised he hasn't read the
16:55 studies on this that where there is no
16:58 commitment there can be no growth in
17:00 love and devotion and you can't build a
17:02 home on that kind of a
17:04 thing you can't build a marriage on the
17:07 installment plan you've got to put your
17:11 name on that contract and say it's
17:13 forever but this is the way sin is you
17:16 see sin says oh you can find
17:18 yourself but ultimately you end up
17:21 losing yourself you see when you yield
17:23 yourself to Jesus Christ you find
17:26 yourself each one of us is different and
17:28 you work out your own salvation with
17:30 fear and trembling God doesn't make you
17:31 like anybody else God doesn't say I have
17:34 to be like DL moody or DL Moody had to
17:35 be like Charles Spurgeon or Spurgeon had
17:38 to be like McShan or mcshain had to be
17:40 like Calvin when you yield yourself to
17:42 sin you become like everybody
17:46 else sin has a way of conforming you to
17:49 everybody else sin is
17:55 a sin is a factory sin is a an assembly
17:57 line where everybody comes out with the
18:02 same scar and the same pain and the same
18:04 ruin but Jesus Christ doesn't work that
18:06 way he's the Potter who takes each life
18:08 individually and mold you the way he
18:11 wants you to be so this young man the
18:14 hard way learned a lesson about Sin he
18:17 learned the meaning of misery sin does
18:19 not keep its
18:22 promises it promises life and brings
18:24 death it promises freedom and brings
18:27 slavery it promises success and brings
18:29 failure it promises you'll find yourself
18:32 and you lose
18:35 yourself there's a second lesson he
18:37 learned he not only learned a lesson
18:40 about Sin the meaning of misery but he
18:42 learned a lesson about himself the
18:45 meaning of
18:47 maturity I want to talk to you about
18:49 maturity our world has become a great
18:51 big play
18:54 pin and a lot of immature people are
18:59 toys I have a feeling that some of the
19:02 automobile accidents out on our highways
19:04 are caused by grownup people thinking
19:12 cars in a sandbox in somebody's
19:15 backyard an automobile for some socalled
19:20 adults becomes a toy and get out of my
19:23 way I think it was yesterday we were
19:25 coming home we going to a banquet I
19:28 forgotten which and to oh it was this
19:30 morning I think I think two
19:32 cars they were racing each other down
19:39 street a lot of immaturity now this boy
19:42 had the idea he wanted to be mature did
19:43 you notice in this
19:48 lesson the false marks of
19:51 maturity you see one mark of immaturity
19:54 is not knowing what maturity is for
19:57 example this boy was
19:59 indifferent they think that by being
20:00 indifferent I don't care what my
20:02 father's thinks I don't care about my
20:05 home you hear this phrase ask me if I
20:07 care that's supposed to be a mark of
20:08 maturity that's not a mark of maturity
20:11 it's a mark of immaturity mature people do
20:12 do
20:15 care mature people care very
20:18 deeply that what they do doesn't hurt somebody
20:20 somebody
20:23 else but he thought that indifference
20:26 was a mark of maturity and his friends
20:27 saidoh I like to see you do that well
20:29 that's great
20:32 I notice here he was independent father
20:34 give me he didn't say father what's the
20:36 best way to use my inheritance father
20:38 you work so hard to get this for me how
20:41 should I use it no
20:42 Independence a lot of these folks don't
20:44 know the difference between Independence
20:47 and true Freedom they think that
20:49 Independence is a mark of maturity I can
20:51 hardly wait till I'm old enough to do
20:53 what I want to
20:56 do well you'll never get that place
20:57 unless you come to the place where the
20:59 Lord is able to tell you what what to do
21:02 God can't turn somebody loose who can do
21:04 whatever he wants to do I can't do
21:07 whatever I want to do nor can you that's
21:09 the worst kind of bondage it's not a
21:11 mark of
21:14 maturity I notice here his impatience
21:17 verse 13 not many days after he gathered
21:18 it all together and went out to the far
21:21 country impatience is not a mark of
21:23 maturity it's a mark of immaturity
21:26 children can't wait is it Christmas yet
21:29 is it my birthday yet are we there yet
21:32 children can't wait adults can
21:34 wait I've spent many hours talking with
21:37 people about this matter of marriage oh
21:39 we just can't wait if it's the real
21:40 thing it'll
21:43 keep if it's not the real thing you
21:45 better give yourself time to find out
21:47 it's not the real thing if it's the real
21:51 thing it will keep it'll it'll pass the
21:55 test indifference and Independence and
21:58 impatience but the real Mark here of immature
21:59 immature
22:00 and he thought it was a mark of really
22:04 being grown up Indulgence he wasted his
22:07 substance in riotous living a little kid
22:09 says to his mother as she sends him off
22:11 to bed boy just wait till I'm grown up
22:13 I'm going to stay up all
22:15 night and you know when he gets old
22:16 enough to be able to decide to stay up
22:18 all night you know what he's going to do
22:19 he's going to go to
22:22 bed he'll be
22:26 tired Indulgence why do people have the
22:28 idea it's a mark of maturity to SP spend
22:30 money any way you want to spend it
22:32 that's not maturity that's
22:34 childish and yet some Christians spend
22:37 their money like a kid going to a County
22:40 Fair it's a mark of maturity they think
22:42 to be able to eat drink and be married
22:45 do what you want to do
22:47 Indulgence and yet this is hardly a mark
22:50 of maturity you see maturity means you
22:52 can tell the
22:55 difference when a person is mature he's
22:58 able to make distinctions
23:00 when you're teaching a little child how
23:03 to talk for example and the the doggy
23:05 goes running across the street and you
23:07 say bowwow and the CH little child says
23:09 bowwow so he comes to the conclusion it
23:12 has two ears and four legs and a tail
23:14 it's a bowwow and so you're driving out
23:16 in the country and you see a cow there
23:20 four legs and two ears and a tail bowow
23:22 oh no no moooo
23:27 oh so you got to make a distinction see
23:30 now as a child grows older and matures
23:36 distinctions this young man was unable
23:39 to make distinctions for
23:41 example he didn't know the difference
23:44 between popularity and
23:46 success he thought that because he was
23:49 popular he was successful and he wasn't
23:51 he was popular because he was
23:54 rich if your circle of friends is in
23:57 your life because of what you have and
23:58 not because of what you are they aren't your
24:01 your
24:03 friends the Lord Jesus Christ was the
24:05 poorest of the poor yet he gathered
24:08 around himself a wonderful group of
24:11 people because of who he was and what he
24:13 was not because of what he
24:17 had popularity is a lot is is a great
24:19 deal different from success and success from
24:20 from
24:23 popularity there are many people who are
24:26 successful who aren't
24:29 popular Jeremiah Was a success he wasn't
24:33 popular Paul was a success he wasn't
24:35 popular there are many people who are
24:38 popular who aren't successful barabus
24:40 was popular the crowd said give us
24:43 barabus crucify Jesus he was popular he wasn't
24:45 wasn't
24:47 successful you can go through the Bible
24:48 and you can go through history and find
24:50 people who didn't know the difference
24:53 between popularity and success between
24:56 reputation and
24:58 character and my friend if you are
24:59 building building your life on the
25:01 things that you possess to get the crowd
25:04 that you want you're a
25:06 failure this young man didn't know the
25:09 difference between prices and values a
25:11 lot of people haven't learned
25:14 that prices and values you go to a
25:17 little child and you have
25:21 um well you have a nickel and a
25:23 dime you can't buy much with the two of
25:25 them together anymore but you have a
25:27 nickel and a dime you say which one do
25:30 you want well the nickel is bigger and
25:32 so a child goes by size unless someone
25:35 has whispered in his ear take the time
25:38 see the average child goes by
25:40 size and yet you and I would say now
25:42 wait a minute that dime is worth much
25:43 more than the nickel neither one is
25:45 worth much but the dime is worth more
25:47 than the nickel this young man did not
25:49 know the difference between prices and
25:51 values he thought that because he had
25:54 things he had
25:56 values someone has said that a teenager
25:58 is a person who knows the value the
26:00 price of everything and the value of
26:01 nothing that's not true of every
26:03 teenager it's also true of some
26:06 adults it's good to have the things that
26:08 money can buy if you don't lose the
26:15 buy what good is a $100,000 house
26:16 without a
26:21 home what good is a $50,000 ring without
26:23 love and here's a young man who didn't
26:25 know the difference between prices and
26:27 values we have people like that today he
26:28 didn't know the difference between
26:31 Independence and
26:33 freedom see God says you can't be
26:37 independent nobody here tonight can be
26:39 independent we come into this world as
26:42 little children as babies totally
26:45 dependent as a child grows into
26:47 adolescence he becomes
26:49 independent but as he grows into
26:52 maturity and adulthood he becomes inter
26:55 dependent you can't be independent I
26:56 dare you to manufacture your own electricity
26:59 electricity
27:00 I dare you to have your own police
27:03 system your own fire system I dare you
27:06 to have your own medical supplies you
27:09 can't do it nobody can be independent we
27:11 desperately need each other especially
27:13 in the
27:16 city we've learned to be
27:19 interdependent and true freedom is not
27:21 Independence I'm going to have my own
27:23 way true Freedom means I'm
27:25 interdependent I'm going to become what
27:27 God wants me to become and make my
27:29 contribution ution to this world to the
27:31 church to the
27:33 home but this young man didn't know the
27:35 difference between Independence and
27:37 freedom I suppose every young man every
27:39 young woman at some point has
27:42 said I want to be totally free I want to
27:44 be absolutely
27:46 independent only to find out it just
27:49 doesn't work so he learned the meaning of
27:50 of
27:53 maturity we won't go into it in detail
27:54 I've already preached about this in a
27:57 previous message but his two prayers
28:00 indicate the change in his life verse 12
28:05 father give me that's the baby verse 19
28:06 father make
28:10 me that's the mature person the immature
28:12 person goes through life saying give me
28:14 give me give me give me the mature
28:19 person says make me make me fulfill in
28:22 me what you want to fulfill which leads
28:25 us to our third lesson that he learned
28:27 he learned the meaning of misery a
28:30 lesson about about Sin he learned the
28:33 meaning of maturity a lesson about
28:35 himself and he learned the meaning of
28:39 Mercy a lesson about salvation and of
28:41 course that's the main lesson of this
28:44 Parable back in verse 1 and two of
28:47 chapter 15 then Drew near unto him all
28:49 the tax collectors and the Sinners to
28:52 hear him Jesus and the Pharisees and
28:55 scribes murmured saying this man
28:59 receiveth Sinners plural and eateth with
29:01 them and so here you had two groups of
29:03 people you had the scribes and Pharisees
29:06 over there criticizing you had the
29:07 publicans and sinners over here
29:10 listening to the Lord Jesus as I pointed
29:12 out in our first message in this series
29:13 is it not
29:16 unusual Jesus attracted Sinners the
29:19 Pharisees repelled
29:22 them we have the crazy idea that when
29:24 you get more like the Lord Jesus unsaved
29:27 people want less and less to do with you
29:29 that just isn't true true the more we
29:31 become like the Lord Jesus the more
29:33 there is an attractiveness to us where
29:35 the salt of the earth and salt makes
29:38 people thirsty they don't agree with
29:40 this they don't understand this but they
29:42 say there there's something there and I
29:45 want to find out what it
29:48 is and so the whole thrust of this
29:50 Parable is that our loving Heavenly
29:53 Father receives sinners now the
29:55 Pharisees couldn't figure that out their
29:57 theology said if you are a sinner you're
29:59 done for
30:01 but my Lord says if you are a
30:04 sinner come to
30:06 me I think this is one of the most
30:08 beautiful pictures of what Paul wrote
30:11 over in Ephesians chapter 2 let me read
30:16 it to you but God who is rich in Mercy
30:19 for his great love with which he loved
30:23 us even when we were dead in sins has
30:26 made us alive together with Christ by
30:30 grace are you be saved now what's he
30:32 saying here he's saying number one God
30:36 is great in love number two God is rich
30:41 in Mercy and number three God is rich in
30:44 Grace did you know that people are not
30:48 saved simply because God loves
30:50 them God loves the whole world and the
30:53 whole world's not saved when God's love
30:58 is translated into grace and mercy through
30:59 through
31:02 Calvary then there's salvation now
31:04 what's the difference I've told you many
31:06 times what the difference
31:10 is Grace means God gives me what I don't
31:14 deserve Mercy means God doesn't give me
31:17 what I do deserve can you remember that
31:19 Grace means God gives me what I don't
31:22 deserve Mercy means God doesn't give me
31:25 what I do deserve now this Parable says
31:28 to me God is great in love when the
31:32 father saw him he had compassion on him
31:35 and he ran to him and he embraced him
31:39 and he kissed him and he talked to
31:41 him I wonder how many fathers would do that
31:48 today this is Calvary love God so loved
31:51 the world you know in the other two
31:53 parables in this chapter the parable of
31:55 the lost sheep the parable of the lost
31:57 coin the shepherd went out to find the Sheep
31:58 Sheep
32:01 sheep the woman went out and found the
32:04 coin but here the father did not go out
32:06 and find the
32:10 son interesting isn't it you see the
32:12 first two Parables show us that God
32:15 searches for Sinners the last Parable
32:18 says Sinners should come to
32:20 God some of our great Evangelical
32:22 churches today are being split right
32:25 down the middle over the old argument
32:28 which nobody has yet settled between
32:31 man's decision and God's election and
32:33 the Lord Jesus kind of put them both
32:34 together in this in these in these
32:36 Parables he said look yes God does go
32:38 out and find the lost sheep sheep didn't
32:40 come back the man went out and found him
32:42 yes the woman does look for the Lost
32:44 coin with the image on it we have the
32:46 image of God and God comes for
32:50 us but lest anybody think it's very
32:53 mechanical he adds this third Parable
32:55 where the father in love just Waits and suffers
33:01 and when the son makes that move
33:04 home the father's there to meet him more than
33:05 than halfway
33:07 halfway nobody
33:08 nobody
33:12 nobody can look up to God and
33:14 say I wasn't saved because you didn't
33:17 save me Mr Moody used to pray Lord save
33:19 the elect and then elect some
33:22 more now that may not be very good
33:24 theology I don't know but the sentiment
33:27 of it I like I have yet to go to a
33:29 Rescue Mission and say to the people now
33:30 if you're one of God's elect listen to
33:32 me I don't know who the elect are only
33:35 God does and so I'm glad I can preach
33:37 the word of God to whosoever Will and
33:39 let God take care of the rest of it the
33:42 father in love met the
33:46 son he's great in love he was rich in
33:48 Mercy now if you read Deuteronomy
33:51 chapter 21 you'll find out what the law
33:53 said he was supposed to
33:57 do Deuteronomy CH 21 says if a man has a
33:59 son who is stubborn and rebellious go
34:01 tell the elders about it take him
34:04 outside the city and stone him to
34:11 law and so when this boy came home the
34:12 father could have taken him outside the
34:14 city and stoned him to death but Mercy
34:18 means God does not give us what we do
34:22 deserve I deserved hell I still
34:26 do but God in his Mercy
34:28 forgave and God is Not not only rich in
34:31 Mercy he's rich in Grace Grace means God
34:32 gives me what I don't deserve what did
34:34 he give to the fellow did you notice
34:35 here that everything he was looking for
34:38 he found back
34:40 home Russell Conwell used to run all
34:42 over the world giving his famous lecture
34:45 which is in print on Acres of diamonds
34:47 he told the same stories over and over
34:49 again about people who went all over
34:50 looking for what they wanted to find
34:53 when they got back home there it
34:56 was that's what happened here this young
34:59 man wanted to have clothes he ended up
35:01 in a dirty old robe in the pig pin when
35:03 he came home he got clothes he wanted
35:06 jewelry when he came home he got a got a
35:09 ring he wanted the best shoes they put
35:11 shoes on his feet he wanted to eat they
35:13 gave him a meal they killed the fatted
35:15 calf he wanted to have parties they gave
35:15 him a
35:18 party now why didn't the father give all
35:20 of this to him before he left home he
35:21 wasn't ready for
35:24 it he wasn't ready for it too bad he had
35:26 to learn the hard way but he learned the
35:28 meaning of Mercy he learned a lesson
35:33 about salvation God is rich in
35:36 Grace God is rich in Mercy and God is
35:38 great in love the boy came home and he
35:40 said look I'll work my way I'll be a
35:43 servant oh but by grace are you saved
35:45 through faith and that not of yourselves
35:46 it's the gift of God not of Works lest
35:48 any man should
35:51 boast and so he put the robe on him and
35:53 the ring on him and the shoes on him and
35:56 the food in him and the joy around him
35:58 and everything he would look looking for
35:59 he found back
36:02 home which says this to me the things
36:04 you are looking for in life you'll never
36:06 find until you come to the
36:09 father God has
36:11 them you'll find
36:14 substitutes but you won't find the
36:17 realities of life until you come to the
36:22 father this young man was um lost this
36:24 my son was lost and he's found
36:28 again this young man was ignorant it
36:30 says he came to himself this young man
36:33 was dead my son was dead he's alive
36:35 again here are the three conditions of
36:37 every unsaved person lost
36:40 lost ignorant
36:42 ignorant
36:45 dead but it says he came to the
36:47 father whenever I read that little
36:50 phrase he came to the father I instantly
36:53 think of John chapter 14 and verse 6
36:56 remember what it says Jesus said I am
36:58 the way the truth and the life no man
37:01 comes to the father but by me if you're
37:03 lost I'm the
37:07 way if you're ignorant I'm the truth if
37:10 you're dead I'm the life you can come
37:14 through me to the father in other words
37:16 it was not a cheap thing for the father
37:18 to forgive his son don't get the idea it
37:22 was a cheap sentimental thing oh no it
37:25 was an expensive thing a costly thing it
37:29 cost the father for this boy to sin and
37:33 it cost the father for this boy to come
37:35 home and it cost the
37:40 father to forgive me it cost him his son Jesus
37:44 Christ well there are some of these
37:47 lessons we cannot learn except by
37:50 experience the first lesson please don't
37:53 learn by experience the second lesson
37:55 please don't learn by experience you can
37:58 learn about Sin from God's word you can
38:00 learn about maturity from God's word
38:02 that third lesson salvation that's
38:04 something you have to
38:06 experience I wonder if anybody here
38:10 tonight will say I will arise and
38:13 go because if you will you'll discover a
38:15 beautiful thing the father's going to
38:16 meet you more than
38:19 halfway and you won't come home to being
38:22 a servant before you even get there
38:24 you'll find his arms around you the
38:27 Embrace of love the kiss of love the
38:30 forg foress of love from your heavenly
38:37 pray thank you Father for giving us in
38:42 the word your truth I pray for any who
38:44 may be here tonight who have never come
38:46 home never come to the father to be
38:48 saved through Jesus
38:50 Christ thank you Father that you are
38:53 great in love you are rich in Mercy you
38:55 are rich in Grace thank you you haven't
38:57 given us what we do deserve you gave to
39:00 Jesus what he didn't deserve oh how he
39:02 suffered for
39:04 us thank you that your grace is free we
39:08 can't earn it we can receive it by faith
39:10 I help I pray father that you'll help
39:13 people here tonight to come and receive
39:15 Jesus Christ and be born into your
39:17 family receive the robe of righteousness
39:20 and the Ring of sunship and the
39:23 spiritual food and begin to be Mary and
39:26 continue to be Mary until they enter
39:29 into the joy of the Lord eternally for
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