Amen so Luke chapter 15 so we're looking at the story of the famous story of the
prodigal son we're going to go through that this morning and see what we can
learn from this story it's a great story in the Bible and has many applications
to us and to people outside of the the faith of the Christian faith as well
look at Luke chapter 15 let's get right into it and look at what Jesus is
talking about here so Jesus is talking here about he starts out with some
parables and some general examples in Luke chapter 15 to kind of set the tone
for this specific story that we're going to go through so let's just look at
these parables that Jesus is talking about and see what we can come up with
from this look at verse number one it says then drew unto him all the
publicans and sinners for to hear him and the Pharisees inscribed murmured
saying this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them so the whole
problem is is that Jesus is is hanging out with these people that are
considered to be lower you know than the Pharisees of course the Pharisees think
that there are self-righteous and and they need nothing which is the problem
but Jesus kind of starts explaining to them why he's hanging out with and
talking to sinners kind of you know kind of a silly way to describe people
because we're all sinners but this is how he answers the Pharisees and the
scribes and he says in verse three it says he spake this parable unto them
saying so a parable first of all is he's Jesus is giving me an example an analogy
of something this is many people make mistakes with pair of parables that they
apply that to most parables by the way and many stories in the Bible can apply
to both the saved and the unsaved Jesus is trying to explain a very specific you
know a very he's trying to explain a principle here and in verse number four
he gives a parable of sheep he says what man of you having in hundred sheep if he
lose one of them doth not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that
which is lost until he find it find it and when he hath found it he lay it lay
it on layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he cometh home he
called together his friends and neighbors saying unto them rejoice with
me for I have found my sheep which was lost I say unto you that likewise joy
shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety-nine
just persons which need no repentance talking about you know here you know
somebody that's in sin and then gets right in that in that sin versus
somebody that is obviously no one is just he's not talking about someone
that's without sin he's just talking about somebody that is not backslidden
or not in it in this certain sin that this sheep was in either what woman now
he gives an example of a of a coin or a piece of money what woman having ten
pieces of silver if she lose one piece doth not light a candle and sweep the
house and seek diligently till she find it and when she hath found it she call
with her friends and neighbors together saying rejoice with me for I have found
the peace which I had lost likewise I say unto you there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repent this so Jesus is
giving these parables he's giving a very general example about finding something
that was lost and how you know he gives the example with sheep he gives the
example with money over when something is lost and it is found that will bring
joy okay this can be applied these general examples can be applied to both
the saved and the unsaved you can talk about somebody that is saved and goes
out and gets the problem people will have is they'll take this and they'll
apply it to salvation only and they'll look at it and they'll say oh you know
you can be lost or you you could lose your salvation it's it's a general
principle that can be applied to both the saved and the unsaved this is why we
don't get like we get doctrine in the Bible from clear scriptures we don't
use parables to define our doctrine with that the difference is we must take
parables that Jesus is saying and those parables must be interpreted in a way
that fits clear doctrine in the Bible this is how you study the Bible read the
Bible interpret the Bible somebody that's not saying can just take any
parable that Jesus gives and just a misapply it to something and the problem
is it makes it contradict clear scriptures all over the Bible so these
general examples about the money and the sheep they can be applied to the
saved and the unsaved you could talk about a lost sheep being the people that
we go out soloing you know somebody who's you know we're going out we're
looking for a lost sheep we're looking for sheep that are that are looking for
the truth looking for their way home we're doing when we go out soloing so
yeah this could be applied to the unsaved it could also be applied as the
specific story that we're going to look at can be applied to be saved where you
have a saved person that gets backslidden and into sin and of course
they can find their way home and we're gonna look at that very specific example
that Jesus gives but the point is the sheep the coins are general examples to
give general principles okay now Jesus gets into this very specific example
where he tells this story about a father with two sons and this is the famous
story called that people will call you know the story of the prodigal son this
is the the the name that is given to this story well you know just because
prodigal means prodigal the word prodigal means foolish spending or
extravagant spending or somebody that just doesn't wisely use their money like
somebody becomes somebody won the lottery and they were very they
prodigally went out and spent their money you know talking about just
wasteful spending so that's where this story gets its name the prodigal son so
we're going to go through this specific story knowing that the general context
of Jesus with the sheep and the coin and I'll explain those a little bit more
towards the end of the sermon the general story can be applied very easily
to the saved and to the unsaved the very specific example though is more
applicable to the saved because you have to understand that he was already a son
he was a son this this son that we're talking about was literally a son of
this father he was a son of the father and he never didn't he never became not
a son of this father let's look at this story and see what we can apply to our
lives and just to to ourselves and the things that we see around us with this
it's just a wonderful story in the Bible so I'm going to break it down in
different chapters if you will I'm into different parts if you will I'm going to
break down this story where Jesus says and he said a certain man had two sons
so he gives general parables about the sheep about a coin now he's going to
tell a story about a man who had two sons and that's what we're going to
apply so the first part of this story that I want to break down the first
chapter of this story I'm going to call the decision okay the first chapter that
we're going to talk about in this story in Luke chapter 15 is the decision look
at verse number 12 so here we have a man that has two sons that's what we know
and the younger of them said to his father father give me the portion of
goods that falleth to me and he divided unto them his living so you say so this
younger son goes to his father and typically you get your inheritance after
you know your father passes away or whatever you know I guess it's up to the
father but he literally goes to his father and demands or asks for his
inheritance whatever that may be monetarily wise he's like I want to be
paid out right now and his father you know I mean we'll see what he does but
that but this son makes this decision to ask his father for this money right away
you say well why did the son do this okay we're going to find out exactly why
he did it but before we get into the father's reaction and the reasons that
this and what the son does with the money I mean you have to recognize that
people first of all people do stupid things all the time I mean that's the
first thing to recognize people make wrong decisions all the time he simply
thought something better was out there he thought something better was out
there he wanted his money he wanted it for himself people do all this all the
time people trade in their spiritual life for something better all the time
for some opportunity for something that is placed in front of them they you know
maybe there's an opportunity literally this same thing happens to people where
they see an opportunity to get some money right away or some job is put in
front of them or a family member is drawing them away or whatever it is
people make this decision that's chapter one here people make this type of
decision all the time I mean I'm I'm sorry to report that but it happens okay
he thought something better was out there some worldly deception captured
this young man and he wanted the money and he wanted to leave now the more
mature you become as a Christian the less likely you will be deceived by
things like this the more you will realize that I mean that there isn't the
the worldly things that are drawing you away from your spiritual life the more
mature you become as a Christian the less likely you will be to be fooled by
this type of thing that this young man was fooled about you will realize as you
mature as a Christian as you read the Bible as you understand what God wants
from you and what God demands from you in your Christian life you will realize
that the Bible is the only answer the Bible is the only answer for everything
I mean you'll see it in everything from your personal life to the things that
you're seeing in the world today you you the more you understand God's Word the
more you will see this you'll see this in events around the world from all that
you know the the Western world today you'll see that the Bible is the only
answer because what is freedom gotten the Western world it's just led to
freedom and the freedom to go into debauchery basically because why because
it was really the Bible that held it together not any kind of form of
government or not any kind of you know documents that we can put forward as men
it was really the belief and the practice of the Bible that held
everything together I mean you abandon that and that's why it's all coming
apart but again the more you mature as a Christian the less likely you'll be to
fool you will be to be fooled by the trickery of the devil and the the wants
and the desires of this life you know that it's that it's the baby Christian
that thinks every opportunity is of God everything that is put in front of me is
of God that's that's a baby Christian mistake and the more you mature the more
you will realize that that is the case the personal rule of thumb is very
simple if some decision is put in front of you you just measure that up against
your spiritual life is this going to help or hurt my spiritual life and if
it's going to hurt your spiritual life in any way it is not of God it is very
simple that is a very simple rule of thumb yet people still make those kinds
of decisions and that was the case with this younger son it seems he just wanted
some freedom it seems he just wanted to get out from underneath the the yoke of
his father maybe he wanted to get out from underneath you know the rules or
whatever it was but it is very applicable to us today go back to Luke
chapter 15 so that's chapter 1 the decision now let's look at chapter 2
which is the consequences of that decision all right look at verse number
13 it says not many days after the younger son gathered all together and
took his journey into a far country so he gets this this money and into a far
country and they're wasted his substance with riotous living now this can kind of
be still in the in the chapter of the decision but he just he wanted to get
out out from under the standards he wanted to get out from under the rules
the maybe there was a lot of responsibility he had on the farm or
whatever the business was all you know he wanted to get away from the work
whatever he wanted he wanted this money to get out and do what he wanted to do
and what he used his freedom for was to waste everything with riotous living
partying and and harlots and all these things that the Bible talks about here
in a couple of verses so you know the thing that you have to understand is
don't you know people make decisions like this just to go out and just to get
away from all these things that are put in place to help and protect them and
that's what this young man wanted I mean people I mean maybe I mean people are so
offended by standards you know the Bible puts forth a lot of standards and a lot
of people are personally offended by those standards and here's what really
shocked me when I started implementing biblical standards in my family's life
many years ago many other people are gonna be offended by your standards
which I was just like why does anyone care why I do what I do with my family
but people are gonna be offended by even your standards I mean I was just like
huh what makes people think that they have control over what I do with my
family yet people do so standards rules biblical Commandments they offend people
people love look people love their riotous living so much that they will
literally be offended if you leave it people love their people love their
parties so much people love their alcohol so much people love just their
their movies their entertainment whatever they're into so much that even
if you leave it behind many people will be offended so here we see that's what
this son is doing he's throwing off all of this he's throwing off all of these
standards he's just going and doing what he wants to do look at verse number 14
look at verse number 14 the Bible says and when he had how did this go it says
when he had spent all that doesn't tell you how long it took him to spend all
but it says when he had spent all there arose a mighty famine in that land and
he began to be in want with verse 15 and he went and joined himself to a citizen
of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine so he starts he
goes and he he starts living on his buddy's couch here so he's he goes and
he joins himself up with maybe it was a friend or somebody he knew and this
person you know gives him a job and verse 16 and says he would have feigned
have filled his belly meaning he would have loved or wanted to fill his belly
with the husk that the swine did eat he got in such a place where he was looking
at what the pigs were eating and saying boy that looks good but it says no man
gave unto him I love this country that he's in you see and that's important to
understand it's such an important point here that happens to this young man we
see the decision that he made and what is chapter 2 chapter 2 is the
consequences of that decision and this country whatever this was doing there's
a lot of wicked things that he was into and a lot of bad sinning that he was
doing here but whatever you could say about this country this culture this
nation that he was in it allowed consequences to happen to him and that's
the problem today is that we have removed consequences from people look at
verse 17 and when he came to himself he said how many hired servants of my
fathers have bread enough to spare and I perish with hunger he's starving to
death he's starving he's starving to death to the point where he's looking at
at pigs eat disgusting anything I remember feeding the pigs I we still
love feeding the pigs at my grandpa's place like we'd go there because those
pigs they would just eat anything all the scraps and the junk they would just
just eat anything and it was just disgusting but it was so fun to watch as
a kid this this kid here is saying I wish I could eat that slop the slop
bucket that's what my grandma called it the little slop bucket you just take
everything after dinner and just put it in the slop bucket it's just all this
slop and disgusting I mean you would look at the slop bucket like half-eaten
food from people it's disgusting and the pigs they just stick their face in it
we still love taking the slop bucket out and just throwing it to all the pigs the
pigs would be fighting each other and tackling each other and just rolling in
the mud all the slop would go down in the mud it'd be disgusting the pig just
stick their their snouts in the mud and eat slop it's like bleh this kid is
looking at that he's like I wish I could have some slop he's like I want to eat
slop but the point is is that he was so hungry that he was so in want at this
point that that's where he got to be turn to a second Thessalonians chapter
three turn to second Thessalonians chapter three what there was
consequences is what I'm trying to get you to understand this morning he's
starving in today's America see this is a problem there's no consequences today
there's a there's a housing project that I drive by every now and then it's a
it's like a government housing thing in Clovis and it's made the news and all
kinds of stuff because like the police are just at this this project or this
housing complex all the time it's like this big apartment complex it actually
looks really nice it's brand new it's just built and I drive by it I just
drove by it yesterday and it's made the papers and the news because the police
are just there all the time and I don't know if like people get I don't know how
that works if they get to live there free people or how that works but it's
some kind of subsidized housing that's all I know see the problem is this the
problem is this I drive by that place yesterday and I'm driving by that place
and literally I saw people getting out of their cars and they're like getting
out of this brand-new Cadillac I'm driving by this place and I'm like these
people that live in this this like free housing or whatever it is they're
driving cars that are worth like ten times more than the car I'm in right
now well how is this possible it's possible because we have made sure that
there are no consequences for sin today there's no consequences for not working
today this would not happen to somebody in America today what does the Bible say
look at 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 in verse number 10 the Bible says for even
when we were with you this we commanded you that if any would not work neither
should he eat look this was supposed to happen to this young man because this is
consequences this is the consequences of wasting something that was given to you
wasting the living that your father provided for you this is super important
that we teach this to our kids I don't care what this country does I don't care
what stupid roads this country goes down in the future but our children need to
understand that there are consequences for action this is why people think oh
spanking in the Bible spanking in the Bible and why the Bible teaches that you
know if you don't spank your children you hate your son yeah it's about
getting your kids to obey you it's about getting your kids to not take things
without asking and not lie and not you know disobey their parents which is true
which is all true but the most important thing that spanking young children
teaches is it teaches them that there are consequences to sin in their life
God forbid the child that grows up and doesn't think that there are
consequences because here's the problem you say why not remove consequences from
people you say why be mean you know why not remove consequences from people
because consequences in life here's why because consequences in life are real
whether we want them to be real or not so the child that is raised to do
whatever he wants and he's protected by his parents in every single situation
from the time he's two to the time he's 18 that believes that there's no
consequences to anything what he's going to run into a world where there are
actual consequences because there's consequences to crime there's
consequences to sin like I don't know prison I don't know death these things
consequences to sin even though a society may try to cover consequences
for somebody that doesn't work cover consequences for somebody that gets in
to sin those consequences ultimately are very real a society that covers
consequences for anybody is not doing any for any favors a society that is
covering consequences of not working to somebody is destroying that person it's
like that society hates them just like a father that wouldn't discipline his son
hates his son the Bible says it's the same thing because consequences are like
gravity you don't have to believe in the Bible for it to be true consequence
someone is going to teach your child that consequences are real in this life
it might as well be you when they're two when they're three when they're seven
when they're ten and then they'll know that and they'll be very successful in
this life they'll stay away from these things that they know have consequences
so we're not doing anybody any favors by taking away these consequences but look
this story clearly shows that sin has consequences whether you believe it or
not it's real it's like a it's like a law of the universe it's like as sure
as I can as sure as I drop this pin it's gonna fall to the floor consequences are
real and you will suffer consequences if you get into these types of things if
you get into sin here's another thing I want to point out about this specific
example about this son notice how his dad didn't go looking for him notice
how the father didn't chase after this son but this is a specific example the
sheep was a general example this is a specific example he was that this son
was a sheep that willingly got lost he willingly left he willingly got deceived
he must get to that point on his own where he realizes that there's
consequences look if his dad would have kept sending money if his dad would have
kept visiting him and kept helping him out and kept you know putting him up in
an apartment or wherever he was he never would have gotten to this point where he
literally wanted to eat the slop that the pigs were eating and look this
applies to kids as they get older look children as they get older and they
become young adults need to learn this they need to learn this look we as
parents of young adults and I know that many people in our church have young
children but when your children become young adults parents need to realize
that they need to be careful what they are supporting they need to be careful
that they are not supporting a child that a child that has turned away in his
backslidden they need to make sure that they are not supporting that or they
will never come home they will never get to the point that this son got to a
common example a common example of this is especially for boys I'm going to pick
on the boys here a common example of this is a child a young man that will
not go to work a young man that is living at home and just will not grow up
become a man is beyond 17 18 years old 19 years old he's he's not interested in
going out and not interested in making a living parents shouldn't just
perpetually provide an environment where they don't have to yet that's what
happens this is why you see children living at home boys young men living at
home into their mid 20s 30s it's a common thing why though they're never
getting hungry why would I work why would it work I'm living off this guy
why would I get out of this sin that I'm in why would I stop being slothful and
why would I even grow up why would I grow up and then you have parents that
just lament oh you know and my you just I hear it all the time parents lamenting
that you know well he just won't get out of the house and he won't do anything
and he won't go make a living and they would love for him to make a living and
go get married and and all these things but they're supporting it this father
didn't do that this father here he he let him go as a matter of fact he
thought he was probably dead is what he literally says in just a few verses so
he never supported the sin that his son was in and that is a super important
point that we need to understand as our kids grow up and God forbid our kids go
into sin you know we obviously would like for that to never happen but if it
does and someone has a child that is in sin in fornication in all these things
we should have nothing to do with anything that could possibly support it
because you need them to get to the point where they want to eat the slop
that the pigs are eating chapter 3 look at verse 18 chapter 3 you say why that
would be so hard for me that would be so hard for me to watch my son eating slop
out of a muddy hole with a bunch of pigs that would be really hard for me and I'm
sure moms are just like their hearts are breaking even thinking about that but
it's necessary you say why look at verse 18 because chapter 3 is the return or
you call it in parentheses the fruit of consequences consequences as fruit
consequences bears fruit look at verse 18 here's the fruit of the consequences
that were allowed to happen to this young man I will rise this is the young
man speaking I will rise and go to my father and say unto him father I have
sinned against heaven and before thee look he recognizes he sinned against God
and his father and I am no more worthy to be called thy son make me as one of
thy hired servants make me as one of thy hired servants with no consequences this
point of repentance right here was repentance mean a change of mind what he
changed his mind about wanting to go out and live that lifestyle he realizes the
consequences of that and he gets to a point of just complete and total
repentance without consequences that fruit will never come it was the
consequences that drove him there and his father knew this chapter 4 the
fatted calf now look at this look at verse number 20 so consequences are
necessary he made a bad decision this is going to happen there must be
consequences to bad decisions make sure you are not standing in front of God's
judgment upon someone make sure you are not standing in front of God's
chastisement on someone's life this applies to friends this applies to
family this applies to your own children as we're seeing in this story look at
verse 20 chapter 4 the fatted calf and he arose and came to his father and yet
when he was a great and when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and
had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him and the son said
unto him father I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and I am no more
worthy to be called thy son but thy father said to his servants bring forth
the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet
and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry a
lot of people gonna be surprised by this reaction but the father you know what
the father recognized here the father recognized the truly repentant state of
his son when his son says I'm not even worthy to be called your son you know I
have sinned against God have sinned against you and his father is happy that
his son is back in that state look at verse 24 so he says go get that the best
we have he puts his robe on him clothes him get the best food that we have he
says we'll get the best beef that we have and let's have a celebration that
my son is alive look what he says he says for this my son was dead and is
alive again he was lost it is found and they began to be married so here he
wants to celebrate the fact that his son is back it says here I mean this
isn't about salvation this is the kid never stopped being his son he thought
his son was dead he thought to him he's like he didn't know where he was it's
possible that he was physically dead he's now I know he's alive he was lost
he's found but he spiritually he was spiritually in a bad place and now he is
spiritually back where he should be and they began to be married he's
celebrating his son's life and his son's repentance here it doesn't but but look
now the other son gets a little offended in verse 25 it doesn't mean that he's
going to be right back where he was when he left though and that's what this
older son needed to be needed to have explained to him look at verse 25 it
says now his elder son was in the field and came and drew an eye to the house
and heard music and dancing and he called one of his servants and asked
what these things meant and he said unto him thy brother is coming thy father
had killed the fatted calf because they had received him safe and sound and look
at how the older son and again this is understandable the older son is upset
the older son who never did these stupid things who just was loyal and did what
he was supposed to do and did what God wanted him to do and was just obedient
to his father he was angry and would not go in therefore came his father out and
treated him his father came out and and begged him to come in and wanted to
explain to him and answering say and he answering said to his father lo these
many years do I serve thee so this implies that this this son was gone for
a while neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment yet thou never gave
us me a kid that I might make merry with my friends so this son says to his
father the older son says I've done nothing wrong I've only done what you've
wanted I've been obedient to you you've never given you've never allowed me to
even slaughter a goat and have a celebration or a party with my friends
but then then he says but as soon as this thy son was come which had devoured
thy living with harlots thou has killed for him the fatted calf he's like you
haven't even given me this older son you didn't give me a the lowest part piece
of livestock yet this son that disobeyed you and didn't serve you and wasted all
you I mean think about it he wasted the inheritance that his father built over a
lifetime and he wasted a portion of that and he says you kill for him the fatted
calf but he's under a misunderstanding here and his father explains this in the
next verse and he's saying to him son thou art ever with me and all that I
have is thine so his son his father says his father says to him says no it's not
that I wouldn't give you a kid he's like everything is yours the whole the whole
farm is yours what are you talking about he's like all that I have is yours this
son took a portion and blew it all he has nothing all that I have is yours
though it was meat that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother
was dead and is alive again was lost and is found he says to the son that stayed
he says you know you owe everything he owns nothing we're just celebrating the
fact that he's not dead that he didn't you know that he's not lost anymore
and look he met it doesn't mean he has the trust of his father it doesn't mean
his father's gonna put him in charge of the farm instead the father says all
that I have not just this fatted calf all the calves are yours your inheritance
is all so he kind of explains to the Sun and look I can understand how that Sun
felt that way and maybe maybe as fathers or as leaders we should tell the people
that you know don't go astray and don't get lost maybe we should tell them more
often that hey you know everything is yours I appreciate you it's just they're
celebrating the fact that this kid was not dead it didn't mean he was going to
be the manager of the farm or that he suddenly has all the trust of his father
or as a matter of fact anybody at this point all right let me give you some
overall thoughts so why did Jesus tell this story I mean aside from the the
four chapters that we looked at what else can we learn and and Jesus is
really pointing out at the beginning before he even tells this story at the
beginning of the chapter with the sheep and with the coins he's really pointing
out the importance of just one lost person you know that that's applicable
applicable to unsaved people just pointing out you know how important it
is that just one person would come to the knowledge of the truth just one
person would get saved I think many times as as believers as Christians as
soul winners we really kind of dismiss that as you as you go out solely you
know week after week year after year and maybe some days people get saved
maybe some days they don't we really need to recognize this very first point
of Luke chapter 15 where just even one soul even just one soul if we can get
one soul saved with our life that is good the importance of one person's like
think about though it's one person's eternity don't ever take for granted the
fact that when you go out soul winning and you know somebody gets the gospel
and they accept the Lord Jesus Christ don't ever take that for granted because
just one person Jesus is saying you know getting saved is a huge deal it's a huge
thing the second point is this go to Hebrews chapter 12 and look at verse
number 7 look at Hebrews chapter 12 in verse number 7 that you know another
overall point and I've kind of made this already about this story is that he was
always a son whether he was gone and in sin and away from his father he was
always a son Hebrews chapter 12 in verse number it's it's basically a
demonstration of Hebrews chapter 12 in verse number 7 in verse number 8 where
the Bible says if you endure chastening God dealeth with you as sons his father
allowed him to endure chastening for what son is he whom the father chastened
but not but if he'd be without chastisement wherefore all are
partakers then he are bastards and not sons he was always a son and this father
allowed him to go through the chastisement he didn't try to save him
from that the third point that I want to close on tonight is this this kid messed
up bad I mean if you think about just the logistics of what he did he
literally first of all he had the nerve to go to his dad and say can I have my
inheritance right now I mean I can't imagine somebody having the nerve to do
that to go and hey can you write me I think you're worth about this much can
you write me a check right now for about what one-third or whatever it is that he
thought that he should inherit and then he goes out and he blows all that
inheritance on on just waste he just wasted all on sinful living I mean he
blew the whole thing I mean that's a sermon in itself but that's a bad sin
but the the main point that we should take away from this is that you can
always come home you can always come home turn to Joel chapter 2 and we'll
wrap it up right here I mean he wasted something that his father worked his
whole life for turn to Joel chapter 2 look this story really what this story
shows us is the infinite or the everlasting mercy of God look at Joel
chapter 2 but again that's up to us that's up to you know the the heart that
we have at that time whether or not we will reach that point where God allows
that mercy to happen this is what we talked about on Wednesday night God can
repent God can change his mind from wrath to mercy from chastisement to
reconciliation look at Joel chapter 2 and verse number 12 if look at this
therefore also now sayeth the Lord turn ye even to me you know turn ye what does
that mean that means repent that means change your mind from whatever you're
doing over here and turn to me turn back to me with all your what with all
your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning now this is
really interesting in verse number 13 he says and rend your heart and not your
garments what does that mean he's saying you need to be repentant you need to be
sorrowful where you need to be sorrowful in your heart means meaning it
needs to be genuine talking about not not he's like rend your heart meaning
you should you should be sorrowful in your heart and not your garments what
what does that mean that means God doesn't care about some outward show
that you're sorry if it's not in your heart God wants your heart to be it he
says and turn to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to
anger and of great kindness and repenteth him repenteth him that's God
repenting again of the evil saying if you rend your heart not your garments
it's your it's actually from your heart God will give you mercy that's what this
this chapter this verse is saying go back to verse number 21 of Luke chapter
15 he's saying you need to have a godly sorrow you need to really mean it you
really need to get to the point where you're like I am nothing look at this
kid he says and his son said unto him father I've sinned against heaven and in
thy sight and I am no more worthy to be called thy son his son is saying I'm
nothing I deserve nothing that's where he needed to be not this fake sorrow of
words you know what you can fake sorrow to men that's what Joel chapter 2 is is
kind is explaining you can fake sorrow to men you can trick men you can rend
your garments you can act like you're sorry you can come and say you're sorry
you can you can put on all the waterworks you want and you cannot feel
it in your heart I mean look if you're if you're a really good actor you could
probably just like feign sorrow and have men believe you but here's the thing and
then you hope you know here's how you tell if somebody is feigning sorrow or
not when the punishment comes if all sudden they're not as sorry anymore if
somebody's feigning sorrow and they're just rending their clothes and then they
realize hey here's the consequences son you're not going to be in charge anymore
you're not going to be the leader of that part of the farm that you were
before you're actually gonna go because we don't know what the father did you're
actually gonna go work with the servants you're actually gonna start out at the
lowest level of the servants and then the son would have been like well yeah I
don't think I deserve that he wasn't sorrowful in his heart but a truly
sorrowful person and I believe that this son was there a truly sorrowful and
truly repentant person that rendered their heart would be like whatever I'm
just glad that I'm here I'm glad that I'm here and I'm glad I'm not eating pig
slop whatever you think is worthy whatever you think that I deserve for
what I did that I will accept that is how you know godly sorrow has taken
place not just this fake sorrow that's just trying to get out of consequences
and that's what some people will do but the thing is it's silly to do that
because the chase the chastisement is coming from God and the true mercy is
gonna come from God and God looks on the heart so God will see true sorrow God
will see you know a true rending of the heart you can't fool you can't fool God
you can't fool the Lord he looks on the heart of men well I can't see your heart
I can only see your heart through your works as James chapter 2 says but it
would make no sense to feign sorrow but the point of the whole story if I had to
wrap it up in one point is that you can always come home no matter what kind of
bad decisions that you've made you can always come home and don't if you're if
you're one that never left and and somebody does come home and and the
father is happy and the father sets a celebration forth don't feel like that
father doesn't appreciate you because you didn't go into all those sins it's
just that heaven itself will rejoice after one person is lost and is found
even if 99 weren't lost so this is a great application for saved people in
this specific story and and I mean there's people that I can think of in my
life who I just I can just imagine coming home someday that have gotten
lost that have lost their spiritual way that I can imagine coming home and look
I'm gonna be very happy if and when that day happens but that does not mean that
I don't appreciate the people that never got lost in the first place it's a great
story for us it's a great story for our kids it's a great story to teach your
children about just consequences of sin it's got so many great applications this
is one that should be that I can't believe I've never preached on it before
this is a great homeschooling story for moms to go through with their children
and this is why we chastise you this is why we you know you get in trouble we're
trying to teach you that sin has consequences so you don't end up like
this young man where you are literally rolling around and hoping that you can
eat what the pigs have left over consequences are real but even after
that God's mercy is everlasting it's such a great story with so many
applications let's bow our heads and have a word