Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. While you're
turning there, I'm going to, as I announced last Wednesday,
preach both messages out of this chapter. This is the parable of the prodigal
son. I guess is closely revealing
to my heart as a word of testimony. I can enter into this, and I
know many of you can also. Our blessed Lord taught in parables. In this particular parable, I
pray that God Speak to our hearts. May the Lord speak. May God bless
this Word. I pray that the Lord blesses
this Word today in the calling out of sinners. I pray that the
fruit of His Word might be that sinners are brought to light. Luke chapter 15. I'm going to begin in verse 11
in a moment, but just before our Lord started this parable
of the prodigal son, He spoke of a blessed truth. He first
said it in verse 7, then He repeated it in verse 10. And it was spoken
right at the end of a series, two parables. that he
had revealed, one concerning a lost sheep and the second concerning
a lost coin. But he made this statement in
verse 10. He said, Likewise, I say unto
you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repented. that understands, that thinks
differently, that reconsiders his need of Christ. Now, we'd never know that if
the Lord didn't tell us that. Angels that always behold the
face of the Father, particular angels, assigned according to
Matthew 18.10. You can go back and read that. make all for the sake of time,
but angels in particular that are assigned to God's elect that
always behold the face of the Father. Matthew 18.10. Ministering spirits sent forth
to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." That's
Hebrews 1.14. When Almighty God calls a sinner,
an object of His mercy, out of darkness, grants repentance,
gives them faith to believe, calls them by His grace, Angels
who have been directed to minister to. I looked that up. To serve, to attend to the needs
of, to aid, to wait upon like a waiter at a restaurant. To minister to. finally at the appointed time
of that believer's departure to actually carry them into the
very presence of God. Luke 16.22. These angels rejoice in heaven
when one sinner repents by the grace of God. Well, with this blessed truth
in mind, I'd like for us to consider this son, this prodigal son. Consider the glorious message
of preservation, regeneration, reconciliation, for all that
the Father has everlastingly loved. Verse 11, Luke 15, and
he said a certain man had two sons. Now, I want you to notice
that both were sons. Both of them were sons. Here
we see that all men, all women, belong to Almighty God. Two sons. Certain man. Picturing no doubt
that some are sons according to God's eternal mercy. Some are sons only in creation. But the scripture sets forth,
behold, Ezekiel 18, for all souls are mine. As the soul of the
Father, so also the soul of the Son is mine, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die." All men, all women, belong to Almighty God. Some
are objects of His mercy that He might make known the riches
of His glory. Some are sons in whom He is going
to show His wrath. and His justice because of their
rebellion. But you rest assured, all are
His. And He is going to be glorified
in all men. Now the Son, according to grace,
the younger Son, He exhibited the natural bent of every man
born in Adam. Verses 12 and 13 says, 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, both
of them, his living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country And there wasted his substance with righteous living. Before that younger son was called
out of darkness, and you know the story well enough to know
that he's going to be, before he knew anything of his father's
mercy and compassion, he was in darkness, spiritual darkness. But this is what he asked. He
said, I want the portion of goods that belongs to me. Now, that
portion is an amazing thing. Now, he was the younger of the
two, and you know that the elder, according to the law, always
got everything. But obviously, this parable right
here shows that all men that the Lord has given All men something. There's a portion. All men enjoy the good things
of this world. That sun, we're not looking at
it right now, but I know it's there. I can see it. I can see
it. The rain that falls, food, raiment,
temporal health. He maketh his Son to rise on
the evil and the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust."
Psalm 115-16 says, "...even the heavens are the Lord's, but the
earth hath he given to the children of men." That younger son took all that
he had. And the Scripture says he went
off into a far country. There's Mansfall. Separated from God. The Scripture
says he took it. Righteous living. Wasted. That's substance. This is what
every man in Adam does. Every man, every woman born in
Adam left to themselves in their unbelief. They get up every morning
and they go about their day reaping the benefits of God's earth. That breath of air you just took,
that's God's air. That breakfast you ate this morning,
that's God's food. Those clothes you have on, You
said, I bought those. Almighty God gave you the ability
to buy that. Men walk around and they have
absolutely no regard for God's goodness, for God's mercy. No thoughts of thankfulness.
No thoughts of appreciation. Every man, every woman that's
born in Adam, Not with no knowledge of God. All they're doing is
taking the portion that Almighty God has temporarily allowed them
to have, and they just wasted it. I don't appreciate what you've
done for me. Some might say, well, I've never said that. Yes,
we have in our heart. That's exactly. Man's fall in
the garden left him with total disrespect for Almighty God and
total thoughtlessness for his eternal soul. No thought, no regard for the
penalty of his disobedience. No thought that he's going to
meet God and he has just wasted what Almighty God has graciously
allowed him to have by the grace of God that we even got up this
morning. That we can even think, He has
made us, we are not ourselves. What do I have to glory in? Well, verse 14 says, And when
He had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land,
It began to be and won't. Here is the just penalty of man's
rebellion. This is exactly what man deserves. He's shown no appreciation for
God's goodness, no appreciation for God's mercy, no appreciation
for God's gifts, He'd bankrupt. It's famine. Oh, but in the midst of God's
righteous justice and judgment upon this earth, by the grace
of God, even in wrath, God, for the objects of His mercy, remembers
mercy. Not only do I see the justice
of Almighty God, I see provenient grace. Grace before grace. God's grace before He's ever
called out. Almighty God is merciful because
He's always looked upon the objects of His mercy in His Son. They've
never been under His wrath. You say, well, that's a famine. That's right. And Almighty God,
who is always known where His sheep are because He alone rules
and reigns, it was by predestinating grace that every object of His
mercy was found where they were. He orders their steps, predestinated
their end. Why were you where you were? when God calls you by His grace.
Well, I'm just lucky I didn't. You know that luck doesn't have
anything to do with it. Luck? He who rules and reigns
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth?
No such thing as luck. Almighty God does all things
well. All things work together for
good to them that love God, that know Him, and called out of darkness,
and who are the called according to His purpose. These are my
sons. These are my daughters. And Almighty
God raises up nations and He abases nations He does as He
will in the honoring of His Son and the calling out of His elect.
Oh, that we might be taught that every situation in our life... You know why you're going through
this famine right now? You want to know why you're going
through this trial right now? Well, for you that know Him.
It's for your good. His glory. For those that Almighty God leaves
for Himself, God is preaching, telling you, your rebellion is
not going to go unpunished. Every event in this world is
ordered by God Almighty. God does all things. You say, all things? He worketh
all things. Now, he may use the devil to
accomplish it. But I'm telling you, Almighty
God does all things. He rules. He reigns. And in wisdom beyond our comprehension,
He's going to bring His elect to Himself. doing just exactly
what he wants to do. It was this boy, he done spent
everything he had. And I doubt not that this young
man right here began to feel bad about it. I'm sure he got to thinking about
it. Man, I wasn't very sensitive
to my daddy. He doesn't spend all of his money on riotous living. The latter part of this chapter
right here reveals that his brother says he's just spending it on
harlots. And now he begins to feel bad.
He's in want. His conscience starts bothering
him now. Oh, you know what? I know this. Every man's got a conscience.
Scripture reveals that everybody knows right from wrong. This
boy gets to thinking, I've been wrong. You know what I need to
do? I need to straighten up and fly right. Maybe I need to turn over a new
leaf. I need to get back and do the
right thing. When man gets in trouble, First
thing he thinks of, I need to make change. I need to do better than what I'm doing. I hadn't been very right about
this. But he has no knowledge of true
righteousness. He has no knowledge of true repentance. Why? Because he's dead. He's
dead. Got a conscience. He understands,
but he's blind. He's spiritually blind, spiritually
naked. But he's got to do something.
He's going to do something. Verse 15 says, he went and he
joined himself to a citizen of that country. Now, in context
of this parable, I know this, that we see that man has got
a will, he's got a desire to provide for his own need. I know
that. And that citizen right there,
now remember, there's a famine going on. But here's a citizen
of that country, one that this younger son seems to think can
provide some assistance. in the midst of this famine. He's got a dry emptiness in his
soul. And I need to do the right thing. I'm going to have to quench.
I'm going to have to appease my conscience. I'm going to have
to do better. I need a solution to this thing.
This citizen who could picture anyone that the carnal man might
trust to meet his temporal needs is surely also a representation
of false religion. Why? The cause of what he did. Remember now, our Lord is setting
forth a parable and is teaching these Jews that are listening
to him the truth of him drawing his own back to himself. Lost
sheep, lost corn, prodigal son. This boy needed to straighten
up. I'm going to get in church. I'm
going to do the right thing. And I ain't going to act like
this no more. Went to this citizen. That citizen,
first thing he did, sent him into his fields to feed swine. He gave that young boy a job. You've got to make your own way,
boy. If you're going to have any security, if you want to
live, you're going to have to earn it. You're going to have
to do something. if you're going to have any life.
But look what he was responsible for. And remember, our Lord speaking
to Jews. Now those that considered swine
to be what the law called them, unclean. And this citizen sent
this boy to pasture, to keep that which was unclean. Rejected. And this boy went out there,
and he's feeding those hogs, and I'm telling you, it's mine,
I'm earning my way. I'm doing the right thing. I'm out here feeding these pigs,
and I'm telling you, he was loving it. He was loving it. He was in hog heaven. To him, he could not have been
in a better place. He said, I've never heard it
just like that. This is what he's saying. The Scripture says,
verse 16, he would feign have filled his belly with the husk
that the swine did eat." You know what fain means? Joyfully. He set his heart upon
it. He longed for it. He lusted after
it. He enjoyed the swine food. He enjoyed those husks Do you know what husk are? I looked it up. The pod or the
fruit of the carob tree. You know what carob is? It's
just exactly what you think it is. It's that which we have today
as the healthy substitute for chocolate. The carob, the fruit
of the pod. It's a pod that's like a big
bean and inside it's got a fleshy, sweet, pulpy fruit. And it tastes good. That's got a sweet
taste. And it was used to fatten swine. That's what the purpose of it
was back in this time when our Lord was giving this parable.
And that boy was out there. Here's a perfect picture. Now here's a boy earning his
own way. He's out there feeding swine,
and I'm telling you, these swine are eating the fruit of the carob
tree, a sweet, plumpy husk is what it's called. In my mind,
I always had it like corn shucks. That's what I always thought.
I mean, husk, what is that? When you
look it up, it's the fruit of the carob tree. And those hogs
were just eating it up. And that boy looked at it, and
that's what he wanted. This is good stuff. I'm loving
this. You get a man, a woman, in false
religion. I've been there. Many of you
have. And I'm telling you, that stuff's
good. Why? Because I'm doing it. And I'm worthy. And I'm faithful. And I've done this and I've done
that. I've done many wonderful things. I've cast out devils
in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name. And he was
just hungering and enjoying and feasting on hog food. That young man, to him, it can't
get any better than this. There ain't no way it's going
to get any better than this. Those that trust in themselves,
that they're righteous, that false, gospel, free will, man-centered,
self-righteous lie against God. This is what they say, this is
the best food I've ever had. I love this. This is sweet. False religion is hog food. Wine to food. Everything that
exalts me, draws attention to me. All these crowns that I'm earning.
Man attempts to quiet his conscience with self-righteous performances. Laboring hard, winning souls. Man, you don't have any idea
how many souls I thought that I won. This son feigned. He would feign. He just, oh, I can't get enough
of this. I love this stuff. And no man
gave unto him. In his mind, no man could give to
him. Are you talking to me? Are you telling me that I don't
know it all? Are you telling me that what
I'm doing here is not the right thing? I'm out here working.
I'm out here doing. And this stuff that I'm eating,
I've tasted it. It's good. It tastes good. It's sweet. Here this boy was,
he was spiritually broke. He thought himself rich. This
boy was setting forth the truth of being naked. And he loved
those filthy rags. Check this coat out. You look
what I got on. And verse 17 says, And when he
came to himself, That's an expression that is
used when one is in a state of madness. When a sound mind returns. When old Nicodemus, I couldn't
think of a better scripture, set forth. It was Nicodemus that
got out there on that balcony, looked out over Babylon. He said, Look at this great Babylon that
I built. And while the words were in his
mouth, God took his mind from him. And seven years, that king
that had just done so many things, he went out there and grazed
like an animal. And after seven years, God gave
his mind back. And he said, I stole. And the
army of heaven, he rules. The inhabitants of the earth,
he rules. Nobody. That's what it means to come
to yourself. Scripture doesn't reveal that that young man did
anything to give himself a sound mind. It states that something
happened to him in the time or during the time of his madness. He came to himself. Something
happened in the midst of his rebellion that can only be explained
by sovereign grace. God's mercy. That boy had a mind
now that was different. He came to himself. Paul the
Apostle surely referring to his encounter with the Lord on the
road to Damascus, he said, But when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen immediately,
I conferred not with flesh and blood. Oh, in the day of God's
power, For every object of God's mercy, something happens that
can only be explained as a miracle. He came to himself. O Lord God of heaven, may you
be pleased today to give sinners a new heart. And cause them,
Lord, by your grace, to come to themselves. For Christ's sake,
Amen.