As the Lord graciously helps
me, I turn your prayerful attention to the Gospel according to Saint
Luke, chapter 15, and reading for a text, verse 22. But as the Lord helps, I'd like
to go through this precious parable of the lost son, the prodigal
son. Luke 15, and taking verse 22,
as our text, but the father said to his servants, bring forth
the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and
shoes on his feet. This chapter begins with the
Lord Jesus, the Lord of life and glory being criticised. He
was criticised by many. The scribes and the Pharisees
constantly seeking to get at him. It wasn't easy for him.
But they come up with a point which they meant in hatred to
Christ and yet sinners, the Lord's people down through the ages,
has been a glorious truth. This man receiveth sinners and
eateth with them. The Pharisees had a problem with
this. They were trying to criticize Jesus because of this. But beloved
friends, tonight, surely it's a great blessing for each one
of us that this is true. This man, the Lord Jesus, receiveth
sinners and eateth with them. They couldn't understand the
heart of God, the heart of God which was for reconciliation.
They were constantly thinking that they were pleasing God by
their own works, like the one I spoke of this morning who came
to the marriage thinking that his own garments were good enough. But you see, the Lord Jesus is
showing that I came to call not the righteous, but sinners to
repentance. And in this parable of the prodigal
son, we have such a picture of the heart of the Lord Jesus and
the heart of the Father. You see, sometimes perhaps we
think it's the love of the Lord Jesus, but it is, but it's also
the love of the Father, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All three persons are involved actively in the salvation of
the Church. If we look at this account, it
begins in verse 11. And he said, A certain man had
two sons. And the younger of them said
to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth
to me. And he divided unto them his
living. So this son, before the son had
died, Before the father had died, normally you split the inheritance,
isn't it, at the death? But no, he didn't want to wait
for the death of his father. He wanted his portion in this
life now. And he wanted to use it in ways
that his father didn't want him to. He wanted to use it for,
as we read on, for riotous living. And you see there was this one,
this wayward son, this one who no doubt gave great grief to
his father as he wanted to go his own way. He didn't want the
restriction of his father's house. He didn't want his father's rules.
He didn't want his father's care. He wanted to go it alone. He
wanted to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And that's
all the pleasures of sin ever are, is for a season. And that season didn't last long
before it came to an end. And then he came in want. So in verse 13 we read, and not
many days after, the younger son gathered all together. All
that his father had given him, all that his father had kindly
given him, took. in his journey into a far country. And you think of this in the
setting of the Lord Jesus, the Jews lived in Israel and there
was that place of blessing, of worship there amongst the people
of God, but clearly he went a far country, away from the things
of God, away from the worship of God, away from the temple.
Didn't want those things, wanted the portion of this life. Took his journey into a far country,
and there wasted his substance with riotous living in the margin. For riotous it says reckless
or loose living. Reckless. Empty. You see, and
it's said today that this is where pleasure is to be found.
To just do your own thing and to live life to the full. One
life, live it. It's one of the Land Rover slogans. But it's empty. went into a far country,
there wasted his substance with riotous living. What a sadness
it must have been to the father. But it's clear from this parable
that the father's heart had not forgotten about this son. He'd
not forgotten about this wayward one. We have a hymn, doesn't it? Hymn
76. There is a period known to God
when all his sheep, redeemed by blood, shall leave the hateful
ways of sin, turn to the fold, and enter in at peace with hell,
with God at war. This describes this prodigal
son at this time. In sin's dark maze they wander
far, indulge their lusts, and still go on as far from God. A sheep can run. He went into
a far country. He didn't want to be anywhere
near his father. He didn't want him to know what he was getting
up to. He wanted to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Then we come to verse 14. And when he had spent all. And
how quickly you see the pleasures of sin are but for a season.
They're soon coming to an end. And then there is a day of judgment.
There is a reckoning. And when he had spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in the land. Often famine is associated
with the judgments of God, isn't it? A famine in the land. And this one who had had so much
money to spend on his riotous living, now he'd come to want,
and now the place that he was living in had come into famine. There was no place of plenty
now. He'd lost all the pleasures, it seems, his friends that he'd
spent so much money on and with, now they were nowhere to be seen. You see, Satan is no real friend. You might think, ah, but Satan's
got so many things for me to enjoy. Satan is ultimately not
your friend. His intention is to bring you
into eternal destruction with him in hell forever. I don't
really call that a good friend. He wants you to be in eternal
misery where he will be, in that lake that burneth forever and
ever. He's not worth serving. He's not worth our time. He's
not worth our allegiance. He's not worth our love. He doesn't
deserve it. And when he'd spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in the land and he began to be in want. he hadn't the basic necessities
of life. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields
to feed swine. And if you think of this in the
setting of Israel, swine were considered to be, or pigs were
considered to be, dirty creatures and make you ceremonially unclean.
This was pretty much the worst thing in their background, of
feeding pigs. That was the ultimate dead-end
job, as it were, of going as far from God as sheep can run. And we read that he went to feed
these swine and he would fain have filled his belly with their
husks. So he actually desired to eat the pigs' food. That's
how low he got, you see, and that's how low sin will bring
us. Sin will bring us, sin will ruin
us. It always ruins. You see, we
have perhaps some that seem to sin and get away with it, but
ultimately their getting away with it is temporal. Ultimately,
sin will always catch up with us. The wages of sin is death. And this man found it in this
parable. And no man gave unto him. So
he was hungry. He was ruined. He was penniless. He was friendless. And then he
started to consider where all this bright idea of leaving his
father's house and going and having his fling in this life
had brought him. He started to consider his ways.
He started to think. something about what it was like
living back in the father's house. What was it like? And when he came to himself he
said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare and I perish with hunger. He starts to consider
where it's got him and what a blessing it is when we come to ourselves
and when each one of us need to come to this place. You see,
perhaps this is a picture of one that outwardly departs from
the things of God. But not all God's people do that. Not all people who come to embrace
Christ have a pathway outwardly like the prodigal son. But I
believe inside they do. I believe all of us need to realise
that we, by nature, are far off from God. and we walk in pride,
and we desire not the knowledge of his ways. We may go along
with external things that look like they're Christian, but we
all need to come to that place where we realise that serving
sin, doing our own thing, being masters of our own destiny, ultimately
is no way forward. And when he came to himself,
He said, how many hired servants of my father have bread and despair
and I perish with hunger. A sober assessment of the true
situation. And that's just what the world
don't want you to have. Satan doesn't want you to think soberly.
He'll rush you on, rush you on. They say the way down to hell. It's like it is in some of these
castles. In some of these castles, they have these winding staircases.
So you can only see about five steps in front of you. You can't
see the bottom. You can only see five steps below
you. And round and round and round and round you go. But eventually
you reach the dungeon. And that's what it's like, you
see, following Satan. He doesn't show you the dungeon
at the bottom. He just shows you the five steps in front and
encourages you to go down and down and down. But you see, this
man, by the grace of God, you see, in this parable, he started
to think, he started to consider, he started to analyse, where
has my sin brought me? Where has this rebellion against
God brought me? Has it really brought me into
true happiness? Has it brought me into plenty?
No, it's brought me into emptiness, it's brought me into poverty.
And you see, to chase the vanities of this life, and to live a life
to self, is ultimately an unfulfilled life. Happiness, thou lovely
name. Where's thy seat, O tell me there?
Where? Learning, pleasure, wealth, and
fame. All cry out, it is not here.
You may chase them all. Or each one of us perhaps are
more likely to chase one than the other. We all have our different
preferences. But they all cry out, it is not
here. So where is it to be found? When
he came to himself, he considered these things. And then we have
in verse 18, something of that repentance. He makes this resolution,
I will arise and go to my father. Go to your father, the one that
you've offended, the one that you've taken your portion of
his goods and spent it on riotous living. I will arise and go to
my father. This man in the parable had an
apprehension of the goodness of the father. Surely, you see,
if you think of There are cases of those in the Bible, of those
who've repented, like Judas. He realized he'd done wrong.
He realized that he'd sold his master for these 30 pieces of
silver. He realized that it was the wrong
thing to do. But he never realized that God
was a God of mercy. So he realized he was wrong.
But he had no apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. No
apprehension of it. This man did. He had no idea
when he said he would go back to his father what sort of welcome
he would receive. No, he had no idea of that. But
he did have an apprehension that his father was merciful. I will arise and go to my father. You see, and this is another
trick of Satan. Either Satan will keep you from
ever having sober thoughts and ever really analysing the situation
and realising that following him and the dictates of this
world is not really bringing you happiness. First of all,
Satan wants to stop you doing that. And if he hasn't succeeded
in doing that, what he'll then say is, But you can't go back. You're too bad. You've sinned
too badly. You've grieved the Father too
much. He'll never look upon you with mercy. See, then he tries
to twist the character of God. But God is one that delighteth
in mercy. I will arise and go to my Father. There's a resolution.
There's a repentance. And I will say unto him, Father,
I have sinned. No beating about the bush. He
says it as it is. I have sinned. I've despised your kindness.
I've despised your love. I've despised your law. I've
despised your ways. Father, I have sinned. And you see, when we choose our
own way rather than God's way, we're despising God. We're sinning
against him. Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before thee. You see, involves heaven as well
as his father, the two. And you see, David, when he sinned,
with Bathsheba against thee, thee only have I sinned. He realized,
though he had sinned against other human beings, most certainly,
but he ultimately felt his greatest sin was against breaking God's
law, God's standard of righteousness. I have sinned against thee, against
heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. He had decided that this was
what he was going to say. He had his speech, as it were, written
down as to what he was going to say when he got to his father. He made this resolution and importantly
he didn't just make this resolution, he went ahead and did it. He
put it into practice and you see you have some people in great
trouble and they think I really ought to go back to, I really
ought to ask for forgiveness, I really ought to pray to God
for mercy, but that's as far as they get. No, he was one that
thought it and then put it into action, actioned it. and am no
more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired
servants.' He didn't want now to be a son, he didn't think
that was possible, just to be in his father's house, just as
a servant. He was content with that. He
realised that that would be far better than being back in this
far off land feeding the pigs. And he arose and came to his
father. So there we have the return of
the prodigal. The turning back. He saw the
errors of his ways. He's written his speech as to
what he's going to say to his father. You'll notice he never
quite finished his speech. The father didn't let him finish.
The father interrupted so much with the text that we've named.
He didn't get to the end of his speech before His father interrupted
him and said those words of such kindness and blessing. And in
verse 20, arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a
great way off, his father saw him and had compassion on him. Here we see the heart of God. He was looking for this one.
He didn't grudgingly give him forgiveness, did he? There was
a desire, there was a longing, there was a desiring that this
wayward one would return, this one that had slighted his authority
and wasted his money and ruined his reputation. But you see the father was willing
to receive him back. No, not just willing, he delighted
in it. We have a picture so much of
restoration and so much as I see the picture of the gospel is
a picture of reconciliation, bringing back that's lost and
ruined in the fall, bringing it back and blessing. But when he was yet a great way
off, his father saw him. So clearly his father was looking
out for him. And you see, you think of that
hymn, glory to God, they ne'er shall roam beyond the limits
of his love. Fenced with Jehovah's shells
and wheels, firm as the everlasting hills, the appointed time rolls
on apace, not to propose, but called by grace to change the
heart, renew the will, and turn the feet to Zion's hill. This man, this prodigal, was
gonna return. And what a blessing it is. You see, we don't need to go
out and commit some great sin to need to return to God. We all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We all need forgiveness. We all,
by nature, walk in pride. We all, by nature, want to do
our own way. You see, Isaiah describes it,
all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And that will be different for
each one of us, but it's still our way, not his. And you see,
we need to be brought to embrace the Father's way, the Father's
will, to be submissive to his will, to embrace that which he
would have us to do, to be truly servants of the living God. So he says, And he arose, verse
20, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him,
had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. What love he received from his
father. I'm sure it was completely outweighed, whatever he expected.
And you see, this is put on record for our encouragement,
that we're to come back to God. It was sadly, solemnly. You see, Judas went out and hanged himself.
But Peter, you see, came to find that God was gracious. He came
and wept bitterly with true repentance, and Jesus had that personal private
meeting with Peter that we don't read about, but we read that
it happened. And you see he was restored and put into that apostleship
and used at Pentecost and how the Lord is able to restore.
So we're to come with our sins and our shortcomings and not
run from God, but run back to God and seek forgiveness. I have sinned, he says. So the
father had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed
him. And the son said unto him, father, I have sinned." What
music that must have been to the father's ear, to hear that
confession, this one that had hurt him so deeply, the one that
had been so wayward, so unkind, so despising his father's counsel. I have sinned against heaven
and in thy sight. and am no more worthy to be called
thy son. He never got to the rest of it.
He decided, make me one of thy hired servants. He never got
that far. You see, the father interrupted him, but the father
said to his servants, bring forth the best robe. This was a time
of rejoicing. And you see, we read and we've
read earlier of the parable of the lost coin. We read this,
likewise I sound to you there is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. And you see there
was joy. There was true joy and there
should be joy as we see those come from time to time that have
come back from the dark paths of sin. They've seen the folly
of their ways. They've returned and sought to
obtain mercy from God. And this is what we desire, each
one of you, that you may each know that forgiveness. You each
know that you need to personally know this. But the Father said to his servants,
bring forth the best robe. We spoke this morning of what
that robe is for the people of God. prodigal son that was no doubt
in stinky clothing. He'd just been feeding pigs and
pigs are not particularly good smelling. There's a tremendous
stench that comes with them generally. And you see, but he was to bring
forth the best robe. All his rags and all his filthiness
was to be covered with a robe, this best robe, the robe of Christ's
righteousness to be put on him and put a ring on his hand. You
see a ring denotes that love and that importance. A ring shows
love, doesn't it? We give that in marriage, a ring
to one another, to show our unending love. That's what it's meant
to represent. As a ring has no beginning and no end, so there
is in true marriage to be that love which has no end. to continue
till death, us do part, put a ring on his hand. And then we read,
shoes on his feet. So he was to have shoes, he was
obviously barefooted, he'd come all that way. And we think of
when it says shoes on his feet, we read in Ephesians 6 verse
15, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of
Peace. You see, this son was going to
return and he was going to now be one that laboured for others. He was going to be one that had
those shoes, as described there, that your
feet shod, clothed with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. And you
see, if we are going to come back We've got a message to bring,
haven't we? We've got something to say. We've
got others to tell. Come and hear, all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. This
to be the preparation of the gospel of peace. We are to preach,
we are to speak to others what the Lord has done. Shoes on his
feet. But that wasn't all. And bring
hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. So there was a real rejoicing.
because this father had seen his prodigal son returned. And he was to embrace that one.
And this is such a picture, you see, of all we like sheep have
gone astray, all we, we've gone, everyone to his own way, thinking
that we will find our own way of happiness, making our own
little kingdom of our own glory. And it's a wonderful thing if
the Lord smashes that kingdom in our own estimation, so that
we come to realise that all our righteousnesses, all our little
kingdoms here below, are not what we should be living for,
but we should be living unto him. Bring hither the fatted calf
and kill it and eat and be merry. So the idea of a banquet, the
idea of a feast, So often the marriage isn't it a great feast,
a great luxury, a great banquet. He brought me into the banqueting
house and his banner over me was love, we read. This is the
language of celebration, of rejoicing. And this is what he says, for
this my son was dead. You see, this is similar to the
language in Ephesians 2. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. And listen to this, among whom
also we all not just outward prodigals, ones that particularly
run away from the family perhaps, among whom also we all had our
conversation in time past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others, but God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love were with his loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us by us together with
Christ. By grace are you saved. And so
this is what had taken place to this wayward son and raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. For this, my son was dead. and is alive again. He was lost
and is found. And they began to be married. So there was a time of real rejoicing.
This wayward one, this one that had brought such sadness, there
was that embracing of him, that was that forgiveness of him,
and that there was that delight and joy. And it's amazing, isn't
it, that there's joy in heaven over one sinner that repented.
Amazing, isn't it? You think of all that's going
on in heaven, but just one sinner repenting on earth. That's how
precious each one is to the Father. And then we read of the elder
son. Now, his elder son was in the
field. And he came and drew nigh to
the house, and he heard the music and dance, and he called one
of the servants and asked them what these things meant. And
he said unto them, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath
killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and
sound." So he's told as to what the meaning of the celebration
was. And then we have this sad response
really. And he was angry and would not
go in. You see, this elder brother has
been perhaps compared to a New Testament Jonah. Jonah, he went
and preached, didn't he, to the Ninevites and then when they
turned from their wicked ways and they turned with repentance
and God had mercy on them instead of rejoicing in God's mercy to
them and for God using him In that way, he was angry. He was angry with God, and what
a foolish anger it was, and what a pointless anger. And you see,
surely there's a message here for us. We need to be given a
right spirit. We need to, for those that the
Lord has blessed, that it may not be the people that we think
would be blessed, It may be somebody different perhaps, but you see
we need to be careful here because he showed that wrong spirit. And you see also the father's
kindness in dealing with both sons. He was very gracious to
the prodigal son, but he was also very kind and loving to
the elder son. his elder son, who also had got
in a wrong way. And you see, you think of that
parable of the workers in the vineyard. There were some people
who got hired at the beginning of the day, and they had agreed
to a penny, and there were some that came at the last hour of
the day, and they got told that they would get what was right
for them. And then when the money was handed
out, the ones that had only worked one hour got their penny, or
got a penny. They didn't expect perhaps as
much as that. But when the ones that had worked all day saw the
ones that had worked just one hour and had got a penny, they
assumed that they would get much more. But they didn't. They got
the same, all got that penny. And they straightway took it
and murmured. And you see, we don't know what
the Lord is doing. And Jonah, in a sense, he didn't
agree with the fact that God was having mercy on Nineveh.
And no doubt the scribes and Pharisees didn't agree with the
fact that God was graciously bringing sinners into his kingdom.
They didn't realise they were sinners. But you see, It's interesting here, the kindness
that the father has, even to this oldest son. The oldest son says, and he answered,
Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I
any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid
that I may make merry with my friends. So here he's speaking
as if the father had treated him hardly. Yet he was with the
Father, and we need to realise that it can be that. If we're
labouring, you see, and perhaps there's great prosperity in another
church, or great blessings somewhere else, you think, well I've been
working too, I've been labouring too, I've been preaching too,
but I've not seen the response that others have got. And we
need a right spirit. Create in me a clean heart, and
renew a right spirit within me. And the answering said, Lo, these
many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy
commandment, yet thou never gavest me a kid that I may make merry
with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was
come, which hath devoured his living with harlots, thou hast
killed for him the fatted calf. And you see the goodness of God.
Those that have perhaps been very wayward, brought back. Others
can find that difficult, but we should be given that grace,
we need to realise that need of the kindness of God still.
And how kindly this father spoke to this older son. He said unto
him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. He was kind to this older son,
this one who had got upset. He got upset by reason of the
way, upset because he had laboured and it didn't seem that this
was connected with this blessing of his brother. But you see,
when we have those of our acquaintances and those we know that have been
blessed, we should have that right response. We need grace
to have that right response. And, you know, some have laboured
a long time for a soul, and some, it seems, have come to know Christ
so quickly. And there's such a variety, isn't
there? There's such a... how God works. There was Lydia, whose heart
the Lord opened. There was the jailer who took out an earthquake
to bring him to his senses. God's sovereign in the way he
works. But the kindness of the Father,
Son, Thou art ever with me, and all that I have is Thine. We
may realise that whether we serve the Lord all our lives, or whether
we've served the Lord but for one hour, when you've done all, we have
to say we are unprofitable servants. We never earn our salvation. whether it's the dying thief
that had a few hours to live or the Apostle Paul who did so
much for the Lord. Ultimately, they were both beggars
that needed the mercy of God. And Paul, with all his preaching
and all that he did for the Lord, God forbid that I should glory,
saving the cross of Christ. There's one place to glory and
there's one place for every child of God to come round that throne
of God at last. They're there, every one of them,
by the mercy of God. None of them can claim they deserve
it. All of them are there at the
mercy of God. And so the dear father says this,
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. So may we be amongst those who
rejoice in the work of God. Consider the work of God. and
consider the love and mercy of God. But the father said to his
servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put
a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither
the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry. The joy in heaven. You see, salvation
is such a joyous thing. One of our hymns says, we have
reason to rejoice. The world don't. They haven't
actually got anything really worth singing of. Not really. It's pretty empty. But the people
of God have something to sing about. And it will take them
an eternity to utter all his praise. May we be amongst them. Amen.