I hope that after this message, that that song will be more to
you than just any old song, that you will see how the grace of
God is truly amazing. The undeserved gift of the love
of God is amazing, amazing, so undeserved, so unsought for. Much has been said about the
love of God. Most people have the wrong conception
of the love of God. Most people think that God's
love is a general, indiscriminate offer that he makes to all men
and women for them to accept and reject, put off until they
need it later on. I'll illustrate this. I've done
it before. A general expression of love
for everybody means nothing at all. It's worthless. As if my wife would ask me, Honey,
do you love me? And if I were to say, Yes, I
love you, I love all women. It would mean nothing to her,
would it? Nothing. But when I tell her, when I cause
her to know that I've set my particular affection on her and
her alone, that she is mine, that I love her, I want her,
not other women, her. I want her to be mine, my wife. And that means something. That
means everything to her. She'll marry me because of it,
won't she? And to tell a man or a woman
who could care less about God, who is not speaking after God,
who could care less about God Almighty. To go up and tell that
man or that woman that God loves you and Christ died for you, and have him say, big deal, fully
on the love of God, who cares? That's casting that great pearl
of God before a swine, isn't it? But to tell a man or a woman
who feels himself to be unlovely, who would love me? Certainly
not God. Not the holy, awesome, sovereign
God. Why would he love me? I'm unlovely. I'm sinful. I'm ungodly. I'm
wicked. To go up and tell that one who
desperately needs God, to go up and tell them, now God has
set his affection on you, and he loves you, and Christ came
down to die for your sins, to do for you what you could not
do. Now that will mean everything to that man, won't it? Really?
You mean God loves me, and Christ died for me, for my sins? That will mean everything to
that family. So I don't want to cheapen the
love of God like this generation is doing, just throwing it out
there, cheapening the love of God for men to just cast under
their foot like a pearl before swine. I don't want to cheapen
the love of God by making it an offer that you can accept
or But I don't want to lessen the
extent of it, either. I don't want to limit the love
of God, because it's boundless. Paul spoke of the love of God
in Ephesians 3, the length, the depth, the height, the breadth
of the love of God. It's boundless. No man can figure
it out. God is love. There's no doubt
about that. He is love. And all love is of
God, all true love. It is. But I don't want to cheapen
it by making it an offer, but I don't want to lessen the extent
of it either by withholding it. Now, let me say this by needful
Bible introduction. Love is part of God's nature. But it is not the primary nature
or characteristic of God. That's the terrible mistake that
this world is making. You go and ask the average person,
describe God for me. I'd venture to say that ninety-nine
out of a hundred would first say, well, God is love. He loves. Well, God is spoken of in the
scriptures in one characteristic more than any other. more than
any other characteristic he has spoken of in the scriptures as
being holy. Above all else, holy. Do you know that the word love
is not mentioned in the book of Acts one time? I mean, I'm
talking about the recorded scriptures, the recorded Acts of the Apostles. When the Apostles, when Christ
sent them out into the world, go into all the world and preach
the gospel, you go, take this message to all the world. And
the Acts, the book of Acts, is a recording of everywhere they
went and the messages they preached. Not one message contains the
word love. But holy is. You see, God is
holy more than any other description. God is love, yes. But God's love
is holy love. There's a big difference. The
difference there is the difference between true knowledge and no
knowledge. You see, God loves righteousness. It's his character. He's altogether
holy and righteous, and he loves righteousness. And he hates evil. He hates it. He can't have anything
to do with it. Scripture says the sun and the
moon are not pure in his sight. He's of too pure eyes to even
look upon iniquity. He can't look at it. He can't
bear it. He's holy. God loves righteousness. God
loves truth. He won't abide error, he won't
abide falsehood. God loves justice, perfection,
hitting the mark, balancing the scales. God loves that. He hates
iniquity. He hates when they come up short.
It must be perfect to be accepted, Leviticus said. And to say that
God loves sinners but hates their sin." You've heard that expression,
haven't you? Oh, God loves the sinner, he
just hates the sin. Where does it say that in Scripture?
To say that God loves sinners but hates their sin is like saying,
like me saying, I love dogs, but I hate the way they bark.
And I hate the way they chase cars. And I hate the way they
wag their tails. And I hate the way they dig up
bones. I hate that. I hate the way they pant with
their tongues. I hate their long noses, I hate
their tails, I hate their furry coats. I love dogs, though. See how ridiculous that is? And
you see, dogs, very simply, dogs chew bones, don't they? It's
their nature. That's what they do. They chew bones. Horses eat
grain and hay, don't they? It's their nature. You throw
a steak out in front of a horse, he won't have anything to do
with it. You throw it out in front of the dogs of Ricks, now
they'll fight one another for it. Lions eat meat. The scripture says that man drinks
iniquity like the water. So man is altogether sinful. The scripture says from the sole
of his feet to the crown of his head, there's no soundness in
him. Doesn't it say that? Isaiah chapter 1, I believe it
is. So, since you can't separate sin and the sinner, you just
can't do it. That's what we are. Charles, that's what I am. I'm
a sinner. I'm full of sin. That's me. That's
me. I'm sin. From the top to the
bottom, full of it. I think it, I do it. Oh, not
to where everybody can see. If you'll be honest with yourselves
now, God sees everything. He knows your heart. He doesn't
look on the outward countenance like a man. He looks on the heart. God loves righteousness, then. God is absolutely holy. He loves
righteousness, and he hates sin. How can God love a man who is
a sinner? This is the gospel. This is what
it's all about. How can God, who is holy, have
anything to do with a man who is sinful? How can he? How can he? Well, only by making
that man holy. By declaring that man holy. Somehow or another, making him
holy. How can God love a man who's
unlovely? Somehow or another, by making
him lovely, you see. How can God love a man who's
filthy? By making him clean. Here it is. God in eternity past. according to the good pleasure
of his own will. It's only found in his will.
He just up and decided one day, I'm going to love some people.
He didn't have to. He didn't have to, but he decided,
I'm going to love some people. I'm going to set my affection
upon them. I'm going to love them freely. And I'm going to
bestow my perfect, everlasting love. I'll never remove that
love from them. I'm going to put it on them, and they're going
to have it from now until they come to dwell with me. I'm going
to give them that love. To some fallen human beings,
he saw that they would fall. Left to themselves, they would
choose evil. And they did. But God chose some
of them to set his affection on. He doesn't have to love any
of them now. But he chose some of them to set that affection
on. And after choosing whom he would love, it's his prerogative,
he then made provisions to make them lovely. He made provisions
for them to make them acceptable before him. He sent his lovely
son down here, his sinless, lovely son down here. He sent him down
here, his best loved only son, to live on this earth as a man.
To live as a man, the God-man, Emmanuel. And he came down here,
and the son was altogether lovely. Altogether lovely. The Father
loved him. Even as a man, he was spotless,
holy, sinless, and righteousness. And the Father said, I love those
things. And there ain't a man now. They're in my son, but he's
a man, and I love this man because he's lovely. I'll accept him."
And after Christ lived that life, 33 years as a man, he took that
perfection, that loveliness, and charged it to the account
of those people that God had chosen. He took that loveliness
and charged it to their account, made them lovely. He took that
blood and covered their sins, took that righteousness, that
loveliness, and put it on his people, God's people. Then he
took their sin, their rebellion, their unloveliness, their wickedness,
their ugliness upon him. And then when God saw his Son
hanging there upon that tree, He saw all those unlovely sinners,
all those ungodly, rebellious people. He saw them hanging there,
and he killed his son. But he killed us in him, you
see. And now he looks at us because of the righteousness of Christ,
the blood of Christ. He looks at us and says, now
you look lovely. You look like Christ is why.
Not a damn thing you've done. Him or you haven't done a thing,
have you? You were dead, like Lazarus, dead and trespassed
in sin. All you did was speak. But now
you look lovely to God. Why? Because of anything you've
done? Oh, no. You still speak a little bit,
don't you? But now you look lovely to God because Christ, because
Christ represents you, because you look like Christ to God.
You've got blood all over you. You're a bloody mess. But God
sees that and thinks, you look beautiful. Beautiful. You look
like Christ. Your sins are covered. And then
Christ went back after he died under the penalty of that law
that said the soul that sins must surely die. And Christ was
a sinner, had our sins upon him. And God killed him. And he went
down into the grave. And he deposited all those sins,
the sins of Charles and Barbara Ross and Mindy Mahan. And all
God's people, he deposited those sins somewhere, wherever that
is, behind God's back to Scripture. As far as the East is from the
West, he separated our sins from God. He deposited them, made
a deposit of all the sins of God's chosen people that he loved,
deposited them, and came out of that grave without them, perfect,
spotless, holy, and went to the Father in our sins and no more. And now he sits at the right
hand of God. and makes intercession for his people, the people that
God loves. You see, here's what I'm trying
to show you. The love of God the Father is
in God the Son. The love of God the Father is
upon God the Son and everyone that is represented by God the
Son. You see? See, he loved his son because
his son was lovely. And now he loves other men and
women, not because of anything they've done, and not all men,
by the way, because all men don't have this blood covering. It's
plain, because some of them go to hell. But he loves those chosen
people that have that blood covering upon them because of Christ,
because they look like Christ. The Father loves his children.
He loves his children. He loves his children. He's angry
with the wicked. He hates all workers of iniquity.
He hated Esau. Now, wait a minute now. Are you telling me that God does
not love every single man, woman, boy and girl? Is that what you're saying? No,
that's not what I'm saying. That's what God's saying. I didn't
say that. He said it in Isaiah and Romans. Esau, have I hated? Have I hated? And I bow to that. I bow to the
Word of God. It's the Word of God. I bow to
it. It's God's prerogative. But you see, what I'm trying
to say is it's God's sovereign choice whom he can love. That
it's not just some indiscriminate offer that he throws out there
for anybody. He loves his sons, Rick. He loves his children.
and were made children by his choice, by his work. Let me illustrate
this. There was a man one time that
came to my father's door. He came up to the door, knocked
on the door, dad answered the door, and opened the door, and
this fellow was real ragged looking, real scraggly looking fellow.
Looked like he hadn't had a bath in a long time, hadn't shaved
in a long time. Just looked real down and out,
real bad. And Dad asked him, what do you
want? He said, well, I need some help.
I need some help. Well, he asked him his story.
Where are you going? Where are you coming from? What
are you doing? Who are you? And somehow or another
the conversation got around to a fellow finally said this. He
said, Mr. Mahan, he said, I used to be
in the Army. I used to be in the Army. I went
to Vietnam. He said, I knew your son, Robbie. We were friends. Oh, my dad's
eyes lit up. My brother was killed in Vietnam
years ago, but my dad's eyes lit up. Oh, you knew my son. Come on in. Come on in. And that's the way we are about
our children. Somebody dotes over our child, We fall in love
with that person, don't we? Oh, and the Father loves the
Son, you see. The Holy Father loves the Holy
Son, and he only loves those that are in his Holy Son, only
those that are trusting in, believing in, looking to, hoping in his
Son. This is my Son, whom I'm well
pleased. Now you hear him, oh no, I won't
have that. I won't have that in Jesus Christ.
Then I hate you, and you're going to hell, man. He said to somebody,
here's my son now, hear him! Oh yes, I love him, I believe
in him, he's my only hope, he's my righteousness. I can't do anything to make you
accept me, God, but Christ, I want Christ to be my righteousness.
And I love you, because you love my son. See? Well, in Luke chapter
15, turn back there. You see, you just can't up and
tell this story, the love of the Father, without preceding
it by telling the real love of God the Father. You can't just
up and say that God loves all men indiscriminately. He loves
his sons. In Luke 15, our Lord illustrates
the love of the Father for a wayward son, and he tells a beautiful
story of this son's restoration. Look at it here with me. Our Lord said, a certain man
had two sons. Listen to me, bear with me just
a little while. A certain man had two sons. Now, I don't know
who these two sons are. It could be Jew or Gentile, and
God does say the people has a remnant out of every people. It could
be standing professors and falling It could be Christ, who is always
with the Father, and us, who are wayward sons. I don't know,
but that's not what's important here. The story is, a certain
man had two sons, and verse 12, the younger of them said to his
father, Father, give me the portions of good that follow to me. Give
me what's coming to me. And the father gave unto him.
Give me what's coming to me, Dad." I'm split. You know, man
thinks that God owes him everything, doesn't he? Man thinks God owes him and he's
obligated to. Give me what's coming to me,
God. Isn't that what you're for? Isn't that what God's for, just
to bestow things on people? God's love, you know? He's just
waiting to do all he can for us. Give me what's coming to
me. It ain't right that you gave this man this and didn't give
me. Give it to me. Isn't that man's attitude? Give me what's
coming to me. You know what? All rights were
forfeited in the Garden. Now, Adam, because he was a holy
man, he had the right to ask God to maybe even, I say this
lightly, to demand of God his blessings, because the blessings
of God are on a righteous man. The Scriptures are full of that
promise. The righteous he'll not forsake. The righteous he'll
bless, the righteous. And Adam was righteous. But when
he rebelled against God, Joe, when he rebelled against God
Almighty, he forfeited all his rights. God, in effect, said
to him, I don't have to give you anything now. You're biting
the hand that feeds you. I don't have to give you anything
from this day forward. And you know, this is the tragedy of
our so-called judicial system. There is no justice. Criminals,
prisoners, are in prison now. They've got all the right. They
can murder and rape and rob and then go to prison and then sue
the government for not taking care of them. That's not the
way it is in God's justice. God has pure justice. You rebel
against the Father, you sin against the Father, you forfeit all your
rights to anything. The wages of sin is what? What
do we earn? Death, the Scripture says. The wages of sin is death. Nevertheless,
God's still merciful, isn't he? Give me what's coming to me.
And he gives it. The rain falls on the just and
the unjust. He gives it, doesn't he? He just
bestows blessings. Donald Trump, all these people,
he just bestows blessing upon blessing and blessing upon people,
even us. And we don't acknowledge him
all the time. Water, air, food, shelter, clothing, it's all his.
He made it. He doesn't have to give it, but
he does. He keeps giving it. I've said
this before, in gratitude. God doesn't need any more reason
to send a man to hell than in gratitude. Well, look at verse
13. Well, the father gave it to his
son. Give me what's coming to me. And the father gave it to
him. Verse 13, And not many days after, the young son gathered
everything together, and he took his journey into a far country,
gathered all he got, and he left. This is a perfect picture of
man. As soon as a man gets a little bit of knowledge, gets old enough
to have any understanding, as soon as he gathers a little bit
of riches in his pocket, a little pocket chain, there was a time
when I was perfectly content. All I needed was a five-dollar
bill in my pocket and a half a tank of gas and my Firebird
400 four-speed. I tell you what, then I was a
happy man. Gathered everything I got, everything I got, and
split home. See your mom and dad, see you
on down the road jumping. Happy man. And that's, you know,
that's man by nature. He gets a little bit, gets some
riches. See you later, God. Who needs God? I got all I need. See you, God. And he goes to
a far country. Sinners are far from God, aren't
they? Your sins have separated you between you and your God.
Sinners are far from God, far from his presence, far from his
knowledge, far from communion with him, far from love to him.
Their hearts are so far from him. He said, you make a pretense
of religion with your mouth, but your heart is where? Far
from me. Not thinking about God. Don't
want to know about God. Not interested. Till I need God,
till I get down and out, then I'll call on God. And it says
in another place, then he won't hear you. Look at it here in verse 13.
He says he went to a far country, and there he wasted his substance
with riotous living. Wasted substance. God gives every man and woman
and young person a mind and a body and gifts and talents. How do
we use them? Well, most of the time we waste
them, don't we? We waste them on ourselves. Waste our substance. We waste our substance upon ourselves,
on materialism, intellectualism, worldly pleasure, drunkenness,
harlotry, rioting, excess. And I ask you, what do you spend
on your substance? What do you spend on what God
has given you? That mind, that body. That car, that home, what
are you spending it on? You wasting it? Scripture says,
buy the truth and sell it not. Listen to this. There was a boy I grew up with,
my bosom buddy. I grew up from the first grade
all the way through high school and graduated in high school
from him. We were bosom buddies. He got arrested for selling heroin. I'm talking heroin. I had another
friend whom I lived with for about two years. I went to school
with him also after the other buddy got in trouble. We went
together, ran around together. He eventually robbed a drugstore
and was put in jail. Then later on he robbed another
one, and in a high-speed car chase he had a wreck and put
out one of his eyes and crippled his leg. He's crippled for life
and blind in one eye. I had another friend who I went
to Florida with, went down there to live with. We lived together
for about two years. One night I left him a little
while later, not because of him, just the Lord. But that young man got in a fight
one night with another so-called friend of mine over a stereo. And that other fella stabbed
him to death. Killed him. That's where all
my buddies are. And I did the same thing. I was
in the same boat. Same boat. Wasted substance. I remember my father trying to
tell that young man or that young man's father at his funeral.
I remember him saying, I remember it like yesterday, he said to
him, Oh, what a waste. What a waste. Young man, 19,
20 years old. Well, look at it, verse 14. He
wasted all his substance on righteous living. Verse 14, when he'd spent
all. You know, sin strips us of everything
valuable to us. Strips us of anything good in
us. It makes us spin. It makes us
wretched, miserable, blind, naked, poor, in debt sinners. Spent. Spent. He said when he
had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land he began
to be in want. He spent everything he had, and
then about that time a famine came up. And he was in want. You know, we're in a land of
famine, aren't we? We're in it. There's no gospel being preached,
hardly anywhere, no gospel, no bread to be had. We're in that
famine, a place called Bodibar. And this young fellow, he was
in want. He began to be in want. After he'd spit everything, he
began to be in want. There was no sweetness in the
cup now, only the dregs. Got down to the dregs. There's
no joy in his drunken spree now. Now he had to have a drink. and
couldn't have it. No joy in the drunken spree,
only a foul taste in his mouth and a headache. No meat on the
bone, just the bone to chew on. Everything spent, all his character.
You've seen him. You've seen him down on Skid
Row, and I can see it in the countenances of some people.
Spent. This world is spent on it. They're
spent in this world. Worthless. Sin in their dull
countenance. You preach the gospel, this glorious
message? Spent. Sin has spent them. Wasted substance, especially
in older people. Older people. Well, all his character was gone,
his health, his strength, his hope. And verse 15, he says,
he went and he joined himself to a citizen of that country.
He went to another country and joined himself to a citizen of
that country. This old fellow, I can see him
now. He'd spent everything he had, and he began to be in want,
and he started looking for some help somewhere, going up door
to door, going to his friend's house and so forth. Joe, could
you help me out? I'm down there. I'm sorry, I
can't help you. He finally found somebody. Somebody help me. Finally
he found somebody. Somebody found him, maybe. Recruited
him. He went to some revival meeting. And some soul winner got him
down the aisle, you know, you look spent. Here I am. You need
help, don't you? Yeah, I do. Who can help me?
Somebody got something for me? Well, come on back in here and
we'll counsel you. So he went, he said he joined himself to
a citizen of that country, and this fellow said he sent him
into his fields. He sent him into his fields to
feed the swine. Here's this soul winner, this
pagan preacher. He sends this fellow to work.
Now, you've got to clean up your life now. You'll make a good
testimony. We'll take you to all the camp
meetings, and you can tell your story, how you used to be a drunk,
how God saved you. You can tell that to everybody.
You used to be a former football player, you know. You can tell
everybody that story, and that'll bring the crowds in. Yeah, let's
go to work. Reform. Go out into the fields. You might make a good missionary
in Africa. Yeah. Go to the mission field. Send
him into the field to feed swine. Swine. That's what the Scriptures
calls us by nature. Swine. That's what it calls religious
people. Casting pearls before swine.
Why? Well, because swine, they prefer mud to pearls, don't they? They prefer this world to things
that are higher. And that's this world's religion,
isn't it? That's self-righteous people to this day. They're all
taking up with this world, doing, doing, doing. Not looking up.
They're not taking up with God. They're not taking up with God's
Word, things that are higher. Oh, doing this. It's our program. We've got to get numbers in.
We've got to build up our building. We've got to do this. We've got
to do that. Dumb. Mud. The pearl. Slime. He went to feed the swine. He
would fain have filled his belly with husks that the swine did
eat. And no man gave unto him husks. He was needing something bad,
and all he could find to eat was husks. He went to this religious
place, this religious church, thought they were going to help
him out, and all he could find was husks. Empty husks. No meat. Husks, just a shell. In this world, it's the same
way. You'll find riches in it, you'll find lust, you'll find
pleasure, but all that does is satisfy this. It doesn't satisfy
the heart, does it? The heart. The heart. And all
that religion will satisfy is the flesh. Works of righteousness
make you puffed up on it. Husks. Husks. After a while,
if you see, if you're not getting your belly full, you'll see,
this ain't satisfying me. I don't have any peace in my
heart. just working, trying to make myself acceptable to God.
It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's
not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's
not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's
not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying
me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's
not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's
not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's
not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's
not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's
not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's
not satisfying me. It's not satisfying me. It's not Well, finally, look at it. Verse
17. And when he came to himself,
he came to himself. He came to. You've heard that
statement, haven't you? That saying, man be unconscious? He tried to bring him to. He
tried to bring him to himself. When's he going to come to? I
don't know. A man's got to come to. He's got to come to himself,
doesn't he? Because he's unconscious. He's
not conscious of God by nature. He's not conscious of his sin,
his self. He's not conscious of Christ.
He's not conscious of his need. He's unconscious. He's got to
come to, doesn't he? How's that going to happen? God,
the Holy Spirit, wants to slap him in the face with the gospel.
Going to have to hit him right between the eyes with the gospel.
Listen up here. Thanks. I needed that. You have to come to it, aren't
we? And when he came to himself,
the scriptures say, he said this. He came to this conclusion. He
said, oh, wait a minute. He said, how
many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare? And I'm punishing. Simple, simple
conclusion he came to. I'm starving to death, and my
father's house has bread. Like Joseph's brethren, you know.
Here we are hungry, and there's corn in Egypt. What am I going
to do? What am I going to do? Now here
I am in this church, and all I'm hearing this preacher talk
about is patriotism and abortion and all the issues of the day
and how I got to clean my life up and how I got to live the
Christian life, and I don't feel so good about myself. I'm just
not getting fed. I'm just living there hungry. I got to have some peace, some
comfort, some hope. I got to know something that
will satisfy this need in my soul. Now, I'm hungry, and I
hear over there, they're preaching the gospel. They're preaching
Christ every week. What am I going to do? Well, this is true repentance. This is two marks of true conviction.
I perish, but my Father has everything. I'm perishing, but God has bread. So look at this conclusion he
came up to with his action, verse 18. He said, I will rise, and
I'm going to get up and go to my Father. I'm going to get up
and go to my Father, and I'm going to say unto him, Father,
I've sinned against heaven, and before you You know, the only
reason a man gets up and goes to the Father, comes to Christ,
is because thy people shall be willing in the day of his power.
God makes them willing. God brings them to themselves
by the preaching of the gospel. And a man goes, he says, I've
got to go to the Father. I've got to go to God. I've got to go to Christ. Get
out of my way, soul winner. I don't need you. Preacher, I
don't need you. I need Christ. That's who I need. If a man ever comes to that conclusion,
He'll meet Christ. But if he goes to a man, he won't
find anything. And he said, I'll say to him,
the son said, I'm going to say to the father, he makes up this
good little speech. It's a good little speech. He said, I'm going
to go to the father, and I'm going to say unto him, father,
I've sinned against heaven. That's right, you have. And before
thee, I've sinned against you. David said, against thee, and
thee only have I sinned and done deceitfulness. That's that. It
is true that our sin is against God. He goes on to say, I've
sinned against you, God, I've rebelled against you, and I'm
no more worthy to be called a son. This is the greatest mark of
repentance. If I ever see this, if you see
this in someone, if you feel this in yourself, this is true
repentance. I'm not worthy. That's true repentance. Repentance in a word is unworthy. God, you don't owe me because
I'm unworthy, a Syrophoenician woman. I'm just a dog. That's repentance. And this son
repented truly. I'm not worthy. I didn't hear
that in Jimmy Swagger's confession. I don't hear that in today's
confession. I'm not worthy. God, you owe me. That's what
you owe me. I decided to accept Jesus as
my personal Savior. That's not repentance, is it?
Yeah, I'll join the church, preacher. That's not repentance, is it?
Oh, I'm unworthy. That's repentance. I'm unworthy. You reckon he'd have some mercy
for me? You reckon he'd be gracious to
this old sinner? You reckon? Yeah, I reckon. The Word promises
it. Unworthy. Well, look at it. Because the Son came, came to
the Father, verse 20, he arose. He arose and came to the Father.
He was heartbroken. He's fearful of rejection, I'm
sure. I'm sure he thought, Dad, I've wasted everything Dad gave
me. He worked all his life to give
me what he gave me. I didn't deserve it. He just
freely gave it to me. He did it all himself. And here
I've wasted it all, and I'm coming back begging. He doesn't have
to do anything for me. He doesn't have to take me in,
does he? Oh, he doesn't have to take me
in because I'm unworthy. I'm unworthy. I'm sure he came
heartbroken and fearful of rejection. But he came. He came. Somebody said one act is better
than ten good intentions. And true faith and repentance,
acts, forsakes its way, believes and trusts in God. The song says,
I'm resolved, no longer to linger. If I stay, I'll just perish.
I'm resolved no longer to linger. I've got to go." And the Son
of Rose, verse 20, came to the Father, but when he was a great way off. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he has loved us, even when we
were dead in trespass and sin. The Father, when he was yet a
great way off, saw him. The Father saw him. Before the
foundation of the world, God saw his people. He chose them
in Christ. Even when we were in sin, he
saw us. He saw us, and he drew us to
himself. The Father, when he saw him a
great way off, he said he had compassion, and he ran, and he
fell on his neck, and he kissed him. fell on his neck and he
kissed him, like Joseph did with his brothers, like Esau and Jacob
did, like Church's Ephesus did to Paul as he was departing,
and like Solomon said, Let God now kiss me with the kisses of
his mouth. Here's the son. The son spoke
up, verse 21, and after they got through crying and embracing
and so forth, the son said, Father, I've sinned against heaven. And then I gave his little speech,
you know. God will let us speak. He'll
let us speak. But he's already got plans. Father,
I've sinned against heaven in your sight. I no longer wanted
to be called by sin. Make me now... He didn't get
to finish his story. But the father said, but... Here
it is again, but... God. But the father said, oh
no, no, no, wait a minute. That's enough. I've heard enough.
He said to his servant, bring the best robe now. Bring the
robe. Put it on him. Put it on. Take that old filthy garment
off of him. Take those old self-righteous rags he's wearing for a while.
Thought he looked pretty good in them. Take those off of him. Now put on the robe of Christ's
righteousness on him. Put that on him. Make him look
real good, real acceptable before me. Put that robe on him. Put
it on him. And put a ring on his hand. Put
a Bible in his hand. Put a Bible on his head, put
shoes on his feet, prepare him with the gospel of peace. Put
those shoes on his feet so that I can walk in my path, in my
footsteps. Put those shoes on his feet and
bring him to the fatted calf. See, that old calf was already
ready, already waiting. The Father knew he was coming.
Why? Because he was drawing him. The calf was already ready, already
prepared before the Son even got there. And Christ is the
lamb slain before the foundations of the world. The fatted calf.
He says, kill that fatted calf. Kill it! And let us eat and be
merry. 4, verse 24. This my son was dead, and he's
alive again. He was lost and trespassed as
dead and trespassed in sin. Now he's found. And they began
to be merry. There was a young man who, much like this prodigal
son, who left home. He said, Dear Lord, what's coming
to me, Dad? He left home. He took off and went down into
some dives and things and wasted all of his substance, just like
this young man. Wasted his life on riotous living
and so forth, drunkenness and harlotry and this and that and
the other, materialism. And one day he came to himself,
about like this prodigal here, came to himself. He hadn't written
Mom and Dad in years, hadn't even communicated at all. They
didn't even know if he was alive. But one day he began to be in
want, began to be convicted, and come to himself. So he wrote
a letter. He wrote a letter to his Mom
and Dad, and he said in that letter, he said, Mom, Dad, it's
me. He said, I know I haven't written
you in a long time, but I sure would like to come home. I sure
would like to see you. He said, I'll tell you what,
I'm coming in next week on the ten o'clock train. I'm coming
in. And I'm unworthy to be your son. I'm unworthy. You don't have
to take me in, I know, because I've treated you wrong. I've
rebelled against you. But I sure would appreciate it
if you'd take me in. I love you. I need you." So he
said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm coming in on the ten
o'clock train next Thursday, and as that train goes by your
house, he says, I want you to do something for me. If you want
me in, if you want me home, if you want me to come in, put a
white towel on the line. Just put a white towel, and I'll
see that towel, and I'll come on in. If it's not there, I'll
just ride on by." So Thursday rolled around, and he came rolling
in on the freight train. Well, I thank you ladies for
the meal. It was delicious. I appreciate
it. Charles Spurgeon said that