#136 Lu. 15:11-24 THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SON Introduction: This parable is better known as "The Parable of The Prodigal Son." However, in this message I have entitled it "The Parable of The Lost Son" because this fits better with the first two parables. In this series of three parables the first was "The Parable of The Lost Sheep." The second was "The Parable of The Lost Coin." Therefore, it fits to call this third parable "The Parable of The Lost Son." Note especially verse 24, "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." I want to remind you that these three parables were given in response to the accusations made against Jesus by the Pharisees and scribes. In verses 1 and 2 of this chapter it was said that Jesus was receiving publicans and sinners and having very close fellowship with them. In fact, He was accepting invitations to go into their homes to eat with them. The Pharisees and scribes were very critical of this behavior on the part of Jesus. These three parables show that this was in keeping with the will of God. God loves lost sinners and wants to see them saved. "The Parable of The Lost Sheep" shows the shepherd going out into the wilderness to search for a lost sheep. "The Parable of The Lost Coin" shows the woman in search for the lost coin. Our text today shows a loving father at home watching and waiting, every day hoping that this will be the day his lost son will return. All of these parables show the love that God has for lost souls and His great desire that they will be saved. I. The rebellious attitude of the younger son V. 11-12, "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." You will observe that the father in this parable has two sons. He apparently was trying to teach his sons right. He was trying to teach them to carry responsibility. He was trying to teach them to work. He tried to teach them about God and their responsibility toward God. He was trying to teach them to learn to handle money wisely. He was trying to teach them to live according to the high moral standards God had set forth in Scripture. But this father was not having much success in teaching these principles to his younger son. The younger son apparently hated to be tied down to work. A life of work seemed to him to be the worst kind of life. He also apparently rebelled against the whole idea of having to take orders from his father. After all, he was no little child any more. He was a grown man or, at least, nearly grown. This younger son did not like the strict moral standard that his father expected him to live by. He was rather intrigued by the stories he was hearing about life in distant lands. He was not at all impressed by the idea that God had set these standards and not his dad. He did not at all feel obligated to keep those standards just because God wanted him to. He wanted to be free. He wanted to have things. He wanted to have fun. He wanted get out with people his own age and do his thing. So one day he went to his dad and laid it on the line. "I want what's coming to me." He had in mind even then, "I am going to get out of here. As long as I stay under dad's roof, I will have to live by his rules and so I will get out. I am going to have my own apartment---preferably a long way from home. -- preferably over in one of those distant cities that I have been hearing about where I can have a good time." So the father obliged him. According to the customs of that day, the family inheritance would be divided between the sons. The daughters were not included. The older son would receive twice as much as the other sons. He was given this larger amount to compensate for the fact that after his father's death, he must provide for his mother and his unmarried sisters. Also, it would be out of his flocks and herds that animals would be provided for offerings for the family at the house of God. Since there were two sons, the older son would get two-thirds and the younger son would get one third. Apparently the younger son wanted his portion all in cash or in something that he could easily convert to cash and pretty soon his pockets were jingling. He had what he wanted. When the part for the younger son was taken out of the inheritance, this would mean then that at death of the father the balance would go to the older son. However, since he had not asked to receive his portion immediately and he would continue to work for dad until dad's death and then he would get the rest. II. His departure and his riotous living At any rate, when the younger son got his money, he did not tarry long. V. 13, "And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country..." I can just hear him saying, "I'm free at last. I'm free at last. I'm out from under dad's thumb at last. Let the good times roll." It's true. He was free---at last--- and the good times did roll. The fair weather friends gathered around and they had good times. They had some wild parties. He drank lots of booze. He went to bed with lots of women. He had a good time. That is, he had a good time as long as his money lasted. But that eventually played out. (V. 13), "...and there wasted his substance with riotous living." He wasted his money. He blew it. He went to his whole inheritance and he was broke. III. The dreadful circumstances he found himself in He had a good time as long as it lasted, but it just didn't last. V. 14, "And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want." Just about the time he spent his last cent a famine hit the country where he was living. It was no longer the good times that rolled in. The good times stopped and the hard times rolled in. The famine hit the whole land. He was in bad circumstances. His funds were all gone, he was a stranger in a strange land and there was little work to be found. V. 15, "And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine." He finally found work---such as it was. He hired out to one of the land owners to help feed the man's hogs. Of all the jobs for a Jew to get---it was to feed hogs. It was one of the most humiliating job a Jew could have. But this young man was desperate and so he swallowed his pride and he accepted this job. V. 16, "And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him." Keep in mind that there was a famine in the land and nobody had much food. It was especially hard for him to get food. His job would certainly not pay very much and as scarce as food was, it was very costly. In the parable Jesus said that he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. The word, husk, as used here refers to a pod that grew on a certain tree in that area of the world. The farmers would pull the pods from the trees and use them to feed the hogs. That was what this young man had hired out to do. His job was to pull the pods from the trees and feed the hogs. There were times when he got so hungry that he would gladly have eaten the hog food rather than feeding it to the hogs and there just might have been a few times that he did just that. IV. Coming to his senses Finally one day he came to his senses. He finally realized just what a mess he had made of his life. V. 17, "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!" Here he was a hired servant in a strange land feeding filthy hogs and he was starving to death doing it. But back home at his father's house, even all of the hired hands had plenty to eat. His father apparently fed them their meals plus paying them a salary. He fed them plentifully and paid them a decent salary. This young man had really made a mess out of his life. V. 18-19, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." Note the things that he said he would do. First off, he would return to his father. That was first and foremost. That was a wise move on his part. Furthermore, he would acknowledge to his father that he had been wrong. He would say, "Father, I have sinned against heaven..." Now he would acknowledge what? He would acknowledge that his rebellious attitude toward his father was a sin against God. I wish every young person could realize that. To rebel against parents is a sin against God. God is the one who has placed parents in charge. To rebel against parents is to rebel against God. He said, "I will acknowledge that." Furthermore, his overly anxious desire to get hold of money and material possessions was also a sin against God. It was covetousness and one of the ten commandments says, "Thou shalt not covet." In addition to this, his desire to live a life of wine, women and song was also a sin against God. It was a desire for drunkenness. It was a desire for lust and adultery. It was a sin against God. It is no wonder that this young man wound up in the gutter when his life was in rebellion against God. He would also acknowledge that he had sinned against his father. He had ignored all that his father had tried to teach him. He had shown disregard for his father and his father's feelings. He had show disrespect to his father's name. He had sinned against his father. He would not ask to be re-instated to the family as a son. He would acknowledge that he was unworthy of being a son. Rather he would ask only to be hired in one of the lowest positions. "Just put me on as one of the hired hands." V. The welcome he received y his father V. 20, "And he arose, and came to his father. But 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." When the young man arrived home, the father saw him before he got to the house. There he sat looking out the window watching for his boy. How many days had he sat at that same window watching, wondering, "When is my boy coming home? I wonder if he will ever come home!" I think he could hardly believe his eyes. But it was true. Even from that great distance, he knew that this was his son. Now here comes his son at a rather slow pace walking toward the house. And here goes the old man running as fast as his old legs will carry him. Did you ever see and old man run? When he meets him, he throws his arms around his neck and embraced him warmly. He kissed him repeatedly on the cheeks. Now take a look at this young man. He is skinny with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes because he has had very little food. His clothes are rags, because they have worn out and he has had no money to buy new ones. He is barefooted because he does not have the funds to buy even sandals, which were extremely inexpensive. He is tired and weary because he has come a long way. He may still be filthy with the stink of the hog pens on him. He may not have had a bath since leaving the hog pens. But to that old man, he looked like a million dollars. He was home and that was what counted the most. There was a heart full of love in that old man. He loved that boy and all of the wrongs that the boy had ever done him were forgiven. I do not read the words, "Hey, son, I forgive you." But I read that he hugged him and kissed and heaped his love upon him. Sure, he forgave. He forgave even before his son confessed that he had sinned against him. V. 21-24, "And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 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: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry." Oh, that father forgave his son! The son had not asked to be restored as a son, but only to be shown mercy as a hired hand. But the father would have none of that. He called for the best robe to be put on him. That kind of robe would not be put on a hired hand. He was putting this robe on his son! He called for shoes to be put on his feet and a ring on his finger. He was not welcoming back a hire hand; he was welcoming his son! He called for the fatted calf to be killed. Did you catch that? The old man had been looking every day for his son to return and he had a calf in the stall already fattened up and ready for the kill. "Kill the fatted calf!" But the fatted calf was not for a servant; it was for his son! What joy filled the heart of this old man! What great joy filled his heart. The son that he had feared is dead and, in some respects, had counted as dead was alive and back home again! The son that was lost is now found! VI. The pictures God wants us to see Listen, I want you to take a good look at that young man, because in one stage or another that young man pictures me and you. He pictures the same spirit of rebellion and sin that was in our own hearts and lives. It may still be in the lives of some who are present this morning. By the waywardness and sin of his life, he pictures our own waywardness and our sin. We, too, have sinned against heaven and in so doing we have sinned against our parents and others. That lost young man pictures us when we were lost in our sin. For some of us, he also pictures a time when we came to our senses and saw what a mess we had made of our lives. We began to realize that we were unworthy of heaven. We were unworthy of being called "a child of God." And we still are. We are still unworthy of being a child of God. For some of us, he pictures the time when we arose and went to God and acknowledged our sin and asked Jesus to have mercy upon us and save us. And the young man's father pictures the great love that God had for us and showed to us in every way possible. He accepted us. He forgave us. He clothed in the robe of righteousness of God. He embraced us and, as it were, He kissed us. He poured out His love upon us and caused us to feast at His spiritual table. Conclusion: Listen, there may be somebody here today who really wants to come to God. You want to be forgiven of your sin. You want to be saved by His grace. You know that you are not worthy of being a Son of God, but you would be willing to serve the Lord in any way He wants. I will tell you what I am going to ask you to do. I am going to ask you to come to the Lord today. Arise and come to Him and ask the Lord to be merciful to you and save you and keep you out of hell. You will find the that the great heart of God will welcome you and will receive you when you come.