Transcript
Repentance. As we try to survey the biblical landscape of repentance, two dark clouds arise which we need to sweep away. And which we attempted to sweep away last evening. The first dark cloud is the suggestion very often made, and very often insisted on, that repentance is in some way or other a condition for receiving eternal life. And that is a matter which we dealt with last night.
And we pointed out very simply that had it been a condition for eternal life, it would have been specified as such in the Gospel of John, which is written to bring us to eternal life. The other dark cloud that obscures the landscape, it seems to me, is the view that has been common in grace circles, that repentance is basically no more than changing one’s mind about various things. And last night we attempted to show you that the lexicography of the word repentance does not really support that view.
And that the evidence is that in the New Testament period, in the New Testament documents, the word repentance meant more than that. And there is, perhaps, one place where one could argue that the idea change of mind is appropriate. But that seems to be the only place where it would really work extremely well. The result of this is that we can now come to the fundamental nature of repentance. And we can talk about the results of repentance as these are taught in the New Testament and in the Bible as a whole.
Hopefully both of these clouds have been dissipated. Repentance is not necessary for the acquisition of eternal life. And repentance is something more than simply changing one’s mind. And certainly something more than changing one’s mind from a state of unbelief to a state of faith. Right at the top of the overhead for tonight, I want to suggest something very simple. And that is that the basic nature of repentance is to turn from sin to God, to turn from sin to God.
Now there are various kinds of sins from which one may turn, and various ways in which one may turn to God. But nevertheless I think this is a functional definition that will handle the use of the word repentance throughout the Bible. A second point, every bit as important as this first point, is that the results of repentance are to avoid, or to end, God’s temporal judgments. If we are correct in the position that we took last night that repentance has nothing really to do with our eternal destiny, then it follows from this.
And I think it is massively supported in the Scripture instances that we will look at tonight. It follows from this that repentance deals with our temporal relationship to God, primarily. And that repentance is intended to lead to the avoidance of judgment at a temporal level. Or if the judgment is already going on, repentance can bring it to an end. So these are the two fundamental postulates with which we’re going to be dealing this evening as we work our way through the subject of repentance both for the unsaved and for the saved.
Now at the very end of the discussion last evening we turned to Jonah chapter three. And I don’t want to turn to it again. But let me just remind you of the situation in the book of Jonah. Jonah is sent to the great pagan city of Nineveh. And his message is, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be destroyed.” And you remember that the Ninevites, starting from the king on downward, responded to that message.
They believed that Jonah’s message was true. And they repented. They put on sackcloth. They cried to God. And as a result of their repentance, God relented of the judgment that He had pronounced through Jonah. And He did not do it to Nineveh. And Nineveh survived. Now there’s absolutely nothing in the book of Jonah that suggests that anybody in Nineveh got saved.
I’m not saying that nobody in Nineveh got saved. But I’m saying the book of Jonah doesn’t say that they did. There’s nothing in the book of Jonah to suggest that Jonah preached something more than, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” I’m not saying, again, that Jonah said nothing about anything else. Because I think it’s very probable that he said things about other matters.
But as far as the record of the book of Jonah is concerned, that’s what he said: forty days to the ruin of the city. And therefore the book of Jonah is concerned with the reality that by repenting, Nineveh was preserved. Now Nineveh was eventually destroyed, of course. But not on this occasion, because of the repentance that avoided the doom that God had pronounced as coming within forty days.
Now we ought to look also, however, at repentance for the unsaved, as this is suggested to us in the Gospels. And the passage I would like you to turn to is Luke chapter three. I want to begin reading in verse three. This is, of course, a report of the ministry of John the Baptist. And in verse three we read,
And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; and the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Then he said to the multitude that came out to be baptized by him,
Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father,” for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
I want to pause here. There are some people who, when they read the Bible and come to the word fire, have a kind of a knee-jerk reaction. And they read mentally hell. But if you are very careful in searching the Old Testament Scriptures in particular, you will make the observation that fire is frequently used of God’s temporal chastisement. I would like to suggest that what John is talking about is the devastating temporal judgment that overtook the nation of Israel in the period of the Jewish war, AD 66 to 70, and the destruction of Jerusalem.
And according to Josephus, a historian of that general period, as many as a million Jews lost their lives in the Jewish war. So what John the Baptist is saying here is, “The axe is already laid at the root of all the trees. All God needs to do is pick it up and chop. And then every tree that is cut down will be thrown into the fire. And therefore the nation is called upon to bear the fruits of repentance.”
Now notice verse 10.
So the people asked him saying, “What shall we do then?”
Now before I go further, I want you to look back up at verse five. In the prophetic Scripture that points forward to the ministry of John the Baptist, the first thing we’re told is that every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low. You see this? Here’s the mountains, and here’s the valley. So the valleys are going to be filled and the mountains and hills brought low.
In other words, things are going to be leveled out. Okay, now look at verse 11.
He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
What is John suggesting to the people? Even things out. You have two tunics and the guy down here has none. You come down this far, he comes up this far. You’re even. You have food and he doesn’t have any. Give some of your food to him, and you’ll even things out. Every mountain shall be brought low, and every valley shall be filled.
Now notice that also in verse five it says, “And the crooked places shall be made straight.”
Then the tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” There was nobody more crooked in the biblical world than the tax collectors. They made their money being crooked. And notice what he says to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”
That reduced the income of tax collectors dramatically because they counted on overcharging on taxes. And they’d skim the overcharge off for themselves. And they became rich like Zacchaeus, later in this book. So these crooked people are going to be turned into straight people, honest people. Notice also in verse five, “And the rough ways made smooth.”
Likewise, the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
Nobody was rougher than a brutal, uncouth soldier. And so he says to them, “Deal smoothly with people. Don’t flatten them. Treat them right. Don’t protest against your wages.” Notice, therefore, that the predictions of the prophecy, which are in poetic and symbolic language, are worked out in the actual specifics that John the Baptist gives to the people who asked him, “What are the fruits of repentance that we should bring forth?” And John says here, “They are: even things out, straighten things out, smooth things down.”
Notice, please: Did we observe anything here about eternal life or eternal salvation? Not that I noticed. And so repentance deals with the way in which these people should conduct themselves. Now it is perfectly true. And this is a subject that we will take up, the Lord willing, next time. We want to ask the question: What is the correlation between repentance and unsaved people and their potential salvation? Or what is the correlation between repentance and the remission of sin?
That is a subject we want to leave for the final night. But what I want you to observe here is that repentance has nothing to do in this passage with faith. Except insofar as you have to believe that John is giving you a command from God. Obviously, the people responded to this. They’ve responded to this as the Word of God to them. But nothing here about believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. It’s just simply not here.
So we observe on the overhead here, in the Old Testament, we find a classic example of repentance: Nineveh repents and is not destroyed. In the Gospels we find an avoidance of the fire of 70 AD is hinged upon the repentance of the nation. I don’t need to tell you the nation failed to repent. And the fire and judgment fell upon them at that period of time.
Now, let’s look at the subject of repentance for the unsaved in the book of Revelation. First of all, Revelation chapter nine, verses 20 and 21. The immediately preceding verses describe one of the most devastating plagues in the entire book of Revelation. Notice verse 15,
So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, and a day and a month and a year, were released to kill a third of mankind.
This is staggering.
It is projected that by 2000 the total population of the world will be somewhere around six billion. A plague that wiped out or killed a third of mankind would be a plague that killed two billion people. Shocking, devastating, horrendous beyond words. Now notice, verse 20,
But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Notice the wicked, wicked conduct of the inhabitants of the world continues on unabated even after two billion people. Or more, if the Lord’s coming is delayed until there are more people on the face of the earth. Even after a devastating plague like this, the incredible hardness of heart that is reflected in these verses. Now look at Revelation 16:11. We’ll start with verse 10. Revelation 16 is the last cycle of judgments in the book of Revelation, a series of bowl judgments.
The fifth bowl judgment is recorded in verse 10,
Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. This is not only darkness, but in some way or other an intensely painful darkness. And people are chewing on their tongues from the pain of this plague. But verse 11, “And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.”
They are chewing on their tongues and at the same time using their tongues to blaspheme the God that they know is behind these plagues. And they refuse to repent of their deeds. Now it is very obvious that in both of these passages we are not addressing the subject of whether or not they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They obviously did not. We are addressing the subject of whether they’re going to reform their conduct in any way.
And because they do not reform their conduct in any way, the judgments continue. And in the very next bowl judgments, the sixth bowl judgment and the seventh bowl judgment, we finally come to the massive world earthquake in which virtually all of the cities, all of the big cities of the world, collapse. But notice that at strategic points in the narrative of Revelation we are allowed to glimpse the terrible hardness of heart, the terribly unrepentant spirit of the world on which God is pouring out these judgments.
Now we live in a day and time in which, first of all, it is unconventional and undesirable to pass any kind of negative judgment on people. And when we suggest, for example, that perhaps a plague like AIDS is a divine judgment on the sin to which it is connected, people are horrified and call it homophobia. We live in an age which does not believe in the judgment of God. But the day is coming when they will believe in the judgment of God. And they will defy it, they will defy it.
And that is the solemn and horrifying picture that we get in the book of Revelation. Now as you can see, repentance is possible, but by no means always entered into, by unregenerate people. But what about the saved? That brings us to number two. And strange as it may seem, folks, one of the classic examples of repentance in the Old Testament is one of the finest men in the Old Testament. The man whose name is Job.
He repents in Job 42:1-6. But we’re not going to turn to there first. Let me invite you, first of all, to Job chapter one. Do you remember the terrible sequence of calamities that overtook Job, that wiped out all of his wealth and wiped out his children? Verse 20,
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
One of the most splendid and marvelous statements made by anybody on the pages of Scripture! And verse 22, “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”
Satan comes back, you remember, and he says, “Oh well, no wonder he didn’t curse You. You didn’t let me touch his body. Just let me touch his body, and he’ll curse You to Your face.” And so Job is now covered with boils from head to toe.
And then, verse 8,
And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold to your integrity? Curse God, and die.”
She’s speaking the words of Satan. She is asking him to do exactly what Satan wants him to do although, of course, she doesn’t realize she’s doing that. Verse 10, “But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speak. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?’”
And then notice this:
In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
This is a splendid, dazzling response to calamities that are not brought on by any behavior on the part of Job, but part of a contest between God and Satan. And in all of this Job did not sin with his lips. And I want to suggest to you that if Job had just kept his lips shut, we would not have had the rest of the book. Unfortunately, he doesn’t keep his lips shut.
Notice that his three friends come to him and, verse 13,
So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him.
Well, they saw that his grief was very great. They’re not gonna talk if he’s not gonna talk. And then, in verse three,
After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
And this starts, shall we say, an avalanche of words, a series of exchanges between Job and his three friends. And this time Job is not blameless with his lips. Let me invite you at this point to look over at chapter 32. Thirty chapters of interactions between Job and his three friends. And then, a new figure appeared.
We didn’t even know this guy was here. This is Elihu. And he’s been sitting there listening to this. And he is far from pleased. Notice verse 1,
So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. And against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer; and yet had condemned Job.
This interchange is totally unsatisfactory. First of all, Job is trying to justify himself. I don’t deserve this. And instead of justifying God, he justifies himself. And the three friends are convinced that Job has sinned. And they keep accusing him of sin. But they can’t figure out what sin it is. And so this is a total wash.
Now look over, if you will, at verse 33 and six. Job had expressed somewhere in his discourses that he wished that he could have a mediator or a spokesman. And Elihu says,
Truly I am as your spokesman before God; I also have been formed out of the clay. Surely no fear of me will terrify you, nor will my hand be heavy on you.
Now look over at 34, verses five to nine.
Elihu, continuing to speak, “For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice; should I lie concerning my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’ What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water, who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men? For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight in God.’”
I delighted in God, and all this happened to me, says Job. Now look at the same chapter, verses 34 to 37. Verse 34,
Men of understanding say to me, wise men who listen to me: “Job speaks without knowledge, his words are without wisdom.” Oh, that Job were tried to the uttermost, because his answers are like those of wicked men! For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God.
Look over at chapter 36. Here I think Elihu expresses a very significant truth. Verse 16,
Indeed He would have brought you out of dire distress, into a broad place where there is no restraint; and what is set on your table would be full of richness. But you are filled with the judgment due the wicked.
God would have already ended your troubles, says Elihu, if it wasn’t for what you’ve been talking about. And look at chapter 38. Elihu has now finished his lecture to Job. And what is very significant here is Job does not attempt an answer. And God comes right up behind Elihu to speak to Job. Now look at chapter 38, verses one to three,
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”
You have darkened counsel by words that you don’t know what you’re saying, is what God is basically saying to him here. Look over at chapter 40, chapter 40, verses one to six,
Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said: “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.” Then Job answered the Lord and said: “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yes twice, but I will proceed no further.”
Now we come to the last chapter, 42.
Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
I was way over my head, says Job. I was talking about things I didn’t know about.
And then Job continues,
Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, “I will question you, and you shall answer Me.” And Job adds, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
At the end of chapter two, Job had not sinned with his lips. But forty chapters later he has to say, “I’ve sinned with my lips, and I repent.”
And fortunately for Job he already had the dust and ashes; he was sitting in them. I repent in dust and ashes. And then notice:
And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”
Job did not say anything about God that was wrong.
He just overreached and said things he didn’t really know what he was talking about. But the three friends had said things about God that were wrong.
Now therefore take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you.
In his unrepentant status, well then the last thing Job would have liked to have done, pray for these guys that were accusing him of sin.
For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord commanded them; for the Lord had accepted Job. And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Isn’t this absolutely fascinating? Job passes a test of calamities, victoriously. And if he had only shut his mouth at that point, as Elihu pointed out, he could soon have been restored to the prosperity which God had in mind for him in the first place. But he talks, and talks, and talks, and talks. And finally, remember the Proverb, “In the multitude of words, there does not lack sin.” Finally, finally he has to say, “I’m way over my head. I repent in dust and ashes.”
And God says, “Okay. That’s the end of the trouble. Here’s the prosperity I have for you.” Notice what a perfect illustration this is. Here is the case where his repentance brought an end to the temporal judgment of God. From chapter three through chapter 40, the extension of his trouble is part of God’s discipline of him. And his repentance brings the discipline to an end.
I think this is one of the most fascinating studies in human behavior and in the behavior of regenerate people that there is anywhere in the Bible. And I’ve gone into it a little bit more than our topic requires just to show you how very striking it is. One of the most striking cases of born-again people repenting that you’ll find anywhere in the Bible.
Now we can find repentance among the saved also in the churches of Asia. Chapter 2, verses four and five, speaking to the church at Ephesus,
Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works or, else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Verses 14 to 16 of chapter two, to Pergamos,
But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
Chapter two, verses 20 to 23; this time we’re dealing with the church at Thyatira,
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and beguile My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.
Chapter three, verse three, to the church in Sardis,
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
Chapter three, verses 15 and following,
I know your works, speaking to Laodicea, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
There are seven churches. To five of these churches there is a message that involves repentance. Now real quick: which two churches did not get any call to repentance? Okay, Philadelphia and Smyrna, because they don’t have anything to repent of; there are no faults which the Lord finds with those churches. But with the other five churches, there is something wrong in each church. And Jesus says, “Repent, repent, repent, repent.”
He’s not threatening them, as you can see, with eternal damnation. He’s threatening them with discipline in every case. So here we see the classic reality that Christians frequently need to repent. Now remember, those of you who were here last night, remember the author of the fourth Gospel is the author of the book of Revelation. Did the author of the fourth Gospel know anything about repentance? I’ll say!
Five calls to repent to five of the seven churches, two references to repentance in regard to the unsaved, and in the Gospel of John, not even a suggestion of repentance. That reinforces the point which I made last night: repentance has nothing to do with the reception of eternal life. It has nothing to do with the reception of eternal life.
Now, our last passage is the classic passage on repentance in the New Testament, Luke chapter 15. My good friend Luis Rodriguez, who is my business partner in our little publishing company Redencion Viva and who is also one of the pastors at Victor Street Bible Chapel where I minister, had been on my case for years about the prodigal son. I confessed to you last night, you remember, that at one time I held the change of mind view of repentance.
And I took the view that is often taken of the prodigal son, that this is the story of an unsaved man who gets saved, goes back to God, changes his mind, and all of that thing. And from, oh, as long back as I can remember, Luis was saying to me, “No, no, no, no, no. He’s a son. No, no, no, no, no. He’s a son.” And there’s an old saying, “The wise will change, but the foolish will never.”
I now say to Luis, “Yes. Yes. Yes. He’s a son. I agree.” But one of the things that helped me to turn the corner on that were the other two parables in Luke 15. Take a look at them, please. First of all, Luke 15, verse four,
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.”
Well now, I’m not gonna read the next verse right away. Although you are, you’re very familiar with it. This parable is frequently applied to the salvation of a lost sinner. But before we even read the next verse, there are problems. It is fairly obvious, is it not, that this shepherd owns all one hundred sheep? There’s no way we can say that there are a hundred lost sheep here.
There’s one lost sheep, and the shepherd goes after the one lost sheep and brings him back to the flock. The picture is a familiar one from the ancient biblical Near East. The shepherd has taken his flock out into the barren, sparse wilderness where he grazes them. And they are calmly grazing in the wilderness there. And the shepherd notices one of the sheep has wandered off from the rest of the flock.
Now, obviously the shepherd thinks that the other sheep will be perfectly safe if he leaves them for a while in order to look for the other sheep. And that’s what he does. And he goes after the other sheep and brings him back. And that night he has a party. But notice verse seven, which is really the nail in the coffin, if the idea is presented that this is a story about an unsaved person, about an unsaved person, and that all of the sheep are unsaved.
Notice verse seven,
I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
But do you know how this verse is frequently read? It’s read this way. I don’t mean that people have actually read it this way, but they’ve interpreted this way: “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine supposedly just persons who just think they need no repentance.”
But I maintain the text does not say that. The text says that the other ninety-nine are just persons who do not need repentance. This is a Christian flock, folks. One of the members of the flock wanders off into the byways of sin. It begins to live as a sinner. The Shepherd goes after him and brings him back to the fold.
Next parable,
Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I found the piece which I lost!” Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
But hold it. There are ten coins here. How many of them are lost? One only; she knows where the other nine are. The one coin belongs to her collection, just as the one sheep belonged to the collection of a hundred sheep. She loses one, and she sweeps the house until she finds it and restores it to its proper place along with the other nine which also belong to her.
And in the third parable, a certain man had two sons. One gets up and leaves home and goes out and sins. And the other stays home and serves. And he’s not exactly the noble character that that sounds like, as we shall see. But notice one of the really striking facts about the parable of the prodigal son. It is the consciousness that the prodigal son has of his relationship to his father.
Look at verse 17.
He’s out in the far country. He’s wasted his substance in prodigal living. But when he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.’”
I left my dad. I left my father. And I’m gonna go back and straighten things up with my father. These are not the words of an unsaved person, who doesn’t know the Fatherhood of God until they have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the words of a son. The son has wandered off. He returns. And his dad is so delighted. He throws a party.
And then the other son, who has faithfully toiled, is upset. Verse 26,
So he, meaning the older brother, called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, “Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.” Wonderful! says the brother. No. But he was angry and he would not go in.
Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father. Now understand, this is another son. He stayed home. And he’s indignant that all this attention and partying is going on for his brother who has wandered away and wasted his money. And so he answered and said to his father, “Lo these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time.”
Forgive me if I doubt that. I’m not sure I’ve ever met a son who never at any time transgressed his father’s commandment.
And yet you never gave me a young goat so that I could be happy with you?
No.
And yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.
He isn’t sharing the heart of his father here, right?
He’s not thinking, You know, I would have liked to had a party with you, myself. He’s saying, I’d have liked to be with my friends, you know, they’re the folks in the church who have this strict attitude that I have and, you know, we could enjoy each other. But as soon as the son of yours came, notice, not, But as soon as my brother came, but as soon as this son of yours came, I know he’s your son, as soon as this son of yours came who has devoured your livelihood with harlots.
How do you know that? He hadn’t even talked to the boy yet. All he’s talked to is the servant. He thinks the worst: I’m sure he’s been out there with the harlots. That’s where he’s bound to have been. As soon as this son of yours came, who devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him. I love the gentleness of the dad.
Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.
Son, please change your attitude toward this. Now I’m gonna share with you what has been one of the greatest joys that I have had in the ministry.
Because one of the things that has happened over and over again at Victor Street Bible Chapel, where I have had the privilege of ministering now for forty-four-and-a-half years, is that lots of people who wandered away from the flock have come back. If you were to walk into our church today you might see a guy behind the pulpit who was away from the Lord for many years.
His family prayed earnestly for him. His marriage almost collapsed. And he came back. And he’s dedicated to the Lord and serving the Lord. And he’s now a member of our board. See Luis Rodriguez get up and preach. And he was away from the Lord for many, many, many years. God brought him back. And he’s one of the finest men of God I now have the privilege of knowing.
I can hardly imagine anything more thrilling than a brother or a sister who has been away from the Lord returning to the fold, coming back into fellowship with God their Heavenly Father. The joy of God over this is immense. And pity the poor, legalistic, strict, self-righteous Christian who can’t enjoy it, can’t go in and be happy with his dad because estranged son or daughter has returned.
There’s almost nothing, maybe, maybe I would say the salvation of a soul is slightly more beautiful than this, but not by a whole lot, almost nothing is more wonderful than the restoration of estranged sheep to flock, the return of a prodigal son to the household of God. I suspect you’ve had that experience here. May God give it to you many, many, many times over again in the future.
All right, how about some questions? Waters that’s almost like he went on the desert. Yeah, we absolutely. And one of the things that we need to remember here, and this is one of the things that lies inside the story. But all right, we are delighted to have the person back. But the time they were away is wasted. And the rewards that could have been won are squandered. No reward.
So the older brother, what’s he got to be upset about? You are always with me and all that I have is yours. You’re the heir. You’re being compensated for your fidelity. Come on in and enjoy it. Well let’s close in prayer shall we? Father, thank You so much that You are the loving, gracious Heavenly Father that You are. That when Your children go astray, and when they sometimes spend years out of Your presence, You never cease to love them.
You never cease to look for them. You never cease to work to bring them back. And when they do return, You are so delighted. Father, just help us to sense the wonder and splendor of this marvelous thing, the repentance of a Christian who has gone astray, the restoration of a sheep to the flock of God. And may we enter into the joy of our Heavenly Father in that. And we pray it in Christ’s name. Amen.