The Lost Son, Part 1a

Luke chapter 15 is where we are. Luke chapter 15 discussing the parable of lost things. It's one parable. It's not three parables. It's a parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost silver coin, and the parable of the lost sons, plural. Tonight we're going to discuss the most familiar picture portrayed in Luke chapter 15, the parable of the lost sons. Unfortunately, it has been misapplied in, misinterpreted over and over again throughout the years. Hopefully we'll be able to give you a clear interpretation of this passage so you understand exactly what it means.

Let me give you an example. There are some people who believe that because this father loves this son so magnanimously that God has always the God of love. He never demonstrates his wrath. He never demonstrates his anger and people build a whole theology just around this picture in Luke chapter 15. That's not true. Because whenever you interpret scripture, you must interpret scripture in light of the scripture. And when you interpret scripture in light of what the Bible says about our God, he is not only loving, but he's also wrath.

He's good and merciful and kind, but he's a jealous God as well. Others haven't interpreted this parable in Luke chapter 15 and come up to the conclusion that that repentance is not necessary for salvation. mainly because the father never says anything about repentance and completely ignores the son who comes to him and confesses his sin. And they build the whole theology around the fact that repentance is not essential to salvation. Again, that's not true. By virtue of the fact that this young man totally repents of his sin and we'll see that this evening, how he gives his life to Christ, how he turns from his sin to follow the Savior.

Let's look at it together, Luke 15, verse number 11. And he said, a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country. And there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now, when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need.

And he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he was longing to fill a stomach with the pods that the swine were eating. And no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his census, he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger? I will get up and go to my father and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven. and in your sight, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me as one of your hired men. And he got up and came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. and bring the fat and calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry.

For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found, and they began to be married. Now his older son was in the field. And when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing, and he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things might be. And he said to him, your brother has come, and your father has killed a fat and calf, because he has received him back safe and sound. But he became angry and was not willing to go in. And his father came out and began in treating him.

But he answered and said to his father, look, for so many years I have been serving you. And I have never neglected a command of yours. And yet you have never given me a kid that I might be married with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fat and calf for him. He said to him, my child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to be married and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found.

This picture of salvation is so unique that we're going to spend at least three weeks on Luke 15 versus 11 to the end of the chapter. We're going to spend this week looking at the younger son. Next week, looking at the father and then the following week looking at the older son. And trying to see what our Lord wants us to see as he gives us this picture. By way of introduction, let me review for you, first of all, the lost sheep and silver coin.

Because there's a contrast that he gives. not necessarily a contrast, but a perspective that we need to get. You see, the parable of the lost sheep and the lost silver coin give us the perspective of God's activity toward the sinner. And the parable dealing specifically with the lost sons reveal man's responsibility in salvation. God's activity toward the sinner is one of wanting to rescue him and redeem him. and so he seeks for him with a passion. Man's responsibility toward God seeking him is to repent of his sins.

And so you get both sides of the coin. And that's important because if you just received the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost silver coin, you could come up with the conclusion that God is so wanting us to come to him that he will do everything he can to get us, no matter what we do. And therefore, there is no obligation on our part to do anything. But that's not true. Because God calls man to himself. Man turns from his sin. Repents of his evil ways. Gives his life to God. And that's the other side of the coin, that we need to fully grasp to understand true salvation, to understand what the Lord is doing when he calls a sinner to himself.

Yes, he takes the initiative. Yes, he pursues the lost sinner because if he didn't, the sinner would not come to him. So in order for the sinner to turn from his sin, he must first of all be pursued by God.

And that's what the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin picture to us. How God feels about lost things versus how the Pharisees themselves felt. They were upset. This man eats with sinners. We saw that last week in verse number. 2 of Luke chapter 15. They began to murmur among themselves. How can this man eat with these kind of people? Why does he do that? This man eats with publicans. This man eats with sinners. They got it right. Sure he does. Just because he was separate from them did not mean that he didn't associate with them.

And he did. Because he came to seek and to save that which was lost. That's why he came to this earth. And these people recognized they had a need. So the first two people, pictures, the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost silver coin, give us a side of God's character that we need to understand on how God pursues relentlessly those who are lost.

The flip side of that is the picture of the lost sons. It's not just the one lost son, it's the two lost sons. You need to understand that. And it's not the parable of the prodigal son. That's what everybody calls it. But you will know. that Jesus doesn't call him a prodigal. What does Jesus call him? The younger son, the lost son, the dead son. But he doesn't call him the prodigal son. So why do we? Why do we call him the prodigal? If Jesus didn't call him that, let's call him what Jesus called him.

Dead, lost, young. Prodigal, means reckless, wasteful. Was he that? Yes, he was. But the man was dead in his sins. The man was lost. You see, you must understand this. It's a picture of salvation. It's not a picture about a son of yours that begins to be rebellious and takes off. That's a secondary application that can be applied, but that's not the primary interpretation of the passage. Because you need to understand it's a passage about the salvation of a lost sinner who turns from his sin and comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

That's what this parable is about. The lost sheep, the lost son, and the lost silver coin. You with me so far? good for number two the instruction there are three main characters the younger son the father the oldest son that's pretty obvious two things i want you to see tonight about the younger son number one is rebellion number two his repentance first of all his rebellion you'll note that in verse 11 the younger son comes to his father and says give me he circled that word give me give me my inheritance now according to do erroneomy 21 he could do that he was the younger son, he was entitled up to a third of the inheritance.

Now he wouldn't get all of it at once because the father wasn't dead, but he would get a greater portion of that. You will note that both sons receive their inheritance. And know what the text says? He says, and he divided his wealth between them. So that would mean that the younger son received his inheritance and the older son received his inheritance. Now very few people ever recognize that about the parable. Oh, the younger son wanted his inheritance so he got it he went off took off the oldest son was home he was a good old goody two-shoes kind of guy he stayed at home didn't receive his inheritance that's not true he did receive his inheritance he just stayed home and this younger son having received that which was rightfully his decided after a few days to leave to leave to go away because the world was calling the distant country was calling and he wanted to be there he wanted to be there he wanted to be there more than he wanted to be with his father.

So he left. The symbolism here is unbelievable. Why? Because it's the symbol of man's desire to be out from the control of God. This young man did not want his father telling him what to do. This young man didn't want to obey the rules of his father. He wanted to live on his own. He wanted to be his own man. Isn't that what sinners do? They want to be on their own. They don't want to be held accountable to God. They don't want to be held accountable to a supreme being. They don't want the Bible dictating to them what they should do and shouldn't do.

They want to do whatever it is they want to do. And this is what this young man wanted to do. He just wanted to be on his own. He wanted to leave any sense of accountability. He wanted what he wanted. He wanted freedom. He wanted liberty. He wanted independence. That all began with Adam and Eve. Way back in Genesis chapter 3. That's what they wanted. The drive to be free. The drive to be able to do my own thing with nobody else telling me what to do. Everybody was that. And this is what this boy did.

He left home. He was the essence of foolishness. The Bible tells us that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, right? What is foolishness? Foolishness is thinking that I can live life without accountability. Foolishness is thinking I can live life without God. is living my life the way I want it with no boundaries. That's why when you are growing up as a child or you're raising your children, one of the very first words those children learn is, is mine.

That's mine. You can't have it. It's my world. You're living in it. So give me back my toy. Or you know what? They want to play by my rules. This is my room. Why? Because they want to be in control, and they don't want anybody else to have what they have. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, and that's why the rod of correction will drive it far from them. And if parents don't do that, that felicitness accentuates as years go on, and what you have is just a bigger person saying, mine, mine, I want this, I want that.

You can't have it. That's their search for liberty, their search for freedom, their search for independence. I don't want anybody telling me what to do. And this is where this young man was. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 14.1, the fool has said in his heart, no God.

No God. That's what he says. I don't want accountability. I don't want to be responsible. I don't want you telling me what to do. I want my own way. That's what the fool says. Amazingly, the dad gave him what he wanted. He let him go. He asked yourself the question, didn't the dad know the consequences of him just going off and doing his own thing? Yes. Didn't he know all the evil that was out there? guess. How come he didn't stop him? Why did he say, no, you can't? You got to stay right here and I'm going to hold you down.

I'm going to change you to the bed. You can't go. Because the father's representative of God and it's not true that God just let you go. Sure he does. He lets you run rampant. You see, the father knew that the son had already left home in his heart. He was already gone. Physically he was still there, but mentally he was gone. Emotionally, he was gone. He wanted to be someplace else. And his body would follow his thinking. The apostasy had already happened. It always happens in the heart first.

There was no way of stopping the boy. There was nothing that would turn the boy around. The results were inevitable. And so the father thought that the better part of wisdom was to let the boy follow his heart and see where his heart would take him. Isaiah 53, verse number six, says what? All we like sheep have gone astray each, each of us, has turned to his own way, right? We do our own thing, and God lets you go your own way, to feel the full effect of your sin in your life. Romans chapter 3, that very familiar verse says it this way.

Verse number 11, there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. Verse 16, destruction and misery are in their paths. that is the unbeliever. And the path of peace, have they not known, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Everything before the unbeliever is nothing but destruction and misery. They don't understand that. They think there's peace and happiness out there. This young man thought there was happiness, there was joy, there was peace. It was all right there in the distant country.

And that's where I'm going, because at home I don't have it. But there I got it, so there I'm going. And so he went. And as God gives man volition, he knows. In man's search for freedom, he will only find bondage. He'll only find slavery. Even though he wants liberty, he'll find nothing but slavery. His search for enjoyment always leads to enslavement. That's what sin does to a man. The Bible says in verse number 13, that he went to a distant country, a distant country.

What is the distant country? Let me read it to you. Ephesians chapter 2 verse number 12 this is the distant country. Paul says remember that you at that time separate from Christ excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world. The distant country is the place without God. That's the distant country. The distant country is the place. placed that exists, first of all, in a man's heart when he doesn't want to be accountable to God and wants to get as far away from God as he possibly can, not realizing that God himself was on the present, that God is everywhere.

But this young man was seeking to go to a different world, to a different location. In search for success, he would only find failure. In search for life, he would only find death. Why is that? Because there is a way which seems what's right into a man, but the ends thereof are what? The ways of death. Not life, it's death. And in his search, he would not find life. And so the kind of living, it says that he went to a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living, with riotous living, living any way he wanted, doing whatever he wanted, because he had the money.

money, he could do whatever, whenever, however, to whomever. Because that's what he had. And yet, that kind of wanton living cannot go on forever. Because the Bible says, be not deceived.

God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soes, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6, verse number 7. God says, nobody makes a fool out of me.

Nobody does. So verse 14 follows verse 13. And it says this, now when he had, spent everything. A severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be in need. Let me ask you a question who caused the famine?

God caused the famine. You've been with this on Sunday morning? You hear about the book of Genesis? God caused the famine. It didn't just happen. God was at work. Remember God calls man to himself. God pursues man. God seeks after man. So God orchestrates the events surrounding the whole process of bringing man to himself. And lo and behold, at the same time, he runs out of money, guess what? A severe famine occurs in the land. That's God's joke on him. And so the Bible tells us he had no money, he had no food, he had no job, he had no place to go.

But I want you to notice something. His self-resources were not yet. broken. He still had self-sufficiency. He still had resiliency. He still had resiliency. He still had a plan. He wasn't about to admit that he was defeated. He had something up his sleeve. Verse number 15 was his secret. And he went and he tasked himself to one of the citizens of that country. and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. You see, he went a different direction. This was a Jewish man. He would attach himself to a Gentile man.

He would beg him, give me a job. Give me something to do. Now, for a Jew to associate with a Gentile was low. But to receive the job that he would receive would be even lower because he would associate with pigs. Jews just don't do that. So he found himself doing that which he would never do just to survive, just to keep his head above water, just to keep treading, just to keep himself moving. He would do all he could to live. In verse 16 says, and he was longing to fill a stomach with the pods that the swine were eating.

Not only did he have to feed the swine, he was so poverty-stricken that the only thing that was edible was the food of the swine. Can you imagine being in a pig spin wrestling with the pigs over who would get what piece of pod? I mean, there he was, man. He had to get something to eat. And the only thing he could eat was what the pigs were eating because the Bible says this.

No one was giving anything to him. No one. Wait a minute. Where were all those people when he had the money? When they were all around them, you know, and they were dancing and living up and riotous living and having fun down at the bars? Where were all those hussies that were with them when he was out spending all the more were they? They were gone. He was out of money. You see, the world's only in it for what they can get. If you can't give them anything, they don't want to have anything to do with you.

They could care less about you. and the older brother would come back and say you know he spent all that money in the harlots all your money that's all he did he filled his sexual desires he perverted himself that's what he did but where are all those people now those people that were his friends when he had money that wanted to be with him that wanted to ride in his car because he had a good car that wanted to go with him to dinner because he would buy they were all gone he was all by himself nobody would give him anything he had zero he was friendless you see the world won't give you anything because they want for themselves and they'll be your friends as long as you can do for them but when you stop doing for them guess what they're not your friends anymore because they have to survive they have to live this young man had nothing the pigs were more important than he was they received food he received nothing Think about that.

The pigs, they got a full, you know, a full course meal. What did he receive? Nothing. Nothing at all. Sin had been allowed to bear its fruit to the fullest. He couldn't go any lower than he was. And this became the turning point in this boy's life. For listen to verse number 17, but when he came to his census, he said, How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger. He came to a census. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. He came to his senses. He realized that his father's house was full and he was famished.

He realized that in his father's house there was plenty, but where he was, there was poverty. He came to a census to realize that his road led nudge. nowhere. His road led to death, but his father's road led to life. He finally came to his census.

What am I doing here? What am I doing eating with pigs? What am I doing sitting in the mud? What am I doing here? And the man would turn 180 degrees and change his mind about God, self, and sin. He came to a census. That's repentance. We'll have to cover the rest next week. That's great.