Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.
For many years, children have gone off to a school somewhere and started to learn the three basic things that each of us need to get by in life. Many educators refer to them as the three r’s which are reading, writing and arithmetic. When you learn these three basic things, many avenues to living a successful life can open up to you. Many years ago I wrote a study called the three R’s of Christianity, which are very important to live a successful Christian Life. These three basic principles must be learned right from the very beginning, which are repentance, remission, and reconciliation. In order to mature and grow into a genuine man of God, one must have a good grasp and understanding of these three biblical concepts, all of which are contained in the parable of the Prodigal Son.
Luke 15:11-32 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. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 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! 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.
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. 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.
Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Just like the prodigal son, each of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and rather than abiding in the relative safety of his dad’s home, the prodigal son wandered out into the world and got himself involved in sinful living. But this all changed when he finally decided to repent of his sins.
Repentance
In its most simplistic form, repentance is to change your mind. This is the first and most important crux that must be taken if one really wants to obtain eternal life. Genuine repentance will always be combined with contrition, which is a deep sorrow in the pit of your soul, which results in a change of heart and one’s manner of living. We must turn away from our own desires, and submit completely to the will of God. When you were a child, did you ever put your shoes on the wrong feet? Repentance is about sitting down at the kitchen table, taking off your shoes and putting them back on the right way. Have you ever been driving through a town and realized that you were on the wrong street? What did you do? In order to get where you wanted to go you had to turn around and go the opposite direction. If we want to obtain eternal life, we all need to do the same thing. We need to turn from darkness to light, we need to turn from wrong unto right. Granted, a lot of us have done stupid things in the past, but it’s high time for us to change and submit to the one who died on the cross for us. The prodigal son realized how much his father cared about him, even providing him with plenty of food to eat, and when he recognized the error of his way, he repented of what he was doing, and started to head back home.
1 Peter 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Remission
Remission in the Christian Life is about the complete forgiveness of sins, where God no longer remembers the wrongs that we have committed, but casts them into the abyss never to be spoken about again. The world’s concept of forgiveness is vain because they will claim to forgive others in their heart, but they never really forget the event that took place. If this is the way that they are going to treat others, God will do the same to them at judgment and hold them accountable for all the wicked things that they have done. When the prodigal son repented of what he had done, the father completely forgave him and held no ill will against him at all, restoring him completely from all that he had done.
Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Reconciliation
Reconciliation is the process by which broken relationships are restored to what they were in the past. You might have had a really good relationship with your neighbor in the past, but then you hit a baseball through their living room window and they were very upset with you. Sincere repentance for what you have done can lead to reconciliation, which is a point in which the offended party completely forgives you, and doesn’t even remember what you did any more. This is exactly what the father did for the prodigal Son, completely absolving him of his sins and reuniting in the close relationship that they had in the past. I have taught for 20 years that without reconciliation, forgiveness never really happened. These are people who want to say that they forgive you, but don’t want to be around you anymore. Can you imagine God saying I forgive you, but when you went to judgment Day He told you that He didn’t want you in heaven with everybody else? Reconciliation is the end of animosity and bitterness, and completely putting the past behind you.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
It’s time for everybody to turn around and go back home to God. Repentance, remission, and reconciliation are the first basic things that everybody will need to learn, because they are……
……..The Three R’s of Christianity
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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