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.
A parable is a simple story that is told to illustrate a spiritual lesson, and Jesus used many of them throughout the teachings of the Gospels to help people better understand the point that He was making. His parables were meant to teach and to explain the Truth about many different aspects of the Christian Life. Today, we are going to focus on just one of them. The story of The Prodigal Son has always been one of my favorites because it encapsulates all of the basic doctrines of our faith.
Luke 15:11-32 (KJB) 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.
First of all, “prodigal” is defined in the dictionary as to spend money or resources freely and recklessly, or to be extravagantly wasteful. The Prodigal Son had received his share of the inheritance but squandered it on sinful living, but each of us can easily step into his shoes because all of us have made foolish choices at one time or another. But one thing happened in his life that changed everything, and that was the moment when he finally accepted the truth about what an idiot he had become. Only when each of us get to that point in our lives, can we ever take steps in a different direction.
In this parable, the son represents sinners, and the father represents God, and before any of us can return to a relationship with the heavenly father, we must first accept the truth of what we have done. Sorrowing unto repentance has to do with feeling so bad about the foolish decisions that you have made, that it causes you to turn away from sin and do the right thing with your life. To put it simply, to repent means to have a sincere change of heart. Jesus taught to repent or perish, and unless you are filled with genuine repentance, you will never change anything in your life. Repentance towards God and others whom you have wronged is one of the first and most important doctrines in the Christian Life.
When the son finally came to his senses, he repented and returned back home and was ready to accept the consequences for what he had done. But when the father saw that his attitude had completely changed, he opened up his arms of fellowship towards him. When he sincerely confessed his faults to the father, rather than inflicting some type of punishment upon him or making him pay back the debt, he completely forgave him for everything that he had done. That is called remission of sins, which is the cancellation of a debt, charge or penalty, and is another main doctrine of the Christian Life.
After these two events took place, the two of them were reconciled with each other, which means the complete restoration of harmonious relationships with others who were once in a state of conflict. When genuine repentance and forgiveness happens, reconciliation can take place, joining together once again in the close relationship that you shared before the sinful activity was ever committed. When all three of these basic doctrines have been kept, sin is completely forgotten and cast into the depths of the sea.
Remember that Jesus commanded that when you sin against others in the church you needed to repent and be reconciled with them. But in order for that to happen will require repentance from the heart, owning up to your own faults, turning back to those whom you have wronged, confessing your faults to them, receiving their forgiveness, and rejoining the relationship that had been broken by your sinful behavior.
The brother of the prodigal son had a hard time understanding why his dad had been so merciful towards the wickedness of his own son, but there is a huge difference between abiding in wickedness and recognizing the error of one’s way. When people repent of their sins and turn from darkness to light, not only can past relationships be restored, but they have just passed,……
……..From Death unto Life
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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