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1-800-688-6621 www.abercap.com male announcer: "In Touch"
with Dr. Charles Stanley, reaching the world
with the gospel of Jesus Christ through
sound biblical teaching. Next on "In Touch,"
"The Forgiving Father." Dr. Charles Stanley: Jesus
was a master story teller, and the parable of the
prodigal son is one of those masterful stories. And this is the setting for this
passage of Scripture that I want to read, and it is a setting for
the message I want to bring. And if you'll turn to the
fifteenth chapter of Luke, and I want us to read beginning
in the twenty-first verse. And you remember that the
prodigal son's left home, made a mess of his life, and then the
prodigal, something happens to him, and the Scripture says in
verse twenty of the fifteenth chapter, "So he got up and came
to his father. But while he was still a way
off, the 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, put a ring on his hand,
sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and
let us eat and celebrate; for this my son was dead and has
come to life again, he was lost, he's been found.' And they began to celebrate." What was Jesus saying? Jesus was saying simply this:
the door is wide open for sinners to come home. And he wanted to make a point to
these Pharisees and Sadducees who were criticizing Jesus's
audience. The Bible says, "The large crowd
were going out along with Him and He turned and said to them." And then of course, it talks
about the Pharisees and Sadducees being critical of what
Jesus was doing. And this is the message that
Jesus had for His audience. That no matter what goes on in a
person's life and how far down they get--how empty, how wicked,
how vile, how sinful, how futile their life may be, there
is an open door to salvation, to forgiveness, and
a new beginning. If that were not true, you and
I would not be sitting here. All of us have
sinned against God. All of us have had to confess
and repent of sin, not once, but many times. But our names got written in the
Lamb's Book of Life one time. It only gets there one time. There are no erasures in the
Lamb's Book of Life. And all of us who have trusted
Christ as our Savior have our names there. And so, it's not a matter of
looking up anything when you die and to see if your name is in
the Lamb's Book of Life. It's there all right. And God knows when we're coming
to claim our inheritance. Amen? So, I want us to look at this
particular parable in this light. First of all, to look at the
simple steps that this young man took to get where he was,
because people are still taking those steps. And so, Jesus describes the life
of the prodigal son. And so, the first word is
dissatisfaction. He was at home. He had everything in the world
he could imagine. His father took good care
of him. He had a great future, but he
was dissatisfied, probably because his brother had passed
on some news that he'd received from people traveling about the
far country, wherever that was, and how exciting it was, and how
beautiful the women were, and how great the situation was. And on and on they went. And so, he became dissatisfied. He looked around and he became
dissatisfied, not because he didn't have what he needed, but
because of what he heard. Watch this, be careful what you
listen to. And secondly, that
dissatisfaction created a desire within him. And that desire was to be able
to enjoy some things other people had mentioned to him. And so, he's sort of tired of
living out there. Had everything he wanted, but
something deep down inside of him had a stronger desire. I can tell you what that is. The old sin nature is there to
expose its cravings. Then came the deception in his
thinking, because he thought, "Well, this is not the way I
want to live. I don't have to live this way. I'm missing something in life. And so, I think I just need to
make some decisions here and change things a little bit." So he made a decision. Step by step, he made a
decision. He made a decision to leave,
made a decision to leave his parents, his brother, his home,
his family. And he had made a decision to
enjoy life. That was his decision. "I'm going to leave all of this
old stuff. I'm sick and tired of all this. I'm going to enjoy life
for a change." That's what every poor sinner
says at some point in their life. "I want to enjoy life, which
means I want to leave what I have and I'm going to involve
myself in some things that probably wouldn't be acceptable
to some, but I'm--I've got to enjoy life." That's always a decision
that's dangerous. And so, what follows
that decision? Departure.
He left. He packed up his goods,
what goods he wanted. He didn't pack up many of
them because he intended to buy new clothes. He intended to look
like somebody new. He's leaving the old behind him,
and so he was leaving. And so, he left against his
father's will, of course, but he left. And then comes the delight, and
that is everything was new. He had plenty of money. He dressed well. He had any kind of
transportation that they would have had in those days, but he
had everything he wanted. His dreams were coming true. He was sick and tired of living
out yonder, up yonder in some distant place when all of these
folks down here are having such a big time. I want to go to a big city. I want to live life and I want
to experience life. I'm tired of living in this
little old town. This is not a place I want
to live. And so, instead of asking: is
this wise or unwise, I want what it has to offer. So, naturally he began to
enjoy it. But like every person who tastes
sin and every person who chooses to walk away from God, after the
money began to run out, after his friends began to run out,
after his clothes got a little worn, when all of that ran out,
the Scripture says he became very disillusioned. Watch this carefully. Sin will always leave you very
disillusioned. You may think it's going to
satisfy you, but it cannot. And because sin cannot satisfy,
or you say, "Well, I'm satisfied," for a season, only
for a season. But even then, when you get by
yourself and you close your eyes at night and you think about
reality, you're not happy. You're living out of the will of
God, you're not happy. He became disillusioned. So, what happens? The further down you go in wrong
thinking, wrong use of your money, wrong use of
relationships, taking advantage of people, and all the rest that
goes on in a sinful lifestyle, what happens? He began to feel hopeless
because he knew when he left home, it was going to be an
awesome, wonderful life for him. Because that's what the devil
always says, "Well, if you had a taste of this, if you had him or
if you had her, you could drive this and live there and wear
this, then you know, life would change for you." Listen, I would never question
the fact that sin doesn't have some pleasure in it. But beneath the pleasure
is the penalty. The penalty for sin
is always the same. "The wages of sin is death." That doesn't mean it's always
physical death. The wages of sin is death: death
to happiness, death to peace, death to security. Sin always has a final chapter,
and that final chapter is physical death and eternal
separation from God. It's not a matter of doing this
sin or that sin. It's a matter of rejecting Jesus
Christ as the Savior and Lord of your life. That's the sin that takes a
person down the road away from God and to miss heaven. To be eternally separated from
God because you knowingly, willfully reject Jesus Christ as
your personal Savior. And so, that's the way he found
himself. And finally, he had to give up. He was in total despair. In other words, he ends up
in a hog pen. And the truth is that people
today, it's the same story. You start out with everything
and everything looks like it's going to be just right and
you're going to make it. And what happens? You can't tell exactly when it's
going to happen, how it's going to happen. But I'm telling you, one of
these days you're going to trip up. One of these days you're going
to discover that things are not like you were told that they
would be, and look around you at the mistakes you've made. It looks like you've gotten by
with it, but you haven't. Because the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. The wages of sin is death. Be sure your sin
will find you out. You don't get away with it. And so, he finds himself now,
everything's gone. How he thought about his father
and at the household and now how he thinks about them. He lost it all, and he's trying
to feed hogs just to exist. And then by the grace of God, he
comes to himself and he begins to think about what he used to
have, and he heads home. And the real story of this
parable is the father's attitude about him. And so, what happens is
God is portrayed here as the prodigal's father. And so, here's the difference. Here's what happens. It's what happens to the father. We know what happens to the son. He's messed up badly. He's lost, totally
disappointed, disillusioned, in total despair. But what about the father? So, look at the steps of the
father, what he's been going through while his son's been
absolutely living in sin, disobedience to God. Remember, first of all, there
was a wounded heart. When he told his father what he
was about to do, he wounded his father's heart. You've got to be a dad
to know that. "I'm--I want my part of it, my
share of the inheritance. I want to live a little bit, and
I thank you, father, for being good to me, but I've got to
live some. I'm sick and tired of being
around here and being told what to do and have limitations
on my life. And I hear these stories of
people who are coming up and down the road, telling me where
they've been, what they've done and so forth." And so, it wounded
his father's heart. So God has a wounded heart. And so, the father's thinking,
"Why do you want to leave everything for what's going to
prove to be a disappointment?" But you see, people who are
living in sin and who want to sin against God,
they don't see that. And so, the next thing you
notice about his father, is he wondered about him continuously,
just like you would as a parent. Your son or your daughter's left
and living in another country maybe, some other state. They don't hear from
you anymore much. And so, you wonder what's
happening to them. You wonder how they're
doing financially. You wonder about their friends,
what kind of friends they have. What do they do on Sunday? Do they go to church
or not go to church? What kind of places do they
inhabit and do they ever think about their father and mother? And so, all the questions that
would naturally go on in the father's mind. And then, of course, in the
midst of all that, he's waiting for him patiently. And how many fathers and
mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers have waited
patiently for their renegade sons and daughters and
grandchildren who've deliberately, willfully walked
away from their home because they wanted to live life on
their basis. They wanted to live life on
their time schedule. They want to enjoy some things
in life that were forbidden in their home because their parents
were spiritually minded. And they, you know, they talk
about the Bible, and we've had all of that, so here they are,
and here he is. And the father's thinking about
all the things he must be into, but he's patiently
waiting for him. Watch this, watch
this carefully. Jesus is describing our Heavenly
Father's attitude toward you and me. Not only is he waiting patiently
for him, but the next level of his relationship, he was
watching for him. And he oftentimes, probably
would stand on his porch and look down the road. He could see a pretty good ways,
and he saw all these travelers coming and going and would hope
that one day he would, but he'd been watching for years and he
hadn't come. But he didn't give up. What's God saying? I'm not giving up on you either. And so, he watched and he waited
and he watched many travelers, and he sometimes was thinking,
"Maybe he's not coming back. But maybe he will come back." And he watched and watched and
watched and hoped and prayed, and yet nothing ever happened. But then there came
another level. He wanted him to return soon. He couldn't be--he couldn't come
soon enough. He wanted his son to--no matter
what kind of shape he was in, whatever he did, whatever had
happened to him, he wanted him back. And so, the Scripture
says--couldn't be soon enough naturally. I'm sure his brother probably
had some words to say about all that. But he wanted him back. Watch this carefully. I don't know who you are,
where you're living in life, and what's going on, you've
walked away from God way back yonder, God still waits for you. He still wants you to
come home to Him. He wants you to be wise enough
to recognize that sin ultimately is going to destroy you. Sin ultimately is going to
deprive you of everything in life you want. It may be late in life, it could
be soon in life. But God patiently waits as
the father is pictured here. And he wanted him to return
no matter what. And then that last stage is the
one he's looking for, he welcomed him home. And if you could imagine what
was looking at all that road, all that empty time he was
looking and waiting, and then one day he was looking,
standing out there looking and watching, waiting. And there's something about that
guy walking up the road, he looked a little familiar,
not too much. He--the way he carried himself. And he looked, and he certainly
didn't look like the guy that left all dressed up. And he kept looking, and finally
he realized, "Yes, that's him," and so he took off
running after him. He didn't stop to say, "Well,
what kind of shape he's in," anything else. He just took off running. And when he got to him,
what did he do? He didn't stand off and say,
"You look like a tramp. What happened to you? Look how you wasted everything. You've lost years." What did he do? When he saw him, he grabbed
him and hugged him. And the Scripture uses a term in
the Greek verb tense there, he kissed him and kissed him and
kissed him and kissed him, and hugged him and hugged him and
kissed him and kissed him, and he said, "We're
going to have a party." He's trying to confess sin and
what a mess he's made of his life. He wasn't listening
to any of that. They were going to celebrate
that night, get ready no matter what. Now, what was God saying? God was picturing for us,
humanly speaking, how God feels when you get right with Him. And you may be one of those
persons who's messed up your life badly. In fact, you're ashamed to tell
anybody where you came from. And you wouldn't dare tell
anybody where you're going. You've just blown it badly. I want to tell you, the same
father who waited for his son is the same loving Jehovah Yahweh
Elohim God of the heavens who's waiting for you. And who will forgive you just
as his father forgave him. And so it, just imagine
what that looked like out on the road, father and son
rejoicing of seeing each other once again. Jesus knew how to tell a story. And He was saying to all those
Sadducees and Pharisees out there,
You want to know what God thinks of these sinners who are
watching me? This is what He thinks of them. And so the story, we know it as
the parable of the prodigal son. Thank God He put this
in the Bible. Because everywhere, watch this,
all of us will see ourselves in one of those three persons. Either the forgiving father,
or the renegade son, or the bitter brother. We're all somewhere in there. Where do you see yourself? Are you a forgiving person? Do you hold grudges
against people? Are you living in sin? All of us are somewhere
in all of that. And so they had a big
celebration, and you know the story about the son coming
in and we talked about his attitude. But this is all about God. This is all about a
Heavenly Father who loves us and who forgives us. The Bible says, "The wages
of sin is death." But you don't have
to die in sin. "The soul that sinneth,
it shall die." Yes, but you don't have to. And there's a world of people
living in sin because they have chosen to disobey God. And probably some of you sitting
here, or many of you who are watching or listening,
that's what you've done. You came from a home where your
mother and dad read the Bible, where they went to church, and
you decided you outgrew that. That's old fashioned. You don't do that today. And now where are you? If you face yourself, you know
deep in your heart you're far away from God. What you thought was going to
make you happy has not made you happy. And so, you try this and you try
that and you try the other. And when you've tried everything
the world has tried, do you realize what you've done
to yourself? Realize what you've done to your
own character, to your own sense of self-esteem, and yet God
will forgive you. He will take all of
your sin away. He will forgive all of your sin. He will change your life,
He will restore you. He will do for you what you
cannot do for yourself. And so, for this father, he was
so grateful to have his son back. He didn't have to hear
a bunch of confession. He just wanted to celebrate. And what it says is this, the
heart of God is so tender, He rejoices when a
sinner comes home. So, what happens? He forgives his son, restores
him to his household. And so, when we think about that
and think about how God is restoring today. There are four other words I
want to give you, four other words that describe what God
has for us, and the first one is forgiveness. It doesn't make any difference
what you've done. Watch this carefully, you may
have said, "But I've just been so mean and rotten and ungodly
and disrespectful, and I've been on drugs, I've been a
prostitute," on and on and on you go. Let me tell you something, you
can't name anything God won't forgive you for. That doesn't mean there's not
a penalty for sin, but listen, God's forgiveness, if we confess
our sins, that is we agree with God that we've lived in sin
and disobeyed Him. "If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just," always trustworthy, "faithful and just
to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness." That's the promise of God. That's the first step. Secondly, acceptance. He not only forgives us of
our sin, He accepts us, that's the way we are. He accepts you as
one of His children. Watch this carefully, you don't
have to get all straightened out to get God's acceptance. You come to Him pleading as a
sinner, asking for forgiveness, and His acceptance is on the
basis of what He did at the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, He
paid your sin debt in full, no matter what you've done or
how long you've done it. Forgiveness of our sins,
acceptance by Him and restoration. That is, He restores us. What does He restore? He restores our sense
of self-worth. He restores our sense
of dignity. He restores our attitude
about other people. He restores everything about us. Restoration. It's not enough just to forgive
us of our sins, but He has to straighten out some other things
in our life that got twisted by sin and wrong thinking. And then following all of that,
of course, is rejoicing. When a person comes to Christ,
all of these simple words describe what happens
in their life. Forgiveness, acceptance,
restoration, and rejoicing. And in the parable, they had
a big party, a big celebration. This is a simple but awesome
story because it's God's message that no matter how wicked and
sinful and vile you've been, God is willing to forgive you. Not because you deserve it, not
because you've done this or will do that, but because when Jesus
went to the cross, He took the sin debt of the world upon Him. And anyone who comes to Him
asking for forgiveness, surrendering their life to Him
will be forgiven, their name written in the Lamb's Book of
Life, and you will forever be a child of God. Doesn't mean you're not
going to sin anymore. And you may be saying, "Well,
I know that I'll sin again, then what? It doesn't mean that you'll
never sin again, but it means this: you have a relationship to
God that's not separated. You have a relationship to Him
that is like this. He will forgive you of your sin
when you confess and repent of it. If you sin against God as a
believer, is there a penalty? Yes, there is. But you're a child of God. And so, the grace of God
wraps around us. We're always a child of God. Watch this, this is the awesome
power of the death of Jesus: every person, from Adam to the
last person who will ever live, their salvation, their
acceptance before God, all goes back to one thing, and that's
the cross of Jesus Christ. That's the payment for our sin. And that payment is sufficient
for all eternity. God wants us to listen to Him,
to hear Him, to surrender to Him, surrender our life to Him. God wants to bless us
with the best. And that blessing is available
to all of us who are willing to follow Him. So, I'd ask you this:
are you saved? That is, are you a child of God? Has there ever been a time in
your life when you can say, "At that time in my life,
here's what I did. I asked the Lord Jesus Christ to
forgive me of my sins and I surrendered my life to Him,
knowing that it wasn't because of any good thing I've done,
knowing that I'll probably sin again, but I want Him
to have my life. I yielded my life to Him. In fact, I got baptized. And I want to live a godly life. And one of these days when He
calls me home, I want to be sitting all ready. Amen? Not having to fix up anything,
sitting all ready. There's only one way to be
ready, and that is a personal relationship to Jesus Christ
whereby you have confessed your sins. So I'm going to pray
a simple prayer. If you have never trusted
Jesus Christ as your Savior, you need to do it right now. Because you see, you don't have
any assurance of tomorrow. You may live tomorrow, and
you may not live tomorrow. You can live eternity with the
Lord Jesus Christ if you're willing to ask Him to save you. And if you'll pray this prayer,
honestly, sincerely with all your heart, God'll change your
eternal destiny in a matter of moments. So let's pray right now. Father, we thank You for this
simple story, but awesome story of Your forgiveness, of Your
grace and love and mercy. Lord, I pray that every person
here who is unsaved would pray this prayer sincerely
with all their heart. Heavenly Father, I am a sinner. I have sinned against You,
broken the commandments, had it my way. I'm asking You to forgive me
of my sin and give me that new beginning. I believe that You will accept
me, not on the basis of how good I will be, but on the basis of
what You said, the shed blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary. He paid my sin-debt in full. I pray, Father, that each person
who's prayed that simple prayer would accept Your forgiveness
right now and praise You for it. And I thank You for it
in Jesus's name, amen. announcer: If you've been
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