Sermon notes from 17 June 2018 pm
Luke 15 verses 11 - 24
The Prodigal Son
This young son was in a loving caring environment. His father done everything for him, placed a roof over his head, put food on the table, laid up treasures for the rest of his life yet there is something that this young man feels he is missing out on.
A young man with a discontented spirit. Morning after morning he goes through the same routine. There is something swelling up within him, a hunger for something. Is there a hunger in your heart, in your soul, something that can never fill that hunger. There is one who can and his name is Jesus. I wonder is there a discontentment in your heart? Something you are longing for, hoping for? It will happen at the place called Calvary. As you cry out to the Lord that you need to be saved, that if you came and took him as Saviour he will take the broken pieces of your life and will give you something worth living for. When you leave this scene of time you will step out into God`s eternity for ever. What a tremendous hope we can have. Maybe he watched others, heard of those who had moved away and the great lives they had. Maybe this was the stem of this great discontentment in his heart. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden during those first days of earth they roamed the most beautiful place they could ever live in, they were content there until one day Satan came to them. He asked Eve about the tree in the garden they were told not to eat. She explained that in the day they ate of that tree they would surely die. Satan told her she would not die but rather her eyes would be opened and they would be as gods. There was a discontentment in her heart. She reached forth and took the fruit. She would be content once she ate of it. Then sin and rebellion entered into the world. Through that first turning away from God that is where discontentment comes from. Not content with what God has given to us. Remember David, he had everything possible for him to have. One night he saw Bathsheba the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He lusted for her, he wanted her so badly. Demas stood with Paul, he preached and prayed and witnessed with Paul until one day the love of this world reached his heart and he left the things of God entirely. What is taking you away from the Lord? The love of the world came into Demas` life. He gave everything up as a result. The world is full of people who cannot find their fulfilment in their own lives right now.
A young man deceived - verses 12 and 13. He said to his father "I would be happy with my portion if you gave it to me now." Maybe for some days it satisfied him but there it deceived him into believing he could have a good time. Satan soon takes over when you have a discontentment in your soul. Even in the Garden of Eden there was discontentment. Eve was persuaded to reach for something she never had in the first place. The people of Israel were discontented with Samuel and his sons. They asked for a king to lead them into battle. They wanted to be like other nations. God gave them a king but he did not satisfy because they rebelled against the things of God. God is warning you to be careful. Maybe you are discontent with spiritual things. The Lord spoke in the parable of the sower. The word of God was sown but the cares of this world, the things we face day after day wear us down. We get discontented and then the devil moves in. The deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things enter in and choke the word of God. God`s word can be choked in your heart. The devil can deceive you, convince you that you would be happier in this place. Many who have made professions in the past are no longer there today, deceived into believing what devil would have them believe. The lust of other things, the deceitfulness of riches. It was said of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3 "thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest thou art naked and wretched and poor in spirit." Our true state was we were born in sin, shapen in iniquity, in poverty spiritually speaking going out into lost eternity. God reached down and took us from that horrible pit. God sent his son to die on Calvary for our sins. He asks us to come and trust him. He gives us something we never had before. A contented spirit. Matthew Henry said that there is "a God shaped vaccum in every creature that can never been filled until God fills it." Only God can fill it. That church at Laodicea found Jesus outside the door, unwelcomed and unnoticed.
A young man that was drifting - verse 13. He found the money the father gave him did not satisfy him. He had thought the money would satisfy him but it didn`t. He wanted to follow the entertainment of the world, turns his back in search of real joy and happiness, see him drifting through life and then out into lost eternity, nothing to hold unto. Whenever we forget about God we are only drifting through life, no purpose in life for us. This young man found that his pleasures were great, he had friends all over the place but soon the glitter would pass. Moses realised the wealth and education of Egypt would not suffice for all eternity. He would turn his back on the house of Pharaoh and take up his abode with the children of God. He turned his back on the pleasures, realised they were only for a season.
There is a dilema in this young man`s life. He spent all, everything he had trying to be satisfied and couldn`t be. Many have spent all in the pursuit of pleasure. There was a famine now. His life began to fall down around him. The writer to Proverbs said "good understanding giveth favour but the way of the transgressor is hard." (Proverbs 13 verse 15) When his money was gone so where his friends. David said "I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me, refuge failed me, no man cared for my soul." (Psalm 142 verse 4) In Psalm 40 we read that David lifted up his voice from the depths of the miry clay and found an ear in heaven.
The decision the young man makes - verse 20. He would arise and go to his father, confess to his father that he had sinned against him. That is where you begin too. You come as a sinner and say "I have sinned, I am open to that, I am admitting that, I am coming to you." The young man didn`t find rejection but 2 open arms embracing and kissing him. There was one who still loved him after all the shame he had caused. This young man made a decision he would always be glad of, he left the far country with nothing and stepped into a feast back home beyond anything he could imagine. You will find the same today. He will make you a new creature if only you will come but like this young man you have got to come as he did. The young man never looked upon this decision with regret. You have to trust him and come.
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