Two Prodigal Sons (younger repentant-elder not) & the Father's Love for Needy Sinners: Luke 15 (#7)

Luke 15: The Two Lost, Prodigal Sons! The Younger Repentant - the Elder Son not Repentant - and the Father's Love for Needy Sinners.

Luke 15 contains a three-part parable; the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son. The lost sheep, coin, and son represent a sinner who comes to repentance. The two sons appear in:

11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 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. 13 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. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17 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! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 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. 21 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. 22 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: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 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. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 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: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 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.

Who are you like?

1.) Are you like the younger son while in rebellion—are you a unconverted sinner still enjoying his sin, like the careless publicans and sinners who did not want to hear the Lord Jesus? You do not yet feel your want, nor the evils of the far country. You are glad to be there, away from the Father. The Bible calls you a child of wrath, a child of hell. However, you will know what it is to reject the Father one day, and unless you repent, and surrender to the Father with the attitude “Father, I have sinned very greatly against Thee. I am not worthy to be Thy son. I repent—I am willing to be the lowest of your slaves,” you will without any doubt perish in hell forever.

2.) Are you like the younger son after his repentance and conversion? What reasons do you have for gratitude! You can say: “For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell” (Psalm 86:12-13). The Father’s bowels were moved for you in love even while you were in the far country, hating him. He saw you and loved you even when you were afar off. You have now been brought safe into the Father’s house, purchased out of infinite love and at the infinite cost of the blood of He who spoke this parable in the first century, and who understood as no man else ever has, or ever will, what a price was required to redeem the sinner from the far country—the awful cross which Christ spoke of in the precontext to Luke 15 in Luke 14:25-35.

3.) Are you like the elder son—doing a slavish “service” to the Father, but without any love for Him, without any understanding of his heart? Are you an unconverted Pharisee instead of being an unconverted tax collector, or a repentant and converted sinner? If you are, Christ’s invitation is open to you. You still can recognize that, however good you may look on the outside, yet in truth you are not one whit better than those sinners who are living in the far country. You have a far country on your inside, while they have it on the outside—you are no better than they. Receive Christ’s invitation, and be converted.