Truths For The
Prodigal
Lesson #4
THE ROAD BACK IS CALLED “CHANGE”
Intro
1. We are studying the story of The Prodigal Son. We are on a quest looking for truths from this story Jesus taught a crowd of people who were both “lost” and “found.”
2. We need to understand the story, so we are taking some time to learn what this
story meant to the people in Jesus’ day. Following the context of Scripture is
always wise.
3. And we are wanting to see the timeless principles of this story for our lives today.
Certainly we are still living in an age where prodigal sons and daughters stray
away from their homes with their Heavenly Father.
4. Let’s pick up where we left off.
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I. THE FAMINE AND THE FACTS
Luke 15:14-16...
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.
Have you ever noticed how bad things love to occur in a series? When
things are going
badly, you never want to say, “Well, it couldn’t get much worse,”
because it will.
That was the case with the prodigal son:
1st:
He depleted all his financial resources...money he was personally
responsible for. This was a result of decisions he had made.
2nd:
A “mighty famine” arose in the land in which he was living. This
was something over which he had no control... “an act of God” if
you will.
A. God’s Use of Famines
1. Famines were a common occurrence in the Middle East in biblical times:
a) Abraham - left the land of Canaan to travel to Egypt
b) King David - a 3-year famine in his latter reign
c)
King Ahab -
led to cannibalism in Samaria (II
Kings 6:24-29)
And Jesus warned that there would be famines throughout the world.
2. What brings on a famine?
a) Natural causes - droughts, too much rain, floods or
extremely cold weather
b) War - It is said that 27 million people starved to death following WW I
c) Supernatural causes - God can bring about a famine.
3. This particular famine drove this young man to do a job no self- respecting Jew would ever want to do: FEED PIGS.
B. Dealing With Reality
1. God’s timing is always right:
a) Consider the story of Joseph, from prisoner to deliverer.
b) Esther knew timing was everything as she approached King Xerxes of the Persian empire.
2. Now this young man is without friends, funds, or food...and no one
to turn to...exactly where God wanted him.
3. He knew he could return home...but to do so would mean that he would have to swallow his PRIDE.
No, he wasn’t at the bottom quite yet. He was not willing to admit
that he had treated his father wrongly, disrespectfully.
All he needed was a job.
4. Ever lived in The Land of Denial?
5. Isn’t ironic that he had left home to be free from dependence upon his father, but he found himself totally dependent upon a stranger for a job.
And he knew that there was plenty of food in his father’s house.
6. The Jews regarded pigs with revulsion, being unclean animals. Did you know that the ultimate act of desecration in Jewish history happened in 167 B.C. when a pagan conqueror sacrificed a sow on the altar of the temple in Jerusalem?
7. “The husks” are not what we call husks today. These were dark brown, horn-shaped pods of the carob tree, flattened to resemble a dried banana. Sometimes referred to as “the poor man’s chocolate,” these pods contained a sweet-tasting, gelatinous substance inside and were frequently used to feed the poorer classes of people as well as livestock.
A Jewish rabbi once wrote, “When Israel is reduced to the carob tree, then they become repentant.”
8. This is what it took to bring the prodigal son to his senses.
God was not being harsh or unfair with him; He was simply using the consequences of the son’s foolish choices get his attention. He realized that the pigs were better off than he was!
9. C.S. Lewis once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience and shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
10. Now it’s time to stop and really think about where he is and what he is doing with his life. Has God ever brought you to a moment like that?
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II. THE PROCESS OF CHANGE
• The
Old Chinese proverb says that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single
step.
• Don’t you know
that the prodigal son was at the point of taking just such a first step?
• But before he
could take that step, there was a process that had to take place in his
heart....to
produce a CHANGE (repentance).
Now, we are not speaking of a process of salvation,
but a process that leads one to salvation. A process of critical
thinking.
A. Know the Facts
1. John 8: 32...
And
ye shall know the truth,
and
the truth shall make you free.
2. It is difficult today to find people who know how to think seriously.
Serious thinking is a discipline of the mind and most people avoid
such a process. Satan has cleverly found ways to divert us from
the challenge of thinking: busyness, work, entertainment, a faster lifestyle.
Perhaps, the prodigal never had to really think things through before; maybe his father had always done his thinking for him.
Certainly, he had not been thinking when he decided to strike out on his own or when he approached his father asking for his inheritance.
3. So why is he thinking so seriously now---in these verses...
Luke 15:17-19...
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 worth to be called thy son:
make
me as one of thy hired servants.
4. Two things have brought him to this point:
#1.
Hunger pains gnawed his stomach
#2.
Loneliness filled his heart
5. In Mandarin Chinese the word for “crisis” is composed of two characters, one of which means “danger,” the other means “opportunity.”
This is where the prodigal is in this thinking---it could go either way---danger or opportunity.
6. What did the prodigal KNOW?
#1. He had knowledge of his father’s character.
#2. He had knowledge of the conditions back home.
#3. He had knowledge of his present condition.
Jesus invited the religious leaders of His day to a point of knowledge of the truth when He stood in the temple and said...
...I
am the light of the world:
he
that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,
but
shall have the light of life.
...And the Pharisees rejected Him and His claims.
7. You and I experienced the same thing; we had to get on the road that
led us to spiritual FREEDOM... and that trip began with knowing
the facts:
A personal knowledge of:
√ The facts re: Jesus’ deity
√ The facts re: Jesus’ perfect, sinless life
√ The facts re: Jesus’ death on the cross
√ The facts re: Jesus’ resurrection
√ The facts re: accepting or rejecting Him as Savior
8. Even though the process begins with facts like these, it doesn’t end there.
Instead,
it leads to a
RESTRUCTURED APPROACH TO
THINKING.
Illustration: Everyone knows that an IBM computer cannot dump
it’s information into a Macintosh or vice versa...
...unless you have the CONVERSION
SOFTWARE.
Paul said it this way...
That
I may know him,
and
the power of his resurrection,
and
the fellowship of his sufferings,
being
made conformable unto his death;
(Phil.
3:10)
9. It is interesting that the facts the prodigal came to realize were true and they gripped his heart---they were not important to him when he left home, but they are now!
10. Socrates said, “Know thyself.” Modern society has placed a great emphasis on knowing ourselves---the psychologist would encourage his patients/students to come to value SELF- KNOWLEDGE.
That conversation with the prodigal might go like this:
Psychologist: “Young man, you need to really know your inner self, to get in touch with your real feelings. Then, you can be a self-actualized, truly fulfilled person.”
The Prodigal: “I have come to know myself---and I’m hungry, cold, and dirty.”
Self-knowledge is a dead-end street. All you need know about yourself is that you are a sinner by nature and you are in need of a Savior.
B. Focus on Truth
1. For the young man the truth was:
#1. The hired servants of his father were better off than he was.
#2. The self-centered life being the answer is a lie.
2. In the book The Day America Told the Truth, research showed that 91% of us in America lie regularly and only 31% consider honesty the best policy.
People, before coming to Christ, believe and trust in a lie.
It is the claims of Christ that cause us to focus on the Truth.
3. When we come to the point of accepting truth into our hearts, whether it be The Truth (Jesus) or His true principles (Word), God is thoroughly DELIGHTED!
a) God wants us to have truth “in the inward parts.” (Ps. 51:6)
b) David wrote...
Search me, O God, and know my
heart:
try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked
way in me,
and lead me in the way
everlasting.
(Psalm 139:23-24)
4. Whenever one embraces the truth, there are false beliefs that must be rejected:
#1. “Somehow I can always run things my own way.”
#2. “I have to perform up to a certain standard to please god or others.”
#3. “I couldn’t survive without human approval.”
#4. “At some point God will end up grading everyone on the curve.”
5. Rejecting the lies and accepting the truth leads us to TRUSTING Him.
Colossians 2:6...
As
ye have therefore received
Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
6. The prodigal understood the truth because of hardship.
Before this he had been beside himself, but now he came to himself.
7. This is the road to true liberty---to real freedom.... now he is ready for that father-son relationship to be restored. His heart and mind had genuinely been changed.
C. Move Toward Freedom
1. This is the action phase.
2. This is the first step leading back to his father, the road to freedom.
3. There have been great moments in human history when the human soul
cried for freedom:
a) Those who lived in bondage behind the Berlin Wall. When
President Reagan challenged the communist to tear down
the wall, little did the world know that is exactly what would
happen so quickly.
b) Those who marched for freedom in the 1960’s in America because the laws were unjust, marched for freedom.
The Jim Crow laws were wrong and needed the attention of the nation focused on the social injustice.
c) And there were those who braved the guns and tanks in Tienamin Square and in Russia.
4. When we take in the liberating truth of God’s Word, it brings life-giving change into our minds and lives.
When
we act on truth from the Bible,
we
move decisively toward true spiritual freedom.
D. How Change Takes Place
1. It begins with the thought processes.
This is why we are committed to teaching the Bible in our
church and church school.
2. It usually touches the emotions.
But there are some who are not as emotionally-oriented as others,
and there may be not outward show of emotion.
I think we can see the emotional effect his situation had upon him.
He realized that his concern for starving was something that the
servant’s in his father’s house were not even worried about. There
was a good chance he may not survive and he knew it.
3. It includes some “self-talk.”
a) Have you ever caught yourself talking to yourself?
That’s what the prodigal son was doing.
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,
&n