From Failure to Fullness II, The Prodigal

Our theme for the last couple of weeks has been from coming from failure to fullness for the the pathway of forgiveness. We're learning what it means to be forgiven of God. And if you haven't been able to be with us, we do have tapes of the previous couple of messages, and we will try to have a tape every week so that you can plug into the essence of the teaching each week. We noticed last week how Jesus immediately followed those most difficult words that he spoke in the end of Luke 14 about counting the cost, about selling all that you have, and following me about hating your father and mother and brothers and sisters, and all those things that we found so difficult that he followed that challenge with these very wonderful and beautiful parables of grace in Luke chapter 15. And we spent a good bit of time last week looking at the Father's posture toward the repentant Son. Last week we dealt with the Father's hope heart toward the Son, Heart that was seen. Well, look at it with me right there in verse 21 actually 20 while he was yet at a distance, his Father saw him, had compassion, ran, embraced him and kissed him. And we look at each of those five expressions of the Father's acceptance for the Son. And today we're going to be looking at this return of the prodigal from his perspective and what it meant to Him. Now, you know, it's very easy for us to take these stories and just simply in one fashion or another, allegorize them and not really let them be life to us. And I'm aware of that. But I'm going to ask you to listen to a poem that I discovered about the prodigal Son and you can get all the light heartedness out of your system on this poem with regards to the Prodigal Son. This is called Melody in F and it was written by a man by the name of Phil Kerr who died almost 20 years ago. I guess for those of you who like poetry, since I don't use very much, here you go. Feeling footloose and frisky, a feather brained fellow forced his fond father to fork over the farlings, and flew far to foreign fields and frittered his fortune, feasting fabulously with faithless friends, you get the melody in F. Now fleeced by his fellows in folly, and facing famine, he found himself a feed flinger in a filthy farmyard, Fairly famishing he fain would have filled his frame with foraged food from fodder fragments. Here's the son talking phooey. My father's flunkies fare far finer. The frazzled fugitive, frankly facing facts, frustrated by failure and filled with foreboding, fled forthwith to his family. Falling at his father's feet, he forlornly fumbled. Father, I flunked. I fruitlessly forfeited family favor. The far sighted father, forestalling further flinching, frantically flagged the flunkeys to fetch a fatling from the flock and fix a feast. It's not pig, it's not a hog, it's a fat link. The fugitive. The fugitive's fault. Finding brother frowned on fickle forgiveness of former falter. All but faithful Father figured filial fidelity is fine, but the fugitive is fond what forbids fervent festivity. Let flags be unfurled and fanfares flare. So Father's forgiveness formed the foundation for the former fugitive's future fortitude. There it is. I want us to look at this passage of the return of the Prodigal Son from his perspective, his perception of what was happening. Look with me first of all, back in the scripture, in verse 21, here is the Son reciting the speech that he had practiced before returning to the Father. He says, verse 21. And the Son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. It's important that we see the initial step of the reconciliation of this Son to his Father was nothing less than open hearted and full repentance. Beloved, there is no changing in the kingdom of God without repentance. Repentance is the cornerstone upon which all the rest of our activities are laid. When we fail God, we don't earn our way back into his favor. When we fail God, we repent and receive his forgiveness. It's not a matter of activities. It's not a matter of trying harder. It's not a matter of greater disciplines. Initially, it's a matter of repentance. It's a matter of being willing to say, I have sinned against heaven and you and even myself. Look at that with me. He's very clear there. I've sinned against Heaven. All sin is against God, isn't it? And you, Father, how many of you know that sin has its consequences against others that are affected by it? And there are times when you sin that not only do you need to ask your Heavenly Father's forgiveness, but the individual against whom you sinned, but also there is the truth that when you sin, you also have sinned against yourself, that somehow you've short circuited the purposes of plans of God in your own life. And that also brings you to a posture of needing forgiveness and repentance in your own life. I've sinned against heaven and against you, and against myself. And then he says, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Now there's a truth to that. There's a truth to the fact that based on what he had done, he didn't deserve to be called a son. And if there needs to be any settling of the issue, we don't deserve, do we, what God has given us. Any of us who honestly come to grips with our own lives realize the sin that reigns in us, eliminates us from deserving God's blessing, God's favor in our lives. And yet look what the Father does. Would you remember back in verse, look with me in verse 18 and 19 when he's practicing this speech, he says, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. But then when he gets to reciting this speech, he says, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. That's the same. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. That's the same. But before he can go on and finish the phrase and say, treat me as one of your hired servants, the Father interrupts him and says, fetch a fatling from the flock and fix a feast. The Father interrupts his own words, as it were, from speaking the untruth that he could work his way into his father's acceptance and favor back in the farm. And there's a very, very important truth there, that we cannot earn acceptance and favor as hired servants in the household of God. It's the whole matter of unworthiness, of wanting to somehow establish ourselves as acceptable in God's eyes through something that we do. And I'll tell you as much as you would think in our culture today that pride is the greatest sin. And it probably is this whole matter of unworthiness and a lack of God given self esteem. It's a crushing thing among God's people. You see, the matter of unworthiness is a subtle thing. It's subtle in that it rarely comes forth in conversation. And people rarely talk about the fact that they don't feel worthy to be a child of God or to be used of God. When you're sitting down in a conversation, you generally don't share. I don't really feel worthy of this or that. But it reflects itself in our actions and our attitudes and this thing of unworthiness is also deceptive because in a sense, you can be saying, all along I'm unworthy and I'm worthy. But inside you're endeavoring to prove that you are worthy. And Satan lies to you and says, the harder you try, the more worthy you'll be. And so there's a deception that's involved in this whole matter of unworthiness. And it works itself out in two basic ways. Some people, in their unworthiness, say, I've wasted my life. I've blown it all. What does it matter? I can't salvage what's left. There's a song that was written and sung by a traveling college chorus that kind of highlighted the attitude of a lot of people like this who just. All they want to do is hold on to God long enough to get to heaven. The song was written and they would sing and they'd come in, if I can just make it in. If I can just get through the pearly gates and just make it in and be with God, you see. And that's not the attitude the Lord wants us to live under, is it? We're not trying to scratch and claw our way into heaven. And so the unworthiness, its head rises up and says to us, you've wasted your life and God isn't going to use you. And I had a conversation with a brother that's here this morning not too long ago, and he was saying, you know, he's a newer Christian, and he was saying, I don't know how God would want to use my life. I haven't been much of a student. I haven't done much of anything really worthwhile with my life. Kind of just spent it on myself. And I'll tell you something, that attitude, if it's let go, if it goes on to its ultimate end, will destroy what God can do in you. Because it takes away from you the expectation that God, when he makes something new, makes it all the way new. And every one of us who've opened up our hearts to Jesus know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God can make all things new in you, that he can redeem the years that the locusts have eaten. We don't need to be under a bondage of the. To our failure in the past. We're going to see something about that a little bit later. So there's some who say, I've wasted it all and blown it all, and it doesn't matter anyhow, I'm unworthy. And there's some who say, well, I'll tell you what, God, I'm going to show you that I'm really sincere now. And I'm really going to demonstrate to you that I mean business. Treat me as one of your hired servants. I'll show you that I can do what you want me to do, that I can make it. Ever done that with the Lord? Ever made promises to the Lord of your faithfulness that you haven't been able to keep? Most of us do that. And I find that there is implicit in that a thread of pride that's basically saying, God, I know that I don't deserve it, but I'm going to show you that I do. But the truth is that you don't. And yet the Lord comes and graciously gives you all that you need for life and usefulness in the kingdom of God. You know, over in the Philippines, where Bill Christie right now, actually he's in Taiwan and he told us of his last visit there. And you may have seen this on television, where at the certain holidays, particularly Good Friday and the Easter holiday, that the Philippine Christians, some of them practice these rites of self flagellation to identify with the wounds of Christ. And they literally take whips and they walk along and they smack themselves in the back. Have you seen that? So that literally they cut their own backs open and bleeding by trying to demonstrate to God their unworthiness and yet the fact that they want to love him. And Bill even recited to me conversation that in some places, many places, people are tied onto crosses and hung on crosses for a number of hours. And in some places they're literally nailed to the cross, all as a means of expressing to God that they want to be worthy of what he's done. Well, you know something? We don't have to do that. Amen. We don't have to do that. The Lord has made his declaration to us and about us. We cannot earn any favor as a hired servant in the kingdom of God. And the Bible is very explicit. Now Turn to Ephesians 2, Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2. Read verses 1 through 6. And you he made alive when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. This is really an expression of what the prodigal went through among these. We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind. And so we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God. But God, who is rich in mercy out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead, through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and made us sin. Sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Jesus Christ. Do you see that God has done what needed to be done and placed us at the right hand. There is an amazing positional truth here that needs to be worked out in our experience, but it's true and we cannot add to that. Do you know why we can't add anything to what God has done? You know why we can't be a hired servant in his household? Because in order to do that, God would have to say that what Jesus did was not enough. God would have to say, well, his sacrifice and his shedding of blood wasn't enough to make you completely acceptable. And everything in the Bible that I read and you read says, it's never Jesus plus something. It's always Jesus, Period. Never Jesus plus always Jesus, period. He is everything. He is sufficient for us to be accepted in the household. The Father. And don't ever labor under the false assumption that you could earn some sort of favor to improve yourself. But you say, well, I know that I'm not worthy because I keep on sinning. I keep on demonstrating that I don't really deserve what God did in my life because I am the first to confess that sin, ongoing sin, is a problem in a Christian life. First, John tells us clearly that we who have been born again do not continue in sin. And yet our continuance in sin should drive us back to the Father in repentance and seeking mercy and should be a motivation for us to receive the Holy Spirit's enablement to cut off that stuff and not see ourselves as dropping off from relationship with our Father. All of us know a thousand illustrations of that. Any of us who have children know that sometimes our kids don't do something they should or do something that they shouldn't, Right? The other day I was in a pharmacy picking up some things for this beach mission. And I had little Jonathan with me. And he's the. I don't know, every child's different, but he's the kind that put him down. And, you know, he's just on every aisle. And I turned my back to get something off an aisle and I turned around and he was gone. So I started walking up and down the aisle and here I look at him. Here he comes with this little jar of something chewing away at it. And that was my reaction exactly. And I picked up the bottle in here, of all things, it was children's vitamin C tablet. So of picking something off the shelf, he found the right thing. Now, needless to say, we had a problem and Jonathan had to get a spanking for that action. But he was in no way cut off from being my son. He was in no way threatened with disownment. I was not going to say, jonathan, if you take another vitamin out of another bottle somewhere, you're no longer going to be my son. You're not worthy. And yet, as funny as that is, it's true that many of us look at God when we sin and figure that God will have nothing more to do with me. And though there's truth, and I don't want to let you off the hook and say, well, it doesn't matter what you do, there is truth. That sin that's unrepentant will ultimately lead to a hardening of heart, I believe that if you're willing to come to God, he continually will forgive. He'll continually restore and establish you in relationship with him. Now let's look and see not just the Son's view of himself, but the Father's provision. The Father's provision. Okay, we've seen the Son's perception. Here's the Father's provision. We've seen how the Father loved the Son and welcomed him, how he expressed that love very demonstrably. And we said here that that needs to be more and more part of the life of this body, demonstrating love. Here's what the Father says. Verse 22. The Father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and make merry. For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and they began to make merry. Bring quickly the best robe. It's encouraging to me that the Father didn't sit down and decide what he was going to do. He knew right away what he wanted to do. Quickly, bring the best robe. Now that word best in the Greek is the word protos, which means first, first robe. It's a symbol. As you know throughout the Bible, robes are a symbol of an office or of a standing or of a family relationship. Think back, who had the Famous robe in the Old Testament, Joseph and his robe of many colors, Right? And what did that robe signify to the other brother? That he was number one. He was the favored son, wasn't he? You all remember that little story, Genesis, I think it's 37. The robe stood for position and standing. And the Father says here, bring the first robe. Literally. Vine's New Testament dictionary says it's the first, the chief principal or first in rank. That's what it means, the first in rank. And so what he was doing, literally, was offering him a return and his standing in the family and making him first in that standing. Oh. Not only was he restored to sonship, as it were, but he was restored as chief of the sons. Now, everything in you and me resists that. We can't believe that God would want to make us number one in his sight. Hey, there's someone over here that's a lot more spiritual than I am. Or here's this man that had a profound impact on a lot of people. Or here's this man that was a great athlete, and now I know you're going to use him to have a big public ministry or a man that was a politician. And we all know these stories, don't we? And we say God has great things for everyone else. But do you see here that God says, here's the first robe to every sinner who returns to him. There is no line before the heavenly Father. You're number one in the line. I rejoice in that. Don't ask me how God can have millions of number one sons and daughters, but he does. Fortunately. That's for him to work out. I just have to understand it and believe it. Amen. Do you know what that means? Do you see that God says, no matter how much you've stumbled along, you're still number one in my life. You're still my number one son. And I'll tell you why. Because God only had one favored son, and his name was Jesus. And all who are in Jesus are now favored sons. And our standing is secured because of Jesus, not because of ourselves. Put on the best robe, The number one robe. But also the best robe means the quality robe, the robe that is made to fit you perfectly. One of the experiences that I'll remember for a while when I was in the Marine Corps was the time we were fitted for our uniforms. And of course, they had the enlisted men who measured you and so forth. This was early on in the training. And the drill sergeant, of course, told them that you would be 2 inches more narrow here and 2 inches broader up here. So the guy would get you in there and he'd put a uniform on. You know, you'd feel yourself bulging up this way. And, no, I can't get in and out. You're right. They're just sitting in my closet. But I remember them fitting me for that very exactingly. They knew exactly what they wanted to do, and they fit. And by the end of that training, it was interesting that the drill sergeant was right. You know, you do kind of change shape a little bit there, especially your head changes a lot. And it was a blessing because I found myself feeling really good. And I happened to get married in that uniform, so it fit me just right. And when it says here the best quality robe, he's talking about a robe that is made to order for him and that is perfect in its design and is high quality. And that robe fit perfectly so that it would cover all of the sun. And there is a truth underneath that beloved. You see, the sun came back with tattered clothes, the remnants of what he had spent on himself, with mud caked in the palm of his hands and on his knees, a tattered mess with bruises and cuts and scrapes from living in the pig pen and from fighting with the people who had fleeced him. And when he returned, he didn't have time to shun himself up and get all those things healed. And the father came and put on the best robe that covered those scars and those hurts and that dirt. And I want you to know that when the Lord Jesus puts a robe on you, he covers those things in you. He covers the hurts and the scars of your past. Most all of us sitting here have different things upon us that could, alongside of us, rise up and accuse us and say, we're not really worthy to be a son or daughter. But God says, put on the first robe, put on the best robe, and you can make a choice if you'll believe what God said about what you look like, or if you'll believe what you think you look like from back when. And, you know, we're really good at that, aren't we? We're really good at saying, yes, I've found the Lord. And things are changing. But we're always rolling up our sleeve and thinking, I still got this bruise, Lord. I still have that hurt. And we carry with us, don't we, our failures of the past. There's a lot of people here today that the Lord wants to heal from past memories and hurts. He wants you to see yourself as the One with the perfect robe on, because he doesn't see those things. And that's the way he wants to see yourself. And there's a way in which this happens. Turn Back to Isaiah 61, where we had been previously. Isaiah 61. There's three times there that the Bible talks about garments. In verse 10, it says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exalt in my God. For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. The garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. Hallelujah. So on God's part, he puts on you the robe of righteousness. And then he says to you, flip back in verse three, That he would have you to wear the mantle of praise, or the garment of praise, rather than the spirit of heaviness. And one of the ways in which you begin to live in the fullness of life in Jesus is to not see yourselves as clothed in the tattered rags of your old life, but to put on the mantle of praise. To let praise be that which reminds you of who you are and of what God has done for you. And that's why we learn these choruses, beloved. That's why we sing these songs and we learn these scriptures. That's why I want to encourage you in your quiet time to worship the Lord. Because when you put on the mantle of praise, then the robe of righteousness that the Lord's put on you begins to come to life for you. And you realize that God sees you not as you were, but as you are in him. And pretty soon you begin to see yourself not as you were, but as you are in Him. And this whole thing of unworthiness, oh, God, I'm not worthy the pity party that some of us get into about our old life. The Lord takes that away and says to you, I've put on a robe. I have declared that you are whole. I have restored you to full measure of sonship in my family. Number one son, number one daughter. And to me, beloved, that just gives me such freedom to know that I am God's and he's mine. And he'll carry me along, and he's going to take me where he wants me to be. Lord willing, in future weeks, we're going to look at what else the Father gave the Son that he might function not in failure, but in fullness. Amen. Let's bow our heads and pray. Lord, we pray in this moment for your eyes to see what you have said about us. Father. Lord God, the hurts and the scars of the past, Lord, Right now, Father, begin to minister to people that are here who have bruises under their robes, Lord, who are continuing just to look at those bruises, who are choosing to be held back by the scars of the past, Lord, Begin to reveal that right now. Show us, Lord. Whisper to our heart, Father. Lord Jesus. Lord, those among us who find that we feel so inferior to other Christians, so useless in the hands of God, so unfaithful, Lord, those of us who think we must be way down the line when it comes to blessing because of our unworthiness, Father, speak a word to them this morning. Teach them that they are number one in your life. That they have on the first robe. Oh God, the robe of privileged position because of Jesus. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Lord, let us receive that truth today. Praise the name of the Lord. There may be some today who have never, as the prodigal, never have returned to the God of your fathers. And we're talking about here, not a religious form or system, but of a relationship with God, having a relationship with our Heavenly Father. And I do it this way. Point want to mention that God has said that all who would return to him can find salvation. That all that's necessary is for you to seriously see that you're separated from him, to repent of your sin, to turn from your old way and to come to God. And I believe that if you've listened today and if you just allowed the Holy Spirit to minister to, you've known that God's presence has been here and you felt his love. And if you want to know the love of God today, just going to ask you to identify yourself and say, yes, I want to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior today. Every week we have people who do that. And perhaps you had no intention of doing that when you came in here today, but God has really spoken to you that you need to return and find forgiveness from your sins. Now if that's your situation today, I want you to do it in this way. I want to acknowledge it in this way. Everyone's praying and has their head bowed. And if you want to say to the Lord Jesus Christ, come into my life, forgive my sins and make me new, if that's what you want, let our eyes meet right now. Slip up your hands so that I can see you and let our eyes meet and I'll agree with you that Jesus would come into your life in this moment. Just lift up your hand so I can see and agree with you that Jesus Christ would make entry into your life right now. Is there anyone this morning that says, lord, I need your life in me? Anyone at all? Praise the Lord. Let our eyes meet. If I should miss you, slip up your hand. Praise the Lord. Let me ask, is there any today who have said, lord, I have seen myself as the unworthy son, and I have chosen to think about myself what I think rather than what you think. And I received this word today from me to begin to walk as the son or daughter that you intend me to be. How many of you have said I needed to hear that today? Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Let's stand and sing robes of righteousness that Jesus gives them. Praise the Lord. I am covered over with the robes of righteousness that Jesus gave to me. I am covered over with the precious. Blood of Jesus and he lives in me. What a joy it is to know my heavenly Father loves me. So he gives to me my Jesus. When he looks at me, he sees my blood. We're going to sing that one more time. And as you do, how many of you know that when you put on. I guess I have to say this. Probably more women know it than men, but there's a lot of clothes that the only way you can put them on is to lift your hands up and let them drape over you, Right? So let the Lord put his robe on you and get dressed. Here we go. I am covered over with the robe of righteousness that Jesus gives to me. I am covered over with the precious blood of Jesus that he lives in me. What a joy it is to know my heavenly father loves me. So he is to be my Jesus when he looks at me. But he sings, Jesus. Hallelujah. Lord, if you have a need today and you're here and you have a need for prayer or some special ministry, there'll be some brothers up here in the front that you can come up and share with. I want to remind all the body that Wednesday night is of an important meaning for the community. And if you sense the Lord might be leading you here, continue on in fellowship. It's really important that you be with us. It's a time of setting, direction, of dialog, of interaction, and it's important and vital to our future ministry together. All right, Praise the Lord. Hug someone else who has a robe on it.