One Road Home Luke 15:17-24 The good boy gone bad had hit bottom. And so had many of those who stood in the sunshine to hear the Savior s story. The scribes and Pharisees at the back of the crowd listened to the Lord s parable. But those who crowded close to Christ, the turncoats and the tawdry, not only heard it. They felt it. They had experienced the icy edge of the boy s hunger: the gnawing pain of an empty stomach and an empty heart. They knew the dark despair of the hog lot, too: the shame and the sorrow, remembering and regretting through long sleepless nights. Jesus told this story to those who were farthest from His Father. And He did so for an important reason. He wanted to illuminate the private darkness that shrouded their souls. Many of them had abandoned hope of ever finding their way back home. Jesus wanted them to know they still had a home and Father. And then as now, our Lord wants the lost and the lonely to know that coming home to God is a genuine option, not a foolish fantasy for those who have nothing left but dreams. It is a powerful parable. It was powerful then, slicing into the hearts of the Master s hearers. And it is just as powerful right here and right now. It can draw men and women back home today just as it did then. The story comes from the very heart of the Savior who declared He is Light in this dark world. A Light with a powerful purpose! I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. John 12:46 That darkness represents the death of sin and slavery to the devil. But that is not all. It also represents ignorance. Joseph Goebbels was a dark little man with a twisted leg. An expert in propaganda, he hatched a powerful idea. He called it the big lie. It was a simple, really. The plan was to repeat a lie constantly, convincingly and continually. If you do that, Goebbels insisted, no matter how monstrous the lie, eventually people will accept it as truth. That is precisely what Satan does. He whispers lies about sin and about ourselves. He twists the truth, telling us God is harsh and cold and change is impossible. Christ s parable refutes those dark lies by teaching us some very specific truths about some vitally important subjects. The Truth About Rebellion At Eden our first father and mother sinned, heaping sorrow and slavery upon both themselves and their children. And one reason why Satan was successful in turning their heads was because they did not see sin as it really is. Jesus wants us to see sin in the light of His wisdom, not just in the glow of the sparkling temptations the adversary paints before our eyes. So within the Savior s story, sin is presented in the cold light of God s wisdom. In a pagan pig sty, the prodigal was starving to death, reaping the harvest of the sin he had sown. But then one day, he woke up. That was the beginning of his road home. Luke s Greek says he came to himself. Most modern translations put it more simply: he came to his
senses. He had to wake up and shake the stupor from his head because sin, our Redeemer would remind us, is a kind of madness. Solomon said the same thing. There is an insanity to sin. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts Ecclesiastes 9:3 The devil s deception is so powerful it causes a kind of spiritual stupor. And we follow after sin, crazed by temptation. So if we are ever to find our way back home to our Heavenly Father, we must first snap out of that stupor and return to reality. Jesus told a parable of another man who also woke up. He was wealthy and utterly ignored a godly man named Lazarus who begged for bread at the gate to his splendid estate. Our Redeemer said that rich man woke up, too. But it did him no good. Not until he was drowning in the darkness of Hell did he see things as they really are. Only then did he see himself and his wasted life of luxury as it really was. Unlike that rich man, the prodigal woke up to reality in time. And part of that reality was slavery. When the prodigal hired himself out to a pagan pig farmer, he became more than a mere employee. He became the man s slave. His sinning led him to slavery, just as Jesus said it always does. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. John 8:34 But sin is more than that. It is death, too. That is why the prodigal s father was so elated he wanted to celebrate his son s homecoming....for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found. And they began to celebrate. Verse 24 The boy had come back from madness, slavery and death. But first he had to wake up and see his sin for what it really was. And so do we. It is the very first step on the road home. The Truth About Repentance The Master s story follows a young man from the filth of a hog lot to the love and luxury of his father s arms. And that trip was a series of steps. It was a chain of choices that must be made if repentance is real. The boy began by waking up and seeing things as they really are. But when he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! Verse 17 For the first time since he left home, that young man saw where he was. And he shook his head in wonder. Look where I am! What has become of me? Look what sin has done to me, he thought. I am a slave. I am covered with mud and manure. I am starving to death. And I am filled with despair. Repentance always begins with realization. We must first dare to take a hard look at what we are, what we have done, and how far we have fallen. Only then will we dare to change our minds and turn our lives around. We must leave all our self-deception behind and look at things as God knows they are. That is one reason why our Lord left us His Word in the Bible. It is the sharp slap of reality, showing us our sin and ourselves as we really are. The very essence of repentance is changing our mind. What we adored, we come to abhor. What we desired, we disdain. And what we once shunned, we savor.
But we can only do that when we choose to leave the devil s deceit and deception behind and embrace what God s Word tells us is the truth about our sin and what it is doing to us. The next step in the prodigal s long road home was to make some decisions. He began by setting his lips and making some definite plans and hard decisions. I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men. Verses 18-19 That boy s decision was one of the most difficult in all of life. He decided to go back home and face his father. More than that, he determined to say three words powerful words. I have sinned. John wrote that such confession is the key to accessing the forgiveness Jesus purchased for us with His own blood. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 Such confession is a product of the will. It is not produced by waves of emotion washing over us. It is more than merely feeling guilty. It is being completely convinced we are guilty and, in the cold light of reality, daring to admit our sin to God. But desire and decision are never enough. The church at Corinth wanted to give money for poverty stricken saints at Jerusalem. But just wanting, Paul reminded them, was not enough. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it... 2 Corinthians 8:11 (ESV) That is just what the prodigal son did. He did not spend his days still slopping pigs, forever fantasizing about going home. He actually did it. So he got up and came to his father. Verse 20 Repentance is never real and powerful if we stop short of actually carrying out the godly decisions we have made. And it makes no difference how easy it might be not to. After all, when the boy arrived home, ragged and reeking of manure, he was engulfed in his father s arms. So it might well have seemed that his confession was not really necessary. He could go back home without it. But the boy s decision was stainless steel. And his head would not be turned. So in the middle of his father s glad reception, the boy pulled back. And he finished the confession he had determined to voice. 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. Verse 21 That boy walked back down the hill to the house, arm in arm with his father. But he was already home. His confession had opened the gates to forgiveness and freedom from the sin that had clouded his mind and enslaved his spirit. Our determination must be every bit as iron clad as that boy s. We too must come to God in confession. Offering neither excuses nor explanations, we must confess the sin we have sought, the sin we have savored, and the sin we have served. That is the way back: the road home. Indeed, it is the only road. The Truth About Returning The prodigal son was all set to spend his days as a servant in his father s house. But sin not only blinded his eyes to his sin. It also blinded his mind and made him forget what his father was
like. While the boy was plodding the path toward home, his father was watching out the window, just as he had every day since his son left. Each day, he squinted down the road, hoping, dreaming of the day when he would see his son come walking over that hill. And each day he would say to himself, Maybe this is the day my boy will come back home. So when that day came, the father saw his son, gaunt and gangling just cresting the last hill. And his heart leaping, the old man ran out to meet him. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. Verse 20 The boy did not know how his father would react when he came home. And many people wonder how God will respond if they confess their sins and lay their ruined lives in His hands. But no one in all creation knows the Father like Jesus does. And He wants people like you and me to know Him, too. What will God do if you confess and commit your life to Him? He will do just what that father did. If you make a move to come to Christ, no matter how feeble or faint, God will run to meet you. And He will lavish His love upon you just like that overjoyed father did his son. He wrapped his arms around his son s bony body. Ignoring the smell of manure, the matted hair, and filthy, ragged clothes, the old man embraced the boy and kissed him. So prodigal did not have to wonder about his father s love. And neither will you and I if we dare to repent and give ourselves to Jesus Christ. But the boy s father did not stop there. That farmer father also had some gifts for his son. But the father said to his slaves, Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; Verses 22-23 The father s commands to his servants were meant to be carried out immediately. The robe and the ring, the sandals and the celebration were not to be earned over time. Those gifts were given to the repenting son the very moment he came back home. And God gives us those same gifts the moment we come to Christ. The robe was a floor length, festive garment that spoke of riches. It reminds us that when we come to Christ, we are robed in His pure and perfect righteousness. I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, Isaiah 61:10 The boy was also given a signet ring, the symbol of the power and authority of his father. And through the name of Jesus Christ, we are given the unimaginable, unlimited power of God: power over sin and Satan, power over death and defeat. The boy was also given sandals. He had gone barefoot ever since he sold himself to be a hog farmer s slave. But freemen never went barefoot. So the father did not let his son take another step until shoes were on his feet. The boy s slavery had ended. And ours does too when we come to Christ....if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 Finally, the father ordered that a celebration be given for his son. That boy was surrounded by joy when he came back home. God has a celebration of joy for us too. Both angels in heaven and saints on earth celebrate when sinners come home. And God s Spirit fills our hearts with that same joy. The boy came home to be a servant. But his father would not hear of it. He was not seeking a
slave. He was seeking his son. God wants each of us to come home to His love, too. And He does not want us to come to Him because He is searching for servants. He is not seeking slaves. He is seeking sons. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, Romans 8:16-17 The road home is open to every lost and lonely sinner. It was purchased and paved by the blood of God s beloved Son. The Father is watching and waiting. It is time to come home.