How to get home
Expository Preaching Outline on Luke 15:11-24 – And he said to him, “A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the goods. So he divided up their possessions. A few days later, the younger son gathered everything together and left for a distant country, where he squandered his possessions and lived in profligacy.
Introduction
Amnesia is a strange condition involving memory loss. There are recorded cases in which the victim has forgotten their own name and address, the date of their birth and their family relationships. These facts have been completely erased from his mind. He has a mental block and can’t remember any significant events that took place before he was affected. Even the most important milestones in his life mean nothing to him when they are mentioned.
This week, I heard the story of a man in Colorado who was found on the side of the road. He didn’t know who he was or where he was and had no identification. That was five years ago, and to this day he still has no idea how to get home.
I’m afraid that many Christians are in the same situation. They suffer from a kind of spiritual amnesia. It seems to me that they have forgotten everything the Lord has done for them. They have forgotten about salvation and its blessings. They have forgotten the glory of being in a right relationship with the Father. They have forgotten how wonderful life is in the Father’s house. They have spiritual amnesia and seem to have no idea how to get back home.
Well, this morning we are confronted with a text that clearly tells us exactly how to return home. In the story of the Prodigal Son, we are introduced to the story of a young man who, by all accounts, suffered from spiritual amnesia. We can look at his story and learn from his journey home. Let’s look together at this wonderful story and talk about How to Come Home. As we do this, there are three questions we want to consider this morning. These questions will help us make a safe and successful journey home.
Question #1
I. v. 11-17 WHEN SHOULD WE GO HOME?
A. v. 12-13a When You Leave the Father’s House Behind – (Illustration: The Context, this young man made a very cruel request. In practice, he was wishing his father were dead. His desire was to get rid of his father’s authority and live his life as if his father were dead). For the Christian, the ideal moment to return home is the moment you realize that you have left the Father’s House. As soon as you feel that your love for Him has diminished, as soon as you realize that you’re not as close as you used to be, as soon as you see the signs of deviation, that’s the moment to bow in repentance before the Father. Turning away doesn’t have to go as far as it does. Repentance can prevent tragedy!
(Illustration: Simon Peter gives us a good example of this principle. When Jesus called Peter to walk on the water and come to him, Peter started off well, but as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink. At that very moment, he cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord, save me.” When he cried out to Jesus, the Bible reports that Jesus stretched out his hand and lifted Peter from the waves that threatened to engulf him. Matthew 14:28-31)
B. v. 13b When You Begin to Live Like the World – (Illustration: The Context – This young man left his Father’s house and began his downward spiral. The text says that he “wasted” what he had. This word refers to the threshing of grain. This young man took his fortune, all the things he had received from his father, and threw them to the winds of sin and watched them blow away). Let’s face it, there is a marked difference between the Christian and the world – 2 Corinthians 5:17.
However, when we see that line starting to blur, it’s an indicator that it’s time to come home to the Father. Whenever we start to walk, talk, act, look, think or anything else like the lost world around us, we need to wake up and see the danger we are facing. You can’t be right with God and live like the world! (Illustration: Isaiah 59:2)
C. v. 14 When You Lose Your Father’s Blessings – (Illustration: The Context – This young man threw away all of his father’s blessings and was left with nothing). Illustration: This is the state of many believers this morning. When they left the Father’s house, they were full, but now they have seen sin and unruly living take the Father’s blessings away from them, and they have been left with absolutely nothing of what they enjoyed from the Father.
(Illustration: You see, sin will take away your peace, your certainty, your joy, your prayer life, your devotional life, your testimony. It will take away everything of value and leave you spiritually bankrupt and helpless. When these things start to be taken out of someone’s life, that’s a good sign that they need to go back to the Father’s house!)
D. v. 15-16 When You’re Left With Nothing – (Illustration: The Context – This young man found himself completely broke, working as a pig feeder, watching the pigs eat and craving their food, because he had nothing for himself and no one to take care of him). This is a powerful image of what sin can and will do in your life. When it enters, it separates you from those who love you, sends you away from the Father’s house and literally takes everything from you, leaving you broken and starving. No wonder the Bible says, Proverbs 13:15, “Good understanding brings favor, but the way of transgressors is rough.”
(Illustration: Sin brings its own club! Christian friend, you’re fooling yourself if you think you can sin without consequences. If you think that God will just turn a blind eye and forget about it, then you are mistaken. When sin comes, it brings a companion that the Devil doesn’t advertise. That companion is called Discipline. Every Christian who leaves the Father’s house and goes into sin and stays there for a while will experience this companion of sin – Revelation 3:19; Hebrews 12:5-12).
(Illustration: God knows exactly what it will take to bring you home, and He won’t hesitate to do it!)
(Illustration: The time to go home is before these things start happening! As I said before, the best time to come home is when you see yourself starting to leave. When it’s still just a seed in your heart. Once it’s grown and suffocated everything else, it takes a lot more effort to remove it).
E. v. 17 When You Miss Your Father’s House – (Illustration: Context – This man came to his senses and remembered that the servants at home were in a much better situation. They ate better than he did. They lived better than he did and were happier than he was. He missed his father’s house).
(Illustration: Turning away is a form of insanity! It is insane to turn away from the Lord and all his blessings. However, no matter how far a Christian goes in sin, no matter how dirty he gets in the way of the world, there will come a day when he will miss the Father’s house. He will remember the fellowship, the food, the joy and the peace he had there. The person who can walk away, stay away and not care is probably not saved anyway – 1 John 2:19).
(Illustration: When you have that desire to go home, that’s the time to go home. I promise you, God will never let you go, if you’re really His!)
That’s when you should go home. Now there’s another question.
Question #2
II. v. 18-19 HOW SHOULD WE GO HOME?
A. v. 18a With Determination – (Illustration: The Context – This young man decided that he would return to his Father. Just as he had left his Father in the beginning, now he leaves everything behind to return home).
(Illustration: Christian friend, you need to decide for yourself what being back in the Father’s house and under His blessing means for you. Then you must be willing to pay whatever price is necessary to make it happen. It takes a determined heart to come home! You have to want God more than you want this world!)
(Illustration: If you are out of the Lord’s will today, then don’t let anything or anyone stand in the way of your return to the Father. No matter the cost: a relationship, a job, friends, interests, addictions, etc., they must be abandoned if you want to return to the Father. He is worth any price!)
B. v. 18b With Repentance – (Illustration: The Context – This young man not only experienced a change of circumstances, but also a change of heart. He was willing to confess his sins and place himself under his father’s authority).
(Illustration: If you’ve strayed from the Father’s house, you need to come home, but you’ll have to do it on his terms! He will receive you, but it will require you to repent of your sins – Illustration: 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we are willing to admit our mistakes and confess our sins to the Lord, He is more than willing to listen and forgive us. We can never go home until we first repent of our sins!)
(Illustration: David – After his sin with Bathsheba, he repented of his sins, confessing them before the Lord and receiving cleansing and forgiveness in return -)
Psalm 32:5 “I confessed my sin to you, and my iniquity I no longer concealed. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you have forgiven the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”
Psalm 51:3-4 “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. (4) Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, that you may be justified when you speak and pure when you judge.”)
C. v. 19 With Respect – (Illustration: The Context – This young man was willing to humble himself before his father. Before, he had stood before his father with arrogance and demanded his own way. Now, he is willing to be a servant before his father. He is humbled before him).
(Illustration: Remember when you were saved? How humiliated you felt? It felt like God was so huge and you were so small, didn’t it? Well, that’s how it will be when you return home after a life of straying and estrangement. God will accept the humble heart – Psalm 51:17 “Sacrifices to God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you will not despise, O God.”
James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”)
(Illustration: A humble spirit realizes that he deserves nothing but judgment and punishment. It demands nothing from the Lord, but comes before Him willing to be and do whatever God demands. A humble spirit just wants to be back in the Father’s house!)
Now we’ve seen when we need to go home and how we should go home, but there’s one more question that needs to be considered in this passage.
Question #3
III. v. 20-24 WHAT WILL WE FIND WHEN WE GET HOME?
A. v. 20-21 We will find love
(Illustration: The Context – This young man found something waiting at home that he had never experienced in the faraway country. That something was the Father’s love!) This love was manifested in various ways:
- A Father Waiting and Watching – (Illustration: Without a doubt, the father waited for his son to return every day. Christian, God hasn’t stopped looking for you either).
- A Father Moved by Compassion – (Illustration: This father felt his son’s pain. Illustration: The son certainly looked terrible. Probably dressed in rags, with the dirt from the pigsty all over him. But the father didn’t care. His son was at home, and that was the most important thing!)
Christian, you may have gone far in the world, but the Father still loves you. His desire, more than anything else, is to have you home, and His heart is moved by your need. If you come to him, you will find him waiting and ready to restore your life.
- A Father Who Ran to Meet Him – (Illustration: It was considered unworthy for an older man to run. However, this father threw these considerations to the wind and ran to meet this returning son.
There is a very good reason for him to run to find this son – Deuteronomy 21:18-21).
(Illustration: Christian, I can guarantee that if you take the first step, Heavenly Father will run to meet you and immediately restore that broken communion).
- A Father Who Extended the Kiss of Communion – (Illustration: The Context. This father fell on this son and, despite the smell and the dirt, began to kiss him. Illustration: The kiss is in the present tense. This means that he continued kissing him).
(Illustration: Christian, when you return to the Father, He will extend the kiss of His forgiveness to you. God will love you back into communion with Him).
B. v. 22-23 We Will Find Luxury
- A Garment to Cover His Filth – (Illustration: This son was adorned with the finest garment. When this garment was placed on his shoulders, all the filth of the pigsty was hidden).
(Illustration: Christian, when you return home, the forgiveness of Almighty God will cover the stains of your sins, and in your appearance, it will be as if you had never left home. What God gives is total restoration!)
- A Ring To Wear On His Finger – (Illustration: That ring represented his father’s eternal love. It also represented the father’s authority. The father had restored this son).
(Illustration: Christian, when you return home, the Father will remind you of His unfailing love and care for you. He will also restore you to a place of authority. You see, when you are in sin, you have no testimony and no authority to speak for the Father. However, when everything is restored, He gives you back that testimony and uses it in the lives of others).
- Shoes For Your Feet – (Illustration: Only slaves walked barefoot. This father was determined to tell the world that this boy was still his son).
(Illustration: Christian, no matter how far you go in sin, you never stop being a son. You may not look like one, you may not live like one, but if you are saved, you will always be a child of the Father! But when you come home, He will put the shoes of sonship on your feet and restore you to that place of standing before Him and before the world. Others may not receive you, Illustration: The elder brother, v. 28, but God will receive you, and He will never be ashamed of you – Hebrews 11:16).
- A Place at the Father’s Table – (Illustration: The fatted calf was killed only on special occasions, and this one qualified! No longer would this son have to crave the food of pigs. Now, he was restored to the Father’s table and could eat to his heart’s content).
(Illustration: Christian, there is no need for any child of God to feed at the troughs of the world. The Father is waiting, and His table is set with abundance for all who come home and join Him there).
C. v. 24 We Will Find Joy
(Illustration: The Context. When this son returned home, joy filled a house that had been silenced by sadness).
(Illustration: When a believer is out of communion with the Lord, there is a break in his joy. But when he returns home, there will be great rejoicing in the Father’s house –
Luke 15:10 “So I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Wouldn’t you like to be the cause of joy in heaven? You can be, if you are out of the Father’s will and make the decision to go home today.
Conclusion of Luke 15:11-24
Today, many are in the same position as this Prodigal Son. You’ve strayed too far from home, and now it’s time to return. All you have to do is take that step and head home. There, you will find the Father waiting to welcome you. You will find him exactly where you left him. Will you come?
Some here today have never met the Father. All you’ve ever known is the far country. You’ve never known the joy and laughter of the Father’s house. You have never experienced the blessing of being one of God’s children. If this is your situation today, let me encourage you to come to Him right now. The Father is always looking for new children to fill His house, and He has a special place for you. Will you come to Him for salvation today?
Regardless of where you are today, if you could see the Father, you would see him standing there with open arms, calling you to him. Won’t you come to the Father right now?
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