Introduction:
The story is told of
a little girl whose mother planned to celebrate her fifth
birthday by impressing all the relatives. The mother dressed
her daughter in fine clothes and said, "Now, here's
what I want you to do. You're going to sing a song."
When it was time for the little girl to sing, her mother
says, "Honey, what are you going to do?" The child
says, "Nothing."
The mother finds a
convenient spot to pinch her and says, "Weren't you
going to sing?" The child says, "No." The
angry mother takes the child upstairs and shuts her in a
closet. About half an hour later, the mother goes up and
says, "What are you doing up here?" The child
says, "I've been having a great time. I've been spitting
on your clothes. I've been spitting in your shoes. I've
been spitting on your walls. I've been spitting on the carpet.
Now I'm waiting for some more spit." That attitude
of waiting for some more spit is what sin is all about.
For man, sin is not just an act. Sin is an attitude. Man
is not a sinner because he is a transgressor. He is a transgressor
because he is already a sinner. The offense is not only
in the transgression but also in the intention. Sin is not
merely the violation of law but in the disposition of the
heart.
Ravi Zacharias, "The
Lostness of Humankind,"
This third parable
Jesus is telling is the story of a lost son!
He had decided he wanted
away from the restrictions of parents and home. He wanted
to live on his own and make his own decisions, go his own
way, do his own thing, he craved his independence.
Parents in every age
get concerned about their families.
How should we guide
them? What should we tell them? How strict or liberal should
we be? After all we don’t want to be over protective,
we want to give them space to grow up. After all I was brought
us so strict and in a straight jacket I don’t want
that for my children.
Many years ago Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert were on a good will tour to Africa.
While there she requested that she would be brought to meet
a real live African Chieftain. On meeting this great man
she and he seemed to blend quickly and at once became, excellent
friends.
During the course of
conversation the African chief asked the Queen, "Madam,
what is the secret of England's Greatness?"
Queen Victoria reached
into her bag and produced a Bible, she held it aloft in
her hand and said, "the secret of England’s Greatness
is her open Bible"
I believe the Bible
is still the best guidebook we could have and if we live
by its instruction we will surely have given the best guidance
it's possible to give to our children.
The parable before
us tonight tells us three very important things about our
young people!
1. What This Young Man
Was!
There was a Selfishness
about Him: v 12.
"Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth
to me."
He had no thought of
the heartbreak he would cause!
He had not realized
what he was getting himself into!
It all sounded so exciting
now, but where was it all going to lead!
He was not the clever
boy he thought he was!
And can I say to the
younger generation here tonight, and I do so tenderly and
lovingly! You are not always right, you don’t know
all the answers, your parents are not squares, past it,
stick in the mud's or out of touch with your generation.
In fact their years on planet earth will have taught them
so many lessons that you could drew from and save yourself
some heartbreaks in the future.
When we lived in Jordanstown,
(near to Belfast) a father, who by the way was a lay preacher,
had spotted his fifteen-year-old boy, sitting on the green
area at Fortwilliam, Belfast with some very unsavoury company.
He drove on rather
than embarrass the boy. Eventually the boy returned home
and his father spoke to him of his fears. Oh, dad, don’t
be silly, these are the best friends I have ever had.
The next night dad
was driving by the same spot on his way home from work.
He noticed his boy with this unsavoury crowd again, but
once again drove on rather than embarrass his son in front
of his friends. But that night his son did not return home
at the time agreed. Dad went looking for him, somewhat concerned
that he had disobeyed and stayed out, by now two hours beyond
the deadline. Dad’s first place to look for his son
was the place he had seen him on the way home the past two
evenings.
Sure enough he found
his son where he had seen him earlier, but none of his friends
were with him just now and he was lying motionless on the
grass. Dad brought the car to a sharp halt, ran to his son,
found him, sadly dead. His friends had encouraged him to
sniff some substance that resulted in his immediate death
and ran away and left him, some friends! But then that is
what sin will do, use you and leave you dead. "Sin
when it is finished bringeth forth death." James ch.
1 v 15. The Belfast Telegraph, next evening carried the
story, "et too bruta" boys friends led to his
death!
Maybe this is where
you are tonight, you want to be your own person, do your
own thing and go your own way. Oh, be careful where your
selfishness leads!
There was Sincerity
about Him! v 13a.
"And not many days after that, the younger son gathered
all together, and took his journey into a far country"
Heaven lies about us
in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close
upon the growing boy. William Wordsworth.
The devil is sincere,
but he is sincerely wrong.
At a national spelling
contest in Washington an incident occurred that made me
feel good--and made me wonder. In the fourth round of the
contest, Rosalie Elliot, then an eleven-year-old from South
Carolina, was asked to spell avowal. In her soft southern
accent she spelled it. But did the seventh grader use an
a or an e as the next to last letter? The judges couldn't
decide. For several minutes they listened to tape recording
playbacks, but the critical letter was accent-blurred. Chief
judge John Lloyd finally put the question to the only person
who knew the answer. "Was the letter an a or was it
an e? He asked Rosalie. Surrounded by whispering young spellers,
she knew by now the correct spelling of the word. Without
hesitating, she replied she had misspelled it. She walked
from the stage. The entire audience stood and applauded,
including half a hundred-newspaper reporters, one of whom
was heard to remark that Judge Lloyd had put quite a burden
on an eleven-year-old. Rosalie rated a hand and it must
have been a heartwarming and proud moment for her parents.
The thing that makes me wonder, however, was the apparent
feeling on the part of so many that the issue might have
been in doubt and that honesty might have bowed to temptation.
Have we in this age stopped taking honesty for granted,
even from our children? James S. Hewett.
There needs to be a
very open honesty about us!
I don’t mean simply
sincerity, but an honesty that looks into the inner recess
of my heart that says it's very possible to be sincere but
I could be sincerely wrong.
We all hear the cry
(from our teenagers, if not many others), "but everybody's
doing it!" John Calvin called it "the appeal to
'custom' against truth" in his prefatory address to
King Francis when he wrote his institutes:
"Even though the
whole world may conspire in the same wickedness, he has
taught us by experience what is the end of those who sin
with the multitude. This he did when he destroyed all mankind
by the flood, but kept Noah with his little family; and
Noah by his faith, the faith of one man, condemned the whole
world (Gen. 7:1; Heb. 11:7). To sum up, evil custom is nothing
but a kind of public pestilence in which men do not perish
the less though they fall with the multitude." End
quote!
I’m too young
to settle down to a life of religion! You might be wrong!
I have all my life
in front of me! You are right, but your life may be very
short!
After all time is on
my side! You might be wrong, tonight your soul might be
called to meet a Holy God!
I have told you of
three of my very dear school friends! Three very sincere
young men, each with a very definite desire and goal in
life, sadly, even with all their sincerity with respect
to the future; none of the three lived to see that future,
all died in their teens or just beyond.
There was a Stubbornness
about Him! v 13b.
"Wasted his substance with riotous living"
This is the trait of
many of our young people today.
Some of them of course
are great; they are just lovely to be around. When they
meet you on the street with their friends they are proud
to introduce you as their pastor and stand and talk with
you!
But there is stubbornness
about many young people today.
Here is a young man
who because of stubbornness lived foolishly, and do you
know what? His friends let him and joined in the foolishness.
He lived fully, do
you know what? His friends let him and joined in that fullness.
He lived flamboyantly,
do you know what? His friends let him and joined in the
flamboyance!
But then there was
a turn of events, instead of living he began to die. And
do you know what, he was going to die foolishly, he was
going to die fully, he was going to die, not flamboyantly
but ignominiously. And guess what? His friends let him but
did not join in, this time they were gone!
Oh, the sadness in
the town or community when a young man or young woman dies
suddenly and foolishly. They have lived a life that everybody
knew would end in death. And some friends joined in and
enjoyed the fun while it lasted, but how many will stand
like a warning sign and cry out to these dear people, you're
going the wrong way; you're going to die if you carry on
like this.
And more to the point
how many of the young people will listen.
Oh, my dear young friend,
take a long hard look at this young man.
If it had not been
for a trough of pig feed he would have surely died, and
there would not have been a friend in sight!
Think about that! Your
friends may laugh with you right into death and hell but
not one of them can laugh you out of death and hell.
2. What This Young Man
Lost!
He lost his wealth!
v 14. When he had spent all! Temporal!
He lost his liberty! v 15. He was made a prisoner of his
own circumstances!
He lost his self-respect! v 16. He became like an animal!
How this lad had sunk. Sin will take you further than you
want to go. Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay.
Sin will cost you dearer than you want to pay!
What a difference from
the lad who left home, so full of confidence. You see, his
way led down, down, down, it always does!
"There is a way
that seemeth right unto a man but the end of that way is
death." Always! Always! Always!
You see he left the
Father out of his thinking!
That kind of life is
not for me, I have had enough, I’m getting out.
Maybe when I settle
down, maybe when I am older, right now that kind of life
is for wimps!
Listen folks, listen,
it takes a man or a woman to stand for God, the easy way
is to run with the crowd.
We have a head on us
for the same reason a pin has: to keep us from going too
far.
Seek ye first the kingdom
of God!
Remember now thy creator
in the days of thy youth!
3. What This Young Man
Found!
