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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/larry-perkins/gospel-prodigal-son/
The Gospel of Luke chapter 15, let's read at verse 1. Then drew near unto him, the Lord Jesus, all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and needeth with them.
And he spake this parable unto them, saying, and I'm going to just drop down with you to verse 11. I'm just going to look at part of this. And he said, the Lord Jesus said, he's talking to these people about the problem they had.
And he said, a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want or in need. 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 faint of filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. 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 worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he rose and came to his father.
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.
For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began to be merry. I remember the first time I heard anybody preach on this, and I thought I was hearing my life story. Unlike some that we heard from today, I didn't grow up under the sound of the gospel.
In fact, I never heard the gospel when I was 25 years old. I never had the privilege of being at a meeting like you are here. And I imagine maybe for children of Christian parents, you wish you weren't here.
You wish you were somewhere else and didn't have to go through another gospel meeting. But can I play with you? A hundred years from tonight, where are you going to be? Tonight, you could have your sins all washed away.
You could start on your way for heaven. You could come to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. And you could know the joy, the joy of the Lord in your souls, a joy that this world can never give. You could know that tonight.
Because everything's been done that needs to be done so that a sinner like you, a sinner like me, can have our sins taken away in a moment of time and be made fit for God's presence. This is what God is offering.
And yet the devil in all his power and his cunning and his cruelty, he makes us think that it's poison. That's why for many years, I never even considered the possibility of Christianity. Now, I never heard the gospel.
I don't remember anybody ever bringing, you know, telling me about my need of a Savior. I wasn't interested, because I wanted to do my own thing. You see, I was like this boy. You say, well, you know, I'd grown up under the sound of the gospel, I know I need to be saved.
But you know, maybe you are like this boy that the Lord Jesus told the story about. You see, he wanted to do his own thing. And that's human nature. We all want to go our own way. We read about that in Isaiah 53.
God says, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. Now, it's very interesting, where we started reading at the beginning of this chapter, the religious leaders are upset with Christ.
They're grumbling. They say, this man receives sinners. And we read about the publicans and sinners, you know, some people might call them heathen or the down and outs. They were coming around the Lord Jesus.
And he was receiving them. He was speaking to them. You know why? You know why they were attracted to the Lord Jesus? Because he gave them a hope. He gave them a hope. And my friend, he wants to give you a hope tonight.
No matter what your background is. Maybe there's somebody here tonight, and this is the first time you've ever been to a gospel meeting. I can relate to that. Listen, Christianity is not God putting you in some kind of straitjacket to make your life miserable.
That's what I used to think at one time. Listen, Lord Jesus says, you'll know the truth and the truth will make you free. Sin makes a slave out of a person. And some of us know that only too well. I remember many years ago when I was a boy, when TV first came out, that's how old I am.
I remember seeing some video about, it was a jungle scene, and there was a big tiger. And there was a python. And they were fighting. And I don't know how they got the footage of this, but they did. And it was a huge snake, but it was a big tiger, Bengal tiger.
And so they start this battle and leaves flying all over the place. And it looks like the tiger's going to make short work of the snake. But then the snake gets one loop of his body around the tiger. Still no problem.
The tiger's, you know, those big fangs and his claws and everything. Looks like he's still going to win. After a little while, the snake gets another loop around the tiger. Still no problem. The tiger's still going at it.
Then the snake gets another loop. And by now, Mr. Tiger feels the weight of those coils around his body. And so he starts to try to pull out of it, you know, to get out of that. And every time he just tries to pull out, Mr. Snake just tightens it up a little bit.
And before too long, Mr. Tiger's on the jungle floor. He's dead. Why am I telling you this story? Sin is like the snake. It starts out small. And maybe I'm looking into the eyes of some young people. And sin isn't a big deal to you.
You think, oh, I can handle this. No problem. You be careful. It is powerful. There are people tonight in La Crosse and probably every part of this globe. Sin has a hold on them. They have habits that they wish they could break.
They can't. It's got a hold of them. Listen, the Lord Jesus can deliver you from the power of sin. Listen, He can deliver you from the penalty of it. Because the Lord Jesus took our sin when He was on the cross.
That's what He was doing. You know, even though I wasn't brought up in a Christian home, I knew all my life, probably now I grew up in Canada, but, you know, I'd heard that Christ died on the cross. I knew about the historical fact, but I didn't know why.
Do you know why He died on the cross? It took me 25 years to find out it was for me. That He was there for me, taking my sin, my judgment, my pain, my suffering that I should experience for a long eternity, separated from God.
My friend, because He died for our sins, you can go free tonight. Listen, it's the greatest story that I've ever heard. But there were people this day, religious people, who didn't think they needed Christ.
And they looked down their nose at other people who saw their need of Christ. They looked down their nose because they were trusting in their own righteousness. They didn't think they needed Him. Have you ever seen your need of the Lord Jesus?
We've been hearing from different men how they came to a point in their life of great need, when they saw their need of the Lord Jesus in a way that they never had before. This boy that the Lord Jesus told the story about is like you and me.
He went his own way. He wanted his share of his dad's inheritance even before his dad died. And amazingly, his father gave it to him. And then the boy sets out a little while later. He's got it all together, and he's going to the far country because he's going to live it up.
He's going to do everything he wanted to do. You know, when I graduated from high school, that's my story to a T, except for I didn't have my father's inheritance. I couldn't wait to leave home. Even though my parents weren't Christians, they had rules, and I wanted to do my own thing.
And I'm sad and ashamed of the grief that I caused my parents. You know, you might think that by doing your own thing, you're going to be happy. But this story is in the Bible for more than one reason.
And one reason I believe it's in here is to show you and me that the party ends sometime. Every party ends sometime. And this boy, he went as far as he could from his dad. He lived it up. He did whatever he wanted.
But he ended up empty. And my friend, this is always the experience of anyone who tries to live their life, doing their own thing, apart from God. We've been hearing about it. And all over the world tonight, you could hear from thousands of people.
It says, when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land. And he began to be in one. There was not only a famine in the land, but in his own soul. Anybody here tonight, you know what this is about?
There's an emptiness in your soul. There's a longing in your soul that the things you've tried, the things you thought that were going to make you happy, they're just not cutting it. When I left home, I went to the University of Toronto in Canada.
And yeah, I lived it up. But after a couple of years of that, you would have found me on a Sunday afternoon wandering the streets of the city, wondering what life was all about. Something was missing.
I didn't know what it was. The things that I thought were going to make me happy were leaving me empty. And the emptiness was growing. The boy tried to do something about it, the boy in this story in Luke 15.
He got himself a job feeding pigs. But that didn't cut it either. You know, when eventually I did hear the gospel at the age of 25, I tried to fix my lifestyle. I tried to do something about it. My sin was starting to be a problem to me, and I tried to give up this and start doing that and vice versa.
It didn't work. It didn't work. Listen, you can't fix yourself up. If you can fix yourself up, if you can satisfy yourself, if you don't need Christ, then why did he come from heaven, the creator of the universe?
Why did he step into time, become a man? Why did he die on the cross? My friend, he came into the world to save sinners, to save us from that emptiness, to save us from being separated from God forever.
Because make no mistake about it, one thing sin does, it separates. It separates. It will separate you from God in this life. It will separate you from God in the next. This whole story hinges on these words in verse 17.
It says, he came to himself. He came to himself. The boy woke up. He came to his senses. He realized he's wrong and his father's right. Earlier in the story, he didn't care about his father at all. He just concerned what he could get from him, just wanted to do his own thing.
But life has taught him a few lessons now, as it often does. He's been brought down. He knows what it is to be empty. He knows what it is not to be able to solve his own problem. And let me say again, you can never, my friend, solve the problem, the fact that your soul is not on its way to heaven.
My friend, solve the problem that you've sinned against the Holy God and there's nothing you can do to take that sin away. You have a great need, greater than you realize, just as I did. One thing that brought me to start reading the Bible was the fact that I had problems in my life.
Things weren't turning out. I was looking for answers. But as I started reading the Bible, I saw, sure there was a lot I didn't understand, but I began to realize my biggest problem of all is that my sin is separating me from God.
And the harder I tried to do something about it, the more I realized this is hopeless. See, I came to, as Jacob was saying, to that place without strength. Without strength. You ever been there? That's the point this boy is coming to.
Interesting. He came to his senses, and then there's three things that he says. He says, first of all, I've sinned. He's thinking in his mind what he's going to do. He's going to go back and say this to his father.
First of all, he says, I've sinned. I doubt if that was part of his vocabulary when he headed out from his dad. I've sinned. Have you ever taken your place before God and that's your attitude? I've sinned?
Not, I've sinned, but she's sinned a lot more than me. I've sinned, but, listen, it isn't a case of anybody else's sin, it's just your sin. It's between you and God. And my friend, that's what it's all about.
That's what the gospel is all about. Your relationship with the living God. The problem is your sin's in the way. And if you don't get that taken care of, you'll be separated from heaven, you'll be separated from God, from everybody that's going to be in heaven, you'll be separated from all this forever.
That's heavy duty. And God loves you. He doesn't want you to be separated from him and everything that's good forever. That's why he sent his son. When Christ was separated on the cross, he says, Why hast thou forsaken me?
He was separated. So then you and I don't need to be. Do you know this man, the Lord Jesus? Has there been a time in your life when you put your trust in him? These religious leaders, we don't read about them doing that.
The boy says, I've sinned. Then he says, I'm not worthy. This is what he was going to say to his dad. I'm not worthy to be called your son. Sometimes we ask people, if God gave you what you deserve, now apart from Christ dying on the cross, if God gave you what you deserve, would it be heaven or would it be hell?
Some people say, well, I'm not sure I'm good enough to be in heaven, but I don't think I deserve to be in hell. Some people say, well, I'm a good person. If God gave you what you deserve, what would it be?
My friend, if you deserve to be in heaven, Christ didn't have to die on the cross. See, the truth is, none of us deserve to be there. Our sin disqualifies us from heaven. Heaven is perfect. That's going to be one of the tremendous things about it.
No sin there. It's perfect. How can you be there? You sinned. I've sinned. But hallelujah, this is why Christ died, to take away our sin. But if you deserve to be in heaven, you don't need a Savior. You're going there on your own, you think.
But the boy said one more thing. Verse 17, he says, I perish. I perish. The day the Lord saved me, I didn't know much about the Bible. I just started reading it. But I'll tell you, the day God saved me, I felt like I was in a tube.
It was greased. I was going down and I could not stop myself. And I knew I deserved it. See, I had come to that point of without strength. I knew that I'd sinned against God and I knew I couldn't do anything to take that sin away.
I knew I couldn't do anything to keep myself from going down to hell. It wasn't until then that I turned to Christ. Not until then. Well, just to finish the story here that the Lord Jesus told, the boy now starts making his way back home.
And you know, he didn't have to get to the front door and knock on it. In fact, he didn't even have to get to the front porch or even the front yard. Because his father, who'd likely been looking for him since the day he left, saw him coming down the road.
And the father runs out to him and gives him a big bear hug, takes him up in his arms. What a welcome. I want to tell you, that's the welcome God wants to give you tonight. No matter who you are, no matter what the past.
I mean, this boy, he blew his father's money. He'd been feeding the pigs. It doesn't say that he had a bath. Maybe he stunk. But the father was glad to have him back. See, the boy's got a change of attitude now.
This is a classic example of what the Bible calls repentance. A change of attitude. He says, I've sinned. I'm not worthy. I perish. And the father receives him. Now, I want to tell you this. The reason God can receive a sinner like you and a sinner like me is because He gave His Son to the punishment, to the death that we deserve.
We're not told about that in this parable. In other parts of the Bible we are. God can forgive you and me because the Lord Jesus took our place. He died for our sins and God is satisfied with what Christ did.
He raised Him from the dead. And now God says that whosoever believes on the Son has everlasting life. It's a gift. Now, these religious men that we read at the beginning of this story, we don't read about them receiving the gift.
They didn't see their need of Christ. They looked down at others who were coming to them. Don't you be like that. I hope I'm not speaking to anybody tonight who having heard the Gospel, neglects it, rejects Christ, and ends up in hell.
It's a reality. If there is no hell, why did Christ die on the cross? Why did He suffer? My friend, it's a reality, but God doesn't want you to be there. There's no need for you to be there. He says the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
My friend, you could be cleansed from all the sins of a lifetime, past, present, and future, if you'll come to Him. Just take God at His word and understand that Christ died for the ungodly. Shall we pray?
Our Father, we thank Thee for the Savior's sinners tonight. Thank You for the Gospel. And Lord, when we think that there's likely so many on this planet that have never heard it once, while some of us here have heard it time and again.
Lord, we pray that there wouldn't be anyone who would just treat it lightly. We know not what a day might bring forth. We've been hearing today already about those that have died recently, unexpectedly.
Lord, we pray that any, under the sound of our voice tonight, without Christ, that they might take their place as a sinner before God and put their trust in the sinner's Savior. Lord, we thank Thee for the Lord Jesus.
Thank Thee what He passed through to deliver us from hell and the lake of fire. We ask these things in His name. Amen.