The Prodigal in the house (The Prodigal Son) — William Lavery

Reading Luke 15: The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son

Now we're going to read tonight in the Gospel of Luke chapter 15. It's a very well-known chapter. Mr. Spurgeon, he calls this the pearl of the parables. It's likely one of the best-known parables in the Scripture.

Luke chapter 15, and we'll read from verse number 1. Then drew near unto him that is unto the Lord Jesus all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it?

And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.

I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it.

And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost. Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

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. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his field to feed swine.

And he would fain have 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 arose 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 in his hand and shoes in 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. Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.

And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

And he was angry and would not go in. Therefore came his father out and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee. Neither transgressed I at any time thy command or commandment.

And yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad. For this thy brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.

Now we know that God will bless the reading of his precious word. Now for those that haven't been here each night, Lord's Day and last night, we've been speaking about houses in the Gospel of Luke. And the first one we spoke off was in chapter 7.

And we called the title of that little message, Poverty in the House. You remember the Lord told a parable, one man owed 500 pence, another 50 pence, and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly or freely forgave them both.

So there was poverty in the house they couldn't pay, and no one can pay for salvation except the Lord himself. And when he said it is finished, the price was paid in full. And we can't add anything to it.

It would never make it any better. I've told people that I've been in some art galleries. I was one in Trafalgar Square in London once, and I was one in St. Petersburg in Russia. And there's beautiful paintings.

And in Russia there were rooms full of lovely oil paintings. You weren't allowed to take flash pictures. It might ruin the color or something. But you know, in every room there was a person. And they weren't very happy looking.

Most of the Russians weren't really. But men and women, and they were sitting in each room. What for? So you wouldn't tamper with the paintings. I could have said, I'd put a little more blue in the sky there.

It would improve it. And a little more green in the grass, they would say, look, you're crazy. Those are masterpieces. It's like the work of Christ. It's a masterpiece. And anything we would try to add to it would only mar the whole thing.

And then chapter 14, we saw pride in the house. And later on, there were two houses there. One at the end of chapter 13, and two in that chapter. And you had the Pharisees in the house. And one of the chief Pharisees, so proud.

They were like the man at hydropsy, which is water retention. They were all puffed up with their own pride. And the Lord, of course, has a way to inflate people and bring them down to size. And then we saw there was a house where everyone was invited to come in.

The Lord wasn't really at home in the first house, but in the second one, he's there. And he says, come for all things are now ready. Everything has been prepared. You don't have to do anything. And there's enough for all.

There's a provision in the house. And when God saves a person, he feeds them. And there's no end to the food. There's no lack, no calories in it or anything like that. You got a good appetite, you can have it satisfied.

The Prodigal in the House and the Threefold Work of God

Now, tonight, we're just going to call it the prodigal in the house. A prodigal or prolegate just means he's a waster. Wasted everything the father had given him. And tomorrow night, we're going to look in chapter 22.

And we're going to read about some partaking in the house. And the first thing they partake of is the Passover. And then the second thing they partake of is the Lord's Supper. And while there aren't a lot of verses about those, there's quite a background to them.

And I think that helps us to understand the significance of the Passover and the breaking of bread of the Lord's Supper. Now, tonight, here we are in Luke chapter 15. And it says, Then drew near to him all the publicans and sinners, the tax collectors and the sinners to hear him.

And the thought there is that these were the people that were continually drawing near to him. They were the ones that were attracted. You know, the Lord rebuked them, but they realized they were sinners.

But then it says, The Pharisees and the scribes, in verse two, they murmured. They said, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And when the Lord told this parable, it's one parable in three parts.

He's speaking it to them, the Pharisees and the scribes, really. And of course, sinners would hear if there are any there. But he said, you know, it's unto them. And he's going to tell them, you know, that there was a younger son and an older son.

And he's going to tell them that the older son was like them, the Pharisee. He wouldn't come in to the house. He was stubborn, thought he didn't need repentance. And he's telling them the younger son really would be more like the sinners.

They knew he had sinned. He found out he had sinned, and he comes back to the father's house. Now, there's quite a thing here in these three parables. And I think we learn from it, first of all, that God, the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has a tremendous interest in sinners.

You say, How do you get that? Well, you have the shepherd. And you and I know who that shepherd is. The shepherd is the Lord Jesus. I am the good shepherd. He said, The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

And then he said, I'm the chief shepherd. And there are under-shepherds, there are elders among God's people that take care of them. And I'm the chief shepherd, and I'm going to come back, and I'm going to reward them.

And then he says, I'm a great shepherd. And that's significant, you know, that's in the book of Hebrews. And the book of Hebrews is a book of comparisons and contrasts. And he's showing that the Lord is greater than all.

And I thought that if he's a great shepherd, he must have another shepherd in mind that he's comparing him with. And I believe that shepherd that he's comparing him with was Moses. Moses was an actual shepherd away in the desert for 40 years.

But he also shepherded God's people. Psalm 77 said that God laid them out, led them out of Egypt by the shepherd, he says, the hand of Moses and Aaron. So Moses was a shepherd. And Moses could bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.

He could bring them out of the house of bondage, but he couldn't bring them into the land, because he smote the rock. But you know, it took a Joshua to bring him into the land. But when it come to the Lord Jesus, the great shepherd, he not only brought us and bought us out of the slave market of sin, but he's going to bring us safely home.

We don't need any other shepherd in that way. The Lord's going to bring us home. So we have the Lord Jesus in the first part of the parable, and he's speaking about one in a hundred. One sheep in a hundred.

And it's not, it doesn't correspond really with the hymn that Mr. Sankey would sing about ninety and nine that safely lay in the shepherd and the safety of the foal. They were left in the wilderness. They weren't in safety.

But there was one sheep. One out of a hundred. That wouldn't be too much, you would think. One out of a hundred. But then when you come to the ten pieces of silver, one out of ten. That would be worth a little more maybe.

And then you get one out of two. The elder and the younger. And that's far more important, and far more important to God. So in the first part then, we have the Lord going out after the lost sheep. And the Lord did that when he came into the world.

And really, first of all, he came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But then, after the nation rejected him and the Lord was crucified, the Spirit of God is introduced. And I think in the next parable where you see that, read about this woman and the piece of silver, I think she's a picture of the Holy Spirit.

Well you say, that would be strange taking a woman to be a picture of the Holy Spirit. But I think it's the Holy Spirit in the church. We're in a different age now. The Lord has gone to the cross. He rescued the sheep.

Went out after the lost sheep of Israel. Now the Spirit of God is in the world. And he's searching as well. And when we come, of course, to the last part, you have the Father in the house. Well it's easy to see that that's the Father.

So you have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Or Son, Holy Spirit, and Father in that order. And of all have an interest in the sinners. Now in the first part, just look at a little bit, we have the shepherd.

And he loses one. And if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness? And does he not go after that which is lost until he find it? So the Lord Jesus, out searching for the lost sheep.

And then he finds it when he hath found it. He wouldn't rest until he found this lost sheep. What did he do? He laid it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Now I think that's very important, to lay his sheep on his shoulders.

In the Word of God, you read about the Lord in Isaiah chapter 9, is it? The government shall be upon his shoulder. Singular. They're speaking about the world. But when it's the lost sheep, it's his shoulders.

And then you'll remember the high priest in Israel, and he also had onyx stones. One on each shoulder. He had other stones on the breastplate. He had two stones behind it. Well maybe two. The urim and the thummim, whatever they were, he had those behind it.

But the two on his shoulders were exactly the same. And they were engraved with the names of the children of Israel. And it says, according to their birth. Now when we're born into God's family, he upholds us all.

And I think you could tell here what he's doing, he's going to bring us safely home. We can depend on his strength. And according to birth, everyone that's born again, we're all equal as far as that's concerned.

When it comes to traveling through the wilderness, the stones were in the order of traveling. And of course, one thing we can say about them, they were all, well two things, they were all different. But they were all precious.

And it's good to know we're all precious to the Lord, and we're all close to his heart. I didn't mean to get into this maybe, but the urim and the thummim were in a pouch behind the breastplate, whatever they were.

It could be two stones, some say like some like a white and a black, and they got guidance from it. If they're going to do something, maybe he said we'll do it if the white stone comes out, if the black one comes out, we'll do it.

We're not told exactly what they were. When I was in Japan, I met a little Japanese man that was a firefighter. And he came to me and he says, you know, I talked, he knew a little English, he said, I talked to a rabbi, and he said there were four stones.

And well I said, what, tell me about them. Well he said, maybe two black and two white. And if the two white ones come out, we'll do it. If the two black ones, we don't. And I said, well what happens if you get a black and a white?

He said, that means wait. God gives guidance, and the guidance comes right from the very heart of the Lord. And whether that's right or wrong, there's a good lesson to learn. Sometimes God tells us to wait.

And some of us are like Peter, we can't wait. We want things, we're in the now generation, we want things right now. But it's a good thing to have patience and be able to wait. So he's going to bring us safely home.

And he finds his friends and his neighbors, Joyce with me. In the 1909, they didn't need repentance. The thought there is, they didn't think they needed repentance. Everybody needs repentance. But they didn't see it.

They were just like these Pharisees. They could complain about the one, but they were, also needed God's salvation. And then he says, and either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, she lights a candle.

The Holy Spirit’s Search for Sinners and the Father’s Welcome

Now the Holy Spirit of God is in the world a light. He's searching for sinners today. And the light, of course, here would be to discover the sinner that's down in the dust and the darkness, need to see light.

And God gives us light from his word. It's not an actual light, although you remember Saul of Tarsus saw an actual light. But I think the thought for us is that God gives light. Gives it from the word of God.

He enlightens us to see, first of all, what we are. Poor, lost, guilty sinners. And then he enlightens us to look after Christ. So here's a light. And there's a light in the world. And a lampstand, actually, it would be.

And then there's a broom. If you're going to sweep the house. And that's what the Spirit of God does. He brings light and he removes obstacles. And we try to do that in our preaching, but he's the one that has to do it.

But this is the idea. People have obstacles as far as their salvation is concerned. And I should say right now that this parable speaks of a sinner needing salvation, not a Christian being restored. Christians can be restored, but it's not just by being welcomed right in.

We'll see that later on, maybe more clearly. It's a sinner being received. So the woman, she sweeps the house and seeks diligently until she finds it. And when she found it, she calls her friends and their neighbors.

We all love to see people saved, don't we? And love to tell others. And she found it and said, Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Now, I believe we could link this with Hebrews 1. I think it's verse 13, where it speaks about angels. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Salvation is in the future in the book of Hebrews. They're going through the wilderness. I know we have salvation now. We know that. But we're going to have it in its fullness. So there's joy in the presence.

Maybe one angel will say, Well, I'll take care of this one. I believe in guardian angels, and I'll take care of this one. And that's what I would see. Anyhow, I enjoy it. And I think you can see something else here.

In the first part of the parable, the lost sheep, it's lost and found. Now, when we come to the silver, I think the truth there is dead and alive. Silver is an inanimate object. So it's dead and it needs life.

And then do you remember the last verse we read? I think it was about the prodigal. He's lost and found, dead and alive. So the book of Romans would be lost and found. The book of Ephesians would be dead and alive.

You have the quickened who are dead in trespasses and in sins. So there's a lot more involved than what we might see, first of all. And then we see the father that comes in in the next part of this narrative.

The father, the liberality of the father. Bring forth the best robe. It's the love of the son is what we see in the shepherd. And then we have the labor of the spirit in the next part. And then we have the prodigal.

The Younger Son’s Rebellion and Repentance

Now, the prodigal brings these two things together, really. He's a younger son and there's an older son. And each one, we should be able to see ourselves in either one of these. But again, remember, he's saying to the Pharisees, you're like the elder son.

They would get the picture. And the sinners would be like the younger son. He realized he was a sinner. There was no doubt about that. And any of us that are saved by the grace of God, we realize we're sinners.

And some were greater sinners than others, but that's not so important. The thought is that the fact of sin. We're all sinners, even though some might be deeper in sin than others. Not the amount of sins that we commit, but we're all sinners.

So he said, you know, there's a certain man had two sons. A certain man could be any man. I've heard people say, there's somebody definite in mind, but I looked up the word and it could be anyone. But he had two sons.

And the younger of them said to him, Father, give me. You know, that's a problem that a lot of people have, isn't it? Give me. All-important thing is me. And here's a young man, he's not satisfied. And he knows that one day he'll get an inheritance from his father.

He won't get as much as the elder son, because the older son always got twice. He got a double portion. So when the father was deceased, he could represent him in a worthy manner. He was given a double portion.

But this young man, he said, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. I think that means they both got their share. He divided unto them their living. And the young man, of course, when he told the father he wanted his portion, he didn't tell him what he was going to do, but he had it right in his mind.

And it says, he gathered all together and took his journey into a far country. The Gospel of Luke often speaks of people that are far off. Here's one of them. The man down in hell, in the next chapter, saw Abraham a far off.

And the lepers stood afar off. And that's one of the little themes that runs through here. So he went into a far country, away where nobody would know him. And he thought, I'm just going to enjoy life.

And what happened then? Well, he wasted his substance with riotous living. Money comes fast. It usually goes fast, doesn't it? Although I was telling him the other night that before God saved me, when I lived in Ireland, I won $5 ,000 gambling in 1959.

But you know, I didn't waste it all gambling. Actually, it brought me out to this country with a wife and two children. So most gamblers, they'd always want more. But I wasn't that big a gambler that I wanted.

But I often thought of the soldiers gambling for the robe of the Lord, you know. Gambling right at the cross. Some people gamble with their soul. But anyhow, he went into a far country, and he wasn't there very long, until he wasted everything.

And then what happened? It says, when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to be in want. God has to bring us down. Whether he brings us down, he can bring us down to penniless, but whatever, he can bring us down in our thoughts, till we realize that we are poverty stricken when it comes to God's salvation.

That's the point. We don't have to give everything away to be saved, but we can see this is the most important thing. We can't buy salvation, and no one else can give it to us, but there's a great famine.

And he began to be in want. It's good when God brings us down to that point, where we see we have a great need. But you know, he didn't give up. It's hard to admit you're defeated, you know. And you want to keep on trying, and he joined himself, I think the word means pinned himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed swine.

And there couldn't be a more debasing thing for a Jew than to feed pigs. And here he is, a swine, and it said that he often would have filled his belly with the husks that swine did eat, but nobody gave on to him.

You lose your money, you know, sometimes you lose all your friends. You can tell whether they're real friends or not. But the swine, in those days, they tell us they eat, the husks were called St. John's bread.

There were big pods that grew on some of the trees, and they were bitter. And that's what the hogs, the pigs would eat, and of course men could eat them too, but they were very bitter. But he said, nobody give me anything else.

Here I am just destitute. When he came to himself, a lot of people talk about trying to find themselves. Well, I don't have any trouble, I'm right here, but they know what they mean. Try to find out just what it's all about.

And he came to himself, he sat down likely, and he said, what am I doing here? There's a place where there's lots to eat. And that place, you know, is the father's house. And he said, even the servants that he hired have bread enough and to spare.

They have more than they need, and I'm perishing here with hunger. And then he had a resolve, he said, I'm going to arise and go to my father. Good thing to know we have a need. But we need to go to the Lord, or God as it is here, the father, so that that need will be supplied for.

We can't just sit and wait. Well, we have a responsibility, we're responsible beings. And he said, I'm going to go, and he made up a story. Sure he wondered, will the father really receive me? After all that I have done, got all my own way and wasted everything.

Am I going to have to go back and tell him, here I am, I have nothing, I've wasted it all. And he said, I'm going to tell him, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. Every sin is a sin against heaven.

Every sin is a sin against God. You know, Adam and Eve sinned. It was a definite commandment that God gave them, and they sinned against that commandment, thou shalt not eat. In the next chapter in Genesis, chapter 4, you have Cain and Abel.

And Cain rose up and killed his brother. And you know, God says, where is Abel, thy brother? Am I my brother's keeper? Maybe he thought he had just sinned against his brother, by slaying his brother. But he was, he had to learn, it's all sin against God.

So he sinned against the father, but he sinned against God. And he said, I'm going to tell him, I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. I don't think he had gotten right down to rock bottom, because he realized, I shouldn't get the place of a son, but I'm good enough to be a hired servant.

You know, there's always a little bit of good. The last little bit has to be squeezed out. So he, but we noticed when he came, he didn't ask, he didn't mention that. So he arose and he came to his father.

And he was amazed, likely because his father was waiting for him. The father was looking. God is always ready to welcome the sinner. And the father's looking for him, and he probably kept looking for him day after day, wondering, is that him?

You can tell in the distance the way some people walk or run or whatever it is. And they came when he recognized the son was coming. And he saw him a great way off. What did he do? He had compassion. Isn't it wonderful that God is a God of compassion?

You know, if you and I were in that position, we would have given him a hard time, maybe. And said, what are you coming back here for? You got all your, it's coming to you. And you make your bed, you have to lie in it.

You know, you do these things. But no, it's compassion. And the Lord is compassionate. I always think of some who are full of leprosy, and the Lord was full of compassion. And the father said, he went, he fell on his neck, embraced him.

He smothered him with kisses. And then the son said to him, he had it all made up, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. He didn't say make me as one of the hired servants.

He admitted he wasn't worthy of anything. But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe. Before he ever come into the house, he couldn't come into the house with the old dirty rags of a far country, with feeding swine.

So he couldn't do that. So he had to be clothed properly to be in the presence of the father. And so have we. Isaiah puts it this way, robes of righteousness and garments of salvation. Garments or clothing is very important.

Garments of Righteousness and Acceptance in the Father’s House

The first clothes that we read off in the word of God's a way back in the garden of Eden. And God clothed Adam and Eve. He clothed them with coats of skin. I don't know if it was one animal or two, but I know this, they had to be clothed.

When they were clothed, their nakedness was covered. When God came down into the garden, as he usually did, they were hiding. He made an apron, a covering of fig leaves. But that's never adequate. And I often think, you know, in the gospels, the Lord cursed the fig tree and the leaves weathered up.

The leaves aren't going to cover anybody. And then they not only put the fig leaves on, they went and they hid in the trees. And they thought that would hide themselves. Adam, where art thou? God knew where he was, but he wanted them to know how he stood in the light of eternity.

But God clothed them and their nakedness. Who told you you were naked? Their nakedness was covered. And they were seen in the skin and the skin of the animal is its beauty. So they were seen in all the beauty of the sacrifice.

That's how God sees us, saved by the grace of God. He doesn't see us as what we once were. He sees us in all the beauty of the sacrifice, accepted in the beloved one. Good thing to have proper clothing.

And here we have the clothing of the prodigal. It had to be something that was adequate. And for us, we know it comes to us also through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the shepherd. So he admits his sin and the father says, bring the best robe.

Put it on him. And you know, believers have a right to be in the father's house. And I may have mentioned this, but John 14 is a father's house in the future. In my father's house are many mansions, many places of abode.

But were it not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again, receive you unto myself. In the temple, that was the father's house on earth.

There were cubicles where the priest could stay when they were fulfilling a course, when they were working in the temple. And he's telling his disciples, there's a place for you. It's not that he's making the place now.

Some think the Lord's up there building stuff. In my father's house are many mansions. The places were there, but they're available to us because there's a man in the glory. There's a man went into heaven as a forerunner for us.

So we're following. And that's what gives us access to the fact that he has gone into heaven. We're going to go in as well. But we can enjoy the blessings of the father's house now. We do that from, well, someone said, well, if we don't, we're not in the father's house, but we can enjoy the blessings of the father's heart.

And that's good because in John 14, the Lord says, we'll come near to you and we'll make our abode with you. So the father and the son making our abode with us by the spirit. So we're accepted by the beloved one, the beloved one and the Lord Jesus.

The worthy one is what I was trying to say. We're accepted in the worthy one. We're not worthy. So here's the best robe, put it on him. And then he says, put a ring on his hand. When you remember Joseph, when he was given Pharaoh's ring, that was his identity, but it was his authority.

It was like a signet that you would put on the wax when you see something. And I know, I think you've been studying Joseph a little bit here, maybe. And you know, there's a chapter in the life of Joseph that seems maybe a little strange is about Judah and Judah going down and the awful sin that he committed really with his daughter-in-law, even though he didn't know who she was.

And she said, he said, I'm going to give you a kid for this. And she said, well, how do I know? Give me a pledge. He gave her his signet and his staff. And if you read that, you'll read it. Judah was quite friendly with the Dolomites.

And the signet was just like the ring. It may, they say he may have worn it around his neck on a string or something, but it was his identity. That was what he would put on to show who he was. And the staff would represent his Pilgrim character.

And they were losing that. Israel was losing their Pilgrim character and their identity. They were mixing with the people there. And God says, I'm going to take you down to Egypt. And when I go down there, he said, they'll ask you what you do for a living.