August 24, 2021 Show with Geoff Thomas on “The Prodigal Son: The Beating Heart of Christianity”

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions. And now here's your host Chris Arnzen.

Good afternoon Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 24th day of August 2021.

The Prodigal Son as the Beating Heart of Christianity

I'm thrilled to have back on the program today Reverend Jeff Thomas, who beginning in 1965 served for over 50 years as pastor at Alfred Place Baptist Church of Aberystwyth, Wales. He is the author of many books, well known for being a highly sought-after conference speaker, probably especially with The Banner of Truth.

And today we are going to be addressing The Prodigal Son, The Beating Heart of Christianity. It's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Reverend Jeff Thomas.

I think it would be wise for me to read the most pertinent passages.

Regarding the text that we are addressing today. First of all, I'm going to tell our listeners our website, I'm sorry, our email address, I should say, in case they have any question of their own, chrisarnzen at gmail .com, c-h-r-i-s-a-r-n-z-e-n at gmail .com.

Please give us at least your first name, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence, if you live outside the USA, and please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

That's chrisarnzen at gmail .com, chrisarnzen at gmail .com. And I would ask of you folks also, before I start the interview, to continue praying for my family. I just lost our guest. Hopefully he will call back.

I would ask that you folks please continue praying for my family as we are still grieving the loss of my brother John, who went home to be with the Lord last Wednesday morning, and I just thank the Lord with very inadequate words.

I cannot describe accurately, inadequately how much I am praising God that my brother did make a believable profession of faith in Christ, and I am trusting to meet him one day in heaven. But the sadness is still great, especially since I missed two video calls from him the day before he passed.

He was trying to get a hold of me, and my phone was accidentally switched on. Do not disturb. I missed the last two calls from my brother, my last opportunity to have a conversation with him on this earth, that is.

So hopefully the pain will subside over that. I know that God is sovereign over all things. And we have Brother Jeff Thomas back on the air. I don't know how we lost him. But let me read the passage. This is Luke chapter 15, 11 through 32.

And he said, this is Jesus Christ of course, a man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate that is coming to me. And so he divided his wealth between them.

And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a distant country. And there he squandered his estate in wild living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began doing without.

So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent to him he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he longed to have his fill of the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving him anything.

But when he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired laborers have more than enough bread, but I am dying here from hunger. I will set out 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. Treat me as one of your hired laborers. So he set out and he set out and came to his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

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. But the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and bring the fatted calf, slaughter it, and let's eat and celebrate for the son of this son of mine was dead and has come to life again.

He was lost and has been found and they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be.

And he said to him, your brother has come and your father has slaughtered the fatted calf because he has received him back safe and sound. But he became angry and was not willing to go in. And his father came out and began pleading with him.

But he answered and said to his father, look, for so many years I have been serving you and I've never neglected a command of yours. And yet you never gave me a young goat so that I may celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours came who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fatted calf for him. And he said to him, son, you have always been with me and all that is mine is yours.

But we had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found. Praise God for a precious story. Well, obviously this is a universally known story.

It is known even by those outside of the Christian faith. Even those with a very peripheral knowledge of the Bible have some remembrance likely, not all people of course, but many who were raised in perhaps nominal Christianity, even nominal Catholicism, they just know about the story.

But why is this story, in your opinion, the beating heart of Christianity? Those are very high and lofty words.

Well, because it's incredible, great, forward, propagandist. But he brought on this power. He had it for a place very far, and he chose it to no one. And so he proceeded to taste all the forbidden pleasures that he couldn't even imagine when he prided himself hard enough.

You can go reject the surface of into it. I'm wondering, we have a question from Bobby in Hartsdale, New York,.

Who says, do you believe that the scriptures sufficiently give us the answer to whether or not this depicts a man who was truly a child of God and regenerate but backslid, or was he someone who was regenerated when he repented and returned home to his father?

We're not given. I don't know. Thank you, Bobby. Please keep listening in Hartsdale,.

New York, and spreading the word about Iron Sherpa and Zion Radio in upstate New York and beyond. Actually, that's near the Westchester County area. We'll keep spreading the word everywhere. We're going to our first break right now, because I don't want to interrupt you in mid-sentence.

And if anybody has a question, just like Bobby in Hartsdale, New York, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com. Chrisarnson at gmail .com. Give us your first name, at least city and state of residence and country of residence if you live outside the USA.

Only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Let's say you are very much resembling the prodigal in this story, perhaps even before the prodigal repents and returns home.

And you would prefer to remain anonymous at this point with the question you have. Or perhaps you have a child who has abandoned the faith, and your heart is in agony over this as you pray to experience a story much like this parable where your child returns home, and you are able to rejoice with that child after he or she repents and is restored, not only to your family, but especially to God and his church.

But whatever the case may be, if it's a personal and private matter, we will obviously grant your request and keep you anonymous. But if it's just a general question on theology, on the scripture, on this passage, please give us your first name, at least city and state and country of residence.

We'll be right back after these messages with Jeff Thomas. Don't go away.

Thursday, September 30th through Saturday, October the 2nd, on the theme, Christ is supreme over all. I'll be speaking there along with over 20 other speakers, including John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Vody Balkam, Joel Beakey, and James White.

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On Iron Sharpens Iron. Welcome back, this is Chris Arnson, if you just tuned us in.

Our guest today is Jeff Thomas, and he was the pastor of Alfred Place Baptist Church in Everest with Wales for over 50 years. I dare you to give me a list of names who have that same accomplishment in any one church.

And he's the author of many books, he's a very well-known conference speaker, especially amongst Reformed Christians, and perhaps even more particular, well-known for his conferences with the Banner of Truth.

And today we are addressing one of the most pivotal texts in the New Testament, the prodigal son, the beating heart of Christianity. If you have a question, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com, c-h-r-i-s-a-r-n-z-e-n at gmail .com.

Give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence, if you live outside of the USA. We have another question before we move on to the second point, which I know is the repentance of the prodigal son.

But before we go to that, we have Ronald in Eastern Suffolk County who asks, how would we view this story as a story that does not teach that a true Christian can lose his or her salvation and then come back to be truly saved once again, rather than the prodigal son either being saved for the first time later in the story when he repents and returns home, or that he did backslide but never lost his salvation and merely was drawn home to his father as God had ordained?

How would.

You dissuade those that would view salvation as something that could be lost? Have anything.

Further that you would like to clarify or address about the rebellion aspect before we now enter into the prodigal son's repentance?

Well, it'll come out, I think, as I shame on our name.

Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Please be patient with us as this is the longer break in the show, in the middle, because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1 FM in Lake City, Florida, requires of us a longer break in the middle because they are required of the FCC to localize Iron Trump and Zion Radio and all of their programming geographically to Lake City, Florida, and they do so by airing their own public service announcements and other local things while we simultaneously air our globally heard commercials.

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We'll be right back after these messages. Don't go away.

Hi, I'm Phil Johnson, host and executive director of Grace to You, the media ministry of John MacArthur. I hope you plan to join me and Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio for the G3 conference in Atlanta, Georgia, Thursday, September 30th through Saturday, October 2nd.

The theme this year is Christ is supreme over all. My friend Chris Arnzen and I will be joined by several of our other friends, including Votie Valcum, Justin Peters, Daryl Bernard Harrison, Virgil Walker, and James White.

More than 20 other speakers will be joining us, and the lineup this year includes my pastor, John MacArthur. For details, visit g3conference .com. That's g3conference .com. Chris Arnzen and I hope to see you September 30th through October 2nd at G3 2021.

This is Phil.

Johnson reminding you that Christ is supreme over all. Hi, this is John Sampson, pastor of.

King's Church in Peoria, Arizona. Taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnzen and the Iron Sharpens Iron podcast. I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the Christian faith.

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This is a day of great spiritual compromise, and yet God has raised Chris up for just such a time. And knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances.

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Good luck. Solid-ground-books .com today, purchase generously, always mention that you heard about them from Chris Arnson and Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Before I return to Jeff Thomas, our guest today, I just have a few important announcements.

First of all, once again, thank you everyone for praying for me and my family after the death of my brother John at the age of 76 last Wednesday morning. As I said earlier, I trust he gave sufficient evidence that he was truly trusting in Christ, so I have great confidence I will see him in glory one day, and I just thank God for that evidence that my brother John gave through his personal testimony of trusting in Christ during those last weeks of his life.

Please pray for his widow, Jan. She is in the hospital with COVID pneumonia, and they don't expect her to be returning home anytime soon, but they do see some progress, but she is in still very critical condition.

Please pray for her. Pray for his two daughters, Regina and Patrice, his two sons, Eric and JJ, and for me, and my brother Andrew, and my sister Mary, and my brother Bob. I appreciate your prayers as we continue to grieve over this great loss in our family.

Also, folks, if you are a man in ministry leadership, I hope that you will make arrangements to get to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, if you're not already here, and attend the next Iron Sharpens Iron Radio pastor's luncheon on Monday, September 27th, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. at the Bongiorno Conference Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

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