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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 fields 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 so on.

We’re familiar with this parable. Usually referred to as the parable of the prodigal son. Children here, you’ll be wondering what the word prodigal means. it’s a word which is really simply meaning to be wasteful to waste or to lose what is valuable in a careless way and wasting his substance that is his riches and much else besides perhaps even his health and his prosperity and his honor and everything that was good and savory and worthy, he lost it with riotous living, with a careless, wasteful lifestyle. That’s the picture. And it’s one of three parables, as you see, and they’re all pointing to the same thing. They all bring out the same teaching. It’s all an answer to the Pharisees and the scribes who murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And the Savior is answering that murmuring. You can see in the parables that the emphasis, the focus of each one of them is on this, that there is joy. far from being occasion for murmuring it’s rather to be an occasion for joy that there would be any who would be publicans and sinners coming to hear Christ this is the very reason he came into the world it’s the very reason he exercises this ministry he is the shepherd going out to seek such he is like the woman having ten pieces who swept the house and diligently sought the piece that was lost and then rejoices and so the parable here, he is the father, Christ is the father much confusion has arisen in trying to apply the parable of the prodigal son in a way that makes God the father as the father the simple solution to that mistake is that Christ is here intending himself and the Bible speaks of him in that language in other places as well that he is as a father speaking to his son in Proverbs the father chastises his son so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee and as a father pitieth his children so the Lord Jesus gives himself this name and character in this parable as well he is the one who receives sinners he is the one who has compassion and runs and falls on their neck to kiss them brings them back into the home he is the one who is represented then in the parable well the picture is then of sin and it’s a sin which might bring in including it many sins many degrees of sin many different characteristics about sin we might think of it as a spiritual disease certainly being a prodigal in outward things and literally it’s a very sinful thing young men are apt to do this they are rash and foolish they are hasty in some of their decisions and when they get some wealth they tend to lose it quickly if they are not wise and instructed and careful. They also are very liable to these sins of which this man was found guilty. These are things that are true outwardly, physically, and that’s the point of a parable. It pictures something that’s true to life, something easy to understand, something that’s common, something that people are familiar with so that we can understand better what is intended spiritually and so it is the spiritual wastefulness it is the spiritual prodigality that is here in the teaching of the Saviour exposed and warned about and rebuked and corrected and indeed the condition and the case of this prodigal is intended to encourage this joy when they repent. When such a person is brought to repentance, when such a person is found by the Saviour, this is the occasion of joy, spiritual joy. Yes, joy in heaven, heavenly joy. there can be joy on earth as is pictured in the parable that’s not the kind of joy that the saviour would have us to be looking for and expressing rather the spiritual joy which it intends which is intended to be reflected in the parable spiritual joy in heaven what is the joy of heaven but that joy in God the holiness of God the glory of God the purity of God, the majesty of God a joy which the men of this world would not find to be joyful it’s joy that the angels enter into it’s spiritual, it’s heavenly, it’s divine, glorious joy it’s the joy around the throne of God in his presence, before his majesty and so it is a spiritual prodigality and a spiritual repentance and spiritual joy that is set before us.

The Spiritual Disease of Prodigality

We want to consider this evening, as we may be enabled, the spiritual disease of prodigality. The spiritual disease of prodigality.

1. Diagnosing the Case and Condition

And we want to firstly diagnose the case and the condition that the Bible here sets before us and to apply it to ourselves we might find ourselves addressed secondly we would like to detect the curse and the consequences of this disease it’s a fearful evil in its consequences the curse of God is on it and that is unfolded in this picture and then thirdly to come to notice to prescribe the correction and the cure of this disease and it is repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that God requires of us that we might escape The consequences and the evil of sin And are you here tonight and that is what you are needing You are needing your sin to be diagnosed Your case and your condition And the curse of it, the consequences of it detected And made known to you So that you would have and seek and indeed find this cure this deliverance, this salvation that these did that these found who came near to Christ then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him we were considering last night the the great matter of Christ being present at the feast well that is what we are to do when he is present we are to draw near to hear him because this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them it is that close familiar experience of the salvation that is in Christ that sinners are invited to come to hear about but also to enjoy this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them there is no greater joy to be found in this world than that because it’s heaven’s joy on earth think of it friends that we are here this evening and there is as it were in the assembly we have this evening around the word of God that opportunity to be the cause and object of joy in heaven among the angels You cannot say that about many things in this world As far as the world’s view of joy is concerned The world knows nothing of it A stranger does not intermeddle with this joy But here is joy that the Bible says is unspeakable And full of glory It’s unspeakable, someone has suggested Because the world cannot speak about it Because the world doesn’t understand it The world doesn’t enter into it the language of this joy. It’s unspeakable joy. The joy of the believer. The joy of the penitent. The joy of finding salvation. The joy of deliverance from sin and death and hell. It’s unspeakable joy. It’s not that it cannot be spoken about by those who have it. But the world knows it not. And it’s full of glory. It partakes of heaven. There’s something of heaven in it These three things then The diagnosis Of this case And this condition Spiritual Disease of prodigality As we said It’s spiritual And although the spiritual Is emphasized and it ought to be The outward And the literal Are not to be passed over it is a great evil in the world to be wasting our substance it’s a great sin in our generation perhaps more than any other in the history of man to be wasteful with God’s gifts and God’s goodness and to be abusing the privileges that God has given us and outward things here is a young man pictured who is keen to obtain wealth and not many days after he gathers all together and takes his journey into a far country, he cannot get away soon enough from his father’s house and that has been the conduct of many, many, many poor sinners and discovering quite literally what this young man discovered that that way is a hard way, a hard lesson to learn in life. And to flee from outward privileges as though they were disadvantages when in fact they were blessings from God is not only wasteful, but it’s unthankful, it’s ungratefulness.

Well, these things can all be said about the outward literal prodigality, but we want to concentrate on what is, we believe, intended, and that is the spiritual character of the prodigal, the prodigality that is spiritual, the wastefulness that is spiritual. And it does not need to be confined to one age group. It does not need to be identifying a younger son, or a son indeed as distinct from a daughter. It does not need to be identifying any particular person because it is true of all by nature. It is true of all men everywhere who have the gifts and blessings and benefits that God has given and particularly those with spiritual benefits who have the Word of God and the Gospel of God and the means of grace and the outward administration of the covenant of grace in the visible church, perhaps it is these particularly that the Saviour has in mind, and he’s identifying these publicans and sinners, yes, as being nevertheless in the commonwealth of Israel who were those who had access to the means of grace that God had given to Israel. And that’s the nature of Christ’s kingdom. It’s a kingdom set up in the world with outward advantages which were spiritual in nature. And they are in that kingdom who are members of the visible church. Those who were circumcised in the Old Testament, those who were baptized in the New Testament, share that common privilege and the older son as well as the younger son had that as well he said he was told later on thou art ever with me and all that i have is thine he was a member of this visible church and these pharisees and scribes who seemed to be identified by the elder son they were that class of people who had these outward had near and ready access to all these outward privileges of the visible church and they were spiritually enriched by them as far as access to them is concerned their substance that’s what they had and so we’re here tonight and every one of us is capable of this spiritual disease and sin and indeed many there are who grow up in the visible church and the part of the prodigal very quickly and very decidedly and very solemnly departing from the church of God turning their back on the means of grace their wayward course in pursuing after the world and the things of it matches that of the prodigal almost almost to the letter it can be a personal sin and it is a personal sin it can be applied personally and we must take heed to the solemnity of that so come to notice the consequences of it it’s here described in terms of one son we might think well one remained and one left that’s half stayed and half left but that’s not the purpose of the parable at all to define the matter in terms of numbers the solemn sobering reality is that the vast majority of those who depart from the worship and means of grace and the worship of God never come back.

We’ll come to that, but it’s a fearful picture that we have here. But we want to just perhaps draw attention to this, that this can be a sin that is of a wider reach than we might think. There can be such a thing as prodigal families in the church. There can be prodigal congregations. there can be prodigal churches yes we can go so far and say this that there can be prodigal Christians true believers who act in a prodigal way a wasteful way there can be this root, this disease, this corruption this tendency in the heart of God’s own dear people towards wastefulness of their substance their heart being estranged from the very privileges and blessings that they have prodigal churches, yes and we believe that our generation particularly is abounding with such prodigal nations there can be whole generations of men who are prodigal who are wasteful of their substance we can think of the heritage which the word of God and the means of grace and the visible church brings to men the heritage of the doctrines of God’s word what wastefulness of precious truths and doctrines when they are rejected or sold or lost or forgotten or neglected or exchanged for error that’s prodigality, that’s wastefulness with doctrine, the doctrines of God’s word all of which are precious, all of which are true to exchange truth for error to exchange divine ordinances of worship for man’s inventions in worship is a prodigal conduct of churches of professing believers to abandon the government of Christ’s house that’s the picture of the father’s house it’s the house over which he is the master, the lord of it he has rule and government in his own house to abandon that and to set up a rival government unauthorized by him and as it were claiming his authority and acting in his name not only is it prodigal, it’s blasphemous it’s the very attack which Satan makes on Christ’s kingdom it’s the very nature of the Antichrist to rear up an authority beside that of Christ it’s a fearful sin when churches indulge in these things when nations do it when whole generations of the church of God depart from the faith and sell their inheritance like Esau what for? for outward prosperity perhaps for some degree of enjoyment of the things of this life for the honour which they might get from men for the applause of the world we’re thinking in wider terms then than this individual and we believe that the application is as wide as that like the saviour addresses the churches in Asia you could find prodigality, spiritual prodigality among these churches because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and of need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked almost a fitting description of the very prodigal here and it’s addressed to a whole church we’re living in a nation you’re living in a nation here and I am too in the United Kingdom where this spiritual disease is rampant in the Christian church it’s widespread it’s an epidemic in Western Christianity because we have abandoned the substance which Christ has given to us we’ve given away our inheritance we’ve lost it, we’ve sold it to a large extent for what? families can do that fathers can do it on behalf of their children by not nurturing them and teaching them the doctrines of God’s word by not bringing them up in the fear of God They act like prodigals They rob their children of an inheritance They go into a far country Oh, it is a far country And a reformation of religion Brings that very much home To nations and to generations The nations of Europe experienced a reformation from the prodigality of potpourri and that’s what potpourri is, it’s the prodigal religion it’s a far country, it’s a barren waste wilderness spiritually we want to just emphasize that because we want to come more particularly to the gospel riches that men may be prodigal with and that really is the case and the condition that we must diagnose and identify. We can be prodigal with the gospel. We can be prodigal and wasteful with the rich, rich truths concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The way of salvation through a crucified, risen, exalted Savior. What shall I do with Jesus? Unbelief is prodigality. The unbelieving heart of man is a prodigal heart, a wasteful heart. It’s rejecting and neglecting, it’s despising just what this young man was doing. He couldn’t get away quick enough. And he sold all, he lost everything. Devoured his living. Devoured his living. In unbelief. Unbelieving. An evil heart of unbelief. Departs from the living God. A far country. It’s a far country. The country of unbelief. The place where the sinner resides. It’s a place where the famine is very grievous. and when the Lord opens the eyes of men that is what an unbelieving heart discovers that this is indeed a waste wilderness you can join yourselves to as many of the citizens of that country as you please it will always be the same you can devise the schemes which worldly wise men will propose to you for addressing your soul’s concerns but if you reject Christ in the gospel you are in a far country indeed and all you’re doing is feeding swine. That’s what unbelief is doing. Feeding swine. It’s like satisfying the carnal appetites feeding the outward man only the inward man is withered you might get what you want but you get leanness to your soul that’s what unbelief does that’s what covetousness of the world does a worldly minded man is unstable in all his ways that’s what this young man was after he was after the world, the company of the world the pleasures of the world which were before a season he didn’t want to be in the confines of his home any longer he didn’t want the restrictions perhaps on his lusts and lust had conceived as it were in the womb of his heart and it was ready to bring forth all these children of wickedness and sin and rebellion and uncleanness and idolatrous wickedness. And that’s what sin is. That’s what sin does. It produces more and more like itself. Men go on in sin. The world runs on in sin. What a fearful thing to be doing with the knowledge of the commandments of God. what a fearful thing to be doing with the voice of God in your conscience to trample on it, to silence it to waste your substance with riotous living spending all spending all, yes, spending all your time prodigality of time is a great evil the prodigality, the wastefulness of talents like the parable of the Saviour you’ve been given talents to use to trade with heaven go and occupy till Christ comes trade with these talents and what do you do with the talents? you serve the citizens of the country that you’ve gone to are you here tonight? and that’s what’s conceived in your heart by nature it is there already and it’s stirring oftentimes in the desires of the unbelieving Christ rejecting sinner prodigality with our treasure laying up for ourselves treasure on earth but not being rich toward God Christ is saying I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire but you are saying I am rich already I don’t need Christ’s riches I’ve got righteousness of my own and we can think that this man this older son was in his heart a prodigal too in his self-righteous self-love in his rejection of the the riches really that he did possess he wasn’t esteeming them he wasn valuing them it came out very quickly as soon as he begins to speak as someone has said he betrays himself as being in his heart He’s strange from his own father, in love with the world, his friends were not in the father’s house, he was looking for friends elsewhere. He was a prodigal at home. it’s a fearful thing to be wasteful in the direction of abusing the privileges we have and that’s what we said about worship and the government of the church and the doctrines of the word of God it’s like devouring our living with harlots the bible speaks like that of spiritual adultery going after others than Christ estranged in our affections from Christ himself burying our talents in the earth hiding our Lord’s money these are the spiritual conditions which sinners live in young people here tonight you are in grave danger of all these the Lord’s people too you’re finding this in your own heart are you not? you’re familiar with the plague of sin when your affections are cooling towards the Father’s house as is pictured here the precious, precious gospel truths which once you did value and prize and love you couldn’t get enough of the means of grace You couldn’t get enough of communion seasons You couldn’t get enough of prayer meetings You desired the company of God’s people You desired fellowship with the saints You relished these things To sit down with Christ But if the truth were told You’re finding your heart wandering you’re finding lust conceiving and bringing forth sin and were the Lord not to restrain it and prevent it you would rush headlong into a far country yourself some of the Lord’s people have done so to their great harm and damage they’ve gone aside whether in the direction of a righteousness of their own in the place of carnal policy you remember Bunyan’s Pilgrim said that Bunyan introduced the character of worldly wise men for his second edition of the Pilgrim’s Progress he put it in at the very beginning of the Christians course after he had left the city of destruction but in reality he could have put it anywhere that worldly wise man leading the heart away to legality and civility and the houses of those people who think that they can get the burden off your back some other way than the way of the cross that’s what a Christian is exposed to, a believer in Christ is exposed to that danger whole congregations can turn aside to worldly mindedness to the love of this world to false worship and false doctrine it’s a prodigality which the church of God is exposed to.

2. Detecting the Curse and Consequences

Well come secondly to identify and it’s a solemn matter to do so the curse and the consequences of this disease we call it a curse because the hand of God is being demonstrated here as leaving this man to him, to his own choices it’s one of the greatest and the most sore and solemn spiritual judgments to be falling upon any person that God would let them what they want, let them have what they want. We were singing that in the psalm. He gave them what they sought, but to their souls he leanness sent. The young man asked his father for his goods. Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he wants to have them, but he wants to get rid of them as well at the same time. you see his purpose is intended that way not many days after he’s in a hurry to be rid of the things that he’s got the portion that he’s got of the good things of the father’s house he’s in a great hurry to be rid of them that’s the nature of this prodigality and the solemn thing is that the father gives it to him he divided unto them his living as far as the kingdom of Christ is concerned there’s no reducing of the of the capital as it were there’s no loss to Christ there’s no loss to Christ that sinners go off into the world with their inheritance and lose it there’s all the riches of glorious the glorious riches of the covenant of grace are ordered and all things ensured it’s an abundance of supply the more they ask the more they receive the more the rest of us receives of true spiritual life and grace as it were the fountain never runs dry but the picture of the prodigal is as though he’s got half the living and he’s away with it the Lord is leaving him to himself leaving him to his own wisdom which is foolishness that’s a fearful judgment from heaven it’s the greatest judgment a sinner can be under, to be left to themselves the Lord leaving them to show them what is in their heart even the Lord’s people can be left to that Hezekiah was to show him the pride of his heart David was left to show him the error of his ways. Peter was left and exposed to the attack of the wicked one to show him how weak he was. Ah, but sinners being left to themselves, it’s a fearful judgment. It’s a slippery place. Assuredly thou didst them set a slippery place upon. And multitudes fall to ruin that way. They go on and on and on and sin are never recovered. They find no place for repentance. They’re like Esau who became profane when he sold his birthright. He was profane. He didn’t recognize spiritual things at all. He didn’t have any interest in the spiritual blessing which Jacob valued. What use is my birthright to me? And he was left to that. He was left to it. It’s a fearful curse.

But the consequences of this state of heart, the consequences of it are fearful. He runs off. He Gathers all together And took his journey into a far country There’s a progression here It’s going farther and farther and farther away Putting a distance A greater and greater distance between him and The sweet Blessed privileges And opportunities and as far as God’s people are concerned that’s the way of unbelieving an evil heart of unbelief take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart that departs from the living God that is departing that’s its tendency it’s going away, it’s leaving it’s leaving the warmth it’s leaving the comfort it’s leaving the enjoyment it’s leaving the sweet communion it’s finding solace elsewhere than in this sweet fellowship and communion of the Lord Jesus Christ that’s a sin in the hearts of God’s people warned of but ah for those who are so near the kingdom and they depart from it there was a man told they were not far from the kingdom of heaven the Savior said of him that he was it is said of the Savior that he loved him there was something amiable about his whole character his whole course and conduct because he was so near he was so near and when he was told that he had to go and sell all that he had give to the poor and come take up your cross and follow me he went away sorrowful he went away sorrowful he left though he had been so near spiritual prodigality is ignorant of just what they are leaving ignorant of the sweetness ignorant of the value the riches, the pleasures, the treasures that are bound up in Christ for poor sinners this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them there is fellowship to be had with Christ and you’ve never tasted it that’s why you’re fleeing to find it somewhere else to find good who will show us any good is that which many say ah but of thy countenance the light Lord lift on us all way upon my heart bestowed by thee more gladness I have found than they even then when corn and wine did most with them abound that’s what’s in the Father’s house he should have also fed you with the finest of the wheat of honey from the rock thy fill I should have made thee eat if only you had discovered just how glorious the privilege is of being in the Father’s house of enjoying the portion of goods that belongeth to you spiritually you wouldn’t be running away you’d be like Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt you would have respect unto the recompense of the reward you would be willing to endure much reproach and affliction and crosses and losses for Christ’s sake because Christ’s presence would be with you his grace would be sufficient for you and you would be able to glory in your tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience patience experience and experience hope and hope will make you not ashamed and you would have the love of God shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost but instead of that you’re off seeking consolations elsewhere that’s because prodigality has taken over your heart spiritual prodigality is a far country from Christ’s fellowship it comes between our souls and Christ it pushes Christ away it’s saying I have put off my coat how will I put it on I have washed my feet how shall I defile them it’s saying I don’t need the father’s house I don’t need the comfort there I’ll find them elsewhere I’ll find it in my success in life in my prosperity I’ll find it in the reputation I have among men I’ll find it in my own righteousness which I like to think others admire or I’ll find it in pleasure I’ll find it in the things of the world the elder brother was a secret prodigal at home the younger brother a flagrant open prodigal abroad they were very like each other spiritually in the eyes of Christ they were both in need of salvation they were both in need of the man who receiveth sinners and eateth with them all what you’re losing the consequence of prodigality is fearful as far as what you’re losing is concerned friends as we said at the beginning few ever return our churches in Scotland are now most of them for the fifth generation heirs of the inheritance which our fathers saw the value of and passed down to us the worship doctrine discipline and government of the church of the reformation which this congregation professes to value also we’re now in the fifth generation of that and the churches are shrinking and shrinking and shrinking in size the opposite of what would be a natural organic growth of fathers giving the inheritance to their children and children valuing it and prizing the inheritance of the means of grace Why is that It because there are thousands of prodigal sons and daughters in Scotland, tens of thousands over the past hundred years. At its largest, the Free Presbyterian Church was about 20,000 people in the early 20th century. The natural development of that, if children had remained who were baptized, the church would be hundreds of thousands by the fifth generation instead of that they’d all fit into one building that’s the nature of a prodigal church it’s the nature of a prodigal generation it’s the nature of prodigal Christianity it’s the nature of prodigal heart the prodigal heart departs from the living God it’s a real plague and you here in this land are perilously in danger of it young people I warn you from heaven from the word of God with all the earnestness and affection and sympathy that I can be warned of this fearful evil millions go down to our lost eternity from the visible church and its privileges without God, without hope, without Christ, without salvation without free pardon, without eternal life without Jesus Christ the mediator and so there’s harm to others as well he was in the far country what a reputation he must have had among those whom he met where did you come from how were you brought up look what you’ve left behind look at you now what a dishonor to the father’s house that was what a stumbling block he must have been to the owner of the swine not to mention his older brother Many another A consequence of prodigality Is a defiled conscience A consequence of prodigality is When you do repent It’s bitter It’s bitter, bitter repentance It’s a grievous A grievous discovery of the depth Of this heart plague.

3. Prescribing the Correction and Cure

Well we come then to what is the cure and you know what the answer to that is do you not it’s only Christ that can save from sin let that be firmly etched upon the conscience of every sinner here tonight this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them that is the glorious heralded news of the everlasting gospel and it was in the tongues of murmurers here but it’s to be loudly proclaimed in all the world for the obedience of faith among all nations. This man, this glorious God-man, this Savior sent, this divine Redeemer, this kinsman, this mighty man of wealth is the only one who can find a remedy and who has provided a remedy who can deliver the soul from going down into destruction, who can bring back the sinner from his self-destruction, destruction, who can seek and find the lost sheep, who can sweep the house and find the lost coin, and who can find that lost son in that far country, and can raise him from a spiritual grave of death, and give him life, and give him more than that, bring him back most gloriously. the first two parables here are essential to our understanding of the outcome in the third it is the same glorious person who goes out to seek the lost in the first two parables as is the one who receives the seeking soul who returns in the third it’s the same glorious person in other words, who receives the sinner who does repent, as is exalted to give the repentance, so that they will seek Him. It is He, by His Spirit, who persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ, who is freely offered to us in the Gospel. It’s His glorious work to seek, and to send the arrows of conviction he goes forth riding prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness why truth and meekness and righteousness? because of lies and pride and unrighteousness that dwell in the heart he’s got a cause to fight he’s a captain of salvation who’s going to slay these great enemies sin and death and hell and the devil and the iniquity of your heart plagues the lies of the devil that you’ve swallowed the pride of your heart by nature this prodigal son had all that he believed the lie his heart was filled with this pride and arrogance that he knew better than God he knew better than his father and so it is with sinners they must be brought down into the dust to discover the real wretchedness of their condition and that’s Christ’s glorious work thine arrows sharply pierce the heart of the enemies of the king and that’s what your sin is it’s an enemy to your soul it’s an enemy to Christ and it’s the enemy that is going to ruin you child of God is that not what you’ve discovered the law of sin in your members warring against the law in your mind it’s a great army that you have opposed to Christ in your very bosom, in your very heart you’ve set a captain over them the heart of man the raging unbelief the raging pride of man’s heart is arrayed against Christ within the very soul of God’s people to cause them to be prodigals to cause them to waste their substance to flee from the father’s house to a far country well the only cure is Christ’s seeking and finding the son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost he’s come to seek and to save it’s he who seeks it’s he who does that glorious work of a renewing and regenerating and putting a new heart and a new spirit within and it’s his glorious work to bring the sinner low to discover what his sin has brought upon him and where his sin will lead him to convict and to convince of sin. Were you ever convinced? Were you ever convinced of the sin you were living in? That it is against God? That it is going to destroy you? That it is heinous and evil in its nature? Did you ever see it in this light? When he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. And no man gave unto him. No man cared for my soul. I looked in my right hand and viewed but none to know me where. All refuge failed me. It’s the loneliest place on earth. It’s the loneliest place for a sinner to be under the convicting terror of God’s law. And if you remain there, your heart will only harden. Law and terrors only harden when they’re left to work alone. But the sense of blood-bought pardon, that will melt the heart of stone. And that’s really what this parable is all about. He came to himself and he said, how many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare there is salvation in Christ enough and to spare there is plenteous redemption to be found with him the psalmist speaks from the depths there is forgiveness with thee there is mercy with thee there is plenteous redemption with thee it’s bread enough and to spare what is that bread of the father’s house represented here it’s what these publicans and sinners were coming to hear Christ for that’s what Christ is intending by the bread enough and to spare in the father’s house it’s what the publicans and sinners came to hear him to obtain it’s the forgiveness of their sins it’s the new heart also and the right spirit it’s the repentance toward God It’s the new spirit put within them. It’s reconciliation with God. It’s justifying grace. It’s adopting grace. It’s sanctifying grace. All the benefits of the everlasting covenant. They’re all in Christ. And they’re only in Christ. And they’re free in Christ. There are plenty as redemption ever to be found in Christ alone. And that’s what the prodigal must know. He must discover it. He must see his need of it. and that’s what you are tonight to be urged to see and to seek and to know that Christ would give it you that you would go to him for it child of God, believer in Christ have you not been a thousand times before in that condition of spiritual prodigality yourself have you not come back again and again have you not said in your heart so henceforth we will not go back nor turn from thee at all oh do thou quicken us and we upon thy name will call and yet there you are in the far country in your heart again before you know it your prayerless prayers are coming between you and Christ the world is getting in and interfering with your spiritual affections and you’re becoming a prodigal again and the husks that the swine did eat the swine themselves are knocking at your door desiring to be fed again and you a prodigal needing to return prodigal churches needed to be reformed, to be revived, to be quickened to be stirred up, to go back to return to him from whom you have so deeply revolted O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity take with you words and say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously that’s the correction and the cure that Christ prescribes this man receiveth sinners he’s as welcoming to sinners tonight as he ever was he will have though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin come now and let us reason together though you have this heart this plague, this corruption this departing from the living God return unto me and I will return unto you let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him the promise of the everlasting covenant that’s how precious the riches of Christ are that’s the substance that you’ve wasted for so long that’s the mercy that there is held out to you in the everlasting gospel this evening once more you’re not going to leave the building surely and be a prodigal before you reach the car and waste your substance and lose the benefit and lose the inheritance and sell your birthright and say we will not have this man to reign over us you’re not saying that the world can give you something that Christ can’t of the blessings of mercy of forgiveness of hope of life of the blessed hope and assurance of God’s love the communion sees and sets before you blood bought blessings for perishing sinners oh taste and see that God is good who trusts in him is blessed.

 

This sermon is auto-transcribed and may contain inaccuracies.

Speaker: Rev David Campbell

Congregation Santa Fe

Text: Luke 15:11

Date: 11 June 2026

Series: Texas Communion June 2026