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September 6, 2019 8:00 am
Welcome to the Friday edition of The Encouraging Word featuring the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton. It's open God's word together in just a moment. Dr. will be taking us to Luke chapter 15 as he continues yesterday.
Perhaps you heard the message on prodigal today. Whether you heard yesterday's message or not this will help you in my as we about loving on prodigal because sometimes the changes immediate.
God does something remarkably quickly, but you know God's not impatient and he is willing to work on us as long as it takes so loving on prodigal's is a message today that I think will encourage you on this Friday in a powerful way with God's word. Again, our speakers Dr. Don Wilton well-known author evangelist Pastor and today as he dives into God's word were available for you.
866899 word is the number or Venus online The Encouraging Word.org Dr. Don, one of the most painful things I think for people who love people is that when you love someone and then you see them leave and go away. It it takes so many different forms doesn't and sometimes is just simply that person that some of the just literally walks out, leaves disappears, I'm I can't try and give you all the reasons because they're just so many and prodigal-ism takes a lot of different expressions doesn't prodigal's not just someone who goes all you can be a prodigal and stay in the same home.
Some people live with prodigal prodigal-ism can be in the heart. Let's not just have a picture of someone who just goes to pieces ends up in drugs and alcohol and on the streets because that's prodigal-ism is leaving home and a prodigal is a person who leaves home and then comes back and in Luke chapter 15 you going to need your Bibles today. I want to show you something about what it means to love on prodigal's because the picture that we've got which we've just heard and seen so well portrayed in song and in drama. Just a moment ago is a beautiful picture and this is a very special word to so many today who are right between the proverbial rock and a hard place you find yourself if this is what you're dealing with. You find yourself going through every emotion and I'm going to go ahead and say it right now.
Sometimes my friends it's it's hard not to even get angry and sometimes you can get right to the agent and the person you love.
For whatever reason you know you just eventually find yourself saying you know, just go get going hurt yourself and an even in a in an even more radical expression of that and I'm just gonna so to speak.
I just disown you. I don't have anything more to do with you. You want to do that going ahead and do it and you're an adult, or whatever it is just go far as I'm concerned your life so could we be just very open and honest with each other today and there is a whole lost array of emotion and end our purpose is to try and discover what it is that God would say to us, so let me read this to you in Luke chapter 15 verse 11 Jesus said that there was a man who had two sons and the younger of them say trees father father give me the share of the property that is coming to me and he divided his property between them and not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had took a journey into fall and where Jesus said he squandered his quantities property in reckless living and when he had spent everything a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need and so he went out and he hide himself out.
That's a quad or a word that he hide himself out to one of the citizens of that country. You seem to induce feelings to feed the pigs.
This this man was so out of these home and environment.
He was so low he was willing to accept anything. It's amazing prodigal-ism very often gives a picture of someone who has everything and they go to a point where they use everything to the point at which they are willing to do anything that's a picture of desperate and the Bible said that in verse 16 that he was longing to be fed with the parts that the pigs ate but no one gave him anything. Even that was not sufficient, but when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants at more than an upgrade, but I pair share with hunger so I'm gonna rise I'm going to go back to my fault and I will say to him. Father absent against heaven and before you, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. So treat me as one of your hired servants in the Rose came to his father.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him that a beautiful expression and he felt compassion and he ran and embraced him and he kissed him and the son said father absent against heaven and you I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him put a ring on her knees and shoes on his feet bring the fattened cough and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.
And they began to celebrate I want to say to somebody today prodigal's leave home and then they come back you going to celebrate. I wish I could tell you how much longer you have to wait, but I don't know I can't do that none of us can how long you need to keep on loving I don't know but keep on loving that's the hard part. So when we look at this.
There were two things that I want to strip picture here together, which I think are very essential to us trying to boss the Lord to help us know what to do.
The first is the expression of the father's love in many ways the expression of the father's love is a love language. You and I understand that in our daily habitation.
You don't necessarily have to actually do the expression of love is that which comes from the heart.
Yes, it manifests itself expression manifests itself. It works itself out. It's it does show until, but there are really two dynamic share that we are presented in God's word and both of them give us a picture of God, our heavenly father. This is exactly the same way that God loves us because we too are lost in our trace bosses and sins. Sin separates us from God. Sin closes us to get hurt. Sin makes us drift. Sin takes us away from the father's love and the picture here is a wonderful picture of the father's love. He's long-suffering and he's kind and he's gracious and he never gives up on us and he's always waiting to welcome us home. The beautiful picture.
So there is an expression of the father's love. But then there's the practice of the father's love. And these two pictures all both presented here by the Lord Jesus to remind us through the heart of our heavenly father. What it means to express a mother, a father's love or a best friend's love toward someone that is going through this prodigal journey, but on the other hand, there is the product's of this love what it actually trounce light into you, not really believe when it comes to our Christian faith and I will with the Lord. Even here in our own church. This should be true of every Christian doesn't just tell me what it is about the love of Christ show me what it is. The younger generation today. My friends are no longer interested in rules and regulations and institutionalism. They want relationships they want to see this in action. They want to roll up his sleeves. They want to do it these to run side-by-side and and the picture here that God gives to us is a beautiful picture and I want to just break this down for you very quickly in this passage and it's all right. So first told the expression of the father's love and it's all right there in verse 20. If you'd like to look at it.
First of all, he saw him. This here is a is an incredible picture of the father's eyes. It's not just a physical seeing it, seeing with his heart, the one whom he loves. He saw him father never stopped looking out you know that beautiful picture in the Scriptures of the Lord Jesus himself when he came in he stood over Jerusalem from the Mount of olives and he sold the people. This is viewing those we love from our heart heat. He not only saw him, but he was filled with compassion for him. The heart not only looked to this one that had left home and had monitored everything and had gone on a long journey into a strange land.
He not only was aware of him. Which means that there was never a time at which even though the sun had left that the one who loved him was not seeing him and secondly he was filled with compassion. Wharton expression for him and compassion. How do you define compassion.
It's just an overwhelming pouring of love for someone regardless and then translated into the third expression he ran toward him. You know we've got this picture sometimes that in order for someone to come home. They have to come to us in the picture here is know as you come to us.
I come to you long before you come to us. It's all borne out a love that watch this.
This is the picture here of the father's love. He saw him, he was filled with compassion for him and he ran toward him so beautifully portrayed here in the drama that we just seen. He ran toward him. This is not a docile, dormant love.
It's a get up and go to love. I heard the other. Several weeks ago I was watching some program dateline or something like that news programming that had a story of a girl who just left her. She just walked out guarding the wrong crowd. She walked out. She was about 18 or so years of age. She wasn't very nice.
She was very unkind to her parents broke their hearts and she walked out and folks watch that she disappeared and you know that that mother and father for two years never heard from her, but they never stopped looking for and one day they were in California and I suddenly got a clue and a hint and the story was about this mother and father in a not a very good part of this city in which they door to head ended up in, and how one thing led to the other and the daughter got word that the parents would they still looking. This is two years after she had walked out and got into terrible thing and there was this picture of this daughter leaving this place that was not a good place and walking out and she ran toward her mother and father who were coming down the street and it had this picture of the mother and father just running like they were almost falling over themselves just this picture of the parents who had spent two years trying to find this daughter that they love. They found her.
She heard about it came running to them.
They came running toward her and there was this incredible welcome home ran to him and leads immediately into that fourth expression.
He embraced him. You know, I just love that so much that would embrace.
Is there anything quiet black just jolly good hug.
If you ever looked at someone and they said what can I do for you and you say you not could really just use a jolly good hug and it it carries with it that that expression of this warm embrace. I mean putting your arms around someone and just and just loving them just embracing them could I use this word kind of just swallowing them up just having a good gobble gobble gobble gobble. I'm just gonna gobble you up, which lead to the final expression he kissed incidentally that the word is a very important word.
Now back in Jesus time to us was very symbolic.
The kiss signified the on the entity of the person that was being kissed and the kiss or the one who kissed the one what ever frame of reference they brought to the table. The fact that the father kissed the son was similar in some follicle of the father giving his identification to the one night he kissed. Let's take it another way, there was a fellow called Judas and you remember Judas betrayed Jesus.
So when Judas came into the garden of Gethsemane.
All those Roman soldiers and the authorities were watching because vested in Judas was the deed to dainty father person they wanted to get and when Judas walked up to Jesus to thereby through the authority that he carried he was on dainty fine to these people that this is the one the father kissed the son after all the pain and the hurt in the journey saying I want everybody to know this is my son so if that's the expression what was the practice of the father's love. Now this is a beautiful picture because in the practice of the father's love. There was a four point all right for stage process that the father went to show the expression of his loving practice.
So let's look at number one. He put a robe on his back. What that mean what the father was doing Ms. that he was saying. My son as your father cover you and the covering of the road one and at the same time not only shot out the outside elements, but in case and held together. The warmth of the heart. It was both an actor and an inner covering and the father was showing to us exactly what it is that God does for us in Christ Jesus, that the righteousness of Christ. We have good by his sacrifice and we become in the righteousness of the goblins of Almighty God and when we come to him in repentance and invite God, our heavenly father says into my presence because my son has paid the sacrifice and when you come to him by repenting of your sin and by confessing that sin by receiving him into your heart and life. Christ Jesus through his righteousness, and Allison keeping intact about the blood flow about relationship with Christ and protecting us from all that would seek to come against us. From the outside. The elements will walk away from the father's love are exposed to the elements of this world, so he put a robe on his back. The second thing he did was he put a ring on his finger. What a beautiful picture. He put a ring on his finger. We we associate rings like my waiting band here and we love rings ladies especially love rings just try them out and see long as it's got a little glittering thing on rings a very important when he put a ring on his finger. What father was doing in practice was twofold. First of all, the ring symbolized is belonging to rings symbolize belonging to win. I show you my waiting band when you see my waiting band link may be no mistake that I belonging to Karen. I am married to Karen. She is the love of my life. She and all one this ring symbolizes the means I'm taken. I'm accounted for at means that I have a permanent relationship with someone that I love but it also symbolizes completeness. The waiting band carries those two ideas and when this father who has expressed his love put a robe on his back covered him as Christ does with his righteousness now puts a ring on his finger symbolizes his full and complete belonging to his father's house in every way Plasse the completeness of the journey. Yes, he might have taken a detour buddies back. The aim is adjoined. There is no gap anymore, but he took it further than that. He put shoes on his feet. That's what the Bible says, yet in verse 22 that city put sandals on his feet.
Why did he put shoes on his feet well again showing us the father's love so many fold. First of all to protect him from the sharpness of that, upon which he walked. He was shod with the preparation of God's righteousness the righteousness of God prevents us and allows us to be able to walk through life without walking on egg shells when we are shod with the shoes of God and his righteousness. It means that we not going to gather dust means you're not going to soil our feet at means we going to be able to run even in difficult places. It means we gonna be able to walk and not faint. So yes the father putting these loving practice putting a robe on his back and and a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet, but there was a final thing that he did. My favorite one. He put food in the stomach is to kill affected cough.
Make a feast back then in Jesus time.
Of course the very expression of killing a factored coffin every word. There is so loaded the sacrifice that was necessary because of the father's love, through Jesus Christ, so that we might feast upon him. The shading of blood because without the shedding of blood. They can be no forgiveness of sin. They can be no covering. They can be known ring. They can be no faith that was prepared was symbolically final moment. It was the drumroll it was the feast of feasts and what symbolized was just very simply, son, and be food, because in me. You can be satisfied.
My son there is no need ever to leave home again. There is no need to ever do this, you are my son and everything I have is your come home, come home is I want you to know those that love you, we really loved whether or not you've actually physically left home with you just left home in your heart when running to you. We see you we love you we embrace you, we have a robe to cover you a ring to complete.
You shoes to protect you and food to fill you come in feast, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but should have everlasting life, and ask you to come today ask you to respond today. Love that great hymn of the fight softly and tenderly Jesus is calling calling for you and for me it's time is common law. Some of you who love on products come and pray, lost God to help you because it's not easy to love like this but I wish we could just go walk out the door today and say what from now on, we gonna go barcode the ring in the new pair shoes and gonna kill affected cough. We gonna find something good to eat. We gonna get it already and we just going to say man I'm not going to be mad anymore. You know folks we lost God to help us that's tough at all, but the Lord does that maybe today you listening God spoken to you come home come home, Lord Jesus, bring them home, bring up boys and bring our girls back home bring that dad back home mom back home. Make a decision today. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why did you pray this prayer with me right in the eye know that I was and I know that Jesus is God. They are a pain to and by faith I receive Jesus night, my friend. I will welcome you today into the family of God. This is exciting new again that phone number is 866899 word 866-899-9673 is online Encouraging Word have a wonderful weekend is Dr. Don would say see you in church on Sunday