Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, and today, I'm going to share with you what He's done for you. And I'm going to share with you what He's done for you.
And at this point in my life, you know, I've been here long enough, and so I'd like to have what's coming to me, and I've got something in mind. Well, He had the right to do that, and the Father had the right to give Him whatever He wanted. He had another son, and the elder son, which was the other son, always got twice as much as the younger son. He had the right to do that, and He had the right to do that. He had the right to do that, and He had the right to do that. He had the right to do that, and He had the right to do that. And so, He's been visualizing in His mind, and the Scripture says He takes this and He goes into a far country.
Now, think about this for a moment. He had it all, but in His mind, there was something missing. He probably heard about it. He thought about it.
He visualized it. He had the right to do that, and He had the right to do that. He had the right to do that, and He had the right to do that. He had the right to do that, and He had the right to do that. He had the right to do that, doing whatever you'd like to do in life, and I mean, how could it be any better than that?
He probably got a little bit tired of His Father's restraints on Him. So, His Father probably, knowing that He was making a terrible mistake, said, All right, Son, He gave Him His portion of His inheritance. And He said, He gave it to you. And He said, He gave it to you. And so, He said, He gave it to you. And so, He went home to do it Himself, going to do it His way.
Because being at home somehow, there was something about that that wasn't quite satisfying enough. And so, God gave you and me, likewise, the choice to go or not to go. He's given us choices in life that are good and choices in life that if we choose otherwise, we have the choice to go or not to go. And so, God gave us choices in life that are good and choices in life that are good and choices in life that are good. And oftentimes we hear people say today, Well, you know, I know some folks who've made some bad choices, but they're just doing fantastic in life and everything is fine and all this stuff about consequences, you can't believe all that.
My friend, what you don't know is that you don't know what they're thinking on the inside. And there are many people who have much who are miserable. And you know, God gave us choices in life that are good and choices in life that are good and choices in life that are good and choices in life that are good and choices in life that are good. And so, God gave us choices in life that we can't talk about, but somebody to have a relationship with. So, here He goes now and He exercises His choice. And the Scripture says He goes to a far country. He squandered it all. He lost it all. He got it all. And so, He makes choices.
And so, God says to us, Well, there are many people in this world of ours who've been hoodwinked by Satan to believe the same thing. You can have anything you want. You can have as much of it as you want and there are no consequences.
When we step outside the will of God, everything we acquire will eventually turn to ashes. But the pleasures are passing. And the issue is what kind of pleasure?
That is, what is the outcome? What's the fruit of these pleasures? Is it joy and happiness and peace and contentment?
You don't see any of that in what is said about Him. And the third thing I want you to notice is that God warns us that if we acquire these things, they're going to turn to ashes. Now, somebody says, Well, what do you mean by ashes? Well, let's think about it for a moment. When a house burns down or something is destroyed, we have ashes.
And ashes are just fragments of what was there and sort of light, fluffy things that you and I could just toss around and go with the wind. So, I'm going to ask you this simple question. Are you living in the will of God as best you know how? Would you say that as best you know, you know the will of God for your life and that's where you are? Wonderful. Would you have to say, No, I'm not living in the will of God.
I'm not interested in that. Well, let me just say this to you. Whether you believe the Word of God or not is not the issue because the Word of God is true. Be sure your sin will find you out. You reap what you sow more than you sow later than you sow.
Ashes are beginning to be seen in their life. Why? Because they've chosen to live outside the purpose and plan and will of God for their life. It is foolish. It is a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin. It is suicide.
And you see, a person says, Well, I just don't believe all that and there are more and more people today in our country who do not believe the Word of God. Are they any happier? No.
Do they have any more? No. Because the truth is, you cannot change a principle of the Word of God. And the truth is, you cannot change a principle of the Word of God.
And the truth is, you're going to be a person who's been giving you pleasure for very long and you're going to regret the day you chose to pursue something that ultimately destroyed your life. So, when I look at that passage and I think how simple and clear this is, it's going to eventually turn to ashes. Now, physically we know what ashes are. Spiritually, what are they? They're not the same. They're the same. They're the same. They're the same.
They're the same. Maybe you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior and you say, Well, I'm not even a Christian. How does that apply to me? It still applies. Whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, it still applies. Whatever you sow, you reap what you sow, more than you sow, later than you sow. Whatever you acquire outside the will of God's going to turn to ashes. One day at some point, you're going to wake up to realize you made a horrible lifetime mistake. And you're going to wake up to the truth of what God said to you. You're going to wake up to the truth of the Word of God. This is the eternal Word of God and Scripture says, The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands eternally, sure and true, immovable and unchangeable, always right.
And there are a lot of people who are living in a far country who've decided they're going to have it their way and they're It's only seasonal. But there comes a time when God calls the play. Now think about it.
Here's what happens. You have lots of money and then you have none. It's all turned to ashes. What can you buy with a handful of ashes? Or a truckload of ashes?
Or a trainload of ashes? The money's gone. All you have with your immorality is guilt, and your sin is gone. You have jobs and your sin is gone. You have dirty feelings and emptiness. Nothing satisfying with that.
And what about your standing, your respect? You see, the one thing that sin does is sin eats away. It burns us on the inside. It's self-destructive. And just because you don't see it in somebody's life does not mean it's not happening. It burns and burns and burns.
Oh, you don't show it? You can be fixed and fixed and fixed, but while you're fixing up on the outside, sin is unfixing you on the inside. And you can fake out the world, but you can't fake out God. And you see, the tragedy is it's the nature of sin. It's the nature of living outside the will of God.
That's what life is like outside the will of God. You're just burning up on the inside. You're just burning up on the inside, and your life's full of ashes, but eventually, you know what happens? It comes out. In fact, you may be so fortunate as to be able to cover it up through the day you die as far as the world is concerned. But you know what? You know better. And I think it must be one of the most difficult kinds of life to live to know that on the inside you're being eaten up, and you can't, and you don't know what to do about it, because you've created that.
I want to tell you, there is hope. When I look at what this prodigal son did, he blew it all. He messed it all up.
And what you see is you see this. He squandered everything. He lost everything. And the way he arrived on the scene, and remember we said this, the way he arrived was fantastic, and he ended up in the worst condition that a Hebrew boy could ever end up. Knowing the Scriptures, and I'm sure he knew this, that feeding hogs, feeding hogs would be the worst, the most demeaning, the worst thing that could ever end up. The most demeaning, the worst, the most demeaning job that any Hebrew could ever become involved in. He had nobody, no money, no relationships, nothing.
You know what happened? He was walking around in a hog pen, a hog pen of ashes, because he made some decisions that were devastating. And he said, I'm going to live my life outside the will of God. And he said, I'm going to live my life outside the will of God. And that is, I'm going to live my life outside the will of God. My friend, you cannot win that way.
There is no way. I will not say that if it were not the absolute undeniable, irrevocable divine truth. You cannot live outside the will of God and make it. You cannot live outside the will of God and make it. You cannot live outside the will of God.
You cannot live outside the will of God. You keep focusing. You keep hearing the warnings, but you pay them no mind. You keep thinking that you're going to be different and you're saying it's not going to happen to me. And you keep heading in that direction. You are walking in a direction in which you are destined. You are destined to end up in ashes unless you turn around in time. Now, listen, I want you to listen to this passage. They say, well, you know what? I've got a bunch of ashes in my life already.
Is there any hope for me? Listen to this. You have to listen to this passage because nobody could ever say it like Jesus said it. The Scripture says that in the hog pen, He came to His senses. Nobody ever comes to God until they come to their senses.
Listen to what happens. He was a great way off, His Father recognized Him. Now, nowhere in the Bible does it picture God like this. But what Jesus is doing in this parable before these Pharisees, He was so critical of the sinners and all the rest. He has God, this Father, running toward His Son who had wasted and ruined everything.
And what does He do? The Father falls on His neck. And while the Son is trying to say, I'm not worthy and confess and repent, I love this passage. Father, I've sinned and I'm not worthy to be called Your Son. I'm going to put Me out in the field working. And He's saying, He's so happy that He's back. And what is He doing? He's calling to His servants and said, Look, what's happening? Get the best prayer out of the way. Look, what's happening, get the best pair of sandals, a ring, the best robe, kill a fattic half the night.
We are going to have one big party. My Son who was lost is found and He's home again. You say, Yeah, but God wouldn't do that for me. Why do you think He put this, the Word of God? He put it here to show us what? That God is an awesome, forgiving God.
No matter how much of your life at this point is in ashes, it's not all gone. And what is His response? Here's His response. That is, when a person is willing to come to their senses and willing to acknowledge where they are, what they've done, and repent of that. That is, to be willing to turn from that. There is forgiveness. There is acceptance.
There is restoration, and there is rejoicing. Now, look at that for a moment. Suppose that had been your son. Listen carefully. Would you have to decide to forgive him? Or deep down in your heart, was he always forgiven because he was your son? Now, watch this carefully. Because you see, this young man, first of all, was a member of that family.
He was part of the family. So, I'm talking, first of all, to believers. You're a believer. You've messed it up bad. God forgave you one time when you trusted Him as your personal Savior. He forgave you of all your sin. Now, here you come back and you say, will you please forgive me?
When Jesus went to the cross, watch this carefully now so you don't be mistaken. He paid your sin debt in full. You are a forgiven child of God. Does that mean you won't suffer for your sin?
No, it doesn't. It means, listen, you're a forgiven child of God, but you will pay the price for your sin, not the eternal price. But that is the thing, for example, you can't reclaim time. You can be forgiven for wasting it.
You can't make your body healthy when you have almost totally destroyed it. When the Father saw His Son coming down the road, He didn't have to say, you know, I got to think about this thing. He's wasted all this money. He squandered it all. He's been a prodigal in my life. I got to decide whether I'm going to forgive Him or not.
No, He didn't have to decide. Because I can imagine that Father had been looking for Him for years, hoping one day He'd come home. He came home forgiven. Now, was everything the same? No, because He'd wasted years of His life in all of His inheritance. Did that mean that the Father just gave all that back to Him? No, it doesn't. You see, there is a penalty for sin that even forgiveness does not erase.
What I want you to see is this. When we step out of the will of God and we reach out for things that are outside His will, all of that turns to ashes and we don't have anything that's of worth. Does God forgive? Yes, He does. Does He accept us? Yes, He does. Does He restore us? Yes, He does. Have we lost something?
A whole lot. Have we lost our salvation? No. You may be someone who's never trusted Jesus as your Savior. And so, when you come and you ask God to forgive you, you have to forgive, ask Him to forgive you for your life of disobedience and rebellion toward Him. You accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, a one-time event in your life whereby you ask Him to save you from your sins and that you're receiving Him as your personal Savior. In that moment, you are forgiven. And the Spirit of God sealed you as one of His children.
And forever you're one of His children. Will you sin again? Yes. Will you get to the place where the prodigal was?
Let's hope not. Have there been believers who have? Yes. Did God forgive them? Yes. Did they suffer for their sins?
Yes. Will they suffer for eternity? No, because He paid our sin debt in full. But my actions after I am saved, I am responsible for the consequences of my sin after I'm saved. Do I lose my salvation? No.
Am I forgiven? Yes. For all eternity. But do I pay a price?
Yes, I do. What I want you to see is this. There's a price to be paid by pursuing things outside the will of God. Listen to this. It may be with somebody. It may be with some thing. It may be with some position.
Whatever it might be, there is a price. And so, wherever you are, the way you get right with God is the way He got right. He came to His senses. I'm in a hog pen. I don't have anything. I've wrecked and ruined my life.
The only place for me to go for help is to my Father. And that's exactly what He did. Sin does have penalties. It does leave scars. And oftentimes, it does cost us some things we'll never recover. But the forgiveness of God is ours for the asking.
Think about this. Forgiveness, acceptance, restoration, and rejoicing. We all need it.
And if we come to Him, we'll receive it. Thank you for listening to When Plans Turn to Ashes. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
