[Music]
it's amazing God speaks of himself in
the Old Testament
obviously with masculine characteristics
and female whenever there's comfort
needed he'll speak to us with female
characteristics to bring us comfort and
you think of the family there's a mom
and a dad and the dad is supposed to say
things like did you do that and the
little guy runs to mom and she says what
would you do sweetheart what is it it's
perfect it's exactly how it's supposed
to be out of the effort of two who are
one flesh the Bible says they raise up a
child and I know can I say this can I
take the liberty to say this if not for
many of us all of us all of us could say
I would have liked to have had a better
parental upbringing no kidding I came
from a dysfunctional home get in line
but is it an interesting how much of
your relationship with God you either
have to enhance or back away from
because you bring your relationship with
your parents
into your relationship with God and it
can cloud it cloud up the waters and you
got to deal with that we all have to
deal with that it doesn't make the
family wrong our generation rejects
marriage rejects family as though it can
get along without it and it cites the
example as being the reason and listen
the example doesn't does not divorce us
from the model God invented it man
destroys it remember that don't say a
word right now but what's your opinion
of marriage what if it's negative it's
because you've got your eyes on
destructive marriages or you're in one
that it's ungodly you might say well my
experience of marriage is awesome it's
been fantastic I talked to a pastor in
Orange County
and we were talking about the book
listen I wrote and he said men I'm just
loving this and he said it's um
I kind of leaned a little bit more
toward Lisa's side he said because I
grew up an amazing Christian home and I
said well you know obviously you read
the book I did not on my side she did
and he said in fact listen and he talked
he goes my mom and dad I saw them
praying on their knees every day of my
life my grandma and grandpa
I saw them praying all the time my
great-grandpa got to see him a few times
all the Christians amazing people of God
I said dude you're a man let me touch
you I'm s awesome did you know that if
it's left up to God that would be the
norm so you young people tonight don't
don't divorce yourself from marriage or
the concept of it because all you look
around to see is failure you keep your
eyes on God and God will transform or
give you a great marriage he made it he
doesn't make junk we goof things up
the prodigal rejects authority without
God as our authority we will seek some
form of authority isn't it weird Genesis
chapter 3 verse 1 Genesis 3:1 says now
the serpent was more cunning than any
beast of the field which the Lord God
had made so that's why Satan possesses
it isn't it freaky weird Satan gets
inside of it and he said to the woman
listen to this has God indeed said you
shall not eat of every tree of the
garden sowing seeds a doubt ladies and
gentlemen mark that and the woman said
to the serpent we may eat of the tree of
the the fruit of the trees of the garden
but of the tree of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden God
has said you shall not eat it nor shall
you touch it lest you die then the
serpent said to the woman you shall not
surely die false doctrine number one so
doubt number two false doctrine verse
five for God knows that in the day you
eat of it your eyes will be opened
and you will be like God undermining
Authority knowing good and evil so when
the woman saw see she looks at it
differently now right so when the woman
saw she takes another look at the tree
that it was good for food that's the
flesh now she's thinking mmm flesh that
it was pleasant to the eyes mmm lust and
a tree desirable to make one wise new
bride she took of its fruit and ate she
also gave to her husband with her and he
ate Wow reject and authority listen you
cannot reject Authority without getting
in trouble
it's a law of God you go out here and
run around in the freeway you're
rejecting Authority you're gonna get
hurt you go driving down the street 100
miles an hour you're rejecting Authority
you're gonna get hurt God says this is
the way that it is and will either
acquiesce or submit to his authority or
to our own it's amazing the prodigal son
had a problem with authority
secondly look at verses 13 and 14 the
prodigal son makes the wrong decisions
this is the next manifestation when once
you begin to reject Authority you start
making ridiculous decisions and not many
days after the younger son gathered all
together and journeyed to a far country
and there wasted his possessions with
extravagant lavish prodigal living but
when he had spent all there arose a
severe famine in the land
listen famines come and go they come
from droughts were in one right now
right here he should have been ready but
he wasn't there arose a severe famine in
the land and he began to be in once so
we asked this question what is the child
thinking about when he departs what's
this I can do it my way I'm a deer I'm
rejecting to her authority and I'm in
the midst of making really stupid
decisions and they launch out and
they're gonna go cut up
half for themselves and they have no
ability they have no craft they have no
skills they don't know anybody and they
wind up sleeping at their friend's house
for a month right and then they can't
they they get sick of him or her and
they wind up putting around on the
street and then she's wandering or he's
wandering around and this stuff begins
to unfold and listen this is a tough
thing are you guys sitting down are you
listening this is tough
imagine now we're talking about a 20 20
to 25 year old person eighteen year old
person and you don't tell me what to do
and and your friend's parents you don't
tell me what to do and then isn't then
they're fighting with their friends and
everything begins to fall apart this is
so familiar everything begins to
deteriorate around them and the first
action for the parent is one most often
they need to resist there'll be a
message on the phone
mom this is goober and I could sure use
a couple of bucks and you're gonna miss
your dad and it stopped right there are
emotions as a parent will go insane you
called the National Guard you got the
Marine Corps the Air Force
everyone's hunting you call the police
you gotta find my boy and you start
driving around town all night long you
know I'm saying and you're looking and
you're looking and you're looking and
you're looking and you're looking listen
that's a mistake you need to stay home
and you need to pray and you don't give
them a dime did you what I said you
cannot give them a penny that's one of
most heartless things I've ever heard
not at all to give them a penny would be
the most heartless thing I've ever heard
because you are perpetuating a you are
perpetuating them in their sin B you are
pushing them further away from God and
from authority C they will never come to
themselves or their senses if you let
this continue if you enable that you
will be an accomplice to their ultimate
demise
listen parents God didn't call us to be
our kids friends listen you can have sex
with somebody and create a baby that's
all you've done that doesn't make you a
parent a parent studies and figures out
who this kid is and what do I need to do
to reach this kid and by the way how
many kids do you have doesn't matter if
you have one if you have a hundred of
them it's this every one of them are
different have you noticed that every
one of them are absolutely different see
but they came from the same place
doesn't matter
isn't it weird you need to know your
child specifically and deal with them
and work with them and learn them that's
parenting it's not creating a child it's
what you do after you have one I just
want a baby I just want a baby borrow
somebody's baby then for an hour believe
me an hour and you're ready to give it
back yeah that a hylia real quick wrong
decisions are made and so he goes on
this long journey verse 13 tells us and
listen there's something than his mind
in her mind I can do this better I can
live my life better than what my parents
have been telling me to do by the way
there's something about distance that
soothes a prodigal conscience distance
for far from home a they use they don't
usually go
they don't easily run away from home and
go to houses down the more miles behind
them though the more free they feel this
boys felt free Oh
Spring Break I'm in Miami
mom's dad are freezing to death in Ohio
and you'll see your kid on YouTube or
something you know there's something
about distance young immature person
might have some money mom and dad aren't
there and unless God is a stable have a
stable root and a stable foundation in
their life that's a scary thing I'm
probably gonna get in huge trouble with
them about to say but I believe our
culture by and large in mass has reached
a state of immaturity and godlessness
that many of our children are not
equipped at the age that they
traditionally have gone to college and
university they're no longer able to go
to college and university because number
one the professor's will eat them alive
number two the godlessness is profuse
number three you're gonna pay $50,000 a
year for your kid to unlearn everything
you put within them I'm sorry to say
this but I meet with parents who are
trying to pick up the pieces of their
children's lives and they had to pay the
system to get them broken it is a tragic
time there's something about distance
that allows a prodigal to feel a little
bit of soothing and their conscience and
this guy's living it up he's sending it
up the Bible says in proverbs 15 5
only a fool despises a parents
discipline whoever learns from
correction is wise there's no perfect
parents mom and dad tonight you may be
sitting here or listening or watching
right now and you're thinking I did this
I created I blew it listen listen God's
grace is huge there are no perfect
parents and needed listen well you know
he's 25 years old and he's just so there
comes a point no matter how messed up of
a life we came out of that if we turn to
God listen God is God he's on his throne
he's huge he takes the worst lives and
can fix them if you are the worst parent
to your child your child still has ax
to God and when your child says I won't
believe in God because you were a
horrible parent just know this I know
this goat I know this hurts you but
listen you need to understand something
the Holy Spirit is alive and he'll say
now son listen you've been blaming your
mom and dad long enough yeah they were
real stinkers they goofed up terribly
deal with it because I'm God give your
life to me and I'll take it and make it
great they hear the same Holy Spirit
that you do and then this parable this
boy is first of all full of himself and
probably not hearing anything making
wrong decisions one right after another
which he leads us to verses 15 and 16
the prodigal son will eventually face
the outcome the music is going to be
played then he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country and he sent
him into the fields to feed swine and he
would gladly have filled his stomach
with the pods that the swine ate and
here it is and no one gave him anything
that is a great thing let me let me
allow me the liberty to change this for
a second illness was all terrible and he
would have gladly filled this stomach
with the pods of the pigs that that the
pigs ate and somebody was sneaking a
burrito in between the fence there what
would that do it would keep him longer
with the pigs it would keep him longer
away from his family now something's
starting to happen thank God
he's having to face the outcome are you
here tonight and you're you might even
be here tonight because you've been
starting to face the outcome things
aren't going well this is falling apart
what's going on in my life this is a
good moment it seems like everything I
touch turns to dust my life's ruined
great I mean that I'm not being rude
grapes come to the end of yourself and
be free from yourself
I'm going to say this in light of this
point here the consequences are it is a
law of God it is it's not it cannot be
changed
whatever a man sows that shall he also
reap
this goes for your kid there comes a
time when this begins to happen in the
child's life parents listen you must
control yourself
and let your child suffer at this time I
know this sounds brutal when someone's
drowning I don't know i I've never seen
this happen I've read about it numerous
times but maybe you have to when
someone's drowning in the ocean or in a
pool a lifeguard
if the person is thrashing about and
violent so the lifeguard doesn't drown
what does the lifeguard do he doesn't
one to two things he's got two options
the lifeguard either stays back and lets
the guy drowned and then he rescues him
and then revives him or he'll punch him
in the face and knock him out did you
know that why because the person
thrashing about finally is figured out
oh I need help and then they go into a
panic and if you deal with them like
that they'll kill both of you they'll
drowned you you'll both die
suffering is not evil where do we get
this in our mind suffering can be a
great thing if your child tonight is
suffering because they were they've been
a prodigal don't rush in with your
checkbook don't rush in to alleviate God
is at work God is moving mom God's
moving dad wait be patient wait upon the
Lord have you committed them to God yes
a thousand times then trust God but he
got arrested excellent
trust God I'm serious I would rather
have a child of mine be arrested and put
in jail than to wind up being killed for
drunk driving or whatever it might be
proverbs 22:6 says train up a child in
the way that he should go and when he is
old he will not depart from it the word
train up it's one word action in Hebrew
it means make a narrow path listen to
this oh man is this totally like radical
listen you think our culture would adopt
this listen to this make a narrow path
initiate or dedicate or set straight
course for your child steer them in the
direction that you want them to go
regarding what they regarding what you
want them to become in body soul and
spirit that's brilliant
you got to write that down train up a
child and the way that they should go
and when they were old they will not
depart of it put them on a path straight
body soul and spirit parents are to
instruct your children body soul and
spirit there's the answer right there
proverbs 22:6 um pertness personal but
this is exactly what it means our
granddaughters three and a half years of
age she said everything is Papa Papa you
be you know you know angus is those of
you you know Angus in the Disney cartoon
okay anyway Angus is a horse and I have
to be that Horace I'll put socks on my
ears and sew and she's she's some
princess and then you know what changes
and then she's this and I've got to be
something else and and but here's them
it's amazing because she'll say okay um
I'm gonna be I'm gonna be I'm gonna be a
boy monkey no I'm the boy monkey you're
the girl monkey no I'm gonna be the boy
monkey no no pup is the boy monkey you
be the girl monkey you're a girl you be
the girl monkey I'm a boy I'll be the
boy monkey very biblically proverbs 22:6
normal ear I'm saying you have to train
a child that way
our cultures in the situation that it is
because frankly parents are not
parenting our kids have been lifted
themselves but when they suffer listen
when when little Bobby calls up and says
dad you know a man I just a little head
I think I think I might a little bit too
much to drink and I I hit this pole and
and like this is my phone call the cops
are calling me and so son to tell you
what what do they say well they're gonna
put me I'm in jail right now you know
I'll be there in the morning in the
morning I'm dead serious you guys I am
dead serious
here we were in the back of a cop car I
haven't I'm just thinking maybe you have
there's no cushions back there I've been
in jail before I've been in prison I've
been in this federal prison
maximum-security scared the snot out of
me I'm not ashamed to admit it I was
scared because when I went to go visit
this guys they put the same clothes on
me that all the prisoners had and I had
a little name tag a clipped eye and I'm
looking around I'm in there and yeah I'm
telling you I was absolutely terrified
and I asked the guard I said listen I
got the same clothes then this thing
clips on and off I'm a little insecure
about this and the guy goes have fun
you're in my house now I do you know who
you're talking to
he didn't care it's terrifying
absolutely terrifying absolutely
terrifying
this alarm keeps going off here you
notice that
I know it's times up but man that thing
makes noise
the final thing verses 17 to 19 is the
prodigal son thank God repents of his
deeds he repents this whole process
leads to repentance verse 17 but when he
came to himself those are great words he
said how many of my father's hired
servants have bread enough and in that
to spare and I perish with hunger I will
arise and go to my father
great news eh huh wonderful right I will
say to him father
look he's so cute he's rehearsing this
now I'm repenting I've had enough of
this father I have sinned against heaven
and before you I am no longer worthy
that is verse 19 is key I'm no longer
worthy to be called your son make me
this is a beautiful thing
this word make he's not pushing himself
around now watch this it's remarkable
get this make me like one of your hired
servants though term literally means I
submit to your authority watch I submit
to your authority
he doesn't say make me like one of your
servants you want to know how repent
fold this boy is I submit to your
authority make me like one of your hired
servant hired servants you might say
well you rotten kid you want your dad to
pay you yeah listen
the word is craftsman father I've sinned
against you will you put me on as one of
your servant craftsmen the craftsmen
were paid for their work the son is
saying I've lost it all I've come father
back both were painful and to make
restitution I'm gonna pay you back
listen never forget this a truly repent
full person comes back with no
conditions
don't ever fir
definition of true repentance apart from
someone coming back with no conditions
I'll move back in if no race steadman
the great pastor who was now with Jesus
as perhaps the most hopeful sentence in
this entire parable is the phrase with
which this section is introduced but
when he came to himself years ago I
heard of a very eloquent preacher
speaking on this parable he was
illustrating what happened to the
prodigal son in the far country he said
and I quote as his money disappeared he
had to sell his coat in order to eat
then he took off his shoes and sold
those then he took off his shirt and
sold that then he took off his pants and
sold that he sold everything until he
came to himself he's naked broken as
we're out of time I want to leave this
with you I'll just skip to the end and
here it is I was shocked to discover
this in preparing for this message how
many of you have ever heard come thou
fount of every blessing we sing in here
I did not know what I'm about to read
you a little over a hundred years ago a
man by the name of Robert Robertson was
riding a stagecoach
another passenger in the coach was
humming a verse of the hymn come thou
fount of every blessing then the first
verse come thou fount of every blessing
tune my heart to sing thy grace streams
of Mercy never ceasing call for songs of
loudest praise teach me some melodious
sonnet sung by flaming tongues above
praise His name I'm fixed upon it name
of God's redeeming love she asked
Robinson what he thought of the hymn his
answer was strange he said madam I am
the poor unhappy man who roped that him
many years ago I would give a thousand
whirls if I had them
to enjoy the feelings I had then
Robinson had been saved at the age of 19
through the preaching of George
Whitefield later he became a preacher
himself first as the Methodist preacher
then as a Baptist preacher and then as a
Unitarian preacher which denomination
denies the deity of Jesus Christ he
became a wandering miserable wayward
soul Robinson failed to heed the very
words that he himself had pens so long
ago in that third verse of song Oh to
grace how great a debtor daily I'm
constrained to be let thy goodness like
a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee
prone to wander lord I feel it prone to
leave the god I love here's my heart O
take and seal it for thy courts above he
was a prodigal he ran from God we're
gonna pray right now together in this
solemn holy moment I believe and no
matter where you're at you might need to
rededicate your life to God in here
tonight father we come to you and lord I
pray that by the power of your Holy
Spirit you would search our hearts Jesus
maybe we've lived for sex maybe we've
lived for money maybe we've lived for
even things that we might justify as
good that we've lived for acceptance
we've lived for affection or meaning or
purpose or value we might even say God
we we lived for status or education Lord
open up our hearts and our minds to
understand that being a prodigal does
not mean that we necessarily fall into
some gross sin it could simply mean that
we have been so proud enough to think
that we can do it on our own we can
throw enough effort at it we can throw
enough finesse at it we can throw enough
technology at it we can throw enough
whatever at it and miss the very heart
of God