A Long Journey To No Where

A LONG JOURNEY TO NO WHERE

LUKE 15:11 DR. MICHAEL POPE

INTRO: EVERY ASKED YOUR KIDS: “ WHERE ARE YOU GOING TODAY? OH JUST OUT THEY SAY: WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? OH I DON’T KNOW. WHEN WILL YOU BE BACK? OH LATER I GUESS. WHO ARE YOU GOING TO SEE? OH WHOEVER, YOU KNOW, JUST THE GUYS.”

1. 15:11 A SELF-CENTERED SON. The nature of this request actually says, I wish you were already dead so I could get my inheritance.

(MISUNDERSTOOD HIS FATHER’S INTENTIONS)

2. 15:13 A SELF-CONTROLED MAN. He had grand illusions about what the world had to offer, you know: fun, fantasy, friends. Well like the old saying: “be careful what you wish for”, he got all that and more.

(MISSPENT HIS LIFE WITH RIOTOUS LIVING)

3. 15:14 A YOUNG MAN ON THE ROAD TO SELF-DESTRUCTION. He had grand illusions about what the world had to offer, you know: fun, fantasy, friends. Well like the old saying: “be careful what you wish for”, he got all that and more.

Well his good time ended with his friends and money gone, and him living in a barn tending pigs…real nice job for a young Jewish lad.

(MISTREATED BY THE MASTERS OF THIS WORLD)

4. 15:17-19 THE YOUNG MAN DESPISES SELF IN ORDER TO TURN AROUND: now this isn’t the teaching of the world. We are told we should love ourselves, I submit that’s what got this young man into trouble. The problem isn’t we don’t love ourselves, it’s we love ourselves so much we don’t want to deny ourselves anything, like this young man. Repentance often comes when we learn the very hard lesson that we actually hate the condition we’ve gotten ourselves into by our own stubborn wills. That’s what happened fortunately for this man. Unfortunately many today don’t see that.

A. HIS REPENTANCE

B. HIS RECEPTION BY HIS FATHER

C. THE REJOICING OF THE FAMILY.

A ROTTEN EGG IS STILL ROTTEN EVEN THOUGH YOU MAY PAINT THE SHELL IN GOLD

SIN: TAKES YOU FATHER THAN YOU WANTED TO GO, COST YOU MORE THAN YOU WANTED TO PAY, AND KEEPS YOU LONGER THAN YOU WANTED TO STAY. ADRIAN ROGERS