I Wanna Go Home Luke15:11-19
Many of you are familiar the lyrics to the song “Detroit City”. The First line goes “I wanna go home. I wanna go home, oh how I wanna go home.” In Luke 15, Christ tells the story of a young man who could have easily written those words. The story of this young man provides encouragement for anyone here that has become homesick for the life that they once enjoyed as a child of God.
I. His Departure
A. Verses 12-13, “"And the younger of them said to [his] father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country…”
B. There could have been many reasons why he left home.
C. He may have left out of jealousy or envy toward his older brother. After all his older brother was to be the one who would by his birthright receive his father’s inheritance.
1. Proverbs 14:30 “A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones.”
2. Biblical examples include:
a. Genesis 4:5-7 Cain and Abel
b. Genesis 27:36-41 Jacob and Esau
c. Genesis 37:11 Joseph and his brothers
d. Matthew 20:1-16 The Laborers in the field
e. Luke 9:46-50 The Disciples
3. Envy - describes pain felt and malignity conceived at the sight of excellence or happiness. It means not just wanting what another person has, but also resenting that person for having it.To envy another is to show spiteful malice and resentment over another’s advantage.
4. Jealousy and envy –jealousy makes us fear to lose what we possess, while envy creates sorrow that others have what we do not have.
D. He may have left out of rebellion to be told what to do. He was the younger and both his father and brother would have been telling him what he should or should not do.
1. Mark Twain once said, "When your child turns 13, stick him in a barrel, place a lid on top, and feed him through the knothole. When he turns 16, seal up the knothole."
2. Psalms 25:7: "Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD."
3. Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”
4. 1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to [your] elders. Yes, all of [you] be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
E. He may have left out of discontentment and boredom from living what he saw as a dull, dreary life on the farm.
1. We are living in a time of dissatisfaction. It is a major disease in America. People are not happy, regardless of their place or condition.
2. Discontentment always searches for the nearest exit sign. God leads you into His Will. Discontentment drives you out of His will. Discontentment points us to a place where God isn’t leading. - Kent Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint
3. Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
F. He may have left as a result of the allurement of the world.
1. James 1:14 “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”
2. Sin always presents itself as beautiful, pleasurable, gratifying, harmless, justifiable and desirable.
3. A cartoon in the New Yorker magazine showed some pigs feeding at a trough. As the farmer filled the trough with food, one hog asked the others, "Have you ever wondered why he's so good to us?" When Satan tempts people, he's like the farmer fattening up the pigs for the slaughter. Temptation looks appealing at first, but it always drags its victims into misery, bondage, and heartbreak. --Kent Crockett
II. His Deprivation
A. Verses 13-16 “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.”
B. He removed himself from his father’s provision.
1. Psalm 1:1 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.”
2. A good example is Lot who regressed into the world drawn by its empty promises and away from God's blessing.
3. John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
C. He removed himself from his father’s companionship.
1. The prodigal was alone. He don’t seem to fit in like they thought he thought he would. He felt out of place. He looked out of place.
2. Proverbs 13:15b “...the way of transgressors is hard.”
3. 1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
D. He removed himself from his father’s protection.
1. Isaiah 59:1-2 “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”
2. When we move from God’s will, we move ourselves away from God’s protection.
3. Psalms 4:8 “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”
E. He could not remove himself from his father’s love.
1. While sin separates us from the some of the benefits of God’s love the child of God is never separated from the love of God. The Prodigal Son was still loved by the father, but didn’t enjoy the benefits of his love when he was in sin.
2. Jeremiah 31:3 “The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you.”
3. There is nowhere you can go to escape God’s love! You can’t choose whether or not God will love you; God does love you, and you can’t escape God’s love. You can run from His love but His love will still be there.
III. His Decision
A. He realized where he was and where he should be.
1. “When he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!”
2. Until you realize your need you will remain unchanged.
3. 1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
B. He admitted that he had done wrong
1. “I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.”
2. 1 John 1:9-10 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
3. Psalms 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
C. He determined to change his direction and returned to his father
1. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
2. Zechariah 1:3 “Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Return to Me," says the LORD of hosts, "and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts.”
3. Ezekiel 18:30b …"Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.”
D. He accepted his father’s forgiveness.
1. Verses 22-24 “But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put [it] on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on [his] feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And THEY began to be merry.
2. Forgiveness is ready from God; there is no hesitation or shortage on His part. Our part is to come with humility and loving submission to Jesus, and to receive the forgiveness He offers by faith. -David Guzik
3. We can be forgiven, and yet not feel it. But forgiveness is a matter of faith, not feeling. Do we believe God is a liar? It is easier to persecute ourselves for our past than to accept God's forgiveness. Our fallen nature wants us to believe we aren’t fit to be used by God or that we must do something to make up for our sin.
4. When you find yourself struggling with accepting God’s forgiveness, remember that Jesus paid it all out of love for you. We can never pay the price for our sin but the free gift of God is His forgiveness through the blood of the Lamb.
