Prodigal Sons Series

Note: I used Preachers Sermon and Outline Bible on Luke for Notes, also parts from The Heart Beat of God Dr. Marty Baker

The Prodigal Sons

Theme: Show how many are like these in this story and how to get out.

Text: Luke 15:11-32

I want you if you would to turn with me to the book of Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15 beginning with verse of 11. Luke is the 3rd book of the New Testament writings. Luke writes from the perspective of a historian. His purpose is to record as one who is writing from history.

Here we find the story that is known as the prodigal son. It is the one of the most beloved stories in all of man kind. Why? I guess because it is the story that all of us are looking for.

We love the story of unconditional love. We know our faults and failures and look for someone to accept us as who we are.

There are three main characters the father and his two sons. One who is faithful and the other who is looking to go a little indepentant. Look with me at verse 11.

Luk 15:11-32

(11) Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. (12) "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.

Give Me

What was the Prodigal Brother Really Saying when he told his father “Give me my inheritance”

1. He wanted money and the things and possessions of the estate (world) which he was to inherit.

He wanted to get all the Father would give him, so that he could enjoy it now.

a. He had not earned it, not yet; therefore, he did not deserve it.

b. He was selfish and self-centered, rude and unkind. He said, "Give me," not "Please" nor "May I have." The effect upon his father and the estate was of little, if any, concern to the prodigal. The father could be hurt and the estate could suffer from the loss of the money and goods; it mattered little to the prodigal.

2. He said, "Give me my independence." This is what the prodigal was really after, the right to his own life. He was tied down to the father's property and was held responsible for the care of the property. He wanted to cut loose—to be away from the father and to be relieved of the responsibility of the property. He wanted to live his own life, to do his own thing (Luke 15:12).

The prodigal rejected and turned from the father and his way of life because he felt the father would...

• demand and require too much work.

• curtail and limit his freedom.

• disallow and restrict his fun and pleasure.

• be unfair and not understand.

• control and discipline too much.

• keep an eye and hand upon him.

Note a crucial point: the father gave the son his freedom and possessions. The son was able to do what he wanted with his life and goods (abilities, talents, money, things). All was placed into the son's hands. He could use his life and what he had as he wished without any interference from the father. Since he was an adult son, he wanted to be free from the father and the father respected his adulthood. The father could do nothing about the choice of life chosen by the son. He had to let him go and live as he wished.

(13) "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

At first he is sure that he has done the right thing. He rents a home with a great view, and furnishes it with taste. He begins to make friends everywhere. He spends money freely, and tries anything and everything, especially those things which had formerly been forbidden him.

Strangely enough, soon everything seems to be mysteriously changed. His body becomes the vehicle of wild passions that sometimes frighten him. His health begins to suffer, and he no longer feels vital and alive as he once did.

His money begins to dwindle and with it his friends go. He is no longer able to keep up with the expensive crowd he first chose. They leave him in the lurch as soon as his money is gone. Then, what happens?

John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, (14) "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."