The Parable Of The Lost Son Series

THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SON

Luke 15:11-24

(Antioch Baptist Church: Sunday, February 8th, 2026)

Today we arrive at one of the most well-known passages in all of the New Testament. The story of the Prodigal son is one that is especially familiar to Christians, but it is also widely known in the secular world. Renowned philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and novelist Charles Dickens regarded Jesus’ story about the Prodigal as the greatest short story ever told.

Those of us who grew up in church have heard countless sermons from this passage. In my twenty years of ministry I have either preached these verses or referenced them more times than I can count.

Though the parable of the Prodigal son is one of the most well-known passages in God’s Word, it is also one of the most misinterpreted. Though a passage of Scripture may have many different applications, it possesses only one, original, and binding interpretation. To understand the legitimate interpretation of scripture we must ask, “what did these verses mean to their original audience?”

The actual interpretation of this parable is actually pretty simple and it is exceedingly beautiful. It may surprise you to learn that the main character is not the Prodigal son; it is actually the loving father. The father in this story represents God, the younger son represents the tax collectors and sinners, and the older brother represents the self-righteous Pharisees and Scribes.

In telling this story, Jesus identifies Himself with God in His compassion towards the lost. Like the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, this parable was told by Jesus in response to the Pharisees and Scribes complaint in verse one; there they grumbled saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Each of these parables demonstrate God’s love for each individual soul and they highlight His personal attentiveness toward all of humanity.

A parable is a story that is told alongside a truth in an effort to illustrate that truth. There was a period of time during Jesus’ ministry where He relied heavily on parables as teaching aids

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There was a certain occasion when the Disciples asked Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13:10-11). In Jesus’ response we learn that His use of parables had a two-fold purpose: to reveal the truth to those who wanted to know it and to conceal it from those who were indifferent.

Today, I would like for us to follow our study of the parables of The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin with “The Parable Of The Lost Son”. There are several important truths that Jesus illustrates in this passage. This parable illustrates the depravity of sinners, the consequences of sin, the insufficiency of works, the necessity of repentance, and the attributes of God. We will begin in verses 11-13 and examine the fact that:

THIS PARABLE ILLUSTRATES THE DEPRAVITY OF SINNERS

The younger of the two sons requested his inheritance. He “said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. This would have been an unusual request, especially considering that he was not entitled to any inheritance while his father was alive. It was also an offensive request; the younger son might as well have said, “I wish you were dead!” However, his gracious father granted his request, he provided his son with the full portion of his inheritance. This would have amounted to one third of the estate. The older son possessed the right of the firstborn which was two thirds of the estate and he received the full amount at the same time; the father “divided his property between them.”

When the younger son received his inheritance he left his father’s house, went out on his own, and wasted his money in foolish living. (v13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.) His downward spiral shows us that there is no limit to the wickedness of people who do not have a relationship with God.

Like the younger son, the tax collectors and sinners (who were related to God the Father by creation) had wasted their potential privileges and refused any relationship with Him. Up to this point they had chosen a life of sinful self-indulgence.

Jesus goes on to use this parable to explain the separation and want that they experienced as a result of their sinful lifestyles. This leads us to the fact that:

THIS PARABLE ILLUSTRATES THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN

It seems that one of the primary reasons the younger son wanted his inheritance was so he could get as far away from his father as possible. Early on, the Prodigal was having the time of his life. He was not just involved in a life of wasteful extravagance, but also reckless immorality. In verse thirty the older brother states the younger had “devoured the father’s property with prostitutes”. This could have been an assumption, or it could be that word of his brother’s reckless living had spread through his hometown.