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We are servants of the Lord Who is in control of all of this. We don’t have to be troubled and perplexed.
Luke 21:25-26, 1 Peter 5:7-11 – Let us not let the things around us in the world shake us too much. Let us instead cast all of our anxiety on the Father!
Last evening we were talking about the prodigal son and the decision he made to leave hone and go to a far country. Where he became poor and destitute, not know where his next mouthful of food was going to come from.
Luke 15 – Christ, tonight, offers us the way back home. Our hearts need to be continually repentant, they need to continually turn toward God. Repentance needs to turn us back towards Him.
These elements of repentance are things that we all need to live.
This young man was living in a deception that “this is life, I’ve made it.” What a lie! What a deception! This is a trick that Satan loves to use, but it is an awful trap.
This young mans life got so desperate that he finally got a job with a pig farmer. For a Jew this is the last thing that you would do. He got so hungry that he wanted to eat the food that he was feeding to these pigs.
There is a tendency for us to forget to rely on our God when things are going well. When we are faced with desperation or crisis we often are reminded of our incredible need for God!
The Bible tells us that this young man “came out of his insanity.” Satan has a way of blinding our lives and we loose the picture and do crazy things, make crazy choices, and don’t think intelligently.
Many people are being led by this “madness” of heart. Rejecting God is the most foolish thing that we can do.
The beauty of our story is that there was a turn around. There was repentance, this is what repentance is all about. Realizing the insanity of the situation we are in and being able to see clearly.
Not only did he wake up to the condition that he was in, but this young man decided “I will arise.” He had to take a first step. He was ready to get up and do something about the condition he was in. He had to make that decision, no one could make it for him.
His decision was to go back to the place that he had separated himself, the place where the poor decision was originally made. He could have decided to get up and go somewhere else… maybe things would be better “over there.” This young man knew where he needed to go.
Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where things aren’t right. It could be a relationship that has gone south, there might be reasons for that, but how are we going to reconstruct and fix up that relationship? We have to go back to the thing that divided us and deal with that.
The road to return is often the exact same road that led us into the messes that we find ourself in. This young man had to restore the relationship with his father. There was nowhere else that he could find restoration.
“I will say unto him…” This adds resolution to the decision that he had made. He even rehearsed what he was going to say. We want to be careful what we say, we can repent and still try to justify what we’ve done. Repentance needs to be complete and total responsibility for the actions that we have taken.
This pig pen conversion was a real one! What he has to say to his father shows us how serious he was about the decision he was making. He wasn’t looking for a 50/50 arrangement. It tells of his willingness to do whatever it took to get back next to his father!
“I have sinned against heave, and I have sinned agains you!” He recognized that this was not just a mistake it was sin. True repentance demands that we recognize that we have sinned.
“I have sinned” is a mark of true repentance. It isn’t easy for us to say that we have sinned.
Psalm 51 – David after he had sinned so awfully recognized that his sin was against God. He had hurt some people terribly. Repentance admits and accepts that we’ve hurt God’s name and we’ve hurt people.
“Make me as one of your hired servants…” His humility is impressive. True repentance shows true humility. This young man recognized that he no longer deserved what he had had before. He recognized something of his fathers love. He wanted to be close to his father again.
What does this mean for us today? This picture of repentance is beautiful and heartwarming. It gives us a great picture of what true repentance really looks like.