Luke 15:11-32
11 And He said, "A man had two sons.
12 "The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me ' So he divided his wealth between them.
13 "And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
14 "Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished.
15 "So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 "And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.
17 "But when he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
18 'I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."'
20 "So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
21 "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22 "But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;
23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;
24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate.
25 "Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 "And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be.
27 "And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.'
28 "But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.
29 "But he answered and said to his father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;
30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'
31 "And he said to him, 'Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.
32 'But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"
I often hear this parable tallked and preached about as a lesson that we are to forgive and welcome back people who are sorry for their past. Yes, that's all good. But this parable is SO much more!
Q: Who is the father? Of course it is God.
Q: Who is the good son? If you are a son of the Father (God), you are someone who is saved by faith in Christ.
Q: Who is the prodigal? This is the part that is often missed,
In verse 11 we see that the prodigal WAS a son of God. Therefore he was someone who was saved. But in verse 12, he takes all of his inheritance, has turned his back on God and left BY HIS OWN CHOICE. In verse 13 we see he has gone into the world and wasted his inheritance on sinful pursuits (verse 30 says prostitutes).
Q: What is the inheritance of someone who is saved? Our inheritance is Heaven and the treasures that are stored up for us. Matthew 6 shows that our inheritance, our reward can either be in heaven or spent here on earth,
In verses 14-16 we see he has spent his inheritance on earth and has nothing left. No inheritance = no Heaven for him. As MAtthew 6:2 & 5 say, 'Truly, (he) has (his) reward in full.' Fortunately in verse 17 he 'came to his senses' and turned back to God, confessed his sins and asked God to enter his life. And of course God accepts him back. Not only does God accept him back, but he restores his inheritance. But what does God say about this son? That he "was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"
Q: If you are dead to God, are you saved? If you are one of the lost, are you saved? No.
So what we see by this is the prodigal WAS a son of God. He was saved and was going to Heaven. He CHOSE to reject God and in doing so, became dead and lost to God, with no inheritance (no Heaven). He repented and came back to God and was forgiven and fully restored as a son of God; saved with his Heavnly inheritance restored.
The point of this is that this is a parable on salvation and an answer to the question of "Once saved, always saved?" We see that you can be fully saved, reject that salvation, be condemned, repent and be saved again. Or hence, not repent and return to God and remain condemned.
This is important because some people who believe that once you are saved, you are always saved have looked at people who say they were Christians and then rejected their faith, and told them that 'since you cannot loose your faith, they were then never really saved to begin with'. This leads to huge anamosity and afurther reason why those people will continue to reject Christianity. No, you cannot 'loose' your salvation and it cannot be taken away from you. But you can REJECT it yourself, as did the prodigal.
In His service... Arthur Smith
Luke 15:11-32
11 And He said, "A man had two sons.
12 "The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me ' So he divided his wealth between them.
13 "And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
14 "Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished.
15 "So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 "And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.
17 "But when he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
18 'I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."'
20 "So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
21 "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22 "But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;
23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;
24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate.
25 "Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 "And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be.
27 "And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.'
28 "But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.
29 "But he answered and said to his father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;
30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'
31 "And he said to him, 'Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.
32 'But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"
I often hear this parable tallked and preached about as a lesson that we are to forgive and welcome back people who are sorry for their past. Yes, that's all good. But this parable is SO much more!
Q: Who is the father? Of course it is God.
Q: Who is the good son? If you are a son of the Father (God), you are someone who is saved by faith in Christ.
Q: Who is the prodigal? This is the part that is often missed,
In verse 11 we see that the prodigal WAS a son of God. Therefore he was someone who was saved. But in verse 12, he takes all of his inheritance, has turned his back on God and left BY HIS OWN CHOICE. In verse 13 we see he has gone into the world and wasted his inheritance on sinful pursuits (verse 30 says prostitutes).
Q: What is the inheritance of someone who is saved? Our inheritance is Heaven and the treasures that are stored up for us. Matthew 6 shows that our inheritance, our reward can either be in heaven or spent here on earth,
In verses 14-16 we see he has spent his inheritance on earth and has nothing left. No inheritance = no Heaven for him. As MAtthew 6:2 & 5 say, 'Truly, (he) has (his) reward in full.' Fortunately in verse 17 he 'came to his senses' and turned back to God, confessed his sins and asked God to enter his life. And of course God accepts him back. Not only does God accept him back, but he restores his inheritance. But what does God say about this son? That he "was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"
Q: If you are dead to God, are you saved? If you are one of the lost, are you saved? No.
So what we see by this is the prodigal WAS a son of God. He was saved and was going to Heaven. He CHOSE to reject God and in doing so, became dead and lost to God, with no inheritance (no Heaven). He repented and came back to God and was forgiven and fully restored as a son of God; saved with his Heavnly inheritance restored.
The point of this is that this is a parable on salvation and an answer to the question of "Once saved, always saved?" We see that you can be fully saved, reject that salvation, be condemned, repent and be saved again. Or hence, not repent and return to God and remain condemned.
This is important because some people who believe that once you are saved, you are always saved have looked at people who say they were Christians and then rejected their faith, and told them that 'since you cannot loose your faith, they were then never really saved to begin with'. This leads to huge anamosity and afurther reason why those people will continue to reject Christianity. No, you cannot 'loose' your salvation and it cannot be taken away from you. But you can REJECT it yourself, as did the prodigal.
In His service... Arthur Smith
