Our scripture lesson for today is taken from Luke 15:11-32. This is the parable that is called the parable of parables. It is called the pearl of parables. It is often referred to as the greatest of Jesus' parables, because it so clearly shows the mercy, grace, and love that God has toward lost sinners.

First in this parable, Jesus pictures sin, which appears so good to be something that turns out so bad. To this young man in the parable, (the younger of the two sons), sin looked so good. He wanted his share of the inheritance, before he should have it. It looked so good. It looked so good, to this younger son, to go to a far, distant country. It looked so good to this younger son, to get out of the house, to get away from home. It looked so good to this younger son, to be out from underneath the watchful eye of dad. It looked so good to this younger son to be able to go out and not have his dad tell him what to do. It looked so good to go out and live unrestrained by what his father told him to do.

And so, he did it, but it turned out so bad. It turned out so bad. He followed his desires. He went to that far distant country. He got out from underneath the watchful eye of his father. He got out from underneath the restraints of his father. He went and did whatever he wanted to and lived however he pleased. And, it turned out so bad. He ended up with nothing. He ended up living like a beast.

It is a picture Jesus uses to show us how sin can look so good, but it turns out so bad.

To Adam and Eve, sin looked so inviting. It looked so good. That fruit that was offered to them looked good for knowledge. It looked inviting. It looked intoxicating. And so, they took and ate.

But Friends, it turned out so bad. It turned out so bad. They lost their lives. They lost their relationship with God. They lost their relationship with each other. They were ashamed of their own nakedness. And, they lost righteousness for you, for me, and for all generations to come. It looked so good, but it turned out so bad.

For King David, sin looked so intoxicating. It looked so good. There, he stood on the roof of his palace, looking out over Jerusalem. He could see on a rooftop, somewhere else, a beautiful woman bathing. And, sin looked so good. It looked so intoxicating.

He gave in to his desires. He called that woman to the palace. And, he drank very deeply of sin that day. It was intoxicating.

But, it turned out so bad. It turned out so bad. She became pregnant. He, in fear, tried to cover up his sin. He ended up committing another sin. He murdered that woman's husband. And so, it turned out even worse. He lay on his bed, night after night. He tells us in the book of Psalms, his conscious racking him, with sleepless nights, tears, and sweating with guilt. That child, which was born to the two of them, died. And, really for the rest of David’s life, because of what he had done with Bathsheba, there was trouble in David’s family. It looked so good, but the consequences were so heavy in the end.

This is the story of the prodigal son. The word prodigal means profuse, excessive. And often, when we look at the story of the prodigal son, we look at what we call 'sins of excess,' that look so good. The book of James describes the process that sin takes in our lives this way. (Tell me if you recognize this in your own life.)

"But each one of us is tempted when,

by our own evil desires,

we are enticed and dragged away.

And desire, when it conceives,

gives birth to sin

and sin gives birth to death."

The picture there is that we are tempted. And then, our evil desire drags us away. We start to long after that temptation. Now, we have fallen. We want to fulfill that temptation. We want to carry it out in our lives. And so, we start to make plans. It says,

"When desire has conceived,

it gives birth to sin."

Next, we go out and we actually commit the act, the sin. Then it says,

"Sin,

when it is full grown,

gives birth to death."

There are consequences to sin. We see it, when we look at what we call 'prodigal sins.’ Those are sins we call ‘excessive, or sins of the flesh.’ How many times, in the lives of people, have they imagined that sin looked so good, but then it has turned out so bad.

That first try of cocaine looked so good. It looked so promising. But, ten years later, it turned out so bad. It was so bad after years and years of struggles, fights, wasting money, loosing family and health, and being on the street. What looked so good, turned out so bad.

That first sin of the flesh - giving in to adultery. It looked so good at the time, so intoxicating. But, what did it lead to? It led to broken hearts, a broken family, a divorce, children who don't honor parents, anymore, and, all kinds of trouble. It looked so good, but it turned out so bad.

That first look at a pornographic magazine, seemed so intoxicating, but it turned out so bad. Now, after years of trying to shake that addiction, years of living a secret life, and hiding all of those things, it has turned out so bad, with such a guilty conscious.

That first attempt at the big jackpot. It looked so good. It looked so intoxicating. But now it has turned out so bad, with pockets empty, bank accounts empty, house gone, job lost, and family dispersed. It looked so good, but it turned out so bad.

Sin can look so good, but in this parable Jesus shows us that it can turn out so bad. The consequences of sin are so heavy.

And, if in your life you say, "Well, I have not done any of those things. I have not been like that prodigal. I have not lived after those sins of the flesh," Brothers and Sisters, ultimately any sin, any sin leads to the most dire of consequences. Jesus wants us to see that in this parable, because He loves us. And, what is the most dire of consequences? Beyond the fact that in this life we may have temporal punishment for our sin, that is small compared to the most dire of consequences, which is the eternal punishment that is deserved for sin. And so, in this parable Jesus shows the consequence, the consequence of leaving our Father's house and following after sin.

In this parable Jesus also shows the repentant heart. Jesus shows us this young man who looked at what had happened in his life and how his life had turned out. In the Bible, Jesus uses these beautiful words, "When he came to his senses."

There was a conversion.

There was a change of heart.

There was repentance.

There was a desire in the heart of that young man to change, when he hit the bottom, when he saw what he had lost.

There was a desire in the heart of that young man for what? Now his heart wanted to be free from what he had fallen into. He was no longer longing for those sins. He was no longer longing after those sins of the flesh.

Now he came to his senses.

And where did his heart turn? His heart turned right back toward his father's home. He longed to be back there. Oh, he wanted to be back home. He wanted to be back home where he could be free from the poverty he had gotten himself into. He wanted to be home, where he could be free from the disgrace he had fallen into. He wanted to be home, where he could be free from the servitude that he had fallen into. And so, in his heart he admitted his own fault, and said, "I know what I will do. I will go back home. I will tell my dad, 'I have sinned against heaven. I have sinned against you. I don't deserve to be called your son.'"

He knew he was all undeserving and would have to rely on the mercy of his father.

Jesus here shows such a picture of a repentant heart. A repentant heart is the heart that despairs over its past life, it despairs over its sin. The repentant heart turns toward 'home,' to God, to Jesus, to Heaven, to the Word, and longs to be back there.

➢ I long to be back there. I long to be with Jesus. I long to be with God.

➢ I long to be free from the servitude of my sin, and free to serve my Savior.

➢ I long to be free from the poverty of sin, and be in the riches of Christ and His forgiveness.

➢ I long to be free from disgrace of sin and be in the honor of being one of the Children of God.

A repentant heart is a heart that understands it is all undeserving. "I do not deserve to be called your child." The Bible says,

"A broken and contrite heart,

O God,

Thou will not despise."

And so, the young man goes back to his father.

Now, through this parable, Jesus shows us the heart, the heart of God, toward repentant sinners, toward the lost. While that young man is still a long way off, what happens? That father sees his son and goes running out to his son. The son tries to say what he had planned to say to his father. He starts, but his father does not let him finish. He says, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

But, the father stops him and says, "Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!"

Here is Jesus' picture of absolution. It is Jesus' picture of God, the Father, forgiving us freely for all of our sin. It is the picture Jesus wants us to have of justification. Our sins are declared not guilty. It is the picture Jesus wants us to have. This is how God's heart is toward the lost, who come back with repentant hearts.

Did Jesus, in His ministry, crush those who had lived in prodigal sin, and then came back to Him? Did He crush them?

No, not for a moment! As soon as they came to Him, He spoke words of forgiveness.

✔ The woman who washed His feet with her tears, because she had lived a sinful life (and you know what that means), what did Jesus say to her? He simply said, "I forgive you."

✔ The woman who had been caught in adultery, and everybody else wanted to stone her. What did Jesus say to her? He said, "I do not condemn you."

✔ Peter, who had betrayed Jesus. What did Jesus say? He restored Peter and said, "Feed my sheep."

✔ Paul, who was chief of sinners, and was converted on the road to Damascus. What did Jesus say? Did He crush him? No, He said, "Go out and be one of my apostles and win souls for Christ."

We have a forgiving God!

➔ an awesomely forgiving God,

➔ an awesomely merciful God,

➔ a God who is merciful to us, a Father who is merciful to us, for Christ's sake,

➔ a Father who justifies us, freely.

It is not because we deserve it, but because that is His nature, that is the nature of the Father toward the lost. He wants us back in His Home. You know that Jesus paid for all of your sins. You know that you are forgiven. That is the promise in scripture. You know that you do not earn your way to Heaven. You know that it is all free to you by grace, in Christ.

This is a beautiful parable, but it does not stop there. If you are sitting in your pew, and you are thinking to yourself, "Well, yeah, that is fine for those sinners, who go off and live sinful lives, but that is not me," then, the second part of the parable applies to you. There was another son, who saw how merciful his father was toward his brother, the youngest son, and how freely he forgave him, even though his brother had squandered their father's wealth, had gone out and wasted it (as the older son said), on prostitutes. That older son felt the father had been too merciful, because he felt he was deserving, more deserving of the father's love. In other words, he was self righteous. He was self righteous. He didn't think he was a sinner.

Jesus, in this parable, wants us to see that it is just as great a sin as that of the prodigal,

✔ when you think that you do not need the mercy of God,

✔ when you think that you can earn God's favor,

✔ when you think that you have deserved God's love and grace.

It is just as great a sin, as that of the prodigal. It is a call to all of us to come to repentance over our sin. It is a call to all of us to long to be with our Father and to cling to Jesus, as our Savior.

I want to end with this comment. We are forgiven people. This parable of the prodigal son is one of my favorite portions of scripture, because it brings so much comfort, so much comfort of mercy to a sinner.

I know some of you in this room know how hard it is for somebody, who has really gone astray, to come back into these four walls. It can be very hard to come back home, for fear of what the older brother in the parable will think. There can be lots of fears. "What will they think?" "What will they say?" "Will they look down on me?" "Will they talk to me?" "How will they treat me?" "What will they say behind my back?" "Will they welcome me?" "Do they want me there, or do they just tolerate me?"

Well, I have heard people tell me their fears about coming back into this building. Jesus told this parable to people who said about Jesus, "He welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Jesus wants us to have a heart toward the lost, who have come back - a heart of love, a welcoming heart, a heart that seeks, a heart that throws our arms around them, just as our Heavenly Father throws His arms around us! God grant that we be that kind of church, for Jesus' sake.

Amen.