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Devotions from Gospel Chapel Ministries HOME SERMONS SERMON NOTES
REPENTANCE AND THE PRODIGAL SON
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." JOH 3:7-8
I want you to take notice of the parable of the prodigal son and see how beautifully our Saviour unfolds for us the meaning of the new birth. As I pointed out with regard to the beginning of miracles, we ask, "Where’s their delight?" "It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." (LUK 15:32) "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." (EPH 2:1) So where lies spiritual death? When we can walk in trespasses and sins, when we can live in them and delight in them, that is spiritual death. We see the father making merry because his son "was dead, and is alive." Where was the difference? He had gone out and wasted his living in the things of this life. He was dead; now he was alive. What had he done? He had come to himself, and returned unto his father’s house and into his father’s service. He was alive. He "was lost, and is found."
This parable teaches the true meaning of repentance, which is the first evidence of new birth. The Lord Jesus began by preaching the gospel of the kingdom saying, "Repent." The first word in the gospel is repent. The first sign, or the first evidence, of true spiritual life is repentance. Let’s see how blessedly the Lord Jesus, in the parable of the prodigal son, illustrates what true repentance is. First, there is a change of attitude. There’s a change of values. LUK 15:17 says, "And when he came to himself," see what happened. If you’ll look in LUK 15, you’ll see how the prodigal son had gone to his father, asked for his living (in other words, for his inheritance), and went out and wasted it in riotous living. He lived for the pleasures and the things of this life. The Lord brought him to want. The Lord brought him down with poverty to the point that he was feeding swine and eating the husks that the swine left! Then it says that he changed his attitude. All of a sudden he came to himself, and he said, "How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!" He saw the poverty of serving sin. He saw the wretchedness there, and how it brings us only into eternal death. He saw how empty everything is in serving this world. He came to himself and had a change of attitude.
What brought this about? He wasn’t sure. As the wind blows "where it listeth" in your life and in mine, circumstances bring us to the point where we see that the pleasures of this world are no longer the great goal of our life. He uses circumstances in providence to bring us to this realization. He "came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!" He began to realize what a fool he was. He began to realize that the pleasures of this life only tend to poverty – spiritual poverty.
Second, there is a well-planned change in our course of life and a confession of guilt. True repentance is the means whereby the new birth takes place. As I pointed out about the beginning of miracles, when the Lord Jesus told them to fill the water pots, they obeyed. The Lord Jesus said to take the water out and bear it unto the governor. In the performing, in action, in doing what Christ told them to do, the miracle was performed. It was in doing that the water was changed into wine. There was joy in serving. The filling of the water pots with water is the symbol of being filled with the power of the Holy Word of God. These pots were there for the cleansing of the Jews, which they were doing through Jewish ritual. The Lord Jesus showed them that it had to be by the power of the Word: it is by the washing of the water of the Word that we’re cleansed. As they obeyed, the miracle was performed.
The miracle of the new birth takes place as we begin to obey. That’s the instrument that the Lord uses to bring it to pass. There was a well-planned change in the prodigal’s life. Watch how he carefully planned what he was going to do. "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee." (LUK 15:18) He came to himself, he realized what a fool he had been, and he carefully planned how he was going to retrace his tracks: I’ll go to my father, confess how wrong I was, and ask him if I can re-enter his service.
The third element of repentance is an urgent desire to return into the service of our Lord. When we have served sin, and it is no longer a delight and a pleasure to us, and we find the emptiness of sin, the emptiness of riches, and the emptiness of everything of this life. Then we start to see the fullness that there is in Christ, and we have a desire to return to His service. We no longer can serve sin. We no longer can serve the things of this world. We now want to return to the service of our Lord. Watch this third element in LUK 15:19. "And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." He wasn’t looking for a place of glory and honor in the service of God; he was just saying, "May I be as one of your slaves? May I be as one of your hired servants? May I just enter your service again? I have wasted everything I have. I have taken my inheritance, I have gone out, and I have wasted it." Now he wants to know, "May I come back into your service?" This is one of the elements of repentance: a change of attitude. We no longer want to serve the world. We now have our chief delight in serving the Lord.
What brought about these changes? The wind blows where it lists. The Lord gives this change of attitude and He uses His providence and circumstances to bring about these changes in our attitudes. We don’t know where these changes came from. All we know is they are there. That’s the work of the Spirit in bringing about the new birth in the soul.
Fourth, as the Holy Spirit instills the Word in our hearts, this well planned repentance is put into action. If the prodigal son had made this plan ("I’ll do this, and I will arise and I’ll go to my father, and I’ll ask if I can re-enter his service."), what would all of this have availed if he had not put it into action, if he had not, after the plan was made, gotten up and done it? It was in doing, it was in putting this plan into action, that his restoration to his father took place. That is how his reconciliation was put into effect. His father would never have become reconciled to him if he had stayed there planning, but never doing anything. What did he do? "And he arose…." See this in LUK 15:20. "And he arose, and came to his father." That is how the new birth brings us into reconciliation with the Father: not only have we come to a change of attitude, not only have we come to a change of mind, not only have we new desires (including the desire to come back into the service of Him from whom we had broken away), but now "he arose, and came to his father." "But when he was yet a great way off…." See how the Lord looks upon you and me and the joy that there is in heaven over one sinner that repents, that comes to himself and truly desires to return to the service of his Lord. See how He responds: "But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." (LUK 15:20b) He didn’t even get a chance to make to his father a confession of all his sins. His father ran and kissed him and said to bring the best robe and a ring for his finger and shoes for his feet. What the Lord looks at is your heart. He saw in the heart of this man that he was returning into his house and his service. He was no longer serving the things of this life.
As this well-planned repentance is put into action, the beginning of miracles takes place. What is that? The power of the Holy Word of God becomes our authority, and we put it into action, coming into the service of our Lord. Then the beginning of miracles takes place – the water is turned into wine (the wine is the symbol of joy and rejoicing). As the Word of God becomes our highest authority, as we put it into action, and obey the Word of God, then we see the joy described in LUK 15:32. There the father says unto the elder brother (who criticized), "It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." Do you see the joy? There was rejoicing. They killed the fatted calf and they brought together their friends and their relatives to rejoice. As the Lord Jesus says in the parable just before this story, in that same chapter, there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents, and the angels in heaven rejoice over that one sinner – true repentance. Amen
In the secret of His presence
How my soul delights to hide!
Oh, how precious are the lessons
Which I learn at Jesus’ side!
Earthly cares can never vex me,
Neither trials lay me low;
For when Satan comes to tempt me,
To the secret place I go.
When my soul is faint and thirsty,
‘neath the shadow of His wing
There is cool and pleasant shelter,
And a fresh and crystal spring;
And my Saviour rests beside me,
As we hold communion sweet:
If I tried, I could not utter
What He says when thus we meet.
Only this I know: I tell Him all my doubts,
My griefs and fears:
Oh how patiently He listens!
And my drooping soul He cheers:
Do you think He never reproves me?
What a false friend He would be,
If He never, never told me,
Of the sins which He must see.
Would you like to know the sweetness
Of the secret of the Lord?
Go and hide beneath His shadow:
This shall then be your reward;
And when-e’er you leave the silence
Of that happy meeting place,
You must mind and bear the image
Of the Master in your face.
Our sermons and devotions are a ministry of Gospel Chapel located in Conrad, Montana. We also have a daily devotion and sermon notes on-line. We pray this devotion has been a blessing to those who read it. Thank you.