0:07 I'd like to turn today to a very familiar passage of scripture in Luke's gospel in chapter 15. There are three stories here, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son, and the elder son. So, 0:27 there are lessons here that are good to learn and remember all our life. It began with the Pharisees in verse two grumbling that this man receives sinners. And Jesus told them why he was 0:50 interested in reaching out to sinners. There was another place in Matthew where he said, "The Son of Man did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." That is a very clear statement. He came 1:08 not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And you see that emphasis here in this whole chapter. Now, I mention this because it's possible that we as believers can be out of touch with Jesus. 1:28 That we're always occupied with the righteous and never with sinners. But that's not like Christ. He was very eager to be with sinners. And we have the opportunity for that with our unconverted relatives 1:46 and in our place of work. But if that doesn't interest us and your only interest is to meet with believers here, then they missed out on one part of Jesus. It's a great importance in building fellowship with one another's 2:01 believers and we have often spoken about that and anything I say today does not devalue that. That's important. The purpose of ministry in the church is always to restore a balance where we are imbalanced. So this is an area if it doesn't apply 2:18 to you, that's fine. If you are already concerned about lost sinners, great. But the possibility is that we may lose that interest after a while. So that's where these parables have value. Many of us work in offices, 2:36 children go to school and colleges where we are surrounded by sinners. And does God I mean, we should be strong enough. I'm I'm not saying that children should be friendly with sinners if they're not strong enough to resist the temptation 2:51 that sinners can lead them to. So we have to be careful there. And I would not advise you to try and get too friendly with sinful people if you're not strong enough to resist it. But many of us are strong enough and then we should not 3:09 ignore our responsibility. That's what I'm trying to say. And here there are a lot of things we can learn. When they said, "Why are you going to sinners?" He said, "If a man's got a hundred sheep and one of them is lost, 3:26 what does he do? He ignores the 99. He just leaves them alone and goes after that one which is lost until he finds it. See, this is not just a lost sinner. It's a This is to me it's a picture of a backslider. Someone who was in the church 3:43 but sort of drifted away, you know. This is not a total goat becoming a sheep. No. This is a sheep which is part of the flock, and sort of somehow got lost and not that not someone who deliberately went astray. 4:02 That comes later in another story of the prodigal son. Here is a sheep, a dumb sheep who accidentally missed the track or got led astray by some friends and slipped up and went astray and it says he goes after that lost one until he finds it. 4:21 We should be open. I'm not saying that we can go after every single lost person, but we need to be open to the Lord to see if the Lord gives us a burden for any particular person that we should pursue after that person till we find 4:34 it. It says he goes after that lost one, verse four, until he finds it. Now, there are a lot of lost people in the world. We don't have time to go spend our time always going after every lost person. Many more are so not 4:47 interested. But, here is where we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. If the Lord lays a particular person on our heart as a burden. George Müller was a great saint of God who lived in the 19th century. And 5:06 I've heard something like this that he had a burden in his heart for three friends of his, just three. I mean, he was in touch with hundreds of sinners, but the Lord laid on his heart a burden for three. And he first of all began to pray for 5:20 them. That's always a way to begin. If there's a burden in your heart for someone who's lost, pray He prayed, and I think one of them was converted after two or three years, and I don't remember the exact period. Another was converted 5:32 after about 30 years, and one was converted after George Müller died, but he kept praying for them. But, he wasn't praying for the whole world. The three people who were laid on his heart in a burden. So, what I'm saying is we need to be 5:45 sensitive to the Holy Spirit. if he lays a particular person on our heart. That's this lost sheep. And then he says he goes after that person until he finds it. And when he lays it on his shoulders, he comes home and he says, "Rejoice with me 5:59 because I found my sheep." There's tremendous joy. If the Lord has laid one particular person on his heart who is lost or gone astray, you keep praying for him and he comes in. So, the other thing I want you to notice here is in verse seven, 6:16 that there'll be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don't need any repentance. So, that's a beautiful expression. You know, when you meditate on scripture, don't just read quickly 6:33 and go to the next verse. You'll get something. I remember for years I read that and went on to the next verse and never got anything. But once I started meditating, I discovered something. Have you discovered this? Let me Let me ask you. 6:45 Many of you read this message many times. 99, the last part of verse seven, 99 righteous people who need no repentance. That is what Jesus wants the church to be. We don't I don't think we have 99 people 7:05 here, but if there were, or whatever number there is here, if you're in a church, you should be a person who needs no repentance. That's what it says here. 99 people 7:23 who need no repentance. Is it possible to live in the world and need no repentance? Yes. That is how a true church of Jesus Christ should be. That every single person sitting here, if you're a part of this church, not if 7:43 you're a visitor, if you're a visitor, you're like the lost sheep. But if you're part of this church, you should your testimony should be I don't need any repentance. How is that possible? I'll tell you how. Because you repent regularly every day. 8:01 In other words, as soon as you're aware of something, you not only confess it, there's a lot of emphasis on confess it. Yes, confess it. You get a wrong attitude towards somebody, Lord, I'm sorry I had that wrong attitude. Forgive me and he 8:14 forgives you. But if you don't repent of it, Lord, there was a reason why I had that wrong attitude towards that person. That's repentance. Confession and repentance are two different things. And very often, we only confess 8:28 and the result is we fall into it again. And we confess and we fall into it again. So, the way to break that cycle of falling into it again is by repentance. Lord, why did I have that wrong attitude towards that person? 8:43 Please help me to turn away from that and hate it and repentance is like the military command which says, "About turn." About turn means I'm turning my back to the attitude I had before and having a completely different attitude, the 8:58 attitude of Christ. And so, the church should be people who need no repentance. Please take that as the testimony of a true New Testament church. A group of people who don't need any repentance. It's a tremendous challenge. 9:18 And I see that that is what Jesus describes here as a true church. So, we can call ourselves a New Covenant church because we believe certain doctrines, because we believe in victory over sin. Yes. In addition, add this also on. 9:36 We are a people who don't need any repentance. I did not know this in the early part of my Christian life because nobody taught me. I'm sorry to say I was in churches where they never spoke about this verse and told me that this is the mark of a 9:52 church. Have you ever heard any preacher tell you that this is the mark of a New Testament church? People who need no repentance. It's there in the Bible. It's one of the most popular parables in Christendom, the parable of the lost sheep. 10:08 And yet you see how you can read the scripture again and again and again for 25 years and not see that that is the description of a church. I never saw it either. So, I don't blame anybody. But I say when we are radical and really 10:22 want God's best, he shows us things in scripture which are there in plain sight, but we don't get it because we don't meditate. So, I want to emphasize that which I've often emphasized, dear brothers and sisters, it's better to spend 10:37 half an hour meditating on one verse than read 25 verses in half an hour. Any day I would recommend that. So, any if you've never read the Bible, then please read 25 verses and read a whole chapters at a time till you finish the Bible. 10:51 Then, that's what I did. I When I was converted 67 years ago, the first thing I did was read through the whole Bible in about 8 months. Many, many chapters at a time. Then, um I never did that after that, just once. And then, I just wanted to know 11:06 what was written in the whole Bible. Then I started reading few verses at a time. In the early days, I read a chapter at a time, went to the next chapter, the next chapter. But as time has gone on and I became more and more familiar with scripture, 11:18 then now I nowadays I read just sometimes one verse, sometimes two, three verses, maybe five verses and meditate on it. This is the way to read the scriptures. So, here's one example of how you miss something because you didn't meditate. 11:33 Definition of a new covenant church is righteous people. It means that righteous people means they as far as their life as far as they have light see the amount of our light keeps increasing. Just like you go from grade one to grade 11:49 two to grade three to grade four. Growth in the Christian life is exactly like in a school. You learn more at each stage. But you won't go to the next class if you don't pass in the first grade. So, we must pass and in we should try and get 100% 12:06 in what we've understood. Then we go to the next step. This is Christian growth till one day we become completely like Christ. So, please bear this in mind to not just to know a definition but to say Lord, I want to be one of those 12:23 about whom you can look down from heaven and say, "There's a child of mine who does not need repentance." And I should be like that every day. All the time. In other words, I assume is it possible? Yes. I seek to live like that. I mean, the 12:42 since many years now I've tried to live like that. It wasn't like that in the beginning because nobody never taught me. But now I I if I'm aware of something, I immediately confess it and want to repent from it. And by the end of the day, before we go to 12:58 bed, we should have everything clear when we go to bed. It's a good thing to ensure that everything is clear before you go to bed at night. And make sure that if there is something lacking that you repent of it. There's a lot of emphasis on confession, 13:17 but repentance even you know this when we hurt somebody many people ease their conscience by saying I've apologized. Do you know one thing? That the word apology is never found in the Bible. 13:36 Amazing. And yet many Christians are thinking I've apologized and I've done it. Yeah, that's a word never found in the whole Bible. Unfortunately, that has replaced the biblical word which is repentance. Apology is not repentance. 13:55 I know a lot of people who do something wrong and apologize and never repent. They'll do it again. I guarantee they'll do it again. You keep apologizing, you'll keep on doing it again and again. But if you repent, you'll take it a little more seriously. 14:10 Apology is oh, I feel sorry that I hurt you. It's oh, I feel sorry I stamped on your leg or I feel I'm sorry I did this or said this. But repentance is something Apology is between man and man. Repentance is before God. 14:22 Lord, that was terrible the way I spoke to that person. I'm not talking to him now. I'm talking to God. Lord, that was very bad. I'm Apology is to that person at a human level. You clear your conscience. If you can clear your conscience with an apology, 14:37 I want to say you're not a Christian. A Christian clears his conscience by repentance. So, please learn something today, the difference between repentance and apology. Husbands and wives, all husbands and wives, you hurt one another. Sometimes 14:56 accidentally, sometimes I'm sorry to say deliberately. And what do they do? Apologize? I guarantee you'll do it again. You'll keep on doing it and you'll keep on apologizing and you'll never get any better. From today onwards, dear husbands and 15:11 wives, start repenting. Your married life will become much better. When you say Lord, that was terrible the way I did that or the the I spoke to my husband or my wife. And you get before God. Repentance as I said is before God, apology is before 15:26 men. There is a place for apology. If you hurt somebody, you definitely need to apologize. I'm sorry I stepped on your leg. Or I sorry I hurt you. Fine. But then you need to go before God. That hasn't solved a problem. I've had people who write letters to me 15:42 where they are very rude and afterwards they apologize. There's no repentance. They never change. They'll do it again. So I've had people who spoken rudely to me and then apologize. They won't change until they repent. They will never change. 16:01 So there's one big lesson I want every brother and sister here to understand clearly the difference between repenting and apologizing. The church is people who need no repentance because they are repenting not just every day but all the time. 16:19 That means if I do something wrong, I don't wait till the end of the day to repent. I repent immediately. Which is And think of repentance as the military term about turn. I'm facing a certain direction and the command is about turn. I turn 16:34 completely opposite direction and I what I looked at is is behind me. I'm looking towards Jesus now. And values of his kingdom. So that is the definition of repentance. of a church. 16:52 The next parable is the parable of the lost coin. And there the woman is a picture of the church. Woman is throughout the New Testament you read the woman is a picture of a church, the bride of Christ. And God gives the bride of Christ 17:11 some people to keep, 10 silver coins. And here is the church through carelessness. You see, you nobody loses a coin deliberately. Carelessness. If you lose money, it's through carelessness. This church lost somebody through carelessness. And 17:27 that's the responsibility that comes It's not just the elders of the church who have a responsibility for the people in the church. No, you even if you have three elders here of three or four elders, you can't take care of 17:41 so many people. Jesus had a church of only 12 people. That's about all one person can take care of. Jesus himself, he decided I can handle only 12 people. So, as a church grows, there needs to be more and more people who are not 17:56 necessarily elders, but who have a sense of responsibility, even if they're not if they're not elders, for some people who are they are close to, to pray for them. And Lord, let me be alert and see if there's some way I 18:12 can help them. I want to ask you all a question. We can't be equally friendly with everybody in the church. I've never been in the church where I'm equally close to everyone. That's impossible. It's physically impossible. Our capacity is 18:28 limited. But God allows us to be closer to some, not because we love them more, because of circumstances and various factors. And then there are others who are closer to this. So, like that, the care for the church is distributed among 18:44 many mutual brothers and sisters. So, I'm thinking of the people you feel whom you know well and you're close to. Do you care for them that none of them should be lost in any way? If there are 10 people, I mean, here here a 19:01 woman had only 10 coins. So, think of 10 people in the church who you are close to or should have a burden for. It's It's a big number. Jesus had 12 people. And think every Christian should have at least 12 people in a church. I mean, if 19:17 we Uh that's Jesus' standard, but if you don't have 12, at least three or four or six for whom you have a burden. Lord, I want to make sure they're not lost. I'm not sure they want to make sure they're not drifting. Every parent, of course, should have 19:31 burden like that for their own children, which is very, very important. And if you don't have so many children to be responsible for, try and find some others in the church. You say, "Lord, I want to have a carry a burden in my heart." Just think 19:44 of that. If you say, "Lord, I want you to please give me a burden for some people in this church that I can pray for and just watch out for." And it's through And if the Lord does give like that, if through carelessness 19:59 one is lost, and look what the woman does. She lights a lamp and sweeps the house and searches carefully until she finds it. That's tremendous. Here's someone who's got a real Say, 20:17 "This is something precious. The Lord has given me to take care of." Jesus cared for his disciples like that. So, I want to encourage us to consider it's not a question of the elders saying, "Okay, these brothers are your 20:32 responsibility and these sisters are your responsibility." No, it's not like that. I believe it must come in your own heart. Lord, is there somebody I should take some responsibility? Don't start with 12, start with one. 20:44 Two. Three. I want to ask you, mighty brothers, some of you who've been here at least a few years, do you feel a sense of responsibility for anybody outside your family? Or is it just I, me, and my family? That's it. Well, that's fine. 21:05 If you have responsibility for your family, that itself is a thing. But I think we should go a little beyond that now. If you're growing up, if you're a baby, that's okay. If you're growing up, you take a little more responsibility. 21:17 And if you've been in this church a few years, you're certainly not a baby. Say, "Lord, will you give me a little burden in my heart for one more person, two more people, that I can carry on my heart and watch out for and keep like a few coins. And maybe I 21:33 start with one coin, two coins, three coins. And then 10 coins, it's great. And to make sure that it's none of them are lost. And if it is lost, I see a person drifting, I light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until I find it. 21:50 And when that coin is found, she rejoices. In the same way, I tell you, verse 10, there'll be joy in the presence of an angel over one sinner who repents. Again, it's we're back to the same subject of repentance. Our burden is 22:09 When when is a coin lost? When a person We say a person's lost when he's on his way to hell. Well, that's one way of looking at it. But you can sit in this church and be lost when you don't repent. 22:28 When your lifestyle is not one of continuous repentance, it says here, you're a coin which is lost. But this When the coin is found, it is described as in the last part of verse 10, as one sinner who repents. 22:46 What did that woman say? "I found the coin that I had lost." Verse 9. And Jesus describes it as one sinner who has repented. So, repentance again is the emphasis here. Okay, we move on to the third parable 23:05 which is very well known, the story of the prodigal son. Prodigal is a word which I never understood. I don't know whether I still understand its meaning fully, but it's something of um a wasteful when you have so much you 23:19 waste it, that type of attitude. And here, it's not a story of a sinner who accidentally got lost like the lost sheep. And it's not like a case where a church didn't So, people didn't take responsibility for someone who lost. 23:34 Here is a person who personally chose to go away from the Lord. Rebellion. He's not an unbeliever. He's not referring to an unbeliever. He's a son. He's a son of the father. He's a member of the church. And has been blessed. 23:52 And he chooses one day to go away. He wants all the benefits. He said, "Dad, give me my share of my inheritance. Give me the share of the estate that falls to me." Verse 12. 24:10 There are people like that who want all the benefits they can get by coming to a church. Yeah, there are many benefits by coming to the church. I want all of it. I want people to pray for me. I want people to protect me. I want to hear 24:25 God's word regularly every Sunday. But you don't have any sense of responsibility for the church itself. So, that's a good question all of you need to ask yourself. Praise God that you come regularly to church. You never miss a Sunday. 24:39 You're eager to hear and eager to receive. But ask yourself one question. What is your sense of responsibility towards this church? It's a question every single brother and sister must ask. See, the best homes, families 24:57 that I've seen, I've seen many many families of Christians throughout the world. And the best families, you know, with too many different children, the best families are the ones where every single person in the family does work in the 25:10 home. Down to the smallest child. If you see a home where only father and mother do all the work, there's something fundamentally wrong. That's not the way a Christian home should be. A Christian home is one where every 25:26 single person, even the youngest child, is taught to do something to share in the responsibility in the home. And I love to see such homes where every single person is got a responsibility to keep the home clean or to take a responsibility to 25:40 keep everything tidy. But here's a Here's a picture of a son who had no sense of responsibility. And he's only wanted to get what he can. To get is a desire of every human being, but to give 25:57 service was not there in him. Give me what I want. And when a child's only desire is to to parents, give me. It's like this prodigal son. Not what can I do to help in the house? We need to teach our children to 26:17 ask this question also, what can I do to help in the house? So, the father gave him his wealth and not many days later the younger son gathered everything together and went into a far country. He lost interest once he got what he 26:30 wanted. He lost interest. I've met people like this who come to a church and get whatever they can out of benefit. And even they get married in the church and then they when they've got all they wanted, they say, "Okay, now I want my own." 26:43 So, this is a true story of many people in many churches. And then he squandered his estate with loose living. What we learn from here is that when God gives us something, he doesn't want us to squander it. That's a great word, squander. It means 27:02 waste it. Anything that God gives us, if we waste it, we're like this prodigal son. If you got plenty of money, don't waste it. Be careful in the use of it. I'm not saying be stingy or a miser. No. 27:20 But don't be extravagant and waste and This word squander unnecessarily. Don't waste money on unnecessary purchases and unnecessary expenditures. I'm not asking you to live at the lowest possible standard of living. That's not 27:39 my calling. Each person according God has allotted to different ones of us different incomes. And you can live according to the level of your income. I mean, you don't have to go and live at the level of the poorest person in town. Live at the 27:53 level of your income, by all means, which should be very different completely different in all the families in the church. So, you don't have to compare yourself with anybody else. But make sure it's not squandering. Squandering means 28:05 careless expenditure or wasting. Oh, I have so much so I can lavishly spend it. Not like that. Careful expenditure. This squander is a word that you must think, meditate on it. So, anyway, he wasted everything and then when he had spent everything, 28:22 a severe famine occurred. Imagine, he His father was obviously a very wealthy man and he got half, 50%, and so quickly he spent it. And finally, he became so poor that he had to hire himself out, verse 28:40 15, to one of the citizens who gave him the job of feeding the pigs. And he was so hungry they said that he would was even ready to eat what the pigs were eating because nobody gave him anything. This is what happens when a person drifts 28:56 away from God. He slowly comes to the place where he comes to spiritually speaking he comes to the level of the pigs eating what the pigs are eating. I've seen backsliders like that who are so completely gone away from the 29:11 Lord. I Externally they are probably well-off, but spiritually they're eating what the pigs are eating. And when he came to his senses he said, "How many of my father's hired men have more than enough and I am dying here with hunger. I'll 29:26 get up and go to my father." Now, two things I want you to notice here. There's a difference between the story of the lost sheep and the lost son. In the case of the lost sheep the shepherd went after the sheep, found it, carried it on his shoulder, 29:42 and brought it back. In the case of the lost son the father did not go after the son. There are some people God does not go after until they themselves take their Christian take their life seriously and repent. 30:01 I think the difference is that in the case of a sheep is a dumb sheep that accidentally lost the way. And there are believers like that who are carelessly mingle with the wrong type of fellowship and go astray. But the younger son was not like that. 30:19 He was deliberately choosing a way of rebellion. There are two types of backsliders. One is like the lost sheep who accidentally missed the way and backslid. And the other is the deliberate rebellious person who goes astray 30:36 and God does not go after that person. He waits till that person comes to an end of himself to comes to a zero point before God brings him around. So, the other thing I want you to notice here is 30:53 I've seen this happen. Some person who's re- rebelled against God and begins to suffer like this prodigal son. And some foolish believer will go and give him food 31:10 and help him, which ensures that that prodigal son will never go back to his father's house. Just think of that in this story. If some kind people, in inverted commas, kind people who go and help this poor boy who's eating the pigs are eating, give 31:27 him feed him, feed him, feed him every day. That'll ensure that he never goes back to his father's house. Do you think that person fulfilled God's purpose? No. He thought he was being kind to a backslider. I've seen believers do that. 31:43 Be kind to a backslider and ensure that that backslider never goes back into the father's house. Stays lost forever. There are foolish believers like that. So, whenever you see a person you're to see, is this person suffering 31:58 because he's backslidden? Let him suffer some more. Let him come to rock bottom. Then he'll turn and go back to the father's house. Let me not help him in any way. That requires a lot of wisdom. 32:14 Because we can have a human compassion that prevents a person from coming back to God's kingdom. And I've seen people do that. And I've seen those people lost forever. And who helped them to be lost forever? Some foolish believer. 32:32 So, there's a need for wisdom in our dealing with people who are backslidden or sinners. You know, the great need in the church is not for compassion. It's for wisdom. If you have wisdom, be compassionate. Without wisdom, if you're compassionate, 32:49 you can hinder God's purpose as in the story here. That's just a warning I give. Anyway, he finally came back and you can see there's something wonderful about the father you see here. Didn't you notice this when you read the 33:05 story? He got up, verse 20, and came to his father. And while he was still a long way off, the end of the road, the father saw him and had a compassion for him and ran all that distance. It's the only place in 33:24 the Bible where God is pictured as a running. The only place where God is pictured as running is when he sees a backslider come back to him. And he embraced him and kissed him. There's something else, you know, when you meditate on scripture, you ask 33:41 yourself, have you ever asked yourself this question when you read this read the story? How did the father know he was coming back on that day? He'd gone away for years. He was away for 10 years and then how did he know that that particular day 33:56 he'd be coming? How did he see him at a great distance through the window? I'll tell you how. He was looking out every day in all those 10 years. That is a picture of God 34:15 the way he looks out for backsliders who have gone away from him every single day. And that's why the father one day when he looked out he said, he's coming. And I I think that boy looked like he looked when he left the house. 34:34 He must have been ragged with his hair grown all over his face and completely he probably wasn't even recognizable compared to the boy who left home. What a loving father recognized even him. So I see there that God is so 34:52 compassionate that even if we've fallen away so badly rebelled, wasted everything he gave him. He lost all of all that his father gave him, he lost. Yet God doesn't give up on such a person. Tremendous message. The worst possible backslider 35:11 who's wasted every opportunity God gave him to turn to the Lord. He ignored it, ignored it, ignored it. Rebelled against the church and God still loves him. Wants him to come back. And if there's anybody here like that inwardly back inwardly backsliding, 35:27 outwardly you're looking like a good saint sitting in the church but inwardly your thought life and your private life and your family life is in a pretty backslidden condition dear brother, sister I want you to know that God loves you. 35:42 I want you to know that God is waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for you to come back. But don't take God's advantage of God's goodness because you read in the days of Noah and the last days of 35:59 the will be like the days of Noah. God had put a certain amount of time. The world was going completely astray. And in those days when people lived 900 years and all that God said I'll give the world 120 years. 36:17 You read that in Genesis 6. And people took advantage took advantage took advantage took advantage but one day the 120 years was over. And the people hadn't repented. And the only family that got into the ark was Noah and his 36:33 three sons and their families. So, you see that 120 years a long period of time God waited. But he's He doesn't wait forever. So, please remember that any backslider sitting here. God waits a long time, but he's not 36:53 going to wait forever. Don't take advantage of God's mercy and his goodness. You have ignored him long enough. One day God's patience will come to an end. It will not be forever. 37:12 You've got to be very arrogant to wait make the father wait and wait and wait and wait and wait as if you're a king for the father to wait for you. No, you're a prodigal daughter or a prodigal son. Come back today. And when he came back, the father it's 37:31 almost as if the father completely ignored everything. That's the way God receives when a person really repents. Here is a picture of repentance. Completely turning your back to the way of life he was having with the pigs. 37:46 It's a beautiful picture. Clear picture, rather. A life away from God is like living with the pigs. I believe that. All these wealthy people have no time for God. As far as God is concerned from heaven, the angels see them as see them 38:01 as living with pigs. A person who takes sin lightly who watches all types of filth on on his phone and the um computer and reads all type of filth and comes to church, it's it's absolute 38:21 filth that the angels look at that person is in a terrible condition. They're living with the pigs, pigs, pigs, pigs eating what the pigs are eating. All pornography is pigs food. And think of the believers who want to eat that pigs food. 38:38 If you're eating pigs food, then you're in this you're you're there in verse 16 of Luke 6:15. The Lord wants you to come back. But you can't come back and get the pigs food with you. You've got to dump all that pigs food and come back to the 38:53 father's house. Don't bring packets of pigs food to the father's house. No, get rid of it. And he's welcomed and then what a wonderful welcome. He put a robe on him and put a ring on his hand. That's how God celebrates even the worst 39:07 backslider who comes back to him. However far you may have drifted away, when you turn back and come to the Lord and say, "Lord, I want to give up all this pigs food that I've been carrying around and eating. I want to come back without it all. I 39:19 want to eat some good food in the father's house." He'll welcome you and put a robe on you and put a ring on your hand. Then the last story is the story of the elder son in the same story, the second part. Here's an elder son. 39:34 There you see jealousy. Jealousy because God is blessing somebody more than you. He gave that person something and you feel he doesn't deserve it, you deserve it. See, the father had a ring on his finger. 39:53 And he didn't give it to his elder son. Why didn't he give it to his elder son? He had it on his He kept it for this backslider. It's an amazing story. How he kept this ring for the elder son. But he gave it to the younger son 40:11 finally. Usually it's the elder one in the end that gets the inheritance. It's how it was. You're read you know Esau was the elder of the twin and he was supposed to get the inheritance but he didn't get it. God gave the ring to Jacob. That's what 40:25 we see here. I think that father discerned that this elder boy even though he's sitting at home he doesn't have a right spirit. God has a discernment. People who sit in the church is yeah they sit in the church but they don't have a good 40:37 spirit. This elder son sat in the church for years but God saw that he didn't have the right spirit. Don't be like that brothers. Just because you sit in the church doesn't mean God accepts everybody equally. There can be people who have the 40:50 attitude of the elder son towards backsliders towards the prodigals. And then there's a ring that God has he won't give it to you. He'll give it to that prodigal. It's amazing story. And when he the younger son comes back 41:09 there's a jealousy. Why did my father care for him and he he begins to say things look at this one. He this son of yours who lived with prostitutes verse 30 How in the world did he know that his she he lived with prostitutes? I don't 41:28 know whether he lived with prostitutes but he just says he's devoured your wealth with prostitutes. See that's what happens. There's another little lesson we can learn before we finish that is when you got a negative attitude towards 41:42 someone you can imagine the worst possible things about him. You don't have any evidence that he went to the prostitutes but you just imagine it must be like that. Must be like that. There are many lessons in this chapter 41:56 that you can meditate on brothers sisters about our attitudes to one another. When you don't know don't imagine the worst. You don't know that that person did it. You don't know that that person said it. Don't imagine. Believe the best 42:14 until you have clear evidence. The Bible says, "Don't go by what your eyes see or your ears hear. Let the Holy Spirit convince you in your heart because even you what your eyes see can deceive you." I believe one the one reason why God 42:27 makes the sun to go up every day to us is to tell us, "Don't believe your eyes. That sun is not moving. Your eyes are deceiving you. The sun is not moving." And yet for thousands of years people believed it that the sun was moving. 42:44 So, that's to me that's a daily demonstration to us, "Don't believe everything that your eyes see." And that applies to many things that we see in the world around. Don't just believe it. There could be more to it than meets the 42:56 eye. Be merciful. So, there are many lessons here. I trust we shall absorb them. Make sure that our lives fall in line with the way compassion that Jesus has not only for lost sheep, but even for rebellious prodigal 43:15 children, but not when they are still in rebellion. Only when they decide, "I'm going to give up this pig stuff that I've been watching and reading and eating." Let's pray. Ask God to remind you 43:36 during the day of what you need to hear from the message you heard today. Heavenly Father, please help every one of us to have more and more of the heart of Jesus towards lost people who went astray accidentally and even for the rebels. 43:55 And have wisdom in dealing with each of them. Help us to build your church. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
