Come to Yourself
17. And when 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!
18. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19. And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20. And he arose, and came to his father. 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.
21. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Come To the Father’s House!
Luke 15:17-24
Tonight, it seems to me that this world is full of people who are living in a distant land. We are doing foreign things, we are living foreign lives, and we are serving foreign gods. As we look around us and see all of the record breaking violence that has invaded in our world and society, we must come to the conclusion that we are living among people who are doing many things contrary to the will of God.
I try to tell people every where that I go, that the Devil is on his way to Hell and he knows it, and he’s trying to take as many as he can with him. There are a lot of us so blind to what we are doing, that we are actually following right in behind him.
Folk ask me often, why is there so much trouble in the world today, and I tell them because there are people in the world today. The Bible says, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble”. You haven’t got to ask for trouble today, if you are around people, trouble will ask for you.
That’s why when you come to church, there is trouble, on your job there is trouble, in your homes there is trouble, trouble is everywhere because people are everywhere. We are living among people who have left a sure thing in the church, and they are glorying in the shaky things of the world.
It sadness me tonight because as perplexed as it might seem, I can look in the church, where there should be Christ-like folks, folks who should be walking the straight and narrow way, yet I still see Church folks doing worldly things.
And it’s not in any one particular group, you can look from the choir stand to the back door and find someone in each group.
You can find these folks leading prayer service.
You can hear them leading in the song service.
You can see them Ushering in weary souls.
You can find them over in the Amen corner.
Yes, you can even find them in our pulpits.
Tonight, we are being deceived by the Devil.
We are being dictated by Demons,
And, the railroad tracks of our understanding, is being derailed by darkness.
We need to wake up, and come to the Father’s house.
I know you’ve heard the story of the prodigal son. And there are many things that we can see when we look at this parable.
We can see the selfishness of the oldest son, and I think by looking at the older Son, God was trying to show us that it’s just as dangerous to stay in the church and be selfish, as it is to go out into the world.
We can see the patience of the loving Father,
And we can see foolishness, and wayward life of the prodigal.
As I look at this passage, I see that there are many of us who have changed our address in life.
We have moved from the neighborhood of obedience,
To the night clubs of Adultery.
We’ve moved from the streets of purity,
To the subdivision of fornication.
We’ve moved from the doors of progress,
To the dungeons of drug addictions, and drug dealings.
We’ve moved from the palace of prominence,
To the projects of prostitution.
We’ve moved from the Subdivision of being strong men, and loving mothers,
To the suburbs of Sugar Daddys and Baby’s Mommas.
We’ve moved from the road that leads us to becoming Christians,
To the ruts that has binds us into being just church folks.
We need to come to the Father’s house.
Many of us have chosen to pull off our robe of righteousness, and have rather chosen to wear the rags of riotous living. This prodigal said to his father, father give me that portion of goods that belongs to me. I’m going to a far country.
Now this boy wasn’t rightfully entitled to a portion until after his father was dead. So it was like he was saying. To me father, you are already dead, now I want my stuff so that I can go out and have myself a good time.
We’ve got folks in church who does God the same way, we don’t mind coming here and praising Him for a hour and a half on Sunday, but after church, many of us will consider God as dead.
You won’t obey Him,
You won’t fellowship with Him.
You don’t want to have anything to do with Him until next Sunday Morning.
But this son began to waste his substance on riotous living. And a few day there was a great famine in the land and he began to be in want. I need to tell you tonight, want always follows waste.
I heard somebody say, what do you mean preacher, and I’m glad you asked. If you waste God’s money, you will soon want some. If you waste God’s time, you will soon want it. If you waste God talent, you will wish you had it. Want will always follow waste.
When all of his substance ran out, He joined himself to a citizen of that country. This citizen is representative of the devil. And I can assure you tonight when you began to fool around with the devil, you will find yourself in the hog pens of life. This citizen sent him down to the hog pen to feed the hogs.
Now, even feeding hogs was an insulting job for a Jewish person, because hogs were considered unclean animals according to the Law. This prodigal wasn’t just feeding them; he wanted to eat with them.
There is someone here tonight in the hog pen of:
Envy.
Jealousy
Disappointment
Backbiting
Bitterness
You need to come to the Father’s house.
There were three things that made him come to the Father’s house.
His consideration.
First thing he done, he considered where he was. Verse 17. “But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and some to spare, and I perish with hunger!”
Tonight we need to consider where we are and what we are doing. See, even though this boy had done wrong, he still considered the possibility of going back to his Father. Just because you have done wrong in life, don’t mean you need to stay wrong. You need to consider getting right.
So many people don’t realize that the church is a spiritual hospital. It is a place where we can come to get better in life. All of us need help because there is a little something wrong with all of us.
He said all the servants of my father are eating good, and here I am down in a hog pen, about to die from hunger.
Tonight, if you are saved and you know you are saved, you need to consider what you are doing when you fool around with the devil. See, God has some good things for us. He wants us to prosper and be in good health.
If you have strayed away, you need to consider coming back on the Lord’s side. He’s got Silver and Gold, the cattle of a thousand hills belongs to Him. He’s got power, beyond all power.
His confession.
The next thing was His confession. Verse 18. “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”
Someone said the first step in getting right is to realize that you’ve been wrong. This is the reason why many church folks will never get right, because they will never admit to being wrong.
There are folks today who want everybody to believe that they are perfect. But my Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. We need to stop thinking that we are all that. Thinking we are better than other folks just because we come to church every Sunday. Just because you are the president of a certain function, don’t mean that you can just waltz right into heaven.
The best thing for us to do is to admit our faults. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. This let us know that becoming a Christian is conditional. It’s say, “If we confess”. See, the first step is on us.
You’ll find that throughout the bible. You’ve got to first do something in order to move God. This prodigal son left home saying “give me” he came back saying, “make me”.
Father I know I’ve sinned, and I’m not worthy to be called your child, but I thank God for your Grace and Mercy. Thank you Lord for looking beyond my faults and still meeting my needs. Make me your servant!
The Father’s Compassion
The last thing was the father’s compassion. Verse 20. “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”
I want y’all to look at verse 20 through 25, this boy was going on and on about what he had done, and the father was rejoicing that he came back. I said that to say this, God is not mad at you.
God is not holding on to what you’ve done, on the contrary, He is standing with open arms waiting for you to come back. While this son was talking, “Father I’ve sinned against heaven and against you and not worthy to be your son” the father saw him and he didn’t walk toward him, He ran and hugged his neck and kissed him.
I’m just reminded how we sit up in church and we like to bring up all the bad things that other people have done, and I tell my church, when God looks at me, He doesn’t see me for what I use to be, He sees me for what I can become.
The father told the hired servants,
go kill the fattest calf,
bring the best robe you can find in the closet,
put ring on his hand,
and put some shoes on his feet.
Although, he may have done wrong, he’s still my son.
Let us eat and be merry,
my son have come back home.
And I believe there is somebody here tonight
Who have drifted off into a foreign land,
I came by here to tell you,
Come to the Father’s house.
Because,
In my Father’s house
There is joy, unspeakable joy.
IN my Father’s house,
There is peace, sweet peace.
There is, a company keeper,
In my Father’s house.
There is, a burden bearer,
In my Father’s house.
There is, a lily down in a valley,
In my Father’s house.
There is a wheel, in the middle of a wheel,
In my Father’s house.
There is a fountain, that will never run dry,
In my Father’s house.
There is Jesus,
Mary’s Baby,
Son of David,
Seed of Abraham.
A doctor in a sick room,
Lawyer in a court room.
He’s in my Father’s house.
He died for me,
But He now lives.
He’s sitting on the right hand of the Father
Every time I do wrong,
He pleading my case,
Father forgive Him.
