Luke 15:1 It has been observed that intense cold will produce very much the same effect as fervent heat. The ring of iron that surrounds a wheel, being exposed to keen frosts during a long winter's night, will produce a sensation and an effect on a sensitive skin very much the same as that the same... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:8 The Search of Love. Three parables stand together in this chapter. The occasion of all is one and the same the murmuring of scribes and Pharisees against the Saviour, who would eat with sinners. And the general drift of all is the same the feeling of God towards repentant sinners, illustr... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:8 The piece of silver whatever it was was great to the owner. And here lies the point in the analogy. A soul, an individual creature, an atom in God's universe, may be in itself a very insignificant thing, but it is great to God. This is its dignity. How great, how dear to God, no man can a... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:10 The Brightness of Penitence. The ordinary law of sympathy "to weep with those that weep" is naturally suspended in this instance. When our weeping is for our sins, the angels are glad over us. For, indeed, then our sorrow is not the chief thing that happens to us, but only an accidental... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:11 The Fatherland. I. Of all God's cords the finest, and perhaps the strongest, is the cord of love. The true home of humanity is God God trusted, communed with, beloved, obeyed. II. Far from home, humanity is still in the hand of God. Not only is it subject to His righteous and irresisti... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:13 I. When principle is weak the far country is fatal. If any one is obliged to leave home not from love of idleness, not from love of pleasure, not from love of liberty, but on such business as brings young men to our large towns every day do not forget that God is here. II. The portion o... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:14 I. All may be lost by one transgression. The heart of this young man died away from his home. That home ceased to be sacred: the father was no longer paramount. Grace was gone. Prayer was given up. Good feelings faded, and now that temptation and combustible corruption came together, he... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:15 I. Whether it be a natural nobleness, or an acquired refinement, the one, the direct gift of God; the other, an indirect creation of the Gospel it is seldom forfeited all at once. Step by step the downward path is trodden, till at last the prodigal's snatching tit-bits from the swine-tro... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:17 There are two tests to which we have a right to submit every new religion. There are two questions which we have a right, and which it is our duty, to put to every one who claims to come to us as a teacher from God. And these two questions are: (1) "What have you to tell us concerning th... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:18 I. Note the awaking or arising of the soul out of sheer worldliness into a condition of godliness. A life of worldliness is unmanly, for it falls short of that for which man's capacities plainly indicate that he was born. It is undutiful, for it withholds from the Father of our spirits t... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:18 I. These words contain consolation. It is the _prodigal_who speaks them. None can say, "By some course of thought or action of mine, I have excluded myself from the right to use them." It is the prodigal son who speaks them. None can say, "I must make myself a son; I must establish my re... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:20 The Hunger of the Soul. I. Why did God make it so natural for us all to grieve over the past, and to lament so bitterly for sin? One way of looking at the matter may be suggestive to us all. Does it not seem as if this same penitence and sorrow for misdoings were like to the pains of hun... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:23 The Festival. I. The feast which here took place denotes "the joy of a forgiving God over a forgiven man, and the joy of a forgiven man in a forgiving God." The one is a gracious revelation, the other a blessed experience, and each reacts upon the other. To a forthgoing affectionate nat... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:25 We may see from this passage: I. That the position of the elder son is preferable to that of the younger, because of the risk he escaped. II. Because a life of continuous godliness is far easier than a life of godliness succeeding a life of sin. III. Viewed as a whole, the life of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:29 Contracted Views in Religion. I. In the conduct of the father, there seemed, at first sight, an utter departure from the rules of fairness and justice. Here was a reprobate son received into his favour on the first stirrings of repentance. What was the use of serving him dutifully, if th... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15:31 What is the moral significance of the incident of the Elder Son? I. It is, some writers tell us, to mark the contrast between the narrow, merciless heart of the self-righteous man, as compared with the comprehensive, all-forgiving love of our heavenly Father. He who had been most sinned... [ Continue Reading ]