Luke 15:11-31

Luke 15:11. And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

It was an act of ingratitude to leave his father at all, an act of extreme folly to turn his father's goods to ill-account.

Luke 15:14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

And the sinner's greatest all will be spent one day; the pleasures of sin are but for a season; the strongest sinew in an arm of flesh will one day crack; the flowers that grow in man's garden will one day fade; man may think he has an eternity of pleasure before him, but if he is looking to the flesh for it, it shall be but for an hour.

Luke 15:15. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

At the very best the comforts of this world are ignominious to a man; they degrade him; as it was a very degrading employment for a Jew to feed swine so the comfort the world can give to a man does but degrade his noble spirit.

Luke 15:16. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him.

The prodigal cannot be brought any lower; he is made to herd with the swine, and he envies even them, because they are satisfied with the husks; he cannot eat of the same, and, therefore, he envies even the brutes. Surely, when a sinner becomes fully convinced of sin, he may well envy even the sparrows or the serpents because they have not sinned.

Luke 15:17. 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! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him.

Remember Matthew Henry's paraphrase here were eyes of mercy.

Luke 15:20. And had compassion,

Here was a heart of mercy

Luke 15:20. And ran,

Here were legs of mercy.

Luke 15:20. And fell on his neck,

Here were deeds of mercy.

Luke 15:20. And kissed him.

And here were lips of mercy.

Luke 15:21. 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. But the father said to his servants,

Here were words of mercy, wonders of mercy, and, indeed, it is all mercy throughout.

Luke 15:22. Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field:

That is where these over-good elder sons always are; they are out at work, they are not at home in communion with God; they are in the field. Do not ask who the elder brother was; he is here tonight there is many an envious moralist ay, and an envious professor, too, who feels it hard that profligate offenders should be pardoned.

Luke 15:25. And as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry,

He did not want the fatted calf killed, if this reprobate brother were allowed to come in at the back door, and to eat with the servants, he thought that quite good enough, but for this rebel to be put upon an equality with himself he could not bear that!

Luke 15:28. And would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him.

See the tenderness of this father; the same arms which embraced the sinning one were also ready to clasp the self-righteous one. I always feel great pity and great admiration for this dear, dear father. What with a bad son and a good son he had two bad sons, for this good son, you see, had got in a pet just as I have seen some real Christians get into a very un-Christian frame of mind. Well, they do not like somehow receiving into their company the women that have gone astray the men that have lost their reputation. He was angry, and would not go in, and now his father crowned his love. He ran to meet one son and now he comes out to reason with another who is unnaturally and ungraciously angry with his father.

Luke 15:29. And he answering said, to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:

I know the brother. He says, «I have been a consistent Christian: I have been diligent in the service of God: I have abounded in prayer, and yet all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. I do not get much joy: I have such a sight and sense of temptation and sin that I am generally low spirited. I seldom get a drop of full assurance. I never get a kid given me, that I might make merry with my friends. Those who are under the law never do make merry. You never knew a man yet that was trying to save himself by keeping the commandments of God that could dare to make merry. No, they have to draw long faces, and well they may, for they have a long task before them; they put on a garb of sadness, being of a sad countenance, as the hypocrites are.

Luke 15:30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 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.

And so, dear friends, there is more joy over the prodigal when he returns than over the man who thinks he never has been astray.