Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, be sure you have named your sins privately to God the
Father.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins) (1Jn 1:9)
You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with the
Holy Spirit and ready to learn Truth from the Word of God.
"God is spirit, and those who worship Him
must worship in Spirit and Truth," (Joh 4:24)
The Prodigal
Son
What is a
parable?
Before you
can understand one of the most familiar parables in the Scriptures, it is necessary
to know something of the literary nature of a parable. The parable is a short,
fictitious narrative which illustrates a Principle of Truth. “Parable,” derived
from the Greek PARABOLE, is a compound word:
PARA, meaning “beside,” and BOLE, “to throw”; together they denote “to
set alongside.” In other words, in order to understand the Spiritual aspect of
a parable, one must match up the story with the Principle of Truth. For
example, in the parable of the prodigal son, the father represents God the Father
and the two sons are analogous to believers in various stages of carnality and
Spirituality. The interpretation of the parable requires deduction compatible
with known Truth.
All parables
are derived from the mode of life as it was at the time the parable was
written. The characters and incidents are figurative or typical, and proper
names or specific geographic locations are never used. For example, the story
of Lazarus and the rich man is not a parable because specific names and
location are given. Thus you can distinguish between an actual historic event
and a parable. The narrative of a parable has an outward literal meaning which
either the believer or unbeliever can understand; but parables are directed
primarily toward the believer who has Bible Truth in His soul. Only the
believer with Truth is able to understand the Spiritual significance of the
story. When He was speaking before large crowds, Jesus often used this form of
communication to teach Truth to the believers who were present. Unbelievers and
ignorant believers “missed the boat” completely and never grasped the
implications of the analogy.
The new birth
The
background for the parable of the prodigal son is, Luke 15. In verse one, Jesus
Christ addresses Himself to publicans and sinners who have gathered to hear
Him. Noting His compassion for these sinners, the Pharisees and scribes came to
criticize. (Luk 15:2) They complained
that not only did He receive publicans and sinners. He even dined with them.
The publicans, (Tax collectors) and sinners, (Prostitutes, etc.) were the
lowest social order in Jewish society. No self-respecting Jew would ever be
seen in the company of these people, much less fraternize with them. Yet here
was One who, claiming to be their Messiah, flagrantly ignored all their
traditions and customs. He would not comply with their legalizing preferring
instead the companionship of the “untouchables.”
Blinded to their own Spiritual condition, the self-righteous religious leaders
would not recognize that He was “the Son of man... come to seek and to save
that which was lost.” (Luk 19:10) They could not understand that Jesus Christ would go to
any length possible, compatible with His own character, to persuade those who
were without hope and without Salvation to come by faith to Him! He would do anything to draw them to Himself through the
Gospel, for He was the only solution to the sin problem, the only hope for
eternal life. (Act 4:12)
The religious
leaders knew well this passage in their Old Testament Scriptures:
But He was pierced through for our
transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our
well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like
sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has
caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. (Isa 53:5-6)
Yet, how
little they cared for God’s Plan for a lost and dying world! To these
legalistic Pharisees and scribes Jesus had said, “Ye must be born again.” (Joh 3:7) These men were sincere
do-gooders, men who lived by the Golden Rule and obeyed or thought they obeyed
every letter of the Law. Jesus said that all
their moral degeneracy and human good was not sufficient --- they needed to be born again!
For you are all sons of God through
faith in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:26)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave
the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.
(Joh 1:12)
This is the
only way to be born again. With the rejection of the religious do-gooders,
Jesus offered salvation to the “sinners,” who had no illusions about their true
condition before God.
Even the rich
young ruler, a very moral and upright believer who was confident he had kept
the entire Law, was declared to be still lacking. Later, to His surprised
disciples, Jesus explained that the trouble with the rich young ruler, was,
that he had not followed Him to Spiritual maturity. (Mat 19:21-30) The only people, who
are the ACTIVE children of God, are those who are born into the family of God
by faith in Christ; and grow to Spiritual maturity! (Rom 8:14)
To answer the
criticism of the scribes and Pharisees, the first two parables in this passage
are related to Salvation, Rebound and Spiritual maturity. (Luk 15:3-9) The sinner is compared in the first
parable to an animal; in the second, to an inanimate object, a coin. In
conclusion Jesus states a Principle:
"I tell
you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who
repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luk 15:7)
In the third
parable the analogy changes; a new subject is introduced. In this story there
are two sons who are analogous to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He said, "A man had two sons. (Luk 15:11)
The key to
this passage is the relationship that exists between a father and his two sons.
When the passage is concluded, the same relationship still exists --- the
father and two sons; they are BOTH SONS! Both are believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is no such thing as the universal
son-ship of man and the universal Fatherhood of God. This is a lie right from the devil’s mouth. (Joh 8:44) The only son-ship which the Bible
recognizes is the son-ship of regeneration ---believers in the family of God. (Gal 3:26)
The “certain
man,” declared to be their father, represents God the Father, the First Person
of the Trinity. The two sons portray two believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They have received the Son of God as Lord and Savior and have now entered into
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. (Top circle)
Illustration
Eternal
Security
When the
parable opens, the younger son is out of fellowship; when the parable closes,
the older son is out of fellowship. But BOTH OF THEM ARE STILL SONS, AND ALWAYS
WILL BE!
And the testimony is this, that God has
given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (1Jn 5:11)
All believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ have eternal life. You as a “son” have eternal
security and cannot get out of the “top circle.” When you believe in Christ,
God provides certain permanent things for you.
Both sons are
in the “top circle,” and will always be in the “top circle.”
For I am convinced that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)
Once a son,
always a son. Once you are born into the family of God, you will always be a
member of the family of God. You cannot change your Spiritual birth any more
than you can change your physical birth. You may desire at some time to change
your family. Perhaps you have been the recipient of discipline; perhaps there
have been some hard feelings; yet it is impossible to change the family into
which you were born physically. In like manner, and much more important, you cannot
change the family into which you were born Spiritually. The moment you believed
in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you were born into the family of God.
The Bible has
many approaches to this subject; but suffice to say by way of conclusion, YOU
CANNOT GET OUT OF THE “TOP CIRCLE.” You cannot lose your relationship with God.
Once you believe, the matter is out of your hands. God is immutable. He is
unchangeable. Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, to day, and forever.” (Heb 13:8) He cannot cancel what He has done. God
cannot invalidate His work. If at some time in your life you have personally
received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior regardless of your experiential
status at this moment, regardless of your conduct or your behavior pattern,
regardless of what a “stinker” you turned out to be, regardless of how
self-righteous or how religious you are — YOU ARE A
CHILD OF GOD. That is the end of it! You cannot change it.
And I give eternal life to them, and they
will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. (Joh 10:28)
Don’t ever
come up with that meaningless chant, that so-called prayer, “Oh, God, save us
at last.” This is the same as saying that God goes back on His Word, that God
is a liar, that God is unrighteous and unfair, that He is not immutable. In
other words, you are guilty of the worst kind of blasphemy. You were saved from the Lake of Fire, for all eternity,
and that is it! It is settled once for all! The
decision of faith in Christ is the only prerequisite for eternal salvation!
“They said, "Believe in the Lord
Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Act 16:31)
Fellowship
with God
The “bottom
circle” represents the area of fellowship with God in time. This is the place
of temporal fellowship, a condition we call “Spirituality.” When a believer
sins, whatever the sin may be, he moves outside the “bottom circle,” out of
fellowship with the Lord and into the area of “carnality.” He is still a
believer, but a believer out of fellowship. He is still in the “top circle.”
However, there is a provision by which he can move back into the “bottom
circle.” It is not by burning candles, rededicating, taking a vow, repenting or
feeling sorry for sin; it is not by any kind of emotional flagellation. YOU CAN
BE RESTORED. (1Jn 1:9) And when you are
restored, you are in fellowship with the Lord again.
Carnality
versus Spirituality
Carnality and
Spirituality are opposite terms: carnality describes the believer’s status out
of fellowship, while Spirituality depicts his status in fellowship. (Rom 8:6) The Holy Spirit, as well as the old sin
nature, indwells the believer’s body. When the old sin nature controls the
soul, the result is carnality. (Rom 7:14)
When the Holy Spirit fills or controls the soul, the result is Spirituality. (Gal 5:16) Every person who is a believer in
Jesus Christ, in any given instant in Phase Two,” is either carnal or
Spiritual. (1Co 3:1) As a Christian, you
are controlled either by the old sin nature or by the Holy Spirit.
The behavior
pattern of a carnal Christian cannot be distinguished from that of an
unbeliever (1Co 3:3) As far as God’s
Word is concerned, you may act like an unbeliever; but if you have believed in
Christ, you are still a believer a believer in status quo carnality out of
fellowship. This Principle is important in understanding the prodigal. A BELIEVER OUT OF FELLOWSHIP ACTS LIKE AN UNBELIEVER.
In fact, he is sometimes worse, as illustrated by David at one point in his
life. (2Sa 11:1) David was a believer; yet he behaved like an unbeliever. Saul, too, was
a believer, but he acted like an unbeliever most of his life. As far as
overt behavior is concerned, a carnal believer cannot be distinguished from an
unbeliever.
The prodigal
started out as every believer does, in the “bottom circle,” in fellowship with
God in time. Remember, however, that although he was later out of the “bottom
circle,” out of fellowship with the Lord, at the same time he was still in that
“top circle.” He could not lose his salvation. The issue, then, is regaining
temporal fellowship with God. This can be achieved only through rebound. Some
believers never understand eternal security; they think they can lose their salvation.
This is certainly the reasoning of many Christians today. After having been out
of fellowship, perhaps for years, and then desiring to return to the Lord, they
think they must believe in Christ again. They try to reaffirm their faith,
rededicate or repent. You cannot redo anything, as far as your salvation is
concerned, for it was accomplished in full the first time you believed. At
salvation God provides forty permanent things” for you; these settle salvation
once and for all.
If you reject the
Principle of eternal security, you are saying that God did not do a good job
the first time, so you must “redo” it! This is an insult to the Lord and
displays a pitiful ignorance of the Word. Even
preachers falsely use the rededication gimmick when people come to them to find
out how to get-back in fellowship.
This
emotional approach to the problem of carnality results in confused, miserable
believers. There is only one way for a believer to be restored to fellowship.
You can promise God that you will never do it again; (But you will) you can be
sincere and hypnotize yourself into dedication; (Which is useless) you can try
to make a deal with God; but none of these will get you back in fellowship
because nothing YOU can do will ever satisfy God — only
what Jesus Christ HAS DONE satisfies Him! The ignorance of the average
believer is appalling, and particularly the ignorance of the GRACE OF GOD!
The parable
of the prodigal son illustrates the grace of God. Believers are often shocked
by the sins they commit. They may ask, “Do CHRISTIANS do this?” They may
wonder, “Maybe I am not even a Christian!” Be assured that Christians can
commit any sins that unbelievers commit! When a believer sins, he has lost
temporal fellowship, but his salvation form the Lake of Fire is NEVER on the
line. The proper question, then, is, “How do I as a Christian, handle myself
when I am out of fellowship?” The moment you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
whether or not you remember that moment, God went to work. That is the grace of
God, and it is HIS grace. It operated on your behalf at Salvation; and, as we
shall see, it continues to operate in the matter of fellowship.
Let us be
sure the issue is clear! In, (Luk 15:11)
there are two sons. One does not “slide off the roof” and become a servant, or
something else. He is still a believer. He will be a
“pig-pen Christian” for a time, but he eventually recovers or rebounds. We shall see that he is not as bad as his older brother, who
is a legalistic, self-righteous prig.
Divine
operating assets
"The younger of them said to his
father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' So he
divided his wealth between them. (Luk 15:12)
By way of
analogy, the portion of goods that falls to the younger son is related to the
Divine operating assets provided by God for the Christian life. Perhaps you are
not aware that you are a Spiritual millionaire. Perhaps you have been living a
poverty-type existence, Spiritually speaking, because you are not cognizant of
the fact that God the Holy Spirit dwells inside you; that you are in union with
the Person of Christ: that on the day that you believed in Jesus Christ, God
did forty things for you immediately; and He is just “tapping His foot”
waiting, (Isa 30:18) to do hundreds of
other things. Carnality is strangling the possibility
of your receiving these wonderful blessings. If this is true in your
case, you are a Spiritual millionaire living like a pauper. The basis of your Spiritual wealth is union with the Person
of Jesus Christ! There are thousands of
Promises which belong to you as a Christian. Each promise is based on a
Principle of Truth. How many have you claimed during
the past week? It is a tragic thing when we do not claim what belongs to
us. If you had a million dollars in your checking account right now, I suspect
you might write one or two checks during the week. By
the same token, you are free to draw on the Father’s limitless account at any
time!
The younger
son made a very legitimate request. He just wanted what would soon be his
anyway. Parents in the ancient world actually saved
for their children in order to get them launched properly in life. When
he asked for the portion of goods that would be his inheritance, he was asking
for what was legitimately his. It actually belonged to him already. That is the
meaning of the phrase, “that falls to me.”
What was the
father’s reaction? He divided this substance between his sons. Both sons
received their portion. God the Father has divided
His goods, or Divine operating capital, among all believers. It now
becomes a matter of appropriation and utilization. Just as with the younger
son, many believers dissipate or misuse the capital which God has provided. We
know that the older son began to use his capital in the proper way and that he
did a good job until he became legalistic. (Luk 15:13) begins the story of the younger son
and how he got out of the “bottom circle.”
The Carnal
Christian
"And not many days later, the younger
son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country,
and there he squandered his estate with loose living. (Luk 15:13)
By way of
analogy, this “riotous living” connotes carnality, or getting out of fellowship
with the Lord. He began activities which were disastrous in his own life and
displeasing to the Lord. I hesitate to shed light on what his sins actually
were, for any amplification at this point would certainly miss the sin of
someone who would immediately assume, I do not fit the pattern of the prodigal
son. I haven’t wasted my substance in riotous living. When
you come right down to it, I am a pretty good person.”
Just to
remind you that Doctrinally everyone fits the pattern of the prodigal, observe
the following passage:
If we [Believers] say that we have no sin,
[Sin nature] we are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth is not in us (1Jn 1:8)
Legalism moves right along with apostasy. They
seem to go together in a most unpleasant way. Respectability
is the keynote today; just keep it all covered up and give the impression that
you are a perfect person whom others should emulate. Those who deny the
existence of the sin nature after salvation are only kidding themselves, the
reason being, of course, that they do not know Truth.
If we say that we have not sinned [Personally;
when we have] we make Him [God] a liar, and his Word is not in us. (1Jn 1:10)
Whenever
someone implies or suggests that believers no longer sin after salvation, he is
calling God a liar, and the Word of God is not in his right lobe. Christians
who fail to recognize the Truth of carnality, or who are ignorant of it, fail
to deal with it realistically; they have a tendency to rationalize or to
compensate by covering it with a hypocritical facade. This may be a “Spiritual”
front, some form of penance, an increase of their offering, or a promise to be
better. While many of these things are certainly commendable, they do not fill
the bill of getting one straightened out with the Lord. Paul states the
problem:
For we know that the Law is Spiritual, but I
am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. (Rom
7:14)
There is
nothing wrong with the Law; it is “holy, just and good.” But, speaking of his
own experience, Paul goes on to say, “I am dominated by the sin nature.” Sin in
the singular refers to the sin nature. Then he describes his carnal experience
while under the domination of the sin nature:
For what I am doing, I do not understand;
for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing
I hate. (Rom 7:15)
In today’s
vernacular, Paul is saying, “What is this? I am a Christian; I am born again; I
have eternal life; my sins are forgiven and blotted out; God the Holy Spirit
dwells inside me; I am in union with the Person of Christ; Christ dwells in me.
I am the object of Positional Sanctification.
All of these
marvelous things belong to me, and yet, out comes sin. I don’t understand it.
It works its way out of me. It surprises and shocks me.” Describing a carnal
Christian, he says, literally, “For what I desire, I practice not; but what I
hate is what I am doing.”
Paul did not
stay this way; in fact, he gives us the secret of solving the problem of
carnality and dealing with the sin nature in Romans 6 and 8. At this point he
traces his carnal experience. There are other passages with the same idea, such
as Galatians 5, where the old sin nature is called “the flesh.”
(Col 3:5-9) contains a list of sins that
CHRISTIANS commit, which might surprise you. In, (1Co
3:1-3) Christians out of fellowship are said to “walk as men” that
is,as unbelievers.
Christian,
get your head out of the sand! When you sin, face up to it-UTILIZE WHAT GOD HAS
PROVIDED! Do not rationalize, don’t kid yourself that it is just a mistake, not
a sin. Above all, whatever your area of weakness is, whatever your sin problems
are, learn to recognize them so that you can emulate the perspicacity of the
prodigal. There is a sense in which every Christian is the prodigal son. Every
time you get out of fellowship, every time I get out of fellowship, every time
we sin, WE ARE THE PRODIGAL. But we do not have to remain that way once we find
out what God’s answer is, to this situation.
I hope we
have established the existence of the carnal Christian. At this particular point you might unwittingly be carnal; yet you may
say, “I am not out there raising hell or doing the things that people usually
call sin, so how can I be carnal?” You could be
out of fellowship right now just by what you are thinking! (Pro 23:7) In fact, this is probably the quickest
and shortest route for making the long distance trip of, (Luk 15:13) for taking the journey “into a far
country,” into carnality.
Divine
discipline
Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that
country, and he began to be impoverished. (Luk 15:14)
In verse 14
we have a change of pace. Persistent carnality always brings into focus the
Principle of discipline. “If you are a believer in
Jesus Christ, you are a child of God; and as a child of God, when you step out
of line, God disciplines! You can expect it. The famine is Divine
discipline imposed on the believer out of fellowship, out of the “bottom
circle.”
This is the
Doctrine of the “Divine woodshed.” The prodigal son
began to be continually in want; a perfect
illustration of Divine discipline. From that
point on, he was always in want. No matter what he tried, everything failed. He
just could not make a go of anything. I want you to notice what he
finally did.
And he went and joined himself to a citizen
of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine (Luk 15:15)
The prodigal
was a Jew. When a Jew would do what the prodigal did, you can be sure he was in
desperate straits. He had apparently gone out of the land of Palestine because
his job was to feed the swine. There were no swine in Palestine, at least not
legally, because they were forbidden by the Mosaic Law. (Deut 14:8) Now, if you can imagine a Jew doing
this, you can realize what a bind we find the prodigal in. He was going into
the fields habitually. He had to be desperate to take a job involving pigs. The
job did not pay well, because he was constantly hungry.
And
he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were
eating, and no one was giving anything to him. (Luk 15:16)
I do not know
whether or not you are familiar with this old English word, “fain,” (Gladly) It
is imperfect linear aktionsart in the Greek, which means that this was a
continuous situation. The verb means to “long for,” or “to desire”; thus his desire continued without ceasing. Then there
is a change to the aorist infinitive, “gladly filled,” which means that in that
point of time he would have eaten the same food as the swine — corn husks!
When a
believer stays out of fellowship the way this man did, his desires change. He
apparently had a “champagne taste,” (Luk 15:13)
but now he has well, what can we say a “slop taste”? Perhaps the language is
not the best, but it certainly conveys the point. You
see, now he is desperate. The taste and desires of believers often change
radically. Although he did not go so far as to
want to eat the swine, which was forbidden to him, he did want to eat the slop
that they ate. Does this situation change his family status? No he is
still a son; he has been born (Once and for all) into his family; he will
always be in that family — a child of his father — even
though he is under severe discipline, having been reduced to the status of an
unclean animal.
He has become
what we call a “pig-pen Christian.” He is still a Christian; he is still a
child of God; God’s love will never be removed from him; but he has placed
himself in the Divine woodshed for a thorough scourging. He is being
disciplined for his persistent carnality.
FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE
DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES. (Heb 12:6)
His hunger continued, but “no one was giving anything to
him.” This indicates refusal on the part of the
foreman, (God) to
permit the prodigal to eat even the slop he was feeding to the hogs. Now
this is an interesting thing: he had sunk so low the
pigs were more important to his boss than he was. What is the point? You
will find that often the unbeliever is a more pleasant and rational person than
the believer who is out of fellowship. When a believer gets out of fellowship
and stays out, he is often inferior to the unbeliever in character, motivation
and behavior pattern. As a matter of fact, unbelievers have used this Principle
as an excuse to reject Christ. Of course, this is no
excuse!
You may have
heard it expressed in this way: “I will never go to that church they are
hypocrites.” The absurd thing about this is that
everyone does business with hypocrites, makes money from hypocrites and
associates with hypocrites in recreational activities; yet a church where there
might be a hypocrite is off limits! This is the
height of inconsistency. It makes a great excuse for those who are inclined to
think superficially. A believer who has been out of fellowship for a
long
time can be a real stinker in his business practices, be
known as a “man about town,” and on top of this, be a deacon in the First
Church of Podunk. This type often becomes the excuse for unbelievers to avoid
contact with the Gospel or Truth. The unbeliever can think of fifteen unbelieving
friends who are a hundred times better than some carnal believer and he is
right! Further, if the carnal Christian does not rebound, the unbeliever will
have twenty-five friends who are better!
Let’s face it: when a believer gets out of fellowship and
stays out of fellowship, he gets worse and worse — not better! He is still a Christian; he is still born
again; but he is in the same situation as the prodigal.
Rebound and
Spirituality
But when
he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more
than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! (Luk 15:17)
What does it
mean to “come to yourself ?” It means to look at life
from the Biblical perspective: to face up to
the situation as it really exists; to recognize the sins in your own life; to
stop rationalizing or justifying them; to stop blaming God or someone else,
(Operation patsy) and
to actually acknowledge your sin — to
recognize that it is wrong — contrary to the
Word of God! The prodigal also realized that the servants in his
father’s house were much better off than he was at the moment.
I
will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have
sinned against heaven, and in your sight. (Luk
15:18)
HERE IS THE
Principle OF GETTING BACK INTO THE “BOTTOM CIRCLE.” There is no exception.
There is only one way to do
it, not two ways, or three ways! It has nothing to do with
emotion!
If we confess our sins, He is faithful
and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. (1Jn 1:9)
Many
Christians question God’s grace by asking: “Why (1Jn
1:9)? Is this the only place that states this Principle? If this is
the only verse that says this, why is it so important?” In answer to that, HOW
MANY TIMES DOES THE WORD OF GOD HAVE TO SAY SOMETHING FOR IT TO BE TRUE? Once! That is all!
However, this is not the only verse. This Principle occurs many times in both
the Old and New Testaments: (1Co 11:31;
1Pe 4:17; Neh
1:6; Psa 32:5; Psa 38:18; Psa
51:3-4; Pro 28:13; Dan 9:4) and others. I like to use a word which
describes the Principle so aptly — REBOUND: “to bound back, to recover from
setback.” Sin causes the believer to stumble and causes a great setback to his
Spiritual life. Confession is based on the work that Christ did on the Cross,
where He was judged for that sin. Now God can forgive that sin and we bounce
right back into the playing field or “bottom circle.”
No matter
whether you find the word CONFESS in the Hebrew, in the Greek, or in the
Chaldean, it means “to name or acknowledge the sin to God.” It does not carry
any connotation of feeling sorry for what you have done. It is all right to
feel sorry for what you have done, but this is not a prerequisite for Divine
forgiveness nor for restoration to fellowship. It is NOT NECESSARY TO FEEL
SORRY FOR SIN IN ORDER TO BE FORGIVEN! If it were, some people would never make
it. It is not necessary to feel the “rosy glow” in order to get back into
fellowship any more than it is to be saved. Some get a “rosy glow” the minute
they accept Christ as Savior --- and that is fine. Other people have no feeling
whatever. Feeling is not the criterion. SALVATION IS NOT FEELING — SALVATION IS
FAITH! It is “BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.”
You may not
feel saved; but if you have trusted in Christ, you ARE saved, regardless of how
you FEEL. The same thing is true in rebound. It is not how you feel. Don’t wait
to confess until you have a certain feeling or until you work up a sorrow for
your sin! By that time you may be eating husks with the swine. Don’t let your
emotions rule your life. I know this is hard for some of you because all of
your Christian life you have lived by your emotional pattern; and you have yet
to absorb the most basic Principle of Bible Truth. When you feel good, you
think you are Spiritual; and when you feel terrible, something is wrong. When
emotion or feeling becomes your criterion instead of the Word of God, you have had it!
The grace of
God in rebound
God has set
up a system totally apart from how we feel, apart from our attitude, whereby
any Christian can get back into fellowship with the Lord. If the carnal
believer does not get back in fellowship, he cannot be controlled by the
Spirit, he cannot serve the Lord, and the whole purpose for which he remains on
this earth is negated. Whatever good he produces is human good rather than
Divine production. REBOUND IS NEVER A LICENSE TO SIN.” Rebound is a license to SERVE, and to keep on honoring the
Lord in Phase Two! Without this gracious provision, neither you nor I,
nor any other Christian, could ever survive the exigencies of life, nor meet
the demands of the Christian life. If you are one of those rebels who still
think that you have to feel sorry for your sins, and if you think that confess
means something besides “admit it,” then you do not understand the GRACE OF GOD.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1Jn 1:9)
“IF’ introduces
a third class conditional clause, which denotes that the potential of rebound
depends on your volition. Maybe you will, or maybe you will not confess your
sins; you are free to choose. The Greek word
for “confess,” HOMOLOGEO, means “to admit, to acknowledge.” Confess, like
believe, is the absence of human merit, the absence of human works! Certainly
it is no credit to me when I simply name my sins. “We” refers to believers.
“Confess” means to name it! To identify it! “If we confess our sins...” That recognizes
the fact that we commit sins. “He, [God] is faithful, [Truth of immutability
applied to the situation] and just...” He is “just” on the basis of Christ’s
judgment on our behalf on the Cross. He is “just” on the basis of the blood of
Christ, which is the technical term for Christ’s bearing our sins in His own
body. We are already judicially cleansed from all sin; thus. He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins. These are the known sins those we are aware of.
The Bible
does not tell us to ask for forgiveness. The Bible says, CONFESS! The Bible
does not say to plead, “Oh, God, forgive me!” The Bible says, NAME IT! We need
to grow up and operate in complete accord with the Word of God. It says, “If we
confess — “JUST NAME IT! And that is GRACE! GOD DEALS WITH US IN GRACE! Since the day we accepted Christ as Savior, God can only
deal with us in grace. We do not earn such love; we do not deserve it; we
cannot work for it; we do not merit it in any way. Grace depends on who and
what God is!
Even in the case of discipline, you will never get what
you deserve. God always “spanks” in grace. Did
you ever stop to ponder where you might be today if you, (Even as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, a child of God) got what you DESERVED from God? You would be dead! God cannot treat us according to
what we deserve. It is impossible! Therefore, although He may spank us
severely, it is still grace. That is why we are told to “get up and move on.”
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are
weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet,
(Rebound) so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but
rather be healed.
(Heb 12:12-13)
You are
deluding yourself if you think you are forgiven because you worked up sorrow
for sin, or because you made a vow, or went through some system of asceticism —
in other words, practicing Spiritual flagellation. We are forgiven and cleansed
for one reason only: BECAUSE WE ADMIT SIN TO GOD. Hence,
confession is totally non-meritorious!
God also
cleanses us “from all unrighteousness” the unknown sins those sins which we
commit in ignorance, sins that we do not realize are sins because we do not
know Truth. AND THAT IS THE GRACE OF GOD! We cannot cooperate even a little bit
with God; nothing will get us back into fellowship short of confession — AND
THAT IS IT! PERIOD!
So far, the
prodigal was straight in his Spiritual Thinking when he said to himself, “ ...I
will say unto him. Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee.” That
was his confession, and that would get him back into fellowship. But he becomes
confused. A believer out of fellowship is a confused believer because God the
Holy Spirit is quenched or grieved in his life; therefore, his understanding of
Spiritual Thoughts becomes minimal.
I am
no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men. (Luk 15:19)
It is true
that he was not worthy; but it will not get him back in fellowship. Now get
this: in his confusion he became ridiculous. He reasoned that his father might
no longer care to consider him a son after his sinful conduct, and that perhaps
his father would be more inclined to forgive him if he offered to become a
hired servant. Even though the father might put him in as a servant of his estate,
or even though he might put him in chains, this would not make him a servant or
a slave. He is always a son. None of us is
worthy; but son-ship does not depend upon our worthiness. And therein is the
prodigal’s confusion. You see, he wanted to do penance. He wanted to
compensate. But his father set that aside. His father had no intention of
making him a hired servant. He did not say, “This boy needs a lesson; put him
in the horse barn for a month.” Or, “I’ll give him
some nasty jobs like scrubbing floors, cleaning the stables, or plowing the
fields. He deserves to pay for his offenses!” But notice how all that is
ignored, just as God recognizes our confession yet graciously ignores all the
nonsense we add to it.
Divine
essence in rebound
So he got up and came to his father.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion
for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. (Luk 15:20)
I want you to
see a picture in this verse that is so important you cannot afford to miss it.
Think of the Truth of Divine Essence.” The omniscience of God anticipates every
confession; He knew billions of years ago how many
times you would confess in one hour! Here is the significance of Divine
Essence. Omniscience anticipates; what the eternity of God always knew. His
immutability has had a solution for us since eternity past, and it will never
change!
God’s justice
and perfect righteousness can forgive us at the moment we rebound because
Christ satisfied Divine justice and righteousness on the Cross. The omnipotence
of God guarantees that He has the power to provide forgiveness. God’s perfect
love for all His children insures His compassion toward us when we rebound.
When the prodigal was yet far away, his father saw him: omniscience illustrated;
and he had compassion: Divine love Illustrated. Remember that the Father loves
you personally with an infinite amount of love, and this is always His
attitude. There are no accusations. He has
compassion.
And how does He express this love? By
forgiving us immediately. Grace depends on who and what God is, never on
who and what we are! Grace is aggressive; it reaches
out to you. All you need to do is to appropriate it.
When you confess your sins, it is just as though the
Father were to run to you, put His arms around you and kiss you. That is the
Father’s love toward you as a believer. That is what the Father thinks
about you. WHEN YOU ARE WILLING TO ADMIT YOUR SIN — TO HIM — THE DIVINE ATTITUDE IS LOVE AND COMPASSION! This is
GRACE. You are His child; you belong to Him.
When my son
was young and was away from home, I was never too sure he was the epitome of
decorum. There were many times when I was happy to say, “That’s my boy.” Then
there were times when I would prefer to look the other way and say, “Whose kid
is he?” But I can tell you one thing whether he was good or bad, I was always
glad to see the “little stinker” move through that door. And regardless of what
he had done, the First thing I did was to put my arms around him and welcome him.
I had an attitude of compassion and love. This is the attitude of God the
Father toward you personally, magnified many times over. Here is the amazing
thing: omniscience knows whether you are going to step out of line five
minutes’ Five days or five hours from now, and --- this is what is so
tremendous — HE STILL LOVES US. That is grace! We will come back and confess again and
again, and He will forgive us again and again AND AGAIN!
The results
of rebound
And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned
against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
(Luk 15:21)
That is true;
but notice what else he said. He wanted to be made a hired hand on his father’s
estate, but his father interrupted him.
But the father said
to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a
ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it,
and let us eat and celebrate. (Luk 15:22-23)
There are
four characteristics of restoration to fellowship: (1) The
best robe represents restoration to full experiential righteousness. His
father did not make a servant out of him; instead, he gave him the best robe. (Righteousness produced by the filling of the Holy Spirit)
(2) The
signet ring is related to his father’s signature. In the ancient world, it was
a form of identification. The restored prodigal was again identified
experientially to the father. With this ring, the son could draw on his
father’s tremendous account. It reminds us, by way of
analogy, that when we rebound, not only are we restored to our full status
before God, experiential righteousness, but at the same time we have access to
the Father’s unlimited Divine operating assets. We
can write a check on His account!
(3) The shoes
represent Christian service. (Eph 6:15)
When you rebound, when you confess your sins, you have the right and privilege
to serve the Lord again. The Filling of the Holy Spirit produces Divine good.
Do not let any legalistic believer clip your wings and quote the old cliché to
you: “The bird with the broken pinion will never fly as
high again.” Why can you fly as high as
before? YOU ARE BACK IN FELLOWSHIP. So keep moving. (Php 3:13-14)
(4) Finally,
the fatted calf it would not be pork, since they were Jews, this speaks of fellowship in the Word, feeding on Divine
Truth. When you are in fellowship, it becomes possible to feed on the
Word again.
For this son of mine was dead and has come
to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate. (Luk 15:24)
There are
different kinds of deaths in the Bible. This is temporal death, (Carnality)
described in, (Rom 8:6; Rom 8:13; Eph 5:14;
1Ti 5:6). To be alive again means that
he is back in the “bottom circle”; he is back in temporal fellowship. “Lost” is
the Greek word meaning “to be ruined” or “to be destroyed,” the connotation being that he is out of the sphere of gaining
rewards. All the time he was away, he was losing rewards. Now he is back
in that sphere where he can gain reward again, for he is found. (Aorist tense —
point of time — rebound) He is back in the reward bracket.
When a
believer gets back in fellowship, all the wonderful byproducts of Christianity
are resumed. “To be merry” speaks of inner peace,
joy, stability all the blessings that can come to the believer who rebounds,
the one who utilizes Divine grace.
The
legalistic believer
"Now his older son was in the field,
and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.
"And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things
could be. "And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has
killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.'
"But he became angry and was not willing to
go in; and his father came out and began pleading with
him. (Luk 15:25-28)
The elder brother should have been delighted to have his
younger brother back; he should have thrown his arms around him and said,
“Welcome home, brother. I am surely glad you are back. We can use an
extra hand in the field.” Instead, he was angry and would not join the
festivities. At this very moment the elder brother took his own journey into a
“far country.” He was now the one who was out of fellowship. The father had the
right to treat his children as he thought best. Don’t
you get angry with God the Father because He treats another Christian in grace!
Remember that the shoe may be on YOUR foot some day,
and you will want all of that grace coming your way! The elder brother was jealous and angry because his father
had treated the younger brother in grace; he sulked and would not go into the
house. Therefore, his father came out and begged him to come in, but
without success. God the Father entreats us to have
compassion on other believers. We should have the same mental attitude
of grace which was manifested by the Lord Jesus Christ:
Bearing with one another, and
forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord
forgave you, so also should you. (Col 3:13)
But he answered and said to his
father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never
neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so
that I might celebrate with my friends.
(Luk 15:29)
“All these
years I have been faithful,” he whined, “and yet
you never threw a party for me!” Of course his father had, but he had forgotten
it. One mental attitude sin, (Jealousy) led to another, as he became angry,
then to another, as he began to judge and malign his brother.
But when this son of yours came, who has
devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'
(Luk 15:30)
How did he
know that his brother threw away his inheritance on prostitutes? He didn’t! In
whatever manner his brother lost his money, (The passage says, “riotous
living,” which could mean a lot of things) it was only conjecture that he spent
it on harlots. He might have, but there is no indication. Furthermore, it was
none of his brother’s business. When a person gets out
of fellowship, it brings out all of his bad qualities. Elder Brother had a
tendency to mind other people’s business. He was legalistic, self-righteous,
and guilty of operation “long proboscis. Whatever the younger brother’s
sins were, THEY HAD BEEN FORGIVEN! The Principle is that we are never to penalize another
believer for the sins which God has forgiven!
The legalistic believer imposes his own standards of human
sin nature good on others. It is not unusual for
an entire congregation, in their “sanctified,” legalistic, “holier-than-thou”
attitude, to walk up and down on one member who is out of line and play “kick
the can” with him. No one has the right to do
that to any believer. When you begin to judge
others, you only get yourself out of fellowship and become the recipient of
Divine discipline. One of the most beautiful
assets in the Christian way of life is the ability to mind your own business,
live your life as unto the Lord, and not worry about whether the other believer
is stepping out of line. God will take care
of him! If you try to help God with a little
discipline of your own, you will be between God and the whip, and who will get
the discipline? YOU! So save yourself the wear and tear; live your own
life before the Lord! It is amazing how many
Christians are concerned that some OTHER believer may get away with something!
Don’t worry about the others. You just relax, and rebound when necessary!
And he said to him, 'Son, you have always
been with me, and all that is mine is yours. (Luk
15:31)
Aftermath of
legalism
What was the
father’s answer to this brother who had gotten out of fellowship through
legalism? The brother may have whatever he desires. He had always had all of
his father’s operating assets, but they could only be utilized in fellowship.
We are not told whether or not the elder brother ever got back in fellowship.
But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for
this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been
found. (Luk 15:32)
This is the
Principle: every time you sin, you are “dead” temporal
death, out of fellowship. Every time you
confess your sin, you are back in the bottom circle ready to utilize all the
grace assets provided by God for you. As long as you live; when you sin
against the Lord; YOU MUST REBOUND. If you don’t, YOUR
LIFE IS USELESS AND POWERLESS. Your production does not count as far as
the Lord is concerned. But once you have been cleansed from sin through the
Principle of; (1Jn 1:9) you are ready
to roll again and serve the Lord. Rebound and keep moving! This is the ONLY way
to recover fellowship.
As in the
parable of the prodigal son, believers are divided into two categories
Spiritual or carnal. The younger son was in a state of carnality, while the
elder brother remained in fellowship and served his heavenly Father as well as
his earthly father. When the prodigal rebounded and returned to temporal
fellowship, his brother became jealous and vindictive, thus putting himself
into the same carnal condition. Both brothers had eternal fellowship with God
forever, but their temporal fellowship depended on the frequency with which they
confessed their sins. Every member of the human race is born with free will.
Every one has the opportunity to accept or reject Christ as Savior. If the
choice is for Christ, then, as a believer, each one has the opportunity to
accept or reject God’s provision for rebound, to be Spiritual or carnal. The choice is ours!
End
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