Home Sweet Home
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Home Sweet Home
Home Sweet Home
“Home Sweet Home”
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How many of you have seen the sign or welcome mat that says, “Home sweet home”? That phrase is the title of a song that was written by John Howard Payne in 1822, it was Abraham Lincoln’s favorite song. This song and phrase has endured for 192 years. John Payne had travelled around the world, and even lived in Europe for a while, but when he came back to his home in America he sat down and wrote the song “Home sweet home”.
The words of the song go like this:
“Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home; home sweet home”.
The last phrase of the song says:
There's no place like home
There's no place like home!
I know this song because it was sung by Spanky, Alfafa, Buckwheat and Porky in Little rascals. That’s how I know the song.
Tess knows the song for another reason; the last phrase in the song “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home” is what Dorothy said in the wizard of Oz to get back to Kansas.
Well, there’s no place like home, when you have a home that is filled with the love and presences of God!
I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home; I am blessed to have a Christian home.
When you open your Bible to , you see a home scene; you meet a loving father and two sons, you see a home with food on the table and crops in the field.
We call it the story of the prodigal son, and there is a prodigal son in the story, but the story is about much more than the prodigal son. It is the most famous of Jesus parables,
Charles Dickens said, “It’s the finest short story ever told”
It is a great story, it is my favorite story in the Bible; Jesus may have told this story based on a family He knew. And I know this, this story has happened a thousand times since Jesus told it. I know because it happened to me, I was that prodigal son.
· There is someone here this morning that is in the far-country away from God.
· In this service today are parents, who have sons or daughters that you love with all your heart and they are in the far-country of sin and rebellion, and your heart is broken.
God, your heavenly father understands, and He has a broken heart for them to, and he longs for them to come home!
This story touches our hearts because it is so true to life, a boy leaves small town U.S.A. and goes to the big city were he lives it up until he is broke, he ends up in the gutter, he comes to his senses, and says I am going home, he gets up and goes home, and there is a great homecoming- What a story!!
This story teaches us about:
1. The Rebellious Nature of Man.
V:11-13a.
In the first several verse of this story you see the rebellious nature of man. This boy rebels against his father. This son did not want to obey the father’s rules; he didn’t want to submit to the father’s authority.
Please understand this, this father is a wonderful father, he is a loving, kind, good, giving father! This father is a picture of God the father!
This home is a Christian home, a warm, loving home, farm home. There was a big table with plenty of food on it- steaks, potatoes, corn, cheese, bread and fruit. In this home there were clothes, robe, ring, shoes and much more.
This was a wonderful home, with a father that loved him very much!
There were servants in the home to help run this big farm. I hope you can see what a home sweet home this was! This boy is turning his back on everything a young man need to be happy and meet his every need. He is surrounded by the love of the father, and the provisions of the farm.
The problem is not the home, or the father, the problem is in the heart of the son!
When you heart is rebellious and at conflict with God everything is bad and nothing is good.
He has a sinful heart, a rebellious nature, and he doesn’t want to obey the rules and restraints of his father any more. He wants to do things his way, he doesn’t want to be told want he can and cannot do!
He wants to be his own boss, do things his way.
Rebellion is born in the heart of every single one of us; we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. This boy‘s heart was sinful and lost, he wasn’t interested in what the father was interested in. The father talked about being saved, about going to church, and he talked about the Bible. This home was a Christian home; there was Christian music, prayer before meals, no M.T.V in this home! Church on Sunday and Wednesday!
This boy knew where his dad stood, and he didn’t want to live that way!
So he goes to his dad and says, V:12-“Father, give me the portion of goods that fall to me.
This was a hateful, insensitive request for this son to make. V:12-“Give me”
This son is a picture of the person who demands all the blessings of the heavenly father, yet never shows any gratitude or appreciation for want God has done for them. He desires to live independent of his father. He has the false idea that if he can just get away from his father and this home and do whatever he wants he will be free and satisfied.
SIN is that rebellion in the heart, that desire to live your life independent of God, to live your life away from the authority or guidance of God.
SIN is the attitude that says I don’t what the heavenly father controlling my life; I’ll run my life my way! This is a picture of rebellion against the heavenly father, which every person is born with.
This younger son says to his father, Give me my inheritance now! This boy’s heart is hardened by sin and selfishness. In this day the inheritance of a father was not given to his children until the father died. Only on the death of the father was the inheritance divided among the sons.
So when this young man comes to his father and says, give me my part of the inheritance, it was like says to his father; I wish you were dead.
It was like says, I don’t want anything to do with you; I just want what you can give me. What a terrible, selfish thing to say to his father!
There are a lot of people like this younger son, they don’t want anything to do with God, God is dead to them, they don’t acknowledge his existence; but they want God’s air, water, food!
Notice the response of the father, V:12-“and he divided unto them his living”
A Middle Eastern father is usually very outward in his response to hurt, pain, rejection and joy.
You would expect the father who is confronted with this kind of rebellion from his son to respond with severe punishment, explored like a stick of
Dynamite. But that is not want happened, why?
This father is a picture of God the father, and God will let you go your own way. If you make up your mind that you want to live your life independent of God; God will let you!
If you can only learn by bitter experience, God loves you so much; He will let you have that bitter experience. The father’s heart is breaking, He loves this boy, but this boy has a free-will. God has given every man the ability to choose- to love him, and live for Him; or to rebel against Him and go their own way. The father does try to keep the boy from going.
A few days after getting his money, he packs his bags and heads toward the far-country. That was a sad, sad day for that wonderful father!! He is heartbroken over his son’s decision; and he stands there brokenhearted with tears running down his face as that boy left that home! This younger son teaches us that we all have a rebellious nature. Like this son we have a conflict with God the father, we are at war with God.
-“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to our own way”.
-“Every man did that which was right in his own eyes”
This story teaches us about:
2. The Consequences of Sin.
V:13b-16.
He is in the far-country now; he is seeing things he has never seen before, and doing things he has never done before. I can see him with a pocket full of money, rents an apartment, buys a sports car, goes to the mall gets some new clothes. He goes clubbing, he hits every bar in town. He is parting with wild, loss women; he thinks he is so awesome! Behind are the restraints of his father; behind are the rules of home. No more you have to be in at mid-night, no more you can’t drink or smoke in this home, no more your girlfriend can’t live here.
He is now living it up in sin-city, doing whatever his sinful, evil heart and desires lead him to do.
You might ask, Bro. Eddie, where is the far-country? How far is the far country? Let me tell you how far it is; it is one step away from God in rebellion and disobedience. The far country is not a matter of distance; it is a matter of the heart!
This boy’s heart was in the far-country, and then his feet followed. Does your heart desire the far-country? Were your heart is, your feet will eventually follow! If your heart is not right with God, you’re in the far-country.
Now let me tell you something you may thought you would never hear from a preacher:
This boy was having fun in the far-country, he was pleasing his flesh, he was having a good time, and he was doing whatever he wanted.
The Bible says in Hebrew 11:25-“There is pleasure in sin for a season”
The devil is too smart to fish without bait; the devil is a master fisherman. He has hooked and reeled in some bigger fish than you, and he knows what bait to use on you.
What kind of bait is the devil dangling before you?
· Alcohol, drugs-The devil is telling you the pressure you are under is so great; you need some relieve.
· An affair, immorality- the devil is telling you that he or she can satisfy you, and your spouse can’t.
· Possession- the devil is telling you to give your time and money for the things of this world.
· Intellectualism- the devil is telling you that the theories of evolution are true, and that want the bias atheist scientist are proposing is absolute truth.
· Selfishness- the devil is telling you that you have your own life; you are busy; spend your life on yourself, don’t make God and church a priority in your life.
The devil is real and he will dangle some bait of temptation in front of you lead you to the far-country, which is away from God!
Let me tell you what always happens in the far-country, V:13-“and there wasted his substance with riotous living"
Riotous living means- abandoned living, to just go wild, sell out to the lifestyle of the world, to do whatever with no restraint.
He just wasted everything the father gave him on himself and the pleasure of sin for a season.
Wasted- interesting word it means- to toss grain in the air and allow the wind to blow the chaff away.
The boy wasted his money, he blew it; he blew his inheritance, time, talents, life on worthless, unimportant things! He is not the last person to waste their life! To be away from God, to not be living your life for God, is to waste your life. God didn’t give us our lives to spend it for ourselves, but to live it for him!
Don’t waste another day- come to Jesus today, accept him as your savior and began to live your life for Him. The prodigal son has wasted what the father gave him on empty, pointless things.
Now he is flat broke, destitute, and bankrupt; his car gets repossessed, he is thrown out of his apartment. He doesn’t have a penny to his name; all he has is the clothes on his back. The far-country of sin has taken and taken and now he has nothing.
V:14-“And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want”.
A life of sin away from God will ultimately disappoint you! A life of sin is a costly thing, sin will leave you hunger in your heart.
St. Augustine said, "Thou hast made us, O God, for thyself, and our souls are empty until we find satisfaction in you."
There is more to you than just a body, you have a soul and to be without Jesus as your savior and Lord is to be hunger in your soul, empty and unfulfilled.
You can be physical full and spiritual empty!
When you are away from the father, there will be emptiness in your heart.
This boy has wasted it all, and he is staving, lonely and broke, he reaches in his pockets and they are empty- turn pockets inside out. What will he do?
V:15-“-And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine”.
No Jew would not touch a pig with a 10ft pole, they were not only nasty, they were ceremonial unclean, a Jew was not to touch or eat or have anything to do with pork. But this boy was so desperate, so hunger that he takes a job feeding pigs, it is an unthinkable thing for a Jewish boy! Remember Jesus is preaching to a Jewish audience, and when he said this boy took a job feeding pigs, the audience grasp and shook their heads. This Jewish boy, the son of a loving, wonderful father is now in the pig pen! He is so hunger! He is feeding the hogs, and he looks around to see if anybody is looking and then he reaches down in the hog slop and begins to eat the slop he is feeding the hogs!
He looks up and he is staring a hog right in the face, he’s eye to eye with the pigs. He has hit rock bottom! He didn’t expect that to happen to him when he took that first step of rebellion against his father. The first step into sin looks so good; the road to the far-country looks so promising. Sin promises many things, pleasure, freedom, good times, and popularity.
But the truth is the road of sin and rebellion to God leads down to the pig pen! Look at him now; look at the consequences of sin. Disappointment, dissatisfaction, disgrace! He is filthy, stinks, hair is nasty, and he is hunger and lonely far away from the love of his father! The life of sin away from God leads to emptiness, and a lost eternity, separated from the father!
V:16-“And no man gave to him”
Where are all his friends now? They were around when he was paying the tab, when he had a pocket full of money. They helped him spend his money but when he was broke they left him. He has gone from the penthouse to the pig pen! Sin has taken everything that he had, and gave him nothing in return! This young man is the Poster-Boy of what sin will do to you! He left home looking for freedom, but all he found was slavery.
Listen sin will destroy your life!
That anger, lies, pornography, greed, flirting, is going to destroy you!
This story teaches us about:
3. The Necessity of Repentance.
V:17-20a.
What happens to this boy in the pig pen is the greatest picture of repentance in the Bible. True repentance involves the mind, emotions and will.
Picture him sitting on the hog pen fence with his head in his hands, and it is there he repents. Repentance involves:
1. Mind.
Repent- means a change one’s mind, to turn, and that is exactly what this young man does.
V:17-“And when he came to himself…”
He has not been thinking right; he has been under the control of sin. There is the insanity of sin, a life of sin and selfishness leads to bad decisions, unclear thinking and a wasted life. He has reached the bottom and now he is ready to listen to God and to think. The road to God starts in your mind; you don’t commit intellectual suicide when you get saved. The boy is thinking about where he is, he is thinking about were his life of sin and rebellion has gotten him.
He is changing his mind about a life away from the father’s love! He is turning away from the far-country and the life of sin. Are you happy with your life away from the father? Are you fulfilled in your heart; do your have a sense of peace and purpose? What about when you die, where are you going to spend eternity? This boy is thinking; PLEASE today think, think about where you are, and where you’re going to spend eternity!
Somebody said, “I am not a Christian because I think for myself” I don’t believe that! You are not a Christian because you don’t think for yourself! You are the victim of the things you hear and read; which are the thought s of others.
If you will open your mind and really think and allow the word of God and Spirit of God to speak to you, you would be saved!
Faith is not a leap into the dark; it is a leap into the light.
Giving your heart and life to the God who created you is the most sensible thing you will ever do!
This boy is thinking about how sinful he is, how bad he is, but he is also thinking about how good the father is!
V;17-“ And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
He begins to think about his father back home, my father is good, he treats his servants well, and His home is full of love and food, and a nice bed. There is bread enough and to spare!
Salvation begins in the thinking, repentance involves the mind. He changes his mind about: sin, self and the father.
Repentance involves:
2. Emotions.
V:18-19“I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am not more worthy to called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants”
He is sorry for his sin; he is acknowledging that he has sinned, he said, “I have sinned”
I am wrong- you are right! I am sorry for what I have done. Repentance is necessary for forgiveness!
There has to be a time when you confess to the father- I have sinned, I am wrong and I am sorry! And I desire to leave my sin and come home to you!
Repentance involves:
3. Will.
V:18-“I will arise and go to my father…
V;20-“And he arose and came to his father..
Real repentance, bible repentance will get you out of the hog pen, real repentance will lead you to the father.
If the boy would have only thought- I am a mess, and my father is good, if the boy had only thought I am sorry for my sin; and that is as far as he went, he would have stayed in the hog pen with only remorse and regret, filling sorry for himself.
Real repentance involves your will, it leads you to turn your back on your old life and come to Jesus!
True repentance is: action, step-out, come, walk down this isle, and make a clean break. This boy got up and left the pig pen. God gives you a choice, you can stay lost in the far-county; are you can come home to God and be saved! The prodigal son gets up and turns his back on the life of sin and gets up and starts toward home. Repentance is necessary for a person to be saved.
This story teaches us about:
4. The Forgiveness of God.
V:20-24.
This boy had not thought about his father until he got in the hog pen, he had gone for a long time without thinking about the father. But there had not been a day pass that the father did not think about the son. I can picture the father sitting on the porch, looking down the road and saying to his wife, ”How long has he been gone now”?
I see him check the mailbox for a letter, but none is there, I see tears run down his cheeks as he thinks about that boy that he loved so much!
He would say to his wife, I miss him so much, let’s pray, ”Lord please protect my boy, and bring him back to you and back to us”
You may have not thought seriously about God for a long time, or maybe you have always been cold, unconcerned, and indifferent toward God for your whole life. But there has nerve been a second when the heart of the heavenly father was not concerned for you, loving you, desiring you to come home to Him! One day the father is sitting on the front porch looking down the road. He sees the figure of a man way down the road that leads to his house.
His eyes are dim, he says to his sweet wife, I see someone coming mama, and mama he walks like our boy, but it can’t be, he’s all bent over and old.
But he sure walks like our boy, it’s him, it’s him!
V:20-“But when he was a great way off, his father saw him…
He had been looking for him for a long time, and he saw him with eyes of compassion and he got up and ran down that road to meet him.
In the Middle East old men do not run, it was considered undignified. Yet this father ran!
He would gather up his robes, expose his knees and legs and run. This shows us the great love of the father for the son. This is the boldest picture of God in the Bible; here is the great God of the universe and He sees a sinner turning toward home and He runs to meet them!
If you have ever wondered if God would save you, and welcome you home? Look at this picture in the Bible, if you turn form your sin and start toward God, He will run to you! God loves you!
This father ran and fell on that boys neck and kissed him, V:20-“and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him”
The tense of that verb is- kissed him again, and again, he smothered him with kisses. That boy smelled like pigs, he was filthy and stinky.
V: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.
The boy coming home shows repentance in his heart, and then with the mouth confess is made. Father I am sorry I left home, I am willing to just be a servant if I can be back at home with you!
If you notice in V:18-19, he had prepared the speech he was going to make to his father, but he doesn’t finish the speech.
The father interrupts him and says, V:22-24-Read.
· Robe- covers the filthy and dirt-father robe.
· Ring- father’s authority, transact business.
· Shoes- sonship-servants didn’t wear shoes.
· Fatted calf- celebration, lost is found, dead is alive.
Thank God that this boy had a home to come home to! WE want to be like the father in this story; we want our Church to be a home to come home to, a place where repentant sinner can come and find God’s grace and forgiveness! The story teaches us about the forgiveness of God! God loves you, he desires you to come to him this morning and experience his great forgiveness and salvation!
God stand with open arms to welcome you home today, will you come to Him?