Sermon Tone Analysis

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," (John 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.

(Acts 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.”

(John 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./

(John 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.

(Matt 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.

(John 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

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And Bottom Circles.jpg

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.