Prodigal Sons
Every
child of God is a prodigal and a rebel by birth, by nature and by
works. All, apart from restraining grace, will in their rebellion go
as far as they can from the Father’s house. They will associate
with and join themselves with the very children of the evil one. They
will indulge every appetite of the flesh till they are left in such a
state so as to be abandoned by the very ones who helped them get in
that state. They will spend all, every bit of health, mind, talent,
and every resource in self-gratification. They will waste all their
substance on what the world calls “living.” They will wallow in
the pig sties of this world (both religious and irreligious), eat its
filthiest fare (believe its
false gospels and swallow the doctrines of men with ease)
and be found in the bondage, captivity and slavery of the devil
(especially legalistic, works religion).
Yet,
there is one thing they will never do. They will never cease to be
God’s sons. They will never fall to such a depth, rebel so much or
distance themselves to a place where He does not see them, does not
love them and cannot find them! They will never be so lost that He
cannot save them and bring them home. What they make themselves to be
does not change what He has made them in Christ. All of God’s
elect, all these prodigal sons, will at some point be found as the
man in Luke 15 of whom it is said, “when he came to himself.”
Oh that blessed time of love and grace from God! We come to ourselves
when God the Spirit brings us to see what we are and our desperate
situation in ourselves and our sins. When He crosses our paths with
the gospel of the crucified Christ. When He opens our eyes to see and
believe His gospel that there is “bread enough and to
spare” in Christ.
When
He brings us to repent and confess “Father, I have sinned
against heaven, and before Thee.” When we confess our
unworthiness to even be called His son and plead only His grace. Then
we come to Him as naked sinners only to find ourselves received as
sons, clothed in "THE BEST ROBE,” the
imputed righteousness of God in Christ [LUKE 15:22]. There we are, embraced by
the Father, kissed with the kisses of everlasting love and made to
wear the ring of sonship. Dead but alive, lost but found. Prodigals
but sons! “And because ye are sons, God hath sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant,
but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ"
[GALATIANS
4:6-7].
-Gospel
report by preacher Gary Shepard
Sovereign
Grace Baptist church of Jacksonville, North Carolina USA
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