07.01. A Biblical Prodigal
PART I. A BIBLE PRODIGAL A. The Far Country
B. The Wrong Crowd
C. In Want
D. He Comes To Himself
E. Going Home
F. The Welcome PART I. A BIBLE PRODIGAL This is not a sermon, but a story of two young men, one ancient, the other modern. One lived at the time of Christ, the other in our own day, and though separated by nearly two thousand years of time, they had many things in common, and sin proved to be the downfall of both. The first prodigal was a young man whose story we have from the lips of Jesus of Nazareth, published in Luke 15:1-32. Luke 15:11-24 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. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 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. nd he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 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, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:nd 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.
I have never looked upon this young man as being the type that many have pictured him, i. e., a lying, drinking, gambling boy disgracing his father and breaking the heart of his mother. His father was rich, and there was no law to force him to give away the half of his fortune, and any father who had sense enough to make a fortune would have known before he gave it, just what would become of it.
I believe in the beginning the prodigal was a worthy and an ambitious young man, that his prospects were bright and when he came to his father and asked for his portion, his father gave it to him with a proud heart feeling that he would properly handle it and make a name for himself in this new country where the future seemed so promising. When his portion of his fathr’s estate was given him, he bade a fond farewell to his parents and brother and took his journey into a far country, determined to make good at any cost, and come back to his father’s house with a greater fortune and better name than when he left.