Leonard Ravenhill emphasizes the profound love of Jesus Christ for sinners, illustrating this through the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. He highlights that while many things Jesus said and did are not recorded in the Bible, the essence of His mission to seek and save the lost is clear. Ravenhill passionately calls for the church to actively pursue the lost, reminding believers that every individual matters to God and that there is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. He challenges the church to reflect on its own failures in reaching out to the lost and to embrace the urgency of sharing the Gospel. Ultimately, he underscores the need for personal repentance and the importance of being a compassionate and proactive witness for Christ.

10,000 things that Jesus Christ said and the thousand things that Jesus did are not recorded in the Bible. It doesn't attempt to give us a complete life of Jesus. We have, of course, his appearance as a babe and then he disappeared and he reappeared when he was 12 and then he disappeared and he reappeared for his ministry and he disappeared about 2,000 years ago but he's coming back very soon. Now you can all go home, you've heard it all. So 10,000 things that Jesus said, a thousand things Jesus did are not recorded in the Bible. In case you think that's an exaggeration, if you look or let me read to you from the 20th chapter in the Gospel of John, it's not my text, I'm just referring to it. John 20 and verse 30 says, many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. And then the last verse of the last chapter in John says, and there are also many other things which Jesus did which they, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. So there you have confirmation. Many things he said, many things he did are not recorded in the word of God. And so sometimes I've wondered why in the Gospel as Luke records it in the 15th chapter, we have three stories which are often referred to as three stories or they're often referred to as three parables. The man who had 100 sheep, the woman who had the silver, they always have the money, and then the last one, the man who had two sons. And again and again you pick up a commentary or a book on the parables which says, now look at these three parables. Now all you have to do to get correct of course is listen to me and take notice of verse 3 in this 15th chapter which says this, and he spake this parable unto them saying, what man of you had a hundred sheep? So the rest of the chapter is not one, is not three stories, but one story with three different chapters. Now it says in the beginning of this 15th chapter, then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners to hear him. The Pharisees and scribes murmured saying, this man receiveth sinners. Well when I read that I want to shout hallelujah, you wouldn't, you're a respectable Baptist, but normally I feel that after all, isn't that what it's all about? This man receiveth sinners, nobody else receives them. There's an old hymn that says, sing it o'er and o'er again, Christ receiveth sinful men. As a matter of fact he doesn't receive anybody else. As I say, you see the devil has two tricks amongst others. One is to say you're so bad you can't be saved, and the other is to say you're so good you don't need to be saved, and he's a liar on both counts anyhow. This man receiveth sinners, and immediately we plunge into the story, a man had a hundred sheep, and if he loses one of them, does he leave the nine to nine in the wilderness and go after that which was lost? Doth he not? Doth family. What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the nine to nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it? And when he found it, he lays it on his shoulder rejoicing. Now the one awesome thing about these three stories is this, that the sheep is lost, and the coin is lost, and the sun is lost, and in each case when that particular thing or being is found there is great rejoicing. You see one of the tricks of the devil again is to say you're not very important. You are. If you get murdered going home, please don't, but if you get murdered going home, you know you'll be headlines in the newspaper all over America tomorrow, and they'll send the FBI after the one who came after you to destroy you. But isn't it wonderful that if one person tonight really repents of sin, all the angels will get excited in heaven. There is joy in the presence of God over a hundred people coming to the altar. It doesn't say that, not even in the Amplified. It says there is joy in the presence of God over one sinner that repented. Isn't that great? You know, I'm very selfish. I like to think that one day I really made the angels happy. You know, maybe they'd had a rough day, and they heard that I got saved, and everybody got excited in heaven. Isn't that wonderful? There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repented. Now this first parable is not true today. Well you say, why, just why isn't it true? Well I'm not too sure at my age, and feeling a little tired, if I would have, wouldn't have asked to be excused tonight from preaching. If I could only persuade myself that ninety-nine people out of every hundred are redeemed, saved, and there's only one out on the hills, if that were the case, I'd be very excited tonight. I think you turn the proportions round and say tonight that out of every hundred people in the street, ninety-nine of them are lost. Not ninety-nine are in a fold and one is lost, but ninety-nine percent of people are lost. I'm kind of suspicious that maybe ninety percent of church members are lost. They have never been really spiritually, biblically regenerate. Now this man is a good shepherd, and you remember that it is Luke that says the good shepherd came to lay down his life for the sheep. You know Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey were a great pair. My mother used to say, if you get Moody, sing Sankey. But Moody and Sankey were a great team, and Mr. Moody was once told that he had led more people to Christ than anyone else, and he said, I think that Sankey has sung more people into the kingdom than I've preached into it. And one day in a great big meeting in England, when the great auditorium was packed to the rafters, Moody said, Sankey, could you sing a hymn right now? And he picked up a piece of paper with a poem on it, and he'd never got a tune to it. And he stood it there on the organ, and it was an old pump organ, he had to treadle the thing, and he sang for the first time that lovely hymn, there were ninety-nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold. And he said, my trouble was, I wasn't sure I could sing the second stanza because I never sung it before, but he struggled through. It was written by a girl whose brother was lost. It has a lot of theology in it, because it says, none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed, nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through, ere he found his sheep that was lost. Just one. C. G. Studd, that great saint of God, the man who had already done, oh he'd done enough work for Jesus to become a weary. He went into Africa and broke Africa open in that section. And his slogan, you remember, perhaps was this, if Jesus Christ be God and died for me, no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him. And he said one day, I heard him preach one day. I was a little guy, but I remember hearing him preach. And he said one day, I believe that, that, that hell is so terrible. I believe that God's heart is so broken that one man in the world would rebel against him. That if there was only one sinner in the world, Jesus Christ would have gone to the cross to rescue that one man. Because love, God's love is so amazing and so divine. You see, this man is a good shepherd. No, he doesn't have a nice rainproof coat. He doesn't have some flashlights in his pocket. He goes over the mountains to try and find the sheep that was lost. Maybe it had been lost before this. Maybe it was the most troubling sheep that he had. But he didn't leave it there to be devoured by the wolves. He didn't even know perhaps if it was still alive. But one poet says, among the tangled thickets where poisoned vines do creep, and over rocky ledges wandered the poor lost sheep. And then the shepherd came. You know, I think all of us would do with a, an hour or two's real meditation on the love of God, and on the expense of our redemption. I remember today that 30 years ago, just 30 years ago this year, 19, where are we, 79. I had a church outside of Manchester, England, and a lady came to me and she said, a group of young evangelists are coming in to preach in the city. Could we finish our service Sunday night quite early? Well that's always a task for me, but I said I'll try. And we went down and there were a bunch of fine young men, and there was a tall, thin, golden-headed evangelist. Nobody ever heard of him. What was his name now? Billy something. Oh yes, Billy Graham. Nobody had heard of him at that time. It was a Youth for Christ meeting. It was led by Dr. Torrey Johnson. Now I remember that night, the audience listened spellbound to Graham. He told a story that I've repeated, I guess, around the world, that somewhere in the States, a man was going down the road, a bum as you would call him, nowhere to go, and all the time in the world to get there. And when he got up the road, he, he saw in the distance, it was nighttime, he saw a flare in the sky. He realized there was something burning, and he got over the hedge, and he went there, and there was a mansion burning. And people were running out of the mansion, bringing out treasured vases and rugs and pictures. And the man thought, well I'll just watch this. And he sat there, and then he saw there a woman screaming and knocking on a window. Well he better tell the fireman. No, if he tells the fireman, she'll perish. And he went up a back stair, and he got that woman over his shoulder and brought her down the staircase. And he began to faint, she was too heavy. And he put his hand on the handrail, which happened to be brass. And when it gets hot, it turns black. And he seized all of the handrail to steady himself with the weight of the woman. And as he did lift his hand, he left all the skin of his hand on the handrail. And as he came to the turn in the staircase, a piece of wood fell on him, burning wood and burning his face. And either he had to suffer or drop the woman. He got down onto the front of the lawn, and suddenly the servant said, oh there she is. And in their excitement, of course, they snatched the woman out of the hands of the poor old burnt bum. He went up the road. He got behind a hedge, and even though it was a bad night, he put his coat over that burnt face, and he put the hand inside his coat. And that was it. Billy said, some years after, the same man was going to a state, and it was Christmas time. And there on the hill, he saw this beautiful mansion, all lit up, beautiful lights. And he thought, well, it's peace on earth and goodwill to men, and here I'm nearly starving, and they're living in splendor. And he walked up the avenue, and there was a lady, and she was speaking to her friends. And inside he saw the chandelier, and he saw the great banquet table. He went up to the lady and said, listen, it's Christmas. Peace on earth, goodwill to men. Would you be good enough to give me a sandwich? Could you give me an old coat to cover my body? I'm so wet. And look, my pants are wringing wet with the snow. She said, ma'am, he said, lady, I'm just asking you. And he put his hand up, and she saw that clawed hand. Then she looked at his face, and she saw it was pleated. He couldn't shave properly. And she said, were you born like that? No. Were you in an automobile accident? No. And somehow she felt so curious, and she said, well, tell me about it. No, he said, I don't tell anybody about it. Well, if you don't tell me, I don't give you it. Well, they're all right, he said. So what does it mean to you? A few years ago, I rescued a woman out of a burning mansion. In what state? So-and-so. What time? So-and-so. She made a grab at his arm. She pulled him through the doorway of that house, and she said to her friends, hey, look, here's the man who saved me. I've left everything I have to him. My bank account. I've been looking for this man for 10 years. You see, the reason his hand is clawed like that, I'm sure. You just tell us about it. And he told the lady how he left the skin of his hand on the handrail, how that burning wood got into his face. And she said, everything is stopped. This man is going to be bathed. We're going to get him some clothes, and he's going to be the chief guest. And sir, I want you to know that everything I have from this day, you're going to stay in this home, and I'll build you a home. You're never going to have another need again. You're my number one friend. For after all, you're my savior. And I remember Billy saying, listen, just as that man knocked at the door that night, there's somebody knocking at the door of your house tonight, and he's got a nail print in his hand. And his visage is marred more than the sons of men. Because you see, when he died, he took upon him the sin of the whole world. That's why I like to sing that hymn that we've sung this week so often. When peace like a river attendeth my way, was written by H. G. Spafford, a multimillionaire, who lost his money, but most of all, he lost his four daughters. All in one day, when a ship went down. He lost his money, he lost his friends, and he lost his children. And the second stanza, or the third stanza of that hymn says, my sin. Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to his cross. I think so. That was as nice a hallelujah as the choir sang. I don't know how you felt. I was glad they didn't sing it again. I would have burst. All my seams would have gone, I think. Man, I like to sing that. You know, one day the kingdoms of this world, they're not going to be given to Hitler or Stalin. Do you remember Hitler raised his hand with his Charlie Chaplin moustache and one stripe on his arm, and he said, the Third Reich will live a thousand years. The First Reich was a Holy Roman Empire. They put statues of the Caesars around the world. You took three grains of incense, a nonsense, and you threw them into that little thing, and you said, Caesar is Lord. And if you said Caesar is Lord, they spared you. And he said that if you say Christ is Lord, they fed you to the lions. And Hitler wanted his statues around the world. He wanted to be another Caesar. He said, the Third Reich will live a thousand years. It didn't live a thousand weeks. One day the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. And we're not very far from it. You better read the 17th of Revelation and the 18th. We're very near to the total collapse of commercial Babylon and religious Babylon. And you know, when the United Nations goes into the dust, and when Rockefeller's biting his fingernails, and when the DuPonts have no money. You know, everybody talks about the Rockefellers, the Rockefellers. You know, the Rockefellers are poor. You know who has the most money? The most money in this country is held by one family, the Mellons, those Irish boys. In Pittsburgh, they have 5.3 million dollars. A dollar either way. But it's 5.3 million dollars. And then the DuPonts have 3.5 million dollars. And the Rockefellers are poor. They've only just over, I'm sorry, billion dollars. I can't count that, so I get lost. The Mellons are 5.5 billion dollars. And the DuPonts have 3.2 million dollars. And the Rockefellers have 2.5 billion dollars. Poor guys. You know, they're going to live to see every bit of that go to dust. God will pull the pillars of this world down if he has to, to glorify his son. The kingdoms of this world should become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. And I like the interpretation. I should have brought my Philips Testament. I like that, it's English. But I like Philips translation. And Philips says in the second chapter of Ephesians, you know what? God has said and he has ordained that all history shall climax in Jesus Christ and his kingdom. And then he says under his breath, and you know what? You and I are going to have a share in it. Oh, don't shout too loud, you'll disturb the angels. I'm going to have his kingdom. Not only he shall reign forever, I'm going to reign forever and ever too. Now, you shouldn't do that unless you're watching Alabama play football. You can't get excited about Christianity. It's dull, it's dead. A man in England not long ago said he went to church, sat outside a church in his automobile, and he watched people go in and he said, they looked as though they were going to the dentists. And he said, I watched them come out, they looked as though they'd been. Hey, we've got the greatest thing in the world. You don't need hopeless Bob or Bob Hope to make you happy. If you really know God, we know in whom we have believed. We're persuaded that he's able to keep, we sang it tonight, that whatever we've committed to, he's going to keep it until that day. The man has a hundred sheep and he lost one of them. And because he was a good shepherd, he was prepared to lay down his life for the sheep. And you know, tonight, if you're that one last sheep, all heaven is waiting for you to come to a place of repentance, and then heaven will rejoice over the fact that one more sinner has been saved by the grace of God. I remember a flying officer in the church I passed it. And during the war, it wasn't safe to practice night flying in England, so they sent these men to Canada. I'm coming back on the Queen Mary. Instead of having 5,000 people on it, I've been on it, I don't know, 10, 15 times. And it was usually loaded, but not with 15,000 people. He said, as soon as you got out of bed, there was a guy standing at the side of the bed to get in. As soon as you got up from your seat in the dining room, a fellow sat on it. And that's all they did for six days coming over the Atlantic, go round and round like that. One day, a man fell overboard. What did they do? Well, they left him. What do you think they'd do? Why didn't they turn the ship round? Because it would take 60 miles to come back to that spot, and they wouldn't get there anyhow. Why didn't they put the brakes on? Because boats don't have brakes, that's right. Couldn't somebody throw him a life belt? That top deck is 80 feet from the water, and by the time you throw it, the man was still behind there. And they watched him going up and down, going up and down, going up and down on the waves. And the next day, and the next day, and the next day, he said, men were saying, poor devil, I wonder what happened to him. Did he freeze to death, or did some fish eat him? Why not stop the boat? Because if you did, it was a hazard. The submarines might destroy the boat, but he was only one. And the devil's trick on you is you're only one. Well, listen, friend, you can do an awful lot of damage. One insane man did it the other week, didn't he? We just caught up with him. He murdered 32 boys and boys. Boy, I tell you what, it's a lot better to be Paul, what do you call him, Paul Bear Bryant, than be Anita Bryant, isn't it? If you're Anita Bryant and stand up against sin and unrighteousness, boy, they'll threaten you. They've told her they'll destroy her. But if you lead a football team, boy, I'm in dangerous ground here. But by the same token, it's a lot better to be a football coach than be somebody standing for truth and righteousness and God's kingdom. The world loves its own. But I want to tell you tonight, if you're just one sinner, oh, you may be a very religious sinner, you may be a tithing sinner, you may be a Baptist sinner, but I'll tell you what tonight, if you repent over your sin, there'll be joy in the presence of the angels of God. The next character is a woman searching for silver. Well, this is a picture, the first is a picture of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, a good shepherd, giving his life for the sheep. The second is the church. Here is the woman, what does she do? What has she done? She's lost the piece of silver. What does she do? She searches for it. No, she didn't. What did she do? She lit a candle. So obviously it was very dark. And then she didn't say nonchalantly, well, I suppose it will turn up on Friday when I'm cleaning up. Instead of that, what did she do? She got down there with a candle, she got down in the dirt, she filtered that dirt in her fingers, and suddenly she found the piece that was lost, and she ran to her neighbor. Do you know why we need so much entertainment as Christians and in the church? Because we don't have enough real joy over sinners who repent, that's why. The church is no longer exciting with people being redeemed, rescuing the perishing. It used to be the church was a lifeboat, now she's a cruise ship. She said, my one commission is to seek and to save that which was lost. Can you tell me in the word of God, you know all the Greek alike, is there a place in the word of God where it says come to church? He says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. The woman took a candle, she filters in the dirt, and suddenly the light falls on the piece of silver, and she snatches it and runs to a neighbor and says, hey, come on, let's have a party, rejoice with me, I found the piece which I had lost. I noticed a bishop preaching in this country recently, Bishop Brian Greene. He used to be the pastor of a church in High Holborn, London. He had a lot of university students in the church, and they met every Sunday night, an hour before church. He gave them tract, he prayed over them. They went down the streets, one of them went down one day, and she saw a girl that she knew was a notorious prostitute, she went up to her and she said to the girl, here, I wonder, would you like to come to church? The girl said, oh hell, go to church? No. And she walked away. The young student went after her and said, would you like to take a tract? A tract? What's a tract? Well, it's a story about the Bible, about Jesus. No, not interested. And she walked off. The young student went after her again and she said, excuse me, just let me ask you one question. Instead of me asking you to come to church tonight, instead of me giving you a tract, if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, met you on this London street and looked right into your beautiful eyes and said, will you come to church with me, would you come? No, pardon me, she said, if Jesus Christ came down this street and he looked in your lovely eyes and knew everything about your life, what do you think he'd say? Well, she said, I've seen people in Hyde Park there with banners up, the wicked shall be turned into hell, and a lot of terrible texts. And then she said to the girl, what do you think he'd say? She said, my dear, he'd look into those beautiful eyes of yours, he'd know every life you've contaminated, he'd know every sin you've committed, and he would say this, daughter, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven. She said, do you believe that? Do you know how many marriages I've destroyed? Do you know how many lives I've destroyed? Do you know how many bodies I've contaminated? Do you know how much evil I've done? Are you telling me that Jesus Christ would come to this life of mine and knowing the whole record of my sin, that he would say to me, daughter, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven? She said, exactly, that's why he came into the world. She said, well, take me to him. She took the girl into that Episcopalian church in High Auburn, London. And at an Episcopalian church, every Sunday night without exception, Canon, as he was then, Canon Brian Greene made an altar call. And that night when he said, tonight, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, says to you, come unto me, if you want to come, come now. That girl was off a seat like that, and ran to the altar, and wept her heart out at the cross, and became a child of God, by faith in Jesus Christ. Well, isn't this, isn't this the mission of the Church of Jesus? Isn't it our job to rescue the perishing? Get down in the dirt, it's a lousy, rotten job. You know, people say sometimes, I wish I had some vision. Now, is it a vision you want, or a nightmare? Do you really want a vision? Well, next year, or this year, instead of taking a vacation in Florida, or somewhere else, why not go to some hellhole, like, say, the ghetto in Pittsburgh, or down at 111th Street in New York, and put on some old clothes, and don't look too patron, you know, patronizing, and go down, and see how your gospel works out there. See if your compassion will reach those people, twisted, deformed, reprobates. They break every law of God and man, it doesn't mean a thing for them to sin, because they've sinned until conscience is dead, until they've no fear of God or man. But I'll tell you what, I've been down those streets, my son David went more often, and it's amazing when you get down to some of those harlots, and drunks, and thieves, and rascals there, and you say to them, did anyone ever invite you to the house of God? No, never, never. There's no scripture that says come to church, there is a scripture that says go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel, and preach it to every creature. But it's a job where you go in the darkness, because men love darkness more than light. It's a filthy job, it's a tiring job. My boys, when they're working down there, I did not often go out so late at night, but they didn't start working the streets till 11 o'clock. Come home at two, come home at three in the morning. But I'll tell you what, it's a great thrill to come with somebody on your arm, or bring somebody home in the van, and hear that person say, you know, for years I went to church. Do you know what, do you know what used to break my heart there more than anything, was the fact that some of the most gorgeous looking girls, and fine looking boys, were not only hooked on drugs, were not only sex perverts, were not only some of the most mature criminals when they were 16 and 17 years of age, but do you know what, they would say to you, you know, my dad is a pastor, my dad is a missionary, my dad is a deacon in a certain church. I'll tell you what, that gives you quite a jolt. It makes you realize how often people go around a treadmill in church, and they hear truth until it's, it's dull on their ears. And they've never, never, ever really received the grace of God in their own lives. A man has a hundred sheep, he rejoiced when one of them was found. A woman has ten pieces of silver, read it percentage-wise, it's very interesting. But then the most important story is here, the man who had two sons. The younger of them, at the gimme's, he said to his father, father give me the portion of goods that falleth unto me, and he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, when he got all his pockets filled with gold. Now look, there are some characters in this story that I can't tell. Listen, can you give me a clue as to why he was a prodigal? Do you think he had a prodigal mother? She's not mentioned in the story. Or do you think both daddy and mummy were so involved making money, they weren't too worried about the boy if he'd gone off the track? Or then, there must be a villain in the story. This boy lived out in a lovely farm. Somebody came one day and said, hey kid, I want to tell you something. What do you work here for? You get up early in the morning, milking cows, doing all the other things. You know there's a happy land not far away. And the magic thing is, you just need a little money, and it's seismic. All the gates open to you. What they forgot to tell him was, money will buy you anything but happiness and get you anywhere except heaven. He took his journey into a far country. He got as far away from the discipline of the home and the righteousness of the home, for I figured a father was a godly man. Indeed, in the story here, surely this is a picture of the eternal father. If the shepherd is a type of the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus, who gave his life for the sheep, if the woman is a type of the church out to rescue the perishing and care for the dying, then surely this is a type of a man, a man who had two sons. The one of them was hot tempered. The one wanted everything now. He couldn't wait until father died. Give me the portion of goods. And for better or worse, his daddy divided the money. Now, do you think that kid was insane enough to say, look, I've got just about a half a million dollars in my pocket. I've got the best clothes. Down the road, I'm going to buy a Jaguar XK 120. Well, they didn't have them, but I'm going to buy a beautiful black stallion. And boy, I'm going to ride into Las Vegas and they'll say the king has arrived. Do you think that boy went intentionally to become the greatest prodigal in the world? No, the devil fooled him like he does everybody else. He didn't intend to go there and become a prodigal. He went to be a prince. I'll show them how to live it up. He took his journey into a far country. And before long, he had more friends than he could handle. He paid for drinks all around. He was a society boy. He was a glamour boy. Have you heard? Do you know? Did you meet him? Would you like to meet him? Come on. And they did what they always do. The parasites, they lived on him. Took his journey into a far country and he wasted his substance in riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land and he began to be in want. And he discovered when he was in want, nobody helped him out. That everybody else was prepared to take all he had, but nobody was prepared to give anything. What did he do? His father gave him the portion that fell to him. He divided his living not many days after he took his journey into a far country and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the 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 no man gave unto him. You know, that's the damning thing about the whole thing. A boy tastes of sin, a girl tastes of sin. And somebody says, oh well, of course you're a bit nervous about it. Don't you think the first time he got drunk he felt pretty rotten when he had a hangover? Don't you think the first time he woke up in bed with some horrible woman that the next day he felt contaminated? Don't you think he had to get used to and be associated with his iniquity? He had to argue with conscience, he had to reason about the situation. But there came a day when no man gave to him. I say the damning thing is a man gets to the place, you can't put hope in him, you can't put faith in him, you can't put courage in him, you can't put character in him. No man can give him a thing. Only God is able to come in the life of that individual. No man gave unto him. And when he began to be in want, he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. And usually the interpretation is that this was a Jewish boy. And the last thing in the world he wanted was to feed swine. And he got down there feeding the hogs. Nobody gave him a handout, nobody helped him. And one day he sat down and he did a little cogitation. He says, what am I doing here? Look, there are folk in my daddy's house and they have bread enough unto spare while I perish with hunger. I will arise. Those are three difficult words to say. I said many times, listen, if you want to go home, I'll get on the phone and tell that. No, no, no, no, I can't, I can't go home. Look, if my mother saw me now, if my father saw me now, but wait a minute, you've been stretching out for months and months the agony of those parents. Well, I don't think I want to go home. This guy says, listen, I will arise. It's great when you're just a little remnant of courage and you say, I will arise, I will go, I will say, father, I have sinned. Not just I've missed the mark, not father, I haven't been as smart as I should be. He said, I'm going home and I'm going to tell the old man when I get there, father, I have sinned. And he went home. You see, when he was hungry, he went to the swine. When he was desperate, he went to his father. He goes home loaded with sin. You remember the old man, no doubt, had been on the top of that flat roof watching for him. And one day he said, this is my son that's coming. And he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And he hollered and he said, hey, servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him. Are you suggesting they put that robe on top of all the filthy rotten stuff he brought out of the hog's pen? The implication is that he'd been washed and cleansed before ever that robe was put on him. They put shoes on his feet because slaves had bare feet. Do you remember the old colored song that used to sing and love it so much? I got shoes, you got shoes, all God's children got shoes. Why did they sing that? Because slaves never had shoes. I don't want my son walking around like a slave. Put shoes on his feet, put a garment on him, cover him, and put a ring on his hand. A ring is a symbol of eternity. It's endless. It's a symbol of God's endless love. And not only that, find the fatted calf and kill it. I had a fellow, I used to take college boys around England to train them in preaching. And one young fellow was preaching on this one night and he said, you know the heart of the father loved that boy, he kept that calf for years. Well obviously you're not farmers either, but anyhow, he kept the fat calf for years. And he said bring a, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring him to the fatted calf and kill it. And let us eat and be merry for this my son, he's come home. You say he had a prodigal son and a good son. No he didn't, he had two prodigal sons. One of them never left home. Somebody said hey go tell Jack, his brother John has come home. And he went and he said, uh Master Jack I want to tell you something. He said listen what's all the music about down there? Oh he said your father's so excited, uh he's taken the prize calf and and he's taken the gold ring and he's put a gorgeous robe on your brother and they've washed his feet and put shoes on his feet and your father's excited and he says drop everything and come home and put your arms around your brother and say I am glad you're back. He said not on your life. You think I'm gonna put my arms on my lousy stinking brother? The father came out and said son uh your brother's come home. You say well he had to come home, he was broke. No he didn't. Why couldn't he have changed his job? Why couldn't he have said I was never brought up with hugs anyhow? And it's getting on my stomach and I just need a good job I'll start afresh. Why didn't he go mug some old lady, steal some money? It's stolen before I'm sure. Why why didn't he go to another country? He didn't have to go home. And when he went home he could have gone home like this. He could have gone charging in the house and say hey dad I'm back. I know I'm pretty lousy but you you old idiot you gave me all that money you knew I couldn't control it. You know my weakness. You're responsible for my situation. The moderns would say that wouldn't they? Mr Spock or knock or whatever his name was uh he told us a few years ago how to bring our children up. Recently he apologized and admitted we're in the mess we're in now because of what he did. You see this drug culture goes right back to a brilliant atheist or maybe he didn't call himself an atheist. Maybe he'd like to hide over some other word. But will you remember it was Huxley who first started the drug culture and he said to his wife if I'm going to die be very sure I don't die conscious give me a drug. That's very different from the saint who dies isn't it? Huh? You don't think so all right. Was it Oliver Cromwell who was dying and they were all standing miserably around his bed and he said can't anybody praise God? The other man needs a shot. He doesn't want to go to hell conscious that's why. He wants to drug his conscience. He wants to drug his memory. I never saw a sinner die happy yet. Does your brother put your arms around him and say you're glad it's not on your life will I do that? The boy ran home and what did he say to his father? He said father I'm not even worthy to be called thy son. I'm not arguing here but I'm going to put a stress on here. You can say what you like about once being a son always a son but in other he said I'm not worthy to be a son I've let you down very badly. I'm humiliated daddy I disgraced you and the elder brother knew that and he says listen I'm not going to my brother and when the father came out to talk with the elder brother do you remember what he said? The elder brother said you made all this fuss and excitement about my brother you just don't know his track record that's all. Let me tell you something. I've been fed news every week he's been away. I'll tell you what he's done. He's lived with harlots. He's been drunk. He's gambled money. Our family name has been dragged through the gutter all because of him and you expect me to embrace him. Do you get the point? The young man came home and said father uh I think I've kind of missed it. I think I've maybe blemished the family name a little bit. No he didn't. No he didn't. He said the three hardest words you'll ever say this side of eternity. I have sinned. We'll all say he's sinned. They've sinned. We've sinned. But to narrow it down to I have sinned is something entirely different. So not to try to escape from the guilt and the consequences. He says father I want to tell you right here I've sinned. I've ruined everything. I've dragged your name in the gutter. I'm not even worthy to be called thy son. You just make me as a servant. I'll get up in the morning. I'll feed the cows. I'll do anything. Just let me get back into fellowship here in the presence of the family and that's all I have asked. I'm not prepared even. I'm not bothered about wages. I'm not bothered about any anything else. You just let me come and tell me that you've forgiven me and I'm received back into the family and I rejoice. The father says son I'm not going to rebuke you. I'm sorry. You're an answer to my prayers. All I have for you is pity and mercy and compassion. The servant comes back and the father says did you tell Jack and he says yes he won't come. The father goes up and again the father the other brother says to him you see dad you don't know a thing what he's been doing. And he ran right through a list of sins that the boy had committed. Have you noticed that the father never once threw a sin against him. Never once pointed a finger of scorn. Never said you're the greatest embarrassment. I shall never get over this. I've seen your name in newspapers. I've heard people talk you know my heart's crushed. It can never be healed again and I'll accept you but I mean you know you can never be the same as it used to be. He didn't say that. What did the elder brother do. He calculated all the sin of his brother and yet the father never pointed the finger of accusation. The son the brother said my brother has sinned. He's sinned this way that way and the other way. The father never said my son has sinned. He says he's dead. You say tonight I'm not a prodigal. No you're not a prodigal. You're worse off than a prodigal. You're a rebel. You say I'm so good I won't go to the cross and tell Jesus Christ I'm a sinner. I won't be identified with my iniquity. You're not a prodigal. You're a rebel. You've got your fist up against God. This boy with all his sin and shame and his brother should have received him and instead of that he stands in his self-righteousness. I'm not going to welcome my brother. I'm not receiving him back into the family circle. You say I wonder perhaps some of your relatives or maybe that stray boy you have or that girl feels there's such a barrier. You're so holy and self-righteous that if he comes back you'll kind of break his neck. You'll stand and say listen son you're coming back here but I want to tell you this I'm going to read the riot act to you right here. No no no. When he was a great way off his father ran toward him in mercy. His father said son I'm full of pity full of compassion. I'm not sure how your brother will react but this I want to tell you this that I don't care if your sins are like scarlet. I don't care if they've hit the headlines. I don't care if you're the most corrupt man outside of hell. You're my son. I want you to come back again. Again I say I know this boy came back repentant. He could have gone to the old man and abused him and said you old fool you should never give me that money. You knew I could never handle it. He could have gone to his brother and say yes you're stinking hypocrite. You happen to be a deacon or a member of a fashionable church and you say you kept tab on my life but I'll tell you what you never came down to Las Vegas to see how I was going on. If you knew so much why didn't you trace me? Why didn't you come and say brother I can't live at home. That empty seat is provoking to me every time I see it and my heart aches for you. You stood there and went through your church dignity and and you paid your tithes and thank God you're not as other men are and all the time I was perishing and you never stretched out a hand. I just finished the meeting for 30 days in Charles Stanley's lovely First Baptist Church away there in Atlanta. It's a beautiful church. I didn't enjoy it any more than I enjoyed this week I'll tell you that. But it's a big church there were 3,350 people there each Sunday morning and a hundred people in the basement. One night the Lord laid this message on my heart. I struggled with it from Friday all through Saturday through Saturday night till two o'clock Sunday morning and I thought this was fashionable congregation. Eats lots of it. Well you know nearly everybody wants to go to First Baptist Church. I don't think I'd ever join a First Church. I mean scripturally because the first should be last. But uh I thought I'm going to preach on the prodigal son to that ritzy crowd of nice folks and they have a great choir too. A massive pipe organ. It's a wonderful place. And at two o'clock in the morning the Lord said to me listen this message is not for sinners. It's for the church. You go to Atlanta you talk about Peach Street. You say the First Baptist Church a multi-million dollar building on Peach Street and they say boy there's a river of prostitutes. If you stop your car on the street they open the door and get in your car. You have to lock the door or you've got a visitor. She'll sit on the seat and tell you the price of the night with her. They don't blush. They'll stop you on the street. Uh right behind the church there's a there's a huge old mansion. It's filled with what they call gay people. Boy if ever there's a misnomer that's it. You know I I think we ought to get back to some good old bible language in the church. Those people are not gay they're sodomites. That girl isn't a call girl she's a whore. That child out of wedlock is a bastard by the word of God. Now come on it's tough language. But matter of fact I'm not concerned that much about your bank account tonight or your social standing. You're going to end up in hell or heaven. God has no reason at all to ever come to that heart of yours after tonight. If you get a call tomorrow to go to dinner at the White House on Tuesday night you would you call and say hey Jimmy I can't come but I'll drop in one night. Brother immediately you say no you're you're cut out. Do you think a holy eternal God who gave the greatest treasure that is in heaven to die for your sins is obligated to knock at the door of your heart? Why it says in Revelation I stand at the door. He doesn't sit down and wait. He stands. He's ready to move on. This is the day of salvation. Some of you tonight will never hear God's voice after tonight. You may live another 50 years. People said you enjoy preaching. I'd rather preach than have my dinner. But by the same token it's a terrifying job too. I possibly slept less hours last night than anybody here. Many times I I preached at night. I haven't slept all that night. Not one wink. And I've gone through the day and maybe not slept more than two hours the next night. I don't know how it affects other men. A message is a savor of life unto life or a savor of death unto death. Man every moment I preach I've been knocking one more nail into your casket. Oh this boy didn't abuse his father. This boy didn't abuse his brother. He came home loaded with his sin. Sure he'd gone through the treadmill. He'd been discouraged and despondent and despised. He came back and if you could have seen his spirit there man you would have seen he was scorched and scared and scarred. But he knew there was a door open. He knew if there was nobody else in the world had a care he had a daddy a godly father. Yes I don't know if I'll do it. Maybe one night preach on the judgment seat. If I do I'll tell you what it's going to be an awesome thing. You know the world's lost tonight. You keep saying it in your prayers and singing it. You know your neighbors are lost. You know the in-laws are lost. What keeps you from talking to them? What keeps you from reaching them? In Dr. Stanley's church I said to them that that night listen there's the pastor's daughter. She's a redhead curly-haired beautiful girl. If that girl was selling her body on Main Street would you have sat in this church for the last seven years and never rescued a person? There's his son quite a smart boy. Good scholar, Greek scholar, all the rest of it. If he was out in the world if he were a homosexual in that dirty filthy hovel outside there where there's scores of them would you have sat in church clapping your hands and seeing your pretty clothes were nice and always be sure you had the right ring on and the pretty earrings or you know you fell as smart as it can be? Would that have satisfied you? Oh we don't merely have prodigals. I believe we have a prodigal church in the world right now. I believe with some prodigal deacons in this house tonight you're not fulfilling your office. We've a lot of prodigal fathers here because you never take the Bible out and read it day by day to your children and you expect the church to get them all untwisted and straightened out. When every day you fail them in the house of God, God keeps the score against you. This is serious business. My daddy wasn't rich but I thank God he was a godly man. Do you know the greatest treasure my daddy ever gave me was when I was 14 years of age he took me to a whole night of prayer and I heard some of those old saints praying. Oh brother how they pray. If there's any chairs in heaven they'll be from our house. Boy they used to get down and beat the chairs and cry and weep and call on God for revival. I remember the next time I wanted to go and my mother saying to my father don't you think Len is a bit uh young to be coming home at three or four o'clock in the morning? And I overheard it and I said mommy I'll just do anything not to stay up till four o'clock but I want to go hear those men pray. I've never forgotten those prayer meetings. I'm richer than the Rockefellers. The Rockefellers can't pray like that I'll tell you that for nothing. If they could they wouldn't have the money they have but apart from that. Have your children got a holy father? Have your children got a daddy who takes that book out every day and reads it and prays over them and loves them? Come on some of you men. You better hit the altar tonight. There's some prodigal daddies here and there's some prodigal mothers here I think and some prodigal sons. Well I went down the line that night in that first Baptist church you know it was a still as eternity and I said to them look I'm not going to preach Wednesday night, Thursday night or Friday night. It's a big auditorium it holds twice as many as this auditorium. I want you to come on Wednesday night at 7 30, Thursday night 7 30, Friday night at 7 30 and I'm not going to preach we're going to pray. Do you know the first night about a thousand people turned up? We put microphones all over the church because you see you if you pray with your head on the rug I don't know if I can't agree with you. You may be praying for your mother-in-law to die and I'm saying amen and I I don't want that so we we put microphones up so they could hear what people are praying and you know it was amazing how many of those strong men broke down when they started to pray they never even heard their own voices and they began to realize their obligation. I said if you'll make a promise not to Dr. Charles Stanley or Leonard Raven you'll make it to a holy God that by the grace of God you'll be here Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday you'll push everything else on one side make a vow to God and then launch some crusade to get there into that street where all those harlots are. Black harlots, white harlots, Puerto Rican harlots, Mexican harlots and at the back here where all these queers are as they call them and I said if you'll do that you'll get up right now and come and stand here. Do you know about 300 people came forward and they went and we prayed together and they did exactly what they promised not me but God. They came on Wednesday night, they came on Thursday night, they came on Friday night and just a few weeks ago as I was coming back to Atlanta I went in the office and oh they made such a lot of joy you know we're glad you come back to see us and you know what we opened a coffee house on that back street and this last Thursday we had 32 people there harlots, jailbirds, people who don't darken the house of God. Well isn't that what it's all about? Hmm? If your boy was out there wouldn't you be glad that I'm going after him? If my boy was out there I'd be glad that you went after him. Isn't this the whole thing, isn't this the whole investment of God? Okay the boy said and I'm finished, the boy said three things, I have sinned. Have you sinned tonight in despising your brother, in neglecting your brother? If I said write out a list of sins I guarantee there's one sin that nobody put on that that list. You know what it is? It's in the book of Samuel where it says God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you. Do you remember a word from the psalmist? He says Lord store my tears in thy bottle. Could Gabriel find the last tear you shed over a lost world? I was preaching in a fashionable Baptist church a while ago. I preached on 1 Corinthians 13. Some people came forward, we went to the pastor's house for lunch and while we were there the phone rang. And I saw the pastor's face burst into tears and I heard him sobbing, all right yes do it, please do it, yes I'll pray. He came back to the dining table, he said excuse me, I said go ahead, that's all right, I weep too. Did you notice a boy sitting on the right hand, the aisle on the right hand side as you preached this morning? Yes, very smart fellow, well dressed, he's quite an intellectual, he has a good job in the city bank. His sister was a beauty queen but unfortunately she got fouled up and she came home one day and they live in a ritzy part of town and she said to her mother, I've got to tell you something terrible. Mother said well darling what is it? Until she coughed it right up she said I'm going to have a baby. Mother said no, no. Your daddy an elder in the church and we such a good middle-class family they got everything. This will kill you daddy. Well one night when daddy was in a good mood she told daddy, the poor man broke his heart. My daughter got into this mess, how are we going to break the news to John? And one day when mother thought he was in pretty good shape she broke the news, he hit the ceiling. Well get her out of town, the tramp. Well we're going to try, we think she's going to get married. Well I'm not going to the marriage, I won't buy her a gift, I won't even go there. Listen if she's going to get married I'm away that weekend. And he just put up the worst attitude he could. The poor girl went out of town. As so often happens, tragedy after tragedy seemed to come. Her husband was taken seriously ill. That Sunday morning I said this, look if you will not forgive others God will not forgive you. Look friend, if you're praying about a problem in your life you better do some heart searching. Because you see if God is not answering your prayer maybe there's some rebelling in your life and that gives your child the right to rebel against you. Why should God answer prayer when you're rebelling against the known will of God? He's told you before about having a family altar. He's talking about, he's talked to you about taking time to be holy. He's talked to you about getting the bible out and every day having a little service in the home and building the children's faith up and giving God that portion that belongs to him of gratitude and praise in your life. That Sunday morning as I preached that boy was under conviction that you cannot love God, you can't love vertically unless you love horizontally. He called the pastor and said I've just called my sister in St. Louis a thousand miles away. She didn't want to answer and then I told her listen I've been to church this morning and I feel the most wretched rebel in the world when you were in need. Instead of helping you I pushed you down. I didn't come to your wedding. Listen he said I want to tell you I know where you live. No you don't and you're not coming here. I don't live in a stately home. I live over a shop with only two or three chairs. My husband's been sick now for over a year. The baby's sick. We've no money. We're in a mess. He said listen sweetheart I've more than five hundred dollars in the bank and tomorrow I'm going to draw it out and I'm coming to your house. I'll find you anyhow. I can't live anymore like this. Pretending that I'm right with God and having bitterness and hatred in my spirit. You know a lot of us ask God to do something. Lord send revival in my soul. The reason he can't get it is there's a blockage in your spirit somewhere. You have an unforgiving spirit or a rebellious spirit or an unkind spirit or a grudging spirit. We can have revival right here tonight if we're honest. I think it was Torrey one night coming home on a train. He watched a boy fidgeting. He'd get up in the train and go look out of the window. Then he'd come back. Then he'd go. And finally Torrey went over and said to him son are you in trouble? He said yes. I'm a kind, well I'm really a prodigal son. I've been away so long. And I've got to the bottom. And he said I call my folk. I borrowed a nickel and I called them collect and asked them. Look I'm in a mess. I've been in jail and I've been drunk and I've done a lot of bad things. I've learned my lesson. I'd like to come home. I'm embarrassed. I'm ashamed. Dad you can boss me around as you like. You know once you get outside of that home that you find so hard right now it's hell. I've never found a prostitute who enjoyed her life. I've never found a man in jail who's proud of his record. I've never found a man who's been down in the gutter who said you know if life was a start all over I'd do it all over again. I found many one who said I wish somehow I could start all over. And then you know you tell them the joyful news they can be born again. Torrey said well son what did they say? Well uh father wasn't at home and mother was there. And she said well daddy's away for a few days but I think he'll be back. When will we be back so and all right. Well mother how will I know if it's if it's all right? She said well you know as the train comes in the depot there there's a bend right around the bottom of our garden you know and we've got some bushes there. Right well I'll be there signaling. He says mother no instead I'll tell you what would you put a sheet over a bush and as the train comes around the bend if I see that sheet I'll get off the train and if there isn't a sheet there I'll go to the next depot. He said sir would you be good enough to sit in this seat and if you see that sheet as I come around the we come around the corner in the next few minutes would you give me the sign? He said yes. Thank you sir. The train went on and the boy fidgeted a little while and suddenly Torrey said hey son come look. He said there's a sheet there. He says the sheet's right up to the house. Right up to the house. She doesn't want you to miss it. Oh we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God sure enough. But you know we don't need to keep falling over the same old sin and the same old habits. We don't need to go through this year and end up in spiritual bankruptcy as we did last year. That home needs a Christian daddy. It's got one but he doesn't practice his Christianity. He doesn't take the word out. He doesn't read it. He doesn't pray with his family. That deacon doesn't take all his obligations in this church. Listen if God Almighty could move a nation through 120 men in the upper room what could he do with us if we obey God tonight? What's the blockage? Pride? Laziness? Carelessness about the word of God? Just got used to our kids being lost. Just thinking after all I'm not important. Listen every man that moved the world for God only had the same as you have. But he let God cleanse his heart. He let the Holy Spirit come in him. Just this one thing. The pastor was saying tonight as he stood there in that tank as I call it or whatever you call it. No going through that water won't do a thing for you. Not unless you've been to the cross. It's merely a symbol of something happened. You know when you get to the end of Romans chapter 7 it's a despairing chapter isn't it? And I've heard people quote it. Oh well you know even Paul said oh wretched man that I am. Oh no he didn't. Oh no he didn't because there's no stop between chapter 7 and chapter 8. Romans chapter 7 is a funeral march. Romans chapter 8 is a wedding march. Romans chapter 7 is paradise lost. Romans chapter 8 is paradise regained. Do you know who wrote those books? Milton. Do you know when he wrote paradise lost? After he got married. Do you know when he wrote paradise regained? After his wife died. I don't think there's any connection but they're very interesting. But every time I read Romans 7 here is a man who's lost everything. Sin has dominion over me. Oh wretched man that I am. Now he's run through the law and I'll be through in two minutes. Listen he says who shall help me? Can the law help me? No. Can my own mind help me? No. I'm in bondage to something. Oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me? Do you know there were 120 different crosses on which men were crucified? Some like the traditional cross. Some like a letter T. Some like a letter X where they stretched a man's members. There was one it was a cross just a straight stump of a tree with a spike and they pushed a man on it and they turned him over and whichever way he came up they left him. There was one worse crucifixion and that was to take the body of the man you'd murdered and tie you to that body. Your hands to the dead hands. Your legs to the dead legs. Your neck to the dead neck. Trunk of your body and you had to stagger with the body of death. And you would go down the road and people would back off and say here's a man with a body of death get away from him. And you had to get up in the morning with that body of death if you could lie down. And little by little that corruption came and that body stunk and here you are you're tied up to a body and nobody dare cut you from it. And if somebody comes along and they start cutting the ropes off and a centurion says wait a minute what are you doing? I'm releasing my friend. Can't I do that? Yes you can do it on one condition. What one condition? That we take that body and tie it to you. Do you love your friend enough to be crucified for him? No. Paul says oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Sin has dominion over me. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? What does he say? Nobody. He says the law can't do it my willpower can't do it but I'll tell you what Jesus Christ can do it. Because when he was crucified I was crucified with him. And immediately a man goes down in that water he's saying to the rest of the people round about look when I go under that water I'm saying goodbye to the world all its customs all its habits. He can't see the world above him. He can't breathe the world above him. He's not interested in the world above him. He's sanctifying listen I lose the rights to myself. It's no longer my life it's his life in me. It's no longer my will it's his will in me. It's no longer my ambition it's Christ's ambition. There's enough people in this sanctuary tonight if we'd obey God and admit we've been fooling around with his word. We haven't been praying. We haven't been believing. We haven't rescued the perishing. We haven't wept over a lost world. Dear God what a shame that Christians get more excited about Alabama being number one than that the world's going to hell fire. You can have football phobia but God pity you if you get excited like this good brother. If you've been as near hell as that man's been if you've been in the gutter like he's been when everybody kicked him out and pleased and nobody else wanted him and he gets redeemed you wonder he gets excited. David did. He shouted like that too. How do you know? Well I'll tell you how I know. Because he said bless the Lord oh my soul who hath redeemed me from all mine iniquities. He said he brought me up out of a horrible pit and he not only brought him up he set him up he put him on a rock and he not only set him up he tuned him up because he began to sing. 178. 178 sorry. Let's stand and sing this. That all you men that have failed your children failed your wife you haven't been the real husband in the home. You haven't had a family altar. You haven't been behind your family. You haven't been behind even the church. I'm going to appeal just to men tonight you come and put that right with God. Don't ever dare pray for revival till you straighten your own life out. How many of you fathers have not been fathers? You come and really apologize to God tonight as we sing out of my shameful failure and loss.