There are many people who want to be delivered from the bondage of their past but don't know how. Dr. Stanley explains how God's grace is sufficient, despite our former sins.
Sermon Outline
Have you experienced a season of failure? Do you need encouragement to return to God? In today’s message, Dr. Stanley explores a parable that reveals the truth about our Father and helps us understand just how great His love is for us.
Key Passage: Luke 15:1-32
Supporting Passage: John 3:16
Many people want to be delivered, but they’re not sure how God will respond. He tells us in His Word what His answer will be.
► “All sin begins with a desire … something that allures us.”
Lessons from the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15):
A failure is not someone who fails but someone who fails and gives up.
The father in the story is God displaying His own character for us.
A “hog pen” is a place where anybody is trapped.
For our sins, God’s response is always grace.
God will allow His children to fail in their Christian life.
Independence from God is the basis of all sin.
Choosing to live independently of God starts a downward spiral.
The 7-step downward spiral in the prodigal son’s life and ours:
1. Desire
The boy desired to live independently of his family.
Something woos us away from our relationship with God.
2. Decision
He made a choice to leave and asked for his inheritance (v. 12).
When we lack wisdom, we don’t ask God for His guidance. Instead, we make decisions on our own.
► “The boy put enough distance between himself and his father to do what he wanted to do, with no one to tell him otherwise.”
3. Departure
The young man left for “a distant country” so he could be independent of his father (v. 13).
All sin is a desire to act independently of God, though He knows what’s best.
Any place we choose to live outside the will of God is a “far country.”
4. Deception
The prodigal son believed he could do better away from his father.
Satan always tells us the desirable things we’re going to get. But he never tells us what we’ll miss or the pain we’ll experience.
5. Defeat
The boy suffered moral and financial defeat plus humiliation and broken relationships (v. 30).
Sin causes a spiral of defeat in which we descend into loose living, squander our wealth, lose our self-respect, abandon our relationships, and lose even false friends.
6. Despair
A famine came, and the boy was starving (vv. 14-16).
We reach the lowest of low moments when we walk away from God.
► “In his darkened heart of despair, something ignited inside him: hope.”
7. Destruction or deliverance
The young man turned his focus from the hog pen back to the father (vv. 18-19).
He was already forgiven before he returned home.
The father ran to the son, embraced him, and rejoiced.
God also responds to our failure with grace.
His love and grace are possible because of Jesus (John 3:16).
May we all make the decision to return home to God.
After Watching
Have you even been in a “hog pen,” or are you there now? It’s never too late to return to God. Begin the journey home today and know He’ll run to meet you.
Take a moment to rest with Jesus in prayer. Thank Him for the extraordinary, sacred opportunity to receive forgiveness and be loved by God the Father.
