XPost: alt.atheism, alt.philosophy, talk.atheism   
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    wrote in message news:46a3af7e$0$739   
   $882e0bbb@news.ThunderNews.com...   
   >> >   
   >> >> "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will   
   >> >> not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and   
   >> >> flout him, for he cannot bear scorn."   
   >> >   
   .                                  (Luke 15:29-32 NASB)   
      
        29     “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many   
        years I have been serving you and I have never ?1?neglected a command   
        of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I   
        might celebrate with my friends;   
      
        30     but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your   
        ?1??a?wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’   
      
        31     “And he said to him, ‘Son, you ?1?have always been with me,   
        and all that is mine is yours.   
      
        32     ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of   
        yours was ?a?dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been   
        found.’ ”   
      
   [1]   
      
   15:28–30 The older son was consumed with a jealous rage. He refused to   
   participate in his father’s joy. J. N. Darby put it well: “Where God’s   
   happiness is, there self-righteousness cannot come. If God is good to the   
   sinner, what avails my righteousness?” When his father urged him to   
   participate in the festivities, he refused, whimpering that the father had   
   never rewarded him for his faithful service and obedience. He had never   
   been given as much as a young goat, to say nothing of a fatted calf. He   
   complained that when the prodigal son returned, after spending his   
   father’s money on harlots, the father did not hesitate to make a great   
   feast. Note that he said “this son of yours,” not “my brother.”   
      
   15:31, 32 The father’s answer indicated that there is joy connected with   
   the restoration of a lost one, whereas an obstinate, ungrateful,   
   unreconciled son produces no cause for celebration.   
      
   The older son is an eloquent picture of the scribes and Pharisees. They   
   resented God’s showing mercy to outrageous sinners. To their way of   
   thinking, if not to God’s, they had served Him faithfully, had never   
   transgressed His commandments, and yet had never been properly rewarded   
   for all of this. The truth of the matter was that they were religious   
   hypocrites and guilty sinners. Their pride blinded them to their distance   
   from God, and to the fact that He had lavished blessing after blessing   
   upon them. If they had only been willing to repent and to acknowledge   
   their sins, then the Father’s heart would have been gladdened and they too   
   would have been the cause of great celebration.   
      
   [2]   
      
    NO PLACE FOR ANGER   
      
   In Jesus’ story, the older brother represents the Pharisees, who were   
   angry and resentful that sinners were being welcomed into God’s kingdom.   
   “After all,” the Pharisees must have thought, “we have sacrificed and done   
   so much for God.” How easy it is to resent God’s gracious forgiveness of   
   others considered to be far worse sinners than oneself.   
      
   [3]   
      
   There are many Christians who are not living in a far country; they are   
   trying to live for God, but they are as poor as Job’s turkey. Why? They   
   are blessed with all spiritual blessings, but they will not lay hold upon   
   them. God says, “It is all yours; everything that I have belongs to   
   you—take it.” Our heavenly Father is rich in spiritual blessings and they   
   belong to us, but He will not force them upon us. We must reach out and   
   take them for ourselves. The story closes with the elder son out of   
   fellowship with his Father. The Father, however, left the door to   
   fellowship wide open.   
      
   Years ago Dr. Chadwick made the statement that there is a third son in the   
   parable of the Prodigal Son. The younger son broke the Father’s heart, the   
   elder son was out of fellowship, and the third Son is the One who uttered   
   the parable. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the ideal Son   
   without sin. He came to a far country, not to run away, but to do the will   
   of His Father. He did not spend His life in riotous living but in   
   sacrificial dying. He was not a Prodigal Son but a Prince of Peace who   
   shed His blood for the sins of the world. He was not a wayward son but a   
   willing sacrifice. He says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he   
   power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”   
   (John 1:12). Salvation comes to those who simply believe on His name.   
      
   If you are the son who went away to a far country, you can come back to   
   the Father by confessing your sins to Him. Perhaps you are like the elder   
   son who was out of fellowship. He had no concern or love for his brother.   
   He thought he was serving God; he had never transgressed as his brother   
   had. Yet he had never enjoyed a feast with his friends. The Father says to   
   you, “All that I have is thine.” How wonderful to have a Father like this!   
      
   Sinner friend, if you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you   
   are not the Father’s son. You can become a son only by putting your faith   
   and trust in Christ who died for you. If you accept Christ and come to   
   Him, God becomes your Father and He will never throw you overboard. If you   
   leave Him and one day return, He will be waiting to put His arms around   
   you. How wonderful He is!   
      
   [4]   
      
   Imagine what would have happened had the prodigal been welcomed by his   
   self-righteous elder brother rather than by his merciful father. Because a   
   lot of prodigal people are greeted by elder brothers, by self-righteous   
   Christians, they think they cannot go home to the Father, that forgiveness   
   and mercy is too much to hope for, that their only choice is to return to   
   the pig slop of the far country. What a tragedy. We are all   
   prodigals—elder brother and younger brother alike.   
      
   Each of the three portions of the parable presented here in Luke 15 speaks   
   of a different aspect of sin: The sheep was lost due to foolishness. The   
   coin was lost due to the carelessness of another. The son was lost due to   
   rebelliousness. I have observed that virtually any sin can be categorized   
   by one of those three characteristics: Sometimes we make foolish mistakes.   
   Other times, as in the case of child abuse, the sins of others leave their   
   marks upon us. And oftentimes we are intentionally, willfully rebellious.   
      
   I have also observed that most people can be very understanding toward any   
   two of those three reasons for sin, but become an elder brother regarding   
   a third. And it’s a different third for each person. Some people see a   
   brother caught in a foolish sin, and their heart goes out to him. Or   
   they’ll see someone hurt by an unloving spouse and will offer help and   
   healing to them. But when it comes to rebelliousness, all they can say is,   
   “You should have known better.”   
      
   Others say, “I can relate to the rebel. I know what it feels like to hear   
   the call of the far country. And I can relate to the one who makes foolish   
   mistakes. But why can’t those who are abused just get over it and move   
   on?”   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)