Participants: Martin Fancher
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000291
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00:30 Welcome to Faith Chapel.
00:32 My privilege to be here today. 00:34 My name is Poster Martin Fancher. 00:36 I Pastor the Defuniak Springs and Fort 00:38 Walton Beach, Florida, Seventh-day 00:40 Adventist Churches. It's my privilege to be 00:42 here to share with you a message important 00:44 to my heart and I hope to yours, 00:47 entitled the Father's love. 00:51 I was recently reading an article and ran 00:53 across a mother telling a story of 00:54 putting her daughter to bed. 00:56 As she put the daughter to bed, 00:58 she told the story of the Prodigal Son in 01:01 her own words to the daughter. 01:03 She wrote while putting my 01:04 Four-year-old daughter to bed. 01:06 I told her this story about a boy who ran 01:09 away from home. Who finally squandered 01:11 what money he had until he didn't even 01:14 have enough to eat. Had to go live and eat 01:17 with the pigs and finally he went home 01:20 to a dad who welcomed him home 01:22 with open arms. What do you think 01:25 about that? Well, the Four-year-old 01:27 fought and fought and finally came up and 01:30 said the lesson we learn is never leave 01:33 home without your credit card. 01:36 Well, that is a lesson that we can learn from 01:39 that story, but it's not quite how it works. 01:43 And I'm sure that people wish it were that easy. 01:45 Don't leave home without your credit card. 01:47 But when it comes to salvation and the 01:49 good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ 01:52 I'm afraid it's even easier than that. 01:56 We're going to look at how God wants us to 01:59 live by comparing our lives with that of two 02:03 boys and their father found in the Gospel of Luke. 02:07 Let's take a look at the first few verses here 02:09 of Luke chapter 15 verses 11 through 16. 02:14 Then He said: A certain man had two sons. 02:17 And the younger of them said to his 02:19 father, Father, give me the portion of 02:21 goods that falls to me. So he divided to them 02:24 his livelihood. And not many days after, 02:27 the younger son gathered all together, 02:29 journeyed to a far country, and there 02:31 wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 02:34 But when he had spent all, there arose 02:36 a severe famine in that land and he 02:39 began to be in want. Then he went and 02:41 joined himself to a citizen of that country, 02:44 and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 02:47 And he would gladly had filled his stomach 02:49 with the pods that the swine ate, and no one 02:52 gave him anything. Wow! You must be 02:55 able to picture that by now. 02:56 First of all before we hold our breath here 02:59 it was common place back in biblical times 03:02 for a father to divide his wealth between 03:04 his sons. But still the sub text could easily 03:11 be seen that the sons didn't wanna wait for 03:14 the father's death. So he divides out 03:17 his living between the two sons. 03:19 He didn't just give the one to the son. 03:21 He gave to both sons and the Bible tells us 03:24 here that he went into a far country and he 03:28 wasted it on what the Bible calls prodigal living. 03:32 Well, the Bible doesn't give us 03:33 complete description of what this prodigal 03:35 living is, but if we use our imaginations I'm 03:38 sure you'll feed your some of that out. 03:40 He simply wasted his money, probably 03:43 doing all the things that he had wanted to 03:45 do in his heart, but felt compelled not to 03:47 do, because he was under his father's care 03:50 or too often isn't that how we lived here today. 03:54 We want to live the Christian life and do 03:57 the things that we want to do, yet in our 04:01 hallow hearts there maybe some wild oats 04:04 we wish to sow, but afraid to sow, 04:08 because of the circumstances we're in. 04:10 But God said it's not the outward appearance. 04:14 The Lord looks on the heart, so we can't fool 04:17 God when we have these secrete 04:19 thoughts and desires. He knows the inner 04:21 most desires of our heart, as He knew this 04:24 young man. And this young man left his 04:26 father and left the country with his 04:29 divided goods and he spent, spent, spent 04:33 until a famine came up. And then of course as 04:36 the Bible tells us, he didn't even have 04:38 enough to eat and so he went and lived 04:40 with the swine, the pigs to eat. 04:42 What the pigs would eat and of course we 04:44 know pigs eat what's leftover the scraps 04:47 and slop. Doesn't sound too appetizing 04:50 especially in the Jewish times where 04:52 God has forbidden them to associate with 04:55 the hogs and the pigs. Here he is sitting in 04:58 there among them waiting for the scraps 05:01 to eat. Tell you what, I don't know if you've 05:04 ever considered running away from 05:05 home, but if you ever did, hopefully you 05:08 thought a little far enough ahead then 05:10 you pack a few things and have a little bit of 05:12 common sense, because it appears 05:14 this youngster didn't. But you know it's 05:16 when we don't have common sense that 05:18 the common becomes uncommon. 05:20 It's when we don't have a direct idea of 05:22 what we need or know we need to do, 05:25 when God can get a hold of us and show 05:26 us what He wants us to do. If we are open to that. 05:31 Well, the story's not ending there, 05:32 that's the beauty of this. He would not only 05:34 started this downward track of sin well he was 05:37 at home once the meals were divided among him. 05:41 He went ahead and left the country and 05:43 continued on this downhill side. 05:45 He didn't learn any lessons, he did not try 05:47 to better himself in fact and different 05:49 verses of the Bible show us that he got 05:51 friends they were not his friends. 05:54 They were friends because they were 05:55 friends to his money, and when he ran out 05:56 of money, he ran out of friends. 05:59 Well, let's take a look as the story continues 06:01 in verses 17 to 24. The Bible says, But 06:05 when he came to himself, he said, how 06:08 many of my father's hired servants have 06:11 bread enough to spare, and I perish 06:14 with hunger. I will arise and go to my 06:18 father, and will say to him, father I have 06:21 sinned against heaven and before you, 06:23 and I am no longer worthy to be called 06:25 your son. Make me like one of your hired 06:28 servants. And he arose and came to his father. 06:32 But when he was still a great way off, 06:34 his father saw him, had compassion, 06:37 and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 06:40 And the son said to him, Father I have 06:42 sinned against heaven and in your sight, 06:45 and I am no longer worthy to be called 06:46 your son. But the Father said to his servants. 06:50 Bring out the best robe and put it on him, 06:53 and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 06:55 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, 06:57 and let us eat and be merry. 07:00 For this my son was dead and is alive 07:02 again, he was lost and he is found. 07:05 And they began to be merry. 07:08 Isn't that a wonderful story? 07:11 The father well he was a far away off 07:14 saw him in tender pretty and loved his son. 07:19 Oh! My favorite expression in that text 07:22 was where he came to his senses. 07:25 Oh! I like that. Isn't it always in 07:27 the desperation? And in the depths of 07:31 our trials and tribulations that 07:33 sometimes that the only time that we 07:35 truly come to our senses. Oh! My friend God 07:39 would have us come to our senses much 07:41 earlier, but it's our stubbornness. 07:43 It's our choice to walk the way we walk to 07:46 go where we want to go rather than follow 07:49 the leading of God through the Holy 07:52 Spirit to where He wants us to go. 07:55 But that's alright, because God has 07:58 made a way. If we will humble ourselves 08:01 and pray, He can deliver us, 08:04 as He delivered this young man to his father. 08:09 The Bible tells us there that as he came 08:12 to himself he compared himself 08:14 with the servants. I heard one fellow 08:17 to say that he would rather be a custodian 08:19 in heaven then a King in Hell. 08:22 Well, I'm not so sure that I want anything 08:26 to do with hell, but I certainly wouldn't 08:28 mind having any part of heaven. 08:30 Regardless of what job it is. 08:32 Jesus says that the last shall be first and the 08:35 first shall be last, to simply be in heaven 08:38 to be with Jesus Christ is the absolute 08:42 ultimate price that we live for 08:44 here on this earth. This young fellow 08:48 came to his senses, compared himself to 08:50 the servants there that were working in the 08:53 field and he said I must go to my father 08:56 and I must apologize, I must tell him I'm 08:59 sorry for what I have done and I ask if he 09:02 would have enough petty to make me a 09:05 servant in his household then at 09:07 least I wouldn't be so hungry. 09:10 Wow! To go from the sun of this wealthy 09:16 man to a servant in his own home, 09:21 but you know what? When you come to 09:23 your senses and you realize our value to 09:27 God and the exorbitant price our 09:31 sin has placed on the son of God. 09:36 I would rather be a servant in heaven 09:39 then not make it to heaven at all. 09:42 The price that Jesus paid for us was a 09:45 restorative price to bring me back into a 09:48 saving relationship with this son 09:51 unknown at this time was going to 09:54 experience for himself. The Bible continued 09:59 by saying that he went back, but the Bible 10:01 interrupts the story by saying well he was 10:03 yet a long ways away the father saw him 10:07 and had tender compassion for him. 10:10 We call that love, he loved his son. 10:13 How did he know, how did he know that 10:15 the son was coming home on that day. 10:19 Oh! My friend I like to picture it that, that 10:21 father was out there looking each and 10:24 everyday praying that this would be the day 10:28 that his son comes home. He never wanted his 10:31 son to live. He didn't want the family 10:33 broken up, he loved his son and regardless 10:36 of what his son had done, he loved him 10:40 with the love that only a father can have. 10:45 Well, the father came out, meet him out there. 10:49 Wouldn't even let his son get through his 10:52 speech, he got started, but his father cut him 10:55 off grabbing a hold of him. 10:57 Hugging his neck and restoring his position 11:00 in the family. Oh! Yes it says go get him a 11:02 new robe to put on. That's the new coat. 11:05 He told him, go get a ring to put on his 11:07 finger back in Bible times as you probably 11:10 know the ring was similar to what our 11:12 credit cards are today. He can go to the 11:14 market and he could stamp the family ring. 11:17 It was a signet ring, it was a signing ring. 11:20 And it was very valuable and he 11:22 restored him to his place in the family. 11:26 I was gonna say rightful place, 11:27 but it wasn't. We had already squandered 11:30 his living. The father was extending grace, 11:35 mercy and love. Well, we don't even 11:38 have to get to the end to realize that the 11:40 father here represents our heavenly Father 11:43 in heaven who seeks to restore each and 11:45 everyone of us to our place in this world. 11:49 And let me tell you it's not our rightful place. 11:52 We've sinned, we've fallen short of the 11:54 glory of God. In fact, one author put it this 11:56 way they said that Jesus gave to us that 11:59 which he deserve, excuse me, Jesus gave 12:03 to us that He deserves, so that he could take 12:05 on Himself that which we deserve, 12:07 which means Jesus gave me eternally and 12:12 the chance to live forever and a perfect 12:15 robe of righteousness to cover my sins. 12:18 And He took my sins to Calvary 12:21 and died for me. What a trade? What a trade? 12:26 No one can put a price tag on the 12:30 father's love as this boy was about to find out. 12:35 He was being restored to a position that was 12:38 no longer his in this family except the 12:41 father gave it to him. But the story is not 12:45 over with, before we review once again. 12:48 We're going take a look at the finishing 12:50 of the story, so that we can see just how 12:53 this ends. Take a look at Luke 15 verses 28 12:57 through 32, but he was angry and world 13:01 not go in. Therefore his father came out 13:04 and pleaded with him. So he answered and 13:06 said to his father. Lo these many years 13:09 I have been serving you, I never 13:10 transgressed your commandment at any 13:12 time, and yet you never gave me a 13:14 young goat, that I might make merry 13:17 with my friends. But as soon as this 13:20 son of yours came, who has devoured 13:22 your livelihood with harlots, you killed the 13:25 fatted calf for him. And he said to him, 13:28 son, you are always with me, and all that 13:32 I have is yours. It was right that we should 13:34 make merry and be glad, for your brother 13:37 was dead and is alive again, 13:41 and was lost and is found. 13:43 Wow! That kind of seemed like it jumped 13:45 out of the wrong place. We were no longer 13:46 talking about the younger brother anymore. 13:49 We are now jumped to the older brother 13:51 that's what the younger brother must 13:52 have been thinking about. What was left after 13:55 the father divided his money among the two 13:57 boys; he had spent all his money, the father 14:00 was now living with the older brother, 14:03 because the older brother now had the 14:05 reminder of the money. And when dad restored 14:07 the younger brother to the family, he restored 14:10 him to his brother's money. 14:15 Well, maybe that explains a little bit 14:16 why when the brother makes his way in 14:19 from the fields and he hears this music and 14:21 he stops a servant and ask what's going on. 14:24 And the servant says oh haven't you heard 14:26 your brother has come home. 14:28 Oh! And that's where we pick up the Bible 14:30 text there. He got so upset, he refused to 14:34 go into the party for his own brother. 14:37 Well, don't be too hard on the older 14:40 brother yet. We may find that we have 14:41 more in common with him then one might thing. 14:44 But the love of this father knows no ends 14:47 just as the love of our heavenly Father 14:49 knows no ends. Here love is for both 14:52 of these sons. He wants them both 14:55 restored to this family. And so he goes, he 15:00 leaves the party for his own son and he goes out. 15:04 And the Bible uses the world entreat. 15:07 He goes out to bring his son back and he 15:11 speaks with him. And the brother is so angry. 15:15 This older brother that he comes 15:17 out with this speech. Now it's interesting 15:19 that he says what's right on his mind. 15:22 It's a little deeper then one might even 15:24 understand to listen again in this context. 15:28 He says, lo, I have been with you all this time. 15:34 And he said, I have never transgressed 15:37 your commandments, yet you never threw 15:42 me a party. And, if it went there, that 15:48 wouldn't be so bad, but he continues. 15:50 And he says but as soon as this son of 15:54 yours came back. This son who by the 15:56 way spent all his money on harlots and 16:00 riotous living and all this waste, you come 16:05 and you kill the fatted calf just for him. 16:08 My friend I have read the scriptures through 16:10 there in Luke 15 so many times and 16:12 I don't understand where it says that he 16:14 spent this on harlots or anything. 16:16 I begin to wonder if maybe the brother had 16:18 a few oats of his own that he wanted to sow. 16:22 I wonder if maybe he was the legalistic son. 16:24 Being the older son and he knew that the 16:26 younger son was running away from 16:27 home and taking the money with him and 16:29 though he wanted to do that he owed dad a debt. 16:33 And he said I'm going to be the son that 16:35 stays home and takes care of dad. 16:37 But you know what though he was there 16:38 in those fields working his heart was 16:41 with his younger brother. He wasn't there. 16:44 He was working on his own farm for his father. 16:50 The very farm that dad gave him, 16:54 it wasn't for the father to kill the fatted calf 16:58 for his son. That fatted calf belonged 17:03 to this older brother. It was his fatted calf. 17:06 In fact if anything the father killed someone 17:10 else's calf for his son. But the brother is 17:16 focused on his younger brother that 17:19 wasted the money. And he said it's just 17:22 not right. It's just not right. 17:27 My friend, each and everyone of us, 17:29 each and everyday are one of these brothers. 17:35 The story doesn't end there, it can't end there. 17:38 It doesn't tell us whether the brother 17:40 goes in or not. But I think Jesus left 17:45 that intentionally open, because from 17:48 time to time we pick on these brothers 17:54 mistakenly we don't understand that we 17:57 are one of these brothers. And that it's our 18:00 heavenly Father who has given us that 18:04 which belongs to Him and it's ours. 18:07 There are too many people waiting for 18:10 heaven to live. When God says, I've come 18:14 that you might have life and have life 18:17 more abundantly right here on this earth. 18:20 Oh! This is not as good as it gets. 18:23 But when you have Jesus Christ it's not 18:25 going to get any better until He takes us to 18:29 His house. And we pray that, that day 18:32 will be very, very soon. So the father is an 18:37 example to us of what God is to us here in 18:41 these days in which we live. 18:44 Well, there are days when I'm that younger 18:46 brother my friend. There are days when 18:49 I've sinned and I've walked away and I've 18:51 gone different places and I've done 18:53 different things and that doesn't make any 18:54 difference. The fact is my heavenly Father 18:57 stood there waiting for me to come home 18:59 to welcome me into the family. 19:01 He has said I'll never leave you, I'll never 19:04 forsake you. Those are words that we 19:06 live by. The older brother, he stayed, 19:10 worked out in that field. He pretended by the 19:14 way he lived that it all belonged to his father. 19:19 Here the Bible is clear that the father divided 19:21 it to the kids. So there he was living with the 19:26 father, but not accepting the gift of 19:30 the Father. Oh! We just had more time to 19:34 go deeper into that one little point if he 19:37 only understood that he was in the presence 19:42 of his Father, but accepted no gifts from him. 19:49 If we go to a birthday party and you're 19:52 bearing a gift and you hand it to the one 19:55 celebrating the birthday and they never reach 19:57 forward to take it. The gift maybe theirs, 20:01 because it's brightly wrapped and has a 20:03 beautiful tag on it with their name on it. 20:05 But if they do not take it and receive it to 20:09 themselves, the gift has not been received, 20:13 so therefore it cannot be enjoyed. 20:16 And this older brother was not enjoying that 20:19 which was his. The older brother 20:20 couldn't enjoy what was his, because he 20:23 had not claimed it. My friends, some of 20:27 you may not have been out into the 20:29 world and done all the things that one could 20:32 do out there. Those things that separate us 20:35 from the love of God. You may not have 20:38 been unfaithful and broken this 20:41 commandment or that commandment or 20:42 your sins in your eyes might not be that bad. 20:46 But I'm here to tell you. It doesn't make 20:48 any difference whether there are 20:51 little sins or big sins, because scripture is 20:53 clear, sin separates us from the love of God. 20:58 It does, big or little that relationship is broken. 21:04 Oh! We throw away things in this day and 21:07 age when they break. And we call it disposable, 21:13 the love of God is indisposable. 21:18 But there are people that throw it away 21:20 everyday of the week. Oh! My friends some 21:25 of them I don't think they do it 21:26 intentionally. Some of them are not sure 21:28 they know what they're doing. 21:29 Otherwise I'm certain they know, but they're 21:33 free to choose as you and I. 21:36 And I pray that we choose the way that 21:40 restores the family. God wants His family restored. 21:47 As we look at the story of these two boys. 21:51 In some Bibles it's called the story of the 21:53 Prodigal Son. Some has suggested it's the 21:56 Prodigal Sons. As I shared with you 22:00 earlier the true focus is the love of a father. 22:07 Oh! My friends it does not make a 22:09 difference if your father did not love you. 22:13 You have a heavenly Father that does, 22:16 if you're fortunate enough to have an 22:17 earthly father who loves you, then that's 22:21 a small picture of what our heavenly 22:25 Father wants with us. He want so much for us. 22:30 But how much do we want it. 22:33 All too often like the young son, our eyes 22:37 are in another country, they're in another land. 22:39 We talked about going to heaven, 22:41 but we glance over at the things of this world. 22:46 The Bible tells us that by beholding, 22:49 we become changed. And do what? 22:52 Whatever it is that we're beholding. 22:56 That's why I love that song that we sing so 22:59 often, turn your eyes upon Jesus. 23:01 Look full in His wonderful face, 23:04 And the things of this earth will grow 23:07 strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. 23:14 You wanna know why they turn 23:15 strangely dim? It's because we're no 23:19 longer attracted by that anymore. 23:23 It's because our desires have been 23:25 transformed by of living vibrant 23:29 relationship with Jesus Christ and 23:31 we've become more Christ like. 23:35 We will have no desire for the things 23:39 of this earth that separate us from God. 23:43 Oh! I would love to think that the story 23:45 ends with the older brother looking at the 23:49 father and saying dad you're right. 23:51 You're right, I did not accept this free gift 23:55 that you gave me. You divided your 23:57 wealth I can do anything I want. 23:59 It's not your fault in fact you did the right 24:03 thing by bringing my brother home. 24:06 You did the right thing and I picture in 24:08 my mind the older brother going into the 24:11 party and going right over to his younger 24:13 brother and giving him a great big hug 24:15 like dad did just earlier that day. 24:18 And giving him a hug and welcoming him home. 24:21 But my friend, if I'm not willing to go out 24:23 and hug those in the world and welcome 24:26 them home. And maybe I'm still 24:29 standing out in my field. Maybe, I've got a 24:32 works oriented relationship with 24:34 Jesus Christ. And I'm trying to earn 24:36 my salvation and don't even realize it. 24:39 God doesn't want us to work. 24:42 He wants us to love Him and then all that 24:45 we do will be in response to Him. 24:50 There is a story I heard a long time ago 24:51 that I really appreciate. It's a story of a young 24:56 man who ran away from his home in Mexico. 25:00 And his father wanted his son home so bad. 25:03 He did everything, he stayed by the 25:05 telephone, he went to the mailbox, he hoped 25:07 somehow this son would make contact 25:09 with him. But last day in and day out there 25:13 was no contact from the son. 25:16 He didn't know whether the son was 25:17 dead or alive, but all he knew was he loved 25:19 his boy and wanted to restore him to the family. 25:23 And so he did what only a desperate 25:25 father could do. He took out a full page 25:27 ad in the newspaper in the largest city in Mexico. 25:30 And that ad simply said Paco, I love you 25:37 and wants you to come home, signed, 25:41 your father. Meet me at the corner of these 25:45 two streets on this particular day and time. 25:50 Well, on that particular day and 25:51 time came, his heart weighed, he didn't 25:53 know whether he was gonna be there or not. 25:55 He didn't know if he was gonna be 25:57 disappointed if he wasn't, was his son 25:59 dead or would the son just not come. 26:01 And reject him, he didn't know. 26:06 The only think he truly knew was the 26:08 love of a father who says my son, 26:12 my daughter, my kids are with the risk. 26:16 And so at that point of time he rounded the 26:18 corner and let me tell you right away. 26:22 He did not see Paco standing on the corner. 26:26 In fact, he saw over 500 Pacos that had 26:31 read that. And all prayed that 26:34 it was their father welcoming them home. 26:38 Oh! My friend, Jesus is calling us home. 26:42 He wants to give us what belongs to Him. 26:46 He died to give us the ultimate price. 26:49 That price that He wants to give us, 26:52 is not just eternity in paradise. 26:56 It's eternity with our Lord and 26:58 Savior Jesus Christ. Will you bow your 27:01 heads with me as we pray? Gracious Father in 27:05 heaven, restore us to your family. 27:10 As these two brothers, through their story 27:13 we've seen that reconciliation is possible. 27:16 Whether we're the younger son or 27:18 whether we're the older brother out in the field. 27:20 We too can be restored to the family 27:23 that which is rightful to yours. 27:24 You want to give to us. And though we may 27:28 not understand it. We accept this gift 27:31 today and always asking you to live out 27:35 your life within us. Until that day you 27:38 come is our prayer in Jesus name, amen. 27:43 May God grant you the strength of 27:45 conviction to follow your heart, 27:49 because when you follow your heart, 27:51 your heart will always lead you home. |
Revised 2014-12-17