Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
i want you to turn with me in your bibles um let's just go ahead and turn to luke chapter 15 just quickly i do have a message from the lord this morning that god spoke to me very very clearly and i i want to explain i feel like the lord wanted me to tell you kind of how this came about so you'll understand you know we've been on a series talking about being led by the spirit and and it's kind of shifted over in uh last week talking about uh last week i entitled the message evangelism 101 because just basic basic things that you need to know if you're going to share the gospel with somebody but there's something else that we need to delve into and i was working this week with kevin and and the guys and and and really i've been very busy my mind's been scattered it's not always uh i've been very tired uh getting up at 4 15 in the morning every morning that which when you're not used to doing that is a changes everything in your life there but it's been good but i remember earlier in the week i was working and i was asking god i said what do you want me what is the message for sunday and just as clear as a bell now not like you hear me this morning but i know it was the lord spoke with that still small voice and he said the prodigal son and i said okay and then i got on something else and you know how your mind gets on other things and then a couple of days goes by and i'd forgotten you know you can forget what god says to you because sometimes it's very subtle and i'd forgotten and so i'm sitting there praying again lord what do you want me to preach on sunday what is the word and he said it's just as plain as day just like he was standing next to me he said the prodigal son and then i i said oh wow you said that earlier in the week i remember now and he was like yeah and i thought for him to tell me that clearly twice i said hmm okay then we will do that now before we look at this there's something that i need i want you to just hold that spot because we may go to a few spots but let me just explain something about the kingdom of god in the kingdom of god you are either you are either in the in the world you're either born again turn from your sins had a supernatural experience with jesus been born again regenerated on the inside and walking with god with all your heart or if that has never happened in your life then you are not a child of god okay the bible clearly says and i'm going to go to some things that the bible says that if we are not born again we are of our father the devil we are children of the world we are children of the wicked one we are children of darkness there's this lie coming forth and from uh churches even and in our society now that everyone's a child of god and god loves everybody and everybody's gonna make it eventually that's the lie we don't want to hear the fact that some are children of god
because they've been born again they've turned from their sin they've made jesus lord and they're following him they people don't want to hear that there are going to be many who are wicked who are not considered sheep they are goats they are not considered sheep and they are going to be lost and and put into everlasting destruction in the lake of fire which the bible says now that's you know that's what so many churches will not tell you anymore and the world wants to pressure in on your minds and your thoughts that you know really everyone's children of god and everyone's kind of basically good at heart and everyone's really going to make it only the real evil ones aren't going to make and then there's some nuts out there or universalists that actually believe even the nuts like hitler are going to make it to heaven okay now they can believe that if they want but that's not what the bible teaches now is it i want you to go with me hold luke 15 because we're coming right back but i want you to look i want you to look at first of all let's look at john chapter 10 real quick now i could quote these verses for you but you need to see them because i don't want you thinking i'm making stuff up all right john 10 verse 27. so pretty basic this is going to be just laying the foundation before we get into our story about the prodigal son john 10 27 now what does that say there my sheep jesus said this is jesus talking he said my sheep hear my voice or my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me and he says and i will give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand now of course some people try to use this scripture to preach eternal security but or once saved always saved but this scripture is very clear when he says my sheep hear my voice that's a present tense greek verb which whenever you get a present tense greek verb it means an action that is ongoing continuous and taking place in the present that is the greek word verb tense therefore here and for follow so what this verse translated literally in the greek language would be those my sheep are continually hearing my voice they are hearing my voice right now and they're doing it right now and they're following me now they're hearing me always and continuously and they're following me now so he said my sheep hear my voice and they follow me okay now let's go back back up a little bit let's go to john chapter three everybody ought to be familiar with this yet it seems to not be preached anymore hardly john 3 and let's just start reading at verse 3.
and jesus answered speaking to the nicodemus the rabbi who was a very moral man but not saved and jesus answered and said unto him verily verily i say unto you except a man be born again he shall not see the kingdom of god and then nicodemus said and how can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born and jesus answered verily verily i say unto you except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter in to the kingdom of god that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit marvel not that i said unto you that you must be born again let's just get this across you are not a child of god unless you are born again and that is a supernatural experience it is an encounter with the holy spirit i like what john wesley said about his encounter you know john wesley is the founder of the methodist church though he would roll over in his grave if he heard what was being preached in the most methodist churches now but for the for the most part when john wesley was at oxford he made the holy club at oxford him and george whitefield and his brother charles and i i think one other guy i can't remember who it was but anyway they had the holy club and they believed in christianity or said they they acknowledged christianity and they were more holy and righteous than than most christians were at that time but they were not born again they had not yet had a supernatural encounter with god where they knew that their spirit had been transformed on the inside and so john wesley goes and comes across over here to the american colonies in the 1700s and becomes a missionary to the indians in the georgia territory okay he comes over and he tries to convert the indians the american indians that were living there yet he was not converted is it any wonder that he was a miserable failure in that missionary effort you need to be converted if you're really going to get other people converted you need to have the spirit of god in you and working through you if you're going to really see some effect so he kind of he gets back on a ship after being here for some time he gets back on a ship and is headed back to europe a miserable failure wondering why he could not do anything effectively well on that same ship were some moravian christians the moravians were a bunch of nuts that were truly converted and on fire for god and the ship got in a terrible storm and it looked like it was going to sink and everybody was going to die it looked hopeless and these people were singing and john wesley was terrified and he goes i don't have what they have so when he talked to them a little bit but when he got back to england he went to one of their bible studies and it was interesting that in that bible study they were going through luther's preface on romans and in that bible study john wesley realized
that he had truly not exercised faith [Music] in jesus blood and the resurrection of jesus and had the witness of the holy spirit and when he did that he said and i quote this is john wesley and i quote he said and he said i felt my heart strangely warned and the bible clearly says in romans 8 that if we are children of god the holy spirit will bear witness with our spirit listen if you can be saved and not know it you could lose it not miss it you understand this is not something that is just intellectual ascent it has to be an encounter with god so being born again is a total surrender it is a faith that says i will give up everything i will follow you jesus i will believe in the bloodshed on the cross i will believe in your resurrection and i surrender my life from this point forward and when that truly happens in you there will be an encounter inside you that you will feel some will experience it as warmth and heat some will experience it as a great peace and love but you will know the living god he is not dead and if you meet him and your spirit is saved and regenerated and renewed and resurrected to life you will know that you're saved if you haven't had that witness of the holy spirit in your heart i question whether you're saved no matter what you say you believe okay because the scripture says if you have the spirit of christ he will bear witness inside of you and let you know all right so you have to be born again not everyone that calls themselves a christian either is born again but let's go on let's go over now go to john chapter eight hanging out in john for a minute i want you to see that jesus didn't call everybody children of god matter of fact he was very direct with some all right john chapter 8 the pharisees had just brought the woman caught in the act of adultery jesus must have discerned that she had genuine repentance and sorrow in her heart because he forgave her and didn't condemn her and let her go but then he begins to converse with the pharisees and they were the religious leaders and they were going back and forth arguing about things but jesus finally starts getting truthful to them and telling them right where they were so i want you to go down let's go down and look at uh oh what verse are we going to go down to oh let's look at uh goodness there's so much here i don't want to read it all well let's look at verse 38. he says i speak that which i have seen of my father this is jesus speaking he said you do that which you have seen with your father and they answered and said unto him abraham is our father jesus said unto them if you were abraham's children you would do the works of abraham but now
you seek to kill me a man that has told you the truth which i have heard from god this did not abraham you do the deeds of your father they said unto him we be not born of fornication we have one father even god and she said if god were your father you would love me for i proceeded forth and came from god neither came i of myself but he sent me why do you not understand my speech even because you cannot hear my words you are of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks a lie he speaks of his own for he is a liar and the father of it so jesus plainly tells them you are of your father the devil isn't that clear the bible talks about children of light and children of darkness i won't turn there but in matthew 13 jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like unto what these wheat and the tares parable right he said the wheat are the children of the kingdom but the tares are the children of the wicked one in matthew 25 he talks about the sheep will be on his right hand and he will say i was hungry and you fed me and i was thirsty and you gave me drink and you say to the sheep enter in to the joy of your lord but he said the goats will be on the left and the goats will be judged according to what they did and it will say depart from me you curse it into everlasting fire so not everybody's sheep remember sheep are people that have been converted and following jesus my sheep so you are sheep are your goats you are a son of god because you've been born again or you are a son or daughter of the devil because you're doing the deeds of your father the devil is that clear did jesus say that i could spend a lot more time on this proving this through the scriptures but i wanted you to see this there are children of light and children of darkness and we got that down now let's turn to luke 15. there's a reason why i went there there are certain parables and stories you won't understand unless you understand other concepts and let me just say this the the scriptures one of the first laws of interpreting the bible well i mean one of the first things it's of no private interpretation i mean i can't just decide what i think it means a lot of people say well i think this it means this no you don't get to decide that but one of the laws they teach in almost every single uh seminary and bible school in the country and and then hermeneutics class these all these fancy words hermeneutics and homiletics and all of that philosophical theological divinity stuff right but one of the things one of the main things is let the bible
interpret the bible always if god's talking about sheep right here we want to know what he's talking about then we go and we find out from the bible not our own interpretation what it means if the if the bible's talking about a dragon we don't say oh it's one of those things they found in in china you know no we go to the bible we find out that that dragon re is is a symbolic reference to the devil you always let the bible interpret the bible and you will never go wrong okay now jesus told this story about the prodigal son but before he did that up in verse chapter 15 verse 1 it says then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners to hear him and the pharisees and the scribes murmured saying this man received sinners and eats with them and he spake this parable under them saying what man of you having a hundred sheep if he lose one of them does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it and when he has found it he layeth on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying unto them rejoice with me for i have found my sheep my sheep that was lost i say unto you likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents more than 99 just persons which need no repentance now see some people just read over that and think that jesus is talking about lost people that have never been saved going after them now we're supposed to go after them because we're to go into all the world and preach the gospel that's what jesus said to do but here he says a hundred sheep didn't we just establish something sheep are his children that at some point were born again given power to become the sons of god and became sheep no longer goats that's why i like that scripture in in second corinthians 5 17 says if any man be in christ he is a new creature that word new creature there you know what means it means whole new species of being you went from a transformation to being a goat to being a sheep a complete genetic change and in the spirit realm when you truly are born again and you truly turn from sin and jesus witnesses that and there's a supernatural encounter you go from being a goat to a sheep you go from being a child of hell a child of the devil to being a child of god but does that mean that after you become a child of god that you could never go astray you could never be lost you could never be in danger of losing your soul and eternal no clearly jesus says some of my sheep go astray does god in his love and mercy go after us and try to bring us back yes but see this is not the end of this story this is just the beginning of something that jesus was beginning to teach in luke 15. you have to go to the next thing he talked about the woman who loses one of her uh ten pieces of silver and she searches diligently until she finds it but then in case there's any confusion
he goes from talking about sheep and talking about coins to a real story about a father who had two sons now let's just establish something before we read this if god is your father that means you had to have been born again at one time okay these two sons of the father in this story it's interesting that both of them get off base but we need to look at this let's read this story it's kind of long but we're going to read it because it's important drop down with me to let verse 11. and a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said unto his father father give me the portion of goods that falls to me and he divided unto them his living and not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with righteous living and when he had spent all there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into the fields to feed swine and he would feign have filled his belly with the hust that the swine didn't eat and no man gave unto him and when he came to himself he said how many hired servants of my father have bred enough to spare and i perish with hunger i will arise and go to my father's house and i will say unto him father i have sinned against heaven and before you and i am no more worthy to be called your son make me as one of your hired servants and he arose and came to his father but he when he was a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him and the son said unto him father i have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no more worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants bring forth the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it let us eat and be merry now look at verse 24 you ought to underline it for my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to be married now his elder son was in the field and when he came he drew an eye to the house and heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked him what these things meant and he said unto him thy brother has come and thy father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound and he was angry and would not go in therefore came his father out and entreated him and he answered said unto his father lo these many years do i serve thee neither transgress die at any time thy commandment and yet you never gave me a kid that i might make merry with my friends but as soon as this thy son which was come which has devoured thy living with harlots you have killed for him the fatted calf
and he said unto me son you are ever with me and all that i have is yours it was right or meat that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again it was lost and is found i want to just get this these two guys these two sons were obviously born or fathered by this particular father they lived in his house under his authority and under his rule to us jesus is telling us this story to get some spiritual truth it's not just for the literal story to take up space the father in this story is clearly god the father the two sons in this are clearly talking about people born in his house so we're talking about born-again christians here and we see a story of one that decides that he doesn't want to live anymore in his father's house now let me tell you something about this you want to know that this if this is not the attitude of a bunch of christians nowadays let me just break down his attitude a little bit for you his attitude when he said to his father divide to me my inheritance give me my part i want to go this is where so many christians live right now they want the blessings of god but they don't want to live near the father or live under his house or live according to his rules they can't handle it they want to do it their way sound familiar but yet out there in that world while they're in riotous living and we'll deal with that in a second while they're out there in that world and righteous living i bet there's no doubt that they said i'm a son of my father so and so but according to the father in this story the son who decided to leave and live a lifestyle of flesh indulgence in riotous living was dead spiritually he wasn't dead physically was he no the father knew that he was dead spiritually he was lost he was not found he was not on his way to heaven as a matter of fact and i am actually going to read to you these greek words as they are defined in this in this scripture because it makes it very clear that this boy was lost now let's just skip forward a little bit we've we just took the story of the sheep where he lost one of the hundred it looks like that jesus goes out and goes and gets it and brings it home every time and you and i aren't responsible for anything right that's why you don't take the scriptures out of context because jesus said i want you to see my heart first and truly those who go astray in the church those who were truly born again
and christians that have fallen back into the world and gone back into the sinful lifestyles god truly loves them and he truly wants them to be saved he truly wants them to come back and god does go after them he sends people to talk to them he sends his holy spirit to convict them and to draw them and to work on them because god loves us he doesn't want us to go to hell god is not willing to any perish right but that all come to repentance ii peter 3 10. god wants all people to come to repentance right but in this story he makes it clear to you that even though that's his in reality though you are not forgiven and you are not restored from death to life until you get up and come home you got to leave the world you've got to decide this sin and this lifestyle is killing me you've got to decide you know what even though i don't like some of the rules in my father's house it's better than what this world out here has treated me when he came to himself when he finally woke up and snapped out of his selfishness and snapped out of his rebellion and snapped out of his his his lackadaisical attitude towards sin he came to himself and realized i have sinned against heaven i have sinned against my father i have wasted what my father worked for to give me the harlots didn't please the drinking didn't please but folks you don't see this father in this story out there in the world and while his son is out there with the harlots and with the riotous living you don't see him come up and say it's okay you're forgiven no he had to repent he had to get up change his mind go home and get it right with total humility and let me tell you what this shows when he did that this is when we see the father's heart come into play god can't wait for us to repent to be willing to turn from lifestyles and habits and things that he hates and to come home you can call yourself a child of god all you want to but are you home and i want to tell you the end of this world is coming upon us
the days are about to get dark and i'm going to give you a word right now that i feel the lord saying to somebody in here like i used to tell or i remember not idea but my dad used to tell us you can go out in the neighborhood and play but you better get home before dark some of you better get home before it's too dark to find your way back quit making excuses you say well my father he gave me all this stuff yeah not to use it in the world amen did he not say his son that left was dead and lost in our witnessing in my preaching for 22 years of witnessing on college campuses and especially in the south you know in the south everybody saved do you know that go on a college campus and start preaching the truth and you'll find out they all call themselves christians but they're going to frat parties and sleeping with a boyfriend or girlfriend every other day wrong they might have got saved born again really born again really encountered god like i did at 11 year olds they might have did it at 9 10 years old but if they chose to leave the father's house and live a lifestyle see the difference between what what makes us right with god and not is not that we're going to be perfect as christians but if anything becomes a habit or a lifestyle that god says will damn you that's the way it is it's not you don't get to say i don't think it's that way no the word of god says it's that way i preached this a few weeks ago some of you were here we found out from the scriptures ephesians 5 galatians 5 fornicators don't go to heaven habitual practicing fornicators don't go to heaven habitual drunkards do not go to heaven i mean the word of god is clear we could take more time as clear as it can be so you could say you were born again sprinkled baptized have choir robes in your closet but are you in the father's house are you close to him are you surrendered to his authority or do you want to do everything your way and call yourself going to heaven it's interesting that the word riot is living here you know what it means
it's pretty amazing the word righteous living is the word of sotos it's the same as the word associate in greek it means unsavedness and that interesting unsaved actually the word for salvation in the in the new testament is the greek word sodzo and whenever you see an a in front of something just the a in the greek it's a negative which makes it the opposite of what that word is so sozo is saved this word asodzo means unsaved he went out and lived in a lifestyle that caused him to be unsaved in danger he went out into a lifestyle that caused him from being alive spiritually to being dead spiritually that's why jude it's interesting jude says something about people that backslide he says about people about that they're twice dead plucked up by the how do you be twice dead and you're still alive let me tell you why you were dead in trespasses and sins before you got saved when you got born again you were made alive again if you go back and live into a lifestyle of sin you die again spiritually that's twice dead and if you stay that way unto judgment day or your death you will be twice dead and plucked up by the roots quiet in here let's let's let's prove that twice did plucked up by the roots huh i know i preach hard but i love you i want everybody to go to heaven and i'll tell you one thing i'm not going to stand before god and give an account i didn't tell you the truth knew no no no no jude let's just look at it then we're going to look at second peter real quick just so you'll see what i'm talking about twice did you can go back and look these up for yourself later on jude right before revelation we were there last week weren't we jude's a fun little book isn't it my brother [Laughter] jude we're going to read verse 11 and 12 look at this woe unto them now listen to this for they have gone in the way of cain ran greedily after the error of balaam for reward and perished in the gang saying of course let me explain something right there cain cain had a relationship with god before he killed his brother how many of you know he had he talked to god god talked to him and he was trying to offer sacrifices and offerings to god this guy was trying to have a relationship with god here more than most christians i know and cain decided to fall into sin and kill his brother but if you don't believe cain had a relationship with god he says also about this group that ran greedily after the heir of balaam balaam was a true prophet of god that had visions from god but got off so we know that from numbers 22 23 and there's some other things so
balaam was a prophet of god who ended up getting into error and getting away from god but if you don't believe that it says they perished in the gang singing of korakora was the group of men in israel that had been delivered from egyptian bondage through the blood of the lamb they were in the wilderness with moses and the children so they were part of the children of israel they were saved from egypt saved by the blood of the lamb walking with god had the cloud and the pillar the pillar of fire by night in the cloud by day these were children of god these were covenant children of israel korah who decided that they were holy enough didn't want moses telling them what to do decided they were going to take over the camp and the ground opened up and they went alive into hell okay so these we know were children of god who got off right so taking that in its context and his consideration look at the next verse he says about people who who go and live in this lifestyle he says these are spots in your feast of charity basically blemishes in your in your kingdom these are spots in your feast of charity when they feast with you listen this feeding themselves without fear meaning they come and hear the word of god but they don't fear god clouds are they without water means they appear like something they appear like they have something of value in them but they really don't carried about of winds and that's a term talking about carried about by winds of doctrine carried about everywhere now look at this trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots fruit withers guess what you don't bear any fruit in the kingdom of god unless you're born again guess what you're you're not a sinner bearing kingdom fruit if your fruit withers it means you were born again you started bearing fruit and then you let it wither and die twice that up by the roots second peter chapter two just feel like there's something we're having to establish before i finish with the prodigal son second peter 2. and for those of you who are going to get ready to go out witnessing with us on the street and stuff this is something you need to know the majority of people out there that we're going to run into are not just lost people there are people a big portion of them that got saved at one time really got saved in church and walked away and they have to be saved they have to be brought to repentance they have to be converted again okay look at this if you have any doubts about this issue second peter chapter two here ought to
remove them the whole chapter in chapter two he's talking about false teachers and again he talks about the error of balaam and he talks about some of this stuff wells look at verse 17 wells without water very similar to the book of jude but i want to skip down he talks about these false teachers and look what he says about them verse 18 for when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lust of the flesh through much wantedness those that were clean who were who were the false teachers after here those who were clean how's the only way to be clean blood of jesus right repentance so the false teachers aren't after the world they got them the false prophets they're not after the world they're after you and they're trying to allure you with great swelling words of vanity like what telling you you can be a homosexual and still go to heaven telling you can be a fornicator still going telling you can still be a drunkard and go to telling you you can still do all this stuff and live a lifestyle this way and you're gonna be okay does that sound i mean if you're hearing a preacher say it sounds pretty good doesn't it i can have my cake you need it too right and go the club on saturday and go to church on sunday and everything's cool right well y'all know what i'm talking telling the truth if that's not mentality out there i don't know what is right look at this through much wantedness so they it's interesting he says those that were clean while they promised them liberty oh you're free to do what you want to do they themselves are servants of corruption for the same of who for of who a man is overcome with the same he's brought into bondage now look at verse 20 this you ought to underline your bible right here these next three verses for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the lord and savior jesus christ and they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them but it happened unto them according to the true proverb the dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sour the pig that was washed to her wallowing in the mire boy you ought to let this sink in let's let's just go through this real quick here for if after they escape the pollutions of the world is there any other way to escape the pollutions of the world except through the knowledge or an experience with jesus christ in being washed in the blood true christians only believe that jesus christ is the way that he is god in the flesh that he died on the cross and that only his blood
so he says these people if after they escaped the pollutions of the world they came to jesus maybe in tears maybe at a church altar maybe out on the street but they came to jesus they believed jesus died for them that they needed a savior they needed to be washed at the darkness and the in the junk in their heart and they come to jesus and said and then they were cleaned they were cleansed from the pollutions of the world peter says clearly if they are entangled therein again they go back to that lifestyle and are overcome meaning they die in that lifestyle it takes over their lives and they never come out of it thank god we can come out of it didn't the prodigal come home but let me tell you if you die before you come home you have been overcome for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge the word knowledge there means an understanding gained by experience if after they have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the lord and savior jesus christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning for it had been better for them [Music] not to have known the way of righteous who is the way brother that's right jesus said i am the way the truth and the life it had been better for them not to have known the way of right let me ask you something someone who's never known jesus never known the way of righteousness and they die where do they go according to the bible they don't go to heaven eternal judgment hell lake of fire forever all eternity revelation says the smoke of their torment will ascend day and night forever not pleasant but here he says it had been better for them not to ever have known yet to have known and turn away from it what does that mean it's going to be worse for those who knew it's going to be worse for those who lived in the father's house and left is drinking worth going to hell over is sexual sin worth going to have is pornography worth going to hell over is unforgiveness hatred racism bitterness is any of that stuff worth it i you know what one thing the only reason i'm glad sometimes that when i was a teenager and an early college student that i i that i did experience some of those things because you know what i found out about all that junk out there it wasn't what everybody made it out to
me i've hung my head over the toilet many a night saying i would never drink again you know i'm just gonna i'm gonna just be blunt this morning i remember my first sexual experience let me tell you what i felt that the moment it was over and i was walking back toward my house i never felt such a dark cloud of depression and darkness roll over me there was no joy in it i remember it was i remember feeling horrible but you know what we do in the world and when we're living you know what we do we ignore that and we go get another beer to try to keep that feeling away and what that is is god trying to say stop this this will destroy you in this life and the next the problem is if we don't stop the next time we do it the conviction the conscience is not as it's not as loud anymore and then the next time you do it it's even fainter and fainter and then you get to a point where your conscience is seared and you look at people who say you ought to do the right thing and you think they're evil this is where it goes the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step the reason i preach like this is and the reason i talk about these things is i know where they lead i've been there i did it but i thank god that when i was blind by my own quenching of my conscience and by the satanic powers blind in me that god sent somebody in his mercy and woke me up i shared that last week are you home or are you out there making excuses the prodigal had to come home to be forgiven he had to come home to be restored he had to change his mind he had to become humble but there was somebody else in the in the father's house too you know what and somebody else was his older brother and guess what even though he stayed at home
his heart was messed up because he had jealousy issues he accused his father being unfair he didn't really care about his brother he but he sure was quick to point out his brother's sin right his heart was as messed up as his brothers was when he was out in the world we're not going to get on that one until next week let's pray father we thank you lord that the word is truth whether we like it or not we believe the bible is your word and we believe that you care for us lord that you want us to know the truth because only the truth will make us free father i thank you for your grace and your goodness that you lord you don't give up on us but we choose we ultimately choose to come home we ultimately choose to give up the things that will destroy us to give up a lifestyle we choose we can go from being dead to being alive we can go from being lost to being found it's really us you never you never left where you were we left i love how people lord try to talk about no one can pluck us from your hand lord they don't have to we walk out of it you don't force us to stay lord i pray in jesus name that if there are any prodigal sons or daughters are any being lured in that direction you spoke to them this morning