A High Day in Heaven
(No. 2791)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 10, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE
27, 1878.
"Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10.
EARTH has engrossed our thoughts too long. It is time that we should
lift our eyes and look upward to Heaven. Do you say that you cannot see
as far as that? Look again and ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes,
for the Lord Jesus has set the gate wide open that you may at least get
a glimpse of what is going on in the Glory Land. He has plainly
declared to you many of the things which He has seen and heard of the
Father–and if you will only give good heed to His words, you shall be
enabled, by the eye of faith, to see what to mortal eyes is invisible!
Gaze thus upon the scene depicted in our text. They have an eternal
Sabbath in Heaven, but the Sabbath of which our text speaks is,
evidently, a specially high day. They have all holy days there, but now
it is a holiday as well as a holy day, for there is some special cause
for unusual joy! What is it all about? Our Lord tells us that "there is
joy"–very special "joy in the presence of the angels of God"–and He
tells us what is the cause of it. Let us draw near and see for
ourselves this great sight and seek to learn its lessons. The heavenly
harpers are evoking from their golden harps even sweeter music than
usual! They are lifting up their voices as high as even their exalted
notes can possibly rise. We will listen to them, but we will also
remember the reason for their jubilation. We are told, by our Lord, the
special "joy in the presence of the angels of God" is "over one sinner
who repents."
Now, you workers for the Master, you sweepers in the dust looking for
the lost pieces of money! You candle-holders who have been shedding
your feeble rays as far as you can–and who have become somewhat
weary–now come and refresh yourselves by looking upon some of the
results of your service! And you, who in imitation of the great, good,
Chief Shepherd, have gone after the lost sheep and are scratched by
many a briar and tired after your many desperate leaps over hill and
dale–forget your weariness for a while–and begin to share in the joy
of Christ's servants as you see how, before the Throne of God on high,
they are making merry over the souls that are being saved! I do not
think that anything can be more comforting to you who are serving the
Lord than to see what comes of your service. You, who have been going
forth weeping, bearing precious seed–wipe your eyes and look
above–and begin to anticipate the time when you shall come again with
rejoicing, bringing your sheaves with you, for, up yonder they are
shouting, "Harvest home!" with great delight!
And while I thus invite the working saint, I would equally invite the
seeking sinner to note the cause of this special joy of Heaven. It is
about persons like yourselves! O you wandering sheep, the joy is over
wandering sheep that have been found by the Divine Shepherd! O prodigal
sons, the merriment is over sons who were dead, but who are alive
again– wanderers who were lost, but now are found! It should, surely,
encourage you to hasten home while yet the joy-bells are ringing and
the dance is going on! Get home as quickly as you can, for, as they are
rejoicing over one Brother or Sister like yourself, everything will be
in readiness for welcoming you and the Father will only need to say,
"Let us keep up the feast, for here is another of My children that I
had lost, but who now is found." It is evidently a propitious season–a
time in which bright hopes ought to be kindled within you and the birds
within your soul should begin to sing in sweet anticipation of the
bliss awaiting you! Arise, then, and go to your Father–He is rejoicing
over those who have come back to Him–and He will equally rejoice over
you!
I. In considering this passage, I shall ask you, first, to NOTE THE
TERMS IN WHICH OUR LORD JESUS DESCRIBES THIS HEAVENLY JOY–"There is
joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
And notice, first, in these terms, that this joy is over one sinner.
What the joy is over hundreds, thousands and millions of sinners, you
can scarcely imagine, but Jesus tells us that "there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner." That one may be a poor
servant girl, or a working man whose name will never be known to
fame–and there is only one–but the angels are not so sparing of the
praises of God that they will wait till there is a score of penitents!
They see them gathering Home one by one and they are glad of every
opportunity of expressing their special delight at the increasing
number of the redeemed. So, as they come to Jesus, one by one, the
blessed spirits before the Throne of God begin to sing with special
thanksgiving for every sinner saved. Have you taught for a long time in
your Sunday school class and have you had only one girl saved? Do not
be satisfied with that one, but, at the same time, do not forget to
thank the Lord for that one. If you are not grateful to God for letting
you win one soul for Him, you are not likely to be allowed to win
another. Remember that the conversion of one sinner is, in Heaven,
reckoned to be such a marvel that it makes special joy there in the
presence of the angels of God!
Surely, then, the salvation of even one soul ought to make your spirit
exult and rejoice with exceeding joy! If you have lived to bring one
sinner to Christ, you have not lived in vain. Has not God already given
to you in that one, my dear Brother, my dear Sister, much more than
such an unworthy creature as you might ever have expected to gain? I
say again, cry for more blessing, be greedy to win hundreds of souls
for the Savior, but, still, do not neglect to praise God for the one
whom He has already saved.
I like to dwell upon the thought that the person who caused this melody
in Heaven was "one sinner." I do not know what sort of a sinner that
one was, but I should not wonder if the conversion of special sinners
makes special joy up there. Was that "one sinner" a publican, a
hard-hearted Jewish tax-gatherer? Was that one sinner a harlot, lost
even to society as well as to her God? We do not know, but we do know
that as they would rejoice in Heaven over one king, or one prince, or
one senator, or one philosopher who repented–so they would over one
publican or one harlot! The angels and the redeemed in Glory know that
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." They know that the
precious blood of Christ was shed to cleanse sinners from every stain
of sin. They know that the sweetest singers throughout eternity will be
those who once were sinners, so they rejoice over any and every sinner
who is saved! Out of a certain company of a hundred, there were 99
people who had not gone astray–according to their notions–and the
spirits in Heaven did not rejoice over them. No, you mere moralists,
you people who are so excellent in your own esteem who reckon that you
will gain admission to Heaven by your own good deeds, you will never
make the angels sing until you repent! But the poor lost sinner,
however deeply he has plunged into crime, when he becomes a monument of
the saving and renewing Grace of God, sets all the golden harps ringing
with the melodious music of praise and thanksgiving unto the Most High!
Notice, next, that the rejoicing is "over one sinner who repents. "To
repent is to be sorry for sin–to undergo a complete change of mind,
heart and life–to turn away from self to Christ. In a word, to be
converted, that is, turned completely around. Yet many people,
nowadays, think very little of repentance. Some ministers whom I know
scarcely even mention it in their preaching, so that their hearers may
well imagine that it is out of date. They seem to believe in a kind of
faith that ignores repentance. Well, they differ very much in their
estimate from that of the angels and the spirits ofjust men made
perfect, for they rejoice "over one sinner who repents." The poor
sinner has not yet the faith that moves mountains, or the heroism that
takes lions by their beards and slays them. The poor sinner has not yet
preached a sermon, or even sung a hymn to the praise of God–he has
simply sat down in some obscure corner and wept over his sin! He has
returned to his God and said, "Father, I have sinned." But that was
sufficient to make the angels sing!
I want you to remember this, you who are just beginning to come to
Christ–you who have only a little Grace–the very faintest evidence of
the work of God's Spirit in your soul. You are Believers, or else you
would not be penitents, for there is no true repentance but that which
is accompanied by faith! But the most prominent thing is not so much
your faith as your holy mourning and moaning over sin, your sincere
desire after holiness–this is the proof of that change of mind which
is the essence of true repentance–and this is such a work of Grace
that there is joy over you in the presence of the angels of God!
I want you also to notice, with regard to the terms used by our Lord,
that He says, "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God. "Is
there not always joy there? Certainly! Is there ever any sorrow up
yonder in the courts of the Most
High? Do cherubim and seraphim ever pine and cry, and sigh in agony?
Never! Then, what can this joy be which makes Heaven even more joyous
than it usually is? I do not know whether you or I can conceive what it
must be–what I may call the ordinary, everyday joy of Heaven is
perfect, yet there is something over and above that in this rejoicing
over penitents. It is a bliss above bliss! A joy that rises out of joy
like some huge Atlantic billow that towers above all the rest of the
waves. They have a special, extra, doubly distilled joy in Heaven,
sometimes, and that comes to them whenever one sinner repents! I think
I can explain it a little by an expression of Rutherford's, in which he
says, "God is my witness that my own Heaven would be seven heavens if I
could but see you saved. If I could but see souls brought to Christ, my
own bliss would be sevenfold bliss." Yes, and so it is with the spirits
before the Throne of God! They are always happy, but, sometimes the joy
that is always full begins to overflow and down from the celestial
hills there rushes a sacred torrent that carries all before it! And
this unusual delight of those who are in the presence of God is caused
by one sinner repenting and returning to the Lord!
I have only one more remark to make under this first head, and it is
this–our Lord does not say that the angels rejoice over one sinner who
repents, but that "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents." Who, then, has the joy? The angels, of
course, first. They must be included because the previous parable says
that when the Shepherd comes home, "He calls together his friends and
neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep
which was lost." The redeemed from among men and the holy angels are
the friends and neighbors of Christ–and they all rejoice over every
sinner who repents. But, first of all, this joy is the joy of God,
Himself. The angels and the redeemed stand in His Presence–they are
His courtiers–but He Himself is the center, and Glory, and Lord of
All–it is God Himself who rejoices "over one sinner who repents." God
the Father rejoices, for has He not found His child whom He had lost,
the child whom He loved, before the foundation of the world, with all
the love of His infinite heart?
God the Son rejoices, for has He not found the sheep which the Father
gave Him–the sheep which He was pledged to bring safely home–the
sheep for which He paid the purchase price in His own heart's
blood–the sheep which, though it had wandered far away from Him, He
had brought home? God the Spirit also rejoices, for did He not see, in
the soul's repentance, the fruit of His working, the result of His
enlightenment, the consequence of His convicting and the commencement
of the whole work of sanctification? Yes, dear Brothers and
Sisters–Father, Son and Spirit–the one God of the spiritual
Israel–rejoices greatly "over one sinner who repents." I can hardly
convey to you the delight that I have in this thought! God is always
full ofjoy. He is rightly called "the happy God," yet even He describes
Himself as being, in some mysterious manner, more happy at one season
than at another! I am, of course, speaking after the manner of men,
but, then, we are only men and we can only speak after our own manner
as the prophet Zephaniah does when he says, " He will rejoice over you
with joy. He will rest in His love, He will joy over you with singing."
So that repentance of one sinner gives joy to the Eternal, Himself! Who
would not, then, repent of sin and so give joy to God and, at the same
time, find the highest joy for himself?
Thus I have noticed the terms in which our Lord Jesus describes this
heavenly joy.
II. Now, secondly, I want you, very briefly, to CONSIDER THE REASONS
WHY THERE IS THIS JOY IN HEAVEN.
First, God rejoices over every sinner who repents, because He then sees
one of His creatures delivered from the horrible power of sin. God is
full of benevolence toward men. He wills not the death of the sinner
and He is delighted when the creature, whom He has made, becomes happy
because he has become holy. He is glad when those, whom He has
fashioned, enjoy the delights which He intended for them.
God rejoices, too, when a sinner repents, because He then sees, not
only one of His creatures, but a new creature in Christ Jesus. He sees
His own handiwork in that heart. We all like to see our own work when
it is well done. Nobody wants to see bad work, but every worker
rejoices in good work. And God rejoices in the good work of
regeneration, the good work of the renewal of the heart, restoration
from death and rescue from Hell.
Especially does God delight in every sinner who repents, because He
then sees His own child restored to Him. He who has the heart of a true
father knows what joy he has when he sees his boy, who has gone astray,
coming back again– when he returns from the distant land to which he
went in an ill humor, and comes home weeping and mourning, but loving
and gentle and anxious to be better. Thus God rejoices over His
returning children. There is no earthly father who
can love as God loves–and if all the love of all the fathers in the
world were made into one, it would not equal the love which God has for
even one of His children! So He rejoices with peculiar joy when He sees
any of His children repenting and returning to Him.
Moreover, God always rejoices in everything that is holy and good and,
therefore, He rejoices in a sinner's repentance. It is a right and holy
thing that a sinner should repent of doing wrong. It is the beginning
of something higher, nobler and better when a soul comes to the turning
point, confesses its lost condition and seeks to be set right. And,
therefore, because the Lord is good and righteous, He will teach
transgressors His ways and when He sees them walking in that way, He
will rejoice and be glad concerning them!
III. I will not remind you of all the reasons for the great Father's
joy over returning sinners because you can all think
them out for yourselves. But I will, instead, say a little about THE
JOY OF THE ANGELS OVER REPENTING SINNERS. Why is it that they, who are
the friends, neighbors and servants of Christ, are so glad when sinners
repent? They are not themselves sinners–they are not even men! They
have no part in the great redemption of Christ. "For verily He took not
up angels, but He took up the seed of Abraham." Why, then, do the
angels rejoice over repenting sinners?
Well it is, first, because they are so fully in sympathy with God.
Whatever pleases God, pleases them. The growth of holiness delights the
Most High and, therefore, it delights His loyal courtiers. The coming
back of Jehovah's wandering children gladdens Him and it, therefore,
gladdens every servant in the family. You can see, in the parable, that
the servant who went out to speak to the elder brother had his measure
of joy over the prodigal's return. He speaks in happy and grateful
tones–and the spirits before the Throne of God cannot help being glad
when God is glad. Will loyal subjects be sighing and crying when their
king has a day of special rejoicing and is peculiarly honored? It
cannot be! And the angels would not be what they are–the true and
faithful servitors of God–if they were not glad when God is glad!
But besides that, they also have great sympathy with men. It would be
worth your while to study the subject of the friendship of angels to
men–their kindly feeling, the joy with which they have often brought
God's messages to men, the delight with which they have interposed, at
critical times, to accomplish the miraculous designs upon which God has
sent them on behalf of men. They are, indeed, most gracious spirits! We
must not worship them–we are forbidden to do that–for we must worship
God alone. But we may feel an intense amity, friendship and respect
towards those bright and blessed spirits. What we owe to them, we shall
never know, I suppose, till eternity. And then we shall set it all down
to the Glory of their Master and ours! Still, he who thinks well of God
may think well of God's holy angels on the principle of, "Love Me, love
My servants." Does He not give them charge over us, to keep us in all
our ways? Do they not bear us up in their hands, lest we should dash
our foot against a stone? "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent
forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" They are
not actually akin to us, but still, they are very near neighbors to us
and they are very kind and helpful neighbors! So, when they see a soul
saved, they are right glad of it.
Further, they know better than you and I do, what a soul is saved from
when a sinner repents. They have looked over the battlements of Heaven
into the dread abyss–they recollect the day when there was war in
Heaven and the mighty Son of God overthrew Satan and his rebel
followers and cast them down to Hell. The holy angels know that it was
God's electing love that enabled them to stand fast in that evil day.
They know, too, that God passed by the fallen angels and never gave
them a hope of recovery, or promised them a Mediator. Yet they do not
envy men because God, in the Sovereignty of His Grace, has provided for
them a Savior. They rejoice to know that repenting men shall never be
cast into the Lake of Fire, the awful place prepared for the devil and
his angels. They have none of the modern infidel notions, for they have
seen that there is a worm that dies not and a fire that cannot be
quenched, so they lift up their songs right gladly whenever a sinner is
saved from going down into the Pit!
Besides this, the angels know what repenting sinners gain, for they
have long frequented the golden streets and walked by the river of the
Water of Life. They know the bliss of beholding Christ face to
face–have they not done so ever since He returned to Heaven to sit
upon His Father's Throne? When a man is very happy because he is very
holy, he wants other people to be happy, too, and he feels all the
happier the more there are to share in his joy. Our proverb "The more,
the merrier," just expresses what the angels think, so they rejoice,
with the utmost gladness, over those who repent because they know that,
for them, there is laid up in Heaven the triple crown of life, glory
and righteousness, that fades not away.
One thought I cannot help interjecting just here. I am sure that these
holy angels all believe in the Doctrine of the Final Perseverance of
the Saints. If they did not, they would be very foolish in rejoicing
over repenting sinners. The old proverb bids us not to count our
chickens before they are hatched–and if I were an Arminian, I would
recommend the angels to not rejoice over a sinner who repents, for he
might fall from Grace and perish–and then they would have to ring the
bells of Heaven backwards, or to toll them, and to recall their songs,
and say, "We rejoiced too soon." But it is not so, for they know that
repentance has in it the germ of perfection! Sincere repentance is the
commencement of perfect sanctification and God will make it grow to
full fruition! This grain of mustard seed will become a great tree and
yonder birds of Paradise shall sit in the branches and sing to God's
praise forever! So they begin to sing even now because they know what
true repentance guarantees concerning the future of everyone who truly
repents and believes in Christ Jesus!
Thus I have tried to give, in as brief a space as I could, the reasons
for the joy of God and the joy of God's servants, the angels, over
repenting sinners. There are just two lessons I want each one of us to
learn and then I have done.
The first is a lesson of self-examination. Are you and I fit for
Heaven? Have we the nature which would fit us to dwell in the presence
of the angels of God? You say, "Well, you have set us a hard task." No,
I have not. Or if so, I will help you through it. The angels rejoice
"over one sinner who repents." Do you rejoice over repenting sinners?
Having yourself repented, do you feel intense sympathy for other
sinners? Do you dread lest they should be lost? Do you pray that they
may be saved? Do you seek, by your personal testimony and entreaty, to
bring them to Christ? Can you truthfully say that it would be Heaven on
earth to you to see your children converted–your servants
converted–your neighbors converted? Alas, there are many professors
who do not care the turn of a halfpenny whether souls are lost or
saved! Their one desire is to be saved themselves, but, as to doing
anything to spread the Gospel of Jesus–denying themselves that the
poor and ignorant may know of Christ–that is not in their line at all!
But, Sir, if you have no concern about another man's soul, it is time
that you should have grave concern about your own! If no joy comes to
you when another is saved, you have need to be saved yourself! And if
the thought of the future world and the ruin of immortal souls never
makes you bow your head even to the dust, you need to be born-again,
for they who are born in the likeness of Christ weep over sinners, pray
for sinners and seek the salvation of sinners! By this test, I beseech
you to try yourselves. There is not one among us who may not well chide
himself for some measure of hardness of heart and indifference about
this matter. I often feel as if I could flog myself and bite my tongue,
to think that I preach so often with dry eyes and with a heart that is
not half as earnest as it ought to be. Yet I have heard colder sermons
than I generally preach, so I suppose that my Brothers must be
partakers in my fault, or else their manner much belies them. And I
think I know some members of the church who must make a similar
confession to mine. Oh, that we were all alive to the real value of an
immortal soul! Did we but believe that it is born for eternal bliss, or
doomed to eternal despair, I think that we would go about as with a
sword in our bones, mourning because of the multitude of mankind
rushing madly upon Jehovah's buckler, dashing themselves against the
bosses of His shield and seeming determined to commit spiritual
suicide! God save them! Let us pray that prayer from our inmost souls.
If we do not, how can we hope to ever enter that Heaven where they
rejoice over repenting sinners?
The other lesson is for any of you who are seeking Christ Jesus the
Lord. I gave it to you at the commencement of the sermon. I want to
give it to you again that you may be sure to remember it. How gladly,
how heartily, how immediately ought you to hasten to seek peace with
God when you know how joyously you will be welcomed! If it will make
Heaven all the gladder to see you come, why do you not come? I have
read, sometimes, in the newspaper, an advertisement to this effect–"A.
B." or somebody else whose initials are given, "is earnestly entreated
to come back to his loving father and mother. All is forgiven.
Everything is made right. Do not delay! Come back to us at once." If I
were to read such an advertisement as that, and it referred to me, I do
not think I could have the heart to stand out against it. I would be
thinking of my father, "What? Does the old man want me as much as
that?" I would be thinking of my brother, "Does he want to see me?" I
would think even of the old servant of the family, "Does old Mary want
to see me? She who nursed me when I was a child, does she want me back?
Well, with such an invitation, I will go at once." Dear Heart, do you
want to come back to God? That is a sign that the Lord wants you back!
You will be glad to get back to Him, but He will be gladder to receive
you than you will be to be received! And all the angels want you–they
are watching and waiting for you. And those on earth who love our Lord,
are, many of them, very anxious about you. The whole Church of God in
Heaven and on earth, and the goodly fellowship of the angels, and God
Himself, will all be glad to receive you! Come and welcome!
Come and welcome! I wish I had a trumpet-tongue that I might sound the
invitation out still more loudly! Remember that verse with which we
began the service–
"From the Cross uplifted high
Where the Savior deigns to die,
What melodious sounds I hear,
Bursting on my ravished ear!
'Love's redeeming work is done;
Come and welcome, Sinner, come. You have but to trust Him and you have
come to Him–to rely upon Him–to depend upon Him–to lean upon Him–
to cast yourself upon Him, to believe in Christ Jesus, who died, the
Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God– for, as soon as
you do so, you are brought back to the great Father's house. May the
Divine Spirit bring you there now, for His love's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE 15.
Verse 1. Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners to hear
Him. However sunken they might be, they knew their best Friend! They
recognized their Benefactor, so they gathered around Him. They knew who
it was that smiled upon them and who would lift them up, so they came
clustering around Him, like bees fly to the flowers. "Then drew near
unto Him all the publicans and sinners to hear Him."
2. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This Man receives
sinners, and eats with them. Where bees come, wasps often come, too.
This murmuring of the Pharisees and scribes was after their
nature–they were so proud, so wrapped up in themselves, they thought
so contemptuously of everybody else that they dared even to despise Him
whose shoelaces they were not worthy to unloose. "This Man," they said,
"receives sinners, and eats with them."
3. And He spoke this parable unto them, saying. This is really a
picture in three panels–a parable with three variations.
4-7. What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he loses one of them,
does not leave the 99 in the wilderness, and go after that which is
lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his
shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his
friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have
found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall
be in Heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over 99 just
persons which need no repentance. There, no doubt, the Savior looked at
the Pharisees, who, though they did need repentance, yet thought they
did not. Little or no joy did they ever bring to Him–His heart never
leaped with delight over them. Good as they thought themselves to be,
they did not yield Him as much joy as these poor publicans and sinners
would when He had found them–and He was bent on doing that. Now,
Beloved, how much is a man better than a sheep? And if a shepherd will
leave all his ease and comfort to hunt after one stray sheep, how ought
you and I, after the example of the Son of Man, to be ready for any
service, or any self-denial by which we, too, in our poor measure, may
seek and save the lost? Now we have the second panel of the picture
8-10. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she loses one
piece, does not light a candle, and sweep the house, and search
diligently till she finds it And when she has found it, she calls her
friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have
found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is
joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
Did the woman rejoice at finding her piece of silver, that she had
lost, and shall not God much more rejoice over an inestimably precious
human soul which had been lost, but which, through Grace, is found
again? Ah, yes, there is joy in Heaven! There is joy in all heavenly
hearts! There is joy in all who are the friends of Christ when lost
ones are found! There was another quiet stroke at the Pharisees and
scribes who were proved not to be the friends of the soul-seeking
Savior because they did not rejoice with Him over those whom He had
found. If they had been at all like the angels in Heaven, as they
thought they were, they would have been glad that the Lord Jesus Christ
had come to seek and to find the lost. Then came the third most
touching panel of the picture–perhaps the best beloved of all the
parables–one which, like a key, fits the locks of the human heart and
many a time has opened the heart.
11-13. And He said, A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them
said to 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 riotous living. It is
clear that his heart had gone away from his father before he went away.
He would not have wished to take from his father his portion of goods,
or to be independent of his father, if he had not felt a spirit of
alienation and, therefore, what his father did, developed the latent
evil, just as, oftentimes, the loving mercy of God brings to the
surface the concealed sin which is in man all the while and then he
sins the more openly. It is a grievous thing that even Divine Love
should lead us to sin– not of itself, but because of our evil
nature–just as the sun shines, not that it may make the weeds grow, or
that it may help to lift into the air noxious odors! With goodwill,
itself, as its only motive, ill may come even of the pure sunlight.
14, 15. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that
land and he began to be in need. And he went and joined himself to a
citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
A very degrading employment for him as a Jew–perhaps, however, the
best that the citizen of that country could do for him, for there was a
famine in the land. And when men are all pinched with hunger, it is not
much that one can do for another. And what can one poor sinner do for
another? Even though he is called a priest and puts on fine apparel,
yet what can he do for his fellow sinner?
16, 17. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the husks that
the swine did eat. But no man gave any unto him. And when he came to
himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread
enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!' 'I, his son, perish
with hunger, when there is not only enough in my father's house for his
children, but for his hirelings, too! Yes, and some to spare after
that." "Bread enough and to spare." This was the thought which drew the
prodigal home–and it ought to draw sinners to Christ. There is, in the
Gospel, "bread enough and to spare." You know how some would, if they
could, contract the provisions of Grace and make it out that there is
bread enough, but they say that if there is anything to spare, it will
be a waste. Why, it is that "spare" bread that is God's bait to catch
poor souls with when they are cast down, "for," they say, "if it is to
spare, then, even if my father is angry with me, he will not deny me
the spare bread for which there is no use, so I may as well go and ask
for a portion of it."
18-20. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father,
I have sinned against Heaven, and before you, and 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 when he was yet a great way off, his
father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and
kissed him. Oh, the speed of Divine Love! There were delays with the
son, but there were no delays with the father. At the first glance, the
father's heart is made up and he runs to meet his returning child. And
what a welcome he gives him! He "kissed him much," is the right
rendering. Truly, this was prodigal love for the prodigal son!
21, 22. 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–Stopping him short and forever obliterating the rest of
the prayer, so that he never had time to utter it, seeing that it was
too legal to be permitted by his father's love. "But the father"–
22-25. Said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on
him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring here
the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry; for this, my
son, was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they
began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field. At work, like
the good son that he was.
25. Andas he came and drewnear to the house, he heardmusic and dancing.
Which he did not often hear, for he was of a gloomy spirit, and there
had not been cause for much rejoicing lately.
26. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things
meant.' 'What are you all up to in making such a noise? What new thing
has happened to our orderly household to make it thus full of
merrymaking and noisy gladness?"
27. 28. And he said unto him, Your brother is come and your father has
killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound. And
he was angry. It did not seem to him right that one who had acted so
badly should be thus honored. "He was angry"–
28. And would not go in. He did not believe in revivals, so he would
not attend them. He did not believe in many being converted, especially
if they had been great sinners. He would have nothing to do with them.
28. Therefore came his father out and entreated him. Oh, the goodness
of the father, not only in receiving the returning prodigal, but in
entreating this indignant and erring son, for he was greatly erring in
this matter and was not showing the true spirit of a son.
29, 30. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years have
I served you, neither transgressed I at any time your commandment: and
yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
but as soon as this your son was come, which has devoured your living
with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted calf "I am a
consistent Christian. I have maintained the excellence of my moral
character. I have tried to be orthodox and attentive to all religious
duties. You know that it is so, yet I seldom have any joy in my
religion. 'You never gave me a kid.' I go trembling and mourning all my
days. I get very little delight out of my religion, yet here is one
just converted, and all this fuss is made over him and he is rejoicing,
too. You feast him with the best fatted calf. He is as glad as glad can
be, and everybody is glad about him but nobody seems to take much
notice of me. I go on my steady quiet course and I have never caused
you such grief as this your son has done."
31. And he said unto him–So beautifully–
31. Son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours. And that
is what the Lord seems to say to the Believer when he gets into that
naughty spirit of the elder brother and does not like to hear of
sinners of the deepest dye being brought to Christ–and who disapproves
of the jubilation and excitement at revival times. The Lord says to
him, "Suppose you have not had such enjoyments? You may have them if
you like, for you are always with Me. There is joy enough in that fact
and all that I have is yours. You are joint-heir with Me. I have given
you everything–what more do you
want?"
32. And it was meet–"It was fitting, it was proper."
32. That we should make merry, and be glad: for this, your brother. '
'For he is your brother. Notwithstanding your richer experience and
your deeper Christian knowledge, and your high standing in the church,
this poor prodigal, who is just saved, is your brother! So it is meet
that we should make merry and be glad, for this, your brother"–
32. Was dead, andis alive again; and was lost, andis found.