Prodigal Love for the Prodigal Son

Prodigal Love for the Prodigal Son

(No. 2236)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 27, 1891,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH
29, 1891.

"And kissed him." Luke 15:20.

IN the Revised Version, if you will kindly look at the margin, you will
find that the text there reads, "and kissed him much." This is a very
good translation of the Greek which might bear the meaning, "Kissed him
earnestly," or, "Kissed him eagerly," or, "Kissed him often." I prefer
to have it in very plain language and, therefore, adopt the marginal
reading of the Revised Version, "Kissed him much," as the text of my
sermon, the subject of which will be the overflowing love of God toward
the returning sinner.

The first word, "and," links us on to all that had gone before. The
parable is a very familiar one, yet it is so full of sacred meaning
that it always has some fresh lesson for us. Let us, then, consider the
preliminaries to this kissing. On the son's side, there was something,
and on the father's side, much more. Before the prodigal son received
these kisses of love, he had said in the far country, "I will arise and
go to my father." He had, however, done more than that, otherwise his
father's kiss would never have been upon his cheek. The resolve had
become a deed–"He arose, and came to his father." A bushel full of
resolutions is of small value–a single grain of practice is worth the
whole. The determination to return home is good, but it is when the
wandering boy begins the business of really carrying out the good
resolve that he draws near the blessing. If any of you here present
have long been saying, "I will repent. I will turn to God," leave off
resolving and come to practicing! And may God, in His mercy, lead you
both to repent and to believe in Christ!

Before the kisses of love were given, this young man was on his way to
his father, but he would not have reached him unless his father had
come the major part of the way. When you give God an inch, He will give
you a mile. If you come a little way to Him, when you are "yet a great
way off" He will run to meet you. I do not know that the prodigal saw
his father, but his father saw him. The eyes of mercy are quicker than
the eyes of repentance. Even the eyes of our faith are dim compared
with the eyes of God's love. He sees a sinner long before a sinner sees
Him!

I do not suppose that the prodigal traveled very fast. I should imagine
that he came very slowly–

"With hea vy heart and downcast eye, With many a sob and many a sigh."
He was resolved to come, yet he was half afraid. But we read that his
father ran. Slow are the steps of repentance, but swift are the feet of
forgiveness! God can run where we can scarcely limp and if we are
limping towards Him, He will run towards us. These kisses were given in
a hurry. The story is narrated in a way that almost makes us realize
that such was the case–there is a sense of haste in the very wording
of it. His father "ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him"– kissed
him eagerly! He did not delay a moment, for though he was out of
breath, he was not out of love. "He fell on his neck, and kissed him
much." There stood his son ready to confess his sin–therefore did his
father kiss him all the more. The more willing you are to acknowledge
your sin, the more willing is God to forgive you. When you make a clean
breast of it, God will soon make a clear record of it. He will wipe out
the sin that you willingly acknowledge and humbly confess before Him.
He that was willing to use his lips for confession found that his
father was willing to use his lips for kissing him!

See the contrast. There is the son, scarcely daring to think of
embracing his father, yet his father has scarcely seen him before he
has fallen on his neck! The condescension of God towards penitent
sinners is very great. He seems to stoop from His Throne of Glory to
fall upon the neck of a repentant sinner. God on the neck of a sinner!
What a wonderful pic-

ture! Can you conceive it? I do not think you can, but if you cannot
imagine it, I hope that you will realize it. When God's arm is about
our neck, and His lips are on our cheek, kissing us much, then we
understand more than preachers or books can ever tell us of His
condescending love!

The father "saw" his son. There is a great deal in that word, "saw." He
saw who it was. He saw where he had come from. He saw the swineherd's
dress. He saw the filth upon his hands and feet. He saw his rags, saw
his penitent look, saw what he had been, saw what he was and saw what
he would soon be. "His father saw him." God has a way of seeing men and
women that you and I cannot understand. He sees right through us at a
glance, as if we were made of glass. He sees all our past, present and
future.

"When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him." It was not with
icy eyes that the father looked on his returning son. Love leaped into
them and as he beheld him, he, "had compassion on him." That is, he
felt for him. There was no anger in his heart towards his son. He had
nothing but pity for his poor boy who had got into such a pitiable
condition. It was true that it was all his own fault, but that did not
come before his father's mind. It was the state that he was in– his
poverty, his degradation–that pale face of his so wan with hunger that
touched his father to the quick. And God has compassion on the woes and
miseries of men. They may have brought their troubles on themselves and
they have, indeed, done so. But, nevertheless, God has compassion upon
them. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because
His compassions fail not."

We read that the father, "ran." The compassion of God is followed by
swift movements. He is slow to anger, but He is quick to bless. He does
not take any time to consider how He shall show His love to penitent
prodigals–that was all done long ago in the Eternal Covenant. He has
no need to prepare for their return to Him–that was all done on
Calvary. God comes flying in the greatness of His compassion to help
every poor penitent soul–

"On cherub and on cherubim, Full royally He rode! And on the wings of
mighty winds Came flying all abroad."

And when He comes, He comes to kiss! Master Trapp says that if we had
read that the father had kicked his prodigal son, we should not have
been very much astonished. Well, I would have been very greatly
astonished, seeing that the father in the parable was to represent God!
But still, his son deserved all the rough treatment that some heartless
men might have given and, had the story been only that of a selfish
human father, it might have been written that, "as he was coming near,
his father ran at him and kicked him." There are such fathers in the
world, who seem as if they cannot forgive. If he had kicked him, it
would have been no more than he had deserved. But no, what is written
in the Bible stands true for all time and for every sinner–"He fell on
his neck, and kissed him"–kissed him eagerly, kissed him much!

What does this much kissing mean? It signifies that when sinners come
to God, He gives them a loving reception and a hearty welcome. If any
of you, while I am speaking, shall come to God, expecting mercy because
of the great Sacrifice of Christ, this shall be true of you as it has
been true of many of us–"He kissed him much."

I. First, this much kissing means MUCH LOVE. It means much love truly
felt, for God never gives an expression of love without feeling it in
His infinite heart. God will never give a Judas kiss and betray those
whom He embraces. There is no hypocrisy with God–He never kisses those
for whom He has no love. Oh, how God loves sinners! You who repent and
come to Him will discover how greatly He loves you! There is no
measuring the love He bears towards you. He has loved you from before
the foundation of the world and He will love you when time shall be no
more! Oh, the immeasurable love of God to sinners who come and cast
themselves upon His mercy!

This much kissing also means much love manifested. God's people do not
always know the greatness of His love to them. Sometimes, however, it
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
Some of us know, at times, what it is to be almost too happy to live!
The love of God has been so overpoweringly experienced by us on some
occasions that we have almost had to ask for a stay of the delight
because we could not endure any more! If the Glory had not been veiled
a little, we would have died of excess of rapture, or happiness!
Beloved, God has wondrous ways of opening His people's hearts to the
manifestation of His Grace. He can pour in, not now and then a drop of
His love, but great and mighty streams! Madame Guyon used to speak of
the torrents of love that come swooping through the spirit, bearing all
before them. The poor prodigal in the parable had so much love
manifested to him that he might have sung of the tor-

rents of his father's affection. That is the way God receives those
whom He saves, giving them not a meager measure of Grace, but
manifesting an overflowing love!

This much kissing means, further, much love perceived. When his father
kissed him much, the poor prodigal knew, if never before, that his
father loved him. He had no doubt about it. He had a clear perception
of it. It is very frequently the case that the first moment a sinner
believes in Jesus, he gets this "much" love. God reveals it to him and
he perceives it and enjoys it at the very beginning. Think not that God
always keeps the best wine for the last–He gives us some of the
richest dainties of His table the first moment we sit there! I remember
the joy that I had when first I believed in Jesus and, even now, in
looking back upon it, the memory of it is as fresh as if it were but
yesterday! Oh, I could not have believed that a mortal could be so
happy after having been so long burdened and so terribly cast down! I
did but look to Jesus on the Cross and the crushing load was
immediately gone–and the heart which could only sigh and cry by reason
of its burden, began to leap and dance and sing for joy! I had found in
Christ all that I needed and I rested in the love of God at once. So
may it be with you, also, if you will but return to God through Christ.
It shall be said of you as of this prodigal, "The father saw him and
ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him in much love."

II. Secondly, this much kissing means MUCH FORGIVENESS. The prodigal
had many sins to confess, but before he came to the details of them,
his father had forgiven him. I love confession of sin after
forgiveness. Some suppose that after we are forgiven we are never to
confess, but, oh, Beloved, it is then that we confess most truly
because we know the guilt of sin most really! Then do we plaintively
sing–

"My sins, my sins, my Savior,

How sad on You they fall!

Seen through Your gentle patience,

I tenfold feel them all.

I know they are forgiven,

But still their pain to me

Is all the grief and anguish

They laid, my Lord, on Thee." To think that Christ should have washed
me from my sins in His own blood makes me feel my sin the more keenly
and confess it the more humbly before God. The picture of this prodigal
is marvelously true to the experience of those who return to God. His
father kissed him with the kiss of forgiveness and yet, after that, the
young man went on to say, "Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and
before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son." Do not
hesitate, then, to acknowledge your sin to God, even though you know
that in Christ it is all put away!

From this point of view, those kisses meant, first, "Your sin is all
gone and will never be mentioned any more. Come to My heart, My son!
You have grieved Me sorely and angered Me, but, as a thick cloud, I
have blotted out your transgressions and as a cloud, your sins."

As the father looked upon him and kissed him much, there probably came
another kiss which seemed to say, "There is no soreness left–I have
not only forgiven, but I have forgotten, too. It is all gone, clean
gone! I will never accuse you of it any more. I will never love you any
the less. I will never treat you as though you were still an unworthy
and untrustworthy person." Probably at that there came another kiss,
for do not forgot that his father forgave him, "and kissed him much,"
to show that the sin was all forgiven.

There stood the prodigal, overwhelmed by his father's goodness, yet
remembering his past life. As he looked on himself, and thought, "I
still have these old rags on and I have just come from feeding the
swine," I can imagine that his father would give him another kiss, as
much as to say, "My boy, I do not remember the past. I am so glad to
see you that I do not see any filth on you, or any rags on you, either.
I am so delighted to have you with me once more that as I would pick up
a diamond out of the mire and be glad to get the diamond, again, so do
I pick you up, you are so precious to me." This is the gracious and
glorious way in which God treats those who return to Him. As for their
sin, He has put it away so that He will not remember it. He forgives
like a God! Well may we adore and magnify His matchless mercy as we
sing–

"In wonder lost, with trembling joy We take the pardon of our God!
Pardon for crimes of deepest dye,

A pardon bought with Jesus' blood.

Who is pardoning God like Thee?

Or who has Grace so rich and free?" "Well," asks one, "can such a
wonderful change ever take place with me?" By the Grace of God it may
be experienced by every person who is willing to return to God! I pray
God that it may happen now and that you may get such assurance of it
from the Word of God, by the power of His Holy Spirit, and from a sight
of the precious blood of Christ shed for your redemption, that you may
be able to say, "I understand it now! I see how He kisses all my sins
away and when it rises, He kisses it away again! And when I think of it
with shame, He gives me another kiss. And when I blush all over at the
remembrance of my evil deeds, He kisses me again and again, to assure
me that I am fully and freely forgiven." Thus the many kisses from the
prodigal's father combined to make his wayward son feel that his sin
was, indeed, all gone. They revealed much love and much forgiveness.

III. These repeated kisses meant, next, FULL RESTORATION. The prodigal
was going to say to his father, "Make me as one of your hired
servants." In the far country he had resolved to make that request, but
his father, with a kiss, stopped him. By that kiss, his sonship was
acknowledged. By it the father said to the wretched wanderer, "You are
my son." He gave him such a kiss as he would only give to his own son.
I wonder how many here have ever given such a kiss to anyone. There
sits one who knows something of such kisses as the prodigal received.
That father's girl went astray and, after years of sin, she came back
worn out, to die at home. He received her, found her penitent and
gladly welcomed her to his house. Ah, my dear Friend, you know
something about such kisses as those!

And you, good woman, whose boy ran away, you can understand something
about these kisses, too. He left you and you did not hear from him for
years. And he went on in a very vicious course of life. When you did
hear from him, it well-near broke your heart. And when he came back,
you hardly knew him. Do you recollect how you took him in? You felt
that you wished that he was the little boy you used to press to your
bosom, but now he was grown up to be a big man and a great sinner–yet
you gave him such a kiss and repeated your welcome so often that he
will never forget it, nor will you forget it either. You can understand
that this overwhelming greeting was like the father saying, "My boy,
you are my son. Despite all that you have done, you belong to me.
However far you have gone in vice and folly, I love you. You are bone
of my bone, and flesh of my flesh." In this parable Christ would have
you know, poor Sinner, that God will acknowledge you if you come to Him
confessing your sin through Jesus Christ. He will gladly receive you,
for all things are ready against the day that you return–

"Spread for you the festal board,

See with richest dainties stored.

To your Father's bosom pressed,

Yet again a child confessed.

Never from his house to roam,

Come and welcome, sinner, come."

The father received his son with many kisses and so proved that his
prayer was answered. Indeed, his father heard his prayer before he
offered it! He was going to say, "Father, I have sinned," and to ask
for forgiveness, but he got the mercy, and a kiss to seal it, before
the prayer was presented! This also shall be true of you, O Sinner, who
are returning to your God through Jesus Christ! You shall be permitted
to pray and God will answer you. Hear it, poor, despairing Sinner,
whose prayer has seemed to be shut out from Heaven! Come to your
Father's bosom, right now, and He will hear your prayers and, before
many days are over, you shall have the clearest proofs that you are
fully restored to the Divine favor by answers to your intercessions
that shall make you marvel at the Lord's loving kindness to you!

Further than this, you shall have all your privileges restored, even as
this wandering young man was put among the children when he returned.
As you see him now in the father's house, where he was received with
the many kisses, he wears a son's robe, the family ring is on his
finger and the shoes of the home are on his feet. He eats no longer
swine's food, but children's bread! Even thus shall it be with you if
you return to God! Though you look so foul and so vile– and really are
even more defiled than you look–and though you smell so strongly of
the hogs among which you have been living that some people's nostrils
would turn up at you, your Father will not notice these marks of your
occupation in the far country with all its horrible defilement! See how
this father treats his boy. He kisses him and, kisses him again,

because he knows his own child and, recognizing him as his child, and
feeling his fatherly heart yearning over him, he gives him kiss after
kiss. He kisses him much to make him know that he has full restoration.

In this repeated kissing we see, then, these three things–much love,
much forgiveness and full restoration.

IV. But these many kisses meant even more than this. They revealed his
father's EXCEEDING JOY. The father's heart is overflowing with gladness
and he cannot restrain his delight. I think he must have shown his joy
by a repeated look. I will tell you the way I think the father behaved
towards his son who had been dead, but was alive again, who had been
lost, but was found. Let me try to describe the scene. The father has
kissed his son and he bids him sit down. Then he comes in front of him
and looks at him, and feels so happy that he says, "I must give you
another kiss." Then he walks away a minute, but he is back again before
long, saying to himself, "Oh, I must give him another kiss!" He gives
him another, for he is so happy. His heart beats fast. He feels very
joyful. The old man would like the music to strike up. He wants to be
at the dancing, but meanwhile he satisfies himself by a repeated look
at his long-lost child. Oh, I believe that God looks at the sinner and
looks at him again, and keeps on looking at him, all the while
delighting in the very sight of him, when he is truly repentant, and
comes back to his Father's house!

The repeated kiss meant, also, a repeated blessing, for every time he
put his arms round him, and kissed him, he kept saying, "Bless you, oh,
bless you, my boy!" He felt that his son had brought a blessing to him
by coming back and he invoked fresh blessings upon his head. Oh,
Sinner, if you did but know how God would welcome you and how He would
look at you, and how He would bless you, surely you would at once
repent and come to His arms and heart–and find yourself happy in His
love!

The many kisses meant, also, repeated delight. It is a very wonderful
thing that it should be in the power of a sinner to make God glad. He
is the happy God, the Source and Spring of all happiness–what can we
add to His blessedness? And yet, speaking after the manner of men,
God's highest joy lies in clasping His willful Ephraims to His breast,
when He has heard them bemoaning themselves, and has seen them arising
and returning to their home! God grant that He may see that sight, even
now, and have delight because of sinners returning to Himself! Yes, we
believe it shall be so because of His Presence with us and because of
the gracious working of the Holy Spirit! Surely that is the teaching of
the Prophet's words–"The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty;
He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in His
love, He will joy over you with singing." Think of the eternal God
singing and remember that it is because a wandering sinner has returned
to Him that He sings! He joys in the return of the prodigal and all
Heaven shares in His joy!

V. I have not got through my subject yet. As we take a fifth look, we
find that these many kisses mean OVERFLOWING COMFORT. This poor young
man, in his hungry, faint and wretched state, having come a very long
way, had not much heart in him. His hunger had taken all energy out of
him and he was so conscious of his guilt that he had hardly the courage
to face his father. So his father gives him a kiss, as much as to say,
"Come, boy, do not be cast down; I love you."

"Oh, the past, the past, my Father!" he might moan, as he thought of
his wasted years. But he had no sooner said that than he received
another kiss, as if his father said, "Never mind the past. I have
forgotten all about that." This is the Lord's way with His saved ones.
Their past lies hidden under the blood of Atonement. The Lord says by
His servant, Jeremiah, "The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and
there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be
found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve."

But then, perhaps, the young man looked down on his foul garments and
said, the present, my Father, the present, what a dreadful state I am
in!" And with another kiss would come the answer, "Never mind the
present, my Boy. I am content to have you as you are. I love you."
This, too, is God's word to those who are "accepted in the Beloved." In
spite of all their vileness, they are pure and spotless in Christ, and
God says of each one of them, "Since you were precious in My sight, you
have been honorable, and I have loved you. Therefore, though in
yourself you are unworthy, through My dear Son you are welcome to My
home."

"Oh, but," the boy might have said, "the future, my Father, the future!
What would you think if I should go astray again?" Then would come
another holy kiss and his father would say, "I will see to the future,
my Boy. I will make home so bright for you that you will never want to
go away again." But God does more than that for us when we return to
Him. He not only surrounds us with tokens of His love, but He says,
concerning us, "They shall be My people, and I will be their God: and I
will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear Me forever,
for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make
an everlasting Covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them,
to do

them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not
depart from Me." Furthermore, He says to each returning one, "a new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and
I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you
an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you
to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments, and do them."

Whatever there was to trouble the son, the father gave him a kiss to
set it all right and, in like manner, our God has a love token for
every time of doubt and dismay which may come to His reconciled sons.
Perhaps one whom I am addressing says, "Even though I confess my sin
and seek God's mercy, I shall still be in sore trouble, for through my
sin I have brought myself down to poverty." "There is a kiss for you,"
says the Lord–"Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be
sure." "But I have even brought disease upon myself by sin," says
another. "There is a kiss for you, for I am Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord
that heals you, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your
diseases." "But I am dreadfully down at the heel," says another. The
Lord gives you, also, a kiss, and says, "I will lift you up and provide
for all your needs. No good thing will I withhold from them that walk
uprightly." All the promises in this Book belong to every repentant
sinner who returns to God believing in Jesus Christ, His Son!

The father of the prodigal kissed his son much and thus made him feel
happy then and there. Poor souls, when they come to Christ, are in a
dreadful plight, and some of them hardly know where they are. I have
known them talk a lot of nonsense in their despair and say hard and
wicked things of God in their dreadful doubt. The Lord gives no answer
to all that except a kiss, and then another kiss! Nothing puts the
penitent so much at rest as the Lord's repeated assurance of His
unchanging love. Such a one the Lord has often received, "and kissed
him much," that He might fetch him up, even, from the horrible pit and
set his feet upon a rock and establish his goings. The Lord grant that
many whom I am addressing may understand what I am talking about!

VI. And now for our sixth head, though you will think I am getting to
be like the old Puritans with these many heads. But I cannot help it,
for these many kisses had many meanings–love, forgiveness,
restoration, joy, comfort– were in them and, also, STRONG ASSURANCE.

The father kissed his son much to make him quite certain that it was
all real. The prodigal, in receiving those many kisses, might say to
himself, "All this love must be true, for a little while ago I heard
the hogs grunt and now I hear nothing but the kisses from my dear
father's lips." So his father gave him another kiss, for there was no
way of convincing him that the first was real like repeating it–and if
there lingered any doubt about the second, the father gave him yet a
third. If, when the dream of old was doubled, the interpretation was
sure–these repeated kisses left no room for doubt! The father renewed
the tokens of his love that his son might be fully assured of its
reality.

He did it that in the future it might never be questioned. Some of us
were brought so low before we were converted that God gave us an excess
of joy when He saved us, that we might never forget it. Sometimes the
devil says to me, "You are no child of God." I have long ago given up
answering him, for I find that it is a waste of time to argue with such
a crafty old liar as he is–he knows too much for me. But if I must
answer him, I say, "Why, I remember when I was saved by the Lord! I can
never forget even the very spot of ground where first I saw my
Savior–then and there my joy rolled in like some great Atlantic billow
and burst in mighty foam of bliss, covering all things. I cannot forget
it." That is an argument which even the devil cannot answer, for he
cannot make me believe that such a thing never happened. The Father
kissed me much and I remember it full well. The Lord gives to some of
us such a clear deliverance, such a bright, sunshiny day at our
conversion, that, from that day, forward, we cannot question our state
before Him but must believe that we are eternally saved!

The father put the assurance of this poor returning prodigal beyond all
doubt. If the first kisses were given privately, when only the father
and son were present, it is quite certain that, afterwards, he kissed
him before men, where others could see him. He kissed him much in the
presence of the household, that they, also, might not be calling in
question that he was his father's child. It was a pity that the elder
brother was not also there. You see he was away in the fields. He was
more interested in the crops than in the reception of his brother. I
have known such a one in modern days. He was a man who did not come out
to weekly evening services. He was such a man of business that he did
not come out on a Thursday night and the prodigal came home at such a
time–and so the elder brother did not see the father receive him. If
he lived now, he would probably not come to the Church Meetings–he
would be too busy. So he would not get to know about the reception of
penitent sinners. But the father, when he received that son of his,
intended all to know, once and for all,

that he was, indeed, his child! Oh, that you might get those many
kisses even now! If they are given to you, you will have, for the rest
of your life, strong assurance derived from the happiness of your first
days.

VII. I have done when I have said that I think that here we have a
specimen of the INTIMATE COMMUNION which the Lord often gives to
sinners when they first come to Him. "His father saw him, and had
compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him much."

You see, this was before the family fellowship. Before the servants had
prepared the meal, before there had been any music or dancing in the
family, his father kissed him. He would have cared little for all their
songs and have valued but slightly his reception by the servants, if,
first of all, he had not been welcomed to his father's heart. So is it
with us–we need first, to have fellowship with God before we think
much of union with His people. Before I go to join a Church, I want my
Father's kiss! Before the pastor gives me the right hand of fellowship,
I want my heavenly Father's right hand to welcome me! Before I become
recognized by God's people here below, I want a private recognition
from the great Father above–and that He gives to all who come to Him
as the prodigal came to his father. May he give it to some of you now!

This kissing, also, was before the table communion. You know that the
prodigal was afterwards to sit at his father's table and to eat of the
fatted calf. But before that, his father kissed him. He would scarcely
have been able to sit easily at the feast without the previous kisses
of love. The Communion Table to which we are invited is very sweet. To
eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, in symbol, in the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper, is, indeed, a blessed thing. But I want
to have communion with God by the way of the kiss of love before I come
there. "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth." This is
something private, ravishing and sweet. God give it to many of you! May
you get the many kisses of your Father's mouth before you come into the
Church, or to the Communion Table!

These many kisses, likewise, came before the public rejoicing. The
friends and neighbors were invited to share in the feast. But think how
shamefaced the son would have been in their presence, if, first of all,
he had not found a place in his father's love, or had not been quite
sure of it. He would almost have been inclined to run away again! But
the father had kissed him much and so he could meet the curious gaze of
old friends with a smiling face until any unkind remarks they might
have thought of making died away, killed by his evident joy in his
father! It is a hard thing for a man to confess Christ if he has not
had an overwhelming sense of communion with Him. But when we are lifted
to the skies in the rapture God gives us, it becomes easy, not only to
face the world, but to win the sympathy of even those who might have
opposed. This is why young converts are frequently used to lead others
into the Light of God–the Lord's many kisses of forgiveness have so
recently been given to them that their words catch the fragrance of
Divine Love as they pass the lips just touched by the Lord. Alas, that
any should ever lose their first love and forget the many kisses they
have received from their heavenly Father!

Lastly, all this was given before the meeting with the elder brother.
If the prodigal son had known what the elder brother thought and said,
I would not have wondered at all if he had run off and never come back!
He might have come near home, and then, hearing what his brother said,
have stolen away again. Yes, but before that could happen, his father
had given him the many kisses! Poor Sinner, you have come in here and,
perhaps, you have found the Savior. It may be that you will go and
speak to some Christian man and he will be afraid to say much to you. I
do not wonder that he should doubt you, for you are not, in yourself,
as yet a particularly nice sort of person to talk to. But, if you get
your Father's many kisses, you will not mind your elder brother being a
little hard on you!

Occasionally I hear of one who wished to join the Church, saying, "I
came to see the Elders and one of them was rather rough with me. I
shall never come again." What a stupid man you must be! Is it not their
duty to be a little rough with some of you, lest you should deceive
yourselves and be mistaken about your true state? We desire lovingly to
bring you to Christ and if we are afraid that you really have not yet
come back to God, with penitence and faith, should we not tell you so,
like honest men? But suppose that you have really come and your brother
is mistaken–go and get a kiss from your Father and never mind your
brother! He may remind you how you have squandered your living,
painting the picture even blacker than it ought to be–but your
Father's kisses will make you forget your brother's frowns!

If you think that in the household of faith you will find everybody
amiable, and everyone willing to help you, you will be greatly
mistaken. Young Christians are often frightened when they come across
some who, from frequent disappointment of their hopes, or from a
natural spirit of caution, or perhaps from a lack of spiritual life,
receive but coldly those upon whom the Father has lavished much love.
If that is your case, never mind these cross-grained elder brothers

and sisters–get another kiss from your Father! Perhaps the reason it
is written, "He kissed him much," was because the elder brother, when
he came near him, would treat him so coldly and so angrily refuse to
join in the feast.

Lord, give to many poor trembling souls the will to come to You! Bring
many sinners to Your blessed feet and while they are yet a great way
off, run and meet them! Fall on their neck, give them many kisses of
love and fill them to the full with heavenly delight, for Jesus
Christ's sake! Amen.

PORTION OFSCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Luke 15.