PRODIGAL – Come to Your Senses

Sermon Notes: November 2nd, 2025

Have you ever been lost?

Have you ever lost something?

• We’ve all lived through those traumatic experiences of being lost and being found. It is in those terms that Jesus talks about the kingdom of God. It is the best explanation Jesus can give us to help us understand something of what coming into the Kingdom is. We must experience being lost and being found.
• Luke Chapter 15 is an explanation of the heart of God, and ultimately that – lost things matter.
• Whether it is lost sheep, a lost coin, or a lost son Jesus tells these parables to help shape our understanding of:
  • Who we are
  • Who the father is
  • and How He Loves Us.
• Today we are exploring who we are…

Luke 15:11-20 ESV

• In this story we have three main characters: the father, the older son, and the younger son.
• Each character serves as a representation of either us or God.

Prodigal:

• It is important for us to understand this story, however, in the correct context and definition.
• The original Greek word, asotos, is translated by some versions of the Bible as “prodigal”. This translation would be accurate, except, we have hijacked the word prodigal to mean all things sinful and evil.
• The ESV translates the word, a more effective definition for the modern mind would be “reckless”..
• Other helpful definitions would be “wasteful,” “lavish,” or “flagrant.”
• The term prodigal simply means, “an extravagant spender”.
• It does not mean sinner, wayward son or running from God.
• All of these definitions describe a way NOT TO LIVE our lives.
• This distinction will make more sense to us as we continue to investigate the story next week as well!

Who Am I?

• Younger Son
  • Demanded his share – Verse 12.
  • Left the family and moved far away – Verse 13.
  • Lost everything in “wild living” – Verse 13.
  • Famine and broke – Verse 14.
  • Hired as a pig farmer – Verse 15
  • Starvation – Verse 16
• The Younger Son’s Resolve
  • Verse 17 – “He came to his senses”
    • The defining verse of the story.
  • The resolution to return to his father was made in disgust of his present condition.
    • Feeding and tending pigs (pigs were unclean to the Jewish culture)
    • Rock Bottom
    • Many of us experience at some point in our lives something that prompts us to “come to our senses”.
  • The resolution to return to his father was formed in sorrow for his past behavior.
    • Verse 18 & 19: I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
  • The resolution to return to his father was formed in a time of homesickness.
    • The son remembered what he had and the conditions of his former life.
    • Many men today are homesick for God and heaven…
• The son immediately returned to his father and was received!

Luke 15:25-30 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

• Older Son –
  • Working in the field – Verse 25
  • Not aware of what had happened – Verse 26.
  • Became angry and refused to celebrate – Verse 28
  • Doubled down to father of the anger, bitterness and jealousy. – Verse 29
  • Felt like he had been slighted somehow – Verse 29
  • Accusing the younger son – Verse 30
• The older wanted the benefit of Heaven without the intimate relationship with the father.

Comparison:

• Younger Son’s Heart:
  • Sorrowful
  • Repentant
  • Humble
• Older Brother’s Heart:
  • Offended
  • Bitter
  • Jealous
  • Didn’t know the heart of his father!!!
  • He does not have the awareness of his lostness. He never strayed or broke the rules, and yet he missed out on the gift of the father’s extravagant love
• One son chose repentance and reconciliation while the other chose disdain and disconnection…
• Which Son Was Truly Lost?
  • Both were disconnected from the Heart of the Father
  • One was physically present while the other was far away
  • Both were in need of a forgiving father
• BOTH WERE LOST! – But only one knew it!!!
  • “He came to his senses”
  • The truth of this parable is that both sons need saving!

WE NEED A SAVIOR!

• The younger son was physically, relationally disconnected from the father.
• People in every community today are living squandered and reckless lives, eyeing the pig slop before them and realizing their dire situations. They are hopeless. AND THEY KNOW IT!
• However, many of us are the older son…Holding onto hurt and offense, trying to do things on our own without the love of the father, rebuking God and saying “I don’t want or need you”, and choose to stay away not knowing the heart of the father!!!
• Jesus is teaching us through this parable an example of the Gospel!
  • You and I are the sons in this story.
  • Whether we know and accept the fact and reality that we are in need of saving…doesn’t matter. Scripture is clear!

Romans 3:23 – “ALL have sinned and fall short”…

• YOU AND I ARE THE SONS!
• YOU AND I NEED THE FATHER AND SAVIOR!!!
• Whether we were covered in pig slop or not!
• Or Where back in the field working and toiling but not understanding our heart issues!

Romans 6:23 ESV- “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Romans 10:9 ESV – “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”.