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SURPRISED!

By George W. Sinquefield

Luke 15:11 through Luke 15:24 (KJV)
¹¹And he said, A certain man had two sons: ¹²And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. ¹³And 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. ¹⁴And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. ¹⁵And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. ¹⁷And 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! ¹⁸I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, ¹⁹And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. ²⁰And 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. ²¹And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. ²²But the father 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: ²³And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: ²⁴For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

        Many people know very well the story of the prodigal son. The Bible just tells us about the father and his two sons. It doesn't mention any more children or if the wife and mother was still alive. Let us, in our imagination, follow this son as he leaves home and goes to a far country.

        His father was a very prosperous farmer with many servants. He had a good home with everything he needed to make his life meaningful and satisfactory. O course, he was under the authority of his father and had his chores as any farm boy does. He should have been happy and contented but he wasn't. He had heard about the far country with its big cities and the nightlife which he thought would be wonderful. His father was rather strict and there we things he wanted to do and places he wanted to go but was not allowed to do so. He kept thinking how good it would be if he could be his own boss --- he could go where and when he wanted to, choose his own friends and just live his own life.

        His inheritance would be a sizable amount of money, plus land and cattle and his desire was to have it now so he could enjoy it while he was young. He decided he would ask his father to give it to him now and he did but his father said no. He continued to plead and his father finally decided to give it to him. "Son," his father said, "You are young and inexperienced and there is a rough world out there. You don't know how to handle your money and there are many who would like to handle it for you. I don't want you to go. It is a very dangerous world." But he said he knew how to take care of himself. He insisted that he could take care of himself and his money. He turned a deaf ear to his father's warnings.

        He sold his land and cattle, all but one horse which he would ride to the far country and though he didn't know it then he would ride to the hog pen.

        When he arrived in the city, he sold his horse, rented a lavish apartment, bought a supply of nice clothes and began to live it up. He soon had many so called friends because he bought food and expensive drinks for them. He was having the time of his life, the good times he had dreamed of back on the farm, but it didn't last very long.

        Before long he was out of money -- he "spent all." His money was gone and so were his friends. He had to move out of his apartment. Things went from bad to worse. He would pawn his clothes to get a little food and soon his clothes were all gone. He was in a desperate condition. He lost weight and his clothes were filthy and ragged.

        Finally he was forced to take a job feeding swine, the lowest position a Jewish boy could occupy. He had not choice, he was desperate.

        As he fed the hogs he began to come to his senses. He thought of the mess he had made of his life. He thought about his father's house and just longed to go back and be one of his father's servants. He started on his way back home and after many weary days he came in sight of his old home place.

        His father still loved him and welcomed him back home. During his fling in the far country, this young man met with many surprises -- five at least and no doubt many more, but we'll deal with only five.

I.   He was surprised to find himself in the hog pen.

        His job is to feed the hogs, the lowest position a Jewish boy could occupy. If someone had told him that was where he was headed, he would have said. "No way, you are wrong. I know how to take care of myself. Sin always leads downward.

James 1:13 through James 1:15 (KJV)
¹³Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: ¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. ¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

        "And remember, when someone wants to do wrong, it is never God Who is tempting him, for God never wants to do wrong and never temps anyone else to do it. Temptation is the pull of man's own evil thoughts and wishes. These evil thoughts lead to evil actions and afterwards to the death penalty from God. So don't he misled, dear brother." (The Living Bible)

        Many young people are surprised to find:

          1) Themselves in jail.
          2) Themselves pregnant out of wedlock.
          3) That you're a prisoner on the road.

        Several men were hunting and stopped to rest. One of them saw a sheep on the edge of a great precipice. He pointed out to the others that the sheep had been tempted by the sight of green grass to jump down to a ledge a foot or two from the top of the cliff. Soon he had eaten all the grass and was unable to jump back up, he continued to jump to ledges below. Now it had gotten to the last ledge. Below it was a steep cliff about 300 feet down to solid rock. "What will happen now?" One of the men asked, "Now it will be lost. The eagles will soon see it and swoop down upon it and the frightened sheep will leap over the cliff and be dashed to pieces on the rocks below."

        This is the way a person goes astray. He is tempted to take of pleasures that are on a ledge just a little lower than the high moral standard on which he has lived. It is only a little way down and he feels he can go right back up, but he finds it is easier to go down to the next ledge. This continues as in the life of the prodigal son, until you're on the bottom.

        The story is told of a young lady who graduated from one of our great institutes of education. She was the daughter of honored parents. Her father was a man of wealth and position. While in college, she began a life of sin and shame. It started with an "innocent" game of cards and as occasional taste of wine. By the time she came to graduation, she was disgraced and dishonored. Within a short time after she left college, the girl who naturally would have taken honors in her class was seated in a hovel, where sin had driven her, within three block of her father's mansion. Feeling that the end had come, she put a revolver to her temple and blew her brains out. She had failed to see the end result of sin. She had failed to see that she was sacrificing hope, joy sunshine, friendship, love, and home, all to the gratification of her own flesh. She had forgotten the statement of the apostle Paul, "The wages of sin is death." "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked."

        Leonardo Da Vinci, a gifted artist, wanted to paint the likeness of Jesus. He found a young man as he imagined that might look like Jesus. He had black hair a face like a Greek god. His eyes were tender with the hoy of life. He persuaded him to pose for the painting.

        Years passed and the artist decided to seek someone to pose for him to paint the likeness of Judas Iscariet (Judas, you remember, sold Christ to the Jewish rulers). One day he walked into the slums and found an old broken man in the gutter. "I'll pay you if you'll pose for my painting," he told him. He agreed and after Da Vinci had worked on the picture several days, a faint glimmer of recognition shot like light across the old man's face. He dropped his brush and said, "I have seen you before. You crossed my path somewhere. Who are you?

        The old man lifted his eyes toward the great artist and with tears in his eyes, he said, "You will not believe it, sir, but I am the man who posed for your painting of Jesus twenty years ago and now I am Judas."

        John Bray in the story of the prodigal son says, "Sin leads a man down to where he has nothing, to where he is alone and forsaken. It is no wonder that in these modern days there are so many people committing suicide, and countless number of others losing their minds. Sin takes everything a man has away from him."

        In 1864 a drunken bum was taken to a hospital in New York City. His throat was slashed, he had a fever, he lost a great deal of blood, he suffered intense pain from the laceration of his throat, his body was weakened by his excessive drinking of alcohol. He lived only for a few days and died.

        It was discovered that he was not just another bum. He was well known all over America, he was famous for his songs. He wrote "De Camptown Races," "Oh! Susanna," "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair," "My Old Kentucky Home," and hundreds more. His name -- Stephen Foster. He died at 38. Now Stephen Foster never intended to have his life end like that. Nobody does. He let alcohol get the best of him.

        There is only one thing in God's world that I am afraid of, and that is sin. No man ever played with sin that sin didn't get the better of him. Don't try to play with sin. If you must play with something dangerous, then go out into the field and pick up a rattlesnake and let it play in your bosom. Reach up into the skies and play with God's forked lightning; but for God's sake and your soul's sake don't play with sin.

        Yes, he was surprised to find himself in the hog pen. Sin always leads downward. Sin is always destructive. It does not create, it destroys. It does not build, it wrecks. It defames the name and character of a pure girl. It digs the grave of a suicide. It puts the stripes on the convict. It puts men in the electric chair. It sends boys and girls, men and women to hell.

        Sin is deceitful. It promises pleasure; it gives gain. It offers life and gives death. It opens out as bright as the morning; it closes as dark as night. It is a beast of prey. Under a velvet paw it conceals a claw with which it wounds and lacerates those who would stroke it. In every sin there is the seed of another sin. It is self-propagating. It roots itself in the soul of the sinner until it has used up every bit of good soil in the soul. It corrupts his nature, perverts his tastes, weakens his will and scars his conscience. And with each evil deed, inclinations towards evil become stronger and stronger, until "he cannot cease from sin" and the sinner is "consumed by his own lusts." Sin is a very promising employer -- and a terrible paymaster. -- Charles A. Jeffries

        William Barclay in his commentary on Romans says:

        The law of sin is that sin begets sin. The first time we do a wrong thing, we may do it with hesitation and tremor and a shudder. The second time we do it, it is easier and if we go on doing it, it becomes effortless. Sin loses its terror. The first time we allow ourselves some indulgence, we may be satisfied with very little of it; but the time comes when we need more and more of it to produce the same thrill. Sin leads on to sin; lawlessness produces lawlessness. To start on the path of sin is to go on to more and more.

          1. If you don't want to die of cancer leave cigarettes alone.
          2. If you don't want to end up in the gutter, your life wasted, leave alcohol alone.
          3. Leave drugs alone. Don't play with sin.

II.   He was surprised to learn that his father's advice was right.

        His father tried to warn him of the dangers that lay ahead for him -- that this world is cruel and many are those who will take advantage of him.

        He didn't listen to his father. He felt he knew it all -- he could take care of himself. Many a young person has had to suffer because they refused to listen to their parent's advice.

        Listen to me young people, your parents know more than you do. They have lived longer than you and they know more -- know the dangers, the pitfalls that lie before you and they long to help you to avoid them.

        This young man had a fake idea of life. To be his own boss -- do his own thing, go when and where he wanted to and to spend his money as he pleased -- that was life to him -- have the kind of friends he wanted. He turned a deaf ear to his father's advice. He was a fool. Now that is hard but it is what the Bible teaches.

Prov. 1:7 (KJV)
⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Prov. 8:33 (KJV)
³³Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

Prov. 12:15 (KJV)
¹⁵The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

Prov. 13:1 (KJV)
¹A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.

Prov. 13:18 (KJV)
¹⁸Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.

Prov. 15:5 (KJV)
⁵A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.

        No doubt that many times yonder in the hog pen this young man thought of his life and said, "What a fool I've been. What a fool I was to turn a deaf ear to my father's advice."

        A 26 year old man said, "When I was 16 years old, I thought my father was the most ignorant man I ever knew. Now at 26 I believe he is the smartest man I know. I never knew a man could learn as much as my father has in 10 years." Had the father gained so much knowledge or was it the son?

        One tells us, "Sound travels slowly. Sometimes the things you say to your kids when they are teen-agers, don't reach them till they're in their 40's."

        One pastor tells of a fine family in his church. They had an 18 year old daughter who was a member of the church but she wasn't living as a Christian young lady should. Her father became ill and was dying. She went to visit him in the hospital and sat on the edge of his bed. He talked to her about her life. "you are going the way of the world. You are a Christian girl and a member of the church and folks are looking at you. I don't want you to do what you are doing. I want you to yield your life to God and I want you to get right." And the girl stood to her feet and said, "Daddy, you are just crazy." She walked out into the hallway. That night about the midnight hour the old phone rang and the hospital said, "Come, your loved one is very ill." The preacher said they went to the hospital that night and he was called and he went. He said they had no more than got in the room until the nurse met them and they looked and the sheet was over her daddy's face. The girl began to scream. She took hold of the preacher's coat and dragged him out into the hallway and said, "Preacher, pray that God will forgive me, I've got to undo something." He said, "What do you mean?" She said, "I was here today and my daddy talked to me about surrendering to the Lord, and I said, 'Daddy, you are crazy, and I walked out of the room and the last words my sweet old daddy heard me say were: Daddy, you are crazy.'" She said, Preacher, what can I do?" And the preacher said, "Brother Tom, I looked at that screaming, weeping girl and all I could say was, "I don't know what you can do You can't tell him now. You've waited too late. You can weep all you want to but your daddy died, and the last words he ever heard you say were "you're crazy.'" One was crazy but it wasn't her father. She was the crazy one set on living for self and sinful pleasures.

        "Pastor, I am seeing my son make so many of the mistakes that I made when I was young. No matter how I try to warn him, no matter how I try to help him, he just doesn't seem to hear me. The only thing I find myself doing these days is standing by waiting until he comes to himself -- until he comes to his senses."

Prov. 17:25 (KJV)
²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.

        This young man was very selfish. One has said, "The heart of our problem is selfishness in the heart." John Bray, an evangelist said, "First of all, he wanted the world more than he wanted his father. He had a good home, he had a good place to sleep and to eat, he had everything that the rest of the household had. He had fellowship with his father and his mother and the rest of the family. He had all that he needed to let him enjoy life. He had security and all that was necessary to maintain a good standard of living. But his eyes were set toward other shores. He wanted to get out and away from home into another land. He wanted to have his fling at life and to enjoy this world as much as it were possible. It didn't matter about his father, it didn't matter about his mother, it didn't matter about the rest of the family nor anything that was at home. He wanted to get out away from it all.?

Matt. 10:39 (KJV)
³⁹He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

        Say it again, he was selfish. That's what he was. He left home with the money for only one reason: He wanted to spend the money, and that's precisely what he did. What is more" He spent it on himself. And that's being selfish.

        Do you want to know something else? It is not a very pleasant thing to accept, but there are those who read the story of the prodigal son and who conclude that the primary reason why he chose to head back home was one of pure selfishness. The way Jesus told the story permits one to think in such terms -- really it does. Here's the way the gospel-writer recorded it:

        "And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizen's of that country, who sent him into the fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father --'"

        So! Down and out and hungry -- the prodigal still thinking only of himself decides he'd be better off -- much better off -- if he were once again home! It was selfishness that took him away from home. It was selfishness that led him back. He was selfish. That's what he was. No matter how you read our text, the fact remains: The younger of the two sons was downright selfish. And what is it to be selfish? Isn't it to think of one's self without much or any regard for anyone else?

        You can't possibly conclude that the young man left home with his share of the family fortune because he wanted to invest it in some promising enterprise, strike it rich, and hurry home as soon as he could in order to remodel the homestead. A remodeling, let's propose, that would (as we might think of it in today's terms) include a bedroom with bath on the first floor. He just wanted to spent it all on himself.

        A grown son told his father, "For several years I have resisted you. I was sure you were wrong about so many things. Only recently have I begun to see all the right things you did. I just want you to know I understand." His dad, whom he thought to be so tough, broke down and cried. Perhaps it's time we all began to show Dad some respect. Do something special for you dad today. Let him know he's truly appreciated.