Repentance/Return to the Father

And he said, "There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate. (Luk 15:11-24)

The order that this return to his father takes place is important. First, his mind is convicted that the life he is living is not the life that he should be living. Second, he makes the decision to makes things right. Third, he turns from his sinful lifestyle. And fourth, he makes his way back to the father in humility and repentance.

We notice that it is as he returns to his father, even before he confessed, his father accepts him back. This is the love of a father towards his child…always ready to accept the prodigal back into the family.

Why did the father accept the prodigal son before he confessed? Well, I believe it’s because there was repentance. There was a turning from sin and a turning toward the father. And the father new that the son had turned from his sinful life and came back to life with his father. In the same way, our Heavenly Father seeks true repentance more than the words of a confession. He wants us to turn from sin and to Him in every area of our life. Notice that the prodigal didn’t take anything back from the sinful country, from the ways that he repented of. He simply came back to the father, empty handed, relying completely on the father’s mercy. And it’s in the same way that we must approach our Father. We must not hold on to our favorite sins when we come to Him, nor must we hold onto anything that we might consider righteous in ourselves…any kind of merit to come into the presence of our Father. We must come with nothing, relying only on His grace and mercy to restore us.

Confession is still an important part of the process. The Scriptures tell us that…

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1Jn 1:9)

And that…

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. (Pro 28:13)

And the prodigal does confess. He confessed that he had done wickedly; that he rebelled, rejected, and sinned against his father. He went against all that his father stood for, and all that the father wanted for his son.

In my experience I have found that so many times in the Christian life we confess on a much more surface level than this prodigal has done. We say we’re sorry for our sins, rarely specify what those sins are, and then go about our business like nothing big just took place. And we wonder why the same sins keep giving us trouble even though we’ve confessed them. Well, maybe it’s because we’re not treating them as seriously as we should. Perhaps we think that our sins are just small ones, not even worthy of confessing specifically. Sure, if we killed someone we would be brought to tears in confessing to God, but we’re not that bad. Brothers and sisters, our sins are not so terrible because of the action itself, but because of who the action is against. Every sin is against God, and that’s why they are all so serious.

This is an example that I’ve used in the past, but if someone walked up to a man and punched him in the face that would be bad. If someone walked up to a baby and punched them in the face that would be much worse. It’s the same act, but it is directed towards a different person. So too, when we realize that our sinful acts are against One who is morally pure, perfect in all that He is and does we realize that our sin against Him is terrible, no matter what the actual sin is.

I have also seen the other extreme. I have seen folks be so consumed with the guilt of their sin that they never feel forgiven. They think that their sin is so bad that not even God Himself is able to forgive or make it right. We must remember that the Scriptures tell us:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1Jn 1:9)

So in the one extreme we fail to see the seriousness that God puts on sin. In the other extreme we fail to see the seriousness that God puts on forgiveness.

In our passage the father forgave the prodigal son. He not only accepted him back into the family and into his household, but he restored what the son had left behind to pursue his own selfishness. He was given the best robe, a ring, and shoes.

When we turn to our heavenly Father in repentance He forgives us in the same way. We are truly clothed with the best robe as the Father clothes us with Christ Himself. The Scriptures tell us to put on Christ just like this prodigal put on the best robe when it says that as many of us who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal 3:27). This robe that we adorn is the very righteousness of Christ. You see, Christ did more than die for our sins; He also lived a righteous life for us. When we put on Christ our sins are forgiven because of His sacrifice and His righteousness is placed on us. This robe is a garment of salvation; it is our wedding garment that is pure and spotless in presence of the bridegroom. This robe is not merely to cover our outward shame, as we use clothing to cover our bodies. Rather, it covers our naked souls from the wrath of God.

This robe is called the “best robe” in our Bibles. It can also be translated as the “first robe” pointing to the fact that the robe of Christ is secured in the Covenant of Grace even before Adam walked in the robe of innocence. This is why the Scriptures can tell us that we are blessed with spiritual blessings even before the world was founded. So this robe is not only the best, but the first, and it’s God’s whole purpose in creation so that He will bring Himself much glory.

The prodigal also has a ring put on his finger. This is a sign that the son is a true child of the father, he wears the family ring. With it he is able to act for the family and carry the authority of his father. So this signifies a believer’s adoption into God’s family. Once we are clothed with Christ we become fellow heirs with Christ, and members of God’s family.

Then he is given shoes for his feet. Slaves didn’t wear shoes, so this signifies that we are not mere servants of our heavenly Father, but also His children. It’s also a sign that God gives His children the means to walk in holiness. We are brought into the Father’s family for a purpose, and that’s to walk in holiness with the shoes that He has prepared for us in the Gospel of Peace.

So we are clothed with Christ, being made right in the sight of our Father, we are given authority as His children, and we are given a purpose – to live holy and acceptable lives before God.

The complete restoration of the prodigal son leads to a great celebration. Just as our Lord tells us of the joy the angels have over 1 sinner who repents (Lk 15:10) so too this household comes alive with celebration at the reconciled son. His brother is the only exception. We don’t have time to get into that aspect of the parable in detail. I will simply say that the son who stayed with his father probably represents Israel, and he is brought to jealousy with how the prodigal son is treated, who represents the Gentiles.

Paul tells us in Romans that God told Israel He would make them jealous and angry with a foolish nation, and that this would lead some to salvation.