The Reckless Son

Introduction

The church where I work. It takes a Wednesday night every quarter, and I teach new songs. And about six months ago we learned how deep the Father’s love. What a powerful hymn. I don’t know about you, but it’s difficult for me to sing, especially the second verse. When we say that our voice is among the scoffers. Just let that sink in for a moment. It is good to be with you, and we have a great crowd, and I am thankful that the guys I paid to steal the copper from Kleinwood did a good job.

Tony’s kind of getting a complex, so we’d like for you all of you to keep coming back and bring more with you, so we can just seal that deal. Several friends here, but I especially want to point out Brent and Katie Moody. It’s good to see y’all. I didn’t get to talk to you, but Brent and I moved to Memphis about the same time. He moved obviously to Kleinwood, which we miss him. He was in another congregation, but I enjoyed Britt and I were able to do some good works together. And enjoyed that opportunity. I know he’s great, and I know he’s doing well there, but it’s good to see you guys. Thanks for coming. Well, turn your Bibles to Luke 15, if you’re not already there.

Those of you that weren’t here this morning. I said this morning we’re gonna be there all week. Luke 15. And we’re really gonna be in Luke 15, the last part of that chapter for the remainder of the week. We’re gonna be in verses eleven through thirty two. So if your Bible’s like mine and that’s on a different page in the beginning of Luke 15, that’s the page you want to really mark. So we begin tonight. I want you to imagine for a moment you’ve really messed up, and not in one of those ways that’s trivial. You’ve messed up in a big way. In fact, your mistake is so big, you know you’re never going to recover from it. It’s so grand and so tremendous that you know there’s no way of getting over it.

You’ve committed one of the big ones. You know those sins. They’re the big ones, like adultery, or you’ve an alcoholic, or maybe you’ve stolen something, or maybe you are fighting homosexuality, or maybe you’ve gotten involved in fornication, and you know you need forgiveness, and you know you need to confess your sins. You understand passages like James 5 16 and Galatians 6 2. You understand the need for fellowship and brotherhood. You understand the need to go and to tell somebody what you’ve done, and you know that you’re wrong, and you know that you need to work on it, but you also know that deep down inside of you will never be the same again. Because once you come clean about what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter what you do anymore or how long you’ve done it, you’re always going to be the drunk.

Or you’re always going to be the homosexual or the adulterer or the murderer or the thief. And every time you walk into a church building, you in your mind are going to feel like Christians are looking at you differently. Like they’re looking out of the corner of their eyes at you. They’re talking about you every whisper you think is going to be about you. That’s the kind of mistake we’re talking about. Do you realize? That’s how most people feel. Most people, when it comes to sin, and especially if you knew enough of the truth before you fell, most people, when it comes to sin and before they fall, they have that knowledge. When they sin, that’s how they feel that every time, even if they try to put God first, every time they come into an assembly like this, and even though we all put our suits and dresses on and we put our smiling faces on and everything’s okay.

We talk about love. Every time we do that, we feel like somebody’s gonna rook and mock and gawk. For the confessed alcoholic, he sees everybody talking when he walks in the building, and he feels like they’re saying, Well, the drugs not too hung over to make it to assembly this morning. For the adulterer, she walks into the church building and she feels like everybody’s saying, Can you believe she did that? The guy who confesses to somebody that’s addicted to pornography and sensuality, he feels like every mother saying, Don’t let your kids near him. That’s what they feel. I tell you what happens because of that. A lot of times what happens with those people is that guilt and that conscious that eats away at them that’s so long and it just gnaws at them that eventually they just quit and they give up and they walk away.

Now I gotta tell you, we could sit here all week and we could talk about who’s at fault with that. And I’m not here to debate that. I’m not here to say that the person who has struggled with sin, made bad choices in their life, doesn’t have any accountability or responsibility. That’s not what I’m saying at all. If you get that from any of these lessons, you have missed the point. What I’m saying is we have to acknowledge and be aware that it’s an issue we need to talk about. I used to be one of those people that thought the person who had confessed the sin was the main problem. I thought, well, you know, the real reason. But I’ve said this before. The real reason they feel that way is because they’ve not forgiven themselves.

They’ve not forgiven themselves, and they’ve just got to get up over it. They gotta they have to grow up and get over it. And I gotta tell you, there’s some part of that may be true. But I do know that we as Christians sometimes have a problem forgiving people for certain sins. When it comes to those big ones like adultery and homosexuality and chemical addiction, fornication, pornography. We have a hard time not remembering those sins. And sinners struggle with that. A person told me a story several years ago about how they and another person at church were discussing a third person who just confessed one of those big sins. One of those individuals said to the person who talked to me, said this.

They’re a sinner. I mean, they know what they did, and I know they asked for forgiveness, but they deserve to suffer. The person that came and talked to me about this, and who motivated these, specifically the next three lessons, cried. Because just 25 years earlier, this person had an affair.

And it almost destroyed their marriage, but because of the grace of God and because of the grace of their mate, they saved their marriage and they moved to where we are now. And they looked at me with tears in their eyes. They said, you know, I heard that person say that. I just thought to myself, what if he ever hears what I did? How will he look at me then? That’s a real problem. I’m afraid sometimes we lack the compassion we need in dealing with sinners. You know how I know that? Because sometimes I lack the compassion I need in dealing with sinners. The stories in Luke 15 are motivated by a group of people that asked Jesus a question or made an accusation actually against Jesus about the fact that he was associating with sinners and tax collectors.

Look at Jesus. There he is with those sinners again. And so he tells these three stories. And we want to look at the third. And what we’re going to do tonight and Monday night and Tuesday night is we’re going to take and we’re just going to look at one of the three characters of the story of the prodigal son. And when we do that, I know it’s going to be hard, but we’re going to focus just on that character and what we learn from him in that story. And we’re going to take those and we’re going to make application in the time that we have. Let’s begin, though, by looking at the story of the reckless son, often called the prodigal son, the son that was lost.

And what it reminds you of what happened. There’s not a lot we know about these two sons, other than it just says at the beginning of verse 11, there was a man who had two sons. I don’t know any background. One’s older, one’s younger. In fact, it’s interesting, the mother’s never mentioned. It’s just a father and two sons. And that’s purposeful. But there is a man who has two sons, and one day, in verse 12, the younger one comes and makes the request. He comes up to his father and he says, Give me the share of property that is coming to me. Now, what that means is give me my inheritance. I want my inheritance now. I don’t know if you’ve had to deal with that.

I have not. My children aren’t old enough to even think about an inheritance. Unfortunately, my mother is old enough to think about that. And sometimes my sister and I, when I’m right at my mother’s house, we’ll actually talk about now. When mom dies, you can have this, and I’ll take that. And my mom will go, wait a minute. I’m not dead. I was like, not yet. Well, the reality is this young man doesn’t want to wait. He wants his inheritance right now. And I think it’s interesting to notice what he says. Give me the share of poverty that is coming to me. Some translations might even say that you owe me. That you owe me. I want what is my inheritance now. And it’s not hard to figure out why he does that, because in verse 13 it says, Not many days later, the son gathered up all that he had and took a journey into a far country.

He decides, I’m going to cash out now, and I’m going to move away, and I’m going to get so far away from home that I have to worry about dad anymore, and I’m going to take my inheritance, and I’m going to go and I’m going to live the good life. That’s what I’m going to do. And it says here in verses 13 and 14, after he goes to a faraway country, that he goes and he wastes all that he has in reckless living. By the way, that’s where the word prodigal comes from. Prodigal means wasteful. He’s the wasteful son. And the reason for that description is pretty simple. Verse 14 says, And when he had spent everything. I have three kids. My oldest one, if you give him a dime, he’s going to spend 11 cents.

And if you give my middle child a dime, she will have it ten years from now. This son was like my older son. He spent everything. He didn’t plan for the future. He didn’t plan for the difficult days. He just went and lived a free-spirited life. And verse 14 tells us that a severe famine arose in the country. And he began to be in need. I tell you what is sad is that this man was in need, even though his father had given him all he really needed to be sustained in life, but he had wasted it. And so now he’s in need. And it says there in verse 15 that he goes out and he hires himself out to one of the citizens in the country who sent him out in the field to feed pigs.

I don’t know if you’ve ever smelled a pig farm. I know Texas is cattle country normally. But growing up, we used to drive into Indiana and we used to go to my aunt and uncle’s house, and we could always know when we were about a mile and a half from their house because a pig farm was across the street.

Very recognizable. And yet the reality is that the degrading part of this job went well beyond distinction to smell. We have every right to assume that since Jesus is speaking to Jewish people under the old law in Jerusalem, or actually in Judea, that the reality is we should just go ahead and apply the old law to this young man. This is an unclean animal. Not only has he gone to have to work at a pig farm, he’s feeding an animal that by the law of the covenant he’s under with God, if he’s going to observe that, he’s not even allowed to eat and be around. He’s a low of the lows. And yet verse 16 says that he’s so hungry that he wants to eat what pigs eat.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that. But pigs will eat anything. They will eat food that you won’t even smell. And he’s looking at that and wanting to eat it. That’s in the midst of that pig farm, wanting to eat that food that verse 17 is written. And I have to tell you that if you write in your Bible, this is one of those phrases that you underline, circle, highlight, draw arrows around, circle, star, all that stuff. It says, but when he came to himself. When he came to himself, he said, How many of my father’s servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with hunger. I will arise and I will go to my father. And I will say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against heaven before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. He’s so hungry, he says, You know what? I know at least if I go home and I can get my dad to hire me as a hand, I’ll be able to eat, unlike where I’m at now. I want you to think for a moment about the courage it must have taken for this. Here’s a young man that’s gone and shaken his peanut little fist in his father’s face and said, Give me my inheritance that you owe me so I can leave. And he leaves home and he wastes it, and he is broke and homeless and hungry and desperate. And so he says, I’m going to go home. And I’m going to tell the same father I told that I didn’t need him anymore, that I moved away from, that I took all of my inheritance from, that I’d like to come home.

Now, what if Dad says no? What if Dad says no? What if Dad doesn’t answer the door? And while we don’t read about the son being worried about that, I’ve got to tell you, if I was the son, I’m worried about that. And so he goes home. In verses 20 through 21, he rose and came to his father while he was still a long way off. His father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him and said, Son, and the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven before you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. I want you just to imagine for a moment that you are this child who is coming home. And you are desperate.

You have more desperate than you’ve ever been before. And about the time that you pop across the horizon, and just about the time you see the gates of the farm and the front porch of the house, you see somebody running out towards you. And it’s your father. And he gets to you. He hugs you and kisses you. Can you imagine the emotions of that moment? And that’s where he says, Dad, I know I did you wrong. I know I’ve sinned, and I, Dad, I can’t be your son anymore. I know that, but just take me in as a servant. I want you to imagine what happens next. The Father says, bring the best rope. Actually, it’s more like calling back to the house. Bring the best robe.

Put sandals on his feet and rain on his hands. Kill the calf. We’re going to eat and we’re going to celebrate. My son who is dead is alive. Son who is lost has been found. Let me tell you something. Those verses with that father there in verses 22 through 24 is perhaps one of the best pictures of grace and mercy in all of Scripture. That’s what it’s like to come home when you’ve been lost in sin. God doesn’t just welcome you home. He embraces you and he hugs you and he kisses you and he adorns you as a child when you don’t deserve it. We’re going to talk more about that tomorrow night. But the question we have to ask in all of these things is this is a parable and this is a story.

It’s got a meaning, and Jesus intends for us to see a meaning. And so the question is, well, who’s the son?

We are. That’s the application for us today. I’m the son. You’re the son. We have all played the role of the reckless son. We’ve all gone to God. And we’ve all said to God, I don’t need you anymore. I don’t need your rules. I don’t need your protection. I don’t need your providence. I don’t need your life. In fact, you just give me my inheritance, which by the way, is life. You give me my life and let me go live the way I want to live, and I don’t want you anymore. And we go off and we journey a far away from God. In fact, sometimes we might even try to run and hide from him. And we go and waste our life and spend it on reckless living, chasing after the pleasures and cares of this world.

And you might look at me and say, Terry, you don’t know me. I’ve never done that. And I will say, have you sinned? If you sin, that’s what you’ve done. Because that is intended to be the picture of a sinner. And whether your sins are the big ones or the little white liar stealing paper clips from the office and the things that we wink at, if you’ve sinned, you’ve told God, I don’t need you anymore. That’s what you’ve done. See, sometimes we have this mindset as Christians that as long as we go to church, and as long as we’re not homosexuals or murderers or drunks or adulterers, we’re just not that bad. You ever read Proverbs 6? The six things God hates and the seven that are abomination.

Homosexuality is not in that list. But liars are. And people who stir up trouble among brethren are.

Think about that. Jealousy, envy, covetous, greed, gossip, all of those things that are looked down upon in Scripture. And quite frankly, they’re all things that we often practice and participate in because at least I’m not like that guy. We have all played the role of this son. Romans 3 23 says what? That we have all sinned. We’ve all done that. We’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. We have all played the role of the reckless son. And by the way, we have all been in a place somewhere, at some time, where we have feasted on the pods that were intended for swine. Because it starts out by telling God, I don’t need your help anymore. And then we go live recklessly, and we end up spending time with the pigs, and we end up then feasting on the food that’s only fit for swine.

That’s how good people that were raised in good homes wander off and eventually end up getting consumed by things like alcoholism, materialism, gambling, sexual addiction, pride, and etc.

Because we get so entangled with the world that we start feasting on the things of the world. And you know what’s sad is that a lot of people get into those things and they keep turning to them. We get to the point where we’re sinning and we have all this guilt, so we turn to alcohol more, the drugs more, the immoral addictions more and more. And suddenly what happens is we begin to look like the world and we talk like the world and we dress like the world all because we’re the reckless son. At some point, you have to come to yourself. Or come to your senses. And come home. The reality is all of us have been this person. And what do we do about that?

1. Come to Our Senses

Well, the first thing is we come to our senses. I love the way that is stated in verse 17. When he came to himself, when he woke up, when he came to his senses. You talk about a low life. This guy that had all these friends, now is in a place where nobody will give him anything. He had all this money, now he doesn’t have any money. Now he’s sitting in a farm feeding pigs and going, man, I would like to eat what they’re eating. You talk about an all-time low. And yet it was at that all-time low for this young man that he came to himself. Isn’t it sad that sometimes it takes a low point in life to wake us up? Maybe it’s the diagnosis of an illness of us or a loved one, or maybe it’s the financial devastation and loss of everything we own, or maybe it’s some other tragic experience in life that makes us come to our senses.

2. Realize We're the Problem: Take Ownership

And we might even say things sometimes about some of those people who are out living recklessly. Well, you know, when they hit rock bottom, maybe they’ll come around. Tonight needs to be a turning point for any who are here living recklessly. And that is, it is time for us to quit acting as if we don’t have sin in our life. It’s time for us to stop pretending that we’re not the reckless son. It’s a moment right now, it’s a moment of evaluation and reflection and admission for you. Are you still living recklessly? If so, you need to admit that and you need to come to your senses in a few moments, you’ll have the opportunity to do that. We also need to realize that we’re the problem.

I tell you what frustrates me about my kids. Is they’re never the problem. And even when I show them they’re the problem, they then say, Well, I didn’t mean to. Oh, I’m so tired of hearing that. In fact, I have a response so much I looked at the 11-year-old the other day, I said, What am I about to say? She said, You’re about to say you didn’t mean not to. That’s right. You ever notice that people get on TV and it’s everybody else’s fault? It’s my parents’ fault, it’s my brother’s fault, it’s my sister’s fault. I didn’t do it. I want you to notice one of the most refreshing things about this story is the reckless son. When he comes to himself, not once does he say, you know what?

If my dad hadn’t given me my inheritance, I wouldn’t be here right now. Oh, you laugh. Don’t you think that a lot of people would say that today? It’s not my fault. Dad made me do it. He gave me the money. And when I packed up to leave home, he didn’t stop me. And then when I was out spending my inheritance, nobody told me not to. It’s not my fault. I tell you what I like about this is he says, when he came to himself, look, my father treats his servants better than I’m being treated. So I’m going to go home to him and I’m going to say, Father, I have sinned. Notice that. I have sinned and against heaven before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

3. Realize God's the Answer

Treat me as one of your hired servants. Notice what he says. I will go and I will say, I have sinned. I am not worthy. He took ownership for what he had done. Listen, we need to take ownership in what we’ve done. Good and bad. But more specifically, bad. When we’re a sinner, we’ve got to stand up and admit we’re a sinner. All the 12-step programs, NA, SA, all of those anonymous groups. You know what the first step on all those recovery processes is? To admit what you’ve done. You know why? Never overcome it if you never admit what you’ve done. The alcoholic who will not admit he’s an alcoholic cannot get healthy. Doesn’t work. You have to acknowledge what you’ve done. Take ownership. Third, realize God’s the answer.

In the story, the Father is God. Again, come back tomorrow night, 7 30. We’ll talk about that. We always know that God is the answer. But I don’t know that we act like God is the answer.

Verse 18, the son says, I will arise and I will go to my father. Why does he say that? Because he knows his father is the answer. Like that’s where everything’s going to be made right again. If I will go home, my father will make everything right again. Now, there’s been times I’ve talked to reckless sons here on earth who were struggling. You know what one of the most common approaches is? Well, I know I need to do that, but when I get my life right, then I’ll come back to church. Or when I get control of this in my life, I’ll be back and I’ll live like I should. Those people never make it. You know why? Because they still think they’re the answer to overcoming the problems.

You can’t get your life right and then come to God. You can only get your life right by coming to God. And it starts by saying, My life’s not right. And I know God is the solution and the answer to overcome that. And by the way, while we’re talking about the answer, the answer’s not the experts on earth either. We have all these self help books and group sessions and counseling, and I’m not saying those things aren’t needed at times. But I’ve got to tell you something. It’s like the alcoholic. I’m not against Alcoholics Anonymous. In fact, I’m all for it because I know it is successful. But you don’t go to AA if you’re struggling with alcohol because you’re convinced AA is your salvation. You go to AA because you’re convinced that’s what God is going to use in your life to overcome alcohol.

There’s a difference, by the way, in those two. And we’ve got to understand that. And I have to make sure you understand something, that in all of God’s plan, his source for overcoming sin and helping doing that on earth was the fellowship of brethren.

James 5.16 says to confess your trespasses to one another. Why? Not so we can hold them against each other, but so I can help you and you can help me. Galatians 6 2 says to bear one another’s burdens. Why? Because that’s how we’re going to overcome those burdens. And I tell you what is saddened to me is not that some of our people go to AA to overcome alcohol, but they have to go there because they don’t find fellowship from their own brethren to overcome. Because we’re not understanding of that. We’re not. You may think you are, but the only reason you may be understanding of the alcoholic is if you battled that battle yourself. You know why? Because the rest of us look at them sometimes and go, why can’t they just stop and get over it?

Guys, it’s not that easy. That’s compassion. And we’re supposed to give that kind of compassion to our brethren. I’m reminded, by the way, when it comes to the idea of God being the answer. I love 2 Corinthians chapter 12 in this. Have you ever thought about 2 Corinthians chapter 12 in relation to God being the answer? That’s where Paul prays about there in verses 7 through 10 about this thorn in the flesh. And I’ve got to tell you, some of you may ask me, so let me go ahead and say this. I have no idea what the thorn of the flesh is. And you don’t either. I mean, you can come tell me it was a speech impediment or a lymph or whatever. I have no idea what it was, none of us do, and that’s not the importance of the text.

But I want you to read it what he says there, starting in verse 7. He says, To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of Revelations. A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times, verse 8, three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should lead. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I’m content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Let me tell you what that passage says. I’m the problem, God’s the answer, and I will boast in the greatness and the grace of God. That’s what it says.

Romans chapter 7. In verses 15 through 25, I won’t read all of that. But Paul there writes that section where he says, the things I don’t want to do, I do, and the things I do, I don’t want to do. And this inner struggle. And I tell you, there’s a lot of people that look at that and they go, you know, Paul must not be talking about himself because that’s just awful. I’ve got to tell you, I think Paul’s absolutely talking about himself. You know why? Because that’s the struggle everybody has, isn’t it? I don’t want to do the things I do, but I keep on doing them. And I try to say, do this, but I don’t do it. And inside of me there’s this struggle between the flesh and the spirit.

And he says there, he wraps it up in verse 24. He says, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks to be the God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I’m the problem. God’s the answer. God’s the answer.

4. Return to God With a Willingness to Serve

We have to always see God and His church and His Word as the source of forgiveness and spiritual healing. When you find yourself feeding pigs and wanting to eat the things you should not eat because they are unclean, come to your senses and go home to God. And fourthly, return to God with a willingness to serve. I’ve got to tell you, I love one of the things I love about this is what he is ready to do. He doesn’t come home with this arrogance of, look, I’m a son. I can go home. And he can’t tell me, no, he’s my dad. No, he says, look, I’m no longer worthy to be called a son. Just hire me. Just treat me as a hired servant. That’s going to play a more important role later this week.

But I can tell you what impresses me is the fact of this humility. That he is humble to go home. He is not arrogant in his response. He is humble. He is begging for forgiveness. I’m afraid that sometimes we’re so used to God’s grace and mercy that we take it for granted. In my high school class recently, I said, in your prayer life, how is it that you confess your sins to God? And they said, when you say in your prayer, forgive us of our sins. And I said, No. What?

I don’t know what you know about confession, but when you sit there and you say, forgive us of our sins, that’s a request. There’s no admission there, and there’s no humility, really. It’s just God. You forgive me. Hey, God, you promise. If I pray, you’ll forgive me. Forgive me of my sins. Maybe it’s a little more than that.

Let me tell you what Romans 6 says about us. It says we deserve to die because of our sins.

5. We've Got to Learn to Confess

Did you hear that? We deserve death because of our sins. If somebody had a gun to your head and was going to take your life, would you plead with them to spare it? Would you be humble in your approach, or would you arrogantly look at him and go, You’re not going to shoot me? By the way, I don’t know if y’all know that’s the only works in the movies. That does not work in real life. No, we would be humble. That’s the picture here. That’s the humility when you come home. It’s not, all right, I’m back again, God. Do your thing. Say those magic words and forgive me my sins, and here I am at church again. No, it’s humility. And it’s service. And finally, we’ve got to learn to confess.

I mentioned this briefly, but I want to get into this a little deeper because I this. Let me tell you something. I am bothered. I am bothered by the fact that I feel like as Christians, we just don’t know what confession is. I don’t know if we even understand the concept. Confession is not saying I’m sorry. And it’s not asking God to forgive us of our sins. I tell you, this story is a good picture of confession. He says, I’m going to go to my Father and I’m going to say, I have sinned. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Let me ask you something. When was the last time you prayed to God and you were so distraught about sin that you said, I’m a rebellious sinner who’s no longer worthy to be called your son?

That’s a confession.

By the way, in verse 21, that’s exactly what the son did as he went home and he said those words. Confession, according to Merriam Webster, is a written or oral acknowledgement of guilt by a party accused of an offense. Acknowledgement of guilt. What did the son say? I have sinned against heaven and you.

Faith will save the one who’s sick, the Lord will raise him up. If he’s committed sins, he’ll be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another. Pay for one another. You may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great powers. It’s working. I’m going to say something that I’ve said in other places that’s somewhat as controversial about confession. But I’m going to say it this way, and hopefully you’ll understand. I think we misunderstand the role of confession. Especially as it comes to confessing to our brethren. James 5.16 is not the biblical picture of coming forward in the invitation song. Now, it can be, but that’s not the requirement of it. James 5.16 just means that when you struggle, you find a brother or two or three and you confess to them.

And I’ve got to tell you, often those are the kind of things that we wouldn’t ever confess during the invitation song. Those are the ones James 5.16, I think, is talking about more. Look, if you’re if you’re struggling with something like pornography or with alcohol or with greed or with gambling, you need to find a brother or two. Maybe it’s the elders, maybe it’s Tony, maybe somebody else, that you can confess that to, that you can be held accountable by, that you can pray with. That’s what James 5.16 is talking about. That’s the fellowship that we get from each other that helps us to overcome sin. Here’s what we do in that process. James 5 talks about our prayers. We pray with them. In fact, the James 5, 14 through 16 that I read, prayer is mentioned four times.

Pray. Pray. And that’s what we do first and foremost is to pray. Not for them, with them, might I add. I think one of our big failures is somebody tells us something, we go, all right, man, I’ll be praying for you. You know, I did that one time. I was telling another preacher from another denomination or denomination out there, we were working out. I know this is going to sound odd to y’all, but we were at the gym working out. I know this doesn’t look like that. That was years ago. But we were we were working out together there in the middle of the gym. I said, Hey, look, my two-year-old daughter’s having surgery tomorrow, so I won’t be around and won’t see you tomorrow.

He said, Really, what’s going on? And we talked about it. He said, Well, let’s pray about that. And right there in the middle of the gym, he didn’t care who was looking and all that stuff. He just put his arms around me and we prayed. And I left there feeling encouraged and ashamed at the same time because I thought to myself, why have I not ever done that? Because what happens is if you tell me you need something or you’re going through something, I go, Well, I’ll pray for you. And we walk away. Pray with one another. Pray with one another. Secondly, help. Hold accountable. Turn to each other. By the way, that’s what the anonymous groups are there for to hold each other accountable. And I don’t know if you realize this, but we’re the church is really the first anonymous group.

It’s just called sinner’s anonymous. And we’re supposed to come together, and part of what you do to acknowledge you’re part of the group is you say, I’m a sinner. And God is the only answer to that. And I know I can’t keep overcoming sin without you guys. So we’re in this together. By the way, that’s how AA works. That’s how sinner’s anonymous works. When we’re working. And by the way, I think that’s what James 5, 14 through 16 is teaching us. If we’re really going to do it. So why don’t we confess more often? I’ll tell you why we don’t confess more often. Because confession is really saying my sins. I don’t confess my sins in prayer because I’m afraid God’s going to know.

Now you laugh, but isn’t it true?

Like if your problem is that you stole something, you know God already knows, but you don’t sit there and go, God, I’m a thief. And yet I’ve got to tell you, part of being able to overcome that is acknowledging to God, I’m a thief. I’m a drunk. I’m a fornicator. I’m a porn addict. I’m a liar. I’m a greedy person that can’t handle covetousness. God already knows your sin. But the fact that you won’t acknowledge it to him shows that you have not humbled yourself enough to overcome. The refusal to admit your sin to God is proof of our pride. And that’s also why we don’t confess to each other. Because I don’t want you to know the things that I’ve hidden all of my life.

Can I tell you that’s really hurting churches? That’s why we’re not growing, by the way. If we were more open with each other about our problems, and we really functioned more like Sinners Anonymous, where people weren’t afraid to confess their sins to each other. We wouldn’t lose people like we do. You know why we lose people is because they feel like they don’t fit in and they never will fit in. Because as one person told me after they left, I’m not like those folks. I have problems. How many of you in here don’t have problems? Raise your hand. How many of you struggle with sin this week? Raise your hand. Struggle with sin. That, by the way, should be every hand, unless you’re like three and asleep.

Conclusion

We all have problems. And your problem may not be my problem, but the fact is we need to be open and honest about the fact that we all have problems. And when we do that, what we’ll really start doing is help each other heal. I don’t know where you’re at. I don’t know if you’re home with God or if you’re in a far-off country feeding pigs. And tonight maybe you’ve come to yourself, but I know this. We’re going to sing a song to allow you the opportunity to come home to the Father tonight.

And know this, that if you come, while you may not physically be embraced and kissed by God, that spiritually that is what he will do. He will run to meet you and embrace you and kiss you.

And you will be crowned as a son again. Because that’s what God does. If you’re here and you never put on Christ, you’ve never obeyed the gospel. Why not do that tonight? Why not believe in Jesus and who he is? Confess your faith that he is the Son of God. Repent of your sins, which means it’s to change your life. Start living for God as to yourself and be immersed and rise up out of those waters a new creature. If you’ve not done that, do that tonight. Come home. Maybe you’ve done that, but you’ve fallen away and you’re out living a reckless life again, you’re wasting the inheritance. Come back. Come to your senses. Come home. And if you need to do that publicly, confessing, not required, but if you need that publicly, then do that tonight and we’ll pray with you and God will forgive you.

If you need to do that privately, take a few moments during this song. Nobody will notice. But confess that to God in prayer. Make your life right tonight. Come home while we stand and while we sing this song.