LAST Sunday evening we saw and learned what it means to spend all; we saw what God has given every soul to spend—life, breath, and all things. Tonight we shall see and learn to what it leads.
When the prodigal son crossed the threshold of his father’s home his pockets were full and his banking account was heavy. Everything was all right. As soon as he got into the far country he thought it was going to last. But it did not.
Let us look at the subject of “PERISHING” from
1. THE CAUSES AND THEIR LESSON.
2. THE FACT AND ITS LESSON.
3. THE RESULT AND ITS LESSON.
1. The Causes and Their Lesson.
We partly dealt with what the causes and their lesson were last week, when we spoke of how the prodigal spent his all. Between his spending all and his confession, “I perish with hunger,” we see two more steps. They are the “mighty famine” and being “in want.” It was afterward that he cried, “I perish with hunger; I will arise, and go to my father.”
After he had spent all there arose a mighty famine, and he began to be in want. Friends, is there a mighty famine in your land? You ask me what do I mean? There might be a great famine in your land, and perhaps you are in want. This parable has a word for every soul in this room to-night. I mean you have been given life and breath and all things by God, but the question is, Have you yet found out your dependence on Him? Why did the prodigal say, “I perish with hunger”? Surely the mighty famine in the land had something to do with it.
God is dealing with every one of us here tonight; it does not matter who we are, and the steps God uses in His dealings with us are wonderful. Like a young man who was converted, and when asked how he was converted, replied, “I did my part, and God did His.” When questioned as to his part, he said, “My part was to run away, and God’s part was to run after me until He found me.”
Every single soul here that knows the Father’s grace, love and forgiveness can say that is true.
When the prodigal cried, “I perish with hunger,” it was God’s way of dealing with him that brought him to it. I love to hear of God’s wonderful ways of dealing with us. I have watched many souls as God has dealt with them and brought them to the point where they have put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have seen them in fear and trembling, and then rejoicing in the love of God. The ways and causes which led these souls to rejoice are just the same as we see brought out so beautifully in Luke 15.
The mighty famine comes when something stands in our pathway and retards our joys; the mighty famine is when nothing around us satisfies. And then God opens our hearts, and gives us light. May He open the eyes of every unsaved person here tonight. Let Him open your eyes; very soon you may be landed into eternity, and, if unsaved, to eternal doom.
I want to tell you of a young man who was brought, through the goodness of God, into, blessing by these various steps.
When the young man became of age, his father, a wealthy man, arranged a ball and dinner, to which the friends and relatives were invited. The young man had a wealthy uncle who was a devout Christian, and the nephew used to avoid him as much as possible, because the uncle used often to speak to him about his soul. On this particular day the uncle asked his nephew to walk with him in the garden. The uncle said, “I suppose you think I am going to speak to you about religion?”
The nephew replied in the affirmative.
The uncle said, “I am not going to say anything about it, but will you do one thing for me? Take this piece of paper home with you, and before you go to bed read it. There is one blank place left; fill it in before you go to bed.”
The young man promised to do as his uncle asked, and in the early hours of the morning when he retired after the festivities of the birthday, he took out the piece of paper, and opened it and read, “For to me to live is―” and there was a blank space. In the corner of the paper he saw something about Philippians 1. He secured a Bible, opened it, and read, “For to me to live is Christ.”
The young man said, “I cannot fill it in; what shall I do? I promised uncle I would. I must put something.” So after thinking it over he filled in the paper, “For to me to live is to enjoy myself.” He got into bed, and slept.
Years passed away, and the young man got married, and had one daughter. Everything went on all right until a financial crash overtook him, and he lost all his money. He had to leave his lovely house and all his furniture was sold—ruined at one stroke. When various articles were being taken away, his little daughter came up to him, and said, “Look at what I have found in the drawer.”
It was a little piece of paper, and on it were the words, “For to me to live is to enjoy myself.”
How different everything looked now. Once he thought that “For to me to live is to enjoy myself,” but it had not proved true; the enjoyment had gone out of his pathway; he was a ruined man; and not bearing his daughter to see him in such a position, he went to his room, and cried to God that he might be able to write “For to me to live is Christ.”
God answered his prayer, and there alone in his room he received Christ, trusting in Him as His Saviour; and then wrote with truth, “For to me to live is Christ.”
Cannot you see God’s ways with this soul in grace? He did not, want Christ on the eve of the birthday party; but there came a time later when he began to be in want; yes, he wanted Christ then. The story reveals a mighty famine in the land, and the “want” that follows. God opens our eyes to show us that we may be lost eternally if we go on with our backs towards Him.
I believe that in Luke 15 the prodigal son was brought on by these various steps― famine and want—until without anything in his pockets, and a mighty famine in the land he cried, “I perish with hunger.” The things which will cause us to say the same are God’s wonderful ways with us in bringing us to see our lost condition and that we may eternally perish if we do not accept His love and forgiveness.
2. The Fact and its Lesson
is the second point. The fact is that there is a great number of souls in this room tonight who, are perishing. It may be that their eyes are not opened yet, but one thing is clear; every unsaved soul is a perishing soul. Do you realize that if you are unsaved you are condemned already? Read John 3, verse 18 “He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” If you are going on like that you may land forever where mercy cannot reach you. Perhaps God has not yet opened your eyes; perhaps the god of this world is blinding your eyes, as in the story I have told you. As long as you are unsaved the wrath of God abideth upon you. It is an awful position to be in. I pray God to Open your eyes. He can do it.
I once heard of a young professional pickpocket and thief for whom a Christian man prayed twice a day for fourteen years. The young thief went on his course until one day he was arrested, and given five days for disorderly conduct. He had to work his time on a vessel that was full of corpses in boxes, and when he ate his dinner he had to use one of these boxes as a table. In the presence of death God spoke to this young man, and he promised to go straight to the Mission if he could get out of the boat. The thief was found at the Mission three nights in succession, and on the third he found peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
See how that man’s eyes were opened. I trust that God will open the eyes of everyone here to, the fact, the strong fact, that if you are unsaved you are perishing. God does not want you to perish; He wishes to give you everlasting life.
A preacher once went to preach to some convicts in a prison. Instead of preaching in a room with the men present he had to preach in a corridor on each side of which were cells. After he had finished he went from cell to cell to hear what the men had to say; and from what he heard he came to the conclusion that the wrong men were in prison, and that those who should be there were free. At last he came to one cell, and when he opened the door he saw a man with tears streaming down his face and holding his head in his hands.
The preacher spoke, and the man replied. ‘‘My sins are greater than I can bear.”
He replied, “Thank God for it. Why do you say they are too heavy when God will cast aside the burden?”
The convict realized the fact that he was perishing, he had heard about Christ dying on the cross that we might live. The gospel was no new story to him.
The next day, when the preacher went to see him, he found him rejoicing, and was told that he was glad he was sent to that prison, because God had shown him that his sins were greater than he could bear, but also that the One Who died on Calvary had taken them all away. The convict had to have his eyes opened to see his sins, and in that way God showed him that he was perishing.
Even when God opens the eyes of a lot of people, and says to them that they are lost, they try do the best they can for themselves. This is what the prodigal did. When he joined a citizen of that country he was sent to feed the swine and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, but no one gave to him. Then it was that he came to himself and said, “I will arise, and go to my father; and I will say unto him” (like the man in the prison), “I have sinned,” yes, “My sins are greater than I can bear.”
Have you got hold of the fact that without Christ you are perishing? God’s word says in John 3 verse 36: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” With the wrath of God abiding on you, you are perishing; our scripture says “perish with hunger.” What a fact! How true! Always desiring something to satisfy, but never able to find it. You want it, you want Christ. He can satisfy. “Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish.”
The fact that your soul is hungering after something shows that you are not satisfied, you are starving, absolutely starving, a starving man will do anything. The prodigal did the wrong thing; he took a situation with a farmer to keep his pigs and was still starving.
Do you remember when you said, “I will do differently; I’ll live a different life! I will try to deserve to be saved”? And you have been feeding swine for salvation, and are still starving. You are doing the wrong thing; stop, before it is too late.
3. What was the Result?
The result was that he said, “I will arise, and go to my father.” I wish to bring home to your hearts tonight the point of decision. Have you decided to go to God as you are, and confess your sins? May God help you to confess tonight. Perhaps you have not realized yet that you are lost; may God open your eyes to see it, and that soon.
Sometimes there is, in the history of souls, a long time between the knowledge that they are perishing and the time when they decide to come into the presence of God. In the case of the prodigal it was some time; and here we see the wonderful way God works step by step to bring souls to Himself.
Many years ago there lived at Hayle a man who said he did not believe in the existence of God or of eternal punishment hereafter. A preacher who had heard that the man had been listening outside the place where he was preaching on a certain Sunday, called on him the following day. The man told the preacher that he did not have any sleep the night before, and that he did not feel at all well.
“What is the matter with you; are you thinking about your soul?” asked the preacher.
The man replied in the negative, but the preacher saw it was something more than his body that was troubling him. He talked to the man again about his soul, and found that something happened fourteen years before that he had kept a profound secret. The man told the preacher that he had a dream in which he was walking along a wide, lovely road with flowers on either side, everything looked beautiful, and the people he met looked happy. As he went on he saw a man in a field close by and asked him where the road led.
“To hell,” was the reply; “straight on, you cannot miss it.”
As the man went on the road he found that the sun did not shine so brightly; it began to get gloomy and dark, and there was a smell of sulphur.
He wanted to know the way back, and he saw some creatures with long rakes. He wondered what they were doing, and found that they were raking cinders, as every now and then flames shot up in the roadway. One of them looked towards him, and he asked, “How can I get out of this?”
The creature stared at him, and after a time answered, “The same way as you came in.” The man fell on his knees, but the ground was so hot that he could not bear it. He ran he knew not where; but as he went leaping from one safe place to another over the open places in the road where the flames were rising. At last a huge fire lay before him, and he fell into it. Then he woke up, and he told the preacher that he had kept the dream a secret for fourteen years. It had haunted him day and night.
God allowed his visitor to speak solemnly to the man before he left, and the man’s eyes were opened to the fact that he was perishing. When he saw him again he spoke about the prodigal and the mighty famine, and with the Bible open at Luke 15 he went on his knees, and remained there for four hours. Then he confessed that he was a sinner, and learned, in the presence of God, that Christ was his Saviour, and also received the forgiveness of his sins, and thanked God for what He had done. His rejoicing was heard by the next door neighbor, a Christian man, who, wondering what had happened, looked in and saw him giving praise to God.
God in His infinite grace can save you, too. All you have to do is to receive His salvation in Christ. You who are perishing, arise, and go straight to Him Who will forgive you; make the decision now, and rejoice in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour. Remember, the prodigal did not continue doing the wrong thing; he changed his mind, he came to himself, and said, “I will arise, and go to my father.”
Friend, I beseech you, stop doing the wrong-thing, and think of what is all ready for you in. God’s house. You know how often you have despised what God has to give; but change your mind and value what you once despised. That is what the prodigal did, so now you, who have despised Christ and God’s salvation, do the same, and joy and satisfaction will be yours for all, eternity. C.A.S.
No, ‘tis not by prayers or tears,
E’en though flowing months and years.
That the soul can life obtain,
‘Tis alone through Jesus’ name;
In the blood that pardon gives,
Every soul, believing, lives.
Quickened by the power of God;
Under shelter of the blood;
In the love of Jesus, blest,
None can rob me of my rest.
Thanks, eternal God, to Thee.
Oh, what wondrous love I see,
Not to pass by even me!