Walking Away From God - Part 2

The second thing that happens is very evident in the Scripture here, and that is waste. Because here's what happens. The Scripture says that he squandered his money with loose living.

Now what kind of loose living was that? Well, the Bible is very specific in the thirtieth verse of this same chapter. Because the Scripture says, but when his brother, now speaking to his father, but when this son of yours came who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed a fetid calf for him. You had a celebration for him.

So he wasted his money on women. He wasted his money on frivolous things. He wasted his money on lots of things.

But he was not only wasting his money, he was wasting his time. Years were going by. He was wasting his talents, his skills, his gifts.

He was wasting the background that his father had planted in him. And here's the one thing the world does not want you to believe, and that is there are always, no exception, consequences to sin. Oh, have a drink.

Here's the lie. It's not going to hurt you. Oh, a little pot's not going to hurt you, big lie.

Sex is not going to hurt you, big lie. In other words, all the big lies are told with, well, it's not going to hurt you. I mean, what's one this or one that or one the other? But there are people who have involved themselves in all of those things and know that one time set them on a whole different course of life.

And so, there's always waste. And when there is waste, you can look around, because right around the corner there will be want. And notice what happened to him.

The Scripture says, so he went and hired himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. No one.

Now, when he got to the distant country, don't you know if he had all of his inheritance? He had lots of friends. Listen, there's a world of people out there, when you've got money, you've got a friend. When your money's gone, they're gone.

So here he is. Whatever he had, whatever he spent it on, the Scripture says, it gives us an indication of a sum of it, then all of a sudden he had no one. And here he's hiring himself out, and you can put this down, when you walk away from God, you will be in want.

And when people find themselves, because of their actions in life, when they find themselves in situations and circumstances, they can't get out. They feel trapped by it. They don't have what they need, they don't have what they want.

They look back and realize they've made decisions, and this is a terrible plot to be in, to make decisions in your life where you have to look back one day and regret one decision after the other, and have to realize it's your fault. It's a decision that you made. It's a decision that you made based on not truth but error, based on the fact that you thought there wouldn't be any consequences.

And what I want you to see is this, sin is a dangerous, damaging act. No matter who you are, and what you are, and what you have, and how long you've had it, you're going to lose it. There'll be want.

Then I would follow that by simply saying, there is weariness. And sometimes a person says, well, I'm doing really well, but think about this. When you're living in sin, there is that disconnect between you and God if you've been saved, and you feel it.

There is guilt, which you may deny, but it's there. And there's something else. You see, there is a weariness that goes on inside of you because people who are living in sin, they're always trying to hide something.

And so you're living with this trying to hide. Living with this trying to forget. Living with this trying to change.

In other words, what goes in on the person's physical, human, emotional being can be very taxing. If you're living with regret, living, listen, with known sin in your life, living with unforgiveness, living with things in your life that you know are displeasing to God, it doesn't make any difference what you may say publicly. The truth is, it's wearing you down.

And the question is, you know, why are so many people sick so early in life? And why is there so much depression? Why is there so much nervousness? And why are we living on pills and this and that, and hospitals are full? And why are we so sick? Well, it can be a number of things, but one thing is we are sick in our thinking, sick in our heart. Because, listen, the body was not created to live with depression, guilt, a sense of fear, frustration, anxiety, all the things that people live with, and especially of guilt. Living with it.

If somebody says, well, it's not bothering me. Oh, yes, it is. You know what it's doing? It's aging you every day.

That's just life. It's the consequences of sin. And here's this guy, and he's down here slopping hogs, so to speak.

That's what we would say, slopping hogs. Now he's an absolute turtle worm living a very wretched life. No friends, no relationships, and all of a sudden something happens.

So the question is, you know, you say, well, you know what? You've described me. That's the way I'm living. So what do I do about it? Listen carefully.

What did he do about it? Here he is, everything's gone wrong, he has years of regret, and here's what happens. The Bible says, listen carefully, he came to his senses, and that is, he didn't have to be there. Something, there could be a change.

So he came to his senses. Then the scripture says, he made a decision, and I want us to start in the scripture. He made a decision.

But it's one thing to make a decision. I've seen a lot of people make decisions. I've seen people walk out and say, here's what God is saying to me, and this is what I'm going to do.

Praise God, thank You for praying for me, and on we go. And then about a month later, how are you doing? Well, you know, I made a decision. Listen, making a decision, watch this carefully, making a decision does not change your life.

Making a decision to do better is not going to make you any better. Following a decision is a positive action based on that decision. And so, listen to what happens in this passage.

When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough, but I am dying here with hunger? I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer even worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men.

Well, that was a good decision. But how do I know he meant it? The reason I know he meant it was because the Scripture says, so he got up, came to his father, and then that's a whole other section. So let me ask you a question.

How many times have you made a decision? You know, I've got to get right with God. I've got to get my life straightened out. That's what I'm going to do.

You get down and pray, and I've got to change things. You talk, you go to a counselor, yeah, you're right, I'm going to change things. Have you changed? In other words, what changed? You made a decision to, but why didn't you change? I'll tell you why.

Because you did not repent of sin.