Extravagant Grace: A Deeper Dive into the Prodigal Story

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

Today on Real Life Radio.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:02

Why is this parable so valuable to people? Even non-believers, they know about this parable. They love this parable. What’s it all about? Because it speaks to the fact that man can be forgiven.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:15

This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:32

Hey everybody, we want to introduce you to what we’re calling our Summer Bundle. It’s two great books, and you’re going to want to get them for the little ones in your life. The first book is called Prayers and Promises for Kids. It’s a great resource to not only teach your children about the promises of God, But how do we take those promises and pray them into our lives? You’re going to find this a great resource to develop a prayer life with your child. And then the book, The Redcoats Are Coming, written by our own Nancy Sanders, who attends our church. It is a great, great book. It is featured by Adventures in Odyssey and the wonderful people at Focus on the Family. Prayers and Promises for Kids and The Redcoats Are Coming. They’re two children’s books that are very powerful. Get a copy of both these books as we bundle them for the month of July.

SPEAKER 02 : 1:19

That’s The Redcoats Are Coming and Prayers and Promises for Kids. A couple of great books available as a bundle for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues his series called The Parables of Jesus and a message titled Parable of the Prodigal Part One. Now, whenever Jesus spoke to the crowds, he often spoke using relatable stories with common everyday themes the Bible calls parables. Now, you see, this parable is one that’s very familiar to a lot of us. But what we may not know is that it’s not just about the sins of the Son and his unlimited extravagance, but about God and his immeasurable love that he has for his people. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that there’s no place that we can descend that our Father God and his love for us cannot reach. When we come to the very end of our rope, God is still there to both rescue us and to restore us with an unfathomable faithfulness. Now with his message called The Parable of the Prodigal, Part 1, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

SPEAKER 01 : 2:27

Well, you need to listen carefully tonight regarding a different approach, an expanded approach regarding the prodigal. Because as we look to the study, and I’m going to be honest with you guys, we’re going to look to the study over the course of several Wednesday nights together. It’s just too deep, and it’s broad, it’s big. That tonight as we look to this, keep in mind, note takers, jot this down as we’ll develop this over the next few weeks. The parable technically is the parable of the prodigal son, once we understand what the word prodigal means. It’s also the parable of the prodigal father, when we understand what the word prodigal means. All of this Jesus teaches in his parabolic delivery to give us understanding, listen, The parable of the prodigal God. What do we mean by that? We need to understand the word prodigal. It’s not quite exactly what you might think. It’s extremely broad, it’s extremely deep, it’s extremely exciting for any one of us tonight that’s listening to what God has to say to you. Again, being far from God tonight, maybe you’re a prodigal son, daughter. Or if you’re walking with God tonight, you need to hear about the prodigal father’s heart for you. All of it because Jesus speaks this message of what is, and we’ll see throughout this teaching, the prodigal God, specifically his heart. And we’ll understand this more in a moment. I’m going to have a video queued up that I think will help you understand this. And I want you to listen, of course, as the actors. Jesus in this video is going to be… going through this prodigal in the King James version, so hang in there, those of you who are not familiar with the King James version. But when the camera breaks away and looks to the father speaking, both to the two sons that are featured in this parable, I want you to put yourself in their shoes for a moment. And for some of you, maybe for all of us, I want you to put yourself as much as possible in the robe, in the heart of the Father speaking. So, are you ready for this? It’s just a short video, but I think it might bless your heart. Guys, cue it up.

SPEAKER 04 : 4:55

A certain man had two sons. And 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. And 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. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave to him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare? I will go to my father. I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came unto 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. And 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. But 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. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and be merry. For this my son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his eldest son was in the field. And as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called unto the servants, and asked him what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore came his father out, and entreated him, And he, answering his father, said, Lo, these many years do I serve thee. Neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, Thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad. For this thy brother was dead, and is alive, and was lost, and is found.

SPEAKER 01 : 10:17

This parable, in fact, grab your Bibles, turn to Luke chapter 15, verses 11 to 32 were just read in that video clip, and Put yourself in the setting now of what’s going on and understand this. Jesus is speaking to a gathering of disciples, of his closest, of a crowd that’s been following him. And as we lay the foundation for this parable, you’ve got to put at the top of your notes the love of God. We’re gonna talk about that tonight. We could have raced through this parable tonight. We could have gotten through those verses and I don’t think that That’s exactly what some of us need to hear tonight. We need to understand tonight the love of God. Write it down, make a note of it, understand this. Regarding the love of God, you and I barely can scratch the surface of our understanding what this parable is all about. It covers absolutely the whole Scope of man’s hearts. Why is this parable so valuable to people? Even non-believers, they know about this parable. They love this parable. What’s it all about? Because it speaks to the fact that man can be forgiven. People love this parable because we can relate to it. The kid was probably technically based on the… Culture, as Jesus relates to them, though it is a story, a parable, it would have covered or spoken about factual settings of their time. The listener is understanding what Jesus is communicating is absolutely profound, that he’s telling the listeners God’s heart is like this. We focus on the sins of the prodigal son. We could do a sermon about whatever sins we might commit, God will forgive us and accept us back if we repent. And by the way, isn’t it interesting, Bible students, that in this parable, there’s not one word mentioned of repentance? Because the very parable is a story of repentance. The young man repents of the choices that he’s made, of the direction and the mess that he’s made out of his life. And he thinks and he reasons and he remembers it was so much better in the early days when I was with my father. But the amazing thing about this is not the sin of the prodigal son. It’s about the incredible love that’s displayed by Jesus in the story regarding the father. And what’s Jesus doing? He’s painting us a picture of the father’s love for us. It’s all about God’s love. So in our note-taking, we ought to understand this right from the beginning. The word prodigal is found in verse 13, where there you see, and not many days after, verse 13, the young son gathered all together and journeyed to a far country, technically a Gentile land. How do we know? Because there were pigs there in the story. Right? and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. Prodigal living, some of your Bible translations may have words like this, extravagant living, riotous living, very, very colorful words. The word prodigal here technically in the Greek means this, in the original Bible, in the original Greek language that the scriptures were written in, the word means this, unlimited extravagance. So think about that for a moment. He went and lived a life of unlimited extravagance. That means his father gave him a lot of money when he asked for it. He wanted his father’s inheritance that was due to him. And we’ll come back more over the course of these next few weeks about what all that means. But unlimited extravagance. So the man lived with unlimited extravagance. The word means unlimited extravagance. expense to the sense that whatever he could purchase, whatever he could get, it was not held from him. That’s rich. The word means unlimited zeal. Incredible passion. He had unlimited, the word is abandonment, available at his fingertips.

SPEAKER 02 : 14:53

You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.

SPEAKER 01 : 15:07

Now, maybe none of us can relate to the wealth that this young man received, but here’s the shocking thing. He comes to his father, and he’s been thinking, apparently, in this story, that I want what’s due to me when my father dies. So when he says to his father, I want my inheritance in advance, I want it earlier than normal, it is quite a shock for what he’s saying. He’s saying, Father, let’s pretend you’re dead. And let’s pretend you’ve died. Have you ever had anybody come up to you and say, hey, you know, who’s gonna get the house when you’re dead? Who’s gonna get, now I have a really, I don’t know if you’ve seen my Volkswagen. I don’t talk about it much. But have you seen my incredible, awesome German sports car? Your pastor drives a very amazing German sports car. Did you know that? It’s a 1967 bug. I’ve had it, I bought it in 1979. I’m the second owner. It’s absolutely cherry perfect. It’s wonderful. I don’t talk about it because it’s just, I don’t want to make people feel bad. Once they see it, it’s, I pull up to stoplights and people actually ask me if they could buy it. I had a guy with a Porsche one time say, I’ll trade you right here, right now. And I said, why would I trade you when I could buy your car on any lot? I mean, it is just very, it’s sweet. And my kids have always said, dad, who gets the car when you die? And now, it’s so sweet that it doesn’t hurt my feelings for them to ask that, but it does make me think, hmm, do they wish me dead? Imagine someone coming up and saying, let’s pretend you’re dead. Well, in us pretending, give me what you would be giving me if you were dead, give it to me now. And the father in the parable gives his younger son what’s requested, which is a shock. And what’s amazing to that, and I don’t want to put this or stretch this too far, but we must be very careful when we deal with God. We know from the children of Israel in Egypt, it wasn’t enough that God led them out of Egypt by a pillar of fire and a cloud. It wasn’t enough that God fed them and watered them. They began to complain, remember about the manna? They complained about the manna, they complained about everything, and Moses was sick of it. What’s amazing when you read the Exodus account is amazing because Moses and God never agreed regarding this topic on the same day, the topic of this. Moses would say to God, God, I’m sick of these people. They make me sick. Kill them now. And God said, now Moses, calm down. That’s not the right way to approach this. I’ve led them out of Egypt. I’ve got a great plan. I’m going to make of them a great nation. It’s going to be tremendous. You just wait and see. And then God kind of calmed Moses down. And then the next day, the people rebel again. And God says, Moses, get out of the way. I’m going to kill him right here. And Moses would say, now God, wait a minute. If news gets back to Pharaoh that you brought them out, then word is going to be said that you couldn’t sustain them in the desert. And you’ll get a bad reputation, God, in Egypt. And it’s just an amazing story. It goes back and forth, lobbying the event. And it comes to one point when they say, we want meat. Remember that? We want meat and we want it now. We want our meat and we want it now. And God caused a great wind to blow, and in that wind there were quail caught in that incredible Santa Ana wind. that blew quail in at the strike zone, technically, because the Bible there says that the Jews picked up bats and it says that they just struck, they’re right in the strike zone, they began to hit all these quail, and it said that every man picked up a homer full, which is a huge basket of quail, And they began to eat it, and the Bible says that they had so much quail, and they began to devour it so selfishly that quail began to come out of their nostrils. Have you ever eaten like that? I know women don’t eat like that, guys do. When we’re not with our wives, and we go to a game or something like that, it’s not a pretty sight. So they’re eating, and they’re, oh, this is so great, oh, wow, oh. and part of a quail comes out of their nose, and they’re gagging on it. And the Bible says that God, listen, God gave them their request, but he sent leanness into their souls. And the prodigal son is asking, I want what I’m gonna get when you’re dead. And the father in this parable gives to the young man his inheritance. It’s a lot of money, extravagant amount of money to produce extravagant living. Can you imagine a young man having so much wealth given to him? That is unnatural. It’s unnatural for someone to be that rich. Very, very few people, if any, can handle that kind of wealth. And it goes to his head. And the father gives him what he requests, but it sends leanness into his soul. And the man goes into a far country, a distant land, and he begins to live an extravagant, prodigal living. So this pursuit of lustful things was extravagant. But listen, the giving of the father to the son of such wealth was extravagant, was it not? Yes. Wasn’t it extravagant that the father saw at a great distance his now broken son coming? And wasn’t it extravagant that the father would run? The Bible says the old man ran. And in that culture, old men are not permitted to run. It’s not right. It’s indignant. An older man is to have a life that is now ordered and complete, and he knows how to handle things. He doesn’t run to anything. The old man sees his son coming, and he runs to greet him. What’s Jesus saying to us in this parable? You see, all of a sudden, you see now that it’s the parable of the prodigal son, the But ultimately, is it not about the prodigal God that you and I serve and love? Extravagant God, remember what the word means. Unlimited extravagance. It’s all about the love of God. As we get into this parable, you’re gonna be learning, I hope, more about the love of God than you’ve ever known before. We need to know this. And by the way, is it not time in our culture that we understand and be refreshed about what real love truly is? We do not know, especially the young generation today. They don’t know. They haven’t heard what real love is all about. Real love, did you know real love’s not a feeling? Real love’s a choice. Did you know that? What? What’s what? I thought it was like, oh, this thing, this feeling, this, oh, I’ve got goosebumps when she looks my way or when he looks my way, I get goosebumps. That’s not love. That’s infatuation. It’s probably connected with some form of lust or excitement. It could be connected to hormones. It could be a tremendous dynamic. It could be the temperature, the breeze, the music playing at the moment, the ambiance. That stuff fades. That stuff evaporates.

SPEAKER 02 : 23:41

pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio and his message called Parable of the Prodigal Part One. Thanks for being here today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Parables of Jesus. It’s a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was ministering right here on this earth. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:04

Well, friends, listen, it’s been two years here at The Real Life Network, and God has been so good to us. God put it on our hearts to create a network that would be cancel-free, censorship-free, uncompromising, so that we could bring the truth to anyone, anywhere. God has been so good to us these last two years, everybody, and we wanna thank all of you. So today, we are amazed that over 70 million minutes of biblical worldview truth has been on our programming and viewed by you, the audience, on The Real Life Network. Every piece of our content on The Real Life Network is rooted in God’s Word so that it’s safe, it’s secure. So listen, spread the word with us, will you? Encourage friends and family to join The Real Life Network and that we might grow together this community of believers all around the world.

SPEAKER 02 : 24:51

So if you haven’t checked it out already, that’s the Real Life Network streaming the best in Christian and conservative content. Sign up and start streaming today for free at reallifenetwork.com. That’s reallifenetwork.com.

SPEAKER 03 : 25:04

Today, more and more Christ followers are living out their faith no matter what. And one way we can help is through our website. At jackhibbs.com slash real radio, you’ll find access to Pastor Jack’s devotions, YouTube channel, podcasts, Facebook, live streamed events, and so much more. Again, our website is jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. And don’t forget to download the Real Life mobile app for on-the-go access to all that Pastor Jack has to offer.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:38

This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.