Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1204
“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 here the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry.” Luke 15:22,23.
LAST Lord’s-Day we spoke upon the consecration of priests. That theme might seem too high for troubled hearts and trembling consciences who fear that they shall never be made priests and kings unto God. So glorious a privilege appears to them to hang in the dim, distant future, if, indeed, they reach it at all. Therefore, at this time, we will go down from the elevated regions to comfort those who are seeking the Lord—with the view of helping them, in their turn, to climb, also!
We speak this morning, not of the consecration of priests, but of the reception of sinners, and this, according to our text, is a very joyful business. It is even described as a merrymaking, accompanied with music and with dancing. We, very frequently, speak of the sorrow for sin which accompanies conversion, and I do not think we can speak of it too often. But yet there is a possibility of our overlooking the equally holy and remarkable joy which attends the return of a soul to God. It has been a very common error to suppose that a man must pass through a very considerable time of despondency, if not of horror of mind, before he can find peace with God.
But in this parable the father seems determined to cut short that period. He stops his son in the very middle of his confession and, before he can ask to be made as one of the hired servants, his mournful style is changed to rejoicing, for the father has already fallen on his neck and kissed his trembling lips into a sweet silence! It is not the Lord’s desire that sinners should tarry long in the state of unbelieving conviction of sin. It is something wrong in themselves which keeps them there—either they are ignorant of the freeness and fullness of Christ, they harbor self-righteous hopes—or they cling to their sins. Sin lies at the door but it is no work of God which blocks the way. He delights in their delight and joys in their joy!
It is the Father’s will that the penitent sinner should at once believe in Jesus, at once find complete forgiveness and enter into rest. If any of you came to Jesus without the dreary interval of terror which is so frequent, I pray you do not judge yourselves as though your conversions were dubious—they are all the more, instead of all the less, genuine, because they bear, rather, the marks of the Gospel than of the Law! The weeping of Peter, which in a few days turns to joy, is far better than the horror of Judas which ends in suicide! Conversions, as recorded in Scripture, are, for the most part, exceedingly rapid.
They were pricked in the heart at Pentecost and the same day baptized and added to the Church because they had found peace with God through Jesus Christ! Paul was struck down with conviction and in three days was a baptized Believer! Perhaps the figure is inapt, but I was about to say that sometimes God’s power is so very near us that the lightning flash of conviction is often attended at the very same moment by the deep thunder of the Lord’s voice which drives away our fears and proclaims peace and pardon to the soul! In many cases the sharp needle of the Law is immediately followed by the silken thread of the Gospel—the showers of repentance are succeeded at once by the sunshine of faith—Peace overtakes Penitence and walks arm in arm with her into yet fuller rest!
Having thus reminded you that God would have penitents very soon rejoice, I want to spend this morning in setting forth the joy which is caused by pardoned sin. That joy is threefold. We will talk about it, first, as the joy of God over sinners. Secondly, the joy of sinners in God. And, thirdly, what is so often forgotten—the joy of the servants—for they, too, rejoiced, for the father said, “Let us eat and be merry.” One of the points of the parable is just this, that as in the case of the lost sheep the shepherd calls together his friends and neighbors, and as in the case of the piece of money the
woman calls her neighbors together, so in this case, also, others share in the joy which chiefly belongs to the loving father and the returning wanderer.
I. THE JOY OF GOD OVER SINNERS. It is always difficult to speak of the ever-blessed God becomingly when we have to describe Him as touched by emotions. I pray, therefore, to be guided in my speech by the Holy Spirit. We have been educated to the idea that the Lord is above emotions, either of sorrow or pleasure. That He cannot suffer, for instance, is always laid down as a self-evident postulate. Is that quite clear? Cannot He do or bear anything He chooses to do? What does the Scripture mean which says that man’s sin, before the flood, made the Lord repent that He had made man on the earth, “and it grieved Him at His heart”?