30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 15 11-32 To seek and the save the lost - The prodigal son 09 God who restores us
📖 Luke 15:11-32
20Feb2020 - *God who restores us* - _Luke 15:11-32_ - Bible reading: _Ephesians 2:2-7_
_Luke 15:14-16 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. (15) Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. (16) And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything._
When a person rejects the ways of the Lord, there is sorrow upon sorrow. The younger son had grown up in the loving atmosphere of his father’s home. There was nothing that he lacked there. Yes, there was responsibility and submission to the will of his father, but was it a drudgery, was it a grind? No. Not at all. It was a joy to be under the authority of the father and there he enjoyed freedom and abundance, but yet he wanted to go his own way. He was now sliding down a slippery slope and there was no stopping his wretched state of free fall.
_Ephesians 2:2-7 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, (3) among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others._
When a man chooses to go his own way, he does not realise that he actually gets into the clutches of satan and his allies. Who are the allies of satan? There is the spirit of the world, which is controlled by the prince of the power of the air and there is another ally, the flesh/mind. This is the pathetic situation that a person gets into, when he or she chooses to go his own way by rejecting the ways of God.
_II Timothy 2:26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will._
_(4) But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),_ We were in the state of death. We can now see that death is not just physical but the state of death is the cruel situation in which man finds himself - in the clutches of satan , the world and the flesh. This is our bad news. Unless we realise the extent of our bad news, only then will we be grateful for the good news. God saved us from our situation of death by giving us His life, which is full and complete. We have received His life by His mercy and His grace.
_(6) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,_ The Father’s plan is to not only save us from the bad news but to bring us back to the place, where we were at first. He brings us to be His sons and daughters, with all the privileges as well as to the place of submission to His will.
Then God adds blessing upon blessing by preparing us to rule with Him in the age that is to come. _(7) that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus._ This is the extent of God’s love for man.
*Thought to ponder*
```How marvellous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be: How marvellous! How wonderful! Is my Saviour’s love for me.```