When You Are Far from God – Part 4 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning.

We’re talking all this week about the topic ‘what to do when you are far from God’. You may be a person who has never put God into your life. You may be a person who has known God personally in the past, but you’re walking far from God now.

Well, we’re looking all week at the steps you need to take when you find that to be true, based on a story Jesus told about a young man who rebelled against his father, took his share of the inheritance, even though his father was still alive, went off to a far country, wasted it all, lived in a way that was so dishonouring to his family and to his father.

Then he found himself in a crisis situation where everything was falling apart in his life, and he thought back to the life in his father’s house, and he remembered how even the servants in his father’s house were so well treated by his father, and here he was, the son, and yet his life was terrible, desperate.

Maybe you find yourself in that place. You’ve come to the end of yourself, and you know your life is falling apart. Your relationships are a mess, and your inner life is at a place of desperation. You need God in your life. Well, what are the steps to take? Step number one is to recognise that you need God. That’s what happened to this young man. He knew he needed his father.

Secondly, you need to come to God on His terms, not all proudly as if you’re doing God a favour by putting Him back in your life. No, recognising He’s the one you’ve offended, you need to come to Him in repentance. That just means acknowledging I’ve been messing up my life, going the wrong way by leaving God out, and I want to put God at the centre of my life. Acknowledge your brokenness to God. And ask him to help you.

Step number 3 that we looked at yesterday is to accept God’s love for you and this young man as he approached his father while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and just ran, totally undignified in that culture for an older man to run, and yet he didn’t care, his son had to know that he loved him. He ran to his son, embraced him. He threw his arms around him. He kissed him, and the son said to him, Father, I’ve sinned against heaven, and before you. He’s got this memorised speech to let his father know he’s truly repenting. He wants to come back on his father’s terms. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.

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The father doesn’t even let him finish. He calls to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him.’ And this really introduces step number 4 that we want to look at now.

Step number 4 – Receive God’s grace.

Receive God’s grace, the father said to his servants – ‘Bring quickly the best robe.’ Well, you know whose robe was the best robe in the house? The father’s robe.

‘Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.’ The ring signified you’re back in the family. You have the signet ring of authority, shoes on his feet. ‘Bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ That is grace.

That young man did not deserve that from his father, did he? He had embarrassed his father. He’d demanded his inheritance while his father was still alive. He’d rejected him. He’d gone away to a distant place. He’d dishonoured the family and the way that he lived, and now he’s coming back broke, desperate, broken. He didn’t deserve all of that, but his father poured it out on him anyway.

This is exactly what God does when we come back to Him and say, ‘God, I’ve messed up my life. I’ve ruined things. I’m desperate. I need you. Please accept me on your terms.’ God doesn’t say, Well, it’s about time. I’m going to squash you under my thumb now because you know you’re such a bad person. No. He pours out his forgiveness, His grace. He puts things into our lives that we don’t deserve. If you take the letters of the word grace, G R A C E, they spell this out, God’s riches at Christ’s expense.

God Himself pays the cost. Who paid for that best robe that was put on His Son? The Father did. The ring. The Father paid for it. The shoes. The Father paid for them. All that you need. God has paid for at the cross of Jesus Christ when He died to make a way for you to be right with God. If you will turn to God today, He’s ready to pour out His grace in your life. You just have to receive it.

I’m John North.

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