The document summarizes a sermon on the parable of the prodigal son from the book of Luke. The sermon discusses how the younger son asks his father for his inheritance early, showing disrespect. He then squanders his money on loose living. When he loses everything, a famine hits and he becomes an indentured servant. He realizes his father's servants live better and decides to return home. When the son returns, the father embraces him with compassion. The father shows the son is still part of the family, demonstrating God's love and forgiveness for those who repent and return to Him.

1. Series: WHY WE EXIST
1 | P a g e
MESSAGE: This Don’t Make No Sense
This Don‟t Make No Sense
Pastor Ron Martin
SundayMarch 24, 2013
SCREENS> Luke 15:11-19
11 And He said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of
them said to his father, „Father, give me the share of the
estate that falls to me.‟ So he divided his wealth between
them. 13 And not many days later, the younger son
gathered everything together and went on a journey into a
distant country, and there he squandered his estate with
loose living. 14 Now when he had spent everything, a severe
famine occurred in that country, and he began to be
impoverished. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of
the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to
feed swine. 16 And he would have gladly filled his stomach
with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was
giving anything to him. 17 But when he came to his senses,
he said, „How many of my father‟s hired men have more
than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 18 I will
get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I
have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19 I am no
longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of
your hired men.”‟
Let‟s get started, Jesus is continuing a series of parables that
began when he healed a man suffering with edema
formerly known as the dropsy as your bibles indicate.
Edema is a medical condition where there is an abnormal
accumulation of fluid beneath the skin that produces
swelling in the body. 1 in every 62 people in the USA have
this condition and it is especially common in people with

2. Series: WHY WE EXIST
2 | P a g e
MESSAGE: This Don’t Make No Sense
high blood pressure and diabetes. Anyway, Jesus heals the
brother, the Pharisees have a problem with it so Jesus starts
teaching.
Now before we jump in this weekend‟s text, let‟s back track
and cover some ground.
SCREENS> Luke 15:8-10
8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one
coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and
search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it,
she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying,
„Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!‟
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of
the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
I‟m not going to completely dissect these three verses
because we have an entire story ahead of us, so I‟m just
gonna throw a homiletic stone at it and bounce. This
parable follows a similar format to the parable of the lost
sheep, the main difference is the location. In the parable of
the lost sheep, the sheep strays away and the shepherd has
to go out to find him. But interestingly enough, in this
narrative the coin is lost in the house. She doesn‟t have to
go out to find what she‟s lost, she just has to look around the
house. Aww man, there‟s just so much preaching in this text
here. Can I suggest to you that it‟s possible to be in the
house and still be lost? (WORK THIS)
Okay, let‟s jump in the text.
SCREENS> Luke 15:11-12

3. Series: WHY WE EXIST
3 | P a g e
MESSAGE: This Don’t Make No Sense
11 And He said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of
them said to his father, „Father, give me the share of the
estate that falls to me.‟ So he divided his wealth between
them.
Now as we jaywalk into our text this morning, we find a
brother with two sons. This man obviously has some kind of
wealth about him because his youngest boy asks him for his
inheritance early. Let‟s carefully consider the content here.
The youngest son approaches his father and asks for his
share of his father‟s inheritance.
It‟s important that you understand the significance of his
request. An inheritance is generally reserved until the father
passes away. For a son to ask his father for an early
inheritance was the same as saying, I wish you were dead!
Yeah, he was telling his father that he had outlived his
usefulness and now all he wanted was his money. Let‟s go a
little deeper.
SCREENS> Luke 15:13
13 And not many days later, the younger son gathered
everything together and went on a journey into a distant
country, and there he squandered his estate with loose
living.
Now before I deal with the actions of the younger son,
there‟s something missing from the text that is just as potent
as this brother‟s actions. Remember in verse 12, the father
divided the inheritance to both sons but in verse 13 only one
leaves. Both of them get their share of the inheritance but

4. Series: WHY WE EXIST
4 | P a g e
MESSAGE: This Don’t Make No Sense
one stays, and one leaves. And incidentally it‟s the younger
who leaves and the older who stays.
If you would allow me to make a hypothetical inference
right here, is it possible that the reason the older one doesn‟t
leave is because he‟s lived long enough to learn how to
appreciate daddy for who he is and not just what he has.
(WORK THIS)
Check ya boy out, the younger son takes his share of the
inheritance and skips town. The text says that he journeys
into a distant country and there he squanders his estate with
loose living.
He was engaged in loose living. In fact verse 30 says, 30 but
when this son of yours came, who has devoured your
wealth with prostitutes, which lets us further know how loose
he got,
he was hitting the club every night
he was taking care of all of his homeboys
he was gambling it all away
All we know is that he lost it all with loose (or irresponsible)
living. Here it is, his father gave him something of value and
he just took it and irresponsibly lost it all. He didn‟t
purposefully lose it, he irresponsibly lost it! I have found in my
experience that often times when a person ends up on rock
bottom or in hard times, they didn‟t get there on purpose.
But they often get there by being irresponsible. Not on
purpose, but by being irresponsible. Can you imagine how
much different your life would be if you could go back in
time and get all of your irresponsible money back?
All the money you wasted on temporary people

5. Series: WHY WE EXIST
5 | P a g e
MESSAGE: This Don’t Make No Sense
This is why it is so important to live on purpose, to live by
design not by default. Yeah, I‟m not gonna keep on tripping
myself up because of my own irresponsibility! No, I‟m going
to live the life that God has designed for me to live! I will live
on purpose!
Come on back to the text.
SCREENS> Luke 15:14-16
14 Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine
occurred in that country, and he began to be
impoverished. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of
the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to
feed swine. 16 And he would have gladly filled his stomach
with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was
giving anything to him.
To sum up verse 14, LIFE HAPPENED! Here he is living the
champagne life and all of his funds run out, and if that
wasn‟t bad enough a severe famine hits the land. Imagine
how it feels to run out of all your money and then go to work
on Monday only to find that you‟ve been laid off.
Sometimes LIFE HAPPENS! It doesn‟t ask for permission, it
doesn‟t check with your schedule, IT JUST HAPPENS! (WORK
THIS)
And it happens at the most inconvenient time. He‟s already
had a bad week and now this on top of everything. Ya boy,
is so bad off that he has to hire himself out. Please allow me
to lay this down for you. He hires himself out. He can‟t find
work because the famine is so bad so he has to sell himself,

6. Series: WHY WE EXIST
6 | P a g e
MESSAGE: This Don’t Make No Sense
or sell out and become what was typically known as an
indentured servant. In other words he becomes one step
above a slave.
 I‟m going to let you pay me to be less than!
 You can purchase my time for less than I‟m worth
o Life has a way of knocking you down when all
you‟re trying to do is come up!
He‟s left the wealth of his father‟s house to procure his own
wealth and now he has nothing and has been reduced to
paid slavery.
Let‟s jaywalk to verse 17.
SCREENS> Luke 15:17-19
17But when he came to his senses, he said, „How many of my
father‟s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am
dying here with hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father,
and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your
son; make me as one of your hired men.”‟
When he came to his senses!!! My prayer consistently is that
more people who have left the Father‟s love will come to
their senses. He says, “How many of my father‟s hired men
have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with
hunger!” When life gets bad enough, it will remind you of
what you left. The old adage is, you don‟t know what you
got until it‟s gone. Sometimes we don‟t realize how
beneficial the love of God is to us until we‟ve run from it. Let
me make this make sense, sometimes we don‟t appreciate

7. Series: WHY WE EXIST
7 | P a g e
MESSAGE: This Don’t Make No Sense
the love of a parent until we‟ve run away from it. (WORK
THIS)
SCREENS> Luke 15:20-24
20 So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still
a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for
him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the
son said to him, „Father, I have sinned against heaven and
in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.‟ 22
But the father said to his slaves, „Quickly bring out the best
robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and
sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and
let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead
and has come to life again; he was lost and has been
found.‟ And they began to celebrate.
Notice verse 20, he got up and came to his father. Now I‟ve
always demonstrated how Jesus is obsessed with going out
and retrieving the lost, but in this parable the father does
not search for his son.
Remember the Woman searches for the lost coin
Remember The Shepherd went and retrieved the
sheep
But in this parable the father never leaves the house. Let me
introduce you to another aspect of Jesus, He will do
whatever it takes to retrieve the lost, but He doesn‟t chase
runaways.
How do you deal with people who leave your life
How do you deal with people who leave the church
Let Them GO!!! After you‟ve done everything you can, you
have to learn how to let people go. Because the more time

8. Series: WHY WE EXIST
8 | P a g e
MESSAGE: This Don’t Make No Sense
you spend on trying to keep runaways, the less time you‟ll
have to reach the lost. Or let me say it this way, the more
time you spend trying to keep runaways, the less time you‟ll
have with people who you don‟t have to convince to stay.
I believe that the father realized that it does no good for me
to make him stay, I gotta let him go and learn this one on his
own. But watch the father‟s attitude when he returns.
SCREENS>
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and
felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and
kissed him.
Let me hit these points and I gotta go! Though I‟ll let you go
on your way, when you‟re ready to return I‟ll meet you have
way. Watch this, the father basically says, I may not chase
you out the door, but when you‟re ready to come home,
you‟re still my son! [WORK THIS] – This scripture is the reason
we exist to reach those who are still a long way off!
Finish the verses and close how you can!