January 11th, 2026: Repentance and Faith | Luke 15:11-24, Acts 2:38-39

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (2Corinthians 7:10).

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The prodigal son is one of the most recognized of Jesus’ parables. This parable contains all of the drama of modern reality television.  Repentance is foundational to our faith; it is not just being sorry.  It is not just regret.  It is not just feeling ashamed. Although all of these things often accompany repentance.  Repentance is deciding to change your way of thinking and turn to walk in a different direction. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 1:1).  Repentance is visible; it is noticeable. Think of them as two sides of the same coin.  Faith in God means believing the Son of God and trusting His word; true repentance is the resulting action of faith. Repentance and faith are needed for salvation. Both bring many blessings and benefits! 

Background

As Jesus was teaching, the scripture says the publicans and sinners drew near and that Pharisees and scribes were listening and also murmuring.  Jesus used earthly things understood by everyone to illustrate heavenly messages. The truths of God are not hidden except to those who will not believe.   And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: (Matthew 13: 10-14). Jesus intends for those desiring truth to find it.  A parable challenges the hearers to listen and then to make their own choice. 

In Luke chapter 15, we have three parables back to back. The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. As with all of scripture, there are multiple layers of meaning in each passage. For Jewish believers, the parable of the prodigal son represents a future time of restoration for the whole house of Israel. The Father represents God.  The two sons represent the northern Kingdom going off to another “far” country (lost 10 Tribes) and the nation of Judah, their idea of the remnant of faithfulness.  Scripture tells us that there will be a reuniting of the complete nation of Israel.  

The method of teaching through parables also allows an individual to put themselves into the story. Listeners  are given the opportunity to use the teaching as a way to gain wisdom and insight.  All scripture testifies of the goodness and greatness of Christ, and His desire to be known and loved by His creation.  

When you read about the prodigal son, which son are you?  It is ok if you see yourself in both. Both sons needed repentance and faith, and both were loved by the father.  

Luke 15: 11-24

And he said, 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 unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and 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 to 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.

Everyone present understood the seriousness of this story.  For the youngest son to ask for his inheritance was equivalent to saying, “I can’t wait until you die, Dad, I’d like the money you will leave me now.”  The heart of the younger son is very telling.  The idea that there is something better “out there,” He didn’t value life with the Father; He wanted his own way.  Haven’t we all fallen for the “ grass is greener somewhere else” idea at one time or another?  The younger son’s desire was to please himself.  He was afraid he was being held back, that he was going to miss some great thing. His heart was not focused on anything but getting pleasure and getting away from the rules of home. He was making a very bad decision, yet the father did not lecture or scold. 

The father simply let him make his choice.  Are you like this son?  Are you fighting against being a believer? Are you convinced that if you become a Christian, you will lose out on some fun of some kind? Do you already sneak to do things that God has warned you not to do? Are you bold and brash and simply don’t care who hears that you’d rather do anything than restrict your life to Godly principles?

Notice that the story says the father divided his living between them. The older brother got his part also.  Though it isn’t said in this section of the scripture, it is obvious, a few verses further down, that there is discontent in the heart of the older brother.  He has convinced himself that the Father has cheated him, also.

As the oldest, he would have been given a double portion of inheritance, but he resents any kindness shown to his lost brother. Scripture doesn’t say, but using a little imagination, maybe a little jealousy has crept in. His attitude toward his brother is begrudging and heartless. Maybe he saw himself as the son doing right, taken advantage of by his brother, the squanderer. The older brother’s heart was not right toward the father, he feared missing out also. While the prodigal has been thoughtless and defiant, the older son has become filled with anger and resentment. Has that happened to you?  Do you look for things to be upset about because, well, after all, you stayed the course when others didn’t? Do you like to segregate people into the good ones and the bad ones? Are you jealous of unbelievers?  Are you puffed up and proud in your actions, your talent, or your religion? That belief is based on a lack of faith in the wisdom and provision of the Father.  

When the inheritance is divided, the younger son has money - not money he earned, but rather money his father gave him. He didn’t reside in the next city.  He traveled to a completely different country, far away. Eventually, trouble (a famine) happened in that country. He was reduced to taking care of pigs, the most disallowed unclean animal for a Jew.  He was starving. Then he remembered what he left behind and how fleeting and unsatisfying worldly pleasure was. He had no reason to expect grace from the father; he’d thrown that away.  He hoped he could be a servant in his father’s house.  We have so many blessings that we take for granted. We forget where they came from and wander far from God. When the younger son wanted to leave, he did not think about the blessings of home and things, other than money, only the lie that his father was standing in the way of his happiness. Don’t make the same mistake!

When he came to himself, he repented.  The younger son realized this life of sin and pleasure had been a trap.  The younger son can also represent those who are lost and the ones that have fallen away from their faith in God. Was he suffering consequences of his own making? Yes, he was. He at last decided he was wrong and turned to a new way of thinking. He was ashamed and sorry.  Did he have faith that his father would receive him?  He had faith that his father would do what was good.  He believed that being with the father was much better than being without the father.  He didn’t know if he would be received as a slave or a son, but he was willing to try.  For we walk by faith, not by sight (2Corinthians 5:7).

He came home to find his father watching and waiting for him. His father ran to him in gladness. The younger son could have died alone in a hog pen, but he chose to act by returning to the father of his own free will. He got hugs, he got  a robe, a ring, and had a feast.  The son the father lost (like the lost sheep, and like the lost coin) returned.  There was rejoicing.  But not by everyone. 

The older son saw the return and felt betrayed. He was more than a little upset with the father for letting this son of his (notice the younger son is no longer my brother) come home to a feast of all things!  Yet the father doesn’t stop the feast or hide his joy.  He found the older brother and reminded him, that as the oldest son he had lost nothing by his wayward brother returning. The oldest son had done nothing to receive a double portion, he was blessed by the bounty of the father from the beginning. The restrictions the older son had put on himself, the anger and resentment,  were all of his own doing.  His father said that he could have had a feast anytime he wanted.  All that the father owned was available to the oldest son as well.  

This parable played out over and over throughout the history of Israel and even in the church. We see the great love of our Father. The creator God of all things. He allows us our choices. Everything we have, our ability, our talents, our intelligence, comes from Him.  We earned nothing. He created us in His image. We are so prone to hold ourselves up as good and find the fault in others, we begrudge grace that we also have need of.

Our hearts are so deceitful and wicked.  As Christians, we often think we are just a little or maybe a whole lot better than those who sin openly, obviously, and on purpose. Yet the Father deals with each of us, individually, in our open behaviors and in our hidden thoughts. He sees the very intents of our hearts.  Faith is trusting Him. The person and integrity of God our Father, when repentance is the action we take when we finally, “Come to ourselves” and turn around. Repentance and Faith are required.  Faith requires that although we can’t see it yet, our robe, our ring, and our feast day is coming. It should never offend us that someone else finds the benefit we are also enjoying at the hand of our good and gracious Father. 

Acts 2: 38-39

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

On the day of Pentecost Peter preached the resurrected Jesus.  The son of God.  He told how the Jews who should have recognized Him had not; of how they had crucified the Son of God. Yet, they were loved by the Father.  They were part of a bigger plan. 

Many (about 3,000) Jews were saved that day.  They repented.  They changed their thinking from fighting against Him, to accepting Jesus as the Messiah.  Compare Jesus, our older brother, to the one in the parable.  Unlike what we would do, he paid the price to restore the lost.  He reunited the family of man with God the Father.  Later on, God would bring a Roman named Cornelius and many other Gentiles into the family, as well.  All come to faith and repentance through the power of Jesus. Paul would have similar issues in the new church, as Jewish “older brothers resented the restored gentile believers.  Can Gentiles and Jews believe in the same Christ? Can they both be loved by the Father. Yes, indeed, they can! 

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Thank you for studying with us! God bless!