00:00Hello everyone, my name is William Chambers. It is a pleasure and a delight to be here with the
00:05Word of God before you all. Hope we all want to hear this word and thereby grow. Having said that,
00:14let me go ahead and dive in the topic today. If I had a title for today's message, I would
00:19call it
00:20Compassion Was Waiting on the Road.
00:25Oh, there's been so many times when I have screwed up and compassion was waiting on the road for me
00:35to
00:35come back home. Oh, our God is a God that waits on us and he waits with compassion. It's waiting
00:42on
00:42the road for you to return. It's waiting on the road for you to repent. Let us look at the
00:48text
00:49today. Our text today reveals a father whose compassion is greater than a son's offense.
00:57It don't matter to me what he's done. I just want the relationship to be restored. That's the heart
01:03of this father today. Oh, we're in the story of the prodigal son today and I'm going to read when
01:09the prodigal son came home and he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great
01:18way off,
01:19his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Now, most of
01:27us
01:27know the story of the prodigal son. The prodigal son told the father, give me my inheritance. I don't
01:32want to wait till you die. He was disrespectful with it. Give me my inheritance now. I don't want
01:38relationship. So he took his inheritance and he went to a faraway country because he wanted to sin and
01:44do whatever he wanted to do. Well, he spent all his wealth. He lost all his friends and now he's
01:50in
01:50the hall. He was in a hall pen, eating with the pigs because he was that poor. And he thought
01:56to
01:56himself, man, I could be doing better than this if I was with the father. It was better with the
02:01father.
02:02Well, he's returning home. The Bible said, and he arose. I want to talk about a son returning in
02:13brokenness. Have you ever had to return to the father in brokenness? He came to the father,
02:21but he was in, he was ashamed that he was coming. Oh, I spent all the father's wealth.
02:27No. He came to the father and he was empty. I don't have no more money. I don't have no
02:34more
02:34friends. He came to the father and he was humbled by the situation. He left when he was proud and
02:40arrogant, but he's returning humble. Oh, life has a way of humbling us. The far country had exhausted
02:48him. Sin has a way of taking everything from us, taking from us more than we wanted to give,
02:54keeping us longer than we wanted to stay. I didn't know that was going to be like this.
02:59I would have never came out here. This son is repenting. He's showing us what repentance looked
03:05like. He's turning around. The Bible said he arose and came to the father. He left the father before,
03:13but now he's turning back. I'm going back to the father. Repentance is turning around. The son could
03:18not undo the wasted time. I wasted so much time. The son could not restore the inheritance. I spent
03:26so much money. The son could not erase the shame. This is a shameful act, but the one thing that
03:33he
03:34could do, he could arise, but I can't arise. I can't do, I can't restore the wealth. I can't restore
03:42the
03:43time, but I can't arise. I cannot erase the shame, but I can't arise and go back unto the father.
03:53Sinner man, you can return. Saints, if you, if you ain't living right, you can return. Help us.
04:00Many people regret sin. We're not talking about just regretting sin. We're talking about turning
04:05from sin. Ah, look at this text. Every step towards the father meant facing his failures
04:16honestly. You got to face that you actually wasted all the inheritance. You got to face that you
04:23actually was wrong and arrogant and that you treated the father wrong. He had to face all that honestly.
04:28You can't return unless you face yourself honestly.
04:30Yeah. Uh, the son had to walk through the same communities going back to the father that he
04:37had once left in rebellion. He had left the rebellion and he went through this city, that city,
04:42that city thought he was going to do is do something thought he was going to have a, the life
04:46he dreamed
04:46of, but now he's returning through those same cities and shame. Probably thinking about how he was
04:53thinking when he left. Look at the return now. Repentance requires humility strong enough to endure
05:02embarrassment. You got to be humble enough to get low, humble enough to take any shame that comes. That's
05:09what real repentance requires. Otherwise you are not repenting. You got to humble yourself. Well, the Bible
05:16says, but when he was a great ways off, the father saw him while he was far, far away, meaning
05:26the father
05:26was always looking for restoration. He was always looking for his son. He never forgot about his son.
05:32He didn't go on about his business, meaning that he carried this thing on his heart. He did not bury
05:38his son emotionally. He didn't say, son, you're dead to me. Oh no, I'm not going to do that. He
05:43wasn't bitter.
05:43He didn't harden himself in bitterness. No, my heart didn't get hardened. I'm always looking for
05:48restoration. You got to thank your God for he's always looking for restoration. Let's look at this
05:56father. The father could have chose coldness. You wasted everything. The child father could have chose
06:03distance. Stay away from me. The father could have chose humiliation and threw up his past in his face
06:09over and over and over again. But that's not what the father done. This was a father that can't be
06:16replaced. This father responded with mercy, love, and compassion towards his son. His son was wrong,
06:26but I still love him. The father, the father had not spent his time feeding on bitterness. Oh, I'm
06:33going to keep my heart tender. He was praying for his son. You got to be praying for this so
06:38that heart
06:38don't get hardened. Pray for your enemies so that heart don't get hardened. Oh, I'm praying good
06:43things. God, watch over him. God, restore him. I don't need my heart to be hardened. His love was
06:50moving towards the very one that wounded him. Love is coming to you. Although you wounded me,
06:57the Bible says, and he had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him, had compassion. The
07:05father could not no longer bear the distance anymore. Oh, my compassion is creating movement.
07:12I got to move because I have compassion towards you. I love you just that much. I love you more
07:17than
07:17my vindication. I love you more than revenge. I love you. Who cares about any of that? I love you
07:23and I want
07:24restoration. Restoration. Restoration was on his mind more than vindication was. Ah, help us,
07:30Lord. Have mercy on us. The father's actions declare you are wanted.
07:39Oh, that's what he says to his people. You are wanted. You are received and you're still my son,
07:48no matter how mad you're messed up, no matter how much you spent, no matter how much you rejected me,
07:53no matter how bad the situation was that you committed. You're still my son. Ah, look at this.
08:00Look at this. The son was slowly returning in shame. Head down. I got to rise. Probably
08:07rehearsing what he was going to say to his father. But the father was quickly moving towards mercy.
08:15Although the son was moving slow because he was coming in shame, the father was on the run. He got
08:20up and
08:20ran for old man. He left his dignity behind. I am going to run towards my son. I'm not trying
08:30to look
08:30this dignified. I don't care what the neighbors think. Come here, son. The son's smelly. The son
08:37stinks. The son has worn tattered clothes, but he fell on him, kissed him. I don't care about none of
08:43that
08:44him. He moved quickly towards his son. That means he wasn't holding a grudge. He wasn't reluctant
08:49about this. Ah, look at the heart of the father. Compassion was waiting on the road and with our
08:56God, compassion waits on the road. Many fear that when they return to God, they will only be met by
09:03disappointment and condemnation. But this text reveals a heavenly father who receives returning children
09:09with mercy, tenderness, and love. I got mercy, tenderness, and love waiting on you. Come on back.
09:17This is an example of what we should do. When people have hurt us, we should be waiting,
09:22having a heart waiting with mercy and compassion. One to restore the relationship, if that's what's
09:28supposed to be done. Help us, Lord, to have a heart like this. Not a heart of bitterness, but a
09:33heart of
09:34restoration. We should have, help us to have compassion waiting on the road for those who hurt us.
