I believe God's against cross-dressing in Deuteronomy chapter 22, and I believe he's for modest apparel, 1 Timothy chapter 2. But what I want to preach on this morning is the two aspects of a wayward child. Take your Bible and go to Luke chapter number 15, a very familiar passage here about the prodigal son. We're going to read the first few verses of this thing. Luke chapter number 15, verse number 11, 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 righteous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land. And it began to be unwanted, 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 husk that the swine did eat. And no man gave unto him. Some of you have been there. 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 I 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 the hired servants." And I believe one of the things we do when we reread this passage, we read verse 19 and we find out that this boy came to himself and he wanted to get right with God and wanted to get right with the Father. Then we go right into verse number 20, he arose and there he is at the Father's house. One thing we forget is this boy journeyed into a far country. He came to himself somewhere in verse number 17 and verse number 18 and verse number 19. And he made a decision he was going to get right with his father. But he's still in the far country feeding swine. He's still far away from the Father's house. And so many times, just because verse 20 follows verse number 19, we get the misnomer, we get the misconception that it's real easy sometimes to go back to the Father's house. Just wake up one day, we're going to get right, and boom, all of a sudden we're there, and that's not always the case. So many people, so many young people get right with God, they get under conviction in a meeting like this, go to youth camp, go to youth retreat, go to youth revival, go to camp meeting, and they make it to verse number 19 and they say, hey, I'm going to go to my father and I'm going to get that thing right. But somewhere between 19 and 20, that journey, that road that takes them back to the father's house, they fall by the wayside, they get discouraged because they don't realize As far as they went out, sometimes that's how far they've got to go to get back into the Father's house. He arose, verse 20, 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 Father said unto Him exactly what He determined to say in verse number 18. I don't know how many months. I don't know how many years. I don't know how long it took him to get back to the father's house. I don't know how many times he's gone over that thing and it's fine. But he determined, he made a conviction, he made a commitment in verse number 18 and said, this is exactly what I'm going to say to my father. And however much time went by, that's exactly what he said when he got back to the house. He said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and 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. He was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry." You know, the Bible said in 1 Samuel 15, verse 23, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Let me say, our kids are in trouble today. Our kids, this generation that we've got, I'm telling you, they're in trouble. Teenage pregnancies at an all-time high. Runaways we hear about all the time, underage drinking, drug addicts, and I'm not talking about 18, 19, and 20 years old. I'm talking about 11, and 12, and 13 years old. These boys and girls hooked on some type of illicit drug that they don't feel like they can make it a day without. Teenage suicides at an all-time high. I'm telling you what, it's a shame the stress and the pressure and all the weight of care that our young people are under today. I mean, this is supposed to be the funnest time of their life. It's supposed to be the most carefree time of their life. Listen, responsibility is going to come. Bills are going to come. Sickness is going to come. All that's going to come, but they're bearing it in their youth. Promiscuity, perversion, drug overdoses, pornography. I'm saying our generation's in trouble. Proverbs 30, verses 11-14, you know the verses. It says there's a generation that curses their father, does not bless their mother, talk about them being pure in their own eyes, talk about them being lovers of their own selves, talk about them being proud, all kinds of things there. I got into 2 Timothy 3, which is another chapter. that says, in the last days, perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, and the next verse starts out, without natural affection. Let me say, these are those that are openly rebellious. These are the ones that are unruly. These are the ones that society says is uncontrollable. These are the ones that rebel against their pastors, rebel against their parents, don't listen to their Sunday school teachers, and anyone else that's in any kind of position of authority. These are the ones that end up in homes like Brother Jack and Miss Trudy run. But that's not the only problem I see in our churches. I see another problem with our young people in Bible-believing churches. The other aspect of disrebellion and stubbornness is described in Matthew 23. It says, "...all their works they do for to be seen of men." Verse 5 says, "...they enlarge the borders of their garments." Maybe they make sure their skirts are over their knees and just the right length. The boys make sure that they always have the suits and the ties on, and you should. Verse 6 says that they love the chief seats in the synagogues. They're going to be where the preaching is going to be, sitting on the front rows and being around the men of God. Verse 14 says, for pretense, they make long prayer. They're always talking that super-spiritual talk. Now you stay with me. Don't go dead yet. We're going somewhere. That's why I said I wouldn't want to hurt anybody that's serving God out of your pure heart. I wouldn't ever want to discourage them. But I see a generation that's not doing that. They're going through the motions and the product, the fruit of it is because they're gone. They leave. They don't hang around. The Bible says in Matthew 23, verse number 15, says they compass sea and land to make one proselyte. They just want everybody to see what they're doing and how spiritual they are. Verse 18 says they swear by the altar, and they probably give good testimonies too. Verse 23 says they pay tithes, probably involved in faith-promised missions, probably try to give in the work of God. Verse 24 says they strain at a gnat. But at the same time, they have no problem pointing out everybody else's mopes in their eyes. Look at her skirt. Look at his tie. Look at this. Look at that. You know what? Verse 25 sums this generation up that I'm talking about. It says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter. but within they are full of extortion and excess. It says that they are whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. He says you appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. These are the ones that you know something's wrong with them, but you can't put your finger on it. Because they don't push the dress standards. They're always at the house of God all the time. I mean, on time. They give the testimonies. They go to the altar. I mean, on the outside, everything's looking right. And you know something's missing, but you just can't figure out what it is until it's too late. 2 Timothy 3, verse 5 says they have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. They go through the motions, but you know the touch of God is not on their life. Let me put a quick note here and remind us that Psalm chapter 127, verse number 3, tells us that lo, children are an inheritance of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. And sometimes as a pastor, I hear kids talking, and they're talking about what they've done, and who they've been around, and things that they've done, and things that they've seen. And sometimes I wonder, where in the world were their parents when they were doing this stuff? Are they crazy? Have they lost their mind? Or do they even care? Memo to parents, parenting is not a spectator sport. You don't just sit there and take your hands off of them and watch them do what they're going to do. Listen, God gives us our children in stewardship, and He tells us in Proverbs 22, 6, He expects us to train them up in the way that they should go, not in the way they want to go, but in the way they should go. Ephesians 6-4 says, I bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Does this mean to brainwash them? Absolutely. Does this mean to pick their friends? Yes, it does. Does this mean to tell them what they can do and what they cannot do? Absolutely, it does. Does this mean beat their fanny if they don't? Proverbs 23, I believe it is. 1324, that's the verse. It says you hate them if you don't. Let me switch gears here. We're still trying to get started. Let me say, young person, there comes a time in every young person's life, every one of you in here, when you're going to have to take responsibility for yourself. I'm not talking about deciding when you're going to go to church and when you're not. That's not what I'm talking about. Do you realize that you can't get to heaven on your parents' salvation? And in the same manner, you cannot get rewards from God on your parents' walk with Him. Do you realize it's your parents' responsibility to make sure that you get saved? It's your parents' responsibility to make sure that you're trained right. But if they do not make sure that you get saved, you're the one that's going to burn in a devil's hell. Will it break the parents' heart? Will they take it to the grave? But you're the one that will burn in hell. When I think about Ezekiel chapter number 3, And when he talks about how it's our job to warn the wicked of His way, but in Ezekiel 3, one of the things that's jumped out of that passage to me every time I go over it, it says that if you fail, if you fail, if you refuse to warn the wicked of the error of His way, it said that that same man shall die in His iniquity, but His blood will I require at Thine hand. And so many times we pay so much attention to the blood being on our hands and we miss the fact that that sinner is still lost and going to hell for all eternity. Young person, if you watch things on TV or if you put things in, watch things, play around with things on the computer and fill your mind with the garbage and the trash of this world, who in the world do you think is going to have trouble keeping your mind on spiritual things? Not your parents that you disobeyed, that you snuck around, but you are. You are. If you do things that God told you not to in His Word, just because nobody is stopping you, who do you think is going to have to live with the results and the scars of your sin? You will. That's why 2 Timothy 2.22 says, Genesis 8-21 says, "...the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Please, you have to see 12-1, so that's why you need to remember your Creator in the days of your youth. You know what you're going to have to do? You're going to have to get to the place in your life where you do right because it's right to do right. Why don't you make a commitment to God that if my parents stop making me go to church, I'm going to go to church anyway? That if my preacher stops preaching against sin, I'm still not going to sin. That if my friends drop their standards, I'm not dropping mine. If nobody else is watching over me to make sure I do right, I'm going to do right because I know God's watching. You see, it's all about personal accountability. It's all about realizing that one day every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Go back to your text in Luke chapter number 15. I want you to notice what the rebellious son did. Luke chapter number 15. Notice the statement that he made in verse number 12. He said, Father, give me the portions of goods that falleth to me. Notice the separation from the Father. And I'm going to give this to you quick because I want to get somewhere. Notice the separation from the Father in verse number 13. He left the Father's house. He gathered all together and took his journey to a far country. Notice the scars that he received. Verse number 13, it said he wasted his substance and rots his living. Verse number 30 talks about, use the word, he devoured his living with harlots. There were scars that he received for being rebellious. Notice the starvation he faced in verse 16. He said he would have fainted, filled his belly with the husk. Notice the shame that he found himself in in verse number 15. A Jewish boy in a hog pen feeding swine. Notice the sins he had to confess in v. 18. He had to go to the Father and say, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee. Notice the sorrow in his heart in v. 21 when he goes to his dad and he said, I am no more worthy to be called Thy son. I believe there's three elements of rebellion that we see. First of all, there's pride. He said, Father, Give. He was lifted up in his heart. The problem with the rebellious young person is pride. They're lifted up. Give me what's coming to me. I want my way. I want what I want. And I'm not worried about anybody else. Notice, second of all, the selfishness. He said, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. I believe the third element, pride, selfishness and the worldliness. He said, the portion of goods. And I believe that's the downfall of our young people. But there's not only a rebellious son in this passage. There's a stubborn son. I said there were two aspects of a wayward child here. Notice what the stubborn son did. In verse number 26, he said he called one of his servants and asked what these things meant. Notice, first of all, his attitude. He did not go in himself, but he asked his servant. Evidently, he already had an attitude about what was going on. Otherwise, when he heard the music and he heard them making merry, he would have run to the house and said, what's going on in here? But he didn't do that. In his mind, he had already started his attitude. And let me say, even though the rebellious children, the rebellious kids sometimes, you can see it there. I mean, they're not smart enough to hide it in their heart. I mean, a lot of these folks that are in these homes, they weren't smart enough to cover it up. They got caught. But let me say, just as bad as the outward sins are those attitudes of the heart. that some of you carry to church every service, week in and week out, had a bad attitude. Notice the servant's announcement in verse 27. He said, your brother's come. He said, we thought he was dead. And your father killed the fatted calf. Notice his anger in verse 28, said he would not go in, therefore, came his father out and treated him. Notice what his answering was in verse number 29. And the answering said to his father-in-law, these many years, do I serve thee? Neither transgressed I at any time. So forth and so on. That was his answer. What did we say the three elements in the rebellious son's life was? It was pride, and it was selfishness, and it was worldliness. I want you to notice what he said there. I want you to notice, first of all, the pride in his stubborn son. He said, I never transgressed thy commandment. You know that's a lie if you've got kids. You know that. As a matter of fact, if you don't have kids and you've read 1 John 1, verse 8, and 1 John 1, verse 10, it says that if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar. If we say that we're not sinning, we're a liar. Pride. Notice the selfishness. Thou never gavest me a kid. Notice the worldliness that I may make merry with my friends. Now let's compare the two. The worldliness, the selfishness, the pride. 1 John 2, verse 15 talks about the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. You can take that all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, where the serpent and Eve were going back and forth, and she saw that it was pleasant to the eyes, a tree to be desired to make one wise. There's your pride and your worldliness, the lust of the eyes. And it was good to eat the lust of the flesh. It goes to James chapter number 3, when he says this wisdom that's not from God, that comes from this world, It doesn't say it's sensual and fleshy and devilish. There's the world, the flesh, and the devil right there. That's what I'm talking about. Pride. Selfishness, which is nothing more than the flesh. And worldliness, which is nothing more than the world. I want you to notice this and get this. You see, pride in that rebellious son made him speak to the Father and say, give me what's coming to me. It was only pride that would make that younger boy. And they didn't raise our children like we do today. They had them in line and doing what was right, following the deeds and the commandments of the law. So for that younger son to be lifted up with pride and say, give me what's coming to me, the pride made him speak to the Father. But what I want you to see about that stubborn son is his pride made him silent toward the Father. He wasn't going to go in. He wasn't going to talk to the Father. It's kind of like humility. You know, you've got pride. If you want to define pride, you've got that one crowd that says, hey, look at me, look at me, woe is me. Not woe is me, but here I am. That's pride. What is it doing? Drawing attention to yourself. But then that false humility, woe is me. I can't do nothing right. Everything. What does that do? It draws attention to yourself. We think one's bad and one's okay when they're both pride, because the result is it draws attention to ourself. Notice the worldliness, or excuse me, the selfishness. The younger rebellious son wanted things for himself in verse number 12. Give me what's coming to me. But I want you to notice that stubborn son. He didn't want other people to have things. He said, why are you killing a calf for Him? You've never done that for Me. Just as wrong as it is to say, give Me and I want it, let Me have it, it's just as wrong attitude in the Word of God to refuse to rejoice when other people get blessed. To refuse to get excited when somebody else has picked to sing, when somebody else has picked to preach, and I know you had the message. But when you rejoice, when others rejoice, same type of stuff, same selfishness. Notice the worldliness. You see, the rebellious son wanted to use his goods outside the father's house, but that stubborn son didn't mind spending his up inside the father's house. I'm telling you, I've never seen a generation that carries trash and junk into the house of God like we've got today. I'm telling you, the stuff that's like you had to go in the back alleys and see people dressed like that are in churches today across America. Conversation that was barred, and men wouldn't even talk about it at the barstool. Up to the bar, and they talk about it. Girls are talking about it in church these days. I want you to notice this. Give me some water real quick. I want you to notice this. The younger son, his rebellion made him leave the father's house. The older son's stubbornness made him refuse to enter into the father's house. Outside the house is still outside the house regardless of how you got there. And there's so many of you that would not have the guts to get up and run, not that that's what you're supposed to do. You wouldn't think about openly rebelling against your parents. You wouldn't think about openly rebelling against your pastor. You wouldn't think about openly trying to quench a meeting here where God's trying to work. But, buddy, you're going to refuse to get in. You're going to hold your shoulder. You're not going to pray. You're not going to read your Bible. You're not going into the Father's house. Outside the house and still outside the house, it doesn't matter how you got to it. You say, how do you get right? The realization was in verse 14 through 16, you're going to have to be honest with yourself, religious young person. That you've hid behind your parents' standards and your church's rules. They're not in the heart. And you know why? Because when you get 17, 18, 19, 20 years, how come when you get married you don't keep the same rules? When you get a little freedom. That tells me they weren't in the heart. They weren't in the heart. The realization you've got to realize that you're wrong, then you've got to repent. Verse 17-19, the rebellious son, he decided he was going to repent. Then there's the return and the receiving. And you know what? A trip to the altar this morning. Though that's the first step, that's not the only step. You're going to have to take it home and do something about it. You've made some phone calls, and you've made some plans, and you've talked to some people, and you've ruined your testimony, and you've got some things waiting for you, maybe tonight, or next week, or whatever the case may be. You're going to have to go straighten that stuff out. You might have to go to your mom or your dad. and say, I'm sorry for pushing the line. I'm sorry that as a teenager, I'm running this house by my bad attitude and not wanting to conform to the standards of this home. You might need to confess that sin to your parents. Then there's the rejoicing. Thank God for that in verse 23 and verse 24. But I want to make one last statement here. I want every young person to listen to this. I want us to realize a statement that he made. He said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee. So many times when we raise our kids, we refer to them as our kids, and they're our responsibility, and they are. But they're given to us in stewardship. And so many times we settle, well, as long as they just make the church grow up and make it a church half the time, or as long as they don't get into gross immorality, then we've done our job. And so many times we accept a lower standard for our children and we forget about God. What about God's standard? What about what his desire is for their life? What about what he wants to do? Listen, when the one son ran away from the house, and when the other son refused to go into the house, who do you think got hurt? It was the father. It was the father. And listen, though it would break my heart if my kids turned their back on me, and turned their back on this book, and turned their back on God. And so many times all we think about is how it would make us feel, and how we would hurt, and how it would bother us. Have we ever given consideration to heaven and how it bothered God Almighty? How it would hurt Him? How that it would break His heart? How that He gave us our children to raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? And His plan for the future church might be growing up in our house. And we haven't taken the responsibilities seriously because all we're doing is just raising them to what we think they should be instead of raising somebody that God could use Who hurts the most when kids get out? It's not the parents. They hurt, yes, but it's God Almighty. You know why? Because He's got the biggest investment. He's the One that died for them. He's the One that laid down His life for them. When the one son ran away, the father, according to verse 11, those years, missing one of his two sons, 50% loss. And then all of a sudden, a father comes home and he gets excited because my son was dead and now he's alive. And the other one stays outside. Guess what? Still a 50% loss. I wonder what's worse, the open rebellion or the inward stubbornness. According to this passage and this message since I'm preaching it, they're both the same. They're both a 50% loss to the father. They're both absent to the fellowship of that Son. I'd like you to do something this morning. I'd like you to consider heaven. And I'd like you to consider God Almighty. And you might be one that's ready to run. You need to get right with God. You might be one that's got the wrong music and playing with the tattoos and all the stuff that the preacher's been preaching about. You need to find a place with this author and beg God to let you get back to Him. But you might be one in here this morning that's got those sins of the heart, and those attitudes are deep inside, and your parents don't know what the problem is because their head's in the sand, and like the preacher said, they're dumb as a box of rocks, and they don't know what's going on. But you do, and you know how you've already left in your heart, and you're just waiting to hit the right age, or to meet the right person. You need to be at this altar and beg God. Realize that not only are you tricking your parents, not only are you trying to sneak around and dishonor your pastor, but you're breaking your Savior's heart, the one that gave everything for you. Every time we sin, we fail to consider heaven. What about you this morning? It's time to get in. It's time to get in.