"When You Doubt God's Love"

• 1^st Parable is the “LOST SHEEP.”

1 Peter 2:24-25 (NLT) ²⁴ He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.   By his wounds you are healed. ²⁵ Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.

• 2^nd Parable is the “LOST COIN.”

Luke 15:10 (NLT) ¹⁰ In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.

• 3rd Parable is the “LOST SON.”

Luke 15:13-14 (NLT) ¹³ “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. ¹⁴ About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOD’S LOVE with the “LOST SON”

1. The Father let his son walk away. 

2. The Father knew his son would waste it all.

3. When the son wasted all his money, he encountered a famine.

Luke 15:14 (NLT) ¹⁴ About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.

4. The Father with love, welcomed his son back.

Luke 15:17-21 (NLT) ¹⁷ “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸ I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ ²⁰ “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. ²¹ His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.

Luke 15:23-24 (NLT) ²³ And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

 5. The Father didn’t bring up his son’s past.