Luke 15:11-14
What Put the Boy in the Pig Pen?
We are not reading all of the story this morning because the message
of this parable is "What Got the Boy Out of the Pig Pen?" That would
be Jesus. The only way to get anyone ALL THE WAY OUT of the pig pen
is to get them to Jesus. But I will not get to that this morning.
Instead, we will look at "What Put the Boy in the Pig Pen?"
There are dangers in this world that we all face.
1. accidents
2. abductions
3. assaults
4. attacks
5. diseases
Even though the odds of these mishaps are increasing, overall the
chances of being involved in a major calamity of these sorts is still
probably very remote. However, there is one danger that is very real.
It is the danger that we will waste our life, the danger that we will
wind up in the pig pen!
I am not sure that parents realize how great that danger is, both to
them and their children. I fear some parents are pointing their
children to the pig pen, probably in ignorance but they are pointing
them there all the same.
And I am not sure that young people realize that regardless of what
their parents do or fail to do, think or fail to realize, are or are
not, that it is their responsibility where they end up, in the pig
pen, near the pig pen, or completely clear of the pig pen.
So for a few moments, let’s consider, what put the boy in the pig
pen.
I. Sometimes WHAT WE ARE puts our children in the pig pen.
A. It is interesting how either too little and too much can be
the cause of a child’s wayward path.
1. That is not just my opinion.
2.It is a truth from the Bible.
Pro 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies:
give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me
with food convenient for me:
9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say,
Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal,
and take the name of my God in vain.
B. Perhaps the cause of this son’s rebellion was that the father
and his family were very wealthy.
1. There is nothing wrong with being wealthy; however, it
does open up to a whole new set of problems that most
people never sense and deal with.
2. For example:
a. Most working people knows they must guard their jobs,
and so they do; but most wealthy people do not know
they need to guard their integrity, so they do not.
b. Most working people know they must refuse the
extravagant, and so they do; but most wealthy people
do not know they need to refuse the excess, so they
do not.
c. Most working people know they must work to eat, so
they do; but most wealthy people do not know they
must work to avoid temptation, so they do not.
d. Most working people know they must save what they
have, so they do; but most wealthy do not know they
should share what they have, so they do not.
3. Most wealthy people have too much…
a. Money
(1) Regardless of what people say, some things can
not be bought with money. Rather they must be
"home grown."
(2) Sadly, wealthy people can become so accustomed to
buying what they want with their money and their
influence, they begin to think their wealth is
all they need.
(a) But things like honesty, honor, faith,
duty, loyalty, kindness, sacrifice, and
goodness cannot be bought.
(b) They have to be sown and grown by loving
parents in a home environment.
(c) By the way, neither day cares, schools, nor
colleges can grow them.
(d) ONLY parents.
b. Time
(1) The old expression is still true, "An idle mind
is the devil’s workshop."
(2) Most missed it, but one of the greatest crime ever
committed against our youth was when we allowed
the government to outlaw young people from
working.
(a) That was another one of those rights we gave
up so that the government could "protect" us.
(b) I am certainly not for "slave child labor;"
however, young people need to work.
i. Work fills their time and mind.
ii. Working in your youth teaches you how
to work as an adult.
iii. Work teaches appreciation for what you
have and for what others have. A
hard working person is a lot less apt
to take what another has worked hard
to earn.
c. And too many acquaintances.
(1) I did not say "too many friends."
(2) True friends are few and far between and one can
never have too many.
(3) However, acquaintances are a penny a dozen, and
today’s society is full of them.
(a) Most of America’s children live on city
blocks with dozens if not hundreds of
acquaintances.
(b) Even in rural Alabama, most children go to
schools with hundreds if not thousands of
acquaintances.
(c) They logon to FB, Twitter, WhatsApp, Tik Tok
Snapchat, and whatever else is out there
where they have an innumerable host of
strangers they will never meet but who they
think are their best friends.
(4) In these crowds, they have become part of the
herds, the masses; and where are the herds being
directed today?
(a) Into the pig pens.
(b) The problem with herds is that have no moral
compass, no concern for others, and no
awareness for the individual.
(5) Somewhere in that herd will be some
unethical, uncaring jokers who would do about
anything for kicks and nothing would please them
more than to get a following under their control.
4. What does this have to do with me? Most of us are far
wealthier than we’d like to admit!
a. We seem to think if we have to work, we are poor.
(1) If we can’t jump on a Lear jet and hop-scotch
around the globe we are poor.
(2) If we don’t own the newest and the best, we are
poor!
b. Friend, nothing could be further from the truth.
(1) Most children will have access to driving at 16.
(2) Most have access to private television, videos,
games, cell phones, internet, and a stash of
cash that they can spend as they please.
(3) Most children did not work 6 to 8 hours per day
this past summer to help the family pay their
bills and gain those perks.
(4) Neither will they be finding after-school jobs to
pay for their hobbies and toys.
c. Like it or not, they are running in the same wealthy
herds as everyone else.
(1) They are part of the Fortune 500 herds:
(a) Mass education
(b) Mass communication
(c) Mass entertainment
(d) and mass socialization
(2) And they are being directed into the same pig
pens the rich kids are being thrown into.
5. Young person, what you need to realize is that you are
not just a spoke in someone else’s wheel.
a. You are the steering wheel of your own uniquely-
crafted automobile and you are driving down the
road of life.
b. Unless you want to end up in the pig pen, make wise
decisions and then be responsible for your own
actions.
6. Parents, you need to do what you can to get your children
out of the herds!
a. They do not private TVs, hours of isolated video
games, continuous access to the internet, a permanent
or a permanent cell phone.
b. And they certainly do not need to be part of the
government’s mass education program.
c. I am sorry, but the agenda of America’s public school
system is and has been to humanize, to socialize, and
agnosticize every child in America.
d. Last year, due in large part to COVID, it is estimated
that the number of homeschooled children in America
doubled.
https://www.nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/#:~:text=There
%20were%20an%20estimated%204.5,children)%20%5Bnote%201%5D.
(1) Unfortunately, most took the public school
curriculum with them.
(2) Let me say it as nice as I can say it, "Throw it
away" and get some Christian/American curriculum
to teach your children.
C. But Proverbs listed a second WHAT that might cause some to end
up in the pig pen, poverty.
1. It is obvious that the family in Luke was not suffering
from poverty, but I can see where have too little might
also turn some children toward the pig pen.
a. Poverty is not having to work for a living.
b. Poverty is not having the basics: food to eat, cloths
to wear, and a roof over your head.
2. I can see where being poor might cause a child to become
bitter toward his family, toward those with more than he
or she has, and even toward the society in which he or
she lives.
a. That kind of bitterness could and probably has been
the excuse that some have used to turn to stealing
and blaming God for his lot in life.
b. I am not saying such an attitude is right. I’m just
looking at why some children decide to go to the pig
pen.
c. That is why we as parents work to make a living
instead of taking handouts and it is why we work to
improve ourselves so that we can make a good wage to
provide for our families.
d. Here, the wisest man—outside of Jesus-gave us two
reasons, both dealing with WHAT WE ARE, that might
cause some to end up in the pig pen.
D. I am not criticizing parents for being either wealthy or poor.
1. Whatever God has given to you, God has given and I have
seen that just as God gives to some, God has also
withheld from others.
2. What I am saying is that WHAT WE ARE can play a part in
children’s behavior and as parents, we need to be aware
of it.
3. All parents, regardless of what your status in life is,
need to teach your children such values as….
a. hard work
b. gratefulness
c. sacrifice
d. charity and sharing
4. We need to understand that life has built into it certain
inherent dangers, and we must protect our children by
giving them Christ and character, not status and
possessions.
II. Sometimes the destiny of our children depends upon WHERE WE ARE.
A. Perhaps it was the pull of the world that took this man’s son
to the pig pen.
B. Even the most pure in heart can be pulled into the pit of sin.
1. The Bible gives us verses which illustrate the dangers of
WHERE we are.
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not
in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in
the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of
the scornful.
a. Notice all three of those statements have to do with
where you ARE.
b. Where you are walking. Where you are standing. Where
you are sitting.
2. Of course, one of the most evident passages to show us the
dangers of WHERE we are is LOT.
Ge 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and
beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was
well watered every where, before the LORD
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the
garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt,
as thou comest unto Zoar.
11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan;
and Lot journeyed east: and they separated
themselves the one from the other.
a. He chose the PLAIN Of Jordan.
Gen 13:12 …Lot dwelled in the cities of the
plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
b. THEN he was in the cities of the plain with his door
facing Sodom.
c. THEN he was in Sodom.
Ge 14:12 And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s
son, who dwelt in Sodom….
3. Parents need to understand that today, everyone’s tent is
pitched toward Sodom.
a. Whether we like it or not, the world is pulling us all
toward it.
b. Like the gravity of the sun and the moon, it pulls and
its pull is constant.
C. The Bible gave us the solution, the means of not getting pulled
into the pig pen regardless of WHERE WE ARE.
1. It is called separation.
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch
not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2. If you do not put some distance between your family and
the pull of this world, one day, you will likely find
your children—if not yourself—in the pig pen.
D. There are two hardships with living separated into a wicked
world.
1. Right can seem harsh.
a. Right draws a line in the sand and says this is right
and this wrong.
b. It is an uncompromising line.
c. Then when you meet someone who is on the wrong side of
the line, you feel sorry for them and begin to
question the LINE.
d. Strange how they so seldom think to tell the person
who is being hurt by the line to just switch sides.
e. But that is godly parents where come in.
(a) We must teach our children that God drew the
line.
(b) We must teach them that regardless of how much
fun they think they might have on the other side,
God’s line is there for their protection and
help.
(c) And we must teach them to leave the line alone
AND to stay on the right side of it.
f. Parents, DON’T ERASE OR MOVE GOD’s LINE.
(1) If anything, you be the home-plate umpire for
your children and brush the line off so that
they can clearly see it!
(2) That line just might keep them out of the pig
pen.
2. Being on the right side of the line can seem lonely.
a. The world SEEMS to offer so much, but the really only
takes. It never gives.
b. The world seems to offer pleasure and fun.
c. The world seems to offer freedom.
d. The world seems to offer acceptance and companionship.
e. But all of those things is just bait on a hook. Once
you bite into it, you will be reeled into a life that
you cannot control.
III. Sometimes the destiny of our children depends upon WHEN WE ARE.
A. I am already out of time, but I will say that the Bible makes
it clear that are in and have been in the last days for a
long time.
1Jo 2:18 Little children, it is the last time:
and as ye have heard that antichrist shall
come, even now are there many antichrists;
whereby we know that it is the last time.
1. John called the days after Jesus’ return to heaven the
last days because he understood that in the scope of time
Jesus’ coming to earth would be among the last things
that God did.
2. We are now in the last of the last days. (I know that I
have always said that, but we are.)
a. Natural affection will dwindle. \\#Matt 24:12\\
b. Moral and spiritual behavior will devolve.
\\#Ro 1:28-32\\
c. Demonism will arise. \\#1Tim 4:1\\
d. The church will compromise truth. \\#2Thess 2:3\\
e. Technology will advance.
(1) \\#Rev 11:9, 13:15-17\\
(2) Including the technology to give life to an image,
number the human race, and to restrict buying
selling.
f. The rise of a 10 nation world power (Dan 2, 7,
Rev 12, 13, 17).
g. Conditions are moving closer to the condition that
will exist just after the tribulation begins.
(1) War
(2) Famine
(3) Death (1/4 of the world’s population)
B. Parent, I do not tell you these things to create despair but to
warn you.
1. Times have changed—even in the last few weeks— and you
need to take precautions.
2. What do we need to do?
a. Get our children to Christ.
b. Teach them the Word of God.
c. Pray over them like their soul depends upon it.
d. Demonstrate the functionality and practicality of the
Christian life.
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