Son, All That I Have Is Yours — So Why Won't You Receive It?

I want to be famous for one thing. Not television, not ministry, not any of the rest of it. I want to be known, when I leave this earth, as a man who knew God. Not just knew of Him. Knew Him.

There's a difference. You can be famous and nobody actually knows you. Jesus is famous. What I want — what I want for you — is for you to know Him. Not just know of Him. And the only way to get there is to settle, once and for all, that He is completely and absolutely in love with you.

This is what we've been building toward. And the story of the Prodigal Son — which I prefer to call the story of the loving father — is one of the clearest pictures Jesus ever gave us of how God feels about you.

You don't have to be 'good enough' before He restores you — He ran.

We covered the younger son last time. He took his inheritance, left his father, wasted everything, ended up in a pigpen. He came to himself, decided to go home. And while he was still a great way off, the father saw him coming and ran.

He didn't wait at the door to hear the speech. He didn't hold back until he could evaluate the sincerity of the repentance. He ran. He grabbed him. He kissed him. And before the boy could finish his prepared speech about being unworthy to be called a son, the father was already calling for the best robe, the signet ring, sandals, the fatted calf.

The father completely ignored the religious hogwash about unworthiness. He acted like the boy never said it. Because to the father, the only thing that mattered was that his son was home.

Now, some of you think this story is only for people who have dramatically backslid. But this applies this morning if you cussed out your spouse on the way to church. It applies if you lied when you shouldn't have. It applies from the least to the greatest. Your Father is in love and He wants to help — immediately, with the best available.

The father didn't go to the hog trough — but he never stopped watching the road.

One thing I want you to see that's easy to miss: the older brother already knew where his younger brother had been and what he had done. Which means the father was keeping tabs. He knew. He was watching. He just honored his son's choice to leave.

God is not sitting up in Heaven ignoring your situation. He sees it. He knows where you are. He's watching the road. He hasn't given up. He hasn't moved on. He's just honoring your choice — because the ultimate expression of love is to honor choice.

And the moment the son turned toward home? The father ran. That's the moment everything changed — not when the father forced it, but when the son made the decision.

Now let's talk about the older son — because this is for most of us.

Here's the part of this story that doesn't get preached enough. The older son comes home from the field, hears music and dancing, finds out his brother is back, and:

"He was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him."

Luke 15:28 (NKJV)

And the older son says: "Lo, these many years I have been serving you. I have never transgressed your commandment at any time, and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came — who devoured your livelihood with harlots — you killed the fatted calf."

Notice what the father says back:

"Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours."

Luke 15:31 (NKJV)

All that I have is yours. It was already his. From the day the younger son left and the father divided the livelihood, everything remaining belonged to the older son. The robe was already his. The ring was already his. The fatted calf was already his. It had been his the whole time.

He just wouldn't receive it.

You can be faithful and still not receive what the Father has already given you.

I want to speak directly to the mature believers here — the ones who haven't backslid, who've been faithful, who've been serving for years. Because some of you are the older son.

You've been laboring day after day, wondering when God is going to finally bless you. You watch people who are newer in the faith receive things and it seems to come easier for them — and there's this quiet resentment building. "I've done everything right. How come?"

But here's what the Father is saying to you: "Son, it's already yours. You didn't have to earn it. I already freely gave it to you. Why won't you receive it?"

The older son had been working for years to earn what had already been freely given. He was treating his relationship with his father like an employment contract instead of a family. And because he saw it as a wage system, he couldn't receive the inheritance that was already his by love.

You do not have to earn what your Father has already freely poured out. It is already yours. The question is whether you'll possess it.

God told Moses the same thing — stop crying and use what I already gave you.

This is not just a New Testament truth. When the children of Israel were at the Red Sea, hemmed in with Pharaoh's army behind them and water in front of them, Moses cried out to God.

God's response was essentially: "Why are you crying out to Me? I've already given you a rod. Use it."

He wasn't withholding. He had already provided. The problem was possession — Moses needed to use what God had already placed in his hand.

That's the same word for every older-son believer sitting there waiting for God to finally do something: He's already done it. He's already poured out His love, His blessing, His provision, His promises. The question is not whether He'll give it — the question is whether you'll pick it up and walk in it.

Don't just know about His love — receive it. It's already yours.

Here's where I want to land. Whether you're the younger son who wandered off and needs to come home, or the older son who stayed but couldn't receive — the Father's answer is the same.

To the younger: He's watching the road. Turn around. He'll run toward you before you even finish your speech.

To the older: "Son, you are always with Me — and all that I have is yours." Stop earning what you already have. Stop waiting for what's been right in front of you. Receive it.

I want the testimony of my life to be that I knew Him. Not just knew of Him. That we had the kind of intimacy where — like Paul caught up to the third Heaven — I wouldn't even be able to tell you whether I was in my body or out of it, because the relationship was that close.

That level of intimacy is not just for Heaven. It's available right now — to anyone who becomes convinced that God is head over heels in love with them.

Don't put intimacy with Him off until eternity. He's in you right now. All that He has is already yours.

Fight To Win.