The Hog -pen Experience
- Author Reginald Lee
This is a subject that the spirit of the Lord gave to me. This is my testimony, and experience that I have had with the Lord, that was very unique in that the fruit of the suffering that came out of this experience , allowed me to mature and grow in the Lord in such a way that now I can truly proclaim that Jesus is Lord of my life.
Luke 15, we find a parable of the lost sheep, lost piece of silver and a lost son. The lost sheep represent lost souls. Jesus is the shepherd seeking out the lost sheep. He has called us to seek the lost. We also have the woman who had ten but lost one piece of silver and sweep her house diligently seeking to find the one lost piece of silver. The shepherd went seeking the lost sheep just as the woman went seeking for the silver. So it is that we must go seeking for the lost souls. We have a great job before us seeking the lost.
The prodigal son is symbolic to the backslider. The backslider is unique in that he is lost but he knows his way back home. We will see in this illustration that the prodigal son knew how to get back home this is ultimately what distinguishes the backslider from the lost. The lost have never walked the path nor seen the light. The lost have never known fellowship with Jesus, never hard his voice, never opened his heart to him who knocks at the door.
The thought that I want to leave with you is "The Hog-pen Experience". The prodigal son is a depiction of a deplorable condition. The question is what will it take for me to awaken to my sinful condition? What will it take for me to say yes Lord? For many of us much of what we experience in life is the hand of God pulling at us in his loving way, knocking at the door of our hearts. Many tragedies in our life come only to bear witness that there is a better way. Much of the hardship and suffering that we experience is merely the hand of God upon our lives. If it were not for the trials and tribulation that come our way, would we pray? Would we seek the face of God? We can ultimately see the hand of God upon our lives drawing us closer to him from day to day.
In this study of the prodigal son I can see my very own personal testimony. Luke chapter 15:11-12, we find the family, two sons with their father. In the world that we live in Satan’s greatest attack is against the family. His desire is to divide, brake up and destroy or kill out the family. From the very beginning Satan’s attack was against the family, Adam and Eve the first family. Sin and death enter this world through the first family. Today is no exception, if we look around at our community, we’ll find the greatest ill in society to be the breakdown of the family. When the family is destroyed you have no inheritance, no community, the entity of husband and wife, sons and daughters, when this institution is destroyed we destroy ourselves. For this reason mirage is sacred, it is an institution that God himself has created and ordained from the foundation of the world. Even today Satan is attempting to destroy the family.
In verse 12 of Luke chapter 15, we find two sons but only one of them desired to leave the family. The other son after having his goods and his portion of inheritance given to him as well, he decided to stay at home. He saw the benefits of staying at home, the quality of life. But the other son saw a great opportunity before him, the world its glitter, its fame, the lights, the friends.
The word prodigal means to waste. It is a sad thing to waste not merely the material things in life but to waste the essence of life, life it’s self. To find that life is a vapor and the glory of life like the grass that is green today and tomorrow it is withered away. So it is in life that the world may hold you up high today but tomorrow they want know you. As long as your money last you will be known and you will be loved. It is sad to say but the Presidency of our Country literally goes to the highest bidder. Money is power. You can be a man of great virtue and intellect and be broke and you will find before you a great challenge. But you have a little money and you can perpetrate your way to the highest chair in the land. We see so much corruption behind money and what people will do in the name of money. The Prince of this world has created a system based on greed. This is the reason why the world is so attractive because it comes to us in a lucrative way.
Luke 15:13, we find that the young man after receiving his share he departed. I can see this young man headed for Los Angeles California were the big lights are or perhaps New York City, were he would find fine women and gambling Casinos. He gets there and he finds friends he never known before because he has money that he never had before. The prodigal wasted all that he had.
There is no way to hold on to the gift of life when you leave Jesus. The prodigal son is symbolic to one who had known the father. He had known the benefits of being in fellowship with God. After knowing the father and his care, his everlasting provision, the son would say within his heart "I want to go into the world". "I’m going to leave you father, I’ve had enough of it all". To the young it is the experience of the world that pulls at them, the experience of sin. But what I want to share with you today is that sin is not a beautiful experience. "The wages of sin is death", while you are in sin death is all around you. If it were not for the grace of God upon your life the enemy would still you. When you are whit the crowd you don’t see the adversary, you don’t see his plan. How many of us have been to the funeral of a love one that was out just having a good time. There are so many young people dying today behind sin. The drug experience is something we do with our so call friends only to find yourself left along with a habit that you can’t pay for. The drug experience is what Jesus has come to save us from. As agents of free will we must chose to be free from the bondage of sin, from its power and dominion.
If we chose to experience sin then we must bear the consequence of that choice. The living word of God has given us to know that "what so ever a man sows that shall he also reap". The experience of sin always comes with a harvest, not only in the life to come but in this life. Somebody is concern about the hell to come but many are living in a living hell right here on the face of this earth. We see our dear brothers and sisters daily, minds disturbed, troubled, the marks of the world on their face, many have chosen alternative lifestyles are facing the judgment of God through social diseases.
Sin is to waste this precious gift of life that God has endowed each one of us with. If we chose sin we are driven to death. The enemy steals your life when you are in sin. We do not always see the deception of sin. Just like the prodigal son looking for the beauty of this great metropolis city that he would enter into, his money would allow doors to be open that would ultimately be shut in his face. If we look at the world today, it is a materialistic world that desires to have your soul. One can get so caught up behind the pursuit of money that you are unable to see nothing else. Money will rule your soul, the love of it. It will be your God. "No man can serve two masters, you cannot serve God and mammon", Matthew 6:24.
People will go to war over oil but no one is willing to fight so that men can be free. We live in a day were the value of money is greater than human life. The Prince of this world’s system is Satan and he does not value life. Many decisions are made today on the basis of how much money one can gain.
"And when he had spent all,"- Luke 15:14. Right now our Country is facing a great debt on the floor of the congress debate is being waged daily on what to cut. Who would have ever phantom that we would be living in a day were Air-force and military bases would be shut down as a result of the lack of money in our federal government. After all the bureaucratic stealing, the government is at the point of shutting down. Now we are suffering the consequences of a nation that is prodigal. Our Country once knew what it was to be a nation under God, in fellowship with God through prayer, communicating to a father who cares for his own, through his provision and everlasting protection. We knew what it was to reverence a living God in our schools and institutions to look to him in all our ways and he would direct our path.
Today we look at a nation who is prodigal. A nation that has took prayer out of the schools. Prayer is in the process of being removed from all social activity. Certainly, if our forefathers of this great nation were alive today, they would be appalled at what is happening in society. The Constitution of the United States of America allows us to have great freedom but not at the risk of destroying everything that we value. Freedom without discipline is not the will of God. Our God is a God of order; he is a God of design. There is a movement "The new Age" that is coming to destroy all that has been created and ordained by God. It is the mind of the antichrist. He is going forth in the land as never before, on his great black horse, destroying and slaying every institution and the Church is no exception. It is a sad day, but the sadness is a result of leaving God. When you leave God you enter into sin. Sin is a complete demise of the total person soul, mind and body.
We see the soul of our Country deteriorating, dying, and wasting away. How long will we continue to walk as the prodigal son? Will we return to God, the living word, the values and principles that the very foundation of this Country was built upon, or will we continue to waste away?
Right now we like the prodigal son find ourselves in a hog-pen. Domestically speaking we’re in a hog-pen. As much money as many of us make we are just surviving. Twenty years ago if we made the money we make today we would be like a rich man. Our Country in a hog-pen wasting away, this is a terrible experience. This is where you end up with sin. We as a Nation have truly come from a long ways, but now we are looking at the hog-pen, just like the prodigal son.
Verse 15 of Luke chapter 15 "And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent into his fields to feed swine."After the prodigal son had spent all of his money, a famine arose in the land and he began to seek for food and shelter. A citizen took him in and sent him into the fields to feed the swine. Jerusalem is a Holy City and the lowest thing that you can possibly do in Jerusalem is handle the swine. Swine according to Old Testament law is not to be consumed. Anytime you join yourself with worldly friends you are going to end up in the hog-pen. If you are born again you do not have worldly companionship. In the world you have to look out for yourself, it is the survival of slickest. We must seek God to open our eyes and our mind to discern true friendship, to see the darkness of the world as sin. To understand how short time is. To hear the voice of Jesus calling "come unto me all ye who are heavy laden and I’ll give you rest".
Luke Chapter 15 verse 16, we find that the prodigal son would have gladly eat the fed that he was giving to the swine. During this period of time just like today it does not matter how hungry a servant may be if the servant begins to eat the food that he should be serving, the servant could lose his job. So the prodigal son had to suffer hunger until he could feed himself with what little he had.
Sin has brought the prodigal son to a condition that only God could get him out of. He is desperately hungry, in the midst of a famine, away from home. There is a famine right here in America. I know that many of us are eating two and three times a day but there is still a famine in this land. The famine is for the word of God and the move of his spirit in this land today. After having spent all many are awakening to the reality of having lost God to gain the world only to lose their soul. After having filled your barn and God put his hands on your life and you find "what will a man give in exchange for his soul"? What can you hold before God in the face of death? What price will you give in exchange for eternal life? There is only one price and that price has been paid by the blood of Jesus. If his blood does not cover your life, than you is not his purchased possession. For when we stand before God it is only the blood of Jesus that will pay that price, in this life and in the life to come. His name is the only salvation for humanity. His name is the only salvation for America.
Verse 17 of Luke chapter 15 "And when he came to himself", this is the question that I’d like to put to you today. What will it take for me to come to myself? Many of us are standing in a hog-pen condition right now. But even in the hog-pen Jesus desires to see you back home. Jesus desires for you to make the step back to the path of righteousness, back to home. There is a voice crying in your ear even in the hog-pen. In the midst of your lowest moment Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. His arms are open; he desires to see you back home, while the blood is yet running warm in your veins. You have an opportunity to come on back home.
The prodigal son came to himself but how many of us will come to ourselves? The grave is full of a multitude that fell to come to themselves. Will you come to yourself right now, and realize that the hog-pen is not the place to be. Rather a backslider or sinner there is a way out. Jesus said "I am the way, the trueth, and the life; no man cometh unto the father, but by me". Think God that before the creation of the world a way out was made. His name is Jesus.
What will it take for me to come to myself? This is the only question that matters. Not how serious the situation is, for it does not exceed the grace of God. His grace is sufficient even in our weakest hour. If we draw near to him, he will draw near unto us. If we come out and sanctify ourselves he will be a father to us and we will be sons and daughters to him. If we deny ourselves and take up the cross, he has promised to give us his spirit dwelling in our hearts. By the spirit of the living God we can cry Father, Father, Abba, Abba, has sons and daughters of the living God. The family of God, a royal priesthood, brought by the precious blood of Jesus, Kings and Priests called to rule in this land, called to show forth righteousness and good works unto the father. It is by the blood of Jesus, the work of Calvary’s Cross that we have a way out.
I say unto to you, "who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed"? Can you see the way out of the hog - pen. I bring to you my testimony the hog – pen experience. After having experienced all that the world has to offer, I believed the report. As a result of believing the report; the arm of the Lord was revealed unto me. In his everlasting arms I am leaning on to this present day. I’m leaning on those arms that centuries of men and women have leaned upon, the arm of the gospel that shows the light of the world.
Will you see the revelation? Will you see the door that stands open to the way out? Will you hear the voice of the spirit of Jesus that reaches out even now? The prodigal son represents the hog – pen experience. What will it take for you to come out of the hog – pen?
I served has outreach Minister and Ordained Elder under Pastor Jerome Lee. Bethel Tabernacle Christ Holy Sanctified Church of America, Inc. 2121 Daniel Street, Fort Worth, Tx 76104. I served as Sunday School Teacher,and Musician.
