It must be the same with any of you who are far off from God if you would be right with him, you must come back to him. The first step towards getting back into his right position was his resolve, вЂњI will arise and go to my father.вЂќ If he could have filled his belly with husks or anything else, - if he could have had his rags exchanged for robes, - if he could have been made a nobleman in that far-off land, it would have been a mischief rather than a benefit to him, for the radical cure, in his case, must lie in his saying, вЂњFather, I have sinned,вЂќ and in receiving his fatherвЂ™s kiss of forgiveness, and all the tokens of restoration to his fatherвЂ™s favour. While the prodigal was in the far country, he could not be set right. Knowing this to be true, I am glad to be able to give the message of my text to those who are far off from God, because the only cure for such sinful wandering is for the sinner to come back to God. That thought comes not to thee but, if thou couldst, thou wouldst take the wings of the morning, and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, in the hope that there thou couldst be hidden from the eye and the presence of God. O heart of man, thou hast indeed gone astray from thy God when the distance at which thou art from him is loved by thee, and thou dost even wish, in thine unkindness and thy folly, to make that distance greater! If thou dost wish to return, thou art already half-way back but, alas! thou dost not wish to return. God is not in all their thoughts or if he is there, it is as an enemy, or as one for whom they have no care, one whom they are not willing to have to reign over them. Why do men neglect to keep holy the Sabbath day, unless it is that they do not want to think of God? Why do they put religious books on one side? Why do they leave their Bibles unread, but because GodвЂ™s name, GodвЂ™s person, GodвЂ™s law, GodвЂ™s gospel, - all about God, - has become distasteful to them? Like the fool, of whom David tells us, they say in their hearts, вЂњNo God!вЂќ They do not want him and if there could be an official announcement made that there is no God, they would welcome it. Alas! this is the condition of every unregenerate sinner he has gone away from God, and he tries continually to get further and further away from God. His fatherвЂ™s eye would have been a check upon him at home so, the only way for him to obtain that foolish and ruinous liberty for which he sought was to get as far off as ever he could from his father. He could not live as he wished in his fatherвЂ™s house he could not there waste his substance with riotous living. Our Lord Jesus has set forth this same truth in that other parable in which he describes the prodigal son as gathering all together, and taking his journey into a far country, away from his father. Our blessed Saviour has set forth the result of sin in his parable of the lost sheep, which has strayed from the fold and which, if left to itself, continues to go further and yet further away. So, when the Lord came walking in the garden, in the cool of the day, Adam did not seek him, to plead for mercy from him but the first words had to come from God: вЂњthe Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?вЂќ It was GodвЂ™s voice speaking in mercy to his wandering child. The natural effect of their sin was to harden their hearts, and not to lead them penitently to the great Father, but it led them impenitently to run away from him.

They did not come to him at once, confess the wrong which they had committed, and ask for mercy.

Our first parents hid themselves amongst the trees of the garden when they heard the voice of the Lord God calling them. 8.ДЄs soon as man had disobeyed God, he ran away from him. вЂњDraw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.вЂќ - James iv.

The end is drawing nigh