 Because I can imagine that father had been looking for him for years, hoping one day he'd come home. He came home forgiven. Now, was everything the same? No. Because he'd wasted years of his life and all of his inheritance. Did that mean that the father just gave all that back to him? No, it doesn't. You see, there is a penalty for sin that even forgiveness does not erase. What I want you to see is this.