Sermon #113 Luke
Sermons
Title: The
Parable of the Lost Coin
Text: Luke 15:8-10
Date: Sunday Evening—
Tape # X-95b
Introduction:
Luke 15:8-10
“Either what woman having tell pieces
of silver if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house,
and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth
her friends and her neighbors together, saying Rejoice with me; for I have
found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
Luke 15 is a chapter is full of grace and truth. IT declares in
three, great parables that where sin abounds grace much more abounds. These
three parables all teach us one great, blessed gospel truth. It is something
that cannot be repeated too often, because (sweet as it is) it is something so
contrary to nature and reason than few ever learn, and those who do seem to
quickly forget it. ― Salvation is not by merit, but by mercy!
· Mercy stretches
forth her hand to misery.
· Grace receives
sinners as sinners.
· Christ came to
seek and to save that which is lost.
· He came to save
the unworthy and worthless.
· Those who think
themselves righteous are not the objects of God’s favor, but the unrighteous,
the guilty, and the undeserving.
These three parables teach this one great gospel truth. ― “Salvation
is of the Lord!” However, it is a great mistake to look upon them as mere
repetitions of the same thing. The fact is, each of these three parables
presents a different aspect of that great truth. Each one shows us a distinct
aspect of God’s great work of grace in saving sinners. Reading them together,
is like looking at three sides of a great pyramid of gospel doctrine. Each one
is needful to the other. When combined they present us with a complete picture.
The Lost Sheep
In the first parable (vv. 3-7) we saw Christ, the Shepherd of
Israel, seeking his lost sheep.
· In his incarnation, the
Son of God came to save his lost sheep.
· In his life and
earthly ministry, he sought and found his sheep.
· In his sin-atoning death, as
the Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep, he laid his sheep upon his
shoulders.
· In his resurrection and
ascension, our all-glorious Christ carried his sheep home rejoicing
The Lost Coin
In the parable now before us (vv. 8-10), we have a picture of the
work of the Holy Spirit, represented as a woman sweeping her house to find the
coin she had lost. The place of this parable is important because the work of
the Holy Spirit follows the work of Christ. First, the great Shepherd seeks and
saves his lost sheep in redemption. Then, the Holy Spirit seeks and restores
the lost soul in efficacious grace.
As I said, each parable needs the other two to give us a complete
picture. The Shepherd seeks the sheep which has wilfully gone astray. But the
lost coin gives us another part of the picture. The lost sheep portrays man’s
depravity as alienated from God by wilfully straying from him. But the lost
coin does not convey the same idea. The lost coin portrays us, not merely as
stupid and straying, but as altogether senseless, unconscious, powerless,
without life, and utterly helpless. This is exactly the condition God’s elect are
in when the Holy Spirit comes in effectual grace to give life to and save those
who are dead in trespasses and sins.
The Lost Son
The lost sheep portrays the saving work of God the Son. The lost
coin pictures the saving work of God the Holy Spirit. And the third parable
(vv. 11-32), the parable of the lost son shows us God the Father in his
matchless love receiving the lost child who returns to him.
The third parable might be easily to be misunderstood without the
first and the second. And there are some who use the story of the prodigal son
as a picture of man’s imaginary free will, spontaneously deciding to return to
the Father, emphasizing the fact that no mention is made of the lost son being
sought, or in any way influenced by the Lord Jesus or by the Holy Spirit. Of
course, nothing could be further from the truth. The first parable spoke of the
shepherd seeking the lost sheep. There is no need for that to be repeated. The
Holy Spirit’s work in omnipotent grace was described in the second parable.
When we put the three parables together (as the Holy Spirit
does in verse 3) and read them as one parable, we see the whole work of God’s
grace in saving his elect beautifully portrayed. Each part of
the picture sets forth the work of the God the Son, God the Spirit, and God the
Father successively. ― We see the trinity everywhere in the Book of God,
especially in the salvation of his elect (Eph. 1; Heb. 1).
· The Son of God,
our Good Shepherd, with much pain and self-sacrifice, seeks the reckless,
wandering sheep.
· The Spirit of
God, portrayed as a woman, diligently searches for the insensible but lost
coin.
· God the Father
receives the returning prodigal.
What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. These three
parables are one. All three combined teach us one thing. ― Salvation is
God’s work. Yet, each picture presents its own aspect of that great gospel
truth.
Now, may God the Holy Spirit be our Teacher as we meditate upon
the parable of the lost coin given in verses 8-10..
“Either what woman having tell pieces
of silver if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house,
and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth
her friends and her neighbors together, saying Rejoice with me; for I have
found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
Lost
I. First, this parable
shows God’s elect in their natural condition as lost sinners who are the objects of God’s mercy in Christ.
As in the parable of the lost sheep all mankind are presented as
belonging to the Lord God (Matt. 20:15). The 100 are all mankind. But the one
lost sheep represents all God’s elect. Here all mankind is represented as the
ten pieces of silver. God’s elect are the one lost coin. God’s elect are, by
nature, just like all other men, fallen, depraved, and ruined by the fall. But
they are his lost ones whom he is determined to save. Here they are presented
as being lost, like a coin in the house.
A. The coin was
lost in the dust.
The woman had lost her piece of silver, and in order to find it she
had to sweep the house for it, which means that it had fallen in the dust and
dirt of the floor. It had fallen to the earth, where it might be hidden and
concealed amid rubbish and dirt. Every child of Adam is like this coin, lost,
fallen, dishonored, and buried in the foulness and dirt of the earth.
B. The coin was
lost in a dark place.
This is obvious from the fact that a candle had to be lit to find
it. The darkness of this world is great.
· Moral Darkness
· Spiritual
Darkness
But the inward darkness of a man’s soul is even greater than the
darkness in which he lives (1 Cor. 2:14). ― “Sitting in darkness and
in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,” they “grope
at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness” (Ps. 107:10; Deu. 28:29).
― “We
grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we
stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men”
(Isa. 59:10).
(1
Cor 2:14) "But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned."
So great is the darkness that in this parable the lost one
is represented as being totally ignorant of his lost condition. The coin is an
inanimate thing. It is altogether without life. Without consciousness, without
feeling, without any awareness of being either lost or sought, it was perfectly
content to remain in the dirt, to remain lost.
So it is with you who are yet lost, being dead in trespasses and
in sins, it is impossible for me or any other mortal to make you know your lost
state, or understand the danger you are in without God, without Christ.
Once a person knows that he is lost, he has already been found,
the Spirit of God has already begun his work in the man. When you know that you
are lost and begin to cry out to God for mercy, the finding work has begun.
An unconverted man will confess that he is lost because he knows
the statement to be scriptural. Therefore he admits it to be true; but he has
no idea of what is meant by it. If you knew what it is to be lost, you would
cry out to God for mercy, you would give yourself no rest until you find rest
in Christ, until you find yourself numbered with the redeemed, forgiven
multitude of the saved.
In preaching the gospel we preach, as Ezekiel, to a valley of
dead, dried bones, insensible souls. We must have the Wind of Heaven to carry
our message, or the bones will never hear.
Illustration: Walter Groover’s Experience Hunting
C. Now, I want to
show you something precious that you may have missed in reading this parable.
― Though this coin was lost, it was not forgotten.
The woman of the house knew she had ten pieces of silver
originally. She counted them carefully. When she found that she only had nine
in her purse, she knew that there was one missing.
This is hope for the Lord’s lost ones. They are lost, yes, utterly
lost. But they are not forgotten. The Son of God who redeemed them, their
Savior, Advocate, High Priest and Surety remembers them and prays for them. He
remembers…
· The Father’s
love for them.
· His suretyship
engagements for them.
· The agonies he
suffered for them.
· The Father’s
promise of them.
· Before the
Father’s throne of grace.
They have long forgotten him; but he will never forget them.
Their names from the palms of His hands
Eternity will not erase.
Inscribed on His heart they remain
In marks of indelible grace!
D. Here’s another
thing. ― The coin was lost; but it was still claimed by the one who
owned it.
This woman calls it, “my piece which was lost.” When she
lost its possession she did not lose her ownership of it. It did not become
somebody else’s when it was lost. Those for whom Christ died, whom he has
redeemed, are not Satan’s, though they are dead in sin. They have, for a time,
been subjected under the devil’s usurped dominion, but the monster shall be
driven from his throne.
The Lord Jesus has received them as a gift from his Father. He has
bought them with his own precious blood. And he will have them. He will drive
Satan from his house. He will drive the intruder away and claim his own. Thus
saith the Lord, “Your covenant with death is disannulled, and your agreement
with hell shall not stand.”
E. Now, watch this.
― The coin was lost; but it was lost in the house.
I am not stretching the parable at all when I say to you lost ones
who are here today, you have reason even now to give thanks to God. Though you
are lost, you are lost here, in God’s own house.
· Not in some Free
Will Synagogue of Satan.
· Not in the
vileness of Papacy.
· Not in the
filthy Mosque of Islam.
· Not in the dark
house of Judaism.
This is the condition of the lost soul, depicted as a lost coin.
II. Second, our Lord’s
parable shows us a picture of God’s elect as they are sought out by the grace and power of his Spirit in
efficacious grace.
(Luke
15:8) "Either what woman having ten
pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the
house, and seek diligently till she find it?"
(Isa
62:10-12) "Go through, go through
the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway;
gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. {11} Behold,
the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of
Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and
his work before him. {12} And they shall call them, The holy people, The
redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not
forsaken."
Never will a sinner be found until it is sought out and found by
God the Holy Spirit The heart will remain darkness until he comes with his
illuminating power.
A.
The woman first lit a candle specifically for the purpose
of finding her lost coin.
I am amazed that so many wild speculations abound about what this
might refer to. The obvious reference here is to that blessed, effectual,
illuminating work of God the Holy Spirit by which life and faith are granted to
and wrought in the hearts of poor sinners through the preaching of the gospel
(Gen. 1:1-3; Zech. 12:10; 2 Cor. 4:4-6).
(Zec 12:10)
"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look
upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that
is in bitterness for his firstborn."
(2
Cor 4:4-6) "In whom the god of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
{5} For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. {6} For God, who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
(Gen
1:1-3) "In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth. {2} And the earth was without form,
and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters. {3} And God said, Let there be
light: and there was light."
B. Once the candle was lit, the
woman took her broom in her hand and swept her house in search of her lost coin.
What can this be, but a portrayal of that great, gracious troubling work by which sinners are effectually converted by the Spirit’s almighty, irresistible grace called “Holy Spirit conviction”?
(John
16:8-15) "And when he is come, he
will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: {9} Of
sin, because they believe not on me; {10} Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father, and ye see me no more; {11} Of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. {12} I have yet many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now. {13} Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth,
is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself;
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you
things to come. {14} He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine,
and shall show it unto you. {15} All things that the Father hath
are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto
you."
III.
Third, this parable
sets God’s elect before us in a third state ― Found!
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound!
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now I’m found,
Was blind, but now I see!”
The Woman was diligent and determined in her search. She would not
give up. It was her ultimatum to find her lost coin. And she found it! So it is
with God the Holy Spirit. He will find his lost ones.
(Luke
15:8-9) "Either what woman having
ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep
the house, and seek diligently till she find it? {9} And when she hath
found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours
together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had
lost."
The woman found the lost coin. It did not
turn up by accident. It was not discovered by a neighbor. It is God the Holy
Spirit who sinners.
When
she had found her coin that was lost, she was ecstatic with joy. She called her
friends and neighbors together and said, “Rejoice with me; for I have found
the piece which I had lost!” Now, I want us to focus our attention on verse
10. ― “Likewise, I say unto you,
There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that
repenteth.”
Explanation
Here
our Savior is telling us the meaning of this parable. This is not part of the
parable, but our Master’s explanation of it. He says, “I say unto thee.” He speaks
as the faithful witness. He here testifies what he knows, what he has seen and
heard in heaven whence he came.
He is talking about the reception of a sinner, a sinner such as those now
gathered around him, a publican, a profligate, a harlot, not a good person, but
a sinner. He wants the Pharisees an Scribes to know how God above looks upon
sinners below. Above all, he wants us poor sinners to know! Religious people
turn away from sinners and turn sinners away from them. The holy ones in
heaven, the holy God, the holy angels, and holy saints rejoice to receive them!
· Joy in the Sinner!
· Joy in the Church!
· Joy in Heaven!
Repentance
He is talking about that mighty work of his own grace, the work of his
Spirit called “repentance,” that work by which sinners are turned to God and by
which sinners are caused to turn to God in faith.
(Jer
31:18-19) "I have surely heard
Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was
chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I
shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. {19} Surely after
that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my
thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach
of my youth."
One Sinner
It is of one sinner that the Savior speaks,
not of multitudes. It is one sinner, one hated publican, one poor harlot that he so
graciously holds up before us, one poor fragment of lost humanity, despised by
all others, that he here declares to be the object of all heaven’s compassion
and joy. So was it always in his life here.
·
One Woman of Sychar
·
One Gadarene
·
One Zacchaeus
·
One Woman of Samaria
·
One Bartimaeus
The Joy
But
it is specially of the joy which the Lord speaks of that I ask you
to think about. It is not simply pity, or mercy, or even love, but of joy that
he speaks. ― Not the joy of the saved sinner. That would not surprise me.
― Not the joy of the church on earth. ― That I would also expect.
― But it is joy in heaven that our Master is talking about!
There
is always joy in heaven. But here, our Lord tells us that when God saves a
sinner joy swells up in heaven and overflows from the triune God to the
heavenly angels, and among the redeemed in glory! There is in heaven an
out-burst of irrepressible gladness in the presence of the angels of God every
time a sinner is fetched home to God!
Oh, my soul, be amazed and wonder! What could be more wonderful? What could be
more amazing, than the fact that the holy Lord God would…
· Love and choose to save such
a sinner as me!
· Give his own darling Son to
suffer and die for such a worthless worm!
· That God the Holy Spirit
would condescend to seek out one so contently lost in the dust, and dirt, and
darkness of the world!
· That God would receive such
an one as I am into his holy heaven.
But
this is utterly beyond thought. ― “There
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over (this) one sinner” who
now stands before you saved by his almighty, free grace!
It is the joy of God. It is God himself who is represented as
rejoicing. The joy is in heaven; and it is the joy of God himself, the joy of
the Shepherd upon finding the lost sheep, the joy of the woman (the Holy
Spirit) upon finding her lost coin, the joy of the Father upon finding his lost
son.
It is joy in the presence of the angels of God. As the
shepherd and the woman call together their friends and neighbors, so God calls
his heavenly hosts. In their presence he utters his joy; and he calls on them
to rejoice with him. He is so full of this joy of love, this joy at recovering
the lost, that he must have them to share it with him. His joy is so great that
he must, as it were, give vent to it! He must share it!
Lessons
There
is much to learn from these things; but I will mention just two things.
1. The saints and angels in
heaven have an interest in and some knowledge of what is going on here on earth.
2. He who is our God is God who
“delighteth in mercy”!
God loves to save. He loves to bless sinners with
all the blessings of salvation and grace in Christ. And when he has so blessed,
he rejoices over the one saved and blessed by his grace!
(Jer
32:41) "Yea, I will rejoice over
them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my
whole heart and with my whole soul."
(Zep
3:14-17) "Sing, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of
Jerusalem. {15} The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out
thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst
of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. {16} In that day it shall be
said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be
slack. {17} The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he
will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he
will joy over thee with singing."
Amen.