#135 Lu. 15:8-10 THE PARABLE OF THE LOST COIN Introduction: In our text last Sunday, Jesus gave The Parable of The Lost Sheep. This was the first of three parables which speak of God's great love for the unsaved and of His great desire to save them. In our text today, Jesus gives The Parable of The Lost Coin. I. A review of the Parable of The Lost Sheep In our text last Sunday Jesus began a series of three parables which speak of God's great love for the unsaved and His desire to save them. The parable in our text last Sunday was The Parable of The Lost Sheep. In that parable a shepherd leaves the ninety and nine sheep which are safe and goes out into the wilderness to search for one that is lost. When he finds the lost sheep, he lays that sheep on his shoulder and carries him to safety. When he gets back, he wakes up all his friends and neighbors that they may rejoice with him that his lost sheep has been found. That parable illustrates the great love that God has for unsaved men, women, boys and girls and His great desire to save them. God the Father loves the lost so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to seek and to save that which was lost. He went to the cross to die for them that they might be saved. The great rejoicing done by the shepherd and his friends illustrates the great joy in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father and the angels of heaven when one gets saved. II. The Parable of The Lost Coin In our text today, we find the second parable in this series, The Parable of The Lost Coin. The story in this parable is different than that in the first, but the truth which it illustrates is the same. It pictures the great love which God has for those who are unsaved and His great desire to save them. Let us look at the parable. V. 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?" If you have a center reference in your Bible, you will notice that the particular silver coin to which Jesus refers in this text is one that was used in that day to pay a man for one day's labor. The woman in the parable had ten such silver coins. That is, she was supposed to have ten coins, but one day she discovered that there were only nine. One coin was missing. One coin was lost. She was confident that it was not stolen, but rather it was lost right there somewhere within her house. If a thief had stolen that one coin, he would have stolen all ten of them. Luke does not tell us where she usually kept the coins, but it is possible that they were kept in a bowl or vase or perhaps a cloth or leather bag. Whatever it was kept in, they were not kept in a conspicuous place where they would be seen. They were kept in some place out of sight. But at any rate, on this occasion, when she got out the container and counted the coins, one coin was missing. In the event that the coins were kept in a bag, she might suspect that one of the coins had slipped out of the bag and slid down behind something out of sight. So she would search thoroughly in the place were the bag had been. Or if she had moved the bag from one place to another, she would search thoroughly in the other hiding place for the bag. She would not think of looking in some other vessel or bag because she surely always kept the coins all together in one place. But when her search of the hiding places did not turn up the missing coin, she would suspect that the missing coin may have been dropped on the floor. Now many of the houses in that day were built of unbaked mud and had dirt floors. In order to help keep down dust within the house, they had spread straw on the floor. The straw would make it very difficult to find a small object, such as a coin, which had been fallen on the floor. Then, too, a small object might bury down into the dirt beneath the straw. But this woman set out to search for the missing coin. I am not certain whether it was daytime or nighttime when she discovered that the coin was missing. But whenever it was, she started immediately to search for it. Our text says that she got a light so that she could see better. If it was night time, the light was most definitely necessary. But even in the day time, the light would be essential in searching out the dark areas where this coin might have rolled to. She even got a broom and swept the house. She was very careful to examine each object that she would find to see if it might be the coin. We are not told how long the search required. But it must have been a prolonged period of time because I see a hint that before she found it she had informed her friends and neighbors that the coin was lost. At any rate, when she finally found it she called in those same friends and neighbors to rejoice with her that she had found it. V. 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." They had been concerned for her when they learned about its loss. Now they rejoiced with her that the coin was found. III. The interpretation of the parable In verse 10 Jesus gives us a partial interpretation of the parable. He takes for granted that the rest of the interpretation will be easily seen. V. 10, "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." The interpretation which Jesus gives is that when one lost sinner repents of his sin and gets saved, there is rejoicing in heaven in the presence of the angels of God. Now note, please, that Jesus did not say that the angels rejoice when one gets saved. Rather He said that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels. What Jesus is talking about is that God, Himself, rejoices. While Jesus was here on earth, it was God the Father and God the Holy Spirit who rejoiced in heaven. Jesus, who was on earth at that time would rejoice on earth. But now that Jesus has returned to heaven, all three in the Godhead rejoice when one gets saved. God the Father rejoices, God the Holy Spirit rejoices and God the Son rejoices. They all Three rejoice together. It is not that God merely tolerates the salvation of lost sinners. Rather it thrills the heart of God for lost sinners to get saved. Now I called to your attention that our text does not actually say that the angels of God rejoice. It just says that there is rejoicing in their presence. Yet I am confident that when these holy angels see God rejoice that they, too, rejoice. They rejoice greatly. They love God and it thrills them to see God so filled with joy. By the way, once a lost sinner gets saved, he is not a lost sinner any more. He is still a sinner, but he is a saved sinner. In our text Jesus says nothing about the sinner himself rejoicing. But there is certainly good reason for him to rejoice now that he is saved. It is a dreadful thing to be unsaved. It is a dreadful thing to be headed for the hell. It would be a dreadful thing to die while still lost and go into the fires of hell. Once one is in hell there is no escape. There is no relief. There will be extreme suffering forever and forever. On the other hand, it is a wonderful thing to be saved and to know that you are saved. It is a joyous experience to realize that you are saved and that you are no longer headed for hell. So not only does God and His angels rejoice in heaven, but the saved sinner rejoices here on earth. How good it is to be saved and to know that you are saved! God and His angels rejoice in heaven and the saved sinner and his friends rejoice here on earth. Conclusion: This morning God is searching for lost sinners like that woman searched for her lost coin. He wants to save you and keep you out of the fires of hell. There is one big difference between a lost coin and a lost human being. A lost coin cannot repent. But a human being can repent. He can and he must repent if he would be saved. A lost coin cannot cry out to the one who searches for is and say, "Here I am over here. Hey, look right over her. Hey, I want to be found, so look over here and find me." But a lost human can call on the Lord and say, "Lord, here I am. I want to be saved. Won't you please save me?" Acts 16:31 says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." I am asking you to call on the Lord this morning and ask Him to save you.