Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Luke, chapter 15. Luke 15. Last Wednesday evening, I began
this blessed book, or chapter in this
blessed book of Luke. And I related to you that the
15th chapter of the book of Luke is actually one parable. It's in three parts, and we looked
at the first part, and it was concerning the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd, as He seeks finds and saves his
lost sheep, bringing his elect home to himself, rescuing them
from the death of their state of depravity, death. Now this morning I'd like to
look at the second part of this parable, and it's dealing with
how the Holy Spirit uses the means of the preaching of the
gospel to call out the Lord's sheep. And I pray that as we
look at this, Section right here is verses 8 to 10 is what it
is. And as we look at this blessed part of this one parable, it's
the same message, but it deals with how the Lord Jesus, the
Holy Spirit, and then the last part, the Lord willing in the
second service will be dealing with the Father as He received
the sheep. The first one is the shepherd.
that rescues them. The second part we'll deal with
now is how the Holy Spirit calls out God's sheep. The third one
is how the Father receives the sheep. Now, Luke 15 verse 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? And when she hath found it, she
calleth her friends, her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with
me, for I have found the peace 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." Now, in this part of this parable,
it's dealing with a woman who is the picture of the Holy Spirit
of God. God Almighty. And the scripture
declares that this woman has ten pieces of silver. All ten pieces belong to her. They're hers. Just like the shepherd
in the first part of the parable had a hundred sheep. They were
all his sheep. But you remember this. Now in
this parable, This parable sets forth that everybody, all souls,
belong to the Lord. And the Lord does what He will
with His own. The scripture declares in Psalm
24, 1, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the
world. and they that dwell therein.
So is there anybody born into this world that does not belong
to the Lord? No. It says the world and they
that dwell therein. Listen to Colossians 1.16. For
by Him, that is by the Lord Jesus Christ, were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible. whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. So everything, everything is
the Lord's. He does as He will in the army
of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. Nobody has a right
to question what he does with his own. So here's what I know. If everything and everybody was
created by him and for him, write this down. Everything and everybody
was created for the exhibition of the Lord Jesus Christ in God's
holiness, in His glory, in His justice, in His mercy. Everything
was created to magnify the cross. The cross. Everybody. Everybody. What about those that
know not the Lord and die in unbelief? Everybody. He's the
potter. with a clay. And the potter has
the right to make one vessel under honor and another vessel
under dishonor. Here's the problem with man.
Men want to argue with God. And we don't have any place to
argue. He's the Lord. He declares as He is and we bow
and to question Him You know, what right? Paul says, Who art
thou, O man, O man, that replieth against God? So, in this passage
of Scripture, just like in the first part, where there were
99 sheep left in the wilderness, left to themselves, And they
represent all men, all women in this world which need not
repentance. They have no need in themselves
of repentance. They see no need to think differently. How Almighty God justifies a
sinner. Well just like in the first part
of this parable, there were 99 sheep that the Lord left I brought
this out Wednesday night. He said to his people, I will
never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will never leave my own. I'll never leave you. And he
left 99. Well, what is the conclusion? They weren't his own, in grace.
They were his in creation, but not in grace. So here, in this
parable, a woman has 10 coins. Nine of them, the scripture declares,
she still got in possession. But there was one that was lost. One coin. What woman, having
ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, one piece? Well, the scriptures declare
that these This silver, this money, all hers, all of them,
pictures of God's ownership, one of them in particular is
lost. Now the first thing that makes
this part of this parable so amazingly revealing to me is
the value of that silver. I, in your Bible you may have,
I've got in my margin in the middle here, it talks about that
piece of silver. Now that piece of silver was
called a drachma, a drachma. Well, I looked it up. I just
wanted to know what is the value of a drachma. And so I looked
it up and I found out that they actually coined that coin until
2002. That coin started way, way back
then. And they were actually still
coined until 2002, according to what I found out. And then
I looked to find out what was the value of that coin in 2002. Now this is talking about, I
mean it's appreciated, I understand that, and it's gone way up in
value. I realize that. So the value
of that coin in 2002 would have been one of its most valuable
positions in time. And in 2002 it was worth one
quarter of a cent. One quarter of a cent. Now, I'm
going to tell you something. That coin right there, now you
may be different. That's fine. If you want to,
that's fine. If I see a penny laying on the ground, I'm not
going to pick it up. Why? It's just not worth it to
me. It's just not worth the effort. You know, I'm going to say, well,
I'm going to pick it up. Well, great. That's good. I won't. I won't. It's just not worth me stopping,
you know, to pick up a penny. Kevin, it's just in my way. You
know, I'll just ignore it. One quarter of a cent. But that piece of silver was
precious to that woman. It was precious because it was
hers. That was her coin. And to the
world, virtually useless and worthless in itself. But what a picture of the worthlessness,
especially to the world. Our God's sheep, the vessels
of God's mercy, Here, the Scriptures declare that before the foundation
of the world, God Almighty chose sinners, chose a people who would
fall in Adam's rebellion, chose them in Christ, and He, in agreement
to the everlasting covenant of grace, stood for them. I will answer for them. I will
be made sin. I will absolutely be their absolute
substitute. I will become what they are. In themselves worthless. Worthless
rebels against God. Useless in self. Haters of God. Children of wrath against God. And these that the Lord has everlastingly
loved, Almighty God said, they're mine. You mean to tell me that
Almighty God will be made flesh and then made sin and suffer
separation from His Father? being forsaken of the Father
and bear the guilt of all of His people, add them all up together,
they're still in themselves, they're worthless, they're worthless,
worms. You mean to tell me that God
Almighty, I mean think about this, what would you do? For
the dregs of this society, you take all of the, I mean take
the dregs, I mean the junk, the junk, are you going to give it
all up for them? No. I'm just honest with you. I wouldn't. Would you, Neil?
I wouldn't. Give them what they deserve. They knew better. They knew better. This woman,
had one lost coin. And it was in value. Just think about what it had
been worth then. But to find that coin, the scripture
says, either what woman having 10 pieces of silver, if she lose
one piece, she's still got nine. But what does she do? Well, here's
the means of finding it. She lights a candle. She lights a candle. Now here's
the picture of the Spirit of God. This is how God calls out
His elect. She took a candle, and that candle sets forth the
glorious light of the gospel. The gospel of God's grace. Here's
the revelation of God's truth. She takes a candle, the scripture
says, the light, and that's going to be the way that she's going
to bring that coin back to herself. And she goes and she takes that
candle and she begins to look just as the Spirit of God, the
scripture declares, when it pleases the Lord. He causes the light
of Christ, the light, the candle of God, the light of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ to shine in the hearts of God's
people. That's how he does it. But think
about what she's looking for. Now, just think about this. You know, you think about a sheep
we looked at last Wednesday. Maybe a sheep, maybe it could
wander around. It's just wandering out there.
At least it's got some life, at least physical life. It's
walking around. Maybe it might walk back home.
Who knows? It didn't have any sense to get
out of the rain. But who knows? Maybe it could.
But a coin? A coin. What is a coin going
to do? You talk about a fit picture.
A worthless quarter of a cent. It's dead. It's hard. It's cold. And here, this woman
takes a light. A picture of the gospel. Here's
what we're doing this morning. Almighty God has got some sheep.
He's got some sheep. I'm convinced He's got some sheep
here. But what if He's got some sheep that are yet to be called
out of darkness? What if there's some dead coins
here this morning? What if there's a dead coin?
What are we going to do? We're going to do just exactly
what the scripture sets forth this woman did. We're going to
take a light. That's what we're going to do, Fred. We're going
to take a light. She took a candle, and here is
God's light. This is how God is pleased to
call them out. He sets forth, shines forth. the glorious light of Christ,
the revelation of God's glory. Psalm 36 9 says, in thy light,
that is, in the light of the gospel, shall we see light, shall
we see the revelation. It takes the gospel, blessed
by the Spirit of God, for us to see. God doesn't just use
anything to give light. It's the gospel. power of God
unto salvation. That's the light. So we shine
for it. That woman went around and she
took that light and she's looking, she's looking. Here's the light.
Here's the light. Now how's she going to know when
she's found that coin? She's going to see it. She's
going to see it. That candle is a picture of God's gospel. And so scripture says she took
a light But also she began to sweep the house and seek diligently
until she find it. Now what a glorious declaration
of what the Lord is pleased to do. He takes the gospel and He
sweeps the house. Here we see the diligence of
the Holy Spirit of God through the ministry of God called preachers. To go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. I think about the statement that
was made to me last two weeks ago. The diligence, the diligence
of Almighty God to take someone may have sat under the gospel
for forty years. Forty years? Forty years, the
Gospels, the light, the light, the light, but look at the long
suffering of Almighty God. In the sweeping, in the sweeping
of that house, you know, we see the grace and the mercy of Almighty
God. Almighty God, He's not slack,
He's long-suffering to us, His people, His elect. Why? Not willing that any should perish.
And when He's pleased to call out His own, that's what He does.
And I know that He's going to call them, but what He does is
He sweeps and stirs the house. That's what she said. If she
lose one piece, do not light a candle, sweep the house, and
seek diligently till she find it. Where's the house? Where's
the house of God that's being swept? I can tell you where it
is. It's this world. Somebody said, well, it's in
the church. Well, he's got people in every nation and kindred and
tribe and tongue and we go into all the world and preach the
gospel and sweeping that purposeful, powerful, deliberate sweeping
of God's timing and purpose. I was thinking about, I was just
imagining this in my mind. Here's a woman sweeping. What
is she doing? Well, I can see where there's
a separation of the sheep from the goats. But let me tell you
what I see more than anything else. Think of that coin and
where it is. And I don't know what kind of
dust and debris and stuff. I don't know. How much do you
think Satan would desire to hide and to cover? and how powerfully
the Spirit of God just comes and just moves. You know the
scripture says the gates of hell shall not prevail against the
Lord. Satan would desire to shut God's
ability to be able to get to his sheep, but they're not going
to prevail. The gates of hell are not going to shut out God.
He's going to do as He will. And here the gospel goes forth
and it sweeps and moves all of the debris and filth of rebellion
and hell that would conceal or hide or thwart the finding of
God's sheep. Satan is not going to stop God.
He's not going to stop. I'm telling you, I just stop
and just think for just a minute about myself. How much filth. was this wretched coin in. And
the power of the gospel, of God's grace, the light of the truth,
and it comes forth in power. That word that shall not return
unto the Lord void. What is it going to do? It's
going to accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. It's powerful. It's diligent. Almighty God is
going to have what He owned. That coin was totally oblivious. Number one, to being lost. What does a coin know? What does it think? Well you
say, well it doesn't think anything. What does an unregenerate object
of God's mercy, an unregenerate object of God's mercy, what does
he think? Nothing! He's a dead coin. But he's the Lord's coin. He's
the Lord's object of mercy. He's the Lord's possession. He's always had it. And he's
always loved it. And that's his coin. That coin didn't know that it
was lost. You think that coin knew that
that woman was looking for it? Why? It's a coin. Do you think
that that coin knew the sweeping power of God's Spirit knowing
exactly what it's going to do? You think that coin was aware
of that? That woman found that coin and
that coin was absolutely passive in anything that happened to
it. It did not know. But the woman
found that coin. And when she found that coin,
verse 9, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying,
Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost. And then the Lord revealed the
same thing that He revealed last time. concerning the finding
of a sheep, the finding of a coin. He says in verse 9, likewise
I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner that repented. And as I told you last Wednesday,
repentance is not something that we do. Repentance is a change
of mind. That's what it means. To change
your mind. That means to think differently. And how am I going to do that
unless Almighty God gives me a new mind? To think differently. I don't have the ability to repent. I don't have the ability. I've
got to have something created in me that I don't have the ability
to create. It's called life. Life. There's joy in heaven in the
presence of the angels. And the depth of that, I don't
know, as I said the other night, I don't know where to go with
that. Because I can't tell you the depth. All I can tell you
is there is joy in the presence of the angels, the angels of
God, over one sinner, that Almighty God shows mercy. May the Lord
bless this word to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. All
right, let's take a