Now let's turn back to Luke chapter
15. As I said, I want to tonight just bring a follow-up, and we'll
just entitle this message, The Woman and the Lost Coin, Part
2, Luke 15, 8 through 10. As we've seen, I don't want to
repeat the whole message, but I will just bring you up to date
on it. You know, we're studying the parables on Sunday morning.
And here we have three parables, or what some call one parable
in three parts. However you slice it, it's the
same way. Either way, if it's three parables,
it's three parables that go together. The parable of the lost sheep,
the shepherd, picture of Christ, who had a hundred sheep, and
one was lost, went astray. And He left the 99 in the wilderness
and went after that one lost sheep. And that's a glorious
picture of the work of Christ as our Redeemer. Who not only
just goes and finds them, locates them, but He goes and gets them
and obtains them. He obtained His sheep by the
price of His blood. And He came to this earth. The
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And He died that death
on the cross. for our sins so that he could
have his sheep, obtain them. They were his all along. We were
his all along. We know that. But the price had
to be paid because sin demands death. God must be satisfied. That's why it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. That's why God, from eternity
past, purposed to save a people. by his sovereign mercy and grace,
but he cannot save any sinner apart from his law and justice
being satisfied. So Christ had to come, and he
had to obey the law. He had to do it as God-man. He had to identify with his heavenly
Father and the Spirit and the Trinity of the Godhead. He had
to identify with deity, and he had to identify with his people
in our name and in our nature without sin. And so he bought
us. He paid the redemption price.
He established the righteousness by which God would be just to
justify us. And that's what that parable
of the lost sheep teaches. That's the lesson there. And
then the follow-up to that is the one we looked at Sunday and
the one we're looking at tonight. And that's the parable of the
woman and the lost coin. And that parable, remember as
I stated, that's a beautiful illustration of the results,
the fruit of the shepherd's work on the cross. It's the work of
the Holy Spirit who goes and finds, again, who goes and gets
the sheep, goes and gets those lovest lost coins, dead in trespasses
and sin, just like a dead lost coin spiritually now. And the
Holy Spirit turning on the light of the Word of God, the Gospel,
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, wherein God
is identified and distinguished in His glory and in His holiness,
wherein we're exposed for what we are as sinners who have nothing
to recommend us unto God and nothing that we deserve except
death and hell. That's all we deserve in ourselves.
And the Holy Spirit shines that light, just like the woman when
she lost this coin, look at it in verse 8, when he says, 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 that's what the Holy Spirit
does when he comes forth from the Father and the Son to find
the lost sheep whom Christ redeemed. Because it's just as sin demands
death, righteousness demands life. Christ said it, if that
corn of wheat, if that seed of wheat goes into the ground and
dies, it will bring forth much fruit. And that's what he, what
was he talking about? He wasn't given a manual on farming
there. He was talking about his death.
John chapter 12, you can read it. Talking about the death that
he would die. And what he was teaching those
people is that his death will result in the life of every one
of his people. And that's why the Holy Spirit
comes forth. That's why there is the Holy
Spirit who gives life. Because Christ died. So the work
of the Holy Spirit in us in the new birth is the fruit, the result,
and the evidence that Christ died for us. Life coming from
Him. And so, He goes to find these
lost coins. And that means He goes to get
them. Not just to locate them. Remember that. That's so important,
isn't it? You see, God knows His sheep. God knows where they
are. He knows who they are. Christ
had to come and die for them, and the Holy Spirit got to come
and apply what Christ purchased and what Christ accomplished
on Calvary to each and every one of those lost coins in each
and every successive generation, all the way back to the Old Testament.
All the way back. That's how able came to know
the Lord by a work, a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in the
new birth based upon the work of Christ which had not actually
been accomplished in time but was so sure to be accomplished
that God applied it to the Old Testament saints even before
it happened. He gave it to them by promise, like a promissory
note. And so this woman here sweeping
the house, she turned on that light, that's the light of the
gospel. And I want us to look at some scripture that has to
do with these great truths. And so we can understand exactly. Now, the new birth, being born
again, this work of the Holy Spirit that's illustrated here
in this parable of the woman in the lost point is a necessary
work. Nobody's going to enter heaven
who has not been born again. It's a necessary work. And the
reason it's necessary, and the reason we have to stress this,
because people are confused today, they're confused about the work
of the Holy Spirit, they're confused about the person of the Holy
Spirit. Some people kind of communicate it this way, they say, well,
the work of the new birth, the Holy Spirit in us, is necessary
because the work of Christ wasn't enough on its own. And that is
a terrible, terrible way to see this. That is absolutely not
true. You see, the work of the Holy
Spirit in us in the new birth, you must be born again. We read
that Sunday morning, John chapter 3. The reason the work of the
Holy Spirit in us is necessary is because the work of Christ
was and is enough. That's the scriptural way to
put it, I'm telling you. That's the scriptural way. You
know, Christ died, was buried, and rose again the third day.
And He's the firstfruits of His people. He earned life in it. They must be brought to eternal
life, spiritual life. And I want to show you that in
the scriptures. Let's look at some passages here. Let's look
at John chapter 12 that I quoted here earlier. And this is what
I didn't have time to do Sunday. And if you can't get there fast
enough, I'm going to try to give you time. If you can't get there
fast enough, I'm going to pretty much stay in the book of John
here on this one, so you're right there. But if you can't get there
fast enough, write these down. But here in John chapter 12,
When Christ was talking about his death, this is where, back
there in verse 23, look at that. He says, Jesus answered them
saying, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. The Son of Man is a term that
identifies the Messiah there. Now, how's he going to be glorified?
Well, he's going to go to the cross. He's going to die for
the sins of his people. He was going to be made sin,
the scripture says. He wasn't made a sinner, but
made sin. And he was going to die for our
sins, and he was going to be buried and rise again the third
day, and then he would ascend unto the Father on high, be seated
at the right hand of the Father, and he would ever live there
to make intercession for his people forever and ever and ever
as our advocate. Now that's his glorification
right there. And so he says in verse 24, here
he explains how he's going to be glorified. Verse 24, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a corn or seed of wheat fall
into the ground and die. In other words, the path to glory
for the shepherd was his death for the sins of the sheep. And
so he says, it abideth alone. In other words, it would just
be in a private matter that he went through. But he says, but
if it die, what's going to happen? Look at it. What does it do there
in verse 24? It brings forth what? Much fruit. In other words, the death of
that seed means automatically much fruit. The death of Christ,
the powerful, wonderful, substitutionary, satisfactory death of the Lord
Jesus Christ results in much people. I have much people, he
told Paul. in this place. I've got a sheep
that's not of this fold, he told his disciples, and I've got sheep
that are not of this fold, them I must bring, he says, because
he died for them. And so he says in verse 31, look
here, of John 12, he says, now is the judgment of this world,
now shall the prince of this world be cast out, talking about
his death on the cross, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all unto me, or all men unto me." Now who's he talking
about there? Talking about all those lost coins that the woman
sweep in the house for. He's going to bring them all
unto him. And he says, this he says signifying what death he
should die. Now jump over to John 16. Now,
the doctrine, the truth that is stated there in John 12 is
what's being illustrated in the woman and the lost coin. The
lost coin is lost. That's us by nature. And just
like a coin, we're dead spiritually. That coin, I didn't know it was
lost. That coin had no thoughts, had no ears, had no eyes. It
was just laying there dead. Now, that's the way we are spiritually.
That's spiritual death. Remember, I talked about spiritual
death on Sunday morning. And so that coin's there. That's
the way we were. We were lost and didn't know it. I thought
I found the way, didn't you? And then suddenly the Holy Spirit
found me and swept that house and turned the light on and found
me. Well, look at John 16. And look
at verse 7. Now, here's another passage here.
Now, I could go to other books of the Bible here, but I thought
it would be good to stay in John tonight, and that way I wouldn't
have to wait too long for you to find it. But look at verse
7. He says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. Now, he's speaking
to his disciples. He says, It is expedient. Now, that word
expedient means necessary. It is necessary for you that
I go away. Where is he going to? Well, he's
going to the cross. He's going to his death for the
sins of his people. Not his own sins, but for our
sins. He's going to the grave. And
then he's going to the Father because he's not going to stay
in the grave. And so I've got to go away, he says. For if I
go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart,
I will send him unto you." That's the Holy Spirit. The Comforter
there is the same word that is used many times as advocate,
and the Holy Spirit acts as an advocate in the sense of applying
what Christ accomplished on Calvary to each individual person for
whom he died, every lost coin. You want to see that light, because
you're going to get life. And so he goes on to prove that
in verse 8, he says, and when he's come, he will reprove, that
means convict or convince the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment, of sin, because they believe not on me. He's
going to convince, just like when this woman, she sweeps that
house, she turns on that light, and that light shows us that
without Christ, without his blood, as the complete payment for all
my sins, without His righteousness for my complete justification
and standing before God, I am nothing, nothing, nothing but
sin." That's what that means. If I don't believe on Him, what
am I? Sin. That's not just what I do
now. It is what I do. Because only
sin can come from sin. You know, the evil tree and all
that. But you see, without Christ, I'm nothing but sin, even in
my best efforts to obey the law, even at my best moments, at my
best times. Man at his best state is altogether
what? Vanity. Nothing. Worthless. So if I don't have Christ, Then
what am I? I'm sin. That's what the Holy
Spirit convinces us of. And I'll tell you what, that's
why that conviction of sin in light of Christ now, it's not
just a conviction that I'm not perfect. It's not just a conviction
that there are people in the world who are better than me
and people in the world who are not as good as me. If that's
the kind of conviction you have, you haven't been found yet. If you're a lost coin at all,
you haven't been found yet. It's not just a conviction that
I'm a sinner, but it's a conviction that without Christ, I'm nothing
but sin. I mean, nothing. And I'm doomed
without Him. I deserve nothing but wrath without
Him. And so then he goes on in verse
10, he says, "...of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and
you see me no more." Now, what righteousness is he talking about
there? Well, he says, because I go to my father. Now, how did
he go to his father? We'll see that in another passage
here just across the page. How did he go to his father?
He went unto his father as the one who finished a work. He finished
a work. What work did he finish? Well,
Daniel 9.24 says he made an end of sin. That's right. He finished the transgression.
He brought in everlasting righteousness. You see, on the cross, He drank
damnation dry. All the wrath and hell and punishment
we deserve, He took. And all the righteousness that
we have to have in order to enter God's presence, Christ worked
out on the cross, didn't He? And He went to His Father, and
His Father received Him. How do you know? He sat down.
That means the work's done. Where did he sit down? At the
right hand of the Father. That's the right hand of judgment.
In other words, justice was satisfied. That's the right hand of acceptance. We're accepted in the Beloved.
That's the right hand of fellowship. Brother Shepard said last Friday
night, we're fellows of God through this one fellow, Christ. And
so that's what that's taught. And then verse 11, he convinces
us of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. Now,
the prince of this world is Satan, the usurped authority of Satan.
He is the accuser of the brethren. And now, what's he do? He accuses
the brethren. That's all he ever does. And
if you listen to him, if you listen to him, what happens?
You go into despair. Just where he wants you. And
when you're in despair, you go to seeking ways out of despair
that are ungodly. Well, I'd better start going
to church more. I'd better start tithing more. I'd better start
giving more. I'd better start doing this,
that, and the other. You see, that's wicked. That's legalism.
But if I'm convinced of judgment because the Prince of this world
is judge, what does that mean? That means when Christ went to
that cross, I was judged in Him. My sins are already judged. That's
right. Because they were laid to his
account. He was made sin. My sins were accounted to him,
charged to him, imputed to him. And Bill Parker was judged when
Christ died on that cross. And therefore Satan, his accusations,
cannot reach me. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn me? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father, ever
living. to make intercession, of course. Revelation chapter
12, when Satan throws his arrows of accusation, how do the saints
turn them back? They plead the blood of the Lamb.
And by the word of their testimony, the gospel, which lifts up Christ. Look at John 17. Now listen to
this one. This is his high priestly prayer.
I read this in the opening Sunday morning. It says in verse 1 of
John 17, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, The hour has come, now that is the hour of his death,
his suffering unto death. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. Now you see how that, you fit
that together with what was said in John 12, now is the time that
he is to be glorified, well here it is. And so he says in verse
2, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he, now
listen to this, that he, that is the Son, should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. He's going to give
eternal life to as many as the Father gave him. He said in John
6, 37, he said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He
said, This is the will of him that sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose how many? Nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. Well, here's his high priestly
prayer, and he says, look here, verse 3. And this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent." He said in John 10, the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep, and then later on he said, I
know my sheep, and am known of mine. My sheep hear my voice,
and they follow me. That's what he's talking about.
These lost coins that are found when the light is shone on them,
what's the evidence of that? They know God through Christ. That's what eternal life is,
to know him, to know him as the God of mercy, as well as the
God of justice, to know him as a God who justifies the ungodly,
to know him as the covenant God who saves me and keeps me and
blesses me, rewards me and brings me to glory because of what Christ
accomplished at Calvary. Well, he says in verse four,
now here's the ground of it. Here's the foundation of it.
Now, this is why I say the work of the Holy Spirit in us is the
fruit and result of the finished work of Christ on Calvary. Here's
the ground of it, verse 4. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. He's
speaking in anticipation of the cross, to finish the work. And he says in verse 5, And now,
O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
which I had with thee. before the world began, or before
the world was. Now, do you see why the Lord
told Nicodemus, you must be born again? It's for two reasons.
Number one, it's because Christ died, was buried, and rose again
the third day. His death must result in life. And number two, it's because
we're dead coins, spiritually. We don't have spiritual eyes,
spiritual ears, spiritual hearts. We don't have any spiritual life.
We're just like dead coins, spiritually. And we must be born again, or
Christ said, as we read Sunday morning in John chapter 3, you
can't see the kingdom of heaven. You can't know God. You can't
see your sinfulness the way that you need to see it that would
drive you to Christ for salvation. That's the reason. Now, you remember
back here, look back at Luke 15. Here's this woman. She lost, that one piece is lost,
that one coin. What does she do? She lights
a candle. Now, what is that candle? Well, that's the gospel. The
gospel light. The light, as Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. So you see, this new birth comes
through the power of the Spirit in the preaching of the Word.
You see, if our gospel's hid, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4,
3, it's hid to them that are lost, just like the lost coin,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which, what, believe not. But he said that God, verse 6,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give unto us the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Let me show you another
scripture on that. Turn to 2 Thessalonians, chapter
2. Over to 2 Thessalonians, chapter
2. Verse 13, now he's just spoken
of those who receive not the love of the truth. That's a spiritually dead person.
But he says in verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians 2, he says, But we are bound
to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. And then he says, Through sanctification
of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, whereunto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ." You see that? When he says he's chosen you
to salvation, he mentions two things here. He says, through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Now,
what does that mean? Well, that's just another biblical
way of saying you've been born again. That's what it means.
Sanctification of the Spirit means this. You're set apart
by the Holy Spirit. And what does it mean by that?
Well, before you came to a saving knowledge of Christ, you weren't
set apart by the Spirit yet. Now, you were set apart in divine
electing grace before the foundation of the world. God chose you before
the foundation of the world. God hath from the beginning chosen
you, He says right here, to salvation. You were chosen. Before you ever
knew anything about it. And you were set apart by the
Father in that sense. And you were set apart on the
cross when Christ died for your sins. That's sanctification by
the Son. He says that in Hebrews chapter
10, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. And so when Christ died for your
sins, but you didn't know about it then. You weren't even born
then. And then when you were born into this world, how were
you born? Dead in trespasses and sins, coming forth from the
womb, speaking lies, just like everybody else. You were just
like every other spiritually dead sinner. You weren't set
apart by the Spirit. But on some day, and listen to
me, and I'll caution you here right away, now don't go looking
for a particular day. Because you'll probably mess
up. I believe there are some people who can. I believe Saul
of Tarsus could tell you the particular day, don't you? walking
down the road to Damascus, and all of a sudden, boom. But with the other disciples,
I don't see it happening that way. It wasn't just a, but either
way, at some time in your life, just like this woman, You've
lost that coin. She's sweeping that house. She
turns that light on, and then she finds that coin. On a particular
time in your life, the Holy Spirit brought you under the preaching
of the gospel and brought you to believe that gospel. And you
know what he did then? He set you apart from the world.
That's what that sanctification is. That's not progressive holiness.
or progressive sanctification. No, you came to faith in Christ. You were convinced of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment. You were convinced that you're
nothing but a sinner apart from Christ, and your only hope of
salvation, of righteousness, of eternal life, of heaven, is
Christ and Him crucified and risen again. And that's what
set you apart. And he says it here, he says,
whereunto he called you by our gospel. Begotten again by the
Word of Truth, James 1.18 says. When you're brought to the light
by the Holy Spirit of Truth. Isn't that something? That's
the woman lighting the candle. One more passage on that. Look
at 1 John 1. 1 John 1. Verse 3. Listen to this one. Verse 3 says, John writes, that
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. What had John seen and heard?
He'd seen the Lord of glory. He'd seen the Lord Jesus Christ.
He saw Him die on the cross, be buried. Saw Him resurrected
from the dead. Saw Him ascend into glory. saw
him put away the sins of his people and establish that righteousness
that is our ground of salvation. He said, we declare that unto
you, now look at verse 3, in order that you also may have
fellowship with us. You see, before you believe this
message, before you're brought to faith, given the gift of faith,
and that's what faith is, it's a gift from God by the Spirit. Before you're given faith, before
I was given faith, we were not in fellowship with each other
as brethren in the Lord. We were in fellowship with the
world. And that's what the Holy Spirit does. That's what happens
when this woman finds that lost coin. And he says, And truly
our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ,
and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. You see that? That's talking
about that same new birth. Now, you remember back here in
Luke 15. Now, this woman, she sweeps the
house. And I mentioned this in the last of the messages. Let
me go over it again just a bit. It says in verse 8, either what
woman having ten pieces of silver, she lose one piece, does not
light a candle. There's the Holy Spirit bringing
forth the preaching of the gospel. and sweeps the house and seek
diligently till she find it. And I mention this, I believe
that sweeping can be applied in two ways. First of all, what
happens in the preaching of the gospel is that Christ's sheep
are separated from the goats. Now, I know, I know that there
can be false, those who are false professors who appear to be sheep
who are not. But let me show you what I'm
talking about. Turn to 1 Corinthians, or I'm sorry, John chapter 3. Turn to John chapter 3. And there are times the scripture
teaches us that false professors will not be exposed until the
judgment. Think about Matthew 7, 21. Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and done many wonderful
works. And that's why he says, beware
of wolves that come in sheep's clothing. But in the preaching
of the gospel, when the Holy Spirit gives life and calls out
one of Christ's sheep, here's what happens. Now look at verse
19 or verse 18. He says, he that believeth on
him that is on Christ, John 3, 18, is not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God." Now, listen to this. And this
is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world. Remember
the woman, lights, she turns on the light. Well, light is
coming to the world. That light is Christ. That light
is His gospel, His glory. But here's the problem. Men love
darkness rather than light. Now, that's man by nature. That's
even us by nature, before we're given spiritual life. Well, why
would men love darkness rather than light? Well, he tells you
the next line there. Because their deeds were evil. Now, what
are those deeds? That's man's efforts to make
himself right with God. That's like tame. bringing the
best he can offer to God, wanting to be accepted. That's man's
efforts to establish a righteousness of his own. And the gospel, which
preaches forth Christ as our only salvation, as our only righteousness,
exposes our efforts to make ourselves righteous as being evil. Now,
what would keep a fellow loving that evil? I'll tell you what,
pride. What kept the Jews from coming
to Christ? We're Abraham's seed. We're circumcised. We have Moses. We've worked hard. I've been going to church all
my life. I've been giving my money all
my life. I've been baptized more than once. Who wasn't said that the fellow
was baptized in the creek so many times that the tadpoles
knew him by his first name? But you see, in light of what
Christ accomplished in His obedience and death, what is all that stuff?
Paul said it's dumb, Philippians chapter 3, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. That's what I want. I want to
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
of God which is my faith. So he says in verse 20 of John
3, for everyone that doeth Evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But now look
here, look at verse 21. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light. You know what doing truth is?
It's believing. He comes to the light. That his
deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God. They're the
work of God. Anything I have that's good is
the work of God. It's not me, it's Christ in me.
And there's your difference right there. And what happens is all
those deeds that we're so proud of by nature get swept away in
our hearts. That's the second way now. Here
in this first way we see that many times the sheep are called
out and they're separated and the others are swept away in
that sense. But there's a second way and
that's when The Holy Spirit comes in and sweeps our hearts of everything
that keeps us from coming to Christ and resting in Him. Sweeps
all that dead evil deeds that we're so proud of. You see an
example of that when Paul talked about his own conversion in Philippians
chapter 3. when he said, I'm a Hebrew of
Hebrews. Well, that got swept away when the Holy Spirit opened
his heart and showed him his sin. Circumcised the eighth day. I thought that recommended me
unto God. Well, the Holy Spirit swept that away. A Hebrew of
Hebrews, a Pharisee of Pharisees is touching the Lord. See, all
that got swept away. Why? He said, for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. When I saw my sinfulness,
I stopped being so proud. In fact, I became ashamed of
those things which I thought before recommended me, and they
were swept away in that sense. That's not talking about sweeping
away now. It doesn't mean you're now sinlessly perfect. It doesn't
mean you don't have a struggle now. But it means this. You know
that your only hope, your only worthiness, your only assurance,
your only reward is Christ and Him crucified and risen again.
Isn't that something? Well, turn to Matthew chapter
12. Now, let's conclude with this.
And what I want you to see in this is this. Now, this woman,
you remember back in Luke 15, and I've already dealt with those
other verses where she called her friends and relatives in
to rejoice with her. I believe what he's talking about
there is, you take the Pharisees now. They could not rejoice in
the salvation of a sinner by grace. In fact, usually when
one was converted in their presence, they usually came out against
them. But then you see this, and here's
our hope. There's more joy in heaven over
one sinner that comes to repentance than over ninety and nine that
need no repentance. You see, that's the joy of the
glory of God. That's the joy of salvation because
Christ is exalted and the sinner is saved. But here's what I want
to conclude with. I want you to realize this. Satan
has a broom, too. Satan has a broom. And he sweeps
with it. What kind of a broom is it? Well,
back over here in Matthew 12, these Pharisees were looking
for a sign. Now, what that means is this.
They were not relying upon the Word of God. That's the problem. They were looking for something
outside the Word of God that would either prove or disprove
Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah. So they said, Lord, give us a
sign, verse 38. And then he said, a wicked and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign. That's spiritual adultery. You
see, when you make your judgments, your assessments, your values
opposed or away from the Word of God, that is spiritual adultery. You remember he said the Jews
are looking for a sign, the Greeks are seeking after wisdom. They
read the signs. In fact, Christ told them one
time, you're better weathermen than you are theologians, because
you can look up in the sky and see when it's red, it's going
to be rain, or what they say, red sky at morning, sailors take
morning, red sky at night, sailors... But you see, we're not looking
for signs. We look to the Word of God, and
so he said, he told them, he said, The only sign that's going
to be given you is the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was
in three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, and
then he came out. And what does he equate that with? He equates
that with his resurrection. That's the sign of the prophet
Jonah. That's what Jonah pointed to. That's what he typified.
And under the preaching of that, the men of Nineveh, the people
of Nineveh, came to repentance. And he says, they'll rise up
in judgment against you who will not repent. And then he goes
to the Queen of Sheba. She came to Solomon. She recognized
that Solomon was the wisest man on earth. And he was at one time
as a gift from God. And she asked him questions. She was interested. And then
the Lord said, well, just as a greater than Jonah is here,
a greater than Solomon is here. You see, they weren't interested
in him to ask him questions and find out the real truth, the
way of eternal life. They were just wanting a sign.
They were just wanting to trap him. They weren't seeking the
truth in him and from him. So here's what he says. Now,
verse 43. Now listen. Here's what happens
now to them. And this is their type of evangelism,
and I'm afraid it's the majority of evangelism today. He says,
when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through
dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. And then he saith,
I will return into my house from whence I came out. And when he's
come, he findeth it empty. Now, he knows it's empty. It's
not filled with the truth. It's not filled with the spirit.
It's not filled with love for Christ. It's not filled with
sorrow for sin and conviction. You see, it's not filled with
grace. It's empty. And it's swept and
garnished. You know, garnished usually means
that it looks good on the outside. It can be rotten as hell on the
inside, literally. But it looks good on the outside.
You remember what Christ told the Pharisees? Outwardly, you
appear righteous. like quieted sepulchers, but
inwardly dead men's bones. And then it says in verse 45,
then go with he and take us with himself seven other spirits.
That's work. That number seven means a complete
takeover. That's what that's talking about.
More wicked than himself. And they enter in and dwell there.
And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even
so, shall it be also unto this wicked generation. You know what
he's describing there? He's describing Satan's broom. And it's called false religion. It'll sweep. It'll make a man
change his outward character, change, garnish the outside.
It may even change his thoughts for a while. It may make him
cry, make him sorrowful. It may make him straighten up
and fly right. But there's no light of the truth. There's no work of the Spirit.
It's swept and it's empty. And it comes back and it's filled
with seven spirits more wicked than self-righteousness. False
hope. False refuges. Isaiah 28, God
said, I'm going to lay righteousness to the plummet and I'm going
to sweep away the refuge of lies. That's judgment. Oh, you can
make a person turn over a new leaf. Religion can do it. Psychology
can do it. Sometimes drugs can do it. It
can sweep you clean and just as empty as you ever were. And
when it's filled back up, it comes in the form of self-righteousness,
religious pride, and legalism that makes that person twofold
more the child of hell than those who swept it for him. That's
Satan's broom. When the Lord, after that, they
came and said his mother and his brothers were out there to
see him, he makes this statement. He says concerning his people,
in verse 50, he says, for whosoever shall do the will of my Father,
which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and
mother. That's my family. That's what he's saying. I'm
afraid you can't do the will of the Father, which is in heaven,
apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. Do you know that? Shining that light. Giving life. You must be born again. And so
what our prayer is and what we want for ourselves and for our
loved ones is not just to be swept empty and garnished only
to be filled later on with self-righteousness and self-love and religious pride,
but to be filled with the Spirit of God, the Spirit of grace,
the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of Christ. That's what that woman
in the lost coin illustrates. She shines that light. She sweeps
it. And she finds that coin and brings it to herself. She rejoices
and tells all her friends and family about it. And that's the
way it is when the Holy Spirit brings a lost sinner into the
fold.