But I'll start reading in verse
15, read down to verse 1 and read down to verse 10. Luke chapter 10. Then drew near
unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And
that's what we've done tonight. We've come to hear him. hear of Him, hear about Him,
and hopefully, prayerfully, we'll actually hear Him. And the Pharisees'
scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth
with them what they find. So, Luke 15. Where did I say? Luke 10? Luke 15 verses 1 through 10. I'm sorry. I haven't done that
in a while, have I? I haven't done that in a while. Alright, now we're all on the same page. Then, then drew
unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And
the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth
sinners, and eateth with them. What they find to be something
to accuse the Lord Jesus and scorn Him for, we find to be
our rejoicing, our blessed hope. And the things that while we
go to Him, we thank God He receives sinners. They scorned Him for
it. We rejoice in it. And he spake this parable unto
them, saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he
lose one of them, doth not leave the nine and nine in the wilderness,
and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he
hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And
when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors,
saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep
which was lost. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than
over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. Either
what woman having ten pieces of silver If she lose one piece,
doeth 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 repents. Our Lord Jesus Christ gives a
parable, and this parable has three parts. Has three parts. But there's one central theme
in all three of these parts. There's the lost sheep, there's
the lost coin, and there's the lost son. But all of them have
one certain theme, and that is seeking and saving the lost.
The sheep was lost, the coin was lost, the son was lost. And
so that's what he is, seeking and saving the Lord. That's the
main point of these 10 parables. And the testimony of the Lord's
enemies were, this man received sinners. Those were words of
surprise and scorn, not of pleasure and admiration. And that is to
us, we are so grateful that he received sinners. That's why
I go to him all the time, continually, constantly, because I need a
Savior. I need a Savior. I see as much
of the elder son in me that I'd like to acknowledge, but I see
a lot of that elder son that I talked about this morning in
me. And their words were words of reproach. And answering them,
He gave a true description of His work in His office, seeking
and saving the lost. In fact, He said in Luke 19 and
10, the Son of Man has come, not to call the righteous, but
the sinners to repentance, for the Son of Man came to seek and
to save that which is lost. that which is lost. And so we
have the shepherd seeking the sheep, the woman seeking the
lost coin, and the son coming home and being saved by the Father.
But all what blessed words are true, the Lord indeed receives
sinners. And as He did then, He does right
now, still seated at the right hand of the majesty of heaven,
He still receives sinners. And all to have somebody one
of these days to stand up and say preacher, Brother Donnie,
church or anybody. I'm a sinner and Christ has made
me know it and now I believe He saved me by His grace. Oh,
to have somebody stand up and say that. That sheep said, I've
been found. That son said, I've come home.
Oh, I'd love to hear those words. But I want to look first of all
at the love of Christ in this parable. before I get to the
lost coin. The love of Christ in this parable.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, His love was an active, working love. And all He did in this active,
working love, He left glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ left glory
and came to the wilderness. Ain't that what He said? If you
lose one of the 99, in verse 4, He goes into the wilderness
after that which one is lost. Our Lord left glory. left that
wondrous place where they adored Him, worshipped Him, praised
Him, magnified Him, just delighted in Him, His Father did. And He
left that and came down here and was made in the lightness
of sinful flesh and came down here and began actively working
in His love to seek and to save the Lord. He came here in the
wilderness. Down in the wilderness where
there's nothing but darkness. No life was ever here. And this
darkness and darkness and death and sheep lost and coins lost
and men in an awful condition. He came down here into this world
of wilderness. And His whole life, our Lord's
whole life was one of love, being active. It's one thing to say
love, but love that's active, in action. And our Lord was active
in His love. And His love being active to
honor His Father, to save His sheep, to call dead sinners to
life. It takes active love to do that.
His love was manifested. Never stop loving. Never stop
laboring. Never stop manifesting that love
towards sinners. Never stop manifesting that love
towards His sheep. He said, the Father loves me
because I lay down my life for the sheep. He said, this commandment
have I received of my father. He said, no man's going to take
my life from me. I've got the power to lay it
down. I've got the power to take it up again. So all of mine to
come into this world to so identify with us and go into the wilderness
to find us, to find lost sheep. And I tell you, the shepherd
just didn't sit still when the sheep was lost. The woman didn't
sit wailing over her lost coin. Our Lord didn't sit in heaven
pitying sinners. He came down. He came down. He didn't sit in heaven and say,
boy, them poor, pitiful people. Them poor, pitiful sinners. I
pity them. I pity him. It would be a wonder
if I could go and do something for him. But that's not the way
it was. That woman, when she lost her coin, she didn't start
crying, Oh, I've lost my coin. Our Lord Jesus Christ did something
about it. He left his seed in glory and
he came down. And how far down did he come?
Well, you think about how far down you were. And how lost you
were. And how sinful you were. And
how steeped in darkness you were. And wherever he was at, that's
where he came. That's where he came. And he
humbled himself. Humbled himself. And one thing
about his love. When He came to seek His sheep,
when He came to save the lost, one thing He never did, He humbled
Himself and He never ever rested till He made atonement for our
sin. He never rested. Continually
and constantly later. Seeking and saving sinners. Seeking and honoring His Father.
And He never rested until He made an atonement for our sins.
Never rested until He brought in an everlasting righteousness
on that cross through His blessed life and death. Never rested
until He entered into glory and come back out with eternal redemption
for us. Oh, thank God! Thank God, thank
God for Christ's saving, acting love. Bless His holy name. And oh, His love was not only
that, but His love was self-denying. Self-denying. He didn't care
to go to the wilderness for the lost sheep. He didn't bother
Him a bit. Oh, He never complained about
it. Never fretted about it. His love was self-denying. He
went, my sheep's in the wilderness? Well, that's where I'll go. My
sheep's lost? Wherever he's lost at, that's
where I'll go to get him. If he's on the mountainside,
I'll go there and get him. If he's in China, I'll go there
and get him. If he's in Ohio, I'll go there.
If he's in Mexico, wherever he's at, I'm gonna go get my sheep. And oh, listen, and then he says,
when he found that he laid them on his shoulders, it didn't bother
him a bit to lay them sheep on his shoulders. The weight of
them never, there was no weight to him. He never once ever told
you how heavy he was to you. Oh, he never said, he never once
told one of his children, you're just too heavy for me. In fact, He said, His strength
is made perfect in our weakness. He never said, Oh, listen, your
sin and your self-righteousness and you pray tonight on our cold
carnal flesh. He said, never once said, Is
that too much weight for me to bear? I'm just going to set you
down and let you make it the best way you know how. I never
once did that. Has He ever, ever told you that you're too sinful
yet? Has He ever told you that I don't
want to bear you anymore? Has He ever told you that I'm
just not going to put up in your way anymore at all? Has He ever
said that to anybody? Oh, listen. And that woman down
here, look what happens. In verse 8, when it says that
woman having lost 10 pieces of silver, she lit a candle. That woman lighted a candle.
Our Lord Jesus Christ's love was so self-denying. swept the
house, I mean, looked it over from top to bottom, went through
every bit of it, searched diligently, spared no pains till she found
it. Their interest was in the lost
sheep and in that lost coin. And I tell you, God, our Lord,
self-denial of love was so self-denying that God did not spare His Son
did not spare his son. When he came into this world,
did not spare him from shame, did not spare him from spitting,
did not spare him from ridicule, did not spare him from hatred,
did not spare him from scorn, did not spare him anything from
poverty, from hatred, from rejection, and did not spare him when sin
was found on him. He did not spare him. And you
know what, our Lord Jesus Christ, He didn't spare Himself either.
He never once said to Himself, I need to take life easy here. I need to make things easier
for myself. His Son, the Son never spared
Himself. He steadfastly set His faith
to go to Jerusalem. He says, my need is to do the
will of Him that sent me and finished the work that He gave
me to do. I must go up to Jerusalem, I must suffer, and I must die. He didn't spare Himself. Who for the joy that was set
before Him, despising the shame. Ah, He went to that blessed cross.
Look at John 15, 13. Oh, you know how many miles our
Lord Jesus Christ walked to see one lost soul? He walked miles and miles in
the heat of the day to reach one woman. Just to reach one soul. I tell
you what, he didn't spare himself. Oh, that's a long, long walk.
I know it is. I've got a sheep over there I've
got to talk to. That's a hard day, I know it
is, but I've got to go over there and save that sheep. Boy, you're tired. I know I am,
but I've got to go over there and find that sheep. Don't be awful hot! Oh, it is,
but I've got to find that law sheet. I've got to go. I've got to go. That's what I'm
talking about. That's the Savior we have. That's
the Savior that He didn't spare Himself, and He still doesn't
spare Himself. But look in John 15, 13. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man laid down his life for his friends. And you know, he said, here are
the two I've called you, my disciples, and now I call you friends. The
disciple don't know what his master is doing, but he said,
he's friends, doesn't he? He said, I call you, here are the two
of them, I'll call you my friends. And his love, our Lord Jesus Christ's
love, is deep and it's mighty. and then the shepherd rejoiced
to find his sheep look what it says there in verse 6 of Luke
chapter 15 and when he cometh home he called
together his friends and neighbors saying rejoice with me for I
found my sheep which was lost and then he tells you know what
that's rejoicing in glory over one sinner that repents And oh,
he rejoiced to find his sheep. That woman rejoiced at finding
her coin. Look what she said down in verse
9. And when she had found it, she
called her friends and her neighbors together saying, Rejoice with
me! Rejoice with me! Be happy with me! Rejoice with
me! I found my coin! Oh, our Lord
Jesus Christ rejoices to save sinners. Delights to save sinners. He delights to reach into the
fire and put Blaine's brains right out of the burning. He
does. He does. Now, let's look at this
woman with the lost coin. Who is she? He says in verse
8, either woman, either what woman, having ten pieces of silver,
If she'd use one piece, doeth not light a candle, sweep the
house, and seek diligence until she find it. And where she hath
found it, she calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying,
Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I have lost.
Now the son of the Savior is the one the Lord Jesus seeks
the sheep. That's the son. It's the Holy
Spirit in the church calling, seeking us, the woman that's
just the church and the Holy Spirit working in the church,
the light, the lost coin and the Father is the one saving
the son. So you got the Trinity working
here in the salvation of all his people. But who is this woman? The woman, this woman here who
lost the coin is the church and the Holy Spirit working in the
church, working in among his people. And the Holy Spirit in
the church, what He does is He finds the lost coin, the lost
sheep, and the son. He's the one who does the work.
The Father sends Him to do the work. The Holy Spirit comes and
does what Christ sends Him to do. And He works among His people
in the Gospel. And He goes out and in the Gospel,
He seeks the sheep. He seeks the lost coins. He seeks
the lost son. And I tell you, let me show you
something here. This piece of silver, this 10
pieces of silver, she lost one piece. Now I'll tell you something
about this piece of silver. It was ignorant of its being
lost. It had no idea it was lost. There was a time we was absolutely
ignorant of being lost. And there's a lot of people still
ignorant of being lost. They're angry at it. You talk
to them about being lost and they don't know what you're talking
about. And secondly, think about this lost coin. It's not only
is it angry at being lost, it's not living. It has no life to
it. It's like those dry bones. You
know, you who were dead in trespasses of sin have been quickened. And
it's like those dry bones. When Ezekiel went down there,
God said, Go down and look what you see, son of man. He said,
I see a valley. What's in that valley? A valley
of dry bones. And the next thing God said to
him, He said, Can these bones live? Lord, thou knowest. Thou knowest. And those dry bones, not only
by themselves they couldn't, but when the preaching started,
and God told him what to say and when to say it and how to
say it, Then those bones began to come together, then there's
flesh come up on the bones, and there's all standing there, but
there's still no life in them until God said, sent the Spirit,
and breathed on them, and they all began to live. And that's
the way it is. Man don't know he's lost, he
don't know he's dead, until God does something for him. But now
I'll tell you something else about this piece of silver. It
was lost, but it wasn't forgotten. It belongs to somebody. It was
not forgotten. She is searching for it. It is
just like the shepherd seeking the sheep. It's like the father
standing out on top of the house looking for the son to come home.
And then he sees him afar off, he runs and meets him and falls
on his neck and kisses him. And all she was searching for,
the piece of silver was lost, but it was still hers and she
still claimed it. It was her coin. And it being
lost didn't mean it ceased to be hers. Even though it was lost,
it was still hers. Even though she couldn't, you
know, at first she couldn't find it, it still belonged to her.
And no matter how lost somebody is, no matter where they're at,
they're going to search until they find it. And just because
they're lost, that doesn't mean that it doesn't belong to somebody.
Somebody claims it to be, she claimed that coin to be hers. Oh, even though it was lost,
It's still hers. And when we was lost, we still
belong to Christ. We didn't know it. We didn't
know it until He told us. And let me tell you something
else about this. It was a value to her. It was a value to her. And that sheep is valuable to
the shepherd as the son was to the father. And you know you
start out Sheep, money, and a son. But it's all of them lost. All
of them valued. You increase from a sheep to
a coin to a person. And everything has a certain
value. God teaches us this, that the value is the same to the
person that has it and the person that's lost it. And the value
that Christ has on His people It's always, all that matters
is that it's lost, it belongs to him, and he's not going to
stop searching until he finds it. Just because it's lost, that
doesn't mean it's not theirs. And so it was of value to her,
and this piece of money was lost. But I'll tell you something about
it though, it wasn't hopelessly lost. It'd be awful to be hopelessly
lost. Awful to be hopefully lost. It'd just be awful. Be hopelessly
lost. But I'll tell you that out of
a hundred sheep, the shepherd went after one. Out of ten pieces
of money, only one was lost. But she ain't gonna rest until
she finds it. There was only one son out of two sons. But
only one of them was lost. And only one of them the Father
watched for. And I'll tell you something else about this lost
coin. It was lost in the house. Whose house? Her house. And the church is Christ's house. This is His house. Whose house
we are. It's lost in the house at her
house. And we didn't know it was in
his house, but we was in his house. But we was lost until
he made us know we were in his house. No, it was lost in her
house, not in the wilderness. Not in the wilderness. The Lord
knows just exactly where his people are. Another thing about
this coin, this lost coin was sought by its owner. Nobody else
was looking for it. The one who owned it was the
only one looking for it. No soul was ever found without
the Holy Ghost finding them. There He is. Now it's true, not
a one of us in here didn't seek the Lord. But He sought us first. Not a one of us in here didn't
call on the Lord. But He called on us first. Not
a one of us. We're like Philip. Come and see. I found him which called the
Messiah. But two verses first it says, Christ findeth Philip. And I tell you what, we don't,
and that's the way it is. We only find him after he finds
us. And that's the way this sheep
and coin is. And oh, and I tell you what,
She looks till she finds it. Look what it says there in verse
80. She lit a candle. Oh my. And she swept the house
and seeked diligently till she finds it. Gonna be diligent. I'll tell you something. You know the Holy
Ghost, the Holy Spirit, And that's why we preach the gospel. We
are diligent about sinners being saved. There's no other way that
God's going to ever find His people than other than through
the gospel. Than through His Word. Now He'll go out and send
conviction on them and burden them and cause something to happen
in their life to come under the sound of the gospel. But eventually
He's going to bring them under the sound of the gospel. And
that's what he does when he goes after the sheep, he goes after
the coin, he goes after the son. He goes with that gospel. And
look what it says there. How did she find this coin? How
did she find this lost piece of silver? It says she lit a
candle. She lit a candle. And that only
means the church has, the only light we have, The only light
that we have, the church has, the Holy Spirit has, and uses,
means the Holy Spirit uses, is the light of the gospel. Huh? The light of the gospel. Look
over here in Luke 2.15 with me. You know, if our gospel be hid,
it's hid to them that are lost. But oh, the light of the glorious
gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what he called it, the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ. But in Philippians
2, you know the only means the church has and the only light
that we have and the Holy Spirit uses is the light of the gospel.
And that's why it's so imperative that we be so faithful to preach
it. But look what he said here in Luke 2.15. that you may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked
and perverse nation." Now that's where we live. Didn't I say Philippians? I get beside myself. I'm like
Paul. He gets beside himself. Paul,
you're beside yourself. Except my muscle learning ain't
drove me mad. It's my simplicity. But Luke Philippians 2.15. Did I say Luke? Did I? Now we're in Philippians. They're
about the same page again. Oh my. Oh, here we go now, Philippians
2.15, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God
without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom you shine as what? Lights in the world. And how
do we use, what light do we use? Holding forth the word of life.
The gospel. And oh, when you hold forth the
word of life, and that I may rejoice in the day of Christ.
When I go to meet Christ, and you're my joy and joy rejoicing
in Christ, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I'm
not run in vain, neither labored in vain. That you hold forth
the word of life. That's the only light we've got.
That's the only life we got. There's no... See, when we go
out in public, we're not dressing and fixing our hair certain ways. We're not dressing in a certain
type of clothing. We don't drive certain kind of
cars. The only way in the world people
are going to know we're believers and know I'm a preacher or you're
our believer is if we tell them. So when we're out in the world,
we've not got no light coming out of our eyes, we've got no
halos over our head. So why are we going to shine
as lights in this world? It's holding forth the word of
life itself. That's the only light there is,
is our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel. And that's why he says,
that's why the gospel was manifesting. That's why Christ came. And I'll
tell you back over in Luke 15, I did say Luke 15 that time.
Natural light, I tell you, natural light, she lit a candle. The
Holy Spirit uses the light of the gospel. Natural light won't
save a soul. Natural light won't do it. Carnal
mind won't do it. Only the Holy Spirit can bring
light to those who sit in darkness. Only the Holy Spirit can bring
life to those who are dead. Only the Holy Spirit can take
a darkened understanding and turn on the light in it. Only
the Holy Spirit can do that. And all He ever uses is this
right here. And look what it says back here
again. in verse 8. And she doeth light
a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she
find it. She swept the house. She searched
through that house. And the Holy Spirit is the only
one in the church who can sweep and clean the house. I can't
clean it. You can't clean it. I can't find
it. I can't find it. I can't sweep. I can't sweep. That's what our Lord said. He
says, you know, so the wheat and tares will grow up together.
Well, they said, well, they need to be so tares, you want us to
go pull them up? No, no, leave them alone. Lest if you pull
up the tares, you take up wheat also. And that's why only the
Holy Spirit's the only one can find that, that dislodged. Only
the Holy Spirit can come in among a group like us and sweep the
house and find out the one that's lost. Ain't that right? If I start trying to clean the
house, you know what's going to happen? It's going to be a
mess. It's going to be a mess. And
in the sweeping and with the light, look what it says. She
sought diligently till she found it. And she found it. The Holy
Spirit is going to find you. The Holy Spirit is going to find
you. And then let me show you this. In all the encouragement,
the encouragement to repentance, our Lord Jesus Christ gives.
And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and 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 there is joy in
the presence of the angels of God The angels are present before
the throne. The angels are constantly there
around the Son of God, the God the Father. And he says there's
joy in the presence of the angels of God over just one. One sheep, one coin, one son. Just one. Now that's an encouragement. Encouragement. And oh, and this
shows us also the value of a soul. One sinner, one sinner repents. Just one. That's how valuable
soul is. And that's how the Lord saves
people. One at a time. One at a time. One at a time. Oh, I tell you, it would be wonderful
Well, the Lord will find his coin, you'll find his sheep,
and you'll find his son in his time, morning. Yep, he will. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for the
gospel today, for the blessed, blessed privilege of preaching
today. Oh, thank you for allowing me
to Lord, I stand in wonder, stand in astonishment that we're saved, that we gather
together and people continue to come and sit and listen year
after year after year after year, week after week after week. Oh Lord, blessed be your name.
Cause the gospel to run away, find logic. Bring glory to yourself
through us all. Again, we pray for those among
us who are going through trials, going through great burdens,
and God, be gracious to them, be kind to them, be strengthening
to them, be their comfort, be their stay. Uphold them. And Lord Jesus, we pray for Darrell. Lord, bless him. Pray for Bruce
that you continue to heal his body. Lord, that we all could
gather and be together again one of these days and all of
us be in one place and rejoice in the gospel. We ask these things
in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon
Jesus. Look fully And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace.