Luke chapter 15. I'm thankful
that each of you are here tonight, and I'm thankful I'm here. And
for those who may be listening to the message through the streaming,
Those who may hear the message recorded, and I'm just glad to
have the opportunity to share the gospel with you tonight,
or whenever it is that you're listening. You know, we never
know. God's word never returns unto him void. Messages are recorded
and they're posted, and we don't know where they go and how the
Lord will use his word in the calling of his people. Look here,
Luke 15, and I want us to read verses one through 10. Just to see the context here.
Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to
hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you,
having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave
the ninety 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. 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 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. I want us to think about the
second story in our Lord's parable here of the lost coin. And the
first thing that I'll remind us of from this morning is what
instigated our Lord's words here. It was the murmuring, the complaining
of the religious people there in Israel that he received, that
he ate, that he fellowshiped with sinners. And that caused
them to murmur, and the Lord gave this parable based upon
that instance. And the first thing I want us
to think about as we think about the coin here tonight is the
coin is lost in the house. It's lost in the house. This
morning, we studied about the sheep that's lost in the wilderness,
and we thought about how helpless, how hopeless that sheep was lost
in the desert. That unless the shepherd go out
and find him, seek and save him, and put him on his shoulders
and bring him all the way home, that that sheep is going to be
lost. He's helpless. So it would be
easy to think, well, the case of the coin is not as bad. See,
the coin's lost in the house. It'd be easy to think that way.
But that would be wrong, wouldn't it? The coin is just as lost
and just as helpless and just as hopeless as the sheep was.
Is it possible for that coin to somehow walk back to this
woman and back into her hand? Of course not. It's not possible
that this coin would be found unless she looked for it, find
it, and save it. So that's the first thing here.
Can a coin find its lost way back into the hand of the woman?
Of course, she cannot. She must seek for it. Now, the
Lord Jesus Christ, he came into this world to save sinners. It's
easy to just say that. and have it just go right over
our heads. The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal
Son of God, he came into this world to save sinners, to seek
and save that which is lost. Some of those that he came to
save were among these publicans and sinners, right? But how would they be saved unless
he fellowshiped with them, unless he ate with them? Unless he received
them, how could they ever be saved? He had some elect among
the publicans and senators, but how would they be saved unless
he received them? And how shall we ever be saved?
That's the point I want us to get across tonight. How will
we ever be saved unless the Lord Jesus Christ fellowship with
us, unless he be willing to eat with us, and to drink with us,
and to fellowship with us. The answer is that we cannot. Now, I want to pause here for
just a second, and I want us to really think about this. Scripture says that such a high
priest became us. What kind of high priest? He's
talking about the son of God who came into this world as the
priest who would offer himself a sacrifice to God as a substitute
for his people, for the sins of his people. The scripture
says such a high priest became us. What kind of high priest?
One who's holy, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners. Do you hear that? That's the
kind of high priest who became us, one who's holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. And yet, he's called
the friend of sinners. Isn't that amazing? We don't
even begin to, I don't, I can't even begin to enter into the
glory of that. That one who's holy can have
fellowship and will have fellowship with me. That he did receive
publicans and sinners. That he did go into the house
of a publican and eat with him. We should never lose the wonder
of that. That the Lord Jesus would have
anything to do with me. I'm amazed. Jesus, what a friend of sinners. Hallelujah, what a Savior, one
that would fellowship with us. I can't get that across like
I want to, but the Holy Spirit can. Oh, may he impress that
upon our hearts. What a privilege that the Lord
Jesus would be willing to fellowship with us. Now, I want us to consider
the house as representing tonight a true church of the living God. The coin is lost in the house.
And I want us to consider tonight the house as representing a true
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You may think or ask, well, can
a sinner be lost in a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Can
a coin be lost in the house? Absolutely. In fact, in fact,
every sinner in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is lost
until the Savior finds us. See, it's not enough to just
be in a church where the truth is being preached. It takes more
than that. It takes more than that. You
can be in the church You know, I was born by the grace of God. I was born into a home where
my whole life I've heard the gospel of God's grace. But you
know what? Apart from the grace of God sweeping
the house, lighting the candle and sweeping the house and finding
me, I would have left this world just like I came into this world,
just as lost as I possibly could be. The house here, I believe,
represents a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. May he sweep
the house tonight. That's my prayer. May he sweep
the house tonight. Now, I said just a second ago,
the woman in this parable represents the Lord Jesus Christ, the savior
of sinners. And I want us to think about
just for a minute, what methods and what means does this woman
use to seek and save the lost coin? And I think as we do that,
we can learn the means, the methods that the Lord Jesus Christ uses
in his true church to save sinners. And may he do so tonight. If
there be one here outside of Christ, may he sweep the house
tonight. Notice the means. Notice in verse
8 again. It says, either what woman having
ten pieces of silver If she lose one piece, doth not light a candle. So that's the first thing that
we see that she does. She lights a candle. And I believe
the candle in this parable represents the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the light. He's the light of the world and
his gospel, his gospel is the light of the world. It's the
only good news this world has ever heard since the fall. The
Lord Jesus Christ, he is the bright and glorious light, and
his gospel is the bright and glorious light. We sing that
song, send the light. Send the light, the blessed gospel
light, let it shine from shore to shore. The gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ truly is a light. Without the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, how could we ever, how could we, you and me, how
could we ever know how it is that we may come unto God and
be accepted? Apart from the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, how could we know? I was reading this evening
the letter that Brother Heller wrote after his last visit when
I got here a little bit early. And you think, oh, that's so
amazing. And it is. It's so amazing that
the gospel light would shine in Papua New Guinea and that
the Lord would save all those people there. But it's just as
dark right here in Houston, Texas. It may be darker here in Houston,
Texas. How amazing that his gospel light
would shine here among us tonight. We have been so blessed, believers,
to have a church where we have a pastor to faithfully study
week after week, service after service, to deliver this beautiful,
this glorious, this wonderful gospel, the light, the light
of the world, the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. May God help us not to take this
for granted. It's not everywhere, the gospel's
not everywhere. May the Lord give us hearts to,
may he give me a heart to appreciate what we have here. Without the
gospel, men and women can never know the acceptable way back
to God. The Lord Jesus said, he said,
I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father
but by me. But how could we know that apart
from the gospel? We couldn't. We could never come
to God in acceptance and in peace. You know, the promise of God's
word is, and this is such a beautiful promise, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Isn't that good news? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. That's such wonderful news. That's
not where that passage ends. He goes on to say, but how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? You can't believe
in someone that you've never heard of. And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. You see, what a blessing that
our Lord would light this light for us here tonight, the light
of the gospel. Apart from the preaching of the
gospel, None of us, none of us, not one single individual that
has ever walked upon this earth would have the slightest idea
who God is, who we are, who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and how
it is that we may be accepted and at peace with God. For our
thoughts are not his thoughts. We would have never figured out
a way back to God. But I want you to notice that
the lighting of the candle, it was necessary, but it wasn't
sufficient for the coin to be found. Notice it says in verse
8, it says, either what woman having 10 pieces of silver, if
she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and notice, and
sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it. You see, it
wasn't enough just that the candle be lit. The house needed to be
swept as well for the coin to be found. You know, I thought
as I prepared this message in a congregation of this size,
And only God knows. You know, that's a great thing
about the gospel. It's always applicable. Regardless,
if there's anybody there, there are always sinners there. And
so the gospel is always applicable. But in a congregation of this
size, perhaps there's someone here. You've been, I know if
you've been here, you've been in a true church of the Lord
Jesus Christ where the gospel light has been lit service after
service. But maybe, even tonight, you
remain lost in your sins, still lost in the house. You're in
the house, but you're still lost. May the Lord Jesus Christ, by
the Holy Spirit, sweep the house tonight until he finds you. Until he finds you. We read in
Acts chapter 16 about Lydia, the seller of purple. Scripture says, she heard us. That's great. You're here in
the gospel tonight. I trust you're here in the gospel
tonight. She heard us. Whose heart the Lord opened,
that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. See,
she heard. You've heard. That's wonderful.
That's wonderful. We still need that the Lord Jesus
Christ, by the Holy Spirit, sweep the house, open our hearts, regenerate
our hearts. You know, this word translated
here, open, is found seven other times in the New Testament. And
there's a lot of words you go look at, and they're 200, 300
times. This particular word is found
seven times. And I want us to look at at least
one other passage where it's used. And we might look at two,
depending on the time. But look over with me. Turn back
to Mark, chapter 7. Mark, chapter 7. with these things in mind, that
the gospel must be preached, the light must be lit, the candle
lit, but the house must be swept also. And what we read about
Lydia, that she heard, and the Lord opened her heart, that she
attended to the things that she heard. Mark chapter seven, verse
31. Scripture says, and again, Departing
from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the Sea of Galilee
through the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And they bring
unto him, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ here, they bring
unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment of his speech.
And they beseech him, Lord, they beseech him, put his hand upon
him, that is, heal him. And Jesus took him aside from
the multitude, and he put his fingers into his ears, and he
spit and touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he
sighed and said unto him, Ephatha, that is, be opened. Same word is used about the heart
of Lydia, her heart being opened. The Lord tells this death band,
B opened, talking about his ears. He had been deaf. And straightway,
his ears were open. And the string of his tongue
was loose. And he spake plain. And he charged
them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged
them, so much the more the great deal they published it. And were
beyond measure astonished, saying, he hath done all things well.
He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak." You see,
this man, he had ears. He had ears, but he couldn't
hear. There were words being spoken all around him. Don't
you know there was a commotion as the master came in, this one
that was healing everywhere that he went. And they bring this
man unto him and they beseech the Lord that he would heal him,
that he would heal him of his deafness. And there's all these
words all around him. and he can't hear one of them.
Until what? Until the Lord Jesus Christ said,
be opened. Be opened. And all of a sudden,
this man could hear. He never could hear before, and
now he could hear. And even more amazing, he could
understand. He not only could hear the words,
he could understand what the words meant. What a miracle,
huh? Salvation is a miracle as great
and even greater that we can be in the house. And the light
can be lit, and the gospel be going forward. And we just can't
wait to get out, can't wait, and thinking about everything
else that we need to do, this, that, and the other. And then
the Lord Jesus Christ not only lights the candle, but through
the Holy Spirit, he sweeps the house. And all of a sudden, we
can hear. You say, I'm not here to preach
experience. All of our experience is different.
I know that. But there is a time in the life
of a believer, in the life of a lost coin, where they go from
not being able to hear to being able to hear. That day may be like this. It may be over time. That's God's
business, isn't it? But there is a time. when we
can hear and we can understand things that we could not hear
and understand before. You know, God is going to hold
you and me responsible as to whether or not we hear the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether or not we bow to his king. He's
gonna hold us responsible. And I know everyone in this room,
you've heard the gospel. I've heard the gospel. Oh, that
the spirit of God might move upon my heart and upon your heart
to not only hear the gospel, but to receive the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is a difference. There
are, I'm sure, many lost people in this world that know so much
more about the Bible than I do. that maybe even know so much
more, I'm sure they are, that do know more about the life of
the Lord Jesus Christ upon this earth. They know all of these
things about him. But until the spirit of God moves
in our heart, we cannot know him. Whom to know is life everlasting. I believe the Lord is teaching
that to us here in this parable. Now, I'm not gonna have us turn
to the other passage I was gonna have us look at, but later on
this week, read Luke chapter 24. Read Luke chapter 24, and
that's the account of those two men who had been in Jerusalem
and they were headed back home, and their hearts were sad. you know, as they thought about
the one who they thought was the king of the Jews, the one
who was the Messiah, had been crucified. And they thought,
and their hearts were sad, thought about all that they had heard
from the disciples, that the women had gone early in the morning,
as we heard this last week, and that angels had appeared to them,
telling them, you know, why do you seek the living among the
dead? He's not here. He's not here, and yet, by faith,
they still were not able to receive that. And they tell the Lord,
you know, when he asked them, you know, why are you so sad?
They tell him about, well, you know, the women went, and then
the disciples ran there, and they also saw that the tomb was
empty, and yet their hearts were still sad, not believing, not
being able to trust that truly the Lord Jesus had risen from
the dead. But then we're told that the
Lord Jesus begins to go through the scriptures from the Old Testament
all the way through, showing them how it is that the Christ,
the Messiah, must he suffer first and die upon the cross in the
stead of his people and then rise again the third day. And the scripture says that the
Lord opened their hearts. Those scales fell off. Only the Lord could do that.
Only the Lord can do that. Only the Lord can do that for
us without Him. Without Him, we will remain lost.
But He can not only light the candle, but He can sweep the
floor. The light of the gospel, when
it's applied to the heart of sinners, it opens our eyes to
see things that before were there, but we just could not see them.
They were always there. We just couldn't see. Just like
when you sweep a house with a good light, you see just how dusty
it is, don't you? You know, I don't know how your
house is positioned and how many windows you have in it, We have
some big windows at the front of our house. And I'm a strange
person. I don't mind doing housework.
So I like to help around the house. And I find it therapeutic. I know, that's strange. But you
go to sweep a house. Since I'm the one who usually
sweeps the house, I love to sweep the house with the light behind
me. Why is that? Because when I have the light
behind me, I don't see just how horrible a job I do cleaning
the house. But boy, when that sun's coming
through those windows up front and you're sweeping that way,
you see dust flying everywhere. You ever had that experience?
Cobwebs everywhere. You thought you were keeping
your house clean. You just swept it the week before. But you can't
see it without the light and without sweeping. And that's
how it is for the sinner. There's things in us, things
that are true about us, things in us that they've been true,
but we just can't see them until the Lord Jesus Christ, in his
mercy, lights the candle and sweeps the house. Now, all of
a sudden, we can see things we couldn't see before, and only
in part. only in part, but we can see
in part the evil and the awfulness of sin. The evil and the awfulness
of sin is discovered. You know, before the sinner thinks,
you know, I just don't see what the big deal is. I go to that
church and the preacher, he preaches about sin and how my sins must
be forgiven. I just don't see what the big
deal is about sin. Can't be that bad. And then God, in his mercy, by
the work of the Holy Spirit, sweeps the house. Oh, things
that we couldn't see before, now we can see. And we say, oh,
I'm so undone. Before, I don't see what the
big deal is. Now, I'm so undone. I've disobeyed God. I have disobeyed
God. God requires that all of his
creatures love him with all of our heart, with all of our soul,
with all of our being, with all of our mind, at all times, and
to love our neighbors as ourselves. And we begin to see that we're
undone. We've disobeyed God, haven't
we? I have. And we cry, woe is me. Even worse
than what I mentioned already. God convicts us and he continues
to convict us, continues to convict me throughout my life, that I
hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We hear the gospel preached that
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He
gave his only begotten son, that one who's holy and harmless and
undefiled and separate from sinners. gave his only son that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And
yet my heart remains cold and indifferent and unmoved. But
I do remember a time when for the first time I was convicted. God's given this unspeakable
gift the unspeakable gift of his son,
his darling son. And yet my heart is unmoved and
cold and indifferent. Till the Holy Spirit takes the
gospel and sweeps the house, right? And we see the filth and
the corruption of our hearts and the woeful place that that
puts us in before the thrice holy God. We see all the dust and the filth
and the cobwebs are revealed. Before, they were there, but
we couldn't see them. But now, at least in part, we can see.
And we're made to see, at least in part, that my heart is the
problem. It's my heart that's the problem. It's your heart that's the problem.
It's not our environment. You say, are you saying that
the environment around us is good? Oh, no, this environment
is horrible. But the problem is not the environment. The problem
is my heart. That's where the problem is at.
The Lord said, out of the heart, out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies, and so much more wickedness. It's my heart that's
corrupt. That's why I need a savior. It's my heart that's corrupt.
But thanks be to God that when the spirit sweeps the house,
he also blesses us not only to see the evil of sin, the corruptness
of our hearts, but he enables us to see the light of the gospel. The good news. The good news
that there's a blessed savior for sinners. who came to seek
and to save those who have corrupt hearts. How though I'm vile in
myself, how I can be perfectly righteous before God. That's
the gospel. Though vile in myself, though
my heart is corrupt, that I can be perfectly righteous before
God. How? Through the perfect life
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit works, I
can assure you this, he's going to point us to the Lord Jesus
Christ, to the Savior of sinners. You see, a sinner's not going
to believe and trust and rely on Jesus Christ for all his salvation
until the Holy Spirit takes the gospel and sweeps our heart,
showing us who we are, showing us who the Lord Jesus Christ
is, and showing us that we, though sinful in ourselves, can be perfectly
righteous before God, that there is a savior for sinners, that
there is a balm in Gilead, that there's one who came to save
the sick, there's a physician for the sick, there's a sheep,
there's a shepherd for the lost sheep, There's a woman sweeping
the house for the lost coin. There's a father waiting to receive
the prodigal son, waiting to have mercy upon every sinner
that comes to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. When he moves,
before we could not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We could
not trust in him. But when the Holy Spirit moves,
now we feign upon him. I told somebody here recently,
I don't know about you, but when I look into the scripture and
when I hear messages preached, I hear who I want to be. Oh,
but I see so little in this word of who I really am in myself. I don't know if that's true of
you, but it's true. That's the truth about me. Oh,
but that's good news. That's good news, because that's
part of the work of the Holy Spirit. And He shows us just
who we are in ourselves. And then, when we see the awfulness
of what we are and who we are and who we are in ourselves,
then He shows us the beauty, the glory, the excellence, the
perfect Savior. Before, we couldn't believe,
but now all we can do is just faint upon him. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Lord, I see
who I want to be. I want to be like that woman,
strong in faith, but I see who I am, weak and undone in myself. But Lord, you're the savior of
sinners, and all we can do is just faint upon him. What is
it to faint upon Christ? It's to put the weight of our
eternal soul, the weight of our eternal salvation, completely,
totally, wholly upon him. Now, let me close. Read these
verses with me one more time, verses 8 through 10. Luke 15,
verses 8 through 10. The Lord said, either what woman
having 10 pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, does 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. Don't you love that? 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 repented. You say, do you think believers
that have gone on to be with the Lord rejoice when a sinner
is converted in this? I know they do. You say, well,
how do you know that? Because that's what the Lord
said. He said that there is joy in the presence of the angels. Who's in the presence of the
angels? Yes, in the presence of the angels,
we have God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yes,
we have the angels, but we have the souls, the spirits of saints
who have gone on before us. I'm sure today, somewhere in
this world, the Lord Jesus Christ swept the house and he found
some coins and there's been rejoicing in heaven. You say, well, isn't
there always rejoicing in heaven? Yeah, it's always rejoicing,
but apparently there is special rejoicing in heaven. When a sinner,
when a sinner who was lost repents and is found. That's a wonderful
thought, isn't it? I pray this will be a blessing
to all of us. And like I say, may God in his
mercy light the candle and sweep the heart. May he continue to
do that in this place. May the Lord bless us.