Luke 15:8

Or what woman having ten pieces of silver; if she lose one piece, doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she hath found it, she calleth together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost. Even so, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

THE PARABLE OF THE LOST COIN

ANALOGIES IN THE PARABLE

The woman = the church throughout all the ages

The lost coin = the "dropout" from church

The lighted lamp = the word of God

The broom = the church's concern for true virtues and morality

The diligent search = the church's urgent activity to save souls

The rejoicing = the joy in heaven over one who is saved

Which I had lost ... This is a significant acceptance of blame on the part of the woman for having lost the coin, which inherently is incapable of losing itself. This stands for people in all ages who, in a sense, are lost from God's service through sin or ineptitude within the church itself. Volumes could be written on the things which churches do or leave undone, causing the loss of precious souls.

I. Note the coin as the type of a man.

(1) Both are from the earth, silver being refined from earthly ore, and man having been created of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7).

(2) Both are valuable. Silver coins have ever been recognized as items of value, but sometimes men have been accounted as cheap in the eyes of their fellows. Earth's warlords have ever looked upon men as mere pawns in the struggle for power; and historically, the rich and the powerful have often held human life as cheap indeed (Matthew 10:29,30).

(3) Both may be exchanged for something else. Man may exchange himself for eternal life (Luke 16:9). On the other hand, he may sell himself to do evil in God's sight (1 Kings 21:20). Esau sold his birthright for one mess of pottage (Hebrews 12:16). A man, like a coin, may be exchanged for something else.

(4) Both are stamped with the image of the maker, the coin with the likeness of the emperor, and man in the likeness of God who created him (Genesis 1:27). The image of God in every man distinguishes him from the lower creations, and proves that he is not a mere brother to a beast.

II. The lost coin is very like a sinner, or backslider.

(1) Both were lost through no fault of their own. The woman lost the coin; and all men are in a condition of loss and death through the sin of Adam (Romans 5:14,15). Death reigns over all men, even over those who have not sinned as Adam sinned. We are using the term "lost" in this connection with regard to man's mortal condition, and not as endorsing the speculation concerning original sin.

(2) The lost coin and the lost man are alike fallen. That the coin in the parable was upon a lower level is evident in the use of the broom; and the sinner too is said to be fallen. It is said of Judas that "he fell" (Acts 1:25); and the sinful church was declared to have "fallen" from its first love (Revelation 2:25).

(3) Both the lost coin and the lost man suffer increasing damage. The lost coin becomes tarnished, even chemically altered, losing eventually the superscription upon it; and likewise the lost man finds the image of God in his soul progressively effaced and tarnished by sin and shame.

(4) Both the lost coin and the lost man become increasingly difficult to recover. The longer each is lost the harder it is to find. Every child should be saved as soon as possible after the age of accountability (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Well does the Spirit of God teach that the earliest possible instant is none too soon to seek salvation in the name of the Lord.

III. This parable also reveals valuable lessons on how to find the lost.

(1) First, the woman lighted a lamp; and the church would do well to follow that example. Without a lighted lamp, one would never find a lost coin in a dark place; and unless the church shall hold aloft the lighted lamp of the word of God, the lost shall not be recovered. The only light is the Bible. Churches seek in vain to light up this world's darkness by preaching human philosophies, legends, political convictions, social schemes, or anything else other than the holy word revealed in the New Testament. "Thy word is a lamp ... and a light" (Psalms 119:105).

(2) The woman searched diligently for the lost coin. The church should be diligent in the program of evangelization, the same being the church's most urgent business.

(3) The woman used a broom to sweep the whole place. Churches which have allowed the whole atmosphere within their fellowship to be polluted with unrebuked sin, open immorality, or any other defection from the path of duty should take a lesson from the broom. Both the lamp and the broom are necessary. The church cannot be effective in the saving of souls until it has lighted the lamp and employed the broom.

IV. This parable, like the preceding one, stresses the joy of the angels of heaven over the salvation of the lost.

Seeing that the angels of God are interested in the salvation of souls, how diligent all men ought to be in looking after the one thing needful, namely, the soul's redemption.

Nor is the rejoicing over sinners saved restricted to the courts of heaven. The woman with her friends and neighbors rejoiced; and so will the church which works to save men. The saving church is a happy church.

THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON

Actually, this is the parable of two sons, the elder brother being no less lost than was the prodigal; but, by the consent of all mankind, it is known by the title above. This writer once delivered a sermon before four hundred men in prison; and, upon the announcement of this parable as the subject, a mighty groan went up from the four hundred vigorous masculine throats; and after the sermon, the chaplain revealed that upon four successive Sundays the guest speakers had based their remarks upon this parable!

There are two applications of it. First, the prodigal son represents the Gentiles who rebelled against God and departed from the Father's house. The elder brother represents the Jewish religious establishment who remained, nominally, in the fold of God, but who nevertheless became proud, self-righteous, unfeeling recipients of the Father's mercy, having lost all contact with the Father. Significantly, the older brother went to the servants, instead of to the Father, with questions about the joyful celebration. The love of God for both Jews and Gentiles is seen in the Father's reception of both sons, his reinstatement of the prodigal, and his entreating of the older brother.

The second, and more general, application of the parable has regard to the men of every generation.

That this parable is an unqualified tragedy, first to last, may not be doubted, despite the rejoicing over the return of the prodigal; and, as is the case in many of Jesus' teachings, the total unworthiness of the human race in the sight of God is plainly taught. To be sure, people are precious in God's sight; God loves them; God offered His Son upon Calvary for their redemption; and one redeemed soul is valued above the world and everything in it (Mark 8:36,37); but Jesus was careful to use illustrations, such as this parable, in such a manner as to show beyond any shadow of doubt that no man DESERVES salvation through his own merit. The prodigal son did not merit the honorable reinstatement he received of the father; nor did the hard-hearted elder brother deserve the father's entreaty at the end of it. In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-6), both those workers who came in the eleventh hour and received reward, and those who worked all day and complained against the householder, proved themselves to be without merit. The same situation is seen in the parable of two sons (Matthew 21:28-32); who would wish to have a son like either one of them? Likewise, in the parable of the marriage of the king's son (Matthew 22:12-14), neither the nobility who scorned the invitation, nor the rabble that accepted it, had any quality of character that could have merited the invitation. See comment on those parables in my Commentary on Matthew.

This most beloved of the Master's parables is here discussed line by line; and, after Luke 15:24, is a condensed sermon this writer has preached in forty states and several foreign countries.