Or what woman who has ten silver coins and loses one of them does not light a lamp, sweep her house, and search carefully until she finds it?“Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?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?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 find it?
3 sermons cite this verse
And in the final story, Jesus tells a story about a father who has two sons. One rebels, but when he comes home, what's the father's attitude? Does he slam the door shut in the boy's face and say, You're dead to me? No, he rejoices when the son comes home. So it is with God. I want you to notice two truths about all three of these parables. First of all, all three of these parables remind us of the value of lost things. All three of these items that were lost have great value. The sheep is valuable, the coin is valuable, and certainly the son is valuable. The second truth we see in all three of these stories is the activity of a caring God. These three stories remind us that God is actively looking for us even when we are lost. It's the shepherd who takes the initiative in looking for the sheep. It's the woman who searches for the coin. And as we'll see in a moment, it is the father who is scanning the horizon, waiting for the son's return. …
I shall say no more, but I would that the Holy Spirit would say this to some who are in this house, who have long been invited to come and put their trust in Jesus, but always plead as a reason for not coming that they are too guilty, or that they are too hardened, or too something or other! Strange that what one man makes a reason for coming, another makes a reason for staying away! David prayed in the Psalms, "Lord have mercy and pardon my iniquity, for it is great." "Strange argument," you will say. It is a grand one! "Lord, here is great sin and there is now something that is worthy of a great God to deal with! Here is a mountain sin, Lord, have Omnipotent Grace to remove it! Lord, here is a towering Alp of sin—let the floods of Your Grace, like Noah's flood, come 20 cubits over the top of it! I am the chief of sinners— here is room for the chief of Saviors." How strange it is that some men should make this a reason for staying away! This cruel sin of unbelief is cruel to yourselves—you have put away the comfort you might enjoy. It is cruel to Christ, for there is no pang that ever wounded Him more than that unkind, ungenerous thought that He is unwilling. Believe, believe that He never is so glad as when He is clasping His Ephraim to His breast! As when He is saying, "Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you." Trust Him! If you could see Him, you could not help it. If you could look into that dear face and into those dear eyes, once red with weeping over sinners that rejected Him, you would say, "Behold, we come to You! You have the words of eternal life! Accept us, for we rest in You alone. All our trust on You is stayed." And that done, you would find that His coming to you would be like rain on the mown grass, as the showers that water the earth and, through Him, your souls would flourish, your sackcloth would be taken away and you would be girt about with gladness and rejoice in Him, world without end! The Lord Himself bring you to this. Amen. …
… Look in the second story here in verse 8. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle or a lamp 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 peace that was lost. Now here our Lord no longer is speaking of the lost sheep, but he's talking of the lost silver. Not only the weakness of man without God, but the worthlessness of man without God. What good is a piece of silver? What good is a piece of money? If it's lost, it can't be spent, and it cannot be treasured. It has become unprofitable. And not only does the Bible say there's none that understandeth, the Bible also tells us in Romans chapter 3 AND VERSE 12 that without God we're unprofitable. Listen, they're all gone out of the way, that's the lost sheep. …