The Lost Coin

Posted : 17 Sep, 2011 01:02 AM

Gary L. Garner

The Church Has Lost Something



Luke 15:8-10

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 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.



Here is a woman that the bible says had lost something. A woman who had ten pieces of silver, had lost one and then found it. To begin to understand what I see in this you have to realize first of all, that the Bible pictures the church as a woman. In Ephesians 5, that beautiful chapter about the husband and wife relationship, Paul ends by saying this is a mystery but I am really talking about Christ and the church.



Ephesians 5:30-32

For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.



Jesus is pictured as the husband and the church is the bride. So see the woman here as the Church.



The second thing thing to be aware of is the woman, (church), had lost something. Go back to the book of Acts and read through it and you will understand that compared to today, we have obviously lost something.



This will not be a negative message. The message is that she found what she lost. There is a restoring of whatever this woman has lost occuring in the church world today.



Our pattern is not the early church; our pattern is Jesus. By thumbing through the book of Acts you see things like Peter walking through the streets and the shadow of him landing on people bringing healing. I do not see a lot of that occuring in this day. Go all the way through that book and you see marvelous things on every page. It is not the acts of the Apostles that we see, it is the acts of the Holy Ghost working in the lives of people.



It is obvious that the Church has lost something. Every place I look in the bible I see a panoramic projection of what God is doing. I see that in these three little verses of scripture. God is bringing back to the church what the woman has lost.





What The Church Has Lost



The next thing we need to realize is what she has lost. She said she lost a silver coin. That coin represents a degree of power. Silver in the scriptures points to redemption, gold points to divine nature, brass is judgment. Silver points to redemption. The woman then, points to the church that has lost the power of redemption.



Romans 8:3-4

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.



The woman had ten coins to begin with. Every time I see ten it makes me think about the ten commandments and the law in the Old Testament. Jesus fulfilled the law completly in His own earth walk, in His own life. Jesus fulfilled the law as your representative (Romans 8:3,4).



Here is a woman who had all ten coins but she lost one. Many of us would have been very satisfied with only nine of the ten.



One reason the woman lost the coin was because she was living in darkness. I know this because she had to light a candle to find it. This pictures many in the church today. It pictures those that believe everything is just fine but in reality they are living in darkness because they do not have the whole picture. It also points to the individuals who are satisfied with just knowing part of who they are in Christ. It does not matter what piece you have lost, they are all vital. Lets look at some scripture to show that silver speaks of redemption.



Exodus 30:11-15

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them: that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.



In the book of Numbers, two silver trumpets were blown when the camp was ready to move, when they were to get ready for war, and at harvest time. Those trumpets were made out of the atonement money; everyone had to give this atonement money. This speaks of the price of redemption.



Notice that in this atonement money the rich gave as much as the poor; the poor gave as much as the rich, everyone gave the same amount. This pictures the price that was paid for the redemption of every human being. It was the very same price for everyone.





Lost In A Time Of Darkness



This is one of the things being spoken of when this woman lost a piece of silver. She lost a part of the power of redemption and her consciousness of it. As we continue with this thought notice that this was a time of darkness. Many times when people lose what they have it is when personal darkness comes to their life.



In Ruth chapter one, a man by the name of Elimelech and a woman by the name of Naomi had two sons and they were living at Bethlehem-Judah; the house of bread and praise. They were in "church," but a time of famine came to the land. This famine had not affected them, but they left the house of bread and praise. When darkness came to their own lives they left what they had and Naomi ended up losing everything she did have. If you get in a time of personal darkness in your life and you get lazy and walk away from the house of bread and praise you can rest assured that you will lose what you have. There is no way you and I can do anything about darkness coming on the world. The world is not getting more spiritually enlightened, they are getting less and less.



Isaiah 60:1-2

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.



Isaiah said that at the same time there is great darkness on this earth, there will be great enlightenment on the people of God. This really fits this little parable because it was dark, it was obviously dark. It excites me to realize that there is going to be a church that finds what she lost in a time of darkness.



Matthew 25:1-5

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virigins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.



Jesus was teaching about the end time. When referring to the ten virgins He said they all slumbered and slept. Much of the church is sleeping today to a great degree.



verse 6-12

And at midnight, (That is the darkest hour. It is also the time when most people are sleeping.) there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came;and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.



Church, there are not just two groups of people in this story, there are three. There are virgins who had no oil; there are virgins who had oil, and there is someone who calls all of them and says "Behold, the bridegroom cometh."





The Bridegroom Cometh



What has God called you to do in a time of darkness? God is calling some to wake up the slumbering Church and tell them, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh and you are to gather at the marriage supper." Many believe this speaks of the rapture of the church. Everything I have ever heard of the rapture of the church had nothing to do with someone coming and announcing that it is time for the rapture.



There are people who are saved but not Spirit filled. There are people that are Spirit filled but have nothing to do with an Ascension Life. They do not want to rise up higher and grow up into Him in all things. But there are some people that are going to do this; and they are going to call the rest of them and say, "Wake up! The bridegroom comes! There is a feast available! There is a table that is being prepared today that has Jesus on it and you can feed on Him like never before! Wake up! Quit slumbering! Quit sleeping! You have lost something but you can now recover what you have lost. There is a table prepared for us in the presence of our enemies."



To those who had no oil in their lamps, Jesus said, "I never knew you." It is a face to face relationship that He is speaking of here. To know someone as a husband and wife, to know one another. Jesus said, I was not able to have an intimate relationship with you because you did not have oil in your lamps. It was not that He did not want to, it was that if they did not have enlightenment they would not let him. When did this happen? It happened at a time of great darkness.



Romans 13:11-12

And that, knowing the time, (Do you know the time?) that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.



Ephesians 5:14.

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.



It is time to wake up church. Thank God I hear an alarm clock. We have to understand the seriousness of the hour. We have to get that coin back.





First The Woman Got Lit!



How did she recover the coin? First of all she got lit. The bible says that "she took a candle." This is how we recover the coin. The woman got her candle lit.Proverbs 20:27 says "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly." The candle speaks of the human spirit. It speaks of enlightenment that comes to the human heart. God gives you light in your spirit because the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. God's Spirit will come and enlighten you and show you who you are inside. We need enlightenment. Some give their hearts and lives to Jesus, go from eternal life to dying physically and go on to heaven and never find out who they are in Christ. Why? Because they do not allow their candle to be lit, to search out every part of the inner man.



Psalm 119:130

The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.



Simple just means immature. Enlightenment from the Word of God.



Psalm 18:28

For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. (The Lord will light my candle.)



The woman had her candle lit. She received enlightenment. Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus that they would receive a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened.



Let the Spirit of God light your candle. Let Him give you enlightenment. Get into the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit of God enlighten you to who you are in Christ. This is why He was sent. It is the Holy Spirit's job to reveal Jesus to us. You will not get excited any greater than when you find out who you have been made to be in Christ.





She Swept Out Her House



The second thing this woman did in order to find her lost coin was "She swept out her house." This speaks of our bodies. Your body is your house. She got the dust out of her house.



One of the curses in Genesis 3 to the devil was, "You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life." You know what the devil feeds on? He feeds on dust. Your body is made of dust. Satan feeds on the flesh. Let me say it this way, If you sweep all of the "old man" out of your life you will starve Satan to death.



You look at the Word of God and see at the beginning of the Bible a little snake crawling in the garden. If you look at the devil at the end of the bible, he is called the dragon. How did he get from a little serpent to a dragon. He had plenty to eat. He has been feeding on flesh for 6000 years. So the woman swept out her house, getting all of the dust out. That is how the devil gets inroad into our lives, when we get into the flesh.



I Corinthians 15:47 (Amplified)

The first man [was] from out of the earth, made of dust - earth-minded; the second man [is] the Lord from out of heaven.



The Adam of Genesis is the first Adam and was a man of dust. Jesus is the last Adam and He was made a life giving Spirit. If you are born again, you are not in Adam, you are in Christ. The woman swept all the "old man" out of her house. When the enlightenment comes you have to sweep the dust, the old man out of your life.



Luke 15:8

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? What woman? Evidently there are some that will not. Who would wake up and say, I have lost something that I had but I do not care. What woman would be that way? What church? What fellowship? What person?



Have you lost something? If you have, the key is to Get Lit! Let the Spirit of God light your candle with the Word of God. Get back in the Word. Start looking for that lost piece. Sweep out the "old man." Live in the New man which is Christ. Be diligent! Continue to put forth effort. And when you find the coin that you have lost, you will have something to rejoice about.



http://www.cswnet.com/~alife/main2/onlinestudies/thelostcoin/thelostcoin.htm

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