The Parable of the Lost Coin (The Church´s Repentance) Pastor Hilmar Ochoa Guatemala, May 27th Year of Abundance
2 Peter 3:9 (RV 1960) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. In this passage the Apostle Peter refers to the promise of the coming of Christ, he explains how some people think that the fulfillment of this promise is taking too much time, but this is only His longsuffering manifested to us, who expect to achieve repentance. This means that His people is waiting for the coming of the Lord, but before that day, a powerful movement of salvation will come upon the Church. While the Lord is patient, He wants us to proceed to repentance, He is not referring only to those who don´t know Him, but to those who are believers. God wants us to repent so we do not die, He is not only waiting for sinners to repent, but He is also waiting for us. We see in the Bible that there are three parables that talk about repentance, these are found in Luke chapter 15:
The parable of the lost sheep The parable of the lost son The parable of the lost coin
In the first parable there is a shepherd who lost a sheep, but not growing weary he looks for it until he finds it, just as the Lord Jesus Christ came to save all those who were lost, so all those who the Father gave to the Son may be saved, except the son of perdition. In the second parable we see a father losing his son, whom at the end returned to the father´s house. If we see the parables from a statistical perspective, the father lost half of his children, since he only had two sons, nevertheless, the pastor lost one out of a hundred sheep, namely 1%. Now, the third parable describes a woman who lost one of ten coins, which at the end she found. These three parables are one, as a likeness of God´s trinity: Christ, the Father and the Holy Spirit, each one of them recovered 3 lost elements. That is why Christ came to save the lost sheep, these are sinners or unbelievers. The Father recovers the son who went to the world, who fell in the pigpen, but being there he recovered his right mind and went back to the Father, this refers to believers who decided to go after a sinful life. The third parable describes a woman who, for teaching purposes, represents the Holy Spirit. In this parable the coin is a believer who is lost but finally he is found. In these three cases, the parables end with a celebration, this means that God rejoices when a sinner repents. We all had experienced the first two parables, because we were rescued by Christ, some others were rescued when they stumbled and fell in sin, but then they returned to the Father. Now, maybe some Christians are like the coin lost within the house. This last statement shows how some believers can assist daily to church, but they suddenly lost something; they must recognize what have they lost regarding their relationship with God and repent. Luke 15:8-10 (LBLA) “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found
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The Parable of the Lost Coin (The Church´s Repentance) Pastor Hilmar Ochoa Guatemala, May 27th Year of Abundance
the piece which I lost! 10 Likewise, I say to you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. This woman represents the Holy Spirit (we are not saying that the Holy Spirit is a woman, but somehow, in various occasions we see Him developing maternal functions toward the Church); nevertheless, we can say that this woman also represents a Christian who lost his coin. The lost son and the lost sheep went out from the place they belonged, but the coin was lost within the house. From this, we see that there is no need to go out of the Church to be away from the Lord, therefore we know that there are Christians who are lost. In this parable the woman also represents the Holy Spirit who is looking for those who are lost within God´s house. Malachi 3:7 (RV 1960) Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you said, In what way shall we return? In this passage the Lord is saying to His people to return to Him. In the book of Malachi we can find many questions between the Lord and His people, this dialogue manifested which were the thoughts of Israel´s heart. When the Lord says to them that He loves them, they replied, in what have You loved us? They also asked, in what have we despised Your name? They also asked the next questions: In what have we dishonored You?, In what have we wearied Him?, What have we spoken against You?, In what have we robbed You?, In what way shall we return?, this last question we will compare with two other versions: Malachi 3:7 (TLA) But you, from the days of your fathers, you have disobeyed my commandments. But if you repent and return to Me, then I will return to you. I am the God Almighty, and I assure you that I will do so. You ask me: “Of what shall we repent?” Maybe we have asked ourselves, of what shall we repent? But the truth is that we know deep inside our heart that there are some things from which we need to repent. Malachi 3:7 (NTV) From the days of your fathers, you have despised my decrees and have disobeyed them. Now, return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. But you ask: “How can we return when we never left?”. In the Bible there are examples of some individuals who never left the house but they lived in sin, i.e., they were like lost coins. The calling now is to ask the Holy Spirit, in a humble way, to show us those things from which we need to repent, He will surely make evident our trespasses. Luke 15:29-31 (RV 1960) And answering he said to his father, these many years I have served you, neither did I transgress your commandment at any time. And yet you never gave me a kid so that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you have killed for him the fattened calf. 31 And he said to him, son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.
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The Parable of the Lost Coin (The Church´s Repentance) Pastor Hilmar Ochoa Guatemala, May 27th Year of Abundance
The lost son´s brother is an example of the son that never left the house, he represents the Christian that remains in the Church and serves continuously, but is immature and does not rejoices when his brother returns, instead he is mad. Isaiah 58:1-3 (LBLA) Cry aloud, do not spare, lift up your voice like a ram´s horn, and show My people their rebellion, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and one who did not forget the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in drawing near to God. 3 They say, why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and crush all your laborers. None of us like when our sins are pointed out. These verses describe that God´s people were seeking Him but at the same time they were sinning. It is not enough to serve the Lord and go to Church, we must consider our life, not living as Christians two hours a day, but we must demonstrate what we are 24 hours a day, every day of our life. The book of Revelation contains the message to the seven Churches, this message was a calling to repentance. Revelation 2:5 (RV 1960) Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. This passage is not only for the Church, but also for the angel of the Church of Ephesus, namely the minister, since he needed to repent and was fallen; if this was said to the minister, we can only imagine what was the condition of the sheep. Although we generally think that a minister can´t be fallen, God says he must repent. Revelation 2:2-3 (RV 1960) I know your works and your labor and your patience, and how you cannot bear those who are evil. And you tried those pretending to be apostles, and are not, and have found them liars. 3 And you have borne, and have patience, and for My name´s sake you have labored and have not fainted. This man had nine impressive virtues, but he lost one, just as the woman lost one of ten silver coins that she had; this man had lost his FIRST LOVE, it was his lost coin. God was asking him to recover that lost virtue in order to be perfect. The Bible also describes a young rich man, who ask the Lord what he should do to achieve eternal life, and the Lord said that he was missing one thing, i.e., he also needed to recover his lost coin. The lost virtue of this young man was the act of giving. God´s calling for us today is to consider our heart´s need; we must repent from all those things that keep ourselves away from Him, especially because these are final times. Some need to come out of the world, some others need to take the world out of their heart and the last ones need to return to their first love, just like it was at the beginning of this race, when we sought the face of our Lord Jesus Christ with all our love.
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