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 neighbours 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.

Luke 15:8-10

This parable is very similar to “The Lost Sheep,” but adds a couple of blessed details.

First of all, a coin is an inanimate object. It cannot do anything to change its lost position. This should have been evident to all regarding the lost sheep, but some would say the sheep helps out the shepherd to get itself found. This parable makes it abundantly clear that the first instance of repentance (the new birth) is solely by the grace of God. Therefore, the grace of further repentance should only be viewed as a precious blessing not an arrogant choice on our part. God delivered us by His mercy, and He blesses us with the mercy of the spirit of repentance so that we can live in closer fellowship with Him and His church now.

The next, and perhaps main, point of this parable is the location of the rejoicing. It is “in the presence of the angels of God.”

The Lost Sheep taught us that the church (God’s people) rejoice when a sinner repents. This is in stark contrast to the scribes and Pharisees. We now see that the rejoicing also occurs in heaven! God is in the presence of angels. This means that God rejoices when a sinner repents! Just like we earthly parents are happy when our children do right, God the Father is delighted when one of His own turns from his sinful ways.

I think that we who believe in salvation by grace often overlook how our actions are viewed by our Heavenly Father. Yes, for eternal purposes, God views us through the blood of Jesus and Christ, and His righteousness is counted to us for our eternal justification. But that does not mean we should just live any way our flesh wants to live. We will never stop being one of His children, but how displeasing is it to parent an ungrateful child?

Our repentance does not have eternal consequences. This means that the work of Jesus Christ is sufficient for our eternal salvation. Our repentance toward God is evidence that we have already been saved by His grace. But while there may be no eternal consequences for our actions, we can certainly see that there our effects in eternity. Our Heavenly Father resides in eternity and He rejoices when we turn toward Him and follow Jesus Christ!