Let's turn to the book of Luke
for our Bible study. The book of Luke chapter 19. Luke 19. Luke chapter 19. We'll begin
reading in verse 29. I've titled this, The Lord Hath
Need of Him, and you'll understand why here in a few minutes. Luke
19. We'll start in verse 29. Read through verse 38. And it came
to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage, and Bethany, at
the mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,
saying, Go ye into the village over against you, in the which,
at your entering, you shall find a colt tied. Whereupon yet never
man said, Loose him, and bring him hither, bring him to me.
And if any man ask you, Why do you loose him? Thus say ye unto him, because
the Lord hath need of him. And they went their way, and
found even as he had said unto them. And as they were loosing
the coat, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye
the coat? And they said, The Lord hath
need of him. And they brought him to Jesus, and they cast their
garments upon the coat, And they set Jesus thereon. And as He
went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when He was come
nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole
multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with
a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying,
blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace
in heaven and glory in the highest. Now, the events that we read
here took place just a few days before the Lord was arrested,
given a sham trial, put to death by the Romans at the urging of
the Jewish leaders. But as I read this text, six
words here caught my attention. The Lord hath need of him. And
I found this statement to be a bit strange, honestly, because
There's no hint anywhere in scripture that our God has need of anything
except these six words, the Lord hath need of him. And one of
the reasons that the Lord needed this coat was to fulfill a prophecy
concerning him. Now he told his disciples in
Luke 22 or 24, 44, he said this, these are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me." Now, these three categories
that the Lord mentioned here cover pretty much the entirety
of what we call the Old Testament. It was the only scriptures, obviously,
that they had at the time, the Old Testament scriptures. They
had no New Testament because obviously it hadn't been written
yet. And in the book of Zechariah in chapter nine, verse nine,
we read this. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Jerusalem, or Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just, and having
salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon the colt,
the foal of an ass. The account in our text here
in Luke 19 is a fulfillment of that prophecy in Zechariah chapter
nine. Now this colt, I studied this,
and this colt is actually a good picture of a lost sinner, but
a lost sinner who is one of God's elect, one of God's chosen ones. And I want to show you a few
ways that this colt is like one of God's elect. First, we find
that this colt was tied, it was bound as was its mother, unable
to do anything to set itself free. And so it is with the entire
human race. We're brought into bondage. We
were brought into bondage by the works of our father, Adam. And every son of Adam is born
into bondage. We're told that in the scriptures,
the same as our parents and their parents before them and their
parents before them all the way back to Adam. In Nehemiah 5.5
it says this, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to
be servants. Neither is it in our power to
redeem them. And verses 17 and 20 of Romans
6 tells us that at one time we were the servants of sin. But thankfully, verse 18 of Romans
6 says this, You are now made free from sin. The Lord Jesus
did for us what our parents could never do. He loosed us, he freed
us. And being free, we are as this
young colt that his disciples went and they loosed. But thankfully
there's a deliverance to be had from the bondage that we're born
into. And though none of our friends or family can help us
escape this bondage, there is one who can, and it's spoken
of in the second chapter of Hebrews, verses I'm sure you're familiar
with. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, he also himself, likewise, speaking of Christ, took part
of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. This cult could not free itself. Its loosening had to be done
by another, and so it is with us. This is what happens when
our Lord sends his spirit to loose us from bondage. He gives
us a gift of faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shed his blood, who has freed us from all bondage. A good picture of this happened
when our Savior stood at the tomb of Lazarus, the brother
of Martha and Mary. And with a word, he raised him
from the dead. We're told that he said with
a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And in John 11, 44, it says,
and he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave
clothes. and his face was bound about
with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, loosen and let him go. And he that was dead came forth
at the word of the Savior. It's just like us described in
Ephesians 2.1, and you hath he quickened who were dead in sins
and trespasses. Quickened, made alive. God the
Holy Spirit comes to where we are and does to us what Christ
told his disciples in verse 30 of our text. He told them, loose
him and bring him hither. Free him and bring him to me.
That's what the Spirit does to the lost sinner. It frees us
from our bondage and brings us to the feet of Christ. Another
way this cult is a type of lost sinner is it was completely wild,
completely wild. in the sense that it had never
been broken. We know this because in the text in Luke 19 here,
it tells us, whereon yet never man sat. But from all outward
appearances, it would seem to have been calm when it was tied
up. It was just standing there with its mother, we're told.
But try hopping on its back and see what happens. I know years
ago, our brother Oscar Bailey, who has since gone home to be
with the Lord. He attended Grace Baptist for
a long, long time. But Oscar had a young colt that
used to run around his farm. And one day I said to Oscar,
I'd like to try to ride that thing. And he had a good laugh
over that. And he warned me if I gave it
a try, I'd probably end up with a few broken bones. And so it
is with the Lost Center. We seem to be calm from all outward
appearances, but deep down, our heart is wild. Mostly tried to
conform to the standards and the constraints that our parents
and society in general placed on us. But deep down in our natural
hearts, we were unbroken. We were wild and we despised
any authority that tried to shackle us. Like this colt, we had never
been broken. And so it is with the Lost Center.
He has never been broken. And let me say this. If you've
never been broken, you have never been saved. And by that I mean,
when the Lord begins a work of grace in rebellious sinner's
heart, He breaks that sinner as you would a horse. He makes it used to a hand of
rule over it. And it is happy to have that
hand. David described this. in Psalm
51, 17, when he said this, the sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. In our natural state, before
the spirit comes and gives us faith in Christ, we're like that
man that was possessed of demons in the land of the Gadarenes.
Luke tells us that this man was bound with chains and fetters,
and he break the bands and was driven of the devil into the
wilderness. And Mark's gospel says this,
neither could any man tame him. And that is a good description
of us before the Lord came and broke us. We were bound by the
chains and fetters of polite behavior and the norms of society,
but we would break those bands when they didn't suit us. We'd
go on our way into the wilderness of this world and we would indulge
in all manner of depravity and immorality, doing ourselves harm
as this demoniac did. It says he was in the tombs cutting
himself with stones. And verse 33 says that as they
were loosing this colt, the owners asked them, what are you doing? And we know this colt had more
than one owner because the word is used in the plural, the owners
of the colt. Now maybe this colt was owned
by folks that were so poor, two or three of them had to pool
their money to buy this ass that gave birth to this colt. But
either way, you can bet that this colt was of significant
value to them. Now this word owner, it means
one who has title or lays claim to something. One who is a possessor
of something or someone. But one thing that I found interesting
in all three accounts that are found of this in the gospels
where the disciples are loosening this code, that once they said
the Lord hath need of him, there was not a single reply recorded
anywhere in scriptures from the owners, not even an okay. And this again is where we find
ourselves similar to this cold. We had many owners, if you will,
who laid claim to us. First was God's justice. The
scripture is clear. The soul that sinneth, it says,
it shall die. So God's justice rightfully laid
claim to an ownership on us, us owing an eternal death for
the sin that we had so willfully committed. But God's spirit comes
and it looses us from the claims of God's justice. It said, this
soul has already died when Christ died. Therefore, the justice
of God has already been satisfied. The blood of Christ speaks and
says to God's justice, the Lord hath need of him. Loosen and
let him go. Next, we find that God's law
laid claim to us. Now, God's law demands that anyone
who is found in violation of any point of the law is guilty
of all. We know this from James 2.10.
It makes it abundantly clear. It says, for whosoever shall
keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all. Now, God's law is strict. There
is no leniency. There is no bending of the law.
It must be kept, we're told, in all points. Leviticus 5.17
makes this clear. It says, if a soul sin and commit
any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments
of the Lord, though he wist it not, yet is he guilty and shall
bear his iniquity. Though he wist it not means this,
though he knew it not. But ignorance of the law is no
excuse, whether it be the law of man or whether it be the law
of God. You're still guilty and you're required to endure the
punishment. Numbers 14, 18 also tells us
that God will by no means clear the guilty. But yet, yet again,
the blood of Christ speaks. and says, I stood in the place
of this guilty one and I bore the punishment that was due to
their iniquity. Therefore, Christ's blood speaks
to the law and says, the Lord hath need of him. Sin itself
also laid claim to us. It kept us bound as did the owners
of this cult that we read of. Our natural heart was perfectly
content to dwell in the sin in which we were born. It's all
we ever knew. It's like someone who grows up in the ghetto somewhere
where there's shootings every day and drug trade. It's all
they ever knew. We were talking earlier, Glenn
and I, about growing up up north where you get a foot of snow
and you don't think any other thing of it because it's all
that you ever knew. But thankfully, Paul tells us And we already read this, that
Paul describes in Romans 6, he says, but ye were the servants
of sin, and ye did its bidding and followed its commands, but
thankfully the Spirit comes, and as the disciples did, that
loosing this cult, it looses us from being the servants of
sin. So when the Holy Spirit comes
to set us free from our bondage, to loose us and let us go, God's
law, God's justice in our sin, they all cry out, what do ye,
loosening this sinner? And the spirit replies, the Lord
Jesus hath need of him. And as did the owners of this
cult, God's law, God's justice in our sin, all must let us go
without a word of protest. Because we're told that all power
is given to our Lord Jesus Christ and there is nothing and no one
who can question his word or his purpose. His blood silences
any protest from these three accusers who previously laid
claim to us. But I want to come back to these
words, these six words, the Lord hath need of him. And as I read
that, I thought, how can the Holy Triune God who holds unimaginable
power and might, who spoke this entire universe into being, how
could he be said to have need of anything or anyone? Yet we read these six words,
the Lord hath need of him. Turn over with me to 1 Corinthians.
Book of 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. First Corinthians chapter, I'm
sorry, yeah, chapter 12. We'll begin reading in verse
12. For as the body is one and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body, being many,
are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit, we all are
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one
spirit. For the body is not one member,
but many. If the foot shall say, because
I am not of the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because
I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now hath God set to members every one
of them in the body, and it hath pleased him. For if there were
all one member, where were the body? But now are there many
members, yet but one body. The eye cannot say unto the hand,
I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have
no need of thee. Nay, much more these members
of the body would seem to be more feeble are necessary, and
those members of the body which we think to be less honorable,
upon these we bestow more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts
have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no
need, but God has tempered the body together and has given more
abundant honor to that part which lacked. That there should be
no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same
care one for another. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it. Now are ye the body of Christ
and members in particular." Paul makes it abundantly clear in
the last verse that the body of Christ, which is the church,
is also made up of many members. And he uses the illustration
of the human body, how it is made up of many members, how
each member, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is essential to
the well-being of the whole body. How that the body is not complete
if even the smallest member is missing. Now when the Triune God chose
an innumerable number of people to be his, these people became
what is called in scriptures the body of Christ. And if just
one of those members were ever not brought into saving faith,
not saved by grace, not shown mercy, the body of Christ would
then be incomplete. This is how we can apply these
words, the Lord hath need of him to each of God's elect. Now I want to be I'm crystal
clear on this, as clear as I can possibly be. I am not saying
that the Lord needs anything from a lost sinner. We've all probably heard the
TV and radio evangelists say things like, the only hands that
God has are your hands, and the only feet that God has are your
feet, the only voice that God has is your voice. How is God
going to speak to anyone without your voice? If you don't speak
for God, who will? Yet in Isaiah 14, 24, we read
this. The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And
as I have purposed, so shall it stand. God does not need you
and does not need me to accomplish his purpose. He merely thinks.
and it comes to pass. Yet these words, the Lord hath
need of him, are true, but only true in the sense of us making
up his body, not in the sense of getting anything accomplished
for him. Paul told the Colossians, he
said, ye are complete in him, speaking of Christ. But also true is the fact that
Christ is complete in us. His body, his bride. He said, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. It is essential for the body
of Christ to be whole that all that the father gave to him in
eternity past come to him. All those that were chosen in
Christ before the world was ever spoken into being will indeed
come to saving faith, that faith that is given as a gift of God
to helpless sinners. This is how we can say these
words, the Lord hath need of him. And it's spoken concerning this
young colt, but they certainly can be applied to the elect of
God. This is why in God's due time,
everyone that he has chosen in eternity past will be brought
to saving faith. And the reason they'll be brought
to saving faith is because of these six words, the Lord hath
need of him. I think I made it in plenty of
time.