Is not that I did you wrong? Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I've entitled this morning's
message, What We Need. What We Need. And this is taken from the first
parable that our Lord ever gave. We begin in Luke chapter 5, verse
36, and He spake also a parable unto them. Now let me read the
parable. No man putteth a piece of new
garment upon an old, if otherwise then both the new maketh a rent,
and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with
the old. And no man putteth new wine into
old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be
spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be
put into new bottles, and both are preserved. No man also, having
drunk old wine, straightway desireth new, for he saith, The old is
better. Now that is the Lord's first
parable, and he gives this in response to what we need. Now let me show you why I say
that. Who was this parable spoken to? He spake also a parable unto
them. Who is the them? Well, let's
begin reading in verse 30 of this same chapter. But their
scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying,
Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Jesus
answering, said unto them, they that are whole, need not a physician, but they
that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners, to repentance." Now, when they heard that glorious
statement, and they said unto Him, this is really by way of
objection, why do the disciples of John fast oft and make prayers,
and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine eat
and drink? Now the disciples of the Pharisees
and John practice an ascetic life. They deny themselves food,
and they spend much time in prayer, and they just lead a very severe
life, and your disciples seem to not do anything like that. They seem to just enjoy themselves.
Which way is better? What is more needful to me? Should
I be living a more ascetic life, denying myself of things? Or should I be happy like your
disciples and just seem to enjoy themselves? What's really better?
What do I need? What's more pleasing to God?
What could I do that could make it better for me? What is it
that I need to do? Do I need to fast? Do I need
to pray more? Do I need to fill in the blank? What do I need? And he spake also a parable unto
them. What do I need? I want to give an illustration
that I hope will be helpful regarding what I need. I know this, I need
something done for me and I need something done in me. I need
something done for me. I need to have my sins forgiven. I can't do anything to cause
them to be forgiven, but I do need, now this I know I need,
I need to have my sins forgiven. And I need to be justified. I
can't stand before God if I'm not. I need to have my sins forgiven,
and I need to have a perfect record before God's holy law. I need that and I can't do anything
for that. I need to have something done
for me. Now not only do I need to have
something done for me, I need to have something done in me.
You see, I, in and of myself, I have a heart that will not
believe, that will not repent, that has no love to God. It's
no good. It's beyond improvement. It's
incapable of improvement. It can't do well. I can't believe,
I can't repent, I can't love unless something is done in me. Now here's what I need. I need
something done for me, and I need something done in me. And you,
my dear friend, need something done for you, and you need something
done in you. Now here's an illustration of
what I'm speaking of. Suppose there was a man on death
row. and he was only given 24 hours
to live and he was going to be executed in 24 hours. And this man also had a heart
disease that could not be cured and he would die within 24 hours
if he was not given a heart transplant. Now this man is in double trouble,
isn't He's due to be executed in 24 hours, and he is also due
to die within 24 hours if he's not given a new heart, if he
doesn't have a heart transplant. Now, what good would it do this
man if he received a pardon from the governor saying, you're free,
you're not gonna be executed, but he didn't get the heart transplant? He still would die in 24 hours. What good would it do if the
man did indeed get the heart transplant, and all of a sudden
he was well, but he was still going to be executed in 24 hours
because he hadn't received the pardon? Why, he would go from
the operating table to the execution place to be executed. That wouldn't
do him any good. You see, he needs both a pardon
and he needs a heart transplant. That's what he needs. He needs
both of those things. To only have one will do him
no good. He needs both. You see the issue is not which
lifestyle is best or most pleasing to God or what do I need to do
to be more pleasing to God. The issue is what can be done
about my guilt. What can be done about this evil heart that I
have that cannot be better, the heart that Jeremiah described
as desperately wicked and deceitful above all things? I like what
the songwriter said, Augustus Taub, lady. He said, be of sin
the double cure. Save me from its guilt and power. That's what I need. I need something
done for me. and I need something done in
me." Now the Lord gives this parable to answer the question
as to what we need, what we need done for us and what we need
done in us. In verse 36, He spake also a
parable unto them, No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon
an old. Let's say you have an old coat
and it's got a tear in it. You don't take a piece of new
cloth to patch up the hole in that goat. Unworked, unmilled
cloth. Cloth that hadn't been washed
yet, hadn't shrunk yet. You don't take a piece of new cloth and
put it on an old, dry-rotten, holey garment. You just don't do that. No man
putteth a piece of new garment upon an old. If otherwise, then
both the new maketh a rent. In other words, if you put that
new cloth on an old garment, when it's shrunk, the hole that's
in that old garment will become bigger and larger. It shrinks
and the strength of the cloth will tear it up. And the piece
that was taken out agrees not with the old. They don't match.
They don't wear the same color. You don't do that. Now what is
the point the Lord is making? Well, I need a garment. I need
a covering. I need a robe of righteousness
to be accepted by God. You need a garment. You need
a covering. You need a robe of righteousness,
perfect righteousness to be accepted by God. Now most people believe
that they have some problems with their garment. Most people
believe they have some holes in their garment. some issues,
and I've got sinful things that I've done. I'll admit to that.
I've done some bad things, and I've got issues in my life. And
they think that Christ and His righteousness will patch up the
holes in their own righteousness, and so they'll have a patchwork
garment that God could accept. Oh, we have a righteousness,
but we have bad things, too. We have sins. We have issues. There are things we've done wrong,
and so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to use Christ to make
up for the deficiencies. I'm going to use Christ to patch
the holes in my garment, and that will make my garment acceptable. No. No. That won't work. That's not true,
and here's why. My garment, my righteousness,
my covering, According to the Scripture, my righteousness is
as filthy rags. That's what Isaiah 64, 6 says.
Our righteousnesses, the good things about us, the things that
we think would recommend us to God, our prayers, our giving,
our helping people, all the good things we do, our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags before God. God's holy. Our righteousness
really is not righteousness at all. It's just whitewashed sin. Our garment is filthy. Will I take the perfect righteousness
of Christ and add it to my filthy garments to make me a whole garment? No, no, not at all. I need His righteousness. You see, His righteousness is
not going to match with mine because mine is a filthy garment.
I need a whole garment. I don't need a patchwork garment.
I need a whole garment made of nothing but the righteousness
of Christ. Nothing else will do me any good. That's what I need. I need a
garment made of the righteousness of Christ only. I'm not going to take His righteousness
and use it to patch up holes of my own. Now this is what the
Bible calls justification. Very important word in the scripture,
justification. This is what God does for the
sinner. This is what I need done for me. And only God can do this.
He justifies me. You know what that means? That
means I have no guilt. I have no guilt. When He justifies
me, I stand before God without guilt. I stand before God just. I stand before God without sin. Now how in the world can that
be when I'm sinful? He takes the righteousness of
His Son and He gives it to me. He took my sin and gave it to
His Son and it became His and He suffered under His Father's
wrath, sin. And He takes His own, the righteousness
of His Son, and He gives it to me. That's my garment. It's not
me and Christ. It's Christ only. Justification,
His righteousness is my very righteousness before God. I am justified. Now, that's what
He does for me. But not only does He do something
for me, He must do something in me. Now, remember that fellow
that was condemned on death row with only 24 hours to live because
of a heart disease. He needed a heart transplant.
Let's say he got the pardon. What good would it do him if
he didn't get a new heart also? It wouldn't do him any good at
all. He would die anyway. He must have a new heart. Now, I need something done in
me. I need something done for me,
and I need something done in me. You see, I still have, right
now even as I'm talking to you, I still possess an evil heart
of unbelief. And you do too, whether you see
it or not. You know, the only people who
don't see it are the people who have never seen God. If you ever see who
the Lord is, you'll know you have an evil heart. I've heard
people say, well, he's got a good heart. No, he doesn't. No, he
doesn't. No one has a good heart. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. There's none righteous. And the only thing that prevents
someone from seeing that is they've never seen the Lord. If you ever
see the Lord, you'll know that you have an evil heart. Now,
I have this evil heart. It's right there with me. I feel
it right now, even as I speak. Something needs to be done about
my heart. You see, my heart cannot be improved. If it's God changing my heart,
my God does not change, He gives a new heart. He gives a new heart,
not a changed heart. You see, my heart, it can't be
improved. It's dead. God saw the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's the state of my heart.
That heart cannot be improved. That heart cannot be changed.
I need a heart transplant. I need a new heart. Now, look at the next thing the
Lord says in this parable. He says in verse 37, No man putteth
new wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles
and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must
be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. Now, what does that mean? Well, no man takes new wine,
that's wine that is still going process of fermentation. It expands. Gases expand and so on. No man
takes new wine. He wants it to go through the
process of fermentation where there will be gases expanding
and puts it in an old dry wineskin. It's not talking about glass
bottles. It's talking about an old dry wineskin. It's lost its
elasticity. It won't stretch. If you put
that wine into those old bottles like that, those old wine skins,
all they'll do is burst, and you'll lose the wine, and you'll
lose the bottles. New wine must be put into new
wine skins that can stretch, that have elasticity, and that
way, both will be preserved. Now, this gives us a picture
of what the Lord does. He doesn't take His grace and
mercy and put it in my old heart, because my old heart will not
hold it. He gives me a new heart. He doesn't improve my old heart.
He doesn't change my old heart. He gives me a new heart that
can hold His grace, that can hold His mercy, that causes me
to love Him. He said, a new heart will I give
thee. The reason I believe is because
He's given me a new heart. It's not the old heart that believes.
It's the new heart. You don't take new wine and put
it into old bottles, it would burst. No, you put new wine into
new bottles. David understood this. That's
why he said, Create in me a clean heart, O God. You see, my heart
is no good, and I need you to give me a new one. I need you
to create in me a new heart. You know, I hear preachers say,
Give God your heart. Give God your heart. Now, what would he do with it? What
would he do with that old thing? Wouldn't you not be far wiser
to ask him to give you a new heart? He said, a new heart will
I give you. This is what I need, something
done in me. Paul said in Galatians 115, when it pleased God who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me. This is what I need. I need something
done in me. It's not enough for Him to reveal
Himself to me. If all He does is reveal Himself
to me, I'll lose it. I need something done in me.
Christ, in you, the hope of glory, a work of God's grace in me. Now, that's what I need. I need
something done for me. I need my sin to be forgiven. And I need to be given a perfect
standing before God's holy law. That's something only God can
do. But not only do I need something done for me, I need something
done in me. I need to be given a new heart. A heart that believes, a heart
that repents, a heart that loves God, a heart that perseveres
all the way to the end, a heart that loves people. I need Him
to give me a new heart. Now, how is it that I can know
that God has done something for me? And how is it that I can
know that God has done something in me? Well, let's finish the
parable. He says, No man, also having
drunk old wine, straightway desireth new. For he saith, The old is
better. Now, if you ever buy wine, you
know that the older the wine is, the more expensive it is.
and the better it is. Old wine is better. New wine is not as good. Now, somebody may be thinking,
are you saying, are you talking about drinking alcohol and drinking
wine? Drunkenness is wrong. But drinking wine is not wrong.
The Lord drank wine. The Lord made wine. And so don't
get caught there. It's unfortunate that people
look at drinking wine as a sin. The Lord drank wine. He made
wine at the wedding. Sin is not in things, sin's in
your heart. Now you can abuse it. You can
abuse alcohol and that's wrong, but there's no sin in wine itself. He uses this as part of this
parable where it says, no man having drunk old wine, the better
wine. straightway desires new. He doesn't
want new. He says the old is better. He's talking about the desire,
what you desire. You drink old wine, expensive
wine, wine on the lees, well refined, and you will not desire
new wine. It just does not taste as good. Now, if you drink the old wine
of the gospel, You know, the gospel is so...