Would you turn back to Luke chapter
5? While you're turning there, Daniel Parks, missionary St.
Croix, is going to be here tonight preaching for us. I've entitled this message, What
We Need. What We Need. Now, as I said, this is actually
the Lord's first parable. He spake a parable also unto
them, verse 36. Now, who is the them that he
was speaking to? Well, let's go back to verse
30, but their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples
saying, why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Much
of the New Testament is spent with the Lord speaking to the
scribes and Pharisees, much of it. And this parable is addressed
to them. Verse 31, and 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 this is a veiled objection
to what he said. And they said unto him, why did
the disciples of John fast often and make prayers? And likewise
the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink. Something seems wrong with this.
The one group live a rough life of asceticism. They fast and
they make prayers. and the other group eats and
drinks and seemingly has an easier life. Now, which life is better?
What would be best for me? A life of fasting and making
prayers, a life of discipline, or a life of eating and drinking,
seemingly not having so much discipline? I know what seems
better. What is best for me? What should
I do? What would be more pleasing to
you? Which kind of life would be better? Now, Our Lord answers
this with a parable and he lets us know in this parable what
it is we really need. And that's what I want. I want
what I need. I want God to give me what I
need. So he gives them this parable. Now, what do I need? I know, I know. I need my sins
to be forgiven. Now that's what I need more than
anything else. I need my sins to be forgiven. And I need for God to justify
me. Now I can't do anything to secure
the forgiveness of sins. I can't do anything to get God
to justify me. I don't have any control in this.
I don't have any power in this. But I need the Lord to do this
for me. I need this. I need my sins forgiven. And I need for God to justify
me so I stand before Him without guilt. That's what I need. I
need God to do something for me. I can't do those things for
myself. I can't secure those things for myself. I need for
Him to do something for me. But not only do I need for him
to do something for me, I need for him to do something in me. You see, I have a heart that's
described in the Bible as desperately wicked and deceitful above all
things. That's the way the word of God
describes my heart. I have an evil heart. I'm aware of that. A sinful heart. And it's a heart that can't be
changed. It's no good. If God leads me to myself, I
won't love him. I know I won't. If God leads
me to myself, I won't come to Christ. I won't believe, I won't
repent unless God does something in me. I need him not only to
do something for me, I need him to do something in me. I need
him to give me a new heart, a heart that loves him, a heart that
loves his people. I need something done for me
and I need something done in me. Now, I've used this illustration
before, and some of you have already heard it. As a matter
of fact, I asked Lynn, I said, did I use that too much? And she said,
yes. But I'm going to use it again for some of you that haven't
heard it. Here's my need. Here's my need.
Here's your need. Imagine this scenario. You have
a man in prison sentenced to die in 24 hours. He's guilty
of the crimes that he's been charged of, and he's sentenced
to die in 24 hours. And this man also has a heart
disease, and the only way he can live is if he has a heart
transplant. Now here he has two needs, doesn't
he? He needs something done for him.
He needs a pardon from the governor. If he doesn't get that pardon,
he's going to be executed. And he needs something done in
him. He needs a new heart. Now, if
he receives a pardon from the governor, that'd be great. But
what if after having received that pardon, he doesn't get the
new heart? What good will it do him? He won't do him any good
at all, will it? None at all. He gets a heart transplant within
that 24 hours to save him, but he doesn't get a pardon from
the governor. Why? He'll get up from the operating
table and they'll strap him to a electric chair. That won't
do him any good. He needs both. He needs something done for him. He needs the governor to pardon
him, to put away his sin, and he needs something done in him.
He needs a new heart. Now that's my need, and that's
your need, and the Lord addresses this in this parable. I like what Augustus Toplady
said in that great hymn, Rock of Ages. He said, be of sin the
double cure. I need two things. I need something
done for me, and I need something done in me. Be of sin the double
cure. Saved from wrath. and make me
pure. That's what I need. I need to
be saved from wrath. I need to not be condemned. I
need the Lord to do something for me about my sin, to forgive
it, to justify me, and I need something done in me. I need
a new heart, a heart that believes, a heart that loves. That's why
David said, create in me a clean heart, oh God. Now the issue
is not what lifestyle is best for me or more pleasing to God.
The issue is what can be done for me about my guilt before
God and what can be done in me with regard to this heart of
mine that is no good and can't get better. Now verse 36, our
Lord gives this parable and this is the first parable he ever
gave. Verse 36. And he spake also a parable unto
them. These people who were trying
to figure out which lifestyle is the best, he brings them to
the real need. He spake also a parable unto
them. No man putteth a piece of a new
garment upon an old. If otherwise, then both the new
maketh the rent. And the peace that was taken
out of the new agreeeth not. It doesn't match 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 desires new, for he saith, the old is better. Now, in this parable, our Lord
tells us about the work for us, the work in us, and the evidence
that he has done this work for us and this work in us. And here's
the first thing he says, you don't cut out a piece of new,
unshrunk, Unmilled, unworked cloth and use it to patch up
holes in an old garment. If you do that, three things
will take place. First, it won't match. There
won't be any agreement. It won't look good. Secondly,
the holes in the old cloth will actually become larger. The rib
will grow worse. That strong material of the new
cloth will shrink, and it'll tear up and make the rib worse
in the old cloth, and you'll no longer have a complete piece
of new cloth. It will be marred. Now, I need
a garment. I need a covering. You know,
the Bible so often describes God's salvation, God's righteousness
as a garment, as a covering to cover us. I need a covering. I need a garment that God can
accept. I need a robe of righteousness
to be accepted by God. The Lord said, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter the kingdom of God. I need a garment. Now most people, matter of fact,
this is the way we all think by nature. I thought this, you
thought this. Most people realize they have
holes in their own personal righteousness. I've got issues. I've got sins.
There are things that I've done that quite frankly are wrong.
I've sinned against my conscience. I've sinned against light. I've
done things that are wrong. There's no doubt about that.
I've got holes in my righteousness. I have issues and sins that mar
my righteousness. So I will use Christ's righteousness
to patch up the holes in my own personal righteousness. That's
what everybody naturally thinks. I'll use Christ's righteousness
to patch up the holes in my own personal righteousness. Now,
there's a big problem with that. First, there's no agreement. There's no match. These are incongruent
and opposed. You see, that garment of our
righteousness is actually what the Bible calls filthy, rags. Turn to Isaiah chapter 64. Isaiah
64. Now I don't, um, you know, the word
filthy that we're going to be looking at is actually in the
original, the word minstress. Now that's a disgusting image
and that is what the Bible uses, that is what God uses, the word
God uses to describe our righteousness. That righteousness that we think
has holes in it that needs help, we need help, we need some patchwork,
we need some framework. Now look at Isaiah chapter 64. V. 5, Thou meetest him that rejoiceth,
and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways.
Behold, thou art wroth, for we have sinned, and in those, and
those sin is continuance, and we shall be saved. But we are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And
there's none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself
to take hold of thee. For thou hast hid thy face from
us and has consumed us because of our iniquities." Now, what
does he call his righteousness? Filthy rags. Now, would you have
a garment of Christ's righteousness and filthy rags? That doesn't
work, does it? To take the spotless white linen
of his righteousness and use it to plug up the holes in your
own so you have a garment made of a combination of filthy rags
and his righteousness? That will not work. I must have a garment. You must
have a garment. made of nothing but the personal
righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is what the Bible calls
justification. justification. If I'm justified
that means I don't have anything that I'm guilty of. That means
I have no sin to be ashamed of. That means I stand before God's
holy law without sin. That's what it is to be covered
in the robe of his righteousness. Now do you find in your heart
a longing and a desire like Paul to have nothing but his righteousness?
My soul, I do. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. That's my prayer every day. Oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own
righteousness. I don't want to have anything
to do with that which is of the law, but that which is through
the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of God.
by faith. That's the righteousness I want.
I don't want some kind of patchwork to plug in the holes in my own
righteousness because I know that my righteousness is nothing
more than filthy rags. I must have His righteousness. Now turn to Romans chapter 10. You know, people always wonder,
when is it that a man is saved? When is it that a man really
is saved? And I wanna know, and here's
the reason I wanna know, I wanna know if I'm really saved. That's why I wanna know this.
When is it that a man is really saved? Where he actually comes
to a saving knowledge, a saving understanding when God actually
does something for him. Now look in Romans 10. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. Obviously they were not saved
and Paul's desire was that they would be saved. My heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved for
I bear them record That they have a zeal of God. Now these
people, the problem is not that they're not religious. They have
a zeal for God and they have a zeal for the God of the Bible.
They open up the scriptures, the same scriptures we open up.
They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. And going about, because of this
ignorance of God's righteousness, they go about to establish their
own righteousness. Now, listen to this real carefully,
please. When I'm talking about our righteousnesses being as
filthy rags, and somebody says, you know, that's just so negative
and so, why does he talk about stuff like that? If that is my
response, it's because I'm ignorant of God's righteousness. That's
the only reason. if I see his true character. I'm going to see that about myself.
I will. Now these people are ignorant
of God's righteousness. They're ignorant of his righteous
character. They're ignorant of the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the only righteousness that God will accept. They're
ignorant. They're ignorant of God's righteousness in their
damnation. They think there's something they can do in order
to save themselves. Ignorant of God's righteousness. And because
of that ignorance, the scripture says they go about to establish
their own righteousness. Lord, I've done this. Now respond
to me. Give me, do this. Say, I've done
this. Now you do that. They go bargaining
with God. Going about to establish their
own righteousness. And doing that, Romans 10, 3
says, they've not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. to everyone
that believeth." Turn back a few pages to Romans chapter 3, verse 19. Now, we know, Romans 3, 19, we
know, no doubt about this, that what thing soever the law saith,
It sayeth to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. That's our state before God.
And that's where the Bible begins. The Bible begins by letting us
know our state before God. Guilty. Doesn't try to prove
God's existence or anything like that. It just says, you're guilty. I'm guilty before God. Therefore,
is there anything we can do to change this state? Verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is what? The knowledge of sin. But, I thank God for the buts
of the scriptures. Now, the righteousness of God. without the law, without my personal
obedience to the law. And I need a righteousness like
that because I don't have any personal obedience to the law.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all of them that believe. For there's no difference, for
we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace, through the redemption that's in Christ
Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past." Now, that almost doesn't make sense
to us, naturally. To declare His righteousness for the remission?
I can see declaring His forgiveness, or His grace, or His love, but
there it says it declares His righteousness. for the remission
of sins that are past. God is righteous in putting away
my sins because Christ died for my sins. He gave me His righteousness
and this declares the very righteousness of God. Now this is the righteousness
that I need. Not a patchwork righteousness
of Christ and my own, but His righteousness only. Now, His righteousness the merits,
the law keeping, the obedience, the good deeds, the life of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His righteousness is my personal
righteousness before God. Now that's what I need. That's
what I need. I need my sins to be forgiven
me. And I need his righteousness as my personal righteousness
before God. And you know, this is when a
man is saved. I asked you, when is a man saved? I know when a
man is saved. A man is saved when he trusts
Jesus Christ as his righteousness before God. And he looks nowhere
else. That's when a man is saved. And
before that, he's never bowed the knee to Christ. A man is
saved when he actually trusts Christ's personal righteousness
as his own personal righteousness before God. Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now,
I don't want to take this new glorious cloth and cut out a
piece and plug it up the holes in my own righteousness. That's
wrong. That's filthy. My righteousness
is nothing more than filthy rags. I simply want to have that new
garment, Christ's righteousness only as my righteousness before
God. That's what I need done for me.
I need him to give me this righteousness. Lord, give me your righteousness. Save me by your righteousness.
Cause Christ to be my righteousness before God. I need that done
for me. But not only do I need something
done for me, I need something done in me. You see, I know this
for a fact about myself. If God leaves me to myself, I
cannot believe. It's not that I may not. It's
that I cannot. I cannot love. Not love God with
all my heart and all my soul and all my strength. I can't
walk in his ways. I can't. My heart's no good.
It will not do it. Be honest about yourself. Be
honest about yourself. The heart I'm describing about
myself, you got the same thing. All men do by nature. My heart
cannot be improved. If the Lord says to me in my
natural state, here's what you need to do, and he gives me something
to do, I can't do it. I know that's being honest about
it. I can't do it unless the Lord
does something for me. I've got an evil heart that cannot
be, can't do anything. It can't be improved. Now most
folks, when they look at the gospel, they think, well, the
gospel is God offering you salvation. And if you take it, then he'll
do something for you. But the ball's in your court.
But it doesn't work that way. I need a new heart. Not a heart
that can be changed and so on. I need a new heart. Create in
me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.
I need God to give me a new heart. Now, let's go on to Luke chapter
5. Our Lord addresses this in verse
37. 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."
Now, new wine is wine that is still in the process of fermentation.
And you would put this new wine into these new wine skins that
had enough elasticity to stretch out. If you put the new wine
in old wine skins that don't have any elasticity during the
process of fermentation, the wine skins would burst. The wine
would be spilled. You wouldn't get it. And the
bottles or the wine skins would be burst. New wine must be put
into new wineskins. Not old ones that'll burst, but
new wineskins. Now what this is telling us is
that the wine of the gospel, our old heart won't hold it.
It won't hold it. If the Lord poured his grace
into the heart that you have by nature, it'd all spill out.
Wouldn't hold it for a second. It just wouldn't do it. New wine,
he's got to give you a new heart that'll receive his grace. And
if he doesn't give me a new heart, he can pour all the wine of his
grace into my heart and it will all spill out. I must have a
new heart. One that was not there before
that can receive his grace. This is what is called Christ
in you. the hope of glory. This is what
this new heart is. Christ in you. It's a heart that
was not there before. That's why David, I've already
quoted it once, David said, creating me a clean heart, oh God, and
renew a right spirit within me. My heart's no good. I need a
new heart to receive His grace. I can't even receive anything
unless He gives me a heart to receive it. I need a heart that
believes. You know, I can so distinctly
remember trying to believe and I couldn't do it. I remember
trying to repent and I didn't even know what it meant. And
then I found myself believing. And I found myself in a state
of repentance. It's because God gave me a new
heart, a heart that believes. Christ in you. Turn to Galatians
1. I'm sorry, Galatians 1. Paul said in verse 15, But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son, what's it say next? In me. In me. Beloved, it is not enough for
God to reveal Christ to me. It's not enough, because if all
he does is reveal Christ to me, I'll forget him. It'll leak out.
I need him to reveal Christ in me. Christ in you, the hope of
glory. That is the new wine poured into
these new bottles. Christ in me. The hope of glory. Now, here's what a man needs. A man needs God to do something
for him. I need him to justify me. I need
him to forgive me of my sins. And I need him to give me a new
heart. It won't do any good for his grace to be poured in my
old heart. I need to be given a new heart that'll receive,
that'll believe, that'll repent, that'll love. That's what I need.
I'm like that fella on death row that needs a heart transplant.
I need pardon. And I need a new heart. Now,
here's the question. What is the evidence that he
has done this for me and in me? Can I know? What is the evidence
that he has justified me? What is the evidence that he's
given me a new heart? Well, let's go back to that parable,
the last verse, Luke chapter five. Verse 39. No man, also having drunk old
wine, straightway desireth new. For he saith, the old is better. Now let's get this word desire.
Desire. Your desires or your desire is
what you are. If you want to know what you
really are, what is it you desire? Do you desire to have His righteousness
only? Do you desire for Him to give
you a new heart? One that doesn't have anything
to do with you. It's His work and His work alone.
Desire. Desire. That's a very important
word. He says, no man having drunk old wine straightway or
immediately desires new, for he saith, the old is better. Now, what is better, old wine
or new? Anybody that knows anything about
wine knows old wine is much better than new wine. Now, I guess I
need to say this. Some people say, well, alcohol
is seeing. No, it's not. Getting drunk is
sin. Intoxication is sin. No doubt
about that. But there's no sin in wine or
alcohol or things. The Lord drank wine. The Lord
made wine at a wedding. And it's just foolish to try
to make this thing a, alcohol, wine is sinful. No, it's not.
No, it's not. And anybody that's ever drunk
wine knows that old wine is much better than new. It tastes better. Lot better. How come you spend
so much more on a bottle of old wine than you do new wine? It's
cheap. You don't have to pay much for
it. You know why? Because it's no good. It doesn't
taste good. Old wine, the older the wine
is, the more expensive it is. I mean, I've gone to those places.
where they'll have a bottle of wine for $600, $700. Somebody's
an idiot for paying that for it, I think. But still, I mean,
there's something about it. I'd like to try it, though. If
I did it for free, I'd like to try it. Old wine, something that's
so expensive and so good. Now, if you've ever drunk old
wine, you just flat out don't desire new. You say, the old
is better. It's better. Now, if you've ever
heard the old gospel, and the old gospel I'm talking about
is the one that was the gospel before time began. The lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Covenant blessings. You ever
drink of the old wine, you just won't desire new. You say the
old is better. I read this somewhere and I love
this statement. Beyond the best is the better. Christ is better. The gospel of Christ is better. Now, if you read the book of
Hebrews, I love the book of Hebrews. Some 12 or 13 times, the writer
to the Hebrews uses the word better, better, better. This is better. We read, for
instance, in the book of Hebrews of a better hope. Now, I have
a hope that his righteousness is my righteousness before God.
And I have a hope that He gave me a new heart. Now, I have a hope that I'm gonna
stand before God without guilt. That He's gonna look me over
and say, I'm well pleased with that man. I've got a hope. Now,
which hope would be better? My works or His works? Which is better, my hope of being
saved by His righteousness or my own? Which hope's better? We read of a better testament
in the book of Hebrews. Now that testament has to do
with the will. The last will and testament. A better testament. Now which
salvation is better? A salvation where God decreed
your salvation by His will? or a salvation that is somehow
dependent upon your will, your reception, you're doing something.
Which one's better? Now, I know if my will was any
good, I'd never sin again. If my will was good, for instance,
if I had a good, and this is a trite observation, but yesterday
I ate stuff when I was at that conference that I knew would
make me sick. But I couldn't resist it. I didn't
have the power of the will to not do it. Last night, I got
sick. I got real sick. Well, if I had a will that was
good, I would say, I'm not going that direction. I'm not going
to do that tonight. But no, I got a weak will. It's no good. I like what John Chapman said.
He said, John Chapman said, if I had a free will, I'd lose 30 pounds.
But I have a hard time on that. And the point being? Be honest
about your will. Your will is your biggest problem.
It's no good. It's chained to an evil nature.
Now, what's best? Salvation by God's will or salvation
by your will? Oh, His will is better, a better
testament, a better covenant. Now, covenant is agreement between
two parties. Now what's a better covenant?
A covenant where you're gonna be in heaven if you obey or you'll
be in heaven if Christ obeys for you. What's a better covenant?
Oh, it's infinitely better. The old's better. I don't desire
the new. Don't have any desire for it.
We read of a better promise. A promise dependent upon your
obedience or a promise simply because he promised it and it
must be. Because He promised it, it shall be. Which is better?
Oh, the old is better. I don't want to have anything
to do with the new. We read of a better sacrifice.
Which is a better sacrifice, His blood or your works? Which
is a better sacrifice, His blood or animal blood? Why, He's infinitely
better. The old is better. Now here is how I can know. If
God has justified me and if God has given me a new heart, I will
not desire new wine. All I desire is old. The old wine of the covenant. I want to end with looking at
a passage of scripture in Hebrews chapter eight, where this word
better is used. Hebrews chapter 8. If you want
to understand the gospel, if you want to understand the message
of the scripture, Hebrews chapter 8 is a mighty good place to begin. Verse 6. But now, Hebrews 8 verse 6, but
now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ, better than the Old Testament, by how much also
he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established
upon better promises. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, that's talking about salvation by works. Salvation
conditioned upon you. If that first covenant had been
faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
But it was faulty. And what was the faultiness of
it? It won't save. The problem's with me. The problem's
not with the covenant. The problem's with me. But it won't do me any
good. God's law is glorious. It's holy. I love God's law, but it doesn't
do me any good because I can't keep it. In that sense, it's
faulty in that it will not save. Verse 8, For finding fault with
them, he saith, Behold, The days come, saith the Lord, when I'll
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the
house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in
my covenant. And I regarded them not. The
problem was with them. But this is the covenant that
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I'll put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts.
I'll be to them. God, and they shall be to me
a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord. For all shall know me from the least to the greatest, because
I'm going to be the one that's going to be their teacher, and
I'll make myself known to them. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness." In this new covenant, he doesn't say, I will
if, he says, I will. I will be merciful, and that
word merciful is propitious. I'll be appeased. I'll put their
sin away. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more because
there's nothing there to remember. That's how completely he has
put away sin. Now, is that better? Is that
better? And if you don't think that's
better, it's because you don't have a new heart. It's because
God hasn't done anything for you. But if God's done something
for you, you say, this is better. This is all I want. This is all
I desire. The old is better. And then he says, the new covenant,
he made the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth old. I love the way he talks about
the Old Testament in that sense. He says it decays and waxes old. Salvation by law, salvation by
works, put it away. It doesn't work. It's ready to
vanish away. Now here I am on death row, needing
a heart transplant. Well, I receive the pardon, I'm
free, and I'm given a new heart, and I say, This is better. Let's pray.