Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter five? I preached from this passage
of scripture about a year ago and read it again this week,
and it touched me, it moved me, I saw some things in it I don't
think I saw as clearly last time, and I'd like to try to preach
from it again. I have entitled this message, My Real Need. My real need. Let's begin reading in verse
thirty six. And he spake also a parable unto
them. I think you'll find this interesting
before I read this parable, you know, this is the first parable
our Lord ever gave chronologically. This is the first parable. He
gave a lot of parables and this was his first. And he spake also
a parable unto them, 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, it says in verse 36, he spake also a parable unto them. Now, the fact that he spake also
a parable tells us that he was addressing a particular issue
with this parable. This parable was a response to
something that he'd heard. He spake also a parable unto
them. Well, who is the them that is
being spoken of in the text? Well, look in verse 31, and Jesus
answering said unto them. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. Well, who is he speaking
to? Well, look, verse 30, it tells
us, but their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples,
saying, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Now, he's addressing these people
who made this objection. Why do you eat with publicans
and sinners? It was the scribes and the Pharisees,
and he spake this parable also to them. And I love his answer
to their question. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, Why do you and your disciples eat with publicans
and sinners? Well, here's why. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. Lord, I'm sick. I need a physician. Now they say in verse thirty-three,
and they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often,
and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees,
that thine eat and drink? Why do the disciples of John
and the Pharisees practice rigorous discipline? They fast. They deprive themselves. They're
ascetic in their lifestyle. They make long prayers and your
disciples just don't do that. It seems like they don't do as
much. As the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees,
it seems like your disciples just eat and drink and seem to
enjoy themselves and have a tolerably good time, while these other
fellows, they deny themselves of many things, and they spend
much time in a very disciplined style of life. Now, why is that? Why do your disciples eat and
drink whenever they want to, whereas the disciples of John,
they practice this rigid, disciplined life? Now, the issue is, why
do they do this and your disciples don't do that? And that's the
issue they were making. They were making an issue out
of do's and don'ts. Which is the best way to live?
With a lot of fasting and prayer? Or like your disciples do with
just eating and drinking? Which is the best way to live?
What is the most effective way? And look how our Lord answers
them. Verse 34, He said unto them, Can you make the children
of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?
Now, you fast when you feel a great need. And you're fasting to ask
the Lord to give you that which you feel like you need and that
you don't have. Now, he said, can the children
fast when I'm with them? Now, here's the point. If I'm
with them, what do they need? They seem to need of nothing.
If I'm with them, why would they fast? I'm with them. Verse 35, But the days will come
when the bridegroom should be taken away from them, and then
shall they fast in those days. Now, the day is coming when I
leave them, as far as they can tell. They're going to see me
crucified. They're going to see me ascend back to glory. They're
going to be thinking they're left alone and they'll fast then.
Oh, how they'll cry out to me in their need of me at that time. Verse 36, And he spake also a
parable unto them. These people who were making
this issue of what you need to do and what you don't need to
do, should you be a pastor and a prayer or should you be an
eater or a drinker? What should we do? What is the most effective
way? What is the best way? And he spake a parable to answer
that question. And in this parable, he addresses
our true need. He addresses my need, what I
actually need, and he addresses what you actually need. My need
is seen not in what I need to do or don't do. My need is seen
in what I need to have Him to do for me, and what I need to
have Him to do in me. My need is not seen in what I
do or don't do, what I practice or don't practice. My need is
seen in what I must have Him do for me. And that's what he
addresses in this passage of scripture. Now, I want to give
you a scenario that I believe will show us our need, and I
think it will help us in understanding this parable. Now, here's the
scenario I want to give. Here's a man on death row. He's got 24 hours to live. He's
already been sentenced. He's already been found guilty.
He's got 24 hours to live. Within 24 hours, they're going
to put him in the electric chair and electrocute him to death.
That's a grim picture, isn't it? But this man has another
problem. Not only is he on death row awaiting
execution, he also needs a heart transplant. And if he doesn't
get this heart transplant, he's going to die within 24 hours.
Medicine won't do him any good. You can give him any kind of
medicine and it won't help his heart. The only way he can survive
is if he has a heart transplant. And if he doesn't get that heart
transplant within 24 hours, he is going to die. Now, what does
this fellow need? You know, what he does or doesn't
do is a mute point at this time. It's a moot point. What does
he need? Well, first of all, he needs a pardon. He needs a pardon. And he needs
a new heart. He needs a heart transplant.
And that's what he needs. What would it benefit this man
if he received at the last hour a pardon from the governor? What would it benefit him? if
he didn't get the heart transplant? Wouldn't benefit him a bit, would
it? He'd still be gonna die if he doesn't have that heart transplant.
Let's say, let's turn it around and say, all of a sudden somebody,
they find a donor for a heart and he receives a heart that
they can transplant within that 24 hour period. What good would
that do him if he had the heart transplant if he didn't get the
pardon? It wouldn't do him any good at
all, would it? He needs both. He needs a pardon and he needs
a heart transplant. And if he doesn't have both of
these, he's going to die. And remember, medicine won't
do him any good. He has to have a new heart. That's what this
man needs. And this illustrates our condition. We have been sentenced because
of our sin to death. The wages of sin is death. And you and I are on death row,
and there's not one thing we can do to stop that. We're on death row, and not only
are we on death row, not only do we need a pardon, I need a
new heart. Medicine won't do me any good.
I need a new heart that will prevent me from dying. Like top
lady said, rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in
thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy riven side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Save
from wrath and make me pure. I need the pardon and I need
the new heart. I need something done for me.
And this is what I need. Oh, how desperately I need this.
I need something done for me. I need Him to pardon me of my
sin. I need to be delivered from death
row. And I also need a new heart.
A heart that believes, a heart that repents, a heart that loves.
I desperately need that to be done for me. As I said, what
I can do or not do is a mute point. What can this fellow do
that can get him out of this predicament if he's on death
row? And he needs a heart transplant. There's not a thing he can do.
He's totally dependent on somebody to pardon him, the governor,
the president, whatever. He's totally dependent on receiving
a full three pardon. And he must have a new heart. Now, with that in mind, let's
look at the parable. Verse 36. And he spake also a parable unto
them. Now, here's the parable. No man
putteth a piece of new garment upon an old. If otherwise, then
both the new maketh the rich, and the piece that was taken
out of the new agreeth not with the old. Now, our Lord tells
us you don't take a piece of cloth, and when we read in Matthew
and Mark's account of this passage of Scripture, he calls it a new
piece of unshrunk, unworked Unmilled cloth. You don't take a piece
of cloth that's unworked and unmilled but still going to shrink
when you wash it and use it to patch up holes in an old garment.
If you do, three things will take place. First, he says it
won't match. It won't agree. Secondly, the
hole that you're patching will actually become worse because
the strength of the new cloth, the unshrunk cloth, the unmilled
cloth, When it shrinks up, when you wash it, what will it end
up doing is making the tears in the cloth worse. It will make
a larger hole. And thirdly, the new cloth will
no longer be a complete piece of new cloth. It will have something
cut out of it. It will no longer be a piece
of new cloth. Now, what is this new cloth that he's speaking
of? Well, both Matthew and Mark's
account use a word that means, as I said, unwrought, raw. Unworked by man and you know
what that is. That is the obedience of the
Lord Jesus Christ Untouched by human hands Man hasn't worked
on this man hasn't done anything with it. It is the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ Now we don't use the obedience of
Christ the righteousness of Christ the merits of Christ is law-keeping
We don't use it to patch up holes in our own righteousness. I God will accept the good and
cover up the holes in the bad parts of us with Christ's righteousness.
No, it doesn't work that way. We do not need a garment that
is comprised partly of Christ's righteousness and partly of our
own. Now, here's why. If we do that. There's no agreement. If I use
Christ's righteousness and use it to patch up the holes in my
own and I've got the good part and I've got the bad part. You
know what? There's no matching. There's no agreement at all.
Christ's righteousness, His perfect law keeping, His obedience is
that fine linen, clean and white. You know what mine is? You know
the answer to that? Filthy rags. Is there any agreement
between fine linen, clean and white and filthy rags? Would
you want a garment? Made of fine linen, clean and
white, and filthy rags? Of course you wouldn't. There's
no agreement between the two. Secondly, we're actually worse
off when we try this. Hold your finger there, Luke
5, and turn over to 2 Peter. Chapter 2, verse 21. Actually,
let's start reading verse 20. For if after they've escaped
the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, they're again entangled therein and overcome,
the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For
it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness. Do you know the way of righteousness?
Now it would be better for these people to not even have known
the way of righteousness than after they've known it to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it's happened
unto them according to the true proverb, the dog has turned to
his own vomit again and the pig that was washed to her wallowing.
in the mire. You're actually worse off than
you were before when you try to take Christ's righteousness,
his perfect obedience, and use it to patch up the holes in your
own. And thirdly, we would no longer have a complete righteousness. That perfect righteousness has
a piece cut out of it. So obviously, you can't use the
perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ to patch up the
holes in your own righteousness. Now, you see that. But I want
to give you a word of warning while I'm talking about this.
I want you to listen very, very carefully. What I'm saying, I
can't express how important I believe what I'm getting ready to say
is. Now, here's what must be done
for us. We must have a garment made of
nothing but Christ. We must have a garment made of
nothing but Christ, his perfect obedience charged to our account. Now, a pastor friend of mine
told me about a man who called him. And he'd known this man
quite some time, and this man had professed to be a believer,
but he called this pastor friend of mine and said, well, I've
just been saved and I'm going to be baptized. And he said,
well, I thought you were a believer. He said, no, I wasn't. I've just
been saved. Here's what is going on with
me. He said, I am trusting the imputed righteousness of Christ
as moment of salvation. You know what my friend said
to him? I fear you've missed it. I'm not trusting. the imputed
righteousness of Christ as my only ground of salvation. I am
trusting Him who is my righteousness. I'm trusting a person. I'm not
trusting my understanding of a doctrine. I am trusting Him
who is my righteousness. Salvation is trusting a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what you believe is determined
by who you believe. I love what Brother Millian said.
You know, I used to didn't understand it, but I understand it now.
He used to make this statement. You don't come to Christ through
doctrine. You come to your doctrine through
Christ. Now, that statement used to bother me because I thought,
well, how can you come to Christ apart from his doctrine? I didn't
really understand what he was meaning. What he was saying was
this. You come to know who Christ is,
the doctrine becomes obvious. That's when you learn the doctrine,
when you find out who he is, you're obviously going to believe
it's a doctrine. I mean, that will no longer be an issue with
you. When people are going back and forth on doctrine and so
on, it's because they've never known the person. When you know
the person, The doctrine becomes a viewpoint, doesn't it? You
can't believe him and believe anything else but his absolute
successful atonement and his perfect righteousness and so
on. Understand, my assurance is not my understanding of some
doctrine. My assurance is him. He said,
because I live, you shall live also. That is
my assurance. I think of what Simeon said when
he held the Lord Jesus as a, I guess, what, an eight-year-old
baby in his arms in the temple. And he said, Lord, now let us
thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Now, here's my pardon given to
me to release me from death row, Christ, who is my righteousness. That's my pardon. I now have
a perfect standing before God's holy law, and I've been given
my release. But I still have another problem.
What about my heart problem? My sin? I still need a new heart.
I need a heart transplant. Now, I talk about Christ's righteousness
being imputed and charged to my account, and it has been.
But what about me? What about the fact that I still
have a sinful heart? What about the fact that I still
sin? What about the fact that I still have an evil nature?
What about that? What about the fact that I lack
the ability to believe? What about the fact that I lack
the ability to even love God? What about the fact that I lack
the ability to repent? What's going to be done about
that? I need a new heart. I need a transplant. Now listen,
grace is not a medicine to help my old heart out. Not at all. That won't do me a bit of good.
I need a new heart. A new heart. Oh, as God is my
witness, I desperately need a new heart. One that was not there
before. A heart that believes, a heart
that repents, a heart that loves. I need something done for me.
Now, look what our Lord says next in verse 37. He says, No man putteth new wine
into old bottles. Else the new wine will burst
the bottles and be stilled, and the bottles shall perish. But
new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. No man takes new wine and puts
it into old wineskins. It wasn't a glass bottle, as
we would think. It was a wineskin. And the reason
you wouldn't put it in the old wineskin is the old wineskin
has lost its elasticity. Is that a word? Okay. The old wine, I thought it was,
I wasn't sure. The old wineskin has lost its
elasticity. It can't stretch. Have you ever
seen when they make wine and they put the balloon on it through
the process of fermentation? I don't understand any of this,
but the gases come out and And if you don't have elasticity
in the wineskin, what it'll end up doing is cracking and bursting
it open. It won't work. You've got to
have a wineskin that'll stretch. So you take new wine, when it's
going to go through this process of fermentation, and it has to
be put into new wineskin that has this elasticity that can
stretch. Now, if God put the wine of His
grace If he put the wine of his spirit and the gifts of his spirit,
if he put faith and repentance and an understanding of the gospel
and love to Christ and so on, if he put that in your old heart.
Would it hold it? Now, if you have any understanding
of your old heart, you know that won't do you any good. What you need and what I need
is a new heart, and that's what He gives. He gives a new heart
that will hold these things. If you're a believer, it's not
the old heart that believes. It's not your natural man that
believes. It's not the nature that you had with the medicine
of grace helping out. That's not what takes place.
If you believe the Gospel, if you love the Lord Jesus Christ,
It's because He's given you a new heart that was not there before. That old nature. It's totally
depraved. It's totally sinful. It can't
believe. It can't repent. It can't love. It can't come
to Christ. Didn't the Lord say that? No man can come to Me. No man has the ability to come
to Me except the Father which has sent Me. Draw him. I can't
do these things. I must have a new heart. And
He said a new heart also. will I give you? One that was
not there before. Now, nobody takes new wine that's
going to go through the process of fermentation and put it into
one of those old wine skins. It won't do any good. You'll
lose the wine and it'll bust the skins. You take new wine
and put it into new wine skins. And God takes the wine of His
grace, the wine of the Spirit, and He puts it in the new heart
that He gives. It's called the new birth. It's
called regeneration. It's called being made a new
creature in Christ Jesus. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. A grand new creation. Old things
have passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. A new heart. Do you need a new
heart? I love what David said in Psalm 51. He said, Create
in me. A clean heart, oh God. He didn't say, wash up my old
one. Give me a new one. And that's what the Lord does
by His grace. Now, here this man is. He needs a pardon. He needs a heart transplant.
What does the Lord God do? He gives Christ perfect obedience
as His righteousness, as His pardon. And he gives him a new
heart. That's the heart transplant.
This is not medicine. That's the way most people look
at God's grace is medicine to help out your old heart. Not
at all. It's a new heart, one that was not there before. And
that's his deliverance. Now, here's the question I want
to deal with. How can I know if he's done this for me? I want to leave this place knowing
whether or not I have had this pardon. I've been given this
pardon. And if I've been given this new heart, I want to leave
this room tonight knowing whether or not that's taken place. Now,
how can I know if he has done this for me, given me this pardon
and given me this new heart? Well, let's read verse 39. This
answers that question. No man also Having drunk old
wine, straightway desireth new. For he saith, The old is better. Now, anybody who knows anything
about wine knows that the older the wine is, the better it is. You know that. I mean, people
pay so much money for wine that's decades old, or I guess there's
some that's even hundreds of years old. It's hard to tell
how much they... But old wine, the older the wine, the better.
The newer the wine, the worse it is. And he just makes a very
simple statement. He said nobody, after they've
drunk old wine, is going to desire new. Because he says the old
is better, and I want you to notice this word, desire. What
do you desire? When God looks in your heart
right now, and I'm not talking about what you'd say to me. We
all know the right things to say. But when God looks in your
heart right now, and He is, the Lord ponders the heart. What
desire does He see? You see, the desire that you
have is what you really are. Isn't that so? What you desire
is what you really are. Now, somebody may be thinking,
well, what about those wicked desires I have, those sinful
desires? Well, you've got them. I'm not denying that. And that
tells you what your flesh really is. You know what your flesh
really is? Look at the desires of your flesh.
That's exactly what it really is. It's evil. But if you're
a believer, you desire the old wine. You don't want the new. You want
the old wine. Now, that's the gospel. That's
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we read of
the New Testament and the Old Testament. The New Testament,
the covenant of grace, salvation by grace, salvation in Christ. That's the New Testament. And
then there's the Old Testament, salvation by works. But did you
know that the New Testament is older than the Old Testament?
As a matter of fact, it's a whole lot older. Turn with me to 2
Samuel chapter 23. I desire the old. 2 Samuel 23. Now, these are David's dying
words. You know, it used to be in a
court of law that somebody's dying words were upheld as true. These are David's dying words.
And let's see what he has to say. Look in verse one. Now, these be the last words
of What's David going to think?
I try to put myself in his shoes. I love David. David, the man
after God's own heart. What's he going to be thinking
about when he's dying? There's a lot of things he could have
been thinking about. I know what I probably would have been thinking
about. I would have been thinking about the matter with Uriah and
Bathsheba. Don't you think you're dying?
Now, when you're dying, you start thinking about stuff from your
past. He might have been thinking about that. Or he might have
been thinking about how God used him. I mean, he's the sweet psalmist
of Israel. He was the most powerful man
in the world. The Lord used him in such a miraculous way. Why, Jesus Christ the Lord himself
is called the Son of David. I guess he could have been thinking
about some of the ways the Lord used him. But he wouldn't think
about anything like that when he died. That's interesting,
isn't it? Let's see what David thought
about when he was dying. Look in verse 5. Although my house, be not so
with God. Now, David's family was a mess. I mean, it was a royal mess. His kids were rebellious. His
wife hated the gospel several times. He had a family that was
a mess. And you know, this could also
mean, when he's talking about his house, he could be talking about this
house, this body. Although my house be not so with
God. Yet, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, and it's ordered in all things
And it is absolutely sure. Now, what's this covenant he's
speaking of? We're talking about that covenant where God the Father
gave to Christ the people and Christ became their surety. And when Christ agreed to be
my surety in this glorious covenant, Everything that God requires
of me, everything, He looks to His Son for. It's ordered in all things, right
down to the most minute detail, all predestinated by God. And
not only is it ordered in all things, you know what else it
is? It's sure. It's as sure as Christ Himself. That's what David was hoping
in as he died. He's made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in
all things and absolutely sure. And look what he says about it
in verse five. He says, and this is all my salvation. How much of it? This is all my salvation, and
not only that, it's all my what? Desire. Now, do you know what I desire? I desire simply that I might
be found in Christ. I desire that I might have exactly
what David's speaking of, this eternal, everlasting salvation
that's ordered in all things. And sure, I don't want to stand
before God in myself in any way. My desire is simply to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that your desire? Now, let me tell you something.
If that's your desire, and the Lord knows whether it is, and
I can say with such conviction, that is my desire. I don't want
to be sitting in any other light but in His light. I want to be
just found in this covenant, in this everlasting covenant
order in all things ensured. If that's your desire, your wish is granted. God gave you that desire. Do
you know that is the product of a new heart? Only a new heart
has that desire. If you can say in honesty, and
I'm not talking before anybody else, but I mean before God,
your one desire, you're like David, this everlasting covenant
ordered in all things and sure is all my salvation. And it's
all my desire. I don't want to be seen any other
way. I don't want to I don't want to hear anything else. This
is it. That's the evidence of the new
heart. No man who's ever drunk the old wine, and this is what
that old wine is, the covenant of grace, the complete, eternal,
everlasting salvation that's in Christ. No man, when he ever
drinks that old wine, he doesn't desire new. He says the old is
better. Is this better or what? It's better. You know, Paul said to will. And that's the word that's generally
translated desire. To will or to desire is present
with me. It's you know, I desire to be
found in Christ. I desire to be just like him. I desire to never sin again. I desire to be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. And you know what he said next?
Now, how to perform it, I find not. That's another subject.
How to perform it, I don't find it. But I do desire to be found
in Him. If you've ever drunken the old
wine of the covenant, the gospel of God's grace, you will not
desire the new. You say the old is better. Let's pray.