Sermon #161                                                 Luke Sermons

 

     Title:         Lacked Ye Anything?”

     Text:          Luke 22:35

     Subject:     Christ’s Boundless Provision for His Own

     Date:         Sunday Evening — January 1, 2006

     Tape #       Y-86a

     Readings:   Ron Wood and Merle Hart

     Introduction:

 

Turn with me, if you will to Luke 22:35. The Lord Jesus has just declared to Peter, and declared it publicly, before all his disciples, that Satan desired to have them all that he might sift them as wheat. Then, he told Peter plainly that he had prayed for him that his faith fail not; assuring him that though he must be sifted and suffer a great fall, he would be converted and made an instrument of usefulness to his brethren. Peter protested. He said, “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended… Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee” (Matt. 26:33-35). Then the Lord said to him, plainly, “I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me” (Luke 22:34). Then, the Lord Jesus spoke to all the disciples, Peter included (v. 35). This is my text.

 

(Luke 22:35)  “And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.”

 

The Lord Jesus had sent these men out to preach the gospel without any visible means of sustenance. They were not even given the necessities of life. They had no property, no accommodations, no supplies, and no money. And now, the Lord Jesus asked, “Lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing.” They lacked nothing at all. Wherever they went, they found someone ready to put them up, feed them, and give them a change of clothes, and alittle traveling money. Though they were sent out empty and destitute, with nothing, wherever they went, the Lord Jesus went before them, opened the hearts of men to them, and graciously supplied them with everything they needed, and did so bountifully.

 

All this was done, as if to say to Peter, and to the rest of the disciples, and to you and me, — “Though Satan will sift you as wheat, and though you will often fail and often fail miserably, though you may fall, fall often, and fall very low, you are mine, and you shall never lack anything.”

 

Now, as we stand tonight upon the entrance of the new year, I can think of no better way for us to reflect upon the past with grateful hearts and anticipate what our God has ordered for us in the days ahead, in his wise, adorable, and good providence, with confident hope, than by giving honest consideration to this question. So tonight, I want you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to hear and answer this question. It is a question your Savior asks of you and me. — “Lacked ye anything?

 

I know your answer. It is the answer all God’s saints are sweetly compelled by the blessed experience of grace to give. — “Nothing.” He, Who daily loadeth us with benefits” (Ps. 68:19), has seen to it that we have lacked nothing.

 

My Experience

 

It has been almost 39 years since he called me by his grace. For 39 years he has led me through this wilderness. How often, how miserably I have failed him! But he has never failed me. Like his children of old, all these years, I have lacked nothing (Deut. 2:7 Neh. 9:21).

 

(Deuteronomy 2:7)  “For the LORD (my) God hath blessed (me) in all the works of (my) hand: he knoweth (my) walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD (my) God hath been with (me); (I have) lacked nothing.”

 

(Nehemiah 9:21)  “Yea, forty years didst thou sustain (me) in the wilderness, so that (I) lacked nothing; (my) clothes waxed not old, and (my) feet swelled not.”

 

I preached my first sermon 38 years ago. It was preached in a little mission in Clemmons, NC, just outside Winston-Salem. There were just a few people present. I had studied for weeks, and had a stack of notes. It took me almost ten minutes to tell everything I knew. Since then, I have preached thousands of times. The Lord has been pleased to send me to many, many places across this country and around the world preaching the gospel. The work has been demanding. Opposition has been abundant. And there has been, and is, nothing but insufficiency and inability in the preacher. Yet, when I hear my Savior ask, “Lacked ye anything?” I am compelled to answer, “Nothing.

 

I am here to tell you that those trust the Lord Jesus will lack nothing. I sing with profound gratitude, with old John Newton…

 

“Through many dangers, toils, and snares

I have already come,

‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home.

 

The Lord has promised good to me,

His Word my hope secures.

He will my shield and portion be

As long as life endures.

 

And, when this heart and flesh shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.”

 

 

A Shepherd’s Provision

 

My Savior’s provision for me has been the provision of the Good Shepherd. David sang…

 

(Psalms 23)  “A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (2) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. (3) He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (4) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (5) Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. (6) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

 

(Psalms 34:9-10)  “O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. (10) The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.”

 

(Psalms 37:25)  “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

 

 

Solomon’s Table

 

You all know that Solomon was a great type of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you will turn back to 1 Kings 4:27, you will see a very beautiful and blessed picture of our Savior’s great glory in the provisions he makes for needy sinners feasting at his table.

 

(1 Kings 4:27)  “And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing.”

 

How blessed every man was who came to Solomon’s table. — “They lacked nothing.” That is a good picture of the fullness poor, needy sinners find in Christ. — We lack nothing. In all things, “our sufficiency is of God” (2 Cor. 3:5). “Having all sufficiency in all things,” we abound (2 Cor. 9:8). He declares, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” And we have proved it so. Have we not? It is written…

 

(Philippians 4:19)  “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

 

As “Judah and Israel dwelt safely” in Solomon’s kingdom of peace, so we dwell safely in Christ our Lord. He is our strong tower and refuge. And in him, by his grace, we shall never lack anything.

 

Solomon As A Type

 

Like his father David, Solomon stands before us in Scripture as a great type of Christ. It is true, like all the other personal types of Christ in the Old Testament (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David), Solomon was a sinner. He did not get to heaven by his own goodness. Salvation is by grace. And Solomon was saved by grace. Notwithstanding all the evils he committed in the course of his life, the blood of Christ washed away his sins, covered his transgressions, and hid his iniquities. He was saved by grace alone, just like you and me. Yet, our Savior condescends to use such a man as Solomon to typify himself. Such is his great grace that he ever condescends to identify himself with sinners!

 

Solomon, like the Savior, was a child of promise (2 Samuel 7:10-12).

 

(2 Samuel 7:10-12)  “Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, (11) And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house. (12) And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.”

 

Solomon was the child of promise, so was the Savior the promised seed, and every believer is one of God’s promised seed. The promises are made to Christ, and to his Church and people, and all the promises in him are Yea and Amen.

 

Solomon, like our Savior, was God’s own son. — “I will be his father, and he shall be my son” (2 Sam. 7:14). Yes, our dear Savior is the eternal Son of God. Oh! What great and sweet mercy it is that we are now the sons of God! What words can describe the blessedness of that?

 

(1 John 3:1-3)  “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (3) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”

 

(Galatians 4:4-6)  “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (5) To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (6) And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

 

Solomon was rich, and large-hearted, and wise, so was Christ. — “Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). It has pleased God to put all fulness in him. All who are in him lack nothing, for “of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace!

 

We read that Solomon made a porch for the throne where he might judge. And the Lord Jesus is our Judge. To him we come, to his throne of grace, with all our troubles and cares (Heb. 4:16; 1 John 2:1-2).

 

Solomon loved an Egyptian woman, Pharaoh’s daughter, and made a special house for the wife he loved (1 Kings 7:8).

 

(1 Kings 7:8)  “And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.”

 

So our Lord Jesus has taken us, his Church to be his bride (Isa. 54:5).

 

(Isaiah 54:5)  “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”

 

He has made us a house and a home with him. It is the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth. — “He brought us into his banqueting house, and his banner over us is love!” All his affections are fixed upon us. All he has done from everlasting has been for the comfort of his Church.

·       What a great mercy it is to have this blessed home (Heb. 10:25-26).

·       What a blessed home our Savior has gone to prepare for us (John 14:1-3).

 

(John 14:1-3)  “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (2) In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

 

Everything Provided

 

You will notice that Solomon had thousands and thousands of officers, who provided victuals for King Solomon, and for all that came unto King Solomon’s table.

 

(1 Kings 4:26-27)  “And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. (27) And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing.”

 

In the scriptures everything is prepared and provided for us. Wisdom has built our house and furnished our table. These officers provided for Solomon’s table monthly. So I understand this to be the meaning of what the Lord said to Peter. “Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). God’s people need feeding. They are a hungry people, hungering for better things. They want heavenly food.

 

When God’s saints meet together, they do not need to be censured, whipped, and discouraged, but comforted, strengthened, and fed, fed with the boundless provisions of Solomon’s own hand. Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour and three-score measures of meal, ten fattened oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts and roebucks, and young deer, and fattened fowl. His table was well spread.

 

So it is with Christ’s table, the gospel table. Here, in the house of God, our Savior sits his hungry children, and commands his servants to feed them.

 

(Isaiah 25:6)  “And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.”

 

The table of our Lord Jesus Christ is always loaded with everything we need. The Master says, “Eat, O friends; drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved” (Song 5:1). What stores of grace are treasured up in Christ for our souls.

 

(Isaiah 55:1)  “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

 

Those blessed souls who feasted at Solomon’s table “lacked nothing.” And those who feast at Christ’s table lack nothing!

·       The Needy Sinner

·       The Fallen Saint

·       The Bereaved Soul

·       The Troubled Heart

·       The Disconsolate

·       The Friendless

 

(Deuteronomy 8:7-9)  “For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; (8) A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; (9) A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.”

 

This land is typical of the fullness there is in Christ for all his people. Living upon him by faith, we lack nothing.

·       No lack of immeasurable love!

·       No lack of abounding grace!

·       No lack of ready forgiveness!

·       No lack of tender care!

 

The richest man in the world is the man who is content. If a man is content, he can never be made richer or poorer. And those who have Christ ought to be perfectly content, because Christ is contentment!

 

(Jeremiah 31:14)  “And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.”

 

Having Christ, we lack nothing. In him we have all! There is such infinite fullness in him that we can lack nothing. Tell me my brother, tell me my sister, “Lacked ye anything?

 

·       Lacked ye anything” that God requires? — “Nothing” (Col. 1:12).

·       Lacked ye anything” needed to perform the work he has given you? “Nothing.” — His grace has been sufficient!

·       Lacked ye anything” when, like Peter, you have fallen? — “Nothing.” — He has come to me, again and again.

·       Lacked ye anything” when your heart has been most heavy? — “Nothing.” — Christ has been my Comfort and my Strength.

·       Lacked ye anything” when you have been utterly empty? — “Nothing.” — Christ is my fulness.

·       Lacked ye anything” when you have been utterly weak before him? — “Nothing.” — His strength is made perfect in weakness.

·       Lacked ye anything” when your love has waned? — “Nothing.” — His love for me is perfect, free, and immutable.

·       Lacked ye anything” when your faith has been small? — “Nothing.” — My hope is not in my faith, but in his faithfulness!

 

As we have lacked for nothing all these days, be assured, my friends, we shall lack nothing tomorrow.

 

(John 14:1-3)  “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (2) In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

 

·       When tomorrow’s trials come, his grace will be sufficient.

·       When tomorrow’s sickness comes, his grace will be sufficient.

·       When tomorrow’s sorrow comes, his grace will be sufficient.

·       When tomorrow’s death comes, his grace will be sufficient.

·       When, on the appointed tomorrow, we must stand before our God to give account, even then we shall lack nothing. His grace will be sufficient.

 

Illustration: Rowland Hill’s Dream

 

(Lamentations 3:21-24)  “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. (22) It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (24) The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”

 

Amen.