Ask Your Father in Heaven by John Piper

[Music] when you pause and reflect for a moment that God is infinitely strong and can do anything he pleases and that God is infinitely righteous and only does what is right and that God is infinitely good and therefore everything he does is good and the God is infinitely wise so that he knows perfectly what is good and what is right and that God is infinitely loving so that all of his strengths and all of his righteousness and all of his goodness and all of his wisdom functions to raise the joy of his loved ones as high as it can be raised forever when you pause to consider that this God lavishly invites you to come and ask him for things with the promise that he will give good things to those who ask it is breathtaking it also means that one of the short-term unspeakable tragedies in the church is that there is so little inclination to pray almost anything can take us away from it it is as though God spread the most universally lavish banquet imaginable send out free invitations to come and eat and we said on our return RSVP I just bought a field and I must go see it I just bought five yoke of oxen and I'ma see them first I just married a wife and I cannot come amazing just amazing so my prayer now as we begin this year coming is the God would take this message this text of Scripture from the Lord Jesus mouth and use it along with other things he's going to bring into your life and awaken in our church an unprecedented inclination to pray it's rising up not coming on down from outside let her do this but cut up from inside a a strong and irresistible inclination to pray that's my prayer and so let's bow father that's where I want this message to go what I longed for us on our three campuses this weekend to experience and then on into the new year I want them to be would you please grant that there be a rising from within of a strong compelling inclination to pray individually in our closets cars cubicles and as families and as groups small groups and prayer meetings and church Lord I beg of you do not throw away words I'm pleading with you that you would pour out Zechariah promised you would the last that you would pour out a spirit of prayer and pleas for mercy a spirit of prayer and supplication pour out that spirit upon our church I ask in Jesus name Amen so here's here's the approach I see in this word from Jesus and verses 7 to 11 of Matthew 7 8 encouragement to pray 8 of them and I'm just going to walk you through show you in the text how Jesus is saying come pray come pray pray to my father pray to my father these are eight encouragement stew pray I hope that the cumulative effect will be if the first one doesn't awaken you the second one added would if the second doesn't the third one added would if the third doesn't the fourth one added would if the fourth doesn't the fifth one added would and so on and I hope by the time we get to eight there would be enough welling up okay Jesus I get it I get it you want me to pray yes this is a great thing you have prepared for me at step one step two is simply to it's short at the end of the message ask the question so what are these promises really mean receive ask and you receive seek and you will find knock and the door will be open what's this receiving and finding and door getting open do I get what I want or don't it that's where we're going encouragement number one out of eight three times he invites us to pray or you could if you're willing to hear it lovingly and not burdensome Lee three times he commands us to pray ask one and you will it will be given to you to seek and you will find three knock and the door will be open to you and then he repeats in terms of promises for everyone who asks receives and everyone who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened and I think by these repetitions ask seek knock he means I mean this I really want you to do this I'm offering you this ask your father what you need seek your father for the help you need knock on the door behind which you will find the help you need from God I invite you three times I really want you to enjoy this I think that's why he didn't just say ask but instead said also see also knock three times repetition I really mean this I want you to enjoy this number to even better and more amazing than three invitations to pray are seven promises in this text that he will respond with good things verse seven and eight have six of em and verse eleven has the seventh let's read it asked and number one it will be given to you seek and number two you will find knock and number three it will be open to you for everyone who asked number four receives and one who seeks number five finds and to the one who knocks number six it will be opened verse eleven seven how much more will your father is the end of the verse how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who asks of seven promises it will be given you will find it will be opened the asker does receive the seeker does find the knocker does get the door open and your father will give you good things now that's an 11 that's a lavish array of promises that's a be labored list of promises and surely the point is would you please be encouraged from the Lord Jesus to pray this is the Lord Jesus getting inside my mouth and speaking to you I want you to pray I have things for you Sevenfold promise I give you get on your knees and plead with me for what you need I will respond with good things to you be encouraged to pray pray often pray regularly pray confidently in 2007 that's number two number three Jesus encourages us to pray not only with the invitations and not only with promises to hear and respond with good things but also by telling us that he will be found God his father your father will be found in different levels of accessibility I'm trying to get at why he chose these three words here ask the Kanak you ever thought about that why those three what what's going on with those three so here's my suggestion of what he's up to we're saying not ask ask ask or seek seek seek or knock knock knock but ask seek knock what's he up to here if you're a child with a father and you have a need and you're in the house with the father there are three ways you might ask him if he's standing right there beside you in other words if your experience of his presence is clear and present and nothing in between ulis daddy would you help me but suppose he's not in the room and you're not sure where he is in the house and you need his help then you will go find him seek him and when you find him you will say would you help me but what if you go find him and the door shut he's the door shut he's talking to mama in the bedroom or maybe you can hear him snoring in the bedroom or whatever he's behind the door this text says okay knock go ahead he's in his study daddy's in his study not-not-not come in daddy would you help me so I think the point there may be other points to this I think the point is we experience God in all levels of presence some of you right now feel he's really close it's like right here that was a glorious force of experience I'm really walking I'm feeling good with God right now and others he's not present and others for many of you the door is brass so I think this is Jesus way of saying to every person whatever your level of accessibility right now to God to press you forward come come if he's right there ask him if you got to go look and go look find him he'll be there if you've got to get through the brass door knock he can open brass doors on the inside he can open any door he will open that's a strong encouragement to me to know that these different levels of accessibility do not make it impossible to get to him number four fourth encouragement notice the word everyone in verse eight encourages us by making explicit that everyone who asks receives that word everyone who asked for season the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks it will be opened surely in saying everyone he's talking about his children because the text says if you fathers who are evil give good things then will not your father your father in Heaven's he talking about the children of God every one of them not every person who has stiff-arm Jesus you know from John one how you become a child of God right John 1:12 as many as received him who believed on his name to them he gave the right to become a child of God so we know who the children of God are those who meet Jesus and say yes this is my Savior this is my Lord I take you come into my life be for me everything you are yes but those who say no thank you I would run my own life out of my face I don't want to hear this religious stuff they're not included here so put that away and just let it land on all the children in this room I hope others who are not will be drawn in but even children feel I can't come I can't come not the way I live 2006 not the way I talked my wife and I this three-hour blow-up last night I can't do that no way just I'm a Lutheran there is no way I could with any integrity at all come into the presence of God this text when he says everyone he means every child every child little mustard seed of faith ready to be squashed out by the devil come come everyone who asks every little child every rebel child come he will not turn away his children all are welcome be encouraged you know Luther as bumptious as he was and what a loose mouth he had a new human nature so well takes a lot of grace to like Martin Luther or maybe it takes a lot of sins like Martin Luther I'm not sure here's what he said about this text Jesus knows that we are timid and shy that we feel unworthy and unfit to present our needs to God we think that God is so great and we are so tiny that we do not dare pray that is why Christ wants to lure us away from such timid thoughts remove our doubts and to have us go ahead confidently and boldly amen Martin Luther that's exactly what Jesus is trying to do for all the children here number five we've implied it now let's just say it explicitly when we come to God through Jesus we are coming to our Father we are coming to our Father verse 11 if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father your father in heaven give good things to those who ask father is not a throwaway word for Jesus it's one of the greatest truths in the universe that human beings sinful though we are can count God as our Father and the implications are stupendous he will never never never give us what is bad for us never he is our Father now that leads to number six which is necessary in every century and since I haven't lived in every century I'm not sure whether to say especially this one but it feels like it we need number six especially after number five because of how many of you right now are saying inside your head that's not what father means to me I knocked and he said get the hell out of here that's what he said I didn't say that I talked to some of you I couldn't reproduce some of the pain so Jesus is way more aware of this than you are or I am so what does he do and this is not the only place I hope you get this because this is so important this is so important number six Jesus encourages us to pray by showing us that our heavenly father is better than our earthly father and will far more certainly give us good things than any human father would there is no evil in our Heavenly Father there is evil in every earthly father this is very important fathers need to hear this wives need to hear this children grown children need to hear this verse 11 let's read it carefully think on it deeply if you then who are evil now that's quite unflattering blunt the way Jesus is most of the time let me just picture yourself I'm John I'm the apostle of love talk to me that way I feel beat up why do you do this if you then who are evil John Peter James Matthew Bartholomew if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your Father in heaven who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him the Bible not only often draws attention to the similarity between human fatherhood and divine fatherhood the Bible also often draws attention to the vast differences between human fatherhood and divine fatherhood think of any other places Hebrews 12 your father's disciplined you as they thought best God disciplines you always for your good there's one there are many others the Bible is not unaware of this pain of this reality in the world that all human fathers are evil all of us so Jesus goes beyond the encouragement of saying you have a father you have a father in heaven he goes beyond that and he says you have a perfect father who has no evil and he contrasts God in His no evil with all father's and evil so if you had the very best father you got a good thing coming God is ten thousand times better than your good father in fact I'm tempted to walk over to the wall and nose against the wall a millimeter away and say there's the difference get all mixed up here cuz haven't thought this through the difference between a good father and a bad father is this and the difference between God and the best father is infinite maybe the way to say so you think there's a huge gap between the bad father and the father you wish you'd had and it's really big well compared to how much better God is than the best father makes that difference very small don't ever limit your understanding of the Fatherhood of God to the experience of your own father no matter how good he was or bad rather take heart that God has none of the sins of your father none and has none of the limitations of your father and has none of the weaknesses of your father and has none of the hang-ups of your none of them and the point Jesus is making is that even fallen fathers give good gifts usually usually almost everywhere in the world in spite of sin in spite of evil fathers generally are jealous for the good of their children you try to miss my kid you deal with me that's the second side almost every father sin or not sin he's on the side of his kid when he's kids in trouble that's what Jesus is picking up on he said now if your father sinner though he be though you're all evil if you know how to do anything good for your kid just think of how much more your perfect heavenly father is eager to do good things for his children so let that land on you Jesus is laboring with people who have imperfect fathers to help you feel hopeful in prayer that's what he's trying to do here he's trying to get kids grown kids 40 year old kids who have nothing but horrible memories on your face full of hope that the one in heaven is ten thousand times better that's what he's trying to do would you hear him would you hear him and would you believe him he really wants you to pray and he wants you to pray full of hope that your Father in Heaven will hear you now I'm not moving to number seven yet although I might have numbered this number seven because I saw it after I already got myself numbered this is an implication inside number six an implicit encouragement if he says to to his disciple if you being evil he just soothes their evil which means Jesus has a very realistic view of human nature namely it's fallen this is a clear teaching of Jesus view of original sin he didn't mean you disciples are evil in all these people in Judea are good he meant you like everybody are dead in your trespasses until I make you alive and now you got remnants of sin and you're all evil just saying that now think about that that means that if we go back up to number four which was the everyone now we've got an explicit statement that the everyone includes evil evil children that's all he could have children they're all amazing so now you can go back up to number four and write in margin well he said he said it really includes rebellious and evil children but I'm not so sure but now what you're going to do when he looks at his own disciples whom he's telling to come pray and says y'all evil he's saying every one of my children come evil children come sinful children come I'm the only place to come to I find that maybe about the most encouraging thing I've seen so far just the realistic statement of Jesus you're all evil I'm not surprised by their don't be put don't don't go away from me like no close your sell clothes yourself with a fig leaf or something I know you're naked and and helpless so just come come here I'm the one you need to come to I'm okay I'm really okay with the come to me I hope you hear his invitation number seven now this one is implicit also and I think you'll agree it's really here though it's not explicit God will give us good things as his children give us as his children good things because he has already given us the gift to become children now Jesus isn't arguing that way that's just implicit here isn't it hey I got this from Saint Augustine listen to what he says for what would he not now give to sons when they ask when he has already granted this very thing namely that they might be sons I mean think of it God goes out into the world of rebels get out of here God we would run the world I don't want a god I don't want Jesus I don't want anything and he subdues us and freely adopts us takes this foundling and brings us right into the home claims us up now having done that are we gonna look at him say well he wouldn't give me what I need if I go ask him makes no sense at all if he has given us the privilege of sonship row up John 1:12 to those who receive Christ who believe in his name he gives the power to become the children of God having done that why would he turn him down why would he say get out of here get out of my study I'm busy you made me I didn't choose to be in this family you chose me it's amazing none of my children chose to be in my family therefore woe is me if I don't model God to them as best I can number 8 it is implicit in these words I believe that the cross of Christ the death of Christ the blood of Christ is the foundation for all the answers to our prayer hmm where do you see the cross in these verses I see it in the tension between evil children here and holy God ready to do everything good for them instead of send them to hell we in our evil that he has named deserve his wrath John 3:36 he doesn't give us wrath he gives us good things if we ask him that's a not as a disconnect now Jesus has an answer for that disconnect and it's Matthew 20:28 the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many ransom who needs a ransom every evil child needs a ransom right if I don't have a ransom wrath is coming down on me the ransom pays for my debt the wrath is off now the father is all mercy he's not a judge with wrath anymore he's a father with gifts now Jesus the cross is everything here and Jesus says it he doesn't say it in a reverse you got to read the the Gospels as a whole you got to read them from the end he died in order to make the Sermon on the Mount work he had just pick a verse out here and there make him an ethical teacher with no substitutionary atonement Jesus himself said the son of man me the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life for all of his evil children so that in spite of our evil we walked right into his room not-not-not and we expect to find a smile on his face instead of get out of here because I'm the judge the universe I'm holy you're dirty get out of here never never never will God talk like that to his children because of Christ he said it another time listen to this this is Matthew 26:28 this is my blood of the Covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins this is Jesus talking I am going to he's looking on these apostles all right at the Last Supper this is Peter this is evil Peter evil James evil John evil Matthew evil Bartholomew evil Thomas evil evil evil Lisa none apart my blood of the Covenant for the forgiveness of your sins so that what I said back there in the Sermon on the Mount about you coming to the Father through me we got it it's going to happen I'm paying for it that's the way it works I'm so thankful that we don't just have the Sermon on the Mount that would just kill us if we didn't have the cross but now together they're so glorious they are so glorious so that's eight encouragement for you to pray Jesus is after you to pray he wants you to pray this is not a heaviness this is a privilege that only blind evil children run away from and we shouldn't run anymore now let me draw this to a close with that last question I said I would try to answer so what do these promises mean ask and it will be given you seek and you will find knock and it will be opened to you everyone who asks receives to the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks it will be open what would it what do this promises mean do they mean everything you asked for when you asked for it the way you want it you get well your experience tells you I suppose it doesn't mean that because that doesn't happen that's not a good way to decide what texts mean I don't think it means that that's not my experience either it doesn't mean that textually it shouldn't mean that morally and you wouldn't want it to mean that if you could well if you believe that let me take those one at a time it shouldn't it shouldn't mean that because if you could at the word may God do something you be God wouldn't you everything I tell him to do he does you be God if you can boss God your God that's the first reason it shouldn't mean that shouldn't because God is God and he ought to be God and the words right forgot to be God right for you not to be God and therefore woe is you if every prayer gets answered secondly you wouldn't want it to mean that I think I might write the star article this week I can manage the creativity about what happens to the man who the president finds out every one of his prayer gets answered so you be shipped off to Washington immediately okay now pray about Iraq pray this and says you pray that somebody's going to shoot you dead or somebody else can tell you to pray this I'll pray this for Somali no not that that's not going to work pray this no that won't work pray this for Indonesia pray this because that won't work somebody else and you make him say excuse me I wasn't designed to do only God can run the world I cannot run the world well then then you just better stop being so eager to be able to have all your prayers answered so you wouldn't want it I promise you'd be crushed in a minute or Sasson ated since somebody found out everything you asked for came true you don't want that hears that all that's irrelevant because it's not in the text I'm just telling you biblically that's you don't want you don't want to go there but what does the text mean that's the question what does the text mean so the reason I say not only should it not mean that everything you asked where you get and you would want it to mean that but it doesn't mean that that's my third and final observation and the reason I say it is because it looks to me like Jesus is so carefully saying now if you as a father have a son who asks him for bread would you give him a stone oh you'll give him a stone if you ask for fish egg would you give a serpent no you want to give him a serpent doesn't that beckon us to ask this what if the kid asks for a serpent I think it's in unmistakably clear in this text that God would not give it to him fathers don't give poisonous snakes to three-year-olds they don't do it no matter what the kid is crying for in the pet shop can I hold it can I hold the rattlesnake it just makes such cute noise I like his teeth you just say you don't understand you don't understand no the answer is no because I love you and the instances of that could be multiplied God does not give bad hurtful and I mean ultimately hurtful this is distress this tries our faith to the limit doesn't it because if you thought that what you're getting after you prayed for this is better you wouldn't have prayed for that you would have pray for this I ask for healing I asked for a job I asked for a fixed marriage if I if I had wanted this I would ask for it this is not what I wanted this tries our faith to the limit and I'm my theology from every part of the Bible is God only gives what is good for his children to his children period painful as it has been and I'm deeply deeply thankful for the stability that brings into our lives and how many of you having embraced that sovereign goodness and grace of God have been enabled to weather some of the most horrific situations I am so thankful so in conclusion taken as a whole I think this passage means come to my father and pray trusting me that I'm the foundation of everything here and do not assume that the precise thing you asked for when you asked for it the way you want it is going to happen but always know if it doesn't happen the way you want it your prayer was not in vain otherwise this text is useless this is hatch this text means nothing if asking is pointless when you don't get what you asked for what it says is if you ask your father he will give good things and James says we have not those good things because we do not ask Oh what we often forfeit because we do not pray as believers good things we forfeit that God would give if we asked so I invite you to come in and ask in 2007 let's pray father I pray that across the campuses on this weekend there would be a fresh inclination strong compelling inclination for us all to pray pray in our private homes apartments pray in our cars Prater workspace pray with spouse and children pray with roommates pray in the ate prayer meetings that happen here every week of the year during the week morning evening Sundays and to pray in their small groups Oh God pour out a spirit of prayer and supplication upon us I ask in Jesus name [Music] you [Music]

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Length: 41min 37sec (2497 seconds)

Published: Sun May 01 2011