The Friend At Midnight | Luke 11:1-13 | Pastor John Miller

Luke tells us it came to pass that Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he stopped one of his disciples doesn't tell us which one or what place he was praying in one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples I think if we are honest as believers we will admit that none of us pray as we ought or pray as much as we should or pray way we should pray I think when it comes to your prayer life we all feel kind of just lacking I know I do when someone says pastor John how can we pray for you and my always request is pray that you would pray that I would pray pray for me that I would pray pray that God will deepen and enrich in and strengthen my prayer life and I believe that as I do that I'm a better husband I'm a better father I'm a better pastor I'm a better preacher I think all that we are flows out of our prayer life worn wars bee says quote no Christian rises higher than is praying everything we are and everything we do for the Lord depends on prayer and I say amen to that everything we are everything we do flows out of our life of Prayer perhaps this is why in verse one one of the disciples and I pointed out it doesn't tell us which one my guess is Simon Peter he's always speaking up and they observed Jesus they watched him pray now if you're a student of the Bible you know that Luke's Gospel emphasizes the prayer life of Jesus if you want to see Jesus praying study the Gospel of Luke Luke presents Jesus as the Son of Man and wherever Jesus prays in the Bible just a little theological tidbit for you that is supporting the I the doctrine of his humanity as the Son of God he didn't really need to pray other than the fact that he was in a body of limitation he was sinless but he was very fully human and so because Jesus was fully man and fully God in his humanity he prayed to his father he depended on the Holy Spirit to resist temptation no differently than you or I and so this is supports the doctrine of his full humanity but many times people will say well pastor why should we really pray isn't God's sovereign won't he do what he's going to do anyway I'm gonna deal with that in the passage today but I want to give you one reason to open this message why we ought to pray and that's in verse 1 because Jesus prayed if good for Jesus it's good for us right if it's good for John the Baptist Jesus said among those born of women not 1 greater than John then it's good for John Millar so if John prayed I need to pray if Jesus prayed we all need to pray he is our example of prayer and our need to pray so our hearts cry should be this morning as we look at this passage on prayer Lord teach us to pray and that's exactly what Jesus is going to do and there are 4 sections to this text verse 1 to 13 where Jesus takes us into the school of prayer if you're taking notes you can write them down the first thing Jesus teaches us is the pattern and priority of Prayer the pattern and priority of Prayer verses 2 to verse 4 it's in what we know as the Lord's Prayer follow with me verse 2 and he said unto them now they said Lord would you teach us how to pray and so he starts in verse 2 he said when you pray say our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done as in heaven so in earth give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us vs. ins as we forgive everyone that is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil now the prayer is commonly called the Lord's Prayer but it's not really a prayer that Jesus pray the Lord's Prayer strictly speaking is John chapter 17 I think you're all familiar with that where jesus prayed a long beautiful prayer in the upper room but I believe the Lord's Prayer is not given to us to pray for Batum word-for-word it wasn't prayed by Jesus he wouldn't have prayed forgive us our debts because he had not sinned but what he's giving to us is a model of prayer or a pattern you might say a prayer in which we also discover the priorities of prayer and we've done an in-depth series through this Lord's Prayer so we won't tarry on them but let me mention the five aspects of prayer that Jesus gives us in this pattern number one prayer starts with God's person our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name let your name be considered hallow let it be set apart as Holy but you might write down that prayer starts with God's person and it also indicates that we must pray as children to a father you must have a relationship with God the bible does not teach the universal Fatherhood of God it actually teaches that apart from regeneration and being born again that individuals are children of Wrath they're children of the devil they under the influence of the Prince and the power of the air that we need to be born again to become God's children and once we are then we have a relationship with God when we are converted then we become God's children and God becomes our Father and then we can begin to talk to him so God's name must be hallowed must be set apart and considered holy then secondly it moves to God's program God's person and God's program thy kingdom come Thy will be done as in heaven so in earth the priority of Prayer is God it's not me it's not getting what I need it's knowing God experiencing God we're siping guy I've you prayers time exposure to God and that we spend time God changes us not only does he give to us but he changes us into the people he wants us to be prayer brings us into more the likeness of Christ but we're praying for God's program this kingdom to come his will to be done and then thirdly we pray for God's provision only after we have established relationship he's our Abba our Father his name is to be holy God's name is to be magnified through prayer his person and his program his will is to be done and then thirdly verse 3 his provision give us day by day our daily bread now this is a good point verse 3 for me to point out there are no personal pronouns in the Lord's Prayer it's not give me it's not leave me it's not forgive me it's us or we or our so he's saying give us our daily bread so when I pray I need to remember I'm part of a family of God and I need to pray for others as well but verse 3 indicates that there's nothing wrong with praying for material needs not Greed's but needs you say well where do you get that bread does that give us our daily caviar it doesn't say give us our daily filet mignon doesn't even say give us our daily in an out burger says give us our bread bread was a basic substance for life every meal they would have bread and it would be dipped in other items and it was a it was a necessity for life when we think of the bare necessity for food we think of bread and water right because bread and water to survive and so give us our bread God has promised to provide your needs but not necessarily all of your Greed's or all of the things that you may want so we need to pray for God's provision God will provide for you we need to learn to trust him and then we move fifthly or fourthly excuse me to God's pardon forgive us verse 4 our sins as we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us God's person God's program God's provision and God's pardon what a wonderful thing to be able to say God forgive my sins first John 1:9 if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to do what forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from what all unrighteousness and so that's a real heartfelt knee god I'm sin I've sinned please forgive me now we also then need to forgive others who have sinned against us you can't ask God to forgive you if you're not willing to forgive others what you have expected God to forgive you of so forgive us as we forgive others and then lastly it moves in verse 4 fifthly to god's protection so god's person God's program God's provision God's pardon and the pattern and priority then God protect us lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil I love that or somehow the evil one so God give me strength help me to avoid temptation now you have to put feet to this prayer to by the way you can't be praying lead me not into temptation as you walk into the fuzzy frog if you have a problem with alcohol by the way the fuzzy frog is just a made-up bar there is no such thing if you think I asked pastor Miller where that's located no it's an invention of my own crazy imagination you can't be yielding to temptation while you pray that prayer you have to put feet to your prayers God has given us a way of escape sometimes it's your two feet for heaven's sake just get out of the room go somewhere else turn and run the Bible says flee you full lust but having looked at this prayer let me summarize it we must pray Jesus prayed it's a God appointed way for blessing in our life James 4 verse 2 you have not because you asked not and then secondly we must pray to our Father we come as children to our Abba our Father it's a relationship and then thirdly we must pray for God's glory thy name be hallowed the name of God is his nature and character and then fourthly we must pray for God's kingdom and for God's will let's pray for God's kingdom to be advanced and his will to be done and fifthly we must pray for our needs forgive us verse 4 lead us and deliver us so Jesus now then moves to the second main lesson in this school of Prayer he moves from the priority and pattern of Prayer to the persistence that we need when we pray with a parable verse 5 down to verse 8 this is the parable of the friend at midnight verse 5 and he said unto them no skip in the text he just keeps talking which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and he better be your friend if you go to him at midnight that's for sure and you say em friend lend me three loaves why because a friend of mine is in his journey come to me and I have nothing to set before him and he from within shall answer and say trouble me not the door is now shut my children are with me in bed and I cannot rise to give thee not notice verse a I say unto you whatever Jesus uses that figure of speech I say to you he's going to drive home the point though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needs now Jesus does a picture of what could have happened commonly and that date hospitality was a premium it was very very important we're not as hospitable in our Western world in our modern world in those days I mean you must show hospitality to someone if they showed up at your tent you feed them you take them in it was part of the deal so here's the story there's a guy who goes to bed at night in those days they had a lot of times poor folk had one room house and many times the bed was a common bed where the whole family slept together some believe that maybe there might have been a raised wooden platform in the house the animals could be underneath it and the family would be on top of it in one big bed you talk about family together one big family bed so he goes to bed that night he bolts the door and then he gets a knock on the door at midnight it's his neighbor hey I had someone just drop in on me they were evidently traveling at night to escape the heat I don't have any food my kids ate it all today it's all gone and you know the grocery stores are closed right now can you get up and give me something to eat and the guy says his goal away it's midnight I'm in bed all my kids are with me if I get up I'm gonna wake up the whole family get out of here pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam he starts knocking them more persistently the more adamantly the more fervently finally continues to knock and tell this guy goes okay he's gonna wake up the kids anyway the neighborhood is gonna wake up porks lights are starting to come on so he gets up and he throws the bread and hits him in the face with it no that's not in the text I just threw that in there if I were telling the story that's it take your bread and food thanks man I think really appreciate that this is how I visualize and if I were dramatizing in a movie this scene I would have to do to open the door swing it passing right in the face moving on now so much for my imagination Jesus then drives home the point he didn't get up and get the bread give the bread to his neighbor and by the way these would be a little round loaves of bread little pieces about three pieces of bread not three Weber loaves of bread the three little flat round pieces of bread he didn't give it to him because he was his friend he gave it to him and here's the key word the optimal word in verse 8 is in portunity now this is in the King James translation but it's a good word his importunity what it means is a shameless persistent if you're in pertinent you're just like I don't care what you think I don't care who I bother I don't I need this and I don't care and you're real impertinent you're just God you got to have what you're going to have and you're just we would use the word obnoxious just that he bugged this neighbor he wouldn't stop knocking so the guy says all right already stop knocking he gets up unbolts the door and he gives the friend the bread and I love it in the end of verse 8 he will arise and give him as many as he needs just stop knocking on the door at midnight alright and perhaps his wife actually told him go to the neighbor see if they have anything or you go to the neighbor it's one of those things were husband and wife start to argue on who's gonna ring the neighbors doorbell you know do you want bread you go knock on I don't want a buck you know how you feel that way you just feel Hannah I don't want to bother the neighbors at midnight you know some people think that about God I don't want to bother God he's got all the angels to deal with the cherubims and Sarah theorems and you know he's got all the problems that he has to deal with and I don't want a body and father of God with my little problem God can cannot be bothered so Jesus tells us this important parable that he arose and gave him because of the shameless persistence now you need to understand this is not a parable of comparison but of contrast this is not God being compared to a grumpy old sleepy neighbor that gets ear with all right I'm sick of you you can have the new car you know it's not God likened unto this sleepy neighbor it's got contrasted God is not annoyed by our asking he is a loving father who never sleeps and he never slumbers don't you love that whenever you cry out to God he's not sleeping remember when Elijah had the contest on Mount Carmel with the prophets of bale the false prophets of bale and they're crying old bill here is old bill here is from morning until afternoon and old bill didn't hear him because there is no old bill and Elijah starts to heckle them and hassled them he goes cry a little loud or maybe your gods on vacation maybe your gods sleeping right now it's a little sanctified sarcasm on Elijah's part maybe your gods sleeping right now and he needs to be awakened aren't you glad that God never sleeps and never slumbers and whenever you cry out to God his ears open to your cry I love those statements in the songs or says I cried unto the Lord and he heard my cry that's awesome how many times in the night or when you're alone you're in a dire straight you cry out to God and you just know that God is there and that God hears and that God answers your prayers so he's not a annoyed grumpy old sleepy friend he's our loving father whoever gives his children what they need God as our Father knows our needs even before we ask him and he's not irritated by our prayers he loves to help us in our time of need if you're a parent you're not irritated by your kids coming to you you love them if my phone rings and it's one of my kids I answer the phone I want to be available to help them at any time I'll interrupt anything to be able to answer the phone and meet their needs or to help them at a time of me now notice in verse eight we should pray with the shameless persistence that's the importunity so we should pray earnestly we should pray fervently we should pray humbly we should pray humbly James tells us in his epistle the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman avails much remember when Hannah prayed for a child I loved Hannah's prayer she knelt down in the temple and Eli saw her lips moving but nothing coming out of her mouth and he accused her being drunk she said no I'm not drunk I'm a woman of sorrowful spirit many times the deepest kinds of Prayer are born out of sorrow the deepest prayer is the fruit of sorrow God I need you got him in trouble lord I pray for help Lord please see me please come to me he hears that cry he heeds that cry and Hannah said no I'm praying for a son and God gave Hannah that son because she prayed with importuning T I think of Jacob who wrestled with an angel which we now know I believe that angel was the Lord Jesus Christ pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Testament it's called christophany it's a appearance of Christ he actually appeared before he became a man and he appeared there is an angel and Jacob did what he wrassles with him from morning until evening the Sun was starting to go down in the angel the Lord said to Jacob let me go and Jacob said I'm not gonna let you go there's that importuning I'm not gonna let you go til you bless me and guess what the angel did what the Lord did he crippled his leg you know whoa some blessing it was a blessing because as Jacob walked with that limp in his leg all the cunning all the pride all the scheming had gone out of his life and he became the man who is now Israel governed by God many times God will allow an affliction in your life God will allow an adversity in your I feel crook with you so that you will be dependent on him someone said I thank God for the bitter things they've been a friend to grace they driven me from the path of these two storm the secret place I thank God for friends who have failed to meet my hearts deep need they've driven me to the Savior's feet upon his love to see I thankful through the to all through all life's way that no one could satisfy so I found in God alone my full and rich supply Lord if I need to be crippled to stay in fellowship with you the Lord crippled me whenever I need to stay dependent and rely upon you so be it Lord and then my favorite example of importunity and prayer humility and prayers Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane I would propose to you that the greatest prayer example of Prayer and all the Bible is the son of God in tears sweating drops of blood face down in the dirt alone with his father to me it's one of the most moving scenes in the entire Bible son of God in tears the Son of God prostrate in the dirt and he's praying Oh father if it's possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt and sweat as it were great drops of blood as he anticipated the cross but he concluded by praying thy will be done and the father said no you must go to the cross you must suffer and die and he willingly submitted to that so he prayed he found strength he was facing a difficulty he prostrated himself and he prayed with in portunity shameless persistence and he prayed three times there are some people to say if you really have faith you pray only once well I guess Jesus lacked faith because he prayed three times and after three times of praying the Father did not grant his petition he did have to drink the cup he did have to suffer and die for the sins of the world so prayer is born out of creature need prayer is to line itself with the will of God prayer is to be born with a sense of I need you Oh God Jesus is saying in this parable that if a grouchy friend can be forced to by his friends shamelessness an insistent to give him what he ought how much more will our loving God respond to the shameless persistent earnest prayer it's an argument from the lesser to the greater how important and then there's a third area of prayer that Jesus moves and he talks about the pattern a priority and then he talks about the parable which is persistent earnest shameless prayer and then thirdly verse 9 and 10 he gives us a promise to pray Lord would you teach us to praise is okay let me give you a promise and that promise is found in verses 9 and 10 of our text I say to you again the emphasis Jesus says ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you and then he repeats himself Christ in you that he that ask receives he that seeks finds to him that knocks it shall be open why did Jesus say the same thing slightly different he did it for emphasis whenever Jesus repeats himself he doesn't have a stutter he needs to make that point clear to us if you ask you shall be given if you seek you shall find if you're not it shall be open if you ask you'll receive if you seek you'll find if you knock it shall be open now I want you to note that this ask seek knock in the text is in what's called the present imperative an imperative as a command present tense means that it's to be ongoing so number one he's commanding us to ask seek and knock it's not an option prayer is not an option God commands us to pray not to praise disobedience to pray and then because it's in the present tense keep seeking keep asking keep knocking never stop I want you to also note that this ask seek and knock that they increase in intensity asking implies requesting assistance for a conscience need and again I think that's the heart of prayer pride eliminates prayer but when I'm humble and I realize I need God I need help I need him in my marriage I need him to have wisdom I need him to give me strength I need his peace I need his joy lord I need you then I come to him in prayer so the word ask indicates an assisted need I need you and then the word seek denotes asking but adds action so not just asking verbally now I'm actually out pursuing doing what I can to seek and then the word knock includes asking + acting + preserving the word knocking conveys the idea of perseverance continuance I prayed God didn't answer but we just dismiss our prayer and we stop praying no we need to keep on asking keep on seeking keep on knocking as I said it's in the present tense and I want you to note also that this word ask is a petition of an inferior to a superior the very greek word translated asked conveys the idea of a inferior asking a superior you might be able to ask somebody that's on the same level or even someone under you this is an inferior asking a superior so that conveys the idea of humility if there's anything we need when we pray we need to pray with humility we can't tell God we can't order God we can't boss God around Jesus by the way in this passage as many misinterpret is not teaching that we can have anything we want this is not Aladin genies lamp that you rub in the name of Jesus and for some reason we feel like we got to stay like Jesus we got to say it like that why do we Christians pray so weird Oh God da who talks like that Christians do when they pray god help us you meet your friends among how you doing da lovely day ya slap that dude prayer is just talking to God out of a felt knee now if you're proud you don't think you need anything so you don't pray proud people don't crit couple people pray but just because he says ask and you shall receive seek and you know find knock and she'll be open this is not a card blanch for anything you want let me give you three things that need to be in play it needs to be God's will it needs to be for God's glory and it needs to be for your good God's not gonna give you something that is not good and believe me we are so limited in our knowledge that sometimes we pray for things that aren't for our good aren't for God's glory and so God doesn't answer our petition there are basically four ways God answers prayer there's what I call the direct answer we like that when we ask God answers whew praise God and then there's the delayed answer we don't like that because we want it right now and then there's the different answer never pray for something God says no I got something better trust the Lord God gives the best of those who leave the choice to him remember when Paul prayed in 2nd Corinthians 12 for his thorn in the flesh and again three times you ask God to take it away and God said no but God said I'll give you something instead my grace which you'll be sufficient and your strength will be made perfect in my grace so Paul glory din is weak so God gives us a different answer and then fourth way God answers prayer is the denial that we don't like I've had people say I pray then God didn't answer I said yes he did he said no well I don't like that one so what I don't care what you like or don't like when you were a little a little child did your parents give you everything you won if you're only three years old and you want a machine gun well your father give it to you no son that's not good yeah if you love me you'd give me machine gun oh you're not mature enough which by the way I want to say this lest I forget the real purpose of prayer is not getting what we want it's becoming the kind of people that God wants us to be the real purpose of prayer is not getting what we want but beginning coming the kind of people that God can trust with an answer to prayer some of you are praying for things that God can't trust you with the answer yet because your heart isn't right you're not broken enough you're not dependent enough you're not humble enough God has to break you make you and the goal of prayer is becoming the people God wants us to be not just getting what we want some dot it's a shame what prayer has become today in the church so God teach us to pray humbly and fervently and persistently within portunity and help it to be for your glory for our good maybe for your will so he tells them that God answers prayer always verse 10 if you ask you'll receive if you seek you'll find if you knock it shall be open but it may not be the answer and the time of the way we weren't then he closes verse 11 to 13 with what I've called the premise of the prayer this is actually by the way the explanation and the conclusion to the parable so he starts with the priority and pattern of prayer he moves to the parable of instance in prayer then he encourages them with the promises of prayer and then he closes with the principle verse 11 to 13 look at it with me he says if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father will he give him a stone if you shall ask for a fish will he give him a serpent or if he should ask for an egg will he give him a scorpion here's the premise if you then being evil and by the way notice what Jesus has to say about us you being evil this is the certainly the doctrine the total depravity of man you know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him now if you if you have an infant and the child comes to you it says dad I'm hungry can I have some bread would you go watch this I'm gonna give them a rock it'll break their teeth haha I mean put that dude in jail it's child abuse uh dad can I have a fish here played with a snake and I have an ad here have a scorpion now you're evil but yeah you know how to give good gifts to your children this is what's called the argument from the lesser to the greater if you know how to give good gifts what makes us think that our Father in Heaven that is infinitely good all good things come from above that he doesn't want to bless your life that's why I've always said God gives the best of those who leave the choice to him trust him submit to his will seek to live for his glory and ask God to give you the blessings of the Spirit in your life that's what he says in verse 13 how much more shall your heavenly Father you're his child he's your father give the Holy Spirit to them now that closing statement give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him has been used to tell Christians that they need to ask for the spirit I don't think that's what it's teaching I think that's reading into the text something that's not there when you get born again guess what you get the Holy Spirit he comes to live where in you every Christian has the Holy Spirit living in them but the question is does the Holy Spirit have you Christians have the spirit but does the Spirit have the Christian it's not how much of the Holy Ghost I allowed talk to people I got the Holy Ghost I got the Holy Ghost well you got the Holy something holy jumps or whatever but does the Holy Ghost have you are you a better husband because of the Holy Spirit you a kinder person are you more loving or you're living more holy life you care about others do you have the love of God in your heart I've studied this passage for many years and I'm convinced that what Jesus is teaching in light of the parallel or Matthew and the whole teaching of scripture to be saying actually that the greatest blessings come to you from the Spirit he's talking to Christians they saying the greatest blessings that come to you come from the Holy Spirit never read about the fruit of the Spirit love joy peace gentleness meekness goodness simple and self-control faithfulness you see all that we God wants us to be comes from prayer and prayer changes us because it brings us into time exposure with God and we come under the influence of this Holy Spirit what Jesus is saying is pray for the spirits blessing pray for the blessings of the Spirit literally in Matthews account it would be translated that way all the blessings of the Spirit he's not telling you that we need the Holy Spirit is telling us we need the blessings of the Spirit we need is love and is join is peace in this power in our lives and that's why I've said the most important part of prayer is not getting what we want but becoming the people that God wants us to be now if I'm gonna summarize this whole text we pray with reverence for God as our Father we pray with dependence on God and thirdly we pray with confidence in God someone said when we pray thou are coming to a king large petitions with thee bring for His grace and power or such that none can ever ask too much Lord teach us to pray amen

Channel: Revival Christian Fellowship

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Length: 38min 17sec (2297 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 10 2018