A Friend At Midnight

Turn with me to Luke chapter 11. We're going to talk a little bit today about the grace of having a friend at midnight, having someone that we can rely on, even in some pretty dark hours.

Let's see here. Let's start at verse 5 for now. It says,

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him,

Friend, lend me three loaves? For a friend of mine is on his journey, and he has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.

And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door now is shut, and my children are in bed, are with me in bed.

I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given unto you. Seek, and you shall find.

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth.

And to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?

Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, 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? Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this wonderful day.

Thank you for bringing us together. Thank you for giving us this wonderful opportunity that we ask we never take for granted to expect and to assume that each and every

Lord's Day we'll be able to gather together and worship you and abide in your word and sing songs to you.

Lord, we thank you for the peculiar just time in history that we live where we can assume that.

Each and every week we ask again that we don't take it for granted and that if it be your will, we continue to have this opportunity week after week for the foreseeable future.

We ask you to be with all of our brothers and sisters around the world that don't have the opportunity that we have right now.

And we ask that you put all of us in the frame of mind to be present and to be eager to worship you in spirit and in truth as we are together during this time.

We ask you to be with this message and we ask all these things in your name. Amen. So the

Bible is full of a lot of very amazing, in some cases, very interesting dynamics.

One of them is the one that Matt just alluded to a second ago, that being the reality that we have, the way that God ordained it, is that we would have this new creation, this new creature that is filled with the spirit within an earthen vessel that is corrupt, that is corruptible.

That is a very interesting dynamic that we have, that Jesus would choose his bride and know who she is effectually.

And yet at the same time, he ordained something as odd as the local church rather than a universal visible church.

Of course, we know that there are many false denominations, false religions even, that want to bring this idea of a singular, unified, visible church to bear.

And what do we see when that happens? We see great corruption each and every time it happens. Lo and behold, what

God had in store was the local church, which is a very weird, from the human viewpoint, way to do it, if you think about it, kind of on the surface level.

He knows his bride. He has one bride. He chose her. He knows her. And yet he ordained that she would be manifested in the form of millions of local churches around the world.

It's a very interesting dynamic. Or the fact that the eternal son would come to earth fully as God but also fully as man and not either or.

It wasn't one or the other. It was both in full. You have heresies on both sides of that reality.

Some that want to say, no, it was just fully man. And some that want to say, no, he was just fully God because the fleshiness of man would have corrupted the spiritual aspect of it.

So you've got the Gnostics on one side. You have those that deny his deity on the other side. And yet he came as both, fully

God, fully man. Very, very interesting dynamics. And you can go on and on and on.

There are dozens of such examples. And what that does is it prohibits the human race, even its most notable scholars, notable philosophers, critics, from being able to pin it down, from being able to pin down the word of God so as to understand it from reason alone.

It's an impossibility. If you start with human reason and work out from there, it would be impossible to make sense from human reason of some of the ways in which the

Bible has been delivered to us, some of the ways that God's truth is manifested over time throughout the course of history, certainly throughout the biblical narrative.

And another thing it does is it keeps the scholars and the philosophers and all those guys from being able to pin it down.

But it also forces God's people to abide in his word diligently.

It forces his people to abide diligently in the word in order to grasp the truths that are within it, rather than feeling like they can get away with just a quick cursory view of the

Bible, a quick read through, and then they come away enlightened. It doesn't work like that either. So whether you are a biblical critic that is trying to shoot holes in it, trying to pin it down, all this kind of stuff, or if you're a legitimate, genuine child of God, but take a more casual approach to God's word, in either case you're not going to be able to come away with a full grasp, as much as it can be full, in this life.

You're not going to be able to come away with a grasp of the truths that are within it. There are these dynamics, left and right, that can only be enlightened by the

Holy Spirit in conjunction with the disciples of the Lord abiding in his word, like Jesus told us to do time and time again.

And I gave you a few examples, but it's within these fascinating dynamics that we have in Scripture that we find one such example that will kind of be the foundation for today.

And this particular dynamic has left the church in continual discourse about it, in some cases very rigorous debate, for the last 2 ,000 years of church history.

And that, of course, is the dual reality of God as the absolute sovereign ruler of the universe, and at the same time,

God as the benevolent Father, as a benevolent Father. You have people wanting to take one side a little bit more than the other, sometimes completely the other side over the other in some cases.

And as servants of the great Lord, any one of us could fall into perhaps wanting to gravitate toward one side over the other at any given time.

In fact, it can actually be quite easy for a lot of the servants of the Lord to put an uneven focus on his attributes, and in many cases, the attributes pertaining to his rule, his sovereign rule.

For example, his sovereignty, his omnipotence, his transcendence, and so forth. We can hone in on those particular things and forget that there is more to the story than just that.

Obviously, you can look at the other side too, and there will be examples where that is viewed in an uneven -handed kind of way.

Now, these examples, his sovereignty, his omnipotence, his transcendence, these things are very real.

These are very glorious things to have in focus, and we must keep them in focus. So don't get me wrong in that it's not that you're having to move some out of the way in order to bring more into focus.

No, we need the full picture in focus. We must keep those things in focus, but we must also be careful and not to forget that we equally serve a loving, jovial, giving father at the same time.

It's not one or the other. It's both at once. And there are times when because Jesus understands the short -sighted thinking of his people, these in some cases stiff -necked bunch, these peculiar people, these mere humans, he knows this.

He knows what to expect with their line of thought, and so he will kind of nip it in the bud, so to speak.

And sometimes he does this in really interesting ways. Sometimes he does it in really funny ways. And these are ways of reminding us of this reality of God's unparalleled fatherhood.

There are times when he brings that into particular focus so that we don't forget about it. And that brings us to our passage this morning.

Let's look at it one more time together. Actually, let's start at verse 1 this time. I'm going to just read the first four verses really quickly for a little bit of context because this is interesting.

Look at this. Chapter 11, the Gospel of Luke. And it came to pass that he was praying in a certain place.

When he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

So you have Jesus concluding a prayer himself, and you have his disciples recognizing something.

John the Baptist had to teach his disciples how to pray. And here we are with the one for whom

John was the forerunner. Let's ask him to teach us how to pray. And so that's what happens.

And Jesus in verse 2 says unto them, when you pray, say this. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So that's the context for the passage we're about to dive into.

Isn't it interesting? The model prayer, the Lord's Prayer as it's commonly referred to. That is the preceding context into the verses we read this morning.

So immediately after the instruction on how to pray, he just gave them a model.

And I'll just say this quickly. Jesus and God does not ever do anything arbitrarily.

So Jesus, it wasn't like his disciples walked up, asked, you know, hey, teach us how to pray. And he just kind of threw some words together.

It's very specific. It's very intentional. Nothing is arbitrary about it. It was a model for them.

And it was a model for us. So as disciples of the Lord today, this model is for us too.

If we ever, and this is actually very applicable to the sermon today. But if there's ever a time when we feel like we're struggling even putting the words together.

And within that desire to commune with our God, that's what the model prayer is for.

He gave us a model. Not that we can't go outside of the bounds of it. Obviously, when it comes to our specific needs, desires, prayer requests, situations we're in.

It's not that we are limited to the prayer. It's that he gave us a model as something to start with.

And something with a very intentional flow to it. Begins with thankfulness and gratitude to our

Father. And then goes from there. So immediately after the instruction on how to pray to the

Father in heaven. Jesus can read their hearts. He knows what they're thinking.

Perhaps he sees some trouble that they're having internally. And understanding how such a prayer that Jesus just gave them.

Could be uttered to the God of Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. Is this really the model?

Is this really how you approach the creator of the universe? Is this really how we would approach the

God of the patriarchs? And so Jesus perhaps seeing this within them.

And perhaps seeing the questions float back and forth between their ears. He gives them a picture of how it works.

So that they don't forget about it. Look at verse 5 one more time with me. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight,

And say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine is in his journey, and he has come to me,

And I have nothing to set before him. Now a helpful note really quick. As we get started with this parable here.

Is to consider the value of neighbors in the ancient world. It's very helpful when you're reading a parable like this.

In the context of the New Testament. Neighbors were of extreme value at this point in history.

And even in many third world countries today. That value is still there in America in the 21st century.

We can forget very quickly. The historical context of the value of having neighbors.

There are still many countries today. That would understand what's happening here. And it's good for us to remember it as well.

This would be in play for many people. Not necessarily. It's kind of a lost blessing if you will in the west.

But neighbors played a significant role. In the success of a community as a whole.

But even down to the individual families. It was very important for you to be able to rely on your neighbors.

Just for the success of your own family. Let alone the community more broadly. And so if a man needed some help.

In some kind of way. In the pursuit of providing for his family. And taking part in the building of the community.

His neighbors would have been invaluable to him. He would have needed to rely on them often.

And so as Jesus gives this parable. I don't want you guys to think about the 21st century version.

Of an American neighbor living in a subdivision that you never see. That is not at all what it was like.

For anyone living during this time. So this is a very important relationship.

That we're talking about here. And in this case you have a man. Again living in a time when he was in need of bread.

He was in need of bread. You don't get to go to the store. You don't get to go to the local market at midnight.

Like we can in many large cities today. He needed bread. His neighbors were the only options that he had.

In this context. It was the only option he had. Not to mention, again, it's the middle of the night.

So any markets they would have had. That probably would have been. Could have been a day's journey in some cases.

Depending on where you lived. They wouldn't have been open anyway. Now at first glance. You have this guy.

Remember I said a minute ago. Sometimes Jesus when he is trying to get something in our minds. He's trying to drill something into our minds.

So we don't forget about it. He will do it in somewhat humorous ways sometimes. And this is one of those examples.

He's given this story. You have a guy banging on the door at midnight. At first glance you have this guy.

He's banging on the door at midnight. He's not waking up his neighbor for any kind of real emergency.

The way we would think about it. It's not like his kid is dying. Or he's dying. Or he needs medical attention.

Or a bad guy is trying to break into his house. It's not anything like that. And yet it's midnight.

He's banging on the door of his neighbor. And why? He needs some bread. So we might think at first glance.

This guy is maybe a little bit selfish. Maybe he's just like really over the top. And you know what's going on here.

Maybe even a little bit crazy. But the thing is. You've got to remember. He was the one awakened first.

He's there asking his neighbor for bread. Because someone else knocked on his door first. So he's not selfish.

He's not crazy. He had this other friend show up on his doorstep totally unexpectedly.

So, okay. So far we're giving the guy a little bit of credit. You've got to think about this from the context of the guy that is being woken up though.

You know, you wake up in the middle of the night. Maybe you're startled a little bit. He's not giving much grace right now. To the

Jews, again, going back to the context of this time. To the Jews, hospitality was paramount.

So you have the initial guy that is perhaps traveling a long journey on foot.

And it is now midnight before he stumbled across his first destination. He's there. Perhaps he intended to go there all along.

Maybe he missed the time frame or something. And he is now showing up in an opportune time.

But he's there. And so now the law of the land in the culture of the

Jews is hospitality at all costs. There was no questioning it. There were no other options.

This is a no other option kind of situation. You are going to be hospitable. This was the culture of the

Jews and other ancient cultures as well. But certainly of the Jewish people. And so he has to be hospitable.

In that case, it makes perfect sense that this guy would rather be a good host than be a considerate neighbor.

So he had to pick one. It wasn't one or the other. He had to either be a good host or be an inconsiderate neighbor and bang on the door at midnight.

Well, it was an obvious choice in this culture to the Jewish mind at this time. You were going to be the inconsiderate neighbor because you had to be a good host at all costs.

So far, though, understandable to a degree, this is a very bothersome situation going down for the neighbor that's being woken up.

It's understandable, perhaps, but it's still midnight. And look at verse seven. He from within shall answer and say, trouble me not.

The door is now shut and my children are in bed with me. I cannot rise and give it to you. So even with this guy understanding the importance of hospitality, he is still very bothered by the situation.

And again, to say that this would be an inconvenience to him would have been an understatement for these people back then because we're talking about a one room house.

We're talking about a single bed in this one room house. The whole family is in one bed. All the kids are in one bed.

The kitchen would have been tucked away nicely in a corner. But other otherwise, it is just an open, open concept.

Everyone in the same bed. Everyone was being awakened at this time. It wasn't just the guy.

There's no way to discreetly open up the door, let someone in, rummage the kitchen without everyone being involved.

And so that is what this guy is dealing with. And this neighbor, while surely a kind and considerate neighbor most of the time, he makes it very clear that this just simply is not the best time to be asking for bread.

It's just it's midnight waking the kids up. It's not the best time. Keep in mind, this is

Jesus telling a story. This is Jesus telling a parable. Jesus makes it clear when he's telling that they are friends.

He said that in verse five. So we know that there is a close relationship here, not just the neighbor dynamic, but they are close friends.

Jesus makes that very clear. But even friendship can only go so far. And this is a very unreasonable time to be asking for help hosting.

And yet there is something very key that is about to happen that would eventually sway even the most inconvenienced family man at midnight after having denied the request.

And that key is annoying persistence on the case of the guy outside the door.

He is being annoyingly persistent. Look at verse eight. Jesus says,

I saying to you, though he will not rise and give him because of their friendship. So think about it for a second.

The friendship wasn't going to get this done. It doesn't matter how close they were. It doesn't matter how tight these guys were.

The friendship was not going to be why he would eventually relent and give him bread, though he will not rise and give him because of his friendship.

Yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needed.

Now, a lot of translations will translate that their persistence. But I importunity is actually a fantastic translation in this case because the

Greek word underneath it, what it means is to be shameless or impudent to be persistent.

Yes, but persistent to the point of being annoying. That's what the word means. And so importunity, that's a pretty good

English equivalent of the Greek word here. This man is being shameless about his request. He is being annoyingly persistent about this request, though it be at midnight.

This kind of persistence was what was needed to get the job done.

And not only that, it wasn't just going to get the job done. But it was going to put the neighbor in a situation where he was not only going to give, but give abundantly.

Look what Jesus says one more time. He says, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needed.

So it wasn't just the initial loaves he needed. It was as much as he needed. It was in abundance. Just take it all.

The importunity yielded what the guy needed, plus more. So the thing that's being emphasized here by Jesus is the shamelessness, the boldness of this man toward his friend.

He was in a situation and he needed help. And he was going to put the boldness in the need before any care of what the friend may be thinking or how inconvenienced he might be.

Jesus is emphasizing this. He's going to get what he's asking for and in abundance because he's not going anywhere.

He's going to stay there knocking as long as he needs to knock. The neighbor knows this at this point.

The man knows this. All the kids that are now awake know this. He's not going anywhere.

We have to help him out. His boldness magnified the original petition that he was making to the friend.

The boldness, the brashness, the shamelessness. And so now Jesus is going to make his point.

What he's doing right on the other side of giving them the model prayer, he's encouraging his disciples, which he knew would someday include us in this room, to a constant perseverance in prayer with earnest, with boldness.

That's what the story is highlighting. That's what the story is picturing.

Even when our petition doesn't feel like it's being answered, even when our petitions to God don't feel like they are being answered immediately, we shouldn't ever assume denial on the part of the

Father. Just because it's not happening as quickly as it may feel, we don't need to assume that it's being denied.

Look at verse 9. This is what

Jesus was getting at the whole time, using a somewhat humorous story to bring it to light, to give it color.

Jesus wants us praying. He wants his disciples praying, but he wants us to understand that we have a right to be bold before the

Father. We have a right to be bold, to be shameless, to be brash in some cases before the

Father in a way that would have been inconceivable in the mind of men and certainly every other false religion.

There is no other religion that has access to God in this way.

He is transcendent. He is far and away. He is busy. He has too much going on for the petitions of mere mortals, let alone bold mortals, to be bothering him and taking him away from whatever the thing may be.

Again, totally inconceivable. Think about, again, what Jesus was most likely seeing going on in the minds of his disciples right after giving them the model prayer.

Why would he follow the model prayer immediately with this parable unless he knew that the disciples would have a little bit of trouble ever actually thinking about the fact that, yes, we serve a sovereign ruler of the universe that is transcendent and that is omnipotent and that is sovereign.

How can we pray to him like you are telling us to pray if all of this is true? And Jesus' point is, of course, it's true.

But he is a benevolent father. He is a loving father. He is a jovial father. He is joyful.

He rejoices in this type of communion. He says, ask. And if it seems like it's not answered, come in a little closer.

Come in a little closer. Knock harder. Knock louder. Be persistent. Be bold in your persistence.

Be persistent and ask the spirit to guide your methods of prayer, even to the point of at least what humans might consider to be persistent annoyance.

Again, you think about God lofty on his throne, and the last thing you would ever want to do is to annoy him.

And yet that's what's behind this Greek term that Jesus is using here. It's okay.

You can be. You can be persistent even to the point of annoyance and continue until you prevail, until you get the thing that you are asking for, until peace in your heart is given.

And so Jesus wants believers to know that they should never feel discouraged if they don't immediately obtain their desires.

Because if persistent boldness will eventually get another man to give in another man, how much more will a loving father?

We have no reason to doubt that God will hear us. If this is true of a friend at midnight, how much more true is it of our heavenly father?

If we persevere constantly in prayer and if we can train our minds not to go slack at the moment, the difficulties appear, even if there's apparent delay in the response, it shall be given unto you.

Ye shall find it shall be open unto you. That's what Jesus says in verse nine. Look at verse 10.

So this is an illustration from Jesus, and it's a perfect one. It's a perfect illustration for setting straight the minds of believers who, by the millions today and throughout all of church history, approach

God with an undue fear of bothering him. Think about how many times that we include the qualifier, if it be your will, in our prayers.

I want you to think about something for a second. That particular qualifier was a very specific thing used by Jesus in a moment that was unlike anything we will ever experience ourselves.

Of course, Jesus said, not my will, but yours be done. Of course he said that because he already knew what the divine will was.

He knew what was coming, and of course he would throw in that qualifier. Again, he was the eternal son.

He is the eternal son. He shares in that unified will that determined his death on the cross from the foundation of the world.

So he knew what had to be done. But remember, he's also 100 % man. And in his manishness in that moment, he prayed that prayer in agony in the garden.

But unlike that very peculiar, very unique, exclusive, unparalleled scene of Jesus' agony, we are told of our right of access to God in boldness.

We don't need to throw in qualifiers. We have the right to boldness. Why is that?

Why do we have the right to boldness? Why don't we have to throw in such qualifiers or worry about bothering the sovereign ruler of the universe?

It's because Jesus' blood purchased that right. He purchased it. Why should we have any amount of reservations going before the throne of glory if the purchase price was that precious?

We have absolutely no need to approach God in trepidation and worry, in the worry of bothering him with any reservations whatsoever.

And it doesn't need qualifiers. We don't have to pray, but if it be your will,

Lord, after we give our request. Now, I'm not saying that you can't do that or that it's wrong to do that. I have done it.

I don't even know how many hundreds of times in my life. That's not the point I'm trying to make. The point is it's not necessary. We don't have to throw the qualifier in there.

You approach God the way that the spirit is moving you, but we don't have to do it.

And Paul fleshes this out a little bit for us in Ephesians. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 3.

Go to Ephesians chapter 3. And I want to end on the note of this boldness that I'm speaking of and that I believe

Jesus is alluding to. In fact, it's not even implicit. It's pretty explicit in the parable, especially when we get toward the end.

We'll look at it one more time. But in Ephesians chapter 3, let's start in verse 8.

Paul says, unto me, who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the

Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now under the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our

Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by faith of him, by the faith of him.

Wherefore, I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Paul, as he begins to unveil the mysteries of the glory of God, the mysteries of Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ to the

Gentiles, what he's doing in unfolding all of these mysteries is not just showing us, but showing the principalities and powers above us in a higher dimension that can't fathom how all of this stuff works.

Remember what we started with. There are dynamics in the scripture that the principalities and powers, the angels and the demons can't even fully comprehend because it goes far beyond their logic, let alone the logic of the critics and the scholars and the philosophers and believers that take that cursory view of God's word.

It does not work like that. It can't work like that. And so in unfolding all of this, Paul is showing the world literally, including the higher dimensions, the principalities of the powers, the riches of Christ, one of which being in verse 12, the boldness and access with confidence by faith of him, boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

That is what we have access to. That is the position that we hold as believers.

And again, in the epistle of Hebrews, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. We see this expanded even further than that.

Go to Hebrews chapter 10 with me. And let's start this passage at verse 14.

It says, This is the foundation for this boldness.

Look at verse 15. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiness, excuse me, into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful to promise.

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

Verse 19, again, having therefore, brethren, boldness, boldness to enter into the holy of holies.

Think about that. Think about that. Why is it? It's because of the intercessory work of this high priest, the mediating work of this high priest.

And then down just a little bit, he talks about the full assurance that we have. We can draw near unto

God. That is access to God. Again, I'll say we are in a position unlike any other.

We have access unlike any other, a completely unique tenet of the Christian faith and the basis for our perseverance to the end, finishing the race well.

The basis for that perseverance is unrestricted access to the Father.

And if we could revisit our passage in Luke for just a moment, and we'll end here, turn back to Luke 11, because I actually didn't finish the parable.

If we could revisit this for just a second, just to clear up any questions as to whether Jesus is, in fact, talking about the

Father, the first person of the Trinity, the Ancient of Days, the Father of Lights, the

Almighty. We read the continuation of his parable in verse 11. He says,

These are silly rhetorical questions in the mind of these

Jewish fathers at this time. It didn't matter how evil you were in the sight of God, whether you were a believer or not.

The fact that anyone would deny their son what they were asking for in those contexts would have been unthinkable.

And anyone that did would have been deemed so unworthy of the community they lived in, they probably would have been ostracized and cast out.

We're talking about as evil as evil gets to turn away your son or to mock him with some fake response to his answer, such as a stone for bread or a scorpion or a serpent in the place of a fish.

And he says in verse 12, Jesus talking, or excuse me, in verse 13, right after giving these rhetorical questions, knowing that the answer was, of course, we wouldn't do that.

He says, In the context of prayer, in the context of how to pray, the model prayer,

Jesus highlights not just the reality that we can pray to him, but that we can do so with boldness, with persistence, in a way that, again, people would have thought completely alien to their religion, as well as any other religion, probably leading up to about the time

Jesus comes on the scene. Now, we know that in the Old Testament, certainly the saints prayed boldly then too. Don't get me wrong.

But with regard to just the, these are the prophets we're talking about. This is King David we're talking about. But just for the everyday person, especially after the 400 years of darkness in between Malachi and Jesus and John the

Baptist, this would have been lost on the minds of God's people. There had to have been a reason why

Jesus was throwing in this parable right after giving them the model on how to pray. Now, I would like to conclude with a very important note, right after having discussed this boldness, and, of course, the context of the passage,

As we know, God's Word can and frequently is abused.

It's abused by people left and right, right up the center, all the time, and has time and time again for millennia.

Christ's amazing illustration, in order to sear the reality of our access to God in our minds, does not mean that when we ask, even fervently, for whatever vain desire we might have, that we're guaranteed to get it.

That's not exactly what Jesus is talking about here. James, in chapter 4, you don't have to go there, but he tells us,

And so, you have to remember something. When Jesus talks, when the apostles talk, and when they are talking directly to their people, to their disciples, to believers in God, they assume the new man.

They assume the new creature within you. They're not talking to your old man that was crucified on the cross, per se.

I'm not saying there might not be a context where that's addressed. In fact, James, right here, seems to be addressing something along those lines.

But most of the time, they are assuming that you are walking in the new man, hand in hand with Christ, one and one with the

Spirit that lives within you. And when you do that, what you ask, you will receive. When you knock, it will be open to you.

You get the picture? Other people will abuse passages like this and say things like, just keep asking and you'll get the, insert whatever vain thing you can possibly come up with.

And if that's not working for you, just purchase my prayer cloth and I'll do it for you. So people will abuse the

Word of God. If we write a book in this room, you can rest assured that 2 ,000 years from now, people will be abusing your words too.

They will certainly be doing that to God's words. And so we have to keep in mind the abuse that comes with this as well.

We need to remember the context. We need to remember the light and the intent in which Jesus is talking. So there is no doubt that some people will ask and don't receive because they ask in the wrong manner or from wrong principles or with the wrong end in view.

When I was six years old, praying on my knees that when I opened my eyes,

Lord, let my room be clean, that wasn't going to be answered. I was asking amiss.

And I prayed pretty fervently and pretty boldly about that. But it wasn't going to work because I had wrong principles in mind.

I had the wrong end in sight. And so extrapolate that out.

And adults do similar things too. And so we have to remember the intent of Jesus' words.

It's not that we are guaranteed any vain thing we ask for. He is assuming when

He gives these words that His disciples are walking in the Spirit and that they are walking in the new man.

And when we do that, amazing things do happen. Amazing things do come from our prayers.

So unlike those asking amiss, unlike those abusing Scripture, when a man or a woman of God comes to Him with a righteous cause, like David in Psalm 17, when he comes to God with a righteous cause, and we yield our desires to be in concert with His desires.

In other words, it's not just about getting what we want, but rather we want what He wants simultaneously.

When we ask in that spirit, that person, he or she can be assured that they'll have them in God's due time.

And that is what we need to emphasize, in God's due time. To him that knocks, it shall be opened, was

Jesus' words. And not just to those that pray sincerely and seek diligently, but also to them that boldly persist in His request to God, the

God of the universe, yes, but also the benevolent Father. And there's not going to be any denial.

If there's delay, continue knocking. Come in a little bit closer. Expect that there's a reason for it.

Don't forget Daniel having to wait three weeks for the angels to come and to share the vision that he had and the meaning therein.

He was praying fervently, and he continued to pray fervently, and they told him specifically, Daniel, you are well loved.

The reason we didn't come sooner is we were fighting the demons in Persia, but we came and were here, and God was listening to you the whole time.

So if there's a delay, there's a good reason for it. Nothing is arbitrary in God's world.

We have to keep asking, keep knocking, keep being persistent. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this wonderful day.

Thank you for blessing us with another time to be together, to abide in your word as a local fellowship of believers, a local body of believers.

And, Lord, we thank you so much for, again, this unique opportunity that we have to do so, and we ask that you continue to give us the fervor not just to come to you, not just to come before your throne of grace, as we should, but to also have that fervor in abiding in your words so that we understand what your words are, what we understand, the things that are most pleasing to you and the things that are displeasing to you, and also to have a fervor for fellowship and to spend time together, especially as the end draws near.

Lord, we ask you to continue to bless our time together. We ask you to bless our fellowship time after this. We ask you to take us all home safely, and if it be your will,

Lord, bring us all back safely together this time next week. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.