Prayer & Golden Rule — Charles Ryrie

Like I get the exalted position here, you can't stand down there on the floor, huh? Well, I didn't know that. You had recollections and roots way back to Alton, Illinois,. I Don't think I've been introduced that way for a long time.

Those were Must have been a great aunt and there were. How many of them in that family. Seven I think so there were quite a few Ryrie's and assorted relatives. In Alton. Alton is distinct because at Alton the Mississippi flows.

East got that Makes a little curve there and the Sun Sets into the river. It's very pretty that way. Well, I'm pleased to be here on this Labor Day weekend and tonight and tomorrow. As I have thought about the messages They will not especially be related.

So Don't panic if you can't determine the series. If I continue along the same line of thoughts then beginning Sunday night and two times Monday, I'm going to Try to put those three messages together Under the same general theme and if you want to know what it is, you will probably have to show up Sunday night.

Matthew 7 and the Familiarity of Biblical Verses

Find out Tonight. I want you to turn please to a familiar Chapter in the New Testament. I suppose if anybody knows Some verse or another from the Bible they will know One or two from the section we're going to look at tonight.

They will either know the first Verse of the section or they'll know the last verse of the section. Former President Truman knew the last verse of the section. He said when asked more than once What it takes for a man to get to heaven he said he has to keep the Ten Commandments and the golden rule.

Now whatever you think of his politics I should not dare enter into that but his theology was terrible, of course. And the golden rule is the last verse of this section do unto others as you would have them do to you.

If a person knows another verse from this chapter He is apt to know the first verse which is Judge not that you be not judged. Of course the person doesn't usually know the setting of the verse and He or she will use it as a kind of defense mechanism.

Judge not that you be not judged. In other words just shut up. You're meddling now. So just keep still because You're judging and judge not that you be not judged. So by now, I hope you've turned to Matthew chapter 7 Which opens with judge not that you be not judged and the section I want to look at concludes with Whatever you would that men should do to you do the same to them for this is the law and the prophets the so-called golden rule.

Hypocritical Judgment and the Need for Self-Examination

In this section the Lord talks about two Rather different subjects. The first one has to do with judging. There's no need to try to soften the word it means judge. And he says judge not that you be not judged for with what judgment you judge you shall be judged and with what measure you Meet it shall be measured to you again.

Why behold a style the most that's in my brother's eye and consider. It's not the beam that's in my own eye. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother? Let me pull out the most out of thine eye and behold a beam is in my own eye.

Now hypocrites. First cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly. To cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye give not that which is holy to the dogs. Either cast you your pearls before swine.

Lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you. The Lord doesn't say don't ever judge. He says the only kind of person who isn't allowed to judge the person who comes under the prohibition of verse 1.

Is verse 5 the hypocrite if you're a hypocrite don't judge rather Get out of the position of being a hypocrite then Verse 5 thou shalt see clearly to cast the moat out of thy brother's eye that's judging.

He's obviously not condemning judging he's condemning hypocritical judging and when somebody says Judge not that you be not judged. He's really saying to you thou hypocrite which isn't too kind to remark actually.

There is a proper judging a non hypocritical judging, how do you do that? Well first of all you need to discern your own spiritual condition. So that there are no beams or logs in your own eye. Then you can judge in a non hypocritical fashion or to put it positively.

The first requirement for good proper scriptural judging is to be clear-eyed. Clear-eyed to be able to see to judge. Sometime if you want a little interesting study look up the word I in the New Testament or anywhere in the Bible and Eliminate the references that have to do with the physical organ and just see what the Bible says about the eye.

You may remember a few interesting passages. In the preceding chapter the Lord said if your eye is Evil that's full of darkness if it's covetous full of darkness and how great that darkness is. But later on in Matthew's gospel when he's talking about those Workers that were sent into the field to work at different times of the day yet.

They all received the same wage when the Ones that worked all day complained thinking they should receive more. The Lord put his finger right on their problem and said is your eye Evil because I am good.

Matthew 20. Paul prayed that the eyes of our understanding might be enlightened that we might know the Hope of our calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the Saints and the exceeding greatness of his power to us.

Who believe according to the working of his mighty power when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him is on the right hand in the heaven. The eye has a very important place certainly Odyssey it was cautioned and exhorted to Apply I have to their condition which they really weren't discerning.

To judge properly there must first of all be a clear-eyed Person to do it. Pull out the beam that's in thine own eye. Now the second thing that's involved in non hypocritical proper scriptural judging is You have to see other people's sin.

There's no judging. There's no helping. There's no Clearing out of the sins of others unless they're discerned as sin and these are the specks. That's in another person's eye. Thanks, just little things.

We have a cliche all sin is sin. That is true. But all sin isn't the same. There are big sins and there are little sins. There are public sins. There are private sins. There are gross sins. There are good sins.

There are sinful sins and there aren't so bad sin, not that's filter theology. I'll remind you of what the Lord said. He said he that delivered me unto you has the greater sin John 19 11. And that's a pure unadulterated comparative greater so one sin was less than the other and the other was greater than the other and Of course the comparison here between This speck and the beam shows that there are some things that are Less than other sins.

They're all sinful, but they're not all the same. John wrote about a sin unto death and a sin that's not unto death obviously different gradation of sin. Now the Lord says we should be interested in our brothers being clear-eyed also right down to the specks That get into our lives.

As I was meditating on this It occurred to me something pretty obvious, but it occurred to me that it's probably easier to see and to be concerned about big sins and probably harder to be Concerned about little sins.

It also seemed to me that Older we get the more comfortable. We try to be with little things and less concerned with getting the specks Out of our eyes or helping others to do the same. Oh Well, that's the way I am.

Oh, well, that's the way I've been all my life. Oh, you can't expect me to change now. Oh on and on the reasons go. But our Lord was concerned that we help each other get the specks out of our eyes. So there has to be a discerning of other people's sins as well.

Proper Procedures for Correcting Sin

And then I should think not only must I be clear-eyed and must I see other people's sins and try to do something about it. But I'll have to determine what to do the correct procedure. And that's not always easy.

Hatred stirs up strife the proverb says but love covers all sins and sometimes it should and yet the Apostle Paul said reprove the Works of unrighteousness sometimes they need to be exposed when to cover and when to expose right timing those are all difficult questions to answer and Have to do with the discerning of procedures.

Perhaps that's what verse 6 is talking about because It seems to be referring to the holy meat that was given to the priests Which was not even allowed to be eaten by the layman and certainly not by dogs or by swine.

The correct procedure in accomplishing God's will in this matter. So there is a proper non-hypocritical Judging. I have some Of course some remembrances of my own father one of them Has to do with how he would take things out of My brother and my eyes when we get something in our eyes.

I don't know that I've Ever had to do that with my kids. Maybe I had but I don't remember it happening very often, but It seemed to me it happened to us frequently and he would always be taking something out of our eye that we were complaining about.

I Think it's probably because I grew up BC before contacts. Contacts seem to protect the eye a little more today but I can remember how he did that and of course it always often always was at the end of the day and He would take a Handkerchief out of his pocket and twist the corner of it make a little point and then pull down the lid or turn up the Turn under the upper lid and just touch the point of the handkerchief to the spec and lift it off much like you would lift off a little speck of dust or dirt from the Top of a glass of water that's floating on the water.

You don't dump your finger in that would sink it. You just barely touch it and that lifts it off. Likewise, he would just roll up that Piece of handkerchief and just touch it and lift it off. Now that worked.

But my father was Did not have great eyesight. And this happened in the evening when we were ready to go to bed. He would maybe already have taken his glasses off and laid them on his dressing. And he was ready to take the speck out of our eyes.

And I always said hold on please go get your glasses. I Want you to see clearly Before you mess around with my eyes. Now there's a second subject apparently unrelated Has to do with prayer. This is one of the favorite passages on prayer in the New Testament.

Persistent and Trusting Prayer

Ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh asketh receiveth. He that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Or what man is there of you whom if his son asked bread will he give him a stone? And the implied answer is of course not. That's the way the original is constructed. Or if he asked a fish fish, he will not give him a servant a serpent Willie.

We can we can bring that expected answer into the question in English even If he asked the fish, he will not give him a serpent Willie. You're supposed to answer. No course not. He then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children.

How much more. So your father which is in heaven Give good gifts to them who ask him now. It seems to me. The Lord is saying two things about prayer proper praying here. The first one is most obvious verses 7 and 8 pray with persistence.

Some commentators try to make distinctions between asking and seeking and knocking and maybe there are. I Don't think the point is distinctions. I think the point is the repetition that is persist keep on asking and seeking and knocking and the promise of verse 8 is that God will hear pray with persistence.

Then he says pray in these two illustrations pray with Trust. I deliberately am using the word trust Rather than faith. They are synonyms. I know that. But I want to use the word trust pray with trust.

For the simple reason I think today Pray with faith has become kind of a Mechanical thing almost. You've got to have more faith if you will have more faith. Or a variation of it is if enough of us will have more faith Then God is obliged to answer.

Please don't misunderstand. I believe that Corporate prayer is very biblical. Sharing requests is very biblical. But I'm not sure that God is obliged To anything. He promised certain things and you of course keep his promises.

But when I see on television or here on some programs this pray with Faith I Get the impression that the only thing that's hindering God is Something in me or enough or in the constituency of that program if that were present then Whatever it is if that were present then God is obliged To answer.

The only reason he hasn't is that we haven't got enough people or enough people with enough faith. It was the right kind of faith or something Involved so I don't want to to create that image. I want to discard that image.

I want to nullify that image. So I don't want to say pray with faith. I want to say the Lord is teaching these two illustrations were to pray with trust. Now look at the illustration. What man is it is there of you whom is his son asked bread?

He won't give him a stone really bread stone similar in shape in look color But not texture or usefulness. And if we go to our Heavenly Father in prayer with trust we may. First illustration says we may trust him.

Not to give us something that will deceive us or to substitute a Stone when you've asked for a loaf Is a deception. Looks the same. Deceives you into thinking that it might be the same, but of course it's not The thing you asked for it's not useful so we can trust God never to deceive us.

Trusting God’s Goodness in Prayer

And again I got to thinking about this how could An answer to prayer ever be a deception. Well, I'll use a student illustration if you don't mind. Students when they come up to the point of graduation or a point of decision Will often pray to God for leading.

Suppose That the student or his wife Really has an area of unwillingness In their desires or ambitions. And they want leading except they want to be led the either to Florida or Texas or California? I'll go anywhere in the Sun Belt Lord.

But New England Oh give us leading now God should answer that. You see they might be deceived into thinking they were in fellowship When they really aren't so I think it is possible to to ask for Something and if we got the answer it would just reinforce our thinking that everything's fine we go on in our Area of unwillingness.

You never deal with that before the Lord. Once I was speaking on on the temptation of Christ in a church and Sunday morning and I said something about stone turn to bread of course. And I said, I don't know who's taking me to dinner today, but I certainly hope that you're not tempted to do this.

Trying to illustrate that Christ's temptation Was peculiar to him it's not one that we could even be tempted with. You can't be tempted to turn stones to bread. So I said, I hope whoever's taking me to dinner Isn't tempted or doesn't think he could be tempted to do this but it so happened that the previous arrangements were for a couple's class in that church to have a potluck dinner and So we went to a home and it was a spread like you've never seen unless you see it Monday.

I don't know what it's gonna be like Monday, but it was a spread. I'll tell you and They had a table twice as long as the communion table and twice as wide. Like four of those tables set up and these couples that all brought their fanciest food.

And they laid it out there and when it came time to eat the hostess said you go first. And so I went first and about the fourth item down the table was a was a loaf of homemade bread. That's great. So I picked up the knife.

You cut the first piece and I put the knife on the bread and it was a stone and somehow between Church and dinner they had found the stone and it looked just like a loaf of bread. I was deceived. I was deceived God never to deceive you even In an answer to prayer.

Second illustration difference. Or if he asked a fish He won't give him a serpent willy and again the similarities the resemblances are Close. But there's an added matter here. It's not something that's merely deceiving if a serpent were substituted for a fish.

And it was the right kind of poisonous serpent and this would be something that would be damaging. When you pray you can trust God never to give you anything that would damage you. You know if God would answer it were to answer some of our prayers.

It would be very damaging. We think it would be very good. But in reality it would be very damaging because we don't always know what we should pray for what's the best thing to have. And well, I think we should tell our Heavenly Father exactly what we feel.

The bottom line always has to be but Lord I want What you want me to have and if what I'm asking for would be deceiving or damaging then don't give it to me. I'd rather not have it years ago. I was when our children were little I was traveling to Southern California and in the spring of the year and I Said to them, you know, I'll probably go over to Mexico and Is there anything you'd like me to bring to you?

And this one Chorus they said Firecrackers it was in June and the 4th of July was approaching and firecrackers are illegal in Dallas. So they should bring us some firecrackers. Well, I see that isn't legal.

How can I do that? Well, just bring us some sparklers. That won't they won't hurt anything. I Thought of this tonight. We had a birthday and somebody had a sparkler in the dining room. I Thought of that Incident long ago.

Just bring us sparklers. That's not dangerous. We'll light them on the back porch. It's concrete and We'll be careful of the hot wires and all of that. What could be dangerous about sparklers? So I went to San Diego and I went across the border to Tijuana and I Thought to myself, you know, I love my kids.

Why shouldn't I bring them sparklers? They probably won't hurt themselves with it and I'll with them and I'll be there and we'll watch everything and that'll please them and every time I thought the buying sparklers or other firecrackers, I Also thought of a three-inch scar.

I have on my legs from a firecracker accident. So I went home. Daddy, what'd you bring us? Nothing. No firecrackers. No no sparklers. No. There was great weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. You don't love us.

But of course it was precisely Because I did love them That I did not Grant their request. You notice both bread and fish. These are basics. These aren't luxuries. These aren't peripheral things. These are basic things.

God will Not do anything even the basics of life to deceive us or to damage this but the positive promise of verse 11 is if he then being evil and That's all of us spoken to the disciples and all of us.

Total Depravity and the Possibility of Human Good

If he then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children. This is a wonderful verse to keep theologians honest when they define total depravity. Now if you could watch that film and listen to all those technical terms you can listen to this.

Total depravity some people say means nobody can do anything good. This verse doesn't Agree with that definition. Then being evil know how to give good gifts. Evil people can do good things. The gravity is not a question of whether a person can do evil or do good or not.

It's a question of whatever he does. Is that acceptable with God and the answer is no the good things or the wicked things. Evil people know how to give good gifts to your children. Then here's the positive promise.

How much more shall your father in heaven? Give good things to those that ask him Good from whose viewpoint I'm here.