Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Amen, church. We're gonna turn our attention now to public reading and teaching and preaching of God's word from Luke chapter 11.

So if you have a Bible, please turn to Luke chapter 11 as we continue our sermon series through the gospel of Luke.

We're gonna be looking at verses one to 13. When you have that, please do stand for the reading of God's word. Again, our main text this morning is

Luke chapter 11, verses one to 13. Hear ye this morning the word of the Lord. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he finished one of his disciples said to him

Lord Teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. He said to them when you pray say father

Hallowed be your name your kingdom come Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive

Everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation

He said to them Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him friend

Let me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and have nothing to set before him

He will answer from within do not bother me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed

I cannot get up and give you anything I tell you though He will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend yet because of his impudence

He will rise and give him whatever he needs and I tell you ask and it will be given to you

Seek you will find Knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks

Finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened What father among you if his sons asked for a fish one said?

Instead of a fish give him a serpent or if he asked for an egg will give him a scorpion

If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children

How much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated Let us pray

Father it is indeed fitting that on this occasion You have placed before us in your word a teaching on prayer through the mouth of the master himself

Jesus Christ we pray Lord that you would now incite in our hearts and our minds a desire to know the purpose and the power of prayer and that Lord Jesus indeed

Teach us this morning how to pray for your glory and namesake.

Amen Prayer is a powerful and an effective thing

Prayer is a necessity for the Christian this morning we were talking about our

Sunday school the necessity of church membership the necessity of baptism but there's a necessity here that we need to speak of it is the necessity of being in communion in being in communication with our

Heavenly Father those of us who have earthly parents

We try to make it a thing in our lives where we communicate with our parents

We call them maybe we call them on special occasions such as Christmas New Year's birthdays and we try to stay in communication with our parents as best as we can

But there's a communication that is often Neglected in the church that's often neglected in Christian homes.

It's often neglected in personal Christian lives and it's our communication with our

Heavenly Father Notice what Jesus how this opens up in Luke chapter 11. Now. Jesus was praying in a certain place and When he finished one of his disciples said to him

Lord Teach us to pray What an interesting scenario

Jesus is praying the disciples are observing him pray and After he finishes his prayer

He the disciple asked Lord teach us to pray Teach us to pray what's of interest here is that you would imagine one of the reasons why the

Apostles and the disciples were chosen was because they were of some spiritual maturity They should already know how to pray

They've been taught in the in the synagogues by rabbis in the God's Word What prayer is and what prayer ought to sound like and when observing

Jesus? They maybe noticed something a little bit different When you look at the

Old Testament And you see the prayers of the prophets you see the prayers of the kings you see the prayer of holy men and prophets you notice that there always seems to be a

Separation between this holy and infinite God and the one praying

I Think for as an example in Isaiah chapter 6 when the

Prophet sees the Lord High and lifted up in his chamber high and lifted up in his throne room

And what does the Prophet see as he sees this incredible God Yahweh Jehovah upon his throne?

He says woe is me For I am an unclean man and live among the people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen

Jehovah of host Certainly he thought he was finished he saw this holy and excellent

God and he saw himself for who he truly is a Sinful man who is deserving of death.

He saw this chasm this great gap between Creator and Creation he saw this gap between a holy

God and an unholy man. He says who can bridge this gap How can me

I even a prophet of God come and approach this grand Jehovah and yet?

in the New Testament When you see Jesus Christ and how he prays and how he approaches the

Creator How does he open what does he pray how does he tell us to pray with the terms of Father father

That's how Jesus Approaches this holy and awesome

God you don't typically see this term used in prayer in the

Old Testament Jesus prays Different than anyone has ever prayed before him

So the disciples were looking for a model on how to pray I want you if you're following in today's notes in the insert in the bulletin that in the answer that was given to you this

Morning, I want you to write this as the disciples were looking for a model on how to pray Effectively again, the disciples were in close proximity

To Jesus likely hearing him pray and as they hear him pray they asked Lord teach us to pray

Now again, these are religious and devout Jews Did they not know how to pray?

What were they looking for what they were looking for was a model notice again what it says in verse 1

It says when he finished one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray as John Taught his disciples

What they were looking for was a model like John the Baptist taught his followers to pray So now the disciples of Jesus want insight and a model for effective and anointed prayer again, we have a few examples of Jesus praying throughout the

Gospels and this one is He's about to teach in Luke's version of the

Lord's Prayer is significant I want you to put yourself in the disciples shoes for a moment

Can you imagine being in the presence of Jesus when he was praying

Think about that Consider what it looked like in the Old Covenant and the

Old Testament when men of God prayed and they prayed with their faces towards the a prostrate praying to God and Saying woe is me.

Woe is me and Yet when Jesus prays Likely with his head up his hands reached towards heaven and he begins with the words

Father what a difference

In verse 2, it says he said to them when you pray say father

Hollowed be your name. I saw a video on the internet maybe two days ago

This really cute kid And this mother asked this little daughter and the girls probably four or five years old and the mom asked the daughter

Sweetie, what is God's name? And The little girl says his name is Howard Howard where'd you get that from?

Well, it says our Father in heaven Howard be your name There There's an innocence there there is a closeness there that this little girl feels like she can have with God Incorrectly not naming him the right name, but she has this this not this fear

But rather this closeness of saying well, yeah, this is God. I Thought his name was

Howard But instead what got what Jesus teaches us here in this prayer is to approach this

Person approach this God with the title and term of father

Now, I'm not sure what age I figured out what my dad's name was

Probably maybe first second grade where I figured out that he had a name other than than dad but the point is is that Jesus is pointing to a new kind of intimacy with the

Creator an Intimacy that had not yet been made known amongst the people of God and why is it that Jesus can now

Demand and call his disciples to refer to God as father was because through Jesus this holy indistinct

God who in the Old Testament put out all these rules and Regulations in order for an unclean people to approach him is now making himself accessible and approachable through his son

Jesus Christ Jesus is the new and a better way to God according to the writer of Hebrews Jesus is that curtain that is broken in the middle so that we now have full access

To the father through the shed blood of Jesus Christ so that when we pray we pray this father

Hallowed be your name Our father has a name

We sang that name twice today in our liturgy that name being the divine name of Yahweh sometimes translated as Jehovah, I have a friend who is a

Hebrew scholar for and he teaches out of the University of Tel Aviv and When I say a friend,

I actually mean a friend and I've had dinner with him on several occasions And he is a brilliant man.

He's not a Christian He's a what's called a care right Jew not a carrot

Jew, but a carrot Jew, which is essentially the Jewish version of a

Sola Scriptura Jew so he's not rabbinic. He doesn't believe in the rabbinic traditions of Judaism He rejects the

Talmud, which is the rabbinic traditions of Judaism and embraces a holistic

Sola Scriptura view of scripture from a Jewish perspective and my friend

Nehemia Gordon He believes that the divine name is actually not even

Yahweh nor is it Jehovah in his studies he believes that the name of the holy and true

God of Israel where we get the Hebrew term the Tetragrammaton you'd have all paid the four -letter

Word of God in Hebrew is Yehovah He believes that Yehovah is

God's holy and precious name as revealed in Holy Scripture and This God whether you call him

Yahweh, whether you come Jehovah, whether you come Yehovah Please don't call him

Howard But whatever however you call him Lord Master Sovereign El Shaddai El Gabor all these terms

There's a new term by which we can now call him through Jesus Christ and it's the term father

He's no longer just our Lord. He's not just our sovereign He's not just our master all terms denoting someone who is far greater than you.

But now there's a relational term that we can use with our Heavenly Creator and it's that a father

Which now means I am a son I'm not just a

Creature that he has made. I'm no longer just a thing in his

Universe. I am now a son or a daughter of this most high

God so when we pray Hollowed be your name what you write this in the notes if you're following along When we pray hollowed be your name what we are asking is for God's name to be made

Holy, that's what the word hollowed means When the scripture says hollowed be your name that word hollowed is an old

English term from Elizabethan English Which means to make holy or to sanctify other translations of the

Bible use the term let your name be sanctified That is again to make something holy or sanctified

So know this an effective prayer is one that does not start with me

When you look at the world you look at the world praise it might start with God me me me me me me me and God, please please please please please and God Thank you, amen

And that's how most prayers go prayer today in the world is very pagan why

Because when you hear the average prayer of maybe even the average Christian in America today

It's more Man -centered than God -centered. It's about what

God can do for me instead of what I can do for God It's about how I can get the wishes of my heart and not please the heart of the one to whom

I'm speaking Prayer has become a selfish self -centered endeavor where we think of God as God the magic genie and now as God the

Father and Prayer has become effectively the rubbing of this magic lamp

Where we can now get our wishes fulfilled and this is how many Christians today in the church even view it

Especially among those who believe in some form of prosperity gospel where they can just name it and claim it

Where Jesus to them is just an ends to a mean But instead we should have a different view of prayer how

Jesus teaches us to pray It doesn't begin with me me me me me, but rather father in heaven

Hollowed be your name that at the forefront of our prayer life is the holiness sanctity of God his person and name

It is an honoring of the Ten Commandments Where God says thou shall have no other gods before me and thou shalt treat my name as holy

We treat God's name as holy by approaching our father with a sense of all a sense of holiness

An effective prayer is centered around the glory Fame and holiness of Almighty God and it's not in just the mere repetition of these words

That we find power But it's in the truth and heartfelt conviction of this truth that we find anointed and effective prayer

Where we truly have the forefront of our hearts and minds the holiness of our father

You see part of the problem today is that we don't know how good of a father we actually have

If we grew up with a good dad, sometimes We take things for granted We don't recognize how good we have it until the father is removed or when we go to We grew up as adults and we do we have our own lives and we see how other fathers or how hard the world actually is we forsake

This intimacy this this grandeur this mystery of prayer Because we have not yet come to fully recognize

The power the fame and the holiness of our father I tend to think of times of which in our culture celebrities are put on a pedestal and I've seen several times in which kids become very ungrateful because of their status and because of the fame of their parents and yet there's been certain times where I've Impressed by certain celebrities and in their kids where their kids don't even know that mom or dad is a celebrity

Until much later in their teen years where they maybe see him in the movie or they say you're in the

Avengers, too And this is the heart and the attitude. I think we need to have with our father

We on one hand should recognize the fame and grandeur of God, but at the same time

Have this relationship where he's all those things. He's God. He's creator

But he's also my father Know who your father is and you'll have a greater appreciation

For who you are in him again an effective prayer doesn't start or center around me

It centers around him Which is why in the next breath Jesus says setting that perfect model of prayer father.

Hallowed be your name your kingdom come Once you write down the notes your kingdom come

That is to say that and it's to demonstrate where our hope what you're writing that word hope is for the future

Where is your hope for the future? Is it in your work and your relationships?

Is it in your hopes and dreams? Is it in what you'd like to accomplish for the future or is your hope set upon what

God will accomplish in the future and What he has accomplished through his kingdom one of the central tenets of the teaching of the

Bible Certainly one of the major themes of the gospel of Luke is the kingdom of God Breaking into the world the kingdom of God is a central tenet of Christ's earthly ministry and teaching

So once you ask yourself this question, do you find yourself anxious about the future?

some of us are the precipice of major change in our lives and we're sitting on the precipice of change and And it might lead us to anxiety.

It might lead us to stress I might say I don't know what this next season of life is gonna look like if I go to the left or I go To the right what the future holds

It's true while we do not know perfectly what the future holds we know who holds the future and that's our

King Jesus Christ, there's much uncertainty in this world, but there is one

Certainty that you can rejoice in today as Christians and that's the kingdom of God That God's kingdom is firmly established by the hands of the

Lord's anointed servant our Messiah Jesus Christ And we hold on to the great confession that God's kingdom is the only solution to the troubles of mankind

And when we hold to this great confession of faith That with the second advent of the

Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He shall have indeed Everlasting dominion from sea to sea and will demolish every other rule.

I want you to consider with me In Daniel chapter 2 you can turn to if you'd like In Daniel the prophetic book of Daniel What kingdom

Jesus has in mind when he prayed when he asked his disciples to pray your kingdom come and in Daniel chapter 2 verse 40 verse 44

Is this prophet Daniel interprets the dream? He says in Daniel 2 44 in the days of those

Kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom That shall never be destroyed

Nor shall the kingdom be left to another people It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand how long?

forever God's kingdom will stand forever This is the same kingdom that the

Lord Jesus calls us beckons us to pray your kingdom Come can

I give you good news Church? Daniel chapter 2 verse 44 is being fulfilled today

So if you ask yourself, is there any truth or validity to the

Bible's prophetic claims? And the answer is yes the kingdom is established now

Here today and this church that you are standing in or sitting in this morning is an embassy of That kingdom because Jesus Christ is today

King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Amen Go to Daniel chapter 7 for a moment just to make this point even clearer it says in Daniel chapter 7 verse 13, and I saw the night visions and Behold the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man he came to the ancient of days was presented before him and to him was given dominion and Glory and a kingdom that all people nations languages should serve him

His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which shall not pass away in this kingdom one that shall not be destroyed

Okay, the question is When is this fulfilled? Are these events fulfilled in the life ministry of Jesus?

Or will it be fulfilled in a future second coming? While we confess and believe that Christ shall again come in glory

And he shall come not in relation to sin but instead to bring forth everlasting salvation to all those who have waited upon him and Indeed to usher in a new heavens and new earth

We also believe and confess this that Jesus is seated today upon his throne Jesus according to Psalm 110 the

Lord said unto my Lord sit at my right hand Until I make your enemies my footstool

Is Jesus not today Seated at the right hand of God when the first Christian martyr

Stephen When his before his life was taken from him what vision did he see but the heavens opened and the

Son of Man Sitting at the right hand of God So that despite all the trials that Stephen was going through in that moment

Facing certain death. He looked to the future were great optimism Why because he saw who was at the right hand of God Even Jesus Christ our

Savior So Jesus today is seated at the right hand of Majesty He's received indeed a kingdom and a people of all nation tribes and languages

He's indeed ruling in his dominion and everlasting dominion That shall not be destroyed

And so when Jesus invites us to pray father hall will be your name your kingdom come

Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven

God's kingdom today is a heavenly kingdom We hold fast to this heavenly hope this heavenly kingdom

Our citizenship is not here on the earth, but it is instead in heaven according to Paul in Philippians chapter 3

Our citizenship is in heaven from where we await the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ So when we pray your kingdom come your kingdom come on earth

And that kingdom shall come upon the earth and the church is a local embassy of that kingdom

But yet we do not yet see all his enemies under his feet But that shall certainly be the case

When the Lord Jesus returns in glory and shall put an end to his final enemy that final enemy being death itself

So we have much to look forward to in the future We have much hope

Because God's kingdom as an everlasting kingdom, and it shall put an end to every earthly kingdom

We look at the world around us. I Just read this yesterday, you know that doomsday clock that they have

I think it was in Sweden Switzerland somewhere and they say we are five minutes

Till midnight midnight being doomsday and every couple years they look at world events and they say how close are we to?

absolute disaster and Even the world knows it's not looking good. And why is it not looking good?

It's because humanity continues to put its faith in princes and noble men and In the rulers of this world, but but us as Christians We recognize that our hope is not in who's in the

White House, but rather who's in this house? Jesus Christ the true

King of Kings the ruler of the kings of this earth and our hope is in a Is not upon the kingdoms of this world, but rather upon God's kingdom this is what effective prayer looks like is when we know that the answer is

Before us in heaven and not behind us in the world The world will never be able to satisfy

The demands of life nor will it provide true hope for the future instead?

Our hope comes from looking forward to Christ's kingdom So then the next part of the prayer that Jesus teaches us is in verse 3 where he tells us that we ought to pray

This way give us each day our daily bread So the prayer starts our

Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

So it starts and it centers upon the glorification of God's name the glorification of his kingdom to come

His will being done So it focuses heavily upon the greatness of God and our depends upon him and part of our dependence upon God is knowing

Where our bread comes from? Where all the basic necessities of life truly find their source

And it's in the Creator Well, you might say to yourself Well, I buy my own bread.

I've got my own job. I've got my own riches I don't have a need for someone to supply me

I supply it myself and you would be well to think that way if you were an American Rugged individualism you can pick yourself up by your own bootstraps and we you have all that you need to be successful in this country but actually

We all From the greatest of us to the least of us from the riches of atheists to the poorest of Christians all

Find our true need and sustenance in the

Lord God in our Creator Every good thing that even the most vile atheist has comes from the good hand of a good father

Every good thing that the Christian has flows from the blessing and the abundant hand of our

Creator I think of Psalm 73 where it says that God shall open up his hands and satisfy the desires of every living creature

That's the type of God that we worship That the reign of common grace falls on the wicked and on the righteous

That all good things in life come from a good father But do you recognize?

This provision. Do you recognize this good father? We're also commanded to pray likewise in verse 4 and forgive us our sins as We ourselves forgive anyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation

They're following in today's notes. We ask God for our provision. That's our daily bread Don't forget to ask

God for your daily needs and provision And we'll see in a moment why that's the case why it is that we should ask

God for our daily provision and needs But along that line, he's also asking us to do something and it's to forgive our

Spiritual debt Due to sin So we're asked to forgive those who have sinned against us those who may be indebted to us now that's

Where it starts getting tough That's when prayer you begin to see the true heart and intention of prayer

It's not so much to change God's heart or mind But rather it is a place in which

God can change our hearts in our minds to be more aligned with his

So sometimes when we pray again, is that give me give me give me me me me. I want I want treating

God like some sort of genie, but instead he's a father not a genie and This is the part in which prayer gets tough

Where God is reminding us to not only seek forgiveness of sins through him

But also to remind us that we too must forgive others who have sinned against us because just like we are sinners and We can go before and petition the throne of mercy and grace

So too are we called to petition and forgive those who've sinned against us personally and that's not easy

It's easier said than done Have you ever been betrayed? Have you ever been hurt?

Have you ever been made to feel worthless? Have you been stolen against how you've been harmed or you've been sinned against it in some way?

It's not so easy to forgive that person then yet what is being called here is a radical life of forgiveness of forgiving and forgiving upon the basis and merits of Jesus Christ and So when we ask for bread on the one hand, we must be willing to extend that same bread

That same compassion that same mercy to those Who've harmed us to those who are indebted to us?

This is a radical call of prayer Not that we change God's mind, but that he changes our mind through this process of prayer

Due to the sin of pride it can be very difficult to ask for help let alone for a provision and forgiveness

Yet Jesus said that it would be the meek who would inherit the earth under his kingdom and this highlights the need for our pearl eyes to be baptized in humility and to be baptized and Total dependence upon the

Savior and that's exactly what Jesus is preaching and teaching us here in the our father prayer He's teaching us humble meek

Dependence upon him even for such lowly things such as bread and such high things such as forgiveness everything in between Is to be bathed in humble dependence upon the

Savior likewise, it says here in this text and Lead us not into temptation a word of warning here brothers and sisters many of us

Think because of the pride in our hearts that we were sufficient within ourselves to fight temptation

So what that often looks like in the Christian life is not an avoidance of sin

But rather we run as close to the fire as we can and we say it's not gonna burn me.

It's not gonna burn me I can run right up to the fire I can get as close up in part as I can and think

I'm immune to it. No, that is pride that is danger and Yet what

God tells us and he calls us to is to pray Lord lead us not to temptation

That is then to follow in the footsteps of Joseph. For instance when he was tempted with sexual morality with Potiphar's wife

He didn't entertain that thought yet he turned and ran the other way We are called not to get close to the fires of sin

Rather when we see the danger of sin We see the danger of temptation rearing its ugly head for this is not a condition that this is a condition

Which we are all immune to as a common race. We all sin fall short of the glory of God We all face of all sorts of temptations and there is no temptation given among men by which it is

Uncommon, we all share in common temptations Therefore when we see these temptations are rising we're not to entertain it

We're not to run as closely as we can to it rather. We are to run in the other direction flee and ask the

Lord Lord lead us not into temptation, but as in the In Matthew's account of this prayer, but deliver us from evil

Deliverance is the answer you will not be able to withhold and withstand temptation

As long as you entertain it you must turn the other direction and flee

Flee don't think you're powerful enough big enough strong enough in order to wrestle of temptation on your own

You're called to flee from it and this pro reflects that Lord lead us not into temptation what that looks like It's saying

God Remove from me the desire

Remove from from me The the the the things that are leading me to sin

Jesus puts it this way elsewhere in the Gospels if your hand causes you to sin, what are you to do with it?

Cut it off If your eye causes you to stumble you Pluck it out

Okay, so we know this is not literally, you know Jesus saying to to to be maimed or to to cut your body parts, but what he's saying is this when temptation and sin arises

Don't just scratch at your hand They'll just rub at your eye but remove

Violently the things that are causing you to stumble So whether it's for instance the temptation of being on your phone and seeking pornographic images

It is not totally inappropriate for you to remove these things from your life maybe something as simple as getting what's called a dumb phone because You cannot withstand the temptation at this moment

Maybe it's removing yourself from a certain work environment And if you have temptations at your work or your school, maybe

God is calling you to remove yourself from those situations Whatever temptation whatever trial whatever circumstance you find yourself in God always provides a way out

He always provides a way out why? Because he's faithful. He's a good

God To Seek more of this good to God notice what how Jesus frames us in the next chunk of this text

Verse 5 it says and he said to them which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight say to him friend

Lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and have nothing to set before him

He will answer from within do not bother me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed

I cannot get up and give you anything Here Jesus gives a scenario where there's a need and there's someone who can meet that need yet They're unwilling and Jesus is trying to let us know.

Our father is not like that Our father will answer the call Anytime you come to him

Any time at any hour for anything? God will hear you

God will answer you because He's a good father

If you're a child if you're older and your children are out of the house If you're a good father, you're a good mother

When that child comes knocking with something important with something serious you open the door how much more so our

Heavenly father that when we come knocking because of the stresses the necessities of life because of the challenges of life

How much more will he answer the call? This also comes brilliantly the teachings we've been going through in our catechism but the effectual call of God when

God calls its Effectual meaning it is effective and when we pray in Jesus name and we come to God with a broken contrite heart

He will by no means cast us out He's a good God. He's Effectual and he's effective and open the door when we come to him as children.

Which is why it goes on to say In verse 9 and I tell you ask and it will be given to you

Seek and you will find Knock and it will be

Opened to you not Does not say ask and if you're lucky you might receive doesn't say

Knock and if it's not a good time, the door will be open doesn't say that if you seek and You've got it all together

You'll find no and said it's the opposite whatever condition of life that you find yourself in you seek from a heart of sincerity

Truly you'll find Truly Christ will open that door and he will hear you and he will treat you as a son or daughter

For everyone in verse 10, it says everyone who asks Receives and the one who seeks finds into the one who knocks it will be open.

What surety? What certainty we have as Christians? There's a certainty.

There's a surety. There's there's a relationship here That gives us this certainty as believers that when we knock it will be open that when we ask

It will be answered that when we seek it will be found because our

God is a good father So once you'd write this in the notes, Jesus shares a parable to highlight the need for persistence in these three things one asking

Asking elsewhere in Scripture. Jesus says you have not because you what? ask not

You have not because you ask not God and sometimes especially maybe in Reformed brothers and sisters.

We might get into this trap where we think well God is sovereign. God knows why I need Why do I even have to ask him?

well, the reason you ask is because he's good and because he will extend grace and mercy, but if you approach him with this

I I Notion that that God is well, he knows everything and therefore he should just give it to me

That sounds more like an entitled son than a good son

And if you know anything about being a parent we don't treat Entitledness very well

We want people to be our children to be Humble and that's why we teach some manners and when we ask our children to ask something of us

We ask them to recite please and thank you Do not forget your please and do not forget your thank -yous and your prayer life approach

God with humility So we are called to be persistent in asking we're called to be persistent in seeking seeking so often in life we again

Seek after the wrong things God is reminding us seek after that which is good that which is lovely that which is heavenly that which will be for your good seeking kingdom first Jesus has to be put forth the kingdom

All these other things shall be added to you And of course the last one he wants us to be persistent in knocking in knocking

This imagery of knocking obviously connotates that there's a door and you're on the outside of it and you want to get in and It's persistence it's in humility that we get in through that door and there is a door brothers and sisters and There's two actually

There's a door that is narrow there's a door that is

Difficult to go in through and Jesus says I am the door of life and there's another door that is broad and spacious and Many go through it and that's a door that leads to destruction

We must be persistent as Christians to knock and seek the door which leads to life and That door is

Jesus Christ himself Do not stop seeking do not stop asking and do not stop knocking

Even once we get on the other side of that door we find in Jesus this precious mystery this unraveling of God himself in the personal work of Jesus where we get to greater and greater degrees of Knowing him and I almost like to put it this way behind the door of faith is another door and That door leads to more knowledge

Wisdom clarity and more to that perfect image of Christ And so sanctification is like walking through that door and seeing how much more there is to grow how much more there is to learn and how the depths and the riches of Christ are

For those of us who put faith in him to never stop asking never stop seeking and never stop knocking for Jesus is an inexhaustible fount of all these good things and more

Which is why he then closes this bit of scripture here In verse 11 saying what father among you if his son asked for a fish won't said to give a fish

Well instead of a fish give him a serpent Or if he asked for an egg will give him a scorpion

Giving us these kind of preposterous Notions and pictures if your son asked you for something that is needed doesn't say if your son asked you for a

Ferrari or BMW or $20 ,000 or all these really nice cool things that would be nice to have

No, he he focuses on the necessities if your son Needing fish to eat or an egg to eat.

These are basic necessities of life Well good dad give him a set of scorpion that which can harm him and not feed him in the same way

God doesn't desire to harm us But rather in our natural needs in the things that we need for life and holiness and godliness

God will give you what is needed Because He's a good father, but beware.

This doesn't mean that he will always give you what you want Remember church. He's God the father not

God the genie and God the father knows What's best for his children?

He knows what's best for you And maybe that promotion you're looking for Isn't what you need right now

Maybe that wealth or riches you're looking for isn't what you need at this moment

Maybe that spouse relationship you're looking for isn't what you need in this moment instead

Keep seeking keep asking keep knocking and the door will

Eventually be open to you who trust in the goodness of this awesome

Heavenly Father, which is why in verse 13 if you then who are evil Jesus knows the true state and condition of man

Those of you who are evil know how much how to give good gifts to your children

How much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

So prayer comes with this promise That our father gives good gifts.

I want you to write this in the last part of today's teaching That our father gives good gifts and it will indeed give us

The greatest gift of the Holy Spirit The gift of the

Holy Spirit to his children God grants us the same spirit that raised

Jesus from the dead the same spirit that hovered over the surface of the deep at creation that same spirit

He gives to his children Do not Overlook the power of the spirit in the ministry of prayer

The Holy Spirit is God the third person of the

Blessed and Holy Trinity Jesus assures us that he shall give us

God the Holy Spirit to dwell in us Not only to regenerate us not only to set us apart in this ungodly world

But also to sanctify us so that in the future when

Jesus returns in glory We shall be like he is and we have will have face

Faces shining as brightly as the Sun because of the indwelling of the Spirit Bringing in us to a closer image of Christ You can receive this free gift of the

Holy Spirit today And the Bible tells us this is how we can receive this gift from a good father

Because God has given us the greatest gift to mankind The gift of his only

Son to humanity the Bible says this and you're aware of this text fairly well

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that all those who may believe in him may not perish but Have everlasting life

God. Yes indeed has made a way for us to receive this gift of eternal life this gift of the

Holy Spirit Through his son Jesus who lived a holy and perfect set -apart life

Jesus never sinned unlike us of which the Bible says all of us have gone astray

Every man has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God yet Jesus stands alone in human history as he who was truly without sin

Jesus lived the life that you and I could not live Holy perfect blameless and yet died a death that we all deserve

He was crucified on a Roman cross next to two criminals He was he was said that it was said of him that he was guilty yet was without guilt

Was without sin, which is why the Apostle Paul writes of this one saying that he who knew no sin

Became sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him and He who had no sin became sin on our behalf dying the death

That we all deserved on the cross And on the third day God not forsake his son, but rather raise them from the dead demonstrating who had true authority over life and death itself even

Jesus Christ the Blessed One and This Jesus beckons and calls all of us today to trust in him believe on him and be saved

Repenting of our sins turning away from our former course of life and putting all of our faith in him asking seeking and knocking

So that he may grant us the gift of the Holy Spirit the gift of belief the gift of regeneration the gift of justification the gift of sanctification

So that one day we receive a full the gift of glorification Onto the praise of his name and because of this we call him beckon you to turn

Repent and trust the Savior. May you do so today? Let's pray wonderful Blessed Father who are in heaven

Indeed hallowed be your name That your name would be sanctified amongst this people that it would be sanctified in our hearts

That it would be made holy and great among your people. Oh Lord Father We come and approach you not just with the same fear and trembling as the

Old Testament Saints But also knowing Lord. Yes, you are consuming fire. Yes, you are

Almighty. Yes, you are enthroned far above all creation Yet you have come to us in a way in which we can truly recognize and our fellowship with you as our father

We thank you for this new and better way through the shed blood of your son

Jesus who made this way possible by means of his perfect obedience his sufferings

Even so far as death on a cross Therefore Lord you have highly exalted this

Jesus and given him the name that is among that is above every name so that at his name every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to the glory of you father and Lord help us to internalize these precious truths

That this sermon would not be lost on us at this teaching these words from our Savior would not be lost on us

But Lord that we were turned these things into action that we would truly learn even today how to pray and That we would find in you the hope for the future as your kingdom come as your will is done on earth as it is in heaven and Lord indeed give us today our daily bread and Forgive us our sins as we fall short of that perfect mark

But Lord help us to be reminded Lord that even as we seek forgiveness we must also then extend forgiveness to those who have sinned against us and Lord, please lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil For yours is the kingdom the power and the glory