The Gospel of Luke 11:1-13 The Jewish Prayer
Luke 11:1-13 · Vern Peterman · Oct 4, 2015
Gospel of Luke, No. 44
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926517135647

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We'll be stepping into this passage in Luke, Luke 11, 1-13, as we continue investigating Jesus through the Gospel of Luke. Luke 1-11 reads like this, It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, don't know where that is, after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples. And so Jesus prays again, and we've had it recorded in the Gospel of Luke, starting in chapter 3, then on into chapters 5, chapter 6, chapter 9, twice, and now here into chapter 11, he's praying again. What I would suspect, of course, Jesus prays actually far more often than what's recorded, but it's still recorded that his prayer is something significant and continuous, right? with all the surprising things that Jesus did and taught, and knowing as well how much and how often Jesus prayed, sometimes praying through the night.

It's no wonder the disciples felt like, oh, there is so much that I need to learn about prayer. And so they sought out a great deal of guidance from the Lord on the subject of prayer and how to pray properly. And so we have in Luke 11, 2 through 4, and he told 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. For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation.

This is a brief version of what is often called the Lord's Prayer. One of the things that we'll point out here is this is not a prayer that Jesus himself would pray, and we'll point out reasons why that. Very interesting, Jesus had them pray a prayer that he would not pray, and I would suggest to you also that it is not a prayer that's designed for us to go around repeating. and I'll talk about the reasons why. Here's the Lord's Prayer as it's typically recited out of Matthew.

Matthew is longer and in a few places use a little different verbiage. I would suspect that Matthew's version of it was given at a different time, very early in Christ's ministry, whereas this is later, probably less than a year before Christ is crucified. So the timing of it is different, so it's a different event. This is from the Sermon on the Mount given to a large number of people there in northern Galilee. This is at some other location, most likely, and at a different time. And so they're continuing to ask, give us some guidance on this praying thing. And so we'll see some things in common, but also some things different.

And it is a different event, and this appears to be, unlike the one in Matthew, it appears to be with only his disciples gathered. If we were to make a hybrid, a blend, of the one in Matthew and the one in Luke, it would look something like this. It would be our father, that father matching up with what's in Luke, who is in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come it will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us each day our daily bread and forgive our sins now this is using Luke's verbiage and forgive our sins as we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen Turns out that the Lord's Prayer is a blend of two conventional, traditional Jewish prayers.

And one of them is called the Kaddish Prayer, and I have here for the synagogue, and it reads like this, Exalted and hallowed be his great name in the world which he created according to his will. May he let his kingdom rule in your lifetime, in your days, in the lifetime of the whole house of Israel, speedily and soon. Praise be his great name from eternity to eternity and to this say amen. This would be said in the synagogues every Sabbath after the sermon. So they would have this prayer said and everybody would say amen to that.

It was also traditional and it had been carried forward even to today among Jewish circles. The Kaddish prayer is also said by the son if a parent dies the son for 11 months daily this would be said for the sake of the one who has passed on and then on the anniversary of the death once more it is also done on the death of others and also can be done by females but it is an obligation of the son to do this when a parent dies. There's also this traditional Jewish morning and evening prayer. Bring me not into the power of sin and into the power of guilt and not into the power of temptation and not into the power of anything shameful. So this would be a morning and evening prayer of the Jews.

And you can see where this with the other one, it's kind of blended to make what's called the Lord's Prayer. So what the Lord was saying is just put these together and you're doing okay with prayers in terms of something you would say regularly. He has here just Father. And Father is a term that would be taken as an appropriate way to address God. One of the things that we find in Matthew, it says our Father. It doesn't say that in Luke, it has simply father. However, us and our is later on, so our is implied. Implied in the rest of the prayer.

Jesus shocked all of the Jews, however, by referring to God as my father, but he didn't have the disciples use that. Instead, our father, or implied if not stated. No rabbi or Jew would dare refer to God as my father. Jesus uniquely had a relationship with the Father which is why he would say my father and not just refer to our father.

The Lord's Prayer isn't one that Christ would have prayed and as we go through it Jesus would have said my father. But he didn't teach them to say that. So from the very first line, what Jesus prays is different than what the Lord's Prayer says. But that's not the only difference.

Then we talk about our Father who art in heaven, that kind of thing. There are three heavens in the Bible, and it's good to just bring those out clearly and know which one you're referring to. And God said, let the birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.

This is the first heaven in Genesis 1.20. There's a similar use of that in the book of Revelation as well. This is the atmospheric heaven.

By the way, in the tribulation period, there'll be a gospel angel that will be preaching the gospel of the kingdom from the atmospheric heaven. Isn't that amazing? And that's not the only witness to the gospel that is during the tribulation period. So here's all these unbelievers hearing the gospel of the kingdom from up in the atmosphere, and I'm sure a lot of them will just, wait, make it stop, right?

Here is the second heaven, which is the stellar heavens. An example would be in Genesis 22, 17, I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens. So here's the stellar heaven, which goes from the top of the atmosphere all the way out to the furthest extent of our physical universe. That's the next one, the second heaven.

The third heaven, and Paul uses this term, the third heaven, which is why we demonstrate these, such a man, referring to himself, was caught up to the third heaven, and then dot, dot, dot, paradise. Paradise is a word used three times in the New Testament. One is to the thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise. The second one is here. The third one is in the book of Revelation. So the Persian word means pleasure garden.

Hallowed be your name. Hallowed be your name is a desire or wish that God's name is treated as holy, set apart. It's not the same as just saying holy is your name, although certainly Jesus would believe that and the disciples would. This is a desire or wish that God's name would be treated as holy, set apart as God himself is set apart from the rest of his creation. God is set apart and holy uniquely.

Now I'll tell a little story on my mom. My mom, when she was, oh, this was back in about 1932 or thereabouts. Of course, kids growing up get all sorts of misconceptions, and she thought it was Howard Beer name. So she thought that was God's name. But no, it's Hallowed Beer name. Hallowed Beer name is a desire or wish that God's name is treated as holy.

A name in Hebrew usage is the nature, character, or person rather than just a set of sounds. We tend to use the word name, and that's the sound assigned to you. Whereas it really represents something about the character and person of God, and that's the way it's used in the Bible. So it's important for us to look at that. It isn't just how would be the sound associated with your name. It's also talking about that name represents who you are, your character and identity. May God's character or essence be treated as holy and set apart by people.

It's a desire for that. Thy kingdom come. Jesus has this prayer express a wish for the Father's kingdom to come as implied to earth. What's interesting is that churches who tend to recite the Lord's Prayer on a regular basis tend to misunderstand the kingdom. Interesting combination of things there. They misunderstand the kingdom and they think instead that the kingdom is the church and that sort of thing instead of recognizing it as a future, still now, yet future time.

The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit will all have a very large part in the coming millennial kingdom. We often times think that Christ will have a large part, but actually the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will all have a very large part. The Holy Spirit will be empowering all the Jews to know and live out the law, and that will be fundamental to why they are going to be blessed for a thousand years.

Now, God's kingdom, the kingdom of heaven come to earth is the coming kingdom reign of Christ on the earth as king of Israel and king of kings and lord of lords over the Gentile nations. Those are two different titles. King of Israel is king over the nation and people of Israel, geographically and in terms of the ethnic people of Israel. He will be king of kings and lord of lords over the Gentile nations. That term, by the way, was used for empires, several of them in a row, was used for empires for the one who was the head of the empire. They would call that person the king of kings and lord of lords, right? And so we're talking Gentile nations, not simply over the Jews.

It's a different term. So they're separate titles having a separate meaning and identity. Here is a graphic representation. The first coming is what's recorded in the gospel and what we're studying right now. We'll get to the point where Christ will be crucified and buried and resurrected and shortly thereafter ascend and be seated. Starting with Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, the church age began. That began the time when the church is an established entity not having previously existed.

And it consists of Jews and Gentiles where it's a spiritual distinction. We also have a position that is different from Israel's. Great deal of difference there. The church age will continue until the rapture. I hope it's today. I hope I don't get to finish this message.

But the rapture and the indications this last week, we canceled the plans for going to Israel because there have been day after day riots at the Temple Mount. And also Russia just announced this last week that it's beginning airstrikes, giving Israel some advance notice so they don't end up confusing things when they're going to drop bombs in Syria. Putin had asked Netanyahu if he could put troops down in Galilee.

And he declined. Anyway, it's getting to be a little scary time, so we're dropping that. But the rapture could happen at any time. There is no event. People go around looking for signs and looking for signs. Don't go around looking for signs. There is no sign that has to happen before the rapture takes place. It could happen any moment. anytime and I would be fine with that. Then there's the tribulation period which is not started by the rapture but begins after the rapture.

Seven-year tribulation period, Christ comes again with the angels and with us. Heaven empties. Heaven empties. In order to accommodate Christ's second coming, we will come with him uniquely, an island of grace in a world ruled by law. We will be his bride, not his subjects.

That time begins what is called the millennial kingdom, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, or sometimes just the kingdom. At the end of that, this present heavens and earth will be done away with. The new heavens and new earth will be created as described in Revelation chapters 21 and 22 Here is Christ Kingdom rule announced to Mary It's very interesting the angel Gabriel and that the context has that not this the angel Gabriel Announced these things to Mary and he told Mary that the child that you are going to bear Will be ruler in this coming millennial kingdom.

The angel referred to the gospel of the kingdom. It was Joseph that he told the gospel of substitution to. The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end." The gospel of the kingdom, that's what Mary was told about by the angel Gabriel. Now something very interesting. Thy kingdom come. is what Jesus had these disciples who are still Jews under the law in the land of Israel he had them pray.

What are we waiting for? Are we waiting for the kingdom? What are we waiting for? The rapture, the Lord to take us home which could happen at any moment and you know there's a crown for looking for that? You can get an eternal reward just for looking for his coming. So a rapture lover's crown is something you can be rewarded for. And by the way, if you don't happen to be here when the rapture takes place, you'll be raptured anyway. Everybody in the whole church, whether dead or alive, all gets raptured. Nobody's going to miss it if you're a believer in Christ in the church age. Nobody will miss it.

Christ came and his will being done here in Matthew 41 42 the Son of Man will send forth his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all the stumbling blocks on those who commit lawlessness and they will throw them into the furnace of fire in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth it will be a very law ruled kingdom ruled by law, the Jews knowing it by heart.

Here's Christ's kingdom in 2nd Timothy 4.1, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead by his appearing and by his kingdom. What you have here is enforced by law in the first passage I read there, and then here he is appearing for us in his kingdom in which he comes again all the way to earth. Now, the Lord's Prayer, as it's called, has this daily bread. I would never pray for daily bread, and some of you know why. I'm allergic to that stuff. I would pray for daily bratwurst or something.

People do generally work for their physical daily provisions, and that's what they ought to do. We can sometimes get the impression that somehow we pulled it off. I worked, and therefore I get the bread, and therefore I should get the credit. What this recognizes here is that God doesn't owe it to me. Yes, I should work for my daily bread. But ultimately, God's the source, not me.

So this prayer puts things into perspective. We would have daily nothing if it wasn't for God's open and gracious provision. He provides for all of us and each one of us in the physical realm. Here are God's revelations to mankind. We have five of them mentioned in Scripture.

One is nature. We talk about God's power and deity being apparent in nature, and a lot of us enjoy going out in nature because we see God's eternal power and deity in nature. But that's all it really reveals. There's a lot that nature doesn't reveal, as marvelous and fascinating as nature is.

This one particular, in this passage, referring to our daily bread, is God's providence. It's a combination of God's provision, is a way that he reveals his character and his guidance which is actually limiting man and man's movements in various ways so God's providence is a general means of God revealing and then additionally conscience is also another way that things are revealed Romans chapter 2 talks about that The special revelations, or two of them, or one scripture is a special revelation. It is more specific than all the other revelations. It gives us all kinds of particulars.

Would you know from the first three kinds of revelation, nature, providence, and conscience, would you know that there's a rapture? You wouldn't know that. Would you know that you are identified with Christ and that Christ died for your sins? No, you wouldn't know that.

But from scripture we know that, and Christ himself is a special revelation. content in scripture and content from the words of Christ and from the person of Christ. So those two are special revelations. Here are the scripture passages in the slide right next to it that back that up and you can feel free to pursue that. But this provision of daily bread is part of God's providence. It's part of God's provision that goes along with his guidance.

Now, something else that comes out here, and this is Luke 11.4, sin is seen as a debt. Sin is seen as a debt.

In Jewish contexts, sins are seen as debt owed to God, and so you'll find between Luke and Matthew, the versions of the Lord's Prayer, reference to sins and to debts. So they will even use them interchangeably. You'll see them switch to talking about sins to talking about debts. They go back and forth. And there can also be sins or debts related to other people. I've sinned against that person, or I've sinned against them, therefore I'm indebted to them, or vice versa.

So they're seen as interchangeable. This comes out when Jesus said, just before his death, paid. It's translated often, it is finished, but it's actually an accounting term. It means paid. It means completely paid. And finally paid. That's in John 19.30. So here's Christ on the cross. Imagine, here's Christ on the cross. He calls out an accounting term. Wow. Because sins are seen as a debt. And He's paid it all. Just as we sing, right?

It's also seen in Colossians 2.13 and 14. having forgiven all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

Did you hear the term, nailed it? Nailed it to the cross. So sin is seen as a debt, and that debt note, what this talks about is a handwritten debt note, chirographam. A handwritten debt note that was nailed to the cross. That's the end of that thing. It's all paid. So now let's talk about debts and forgiveness, right?

So Matthew 6, 9 through 13 has been known as the Lord's Prayer. Usually people don't recite this one Luke because it's too short and it doesn't have this grand ending like the one in Matthew does. But we have in verse 4 one more reason that Christ would not have prayed this, okay? Since Christ was uniquely born without sin and He did not sin, He didn't ask for forgiveness. Did Christ ever ask for forgiveness from the Father? No, not at all, ever. So that's why it's one of the reasons why Christ would not have prayed this prayer. He would teach them to do it, but he himself would not have said this. Therefore, to call it the Lord's Prayer is a little curious. You know, it's the one he presented to them as Jews living in the land of Israel still under the law.

For us, having been forgiven is to be our motive for forgiving. Okay? Having been forgiven is to be our motive for forgiving. Ephesians 4.32, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has, past tense, forgiven you. So forgiving is because you've been forgiven, not as it's stated in Matthew and implied here in Luke, that you forgive under the law in order to be forgiven. Because if you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven. Different here, here in the New Testament, in the letters in the New Testament written to the church.

Forgiveness is already assumed. Question, do I ever have to ask God for forgiveness? No. I don't have to ask God for forgiveness because I'm already forgiven. I do things not in order to be forgiven and to receive the things that the Lord does. I do things because I'm already forgiven. I'm already redeemed.

So here, let's talk about temptation and deliverance. While it was quite appropriate for the Jews to pray not to be led into temptation and to be delivered from evil, We in the church do not operate under the same principles. Can the Jew here during the time of the Gospels, before the cross, can they reckon themselves dead to sin? No. Because it hasn't happened yet. Our reckoning ourselves dead to sin is because Christ died and was buried and rose again. And without that, we can't reckon ourselves dead to sin. So dealing with sin, dealing with temptation, is an entirely different thing for us in the church. It's another reason why not only would Christ not pray this, but it's not ours to pray either.

James 2.1, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.

Here's Ephesians 6.13, James 4.7, and 1 Peter 5.9 all say to resist the evil one, not pray that he not come around. You have in your position in Christ everything you need to resist the evil one. Rely upon that.

The guys he was talking to at the time he was talking to them did not have that. So our prayer would be quite different. Forgiven if you forgive is the teaching of the Lord's Prayer and the words right after that in Matthew chapter 6 Jesus clarified the intent of verse 4 of what has become known as the Lord's Prayer Which is that forgiveness came if a believing ethnic Israelite forgave others, okay Got that if a believing ethnic Israelite forgave others then they were forgiven But for us who are in the body of Christ, forgiveness is one of our unconditional blessings in Christ. Ephesians 1, 3, 7, and 4.32, which is to be our motive for forgiving others. Here's the Apostle Paul. He's writing to the church at Ephesus.

In the middle of chapter 4, he'll start dealing with some of their issues. You guys that are stealing, you need to stop that. You guys that are getting really angry, that needs to stop too. And you guys need to forgive one another just as Christ forgave you.

He'll start dealing with things, but here he comes right out of the chute in Ephesians 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And he says right after that, we have possession. You and me, we have the forgiveness of sins. You got it. I do not have to ask for forgiveness. I am forgiven. Do I need to deal with sin? Yes. But you can't deal with sin on your own either. You have to turn and be alive to God.

Here's Ephesians 1, 3, and 7. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And I'll jump ahead to verse 7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. Do you see any exceptions in there? In Him we have the redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.

No exceptions in there. None. Ephesians 4 32 be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you That goes right along with the beginning of Romans chapter 8 There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, right? If you want condemnation, you'll have to go somewhere else. I can't help you Okay, you'll have to go somewhere else I just can't help you because the Bible says there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Okay, and And we are forgiven. I don't have to ask for it. I can thank Him for it. But it's kind of crazy. If I were to say, Nancy, I'd really like some shoes. She'd say, well, you already got shoes. Right? Well, but I'd really like some shoes. But Vern, you already have shoes. Right? And so what happens? Christians get into this thing. Oh, Lord, let's recite the Lord's Prayer. And Lord, forgive me for this and that. And they've already got it all. Right?

Now, we have motive, means, and opportunity. This is what the detectives look for, and this is what the prosecutors look for. But in here, it's in Scripture, our motive is grace. This passage has told us that motive matters, and for us in the body of Christ, grace is our motive. Grace-motivated imperatives. Forgive one another. Are you supposed to forgive? Yes. That needs to be grace-motivated because you've been forgiven. Not law-based. You better forgive or you won't be forgiven. That's law-based. Grace-motivated forgiveness.

God has provided the means for us. So now we go from motive, grace, to means. God provided the means for us in the body of Christ to do what God desires of us. And why do I say that? The New Testament teaches that the means is the energizing, enabling, and empowering. Three E's. The energizing, enabling, and empowering by the Holy Spirit and the life of Christ in and through us. Those three E's come out in these passages here in Ephesians and Colossians that we have quoted up above here.

The opportunity, Ephesians 2.10, before us is us who are already blessed to be used of God.

That's the opportunity. So we have grace motive, means, enabling, empowering, and energizing, and the opportunity. He's prepared the good works that we might walk in them. What an opportunity. A grace-motivated opportunity. And He provided all the things ahead of time. He prepared the good works that we might walk in them. Isn't that great? That's fantastic.

Here's Luke 11, 5-7, Then he said to them, Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And from inside he answers and says, Do not bother me, the door has already been shut. My children and I are in bed, and I cannot get up and give you anything.

Let's talk about the typical Israelite home and how things were constructed and how things were done. So here's a typical Israelite home. Lots of variations from that, depending on geography and topography and things of that sort. But the usual thing is you'd have windows up high small, right?

So they didn't need glass to put in there, but you'd like them up high because if you had to cook inside, it would let the smoke out. And then you would have a door. And the door would be barred in some way, sometimes with multiple bars across the door. In other words, it was a fairly major thing to get those bars on and off. And they would oftentimes have multiple bars on the door, so it isn't just, you know, turn the latch and open the door.

It would be difficult to do. As a matter of fact, thieves did not try to come in through the door. They would try to come in some other way, usually by trying to undermine the wall. But they wouldn't try to come through the door because it was so barred up.

And then the people would sleep, co-sleeping, family sleeping if you will, on mats and they had blankets that would have to be made, typically the wife would make them from scratch, wife and mother make them from scratch, and have mats to sleep on and blankets on top. So then, here's this guy, he says, I went through all the effort to get the door barred, and now I'm bedded down with my kids and my wife and we're all sleeping on these mats and underneath maybe even one blanket over all of us and my getting up is going to be really disruptive. And not only that, I'm going to have to take all those bars off the door and so he's going to be resistant. He's going to be resistant. Ah, but the demand for three loaves of bread. Now, this also relates to the daily bread.

For the Jews, they didn't have the forks, knives, and spoons, you know, that we have. And what they would have is a whole bunch of sauces and pâtés and things of that sort of whatever it was they were eating. And you would take a loaf of bread, and break it up after having said prayer, and then use that bread on all the sauces and pâtés and whatever it was you were going to have. So it was your eating utensil.

So when you talk about daily bread, that represents not just bread, but all the food. And so this, I want three loaves of bread, would be something pretty critical, because unless I have that, I can't feed them anything else, right? Because you're going to use the bread to eat with. One more thing. And this is tradition again.

You could not offer a guest a partial loaf of bread. You had to offer the guest a whole loaf of bread. Even if you've got several partial loaves, that isn't going to cut it. You're going to insult your guest if you offer him a partial loaf. Therefore, this guy needs three whole loaves of bread. three entire loaves of bread, not a half loaf. No half loaf will do.

He may have had several half loaves, but it would be an insult to offer a partial loaf, so it had to be three whole loaves. How about midnight? A friend coming from afar would rarely have the ability to give advance notice. It's not like, hey, I'm calling you up on the cell phone or texting. None of that kind of stuff. And so rarely would somebody coming from afar give you advance notice.

Think about Mary. Mary, once she gets the announcement from the angel Gabriel we read earlier, she goes and runs down to visit with her relative, Elizabeth. Imagine she shows up unannounced and then stays for three months. How would you like that? Relatives who arrive unannounced and then stay for three months? That's what she did.

So anyway, this would be accepted in that culture. One other thing, the friend would expect by custom of hospitality to be fed and housed even with no notice if at all possible even if there was no guest room available that would be the expectation so you just show up unannounced and then all the customs of hospitality including do not serve a partial loaf of bread so you always serve with a guest a new loaf of bread never a partial so the disciples would understand here's this guy inside with his Family he's bedded down.

It's gonna be disturbing to his family if he has to get up in the middle of the night He already has to talk to this guy through the door, right? Oh by the one more thing cultural thing You know the passage in Revelation was just behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice the usual pattern was to knock and talk and at the same time. That's why if any knock on the door and if any man hear my voice. So knock and talk was the cultural pattern. And that's what this guy would have done. He would have started knocking and talking.

Hey, you know, this is Shlomo and I need three loaves of bread, you know, and so that would have been the pattern. So there's this knocking at the door and then this talking and making his demands and I've got to have three loaves of bread. So Jesus' disciples would understand the predicament of both of these men, but because of the great difficulty in getting out of bed and getting the door unbarred and getting the whole family disturbed, and of course if you got bread it's in the same room, right? So this is all a very difficult thing for the guy who's inside, and the guy who's outside has all these customs of hospitality that he's got to abide by. So he's very insistent about what he wants. And so one had to be hospitable, and the other had to give himself and his family rest. And so this is a guy who is persistent, who got something.

So Luke 11.8, I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, He will get up and give him as much as he needs, because after all, the guy is going to really disturb the family if he keeps on knocking and talking.

I need three loaves of bread, and I'm not talking half loaves, I need three whole loaves of bread, nothing cut, nothing broken. Persistence. So Jesus' point with this whole thing is that persistence in prayer among the Jews is called for. Persistence is called for. It's important, however, to make note that this applies to the Jews. Is God reluctant to give us anything? Is He resistant?

Now, and that's one thing that's important is that we don't over-apply a parable. Sometimes people will be tempted to, oh, this means this and this means that. No, it does not mean that God has a door barred and it does not mean he's laying down with his family sleeping at night on the floor, you know, on mats. That's not the point, right? So he's trying to teach them persistence here in a Jewish context.

But it's important as we look at parables, and we'll be looking at more, that we not try to apply every single detail and find application for everything. It doesn't work here, and it won't work anywhere else. We need to look at what's the point, and persistence is the point of this parable. Here's Luke 11, 9 and 10. So I say to you, so he is saying things to them to be very direct. About how this parable is to be applied.

Okay, that's what he's doing here So I say to you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives And he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened So Jesus tells his listeners these disciples ask seek and knock and So why does he do that? Well, because God does desire that we ask of Him and that we seek Him. Ask, seek, and knock is not focused on the actions, it's focused on the Lord. So knock, in New Testament times when a person who knew you knocked on the door, the person also called out who they were and also even what they were there for.

Hey, I'm Vern. I'm here to visit you. And I always come like this and knock on the door and talk at the same time. Right? And that's the way they would do it. To knock implied looking for fellowship. And that's exactly the way it's used with the Church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3. Looking for fellowship.

Alright. God's intent when we come in to Him in faith is benevolent. God's intent is benevolent. God knows what we need, so we're not just approaching Him to inform Him, nor is God playing a game with us. Hence this little graphic here. God's not playing a game with us. You ask, and so I'll do this, and back and forth, and He's not playing a game with us. That's not what this is about.

God is personal, and we are called to interact with Him personally, because we have been made in His image. That's a key thing. We were talking earlier about Eastern religions where God is ultimately impersonal in the Eastern religions. In Hinduism, ultimately God is impersonal. In Buddhism, the ones that believe in God, not all of Buddhism does, God is impersonal. But we have been made in His image and that's key. We are beings with a physical and spiritual needs and God can provide for them.

Here are the ways in which we are made in the image and likeness of God. I won't go into it in detail, but I think it's useful. It is a personal image and likeness. Secondly, the way in which we are made in God's image is a spiritual image and likeness.

God is spiritual and we are spiritual beings. It is a moral image and likeness. Even people who don't believe morality as we understand it will oftentimes have a morality of their own. We are beings in which morality matters. Next, it is an interpersonal image and likeness. Here's God who says, let us make mankind in our image. Already a personal interpersonal, rather, image and likeness. Fifth, there is an authority image and likeness. God had authority. He delegated authority to Adam, and Adam himself had the authority he didn't use to correct Eve, right? And that was a mistake, a big one.

And it is a creative likeness. People do things that are creative, and that is because The things they do that are creative, and it expresses itself in a great many ways, is because that is a part of the image and likeness of God that God made in man. Now, we are creative with the things that God already made, aren't we? We don't bring things into being like God did. Nonetheless, there is creativity that human beings express all over the world in different ways.

So, Ask, Seek, Knock are really focusing, in this case, on prayer. Personal communication with God Himself. Asking is making requests of God, since He is the provider. He's the one who answers our requests, and we are people of needs. We're people of needs, and also people of desires. Seeking is just approaching God. He is the creator of all things. And He is the one with whom we, in the body of Christ, have privileged access.

You could not just walk into the throne room in any ancient kingdom or empire. You could not just walk into the throne room. What's going to happen to you? You're going to get killed if you just walk into the throne room. Hey, old kingy, old buddy, old boy! How you doing? No, you're not going to do that. You're going to get a spear through you real quick. You can't do that. We have privileged access to the throne room of heaven. We can run in there and say, Papa, Abba, right? We have privileged access that others do not. Knocking speaks of personal approach and our intent to have fellowship with him. Here's Luke 11, 11 through 13.

Now, suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts for your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? Now, one of the things that I thought about this, I've learned, that some of these things you don't want to put pictures on the screen because people get really nervous about them. So I decided no snake pictures, no scorpion pictures. So you might be happy about that, or relieved. Jesus' point in these verses is God's character. That's the focal point. God is by fundamental character a God of grace and love.

So that's what he's talking about here with these rhetorical questions. One reason God desires that we ask is because that is a part of our fellowship with Him, and it means we have a dependence upon Him. If we ask Him, it indicates dependence. So it's fellowship and dependence. That's the reason for the asking.

Since we are spiritually fallen physical beings who have been redeemed, we have needs that God does not. But He can provide for those needs. Needs in the physical realm, needs in the spiritual realm. He can provide for both. Now, he ends this passage with talking about asking for the Holy Spirit.

Do we have to ask for the Holy Spirit? See, the Jews in the time before the day of Pentecost could not count upon the continuous and universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit might indwell only certain ones for a certain time. And so you had to ask, even out of the Psalms, the prayer, take not your Holy Spirit from me, right? The Holy Spirit came and went, and may be present for a time in one person, and then not.

And so we're in a very different place. The whole ministry of the Holy Spirit was not clear as it is to us in the body of Christ. For us in the body of Christ, we're each placed in the Spirit, got that placed in the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is placed in us. So we're in the Spirit, the Spirit's in us, we're all sealed with the Holy Spirit from the time we believed in Christ for salvation.

Those are things that the Jews could not count on. But we can, and we should. We should know about it, we should count on it, we should Not be in a place of saying, Lord, take not your Holy Spirit from me. We shouldn't be in a place of asking for the Holy Spirit, because God's Word says we already have the Holy Spirit. We are in the Spirit, Romans chapter 8. The Spirit is in us, Romans chapter 8. And sealed by the Holy Spirit three times in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians.

Our prayer is different too. Why? Because we have different ministries of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is universal, everybody in the church, and continuous. There's never a break. It's not like, we've got Holy Spirit time until about noon, and then the Holy Spirit is leaving for a while, taking a break. But He'll be back, don't worry. No, we don't have that.

We have the continuing, ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit, Every single second until the Lord takes us home. Okay, we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit We who in the body of Christ hasn't had an entirely different care a character rather To how prayer is conducted and how it's affected. Okay?

Having the seal of and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit among every single one of us our prayer is different. Okay We ought not to feel compelled to say Jewish prayers. I or to conduct our prayer life according to the principles and guidance that only fits Jews before the body of Christ had begun. So the Christian who is reciting the Lord's Prayer doesn't understand who he has been made to be in Christ, and who Christ is in him, and who the Spirit is in him, and that he is in the Spirit. and how the ministry of the Holy Spirit has changed radically from the time this particular passage was set.

Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you. Even if we pray right now, it's a different kind of action than the disciples were encouraged to make back there during the time of the Gospels. And we thank you for those differences. They are tremendous privileges that we have. And we thank you for the, oh, roughly two dozen ministries of the Holy Spirit that are at work in us who believe. We thank you for that. We thank you for all the things you so graciously provided for us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.