A Moral Dilemma
Luke 11:24-28
May 12, 2019

Well, as you know we are working through Luke’s gospel
And in our current section Luke has compiled for us
Some of the IMPROMPTU TEACHINGS of Jesus.

They aren’t necessarily scripted sermons,
But rather it is a segment of responses Jesus gave
To what was going on around Him.

It is Jesus addressing life as it happens.

The first we saw regarding prayer.
• The disciples saw Him pray
• The disciples asked Him to teach them to pray
• What resulted was Jesus teaching on prayer.

And last week we began a new segment which deals with AUTHENTICITY
• That is “Being Real”

It is a conversation that began with the Jews questioning Jesus’ authenticity.
• He cast out a demon and the Pharisees attributed His ability to Satan.
• “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons”

They in effect said that Jesus was a messenger of Satan
Who used Satanic power to deceive people by casting out demons.

Jesus turned that notion on its head.
Revealing how illogical, hypocritical, undiscerning, & dangerous their assessment was.

Ultimately Jesus revealed it was not Him who was fake, it was them.
It was not Him who was serving Satan, it was them.

AND THIS MORNING WE FIND THAT JESUS ISN’T FINISHED.

He is about to confront these Jews at their greatest level of deception.

Of all the problems these Jews had, there was one problem that was worse than any.
• It was this one issue that caused them to justify themselves.
• It was this one problem that caused them to scoff at any need of salvation.
• It was this one problem that caused them to reject the Savior of the world.

This one problem ultimately is what condemned them to eternal hell.
It may shock you when I tell you what it was.
IT WAS THEIR MORALITY
(Their human goodness)

Their problem was that they measured themselves by others
And then justified themselves as being good
And therefore not in need of salvation.

Let me give you a few examples of this:

Remember the Pharisee and the Tax Collector?
Luke 18:11-14 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

• Not only do we see the clear appeal to morality as a means to justify himself,
• But we also get from Jesus a definitive declaration of lostness.
• Jesus said that the Pharisee was not justified before God.
• He trusted in his own goodness, and it ultimately condemned him to hell.

Consider the great confrontation of Jesus:
Matthew 23:23-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

That is such a telling passage.
You have there Jesus pronouncing “Woe” on the Pharisees (OUI in the Greek).
It’s like when you see something painful happen to someone else
And you instantly say, “OOH”

Jesus could see the coming judgment on the Pharisees and He did the same.

And then of course He famously called them “hypocrites!”
HUPOCRATES in the Greek, and it was their for an “actor”

Jesus said they were only actors playing a part,
But they were not real. They were not authentic.

On the outside they looked good.
Why?
• Well, they tithed and prayed and taught in the synagogues and wore big phylacteries, and had those blue tassels on their garments. They looked good.

And the problem was they trusted in that.
But Jesus said the real problem was
That their inside did not match their outside.

Outside they were well adorned,
But inside they were full of all manner of evil.
DO YOU SEE THAT?

Let me tell you what this is.
It is SELF-REFORMATION without SPIRITUAL REGENERATION.

It is morality without salvation.
AND IT IS SO DANGEROUS!

It ultimately leaves men shocked at the judgment
When they don’t get into heaven.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Why were they shocked?
• Because they had done good things.
• Their outward goodness actually worked to deceive them.

And this is a very real problem.
Even in churches today.

People convince themselves that they are saved because they are moral.
• “I’m better than that guy”
• I don’t drink
• I don’t cuss
• I don’t gamble
• I don’t look at pornography
• I go to church
• I give money
• God must certainly be pleased with me.

And because of that confidence
They never throw themselves at the mercy of Christ.

Jesus is their moral guide, their example for living,
But He is not their righteousness and justification.

IT IS SIMPLY THE DANGER OF MORALITY.

AND THAT IS WHAT JESUS IS GOING TO ADDRESS THIS MORNING.

What makes the passage UNIQUE is that
Jesus DOES NOT address the morality problem here externally.

That is to say, that this message is NOT LIKE the one in Matthew 23 where Jesus talks about all the outward good they do and how ineffective it is.

Rather, here Jesus addresses the issue from a spiritual platform.
Jesus looks beyond the physical realm into the spiritual real
And He reveals to us what is actually going on
Inside the life of the unregenerate moral man.

And when we allow Jesus
To show us human morality through spiritual eyes
We come to grips with how dangerous it actually is.

This morning we’ve got 2 main points that contrast each other, let’s look at them this morning.
#1 THE CURSE OF SELF-REFORMATION
Luke 11:24-26

Here we are presented with a man who cleaned himself up.
• We see a man who left a life of immorality and embraced a life of morality.

I do think it is important to say here that we are not opposed to morality.
• Certainly morality is to be chosen over immorality.
• Certainly our culture and nation and churches and families do better if they are
moral as opposed to immoral.

So don’t misunderstand me in this discussion.
Morality, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.

THE DANGER…the moral dilemma…is that humanity is so prone to be content with simply being moral as though morality alone is enough.

And that is the problem.
MORALITY DOES NOT MAKE YOU ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.

Isaiah spelled it out:
Isaiah 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

You MUST understand that.
If you ask me, “Should I be moral or immoral?”
• Well obviously I’m going to tell you to choose morality.
• But you MUST ALSO KNOW that both the moral and the immoral will go to hell without Jesus.

The REAL DANGER is that most of the time
The immoral seem to know that, but the moral don’t.

But anyway, let’s look at this spiritual situation which Jesus reveals to us.

(24) “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’”

So clearly we are talking about a situation
In which “the unclean spirit goes out of a man”

This man previously had in his life an “unclean spirit”.

AND WE KNOW that this spirit certainly put his life
In disarray and disorder and likely all manner of immorality.

We know that because in a moment when the demon returns he will find that the house where he previously lived is now “swept and put in order”

So that tells us f the work this spirit had done in this man’s life.
IT HAS WRECKED HIS LIFE.

And yet, now, for some reason this “unclean spirit” has gone “out”.

I DON’T THINK it’s best to assume that this is the work of Jesus because the work of Jesus is permanent and this demon will return.

Mark 9:25 “When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.”

What is more likely here is that this man was able to clean up his life.
• He was able to moralize himself to the point that his lifestyle was no longer beneficial to the demon’s purposes for his life.
• And so the demon went looking for a new house to use.

And someone would say,
• “Does this sort of thing happen?
• Do people really see demons leave apart from Jesus?”

You do so see this sort of thing happen. In fact, you see it fairly often.
I’ve heard many stories of even unredeemed people
Who made the decision to clean up their life and they succeeded at it.

• Perhaps a man gets married and so he determines to live a faithful life.
• Perhaps a man gets a job that requires new behaviors.
• Perhaps a man has kids and decides to grow up and change some bad
habits.
• Perhaps a man gets a bad diagnosis from the doctor and decides to give up
drinking or smoking or drugs

There are many SELF-HELP GROUPS and forms of REHABILITATION
That do have some success at times.

• NOT EVERYONE who has received help from Alcoholics Anonymous got dry because they GOT SAVED.
• NOT EVERYONE who ever entered a rehab facility got better because they GOT SAVED.

Some just applied principles, saw the danger and the threat,
Enlisted the help of others, and cleaned up their life.

You actually see that sort of thing all the time.
And that is what this man did.

For whatever reason this man was able to clean up his life enough
That the “unclean spirit” no longer found him useful and he left.

After all, even James taught us:
James 4:7b “…Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

This man left a life of immorality
He embraced a cleaner life of morality,
And the demon left.

It LOOKS like a great victory.
• And indeed we on earth applaud men for such a victory.
• We enlist them to speak to others.
• People make movies and TV shows about them.

BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM HERE
THAT IS TYPICALLY NOT PERCEPTABLE TO HUMANITY.

And that is what Jesus wants them to know.
This demon left, but this demon was not idle.

“When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any”

“waterless places” is just a metaphor for barren places; unfavorable places.

Without a human to use this demon was out of place.
• It sought to have “rest”
• It sought a body to use
• It wasn’t content just to free float around in the spirit realm

Peter told us:
1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

The devil isn’t happy just sitting on vacation.
He is actively looking for someone to use.

That is the same with this demon.
The problem is that it found no one else. “and not finding any”

So this demon makes a decision.
“I will return to my house from which I came.”

Notice that the demon referred to this man as “my house”.

See, this demon wasn’t made to leave,
It just left because it wasn’t opportune,
But upon frustration it decides to return and give it another go.

It still sees this man as “my house”
It never gave up ownership even though it left for a while.

And it is at this point that
Jesus gives us some VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION.

(25) “And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.”

That is to say this house is all cleaned up.

“put in order” is the word KOSMEO
(It’s where we get our word for cosmetic)
It is often translated “adorned”

This man is cleaned up, and this man is proud of it.
• This man is rehabbed and the certificate is hanging on his wall to prove how successful he was in his battle.
• He has put his life back together and he has put his story out for all to see just how successful he was.

It is morality at its best.

Now Matthew actually adds a word here.
Matthew 12:44 “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.”

Matthew adds the word “unoccupied” which I do think is important.
It reveals to us that while the demon left the Spirit of God did not move in.

This is a Self-Reformed man.
He is NOT a Spiritually Regenerated man.

AND BECAUSE OF THAT, THE DEMON RETURNS.

BUT REMEMBER, this man’s life was not all that useful to this demon in a state of morality; that’s why it left before.

So this demon brings a new strategy.
(26) “Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

So this demon takes reinforcements.
And it takes “seven other spirits” that are “more evil”

That is interesting.
That some demons are characterized as more evil than others.

It brings up all types of questions regarding WHAT IS “more evil”?

And I think the Bible answers that.

• THE WORLD would categorize things like pedophilia or murder or greed or
intolerance as the most evil.
• THE CHURCH typically says things like abortion or sexual immorality
drunkenness or whatever is the most evil.

But in reality the Bible seems to single out a sin
Far more evil or dangerous than any of those.

IT IS THE SIN OF PRIDE.
• It comes in the form of self-righteousness or self-assurance.
• It is dangerous and evil because it blinds people from their need of salvation.

Listen to Jesus:
Luke 5:31-32 “And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

• The people there referred to as “well” were not actually “well”
• Just like the people referred to as “righteous” were not actually “righteous”
• It’s just that they thought they were.

They saw no need for a physician and they saw no need for a Savior.

The sick and sinners on the other hand were actually in a better spiritual state
Because they at least knew they needed salvation.

Adrian Rogers used to say,
“The worst form of badness is human goodness.”

I AGREE WITH HIM.
• Namely because no human goodness is good enough to please God.
• It is only good enough to keep sinners from seeing their need for God.

At least a drunk in the ditch knows he needs saving.

And that explains what Jesus means
When He says, “the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

In reality he is more moral,
But at the same time he is now further from salvation.
He looks better, but he is actually in a worse condition.

THAT IS THE DANGER OF MORALITY

AND THE CHURCH NEEDS TO LEARN THIS.

We are NEVER called to be an agency of morality,
Though we are so often prone to slip into that mindset.

• The Great Commission is NOT to go and make men moral.
• Our calling is NOT to make men sober or clean or sexually pure.
• Our commission IS to call men to faith in Jesus Christ.

It is to “make disciples” of Jesus.
It is to lead men to trust in the righteousness of Christ, not their own.

Churches fail men when their goal is merely to moralize sinners.
• This is where the social gospel fails.
• This is where the religious right fails.

LISTEN,
• I hate abortion.
• I hate sexual perversion.
• I hate drunkenness.
• Those things are evil and I certainly would love to see them gone.

BUT EVEN IF the church organizes and WINS every political battle regarding abortion and gay marriage and marijuana and alcohol, etc.

PEOPLE WILL STILL BE LOST AND HEADED TO HELL.

Charles Spurgeon said:
“Now observe, brethren, if I, or you, or any of us, or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely in amusing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when we shall come to give our account at the last great day we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall have but a very sorry record to render; for of what avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes to be damned? Of what service will it be to him to have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens wide her jaws of fire and swallows up the soul unsaved? Of what avail even to have moralized a man if still he on the left hand of the judge, and if still, “Depart, ye cursed,” shall be his portion?”

THAT IS THE MAN HERE.
• His house is clean
• His house is adorned
• But his soul is now in a far worse condition

Jesus came to save sinners, not moralize them.
Jesus EXPOSED the most moral among them as the worst of sinners.

But that is what you get with Self-Reformation.
YOU GET GOOD LOST PEOPLE.

On the outside they are more agreeable and they look better,
But in the spiritual realm they are actually far worse off.

And Jesus by the way says that to expose the nation of Israel.
That is what they were. They were good lost people.

In fact, Matthew’s gospel adds at the end of this statement:
Matthew 12:45b “…That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

That was the problem of the people Jesus was dealing with.
• They were externally clean but full of evil.
• They were washed on the outside but in horrific condition on the inside.

That is the curse of Self-Reformation

But there is a contrast:
#2 THE BLESSING OF SPIRITUAL REGENERATION
Luke 11:27-28

Here again this mini-sermon is brought on by an event.
• We have a woman here listening to Jesus and the words which He is speaking and she wishes to pay Him a compliment.

(27) “While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”

That is a form of a Jewish compliment.
It is the woman’s way of praising Jesus.

Proverbs 10:1 “A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.”

Proverbs 15:20 “A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish man despises his mother.”

Proverbs 17:25 “A foolish son is a grief to his father And bitterness to her who bore him.”

That is the mentality here.
In effect she says, “Your mom must be so proud!”

• This woman acknowledges the wisdom of Jesus.
• This woman acknowledges the greatness of Jesus.
• She may even be a believer.

But Jesus takes the compliment as an opportunity
To address another important reality.

(28) “But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

If you read the story in Matthew’s gospel, you get more of the story.

After the story about the demon, Matthew reveals:
Matthew 12:46-50 “While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

• As Jesus spoke, His mother actually showed up, along with His brothers.
• And Jesus took the opportunity to reveal that we are not looking for external
indicators, but internal ones.

That is, you don’t recognize a child of God outwardly,
You recognize them inwardly.

Isn’t that what He just taught in that story about the demon?

Paul said:
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

But what must have happened is that
• As Jesus preached, His mother and brothers arrived
• Jesus made that statement regarding His true family
• And this woman, thinking about Mary yelled out her compliment

And Jesus reiterates the truth again.
True blessing is not found in human relationships,
It is found in spiritual relationships.

BUT HERE JESUS TAKES IT EVEN FURTHER.
• In fact, He reveals to this woman that she can be even more blessed than His mother was for giving Him birth.

She will be blessed IF she “hear(s) the word of God and observe(s) it”

Now to get the full point of the story
You have to understand what Jesus means by “hear the word”

John 5:24-25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

Hearing there is not simply physical hearing, but rather spiritual hearing.
• I can preach this morning from God’s word, and everyone in here with physical
ears will hear my voice.
• And yet, only those with spiritual ears will really hear what God is saying.

That is what Jesus is talking about.

The ability to really hear is a gift from God.
• It is a gift by which He regenerates a dead soul and grants it life enough to hear the truth.

Let me give you a good illustration.

TURN TO: John 8:31-47
• The setting is the Feast of Booths and Jesus has been preaching about Himself.

The most famous statement of the sermon is:
John 7:37-39 “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Now, in response to that sermon we see in verse 30
That “many came to believe in Him.”

So it “APPEARS” that we have here many believers.

Jesus moves forward to sort of give the litmus test.
(READ 31-32)
• So Jesus tells them that the proof of their faith will be that they continue in His word and thus find freedom.

But you will notice that the crowd takes great offense to this.
(READ 33)

So you already see in play here the very problem
That Jesus has revealed to us here in Luke’s gospel.

You have people who are slaves and yet convinced that they are free.
You have people who in are in danger, but don’t know it.
(Just like the moral man with all the demons)

But Jesus addresses the issue again:
(READ 34-36)
• So the truth remains.

But listen now as Jesus confronts the problem.
(READ 37-38)

Did you catch that?
You don’t hear Me.

And Jesus even insinuates that Abraham is not their true father.
They don’t like that.
(READ 39-42)
• These are people who claim to believe…
• These are people who claim to not be slaves of sin…
• These are people who are arguing their religious heritage…

But the problem is real.
They are not spiritually alive for the do not hear the words of Christ.

(READ 43-47)

Do you see it?
They can’t hear.
They are not regenerated.

Are they religious? Yes
Are they reformed? Yes
Are they rehabbed? Yes
Are they redecorated? Yes
BUT THEY ARE NOT REGENERATED

They cannot hear the words of God.

Now take that back to what Jesus just said in Luke’s gospel.
(28) “But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God…”

Now do you understand that?
What a blessing to have been made alive by God enough to hear His word.
(and this woman is hearing it, because she recognizes the glory of Jesus)

BUT THERE IS MORE.
Not only to hear it, but also to “observe it”

The word there is PHYLASSO (fu-la-so)
It means “to hold it fast, or protect, or keep from escape”

In other words, they hear it and they value it.
They receive it, they hold it, they obey it, they keep it.
THEY CHERISH IT!

Do you see this woman?
• She had heard what Jesus was saying
• And as a result she saw who the good one was.
• It wasn’t her, it was Jesus.
• And all she could do was announce what a blessing it would be to be associated with Jesus.
• She was cherishing Jesus.

NOW, THAT IS THE BLESSED STATE.
They have been made spiritually alive by God as evidence by their ability to hear and love for God’s word.

So take the contrast here.
• Both of these people are most likely moral.
• Both of these people are likely marked with external goodness.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

• The first did it through human power, without the Spirit’s help, and actually ended up in a worse condition.
• The second received through the Spirit’s regenerating work and therefore is justified and blessed.

The difference is not the outside, it is the inside.

And this is the point of Jesus.
IT’S ALL ABOUT BEING AUTHENTIC.

Does that make sense church?

DO NOT assure yourself of salvation
Because of your morality or religious commitment.
Assurance of salvation comes
With evidence of the Spirit’s work within you.

Romans 8:14-16 “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,”

While all saved people should be moral people,
Not all moral people are saved people.

The redeemed are
• Those who have been made alive by the Spirit of God.
• Those who have believed into Christ and are clothed in His righteousness.
• The spiritually alive who hear and obey and love God’s word.

Don’t confuse that with “goodness”

A well swept house is not an indicator of salvation.
The Pharisees were clean.
This woman was real.

The Pharisees saw their own goodness and they were cursed.
This woman saw only the goodness of Jesus and she was blessed.

Don’t Fret The World
Psalms 37
May 5, 2019

Well I suppose the best way to introduce this Psalm is to ask:
• Have you ever been frustrated by the victories of the wicked?
• Have you ever been envious of the successes of the wicked?

I would suppose that most will easily answer yes to that first question,
But would likely prefer to answer silently to the second.

And yet, if we are honest, both are true.

We can so easily slip into that mindset of Asaph on the 73rd Psalm.
Psalms 73:3-9 “For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth.”

It’s just called temptation. And at times it plagues us all.

But we can also get frustrated by the victories of the wicked.
• We see laws passed and political agendas that directly defy the revealed will of God.
• We see a vote to legalize the sale of alcohol overwhelmingly pass in our community.
• You know what I mean.

And it gets frustrating when you have a majority
Who can so easily vote for immorality.
The tension is real.

We know about the reality of the current landscape.
• We are children of God living in a fallen world.
• We are citizens of heaven living as strangers on earth.

That frustration is seen in that parable of the Wheat and the Tares
Matthew 13:24-30 “Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

I think many of us understand that mindset where at times we think
It would just be easier if we could eradicate all the tares
And finally live in a world that doesn’t call evil good and good evil.

Sometimes it just gets frustrating to see the wicked thrive
While the righteous just sort of have to sit back and take it.

Now, we know it’s not permanent.
• We know God wins in the end.
• We’ve read the back of the book.

Revelation 11:15-18 “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

We know that day is coming,
But it doesn’t always make this day easier to swallow.

We can identify with Paul in the Scripture reading this morning:
2 Corinthians 5:2-4 “For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.”

We understand that desire.
How great it will be when we live in a world without wickedness.

Well, if you’ve ever felt those frustrations or if you’ve ever felt that envy, Psalms 37 is for you.

IT’S A PSALM THAT DAVID WROTE IN HIS HOLD AGE.
I sort of like to view it as David’s Ecclesiastes.

You are familiar with Ecclesiastes,
• The book of Solomon’s old age where he wrote to the young man
• To take off his rose colored glasses, recognize the presence of evil,
• And to understand that judgment is coming.

That’s sort of David’s purpose here as well.
By this point he is an old man and he is writing to the young
Telling them to settle down and look at this world through eyes of faith.

ONE THING to help you understand it better.
As you read this Psalm you’ll see continual references to “the land”

You are aware of the significance of land to the children of Israel.
• That was their inheritance from God.
• That was the symbol of His favor.

But they were frustrated to see the wicked
Being the ones who owned most of it.
It was backward to them and they didn’t know how to handle it.

Psalms 37 was written to calm them down.
It is quite lengthy, but the message is very direct
And concise and even repetitive.

It is not difficult to grasp the point.

Let’s break it down into 3
#1 THE ENCOURAGEMENT
Psalms 37:1-11

In these first 11 verses there are actually 2 pieces of encouragement.

1) DON’T FRET; TRUST GOD (1-6)

The Psalm certainly begins direct enough.
“Do not fret because of evildoers”

“fret” there is CHARA
It means “to burn or be kindled with anger”

And the implication here is NOT that you are angry at the wicked.
• We know that even God is angry at the wicked every day.
• We all understand righteous indignation.

The implication here is that your anger is at least
Indirectly pointed at God for letting them be so successful.

It is a frustration that ultimately trickles up to God,
Who in His sovereignty allows the wicked to flourish.

Have you ever been there?
The Psalmist says DON’T

“Be not envious toward wrongdoers”

It has to do with wishing that you could have the comforts they have
(sort of like Asaph in Psalms 73)

And in both cases David says, “Don’t”

And here is what he wants you to know:
(2) “For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like green herb.”

We know the cycle of nature.
• We’ve recently had rain and everything is green,
• But we all know how quickly that can change with a few months of drought.

So it is with the wicked.
They may flourish for a season,
But don’t be fooled into thinking they will last.

The clear point is not to get mad at God or envious of the wicked in the day of their prosperity, IT WON’T LAST.

Instead David encourages us:
(3-6) “Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.”

You’re likely familiar with part of that passage.

We’ve often heard verse 4 to “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”

To understand that verse you simply need to understand the desire here.
• The desire is for the land.
• The desire is for the righteous to be rewarded for their righteousness.
• And it is a desire for that reward to come in a tangible and obvious way.

They understood the land to be a symbol of God’s favor.
• And they wanted it.

Their frustration came that despite their faithfulness,
It seemed like the wicked where the ones being rewarded.

David here encourages the righteous,
• Don’t get mad at God.
• Instead, continue to faithfully serve God.
• Trust that He will properly reward you in due time.

And that is what that passage is about.

Your obligation?
“Trust in the LORD and do good;”
“Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness” (there’s a crop to grow)
“Delight yourself in the LORD”
“Commit your way to the LORD”
“Trust also in Him”

That is your obligation.
Don’t get angry, don’t get envious, don’t abandon God.
Trust Him, stay faithful to Him, serve Him.

And the promise is that God will reward you.
“He will give you the desires of your heart”
“He will do it”
“He will bring forth your righteousness as the light”

1 Thessalonians 5:24 “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

It’s the end promise of that parable of the wheat and the tares.
Remember our Lord promised that at the end of the age
The angels will reap this world and burn up the chaff.

And look at the final result:
Matthew 13: 43 “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

So the encouragement?
• Don’t get angry at God.
• Don’t envy the wicked.
• Just trust God. He will bring about the reward you seek.

The second piece of encouragement:
2) DON’T FRET, WAIT ON GOD (7-11)

David says, instead of fretting:
“Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him”

Rest is the result of trust.
• You don’t have to fret or be disturbed, just know God has it covered.
• And all you have to do is “wait patiently for Him”

And again the encouragement
“Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret it leads only to evildoing.”

There are those anger words again:
• “Fret” we’ve seen CHARA
• “anger” APH – “a nostril, a nose, anger” (to flare the nostrils)
• “wrath” CHEMA – “heat or rage”

They all speak of a frustration
With God’s lack of urgency to handle the wicked.
They speak of anger with God
For not handling the situation differently.

David says DON’T
Instead rest in Him and wait on Him.

Don’t fret “it leads only to evildoing”
• That is, if you get angry at God, you aren’t likely to make a wise decision.
• You’re far better off to trust Him and wait on Him.

And David again reminds:
(9-11) “For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.”

It is that same encouragement.
And here we get our first reference to the land.
You’ll see it again in (11, 28, 29, 34)

Yes the wicked are currently thriving,
But “Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more”

“But the humble will inherit the land.”

We’ve heard that before:
Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.”

So, WAIT ON THAT.

• Don’t get angry at God.
• Don’t do something foolish like follow the pattern of the wicked.
• Just trust that God will do what He said and wait on Him to do it.

That’s the encouragement to the righteous who live in a wicked land.

#2 THE EXPLANATION
Psalms 37:12-15

Here is the theology of the situation
And something that we would all do good to understand.

• Certainly we have here a world where the wicked view the righteous as the problem.
• Certainly they would rather just remove us altogether so that they can live their carnal lives unchecked.

And so “The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes at him with his teeth.”

The hostility is real.
The hatred is real.

But let me show you what else is real:
(13) “The LORD laughs at him…”

So the LORD thinks it’s funny when His people get attacked?
No, the LORD thinks it’s ABSURD, (i.e. laughable)

He did the same when they attacked His Son
Psalms 2:1-4 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.”

It is absurd that sinful men would try to overthrow God’s king.
And it is just as absurd that sinful men
Would try to stomp out the righteous or steal his inheritance.

God laughs because it is such a foolish and futile attempt.

“The LORD laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming.”

God knows what is around the corner.

(14-15) “The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slay those who are upright in conduct. Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken.”

That is to say that all their plans are going to fall on their own head.
They won’t win, they can’t win; God will overthrow them.

• How foolish it is for men to boast in their obtaining the world.
• How foolish it is for men to boast when they win their victories for carnality.
• How foolish it is for men to boast when they vote in some sort of immoral freedom.

They won’t win.

Remember the rich man who had so much grain he tore down his barns and built larger ones?
Luke 12:20-21 “But God said to him, ‘ You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Remember the rich man who used to skip the poor man Lazarus and give the table scraps to the dogs?
Luke 16:25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.”

Remember James’ scowling words for those who hoard the wealth of this world?
James 5:5 “You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”

They seem so confident and sure of themselves
As they gain the world and scorn God’s people.

Their confidence and boasting is so absurd
That God actually laughs at their misplaced confidence.

He knows what is coming for them.
Psalms 73:18-20 “Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.”

Just know that God doesn’t fret them.

And that is good for us when living in this world to know that
God isn’t the least bit concerned about what to do with them.
HE IS IN TOTAL CONTROL, AND HE SEES THEIR END.

David wants you to know that.
• The encouragement is don’t fret, just trust God and wait on Him.
• The explanation is because God sees their day and will deal with them.

#3 THE OBSERVATION
Psalms 37:16-40

And obviously this is a lot of content, so let’s break it down into 4 easier points.

These are the observations of David in his old age.
After having lived this life, here is the wisdom he would pass down.

1) RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BETTER THAN RICHES BECAUSE THE LORD SUSTAINS THE RIGHTEOUS (16-22)

David begins by making one of those
Backward statements from the world’s perspective.

“Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of the wicked”

Now, when we sit in church and our minds are on spiritual things
We can all “Amen” that statement.

But when the bills are due and we are out of money, it’s harder to say that
And yet David wants you to know that he has seen that it is true.

Well David, why would you say that?
(17) “For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD sustains the righteous.”

What is David’s point?
• The abundance of the wicked isn’t sure because God can break their arms.
• And the little of the righteous isn’t disastrous because God sustains them.

Remember Jesus sermon?
Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

God knows how to take care of the righteous.
And it is far better to be on God’s side than to have a bank full of money.

(18-19) “The LORD knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be forever. They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, And in the days of famine they will have abundance.”

Do you see those promises?
God knows how to take care of the righteous, even when it appears like they are in trouble.

But look at the flipside:
(20-21) “But the wicked will perish; And the enemies of the LORD will be like the glory of the pastures, They vanish — like smoke they vanish away. The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives.”

You can hear Jesus’ sermon there can’t you?
• I know they look good, just like a green pasture, but can I remind you how quickly that can all fade away?
• He even paints a picture of the rich man’s wealth being all a show for he isn’t even able to pay off his debts. It was all a sham.
• Whereas God cares for the righteous and not only does he have enough, but he has a surplus to help others.

And then the promise again.
(22) “For those blessed by Him will inherit the land, But those cursed by Him will be cut off.”

So again David says righteousness is better than riches
Because the Lord sustains the righteous.

• Look past today.
• Look who gets the land in the end.
• Look who is left standing.
It is the one the LORD sustains, and He sustains the righteous.

So don’t fret, don’t be envious.
Trust God, wait on Him, He will reward you in due time.

That’s the first observation.
2) RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BETTER THAN RICHES BECAUSE THE LORD ESTABLISHES THE RIGHTEOUS (23-26)

That is to say, not only does He care for them through the famine,
But He makes their footsteps firm so that they are never moved.

“The steps of a man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.”

What does that mean?
Especially when we’ve seen believers struggle at times.

It means they won’t fail TOTALLY or FINALLY
He may at times fall, but he will not be totally forsaken.
The LORD has a hold of his hand.

And here is the observation.
“I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread.”

And do a little mental jogging back through the pages for a moment.
We aren’t saying that things were never hard for the righteous.
Certainly the righteous life is not all abundance and ease.

But can you find one whom the LORD forsook?

Even those like the poor man Lazarus
• Who used to sit at the gate and the dogs licked his sores.
• By all appearances it would seem that this man was forsaken by the LORD, but was he?
• No, for we find him sitting in Abraham’s bosom receiving his good things for all eternity.

And that is why David again says that righteousness is better than riches.

God doesn’t establish the steps of the rich,
But He does establish the steps of the righteous.

A third observation
3) RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BETTER THAN RICHES BECAUSE THE LORD EXALTS THE RIGHTEOUS (27-34)

There again is the encouragement.
“Depart from evil and do good, so you will abide forever.”

And here is the reasoning.
(28-29) “For the LORD loves justice And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. The righteous will inherit the land And dwell in it forever.”

• There again is a reference to the land.
• The rich may currently enjoy it, but they do not inherit it.

“The righteous will inherit the land and will dwell in it forever.”

It’s the same promise restated again and again and again.
You are far better off to live this life in a manner that pleases God.

Don’t fret and get angry when you think the wicked are flourishing,
You just keep your focus on pleasing God
Because when all this thing shakes down at the end,
It is those who are pleasing to God who get it all.

It is that same tension as Peter watched the Rich Young Ruler walk away with all his money.
Matthew 19:27-29 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

You see it there again.

And just to make sure you understand
Who David is talking about here when he references the righteous.

(30-31) “The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, And his tongue speaks justice. The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.”

When David speaks of the righteous,
He is talking about people who speak truth and justice
And who love God’s Laws.

They are the ones who inherit the land, not the ruthless wicked.

(32-34) “The wicked spies upon the righteous And seeks to kill him. The LORD will not leave him in his hand Or let him be condemned when he is judged. Wait for the LORD and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.”

It’s that same promise.
• There is a rich man who congratulates himself and boasts about his victory over the righteous, but don’t let him fool you.

• God has determined that the wicked do not get to keep their lofty status, they are brought down into condemnation and true exaltation is reserved for the righteous.

You just see it over and over and over.

“When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.”
• Man can take bribes and cut deals and promote immorality
• And boast in their success and wealth,
• And high five each other when the move the world to more freedom for immorality.

But it won’t last,
They will fall, you’ll see.

That is David’s reminder and it is a third reason
Why righteousness is better than riches.

God doesn’t exalt the rich, but He does exalt the righteous.

4) RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BETTER THAN RICHES BECAUSE THE LORD SAVES THE RIGHTEOUS (35-40)

There you have it again, “I have seen a wicked, violent man spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I sought for him, but he could not be found.”

See how transient he is.
Acts 12:21-23 “On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”

He just wasn’t as important or permanent as he thought he was.

Think about all the men of old who set out to conquer the world, but where are they now?
• Where are the Nebuchadnezzar’s?
• Where are the Alexander the Great’s?
• Where are the Napolean’s?
• Where are the Hitler’s?

Men who laid great siege to the world in hopes of gaining all they could.
Where are they?

They are dead and they have nothing.

But if you want to look over this world and lay odds
As to who you think might end up possessing it,
David has some advice.

(37) “Mark the blameless man”
That is to say, “That’s who I’d keep my eye on.”

“behold the upright; for the man of peace will have a posterity. But transgressors will be altogether destroyed; the posterity of the wicked will be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in time of trouble. The LORD helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in Him.”

• Do you see who has the future?
• Do you see whose lineage is preserved?

And we remember promises
• Like that to Abraham that his descendants will be like the sand of the seashore.
• Like that to David that his son will reign forever on the throne.

We also remember statements like to Jeconiah (the wicked king) whom God said, “write this man down childless”

And the whole point is that God does not save the wicked,
But He does save the righteous.

SO DON’T FRET
DON’T ENVY
JUST TRUST AND WAIT

That is encouraging for us in the world in which we live.
• You don’t have to fret evil winning, it won’t.
• So you just focus on living a life that is pleasing to God.

Just follow the advice of David
And keep trusting and keep waiting on God.

Are You With Me?
Luke 11:14-23
May 5, 2019

Well, you are aware that we are in a long segment in Luke’s gospel
Where we are afforded the privilege of listening to the preaching of Jesus
On many theological and practical issues.

It is so enlightening to us to have our Lord set the record straight
On so many important issues.

It’s really NOT a section like what we see in the Sermon on the Mount
Where Jesus just sits down to preach.

Rather in this section Luke compiles
What we really have is mini-sermons which are inspired
By questions or events or accusations or statements.

Jesus hears something or sees something and then addresses the issue.
It makes the section so practical in nature.

We already saw the first which was a lesson on prayer.
Jesus DIDN’T sit down and call the disciples and say, “Let me teach you now about prayer”

Instead, He prayed.
The disciples watched Him pray and asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray”

• What followed is without a doubt the most famous lesson on prayer in the world.
• And not only did Jesus directly answer their question,
• But He even went beyond their question because He was on topic and there was more they needed to know.

WELL, THAT SORT OF PATTERN CONTINUES.
Jesus will be addressed or questioned or accused
And what flows out of that is His theology.

Incidentally, I think this is a
Very important FORM OF DISCIPLESHIP for us to model.

I am certainly not opposed to planned and structured
And even systematic times of teaching.
(Obviously, we do that weekly here)

But I am also aware that there is so much teaching to be done sort of
“as the moment arises” that we must also seize as believers.

• We address error as it presents itself…
• We encourage as the need arises…
• We preach and teach when it is opportune for the moment…

Any of you parents will recognize this form of instruction.
Certainly make effort to directly teach our kids truth,
But so much of that also comes as we walk through life with them
And help them digest what they see and hear.

THAT IS WHAT JESUS IS DOING.
They aren’t pre-scripted sermons here,
They are Jesus (the incarnate truth) addressing error as it presents itself.

Well, having taught on prayer,
Now Luke carries us into the next segment from Jesus
And we’ll call it a sermon on: AUTHENTICITY or “Being Real”

Of course by that we are referring to
“Authentic Christianity” or “Being a Real Follower of Jesus”
Or even in Jesus day, being a “True Jew”

Remember Paul addressed this issue in the Romans:
Romans 2:28-29 “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

WE ARE TALKING THEN ABOUT BEING REAL.
As opposed to being a false disciple or a phony Christian.

Authenticity matters:
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”

2 Peter 1:10 “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;”

We know that NOT EVERYONE
Who claims to be a follower of Christ actually is.

1 John 2:18-19 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

Or of course there is the infamous:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Or even:
Luke 13:22-30 “And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.’ “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. “And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. “And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”

Being real matters.
Being an authentic follower of Jesus matters.

Merely disguising unbelief under a cloak of religion
Might fool others; it might even allow you to fool yourself;
But it will not fool Christ.

Notice what He says at the end of our text here:
(23) “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”

Just look at that statement for a moment.
It is polarizing, it is divisive, it is direct.

Some would even have trouble believing
That our Lord would make such a statement.

He leaves no wiggle room there.
• You’re either all in or all out.
• You either love Him or hate Him.
• You either persevere in following Him or fall away.

The youth should be familiar with this reality.
This past Wednesday we saw this as we finished up John 6.

• We saw a great crowd of people who pretended to be followers of Jesus.
• They are even referred to a few times as “disciples”.

BUT JESUS KNEW THEIR HEART.
They only wanted miracles
When He started talking about true belief in Him, they bolted.

John 6:66-69 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

You see it there as well.
You’re either all in or all out, but there is no middle ground.
We are talking about AUTHENTICITY

And make no mistake,
Our Lord will expose who is real and who is not.
Matthew 10:26 “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.”

1 Corinthians 4:4-5 “For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”

Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

Jesus will expose every man.

In fact, Jesus did this often even during His earthly ministry.
He was continually pointing out genuine faith as opposed to hypocritical religion.

And the rest of Luke 11 really seems to zoom in on this reality
As you will see over the next few weeks while we study it.

The ironic part to this teaching moment from Jesus is that:
HE DIDN’T START THIS FIGHT.

THIS CONVERSATION STARTED BECAUSE
The Jews questioned the authenticity of Jesus.
They questioned whether or not He was real.

It’s almost as if Jesus responds by saying,
“It’s funny that you should bring that up.”

Because what follows is a message from our Lord
On the necessity of being real and of being a real follower of His.

And the CATALYST event for this line of teaching
Was Jesus casting a demon out of a man.

(14-16) “And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.”

On this day, Jesus “was casting out a demon”

And this particular event was EASILY VERIFIABLE
Because “it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke”

This was an obvious spiritual work here.
No one could call it a “fake” or a “manufactured” miracle.

This man was “mute” and it comes with good reason
That the man was probably also deaf.

But in an instant this man was healed
Because Jesus cast a demon out of him.

What is more, Matthew’s gospel adds that this man was blind.
Matthew 12:22-24 “Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

Matthew also gives us a little more detail about the response of the crowd.
• Luke says that they “were amazed”.
• Matthew sort of fills in the gaps by revealing that they “were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?”

The crowds were actually seeing this as a Messianic indicator.
(As they should have)

Jesus here again demonstrates
Absolute and total authority over the realm of Satan.

I once heard someone say, “The next time you think you’re important, try giving an order to someone else’s dog.”

Well, Jesus can.
He can take these servants of Satan and tell them to whatever He wants.

It is power like the world had never seen before.
• He controls nature…
• He controls disease…
• He controls death…
• He even controls demonic activity…

When He says leave, they leave.

We’ve seen that power greatly documented already in Luke’s gospel.

Well here Jesus does it again
And the crowds are on the verge of believing.

HOWEVER, “some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons.”

It is a direct accusation against Jesus’ authenticity.
They could not deny that He worked the miracle.
They could not deny the power He demonstrated.

So instead they seek to draw doubt as to the source of His power.

And they insist that the reason He has such control over demons
Is because He in fact is in allegiance with
“Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons”

They call Jesus a servant of Satan.

The name “Beelzebul” was a Jewish name for Satan.

In Israel’s history they encountered a PHILISTINE GOD named “Baal-Zebul”
Which meant “prince Baal” or “exalted Lord”

The Jews made a slang modification to that name and called him “Beelzebul” which meant “lord of the flies”
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary; Luke 11-17; Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL; 2013] pg. 62)

It was a mocking slang name, and the worst name they could think of.
And here they explain Jesus’ power over demons
As that which came from Satan himself.

• Jesus is accused of not being authentic.
• Jesus is accused of not being real.
• Instead Jesus is accused of being a servant of Satan himself.

It was their only explanation for His obvious power.

And it seems that the crowd was willing to buy into this explanation
For they immediately put Him on trial asking Him to prove
That He was in fact from God and not a servant of Satan.

It was a witch hunt:
(16) “Others, to test Him, were demanding Him a sign from heaven.”

Now they want a sign, but one that is unmistakably “from heaven”.

One would think that casting out a demon was about as “from heaven” as it gets,
But obviously the crowd wants something else.

They put Jesus on trial.
• They attack His authenticity.
• They claim He is from Satan.
• And they dare Him to prove otherwise.

That is the catalyst for this sermon.
Jesus will answer their question,
But He will follow with a sermon of His own regarding authenticity.

Jesus takes their judgments and flips them on their head
And addresses, not only His own authenticity,
But their lack of discernment and the danger it has landed them in.

4 points
#1 YOUR THOUGHTS ARE ILLOGICAL
Luke 11:17-18

Here we read that “He knew their thoughts”

John 2:24-25 “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”

And Jesus can see that the crowd is processing this lie
And actually thinks there might be some truth to it.
They are buying the propaganda of the Pharisees.

So Jesus addresses exactly how illogical this notion is.
“Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls.”

Now that’s just a basic principle.
Civil war never strengthened a nation.

• Any coach will tell you that the worst thing you can have on any team is
division amidst that team.
• Even in the church we are continually commanded to “be of one mind” and
not to let division exist.
• Regarding the family unity, God says that He hates divorce.

You don’t make things stronger by fighting within.
That’s just a universal worldly principle.

If you want to build a strong team or a strong church
Or a strong family or a strong nation,
Then division won’t help you there.

That’s just a truth.

And Jesus takes that truth and applies it to the Pharisees assessment
Of Him casting out demons as a service to Satan.

(18) “If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.”

Now I suppose someone could make the argument
That for deceptive purposes
Satan might actually let a false prophet cast out a demon.
(More likely is that Satan would simply cause a demon to go dormant and appear to have been cast out so as to give credibility to one of his false prophets)

And someone might could make that claim about Jesus,
That Satan has simply used this to anoint Jesus as the real deal,
But the Pharisees saw through the deceptive tactic.

Even if you can make that case regarding a false prophet,
It is impossible to make that case against Jesus.

For it’s not like He just cast out 1 demon.
Jesus has been casting out demons everywhere.

Luke 4:40-41 “While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them. Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.”

Luke 6:17-18 “Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured.”

Luke 7:20-21 “When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?'” At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.”

Or who can forget the Gadarene Demoniac?
The man whom Jesus cast an entire army (Legion) of demons out of.

If someone wanted to claim that Jesus ever was a servant of Satan
Then they’d have to admit that He obviously He WENT ROGUE.

This is far more than a deceptive stunt.
Jesus is abolishing the armies of Satan.

And Jesus even gave that power to His followers.
Luke 10:17-19 “The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.”

To claim Jesus was doing Satan’s work by casting out demons
Is what we call A STUPID ARGUMENT

It was illogical to say the least.
If that is Satan’s plan he’s about to self-eradicate himself out of Israel.

Their thoughts are illogical
#2 YOUR JUDGMENTS ARE HYPOCRITCAL
Luke 11:19

Another problem the Pharisees and the crowds had was that
Jesus was not the only one who went on the offensive against demons.

Judaism also had its fair share of their own exorcists.
Now, there is little evidence that they had much success, but they did exist.

We are given one account of them in the book of Acts.
Acts 19:13-16 “But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

There we see a group of these Jewish exorcists
Who supposedly cast demons out of people.

More likely they were nothing more than a gimmick, not a true source of deliverance.

However, what is true of them is that
They universally viewed the ability to cast out a demon
As a sign that they were from God.

The Pharisees gave them credibility as undoubtedly being from God
Because they cast out demons.

And so Jesus challenges their inconsistency and hypocrisy here.

He basically asks:
“Why is it that when your sons cast out demons it proves they are from God, but when I do it, you say it proves I am from Satan?”

It’s just evidence of extreme hypocrisy and blind stubbornness.
They have no evidence, they just hate Jesus.

And Jesus says, “So they will be your judges”

That is to say, “Your acceptance of them will be evidence of your hypocrisy on the day of judgment.”

When you are hauled before God and condemned for your failure to believe Me,
These men who you believed will be called as “Exhibit A” to indicate that
You knew that someone who casts out a demon must be from God.

And thus they will condemn you.

So the Jews attacked the authenticity of Jesus,
But in reality Jesus has now exposed them
As being both illogical and hypocritical.

Their plan is clearly backfiring.

#3 YOUR DISCERNMENT IS DYSFUNCTIONAL
Luke 11:20-22

Jesus already squashed the idea that He cast out demons by Beelzebul.
No one could logically or honestly believe that any more.

But since they could also not deny His power
THAT ONLY LEFT ONE OPTION.

Jesus must get His power from God.
That’s the only conclusion which can be made.

So Jesus moves forward on that.
“But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

It’s NOT JUST about determining where Jesus got His power.
The more important question is
What does this demonstration of power mean?

If this Jesus really has been sent here to earth with power from God to overthrow the kingdom of darkness, what are the ramifications of that?

That’s what they should really be asking.

Jesus goes on:
(21-22) “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. “But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.”

The analogy here is clear.
• The “strong man” is Satan.
• And he being “fully armed, guards his own house”
• That would have been this man that Jesus just delivered.
• And Jesus says, so long as Satan was fully armed and the strongest among you, when he determined to keep a possession “his possessions are undisturbed”
• That is to say, no one on earth could take from Satan what he didn’t want to give up.

However:
“when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which had relied and distributes his plunder.”

This is a great declaration by Jesus.
That He came to ATTACK the enemy, to OVERPOWER him,
To RELEASE all that he guarded and to set it free.

Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

1 John 3:8 “the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”

We read it Easter Sunday, that through His death and resurrection:
Colossians 2:15 “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”

To borrow an analogy from the garden,
Jesus came to crush the head of the serpent.

• Jesus was not working for Satan.
• Jesus was not depending on Satan’s power.
• Jesus was attacking Satan and Jesus is much stronger than Him.

Jesus came to overthrow the kingdom of darkness
Which held men in bondage of all kinds (physical and spiritual)
And Jesus came to set free his captives.

And nothing should have made that more obvious to the people
Than the fact that Jesus went everywhere casting out demons.

If you picked up on nothing else you should have been able to see
THAT JESUS WAS FIGHTING SATAN AND WINNING.

But the fact that the people didn’t see that
Is a testimony to their dysfunctional discernment.

They didn’t get it. They didn’t see it.

It is a testimony to their willful unbelief and persistent blindness.

This segment begins with people questioning the authenticity of Jesus.
But in answering, He reveals that they are the ones who aren’t real.

Their logic is flawed…
Their judgments are hypocritical…
Their discernment is dysfunctional…

And all of that leads to this strong statement from Jesus.
#4 YOUR STUBBORNNESS IS DETRIMENTAL
Luke 11:23

Based on their irrational rejection of Jesus,
All we can say is that these people were simply against Jesus.

• They opposed Him despite sound logic…
• They opposed Him despite obvious power…
• They opposed Him despite Him clearly doing the work of God…

They just opposed Him.

And to that Jesus makes perhaps
The MOST POLARIZING STATEMENT of His entire ministry.

“He who is not with Me is against Me;”

Now you and I know the world in which we live.
It is a world that increasingly hates absolutes.

• Our world is continually trying to blur the lines.
• Our world is continually trying to soften the edges.
• Our world would have you believe that all religions are basically the same…
• Our world would have you believe that all relationships are equally
acceptable…
• Our world would have you believe that all people are basically good…

Truth is under attack.
Tolerance is the virtue of the day.

Our world hates it when people demonstrate a dogmatic view of anything.
No one is more praised than the person who will say,
“We just can’t be sure of anything.”

But listen to this statement of Jesus.
• Here He undeniable separates all of humanity into 2 distinct groups.
• He is dogmatic and polarizing.
• It’s one or the other.

You are either with Jesus or you are against Jesus.

He said it another way in Luke 9:
Luke 9:50 “But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”

That is the same truth stated backward.
But it is just as distinct and dogmatic.

There is no gray area in this regard.
There are no fence sitters.

You are either a follower of Jesus or you are an enemy of Jesus.

Now for sure there are those who would immediately argue with that.
“Well, I’m not a follower of Jesus, but it’s not like I hate Him. I’m not His enemy, I just don’t follow Him.”

But according to Jesus, that isn’t possible.

See Jesus came as the King of the World.
He is God’s chosen Messiah.
And you either bow the knee to Him
Or you stand in rebellion against Him.

You can tell yourself all day long that
Just because you won’t bow that it’s not personal,
But the King only sees that as defiance and rebellion.

And do you want to know the problem with those who are against Him?
“he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

That is to say they flee in fear.
Psalms 2:7-9 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'”

Fast forward to the Revelation when the sky is rolled back like a scroll and see rebellious man at that point:
Revelation 6:14-17 “The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Finding yourself in opposition to Christ will not be a pleasant place to be.

Jesus said it Himself:
Luke 20:17-18 “But Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone’? “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

You either fall in this stone in broken repentance,
Or this stone falls on you and scatters you like dust.

THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND.
You are either in or you are out.

What a message for this crowd!
It started with them attacking the authenticity of Jesus.

They said He wasn’t really from God
But was actually a servant of God’s enemy; Satan.

JESUS REVEALED JUST THE OPPOSITE.

• He was the One serving God; in fact He was bringing in God’s kingdom,
• They were the ones serving Satan as evidenced by their rejection of God’s
King.

He wasn’t the phony, they were.
And I don’t mind telling you, He’s only getting started.

This morning I just simply wish to ask you to not be like this crowd.
This morning I simply want to remind you that you are presently in 1 of only 2 camps.

You are either those who are 100% for Jesus.
Or you are those who are 100% against Jesus.

Don’t deceive yourself as though you are Switzerland
And just choose to remain neutral. There is no neutral here.

You either acknowledge, and bow to, and serve God’s King or you don’t.

And the greatest fraud of Israel was that
They were religious and claimed to love God
All while actually declaring war on God’s anointed king.
They were the ones who were fake.

Don’t be them.
Serve Christ.

A Humble Prayer for Sanctification
Psalms 36
April 28, 2019

It seems that recently we’ve talked quite a bit about the role of prayer
As it relates to our sanctification.

In studying the Model Prayer in Luke
And even some of those Imprecatory Psalms
We’ve been addressing the issue of prayer
As it relates to living a righteous life.

We hear our Lord’s command to pray:
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

We read those imprecatory prayers even like the most recent one in Psalms 35 where the Psalmist prayed:
Psalms 35:1-3 “Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; Fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of buckler and shield And rise up for my help. Draw also the spear and the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me; Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”

• We understand that there is a war raging.
• We understand that we have an enemy.
• We understand that we do not fight with conventional weapons, but that we fight in prayer.

We ask God to deal with that great enemy
Who is the deceiver and author of temptation.

But there is more involved in our prayer for sanctification
Beyond just an understanding of the threat of the enemy.

Tonight I would begin by reminding you that
THE ENEMY HAS A GREAT ALLY in his work of corruption.

What is that great ally?
YOUR FLESH

James 1:13-15 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

None of us able to go to God in the midst of our sin and say,
“It’s not my fault” or “The devil made me do it”

The other culprit that must be dealt with is the flesh.
It is the human nature that is bent toward sin.

This is another battlefront for the believer.

As believers we war against the flesh.
And the common question has to do with how to stop sinning.
• How do I escape this habit?
• How do I overcome this temptation?
• How do I apply practical holiness in my life?

I don’t know of a single believer who has not at one point in their life
Been grieved over their lack of personal holiness.

The process to achieving this practical holiness is what we call: SANCTIFICATION.

Now there are some clearly defined principles of sanctification outlined for us in the Bible.

Just for reference, let me give you a few.
1) WALK BY THE SPIRIT

Galatians 5:16-17 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

The Holy Spirit is the agent of sanctification.
He is the One who grants you victory over the flesh.

You will never find yourself walking in sin if you are walking by the Spirit.
(That is to say, if you are walking in submission to the Spirit
And according to the Spirit’s power)

The Spirit is our great ally in our battle against the flesh.

2) UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT OF YOUR DEATH IN CHRIST

Romans 6:8-14 “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

This is the PRINCIPLE OF IDENTIFICATION we talked about on Easter Sunday.
That when we placed our faith in Christ
God performed a supernatural and spiritual work on our behalf.

In a way that is beyond our comprehension, God identified us with Christ.
• We were bonded.
• We were united in His death
• We were united in His burial
• We were united in His resurrection

And when a person dies, his flesh is destroyed.

Often times this is hard for a believer to grasp
Because they see that their flesh still seems very much alive,
But the reality is that God has crucified it.

That means it only appears in control, it is not any longer.

Paul said the same thing to the Galatians:
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Or later:
Galatians 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

The mistake of believers is that they do not realize that
Their flesh no longer has power to control them.

I’ve often used the analogy of the electric fence.
• If you’ve ever seen this with animals, it is the same thing.
• We used to string an electric fence down one of our fields, but after a couple of weeks we would turn it off because the cattle no longer tested it.
• And eventually, even when we would remove the fence it was nearly impossible to drive the cows past where it used to be.

They were free, but didn’t know it.

There are believers who live here.
They simply don’t understand that their flesh has been defeated,
That the prison door has been thrown open, and that the electric fence is down.

And so they live like sin is inevitable. IT’S NOT.
So Paul says, “do not let sin reign in your mortal body”
It’s not in charge anymore, so don’t let it act like it is.

So it’s just a matter of understanding the effect of your death in Christ.

3) FLEE TEMPTATION

1 Corinthians 10:12-14 “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

We understand that God has promised to not allow temptation to be too severe and to allow a way of escape.

Part of our sanctification then is to escape; “flee” from it!
• If you’ve struggled with alcohol, stay out of the bar.
• If you’ve struggled with pornography, stay off the internet.

FLEE.

4) LIVE IN GOD’S WORD

Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Psalms 19:11-13 “Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.”

Getting in God’s word and letting God’s word get into you
Is one of the best means of sanctification I know.

In fact, God’s word is the tool Christ uses to sanctify you.

Ephesians 5:25-26 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,”

John 15:2-3 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”

It’s just a simple principle that
It is harder to sin when you are living in the word of God.

5) SUBMISSION

Romans 6:19-22 “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”

Paul is pretty clear.
“present your members as slaves to righteousness”

That is that we adopt a slave mentality.
Escape the prison of sin. The flesh was crucified,
But don’t view yourself as a totally autonomous
(being free to do whatever you want.)

Instead, willingly present yourself to Christ as His servant.
It has to do with focus and commitment and direction.

It will help you not sin when you give yourself a new direction to go.

This is sort of the athlete principle.
• They are able to buffet their bodies and train and eat right because they are slaves to their goals and their professions.

• They don’t abstain from worldly pleasures because they love righteousness but because they want to succeed in competition.

That principle also works for believers who are able to sacrifice
Because we set the goal of righteousness.

Now, those are just a few principles of sanctification
That I just wanted to give you quickly tonight,

But even before any of those principles become effective,
There is one principle that must first be in place.

HUMILITY

“Humility is when you believe you are who God says you are.”

Even though most in here have never attended Alcoholics Anonymous
I would imagine that everyone in here
Is likely familiar with their concept of self-awareness.

We’ve all heard the standard introduction:
“Hi, I’m so and so and I am an alcoholic”

Even people who have been sober for decades still introduce themselves in that way.

It is a principle of humility and self-awareness
To understand that there is a weakness in me
That I must never forget or else I am prone to fall back into sin.

THAT IS THE HEART OF THIS PSALM.
I call it “A Humble Prayer for Sanctification”
• Because it is a Psalm where David first acknowledges the human condition
• And he allows that honesty to drive him to God for help.

We actually have A HYMN we regularly sing that voices this same request.
“O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be. Let they grace Lord, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart Lord take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.”

Can you identify with that hymn?
So could David.

That is what Psalms 36 is about.

Well that was a lengthy introduction, but now let’s get into this Psalm.

It makes a tremendous practical point regarding sanctification.
Namely that when we pray for sanctification
It is not all just a prayer against the enemy.
It is also a prayer regarding our own sinful flesh.

We can divide this Psalm into 3 points.
#1 THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN
Psalms 36:1-4

You are actually already familiar with part of this Psalm since it is one of the passages that Paul used in that famous evaluation of humanity in Romans 3.

Here we have simply David’s rundown
Of the propensity of man to fall into sin.

His appraisal falls right in line with God’s appraisal all the way back in the book of Genesis.
Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

And incidentally this didn’t change even after the flood.
Genesis 8:20-21 “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”

It is very simply who man is.
Men are corrupt. Men are sinful.

And David even gets descriptive of the fact here.
1) HIS ABSENCE OF FEAR (1)
“Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes.”

What a tragic and yet accurate description of man.
• Sin is NOT a PARENT problem.
• Sin is NOT a CULTURE problem.
• Sin is NOT even a DEVIL problem.

SIN IS A HEART PROBLEM.
Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

The LORD told Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”

That is what David says as well.
When you look at man you are overwhelmed by how much their heart loves sin.
In fact, THEIR LOVE OF SIN EVEN TRUMPS THEIR FEAR OF GOD.

2) HIS AUDACIOUS FLATTERY (2)
“For it flatters him in his own eyes concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.”

David DOESN’T MEAN there that he hates his sin.
Rather David means that he hates the discovery of his sin.
He hates it when people tell him to stop.

See, he is flattered by his sin.
HE LIKES HIS SINFUL REPUTATION.

• He brags about the number of beers he can drink
• He brags about the number of women he can sleep with.
• He boasts of his crude language
• He boasts of the way he swindled his neighbor to get a good deal.

In short, he is proud of who he is
And he hates it when anyone confronts him for it.

3) HIS ALLOCATION OF FOOLISHNESS (3)
“The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good.”

This is what we would call a “depraved mind”

Romans 1:28-32 “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

They are those who call evil good and good evil.

I saw just this past week on social media a group of celebrities who support abortion but who are trying to get it outlawed to cook lobsters because they feel pain.

It’s just the highest level of insanity and foolishness.

4) HIS AGENDA OF FOLLY (4)
“He plans wickedness upon his bed; He sets himself on a path that is not good; He does not despise evil.”

It is a man who fantasizes about the sin which he would commit
If given the opportunity.

Many a man laid upon his bed
And conceived all the wickedness that he WOULD do
IF HE COULD just pull it off.

He would then awake and set himself on a path to see it come to fruition.

That plan may be thwarted, but it didn’t stop him from trying to carry it out
Because “he does not despise evil”

And no one in here would argue with that assessment of humanity.
Humans are creatures that love sin
And will run to it with everything they have.

BUT HERE IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS PSALM.

David is writing those first 4 verses with one very important point.
I AM ONE OF THOSE HUMANS.

If you read those first 4 verses and apply them only to others
You are way too biased in your own opinion of yourself.
• You are of Adam just as they are of Adam.
• You are of flesh just as they are of flesh.
• You are human too.

“there is none righteous; not even one”
“there is none who does good; not even one”

David is not just lamenting a SINFUL CULTURE.
David is lamenting the SINFUL CONDITION of which he is a part.

This is what we call HUMILITY.
It is David being honest about what he is capable of
If left to his own devices.

David understands human wickedness.
And this understanding is essential to your quest to find sanctification.

TURN TO: 1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-12

Read those first 11 verses.
Do you remember all their mistakes?

So what’s the sermon?
(12) “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

Do you suppose they could fall into sin, but you are beyond it?
No.

You had better understand the universal wickedness of man.
You had better understand the propensity of the flesh to run into sin.

The Wickedness of Man
#2 THE GOODNESS OF GOD
Psalms 36:5-9

In striking contrast to man’s wickedness is God’s goodness.
And we must note that it is God’s goodness TO wicked man.

David actually lists eight of them here.

1) HIS LOYALTY (5a)
“Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens”

You remember the word as CHECED, God’s loyal covenantal love.
Humans are fickle, but God is loyal.

2) HIS FAITHFULNESS (5b)
“Your faithfulness reaches to the skies”

God keeps His word.
He is both loyal to humans and faithful to them.

We read it back in the days of Noah that God said
“Despite man’s wickedness I will never flood the earth like that again.”

We certainly could not say that man does not deserve another flood.
It’s just that God has remained faithful.

2 Timothy 2:11-13 “It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

3) HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS (6a)
“Your righteousness is like the mountains of God”

Man does not despise evil, but God most certainly does.
He is a shining contrast to humanity.

4) HIS JUDGMENTS (6b)
“Your judgments are like a great deep”

Man is a fool, but God is wise.
Man makes foolish decisions, but God never does.

And by the way, those first 4 realities all make two very distinct points.
They are attributes which man does not deserve
AND they are given beyond measure.

• God is loyal “to the heavens”
• God is faithful “to the skies”
• God is righteous “like the mountains”
• God’s wisdom is deep as the oceans.

He doesn’t just give a little loyalty, He gives immeasurable loyalty.
He doesn’t just give a little faithfulness, it is immeasurable faithfulness.

You get the point?
God is good to sinners who don’t deserve it.

5) HIS PRESERVATION (6c)
“O LORD, You preserve man and beast.”

Here is where David’s point begins to take shape.

That God, despite the wickedness of man,
Has a loyalty and a faithfulness
To continue to preserve him anyway.

Do we not see that in Scripture?
Psalms 8:4 “What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?”

Matthew 5:43-46 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”

Luke 6:35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”

Despite man’s wickedness, God is still kind to them.
God still cares for them.

6) HIS CARE (7)
“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”

This isn’t just redeemed men, but all men.
They all are cared for under the protective hand of God.

• What is it that keeps the sun from scorching the earth to a crisp?
• Who is it that keeps the sea at bay?

God is the sustainer of creation.
All He has to do is stop caring for the world for 1 second
And everything falls into chaos.

And yet, despite the wickedness of men, God still offers that care.

7) HIS BENEVOLENCE (8)
“They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.”

God provides even for wicked man.
• He sends rain.
• He provides water.
• He provides food.

And man hardly deserves it.
Yet it is God who provides it all.

8) HIS LIFE (9)
“For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.”

God even grants life to sinful and wicked men.
• They don’t keep their own hearts beating, God does that.
• They don’t cause the sun to rise…
• They don’t enlighten the mind with knowledge…

Everything man knows and everything man enjoys
Is only because God has graciously allowed him
To know and enjoy it despite his rebellion.

But you understand here where David is coming from.

We have on one hand sinful man who rebels against God at every turn,
But on the other hand we have a gracious God
Who does not treat them as they deserve.

Well that reality leads to the final point.
#3 THE REQUEST OF THE REDEEMED
Psalms 36:10-12

Here is where that humble prayer for sanctification comes in.

Because I know what I am; I’m a sinner who runs to sin.
And because I know who God is; a gracious God who cares for man.

My request is that this gracious God
Would save me from my own wicked inclinations
And deliver me into righteousness.

The request is:
“O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.”

David already acknowledged that God was loyal and righteous
And here David asks God to “continue” being that way.

But David asks it with specifics:
(11) “Let not the foot of pride come upon me, And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.”

In other words, “be loyal by not letting me slip into pride.
Be righteous by not letting the wicked tempt me into sin.”

It is a prayer that God would protect him from pride and temptation.

PROTECT ME FROM MY OWN SINFUL INCLINATIONS!

And you see WHY:
(12) “There the doers of iniquity have fallen; They have been thrust down and cannot rise.”

• David knows the end result of falling into sin.
• David knows where that is heading.

James told us:
James 1:15 “Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

And so David is asking God to continue being loyal
BY NOT LETTING HIM FALL INTO PRIDE OR TEMPTATION.

That is the other side of that prayer that Jesus taught us to pray.
“Lead us not into temptation”

On one hand we ask God to break the arm of the wicked.
But we also pray that God would control our sinful flesh.

This is the humble prayer for sanctification.
“Let that grace Lord like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.”

And here is the good news.
HE DOES!

Jude 24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

And here is the key thought for the night.

People often get this mentality that God is faithful when we are faithful.
(I actually saw that posted on facebook this week)

“If you will be faithful to God then He will be faithful to you.”

David would answer that by saying,
“If that’s true I’m sunk!”

The reality is that we are faithful to God only because He is faithful to us.
• It is God who doesn’t allow our feet to sleep.
• It is God who sanctifies us and fuels our faithfulness.
• It is God who is at work in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

David’s prayer is that God would work out that sanctification in him
Because he is one of those wicked humans that so quickly runs to sin.

Teach Us To Pray – Part 5
Luke 11:1-13 (5-13)
April 28, 2019

This morning, after a brief break to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord,
WE RETURN BACK TO OUR STUDY OF LUKE’S GOSPEL.

We are currently in a segment which
Highlights the teaching and theology of Jesus.

And the segment begins with a teaching from Jesus regarding prayer.

(1) “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

There is little doubt that the PRAYER LIFE OF JESUS
Was a STARK CONTRAST to the prayer life
That had often been modeled to the disciples.

• They had seen Pharisees praying on street corners…
• They had heard pagans assuming they’d be heard for their many words…

The first was HYPOCRITICAL prayer, the second was MANIPULATIVE
And in Jesus the disciples saw neither.

• He often retreated by Himself to pray.
• His prayers were not for a public show.
• And He didn’t seem to manipulate God through gimmicks.

And yet, when Jesus prayed God answered.
The prayers of Jesus were effective.

And so it is NOT SURPRISING that on this day
The disciples wanted to learn more.
Their simple request was “Lord, teach us to pray”

And that is exactly what we have here.
It is a direct question to Jesus and a direct answer from Him.

And thus far our study has been regarding what we called the first point.
#1 A PATTERN TO FOLLOW
Luke 11:1-4

Here we find what is commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer”
In reality it is “The Model Prayer” or “The Disciple’s Prayer”

And we have seen 6 aspects about prayer that we learn from our Lord.

1) THE FOUNDATION FOR PRAYER
“Father”

2) The Chief Motivation for Prayer
“hallowed be Your name”

3) The Focus of Prayer
“Your kingdom come”

4) The Discernment of Prayer (or faith)
“Give us each day our daily bread.”

5) The Humility of Prayer
“And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”

6) The Soberness of Prayer
“And lead us not into temptation”

These were 6 aspects of prayer which we learned from the Lord.
It really covers for us everything we might as regarding the question: HOW TO PRAY.

That’s what the disciples wanted to know,
And that’s what Jesus told them.

However, in our study we have thus far OVERLOOKED ONE KEY PHRASE from Jesus in that instructional portion of this prayer.

I want to call your attention to it now because it directly relates
To what Jesus is about to teach us regarding prayer.

After the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, we read this in verse 2.
(2) “And He said to them, “When you pray…”

NOT “if you pray” but “WHEN you pray”

It is the obvious reality hidden in the passage
That if Jesus is going to teach us how to pray
It comes with the expectation that His people will pray.

And in reality this may be the bigger issue facing the church.

It could very well be that the church struggles more with a faithfulness to pray than they do with their understanding of how to pray.

But I think we understand it when I say,
“This sermon of Jesus is a pointless sermon
If God’s people don’t apply it and actually pray.”

It is the underlying expectation.

One of the real criticisms of reformed theology over the years
(The belief that God is sovereign over all things)

Is that critics will ask, things like:
• Well, if God is sovereign, and has already decreed His sovereign will, then why
pray?
• A second question would be “why evangelize?”

Those are common criticisms.
There’s no point in praying or evangelizing
If God has already decided what He is going to do.

SO WHY DO WE PRAY?

And there is a primary reason.
WE ARE COMMANDED TO PRAY.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing;”

Ephesians 6:18 “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,”

Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”

There are certainly other benefits to prayer
But the simple fact that we are commanded is primary.

There will always be a mysterious element to how prayer works,
And specifically how God uses it to His sovereign purposes,
But there is no confusion regarding the fact that God uses it.

WE ARE COMMANDED TO PRAY.

Prayer is the natural language of the believer.
After all, Jesus called the temple “a house of prayer”

There is just no other way to state it than to say that
A Christian who is not faithful in prayer is a sinning Christian.
The command to pray is too clear.

Paul understood it.
Colossians 1:3 “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,”

Colossians 1:9 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,”

He told us to pray for rulers:
1 Timothy 2:1 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,”

He himself prayed for the lost:
Romans 10:1 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”

We know that we pray for those who are sick, the suffering, and the spiritually weak:
James 5:13-16 “Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

Prayer is too big of a part of the Christian life for it to be omitted.

So it is clear to us why our Lord would begin this lesson by saying, “When you pray”

But it is also clear that perhaps Jesus understood that
THE EXPECTATION in and of itself was NOT ENOUGH.

So our Lord goes beyond the question that was asked
And also adds at the end of His sermon a couple of points whereby
He will encourage the disciples not only how to pray,
But also to be faithful to pray.

Let’s move forward this morning and learn not only how to pray,
But may we also find encouragement to be faithful to pray.

A Pattern to Follow
#2 A PARABLE TO CONSIDER
Luke 11:5-10

In typical Jesus fashion,
He here gives the disciples more than what they asked for.

• He knows the needs of the human heart.
• He knows our weaknesses and temptations.
• And so He is so faithful to address not just what we ask, but also what we need to know.

And so without being specifically asked about it,
Jesus addresses another issue regarding prayer
That the disciples would need to know.

It begins with a hypothetical situation.
“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’;”

Jesus simply builds a situation for them to consider.

Here we have a man who is caught in a dilemma.
• It is midnight and he has received a knock on his door.
• A friend of his has just arrived in town from a long journey.

It is not necessarily uncommon that one might have arrived late like this
Since it was cooler to travel at night.

• The problem was that he caught his host unaware.

Now we have talked some about the expectation of hospitality in Israel.
It was almost considered an act of hostility not to offer hospitality.

It was expected that you would open your home
And wash your guest’s feet and feed them and shelter them.

• And that is part of the problem here.
• This man has nothing to put before his guest.

And so he has a decision to make.
He can either be a bad host or he can be an inconvenient neighbor.

He chooses the later.

So he goes to his neighbor (another friend) “at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;”

It is pretty much a given at this point that the friend is in bed.
This was a little before “The Late Show” started airing on TV
And so with television networks signing off early people went to bed.

But this man is going now to wake his neighbor up.

But the neighbor is not too happy about it.
(7) “and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’”

Now first let’s just point out what we see.
• This man is in bed asleep.
• His wife is asleep.
• His children are asleep.

To get up now would no doubt wake everyone up
And so this man basically tells his friend to go away.

It is also obvious to us then that this man’s generosity
Is not as evident as the man who is asking.

Where the first man was willing to be interrupted by a traveler,
This man is not willing to be interrupted by his friend needing bread.
You’ll see in a moment where that reality fits the story.
In a simple sense we have a man who doesn’t want to be bothered.

SO WHAT ARE WE SEEING HERE?
We’re seeing the unspoken fears of a man being realized.

Let’s say that
• Tonight you wake up in the middle of the night and you want a glass of milk, but you realize that you are out of milk and it’s 2 in the morning.

Are you going to call your neighbor and ask them if they have any milk?
Of course not, you don’t want to bother them.

But what if it’s 2 in the morning and your child is sick and you need some ibuprofen or stomach medicine or something like that.

You might call, but will you feel bad about it?
Yes.

In fact, I’ll bet you’d say, “I’m so sorry to bother you but do you have any medicine I can borrow for my child?” And then you’d probably apologize again.

Point being, you’d feel bad about interrupting their night.
You would only do it if you were desperate.

But it would sure feel good if the person you woke up said, “Oh, it’s no problem, come on over, that’s what friends are for.”

That’s the response you’d hope for.

That’s not the response that this man received.
He basically got told to go away, leave me alone, and let us sleep.

Every fear he must have initially felt
About going and asking this friend just became a reality,
And human nature would say, don’t come to him anymore.

This man was NOT a good friend.
This man was NOT a generous friend.

BUT DESPITE THE AWKWARDNESS, WHAT DID THE MAN DO?
(He persisted)

(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.”

This is not a nice man, and he’s NOT motivated by simple kindness,
But he WAS motivated by persistence.

And incidentally I think the translation “persistence” is a little incomplete.

The Greek word is ANAIDEIA (a-nie-die-a)

The base word AIDOS means “shame”.
If you put the “A” in front of it carries a negative connotation

And thus the word literally means
“No Shame” or “shamelessness” or “audacity” or “boldness”

We would say this man “Had a lot of nerve”
To go waking up his friend at midnight to ask for bread.

It wasn’t just that he kept asking,
But that he did so EVEN THOUGH it was evident
That his friend didn’t want to help him.

It was unrelenting, shameless, humiliating commitment.
• He wasn’t worried about what it would do to his reputation.
• He wasn’t worried about what it would do to the friendship.
• He wasn’t worried if he was about to be talked about on social media
• He was there with a request and he was shameless about it.

That is to say: HE COULD NOT BE TURNED AWAY

And, we see that his shameless approach PAID OFF,
EVEN WHEN it was used on an unfriendly and ungenerous man.

DO YOU SEE THAT?

Well Jesus takes that story and makes an APPLICATION.
(9) “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

And the implication is clear.
• “Ask”, even if you feel hesitant to do so
• “Seek”, even if the answer is not immediately evident
• “Knock” if you have to knock until you get your answer

And that perhaps carries that previous story a little further.
• The man may have started by asking, but was turned down.
• Then he may have asked longer (seeking)
• Then he may have just started knocking until the friend finally answered.

Jesus is just making a simple analogy (not even a spiritual one yet).

It is one that James made too:
James 4:2b “…You do not have because you do not ask.”

• Jesus says if you ask “it will be given to you”
• Jesus says if you seek “you will find”
• Jesus says if you knock “it will be opened”

And just to make sure that you understand the certainty here,
HE STATES IT AGAIN.

(10) “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.”

So the first point we here Jesus making here is simple
And that is that you should ask with persistence.

• You should be bold.
• You should be unashamed.
• You should in fact be shameless or audacious.
• Timidity in asking will do you no good.

That’s the simple point we see there from Jesus.

But thus far there is nothing spiritual about the point.
As far as we can see, it’s just a human analogy
About how to get bread from your friend.

If you want bread from your friend at midnight
Then you’d better pound on his door
Until he finally gets up and gives you what you want.

But Jesus isn’t finished.

A Pattern to Follow A Parable to Consider
#3 A PRINCIPLE TO APPLY
Luke 11:11-13

Now before Jesus drives to the spiritual truth,
He first gives one more analogy.

We see again the word “suppose”
It is another hypothetical situation.

“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 asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?”

It’s just another hypothetical situation
And one that is purposely exaggerated.

• We understand that Fathers are the stewards of their households.
• They were the ones who made sure their families had food when needed.
• And here we have a son who is hungry and so he does what he is accustomed to doing.

He asks his father “for a fish”
Or in another analogy he asked “for an egg”

It’s a situation that has played out in the lives of every father many times over.

And Jesus asks,
When that happens which fathers will instead
give their sons a “snake” or “a scorpion”?

And you know the answer.
NO ONE WILL DO THAT.

We might say, “Go ask your mother”,
But we’re not going to give them something deadly.

Fathers love their sons and take care of them.
• They don’t give them snakes instead of fish
• Or scorpions instead of eggs
• Or as Matthew adds, rocks instead of bread.

Now this parable is different from the first
Because it says NOTHING about the persistence of the son.

For all we know here the son was timid and bashful.

The focus of this story is not on the persistence of the request
But on the goodness of the giver.

And in this case the giver is certainly good enough
To give what was asked for.

So let’s clarify the two parables.

In the first we have A BAD GIVER WHO GIVES BECAUSE OF PERSISTENCE.
In the second we have A GOOD GIVER WHO GIVES BECAUSE OF GOODNESS.

But in both cases the one who asked received what they asked for.
Do you see that?

• If you’ve got a GOOD host you’ll receive just because the host is good.
• If you’ve got an EVIL host you’ll receive simply out of persistence.

But in both cases you will still receive what you ask for.
Those are the parables.

AND THEN COMES THE POINT (really to both parables)
(13) “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

So let’s make it clear.
• If evil men will give good gifts due to persistence.
• And good men will give good gifts even without persistence.
THEN WHAT WILL A GOOD GOD DO
IN RESPONSE TO A PESISTENT PRAYER?

Do you see that?

In that first story we have an evil friend.
He’s not generous, he doesn’t care, he tries to send his friend away.

And obviously God is not like that man.
But if even that man can be persuaded through persistence
How much easier is it to persuade God?

And in the second story.
If fathers give good gifts, how much more our heavenly father?

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts…”

And I remind you that we are.
If God says we are evil, then we are evil.

We are evil and we still know how to answer the requests of our children.

“HOW MUCH MORE will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

So the first point of Jesus here is clear.
Persistent prayer to a good Father is a WIN-WIN

Now THERE IS MORE there that I’m sure you picked up on.

In Matthew’s gospel the verse is recorded like this:
Matthew 7:9-11 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

Matthew just talks about asking for good things
And our Father giving “what is good”.

But in Luke’s gospel there is a very noticeable change.

“How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Well that’s quite different isn’t it?

I like the response of John MacArthur here:
“[In Matthew’s gospel] He spoke of the Father giving what is good; here He expanded that and spoke of God’s giving the Spirit, who is the source of all goodness and blessing, to live within every believer.
To those who ask for a gift, He gives the giver; to those who ask for an effect, He gives the cause; to those who ask for a product He gives the source; to those seeking comfort He gives the comforter (Acts 9:31); to those seeking power He gives the source of power (Acts 1:8); to those seeking help He gives the helper (John 14:26); to those seeking truth He gives the Spirit of truth (John 16:13); to those seeking “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23) He gives the producer of all those things. The indwelling Holy spirit (Romans 8:9, 11:1; 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Tim. 1:14) is the source of every good thing in the Christian’s life (Eph. 3:20)
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Luke 11-17; Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 2013] pg. 57)

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus says God gives “what is good”
In Luke’s gospel it is recorded as “the Holy Spirit”

Obviously then the Holy Spirit
Is the source of all good things in the life a believer.

And in stating it this way we are reminded that
Prayer is not about seeking things but seeking God.

But when we seek God, He gives us all good things.
Does that make sense?

That is all added information that is beyond what the disciples asked for.

• They just wanted to know how to pray.
• He told them that but then included these other stories and this other point.

WHY?

These stories remind us of one very important truth.
WE SHOULD NOT HESITATE TO GO TO GOD IN PRAYER.

He is a good Father, who responds to our requests.
He is a generous Father who gives far more than just the gift, He gives the source.

WE CAN GO BEFORE HIM UNASHAMED.
WE CAN GO TO HIM IN CONFIDENCE.

To the Jew, God was unapproachable.
• He dwelled behind a veil
• He dwelled in unapproachable light
• You didn’t touch the Ark of the Covenant
• You didn’t offer strange fire on His altar
• And you sure didn’t go to Him beating on His door in persistence that He grant your requests.

But in one sermon Jesus completely shifted our theology on God.
• He is approachable.
• He is good.
• He delights in giving good gifts.
• He answers our prayers.
• We can go before Him unashamed.

God is not a deceptive father or a cruel father or a grumpy neighbor.
• God is a good Father.
• He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
• No good thing does He withhold.
• He is generous and good.

James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

Psalms 34:10 “The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.”

Psalms 84:11-12 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

And this great and generous God hears our prayers.

And perhaps this was the real and most distinct difference
In the prayer life of Jesus.

Jesus knew the Father better than any of them.
• Jesus knew He could approach His Father and ask for a fish without getting a snake.
• Jesus knew He could approach His Father and ask for an egg without getting a scorpion.
• Jesus knew He could approach His Father at midnight or any other time of inconvenience.

And this was the lesson He left with the disciples.

In your prayer life you need to know that
You can unashamedly approach your Father
And know that He will always give what is good to His children.

So regarding your prayer life this morning we just END WITH ONE BASIC QUESTION of understanding.

DO YOU KNOW HOW GOOD GOD IS?
Do you understand that He answers prayer?

THEN PRAY TO HIM.
• Go to Him with no shame.
• Go to Him with persistent boldness.
• Thanks to Christ we go to Him as our Father.