Asking & Knocking

Today on Renewing Your Mind.

Why do we pray so. The purpose of our prayer is not to go through a grocery list of things that we need in order to inform God of our situation knows that he already knows he's implying to get things.

Why bother asking Regis.

God is sovereign over all things. So what do our prayers accomplish today on Renewing Your Mind, RC Strobel address the question and help us realize the great privilege we have to come to our heavenly father in prayer and to continue our study of the gospel according to St. Luke and we are in the 11th chapter and today I'll be reading from verse five through verse 13 and he said to them, which of you shall have a friend go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey and I have nothing to set before him and he will answer from within and say do not trouble me. The door is now shut my children are with me in bed.

I cannot rise and give to you, I say to you, though he will not rise and get drum because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, they will rise and give them as many as he needs so I say to you asked that it shall be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be open.

The son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone or if he asked for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish react. Renée will he offer him a scorpion.

If you then being able 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 again. We have been very privileged to hear from Jesus. These are his words given to us in sacred Scripture through the superintendence and inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit for our instruction are reproof our edification and training in righteousness, please receive them as such. Let us pray. Now our father as we continue to understand more deeply how we are to pray and to whom it is that we do pray, we ask that by your spirit you will condescend in this hour to help us in our understanding we ask it in Jesus name, amen. It's not by accident that this parable in Luke's gospel always situated immediately following Jesus teaching on the Lord's prayer because the parable is put here to illustrate more fully some of the important elements of dynamics of prayer in the little story that Jesus tells is a story about a man and two of his friend and it is told by way of Jesus asking a question. He says which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him, friend that lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to see me on his journey and I don't have provisions for him. You know from your reading of the Old Testament that one of the most important principles that God enjoins upon his people under the old covenant is the principle of hospitality. The principle of taking care of sojourners and not just friends but even strangers who are in your midst, and in this case, Jesus tells of a man who receives an unexpected visit from one of his friend and because it was unexpected. He was unprepared. He didn't have the extra food needed to provide it for his visitor, but he had another friend Francis next door neighbor, and what we do when we run out of flour or run out of sugar we go with our hands open to our neighbor and say can you loan me some flour loan me some sugar bread or whatever it is way made and this is part of the reciprocity that we enjoy in any kind of human community is again Jesus is putting this in the form of a question friend goes next-door and set. I have an unexpected visitor.

I don't have a potent yellow meets three loaves of bread flatbread were so I can feed him and Jesus, I can you imagine that your friend next-door so to go away.

It's too late, I'm already in bed with my kids and the door is shut so what neighbor would do something like that. But even if your friend were reluctant to get up and answer your request.

If for no other reason, even apart from your friendship by your persistence will be annoyed enough to put an end to it and get up and give you whatever you may answer Jesus tells this little story to illustrate a very important principle about Trey where he said so I say to you asking.

And it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you and I can imagine there's anybody in this room that I never read the Bible, but if you haven't probably heard these words a few times in your life. Asked. It will be given see you so fine, knock it, shall be open to know the first thing I want to observe your is that again in the context of praying we looked last week at the focus of the Lord's prayer being the focus of the kingdom of God and it was not about our particular special needs where we use prayer simply as a lever to induce God to give us particular things that we desire.

But Jesus is not say that it's wrong to ask God for things that we need or things that we would like him to do and so he encourages us right here by saying yes. Elsewhere, he tells us, you have not because you ask not. As that were encouraged by Christ and by the apostles to bring our requests before God, not at the same time, the Bible tells us that the father knows what we need before we ask so the purpose of our prayer is not to go through a grocery list of things that we need in order to inform God of our situation knows that what he already knows it is implying to get things. Why bother will again, the purpose of asking is not for God's benefit is for us to use income here in your prayers. Open your heart, all the father your concerns.

He does them. Of course he wants to hear from you and he knows that it's good for you that you have the opportunity to come to him and pour out your heart to him and so Jesus is to be given.

See, then you shall find. Here again, one of the most misunderstood portions of the entire New Testament a misunderstanding that is brought in its wake. What's been called a revolution in worship in our day were worship now has been designed in many churches throughout the land not as a time of the offering of the sacrifice of praise by believers coming together one day out of seven to offer worship God, but rather it's been structured now as an arena for evangelism where we want to bring people who are outside of the faith in the church on Sunday morning and so we tailor the Sunday morning service to accommodate the unbeliever and this is called being seeker sensitive sensitive to those unbelievers who are seeking after God. But as of yet have not found with the hope that in this worship service and then this gathering those unbelievers who are seeking God will now come to face and find the God of their quest. The only problem with this strategy is that it is completely and utterly doomed to failure. With respect to its primary objective. If we tailor worship for him believing seekers we are tailoring our worship for no one because there's no such thing as an unbeliever who is seeking after God doesn't the New Testament make that abundantly clear to refresh your memory. Let me read briefly from Paul's letter to the Romans where quoting the psalmist of the Old Testament. He says for we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks as a chapter 3 Romans first nine that they are all under sin is that is written there is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God goes on to say no, not one the natural disposition of unconverted fallen human beings is not a disposition of seeking after God there is not one of them who seeks after God no not one.

The natural activity of the unbeliever is not to seek after God, but to flee from God.

That's our natural disposition by nature. We are fugitives think of Paul on the road to Damascus for what was he speaking he was not seeking Christ. They were seeking Christians that he might destroy them. What were you seeking for when you came to face well. We hear and always in the Christian world, my friends, not a believer in searching or she searching and so we look at these people who seem to be searching after Christ. We said let's help them in their quest must tailor our worship to facilitate their search and yet the Bible says do not search now who's telling the truth. You and your perception and your judgment or God in his infinite wisdom, who says no one seeks ever got this question was once raised to Thomas Aquinas and the question came like this Dr. Angelica's Dr. Aquinas. Why is it that all around us. We seem to find people who are searching after God.

And yet the Bible says that no one seeks after God. How can that be in Aquinas in his peculiar wisdom answered the question this way is that you see your friends.

You see your neighbors searching for happiness there. Searching for meaning in their lives there, searching for healing from their afflictions are searching for relief from the paralysis of their guilt.

What you see is people searching for those things that you know only God can give them. And so then you rush to the conclusion that since there searching for the gifts of God.

They must be searching for God. But now the problem with fallen humanity is that in our fallen nature. We want the gifts of God without God and so we delude ourselves when we think that unbelievers seek after God. Well, on the other hand, as paradoxical as this might sound, I am strongly in favor of seeker sensitive worship. I want the worship at St. Andrews to be seeker sensitive. However, I know that only believers are seekers.

And so I'm hoping that we can structure our worship for believers that I used to see this line in everybody's bumper around the city. I found it no you didn't find anything yet found you. The seeking of the kingdom of God which Jesus said is to be our top priority. When he said seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, everything else will be added unto you. You don't begin to seek God until your converted and once your converted that's not the end of the search beloved. It's the beginning of the search. Edwards put it this way, the seeking after God is the main and central business of the Christian life. The day we met Christ was the day we started a lifelong pursuit to know him more deeply and more fully and so let's understand that that's seeking is something that is the business of the believer in Jesus says to those who are believers and who are seeking that if you seek, you will find again. Jesus is giving this in the context of prayer for believing people searching with all of your heart and you will find him more deeply every day.

Finally he says, knock and it will be opened unto you again. Let me take you to the last book in the New Testament, the book of Revelation where we read in the third chapter, Revelation, Jesus statements to the churches of Asia minor where he gives rebuke and also complements to various aspects of the churches that he finds and he says to those who are the lukewarm church as many as I love I rebuke and chasten.

Therefore be zealous and repent for behold, I stand at the door and knock.

And if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.

Many times if you heard this text used in the context of evangelism where the gospel is preached, and then the preacher says Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart if you will open the door and asked Jesus into your heart he will come in and abide with you forever are two things I want to say about that. First of all, initially in the context in which this verse is given. It's not an evangelistic context. Jesus is not knocking on the hearts of unbelievers. He's knocking at the door of the church. Now that may seem strange, because we like to think that our church is open for anybody to come in and certainly our doors are always open for Jesus to come in and the Lord Jesus Christ, whose church it is shouldn't have to knock to come in to his church.

However, there are 10,000 churches in this world, from whose entranceway Christ is forbidden. The last person invited into those churches is Christ himself. But secondly, I have a theological concern for this application of the text that was addressed initially to the church are not the unbeliever that when we say to the unbeliever. Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart and if you open your heart he will command you.

Please asked Jesus to come into your heart. Jesus doesn't knock on the door of people's hearts.

You don't become converted because Jesus asked you to let them into your life that you and your unregenerate states stirred yourself from your spiritual death and open the door to your heart so that he could command that's not how it works.

When Jesus enters the heart of the unbeliever. He doesn't bother to knock. He comes in and then he opens the door for you. It's Christ who lets himself in to our hearts to abide with us forever. Through his grace.

Jesus knocked on the heart of the unregenerate man and asked him to open and let a man Jesus would be knocking forever and no one would open the door, dead people don't open doors and we are by nature spiritually dead. But Jesus does knock on the door of his people's hearts. He comes to us in the weakness of our face in the feebleness of our devotion and invites us to go into a deeper personal relationship with him in just a few moments, our Lord is already come in the door will be at his table to feature to bless you with his presence, and as the end of the parable suggests what he will give you is what you need. What will nourish you and strengthen you this day and forever more. For Jesus said if a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone daddy please can I have a piece of bread. Sure.

Here, there's a rock chew on that. What kind of a father would do something like that or Jesus said if he asks for a fish puzzle you want to finish their peers a rattlesnake chew on that kind of a father would do that or if he asked for an egg. He said he wanted overgrazing Sunnyside up while you're waiting, play with this scorpion, Jesus uses the absurd to indicate how far this is removed in the final point of the parable which follows the strategy that Jesus uses with parable all the time. It is not like this where he says if a earthly father who is a sinner will give good things to his son. So God who was perfectly holy and righteous will give good things to his people know know the comparison is like this.

If you think evil, know how to give this to your children, how much more will the father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask these parables of Jesus illustrate the principle of asking and receiving seeking and finding knocking and having the door open to us.

God is our good father, and he desires to give us good gifts. RC Sproul sermon series to the gospel of Luke is our focus each Sunday here and Renewing Your Mind and is allowing us to dig deeply into each passage of this book are resource offer today is a Bible study tool that I think you'll return to again and again.

Contact us today and request a digital download of RC's commentary on Luke and nearly 600 pages. You'll find helpful insight into every verse to receive it. Just contact us today with a donation of any amount@renewingyourmind.org in addition to sermons like we heard today. Winter ministries offers teaching series on many other topics like Christian living, theology, church history, and cultural issues. You can find a broad selection of teaching in our online learning community called Lincoln or connect. You can get involved with interactive video courses and learn at your own pace. Find out more when you go to connect.Ligonier.org hope you have a great week. Please make plans to join us again next Sunday for Renewing Your Mind