The Parable and Promise of Prayer, Part 2

Lord, we thank you for the truth of your word, and we are grateful, Lord, that on this day we can gather together to worship you. That as we open your word, Father, and we look to worship you in spirit and in truth, we understand the greatness of your nature. Today, Father, we begin to understand more about why you have called us to come to you and to pray, to call upon your blessed name. And today, Father, I pray for a special blessing upon all those who are here, as they receive from you, Lord, the great promise of answered prayer.

You might see the wonderful blessing that you have for each of us. If only we would come, bow before you on bended knee, asking in a way that you've asked us to pray, to receive from you only that which you can give. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning, I want to begin our time by reading to you an excerpt from what President Lincoln said to our nation back in 1863. What he said to the nation applies to some degree to the church today. He said, we have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven.

We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched us. And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

Mr. Lincoln helped us understand something that so often we forget. And that is, it's easy to forget God. You say, well how can that be? We're Christians. We love the Lord. We're here all the time. Yes, but we forget Him so readily throughout the day. We don't remember all that Jesus has done. We don't walk in the Spirit day by day so we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. We don't pray without ceasing. We truly have forgotten God. We have become too proud as a church to pray, to come before Him and to call His name and to rely upon Him every moment of the day.

Oh yes, God has richly blessed the church. God made a promise that He would build this church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. But we know that pride has entered in just by the very fact that we spend very little time in prayer. Ask yourself, how much time did you spend in prayer this morning before you came to church? How much time do you spend each day in prayer? That tells you how much you depend upon God. In fact, it was Andrew Murray who said these words, little of the word with little prayer is death to the spiritual life.

Much of the word with little prayer gives a sickly life. Much prayer with little of the word gives emotional life. But a full measure of both the word and prayer each day gives a healthy and powerful life. How many of us have a healthy and powerful life, spiritually speaking? Because we spend much time in prayer and much time in the Word of God. The section we are discussing in Luke chapter 11 began in Luke chapter 10, all about the priority before prayer. And that was that we need to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to all that He says.

That was the story of Mary and Martha at the end of Luke chapter 10. The lesson there was simply you need to sit and listen because that is the priority in life. Listen to all that God says because if you don't hear what He says, you can't effectively pray the way He asked you to pray.

And people today are less likely to listen to what God has to say. More and more churches are filled with people who go to church where churches, certain churches, don't even open the Bible and explain what God's Word says. We don't listen to the Word of God. To listen to God helps us understand who He is. So the section we're discussing began really in Luke chapter 10 with the priority before prayer and then it's to make sure you listen to what God has to say. And then we looked in Luke 11 verses 1 to 4 about the pattern of prayer.

God gave us that pattern. He showed us exactly how He wants us to pray. The disciples asked Him, Lord teach us how to pray. So He did. He taught them how to pray. And we spent weeks, literally months, looking at that petition or those six petitions in Luke 11 verses 1 to 4 to help us understand how it is we go before God and we call upon His name. If God takes time to teach us how to commune with Him, it would behoove us to listen to what He says so that when we go to prayer we know how to pray. Because when you pray His way, you are always guaranteed His answer.

Always. And so He gave us a pattern for prayer. And then He gave us a parable about prayer. We talked about that last week. And from that parable we looked at a promise that He gives to those who pray His way. Let me go back and read to you the section we're discussing in Luke 11 verses 5 to 13.

Because today you're going to see the storehouse of heaven opened up for you when you come and you pray the way God asked you to pray. Listen to what He says. He said to them, suppose one of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him. And from inside he shall answer and say, 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. 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. And I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds. To him who knocks it shall be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish will he?

Or if he is asked for an egg he will not give him a scorpion will he? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? This is a a powerful section of scripture that begins with a simple parable that moves to a very significant promise. And that promise is based on a principle. A principle that is clearly taught throughout the scripture. And that principle is based on a premise about what God wants to do in your life and in mine.

That's our discussion this morning. You know it's imperative that we understand prayer because God wants us to come to him and communicate with him. Prayer is essential to your spiritual growth. It's essential to the liveliness of your spiritual life. And so we need to understand what God says about prayer and how it is we communicate with him.

And yet at the same time we begin to realize that as we examine scripture it's imperative that we come to a crucial understanding of the character and nature of God. That is so important we need to understand who God is. Because if we don't understand God it hinders us coming to him. The pagan gods, they're gods that are unavailable. They are unapproachable. Our God is gracious. Our God is kind. Our God is merciful. He is always available. He's always approachable. That's what makes him so adorable to us.

Because we can go into his presence at any time and call upon him. Cast all of our cares upon him because that's what he's asked us to do. But unfortunately because of our misperception of God we have a hard time going to him and communicating with him. In fact way back in the book of Esther there's a clear understanding about how it is pagan gods were in the minds of people. It's all based on the understanding of the king. It says in Esther chapter 4 verse 11, all the king's servants and the people of the king's province know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned he has put one law, but one law, and that he be put to death unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live.

That's how the pagan gods were. You can't go into the presence of a pagan god. You can't go into the presence of a king unless you've been summoned. If you go into the presence of a king without being summoned you will be put to death. And so pagan gods are approached in a way that is unlike the way our God is to be approached because our God is not like pagan kings or pagan gods. Our God is gracious and tender and kind and loving, compassionate and merciful, just always, holy, and he has called us to come into his glorious presence.

In fact, in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 verse number 16 it says, let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. The word in the New American Standard is confidence. Boldness is probably a better word. Parousia is the word that speaks of absolute confidence. It's a word that speaks of openness. It's a word that speaks of frankness. We need to be frank when we go before the throne of grace and open before God when we go to him.

It's a word that means to have freedom in your speech. And so when we go before God we are to go before him and say it like it is. But very few of us ever do that. Very few of us ever approach God with boldness, with confidence. Yes, he is holy, holy, holy. Yes, he is all-powerful. Yes, he is a God who can consume us at any moment. We understand that about God. And yet we forget that the nature of God is such that he wants us to come before him aggressively, with boldness, confidence, saying it like it is.

That's why we went through the Psalms last week and gave you verses to help you understand how the psalmist approached God when he said, Lord, answer me now.

Lord, answer me quickly. Lord, do not do this. Do this. Lord, I am coming before you because they came with boldness. They came with confidence before the throne of grace. That's the way we should go before God when we go with boldness before him. We go and we communicate with God. We pray to him even though he is sovereign, even though he has everything under control, even though he has a plan that's been ordained from the very beginning, even though he is the Alpha and the Omega, even though no plan of God can ever be thwarted.

We'll never change God's mind. We're never going to influence him to think about something different because God is God. We're not going to give him any more information because he knows everything. He's omniscient. We can't change anything about what God's going to do. But yet he calls us and commands us to go to him in prayer. Why? Because our prayer is the means by which God accomplishes his ends. And how my prayer fits into his sovereign control of all things is unknown to me, but yet it all works together because he's a sovereign God.

And we gave you some examples last week of that because God has determined to build his church, right? He said in Matthew 16 that I will build my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it, right? But how was God's church built? It's built through the preaching of the gospel, right? So the means by which God accomplishes his ends is that he chose you and me to be involved in the process of building his church. So the means accomplish the end. God's going to build his church. He made that promise.

The gates of hell cannot prevail against it. He made that promise. But the means by which that happens is through our faithfulness of preaching and teaching the Word of God. God has determined to sanctify you. But our sanctification comes through a lifestyle of obedience. That's the means to reach the end. God has determined those who will be saved from eternity past, right? And yet people are saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance from their sin. That's the means to reach the end.

God is involved in the whole process, but he uses people like you and me. Think of that. God has chosen to use you and me in his overall plan. He doesn't have to. He wants to. He wants to use us to accomplish his great ends. God has determined to unify the church. It happens through the exercise of our spiritual giftedness as we function together as a body. The means to an end. God uses your prayers, my prayers, to accomplish his ends within his sovereignty, his providential care of all things. What a true blessing that is.

So when I go to prayer, how God uses my prayers to accomplish his purposes is his plan, his desire. But I go to him in prayer because he's commended me to pray. I go to him in prayer because I know that my God listens and my God hears and my God answers. I go to him in prayer because he says, you come before me, before me aggressively. You come before me boldly. When you have a need, I will dispense grace to meet that need. So I go to prayer because that's what God has called me to do. And even though it might seem insignificant to us, it's not insignificant to God.

That's why the parable is so important in this section. Because here's a man who had a need in the middle of the night. It wasn't a great need. It wasn't a dying need, was it? Nobody was dying. His wife wasn't pregnant about to deliver a baby. One of his children wasn't sick and about to die, right? It wasn't a big, huge need. It was just three little biscuits. Three little flat cakes of bread. That's all. Because he had a friend who came to visit him in the middle of the night. He wanted to be a good host.

So he chose to be a bad neighbor in order to be a good host. So he went to his neighbor's house and began to ask. He began to seek. He began to knock. And the neighbor answered, even though everybody was in bed, even though everything had been closed down for the night, he would give his neighbor the bread, not because they were friends, but because he was persistent. Persistent. And we talked to you about that word last week. It's the only time it's used in the New Testament to speak of someone who is relentless, who is brash, who is bold, who is aggressive.

And the man in the house gave bread, not because of their friendship, but because he was sick and tired of the man who came asking and seeking and knocking and would not go away. And God is not like the man in the house. He's completely different than that. And that's what makes the parable such a perfect point of what it means to understand the character and nature of our God. So when you go and you are overly aggressive in your prayers, because that's what persistence means, that word importunity, it's a word that means to be over bold, to tread where angels fear to tread.

You can never interrupt God. You can never wake God because he never sleeps, nor does he slumber. You can never inconvenience God because he's all-powerful. He is absolutely sovereign over everything. You never interrupt God because he's too busy running the universe, because he holds all things by the word of his power. And so we are to pray without ceasing. And so when we go, as this man went to his neighbor's house, God gives us a promise. And what does he say? I say to you, divine authority, I say to you, you keep asking, it shall be given.

You keep seeking, you shall find. You keep knocking, the door will be opened. Here's my promise to you. You be like that man who came to his neighbor's house and would not go away. You come to my throne and you don't leave. You aggressively pursue me. And when you ask and you seek and you knock, you'll receive, you'll find, and the door will be open. That is an absolute promise that God gives to every one of his children, unquestionably. You come. That's why the pattern is given first, right?

The pattern is given first because you need to know how to pray. And when you pray God's way, no matter what you ask, you receive. No matter what you seek, you find. No matter what you knock on, that door will be open. You must do it God's way. And God gives the promise, a beautiful promise, so much so that he has to restate it in verse 10. He says this in verse 10, for everyone who asks, not certain ones of you, not the ones who are doing this or doing that, everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.

Wow. He has to restate it just to make sure you get it. Because if we just read it and think, well, yeah, I'm asking, I'm seeking, and I'm knocking, but I'm not receiving, I'm not finding, and I'm not seeing any doors open up. He says, here's the promise. Let me reiterate to you one more time.

Because you need to get the promise. Now, that promise is based on a principle. That promise is based on a principle that you need to understand. Listen to what Jesus says.

And this is our, this is our outline for today. Now, suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? Here's the principle. It's this. Fathers do good to their children. Isn't that true? Fathers do good to their children. Earthly fathers do what's best for their children. Humanly speaking, fathers have tremendous concern and care for their children. It goes beyond friendship, like the guy in the parable.

Now he switches over to, to fathers. Because fathers are supremely concerned about the needs of their children. The father goes further than the friend. Because the father has a unique relationship with the son. And therefore, when the son asks for something, when he asks specifically for a fish, his father's not going to give him a snake. In other words, your father's not going to give you something that's going to harm you. If you ask for something, your children come to you and ask as the father, Dad, can I have this?

Or Dad, can I go here? Or Dad, can I do this? And you, we respond as fathers to our children based on what's best for them and what will help them grow, right? We have concern for our children. Well, we know that from a human perspective. Fathers care for their children. And when your child comes and asks for a fish, you don't give him something that's going to harm him. Or if he comes and asks for an egg, you're not going to give him a scorpion, something that will harm him. Now the scorpions in the Middle East at that time were little yellow objects or insects that would roll up and look like an egg.

So your father is not going to be deceitful and deceive you in giving you something else that's going to lead you away from a relationship with him. He's not going to do that. This is a principle that helps you understand the promise that God says you ask, you seek, you knock, you'll receive, you'll find, and the door will be open unto you.

Over in Matthew 7, Jesus adds something else. He says this in Matthew 7, verse number 9. What man is there among you when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone. Same situation or same teaching, just a different time. That was in Galilee, this is in Judea. So your son comes and asks for bread, a loaf of bread, you're not going to give him a stone. I mean that just seems so logical, doesn't it? As a father, you're not going to do something to deceive your children, to harm them. You're not going to give them something that will kill them.

Of course not. We understand that. Fathers do good for their children. That's a principle that we understand very clearly, because as fathers we want what's best for the children that God has given to us. You're not going to mock your children by giving them something that will hurt them, hinder them, or kill them, because you love them. So the parable teaches us about how we are to boldly come before God. The promise teaches us that God gives to those who ask, and the principle is that God is our Father.

Right? When you pray, pray this way. Our Father who art in heaven. This is how you approach God. He is our Father. And so we go to Him as children to a father, because a father knows what's best for his children, and when his children ask, the father responds. See? Now, all that is based on one supreme pillar, one supreme premise. Here it is. Verse number 12, or know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? This is the foundation of everything.

It's the richness of the precept. It's helping us come to grips with the foundation of the discussion that Christ has with His men. When you pray, pray this way, because this is how I want you to pray. When you do, you come boldly, you come aggressively, because I'm not like the guy in the parable, that you're going to interrupt, or you're going to awake. And the promise I give to you is that when you come my way and ask me on my terms, I will cause you to receive whatever it is you ask for. I will cause you to obtain that which you seek.

And when you are knocking on that door aggressively, I will open it up for you. Why? Because as your heavenly Father, I know exactly what you need. I know exactly what's best for you. And when you come and ask for something, I'm not going to do something that's going to harm you or cause you to distrust me as your Father. He says this, if you then being evil, not if you then do evil, but if you then being evil, it speaks of the depravity of man, doesn't it? Man is evil at the core of his nature. He says, this is who you are.

In contrast to your heavenly Father, you have a fallen nature. You're not perfect, He is perfect. You're not sinless, He is sinless. You are not all compassionate, He is. You are not all wise, He is. You are not all knowing, He is. You then being evil, no matter how you cut it, we cannot be compared to God because He is perfectly holy and we are not. If you then being evil, in the midst of your sinfulness, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more do you think your heavenly Father will give to you when you ask Him?

See that? This is so important. I mean, this is the richness of prayer. This is how we come to grips with what God is doing in our lives. I mean, man, now he's talking to the disciples, but even an unsaved man has the residue of the image of God, right? That's in him. Man is created in the image of God. And even the unsaved man, being evil as he is, being totally depraved, does good things to his children when they ask. Because that's in the nature of man. The residue of being created in the image of God is that there is a morality about your life that you will set out to do that which is good for your children.

If you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, here's the key. How much more shall your heavenly Father give? How much more will a holy, perfect, all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign God give to His children? He loves them perfectly. He's unlimited in His wisdom. We are limited in our wisdom. He is so all-knowing that He knows what you're going to ask Him before you even come to Him. Because He knows what's on your heart, what's on your mind. And God goes way beyond anything we can imagine.

That's why the psalmist said these words in Psalm 84, verse number 11. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. No good thing. God never withholds a good thing from those who walk uprightly. Never. That's the promise. Because He is the all-knowing, sovereign God of the universe. In John 13, verse number 1, it says that He loved His own perfectly until the very end. There's a love that God has for us. It's a complete love.

It's a perfect love. It's unlike your father's love for you. Because sometimes your father's love for you can be selfish. It can be selfishly motivated. Okay? But for God, there's no selfishness there. It's a pure, true, unadulterated love for His children. How much more? If you then being evil, and you are, can give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father who is perfect, sinless, all-loving, all-kind, completely gracious, completely good, give to you, His children? Now, listen to what He says.

He says, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit who asks Him? What does that mean? Remember back in Matthew 7, verse 11, Jesus said, if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him? In other words, the same principle is given. The same foundational premise is offered. It says, look, you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, but your heavenly Father knows how to give good things to those who ask Him.

Good things. God never gives a bad thing. Did you know that? God never gives you a bad thing when you ask Him. Always gives you a good thing. That's the way God is. He's a good God. He's a gracious God. He's a kind God. He's a loving God. That's why He says, here's the priority before prayer. Listen to me. Listen to me. See, the problem in our prayer life is not the God who answers. The problem in our prayer life is the man who offers you the prayer. See that? The priority is listen to me. The pattern is pray my way.

The parable is this. You come boldly, you ask aggressively. You ask with boldness and brashness. And the promise is, when you have listened to me and you have prayed in my way, in my manner, following the direction I've given you, no matter what you ask, no matter what you seek, no matter what you knock on, it shall be received. It shall be given. It shall be open unto you. That's the promise I give to you. Absolute, unadulterated promise that God gives to His children. You say, well, I've been asking.

I've been seeking. I've been knocking. I haven't got anything yet. Go back and look at the priority before prayer in your life.

Are you listening to what God says? Then go back and look at the pattern for prayer, because if you don't pray God's way, guess what?

You're praying your way, and that means you're asking to consume it upon your own lusts, right? Pray God's way. That's why He's given you a pattern to seek Him His way. Then you ask, you seek, you knock with boldness and aggressiveness and brashness. He says, you'll receive. You'll find. The door will be opened. Keep on asking. Keep on seeking. You be persistent, and you'll find. Why? Why? Because fathers do good things to their children, and if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children when they ask, just think how much your Heavenly Father will give to you the Holy Spirit who asks.

Now, this is where it gets really, really good. It's been good up to now, but it gets really, really good right now.

Why does Jesus say that? In Matthew 7, He doesn't say that, but here He says it. What does giving us the Holy Spirit have to do with anything? Well, let's look at it this way.

It doesn't say if you ask for the Holy Spirit, you'll receive Him necessarily. In the context, it says when you go to ask God for whatever you ask Him for, God gives you the Holy Spirit. So let's explain it this way. You ask for comfort. God gives you the comforter. You ask for help in time of need. God gives you the helper. You ask for power. God gives you the spirit of power. You ask for wisdom. God gives you the spirit of wisdom. You ask for guidance. God gives you the guide Himself. You ask for love.

You ask for joy. You ask for peace. You ask for self-control. You ask for gentleness and kindness and God gives you the spirit whose fruit is released in your life. In other words, you ask for a gift and God gives you the giver of the gift. In other words, you ask for the effect. God gives you the cause. You ask for the product. God gives you the source. Folks, this is absolutely astonishing to know of the goodness and the kindness of our God who gives to us exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think.

Let's put it down in layman's terms. You ask for money. God gives you the bank. You understand that, don't you? Need some money? God gives you the bank. That's what you need to understand. Out of the Holy Spirit comes what? Power, comfort, help, guidance, love, joy, power, mercy, intercession on your behalf. All of that comes from the spirit of God and God gives you not just the product of what you want, love, joy, peace, help, guidance, power. He gives you the source of all those things. Let me say it to you another way.

Let's say, let's say you don't want just wisdom. You don't want just comfort. You don't want just guidance. Let's just say you want it all. And to receive it all, you're going to ask God to come down and live in your defiled body forever. Let's just say that's what you're going to do. Lord, I want you to come and I want you to give me all the guidance, all the power, all the wisdom that's in your spirit. I want you to come. I want you to come and live inside my body so I might have access to power when I need it, wisdom when I need it, guidance when I need it, comfort when I am in distress, help when I am in trouble.

Lord, just bring it all and live in me. Does the Bible say that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Yeah. Does the Bible say that you are complete in Christ? Does it say that Christ liveth in me? Absolutely. That's exactly what God did. His power works in us. He was able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. How? By the power that's already at work in us. Well, how can the power already be at work in us unless the all-powerful One is living in us? Does that make sense?

Folks, this is so crucial to your prayer life, to understand what God has done for you. The generosity of God, the graciousness of God, the love of God is abounding. Who would do that for their children except God? He would do that for His children. Now listen, the Jews knew about the Holy Spirit. The Jews knew Genesis chapter 1, Isaiah 40. They also knew Job 31 where the Spirit of God was actively involved in creation. So they knew about the Spirit of God. The Jews knew that the Spirit of God would come upon individuals in the Old Testament to perform great feasts.

They knew that they would come upon the carpenters as they would build the temple. They knew the Spirit of God would come upon kings as they would rule the people, leaders, prophets, Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, kings such as David. They knew that the Spirit of God would come upon these men in order for them to accomplish great feats for God. They knew that. They knew their Old Testament. And they also knew that when the Messiah came, the Messiah would have a special outpouring of the Spirit of God. They knew Isaiah chapter 11 where that seven-fold ministry of the Spirit of God would be upon the branch that would stem from the root of Jesse.

They knew Isaiah 61, the verse quoted by Jesus in Nazareth and Luke chapter 4 when He said, the Spirit of God is upon me because every Jew knew that the key ingredient to the Messiah would be the evidence of the Spirit of God upon Him. Right? They knew that. So Jesus stands up in the synagogue and says, the Spirit of God is upon me. And He quotes Isaiah 61 verse 1. Today this verse has been fulfilled in your eyes. And they would know that the Spirit of God would descend upon Him at His baptism for all those around to see.

And the Spirit of God was upon Jesus that drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the, by the devil for 40 days and 49. They knew that the, that the indwelling Spirit of God, the power of the Spirit of God was upon the Messiah. And every Jew knew that whoever the Messiah was, that the Spirit of God would be upon Him in a supernatural kind of way. They knew that. And they also knew, they also knew that when Messiah came, not only would there be an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the Messiah, but that outpouring would bring in the kingdom which would be dominated by the Spirit.

That's why in Acts 2, Peter quoted Joel chapter 2 about the Spirit of God being upon all men. It was a preview of what was going to happen in the millennial kingdom of God when God's Spirit would be upon all men. Pentecost was a preview of what would happen in the millennial kingdom. The Spirit of God would be upon all mankind. They also knew, listen carefully, the Jews also knew that the Holy Spirit would come in fullness to believers who were a part of His kingdom because they could read as you and I can read, Ezekiel 36 verses 25 to 27, which says this, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean.

I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will pour my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe all my ordinances. There isn't one Jew that didn't know Ezekiel 36, not one. And they all knew that when the kingdom of God came in its fullness that the Spirit of God would be upon them to cause them to obey the statutes of God.

That was New Covenant teaching. They understood that. Now listen carefully. Jesus knew that they were waiting for that Spirit to come. They knew, Jesus knew that. And this is what the Jews hoped for. So Jesus says, your Heavenly Father will give you what you want the most, the Spirit of God.

That's what they wanted. They wanted that more than anything else. That would be their inner cleansing. They would be regenerated. They would be able to obey the statutes of God and walk in His ordinances. Jesus knows that and so in this context He adds a phrase, how much more will your Heavenly Father give to you the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? In other words, the Spirit of God is going to indwell you. He is going to control you and dominate your life in order that the power you need, the comfort you need, the help you need, the guidance you need, the fullness you need will all be available to you because God now lives inside you.

Now that is what prayer is all about. That's what makes prayer exciting. That's what stimulates us to go to our knees and to pray. You're not going to have the supply. You're going to have the source that gives you the supply. That's why Jesus said in John chapter 14, He says, He has been with you, but now the Spirit of God will be in you, in you. Christ in you is the hope of glory. Is that not true? Isn't that what Paul said in Colossians? Christ in you, the hope of glory. In John 7, Jesus said you will become a gushing fountain of divine blessing when the Spirit of God takes up residence in your life.

He will. Listen, everything that's happened in your life has happened because of the Spirit of God. How did you get saved? John 16 tells you, by the convicting work of the Spirit of God, right? Sure. In 1 Corinthians 12, 3, the only way you can confess Christ as Lord is by the Spirit Himself. So the Spirit causes you to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. In 1 Corinthians 2, the natural man does not discern the things of the Spirit. Only the spiritual man does, because he has the mind of Christ.

And the mind of Christ is given by the Spirit of God. In 2 Corinthians 3, 17, we are set free by the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 1, we are sealed by the Spirit of God into eternal life. In Romans 8, we are to walk in righteousness only by the Spirit of God who indwells us. In 1 Corinthians 12, 13, you're baptized into the Spirit, immersed into His life and power. In 1 Corinthians 6, 19, the Spirit of God indwells you. In Ephesians 5, 18, the Spirit of God fills you. In 1 Corinthians 12, the Spirit of God has gifted you.

In Acts 1, 8, the Spirit of God has empowered you. In Romans 8, the Spirit of God even prays for you. In 2 Thessalonians 2, you're set apart by the Spirit of God. In 2 Corinthians 3, 18, you're made alive in Christ by the Spirit of God. In Romans 8, 23, your hope is in the Spirit of God. Everything that's happened in your life up to now, when it comes to salvation, happens because of the Spirit of God that's taken up residence in your life. And God says, how much more will my Heavenly Father give to you who ask Him?

The Spirit of God, I will give you everything you need because I will dwell in you. What a promise. What a beautiful blessing that we have. Listen, we can't dishonor God, dishonor God by looking at His generosity as something that means nothing to us. God is so good, so gracious to us. He says, listen, I'm going to give you all the power you need because my Spirit is going to dwell in you. I'm going to give you all the grace you need because the Spirit of grace will dwell in you. I'm going to give you all the guidance you need, all the wisdom you need.

Everything you need is going to be right here inside you when my Spirit takes up residence within you. I've been with you, now He will be in you. I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm not going to leave you alone. On the contrary, I am going to absolutely dominate your life. Folks, that's what it means to be a child of the living God. That's what it means to experience the blessings of God. When the Lord gives you the Holy Spirit of God, which He did when you were saved, He gives you everything you need and more and more.

It's all right there living in you. It's there. The power, the comfort, the guidance, the wisdom, everything you need, God has given to you in His Spirit. In fact, there is more resources in the Spirit of God than you and I can ever imagine. He lives in us. Everything that God says in Luke 11 is based on this one premise.

The Holy Spirit will be in you. He is the source of everything you need. He's there. That's why He says, you keep asking, you keep seeking, you keep knocking, oh, you'll receive, you'll find. And the door will be opened because I have given you what nobody else can give you. I have given you the resident indwelling of the Spirit of God who dominates your life, who is a source of everything you could ever possibly need and as a believer ever possibly want. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your Word, the truth that's there.

What a blessing it is to be a child of the living God. Thank you, Father, for an opportunity to celebrate what you have done. In Jesus' name, Amen.