Turn in your Bible, if you would, to the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke, the 11th chapter, and we'll read the first 13 verses of Luke chapter 11. These verses will also be the text for the preaching this morning. Luke 11, the verses 1 to 13. And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, One of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, when ye pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Thus far, the reading of God's word and also our text for this sermon this morning. I want to look this morning at the first 13 verses of Luke 11, but you can write over the sermon the prayer in verse 1. Lord, teach us to pray. Dear congregation, Luke chapter 10 ends with the call to listen to the Lord. And Luke 11 begins with a call to speak to the Lord. Yes, Luke chapter 10 ends with a call to listen to the Lord. There we find ourselves at the home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus and Bethany. There, remember, Martha had become so preoccupied with serving and hosting Jesus and his disciples that the Lord Jesus had to rebuke her. She too, like Mary, needed to come to the feet of the Lord Jesus to listen to His words. And we need to heed that call too, to listen to the Lord. But now we come to a section that encourages us to speak to the Lord, to bring our needs and our desires to the Lord, because he loves to give an answer to our requests. After all, without prayer to the Lord, we won't receive the blessings of the Lord. Prayer is needed, for he ordinarily gives in the way of asking. But prayer is not easy. We can struggle with prayer. Paul says that, too, Now it's true Paul had been taught to truly pray when the Lord humbled him on the road to Damascus. But he says it himself in Romans 8 26. We know not what we should pray for as we ought. So Paul felt his need to be taught and the disciples felt their need to be taught. And I hope you do too. And the Lord Jesus teaches his disciples in at least three ways. First of all, we'll see the example He provides. Secondly, the prayer He teaches. And thirdly, the encouragement He gives. First of all, the example He provides. When we come to Luke chapter 11, we find the Lord Jesus praying in a certain place. He's in prayer to His Father in heaven. But there's something surprising here. For you see, he lived in constant communion with his Father. But there were times when he withdrew to seek his Father in prayer. And Luke in his Gospel draws attention to it. Let me mention three passages from the Gospel of Luke where we see the Lord Jesus specifically withdrawing to pray. First, Luke 3 verse 21. The Lord Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River and anointed by the Holy Spirit, and on that occasion of His baptism, He prays. Remember, the heavens were opened, the Spirit in the form of a dove came upon Him, and the voice of the Father says, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And in that great event of His baptism and anointing with the Holy Spirit, equipping Him for public ministry, Jesus prayed to his father. Second Luke 5 verse 16, there we find the Lord Jesus busy in his public ministry, healing people of their sicknesses, but he withdrew into the wilderness to pray. There he was carrying out his ministry in public, but he also sought a private place to pray to his father. He would minister to the people in public because he had sought the face of his father in private. And it was as if his private prayers strengthened him to do his public work. And the third passage is Luke 6, verse 13, where we read that the Lord Jesus called the twelve apostles. These men would serve him and in his name they would exercise the keys of the kingdom. And what did he do before he called them? He spent a whole night in prayer. That's what we see when we look at the life of the Lord Jesus. And I think you see it, boys and girls, too. The example he provides is that he was a man of prayer. He lived a life of prayer. And someone might say this morning, but Pastor, if there was someone who didn't need to pray, it was the Lord Jesus. I mean, He's the Son of God, anointed with the Holy Spirit, able to perform miracles like multiplying bread, calming the wind and the waves, making the blind see, raising the dead. Why did He need to pray? Because He was also true man. And He needed communion with His Father. He needed to be strengthened by His Father. And He does the work that has been given to Him by the Father in dependence upon the Father and in fellowship with His Father. The example He provides, boys and girls, the Lord Jesus, if I can put it in a way that you might understand it, He would often go and find a place Hold his hands and go on his knees and pray. And for the Lord Jesus, you see, pray and work when together. And I think you get the application that I'm going to make. That if the Son of God felt it necessary to pray, then it is necessary for you and me too. If his life was a life marked by prayer, our life should be a life marked by prayer, too. In the 1990s, it became quite fashionable among certain Christian youths to wear a bracelet with the four initials WWJD, which stood for What Would Jesus Do? And it was meant to remind a certain youth as they were living out their daily life, or perhaps finding themselves in a difficult situation, to ask the question, what would Jesus do? Of course, the bracelet fell short, because Jesus was able to do things we can't do. But it's good to remind ourselves, what did Jesus do? And one of the things that Jesus did, young people, is He prayed. He would seek His Father. He would pour out His heart before His Father. He would regularly withdraw from the people to be alone with God. And when He was busy, because that's so often an excuse that people can have, also in the church, that we're so busy. But if you have time to eat, you also have time to pray. I mean, I read in the Scriptures about Jesus who was so busy on one occasion that He didn't have time to eat, but He still made time to pray. Do we? Don't we need to remember this? For you see, the real test of faith in the Christian life is not what we are when we're around other people. and what we say when we're around other people and what we do when we're around other Christian people. We might do all the right things when we're in the midst of a group. What do we do when we're by ourselves? Do we pray when no one is watching but the Father who seeth in secret? and the Lord Jesus would regularly withdraw to pray and be alone with the Father, do we do that too? Are you like the Lord Jesus in this? And maybe, if you know the grace of God, you say, that is something that I need to grow in. Yes, we need to grow in our dependence upon Him as we live out our lives, But the Lord Jesus seemed to receive strength and courage from His time with His Father, and seeing this, should we not also ask, Lord, teach us to pray? There's the example He provides. Secondly, there's the prayer He teaches. There's the prayer He teaches. For what prayer does He teach His disciples here? Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And you know how it goes. And the children even know it. And they know that that prayer is called the Lord's Prayer. He certainly taught it to his disciples. And we find this prayer here in Luke 11 and also in Matthew 6 as he preaches the Sermon on the Mount. But he teaches it here in Luke 11 again. And we're allowed to use these words in our prayers. And we're allowed to pray these words ourselves. Of course, it's not meant just to mindlessly and thoughtlessly repeat these words, for it's a model prayer. Here are things to pray for. Here are things to pray about. Yes, the Lord Jesus teaches His disciples this prayer. He doesn't say, you disciples don't know how to pray. Well, too bad. It just shows how unspiritual you are. You'll have to figure it out on your own. No, the Lord Jesus gives us words to pray. Now Augustus' top lady has taught us, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. I'm to come with nothing in my hands, but I am to come with words on my lips. True, sometimes we come with no words to the Lord. Psalm 38 verse 9, Lord, all my desire is before Thee, and my sighing is not hid from Thee. Sometimes our prayers are sighs, or sobs, or groans. And God knows them, and God sees them, and God hears them, and He makes sense even of our sighs. Sometimes we don't know what words to use in times of great joy. Sometimes we don't know what words to use in times of deep sorrow. There are times like that. But here the Lord Jesus gives us words to speak. He says, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven. Yes, if you know and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you may come to God and call Him Father. That's how the Lord Jesus called Him. And in the family of God, we may address Him too, our Father, which art in heaven. And it's what the spirit of adoption works in us. And we can call Him Abba, Father. Yes, we come with a childlike reverence to Him and a childlike faith to Him. The Christian in prayer doesn't come with his accomplishments and his status and his position. And I'm this old and I've served in the kingdom this long. It's not how it works. Jesus says in my kingdom you come as children. Turning to God and saying our father in heaven. And what do we ask for? Do we bring our shopping list of requests to him? And Jesus says, let's put those lists aside and said, here are things you can pray for. Pray first for God's name to be hallowed. I mean, that should be our greatest desire, that He would be glorified, that He would be honored in our life and in all that happens, because it's not about us and our needs, first of all. It's about Him. Yes, we may pray about our needs, too. We're going to get to that. But first, here is something to seek for. That His name would be honored and glorified and praised in your life and in mine. And that His kingdom would come, second request. That others would be brought into the kingdom of heaven and be saved. And that His will would be done, third request. that you and I would learn to obey and do His will, and that more and more like the angels in heaven? But then we also may bring our needs to Him. Fourth request, give us this day our daily bread. You see, He's teaching us to live a life of dependence on the Father. We're not asking for tables of provision to be filled to the full, to have banquets every day, but for daily bread. So that with the strength He gives us, we may serve Him. And then, fifth request, your sins. Yeah, your sins. Let that not be a reason to stay away from the Lord. Let that not be a reason to stay away from the Father. No, no, don't ignore your sins either or excuse your sins, but confess them and confess your sinful nature to Him and ask Him to forgive you. It's a prayer for grace. I mean, that's what the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, though He did not need to pray this Himself. He had no sin. though He would take the sins of His guilty people with Him to the cross of Golgotha and bear it away. And that's why the Father can hear this request and answer that request. Forgive us our debts. And He gives us the words that we may pray also when we see how evil we are, how sinful our life has been, how wicked our heart is. Lord, forgive us our debts. And we have the desire to forgive others who've sinned against us. And then the sixth petition, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For we should not only pray that He would forgive us our sins, but that He would keep us from sin and help us in the face of temptation to sin and the temptations from Satan. That's the prayer He teaches. Have we learned to pray? Have we learned to pray these things in faith? And do we take with us such words to God when we pray? Do we draw near to Him and do we bring these petitions with us to Him in prayer? Do you take time to pray? The hymn writer put it this way, take time to be holy. Speak oft with thy Lord. Spend much time in secret. Don't see how little time you can spend in secret. But do we run to the Father with our needs and our desires. But Pastor, is He willing to hear us? Let's listen thirdly to the encouragements he gives. The encouragements he gives. For the Lord Jesus does give encouragements in various ways. Three specific forms of encouragement, actually. And there's, first of all, he does it with a parable about the friend at midnight, verses 5 to 8. And Jesus says, imagine what would happen. If you went to a friend in the middle of the night, now, of course, that's not the best time to come knocking on someone else's door. But you're in a bind, you see. A friend of yours has just arrived at your place after a long journey. And you want to be hospitable. And hospitality in the days of the Scriptures was vital. But the problem is you have no food to set before him. And you can't just say, here, I've got a bed for you. I hope you all have a good night's sleep. We'll see you in the morning. No, you want to provide some food for him, his weary body, for his energy depleted body. But you don't have any. So you go to a close friend that same night. Maybe he's not far away. But it's late. And by the time you get to his house, boys and girls, it's the middle of the night. And you knock at his door. And you ask him to help you with three loaves. And then from behind that closed door, your friend wakes up. There you are, knocking on his door, asking for three loaves. But why? And why now? Because, you explain, you just received a visitor? No, it's true, it's not nice to have someone bother you in the middle of the night. Who wants to be disturbed at night when you're sleeping? I mean, we have our evening routines. And especially if you have children, they have to sleep and you don't want them to be woken up. We put our phones on silent or do not disturb and maybe we leave them out of our bedroom. We don't want to be disturbed at night. And that's how it is here. The voice from behind that door begins to say those kind of things. bother me. Don't trouble me. The door is shut." Of course, you know it's shut. You're knocking on the door, but can't he open it? But he says, we're all in bed and the children too, and you understand that too, that the children are in bed, but can't he get up? Of course he can. He's not laying, but it's the middle of the night, And he's looking for all kinds of excuses why he can't help you and why he can't help you now. And we're meant to draw spiritual lessons from this parable. But the point of the parable is not to say that God is like this. Not at all. He never says to anyone who knocks at his door, don't bother me. Don't knock at my door. It's too much trouble for me to help you. You get the picture. You've got a need. You've gone with that need to a friend. But that friend doesn't automatically get up and help you just because he's your friend. He may have excuses. He may be reluctant to help. But you keep knocking. And you keep asking. Because you won't take no for an answer and finally the friend gets up out of bed and opens the door and he gives you however many loaves you need. And why did he give? Not because he's your friend, Jesus says. But because of his importunity. Because that friend who came with his need just wouldn't stop asking. He kept on knocking. He persisted in asking because he doesn't care what people think of him. It's like a bold salesman. You know there are salesmen who don't press their wares on you. It's a give it or leave it attitude, shrug your shoulders kind of a businessman. But there are also those businessmen who press their wares on you, and they want you to buy their wares, and they insist that you need their wares, and that you have it, and the price is right, and they're unashamed, and they're bold, and that's the picture, and that's why the friend got up, because he was unashamed and persisted in asking. And Jesus says, That's how you learn to pray with your need, that you need help with and grace for. And then, not that God is unwilling to give. No, He is willing to give. And it's not that He doesn't want us knocking at His door, even though sometimes in our experience it may seem like He doesn't want us knocking at His door, or that He's not listening, or He's not heeding us. The truth is, He's more willing to give than we are willing to ask. And therefore, Jesus says, don't give up, because you'll find out He'll give you more than you asked. at first. That's how it is here. Friend lend me three loaves. And finally the friend comes to the door and says, here's as many as you need, verse 8. Did you notice that? God is not unwilling to give. He's willing to give. He's a cheerful giver. He's a generous giver. He can give more than we ask or think. Should we not remember that? But then Jesus, the second encouragement is, Jesus calls us to invite. He calls us, He invites us to ask and seek and not, verse 9, and I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you. and ye shall find knock, and it shall be opened unto you." The first encouragement was this illustration. The second is this exhortation. He comes with commands. Yes, here is something you should do. And these words are well-known words of Jesus, of course. Of course, they're not always understood rightly. I mean, sometimes people quote these words and say, well, I asked God for a health, but He didn't give it to me. Or I asked Him for a new job. Or I asked Him for children. Or that He would spare a loved one. But God didn't give that. And then people say, the Lord didn't hear my prayers. And I guess those are unanswered prayers. But nowhere in the Bible does the Lord promise that He'll give us everything we ask. He promises He'll give us one thing. Let me get to that. But He doesn't promise that He'll give us everything we ask for. He wants us to pray for the things that Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer. Thy glory hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom, thy will. Yes, we may also pray about our daily needs, daily bread, forgiveness of sins, deliverance from temptations. That's what we can ask for. All that we need for our journey from earth to heaven. And He'll give you what you need, not always what you want. Therefore, ask for those things. And what does the Lord do in teaching us to pray? Well, He makes us needy. Do you see that? It comes out in the first word, ask, verse 9. It's a word used for a beggar at the roadside, hoping that those passing by will have pity on him. That's what should mark us. In our prayers, we bring our needs to Him, not our wants to Him. But we may ask and we may bring Him those needs. And if it's right, and it's for a thing that we need for this life, from earth to heaven, for the journey, we keep asking. We don't give up. For the verb ask. in the original and in the English is in the present tense. It implies this continued requesting, this continued asking. So ask. And on our way to heaven, we don't only ask, we also seek. Like that man seeking for goodly pearls, or to seek the Lord, and we're to seek communion with the Lord, and we're to seek the honor of the Lord, and the good of His kingdom, and that His will would be done, and you're to seek as someone who's determined to find, because you cannot seek Him in vain, Isaiah 45 verse 19 says. But we can also knock on heaven's door, and in the words of Isaiah 62 verse 7, and give Him no rest, because he's a good God and a God who gives. And then the third encouragement is in verses 11 and 12. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? Would you do that, parents? Imagine a son who's hungry, he'd like something to eat, goes to his father, asks for a slice of bread. Can you imagine a father giving his son a stone instead? Or if he asked for a fish? And some of the disciples of Jesus were fishermen, Peter and Andrew, James and John. They had fish plenty of times for supper growing up. Imagine if one of them in their younger years came to their dad and asked for fish and dad comes with a plate and a lid over the plate and the son removes the lid over the plate and imagine he sees a poisonous snake on the plate. Or if he asked for an egg, Jesus says, would dad offer him a scorpion? Of course not. Here you don't trick your son or daughter with a spider on their plate or a snake. Earthly fathers don't do that, even though earthly fathers are sinful fathers. They're corrupt people like you and me. And that's what the Lord Jesus teaches us. If ye being evil, if you are depraved and corrupt and sinful, and before a good God, That's what the Lord teaches us, that we are bad sinners and we're meant to see ourselves as corrupt people. But even sinful fathers give their children good things. A piece of fruit, a slice of bread, a piece of meat. It happens every day in homes all around this globe. every day that a father and a mother give their child what he needs. That's what sinful people like you and I do too. And then Jesus says, verse 13, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? So we're bad. We're evil. We're corrupt. God is good and gracious and He will give. What will He give? Matthew 7 in the parallel passage says, How much more shall your Heavenly Father give good gifts or good things to those that ask Him? That may be restored health, that may be a new job. I recently heard of some ministers in the Second World War in one of the concentration camps in Germany in such desperate situations and plights that they asked, they wrote a letter, one of the ministers, his name was Pastor Overdue, wrote a letter to his wife and asked for prayer for him and other Christians in the barracks The need was so great that actually in the Netherlands a day of prayer and fasting was called for. His wife wrote him a letter back and said we're going to have prayer day and it happened to be the next day when the time he got his letter. If you're able to please join us too. And he did. And they had five specific requests and I don't know all of them what they are but one of them was that they would have another barrack that they could go to, because the one where they were at was so badly infested. If they could have a different commander over them, and if their work conditions would be better, and also if they could get a food package. I forget what all of them were, but those were a number of them, and all of those good things were given to them. Not all at the same time. The Lord is able to give remarkable deliverances and remarkable answers to prayer. And often it's true we have not because we ask not. But what does he always give? Because maybe there were Christians in other concentration camps that didn't make it, that weren't moved. He says, He'll always give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. There the Lord Jesus is saying, we need the Holy Spirit above anything else. Without the Holy Spirit, we aren't Christians. Without the Holy Spirit, there's no repentance, no true repentance, no true faith. That's what the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit helps us to pray to God. He helps us to live for God. It's the Holy Spirit who gives life. He's the life-giving Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who renews hearts, transforms lives. It's the Holy Spirit who makes us like Jesus. It's the Holy Spirit who teaches us to pray. He's called the Spirit of grace and of supplication. and without the Holy Spirit we're fruitless and we're barren and we need the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who comes to indwell us and change us. It's the Holy Spirit who produces love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness and all other fruits and graces that we need for our journey from this world to the next. So the Lord may not remove the thorn in the flesh, even though you asked Him. The thorn in the flesh may be the reason why you're asking. The Lord has produced a need in your life again. It may be the reason why you're seeking Him. And it's the reason why you're knocking Him. And it's good to ask and to seek and to knock. And maybe there are real things in your life that cause real pain and real trouble. And you pray. and you ask and you knock, but He doesn't change your difficult providence. What does the Father do? He gives His Holy Spirit and teaches you to carry your cross and to depend upon Him and to live close to Him. And all we need to do is Don't have to get a university degree. Don't have to climb the world's highest mountain. All we need to do is ask a sinful people, sinful parents, sinful children. He will give His Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. And that means if you don't have the Holy Spirit, it's not because the Father is not willing to give the Holy Spirit. It's because you're unwilling, and you're unbelieving, and you're not asking. Friends, what shall we pray for? Today, this year 2025, let's pray for the Holy Spirit. And by Him, through Jesus, you can come to the Father. The door goes open to the Father in heaven. Because the door went closed to His Son on earth when He suffered on Golgotha. And He's the friend in the middle of the night who never says, don't bother me. But who gives His grace and His Holy Spirit to those who ask. who makes us and keeps us dependent on Him and makes us more like Jesus in a childlike dependence on the Father. Lord, help me in this circumstance. Strengthen me in this trial. Help me to be looking upward. Help me to take the next step. And if you're not a Christian here this morning, then I may say, God's Word has not changed. If you ask the Heavenly Father, He can give the Holy Spirit to you too. He gives in the way of asking. He's the friend of sinners. He's knocking on the door of your heart. He wants to come and live in us. And we may come and knock on His door and ask for every grace we need and the Holy Spirit so that we go through life praying to the Friend by day and by night, who never says, don't bother me, but who says, open saith the Lord, wide thy mouth believing. I will, if thou plead, fill thine every need, all thy wants relieving. Amen. Let us give thanks and pray. O most gracious Father, through Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Spirit, we come to Thee, thankful that Thou art such a friend at midnight who welcomes requests, who wants to give in the way of asking, wants us to find in the way of seeking, and have the door opened in the way of knocking. Lord, teach us to pray. How much instruction do we not need, but especially encouragement in the very act of trying to put some words together, which we sometimes stumble and stammer and stutter. But Lord, thou knowest our hearts, the needs we have, and thou art the one who hears, not because of the many words we speak or the beautiful oratory that we have, but only for Christ's sake, who is at the Father's right hand, ever living to make intercession who can plead on the basis of His finished work, and who gives all that we need for this life, for the journey from this life to the next, also through many dangers, toils, and snares. Help us, Lord, to be upward-looking, Christ-centered, and hoping in Thee, a good-doing Father. who gave His only begotten Son. And if He didn't spare His own Son, how much shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Lord, bless us this day. Apply Thy Word. Bless the instruction that may be given after the service too. Help us to keep Thy day holy and to love the means of grace. In Jesus' name we ask, Amen.