So Luke's Gospel chapter 11, we're looking at a parable tonight, and it begins at verse five. But that we may understand the context, let's go ahead and read from verse number one, Luke's Gospel 11 and one. 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 on 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 when you read that it sounds so much like Matthew 6 but then notice how things change here in verse 5 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 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? 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? May God bless this reading. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your love and kindness. Thank you for daily spiritual bread as we take this passage tonight and take time to reflect upon it. Enlighten our minds that we may understand it intellectually. Open our hearts that we may perceive these things spiritually. And then I pray, Lord, that you would enable us so that as we go into the world tomorrow, that you would help us to live this experientially. So, Lord, you look upon us in our need, give help as I would seek to share this parable, and as your people would interact with it in this moment of worship, help us, Lord, to realize that even as we sit and listen to the authoritative word of God, it in itself is an act of worship. So give us worshipful hearts and readiness of mind, even in this hour, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. In studying the parables of Jesus, we have seen how he used the parabolic method on teaching on different subjects, mostly teaching on the kingdom of heaven. Remember the kingdom of heaven? is the realm where the Lord dwells, or the realm where He reigns. And we know that He reigns right now, and He continues to reign in the hearts of His people. So the Kingdom of Heaven is here on Earth, but it's also, of course, going to be fully realized in Heaven. But the Lord also taught in the parabolic method as He answered the questions of both His friends and His enemies. And one such parable was told in response to a question relating to prayer, and that's what's before us here tonight. Jesus had been praying in a certain place, as it says at the beginning of the chapter here, and when he ceased praying, one of the disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John taught his disciples. Well, the Lord answered that request in three ways. First of all, he told them how to pray. Then he told them what to pray for. And then he gave an illustration as to how to pray, and he followed up by elaborating on what the parable was designed to illustrate. And so one of the things that we learn right from the beginning here is that citizens of this kingdom of heaven are people who pray. And so remember how Paul, when he was converted, and they were looking for his whereabouts, it was said that when you find him, he's going to be praying. And so prayer is the lifeblood of those who have been regenerated by God's Spirit. Well, the parable before us tonight is known as the Friend at Midnight. It's found here between verse 5 and 8. And in this prayer we find Jesus illustrating the importance of persistence in prayer. Perhaps put it this way here, right, if you're praying for something, don't give up. In Luke 18 and 1, there is another parallel on persistence in prayer, and there the Lord commands that men ought always to pray and not to faint, right? Keep on praying. And that's a great exhortation because the habit of prayer is one that we can often start, but it's a very hard one to maintain. It's easy after praying for something for a long time to imagine the Lord doesn't hear us, and we become indifferent toward the subject of prayer. And so maybe in your own prayer life, you've been praying for something, but you've lost heart, you've grown indifferent, and I hope then that the exhortation comes to you with freshness and even encouragement, right? Don't give up, because that's what this parable is about. And remember that the Lord is teaching here is people not only what to pray, but how to pray. And the ultimate thesis of this parable is this simple thing, do not give up when you begin a habit of prayer. So let's notice here then, first of all, Jesus praying prompts a request. The chapter begins, and it came to pass that as he was in a certain, or as he was praying in a certain place. And so when you read the New Testament, you'll find a number of glimpses into the prayer life of the Lord. We read in one occasion that he's rising early to pray in a solitary place right before a day's work. There's the Lord praying. We read of him often withdrawing from the busyness into the wilderness to pray. We read that he prayed before he was going to select his apostles. We read that amazing prayer of John 17 where he surrenders his life to the purpose of God. We read him in agony in the prayer of Gethsemane where it says that even being in agony he prayed more earnestly. and we then read of course those famous prayers on the cross and the examples of Christ praying obviously impacted the people who heard him and what's interesting about the prayer life of Christ I mean it's almost a confusing thing why did Christ pray at all well remember that Jesus Christ was a perfect man and we tend to think that a perfect man would not pray because he would be an independent perfect right when you reach maturity when you reach Human perfection, if you can put it that way, not that anybody does in this life. But, you know, when you become a mature person, right, you think that you're independent, therefore you would think that you would not need to pray. Well, here's a perfect man, and rather than growing toward independence, he grew toward dependence. The Son of God was a dependent. He depended entirely, completely, continually upon his Father and the filling of God's Spirit, and so that should teach us tonight. that we ought to be becoming more independent, no, we ought to be becoming more dependent if we're going to fashion our prayer life after the Lord. Well, we notice that a disciple wants Jesus to teach them to pray. Notice, and it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased, one of the disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. Even as John had taught his disciples, and so John, that Jewish disciple, knew how to pray in some sense, but this disciple understood that Jesus had even more that he could teach him about praying. And that's a reminder to us tonight that although we learn from listening to other people pray, we can always learn more. And prayer is one of those things that you learn about just about every chapter of your spiritual maturity. And I trust that tonight we'll learn something as we come to a very familiar parable. Well, then notice how Jesus answers the request by teaching a model prayer commonly called the Lord's Prayer. It's recorded here between verse 2 and 4, and it's also recorded in Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. And this prayer serves as an example. The words in Matthew 6 begin in this manner. Alright, in this manner of praying, telling us that the Lord's Prayer is not merely a pattern, you know, where we're to say the Lord's Prayer, but the Lord's Prayer is one that is a, well, it's not a liturgy merely, I should say, but it is a pattern. And so we can take the prayer, look at the elements of the prayers we've done before, and we can learn how to pray as we fashion our praying on it. As you begin the Lord's Prayer, notice how it begins. When ye pray, say our Father which art in heaven. And so here at the very beginning of this prayer, when we pray, we're to be reverent, We learn that it is an important thing. We also learn that simplicity is the key to this prayer, and simplicity is the key to our praying. The Lord's prayer begins with this word, therefore. In other words, it is a carrying on of the teaching that the Lord has just shared. This is back in Matthew 6. Remember how in Matthew 6 the Lord was saying, the heathen pray with many words. But when you pray, pray this way. And the word therefore connects the Lord's prayer with what he had said before. And so the contrast is many words to few words or to simplicity. And I think sometimes as Christians we can get so bound up into the way we pray that we lose a sense of the truest prayer is the simplest prayer. It's born in a heart of need. It's just an expression. Lord, help me. Lord, bless me. Lord, keep me. So let's not lose sight then when we come to pray. There's to be a simplicity. There's to be a reverence. We are to pray for the progress of God's kingdom. Your will be done. Your kingdom come. Your will be done in heaven as it is on earth. So our prayer life is to be taken up not just with our interests, but with the interests of God himself. We are to pray for physical necessities. The Lord grant us our bread day by day. It's a hard thing when you live in America to be mindful of the fact that God provides your every need, but what the Lord provides and he teaches us to be in prayer for these things, not only physical necessities, but spiritual necessities. The prayer ends with the forgiveness of sins and our protection and deliverance from evil. And here's a reminder that our prayer ought to always be on a spiritual plane. It's very easy. And if you go into the prayer meetings of churches across America, you'll find that most of the praying is taken up with physical necessities. Or pray for this health, the health of this person, or this person's lost a job. These are all important prayers, and I think we have warrant to pray them. But if you study all the prayers of the New Testament, you'll find that most of them are on a spiritual plane. So may God help us to elevate our prayers by His Spirit to a realm where we're praying for spiritual realities, the assurance of salvation and growth in grace and faith that is ever deepening and love that is ever being challenged. And so in the Sermon on the Mount, when the Lord finished His model prayer, he went on to give a further word on the necessity of forgiving others but in this case he follows up the model prayer with this parable and that leads us then to the parable itself and of course i said it's called the parable of the friend at midnight let's look at the words here beginning at verse five and he said unto them which of you shall have a friend and shall go on to 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. Let's just stop there and go back and look at these words. Which of you shall have a friend and shall go on to him at midnight? Why on earth would anybody be prepared to go to another person's house at midnight, right? You may not get a warm welcome. Well, in the east, oftentimes because of the heat of the day, people would travel late in the evening. And so here's a man, he is arriving at midnight. and he arrives and he comes to his friends and his friends are it's like somebody arrives at your house at the most inopportune time and you've got like no groceries in your home and you have a sense of obligation I need to show hospitality well hospitality in the West is one thing hospitality in the East is entirely different those people are so bound with a sense of hospitality that there is no option If somebody comes to my house at 12 o'clock at night, it will be a matter of personal embarrassment and perhaps even social embarrassment as this news that this guy went to bed hungry begins to make its way into the village. So this man has a dilemma he absolutely must provide. Now, why does he have nothing in his home? Probably because most people in those days lived day by day. They did not have refrigerators and freezers in Sam's club, so they, you wake up every morning, they prepared the bread, and when they went to bed at home, when they went to bed at night, there was oftentimes not much there, so this man has a friend, he arrives at midnight, and the other friend's got not a thing to put before him. For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I've got nothing to set. So he goes to his friends, and maybe he's a dilemma, right? He's in an impossible predicament. I have to set something before this, but my friend is not going to be real happy with me knocking on his door at midnight. And so when he knocks on the door, notice the response he gets. And he from within shall answer and say, don't trouble me. Right? Trouble me not. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. It might be helpful to realize that most beds or most houses in those days consisted of one room. and whenever nightfall came because there was no electric of course the lights were put out and the mats were placed on the ground and now is more like a camping scenario perhaps by Western standards and so imagine you know you get the children to sleep the light you've got rid of they don't want to bring the bugs in and you have sealed up that tent and you just get into bed you get nicely to sleep and somebody knocks you know I need the bug spray and you're like trust me You the trouble I'm gonna have to get up. I'm gonna wake children up. I'm gonna have to find that light That's probably more how we could relate to this and in the West the door wasn't just closed But it was barred fastened for the night. And so this is a major inconvenience To this man, and so he's troubled by it. Well then notice I I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend. Look, even though it's his friend, the inclination of this man is like, buddy, go away. It's 12 o'clock at night. My kids are in bed. Leave me alone. 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 so obviously, the first response, trouble me not, was not successful. For this character continues to persist, look, I absolutely need you to give me some loaves. And so why does the Lord tell this parable? The point of the parable is simple but it is so important. The Lord is illustrating here the importance of being persistent in the place of prayer. Now, some of the things you learn from this parable we have to bring right over into our prayer lives. Number one, boldness. There's boldness in this man to go and I think the boldness can be traced back to the fact that there was confidence. He had confidence that this wasn't a total stranger that he was going to. This was his friend, and I assume he realized in his mind, you know, if I am really gracious, if I give the explanation why I need that, and notice he makes many excuses as to why he really needs this, he's confident that this is his friend. And then the next thing you notice here is when he goes, he's not asking for, uh, you know, some Eastern, uh, delicacy, but he's asking for bread. So he's asking for a necessity. And that's an important thing. When we come to pray as well, we, we have confidence that the one we're going to is no stranger, but that the one we're going to is our father. And that when we come to the Lord and we're asking for something that we need, this is legitimate. Then I want you to notice that he is going here not for something he needs for himself, but he's going for the needs of somebody else. In other words, this is not motivated by selfishness, waking up at midnight and going asking this because he's hungry. No, he's saying, look, I have a friend unto whom I am bound to show hospitality. So this is motivated by total love. So again, notice. whenever we are motivated by love we've got the strongest encouragement from scripture to come boldly when we're asking for things that we need and when we're asking for things perhaps that we need for other people and then I want you to notice we learn also here about praying about extenuating circumstances I mean, this 12 o'clock call for food was not the result of ill preparation or poor planning. Sometimes things in life, predicaments we get ourselves into, are of our own making. But when we find ourselves backed into a corner by providence, Backed into a corner by Providence where clearly it's not the result of negligence and we have really no other option. I think we have tremendous encouragement here to pray and to pray with utmost persistence. And I think we learned something else from the parable and that is the importance of continuing in prayer. Right, notice here the asking and the seeking and especially in the knocking. When we come to pray, then unless we learn to be persistent in prayer, I don't think we have learned to pray the way the Lord would teach us. So we can say the right words, we can have the right manner, but here the Lord teaches us that one of the most important things about prayer is to continue. And so, what's important to notice here is that the parable is not a comparison. The comparison is not between God and this friend who is interrupted in the middle of the night, giving the impression that God doesn't really want to wake up in the middle of the night and to answer our request. No, it is not one of comparison. It's actually one of contrast that's important for us to see. It's the selfishness of man versus the liberality of God. It is about a God who is not displeased by our coming, but a God who's actually pleased by our coming. And so the lesson of the parable It's so powerful and striking is that God is never, never troubled by our midnight calls. God is never troubled by our midnight calls. We have a God who never slumbers nor sleeps. He is constantly vigilant and so there never is a time in our prayer life where we feel this is inappropriate timing. We have a God who never lacks anything. He always has more than we have. Notice when this man does receive from his friend, he rises and gives him as many as he needeth. And so this man was a liberal man. He's generous. But we cannot compare the generosity of a stingy man otherwise with the liberality of our God. God is never bothered. Rather, He is pleased. And the Lord is never taken by surprise. This is not a parable of comparison. It is actually a parable of contrast. well then notice the importance of persistence because in verse 9 and 10 it goes on to say 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 And so notice the present tense of these verbs ask and seek and knock and if you Could see it in the greek. It seems it means keep on asking Keep on seeking and keep on knocking and in these three verbs there is a progression Because you don't start I mean, the parable, he asks first, then he seeks, and then finally he knocks. And that progression is addressed in the New Testament commentary very well. The man, William Hendrickson, says that asking implies humility and consciousness of neat. So when we ask the Lord, it's those two things. The verb is used with respect to a petition, which is addressed by an inferior to a superior. The Pharisee of the parable asks nothing. He tells the Lord how good he is. The publican asks, that is, he pleads, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Asking also presupposes belief in a personal God who man can have fellowship with. When one asks, he expects an answer. Hence, this implies faith in a God who can, does, and will answer, that is, faith in God the Father. Having such a faith makes the prayer warm and personal. So when you think about asking, keep in mind the asking here of this friend to his friend, and there's a couple things, right? Asking, there's a sense of humility, there is a consciousness of need, and there is also belief in a personal God. We're coming to somebody who hears and who can identify, and one who wants to hear our requests. But the second verb, seek. Hendrickson says, seeking is asking plus acting. It implies earnest petitioning, but that alone is not sufficient. A person must be active in endeavoring to obtain the fulfillment of his needs. And so when you ask, praying doesn't end there, but then there must be seeking. And seeking is asking plus acting. Take for example, we pray perhaps for a knowledge of the Bible, a greater knowledge of Scripture. Lord, would you give me a greater understanding of Scripture? Well, that's asking. Seeking would be actually taking your Bible into your hands and praying as you study the word. And so the Lord says, I want you to ask and I want you to seek. I want you to act as you are asking. Then the word knock. Knocking, Hendrickson said, is asking plus acting plus persevering. One knocks again and again until the door is opened. In reality, however, perseverance is probably already implied in all three imperatives since all are in the present tense. Hence, a possible rendering would be continue to ask, continue to seek, and continue to knock. And so that progression there is instructive. And if we fail to persist in prayer, then that may be one of the reasons why so many of our prayers go unanswered. There is an account of George Mueller in James Boyce's commentary on the parables of the Lord. And George Mueller, the founder of the great Christian orphanage work in England in the 19th century, was a man of prayer. He knew the importance of keeping at a prayer even when the answer to it seemed delayed. When he was a young man, he began to pray that two of his friends might be converted. He prayed for them every day for more than 60 years. One of the men was converted shortly before his death at what was probably the last service Mueller held. The other was converted within a year of his death. We too need to pray and not give up. We need to be like George Mueller. 60 years, right? 60. When's the last time you prayed for something consistently for 60 days? 60 years. And what an encouragement then toward persistence for those of you who have prayed for so long. with boldness and with humility and with a sense of need and also with a sense of love maybe it's for somebody else you see something and you've been backed into a providential corner and you're asking and you're asking and you're asking what is this parable saying tonight don't give up keep asking i persist in the place of prayer because what you pray is as important as how you pray Well I want you to remember then what the parable goes on to teach or the follow-up to the parable and that is we need to remember who it is we're asking. Notice when you come to verse number 11 things change a little if a son shall ask bread of any of you. So when you come to the beginning of the parable which of you shall have a friend so it starts with friendship and now coming down to verse 11 it turns into sonship and of course you can see how things are intensifying to encourage persistence in prayer Jesus reminds us that he is not merely a friend to us but no he is a father to us and then I want you to notice the little analogy that's given here first of all if a son asks his father for bread And what's important to see here is that he's not asking for something merely in an emergency. He's asking for something that we need every single day, and that speaks to us of communion. So when we pray, it's not just something we do when things are totally disastrous. No, but it's something as common as the need that we have for bread. It's a constant communion. But if a son asks his father for bread, Would he give him a stone? Why a stone? Why bread? Well, bread was probably the most common morning snack for those in such a day. And why a stone? Because oftentimes the loaves of bread were not much bigger than a stone, so perhaps that's the reason why the Lord uses this. Notice second, if he asks for a fish, why a fish? Probably because that was the most common midday snack of the Eastern world during this time. Will he give him a serpent? And then if he asks for an egg, perhaps the evening meal, will the father offer him a scorpion? Notice a stone, a serpent, and a scorpion. These seem to be getting more ridiculous or more unfitting as the story unfolds. And each of these rhetorical questions, of course, implies a definite no, right? No father in his right mind would give to a hungry son a stone, much less a serpent in the place of fish or a scorpion in the place of an egg. So why does the Lord share that? Well notice then in verse 13, if ye then being evil. The word evil doesn't mean like evil people, it means like if you being in the flesh, if you being earthly, if you are as an earthly father, you will never put a loaded gun into a child's hand, right? You know better than that. You don't do things that would cause harm. And if you as an earthly father know how to give good gifts unto your children, right? You know what to give them and you know what not to give them. Doesn't the Lord know infinitely more what to give his children? Doesn't the scripture say that he will withhold no good thing from those that walk uprightly? And so we're encouraged here never to be afraid to pray and never be afraid of the answer. I think sometimes we struggle with the answers of the Lord because sometimes the Lord says no. But if the Lord says no, the analogy is here. Would a father give a stone if really what was needed was bread, right? And when we ask God for something and he consistently, habitually says no, there must be a reason. And notice how he says then, how much more will the father give the spirit unto them who ask. And the spirit in this passage over in Matthew 6 is described as good gifts. And most Bible commentators therefore say that the Spirit is illustrative as the ultimate gift, and so every other gift is reckoned in that great gift. And so the Spirit here is a reminder that the Lord will give everything. He will withhold nothing good from His people. And so the Lord's point seems to be this. If persistence with a friend in the middle of the night will prove to be fruitful, And if earthly fathers know how to give good gifts unto their children, how much more will persistence prove fruitful with our Heavenly Father? And so as the parable wraps up here then, the application for us is very, very simple, but very profound. We may know how to pray, and that we know how to say the right things and have the right attitude, but from this parable we learn That we have got to pray with persistence and then persistence is so difficult because again as we started indifference To praying is such a real reality, right? We almost imagine after praying for something for an extended period. Well, obviously the lord is not concerned But we're reminded here through the work of the father the lord is concerned even as you're concerned of your children So important is the quality of prayer that Jesus teaches another parable on this very same theme. We're going to find out a little ways down the parable of the persistent widow. She comes unto a judge who is unjust, but she will not leave him alone. And again, it's not a parable of comparison, but contrast. If a wicked judge, an insensitive judge, will answer a woman who will not stop, how much more will our Heavenly Father But for now, let's just remember that what we learn here in the school of prayer is that we have a Heavenly Father who knows how to give good gifts unto His children and that this should motivate us to ask and ask continually and to seek and to knock and to keep at it. We've been given amazing access to God as those have been regenerated by the Lord's Spirit. And so what an exhortation that met out all ways to pray and not to faint. I have to believe that in your heart and in your mind there are things that you've prayed for and maybe things that you've prayed for for a long time. And maybe things you've prayed for for a long time that you still have not seen an answer to. And perhaps the Lord brings us your attention tonight to just tell you this one simple thing, right? Don't give up. Do not give up, but continue to ask and then seek, putting acting beside your asking, and then knocking, putting seeking beside your acting, beside your persevering. Keep praying, and keep at it, and what joy there will be when the door opens and you see an answer to your prayer. It will give you the assurance that this type comes only by prayer and fasting. So may the Lord make us a people of prayer. May we know what to pray, and may we keep at it, Not growing indifferent along the way or questioning God's sovereignty. God will give every good thing. He withholds nothing. But if he withholds it, surely there's a reason as the scorpion or as the stone. The Lord surely wouldn't give us such a thing as that. Thank God he says no. May God help us by faith to continue on. Let's pray. Father we thank you for the word for the simplicity of it, but oh God I pray that you'd work in us this grace of continuing to call upon you and persisting Lord give us the joy of seeing answers to our prayers even after many days Lord give us urgency and give us a sense of consistent petitioning with you trusting that you will not Encourage us to pray and especially you will not encourage us to persist in prayer that we will be mocked But that you might be glorified by answering the very thing you desire we receive Lord I thank you that you give grace and glory and you withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly so enable us to walk in in faith and in obedience, and I pray, Lord, that you would answer our petitions and give us grace to continue on, praying for those that we love, praying when we're backed into corners over which we have no control. Lord, motivate us tonight to keep on and give us joy as we do, for we ask it in the Lord's name. Amen.