LUKE 11:9-13 GOD IS BETTER THAN A FATHER2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 11:9-13 God Is Better Than A Father

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Well, as we look at our portion today here in Luke chapter 11 verses 9 through 13, we are continuing the subject of prayer.

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We began this subject at the beginning of chapter 11, looking at the pattern that Jesus gave us for prayer, the model prayer, or we often refer to it as the Lord's Prayer. And then last week, we continued on the subject of prayer, looking at the reality that God is better than a friend. As Jesus used this illustration of a friend who goes to his neighbor and he says, Hey, I need some bread.

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And through that, we got to see this illustration regarding prayer. It's an illustration by contrast that God is far better than a friend because we can come to Him with our requests. We can come to Him and ask and we will receive. And He's better than a friend because, well, it's never too late. The time is never wrong to go to God and it's never too much trouble for God when we ask.

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He's not going to be aggravated or frustrated or wearied by what we ask of Him. And we saw that the door to ask is never shut when it comes to God. Because, of course, the door is Jesus Christ. And He has opened the door for us to God, and it is not shut ever. We also saw that it was never too inconvenient to ask.

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Where it's going to be too much of an inconvenience upon God. Where God says, alright, well, you know, I've got the UN to worry about and the Middle East going on. But I'm going to set those things aside and, you know, answer your silly prayer request. No, no. God's not inconvenienced by your request. He can handle it. It's not too much. It's not too late. The door is open. So ask was the point.

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Ask God. Present your requests to Him. Well, we continue on that line of thinking and this subject of prayer this morning as we continue on looking again at verses 9 and 10 and then on through 13. But

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But today we want to look at it in the sense that God is better than a father. Last week we saw that he's better than a friend. Today we'll see Jesus declares God is better than a father. And so there's three points I'd like to share with you about that. We begin once again in verse 9 and 10. Point number one is ask and receive. Receive.

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Ask and receive. Verse 9 says, so I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. Now we looked at this verse last week, but it's worth looking at again because these are essential things that, well, we need to get

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to be able to grasp hold of. And as George was just sharing a few moments ago, we so quickly forget so many things about our relationship with God, what He's done for us, and what He's, well, what He's granted to us in that we can come to Him and ask. Now, He uses three different words here, ask, seek, and knock.

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All of them are in the present imperative active tense. I'm sure that means a whole lot to you, but here's what it means. The present tense means that it's to be continual. That it's not one time ask, and then that's it. You just never ask again. One time knock, and that's it. You never knock again. One time seek, and then you don't seek again. No, because it's the present tense, it means keep on asking.

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Keep on seeking and keep on knocking. So that's the present part. The imperative part means it's a command. This isn't, you know, hey, if you feel like it, if you want to. Listen, Jesus commands you to ask. He commands you to seek and to knock. This is his command to you. He commands you to pray.

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He commands you to lift up your needs, to lift up your requests, to ask and seek and knock and to keep on doing it. Well, the third component of this tense is that it's the active sense or the active mood. And that means that you personally have to be involved. You can't obey this command by saying, hey, Ray, can you pray for me? Robert, can you pray for me? Hey, George, you pray for me. Pastor Jerry, can you pray for me? That doesn't fulfill this command.

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You have to personally ask to fulfill this command and keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking. That's why the New Living Translation translates it this way. And so I tell you, keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.

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Here's his command and his promise. Ask, keep on asking, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find, as you keep on seeking. Knock, and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. This verse right here has such great power as we see the command, the invitation to come to God and ask.

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to present our requests, to present our needs, and His promise to meet our needs. Now, as we consider verse 9 and 10 here, I do need to bring up something really important, and that is that as we talk about ask and seek and knock, we are dealing with things that are subject to the will of God.

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And some people will try to make this verse mean that you can ask for whatever you want and now God's supposed to give it to you because, well, it says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. So if I want that job and I knock and I seek and I ask, then God's supposed to give me that job. Well, it doesn't quite work that way.

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To try to make this say that you get whatever you want is taking it too far because remember the pattern for prayer that Jesus gave us, the beginning part of chapter 11, where Jesus teaches us to pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so we do need to recognize and understand that this is subject to the will of God.

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That asking and seeking and knocking, the intent is not to make God give us something outside of His will. Something that's not good for us. Prayer is not about getting our will, but accomplishing His will. And as we looked at last week, the importance of that persistence, the keeping on of asking and seeking and knocking,

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is not to finally talk God into giving us something that he doesn't want to give us. No, the whole point of that persistence is the transformation of us, the work that's happening in us as we ask and seek and knock. So it is subject to the will of God. That's an important point. But don't get tripped up on that.

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Don't let that, you know, make you tune out the rest of the time. Well, okay, well, never mind. This was exciting, man. I can ask and receive and... Oh, never mind. It's according to God's will. Bummer. No, no, no, no. Don't get tripped up on that. Check it out. Verse 10. For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. So here this promise is reiterated. First, the command to ask...

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And it will be given to you. Here it's reiterated. Everyone who asks, receives. Has that been your experience? Everyone who asks, receives. This is God's promise. Now, you can guarantee that all of your prayer requests will be fulfilled and answered in the way that you pray for them. If you pray according to God's will. That's what the Apostle John tells us in 1 John chapter 5.

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And so if you want to make sure that your prayer requests will be answered in the way that you're praying for them, well, John says, pray according to the will of God. He says, this is the confidence that we have in him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we've asked of him.

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So there's a promise. Everyone who asks, receives. The Apostle John in 1 John 5, by the way, that's verse 14 and 15 of 1 John 5. He says, here's the key to that. Ask according to the will of God and you'll know He hears you. And if you know He hears you, then you know that you have the petitions that you've asked for. He says, for everyone who asks, receives. Now, what a great promise for us. That as we ask...

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We will receive those things which are part of God's plan for our lives. Those things which are good for us. The commentator Adam Clark says it this way. He says, These words are as strongly binding on the side of God as thou shalt not murder is on the side of man. Bring Christ's word and Christ's sacrifice with thee and not one of heaven's blessings can be denied thee.

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That's a little old English, I know. But what he says is, look, this is binding upon God. Just as you shall not murder is binding upon us, this is binding upon God. This is God's promise. Everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. And as you come to God with His Word, believing in Jesus Christ...

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He says, not one of heaven's blessings can be denied you. Not one of heaven's blessings can be denied. God will pour out His blessings, His goodness, His work, His will. That's His promise to those who ask. This is not about good works.

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So that you have to do a lot of good things. And if you're a really good Christian, then you can ask and then God will bless. That is not the way that God has established our relationship with Him. He's established it on the basis of grace and faith. It's His grace, His goodness, His

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And as we put our faith in Him and believe in what Christ accomplished for us at the cross, we have access to Him so that we can fulfill His command to ask. And as we fulfill His command to ask, He fulfills His promise to give. Ask and it will be given. For everyone who asks, receives. So again, the point I want to stress to you this morning is ask. Ask God.

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Ask and seek and knock and spend time with God and present your request to Him. Because everyone who asks, receives. And there is a very real reality that sometimes you do not have because you have not asked. James tells us this in James chapter 4. He says, look, here's the reason why you do not receive. Sometimes you don't receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.

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So he says, if you don't have something that you need, well, sometimes it's because what you're asking for, you're asking for to fulfill your own lusts. God's not bound to answer every request that is to fulfill your own lusts. It's outside of his will. But James goes on, in James chapter 4 verse 2, he says, you do not have because you do not ask.

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He says, look, you lust and you do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and you war. You're doing all these things to try to obtain, to try to get. But James says, you do not have because you've not asked. There's a reality here. God could force His blessings upon you, but He doesn't. Just because God wants you to have it, doesn't mean that you will have it. Because He has given you

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The responsibility to ask. He's given you the opportunity to ask. He's given you the privilege of being involved in His work. And so there's a very real sense that, well, sometimes you do not have because you do not ask. It's the same idea with salvation to begin with. Jesus died upon the cross. He paid the price for sin, for all sin, for every person. But that does not mean that every person is saved. Why? Why?

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Well, because that forgiveness is applied to those who ask. In the same way, God's blessings in your life, the meaning of the needs that you have, the work that God wants to do, some of it is subject to you. And you're missing out because you've not asked. The command is, ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking.

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So why don't you ask? God has great things in store for you. Why don't you ask? For everyone who asks, receives, verse 10 says. Now, as you consider that, does it sound too good to be true? It does, huh? Kind of sounds like, whoa, there's got to be a catch, right? What's the catch? Well, Jesus will go on to prove this point with an illustration to help us grasp hold of this reality. This is the truth.

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ask and you will receive. How do we know? Well, we go on to the second point now, verse 11 and 12, in this illustration that Jesus gives of a father. And we find here that fathers give good gifts to children who ask. That's point number two. Fathers give good gifts to children who ask. This illustration shows

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that Jesus gives, like the illustration he shared last week, is an illustration by contrast. The friend was an illustration, and Jesus was using that to show how far superior God is to a friend. Well, again, we're looking at a father, and as we see the example or the illustration of a father, it's a contrast.

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To help us understand, fathers are pretty good, but God is so much better. Check it out in verse 11 and 12. It says, If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

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So Jesus here asks a couple questions to help us understand and think about the character and the nature of fathers. Now he's speaking kind of some general observations and he's speaking directly to the crowd that's present. He's not attempting to say that there are, you know, no evil fathers. Of course there are. But that's kind of beside the point.

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in general, in the crowd that's there or in the crowd that's here, which of you fathers would behave the way that Jesus is describing here? Your child asks for bread. Your child says, Daddy, I'm hungry. Can I have some bread? Which of you fathers would give them a stone? Say, here you go, kid. Chew on that. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Laughter

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Any fathers want to volunteer and say, ah, that's what I would do? Which of you fathers would do that? Now, the wording here, as Jesus is saying this, I mean, it's very particular. It's kind of giving the sense that Jesus is kind of like pointing out the fathers, like, hey, you dads, which of you would do this? John, would you do that with Bella? Would you say, ah, here you go. Chew on that. You're hungry. You ate last week. What's the problem?

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What father would behave that way? It's unthinkable, right? Well, Jesus goes on to develop it into even more serious. He says, which of you fathers here in this place today, if your child were to come to you and say, Dad, I really want some sushi. I need some fish. I'm hungry. Which of you fathers would then give a serpent? Now, the idea here isn't, well, let's cook a snake instead, you know, have some good snake meat. No.

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No, the idea is a live serpent, a dangerous animal. So what father would, when requested by their child for some fish, would give them a dangerous serpent that they might be harmed? It would be a pretty messed up dad. It's unthinkable. What father would do that? He goes on again. Which of you, if you had a child who came to you,

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And said, I'm hungry, dad. Would you give me an egg? And instead, the dad gives a scorpion. I had this silly image in my head. Forgive me for sharing it, but I'm going to share it anyways. Do you remember the boo box from Hook, the Disney movie, right? Remember the boo box? It was where the pirates, when a pirate was in trouble, they put them in this box.

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almost like a coffin, but they called it the boo box because they'd put them in here, they'd lock them in, and then there was a little hatch. And they would open the hatch and they'd say, boo, and they would drop in scorpions. The boo box. What father would do that to his child? Dad, I'm hungry. All right, here's the boo box. Lock them inside, throw in some scorpions. What father among you here? Who of you would behave that way?

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Any volunteers? Anybody want to stand up and say, yes, that's the way I would behave as a father? No, it's unthinkable. Of course not. You would not do that to your children. Now, a brother might do that. But not a father. Jesus goes on in verse 13. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children...

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how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? So here's the contrast that Jesus is painting here. None of you fathers would behave that way. Your child is hungry. Your child wants some bread or fish or an egg. None of you would instead give them something that's harmful or just be mean to laugh as they try to chew on a rock.

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None of you fathers are like that. And yet, you fathers are evil. You fathers are sinful. You fathers have a corrupt nature that's been affected and devastated by sin. Yet, you would not treat your children this way. Even the best fathers are still sinful. My dad, great dad, but man, he's a sinner. Sinful.

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But fathers do not treat their children this way. God, on the other hand, He's good. He's perfect. He's holy. There's no darkness in Him at all. So Jesus' point is, how much more then, if you don't respond to your children's requests with meanness or with harmful things, how much more will Jesus, will our Father respond

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not respond to your requests with mean and harmful things? How much more will he respond with good things, with great blessings? You see that picture that Jesus is painting here, the contrast is illustrating how much God wants to bless you. And you can look at the example of a father. Now fathers make mistakes. But again, generally speaking, it's not because they want to harm their kids.

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Or they want to be mean to their kids. It's, well, it's part of the fallen nature. But our Heavenly Father, He doesn't have that nature. He loves us more than we can really understand. He wants what's best for us. He understands all things. Jesus' point is, how much more will your Heavenly Father give to you good things?

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You don't have to twist God's arm for him to give you good things. You don't have to. Sometimes we approach prayer that way. We're negotiating. We're bargaining. All right, God, if you give me this, here's what I'm going to do for you. God wants to give you good things. You don't have to bribe him. He wants to bless you. You don't have to twist his arm. We negotiate. We plead. We beg. We're trying to convince God, God, please give us this.

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But God doesn't have to be convinced to give us good things. He doesn't have to be persuaded. He wants to. He desires to give good things to His children. In James chapter 1 verse 17, it tells us that every good and every perfect gift is from above. And it comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Every good and perfect gift is from God. He wants to give.

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So how do you get the good things that God wants to give? Ask, seek, knock. Ask Him. For everyone who asks, receives, verse 10 says. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now He will not always give you everything that you ask for. But it's not so that He can be mean. It's not to bring you harm.

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It's because he has your best interests in mind. Just as a father wants to do the best he can for his children, your heavenly father is doing the best for you. He has your best interests in mind. And so when he answers that prayer request with a no, that's not because he's trying to punish you because you didn't read your Bible enough this week.

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It's not because you fell into sin and so, nope, you can't have that. I'm taking that away. You're grounded. God's not trying to get back at you. He wants to bless you. So when He says no, it's because He knows what's best for us. Or when He says, not right now, not yet, or perhaps, I have something better in mind for you, it's for our good. Because He desires to bless us.

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To give us what is good. So ask and receive. Because fathers give good gifts to children who ask. Well thirdly as we finish off the last part of 13. We see here that the spirit is given to those who ask. Again verse 13 says. If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

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Now in Matthew chapter 7, we have this, the same teachings from Jesus. And there in Matthew chapter 7, he says the same thing except for he doesn't mention the Holy Spirit there. He just says, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? And so both points are accurate. That fathers give good gifts to their children who ask, that is true of your heavenly Father. And as you ask, he will give good gifts.

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But Luke narrows it down here in this accounting of it. And specifically, here Jesus mentions the Holy Spirit. Now God wants to give you good things in general. He wants to bless you in general. Specifically, he wants to give you the Holy Spirit. Have you ever received a gift that you were not very excited about? Maybe a sweater, maybe a gift card.

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Maybe just a card and that's it. No money or gifts or anything inside of it. Of course you have. Of course you have. I think sometimes that's how we feel about this. I mean, we get pretty excited in the first couple of verses, right? I can ask and receive? Wow, that's awesome. Oh, you mean the Holy Spirit. Oh, man. Bummer. I had great things in mind I could ask for. As if getting a billion dollars would be better than receiving the Holy Spirit. Right?

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That may sound pretty good to you. Yeah, a billion dollars. I'll take that over the Holy Spirit. But if that seems good to you, you need to get saved. You need to repent. You need to grasp hold of, well, the reality of the Holy Spirit and the impact that the Holy Spirit will have upon your life. Apart from Jesus, the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift we could ever receive. The Holy Spirit is a great gift.

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And God says, Jesus says that the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. In John chapter 16 verse 7, Jesus says, hey, I'm going away, but it's to your advantage. Because if I go away, the helper will come to you. I will send the helper to you. He's talking about the Holy Spirit. And this verse, I quote it often because it's amazing to me that Jesus says, it's better for you that I leave.

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It's to your advantage that I ascend into heaven because I will send the Holy Spirit. Jesus considered the Holy Spirit essential for you and I as believers, even better than his physical presence. We need the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a great advantage for us. And Jesus says, the Father will give the Spirit to those who ask. Well,

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What is the great advantage? Why do we need the Holy Spirit? I'm going to run through a few points here. And I'm going to share a bunch of different scriptures. And I would encourage you, if you'd like to, write them down, check them out later on. But whatever you do, get the point and grasp onto the importance, the necessity of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 14, Jesus says, I will pray the Father and He will give you another helper.

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Here in John chapter 14, verse 16 and 17, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the helper. The helper. Why is the Holy Spirit such a great gift? Well, because you and I, we need help. Do you need help?

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Are there things that you can't handle? Things that are overwhelming? Things that are above your head? Things that are beyond you? You need help? Well, the Holy Spirit is called, His name is, the Helper. And Jesus says, He will be in you. So the Holy Spirit is a great gift because the Holy Spirit, His function within you, as He dwells within you, is to help you.

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The Holy Spirit is there to help you. And we need help. The Holy Spirit is also there to teach you. In John 14, 26, Jesus says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. The role of the Holy Spirit in your life is to teach you.

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You need to know about sound doctrine. You need to know about right and wrong. You need to remember those scriptures that you've read. The Holy Spirit is there to do just that, to teach you and remind you. The Holy Spirit is also there to guide you. In John 16, 13, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit, when He comes, will guide you into all truth. He will guide you. He will lead you. He will help you to go the right way, to grasp hold of the right things.

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Do you ever need help resisting temptation? Do you ever struggle with any kind of sin? Any kind of strong desires for sinful pleasure? That's the definition of lust. Galatians chapter 5 verse 16, Paul says, I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You know how it is. You have those things in your life. They're destructive to your life and yet you crave them. They're destructive to your life and yet you find yourself falling into them.

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The Holy Spirit is given by the Father to help you to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The Holy Spirit also gifts the children of God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it says that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. And Paul there goes on to list the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healings,

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miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues. He lists the different gifts that are given to the body of Christ. These are the manifestations of the Spirit, where He gifts us supernaturally. He enables us to do things we could not do apart from Him, so that we could minister to people. Do you ever need to minister to somebody?

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Do you ever have anybody around you that's hurting and needs some comfort, some counsel, some encouragement? That's what the Holy Spirit is there to do, to gift you, to enable you to do the things that God has called you to do. The Holy Spirit is also given so that you might have the power to be a witness to Jesus. We see this in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 where Jesus tells the disciples, don't leave Jerusalem. Wait for the Holy Spirit. And when you receive Jesus,

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The Holy Spirit, you will receive power and you shall be witnesses to me. In Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, to the end of the earth. You ever need to be a witness to Jesus? Does that ever happen where you really want to be a witness? You want to shine the light of Christ? You want to share the love of Christ? But you're just lacking. You're just unable to. You're trying and it's just not working. This is what the Holy Spirit is for.

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This is what the Holy Spirit accomplishes. And the Father gives the Spirit to those who ask. You ever need boldness? In Acts chapter 4 verse 31 it tells us they prayed that God would give them boldness. And what did He do? He filled them with the Holy Spirit and they walked out of that room speaking the Word of God with boldness. You ever need boldness? God wants to give you the Holy Spirit to help you, to embolden you,

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Sometimes we're not very bold because we don't know what to say. But the Holy Spirit also is able to give us the words to say. In Luke chapter 12 verse 12, Jesus told the disciples, hey, when you're on trial, when you're standing and you're like in the spotlight and you don't know what to say as they challenge you about me, he says, don't worry about it. The Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. You don't have to have it all figured out ahead of time.

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At that moment, the Holy Spirit will teach you what to say. Do you desire joy or love or peace? Do you need patience? Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 5, these things are the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You ever need any of those things? You ever want joy, peace in your life?

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This is the fruit or the result of the Holy Spirit in your life. And the Father gives the Spirit to those who ask. So if you're lacking joy, if you're lacking love, if you're lacking peace, if you're lacking self-control, ask. Because the Father wants to give you the Spirit. And the Spirit produces these things in your life. The Holy Spirit is also there to help us in prayer. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8 verse 26,

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The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. There's a lot of times we don't even know what to pray for. But the Holy Spirit is given for that very purpose. To pray for us on our behalf. And the Holy Spirit is given to those who ask. You could also check out the account of Samson.

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The Holy Spirit came upon him and gave him great physical strength. Listen, in the moment of crisis, you need strength? Ask God. The Holy Spirit can give you physical strength, not just spiritual and emotional strength. You need help at work? Think about the guys working on the tabernacle. God told Moses, I've put my spirit upon these workers so that they will be able to do a good job.

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That they'll be able to fashion the tabernacle. We could go on and on. Here's the point. The Holy Spirit is a great advantage to you. Evil fathers, sinful fathers give good gifts to their children. How much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? He will give you the Spirit. This is the greatest gift apart from Jesus Christ.

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that you and I could ever receive. And God desires to give. He desires to fill you with the Holy Spirit. There's a challenging quote by J. Oswald Sanders where he says, We are each filled with the Spirit as much as we choose to be. And you can see how this is the case because the Holy Spirit is given to those who ask. Are you filled with the Spirit? It's your choosing. It's up to you. How filled with the Spirit will you be?

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How much joy and peace will you have? How much love from God will you experience? It's up to you. Will you choose to ask? You see, God is better than a father. Fathers do their best, but God is the best. So ask and receive. Because your Heavenly Father longs to give good gifts to His children who ask. Specifically, ask for the Holy Spirit.

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His promise is, ask and you will receive. Again, it's not about earning it or deserving it. If you're a really good Christian, then you'll be filled with the Spirit. Nope. By grace, through faith, believe God at His Word and ask. Let's pray. And so Lord, we do ask right now. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, we pray. Enable us, empower us, help us, produce in us

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love and joy and peace, patience, goodness and kindness and gentleness and self-control. Lord, we know these things are Your will for us. And so we're praying according to Your will. Fill us. Work in us. Make us more like You. Embolden us to be a witness to You. Help us to walk with You. Lord, have Your will and Your way in us. In Jesus' name we pray.

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Amen.