All our prayers need to be built on this concept of confession, knowing we are worthy of nothing. Oh God, I don't deserve anything. I'm a sinner. I'm a rebel. I just ask you to fulfill your purpose, fulfill your plan.
We are overwhelmingly aware of the fact that we don't do anything to earn an answer. It's all mercy. It's all grace. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I am your host, Phil Johnson.
Question: How can you please God?
Well, certainly you need to trust Him, submit to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and obey His commands. And when you have a need, you should ask God and expect Him to give you what you need.
Now, if that surprises you a bit, if that sort of expectation seems presumptuous, I urge you to stay here today, as John MacArthur shows you why you can and should pray with. Boldness, the title of John's current study here on Grace to You. Don't be afraid to ask. And here is John with today's lesson. We come now to our look at the Word of God to listen to what God has said on the pages of Holy Scripture.
Luke chapter eleven is our text, and we are looking. At verses five through thirteen, this is a very, very rich and encouraging portion of Scripture. Let me read the text for you, starting in verse five. And he, meaning Jesus, said to them, "Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves.'" For a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And from inside he shall answer and say, "Do not bother me.
The door has already been shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and get you anything or give you anything." I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend. Yet, because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
Now, suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he has asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Very remarkable passage.
And so we see the parable, which illustrates that we are to come. At any time, no matter how simple the need, and to be overly bold in our asking, the promise that underlies our coming is that whatever it is that we seek, if it's within the framework of His will, we'll receive it. That is based upon the principle that God is a Father.
Now that takes us to the fourth and the most important point. Let's call it the premise. And by premise I mean the bottom line, the foundation on which this whole discussion is built. And here it is, verse thirteen: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?
Now we are launched into theology. This verse is rich. We've gone through a parable and a promise and a principle, an analogy, and we now come to a divine premise. We now come to biblical doctrine. If you then being evil, we could stop there and teach on the depravity of man, right?
You're evil, and he's talking to his disciples, his followers, those who had embraced him, those who were quote unquote saved. Those were those were his children, but they were still evil. He doesn't say those who do evil, those who are evil, being evil. It is not just what we do; it is what we are that is evil. But if you then being evil, and by the way, the word evil is paneras.
Panaeras, bad, wicked, worthless. Used in Matthew five thirty seven and six thirteen, and translated by many translations as a reference to Satan, the wicked one. You share essential nature that the devil possesses. You then, being evil. Even those who follow Jesus Christ still have an evil sin principle operative in them.
You being evil, however, have the residual imagio dei. You have. Left in you the residue of the image of God that was defiled in the fall, but it's still there because even though you are at heart evil, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Jeremiah seventeen nine, there is none good, no, not one. Romans chapter three, we are evil yet know how to give good gifts to your children.
That's the residual of the image of God. Whenever you see what we call the milk of human kindness, whenever you see people who don't know God, parent well, love their children, show kindness, give their children what they need, be philanthropic. You're seeing the residual of the image of God, so warped and scarred in the fall, but still there.
So he says, you being evil. Know how to give good gifts to your children, and here comes the key: How much more? This is an old rabbinical way to argue, an old Jewish way to argue: the how much more argument, the how much more approach. How much more than you who are evil? Shall your heavenly Father, implied, who is not evil, who is perfectly holy, give?
I mean, if you who are at heart evil give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father, who is holy, give to His children? If you who can only love imperfectly. Give good gifts to your children. How much more will your heavenly Father, who loves perfectly, give to His children? If you, who are limited in your wisdom, give to your children what you think is best, how much more will your Father, who's perfectly wise, give the best to His children?
The whole thing sets a huge gulf in our understanding. You can go to God because He's a loving Father. But he's a loving father, far beyond the most loving father in this world, who is by nature evil and who does his best to give good gifts out of a corrupt and fallen heart. How much more will your heavenly Father love you with a perfect love? How much more, with perfect wisdom and perfect compassion and perfect mercy and grace and perfect understanding of your situation and perfect goodness, give to you?
So when you go to God and you go with boldness and you go with persistence and you rush in and you unload what's on your heart and first you ask and then you start pleading and then you start banging, know this that God is delighted with that, delighted with that, because He, with His perfect love and perfect wisdom and perfect power and perfect provision. Is able to give the best to his children. In fact, Psalm eighty four eleven says, "He withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly." His children, he holds nothing back.
So, how much more shall your heavenly Father give than any earthly father? You know, John thirteen one. Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them. I tell us, it says of Jesus, having loved his own in the world, he loved them. I tell us to the max, to the end, to the finish, completely, totally, limitlessly, infinitely.
It's out of that love, it's out of that wisdom, it's out of those resources that God gives. Very different than a concept of an earthly monarch or a false god, but there's this interesting point here. It says, "How much more shall our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" Yeah, that doesn't seem to make sense when you first read that. In fact, in the parallel passage, Matthew seven eleven. Only parallel in teaching, although on a different occasion.
Listen to Matthew seven eleven. See if this doesn't make better sense. If you then being evil, here Jesus taught the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more shall your Father, who is in heaven, give what is good to those who ask him?
That's good parallel, isn't it? You being evil know how to give good gifts. How much more shall your heavenly Father give what is good to those who ask Him? But doesn't say that here. It says, "How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit?" How did the Holy Spirit get in here?
And I read some commentators not too long ago who said there is a narrowing here. There is a narrowing here in Matthew. It's that which is good. It's Broad, wide, limitless. Here it's the Holy Spirit, so He narrows it down to this specific thing.
When I read things like that, and they don't sort of sound right, doesn't sound right that the Lord would narrow this promise. He would make it as broad as possible in one place, anything that is good, and then narrow it down to the Holy Spirit in another place. I sort of sit back in my chair and go into my meditation mode, try to figure out what may really be being said here. The whole point of this is not that God's going to narrowly give us some prescribed things if we happen to hit the target. The whole idea is come and ask for whatever's on your heart, and rush into God's presence whenever you want.
Of course, with a measure of humility and reverence, but still, unbear your heart, speak boldly, be persistent, go over the top if you will, and you can expect that God, who is generous. We'll give you whatever is good, but how does the Holy Spirit fit in? Let me just make it real simple, okay? It doesn't say you ask for the Holy Spirit necessarily. It says, "Give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him." When you go to ask God for whatever you ask God for, whatever it is, God gives you the Holy Spirit.
Let me show you what I mean. You asked for comfort. He gave you the Comforter, right? You asked for help. He gave you the Helper.
You asked for truth. He gave you the Truth Teacher. You asked for power. He gave you the Spirit of Power. You asked for wisdom.
He gave you the Spirit of Wisdom. You asked for guidance. He gave you the Guide. You ask for love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control, and He gave you the Spirit, whose fruit were released in your life. You see, this is the generosity of God.
You ask for the gift; He gives the giver. You ask for the effect; He gives the cause. You ask for the product; He gives the source. Is that generosity? He gives you according to His riches, not out of His riches.
You ask God, as it were, going to the bank. You ask for some money; He gives you the bank. That's the point. I'll just give you the Holy Spirit, then you've got it all. Because out of the Holy Spirit comes power.
Out of the Holy Spirit comes the anointing, which teaches you all things. Out of the Holy Spirit comes the giftedness. Out of the Holy Spirit comes the fruit. Out of the Holy Spirit comes the direction and the guidance. From the work of the Holy Spirit comes everything.
Out of the Holy Spirit comes intercession on your behalf, so that all things work together for good. I'll just give you the Spirit. Talk about generosity. You might go to God and you might say, "Lord, I need comfort." Lord, I need some power to get through the circumstance I'm struggling here. I need some wisdom.
It would be pretty brash to assume and say, if you were a disciple, or even for us, if we can sort of put ourselves in that position, to go to God and say, God, I just I don't want I don't want grace for the moment. I don't want comfort for the moment. I don't want guidance for the moment. Would you just Would you just come down and live in me? Would you do that?
That would be pretty bold, wouldn't it? I mean, that's asking a lot for Holy God to take up residence in this clay vessel. For for a Holy God to live in a fouled human—that is—that's pushing the envelope, wouldn't you say that?
Okay, here I am, God. I don't want three flat loaves of bread. I don't want three crackers here for my friend. I'm telling you. Would you please come down and live in me permanently?
That is presumption beyond description. But that's exactly what happens. That is exactly what happens. How generous is God? What else can He do?
This isn't a narrowing. This is a definition. He not only gives you the good gifts, but He plants in you permanently the source of every one of them. You are First Corinthians six nineteen twenty says the temple of the Holy Spirit. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
So it's only a matter of being strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, right? And then in Ephesians three twenty it says, "Now unto Him it is able to do exceeding abundantly above all He can ask or think, according to the power that works where." In us, God says. In effect, they have so many needs; they need so much power, so much wisdom, so much guidance, so much help. I just put my spirit in them, and then they have the Giver and the Source and the Cause. I mean, the generosity of this is absolutely staggering.
Giving us the Holy Spirit specifically is not something less than good gifts. It is something more than good gifts. The Lord is taking it a step further. He said, "I'll give you that which is good," and now He says, "I'll just give you the good one—the third member of the Trinity, God of very gods, God the Spirit—to come and live in your life now." Those disciples knew about the Holy Spirit. The Jews knew about the Holy Spirit.
They could actually say that phrase in the Apostles' Creed: "I believe in the Holy Ghost." They read Genesis, and it was the Spirit of God who moved on the waters, right, and brought creation into form. Isaiah chapter forty ascribed creation to the Holy Spirit. Job thirty three four. Elihu gives testimony: the Spirit of God has made me. Spirit of God is the Creator.
So they knew the Spirit of God's work in creation. They also knew the Spirit of God came upon the judges in the Old Testament and aided them in their leadership in Israel. They knew that the Spirit of God came upon craftsmen who built the tabernacle and built the temple. That the spirit of God came upon leaders like King David and upon the prophets like Ezekiel and Micah, Zechariah. They knew the spirit of God came for power and for prophecy and for certain works.
But they also knew, and this is really important, they also knew that when the Messiah came, there would be a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah sixty one introduces the Messiah by saying, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." Remember, in Luke four, Jesus came and said, "I have fulfilled that." So they knew that when the Messiah came, he would be empowered by the Spirit. And the Messiah was—he was born of a virgin who was impregnated by the Spirit. He was anointed by the Spirit at his baptism. He was filled by the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit in his temptation and his ministry.
The Spirit of God energized him. You see it right through the Gospel of Luke as you move through all those elements of the life of Jesus. And so they knew that that was the way it should be. That's what the Old Testament said: the Messiah would be anointed by the Holy Spirit. But they also knew that when the Messiah came, he would bring a kingdom which would be dominated by the Holy Spirit.
How did they know that? Because in Joel chapter two, verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine, it says the Spirit of God would come on all mankind. There would be a release of the Holy Spirit, the likes of which had never been before. And you remember, on the day of Pentecost, Peter says, "What you've seen in the day of Pentecost is a preview of what Joel said: the Holy Spirit is going to come on all mankind, and there will be prophecies and visions and dreams." That's going to happen in the future kingdom, and there was a preview of it on the day of Pentecost.
So they associated the Holy Spirit with the coming of Messiah, Messiah's personal life and ministry, with the Messiah's kingdom as well. But there's a third element. They knew that the Holy Spirit was going to come in fullness to believers who were a part of that kingdom. How did they know that? Because of that key passage that all knowledgeable Jews were aware of—Ezekiel chapter thirty-six, that wonderful new covenant passage which Nicodemus knew so well as a teacher in Israel.
This is what the new covenant promises. I will sprinkle clean water on you. You will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, all your idols. I will give you a new heart.
Put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. Give you a heart of flesh. In other words, I'm going to totally regenerate your soul, your inside. Then this, and I will put my spirit within you.
And he will cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
So they knew that the Holy Spirit was going to come and come in them and enable them to walk obediently to the Word of God. They they knew this was in the promise of the new covenant. They knew what Paul said in Second Corinthians three that the letter kills and the Spirit gives what gives life.
So Jesus understands that they're waiting for the Holy Spirit. They're waiting for the Holy Spirit, and they know that all fullness is going to come in the Spirit. That when the Spirit comes, it takes up residence in them. They're going to obey the law of God. They're going to walk in His commandments.
So Jesus knows this is in their heart, and so He says to them, "If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children." How much more is your heavenly Father, who's perfect and perfectly good, going to give you what you want most? And what you want most is the Holy Spirit, because in having Him, you have not just the supply, but you have the source. Right? And you remember Jesus said in John fourteen to the disciples, "He has been with you, speaking of the Spirit, but He shall be in you, a new fullness." And Jesus said in John seven. That when the Spirit of God comes in you, out of your soul will flow rivers of living water.
You will become a gushing fountain of divine blessing. The Spirit will lead you into all truth. He'll bring you into remembrance the things I've said. He'll guide you. He'll direct you.
He'll convict you. Do you understand that everything that has happened to you as a believer is a product of the work of the Holy Spirit? And at this point, we could go into what's called pneumatology, the study of the Spirit. As a sinner, you were convicted by the Holy Spirit, John sixteen. That's how you came to understand your sin.
When you confess Jesus as Lord, you did it because of the Holy Spirit. No man confesses Jesus as Lord but by the Holy Spirit, First Corinthians twelve three. You received the knowledge of God's truth from the Holy Spirit because it's only the Spirit who knows the things of God. First Corinthians chapter two. The natural man doesn't understand them.
You were given liberty from the law of sin, the law of death, by the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, Second Corinthians three seventeen says, "There's liberty." You were sealed to eternal life by the Holy Spirit, Ephesians one. You walk in righteousness by the Spirit, Romans eight. You are baptized into the Spirit, First Corinthians twelve. Literally immersed into His life and power.
You are indwelt by the Spirit, First Corinthians six nineteen and twenty. You are filled with the Spirit, Ephesians five eighteen. You are gifted by the Holy Spirit, First Corinthians twelve. You're given godly virtues by the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians five. You are empowered by the Spirit for evangelism, Acts one eight.
You are constantly prayed for by the Spirit, Romans eight. Who makes groanings which cannot be uttered, interceding for you. You are sanctified by the Spirit, Second Thessalonians two. You are made like Christ by the Spirit, from one level of glory to the next, more and more like Christ, Second Corinthians three eighteen. You have hope in the Spirit, Romans eight twenty three.
The Spirit is the armband, the guarantee, the down payment, the engagement ring of your future eternal glory. In summary, when the Lord gave you the Holy Spirit, He gave you everything, absolutely everything. By His presence, by His power, by His grace, we are permanently the possessors of everything we need, and so much more that He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we can what ask or think. You have more resource in the Holy Spirit than you can even imagine. It's all over the top.
The whole passage. God gives you more in giving you the Holy Spirit than you could ever possibly understand. That's why the prayer also of Paul was that God would give us the spirit of wisdom and knowledge, that we would understand what we have. And it's to those who ask, you ask, and He doesn't give you what is the Spirit's. He gives you the spirit.
God is not like that neighbor, is He? Who was bothered and said, "Go away," but finally relented. God is so generous. He gives us more than we could even imagine, because since we can't comprehend God, or His power, or His wisdom, or His resources. We can't comprehend the Spirit, even though He lives in us.
That's why He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think. Don't dishonor God by doubting His generosity. Go to Him in the middle of your night, and know you couldn't interrupt Him. He delights that you're there. And hold him to his promises, and be persistent, and demand that he listen, and give you what is best.
Does this help you to see prayer in a different way? Good. This is all so overwhelming to us, Father. We are so undeserving and so utterly unworthy. And yet, you have just given us way beyond what we could ever comprehend.
We asked for a gift, and you gave us the Giver. We can only say thank you, and we will come, and we will plead, and we will pray, we will ask, we will seek, we will knock, because you've told us that that's how we will receive and find, and the floodgates will be open to us. We love you, and we thank you for being the generous one that you are, so magnanimous. We could never be so bold as to ask you to live in us, and yet that's what you've done. We thank you for that, and we thank you that the Spirit is there to strengthen us, to teach us, to guide us, to comfort us, to help us, to intercede for us, and to keep us, seal us.
Until eternal glory, for this we thank you. In Christ's name. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible Teaching Ministry of John MacArthur. John's current study is titled "Don't Be Afraid to Ask." Well, friend, with the theme of prayer in mind, I'd like to take a minute to remind you how important it is for you to pray for Grace to You. Pray for this daily broadcast that it would strengthen God's people and reach those who have never heard the gospel.
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Now for the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to be here tomorrow when John MacArthur looks at the prophet Daniel and how his pattern of prayer can revolutionize your own prayer life. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.
