Sermon #731 Luke Sermons
Title: Shameless
Desperation
Text: Luke 11:5-13
Subject: The Parable of The Man Who Knocked at
Tape # W-86b
Introduction:
It is very, very late,
You try to ignore the unwelcome, shameless intruder.
But he knocks again. "Friend! I need some help. I need bread!" Still,
you ignore him. Then, he knocks again. "Friend, friend! I must have some
bread!"
Finally, you go to the door, trying not to wake the
family. Without opening the door, you say, in a rather angry, unsympathetic
voice, “Go away. Leave me alone. Can’t you tell we are all asleep? I can’t help
you."
That silences the man, for a while. He stands on the
stoop. Then, he turns to go home. But he can’t go home. He dare not go home. He
still doesn’t have any bread to set before his friend who has dropped in on
him. So, he comes back. He knocks on the door again, louder than before.
"Friend! Friend! Friend!" he cries, till the dogs begin barking and
the neighbors start opening their doors to see what’s happening. He puts his
ear to the door. He knows you’re there. Finally, he hears you moving. Then, he
sees a light come on inside. At last, the door opens and you hand him all the
bread he can possibly use. All you want to do is get rid of him and go back to
bed. All he wanted was some bread to satisfy his friend.—You both have what you
want. That is the story set before us in Luke 11:5-13.
(Luke
11:5-13) "And he said unto them,
Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at
Context
Be sure you read this parable in its context. Is
our Lord here teaching us that if we want something bad enough all we have to
do is badger God into giving it to us, like a spoiled child badgers his
parents into getting what he wants, or a nagging wife gets her husband to do
what he does not want to do just to stop the nagging? – No, sir.
Is the Master here teaching us that if we
really pray hard enough and believe strongly enough that we can get anything we
want from God, if we really want it, if we just refuse to give up? – No, sir.
·
Many faithful men and women, have pleaded with God to spare a dying
loved one, who soon buried the one for whom they had so earnestly prayed. –
David praying for his son.
·
Many parents have prayed for their rebel children, whose children
perished still in unbelief.
·
Many of God’s saints have prayed for God to relieve them of some heart
wrenching trouble, who found that God would not grant them their request. – Paul’s
Thorn!. – Our Savior in Gethsemane!
·
You have experienced this, and I have too.
Our prayers never alter God’s purpose or
change his will. Prayer is not the art of twisting the arm of omnipotence, getting God
to do what we want him to do. Prayer has something to do with our compliance
with God’s will. Our prayers are effectual when our prayers are in accordance
with the will and purpose of God.
This parable is part of our Lord’s answer to
his disciple’s request, “Teach us to pray.” In verses 2-4, he teaches
us what we should pray for and how.
(Luke
11:2-4) "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. 3 Give us day
by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive
every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver
us from evil."
Be sure you do not miss this. Our Lord’s instruction about prayer here is not the same as that which was given in his Sermon on the Mount. Here, our Lord ends his words of instruction by telling us to seek from God the forgiveness of sin and deliverance from all evil. Then, he illustrates his doctrine by giving us the parable of the man who knocked at midnight in verses 5-13. That is the connection; and that is the secret to interpreting this parable.
Proposition: In this parable, our Savior is telling us how to obtain God’s salvation, the forgiveness of sins and deliverance from all evil.
I. Midnight—Did
you ever notice how many things in the Bible took place at midnight?
A. It was at midnight that the Lord God passed
through Egypt, killed all the firstborn, and brought Israel out
of the land of bondage with his mighty hand and stretched out arm (Ex. 11:4;
12:29). – A Picture of Redemption by Blood and by Power.
B. It was at midnight that Samson
(Jud. 16:3) took the gates of the city of Gaza (Strong and Harsh – Death and
Hell), and the two posts, bar and all, put them on his broad shoulders, and
carried them away up to the top of a high hill before Hebron
(Fellowship—Reconciliation). – A Picture of Reconciliation by Christ’s
Death.
C. It was at midnight that Ruth came
into the threshing floor and laid herself at Boaz’s feet (Ruth 3:8). – A
Picture of A Needy Sinner Seeking Grace.
D. It was at midnight that the woman in 1
Kings 2:20 found her son (life) gone and a dead one laid in his place.
– A Picture of Life Destroyed by Sin and Life Restored by Wisdom.
E. Elihu said to Job’s three miserable
friends, “the mighty shall be taken away without hand” at midnight (Job
34:20). – The Withering Work of the Holy Spirit in Conviction.
F. When taught to understand God’s righteous
judgments, the Psalmist David said, “At midnight I will rise
to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments” (Ps. 119:62).
– Gratitude to the Just God, our Savior.
H. At midnight the cry is made, “The
Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Matt. 25:6). – Christ’s
Coming for His Bride in Grace and at the Second Advent.
I. It was at midnight that the Lord God shook the
earth, broke open the prison doors at Philippi, and broke open
the prison doors that held the Philippian Jailor (Acts 16:25).
J. And it was at midnight that Paul
and those who traveled with him across the stormy sea drew near some country
hoping for safety (Acts 27:27).
Every reference to midnight in the Word of God is
connected with an event that clearly pictures God’s wondrous works of
redemption and grace in Christ. It is no accident that our Lord in this parable
speaks of a needy man coming to his friend at midnight. The parable is a word
of instruction, telling us how sinners obtain God’s grace in Christ.
When the time of love has come, when the appointed
time of mercy has arrived, when the time has come for God to save a chosen
sinner, he graciously brings the object of his love into utter desperation. He
creates midnight in the soul.
Is that the case with you? Am I speaking now to a
poor, needy sinner, sitting in darkness? Once you thought you had light. Once
everything was fine. Once you thought you had everything you needed. Once you
presumed that you knew everything. Now, you are utterly engulfed in thick
darkness. The darkness in your soul is so thick it hurts. Is that your
condition? If so, give me your attention. My message is especially for you.
II. The
Lord Jesus Christ— Our Savior was often like this importunate
poor man, out at midnight, knocking for bread.
Often, after a long day of labor for the souls of
men, struggles with his adversaries, warfare with Satan, and heartfelt trouble,
our Master went, at midnight to the gate of heaven and knocked again and again
until he got as much as he needed. Some things are recorded by divine
inspiration in the Gospel narratives, written without emotion or exclamation.
They are things at which our hearts stand still, when we suddenly come upon
them.
·
"He went up into a mountain to pray: and when the morning was
come he was there alone."
·
Again, "He departed again into a mountain himself alone."
·
Again, "It came to pass in those days that he went out into a
mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God."
He continued all night. Do you see Him? Do you
hear Him? Can you make out what he is asking? He stands up. He kneels down. He
falls on his face. He knocks in the thick darkness that lays heavy on his holy
soul. All that night he prays, and refuses to faint, till the sun rises, and he
goes down to his disciples like a strong man to run a race.
Yonder, in Gethsemane, as he
anticipated being made sin for us, the Lord Jesus knocked, and knocked, and
knocked again, until his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to
the ground! Indeed, we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities. Rather, our Lord Jesus Christ, our great High
Priest in heaven is One, "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had
offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, and was
heard in that he feared.” Like us, he “learned obedience through the
things that he suffered.” ... “And being made perfect, he became the
author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."
III. Conversion—However,
in this passage, the clear, primary thing set before us is the experience of
grace in conversion.
A friend of ours (God’s holy law) comes to us in his
journey; and we have nothing to set before him. Oh, yes, the law of God is our
true friend. It is a schoolmaster unto Christ. It is our friend because it
shuts us up to and forces us to flee to him who is our souls’ Friend, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
God's law comes and says to us, “Be ye holy.”
– “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” It demands of us righteousness
and satisfaction. We are all death and sin; but the law comes, and demands life
and righteousness. Immediately, we set out to do what we are told from God to
do; but we find that we have nothing to set before it.
·
“This do, and thou shalt live” (Luke 10:25-37).
·
And then, in our famine of life, and peace, and strength, we think,
(Oh, so unwillingly!) of God in Christ. How unwelcome is the thought! He has
all that we need. If we ask it of him, he will give us all we need! There is no
question about that fact. Yet, if we could make any other shift we would make
it.
The holy Lord God might very well and very rightly
say to us, I do not know you. Get some of your own friends to help you. Indeed,
we expect far worse from him. How we dread the thought of seeing him, worse
yet, of him seeing us!
We turn back. We simply cannot go to God. But the
intolerable pangs of hell are in our souls. Darkness is in our hearts. The fire
of hell burns in our consciences. Famine in our souls has us bent to the ground
in weakness. We have nothing. We must go on to God. No else can help.
This horrid sinking goes on until hell itself is at
the door. Then, we say like the four lepers at the entering in of the gate of
Samaria: "Why sit we here until we die? Now, therefore, come and let us
fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live: and if
they kill us, we shall but die."
I can but perish if I go,
I am resolved to try;
For if I stay away, I know,
I must forever die.
I grant, this is not the best frame of mind in which
to come to God. We ought to come to him full of confidence, full of assurance,
doubting nothing. But I never knew a sinner in my life who did.
This is not a very becoming mind in which to arise
and go to our Father. But any of you who are fathers know that a father does
not stand
upon points with his son, who was dead, and is alive again, who was lost, and
is found.
Is there midnight in your soul? Has the law of God
come demanding what you know you must give, but what you cannot give? Come,
then, come now, to the throne of grace.
(Psalms
107:9-15) "For he satisfieth the
longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. 10 Such as sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and
iron; 11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned
the counsel of the most High: 12 Therefore he brought down their heart
with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. 13 Then
they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of
their distresses. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of
death, and brake their bands in sunder. 15 Oh that men would
praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to
the children of men!"
If today your friend, God’s holy law, has come to
you, and you have nothing to set before him—If, in our Savior's words, you have
come
to yourself today—If it is midnight in your soul—If you are now weighed in the
balances and found wanting—Amid your fear, or your want, or whatever form your
awakening may take, hear this word of grace and promise—"Ask, and it
shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto
you."
Do it, as if the Books were to be opened before
sunrise tomorrow. Do it, as if already the thief were at your window. Go
through this parable. Go through it on your knees, if not yet on your face.
Read it; see it. This is instruction given by the Son of God himself to
sinners. He is telling us how to obtain forgiveness, how to be delivered from
all evil.
See the man at midnight. Imitate that man. Act out the
parable in your soul’s lone midnight. Leave nothing out. Look at this poor soul
in his straits. Hear his knocks sounding in the silence of the night. Hear his
loud cry, and cry it after him. He needed three loaves. Do you not need three
vital loaves? Do you not need life from Christ? Do you not need atonement by
Christ? Do you not need the righteousness of Christ? Go to the throne of grace
and tell the God of all grace what you need.
(1
John 1:9) "If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness."
IV. Lifelong—But
conversion is not a one time thing. It is a lifelong turning to God, a lifelong
coming to Christ, a lifelong struggle of soul.
I have repented. I am repenting. I shall repent. I
have come to Christ. I am coming to Christ. I shall come to Christ.
(1
Peter 2:1-4) "Wherefore laying
aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil
speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that
ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God, and precious."
This midnight intruder represents God’s elect
throughout the days of their lives in this world. So long as we live in this
body of flesh, we will need to be just like this poor soul: ever knocking at
heaven’s door, ever asking, ever seeking, because we are always in great need
of grace.
A. Let Zion’s watchmen give him no rest, until
he establishes his kingdom in its fulness and makes Jerusalem a praise in the
earth.
(Isaiah
62:6-7) "I have set watchmen upon
thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor
night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence. 7 And give
him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the
earth."
B. Let us ever put God in remembrance of his covenant and plead for his grace.
(Isaiah
43:25-26) "I, even I, am he
that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. 26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together:
declare thou, that thou mayest be justified."
V. Shameless
Desperation—Our great, gracious God would have us come to him in
shameless desperation.—We have nothing to bring!
How often we feel ashamed to come to the throne of
grace. How embarrassed we are that we seem only to seek him when we are in
utter desperation. Yet, in this parable, our Savior teaches us to come in just
that condition. If we didn’t need grace, we wouldn’t need to seek it. So he
tells us plainly to come in our desperation, to come shamelessly, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(Luke
11:8-10) "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. 9 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. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and
he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."
The word “importunity” does not adequately
express our Lord’s intent. In fact, the word ought to be translated,
“shamelessness!”
This was what our Lord really said: "I say
unto you," he said, "though he will not rise and give him
because he is his friend, yet because of his shamelessness he will rise and
give him as many as he needeth."
"What shamelessness!" the man cried out,
who was in bed, with his door shut. "What shamelessness!" the
disturbed neighbors cried out. "What shamelessness!" the late
passers-by said. "Hold your peace," they said, "and let honest
men's doors alone at this time of night."
"Never mind," says our Lord on the other
hand. "Never mind them. They have bread enough at home. It is easy for
them to cry shame to a starving man. Never mind them. Knock on. Knock on. The
man must rise if you go on knocking. Give him no rest. Well done! Knock
again!"
Yes, shamelessness! "What a shameless wretch I
am!" you will say about yourself, "to ask such things, to have to ask
such things at my age: to knock so loud after the way I have rebelled against
God, despised his grace, and trampled under my feet the blood of his dear
Son!"
"At my age!" You now number your days and
will blush with shame. "At
my age, and only beginning to pray in any earnest! How many nights have I had
no time to give to God! And, now, to expect that when I lift up my finger, and
go down five minutes on my carpeted knees, God Almighty is to hasten and set
everything aside to hear me!"
Yes. Repentance requires shameless humiliation. As
Christ says here, it takes some "shamelessness" in us for proud
rebels like you and me to come to the throne of grace in our souls’ midnight
and sue for mercy.—There is much to aggravate our shamelessness.
·
The shameful things we have to ask for: Pardon, Atonement, Grace.
·
The incredibly shameful things we have to admit and confess.
·
The lives we have lived.
·
The way we have spent our days and nights.
·
The result of our wasted lives!
·
It kills us to have to say such things even with our doors shut. But it
is infinitely better say all these things in closets than have them all
proclaimed from the housetops of the Day of Judgment!
Knock, man! Knock! For the love of your soul, knock!
Knock as Noah’s neighbors knocked once the door was shut and the rains began to
fall! Knock as they knock to get into heaven after the door is shut! Knock, as
they knock to get out of hell! For Christ’s sake, knock! Knock until the door
opens and you have obtained the blessing. Like Jacob, cry out to the Son of
God, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me!”
VI. The
Blessing Sought—The thing we need, the thing we must have, the
thing God alone can give is the blessed gift of eternal life, grace and
salvation by his Holy Spirit.
(Luke
11:11-13) "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? 12 Or if he shall ask an
egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 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?"
This
gift of the Spirit includes the whole experience of God’s salvation, all the
blessedness of God’s covenant promised to his elect before the world began,
flowing to every redeemed sinner by the merit, power, and efficacy of Christ’s
atoning blood.
(Galatians
3:13-14) "Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith."
Just before he ends his sermon on prayer, our Lord
in one word gets to the heart of his doctrine. This shameless desperation in
prayer is for the Holy Spirit. It is for God’s salvation.
It is no longer a prayer for bread, or for a fish,
or for an egg. It is not a prayer for long life, or for riches, or for good
health. It is not—What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal
shall we be clothed?
This is shameless importunity for life,
eternal life! Our Lord would fain hear us saying at the end of his sermon: "One
thing do I desire, and that will l seek after." We have wrestled at
midnight, when we saw Esau coming to meet us with his armed men. We have made
our couches swim with tears when our sin found us out. We have all fallen on
our faces when death approached. But this one thing we must have. We must have
Christ. We must have God’s salvation. We must have the Holy Spirit.
·
It is God the Holy Spirit who weds the soul to Christ.
·
It is God the Holy Spirit who gives dead sinners life.
·
It is God the Holy Spirit who gives us faith.
·
It is God the Holy Spirit who sprinkles our hearts with the blood of
the Lamb.
·
It is God the Holy Spirit who speaks peace and pardon to our souls.
·
It is God the Holy Spirit who puts on us the garments of salvation.
VII. The
Blessing Obtained—I cannot send you home without this. Our Lord
here promises that all who do, in the shameless desperation of faith look to
God for grace, salvation and eternal life shall obtain the blessing they seek.
(Luke
11:9) "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."
(Luke
11:13) "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?"
(Hebrews
11:6) "But without faith it is impossible
to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
(Jeremiah
29:10-15) "For thus saith the LORD,
That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and
perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11 For
I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace,
and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon
me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And
ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your
heart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn
away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all
the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you
again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. 15 Because
ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;"
When your midnight is no longer. When the Holy
Spirit has finished his midnight work in you. Then, (Oh blessed blessedness!)
after grace he will give glory too!
(Revelation
7:9-17) "After this I beheld, and,
lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds,
and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud
voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb. 11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the
elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and
worshipped God, 12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and
thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever
and ever. Amen. 13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What
are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And
I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before the throne of
God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the
throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For
the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes."
Amen.