Next time you pray, be bold. The 19th century pastor and writer E. M. Bounds said, God shapes the world by prayer, and the secret to successful prayer is importunity. We must press our prayers on God. In other words, your prayers will accomplish much if you ask boldly, ask often, and expect God to answer.
Does that surprise you at all? Maybe you're thinking, I'm just a sinner saved by grace. I'm thankful for the privilege of going to God in prayer. How can I come to the Lord boldly, with expectation that He will, or even should, do what I want?
Those are important questions. Bring them to today's lesson, because this is part of John MacArthur's current study on prayer, both what it is, and how to do it. The title of this series here on Grace to You, Don't Be Afraid to Ask.
And now, here's John. A mature believer who has been shaped by Scripture, and that's the only way to be mature, understands the nature of God. Your view of God is really the benchmark of your spiritual maturity. Understanding the nature of God is critical to spiritual maturity. Because in the end, you rest in the reality of your God, superficial knowledge of God, a shallow knowledge of God, a limited knowledge of God contributes to limited understanding and limited faith and limited trust. And so, when we talk about spiritual maturity, we're really talking about understanding the nature of God.
That is essential. That is to say you understand that God is eternal, that He is powerful, that He is holy, that He is unchangeable, that He is omniscient, that He is omnipresent, that He is purposeful, that He is sovereign, that He is in perfect control of everything He has created all the time. You understand that God is above and beyond and outside all of the contingencies that go on in the created universe. He is transcendent, He is high and lofty, majestic and lifted up, and He is working to perfection His plan for the universe and for mankind.
He has everything under control all the time and is in perfect knowledge and bringing to pass the plan which He ordained from the very beginning. You say, why are you telling us all this? Because all these realities about God raise the question of how our prayers matter, don't they?
Were you getting there? Some say, well, you know, why do I bother to pray? All that seems to squelch my prayer life and my little requests. And, of course, that's one of the accusations that's been made by people who reject Reformed theology that if you have a strong view of God, if you have the biblical view of God, it just takes all the heart out of your praying. If you know God is sovereign and if you know God is all wise and all powerful and all knowing and has purposed everything from the beginning to the end and all the way through the middle, what in the world is the point of praying? And the answer is because God has not only ordained the end, He has ordained the means to the end. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather be a part of God's means than anything else.
I suppose I could be a spiritual couch potato and not care whether I participated as the means which God uses to reach His end, but I'd much rather be engaged and involved in being the means because the residual impact to me is wonderful. It is His goodness and blessing in this life and eternal reward in the life to come. It's not about changing God's mind. It's not about changing God's plans. It's not about giving Him information He doesn't have. It's not about a tweaking of the circumstances He might not have anticipated. It's simply about being used by God. I can't think of anything more wonderful than God allowing me to be a means to His ends.
It's incredible. I don't want to change God. Let me tell you right now, I don't want to change anything. I can't. It would be ridiculous to think of it.
But that would be to assume that I had a better idea and that's absolute idiocy. But to think that God could use me totally ignorant of the future, totally inept, to be a means by which He achieves His eternal ends and then not only bless me for that, but reward me forever beyond belief. That's why the Bible tells us to pray.
Prayers are means by which God's infinite wisdom, infinite power and perfect purpose are brought together to accomplish His will. You can't be saved without believing. You can't be sanctified without obeying. And you can't enjoy the goodness of God in this life without participating in His unfolding purpose through your prayers and through your service to Him.
That's what we're going to see in this story. Drop down to verse 8, you notice in verse 8 the word persistence, that's in the NAS, I don't know what other versions have. Some Bibles say importunity, there's a word nobody ever uses. Importunity, that's a good word.
If you ever get a chance to look at it in the dictionary, this is what you'll find. Importunity is different than opportunity. We all use opportunity all the time because that kind of works for us in our everyday language. Opportunity is a word the dictionary says that means a circumstance favorable to us. You see what appears to be a circumstance favorable to you and you take advantage of it. You move into that circumstance to achieve in that opportunity what it is that you think is available for you there. That's opportunity. Importunity is not that at all, it's something different. Opportunity simply means you moved into a favorable circumstance.
Importunity is far stronger. It is a word that has urgency and persistence in it, but it's bigger than the word persistence. Some dictionaries translate it this way, troublesomely urgent, overly persistent. It's a hyper word, or even annoyingly relentless. What happened here was this guy finally got out of bed and gave the man what he wanted because he was annoyingly persistent. He was overly persistent.
He was troublesomely urgent. It's the word in the Greek anai, day an, it's hapax legomena that is once said in the New Testament, the only place it ever appears. And really what it means, and you might see this in your marginal reading in the NAS, is shamelessness. Somebody who just sets aside all sense of shame. It's one lexicon said, overly bold. Another one said, utter shamelessness.
Somebody who is just brash and bold, somebody who has a lot of nerve. Are we supposed to pray like that? That's what Jesus is going to teach us here to pray like that and thus to participate in the means by which God achieves His ends. Verse 5, Jesus just jumps right in, the subject is prayer, He just taught them how to pray, still on the same subject, probably in the same location at the same time.
And He said to them, because He knew this question would come up. If God has His Kingdom and God has His will and God has His purpose and all of this, what...you know, there's this nagging wonder about why do we pray? And maybe we just pray, you know, these little sort of tepid, brief, quick in and out prayers not to interrupt God at all. He tells a story. Suppose one of you shall have a friend and you go to him at midnight and you say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. Now the teaching on prayer raises the question, shouldn't we be reluctant or a little ashamed to bother God with our troubles since, you know, He's going to do what He's going to do?
And so here's the illustration, Jesus jumps back into His daily life, very simple, unforgettable story. Suppose you have a philas, a friend, somebody that you have an affection for, means a neighbor. Now in Israel, as in other parts of the world in ancient times and in third world countries today, people in, you know, places where they don't have a lot are dependent upon their neighbors. They're dependent upon each other.
They sort of survive together. You make enough bread for the day, you eat the bread that day and then it's gone. The next day you make bread again. You might have a supply of grain and you might have a supply of oil like the widow in the Old Testament, but you don't have preservatives and you don't have a stockpile of foods. You don't have an AMPM store. You don't have food shops that are certainly open at night and you don't have access to that.
So, you know, it's the battle for bread every day and that's the way it was. And so here's a man who has a neighbor and goes to him at midnight. This is the worst time for a visit. I hate when people come to see me at midnight.
I don't care what they want. That's not a good time to come. And by the way, there was no TV in those days, so there was no late night anything. You know, when darkness came, you basically stayed around a little bit the light of a candle and then you went to sleep because you had to start work at 6 A.M. in the morning. That's when the workday began. And so nobody's awake at midnight. And it says here, this man goes to his friend at midnight and says to him, he comes to his house, probably in a close little community, and he starts yelling his name. Hey, hey, hey, it's me. And he's waking him up, obviously. Friend, friend. It's always good to say that when you've done that. Just to rehearse, hopefully that you can make him feel some sense of well-being that you consider him a friend. It's a sensible greeting if you've just arrived uninvited at midnight and are becoming a nuisance in somebody's life.
I'm still pretty convinced it would only slightly ease the irritation, if at all. Lend me three loaves. Now he doesn't mean three great big bakery loaves like we're used to. A loaf would be basically one piece of flatbread. He wants three pieces of flatbread, which would be a normal meal dipped in perhaps some kind of olive oil or spread with some kind of fruit or whatever.
This would be sufficient for an evening meal. Now this is not an emergency. He isn't saying my wife is having a baby, my wife is dying, my kids broke his leg, we've got a robber in the house, he's in the middle of the night. Then he says, I want these three loaves. And the guy's probably thinking, what in the world? He is waking me up for a midnight snack.
This is ridiculous. But actually it's a very generous and unselfish act on his part because he's been awakened himself. Because verse 6 says, for a friend of mine has come.
I'm just passing on the joy here. A friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him. People often travel at night in that hot part of the world and this friend came at midnight and he had to get up and host him.
He arrived unexpectedly. Hospitality, by the way, was expected in the ancient world, very much expected among the Jewish people. They majored on hospitality. It was part of their social duty, more a part of their religious duty, part of their duty to God to care for the stranger, right?
I mean, that's Old Testament stuff. They knew what they had to do. And so this poor man who had this guest arrive at midnight at his house, he had sort of a difficult dilemma. I can be a poor host or a poor neighbor, right? Being a poor host was not an option because hospitality was at the high level of priorities in cultural considerations. And he knew his neighbor knew it as well.
So both of them would really be doing what was right, even though it was a bit inconvenient for both of them. So he says, it's really not for me, I don't want a midnight snack, it's a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him. He's obviously hungry, he hasn't had anything to eat, no shops, restaurants, no stockpile of food, nothing.
Very different, by the way, from our world, isn't it, when you just make it every day with the bread you have. And there's a rather predictable response, verse 7, and from inside he shall answer...this conversation is going on through the wall here... Do not bother me, the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.
Now this is exactly what you would expect. You know, it's hard for me...it would be hard for me to do what the man did. I don't know, I think I would maybe end up a poor host. Patricia would tell you, you know, that I don't like to bother people. You know, and if I was in this situation and she was saying, Now you've got this guest, go to the neighbor and get some food. I'd say, You go. I don't want to go. I don't know what it is, but I don't like to bother people. She would say, That's what I would expect you to say. But he went and the guy has a predictable response. Don't bother me, stop causing me trouble.
What are you doing? The door has already been shut. It wasn't a door like we have, but you shut it easily. Sometimes doors were actually dropped through rings, a combination of metal and iron. Removing it was not just a simple thing to do and opening it would make a lot of racket and there was a whole family there.
And he says, My children and I are in bed, usually the same bed. They had a big mat, one room houses, right? One room houses. Kitchen in one corner.
Living space over here and bedroom in the same place, just roll out the mat and everybody goes down on the mat with some pillows or whatever. And the colder it got, the closer they all got together. That's how they kept themselves warm. So if he gets up, everybody's up, all the kids are up, everybody's up and probably by now the people living close next door are up because they're listening to the conversation as well. The whole thing seems very presumptuous, very bothersome and it really isn't a big emergency. I mean, couldn't he...would he die if he waited till breakfast?
Aren't you literally overdoing this hospitality thing? Tell the guy, go to bed, you'll forget it when you fall asleep. You know, give him a speech. If you've been on a long journey, you're probably tired, just lay down, you'll fall asleep and you'll forget. The man says, I'm not going to get up and give you anything.
This is too much trouble. And then Jesus, skipping any prolonged narrative, jumps to the point of the story in verse 8. I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, his importunity, his brashness, his boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. There's really no sense in not getting up because he's not going away.
And you've already awakened me and you've already awakened the kids. I tell you, he's going to get what he asked for because of his shamelessness. That's the word, anai deon, because of his shamelessness, his brashness, his gall. The emphasis here is on this boldness. It isn't so much on persistence and much asking as just the boldness of asking at such an inopportune time.
Just took a lot of gall to do this. It was a perfect illustration. It's a perfect illustration of us going to God and saying, I know it's inappropriate to interrupt you because you're running the universe and you've got all these things going, but I just need you to sit down and listen to me and look at this and don't be distracted.
I've got some things I need to...that is just...that's over the top. But it isn't. The picture here is of shameless nerve, boldness, importunity, things that seem almost ludicrous to us going into the presence of the God of the universe. That our Lord is teaching us how to be invasive, how to be bold in our prayers.
This man responded, not for friendship, but for irritation. He is in contrast to God who, by the way, the Old Testament says, never sleeps and never...what...slumbers, so you're not waking Him up. And if this man would give this man what he wanted, not for friendship, but just because of his shameless boldness, what will God who loves you perfectly give you when you come into His presence?
And so the parable leads to this incredible promise in verses 9 and 10. And this is over the top. Listen to this. And I say to you...I love that...Ego is in the emphatic position and I say to you...this isn't somebody's opinion, folks, this is the incarnate God speaking, okay? I say to you, this is the voice of absolute divine authority.
I say to you...I want to hear this, what are you saying? He doesn't say, don't you dare come and bang around in God's presence demanding things. I would expect Him to say that, you better back off.
Don't you be like that guy. Don't you come interrupting God. He knows your need. He knows what's going on. He doesn't need information from you. He can read your heart. He can see your concerns. He doesn't say that at all. He says the opposite, feel free. Verse 9, I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be open to you for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
That is unbelievable, isn't it? Three imperative verbs, present imperative. Keep on asking, keep on pursuing, keep on knocking. Don't hesitate at all to be bold. Don't be embarrassed. Ask that's kind of the first level, psst, God, it's me. Seek that's the second level, zeteo, it means to strive after. Or to demand, God, I'm telling you, you've got to listen to me now, you've got to watch what's going on here.
Don't be distracted. Knock, now you're storming the gates of heaven. Don't be reluctant to ask and to get aggressive and to bang on heaven's door. Did you ever think about prayer like that? Just drawn out of that simple little story?
It's just amazing. James says you have not because...what? You don't ask. Or you ask to consume it on your own lusts, or you ask double-minded, not really believing, or you ask out of a disobedient heart and you have forgotten that God hears the prayers of those who obey His commandments, or you say, wait a minute, isn't this a blank check, come on, you can't just ask, seek, knock and you receive...well, is this a blank check?
No. It's already been qualified by verses 2 through 4, hasn't it? Here's how you pray. Father, hallowed be...what?...Your name, Your kingdom come, and then we add, of course, from Matthew 6, Your will be done. So it's always according to God's name, according to God's kingdom, and according to God's will that we ask.
It's not a blank check. The generosity of the statement in verses 9 and 10 is absolutely amazing. And because verse 9 is so shocking, verse 10 repeats the same thing. It's not necessary to say the same thing twice, especially when you don't really change anything, but he does because of the first verse, verse 9 just kind of leaves you stunned. Come on, God says. You can start whispering, if you want, through the wall and you can raise your voice and begin to make demands and you can even bang on the door if you want. And I'll tell you this, when you ask, you'll receive and when you seek, you'll find and when you knock, you will receive what you desire.
I will open the door. What a great statement. Jeremiah 29 and just verses 12 and 13, and we'll kind of close with those two, Jeremiah 29 verses 12 and 13, this is so good, for I know the plans that I have for you. Isn't that good?
That's sovereignty, isn't it? I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare, not for calamity to give you a future in hope. I know what I have planned for you. There is an affirmation of God's perfect knowledge, perfect sovereignty and working out His purpose. But verse 12 he then says, then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will listen to you and you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
In a sense, the two seem like they contradict. I know My plans, they're set, they're fixed, they're good, but I'm telling you, come and pray and I'll make you a part of the means of the fulfillment of those plans when you seek Me with all your heart. And what comes out of this? I'll tell you what comes out of this, an experience of the goodness of God, an experience of communion with God. This is the richness of what we enjoy in this life and in the life to come, the eternal reward for being eager participants in the purposes of God. Next time you pray, be bold. Next time you pray, which should be at all times praying without ceasing, be shameless. Next time you pray, go into the presence of God, eager to pour out your heart. Next time you pray, ask God to listen and to see and not to turn away and to hear the cry of your heart. And as you pray and God unfolds His purpose, you will be enjoying the experience of having been a part of what He accomplishes and enjoy His goodness. Join me in prayer. Father, we thank You this day for such incredible generosity.
What can we say, it is just beyond comprehension. We thank You that we can come into Your glorious presence like Nehemiah, fully understanding who You are and yet praying, fasting, weeping, pleading that we might be a part of the means by which You achieve Your ends. What a privilege that we can enjoy such an experience and such blessing firsthand, both now and forever. We thank You in the name of Christ. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.
Thanks for being with us. John is the pastor of Grace Community Church and chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary, and his current study on prayer is titled, Don't Be Afraid to Ask. You know, John, a young child just naturally wants to talk to his parents, and yet obviously talking is something young children have to learn. And it's similar, isn't it, with young Christians? We feel the need to pray to the Lord, and yet for new Christians especially, sometimes praying, talking with their Heavenly Father, is something they need to learn.
They even struggle with it. Yeah, and I think that's why the Bible teaches us so much about prayer. I mean, we are taught about prayer by our Lord Himself in the teaching of the disciples' prayer or the Lord's prayer, as it's called. And the apostles in writing the epistles have filled those epistles with prayer, particularly the apostle Paul, and all of that instructs us how to pray. We don't know how to pray as we should. Paul says in Romans 8, we don't know how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us. So prayer is a struggle. We don't know what God wants. We feel a little bit reluctant to push Him on things, and we're learning not to do that in this series. We don't want to, you know, pray to consume it on our lusts, as the Bible says.
That's wrong. We don't want to pray repetitiously like the Pharisees who just thought that repetitious prayers were some kind of magic force that moved God. So trying to figure out how to pray the right way, boldly asking what we desire and trusting that God will hear and answer those prayers, is like any other part of spiritual life. You have to learn how to pray. And I think it starts with mastering the disciples' prayer. When they said, teach us to pray, He gave them a prayer, and it was basically an outline of how to pray. We're familiar with what He said, but I'm not sure we're all familiar with what each of those lines means, our Father. You can stop and talk about that. Who art in heaven?
Stop and talk about that. So He was given an outline. All of that I've put in a book called, Lord, Teach Me to Pray. The Lord will come alongside you through this book and teach you how to pray. It answers questions like, why should I pray? What are the conditions for prayer?
When and how often? What do I pray about? Just amazing truth taught by our Lord. We'd love to get one of these books in your hand, Lord, Teach Me to Pray, Rekindle Your Passion for Prayer Very Reasonably Priced. And if you desire to pray with more discipline and more consistency, you want to see greater joy as a result, let me encourage you to ask for John's book, Lord, Teach Me to Pray.
Do it when you contact us today. The book is available for $14, and shipping is free. This beautiful little hardcover book makes a great gift. It's concise and practical help for new believers and for veteran saints alike. You can order the book, Lord, Teach Me to Pray by calling 800-55-GRACE, or you can order it at our website, gty.org. And when you visit gty.org, make sure to take advantage of the thousands of free Bible study tools that we have available. You can read helpful articles on the Grace To You blog from John and the staff. You can follow along with the reading plan of the MacArthur Daily Bible, and you can download more than 3,500 sermons, all of them free of charge in MP3 or transcript format. That web address again, gty.org. Also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to keep up with our newest resources and our latest free offers. Now for John MacArthur and the entire staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for tuning in today, and be here tomorrow when John looks at why you can have assurance that God will hear your prayers and send help in your time of need. Just another half hour of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-12-17 11:30:33 / 2023-12-17 11:41:39 / 11