Luke 11:11-13

YOUR FATHER WHO IS FROM HEAVEN

Luke 11:11-13. “ But which father of you, shall his son ask bread, whether will he give him a stone? Or indeed a fish, whether, instead of a fish, will he give him a serpent? Or if he may ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion?” You see from the plain teaching of our Savior that God never gives anything useless nor injurious; e. g., a stone, an utterly worthless thing, as the hungry boy can not eat it; nor a serpent, nor a scorpion, which might bite him and kill him. The reason why so much prayer is not answered directly is because it would be detrimental to the recipient. Many good people pray for riches, which God sees would make them proud, worldly, and oblivious of Him; giving Satan the down-hill pull on them, to drag them, not only out of the kingdom, but down to perdition. Millions of people are now happy in heaven who would be in hell if their prayers for riches had been answered. Myriads will praise God through all eternity for His signal mercy in keeping them poor enough to escape the awful temptations of riches, and be humble enough to get to heaven. We should be like God, and never grant the petitions of our children for anything useless or injurious, as Satan's temptations come thick and fast along those lines. If you permit your children to attend Satan's fandangos, with their concomitant follies and vices, you simply, with your money, purchase for them a ticket over the Black Valley Railroad down to hell.

“ Therefore, if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father, who is from heaven, give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him!” The Holy Spirit is not only the Omnipotent God, but He is the Executive of the Trinity. Consequently the Holy Spirit is but another name for “All Good Things.” When you have Him, you are a king and a priest in Zion, enjoying heaven in your heart. The contrast here between earthly parents, inheriting evil natures, and our blessed Heavenly Father is very forcible, giving us one of those a fortiori arguments so common in our Savior's illustrative expositions of the unutterable love and unfathomable wisdom of our Heavenly Father. What is an a fortiori argument? It is, from a human standpoint, an argument in the superlative degree; e. g., if a bushel of apples is worth one dollar, how much more would a thousand bushels of apples compensate for the dollar! The E. V., in this wonderful passage, “Our Heavenly Father,” signally fails to bring out the full force of our Lord's affirmation. So do not forget the translation of this passage which I literally give you, “How much more will your Father who is from heaven give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Now, see the beautiful and significant concatenation of our Savior's argument confirmatory of real efficiency in prayer. That “shameless prayer,” the sine qua non of every victory at a throne of grace, actually brings your Heavenly Father down to you, so that He is convenient and ready to give you His Holy Spirit, victory over the devil, and a heavenly sunburst. The simplicity of Jesus is actually inimitable. Here, describing this efficient prayer, illustrative of the very form he has given us, He assures us of victory invariably attending that “shameless prayer,” and culminating in the gift of the Holy Ghost, by “our Father who is from heaven,” having come down in answer to that shameless prayer. Hence, you see the Divine presence is indispensable in all acceptable worship, and absolutely necessary to the blessings of salvation and sanctification and victory over the enemy. We must have the real, personal presence of God. There is but one way to succeed, and that is to pray Him down from heaven. Now do not forget that this “shameless prayer” is the only one that will bring Him down, making His presence our paradise, giving to all the Holy Ghost to impenitent infidels and demon-filled sinners in the capacity of a Convictor; to all brokenhearted penitents, a Regenerator; to weak believers, an Illuminator; to consecrated, believing Christians, a Sanctifier; and to all the sanctified, a Glorious Edifier.