I please God to bless us together
this evening as we continue our meditation in the Sermon on the
Mount. This evening we'll speak from
chapter 7 and reading verses 9, 10, 11 and 12. That's the
seventh chapter in the Gospel of Matthew from verse 9. Or what man is there of you whom,
if his son ask bread, Will He give him a stone? Or if He asks,
a fish? Will He give him a serpent? If
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven,
give good things to them that ask Him? therefore all things
whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so
to them for this is the law and the prophets as we continue the words here
of the Lord Jesus Christ he gives us a very wonderful illustration
really in directing us to how we should come in prayer and
expect to receive answers to our prayers and the Lord says
here what man is there of you whose if his son obviously speaking
of a father a natural father asked bread would he give him
a stone and of course in those days Really the basic food around
by Galilee was bread and fish. And so the Lord uses the two
illustrations of bread and fish. And he says, if a son asked bread,
would he give him a stone? Or if he asked a fish, Would
he give him a serpent? Well, we know of course, naturally
speaking, if there is a natural relationship between children
and the sons and the father, if they asked their father for
natural food, and they needed natural food, the father would
provide it, would he not? That's an obvious comment, isn't
it? An obvious situation. and we
are encouraged then in these verses because here we have a
statement if ye then being evil which we all are all by nature
are evil ever from the time when Adam fell sin came upon all men
so by nature we are all evil know how to give good gifts unto
your children, even though we are evil. We still know by God's
favor to be able to give good gifts unto our children. And
so the Lord then comes and says, how much more should your Father,
which is in heaven, give good things to them that Ask Him. This is a very wonderful statement. Earlier, of course, in this Sermon
on the Mount, the Lord instructed His disciples how to pray. And
they were instructed in this way, Our Father, which art in
heaven. And as we come to God in prayer,
it is important for us to realize that we do come to a Heavenly
Father. We have here therefore the illustration
of a natural father willingly giving to his children if they
ask. And this directs us here to such
a great statement that how much more should your father which
is in heaven give good things to them that ask him. Now, we
shall receive all those things which are needful and all those
things which are good, not those things which are wrong, not those
things which are evil, not those things which we will consume
upon our lust, but those things which will bring honour and glory
to God. And surely here we see the natural
direction But we also see the spiritual direction. And again,
thinking of this in a spiritual way, we have this simple fare,
don't we? Illustrated, bread and fish,
nothing fancy. The children of God need spiritual
food. They need blessed food. They
need the food which will feed them, the food which will do
them good. You and I, may we be blessed
with faith to come to our God seeking for spiritual blessings. We can also, of course, seek
for natural blessings. We have to be careful how we
ask and what we ask in case we do ask for those things which
are not needful, not necessary. And also to remember always to
come in that right way If it is the will of our Father in
heaven to give us these things, the Lord knows what we need.
He knows where they will be for our good. And yet, we are encouraged
to come to our Father in heaven. Now, God the Father is holy. God the Father is high and lifted
up. And we are indeed, as the Lord
says, evil. Almighty God cannot look upon
sin. The Holy Father could not look
upon us directly and hear our prayers. That's the great blessing we
have through our Saviour, the One who spoke these words, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And He it is, as He acts as our
Advocate. He takes our prayers. and he
presents them to his father and our father so that we receive
those answers through his merits, nothing that we've done. But
the father looks on his son and we are accepted in the beloved. It's a great blessing, and is
it not, to understand the sequence of prayer and the blessing of
prayer to come to our Father who is in heaven. In these words,
the Lord speaks to us, how much more shall your Father, which
is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? It's a
very positive statement, isn't it? And yet I suppose very often
we seem to come in an unbelieving way, don't we? We perhaps pray,
and we don't really pray believing. We pray perhaps in a wrong way,
and therefore we don't receive answers to our prayers. It's a very solemn situation,
isn't it? As many of you will remember,
on Sunday we mentioned the case of George Muller in
that time of need when he prayed to his father that the fog would
be lifted and it was immediately or in a very few minutes. And we have the many references
in the Word of God to those who asked and they received answers. Jonah, in the whale's belly,
in his time of need, brought to a time of want, he asked and
he received. He prayed to his Father in heaven. And so may we come today praying
indeed to our Father in heaven in a right way and not in a wrong
way. And we do have a testimony in
the prophecy of Isaiah how we are not to come if we come in
a wrong way. And we're thankful we do have
such evidences in the word of God to encourage us and to direct
us in those things which are right. And the prophet tells
us in the first chapter, in the 15th verse, and when you spread
forth your hands, remember, of course, that's how Solomon prayed,
spreading forth his hands. I will hide mine eyes from you.
Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are
full of blood. Wash you. Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do
well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for
the widow. It's good instruction, isn't
it? And so what does it mean? It
really means If we have, as it were, blood
on our hands, sins which we've committed, which we're very much
aware of, we are to seek forgiveness before we can come, seeking for
other blessings. It's good to come in a right
way, and yet you see, Having spoken these words, Isaiah then
brings before us this great truth. Having said that, what does he
say then? Come now. Isn't that an encouragement?
Come now. The Lord explained our situation.
How bad we've been. How wrong we've been. And yet,
the door of his mercy stands open all day. Come now. And let
us reason together. saith the Lord what a blessing
that is when God gives us grace to come to our God and to lay
all our sins before him and to plead for his mercy and to plead
for his grace though your sins be a scarlet they shall be as
they shall be as white as snow and though they be red like crimson
they shall be as wool if ye be willing and obedient ye shall
eat the good of the land but If you refuse and rebel, you
should be devoured with a sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it. So very solemn words and yet
very blessed words. And may we be able to come to
our God in that way. And so the Lord Jesus, he goes
on, he says, therefore, all things whatsoever ye would, that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them. For this is the law
and the prophets. Now that's a good test of our
religion. That's a good test of the earnestness
of our prayers, to see whether we follow out such a gracious
exhortation as this. The Lord says, therefore, all
things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even
so to them. For this is the law and the prophet. So just ponder those words. Whatever you and I would desire,
other people may say to us, do to us, may we be able to do those
things for all, to speak well, to encourage, and not to discourage,
and not to speak wrong things, it would be a good thing, wouldn't
it? If when perhaps we were about to do or say something which
on reflection may not be good, to just weigh it up in a balance
like this, to see whether we would be happy for people to
speak or do the same things to us, whether that would be good,
whether we would receive it well. And I'm sure such a consideration
would indeed influence us to do that which is right, to do
that which is good. And above all things, of course,
to seek for one another's favour and blessing, to pray for each
other, so fulfill the law of Christ. How easily, you know,
we find we pray for ourselves. Nothing wrong about praying for
ourselves. We need to pray for ourselves,
but we need to pray for others. We need to pray fervently for
them. We need to pray for the whole
Church of God. We need to pray for His love
and mercy to be displayed again and again. And so, As we come
to the end of this little section, which really deals with prayer,
how encouraging it is, and yet how searching it is. And may
we be able to come, therefore, in a right way, in a right spirit,
and we can truly say, can't we, with a Christ-like spirit. Amen.