The lesson this morning is taken
from Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11, verses 5 through
13. I titled the lesson this morning,
The Midnight Intruder. And this is a continuation of
our Lord's instruction to His disciples concerning prayer.
They said, teach us how to pray. They no doubt, wouldn't you just
love to sit and listen to our Lord pray? I get lost in prayer. I start thinking about priorities,
and I start thinking about words, and I just get lost in prayer.
But He prayed without interruption, sometimes all night long. But
He knew what to pray for, and He knew when to pray. And so
they said, teach us to pray. We want to know how to communicate
with our Father the way you do. And so he gives them that model
prayer, Our Father which art in heaven, kind of an outline
for prayer. And then let's read these verses
together and then I'll talk to you a little bit more about it.
Luke chapter 11 and verse 5. And he said unto them, Which
of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight,
and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend
of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to
set before him. And he from within shall answer
and say, Trouble me not. The door is now shut. My children
are with me in bed and I cannot rise and give them. I say unto you, though he will
not rise and give him because he is a friend, yet because of
his importunity, he just keeps praying. He won't take no for
an answer. He will rise and give him as
many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ask, and
it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. 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? Or if he
shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to
them that ask Him?" Now what we have here is a parable. He
gave them an outline for prayer, told them everything that they
needed to pray for. And then he's going to illustrate
something about prayer to them with a parable. And we have a
parable here teaching us something of the everyday prayers of those
who are called of God and whose lives are consecrated to serve
God in the ministry. And I pray that the Lord give
us the ability this morning to rightly divide his work and teach
it to all who are willing to be taught. The parable here is
centered around a man with two friends. He went to a friend
to ask him for some loaves, but he went for a friend. He had one friend who had much
and another who had nothing. And as I said before, this is
a continuation of our Lord's teaching to us how to pray. And
these men he's addressing are preachers. They're apostles of
God, men chosen of God and set apart for the ministry. But that
aside, we're all engaged in the ministry, aren't we? How could
I study and preach except I be supported by this local church? We're all engaged in the ministry
just in different ways. And the ministry is the only
reason for saints to be left in this world. We have a perfect
righteousness in Christ. I'm accepted in the beloved.
I'm not waiting to see if I can be accepted or not. I'm accepted
in the beloved. And the ministry is the only
reason that I can find to be left in this world. God leaves
us here to minister to His saints. So then prayer for the bread
of God should be the common prayer for all His saints. So here He's
not just teaching me how to pray, but He's teaching all of us. He's teaching all of us. I titled the lesson, The Midnight
Intruder, and I have four or five things I want us to see
in these verses about prayer. The first point of instruction
in this parable is that we have a friend to go to. Wow, what
if you had no friend? What if God were cold, hard,
judgmental, judging all men in strict justice without any mercy,
without any grace? Oh, my soul, they had a friend
to go to. In Proverbs 18.24, the Holy Ghost
tells us we have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Now that's a friend. That's a
friend. He was seen of men, rightly described. They meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. They said he's a friend to publicans
and sinners. Pilots. In John 15, 13, he said, Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friend. or his friends. He said, ye are
my friend if you do whatsoever I command you. What did he command
us to do? Repent? Believe? Love one another? You're my friend if you do what
I command you to do. Listen to this one. Henceforth I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I called
you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father, I
have made known to you." He didn't keep anything back, Russell.
He revealed everything that God gave him to do. He revealed to
us. Listen. Which of you shall have
a friend? Do you have a friend in glory? A friend that can be approached
even at midnight? Do I have a friend who laid down
his life for me? Greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for his friend. Do I have such
a friend? Then I ought to have enough confidence
in his love for me to approach him for such things as I need. When I go before the throne of
grace in prayer for a friend, I'm to go there in the knowledge
that he is a friend of publicans and sinners, else what would
be the use? The second thing I want us to
see in this parable is that we're going to our friend for another. We're not going there for ourselves,
we're going there for another. This man was already convinced
he was a friend. If he wasn't convinced he was
a friend, he wouldn't have went to him at midnight. Turn with
me to Proverbs chapter 18. I quoted a portion of this verse
a few minutes ago, but I want you to see it in proper context.
Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 24. A man that hath friends must
show himself friendly. I've always applied that to you
and I, and it's a proper application that if we would have friends,
we're going to have to show ourselves friendly. But that ain't what
he's talking about in this verse. A man that has friends must show
himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother. How come you went to him? Because
he showed himself friendly. Is that not the truth? He showed
himself friendly. He didn't withdraw himself from
me. He didn't leave me to flounder
around in this present evil world. He showed himself friendly. He
came down from glory. Took on him the form of a man. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham. Why? He's showing himself friendly. He was smitten on the face. He
was hated and despised of men. Tortured, lied on, mocked, whipped
beyond recognition, and then nailed to a cross and died. What's
he doing? He's showing himself friendly. Greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Our Lord said
to these men, love your enemies. Oh, my soul. When we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son. While we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. He said, love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, now listen,
and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Why? That you may be the children
of your Father which is in heaven. For He maketh His Son to rise
on the evil and the good and sendeth rain to the just and
the unjust. He said if you love them that
love you, what reward have you? Even the publicans act like that.
That's how the world acts. And if you salute your brethren
only, what do you more than know? Do not even the publicans do
that? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect. Oh my, we can't be perfect, can
we? We can be perfectly consistent in His love and mercy and grace
if He's shown it to us. That's what He's telling you.
Be perfectly consistent. I'm saved by grace. Boy, we'll
argue that all day long. Are you? Then why aren't you
gracious? You see what he's saying? Perfectly
consistent in love and kindness and mercy and grace. Oh God,
help this poor sinner to be a friend to fallen sinners. And then thirdly, why would we wake a friend at
midnight? Because neither my friend who
suddenly showed up nor myself have any bread. Oh, how empty is the heart of
man. How empty. How empty. I sit in my study sometimes during
the week and just think how empty. All these years studying the
Word of God. All these years preaching to
people all over the country. And still empty. Empty, empty,
empty. I had no bread. I had no bread. How empty is the heart of man.
One old preacher said preaching is one beggar telling another
beggar where he got his bread. That's what preaching is. That woman at the well, when
she left Christ, she went back to her city just as the Lord
instructed her and said, come see a man. Told me everything
I ever did. Come see him. He's got the bread. He is the
bread. My friend might have all that
religion could give him. An outward form of righteousness,
religious speech, ceremonies and dress. Got his hair cut just
so-so. He may have their doctrine. customs, manners, but he's got
no bread. He's got no bread. I am the bread
of life, Christ said. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. They
said, Lord, evermore give us this bread. He said, but I say
unto you, you've seen me, and believe not. You ain't got any
bread. And here's the heart of prayer.
I need bread. I need bread. What kind of bread? The bread of God is He. It's
a person. It's not a thing. It's a person.
The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven and giveth
His life unto the world. And here's the church's prayer
and the ministers they pray for. Give us bread for a friend. God's
providence has brought to me a friend in need. Well, I just tell him it's late.
You should have been here last week. You should have been here
last month. And although that may be true,
he wasn't here last month. He's here today. Today is the
day of salvation. He'd been on a journey. Every
one of us is on a journey, aren't we? Sure we are. Every one of
us on a journey. This man had been on a journey
and he came to me being convinced that I'm his friend. He wouldn't
have come there if he didn't believe me to be his friend.
Now he may have wandered for a while. He may have doubted
that for a while. But eventually God convinced
him of it and he came to his friend. Why did he come? Because he didn't have any bread. What about you? You showed up
here today believing that this house is the house of a friend. You show up here today because
you need some bread? Oh, I need that bread. When you listen, do you listen
to me as a friend? You'll take advice from a friend,
won't you? You'll at least listen to what
he has to say. Hear this parable. You didn't know he was coming.
I don't always know they're coming. What they call that, being blindsided?
I get blindsided all the time. You didn't know he was coming.
You weren't expecting him to show up at midnight. In an hour, you think not. How
often does our Lord use that? Now the Lord says in this parable
it was midnight. Now don't you listen to me. It
was midnight in Egypt when the blood was put on the linen on
the side post of the door. Midnight. It was midnight when
a darkness that could even be felt covered the land. It was
midnight when God smoked the firstborn and brought about the
deliverance of all Israel out of Egypt. It was midnight when
Samson, they locked the gates at Geyser, locked the gates.
And they said, now we've got him, we've trapped him. He just
pulled the gates up, bolt bar and jam, and carried them clear
up on top of the high mountain and set them down. It was midnight
when Ruth came into the threshing floor and laid herself at Boaz's
feet. And it was midnight when the
bridegroom came. I can think of another place
there in the Book of Acts. It was midnight. Paul and Silas
locked up in prison for preaching the gospel. Midnight. They were singing hymns, praising God. Thanking God that
he counted them worthy to suffer for his great name. And God sent
an earthquake, shook them doors open. But they didn't run off. They stayed right where they
were. Preached to the jailer, and the jailer and his whole
house was converted. That's where the church at Philippi
came from. Are you listening? Midnight is
not a time, it's a condition. It's a condition. It's the midnight
in the heart of a sinner. He has not the one thing needful
to save his soul. He has no bread. It's midnight
in his soul and he comes to you as a friend. But I don't have
anything to give him. I had no bread of my own. Israel didn't have manna. God
sent manna. He made it rain manna down from
heaven. You have to be given bread to
have bread. I don't go home and open up a
file cabinet and grab some notes out of there and come up here
on Sunday and preach to you and then go back home and put them
back in the file cabinet and wait for another time. No. No,
I have to wait on the Lord to give me bread. I've got no bread of my own.
I must be giving this bread from a friend for a friend. But it's sudden. It's unexpected.
It's most inopportune. But I have to go because my friend's
the only one I know who truly has the bread I need. All my friends and brothers and
sisters, I'm a dying man. Preaching to dying men. I'm just a beggar telling another
beggar where I got my bread. I'm a man called of God desperately
needing bread for my friend. But there's times when the heavens
are like brass. There's times when you pray and
your prayers just fall on the ground. There's times when my
words rise no higher than my head. What am I to do? Go back empty-handed? Come up
here one Sunday morning and say, well, y'all, I appreciate you
coming, but you just need to go on home. I don't have anything
for you. No, I can't do that. But I got no bread. I have to
be given this bread. I can't go away empty-handed.
And so our Lord pictures us desperate to have this bread. Midnight
intruders. Can you vision our Lord and His
children resting secure in His house? They are, you know. Entering into His rest. Resting.
All but a rest. Rest with Him in His house. Filled
with heavenly bread. But suddenly there comes a knock
on the door. My friend, my friend! I'm sorry
to bother you, but a friend's come to my house in need of bread,
and I don't have anything to give him. Not now, says the voice, it's
not the proper time. But I can't wait. I can't wait. My friend's desperate. And as
desperate as he is, I'm that desperate also. I need bread
now. Now listen to me. It's not so
much that God don't want to give us this bread, and he never sleeps. God's not asleep. It's not so much that God don't
want to give us this bread, as it is to prove our need of it. He said, when you seek me with
all your heart, you're going to find me. You're going to find
me. Because of opportunity, he said,
he'll rise. And he'll give him all that he
needs. Fourthly, our Lord moves from
our relationship to Him as a friend to our adopted relationship to
Him as sons. If a son shall ask bread of his
father. Now we're not just talking about
a friend now. We're talking about our Heavenly
Father. How shall His Father respond?
Now we're full circle in our prayer. We're back to the beginning.
He's going to make some applications here. Our Father, which art in
heaven. Our Heavenly Father is the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom full provision
has been given. It's been purchased. It's been
secured, reserved in heaven for us. who are kept by the power
of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day. Think about it. How did this
poor sinner know that his Heavenly Father had bread prepared? Because
that's where he got his. You can't tell what you don't
know. You can't do it. You can't do it. I don't care
how many scholars you read. I don't care how many commentators
you quote. You can't tell what you don't
know. That's where he got his bread.
You notice he never asked if his friend had bread. He knew
that he had it. He knew that he was the only
one who had it. And he was willing to give it
to him once. Maybe he'll give it to him again.
And then fifthly, and I'll quit with this. The bread that he
asked for is later defined in verse 13. as the Holy Ghost. Well, did you catch that when
you read those verses? He's the way believers receive
the Bread of God. He takes of the things of Christ
and shows them unto us. When He's come, He's not going
to speak of Himself. He's going to take the things
of Minecraft and show them unto you. What then? Bread. My words are spirit and they're
life. You remember all those followers
that he had. He had a multitude of followers.
They saw some miracles and heard some things. Oh man, he just
had a multitude of followers. And he said, except you eat my
flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And I said,
oh no. I was suspicious. Now I know
he's a lunatic, he's talking about cannibalism. And now I
walked away. And he turned to the 12 and he
said, doors open, you gonna go too? I said, Lord, where we gonna
go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And that's when he turned and
told them. My words are spirit in their life. The Holy Ghost
feeds hungry sinners through the preaching of the gospel.
Do you love me, Peter? Then reform my church. No, I
ain't what he said. Do you love me? Then judge my
church. No, I ain't what he said. Do
you love me, Peter? Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. On His sheep are particular people. They love bread. That's what
they want. They want bread. They can't get
enough of it. May the Lord help us all to understand
what I said here this morning. That you'll join me in asking
for this so desperately needed food.