Prayer: Guaranteed to Succeed! - Charles Spurgeon Sermon

[Baruch]

Video: Prayer: Guaranteed to Succeed! - Charles Spurgeon Sermon
Channel: Christian Praise and Worship in Songs, Sermons, and Audio Books
Length: 54:54

[Lou Newton]

Thanks Barry. Will comment later.

[Baruch]

It appears prayer is a theme on that channel today. Here is another excellent one from a renowned prayer warrior. If you have the time, I think you'll be blessed by these. I hope so.

The God Who Hears and Answers Prayer! - Puritan Jonathan Edwards
Length: 47:37

[Lou Newton]

Video: Prayer: Guaranteed to Succeed! - Charles Spurgeon Sermon
Channel: Christian Praise and Worship in Songs, Sermons, and Audio Books
Length: 54:54

He gives the text as Luke 11:9-10

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

But let us look at the passage before this in Luke 11

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

Now let us take a more careful look at verse 8

Luke 11:8

CEV
He may not get up and give you the bread, just because you are his friend. But he will get up and give you as much as you need, simply because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

EXB
I tell you, [^Leven] if friendship is not enough to make him get up to give you the bread, ·your boldness will make him [your shameless persistence will make him; or in order not to be shamed before the community he will] get up and give you whatever you need.

GNT
Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

Notice that The Lord says He will give you everything you NEED, NOT everything you WANT.

It seems the Lord is saying that He will give you everything you need because it is the right thing to do. The Lord is of course RIGHTEOUS.

So why does He imply that we need to keep asking ?

What does a child do if something is given to him with no effort of his part. He often does not appreciate it and misuses it.

So The Lord wants us to work at prayer so we will appreciate the answer when it comes and be THANKFUL and NOT TAKE IT FOR GRANTED.

Being thankful is being made like Jesus, being ungrateful is being evil. The Lord is always looking for our GOOD, not to make things worse for us.

If The Lord gave us everything we wanted, we would become more evil.

The Lord gives us everything we truly need. Everything that will make us more righteous.

If one reads with care they will see The Lord never promises to give us things that are not good for us. But that is what many preach. They preach as nothing would harm us. Are we so righteous that nothing can bring us into temptation to do evil? Of course not.

I did not know the answer to this mystery when I started to write this post. I thank The Lord for revealing this to us.

It is so simple it should not have been a mystery.

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Notice The Lord says THE DOOR will be opened to you, NOT any door. Of course it is the door to His Kingdom. Those asking for something that will not take them closer to the kingdom ask in vain.

[Lou Newton]

It appears prayer is a theme on that channel today. Here is another excellent one from a renowned prayer warrior. If you have the time, I think you'll be blessed by these. I hope so.

The God Who Hears and Answers Prayer! - Puritan Jonathan Edwards
Length: 47:37

Thanks Barry.

[Baruch]

He gives the text as Luke 11:9-10

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

But let us look at the passage before this in Luke 11

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

Now let us take a more careful look at verse 8

Luke 11:8

CEV
He may not get up and give you the bread, just because you are his friend. But he will get up and give you as much as you need, simply because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

EXB
I tell you, [^Leven] if friendship is not enough to make him get up to give you the bread, ·your boldness will make him [your shameless persistence will make him; or in order not to be shamed before the community he will] get up and give you whatever you need.

GNT
Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

Notice that The Lord says He will give you everything you NEED, NOT everything you WANT.

It seems the Lord is saying that He will give you everything you need because it is the right thing to do. The Lord is of course RIGHTEOUS.

So why does He imply that we need to keep asking ?

What does a child do if something is given to him with no effort of his part. He often does not appreciate it and misuses it.

So The Lord wants us to work at prayer so we will appreciate the answer when it comes and be THANKFUL and NOT TAKE IT FOR GRANTED.

Being thankful is being made like Jesus, being ungrateful is being evil. The Lord is always looking for our GOOD, not to make things worse for us.

If The Lord gave us everything we wanted, we would become more evil.

The Lord gives us everything we truly need. Everything that will make us more righteous.

If one reads with care they will see The Lord never promises to give us things that are not good for us. But that is what many preach. They preach as nothing would harm us. Are we so righteous that nothing can bring us into temptation to do evil? Of course not.

I did not know the answer to this mystery when I started to write this post. I thank The Lord for revealing this to us.

It is so simple it should not have been a mystery.

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Notice The Lord says THE DOOR will be opened to you, NOT any door. Of course it is the door to His Kingdom. Those asking for something that will not take them closer to the kingdom ask in vain.

Thank you for the comment, Lou. Well put regarding verse 8, want versus need. I see in the scripture and in your comment the elements of humility and prayer, which seem to normally go hand in hand.

John Gill's comment adds understanding to this passage from the set time and culture:

Luke 11:5
And he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend,.... A neighbour, or acquaintance:

and shall go unto him at midnight; which may seem a very unseasonable time, and which nothing but real distress, not knowing what otherwise to do, would put a man upon:

and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves: it was usual of the Jews to borrow bread of one another, and certain rules are laid down, when, and on what condition, this is to be done; as for instance, on a sabbath day (k),

"a man may ask of his friend vessels of wine, and vessels of oil, only he must not say, lend me: and so a woman, 'bread of her friend'.''

So we can see that it is not the neighbor asking for bread that is the imposition here, it is the late hour that he asks and it is quite an imposition.

Following this passage the Lord Jesus relates the metaphor of a son asking bread of his earthly father, who gives him good gifts, not a stone instead of bread, or a scorpion instead of a fish. God's good and generosity towards His children is so much greater than that of man who is evil. So we have every reason to hope and expect our prayers will be answered above what we ask, because He is God our Father.

And we may feel like, "well, I don't want to keep pestering God" or "if I keep asking it's a sign of little faith". On the contrary, we are exhorted to apply ourselves in prayer, to press in. If one thinks about it, insistent and fervent prayer requires and exercises humility and faith. It is a careless thing to let a request fly and then go about one's own business; whereas asking, seeking and knocking are presented as an escalation of effort, and acknowledgement of our relationship with the Father, with commensurate results.

[Lou Newton]

It appears prayer is a theme on that channel today. Here is another excellent one from a renowned prayer warrior. If you have the time, I think you'll be blessed by these. I hope so.

The God Who Hears and Answers Prayer! - Puritan Jonathan Edwards
Length: 47:37

I pray that everyone would listen to this video and carefully consider EACH and EVERY point that Edwards makes.

Stop the video and consider each important point. There is wonderful wisdom in this sermon.

Many would be greatly helped if they would take several days to listen and consider each point.

[Baruch]

At the request of Lou, I was able to find a text version of the Edwards sermon. It differs in wording, so perhaps this was given on more than one occasion or the modern renderings hope to ease our understanding of old English dialects. At any rate, it seems to be here in its entirety and it is quite lengthy:

http://www.sounddoctrine.net/Classic_Sermons/Jonathan%20Edwards/Prayer.pdf

[Baruch]

(Psst. There is also an audio reading of Pilgrim's Progress on the home page: http://www.sounddoctrine.net/ and many other goodies.)

[Lou Newton]

At the request of Lou, I was able to find a text version of the Edwards sermon. It differs in wording, so perhaps this was given on more than one occasion or the modern renderings hope to ease our understanding of old English dialects. At any rate, it seems to be here in its entirety and it is quite lengthy:

http://www.sounddoctrine.net/Classic...rds/Prayer.pdf

WOW, thanks Barry. That was quick. I wanted to look at this sermon line by line while concentrating on each statement. There was a lot of very wise statements in it. Thanks again.

[Steve Hollander]

That was a good expose and the arguments the author makes are valid. Thanks for posting this Barry. I hadto read it being I got the flu and can't listen to anything cause my ears and my head hurt. Blessings ..... Steve

[Baruch]

Lou, you're welcome.

Steve, you're welcome and I pray for your health.

I found these sermons very encouraging. I have heard many times that God hears and answers our prayers, but they are just platitudes compared to the power in these teachings.