Who is Asking for a Snake or Scorpion?

Please take your Bibles and find Luke 11:11. I want to share a message with you entitled, “Who is Asking for a Snake or Scorpion?”

 

This is rhetorical question, and a reference to today’s text in Luke 11.  Generally speaking, the answer is no one.

 

So far this year, we have been talking about priorities for the child of God and the follower of Christ.  I have challenged you to make your first priority daily bible reading.

 

I have challenged you to make you second priority regular praying in our daily lives.  In order to better understand what that might look like, we saw the Jesus’ pattern of prayer also known as the Lord’s Prayer.

 

Jesus prayed regularly and during significant and stressful times in His life.  He prayed alone and with others.  He prayed for those around Him and for Himself. 

 

Last Sunday, we were challenged to keep on keeping on in our prayers and with praying.  God wants us to persistently ask, seek, and knock like a desperate beggar.

 

Today, I want to show you what God promises when we pray.  In short, because of who He is, He will give us what we need when we come to Him in prayer.

 

 

Exposition

In the NKJV of verses 11-12, Jesus asked 3 rhetorical questions, and the answer to all 3 is No.  You probably have a footnote telling you why or why not this first question is included in your version.

 

Regardless, normal earthly fathers are going to give their children what they ask for.  Said another way, normal earthly fathers are NOT going to give their children things that harm them like snakes and scorpions.

 

BTW…I know there are some in the room this morning that had sorry earthly fathers.  I hate that, and I am sorry for you.  However, please know that God in heaven, the God of the Bible, wants to be your good and perfect heavenly Father if He isn’t already.  

 

In verse 13, Jesus then makes His point from the rhetorical questions.  If sinful and evil earthly fathers know to give their children what they need when they ask, our heavenly Father will absolutely give us what we need, and our greatest need is salvation by being born again through the Holy Spirit. 

 

So, allow me explain this a little more.

 

 

1. Our Heavenly Father will give us what we need when pray to Him because of His character.

 

How do I know this?  The Bible tells me so.

 

Romans 8:32, 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

 

Again, we have a rhetorical question.  If God gave His own Son to us, don’ you think He will also answer our prayers according to our needs?

 

BTW…I recently read these answers to pray, and I want to share them with you.

 

First, sometimes God answers our prayers directly.  That means He gives us exactly what we asked for.

 

Second, sometimes God answers our prayers differently.  He still answered us, but not exactly what we prayed.

 

Third, there are times when God delays His answer to our prayers.  In other words, His answer is wait.

 

Finally, sometimes God’s answer is no.  He denies our request or petition for some good reason. 

 

However, because the Bible is true, we can know that because of His character, He knows our needs and will give us what we need without hesitation or reservation.  He is our good, good Father.

 

James 1:17, 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, even when we don’t understand, I ask you and challenge you to trust Him.  He is perfect, and His plan for us perfect.

 

 

 

2. The second best prayer we can ever daily and throughout the day is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

Christians don’t have to be pray for the Holy Spirit because of Pentecost.  If we are saved, we have Him.

 

Let that sink in.  If we are saved, we have the third person of the Holy Trinity within us all the time.

 

However, like an old bicycle tire, we are prone to leak, and we have to pray to be filled with the Spirit regularly.  See Ephesians 5:18.

 

Ephesians 5:18, 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.

This is the explicit will of God.  Therefore, when we have the third person of the Holy Trinity within us, and we are filled with Him or following His lead, what does that mean?

 

First, it means we will pray in Jesus’ name and according to God’s will.  Why does that matter?

 

John 14:13-14, 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

 

John 15:16, 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

 

John 16:23-24, 23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

 

1 John 5:14-15, 14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

 

It matters because the Bible says God will answer our prayers when we pray in Jesus’ name and according to God’s will.  How do we do that?  We do this when we are filled with the Holy Spirit and not our own flesh.

 

Second, being filled with the Holy Spirit means we will be obedient to the Lord Jesus.  Why does matter? 

 

John 15:7, 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

 

Not only does the Bible say when we pray in Jesus’ name and according to God’s will that He will answer our prayers, it also says when we are obedient to His desire for our lives that He will answer our prayers.

 

To abide is synonymous with obey.  His words are His commands or the Bible. When we obey His commands or abide in Him, our heavenly Father will answer our prayers.

 

 

Conclusion

So, if praying to be filled with the Spirit is the second best prayer you can pray, what is the first?  The absolute best prayer you can pray is the prayer of salvation that says, “Father, please forgive me and save me.”

 

Admit that you are sinner and ask for forgiveness.  Then, because Jesus died on the cross for your sins and was raised on the third day, ask Jesus to come into your life to be your Lord and Savior.

 

You can pray that prayer today and be saved.  If you do or will, we want to know.