Prayer is presented as both a duty and a privilege, stemming from our relationship with God as our Heavenly Father who loves us more than we love ourselves. The sermon emphasizes that prayerlessness is a sin, often caused by unconfessed sin, grieving the Holy Spirit, pride, laziness, or unbelief. Jesus' teaching in Matthew 7:9-11 illustrates God's willingness to give good gifts to those who ask, drawing a parallel to earthly parents' care for their children. The sermon concludes by connecting this to the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12), urging believers to imitate God by extending grace and kindness to others as they have received it.
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I invite you to turn with me this morning to the Gospel by Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven. And our reading begins at verse nine. And we're dealing with a great subject of prayer. In verses seven and eight that we examined last week, we have the introduction that our Lord gave for praying. But in verse nine, he says, or what man is there of you, whom, if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask 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 heavenly Father, or shall your Father which is in heaven, give good gifts 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. So you'll notice in verse twelve that we have what is known as a golden rule. 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 let's pray together. Our Father, in the name of thy dear Son, we bow before you. We thank you that you're more interested in us than we are in ourselves. And in a special way, we want to thank you for answered prayer. You hear and you answer. You have told us, as we saw last week from this passage, ask, and it shall be given unto you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened we thank you that we as thy people can ask we ask because of a relationship with you we are in God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ by virtue of the object of our faith thy lovely son and what he did for us there when he bore the judgment of our sins when he was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God.
Thy commandments, O God, are not grievous, and we pray that as we examine them today, that thy name will be honored and glorified to our lives. We ask this, giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Every genuine believer will admit that prayer is a duty for all of us. Prayer is obligatory upon us, for our own dependence is upon the giver of every good and perfect gift. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, and it's given to us by the Father of light.
And prayerlessness on the part of the child of God is not to be looked upon. as simply an innocent infirmity. Prayer is not only a duty, but prayer is a precious privilege to think that we can have an audience with the Most High God. You can have an audience with a president, but you can have the ear of the Lord, the King of the universe, if you take advantage of the privilege of prayer. We can delight ourselves In communion with the lover of our soul. Whenever I see that expression by any commentator, the lover of your soul, the lover of our soul, it thrills me for this reason.
God had mercy on my soul when I had none upon it. The word of God declares there is none that seeketh after God. I did not seek the Lord, and neither did you. It was God who sought you, and God who sought you loved you and loved your never-dying soul more than you love it yourself. And that's hard to imagine. For all of us, as we read in Ephesians five, where men are commanded to love their wives as their own bodies, the scripture says, no man ever hated his own flesh. We are given to a love of ourselves.
But there's one who loves us more dearly than we love ourselves. And more than that, he knows us better than we know ourselves. And therefore he knows our needs better than we know our needs ourselves. And he says to us, ask and it shall be given you. Prayerlessness, friends, it's sin. There's no other way to look at it. and to think of the glorious privilege that is ours to address the Most High God, to speak to the one who loves us in this way. So we can ask a question this morning, why are we prayerless? Why does prayerlessness exist?
It could be because sin has come between us and the Lord and sin and sin like a thick cloud. has blotted our approach to God, has blotted out the Son of Righteousness from our view. But more than that, our iniquities may withhold the rich blessings of God from our soul. Our iniquities, it happened to Israel in the wilderness. And God's word to us is, don't provoke God like Israel did in the wilderness. And God said to Moses, to Israel, ten times have you provoked me?
Ten times. The writer to the Hebrew says, today, if you will hear his voice, pardon not your heart, as in the provocation. Another reason that prayer in our lives, we may be cold and we may be prayerless, is that we have grieved the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is grieved within us. And we are prayerless in our lives. Now, there are certain things that hinder a free and regular approach to the throne of grace. There are hindrances to prayer.
We need to look at them. We need to examine them. And we need to be faithful in our examination. First, it could be the workings of pride. You see, pride begets a spirit of independence and self-sufficiency. The more we learn the Scriptures, are you listening? Get it. The more we learn the Scriptures, the more acquainted we become with the mysteries of faith, a sense of self-sufficiency can easily possess us. We can say, oh, I've heard that so often. I don't need to hear it again.
And it's nothing more than the workings of pride. And the workings of pride can give us a sense that we have arrived and we don't need the Lord. And we become prayerless. The workings of pride, and by the way, this happens to preachers. Preachers can become prayerless. and so can other people who have to listen to him. But second, there are other hindrances to prayer. There's a spirit of soul. You see, the soul loves to ease as well as the body.
The body loves to sleep. And the soul can, I'm not teaching soul sleep, by the way, but the soul loves to take it easy as well as the body. Remember Peter? Our Lord said to him in the garden, Peter, or he said it to all the disciples, Couldn't you watch with me one hour? Couldn't you watch? Peter, when he wrote his first epistle in chapter four, verse seven, he says, watch and pray. See, that was Peter's problem. And what happened to Peter that night? He denied his Lord. Prayerlessness, a spirit of soul.
Furthermore, the power of unbelief. It quenches the spirit of prayer. If we don't believe that God will do or that God is able to do what he says in his word. So we have inducements to prayer. First of all, we examined them last week. Again, let us review quickly. Our Lord gives three. They're very simple. Ask, seek, and knock. To each one of these in Deucements to prayer, he assured each one of them with a promise. He said, Ask for everyone that asks us to receive us. My what a promise.
Have you asked? The Word of God says we have not because we ask not. Let me show you just a moment how it works. You know, when we look back on the day that we were saved, I can just about tell you what you were doing when you got saved. You were praying. Where in the Bible do you read that you're saved by prayer? You don't. You don't read in the Bible that you are saved by prayer. But somehow, we're saved by faith. By believing. But somehow. Faith becomes an operative thing in our lives and to our experience when it is coupled with talking it over in prayer with a father.
And you see that simple prayer of, Lord, save me, I'm a guilty sinner. I deserve to go to hell. that all your grace has been revealed to me in your word, and I trust you. I trust you. Ask for everyone that asketh, receiveeth. Have you ever asked God to save you? Have you ever come as a penitent sinner to God, acknowledging your sin, and from a heart that overflows with the knowledge that Christ died for your sins there on the cross on Calvary's Hill?
That he is able to save those who come. And he's able to save them to the utmost. And you simply ask. And you receive. That day that I asked Christ to save me. I'll tell you something. It was really a prayer of thanksgiving. Thanking him for dying in my place instead. And I'll tell you something. I never got so much for simply saying thanks. All thanksgiving to God. Prayer. Ask. And the promise is, everyone that asks us, who receive us. He says, seek. He who seeks, find. Knock.
And the one who knocks, it shall be opened. These are inducements to prayer. Now we have the incentive for prayer in verses nine through eleven. Notice the incentive. He turns and he says, for what man is there of you? Whom, if his son asks bread, will he give him a stone? What an incentive to pray. You know it's a wonderful thing to be a parent. There are a few young parents with us today, and I'll tell you it does me good to see them. Good to see Pam back there with her husband. And over here on my right is the airplane palace. And they've been blessed with a child.
Here's Paul. And he's been blessed with one. You know it's wonderful to be a parent. But I'll tell you something. It's wonderful to be a grandparent. Don't believe it, Judith. I had a camera now to just take a picture of Mr. Mrs. Hill. You see, it's wonderful to be a grandparent. Our Lord turns to us. And he says, now if you're evil and you know how to give good gifts, how much more your heavenly Father? What an incentive to ask friends. Ask. Seek.
Knock. Now there are some things here that we need to examine. You notice the divine estimate of human nature. He said you're evil. You know, God is never surprised at anything that comes out of the human heart. And while we believe in the doctrine of total depravity, the doctrine of total depravity does not mean that man cannot do good things on a horizontal level. We can do good things horizontally, one with another. The problem with man's depravity, he can never do anything good to merit God's favor. God's grace is unmerited.
But our Lord is looking at us on the human side. He says, now if you being evil, God knows what we are. He knows us through and through. And he says, you give good gifts to your children. How much more? Your father. And you see, the only person who can really pray is a person who has a relationship with God through Christ. He's the only one who can pray because he has a relationship established. Prayer is like cashing checks. Ask and it shall be given unto you. I can go into the bank and I can take a check and write it.
I can go into a bank and write out a counter check and go to the teller and cash this please. Do you have an account in the bank? No, but I believe in cashing checks. You see, I won't get the money. There are a lot of people come to you, especially if you're a witness for the Lord. Oh, I believe in prayer. Well, I believe in cashing checks. But you see, I'm not going to be able to cash a check unless there's an account in the bank. And you cannot pray, my friend, unless you have an account in the bank. I'll never forget, I'm going to illustrate this.
Years ago, I was asked to go visit a woman who was just about pulling her hair out. She was ready to commit suicide, and I went. And she was on the verge of suicide because her husband was running around on her. He was unfaithful to her. They had five children. I turned and I said to her, there's no need to pray because you can't pray. And I showed her that she needs an account in the bank, and she needs a Lord as her personal Savior. And you know that afternoon that woman passed from death and the life.
She came to know Christ. Now that didn't settle her problems. That didn't settle her problems yet. Because a few weeks after that, that woman came storming into my study. She came storming into my study. She said, do you know what time my husband got home this morning? He only came in at three thirty or two thirty. I said, what's on your mind? And she said, I said, are you thinking of divorcing him? She said, I sure am. I turned to that woman and I said, did you miss your husband last night? She said, I sure did.
I said, well, if you're divorcing me, I won't come home at all. And she broke down. I'll tell you this. That couple is together today. The husband got saved. And five children went on the Bible school. Five children went on the Bible school and are serving the Lord. Our God says, ask. Do you have an account in the bank? You see, when that woman got an account in the bank that day, things changed. My friend, do you have an account in the bank?
God says, ask, and it shall be given to you. You see, here we have the blessing of a filial relationship. Who of you has a son? And he asks, do you withhold? You know, I have a greater father than my earthly father ever was. a heavenly father. And I read in the hundred-third psalm, Like as a father, piteeth his children, so the Lord piteeth them that fear him. In the prophecy of Isaiah, God says in chapter forty-nine and verse fifteen, he says, Can a woman forget the son that she is nursing? That she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Can she forget? God says, Yes, they may forget. but I'll never forget you. Oh, isn't that something? There are some women who forget their children. Sorry to say, but God says to his children, I'll never forget you. Malachi chapter three in verse seventeen, God says, I will spare them. And he's speaking of his remnant people, his own. He says, I will spare them. As a man spares his own son that serveth him. You see, our God is above any earthly parents that we can have. How far above is it? Well, he's far above them in knowledge. He's far above them in wisdom.
He's far above them in benevolence. He's far above them in power. And he's far above them in resources. Who of you has a son? And if he has. And all those early days after the son comes home from the hospital. They ask at strange times, don't they? Two-thirty in the morning. Like the father said, you know, how did you sleep last night? Oh, he said, I slept like a baby. I was up every two hours for nursing. Every two hours. You know, when they cry in the middle of the night, do you give? Do you get up and give?
You certainly do. Why? Even though you're evil, you know how to give good gifts. God says, have you asked? Ask. Everyone that asked receives. Now there's something here for us. If you have a son and he asks for bread, will you give him a stone? Here's a word for preachers. Here's a word for Sunday school teachers. Here's a word for those who minister. If your son asks for bread, people are crying out for the bread of life, aren't they? Our Lord said to the disciples in John six, give you them to eat. Give them bread. But if you give them a stone, a stone may be polished and it may be polished beautifully in the seminary that we go to.
But if it's a stone, it's hard and it's cold and it will never satisfy. Our Lord says your son asks for bread. Be sure you give him the bread of life. The greatest gift my parents gave me was a knowledge of the Son of God. Father, the best thing you can give your children is a godly example and the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you're missing that, you're giving your children nothing in reality. If your son asks for bread, do you give him a stone?
Or you can polish that stone any way you like. but it's still hard and it's still cold and it will never nourish. Or if he asks for fish, a fish is that which sustains life. You see, will he give him a serpent? What is a serpent? A serpent is that which deceives. You can get your son as interested in the things of the world as you are. And this world is the most deceptive place and the most deceptive things you can ever have. You can give him a serpent instead of that which will satisfy and build up the heart.
Oh, what a lesson there is here for us. What are you giving your children? Oh, you say, well, I'm giving them Sunday school and church. Are you giving them a godly example in your home? Are you giving them bread? Are you giving them a fish? I had a man do some work in my home who's a painter. While it was there, the tears ran down his face.
He was so impressed. He had worked in another home of a family that's in fellowship here. He said, I heard the Father pray at the breakfast table while I was working. He said, I'll never forget it. He said, that man lives what he says. Do you? Do you? This is one man in our meeting. I was told that by someone else. How about you? Are you giving bread? Are you giving fish? Or are you a giver of stone and serpent? Well, we'll move on.
Our word calls us to ponder the conduct of earthly parents. He turns and he says, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him? You see, God will never fail his beloved children. And that's the truth of Romans It says, He who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, shall I not also with him freely give us all things? There's an argument from the greatest to the least. The little, the things that we ask for really are little. The big thing has been taken care of. He that spared not his own son. When did God give the biggest and the best?
When I was his enemy? when I was a sinner, when I was under his wrath and under the dominion of Satan, he who spared not his own son. If God gave that for me when I was his enemy, what will he do for me now that I'm his friend? That's the argument of Romans eight. That's the argument of Matthew seven. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled. we shall be saved by his life now our Lord applies the truth here in what is known as the golden rule he begins with a word therefore and that word therefore means a summary is summing up that which has been spoken on the subject he says therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye also to them You see, the law of justice is not applied to the law of prayer.
Unless we are honest in our manner of living, God will not hear our prayer. You have that truth in Isaiah one. You have that truth in Isaiah fifty eight. You have that same truth in Zechariah seven. And you have that same truth in Matthew chapter six, previously in the Sermon on the Mount. You see, therefore, it draws a conclusion to the message. Since your Father in heaven gives good gifts to us when we ask, we must do likewise to those within the sphere of our influence. Just as he does it to us, we must do to others. Ephesians five, verse one says, Be ye therefore followers, and a better translation would be, be ye, therefore, imitators of God as dear children.
We should imitate the Father. We should be an imitator of God. Now, what is the meaning of the golden rule? We must do that to our neighbor, which we ourselves acknowledge to be fit and reasonable. In other words, we must put other people on the level with ourselves. We don't take a prideful position as being better than others. We put them on a level with ourselves. in our dealings with others we suppose ourselves to be in the same particular case and circumstances with those with whom we have to deal accordingly that's what we read in Galatians six one if a brother be overtaken in a fall ye who are spiritual consider or ye who are spiritual, restore him, considering thine own self, lest you also be tempted.
You see, this rule, this golden rule of our lives, not only applies to giving, it applies to forgiving. For Colossians chapter three says, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. Now I can't claim God's forgiveness. if I don't forgive others. That I read, I studied, we studied together back in Matthew chapter six and verse fifteen. Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verses twenty one and twenty two is an interesting passage it says, Take no heed unto all words that are spoken. Let thou hear thy servant curse thee, for oftentimes thou in thine own heart.
hath likewise cursed others. What is he saying to us? He's saying, don't be affected when others speak evil of you. For you, even if you know that you're not guilty, why? For the knowledge that we are compassed with infirmity should give us a spirit that wants to pardon others. Don't take too much stock in the things that are said of those who would persecute you. Three things quickly in conclusion. This rule of our Lord not only shows us our duty, but it is obvious that the tendency in the passage is to persuade us to perform it.
It's one thing to know the golden rule. It's another thing to be able to quote the golden rule. It's another thing to perform it. God says I want you to do it. The second thing is this. This rule is not only a guide to conduct, it is a revealer of sin. Who measures up? We know that we come short, and we hear our Lord say to us, Why call you me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say. Prayer is duty.
Prayer is privilege. And anything that keeps me from praying, I should deal with in my heart so that I have something to give to him who cries for the bread of life, who cries for sustenance. Give me a fish. Do you have it? Now, our Lord in this passage he says this is not a harsh task for he says this is the law and the prophet we believe that all scripture is given by inspiration of God God is summing up the Christian life and the words of the Lord are here is what the prophet said here is what the law of God demanded and this is what I ask of you I'm ready to give You acknowledge your need?
Ask and everyone that asks receive. Seek everyone who seeks finds. Knock to him who knocks and shall be opened. Do you realize your shortcoming? Our blessed Lord is available. He's the God of all grace. I have labeled this sermon this morning. Grace received. I have received abundant grace from God. and grace extended. Now God says, you have been given to by me, now give to others. As you would that men should treat you, that's how you should treat them.
Only a child of God can do this. Oh, may God enable us to, for His name's sake. Let's stand together for the benefit. Our Father, we stand in thy holy presence. We acknowledge that thou art God. Only the God of the universe, the God of the Bible, could put such a blank check before his children. Ask, and it shall be given thee. Seek, and ye shall find, and knock, it shall be opened. And then give to his own that command.
As you would have others treat you, treat them likewise. For this is the law and the prophets. Father, we acknowledge our shortcoming, but thou art the God of all grace. You delight to forgive. You delight to bless. You invite us to come boldly to the throne of grace. And we ask you to dismiss us now with your blessing, with an acknowledgement by thy people. of a need for prayer, a need for delighting ourselves in thy presence, that we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, minister to us, magnify thy grace, cause thy name to be glorified, and we will thank you in Jesus' name.