Luke 11

CHAPTER 11THEME: Jesus teaches disciples to pray by using parables of the persistent friend and a good father; Jesus accused of casting out demons by Beelzebub; parable of unclean spirit leaving a man; the sign of Jonah; parable of the lighted candle; Jesus denounces the Pharisees

Luke 11:1

JESUS TEACHES DISCIPLES TO PRAY BY USING PARABLES OF THE PERSISTENT FRIEND AND A GOOD FATHERThis important section deals with prayer as it is found nowhere else in the Gospels. It may sound similar to other portions in the Gospels, but it is actually different. There are those who feel that this passage is an insertion, and intrusion, in the chronological account of the ministry of Christ. It is true that it does not follow the movement, but it introduces many interesting implications. The reason His disciple wanted to know how to pray was that he had seen and heard Christ pray. It was the custom of our Lord to retire alone to pray. A disciple evidently overheard His prayer, and a desire was born in his heart to pray like Christ prayed. At this moment, friend, the Lord Jesus Christ is at God’s right hand making intercession for us. He is our great Intercessor. And it is still a good idea to ask Him to teach us to pray. An appropriate petition is, “Lord, teach me to pray.” This disciple was not just asking how to pray. The Lord had given the Sermon on the Mount which outlined how one should pray. This disciple was not asking for a technique, a system, an art form, or a ritual to follow. It was not a matter of how to do it, but he wanted to pray like Christ prayed. Many folks say their prayers. It is sort of an amen to tag on the end of the day when you put on your pajamas. I was brought up in a home where I never heard prayer nor ever saw a Bible. The first time I ever engaged in prayer was at a conference when I was a boy. I stayed in a dormitory with other boys, and at night the one in charge told us to put on our pajamas and gather together for prayer. I got the impression, at the very beginning, that in order to pray you had to put on your pajamas; you could not pray any other time. Your pajamas were sort of your prayer clothes. Of course that was a ridiculous conception, but, frankly, we need someone to teach us to praynot just to say prayers, but to get through to God. This disciple asked the Lord, “Teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” This is an unexpected glimpse into the life of John the Baptistsort of a farewell look at him because this is the last we’ll see him. In this last picture, what do we see? We see John as a man of prayer. “Teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” Is anyone going to say that about you or me? All great servants of God have been men of prayer. The barren lives of Christians and the deadness of the church today are the result of prayerlessness. That is our problem. In answer to their request the Lord gives them this. I do not believe He intended it to become the prayer I hear so often in public services. It is not to be a stilted form for public services, but a spontaneous, personal prayer, like a son talks to his father. God the Father knows me and I do not think He wants me to put on airs, assume an unnatural voice, and use flowery language. I think He wants me to talk like Vernon McGee. Nor does He want me to be “wordy.” I get so weary of “wordy” prayersand I think God does also. Let us look at some of the elements of prayer. The first part is worship"Hallowed be thy name." “Thy kingdom come” is praying for God’s will to be done on earth. It involves the putting down of evil and the putting up of good. It means you have a desire for God’s will in your life. It is useless to mouth the words of this prayer without meaning them. This prayer is for the believer; it is not for the unsaved. There is a prayer for the unsaved which is, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luk_18:13), but it can be even simpler than that. God is merciful and is able to extend mercy to you. You do not have to beg Him to save you; He will save you if you will come to Him. Part of this prayer is for physical provision, “Give us day by day our daily bread.” Then we are told to pray, “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.” I do not believe that I can measure up to this standard; I hope you can. Do you forgive everyone? Well, my friend, God wants us to forgive others. Our standard is set for us in Eph_4:32 which says, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” God help us to be men and women of prayer. We do not need more preachers, churches, or missionaries, but we do need more people who know how to pray. God is not through with the subject of prayer in this chapter. Only Luke records this next parable, and it sheds a different light upon the subject of prayer. It is a parable of contrast.

Luke 11:5

I want to bring this parable right up to date. Suppose a man and his wife and children live in California. They receive a letter from her mother saying that she is coming for a visit. She says that she will arrive on a certain day in the middle of the afternoon. The family decides that they will take her out to dinner when she comes. The big day arrives and the mother-in-law does not show up.

The afternoon passes into evening and finally they receive a telephone call, and the mother-in-law explains that she has been delayed by car trouble. They are sure she will have dinner before she comes. At midnight here she is. The son-in-law casually inquires, “Have you had dinner?” She replies that she has not and is very hungry! Since there is nothing in the house to eat, the son-in-law decides to go next door to his good neighbor and borrow some food. His neighbor says, “Wait until morning.

You are not starving. I am in bed and so are my children. Go home.”

Luke 11:8

The man says, “Neighbor, you do not know my mother-in-law. Please get up.” So he continues to pound on the door, and finally the neighbor gets up and gives him what he is asking for. Now this is a parable by contrast.

Luke 11:9

My friend, do you think that God is asleep? Do you feel that He has gone to bed when you pray, and you cannot get Him up? Do you believe that He does not want to answer your prayers? God does want to answer your prayers and He will. That is what this parable is saying. It is a parable by contrast and not by comparison. You do not have to storm the gates of heaven or knock down the door of heaven in order to attract God’s attention. God is not reluctant to hear and answer you. God tells us in Isa_65:24, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” God wants to hear and answer. Some people think that God does not hear and answer their prayers. Maybe they do not get the messagesometimes God says, “No!” Our problem is that we do not like to take no for an answer. God always hears the prayers of His own, and answers them, but when He says no it is because we are not praying for that which is best for us. I have learned over the years that the best answer God has given to some of my requests has been no. As a young preacher I prayed for God to open up the door to a certain church where I wanted to serve as pastor. I was asked to candidate, which I did. The machinery of the church and the political bigwigs met behind closed doors to decide if I would be pastor. They decided not to accept me because I was not a church politician, and theirs was a strategic church in that day. I went to the Lord and cried about it and told Him how He had let me down. Today I am ashamed of myself, and I have asked Him to forgive me for my attitude.

He did not let me down. He knew what was best for me. He had something much better in store for me. Many times since then I have thanked Him for that no. You do not have to storm the gate of heaven to get God to answer your prayer. God has not gone to bed.

The door is wide open and He says, “Knock, seek, and ask.” Take everything to God in prayer, and He will give you His very best.

Luke 11:11

Before you go to God in prayer, make sure He is really your Father. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (Joh_1:12). Believing that the Lord Jesus Christ died for you and rose again for your justification makes you a son of God. When you trust Christ as your Savior, you are baptized by the Spirit of God into the body of Christ, and you are a son who can go to God and say, “Father.” If you ask your earthly father for bread, will he give you a stone? If you ask him for a fish, will he give you a serpent? Can you imagine a father doing that?

Luke 11:12

At that time He told His disciples to ask for the Holy Spirit. As far as I can tell, they never did ask for the Spirit. Later on Christ said, “…Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (Joh_20:22). They needed the Holy Spirit during those intervening days before Pentecost. Then on the great Day of Pentecost He came and baptized them into the body of believers, which put them in Christ. They were filled on that day with the Holy Spirit. That filling is something all of us need. All believers have been baptized into the body of Christ"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1Co_12:13).

Luke 11:14

JESUS ACCUSED OF CASTING OUT DEMONSBY BEELZEBUBThis incident is also recorded in Mat_12:24-30 and Mar_3:22-30. From this account has come the notion of the so-called unpardonable sin. The convincing nature of Jesus’ miracles forced the Pharisees to offer some explanation for them. They could not deny the existence of miracles when they were happening before their eyes. They resorted to the basest and most blasphemous explanation for the miracles of Jesus. They did not deny that they took place but claimed that they were done by the power of the Devil.

Luke 11:16

Christ showed them the utter absurdity of their line of reasoning.

Luke 11:20

“The kingdom of God is come upon you” means that it was among them in the presence of the person of Jesus who had the credentials of the King.

Luke 11:21

The “strong man armed” is Satan. The demon-possessed man was an evidence of his power. But, you see, Jesus is stronger than Satan, which was the reason He could cast out the demon. “A strong man armed keepeth his palace” is a verse that has a message for us. There are those who want to disarm usdisarm us as a nation and disarm us in our homes. But “a strong man armed keepeth his palace.” There are wicked men abroad. And Satan is abroad. As long as there is a strong enemy, we do well to be armed.

Luke 11:24

PARABLE OF UNCLEAN SPIRIT LEAVING A MANThis parable pictures the precarious position of Israel and the Pharisees. The parable speaks of a man with an unclean spirit. The demon leaves the man, and the man feels that he is cleanempty, swept, and garnished. Reformation is no good, friends. If everyone in the world would quit sinning right now, there would not be more Christians. To stop sinning does not make a Christian. Reformation is not what is needed. Regeneration is what is needed. Israel had swept her house clean through the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus, but she would not invite the Lord Jesus Christ to occupy it. So this wicked generation of Jews would reach an even worse state, as described in the parable.

Luke 11:29

THE SIGN OF JONAHThe “sign” would be His own resurrection, of course. He directs them back to two incidents in the Old Testament. The first is the account of the prophet Jonah. Jonah was apparently raised from the dead when he was in the fish. God brought him out of darkness and death into light and life. Jonah’s experience was typical of the coming death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Ninevites received Jonah and his preaching after his miraculous deliverance, and they repented. The acts of Israel, as a nation, place her in a much worse position because she did not receive her Messiah and did not repent.

Luke 11:33

PARABLE OF THE LIGHTED CANDLEOur Lord gives a simple explanation on the purpose of a candle. It is a light giver; its purpose is to transmit light. The resurrection of Christ is the light. The resurrection of Christ is the one ray of light in this world. You and I are in a world bounded by birth and deathwe are boxed in by these two events. The resurrection of Christ is that which brings hope from the outside. What will men do with the light? To see an object, two things are essential: light to make the object visible, and eyes to behold the object. A light is of no use to the blind. A man who can see but has no light and a blind man with a light are in the same predicament. A light and an eye are essential for sight. Even in the presence of Christ, men were obviously not seeing Him; they were stumbling over Him. That did not mean that He was not the Light of the World; it meant that men were blind.

Luke 11:37

DENOUNCES THE PHARISEESHe omitted ceremonial cleansing, which was a religious rite.

Luke 11:39

Religion is not a matter of externalities. It is a heart affair. This is a great principle. He pronounces three woes which illustrate this principle.

Luke 11:41

They had false values. He is not saying that it was wrong to tithe, but their wrong was in what they had left undone. And, friend, giving of your substance will not make you a Christian. However, if you love Christ, you will give of your substance.

Luke 11:43

In other words, they were a bad influence.

Luke 11:45

The shoe was beginning to fit. The Pharisees were occupied with externalities. The sin of the scribes was insincerity. They were adding to the Law, making it more difficult, yet not attempting to follow it themselves.

Luke 11:46

These religious rulers occupied very much the same position that church leaders occupy today. People looked to them for the interpretation of the truth. They placed the emphasis on material things rather than on the spiritual purpose for which those things were to be used. And they themselves were not living according to the Scriptures. Unfortunately, the greatest hindrance to the cause of Christ today is the professed believer. We need to examine our own lives in the light of this Scripture!