Please grab a Bible and let us continue our study of the Gospel of Luke. Turn to Luke chapter 11…
In Luke 11:1-4, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray.
In v5-13, Jesus taught that everyone should pray to God always and God will always have an answer.
But as we will note in our passage today, even though God desires the best for every person in the world, rather than acknowledging God for everything, many would rather question God. The reason for their questioning is not for good but for refusing God.
As we noted last week from Luke 11:5-13, God wants everyone to ask Him anything and at any time. It is good to ask God. Asking questions is the best way to learn and God wants us to know Him more and more!
However, Is our questioning of God for good or for an excuse not to obey God?
Many question God because they want to be their own God just like the devil.
We will note this in our passage today.
Before reading our Scripture about this, let us together pray our commitment to God’s Word…..
Read along with me now Luke 11:14-28…..
Let us summarize the story:
Jesus healed a man demon possessed.
Some people questioned Jesus.
But v17 is a tremendous truth which should keep people out of trouble and before questioning God; look at v17 again…
Jesus knew their thoughts! And because of this,
Jesus gave a logical explanation.
Jesus tells of His power.
In v23, Jesus gives another truth and a warning! It is our Scripture of the Week: Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Now look again at v24-26….
What is Jesus trying to say here?
There is a spiritual battle going on for people’s hearts! Every person has to decide which side of the spiritual world they will allow in their hearts!
And in v27, a woman recognized the wonderful spiritual truths and blessings from Jesus Christ!
Jesus responded to the woman’s statement by staying focused on the main point of His teaching. V28: True blessings come from hearing God’s Word and obeying it!
What does this all mean to us today?
First of all, God does want us to ask Him anything! But,
1. What kind of questioning do we give God?
a. Do we question God because we want to learn more about Him? Or,
b. Do we question God because we don’t want to believe in Him?
God Jesus Christ knows our hearts and our thoughts. God knows the motives of our questioning. And so, based on how Jesus responded to those judging Him, before we ask a question of God, we need to answer the question, “are we for Jesus or are we against Jesus?” In other words,
2. It is good to ask questions to God but we must first believe in Jesus Christ!
Is this clear in your heart and mind that Jesus Christ is your only Savior and God? Confess and re-confess your belief today!
Along with Luke 11:23, let us also remember Romans 8:31b, If God is for us, who can be against us? The key to life is to always have Jesus in our hearts! We must not be ignorant of this, because,
3. There is a spiritual battle going on right where we are.
How aware are we of the spiritual worlds around us? You see, if we choose to close our eyes to the spiritual world out there, we can be like a fish lured by an angler fish…. The angler fish lure small creatures with something attractive. The small creatures focus on what attracts them and they eventually get eaten by the creature they ignored!!
God tells Christians in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
As Jesus stated in our passage in Luke today, the devil will always attack if we allow him. We allow the devil affect us when we are ignorant of God’s Word and when we do not obey what God says. God tells us in Ephesians 6 the best way to be protected from the devil.
4. Always put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).
The first part of the armor is the Belt of Truth, who is Jesus Christ.
